Interview & Giveaway with the Wonderfully Talented Gini Koch

Gini: I write the Alien/Katherine “Kitty” Katt series for DAW Books. I live in Hell’s Orientation Area (aka Phoenix, Arizona) with my husband, 3 dogs (the Canine Death Squad) and 3 cats (the Killer Kitties), and one very spoiled daughter. Who admits to being spoiled, but wants me to tell you that she’s not as spoiled as the pets. And she’s probably right.

book 1

BnK:  Can you tell us about your Alien Series. 

Gini: It’s the best series ever written and a deal at twice the price! (Hey, you can not blame a girl for trying.)

The Alien series follows the exploits of Katherine “Kitty” Katt, who first discovers that the Roswell rumors are true, but with a twist — the aliens are here to help us and, as a side benefit, they’re all gorgeous. Kitty first gets involved helping save the world from parasitic superbeings. As the series progresses, Kitty gets deeper into Centaurion Division, and discovers that there’s a lot more evil out there to fight, and a wide variety of conspiracies to prevent and disrupt, with dangers both internal and extremely external to guard against.

Gini: I had a dream. I get at least 50% of my ideas from my dreams. This dream was dark, noir-ish, and scary. So I thought I’d write a dark, short, noir-ish horror story. Instead, Kitty’s voice and personality inserted itself, so by page 3 I realized it would be neither dark, nor short, nor horror. Martini breezed onto the page, charmed Kitty and me, and the rest is, as they say, history.

Gini: Oh, of course. However, I see a little bit of myself in every character I write. Including the villains. Perhaps especially the villains. (Be afraid. Be very afraid.) I am the God, they are my creations, they all have me in them somewhere.

Gini: Well, right now I’m contracted through Book 8, so Alien vs. Alien will release December 4, 2012, Alien in the House will release April 2013, and Alien Collective will release December 2013. I’m mapped out, as much as I map, through Book 12. And right now I can “see” through Book 16. So, basically, DAW says that as long as people are buying the books, they’ll be glad to publish the books.

Gini: Sure. I live spoiler free, but not teaser free. ;-D

In Alien Diplomacy, everyone’s dealing with a lot of change, and most of them aren’t dealing with it all that well, Kitty in particular. We see the return of some of my personal favorite supporting characters from an earlier book, and they affect things in a big, big way. And, for those who’ve been wondering when, if ever, they’d get an answer about what’s going on in Paraguay, that answer begins in earnest in this book.

Gini: Define “getting along”. LOL Seriously, though, yeah, they will. Just not saying when.

Gini: Well, he’s okay with readers and fans calling him Chuckie. Just no one in the books, other than Kitty (and Kimmy) can call him that.

Gini: *cough*

Gini: Yes, we call that a spoiler where I come from. But yes, Chuckie will have a normal life progression just like everyone else.

Gini: Well, that’s pretty much Alien Diplomacy’s main theme — how do you handle being moved into jobs you don’t want, weren’t thinking you were ready to move to, that turn out to be completely different than expected, or a combination thereof? Every character in the book is experiencing major change in some way, so they’re all dealing, and not everyone’s dealing with it well. But then, that’s the fun, isn’t it? If everyone handled all things perfectly, why would we want to read about it?

book 2

Gini: I know I should never say never, but it’s really unlikely. I get this question a lot, in regards to Christopher, Reader, Chuckie, a variety of other characters, and I don’t always answer it fully. But because it’s you…

#1 – This series is told in first person, from Kitty’s point of view. If I’d wanted to write other POVs, um, I’d have written this in 3^rdperson. LOL

#2 – Y’all have NO idea how hard it is to write a short story, do you? I’m a natural novelist. I do indeed write short stories, novelettes, and novellas (I refer you to what I have up at Musa — see answer to a question below — as well as other shorts published in a variety of anthologies). But they are HARD to do. HARD. So, when y’all ask for “just a little story”, what you’re asking me to do is to stop writing the next novel in the series, and to AGONIZE over something that, let’s be honest, is a throwaway.

I love all my fans dearly, but, seriously, ask yourselves this: What do you really want more? A short story about a couple supporting characters, or the next novel in the series? Because you can’t have both right now. (Oh, and my publisher votes for “next book in series”, and DAW has the deciding vote. ;-D)

#3 – This relates to #1. If I’d wanted to write things from Christopher’s POV, I’d have already done it. One of the things I enjoy about writing first person POV is that the reader can ONLY know what the POV character knows, sees, and experiences. Some readers may catch on to what’s going on FASTER than the POV character (which is, after all, part of the fun), but we don’t KNOW what’s going on in other characters’ minds. I enjoy that. I don’t really want to have to tell it all from another character’s POV. And, when I try, well, we usually end up with an entirely different book for an entirely new series, which is nice and all, but not what you’re asking for.

Can this answer change? Sure. Will it change any time soon. Magic 8-Ball says “unlikely”.

BTW, I do have a couple of characters I’m more than willing to do something with “outside” of the series. But not saying who and not doing anything with it right now. Because deadlines say I don’t have time to play.

book 3

BnK:  Can you tell us what you have coming up next for Kitty and the Crew?

Gini: Well, in Alien vs. Alien, we have the return of some characters no one ever wanted to see again, as well as the culmination of the Paraguay situation, along with a whole lot of scary stuff going on. But I’d have to say Alien vs. Alien is all about the birds.

Gini: Sure! My pen names include (but are not limited to) Anita Ensal, Jemma Chase, A.E. Stanton, and J.C. Koch — all of which have releases up at Musa Publishing (http://www.musapublishing.com/). As G.J. Koch I have a new series coming from Night Shade Books, Alexander Outland: Space Pirate, which releases June 5, 2012 ( http://www.nightshadebooks.com/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=240)

Alexander Outland: Space Pirate is science fiction set in the far future, with a lot of humor, action and romance. I think if you like Kitty & Company, you’re gonna love the Outland and his crew.

book 4

Pop Quiz:

Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi:Neither. I don’t drink Diet drinks, ever. I can taste fake sugar in anything and everything and I HATE the taste of fake sugar. It’s REAL Coca-Cola all the way, baby.

Rolling Stones or Aerosmith:Really? You have to ASK? Aerosmith, always and forever.

Pizza or Burgers: Both, with extra cheese

Bath or Shower: Shower at home, bath at nice hotels

Sun or Snow: I live in Phoenix, Arizona. SUN, baby. Sun.

Boxers or Briefs: Thong or commando

Christopher or Jeff: Both, and Chuckie, Reader, Gower and Buchanan, too (oh, look…a teaser…)

Ebook or Paper: Whatever the reader wants (for me, personally, it’s paper)

Romance Movie or Action Movie: Action

Batman or Superman: Wolverine

Gini: Taking them to infinity and beyond, and to a really good designer. (Oh, look…another teaser…)

Gini: Sure, I’d love to give away any book from my backlist (Touched by an Alien, Alien Tango, Alien in the Family, or Alien Proliferation), signed and personalized. And yes, open internationally.

BnK:  Okay to be entered for a chance to win one of Gini’s back list book.  Please fill out the Rafflecopter form below.  

Gini Koch lives in Hell’s Orientation Area (aka Phoenix, AZ), works her butt off (sadly, not literally) by day, and writes by night with the rest of the beautiful people. She writes the fast, fresh and funny Alien/Katherine “Kitty” Katt series for DAW Books, listens to rock music 24/7 (particularly, but not limited to, Aerosmith), and is a proud comics geek-girl willing to discuss at any time why Wolverine is the best superhero ever (even if Deadpool does get all the best lines). She also speaks frequently on what it takes to become a successful author and other aspects of writing and the publishing business. 

Her interests include seeing how often she can ask, “So, have I told you about this plot twist yet?” of her husband before he goes insane, going to rock concerts with her daughter, and training her pets to ‘bring it’. Gini started writing to have an excuse to stay up late playing on the computer while listening to music and mooning over pictures of Steven Tyler and Joe Perry. 

Now she’s expanded her thinking — she moons over a wide variety of hunks in order to keep the visual creative juices flowing. So to speak. 

Contact: gini@ginikoch.com