Getting Personal with the author of In Stone: Louise D.Gornall

I'd like to welcome the fabulous Louise D. Gornall to my blog today. She's a talented writer, kick-ass beta reader for yours truly, and an all around awesome friend. Her debut novel, In Stone, was recently released and she's agreed to answer some questions for me today. So, let's get this show on the road...

Can you start by telling us a bit about your book, IN STONE?

Beau Bailey is suffering from a post-break-up meltdown when she
happens across a knife in her local park and takes it home. Less than a week later, the new boy in school has her trapped in an alley; he’s sprouted horns and is going to kill Beau unless she hands over the knife.

Until Eighteenth-century gargoyle, Jack, shows up to save her.

Jack has woken from a century-long slumber to tell Beau that she’s unwittingly been drafted into a power struggle between two
immortal races: Demons and Gargoyles. The knife is the only one in existence capable of killing immortals and they’ll tear the world apart to get it back. To draw the warring immortals away from her home, Beau goes with Jack in search of the mind-bending realm known as the Underworld, a place where they’ll hopefully be able to destroy the knife and prevent all hell from breaking loose. That is, provided they can outrun the demons chasing them.

So, Jack's a gargoyle huh? How'd you come up with that idea? Did you just look at a gargoyle statue one day and think, "Damn that's sexy?"

Yep! He sure is. I'm forever trying to invent new ways to freak people out and after I'd graduated from piercing my face and rainbow dying my hair, forming romantic attachments to grotesque, stone statues seemed like a natural progression, you know? In all seriousness my Nanna told me about the demon and gargoyle myth during a particularly boring church service one Sunday morning. My CPs liked the idea when I pitched it to them, and we went from there.


Have you ever met a gargoyle in real life? Do you want to?

I've seen a couple. There's one perched on the roof of a house about 20 minutes down the road from me. Never met a gargoyle's human side though. That would be epic!

What's the weirdest thing you've ever done in the name of research?

Nothing. I'm insanely boring. Besides, everyone has already done all the cray-cray stuff and stuck it on the internet for me to find. Can I make something up? This one time I spent two weeks living inside Joaquin Phoenix's beard because I needed to know what it was like to live like a celebrity.


Have you ever eaten a crayon? Chalk? Dirt? What is the strangest thing you've ever eaten?

I eat strawberries with mayo, and there's nothing I won't try covered in chocolate. Though I haven't yet taken that to the crayon-chalk-dirt extreme...but the night is still young.

What is the strangest dream you've ever had?

There are many. I dream about falling a lot, and I dream about being in the US a lot. I'm mostly disorientated in my dreams. I'm sure that means something, but I have no idea what. Still waiting on a dream about my characters past, present or future...

While writing IN STONE, what sexy actor did you imagine playing Jack?

The absolutely gorgeous Douglas Booth is my Jack!
 

Does Beau have any quirks or characteristics that reflect you?

Beau wears a lot of eyeliner like me. She also shares my dry sense of humor. She's the seventeen-year-old I wish I'd been in high school!

IN STONE is YA. Do you have any plans to break out of that genre in the future and write something a little more adult?

It is. To be honest I don't. I love YA. I love the teen voice and I love reliving 'firsts' through my characters. I recently gave writing NA a shot -- because I'd heard that NA and YA were practically the same thing -- NOT THE SAME THING. Not the same thing at all. I completely missed the tone of voice and attitude. I guess you should never say never, but right now I'm all about the YA.

Thanks for stopping by today, Louise. Where can people buy IN STONE and where can they find out more about you?

IN STONE is available here and you can also add it on Goodreads.

I can be found on my Blog or trolling the Twitterverse.

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Release Day Blitz: In Stone by Louise D. Gornall

I'm so happy to welcome Louise D. Gornall to my blog today to celebrate the release of her debut novel, In Stone. There's info about the book, the author, and even an awesome giveaway! Check it out.

Title: In Stone

Author: Louise D. Gornall

Publisher and Imprint: Entranced Publishing, Blush

Genre: YA paranormal romance

Release Date: July 1

Length: 120 pages

Blurb:  Beau Bailey is suffering from a post-break-up meltdown when she happens across a knife in her local park and takes it home. Less than a week later, the new boy in school has her trapped in an alley; he’s sprouted horns and is going to kill Beau unless she hands over the knife.

Until Eighteenth-century gargoyle, Jack, shows up to save her.

Jack has woken from a century-long slumber to tell Beau that she’s unwittingly been drafted into a power struggle between two immortal races: Demons and Gargoyles. The knife is the only one in existence capable of killing immortals and they’ll tear the world apart to get it back. To draw the warring immortals away from her home, Beau goes with Jack in search of the mind-bending realm known as the Underworld, a place where they’ll hopefully be able to destroy the knife and prevent all hell from breaking loose. That is, provided they can outrun the demons chasing them.

 

EXCERPT:

As a general rule, nobody walks the Switch on account of the overgrown nettle bushes, a pungent aroma of foot infection, and a collective fear of encountering something feral. However, the Switch shaves at least ten minutes off my journey, and lately I don’t trust the dark. I blame my encounter with the almost-corpse, two nights ago. Before then the dark was just a natural progression; something to be slept in, a different color in the sky. Now, shadows make me jump, and the dark carries a silence that makes me think of funerals. It breathes life into creatures that had always been safely contained behind a TV screen. I make my way down the Switch, striding over vicious flora and trying to ignore the occasional nip that sinks straight through my jeans.

“Hey, Beau!” A voice from behind startles me. When I turn, Gray is jogging in my direction, thwarting thorn bushes with his bare hands. “I was looking for you.”

The hairs on the back of my neck bristle. My hand is in my pocket, and my fingers are wrapped around a slender cylinder of pepper spray as he reaches me.

“Well you found me. What’s up?”

“There’s something I need to ask you,” he says sheepishly. He hammers his toe against the ground, grinding it nervously into the dirt and crushing several stems of dandelion into gold dust. He giggles; it’s a soft, sweet sound that suffocates my hostility. He reminds me of Mark moments before he’d asked me out on our first date. Maybe this guy could be the one to liberate me from my social network sabbatical. Maybe my slightly-too-heavy eyeliner and my reputation as the mortician’s daughter hasn’t freaked him out.

“Really?” Surprise raises my pitch. “What’s that?” The pepper spray is abandoned in my pocket.

“Where’s the knife?” he replies, snatching my throat and slamming my back up against the concrete wall. It’s so forceful, so hard, that my spine ripples. Red flashes across my vision. The muscles in my neck go slack, and my head flops forward. He stabs his thumb up under my chin, forcing me to look him in the eye. His eyes are like the moon; cold, giant circles of icy-silver. But a change in his eye color is nothing in comparison to the change happening on either side of his head. I don’t understand it. It makes me wonder, briefly, if what I’m seeing is a side effect of the migraine pills Leah slipped me at lunch. Gray is growing horns. Giant grey horns that slide out of the side of his skull and then curl like springs around his ears. They’re animal.
 

BUY LINKS:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Louise is a graduate of Garstang Community Academy. She is currently studying for a BA (Hons) in English language and literature with special emphasis on creative writing. YA aficionado. Brit bird. Film nerd. Identical twin. Junk food enthusiast. Rumored pink Power Ranger. Zombie apocalypse 2012 survivor. She is also an avid collector of book boyfriends.

 

 

           You can find more of Louise on her website, Facebook, and Twitter.

 

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** PLEASE NOTE: this giveaway is open only to residents in the US, UK, Australia and Canada.**

GIVEAWAY: IN STONE and KINDLE FIRE

 

IN STONE will be available July 29!

Beau Bailey is suffering from a post break-up meltdown when she happens across a knife in her local park and takes it home. Less than a week later the new boy in school has her trapped in an alley; he’s sprouted horns and is going to kill Beau unless she hands over the knife.

Until Eighteenth century gargoyle, Jack, shows up and saves her.

Jack has woken from a century long slumber to tell Beau that she’s accidentally been drafted into a power struggle between two immortal races; Demons and Gargoyles. The knife she picked up is the only one in existence capable of killing immortals and they’ll tear the world apart to get it back. To draw the warring immortals away from her home, Beau decides to go with Jack to Bulgaria in search of the mind-bending realm known as the Underworld, a place where they’ll hopefully be able to destroy the knife and prevent all hell from breaking loose. That is providing they can outrun the demons that are chasing them.

About the Author

 Louise is a graduate of Garstang Community Academy, currently studying for a BA (Hons) in English language and literature with special emphasis on creative writing. YA aficionado. Brit bird. Film nerd. Identical twin. Junk food enthusiast. Rumoured pink Power Ranger. Zombie apocalypse 2012 survivor. Avid collector of book boyfriends.

 

 

 

Blog: www.bookishblurb.wordpress.com  

Twitter: www.twitter.com/Rock_andor_roll

Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Louise-D-Gornall/111420465709804

 

Giveaway – Open Internationally

To celebrate her upcoming release, Louise is giving away an ecopy of IN STONE and a Kindle Fire to one lucky reader! One runner-up will also win an ecopy of IN STONE. UK and US residents are eligible to win the Kindle Fire. If you live outside the UK or US and your name is drawn, you will receive an Amazon gift card valued at £160 (GBP) instead. The winners will be announced July 29. Good luck!

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