Meeting Budding Superhero Amelia Tine, Half sister to... Who?!

Today I am pleased to welcome Amelia Tines to my blog. Amelia is the half-sister of Damian Locke, who stopped by yesterday . I had hoped that Kat, Damian's girlfriend, but.....um.....well.....if you've read the story then you might know the sort of answer I got in response to my request. Fortunately though Amelia was more then happy to fill in for her.


First off, please tell us a little about you.

My name's Amelia Tines and I'm fifteen—almost fifteen and a half—and I'm a superhero. Oh, and I guess I'm Damien's half sister, but that better not be why you're interviewing me.

Um....no....that isn't the only reason why I am interviewing you. I swear. So um....moving on. What can you tell us about living in Golden City?

Golden City is great. Most superheroes go to specific schools where everyone's a superhero, but I go to regular school, so I'm the only hero. And everyone knows my dad's the Crimson Flash and has his own TV show, and my mom pretty much saved Golden City before I was born. Even though they should, nobody really pays that much attention to me at school, but I'm sure all of that will change next year, when I get my H and my flying power comes in.

If you could choose your superpower, rather then random genetics, which would choose?

Um, flying, duh. I want to be just like my dad.

What is the best thing about being a superhero? The worst?

The best thing about being a superhero is being someone everyone can look up to. People need superheroes, so if you are one, then you're automatically needed by everyone. The worst thing about being a superhero is having to wear spandex. It's not right for, um, every body type.

It's not just you Amelia. Spandex isn't right for anyones body type. What are you most looking forward to about going to Heroesworth Academy?

Having superhero friends and impressing my teachers with really good grades. Also joining the flying team once my power comes in.

What’s it like to suddenly have an older brother…especially one who turns out to be a supervillain? What’s been the best part about meeting your new brother? The worst?

Ugh. I already have one brother—I didn't need another one. And I was the oldest before he came along. Now I'm like yesterday's chopped liver. It's a good thing he's not staying with us permanently. The best part about meeting him is what a loser he is. Even if they won't admit it, my parents can clearly see how much better I am than him. He doesn't even want to be a superhero or fly or any of that, and I'm really passionate about all of it. So having him around emphasizes all of my best qualities, since his are so awful. The worst part about having him around is him getting attention and also talking to my friends. Can't he just mind his own business?!

Unfortunately Amelia, you are learning just what pains older brothers can be. I have one as well and I know exactly how they can be. lol


Well, thanks for taking the time to talk with me for a bit. Before we go, are there final words you’d like to say?

Yeah, I'd like to thank everyone for reading—you've been a great audience—and if anyone still has any questions about what it's like to be a superhero, especially one with famous parents, feel free to ask me tons of questions.


To learn more about Amelia Tine head to your nearest bookstore and pick up a copy of The Rise of Renegade X by Chelsea Campbell.

Talking to Real Life Supervillain, Damien Locke

Hello Internet today I have a very special guest for you. It took a bit of tracking down as he is always on the move plotting evil plots and casing buildings....but after some plotting of my own I finally got Damian Locke to agree to sit down for a few minutes and answer some questions.

First off, please tell us a little about you.

I'm a supervillain, obviously. I've lived in Golden City my whole life, but I don't see why I'd want to be anywhere else. I mean, sure, this city has the highest population of superheroes in the U.S., but it also has the highest number of supervillains. Plus, having a few heroes around keeps things interesting. You have to have someone to mess with, right?

What can you tell us about living in Golden City?

Interview with Chelsea Campbell

Today I am pleased to welcome the fabulous Chelsea Campbell to my little corner of the interwebs. For those who don't know Chelsea is the author of the newly released The Rise of Renegade X. Which is a simply amazing book and a must read! And after just a small amount of begging and Twitter stalking, Chelsea agreed to do an interview. =)

What is your writing process like?

While I'm writing, I have to have silence. Or mostly silence. If I'm already really into what I'm doing, a little noise is okay, but if I'm just getting started, then everything feels like an annoying distraction. Once upon a time, before my family had a computer, I wrote my novels on notebooks (a giant stack of them), but now that I'm used to the computer, I can't write them out longhand. I mean, technically I can still write things on paper, but my brain's not cool with creating on paper. I can't think properly about what words to put down unless I'm typing.

What was your worst subject in school? Your best?

My worst subjects in school were P.E. and Handwriting. At least in elementary school. I got Cs in both of them. Later, in jr. high and high school, it was P.E. and science classes. My best subjects were always English, Art, and Foreign Languages.

What was your first job?

I was an English tutor at my community college. It was a pretty okay job. I mostly got to sit and read, until someone needed help, and then it was mostly Japanese exchange students who needed help with little things like articles and prepositions. I could only work 16 hours a week there, though, and people kept being like, “Whoa, only 16 hours? You're going to get a 2nd job, right?” I lived with my parents and was in school full time, and writing like crazy on the side (though that never counts to the type of people who think you should have two jobs just because you can), so I was fine with only 16 hours.

What’s your idea of the best meal ever? What sort of foods do you like to eat when you are sick?

TENtalizing Tidbits: Chelsea M. Campbell

Welcome Chelsea! She's here today on LiyanaLand to talk more about how close the release of The Rise of Renegade X is. Less than 200 days close. Damien-is-so-going-to-freak-out-close.

Chelsea M. Campbell: My countdown widget tells me there are now less than 200 days until my book, The Rise of Renegade X, comes out. Some days I look at the countdown meter and think, “Wow, the days are just flying by—it won't be long at all!” And some days I look at it and think, “199 days?!? Are you freaking kidding me? Do you know how long I've been waiting, and there's STILL over six months of waiting left to do?!?”

As Tom Petty says, the waiting is the hardest part. And there's a lot of waiting in publishing. It's kind of like how the human body is made of 70% water or whatever—publishing is made of 70% waiting. But fortunately, waiting doesn't mean *just* waiting. Sure, I am chomping at the bit for this book to be out so-people-can-read-it-OMG. I love this book. I used to feel kind of weird telling people I love the book I wrote—and, okay, I still do feel a little weird about it—but if the author doesn't even love it, how is anybody else supposed to? But anyway, there are lots of little stops along the way. I got the offer to publish fifteen months (to the day, actually) of the publication date. So half the waiting is over already, and in that time I've signed contracts, done revisions, copy edits, joined the Tenners, made tons of new author and blogger friends, seen my book go up on Amazon and Goodreads, reworked my website, and called my parents every time anything even remotely exciting happened.

And now I have my ARC (Advanced Readers Copy, a paperback copy that may contain typos and formatting errors, but that comes out early so reviewers and sales reps can get a sneak peek), with more coming. Getting my ARC seems like the last little milestone on the path to publication, and I've still got six months of waiting. But when I stop and think about it, it's not. It marks the end of revisions, other than one more pass on typos and such before the real thing hits the shelves, but really it's the beginning of other people reading my book.

A twitter friend of mine just posted a pic of a bunch of Egmont ARCs she won at a YA event, and mine was one of them! So there's proof that my book is out and about in the world, and people I don't know could be reading it, and I won't necessarily know they're doing it! How exciting is that? Like most exciting things, it's also kind of scary—funny how those two go together so well—but still awesome. I guess you could say that since revisions are over, now the really exciting stuff gets to start. Soon I'll have more ARCs to give away in contests and to take to bookstores and libraries to see if they want to get a sneak peek and maybe, ya know, order some copies.

(I will pause here to admit that going to bookstores and telling them I'm an author and would like to leave a copy of my ARC for them to read is terrifying. Stomach flopping, toe tingling terrifying, and I also can't wait, because I think once I get the hang of it it'll actually be fun and not scary, just a little thrilling. I hope. Plus what are they going to do, say no? Oh, no! Please, God, no—don't leave that free book with the awesome cover here! Get it away from me! Aggghh!)

Soon I'll also have pretty bookmarks to give out and a launch party to plan and signings to set up. (Did you know authors set that kind of stuff up themselves? For the most part, unless you're famous, it's DIY.) Not to mention other books I'm working on or have on submission, which means that while all this debut stuff is happening with Renegade X, the process is starting all over again in the background with other books. So even if I can't wait to get to read the first chapter to a room full of people, and I can't wait to see it on the shelves at the bookstore (if next May you see some twenty-something girl standing in front of the superhero/villain book with the hot cover, screaming or crying or just smiling like an idiot, that's probably me), and even if I can't wait to see how my book does out in the world, all aloney on its owney, at least I've got some stuff to occupy my time for the next six months. And as much as I hope the days tick by really fast on my countdown meter, you only get one debut, and I think I'd be really sorry if I didn't also savor all the moments between now and then.

Thanks Chelsea! Check out a trailer for The Rise of Renegade X made by Chelsea herself! Complete with epic music and a cool voiceover. :D




Grab the countdown widget here!


Cross-posted at: LiyanaLand! on 27 October 2009.