Author Spotlight: Q and A with Allison Pang

Today I welcome author Allison Pang to the blog.  Ms Pang is the author of A Brush Of Darkness, a new urban fantasy that releases on January 25.  To read my review, click HERE.

A marine biologist in a former life, Allison Pang turned to a life of crime to finance her wild spending habits and need to collect Faberge eggs. A cat thief of notable repute, she spends her days sleeping and nights scaling walls and wooing dancing boys….Well, at least the marine biology part is true. But she was taloned by a hawk once.  She also loves Hello Kitty, sparkly shoes, and gorgeous violinists.

She spends her days in Northern Virginia working as a cube grunt and her nights waiting on her kids and cats, punctuated by the occasional husbandly serenade. Sometimes she even manages to write. Mostly she just makes it up as she goes.

Diva:  Describe Allison Pang in five words.

Allison Pang:  Snarky, tenacious, loyal, shy, pensive

Diva:  What favorite things do you have to have when writing?

Allison Pang:  Just a computer and some music (if it’s available). I try not to have too many snacks within reach, because I have a tendency to stress eat when I’m writing, so maybe a lack of food?   LOL!

Diva:  What is your favorite genre to read and who are some of your favorite authors?

Allison Pang:  Definitely fantasy. It’s what I pretty much grew up reading and it’s what I gravitate toward on a regular basis. Sometimes I’ll read historical fiction or more literary stuff (a la The Time Traveler’s Wife), but fantasy is definitely where my reading heart lies. Favorite authors would be Jacqueline Carey, Robin Hobb, Kate Elliott, Lynn Flewelling and Charles de Lint, among many others.

Diva:  If your book was made into a movie, what actors would you pick for Abby and Brystion?

Allison Pang:  Hmmm. Probably Natalie Portman as Abby. Brystion, I honestly don’t know. I picture someone with a lot of arrogant and seductive traits (rather like Stuart Townsend’s portrayal of Lestat, perhaps), but I don’t have anyone in mind.

Diva:  If you could be anyone of your characters from A Brush Of Darkness, which one would you be and why?

Allison Pang:  That’s a bit of a trick question, because they’ve all got a piece of me in there. Abby would be the obvious choice, but there’s something about Melanie and her supreme self-confidence (and a touch of arrogance, perhaps) in her own musical playing ability that I find rather appealing.

Diva:  What was the main inspiration behind writing A Brush Of Darkness?

Allison Pang:  I’m not sure there was one. The main ending scene started out as a dream where I was walking through this empty house trying to find someone. It intrigued me enough that even years later, it was still in the back of my mind. So I wrote that scene up and decided to find out what the rest of the story was about. The concept of The Dreaming was born out of that and I thought it would be really fascinating to explore it with the heroine...and of course that easily led into an incubus hero.

Diva:  Are you working on anything new that you can tell me about?

Allison Pang:  The draft for the second book was just turned in and I’ve started working on the third. Those two will probably take most of my focus for the next few months, but I’ve also got an epic fantasy that I’ve been working on and off for a while, as well as a Steam punk fantasy thing in the planning stages. (Hopefully I’ll be able to sell them as well.)

Thanks so much to Allison Pang for stopping by the blog and for making time to answer my questions.