What's on the iPod - Bad Romance by Lady Gaga
The author:
Big welcome, Dia Reeves, to this week's Freebie Friday! Dia's debut YA novel, BLEEDING VIOLET, hit the shelves just last week.
When she’s not out manning space missions for NASA and scaring little children, Dia spends her time tweeting naughty stuff and reading and writing eleventy billion books, though usually not at the same time. She is a librarian who lives in a suburb of Dallas, Texas. Her family, however, grew up in East Texas and has inspired her with many tales from the area.
The book:
Here's the official book jacket blurb for BLEEDING VIOLET:
Love can be a dangerous thing.... Hanna simply wants to be loved. With a head plagued by hallucinations, a medicine cabinet full of pills, and a closet stuffed with frilly, violet dresses, Hanna's tired of being the outcast, the weird girl, the freak. So she runs away to Portero, Texas in search of a new home.
But Portero is a stranger town than Hanna expects. As she tries to make a place for herself, she discovers dark secrets that would terrify any normal soul. Good thing for Hanna, she's far from normal. As this crazy girl meets an even crazier town, only two things are certain: Anything can happen and no one is safe.
(Cool! Sounds like my kind of book!)Kirkus calls BLEEDING VIOLET a “fast-paced (almost manic) page-turner... Captivating” and Publisher's Weekly says it's "Dark and stylish." Booklist calls Hanna an "unusual heroine with a poignant, memorable voice."
The Interview:
Are any of your characters based on real people that you know?
I'd never write about people I know. They're almost as boring as I am.
What excites you?
Fan art! A girl sent me some Bleeding Violet fan art, and that pretty much made my year.
What turns you off?
Intolerance. Bathroom humor. People who say, "Because I deserve it."
Why purple?
A lot of people think purple is my favorite color, but it's not. Even though I've been in denial about it for years, pink is actually my favorite color. For BLEEDING VIOLET, I just picked a random color for Hanna to be obsessed with.
What songs would make the playlist for BLEEDING VIOLET?
I love music questions. :) A girl named Jessica introduced me to a song by !!! called "All My Heroes Are Weirdos" so I'd definitely put that on the list. There are a few songs I mention in the book, like "Gloomy Sunday" by Billie Holiday, "Poems" by Tricky (that's the song that's playing while Hanna is looking at the sculptures on the wall in Wyatt's bedroom), and "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses. Then I'd have to add "I'll Stay" by Funkadelic because it's romantic and "Where Is My Mind" by Pixies because it's completely insane. There are about a million songs I could add to this list, but I'll quit while I'm ahead.
What's one thing most people don't know about you?
I threw up in a Blockbuster store when I was a kid. I think that's why they're struggling now with finances and things--they never recovered from the grossness.
What's your favorite quote?
"I try more and more to be myself, caring relatively little whether people approve or disapprove." -- Vincent Van Gogh. I like that quote because writers get a lot of feedback--from people who love their stuff, from people who hate it. In the midst of all that noise, it's easy to start doubting yourself or to become obsessed with trying to please everyone. The quote helps me remember that I can only be myself, and that people will either get that, or they won't.
What are you working on now?
STRANGE FRUIT is with my editor right now. It takes place in the same town as BLEEDING VIOLET, but it’s not a sequel. It's the story of two sisters who are the daughters of a convicted serial killer. They kill people just like their dad, but unlike him, they only kill bad guys. It outweirds BLEEDING VIOLET by about 20%.
If BLEEDING VIOLET were made into a movie, who would you like to see in the role of Hanna?
Hanna is biracial. Do you know of any young, biracial actors? If you think of any, let me know.
You can read more about Dia and BLEEDING VIOLET on her website, on facebook, or by following her on twitter.
The freebie:
Up for grabs this week is a signed copy of BLEEDING VIOLET. To be entered to win, leave a comment below answering this question from Dia's Simon and Schuster profile: What is your motto or maxim?
This drawing will remain open until Wednesday, January 20.
