I'm hosting an interview today with AJ Aalto, author of paranormal romance / urban fantasy "Last Impressions". Welcome to my blog!
What’s the hardest part of being an author?
For me, the hardest part comes after the book is released: the dreaded self-promotion. Regardless of what sort of marketing team you have behind you (and my publisher, Booktrope, is an amazing support system) there will always be times when a writer has to stop wrestling with words and do some promotional work. I wasn’t brought up to toot my own horn, and as an introvert, it goes against my nature to even try it. I really have to push myself to do it, and I need regular boots in the ass to remind me.
Can you give us a short synopsis of Last Impressions?
When an FBI Internal Affairs investigation lands the Preternatural Crimes Unit in a bureaucratic spank-fest, it feels like the perfect time for Marnie Baranuik to skip town and lend her expertise to a bear-sized Canadian cop who doesn’t want her help with his case, his love life, or his car stereo. Back in her childhood stomping grounds, Marnie leaps into action, facing an exorcist in skinny jeans, a slap-happy specter, and an old friend up to new tricks. Are ghosts behind a string of unusual deaths? Why didn’t her revenant companion, Lord Harry Dreppenstedt, tell her he had a Combat Butler? Can she survive dinner with her parents? With a shifty man of the cloth offering her soul’s redemption, and a revelation that could change the future of her love life, she has her gloved hands full. She may not make a great first impression, but no one makes a Last Impression quite like Marnie.
What inspired you to write this book?
Two things, really. Growing up next to the Welland Canal in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, it was common for me and my friends and family to share whenever we had nightmares about the canal. Falling in it, getting stuck on the bridge when it goes up, whether in your car or walking across (like that scene in Annie where she’s hanging off? Eeek!), driving into the canal by accident, or being thrown in and then dragged in by some unknowable, flesh-hungry creature. One day, my cousin told me about the overflow pond. I’d lived here all my life and never heard of it. She mentioned there were old, broken tombstones underneath the water from an abandoned cemetery, and the idea of lost bones under the cold mud just jolted me. What a horrible idea. I have always had a bad knee-jerk reaction about my own bones and where they might end up. If my final resting place was swallowed up by a pond, I think I might haunt that canal. I think I might be a pretty angry spirit. That lead me to the idea behind Last Impressions: a murder at the canal, and is it paranormal or not?
How many hours per day do you spend writing
?I’m disciplined with my time. I get up at 4 A.M. every day so that I get at least three solid hours of quiet, uninterrupted writing time before the family gets up. I take a break to get everyone ready for school and work, and by 9:30, I’m back at my desk to write until 2:00 P.M. Once the kids are fetched home and snacks are out of the way, I can do some last minute word wrangling until supper. I print out that day’s work to edit on the porch with a glass of wine after supper. I’m in bed no later than 8 P.M. so I can be up for 4 again.
Name your top five favourite books.
5. The Belgariad, David Eddings
4. Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin
3. The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Samuel Pepys
2. The Stranger Beside Me, Ann Rule1.
1.Forgotten English, Jeff Kacirk
What are you working on now?
I’m working on the fourth book of the Marnie Baranuik Files, called Wrath & Bones. I started it during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November of 2014 and am wrapping up the final scenes now. My editor is drumming his fingers on his desk in anticipation and giving me the Red Pen stare, so I’d better get back to it ASAP. Thanks for having me!
What’s the hardest part of being an author?
For me, the hardest part comes after the book is released: the dreaded self-promotion. Regardless of what sort of marketing team you have behind you (and my publisher, Booktrope, is an amazing support system) there will always be times when a writer has to stop wrestling with words and do some promotional work. I wasn’t brought up to toot my own horn, and as an introvert, it goes against my nature to even try it. I really have to push myself to do it, and I need regular boots in the ass to remind me.
Can you give us a short synopsis of Last Impressions?
When an FBI Internal Affairs investigation lands the Preternatural Crimes Unit in a bureaucratic spank-fest, it feels like the perfect time for Marnie Baranuik to skip town and lend her expertise to a bear-sized Canadian cop who doesn’t want her help with his case, his love life, or his car stereo. Back in her childhood stomping grounds, Marnie leaps into action, facing an exorcist in skinny jeans, a slap-happy specter, and an old friend up to new tricks. Are ghosts behind a string of unusual deaths? Why didn’t her revenant companion, Lord Harry Dreppenstedt, tell her he had a Combat Butler? Can she survive dinner with her parents? With a shifty man of the cloth offering her soul’s redemption, and a revelation that could change the future of her love life, she has her gloved hands full. She may not make a great first impression, but no one makes a Last Impression quite like Marnie.
What inspired you to write this book?
Two things, really. Growing up next to the Welland Canal in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, it was common for me and my friends and family to share whenever we had nightmares about the canal. Falling in it, getting stuck on the bridge when it goes up, whether in your car or walking across (like that scene in Annie where she’s hanging off? Eeek!), driving into the canal by accident, or being thrown in and then dragged in by some unknowable, flesh-hungry creature. One day, my cousin told me about the overflow pond. I’d lived here all my life and never heard of it. She mentioned there were old, broken tombstones underneath the water from an abandoned cemetery, and the idea of lost bones under the cold mud just jolted me. What a horrible idea. I have always had a bad knee-jerk reaction about my own bones and where they might end up. If my final resting place was swallowed up by a pond, I think I might haunt that canal. I think I might be a pretty angry spirit. That lead me to the idea behind Last Impressions: a murder at the canal, and is it paranormal or not?
How many hours per day do you spend writing
?I’m disciplined with my time. I get up at 4 A.M. every day so that I get at least three solid hours of quiet, uninterrupted writing time before the family gets up. I take a break to get everyone ready for school and work, and by 9:30, I’m back at my desk to write until 2:00 P.M. Once the kids are fetched home and snacks are out of the way, I can do some last minute word wrangling until supper. I print out that day’s work to edit on the porch with a glass of wine after supper. I’m in bed no later than 8 P.M. so I can be up for 4 again.
Name your top five favourite books.
5. The Belgariad, David Eddings
4. Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin
3. The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Samuel Pepys
2. The Stranger Beside Me, Ann Rule1.
1.Forgotten English, Jeff Kacirk
What are you working on now?
I’m working on the fourth book of the Marnie Baranuik Files, called Wrath & Bones. I started it during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November of 2014 and am wrapping up the final scenes now. My editor is drumming his fingers on his desk in anticipation and giving me the Red Pen stare, so I’d better get back to it ASAP. Thanks for having me!
About The Book
Title: Last Impressions (The Marnie Baranuik Files #3)
Author: A.J. Aalto
Genre: Paranormal Romance / Urban Fantasy
When an FBI Internal Affairs investigation lands the Preternatural Crimes Unit in a bureaucratic spank-fest, it feels like the perfect time for Marnie Baranuik to skip town and lend her expertise to a bear-sized Canadian cop who doesn’t want her help with his case, his love life, or his car stereo. Back in her childhood stomping grounds, Marnie leaps into action, facing an exorcist in skinny jeans, a slap-happy specter, and an old friend up to new tricks. Are ghosts behind a string of unusual deaths? Why didn’t her revenant companion, Lord Harry Dreppenstedt, tell her he had a Combat Butler? Can she survive dinner with her parents? With a shifty man of the cloth offering her soul’s redemption, and a revelation that could change the future of her love life, she has her gloved hands full. She may not make a great first impression, but no one makes a Last Impression quite like Marnie.
Author Bio
AJ Aalto is the author of the paranormal mystery series The Marnie Baranuik Files. Aalto is an unrepentant liar and a writer of blathering nonsense offset by factual gore. When not working on her novels, you can find her singing Monty Python songs in the shower, eavesdropping on perfect strangers, stalking her eye doctor, or failing at one of her fruitless hobbies. Generally a fan of anyone with a passion for the ridiculous, she has a weak spot for smug pseudo-intellectuals and narcissistic jerks; readers will find her work littered with flawed monsters and oodles of snark.
AJ cannot say no to a Snickers bar and has been known to swallow her gum.
Links
Website: http://www.ajaalto.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22042045-last-impressions?from_search=true
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aj.aalto.5
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ajaalto
Buy the book on Amazon: Amazon
Title: Last Impressions (The Marnie Baranuik Files #3)
Author: A.J. Aalto
Genre: Paranormal Romance / Urban Fantasy
When an FBI Internal Affairs investigation lands the Preternatural Crimes Unit in a bureaucratic spank-fest, it feels like the perfect time for Marnie Baranuik to skip town and lend her expertise to a bear-sized Canadian cop who doesn’t want her help with his case, his love life, or his car stereo. Back in her childhood stomping grounds, Marnie leaps into action, facing an exorcist in skinny jeans, a slap-happy specter, and an old friend up to new tricks. Are ghosts behind a string of unusual deaths? Why didn’t her revenant companion, Lord Harry Dreppenstedt, tell her he had a Combat Butler? Can she survive dinner with her parents? With a shifty man of the cloth offering her soul’s redemption, and a revelation that could change the future of her love life, she has her gloved hands full. She may not make a great first impression, but no one makes a Last Impression quite like Marnie.
Author Bio
AJ Aalto is the author of the paranormal mystery series The Marnie Baranuik Files. Aalto is an unrepentant liar and a writer of blathering nonsense offset by factual gore. When not working on her novels, you can find her singing Monty Python songs in the shower, eavesdropping on perfect strangers, stalking her eye doctor, or failing at one of her fruitless hobbies. Generally a fan of anyone with a passion for the ridiculous, she has a weak spot for smug pseudo-intellectuals and narcissistic jerks; readers will find her work littered with flawed monsters and oodles of snark.
AJ cannot say no to a Snickers bar and has been known to swallow her gum.
Links
Website: http://www.ajaalto.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22042045-last-impressions?from_search=true
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aj.aalto.5
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ajaalto
Buy the book on Amazon: Amazon
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