Please welcome Natasha Troop

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I’m an L.A. native currently transplanted into the Phoenix area. I live here with my spouse, two children and menagerie of pets. Aside from writing, I teach high school Theatre Arts and English and am the co-owner of a bakery.

Other than writing, what else are you passionate about?

As a Theatre Arts teacher, I am passionate about my students, their work and the plays we make together. It is my other art form and I love to create.

Why made you decide to become a writer?

It was just something that called out to me when I was 10 or 11. I was a passionate reader and I had this feeling in my gut that it was something I should do. That feeling has never disappeared.

What brought you to this genre?

My first favourite author was Stephen King and by the time I was a teenager, I was a voracious reader of horror and science fiction. I really loved the work of H.P. Lovecraft…the way he would slowly draw the reader into a character’s madness.

Do you ever suffer from writer’s block? If so, what do you do about it?

From time to time. To break them, I make myself write. Write anything, really, from a blog post to a poem or a journal entry. If I’m working on a novel, I make myself write at least ten words a day because I know that I cannot write just ten words.

Where do you get your inspiration, e.g. music, dreams etc

My mind is a weird place full of a lifetime of influences and my ideas seem to flow out of all that I have lived through.

Can you tell us a bit about your book?

Lakebridge:Spring is the first in a four book cycle. It is intentionally literary in that I was very conscious of writing in a way that emulates Virginia Woolf and James Joyce in certain stylistic ways. But at it’s core, it is New England horror about a small town that is, in a way, cursed and the effect that the curse has on the people who live there.

Describe your novel in five words.

Stansbury is a cruel lover.

Who is your favourite character and why?

Gil. He is kind of my avatar in the book. He sees the world as I do.

What are your current / future projects?

I have just published the second book in the series, Lakebridge:Summer and have begun work on the third, Fall. I will finish the cycle and then I plan on writing a book about a pyramid.

Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it?

That I could finish a book!

What do you think readers will find most notable about this book?

The very long sentences and paragraphs. But hopefully more than that, the sense of unease that the writing creates.

What would you most like readers to tell others about this book?

That they should read it! That it is a different kind of horror novel that mixes humour and observation.

Is there anything in your novel that would embarrass you if your Dad read it?

My father was one of my first readers and he loved it. Now I don’t know how he’ll feel about the second book…

What is the craziest question you have ever been asked in an interview?

If I ever found a teacher sexy. That question led me to find that teacher all these years later and she actually read my book and liked it.

 How do you react to a negative review of your book?

Negatively. It actually depends on how it is written. I know that my book is not for everyone and that some might not like my style. I’m good with that. It’s when a reviewer misses the point entirely that I have a problem.

You are leading 100 people in a survivalist situation, when suddenly your lives are in danger and you must choose between two courses of action. One would cause 10 of the people to die and everyone else would live, the other would have a 70% chance of saving everyone but were it to fail then everyone would die. Which would you choose and why?

As Spock said, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one.

If I asked you to include the phrase ‘A day without sunshine is like, you know, night.’ Somewhere in your next book, would you?

I’d love to. I know which character would say that as well. And then she would die. Horribly.

Would you consider yourself adventurous?

Yes when it comes to food.

Do you have any advice for other writers?

Write all the time.

Where can readers find you and more about your book(s)? Where can they purchase your book(s)?

They can go to my site at www.lakebridgecycle.com and buy it at Amazon or Barnes and Noble. It’s available in print as well as Kindle and Nook.

Chocolate or ice cream?

Yes.

What is your guilty pleasure?

Drinking a glass of cabernet sauvignon that could have paid for a small African village to get a water pump. That’s also Tim Minchin’s guilty pleasure, making Tim Minchin my guilty pleasure.

If you could have dinner with anyone famous, alive or dead, who would it be and why?

I would have dinner with William Shakespeare. I love his work and I would love for him to sign his name on my arm next to my tattoo of Hamlet. Then I would go and have his signature tattooed. And then I could prove that I had dinner with Shakespeare.

Who is you’re favourite fantasy character, either from a book or a movie and why?

Jareth from Labyrinth. One, because he was played by Bowie. And two, he’s awesome and funny and rather romantic in his own way.