Author Spotlight: Laura Bickle
Get to Know Author Laura Bickle!
We really do love chatting it up with our favorite authors and sharing more about them with you! I recently read The Hallowed Ones and The Outside by Laura Bickle (Find the reviews by clicking on the titles!) and loved the books so much I just had to dig into the mind of the author that wrote them! So sit back, relax, and learn a little about the mind that produces the end of the world via vampire apocalypse.
1. GFG: Hi Laura! Thanks for joining us!! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Is writing your "day job" or just something you do on the side?
Laura: Hi, and thanks so much
for hosting me today!
Writing is now my day
job, but it was my side job for many, many years while I worked in criminal justice
and in libraries. I wrote a lot in the wee hours of the morning and on lunch
breaks – it’s always been with me.
2. GFG: What do you do when you're not
writing fabulous books?
Laura: Beyond reading,
stargazing, and keeping the cats in the style to which they’ve become
accustomed, I have a few more frivolous pursuits. As followers of my blog know,
I’ve been in the process of re-assembling my brother’s childhood collection of
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe figures. About once a month, we have a
party at my house in which the centerpiece looks like something out of
Christmas morning, circa 1985. Castle Greyskull looms over the appetizers, and
Skeletor is charging over the silverware.
That has led to a
vice for me. As much as I enjoy those old action figures, I really enjoyed
She-Ra when I was a kid. Lo and behold, through the miracle of eBay, I can be
eight years old again. I’ve found various odds and ends in the process of
completing my brother’s collection. It always brings a smile to my face,
remembering when I was a little girl and seriously into pink swords and secret
identities.
I think, when I’m
not writing, my brain is usually at play. Whether it’s working with books,
reading them, or restoring old toys, some part of me is involved with telling a
story about a fantasy world. And being a writer fits right in with the rest of
my life.
3. GFG: Where did you get inspiration for The Hallowed
Ones Series? Is any of it based on real life experiences?
Laura: I live not too far from a
large Amish settlement, one that I visited often as a child. I used to see the
Amish girls my age and wonder how their lives were different from mine. I
admired how strong and self-sufficient they seemed. It later occurred to me
that these traits, combined with their incredibly strong sense of community,
could make the Amish uniquely equipped to survive certain types of disasters,
such as the vampire apocalypse that devastates the world in THE HALLOWED ONES
and THE OUTSIDE.
4. GFG: If you could pick three fictional characters
to be with you at the end of the world, who would they be?
Laura: Hmmm! Good question.
I’m going with Van Helsing from Dracula, Wonder Woman, and Buffy the Vampire
Slayer.
5. GFG: What's your dream for this series?
Laura: Ohhh. Dreams are
dangerous stuff. My ultimate dream, with any series, would be to have action
figures based on the characters.
6. GFG: Any advice to the aspiring writers out
there?
Laura: I really
suggest that writers try National
Novel Writing Month at least once. It got my
excuses and blocks out of the way, and helped me learn that what I thought were
my limits were not really limits. They were just walls I’d set up in my head.
Fun Round!
1. GFG: Is
there anything weird on your bookshelf that we would be shocked to find?
Laura: Heh. I probably have
as many decks of Tarot cards as books.
2. GFG: If
you could pick book tour stops on your tour, where would you go?
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Laura: Cracked.com. I think I
will have “made it” if my books ever get mentioned on Cracked.
3. GFG: Be
honest, how often do you wash your hair?
Laura: Daily. I have
seriously oily hair, so it’s gotta get scrubbed daily. Upside is that I never
have to buy conditioner.
This or That
GFG: Coke or tea?
Laura: Coke. It’s the breakfast of champions.
GFG: Hardback or paperback
(or ebook)?
Laura: Paperback.
GFG: Vampires or
Werewolves?
Vampires.
GFG: Fire or Ice?
Laura: Fire. Preferably, with marshmallows.
Thanks so much for hosting me!
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