Postcard For Reader

Interview: Leah Cypess

I'd like to welcome Leah Cypess to WORD! Leah is the author of Mistwood and the recently released Nightspell, a companion to Mistwood.

A stand-alone companion novel to the much-acclaimed MISTWOOD. When Darri rides into Ghostland, a country where the living walk with the dead, she has only one goal: to rescue her younger sister Callie, who was sent to Ghostland as a hostage four years ago. But Callie has changed in those four years, and now has secrets of her own. In her quest to save her sister from herself, Darri will be forced to outmaneuver a handsome ghost prince, an ancient sorcerer, and a manipulative tribal warrior (who happens to be her brother). When Darri discovers the source of the spell that has kept the dead in Ghostland chained to this earth, she faces a decision that will force her to reexamine beliefs she has never before questioned - and lead her into the heart of a conspiracy that threatens the very balance of power between the living and the dead.

I got to talk to her about Keith Urban, movie star white teeth and what she thought of the cover of Mistwood - just click more to read all about it!

Nicole: Welcome to WORD, Leah! What was the moment like when the idea for Mistwood popped into your head?
Leah Cypess: There wasn’t anything particularly momentous about it – the idea was just for the first scene, and I didn’t really know whether it would be a book or a short story or just a fragment that didn’t go anywhere. The plot and characters developed gradually as I wrote it.

N: What is your favorite creature to shift into? Or, at least, your favorite creature for your characters.
LC: I love having my characters shift into cats. There’s a reason why cats are a favorite in fantasy/paranormal books… they’re so graceful and secretive. I grew up playing with stray cats (much to my mother’s dismay) and being determined to get a cat as soon as I was old enough.

My body played a mean trick on me by developing an allergy to cats when I was in my late teens.

N: What do you think of the Mistwood cover?
LC: I love it! I had no idea what to expect for my cover… I had a vague idea that it would be a girl shifting into something, but I couldn’t find any shifting images online that I liked. I was thrilled with what the Greenwillow design team came up with.

N: You have a list of books about shapeshifters on your website. Do you have a favorite among them?
LC: The Shape-Changer’s Wife by Sharon Shinn. It’s a book that started out as a poem, and it maintains that lyrical, magical feeling.

N: Ooo, I want to read that; I read Shinn's Quatrain and loved it. You attended BEA last year. (I should know; I met you!) How was it? Did you have a favorite part?
LC: BEA was a fantastic experience. Most of it was a blur for me – I had a signing at BEA itself, plus a bunch of school and bookstore visits together with other members of my debut author group, the Classof2K10. I was staying at my parents' home in Brooklyn, and in addition, I brought 10-month-old daughter with me, because I was still nursing her. So I spent a lot of time dashing back and forth on the subway! My favorite part was getting to meet people I’d only known so far online.

N: If you could have different color teeth, what color would they be?
LC: Movie-star white. Though my dentist claims they actually could be…

N: Do you listen to music while you write? Do Mistwood or Nightspell have songs that go with them?
LC: I almost never listen to music while I write, but I sometimes do when I revise. I used to think Vapor by Jennifer Paige would be a pretty good song for Mistwood. I haven’t found a song for Nightspell yet, but for no particular reason I listened to a lot of Keith Urban while I was revising it.

N: I love Keith Urban! What's your spirit animal?
LC: Hmm. I’m going to go with cats again.

Thanks for stopping by, Leah! Don't forget to check out Mistwood and pick up it's sequel, Nightspell!