Author of the Month #5 - L.Penelope
"Author of the Month" is a feature that I created to honour some of my favourite authors by featuring their works for an entire month!
This feature will:
- Run for entire month.
- On every Sunday of the month (excluding the first week where I will have a blog post introducing and interviewing the author), there will be a blog post dedicated to the author. The content of the blog post is entirely up to the author's choice.
- The "Author of the Month" button will be displayed in my blog's sidebar during the entire duration.
- If you have any questions to ask the author(s), you can leave a comment below the blog post or privately message me at natshane94aa@gmail.com.
For the entire month of March, I am proud to feature author L.Penelope.
Leslye Penelope believes love is magic and likes her romance with a healthy dose of imagination. She's been writing since she could hold a pen and is the author of new adult, fantasy and paranormal romance with multicultural characters.
After living on both coasts, she settled in Maryland with her husband and their furry dependents: an eighty pound lap dog and an aspiring feral cat. Sign up for new release information and monthly giveaways on her website: http://www.lpenelope.com.
Website & Social Media
http://lpenelope.com/
http://www.twitter.com/leslyepenelope
Hello Leslye! It’s a pleasure to have you on my blog and I’m beyond excited to have the chance to interview you today! I am a huge fan of Angelborn and I knew it was the kind of book I couldn't get out of my system. It was that addicting (review to come soon!). Without further ado,
Let’s start off with the customary questions, tell us more about yourself and how you started off with your writing journey?
I've been writing fiction since my mother first taught me to write at age five. I still have the first "novel" I wrote in kindergarten about a boy with a magic clock. I guess I loved fantasy even back then.
All throughout childhood I participated in summer writing workshops and took whatever creative writing classes my school offered. In high school, I was the co-editor of our literary magazine after having been on staff all four years. But it wasn't until 2008 that I re-energized my passion. I'd just gotten married and moved to a new city where I knew no one. I saw a flyer for writing classes and signed up almost immediately. Being in a regular writing group helped me focus on my stories again and in 2013 I started writing my first novel, Song of Blood & Stone.
Fantasy books are one of my go-to genre when I’m in the mood for reading, what made you decide to venture into fantasy land and subsequently creating Angelborn?
I've always been drawn to fantasy and sci-fi—speculative fiction in general. I grew up loving shows like The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits and got heavily into reading sci-fi in college. Almost all of my creative work is somehow in the speculative genre.
Several years ago, during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) I began working on a novel in which a girl fell in love with an invisible boy. That story went through several iterations, but I never finished it. Angelborn is another take on the same theme, but in a very different form to that original story.
Maia is my favourite character because she was kind-hearted despite her dark, brooding demeanor. Her selflessness was what made her personality stood out. Tell us more about the characters and what inspired their personas? :)
All of my heroines to date have been struggling with feelings of isolation and defining their identity. Maia is no different. When I thought about what it would be like to never know if the people around you were living or dead—which is what Maia struggles with—it seemed like a very lonely life. Her personality has been defined in reaction to this thing that sets her apart, but had things gone another way, she would be very different. Part of the love story is about her finding someone who can see past the barriers she's put up to the person locked inside.
If you can be any character in your book, who would you be and why?
I'm not sure I'd want to be any of them, I do put them through a lot. :) If I had to choose, I'd probably pick Helix because he always seems like he's having fun, even when he's being kind of awful.
What’s your favourite type of angel? Why?
While the Recordkeepers sound boring to some, they're privy to virtually all of human (and angel) history. There's so much fascinating information stored in the Archive that they get to access, so I think they're my favorite.
What is the one trait that you liked most about angels?
The angels in my series aren't inherently good or bad. They all have jobs to do in order to maintain their way of life and everyone is expected to contribute. It's sort of an 'all for one' philosophy which I'm drawn to.
I am in awe with your writing, what are the other works that you have previously and/or currently working on?
Thank you! There are three planned books in the Angelborn Cycle, with the third coming out later this year. I have another series of full length, fantasy romance novels called the Earthsinger Chronicles, the first book is Song of Blood & Stone. That series takes place in an alternate 1920s-type world of magic and war. Right now I'm working on books three in both series.
If you can have an actor/actress portraying your characters, who would they be?
I do "cast" my characters when writing so I can keep a visual in my head. Sometimes I'll use actors, but more often I use models. For Angelborn, I needed a black goth girl for Maia and found the perfect person on the Afropunk.com website. She was just a regular person, but gave me the Maia vibe. Model Sacha M'baye was my Caleb, and actress Alexandra Shipp (the new Storm in the upcoming X-Men Apocalypse movie) was Genna.
Now for some fun fact questions! If you can have any supernatural/mythical creature as your boyfriend, what would it be and why?
I've been reading a ton of bear shifter books recently, so I think a growly shifter would be pretty cool. And while he's not an actual shifter, my husband and I joke about the fact that he has mutant powers. He's a crazy good animal whisperer. Dogs and cats.
Name the top 5 things you are most afraid of.
Locked-in syndrome, fish bones, bees, super EMP blast, Donald Trump
Maia
It's hard to be normal when you see the dead everywhere. So I gave up. I just focus on staying out of their way. But the guy haunting my roommate is different. He’s impossible to ignore, and now other people can see him too.
He says my roommate is the only one who can save him from an eternity of torment. But one night he follows me into my nightmare and rescues me from my demons. Now he’s all I think about. This must be what it's like to fall... for someone who can never be mine.
Caleb
A lifetime ago, I found my soul mate in the human world. But being angelborn means I don't have a soul. When I lost my one true love, I lost my future and my freedom. Now, I have a second chance — she's been reborn and I must gain her love again or serve out the rest of my eternal sentence alone.
But this time I am a fugitive with powerful angels hunting me, and I'm running out of time. You only get one soul mate, and mine isn't the broken, scarred girl, who sees what no one else can. She's a distraction I can scarcely afford — but I'm unable to stay away from her.
Buy this book:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble (D2D)
Apple iBooks (D2D)
Kobo
All Romance Ebooks
~In no particular order~
· I have to put mine on there because I adore this cover. Song of Blood & Stone by L. Penelope
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2 comments
It is so awesome that L. Penelope has always loved to write. How many people can say that they are doing what they have always wanted to do? This book sounds wonderful. Thanks for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts exactly! It takes real passion to sustain at something. The book is an amazing read! I hope you have the chance to read it as well and you are most welcome Carole :)
DeleteHi! Thank you for stopping by and commenting on my blog. Wishing you a dreamy day!