Today Love Bytes is saying hello to author Geneva Vand who is joining us today to talk about her release “Granola Bars and Spaceships.

Geneva talks to us about the release and how ideas come or don’t come to an author  and brought a fabulous giveaway !

Welcome Geneva 🙂

People often ask authors where their ideas come from. Sometimes we can’t answer because we don’t know. Seriously, we don’t. You’ll be lying in bed at 2:00AM and suddenly you’re like “What if this guy from Omaha got turned into a pixie? What’s his name? Umm…Gerald!”. You shrug and you go with it. And hopefully you make notes or something because in the morning you’ll wake up, be super confused, and not remember anything other than it seemed brilliant at the time.

But occasionally you can actually answer the question. Granola Bars and Spaceships is one of those times, if you’re interested. It was a while ago, and I don’t remember it perfectly, more the idea of it. But here is approximately what happened.

Less Than Three Press had posted a collection call for stories about human-alien relationships. I was sort of internally pouting because it sounded fun but I simply could not come up with anything that didn’t sound, well, stupid.

But then one afternoon my husband and I were out running errands in town. Since we both tend to do the hangry thing, we made ourselves stop for lunch at Chipotle. So we were sitting at the counter-style table (because the chairs at the regular tables are some kind of previously unheard of torture devices) looking out over the parking lot.

The parking lot is long, narrow, and badly planned. On the other side of it, there’s a strip mall that was built about the same time as the building the Chipotle is in. I don’t remember how many storefronts are in it. Maybe about five. But there was a GNC, a cell phone provider, something else I don’t remember, and that was it.

So we’re sitting there, kind of tired, staring at this stereotypical half empty strip mall and my husband says something along the lines of “I wonder why there’s always empty stores in strip malls?”

Now the two of us are geeky and strange. Therefore, the conversation that followed started with normal things, like rent and turnover and the flailing local economy, but it quickly evolved into things like monsters, wizards, and fae creatures hanging out in empty storefronts that aren’t actually empty. And then one of us said something about aliens hanging out there and using some kind of ability to hide themselves and chase humans away.

Fireworks went off in my brain.

I got really excited and my husband probably got really confused. Until I explained about the collection call and how I’d been pouting because of writer’s block. Idea block? And then he started asking questions and making me build plot. Basically making up a verbal outline right there in Chipotle.

Since I know my short-term memory is terrible, I started taking notes on my phone. But then I realized he was done eating and I wasn’t, per usual. I eat slow? So I finished my burrito while he typed random collections of words I mumbled at him into my notes app so I could remember all this brilliant nonsense later.

I wrote like a maniac to meet the deadline and tossed it at the poor souls tasked with going through the submissions. It didn’t fit in with the collection, but they liked it enough to keep it anyway.

So there you have it. Granola Bars and Spaceships exists because of a sort of ugly strip mall across from Chipotle and our inherent strangeness.

 

Title: Granola Bars and Spaceships

Word count: 47,000

Publisher: Less Than Three Press

Blurb:

In the middle of a training trip, Keeska’s shuttle navigation fails and strands Keeska on Earth—alone, no way to contact home, and with no chance of help from the locals…until one does. When Eric starts leaving food in front of an abandoned storefront in the crappy strip mall by his house, he thought he was helping a dog or a homeless kid. He gets the shock of his life when he discovers an alien instead. Not sure what else to do, especially with the alien bleeding and in shock, Eric realizes he’s about to have an unusual houseguest. But as Keeska’s health improves, they both forget that Keeska should probably be finding a way home. As they grow increasingly close, they are forced to figure out the answers to questions they never thought would have to be asked…

 

Buy links:

Less Than Three Press

Amazon

Geneva Vand currently resides in Chicao, IL. She has a weakness for Indian food and would probably live off naan and chicken curry if you let her. She reads too much and listens to all kinds of music when she remembers to turn it on. When she is not distracted by reading books, she can sometimes be found trying to write them. Or you might find her cross-stitching and watching some kind of fantasy or crime TV show.

Geneva blames her current level of sanity entirely on her husband. She’s not sure why he hangs around a silly person like her, but with the help of the cats he keeps her feet firmly planted on the ground. She appreciates it.

She loves to hear from her readers. Feel free to contact her by email or on social media.

 

https://www.facebook.com/GenevaVandAuthor/

https://www.queeromanceink.com/mbm-book-author/geneva-vand/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16070675.Geneva_Vand

https://www.instagram.com/genevavand/

genevavand@gmail.com

 

Cozy Night with a Book Box to include a paperback copy of Granola Bars and Spaceships with some goodies (US only)

And an ebook copy open internationally of Granola Bars and Spaceships.
a Rafflecopter giveaway