Today we had the pleasure of interviewing Zak Grant,
Bean Donohue’s
artist-gonna-be boyfriend. He’s 16.
How did you
first meet your writer?
I met her
first in Time Runs Away With Her, the
first book in my girlfriend Bean’s time travel series. It happened around the same time I first
noticed Bean in the hall at school. That
head of red hair Bean has—it’s like a flame. I love drawing it. Bizarre that
was what got me stuck in a book!
Did you ever
think that your life would end up being in a book?
Well, I’m
going to be an artist, so I think it’s pretty cool I’m getting written
about. Maybe it’ll help me get gigs
later on. My mom doesn’t have bucks, so
I need to look good to colleges and get a scholarship to art school. Don’t want to get drafted and end up in
Vietnam!
What are
your favorite scenes in your book: the action, the dialog or the romance?
I like being
alone with my woman, for sure! The
action all happens to her in this book—although I’d sure liked to have seen
some of that American Revolution stuff.
It freaked her out, though. She
doesn’t like talking about it.
Do you
infiltrate your writer’s dreams?
It would be
bizarre if I didn’t! I mean, I’m very
high quality stuff! Check it out!
What do you
like to do when you are not being actively read somewhere?
I hang out
with Bean and hope she doesn’t disappear into the past. And I do life drawing classes. There are actual naked ladies in those
things, but Bean doesn’t get jealous.
She shouldn’t, anyway. She’s much
more gorgeous than the models.
Do you like
the way the book ended?
Well, I
don’t want to spoil it for anyone, but the ending’s really cool—and also
sad. And there’s that thing with Bean’s
mom…yeah, it’s a good ending.
Would you be
interested in a sequel, if your writer was so inclined?
You know, I
think I need to think about whether the sequel would get me into art
school. Seriously, there’s a draft on,
and like I said, I’m not going to ‘Nam, no way.
What is your
least favorite characteristic your writer has attributed to you?
First of
all, I don’t throw that much water around when I wash dishes. I think it’s right on and fair to the women folks
that I wash dishes. And I don’t say
“bizarre” anywhere near as much as my writers says. It’s bizarre how much she
says I say “bizarre!”
What is your greatest
fear?
I’m afraid of ending up
in Vietnam! I’m for peace, even though I
wish Bean would tell me more about 1779.
And I’m afraid that one of those times Bean disappears into the past
that she’ll get stuck there.
What do you
think your greatest weakness is?
I used to
worry that I was kind of a wuss. You
know, ‘cause I like peace and I was the first guy in my class with long
hair. You know what’s bizarre? Now I don’t think that’s a weakness anymore.
What’s your
favorite thing to do on a rainy Sunday?
I like to
put on the Dead and spread! That sounds
gross—maybe I better put it in other words.
I enjoy visiting with my charming and talented woman while listening to
the music of Jerry Garcia and The Grateful Dead. There.
That sounds better.
What word
makes you the happiest?
Love. Love is what’s going to save us.
What is your
least favorite word?
War. I hate war.
I really do.
What turns
you on?
Everything,
I guess. Bean. Drawing.
Music. The world. Bean the most, I guess.
What would you not like
to do?
I don’t want to be
normal. I want to be who I am. I want to live a long life and be 80 and
still be an artist. I don’t want to have
a job in a tall gray building in New York City.
Do you believe in ghosts/evil spirits/mysticism? Would you spend the night
in a remote haunted house?
Of course! My girlfriend disappears
into the past and comes back and tells me about it. I think that everything that ever happened is
still happening, and time is just there to keep us from bumping into each
other. Once you believe that, there’s no
such thing as a haunted house.
How do you react when people sing “Happy Birthday” to you in a restaurant?
People sing “Happy Birthday” in restaurants? That’s bizarre!
What do you admire about your parents?
I admire my mom for hanging tough when Dad realized he was gay and they
broke up. She doesn’t have a lot of money,
but she’s done a great job raising me and my little brother. And I admire my Dad for having the guts to do
what he did. It’s bizarre—everything
really does come back to love in the end, doesn’t it?
I sure believe it does come back to Love myself :) Zak, thanks again for visiting
with us today !!!! We'd love for you to come back and visit again if you get that sequel !
* * * * *
In Her Own Time
The Bean Books, #2
The Bean Books, #2
by Christine Potter
Romance/Time
Travel/Suspense
63K,
Evernight Teen Publishing
Summer 1970: Bean Donohue’s sixteen, she’s
finally got a good band together, and she’s crazy in love with her artist
boyfriend Zak.
She’s also about to get the coolest summer job ever, and her
impossible mom’s conveniently out of town.
So why does she keep
ending up in 1953…or 1779? And who's that guy with the black ponytail and
the Kent State t-shirt?
He knows way too much about her. Should Zak
be worried—or should Bean?
14+ due to
sexuality and adult situations
Excerpt:
Bean found herself alone, just outside the
house. The air was sharp. Tall trees that had just been in full summer leaf
were suddenly bare, and smaller than they’d been seconds before. Bean tried to peer
back in through the kitchen window, but the lights were off, and she couldn't
see anything. She stood in her side yard, sometime in the past. It was
happening again…
And It was enough of a shock
that she didn’t even know how she felt. She’d been glowing from the night
before with Zak, happy to have had Sam pound on her door with music and
laughter. Bean stuck her hands in the pockets of her thin blue cotton robe, and
looked up. The sky looked like early afternoon: pale sunlight behind a thin,
high layer of clouds. In front of her house, underneath the living room windows
stood three overgrown barberry bushes. Bean had never seen them before. The
ground was hard and cold, and she was barefoot.
Alrighty, then. Damn
it. Lately, Bean had been perfectly fine with life in 1970. What
year is this supposed to be? She had no idea.
Zak said love is always why this happens, she thought.
But then she felt the happiness beginning to leak out of her. If Zak were
right, why had she slipped backwards just now? She had a whole June weekend to
spend with him, feeling nothing but love…and now, this.
It made no sense. All she could do was watch, deal, and try to keep warm.
It really was pretty chilly. She tried jogging
in place to warm up, which helped a bit. Her toes were soon numb, though.
After a few minutes, a black car with big, round bumpers pulled into the
driveway and clattered to a halt. There was the rasp of an emergency brake
being set. And Bean’s father—very
young, and too thin for his thick, grey winter coat—got out of the driver’s side. Bean put a hand
over her mouth, and watched as he ran urgently around to the passenger’s door. He yanked it
open.
“Can you make it?” Bean’s dad called into the
car.
“Of course I can
make it,” said her mother’s voice. A high-heeled
shoe and a nylon stocking-covered leg emerged. Then came the rest of Bean’s
mom, wearing a brown tweed overcoat and a floppy green beret. She walked a bit
unsteadily, clutching a bundle of white blankets wrapped around a baby, which
began to wail.
“Sh-sh. Sh-sh-sh,” said Julia as she wobbled up
the walk. She stopped when she got to the front door.
“You wouldn’t happen to have remembered the
house keys, would you, Tom?” she called. Tom patted down three pockets in his
coat before something jingled. He rushed a key into the lock. Then he looked
back at the car. Both its front doors now stood wide open, and he sprinted back down the
walk toward them. Bean sucked in her breath hard, taking it all in. Was that
her days-old self,crying, inside the house? Sixteen-year-old Bean felt a little
weepy, too. It’s 1953, then, she thought. Just after my actual
birthday. Wow…
The wind blew and she shivered.
And then there was a hand on her
arm.
Book 1 in The Bean Books series
is now available:
Time Runs Away With Her
About the Author:
Christine Potter lives in a small town not far
from the setting of Time Runs Away With
Her, near the mighty Hudson River, in a very old (1740) house with two
ghosts. According to a local ghost
investigator, they are harmless, “just very old spirits who don’t want to
leave.” She doesn’t want them to.
Christine’s house contains two pipe organs (her
husband is a choir director/organist), two spoiled tom cats, and too many
books. She’s also a poet, and the author
of two collections of verse, Zero Degrees
at First Light, and Sheltering in
Place. Christine taught English and Creative Writing for years in the
Clarkstown Schools. She DJ’s free form
rock and roll weekly on Area24radio.com, and plays guitar, dulcimer, and tower
chimes.
All purpose me on FB: https://www.facebook.com/christine.potter.543
Series FB page: https://www.facebook.com/beanstravels/
My blog: http://chrispygal.weebly.com
Twitter: @chrispygal
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrispygal/
* * *
Giveaway:
$10 Evernight Teen GC and an ebook copy
Please leave your answer to thee questions in the comments :)
$10 Evernight Teen GC and an ebook copy
Please leave your answer to thee questions in the comments :)
1. Suppose you were my main character, Bean. What time period would you like to be swept back into--and why?
2. These books believe in ghosts. Do you? Ever seen one?
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