Interview with Saundra Mitchell author of Shadowed Summer

Red House Books presents to you, my very first, AUTHOR INTERVIEW!

**and the crowd goes wild!***

um...ok....read the interview first and then you can go wild because today we have for you the very talented and extremely wonderful...

Saundra Mitchell!
Saundra's first novel, Shadowed Summer, debuted in February 2009 and her upcoming book Vespertine has a *tentative* release date of Spring 2011. You can read my review of Shadowed Summer here.

You can also visit Saundra's Website for more info on her, and her books and tons of awesomeness because Saundra is awesome :)

Ok, here we go!

What would you like to tell us about yourself? Feel free to include any embarrassing nicknames, favorite flavors of ice cream and whether or not you sleep with a nightlight on.

It's funny you should ask about the nightlight. I'm scared of the dark- not like, totally freakaloid dysfunctional about it. But if I go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I jump back into bed so nothing can grab my ankles, and if I have to investigate a noise in the house, I pick up the nearest heavy object to take with me. Despite this- I have to turn everything off in my room to sleep. One little light on will keep me up all night. I guess my brain has a love/hate relationship with the night.

I'm impatient so I'm cutting right to the chase - PLEASE tell us more about Elijah! Ghosts can be so illusive don't you think?

Eli was especially hard to pin down for me. Unlike most ghosts, he wasn't particularly chatty. And since all the people who knew him were keeping their mouths shut for various reasons, it was tricky trying to get to know him. But, I do know he liked Lynard Skynard and Metallica, that he tanned in the sun and never burned- much to Miss Nan's chagrin- and that he had dinner with the Rhames and the Lanouxs almost as much as he had it at home. There's an extremely good chance that the night somebody broke into the Red Stripe and re-arranged everything by size, that Eli, Eddie and Jack had something to do with that. He was a pretty regular guy when he was alive, and pretty quiet in his death. I think he would have rested in peace forever if a certain somebody hadn't tried casting a spell to raise him up again.

Do you have a favorite ghost?

I have so many favorite ghosts. I love the entire cast of ghosts in Megan Crewe's GIVE UP THE GHOST. They all have different scents, and cling to different eras, I love that. And I love the ghost in PEMBA'S SONG by Marilyn Nelson and Tonya C. Hegamin. Phyllis is one of those tricksy ghosts who slips into Pemba's skin- not possession exactly, but it's a really amazing melding of two points in time, and two souls in motion.

Rumor has it (and by that I mean, you told me yourself so fess up - hehe :)
Rumor has it that you have another YA book in the works! Woo hoo! Tell us everything you can about Vespertine!!!

Okay, here's the official blurb: Amelia van den Broek is The Vespertine, a middle-class girl of the Gilded Age with an extraordinary power. Sent to summer in steamy Baltimore, Maryland, Amelia and her new friends are gripped when mediums and spiritualist stir forbidden desires and long-hidden secrets with their seances and trances.

Suddenly gifted with premonitions at sunset, and moved by her curious attraction to a young man who seems to come and go as if made of mist, Amelia gives herself over to the power she finds in giving prophecies. But when Amelia speaks of tragedy that comes to pass, those around her begin to wonder if she's not the seer of dark portents- but the cause of them.

Blurb over! The Vespertine is a historical paranormal romance set in Baltimore, Maryland 1889, and I can't wait to share it with everyone! I think it has about everything- new and uncertain friendships, ballroom dancing, secret romances, a mysterious bad boy, otherworldly powers- I love this book so much! I wrote it in a fevered six weeks- that's how eager these characters were to get out of my head and onto the page.

Where do you do most of your writing? Are you a one book at a time kind of girl or do you like to have multiple projects in the works at once?

I do 100% of my writing in my bedroom, which is where my computer and books are. I've tried writing in other places, but it just doesn't work for me. I felt weirdly exposed setting up shop in the library and the coffee shop- like I had left the house in my underwear or something! And I work on one thing at a time. If something comes in that needs my attention- like a revision letter on a finished novel, or new screenplays from the filmmaking company I work with- I stop everything and work on that until it's all done. I like to have all my thoughts and energy directed in one place as much as possible.

And since I know us fellow book lovers don't have nearly enough books on our wishlists, and TBR piles - how about your share some of your favorites with us?

Oooh, I recently loved Julie Kagawa's THE IRON KING, which was delicious. And I've been lucky enough to read Carrie Ryan's THE DEAD-TOSSED WAVES before it comes out- I loved her FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH, and I think this one is even better. I'm really looking forward to SEA by Heidi R. Kling, DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS by C.J. Omololu, HOURGLASS by Myra McEntire, 9 RULES TO BREAK WHEN ROMANCING A RAKE by Sarah MacLean, THE DEMON'S COVENANT by Sarah Rees Brennan and WAYFARER by R.J. Anderson. Ooh, and SHADOW HILLS by Anastasia Hopcus. And... I really must stop, or I will list 9000 books at least!

Thank you so much Saundra for sharing your thoughts with us!
Be sure to check back readers, for a chance to win a copy of Shadowed Summer plus some awesome signed bookmarks.

Happy Reading!