Hello and good morning readers! Today we're featuring another of our Author Spotlight series with Sword & Silk OG author Justine Manzano, of Never Say Never and the Keys & Guardians series. Justine's first book with Sword & Silk was Never Say Never, which is currently on tour as a semi finalist in the Book Bloggers Novel of the Year Award!
Author Spotlight: Justine Manzano with Never Say Never and the Keys & Guardians Series
If your book was adapted to the screen, would you want to see it as a movie, a limited short series, or something else?
For the Keys & Guardians series, I think it would have to be a television series. Like three or four seasons at least. There’s a lot of lore to tackle there.
Never Say Never would make a perfect Netflix movie.
If you could write a spin off novel for one character in your book, who would it be and why?
Well, I did write a little something for Ray from the Keys & Guardians series. Perhaps one day, it will see the light of day.
Val is really the only option for Never Say Never. She’s just got so much personality and her voice is a lot of fun. I experimented with it a bit in the added chapters in the Never Say Never Hardcover release, but I could see myself having fun pursuing it further.
Your characters are dropped into an alternate universe! What AU would you love to see your characters run amok in?
I would love to see the Keys & Guardians characters in the Never Say Never Universe and vice versa. For the K&G folks, I think it would be fun to have a nice light-hearted adventure. For Brynn and the gang…well, Brynn’s pretty badass. She did face down a god. And Val is Aphrodite. Maybe she could get some help from other gods?
What are the theme songs for your main characters?
Oh, I have so many of them for Keys & Guardians.
Jacklyn: Stand in the Rain by Superchick Kyp: Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance
Lavinia: Look What You Made Me Do by Taylor Swift (just twist your perspective a little)
For Never Say Never:
Brynn: Don’t Wanna Fall in Love by Green Day and She’s Kerosene by The Interrupters
What is your next project? What other works would you like to share?
I’m currently working on completing the final book in the Keys & Guardians series. I’m not sure where I’m going from there. I have some projects on the back burners–a YA novel about surviving bullying and finding yourself through imaginary worlds, a YA dystopian, a YA crime noir fantasy, a YA superhero story with much more traditional superheroes…meaning costumes and comic style storytelling. There’s even an adult supernatural. My brain is a weird place. I like hanging around there.
