Giveaway and Interview with Gini Koch!

      Please help me welcome Gini Koch, one of my favorite authors to A Buckeye Girl Reads. She is here with an interview & an excerpt from Happy Acres Haunted Hotel & a giveaway of one autographed paper book, Touched By An Alien-this is open to US Residents & Internationally. Be sure to check out the other giveaways I have going this week! 

1.      Is there a character or characters that always manages to do what I call steal a scene?

If we mean other than Kitty, LOL, this is a tough one. Though probably not that tough if I think about it. The character who most consistently steals scenes – to the point that when he first appeared in the series in Alien in the Family he was supposed to be in one scene only and ended up in a lot of them, and THEN I loved him so much I brought him back permanently in Alien Diplomacy – would be Pierre. I truly love Pierre. He’s always so fun to write.

Other characters who aspire to Pierre’s level of scene stealing are Malcolm Buchanan and Benjamin Siler, both of whom feel they deserve a whole lot more screen time than they get. And Mephistopheles refuses to go away permanently, and I confess to enjoying it when he reappears. And of course Tim and the Flyboys are always doing their best to scene steal at any and every given opportunity.

I realize most readers would think that the scene stealer is Reader, but Reader doesn’t steal scenes – he owns scenes. ;-D

2.      Who is the most fun secondary character to write about?

Oh, gosh, that’s a toughie, too, because I really like all my characters and I enjoy writing about them. Pretty much every secondary character who showed up in Alien in the Family are characters I love and love to write about. I realize they aren’t all in every book of the series, but I really like them. And which secondary character or characters I’m loving to write varies per book, really. In Alien Diplomacy, I loved having not only Pierre, Len, and Kyle back, but I loved letting readers really get to know Mister Joel Oliver and expand on who he was. In Alien in the House, I loved doing the same with Vance Beaumont. And on and on.

Of course, if truth must be told, I probably have the most fun with any and all of the animal supporting characters. Even Bellie the Parrot.

3.      What is the hardest part about writing a series?

Probably the hardest thing is doing recaps of the former books in the newest book without either saying, “Um, just go read all the previous books first, okay?” or doing a laundry list of characters and events. This was pretty fun and easy to do in Book 2/Alien Tango, but as I’m writing Book 11/Alien Separation right now, it’s not nearly as simple. It’s hard to do this smoothly and both not bore longtime readers and give new readers who might start with Book 9 (yes, this really still does happen to every author writing a series) enough background so they know what’s gone on before and keep the backstory relevant and the characters and situations clear.

I tend to end up writing the first part of each book more slowly than say the middle or the end, because of the crafting it takes to ensure that the characters and situations are introduced in a way that isn’t info dumpy and also is informative without being repetitive. 

Title:  Happy Acres Hotel For Active Seniors

Author: Gini Koch 

Genre: Paranormal Fiction

Number of Pages: 61

Publisher: Self Published

 Welcome to Happy Acres (Haunted) Hotel for Active Seniors, the premiere senior living facility in all of Southern California (especially if you’re already dead)!

At Happy Acres we pride ourselves on the depth and breadth of our elder care (and for how many haunts we have -- 789 and counting!) as we surround your loved ones with vibrant, interesting people of their own generation (and many generations prior).

Happy Acres is fully staffed 24/7 by a team of dedicated (and in some cases, spellbound) medical staff, as well as housing one of the state-of-the-art medical inpatient and outpatient facilities in the Southland (just don’t see your doctor after dark), so your loved ones are ensured the best care in their golden years (and long after, as well).

Don’t let the rumors (all true) fool you -- while Happy Acres is indeed the best, its costs won’t race your beloved elders to an early grave (no, others will handle that). So come to Happy Acres, a facility you’ll love so much you’ll never want to leave!

Excerpt: 

Mrs. Wilson scanned the crowd. With this many witnesses, she was going to have to go for the Full Confession Introduction. She didn’t care for the Full Confession Introduction, but it was my personal favorite. “I’m sorry, Mister Davidson, but you must have misheard me. It’s a hotel now for our active seniors who desire companionship and mental stimulation. It, ah, used to be a hospital.”

“A haunted hospital. And it only used to be a hospital. It’s still haunted, trust me.”

The rest of the gang nodded or murmured. You didn’t live here more than a week before you knew all the ghost stories were true.

She shot the Death Glare at me again. Never worried me. I was Hunkman’s favorite, for a variety of reasons. “Supposedly. However, I can assure you, Mister Davidson, that you’ll find no haunts here.”

“Not in the daylight, no. Our haunts are nocturnal.”

“I’ve never seen them,” Mrs. Wilson snapped. “Ever.”

“For some reason the haunts don’t care for Missus Wilson. Shocking us all.”

“Really, Missus Mattingly, you’re being very rude.” Mrs. Wilson loved to tell me I was rude, as if I wasn’t aware of when I was pointedly being rude or not. She reminded me of my first mother-in-law. I’d hated my first mother-in-law.

“You’re so right!” I trotted over and put my hand out. “I’m pleased to meet Hugh Jackman himself.”

He grinned widely as he took my hand and squeezed it gently. “You have a silver tongue, don’t you? Samuel Davidson, at your service, Missus Mattingly.”

“Oh, call me Mattie. Everyone other than certain people who shall remain nameless because they’re standing right here calls me Mattie.”

“With pleasure. And please call me Samuel.”

“Happy to.” I didn’t share that I’d planned to anyway, permission given or not. I let go of his hand. “You alone or part of a set?”

  

Giveaway:  

Title: Touched By An Alien
Author: Gini Koch
Genre: Science Fiction
Publisher: DAW
Number of Pages: 389












 

Marketing manager Katherine "Kitty" Katt had just finished a day on jury duty. When she stepped out of the Pueblo Caliente courthouse, all she was thinking about was the work she had to get caught up on. Then her attention was caught by a fight between a couple that looked like it was about to turn ugly. But ugly didn't even begin to cover it when the "man" suddenly transformed into a huge, winged monster right out of a grade Z science fiction movie and went on a deadly killing spree. In hindsight, Kitty realized she probably should have panicked and run screaming the way everyone around her was doing. Instead she sprinted into action to take down the alien.

In the middle of all the screeching and the ensuing chaos, a hunk in an Armani suit suddenly appeared beside her, introduced himself as Jeff Martini with "the agency," and then insisted on leading her to a nearby limo to talk to his "boss." And that was how Kitty's new life among the aliens began...Touched by an Alien is the thrilling first installment of the Alien novels.

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Author Bio:

Gini Koch lives in Hell’s Orientation Area (aka Phoenix, AZ), works her butt off (sadly, not literally) by day, and writes by night with the rest of the beautiful people. She writes the fast, fresh and funny Alien/Katherine “Kitty” Katt series for DAW Books, the Necropolis Enforcement Files series, and the Martian Alliance Chronicles series for Musa Publishing. As G.J. Koch she writes the Alexander Outland series. She also writes under a variety of other pen names including Anita Ensal, Jemma Chase, A.E. Stanton, and J.C. Koch. She speaks frequently on what it takes to become a successful author and other aspects of writing and the publishing business. She is also the Lead Editor at Raphael’s Village, an online, nonpaying ’zine. Because she wasn’t busy enough, Gini’s added on featured guest columnist, reviewer, and webcaster for Slice of SciFi and It’s Comic Book Day. She can be reached through her website at www.ginikoch.com.