Author Spotlight: Interview w/ Starr Gardinier & Giveaway

My fellow TWRP Paranormal Romance author, Starr Gardinier, is my guest today with a great interview. She is here sharing her new release, THE OTHER SIDE (Melinda’s Story)! Please help Starr feel welcome!

GIVEAWAY!! – CLOSED

Starr is giving away a digital copy of The Other Side. Comment on this blog post to be entered in the random drawing.  A winner will be drawn and announced at 9am CST tomorrow (9/23).

Congrats to maureenbonatch and thanks for stopping by!!

INTERVIEW

Based on the description, this sounds like a psychological thriller! How’d you come up with the concept?

An idea formed in my mind for a character to tell a story to a psychiatrist. Melinda was formed from that idea. She tells her sad, paranormal story to a doctor in order to get released from an asylum.

Without giving too much away, tell us more about your main character, Melinda. What are your favorite and least favorite aspects of her personality?

Melinda is a young girl that has been through some horrible, harrowing times as a teenager. As an adult, she has to relive her past. She is, at times, very weak and other times very strong. My favorite aspect of her personality is her caring ways. Even while she’s trying to overcome her past, she reaches out to a young man, Trent and helps him. Her weakness is my least favorite aspect. However, because of all she’s been through, her weakness is understandable. She grows up and gets past it and the strength she shows in overcoming what happened to her, and what does happen to her again, is astounding.

There is a ghost element (possibly) to your book. Do you believe ghosts might exist? What drew you to this theme?

There are absolutely ghosts in this book. Spirits roaming Earth from the Other Side. Do I believe? I have always believed spirits exist. Keep in mind however, that the paranormal in my books is stretched beyond what even I believe in. It’s simply a scary, sad, and at the same time, uplifting love story.

How many books do you have under the proverbial bed? Will they ever see the light of day?

I have quite a few. I want to re-release my crime series eventually. Book 2 in the Other Side series is with the copyeditor and Book 3 in the Other Side series is being written. Plus I have so many stories running rampant in my mind that it’s hard to get them all on paper.

What would your theme song be as an author?

Wow. Good question. I’m not entirely sure. Something halloweeny, scary.

What genre would you like to write that you haven’t tried yet? Why do you want to try it? Why haven’t you yet?

More romance is my answer. I haven’t yet because the stories that keep flowing out of me are paranormal. What can I say? I sit down to write and my characters tend to take over. I guess very few of them are thinking about romance. At least, yet.

What fictional character would you like to be? And why?

I’m not sure how many of you are Family Guy fans, but I love that show. I’d like to be Meg, the daughter. She takes so much crap from her family. If I were Meg, I’d fight back. And in keeping with the show, it would definitely be in a funny way.

If you could travel to another time, which would you choose? And why?

I’d like to travel back in time about 15 years. My mother was alive then, and I’d do so many things differently. Mind you, I never mistreated my mother, I don’t mean that. I think I’d spend more time with her. Now that she’s gone, I’d give anything to have her back for even one day. Also, my best friend Terri Ann is another I’d like to see again. She passed at such a young age and I don’t know if she realized how much she inspired me as an author. I’d love to be able to tell her.

What celebrity would you want to trade places with?

Angela Lansbury about 10 years ago. I would love to have portrayed her character Jessica Fletcher. What a riot. (and she’s a bit of a know-it-all)

Now it’s time for the speed round (a la Actor’s Studio): (One word answers as much as possible)

• What turns you on? My husband (wink)
• What turns you off? Those who think they deserve everything
• What is your favorite word? Coitus (love the sound of the word)
• What is your least favorite word? Fu__
• What sound or noise do you love? Babies laughing
• What sound or noise do you hate? Babies crying
• What profession other than yours would you like to attempt? detective
• What profession other than yours would you NOT like to attempt? nursing
• What is your favorite swear word? ass
• If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say to you as you enter the Pearly Gates? You deserve to be here.

 

THE OTHER SIDE | MELINDA’S STORY

Melinda’s family is dead, killed for information that is hidden deep within her mind. Her father tries to warn her from the ‘Other Side’ that she is in danger from the killers who want what only she can give them. Committed to Skyview Haven, she must determine if the ‘Other Side’ truly exists or if it is a trick of her heart and mind. With time running out Melinda must determine who she can trust. Is it the ghosts of her family, a boy who may not be who he appears to be, or the doctor who is determined to cure her? Can she figure out the truth before it is too late?

The Wild Rose Press | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | All Romance | Book Strand

Excerpt:

“Don’t be scared. It’s just me.”

“Suddenly, he was there. Standing right in front of me.”

“Dad!”

“I hugged him. I missed him and needed to feel his arms wrapped around me. I forgot about being mad at him. He finally pulled away from me.

“I can’t go to your mother yet. She needs to believe first. Like you do.”

“Believe that you’re dead but not dead?”

“Something like that.”

“What do you want?”

“I didn’t want you to go wake your mother until I spoke with you.”

“How did you know where I was going?”

“I’m in your head. I know almost all your thoughts.”

“Great. I couldn’t have a moment’s peace when he was alive and now he was in my head knowing all my thoughts. That’s just what a young, teenage girl wanted.

“Leave me the hell alone,” I told him as I tried to move around him.

“As much as I missed him, and as much as I knew I wasn’t making all of this up, I still wondered if I was imagining it in order to make myself feel better, not so lonely. You can tell my thoughts kept bouncing back and forth. First I believed then I didn’t. All that soon changed.

About the Author:

A paralegal by day, she’s an author by night. Apart from being an award winning author for her short story “Cut,” Starr has appeared in a blaze and made her mark on the literary world with her Ivanovich series and now her Other Side series.

Having studied and obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Literature/Creative Writing, she has found her unique style and is known for her works’ distinctive voice, making every character stand out.

She’s the founder and owner of Editing by Starr. She’s also the former executive editor for Suspense Magazine. She has been interviewed in the newspaper and on the radio with relation to her fiction work. She has been a co-host on Suspense Radio.

Starr is a member of International Thriller Writers (ITW) and of Sisters in Crime, Los Angeles Chapter and nationally. She has won three Best Speaker awards as well as Best Evaluator at the Voice Ambassadors chapter of Toastmasters. She has always been active in events. As co-chair and main coordinator for the West Coast Author Premiere, she arranged weekend-long events to help authors from all over network, learn and share their work with the public. Starr has also been instrumental in compiling authors and planning a local author event at Barnes and Noble in Ventura, California along with the store’s event manager.

Please see more on her editing service at www.editing.queenwriter.com, read more about her at www.QueenWriter.com, and/or visit her blog at www.qw-blog.blogspot.com.

 

Website | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Goodreads | Blog