They might not be raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, but that doesn’t mean that we love them any less. Welcome back to My Favorite Things, the weekly column where we grab someone in speculative circles to gab about the greatest in geek. This week, we sit down with Jus Accardo, whose latest book, Alpha, is out on July 3rd from Entangled Teen!
What does Jus love when she’s not working on her latest book? Spoiler alert: a stress-relieving game, another game to pull you out of your funk, fantasy art that translates to the skin, and an adorable dragon. Curious? Read on to learn more!
World of Warcraft: I’m a sucker for World of Warcraft. For those who don’t know it, it’s an MMORPG game from Blizzard Entertainment. Think elves, trolls, magical creatures, epic battles, and, on occasions, bouts of serious nerd rage… I’ve been playing since right after beta, which I think was back in, like, 2004? Two guilds, six (soon to be seven!!!!) expansions, and countless hours spent questing to protect the good citizens of Azeroth. World of Warcraft has done a lot for me over the years. Everything from enabling me to spend time hanging out with friends that don’t live locally to providing much-needed stress relief. More times than I can count, I’ve used mindless grinding (striking down baddies for loot/gold/XP) as a way to work out plot issues, and on those sleepless nights when brain functionality is an issue, the game is an awesome way to pass the time.
Hearthstone: Also from Blizzard Entertainment is Hearthstone, an online collectible card game. Another great way to ease stress, Hearthstone (or World of Warcraft) is usually open on my other monitor. Games are pretty fast (and free to play), and when I find myself lagging during the day, a quick game or two does a lot to pull me from the funk. I have never, ever gotten distracted, ending up playing for an hour at a time. Never. I have more self-control than that! *eyeroll*
The art of Amy Brown: I’ve always loved fantasy art (sensing a theme here?). Fae, dragons, unicorns, mighty warriors in fantastical armor fighting to the death… I’ve been obsessed with Amy Brown for a long, long time. So much so, that my very first tattoo was her fire element fairy. Another fave of mine (probably close to tied with my love of Amy Brown) is Jessica “NeonDragon” Pfeffer. Alas, she’s taken down her website and I can’t find much about her these days, but she’s amazing.
Toothless: The star dragon from the How To Train Your Dragon series. If there’s a piece of merchandise with Toothless on it, odds are I have it (currently stashed in a box in anticipation of painting my office!) Toothless is adorable and loyal, and I’ll admit it: I’m kind of jealous of Hiccup. Being jealous of a fictional character is totally normal!! *ahem* Anyway, as I write this, the trailer for the third movie JUST dropped and I’m crazy-excited! I can’t wait until next spring! Like, I might even be counting down the days on a calendar… Confession — I had no idea these movies were based on a series of books by Cressida Cowell.
Jus Accardo spent her childhood reading and learning to cook. Determined to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps as a chef, she applied and was accepted to the Culinary Institute of America. At the last minute, she realized her true path lay with fiction, not food. A native New Yorker, she lives in the middle of nowhere with her husband, three dogs, and twelve angry chickens.
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