Saturday, December 11, 2010

What is Christina Henry reading?

This weekend's featured contributor at Writers Read: Christina Henry, author of Black Wings, her first Madeline Black novel, which was released last month by Ace/Penguin.

The entry begins:
I love to read pretty much anything I can get my hands on. I have about 25 magazine subscriptions, ranging in various topics from hockey to astronomy to running to cooking to fitness. I also have a gigantic to-be-read pile of fiction and nonfiction books that is getting more gigantic every day, because I now buy way more books than I actually have time to read.

When I am writing a new novel I can read fiction until I get about a third of the way through the book. At that point I stop reading fiction until I’m done with the first draft. I don’t like to be unconsciously influenced by other writers when I’m trying to hammer out the story. At that point I’ll switch over to reading nonfiction – again, just about anything will do as long as it catches my eye. The next two books in the nonfiction heap are Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky and Flower Confidential by Amy Stewart.

I just recently finished writing the second book of the Madeline Black series and haven’t gotten too deeply into writing the third so...[read on]
Among the early praise for Black Wings:
“A fun, fast ride through the gritty streets of magical Chicago, Black Wings has it all: a gutsy heroine just coming into her power, bad-ass bad guys, a sexy supernatural love interest, and a scrappy gargoyle sidekick. Highly recommended.”
--Nancy Holzner, Author of Deadtown
Read chapter one of Black Wings, and learn more about the book and author at Christina Henry's website.

Christina Henry is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago and enjoys running long distances, reading anything she can get her hands on and watching movies with samurai, zombies and/or subtitles in her spare time. She lives in Chicago with her husband and son.

Writers Read: Christina Henry.

--Marshal Zeringue