UK Appreciation Month; C.J Skuse - Author Interview

Welcome Everyone!

To kick off our first post for the UK Appreciation Month, we have author C.J Skuse answering our questions. Don't forget to stop by every day for the next month, we have something special going on with tons of giveaways, interviews and guest posts! 

1) Please tell us a little bit about yourself?
My name is C.J. Skuse and I’m a writer of teen novels. Weston-super-Mare born and bred. 

2) At what age did you write your first book?
I was about seven when I “wrote” my first book which was a totally plagiarised version of The Usborne Book of Vikings. I started writing my own first proper book aged 17 and finished it when I was about 24.

3) What was your inspiration for writing your new book DEAD ROMANTIC?
The inspiration for DEAD ROMANTIC (releasing Feb 2013) was initially just me walking past a graveyard and thinking ‘Ooh, I wonder if I could write something about teen grave robbers? That hasn’t been done for a while.’ It was a bit of a thunderbolt moment. Then I realised what I was writing was actually Weird Science [cult 80s movie about two boys who build the perfect girl using their computer] for a modern female teen audience except I did away with the computers and went back to good old fashioned corpses. Ultimately though, believe it or not, it’s a love story. It’s Frankenstein, with a dash of H.P. Lovecraft, a slice of The Inbetweeners and a soupcon of Point Romance.

4) Are there any parts of the story you feel particularly close to?
I empathise with the main character, Camille, in the sense that she is trying too hard to find her perfect thing when actually, he’s right in front of her all along. And I empathise with her strange friend Zoe who has recently lost her dad.

5) How can our followers connect with you?
Twitter @CeejaytheAuthor and Facebook as C.J. Skuse

UK related Questions:
1) Where’s your favourite place?
There’s no place quite as nice as inside my head, I find. Ever. But that sounds a little pretentious for these purposes so I’ll just say the Lake District cos I went there once and it was nice.

2) What’s your favourite thing about living here?
Our sense of humour, when we use it. And we make the best TV and the best pies

3) Is there one place you would like to visit, that you haven’t yet?
In the UK? I’d love to go to Lundy Island. I’ve tried twice and we’ve had to turn back due to bad weather on both occasions.

4) Do you have a favourite British band?
Probably The Beatles I think, overall, given their contribution to British music. But going by the number of songs of theirs that I have on my iPod at the moment, I’ll have to say second would be Oasis.

5) Do you have a favourite British movie?
Dog Soldiers and Shaun of the Dead. I can’t choose between them.

6) Do you have a favourite British actor/actress? 
I think Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are pretty extraordinary to be honest, as the last series of Sherlock proved 

7) When you think of Britain, what’s the first thing you think of?
Coolness. And by that I mean being British is cool and being actually in Britain is quite cold.

8) Which place in Britain would you most like to live other than where you do live?
Scotland

9) What's your favourite British saying? 
Many a mickle makes a muckle. I’ve no idea what it means.

Rockoholic 

She's got it bad, and he ain't good -- he's in her garage?

"I'm your biggest fan, I'll follow you until you love me..." 

Gonna have to face it: Jody's addicted to Jackson Gatlin, frontman of The Regulators, and after her best bud Mac scores tickets, she's front and center at his sold-out concert.

But when she gets mashed in the moshpit and bodysurfs backstage, she's got more than a mild concussion to deal with. By the next morning, the strung-out rock star is coming down in her garage. Jody -- oops -- kind of kidnapped him. By accident. With a Curly Wurly candy bar. And now he doesn't want to leave. 

It's a rock-star abduction worthy of an MTV reality series...but who got punk'd?!

Author Bio: 

C.J. Skuse is the author of PRETTY BAD THINGS (2010) and ROCKOHOLIC (2011) and was born in 1980 in Weston-super-Mare, England.  She loves: graphic novels, sitcoms, Gummy Bears and the music of My Chemical Romance.  She hates: hard-boiled eggs, carnivals and coughing.  The movies Titanic, My Best Friend's Wedding and Twilight were all based on her ideas, she just didn't get to write them down in time.   Before she dies, she would like to go to Japan, try clay-pigeon shooting and own a malamute.  C.J has First Class degrees in Creative Writing and Writing for Children and she is currently working on her third YA novel, which will be released in the UK in February 2013.

FOLLOWERS:  
Don't forget to stop by Misty's blog today to see C.J Flood's interview and UK/IRE Giveaway and an international giveaway too. Click on the button below.