She was born in Sandy, Utah and adores with awe the beauty and intrigues of all cultures. She lived in Italy for a year and a half and still has cravings for fresh mozzarella and creamy gelato. She's a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and currently resides in Utah with her husband. She's a dreamer of crazy worlds and happy places.
Where do you live?
Eagle Mountain, Utah
What’s your home life like?
Between crocheting; baking; writing; brainstorming; editing; drawing; cross-stitching; singing really loud; dancing; listening to rock music; cleaning; and playing either Mario games, Yoshi games, Animal Crossing, or Skyrim; you'll find Alicia trying to make everyone she comes in contact with smile.
What genre(s) do you like to write? To read?
Alicia writes mainly dark fantasy. All her stories have themes of mental illness. Mental illness can take the mind to dark places which is why monsters and creepy things are often showcased in her stories. She's been to those dark abysses with her Chronic Depression and Anxiety. She wants to spread awareness and hope that those who also suffer from mental illness can know that someone understands and that everything will, indeed, turn out bright in the end.
She enjoys reading anything to do with paranormal, sci-fi, and mysterious with sprinklings of romance.
Why did you start writing?
Alicia started writing when she was roughly five years old. She's been telling stories her whole life and was always an avid artist - animating her stories with a visual platform. She writes because she wants to spread hope and joy. She wants to show understanding that through all the bad times, there are always good times to come. That the darkness won't last long.
As one of her favorites lyrics by the band Disturbed sings, "When you think all is forsaken
Listen to me now (all is not forsaken) You need never feel broken again Sometimes darkness can show you the light." -The Light by Disturbed What do you do when you’re not writing?
You'll probably find Alicia playing Animal Crossing, Skyrim, or Just Dance on her Switch; listening to music; hanging out with those she loves; and working to be a better human being in this world.
Where do you like to go when looking for a new book to read?
Alicia has dyslexia, so she doesn't read all that fast. The ends of words often get mixed, so she has to concentrate a whole lot to understand what's being read. She turns to her fellow authors for good books and recommendations since she isn't as well-read as she'd like to be. She has a collection of books on her bookshelf that she's slowly reading through. She usually gets most of her reading through beta readings, writers' groups, and listening to audio books.
At what point do you call it quits when reading a new book?
If there's a character that seems way too perfect. Or giving a lengthy backstory all at once is boring. Leave things a bit mysterious. Also, corn, cheese, and ham are meant for eating, not for reading unless it's a bomb cookbook.
Are you independently or traditionally published?
Alicia is traditionally published through a small press, Grendelmen PUblishing. She was signed with Grendelmen for her entire Lunar Phases Series and plans to pitch the sister series, the Bloodlust Trilogy and conclusion series, Syzygy with Grendelmen as well to keep things close together. She has plans to independently publish a few short stories and a graphic novel in the near future.
How many books/stories have you published so far?
Alicia has one book published, "Fall of the Sun." The sequel, "Rays of the Moon," is near completion to be published this year. A short horror/sci-fi, "Spider Face" and cute short story "Mad Baby: Memoirs of a Protective Teddy" are scheduled to release later this year.
What book/story are you currently promoting or working on?
"Fall of the Sun," the first book in the Lunar Phases Series is published and for sale. Alicia gives a discount for those who buy from her directly because she likes to talk to the reader, sign the book, and accidentally show just how nerdy she really is.
"Rays of the Moon," the second book in The Lunar Phases Series is finishing up its editing phase currently. "Spider Face" is nearing the end of the first draft phase. "Mad Baby: Memoirs of a Protective Teddy" is also finishing up the first draft. A graphic novel that is based off of classic platformer video games, Pokemon/Digimon, and Banjo Kazooie/Mario is in the planning/brainstorming stage. What’s the elevator pitch?
"Fall of the Sun" - Mac is a Hawaiian teenage werewolf with a split personality. He struggles keeping his personalities in line all while searching for his missing sister and protecting his family and friends against a demon-possessed vampire.
"Rays of the Moon" - As newly bitten werewolves, the Baxter family must find a new normal while resisting their animalistic and primal urges and fight off a horde of Cacodemons led by a demon-possessed vampire. "Spider Face" - In order to survive a new alien world, Amelia has to share each sleeping breath with a rather friendly spider the size of her face. With the mysteries of the Boötes Void proving to be even deadlier than she anticipated, she must do the unconventional. She can either keep herself permanently awake until she dies, go to sleep and be eaten, or allow Steve the spider to use her as a host in order to stay alive. Oh, and was it mentioned that Amelia has Arachnophobia? "Mad Baby: Memoirs of a Protective Teddy" - It's easy being Weesha's knight in shining armor when her world is so small, but then again, that is Mad Baby's duty as her teddy bear. As he comforts Weesha through her childhood fears, Mad Baby learns the true meaning of courage while protecting Weesha from the evils of the big, scary world such as ghosts, bad dreams, and the scariest touch-lamp ever. How long have you been working on it?
"Fall of the Sun" has characters that have been floating around in Alicia's head since she was 11. She finally sat down and wrote it after they wouldn't stop pestering her to do so.
"Rays of the Moon" has been in progress for about a year. As it is under contract, The Lunar Phases Series takes priority. "Spider Face" has been in the background for roughly two year. "Mad Baby" has been in progress for many years as it is based off Alicia's real-life favorite teddy bear since she was born. So, the amalgamations of the memoirs are a sum of many experiences over many years. When will it be available to buy? Where?
"Rays of the Moon" will be available from Alicia directly; from her publisher, Grendelmen; and on Amazon.
"Spider Face" will be available from Alicia directly and on Amazon. "Mad Baby" will be available from Alicia directly and most likely on Amazon as well. How can readers find you?What inspires you to keep writing?"A writer is a world trapped in a person." "Everything will turn out right in the end. If it's not right, it's not the end." Anything you’d like to add?
Readers will notice that in Alicia's debut novel, and those to follow, that all of the chapters are labeled as "Tracks" and that each "Track" is named after a song. The song itself inspired the chapter/track as far as tone, feel, urgency, intensity, etc. Hence, each book has it's own playlist. Alicia keeps all of these playlists available for those to listen to in tandem with reading her stories on Spotify as well as a list usually at the back of the book.
My heartfelt thanks to my FB friend for participating in My Laughably Inane Blog. I wish her all the best in all her personal and literary endeavors.
Sincerely,Nicholas P. AdamsJust a small-town boy with an overactive imagination.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
|
Amazon Author Page
|
LinkTree
|
The League of Utah Writers
|
RSS Feed