Witty Title TBD - Allison!

It's time for my last interview!!!  Sorry for taking forever to post this, Allison!  

Anywaysssssssss. Allison can be found over at her lovely blog, Geek Banter!  We originally bonded over our full-out love for pretty much everything sci-fi, which pretty much means she's one of the coolest people ever.  But I won't keep telling you how cool she is.  I'll let her do that :P

What do you want the world (or the 5 people who read my blog) to know about you?

Aren't we bloggers supposed to keep our identities secret? Oh, wait, that's superheroes. Well, you can see how I might get confused... 

When I guest posted at The Little Red Reviewer, she described me thus, which I found quite flattering: "Allison is a huge science fiction fan, a writer, a gamer, and an all around geek. When it comes to anime, scifi, and gaming, this is the woman who walks the walk. On her blog she talks all things speculative – books, movies, tv shows, video games, everything that makes geeks smile." I hope I do make geeks smile!

What’s the first thing you wrote for fun? (that you can remember!)

I wrote my first short story (a retelling of a fairy tale on a sticky note) when I was four and could barely write. My mom kept a copy of it and, thank goodness, included a translation, because otherwise I would have no idea what it said. I wrote my first novel when I was 11 or 12--it was about an elf who lived in our world, got made fun of for her pointy ears, and traveled back to the fantasy land of her origin to find her real family. It was terrible.

Give us a little insight into your writing journey so far.

I have a few short stories published and some soon-to-be published. I've also done some devotional writing for Christian magazines. I am currently working on a YA sci-fi novel that I will describe as a mixture of Ender's Game, Divergent, and Mass Effect. Here's my elevator pitch: After their mother is captured during the galactic war, twins Anasta and Taren discover they have abilities beyond their control and start training to join the ranks of elite military operatives called Shifters.

Star Wars, Star Trek, or…Firefly?

FIREFLY!!!!! The show is a perfect mash-up of adventure, space travel, character development, interesting plot, and humour. Every episode is fantastic. If you haven't seen it, go watch it. Right now. I'm serious. Jayne is my favourite. No, River. No, Wash. No... okay, they're all just so awesome! For the record, I also love the original Star Wars trilogy.

This. Just this.

What song’s been stuck in your head lately?

Temple in the Storm by Seventh Wonder.

Why do you write/read/lurve YA?

Because most adult books I have to plod through, but YA I can devour.

Do you have a favorite place/time of day to write?

When I had a part-time job I liked to write in the afternoon. Now, I'm going to have to change to nighttime writing. I can type way faster than I can hand write, so the keyboard is the way to go for me.

If you could only pick one book to read for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Why would I be punished so cruelly by only having one book??? I am a Christian, so I'd pick the Bible as it is the most important book in my life. But if I could also have some fun fiction, I would probably go with Harry Potter. Which Harry Potter, you ask? Number 3.

Seriously, almost EVERYONE I INTERVIEWED picked a Harry Potter book or tired to cheat by picking the whole series.  I have the best writing friends ever :)  Also, HP 3 is MAH FAVORITE.  So yeah.

What was your favorite book of 2012?

I am a huge Terry Brooks fan, so it was the first book in his new Shannara series--Wards of Faerie.

Is there a 2013 book you’re looking forward to?

I am looking forward to reading the next book in that Shannara series--Bloodfire Quest. For YA, I think Dualed by Elsie Chapman looks really good. (Yes, I cheated and mentioned two books.)

And, since I won an award for culturally under-represented authors: If you could pick a culture that you might not be totally familiar with to research and write a story about, which culture would it be?  And why?

I find Japanese culture to be really interesting and fantasy stories with a Japanese twist are always fun (plus, I love anime).

Anything else I might have missed?

Umm... Firefly is awesome? Oh, wait, we covered that...

Thanks for having me, awesome Alex!

There's been so much Firefly love, y'all :)  Now that I'm out of interviews, I don't know what to do anymore!  I'll compile my thoughts on SCBWI NY (they're pretty awesome thoughts!) andddddddd hopfully have more fun stuff to post after my thesis is done!  Yay for grad school :P

Before I go, the BIGGEST OF THANK YOUs to everyone who allowed me to interview them!  I love you all, and I'm not a hugger, but I'm giving you all wonderful internet hugs right now. <3