December 15, 2012

Winter Solstice Event: Interview & Giveaway S.D. Rodgers

Winter Solstice Tour hosted by Book Whispers & Eternally Books!

Don’t miss out on the other author interviews and giveaways that have already gone! You can enter all giveaways until December 19th! Just click here.

Guardian has been one of my favorite angel books, and I’m so excited that Rodgers decided to take part of this tour. Now 5 lucky readers get a chance to win a free copy.


Shera (Book Whispers): In your own words, introduce yourself.

S.B. Rodgers: We are a sisterly writing duo from Ontario, Canada and we go by the penname S.B. Rodgers. We met at the young ages of twenty-two months and zero days, thrust into each other’s lives by fate and situations beyond our control.  As a team we bring very different skills to the table, each one’s strength perfectly complimenting the other’s weakness. We try not to take ourselves very seriously and strive to look for the humor in life. We live together in Waterloo in a house with one red wall.

Sara is the younger of the two. She lives with one cat, seven dolls and her potato head man collection. Regrettably she is not Spiderman or Batman, but she is a card holding Pokémon master and that’s good enough for now. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She collects graphic novels and manga as well as all things written by the fantastic Neil Gaiman. When she's not reading or writing she's needle felting and posting her work on her popu-lish tumblr account: The Land of Fluff and Needles.

Becky is the classic girly-girl. Her blond hair and pink nails served as the perfect camouflage during school years where teachers undoubtedly took her day dreaming for air-headedness. To the contrary, she spent that time drifting in and out of imaginary worlds filled with fantastical creatures and memorable characters. Today she divides her time between working with animals as a certified pet stylist and typing away at new manuscripts. Among other things she describes herself as a Gleek, sci-fi nerd, smustle expert extraordinaire and above all she just “wants to believe.” She lives with her two German Shepherds-Abby and Odin-and is driven by delusions of grandeur.

BW: Ever since reading Guardian I’ve been a huge fan and I’m really fond of the original cover. So I have to ask what made you decide to give Guardian the new look? Who designed it?

Old: New:
GC2

S.B.: First of all, thank you Shera! It’s a pleasure to be back on your blog again. The reason we decided to re-vamp Guardian is simple, the original is just too hard to see on sites like Amazon, Smashwords, Kobo and ibooks. Though we still LOVE the original cover and still believe it would look great on a bookstore shelf, the new one is much easier to see and thus be noticed. We so want to be noticed!

As for who created it? Well, it was a mash-up of our talents (as our work tends to be). Becky came up with the concept, and Sara used her Art School Superpowers™ to make it zesty.

BW: Abby is the main character of Guardian and is quite literally stuck in the middle of a power struggle between heaven and hell. The character growth Abby goes through in Guardian was one of the things that I appreciated the most, watching a broken individual find their way back. What can readers look forward to seeing in the sequel Thief?

S.B.: To quote our favorite movie of all time (The princess Bride);

“… Fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles...” No, but seriously--by the end of Guardian, we had barely scratched the surface about who and more importantly what Abby is. Our poor powerless girl isn’t who she was in book 1 chapter 2 anymore, and we think fans will enjoy the ride as we watch her come into her own. Of course, there’ll be something there for everyone--Abby isn’t the only one who’s going to struggle to adjust. But be warned, we’re not done breaking her heart just yet! *evil smirks.*

BW: Raph and Gabriel help to make up the steamy love triangle, and I have to confess that by the time I turned the last page of Guardian I had no idea who I was rooting for. Not to give too much away, but can readers find the same love triangle drama in Thief? Will there be a “big” revelation for Abby concerning the two?

S.B.: Rest assured, the triangle is still firmly in place and will remain so for the foreseeable future! As for a ‘big” revelation, well, we guess you’ll have to read it and find out. We have to admit that we love keeping our fans and characters on their toes.

BW: Satan has to be the coolest villainess to grace the pages of Paranormal YA, and I know in our previous interview it was stated that Satan solved a plot issue for Thief when she decided to make her presence known as Lucifer’s plotting wife. What can readers expect from Lucifer and Satan this time around?

S.B.: What can you expect from the couple from hell! *wink*DRAMAAAAA!!! She is still plotting and he is still, well, Lucifer. It’s safe to say from where we left off that the sexy-fun battle between the two is going to intensify. But that’s all we have to say about that. (p.s. This question made us SQUEE! Thank you so much for such an amazing compliment. Just WOW!)

BW: Thief, book 2 in the Guardian series, has been pushed back from its summer 2012 release date. What’s the new date?

S.B.: We announced earlier this week that Thief will be launching in the first quarter of 2013. We haven’t picked a date yet but it’s likely to be in the months of February-March.

thief poster (1)

BW: In a previous interview here you mentioned that you’ve got about 14 books, or series, that you’re working on. What ever happened to plans for “YA superhero novel-Legacy-and a YA Sc-fi-Aurora-both to be available this summer”?

S.B.: Yes we were a little zealous early on in our announcing of projects. Basically, our goal is to be published authors! After years of hard work we are closer than ever before to meeting this goal but it’s a very long road. Aurora is currently in its final stages but we intend to query it to agents first. If it doesn’t make the cut, then we will simply publish it ourselves. Same with Legacy.

We have been told by many industry professionals that our books really are high caliber stories, but it just depends on what the market is demanding at the time we query. It’s complicated stuff!

 BW: The last interview you guys did on BW, you both stated that you were Team Werewolf and Team Demon. Has that changed? ( Werewolf vs Vampire, Demon vs Angel)

Nope! Still love the werewolves, and there’s no denying a sexy demon.

BW: What are some of your current favorite books?

S.B.: Wow, tough question!

Sara: Homestuck, World War Z, Unwritten (graphic novel), NeverWhere, Game of Thrones.

Becky: Hunger Games, World War Z, The Luxe Series, Harry Potter, American Vampire (comic).

BW: There are a lot of amazing books that are being made into movies, what are some of the ones that you’re most interested in seeing?

S.B.: By the time this is published we will have seen the Hobbit !We also look forward to the rest of the Hunger Game series, Game of Thrones (it totally counts!), and the new season of Sherlock. We were so excited about World war Z, but not so much after seeing the trailer .

BW: Go wild! Let us know something funny about you, share something that's on your mind, or anything else that's important about your books.

S.B.: Something funny: We break into random song and dance numbers more often than the Glee kids. We aren’t nearly as polished as them, but it’s the heart that counts, right?

On our mind: Bullying is bad. We all have feelings. Don’t be a jerk! Also we could really go for some pizza right now, nooooooooommmmm.

Our books: Two words: Sneak. Preview. Heck yes! Here’s your exclusive sneak peek at Thief, the upcoming sequel to Guardian. Enjoy!

BW: Wow! Thanks you guys! Well I hope everyone enjoyed the interview, because I’m off to read that sneak peek!


About the authors

We are sisters, writing partners and most importantly best friends. We love everything to do with the literary world and spend our time creating YA and Middle-grade fiction.

Goodreads | Blog | Twitter | Facebook

 


Giveaway:

This is a international giveaway, up to 5 lucky winners! Giveaway last until December 19th.

2 comments:

S.B. Rodgers said...

Thank you so much for hosting us again Shera! We really appreciate the hard work you put into your reviews and guest spots. It's always such a pleasure and we hope to do it again soon ;P

Cheers!
S.B. Rodgers

Shera (Book Whispers) said...

Well thank you! It's always great to have you on BW. Loved the sneak peek.