It is my pleasure to host a stop on the SHADOW HILLS Blog Tour. Take some time to get to know Anastasia by reading the Q  & A below.  Be sure to stop by her website for even more information. http://www.anastasiahopcus.com/

1. You include information about Goddesses, genetics, and supernatural powers in SHADOW HILLS. How much research did you have to do to write this story?

A lot.  But fortunately I really enjoyed it.  The science aspects were difficult to grasp at first, but it was also fascinating.  I learned a lot about genetics and disease and how certain things cause changes in the way your brain functions.  I had studied Greek myths in middle school, but I really didn’t know anything about Hekate or their religious ceremonies.  So I read some books about ancient Greek religion.  Probably the best thing was the trip I took to Massachusetts.  I took pictures of the cool old cemeteries and buildings from the 1700s.  Massachusetts is a beautiful state, and I felt really at home there.  I’d  love to live in the Berkshires in the future—though probably just in the summers. I am from Texas, after all.

2. When writing, what is more comfortable for you?  Do you write at home or somewhere else? Do you write alone or with a group? Give us a peek inside your writing environment.

I am easily distracted.  Even if I just listen to music while I write, soon I’m singing along and have completely lost my train of thought.  So I need silence and nothing going on around me.  I could never write in a coffee shop like some writers do.  I write in my home.  I’ve been in my new condo for about a year now, and I have a cozy little office.  I either work there or take my mini-laptop downstairs and sit on the couch while I write.  I prefer to work in big chunks of time.  Usually I’ll write pretty continuously for several hours, and then I’m done.  I don’t often go back and write again later the same day.  I’ll spend the rest of my work time researching or answering email or doing interviews for Shadow Hills or something like that.

3. How often do you read young adult literature?  What is the last young adult novel you’ve read?

I read it almost exclusively because  I have so little time to read nowadays.  I’m reading WHISPER right now, so I guess that technically it would be the last one I read.  I haven’t finished it yet, but I’m really enjoying it.

4. Why did you decide to use Phe’s sister as the reason she went to Devenish Prep? Are you planning to bring the sister up again and explain why she was having the dreams before Phe started having them?

I planned for Shadow Hills to be a series, so some of the ideas were meant to come up in later books.  Athena’s dreams are one of those concepts.  If there is a sequel,  it will give more insight into Phe’s and her sister’s ties to Shadow Hills, and there will definitely be more about her in some of the books after that.  I hope that isn’t all too cryptic—I can’t give away all my secrets!

5.  What are you writing now?

Well,  since the sequel is kind of up in the air for the moment, I am working on an idea for an entirely unconnected book.  It would be a paranormal YA set in 1830′s London.

6.  Just to get a feel for your tastes, what is your favorite TV show or movie?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer is my all-time favorite TV show, but last year my favorites were probably Supernatural and Vampire Diaries.   I also like Bones and House.

I really like Sherlock Holmes.  I enjoyed the Robert Downey movie, and I also own the entire BBC series starring Jeremy Brett—he’s a very different, but equally fantastic Sherlock.  (Someone told me that House was actually based on Sherlock Holmes, and I can see the similarities.)  You can probably tell from this that I like mysteries.   I’m also apt to like movies Robert Downey, Jr. is in.  (Wonder Boys and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang are another two movies that are high on my list.)

I can’t talk about favorite movies without mentioning John Hughes.  I’m a huge fan, and Weird Science, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,  and Sixteen Candles are the ones I like the most.

Okay, by the sound of it we could be best friends.  We read the same thing (YA) and love the same TV shows and movies. Ha Ha Ha.  Be sure to pick up a copy of SHADOW HILLS. It was a book I couldn’t stop reading once I picked it up.