An Interview With Author, Joann Buchanan
Where
are you from?
I grew up in San Diego
California, but I currently live in Russell, KS
Why
do you write?
I write what comes to
mind. I have a shifter series called The Children of Nox which I am finishing
my last book in. I also have a romance series called The Halo Saga. The first
book in that series is called Shine. The last thing I’m working on is a steampunk
fantasy series called Empires Lost. The first book in that series is finished
and waiting for me to reread and rewrite it.
What
inspired you to write your first book?
I wrote my first
novella when I was 13 years old. I have always been a writer.
What
genre do you typically write?
All kinds of genres. I
just let the story tell itself and when it’s finished, then I know what genre
it is. I don’t set out to write in any particular genre.
Do
you feel like you have a specific writing style?
I feel I have my own
voice. If that comes with a particular style, then yes. It’s not something that
happened over night though. It’s something I have been developing since I was a
teen.
How
long does it usually take you to write a book?
The average time for a
first draft is about three months. That doesn’t mean it’s finished, but the
idea of the story is.
What
do you do to conquer writer’s block?
I read. Sometimes
stepping out of my own world into another author’s helps me take a look at my
own work. I also work through writers block. Sooner or later something will
happen and it will drag me out of it. I haven’t really experienced it too many
times.
What
can you tell us about your favorite character from your book?
In Shine, I love
Elizabeth because she is a normal girl trying to make sense of this world she
has been accidentally brought into.
What
actor or actress would you like to see play your character in the movie
adaptation
I would love to see
Elizabeth played by Mila Kunis because I think she could pull off the feisty
vulnerable character.
Who
is your favorite author and what is it about them that inspires you?
There are too many that
I love to narrow it down to one. Frank Herbert, Stephen King, David B. Coe.
What book are you reading now?
I have recently
discovered Melissa McPhail. Her book Cephrael’s Hand is like reading poetry in
motion. I love how she uses the English language and how it draws me in.
What are your current projects?
I have three chapters
left to write in After Dark, and I’ve started working on Corona, book 2 of The
Halo Saga.
If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest
book?
I know this sounds
weird, but I wouldn’t change anything. The reason is because from one book to
another, I can see my own personal growth. Besides if I did that, nothing would
ever come out…lol.
Can you share a little of your work with us?
From
AFTER DARK book 3 in The Children of Nox series.
Fire burns the ice frozen by time.
Embers made of passions flames have become the death that needs covered
in the dirt from whence we came. There
are truths hidden in the darkness. They lay dormant, waiting for that single
beam of light to shine on them. They are the freedoms we all long for and the
balance we all seek and yet they are nevermore and almost lovers. They are the
two sided coin of the bastard free will, the brother of that temptress called
love. If that poisonous spell called
love danced across the meadows, I would spit on it and walk away. I would be ignorant to the pain of endless
nights and no longer would I live with a shadow over my head. Did I love him? I
did and that is the shame I must endure.
The abomination I allowed to be set upon the world haunts me and
now the Time of Three is here. I should have let love fall, crash to the ground
and burn in the fires of my beating heart. I gave way for the abomination. I
lit the flames and now I must watch and wait to see if the world will fall to
darkness because of my own transgressions. If there ever was a curse for the
gardens that grow in this the beating hearts of mine then it would be sewn with
the weeds of regret. It would be the absence of joy and the single loneliness I
must cling to in order for sanity to rein in my soul.
I have walked the world with the hope that each night that fallacy
I called my lover and husband wouldn’t be set free from the cages that
surrounded him. Oh wondrous night and fate filled light, how do you greet me? Is it with more pain or do you perhaps bring
me sanctuary from the darkness of my own making?
The deep wooded forests surround the one place of joy I found
during my eternal night. I have no children, death and sleep are not my
friends. My arms may be empty but my heart is true and loyal to my wolves. And
there, upon the mountains sit the Fates who have watched and woven the
tapestries. The three of them signal that now is the time and that sweet
silence is no longer an option. In this, the Time of Three, the fate of the
souls will be decided. The Dream Protector, the Stained one and now the Child
of Light is to be born. Will they have
the same fate as my dear sweet Lillyanna?
I can still remember the way her tiny hand felt when it wrapped
around my fingers. There was goodness and innocence in her. She was my light,
my soul, killed in a rage by the demon Ash. And now, the regret I called my
lover is free to do as he wills. That BASTARD! I know what he seeks. Am I
powerless to do nothing about it? Am I not the goddess of the night? Do I not
see in the darkest corners of all the universe? How then is it possible that in
this time I am helpless? I know I have missed something. I feel it in the
night’s bitter air. There is a piece of the puzzle that remains hidden. If I
didn’t, then how could his heart have turned so cold to the embers of our love?
I sob as tears stream down my face. I know the decemberist of days
are still ahead. I see the threads and long to pull just one to unravel the
past and change the present. Damn the Fates for guarding the tapestries so
well. If I designed my own fate, then did I also map out the fates of those I
have grown to love so much?
~~Nox, Goddess of the Night.
From
Corona book 2 of The Halo Saga
The soul remembers what the mind
can’t.
Rule number 1 To become part of
eternity you must be willing to sacrifice everything.
Rule number 2 You will be tested, body, mind
and soul.
Rule number 3 From this point on
there is no turning back.
Prologue
When I was a little girl, I lived
in the country once. Every night I would lay on a blanket under the stars and
stare up at the sky. Those stars held such magic and comfort for me. I didn’t
look up at them and see just a bunch of twinkling lights a billion light years
away. To me, those stars were filled with people. They were my friends, my
confidants and yes from time to time, they even held the love of my life. When
I looked up at the night’s sky I saw nothing but the possibility that things
would get better, I was not alone in the world.
There were so few moments in my childhood
where I felt safe and happy—but those nights, when the moon was full and the
stars shined down on me; those were the happiest of my life. It was in those
stars I made my wish—it was the same thing I wished every night—that one day I
would find someone and fall in love. I didn’t want the surface kind of love
that most people settled for in life, I wanted the real kind of love that
lasted forever. When I was a child, I didn’t know the stars listened. I didn’t
know they would send me Samuel…but I believed. And I have to think now, that’s
all that mattered.
The day Samuel and I met changed
my life…it changed my soul. When we met I was nothing more than a simple human
woman trying to make it through life. I loved what I did for a living and I had
a few friends, but I was missing that one special person in my life. Who knew
the stars listened? Who knew they would send me an angel? And how did they know
I would want to become one so we could spend forever together?
If the stars do listen—and I
believe they do, then I would like to give them a special thanks for bringing
my angel Samuel into my life. I would like to ask them what took so long. Last
but not least, I would like others to believe that when you make a wish with
all your heart and you believe anything is possible—then it is.
Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?
There are some worlds I
hate leaving behind. I know without a doubt The Halo Saga is going to be the
hardest for me when the series ends because it is such a beautiful story about
love, family and sacrifice.
Do you have any advice for other writers?
My advice is simple,
read every day and write every day, even if it’s only for half an hour, take
the time to do it.
Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?
Thank you for taking the journeys with me. I have enjoyed writing every
book I have out and love hearing from you as well.
Author Bio:
Joann H. Buchanan is a mother of five children, and has a
wonderful husband who supports her passion for the written word. She owns a
small audiobook company named Empire voices. Empire Voices creates audiobooks.
You can stop off at www.empirevoices.com for more
information.
Her upcoming releases include Shine, After Dark book 3 in
The Children of Nox series, and Empires Lost book 1 Keleigh.
She is in two anthologies, Horror in Bloom and Hidden in
Your World.
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Authors Links
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EXCERPT:
After that, I took the memory card from my camera and put it
into the computer to pull up the images. One by one they came up. First were
the pictures of the small trees with the beautiful yellow hues of light
sparkling behind them. Across the sky, grey clouds formed and rays of light
shined through them. I flipped through the photos, taking a quick look at all
of them. As I reached the end of the file, I was sure I had imagined everything
I had witnessed. Then the last three pictures showed him coming into view.
Magical, miraculous, my jaw dropped as I pressed print on the small printer. A
lifetime passed while I waited for the printer to finish spitting out the
photos. With a sigh, I paced back and forth a little. Waiting wasn’t something
I did well.
I looked at the pictures without blinking. I had captured
the ray of light with Samuel in it. His body appeared like nothing more than an
orb, or could even have been explained away. In the next picture, his body
formed, almost ghostly in appearance. Finally, in the last one, Samuel landed
on the ground. His wings had disappeared and the man I met was there.
I had seen it happen; it was real. It was proof enough to me
that I wasn’t some crazed lunatic. Samuel had come from the sky. Questions
still lingered in my mind. What was he doing there? How did I get to my car?
There was nothing on the file after the last three images I’d printed. Fear
grew inside me the more I thought about what could have happened on the way to
my car. I couldn’t quite picture it, but I knew Samuel had saved me. I didn’t
know what from, and I didn’t know why, but he had. Why couldn’t I remember?
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