Roseanna White ~ Interview + Giveaway!

Today author Roseanna White is telling us about her book, A Stray Drop of Blood. She has offered an autographed copy of her book to one lucky commenter. She will also be stopping by throughout the week to answer your questions! So if you have anything you want to ask her, you can include it in your comment for entering the contest. If you are only leaving a question in the comment and not entering the giveaway please say so.

Welcome, Roseanna! Tell us a little about yourself.

Well, I'm in my late twenties, have been married for going on nine years, have two adorable kids aged 4 and 2, and make my home in the mountains of Western Maryland. I'm addicted to email, have read everything from Plato to Nietzsche, and love pretty much anything literature-related.

How long have you been writing? How many books do you have published?
I've been writing since my teachers first taught me how to string letters together. I have stories from my primary school days that are oh-so-brilliant, LOL, and pretty much any teacher I ever had could tell you I wanted to be a writer when I grew up. I finished my first novel at 13, my second at 16, and have completed a total of around 18. A Stray Drop of Blood is my first published work, though my agent is shopping several other manuscripts right now.

If you compared your writing style to any other Christian Fiction author, who would it be? Also, how would you rate the romance in you books?
This book has most often been compared to Francine Rivers—which I consider an incredible honor, since she's one of my all-time favorite authors.

As for how to rate the romance . . . I'd say PG bordering on PG-13 for this book; given the situation of my heroine, who is a slave taken by her Roman master, there are by necessity some scenes that deal with the physical side. But for every moment of passion there is an affirmation of God's outlook on it, and most of the book is dealing with the consequences of it.

In your own words tell us a little about A Stray Drop of Blood.
A Stray Drop of Blood follows the life of Abigail, a Hebrew girl who is born free but sold into slavery to a kind Roman soldier when she is eight. She serves her mistress, also a Hewbress, out of love . . . but when her master's son returns from Rome, her life takes a drastic shift.

From Biblical Jerusalem to the hill of Golgotha to Ancient Rome in all its splendor, A Stray Drop of Blood explores the depths of faith, the nature of passion, and the redemptive power of the blood of Christ.

At the moment Stray Drop is a stand-alone novel, but I do have a sequel planned that will be about the children you meet in the first one. It would deal with the manifestation of the spiritual gifts, demon possession, and of course love found where least expected. (Can't have a book without a good love story! Not a book with my name on the cover, anyway.)

Blurb:

Beautiful is a dangerous thing to be when one is unprotected.

For seven years, Abigail has been a slave in the Visibullis house. With a Hebrew mistress and a Roman master, she has always been more family than servant . . . until their son returns to Jerusalem after his years in Rome. Within a few months Jason has taken her to his bed and turned her world upside down. Maybe, given time, she can come to love him as he says he loves her. But how does she open her heart to the man who ruined her?

Israel's unrest finds a home in her bosom, but their rebellion tears apart her world. Death descends with Barabbas's sword, and Abigail is determined to be there when the criminal is punished. But when she ventures to the trial, Barabbas is not the one the crowd calls to crucify. Instead, it is the teacher her master and Jason had begun to follow, the man from Nazareth that some call the Son of God . . .

Born free, made a slave, married out of her bonds, Abigail never knows freedom until she feels the fire of a stray drop of blood from a Jewish carpenter. Disowned by Israel, despised by Rome, desired by all, she never knows love until she receives the smile of a stoic Roman noble.

What made you want to write this story?
On Good Friday when I was 15, I got in a fight with my best friend over a guy (the guy I married a few years later, FYI). Torn between the high of new love and the bitterness of the fight, I sat down to read about the first Good Friday . . . and was totally overwhelmed by the sacrifice Jesus made for us, all he went through.

I went to my computer and wrote a short story entitled “A Stray Drop of Blood,” about a woman in the crowd who had gone to the trial to see Barabbas meet justice . . . only to run into the forgiveness of a teacher she had never seen before. I decided that day it would become a book, and over the next 6 years, I made it one.

What research did you have to do for this book?
Oh, my. Mostly I went to college. =) At my alma mater, we read original texts that are considered the foundation of Western society, beginning with the Ancient Greeks, moving to the Bible, Ancient Rome, and early Christian philosophers (that's the first two years, which are the ones relevant to this). I absorbed all this cultural info like a sponge and then rounded it out with research on things like fashion and housing of the day.

Who would you pick to play the lead roles if this book was made into a movie?

A young Monica Bellucci for Abigail, and Matthew Bomer for Jason. Though of course they look slightly different in my head. Here are some sketches I did of my characters, loosely based on these actors (loosely, primarily because of a lack of skill on my part, LOL).

What are you working on now or going to write next?

While I wait to here back on several proposals that are with various editors, I'm working on one that has been requested that's set in 1784 in Annapolis, Maryland—during that brief span of time when Annapolis was the capital of the U.S. It's about a young lady who flees her betrothed when he betrays her and determines to find for herself this liberty her brother just fought for.

Working on that has forced me to put aside a contemporary about a displaced Bedouin women who is rescued from a Russian pirate by an ex-SEAL, all the while fleeing a black market arms dealer. And a romantic suspense set in 1928 Egypt, on an archaeological dig. =)

C- Those all sound awesome!

How can readers get in contact with you?
Well, there is contact info at my website, www.RoseannaMWhite.com, and you can also visit me at my blog, http://roseannamwhite.blogspot.com, or find me on Facebook or Shoutlife.

What are you currently reading?
M. L. Tyndall's The Raven Saint. So good!

Tell us something surprising about yourself that readers may not know.
I'm so even-tempered that a college professor once said of me, “I fear such temperance may be unhealthy in one so young.” LOL. I'm also such an optimist that my critique partners have dubbed me RO, which stands for Roseanna-Optimist (I said it was my middle name, but they insisted it was my first. We compromised on a hyphen;-).

What is your favorite birthday memory?
Not sure it's my favorite, but one of the silliest is eating a big ol' slab of chocolate cake at Shoney's when I turned eight. For breakfast, that is.

FAVORITES:

Cake flavor/kind?
Chocolate-orange. (Got a killer recipe for it!)

Most treasured birthday gift?
The oil painting of my hometown by our local artist-extraordinaire—my now-hubby (then boyfriend) got it for me when I turned 18.

Disney Princess?
Ariel. I dreamed of being Ariel for YEARS! Just ask any of the kids from the playground, where I would sit on the top of the slide like it was that rock and sing the “I don't know when, I don't know where . . .” song.

What is/was this book’s release date?
1 December 2009

Do you have a link to a place to read the first chapter of this book?
http://www.fictionfinder.com/book/first_chapter/623

Something Roseanna wanted to add-
 I just joined the Life and Faith Tour and am super excited about it and would like to start putting the word out there. The website for the tour is www.LifeandFaithTour.com. I'll be selling and signing books in Richmond, VA, Rockingham, NC, and Atlanta, GA this summer, alongside some other fabulous authors--including Karen Kingsbury!

~~~~~

**This giveaway is open to residents of any country**

Okay readers, here is your chance to win an autographed copy of A Stray Drop of Blood!

To enter:

*Leave a comment with your name and email address (so I can contact you if you win).

*Please specify that you want to be included in the contest!

*If you want an extra entry, become one of my followers.

*The comment is mandatory. (Please, say in the comment if you are a follower!! It makes my job easier when you do.) You will not be entered unless you leave a comment. If you are already a follower, and then you leave a comment, you will still get two entries in the contest.

*The contest will run from today (March 23) until 6:00 CST on Thursday (March 25). I will announce the winner that night. The winner is always randomly drawn. I will contact the winner on Friday the 26th, and then that person will have one week to reply. If the winner doesn't reply within that time period, I will pick a new winner.

Good luck! Thanks for visiting.