February 04, 2013

Author Spotlight with Rachel A Olson

Hey everyone! Today we are please to shine our Author Spotlight on Rachel A Olson. We have an interview with her and several quotes to share with you all!. We will also be sharing quotes on our fb page today from her books.

Interview
Can you tell us a little bit about your book(s)?
My debut novel was The Seventh Layer. It's a SciFi about a young woman who doesn't remember her past, but discovers who she is after being contacted by a man who claims to have known her father. It's a fast paced novel with some highs and some pretty dramatic lows. There's love, death, battles, and war. Oh, and a big black guy.

Love During Death is a collaborated effort between me and one of my best friends, Jessica Humphrey. It's definitely got a love story in it, but it's not your typical chick flick. There's quite a bit of humor throughout, and an ending that'll knock you off your feet with surprise. It's a Paranormal/Fantasy with a bunch of ghostly interaction.

What makes your book(s) different from others in this genre?
The Seventh Layer doesn't have just one specific “creature” type. It's based on a more realistic foundation, built on research and actual scientific findings involving the cerebral cortex and its basic functions. I also threw in a slight Greek mythology twist and tied it all into present day.

Love During Death is a ghost story. It's not a scary ghost story, and it's not conceptually stereotypical. We tried to write this book from the perspective of someone who might actually experience first hand what it's like to become a ghost, and added a few twists of our own.

What are your writing habits? Do you set a daily goal?
I don't really like setting daily goals, per se. I try to pick a finish date that seems realistic, calculate what my average word count would need to be, and then just go with it. It hasn't failed me yet.

Why did you want to be a writer?
I've always wanted to be a writer, ever since I can remember. I can remember at age 3, I used to imagine playing hide and go seek with the creatures in the laundry closet, and letting the gnomes under my bed play with my hair until I fell asleep at night. My imagination has always been a little wild for the general populus, and seeing my ideas flow onto white lined paper always gave me a feeling of uphoria. 

What is the hardest part of being a writer to you?
Negative feedback. I know I'll never be able to please everyone, and there's always going to be that one troll under the bridge. However, it's difficult to let go of your children and let them fend for themselves. As a writer, you grow attached to your books; your children. It's hard to watch someone bash them without getting offended yourself. I just have to remember to take a step back and take the hits with stride, remembering that not everyone will love what I love all the time.

Are any of your characters based on anyone you know?
Not really. Adonia is actually a manifestation of my subconscience. She came to me in a dream. Fia is a perfect meshing of both my and Jessica's personalities, but she doesn't represent anyone specifically. 


If your book(s) were turned into a movie who could you see playing them?
This isn't really anything I've actually taken into consideration...
*Searching the web*
In The Seventh Layer:
Adonia: Emma Watson
Ambrose: Josh Holloway
Nicoli: Idris Elba
Gianni: Orlando Bloom
Sister: Melanie Lynskey
In Love During Death:
Fia: Emma Stone
Channing: Chase Crawford
Scarlett: Adriana Lima
Dion: Kellan Lutz (in 5 years)

Which one of your characters would you want with you on a deserted island?
As delish as Dion is, I'd have to take Nicoli, because he's a beast of a man and he'd protect me. Even if that meant letting me ride on his back as he swam all the way to civilization.

What do you do when you are not writing?
I'm a single 24/7/265 mother of one beautiful little boy. I also work a full time day job. Recently, I've started providing services to writers for reasonably priced cover art, banner and website graphics, manuscript editing and formatting, and I run a book blog.

What advice would you give people wanting to get into writing?
Just do it. It doesn't matter what you write, even if it's absolute gibberish. Just put your pen to paper, or pull up a blank word document, and start writing literally whatever comes to mind. One thing I think all writers learn is that books aren't written; they write themselves. If you just go with the flow, eventually something will manifest from it, and before you know it you'll be holding a manuscript.

What is the first book you remember reading?
The first book I ever read by myself was one of the Blue Bug books. I loved that stupid bug!

For fun questions
Favorite color – blue 
Favorite comfort food – cheesecake 
Favorite type of flower - daisy
Favorite Movie – The Avengers
Favorite song – My Hit Song by Melissa Lefton
Favorite Holiday – Mother's Day
Links
Twitter@whitesouljamma

As if growing up Amish wasn't hard enough, Sarah Miller receives information just before her eighteenth birthday about a childhood she can't remember. Accompanied by long lost friends and a few unlikely relatives, Sarah learns of her supernatural destiny and the race to piece together the jigsaw of her life begins. Amidst the whirlwind of unanswered questions, one stands prominent: will the world meet the foreshadowing doom that lingers in the near future, or will Sarah complete the puzzle in time to save her people and ensure the continuance of mankind?

NOTICE: This book contains mild violence and sexual content and may not be suitable for younger readers.
Links




Excerpts from The Seventh Layer:
I believe his smile was meant to be warm, but all I could see was the Devil’s advocate. I’d never seen someone with such dark skin. He looked like a piece of bread left too long on the hot iron-------------

Where a doorknob should have been was a green electronic pad. It reminded me of the ones I’d read about that scanned handprints. The small woman bent and licked it. I kept silent, but raised a brow in astonishment. I was starting to understand why the community kept to themselves. This outside culture was strange, to say the least.-------------

Heavy breathing filled the vacant space of the dungeon, the hiss of skin on iron joining it. Deep roiling laughter spilled around us, tainted with malice and a dark hunger I'd never heard before. Ice cold fingers waltzed down the entire length of my spine, creeping into my loins and crystallizing my core. Whoever, whatever, was out there had nothing but the greatest intentions to feast on one or the other of us, or both.-------------

The most maleficent grin I'd ever witnessed spread across his lips, reaching his ears. It was short lived as Nicoli's black fist introduced itself rudely to Abrax's already crooked nose. Perhaps Nicoli was more at terms with my new-found standing than I'd first thought. If so, he certainly had a funny way of showing it.-------------

Within seconds the Apollonians turned on one another, swords slashing, knives hacking. I could hear the wet sucking of blades being pulled from flesh, the dull spattering of sanguine fluid coating the earthy floor as it poured from disemboweled entrails and severed limbs in large droplets like water from a hose. The air turned acrid, twisting and churning my stomach until I could taste bile on the furthermost part of my tongue.-------------

“You see, dear Patrikios, I am not removing anything. I am simply damaging it beyond repair. My little contraption here,” I patted the end of the cable I held, “will trigger a series of seizures that will domino into a stroke. If you’re lucky,” I paused for dramatic effect, putting on my most atrocious expression. “If you’re lucky you’ll still be able to lead a normal life among the basic human society.”-------------

“She has found great comfort in the company of Nicoli.”
“Nicoli?” How curious. “She has found comfort in the flesh born form of the Angel of Death? Surely she has suffered enough!” My astonishment was crystal.
“On the contrary!” Gianni chuckled. “He is quite taken by her.”-------------

“What is the topic of discussion, then?” Abrax acted completely oblivious to the tense estrogen levels at the table, walking toward the kitchen with nails dragging through hair just below his navel.-------------

He managed to maintain a certain gentleness as he devoured me in a desperate kiss, arduously grinding his prominence into my half numb thigh. My skin began to itch, then tingle, and finally burn. I arched into him as his velvety lips worked down my neck and lingered along my collarbone. His hands with nimble fluidity swiftly removed every article I wore. Raw desire undulated through my veins and pooled in my quivering belly. I was so swept up by the tides of Gianni’s manipulations that I didn’t notice how quickly he’d removed his own accouterment until I felt the blazing satin that was his skin, sliding seductively against my own.-------------

“Uncle, how many rooms did you get?” I asked, climbing out of the SUV. I stared up at the giant smiley, making note of the name of our hotel, the Best Motel. Definitely generic. 
“Three. I’d prefer not to watch any fondling while we’re here.” His expression was one of both mild disgust and slight humor. It was a common expression among the men, though I hadn’t understood its basis until that moment. Perverts.-------------

The facet behind my eyelids turned to flame, reddish orange swooping and spinning like the world around me. Bright white light engulfed me, my body lifting into the air. I couldn't open my eyes, couldn't bare to see the carnage that festered in the emergency room, but the rampant pounding of someone else's heartbeat put a murmur in my own. Undeniable warmth filled me to the brim, insatiable love reverberating from the fire and light.-------------

“I do not belong in your bed.” I could feel his discomfort, the fire behind my lids quivered nervously.
“Don't be obtuse, Abrax. I'm already on the threshold of sleep. We aren't without our clothes and aren't attempting any sort of horizontal dancing.”-------------

“Why are you flying?” I heard myself ask him. He pulled a rag from his back pocket and wiped my mouth, but he never answered my question.
“She's alive, but delirious. Her arm's been broken, I can see the bone.” I frowned at him. Why was he talking to me but referring to me as if I wasn't there?
“Can we go somewhere else? It smells like puke.”

Is love worth having even if it's not meant to be kept? 

After a series of strange and deadly events, Fia Dannii discovers what it is truly like to live after death. Stuck in the in-between, Fia sets out to discover what in life she missed that would be preventing her from passing on. When Dion walks into her life after death, Fia struggles to believe that he holds the key to her afterlife, and her heart. Fia has to choose between loving Dion or walking the earth forever as an entity, stuck in the in-between.
Links




Excerpts from Love During Death:

"Jesus, Shael, you scared the living piss out of me!" Shael had been sleeping in the recliner, in the corner nearest the window. Though the room was small, Fia had been so caught up in her own thoughts that she hadn't even noticed anything, or anyone, else in her room.
"Literally, I guess!" Shael chuckled, pointing to the catheter tube that now trickled with yellow tinted liquid.
"You're seriously gross for pointing that out," Fia said, scrunching her nose. Shael smiled wryly, shrugging her shoulders.
"I learned from the best!"
-------------

"I'm pretty sure I lost some of my sanity along with my Taurus!" She exclaimed in an exasperated tone.
"I'm pretty sure they call those brain cells." Channing. Always witty, even when it was unwelcome.
-------------

"You're the exact opposite of me. A full tank of gas, coffee, water, breakfast, and even snacks. No wonder you were the one I asked to go with me."
"You forgot my good looks."
"Nah, that's debatable."
-------------

"Seriously, I could have died. Or broken something. Like my face!"
-------------

Standing in front of a urinal, Fia felt odd in the shoes of a man. The way they pissed standing up was the strangest sensation she’d ever experienced. What was even worse, the man she was in had a sick fascination with watching himself pee.
-------------

“It’s Preston. Now hurry up before you get me fired!” Fia wrinkled her nose, but hurried toward the kitchen.
“What kind of name is that? Sexy mofo like you should have a robust name. Like Hercule or Jacques, or even Dion for that matter. Preston is for glasses and bucked teeth.”
-------------

“Good god, Pretzels! How do you not have sex with yourself in this body?!” Fia couldn’t stop touching her body - his body. It was too magnificent not to!
“Will you quit molesting me? How long have you been a ghost? Maybe you should go find a dead man and take care of some of that tension I smell.”
-------------

“I don’t know what your deal was today,” he whispered against the crook of her neck, “but I’m seriously rock hard right now and I intend to take that temp of yours with my own thermometer.”
-------------

“If you keep swooning like that, I’m going to wonder if you’ve ever been on a real date.” He buried his nose in her hair again and pulled her closer to him as they walked through the front door of one of Fia’s favorite chicken wing joints.
“Stop being so damn delicious and I’ll stop swooning,” Fia said under her breath.
“I heard that.”
-------------

“No matter what anyone says, I believe that love happens sooner rather than later. It’s the trials and tribulations of life in a relationship that test the strength of that love, not its validity.”No matter what anyone says, I believe that love happens sooner rather than later. It’s the trials and tribulations of life in a relationship that test the strength of that love, not its validity.”
-------------

“Mmhmm. And once you’re given clearance to leave, I’m taking you to my home, and I’m not letting you leave my bed.” Fia giggled, heat rushing to her cheeks.
“I have a feeling I won’t want to leave your bed when you’re done with me.”

We would like to thank Rachel for being our Spotlight Author today!
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1 comment:

  1. Tracey Steinbach2/4/13, 1:49 PM

    I've enjoyed the exerpts so much, I've added your book to my wish list! I'm also an author, but reading is one of my top pleasures.

    ReplyDelete

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