Interview with Kate Serine + Giveaway

We’re very happy to welcome today Kate Serine, the wonderful author of the Transplanted Tales series. Grimm Consequences is her last release, a novella placed after the first book and featuring Nate and Red. Thanks to the author for her questions and we hope you’ll like it as much as we did.

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Welcome on Between Dreams and Reality, Can you present you in a few words?

Thanks for having me by for a visit! In addition to being the author of the Transplanted Tales series, I’m a wife, mom, and coffee addict. I love anything and everything that has to do with science, science fiction, mysteries/true crime, history, and the paranormal. You’ll also find me geeking out over pretty much any movie adaptation of a Marvel comic book.

How would you describe the Transplanted Tales series?

Around two hundred years ago, a magical duel went awry, transplanting hundreds of fairytale characters from the world of Make Believe into the human world of the Here and Now. Since then, others have come over at random, including characters from nursery rhymes, folklore, mythology, and literature. Suddenly granted the freedom to write their own stories and choose their own destinies, some of the Tales have made the most of their circumstances, but others have had a tough time adjusting. The Fairytale Management Authority (FMA) is the law enforcement bureau that attempts to keep everyone in line.

The series is a little bit urban fantasy, a little bit paranormal romance, so I hope the books will appeal to both audiences. My current release, Grimm Consequences, is the novella sequel to Red and continues the story of Tess “Red” Little and Nate Grimm.

How did you come up with the idea to write a story with characters from tales?

The idea for the Transplanted Tales came to me during a conversation with my eldest son, who was 8 or 9 years old at the time. We like to have what we call “What if” conversations where he’ll ask me a question that’s totally out there and then we chat about it. That day he asked the question: “What if fairytale characters were living next door to us?” As we chatted about who it would be, what that Tale would do for a living, and so on, I started to get a very clear picture in my head of a tough, hard-hitting version of Little Red Riding Hood — all grown up and ready to knock some heads. And everything just fell into place. I wrote Red in record time for me—about four months.

Was it difficult to create them a new life?

Some characters were definitely more difficult than others! But it was great fun trying to put a new twist on the old tales and come up with something that would surprise and entertain my readers. If I couldn’t immediately come up with a fun “new life” for them, I would do a little research on that character to see if I could find something in the history of the story/rhyme/folklore that would inspire me.

How many books do you intend to write for this series?

Right now, I just have one more full length novel scheduled. Ever After will release in August 2014. I’d certainly consider writing additional books in the series under the right circumstances and have planned out stories for other characters, but we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

Who is your favorite character in the series?

That’s a tough question! I love all my characters—even the villains. I spend a good six months or more on each novel and get to know them pretty well. 😉 But if I had to choose one character, it would probably be Tess “Red” Little. Her voice was the loudest and most insistent from the beginning, and I had such an amazing time writing that first novel that Tess will always have a special place in my heart.

That said, if you ask me the same question tomorrow, I might have a different answer. 😉

What is the most memorable moment (good, bad, or other) you have had in your life as an author?

There have been so many! Getting “the call”, signing with my agent, seeing my cover of Red for the first time, getting my first message from a fan, winning the National Readers Choice Award… It’s all been incredible! There are days I still find it hard to believe that I’ve been so blessed to be able to share my stories with others. That’s honestly the best part and brings me the most joy.

Do you write full time? If no, do you hope to eventually do so?

No, I still work full-time and only get to write in the evenings and on the weekends. But, yes, I’d love to be able to write full-time one day! That has been a life-long dream.

Do you have a favorite author? Or a favorite book?

I have so many favorite authors and favorite books I don’t know where to start! Here are just a few:

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

And I love Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allan Poe… And those are just the classics! In paranormal romance, my all-time favorite is probably Lara Adrian. Love her Midnight Breed series! But I could go on and on about other amazing authors whose work I adore. I’m slowly making my way through the books of my fellow Seymour Agency authors and every one of them is incredibly talented.

Are there any other projects you’re working on or thinking about starting in the near future?

I have a couple of other projects in development. One is paranormal romance, another is romantic suspense, but the wheels of publishing can turn very slowly and there are no guarantees. I’m also really interested in writing horror and sci-fi eventually and have several ideas for stories in those genres, so we’ll see what happens!

Thanks so much for letting me come by for a chat!

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