Carpools. Crabgrass. Creatures from the depths of hell...

Have you flashed back to your suburban youth yet? That logline alone, stolen directly from the cover of Julie Kenner's latest book, CARPE DEMON: Adventures of a Demon Hunting Soccer Mom, is probably part of why the novel has already been optioned by 1492 Pictures, producer of the Harry Potter movies. (Harry Who? Yeah, I don't know, either, because clearly I've been living under a rock trapped beneath Davey Jones' locker. Davey Jones, the Monkee? Exactly, so fear not, it's a very little locker...)

Anyhoo, Julie, a fellow member of the GCC and a woman who has published 20 books in the past 5 years (chew on that...)is a hugely popular and successful author. And just listen to the stats on this new book of hers: Booksense selected CARPE DEMON as one of its Top Ten Summer Paperback Picks for 2005, and the book was also selected as a Target "Breakout Book," holding the Number One slot on Barnes & Noble's SF/Fantasy trade overall bestseller list for seven weeks.

But another reason we love Julie is because like Renee, she's a recovering lawyer. Unlike Renee, she actually practiced until 2004 (which means she was writing & publishing all those books while being a full-time lawyer girl, wife and mother... not that I'm impressed by this... I mean, I, myself, managed to get out of the house yesterday with my underwear on the inside of my clothes, which is almost like the same thing.) So we e-mailed Julie a bunch a questions so we could get a better sense of what makes her tick. She returned the questionnaire in about 20 seconds, making her book productivity all the more understandable.

Q: Tell us about the worst meal you've ever eaten.
A: It was probably a fabulous meal, in retrospect, but I was 13, in Sweden, and surrounded by a variety of mostly raw fish. I was not a happy adolescent that day, and my grandmother refused to aid me on my quest to find a hamburger.

Q: What's your favorite guilty pleasure song?
A: Anything from THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW

Q: Who would you cast to play you in your bio-pic?
A: Um. Uma Thurman. Because, you know, we look so much alike and are both in such fabulous shape. And all that. Yeah. That's it. Good old Uma.

Q: What movie(s) have you walked out of?
A: Beverly Hills Cop 3

Q: Mounds or Almond Joy? and why?
A: Oooh! Ick! Blech! Coconut! Yuck! Neither!

Q: Your best/worst memories from the experience of writing this book?
A: Worst: My computer decided to not only crash frequently, but to crash AND erase whatever I happened to have done that day. AND to crash, erase what I'd done that day ... AND empty out the files with the previous days work as well. Lost two chapters that way. I was really NOT happy.
Best: Spending time with Kate. I just love this heroine.

So do yourselves a favor and check out CARPE DEMON and Julie's website: www.JulieKenner.com