"What's In a Name?" Indie Author Spotlight: Andrea Colt

Surprise! The amazing Andrea Colt, author of Torched, found a slice of time in between wedding planning to talk about names! Woot! Perfect timing, since TODAY (March 11th, 2013) is the last day of the Indie Giveaway! Don't forget to enter for a chance to win 11 ebooks, or 3 print books and a $20 Amazon card!

Andrea Colt grew up reading and squabbling with her identical twin. She lives in Alexandria, Virginia with her fiancé, a fridge full of cheese, and two feline muses. Visit andreacolt.com to get to know her better.

Torched

Cheerleader Rose Whitfield's senior year goes up in smoke when she's framed for arson. Sure the culprit is her neighbor and nemesis Paxton, she sets out to clear her name and take Paxton down hard--not necessarily in that order.

Do you write under your actual name or a pen name, and is there any special meaning behind your name? 

My real last name is the same as a certain political writer, and my first name is pretty similar to hers too, so Andrea Colt is a pen name. I just shortened the last name.

Actually originally I went by the pen name Lynn Colt, using my middle name, but I found it too difficult to answer to a different first name under my writer persona, so I switched back to Andrea when publishing Torched. Note to writers thinking about a pen name: it's waaay easier when you just change your last name! 

What are the names of your main characters and what can you tell us about them? 

Rose Whitfield has it all at the beginning of Torched: she's a popular cheerleader dating the hottest guy in school. But then she loses everything, and has to find out who framed her and also why. That journey forces her to re-examine how she treats people, and what kind of person she wants to be, and by the end of the book she's a pretty different girl!

Paxton Callaway is Rose's next-door neighbor, and since he and Rose have been locked in a war of practical jokes for years, she assumes he's the one behind her downfall. He's hot, a football player, and more than a match for Rose's wit and drive :) 

Do their names have special significance to your story or were they just names that you liked? 

Naming things is the hardest part of writing, for me! I just liked the names, and felt they fit the characters. Same with settings - I like to have fictional settings, so that I have more creative freedom with places and layouts, so I have to name everything!

I modeled Rose's town, Petalina, after Petaluma, California. My next book, Wavecrossed, is about selkies in Maine (and stars another smart, determined protagonist I had a lot of fun writing), and I modeled that town on the area south of Portland, Maine. It's not exact, as I took a lot of creative license, but I tried to evoke the feel of the area :)

Thanks for stopping by! 

Thanks so much for having me! For more on Torched or Wavecrossed, see the My Books section of my website. Have a great day, everyone!

 

Hope you have all enjoyed this series of interviews!

Leave a comment and let me know 

what kind of questions you'd like to ask your favorite authors!

 

You can find Andrea all across the interwebs...

Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | Nook

 

Don’t forget to check out the Indie Giveaway for a chance to win an ebook of Sharon's novel, Sky Song, along with 10 more awesome ebooks by some great indie authors! Also up for grabs are 3 print books and a $20 Amazon card! 

 
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"What's In a Name?" Indie Autor Spotlight: ME!

So, we're nearing the end of the list of indie authors contributing to the great big giveaway. I think I've interviewed everyone, except for the wondrous Andrea Colt, author of Torched, who is currently busy with wedding planning, and myself. So today, I'm going answer the "What's In a Name?" questions too. Woot! There are three days left in the Indie Giveaway! Don't forget to enter for a chance to win 11 ebooks, or 3 print books and a $20 Amazon card! 

In case you're new to my blog, my name is Angela Roquet, and I'm the author of Graveyard Shift, the first novel of my Lana Harvey, Reapers Inc. series. Book 2, Pocket Full of Posies, was released last year, and Book 3, For the Birds, is due out in April! Graveyard Shift is available in both giveaway drawings, as an ebook and in print. So here's what's in a name, according to me...



Urban Fantasy Author Angela Roquet is a great big weirdo. She collects Danger Girl comic books, owls, skulls, and random craft supplies. She has an unhealthy obsession with television shows created by Joss Whedon and fantasizes about him directing television or film versions of her novels. Angela is a peace loving, tree hugging hippy who tries to buy organic and local as often as possible. She’s a fan of renewable energy sources, marriage equality, and religious tolerance. As long as whatever you’re doing isn’t hurting anyone, she’s a fan of you, too. Angela lives in Sedalia, Missouri with her husband and son. When she’s not swearing at the keyboard, she enjoys painting, goofing off with her family and friends, and reading books that raise eyebrows.

Graveyard Shift                                 The Inferno has Evolved… Lana Harvey is a reaper, and a lousy one at that. She resides in Limbo City, the modern capital of the collective afterlives, where she likes to stick it to the man (the legendary Grim Reaper himself) by harvesting the bare minimum of souls required of her. She’d much rather be hanging out with Gabriel, her favorite archangel, at Purgatory Lounge. But when a shocking promotion falls in her lap, Lana learns something that could unravel the very fabric of Eternity. If the job isn’t completed, there could be some real hell to pay.

Do you write under your actual name or a pen name, and is there any special meaning behind your name?

I write under my maiden name. I had not met my husband yet when I first published Graveyard Shift. I think it's important to be consistent, so your readers can find you. Also, I really like my maiden name. It has a Q in it! ; )

What are the names of your main characters and what can you tell us about them?

Lana Harvey is reaper. She works for Grim at Reapers Inc. She doesn't really like her job, but as a race created especially for said job, she doesn't have much of a choice. She gets by doing the bare minimum, but she'd rather be hanging out with her best friend, the archangle Gabriel, at Purgatory Lounge in Limbo City. Besides Lana and Gabe, Lana's sailing partner, Josie Galla, is also part of the central gang. Josie is more serious about being a reaper. She does her best to keep Lana in line.

Do their names have special significance to your story or were they just names that you liked? 

Most of them were just names that I liked, but there are also quite a few deities from various faiths whose names I did not makeup, and I can barely pronounce some of them. For example, the Aztec goddess Tlazolteotl. There are a few names for a handful of the reapers, that come into play in later books, that I chose because of their meaning. They either related to death or consolation or light, as in the light at the end of the tunnel. 

What are some names of places where your characters’ stories unfold?

Most of Lana's story unfolds in Limbo City, the capital of the Afterlife. There is a plethora of fictional business and such, like Purgatory Lounge and Athena's Boutique. Some of the story also takes place in a few of the heavens and hells, where there are more fictional places, like the Inferno Chateau.There is an occasional stop in the mortal realm as well.


Do the names of your setting has special significance?

I try to make them fun and cleverly appropriate. I even have fictional brand names, like Gabriel's preferred beer, Ambrosia Ale, and the top radio station in Hell, the Fallen Frequency.

What do you have planned for 2013? 
A heart attack if I don't hurry up and finish this third book! haha I'm only half kidding. I'd like to release the fourth book in my Reapers Inc. series and also finish a standalone YA novel by the end of the year. Wish me luck!

Hope you have all enjoyed this series of interviews!

Leave a comment and let me know 

what kind of questions you'd like to ask your favorite authors!

 

You can find Angela all across the interwebs...

Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon

 

Don’t forget to check out the Indie Giveaway for a chance to win an ebook of Sharon's novel, Sky Song, along with 10 more awesome ebooks by some great indie authors! Also up for grabs are 3 print books and a $20 Amazon card! 

 
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"What's In a Name?" Indie Author Spotlight: Clare Marshall

Today's Indie Giveaway featured writer is Clare Marshall, author of The Violet Fox. Clare is another one of the eleven talented indie authors who have come together to create the Indie Giveaway going on until March 11th. The prizes in the giveaway are 11 free ebooks, and 3 free print books plus a $20 Amazon card! So let's find out "What's in a name?" according to Clare...

Clare Marshall grew up in rural Nova Scotia with very little television and dial up internet, and yet, she turned out okay. She has a combined honours degree in journalism and psychology from the University of King’s College, and is a graduate from Humber College’s Creative Book Publishing Program. She founded Woulds & Shoulds Editing and Design in 2010 for self-published authors and businesses looking for quality editing and design services. She enjoys publishing books through her publishing imprint, Faery Ink Press, and released her first novella, Within in 2011. When she’s not writing, she enjoys playing the fiddle and making silly noises at cats.

The Violet Fox

There are two kinds of people in the land of Marlenia. The Marlenians, who live on the surface, and the Freetors, who are forced to live underground.

The war between them ended two hundred years ago, but the Freetors still fight for the right to live under the sun. Fifteen-year-old Kiera Driscoll embodies the Freetors’ hopes as the Violet Fox. In a violet cape and mask, she sneaks around Marlenia City stealing food and freeing her people from slavery.

Then the Elders task her with a secret mission: retrieve a stolen tome that contains the secrets of Freetor magic, something the Marlenians both fear and covet. Kiera must disguise herself as a noblewoman and infiltrate the Marlenian castle before the Freetor-hating Advisor finds out her real identity, before her brother is imprisoned because of the secrets he hides, and before she falls any more in love with the prince she’s supposed to hate.

More is happening in the castle than she realizes, and Kiera is faced with a difficult choice. Will she be loyal to her people and their fight for freedom, or will she be loyal to her heart?

Do you write under your actual name or a pen name, and is there any special meaning behind your name? 
Clare C. Marshall is my real name. The “C” is my middle name, which is Campbell. On my mom’s side of the family, it’s sort of a tradition for the middle name to be a surname. Campbell is my mom’s middle name, it’s her mother’s middle name, and it comes from being descended from the Campbells. 


What are the names of your main characters and what can you tell us about them? 

The main character’s name in The Violet Fox is Kiera Driscoll. Kiera is an Irish/Scottish name, meaning Dark One, and it suits her as she’s quite impulsive, and she also has black hair. Driscoll is an Irish surname, meaning messenger, which has some importance within the story. 

Kiera is known on the streets as the Violet Fox because she is slippery and clever, like a fox, always escaping tricky situations. She fights for equality because her people have been forced to live underground—so she’s kind of like Robin Hood, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor! The royal family in the story wears violet, and she adopts it as part of her “costume” on the streets to mock everything they stand for. Hence, The Violet Fox!

Do their names have special significance to your story or were they just names that you liked? 
Yes, names are extremely significant. When you’re writing fantasy you can’t always just choose names you like—they have to fit and make sense within the world you’ve built for the story.

When I first started writing this story when I was young, I chose the names Kiera and Keegan as my female and male protagonists’ names. Because I liked those names so much and wasn’t willing to change them, I had to build my world (or at least, the part of the world the story takes place in) with Irish and Scottish influences so the names would make sense within the world.

A name I changed to keep everything consistent was the name of Kiera’s best friend. Her name is Laoise (pronounced LEE-sha, also Irish), but originally, her name was Laci. 


What are some fictional names of places where your characters’ stories unfold? 

The world that The Violet Fox universe exists in is called Marlenia, and is divided into four provinces: north, east, south & west. The events of The Violet Fox take place in the western province, where the culture has Irish/Scottish influences. An example of a place name in the western province is Feenagh Forest.

The other three provinces draw from different cultural influences. The East is more Germanic, the South has African and Indian influences, and the North is Spanish/French. We see a lot of the north’s culture in The Violet Fox because Kiera must impersonate a noblewoman from the North named Dominique Castillo. 


How did you choose the names for your fictional settings? Do they have special significance? 

I tried to keep the names as cohesive as possible to fit with my Irish/Scottish theme. Feenagh is Irish for “wooded place” (I know, such a creative name for a forest!). I have a book of Irish place names and their significance, that was a help. It will continue to be a help in the sequel to The Violet Fox, called The Silver Spear, as we see a lot more of the countryside in the second book. 


Thanks for stopping by, Clare! 

No problem, thanks for having me!

If you’re a fan of fantasy adventure tales with strong female characters undertaking huge risks for love and duty, The Violet Fox is for you! At this time of writing, The Violet Fox is on special for 99 cents. So, it’s the perfect opportunity to at least download some sample chapters (http://www.faeryinkpress.com/books/the-violet-fox/the-violet-fox-sample-chapter-1) and check out my take on a Cinderella/Robin Hood tale.

 
 

Find Clare Marshall all across the interwebs....

Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon

 

Don’t forget to check out the Indie Giveaway for a chance to win an ebook of Clare's novel, The Violet Fox, along with 10 more awesome ebooks by some great indie authors!

 
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"What's In a Name?" Indie Author Spotlight: Elisa Nuckle

Today's Indie Giveaway featured writer is Elisa Nuckle, author of Dominant Race. Elisa is another one of the eleven talented indie authors who have come together to create the Indie Giveaway going on until March 11th. The prizes in the giveaway are 11 free ebooks, and 3 free print books plus a $20 Amazon card! So let's find out "What's in a name?" according to Elisa...

Elisa Nuckle is a twenty-something fantasy and science fiction novelist. It's always been her dream to chase ideas down and put them into concrete words. Currently, she's undergoing enlightenment at a community college in Houston, Texas, and plans on getting an English major in the hopefully-not-too-distant future.

Dominant Race

Lilia is a genetically altered human - a modified - with special animal instincts and abilities. She is half wolf under the microscope, and it shows.

When Lilia learns about a growing threat against all modified, she leaves home for the first time to join a militia that, like her and her family, survive in the outskirts of the intolerant Greater Cities of the East.

Their enemies? The Eighth General and the ever-expanding devolved, degenerate modified that are mindless killers, blind instinct and rage in human form. When chaos erupts in the First City, Lilia and her allies must choose: help a government in the business of killing their kind, or defend someone in the business of killing everyone else?

Dominant Race is a 32,000 word novella and the first book in the Modified Trilogy.

Do you write under your actual name or a pen name, and is there any special meaning behind your name? 
Both, actually. I write some side genres under a pen name and fantasy and science fiction under my real name, Elisa Nuckle.

What are the names of your main characters and what can you tell us about them? 

The main characters in Dominant Race are Lilia, Avari, Owen, Damon, and Carm. Lilia and Co. as I call them, haha. They are all modified.

Modified are genetically enhanced humans that have basically been "modified" with animal DNA to give them special abilities and instincts (think of the newest Spider-Man movie and all that gene talk and this is basically it). So they all interact with each other in really interesting ways. Whining, head rubbing, nipping at each other. Typical animal behaviors just in people format.

Lilia is a really headstrong woman who has been sheltered from the chaos that is the modified existence. Modified aren't allowed in the Cities -- advanced metropolitan areas walled off from the poor environment around them and governed by a single General. When all of those issues come knocking on her door, she chooses to go explore the world for the first time, and it has some serious repercussions. She's a wolf modified, so she has some wolf abilities and physical features (golden eyes in particular).

Avari, Damon, and Carm, on the other hand, are rebel modified defenders and are very experienced fighters. Avari is another wolf modified while Damon is a snow leopard modified and Carm is a tiger modified. Cats have different instincts and abilities, so those two tend to be less social and more isolated.

All modified characters have been really fun to write. Thinking outside of the box about how they see reality has been a big challenge -- and a fun one!

Do their names have special significance to your story or were they just names that you liked? 

Uh, Lilia's name is a goof on her parents' part. They found an old relic plaque that said "Lilia Lass of '09" and decided to name their kid Lass or Lilia, depending on gender. Later when the plaque was cleaned up (which took a lot of work because it's centuries old) they realized it said "Lilian Class of '09."

Everyone else is just preference.

What are some fictional names of places where your characters’ stories unfold? 

Hughes is a major place. It's one of the Cities, and where a lot of events unfold. It's located in the Tennessee area, just hundreds and hundreds of years in the future (after an apocalyptic end of sorts)

How did you choose the names for your fictional settings? Do they have special significance? 
All the major Cities are a play on currently major cities or locations now. Hughes, for example, is a play on Houston. Ashing is just W-ashing-ton, and so on.

Thanks for stopping by, Elisa! 

Pleasure to be here. I appreciate you taking the time to interview me. :)
 
 

Find Elisa Nuckle all across the interwebs....

Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon

 

Don’t forget to check out the Indie Giveaway for a chance to win an ebook of Elisa's novel, Dominant Race, along with 10 more awesome ebooks by some great indie authors!

 
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"What's In a Name?" Indie Author Spotlight: David Rashleigh

Today's Indie Giveaway featured writer is David Rashleigh, author of Scrion. David is another one of the eleven talented indie authors who have come together to create the Indie Giveaway going on until March 11th. The prizes in the giveaway are 11 free ebooks, and 3 free print books plus a $20 Amazon card! So let's find out "What's in a name?" according to David...

David Rashleigh was born in Bedford, England, a descendent of a branch of the Rashleigh family that still inhabits Menabilly, near Fowey in Cornwall. Aged 13, he won a scholarship to be educated at Bedford School. Following spectacularly bad A-level results, he spent a year travelling the world with the merchant navy, during which time he saw an awful lot of water. This was followed by a career in the RAF, best described as "inglorious and short". Eventually, he found his niche as a railway signalling engineer, at which he has enjoyed significantly greater success.

His career as an author is entirely accidental. An interest in history and especially how it surrounds us every day led to the idea for Sciron: writing the book was greatly helped by having a separate study and a deep dislike of soap operas and "reality" television. The dramatis personae in Sciron are not based on any real people, although David could not resist inflicting some facets of his own personality on more than one of the characters. Naturally, he will not own up to which people he has blessed in this manner. Prospective readers should, however, note that Sciron is not in any way a funny book. Apart from the bit where...but that would be telling.

Besides history, David's interests include aviation (he holds a rarely-used private pilot's licence) and target shooting; the latter largely to impress his daughter's boyfriends with his easy-going but protective nature.

David first visited Lancashire (the location for much of Sciron) in 1985, intending to stay for just one week. He is still there. He lives in Penwortham with his wife and two children.

Scrion
How can a ghost haunt the top floor of a new building?
A murder victim’s spirit cannot escape the former railway line where he worked and was killed. Other victims of the same incident haunt a young Yorkshire man. A former soldier is researching his father’s disappearance when he stumbles across a wartime act of sabotage. A young couple and their son, unaware of the history of the huge stone wall that faces their flat, receive terrifying visitations. But who was the spy, codenamed Sciron, who was responsible for destruction, betrayal and death?

Do you write under your actual name or a pen name, and is there any special meaning behind your name? 

Er, both. David Rashleigh was the name that I was born with but my parents separated when I was young and my stepfather adopted me, leaving me with a different surname. I decided to go back to my original name for writing purposes in order to re-establish that link with my past.

What are the names of your main characters and what can you tell us about them? 

The central character is Jack Rimmer, an ex-soldier turned military historian in his mid sixties. Steve and Katie Melling, along with their son Joshua are the residents of a flat central to the plot: they are Lancashire working-class folk just doing their best to get by. Cedric Morgan is an elderly former MI5 officer who...well, you’ll have to find that out for yourself!

Do their names have special significance to your story or were they just names that you liked? 

Generally, the names are common ones in the area in which the story is set. Otherwise, they just sounded right. 

What are some fictional names of places where your characters’ stories unfold? 

There are none! Every location of every scene is a real place. 

Creating a fictional story in a real setting can be a lot of work. Did you enjoy the research?

I greatly enjoyed making sure that the technical details of the story were correct. For instance, there is a scene in which Jack Rimmer is reading a newspaper from the 1940s and I have been able to describe the advertisements on the page simply because they are real! 

Thanks for sharing! 

Find David Rashleigh all across the interwebs....

Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon

 

Don’t forget to check out the Indie Giveaway for a chance to win an ebook of David's novel, Scrion, along with 10 more awesome ebooks by some great indie authors! Scrion is also available in paperback, and is one of the three print books offered in the second drawing, along with a $20 Amazon card! 

 
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