Today, Karen J Carlisle answers five questions about her latest book.
Karen J Carlisle
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What’s the name of your latest book – and how hard was it to pick a title?
I’m currently writing Aunt Enid: Protector Extraordinaire. It is the first book in ‘The Aunt Enid Mysteries’ series. I’m told it’s a cosy parnormal mystery.
The ‘Aunt Enid’ was there from the beginning (based on my own great aunt Enid). The Subtitle was problematic; how to hint at what the story was about, without giving it all away?
Usually a title will pop in my head, giving me something to hang the story on. I have fun making up titles.
- If you could choose anyone from any time period, who would you cast as the leads in your latest book?
- Aunt Enid: Miriam Margoyles
- Agnes Farrow: Helen Mirren
- Alfred Knowles: Richard E Grant (aged up a bit.) Those eyes…
- Sally: someone in late 20s/early 30s. Perfect for a ‘newcomer’ This is flexible. Sally is the newcomer discovering everything – a substitute for the reader, so she can take on any likeness. She has a role and personality. She’s sometimes blonde, sometimes brunette but always Sally.
- What five words best describe your story?
Cosy, supernatural mystery in Adelaide.
- Who is your favourite fictional team/couple?
The Doctor (as in Who) and Donna. (Even they do the Agatha Christie thing!)
- What song reflects a theme, character, relationship or scene in your book?
I had to think a lot about this. (Usually I can rattle the song off immediately: Doctor Jack – Behind Blue Eyes by The Who, my work-in-progress fantasy – Stay by Shakespears Sister.)
I didn’t really have one song for this book. It was mostly driven by childhood memories. I suppose I’d say: Curious World by Alice’s Night Circus, and the line: “Don’t be afraid of the dark.”
About Aunt Enid: Protector Extraordinaire
Daemons, fairies, magic: it’s all real! The Otherworld is bleeding through cracks into our world. And Adelaide is ground zero.
Something is coming. Something dark – trading souls for passage. And only one person stands between The Dark and the fate of the world.
Aunt Enid is just your average seventy-something year old. She loves to cook, is a regular at bingo and spends hours in her garden, talking to her army of garden gnomes and fussing over the colour of her hydrangeas…
When people start disappearing, her great niece, Sally, is drawn into a secret world and soon discovers her great aunt is a Protector Extaordinaire.
Aunt Enid: Protector Extraordinaire is the first book in ‘The Aunt Enid Mysteries’, the first series in ‘The Otherworlds Chronicles.’
About Karen J Carlisle
Karen J Carlisle is an imagineer and writer of steampunk, Victorian mysteries and fantasy.
She was short-listed in Australian Literature Review’s 2013 Murder/Mystery Short Story Competition and published her first novella, Doctor Jack & Other Tales, in 2015. Her short story, Hunted, featured in the Adelaide Fringe exhibition, ‘A Trail of Tales’.
Karen lives in Adelaide with her family and the ghost of her ancient Devon Rex cat. She’s always loved dark chocolate and rarely refuses a cup of tea.
Follow Karen:
- Website: Karen J Carlisle
- Patreon
Buy Aunt Enid: Protector Extraordinaire
Smashwords offers a special 66% off Aunt Enid: Protector Extraordinaire from 21st May to 7th June. Visit Karen J Carlisle’s Aunt Enid for Smashwords and Amazon links.