Mundie Moms

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Interview with Courtney Allison Moulton, Debut Author of Angelfire

Today we're thrilled to have Courtney Allison Moulton on our site! Her debut book, Angelfire, releases next Tuesday from Harper Teen/Katherine Teagen Books! Here's a synopsis of Angelfire-

Angelfire

This debut, the first novel in a trilogy, is achingly romantic, terrifying, and filled with blistering action.

When seventeen-year-old Ellie starts seeing reapers - monstrous creatures who devour humans and send their souls to Hell - she finds herself on the front lines of a supernatural war between archangels and the Fallen and faced with the possible destruction of her soul.

A mysterious boy named Will reveals she is the reincarnation of an ancient warrior, the only one capable of wielding swords of angelfire to fight the reapers, and he is an immortal sworn to protect her in battle. Now that Ellie's powers have been awakened, a powerful reaper called Bastian has come forward to challenge her. He has employed a fierce assassin to eliminate her - an assassin who has already killed her once.

While balancing her dwindling social life and reaper-hunting duties, she and Will discover Bastian is searching for a dormant creature believed to be a true soul reaper. Bastian plans to use this weapon to ignite the End of Days and to destroy Ellie's soul, ending her rebirth cycle forever. Now, she must face an army of Bastian's most frightening reapers, prevent the soul reaper from consuming her soul, and uncover the secrets of her past lives - including truths that may be too frightening to remember.

You can read my 4 star review here.



Congratulations on your upcoming debut release!! I love that you started writing at a young age. What writers have been a big influence on you?
Thank you so much! RL Stine made me love books when I was little and when I got older, I loved reading Annette Curtis Klause, early Laurell K Hamilton, Richelle Mead, and Michael Crichton. Scary, supernatural stories are the only books I’ve ever loved and I don’t think I could write or read anything else. I wrote my first novel-length book at sixteen and never stopped.


I really like your angel mythology. Where did you draw your inspiration from for creating your mythology?
A lot of my lore is based on Renaissance Christian literature with strong influences from John Milton and Dante Alighieri, and based on what I had studied growing up. A lot of the world in Angelfire has my own personal spin on it to suit the story I wanted to tell and the mythology surrounding the reapers is almost entirely my creation. I had the most fun designing my reapers, both angelic and demonic.

What is one quality you most admire about Ellie and Will?
I really admire their determination. They stand against insurmountable odds and never back down. Neither one of them is fearless, but they’re as courageous as they can possibly be. The monsters they battle are frightening and vicious, and they never give up. I wish I was as brave as Ellie and Will.

With Wings of the Wicked, do you feel it's easier to write a sequel or more challenging?
I look at sequels as a challenge, but one to which I say “Bring it on!” A lot of writers are intimidated by their second books, but I want to get bigger and better every time. For me, it’s more difficult to write a first book because I don’t know the characters yet. They’re strangers to me and because I outline very extensively before I write, I don’t really know what they’d do in every situation. By the time I get to a sequel, I know these characters inside and out and I don’t get stuck the way I do in a fresh new story.

If you could take your horse Pia, and go horseback riding anywhere in the world, where would you want to go and why?
This is a tricky question, because most show horses are terrified of their own shadows and if they aren’t in a riding arena, they have psychotic breakdowns. Pia loves to go on trail rides, but if there are wild animals (deer, turkeys, bugs, birds in the grass/trees), things can get ugly. I was once riding another young horse along a canal in Florida and there was an alligator in our path who just wouldn’t budge. That was a hoot, believe me. But if I could ride Pia anywhere without getting killed, it would be on an exotic beach. How beautiful would that be? Ah! =D

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Thank you Courtney for being with us today! I can only imagine how the ride went when you encountered the alligator. Riding a horse on the beach would be awesome!!

On Monday we're giving away an ARC of Angelfire as part of our 2 yr Bday bash!!!

Don't forget to visit the Dark Days of Super Natural page (http://www.harperteen.com/feature/darkdays/) to read an excerpt of Angelfire, grab the widget and much more.

You can also click Courtney's picture to be taken to her Harper Teen page or the picture of Angelfire to be taking to Dark Days of Super Natural Tour's facebook page.

6 comments:

  1. Wow, what a great interview. I'm really excited to read Angelfire!

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  2. Awesome interview!! Loved knowing more about the mythology basis.

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  3. I loved this book! Great interview. Thanks

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  4. Thanks for hosting this interview! Angelfire has such a unique mythology to it and it was great reading where it came from. :-)

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  5. Congratulations on your upcoming release, Courtney. I had the privilege of reading the ARC through Net Galley and I LOVED it. Can't wait to put my staff pick on the actual book this Tuesday (hope we get it right away) and start hand selling. Cheers, Deb

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  6. Thank you! I loved finding out where Courtney received her inspiration from.

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