Happy Sunday everyone! Today I'd like to welcome author Debbie Bennett. Enjoy!
Tell us about your book/s
Edge of Dreams is a (young adult) contemporary fantasy,
certified 100% vampire-and-werewolf-free. No elves, faeries, dragons or
wizards. Not even any zombies! Anywhere.
What do you do when you realise that the bad guys might care
more about you than the good ones?
Ricky’s on the edge of a life of crime. Skipping college to
steal cars in the aftermath of his father’s death in action, it’s not
surprising that his dreams are vivid and seem almost real.
Then Ricky dreams of Calith and nobody seems more real than
this boy from another world, with his multi-coloured hair and temper to match.
But are Calith’s motivations all they seem? Ricky’s not sure. Calith’s dark
past is coming back to haunt him big time, and when you’re jumping worlds to
escape the good guys, something must be wrong somewhere, mustn’t it?
When and why did you begin writing?
I've been writing since I was about 9 or 10 - when everyone
at school gave in a page for their story, I'd write 10 pages. Then it got
serious when I was about 14 - I wasn't having much fun at school when my best
friend decided she wanted to be best friends with another girl. I was at home a
lot, bored in the evenings (we're pre-computers and mobile phones here in the
late 1970s), and couldn't find what I wanted to read in the library, so I
started writing it instead. My first attempt was a very bad teenage thriller
with cardboard characters and a distinct lack of any kind of plot - all
handwritten in a fancy folder. But hey, I finished it!
What’s a writing day like for you?
No such thing as a writing day. I have a day job and I
freelance for an independent publishing company, never mind a husband, family
and house that all need looking after. In the evenings I get sucked into other
stuff so it's generally grabbing a few hours when I can.
What book are you reading right now?
A review copy of When She Woke, by Hillary Jordan that's
just come out from HarperCollins in the UK. Very pretty book - all red and
black with red-edged pages. And a collection of horror short stories (again for
review) on my kindle.
What are your current projects?
I've got three on three go right now: I'm 4/5 through a
sequel to Edge of Dreams. It's called Flashpoint and is much darker than Edge -
I worry it may be too dark for a YA audience. Can I really have my main
character commit murder, even if it is under extreme provocation? I'm also a
long way into a traditional fantasy which deals with issues of genocide and
racism - this one was actually started way back with an editor of one of the
big UK publishing houses, who took me under her wing, so to speak.
Unfortunately she left publishing and I got sidetracked ... And finally I'm
working on a follow-up novel to my adult thriller Hamelin's Child which has
been selling extremely well on kindle for the past 12 months.
Tell us about your road to publication.
Long and rocky? I had an agent a long time ago and naively
thought that would be it: hello fame and fortune! But things never work out the
way you plan them, do they? Edge of Dreams got to acquisitions meetings at a
couple of publishers; the editors loved it but the marketing people wouldn't
put up the money for an unknown author. So I figured I needed a platform - to
get myself known. With the 'validation' of having had an agent for my thriller
and editors liking the fantasy, I was in the right place to self-publish when
kindles hit the market last year. And I haven't looked back.
If you could have dinner with one person, dead or alive, who
would it be?
I've been lucky enough to have dinner with lots of
interesting authors over the years. But the person I’d most like to have dinner
with is the Hollywood mogul who’s going to turn my books into films and pay me
several millions pounds for the privilege… So I’ll go and make my sandwiches
then, shall I?
Quick fire questions:
a) Worst job: Being a VAT inspector for the Government. VAT
debt-collecting was actually enjoyable in a weird kind of way, but auditing
accounts wasn't my idea of fun.
b) Favourite Music: I'm an ageing rock-chick - Rainbow,
Journey, and anything Jim Steinman's had a hand in musically.
c) Favourite TV Programme: I don't watch much tv, but have
been watching UK school soap Waterloo Road for the last series as my daughter's
been an extra in it.
d) Favourite Food: Chilli. Or chocolate. Sometimes even
together.
e) Five words that describe you: Reliable. Committed.
Determined. Hard-working and Talented!
You can connect with Debbie on the links below:
Barnes & Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/edge-of-dreams-debbie-bennett/1007923580?ean=2940014308144&itm=2&usri=debbie+bennett
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/91048
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