[Day Fifteen of 31 Days] Giveaway + Author Interview: Alison Pensy, author of The Amulet

Today's the 15th of October? Really? Time sure flies, especially when you are having fun... I know I am. I hope you guys are enjoying 31 Days too.

Today's guest is Alison Pensy, author of The Amulet and The Emerald Staff. Alison is visiting The Fairytale Nerd for an interview. She's also giving away THREE SETS of her books. By the way, Alison is traveling to England today with her family, so she would not be able to respond right away to comments.

Alison Pensy was born and raised in England and grew up near a medieval city called Norwich, which is where much of the inspiration for her books comes from. She has traveled extensively and the experiences and inspiration gained from that became priceless.

Moving to the States in 2001, she started out in California, but the pace of life for a country girl was overwhelming, and eventually she settled near a small town in mid Missouri with her menagerie of animals.

Alison also runs a tax and accounting business, which keeps her very busy during the day, and especially for the first few months of the year where she go into “headless chicken” mode.

She started writing a couple of years ago when she became so fed up with the real world she decided to create her own. She finds it fun at the end of a busy day dealing with other people’s finances to escape into a world where money has no bearing.

Her debut young adult novel, The Amulet, is an exciting adventure that takes you from the familiar World of Men to a faery realm called Azran, and back again.

Stalk Alison here: Twitter, Facebook, Blog

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Welcome to The Fairytale Nerd! how are you today?
At the moment I’m in the middle of remodeling, building an addition, running my business, playing the part of Glinda in The Wizard of Oz (at our local theatre), oh, and I musn’t forget, writing my 3rd book. So I’m just a little busy but excited about everything going on.

So for the first question, tell me about your book.
My book is set where I grew up, in a village near Norwich in England. Actually I used two villages and combined the best parts of both. I got the idea from an urban legend surrounding the local church. The legend goes that if you walk around the church 3 times at midnight on New Year’s Eve you disappear. I thought it would be fun if you disappeared into a different realm.

It follows the story of Faedra, a young girl who loses her mother to a mysterious illness. On the day of the funeral a big white dog turns up and doesn’t leave her side after that.

On her eighteenth birthday Faedra discovers she is part of an ancient bloodline that have protected a fae amulet for thousands of years. She discovers that the fae control nature (plant-life) with a book, and the amulet controls weather. Suddenly plant-life starts dying off and it becomes apparent that someone wants the amulet so they can control the weather, too. And, so, the adventure begins…

Why fairies?
I collect fairies, have done for years. Fairy lore fascinates me and I thought it would be fun to write a story about them. Mine aren’t your typical fairies, though. I don’t follow the traditional myths & legends apart from the whole nature thing.

What is the message (from your books) that you want to convey to your readers?
I didn’t write the book with any message intended, I just wanted to write an original entertaining story. But I guess it does have some undertones about how fragile nature is and how much we depend on it, so we better look after it before it’s too late.

If you had the chance to rewrite your book, would you change anything?
Being a self-published author I have the luxury of changing anything whenever I want. Just recently I corrected some editing issues in The Amulet. Regarding the plot or story, I was tempted to take out the cell phone scene towards the end where my MC was in a sword fight. I’d had a few comments about it in my reviews. I put it to my Facebook fans and they told me not to forget that I wrote my story for teens NOT adults and the teens seem to like it. So, I decided to leave it in and not stray from the path of who I was writing for.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
My characters tend to talk to me when I’m in the shower. They have whole conversations and, sometimes argue in my head. I feel like I’m eavesdropping. Obviously, as soon as I’ve dried off I have to write it all down before I forget any of it.

Oh that is definitely interesting! What scares you?
Oh, the usual stuff. Spiders, snakes, and creepy crawlies . I opened my chicken coop door once, only to be greeted by a huge black snake that was curled up in one of the nesting boxes. I screamed like a baby. LOL!

What is your favorite fairy book?
I’m not sure if you’d class it as a fairy book but I absolutely loved the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning. Epic! It revolves around the sidhe so I guess it counts.

Who is your hero in real life? What about in books?
My soul mate is my real life hero. He is the most supportive, loving man I’ve ever met (and my biggest fan). In books? That’s more tricky. I think Harry Potter is one of my favorite characters, not sure he’s my hero, though.

The man who loves you or the man you love?
The man I love, but I’m lucky enough to have both.

Boxers or briefs?
Now that’s a loaded question. Boxers, but the stretchy close fitting ones, not the baggy cotton ones *laughs*

Pancake or waffle?
Definitely pancakes

Viral epidemic or nuclear explosion?
A viral epidemic would kill off humans and leave plants and animal life alone (hopefully). Then the planet could start over and heal itself from all of our destruction. Whereas, a nuclear explosion would wipe out everything. So, I’m going with viral epidemic for the sake of the planet.

Jack Sparrow or Will Turner?
Good Lord, how do you choose between them?? Can I have both depending on what mood I’m in? LOL!

Fantasy or reality?
Definitely fantasy. It’s because of my need to escape reality that I started writing fantasy in the first place.

Blind or deaf?
Deaf. I could survive being deaf if I could still see the sunset or the awesome power of a lightning storm (I’d miss the thunder, though).

Yoga or pilates?
Yoga

Comedy or drama?
Both. Depends on my mood.

Vampires or shifters?
Shifters! How cool would it be to change shape? I couldn’t stomach drinking blood and not being able to go out in daylight. I’m Team Jacob all the way J

What's your next project?
I am currently writing the 3rd Custodian novel entitled The Cypher Wheel. No release date yet, but hoping to get it done by the end of the year.

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BUY: The Amulet

To Faedra, faeries were nothing more than the figurines she collected and displayed in her curio cabinet. She was in for a surprise. Faedra had no idea that faeries controlled nature, and with a book no less. Nor did she know that her descendants had protected an ancient fae amulet for thousands of years. An amulet that if ever was reunited with the book would give the wearer power to control the weather, too. She didn't know all ths because the one person to teach her died when she was just six years old. Well, now it was time for her to find out... A letter from the grave reveals her true identity the day of her eighteenth birthday. But she barely has time to digest the revelation when she is plunged into a fight for her life and that of mankind

                                                                                                                                                          

BUY: The Emerald Staff 

Faedra was enjoying the fact that everything was back to normal, well as normal as it could get when you had the ability to manipulate energy, were protector of an ancient Fae amulet, and lived with a fairy guardian 24/7. Her dad had even started dating. Yes, all was right again in Faedra’s world, or so she thought…

Interested in reading those books? 

Fill out the form for a chance to win!