Rockstar Tours: GHOSTER HEIGHTS (Corey Landsell, Kelly Mellings, & Lisa Larose), Guest Post & Giveaway! ~US ONLY

I am thrilled to be hosting a spoton the GHOSTER HEIGHTS by Corey Landsell, Kelly
Mellings, & Lisa Larose Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out
my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

 

About The Book:

Title: GHOSTER HEIGHTS

Author: Corey Landsell, Kelly Mellings, Lisa Larose,
Becca Carey, Rebecca Taylor (Editor)

Pub. Date: September 27, 2022

Publisher: Wonderbound

Formats: Paperback, eBook

Pages: 208

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org

A
haunting and hopeful Middle Grade graphic novel about a girl, ghosts, and
grief.  For fans of Sheets, Small Spaces,
and Ghosts.

WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBOOHOOD!

Eight-year-old Ona has lost just about everything: her home, her possessions,
her mother, and almost her life. When she and her father move into her Baba’s
apartment complex after these traumatic events, they had hoped for a clean
start. But a mysterious specter follows her, and Ona befriends the ghost she
discovers haunting the boiler room. When her new friendship starts allowing her
to see other ghosts—the ghosts who haunt the other residents of her
building—she decides to use her ability to help her new neighbors face
their troubles and free themselves from their specters. In doing so, however,
Ona must eventually come face to face with a much darker foe—her own
trauma and grief. The earnestness of Judy Bloom meets the raw emotion
of I Kill Giants in this beautifully hopeful story of
childhood tragedy.

An original graphic novel for Middle Grade readers about grief, loss, and the
ghosts that haunt us all.

For fans of Brenna Thummler’s Sheets and Delicates.

 

GUEST POST:

What was your inspiration for writing / illustrating your graphic novel?

Corey– Kelly and I have been working on story ideas together since 2014. This story concept precipitated from a character nugget his youngest daughter invented while they were playing one night. The story blossomed from there taking many turns and changes to become what it is today. But the initial spark came from Mina. Thank you Mina. Kelly and I were able to adapt the character idea into something that fits with our overall goal of writing an exciting genre story that has a ton of heart.

 

Kelly– My half brothers and sister lost contact with their mom when they were young. That trauma contributed negatively to their lives and that hurt has never gone away. I wanted to talk about what that hurt looks like to kids and to get the conversation started about how to process that at such a young age. I love genre, and wrapping something heavy like this within a genre story makes it easier to process and more engaging for the readers.

The other inspiration was my youngest daughter Mina, who pretended to be a cool girl who had a ghost on a string like a balloon. I loved that imagery, and that was the seed that started the whole Ghoster Heights book.

 

Lisa– I don’t often take on projects that are longer- I knew a graphic novel would take me over a year full time to draw – but when Corey and Kelly pitched Ghoster Heights to me, I knew I had to do it. A little girl + ghosts + cats + it’s going to be cute and spooky + it’s a very important topic = I had to be a part of it.

I was really excited to team up with Corey and Kelly on this book. They are not only great writers, but also top notch artists, so it was super easy to communicate and develop this book together. Also working on a published comic with a whole team was a new (and great) experience!

 

What would you like readers to know about your book and the characters?

Corey- This story is rooted in our own personal journeys. The story is full of empathy, community, and truth because the events are an expression of our heart and an understanding that we all have struggles in life. Ghoster Heights is written in a way to allow you to really feel what’s going on while also enjoying an engaging ghost story.

The cast in the story is one of my favourite parts of the book. Aside from our primary protagonist, Ona, you’ll find an interesting community of people, many of whose personal journeys become open to the reader through the ghostly mystery within the story. It’s very exciting and intriguing to look into their hearts and lives. Also, there are 4 wonderful cats in the book. Gosh, I love the cats.

 

Kelly– I’d like readers to know that our book is one made with love and care….care for the characters, for the craft of storytelling, and for the medium of comics. I’d like readers to know that the characters have bits of ourselves and our friends and family in them, that they are as real and rounded as they can be.

 

Lisa– Ona and I are the same age! (sort of) The book is set in 1994 in Edmonton, and Ona is about 8 or 9. I would have been that age at that time too. When making design choices, I was always keeping in mind how our house was decorated, what I wore to school or what toys we played with back when I was a kid. Ona also has a Ukranian heritage and that’s just like me too. When designing the characters (especially Ona and her family), I was thinking of my family and relatives for inspiration.

 

 

About Corey Landsell:

Corey Lansdell is a multiple award-winning illustrator and animator.
He is a skilled communicator, expert storyteller and passionate collaborator.
Corey heads up a SCBWI illustrators group in Edmonton, Alberta.

 

Website | Twitter | Facebook
| Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon

 

About Kelly Mellings:

 

Kelly Mellings is an award-winning art director, illustrator, and
designer. His work has
appeared in comic books, TV commercials, magazines, apps, museum exhibits, and
video
games. He is the co-writer of Ghoster Heights and illustrator
of the Canadian best-selling
graphic novel, The Outside Circle. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta.

Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

 

 

 

About Lisa Larose:

Lisa LaRose is a pop
surrealist painter, illustrator, and comics artist in Vancouver, Canada. She is
best known for her paintings: Bizarre and Colourful artworks. She creates
lively and exciting colour palettes and is always making something a little
weird. Lisa loves middle-grade fiction (books, comics, cartoons, you name it)
and so she also moonlights as a middle-grade comics artist.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Goodreads

 

 

Giveaway Details:

2 winners will receive a finished copy of GHOSTER HEIGHTS, US Only.

Ends October 11th, midnight EST.

a Rafflecopter giveaway