Book Info-
Title- Stealing Fire
By-Susan Sloate
Expected Publication Date- late August 2013
Blurb-
“How do you recognize your soulmate?
In glittery 1980’s Los Angeles, Beau Kellogg is a brilliant
Broadway lyricist now writing advertising jingles and yearning for one more hit
to compensate for his miserable marriage and disappointing life.
Amanda Harary, a young singer out of synch with her
contemporaries, works at a small New York hotel, while she dreams of singing on
Broadway.
When they meet late at night over the hotel switchboard,
what begins will bring them each unexpected success, untold joy, and piercing
heartache ... until they learn that some connections, however improbable, are
meant to last forever.
STEALING FIRE is, at its heart, a story for romantics
everywhere, who believe in the transformative power of love.”
STEALING FIRE was a 2012 quarter-finalist in the amazon
Breakthrough Novel Award Contest.
Links-
Amazon Kindle- http://www.amazon.com/Stealing-Fire-ebook/dp/B00DQUKI0I/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-3&qid=1379800493
Amazon Paperback- http://www.amazon.com/Stealing-Fire-Susan-Sloate/dp/1935970127/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1379800493&sr=8-3
Smashwords- http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/332272
B&N paperback- http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stealing-fire-susan-sloate/1116263708?ean=9781935970125
1. Where do you get your writing inspiration
from?
Different places. STEALING FIRE was inspired by a
relationship I actually had, and almost every story beat in the novel really
happened, though I wrote it slightly differently than it happened. FORWARD TO
CAMELOT was a wish fulfillment thing for me - What if I could save JFK’s life
in Dallas? THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL, which
will be published next year, is about another experience I had a few years ago,
running a political campaign. A lot more comes from life than I realized, and a
good bit also comes from my desire to be or do certain things.
2. Did you have to do any research
for your books? If so what?
I always research my books; the question is how much.
CAMELOT was by far the biggest research project - literally years of reading,
studying, watching films and photos, talking to experts. We dug into the
Kennedy Administration, his life and career, the ‘60s as a whole, the
assassination (in itself a monumentally huge subject), Lee Oswald and his life
and career. Unbelievable amounts of information.
STEALING FIRE required that I know enough about hotel
management to write about it intelligently; luckily all the musical theater
stuff was stuff I knew or grew up with, so it was easy having that as a
backdrop to the story. THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL? That’s all from life, not just the
campaign I ran but also other people I talked to about their experiences. Very
helpful.
3. What are you working on now?
The next novel will be THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL. It’s mostly about
the relationship between a candidate and his female campaign manager, and what
they both learn in the course of a very tough and contentious political
campaign.
4. What is the hardest part of
writing for you?
Clarity. It’s the thing I most want, to know where I’m
going. I don’t really need to know in advance every single step of the story
and everything about the characters, but I hate the feeling of being so lost
that you can’t even find a path to walk on. Being clear about what I’m doing,
or at least having an idea of where I’m going makes all the difference.
5. What can readers expect next?
This fall I have three new books out. STEALING FIRE is the
story of unlikely soul mates set against a backdrop of 1980’s New York and the
musical theater. It’s very personal, very tender and I hope, very memorable.
FORWARD TO CAMELOT: 50th Anniversary Edition is the revised edition of a book I
co-authored ten years ago with Kevin Finn. It’s a time-travel adventure about
the JFK assassination, in which JFK, through my main character, does NOT die in
Dallas, and includes a ton of actual history that we’re pretty sure most
readers won’t know. The third is REALIZING YOU, co-authored with Ron Doades.
It’s a whole new genre - the self-help NOVEL - to teach principles for good
living through characters experiencing problems in certain areas and how they
change. We’re very excited about it.
It’s taken a long time, but I’ve realized I’m carving out my
own niche, even though I do write in multiple genres: historical, self-help,
love stories (not category romance), thrillers. Each book, no matter the genre,
has certain qualities that all my other books have in common, and it’s exciting
to realize that and want to do more of it.
6. What question have you always
wanted to be asked in an interview and how would you answer that question?
I can’t think of one. With the virtual book tours I’ve been
doing, I think I’ve been asked just about everything anyone would ever want to
know about me!
7. If you were writing a book about
your life, what would the title be?
MIRACLES LARGE AND SMALL
8. Who is your favorite author?
Wow - lots of competition there. But probably Dick Francis,
the hands-down best mystery writer on earth (sorry, Agatha). I’ve read and
re-read his books for years, and plan to keep right on doing it!
9. What is your guilty pleasure?
Computer games (like Spider Solitaire or almost anything on
Sporcle). I waste TONS of time with those, and love every minute!
10. Highest point
of your writing career?
Honestly? Right now. I’ve published three major books within
a 3-month span this fall, and I can’t get over how my life has changed in the
process.
11. Advice for
aspiring authors?
Write as much as possible - I don’t mean ten hours in a row,
but try at least an hour or so every day or six days out of seven. It’s the
surest way to avoid writer’s block, because you’re pushing your way through any
challenges you have, so the story stays fresh in your mind and it’s a lot
easier to keep moving. If you never really stop, you never get stuck, and that,
believe me, is a blessing!
12. Last song
that was stuck in your head?
I hate to admit this, but “Call Me Maybe”. I worked last
year for a short time in a department store that had a loop of pop songs, and
this was on it. And I was in that same store the other night, and though they
weren’t actually playing it then, I remembered it from my working days. Ugh!
About the Author-
Susan Sloate is the author or co-author of more than 20
books, including Realizing You(with Ronald Doades), a recent self-help novel,
and the 2003 #6 Amazon bestseller, Forward to Camelot (with Kevin Finn), which
took honors in 3 literary competitions and was optioned by a Hollywood company
for film production.
She has written young-adult fiction and non-fiction,
including the children’s biography Ray Charles: Find Another Way!, which was
honored in the 2007 Children’s Moonbeam Book Awards. Mysteries Unwrapped: The
Secrets of Alcatraz led to her 2009 appearance on the TV series MysteryQuest on
The History Channel. Amelia Earhart: Challenging the Skies is a perennial
young-adult Amazon bestseller. She has also been a sportswriter and
screenwriter, managed two recent political campaigns, and founded an author’s
festival in her hometown outside Charleston, SC.
Stealing Fire was a Quarter-Finalist in the 2012 Amazon
Breakthrough Novel Award contest and combines autobiographical experience with
her lifelong love of the musical theater. She is proud to be distantly related
to Broadway legend Fred Ebb, the lyricist for Cabaret,Chicago, All That Jazz
and New York, New York.
Visit Susan online at http://susansloate.com.
Links-
Twitter- https://twitter.com/Susan_Sloate
Website- http://susansloate.com
Pinterest- http://www.pinterest.com/susansloate/
Thanks so much for hosting me today, and for such great interview questions!
ReplyDeleteSTEALING FIRE is a really great read. If you like a great romance be sure to read this one. You will not soon forget the story or the characters. The love story between Amanda and Beau is a real tear jerkier. A real page turner, hard to put down.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mary Lou! LOVE hearing comments like that from happy readers!
ReplyDelete