A couple weeks ago I had the great pleasure of reading the book Embers by Laura Bickle for Bewitching Blog Tours. You can see my review HERE. Also in the next couple weeks I will read the sequel, Sparks. I can't wait! In the meantime, I was able to interview the author, Laura Bickle about her books, career, and Detroit. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed getting to know Laura!
Twitter: @Laura_Bickle
Sparky the fire salamander from EMBERS and SPARKS has his own Twitter account, here: @SparkySalamandr
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Hi Laura! So glad to see
you today!
Thanks so much for hosting
me! I'm very excited to meet you and your readers.
My husband is from Detroit,
and it was wonderful to have him play tour guide for me. Detroit has some very
magical places that are easily reimagined into landscapes for a book. And the
Detroit Salt Mine, which stretches beneath the city. It became the perfect
place for a dragon's lair. Michigan Central Station became a way station for
ghosts moving into the afterlife.
So Laura, your husband is
from the Detroit area, and you are from Ohio… I’ll skip the question about
rivals, and ask if you have a favorite place to visit in Michigan?
Ha. Yes, he went to Michigan
and I went to Ohio State. Fortunately, I'm not big into football, so there is
no internal household rivalry. ;-)
The place I loved most was
the Detroit Institute of Arts. I saw the pieces of the Ishtar Gate on display
there, and worked that into the mythology of EMBERS. Anya became an avatar of
Ishtar, and I had her return to visit the museum ghosts in SPARKS.
You write about Detroit
beautifully, when its not especially a favorite destination among travelers. Is
there something you would like your readers to take away from your books
regarding this city?
Thank you! I want readers to
know that there is incredible beauty, power, and magic in the city. Everywhere
I looked, I found a story. There's so much history - from speakeasies to the
churches - and I wanted to explore that for the reader.
I see you have a wide
range of studies, from criminology to politics to even library science and IT.
How did these fields help you write the Anya Kalinczyk books?
I spent around ten years
working in and around criminal justice, so I wanted to accurately get the feel
of a criminal investigation in the book. I did a lot of research in arson
investigation, which is far afield of my own personal experience. That's where
working in a library comes in - I love the research aspect of writing a story.
I think it's important to get those small details right, to make the story seem
'real.'
I’ve learned you are also
interested in Tarot. What about Tarot draws you to it?
I've puttered around with
Tarot since I was a teenager. I love the images, and the cards make great story
prompts.
Under my Alayna Williams
pseudonym, I'm the author of DARK ORACLE and ROGUE ORACLE, which follow the
adventures of Tara Sheridan, a criminal profiler who uses Tarot cards to solve
crimes. That was a wonderful opportunity to play with cards in a story.
Ok, now in Embers, the
male protagonist is Drake Ferrer. I really felt he was such an interesting
character with a rich history. How did he come to be, and is he based on anyone
in particular?
He's not based on a real
person, but he represents disillusionment. He embodies a desire to burn out the
old and build something new. In that respect, he's quite ruthless.
I also wanted him to have a
tie to Anya. He's the only other person Anya's met who can devour ghosts like
she can. And he understands the dark side of that power. Anya is forever having
to hide her destructive instincts from the rest of her ghost-hunting allies. I
wanted her to meet someone who understood her fully.
Ok Laura, time for some
easier questions! Your main character Anya lives in Hamtramck, which is known
to be like a little Poland in Michigan… do you like pierogis, and what’s your
favorite flavor?
Oh, NOM. I've never had a bad
pierogi, but my favorites are cheese and potato. I once had one with cheese AND
bacon that made me swoon.
And since I must obviously
be hungry, whats your go-to dessert if calories are only a figment of our
imagination?
Anything chocolate. And I
deliberately choose to ignore calorie counts for chocolate.
Do you have a favorite
movie?
I really loved CONSTANTINE. I
thought it was a great story, one I remember from back in the days when I
collected comic books.
And are you a winter or
summer lady?
Summer! I'm slightly
embarrassed to admit that I set up an inflatable kiddie pool in the backyard to
splash around in during the summer. It's the Budget Jacuzzi. It actually
attracted a pair of mallards last summer. I went outside with my towel and flip
flops, and there were two ducks paddling on the surface of the water, looking
at me with an expression of: "Yeah, so?"
And lastly, is there
anything you would like to tell the readers today? (your books, yourself,
society, outer space?)
If readers are curious about
my books, I love to hear from them! My website is www.salamanderstales.com.
I also keep a blog at http://salamanderstales.blogspot.com/
, and I tweet at https://twitter.com/Laura_Bickle.
In fall, my first YA book
will be released by Houghton Mifflin's Graphia line. It's called THE HALLOWEDONES, and it's pitched as "WITNESS meets 28 DAYS LATER." It's about
an Amish girl who must confront not only a massive disaster unfolding in the world
outside her community, but also the threat of darkness in her own increasingly
fragile society.
Thank you so much for
taking the time to interview with me today! I really appreciate it!
Thank you so much for having
me! This was a lot of fun. :-)
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Laura has worked in library science, criminology, and technology for several years. She and her chief muse live in the Midwest, owned by five mostly-reformed feral cats. She is represented by Becca Stumpf of Prospect Agency.
