MIDNIGHT AUTHOR INTERVIEW+GIVEAWAY
Author: Eve Eschenbacher
Publisher: Booktrope
Publication Date: May 11, 2015
Purchase Links: Amazon ~ Barnes & Nobles
Genre: Young Adult
When ordinary girl, Karen, waits out her last year of high school, she hopes for magic. Her small town has nothing for her and she longs for adventure, which she finds at a party of all places. Finally away from the small town minds she meets someone new.
Someone, who with a few scratches of ink on her skin, awakens a part of her she never knew about. All of a sudden Karen is shown a whole new world, and Gabriel wants her to make it hers. All she has to do is love him eternally. Her new life is magical and amazing, until her new powers bring a new threat.
Can she do what needs to be done? The sacrifices and decisions that will need to be made--Is she strong enough?
Author Bio: Eve Eschenbacher lives in the Pacific Northwest with her son and a very fluffy cat. By day she’s a video game voice-over producer, and by night she writes books and freelances as a Japanese translator. Always with a book and a video game close at hand, she probably spends too much time looking at screens.
Author Links:
Where did the idea for Midnight come from?
A conglomeration of Doctor Who, Christopher
Pike, and my own imagination. I really like the Doctor Who episode “The Girl in
the Fireplace,” and the idea of peeking back in time stuck with me. Christopher
Pike was my first and favorite young adult author, and he wrote a series
called, “The Last Vampire,” starring a woman named Sita. She doesn’t need to
kill to feed, and that idea always stuck with me in regards to vampires. As far
as my imagination goes, sometimes I get an idea stuck in my head and I end up
exploring it from different angles. The time travel story stuck with me, and my
subconscious just couldn’t let it go. Once I thought of what kind of people
would be really fun to use as a template for travelling time, that’s where Midnight really started to come
together, and then I had to start writing it.
Do you have any tattoos? Where? When did you get it/them? Where are
they on your body?
Two of them, one on each ankle. I had
always wanted tattoos from my teen years, but couldn’t think of anything that I
wanted permanently on my body for the longest time. Then, after my son was
born, I finally had an idea for a tattoo. My motto about names on tattoos is
that “boyfriends and husbands come and go, but my kid is my kid forever,” so I
was comfortable getting my son’s name inked on my body, and the ankle seemed
like the best/most appropriate place for it. I named my son after a video game
character, so I got the image of that character, with my son’s name and
birthdate tattooed on my right ankle, when I was 27.
Then at 32, after a bad breakup with a
controlling guy who didn’t like my tattoo, I decided to get another one, almost
on a spur-of-the-moment decision. It was a bit of a statement of freedom, and
an act of asserting control over my own life again, but I still didn’t want
anything frivolous. I ended up getting an image from a game series that I
really enjoy. It’s the iconic mascot from that series working on a vintage
computer, because my father introduced me to computers back when they still had
tape drives (1984!), and that instilled a love of gaming that pushed me to my career
path and where I am in life. So it was part that game that I love, and part
honoring my dad and my career. That one’s on my left ankle.
Yes, I am the kind of person who has two
video game tattoos. :)
What are you working on right now?
A contemporary young adult novel. I wanted
to try something a little different, and I had an idea that’s been working out
well. That’s not to say that I won’t return to the world of Midnight, just that
I’ve got another idea I’m working on first.
What do you think you’re really bad at?
Oh boy, where do I start? In the interest
of not airing my dirty laundry, I’ll just say that I am a very shy and not at
all public person, and I have terrible balance.
Have you ever had an imaginary friend?
Does talking to inanimate objects count? :)
Or digital representations of people? Because I’m sure I have a few in my video
games. There’s also the main characters of my current work in progress, because
they’re real enough to me.
Any weird things you do when you’re alone?
Talking to myself and my video game
characters would probably qualify for weird things. I think I only do that when
I’m alone. Sometimes I worry that I just had that whole conversation with
myself aloud, but I think I’ve been silent so far. :)
What is your favorite quote and why?
"A reader lives a thousand lives
before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one." – Tyrion, as
written by George R.R. Martin. I find this absolutely true. I am a voracious
reader and gamer, and the thing I love about both activities is the ability to
explore and experience stories, lives, and perspectives very different from my
own. I knew someone once who told me they thought reading was boring & they
hadn’t read a book in the 20 years since they graduated from High School, and I
just couldn’t wrap my brain around that concept. The idea that reading could be
boring just does not compute in my world. How could it be boring to see through
another person’s eyes?
What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
Mango sorbet. I just like really fruity
flavors, and while ice cream is good, sorbet is even better for that strong
fruit flavor.
What are four things you can’t live
without?
My morning coffee, my video games, my
routines, and my books.
What kind of music you like?
Hard rock, heavy metal, and alternative,
but also classic rock. It absolutely needs to have a guitar in it.
What are 5 things within touching distance?
My cellphone, my tablet, my coffee, my
thinking putty, and a shelf full of books. All the essentials.
What part of the writing process do you
dread?
Editing my work. It’s harder to get in that
mindset of being detached from the story, and looking at it with a critical
eye. I end up reading, and then I have to go back and figure out at what point
did I stop editing?
Where do you get your best ideas?
By letting my brain wander. I must have a
couple dozen post-its stuck to my monitor with story ideas on them.
What do you do to relax?
Play video games. I like to lose myself in
digital worlds. I also enjoy the “vicarious thrill” aspect of video games, in
that you can do things in games that you couldn’t/wouldn’t do in real life. I
also build LEGO sets. I’ve got a few of them displayed around my home. There’s
just something about pressing those bricks together that makes the stresses of
the world disappear for me.
If we were to come to your house for a
meal, what would you give us to eat?
Have you ever had sukiyaki? :) It’s a
Japanese dish. You have a pot of broth and ingredients boiling in the center of
the table, a bowl with raw egg in it in front of you, and a bowl of rice. You
take food from the center pot, dip it in the egg, put it on top of the rice,
and then eat it with a bite of the rice. The heat of the food heats the egg.
Really, I just enjoy the “hot pot” setup from Asian cuisine. The idea of
sharing food from a communal pot in the center of the table brings the diners
together, and it’s very cozy.
Do you listen to music when you're writing?
It depends. Sometimes I need the sound in the
background to set the mood, other times the lyrics will get in the way, and
I’ll have a hard time writing until I switch to music in a different language
than the one I’m working in.
What song would you choose for Karaoke?
No karaoke for me. I’m a terrible singer.
Seriously, I’m so far off-key, I’m on a different piano. That said, I did do
karaoke when I lived in Japan. It’s a completely different experience there.
You rent a small room with your friends for a few hours, and hang out and sing
songs. You can have food and even drinks delivered to the room. Much better
experience, because you’re not getting up in front of strangers to sing.
First book you remember making an indelible
impression on you.
Die Softly by Christopher Pike. It was my
first exposure to young adult novels, and I was hooked. I read all of Pike’s YA
novels, and kept them through the years. Just don’t tell my mom that Die Softly
featured a guy who hooked a video camera up above his bed so he could film
himself having sex with the head cheerleader, only to instead film her killing
him by tying him to the bed and making him snort tainted cocaine. That one
really left an impression on eleven-year-old me!
Do you have any other talents you want to
share?
Sure. In addition to writing, I’m also a
Japanese to English video game translator. I’ve worked on a few games that you
may have heard of, even if you don’t play games.
GIVEAWAY:
This tour was hosted by Good Tales Book Tours.
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Good Tales Book Tours
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