Hey everyone! How's it been? You had a cover reveal and giveaway yesterday, and now to celebrate the release of Asunder, book two in the Newsoul trilogy by Jodi Meadows I've managed to get an interview with the awesome author herself! That was a terrible run-on sentence, wasn't it? Ah, what the hell. Never mind.
The first book in the Newsoul trilogy is called Incarnate. Isn't the cover beautiful?

Synopsis:

New soul

Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

No soul

Even Ana's own mother thinks she's a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she'll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

Heart

Sam believes Ana's new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana's enemies—human and creature alike—let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else's life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life

It's a great book. Definitely worth checking out. And here is the book that comes out today:

Synopsis:

DARKSOULS
Ana has always been the only one. Asunder. Apart. But after Templedark, when many residents of Heart were lost forever, some hold Ana responsible for the darksouls–and the newsouls who may be born in their place.

SHADOWS
Many are afraid of Ana’s presence, a constant reminder of unstoppable changes and the unknown. When sylph begin behaving differently toward her and people turn violent, Ana must learn to stand up not only for herself but for those who cannot stand up for themselves.

LOVE
Ana was told that nosouls can’t love. But newsouls? More than anything, she wants to live and love as an equal among the citizens of Heart, but even when Sam professes his deepest feelings, it seems impossible to overcome a lifetime of rejection.

In this second book in the Incarnate trilogy, Ana discovers the truth about reincarnation and will have to find a way to embrace love and make her young life meaningful. Once again, Jodi Meadows explores the extraordinary beauty and shadowed depths of the soul in a story equal parts epic romance and captivating fantasy.

About Jodi (from her website)

Photo by Housden Photography.

The official stuff:
Jodi Meadows lives and writes in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, with her husband, a Kippy*, and an alarming number of ferrets. She is a confessed book addict, and has wanted to be a writer ever since she decided against becoming an astronaut.
*A Kippy is a cat.

The unofficial stuff:
Like many writers, I’ve always wanted to do this professionally. You know, after I decided against being an astronaut.
Unlike many writers, I didn’t skip straight from picture books to adult novels. I have fond memories of going to Bookstop every month for the latest Baby-Sitters Club (which I kept reading, even after I realized they were never going to let the paranormal elements be real), and even fonder memories of hanging out in my middle school library. The librarians probably knew exactly what they were doing when they suggested book after book and discussed them with me at length. I, of course, had no clue they were turning me into a book addict, but it worked out for the best. Once I found the books where magic and other fantastic elements were real, I was hooked.
When I was twenty, I met a boy, moved 1,500 miles, and married him all within six months. I now realize that was crazy and dangerous, but it seemed natural at the time and, again, worked out for the best. Not only did we stay madly in love, he worked full time at a hard job so I could stay home to write books and, hopefully, one day get published.

The other crazy thing we did was fall in love with ferrets. They have their own bedroom.
My hobbies, aside from spending all my money on books and Kippy/ferret treats, revolve around yarn. I love crocheting, knitting, and spinning. In addition to several hand spindles, I share my living room with a spinning wheel named Bob.
Every Sunday I blog about spinning and other yarn things here. Ferret pictures can be found here.

     Now that my lovely blog readers was taken from Jodi's website which you can get to by clicking here. And now, for the awesome interview!

I guess we should start with one of the more common, generic questions and then work up from there. What inspired you to write Incarnate and Asunder?
I had a near-death experience after being gutted by a unicorn. Of course, the great paradox of that is that unicorn horns heal, which is why it was only a near death experience. Anyway, there was a hallucination/revelation. You know the drill.

That answer may be a lie.

A lot of books have hidden meanings in them. Is there a message in your novels that you want readers to grasp?
Yes, absolutely! You can find the hidden message in INCARNATE by reading it backwards, much like listening to a Beatles record backwards. The message says "Ferrets are awesome!"

That also might be a lie. Gosh, will I ever be truthful with you??

What is your favorite thing(s) about writing?
One of my favorite things about writing is also one of my favorite things about reading. I get to live another life from the safety of my sofa or bed or wherever. I get to meet new people without leaving my house. I get to have adventures and experiences and hundreds of lives!
And there's not even anything shady about it.

Do you have a favorite character? If so, who?
In INCARNATE and ASUNDER? Hmm, no, I don't think so. I'm quite attached to all of them. Ana and Sam, of course, rank at the top. They each think I should pick the other as my favorite.

The covers for your books are gorgeous, who designed them?
Thank you! I think they're amazing too.
The photographer is Gustavo Marx at Merge Left Reps, Inc. I only know that the model's name is Susan and she is gorgeous. And the covers themselves were designed by the spectacular Joel Tippie at HarperCollins.

How long have you been writing?
I've been telling stories my whole life, but I only realized writing could be a job when I was in 7th grade. So that's... what? Eleven? Twelve years old? I started writing seriously when I was twenty. Let's not talk about how long it's been since then.

Any new projects in the future?
I certainly have more projects to write! I can't say anything about them yet, except they've been going by code names: Sparkle Story (which does have sparkles), and Broadway Story (which has zero musical theater).

I know all of your fans were going crazy during Incarnate, wondering what was going to happen to Ana. She seems to have a lot of haters. Do you ever feel sorry for Ana, or are you one of those authors who loves messing with your characters?
Oh I absolutely feel bad for my characters. I want them to be happy! It's just, interesting stories have conflict.

Okay, okay, and I confess that the following conversation happened in October 2012:

Editor: Does Bad Thing have to happen to Sam?
Me: Hmm. I think something bad needs to happen, but maybe it doesn't have to be quite so bad. I can tone down this particular Bad Thing because it's not the most important bad thing ever.
Editor: Poor Sam. I feel so bad for him.
Me: Besides, I just like hurting him.
Editor, aka the Nicest Person In The World: O____O

The world you've created in your books is so magical; it feels lie it's coming off the pages and is so real it's almost tangible. I'm sure aspiring writers would love to know your secret. How do you do it?
Ooo, that's good to hear!
It's not a secret! It's lots of practice. It's lots of practice. It's in a few well-chosen tactile and active details that give the reader a vivid picture of things beyond those few things being described.

Have an example. You have a character walking into a room. You can say it's long and rectangular and has a big table that's set with twenty places. You can say there are crystal chandeliers and heavy carpets and black-suited men holding trays. The chairs are comfortable.

Or you can describe the way your character's feet sink into the carpet as they enter a formal dining chamber, resplendent in the royal colors of red and silver. Candles flicker in the dripping tiers of chandeliers. Spotless footmen wait in another corridor, bearing silver-covered trays. The chairs creak (or don't!) when the character sits.

That's a spur-of-the-moment example, but note the differences: One we're told about the heavy carpets. Another we feel the character sinking. One describes all the furniture and place-settings. Pointlessly. The other we get a description most of us can fill in easily (grand dining chamber) with a major detail (colors) to complete the quick sketch. (Later, we can note if the plates are china or crystal and whether the silverware is real silver -- all that.) One describes what the men are wearing and doing. The other just says it -- they're footmen waiting to serve dinner.

Notice the verbs, too. Enter. Sinking. Flicker. Dripping. Bearing. Creak. Those give you the sensation of movement and they're fifty times more interesting than walking, holding, or no verbs at all.

We readers always love a happy ending, but I have an inkling that Ana and Sam are going to have some challenges ahead of them. Can you give us a hint? Will we want to bawl our eyes out and stomp our feet and have a tantrum?
Bad things happen. Really bad things. And then things get worse. But some good things happen too.

Bust so far many have cried at ASUNDER. And IN3 is seeing similar results. So have a tissue handy.

     So there you have it people. I think Jodi's answers were some of the best I've ever received from an interview. Especially about the aspiring writers. If you plan on reading Asunder (which I highly recommend), then have a tissue ready too. I'm crossing my fingers that I won't want to maim anyone after reading Asunder. The chances seem high.

If you'd like to get in contact with Jodi Meadows, you can click on the link to go to her Contact page on her website. To see her Goodreads profile click here. To check out her Facebook page click here. And to visit her Twitter page click here. To buy Incarnate and Asunder from Amazon or Barnes & Noble look for the links below:

Incarnate: Paperback & Kindle edition (Amazon) or click here to buy Incarnate from Barnes & Noble.

Asunder: Hardcover & Kindle edition (Amazon) or click here to buy Asunder from Barnes & Noble.

Thanks everyone!

Kacii