Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater

BALLAD

by Maggie Stiefvater

Fantasy Young Adult
Flux
www.MaggieSteifvater.com

5 Signed Copies will be given away on Friday, October 2, 2009



About the Book:

Remember us, so sing the dead, lest we remember you

James Morgan has an almost unearthly gift for music. And it has attracted Nuala, a soul-snatching faerie muse who fosters and then feeds on the creative energies of exceptional humans until they die. James has plenty of reasons to fear the faeries, but as he and Nuala collaborate on an achingly beautiful musical composition, James finds his feelings towards Nuala deepening. But the rest of the fairies are not as harmless. As Halloween—the day of the dead—draws near, James will have to battle the Faerie Queen and the horned king of the dead to save Nuala's life and his soul.

Book Trailer:

Check out our exclusive interview with Maggie Stiefvater!

1. A soul-snatching faerie? Sounds like something we should be afraid of! Where'd you get the idea for a character like this?

Actually, I was reading through one of my absolute favorite books, THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FAIRIES by Katharine Briggs, and I came across the entry for the leanan sidhe -- a fairy that traded creative brilliance for your health.

Yeats spoke about the leanan sidhe too, and the concept of a hungry muse, the idea that creativity could be dangerous, the idea of a tangible threat tied to brilliance -- I loved it. It was a great way to play with two of my favorite things -- faeries and music.

2. Did you study any traditional faerie lore in writing this series or did you make up your own? Or a combination of both?

Definitely a combination. I started with a base of traditional lore and then added and cobbled together other pieces I'd invented or warped -- like the idea of Nuala having to burn every sixteen years.

3. Which is your favorite character in the series to write? Which is your least favorite? Or maybe I should say, which is easiest to write? Which is most difficult?

James was easiest to write, hands down. He has the same sort of humor as me and is incredibly complex and rewarding. Nuala was trickier. She would've been easy to write in a really two dimensional way and I was trying to keep her more nuanced.

4. You have a lot of fabulous things going on: This series and the bestselling *Shiver * series. How do you balance your time and creative energy between the two? Do you ever feel drawn to one world while you're on deadline to finish a book in another?

I definitely do feel torn between them, usually after working on one of the books for awhile. I start longing to write a book with more folklore (if I'm writing a Shiver book), or start dying for more realism (if I'm writing a Lament book). My schedule after the Shiver trilogy is done sort of perfectly balances folklore and realism books, one and then the other and then back again.

5. What's up for you next? Will you continue to write books for both series? Will you start a new series?

There is definitely new stuff in the works that I can't talk about. And I don't think I'm done with the Lament gang quite yet. After Forever, the third Shiver book, I'm working on something top secret that involves blood and beaches and kissing.

About the Author:

Maggie Stiefvater's life decisions have revolved around her inability to be gainfully employed. Talking to yourself, staring into space, and coming to work in your pajamas are frowned upon when you're a waitress, calligraphy instructor, or technical writer (all of which she's tried), but are highly prized traits in novelists and artists (she's made her living as one or the other since she was twenty-two). Maggie now lives a surprisingly eccentric life in the middle of nowhere, Virginia, with her charmingly straight-laced husband, two kids, and neurotic dog. Visit her online at: www.MaggieStiefvater.com

**Please enter to win using the form on the left side bar of our website. Comments left on the post, while appreciated, are not used as entry. Thanks!