Resort Chat: Julie Kagawa

The Book Resort is thrilled to have the beautiful & hilarious, Julie Kagawa over for a little dish.

Julie is one of the amazing tenners.

Ready? Let's go!


Me: What are you working on now? (If you can give us a hint!)

JK: At the moment, I’m trying to finish the last book in The Iron Fey series, the IRON QUEEN.

Me: Spiderman or Superman:

JK: Oh, Spiderman, all the way! He’s one of my favorite supers of all time! Superman is so boring. Spiderman will make snarky comments while fighting baddies; he’s got attitude.

Me: Wonder Woman or Batgirl:

JK: Batgirl. Who, if you’ve been keeping up with the comics, is no longer Batgirl but Oracle, since Joker shot her and paralyzed her from the waist down. (Yes, I’m a geek).

Me: Laughing... Yes, I am aware Barbara is now Oracle but I so love when that motorcycle zooms by... retro Batgirl lover! Ha~ha!


Me: Chunky or Smooth:

JK: Chunky or smooth what? If we’re talking ice cream, smooth. If we’re talking something else, I’d rather not say. ;)

Me: Favorite flavor ice cream:

JK: Mint chocolate chip.

Me: Favorite ice cream topping:

JK: Reeses Peanut Butter cups. (But not on Mint chocolate chip)

Me: Subway or Taxi:

JK: Um, I don’t have to deal with either, so I guess I’ll say taxi. You get crazy drivers, but you don’t have to fight the crowds in a subway. Crowds make me jumpy and snarly.

Me: Broadway Show or Movie Theater:

JK: Depends on what it is. I guess I’ll say Broadway, cause I love musicals to death, and generally feel like killing the people in a movie theater. Why do I always get stuck behind the talkers?

Me: TiVO or DVR:

JK: DVR

Me: Favorite vacation place:

JK: Is this places I’ve been or places I want to go? I’ll say Japan, cause I’m dying to go there someday.


Me: Next vacation destination:

JK: See above question.

Me: Favorite NYC hotspot:

JK: I have never been to NYC *gasp!* But I’d love to go someday. I keep hearing rumors of this bookstore called the Strand where you can find not-even-released arcs.

Me: Guilty Pleasure:

JK: I have crushes on a lot of bishounen. (If you don’t know what a bishounen is, so much the better)

Me: Good luck charm:

JK: Don’t really have one.

Me: When you were a little girl, you thought you would grow up to be a….

JK: Veterinarian, since I love animals. But then I discovered I had to know uber amounts of science and math, and numbers hate me. I did grow up to be a dog trainer before I became a writer, though.


Me: Last thing bought at the mall:

JK: A book. (duh) And that was last Christmas. Which shows you how often I go to the mall.

Me: Item on your grocery list:

JK: Mountain Dew. (Always)

Me: French fries or Onion Rings:

JK: Ew, onions. French Fries, definitely.

Me: Pizza: New York or Chicago?

JK: I don’t like thin crust, so I’ll go with Chicago.

Me: Midnight snack:

JK: Mountain Dew. (This will be a theme)

Me: Bookmark or dog ear?

JK: Bookmark!

Me: Read with dustjacket or remove it?

JK: With. Unless it irritates me and I take it off.

Me: Ocean, Lake, Desert, Mountain:

JK: Can I pick them all? Except the desert; I HATE heat.

Me: Favorite book:

JK: That’s not fair, I can’t pick just one. SOME of my faves include: Poison Study, Perfect Chemistry, Lightning Thief, Helm, Song in the Silence, Harry Potter, Watership Down, A Game of Thrones, The Night Angel trilogy, Tithe, Wondrous Strange, Bird by Bird … okay, I’ll stop now.

Me: Item you can't live without:

JK: My laptop. Seriously, if I’m away from email and the internet for more than a day, I get awfully twitchy. And of course, all my writing is on my laptop.

Me: Who is your favorite writer that most people have never heard of?

JK: Brian Weeks has an awesome series called The Night Angel trilogy. And one of my absolute favorite books is called Helm by Stephen Gould. Night Angel is about an assassin (ahhhh, I love assassin stories), and Helm is a sci-fi that is just fabulous.

Me: What kid or teen books made a difference in your world growing up?

JK: My tastes were eclectic, but I do remember loving horse stories such as King of the Wind, Misty of Chincoteague, and The Black Stallion. I was rather horse crazy as a teen, and my first attempts at writing were about untamable stallions (which borrowed heavily from another book—guess which one.)


Me: Where do you like to write your books (bed ~ coffee shop ~ an office)?

JK: I have to write at a table or desk. I simply cannot write in bed with the laptop on my lap. And my A.D.D makes it difficult to write in places where there are a lot of people.

Me: Describe your ideal place to write:

JK: A nice quiet office with music playing in the background.

Me: What are you reading @ the moment?

JK: Rampant by Diane Peterfrund. KILLER UNICORNS!

Me: Where do you usually read?

JK: Curled up on the couch or in a “reading nest” on the bed. Don’t bother me while I’m reading or I’ll snarl at you.

Me: Do you usually have more than one book you are reading at a time?

JK: Not usually. I’m a one book at a time type of girl.

Me: Do you read nonfiction in a different way or place than you read fiction?

JK: The only time I’m reading nonfiction is a). research and therefore on the computer, b). some sort of writing book and therefore near my current novel, or c). a dogtraining book (I just like to see the newest methods). Other than that, I don’t read much non-fiction.




About Julie:

Julie Kagawa was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos, and frequent hurricanes. She spent much of her time in the ocean, when she wasn’t getting chased out of it by reef sharks, jellyfish, and the odd eel.

When not swimming for her life, Julie immersed herself in books, often to the chagrin of her schoolteachers, who would find she hid novels behind her Math textbooks during class. Her love of reading led her to pen some very dark and gruesome stories, complete with colored illustrations, to shock her hapless teachers. The gory tales faded with time, but the passion for writing remained, long after she graduated and was supposed to get a real job.

To pay the rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional dogtrainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full-time.

Julie now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where the frequency of shark attacks are at an all time low. She lives with her husband, two obnoxious cats, one Australian Shepherd who is too smart for his own good, and the latest addition, a hyper-active Papillon puppy.


Check out:

Julie's website

Julie's Livejournal

Julie's Blog

Tenners


The Iron King arrives from Harlequin Teen February of 2010

MEGHAN CHASE HAS A SECRET DESTINY— ONE SHE COULD NEVER HAVE IMAGINED…

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan’s life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school…or at home.
When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she’s known is about to change.
But she could never have guessed the truth—that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she’ll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face…and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

Read an excerpt of the Iron King here.


Now available for pre~order!

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