Cege Smith - Edge of Shadows

We are pleased to have Cege Smith with us today to share about herself and her book Edge of Shadows.

Where do you currently live?

A suburb of Minneapolis, MN.

Tell us a little bit about your life.

I have a full-time job (in sales) in addition to my writing. I've been married for almost 5 years to a man who is completely supportive of me in all I do, which I appreciate more than I could ever express to him. I have two very grown-up stepsons who are 9 and 10, and we also have the pleasure of living with an adorable miniature long-haired dachshund named Juliet.

When did you first start writing?

I vividly remember starting to write my first novel when I was twelve. I was an avid reader before that and one day decided to give writing a whirl.

What was your very first story about?

It was about two sisters trapped inside a haunted house that was shifting through time.

Have you written anything that you were too afraid to let anyone read?

Aside from my daily journal, any first draft I've ever written.

Did you experience anything you’ve written yourself?

I think if I looked closely, I would find semblances of many different life experiences I've had. I think that comes from that writing advice of "write what you know". I do incorporate a lot of myself in my stories.

Who are several of your greatest literary inspirations?

My admiration for Stephen King goes back as long as I can remember. I think he is a fantastic storyteller and I take anything he says about the mastering the craft to heart. Edgar Allan Poe also had an early influence on me. His characters and settings were (and still are) haunting.

What kind of education have you received, and how has that affected your writing?

I have a Bachelor's in Speech Communication and a Master's in Ethics in Leadership. If anything, I would say that my education ensured that I understood the proper mechanics of writing.

How much research time customarily goes into your projects?

It depends entirely on the topic of my project. For a standard length article, if interviews are included, then probably 2-3 hours. For my novels, I usually spend time researching the settings so that they can be as accurate as possible for my readers. Depending on the depth, that could be hours or days of research.

Who is your favorite literary character?

Scarlett O'Hara. She was strong but yet vulnerable, and she didn't depend on anyone to get what she wanted. I think it's because of her that I gravitate toward writing strong female protagonists.

Who is your favorite character of your own creation?

I had a fabulous time writing Angeline in my most recent novel, Heiress of Lies. Watching her grow and evolve through the book was amazing and I can't wait to see where she is going to go next. But I am currently writing the sequel to Edge of Shadows, and the main character, Ellie, has changed a lot since the first book. She is surprising me and as such is giving Angeline a run for her money.

If you were ever to write an autobiography, what would its title be?

Probably something like Lessons Learned. I feel like I am constantly learning new things and that natural curiousity helps make my life more vibrant and keeps me present in it.

Tell us about your featured book.

Edge of Shadows is the first novel I published. I feel like I came full circle with it because the story is set against the backdrop of a haunted house. My heroine, Ellie, is coming out a rather tramatic divorce. She's been a loner since her parents died when she was young, and trust isn't something that easily comes to her, so she seals herself off from almost everyone around her.

But through a series of events over a short period of time, Ellie is thrust into a situation where she's found a new love interest, and one of her friends puts her in charge of taking care of her house while she's away. Ellie gets caught up in the mysterious past of the house, and finds out that maybe some things in her life weren't as coincidental as they seemed.

Why did you write that?

As with all of my books, I wrote it because I had an image in my mind that wouldn't go away and characters that whisper to me until I wrote their story.

Is there anything special you would like your potential readers to know?

That things are just starting to heat up. What I know about the next chapters of those stories is very exciting.

What activity or hobby, besides writing, do you find most enjoyable?

Reading is favorite way to pass the time and I also enjoy travel when finances afford it. That's one of the reasons I enjoy watching the Travel Channel- I get to visit places all over the world from the comfort of my couch.

What was your favorite childhood toy?

A Whoopsie Doll- you would squeeze the doll's stomach and her pigtails would go up and she would scream out "whoopsie!". For a young girl, that doll gave me hours of endless entertainment.

What do you see as your greatest achievement?

I earned both of my degrees as a working adult. Finding the balance between keeping up at the day job and still managing to maintain good grades was one of the biggest personal challenges I've faced. Being successful in doing that was my greatest achievement, at least, until I published my first novel.

What, to you, is absolutely wrong?

People who hurt other people intentionally and enjoy it.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received?

That you can never go wrong by being kind to others, and always be true to yourself.

If you had to explain the concept of “love” to someone who’s never heard of it before, how would you?

The willingness to give everything you have, and do whatever it takes to make someone else happy. And in the ideal situation, the person you love will do the same for you in return.

What about “hate?”

Hate is when you would rather be anywhere else than in the company of the person or people you are in because your skin crawls and you feel alternately sick and angry all at the same time.

You’ve decided to buy an exotic pet, what do you go for?

Definitely a monkey. My kids would have a ball training it to do do all sorts of tricks, and I think it could also help with housework.

What do you classify as an “Adventure?”

Any story that involves some kind of quest to solve a problem or satisfy a need.

Our thanks to Cege for being with us. Give her work a look by clicking on the book cover below.

John Rose - Out From the Shadows

It is our pleasure today to have John rose, author and creator of The MonsterGrrls Series. He is promoting the first book in the series, Out From The Shadows.

How old are you?
43 years old; 44 come May of this year.


Where do you currently live?
I live in Greenwood, MS, in a small house with a book collection that is approaching fire hazard status, an enormous amount of DVDs, a very intelligent cat named Igor and a brain in a tank named Alfred.


Tell us a little bit about your life.
I was born in Meridian, MS, about 10 miles from town in a woodsy area that had to be found by anyone wishing to visit. While it was not bad, I saw the flaw in this fairly quickly, and began to work on getting out. I still maintain that the major thrust of human society is not to get back to nature but to get as far away from it as possible.


When did you first start writing?
In school, we often had to write short one-page stories using the list of spelling words we were given that week. Occasionally, my stories were criticized by my teachers for being a little too out there, imagination-wise. I don't know what the hell they were complaining about since they said I had to use all the damn words.


What was your very first story about?
I don't really remember. I do remember that I had a real jones for L. Frank Baum after seeing The Wizard of Oz, so it may have been something along those lines--a story about some other world.


Have you written anything that you were too afraid to let anyone read?
I occasionally write very boisterous erotica. No one has ever read any of it except me.


Did you experience anything you’ve written yourself?
None of my major characters in The MonsterGrrls have a driver's license, which is something I did experience; for some weird reason, no one would help me get my license. One of my college friends finally helped me get it at age 25. However, my characters won't have to wait that long.


Who are several of your greatest literary inspirations?
I was inspired to write by reading things like Mark Twain and Madeleine L'Engle, and later on Stephen King and Terry Pratchett. I realized that someone had to make books, and I thought that would be a good job. But I read just about anything. I'm reading John Connolly's The Infernals right now; it's great.


What kind of education have you received, and how has that affected your writing?
I got the usual standard high school experience, and did two years at a community college and three years at a university. I believe that all of that was beneficial to me, but I remember a lot of my teachers being unimpressed with my taste in authors or my desire to write science fiction, fantasy and horror. They thought I should aim to be William Faulkner, since he is the most famous Mississippi author. But I hated Faulkner because he never could just tell a straight story; instead he constantly went off on tangents. which made the book a chore to follow. If I learned anything from Faulkner, he kind of instilled in me the practice of being willing to edit myself.


How much research time customarily goes into your projects?
A lot of what I do comes from amassed head knowledge and reference. I was the child who would get interested in something and check out half a dozen books on it out of the library in the hopes that one of them would tell me what I wanted to know. The Internet has been very useful, and I often draw pictures of my characters to try to get at what I'm seeing in my head.


Who is your most favorite literary character?
It's a three-way tie between Huckleberry Finn, Meg Murry from A Wrinkle In Time and Sam Vimes from Terry Pratchett's Discworld.


Who is your favorite character of your own creation?
I'm partial to Frankie Franken, my Creature-Grrl. She's got not only a heavy dose of the Universal Monsters in her DNA, but I also went straight to the source:Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. The Creature in that novel is not anything like the portrayals of Boris Karloff and Elsa Lanchester, even though those are iconic. The Creature is an intelligent, thoughtful, philosophical being; everything the movies aren't.


If you were ever to write an autobiography, what would its title be?
It could be called Ed Asner, because I just like that name. Realistically, it would be called And Now, Him. The movie version of this would feature Ham Fong as Chin Ho, despite the fact that there has been no one in my life named Ham Fong or Chin Ho. But there should have been.


Tell us about your featured book.
Out From The Shadows is the first book in the MonsterGrrls series. It begins the saga of four teenage girls who are monsterkind, or members of the overall species of monsters--Frankie, a Creature (or Frankenstein monster), Bethany (a vampire), Punkin (a witch) and Harriet (a werewolf). The Grrls come from their world to go to school with humans, and the story describes how they meet and make human friends and deal with high school and bullies. They are challenged to spend a night in a "haunted" house, and discover that something is there that doesn't like monsters...


Why did you write that?
All of my teachers told me constantly to "write what you know." I know about high school, I know that being a teenager is sometimes far from ideal, and having been a lifelong fantasy/horror/sci-fi fan, I know monsters. The fact that my teachers were expecting something that didn't combine these things has nothing to do with it.


Is there anything special you would like your potential readers to know?
It is perfectly okay to be different--not good, not bad, but okay. And there is nothing wrong with standing up for yourself and what you believe in, and what you know is right. And there is certainly nothing wrong with being weird. Some people make satisfying and fulfilling use of it, such as writing books about friendly monsters.


What’s a negative trait about other people that you most notice, or that bothers you the most?
Sheeplike behavior.


Do you ever notice it in yourself?
Sometimes I do. I often react badly, swiftly, and violently to whatever is causing it.


Do you own any kind of art collection?
I have a large collection of comics, animated cartoons on DVD, and several ToxicToons prints by Eric Pigors, who is a noted horror artist and former Disney animator. I also love movie posters--any kind of strong graphic images really resonate with me. And I love the work of Vincent Van Gogh.


What is the hardest thing about growing up?
Realizing that you are not experienced enough to be sophisticated in the way that you wish you were, and that there unfortunately must be a period of awkward and stupid in young love.


What is the biggest lie you’ve ever heard?
"This is going to be easy."


What is something you absolutely must have in your kitchen?
A good chef's knife, a stockpot and an iron skillet.


What is your dream house?
A huge Victorian Addams-Family-style house.


Where would you want this house located in our wide world?
On a high hill overlooking a quiet suburban area that occasionally cowered in fear at the strange noises and weird lights coming from the top of the hill on full moon nights...


You’ve been forced under various circumstances to choose a personal motto. What is it?
Constant and true.


What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten? Would you have it again?
Fried calamari. In a second.


What’s the first thing you would do if you could become invisible?
It would involve an extremely high caliber of vengeance.


What is the kindest thing that anyone has ever done for you?
Listening to me and encouraging me as I work with these four Grrls and the world(s) in my head. Other than that, feeding me usually goes a long way.


Our thanks to John for answering our questions. His work is available in paperback and ebook format, so give it a look today.