We have talked to Kate Karyus Quinn author of the YA horror novel, Another Little Piece.
First of all, can you tell us a bit about Another Little Piece?
Another Little Piece is my debut novel! It is a young adult horror novel published by HarperTeen. Here’s my quick pitch version of the story: Annaliese Rose Gordon is last seen at a high school party, screaming and covered in blood, and then she disappears. A year later she is found miles from home with no idea who she is or where she has been. Returned to her loving family, Annaliese begins to have a feeling that she is someone or something else. And that’s the part where I usually add, “Dun, dun, dun.” Cause I am super cheesy like that.
Can you give us some insight into your main character, Annaliese?
Annaliese is not your typical teenage,r what with the whole memory loss and thinking she might be a monster thing. And yet, she is in many ways a typical teenager who feels confused, like her parents are strangers, and just generally doesn’t seen to belong anywhere.
Where did you get the inspiration to write Another Little Piece from?
It started with a scene that came to me while I was in the middle of writing something else and I jotted it down longhand into one of the many notebooks I tend to keep scattered throughout my house. In the scene a teenage girl (who would become Annaliese) is at a high school football game and when the star running back scores the winning touchdown for the game, she looks at him and wants to take a bite out of him. Literally. And I thought to myself after writing that, “Huh, that’s interesting.” As I started to tease the idea out, trying to see how it could become a novel, I at first thought it was maybe a zombie thing, but as I continued writing it became something else entirely. That scene with the football player did make it into Another Little Piece, and it’s a turning point near the beginning of the novel when Annaliese knows for sure that there is something really wrong with herself.
What is it with the supernatural that fascinates you?
Well I raised Catholic and there was a point during my elementary school years when I remember not being afraid of the boogey man, but that a saint or angel would appear before me in my bedroom in the middle of the night. I don’t know what I thought they would do. I was a dorky goody-two shoes, so probably it would’ve been a message like, “Keep up the good work, nerd.” But having something is materializing in your bedroom, would be scary even all the thing wanted was to give you a high five. And for me, at that time, this seemed liked something that really could realistically happen. Saints appeared to people. It happened all the time. Just ask Joan or Arc or those kids in Medjugorje. So there’s that.
Then there’s Joss Whedon and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In college, my friends and I were obsessed with that show. We taped it every week (on VHS tape, no less) so that we would be able to rewind the awesome parts and occasionally pause to debate various plot points. What was so great about that show was the way it used supernatural events to dramatize the various agonies of the young adult years. I also loved the way that the supernatural functioned as the scary stuff, the funny stuff, and the sexy stuff. It could just be twisted in so many ways.
When did you know that you wanted to become a writer?
In 2nd grade. Of course, I didn’t start writing seriously until I was in late twenties and this was after going to school for theatre and then film. So in some ways I took the long way of getting there, considering that I knew what I wanted to do at an incredibly young age.
For your own reading, do you prefer ebooks or traditional paper/hard back books?
I am an avid reader. If I go even a day without a book, I began to feel itchy. I read ebooks, hardcovers, paperbacks, word documents. Really whatever. If the only way to read a book was on a scroll, or on the back of a tic-tac box, then that’s how I would read them. I honestly have zero preference (well the scroll or tic-tac options would not be my first choice), but I will admit that the one thing I like about my e-reader is the instant gratification aspect. On the other hand, though, since getting an ereader I have been spending a lot more on books due to impulse buys.
What kind of books do you read, any favourite authors?
Lately, I’ve been reading mostly young adult and romance. But again, I am an avid reader and have been since I was a kid and raided my local libraries on a weekly basis, hauling home all that I could carry. I have found books to love in pretty much every genre that exists and that makes it really hard for me to pick favorites because it would just be an endless list of books that have effected me in a myriad of ways.
What do you do when you’re not writing, any hobbies?
This is so sad, but I have this gigantic dog (seriously he’s half St. Bernard/half Great Dane and weighs a bit over 100 pounds, this is not the sad part, btw) and he has been shedding like crazy lately so vacuuming like an insane person has become one of my hobbies. When the dog is not shedding buckets of fur everywhere, I like to cook, watch TV/movies, and yes – read tons of books.
(DON’T YOU) FORGET ABOUT ME is you next novel being released next year. Can you give us a sneak peak?
(DON’T YOU) FORGET ABOUT ME is a story about sisters who live in the town of Gardnerville where no one ever gets sick, but in exchange for that there is a sort of madness that infects the teenagers of this town. Those teenagers are then sent to the reformatory and here is a little snippet about the book, talking about that:
“When you’re a kid, the reformatory is the boogeyman and the haunted house on the hill all rolled into one. It’s a scary story you whisper at night under the covers. But as you get older, it becomes something else. It is the worst day you can ever imagine and it is coming straight at you, as unavoidable as destiny.”
Anything you’d like to add?
Thanks for having me on SFFWorld.com! For anyone interested in learning more about ANOTHER LITTLE PIECE here is a link to the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEvm9ufRTa8 And here is a link to the first 80 or so pages that you can read through HarperTeen’s browse inside feature.
