It’s time for the next King’s CROWNing Authors (Cajoling Random Observations Now) interview. Please welcome, Melinda Salisbury.
- If you could whistle what would the sound track to The Sin Eater’s Daughter be? (Give answer in five adjectives)
Wistful, winsome, jarring, dark, dramatic.
- Do you like odd numbers or even numbers and have you ever read only the odd pages of a book?
It’s not that simple for me as I have some number related issues. I like the numbers three, six, seven and nine (six is the best). I strongly dislike eight. I’m not fond of five. Two and one are neither here nor there. I have never read only the odd pages of a book – who does that?!
2. Have you ever hugged a book?
I have! Lots of different books too, I’m polyamorous when it comes to books, I love lots and often. The last book I hugged was an ARC of Jandy Nelson’s ‘I’ll Give You The Sun’, because it was so heart-breaking and frustrating to watch all of these characters undo themselves and those around them, time and time again. But it was so, so wonderful when they started to put the pieces back together and I had to give the book a little cuddle at the end.
4. Just how big is your TBR pile?
It’s around the size of a four year old child, so I’ve taken to calling it Lars.
5. Would you or do you have a bookish related tattoo?
I absolutely would! I do have one tattoo, but it’s no book related. For years I’ve wanted a tattoo of the Deathly Hallows symbol but have not yet got around to it. Lately I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a bottle like the one from my book’s cover done on the back of my neck. Whether it happens or not, we’ll see, but if it’s anything like my DH one, check back in 5 years…
- Flower arranging or chasing plot bunnies?
Both! Firstly, because one of my first ever jobs was in a florists and I love flowers very much! And secondly, I think the thing with successfully chasing plot bunnies is to ignore them for a bit, in the same way you’d go about catching a mouse. You wouldn’t chase it all over the house, you’d lay a little trap and then carry on with your life. I do that with plot bunnies. If I write myself into a corner, I turn my laptop off and go and do something else; maybe a walk, maybe make something. I lay a little trap in my head, by making it seem like I have better things to do and then BOOM! The bunny resolves itself somehow. While I keep my conscious occupied on whatever I’m doing, my 
subconscious lies in wait and gets the job done.
- If I say – light the fire with my TBR pile, then you’d say –
What is wrong with you? Get some wood. Or old newspapers. Or old school reports. Unless we’re in a Jake Gyllenhaal 2012 Eye of the Ice Storm situation, don’t you dare. When I was a kid I would have killed for a massive TBR pile of my very own, even now I get a bit of a thrill when I realise how many books there are that I have access to, and can read when I like. Don’t rain on Kid!Mel’s dreams by burning books like they’re nothing but kindling. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hold with this whole ‘treating books as sacred objects’ malarkey, I’m fine with tea-stains and dog-eared pages and cracked spines, to me they’re like wrinkles, they’re signs of life. Of love. But burning books? Nope.
8. Should books come wrapped in rolled leaf gold or a paper bag?
Paper bags. There’s something exciting about paper bags, something a little seedy, a little exciting, a little unpredictable. Gold leaf is gilt and glamour and prestige, which are very nice, but not very exciting. A book in a paper bag would intrigue me. One wrapped in gold would make wonder how to get the gold off to sell so I could buy more books.
- When was the last time you stayed up writing all night?
About six weeks ago, I sat up until 4am working on the first draft of my second book. It wasn’t a good idea. I was very tired the next day, and when I read back what I’d done, it was not best work. Four am is not a good time to be coherent.
10. Please ask me a question.
Which of the Deathly Hallows would you choose, and why?!
Oh I just can not go there. You see this question is far bigger than you or me and it involves secrets and dreams and the fulfilment of these dreams can only come true if the secret is kept.
Thank you, Melinda.
About Melinda Salisbury
Melinda Salisbury lives by the sea, somewhere in the south of England. As a child she genuinely thought Roald
Dahl’s Matilda was her biography, in part helped by her grandfather often mistakenly calling her Matilda, and the local library having a pretty cavalier attitude to the books she borrowed. Sadly she never manifested telekinetic powers. She likes to travel, and have adventures. She also likes medieval castles, non-medieval aquariums, Richard III, and all things Scandinavian. The Sin Eater’s Daughter is her first novel, and will be published by Scholastic in 2015. She is represented by the amazing Claire Wilson at Rogers, Coleridge and White.
Twitter Bio: Author of The Sin Eater’s Daughter. Richard III fangirl, nature lover, tea drinker. Lives out of a suitcase. Repped by @cmlwilson.
Links
https://twitter.com/AHintofMystery
If you like that one then read another one here or this one.
Michelle Moloney King 
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