Friday, May 11, 2018

5 Questions with Urban Fantasy & Mystery Author Christine Amsden



Christine Amsden has been writing fantasy and science fiction for as long as she can remember. She loves to write and it is her dream that others will be inspired by this love and by her stories. Speculative fiction is fun, magical, and imaginative but great speculative fiction is about real people defining themselves through extraordinary situations. Christine writes primarily about people and relationships, and it is in this way that she strives to make science fiction and fantasy meaningful for everyone.
At the age of 16, Christine was diagnosed with Stargardt’s Disease, which scars the retina and causes a loss of central vision. She is now legally blind, but has not let this slow her down or get in the way of her dreams.
Christine currently lives in the Kansas City area with her husband, Austin, who has been her biggest fan and the key to her success. In addition to being a writer, she's a mom and freelance editor.
Social Media Links:
· Blog

About the Book: 
Apparently, life doesn’t end when you get married.
When a couple freezes to death on a fifty degree day, Cassie is called in to investigate. The couple ran a daycare out of their home, making preschoolers the key witnesses and even the prime suspects.
Two of those preschoolers are Cassie’s youngest siblings, suggesting conditions at home are worse than she feared. As Cassie struggles to care for her family, she must face the truth about her mother’s slide into depression, which seems to be taking the entire town with it.
Then Cassie, too, is attacked by the supernatural cold. She has to think fast to survive, and her actions cause a rift between her and her husband.
No, life doesn’t end after marriage. All hell can break loose at any time. 

Buy Links

Frozen (Cassie Scot Book Seven)

Print Release: July 15, 2018
Audiobook Release: TBA
Cassie Scot: ParaNormal Detective (Cassie Scot Book One)
Q: What’s inside the mind of an urban fantasy author?
A: I can’t speak for the rest, but it’s pretty noisy in here. Characters yapping at me all day, trying to break loose, each one vying for me to tell their story next!
Q: Tell us why readers should buy Frozen.
A: If you’ve read the rest of the Cassie Scot series, I hope the answer is obvious! If you haven’t, then let me tell you something about a young woman named Cassie I met about nine years ago, who invaded my life with purpose and determination and hasn’t willingly left yet. She’s not like other urban fantasy heroines – she’s got no magic. Her family does. Her love interest does. But she’s got to rely on wits and courage, ultimately learning that there is more than one way to be a hero.
At least, that’s Cassie in the first four books, which I am now calling “The Original Quartet.” I encourage readers to start there. In addition, I’ve now written two spin-offs (books five and six), involving two side characters who decided to yap inside my head until I wrote their stories.
In Frozen, Cassie is back, demanding to know why on earth I think her story is over just because she got married. Hello? Aren’t you married too? Is your life over?
Hard to argue with, really. And when I began to tell her next story, I was amazed by how much she still had to say. She has new concerns now, more grown up concerns, perhaps, but inside she’s still Cassie.
Q: What makes a good urban fantasy novel?
A: Character!
Actually, I think a good character makes a good story, period. If “character” were a genre, I’d claim that one.  I think this is why I get a lot of cross-genre readers (people who claim they usually prefer another genre).
Urban fantasy is a setting. I have fun in that setting, in that world. I like magic. I always have. But even more than that I love strong, vulnerable characters who set out bravely to conquer their world despite some degree of self-doubt.
Q: Where can readers find out more about you and your work?
A: Visit my website at: www.christineamsden.com or e-mail me at christine.amsden@yahoo.com (Yes, I put it right out there for the spam bots to find because it’s important to me that readers can find me too.)
Q: What has writing taught you?
A: I don’t want to overcomplicate the question, but some recent personal struggles have taught me that writing is an outlet, a deep expression of self that I can neither deny nor let consume me. Writing itself isn’t the teacher; life is the teacher, and writing is my pen.

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