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We’re halfway through our Breathless Reads season today, with Fiona Paul joining us on the Penguin Teen Author Spotlight! Fiona has woven beauty, romance, and mystery together in VENOM, a novel as seductive and stunning as the city of Venice itself. We may have to wait one more day for the first book in The Secrets of the Eternal Rose series, but we can pass the time by finding out all about Fiona today!

Name: Fiona Paul

Novel: VENOM

Available: October 30, 2012

Who’s your favorite author, living or dead? I like lots of authors, but I’m going to say Dean Koontz. He’s the only author I can honestly say I’ve read every single one of his books. (That’s kind of an accomplishment too, since he has eleventy-million of them).

What’s your favorite thing about your book? Falco! Also, I like the cemetery scenes. I hung out in the oldest cemetery I could find and took copious amounts of notes to get the descriptions right.

If you could spend one year on a deserted island with one character from literature, who would you choose? Man. I feel like I’m supposed to say something really smart here, but all I can think is that I’d probably end up hating anyone that I had to spend a year with on a deserted island. I mean, imagine the power struggles. What if I wanted to build a shelter and he wanted to play coconut football? What if I wanted to hunt for food and he wanted to go swimming? And how big is this island? Is it big enough so that we can both have our alone-time? I pick whatever literary character is best at whittling a canoe out of a tree trunk. We have got to get off this island!

Where do you write? Dude, I write everywhere. I wrote a lot of my first book at a local coffee shop. I wrote most of my second book sitting at my kitchen table with my two kitties sleeping on the chairs next to me. I write at the library. I write at the pool. Sometimes I even write in the pool.

Who is your favorite hero or heroine of history? Wait. People actually have these things? I’m going to say Leonardo da Vinci because not only was he an artist, scientist, architect, engineer, and inventor, he was really good at all of those things. Am I the only one who suddenly feels like a slacker?

Do you tweet? What’s the funniest thing you’ve ever tweeted? I tweet some. I’m not sure any of it is ever funny. It’s hard to be funny in only 140 characters.

What is your favorite season? Autumn

If you could teleport anywhere in the known universe right now, where would you go? The summit of Mount Everest, but only if I can grab a jacket first.

Do you have any writing rituals? My usual ritual is as follows. Make coffee. Play with kitties. Write a paragraph. Check email. Forcibly remove kitty from laptop. Write another paragraph. Check twitter. Follow link to random picture of baby animal. Send baby animal picture to my sister. Write another paragraph. Check email again. Repeat until I reach 3000 words.

What is your idea of earthly happiness? Health, friends, family, traveling, helping others. And books. Lots and lots of books!

What is the best concert you’ve ever been to? It was a Christmas show put on by the local alternative rock station KPNT. It was in a tiny dive bar that doesn’t exist anymore and featured Soul Coughing, Marcy Playground, Less than Jake, Dishwalla, and Finger Eleven. I remember that the bass guitar was so thick it felt like the music was coming from inside of me.

What are you currently working on? I am working feverishly on the third book in the Secrets of the Eternal Rose trilogy.

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Thanks Fiona! We can’t wait to start reading your series!

Find Fiona on her website, her blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

Like VENOM on Facebook and add it to your “to-read” shelf on Goodreads!

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Pre-order VENOM on IndieBound, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and iTunes.