Burning.x.Impossibly.x.Bright: Interview with S.M. Reine (Author of Six Moon Summer)

Wednesday, 22 June 2011

Interview with S.M. Reine (Author of Six Moon Summer)

Ambur: Hey Sara! Thanks so much for stopping by at my blog, I’m glad to have you here! :D
Sara: Thanks so much for having me!

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and about Six Moon Summer?
Six Moon Summer is a wonderfully angsty tale of teenage troubles, summer camp, and evil monsters with a taste for human flesh. I’m a writer who is not very angsty, definitely not a teenager, and prefers escargot to soylent green.

I’ve read books with werewolves in them before Six Moon Summer, but I definitely think that your book is one of the most unique. What inspired you to write a story about werewolves and to give their transition into a full blown werewolf such a unique spin?
I have to make a little confession: I’m not really a big fan of vampires or werewolves. I’ve seen a couple movies and I’ve skimmed the essentials, like Anne Rice and Stephenie Meyer, but I’m not going out of my way to pick up werewolf books. So I have no idea what people normally expect from the genre! I’m always pleasantly surprised (and deeply appreciative) when people tell me my wolves are unique, but I would be full of it if I claimed to have any special inspiration.

I absolutely loved Rylie and Seth. Rylie was spunky and she was passionate, and Seth was mysterious and incredibly sexy. Did you have any inspiration for their characters, or for any of the other characters in Six Moon Summer?
Rylie was partially inspired by a couple girls I didn’t like in school! You can probably tell early in the book, since she’s kind of a pain in the butt, but she redeems herself by the end. Seth, I admit, is somewhat modeled after my fourth grade boyfriend, who wore a leather jacket almost every day. He thought he was the Fonze, or maybe John Travolta from Grease. It was swoon-worthy in elementary school, believe me.

Rylie was passionately against eating meat, and very vocal about being a vegetarian, so it made me a bit curious. I love animals myself, but I could honestly never give up meat, I like bacon too much. :P So I was wondering, are you a vegetarian too, or did you just decide it was perfect for Rylie’s character?
I love animals and I sympathize with the cause of vegetarians/vegans, but I’m an avid omnivore. While I don’t want to cause animal suffering, I like to have a well-rounded diet. Ribs and steak and bacon (bacon!!) are too delicious. So no, Rylie and I don’t share this ideology at all.

Six Moon Summer has a sequel coming out called All Hallows Moon, can you tell us a bit about it?
I originally intended Six Moon Summer to stand alone, but early readers desperately wanted to see what happened to Rylie and Seth after the conclusion. I realized the two of them still have a lot of story to be told, so rather than extending Six Moon Summer to show more, I decided to separate it out into an entire series.

What was it like deciding to self-publish your book? And do you have any advice for other authors contemplating self-publishing?
I’m planning my own small publishing company to publish the books I like to read, so what better way to practice techniques than to use my own manuscripts as a guinea pig? My advice to other authors is this: Take it seriously, take your time, do your research, and do it right. Indie publishing is just as much work as traditional publishing, and readers can reject you as easily as any agent. Don’t take it as the “easy” road, because it’s not.

Anything else you’d like to share?
How about a random fact about Six Moon Summer for those who have read it? I originally intended Louise and Jericho to be involved in a relationship-- but the scenes didn’t fit and had to be cut!

Thanks for stopping by! It was fantastic having you here! :D
Thank you!