Today I am so pleased to welcome Roan Rosser to Joyfully Jay. Roan has come to talk to us about a new release, Red Pandamonium. Roan has also brought along a great giveaway. Please join me in giving a big welcome!
Roan has written some questions and answers to share today!
1. How would you describe your writing style/genre?
I’d describe my writing style as tongue-in-cheek fantasy with an emotional core. I love to write in fantastical worlds, adding whimsy with humor, but the backbones of my stories are always serious. As for genre, I tend to wildly jump around, from contemporary / urban fantasy, romance – both contemporary and fantasy, magical realism, Young Adult, erotica, and light-hearted comedies.
2. Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?
I do not read book reviews. I get thrown into a tailspin of doubt by any reviews, good or bad. Bad are obvious because it’s always upsetting (at least to me) when someone doesn’t like something that you love and poured a lot of time and energy into. However, good ones make me doubt myself by wondering if I’ll ever write anything as good again. I also stress out about how I’ll live up to the high expectations of fans.
I will look at my star rating and the number of reviews, though.
3. How did you choose the topic for this book?
My major motivation for this book was wanting to write about a red panda. I want to add that I conceived of this story long before I’d heard of Pixar’s new movie. Anyway, my family and I were in Omaha for a wedding, and went to the zoo on one of our free days. Both my step-daughter and husband felt sick, so went to sit in the cafeteria while I wandered around. The red panda was very active, running all around its enclosure. I hadn’t ever seen one that close before and I just fell in love. I stood there for forty-five minutes, just watching it run around. That was when I resolved to write a story featuring a red panda.
My original thought was to write a story from the point of view of a red panda at the zoo, but I discarded that idea pretty quickly. I’d just finished writing a trilogy of urban fantasies, and I wanted to write more in that world, so I began playing with concepts around how I could work in a red panda. The previous trilogy had all been about vampires and shifters, and I wanted to explore a different part of the world that I’d only glossed over in those books: the mages and witches. After that, the idea of a mage with a red panda familiar wrote itself.
4. What other artistic pursuits (if any) do you indulge in apart from writing?
I sew. I have an industrial sewing machine and an embroidery machine. I make clothing – including button-up shirts, pants, outfits for my dogs, cosplay costumes, you name it. After covid lockdowns started, I made a cosplay outfit of Venti from Genshin Impact from scratch.
I also like to make plush dolls of the main characters from my books, as well as other plushies of whatever the mood takes me to make. I’ve made things like an okapi centaur, a plush dog backpack, a giant Appa plush, mer-people, witches, Pokemon, and more.
5. Star Trek or Star Wars? Why?
Lord of the Rings. Haha, no this is how I’ve always answered this question when people ask me irl. I’m not big on science-fiction settings. I have a tough time picking between Star Wars and Star Trek, mainly because I’ve not seen much of either.
I haven’t seen any of the Star Trek TV shows beyond snippets caught in waiting rooms, ect, and the only movie I’ve seen is the one where Picard gets turned into a Borg (I couldn’t even tell you the name of it).
I’ve seen a couple of Star Wars movies, the original trilogy and the first two that had Rey, but I didn’t enjoy any of them enough to want to ever rewatch. I only watched the original trilogy because I wanted to understand the Star Wars jokes and things that pop up in a lot of other shows.
But in the spirit of the question as asked, Star Trek. The setting is more interesting for me. I love the idea of a post-capitalism society (as I understand the show money doesn’t exist in the Federation?). I also like how the show focuses on peaceful resolutions and negotiations (again, from what I’ve picked up).
6. What are you working on now, and when can we expect it?
Currently, I’m working on the second book in the Chaos Menagerie, tentatively titled “Pandora’s Fox,” that picks up a few weeks after Red Pandamonium. I’m hoping to have it ready for a September or October release, but that depends on how cooperative my muse is.
I’m also working on a few short stories for anthology calls. I like to use short stories to explore my worlds and play with original characters. Sometimes I love them so much they end up becoming novels.
Blurb
When you have chaos magic, the only thing you can do is expect the unexpected.
Zombies. Shoestorms. Illicit unicorn rides. A talking red panda.
Before today Max never believed in magic, despite bad luck so terrible he used to jokingly call it a curse. Now he’s a reluctant believer. His first day as a mage he draws the attention of the magic police, not to mention the mysterious hooded figures chasing him all over downtown Portland trying to kill him with magic.
With the help of his new speed-demon red panda familiar, his fortune-telling neighbor, a gadget-obsessed witch, a grumpy vampire, and his maybe-brother, Max needs to learn to use his chaos magic, and quickly, or his ‘curse’ is going to be the end of him and the people he loves.
Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/bzZXZ2
Bio
My urban fantasy novels mainly feature the trans and queer protagonists grappling with things like identity and found families that I wished I could have read about growing up.
Originally from Utah, I escaped up to the Pacific Northwest, where I’ve made my home in both Seattle and Portland. When not writing, you can probably find me beating up pixel baddies or in front of one of my sewing machines adding to my overstuffed closet or my army of homemade plush dolls.
If you find yourself blinded by the vivid colors and loud patterns of my homemade shirts, know that I’m only trying to warn you that I may be poisonous. Or venomous? Or both? Probably both.
- Author Website: http://roanrosser.com
- Author Facebook (Author Page): https://www.facebook.com/roanrosser
- Author Twitter: https://twitter.com/RoanRosser
- Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roanrosser/
- Author Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Roan-Rosser/e/B09V95NK72
Giveaway
Roan is giving away a $20 Amazon gift card with this tour:
- By entering the giveaway, you’re confirming that you are at least 18 years old.
- By entering you are agreeing to the Terms and Conditions set out by Rafflecopter for entries.
- Winners may be announced on the blog following the contest. By entering the contest you are agreeing to allow your name to be posted and promoted as the contest winner by Joyfully Jay.
- Prizes will be distributed following the giveaway either by Joyfully Jay or the person/organization donating the prize. In order to facilitate prize distribution, the winner name’s and email may be provided to a third party awarding the prize.
- By entering you are agreeing to hold Joyfully Jay harmless if the prize or giveaway in some way negatively impacts the winner.
- Void where prohibited by law.
Welcome, Roan, and thanks for the enjoyable Q and A session! Best wishes for the success of Red Pandamonium.