Meet Author Melanie Robertson-King. . .no foolin'!

Greetings readers, authors and friends of JLB Creatives. We're glad you stopped by - no foolin'! 

You have the chance to meet the fabulous author Melanie Robertson-King (pictured left). She will "wow" your socks off for sure! 

But first...

JLB Creatives Executive Team will be appearing at the UCF Book Festival coming up April 13, 2013. Details coming next week! 

And now...on with the show!

I had the opportunity to interview author Melanie Robertson-King. I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I did.

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Thanks for hosting me today, Janet. Before I get into answering your questions I have an April 1^st story to share. I think the readers will get a kick out of it. So if you’ll give me a few minutes of indulgence, I’ll tell it.

You are so very welcome. It is our pleasure to have you here. And I would love nothing more than to hear your story! Go ahead...the page is all yours. 

My father was raised at The Orphan Homes of Scotland (he wasn’t an orphan but that’s another story altogether) some fifteen or so miles west of Glasgow. Years later, I got involved with a group of descendants of “Home Children” from this organization and we held a number of reunions here in Canada to celebrate the resilience and perseverance these young children showed. I keep a website within my own dedicated to this organization which you can find here. http://bit.ly/11qAcQY

Fast forward to April 1^st, 1999 and an e-mail from the then chairperson of the organization – now known as Quarriers (after the founder) and one of Scotland’s biggest charities whose mission now is children and adults with disabilities and is still one of the foremost centres for the treatment of epilepsy. The Princess Royal (Queen Elizabeth’s daughter, Anne) is coming to dedicate one of the cottages in the village and we would love for you and your husband to be there. In addition to this e-mail invitation, they offered to pay my airfare PLUS our accommodations at the bed and breakfast located there.

My first reaction was “Yeah, right. Mean trick, guys.” But it was legit! How cool is that? So after undergoing a security check by MI-5 to ensure we were safe to meet the Princess and getting briefed on protocol, we received our “official” invitation in the mail and on June 3^rd, hubby and I schmoozed with Royalty!

Here’s the link to this once in a lifetime trip… http://www.melanierobertson-king.com/scotland1999.html

Now THAT'S one great story! Yeah, if you hadn't have said something I would have thought you were being fooled too. All right - with that said, are you ready for some questions?

I sure am. . .let's go!

Let’s say you’re thinking about going on once in a life time vacation…how exciting! What are some of the places you’d consider, and what would you do while you’re there?

Well, there would be a couple of places – Paris being one of them. I went for a week in 2003 but would love to go again and this time with my husband. After spending time there, take the high speed train to London and go through the chunnel. Once in the UK, work our way through there to Scotland visiting family and friends along the way… and stone circles, and castle ruins, and whisky distilleries, all the while making notes and taking loads of pictures. You just never know what might end up in a book sometime down the road.

The phone just rang – it’s a movie deal for your book! Holy cow – they’ve left it up to you as to where you want them to film on location, and who will play the starring role…we can’t stand the suspense. Where and who is it?

I’d have to pick myself up off the floor first and would likely babble incoherently at first from the shock. But once I got my wits about me, my movie would have to be filmed in Scotland – Aberdeenshire where my novel is set since my Scottish heritage is so important to me.

The actors playing my main characters would also have to be Scottish. So for the role of Sarah Shand, I would choose Shirley Henderson, who played Isobel Sutherland on the TV series Hamish MacBeth and played Jude in the Bridget Jones movies.

For Robert, it would be John Hannah who starred in Four Weddings and a Funeral, Rebus and MacCallum and many other programs/movies.

A zealous fan approaches your book signing table and wants to know everything there is to know about writing a book…right now! There’s a long line of fans waiting, and you only have a few seconds…what one thing would tell them to encourage them to become a writer?

Read, read and read some more.

What book or books are you currently working on? Can we expect a new release soon?

I’m currently working on the second book in my “Shadows” series, tentatively called Shadows from her Past. I don’t think it will be released as soon as everyone would like but I am over 38k words into it and the ending has been written… I just have to get there.

Here’s the basic blurb for it: Sarah, bereft after being transported back to the present, finds herself in possession of knowledge that could change the course of history, should she use it. Will she remain in her time and let history run its course or find a way back to the past to save the man she loves?

Time for dinner! No, no, no, we’re not cooking – we’re going out. So…where’s your favorite place to throw down some good food with friends and family? And even more so, what do you recommend from the menu?

I’ve got a couple of places here in town that I really like. First is Luna Pizzeria. I love their souvlaki and Greek salad. The other place I enjoy is within walking distance of my house. Tandoori Mint – an Indian restaurant that has fantastic food. They have a menu or buffet and I much prefer the buffet because I can sample a little bit of everything. I happen to love Indian food. The first time I ever had it was in Scotland in 1999 on our schmoozing with Royalty trip.  

What kind of animals, birds, or fish do you like best? Do you have any pets - how many do you have – and what are their names?

I currently have a dog (inherited from my daughter). He’s a cross between a black and tan hound, shepherd and lab whose name is Jake. I jokingly call him the dog with the $1000 ear but truth be told it’s likely closer to $2000 or more. Poor boy is subject to chronic ear problems because of his long floppy ears. So between ear drops and sometimes oral antibiotics and steroids, surgery to remove polyps from his ear canal and another surgery just before Christmas 2011 because he’d ruptured all the blood vessels in his ear flap… this is all the same ear, too. You see why I call him what I do.

We all love stories – especially yours! Would you be willing to give the readers a synopsis of your current book?

When a contemporary teen is transported back through time to the Victorian era, she becomes A Shadow in the Past…

Nineteen-year-old Sarah Shand finds herself thrust back into the past. There she struggles to keep her real identity from a society that finds her comments and ideas strange and her speech and actions forward, unlike Victorian women. When Sarah verbally confronts confining social practices, including arranged marriages; powerful enemies commit her to a lunatic asylum. After falling in love with the handsome Laird of Weetshill, Robert Robertson, she must decide whether to find her way back to her own time or to remain in the past with him.

Who is your favorite character that you have created? Tell us about him or her and why you are so fond of them.

A little girl named Jenny. She wasn’t in the early drafts of A Shadow in the Past but one day she popped into my head and she became a key player in the novel and brought out the nurturing, protective instincts in Sarah that she didn’t know she had.

If you could cure something in this world, what would it be?

Cancer. I’ve lost too many friends and family members to this odious disease. A Shadow in the Past is dedicated to a friend who lost her battle with it.

Do you create and design your own book covers?

I don’t design them but my publisher allows input into the cover design. For A Shadow in the Past, I had to give a full physical description of my main character and a scene that I thought was key to the book. Then talented artist, Aidana WillowRaven went to work and designed my gorgeous cover.

If you could spend a day with an author, who would it be? And of course we’ve got to know why.

Bram Stoker. I want to find out straight from the horse’s mouth (so to speak) if it was Cruden Bay in Scotland or Whitby in England that was the real inspiration behind his writing Dracula. Both places claim to be the inspiration. Both have rugged cliffs with ruins at the top – Slains Castle in Scotland, Whitby Abbey in England. I prefer to think Scotland, but then I’m biased. *grin*

Where can we find your book(s)?

From my publisher - 4RV Publishing: http://4rvpublishingcatalog.yolasite.com/robertson-king.php

Online in Canada at Amazon.ca and Chapters Indigo

In the US at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com

And in the UK at Amazon.co.uk 

My blog, Celtic Connexions, gets the most attention these days so I’ll give you that link. http://www.melanierobertson-king.com/wp02/

FACEBOOK PAGE: Melanie Robertson-King – Author https://www.facebook.com/pages/Melanie-Robertson-King/221018701298979

TWITTER HANDLE: @RobertsoKing

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Thanks so much for being here Melanie - your interview is going to be the highlight of the week here on JLB Creatives Blog! 

So fans - it's your turn now, be sure to share this post with your friends and family. Let them know the JLB Creatives Blog is one of the best when it comes to showcasing authors from around the globe! 

Until next week - stay casual, live life to the fullest, and have a piece of chocolate for me. 

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