HOUR OF MISCHIEF by Aimee Hyndman

Welcome to August! I'm settling into my new job as Youth Services Selector, and was pleasantly surprised to learn that my new library was recently featured on Buzzfeed! I'm so proud to be a part of such an amazing group of collaborators.

On to our August authors! First up is Aimee Hyndman. Aimee and I met when we collaborated on Operation Awesome, and when HOUR OF MISCHIEF found a publisher, I knew I had to feature it.

From Goodreads:

Born in a whorehouse in the slums of Fortuna and burdened with a prosthetic arm, seventeen-year-old JANET REDSTONE doesn’t think she owes the Clockwork Gods anything—which is why she makes a living stealing from their temples. But when she lands her team in prison, making a pact with the God of Mischief, ITAZURA, is the only way to right her wrongs and free her friends.

Janet doesn’t trust Itazura as far as she can punch him, but with her soul in his hands, she has no choice but to do what he says. The clockwork gods and the bad-tempered elder gods of the ancient past are locked in a game of cat and mouse and the human realms are caught in the middle. If Janet can’t somehow convince the gods to step in a save the world, humanity is in an abyss of trouble.

Using her unconventional wits, an impressive tolerance to alcohol, and a strong right hook, Janet has to convince the gods that humanity is worth saving. Unfortunately, it’s a lot more difficult to stop an apocalypse when you’re slowly being driven crazy by the Lord of Mischief, especially when he starts growing on you.

Aimee also answered some interview questions!

According to your bio, you are currently attaining a double-major in Creative Writing and English. What led to this decision, and can you tell us more about your journey toward publication?

I've always loved writing since before I could write actual words. I loved to invent stories with my stuffed animals, usually with dramatic, tragic plots. So I think I always knew I wanted to major in creative writing and since I also love to read, English was an obvious supplement.

I started my journey toward publication back in high school when I queried my first novel which didn't get much attention. I wrote HOUR OF MISCHIEF my senior year of high school and one year later decided to start querying it on sort of a whim when I saw #pitmad happening on twitter. A few months and several email mishaps later, I got the call from the amazing Laura Zats. I signed with her that February and we began to work toward getting the MS into submission shape. Then that next fall she called me again to tell me about the offer from Curiosity Quills Press. I don't think I responded coherently. In fact, the words 'are you serious' were probably used at least five times.

And now we're only a couple months away from publication. It's all happened so fast. It's kind of crazy but I'm SO excited to have gotten to this point.

And we're excited for you! I love the premise of HOUR OF MISCHIEF. How did the idea come to you, and what do you want readers to take away from the story?

The idea for HOUR OF MISCHIEF came to me during my final year at Shared Worlds, a fantasy based writing camp for teens. We were split into world building groups and had to create worlds from scratch. On the very first day, a thought occurred to me: Thief teams up with the God of Mischief to save the world. And it stuck like glue. I wrote that idea as my final short story for camp but 8,000 words was nowhere near enough to tell the story like I wanted to. To me, HOUR OF MISCHIEF is fun even though it deals with some weightier topics. For the first book at least, I wanted the more serious themes to blend well with the humor. There's an overarching theme and message to the series I think, but it's not as prevalent in book one. More than anything, I want the reader to have fun and feel something as they're reading the book. I want them to laugh and panic with the characters. Because the books I attached to hardest were the ones that make me feel something.

Shared Worlds sounds fantastic! (Here's a link for those interested in finding out more about it.) And Janet Redstone, your main character, will definitely resonate with readers. If you could have lunch with Janet, where would you go (and what would you have for lunch)?

I think I would take Janet to a nice burger joint. She strikes me as someone who likes greasy food. She would order too much for her stomach but she hates wasting food so she would eat it all and get sick.

Poor Janet! What are some of your current projects? Will HOUR OF MISCHIEF have a sequel?

HOUR OF MISCHIEF is the first book in a four book series. I recently finished editing book 2, currently titled SEASON OF WIND. As for other projects, I'm working on rewriting my first ever novel (it needs some major improvements). I'm also working on a collaborative Urban Fantasy project with some friends. It’s a pretty massive endeavor so it will be awhile before that is finished!

Sounds like you'll have your hands full! Thanks again for such a great interview.

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