Author Interview with Alyx (2) & Giveaway!

*****GIVEAWAY CLOSED*****

I'm excited to have with me today an amazing author who brought us the magical apocalypse, Alyx Dellamonica.  Her books are Indigo Springs and the recently released Blue Magic.  Please give a warm reader welcome to her.

M:  Hi Alyx. Thank you for agreeing to join me in an interview.

AD:  I'm so pleased to have the chance to talk to you!

M:  I’m always taken with magic in fantasy stories, and your story if packed full of magic! The further I went, the more tie to fey, witches, and all magical creations. I really enjoyed seeing all this connect through the vitagua and Astrid. How long did it take you to create this magic system and history of it?

AD:  It came in bits and pieces, in many ways. I had published some stories about the magical objects called 'chantments' that appear in INDIGO SPRINGS, and in a few of these stories it came to pass that they were tied, somehow, to a place called the unreal. When I set out to write this pair of novels, I took the idea of the mystical blue fluid, vitagua, and had to find a way to make it and the unreal connect to chantments in a logical way. 


Writing the book took over a year and when I was done my agent suggested I work a little more on the magic system specifically: she knew I understood it, but felt I had to put more of it on the page. So I wrote scenes like the one where Astrid tours Will around the unreal, and extended a few other explanatory bits, just to help.

M:  Wow. I felt like I was reading a magical induced apocalypse. I’m getting ready to read Blue Magic in June. With the connection of the magic to all magically touched creatures and beings, anything is possible. Is there any surprising magical creatures, that will make an appearance, you could share with us?

AD:  Heh. Magically induced apocalypse is exactly what I was going for. As for magical creatures, there is an extremely brief appearance by a minotaur, on Crete. And there's a fellow named Teoquan whom I hope you'll like.

M:  Which idea came first, Astrid and characters or the magic creation? Or maybe something else entirely?

AD:  The chantments came before Astrid--because of those short stories--and so did the magical blue fluid, vitagua. I was obsessed with the idea of as a mystical contaminant and tried out several beginnings of a novel built around it before I finally got Astrid's story off the ground. 


What's more, Sahara Knax came before Astrid, too--a friend of mine said something uncharacteristically heartless one day, and I started wondering what it would be like to be in an intense friendship with someone who was incapable of forgiveness or empathy. The two of them were essentially inspired in that moment.

M:  You have a little different style in this story. There’s an interview in current times and in the moment of happening time. It’s well done and both feel like present when reading them, but there is no confusion of where you are in time. Well, for me, I can’t speak for Astrid. ;) Did you write one side first or both at the same time?

AD:  I mostly start my books on page one and write chronologically to the end. I'm playing with that a bit now, in my latest series--I'm writing the novels themselves as they happen, but every now and then I'm taking a break to write a short story about something that happened to the characters ten or fifteen years earlier. The first of these is up at Tor.com; it's called "Among the Silvering Herd." 


The interview section, where Will is essentially taking Astrid's statement about how the mystical spill came to occur, was based on my experience as a crisis worker in the Nineties--I spent a certain amount of time with crime victims who were giving police statements, so I have a good sense of how that works. (Of course, this process plays out in a very unusual way in the book!)

M:  We only saw Will in a few of the passages, as he was evaluating Astrid and trying to get information. I’m hoping we get to find more out about his life, and what happened with his wife and kids, and the offer Astrid made to him. If feels like, he might become a bigger character to come?

AD:  Yes, Will's journey in BLUE MAGIC is much more front and center. It's only fair: his kids are still missing as the book opens, and finding them is his biggest priority.

M:  Okay, now a few fun questions for you Alyx…


One question I ask all visitors on their first visit… If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go?

AD:  Where wouldn't I go? There's so much of the world I have yet to see, and I love traveling. I spent Christmas of 2011 in Sicily and that was a thoroughly terrific experience. In terms of travel fantasies, I'd like to go live in Rome for awhile; Palermo, too.

M:  Tea or Coffee?

AD:  Espresso. It's what's for breakfast.

M:  Favorite Color?

AD:  I'm pretty big on crimson these days. It's vivid and it looks good on me.

M:  Favorite Childhood Fictional Creature: 

AD:  My first love was The Amazing Spiderman.

M:  Now as an adult what’s your Favorite Fictional Creature? (Can be the same as when you were a child.)

AD:  I am currently madly in love with Bansh, the hero horse, from Elizabeth Bear's exquisite epic fantasy RANGE OF GHOSTS.

M:  Favorite Word? (Any word at all)

AD:  My favorites tend to change day by day. Yesterday I was rather enchanted with "twelve." The sound of it is so odd, when you pause to listen... and you can draw it out. "Tweeeeeeelllllve." I've also been fond of idiosyncracy. If we're talking meanings, but not sound, I'm really big on compassion and empathy. You can't get enough of either.

M:  Thank you Alyx, for stopping by and the wonderful interview.  I really enjoyed learning more about the magic and creation here in Astrid’s world.

AD:  It was a pleasure to be here--thank you so much! 

M:  I do wish you all the best in words and pages.

AD:   Likewise!

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Sounds like an interesting take with magic, right!

If you would like to find Alyx Dellamonica:
Her site:  A.M. Dellamonica
Twitter:  @AlyxDellamonica
Facebook:  Alyx Dellamonica

If you would like to read Alyx's short Among the Silvering Herd.
And other stories on Tor.com as well.


If you are interested in purchasing Indigo Springs:
Print:

Kindle:

Or Purchasing Blue Magic:

Print:

Kindle:

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Please everyone, feel free to leave a kind comment for Alyx.

I have Blue Magic right her beside me to read.  I'll be getting to it this month. *whispers* can't wait!  

Today I have a surprise for you!

Giveaway!!
1 copy of Blue Magic by Alyx Dellamonica,
shipped from the Publisher

I want everyone to feel comfortable to leave a comment,

~~~ +2 so to enter you MUST say:

"I want Magic!"

~~~ US & Canada Entries only please

~~~ Giveaway Ends:  June 12, 2012

~~~ Extra Entries?

+3 to Share: 

Facebook, Blog, Tweet:

Giveaway for BLUE MAGIC by A.M. Dellamonica Full of Magic! Ends 6/12/12 @MelLHay http://melissa-melsworld.blogspot.com/2012/05/author-interview-with-alyx-2-giveaway.html

~~~ YOU MUST leave a link to the tweet or any sharing you do.  Only one share is registered for the entry.

~~~ Must leave an email address to contact you if you are the winner

Goodreads Synopsis:

This powerful sequel to the A.M. Dellamonica's Sunburst Award–winning contemporary fantasy Indigo Springs starts in the small town in Oregon where Astrid Lethewood discovered an underground river of blue liquid—Vitagua—that is pure magic. Everything it touches is changed. The secret is out—and the world will never be the same. Astrid’s best friend, Sahara, has been corrupted by the blue magic, and now leads a cult that seeks to rule the world. Astrid, on the other hand, tries to heal the world.

Conflicting ambitions, star-crossed lovers, and those who fear and hate magic combine in a terrible conflagration, pitting friend against friend, magic against magic, and the power of nations against a small band of zealots, with the fate of the world at stake. 

Blue Magic is a powerful story of private lives changed by earthshaking events that will ensnare readers in its poignant tale of a world touched by magic and plagued by its consequences.

Thank you!