Interview with Jessica Spottswood

Today I'd like to welcome author Jess Spottswood, author of Born Wicked!

"Blessed with a gift..."cursed" with a secret." Everybody knows Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they're witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship - or an early grave. Before her mother died, Cate promised to protect her sisters. But with only six months left to choose between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word . . . especially after she finds her mother's diary, uncovering a secret that could spell her family's destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra. If what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren't safe. Not from the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood - not even from each other.

Read my Born Wicked review here.
 I'll ask it frankly, are YOU a witch?
No. But if I were in the Cahills' world, I'd probably still be in trouble with the Brothers for reading and lending banned books. I'd probably be most like Clara and Marianne Belastra!

Describe each of the Cahill sisters in one word each! 
Cate: protective
Maura: rebellious
Tess: observant
BORN WICKED blends genres quite nicely, it's paranormal obviously, but it also has a dash of steampunk and dystopian. Did you plan this?

I've never thought of it as steampunk! But, yes, I chose a historical time period where women didn't have many rights yet, and then shifted it in my alternate history to make them even more oppressed, until things are pretty dystopian. I wanted to create a society where strong, independent women were't valued. And I can't seem to write anything without an element of magic!
Facebook or Twitter?
Twitter! It's so easy to just pop in and out, and I love being able to create lists, and I love connecting with readers and bloggers. I like that Facebook helps me keep up with old friends, but it's harder to ignore the extra noise (and the politics of election season).
What is one food you would never consider eating? 
Head cheese. A waitress described it for us last week at a restaurant (it was a cheese plate option), and...ew! Ew ew ew!
Write a haiku poem for BORN WICKED. GO! 
Cate, Maura, and Tess
Sisters, witches, and kissing
High teas and danger

Jessica Spotswood is the author of BORN WICKED, the first book in the Cahill Witch Chronicles, coming Feb. 7, 2012 from Putnam. She likes reading stories about independent girls who still get in a fair amount of swoony kissing, so that's what she tries to write. She lives in Washington, DC with her playwright husband and a cuddly cat named Monkey.