Good morning everyone! Today, I am thrilled to turn the blog over to AJ Aalto, author of Touched, for a fun character interview! Be sure to stick around for more about the book Touched, the author and also a giveaway !
AJ: Hi, everyone! Today, I’m interviewing the main character of “Touched,” Marnie Baranuik, a forensic psychic with the FBI’s preternatural crimes unit. Thanks for being with us today, Marnie.
Marnie: Not like I had a choice. I’m stuck in your brain-goop.
AJ: Let’s start with an easy question. What’s your favourite food?
Marnie: Is caffeine a food?
AJ: No.
Marnie: It really should be. I guess I’d have to say low-fat tofu-and-sprout stir-fry with a side of yogurt…and a banana.
AJ: Really?
Marnie: Of course not, blockhead. I hardly ever eat anything that isn’t from the cookie family, though I do appreciate a good Cheez Doodle.
AJ: Tell us about your job.
Marnie: I worked as a psychometrist and clairempath (that’s a Groper-Feeler for those in the biz) for Gold-Drake & Cross, who also license and manage the twenty-five other registered forensic psychics in this country. I attempted to retire after I assisted on a disastrous case with the FBI—
AJ: During which, you slept with one of the lead investigators, Mark Batten.
Marnie: By accident!
AJ: Did Agent Batten trip and fall into your lady bits?
Marnie: Maybe he’s a clumsy agent? *far-off look, remembering* Not clumsy with his tongue, though…
AJ: Speaking of sex, what turns you on?
Marnie: The sound of a fresh package of batteries opening. Did I just over-share?
AJ: Let me rephrase: what turns you on about a person?
Marnie: I’m guessing if I say the word “dick,” that twitch in your right eye is going to get worse.
AJ: Fine, what are your turn-offs?
Marnie: I don’t prefer it when a man owns chickens.
AJ: Chickens.
Marnie: Yeah, like a farmer? Farmers work real early, and I don’t do mornings.
AJ: Is that all? Just not aroused by chicken farmers?
Marnie: I suppose all farmers get up early, so they won’t do. And guys on shift work. And shapeshifters, because I don’t like fleas. And I can’t date doctors, they don’t approve of my lifestyle. And you know what’s also annoying? Men who smirk…because really, what’s that about?
AJ: As I recall, Mark Batten smirks at you a lot.
Marnie: The jackass.
AJ: What’s the worst thing a friend could do to you?
Marnie: I really hate when a friend puts roofies in my tea and pushes me down the stairs and tries to feed me to a wrath demon. It’s something I almost never forgive.
AJ: How far would you go to defend your moral convictions?
Marnie: I have moral convictions?
AJ: Fine, how far would you go to defend the things you care about?
Marnie: If someone tried to hurt my Harry, I’d put my boot so far up their ass, they’d choke on the laces. Is that what you meant?
AJ: Tell me about Harry.
Marnie: Dark Lady, where do I start? You know if I don’t get it right, he’ll pout about it later. Well, Harry is Lord Guy Harrick Dreppenstedt, my revenant companion, what the layperson might still call a “vampire,” although that term is no longer politically correct. He’s British, he prefers the finer things in life, he doesn’t approve of my taste in anything at all, and he thinks he knows everything. Which he doesn’t.
AJ: And you live together?
Marnie: We are life partners, but not romantically involved. Though Harry is a doting companion, and generous with sweet talk and pet names, he is unable to feel love. This is the cost of immortality. I am not his wife, or his girlfriend, or his lover (unfortunately)…I am his DaySitter, his mortal guardian, and have been since I was seventeen, when I inherited him after my Gramma Vi passed away. She was his former DaySitter.
AJ: Describe your relationship with Harry.
Marnie: I feed him, and protect him while he’s at rest, and in return, he shares with me his psychic gifts and a regular dose of fussy, critical nonsense that I could really do without.
AJ: Could you?
Marnie: Yeah, I don’t need to hear that shit.
AJ: I meant could you live without Harry?
Marnie: Holy flaming twatwaffles, lady, that’s a terrible question. Whose idea was this interview, anyway? Do-over! I want a do-over!
AJ: Is that a no?
Marnie: Whatever happened to “what’s your favourite cartoon?” or “what famous person would you want to meet?” or “what’s your favourite sound?”
AJ: Okaaaaay, what’s your favourite sound?
Marnie: An apron being untied and the cloth slithering over jackboots on the way to the floor. What, too specific?
AJ: I give up. This has been an interview with Marnie Baranuik, professional forensic psychic and amateur dunce. Thanks for reading, folks!
Omg, I got such a cackle out of that! And Twatwaffles, I haven't heard that phrase except from my Aussie friends.. lol. It's been a while! Thanks so much AJ & Marnie for stopping in today! I can't wait to read Touched and get to know Marnie and Harry more! :)
Touched
The Marnie Baranuik Files, Book One
A. J. Aalto
A. J. Aalto
Genre: paranormal
fantasy
Publisher:
Booktrope Editions
ISBN: 978-1935961574
ASIN: B009NIE5S8
Number of pages:
454
Word Count: 158k
Cover Artist: Greg
Simanson
Book Description:
The media has a nickname for Marnie Baranuik, though she’d
rather they didn’t; they call her the Great White Shark, a rare dual-talented
forensic psychic. Twice-Touched by the Blue Sense--which gives her the ability
to feel the emotions of others, and read impressions left behind on
objects--Marnie also has a doctorate in preternatural biology and a working
knowledge of the dark arts. She is considered without peer in the psychic
community.
Then her first big FBI case ended with a bullet in one shoulder and a chip on the other, a queasy heart and a serial killer in the wind, leaving her a public flop and a private wreck. When the FBI’s preternatural crimes unit tracks her down at a remote mountain lodge for her insight on a local case, her quiet retirement is promptly besieged by a stab-happy starlet, a rampaging ghoul, and a vampire-hunting jackass in tight Wranglers. Marnie figures the only real mystery is which one will kill her first.
Too mean to die young, backed up by friends in cold places, and running with a mouth as demure as a cannon’s blast, Marnie Baranuik is about to discover that there’s no such thing as quitting time when you’re Touched.
Then her first big FBI case ended with a bullet in one shoulder and a chip on the other, a queasy heart and a serial killer in the wind, leaving her a public flop and a private wreck. When the FBI’s preternatural crimes unit tracks her down at a remote mountain lodge for her insight on a local case, her quiet retirement is promptly besieged by a stab-happy starlet, a rampaging ghoul, and a vampire-hunting jackass in tight Wranglers. Marnie figures the only real mystery is which one will kill her first.
Too mean to die young, backed up by friends in cold places, and running with a mouth as demure as a cannon’s blast, Marnie Baranuik is about to discover that there’s no such thing as quitting time when you’re Touched.
About the Author:
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AJ Aalto
is the author of Touched, first in the paranormal mystery
series The Marnie Baranuik
Files. Aalto is an unrepentant liar and a writer of blathering
nonsense offset by factual gore. When not working on her
novels, you can find her singing old Monty Python songs in the
shower, eavesdropping on perfect strangers, stalking her eye doctor, or failing
at one of her many fruitless hobbies. Generally a fan of anyone with
a passion for the ridiculous, she has a particular weak spot for smug
pseudo-intellectuals and narcissistic jerks; readers will find her work
littered with dark, imperfect creatures, flawed monsters and oodles of snark. AJ cannot say no to a Snickers bar,
and has been known to swallow her gum.
Stalk Her :
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