The Crossroads Blog Tour Day 7

Welcome to day 7 of The Crossroads Blog Tour and today I am hosting two lovely ladies - Stacey Kade and the organiser of this blog tour Judith Graves. If you have no idea what The Crossroads Blog Tour is, then you are seriously missing out and URGENTLY need to click here to find out more information as there are TONS of fabulous prizes to be won!

First up for a grilling is Stacey Kade, author of The Ghost and the Goth and the sequel, Queen of the Dead.
Welcome to the blog Stacey! Please give us a revelation about your newest or upcoming book (something new, something no one else knows)

Hmmm. We may see Alona in her gym uniform again. (Those of you who’ve read the end of Queen of the Dead will be the ones to understand the significance of that...)

Interesting....Tell us, how do you get your inspiration for story ideas?

I think it’s hard to pinpoint where inspiration comes from for writers. Sometimes, we take in information from all different sources, and it sort of simmers on the back burner until something comes together. Other times, an idea just shows up. Usually when you’re not thinking about anything in particular!

Are you doing anything special for Halloween this year?

Nope, just handing out candy. That’s actually my favorite part. I love seeing all the costumes!

Me too! What are you working on right now?

I just turned in a draft of my 2013 release, The Rules. It’s the first book in a new series. It’s about a girl who was raised as a genetic experiment hiding from her creators under the guise of being a “normal” sixteen-year-old, and the boy who tempts her to break the rules that confine her existence and keep her safe.

Oh I am enjoying hearing about what authors are working on next and The Rules sounds really good! *adds to wishlist*. To find out more about Stacey and her books, click here. Next up is one of the best Canadians I know and that is Judith Graves, author of the Skinned series (Under my Skin, Second Skin and Skin of My Teeth).

Judith! Welcome to the blog! Please give us a revelation about your newest or upcoming book (something new, something no one else knows)

Any of my husband’s students will know this, lol…but it’s not common knowledge to most of my readers. The dolls featured in Second Skin, which I called, Reality Babes, are based upon real infant simulators used in schools. I have a total doll phobia, so when my husband told me about this one aspect of his Career and Life Management class I HAD to incorporate a version of them in Second Skin as the novel focuses on phobias, fears and nightmares. The infant simulators are so lifelike you can hear them breathing. Students have to care for these fake “children”, taking them everywhere with them for an entire week. Their parenting skills are then evaluated via a computer chip implanted in the doll. A great educational tool, yes, but damn creepy. I’d have flunked the class – refusing to take one home.

I hate dolls too...and clowns *shudder*. Tell us, how do you get your inspiration for story ideas?

Inspiration strikes at any time, in any location. I’ve learned to carry a coil notebook with me at all times and have ones of various sizes to fit in the glove compartment of my car, my purse, my gym bag, etc. I also record ideas as audio files on my cell phone if paper isn’t handy.

Any thing, any one, any sound, setting or situation can spark an idea. The challenge is to figure out which ideas are worth pursuing.

I have learnt to carry a notebook everywhere and have just discovered the voice recording on my iphone lately ;) Are you doing anything special for Halloween this year?

I’m probably going to do the usual, hand out candy, rent a ton of horror flicks and settle in for the night, however, I’m in awe of the Haunted House my writer friend, and fellow Crossroads Tour author, Dawn Dalton has planned. Might have to crash that party…it would sooo be worth the 4 hr drive. She’s creating all kinds of wicked decorations from chicken-wire ghosts to haunted mason jars. Check them out on her blog: http://dawnmdalton.blogspot.com/

What are you working on after this series ends?

I’ve got several projects in the works as I complete the Skinned series. I have a middle-grade non-fiction project, Most-Wanted Monsters (http://mostwantedmonsters.blogspot.com/) – with the amazing Dawn Dalton - and will hopefully be able to reveal more details about it soon.

I have a steampunk short story, Strangeways vs. the Wraith, coming out in the Spirited: 13 Haunting Tales, an anthology published by Leap Books with proceeds going to a literacy-based charity. Spirited also features stories by: Maria V. Snyder, Candace Havens, Jill Williamson, Shannon Delany, Kitty Keswick, Linda Joy Singleton, Dawn Dalton and more!

Check out the trailer: http://youtu.be/-9yZlLasZ7Y

Sounds great, a lot of YA authors are dabbling in MG these days! To find out more about Judith and her books, click here.

Thank you to both Stacey and Judith for being my guests on the blog today. Don't forget that each day of The Crossroads Blog Tour, a new research question will be revealed on The Crossroad Blog Tour main page here and each day the answer to that question will be found within one of the different blog posts by Crossroads Tour authors. Your job is to get the question, read the blog posts, and collect all answers by the end of the tour, on Halloween. Answers are to be emailed to bridgesocialmedia@gmail.com by October 31st at MIDNIGHT. Winner of the grand prize will be announced on November 1st, the DAY OF THE DEAD. I will also be holding a contest in the near future and details are coming.

Follow the tour on Twitter here and on Facebook here

BRIDGE Social Media is holding a special promotion for public libraries. Libraries that actively promote the Crossroads tour (post a link on their website, mention it in their newsletters, etc) can email us proof of their promotional activities by midnight on OCTOBER 31st to be entered in a draw to win a FREE SKYPE AUTHOR VISIT FOR THEIR LIBRARIES – WITH BEST-SELLING YA AUTHOR, RACHEL VINCENT.