Everything I’d tell you if we went for coffee:
What do you write?
I write Middle Grade and Young Adult, Fantasy and Alternate Historical
What is The Winter King about?
The Winter King is a fantasy novel about an outcast girl named Cora who lives in a remote Nordic village ruled by a tyrannical god-King. Every year, this Winter King returns and curses the town with four brutal months of winter. Cora’s family is on the brink of starvation, so she takes extra work in the house of the high priest and soon discovers that the elders are harboring secrets that could change her village forever, if she can live long enough to uncover them.
What age is The Winter King written for?
While of course I think anyone could read and love this story, the ideal age would be 10-16. Although my 9-year-old recently read it and loved it too, so it probably depends on the child!
What are you working on right now?
Without giving away too much, I’ve got an alternate historical fantasy in the works that I am head-over-heels in love with. It has girls disguised as boys, feuding magicians, sinister underwater creatures, political intrigue and it’s set in VENICE. I’d describe it as Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell meets The Dark Days Club.
Where do you live?
I live in a small university town in a rural pocket of the pacific northwest. I’m fortunate to live somewhere with wide open spaces right outside my front door. When I need my creative tank refilled, I can take a quick drive and find rolling emerald fields, winding rivers, and abandoned barns and granaries.
What is your favorite aspect of the writing life?
I have always loved school, and so one of my very favorite parts of writing is the research! Especially if I’m writing historical fiction, I love learning about other times and places, researching their clothing and habits and architecture. And once I have that setting framework in mind, I love researching my characters, writing up character sheets and diving into their psyches. I’m usually impatient to start writing once an idea has grabbed me, but I force myself to do the research first. And I’m always so glad I did!
Who are some of your favorite authors?
There are so, so many.
I grew up on Tolkien and Lewis, Rowling and Dianna Wynne Jones. T.H. White and Megan Whalen Turner.
These are some books I’ve read recently and adored: The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Outlaws of Time by ND Wilson. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk. Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. Complications by Atul Gawande. Anything by Marilynne Robinson.
Less Frequently Asked Questions:
What was your first pet?
A hairless rat named Mortimer. You read that right.
What were you doing the summer of your fourteenth birthday?
I locked myself in my bedroom to write pages and pages of Tolkien fanfiction.
How’s your knowledge of U.S. Geography?
Abysmal.
Have you ever ridden a camel?
Yes.
Possibly Things You Never Wanted to Know:
- I recently wrote a character in a story with an exceptionally green thumb because I MURDER PLANTS. I’ve almost stopped buying them because it’s starting to feel like neglect. I have so many books on gardening and the entire world wide web at my disposal, and yet somehow I cannot keep those poor plant babies alive for longer than a few weeks. So this character is my tribute to all that neglected shrubbery.
- I can recite the first few lines of the Aeneid in Latin.
- I’m a Gryffindor with an affinity for Slytherin, according to multiple online tests.
Got any more questions for me? Send them below!