Authors Are Rock Stars: Karri Thompson

Thanks to Fiktshun, Two Chicks on Books, and Magical Urban Fantasy Reads for hosting this awesome event again this year!

Welcome to KARRI THOMPSON!

Karri is such a rock star that she has written a book and working on a series about a rock star and his guardian angel! See right there? ROCK STAR!!! If you haven't read Karri's book, Amateur Angel, you should really check it out and my review here.

She might not be on a lot of radars right now, but that will soon change! She has a new series coming out soon: a spin on Rip Van Winkle!

Make sure to read the questions and answers about Karri. There are definitely some amazing facts about her. She is a rocking English teacher and those are some lucky high schoolers!

Q&A Time!

L: I’ve recently read your first YA book, Amateur Angel. How did you come up for the idea of this book?

KT: I was a huge fan of the band Duran Duran when I was in high school and had the biggest crush on the bass player, John Taylor. Over the years, I’ve watched my students go crazy over groups like N’Sync and the Jonas Brothers, and it reminded me of how I was in high school. I started to think about the different ways in which a teenage girl could meet her rock star crush, and one of the first ideas that popped into my head was having the girl become the rock star’s guardian angel.

L: Do you believe in Guardian Angels?

KT: I do believe in guardian angels, maybe not the way they appear in my book, but I think we’re all being watched and in some way protected by angels. One of my former students passed away from cancer a couple years after she graduated from high school. Before she died, she told her parents she saw angels at the foot of her hospital bed waiting for her. Stories like that help me believe.

L: William Shakespeare was part of Amateur Angel. Are you a fan of the bard?

KT: I am a huge Shakespeare fan. Being a high school English teacher, I’ve taught many of his plays. I’ve read Romeo and Juliet so many times that I practically have it memorized. It was so fun to bring Will to life in this book and use quotes from his plays to emphasize the book’s themes. In April, I’m going to Stratford, England, Shakespeare’s birthplace. I can’t wait!

L: Is there going to be another book following Amateur Angel? (That ending…oh, that ending!)

KT: Book two, Hollywood Angels, is written and ready to go. Readers should be on the lookout for it soon online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The “angel” series will end with a third book. The outline for book 3 is complete, and I can't wait to start writing it. By the way, in Hollywood Angels, Cannon and Ashley are together all the time. Yes!

L: Woohoo!!!!

L: You have a new book coming out later this summer with Entangled Teen. What can you tell us about it?

KT: My next release is Mirror X. It’s the first book in the three-book series, The Van Winkle Chronicles. This book is full of surprises, so I can’t say much without giving it away. What I can say is that it’s about a 17- year-old girl named Cassie Dannacher who unexpectedly wakes up 1,003 years in the future and into a world ruled by three dictators. The difference of over 1, 000 years has made everyone physically – though not visually – different from Cassie, and this difference makes Cassie more valuable than her weight in gold. While Cassie struggles with her new reality, two very different and extremely hot guys enter her life, so as she continues to cope in this futuristic world, she’s overcome by additional challenges. But Cassie’s a strong girl and won’t let anyone stand in her way or take away what she values most in life.

I am so excited about this series! I can’t wait for people to meet my characters and enter the world I created.

L: What do you have in the works for after Mirror X?

KT: The second book in the Van Winkle series is written – no title for it yet, and it hasn’t been critiqued and edited either, but the first draft is complete, and it’s solid. The outline/synopsis for the third book is done and burning in my brain, ready to get down on paper. But I really need to focus on Mirror X at the moment, so book 3 will have to remain at a slow simmer while Mirror X is being finalized.

Six months ago, while I was waiting to return my focus to Mirror X, I started writing a YA, contemporary romance that takes place in Munich, Germany. I’m at about 40, 000 words and am predicting it will end around 80,000. But like book two of the Van Winkle series, it’s also on the back burner for the time being. Right now, Mirror X is my number one priority.

L: I see Charles Dickens is an influence of yours. Do you have any other writing influences?

KT: I really love Billie Letts. The Honk and Holler Opening Soon is one of my favorite contemporary novels. Her characters become real on the page – that’s what I want all of my characters to do.

L: Free time! Tell us something about yourself that might not come across in your writing or my questions.

KT: Toward the end of the last school year, I had a hard rock tune playing as my students entered the classroom. They couldn’t believe that was the type of music I listen to. They thought I liked either jazz or classical. Boy, I sure had them fooled. Some of my favorite bands include: Pearl Jam, Korn, Linkin Park, Disturbed, Slipknot, Avenge Sevenfold, and Drowning Pool. In fact, last month I saw Stone Temple Pilots in concert, and I have tickets for Pearl Jam in November. I love going to concerts. There’s nothing better than live music.

Buy Amateur Angel

Amazon

Karri and Entangled Teen have offered an ebook copy of Mirror X to one of you lucky readers. I am super jealous and think you should all enter...right now! Get to know Karri and her fun story-telling and enter the Rafflecopter! This does include International friends, too.
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