Q&A with Kess Costales

 By Elisa Houot 

• Who is your favorite poet and/or writer?

Do I have to choose one? I’m obsessed with Nikita Gill and Yrsa Daley-Ward. I love Warsan Shire and Andrea Gibson. When I’m real romantic, I swoon over Pablo Neruda’s work. John Keats wrote one of my favourite poems, La belle dame sans merci. Emily Dickinson was my highschool ob

I want to write a book like Catherynne M. Valente’s Deathless and dream of writing a collection of fairy tale retellings like The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter. I want to be Roshani Chokshi and V.E. Schwab, especially the latter’s jump across age categories. My friend (humblebrag all the time), June Hur, is truly one of my favorite writers because she’s so good at doing atmospheric. Like I hate her so much that I adore her. I want to write romance like Alisha Rai, Courtney Milan, and Tessa Dare. Helen Hoang is also incredible. 

• Do you think there was room for two on the closet door to save Leonardo in Titanic?

Maybe there was room on the door, but would it float? Does it matter? That movie scarred me for life and I never want to go on a boat or ship or cruise, especially at night. 

• What is the poem that moved you the most?

UGH I hate choosing. I think I was just holding my breath the whole time I read TEACHING MY MOTEHER HOW TO GIVE BIRTH by Warsan Shire. The whole book was phenomenal and stabs you right in the heart.

To my daughter I will say,

'when the men come, set yourself on fire.'

• What is one thing we will never hear you say?

You will never hear me say that empathy isn’t one of the most important things to me. It’s something that everyone should have for so many reasons, but especially for how it impacts the way we perceive and treat people.

Mental health and inequality were my areas of focus while I was in university and while I’m not really in that field, my passion remains. When we have empathy, we’re able to look at what people might be experiencing. It’s essential as a storyteller to understand the complexities of people and life as a whole. 

• What is the last music you’ve listened to?

I listen to music all day while at work. Usually you can catch me listening to some chill pop. Music for chilling. Pop is fun. I like fun and catchy. I’ve listened to Taylor Swift’s Folklore more times than I can count. I like Billie Eilish’s earlier songs, but also vibing with Hozier, Tate Mcrae Lennon Stella, Kina Grannis, Halsey, Julia Michaels, Ariana Grande, etc.

• What is your current writing project? Can you tell us a bit about it?

The best way to describe my writing this year is one word: chaotic. You could also say I am starting over and trying to rediscover my love for writing stories, after the big realization in 2019 that a piece of my heart will always belong to poetry.

Right now, I am pants-ing a teen rom-com that’s a mashup of my favourite romance tropes. I’ve tried and failed with YA contemporary novels but I think this might be the one that gets done.  Oh god I hope I didn’t jinx it with that. 

Note: I did not run this by my agent, Lesley, yet and I hope she’ll like it because she’s liked everything else I’ve thrown at her so far. Hi Lesley, I can’t wait to bury you in an overwhelming amount of new books I plan to write.

• Are you a dog person, or a cat person?

I am an animal person in general. I am the person who follows several animal instagrams, gets excited about going to the zoo or the aquarium. A lot of Torontonians have a love/hate relationship with raccoons, but I LOVE them and I got to pet one after a family of chubby baby raccoons surrounded me, looking for food. I washed my hands right away, of course, but only after squealing about how much I love the little babies.

I have a cat and a dog though. The cat, Kingslee, is my adorable baby/old man who just turned 12 this past summer. I tell everyone he will live to thirty because I cannot handle imagining otherwise. My baby. Forever. Always. I pull out my baby talk just for him. 

• Are you a good cook? If yes, what is your specialty? If no, what is the dish you wish you were able to cook?

I’m more of a baker than a cook! I like that baking is more specific, especially with measurements. I have the hardest time with the vagueness of meal recipes, especially my mom’s, where the amount of an ingredient is “to taste”. I do make some Filipino dishes though, like beef mechado or our version of spaghetti (which typically involves banana ketchup).

I mostly bake cookies, but I also make cakes, with hopes of making my own wedding cake one day! The oven in my home is very small though, so I don’t bake much anymore. I do, however, make lots of mug cakes, especially ones with lots of sprinkles. One thing that I should actually make again (because it’s been forever and I love them so much) are oreo cheesecake cupcakes, where the oreo cookie is the crust. It’s so good. My mom is also forcing me to make a few different types of cookies for Christmas this year. How she thinks we’ll finish it all (since it’s unlikely we’ll have a big Christmas party like we usually do), I don’t even know!

• What do you love most about writing?

Just… the creation of it all—the world, the characters, the relationships. There is so much you can do and the only limits to your imagination is you. There is so much growing we can always do to create and create and we only stop creating when we just do. 

• What is your favorite movie from your childhood?

The Princess Bride. I’ve seen it so many times, I don’t even know the number. My earliest memory of watching it is asking my mom to put it on and her saying I’ve already seen it. I watch it every year! And I know all the lines.

• What was the hardest poem to write in SO SAYS THE HEART? And in SPEAK YOUR DARKNESS?

The thing about SO SAYS THE HEART is that it’s my recovery book, following a major breakup. I got out of a relationship that was about to get to its 6th year. I had been living with my partner and we were talking marriage. We kept trying to convince each other that we would always be together, there would never be anyone else, etc etc.

But when something isn’t working, that’s what you have to accept. Coming to terms with that was pure agony, but since the beginning, I told my partner that if there are any doubts about being with me, we couldn’t be together. And so it ended. 

That meant SO SAYS THE HEART was painful. I cried writing half of the book. That first half? It’s bitterness and heartbreak and wondering what happened and why. The second part was when I started accepting it. Here’s the thing though: I wrote both parts at the same time, because some day were good, others were bad, and you can grieve a relationship, and grief isn’t some linear path. I was grieving, trying to heal, still grieving, and healing. Back and forth. 

Some line that will always stick out are these, from Father (pg 41 in SSTH):

We are not who we were.

You are not who I loved.

And I am not what you wanted. 

For SPEAK YOUR DARKNESS, it might be Prayer (pg 35).

For context, I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic elementary and secondary school. I went to church every week, went to confession, read the Stations of the Cross every Good Friday. There was always a rosary in my family’s car. I always believed in god until I was a sixteen and falling into depression. I still cry thinking about sitting on my bedroom floor, wondering why I would feel this way and why god would do that to me. I still grapple with religion and when I am at my worst, I always wonder about god.

I stopped looking for angels in the sky.

Don’t press my palms together in prayer.

When I whisper under my breath,

I no longer call out to my god.

If he’s out there, if he’s real,

Then why won’t he hear me?

That is all I can ask of him now. 

• If you watched the show, who is your favorite F.R.I.E.N.D ?

I grew up watching this show but I don’t really care about it, tbh. Unpopular opinion: I don’t think Netflix needed to spend soooo much money to keep the rights to having the show on the platform.

I’ve always liked Rachel’s outfits though.

• Can you tell us more about your next writing projects, both novel and poetry?

Novel-wise, I’ve been revising a fantasy manuscript with con artists and witches, and that’s always been the project of my heart. It’s been so fun working on it again! I’ve also been working on a ghostly YA novel in verse, which should be interesting and hopefully very creepy. I have another project in the works that’s my teen rom-com with a massive trope mashup. And a new YA fantasy set after a revolution. I want to get back to writing romance soon though! Maybe something set in Casa Loma, a castle-styled mansion in Toronto. 

For poetry, I haven’t started on a big project yet, but I’ve been working on short collections that will be Kindle exclusives! The first of the series, LOVE LIKE INSECTS, came out on November 1st and has about 60 pieces.

Romantic poetry has always been my favourite to write and I’m sticking to themes to challenge myself instead of reusing the same metaphors.! For those with Kindle Unlimited, it will be free. 

• What is on the top of your bucket list?

It used to be going to the Philippines, but I actually accomplished that in September 2019! Now, I’m not entirely sure what I would want to before I die. 

I want to see castles. Maybe Versailles? Or Neuschwanstein, the sleeping beauty castle in Germany that inspired Walt Disney. I want to see the tourist-y side of the Philippines with its beaches. 

Wait omg I want to touch a snow leopard and hug a red panda. Is that crazy? Whatever.

• What is your all-time favorite book?

UGH I can never choose. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. I have read it a million times. As mentioned earlier, Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente is iconic. So is The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter. I think I might always love Roshani Chokshi’s The Star-Touched Queen. 

I also LOVE romance books, especially when they make me cry. I think I fully sobbed through Hate to Want You by Alisha Rai and The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang. On the YA side, I think I could read To All the Boys I Loved Before by Jenny Han a hundred times. 

• What is the song you know by heart that you can’t help but sing every time you hear it?

Wannabe by the Spice Girls. That’s my anthem.

About Kess Costales:

Kess Costales (she/her) is a queer Filipino-Canadian author and poet represented by Lesley Sabga of the Seymour Agency. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Criminology and works at a receptionist at a non-profit organization in Toronto when she isn’t writing or daydreaming. Since 2019, she has self-published three poetry collections, and has had short stories published online and in print. You can follow her Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and Wordpress (@kesscostales).

Q&A and Giveaway with Beth Vrabel!

By Elisa Houot

1. What was your favorite book to write ?

That’s such a tricky question! I loved, struggled, doubted and am proud
of each of my books. I think The Newspaper Club series was the most fun
to write, though. I braided my background as a journalist with my love
for small towns and quirky characters. Nellie, Gloria, Thom, Min,
Charlotte and Gordon were a blast to create!

2. Do you write while listening to music or do you need silence?

Spending so much time in newsrooms conditioned me to need a lot of noise
but no one talking to me. That’s why under ordinary times, I love
writing in coffeeshops. Right now, I actually have a framed picture of
my favorite coffeeshop hanging on my office wall! At home, my office is
in the heart of the house, right off the kitchen. I kick off writing
days by lighting a candle, settling into my armchair, and listening to a
Pandora station. The station itself shifts depending on the book. For To
Tell You the Truth, my June release, that was Ella Fitzgerald and the
Avett Brothers. For The Newspaper Club, I listened to a lot of The
National and The Frights.

3. What was your favorite middle grade book growing up?

Where the Red Fern Grows had a huge impact on me on a kid. I loved
Billy’s independence and determination.

4. Who is your favorite fictional character ever, and why?

Oh, this is a tough question for sure! Anne of Green Gables and I are
kindred spirits, so I’m going to have to go with her.

5. What is the one advise you would have to new writers?

My biggest piece of advice is to tell yourself the story first. Some of
the best writing takes place long before you ever pull up that new
document or turn to a blank page. Fall in the love with the characters,
imagine the critical moment when everything seems lost, think through
how you’re going to pull everything together at the end. And then, when
you’re so excited about this story that you feel like you might burst,
that blank white page won’t look intimidating; it’ll seem like an
invitation.

Be sure to follow Beth on Twitter, Instagram, and "like" her Facebook page to be eligible for this giveaway to win book one and a poster of The Newspaper Club! 

Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/e7c376692/

Be sure to follow Beth on Twitter, Instagram, and "like" her Facebook page to be eligible for this giveaway to win books one and two of The Newspaper Club! 

Link: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/e7c376691/? 

About Beth Vrabel:

Beth Vrabel is author of the Cybils’-nominated Caleb and Kit, ILA award-winning A Blind Guide to Stinkville, JLG-selection A Blind Guide to Normal, The Reckless Club, the Pack of Dorks series, and The Newspaper Club. She lives in Connecticut with her family.

Website: bethvrabel.com

Facebook: facebook.com/AuthorBethVrabel

Twitter: twitter.com/beth_vrabel

Q&A With David R. Slayton

Today’s blog will focus on celebrating a new author, David R. Slayton. Software geek by day, fantasy novelist in every other moment! He’s a Denverite who has written the kind of book he craved as a kid in Guthrie, Oklahoma. White Trash Warlock is based on Adam, an outlier in his family, has a power called the Sight. For most of Adam’s life, his gift has been more of a curse. Through a twist of fate, his power ends up being the one thing that can save his family and lead him to his first love. Will Adam be able to overcome insurmountable challenges and learn to work with his power? You have to order White Trash Warlock to find out! It’ just released on October 13th, 2020. This is one story you don’t want to miss!

What inspired you to be a writer?

I grew up in the Oklahoma woods with Star Wars, Star Trek, and Doctor Who. They sparked something in my imagination at a young age. I would escape into my head, wander around the woods and pretend I was on another planet, in another world. I started telling stories with my toys. Sometimes I’d cast them in new roles, and those became my first characters. I’d build forts out of mud and sticks, then later, cities. I’ve always been a world-builder.


Was there any particular moment that was an “ah-ha!” revelation that inspired White Trash Warlock?

I used to live near a hospital that was in the process of demolition. As I walked through it and past it, I imagined a doctor and his wife dealing with something haunting them. That’s pretty much Chapter Two. Adam came later, when I was driving through North Carolina at night, listening to the radio and watching the moonlight break through the trees. There’s more than one reason that Adam’s car is such a part of his identity, but that’s how he started, so he drives a lot.


A lot of authors have quirks that get them into the headspace or groove for writing. Do you have any habits or neurosis that get you in the mood to be creative?

Coffee is a big part of my personal writing ritual. I warm up my brain while it brews listening to the playlist I made for the book or an appropriate video game soundtrack. I also practice dialogue out loud, like a lot, talking to myself, testing the sound of it to find the character’s voice. And I smell everything: food, inanimate objects, etc. I’m always working on getting better, realer details into my books.

I try to tune my feelings to what my characters are feeling, so I’ll relive memories and take notes on how I feel in my body. I like to work a lot with bioenergetics, how we feel things physically, how our bodies react to emotion so sometimes I can emotionally wreck myself by writing a powerful scene.


Your book has an emphasis on LGBT orientation. How has your own personal life influenced the characters and storylines you create?

Like me, Adam is gay, and I wrote White Trash Warlock to be the kind of book I always want to read but can so rarely find.

White Trash Warlock isn’t about the gay experience or gay trauma. It’s not about coming out, or AIDS, dying tragically, or struggling with self-acceptance. Better writers than me have got those covered.

I’ve always wanted books where the main hero just happens to be gay, but the story revolves around something else. It’s not where the conflict comes from. In my epic fantasies it’s not even an issue.

I’m really honored that my acquiring editor at Blackstone, Rick Bleiweiss, saw what I was trying to and wanted a story like that too.


Are you a night owl or a daywalker?

I have a pretty demanding day job, and that means I get up really early to write before I spend all my brain points before the conference calls start. It’s advice I got from Chuck Wendig and Gail Carriger at the Pikes Peak Writers Conference, and it’s made a real difference in my productivity, to treat it like a second job.


What about magic appeals to you?

I mean, the idea that there’s a whole other world just atop or beneath our own, or that the universe might have cheat codes is just so appealing. I think it would add mystery and maybe meaning to our already beautiful, incredible world.

I think many kids who grow up like I did, feeling poor and overwhelmed by the world, wish they had some spell or power to change things and make them better.


If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Why?

Teleportation. I’d love to be able to just snap my fingers and be anywhere in the world, even better if I could take people with me. London for the weekend? No problem.

That or time travel. I’d spend my life just researching history. Combining teleportation AND time travel would be perfect!

I’d bore everyone to tears just popping off to some foreign country or time to really figure out some bit of historical trivia.


Most everyone has one moment in time that they wish they could change. Do you have one of those moments? Would you mind sharing it?

My grandmother was the first person to really encourage my creativity, my imagination. She spoiled me a bit, protected me from my father when she could, and let me be myself. Not long before she died I was back home in Oklahoma. We were shopping at Sears and she saw a red jacket she liked. I was working four jobs at the time, trying to graduate college, and pay as I went. I could have bought it but it would have put me on ramen for a few weeks. Looking back, it would have been worth anything to pay back some of that love and sacrifices she’d shown me and put a smile on her face. I wish more than anything that she’d lived to see me published, for her to know how much she helped me get here.


If you could be any magical creature, what would you be?

Definitely an elf, but one of my elves: immortal, good with a sword, and kind of mischievous while being obsessed with old amusement parks and classic cars. Adam has a difficult relationship with them, but I think they’re pretty neat.


What’s next? Do you have any goals or ambitions you’re chasing right now?

I’m living my lifelong dream, being published and having my book out there. I’m working hard on finishing Adam’s trilogy and my agents are cooking up all sorts of things. I’m so lucky to get to work with Lesley Sabga, the Seymour Agency, and Blackstone. I have a trio of epic fantasy trilogies that I hope we sell soon and a few other urban fantasy ideas I hope readers get to see on the shelf.

About David R. Slayton:

David grew up in Guthrie, Oklahoma, where finding fantasy novels was pretty challenging and finding fantasy novels with diverse characters was downright impossible. Now he lives in Denver, Colorado and write the books he always wanted to read. His debut, White Trash Warlock, will be published in October 13th 2020 by Blackstone Publishing.

Website: http://www.davidrslayton.com/

Twitter: @drslayton

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.r.slayton 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/davidrslayton

The Seymour Agency Q&A with Author Jen J. Danna

Seymour Agency: You recently launched your new series, the NYPD Negotiators, with EXIT STRATEGY. Why hostage negotiation?

Jen J. Danna: In LONE WOLF, the first book in the FBI K-9s series, I wrote a character who was a hostage negotiator. This guy had a really tough job as the middle man between the FBI, who wanted to close the case, and an armed gunman, who was holed up with his family. The negotiator was not only trying to save lives, but was also fighting to satisfy his law enforcement brethren, many of whom saw force as the best way to quickly get their man. This character really stuck with me, partly because the situation he had to deal with was different than anything I’d written before.

SA: How was it different?

JJD: In all my other police procedurals, the protagonist is always reacting to the initial situation, usually a murder, sometimes a natural disaster. I wanted to explore police work from the opposite, proactive angle. Yes, there’s a crisis in play, but the challenge is to save lives before they’re lost, to get the hostages out in one piece, and hopefully contain and arrest the person responsible.

SA: How did you develop Gemma Capello and her first responder family?

JJD: This was the first book I wrote solo, so it was fun to take advantage of my own family history to flesh out Gemma. Like me, her family hails from Siculiana in Sicily. Like me she lost a parent at a young age (though her loss is by very violent means). But I like writing ensemble pieces, where the characters appear throughout the series, so I crafted a family around her, a father and four brothers, who with only one exception are all NYPD officers in various branches of the department (the other brother joined the FDNY). In this way, she can work with at least one of them during her cases.

SA: How does her family play a part in EXIT STRATEGY?

JJD: When an alert goes out, interrupting a family celebration, Gemma, her father, the Chief of Special Operations, and her two older brothers respond. But when the hostage situation takes a turn for the worse and Gemma has to put herself at risk with the hostage taker, everything, including her life, will rest in the hands of her younger brother.

SA: What can we expect next from Gemma?

JJD: The second book in the series, SHOT CALLER, will release in summer 2021 from Kensington Books and Dreamscape Media. In it, Gemma is called to New York City’s notorious Rikers Island jail when a riot occurs and both correctional officers and inmates are taken hostage. It’s a contained but extremely volatile situation, and Gemma and her negotiating team are pulled in different directions as everyone tries to steer the crisis—from the inmates, to the staff at Rikers, to the city administrators that run the Department of Corrections, to the NYPD. She also has to balance her need to peacefully resolve the situation, which takes time, with the tactical team’s desire to go in and rapidly resolve the crisis with force. It’s a real nail biter. Then the third book in the series, LOCKDOWN, will follow in the summer of 2022.

About the Book, Exit Strategy:

In this taut new suspense series featuring NYPD detective Gemma Capello and her close-knit law enforcement family, a madman brings a halt to the heart of the city that never sleeps . . .

After her mother’s death during a bank robbery when she was a child, Gemma Capello grew up to become one of the NYPD’s elite hostage negotiators. In a family of cops, there’s rarely a day when a Capello isn’t facing down some form of threat. Still, despite their unpredictable schedules, they always find time for their annual family summer picnic. But this year, a sudden phone call changes everything. 

A heavily armed gunman has taken hostages at City Hall. Gemma races downtown to join the rest of the Hostage Negotiation Team as they scramble to identify the captives—fearing the mayor may be among them. But as they scramble for answers and struggle to gain control of the circumstances, it becomes clear that the mayor is at the center of it all, just not in the way they initially believed. 

With several lives on the line and a criminal who always seems to be one step ahead, Gemma is the only one able to connect with the suspect. Soon, she finds herself engaging in a battle of wits while enduring a battle of egos in the command center. With time running out and a mastermind who has proven he’ll do whatever it takes to get what he wants, Gemma risks it all—her career and her life—in a last-ditch effort to save the hostages. Now, she needs to figure out how to save herself . . .

About the Author, Jen J. Danna:  

A scientist specializing in infectious diseases, Jen J. Danna works as part of a dynamic research group at a cutting-edge Canadian university. However, her true passion lies in indulging her love of the mysterious through her writing. 

With Ann Vanderlaan, she writes two series. Under Danna and Vanderlaan, they craft suspenseful crime fiction with a realistic scientific edge. Their five Abbott and Lowell Forensic Mysteries include DEAD, WITHOUT A STONE TO TELL IT; NO ONE SEES ME ’TILL I FALL; A FLAME IN THE WIND OF DEATH; TWO PARTS BLOODY MURDER; and LAMENT THE COMMON BONES.

Under the joint pseudonym of Sara Driscoll, they write the FBI K-9s mysteries series, starring search-and-rescue team Meg Jennings and her black lab, Hawk. The series includes LONE WOLF and BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE, STORM RISING, and NO MAN’S LAND. The fifth book in the series, LEAVE NO TRACE, will release in January 2020.

Jen is also the author of the upcoming NYPD Negotiators thriller series, with the first book, EXIT STRATEGY, releasing in August 2020. The second book in the series, SHOT CALLER, will release in 2021, and the third book, LOCKDOWN, will release in 2022.

Jen lives near Toronto, Ontario with her husband, two daughters, and three rescued cats, and is a member of the Crime Writers of Canada.

You can reach her through the contact page on her website or by email at jenjdanna@gmail.com.

Social media links: Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Instagram.