Author Interview - Penny Ehrenkranz

Today, I'd like to welcome author Penny Ehrenkranz to my blog. This is part of a blog tour for her, so check out the other stops listed at the end if you'd like to find out more. She has also offered a free short story to one lucky commenter, so stop by and say hello.

How can we find you? Website, blog, Facebook, Twitter?

http://pennylockwoodehrenkranz.yolasite.com
http://pennylockwoodehrenkranz.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/penny.ehrenkranz
http://twitter.com/ pennyehrenkranz

What do you currently have in print and where can we find them?

A Past and A Future
http://www.genremall.com/anthologiesr.htm#pastfuture

Ghost for Rent
http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/b8656/?si=0
http://tinyurl.com/27puzze

Dragon Sight
http://www.genremall.com/fictionr.htm#dragonsight

What genre do you write?
I mostly enjoy writing fantasy and soft science fiction, although I also write romantic fiction as well and many of my fantasy and sci fi stories weave relationships into them. I write for both adults and children and find I enjoy variety in what I write.  I’ve dabbled into light horror, paranormal, and mainstream fiction as well. In addition, I do write non-fiction on the themes of writing help, teen self-help, and parenting tips. 

Do you have cats or other pets? Why or why not?
We currently have two small dogs—LhasaPoos, and three cats.  This is the least amount of animals we’ve ever had. This is also the first time we’ve only had small dogs. We have always had big dogs, but as we’ve aged, we found we couldn’t lift the big guys up to carry them outside when they were ill. These little ones are much more portable. Our cat population has dwindled as the little ones have aged and we haven’t replaced anyone. I love having animals around me and feel they are part of the family.  I can’t imagine living without animals in my life.  They bring me comfort, entertainment, and pleasure.

What inspires your stories?
My stories are usually sparked by something I’ve read or a story someone has told me.  I’ll read something and say to myself, “what if…” and the character or story is off and running.

How do you like your romance, sweet or spicy? Or do you like romance?
I prefer my romance sweet, not spicy. I don’t read a lot of pure romance, but as I said above, I do write some and also will include relationships in my stories. I find it difficult to write a story without some type of physical interaction between the characters and most often I pair a hero and heroine together, although not always.

What is your current WIP?
Right now, I’m between projects, but I do have several manuscripts under contract which will be published between now and 2015.

For adults and young adults:
Love Delivery, (contemporary romance) coming August, 2011
Lady in Waiting, (historical romance) coming November, 2011
https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2

For preschool and middle grade:
Funny Dog (picture book), coming May, 2012
Ghost for Lunch (middle grade paranormal), coming September, 2013
Many Colored Coats (picture book), coming October, 2014
Boo's Bad Day (picture book), coming June, 2015
http://4RVpublishingllc.com/Childrens_Books.html

That's quite the list. Congratulations! What hobbies do you have that you want to share?
Besides writing , I love to read, garden, crochet, walk and do water aerobics for exercise, and spend time with my family and pets.

We'll have to swap crochet patterns sometime. Did you always want to be an author? Who inspired you?
Ever since grade school, I knew I wanted to be a writer.  I used to write stories, illustrate, and bind them as entertainment for myself. When I wasn’t writing stories, I was writing letters to my cousins and pen pals. I think my dad was my first inspiration. I remember him making up bedtime stories for my brother and me.  He died when I was ten, but I believe he is the one who instilled in me the desire to tell stories.

What are your favorite movies, tv shows, or books to read? Is there one that you could watch/read over and over without ever tiring of it?
For some reason, my favorite t.v. shows tend to get canceled.  I loved Firefly, Farscape, Heroes, and Dresden Files…all of which were canceled.  Currently, I enjoy watching Merlin, Sanctuary, Warehouse 13, Lie to Me, Dr. Who, and Stargate Universe.  Movies are mostly fantasy or sci-fi such as Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Golden Compass, The Last Airbender, all the Star Trek movies, Dune, and of course, all the Star Wars movies. Favorite books are, again, primarily fantasy.  I love Tolkien, George R. R. Martin, Jim Butcher, Kim Harrison, Devon Monk, Terry Brooks, David Eddings, Anne McCaffrey, and Stephen King’s Dark Tower series.

I tend not to watch movies or read books a second time. There is just too much out there and not enough time.  I think if there was ever a time I would re-read a book, it would be the Lord of the Rings trilogy or Stephen King’s Dark Tower series.

What characters are your favorites from your books?
My favorite character in A Past and A Future is Ashley of Ashland.  He’s not a swashbuckling hero, but just a soft, gentle guy who is in love with his childhood sweetheart.  He bumbles through his adventures but is honest and true.  He is your everyday kind of hero. I also really like Wendy, my MC from Ghost for Rent and Ghost for Lunch. She’s spunky, smart, and curious about the world.  She’s very independent and knows her own mind.

From any work of fiction?
I think my favorite character of all is Gandalf from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. I am enamored by wizards in general.  That said, I also like Harry Dresden from Jim Butcher’s Dresden File books.

If you could travel anywhere, where would you want to go?
I love to travel, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of the world.  I’ve been to several European countries, China, Canada, and most of the United States.  I still want to travel to Hawaii, Russia, Thailand, and a host of other places, including Australia and New Zealand.
I would enjoy seeing Middle Earth, and perhaps a trip down under would take me to a place, scenery-wise, fairly close to that.

I wonder if it would be anything like Peter Jackson envisioned in his movies. If you could time travel, what is one event you would want to see in person, either future or past?
If I could time travel, I would like to be far enough in the future that I could travel aboard a space ship.  I believe it would be an incredible experience to be able to travel out amongst the stars.

I'm with you on the space ship, what an incredible experience that would be. What's your favorite color? Food? Reading spot?
My favorite color is blue.  My favorite foods are ethnic foods such as Indian, Thai, Mexican and traditional (not American) Chinese.  My favorite reading spot is in my Adirondack chair in my garden.

Anything else you'd like to add?
Thank you so much for allowing me to be your guest today and to talk about my work and my recently published short story collection. 
 
Thanks for stopping by, Penny. It's always fun to meet other authors. Good luck with your book release!
Penny's blog tour so far:

http://ciaragold.blogspot.com/ - Feb. 1, Jamie Bevans

http://www.seriouslyinterviewed.blogspot.com/ - Feb 1, Romance Reader

http://mgddasef.blogspot.com/ Marva Dasef – Feb 2

http://bit.ly/f2evHV - Feb. 2 - Professor Baker

http://janiefranz.wordpress.com/ Janie Franz – Feb 3

http://heatherkuehl.blogspot.com/ - Feb 4, Heather Kuehl

http://barbaraehrentreu.blogspot.com/ - Feb 5, Barbara Ehrentreu

http://lovesbooksandmore.blogspot.com/ - Feb 6, Dawn Roberto

Remember to comment for your chance to win a free short story!