Author Interview and Contest: Shannon Greenland's Native Tongue

The winner of last week's contest for The Winning Element is....

Liviania of In Bed with Books

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This week, Shannon is giving away a signed copy of book 4 in the Specialists series which comes out TODAY - Native Tongue. Not only that, she's also signing and giving away a set of all four books to our grand prize winner! So next Thursday August 7th, we'll have 2 winners - YAY! Contest details after the interview.

Ok now we’re on the 4th book in the series, Native Tongue and it comes out today. What are you doing to celebrate? Well, aside from a celebratory margarita at my fave place, I’ll be speaking to a roomful of writers this coming Saturday. And after that, I’ll be hitting the stores to sign stock—always a fun time.

Give us a quick summary of the book? A South American Indian girl has mysteriously emerged from the jungle carrying a centuries-old vase. Legend has it that this vase was important to the culture and heritage of at least fifteen different North and South American Indian tribes. And now that it has been discovered, all fifteen nations want it back. Enter Parrot—with his amazing linguistics skills—will serve as an official translator. Meanwhile, GiGi will be heading to a cave with ancient hieroglyphics that purportedly reveal the rightful owners of the vase. It’s up to GiGi and her coding expertise to try to decipher them. Of course there’s a hitch. One of the tribal chiefs is connected to Parrot’s past—in a bad way.

So, the Specialists team is down in South America in the jungle and they are served Monkey stew for their first breakfast – ew!! What’s the grossest/weirdest thing you were ever expected to eat? Did you eat it? I’m bummed to say nothing more exciting than pickled pigs feet. And, yep, I did eat it. Actually, I’ll eat about anything you put in front of me (except liver—talk about ew!)

Parrot has an amazing ability to pick up languages (I envy him!) and he speaks at least 16 fluently. Do you speak any foreign languages? I can get by in Spanish. Enough to ask where the bathroom is and, of course, for another margarita.

All the books are set in pretty exotic locales, fake, but certainly similar to real countries. Which places did you actually travel to for your research, if any? Oh, man, traveling is my vice. I’ll go in debt to see something cool. I’ve been a ton of places: Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, Germany, Austria, Venezuela, Columbia, Bermuda, Bahamas, Isle de Margarita, Canada, Mexico, and lots of others. I can’t say I traveled specifically to research for my books, but I can say I draw from experiences of that travel while I write my books. Next stop for me, though? Hawaii!

If you were asked to write a prequel novel that went deeper into one of the specialists back stories, which character would be the center of it and why? Oh, I would totally do TL (team leader Thomas Liba). There’s something about him that tugs at my heart strings. He’s got such a mysterious past. I would definitely love to explore it. Plus, he’s just plain sexy. LOL.

Do you have any other book related projects in the works that you can tell us about? What can we expect from you in the future? Oh, yes. I’m writing a teen romance right now tentatively titled EM. Its due out in 2010. It takes place on a fictitious island much like Bermuda. I’ve got a few other things brewing that I can’t talk about right now, but definitely keep watch on my website for announcements!

Thanks Shannon! I've had so much fun these past weeks and I wish you all the best in the future. And hopefully book 5 will get a publishing date soon, because I can't wait to read it!

So everyone, for a chance to win Native Tongue or the set of all 4 Specialist books, just comment on this post.

Extra entries for:

+2 Posting a link to the contest on your blog

+2 Commenting on my review of Native Tongue

and +1 for every comment you make on any post this week!

Only open to residents of the US and Canada!

PS - I posted this on the bloggy giveaways carnival. There are over 1,000 contests going on where you can win books, crafts, gift certificates, and much more. Check it out here.