Book Faery: AAD NOLA Author Spotlight: Kelly Gay

A Note:

6/2/13

I once told myself: IF I am accepted into grad school, this blog would no longer be updated. As it turns out, in April, I received news of my acceptance for the Fall 2013 semester, where I will attain a Master's degree of Science in Nutrition.

Running a blog, as many of you may already know, is a demanding side job once the excitement wears off. And once I fell out of the blogging community's loop (have you SEEN how many blogs there are now? Wow!), it was like the kiss of death. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't get into a blogging routine once this happened due to the disconnect I felt from the community.

So I took a break. I struggled with the loss and with missing my blog. And then I realized I didn't have to run Book Faery to still be a book reviewer; I could read my books and post reviews online. I'm still a book review blogger, just not in the traditional sense.

I'll still be online. You can chat with me on Twitter, where I'll be posting links to my reviews and talking books. I'll also be posting links to nutrition articles. And if you'd like to connect with me where I guarantee I will post reviews, just add me as a friend on Goodreads.

So that's all, folks! It's been a fun and amazing journey, and I thank you all for listening to my thoughts about books. I hope we all can keep in touch elsewhere :)

Tori

Thursday, March 15, 2012

AAD NOLA Author Spotlight: Kelly Gay

Hi Tori and Book Faery Readers!

I’m sitting on my back porch with my laptop enjoying perfect weather and thinking about AAD 2012 and New Orleans. This will be my first AAD, and my first con in a long, long time, so I’m really looking forward to getting out, meeting readers and authors and book lovers.

I’ll be attending AAD as two people: Kelly Gay and Kelly Keaton -- crazy split personality that I am. ;-) Most people probably know me best as Kelly Gay (urban fantasy author of the Charlie Madigan series), but I also write YA as Kelly Keaton. And I’m super excited to bring my YA persona to AAD NOLA because not only do I adore the city of New Orleans, but it’s the setting for my YA novels, DARKNESS BECOMES HER and A BEAUTIFUL EVIL.

I have always wanted to set a story in NOLA, but never felt I had the right combination of character, time, and genres to do it justice until I saw my character, Ari, standing on a dark street in the Garden District, the live oaks behind her with their twisted limbs draped in ghostly Spanish moss, and the mansions lining the street all abandoned and beautiful and rotting away.

Wait. Rotting?

Yep. See, I wanted to take all the Old World feel of the city and build on it, make it darker, creepier, more dangerous and gothic. So I created a future version of the city, a semi-post apocalyptic/southern gothic/mythology-inspired/paranormal romance mash-up (told you I was crazy). In my world, the city was sold off by the government and is now owned and run by the oldest and strangest families in the city. It’s become a haven for the supernatural – both good and evil.

I hope through the books to introduce NOLA to those who’ve never been there or read about it before, or to bring back fond memories of their time there. For me, writing about the city was my way of paying homage to a great, historic, vibrant, resilient city. And the people, the food – don’t get me started. Love!

I cannot wait to be there again in August. The con is going to be a blast, and I’m so looking forward to meeting everyone!

~ Kelly
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@kellyhgay