Are You a Lunatic?
I ticked the "Decline To State" box on my application for the universe, sorry! But those who know me well know the answer to that question!
Well, I am relatively better, although still just exhausted. I've emerged just in time to welcome the fabulous Cindy Cruciger to the blog, author of the creepy new novel REVENGE GIFTS.
(in Cindy's Words)
I believe that some people are just plain haunted. I think that certain people are lightning rods for ghosts. I think they grow up with it, learn to live with it and ignore it – to the point where they one day find themselves in serious trouble. That is the crux of my heroine’s character in the Revenge Gifts chronicles.
Revenge Gifts takes place over thirteen days spanning a full moon. Tara Cole is an extremely powerful attractant to ghosts, specifically ghosts seeking revenge. One spirit attracted to Tara in particular is the voodoo loa Erzulie, goddess of love, envy, jealousy and revenge. In thirteen days Tara’s life is turned upside down by a Reversal of Fortune curse placed on her by an angry recipient of one of her revenge gifts.
The weird wasteland that was Tara’s life turns around with a vengeance and he ten year dating dry spell? Over. But with all things good in a garden of evil a price must be paid.
This is not your typical romance. This is not a romance for normal people. Revenge Gifts is a romance for the lunatic fringe.
MO’C: You describe your work as “romance for the lunatic fringe.” I think I’d definitely qualify… what does “lunatic fringe” mean to you and what kind of response have you gotten from that market?
CC: To me the lunatic fringe are readers who basically say, do and read what they want because they’ve figured out early on that life is far too short to care what other people think. You will find Ellora’s Cave on their PDA along with Blaise Pascal and Atlas Shrugged. The Lunatic Fringe understand TelevisionWithoutPity.com and can tell the difference between “snark”, irony and meanness.
In Revenge Gifts I give them some seriously messed up characters. If you’re normal, you aren’t going to wish you were Tara Cole and you most definitely won’t see happy endings with Howard. You WILL wish you could meet them, though … from a safe distance.
MO’C: I adore your cover. It’s very noir-ish and almost retro. How did the cover come to be?
CC: Honest-to-god, I have no idea. I gather the TOR PR and Marketing people got together and, in a fit of binge drinking and designer drug use, decided that roosters were the perfect symbol for dark, anti-chick-lit. It’s probably better not to know where the covers for novels come from.
MO’C: Do you believe in the supernatural? What are those from “the other side” trying to tell us, do you think?
CC: I definitely believe there are ghosts here on Earth. I’m not sure they have anything to tell us. I’ve never asked. I don’t think I want to know.
MO’C: Are any of the characters based on yourself? If so, which ones?
CC: I pulled the computer stuff and experience bartending into the book. The lace was just a fun side-slip. I can’t see myself in any of the characters I created. I was actually careful not to bleed into Tara’s head because … she has issues.
MO’C: What’s been the best thing about being published? The most frustrating?
CC: I’ve been asked that before and I have no great answers. Writing is like a mental high without the drugs. I could get lost in it. Getting published is the business end of writing and to be honest, I hate it.
Entertaining readers? Amazing. Getting the work out so it can entertain readers? Sucks.
MO’C: What’s your writing day like? Any special routines or tips for getting organized?
CC: I pray for long stretches between soccer games and long soccer practices and dead-stop-life-flight-worthy traffic jams to squeeze writing time into a day. I dictate to the laptop while driving. I get up at four in the morning before work and write. There is no typical writing day for me.
MO’C: Any advice for aspiring authors?
CC: My standard advice is to keep your sense of humor and don’t quit your day job. More than that? I’d tell them not to watch how others get published. Don’t try to do what everyone else is doing. Do it your way. No regrets then.
MO’C: Who’s your March Madness pick? Readers of the blog know who mine is…
CC: Ack! I’m torn. We’re talking books here, yes? C. T. Adams & Cathy Clamp’s A Touch of Evil. (To Cindy's credit, she emailed me within an hour to explain that yes, she knew March Madness was BASKETBALL... but I think it is SO SWEET that she's plugging her fellow authors that I'm leaving her adorable answer up here! Personal to Cindy Cruciger... GO ZAGS!)
MO’C: What’s next for Cindy Cruciger?
CC: I am finishing the sequel and looking for a publisher. In the meantime I am gearing up for RT in Daytona. I’ll pounce one of the Casadega psychics when I get there and have them ask the dead if they have anything interesting to tell us. Stand by.
Thank you so much, Cindy! Please visit Cindy's site, and buy her book at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your local indy via Booksense.
Well, I am relatively better, although still just exhausted. I've emerged just in time to welcome the fabulous Cindy Cruciger to the blog, author of the creepy new novel REVENGE GIFTS.
THE BOOK
I believe that some people are just plain haunted. I think that certain people are lightning rods for ghosts. I think they grow up with it, learn to live with it and ignore it – to the point where they one day find themselves in serious trouble. That is the crux of my heroine’s character in the Revenge Gifts chronicles.
Revenge Gifts takes place over thirteen days spanning a full moon. Tara Cole is an extremely powerful attractant to ghosts, specifically ghosts seeking revenge. One spirit attracted to Tara in particular is the voodoo loa Erzulie, goddess of love, envy, jealousy and revenge. In thirteen days Tara’s life is turned upside down by a Reversal of Fortune curse placed on her by an angry recipient of one of her revenge gifts.
The weird wasteland that was Tara’s life turns around with a vengeance and he ten year dating dry spell? Over. But with all things good in a garden of evil a price must be paid.
This is not your typical romance. This is not a romance for normal people. Revenge Gifts is a romance for the lunatic fringe.
THE AUTHOR
THE PRAISE
CLICK HERE (I couldn't make the blurbs work since they are graphics on Cindy's site)THE INTERVIEW
MO’C: You describe your work as “romance for the lunatic fringe.” I think I’d definitely qualify… what does “lunatic fringe” mean to you and what kind of response have you gotten from that market?
CC: To me the lunatic fringe are readers who basically say, do and read what they want because they’ve figured out early on that life is far too short to care what other people think. You will find Ellora’s Cave on their PDA along with Blaise Pascal and Atlas Shrugged. The Lunatic Fringe understand TelevisionWithoutPity.com and can tell the difference between “snark”, irony and meanness.
In Revenge Gifts I give them some seriously messed up characters. If you’re normal, you aren’t going to wish you were Tara Cole and you most definitely won’t see happy endings with Howard. You WILL wish you could meet them, though … from a safe distance.
MO’C: I adore your cover. It’s very noir-ish and almost retro. How did the cover come to be?
CC: Honest-to-god, I have no idea. I gather the TOR PR and Marketing people got together and, in a fit of binge drinking and designer drug use, decided that roosters were the perfect symbol for dark, anti-chick-lit. It’s probably better not to know where the covers for novels come from.
MO’C: Do you believe in the supernatural? What are those from “the other side” trying to tell us, do you think?
CC: I definitely believe there are ghosts here on Earth. I’m not sure they have anything to tell us. I’ve never asked. I don’t think I want to know.
MO’C: Are any of the characters based on yourself? If so, which ones?
CC: I pulled the computer stuff and experience bartending into the book. The lace was just a fun side-slip. I can’t see myself in any of the characters I created. I was actually careful not to bleed into Tara’s head because … she has issues.
MO’C: What’s been the best thing about being published? The most frustrating?
CC: I’ve been asked that before and I have no great answers. Writing is like a mental high without the drugs. I could get lost in it. Getting published is the business end of writing and to be honest, I hate it.
Entertaining readers? Amazing. Getting the work out so it can entertain readers? Sucks.
MO’C: What’s your writing day like? Any special routines or tips for getting organized?
CC: I pray for long stretches between soccer games and long soccer practices and dead-stop-life-flight-worthy traffic jams to squeeze writing time into a day. I dictate to the laptop while driving. I get up at four in the morning before work and write. There is no typical writing day for me.
MO’C: Any advice for aspiring authors?
CC: My standard advice is to keep your sense of humor and don’t quit your day job. More than that? I’d tell them not to watch how others get published. Don’t try to do what everyone else is doing. Do it your way. No regrets then.
MO’C: Who’s your March Madness pick? Readers of the blog know who mine is…
CC: Ack! I’m torn. We’re talking books here, yes? C. T. Adams & Cathy Clamp’s A Touch of Evil. (To Cindy's credit, she emailed me within an hour to explain that yes, she knew March Madness was BASKETBALL... but I think it is SO SWEET that she's plugging her fellow authors that I'm leaving her adorable answer up here! Personal to Cindy Cruciger... GO ZAGS!)
MO’C: What’s next for Cindy Cruciger?
CC: I am finishing the sequel and looking for a publisher. In the meantime I am gearing up for RT in Daytona. I’ll pounce one of the Casadega psychics when I get there and have them ask the dead if they have anything interesting to tell us. Stand by.
Thank you so much, Cindy! Please visit Cindy's site, and buy her book at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your local indy via Booksense.
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