https://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2016/09/vbt-otherling-by-heather-m-walker.html
Heather M. Walker will be awarding a hand painted set of two wine glasses, painted to resemble stained glass and a ten card tarot reading (US/Canada only) to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Author Interview
1. How did you choose your genre? What made you write this book? I have always felt connected to the supernatural, the occult, the paranormal and the arcane. I first felt a stirring for it when I was six years old and was told my first scary ghost story. It started a passion in me to read and research as much as I could in these subjects, and to expand my knowledge as much as possible so that I could figure out my connection and affinity toward it.
2. Writers write what they know, and must observe the world. Are you a first born, middle or last child and how does this shape your view of the world? I am the second born, and the youngest in my family. Everyone else is a Capricorn, and I am an Aries, so I guess that right there put me at an odds and destined me to be the black sheep. I have always felt like an outsider to the world, and to my own family to an extent. This caused me to go deeper into myself to explore the realms of my inner world, my dreams and all the colors of my soul. I am deeply connected to my emotions, and to seeing the world in a way maybe others can’t see it. To notice the nuances of the wind, the sigh of the grass under my feet. I think that becoming a writer was a natural outcome of this.
3. Where is your favorite place to write? I have my own space in the house carved out just for myself and my writing. I am tucked away in a little niche in the living room, with all my crystals on my desk, my sage and sweet grass room sprays, my David Bowie collection (I am still in mourning) and all my writing tools. This place is mine, and I enjoy writing there.
4. How do you feel about killing your darlings, and what do you do with the remains? I don’t think you have to kill your darlings. While I respect the man who said this deeply, and though he is one of my favorite writers, I don’t agree with everything he says. Every writer, every story is different. You can’t force your story and characters to do something that doesn’t follow the story line. If you get connected deeply enough to the story, and to the characters, they will let you know when what you’re writing is wrong. It just won’t flow. It will feel strangled and caustic. If you try to kill your darlings just for the sake of killing them, then its likely your story will fall apart. There is a magical moment when your story takes over, when the characters come alive and you just know where it has to go. If you don’t follow this, what your story wants, then writers block, or the strangulation of words ensues. I say if the story warrants a killing or a death, fantastic, go with it, but don’t do it just for the sake of this now famous saying.
5. You are introduced to your favorite author. Who is it, and what is that one burning question you must ask them? Ahh, that would be Clive Barker! I absolutely love his daring writing style, his ability to go to places that are forbidden to most, and to explore them without hesitation or apology. He is a brilliant writer, and has written some of my favorite books. I highly recommend Galilee and weave World, they are both fantastic, immersive reads.
I’m not sure I have one burning question for him though, but I would love to drink absinth with him and probe his mind on all manner of things, from the origins of life, to the origins of evil, and how he feels about his characters. I would like to know how he says goodbye to them after his novel is over, as I myself felt a sense of sadness when my novel was done.
6. Inquiring minds want to know…tell readers something about you that no one knows. I don’t know if there is something no one knows. ((Scratches head)). I suppose this will have to do. I hope I don’t wake up to an angry mob holding lit torches in the morning. I don’t like Led Zeplin. There, I said it.
7. You are stranded on a deserted island with only a back pack for company. What three items are in your survival pack? My Nook, some way to charge my Nook, and my glasses so I can see. I have to have something to read or I think I might just go mad.
8. If you could have one super power in your existence, what would it be? To fly
9. Favorite snack? This changes depending on my mood. I love trail mix, dried peaches, fruits and of course, chocolate.
10. Indy 500 – Do you know how to get where you’re going or do you drive the speed limit? Ok, here goes. Get ready to be shocked. I actually don’t drive at all, I never learned how, and somewhere along the way it just became unimportant. I can walk, I can take a taxi, I can take a bus. This has been a form of debate and contention with so many people in my life, and a reason to judge me and put me in a little box labeled “inferior.” I know driving is very useful, but I don’t feel it is something that must be known in order to live a life that is fulfilling.
As far as metaphorically, I don’t think any of us know for sure where we are going. We can make plans and we can prepare, but we have to have faith in ourselves and our higher power as far as how we will get there, or if we will get there.
The Otherling
by Heather M. Walker
Genre: Paranormal romance
Blurb:
In the deep south of Doltree, Georgia, not everything is what is seems. Long accustomed to life as an outcast, the beautiful and demure Annaleah Grace has learned to stand apart from the crowd with dignity. Being the daughter of a white witch and a white witch herself, living in a town of devout Christians, has earned her more than a few raised eyebrows.
When she meets the handsome, yet snarky, Professor Bainbridge with whom she will be teaching at the local University, everything in her life abruptly changes. Something about him seems intimately familiar to her in a way she can’t totally identify. Even though he’s brusque and intimidating, Annaleah is drawn by his otherworldly eyes and foreign mannerisms.
With the help of angels, both Holy and fallen, she discovers just how unique she truly is. Dreams become a meeting place between this reality and the next, and Professor Sebastian Bainbridge’s true identity is revealed.
When her dreams begin to be more than dreams and she wakes up with Georgia red clay she walked through during a nightmare still wet on her feet, Annaleah knows something intense and powerful is going on, and that somehow, Professor Bainbridge is part of it. She is determined to embrace the profound destiny that awaits her and the Professor, even if that means taking up a sword to fight the Devil himself.
Excerpt:
Sebastian caught Annaleah neatly in his arms, and encircled her in his wings, holding her so close she felt she could melt right into him and together they would burn as one being. Tears came to her then, spilling down her cheeks and falling onto her breasts, a silver light coming from them as they fell. Sebastian opened his wings then and placed a finger under her chin, tilting her head up to look into his mirror eyes. As she saw herself in them, glowing and alive and beautiful, it felt so very right. Sebastian wiped the tears from her eyes, slowly, gently and with great care. His eyes never left hers as he bent his head down, until right before the moment when he caught her lips with his, and everything in the world ceased to exist but their kiss. In that sacred, glorious moment, as their lips pressed together, she was pierced to her heart with all-consuming adoration, and from behind her she felt a great motion, as if she had moved something with a great weight on her back. Confused, and a bit shocked, she broke the kiss, turning to see what was happening behind her.
Sebastian laughed despite her apparent confusion and said, “Oh Annaleah my darling, did you forget?”
Feeling a bit betrayed by his laughter when he could plainly see her distress, Annaleah asked, “Did I forget what?”
At this Sebastian outstretched his magnificent wings to their full height and length, blocking out the sky and the moon hanging therein.
“Your wings Annaleah; you forgot you had wings.”
Heather was born into a military family, and has lived everywhere from Mountain Home, Idaho, to a small town in England called Bloxham. She eventually settled down In LaGrange, Georgia with her partner of 15 years, Billy, her 7 year old daughter Makaylah, and her 4 indoor cats. She considers herself first and foremost, a mother. She enjoys being a writer, a jeweler, a glass artist, a painter, and avid crafter. It has been her life long dream to publish a book, and she has lovingly worked on “The Otherling” in its various stages for almost 3 years. Heather loves to read, mostly horror, fantasy and occult books. She studies angelology, mysticism, Wicca, psychology and the human mind. Her writing goal is to create a book that comes to life in her reader’s hands and minds, and places them there in the middle of the story. It is her deepest wish that “The Otherling”, as well as her other written works, will accomplished this, and make a home in the hearts of all those who read her words.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeatherMWalker6
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011566055965
Blog: http://heathershappyhaven.com/
Link to buy on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Otherling-Heather-M-Walker-ebook/dp/B01DEC2670
Barnes and Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-otherling-heather-m-walker/1123579627
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29614146-the-otherling
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/624990
The Otherling will be $0.99 during the tour.
Thanks for hosting!
This was suck a fun interview. thank you so much for having me.
LOL sorry for the typos! ((laughing at myself)).
Thanks for joining us Heather! Congrats on this exciting release!
Great post, thanks for sharing 🙂