Author Interview1. Who is your favorite character?In Soulless Light, it's Julia. She is a strong woman especially for her time and she knew what she wanted out of life. She also wasn't afraid to make a choice.2. How did you come to create him/her?It was a mistake. It actually started with a single line. I was writing a short story and she came to me. It was an experiment in 1st person writing.3. When did he/she first enter your mind? The first time I used the word "I" in the book.4. Where was he/she given life in the creative process?From the very beginning. I knew I wanted to write a story that had to do with the time period of 1300's where the plague was mixed in with magic, love, laughter and a strong belief in the way life was lived.5. What do like the most about him/her and what do you dislike the most about him/her?What I like the most was the way she loved her life and the way she wasn't afraid to stand up and take action. What I dislike most about her was that she had a short life. It was stolen from her and I often think that life steals from us even when we don't realize it.This was a novella I loved writing. I enjoyed experimenting with the symbolism and I also enjoyed playing with the whole idea of a woman taking out revenge in a time when women weren't considered to be too tough or too strong. I loved the idea that the times she was written in were a discombobulated mess when it came to the belief systems. It was a time when magic still existed because science wasn't quite as advanced. 
Book Summary:A young love destroyed, an entire village murdered. The year, 1363-the plagued ravaged the land in every corner of Great Britain accept one lonely isle called The Isle of Ely. The bishop, sure the village had consorted with the devil sent his Templar Knights to investigate. Their hearts thirsted for blood. They killed every living person in the village. Julia's soul, so angered by the actions of the knights, is given a power in death she did not posses in life. She must decide if revenge is worth the price she will pay.
Price: $6.99 print, $2.99 Kindle
Pages: 63
Genre: Horror
Publisher: World Castle Publishing
Buy link: http://www.amazon.com/Soulless-Light-ebook/dp/B005MEKQR6/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2
Author Bio:
Joann H. Buchanan, author, radio show host and mother of 5, is living in Kansas. Soulless Light is her debut novel.
Her novel I Am Wolf has just been picked up by World Castle Publishing and is in the middle of edits. More news to come.
She hosts The Eclectic Artist Cave Mon-Fri on The Shark at 11 AM CST. She interviews writers, producers, musicians and creative people of all kinds. Information about her show can be found at, http://theeclecticartistcave.blogspot.com.
Also, Joann H. Buchanan hosts video author chats for Book Candy Studios. http://joannhbuchanan.blogspot.com/.
She lives by 2 motto's, above all else, entertain and make it work.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JoannHBuchanan
Twitter: http://twitter.com/JoannHBuchanan
Blog Tour: http://theexperiencetours.blogspot.com/p/current-experience.html
My thanks to Jody Kihara for stopping by The Character Connection for an author interview during the blog tour for her book, The Frankincense Trail.
Author Interview
1. Who is your favorite character?
My favorite character in The Frankincense Trail is definitely Alia, the main character. She’s a 15 year-old princess who lives in a small kingdom in the Arabian desert.
2. Why is he/she your favorite?
The book is Young Adult, and Alia is all that I would have wanted in a heroine when I was that age. I see her as a role model. She has her flaws yet is very strong, and sometimes her flaws even work for her. She’s very determined – that’s what sets her off on her adventure – and for all that she’s young and has had a very sheltered upbringing, she has a strong sense of self; she doesn’t back down even when things are adverse. (the good side of the princess upbringing!) She’s also deeply compassionate, and if she’s trying to help someone, she’s even more resolute.
3. How did you come to create him/her?
The book is set in a place and time (200 BC Arabia) that most readers won’t know anything about, so I needed a main character that they could learn ‘through’. This was a bit tricky, because obviously the character is already familiar with her surroundings. My solution was to make Alia a bit sheltered. Because she lives in a small, isolated kingdom and hasn’t traveled, she doesn’t know much about the outside world. So when she sets off on the journey, both she and the reader are discovering things for the first time.
4. When did he/she first enter your mind?
The first scene that came to me was a princess in a palace,nothing more! But one of my all-time favorite heroines is Modesty Blaise (1960s espionage fiction), so I ‘borrowed’ quite heavily from Modesty’s strength and compassion.
5. Where was he/she given life in the creative process?
I had to figure out her home life, and what would give her the impetus to go off on this journey. An unhappy home life took care of both of those! - and once you put your character in an adverse situation, then their traits really come out.
Also, like most teenagers, Alia feeling the stirrings of adulthood, that it’s time to forge her own way in the world. It’s that spark that really breathes life into Alia – and sets the whole plot in motion!
6. What do like the most about him/her and what do you dislike the most about him/her?
I love her compassion: she’ll go to any lengths to help someone she cares about, even if it means putting herself in danger. Dislike… she has a bit of princess attitude at the beginning of the book, but I put her through enough that by the end of the book, it’s completely gone!
About the Book
The Frankincense Trail
Book Details:
Publisher: Star Magnolia Publishing
Published: June 2011
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 265
Format: paperback, ebook
Price: $11.99 paperback, $2.99 ebook
Buy Links: Amazon, Kindle
Blurb:
In 200BC, frankincense was worth its weight in gold, making Arabia was the envy of the world. But wealth comes at a cost: the precious resin had to be transported along the Frankincense Road, a dangerous route through rocky mountains and barren desert.
Alia is a princess in a dwindling kingdom that lies on the Frankincense Road. Having grown up hearing tales of Bilqis, the Queen of Sheba, she dreams of finding a way to restore her kingdom's former might. When a caravan journeying to the mysterious incense lands stops to take on travelers, she sees her chance.
She soon realizes, however, that her trust in the caravan leaders has been misguided. They are not mere incense merchants, but traitors and mercenaries. Alia's journey soon turns from dangerous to life-threatening.
The Frankincense Trail is a story that transports the reader to a time and place reminiscent of the Arabian Nights tales. About the Author
Jody Kihara
Jody Kihara is an author of children's and teen fiction. Shes write for several different age ranges, from chapter books to mid-grade to young adult. Her younger children's books are humorous, and her mid-grade and YA books have a strong element of adventure or mystery.
Connect With Jody:
Web Site
Facebook (book)
Facebook (author)
Blog
Twitter
My thanks to Morrigan Michele for stopping by The Character Connection and sharing a guest post during the blog tour for her book, Betrayed.
Guest Post
Hi Connie, Thanks for hosting me today.
My name is Morrigan Michele, and I am one of the authors of Betrayed. Before we begin, I would like to let everyone know that Betrayed got a new book cover! I am really excited about it. My husband Robert is the owner/operator of Eye Candy Studios and made the cover for me! So when you go on the links and look at Betrayed, don't be alarmed at the two different covers, they're in the process of swapping over.
Connie has asked me to talk a bit about my development of the characters in Betrayed. Character development, I think, is different for each author. In my particular case, the characters pretty much took on a life of their own; and in essence, they wrote the story themself. I know it sounds crazy, right? But, it's true. Each character has their own way of speaking, of doing things, and their own personality. So, when writing a story I cannot have someone do something that's out of character. Misty and I were talking about this just a few days ago. Some of our readers have asked us to have certain characters do something and we simply can't do it. When asked why we tell them that it's simply "out of character" for that particular character. I mean sure, as a writer we *could* have the Baptist preacher attend a Wiccan Sabbat; but it would not be in his character to do so. This particular preacher would rather chew off his left arm than attend such an event. Why? Because that's his character, it's just who he is.
When we thought up the characters, we created names, jobs, ages and their families/friends; it was like building a little community. We did think up certain personality traits for most of them, but some of the characters were "surprise" additions and came along towards the end of the story. These additional characters came because the original ones added them. It might not make sense to some of you, but that's just how it happens for me. I like to ensure that each character in my stories has the ability to be a "stand alone" character. In book 2 you will get an inside look at some of the other characters, and in the prequel to Betrayed titled Hunted which will be released in the Spring of 2012 you will get a closer look at Alexander and Tansey (Alexis' parents) as well as Giovanni and several others that you will hear about and see in Betrayed and Immortal Lineage.
When writing a certain character, I really have to get into their 'mind.' Sometimes, just like in acting, I have to spend the day in character so that when I sit down to write I am in character. Other times I simply just try and 'be' the character i.e. drinking what they drink, eat what they eat while I am writing. Once I get to know each character, it becomes easy to think, speak, and react as they do. So all in all, writing is a lot like acting-just on paper.
About the Book
Betrayed
Book Details:
Publisher: World Castle Publishing
Published: October 2011
Genre: YA Urban Paranormal Fantasy
Pages: 178
Format: paperback, ebook
Price: $8.99 paperback, $3.99 ebook
Buy Links: Amazon, Kindle
Blurb:
Love. Lies. Magick. Betrayal.
Alexis Allcroft is used to being different, but nothing could have prepared her for the buried secrets about to be revealed.
With her seventeenth birthday approaching the only thing on Alexis Allcroft's mind other than her birthday party is Sebastian Valto, the hot new guy in school.
Things suddenly take a strange twist, and in an effort to take the spotlight off herself, a spell backfires and her secrets are revealed as well; secrets she didn't know existed.
With her world quickly spinning out of control, Alexis realizes no one is what they appear to be, not even herself! Alexis will soon learn that family secrets run deep, blood deep.... About the Author
Morrigan Michele
Morrigan Michele lives in a small town in Texas with her husband, Robert, and their daughter Brianna.
Not only is she an author of YA Paranormal books, she also works as a marketing rep. and is one of the owners of For You P.R.
Morrigan enjoys writing, reading and spending time with family and friends.
Connect With Morrigan:
Web Site
Facebook (book)
Facebook (author)
Twitter
My thanks to Jeff Horton for stopping by The Character Connection and sharing a guest post during the blog tour for his book, The Dark Age.
Guest Post
Have you watched, as I have, the many post-apocalyptic movies that have come out of Hollywood over the past several decades? During the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty-first century, apocalyptic stories became increasingly popular, particularly at the box office. Movies like Mad Max, The Day After, Independence Day, Armageddon, Deep Impact, and 2012, just to name a few, have captured and held our imagination. I know that I've always been fascinated by apocalyptic thrillers, and I suppose many other people have as well. Apocalyptic stories in which the world is threatened and the unlikely hero finds himself in the right place at the right time to make a difference, and post-apocalyptic thrillers in which the protagonist is in a position to change the world for the better, have always inspired me, and helped me to realize how so very small many of my everyday concerns in life really are.
There have been a number of programs on television over the last few years, which examine possible outcomes should a specific global, catastrophic event occur, and how humanity might recover. There have also been experiments where people attempt to live as prehistoric man did, without the benefit of modern conveniences. While it certainly would be difficult to thrive or even survive under such conditions, one of the experiments I saw offered hope that humanity would be able to survive.
I didn't necessarily set out to write a post-apocalyptic thriller when I started writing The Dark Age, but it soon turned into one. As I did research for my first novel, The Great Collapse, and my second novel, The Dark Age, I was astonished to learn how vulnerable our national infrastructure and our civilization itself are to powerful electromagnetic pulses and solar flares. In 2008 a report requested by Congress and was completed by the EMP Commission. It confirmed that the threat of a single nuclear warhead detonated high in the atmosphere somewhere around Kansas was real, and that it could potentially take out the United States' national power grid.
In The Great Collapse, it is an EMP attack and a solar flare knock out power worldwide, causing civilization to collapse within months. Unlike an EMP generated by a nuclear detonation, however, the EMP attack and the solar flare renders it impossible for anyone anywhere on the planet to rebuild the technology so vital to our society. With most of humanity no longer possessing the know-how to safely live off of the land, it is a struggle just to survive. Now fast forward five-hundred years and you'll find yourself in The Dark Age, which is set in a world where humanity survives by the sword, the bow, and the arrow, while secretly hoping that a legend about the Great Oracle is true and that civilization will one day return to the Earth. The Dark Age is a story about self-discovery, perseverance, and self-sacrifice, all in an effort to save the world from a fate worse than death.
Hopefully, you will find as I did that The Dark Age paints a stark, yet intriguing and hopeful vision of the future, where heroes must work together in order to offer mankind a brighter tomorrow.
About the Book
The Dark Age
Book Details:
Publisher: World Castle Publishing
Published: June 2011
Genre: Fantasy, Science Fiction
Format: paperback & ebook
Price: $12.99 paperback, $5.49-$5.99 ebook Buy Links: Amazon, Kindle, Nook
Blurb:
Suppose you learned that an ancient prophecy about an artifact, said to be powerful enough to dramatically change the world, was true. Would you risk everything to find it? It has been five-hundred years since the Pulse caused the Great Collapse, ending the Golden Age, and civilization on planet Earth. Humanity has waited ever since for a long-anticipated sign from God, which has finally appeared in the night sky. The time has come for Ferrell Young, the Warrior Clan, and the Church to risk everything in an effort to restore civilization, and bring hope to a world full of despair. Alex Montgomery is an archaeologist who has spent many years looking for a mysterious book on behalf of the Holy Christian Church. The book is said to contain the location of the Great Oracle which, according to legend, can endow the one who finds it with great power and wealth. Of much greater importance to the Clan and the Church however, is the fact that it may also enable the world to emerge from five centuries of darkness and suffering. When a powerful, intelligent, but sadistic barbarian leader named Kraken learns of the Oracle, he plans to destroy the Warrior Clan and the Church, take the Oracle for himself, and enslave the rest of humanity. Join Ferrell and his companions as they set out on a desperate journey to find the Great Oracle, and rescue humanity from The Dark Age. 
About the Author
Jeff Horton
Jeff Horton was born in North Dakota, the youngest son of a career Air Force master sergeant, where he spent the first four years of his life before moving to North Carolina. A somewhat voracious reader growing up, he read everything from comic books to The Bible, including stories by many popular authors such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Michael Crichton, Tom Clancy, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien.
Jeff Horton's novel, The Great Collapse, a story about the coming of the pulse and the end of civilization, was published in 2010. He is a member of the North Carolina Writers Network.
When he's not penning his next novel, he enjoys reading, going to church, and spending time with his family.
Connect With Jeff:
Blog
Web Site
Facebook
Twitter
Book Summary:
Author Bio:
