Interview with the lovely A. Jacob Sweeny

I have a treat for you today Bookworms! The lovely A. Jacob Sweeny took the time out of her busy life to give me an interview. As most of you know I recently read Pulse of Heroes and wow what an amazing book! So I thought it would be great for my readers to get to know her a little better :) Ok on with the interview! Dawn 1. Please tell your devoted fans and me a little about yourself.

Dawn: a. How old you are -, A. Jacob Sweeny: As old as you want me to be ;) Dawn: b. Where do you live? - A. Jacob Sweeny: In beautiful Northern California-so far under a roof Dawn: c. A little about your family life? - I come from a family of 4 siblings. I was the total middle child before baby came along years later. My mother was reading to me Greek tragedies by the time I was seven and explaining them to me. She was a lover of History too. Dawn: d. Do you have a devoted man in your life? S. Jacob Sweeny:- So far I collected one, but Elizabeth Taylor is my role model :o So who knows… Dawn: 2. Did you always know that you wanted to become a writer? A. Jacob Sweeny: Not really. When I was little I wanted to be an Opera singer. Then I wanted to be a teacher - and I did end up teaching for a couple of years. But my love of history is my obsession; so I continued with my secret wish to become an archaeologist. I wrote as a hobby and always enjoyed telling stories. I also wrote a couple of songs that two separate bands used and they are recorded on CD! My first serious writing endeavor mixed my love of history with my love of words and I wrote a complete historical screenplay. Dawn: 3. Do you have a special place that you like to go to write? A. Jacob Sweeny: My sofa! Dawn: 4. Is it hard to balance your writing with family life? A. Jacob Sweeny: Yes. People who don't write have no idea how much alone time it takes. I have become a hermit. But don’t worry loved ones. Only one more book in the Trilogy. Dawn: 5. How long did it take you to write Pulse of Heroes?A. Jacob Sweeny: Including tons of research over 6 years! Dawn: 6. How did you come up with the idea of your story line? A. Jacob Sweeny: The Immortals have been in my head for several years and they showed up after I finished writing my historical Screenplay (7 years ago). The story of Michelle and Elliot came after I talked to my sixteen-year-old cousin who asked why so many books follow the same romantic plot. Don't hate me- but I don't read pure romance book so she explained to me that it's always a damsel in distress line, or a kick-Ass chick; Sometimes very sluty too. She asked me why are there no normal girls in books she can really identify with. So I decided to write something for her that is different and it was a serious EUREKA moment. To combine my existing immortals into a YA romance. Pulse Of Heroes was born just like that. Dawn: 7. Is it hard to come up with the names of your beloved characters or did it just come to you? A. Jacob Sweeny: Actually 'Michal' is the name of a girl in my original historical screenplay and I loved her character there, but she doesn't get much playtime. So I resurrected her as modern day Michelle. I always loved the name Elijah and Elliot is a variant of this name. It is fittingly a Godly name, which I thought was perfect for the character. With the rest of the immortals and other names I had to do a lot of research of ancient myths from the countries they came from. I picked name from there, so yes each one is tied to mythology and ancient history. Dawn: 8. I notice a few bits of the story reminded me of Twilight. Did Twilight inspire Pulse of Heroes in any way? A. Jacob Sweeny: No. This has come up so often that it's laughable at this point. I never read Twilight, and only seen the first movie once, and I was already writing my novel. A hero/super human/angel falling for a human girl is a classic theme and was certainly not invented by Mrs. Meyer. In ancient texts from around the world and even in the Bible there are plenty of stories about angels, Gods, demigods falling for the beauty of the daughters of man. Dawn: 9. If you were stranded on a deserted Island and could pick one book to keep with you, what book would you chose? A. Jacob Sweeny: The Holy Bible- It is the greatest story ever told! And the beauty of it's verses have been copied by many, including by my beloved William Shakespeare. I would like to add that I do not practice any religion, but am spiritual and believe in a higher mightier power that us humans have only tried to explain. Dawn: 10. Do you have a release date set for The Pulse? A. Jacob Sweeny: Halloween 2011 But releasing the real name of the Novel on Oct 1st. ~The Pulse~ has been a working title. Dawn: 11. I know that recently your book Pulse of Heroes was posted for free all over the Internet. I know as an author this had to be heart breaking for you. Do you have any advise for other authors to keep this from happening to them? Do you have any thing you would like to say to the person who stole your book? A. Jacob Sweeny: I have decided to remove my book from sites that offer it in E-pub or PDF forms. We all love E-books, but people who pirate them steal food off the author's table. This is especially true with independent authors who don't get any money to survive on from any publisher. All the hours, years and tears are unpaid for. I would like to say that if pirating continues more and more authors will refuse to offer their books as an e-book form- and people will have to cover the printing costs of a paper book. Everyone loses. Dawn: 12. So if I sweet talk you would you give us a few details about what you have in store for our beloved characters, Michelle and Elliot in The Pulse2? A. Jacob Sweeny: Well all I can say is that they have a lot to work on after the horrible things that took place in Europe and even between them as a couple. Oh we go on other adventures too! Thank you Dawn xoxox Wow! What a great interview! Thanks so much A.feel free to stop by and talk to us any time!