Guest Author Interview: Krisi Keley + Giveaway!

Please welcome today's guest author Krisi Keley!  Krisi is the author of On the Soul of a Vampire.

EJ:  When did you begin writing?

Krisi:   I wrote my first full-length novel when I was eleven.  It was a story about the female lead singer of a rock band who couldn’t deal with the stresses involved in sudden fame.  I tried submitting it to a few publishers, unaware at that age of the “must have agent” rule and, of course, received the standard “we don’t accept unsolicited manuscripts” letters.  That ended my fiction writing career for quite a number of years, but that first story did inspire many years of writing poetry and song lyrics.  On the Soul of a Vampire’s first draft was written fifteen years later, but after a few “a bit deep” and “awfully soul-searching” responses from literary agents, fiction writing again got put on the back burner while I attempted other goals.  Fast forward fifteen more years, a theology degree and many life experiences as the basis for the book’s rewrite, and On the Soul is published.  Which seems to indicate that if there’s a writer in you, that word person is going to make him or herself heard eventually, no matter what other life circumstances may try to intervene!

EJ:  What brought you to the paranormal genre?

Krisi:   I’ve always been a big fan of the horror and supernatural genres because they essentially examine metaphysical questions:  How are good and evil defined?  Is there more to life than the material things we see with our eyes?  What do our myths, our dreams, our fears have to say about human nature?  Stephen King and William Peter Blatty have been hugely inspirational for me and Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles directly inspired my writing of On the Soul.  Her literary style of looking at deeply spiritual concerns through the vampire legend was the catalyst for my own ideas on the subject.

EJ:  If you could be any paranormal or have any one supernatural talent, what would it be?
 
Krisi:   I honestly never wished for a supernatural talent of any kind, I think because I believe there is so much we human beings already possess but simply haven’t tapped into yet.  But if I had to choose, I’d say it would have to be being what I think is called an “empath.”  It would be painful to be that in tune with everything another feels, but enlightening too, and it seemingly couldn’t fail to make one a better person.

EJ:  Tell us why readers will enjoy your new release.

Krisi:   Although On the Soul is a vampire story meant to entertain, it’s also a human story.  It’s about a person who had hopes and dreams, who wanted to fulfill his purpose in life, but because of many circumstances beyond his control and being forced to make choices he didn’t, and often still doesn’t, fully understand, these hopes and dreams are all but annihilated.  Through another, he learns that hope and faith are stronger than he could have imagined and that love and forgiveness are possible no matter how terrible the mistake.  I think readers will find comfort in the story and, I hope too, be inspired with a greater sense of the miracle and mystery of human nature and the human soul that this very different view of the vampire offers.

EJ:  If your book(s) were being made into a movie, who would you cast for the leading roles? Why?
 
Krisi:  Well, despite the fact that there are a lot of actors I love and whom I think would do an awesome job with the roles, if I were casting for On the Soul, I would choose unknowns.  In part because the two main characters, Valéry and Angelina, have such distinctive voices that it seems it would retain their believability as real people better if the actors playing them weren’t already well-known, and in part because I’d love it if the story could offer a chance to a new performer looking to build a resumé.  Knowing how hard it is to break into any artistic field, it would be great if I could do something to give someone their first opportunity.

On the Soul of a Vampire by Krisi Keley.

For some it takes a lifetime to discover their raison d'être. Imagine searching for eight centuries. In 1997 Philadelphia, 800 year old vampire Valéry Castellane comes face to face with his reason to be, in the person of Angelina Lacroix, a young mortal woman whose understanding of immortality is about to change all he's known as truth and which will take him, and his readers, on a journey into the human soul. Discovering a mortal who not only senses his presence, but also somehow knows his name, Valéry becomes obsessed with solving the mystery of how this might be. Confronting the girl, after learning she has knowledge of his entire existence, he is stunned and frustrated when Angelina seems more intent on convincing him that he's not the soulless monster of myth than she is with providing an explanation. Unable to take her life or give her immortality, Valéry embarks on a journey with Angelina that doesn't only take them from Philadelphia to his childhood home in the Provençal Alps, but on a journey into his greatest hopes and dreams, fears and disappointments, and into the strange and frightening past that shaped him. A novel about faltering faith and never-ending hope, On the Soul of a Vampire will not only alter everything you think you know about vampires, it will change the way you see your very soul.

Thank you Krisi for joining us here today at From the Shadows!

To learn more about Krisi Keley and her books, please visit her website.

** On the Soul of a Vampire International Giveaway **

Win a copy of On the Soul of a Vampire, and a t-shirt, mug, poster, and bookmarks featuring beautifully haunting On the Soul of a Vampire artwork.


To enter, please leave a comment with your email address.  You do not have to be a follower to enter (though I always appreciate a follow!).  This giveaway is INTERNATIONAL!  Giveaway ends October 31st midnight EST.