TFFOS: Randy Russell -- Interview & Giveaway

Author #2: RANDY RUSSELL, aka the epitome of hilarious. If the humor isn't dead obvious in the fact that his debut novel DEAD RULES begins with a freak bowling accident, I don't know how else to get it across. And HAPPY RELEASE DAY! :) 

Very Clickable Links: {website} · {blog} · {goodreads} · {amazon} · {book depository}

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Can you describe DEAD RULES with an acrostic poem?

Only if it doesn’t have to be any good. Deal?

Damn love.

Easy to jump in, but

Always the deep end.

Damn love.

2. For curiosity's sake, is there any particular reason you made Jana die in a bowling accident?
Hey, it wasn’t me, I swear! I didn’t do it. She fell funny, okay? Leave me alone about it. It’s ALL her fault. I wasn’t even there.

3. What's it like as a male writing YA from a teenage female perspective?
Easy as peanut butter and jelly. Let’s just say I prefer the company of women. They are much more interesting to get to know. Most guys, including me, are about as complicated as a candle.

4a.You mention that you've collected hundreds of first-person accounts of ghost experiences. Can you give us a sample of one of the more bizarre stories you've heard?

I am continually surprised by the number of encounters that have been shared with me that involve a ghost telling someone living where money is hidden. Apparently, it’s very important for the ghost to let someone know.

Memorable first-person encounters I’ve collected include:

1. An antique canopy bed in Louisiana that held the ghost of a woman who cried every night.

2. A family dog that ran out of a burning house and was chased by firemen who attempted to lure the dog to safety. The dog, according to the family member I talked to, had been dead for years. No other dogs lived in the house at the time.

3. A messenger ghost (extremely rare!) that visited a freshman in her dorm room at college to tell her that her grandmother had died but was doing just fine and would like to say hello.

4. A ghost of a little girl who moved a baby carriage from an upstairs bedroom closet into the middle of the living room downstairs EVERY NIGHT in a locked and vacant house that a real estate agent I know was trying to sell. The last family member in the home had passed away and my friend had the only key to new locks he had installed himself.

4b. And did these interviews contribute towards writing DEAD RULES?
Oh yes, my continuing original-source research of ghost experiences is the basis for my writing DEAD RULES. First, I learned that love is often what binds a ghost to Earth. And I wanted to explore how it might feel to be on the ghost-side of encounters between the living and the dead. I’d heard the other side of the event often enough. I don’t think I would attend my own funeral, as the kids in DEAD RULES do, though. I’d laugh too much.

5. Huge congrats on getting fabulous reviews from both Kirkus and Publisher Weekly! How do you feel about all the attention your YA debut has been garnering?

I’m so pleased that trade reviewers are finding reading my work worthwhile. I guess reviewers sort of hope that love lingers beyond death, too. Still, I am much more interested in having normal readers enjoy getting to know the kids at Dead School. I’m hoping the goings on there surprise and entertain readers as much as they surprised and entertained me.

6. If you were a member of Dead School, who would you be? The principal? The creepy kid in the corner?

If I could choose, it would be the school counselor. He doesn’t make an appearance in the first book. But I have visited his office and we’ve talked. He gets to hear ALL the good stuff! I don’t really have that choice, though, because I am already a member of Dead School. Wyatt uses up a whole lot of me when I was 16. I even owned that damn motorcycle he dies on… or one very much like it. That, and Wyatt scares easy. I’m scared all the time, but in my heart of hearts I really, really REALLY want to jump off a high mountain cliff at night and feel what those kids feel in midair, in darkness, in life.

7. If writer's weren't called "writers," what would you call yourself and fellow authors (i.e. scribblers, dreamers, some made-up, mish-mash of words)?
Invisible friends. We really should be invisible, you know.

8. What are your brief thoughts on:
- singing and butt-washing toilets (think Japan): I want one right away!
- stand-up comedians: Best when they wear funny pants.

- eating only sweets for the rest of your life: Would be much like my life up till now. I’m from the South. Moonpies and Krispy Kremes are my vitamins.

9. Now ask yourself a question that you'd like to answer -- then answer it! :)
Q. If you could only write about one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

A. Love.

10. Finally, can you pose a quick question for the readers?
Sure. If you could only write about thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Thanks, Randy! (Those butt-washing toilets are kind of creepy... but kind of soothing too... *shifty eyes*)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Summary:  

 Till death

Jana Webster and Michael Haynes were in love. They were destined to be together forever.

Do

But Jana's destiny was fatally flawed. And now she's in Dead School, where Mars Dreamcote lurks in the back of the classroom, with his beguiling blue eyes, mysterious smile, and irresistibly warm touch.


Us

Michael and Jana were incomplete without each other. There was no room for Mars in Jana's life—or death—story. Jana was sure Michael would rush to her side soon.

Part

But things aren't going according to Jana's plan. So Jana decides to do whatever it takes to make her dreams come true—no matter what rules she has to break.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GIVEAWAY

Marissa over at JKS Communications has kindly offered one finished copy of DEAD RULES to giveaway.  

To enter, comment answering the question Randy posed in purple. Open U.S. ONLY.

Edit// I'm going to try it without a form. Just comment and make sure you leave your correct email in the email field. If you spread the word, leave a link for +1 entry. (If this doesn't work well, I'll change it.)