Sheep Interview: Author Nina Berry + Giveaway!

Today we welcome debut author Nina Berry to I Smell Sheep! This lady is one amazing writer and we are VERY excited to pick her braiiiiins!! Or, just sit down and talk like normal people. Make sure to stay tuned until the very end to win a signed copy of Otherkin! 

Katie: Hello Nina and welcome to the flock! Just step around the herd droppings…it's been a busy week!

*Sharon walks up with the pooper scooper* Um…lift your foot…thanks!

Nina: *lifting foot* Have you tried litter box training?

Katie: Great idea!

Katie: Can you start out by telling folks a little about your YA series Otherkin?

Nina: It’s about a girl with a back brace who learns she can shape-shift into a tiger. Almost the exact moment that happens, she’s captured by a secret group bent on wiping out her kind – the otherkin. She escapes with help from a mysterious, handsome boy and is off to find allies, foil the bad guys, learn the truth about who she is, and maybe fall in love. It’s got fiery helicopter crashes, first kisses, and a tiger. Something for everyone!

Katie: How long did it take you to come up with this story idea?

Nina: I wanted to write about a girl with a back brace for years, because I had one in high school, and it had a big effect on me. But I didn’t know quite how the story would go until I got a separate idea about a girl who turns into a tiger. Then I thought – how would my life have been different if I’d found out I could shift into a tiger while I had the brace? Would that have changed how I thought about myself and my body? So you could say it took years, or you could say it was – bam! One second when the ideas came together. I took maybe a couple weeks to outline it, then I started writing.

Katie: What can readers look forward to in the next installment?

Nina: Othermoon will be out January 31, 2013. I think of it as “The Empire Strikes Back” of the trilogy. It’s darker and deadlier. The bad guys come back stronger and more dangerous than ever. And there’s trouble on the love boat between Caleb and Dez, from a direction you would never expect. Book three should be out early in 2014.

Katie: Oh! You dirty tease!

Nina: Mwhahaha!

Sharon: Would you want to be your heroine?

Nina: Ooh, tough one. On one hand I’d love to be able to shift into a tiger – to be that powerful and fearless. On the other hand, I’d rather not have an entire secret organization bent on killing me and those I love. Drama’s better on the page than in real life.

Katie: I wonder as the series grows, and the characters ages, will this move into the adult realm of PNR?

Sharon: I think what she wants to ask is will there be of-legal-age smut eventually.

Katie: Yes, yes I do.

Nina: Hmm, don’t want to be spoilery, so let’s just say things do get hotter and heavier in the second book. But this is YA, so we won’t be going fifty shades of tiger, if you catch my drift.

Sharon: Katie, should we make her spell it out?

Katie: I’ve still got the duct tape and feathers from the last author that tried to hold out with the juicy details…

Nina:

Sharon: What would you use a do-over spell for?

Nina: Wow, so many things. The worst events were all things I couldn’t control, like friends and relatives passing away, so even a do-over spell wouldn’t help, unfortunately. So I wish I could go back in time knowing it’s silly to worry about what people think and dedicate myself more to writing earlier in life. I’d trust myself a bit more. Also, there was this cute guy in college who really seemed to like me, and looking back, I can see I was super clueless. Do over!

Katie: Was Harry Potter an influence while writing because I hand some strong Potter moments!

Nina: I know what you’re talking about. I loved the Harry Potter books, but I wasn’t consciously thinking of them when I came up with the concept. Then, when I got to writing the school parts of my book, I realized the similarities and they worried me. I comforted myself with the thought that Morfael’s school is a lot less cozy than Hogwarts, and way smaller. They don’t have magical spells at my school to keep the bad guys out. Also, all the students hate each other. At least at first.

Sharon: Sounds like middle school…

Katie: In no way was I trying to say anything negative about the story Nina. It’s fantastic!

Nina: Oh no worries. It’s an honor to be compared to Harry Potter. And thanks!

Katie: If you could shapeshift in to an animal that's not listed in your stories what would it be and why?

Nina: A dolphin. I love the water. I grew up in Hawaii and learned to bodysurf when I was nine, and I go back every year to my favorite beach. It’s where I feel happiest. Can you imagine how awesome it would be to surf as a dolphin? I’d slice through the water with all their power and grace, and I’d have a huge school of dolphin friends around me who love to do that too. We’d figure out a way to free all the dolphins and whales currently living in captivity and stop those damned whaling ships too. Now you’ve made me want to write a book about dolphin shifters, so good job.

Sharon: What would your dolphin superpowers be!? Shoot acid out of your blow hole? (okay, that sounds really wrong once I wrote it down)

Nina: That is a very disturbing and yet very cool idea. I was going to go much more conventional and say that maybe I had sonar that could penetrate objects, but let’s go for acid instead!

Sharon: Which Disney Princess would you like to be?

Nina: I’m a bit like Belle, a book reader. But the princess that inspired me the most comes from an obscure animated series from Japan that aired in Hawaii when I was six called Princess Knight. It had a huge effect on me, but I have yet to meet a single other person who’s seen it. I’d love to be Princess Sapphire in that show. She’s an expert with a sword, rides a horse as smart as she is, and has an angel in training as an ally. She kicks butt, has a great sense of humor, and breaks all the rules. Love her!

Here’s a link to the Wikipedia page in case anyone is interested:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Knight

Sharon: Sounds cool. Mulan is one of my favorite Disney heroines and this seems very similar.

Katie: Now it's time for some rapid fire questions! Hold on tight and answer with the first thing that pops up.

Nina: *holding tight*

Katie: Grilled cheese or Quesadilla?

Nina: Grilled cheese. Yum! Sharp cheddar, please.

Sharon: Newsweek or People Magazine?

Nina: Newsweek has jumped the shark with its silly controversial cover stories lately, so People.

Sharon: Plus People covers the best and worst dressed at award shows…and that is quality entertainment there.

Nina: The worst dressed are totally my favorite. Not that I can be catty or anything *cough cough*

Katie: Coke or Pepsi?

Nina: Coke, Diet. With ice. I love that sweet, acrid taste that can burn through rubber.

Sharon: *turns up music* sorry…can’t hear yoooooou!

Katie: Coke again for the win!!!! *dances a burn rubber dance to music* 

Sharon: Porch or deck?

Nina: Lanai, actually. I’m a Honolulu girl.

Sharon: Pssst…Katie. That is a Hawaiian porch. I googled it…

Katie: Ah, thanks Sharon. Was just going to smile and nod like I knew.

Katie: Stab in the back or stab in the heart?

Nina: I’m no backstabber. Right in the heart, face to face. Take that! (And yes, I’d take a stab in the heart first. You die faster that way. And betrayal’s the worst.)

Sharon: I think I am scared of you…

Sharon: Stephen King or Shakespeare?

Nina: Shakespeare. Greatest writer of all time, blah blah blah. I think even Stephen King would choose Shakespeare, but oooh, Salem’s Lot was fantastic.

Sharon: I know, right?! I loved that one. Read it when I was 11 scarred me for life!

Nina: His friend the vampire right outside the window….? Gah. I’m scared now!

Katie: Christmas cookies or Halloween candy?

Nina: Cookies! My mom and I make these shortbread snowball things every Christmas, then I inhale all of them while she smirks.

Sharon: Classic or modern?

Nina: Classic. Especially in movies and manners.

Photo by: Jeni Darling Photography

Katie: Haunted house or Haunted graveyard?

Nina: Graveyard! I love graveyards and cemeteries. Send me to a chapel made of bones, a catacomb of moldering bodies, or a dank Egyptian tomb and I’m the happiest girl on Earth.

Sharon: Still scared…

Katie: Action hero or Romance hero?

Nina: Action hero. Adds excitement to the romance.

Sharon: Got a favorite?

Nina: I’m a fan of the most recent James Bond, Daniel Craig. Also Spike in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and of course Buffy herself.

Katie: Would you like to add anything before we wrap?

Nina: Thanks for having me. It was sheep-tastic!

***Giveaway***

Nina is giving away a signed copy of Otherkin to one lucky winner. US/Canada only. To enter please do the following in the comments below: 

1. Your Email Address 
2. What animal would you like to shapeshift in to? 
3. Double entries for followers!

Contest ends November 12th at midnight. Good luck!