Blog Tour: Tammar Stein Interview and Giveaway

I'm excited to introduce Tammar Stein, author of the newly released Kindred, as one of the first stops on her blog tour hosted by The Teen {Book} Scene.

1. KINDRED is quite different from your other two published novels, what made you delve into fantasy?

I never intended to delve into fantasy. I was very intimidated by the crowds and as you said, my other novels were nothing like that. I was finishing up the edits on my second novel, HIGH DIVE, and kind of at loose ends. I was driving one day when this scene flashed through my mind: a young woman visited by a terrifying archangel. I decided to write it as a short story. I showed it to my husband and he said, “This is your next novel.” I was shocked. I literally said, “But this isn’t what I write!” However, since he was adamant there was more to the story then the ten pages he read, I started writing, figuring that within a few days my inspiration would dry out, I’d hit a brick wall--story wise--and move on to something else. That never happened.

2. What was your reaction when you first saw your cover? Was it what you had imagined?

I loved it! I thought it was moody and dangerous. I love that Mo is on the back. They really are two sides of the same coin.

3. Miriam is a unique name, what made you choose it for your main character?

As soon my protagonists come to me, they have their name. I don’t really know why her name is Miriam. It worked well, though, that Miriam and Moses are brother and sister in the bible. It’s a nice parallel.

4. What has been your favorite place to travel to?

So much of a traveling experience is about what happens when you’re there. So sure, Prague is gorgeous, but my favorite memory from there meeting an expat couple visiting from London. Even though Prague is such a large city, my husband and I kept running into them, at our hotel, at a museum, at a random restaurant. We ended up having dinner together. All I remember from that dinner is how hard I laughed at their misadventures in England and that we were the last table to leave.

In Ireland, it was that our bartender would sling hilarious insults at the band members playing Irish jigs by the peat fire.

In Rome it was getting locked out of the hostel after missing the ten o’clock curfew and hanging out with police academy cadets all night long. (A version of that even made it into HIGH DIVE.)

In the end, it’s always about the people I meet. Traveling seems to open me up to experiences that I probably just miss running errands in my neighborhood.

5. What's next for you writing wise?

I’m working on a companion to KINDRED. A very minor character from KINDRED will have their very own book where their story and their celestial encounters will be told.

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Thanks so much, Tammar! For more info on Tammar visit her website or check out my review of Kindred.

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I also have an ARC of KIndred to pass on to one lucky reader. US Only. Ends February 22.

Please fill out THIS FORM to be entered.