Author Interview & Book Giveaway: Some Rivers End on the Day of the Dead by Eileen Clemens Granfors

Welcome to Author Eileen Granfors:

Eileen Granfors lives in Santa Clarita, California. A former army brat, Eileen is a proud UCLA alum. She joined the UCLA Writers’ Extension Program after retiring from teaching. Her work has been published in the Cup of Comfort series, the Ozarks Mountaineer, Bark Magazine Online, and WOW (Women on Writing) online. She has completed two novels and is working on a sequel to Some Rivers End on the Day of the Dead. She is doing research for a novel she promised her students a decade ago: A Tale of Two Cities: The Prequel.

Interview:

If you could travel in a Time Machine would you go back to the past or into the future?
Past—Elizabethan or medieval times

If you could invite any 5 people to dinner who would you choose?
William Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer, Margaret Atwood, Mary Oliver, Barack Obama

If you were stranded on a desert island what 3 things would you want with you?
A working computer, a ball, a means to make fire

What is one book everyone should read?
The Book Thief—seriously, I wrote to the Obamas and asked them to put it on their girls’ reading list or use it to read as a family.

If you were a superhero what would your name be?
Mighty Mouse

If you could have any superpower what would you choose?
Bring peace

What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
Strawberry

What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?
Yogurt and fruit and COFFEE

What's your favorite music genre? Favorite artist? Song?
Modern-country Western Kenny Chesney “Don’t Blink”

Is there anything you need in order to write? (ie Chocolate, quiet, music)
Music and computer

Night owl, or early bird?
Early bird

One food you would never eat?
Venison

Pet Peeves?
People who dominate a group conversation and no one else gets one word in

Skittles or M&Ms?
M&M’s

Favorite Cartoon?
Scooby Doo

If you could be one of the Greek Gods, which would it be, male or female, doesn't matter and why?
Calliope, the superior Muse of the 9 muses. She helped rulers impose justice and serenity. She was the protector of heroic poems and rhetoric art.

What is your favorite sport to watch on TV?
College hoops, especially UNC and UCLA

How do you react to a bad review?
First I’m mad and sad. Then I check to see what I agree with.

If you could be a paranormal creature, what would you choose to be?
Angel

What is your favorite book that has been made into a movie?
Wit

What do you do when you are in-between books?
Writing or reading? Writing, I write poetry and short stories (flash fiction) even when I am mid-novel. Reading, I am NEVER between books. They are stacked to the sky in my house.

Where is your favorite place to read/write?
Read—my Lazy Boy recliner. Write: my den

Please tell us in one sentence only, why we should read your book.
Marisol’s story will help you to understand the Hispanic-American culture in a vivid and optimistic way.

If you could jump in to a book, and live in that world.. which would it be?
Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin

What was your favorite book when you were a child/teen?
Child: The Big Wave
Teen: "Now That I'm Sixteen"

What is your favorite quote?
"IMAGINE A DAY. . .when the peace of a forest and the strength of a mountain become a cathedral for your heart." Sarah Thomson

If you were a super hero what would your kryptonite be?
Chocolate

If someone wrote a book about your life, what would the title be?
"My Family's Phoenix"

What is your guilty pleasure?
Watching my dogs run at the dog park. I spend way too much of my day at the dog park.

What TV show/movie/book do you watch/read that you'd be embarrassed to admit?
Say Yes to the Dress (isn’t that ridiculous?) and America’s Next Model; oh, and Hoarders

How did you celebrate the sale of your first book?
I said a prayer to my mom

Target audience:
high school teens, moms and daughters, book clubs that read YA, high school teachers, Hispanic Americans

Write a haiku about your book.
The Day of the Dead
Is not ghosts, goblins,candy.
It is sacred joy

Some Rivers End on the Day of the Dead by Eileen Granfors:
Fourteen-year old Marisol and her mother are on the run from their home in Tijuana, Mexico. Her father, investigating the drug wars as a journalist, has been murdered.

But Marisol’s new home is a riverbed camp in a rich California suburb. A wildfire separates Marisol from her mother and her school. Cut off and alone, she challenges herself to find a way to reunite with her family and to celebrate the Day of the Dead in Mexico to honor her father with the proper traditions.

Some Rivers End is a book that will keep readers laughing, worrying, and cheering for its Hispanic protagonist, Marisol de Lira Lima. Some Rivers End will appeal to a wide audience, boys and girls, ages twelve and up as well as to adults. It is the first of a planned trilogy (coming: a prequel, The Pinata Maker’s Daughter and a sequel, So You, Solimar).

Giveaway Details:
1 Copy of Some Rivers End on the Day of the Dead
Open to US only
Ends 2/7/11

Optional Extra Entry:
+1 Follow Eileen's Blog or The Book's Blog