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.
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.
