{Interview & Giveaway} with Lia Kane author of A Sucker Born Every Minute

Happy Thanksgiving!! Today we have author Lia Kane whom I interviewed about her paranormal novel A Sucker Born Every Minute. One Lucky winner will win an eBook copy from smashwords from Lia!

A Sucker Born Every Minute Interview with Lia Kane for @Seeing Night Reviews

SNR: Can you tell us a little bit in your own words about A Sucker Born Every Minute?

LK: It's a different take on vampires.  What if vampirism was a highly contagious virus, which caused the infected person to feed on blood, be sensitive to light, and have all the other traditional weaknesses of vampires... but none of the supernatural strengths or powers?  In this story, a young woman, Jerrika Rand, is infected with a fictitious virus, VAM (also known as the Bloodfeeding Disease) during her freshman year in college.  Because of the fear and stigma surrounding the disease, her family disowns her and she's left alone to make her way in the world as a young adult. She has no one aside from her best friend, Whitney, to lean on for support and companionship. After finishing graduate school and becoming a social worker, Jerrika accepts a job as a director of an orphanage for children who have VAM in a small town where misunderstanding and hatred of the disease abound. In her new job, Jerrika tries to build new relationships and reconnect with the rest of the world again, makes new friends, and even comes close to falling in love. But when the orphanage is burned to the ground, she doesn't know who she can trust anymore. As she digs into the secrets of the small town, she learns of two women who have disappeared in a strange series of events. And she can't help but wonder if she's next!

SNR: What brought on the idea for VAM?

LK: I think the idea was sparked by a combination of the vampire craze (I love watching vampire movies and reading vampire fiction, so I admit, I've been bitten by that vampire bug too) and also current events related to public health.  Over the past decade, people have panicked over the threat of pandemics - Swine flu, SARS, the list goes on. In the 90's, everyone was terrified of HIV and AIDS. I had been wanting to write a vampire story for a while, but wanted to take a really different approach and rewrite the rules a bit. I wanted my vampires to be as credible as possible, so in "A Sucker Born Every Minute," the 'vampires' are all people with the VAM disease, which causes them to feed on blood. They're not seen as very glamorous characters. They're feared and shunned by most of the world, as people are terrified of acquiring the highly contagious disease. It was fun to have the freedom to write about vampires as the oppressed underdogs instead of the powerful, sexy creatures they are in most popular fiction these days.

SNR: What type of research did you have to do for this type of storyline or what inspired you?

LK: I have a degree in public health and worked closely with infectious disease nurses, social workers and their clients in a clinical setting for several years. Having that real-life experience helped me out a lot with knowing how to write VAM as a credible disease.

SNR: Do you have any interesting quirks when writing? Ex. Listening to certain music for inspiration, watching television, writing outside, etc.

 LK: I used to listen to music, light candles, and try to force myself into that idyllic sensory "zone" that so many authors claim is their secret to productivity, but I find that I write best if in a quiet environment, with as little distraction as possible.  For some strange reason, I tend to write better at night, and in the winter. Maybe it's because everything and everyone else  around me is naturally more quiet and peaceful during those times.

SNR: What was your favorite experience in writing this book?

LK: Reaching the finish line and sending it out to beta readers for review. :)

SNR: Who are some of your favorite writers?

LK: Barry Eisler, Sandra Brown, Dean Koontz, Stephen King, JA Konrath. I love mysteries and thrillers, and those writers are the best of the best in my opinion!

SNR: If you would live in any world in one of your favorite novels what world would it be and why?

LK: I'm already living there!  "A Sucker Born Every Minute" is based in North Carolina, my home state. Although the town of Blue Sky is fictitious, it's really an Anywheresville, USA, with all the same people and issues you'd find in the real world. Blue Sky is a small town that has been deeply impacted by the failing economy, and people are struggling to make ends meet. On the other side of the fence are people with plenty of wealth and power, which they freely abuse. There are those who are loving, kind and spiritual, as well as hypocrites who commit hate crimes. There are good and bad people no matter where you go.  It's part of the balance that keeps both fiction and real life interesting!

SNR: If you could be any one of your characters who would it be and why?

LK:  I wouldn't mind being Whitney!  She's bold, beautiful, fearless and funny... and gets just about everything she wants with little to no effort. I think it would be fun to be someone like her for a day or two, but would get boring after a while.  It's the adversity and challenges in life that build our character and make us who we are.

SNR: Can you tell us what your working on next?

LK: I'm currently finishing up a Young Adult novel, "A Girl Named

Frankie." It's a contemporary twist on the story of Frankenstein's monster.I've also started on the sequel to "A Sucker Born Every Minute," which is "Sucker Written Across My Forehead." I hope to release it in the late spring of 2012.

  

NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY

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Ends Nov. 29th