Hi everybody! Today I'm celebrating a new release with our own Bethany Griffin.

Welcome, and congratulations, Bethany! What's your release date?
"Masque of the Red Death" will be released April 24th.


"Masque of the Red Death?" It sounds like there's an Edgar Allen Poe theme. What's the connection?
The book is the re-imaging of Poe's story; the setting is borrowed from Poe's idea and then expanded upon. The theme of Poe's 'Masque of the Red Death,' that no one can hide from death, no matter how wealthy, is definitely in my book, as well as a sort of claustrophobic atmosphere and dark elements that many Poe fans will enjoy.


In your book, who's your favorite character? Why?
Araby is my favorite character. Point of view characters are always my favorite, because once you get into someone's head, you just get them so completely. Is she selfish? Is she self-destructive? Does she make poor choices? Absolutely. But I still love her.


Did you find 'Masque' easy to write? What were some of your challenges?
Hmmm. Well, I wrote it rather quickly, prompted to move forward by my critique group, and then my agent's enthusiasm, but no, it was not an easy book to write. It is a very dark book, in a very dark world. Besides that, the book has a lot of details and world building, so it required a lot of layering, and revisions to scale back the layering. I wrote it quickly, but I revised mercilessly.


You've got to be excited about the release. Do you have any book signings lined up?
I have a book release party at Bullitt East High School in Mt. Washington on April 24th.
I'm signing at Carmichaels on Frankfort Ave. on Friday, April 27th from 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Then I'm on HarperCollins Dark Days of the Supernatural Tour (with Veronica Roth ("Insurgent"), Aprilynne Pike ("Destined"), and Elizabeth Norris ("Unraveling"). Our schedule looks like this:
June 6th, 1:00-2:00 p.m. at Book Expo America in New York City
June 6th, 7:00 p.m. at Barnes & Noble in Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania
June 7th, 6:30 p.m. at Cover to Cover in Columbus, Ohio
June 8th, 4:00 p.m. at Evanston Library in Evanston, Illinois
June 9th, TBA at Printer's Row Lit Fest in Chicago, Illinois


We're hoping to set up something in LA when I'm there in August. And I'm sure that once fellow YA Fusion bloggers Katie McGarry's "Pushing the Limits" and Kelly Creagh's "Enshadowed" are released in August, we will travel to some local cities like Lexington, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, etc.


In September I will be signing in Salt Lake City with the Smart Chick's tour: http://www.smartchickskickit.com/


Then I'll be in Nashville speaking and signing at the Sourthern Festival of Books in October. http://www.humanitiestennessee.org/programs.southern-festival-books-celebration-written-word


Wow! You're going to be busy! Are you doing a blog tour, too?
My blog tour started last Monday and will run through this week. You can find me at:
http://www.twochicksonbooks.com/ on April 16th, Author Q&A and Giveaway
http://amberinblunderland.blogspot.com/ on April 17th, Author Interview
http://bookalicio.us/ on April 18th, Guest post
http://hobbitsies.net/wordpress/ on April 19th, Author Q&A
http://www.princessbookie.com/ on April 20th, Guest post
http://www.spadeshighreads.com/ on April 23rd, Top 10 List
http://www.goodbooksandgoodwine.com/ on April 24th, Author Q&A and Giveaway
http://www.hippiesbeautyandbooksohmy.com/ on April 25th, Character Q&A, Araby Worth
http://booktwirps.com/ on April 26th, Guest post
http://www.iceybooks.com/ on April 27th, Top 10 (Favorite Quotes) and Giveaway


Care to share with us a little of your writing journey? Best advice ever given? Worst experiences?
Worst experience would probably be a toss up between feeling like a washed up failure in the years after my first book was published, and the various rejections that all (most?) writers go through. I was lucky enough that my first book sold, but then had 2 books that didn't. It wasn't pleasant, or confidence boosting. Best advice was probably something like, not write what you want, or keep writing, but really to find the thing that only I could write, to find the literary nexus of all my interests, the crazy things I've read and studied and found interesting, and the things that whisper around in my brain, and turn that into a book. It worked out pretty well.


For those who don't know, what's the title of your first book?
The name of the book is "Handcuffs" and it was released by Delacorte. You can learn more about it on my website, or on goodreads or amazon.com.