Q+A with Suze Reese + ExtraNormal Tour Giveaway

Please welcome today's paranormal guest author Suze Reese.  Suze is the author of ExtraNormal.

Keep reading to learn more about the ExtraNormal book tour, and win prizes.  Grand Prize includes an ExtraNormal book bag stuffed with a Kindle, signed copy of ExtraNormal by Suze Reese, EN t-shirt, 5 signed EN bookmarks, and $20 Amazon Gift Card!

EJ:  When did you begin writing?

Suze:   I'm pretty sure I was taking notes in the womb. "Mom was crying again today. She says she's tired of being bloated, whatever that is." I got great grades in school, not because I was smart, but because I could pretty much write my way through anything. I was in my early twenties when I decided to try writing a novel. It took about 5 years and kind of stunk. It had good elements, but I hadn't learned about story structure, which is an entirely different skill set from writing.

EJ:  What brought you to the paranormal genre?

Suze:  That's one of my favorite questions. It was a college science class. Science was something I avoided like the plague. But eventually they informed me that I would not graduate without at least one science credit. So I picked the most interesting-sounding one I could find: Evolution. And while the professor went on about the evolutional changes on our world, I daydreamed about a world that started out just like ours but evolved differently. By the end ExtraNormal was born. I did get an A in the class, so I guess I didn't daydream too much.

EJ:  If you could be any paranormal or have any one supernatural talent, what would it be? Why?

Suze:  Well, this talent probably isn't cool enough to make it into a paranormal book, but if I were forced to pick just one I'd have to grab the house-cleaning nose twitch from Bewitched. (If you could see the room I'm sitting in you'd tell me to go for it.)

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

Suze:   I've been told it's unique from what's out there right now. It's a fairly complex story and yet doesn't take itself too seriously. There is what I hope a good balance of intrigue, romance, action, and humor. It takes a look at humans from an outsider's perspective, which I think gives readers a lot to consider.There are so many things we take for granted that Mira is just discovering--our food, our technology, our social situations. I've been told over and over that it sticks with the reader. They think about it when they put it down. In fact, yesterday I had lunch with a close friend who had just read an ARC of ExtraNormal. In fact we were meeting so I could pick it up from her. And mid-way through lunch she says, "I've just got to tell you. Three or our times during our chat I've had the thought that I need to tell you about this amazing book I just read. And then I go 'Oh that's right, she wrote it.'" Plus Jesse is very hot.

EJ:  If your book(s) were being made into a movie, who would you cast for the leading roles? Why?

Suze:  I didn't want to have a set image as I developed my characters, so I've tried not to "type cast" them. But my son tells me that Mira as she's depicted on my cover looks like Selena Gomez. And while I think she's a versatile actress, she's a little too short for my Mira. I think I'd have to pick Jessica Alba. She has the right look, has Mira's hint of sophistication, and as a bonus has had some sci-fi and paranormal roles. For Jesse I'm thinking Zac Efron. He'd have to dye his hair, but his eyes and smile are perfect. Orlando Bloom is my hands-down pick for Everett, who is supposed be the embodiment of the perfect male specimen. And maybe that's just my opinion of Orlando, but there you go. He is a little old to play a 17-year-old. In fact probably all of them are. But we're talking fantasy casting here, so I'll let Hollywood worry about the age problem.

ExtraNormal (ExtraNormal #1) by Suze Reese

Mira Johns is pretty much like any other teenage girl. Except that she knows how to harness electro-magnetic energy to communicate without words. And she's really, really far from home. Her assignment as an emissary to Earth sounds fairly simple: blend in, observe, and stay away from the planet’s primitive males. But after she finds one mysterious boy too irresistible for stupid rules, she realizes the real reason she's supposed to keep her distance: mates from her world can die if separated. But a series of serious accidents make it clear that someone wants to force her return. Mira decides her only hope is to uncover the truth to why she, the most mediocre of candidates, was actually chosen for this assignment—before the agency discovers her secret and sends her back home.


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

To learn more about Suze Reese and her books, please visit her website.


**ExtraNormal Book Tour Giveaway**

Author Suze Reese is on tour for her new release ExtraNormal and giving away some fab bookish prizes.  Grand Prize includes an ExtraNormal book bag stuffed with a Kindle, signed copy of ExtraNormal by Suze Reese, EN t-shirt, 5 signed EN bookmarks, and $20 Amazon Gift Card.  Additional prizes include $15 Amazon Gift Card, two EN t-shirts, and autographed EN bookmark sets.

To enter, please use the Rafflecopter form below.  This giveaway is to US mailing addresses only.  Giveaway ends May 4, 2012.  Please note that this is a book tour giveaway.  Winners will not be selected by From the Shadows.  Visit the ExtraNormal tour page for more info.


a Rafflecopter giveaway