Book Information supplied by Oops I Read A Book Again Tours
Title: Phantom Summer
Author: Amy Sparling
Publisher: 336Love
Date of Publication: September 5, 2013
Genre: contemporary YA with ghosts
BLURB supplied by Oops I Read A Book Again Tours
Seventeen-year-old Taylor Gray moves to Sterling Island to get over her dead boyfriend. Mom’s cool with letting her crash on the couch, but Taylor needs to get a job before the lights are cut off again.
When the tall, dark and crazy Raine Tsunami offers her a position at his thriving ghost tour business, she figures it’s an easy way to make some cash. Taylor isn’t afraid of ghosts--that crap is as fake as her mom’s boob job. She loves their adventures on the historic island, especially the secret places he shows her when the crowds go home. So what if all the ghost stories are just legends?
When Taylor comes face to face with a ghost and Raine crosses the line between friend and boyfriend--Taylor’s new life collides with her haunted past. If murdered people end up as ghosts, then that someone she was trying to forget is probably watching her.
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Where do you get your book plot ideas
from? What/Who is your inspiration?
They
come from everywhere, sometimes all at once. It’s hard trying to organize my
plot ideas and sort them into separate stories or characters. My biggest
inspiration comes from real life – taking things that happen or don’t happen
the way I’d like and giving the same, but better, experience to a fictional
character.
Do you have anybody read your books and
give you reviews before you officially release them?
I ask my mom to read just about
everything because I know she’ll give me positive feedback, if only because
she’s my mom, lol. I also have a couple beta readers that give me more critical
feedback. They’re lifesavers when it comes to finding plot holes.
Do you gift books to readers to do
reviews?
YES! I am always happy to donate books
for reviews.
Do you read all the reviews of your
book/books?
Nope, I never have. Occasionally I’ll
look at the overall ratings on Goodreads, but that’s about the extent of it.
How do you come up with characters names
and place names in your books?
Oh gosh… I am the worst at names. I have
literally just looked around the room for something to name a character. Taylor
in Phantom Summer was named after Taylor Swift just because a song of hers
happened to be playing at the time. I’ll also yell across the house something
like, “I need a boy’s name!!” and whatever my daughter or boyfriend yells back
is what I’ll use.
Do you decide on character traits (ie
shy, quiet, tomboy girl) before writing the whole book or as you go along?
I have a list of these things… usually,
okay, ALWAYS taken from random people I’ve met in real life. I go through the
list and update it and pick out quirts for new characters. Also, if it’s a
story I’ve been daydreaming about for a while, the characters usually form
themselves in my head and tell me their own quirks before I have time to
‘create’ one for them.
Do you basic plot/plan for your book,
before you actually begin writing it out? Or do you let the writing flow and
see where it takes the story?
Both… with Phantom Summer I just started
writing and the story went where it went. I didn’t plan anything. But with
something like Powered, I spent a few weeks outlining and plotting every last
detail. That book was way more technical and it needed to be done right.
Do you think books transfer to movies
well? Which is you favourite/worst book to movie transfer?
It’s a 50/50 chance really. My favorite
book/movie conversion is a bit silly, but it’s the BBC version of Pride and
Prejudice. I’ve read that book a dozen times and seen the movie twice as much.
If you haven’t seen it, it’s available on Netflix.
Did you have a favourite author as a
child?
R. L. Stine! I was obsessed with the
Fear Street books and collected as many as I could, often bought with my
allowance money.
Do you have a treasured book from your childhood?
If yes, what is it?
My Girl and My Girl 2… what’s funny is
that the books were actually written after the movies came out. I read the
books before I saw the movies though, and I totally fell in love. I still have
them and they are the most beaten up and well-read books on my shelf.
What piece of advice would you give to a
new writer?
I know the main advice everyone says is
“KEEP WRITING!” and I have to agree there. But I’ll add some more advice to
that one – don’t compare yourself to anyone else. We’re all writers on a
different journey and the worst thing you can do for your writing and your own
self-esteem is to compare your journey with someone else’s.
Do you or would you ever use a pen name?
This actually is my pen name. I chose it
when I first indie published Deadbeat and Phantom Summer. People ask me why and
I don’t have much of an answer other than, “I wanted to.” You can find my other
books, including Powered, under my real name Cheyanne Young.
Where can readers follow you?
Goodreads
EXCERPT
EXCERPT
I
drive through the remnants of what used to be a gated entrance. Now the metal
gate lies on the ground, weeds having grown over it. Mom's place is number
336-A. I park in the visitor section closest to Mom's address and step out of
the Ford.
As
I slam the truck door behind me, the smell of salt in the air fills my lungs.
Waves crash on the shore, and seagulls…well I'm not sure what kind of sound
they make overhead. A quack-ish type of caw. It's unlike any other bird's song
I've ever heard.
The
shabby buildings are long overdue for a new paint job and many of them have
blue tarps nailed over sections of the roof. People usually do that when a
hurricane comes through and blows off shingles, but it's a temporary solution.
We haven't had a hurricane in over four years. Please, please let the inside
look better than the outside.
I
grab my backpack and suitcase and drag it up to Mom's door, tapping on it with
my keys. The door swings open and a thin woman with white-blond hair stares
back at me. She's wearing a purple bathrobe and has a cigar in her hand. Shit,
I'm at the wrong address.
"Hey
babe, I didn't expect you so soon." She puffs from her cigar and swings
open the door.
"Mom?"
I say, as she grabs me in a one armed hug. My mom has dark brown hair like me
and a beer gut. At least, that's what she used to look like. She pulls my
suitcase inside for me and closes the door behind us.
"Let
me get a look at you." She grabs my shoulders with her bony fingers.
"You're so different. All grown up."
"Yeah,
you too," I say, studying this woman who does look a little like my mom.
She has the same butterfly tattoo on her chest. Even still, I can't shake the
feeling that I walked into the wrong apartment, that I'm standing here being
embraced by a woman who isn't my mom.
Two
seconds later the loving moment is gone. I watch Mom’s lipstick smudge onto her
cigar as she takes one last puff and snuffs it in an ashtray on an end table.
"I go to work at four, so you'll have the place to yourself all night,”
she says, winking at me.
Mom
shows me the kitchen, complete with microwave, and the bathroom and the living
room with a two-seater couch which will now be my bed. "Maybe we can get
you an air mattress or something," Mom says, kicking at the springy
cushions with her slipper.
The
old me would have freaked out if I had to spend a weekend here in Mom's living
room. The old me liked having her own room, with her own bed and all of her
stuff. And her best friend and lover living next door. But that's the old me.
The new me doesn't mind all of these new changes.
I
sit on the couch and place a smile on my face. Okay, well maybe now that I've
pointed them out they kind of bother me. Sleeping on a couch? Oh well. Brendan
doesn't get to sleep in his bed either. He gets to be dead in his coffin. And
that thing didn't even have padding like this couch. I know because I left a
copy of the Denali user's manual in his coffin when no one was looking. He
wanted a Denali so bad, but as an eighteen year old he didn't have the money to
spend on luxury motorcycles. I figured in the afterlife he could at least read
about one.
But
that was Old Taylor. And Old Taylor doesn't exist anymore. She has left the
building and wants me to get acquainted with New Taylor. New Taylor lives in
Sterling with her mom, and she's not afraid of anything and she has no regrets
in life. New Taylor won't remember Brendan.
I
hope.
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