Blog Tour and Interview: The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall by Katie Alender

Title: THE DEAD GIRLS OF HYSTERIA HALL
Author: Katie Alender
Pub. Date: August 25, 2015
Publisher:  Scholastic Press
Pages: 336
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
Find it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Goodreads

Synopsis:
Asylum meets Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, in this riveting tale of ghosts, secrets, and family, from master of suspense Katie Alender. Delia's new house isn't just a house. It used to be an insane asylum, a place to lock up "troubled" young women long ago. And a restless, wicked spirit is still at play--and it doesn't want defiant girls like Delia to go anywhere. So the house kills her. Now Delia is a ghost, trapped in her creepy home forever. As she meets the other ghost girls who haunt the narrow hallways, as well as the handsome ghost boy on the grounds, she learns shocking truths about the house's history. Delia also realizes that her alive and grieving sister might be the house's next target. Can Delia unlock the mystery of the old asylum, save her sister, and free herself?

Kirkus (starred review): "This superior ghost story keeps the creep factor high… A really scary and original ghost story, well told. Read it with the lights on."   School Library Journal: "Alender has created a chilling tale of forgotten tragedies and family secrets. A great choice for fans of horror or 
suspense novels." 


INTERVIEW

1. You seem to write a lot about ghosts. Do you believe in ghosts and have you ever had an experience you can't explain? 
I don’t necessarily believe in ghosts, but I can’t count them out, as I know numerous people who are confident that they exist. Who am I to say they don’t? I did have one experience that I can’t explain — a night I could have sworn I heard my husband come home and sit down to watch TV, but when I went upstairs there was nobody home. We had just bought a pair of lounge chairs from an estate sale at the home of a writer who had passed away, so I sometimes say that his ghost followed the trail of writing energy (and chairs) to have a little walk around my living room. 

2. Out of all your books which was your favorite to write and which did you have a harder time on? 
Oh, man. They’re all hard! They all hit a certain point where you think, “Okay, this is the one I’m not going to be able to do. This is the book that will ruin me.” But the process being so scheduled is enormously helpful in terms of pushing you past those thoughts and back to work. I think the one I enjoyed writing the most was probably the second Bad Girls Don’t Die book, From Bad to Cursed. Because I understood the characters’ journeys so much, and I was fascinated by the things they were doing under the influence of a not-so-nice spirit. 

3. If you could have been the original author of any book, what would it have been and why? 
I don’t actually want to have written anyone else’s book, but I’ll say Harry Potter because then I would have a castle and a theme park. 

4. If you were to write a book about yourself, what would you name it? 
Probably “Honestly.” I feel myself saying that a lot. I used to think that if I ever wrote a memoir about my childhood, it would be called “Alligator Dreaming,” because I grew up in South Florida, where there are alligators. And for many years I would have random dreams about alligators. 

5. If you had your own talk show, who would your first three guests be? 
Stephen Colbert (because he’s hilarious), Jim Gaffigan (because he’s hilarious), and my daughter (because she’s hilarious).  

 About Katie: Katie Alender is the author of The Dead Girls of Hysteria Hall, Famous Last Words, Marie Antoinette: Serial Killer, and the Bad Girls Don’t Die series. She is a graduate of the Florida State University Film School and lives in Los Angeles with her husband, daughter, and two dogs. When she’s not writing novels, she can usually be found quilting, reading, eating delicious high-calorie foods, and hanging out with her friends (on very special occasions, she manages to do all of those things at once).
Find Katie on the web:  |Website|Twitter|Facebook|Instagram|Tumblr|Wattpad



 Giveaway Details: 3 winners will receive a finished copy of THE DEAD GIRLS OF HYSTERIA HALL. US Only.

 Rafflecopter Embed Code: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:
Week One:
8/17/2015- The Cover Contessa- Interview
8/18/2015- Twisted Book Junkie- Review
8/19/2015- Fiktshun- Guest Post
8/20/2015- BITTERSWEET ENCHANTMENT- Review
8/21/2015- Mundie Moms- Guest Post

Week Two:
8/24/2015- The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club- Interview
8/25/2015- Pandora's Books- Review
8/26/2015- bookaholics anonymous- Interview (YOU ARE HERE)
8/27/2015- A Dream Within A Dream- Review
8/28/2015- Such a Novel Idea- Guest Post

Author Interview and Giveaway: Tracey Campbell



I love the new poster!


AUTHOR: Tracey L. Campbell
BOOK: Starcrossed: Pegriee (Book 1)
STALK (Ok not really, but check her sites out):
Site: Tracey L. Campbell 
Starcrossedthebook Site
Twitter: Traceylcampbell

Let's welcome Tracey to the site today!

INTERVIEW:

1. I know this might seem like a repetitive question to you. What made you want to pursue writing?

I've always liked to write - I've been writing stories all my life. I believe, if you need to work for a living, then if possible, your job should be something you enjoy doing. So I'm hoping to make a living out of writing because it is what I enjoy most. It's also nice to think you've made your little mark on the world. Most published authors' books may not be considered literary classics, but it is still something, a little piece of themselves, which is left for the world to enjoy, even after the author has gone.

2. With all the Vampires, Werewolves, and Fairies in the YA world why did you choose to write about Aliens and the Hybrids? (because let's face it you don't see many alien YAs)

Some people may class aliens and hybrids as 'sci-fi' rather than paranormal, but I don't, and it's because I have a theory which to me makes everything come together, make sense, and is even now beginning to be backed up by scientific theories such as String Theory and M Theory. What if there really are 'other dimensions' which coexist next to or in the same space/time as ours? What if those dimensions occasionally 'bump into' our reality and somehow allow us to see the inhabitants of these other dimensions, or allow them to cross over into ours? This could explain so many creatures and beings of myths, legends and religions! Angels, ghosts, fairies, shadow people, aliens, poltergeists, gremlins... the list goes on! It could even explain where our 'souls' go when we die. Of course, I have no idea whether this is true or not but it certainly explains a lot to me, and it is easy for me to weave these things together to make a paranormal/sci-fi story.

I also decided to base this Starcrossed trilogy on aliens and hybrids because it is a favourite topic of mine. I saw an amazing UFO when I was a kid, and again when I was older (although not quite as spectacular as the first!) and the subject has intrigued me ever since. I absolutely loved the X-Files and love that kind of UFO lore (alien abduction, reports of hybridization, alien grays etc) and wanted to weave it all into a story which had elements of existing UFO lore and my own ideas and explanations.

Add to that the fact that the YA paranormal genre is saturated with vampires, werewolves, angels and demons, I wanted to do something a little different!

3. In the book you have just one relationship going with Lucy. Do you plan on keeping it that way, or are you going to make a love triangle somehow?

Hmm... all I can say is that I'm introducing a new male character - a 'dark whisperer' who is interested in a 'love triangle' with Lucy, but for all the wrong reasons!

(Okay, I totally want to read the next book now. :))

4. Ok, with that being said..How do you feel about the Ya love triangles?

I actually feel a little uncomfortable about them. To me, the essence of a romance is finding your 'one true love'. A character who can't make up her mind who she loves the most is a little off-putting to me, but I guess it all depends on how the author has written it. If done well, then I guess it could work.

5. I like your world building it's like MIB mixed with Roswell. (Movies and a series I love!) Was it hard building a world with the Innaki and the hybrids?

No, not hard at all because I love all that stuff too! I've watched so many documentaries, listened to and read so many interviews and books and the subject is so ripe for an intriguing thriller which could take place in so many locations linked to actual UFO and alternative history traditions. For instance, some of the scenes in the next book in the series, called 'Dark Matter' will involve the 'mythical' Great Library which is rumored to exist under the Sphinx on the Giza Plateau in Egypt. I'm also using some really interesting things my friends said they saw in Hawaii which just about blew my mind when I heard it! This subject is just so intriguing, and with the 'dimension' angle, it is easy to mix all the paranormal/sci-fi elements, myths, legends and modern day reports to present an exciting, mysterious reality.

6. It seems like it takes a lot of work and research sometimes to write, and make the story your own. Did you do any kind of research for your books?

As I said above, I've always been into the paranormal and UFO topics, so I've been researching for years. In Starcrossed: Perigee there is a scene in which I try to explain M Theory/String Theory and how scientists think there may be dimensions other than ours. I had to do quite a bit of research for that and attempt to get my head around it all. I'm happy to say a book reviewer actually mentioned that scene is the most coherent explanation of String Theory she's ever read, and I hope it goes a long way to explain how I think in relation to the paranormal. I'm going to have to do more research for Dark Matter because some of the locations in which it is set I've never visited before. Thank god for Google Earth and the internet!

7. In the story the characters get to travel. (I'll just leave it at that for those who haven't read it) Do you get to travel and if so where? What are some places you'd like to travel to?

I absolutely love traveling. Living in Australia, I don't get to travel all that much as it's quite remote and expensive to get anywhere. I've been to the USA (only California - I'd love to rent an RV and just potter around the entire country - especially the famous UFO places such as Roswell and Area 51!), Britain a number of times (my favorite place is Scotland) and Paris. Oh, and New Zealand - absolutely beautiful, but I didn't get to spend enough time there. If I had my way I'd be traveling all year. I would like to go visit the Pyramids in Egypt, backpack around Europe and go to a safari wildlife park in South Africa. I could go on and on so I'd better stop there!

(I would love to be able to travel to all of those places. Sadly I'm stuck in the US. )

8. What's the hardest part of writing for you?

The hardest part of writing is keeping focused. I have ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) so my attention span is very short and I'm easily distracted.

9. If you could work with any author (dead or alive) who would it be?

I would absolutely love to sit down and have a yack with Mark Twain. I love the way he thought: he was as sharp as a tack, and his words were precise, eloquent, intelligent, witty and timeless.

10. What advice would you give to someone who wants to become a writer?

Consider writing as an eternal learning process - read and learn and continually hone your craft. Write because you want to achieve something for yourself (even if it's just to write the best short story you can) rather than make a fortune and become the next J.K. Rowling (although that would be a bonus!)

Thank you so much Tracey for joining me on the site.

I enjoyed it very much!

Tracey has agreed to giveaway two Ebooks to readers of my blog.

Want to read this book? (I promise you'll want to!)

All you have to do is leave a comment on here or on my Starcrossed Review (preferably both, but I'm not picky) with your email address and some lovely words and I will do the rest.

It'd be nice if you were a follower as well (But you don't have to be)

Giveaway ends July 4.

Updated: July 27th: I'm extending the giveaway because I forgot. (Life happens and it sucks)