Consuming Worlds: Hellhole by Gina Damico {Blog Tour: Interview}

Today I have a great treat for you today! Today the author of the highly anticipated novel Hellhole, Gina Damico stopped by for an interview!!! Yup! So stay tuned for great things.

Title: HELLHOLE

Release date: January 6, 2015

Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers

Pages: 368

Formats: Hardcover, audio, eBook

Blurb~

There was a time when geeky, squeaky-clean Max Kilgore would never lie or steal or even think about murder. Then he accidentally unearths a devil, and Max’s choices are no longer his own. The big red guy has a penchant for couch surfing and junk food—and you should never underestimate evil on a sugar high.
With the help of Lore, a former goth girl who knows a thing or two about the dark side, Max is racing against the clock to get rid of the houseguest from hell before time, and all the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos this side of the fiery abyss, run out.

Find It: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Goodreads

Thank you so much for taking the time to sit down and answer my questions. I am so happy to be a part of your tour!

1) Where do you write? Where is the place that allows words to flow? (Pictures are always awesome)

I’d love to say that I do most of my writing in my awesome office, but more often than not I just end up on the couch with my laptop. I don’t know what it is about couches, and lounging, and just feeling like a terrifically lethargic heap of uselessness, but it somehow stimulates creativity for me. My laptop is a tiny, microscopic thing, though, so when it comes time to edit and do some heavy-duty cutting and pasting, I switch over to my desktop, which I have recently fashioned into a standing desk. (If you’d like to know how to do the same thing for super cheap—like, less than $30—check out my blog post: https://ginadamico.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/office-overhaul-the-dirt-cheap-standing-desk/)

*That is very cool. I love writing on my couch, but I have a tendency not to get work done when I'm in the living room :)

2) Do you believe in happy ever after or are you more of a realist? Why or why not?

I think both possibilities can exist simultaneously, but only if you keep in mind that it’s all a matter of perspective. Defeating all the bad guys may seem like a happily ever after ending, but what about the bad guys? Or, if you have a hard time empathizing with the bad guys, what about the bad guys’ dogs? They never did anything wrong. Now their owners are never going to come home and feed them treats again. They’re just going to sit by the door and wait, making sad puppy dog eyes until they die of hunger. Are you crying yet?

*sniffles* I never thought of it that way... well unless I am really attached to a bad guy.

3) If you could be any character from your book, who would you be and why?

I’m not sure this answer is going to do me any favors, but Burg—the devil—gets to eat as many terrible snacks and desserts and junk food as he wants. I know, he’s eternally evil and has to live in hell and everything, but…you know. Bottomless Doritos. I’m just sayin’.

I think I would go with that too. I could go with eating all the cupcakes!

4) Pretend we are on an elevator together and we just met. We are talking about books, of course, and you tell me you are an author. In two sentences convince me that I must have your book…. And… GO!

You know how some days you get it into your head to steal a cheap little trinket for your dying mom, and then when you get home you discover that that tiny little sin has summoned a rude, obnoxious, junk-food-demanding devil who crashes on the couch in your basement and does nothing but play video games and refuses to leave unless you find him a mansion for him to live in instead? Then you will totally identify with my book.

5) I like to call myself the devourer, with that in mind, name your top 5 Devours for each category.

Read: Anything by Kurt Vonnegut, anything by Mary Roach, the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy by Laini Taylor, the Birthright trilogy by Gabrielle Zevin, and How to Sharpen Pencils by David Rees.

Movie: Titanic, Independence Day, Jurassic Park, Anchorman, Airplane

Love Independence Day

Music: My musical tastes are too pop-driven and embarrassing to discuss. I like Broadway musicals. Draw your own conclusions.

Munchie: Utz Cheeseballs, Doritos, chocolate chip cookies, Tim Tams, an entire block of cheese

6) If you were stranded on a deserted island, with water and food provided, what 5 things (no people or transportation) would you want with you?

-A shipwrecked Staples freighter, spilling out enough notebooks and pens to last for years

- Scuba gear (I don’t know how to scuba dive, but it seems that with all that time and nothing else to do, I could teach myself. Or drown.)

- An immunity idol. I have watched enough Survivor to know how valuable those are.

- Blistex

- A penguin. Not as a pet, but more of an islandmate. “Hey, penguin.” “Hey, human.”

Love it!

7) I think characters are what make a book. Whenever I read a book I always pick a favorite character moment. A moment I felt really defined the character. Pick one moment from any of your works or all of your works that would be your favorite character moment and please tell us why.

In HELLHOLE, after Max discovers the devil in his basement and starts scrambling to figure out how to get rid of him, his friend recommends he talk to Lore, a girl at school who used to be into the satanic arts. When he first meets Lore, he immediately bones it up and makes a fool of himself, blurting out sentences that don’t make sense in this life or any other. The more the talks, the worse it gets, and the less Lore wants anything to do with him. It ends with him shouting, “COME OVER TO MY HOUSE AND I’LL SHOW YOU AND WE CAN EAT QUICHE.” That’s our Max!

Thanks for having me!

*Thank you so much for stopping by!

About the Author~

Gina Damico is the author of Croak, Scorch, and Rogue, the grim-reapers-gone-wild books of the Croak trilogy. She has also dabbled as a tour guide, transcriptionist, theater house manager, scenic artist, movie extra, office troll, retail monkey, yarn hawker and breadmonger. A native of Syracuse, New York, she now lives outside Boston with her husband, two cats, and one dog, and while she has never visited hell in person, she has spent countless waking hours at the Albany Regional Bus Terminal, which is pretty darn close. Visit her website at www.ginadami.co.

We are giving away a Hardcover copy of HELLHOLE to TWO WINNERS

Giveaway is open to anywhere The Book Depository ships.

Giveaway ends on January 21^st at 11:59 p.m. Pacific.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hey there book fans! I'm running a Follow Frenzy giveaway over the course of this blog tour, and the prize is pretty neato: a signed copy of HELLHOLE wherein each chapter will have a little bit of trivia and/or a doodle handwritten by yours truly. (Gina) (Damico) To enter, all you have to do is follow me on one or more of my various social media outlets (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Youtube), then fill out this adorable little form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1MbfSsZCiALw_I_C7WpI0d71hPNe0b94Ot89sxFesUzM/viewform . That's it! The more things you follow, the more chances you will earn to win. Good luck!

Tour Schedule

Week One

Jan. 5^th Xpresso Reads – GUEST POST

Fiction Fare – REVIEW

Jan. 6^th Paranormal Book Club – GUEST POST

Spiced Latte Reads – REVIEW

Jan. 7^th A Dream Within A Dream – REVIEW

Book Jems – GUEST POST

Jan. 8^th BookHounds YA – INTERVIEW

YA Midnight Reads – DUAL REVIEW

Jan. 9^th Novel Novice – GUEST POST

Consuming Words and Worlds – INTERVIEW