The Debutante Ball interviews Stephanie Sanders (Giveaway!)

Today The Debutante Ball welcomes Stephanie S. Sanders!

Stephanie lives in Iowa with her two amazing daughters and her wonderful husband, Benjamin. She enjoys chocolate, photography, reading, hiking, steampunk and chocolate.

Villain School: Good Curses Evil is a humorous tale about twelve year-old Rune Drexler, a student at Master Dreadthorn’s School for Wayward Villains. It’s where the “embarrassing” villain kids go to learn to be bad. Rune is nearly failing his villain studies, so he’s sentenced to a Plot by his father, Master Dreadthorn. In seven days time he must:

1. Kidnap a princess
2. Steal a baby
3. Find a henchman and commit him to service
4. Overthrow a kingdom and place a new ruler on the throne

If he succeeds, Rune will be promoted to Fiend. If he fails, he’ll be exiled from the villain community forever. Rune chooses his best friends Countess Jezebel Dracula and Big Bad Wolf Junior to Plot with him. But Rune’s not-so-evil nature means he has to find unconventional ways to carry out this “evil” Plot.

 

 

Talk about one thing that’s making you happy right now.

One thing making me happy right now is that my very first book, Villain School: Good Curses Evil, is OUT! All my life I’ve dreamed of walking into a bookstore and seeing my book on the shelf, and it’s happened. I did it. (Okay, about a bazillion people helped, but you know what I mean.) It’s very strange to accomplish one’s dream. My mother recently inherited some money, and I told her, “You’ve always dreamed of going to Hawaii! You should do it!” and she said, “No, because then what will my dream be?” My answer was, “Something bigger and better!” Now that I’ve accomplished my own life’s dream, I realize it isn’t the end. It’s the beginning. I can dream something new and go for it! My new-and-improved dream is to really make it as a writer, to be able to support my family and allow my husband to pursue his own dreams. That would be awesome!

 

Where do you love to be?

I like to visit graveyards. I just like that they are peaceful and often beautiful. Country graveyards are the best. There’s one outside our town, way out on a gravel road that overlooks rolling hills and is surrounded by woods on two sides. It’s very old and is devoted entirely to one family. There’s just something I like about reading the stones and imagining the lives of the people who came before us. And some of the older graves have very interesting inscriptions, bits of Scripture or sentences meant to sum up people’s lives. There are whole stories waiting there.

 

 

Share one quirk you have that most people don’t know about.

One of my quirks is that I get bored. I want things to change all the time. I’m constantly rearranging furniture or finding new hobbies. I get obsessed with something, immerse myself in it for weeks or months. Then I drop it and move on to something else. I’ve painted my dining room five times in five years.

One thing I’ve learned is that my packrat mentality does not mix well with my need to constantly change things. I have to save all the old stuff I don’t like anymore.

Do you have any phobias?

I am chronically phobic. I’m afraid of pretty much anything creepy, crawly, noisy or potentially painful. I’m afraid of June bugs. They’re nasty, and they get caught in my curly hair. I’m afraid of balloons. Yes. Balloons. I actually walked out of my nephew’s birthday party because I couldn’t handle the balloons. I mean, it’s not like I think they’re going to suddenly ATTACK or anything. I just hate anticipating the popping noise. I’ve spent entire parties cringing in fear. And I’m afraid of being shocked. Stop laughing. I’m afraid of it because everything shocks me. Everything. I get shocked by the usual stuff, like metal doorknobs, 90 year-old great-aunts wearing wooly sweaters, etc. But I also get shocked by very odd things, like green peppers. I think my curly hair channels electrons or something.

What’s your next big thing?  (new book, new project, etc.)

I am gearing up to start a new story or possibly a series tentatively titled The Nine Books of Magic. I’ve thought about it a lot over the years, and I’ve made a few feeble attempts, but now I think I’m ready. The other day, I drew a map of a magical land called Grymorie, which is the setting for the book. I first got the idea for this story when I was reading Mary Stewart’s Merlin books. At least twice in those stories, Merlin mentions the nine books of magic, but he never explains what they are. I thought, That would make a good story! Also, a few years ago, I studied some books on stage magic and learned about the different branches. I also read about The Magician’s Oath, where a magician swears not to reveal the secret of his trick. I plan to use this knowledge for my book. Just don’t ask me how. I haven’t worked it all out yet.

Thanks for being with us today, Stephanie.  Villain School: Good Curses Evil sounds really fun! 

If you want more information about Stephanie and her books, you can find her on the web:

Book Website:  http://villainkids.com/index.html

Author Website:  http://www.stephsanders.com/

Author Blog:  http://thegoodvillain.blogspot.com/

Author Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/sssauthor

 

And now for the giveaway – just leave a comment about YOUR phobias and we will have a random draw for a copy of Stephanie’s book.