Welcome back to BOOK AND A BEVERAGE!
Book and a Beverage was a featuring originally designed to spotlight book bloggers but I’m thrilled to extend the feature to interview authors and highlight their works as well! This is a special Author Edition of Book and a Beverage.
Today I have author Paul Krueger on a special author edition of Book and a Beverage! I’m in the middle of his book, LAST CALL AT THE NIGHTSHADE LOUNGE, right now and it’s so much fun! Mixology meets magic is tickling my fancy and the characters are just great. Check out Paul’s Book and a Beverage guest post below and give him a warm welcome!
Give a big welcome to author PAUL KRUEGER!
Name: Paul Krueger
You know him best as the author of… LAST CALL AT THE NIGHTSHADE LOUNGE (6/7/16)
READING
What are you reading? Right now, I’m catching up on the comic series Monstress, by Sana Takeda and Marjorie Liu.
What’s important that we should know about this book? Would you recommend it? Oh man, where to begin? How about the fact that Liu and Takeda have made the best Asia-inspired fantasy world since Avatar: The Last Airbender? Or that the book demolishes the “male as default” trope, and you can go an entire issue without seeing a single male character? Or that it’s got the best talking cat since Garth Nix’s Mogget? Or that Liu’s words and Takeda’s art are both independently gorgeous and complement each other perfectly? Yeah, I absolutely recommend Monstress.
What are your top three books you would recommend to other people? Sarah Kuhn’s Heroine Complex, which is a superhero novel set to come out next month and set the world on fire when it does. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, because we should still be fostering an appreciation for the classics. And I’ll say Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, which I read months ago and still catch myself thinking about.
WRITING
What can you tell us about your current work in progress? Not much yet, I’m afraid; I’m still discovering it myself as I write.
Are you a pantser or a plotter? Pantser, through and through. When I have an outline to work off of, I just get bored. I need the flexibility to surprise myself. That’ll often slow me down when I’m writing, but it seems to be the only way I can finish a book.
Do you have a favorite spot to read/write? Nah. I’m like my cat: I can find comfort in almost any old spot. But I’ll say this: I’m never more productive than when I’m on an airplane.
What are you drinking? Tonight: a glass of neat bourbon, in honor of National Bourbon Day. It’s one of those fake holidays I can get behind.
What’s your favorite thing to drink while reading/writing? Black coffee, preferably by the bucket. I tried to be writerly once and drink whiskey while I wrote, but all I ended up doing was just drinking whiskey and staring at my laptop.
Which character from a book would you say you’re most like? I identify pretty closely with Arthur Dent from Hitchhiker’s Guide. Like him, I often find myself the least interesting person in a room full of very interesting people, bewildered and just trying to keep up. And also like him, I’ve never quite gotten the hang of Thursdays.
Do you have any writing rituals or superstitions? I don’t have any specific ones myself, but my cat has unilaterally decided that I write better with her sitting in my lap, and takes it upon herself to carry out that ritual at every opportunity.
A thank you to Paul Krueger for this fun get-to-know-you Book and a Beverage post! His debut full-length novel, LAST CALL AT THE NIGHTSHADE LOUNGE, is out from Quirk books now so don’t miss it!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul Krueger is, down to the very bottom of his black little heart, a city rat. Raised in and around Chicago, he got his learning on in New York before scuttling off to Los Angeles, where 
he lives now.
His short fiction has appeared in the anthologies SWORD & LASER and NOIR RIOT. His debut novel, LAST CALL AT THE NIGHTSHADE LOUNGE, is due out in June of 2016 from Quirk Books. It’s about a secret society of bartenders who fight demons with alcohol-magic, and yes, it’s very much autobiographical.*
His non-writing hobbies include cooking, playing ukulele, Pathfinder, and boring strangers with long, involved stories about his cat. He’s also a musician, singing lead for the Adventure Time-themed punk band Lemonbadd.
If found, Paul should be returned to Ms. Jennie Goloboy of Red Sofa Literary, who is very patient with him.
*for a very loose/nonexistent value of “autobiographical”
bio from Paul Krueger’s website
