Tuesday, October 19, 2010

BWB Q&A with Erika Knudsen & Giveaway


Blog with Bite would like to extend a warm Halloween welcome to author Erika Knudsen. Ms. Knudsen is the author of  Beyond the Threshold of Death, Resurrected and her up coming third novel Awakened, which is scheduled for release in November. Get to know Ms. Knudsen in this exclusive BWB interview!

Giveaway: Ms. Knudsen will be giving away a SIGNED copy of  Beyond the Threshold of Death to one lucky commenter.

BWB:  Can you give our readers a little information about yourself?

Erika: The vampire genre has always been a love of mine and the deep interest in the topic is what led me to write my first book fourteen years ago.  Having always possessed a great imagination I never found it difficult to submerse myself into my characters and bring them to life.  Not only does the vampire genre interest me but the theme of ghosts, witches and all things supernatural capture my intrigue as well.  I find the writing process in whole a way to release my thoughts and emotions on humanity, morality and my own intrigue with the paranormal.  I live in a hamlet north-west of Edmonton with my husband and dog.  Writing is my over-all passion in life.

BWB:  Can you tell us about Beyond the Threshold of Death in your own words.

Erika:  Beyond the Threshold of Death begins in Old World Ireland, 1795.  Deirdra O’Dea, who is ailing from an unknown fatal illness, her father fearing for his daughter's health, unknowingly hires a vampire named Mylana to care for her. Instantly, a friendship blossoms between the two women. Seeing the pain Deirdra is in, Mylana offers her immortality, of which she accepts...
Almost two centuries later, Deirdra finds herself in the middle of an unearthly upheaval. Events waged over a millennia beforehand have reawakened the fury of an ancient Blood God, whose objectives involve the complete obliteration of the vampire race.

BWB:  There is a follow-up book to Beyond the Threshold of Death called Resurrected. Would you recommend reading the first book to fully understand the second, or are they stand alone?

Erika:  It’s not a necessity to have read the first installment before picking up Resurrected.  It is a separate story, yet connected.  It takes place four years after the end of Beyond the Threshold of Death  You’ll just get the fuller, bigger picture if you read BTTOD then Resurrected.

Resurrected (Vampire Saga)BWB:  How did you decide on a vampire as one of your main paranormal characters?

Erika:  They say, write what you know.  Well, I don’t know any vampires per say, but, I love the genre, so I write about what I love.  Vampires have always been alluring to me, even as a kid.  I can’t remember a time where I wasn’t thinking about the things that ‘go bump in the night’.  It was only natural that I’d work in that genre when I started writing.

BWB:  What led you in the direction of the paranormal genre?

Erika:  Again, it’s just a natural extension of my curiosity for everything supernatural.  It’s a genre that can take your imagination in so many directions and has such a rich and deep history, from folklore to mythology.  There is so much to choose from and work with, and also, to intermix with already well-known genre’s such as vampires.

BWB:  Any favourite Halloween memories you would like to share with BWB readers?

Erika:  When I was seven, we had just moved from Kitchener, Ontario to St. Albert, Edmonton. (Canadian cities)  Only a few weeks later it was Halloween and I was so excited to wear my costume and go-trick-or-treating.  However, the weather went from balmy to absolutely stupid cold {minus 30 degrees Celsius} in just a matter of a few days.  It rarely got that cold in southern Ontario.  When I went to go out with dad trick-or-treating, that’s when the battle with mom began.  Suffice to say mom won and I had to wear my snow suite under my costume.  I was so upset.  You couldn’t tell that I was a cowgirl at all!  Barely five houses later, I didn’t care and I wanted to go back home, it was just too bloody cold! The joys of Halloween in Canada!

BWB:  Is there anything you would like to share with us, other appearances, or news?

Erika:  My third book, Awakened, is going to be launched November 20th.  There will be an official launch party as well as contests which will be held at my blog: http://www.erispublishing.com/blog and at Eris Publishing’s website: http://www.erispublishing.

For our readers: What is a great Halloween memory from when you were a kid that you would like to share?


Contest Deets:

  • One winner for this particular contest {Signed copy of Beyond the Threshold of Death}
  • 18+ only
  • Commenting on this post will earn entry into this contest, but please answer the FOR OUR READERS question to be eligible. Not following directions will result in your comment not counting
  • Winners will be chosen using Random.org
  • Following BlogwithBite.com is not required
  • Extra entries will be offered, separate comment for each entry please, if you leave multiple entries in one comment it will only be counted as one entry
  • Contest ends October 31st, 2010 11:59 CST
Extra Entries:
  • Follow BlogwithBite.com {GFC, Email}
  • Like BWB on Facebook {Leave name last initial}
  • Add a HALLOWEEN HYSTERIA button to your sidebar {leave link}
  • Spread the word in any way, twitter, facebook, post, sidebar, etc. {leave link}
  • Reviewed Infinite Days or Masked by Moonlight for BWB 
  • Comment on any HALLOWEEN HYSTERIA posts {between now and Oct 31st} 

46 comments:

Kristen My Bookish Fairy Tale said...

Ohh Great giveaway!! A Great halloween memory from when I as a kid was when I was a little girl and it was raining and I stumbled and dropped all of my Halloween candy in a puddle :( My little sister was sweet and decided to share have of her candy with me because I didnt have any left.

It was really sweet because she was only 6 lol

kristen_babygurl@hotmail.com

Great giveaway!!

Victoria said...

Great post and an excellent giveaway.
I'm GFC follower
I re-tweeted: http://twitter.com/#!/parajunkee/status/27823497660

Thank you.

debbie said...

When I was younger, my father would take me around to the store owners he knew, they would give me alot of candy, that other kids didn't get.
twoofakind12@yahoo.com

Judy said...

I loved trick or treating when I was alot younger!!

My mother would make homemade popcorn balls for everyone. You can't imagine how the word from each year to the other would bring scads of kids to our door. The sad thing is when all this crazyness started with poisoning and such , she could only make for the children that knew us:)

Judy (magnolias_1@msn.com)

Judy said...

I am a follower through GFC.

Judy
magnolias_1@msn.com

Kelly aka yllektra(I Work For Books) said...

Oh it is always the best thing to write about what you love and I guess that extends to all professions.. Do what you love! :)

Hmm, let; see. We don;t celebrate Halloween where I live but we do have some sort of Carnival in Febraury where we dress up as anything and dance around the streets!
I remember one time I dressed up as an indian girl and I was wearing the most epic wig of long, straight black hair and some feather thingy on my head. And when we were doing a parade everyone shouted indian battle cries at me! It was awesome! lol

yvantis[at]hotmail[dot]com

Kelly aka yllektra(I Work For Books) said...

I follow BlogwithBite.com on GFC, Email (Kelly A.// yvantis)


yvantis[at]hotmail[dot]com

Kelly aka yllektra(I Work For Books) said...

I shared the contest
Twitter http://twitter.com/yllektra/status/27854540245
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=887420205#!/permalink.php?story_fbid=159246377441448&id=887420205

yvantis[at]hotmail[dot]com

Lucy Beugeling-Ramos said...

Thanks for the giveaway!
I hope you will enter me, but I don't have great Halloween memories from when I was a kid, because Halloween is not celebratd in my country. I know, it's a shame!

# Follow BlogwithBite.com {GFC, Email}

# Spread the word in any way, twitter, facebook, post, sidebar, etc. {leave link}
http://twitter.com/#!/Lucy73/statuses/27855688895

lucybeugelingramos@gmail.com

Unknown said...

Hi,
One of my favorite memory's of Halloween when I was a kid was the year that two of my sisters and myself dressed up as KISS and we thought we were all that..I can remember laughing until I cried..
:)

baby_blackroze@yahoo.com

Unknown said...

Hi,
I follow you on GFC and I subscribe to your Email..
:)

baby_blackroze@yahoo.com

Unknown said...

Hi,
I Tweeted...http://twitter.com/#!/BabyBlackRoze/status/27878325767

:)

baby_blackroze@yahoo.com

k_sunshine1977 said...

i remember taking my siblings and their friends trick-or-treating, and then we'd head home and watch lots of scary movies while trading candy! boy, i love halloween!

k_sunshine1977 at yahoo dot com

k_sunshine1977 said...

i follow bwb through gfc

k_sunshine1977 at yahoo dot com

k_sunshine1977 said...

i follow bwb through email as well

k_sunshine1977 at yahoo dot com

k_sunshine1977 said...

i liked bwb on fb (kisah j.)

k_sunshine1977 at yahoo dot com

Bethany C. said...

I've been racking my brain, and can't come up with any good ones- but 2 bad ones! Depressing. I'll share that my mom told me my first time trick-or-treating with a bunch of friends that I stood in the middle of the street and yelled "Stop it- you're all acting like animals- I can't take it anymore!" I guess I haven't always been such a fan of Halloween.
b(dot)cardone(at)hotmail(dot)com

Bethany C. said...

like you on fb (Bethany C.)
b(dot)cardone(at)hotmail(dot)com

Avery said...

My favourite Halloween memory would definitely have to be when my friends and I all dressed up as the "Harry Potter" gang in the eighth grade and hit up our little town.

Thanks for the great contest!

Avery
elfee_2_ava@hotmail.com
http://averysbooknook.blogspot.com/

Heather said...

A great Halloween memory?
One night when I lived in Alaska, we had been sitting around telling ghost stories and vampire stories and werewolf stories, and my Dad had just gotten through telling a werewolf story went to let our dog out in the backyard... but when we opened the door, our dog started growling, so my Dad got a flashlight, and there, in the backyard, six sets of glowing eyes reflected back at us... it was a pack of wolves... staring at us! CREEPY!
littlebearries@yahoo.com

Heather said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Heather said...

I tweeted here:
http://twitter.com/littlebearries/status/28404189542
littlebearries@yahoo.com

Heather said...

I follow on gfc under the name you_were_almost_right

littlebearries@yahoo.com

Julie S said...

# Follow BlogwithBite.com {GFC, Email}

juliecookies(at)gmail.com

Julie S said...

# Like BWB on Facebook {Leave name last initial}
juliecookies(at)gmail.com

Julie S said...

I don't have a really good memory from Halloween, I just really liked dressing up and getting candy :)

juliecookies(at)gmail.com

Unknown said...

My favorite Halloween memory so far has been when my three year old (two at the time) was batman last year. When he puts on a costume he gets really into his character so the whole entire time he was wearing it I had to talk to him like he was batman and he would answer me with a rough gravelly voice because "that's how batman is supposed to sound" lol Thank you for the entry!!



noahsmommy414@yahoo.com

Lucy D'Andrea said...

My favorite Halloween memory is when I was dressed up as alice in wonderland when I was 10 years old and I spray painted my cat purple to match the cat in the movie :)

- I follow the blog
- I follow on Facebook


lucy.dandrea@gmail.com

Unknown said...

My fave Halloween memory is the year I went with my little cousin when she was just 5 yr.s old. I was going as a Zombie Prom queen. I wore a dress with a lot of makeup on; and ended up scaring my little cousin so bad that the next year she didn't go trick or treating again. And I was her favorite cousin! lol!
kelsey.gilley@gmail.com

Miss Delirious said...

My parents didn't celebrate halloween so my childhood memories are sitting real quiet in the house when the kids knocked on the door trick or treating! We had to pretend no one was home. lol

HOWEVER... Now that I have young kids, my husband and I really get into it by putting tombstones in the driveway, dangly ghouls and carving pumpkins.

Perhaps we're living our youth through our kids, but its so much fun!

"Liked" you on facebook too.

gem.wood@gmail.com

Megan said...

One of my favorite childhood memories of halloween was making our front yard into a huge graveyard with my dad, it would take us a whole weekend to put it all up.

Thanks for the giveaway!

megankyser at gmail dot com

Megan said...

I follow BWB on GFC.

megankyser at gmail dot com

Megan said...

I like you on Facebook (Megan Kyser)

megankyser at gmail dot com

Megan said...

I have your Halloween Hysteria Button on my blog.

http://amethystdaydreams.blogspot.com/

megankyser at gmail dot com

Megan said...

Tweeted the giveaway
http://twitter.com/mekyser/status/28988179120

meagnkyser at gmail dot com

Mare/TommyGirl said...

Great giveaway! I think my favorite Halloween memory was when I was ten and our Girl Scout troop leader threw us a Halloween party. I remember the peeled grapes as eyeballs and the scary stories with friends. So much fun.

tommygirl828 (at) gmail (dot) com

Mare/TommyGirl said...

I follow blog with bite via this email - tommygirl828 (at) gmail (dot) com

Mare/TommyGirl said...

tweeted - http://twitter.com/tommygirl/status/29003973346

Sugar and Snark said...

Thanks so much for a brilliant giveaway!!

I have no memory of Halloween :( We don't celebrate it in my country :(

chidoryx AT hotmail DOT com

Sugar and Snark said...

GFC Follower :)

chidoryx AT hotmail DOT com

Sugar and Snark said...

Like on Facebook (Lu-Marie C)

chidoryx AT hotmail DOT com

lisab said...

I love that you ask questions!!! What fun!

I mainly remember going through the neighborhood with a group of friends and seeing who could get the most candy! Parents did not feel the need to go with us back then so we pretty much ran wild through the streets, which we did not get to do after dark very often.

doreen lamoureux said...

My best memory is dressing up like monkeys and while we were trick or treating, we were climbing trees. Yap, I grew up in the bush.

dorcontest at gmail dot com

doreen lamoureux said...

I follow on google friend...dor
dorcontest at gmail dot com

doreen lamoureux said...

I subscribe by emil.
dorcontest at gmail dot com

doreen lamoureux said...

Like you on facebook.
Doreen R
dorcontest at gmail dot com