Book Blitz: Excerpt & Interview & Giveaway - Entertaining Angels by Monica Millard
Book Details:
Entertaining Angels by Monica Millard
Publication date: November 11th 2014
Genres: Paranormal, Young Adult
Synopsis:
As a senior in high school, Samantha Heman’s too busy trying to avoid getting stomped by a moose at the bus stop and keeping her grades up until graduation to put much thought into angels or demons.
That all changes on the day she is kidnapped by notorious serial killer, Christopher Hainsely. It’s a day she finds herself confronted by both evil and good, because her savior appears in the form of an avenging angel come to strike the monster down with a single stroke of his flaming sword.
Though she’s trying to get on with her life, she cannot get the angel out of her head. It isn’t the burning wings, fiery eyes or the flaming sword that keeps her searching the internet for proof one way or another of his existence, though.
The feeling of warmth she experienced when she witnessed that sad smile just before he vanished in a wash of golden light, haunts her nights almost as often as the nightmares.
If angels exist, then demons must too, and they’re about to wage a war for her soul.
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Excerpt
It’s only seven-thirty, so I putz around on the internet looking for new books that are out and then find myself outside the local bookstore at ten, when they open.
I wander through the bookshelves looking for the books from the list I made. I only find one, because it’s a small bookstore and many of the new releases I like to read don’t make it into the store unless I special order them. Normally I can kill an hour in a bookstore easy, but since I’ve been all efficient like, making lists and such, I find I still have time.
I look around, feeling guilty, before I slip into the spiritual section. I don’t really expect to find anything, but it’s become an obsession. So I scan the titles looking for books about angels. I notice someone has joined me in the aisle, but I don’t look up to acknowledge them. Wasilla is one of those small, large towns and I’ve got a pretty famous face lately. I shouldn’t be in this section, in public. I don’t need to add fuel to the rumors.
“Looking for anything specific?” a deep voice asks.
I shake my head, probably a little too quickly, too long, still not looking at the newcomer. “I’m just browsing,” I say. “Killing time.” I turn, angling away from him as I run a finger over the spines of the books and move further down the shelf.
It isn’t until I turn the corner that my curiosity gets the best of me and I glance over my shoulder covertly. I see a flash of perfect, snow white feathers skim the top edge of the bookcase as the would-be assistance giver, an angel apparently, vanishes from the section. “Wait!” I call out, far too loudly for a bookstore, or any store for that matter.
I chase after him and round the end of the bookcase in time to just catch another quick glimpse of pure whiteness dipping around the wall at the front of the store, towards the exit. I race to catch up and get a bewildered look from the boy behind the counter.
I drop the book I am holding on a display table, so as not to add shoplifting to my long list of reasons to hide my face in public, and burst out of the store. I stumble left, in the direction I saw the wings exit. There is a small maze of twists and turns that I follow, only catching sight of the tips of feathers long enough to know I’m heading in the right direction.
I know I’m being led, but in my limited experience with angels, I’ve come to trust them implicitly. Where ever I end up is probably exactly where I need to be.
I turn another corner and find the hall dead ends. There is no angel here, but at the end is a corkboard with a mess of flyers and advertisements for events and classes. As I approach, a wind kicks up and I spin around to find a door I passed, one leading to the outside, clicking shut.
I consider heading for it, but some sense inside tells me I won’t find anything out there. No angel and not the message it wanted me to find. I turn back to the bulletin board just as a single flyer amidst the chaos of paper settles back against the board, its pull tag ends still fluttering in the breeze that lifted it.
I step closer and see that it is an announcement for a six-week self-defense course that has a new class starting in two weeks. I pluck off one of the tags with the telephone number, dates and website printed in tiny script and shove it in my pocket.
Interview
Q. Entertaining Angels is set in Alaska. Did you really grow up in Alaska? What was that like?
Yes, I really was born and raised in Alaska and similar to the main character, Sam, I had never been anywhere outside of Alaska until I was a teenager. I did travel all over the state though, and as big as Alaska is, that is a lot of ground to cover. Growing up here was amazing. It’s probably one of the reasons I have such an active imagination.
We didn’t have a television until I was eight and even then we rarely got to watch it. I’m from a large family and we spent most of our time outdoors. Some of my favorite activities were catching frogs, climbing the sand pile with friends and either burying each other or rolling down it (there were two of them and they were each bigger than a two story house.), riding bikes, ice skating (mostly on the road in front of the house, because we do get that much snow and ice) and as we got older, riding the three wheeler or dirt bike.
Q. Where does your inspiration come from?
I’ve always had a very active imagination. Nothing ever was just what it was in my mind. A clearing in the woods was a cottage with tree leaf carpeting, or a witch’s circle. I would lay in bed at night watching the big black bags of off season clothing, seeing them grow into scary monsters before my eyes. I remember once thinking there must be something wrong with me, because no one else made stuff up the way I did.
Now that I have an outlet for all the stories that have always filled my head, music is one of the biggest catalysts for inspiration. I can listen to a song and sometimes I’ll see a whole world in it, or just a scene that’ll make me curious to find out more.
Q. Is there one particular song that inspired Entertaining Angels?
There are two songs that will always bring the Entertaining Angels world to vivid life in my head. Beethoven’s 5th Secrets by The Piano Guys and another alternate, instrumental version of Secrets by a local Alaskan violinist who does street performances with his electric violin and is a bit of YouTube sensation – Bryson Andres.
Q. Are any of the events in the book based on actual experiences?
They tell you to write what you know, and while I have never gone through anything like the characters in Entertaining Angels, parts are colored by my own experiences. I did have a stalker when I was younger who went as far as getting a job at my gym where I swam. My dad gave me a Taser to carry after several scary experiences with him in the parking garage at my job. I drew from that experience to help make what Sam experienced realistic. Luckily my own situation ended differently from hers.
Q. Of all the supernatural beings, why did you choose an angel to save Sam? Is this another example of you drawing from your own experiences?
Unfortunately, I have never seen an angel. At least not knowingly. I didn’t really choose an angel, I feel like it chose me. I was driving home (I have a very long commute) and during that 65 mile drive this scene came to me. It was of a girl running from a killer and when he was just about to get her there was flash of light, a stroke of a burning sword and a golden angel holding it, there and gone so quickly if the killer hadn’t lay on the ground run through, the girl could have believed it wasn’t real.
But an angel isn’t a surprising choice for me. I love anything angel related, art, books, or movies. If it has an angel in it (or werewolves or aliens) then I will almost definitely be interested. Entertaining Angels isn’t even my first book with angels.
Q. Was it difficult to write the scenes that involve Sam’s interaction with the killer?
I will just say that I wouldn’t want to be a crime writer. I did have some songs from She Wants Revenge on the playlist that really helped me get into that headspace.
Q. In Entertaining Angels, Sam was training for a sprint triathlon. For those of us who don’t know, what is a sprint triathlon and what was your inspiration for making her train for one?
You start with a 400 meter swim in the pool before taking on a challenging 9.25 mile bike course. Finally, the 5k (3.2 mile) mile run finishes it. My sister-in-law is crazy like Sam’s friend, Jessica, in the book. She does the Ironman triathlons for fun. She convinced me to do a sprint triathlon a few years ago. It was a lot of work training for it, but it was also a very rewarding experience. Very empowering, and that was what Sam needed at the time.
Q. Skittles or Snickers.
Skittles. Fruit flavored candy are my favorite.
Q. Do you have any odd writing rituals?
Nothing odd. My writing ritual is headphones, if possible a darkish room, and the background on word is black or blue to soften the light on my eyes. Oh and tea. Blackberry sage. But I can write anywhere, especially if I have my headphones.
Q. Where can people find you and your books online?
They can find me on my blog http://www.analaskangirl.blogspot.com, I’m also on Twitter: @MonicaEmme and Facebook and my books can be found at Barnes & Noble Amazon Kobo iBook Smashwords.
AUTHOR BIO
Monica Millard was born and raised in Alaska. She doesn’t own a dog sled team, but has worked in a place where there are buildings with caged exterior doors to keep employees from being eaten by polar bears.
Monica’s favorite quote is, “People do not see the world as it is, they see it as they are.” She is not sure who said it but it is a quote that has always stuck with her. She loves to read because it allows her to see the world through someone else’s perspective and experience something she would otherwise never be able to. Sharing that same experience with others through her own writing is a possibility that makes her excited to get out of bed in the morning. She lives in Wasilla, Alaska with all her critters, some four legged and others that stand on two. She writes Science fiction, fantasy, and Paranormal for young adults.
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