Julie Kagawa, the New York Times bestselling author of the Iron Fey and Blood of Eden series was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos, and frequent hurricanes. She spent much of her time in the ocean, when she wasn’t getting chased out of it by reef sharks, jellyfish, and the odd eel.
When not swimming for her life, Julie immersed herself in books, often to the chagrin of her schoolteachers, who would find she hid novels behind her Math textbooks during class. Her love of reading led her to pen some very dark and gruesome stories, complete with colored illustrations, to shock her hapless teachers. The gory tales faded with time (okay, at least the illustrations did), but the passion for writing remained, long after she graduated and was supposed to get a real job.
To pay the
rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the
managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So
she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional
dog trainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic
Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full
time.
Casey Marie: Since we are at San Diego Comic-Con, fangirl/fanboy central, have you ever met an author and uncontrollably fangirled over them?
Julie Kagawa: There is one author that I totally fangirled over and actually got to meet him about a year ago. It was Neil Gaiman, my bucket list author. I was going to an event in New York and someone on twitter said they had Neil Gaiman tickets that they could not use. The event was at the New York Public Library and they would sell the ticket to anyone for the ticket price. The public library was three blocks from my hotel and the night of the event was the only night I had free. I knew I had to have them. I got the Neil Gaiman tickets and got to see him speak. He was soft-spoken and brilliant. I was the fourth or fifth person in line for his massive signing line, and I had nothing for him to sign. I went up to him and told him that he was my inspiration for my writing. The highlight of the night was that he hugged me.
CM: If you could write a book with any other author, dead or alive, who would you want to write with? And what genre would the book be?
JK: It would obviously be with Neil Gaiman and it would be a fantasy novel. I think that would be so awesome, it would be set in one of his cool and creepy fantasy worlds.
CM: If you could be roommates with one of your characters, who would you want to room with and why?
JK: That's a fun one. I want to say Puck, but I would end up killing him before the day was done. I would also be tempted to say Ash, but then Meghan would probably get upset. I would probably be roommates with Ember. She is really fun and we would get into a lot of trouble together. I would say Allie, but I think she is a little too hard-core. She would not do well with the Comic-Con crowds, if someone in a zombie costume came at her, she might pull out her katana.
CM: I have to say, I totally fell for your brillant April Fool's joke about Grimalkin getting his own novella. While it was an April Fool's joke, would you ever consider writing a book in his point of view?
JK: I do not think I could ever do a Grimalkin book. I cannot get into his brain. If I actually did a book about him, it would remove all the mystery that is Grimalkin. That is part of the fun, you do not what he is thinking, he is a cat. It would be extraordinarily difficult to get into his head and it might ruin his character if he actually had his own book in his own point of view.
CM: What is up with the #EvilAuthor tweets, are you trying to scare us or warn us?
JK: Yes to both. Your tears feed my muse.
CM: Is The Iron Warrior going to be the last book based in the Iron Fey world?
JK: At the moment, yes. After The Iron Warrior, I have three more Talon books to write and then after that, who knows. I do not know what I am going to do after the Talon series. For now, The Iron Warrior is the last book in the Iron Fey world.
CM: Is the Talon series going to be a five book series then?
JK: Yes, the Talon series will be five books long.
CM: What is it like saying goodbye to your characters?
JK: The Iron Warrior was really sad and bittersweet for me. On one hand, I ended the story rather well, I have the characters where I want them and everything worked out the way it was supposed to. On the other hand, these are characters that I have been with for a long time, since The Iron King. They have seven books and 3 novellas, it is hard. But I think I left them in a good place, so I am satisfied.
CM: If you had the ability to go back and change something in one of your books, would you change anything? If so, what would you change?
JK: I do not think I would. Here's the thing, if I go back and frequently read my older works, I would constantly say, "I should have done this differently" and so on. I know that, at that time, I wrote the best book and I do not think I would go back and change anything.
CM: Describe you books/writing in five words.
JK: Your tears feed my muse.
Enter to win a copy of Julie Kagawa's The Iron King and a signed Rogue poster!
Rules:
- You must be 18 years or older, unless you have a parent's permission
- This giveaway is open internationally
- Once contacted, the winner will have 72 hours to respond with their address, or a new winner will be chosen
- STARTS June 14th, 2016 at 12:00 a.m. EST
- ENDS July 17th, 2016 at 12:00 a.m. EST
Disclaimer: I am not responsible for any lost or damaged packages
I love Julie Kagawa! ❤
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