Susan Abel Sullivan, author
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Q & A with Guest Author Jenn Lyons

11/19/2014

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Today I'm spotlighting Atlanta-based writer Jenn Lyons-- author of Blood Chimera and Blood Sin from World Weaver Press--with a distinctly Susan Sullivan Q & A session.  Let's jump right in . . . 


1.  Name three items on your bucket list.

   Hmm. Honestly, I’ve never done a bucket list. I would like to be on the New York Times’ Bestseller list someday, but that’s about as close to a ‘before I die’ list as I’ve gotten. 


    Ditto the New York Times Bestseller list for moi, too. 

2.  Secret (or not so secret) celebrity crush?

    Oh, it’s not a secret – Tom Hiddleston. He’s also my private fan-casting for Dr. Aerick Zorn (although more from his period piece work rather than the Thor/Avengers movies.) Of course, I don’t like to limit myself to just *one* celebrity crush. I have dozens!


    I had the biggest crush on Harrison Ford after Indiana Jones first came out.  And Johnny Depp and Matthew Perry are particular favs of mine. 

3.  What song or musical piece represents the soundtrack of your life at the moment?

     Girl with the Lion’s Tail, by SJ Tucker


    I'll have to Google this one.  If it isn't Zumba music, I tend to be unaware of it until someone in my class directs me to YouTube.

4. Do you have any secret or quirky talents?

     Oooh, um, hmm. I can draw? (I suppose that really isn’t much of a secret.) Oh, I suppose I do have a talent for acquiring scads of largely useless trivia about a wide range of subjects. For example, I once studied epidemiology for a year in order to describe what ended up being a very short passage on a fictional disease in one of my novels.

    On the plus side, I already knew all about ebola in advance of this most recent outbreak. 


    I'll make sure to find you should there be an ebola or zombie virus outbreak--you'd be very handy in an apocalyptic situation. *jots down note for future reference*

5.  If you could have one superhero power, what would it be and why?

    I’m greedy. I’d like my one superhero power to be possessing magic, a la Doctor Strange. Yes, that probably does include having every other super power.

    I’ll just have to learn to cope. Somehow.


     Hey, nothing wrong with being the All Being, Mistress of Space, Time and Dimension.  Go for the glory--and the power--I say!

6.  What’s lurking in your basement or crawl space?

    Literally? Granite. My house sits on this giant granite slab, so there isn’t any kind of basement or crawl space (actually a little bit of a concern, as the tornadoes creep further east and Atlanta has recently been reclassified as being inside ‘Tornado Alley.’) Metaphorically? My own insecurities and anxieties. Those demons lurk all over the place.



    Yes, you all do have that huge heap o'granite in Atlanta (Stone Mountain).  Makes sense that the ground is pure rock.  We have that lovely Georgia red clay in Anniston, Alabama. It's a bastard to dig up for a basement, but that's what back hoes are for.

    Love your metaphorical answer.  You win the prize, Jenn, for being the first guest to come up with that.  How would you like another cat? *Cue evil laugh*

7. Favorite Southern novel?

    I live in Georgia, which I realize means that I’m supposed to say Gone with the Wind. Despite that fact, I think I’ll go with To Kill A Mockingbird. Sorry, Margaret.


    To Kill a Mockingbird is my favorite Southern novel, too!

8.  If a genie could grant you three wishes, what would you wish for and why?

    Tempting as it is to wish for scads and scads of money, I think if I could wish for anything it would be the scientific advances we need to reliably leave Earth and colonize other planets. And with the second wish, for the wisdom to use those advances wisely.



    That's quite noble!

    After that sure. One wish left? Scads and scads of money. Why not? I could start up a scholarship.

9. Have you ever fallen in love with a fictional character(s), and if so, who and from what novel/show/movie?

    Oh, I fall in love with fictional characters constantly. I had a deeply committed relationship with Buckaroo Bonsai when I was thirteen, but that was before I ran off with Jareth into the Labyrinth. Talia Winters broke my heart on Babylon Five, and then Marcus Cole broke it again (apparently I really identified with Susan Ivanovna.) Most recently I had a giant crush on both the leads to Almost Human.

     Then of course, there’s Batman. There’s always Batman.


    Ah, yes, Batman. *swoons*

10.  And since you live in Atlanta, I’ve gotta ask: Coke or Pepsi?  Georgia or Georgia Tech? Rhett or Ashley?


    Coke, but I can’t drink soft drinks anymore (or sugar) for health reasons. Definitely Georgia Tech (my sister received her degree there.) Also: Rhett. 


     I'm a Rhett gal, myself.  Ashley was always too milquetoast for me.  

     
    And that concludes today's Q & A with author Jenn Lyons.  Major thanks to Jenn for taking the time out of her busy schedule to answer my goofy questions.  


--Jenn Lyons lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, three cats and a lot of opinions on anything from Sumerian creation myths to the correct way to make a martini. At various points in her life, she has wanted to be an archaeologist, anthropologist, architect, diamond cutter, fashion illustrator, graphic designer, or Batman. Turning from such obvious trades, she is now a video game producer by day, and spends her evenings writing science fiction and fantasy. When not writing, she can be found debating the Oxford comma and Joss Whedon’s oeuvre at various local coffee shops.   
 

Blood Sin, the sequel to the paranormal mystery Blood Chimera by Jenn Lyons, is available in trade paperback and ebook today, Tuesday, November 4, 2014.   


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Cleo vs Me: Author/Character Smackdown!

11/12/2014

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Authors of first-person point-of-view novels are often accused of writing Mary Jane novels, that is, the protagonist is really the author in disguise (or maybe not so disguised). 
So just how similar am I to Cleo Tidwell, the star of my Cleo Tidwell paranormal mystery books?  

Well, let's see . . . 
Cleo lives in a Victorian home in Allister, Alabama.  I live in a Victorian home in Anniston, Alabama, but we do NOT have any black velvet paintings--haunted or otherwise--in the house.

Cleo is on her third marriage.  I've been married to the same man for 25 years.

Cleo lives next door to her sister, Molly, who has four girls.  I have a sister who isn't named Molly who has four girls who doesn't live next door to me.  Although it would be totally awesome if she did.


Cleo's husband is the director of bands at Allister State University.  I think my hubs played trumpet in 6th grade band. After that he took up football, although he was part of a musical folk group in high school and college and he plays guitar.  Readers often ask me if Bertram is based on my hubs.  The answer is a resounding NO. Writing about my husband is just too personal. He and Bertram share a couple of personality traits, but otherwise, he's nothing like Bertram.

Cleo is a collegiate majorette coach.  I was a majorette in high school and taught twirling lessons in high school and college, and more recently was the choreographer for my high school alumni majorette line. 

So is Cleo me?  Not really, although I do think of her as a hyped-up alter ego of myself in the same way that Batman is Bruce Wayne's alter ego, but we're really not the same person. My publisher did an uncanny job with finding a model for my book covers who looks an awful lot like a younger me, especially The Weredog Whisperer cover.  Compare the book cover above with this picture of myself from a few years ago.  Someone even asked me if I posed for the cover! How flattering!

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