Mundie Moms

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Mundie Moms Interview with Claire De Lune author Christine Johnson

We are very excited to have Christine Johnson, author of Claire De Lune on our blog with us today!

We are wolf girls at heart and are very excited for Claire De Lune. What can you tell us about the origin of your werewolf mythology?


Yay! I’m so glad to hear about people looking forward to Claire! It was so much fun to write. Okay, so the origin of my werewolf mythology. Right. Well, basically what I did was spend a ton of time reading werewolf (and werefox and werebat and werewhathaveyou) mythology from around the world, and then I pretty much turned it all on its head. Because there’s no - I mean, it’s not a written tradition, right? It’s like anything mythological. It’s a story told from a story told from a story. Like a game of telephone, where the end result is totally different from the origin. That’s one reason I incorporated certain facets of the myth - that werewolves would have unusual abilities, like opening locks without keys - but expanded on them. Often, I think, “fantastic” things that manage to survive do so because they stay hidden. Because the stories and the treasure-maps and the myths are misleading enough to cover the “true” tracks. Does that make sense?


Yes, that definitely makes sense and we think sounds for an amazing read!


Which character did you enjoy writing the most? Why?


Emily. (I mean, besides Claire, of course.) I love Emily. I can hear her, see her. If I type something for her that’s not quite in her voice, I can practically see her rolling her eyes at me. She’s just incredibly real in my own head.


Which character did you find most challenging to write? Why?


This is a hard question to answer without spoilers. Dr. Engle was rather difficult, though. His character required a really fine balance. While he’s obviously a huge danger to Claire and her kind, and he’s rabidly dedicated to the idea of eradicating lycanthropy . . . he’s not evil. What he’s doing, he’s doing out of a very real sense of what’s right.

He’s wrong, of course, but he’s not malicious. Sometimes those are the most dangerous people, and that combination was perfect for his character . . . but it turns out that it’s not such an easy thing to write!

We're looking forward to meeting these characters.

What was special about Hanover Falls that made it the setting for your book?


Well, Hanover Falls is a fictional town. I thought about trying to use a real-life city, but it didn’t work. In a lot of ways, Claire de Lune was really complicated, setting-wise. I needed specific places, and I needed them to relate in certain ways. I didn’t know any actual towns that had the combination of things I needed to make the plot function smoothly. Eventually, I decided that the best thing to do was create a town. And, since I’d already created an all-female species of werewolf, it didn’t seem like a huge hurdle to make up a town!


In writing Claire De Lune, which author do you think influenced you the most?


That’s a tough question. I try to ride the line between action and literature . . . I don’t think any one author influenced me in particular. I’m always reading YA stuff, and I read really fast. So whatever I’m reading is influencing me at that moment, but that means from Monday to Wednesday, I’m trying to be John Green, but from Wednesday to Friday, I’m all fired up because of a Holly Black novel. And on and on and on. Mostly, I think that I’m inspired to try and strike a balance wherein my readers are finding the plot exciting and intriguing, but are also able to notice some good metaphors, etc. I’ll tell you, the person/book that has done that the absolute BEST in the last year (in my opinion, of course,) is Libba Bray, with GOING BOVINE.


You've listed some of our favorite authors!


How did you balance writing Claire De Lune with Mom duties?

I didn’t. Honestly.

My cousin’s wife said it best. We were talking about working and parenting and she said “I feel like my life is a string of interruptions.” And that’s just it. The moment I’m fully engaged and really rocking as a mommy, I need to/have to/want to work. And then as soon as the writing is flowing and I’m in a perfect groove and could go forever - that’s when the sitter has to leave. Or the kids wake up from their naps. Or when I really have to go to bed if I’m not going to be a total grump over Hi-Ho Cherri-o in the morning.

The other thing that makes it work is that I have really great support. Some good baby-sitters. A wonderful husband. And a mom who is there for me every step of the way, always volunteering to watch the kids or make dinner. Without my mother, I would not be able to do half of what I do (mostly because *she’s* doing the other half of the stuff for me.)

Of course, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. Writing and mothering are the two most important things I do - they’re my most critical self-identities. The frustration of trying to juggle them is absolutely worth it if I get to claim both.

Hey - it’s been so fun talking to you! Thanks for having me over for a chat.

I love the honest answer. Some of us started writing and are finding it's hard to balance Mom time and writing. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with us! We are looking forward to Claire De Lune's release on May 18th and our chat with you that same night!!

You can find out more about Claire De Lune here- http://www.christinejohnsonbooks.com/books/ Be sure to pre-order Clare De Lune today! Don't forget to mark your calendars for our May 18th chat with Christine, when Claire De Lune is released by Simon Pulse (Simon and Schuster).

Twitter Tuesday - Cassie Clare Q&A

Imagine our surprise when we saw that tweet from Cassie yesterday afternoon? And what followed was a wonderful frenzy of questions and answers.

Here is a sample of the Q&A for Clockwork Angel:

"Is there gonna be a love triangle between Tessa Will & Jem?" It's me, so it's more of a love hexagram.

"Will we see more of the fairy kingdom in either book?" No, but in later Clockwork books perhaps.

"Is Camille going to be the villain in CoFA and/or CA?" She really is a more complex character than that.

"Will you you be talking about the sequels of TCA at the Smart Chicks Kick It Tour since they will already be out?" YES I WILL.

Now a sampling of the questions for City of Fallen Angels:

"I've read WHITE CAT but I didn't see anything Jace related .." Cassel tells a story about a guy named Jace in his dorm.

"Do Clary and Jace finally hook up in COFA?" Be weird if they'd been dating two months and hadn't made out.

"Will Jace/Clary fans be happy at the end of COFA?" That depends what they like.

“Will Max get suddenly resurrected in CoFA?" I like to think of him leading an army of tiny zombies.

"Will Isabelle have another love interest? I mean,someone who's not Simon?" What's wrong with Simon? Izzy's a busy girl, she dates around.


Well, if you are as excited as we are, be sure to check out our Forum because ALL of the Q&As are transcribed there. Go take a look, here.

Book Review - The Iron Daughter


By Julie Kagawa
Published by Harlequin Teen

Released On August 1,2010
Source- Netgalley
5 Stars

Synopsis: (from netgalley.com)
Half Summer faery princess, half human, Meghan has never fit in anywhere. Deserted by the Winter prince she thought loved her, she is prisoner to the Winter faery queen.


As war looms between Summer and Winter, Meghan knows that the real danger comes from the Iron Fey, iron-bound faeries that only she and her absent prince have seen. But no one believes her. Worse, Meghan's own fey powers have been cut off. She's alone in Faery with only her wits for help. Trusting anyone would be foolish. Trusting a seeming traitor could be deadly. But even as she grows a backbone of iron, Meghan can't help but hear the whispers of longing in her all-too-human heart.

See I have a thing about sequels -- they either hit the mark or they don't. There's no in-between point, at least not for me.

And I loved The Iron King's mythology, charcters and plot, so I did have to wonder could Julie Kagawa do that all over again? Well,YA Fantasy Fans, she did even more!

What I adored the most about The Iron King was the mythology -- the nod to traditional faerie lore and then the completely justified and believable addition of an Iron Court. This tilted the familiar power struggle between the Seelie and the Unseelie Courts and created complete chaos. It was exhilirating to read through it. But now what?

Well, Julie answered that question. She answered it in spades. When we last left Meaghan and Ash they were on their way to Ash's home, The Winter Court. Not exactly the turf that a Summer Court Princess (albeit half-human, half-fey) would feel comfortable in but Meaghan had made a promise to Ash and to the fey, promises are everything.

I'm going to keep this review spoiler-free, so let me just say that the book may start off with the fulfillment of a promise but where it leads you is so unbelievably unexpected that you will be gasping out loud. I've read a few books like this, so chock full of action that you find it exhilirating to turn the pages only to discover that there's even more. Isn't that the best part? I'm going to take a moment and compare Julie's action writing sequences to those of my favorite YA fantasy author, Cassandra Clare. Yes, they are THAT good. That unbelievably good.

But that's not the best part. The very best part were the characters' arcs -- Meaghan's, Ash's and Puck's. Their back-stories, journeys and amazing transformations were so credible that I found my heart aching for them.

And please, don't even ask if there's romance. There is unbelievable, forbidden, beautiful romance. Again, my hat's off to Julie, who wrote the scene on page 99 so well, that I had to text a few of my close bookwormish pals just to vent. What did the text say, you ask? It said, "He's breaking my heart, but in a good way."

A full five-stars to Julie Kagawa's The Iron Daughter. If you love action, romance and watching how characters mature through heart-wrenching trials, you will love this story as much as I do.

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