31 DAYS CONTEST WINNERS!!

HELLO EVERYONE, THANKS SOOO MUCH FOR THE CONTEST ENTRIES AND READING MY POSTS HERE ARE WINNERS FOR THE THREE CONTESTS THAT ENDED YESTERDAY:

FAMILIARS  + BOOK OF CHOICE GIVEAWAY WINNERS

ASHLEY AND BUDDY T

MICHAEL'S CARD GIVEAWAY:

STACEY

BLUE BLOODS VAMP PACK WINNER:

TIFFANY

THANKS AGAIN I HAVE MY LAST INTERNATIONAL BOOK DEPOSITORY CONTEST GOING ON NOW SO BE SURE TO ENTER

 Today is the last day in my week long celebration of Witches & Wizards! What would a Witch or Wizard be without a Familiar? Familiars are companions and sometimes a helpful focus for a Witch or Wizards magical power. Though cats and birds are usually picked almost any animal can form that relationship with the magic user. Recently The Authors of the new book The Familiars : Adam Jay Epstein & Andrew Jacobson  posted a tweet making themselves available for interviews! So I'm so excited to have them here for my Halloween Event. I'm halfway through the book and it's so good! The great part is the art by Peter Chan & Kei Acedera translates beautifully as an E-book ,so don't be afraid to add it to your nook or Kindle . Now for the Interview:       
1) It's very unique to focus a story on the animal companions of magicians, can you tell me a little about how the idea developed between the two of you?


One day, about two years ago, Adam turned to Andrew and asked, "Are you familiar with what a familiar is?" Andrew said no. Adam went on to explain that a familiar was the animal companion of a witch or wizard, like Hedwig to Harry Potter or Archimedes to Merlin. It turns out when Adam was a grade schooler, on his walks home from school, he would pretend that he had a magical fire-breathing dragon on his shoulder (because he didn't have a pet of his own). He always dreamed of having a familiar. And then, twenty years later, it became the inspiration for the book Adam and Andrew would write together. We had seen Harry on the cover of books, but never Hedwig. It seemed like it was about time that the familiars were the ones on the cover... the heroes on an adventure of their own!



2) Having a cat in the mix seemed a given but I was intrigued by the choice of a Blue jay (Skylar) and a Tree frog (Gilbert) did you think of other animals before deciding on these?


The animals came to us fairly quickly. Like you said, a cat is certainly the most familiar of all familiars, so yes, it was a given. We chose a blue jay because we wanted a bird in the group, but not an owl. A blue jay seemed a little snooty and know-it-allish, so it seemed perfect for Skylar. And we knew we wanted one of the three familiars to be a bit bumbling and silly, and when we saw pictures of tree frogs, we knew we had found the right animal for our Gilbert.



3) Aldwyn has a very strong narrative voice he is quite resourceful is he based on a particular pet? Or cats in general?


Aldwyn was inspired by a stray cat that roams Adam's backyard. He and his wife named the cat Ben, and just like Aldwyn, he had a small chunk taken out of his ear. Adam always wondered where that wound came from, and it led the two of us to ask the same question about Aldwyn. We also like to think of Aldwyn as almost a Dickensian character, much like the Artful Dodger or even Aladdin.



4)I'm always intrigued by writing duos. Can you tell me a little about your writing process?



The two of us have a unique partnership in that we spend every day sitting across from each other in an office, writing every word, sentence, and page together. We debate "ans" and "buts." Andrew types because he's a much faster typist; Adam sits in a big, comfy chair with a bowl of snacks at his side. We talk all day long, and in that dialogue, our story pours out and becomes what's written in the book.



5)As screenwriters did you find the transition to novels easier? Or more challenging?


We found the transition freeing. As screenwriters, we practice economy. There's no room in a script for detail or description. If you ever find yourself describing a chandelier in a screenplay, you are going way too far. But in a book, everything is chandelier! That was the biggest difference. A script is only 100 pages. A book is 350 pages. We had to train ourselves to be descriptive about everything. And it was so much fun for us.

6)The ending of familiars leaves a possibility for more adventures do you have a sequel in the works yet?

Not only is it in the works, it's already finished! The Familiars: Secrets of the Crown will be in bookstores next fall, and book three will be coming in 2012. At the same time, we are writing the screenplay for a 3D animated movie of The Familiars, which is in production at Sony Animation now with former Academy Award nominated Pixar director, Doug Sweetland.

Thank you so much for reaching out to the blogger community for interviews!!




Thanks for having us. And happy Halloween everyone. Remember, every time you see a Halloween poster with a witch on it, she's got a black cat at her side -- that's her familiar! So if you're looking for a perfect book for the holiday, pick up The Familiars


www.thefamiliars.com (official website)

thefamiliars.blogspot.com (blog)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0djEE4OzdQ (book trailer)   NOW FOR A GIVEAWAY!! I RECENTLY PASSED 200 FOLLOWERS!!  SO I'M DOING A SPECIAL GIVEAWAY WITH TWO WINNERS INTERNATIONALLY WINNER ONE GETS A COPY OF THE FAMILIARS THE SECOND WINNER GETS A BOOK OF CHOICE UP TO $10.00 BOTH BOOKS WILL COME FROM: 

  PLEASE CHECK THAT BE SHIPS TO YOU RULES: YOU MUST BE A FOLLOWER! LEAVE A COMMENT WITH YOUR EMAIL CONTEST ENDS10/22/10