Interview and contest: Kate Johnson - The Untied Kingdom

Today I welcome Kate Johnson to my blog. She has a new book out, The UnTied kingdom, and it was a good one (my review). At the bottom of this interview there is a contest where you can win it :D

Welcome to Mur-y-Castell!

Tell me something about yourself, so my readers can get to know you better.

Well, I live in the south east of England and I’m a devoted cat slave. I’d love to tell you something exciting about my past as a daredevil treasure-seeking archaologist, international espionage agent or platinum-selling rockstar, but I’d probably have to kill you. I’d also be lying, since the closest I’ve got to any of those is being a check-in agent on international flights, who occasionally sings a bit and likes shiny things.

Your newest book is called The Untied Kingdom; can you tell me what it is about?

It’s about Britain...but a different Britain. One which has never won a war, run an empire, or developed an industrial revolution. While the rest of Europe is as modern and high-tech as we’d recognise it, England is like a medieval country, whose only industry is war. During the fourth civil war my hero, Major Harker, is trying to keep himself and his men alive, when an alien drops out of the sky and into the Thames. Only it’s not an alien, it’s a paraglider called Eve, and she seems to have come from a different world. Ours, in fact.

The book is sure a mix of genres. What would you like to call it?

Um. I think we’re going for ‘paranormal romance’ but I’ve also defined it as ‘alternate universe’ or ‘alternate history’. ‘Alternate universe romance’ perhaps, in lieu of anything slicker!

Do you have any plans on going back to this parallel world?
Well, sort of. People keep asking me for a sequel, and I do like thinking about what happens next for Eve and Harker. But right now the plot details elude me, so it might be a while!

Where did you get the inspiration for this so familiar, yet still so unfamiliar world?
It was a series of ’what ifs’. My American friend Amy and I were joking about Britain being a third-world country, and I sat back and wondered how, exactly, this damp little island on the edge of the world managed to become a world power in the first place. I concluded we’d just been very lucky and punched above our weight—and then I took away all of the things we’d done right and ended up with this dark, bloody, muddy sepia-toned world, and thought, ”I’ve got to write about that!”

If a movie was made (BBC look here), then who would you cast in the main rolls?
Ooh I love this game. I’d have Richard Armitage for Harker—you know, when he’s not busy filming superhero movies or Tolkien epics. I’ve got such a crush on him! And it took me a while, but then I saw the Weeping Angels episode of Doctor Who and realised Carey Mulligan would make a perfect Eve. You know, when she’s not busy being Oscar-nominated. Emma Watson or Keira Knightley for Tallulah, and Burn Gorman for Daz. Saskia would have to be someone cool and poised, like Kristen Scott-Thomas or Rachel Weisz, and General Wheeler would be Judi Dench.

Are you working on something new and exciting right now?
I’m just finishing up my next book for Choc Lit, Run Rabbit Run. It’s a chick-noir story in my Sophie Green Mysteries series, in which Sophie is accused of murder and goes on the run while her MI6 agent boyfriend tries desperately to clear her name. After that, I’ve got a whole book to write, this time back in a fantasy universe, about a unique class of people with magical powers, a fearsome warlord, and a terrified slave.

Any advice for aspiring writers?
Don’t give up. If you do, you’ll never get published. If you keep trying, you might get published. I know ‘might’ isn’t as good as ‘will’, but it’s better than ‘never’.

Thanks!

GIVEAWAY
1. Open worldwide
2. Ends April 28th
3. Go ahead and enter.
If you want you can ask a question, comment on the interview, or perhaps tell us if you would like to live in this parallel world.

PS:
You can choose when you win if you want a printcopy or an e-book

Have fun!

The UnTied Kingdom by Kate Johnson - OUT NOW

When Eve Carpenter lands with a splash in the Thames, it's not the London or England she's used to. No one has a telephone or knows what a computer is. England's a third world country and Princess Di is still alive. But worst of all, everyone thinks Eve's a spy.

Including Major Harker who has his own problems. His sworn enemy is looking for a promotion. The general wants him to undertake some ridiculous mission to capture a computer, which Harker vaguely envisions running wild somewhere in Yorkshire.

Turns out the best person to help him is Eve. She claims to be a popstar. Harker doesn't know what a popstar is, although he suspects it's a fancy foreign word for 'spy'. Eve knows all about computers, and electricity. Eve is dangerous. There's every possibility she's mad.

And Harker is falling in love with her.