SOULLESS Blog Tour: Interview with author

Congratulations on the release of SOULLESS! Can you tell us a bit about it?
SOULLESS is set in Amador City in California, and it follows Mia and Roxanne – two teenage best friends who are extremely close, but now their lives are full of complications. Roxanne has a partner, a bakery, and a life that Mia craves. As this goes on, people start going missing from their small town, and bodies are found. Ryan – the boyfriend of Roxanne – goes missing, too. As the blurb says, ‘creatures appear in your bathroom, down your streets, and inside your bakery, and along with them they bring blood, action, and a hunger– a hunger for souls’. However, the biggest question the novel asks is ‘Who is the villain after all?’. It’s definitely a book that makes you think!

It sounds intriguing! Can you tell us how you came up with the idea?
I’m not too sure where the idea came from, to be honest, and I’m still not sure now! It’s definitely out of my comfort zone, and now it’s done I’m very happy with it. I started writing it about three times in the past before actually daring to write it. It wasn’t that I didn’t know how to write it, but it feature so many things that I’ve never thought about writing before, I didn’t want to ruin the idea!

What was the writing process like for SOULLESS?
I really enjoyed the writing process for SOULLESS. I had a clear outline which helped, but it was also my fourth book to be written for publication – despite the fact it was my second to be released – and so I felt ready to be able to try new things. I also used Scrivener – a writing programme – to write the novel on, and this helped massively when it came to researching and colour-coding. I got to know my characters really well, too, and I’m still sad to not be working on them anymore!

What was your biggest challenge with SOULLESS?
Definitely writing out of my comfort zone. The book has scenes with weapons in and how to work them, and despite the fact that I wanted to make these convincing, I had no knowledge whatsoever on how they worked. Thankfully, I was able to do some research and talk to several people, and so this really helped.

What sort of readers do you imagine would like SOULLESS?
Teens upwards will enjoy it, I think. It has elements that I hope appeal to different audiences – action, cakes, creatures, blood, kisses, and romance are some just to name a few! As well as teens, though, adults have read the book and told me they enjoyed it just as much!

Can you tell us a bit about your other writing?
Sure! My first book published was BONES ON THE SURFACE which was a book for children. After SOULLESS, my debut young adult novel, I have three more books coming out ranging from YA re-tellings of Hansel & Gretel to a contemporary novel set in Russia that’s mystery crime fiction. As you can see, my books are all very different to another.

I am interested to find out a bit about you too.  Can you tell us why you write?
I’ve always written from a young age, and I could often be found sat with a notebook and pen asking relatives to list a number of different things for me to spin a story out of. Later on in my childhood, I decided to start a family newspaper and charging my family to buy copies, so this plus the attraction of creating and getting lost to your own world in your story made me realise that being an author was something I really wanted to be!

What is next for you?
Next up I have two more young adult novels releasing in December 2013 and January 2014, before my first contemporary novel releases in April 2014. I’m very excited! However, I’m really interested in Middle Grade, and so this is a genre I may look into delving in during the future.

Thanks so much for being on my blog Joshua! I am looking forward to checking out SOULLESS!
Thank you for having me! I’ve really enjoyed it, and I hope you enjoy SOULLESS!

SOULLESS Blurb
Mia and Roxanne have always been the best of friends, supported each other through everything, and always been happy for one another… but that’s when things were simple. Fast forward to their teenage years, and life is now full of complications.. but only for Mia. Everything seems to happen to Mia, whereas Roxanne seems to have quite the sweet life – literally. She has the family, her bakery, and the love of her life – everything that Roxanne wants. But one day something terrible happens, and Ryan – her boyfriend – is nowhere to be seen, and people go missing and bodies are found. Creatures appear in your bathroom, down your streets, and inside your bakery, and along with them they bring blood, action, and hunger– a hunger for souls. Written from different points of view, SOULLESS will raise questions about each character and humanity as a whole, whilst being packed with action, guns, cakes, blood, kisses, and romance. Because the question is: Who is the villain after all? Maybe it just isn’t who you think it is… From the author of BONES ON THE SURFACE, and the much-anticipated THE SWEET LIFE and THEIR TIME TO GO, comes a story like no other…

Author Bio
Joshua J. Johnson is an author who lives on the East Coast of England. He began writing books after he learned that they don’t just randomly appear on the shelf, but rather people actually sit down and write them. When he isn’t writing his next novel, he enjoys reading, watching HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, and drinking milkshakes. He is also the author of BONES ON THE SURFACE and SOULLESS, as well as the upcoming YA novels THE SWEET LIFE, and THEIR TIME TO GO. You can find out more about him at joshuajstories.wordpress.com or follow him on Twitter @JoshuaJAuthor