Stella: Hi Kersten, welcome to Ex Libris! Could you please say a few words about yourself?
Kersten: Thank you for having me on the blog today. Let’s see. I am an eclectic writer who enjoys a good adventure—literal or literary—now and then. :-)
Stella: Can you introduce your Goblin War series to those readers who must live under a rock and have missed out on the buzz of Book #1 Tyger, Tyger?
Kersten: I’ll let some readers introduce it, because frankly, I’m not very good at it:
“…a fast-paced adventure with a backbone of Celtic myth and heart of romance.” Pat Esden
“Hamilton is a wizard at creating tension, building on characters’ strengths and weaknesses until the plot really takes off.” Kirkus
“I loved the characters, the dialogs that had that witty and quirky feeling I adore, the world–building…. I loved it because it was so utterly different from other YA fantasy novels. It was all at once touching, hilarious, action-packed and fast-paced.” Roxanne, The Honeyed Knot
Stella: Would you like to introduce your main characters to the readers?
Kersten: May I quote a reader again?
“Teagan is smart and brave and doesn’t do dumb things that make you want to pull your hair out. Meanwhile Finn is absolutely sexy and cocky and sexy and brave and sexy… They’ve got great chemistry.” Ello from The Inkpot
Stella: Could you explain to us the choice of the title and its relevance?
Kersten: All of the titles come from William Blake’s poem The Tyger, which, like my books, questions the Creator about the nature of good and evil:
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
You can read the rest of it
here.
Stella: After the release of Tyger, Tyger you have said in an interview that you planned the series to be a trilogy. Now after the 2nd book is out I'd like to ask: is the Goblins War still to be a trilogy or do you think there are more stories to be told in this universe?
Kersten: I would love to have more than three books in which to play in the world of the Goblin Wars because I have a lot of stories I’d like to tell about these characters. But…publishing is a business and if the first two do not do really, REALLY well then I will have to wrap this story arc—and universe—up in the third book. We’ll see….
Stella: You write picture books, that must be very different than writing "normal", longer prose-stories. How do you go about it? Don't you find it frustrating you have to keep your story/sentences short?
Kersten: Writing picture books is like writing poetry, even for books which do not rhyme. The sound and feel of every single word is important. With novels, the emotional flow of each scene is the most important thing to keep straight. So they are very different, but I really enjoy writing them both. I’ve also written easy–to–reads, and those are difficult because of sentence length and limited word choice. It’s like writing with a cramp in my leg.
Stella: Do you have any ideas what you'll explore next after the Goblins War series?
Kersten: Oh, yes, only about a million! I have just sold a very fun steampunk chapter book The Mesmer Menace, set on the eve of the Great Mesmer War of 1901, featuring a boy inventor, President Teddy Roosevelt, evil hypnotists, robots, a lightning harvester, and a dashingly brave and loyal dachshund named Noodles. I am finishing a “Holes”–esque older MG dealing with suicide, Catholicism, immigration issues and one undead school administrator. After that, I have a TOP SECRET YA project in the works…
Stella: Any other myth/legend/genre you'd like to explore?
Kersten: I love Nordic Mythology…
Stella: Speaking of myth, do you have a favourite one? Or if you can't choose just one, one type of mythology (Celtic, Greek, etc.)?
Kersten: I love all Myth as described by Tolkien
in this poem.
He wrote it for C.S. Lewis, who had said that, “myths were lies and therefore worthless, even though 'breathed through silver'.” Lewis was eventually converted. I never had to be converted—True Myth is my home country.
Stella: Still speaking of myths: if you could be a mythical creature or live a day in a myth, what kind of creature would you like to be, or which myth would you choose?
Kersten: If I could be any creature from any story ever conceived? I would be….wait for it….a Fairy Godmother! Yep. Because Fairy Godmothers appear to people who have no hope and no chance, giving them just the tools they need to succeed—if they have the courage to pursue their own dreams. I would love to be able to do that. But I wouldn’t wear puffy dresses or sparkle shoes and a tiara. They’d just have to believe in me when I appeared in my jeans and t–shirt. Or pajamas. Without remembering to brush my hair. :-)
You can find Kersten at her website, blog and Goodreads.
The battle against goblinkind continues . . . but which side will Teagan be on?
Teagan, Finn, and Aiden have made it out of Mag Mell alive, but the Dark Man’s forces are hot on their heels. Back in Chicago, Tea’s goblin cousins show up at her school, sure she will come back to Mag Mell, as goblin blood is never passive once awoken. Soon she will belong to Fear Doirich and join them. In the meantime, they are happy to entertain themselves by trying to seduce, kidnap, or kill Tea’s family and friends. Tea knows she doesn’t have much time left, and she refuses to leave Finn or her family to be tortured and killed. A wild Stormrider, born to rule and reign, is growing stronger inside her. But as long as she can hold on, she’s still Teagan Wylltson, who plans to be a veterinarian and who heals the sick and hurting. The disease that’s destroying her—that’s destroying them all—has a name: Fear Doirich. And Teagan Wylltson is not going to let him win.
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Monique attended the University of Southern California's Film School. She earned a BFA in the Filmic Writing department and went on to write industrial films and documentaries. She currently has a screenplay in development. Monique worked in television for several years before joining the family business. She now works full-time as a freelance writer and novelist. is her first novel.
