Get to Know the Authors of Phoenix Comic Fest Booth #696

Hey everyone!  This Memorial Day weekend I'll be hanging out with some of my favorite people at Phoenix Comic Fest - fellow authors Jacob Devlin and Katie Salidas!  Before the event, I thought you might like to learn a little bit about these amazing authors, so I asked them five questions to help us all get to know them a little better ;) ...

DON'T FORGET TO VISIT US AT BOOTH #696 AT PHOENIX COMIC FEST!

MEET JACOB DEVLIN

When Jacob Devlin was four years old, he would lounge around in Batman pajamas and make semi-autobiographical picture books about an adventurous python named Jake the Snake. He is the author of THE CARVER and its two sequels, THE UNSEEN and THE HUMMINGBIRD. When not reading or writing, Jacob loves geeking out at comic book conventions, spoiling his niece, and blasting Italian rock music in his car. He does most of these things in southern Arizona.

1) Where are you from?

I've lived in Southern Arizona most of my life, but spent a few wonderful years in Virginia and consider it like a second home as well.

2) What do you write?

Most of my work (and everything I've published thus far) is MG/YA adventure fantasy. Usually my writing bends a fairy tale or legend somehow, and there's always a strong emphasis on familial love.

3) What are you working on right now?

I'm revising a middle grade adventure fantasy about two siblings who have to hunt down a dragon to rescue their uncle, a famous survivalist who knows everything about bears and nothing about leathery winged beasts.

4) Why do you write?

My mom used to read to me when I was in the hospital with Lymphoma as a

6-year-old, and every book was an escape. It still is for me. Reading, writing, creating opens up spaces for people of any age and any background to grow, heal, or dream.

5) Tell us some of your favorite things ...

Food. Especially brinner. I swear I eat breakfast for dinner more than I eat breakfast for breakfast.

Going to the movies! Especially if it's a new MCU movie.

Traveling and seeing new things.

Music.

FOLLOW JACOB ONLINE

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/jacob_devlin/

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/jacob_devlin

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/authorjakedevlin/?ref=bookmarks

Website:​
https://authorjakedevlin.com/

MEET KATIE SALIDAS

Katie Salidas is a best-selling author known for her unique genre-blending style that led the award-winning Paranormal Dystopian Thriller: Dissension.

Host of the Indie YouTube Talk show, Spilling Ink, nerd, Doctor Who fangirl, Las Vegas Native, and SuperMom to three awesome kids, Katie gives new meaning to the term sleep-deprived.

Since 2010 she’s penned four bestselling book series: the Immortalis, Olde Town Pack, Little Werewolf, and the RONE award-winning Chronicles of the Uprising. And as her not-so-secret alter ego, Rozlyn Sparks, she is a USA Today bestselling author of romance with a naughty side.

1.) Where are you from?

Las Vegas

2.) What do you write?

Paranormal & Urban Fantasy

3.) What are you working on right now?

Super Secret project that will be revealed at Phoenix Comic Fest….

4.) Why do you write?

Because I have to tell a story.

5.) Tell us some of your favorite things ...

Raindrops on roses

And whiskers on kittens

Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens

Brown paper packages tied up with strings

These are a few of my favorite things…..

FOLLOW KATIE ONLINE

Website:

http://www.katiesalidas.com 

Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Katie-Salidas-Author/214780936916

Twitter:

http://twitter.com/QuixoticKatie

Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Katie-Salidas/e/B003APXXWO

FIVE DAYS OF DRAGON INTERVIEWS, DAY 1 - A DRAGON REFLECTION BY KATIE SALIDAS!

Hello Eager Readers!  For the next five days, I'll be sharing a post a day written by one of the authors featured in the PLAGUE OF DRAGONS anthology (Now Available!).  Today we're going to start with the fabulous KATIE SALIDAS and some thoughts regarding dragons ;). 

Let’s talk dragons, shall we?

Why don’t we see many dragons flying around or burning down cities? Probably because they, just like us, have had to grow and adapt with time. Rise beyond the firebreathing image to something a bit more…

Maybe dragons exist and we just don’t know it. And that is the kind of thinking that led me to dragons as shifters in the story, Molten Heart.

Dragons belong just as much to the human world as we do. And really, calling it the human world might piss them off, because they think we’re a bit irresponsible with the world we’ve taken over. So let’s maybe just stick to calling it earth. It will make life easier on us all. Trust me. Most dragons are good, but piss off the wrong one….

Anyway. Back on point. Dragons could possibly be the very first breed of shifters. Over time as they grew and adapted with time, maybe they learned how to change forms. All creatures on earth have had to grow and adapt over the years or risk extinction. And though dragons might seem like the king of beasts, there is a greater beast on this earth that strikes fear into the hearts and minds of all creatures who share this planet… man!

Was that too preachy? Sorry. Moving on.

That leads us to the question of their (the dragons) nature. Are they beasts? Are they thinking and feeling beings. And if the answer to both of those questions is, yes. What is dominant in them and how does it work when they shift between forms?

 I’d have to answer that with turning it back around on humanity. We’re thinking and feeling beings who act absolutely beastly without shifting into a twenty-foot tall firebreathing creature, so why would a dragon who has the ability to swap forms be any different? In both their impressive drake form and in their tiny (by comparison) human form, the character is the same. Their minds stay intact as well as their ability to reason and understand their surroundings. It is merely their appearance, and fire-proofing, that alters.

Why do they change then, you might ask?

Well, who doesn’t want to be able to take to the sky? Admit it, if you could sprout wings, you would.

As far as my dragons are concerned, their drake form is their natural form. They take on the human guise to keep their truth secret from the savage humans who rape and pillage the earth they live on.

Humans are a pretty damn scary race!

But, that might be giving too much away. Let’s chat about more fun dragon facts, like what they eat.

My Dragons are actually omnivores (because of their dual forms) but because of their massive size need more protein than their human counterparts. That of course leads to quite a bit of meat consumption. They’ll eat pretty much anything that moves. Sheep, cow, pig, etc… Fish too, for the water variety (the hydras). And when you have a colony of dragons around, there had better be quite a bit of available food.

How much do they eat? Well, that’s a great question. On the island they live on herd of wild sheep and ponies are pretty prevalent so that is the natural meal of choice for a dragon on the hunt. Bunny en flambé though is a favorite snack. Food is energy for the dragons, not an indulgence. Participating in the circle of life (cue the Lion King music), means that the dragons only take what they need when they need it. Could a dragon glutton himself on six or seven fully grown mountain goats with a side of squirrel every day? Of course they could. But eventually overhunting leads to extinction, and they know that. They are thinking and feeling creatures, remember.

On average, a male drake will sustain themselves on one meal a day consisting of two to three large prey animals.

I know what you’re saying. Dragons are fantasy creatures. They cannot exist in nature. Why are you spending so much time pretending that they’re real?

That’s my job. As the author I have think of all the little details and physical attributes necessary to validate my dragons. Even if all of these details do not end up in the final story, the world and character building has to be there first. Laying the foundations so that I can tell you a believable story. Do I think dragons exist? Doesn’t matter. But if for one second, just one, I can make you suspend your belief, then I have done my job!

Hope you enjoy reading Molten Heart!

* * *

Thank you for the guest post, Katie!  You can find out more about Katie Salidas on her website: http://www.katiesalidas.com/