Laura Hawks Author Interview

Welcome to Ink & Magick. I'm your friendly neighborhood witch. What kind of spell can I get for you (or your character) today?

A time spell would be great. I'd love to go back in time and enjoy those "great moments" or stop time so I can get more accomplished.

I'm starting to see a pattern here with authors who come into my shoppe...It would be irresponsible of me to give anyone power over time and space. I know you can't always control your schedule and that authoring takes a lot of time and energy. But I recommend plenty of sleep and downtime, where you do things unrelated to writing as a sort of battery charger. But speaking of writing, tell me about your #YA #paranormal #mystery recent release Gumshoe and the Mysterious Mushrooms.

Mia Thomas just turned 15. On her special day, her teacher needs to speak with her parents, her father gets arrested and a stray cat starts talking to her. So much for a Happy Birthday!

With the help from her new familiar, Gumshoe, Mia sets out to clear her family's name and save them from financial ruin.

Will her snooping cause her own death, or will her coffee-drinking, wise-cracking, booze-desiring familiar come to her rescue?

Excerpt:

Unsure of what else to do, Mia grabbed some tuna fish and a plate and headed out to the back. She set the plate down then moved across the alleyway to sit on the stoop of the opposite building.

“Poisonous mushrooms?” Mia talked to herself in disbelief. “I made the soup. I cut up the mushrooms and put them in the soup. Somehow this is my fault. I served them. What have I done?”

“You didn’t do anything. You didn’t pick them out, so this isn’t your fault.”

The voice rang in her head, her ears heard faint meows. She looked up and around, trying to see who was talking to her. The only thing she saw was the Siamese cat she’d been feeding the past week. She shook her head to clear it of cobwebs she was sure were there.

She watched the feline move towards the food she’d left for him. He sniffed it but then skirted around it to go behind the dumpster. Odd, she thought at his bypassing the food.

She watched the cat move around, almost searching for something, though she couldn’t imagine what. “Meow. Meow. Mew. Meep. Eep. Meoooow.” The Siamese sat regally on top of the dumpster, staring at her.

However, she heard something more than just the sounds made from a feline creature. Wonderful. I turn fifteen and I get to go bonkers. I swear I heard him in my head, and it actually made sense. I’m hallucinating, or so lit I’ve lost it.

“Darn it. I forgot you can’t understand me.” The cat seemed to grumble and jumped off the dumpster, wandering down the alleyway.

Mia rubbed her forehead. “This just can’t be possible. Cats don’t speak English.”

The Siamese stopped and stared at her. “Meow, meep?”

Mia heard, “Do you understand me, kitten?”

She gasped, standing quickly and taking a step back only to trip on the stoop and fall back down on her rump. The cat moved cautiously closer to her. “Mew?” {How?}

Mia shrugged in answer to the question but covered her mouth to stop herself from screaming at the same time. She had no clue what was going on, but if she wasn’t totally crazy, she was understanding what this cat said to her. Great. Now I’m Doctor Doolittle, she thought to herself. “Zoe’s right. I’ve gone off the deep end and am Cray-Cray with a capital C.”

The Siamese tilted his head, watching her with large, blue, unblinking eyes. “Meow, meow, mew, mew, meow, mew.” {If you really understand me, look behind the dumpster.}

“I’m insane. I’m really in looneyland. I’m talking to myself and being answered by a cat that I can understand. This is so wrong on so many levels.” Breathlessly, cautiously, Mia stood and skirted around the small cat as if he would attack, even though part of her was sure he wouldn’t. She didn’t know why she was following his instructions, she just knew she had to. Using all the strength she had, she pulled the heavy dumpster away from the brick wall to look behind it. On the ground was a partially bloodied glove. At first, she didn’t know why it mattered, but then she noticed there was something rotting and mushy on the outside. Whatever it was seemed stuck on the plastic glove, and they had handled it after they had cut themselves. Could it be the remnants of a mushroom? Mia was sure she was the only one who handled the mushrooms after they got back from the farmers’ market. Then she remembered she had Henry clean and dry them.

She went inside and called for the remaining officer who was standing in the kitchen like some sentinel. Grudgingly, he followed her after he told the rest to remain where they were. Once outside, Kevin looked around. “What’d’ya want to show me?”

“Behind the dumpster. I’m not sure if it’s anything, but to me it looks like one of our gloves with a touch of blood inside and what looks like a rotten mushroom outside. I thought it might be evidence.”

Giving her a doubting look, he peered behind the heavy metal container and spotted what she was referring to. “Did you touch it?”

“No.”

“Don’t. I’ll get an evidence bag from the car and be right back.” He quickly hastened down the alleyway towards the street.

Mia turned to the cat and stared. She felt like she was going insane. Or maybe she just imagined it all. Moments later, Officer Easton returned with a plastic bag marked evidence in bright red letters across it. Using the inside of the bag, he picked up the discarded glove, turned the bag back and sealed it. “Good work,” he mumbled, then headed back into the kitchen.

The cat moved over to sit beside Mia. Without a word, she stared at him in confusion.

“Meow, meow?” {You can really hear me?}

“Yes. I don’t know how, but I can. How can you even be talking to me so that I understand what you’re saying? I’m dreaming, right? I’ve turned fifteen and am now having a nervous breakdown. Or those cupcakes got me lit on something higher than chocolate.”

Eve walked out then. “Mia? Who are you talking to?” The older woman moved to sit next to her daughter.

“No one, Mom. Just flipping my lid is all.”

“What do you mean? And who is your cute little friend?”

Mia shrugged. “I don’t know. He’s been coming around since opening night, and I have been giving him some scraps of food.” She didn’t want to tell her mom why she suddenly felt the need to see a shrink and get some happy pills. Maybe she was on some TV show, like Punk’d or Impractical Jokers, and wondered when the hidden cameras were going to pop up.

“Were you talking to him?”

Mia gave her a puzzled look. “Sure. Why not? I was talking to the cat.”

Eve tilted her head slightly as she looked the animal over. “And is he talking to you?”

“What?”

“Is the cat talking to you?” Eve was dead serious, but Mia felt like she entered the Twilight Zone.

A snarky cat named Gumshoe? I love it! Can you tell us a little more about him?

Well, some of it you need to find out as the series progresses, but what we know so far is that Gumshoe is a reincarnated 1940's private eye who was murdered and uses his human detective skills to assist Mia in solving the cases she will be involved in. 

Oooo! Which one of your characters surprised you?

Gumshoe. I thought he was going to be a sweet cat and instead he likes to drink, smoke and loves his coffee. He's also snarkier than I expected. 

Still love it! If you could time-travel, would you travel to the future or the past? Where would you like to go, and why would you choose that time period?

For the author... the past. I want to spend time with my family, especially my mom, who is no longer with me. For Mia, she'd say the future, cause she'd excited on what it has to offer. Albeit, she might also choose the past, 1940 just to help Gumshoe find out who killed him... but that's another story. 

Intriguing. What can readers who enjoy your book do to help make it successful?

Spread the word so others will buy it. 

Always excellent advice. What can we expect from you next?

Right now, I've working on the second in my contemporary suspense series—the Valley View Mysteries—and I'm also working on the fourth in my Spirit Walker's Series—a Native American paranormal romantic suspense series. I've also got my second short story for the Fractured Fairytales, and then I'm back to the second in my Gumshoe series... 

I can see why you asked for more time! Well, like I said, don't forget to get plenty of rest and take breaks. And thanks for stopping in. I hope you will come by again and tell us about any new works. Good Luck!

Laura Hawks has always been interested in writing in some form or other, including writing for a local newspaper. Deciding to become more knowledgeable, she headed back to school and received her Master's degree in Ancient Civilizations, Native American History and United States History.

It was at this time she got involved in role playing on FaceBbok, which gave her ample opportunities to grow and hone her writing ability.

She lives in the suburbs of Chicago with her four companions, all males... cats. She travels as much as she can to various author/reader conventions and loves to meet established fans and make new ones, some of which she considers friends more than fans.

You can connect with Laura on her website, Facebook Author Page, Facebook Fan Page, Twitter, and Amazon.

You can get your copy of Gumshoe and the Mysterious Mushrooms on Amazon.