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JMW: Hello, this is Jean Marie Ward of BuzzyMag.com. With me today is
New York Times best selling author of "The Dark Hunter's Companion",
Alethea Kontis. Welcome, Alethea, and congratulations on the publication of
your first young adult novel, "Enchanted."
Alethea Kontis: Yay. Yay.
JMW: I've been reading it since the Nebula and I've got to ask, is there
a particular reason why you decided to write about a magical Sunday's
child?
Alethea Kontis: Well, I was born on January 11th, 1976, which is a Sunday--you
can actually Google that and find out for sure. But I have always hated
that poem because Sunday's child is live, bonny, good, and gay, and I
thought that was crap. Because what sort of fate is that? I mean I'll live
happily ever after, but I want to have a decent life before I live happily
ever after. So that is kind of Sunday's problem, in "Enchanted", is that
she wants to have an interesting life. She doesn't want to just be doomed
to a happy life, so this is her adventure.
JMW: This is her story. This is your first young adult novel, but it's
not your first book. What's the back story on "AlphaOops!" And I think it's
one that most writers would kill you for.
Alethea Kontis: It is. To continue the fairytale theme, it really is a Cinderella
story. I did not submit "AlphaOops!" I wrote it just as a fun little story
and I sent it to a couple of friends and one of those friends says, "Oh my
gosh, this story is fantastic. Can I please send it on to one of my
friends?" And I said, "Sure, no problem." Like an email forward--we get
email forwards all the time. What I did not expect was the phone call from
Candlewick Press. Their art director got it, read it out loud to the entire
department and everyone was cracking up and "Could they please, please,
please publish my novel or my picture book?" So I was just kind of on the
phone doing this and not saying much because what do you say other than,
"Yes". So it kind of was a fluke, but it was my kick in the butt to
actually, hey, get myself in the chair and start writing.
JMW: Butt in chair, always the first order of business.
Alethea Kontis: Absolutely.
JMW: And how do you go from there to working with Sherrilyn Kenyon?
Alethea Kontis: Sherrilyn Kenyon and I became really good friends in Tennessee. It
was right around the publication of her very first book, "Fantasy Lovers".
So she would show up at Borders and there would only be about three or four
of us, for an hour, and we talked to her. I had fallen in love with one of
her short stories, her novellas, novelettes, that she had in a book called
"Tapestry: Dragonswan", which is now a little booklet of its own. And my
friend, Nicole, and I went and we hung out with her for about an hour and
thought, "You know, she would make the best girlfriend."
It's a shame she's a big fancy author, but we had both previously worked
for the same company, so we had a lot in common, and she dropped me an
email which I just thought was fantastic and we became really good friends.
So right around book five, I said, "Honey, you have so many characters
going on, you need an encyclopedia." And on the day she got an agent and
renegotiated her contract, she said, "So they took your idea and they would
love to have an encyclopedia," and I said, "That's fantastic." So she said,
"But they don't want me to write it, they want a fan to write it," and I
said, "Oh, really? Who are you going to get?" And she said, "They're
expecting your proposal on Monday." So I had a weekend in which to make up
a book proposal and send it in, and the rest is history.
JMW: It absolutely is. And that's what got you on The New York Times,
isn't it?
Alethea Kontis: It did. Two weeks at number 31 on The New York Times.
JMW: Two. Cool. Meanwhile, while all this is going on, you put together
an anthology with some of the biggest names in science fiction and fantasy.
I believe it's called "Elemental?"
Alethea Kontis: Yes.
JMW: But this one isn't for profit; this one is for charity.
Alethea Kontis: Correct. Correct.
JMW: Could you tell us about that?
Alethea Kontis: Absolutely. When I got the contract for "AlphaOops!", picture
books take a long time to publish, they gave me a deadline or a publication
date of two or three years out, and I did not want to be pigeonholed as a
picture book writer. I grew up in science fiction and fantasy--that's where
my love is. So my goal for myself was to become established in science
fiction and fantasy before the publication of "AlphaOops!". And right
around the same time this was happening, the tsunami happened--The Great
Indian Ocean Tsunami--and it was a really big deal for everyone. Arthur C.
Clarke made several very important announcements. And a friend of mine,
Steve, who is the co-editor said, "We should really do something. This is
very important." And I threw the idea out to a couple of friends of mine in
the industry and they were really excited. They were on board and they were
ready to give me stories for free, which I never thought would happen. And
then four more books. I immediately...
JMW: Mention some of the friends.
Alethea Kontis: Mention some of the friends. I immediately pitched it to
Sherrilyn Kenyon, of course, John Ringo, I spoke to Toni Wisecock at Bain
--she gave me a lot of great advice. David Drake was immediately on
board, Kevin J. Anderson. And they were just my feelers. You get a few to
pitch it and then everybody else kind of jumps in. Sharon Chen, Phil Pablou
, Sean Williams... So we had just authors all over the world jump in.
And Tom Doherty wanted to do it immediately. We got discount on the book,
on the paper, on absolutely everything. Everyone was so committed to making
this work. It is still in print in paperback and I think, to date, it's
made over $25,000 for Save the Children Tsunami Relief Fund Charity.
JMW: That is wonderful and I hope it continues to make another $25,000.
Alethea Kontis: So do I. Yes, so do I.
JMW: That's great. And if this isn't enough to keep a girl busy, I
understand you played a role in the creation of the Andre Norton Award for
Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy. What's the story behind that?
Alethea Kontis: Again, the fate of location. Andre Norton's private library at
High Hallack was about a mile from my house in Tennessee, and David Drake,
who also gave us a story for "Elemental", we had dinner and David Drake
said, "You need to go see that woman. She has no idea what she means to
this industry." And it was true, she really didn't. She was a librarian.
She wasn't caught up in her fame. She was just a woman who loved her
library and loved answering questions for people and loved science fiction
and fantasy. So I would go visit her and we would roll around in desk
chairs and check out everything in the library, and she gave me tons of
really amazing writing advice. And the sale of the books of that library
went to fund the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and
Fantasy. And I still have four boxes of books that I bought from that
library.
JMW: Oh yeah. I imagine. That's one thing I think all writers have in
common, a love of books.
Alethea Kontis: Definitely.
JMW: You can't do it without that.
Alethea Kontis: Not at all.
JMW: You really can't. I still love the paper. I adore the electronic, but
I still love feeling the paper. Yeah.
Alethea Kontis: It's good stuff.
JMW: It is really good stuff. And how else do people know what you're
reading? But another question. I think all of this raises the obvious
question of, when do you find time to write, much less go on a book tour?
Alethea Kontis: In my sleep, in the shower. That is something that I struggle with
daily. The butt in chair is difficult because you have to support yourself
monetarily, which does not come easy or instantly in the publishing
industry. So I volunteer... I don't really volunteer, I work part-time at
an after-school program for young adults in the middle school. I do that
part-time. So I write in the morning. I go to the gym, write in the
morning, go to the after-school program, and then after that, hang out with
my step-daughters and do some blogging, email stuff, that kind of thing. On
a perfect day that happens, but not every day is a perfect day.
JMW: Well, sometimes you do things like hang out with the band.
Alethea Kontis: I do. I do. I am a huge music fan.
JMW: Yeah.
Alethea Kontis: Giant music fan. The Adam Ezra Group has been one of my favorites
for a very long time and so I fell in love with them. I went to see them
when they played a barbecue joint in D.C. and we've become friends since
then. We play Scrabble on our phones, and I thanked them in the
acknowledgements to this book, because I actually wrote the
acknowledgements to this book while waiting for one of their shows in
Baltimore.
JMW: Cool. Cool. And you're starting your tour at one of their concerts.
Alethea Kontis: I am. I am. Tomorrow, I have my very first signing on this, what
do you call it, leg of the book tour.
JMW: Yeah.
Alethea Kontis: My very first signing will be in a Barnes and Noble in Cary, North
Carolina. I then go to Greensboro, Pineville, down to Charleston, South
Carolina; back up to Columbia, South Carolina; and over to Atlanta,
Georgia; through Chattanooga. Unfortunately, I could not get a book store
in Chattanooga, but I will be signing a couple of days in Nashville and at
some point at Parnassus Books. I will be doing a stop signing, showing up
magically, so keep an eye out for that, Nashvillians--I will be there.
JMW: OK. With all that's going on, you are writing, what are you working
on now?
Alethea Kontis: Right now, I am working on the sequel.
JMW: Wow.
Alethea Kontis: "Enchanted". I'm very excited. Hopefully, you will be seeing that
on shelves in the fall of 2013.
JMW: Can you give your fans a teaser as to whose story you'll be telling
this time?
Alethea Kontis: Well, because I am the "AlphaOops!" princess and tell all of my
stories backwards, this one is Sunday's and the next will be Saturday's,
and after that will be Friday's and then hopefully Thursday's, so I'm just
working my way backwards through the week...
JMW: Oh, my.
Alethea Kontis: ...of all the sisters.
JMW: Oh boy, all seven of them.
Alethea Kontis: Yes, big family.
JMW: Great. Anything you'd like to add?
Alethea Kontis: Anything... Jean Marie, you are the best. If you have not bought
an Adam Ezra Group CD, I certainly encourage you to go out and buy it.
Also, purchase "Enchanted". It is available on audio book. It is phenomenal
on audio book--I highly recommend it. Katherine Kellgren is phenomenal and
up for eight audio awards this year.
JMW: Oh.
Alethea Kontis: So fingers crossed for her. I wish her the best of luck.
JMW: Thank you, Alethea. And thank you viewers, from Buzzy Magazine.