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Todays author spotlight is the wonderful E.R.Arroyo, author of several YA
dystopian books and co-founder of a wicked cool Facebook page - Band of Dystopian Authors & Fans. It's actually one of my very favourite groups on Facebook, for both my author side and my reader side, as it offers giveaways, help, recommendations and is generally just an awesome group of people. Go look it up, join, and have fun. Okay, now on with the show... 
E.R. Arroyo is the author of YA dystopian series, Antius Ascending, and co-founder/owner of Band of Dystopian Authors and Fans, a Facebook community, blog, and company that champions dystopian, apocalyptic, and post-apocalyptic fiction. E.R. is passionate about books, music, and her family, and she loves to talk shop with other authors and with her readers. Social Media Links The Interview
What do you do when you’re not writing about the end of days or things that go bump in the night?
Mostly, I just try to survive my son’s toddlerhood day to day. I do some freelance proofreading a few nights a week (late at night). I have to pay quite a lot of attention to Band of Dystopian Authors and Fans (our wicked cool Facebook group) as well... you know just keeping an eye on things and such, as well as discussing plans and goals, and divvying up the to-do list with our team. (Hi, girls!) I do some stuff with music as well but I’m pretty vague about all that in public, by design of course. I’ve been told I have a gift of vaguery, both online and in real life. Tell me about your latest book, something unusual if possible. Thanks for asking! I actually recently released the audiobook version of my debut novel, Sovereign. It’s a post-apoc dystopian with a young adult female lead. The series is very near completion. It consists of two novels, Sovereign and The Offering, which are both already out, and then it’s complimented with three short stories (prequels). The first, Transgression, has been out for a while, and I’m hoping to release the second within the next month or so. We made a really cool trailer for the audiobook, check it out: Sovereign Trailer.
Fun fact! I actually originally wrote the lead character with super curly brown hair but I changed it to match the model that we used on the cover, a friend of mine from back in Tulsa, Oklahoma. We shot the novel covers with local photographers in downtown Tulsa. Another fun fact, my narrator, who happens to be local to where I live now, has curly brown hair AND has the same name as my lead character, Corinne. (You can probably tell, I really enjoy working with local artists...)
Sovereign Blurb & Cover
Sovereign Excerpt
Sovereign: Aggression
I move into the hallway that takes me from the small corner where there are actual offices and over to the part of the floor that’s dedicated to laboratories. The cool thing about this building, or these sub-levels at least, is they were built for science. Each lab space is secure and separated from other rooms, but each lab has at least one entire wall that’s just glass. And, even better, every lab shares a wall with an observation room that’s completely walled-in except for two-way mirrors, allowing subjects to be observed without knowing it. And that’s exactly what we’re doing here. I push through the doors to where the kids are waiting. They’re huddled together in the corner. And they’re talking—it’s my greatest joy to witness. When I started working with them, they communicated in grunts and moans. Now they actually speak English words. Some of them speak really well, but most of them struggle. Bright blue eyes lock on me from across the room. A subdued grin follows. He likes to pretend nothing phases him but I know that kid is just as fond of me as I am of him. He makes his way over to me before anyone else in the group really notices me. His dark hair is tucked behind his ears, his skin pallid from a short lifetime spent mostly in darkness. Many of them are just as pale. The only ones with any color were born with it, and there is certainly quite a variety of skin tones among them. This boy looks to be about thirteen. I call him Tyce.
What are you working on next and when can we expect it?
The next thing you’ll see from me is actually a short story in the upcoming anthology The Doomsday Chronicles, a part of The Future Chronicles series by Samuel Peralta. They’ve become wildly popular, and I’m so excited to be included in this volume! It releases February 19th. Sometime shortly before or after Doomsday, my next short story in my dystopian series will be released. It’s called Aggression, and it features a beloved character that my fans are going to love having another glimpse at. What makes you want to write about dystopia/the apocalypse? This one’s tough. It gets asked a lot, and I’m honestly not sure I’ve ever answered it properly. I think it appeals to me because it is often very rooted in reality, yet it’s so extreme in its consequence and exploration of human nature. Real life doesn’t do to people what we like to imagine extreme situations like an apocalypse or an unjust, oppressive government would do to us. Dystopia, specifically, is neat for me, because you get to make up your own rules and create this whole other world that feels and looks like ours, but is really this whole other thing. It has to feel grounded in reality for me, minus the science—that I’m willing to stretch for (like technology advanced beyond our reality, for example), but the world feels real to me when I’m reading and writing dystopian and apocalyptic stuff. Are you a prepper with an apocalypse plan in place, or are you just going to wing it? Before I got married, my brother and I spent a summer binging on zombie movies and talking about our apoc plans. I got married that October, which was the year The Walking Dead debuted, and our zombie talks remained on-going. I had moved away with my husband, so my brother and I came up with a plan of where exactly we would meet halfway and which of our siblings we would invite (who wouldn’t get us killed). And then a few years later, I had a baby and realized I would be a terrible apocalypse partner (crying kid=zombie magnet), so I gave up the plotting. I did however keep a bin in the garage packed with supplies like blankets, flashlights, boots, multi-tools, knives, and cool trinkets that have no use in regular life (like those tiny silver pouches that fold out into a thermal blanket, things like that). Now, I have a toddler and all the plans have gone to pot. So, long story short, we’re gonna wing it. What’s your apocalypse/horror song? Maybe a little cliché but I sure do love Radioactive by Imagine Dragons :) When writing do you outline or fly by the seat of your pants!? When writing novels, I’m a pretty intense plotter/outliner. I learned to write stories through screenwriting before I ever attempted prose fiction, and that’s a very, very structured art (science really), so it was just a natural thing for me to bring that structure over into prose with me. I usually do a sample chapter by the seat of my pants, just to get a feel for the character and the idea. If I like it, I’ll go plot the mess out of it and then get busy working. When I’m writing short stories, though, I don’t usually write anything out in advance, I just keep an idea in my head of where I’m going, and fix/adjust as I go. What was the last book you read, and what is the next one lined up? I’m currently reading a YA dystopian by Sarah Negovetich called Rite of Rejection. Next, gosh... I don’t know yet! I’ll know when I get there and know what I feel like at the time. LOL If you could collaborate with any other indie author, who would it be? Oh, goodness. Last year I collaborated with 19 authors actually, on Band of Dystopian’s anthology Prep For Doom. It was simultaneously a complete nightmare and a complete blast – HAHA. If we do another, maybe I can collaborate with more BODers (like you)! :) 
Happy reading my little book whores!
Claire xxx 
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Today's author spotlight is a writer that has been around for a while. though normally known for her bestselling new adult series, she's been branching her way into other
genres for quite some time now, finally making her way into the world of horror and post-apocalypse. I'm a long time reader of Jamie's work, both horror and romance, and adore her style--in both genres, and of course it's always good to welcome a new voice into horror. Especially a female one. 
Jamie McGuire was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She attended Northern Oklahoma College, the University of Central Oklahoma, and Autry Technology Center where she graduated with a degree in Radiography.
Jamie paved the way for the New Adult genre with the international bestseller Beautiful Disaster. Her follow-up novel, Walking Disaster, debuted at #1 on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. Beautiful Oblivion, book one of the Maddox Brothers series, also topped the New York Times bestseller list, debuting at #1. In 2015, books two and three of the Maddox Brothers series, Beautiful Redemption and Beautiful Sacrifice, respectively, also topped the New York Times, as well as a Beautiful series novella, Something Beautiful. Novels also written by Jamie McGuire include: apocalyptic thriller and 2014 UtopYA Best Dystopian Book of the Year, Red Hill; the Providence series, a young adult paranormal romance trilogy; Apolonia, a dark sci-fi romance; and several novellas, including A Beautiful Wedding, Among Monsters, Happenstance: A Novella Series, and Sins of the Innocent. Jamie is the first indie author in history to strike a print deal with retail giant Wal-Mart. Her self-published novel, Beautiful Redemption hit Wal-Mart shelves in September, 2015. Jamie lives in Steamboat Springs, Colorado with her husband, Jeff, and their three children. Find Jamie at www.jamiemcguire.com or on Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Tsu, and Instagram. The Interview
Claire - Jamie, you used to be better known for your New Adult series Beautiful Disaster and its subsequent books, but you’re now an eclectic writer of many different genres, branching into both paranormal romance and apocalyptic horror. Which is awesome fyi
Of course all genres have their own difficulties, but of all of the genres that you have written in, which have you found the most difficult, and why? Jamie - My sci-fi romance Apolonia was very difficult, mostly because the characters attended a university much like MIT, and were a lot smarter than me. I had to research things like astrophysics, astrobiology, and electromagnetism. The dialog and description required a great deal of research because—despite a moderate expectation for the suspension of belief—the characters had to be believable. Students intelligent enough to attend a private research university focusing on science and technology have to be knowledgeable according to my character development and setting. For them to know what they were talking about, I had to know what they were talking about first—or at least gather enough information to be convincing! Claire - The Maddox brothers must of course have a firm place in your heart, but which other character(s) have stuck with you the most? Jamie - Scarlet from Red Hill because she is a single mother (as I was at the time when I developed the idea) who fought fiercely to see her children again when they were separated during the zombie apocalypse, and my first family, the Ryels from the Providence trilogy. Jared’s seventeen year-old sister Claire is a hybrid angel, she is quite cranky about it, and she is a bad ass.
Claire – Red Hill was your first venture into the realms of horror and the zompoc world (welcome to the darkside btw! Mwua ha ha) what led to your decision to finally take the plunge and branch into such a dark genre?
Jamie - I was raised Baptist, so End Times was part of my upbringing. Ha! I am also obsessed with horror flicks and zombies, and have been since I was a child. One of my mother’s three jobs was managing the local video rental store, so I grew up with uncles Michael Myers and Freddie Kruger, and my dog, Cujo. Ellen Ripley (aka Sigourney Weaver of Aliens) was and will always be my hero. Red Hill was my first stab at horror, and then I wrote Among Monsters, the companion novella. While readers may find my brand of horror atypical in that the stories are more character-driven instead of world building and gore, they are so far my favorite books that I’ve published, because of both the writing and the storyline. Claire – It was a big jump for not just you, but your readers also. How did they take the initial news of you writing a apocalyptic novel? Jamie - I’d written the Providence trilogy, a YA paranormal where action increased with each novel (also leading to a possible apocalypse), and the Beautiful series contained violence. Horror and apocalyptic thrillers are genres I’ve always felt familiar with because they are topics I find entertaining, so I don’t feel it was that big of a leap for me. However, it was a surprise, I think, for my readers. Many of them were hesitant because they don’t prefer to read horror. They read romance novels to feel a lot of things, but never afraid (not to the extent that they’re turning on the lights and locking their doors, anyway). I tried to write Red Hill and Among Monsters in a way that would appeal to my readers, and by the feedback I feel I’ve achieved that. Two years later, a regular fan will message me and say, “I’ve finally found the courage to read Red Hill. I can’t believe I waited this long!” My readers are the ones who take the leap, and I appreciate it each time someone does. Claire – Do you have plans to write any more books in this genre? Jamie - I do plan to write a sequel to Red Hill. I may turn it into a series. Claire – Are you a prepper with an apocalypse plan in place, or are you just going to wing it? Jamie - I’m a prepper. I have a bug out bag, weapons, ammo, and I even built my previous house with zombies in mind. I actually own a machete. Our pool house had no windows on the lower floor and a lookout upstairs. We had a stocked provisions closet, but I haven’t been that obsessive since we moved to Colorado. I don’t know, I guess I feel that since we’re in a mountain town with a small population, we have a better chance. The bugout bags are still ready and hanging in my closet, though. Claire – What’s your apocalypse theme song? Jamie - Eye of the Tiger. For everything, always. Running, long road trips, sex, stabbing zombies with screwdrivers … you bet. Claire – You’re currently working on the next in your Maddox brothers series, but what can your readers expect after this? Jamie - I don’t know. Ha! It feels so strange to say that. After Beautiful Burn releases on January 31, this will be first time in six years I don’t have a next release date (or five). I’ve decided to take it easy and work a couple of hours a day on a YA project called All the Little Lights that I’m considering pitching to a publishing house, and another adult romance (read: not erotica) series called Other Lives, and then possibly a few sequels for Red Hill and the Maddox brothers books. In the near future I’m going to begin chronicling the daily life of Travis and Abby Maddox on Wattpad. Is that taking it easy? Maybe not. We’ll see. Claire – I know you stated recently that you were hoping to scale back your writing work this year in the hopes of more family time and less stress, but as writers we tend to never really shut off from our worlds, so how realistic do you think this is? Jamie - Well, three days after I posted that, I was watching Making a Murderer with my husband, and with panic in my heart, turned to him and said, “I should be writing.” I’m not sure once writers start putting out multiple releases a year we can slow down, but we must. At least I must. I still have young children at home who change every day, and I don’t want to miss it. Claire – The Indie world has been transforming over the years, do you think it is becoming stronger, or do you believe it is beginning to wane? Where once its supportive structure was built on each writer’s desire to push each other onwards, do you think it’s becoming more ‘dog eat dog’. Jamie - Let me start with a very frank assessment of our current situation: thousands of indie books per day are being churned out unedited and unprofessionally packaged for .99 or less. When I first started in 2009, we had fewer resources, but still most authors strived to produce books that could not be distinguished from the books released by publishing houses. That was how we strengthened the indie market. This is not to affront anyone struggling to pay an editor or cover designer, but the current indie market is suffering from a professionalism problem that has become a saturation problem. An author recently shared with me that she was offended about my stance that published books should be edited. Because so many authors hastily click Publish, reader money is spread among millions instead of thousands, and readers are being conditioned—by authors—to feel like a book priced anything over .99 is expensive. If your book, professionally edited, packaged, and marketed is priced at $2.99 and readers say they will wait to buy until it “goes on sale”, that’s proof that we have a pricing concern in the indie world. If your book isn’t worth more than a dollar, it might behove you to spend more time making certain that it is. The explosion of indie books is a good thing in that readers have a huge range of books to choose from at many different prices. We’re currently seeing negative changes because few authors are able to make a living, or they’re making significantly less. Piracy, loose retailer rules for returning fully or mostly read eBooks, and price conditioning feed the problem. At any other job, if an employee experiences a cut in pay, they may find a second job or another job entirely. But if you love your job? If it’s your talent and something you’re driven to do? That kind of desperation—especially if you’ve quit your nine-to-five job to be a full-time writer—comes with wanting to provide for your family, needing to satisfy the need to create, and tasting the freedom that comes with being self-employed can breed feelings such as resentment, jealousy, and guilt. Under stress, people can react to things like the success of their peers in a way they might not normally. Sure, there are authors out there who display those frustrations, but success comes from building each other up instead of focusing on excuses and blame, and there are a lot of successful indie authors. The current model of self-publishing is still in its infancy, and it’s going through some growing pains. But, it’s not going anywhere. Indie is here to stay. Claire – What’s the best writing advice that you’ve been given over the years? Jamie - Author Jessica Park told me very early in my career to never ‘accept all changes’ during the editing process. The only way for your writing to grow and improve is to notice what changes your editor makes and learn why. I am far from a literary author with perfect grammar, but my writing improves with each book because I pay attention to every red mark. Following that advice has helped me to acknowledge and trim my crutch words and phrases, to build a better sentence, and to recognize that just because what I write makes sense to me, it might not be clear to the reader. I’ve also learned that just because a sentence is ‘correct’ doesn’t make it beautiful. There has to be balance. The most important advice I was given was about the business of writing. I was told to create a business banking account, to keep my book income separate, and to always save more than I needed for taxes. Those invaluable pieces of knowledge have saved me a lot of stress. 
Find more about Jamie
I hope you enjoyed today's spotlight, be sure to head over to Amazon and give her a one-click.
Happy reading my little book whores! Your zombie loving Queen - Claire xxx 
At most signings we barely get the chance to wave hello to the other authors, never mind eat or hold a real conversation with the readers which have often travelled incredible distances to come and see us. But this event was totally different.
Not only did we get time for breakfast AND lunch (crazy right!), but there was also time to chat with the other authors before the doors open. Once the event started each reader had the time to really talk to each of us authors and get to know us properly, talk books, beer and bum holes (*ahem* Kelly!) It was such a great event, superbly organised by Elena and Vikki Ryan of 'Fictional Men's Page For Book Ho's, and I simply can't wait for the next one. I was lucky enough to be table partnered with the lovely Lisa Fulham. Neither of us had shared a table before and I think we were both a little apprehensive on the logistics of it. Fortunately it all went great and there was no elbowing each other haha, though she did sign my page of the photo book like a pleb hahaha! It was also great to see Giles Batchelor, a long time reader of mine. We talk online a lot, but this was the first time I got to meet him, and he really was a great guy. All of the authors were really lovely, and it was great to spend some time getting to know them. FYI. Sofie Hartley is totally bonkers and has a mouth like a sailor - clearly we are soul sisters! and Sophie Jackson is as cool as they come - we totally need to have cocktails next time! The event was also raising money for Royal Manchester Children's Hospital and a total of £282.04 was raised through a raffle, sales of photo books and a charity bucket! The charity didn't stop there though. All food left over from the event was then taken down to a local soup kitchen and handed in to help feed the homeless thanks to Vikki Ryan's suggestion. And can I just say that she is a total sweetheart! We've actually met at previous signings and because of the rush rush nature of these things both of us totally missed that we lived a ten minute drive from each other *facepalm* I think I can speak for all the authors involved - S. K. Hartley, Sophie Jackson, Isobelle Cate, Andie M. Long, Dawn A. Keane, Lisa Fulham, Scarlet Flame, and Nicola Haken, in saying a huge thank you to Elena for organising such a superb event, Lyndsy Kirkman of Chapter One Books for hosting it in her wonderful bookstore, the sponsors of the event Fictional Room For Book Ho's, Coral Mathews who came around and interviewed all of the authors and readers alike, and James Roy the official photographer for the event. http://jamesroy.wix.com/portfolio https://www.facebook.com/Chapter1Uk/?fref=ts https://www.facebook.com/FictionalMensPageForBookHo/?fref=ts Up next... Leeds Author Event March 5th 2016
My next signing will be in Leeds on the 5th March. The event run by the gorgeous Rachel Brightey and Jo Curtis from Hourglass Events is set to be amazing, so I hope to see some of your lovely faces there. Here's where to get your tickets from, and I'd get them quick as I know they are close to running out now! The event will also be trying to raise money for MIND and there will be a charity evening masquerade ball which sounds amazing! https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/leeds-author-event-2016-tickets-15537433883 
See you soon and happy reading book whores!!
Claire xox
I'm pleased to have on my blog today, fellow horror author Mike Evans!
Mike currently has several books, and various series out, and looks to be chasing this year down with several more to add to his ever growing catalogue of work. He's a great guy, and a great writer and I can definitely recommend him to you without any doubt that you'll enjoy his work So, I'll hand you over to the Man himself, and you can get to know him a little bit more. Be sure to follow him on his social media sites as he always has a competition or two running :)) 
Mike Evans lives in Iowa with his wife and children. He writes for character depth because he wishes for you to love the character, regardless if they are the villain or the hero.
He likes to write from a unique perspective, doing things with books that no one has done before. He keeps his characters realistic, there are no superhero like events that will happen. There are no perfect characters in his books, everyone has their flaws much like that of life. Stalker links! Social Media Links Facebook | Amazon Author Page | The Interview
What do you do when you’re not writing about the end of days or things that go bump in the night?
Wait, hold the effing phone, are you saying….that there is life outside of writing? I thought my wife was kidding me, man do I owe her a serious apology I've recently been getting back into guitar. My kids are nearing the age where they will be able to learn and I have a teenage niece that wants to be a rock god \m/ so I’ve been getting my chops back down. Other than that, I like to hang out with my family watching movies and mostly just being around them. I do Tae Kwon Do with the kids, and enjoy archery very much and shooting rifles and pistols every so often. Tell me about your latest book, something unusual if possible. I am a rule breaker, so I am going to mix up the vampire and werewolf rules and creation etc. Book 1 of Deal with the Devil is set up where one man’s faith in God is horribly let down, so he turns to pray to the Devil who is happy to listen and make a deal. He becomes the first vampire. God who doesn’t realize until its to late what he has missed out on sends Gabriel down to create a champion of his own the Werewolf and from there it’s a bloody, action packed rivalry. Deal With The Devil Blurb & Cover
What are you working on next and when can we expect it?
I have a few things going on I just released the 3rd book in my Gabriel Series Body Count. Typically Gabriel is the one doing the hunting, but after a unfortunate turn of events to put it lightly he is on the move, and it is bad to be in the man’s way! I am writing a book right now that is just horror probably psychological horror. I’m hoping it will leave people terrified and unable to sleep. I’m testing it out on my good friend Christy, so fingers crossed that she’ll need therapy, just kidding. My newest is called The Uninvited – it is kind of a campy style horror book with a killer in the woods, that just kills to be kills, but as the book unfolds so will the questions until the OH MY GOD moments that hit you in a movie, book, etc happen and people lose their minds ( release date mayb March or April? I’m releasing Orphans 4 before this one. Going to be putting out some major numbers of releases this year. 
What makes you want to write about dystopia/the apocalypse and/or horror?
Originally when starting out I always wrote about something that would scare me as a parent, and it has kind of mutated from there. My first book Buried (not The Orphans everyone thinks it’s the orphans) was written after my first child was born. The idea of what I would do if he was kidnapped, taken, ransomed etc was my thought behind it, and the answer was nothing short of I’d burn the city to the ground to get him back. I like thinking of how difficult survival without modern society being in place would be and it is fun to use teenagers having to struggle day to day like The Orphans 
Are you a prepper with an apocalypse plan in place, or are you just going to wing it?
I’m screwed, my wife doesn’t like guns, and my son luckily is learning how to shoot and do archery as well. I have a basic plan that my neighbour is going to fly my family and his with the first airplane we can steal. Then we are off to an island and will wing it from there hoping I have enough bullets and arrows to make a go of it. What’s your apocalypse/horror song? Master of Puppets I’d say, it’s just a great freaking song and I think it’d keep me awake and moving through the streets. It’d be sweet to have theme music as you walk through the streets blowing zombies heads off. Unless you can’t hear your wingman/woman yelling out useful things like, “Hey mike a zombie is behind you and is going to take a bite out of your brain!” When writing do you outline or fly by the seat of your pants!? Pants you say? Yes I am a outliner, and a unfaithful one at that. My general idea that I start with usually gets tweaked and tweaked until I finish the book and wonderful if the original book still needs to be wrote. What was the last book you read, and what is the next one lined up? The last book I listened to (sadly I’m a writer with no time to read) was Stephen King The Revival it was pretty good, it wasn’t his best but I’d recommend it still. Next up for me is probably going to be John Grisham’s Rogue Lawyer If you could collaborate with any other indie author, who would it be? That is really a tough one, I think and not in this particular order because the other two guys would pout and make me feel bad. But Owen Ballie would be a hell of a good time, his series is about the only zombie book that’s reminded me of The Orphans Series. My friend Greg Ferrell just because we get along pretty well, and Shaun Phelps because I’m pretty sure I’d drive him nuts with my insane schedule (yes the Shaun Phelps that founded zombie book of the month club) 
Happy reading my little book whores!
Claire xxx 
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