ABOUT THE BOOK
~ Kira Sutherland ~After a near fatal accident (and getting cheated on by her 'boyfriend'), and beating up the lead cheerleader (with whom the boyfriend cheated . . .), and being labeled as having 'issues' in her school because she, uhm, sees ghosts, Kira is left with two choices:
1. Continue her 'therapy' (where she's told the ghost is a hallucination and also gets her legs ogled too often . . .)
Or
2. Go to Starkfield Academy, a boarding school for "Crazies and Convicts" (as the social media sites call them.)
She chooses the latter . . .
~ Cory Rand ~
Cory Rand has not had an easy life. His mother died in a car accident when he was twelve, and so did his mother's best friend...sort of. You see, Janice made a promise to take care of Cory just before she died, and so she lingers. Undead. A ghost that watches out for him.
Brought up in an abusive home, Cory quickly falls into a life of disreputable behavior. After his third offense (which was prompted by a girl, as usual - he has a weakness) he's left with two choices:
1. Be tried as an adult and share a cell with a guy named Bubba (he thinks . . .)
Or
2. Go to Starkfield Academy, which Cory is pretty sure is run by vampires. But, hey, at least he'll get an education.
He chooses the latter . . .
It's at Starkfield that Kira meets Cory Rand, a boy with an insatiable Rage who sees ghosts, too. As well as other things, other things from his past, things that confuse him, things like fire and witches and demons.
Things he's always ignored.
Until now.
INTERVIEW WITH R P CHANNING
What do you think is hardest aspect of writing a book?
Understanding your reader. It’s true that writers want to stay true to their stories, but you also have to consider the reader. You have to consider the genre you’re writing in (again, the reader) and what is expected/liked/despised in that genre or by that reader. It takes some doing, as not all readers are the same.
What do you think makes a good story?
Top-selling stories are both loved and despised by different people. What makes a good story is one written very precisely to a market, sticking within the boundaries of that market. Writers love using words like “genre-bending,” but if you bend too much, your story stops being “good” from the reader’s perspective. And the reader’s perspective is the only perspective that counts.
Do you have any secret talents?
I’m a great cook of under-thirty-minute Mediterranean meals.
Is writing your dream job?
The one where I lie on the beach and look at the water while money rolls into my account. Oh, it doesn’t exist? Darn it.
It would be nice if that job could coexist with a writing job. What do you like to do when there’s nothing to do?
I like jumping in my car and going for a drive with nowhere to go. I just get on the freeway and drive and drive and drive and look around. I think I’ve been doing that ever since I got a license.
Where is your favorite place to visit?
New York is such a great town, so is London. I like big cities, any big cities.
What’s your least favorite chore?
Cooking (is that a chore?). I get to be creative and then I also get to eat!
Do you give your characters any of your bad traits?
Nope, if my characters had my bad traits nobody would like them.
What’s one of your favorite quotes?
“I will remember this, thought Ender, when I am defeated. To keep dignity, and give honor where it's due, so that defeat is not disgrace. And I hope I don't have to do it often.” ― Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game
“Don't wait for the muse.”
― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
Who is your favorite fictional character? (Not your own.)
Andrew (“Ender”) Wiggins. He’s the super-duperdest whiz-kid in the universe. That book is such a classic. (I don’t think the movie did it justice.)
You have a personal chef for the night. What would you ask him to prepare?
Handrolled Gnocchi in a creamy cheese sauce.
What’s your biggest pet peeve about writing? |
Typographical errors. They just . . . I mean, you can read a sentence ten times and those buggers somehow still get through.
What is your favorite movie?
Avatar is my all-time favorite. But I can watch just about any RomCom in the world and enjoy it. (And I discovered a few years ago that I’m not the only male who does this.)
What are you working on now?
Thirst is a standalone novel, but it has room to grow. I’m working on a book two but also on a dystopian novel that is completely different to Thirst.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
R P Channing started writing three years ago, but never published anything even after churning out over a million words of fiction. Thirst: Blood of my Blood is the first book he dared to publish. When asked why, he said, “Because it’s the first thing I wrote that my wife actually enjoyed reading.” When not hammering away (most literally) at his keyboard, he can be found buried in a book, reading anything from romance to horror to young adult to non-fiction to comedy.Connect with the author:
Website | Twitter | Goodreads
Buy the book:
Amazon US | Amazon UK
