Rise of a Queen author interview

Rise of a Queen by J.S. Riddle

Book Synopsis

When her human life became engulfed in darkness, despair, and pain Tessa decided to leave that world behind. She followed her heart to stand beside her love, Greco, ruler of one of the more prominent vampire clans, the Levé’s, ultimately becoming their Queen. She becomes an intricate part in the domination of all mankind, overseen by the Vampire Nation.
She is torn by both sides of a spectrum. Her love for Greco came with a new devotion to all things vampire, yet she cannot seem to shake humanity aside and ultimately vows to unite the two worlds some day.
By unforeseeable circumstances she is left to rule her clan alone, with only the assistance and guidance of her loyal counselors Drake, Bade, Vala, and Andreas. With gearing wars with an equally dominant rival clan, the Krones, and human rebels at her doorstep, she has no choice but to become a strong, cunning, and pragmatic ruler. Instead of looking at it sitting from her throne she get’s down in the dirt and does everything she can to fix, and many times eradicate, the situation.
Greco’s past and the human life she thought she left behind mesh into a whirlwind of deceit and betrayal, interweaving constantly with one another making every step taken much harder than the last. It is up to her to overcome every obstacle that stands in her way and rise to the role of the true Queen she was destined to become.

Hello and welcome to Booky Ramblings, thank you for taking the time to do this interview. First off tell us a little bit about yourself.  I'm J.S. and I'm a lady of different hats, and hair colors, and ideas.  I'm a lover of books, movies, and most things of supernatural or geek culture.

What inspired you to write your first book? Since I cannot remember what my first book was since I was so young and it was probably goofy we'll go with my debut Novel, Rise of a Queen.  I would say it was more of an idea that flew into my brain and some dreams gone awry.  I always read or watched movies about vampires living in hiding or always planning on taking over the world.  Why was there hardly anything about the success of the conquer and what would happen afterwards.  Mix that with my love of mythology, history, fantasy, and horror....Rise of a Queen was born.

What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?  How attached one gets to the characters.  The saying "Don't make a writer mad or they may kill you off in their next book," rings true.  That can be a great thing, or a bad thing. It is easy to tell what emotion one feels with each situation and some are harder to deal with due to the attachment.

How long does it take you to write a book? 4 years, or 2 months, or 6 months.  It would depend on the type of book and how motivated.  Don't forget the many millions of drafts.

Can you share a little of your current work in progress with us?  Right now I am working on the second in The Vampire Realm Series, Rise of a Queen being the first.  I have just finished up a section where the human rebels had upped their game and have decided to start bombing and attacking inside the vampire territory.  The human nephew of the Queen has to search for young cousin in the melee, who he is sworn to protect.

Describe your main character, in 5 words. Cunning, Sympathetic, Strong, Vengeful, Loving

What is your work schedule like when you’re writing? I tend to write in the middle of the night probably lunging into the bed around 3 only to wake up at 7 again.  I have a few hours that I find piddling around, mostly until the coffee kicks in, to get a few more hours of work in.

Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers? Always be open to new things and change.  Just flow with it, otherwise one might never know what you'd find that you enjoy.

Which authors would you say inspired you to write?  Robin McKinley hit me the earliest.  She proved to me with The Hero and The Crown that women were just as powerful as men.  Stephen King for his ways of bizarre entrancement and Anne Rice for introducing me to a whole new world of vampires.  J.R.R Tolkein because it was he who opened my eyes to what true fantasy was and made me live in every page.

Now we have some random questions for you if you have the extra time.

If someone wrote your biography, what do you think the title should be?  Was She On Her Meds?

What book are you currently reading?  Right now I am taking a Greek Mythology class so I am actually reading The Odyssey (Robert Fagles translation).  I soak up mythology.

What is in your fridge right now?  cheese, yogurt, milk, a bottle of Barefoot Moscoto, Hormel microwave meals so I can pretend to cook like an adult who has time to make real roast beef :) Condiments fit for a Queen.

Favourite Ice Cream flavour? Chocolate Chip

Cats or dogs? Both......I can't choose.

Pet Peeves? My neighbors leaf blower before 7 in the morning.  Seriously, what is the point except to peeve the neighbors off.

And finally, since I’m a little obsessed with the upcoming Zombie Apocalypse, your house is under attack and you only have time to grab 3 things, what do you grab? A sword hanging on my wall, duct tape, and my iPod for some zombie killing tunes.  I have an exit strategy and a plan much more elaborate, but I think I can make it through with just those three things.  I'm actually planning on working on a book about a virus gone awry after this series, great zombie vibes to it, 20 pages of notes so far.

Follower links

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6953502.J_S_Riddle

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Riddle_js

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/JS-Riddle/314882881968292

Website: http://jsriddle.com/