All About Middle Grade Interview with Sherel Ott [blog tour]
Guys, I am excited to be one of the tour stops for Sherel Ott's Princess Janai and the Warrior Maidens of Quinu blog tour. Hope y'all will enjoy her interview and enter the giveaway for a chance to win a copy of her wonderful sounding book.
About the author:
An eclectic collector of animation movies, Sherel Ott is a writer of fantasy and romance stories. One day while watching an animated movie, she noticed that there weren’t a lot of movies or books with girls of color in leading roles…as heroines, adventurers or with strong moral characters and wondered… Where were the influential leaders, doctors, lawyers or royalty of color? Why weren’t there any strong black female characters where a girl of color could be proud of her skin color and the type of person representing and say … “I want to be like her!” Wanting something more for her own nieces to look up to and strive to emulate, other than what girls of color were currently being portrayed as or should settle for is how her book initially took form. She wanted to show that there are black princesses, warriors, adventurers of all walks of life. That she should be and can be recognized for what she does and who her true self is, not be prejudged by what color her skin was.
As a fan of all fantasy, magical, mystical, celestial and other worldly creatures, Sherel began reading sci-fi/fantasy stories at a young age. (read her full bio here)
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Interview
- In five words tell us about your book:
The Labyrinth meets Arthur and the
Invincibles.
- So,
who exactly are the Warrior Maidens and what do they do?
The Warrior Maidens are an
all female military force from the age of 16 on up. They are responsible for protecting
the Royal Family and the surrounding region.
- Let's
talk personality traits. What would you say is Janai's best and
worst personality traits: How are they going to help or hinder
her throughout the book?
Her best trait is her optimism, which
will help her navigate the situations and adventures that she finds
herself in. Her worst trait is her being naïve. She has lead a
pretty sheltered life and even though she is aware of some of the problems in
the world, they have never directly impacted her; and she doesn't quite
understand why people are doing and feeling the way that they are.
- Sherel,
could you tell us a little about the setting of your book: Adventures of
Princess Janai and the Warrior Maidens of
Quinu: The Cities of Tonga and Tongia.
The setting in this book deals with
two cities, one shrouded in mystery (Tonga) and the other a
fabled/mythological city (Tongia). Tonga is a city that has been
enveloped in mystery for over a hundred years because anyone who has gone into
the area has never returned and the reason for that is the same
reason/cause that lead to it's downfall. The city of Tongia, is
the fabled city of the High Priestess Jinjura and the Goddess Ariana, when
they first came and lived among the people. Here too you will see what
has caused this city to "disappear" from the world of Quinu.
- Can
you share with us a two-sentence teaser from Adventures of Princess
Janai and the Warrior Maidens of Quinu"?
"That impertinent brat!
How DARE she humiliate me in front of all those people!" roared
Serlina. "A 12 year old little nobody. She will pay for
this." "But Mistress Serlina, she is the Princess"
Serlina's second in command, Zara, said.,
- If
you could have tea with any author living or dead, who would it be?
What would be the first question you would ask him?
That is a hard one...I am
so enamored with both Nora Roberts and Piers Anthony. But if I
really had to choose...it would be Piers Anthony. My first question would
be "What made you come up the the land of Xanth and it many denizens?
- The
world has fallen into robot invasion, and only one heroin/hero can save
the day, who would you choose?
I would choose...Lara
Croft. She is so ingenious and self reliant. She shows that even in
the face of failure, you should persevere and never give up. She shows
that females are very strong, intelligent, cunning, capable people...physically
and mentally.
- Last
book that kept you reading into the night?
Nora Roberts the "Cousins
O'Dwyer Trilogy". I really love her paranormal books.
Sherel, thank you so much for stopping by!! Loved hearing what you had to say about the setting for Princess Janai and the Warrior Maidens of Quinu.
All Janai wants is to be just like everyone else. Being the Princess and having to try out for the Warrior Maidens is just part of her problems. She has the present Warrior leader unhappy with the fact that she is trying out, because that means her time is almost up and she enjoys her “status” too much to give it up without a fight. Not to mention someone just froze two of her guards into living statues with the fabled Mist Flowers of Tonga. Now she and a small group of warriors must travel to a forbidden city and obtain the antidote before the two guards are lost forever…all in 24 hours. Is she capable? Will she make it in time?
You can purchase Princess Janai and the Warrior Maidens of Quinu through Amazon.
Hello Orchid,
ReplyDeleteOn behalf of Sherel Ott and Book Marketing Services, I would like to thank you for hosting Sherel today on The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia. She enjoyed the interview with you. If any of your readers have any questions and/or comments for Sherel, please leave them in the comment box. She will be by later in the day to respond.
Sherel is having a giveaway throughout her Virtual Book Blog Tour. You can participate on Facebook by clicking here: http://gvwy.io/om690v2 or on the link provided for the Giveaway in the posting.
Please join us tomorrow, Thursday, August 20th for Sherel’s guest post on Cassidy Wang, http://cassidywang.blogspot.com/2015/08/guest-post-featuring-sherel-ott-author.html. Her topic is the process of writing a book. Check where Sherel is each day on her ten day tour by clicking here: http://www.sherelott.com/virtual-book-blog-tour-schedule/.