Author Bio:
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Mindee Arnett is the author of two young adult series. The first book in her contemporary fantasy series, The Nightmare Affair is available now from Tor Teen (Macmillan) with the follow up The Nightmare Dilemma due out March 2014. Her YA sci-fi thriller Avalon debuts January 2014 from Balzer+Bray (HarperCollins). She lives on a horse farm in Ohio with her husband, two kids, a couple of dogs, and an inappropriate number of cats. She’s addicted to jumping horses and telling tales of magic, the macabre, and outer space.
Favorites
1. What is your favorite color? Blue
2. Favorite food? Sushi
3. Favorite movie of all time? Too many to choose, but if I could only have one I would go with one probably Lord of the Rings of Star Wars (original trilogy) or Serenity or…
4. Favorite song? Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum (but really too many to pick one)
5. Favorite book of all time? Harry Potter series. I’m also currently obsessed with the Daughter of Smoke and Bones series by Laini Taylor and The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater
All about Writing
1. How did your interest in writing originated?
I started making elaborate stories for my favorite toys before I could even read or write. Then in the sixth grade, I had a teacher assign a weekly short story assignment. The moment I realized I could write my own stories I was hooked.
2. What is your work schedule like when you're writing?
Because I have a day job and two kids and a husband and a farm with lots of animals, I have no set schedule. For me, the writing gets done in between all these obligations. My only schedule is that I set myself daily goals. When I’m first drafting, the goal is a 1,000 a day /10,000 words a week. If I’m editing I set chapter/page goals.
3. Do you work with outline or just write?
I never outline. I’m just incapable of crafting a story that way. The first draft is my outline instead.
4. What was the hardest part in writing your book? The easiest?
Hehe…which book? Every book is different, and what was easy in the first one is hard in the next sometimes. For example, the murder-mystery plot in The Nightmare Affair and especially in The Nightmare Dilemma came very easily. But the character arc was hard. Avalon was the exact opposite. Character was easy, plot extremely difficult.
5. What do you like to do when you're not writing?
My primary hobby is horseback riding. I don’t get to do it nearly enough these days, unfortunately.
Finish the sentence
1. The difference between fiction and reality is a blurred line.
2. Research is what I'm doing when I’m procrastinating the actual writing.
3. I can write better when I’ve had a good night sleep.
4. Sleep is an excellent way to reset and revamp.
5. A room without a book is no place I want to be.
Books
Title: The Nightmare Affair (The Arkwell Academy #1)
Genre/s: Young Adult, Fantasy, Mystery, Romance
Publisher: Tor Teen
Date Published: March 5, 2013
Buy: Amazon | Barnes&Nobles | Book Depo
Synopsis:
Sixteen-year-old Dusty Everhart breaks into houses late at night, but not because she’s a criminal. No, she’s a Nightmare.
Literally.
Being the only Nightmare at Arkwell Academy, a boarding school for magickind, and living in the shadow of her mother’s infamy, is hard enough. But when Dusty sneaks into Eli Booker’s house, things get a whole lot more complicated. He’s hot, which means sitting on his chest and invading his dreams couldn’t get much more embarrassing. But it does. Eli is dreaming of a murder.
Then Eli’s dream comes true.
Now Dusty has to follow the clues—both within Eli’s dreams and out of them—to stop the killer before more people turn up dead. And before the killer learns what she’s up to and marks her as the next target.
Title: Avalon
Genre/s: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopia
Publisher: Baltzer & Bray
Expected Publication: January 21, 2014
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Pre-order: Amazon | Barnes&Nobles | Book Depo
Synopsis:
A ragtag group of teenage mercenaries who crew the spaceship Avalon stumble upon a conspiracy that could threaten the entire galaxy in this fascinating and fast-paced sci-fi adventure from author Mindee Arnett.Of the various star systems that make up the Confederation, most lie thousands of light-years from First Earth-and out here, no one is free. The agencies that govern the Confederation are as corrupt as the crime bosses who patrol it, and power is held by anyone with enough greed and ruthlessness to claim it. That power is derived from one thing: metatech, the devices that allow people to travel great distances faster than the speed of light.Jeth Seagrave and his crew of teenage mercenaries have survived in this world by stealing unsecured metatech, and they're damn good at it. Jeth doesn't care about the politics or the law; all he cares about is earning enough money to buy back his parents' ship, Avalon, from his crime-boss employer and getting himself and his sister, Lizzie, the heck out of Dodge. But when Jeth finds himself in possession of information that both the crime bosses and the government are willing to kill for, he is going to have to ask himself how far he'll go to get the freedom he's wanted for so long.Avalon is the perfect fit for teens new to sci-fi as well as seasoned sci-fi readers looking for more books in the YA space-and a great match for fans of Joss Whedon's cult hit show Firefly.
