Author Interview: Beth Fantaskey, author of Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side

Hello guys! We have a very, very special guest today... I am so happy to get an interview with her as I a have been a fan since her first book, Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side came out. So everyone, please welcome Beth Fantaskey!

1. My favorite hobby is traveling the world - but my biggest fear is flying.
2. My second-biggest fear is public speaking… but I’m a college professor (who sometimes teaches public speaking!)
3. I have two 5-year-old kids - who AREN’T twins.
4. My weirdest work experience was helping to “tan” deer hides using cow brains. (I was actually writing a magazine story about it.)
5. I’ve only been fired once, from a job as a bookstore clerk.
6. My best educational experience was doing research in India on the Dalit (“untouchable”) struggle for human rights. (See maarpu.org)
7. My worst experience, ever, was getting food poisoning while riding my bike from the Missouri River to the Mississippi. (My friend told me the chicken tasted strange…)
8. Whenever I visit a new country, I try as many ketchups as I can. (Best: Poland, Worst: China)
9. I am an uncommonly bad volleyball player…ask the team that ALMOST won a championship.
10. I also suffer from mild “ichthyphobia,” or “fear or fish.” I don’t bother trying to overcome that one!

Stalk Beth: Facebook | Twitter | Website

What music were you listening to while writing Jessica's Guide?
I’m sort of embarrassed to admit this, but I was actually exploring country music right then, and my husband gave me a copy of Toby Keith’s greatest hits. One day, I put it in the CD slot of my computer – and I had the most amazing writing day. I played that CD endlessly while I wrote Jessica’s Guide. When that wasn’t on, I listened to Pandora, where I have a really long, eclectic list of “stations” that ranges from Young the Giant to symphonic music to Rammstein. (I share Lucius’s love of German metal.)

If you could change one character in Jessica's Guide, who would it be? Why?
I wouldn’t change any of them. Even the villains, such as Faith Crosse and Frank Dormand, are very real to me, and I can’t imagine them being anything but who they are. They’re like my kids!

What is the message from your book that you want to convey to your readers?
I didn’t set out to include any profound messages in my book, but I did want to portray girls as smart and self-reliant people who don’t necessarily fall for the first good looking guy who pays them the slightest bit of attention. Jessica is basically the girl I’d like my three daughters to grow up to be: courageous, loyal, intelligent and self-confident. I also wanted to create a heroine who wasn’t “popular” or beautiful in a traditional sense – and who wasn’t rail thin. She’s a normal, curvy, healthy girl – and Lucius loves that about her. That was important to me, too.

What is your favorite toy as a child?
A stuffed tiger. I still have it, and I let my kids play with it, but it always makes me a little nervous, because it’s very fragile now. But toys are meant to be loved, so I let them do it.

Do you speak Romanian?
No, not a word. My publisher was nice enough to hire a translator.

The one who loves you or the one you love? 

They are one and the same, fortunately!

Viral epidemic or nuclear explosion? 

Nuclear explosion – might as well get it over with quickly.

Boxers or briefs? 

Boxers

I love Lucius. He's one of those male characters that can be arrogant and charming at the same time! Can you tell me what is on his bedside table right now? On his bedroom floor? In his trash can?
Right now, his bedside table holds a worn copy of The Brothers Karamazov, an iPad that he uses to run his kingdom late at night – and play the occasional game of virtual soccer – as well as an old-fashioned notebook and pen, because he’s ambivalent about technology. There’s nothing on his bedroom floor except a massive, very expensive, antique Persian rug, because woe to the staff if they let the Levis – and tuxedo pants – he occasionally tosses there lie around for too long. His trash can holds an empty bag that once containedpapanasi from his favorite shop and a crumpled note from Jess, letting him know that she’s going for a walk in the castle, and if she’s not back by eight, he should send help, because she’s lost again. He secretly wanted to save that, because it made him laugh, but then rejected that notion as pathetically overly sentimental.

Do you like eating lentils? :D
I almost never make them, but yes, I sort of do like them!

Thank you for your time Beth!

The sequel to Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side will be released on the 10th of January! I actually thought Jessica's Guide was a standalone novel, and when I found out that there will be a sequel, saying that I was ecstatic is an understatement. I can't wait to read more about Lucius and Jessica!

BUY

Jessica Rules the Dark Side

by Beth Fantaskey

It’s one thing to find out you’re a vampire princess. It’s a whole other thing to actually rule. Newly married Jessica Packwood is having a hard enough time feeling regal with her husband, Lucius, at her side. But when evidence in the murder of a powerful elder points to Lucius, sending him into solitary confinement, Jessica is suddenly on her own. Determined to clear her husband’s name, Jessica launches into a full-scale investigation, but hallucinations and nightmares of betrayal keep getting in her way. Jessica knows that with no blood to drink, Lucius’s time is running out. Can she figure out who the real killer is—and whom she can trust—before it’s too late?