Interview with Skyler White, author of and Falling, Fly

I am very happy to introduce you to author Skyler White. Her first novel, and Falling, Fly will hit the shelves on March 2nd, so keep reading on to discover the whole different world Skyler has built for our pleasure!

Product Description (amazon.com):

In a dark and seedy underground of burned-out rock stars and angels-turned- vampires, a revolutionary neuroscientist and a fallen angel must put medicine against mythology in an attempt to erase their tortured pasts...but at what price?

Olivia, vampire and fallen angel of desire, is hopeless...and damned. Since the fall from Eden, she has hungered for love, but fed only on desire. Dominic O'Shaughnessy is a neuroscientist plagued by impossible visions. When his research and her despair collide at L'Otel Mathillide-a subterranean hell of beauty, demons, and dreams-rationalist and angel unite in a clash of desire and damnation that threatens to destroy them both.

In this fractures Hotel of the Damned, Olivia and Dominic discover the only force consistent in their opposing realities is the deep, erotic gravity between them. Bound to each other finally in a knot of interwoven freedoms, Dominic and Olivia-the vision-touched scientist and the earth-bound angel, reborn and undead-encounter the mystery of love and find it is both fall...and flight.

Read an excerpt

 

and Falling, Fly is your first novel. How would you describe it?

and Falling, Fly is a dark fable of desire between a fallen angel turned vampire and a self-medicating neuroscientist. It’s a ‘primal scream’ of a novel – all the things that had been cooking in me for years, in allegorical form.

Vampires are always a big hit in fantasy novels, and angels seem to be a new trend. How do you think your book stands out?

Well, there are a couple of ways in which and Falling, Fly is different from much of what’s out there right now. First of all, it’s not YA. It’s a deliberately adult novel. Another difference is that my heroine is a vampire, not a vampire hunter, and the hero is the human. Most stories I’ve read recently, if there’s a mythological, demonic or angelic being, it’s the male character, with a female human in relationship with or against him.

I think and Falling, Fly is different, too, in that it wrestles with some pretty big questions. Olivia is the fallen angel of desire. She is desire incarnate. Everyone who looks at her wants her, but she has no idea what they see. She literally can’t see herself in a mirror unless someone else is looking at her. Without the desire of others, she has no image, and no sustenance, because she feeds on that hunger she inspires. It’s sexy, yes, and it was fun to write, but it also gives me space to let readers play conceptually

You are now working on a second book. It's in a similar world to and Falling, Fly, but they are not a series?

That’s right. In Dreams Begin (December 2010, Berkley) exists in the same universe and there are a few cross-over characters, but Dreams is a dark time-travel/horror/romance between a modern, newly-married woman and the Irish poet and occultist WB Yeats. They meet in 1889 through the body of Maud Gonne, a radical Irish freedom-fighter and world-famous beauty who channels Laura from the twenty-first century by mistake. What makes this project particularly different (and fun) is that all of the characters are, to a greater or lesser degree, real people.

You have this kool feature on your website where readers can upload pictures of themselves with your temporary tattoos. Are you tattooed?

I’m not. I’m too indecisive for tattoos. My husband has one that runs from his second toe to his navel though, and I’ve loved it consistently for over thirteen years, so maybe I’m not as fickle as I thought.

Now some questions to get to know you better =)

It seems like you had many jobs before starting your writing carreer, what would be the most surprising job you've had?

I was a ballet teacher for a while; is that surprising? Also, I worked in a Ramen Noodle factory. Some people seem to be born knowing what they want to do with their lives. I was never one of those. A wise person once told me, “the path is where the trees are not.” Let’s just say I’ve been blessed to walk in a very dense forest.

What kind of music do you listen to? Favorite signer/band?

I like a lot of different music. Right now, I’m beginning to stew over a new book I want to write, and music is going to play a critical role in it, so I’m listening to some very specific things for that, but I can’t tell you what, because it’d give too much away. ;-P

Is Skyler White your real name or a pen name?

‘Skyler White’ is the name I use every day. ‘Skyler’ is a nickname; my given name is ‘Laura,’ but I’ve been ‘Skyler’ or ‘Skye’ to everyone who knows me for more than twenty years.

Your favorite perfume?

At the moment, I have five, all from this funky company called Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, but I’ve only begun to scratch the surface of their collection, so that’s subject to change.

What's the craziest thing you ever did?

I’ve done a lot of crazy things that I’m not proud of, that were stupid or dangerous. Honestly, writing this book, selling it and now having it “out there” where other people can come and peer into my psyche is probably the most truly crazy. But since the creation, sale and marketing of the novel plays out over three years and was really very deliberate, I’ll say the craziest thing I’ve done was putting myself and my family into a reality TV show. My husband and I switched houses with a dear friend and her sister for an episode of Trading Spaces about four years ago. And for anyone familiar with the series: Yes, we worked with Hildi and No, it did not go well (though we did get a beautiful room redesign out of the deal).

Thank you very much for your time Skyler, and best of luck for your upcoming release!

Posted by Tynga at 00:22

 Interview, Penguin  18 People left their mark

Tynga is a 32 years old mom of two, from Montreal, working as a lab technician in an hospital specialized in heart disease. In her free time, she enjoys reading all things Paranormal and photography.

Follow Tynga on: Facebook | Twitter