Author Interview + Giveaway: W.J. May, author of Rae of Hope

W.J. May, author of Rae of Hope, is here at The Fairytale Nerd for an author interview and an eBook giveaway!

 

Wanita May grew up in the fruit belt of Ontario - St.Catharines. Crazy-happy childhood, she always has had a vivid imagination and loads of energy.
The youngest of six -- four older brothers, and a sister -- taught her at a young age to be competitive in all aspects of life.
At sixteen, she began competing in athletics (track and field) and before she turned seventeen, she was representing Canada in high jump. She continued to compete, breaking Canada's JR High Jump record (1.92m - 6' 3 1/2" for those metric-ly challenged). She attented University of Toronto, and Kansas State University - winning CIAU's and becoming All-American 6x - NCAA Indoors Runner Up + more.
But you're not interested in her athletic career - unless of course you're curious to know she stands 1.70m (5'7") and has jumped 20cm over her head on more than one occassion. She's represented Canada at the World Championships, World Jrs., won Francophone Games, and loved every minute of every competition. From the grueling workouts, the crazy weights she lifted on her back, the days she thought her lungs were going to spit out of her mouth for lack of oxygen, the travelling around the world and the opportunity to read - her favourite past time.
Life continued with her husband (a distance runner from Liverpool, UK, who she met at KSU) and then their first, then second and finally third child. Their house became full of more imagination and stories.
Wanita and her husband run an online business, dealing in antiques and collectables - particularly jewelry and porcelain (one of the business' website:www.wadeincanada.com ).
After her father passed away in 2009, from a six-year battle with cancer (which she still believes he won the fight against), she began to write again. A passion she'd loved for years, but realized life was too short to keep putting it off.
Her first book, Rae of Hope - from the Chronicles of Kerrigan - will be available October 2011 by kNight Romance Publishing.
She is currently represented by Dawn Dowdle of Blue Ridge Literary Agency. Wanita is a writer of Young Adult, Fantasy Fiction and where ever else her little muses take her.

Welcome to The Fairytale Nerd! how are you today?
Totally awesome. I'm the lucky kid who gets to wake up on the right side of the bed every morning, the glass is always half-full, I've got a great hubby, three fantastic kids, and my first book is about to go to print - I've got no excuse to be grouchy. :) That that I've made everyone want to pop by balloon bubble and sink back down to earth - today is a great day, that's it. Just a really good day.

So for the first question, tell me about your book.
Rae of Hope is the first book in the Chronicles of Kerrigan. Rae's fifteen years old when she starts school at Guilder Boarding School. Guilder used to be an all-boys school and it's just opened it's doors to females. A few, very select, females. Rae's just like every other typical fifteen year old kid, until her sixteen birthday when she wakes up with a tattoo on her lower back. It's a celtic fairy.

What is the message (from your books) that you want to convey to your readers? 

Power and/or ability is a gift. We're human, we make mistakes but it is within us to become the person we want to be. Not what others see in us or assume. Rae goes through some tough times and makes mistakes. But like the old saying, a mistake is never a mistake if a lesson's been learned.

Where do you get your ideas for your books?
Can I say the fairies tell me? *laughs* No, I don't really have an answer here. I always wanted to write and never felt there was a future in it for me. My father passed away in 2008 of cancer and one of our last conversations we had, he told me to do what I want I really want to do, that life was over in the blink of an eye. he passed in September and over Christmas that year, it really stuck to me. I told my hubby I wanted to write a story and I did. Rae of Hope was the result of my healing journey.
On a more candid note *wipes tears and winks to make myself look silly again* I have this off-the-charts vivid imagination. I love to read, I love to watch movies. I love being swept away into someone else's world and pretend. It's always been in my nature (just didn't usually shout it out to the world and my friends around me. As you can tell, I'm slightly hyper, so I didn't need another notch in my belt :)

What is your most treasured possession?
My family

What was a time in your life when you felt really afraid?
When I went to watch Signs with Mel Gibson in the movie theatre. I didn't know what the storyline was and Im a Mel Gibson fan (Braveheart - think I've watched it about 70 times). Anyways, theatre was full so we had to sit near the front. I tend to get a bit jumping at the suspense and surprise scenes - I'm the one who leaps about 6 feet in the air - Spent most of the movie watching it from behind my hands, with my ears plugged.
Oh... and when I was six/seven and my sister rented POLTERGUIST (however you spell that one). Had to sleep with my parents for like ten years. I was POSITIVE the tree in our front yard was going to suck me up!

Who is your hero in real life?
My Father.

What about in books?
The good guy :) Or the bad guy that becomes good (helps if he's really hot as well :)

The one who loves you or the one you love?
the one you love

Batman or Superman?
tough...but it's gotta be Superman

Apartment or dorm?
Apartment, without question!

Viral epidemic or nuclear explosion?
there's enough letters in this one to spell: PEACE

Harry Potter or The Chronicles of Narnia?
Narnia

Fantasy or reality?
Fantasy

Blind or deaf?
Deaf

Summer or winter?
Summer

Christmas or Halloween?
Christmas

Ferrari or Lamborghini?
punchbug - the 1970's kind :)

What's your next project?
Ive got another Fantasy series that is going thru final edits with my agent... then off to publishers. In regards to writing - fantastic Fantasy that is 3/4 done - unique and totally the movie kind of book! ohhhh speaking of movie - Twentieth Century Fox requested Rae of Hope's manuscript - fingers crossed something happens with that!! It would be too cool!

BUY

Rae of Hope

by W.J. May

How hard do you have to shake a family tree to find out the truth of the past?
Fifteen-year-old Rae Kerrigan has never questioned her family’s history. That is until she accepted a scholarship to pGuilder Boarding School in England. Guilder is a very unique, gifted school. Rae has no idea what she is getting herself into or that her family’s past is going to come back and taunt her. She learns she is part of an unparalleled group of individuals who become marked with a unique tattoo (tatù) on their sixteenth birthday. The tatù enables them to have supernatural powers particular to the shape of their marking. Both her parents were marked though Rae never knew, as they passed away when she was young and never told her. Learning about her family’s past, her evil father and sacrificial mother, Rae needs to decide if there is a ray of hope for her own life.

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