Interview and Giveaway with Judy Serrano!

Hey ladies and gents! :) I had the opportunity review and interview Judy Serrano, author of the Easter's Lillys series! 

The first book in the series is called Easter's Lily and follows Lilly who went from an affair with a lowly gangster to being married to the head of the organization. In Brother Number 3 the story continues about the gang brothers and it was this book that I interviewed Ms. Serrano about!

Coming in third place was something that was all too familiar to Hector Montiago. As his strength and grounding personality pushes him into first place with the woman he loves, lines are crossed and sides are chosen. In the second book of the series, Brother Number Three depicts family ties in a light unequal to any other. Lilly tells the story of how the brothers unite in the effort to recover her missing son, as blood becomes both the indestructible bond that holds them together and the opposing force that pushes them apart. They fight temptation, while the enemies of the Montiago cartel unleash their wrath, only to discover that the true danger lies within.

When did you know you wanted to be an author?

I have always loved to write. I started with poetry and songs but I wrote my first novel when I was 12. My two passions were singing and writing and I apparently chose the wrong one. I was a singer for most of my young life and after I went back to college decided to try my hand at an adult novel. It was so much fun that it became addicting and before I knew what happened I had a handful of Easter’s Lilly stories.

What made you decide to write such an amazing sounding thriller series about a gang organization? 

My intention was to write a book about my successful marriage. When I put my fingers on the keyboard, my characters took me on a journey way far away from where I had first intended. They are still doing that to me, even with the new series I am writing.

Can someone read your books out of order or does the series need to be followed book-by-book?

 I highly recommend reading the books in order. There is so much background necessary to understand the psyche of some of these characters. Plus, I think it helps to find out what is so irresistible about the dangerous Montiago brothers.

Are your characters startling real to you? Do you have a gang living in your head? :) Have you ever had the times we all hear about when your character grabs the story and yanks it away from you? 

My characters are all very real to me. One of the reasons I haven’t stopped writing Lilly yet is because I know I will miss her and the family so much. My characters totally take me, I do not direct them. A lot of my story lines come from dreams. I am anxiously awakened from my sleep only to dart over to my MacBook and start typing some notes down. It is always a mystery to me where my characters are going to land.

Thank you Alex so much for letting me appear on your blog today. I hope you have enjoyed the read.

Thank you Ms. Serrano for agreeing! I can't wait to read this series- it sounds really really interesting!

Interview with Bryan Young of Lost at the Con

I was able to send Bryan Young a couple questions after being able to read his great book Lost at the Con (review here) and he gave me some great answers! Below you can find the questions I sent him and his answers! 

Me: Can you tell me a bit about yourself? 


Him:  Well, I think the primary thing about myself is that I have a habit of biting off more than I can chew. I'm a filmmaker and have produced two award winning documentaries that you can catch on Netflix (This Divided State and Killer at Large). I'm a columnist with a regular geek column in the Salt Lake City Weekly, the alt-weekly here, as well as a columnist at Huffington Post. I'm the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the geek news and review site Big Shiny Robot!, and in addition to all of that, I'm an author, too. (My other books are Man Against the Future and God Bless You, Mr. Vonnegut, in addition to a host of short stories available digitally.) I guess that's more about what I do than about me. As a person, I have two kids I adore, I'm fascinated by politics and film. Also Star Wars. I'm a big believer in Star Wars and all the lessons its taught me. Obviously, I love reading and writing, too. I've got three more novels written and in various stages of editing and probably 30 more short stories I plan on unleashing into the world soon.


 Me: What was your process while writing Lost at the Con? Did you write whenever the urge hit or did you plan out so many pages a day?

Him: I had a deadline and I just worked toward it. I tried spending as much time as I could devoted to writing when I wasn't working on all the other stuff I'm working on.  My goal was to make sure I cared about what I was writing and try to make it as fun as possible for me and, hopefully, for the reader, too. I took it to a couple of workshops where I was eviscerated for not having a likable enough main character and I had some help trying to sort through all that with some really great friends. But the biggest thing was just to write every day. I try to get a bare minimum of 500 words written per day, but I usually average more than twice that. It's important to just do it every day.

Me:  Are you a con-goer? Did you attend a con to research for Lost at the Con? 

Him: I am, indeed, a con-goer. I've been to about a dozen San Diego Comic-Cons, I've been to a couple of Dragon*Con's, I've been to all but one Star Wars Celebration...  I've been a fan of that circuit, both as a geek and as press, for a very long time. The idea for Lost at the Con occurred after my first experience at Dragon*Con, though. That place truly is the Mardi Gras of conventions. And I love it. But it really got me wondering what a drunken reprobate of a journalist with no experience in science fiction or fantasy or comics would think coming into it with no warning or background. And every time I saw something he might react to (Snarry anyone?) I would laugh hysterically about it.

Me: What do you have in common with our beloved Cobb? 

Him: I think one of the things I have in common with Cobb is that we've both attended conventions...?  We've both been inspired by the hero myth to pursue our dreams, eventually. And I think we'd both run if there were a bionic ex-President trying to kill us.

Me: Do you think you and Cobb would be friends if you met on the street?

Him: I don't know if we would be. I think he'd be someone to have an interesting conversation at a bar with, but I think he'd find me to be an intolerable asshole. But I think most people find me that way. I'll try to get along with anybody, though. 

Me: What do you wish I would have said about Lost at the Con in my review? 

Him: That it was the best book ever written and that you were quitting your day job to proselytize it's message to the world. No, I kid. I think any review needs to come from the heart, whether it's good or bad, and yours did that, so it was great to read for that reason, one way or the other.

Me: What are 3 words you would choose to describe your book to get the reader's attention?

Him: Drunken journalist, Space Lincoln  That's four, but you get the point.

Thank you so much for answering my questions Bryan! It was great learning about a real live author and your writing process! And I think you definitely succeeded in creating a likable main character! And I was wondering while I was reading how you and Cobb are alike. I was wondering if you were an alcoholic journalist or so! And why I can't say I'll be quitting school to study your book I did really enjoy it!


Find Lost at the Con on Amazon here for Kindle version and here for paperback! Be sure to check it out! :)