Interview and Giveaway with Kate Avery Ellison, Author of THE CURSE GIRL

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An Interview with
Kate Avery Ellison

I live in Georgia with my wonderful husband and two spoiled cats. When I'm not writing, I'm usually catching up on my extensive Netflix queue, reading a book, giggling at something funny online, or trying to convince my husband to give me just ONE bite of whatever he's eating.

I blog about stories and life at http://thesouthernscrawl.blogspot.com/. My YA paranormal romance THE CURSE GIRL features a determined young woman and a beastly boy who must work together to break a curse. My short story collection, ONCE UPON A BEANSTALK, is a funny collection of mashed up fairy tales. My newest book, FROST (The Frost Chronicles #1), is a creepy YA fantasy with dystopian elements!

Learn more about my writing and books at my blog, find teasers for upcoming works on my Facebook page, and subscribe to my new releases newsletter to be notified of new novels as soon as they hit stores!

You can also follow Kate on Twitter!

You have a couple of fairy tale retellings out now. What draws you to them, and do you plan to write more in the future?

I find the idea of taking a familiar story and turning it on its head intriguing. In addition to fairy tale retellings, I also enjoy re-imagined history and retold myths/famous literature (like ROMEO AND JULIET, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, etc).

Beauty and the Beast is one of my all-time favorite fairy tales. What went into creating your retelling of THE CURSE GIRL?

I wanted to make Beauty really spunky, smart, and feisty, the kind of person who wouldn't stay with the Beast against her will if she could imagine another way to handle things. That led to the necessity of having her actually trapped in the house because of magic, along with the rest of them. I wanted to give it some interesting twists in terms of setting and magic.

ONCE UPON A BEANSTALK is a series of short fairy tale stories. Which story was your favorite to write? Which was the hardest? The funniest?

My favorite to write was Once Upon A Heist, a mashup/retelling of The Princess and the Pea that gives a more action-packed explanation of why the young lady in question did not get any sleep that night. 

The funniest (to me) was probably Once Upon a Wedding, in which Rumpelstiltskin and Red Riding Hood are married and run a wedding business, completely with wicked stepmother management. 

The hardest was the last one, Once Upon a Beanstalk, where a band of thieves has to infiltrate a giant's wedding. I wanted to make them all come together with reoccurring characters, and since that was the final one, it was more challenging.

What important lesson(s) have your fairy tale characters learned that you wish the traditional fairytale version of the character could have learned from?

Well, in my fairy tales, the characters don't get married after barely knowing each other. ^.~  I try to soften it down to the start of a relationship.

If any one of your books/series was made into a board game, which board game would it be and why?

Great question. There's this great game called Betrayal at House on the Hill, where players play cooperatively as they explore a haunted house and uncover individual rooms looking for certain things (until one of them turns traitor and they have to defeat that player), and I think THE CURSE GIRL could make a great game that's somewhat similar, where the rooms constantly change and the goal is to find a way to break the curse and escape. Okay, now I'm officially inspired!

Make a case for your favorite lesser-known tale or retelling: which story should we all read, right this instant?

There's a really unique retelling of JANE EYRE called JENNA STARBORN by Sharon Shinn. It's an older book, sci fi, very interesting twist on the original story. I highly enjoyed it.

There once was a youth who went forth to learn about the shivers. What are you afraid of?

I am afraid of heights and spiders.

Quickfire Stuff: This or That?

-City of Atlantis or Camelot?

-City of Atlantis

-Trial by fire or trial by water?

-Trial by water

-Go about in the emperor's "new clothes" (ie nothing) or wear a smelly, crusty donkeyskin for the rest of your life?

-I'd pick the no clothes and join a nudist colony.

Quickfire Stuff: Would You Rather...?

-Would you rather open and unleash Pandora's Box or unlock and enter Bluebeard's locked doom room?

-Bluebeard's room, although neither prospect is in any way desirable

-Ask the witch's son to assist you in the evil tasks she's assigned or perform a troll's tasks in order to cross his bridge?

-troll's tasks to cross his bridge

-Follow a wil-o’-the-wisp or face a troll?

-wil-o'-the-wisp!

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Title: THE CURSE GIRL
Author: Kate Avery Ellison

 Publication date: May 14, 2011

Publisher: Kate Avery Ellison

SUMMARY:

When Bee is imprisoned in a magical, cursed house because of her father's selfish choices, she has just one plan... escape! But she must solve a riddle and help her fellow prisoners break the curse that binds them all before she can leave, and that is proving more difficult than she originally thought thanks to the bitter young master of the house, Will. 

Will wants nothing to do with Bee or her help (and he certainly isn't planning on falling in love with her), but he might have underestimated just how determined and clever--and irresistible--she can be.

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****Giveaway*****

Ready to check out 
THE CURSE GIRL by Kate Avery Ellison?

Kate Avery Ellison has offered our lovely Fairy Tale Fortnight readers a chance to win an e-book copy!

All FTF giveaways run until May 10th.

You must register on the Giveaway Registration Form during the event to be considered for any prizes in individual giveaways throughout the event.

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