Danita Minnis

 http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2014/08/vbt-supergirls-by-mav-skye.html

Mav will be awarding a $35 Amazon GC to a randomly drawn winner and a signed paperback copy of Supergirls (international) will be awarded to another randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. A $25 Amazon GC will be awarded to a randomly drawn host.

Author Interview

1. Woohoo! You are a published author. Describe a strong character trait you possess, good or bad, and how it helped you become a published author.

I have offbeat thoughts and ideas. In real life I often come across as eccentric. My kids tease me relentlessly about a time when I accidentally bumped grocery carts with an elderly lady. Instead of saying the customary, “I’m sorry” or “Excuse me.” I said, “Oh! Hello, how are you?” She shook her head at me and kept going. It took me a moment to realize I had said the wrong thing. Oh well, life goes on.

I’m also tenacious. When I set my mind to something I follow it all the way through. And I push it to be the best it can be. Not so fun when cleaning a bathroom, but again, it works out well for my fiction.

2. Sometimes an author begins writing a story before they are aware of its genre. Did you choose your genre, or did it choose you?

How I feel determines what I write. When I started writing Supergirls, I felt very dark, and disguised it with humor. This precarious mix gave birth to sisters Jenn and May, larger than life and ready to take on their world of monsters. They chose suspense with a pulp twist.

3. The plot thickens, or does it? Which one are you, a pantser or a plotter?

Pantser for sure. I’ve never been able to use an outline. Whether I’m reading the book or writing it, if the mystery is solved before I reach the ending, I get bored and need to move on to another.

4. Fear 101: As writers it is our duty to make our characters face their fears. Have you ever included one of your own fears in a storyline?

Oh, heavens, yes! There are aspects of my own fears and insecurities in almost everything I write, and I have a large pool to draw from. As a child, I was almost abducted by a man in pig mask…kidnapping has been one of my fears ever since. There’s the fear of giant rats nibbling on me (it only happened once, but that kind of thing tends to stick with you.) Then there’s the more common fears I share with my readers, the fear of mental illness, the fear of collapsing under the weight of past abuse, the fear of my current life falling apart around me, of feeling unwanted, uncared for.  Of being alone when I’m old. Hallucinations. Monsters. Death.

I realize that when I am brave and open up about my own fears, others can relate. I’ve erased and rewritten this paragraph a few times. It’s not comfortable sharing these things directly. I prefer to address them in fiction. My readers know what I’m talking about, they can relate. In stories, we can play show and tell with our fears, bring them out in the open, kick them around like a soccer ball, laugh at them.

5. Fear 102: Yes, deadlines are terrifying. Have you conquered the juggling act between writing and the rest of your life? What do you do when it feels like the balls are dropping all around you?

Ha! Yeah, that is the million dollar question, isn’t it? When I started writing years ago, I believed that to be a “real” writer, I had to achieve a certain word count every day. I had to make sure that my short story pipeline was always full, and that I was submitting to magazines several times a week. I became involved in as many genres as I could, because I loved it so much. I love learning every aspect of the craft. I started getting invites to write here, write there, this anthology, that anthology. At first it was fun, but I got myself into a situation where project deadlines were taking over my life. And life at that time was very, very difficult.  This is what I’ve learned about writing and real life living:

If I don’t get out there and do real life things, interact with real life people, and deal with real life problems, my writing will lack real life.

I’ve decided what works best for me is to live life first, then write. That includes any deadlines, book reviews, cut off dates—whatever. I don’t over commit. I don’t beat myself up. Life means I have to pass up a great opportunity.

If I live first, the writing that I do accomplish will be authentic

6. Switch positions with one of your main characters in a scene. What is the outcome, disaster or divine intervention?

What would I do if I found myself in a wonder bra and sexy getaway jeans in the Bastard Mansion? First, I’d click my heels together and recite, There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. If that didn’t work, I’d be the one holding the gun and May would open the black cellar door. I like to think that I would have enough sense not to shoot the “monster” (which is really a kidnapped victim trying to escape) behind it. Then, I’d rip the Whistling Deer Head off the wall and throw it down the stairs to the cellar. May would help the kidnapped girl outside, as I dumped gasoline and lit the place up. Fat Bastard, Leroy and the money would be gone, but I’d still have my sister. And we’d be real heroes, rescuing the kidnapped girl.

7. Where is your favorite place to write? Add that one comfort food that you can’t do without.

Currently, I write in the attic, surrounded by old pulp prints and a Godzilla poster above me. I need chocolate, preferable peanut M&M’s.  Yum!

8. Writing inspirations?

Reading, music, art, jogging, concerts, plays…all this keeps the muse fed and creative tank full.

9. You are introduced to your favorite author. Who is it, and what is that one burning question you must ask them?

Okay, I have waaayyy too many favorite authors, but I’ll pick Shirley Jackson for sake of this interview. I’m dying to know who the ever-haunting man in the blue suit is? Who or what does he represent personally to her? I want to know the true story or memory behind his character.

10. I’ve gone mad – why don’t you come with me? Some people just don’t understand us writers. Name a quirky, writer-thing you do that friends wish you didn’t.

I don’t tell many people that I write. But sometimes when I’m with my sis, something will remind me of a scene I’m working on and I’ll start blabbing about it. I once described a dark, erotic sex scene I was working on where the couple was trying to do it while holding an ax, and there were dead bodies everywhere. My sister is all, yeah, uh huh, okay…and was probably doing her best not to visualize the picture I was painting. I realized later that it must have sounded completely batty.  My sister is sweet. She knows that I’m tad eccentric, so she’s patient with me.

Supergirls

by Mav Skye

Blurb:

Sisters Jenn and May have finally found their golden ticket out of the slums. Pervy sugar daddy, Frederick Bells, promises to be an easy score with a big payoff—millions are hidden within his mansion.

The plan is simple: tie up the pig, steal his cash, and skip town. But fate has a different plan, including a villain with a wicked imagination. The sisters resort to playing their childhood game SUPERGIRLS to battle their fears in Bell’s den of horrors.

Will the SUPERGIRLS find their prize or will their heads join the pile behind the black cellar door?

 

Excerpt:

May’s naked legs quiver. She brings the knife around and holds it with two hands over Piggy’s bulging belly. “Can’t we just off him, like, you know, in the movies. Then we can search the house? I can help you look?”

I dump out another drawer. “No, May, we can’t just off him like in the movies. You aren’t a killer and neither am I.” I stop and look at her. She looks away from me, then glances down at the kitchen knife. Maybe giving it to her was not such a hot idea.

She growls, “You don’t know what he did to me. Maybe I am a killer.”

I slam a drawer. “It’s almost over now. I’ll be able to take care of you. Neither of us will ever have to–”

“He’s a pig,” whispers May, her frail body wavering in the firelight.  “An ugly pink pig. And I think the pig needs to be butchered.” The black silk floats from May’s shoulder and lands on Piggy’s face. It makes his throat more prominent. Great rolls of red pink flesh mound up and blubber out.

“Piggy, piggy,” says May, her face changes, hardens. She lifts the knife to stab.

I jump out from behind the desk and snatch the knife. “May!”

She looks at me startled, then back down to the squirming body on the floor. “Oh,” she says and shrugs like it was a joke.

I recognize the look on her face, the illness coming on. She calls it Letting Go. I call it psychosis. Welcome to hell.

Author Bio and Links:

When Mav Skye isn’t turning innocent characters into axe murderers, refinishing old furniture, chasing around her spring ducklings, or reading the latest horror novel, she’s editing at the almighty Pulp Metal Magazine.

She adores puppies, pirates, skulls, red hots, Tarantino movies and yes, Godzilla.

Especially Godzilla.

She is the author of Supergirls and The Undistilled Sky. Look for her wicked horror romance, Wanted:Single Rose, this fall and the second book in the Supergirls series, Night without Stars, early 2015.

 

Find Me:

Website:  http://www.mavskye.com/

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MavSkye

Facebook Page: http://on.fb.me/1qPcFVK

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1mtblVa

 

Supergirls is available in print or ebook at:

Payhip : https://payhip.com/b/ijUy (50% discount at Payhip if you “share” the book)

Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LWHA438

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00LWHA438?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

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