K.S. Hello and welcome to the blog. I am very
excited to have you here. Why don’t we start off with a small introduction?
Tell us a little about yourself.
Hello, I’m Alexia Purdy, I am an author and poet. I live in
fabulous Las Vegas Nevada. I have 4 kids that keep me super busy but I enjoy
writing full time. My debut novel Ever Shade released Feb 29th this
year. I have another novel releasing April 29th 2012 called Reign of
Blood. I enjoy writing all the time, listening to music, reading and reviewing books.
I also like Italian and Mexican food!
K.S. Any interesting writing quirks or stories you
would like to share with my readers?
I like to write to music, some people have told me they
can’t do that. I can’t write without it. Oh and some coke and candy helps too J
K.S. When did you realize you wanted to be a
writer? What sparked the desire to pen your first novel?
I wanted to be a writer since forever, maybe around first
grade. I loved to read and I wanted to create worlds like the ones I found in
books myself. Began writing shorts and poems ever since.
K.S. What genre do you write?
I write predominantly YA Urban Fantasy. I am delving into
Horror and have plans to pen a novel in the strict contemporary literary
fiction, we shall see how it goes. Oh and I do write lots of poetry, it’s more
modern/contemporary and lyrical than any kind of prose or structure. I am a
free spirit in writing.
K.S. What would you say has inspired you most in
your writing career? Or, who is your favorite author and why?
I have to say that reading has inspired me the most. I read
a lot and that alone gets me pumped up to write some fantastic stories for
others to enjoy. I want to make someone feel what I feel when I dive into other
worlds. My favorite author is Cassandra Clare because she blends in different
aspects of urban fantasy, mythology and romance in such a way that leaves the
reader begging for more. I love her stuff.
K.S. What does your family think of your writing?
My family is supportive but I don’t think they understand me
much as a writer. I’m the only big reader in my family so no one has read my
books within my family. I’m sure if they were readers, I’d have more feedback
from them. At this point, the just smile and wish me the best in my writing.
K.S. What was one of the most surprising things
you learned while creating your book/s?
How hard it was for me to sit my butt down and just type.
I’m not very patient so sitting for hours and typing sucks. I actually would
time my sessions to give me an end so that I wouldn’t be sitting there staring
and fidgeting. This helped and yes, it got easier as time went on and I wrote
more and more. Now it doesn’t bother me much.
K.S. What inspires you?
I get a lot of inspiration from my dreams. I jot them down
and use them as basis for my stories. They help a lot. My only other muse is
music, I listen to tons of it, especially while I’m writing, it helps me focus
and lets my ideas flow better.
K.S. Can you tell us a little about any of your
novels?
Blurb:
"Never tease anything that wants to eat you. I am April
Tate and my blood is the new gold. Vampires and hybrids over run my world, once
vibrant with life, now a graveyard of death shrouded in shadows. I fight to
survive, I fight for my mother and brother. The journey is full of turns that I
am quite unprepared for. I'm just hoping to make it to the next
sunrise..."
In the post-apocalyptic world, after a viral epidemic has wiped out most of the earth’s population, leaving few humans, feral vampires and a hybrid type of vampire that defies all definitions of what being human and what being vampire is. April is a seventeen year old girl who lives in this world one year after the event. She has become a ferocious vampire hunter and killer and comes upon these hybrid vampires one day in search of her mother and younger brother. Unsure who she can trust, she finds that her new ideals of the world are not as black and white as she thought. Bending the rules to find her family will either save them all or destroy everything.
In the post-apocalyptic world, after a viral epidemic has wiped out most of the earth’s population, leaving few humans, feral vampires and a hybrid type of vampire that defies all definitions of what being human and what being vampire is. April is a seventeen year old girl who lives in this world one year after the event. She has become a ferocious vampire hunter and killer and comes upon these hybrid vampires one day in search of her mother and younger brother. Unsure who she can trust, she finds that her new ideals of the world are not as black and white as she thought. Bending the rules to find her family will either save them all or destroy everything.
Chapter One Snippet:
Never tease
anything that wants to eat you. The ravenous eyes that bled death all around
and peered from their windows drooled at the sight of us. The buildings loomed
above as we rushed across the concrete and asphalt, hurrying to beat the sun as
it set. They lurked in every window, shrouded by the shadow from the searing
sun. The east sides of the buildings were crawling with vampires. They smirked
and sneered their inhuman growls, hissing right at us as we jumped from sunbeam
to sunbeam, racing to the awaiting van. Only the light kept them at bay. Only
the light kept us from their sharp, gripping fangs.
Each block felt like it stretched longer and farther,
growing with each of our steps. My mother ran hurriedly, as fast as she could
with my little brother wrapped around her, molded to her chest, afraid to look
up. I was dashing right next to her, afraid to get left behind and afraid to be
first in any place. My backpack bounced on my back with each jump and step. I
tried hard to not look up. To look upon them was to feel your soul drain of
life, to wither away. Mom always said not to let them look into your eyes; they
can steal your humanity and freeze you in your steps. But I did look, and I did
study their red searing eyes. Even while running, I had glanced up into their
pale, grey ashen faces. I waited for them to take my soul; I waited and
discovered that I was immune. Immune to their mind control and their deepest
desire. I wanted to smile and flip them off but I didn’t think that my mother
would appreciate that. I wasn’t sure if she or my brother were immune. I wasn’t
about to piss her off by admitting that I had given in to such a temptation and
had stared eye to eye with monsters.
So for now, we ran. We ran to our awaiting van where mom
tied my little brother into his seat and slid quickly into the driver’s seat,
turning the ignition and slamming the gas as though our lives depended on it.
Actually, they very much did. Soon the sun would fade, inhaled into shadows and
we would be surrounded by monsters capable of draining our bodies of every
little drop of crimson blood. They did not discriminate. They would rip even me
and my younger brother to shreds. For now, they waited in their makeshift
graveyard; the city’s dilapidated buildings and streets.
K.S. Where can we buy your novel?
Ever Shade: A Dark Faerie Tale is available on Amazon.com
Reign of Blood will be available April 29th 2012
on Amazon.com, BN.com and Smashwords.com
K.S. Do you have a website, fan site, or Blog that
we can visit?
Yes, it’s http://alexiapurdy.blogspot.com
K.S. Do you have any closing advice to aspiring
writers?
Keep at it, write every day, read a lot too. Don’t give up,
it’s a long road, a hard one but so worth it. Get a mentor or join a group of
writers for support and critiques. Don’t let the bad reviews get you down for
there will be more, the good ones are great and there will be more of those
too. And do remember that you love to write! Forget that and you might as well
quit.
Ever Shade: A Dark
Faerie Tale official book trailer:
Reign of Blood
Official Book Trailer: