An Interview with Anne Greenwood Brown, author of Lies Beneath

Everyone please welcome Anne Greenwood Brown, author of that ah-may-zing mermaid book, Lies Beneath!

About Anne

I am a Minnesota author, writing about mermaid assassins on Lake Superior. My debut YA series begins with LIES BENEATH, coming June 12, 2012 from Random House/Delacorte.

The sequel (DEEP BETRAYAL) is anticipated for March 2013.

Besides writing and reading YA literature, I love all things Irish, romantic movies, beef stroganoff, and Nutella.

If I'm listening to music it's Violent Femmes, The Coronas (awesome band out of Dublin), and Great Big Sea (out of Newfoundland).

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JoAnne: Give me one thing that you would want to change about your book, Lies Beneath.

Anne: Change?! Oh my gosh, I hope nothing! So much work has gone into it. I'll tell you one thing I had to change. Maris's name was originally "Ren," which is a Japanese name, meaning water lily. I had to change it because there's a very popular YA book with a major character named Ren! It's a unique enough name that I had to ditch it.

JoAnne: What would you say is your interesting writing quirk? 

Anne: Hmmmm . . . I write in layers. My first draft is almost entirely dialogue. In later drafts I layer in the action, then the settings, and keep working in the layers, down to the smallest detail.

JoAnne: Coffee or energy drinks? 

Anne: Medium Skim Latte, please!

JoAnne: A hug or a kiss? 

Anne: Oooh. Who is it from? Hugs I suppose.

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

Anne: The one I love. The one I have ALWAYS loved.

JoAnne: Your book totally changed my fairytale perspective on mermaids! They're seductive and deadly. What inspired you to write about killer mermaids (or merman)? 

Anne: Actually, it's kind of a funny story. I never set out to write about mermaids. I was writing an adult/contemporary novel about a woman who tended a lighthouse on an island on Lake Superior. Her love interest was a ferry boat captain. I kept having these weird dreams where he would dive off the rail of the ferry--which would be incredibly stupid! Lake Superior is so cold, a normal person would be dead in a matter of minutes. I kept telling that character to STOP DIVING! Then one night (in my dream), he dove and busted out with this amazing tail. I put that novel aside and wrote the story that wanted to be written.

JoAnne: Lies Beneath was written in a boy's POV, which is a bit uncommon in the YA paranormal romance genre. Why did you choose this POV? Did you have a difficult time writing it? 

Anne: I don't remember making a conscious choice. Once I realized there was a merman with a story, the first line popped into my head. ("I hadn't killed anyone all winter, and I have to say I felt pretty good about that.") The rest kept coming pretty naturally. Book 2 is a continuation of the story, but told from Lily's point of view. Lily's internal voice took me longer to get a handle on--probably because I'd spent so much time in Calder's head. Right now I'm working on Book 3, which will be told in alternating points of view (Calder and Lily).

About Lies Beneath

Lies Beneath (Lies Beneath #1)

by Anne Greenwood Brown

The lore of mermaids and mermen is real! As Gretchen McNeil, author of Possess, says, "Riveting! A cold-blooded tale of secrets, revenge, and forbidden love that will leave you terrified to go in the water."

Calder White lives in the cold, clear waters of Lake Superior, the only brother in a family of murderous mermaids. To survive, Calder and his sisters prey on humans and absorb their positive energy. Usually, they select their victims at random, but this time around, the underwater clan chooses its target for a reason: revenge. They want to kill Jason Hancock, the man they blame for their mother's death.

It's going to take a concerted effort to lure the aquaphobic Hancock onto the water. Calder's job is to gain Hancock's trust by getting close to his family. Relying on his irresistible good looks and charm, Calder sets out to seduce Hancock's daughter Lily. Easy enough, but Calder screws everything up by falling in love--just as Lily starts to suspect there's more to the monster-in-the-lake legends than she ever imagined, and just as the mermaids threaten to take matters into their own hands, forcing Calder to choose between them and the girl he loves.

One thing's for sure: whatever Calder decides, the outcome won't be pretty.