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When I was a kid, I wanted to be a wizard. Or a paleontologist. Maybe both.

I’m neither now, but magic and monsters are still my favorite things.

Born in Okinawa, Japan while my Dad was on duty with the US Navy, I moved around throughout my childhood and traveled even more. Reading and theater were the two things that got me through it all.

After graduating from the University of Kansas in 2003 with a degree in Gender Studies, I went on to graduate school for a Master’s in the same. Halfway through, I ditched my advisor in favor of Anglo-Saxon and Germanic epic poetry, because the blood, tragedy, and violence were much more civilized than academic in-fighting. I don’t have a graduate degree, but I did translate my own version of Beowulf!

Despite having traveled all over the world, I settled in Kansas (where the flying monkeys live) with my partner, two cats, and a mutant mutt named Grendel.

Because I was raised on fairy tales and dinner-time conversations about emergency room patients (thanks, Mom and Dad!) I tend to mix magic and blood whenever possible.

There are several key characters, each with their own histories, in Blood Magic. Which character came to you first? What inspired their story?

Originally, Blood Magic was about Silla and Reese and their ability to trade bodies with some vague magic – there was also Josephine, who was a witch who’d been body-snatching to stay alive for decades. Nick and his back-story was a later addition when I realized I wanted more kissing.

Why did you decide to tell the story in alternating points-of-view? Which voice did you find easiest to write?

Josephine’s voice was the easiest to write, because she’s wild and melodramatic. I decided to use both points of view when I decided that the story belonged to both Silla and Nick. They both change, and without one or the other of them, the novel doesn’t work. Plus, I like being able to see them from the outside as well as from the inside – so from their own POV but also from the other POVs.

Silla is very into theatre, and I noticed in your bio that you were also a drama kid as a teen. What is it about the stage that appeals to both you and Silla? What role have you always wanted to play?

I love the stage because of the words – taking someone else’s words and making them my own, making another character a part of myself, is immensely appealing. Silla likes it because she’s naturally empathetic and very good an putting herself in other’s shoes. She can use it to escape. I’ve always wanted to play Macbeth!

What inspired Silla’s mask collection, and the way she uses them to control her emotions?

It started out as just a metaphor for the way that everybody puts on different faces and different selves of whatever situation they�

3 Comments on Author Interview: Tessa Gratton (Blood Magic), last added: 8/6/2011

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Lauren M said, on 8/5/2011 9:05:00 AM

Just reading Tessa's short bio alone is fascinating! It seems she's lead an incredibly interesting life! I think it's awesome that Tessa and her critique partners drop Easter-eggs in their stories! I'll definitely have to look out for those when I read Blood Magic. Great interview! :)

Casey (The Bookish Type) said, on 8/5/2011 10:19:00 AM

I know! I especially loved the opening lines about magic and monsters =) It totally made my day when I saw Narkotika in Blood Magic haha

Lindsi said, on 8/5/2011 5:45:00 PM

I bought this last week! The interview only made me MORE excited to start reading it :)

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Silla Kennicott's life hasn't been the same since that night -- the night her parents died, and she found them lying in a pool of their own blood. The local police blame the murder-suicide on her father, but everything in Silla's blood rebels against the damning accusation. Unfortunately, the truth may be even more horrific than the lies. When an ancient book arrives on her doorstep, calling for blood and magic, she's got nothing to lose -- but when the spells actually work, Silla quickly finds herself tangled in a web of obsession, murder and blood that spans a century.

In Blood Magic, Tessa Gratton weaves together fantasy and sorcery to create an utterly original story -- a mythology of magic and sacrifice, betrayal and death. One of the most bewitching aspects of the novel was its lore, the history and the mysteries of blood magic, the double-edged sword of sacrifice and the seduction and destruction of power. Just when readers think they've got it all figured out, Gratton sweeps them away on a tide of uncertainty. The world Gratton creates isn't black or white, the magic neither good nor evil. There's darkness inside them all -- be it sadness or madness -- and the intoxicating allure of the magic has the potential to go horribly awry, but ultimately it's all about choice. There's a beautiful symmetry to this world, a terrible price for power.

Silla is an unusual heroine, a faded, bereaved version of someone once bursting with life. In the wake of the terrible tragedy that cost both her parents' lives, Silla lives behind masks and roles, slipping into another skin on stage to escape her own tattered life. It's a relief to see a heroine with a passion (theatre), and more to her life than a boyfriend. Silla doesn't obsess over Nick when he's gone -- in fact, he seems to be the more enamored one.

Unlike many orphaned heroines, Silla's pain feels raw and authentic, coloring her whole world. Fortunately, she has family to lean on. Her brother Reese seems solid even on paper, stoic in the face of pain. It is clear that he loves his sister, even if he takes the big brother attitude a little too far at times. Their sibling bond is portrayed with strength and subtlety, an anchoring presence at the heart of the novel. Then there's fluttering Aunt Judy, who took on two troubled teens in their time of need. Though she flits in and out of the house like a social butterfly, she's an important fountain of advice for her niece, who's still trying to find her way back from the brink.

The only character who isn't entirely winning is Nick. From the outside he seems self-satisfied and entitled, almost a melodrama hero with all his slick suavity. He is more sympathetic once the reader gets inside his head, revealing the scars that made him who he is. His snarkiness is even amusing when he's not cruelly lashing out. Yet, his hypocrisy makes him rather unsavory at times -- I was outraged when he attacked Silla for behavior identical to his own. Nick has a lot of maturing to do, but his chemistry with Silla is undeniable. Their attraction is sexy and sweet, if lightning fast. Gratton knows how to write a kiss -- instead of seeming like hormone-driven lust, their unabashed awe of one another strikes a romantic chord.

The alternating perspectives, both past and present, give this novel a rich, layered texture. Gratton carefully controls the flow of information, tantalizing the reader without giving the game away. The author slips effortlessly between the widely diverse narrative voices, from Silla and Nick to Josep

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