Interview with S.M. Reine author of the Seasons of the Moon Series

SM Reine is an author of dark fantasy for teen and adult audiences. Her most widely known work is “Six Moon Summer,” which has been hailed as “fresh and fast-paced” and “captivating.” She lives in Nevada with her husband, the Helpful Baby, and too many black animals to count. Website / Twitter / Facebook

Hi Sara! Thanks for taking the time out of your busy writing schedule to visit Rabid Reads to answer a few questions!

THE BOOK

Do you have something against summer camp? I got that impression from your book. 😉

I had two lovely, pleasant experiences at camp as a child, aside from the abject humiliation. At my camp, you had to participate in everything, even if you couldn’t actually do it– for instance, I can’t swim, so they made me sit in the shallow end of the pool wearing a life jacket. (I wish I was making that up.) I don’t have a lot of warm fuzzy memories from that time.

Where did you get the inspiration that’s behind your particular brand of werewolves?

The idea of a werewolf’s monthly cycle got me thinking of how it compares to a woman’s monthly cycle, and how scary and strange that can be to a young woman. Themes of transformation, and the drastic ways we change in adolescence, developed from there.

I love the new cover art! Who’s responsible for them? Why the re-design?

Thank you! I make all my own covers. The original design for Six Moon Summer was one of my first, so it had a lot of problems and didn’t scale well. Once I knew more about the process, I couldn’t resist the urge to redo them.

How did you come up with the Gray mountain legends? Are they based on real folklore or strictly from your imagination?

I would like to say that the legends of Gray Mountain were developed with a lot of research and planning, but I’m a seat-of-the-pants kind of writer. They bloomed with the story. Which is a nice way of saying “I made it up as I went along.”

The third book, Long Night Moon, is due out sometime in 2012; what’s next for Riley?

I’m afraid things aren’t looking up for Rylie in the next book. She’s just settling into life at the ranch when a couple of strange werewolves show up in her town, which not-so-coincidentally coincides with a string of deaths. As you can imagine, it goes downhill from there.

Describe your Seasons of the Moon series in 5 words or less.

Werewolf girl has bad days.

WRITING

When did you start writing? Have you always dabbled in it or is it a new found love?

I’ve always been a writer. I started with short stories and plays in elementary school, and wrote my first novel in junior high. I wrote a dozen books as a teenager, but none of them were readable, I’m afraid. I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Are you as “dark” in real life as you are in your writing?

Goodness, no. I’m actually a normal working mom with an adorable toddler son, a passion for kitties, and a husband who looks like Harry Potter. Life is all unicorns and rainbows here. I must write “dark” to get away from the barf-worthy sweetness of reality.

What attracts you about YA?

I had a challenging time as a teenager. Like Rylie, I was awkward, gawky, and flawed, though I was blessed by wonderful friends and was never a target for bullying. Those are tough years for everyone, though. You’re treated like a child, but given adult responsibilities, and don’t have the experience or development to cope. Emotions run high. Everything is a huge deal. So, in other words, teenagers are fantastically interesting. I write what I would have liked to read at that age.

Your bio says that you collect swords. How many do you have and which one if your favorite?

Goodness, let me think. About ten. I’m very fond of my twin falchions (because I wrote another book where a character uses those swords), but my favorite has to be the longsword my husband brought me from France while we were still dating. He bought it on the first day of his trip and carried it all over Europe for me. That’s when I knew I would marry him.

What’s the biggest challenge for you in writing a book (from the original idea to the publication)?

The hardest part is always the emotional up-and-down of writing. One day, a project might be the best thing I’ve ever written; the next day, I hate it and can’t stand to see it! But I still have to finish it. It requires a lot of discipline.

You’ve recently branched out into the UF genre with your The Descent series. How is it different from YA? Do you like it more/less?

It’s all wonderful in unique ways. YA is largely different in length, vocabulary, and the age of the perspective characters; otherwise, older teens can read most of what adults do (although they will find different things more interesting). I might prefer YA a little because I naturally write at a shorter length. But I love both series and could never choose!

Anything to add?

Thanks so much for having me!

You’re very welcome! 🙂

Buy from: Rylie’s been bitten. She’s changing. And now she has three months to find a cure before becoming a werewolf… forever. Rylie Gresham hates everything about summer camp: the food, the fresh air, the dumb activities, and the other girls in her cabin. But the worst part is probably being bitten by a werewolf. Being a teenager is hard enough, but now she’s craving raw flesh and struggles with uncontrollable anger. If she doesn’t figure out a way to stop the transformation, then at the end of summer, her life is worse than over. She’ll be a monster.

Buy from: Rylie survived becoming a werewolf at great cost. She moves to her aunt’s ranch in the hopes she can enroll in a new high school and quietly continue her life… with a few distinct changes. She transforms into a beast every new and full moon and struggles to control her murderous urges. Without many werewolves left, it’s hard to stay in hiding. A family of hunters — Eleanor, Abel, and Seth — recognize the signs and follow Rylie to her new home. They want to stop her before she murders someone, and the only way to do it is with a silver bullet. Seth soon realizes the werewolf is Rylie, the one monster he failed to kill. Worse yet, he’s still in love with her. Torn between family and love, Rylie struggles to reconcile her feelings and control the wolf within while Seth fights to do what’s right. But what is right– obeying desire or duty?

Don’t forget to check out my review of Six Moon Summer if you haven’t already before you leave!

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