Welcome paranormal romance author, Sandra Schwab....

 Hi Sandra! It's great to welcome you to my blog for the very first time - I'm looking forward to learning more about you and your work. Wishing you lots of sales and success with your latest release, CASTLE OF THE WOLF! Let's start with my questions...

1.)              What is the strangest talent you have?

It's not exactly a strange talent, but I love sketching, especially when I'm on holiday. It's a fantastic way to explore new places: I notice more details, and I remember places that I've sketched in a slightly different way than places of which I've just taken a picture with my camera or phone.

Moreover, sketching is an awesome way to get to talk to people because they will stop and watch what you are doing. When I visited Berlin for the first time, I went up on the Alex, the television tower. It's typically packed up there, and people walk around, taking pictures in quick succession. By contrast, I went around much more slowly, sketching different vistas – and at one point, about 10 children had assembled behind me and were whispering, "What is she doing? Is she SKETCHING? What is she sketching!?!?" So I started to tell them a little about the buildings I was drawing. It was great fun. And about an hour later, when I was down on the ground and went into a donut shop to grab a quick bite, several people started a conversation with me because they had seen me sketching up on the tower.

And if you're really lucky, you might meet people who live in the area and who might tell you some stories about the things with which you've filled your sketchbook.  

2.)              What is the best Halloween costume you’ve ever worn?

I live in Germany, where Halloween has only become a thing in the past couple of years. But we've got carnival and dress up for that! As a little girl I loved to dress up as a cowgirl. (I even had a cowboy…sorry, cowgirl hat!)

3.)              Are the titles of your books important?

The titles of my books often refer to a central theme or motif of the story, e.g., the title of my very first novel, The Lily Brand, refers to what both connects and separates the two main characters, while Castle of the Wolf underlines the gothic elements of the book and also gives you a hint what the main setting of the story is. And the titles of my Victorian series about a fictional 19^th-century magazine give you the name of said periodical in the subtitle: Allan's Miscellany.

4.)              If you’re struggling with a scene or difficult character, what methods help you through it?

I am a plotter and I typically use a mindmap to plan my novel and to work out problems. Mindmapping is a fantastic way to develop a story "organically" and make recurring themes and motifs visible. The more detailed my mindmap is, the less problems I have during the writing of the book.

5.)              Do you prefer dog, cats or none of the above?

Both! I lived with cats for most of my life, and now my parents have got two little dogs, Tinka and Charlie, whom I love very much.

6.)              Who’s your favourite author? Why?

Rosemary Sutcliff. She wrote historical fiction, mainly for children, and I fell in love with her books when I was eight years old. In her novel, she not only brought history to life, but she also created such vivid scenes and imagery that I've remembered specific moments from her stories for decades. Her novels set in Roman Britain – such as The Eagle of the Ninth or Frontier Wolf – are particularly good.

7.)              Do you have a pet peeve?

I hate it when the majority of female characters in a book are depicted as weak and incompetent or completely bitchy.

8.)              Do you remember your dreams when you wake up in the morning?

When I haven't written anything in a while, I get the most vivid (and really weird!) nightmares – and unfortunately, I tend to remember those and they keep creeping me out for at least half a day. Ugh! Talk about a stern Muse!

Blurb:

Into the Darkness
Celia Fussell's father was dead, and she was reduced to the status of a poor relation in the house of her brother - the new baron - and his shrewish wife. A life of misery loomed ahead.

But, no. There was hope. Deep in the Black Forest, in the Great Duchy of Baden, was Celia's inheritance. Among fir trees so dark they looked almost black, the Castle of Wolfenbach rose, a skeletal ruin adorned by gargoyles where even locals feared to tread. It was a fortress of solitude, of secrets, of old wounds and older mysteries. But it was hers. And only one thing stood in her way: its former master, the hermit, the enigma ... the man she was obliged to marry.

If you’d rather armchair-travel to the Black Forest instead (minus the slugs), check out her latest (re)release, Castle of the Wolf, originally published in 2007 and now available again on:
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IDD8K7U/
Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1133885806
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/2940153356716
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/Search/Query?fcmedia=Book&query=9783000400926

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Sandra Schwab is an author, artist, and translator. She earned a PhD in English literature with a study on the history of dragonslaying, and she now uses some of her fiction to shamelessly fangirl over Punch, her favorite Victorian magazine. She appeared on the BBC documentary Great Continental Railway Journeys to talk about the Grimms’ fairy tales (while walking through a rather muddy stretch of the Black Forest) (there were a lot of slugs too).

Sandra lives in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, with a sketchbook, a sewing machine, and an ever-expanding library. You can find her online at www.sandraschwab.com,or chat with her on Twitter (https://twitter.com/ScribblingSandy) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/SandraSchwab.Author/).