When I received an email from Danielle at RT Publicity basically stating, here’s a list of 400+ authors pick whomever you want to interview…jaw met floor. As soon as I saw those three letters: MJD, I sqee’d like a school girl & emailed Danielle back with an “I’d love you forever if I could interview MaryJanice Davidson”.

MJ:  Forever?  Seriously?  You’d love her forever?  Does Danielle know about the depth of your commitment?  Because that’s kind of cool.   So the sun’s gonna implode and the planet will eat itself what with all the crap in the air, and God’s gonna throw up his hands when he sees another reminder of how we as a species are not potty trained and say, “I’m outta here!” and you’ll still love Danielle?  I have to say I’m envious.  I mean, there are people who love me, but not through the sun imploding. 

(All right, I’ll stop messing with you now.)

(That was a lie.  I’m totally going to keep messing with you.)

To make a long Natasha story short, MJD was the first snarky author I ever read, so she holds a place in this dark space I like to call a heart.

MJ:  Hee!

She is also the first author to make me snort Pepsi out my nose whilst reading.

MJ: That’s disgusting!  Coke rules.  If you’re snorting any carbonated beverage out your nose it should be a Coca Cola product.  Also:  whilst?

Since this is RT Week, we’ll kick it off with some RT related questions!

MJ: Don’t threaten me.

How many times have you been to RT?

MJ:  Lots!  I quit counting once I passed the half-dozen mark.  In the early years I went as a reader and struggling author, to score free books and autographs and maybe pitch a story idea to an editor.  As I got published, I started to focus on workshops geared toward PR, and networking.   As I became a best-selling author, I shifted toward teaching workshops and meeting as many readers as I could.  I’m a big believer in paying it forward.   No matter where I was in my writing career, RT was there for me.   Ten years ago I was taking in every workshop I could; now I’m teaching as many as I can.  It’s like a vicious circle!  Except not vicious.  So, a circle.

Have you ever had a “fan-girl” moment over another author?

MJ:  Oh, sure.  I once moderated a panel with Charlaine Harris and Laurell K. Hamilton.  The moderator controls the workshop, takes questions, calls on the audience, calls on the panelists…like that.  In other words, the moderator is the grown-up.  I was not a grown-up in this workshop.  I was too busy making up excuses to touch Charlaine and Laurell.  “Hey, you’ve got something on your shoulder which I will helpfully brush off.”  “You look tense.  How about a neck rub?”  “You smell so good, and I’m really tired.  I’m going to put my head down on your shoulder and grab a quick nap.”  It’s a miracle they didn’t call the cops. 

What is your favorite part about RT?

MJ:  Meeting readers.  No question.  I never get tired of, “You are awesome and your books are the greatest thing in the history of the written word.”

Who makes YOU laugh?

MJ:  Carl Hiaason!  That man is funnier on his worst day than I am on my best.  He wrote Striptease, which was turned into a movie with Demi Moore.  Which was dreadful.  But the book was great.  You gotta love a novel that starts with, “I should never be around naked women.”

How many pairs of shoes do you own now?

MJ:  Why?  Why would I know this?  Unless you’re trying to get me to go into my closet and count.  Which I won’t do.  You’re not the boss of me!  But seriously, I’m not a shoe maven like Betsy.  I am a Payless Shoes girl:  buy one pair, get the second half off.  I went without money a lot longer than I had money, so I’m pretty careful about what I spend on footgear.  I live on the edge of a small town, so far on the edge I might as well be living in the country.  And our cabin is in the country (the middle of the WI woods, more like).  Thus, I refuse to pay $300 for shoes I will eventually walk through dog shit in (we have a small yard, and two dogs).  Or deer shit.  Or goose shit.  Or…well.  You get where I’m going with all this.  Nope.  Can’t do it. 

What scares you (other then bats)?

MJ:  What could be scarier than bats?  Zombies.  The idea of something that can’t be dispatched with a twelve gauge shotgun is terrifying to me.

Which of your characters are you most like?

MJ:  The vain, dim ones.

Can you tell us a little teeny bit about Undead & Undermined?

Well, Betsy’s going to jump in with both Ferragammo-clad feet and try to save the day (not to mention the future), but it won’t be easy.  And someone else is going to die by the end of UNDERMINED.  But I think I’ve proved that in Betsy’s world, dead doesn’t mean dead.  It certainly doesn’t means you won’t see that character again.  Or as Betsy herself puts it, “Dying isn’t the end of the world.  It’s not even that interesting.”

What’s next for MaryJanice Davidson?

I’m working on the edits for the second in my new FBI trilogy, YOURS MINE AND OURS.  It’s about an elite group of the FBI staffed by people who are mentally ill.  They employ claustrophobes, kleptomaniacs, bi-polars, people with savantism, people like my heroine (Multiple Personality Disorder)…like that.  This group, BOFFO (Bureau Of False Flag Ops), catches bad guys because of their psychoses, not in spite of them.  My editor refers to their psychoses as their super powers<g>. 

The first book, ME MYSELF & WHY, came out last September; the follow up will be out next winter.  And, of course, the new undead, UNDEAD AND UNDERMINED, will be out July 2011.  And my husband and I have written another book set in the Jennifer Scales, EVANGELINA SCALES, which will be out in fall 2011. 

What can I say?  I like to keep busy.  Some people collect recipes. 

Speed Round:

Coffee, tea or something stronger?

MJ:  Tea!  I am a tea snob.  I’ve got all the tea snob accessories, too.  There are about twenty different kinds of teas lurking in my pantry even as I type this.

Reality TV or a horror movie?

MJ:  Zombieland!  Or The Thing.  Which they’re remaking!  Oooh, I can’t wait.  “What is it?”  “I don’t know, but it’s weird and pissed off, whatever it is.”

Last CD or song downloaded?

“The Orange Man”, from the soundtrack to Unbreakable.

Heels or flats?

I’m a six foot tall klutz.  Flats all the way, baby.

Bats or Bugs?

Gross.  Not tellin’.

–MaryJanice

“Tell Hell that Betsy Taylor’s coming and she’s bringing Manolos with her!”