Interview with urban fantasy novelist Courtney Davis

My special guest author today is Courtney Davis. She’s here to chat about her new urban fantasy, A Spider in the Garden.

During her virtual book tour, Courtney will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:
Courtney Davis is an author of urban fantasy/paranormal/supernatural fiction with a little romance and humor thrown in. She loves creating worlds and exploring human, and inhuman, interaction. She resides in North Idaho with her husband and children–teaching, reading, writing and soaking up sunshine. She hopes you find some joy in her writing.

Welcome, Courtney. Please tell us about your current release.
Aranha is the last of her kind, a spider shifter who preys upon the dregs of society in an attempt to validate her existence and feed her hunger. She’s lived alone for two hundred years, no family and no friends; always watchful for those who would kill her.

Dag is one of a dying species, vampires who can walk in the day. They have lost their companions and live in dread of the day that they too will become extinct; leaving the earth to the vile creatures who prey upon humans without mercy.

Aranha sees danger in Dag’s face, Dag sees the future in hers. Neither can believe the other exists and their lives are about to get very complicated. Together they embark on a mission to save a young human from the vampires and learn the reality of what their two species were doing in The Garden of Eden.

What inspired you to write this book?
I had the idea of a character who could shift into a spider and catch thoughts with her webs. The rest was easy, I just went along the journey with Aranha and Dag while trying to get over my arachnaphobia.

Excerpt from A Spider in the Garden:
She didn’t like the idea of being in his space, but the public was no place for this conversation. She didn’t trust him, but she was curious as to what he could possibly think she needed his help with, and how did he even exist? She had as many questions as he did, she was sure. She couldn’t keep Jonah and herself safe if she didn’t know what was out there; maybe he wasn’t the only one and she needed to be aware of them as a danger too. She decided she had no better option. “I will follow you,” she agreed.

He nodded and held the door open for her gallantly. She didn’t move. “I said I’ll follow you.”

“You should trust me,” he said quietly.

His blue eyes stared straight into hers, it touched her soul and she had to steel herself against the threat of feelings she had no use for. “Why?” she hissed.

“I don’t think you have anyone else,” he said quietly, then went out the door and up the stairs.

She bristled at the truth in his words. Other than Jonah, she didn’t have anyone, but she didn’t have to trust him, she had no reason to think he meant her anything other than harm. She tucked her knives away and locked the door behind them. Three brown spiders crept out of the dark and looked up at her. “Cover the door, make sure it looks unused and unwelcoming.”

What exciting story are you working on next?
I am currently working on a couple things. I have a SciFi that I’m finishing up edits on before I think about sending it out. It’s my first attempt at a SciFi and even though it’s not very technical in the science part, it was still harder for me to write, with the aliens and different planets I guess. It was fun though! It’s about an alien who grows up on earth not knowing what she is and when they come for her, she’s whisked away into a world where goddesses try to control everyone and she is either the enemy or the savior of her mother’s home planet. I am also working on starting to edit the first draft of an Urban Fantasy that follows a woman in the witness protection program who ends up running an antiques shop that is more than an antiques shop and she just might be more than human.

I am always writing and have many more stories swimming around in my head now! Not sure which I’ll start next actually.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I think I considered myself a writer when I was eighteen and I started writing something with real intentions to finish the whole thing. Finding success with writing didn’t come for a while but I think I was a writer as soon as I decided I was going to start and finish something.

Do you write full-time? If so, what’s your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to write?
I am a kindergarten teacher and I love my job, though I hope someday I can quit and become a full time writer. I write on nights and weekends, luckily I don’t have any other hobbies that contend with that and my family is very supportive. I try really hard to write some every day and be forgiving of myself when I don’t because I’m just too tired or my family needs me.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I don’t know my ending until I get there most of the time. I am a hard core pantser and I often am surprised when my story ends.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A teacher and a mother, so I guess I’m living my dream!

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?
I love everything about books, reading and writing are my two favorite things outside of my family and I really hope that everyone who picks up something I’ve written finds joy and maybe a bit of an escape in my words.