In Which I Interview Samantha Combs

Hey everyone and welcome to Mera’s YA Book List!

Today we have Samantha Combs, author of several amazing books here with us!

Thanks for joining us again Samantha!

Fun fact:  Samantha was actually our first author interviewee as well!

Mera: The last time you were here, you said your favorite book was The Help. I know it probably changes a lot. What’s your current favorite?   

Samantha: I still love The Help!  The writing style was like I was listening to a story on my grandmother’s lap.  While it does change, it hasn’t so far!

Mera: For those Listers who don’t know much about your novels, can you tell us a bit about them all? 

Samantha: My YA novels are all paranormals.  Spellboundis about a teen witch and her journey to love and happiness while an evil demon is hunting her.  Everspell, the sequel, takes you further into the lives of the Starrs and the Daniels as they, and their friends, strengthen their family and their powers.  Ghostly is about a young teen girl who discovers her insecurities make her attractive, even to a hunky ghost!  The Detention Demon is my middle grade horror about, what else?  A detention teacher who may or may not eat his students.  I also have two adult horror collections.  Paranormal writing is just a door opening to horror, I have found, but I honestly love writing in both genres.

Mera: Since the publication of Spellbound, you have been on a role when it comes to writing. Has anything significant changed about your writing process? 

Samantha: I’m prouder of what I am creating, and feel as though I have tightened my writing style.  I think that now, a book can be recognized as mine just by the style.  Writing the short stories has really helped me focus on my current project, making it less wordy, tighter, and teaching me how to spin a believable yarn in a short time period.  A great agent told me that if you can write a short story, you can write anything.

Mera: You have a new book, entitled Waterdancer coming out soon. Can you tell us about the characters?  
 

Samantha: Probably more than any other book, the main character draws heavily from my own teen years.  Very autobiographical, Bailey Wasserman is a teen girl on the cusp of womanhood, dealing with first love, buried feelings of abandonment, a new stepfather and a new school, all in the same summer.  Ask my Mum.  That was so me.

Mera: If you had to pick one, which of your many diverse characters do you relate to the most?

Samantha: Definitely Bailey, from Waterdancer.  And I have a character in my newest finished project who is cocky and cool and just a tiny bit unsure of herself, worried what others see in her and pretending not to care.  Also me, from my teen years.  The new character’s name is Calliope Flood.  Callie for short.

Mera: You’ve written books about witches, ghosts, and now sea creatures. You’ve even written  horror anthologies. Can I ask what is your favorite mythological or paranormal creature?

Samantha:  I love the unrestrained parameters of a witch.  She can be as powerful as you want to make her, with whatever talents you wish to bestow.

Mera:  It’s apparent your muse loves you. What are you two working on currently? And by that I mean, can you tell us about your upcoming projects?  

Samantha:  I hinted about it.  I have just completed a book I am very excited about.  I’m working on the logline, so cut me some slack if this sucks.  The Deadlies is about  a group of moneyed, privileged girls from a Southern, antebellum prep academy possessed by the demons of the seven deadly sins, and the plucky lass who is destined to free them from their evil.  Or something like that.

Mera: If you could spend a day with ANYONE, alive or dead, who would you choose? I promise this isn’t a ruse for you to choose me? I mean besides me, lol! ;) 

Samantha: It’s a toss-up.  I’d love to spend the day with Stephen King, napping, writing, and counting my money.  But, seriously, since I was a child, I have had an enormous respect for forward-thinking, intelligent women.  Gamechangers.  I would love to hang out with Amelia Earhart or my Grandmother.  Luckily, I have my Mum.  I love spending the day with her.

Mera: Besides writing, what is your absolutely favorite thing to do?

Samantha:  I love to cook.  Creating beautiful meals or cakes and desserts really makes me happy.  And I am a crafty person too.
 

Mera: We’ve reached our last question, unfortunately. Here is where I must ask: Is there anything else you’d like my Listers to know?   

Samantha: I’d like them to know I write for them.  I write for the person who wants to snuggle under a blanket with a good book and I want to provide that good book.


Again, thanks so much to the wonderful Samantha Combs for visiting us today! I absolutely adore her!
Check out her books! And if it pleases you check out our past interview and my reviews (linked below).

Happy Reading!

Spellbound Review from MYABL
Ghostly Review from MYABL

FIRST Interview with Samantha

As if high school isn’t hard enough, try being Bailey Wasserman.  Try being the new girl in town, navigating a touchy relationship with your flighty mom’s rich new husband in a brand new town he’s just moved you to.  Add to that finding out that your father, a semi-pro surfer who’s just mysteriously re-entered your life after nearly fifteen years of silence, is half sea-creature and you’re about to inherit that particular gene on your sixteenth birthday which is only a few days away, all after you just met the cutest surfer boy you’ve ever seen in your life.

  

Bailey feels she and her mom have always met life’s challenges as a team of two, more like best friends than mother and daughter.  But her mom’s recent marriage has changed all that. Having her little brother Landry is all Bailey can find good about that union.  The move to wealthy Del Mar from their humble beginnings has turned Bailey sour, until a chance meeting of surf hottie Jack West changes all that.  Then, when her father reenters her life, with his annoying Zen-surfer lingo and a talking turtle he claims is her spirit guardian, no less, he threatens the only relationship Bailey thinks is working in her world. She soon finds out that’s not all his arrival will do.  His presence and their shared family trait could ultimately force Bailey to make a decision that will alter the course of her own life and those she loves…..forever. 

Samantha's Links!
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