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To help celebrate the release of The Petticoat Society, I thought I’d bring some friends along who like the genre as well.

Allie Frost is a writer from central Pennsylvania who enjoys dark roast coffee, collecting vintage books, and going to the movies. Her favorite animal is the Himalayan black bear, her favorite color is gray, and she can’t dance. She especially loves rainy days, where she can either curl up with a good book or write her own. When she was a child, she wanted to grow up to be an otter – but has since decided she’d rather write, instead.

She is the author of I’m With You. The book follows fifteen-year-old Ciarán Morrigan and his sister Remiel. After their father makes a startling decision, the Morrigan siblings are forced to flee the only life they’ve ever known and embark on a dangerous adventure across the nation of Empirya. With the help of a disinherited vagabond, a cynical violinist, a fire-juggler with a fierce temper, an aspiring mechanic, and a cheerful librarian, Ciarán and Remiel must fight to escape those who have been hired to hunt them. But will Remiel’s dark secret prevent the Morrigan children from finding a place they can truly call home?

Not only did Allie write a cool book, but she is a cool person that I am happy to call a friend. Here is what she had to say about writing the novel.

hat inspired you to write I’m With You?
I wrote I’m With You way back in college. It was originally a very different story, but at its core, I always wanted it to be a story about the ferocity of the bonds that can bring people together, and learning to accept and live with loss. With a touch of the fantastical. 

Without giving any spoilers, what are you most excited for readers to see in your novel?
I am always excited to introduce readers to my characters. Creating characters is my favorite part of writing! Even the little side ones. There are a couple of one-to-two chapter characters in I’m With You that I’m especially fond of. 

Were you influenced or inspired by any particular steampunk works?
I am eternally influenced by Studio Ghibli films, especially Castle in the Sky (1986) and Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), both directed by Hayao Miyazaki. I’m also a big fan of a lot of steampunk and steampunk-adjacent anime, like Fullmetal Alchemist and Last Exile, which had a huge impact on my imagination growing up.

How do you come up with the names for your characters?
I typically use baby name websites, and look up names by their meaning. In I’m With You, I picked the name “Ramus,” which means branch, because he’s a huge support system for the main characters. But Mitzi is named after my mom’s childhood dog. So, it’s a toss up.

What was the most challenging aspect of writing I’m With You?
I wrote I’m With You almost completely out of order. I worked off of a full chapter-by-chapter outline, but I found certain chapters easier to write, so I did those first. It was fun, and made the revision process extra intense since I had to be sure I didn’t mention someone or something that hadn’t happened yet because I wrote later chapters before earlier ones.There are certain “transition” chapters that took forever. 

What was the most enjoyable part of writing I’m With You?
I wrote it while juggling college classes, so I looked at my writing sessions for I’m With You like a fun break from essays and worksheets, and inspiration for me to get through my homework as fast as possible. Every Friday night, if I wasn’t working, I’d sit in my kitchen nook and write until the early morning! I’d also eat cereal for dinner on those Friday nights, which I think helped.

What inspired you to want to write a story with steampunk elements?
I find the possibilities with steampunk fascinating, as it throws the reader into a world that’s familiar in some ways and unique in others. There’s something really compelling about the juxtaposition of steampunk technology with vintage/Victorian aesthetics. I’m With You is definitely on the lighter side of it, and is a slightly more modern setting, but I think steampunk stories are fun for a reader to visualize. 

What three words would you use to describe the plot of I’m With You?
Journey, Family, Acceptance.

Are you influenced by any other authors or writers? If so, who?
Meg Cabot is a big inspiration for me – I read everything she writes. There’s also the obvious answers, like Tolkien, Jane Austen, and C.S. Lewis, who created my favorite classics. Also Sharon Cameron, Shannon Hale, Kelley Armstrong, Mary Stewart…. the list is endless. Their books make me feel how I want readers to feel.

I know you’ve been working on a new novel. What can you tell us about it?
It’s a YA blending of fantasy and rom-com – an enemies-to-lovers romantic adventure with magic, music, and mayhem. There might be talking animals involved. I am also working on a fairytale retelling – a dark comedy twist on Pinocchio. 

If you could have dinner with any writer, living or dead, who would it be?
WOW, that’s hard! Probably Meg Cabot, since she’s my hero and she seems like she would be really fun to hang with. I’d 100% embarrass myself by raving endlessly over The Princess Diaries series. As awesome as it would be to meet someone like C.S. Lewis or Tolkien, I think it best to leave the mystery – it’s part of what makes them so venerable.

If you could write a novel in any universe, what would it be?
I really want to tackle a space opera! Although I’m no expert on any ACTUAL science, I’d love to write a story that takes place out in the stars. I might have a few ideas already kicking around…

You can buy I’m With You on Amazon. And you can find out more about Allie at her website.

My family hails from Western Pennsylvania, and while I didn’t grow up there, we made every effort to travel there in my youth.

Both of my grandmothers lived there, luckily about twenty minutes apart, and some of my fondest memories were our trips out there. My brother and I would spend a week with my paternal grandmother in the summer, but we’d also take trips at Thanksgiving to see the extended fam.

I loved that time because not only did I see my cousins, but we had two Thanksgivings (maternal grandma’s house at noon, paternal grandma’s at 4:30), but Friday was the family Christmas, where all the kids got presents. And the icing on the cake: Saturday, my cousin and I got a party (though I am older, his birthday is a day before mine). I always reveled in that because no matter how well he did in the family Christmas, my brother got upset because I always came home with extra presents.

For those old enough to remember, all of those gifts, both going out and coming home, were stored in our car top carrier:

Naturally, our trips weren’t achieved by driving six hours straight (the distance from home to my maternal grandma’s house, where we stayed). There were often two stops, and starting when I was in sixth grade, one of them was always Sideling Hill.

There is nothing very remarkable about the stop. I think it was chosen because it was just about halfway to our destination, and it sat on a big hill (hence the name, natch). When we had our dog, Misty – who came at least twice that I recall – she had ample room to walk, do her business and use her nose.

I also remember that in seventh grade, my “girlfriend”, who was also from Western PA, came running up from the picnic table in the field to wave to me. (Of course, we kept it a secret from our folks. And we didn’t really date. It consisted of sneaking notes to each other and the occasional kiss after class).

From that point on, Sideling Hill was an annual stop for us. Although we stopped going at Thanksgiving because I had basketball, we started going every August – the first weekend, always – for our family reunion. And still, we made our pilgrimage to that rest stop.

It continued when I became a parent, and then married. At first, my young kids shared in my joy as we would stop. It didn’t hurt that they’d often get ice cream, either from me or my parents, who would drive separately and meet us. This afforded my folks extra time alone with their grandkids, who would have to share them with my grandmother upon our arrival.

My partner, Michelle, found it cute at first, but now just indulges me – as do my now-grown son and almost-grown daughter. Do I go overboard? Probably. But those trips were a wonderful part of my childhood, and that landmark let me know I was halfway to some fun times I’d long remember.

This last trip, over Labor Day weekend, was not one of our usual summer sojourns. My grandma’s health has taken a slight turn for the worse, and my son was heading out that way for a show with his band, Atlas at Hold. I felt it prudent to go visit her. Despite the change, she was in good spirits, happy to see us and talkative, so it ended up being a good trip.

As long as Sideling Hill is a rest stop on the PA Turnpike, I will stop here as, despite moving, it’s still halfway to my grandma. Will I be too excited, because it’s still full of happy memories for me? Yes. But I am glad to have a place like that, and I hope that everyone else gets to have a spot like that, too.

Today, at my book signing at Bound Books, I unveiled a new Garrison Chase short story called The First Chase.

After the events of Chasing Betty, Garrison Chase recounts the story of his first case to Carrie Page.

So, how can you get a copy? All you just need to sign up for my mailing list! You can signup at the bottom of my homepage or refresh this page and enter your info in the popup.

Already on my mailing list? No worries! Just email me at jason@jasonpwrites.com and I’ll send it your way!

Thanks to the Awesome owners of Bound Books , Chuck Blair and Sarah Timmcke, I will be appearing at Bound’s Spotlight on Local Thriller Authors on Sunday, August 18th! Come see me, get signed copies of my books and have tasty coffee and pastries during York Arts Week!

More Information on the event can be found here.