There's an important stop we need to make on the tour, a stop that I'm willing to bet will send you right to your local bookstore or library. I fell in love with the novel, SHADOWED SUMMER, in the first chapter. There was something about it–the way I found myself sweating in the Louisiana heat alongside Iris, whose voice I could hear as clearly as my own. SHADOWED SUMMER is a Southern ghost story, one of the best I've ever read.

Saundra Mitchell has done everything from predicting futures as a phone psychic, to delivering dentures, and working as a layout waxer for a newspaper. She finally found her calling, and today she's an author and screenwriter. She lives in Indianapolis with her husband and two children.

I asked Saundra if I could ask her a few questions, and she graciously agreed (a nice Southern girl). This was also my opportunity to find out everything I really wanted to know.

Kami: What was the inspiration for SHADOWED SUMMER, which is one of my favorite books of 2009?

Saundra: You are too sweet, Kami, thank you! SHADOWED SUMMER was a funny book to write. The main character, Iris, showed up in my head early. I knew who she was, I knew her best friend's name, and I knew where she was from. But that's all she knew! She loomed in my head over the summer, and I finally decided I would write a paranormal romance.

Suddenly, Iris had a lot to say- like, she wasn't going to fall in love with any ghost, and the ghost wasn't all that interested in falling in love with her, either. I spent the next three months fighting with Iris
over what to put on the page. I think we were both relieved when it was all over!

Kami: Why did you choose the South as the setting for SHADOWED SUMMER? Do you think there's a reason so many Southern authors set their stories in the South?

Saundra: When Iris appeared, that's where she was from- and it made exactly the right kind of sense. Setting is very important to me; it's a character to me. The setting of the story should inform the story, in my opinion. The South has its unique texture and culture- I don't think SHADOWED SUMMER could have taken place anywhere else. Iris in Maine would not have been my Iris Rhame.

I think so many authors set stories in the south because it's an easy exotic if you're not from there, and it's like laughing behind your hand at church if you are. Everything is bigger in the south. Temperatures
are higher, personalities are bigger, emotions are bigger.

And people talk to each other- strangers talk to each other! I remember my first visit to Cartersville, Georgia. I went to the grocery with my best friend Wendi, and was struck dumb by the old man who struck up a conversation with me over the cheese freezer. "But what did he want?" I asked Wendi. And I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the answer, which was, "Nothing!"

Books are all about the places where people collide, and people collide beautifully in the South.

Kami: What are you working on currently? I can't wait for your next novel!

Saundra: I have a historical paranormal on submission right now– cross your fingers that what the world wants next is visions in fire, in Gilded-Age Baltimore!

Kami: * fingers crossed *  Name 5 things you can't live without.

Saundra:

My Wendi
Books
Cocola
The Internet
Books (These are different books!)

OK that's four…

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Favorite Quotes

Saundra's favorite quote:

"The only right way to write a novel is to sit down and write it." – Saundra Mitchell

My new one is:

"Books are all about the places where people collide, and people collide beautifully in the South." – Saundra Mitchell

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Regional Recipes

* This is not a photo of Saundra's fried chicken, but I thought we needed a point of reference for those of us who aren't US natives.

~ Saundra's Fried Chicken ~

1 whole fryer, cut up
2 cups of milk
1-2 cups Crisco, lard or vegetable oil

Breading

2 cups of flour
1 tbsp rosemary
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp salt
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp black pepper

1. Blend your dry ingredients well, until all spices are evenly distributed. I usually put them in a large bowl with a tight-fitting container, and shake.

2. Rinse and section your chicken. (If you don't know how to section a whole chicken, this is a useful video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd8ZRMAHZyU

3. Dip each piece of chicken into the milk, and shake off the excess. Keep one hand dry, you need it for step 4.

4. Drop each piece into the breading mix, and with your dry hand, flip the chicken over until it's thoroughly covered. Push it to the side of the bowl, so you have room to repeat this process with each piece.

5. Recover the bowl, give it a good shake to distribute the chicken in the breading, and then shove the whole thing in the fridge for at least an hour.

6. While your chicken is resting, melt lard or Crisco (your choice, I like Crisco,) in your cast iron skillet, until you have about a 3/4 of an inch of liquid fat. Heat to about 370 degrees.

7. Put your largest pieces- thighs and breasts- into the grease first. They will lower the temperature, so partially cover the pan. Do not use a tight lid! It will make your chicken gummy.

8. Fiddle. After 10, 15 minutes, check the brownness. If it's about the color of good whiskey, turn it over. If it's not, leave it cook a little longer.

9. After you turn your chicken, *do not cover it anymore*. It will take the crisp right out of your breading.

10. When the chicken is thoroughly done on both sides, drain on paper towels. Serve hot or cold, preferably with mashed potatoes, green beans, and biscuits.

~

~ Southern Homemade Biscuits ~

* In the South, this means made by hand — not with a spoon. (Just like Amma does it in BEAUTIFUL CREATURES.)

Ingredients:
8 cups of white flour
Crisco
4 cups of buttermilk

And this is how
you do it…