Yaaay! No! Double Yaaay! Such a fun, fun, fun blog this week for the carnival. Okay, so here’s the deal chickadees! Everyone in the carnival asked another on the rotation five questions. I got the talented, the magnanimous, the brilliant, the ultra clever, the gifted Laura Elliott! My very good friend put up with my silly questions with equally silly answers and I couldn’t be happier with how they turned out!

But wait! There’s more, Bob!

Tell us what’s behind door number one! Well, when any of our lovely readers comments on any of the carnival blogger’s posts, they are automatically entered for the most fantastico of prize packs!!! What?? Get out of here! That’s right, the winner will receive the following  just for being awesome, oh, and for commenting, of course:

Kindle copy of Every Last Kiss by Courtney Cole
Kindle copy of The Understorey by Fisher Amelie
Kindle digitally-signed edition of Winnemucca by Laura A. H. Elliott and a Winnemucca signed Coffee Mug.
Kindle copy of Breathe by Abbi Glines along with an autographed canvas Breathe tote.
Kindle copy of Solstice by PJ Hoover
Kindle copy of Between by Cyndi Tefft
Kindle copy of PineLight by Jillian Peery
Kindle copy of Filter by Gwenn Wright
Kindle copy of Eternal Eden by Nicole Williams
Kindle copy of Fallen Eden by Nicole Williams
Kindle copy of Soul Quest by Amy Maurer Jones
Kindle copy of Run and Hide by Patti Larsen (YA thrillers, 1 and 2 in a series of 4)
Kindle copy of Fractured by Cheri Schmidt
Kindle copy of Warriors of the Cross by T.R. Graves
Kindle copy of Diary of a Duct Tape Zombie, Beergarden, Bees of St. John, Mushrooms, Whistles and NEW RELEASE Into The Ruins by Rachel Coles

Oh mahla!!!! Please, say that I’m also eligible for this, Bob! I’m not? Oh phooey! Those prizes are dyn-o-mite!

Now, for Laura’s most hilarious interview!

You and me. We’re stars of Courtney Cole’s next big historical. Let me set it up for you. We’re sisters. We live together in a fabulous flat in London. Tell me, what era do we live in, who are our leading men (dead or alive/fictional or non), and what’s our major conflict? p.s. Dying to see who you pick for me.

Fisher, you crack me up! This is awesome. Ok…Daniel Craig dictates that the time is now, baby. Forget the riots and the unrest, we freaking thrive on political unrest. We are involved in an intrigue that will bring down the royal family once and for all. My homey, Daniel, finds out just exactly what the monarchy has been up to for the last two hundred years [something about secret societies and lots and lots of money and a foot fetish] and why they need to be brought down. But, you are the one having a secret affair with Prince William and in the end you have to pick whether you will follow your head and possibly have Prince William to yourself forever thus bringing down the monarchy, or follow your heart, destroy the evidence you’ve risked your life for and let William and Kate live happily ever after, with you relegated to seeing William in snippets on the Tele.

Oh, the scandal! I do emo well. I’ll settle for watching Willy from the tele. Can’t do that to Kate and all.

13 On Halloween busts out in September.  What is it all about and where did you get the inspiration to write it?

Busts out is right! This story came to me very quickly. I guess I blame it on walking the same foggy streets as Doc Ricketts and John Steinbeck. There was something literary in the air in Pacific Grove, CA where I lived when I wrote 13 on Halloween. Doc and John would get more laughs than literary enlightenment from this story. It’s a romp. Set on a girl’s Halloween birthday when her birthday wish goes horribly wrong.

Twelve-year-old Roxie wants to be like Adrianne, the peacock [popular girl] in class who gets everything she wants––a trampoline, a flock to prowl around the mall with, and most especially invitations to parties. When Roxie invites the peacocks in the eighth grade to her birthday party on Halloween, they all come. Roxie’s thrilled until they decide they want to celebrate her birthday in a way Roxie never expects––in her attic with the lights out and a pact to swear to never tell a living soul what happens there. Roxie gets everything she’s always wanted, except what she wants most of all––her old life back.

How did you begin writing? And was it something you were born to do?

I began writing because I thought my husband had died. He didn’t! But, there were three non-walking casts involved. I’ll have to tell you the whole story over a glass of wine sometime. It’s hilarious. Along with recuperating, and painting my laundry room, I decided to pick up a pen and write a story that my mom had told me about my grandmother. It’s a good one tooJ Also, I was inspired by reading children’s books aloud to my kids. I really fell in love with children’s fiction then. I credit Jim Trelease and his READ ALOUD HANDBOOK for planting the love of fiction in my heart that grew into my stories. He came to speak at my kids’ Cooperative Nursery School in South Pasadena and blew me away with his talk about how stories can change lives. My girls and I read aloud to each other until they went away to college.

This October, the ladies of The Paranormals Book Tour are heading to Savannah for a fan meet and greet and signing. I plan on cramming us all into a Karaoke bar. Tell me, who goes up first, what song do they butcher and why? If you’re not up first, when you’re eventually shoved up there, more than likely schnokered, you cheeky monkey, what song do you sing? And why?

You’re up first, my friend, and I’m guessing you don’t butcher any songs at all. You sing something by Siouxsie and The Banshees PERFECTLY and I’m up there––yes schnokered FOR SURE––because that would be the ONLY way I’d get up there evah, and I sing Cherish by Madonna, because I’m so drunk you all think it would be fun to screw with me so I sing the first song you all put up on the screen and I freaking GO FOR IT. Youtube embarrassment ensues for, oh ten years. My bad.

Tell us something sensational about yourself that you’re secretly dying for your fans to know about you but couldn’t say anything before as it would seem like bragging but now have the opportunity because I just gave you an open forum. A word of advice? Say something scandalous. It will more than likely earn you new readers or, at the very least, a terrible, rotten, fabulous reputation.

I’ve been in a major motion picture with Tom Cruise & Meryl Streep. Robert Redford directed me. It was all very fabulous. The movie was Lions For Lambs. It happened while I was working in the LA Times newsroom. I was by default an extra, although there were plenty of paid professionals dressed much better than any of us “real” LA Times folks all over the place. Robert Redford’s production company fixed up our newsroom so it was freaking glowing. They painted and hung big screen TVs everywhere. Anyway, at one point during the day I was working on a story and a lady came up to me and started brushing my hair and I jumped. She said, “Oh, you’re real?” And I laughed a little bit and said “Yes.” I can’t tell you what it’s like to have someone ask you that question. At work. In LA. It was hilarious. As it turned out, Meryl took her spot at my desk all day for the scene they were shooting. So completely surreal. I kept fighting the urge to be like, Hey, Meryl, remember in The Devil Wear’s Prada and you…I mean it’s freaking Meryl Streep. Everyone thinks they know her, right? Meryl seemed super-stressed out. Maybe she was horrified by my desk. There was a lot of knitting going on by the extras. All of us in the newsroom got a kick out of the whole thing even though it was a challenge to get our work done. And we scored some great food because the movie catered lunch for us. So yes, I will sign autographs for my famous top of my head that you see in the actual footage that was used in the movie. I love LA.

Excuse me. I’ll be right back. *Searches ‘Lions For Lambs’ on Netflix* Holey Moley! Can’t wait to search for Laura’s head!

Thanks to the amazing Laura for being such an amazing sport and for providing us with the most inventive answers! You’re a clever minx, Laura! I really enjoyed hosting you! It was fate, I tell you!

Now, readers, comment. Comment and move on to the next because you’re in for a real treat!

The Amazing Dani Snell
The Incredible Patti Larsen
The Talented Courtney Cole
The Witty Wren Emerson
The Accomplished Nicole Williams
The Clever Laura Elliott
The Skillful Amy Jones
The Staggering P.J. Hoover
The Brilliant Alicia McCalla
The Resplendent Heather Cashman
The Lustrous Abbi Glines
The Polished Cheri Schmidt
The Inventive Cidney Swanson
The Radiant Rachel Coles
The Gifted T.R. Graves
The Phenomenal Cyndi Tefft