Hera, Queen of Gods by T.D. Thomas (Author Interview + Giveaway)

Title: Hera, Queen of Gods
Author: T.D. Thomas
Series: Goddess Unbound, #1
Publication Date: October 3, 2012

Synopsis: Hera couldn't care less what the other gods think, even when it's about her. And it often is. Frankly, Hera couldn't care less about anything, except doing her duty as queen - protecting order and defending the mortal world against any threats. But when the Fates go missing, Hera and a handful of other gods must temporarily become mortal to search the human world for the missing goddesses.

Hera finds that mortality begins to change her. It's not just the loss of her divine powers. She expected that. It's deeper somehow. It's affecting how she thinks, how she feels, what's important to her. And it gets much worse after she meets Justin, who defies every prejudice she once had
about mortals. At the worst possible time, and despite all her efforts, Hera's black-and-white world starts to unravel.

Torn between who she's becoming and who she needs to be in order to fulfill her duty, Hera must survive a horde of murderous creatures sent to exploit her new weakness. In the end, only Hera can stop a traitorous plot conceived by a secret alliance of ancient and new enemies, a plot that threatens to destroy not only the order Hera is sworn to protect, but all of existence itself.

About the Author: When not battling to save Azeroth from its latest calamity, T.D. Thomas lives and works in the frosty north known as Canada. He lives with six of his closest friends, all of whom are ruled over by a little white dog named Teo, who firmly believes he's a reincarnated Egyptian pharaoh and demands to be treated as such. Favourite things include temperatures above 0 degrees Celsius and cats who don't take guff from pretentious little white dogs.

Interview:

First off, I'd like to thank you for joining me on the blog today!

 

Thank you for having me. J

 

1. Describe Hera, Queen of Gods as a tweet  (140 characters or less)!

When the Fates go missing, Hera leads the gods to Earth, where they must unravel a plot that threatens to destroy all of existence.

2. If you could re-title Hera, Queen of Gods what would you call it and why?

As if finding a title the first time wasn’t hard enough. ;)

Probably “Among Us.” As in "they walk among us."

What I love about my novel (and the contemporary/urban fantasy genre) is that it plays on the fact that we all know so little about each other. We're constantly surrounded by people. We work together, pass each other in the street, live right beside each other. But we don't stop and ask ourselves anything about these strangers with whom we spend our daily lives. We never ask if they could be hiding an incredible secret. But imagine if they were! Imagine if someone across from you on the bus was a superhero? Or an alien? Or, in the case of my novel, a god? What if the fate of the world was being decided in that abandoned building you drive by every day, but never think twice about? When you start to think like that, anything becomes possible! Life becomes an adventure! I'm in love with that idea: that, if we scratch the surface, there could be fantasy and excitement all around us, right under our noses. We just have to look in the right places.

 

3. What inspired you to start writing?

I wrote a lot when I was younger. Like so many kids, I couldn’t get enough of stories about fantastic people doing fantastic things in fantastic places. It wasn’t long before I was "writing myself" into those stories in my head. Playing make-believe, in a way. As I got older, I began to actually write those stories down, and it wasn't long before I was writing completely new stories, stories of my own, about people and places I had imagined myself.

Writing is the most entertaining and liberating thing I've ever done or could ever imagine doing. You can create anything and anyone you can imagine. Entire worlds of characters, if you want. It's dazzling!

 

4. What kind of research, if any, did you do for Hera, Queen of Gods?

My research was pretty minimal, I must admit, though I wasn’t above a quick Wikipedia or Google search to fill in a few missing details about classic mythology.

The advantage of writing fantasy is that you don’t need a terrible amount of expertise: you have total freedom. The research is mostly your own imagination, which is probably the best (and most fun) form of research anyway.

 

5. Do you have a specific place where you write?

 Two places. I have a corner of my sectional sofa carved out as "my spot." That may not sound too impressive, but in a house with five other people, two dogs and not a lot of space, that's no mean feat. Also (and this is a bit strange), when I get the writing bug late at night, I sit on the step to the ensuite bathroom in my bedroom: I don’t have a desk in my room, and I don't like to wander too far when it's late. The bathroom step is as uncomfortable as it sounds, but it does the trick.

This or That...

Ebook or Real book?  Ebook

Twitter or Facebook? Twitter

 

Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocolate

Past or Future? Past

And just for fun- What is the strangest thing on your desk right now?

 I try to incorporate a bit of Zen serenity into my day (normally without much success), so I have three flameless pillar candles and a worry-stone (a.k.a. a smooth rock I randomly picked up for reasons I can’t now recall and probably will never, ever remember).

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog!

 Anytime! :)


Giveaway:
Enter to win an ebook copy of Hera, Queen of Gods! You can choose what format you want: Kindle
copy, PDF, or ePUB. Open internationally!  :))
 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

-Kristen ♥