Interview with the amazing Alethea Kontis :)
1. What was the first fairy tale you remember falling in love with? And was it a book or movie?
I fell in love with books first. I started reading when I was three and was crazy about reading by the age of five. When I was eight, my French grandmother gave me a giant copy of unexpurgated Grimm and Andersen tales. I mark that date as The Beginning of The End.
My favorite tale in that book was "The Goose Girl." It's still my favorite to this very day.
2. Did something inspire you to name the sisters after the weekdays? Like Saturday in Hero? :)
The inspiration for the naming of the sisters came from the nursery rhyme "Monday's Child." I was born on a Sunday, and I've always thought the whole "blithe, bonny, good, and gay" thing was a load of crap, too.
3. Did you always know you were going to be a writer, and that you would write books about magic?
If eight years old counts as "always," then yes. As soon as I began writing poetry, I knew I was destined to be a writer. I only *hoped* that I'd be able to write about magic and fairy tales. Actually DOING SO is a serious dream come true.
4. What is your all-time favorite fairy tale book? :)
The easy answer would be Robin McKinley's Beauty or Deerskin, but it's really Meredith Ann Pierce's Darkangel Trilogy. Pierce took all the greatest elements of fairy tales and incorporated them into a magical setting...that when you step away is *really* science fiction. That whole series pushed all the right buttons for me. Prophecies, true love (or is it?), evil witches, gargoyles, strong young women...it's also very female-centric, like the Oz books, which is something I didn't realize until I was much older.
5. Do you have a favorite character from the Woodcutter Series?
I could no sooner choose a favorite star in the sky. They are all me, and I rather like me.
6. Is there a scene in Hero that you couldn’t wait to finish writing, a happy one or a hard one?
Oh, I loved the scene where Saturday broke the world. I can still see it in my head like a movie, and I hope that translates to the reader. I also love the scene with the dragon. And in the crystal cave. And on the pirate ship. And...and all the spoilery ones I can't mention.
7. Is there anything you regret not adding into Enchanted or Hero before they got published?
"Regret" isn't the right word, but there were 30,000 words cut out of Enchanted before it was published. I would really love to go back one day and do a Director's Cut of Enchanted, preferably an enchanced Immersedition, where I can annotate it with all the inside jokes and fairy tale references. In the meantime, I've recorded a few of those scenes--you can find them on my YouTube channel.
8. I would love to know your favorite movie, fairy tale movie and “regular” movie :)
I actually did a list for USA Today on the 11 Best Fary Tale Movies: http://www.usatoday.com/story/happyeverafter/2013/05/28/alethea-kontis-enchanted-best-fairy-tale-movies/2364455/
...and it was hard to stop at 11.
Tough call to what my "favorite" movie would be. Possibly The Princess Bride, The Fall, or The Hunt for Red October. I'm a sucker for submarine movies.
9. Are you planning on writing other books besides the Woodcutter Series, when you finish with them? :)
I have plans for SO MANY OTHER THINGS. Most of those ideas are with my agent. But as none of the projects has officially landed with a publisher yet, I feel like it's jinxing them to talk about them.
I will say that I will soon be releasing a collection of my non-fairy tale short stories called WILD & WONDERFUL, DARK & DREAMING. I also mean to do a Kickstarter to reprint Beauty & Dynamite and finally publish the sequel, Murphy's Girl. And at some point, Janet Lee and I will be printing hard copies of Diary of a Mad Scientist Garden Gnome...but we're both so busy nowadays it's fallen by the wayside. I need to clone myself to get more accomplished!
Where to find Alethea Kontis:
Website - Twitter - Facebook
Where to find the books:
Website - Goodreads - My Old Review
Where to order both books:
Amazon - The Book Depository - Barnes & Noble
Giveaway details:
One winner will get a Fairy Tale Gift Basket.
Which if Signed copy of Enchanted and Hero and swag :)
US winner only. Ends on October 17th.
I haven't read the Darkangel trilogy before, but it sounds like something that I'd like. I'll have to check it out! And I'm glad to hear Alethea has plans for other books. I really enjoyed Enchanted when I first read it and look forward to giving Hero a try. Thanks so much for sharing! Brilliant interview. :)
ReplyDeleteGreat interview! I need to get these books so Alethea can be on my bookshelf next to Robin M. I forgot how much I love modern fairy tales. : )
ReplyDeleteI still haven't read Enchanted yet and I've had it for ages! Thanks for this interview, it gives me a tiny nudge towards my TBR pile, hah.
ReplyDeleteWendy @ The Midnight Garden
Love both of these covers and the stories sound fabulous. I love fairytale retellings. :) I also enjoyed The Goose Girl when I was growing up.
ReplyDeleteAwesome interview! Thanks for sharing and wishing Alethea the best of luck.
~Jess
My siblings and I have this theory that we were really meant to be triplets, but ended up being born at different times. We think my older sister, who's the brave one, went out first to explore the world, then I went out next like four years later because I finally got the courage, and our brother came out last, nine years later, because he got lost. So that's a little fun story that goes along with our tattoo (triplets in Polish).
ReplyDeleteI LOVED Enchanted, so I can't wait to get my hands on Hero!!!
Aw, that is pretty awesome :D Thank you for sharing. <3
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