Welcome to my stop on the Supernatural Freak blog tour. You can see the full schedule HERE.
by Louisa Klein
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal
Release Date: January 30th 2013
Summary from Goodreads:
When paranormal expert Robyn Wise is offered an outrageous sum of money to cure a boy who is turning into a dead tree, she's very sceptical. A politician ready to pay that much to make his son stop growing branches instead of hair? Come on! She's more likely to be abducted by aliens. This is a trap. Or much worse. And, of course, it's much worse.
The child is turning into a dark portal, created by a powerful entity determined to absorb Fairyland's power. This means that not only queen Titania and her court are in danger, but the very balance of the magic fluxes.
Robyn'd rather stick a pencil in her own eye but, to learn how to destroy the portal, she has to sneak into the Wizardry Council, a place full of wizards who are hiding something—though it’s certainly not their dislike of her.
There, she discovers a terrible secret that could help to overthrow Fairyland's enemies for good, but puts her in the midst of an ancient and deadly war, and not as a bystander, but as the main target.
Guest Post:
CHARACTER PROFILE
DEFYING STEREOTYPES: WHY MY HEROINES HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE AWKWARD
In 2010, when I started writing down ideas for what would have become the first book in my urban fantasy series, all I knew, was that it would feature a boy turning into some dark tree. I knew it, because I had dreamt it: had actually a pretty clear dream about it, with very vivid images. I had no idea who would stop said child to transform, who my hero would be.
All I knew, was that I wanted someone flawed and with some issues. Practically since birth, my MC would have had supernatural powers no one could explain and had to deal with monsters, hence the above issues. My character also had a weird sense of humour and, well, was a GIRL. I grew up watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and reading Spider Man so, my idea was to have a kick-ass girl like Buffy with a sort of Spider Man sense of humour.
Problem was that girls nowadays are supposed to be all love and feelings, to want baaaaabies with guys they’ve just met. They’re not supposed to have issues with emotions and, God forbid!, a sense of humour. All these traits belongs to men, not women, right? So writing about a girl like that was hopeless, right? Right. Everyone told me that. My friends told me. My beta-readers told me. If I wanted to showcase such a MC on my book, it had to be male. No one had ever written about a girl like that. BUT I WANTED A GIRL! Robyn was so alive in my head, felt so real, somehow, I couldn’t ‘kill her’ in favour of a man. Plus, every time I tried to write about a man, nothing came out. Suddenly, the story felt all wrong. I was really torn, until one day I woke up and had an epiphany and told myself “Screw everyone, write about what you care about!” and I did. And magically, all the problems were gone and the whole book poured out of my pen in only a few months.
SUPERNATURAL FREAK was released at the end of 2012. What happened? Well, it happened that people liked it. I got lots of emails, and reviews, from girls who could totally relate to my MC, who were as introverted and as nerdish as Robyn. Who had doubts and insecurities to deal with. I also had shining reviews from male readers who could totally relate to Robyn as a person.
In the last two years, I stumbled upon other artists and authors who were fed-up with stereotypes and wanted, like me, showcase female characters with a more original and more REALISTIC personality: S.M Reine, Heather Dixon and, surprise! Laurence MacNaughton (it’s not a pen name, yes, he’s a MALE author talking about women with non-stereotypical personalities). Then there’s the wonderfully talented cartoonist Sarah Andersen is trying to deliver the same message with her, again, VERY successful comics about an awkward, clumsy, funny, introverted girl (who’s also happens to be very smart, by the way).
I only hope there will be more of us, in the near future. More authors and artists claiming the right of women to be insecure, awkward, childish, humorous, afraid of feelings or confused by them.
I’m so glad that so many young women felt kind of supported by my writing. That they felt it was OK to be confused, awkward, clumsy, introverted, and insecure.
So, if you feel like you’re a not good enough girl/woman, only because you fit my description, please STOP. You’re more than good enough. Because you’re you own person and being yourself pays off. It does long-term, at least. We’re human, exactly like men and not that different. We’re just forced to pretend we are. Some of us, at least.
About the Author
Louisa Klein lives in the UK but was born in Germany and brought up in Southern Europe by a German dad and an Italian and French mum, which made her a little confused at first. She has a degree in Medieval Studies and a postgraduate one in Marketing. She’s been working in publishing on and off since she was 17 and currently is a freelancer and an Urban Fantasy writer. At night she puts on a mask and fights British crime. She gets very little sleep.
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