Welcoming Brenna Yovanoff!

I'm delighted to have Brenna Yovanoff, author of The Replacement, on the blog today. Thanks so much for the guest post, Brenna!

Hi, everyone!

I'm Brenna Yovanoff and my book The Replacement comes out September 21^st. I'm so excited to be a guest on Andrea's blog today, and can't wait to host her on my own blog when Nightshade comes out next month!

Before I start admitting to embarrassing phobias—which I'll be doing in a paragraph or two—I'm going to tell you a little bit about The Replacement. In the most basic terms, it's the story of a boy named Mackie Doyle (who isn't human)(this is not a spoiler, because you find out in like the first two pages), and a town plagued by baby-thieves. It's also a story about fear, because I think fear is very interesting, and people stealing babies is scary, though not one of my phobias mentioned above.

I've always loved horror movies, and while I don't personally think that The Replacement is nail-bitingly, intolerably scary (mileage may vary—when I was eight, my favorite movie was Aliens), I was definitely trying to capture that certain horror movie atmosphere. You know the one—the creepy, ominous music and the blue filter. Yes, basically, it's a very blue-filter book.

Also, it rains a lot, which relates directly to one of my most prevalent and ridiculous fears. If there's anyone here who reads my short fiction over at merryfates.com, you've probably already figured out that I hate water. It's not one of those angry, righteous hatreds—I don't hate water like I hate rush-hour traffic and zucchini. I realize that water is delicious to drink and also necessary to the survival of our planet, and it's important to be hygienic. But my subconscious is having none of it and insists that water wants to kill me. Rain is especially bad, because it gets on you. Water is scary. Also, it makes you cold, which I do not like.

Now, at the risk of sounding totally defensive, there are lots of things I'm not scared of—dogs, spiders, heights, public speaking, thunderstorms, snakes, elevators, and buttons* are some of the things I'm not scared of. My catalogue of irrational fears is short. It's tidy, and almost manageable. It is as follows:

-Water

-Water you can't see the bottom of

-Clear plastic**

So, in honor of fear, The Replacement features both kinds of water. Also, underground parties, dead things, music, kissing, and something on fire. But no clear plastic.

Thanks so much for having me, Andrea—I'll be seeing you on my blog in October!