Author Interview & Giveaway with Susan Dennard, Author of STRANGE AND EVER AFTER

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STRANGE AND EVER AFTER!

Hello! It's been a long time since we had a Kat's Korner, hasn't it?
Kat's ran into some bad computer luck, so until she has the ability to use one again, it will be a while until we hear from her. However, Susan Dennard is one of her favorite authors, and Kat couldn't resist the chance to interview her and take part in the STRANGE AND EVER AFTER tour!

Here's her great interview with Susan! 

Check out Kat's review of both
SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY
and
A DARKNESS STRANGE AND LOVELY!

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An interview with 

Susan Dennard

 I am a writer, reader, lover of animals, and eater of cookies. I used to be a marine biologist, but now I write novels. And not novels about fish either, but novels about kick-butt heroines and swoon-worthy rogues (I really like swoon-worthy rogues).

I live in the Midwest with my husband and two dogs (Asimov and Princess Leia), and you can learn more about my crazy thoughts and crippling cookie-addiction on my blog or twitter.

My debut, SOMETHING STRANGE AND DEADLY is now available from HarperTeen along with the prequel, A DAWN MOST WICKED, and the sequel A DARKNESS STRANGE & LOVELY.

Look for STRANGE & EVER AFTER in summer 2014 and TRUTHWITCH in fall 2015!

Follow Susan on her website, Twitter, and Facebook!

The entirety of STRANGE AND EVER AFTER is enriched with dazzling landscapes and exciting locations. Did you know from the start that this trilogy would take you, Eleanor, and the readers to these places?

I knew general locations—like I knew that Eleanor and the gang would go to France and then Egypt. I did not know where in France or Egypt, so those locations were a fun surprise that I chose organically as I wrote. ^_^

Like, the Palais Garnier, the ruined Tuileries Palace, the Hotel le Meurice—I found all of those fabulous settings while I was in Paris and as I drafted.

And in Egypt, I discovered Heliopolis, the Bulaq Museum, and Saqqara from guidebooks written in 1876, and I just knew I had to include those locations.

Were there any locations that you had originally planned to include but had to take out? If so, which place(s)?

You know, I really wanted to send the Spirit-Hunters into the Parisian Catacombs during a DARKNESS STRANGE AND LOVELY, but I couldn’t quite a find a reason to get them there. So instead, they explore the labyrinth of tunnels and old mine shafts under the city.

I also wanted to send them to Luxor (and the Valley of the Kings) in Egypt during STRANGE AND EVER AFTER, but I totally ran out of space! Now, Marcus heads there, but Eleanor and the gang don’t follow.

Aside from these beautiful locations, Eleanor herself delves into some deeper stresses, strengths, anger, and hopes that really move the story along. Was any of that yours in any way?

I can’t say that I was expressing my own feelings through Eleanor, but I can say that I felt what Eleanor felt—and I learned the same lessons as she.

When you’re that deep in a character’s head and heart, I don’t think an author can help but grow and change alongside the character. I learned so much from Eleanor, and I’m quite frankly devastated to end the series. She (and Daniel, whose story I explored in A DAWN MOST WICKED) will always be important voices in my head. ;) And yes, I know that makes me sound crazy.

'Empress' comes to mean so much by the ending. Was this nickname planned from the start, or did it just flow out in the beginning and grow?

It was a surprise, actually! I realized in hindsight that I probably took it from Han Solo (who’s always calling Princess Leia ridiculous things like “Your Worshipfulness”). What can I say? I have a weakness for heroes giving the heroines silly nicknames—it totally happens in all of my books.


Yet as the story unfolded, I realized just how much the name “Empress” actually meant. It reflected not only how Daniel viewed Eleanor, but it also embodied the role Eleanor needed to grow into. She begins as a girl who lives according to other people’s rules and requirements, but she finishes as a woman in charge of her own life.

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O F F I C I A L   I N F O:

Title: STRANGE AND EVER AFTER

Author: Susan Dennard

Release Date: July 22, 2014

Publisher: HarperCollins

SUMMARY:

In the conclusion to the trilogy that Publishers Weekly called “a roaring—and addictive—gothic world,” Eleanor Fitt must control her growing power, face her feelings for Daniel, and confront the evil necromancer Marcus...all before it’s too late.

He took her brother, he took her mother, and now, Marcus has taken her good friend Jie. With more determination than ever to bring this sinister man to justice, Eleanor heads to the hot desert streets of nineteenth-century Egypt in hopes of ending this nightmare. But in addition to her increasingly tense relationships with Daniel, Joseph, and her demon, Oliver, Eleanor must also deal with her former friend, Allison, who has curiously entangled herself in Eleanor’s mission.

With the rising dead chomping at her every move and Jie’s life hanging in the balance, Eleanor is convinced that her black magic will see her through to the bitter end. But there will be a price. Though she and the Spirit Hunters have weathered every battle thus far, there will be consequences to suffer this time—the effects of which will be irreversible. And when it’s over, only some will be able to live a strange and ever after.

Susan Dennard will leave readers breathless and forever changed in the concluding pages of this riveting ride.

~*~

****Giveaway*****

Ready to check out
STRANGE AND EVER AFTER?

Enter to win...


1 HB copy of Strange and Ever After (Us only)
1 E-book of Strange and Ever After (INT)

- Must be 13 or older to enter
- Giveaway starts JULY  until JULY 14th to July 22nd
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