Susan Pruna, Author of My Boyfriend the Werewolf

Interview with Susan Pruna, Author of The Shifter Series – My Boyfriend The Werewolf.

Interviewed by Paul Dale Roberts, President
www.jazmaonline - GM - www.hpiparanormal.net
Interview Date: March 26, 2010
Time of Interview: 1800 Hours
Locations of Interview: Maestro Coffeehouse – 2069 Arena Blvd #130, Sacramento, CA and Barnes & Noble – North Freeway – Natomas.

Question: Please tell us something personal about yourself, such as your hobbies, recreational activities and any other fun things you care to share with us.

Answer: I enjoy reading, spending time at the beach and traveling. I have not only traveled in the United States, but abroad as well. In fact I used to take my students on educational trips abroad, to places such as Australia, New Zealand and a few European counties.

https://s643.photobucket.com/albums/uu157/PaulDaleRoberts_2009/SusanPruna/
To see more pictures of Susan Pruna, stop by at the link above.

Question: How long have you been writing?

Answer: I am not sure exactly when it was that I began wanting to write but I can remember being a child and creating stories for entertainment. I began working on this book a few years ago.

Question: What inspired you to write your book: My Boyfriend the Werewolf?

Answer: I would say that my students inspired me to write this book and the support of family and friends helped me greatly through the writing process. In fact I couldn’t do it without them.

Question: Is this your first book? Is this book part of a series?

Answer: This is my first book and I am very excited about it. As I was writing the end of the story, I found that I kept creating more adventures for the characters, so I left the ending open in case I decided to write additional books with these characters. Many of the people that have already read the book have asked what adventures the characters will find in the next book. When I began to get positive feedback and readers wanting more I decided that yes, I would make this book the first in a series and I am already working on the second book.

Question: Tell us about Sydney, is this a composite of your own character?

Answer: I created Sydney with many different people in mind, not just one person. I wanted the readers to be able to relate to the characters in my book so I tried to give them a variety of personalities and character traits.

Question: Why did you pick werewolves?

Answer: As a high school teacher I know that young people don’t always enjoy reading and do not want to read, but over the years I have noticed that they do read science fiction stories and stories about teens and teen experiences. I chose to add both into my book. I not only have werewolves in the story but other were-creatures. Were-creatures are people that turn into animals. This gave the story the science fiction aspect and the teen characters have some experiences that high schools students might encounter.

Question: Without giving away the plot, can you brief us about the story?

Answer: The main character, Sydney, is a high school sophomore that has what she considers to be the perfect life when all of a sudden her world changes and things that she never thought existed become a very real part of her life.

Question: Do you plan to write stories on other type of monsters or creatures or are you going go take a new direction with your stories? Pray tell.

Answer: Paul did you already forget my mentioning the other were-creatures in my book?

Question: Do you have any historical characters in your story? If not, do you plan to place a few historical characters in the series to make the story seem genuine, as if it really happened?

Answer: This book does not have any historical characters but it does have many locations that readers may have visited or heard about, such as Mount Hood in Oregon, Pier 39 in San Francisco and Bisbee Arizona. The second book in the series is still unfolding so you never know; you just might find a historical character in it.

Question: I noticed you call this book ‘science fiction’. Why don’t you call it horror?

Answer: The were-creatures in the story are protective of their families and friends and will defend them if necessary but will not go out and kill just for fun or cause destruction. They are trying to blend in with their human neighbors.

Question: Werewolves are very destructive creatures, does the werewolf in your book kill anyone?

Answer: No, they don’t kill any humans but an angry bear that threatens to kill Sydney is killed and a few confrontations can be found between the werewolves and some humans.

Question: How did you become interested in the werewolf legend?

Answer: I have had an interest in wolves for a long time and have read a variety of books that contain werewolves. One day as I was reading information about wolves, I realized that many people have the perception that wolves are mean aggressive animals that will attack anyone for no reason at all and from what I have read and researched they usually only attack to protect their pack and for food and I just wanted to create characters that displayed the caring protective side of wolves and that lead me to begin research on werewolf legends and the stories about people that turn into werewolves.

Question: Do you think there are real werewolves in our world or do you think a misdiagnosis of an ailment started this whole werewolf legend?

Answer: I’ve asked myself that question before, and having found werewolf legends from many different countries around the world, it makes me wonder. I do think that there are people that believe they are werewolves or that can they can take on the form of animals.

Question: Do you have any werewolf movies or books that are your favorites?

Answer: I don’t have any favorite werewolf movies and I have read many books containing werewolves and enjoy them all.

Question: If someone wants to order your book, where can they order?

Answer: They can order it on Amazon.

Question: If someone wants to contact you, how can they contact you?

Answer: I can be reached through email at shifterseries@gmail.com

Question: Here is something that is a bit off-the-wall, but I am going to ask you anyway. Ready? Okay, if you have 6 dinner guests, 3 fictional and 3 historical, who would they be and why?

Answer: I don’t know, there are too many people to choose from, that would make the dinner party interesting and entertaining.

Question: What are your favorite TV shows, movies, books and comic books?

Answer: I usually enjoy movies that are funny and make me laugh. Recent movies that I truly enjoyed were the Blind Side and Avatar. As for TV shows, I watch things like Supernatural, Chuck and yes some reality TV shows can be entertaining.

Question: Will your werewolves meet any other kind of creatures of the darkness?

Answer: I am not certain. I usually wait for inspiration to create new creatures and characters and the inspiration usually comes with whatever new adventure I develop for the story. I don’t know what adventures lay ahead for Sydney, Mik, Misha and Collin but perhaps they will encounter some interesting creatures of the night.

Question: During our break, you mentioned off-the-record you are a world traveler, can you tell us some of the places that you have traveled to?

Answer: Well, as I mentioned earlier I have traveled to a variety of states in the United States as well as different countries. Some of the countries are New Zealand, Australia, England, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Spain.

Question: As a paranormal investigator, I must ask you something. Have you ever experienced anything of the paranormal and if you have, can you elaborate?

Answer: No, I don’t think so.

Question: This is an incredible interview and I hope your book is a big success! This is the last question. Do you have any words of wisdom for your readers?

Answer: Live life to the fullest and remember to laugh.