Get Lost in the 5th Realm with Connie Gillam

GET LOST IN A STORY READERS: 

I’ve known Connie Gillam for many years now.  We met while working on the Daphne Committee.  Such a wonderful writer, lady, person all around.  Her romantic suspense novels are breathtaking, her young adult, exciting and moving.  A Golden Heart finalist, A Daphne finalist and a fantastic volunteer for many years for the Daphne and the Maggie, Connie gives back.  I’m so excited to have an opportunity to shout about her debut.  Please welcome, Connie Gillam!

Lisette Beaulieu’s private school classmates have always made the 15-year-old Creole orphan feel like a freak. But Lisette never believed them until she accidentally raised the dead in a cemetery late one night.  When she discovers that her mother’s family is alive and practicing Voodoo in the bayou, her world spins farther out of control.  Her best friend Scooter is about to make his own deal with the devil to keep his brother out of jail; and her classmate, Eric, has a talent with swords and saving her life. That talent will be needed when Lisette learns that an ancestor promised her to a demon overlord in exchange for greater Voodoo power.

DONNELL:  Hi, Connie, welcome to Get Lost in a Story.  What’s your favorite room in your house?

CONNIE:  My favorite room is my office.  Lately it’s been invaded by my twenty month old grandson who thinks my computer’s only use is for watching Yo Gabba Gabba.

DONNELL:  ANSWER THIS QUESTION.  I’D RATHER LIVE IN THE MOUNTAINS, BY THE OCEAN OR. . .

CONNIE: Even though I don’t swim, I’d love to live by the ocean. The ocean calms me and fills me with power. I think in another life, I lived on an island and my soul is trying to get back there.

 My husband and I have dreamed of having a second home on the Georgia coast.  Hopefully it will happen.

DONNELL:  DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE GENRE?

CONNIE:  I read almost every genre, evident by my writing. I’ve written one women’s fiction, one romantic suspense, one mainstream suspense, one young adult and one mainstream with supernatural overtones.  

DONNELL:  WHAT’S IN YOUR REFRIGERATOR RIGHT NOW

CONNIE:  A lot of stuff that needs to be thrown out. Between launching this book, finishing the Daphne finaling manuscript and working full time, I’ve let my domestic side slide. (According to my husband, it was never there to be with.)

DONNELL:  COFFEE OR TEA OR. . .?

CONNIE: Tea, definitely tea.

DONNELL:  WHICH CHARACTER WOULD YOU INVITE TO DINNER?

CONNIE:   Every adult male I’ve written about. My half Asian FBI agent in my romantic suspense to the Chief of Police from the Lakota reservation to the ex-con bent on revenge from my current manuscript.

If we’re talking about characters from other books, I’d love to meet Clare Beauchamp Randall and Jamie Fraser from Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series. I’d also love to meet Joe, the sexy cop from The Past Came Hunting.

DONNELL:  (oh, thank you, Ms. Connie :) WHICH CHARACTER WOULD YOU PREFER NOT SHOW UP?

CONNIE:  I’d like to blow my current antagonist’s balls off so, maybe it’s better that he not show up.

DONNELL:  ARE YOU ORGANIZED?

CONNIE: I wish you could see my office. My desk is piled with pieces of paper too important to file.  Of course, they get lost in the other pieces of paper too important to file.

DONNELL:  WHAT SOUND TO YOU LOVE?

CONNIE: Music! I love music. Each manuscript has a song or a soundtrack that puts me back into that story.

DONNELL:  IF YOU SIT DOWN TO WATCH TV, WHAT TYPE PROGRAM ARE YOU MOST APT TO WATCH?

CONNIE: I love science fiction and fantasy movies. I can watch one and not get caught up in ongoing sitcoms or dramas. Although, I’m currently watching Game of Thrones. 

DONNELL:  WHEN DID YOU KNOW YOU WERE A WRITER?

CONNIE: I’ve been a storyteller since I was a child. On the way to grade school with my friends, I’d make up a story as we walked, leave it on a cliff hanger (I didn’t know what that was at the time) and finish it as we walked home.

DONNELL:  IF YOU COULD MEET SOMEONE PAST OR PRESENT WHO WOULD IT BE?

CONNIE:  My great grandmother. Dead long before I was born, she was an amazing woman struggling with eight kids during the depression in the segregated South. 

AND NOW CONNIE, IT'S YOUR TURN. . .

CONNIE’S QUESTION FOR READER.  If you could be any person (male or female) in history, who would it be?

I’m giving away one digital copy or one print copy (released later this month) to a lucky winner.

Bio: Raised in the Midwest, Connie currently lives in Georgia. She's a member of Georgia Romance Writers and the Kiss of Death Mystery and Suspense subchapter of RWA.

Note: Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be mailed to North America addresses only unless specifically mentioned in the post. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants. Winners of drawings are responsible for checking this site in a timely manner. If prizes are not claimed in a timely manner, the author may not have a prize available. Get Lost In A Story cannot be responsible for an author's failure to mail the listed prize. GLIAS does not automatically pass email addresses to guest authors unless the commenter publicly posts their email address.

DON’T FORGET to FOLLOW us on Twitter #GetLostStories or LIKE us on Facebook to keep up with all our guest authors and their prizes. Join us on Monday when Maureen hosts Diana Peterfreund ~ Donnell