Interview THE UNMOVING SKY by K L Hallam @love8rockets @LeapBks #Woof #Meow

Title: The Unmoving Sky
Author: K.L. Hallam
Genre: Young Adult, Thriller
Publisher: Leap Books, Shine
Release Date: May 16, 2016

Blurb:
There is nothing darker than the woods, until you meet your worst fear.

Jackson Bower has a lot on his mind lately. His younger brother hasn’t been the same since his mother’s death. His father’s drinking is out of control. Then there’s Jackson’s girlfriend and the grief that ties them together even as it threatens to drive them apart.

He distances himself, hoping for a little perspective at the family lodge. But when their father gets drunk and dangerous, he and his brother escape into the woods.

Night creeps in, and the rains come fast. Artie slips down a ravine. He’s wounded and the brothers seek shelter in a cave, only to find someone else already taking refuge there.

A desperate man with plans to destroy their town.

Jackson must get him and his wounded brother out of the cave and over the mountain to warn everyone in time. Without getting them both killed first.

Book Links:
Goodreads ~ Smashwords

Meet the Author:
K.L. Hallam, an air force brat as a young child, who moved around to more schools than she can list, gathering the stories that would connect to her heart. She writes MG, YA, and short fiction, or anything she hasn’t tried, a member of SCBWI, a singer and songwriter, illustrator and mother of two teenagers. She lives in New York City and spends her mornings writing in a Jazz club.

Follow K.L. Hallam on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and her website.

PLEASE WELCOME K L TO BOOKHOUNDS YA

What is on your nightstand? Right now? I actually just cleared my nightstand because the family Christmas party is in our tiny apartment this year. But I did leave a few: AS I LAY DYING by William Faulkner, my in-between reading book; Cindy Pon’s SERPENTINE, a great YA I had to put down for the holiday festivities; THE GIVER by Louis Lowery, which I’m reading right after Serpentine. Ray Bradbury’s Zen in the Art of Writing, when guidance is needed, and THE WONDERFUL FLIGHT TO THE MUSHROOM PLANET by Eleanor Cameron, for research. My Kindle is there and so is my Nook.

What author would you totally fan? I’m most impressed by authors. They’re my rock stars. I’d fan several, many—hundreds! But I’ll stick to those who are alive, and you only want one, so … Libba Bray! She came into the club where I write during the day, (to finish writing Lair of Dreams) and we wrote together! In the same room–at the same time! And on two separate occasions. I stumbled over my words, handed her a shaky cappuccino, and said some goofy things I’m sure. But she was so sweet, and funny and really supportive, inquiring into what I was writing about. We were both writing Jazz Age related stories with a bit of the supernatural at the time. I write in a jazz club, it’s very inspiring.

What makes you cringe? Complimenting girls only for their looks. I have boys, and rarely after introductions do we say “what a handsome son you have.” One might, but it’s rare. We need to value more than a girls and a woman’s exterior. Compliment your daughters for their smarts, their creativity, strength, finesse, etc. Get creative, folks. I used to cringe when people called me my mother’s “doll”. Ugh.

Do you obsessively plot out each point or just go with the flow? I go with the flow for the most part. When I get stuck, or the tension slows, I break and make an outline of possible worst case scenarios and head down that path, until I get stuck again and repeat the process.

Is there a word you love to use? Not at the moment, oddly, since I often have words that’ll stick to my every sentence like glue until I say the word out-loud, and spin in a circle three times to dispel it. Okay, I don’t spin in circles. But I will try just about anything to reboot my brain. Here’s a word I love (my editor shared this online) that expresses the separation some feel during the holidays, a lovely Welsh word: hiraeth (n.) a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was; the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for the lost places of your past. Good one, right?