Trick or treat?
Trick.
Shenanigans are so entertaining.
Truth or dare?
Dare—I
dare you to guess how many books I have on my to-be-read list right now.
Best Halloween creature?
Werewolves
all the way! Just look at Bloodborn.
Also, werepuppies, which are even cuter. Though I do have an undying love of
zombies. (Pun intended.)
What’s your most memorable Halloween
costume?
Well,
there was that time I was an Orion green-skinned lady from Star Trek. That
involved hellacious amounts of green face paint and a lot of strange stares on
the bus. I did get to wear that costume to a Star Trek party where they were
serving Romulan ale and Klingon bloodwine.
I’ve
also been a zombie. I love zombies.
(Yes,
both photos are in the same spot, my college apartment. Many escapades began
there.)
Best movie to watch for Halloween? Best
book to read?
It’s
not actually supposed to be a Halloween movie, but when I watched Black Swan at the eleven o’clock showing
at night, I remember being so creeped out by the horror scenes that I didn’t
want to go to the bathroom alone in the nearly abandoned theater…
As
for books, have you read House of Leaves?
I had to read it for class back in college, during fall quarter, which was of
course around Halloween. That book is super creepy and will make you not want
to stay in your own house, especially alone in the dark.
If you could go back in time and rewrite
the legend of a monster/creature, which would you
choose?
I
would rewrite the legend of vampires, just to see how Twilight would come out
different.
How do you celebrate Halloween?
By
buying as many pumpkins and pumpkin-flavored edibles as humanly possible. So
far I’ve had pumpkin pie, pumpkin spice latte, pumpkin ravioli, and pumpkin
bread. I also love to butcher pumpkins, bake them in the oven, and concoct pie
from scratch. And yes, I realize this makes me sound like a vegetarian serial
killer.
[Beauty and the Bookshelf adds: Have you tried Dreyer's pumpkin ice cream? It's amazing.]
It’s Friday the 13th, you’re
home alone, and it’s dark. Simultaneously, the phone rings and you hear
somebody upstairs. What do you do?
Friday
the 13th is my lucky day, actually, so I’d assume the phone call
would be my agent telling me fabulous good news, and the noise upstairs was
just my bratty 13-pound black cat.
If you were in a horror movie with a
classic killer what would you do
to survive?
Well,
since I’m a blonde, I’m either a ditzy bimbo doomed to die in the beginning, or
I’m going to survive all the way until the end credits. Since the second option
sounds better, I’d probably find myself a nice high perch somewhere and wait
for the killer to blunder past, then drop something heavy or acidic or molten
on his head.
If some of your characters were going to
dress up for Halloween, what would they dress up as?
I
have a feeling Gwen, Brock, and Tavian wouldn’t dress up as any sort of
paranormal creatures—consider how they are
a pooka, a werewolf, and a kitsune—but instead would go for more mundane
costumes. Gwen would be a pirate, or maybe Amy from Doctor Who since she has
the red hair to pull it off; Brock would be a Roman solider or something
equally macho; Tavian would probably be ironic and parody a hipster.
What are five facts about yourself?
-I
can be bribed with cute little houseplants. Or chocolate. Or both.
-My
eyes are listed as hazel on my driver’s license; they shift between green and
amber.
-I
can speak French and Mandarin conversationally, and a smidgen of German.
-I
once worked as a carnie, enticing guys to play a (rigged) basketball game.
-I
have the ability to cross my toes.
Using the letters of KITSUNE, please
describe your novels.
Karen has an author’s crush on Tavian,
since he’s a foxy fox-spirit.
In Foxfire,
there are faceless ghosts, mysterious temples, and dangerous secrets.
This means the book is awesome. You
should read it.
Seriously.
Unless you are allergic to awesome.
Not sure I can help you with that.
Evidently I have a knack for annoying
acrostics.
What’s next for you in your writing
career?
I
have several Super Secret WIPs in the works! One of them is a middle-grade
historical fantasy involving cake-eating zombies; one of them is a Steampunk
Book of Awesome co-authored with Chelsea Campbell; and one of them is a really
secret book I won’t tell you anything about.
Is there anything else you’d like to
share?
If
you want to poke me online, I can most often be found on Twitter! (@karenkincy)
Karen
Kincy (Redmond, Washington) lives among countless trees, some of which—her pet
kumquats and oranges—have lovingly invaded her apartment. Unlike her
characters, she has never been on the run from the law or bitten by a werewolf,
though she has been known to howl at the moon. Karen has a BA in Linguistics
and Literature from The Evergreen State College, and is studying toward a
Master’s in Computational Linguistics.
Publisher: Flux
Publishing Date: July 1, 2010
Pages: 336
Gwen Williams has been hiding a strange and fantastic secret: she's a shapeshifter. Although society may tolerate vampires, centaurs, and "Others" like Gwen, there are plenty of folks in her small Washington town who don't care for her kind.
When a new werewolf pack moves into the area, tensions rise—and Others start showing up dead, including someone close to Gwen. Despite the methodical murders, the police are ignoring evidence that suggests a serial killer. In the midst of terrible loss and danger, Gwen—along with a mysterious and sexy guy who happens to be a Japanese fox spirit—risks her life to find the murderer. But Gwen is already the killer's next target . . .
Publisher: Flux
Publishing Date: October 8, 2012
Pages: 312
"The kitsune legend has never looked so good. Tavian is one sexy fox."--Julie Kagawa, New York Times bestselling author of the Iron Fae series and the Blood of Eden series
Tavian and Gwen race to find a magical cure in the third thrilling Other novelTavian has never forgotten his real mother, a shapeshifting Japanese fox spirit like himself, who abandoned him. On a trip to Japan, his homeland, he discovers that she's alive. But a faceless ghost warns Tavian to stay away from her. Even worse, Tavian's magical fox powers have vanished. Finding his mother in Tokyo's seamy underworld may be his only chance to beat back the vicious dog spirits stalking him and his girlfriend Gwen--and to recover from a fatal magical illness eroding his human side.
Karen Kincy gets brownie points for being a local author, and her books are some you definitely don't want to miss--they take an interesting spin on werewolves (we need more of those in YA books!). Be sure to return to Beauty and the Bookshelf tomorrow (and through October) for the rest of Don't Look Behind the Bookshelf--fourteen days, thirteen authors, one giveaway.
To celebrate the spookiest, most terrifying holiday there is, Don't Look Behind the Bookshelf is ending with a little giveaway! It's kind of like trick or treating, but online! All you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter and you're entered to win. But what are the prizes?
Well. This is a book blog after all. And I recently featured several authors for Halloween, and their books are all Halloween-eqsue. So. The winner will receive at least five books from some of the authors listed above! How cool is that?!
Thank you for reading all these posts and looking through all the horrible gifs I posted; thank you for stopping by my blog; thank you for participating. Oh, and Happy Halloween! Keep reading, my bookish people!
