Book Giveaway: A Night Below New York and Author Interview with C. Jayee Cohen

16-year-old Sahara Azad, in the beginning of this modern-day Arabian Nights tale, has graduated high school early and is flying across the country to attend college in New York City, to get a degree in Paranormal Studies at the most prestigious program of its kind.
There she meets Rex, a handsome basketball star from her class who, to her great distress, seems only interested in her beautiful but stupid roommate.
Then one night, while she's helping him study, the two get swept up into an epic adventure. One that starts with a mysterious golden key and leads to a chase through a long-closed subway station, and to the 17th-century laboratory hidden underneath it. And continues with a trip far below, to a brass Arabesque city, where Sahara receives a proposal from a beautiful but dark king.
A proposal she not only can't refuse, but one she may not even live through.

Giveaway:
1 kindle or nook format ebook open internationally


a Rafflecopter giveaway

--The Twitter version: tell us about your book in 140 characters or less.

16yr girl&boy she's secretly in♥ find themselves stuck in a brass Arabesque city underneath the earth, w/king who wants to kill them both.

Whew, that was hard! Let me tell you, E. E. Cummings would've loved Twitter.

--How did you get the idea for the story?

For a long time I've loved The Arabian Nights. And, for almost as long, I've wanted to create a modern tale that had the same magic and wonder and romance.

--Which character would you most/least like to have dinner with?

Samantha, who's the mother of Leo -- a boy my protagonist is taking care of -- is the person I'd most want to have dinner with. She's kind of minor character in this particular volume, but, you know, sometimes minor characters just steal the story without the writer's permission. And that's the case here. She's smart and funny and strong and loving, and, in many ways, goes against the stereotype of a fashion model. I'm really hoping that in the next volume she'll have a much bigger role.

As for the character I'd least like to dine with, that would probably be Max, one of Leo's classmates, who's just a jerk. And a spoiled one.

--What are some of your favorite books? Do you still have much time to read?

I have so many favorites that it's hard to pick any. But the ones I love that relate closest to this book are The Arabian Nights (obviously), Manuscript Found in Saragossa, and the fiction of Washington Irving.

As far as my own reading, right now I mostly only have time for books relating to whatever subject I'm writing about, as I'm writing pretty much 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM every single day.

--Do you have any other works in progress? Any teasers or release dates?

Yes, I just completed the first draft of my next novel, which is paranormal romance about a golem, which is a mythical being in Jewish folklore. I have high hopes for it, and hope to have it ready by March or April.

--If a fairy godmother told you your life could be like a favorite book for 24 hours, which book would you pick and why?

Scheherazade, the narrator of The Arabian Nights (who my protagonist was kind of named after.) I'd pick her because she was a master storyteller, who amazingly kept telling them for 1,001 nights (of course, her life depended on it. :) )

--Do you need anything to write (music, coffee, etc)? Are there any songs on your playlist- songs that inspired you or that were playing while you wrote?

I need quiet to write. Any noise disturbs me, and, unfortunately, I live in a noisy environment.

As for songs that helped inspire me during the writing of this book, the only one was "Arabian Knights" from Souixsie and the Banshees.

--If you could have any superpower what would you choose?

The power to catch my typos on the first try.

--Besides writing, what do you like to do in your free time?

Editing. Also, having a background as well in computer art, I do my own cover designs. Which I really enjoy. In fact, the one I'm doing for my next book I'm pretty excited about.

--Is there anything else you want to add or say to your readers?

Thank you for considering my work, and I would be very much interested in your feedback, good or bad.

Lightning round: this or that?

Vanilla or chocolate? chocolate

Edward or Jacob? Edward

Hockey or soccer? hockey

Ebook or paper? ebook

Salty or sweet? salty

Beach or mountains? beach

Phone call or email? email

Early bird or night owl? early bird

Dog or cat? dog

Messy or neat? neat

Ninjas or pirates? pirates

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