Doesn’t her newest book have just a killer cover? I love it! So it’s my pleasure to have my friend Shawna Thomas on the blog today for a rapidfire interview!
What prompted you to start writing? This book or in general? LOL When I was a preteen, I read Gone With the Wind and couldn’t stand that it didn’t have an HEA. So I made one up. Later I played with some fan fiction, but it wasn’t until I had a dream about a woman named Ilythra that I sat down and wrote an entire story. Over seven years later that story is now a four-book series. The first of which is Journey of Awakening. It’s kinda special to me.
Which five people (real, fictional, historical) would you invite to dinner and why? Stephen King-Because although I can’t read his work and hope to ever sleep again, he’s one of my heroes. Nora Roberts—don’t you think she’d be hilarious and so inspirational? My husband-because I couldn’t imagine such an important dinner without him. Crystal Posey-because she’d kill me if I didn’t invite her to a dinner with Nora, and a new character that is haunting me. Her name is Catori.
Which word or phrase do you most overuse in a manuscript? (VS sez: I confess to “that” being my worst word LOL) Oh my gosh! And no, that’s not it. I have so many but it’s not always the same. My editor once told me to go back and look how often my characters’ eyes sparkled, gleamed and shone. It was embarrassing. I got over that and it was tickle at the back of the neck… or tingle at the back of the neck. Everything was happening to that poor girls’ neck. Right now I think I’m working on clearing throats. Yeah, when nervous, emotional or to interrupt, my characters are clearing their throats.
Quickfire Questions:
Must watch TV Show: Once Upon a Time! My husband and I watch this show together every Sunday. Of course there are other must-watch shows. Grey’s Anatomy, Chopped, almost any Food Network contest show.
Music on repeat: Right now the sound track to book three of the Triune Stones, which is a lot of Red and Breaking Benjamin.
Favorite Movie: I don’t really have one but one I could watch over and over is Princess Bride.
Cats or Dogs? Two years ago I would have said cats hands down, but then we adopted Shadow, our gorgeous mutt, and our cat is evil incarnate….no really, she isn’t able to find her food if you move the bowl a foot away and she randomly bites people for no reason. But she’s really pretty…
Favorite Flower: Ah that’s like asking which is my favorite child. I love flowers! Right now I’m partial to violets, daffodils and crocus…because they’re blooming.
Tea or coffee: Coffee!
Sweet or spicy: Sweet!
Morning person or evening person: Morning
Last meal on Earth would be: My grandpa’s baked steak made by my grandpa.
Favorite Perfume: I am partial to Pure Poison.
Book I Wish I’d Written: Wow. So many come to mind but you know what? I don’t really wish I’d written someone else’s book. I want to take what made their books into a success and infuse that into mine. ; )
What are you working on next? Book Four of the Triune Series, then possible a short story involving a few side characters. I also have a summer project with a friend of mine. And then there is this new series that I am so excited about I am almost afraid to sit down and write it out… I think that might only make sense to another writer…
What one question do you want to ask your Readers today? If you could change anything about my books, Altered Destiny or Journey of Awakening, what would it be?
Where can your Readers find you online?
website: Shawnathomas.com
Her Blog Twitter: @AuthorSThomas Facebook
Here’s the book blurb:
Book one of the Triune Stones
After her grandfather’s death, Sara inherits an ancient pendant and a near-impossible quest—master the mysterious pendant’s source of magic. Driven to do so, she must find the other two stones of power, long considered lost, while preventing an unknown enemy from finding her first.
Unprepared and alone, she travels to where the keepers of the stones, the Siobani, were last seen. Along the way she meets Tobar, leader of the nomadic Heleini tribe. As Sara wrestles with feelings for this intriguing man, she is also invigorated with her grandfather’s passion to find the ancient Siobani race.
After a rival tribe kidnaps Tobar’s son and heir, Sara must harness the stone’s healing magic to unite the tribes and save the boy. But as the dark power stalking her gains ground, will she continue on her quest to reach the Siobani or risk everything to save the warring tribes from eliminating each other?
Excerpt:
The sky darkened further, and its smoky expanse leached into the water, blurring their surroundings until she couldn’t tell where the water began or ended.
The ropes holding their cargo creaked in protest as the skimmer rolled from side to side. Sara dumped bucket after bucket of water back into the ocean but the ocean threw twice as much back at her. The water level in the skimmer continued to rise. Water soaked her tunic and blouse and darkened the leather of her leggings, making her movements stiff and awkward. She redoubled her efforts until her arms ached, then froze in disbelief as a dark wall of water loomed over their craft and seemed to wait for a heartbeat before crashing down with a mighty roar.
Salty water stung her eyes. She tossed her head and blinked in an attempt to free herself from the temporary blindness. She felt her grandfather next to her, still holding the tiller, and blinked again at the dim shapes of Jith and Haboth a length away. The ocean’s roar had drowned all other sound.
The water churned around them, the waves growing taller with each passing heartbeat. She continued to bail, full buckets now, but it was a pitiful effort. Twice the wind blew the contents of her bucket back into her face and almost wrestled it from her grasp as though insulted by her offer. She wrapped the bucket’s rope around her wrist and frantically resumed bailing. She was trying to empty the ocean with a pail.
To her right, she saw the ocean spray up reaching into the heavens. She looked to Jith. Father and son bent over the oars, their arms straining against the waves. Jith’s mouth opened, he screamed something, but his words drowned in the roar of slamming water driven by a merciless wind.
Then she saw what they must have. Dark water turned into silver spray as it beat against the partly submerged projections ahead. Rocks. She jerked her head to Willam, her hand wrapping around the bucket’s rope. “Grandfather!” A sudden flash of lightning highlighted his face, taut, rigid, cast from stone. Jith yelled again, but Sara couldn’t hear the words. A low groan sounded from far away and the skimmer shuddered. Fragments of screamed words reached Sara’s ear, but one filled her heart with terror.
“Aground!”
Buy Links for book:
Barnes and Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/journey-of-awakening-shawna-thomas/1114057583?ean=9781426895074
Great interview, ladies. I read and enjoyed Journey of Awakening and can’t wait for Book 2. 🙂
Thank you so much, Angela! : ) May 20th… it’s coming fast! : )
Love that the series started as a dream. Sometimes the best idea seeds come that way. I’m glad you didn’t let it slip away like most dreams do. Can’t wait to read it!
Thank you! Honestly I had nothing to do with it. The dream hounded me until I gave in. 🙂
Terrific interview! Congrats on the new release, Shawna! I just realized we’re release mates on May 20! Yay!
We are? Cool! We should do something fun! 🙂 thank you!