Spirited Christine Rose, Author Extraordinaire!

Special, special feature today!

Christine is one spirited woman and simply bursting with energy and enthusiasm. Really, I wish I could bottle it up and let you all get a whiff of it here.

Christine, thank you for kicking off your virtual tour here!

Tell us about Rowan of the Wood!

Rowan of the Wood is a magical adventure tale mixed with tragic romance and Celtic Mythology. Cullen Knight is a seventh grader with a 1400-year-old wizard trapped in his head. Literally. Whenever Cullen gets scared, Rowan the wizard takes over Cullen’s body. Not only does Cullen have to deal with the ancient druid who has possessed him, but he also must deal with Fiana, the druid’s vampire wife, who wants to turn her husband into another vampire. To get to Rowan, she has to go through Cullen. Again, literally.

Fill us in a little about Celtic myths…

In our story, we focus on the mythology of the Celtic Otherworld. It is the mystical land of the dead and land of they fey folk. It is said that the veil between this world and the Otherworld is thinnest on Samhain (Halloween) night. This is the night that Rowan and Fiana are separated. This is the night that Cullen finds the wand. This is the most magical and powerful night in Druidic lore.

As an extra special treat, I'll be telling the sorrowful tale of Rowan and Fiana at libraries and Celtic/Renaissance Faires in the Bardic Storytelling Tradition, all with an accompaniment of an Anglo-Saxon Lyre (my husband built for me). You Tube

How did you get started with Renaissance fairs?

I worked my first Renaissance Faire when I was 17. I was a garland girl at the Texas Renaissance Festival, and my Faire name was Fiana. I became instantly enamored with the Rennie life, and I wanted to join the circuit! But my mother was horrified at the notion. I settled for visiting Renfaires as a patron for the next 15 years. Then I met Ethan, who also used to work at a Renaissance Faire in California (Black Point). We shared this and many other passions, so when our publicist suggested we attend Faires as vendors to promote our book, we embraced the idea to the fullest. I began creating artwork relating to our book. We're planning to attend Renaissance Faires and Celtic Festivals both large and small throughout the rest of the year vending our wares as merchants. The largest scheduled is Scarborough Renaissance Festival near Dallas, TX. We have several videos from our travels in our "On the Road to a Bestseller" series on YouTube You Tube

You also offer artwork…?

We do! I paint Green Men, sculpt dragons, and create calligraphic Ogham and Runic images. These are two ancient languages of the Druids and Anglo-Saxons. Ethan hand carves magic wands and little wizard magnets. You can see examples of our art work on our website Christine Rose under the "Art" tab. You can also see me painting one on YouTube you Tube

I love the setup of your website! How much of that came from you? (Or did you do it all?)

I do it all. Sometimes I'm quite overwhelmed with it all, as I've blogged about. I started dabbling in web design back in 1997. I taught myself HTML, and I still write and edit directly in the code. I've since fully immersed myself into Web 2.0! I produce two video vlogs per week on YouTube (TheTuberRose), I broadcast live from blogTV (TheTuberRose) every Monday at 1pm (and live from book signings), and I host a BlogTalkRadio show (christinerose) every Wednesday at 5pm. All times CST.

How did you get started with your show on BlogTalkRadio?
(And she's a darned good host, too!)

My cousin does a show (punkprincess) and turned me onto the possibilities around BTR. I was looking for further ways to be visible online while helping my fellow authors, and BTR seemed to be the perfect platform to do so! It's been great fun so far, and I look forward to doing more shows. It looks like actress/author Amber Benson might be joining me on BTR later in April!

Tell us about your RV – and do you have a photo to share?

The Geekalicious Gypsy Caravan! Since we are going to be driving all over the country this year on a book promotion tour, I thought it would be beneficial to basically be a mobile billboard. After all, you can write the best book in the world, but if no one knows about it, it'll fade into oblivion. Additionally, we have three dogs and a cat (who are our children) that travel with us. We had to have something of relative comfort in which to live. Our book cover artist, Ia Layadi, designed and painted the RV. I made a video of the process on YouTube You Tube Our Gyspy Caravan ensures that passersby will at least see the name "Rowan of the Wood" and get an eyeful of our beautiful pictish druid Rowan!

And the last word, Christine…?

Please read Rowan of the Wood! It's won a national award and has gotten great reviews from both critics and readers. It's available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle. It's also available wherever books are sold! If they're out of them on the shelf, they can order you a copy. Just ask!
http://tinyurl.com/5glym6 - Amazon
http://tinyurl.com/6o2afe - Kindle
CONTEST: I'm giving away $100 Barnes & Noble gift card! Just purchase Rowan of the Wood from Amazon between April 6-17 and email me the confirmation to enter! That's all you have to do! It's good for 10 entries.
Additional entries: Comment on my blog (5), Sign up for the Newsletter (5), Subscribe to YouTube & share with friends (10), review Rowan on Amazon (10), follow me on Twitter (5) & Facebook (5), and more!
All contest details are on Christine Rose

Finally - Join us for a Discussion on Goodreads Q&A with the Authors, April 6-17 Good Reads

Links:
http://www.christineandethanrose.com/
http://www.rowanofthewood.com/
http://www.youtube.com/TheTuberRose
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/christinerose
http://www.blogTV.com/People/TheTuberRose
http://www.twitter.com/christinerose
http://www.booktour.com/author/christine_and_ethan_rose
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5874.Christine_Rosehttp://www.new.facebook.com/people/Christine_Rose/757837181