A Mad, Wicked Folly Blog Tour - Author Interview

Today I have the pleasure of participating in Penguin Canada's blog tour for Sharon Biggs Waller's debut novel A Mad, Wicked Folly. Sharon has been kind enough to answer some questions on behalf of Will Fletcher, one of the characters (and love interests!) in the story. To find out more about him and his story, just keep reading.

What is it like being a police constable in London in 1909?

The suffrage movement took up a lot of police time. 1909 (and the years of suffrage movement in general) was a strange and confusing time for a lot of constables because they weren't used to dealing with the arrest of women. Most women they encountered were members of the working class, namely prostitutes. When the suffragettes came along, constables found themselves dealing with women who were often socially superior and who wouldn't go quietly. The constables were instructed to "act with firmness as well as tact." But sometimes constables were forced to handle them roughly anyway. Many police officers hated treating women in this way, but others relished it. The suffragettes had an odd relationship with the police. They needed them for protection from hostile crowds, but the police were also enforcing rules that suffragists found unfair.

What is is about the Suffragettes movement that made Will want to help them, even though all other police constables seem to be against it all?

William Fletcher is a young man who believes in fairness and in helping people. He feels he's tasked to keep the peace, but he doesn't agree with preventing people from fighting for their rights. When Will became a police constable he promised to protect victims, not create them. In addition, as he tells Vicky, he doesn't see the point in denying half the population the right to vote.

How has Will's job as a police constable helped him write his story?

As a police constable Will sees the suffering of people up close, and so he knows the destructive nature of poverty and how class can hold people in poverty. He's also seen how destructive inequality can be. His beat lies in the wealthiest parts of town, but he lives in a poorer one. Most people in Edwardian England remained in their own area and didn't usually frequent places where other classes lived. But Will moves through all faces of London every day, both in his work life and his personal life. He's able to see and experience life from many angles, and that helps him create believable characters.

What did Will think when he first made Victoria Darling's acquaintance?

I love this question! I thought about it a lot because when Will first sees Vicky, he looks at her like he knows her. I think we all feel this way when we first meet people we have a natural connection with. We get this feeling of, "oh, there you are!" I imagined Will saw the intensity on Vicky's face when she was drawing and recognized that in himself. Here was this potential dangerous situation and Vicky wasn't backing down. Rather, she was frantically trying to capture the scene, like any fervent artist or writer would. (Of course, Will thought she was beautiful, too!) When he heard Vicky denying she was a suffragette, he was intensely disappointed because he had this idea about her, and now he was wrong, and that caused him to act like a rotter. Will hates a coward.

What was it like working and collaborating with Victoria? The two seem to have quite an unusual relationship.

Both Vicky and Will support each other's talents wholeheartedly, and so they both feel encouraged and accepted when working together. You are right that this is unusual because they are both of different classes, but art and literature has a way of transcending class and gender, so if you look at their relationship from this angle it makes perfect sense. Of course, that comes back to bite Will on the bum. He forgets they are from two different worlds and starts to see her as something other than a collaborator.

What does Will hope for in the future?

He hopes that Vicky will be happy to keep collaborating with him and that they will be able to earn money from their work. As far as life with Vicky goes, Will is going to keep that one to himself. :)

Thank you Sharon for being kind enough to answer these questions on behalf of Will. It was great getting to know more about him. If you are interested in seeing what I thought of A Mad, Wicked Folly, be sure to check out my review.

Racing Savannah Blog Tour - Interview with Miranda Kenneally

As part of the blog tour for her upcoming book Racing Savannah, I have the pleasure of having author Miranda Kenneally here on the blog today to answer some questions about her books and her writing process. Without further ado, here is what she had to say!

All of your characters, and what they go through, feels incredibly real. How much is taken out of your own experiences or from the people around you?

Ideas and jokes from all over the place have definitely made their way into my books in some form or another. I can't say that I've ever met a girl football player, but Jordan's feelings for Sam Henry are definitely pulled from crushes I've had in the past.

Real-life experiences inspired Things I Can't Forget. The situation wasn't anywhere near the same, but I did have a friend get an abortion and it affected me more than I thought it would. 

To make my books feel "real," I imagine the scene in my mind as I'm putting words on paper. I've found that helps my book pop.

Except for Things I Can't Forget, your books all have a sports element. Why did you choose to write about female athletes and those specific sports that aren't typically associated with girls.

To show girls they can do anything they want to do as long as they work hard.

What is your writing process like: do you outline and do a lot of research or just start writing and see where the story takes you? Or is it different for each book?

It depends on the book. Before I started writing Racing Savannah, I did research for two months and even took a trip to Kentucky to visit some big farms. With Catching Jordan and Staling Parker, I just started writing and did tons of drafts. For Catching Jordan, I researched football and went to some college and NFL games along the way. With Stealing Parker, I played softball for 8 years, so that made things easier. Things I Can't Forget had an outline, and I actually stuck to it for the most part. I didn't have to research camping at all because I'm foot at that, but I did do research on Planned Parenthood and other family planning issues. I sort of outline each book, but I rarely stick to it. I just go wherever the story takes me. 

Can you tell us anything about what you're currently working on or what we can expect from your future book(s)?

Yes! My July 2014 book, most likely titled BREATHE, ANNIE, BREATHE, is about a girl training to run a marathon in honor of her boyfriend who died. Before he passed away, he had been training for a marathon, and now Annie is going to attempt to finish on his behalf. But it will be hard because she can barely run two laps around the high school track.

Emilie: I personally CANNOT WAIT to read this!

How would you describe your Hundred Oaks books to someone who has never heard of them before?

My books are teen romances featuring a girl football player, a girl horse jockey, and a slightly naughty, misunderstood former softball player who goes after the school baseball coach.

Can you describe Racing Savannah in five words?

Badass girl horse jockey rocks!

About the Author

Miranda Kenneally is the author of CATCHING JORDAN, STEALING PARKER, THINGS I CAN'T FORGET, and RACING SAVANNAH. Her fifth book, most likely to be titled BREATHE, ANNIE, BREATHE, is doing out in July 2014. She enjoyed reading and writing young adult literature, and loves Star Trek, music, sports, Mexican food, Twitter, coffee, and her husband.

Find Miranda online on her Twitter or visit her website to find out more about her and her books.

Blog Tour - The Great & Calamitous Tale of Johan Thoms by Ian Thornton

Today I have the pleasure of Ian Thornton here on the blog to answer a few questions about his debut novel, The Great & Calamitous Tale of Johan Thoms. While this book is not one I would normally pick up by myself, it is proving to be quite the entertaining and interesting read. So here is what Ian Thornton had to say.

Where did inspiration for The Great & Calamitous Tale of Johan Thoms come from?

I read an article in a Sunday newspaper in England back in the early 90s about a young man in Sarajevo who left college one Friday evening and by the time the weekend was over, he had set in motion a chain of events, which has affected the lives of everyone on the planet today. Many great men spend their lives trying to alter a city block, and here was one young chap who just wanted to be left alone for the weekend and drink coffee and read books, maybe a newspaper, but instead set fire to the twentieth century. That is powerful stuff. Imagine the turmoil, the horror of dealing with that. This kernel always stayed with me, and when I decided I was going to write, there was never any discussion in my mind that this would be my subject matter. 

I guess too, in hindsight, there may have been some sub-conscious mirroring of events with those in my own life. I too had made some rather stupid decisions, and was running away from them. Maybe I empathised with this poor boy more than I realised at the time.

The book covers an entire century's worth of events. How did you decide when to be faithful to history and when to create your own version of history?

I attempted to create a moving, amorphous life against the rigid backdrop of historical events. I have not read Flashman (it is NEXT on the list, given the recommendations I have had) but I suspect parallels, though his fidelity to history seems to be legendary. I have actually avoided George Macdonald' Fraser's work while I was writing for the natural fear of mimicking what may already be of a similar feel. I think the real artistic license comes when the tale passes from the macro to the micro. Established and well-known events are solid and immovable. The minutiae of individuals movements and lives are pliable and malleable. These two positions merge when Johan's story becomes that of the planet and her trajectory, i.e. Sarajevo June 28th, 1914. This I will explain in a second.

First however, I think/hope it is quite clear from very early on that it is a fantastical tale. The line about 'the exaggerations of two old men and the DNA of the cadaver known as the tale' is a key one, explaining how this story is third-hand and told through a prism.

Yes, June 28th, 1914. The newspaper story I mentioned earlier planted the seed of doubt about who the chauffeur was. When I spent time in Sarajevo several years ago, the eminent professors there could provide no absolute answer and no overall consensus as to whether the driver was Loyka or Urban. So this, along with my memories of the newspaper article, allowed for enough room for conjecture, for fiction and for a third possible culprit.

Hemingway, Paker and Orwell were all in Spain at the same time, though quite unlikely to have been in Monreal del Campo on Hemingway's birthday in 1937. I guess it is the definition of historical fiction; an imagined story set against the immovability of history. Historical fiction in this regard does seem oxymoronic. The line may move as to where one starts and the other ends, but if the reader knows he or she is not reading non-fiction, then that license is understood, and one assumes Coleridge's willing suspension of disbelief.

On that note, how much research went into writing this story?

This is a good question. It is my first book, so I have no real measure, no yardstick. It seemed like a lot, I hope it comes across as such. I spent a lot of time in Sarajevo, Southern France, Vila di Bispo, the 'end of the world' in Portugal, Spain, London and Minehead.

Things like clothing, the architecture and the language I picked up osmotically through a raging love of early and mid-century cinema; English, European, you name it.

A lot of Johan's experiences were my own, transposed. I guess they were therefore in effect research, though I did not know it at the time. If this seems like a cop out by hanging out in these places and calling it research, then I guess I am guilty. In hindsight, it was a quite effective way of utilising many lazy and happy days for a more sensible and career-minded end. Don't they say 'write about what you know'?

Yes, there was the slog of library books and increasingly the internet, but a lot of the research came from having lived a life and watched hundreds of movies. I guess the downside of this, is that my next book is likely going to be more study-based. Or maybe not…

How would you describe The Great & Calamitous Tale of Johan Thoms to someone who knows nothing about it?

The ten second La Croisette pitch? HIstorical fiction, black comedy, love story, buddy story set against the war-torn twentieth century.

The thirty second La Croisette pitch? The fictionalised life story of the man who inadvertently started the Great War, by being the driver for Franz Ferdinand on the day of the assassination. How he took a wrong turn and couldn't find reverse gear when the lead Serb assassin walked out of a café to find, by chance, his target. How he (the driver) blames himself for not only the assassination, but also for the Great War and everything that led from there; the Russian Revolution, the Treaty of Versailles, the rise of Hitlerism, the Second World War, the gas chambers, the atomic bomb, Vietnam, you name it. A.k.a How I started a world war and finally learned to stop worrying about it. Sort of. 

About the book:

A wild, rollicking novel on chance, friendship, love, regret, and the entire history of the twentieth century. 

Johan Thoms is poised for greatness. A promising student at the University of Sarajevo, he is young, brilliant, and in love with the beautiful Lorelei Ribeiro. He can outwit chess masters, quote the Kama Sutra, and converse with dukes and drunkards alike. But he cannot drive a car in reverse. And as with so much in the like of Johan Thoms, this seemingly insignificant detail will prove to be much more than it appears. One the morning of June 28, 1914, Johan takes his place as the chauffeur to Franz Ferdinand and the Royal entourage, and with one wrong turn, he forever alters the course of history. 

Blaming himself for the deaths of the Archduke and his wife, Johan hastens from the seven , and for once his inspired mind cannot process what to do next. Guild-ridden, he flees Sarajevo, abandoning his friends, family, and beloved in the fear that he has caused them irreparable grievance. He watches in horror as the Great War unfolds, every death settling squarely on Johan's conscience. Turning his back on his old life, Johan does his best to fade out of memory.

But the world has other plans for Johan Thoms. As each passing year burdens Johan with further guilt for his inaction, he seeks solace in his writing and in the makeshift family he has assembled around himself. With everyone from emperors to hooligans at his side, and pursued by the ever-determined Lorelei, Johan winds his way through Europe and the Twentieth Century, leaving his indelible mark on both. 

Blog Tour - Not Your Ordinary Wolf Girl by Emily Pohl-Weary

Title: Not Your Ordinary Wolf Girl

Author: Emily Pohl-Weary

Publisher: Razorbill Canada

Release Date: September 24, 2013

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Chapters Indigo

Sometimes Living in the Big Apple Really Bites!

Eighteen-year-old rock start Sam Lee isn't like other girls. She's the super-talented bass player and songwriter for an all-girl indie band and an incurable loner. Then one night after a concert in Central Park, she's attacked by a wild dog.

Suddenly, this long-time vegetarian is craving meat--and the bloodier, the better. Sam finds herself with an unbelievable secret and no one she trusts to share it. And so begging the endless lies to cover up the hairy truth…

When a new girl gang appears in the city--with claws and paws--Sam suspects there's a connection to her own inner beast. Trapped in a tug-of-war between her animal and human selves, forced to choose between the guy who sparked her carnal appetite and the one who makes her feel like a normal teenage girl, Sam has to unravel the mysteries of the werewolf world before her bandmates, her mother, and the media catch up to her.

Q & A with author Emily Pohl-Weary

How do you go about doing research for your work?

I don't think I do anything particularly special! For me, research usually just involves wandering around the neighborhoods my character frequents, which in this case means New York's Lower-East Side and Brooklyn (which I absolutely love). I talk to people who live there, smell things (eww!), listen to the sounds. Hmm. Now that I think about it, maybe my research process is to make like a fish and swim in my book's ocean. Really immerse myself. I listen to a soundtrack that gets me into the right headspace for writing. I read a ton--on average three novels a week, though I try to avoid anything too similar while I'm writing a book--and watch teen movies/TV shows to analyze plot twists and dialogue and get fashion ideas.

Not Your Ordinary Wolf Girl from start to finish--what process did you go through while writing this book?

My writing process is a combination of haphazard writing spurts, chronic tinkering, and intense outlining. With Not Your Ordinary Wolf Girl, I wrote about 50 pages in a rush, then sat back and thought about where it was headed, and wrote up detailed notes that would get Sam from point A (the attack in Central Park) to point B (the end, which I won't spoil). Then I wrote and wrote and wrote and stressed and outlined and wrote and re-outlined and wrote again. Repeat that for a couple years. Once I finished a draft, I asked a bunch of writer/reader friends to give me feedback. I edited again for several months, then gave it to my agent Alison MacDonald at The Rights Factory, who is an incredibly shrewd editor. And all of this was before the publishers bought it and started their own intensive editing process. Sometimes I think it's miracle that anyone books are finished. So much work goes into them.

What are some tips for writing a story with paranormal elements?

Keep everything as realistic as possible--the way characters talk, move, think, respond, live their lives--then toss in completely unreal things, but treat them like they're normal. For Sam Lee's world, I really wanted to put myself into the head of a girl who lives in a hectic, crowded city but is terrified that her inner monster will escape. I mean, for Sam it's a monster, but for the rest of us, there's usually a secret of something we've done/that has happened to us that we really don't want strangers knowing about. Rather than fixating on the magical elements of the story, I held onto the feeling of having to hide something awful. Oh, and what it would be like to be a rising indie rock star with less and less privacy!

Review

I didn't really know much of anything about Not Your Ordinary Wolf Girl by Emily Pohl-Weary when I first started reading. I didn't have many expectations, but it I did, they would have all been met. The story was fun and engrossing, exactly what I needed it to be.

Despite being in the spotlight with her band, Sam Lee has always been a major loner. So while biking home through Central Park one night after a show, Sam finds herself alone facing down two wild dogs and fearing for her lie. And so she gets bitten, but instead of going to the hospital, she gets back on her bike to go home. And the next morning, everything feels different. Sam finds herself craving foods she's never craved, and wanting to hurt people for no reason. Add to that, two boys being for Sam's attention and a new and mysterious girl gang, and Sam finds herself having to deal with a lot more people than she can handle. So much for being a loner.

I didn't know what to expect from Not Your Ordinary Wolf Girl, but I certainly didn't expect what I ended up getting: an engrossing story that completely grabbed my attention. I didn't actually expect to enjoy the story as much as I did. This was just a fun story. I loved getting to know the characters, seeing Sam start to realize just how much her life was changing and come to terms with that fact. What I really enjoyed about the story though, was that despite the paranormal elements, it felt like I was reading a contemporary story the whole time. Sure, being turned into a werewolf isn't exactly realistic, but that aside, the story didn't feel paranormal at all. And I think that had a lot to do with my enjoyment of the story.

It may have taken me a few chapters to warm up to Sam, but once I did, I really liked her. I really enjoyed seeing her come out of her shell more even when I could totally relate to wanting to be alone. It was just great to see her learn to trust new people and open up to them. As far as her love interests were concerned, Harris rubbed me the wrong way right from the start. There was just something about him that was off for me, I can't really explain why. Though admittedly the same could be said about Marlon, but Marlon I definitely came around to. Once I got to know him more, I realized that he really had good intentions and that he really cared about Sam. Harris just came across as a jerk.

Emily Pohl-Weary's Not Your Ordinary Wolf Girl took me by surprise. If you're not usually into paranormal stories, I recommend you give this book a try. Just like me, you might be in for a surprise.

Author Interview with Denise Jaden

Today I have the pleasure of having Denise Jaden, author of Losing Faith and Never Enough, here on the blog to answer a few questions. Here is what she had to say.

Never Enough is your second book. How was the process different from writing your first book, Losing Faith? What were somethings you knew to expect from the first time around?

I think I had it relatively easy with my first book, so, to be honest, my expectations probably hindered me more than anything on working with my second one. Never Enough was a work in progress long before I had written Losing Faith, it had been through many, many drafts, and so one of the most difficult things was finding new ways to see the manuscript with my editor. I thought I'd already studied it from every anne, but apparently not so! Never Enough included much more intensive revisions with my editor (rewriting large portions of the book over and over again) whereas with Losing Faith, the changes were much smaller and easier to wrap my head around. With Losing Faith, I had worked from an outline, whereas Never Enough was very much a muse-led book.

Both Losing Faith and Never Enough deal with tougher subjects. Is there something in particular that draws you to writing about those subjects?

I like reading about tougher subjects because it helps me sort out my own thoughts and feelings, and I guess that's the same reason I write about tougher subjects. With Never Enough, I had a personal reason for attacking the difficult subject matter, and I have an author's note at the end of the book that goes into some detail about that.

Similarly, both Losing Fatih and Never Enough revolve around a relationship between sisters that is less than perfect. Is there a reason you choose to write about sisters that have misconceptions about each other's lives?

To be honest, I'm surprise that my first two published books are about similar sisterly relationships. That is not all I write about! When first coming up with a story idea, rather than getting a character or plot point in my head, I often get a relationship in my head. With both of these books, the sister relationship was the first part that came to me, but each plot definitely developed very differently in my mind. I couldn't tell you exactly why I'm drawn to writing about sisters, except that growing up I fantasized about what it would be like to have a sister.

I've seen in your biography on your website that you have had many other jobs/careers before becoming a writer. What ultimately made you choose writing over those other occupations?

I've always had it in my head that I wanted to try lots of different things in life. A thirty-year career never interested me. With writing, I feel like I have the ultimate career, because I can pretend I'm anything I want as a writer. It's a wonderful creative outlet for me, and I can't imagine a time in the future when I won't be writing.

How would you describe Never Enough in a sentence or two to encourage people to read it?

Since I'm ore of a character than plot lover, I would say this: Loann and Marcus have a sweet and deep friendship full of growing perspective, and you'll want them to be a part of your lives.

Thank you so much to Denise Jaden for her answers, and I couldn't agree more with the last one about Marcus and Loann. Be sure to come back tomorrow for my review of Never Enough and for a small giveaway!

Pieces of Us Blog Tour: Interview with Margie Gelbwasser

Today I have the pleasure of having Margie Gelbwasser, author of Inconvenient and the upcoming Pieces of Us, here on the blog to answer a few questions about her books and about writing in general. So without further ado, here is what she had to say.

Pieces of Us is your second novel, how different was the writing process compared to when you wrote your first novel, Incovenient?

It was very different on so many levels. First, INCONVENIENT was written in a vacuum. I didn't know about reader's reactions and how the whole publishing process worked and what happened once the book hit the shelves. In that way, it was freeing, and I didn't write with anyone in mind. However, I also knew less about revisions, so there were many more drafts of INC than of PIECES OF US. To get INC to the point of where it is today, took years (this includes very early drafts and figuring out the story, etc.). POU was hard to begin because I only had an idea, glimpses of scenes. I saw the lake houses, I saw Katie and this concept of a dual life, but because I was so removed from writing INC by then, I had forgotten how I did it. I also kept hearing voices in my head, censoring this idea or that based on the market. Finally, I remembered that I wrote INC in pieces—a scene here, a scene there, not in any order. Once I remembered this, POU flowed easily. I wrote what I wanted and ignored the voice. The first draft was finished in three months. I then revised for my editor for two more, and did final copy edit revisions for anther two months.

What made you choose to write Young Adult novels as opposed to other genres?

When I was in high school, I always wanted to write the kinds of books I read. My favorites were “issue” books by Norma Klein and Norma Fox Mazer. But by the time I began writing, I had explored other authors I love (e.g. Amy Tan, Maeve Binchy) and wanted to write family and generational stories. In my stories, the teen characters were always the best developed and their stories the richest, so I wrote to my strengths and haven't looked back. :-)

How has your own Russian-Jewish background influenced what you write in your books?

In INC, it heavily influenced the story as it's about a Russian-Jewish girl. In POU, it barely influenced it at all. The characters go to lake houses every summer, which is something many of my Russian friends and I did, but I only drew on the setting, not any customs or anything like that.

In Incovenient, the story focuses mostly on one character, Alyssa. In Pieces of Us, it seems to focus on four characters and how they come together. How different writing one character versus writing four?

I absolutely loved writing in four points of view. It gave me the opportunity to really delve into four different psyches, and the freedom to branch off into a new story anytime a storyline bored or confused me. It was also interesting to see how the four teens stories connected and why. 

What has been your favorite part of being a published author?

The opportunity to reach people has been the best. Having someone tell me that my books affected them means so much to me.

Be sure to follow the rest of the tour through The Teen Book Scene!

Dead to You Blog Tour: Q&A with Lisa McMann

Today I am lucky enough to be participating in Simon & Schuster Canada's blog tour for Dead to You by Lisa McMann. I had the pleasure of asking author Lisa McMann a few questions and here is what she had to say.

Many of your books, and especially Dead to You, have a thriller feel to them. What is it about that genre that attracts you to it?

I’m not really sure. All I know is that I like books where the ‘enemies’ are bigger than the ordinary teen, because it’s so freaking awesome when a teen character successfully overcomes it. Often one of those enemies is internal. And I like books with action. Where something’s terribly wrong, and maybe there isn’t a perfect way to make it right, but people will go through strange, sometimes sinister feats to make it right as they can, even if that only makes it more wrong. (Was that deep or what?)

Dead to You is about a boy who returns to his family after having been missing for 9 years. Where did the inspiration come from for writing this story?

The inspiration came from a story in The New Yorker, though I took the concept in a different direction. I think the story title was The Chameleon – don’t Google it if you haven’t read DEAD TO YOU yet, because it will spoil the ending.

How did you go about doing the research for Dead to You? 

I had several conversations with a child/teen social worker and spoke with someone at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. I also did a lot of online research.

Are any of the characters in Dead to You, or any of your other books, based on or inspired by people you know?

I guess all the characters I write have characteristics in them of people I know or have met along the way. Some of them have traits I admire and wish I had. In The Unwanteds, Mr. Today is inspired by a combination of two people I know – a mentor of mine, and a mentor of my daughter’s. In the WAKE trilogy, Captain is a lot like my friend Diane.

How would you describe Dead to You in one sentence for people who haven't heard about it?

DEAD TO YOU is about a boy who was abducted at the age of seven. Now he’s sixteen and he’s found his family back…but he doesn’t really remember them. (Sorry, that was two sentences. J)

Thank you to Lisa McMann for answering my questions, and to Simon & Schuster Canada for letting me be a part of this blog tour. Before you go be sure to check out the trailer for Dead to You below, and if you haven't already be sure to also check out my review to know what I thought of the book.

Goliath by Scott Westerfeld + Q&A with Author

Title: Goliath (Leviathan #3)

Author: Scott Westerfeld

Publisher: Simon & Schuster BFYR

Release Date: September 20, 2011

Source: ARC from Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

Alek and Deryn are aboard the Leviathan when the ship is ordred to pick up an unusual passenger. This brilliant/maniacal inventor claims to have a weapon called Goliath that can end the war. But whose side is he really on?

While on their top-secret mission, Alek finally discovers Deryn's deeply kept secret. Two, actually. Not only is Deryn a girl disguised as a guy...she has feelings for Alek.

The crown, true love with a commoner, and the destruction of a great city all hang on Alek's next--and final--move.

I couldn't wait to get started on reading Goliath and find out who the trilogy ended. This is a series I had enjoyed since the beginning, and if anything the final instalment was even better than the previous two. It was most definitely a great conclusion to an awesome trilogy.

After having played an important part in the Ottoman Revolution, Deryn and Alek are back aboard the Leviathan, which is now headed to the Far East. Alek's secret has been revealed to the entire world, and life aboard the airship has changed for him. At least he hasn't been declared a prisoner and can still roam freely on the Leviathan. Deryn has more than proven she is a great soldier and that she deserves her place aboard the great airship. But her secret has to stay hidden for that to continue. So when she reveals her true identity and her feelings to Alek, everything seems like it's going to fall apart. But this may turn out to be the least of her worries when things aboard the Leviathan take a turn for the interesting. With crazy inventors and reporters now on board the airship, Alek and Deryn will find out that keeping secrets may become more and more difficult.

I cannot even begin to describe just how much I love the story that Scott Westerfeld created in this trilogy. In Goliath, the story was taken to a whole other level, and there was never a dull moment. I just kept turning page after page. The story captivated me from start to finish and it was a truly great conclusion to the series. No matter how well I know the events and facts of World War On, Scott Westerfeld writes so well that I start having trouble distinguishing what he simply changed from what he made up altogether. That's just how good of a writer he is.

Oh how I love the characters in this series. Alek is so much more than an overprotected and spoiled prince. I have absolutely loved seeing him come into his own over the course of the three books. If anything, by the end of Goliath he was pretty much as far away from being a prince as he possibly could and his evolution and who he became just made me love him more. Though Deryn is the character that completely makes the book for me. Everything about her just makes her leap off the page and feel completely real. more than anything she just makes me laugh. What I loved more than anything was how the relationship between Deryn and Alek completely changed when the truth was revealed about Deryn, but at the same tim stayed the same. And that's how I could see they really cared about each other. I have to admit though, what amused me the most were the perspicacious loris; they just cracked me up every time they spoke. Too bad they don't really exist.

Goliath was a fantastic conclusion to an even more amazing trilogy. It was a truly incredible journey from start to finish. I know I will definitely miss these characters and this world. 

                                                                                           

Q & A With Author Scott Westerfeld

You say in the afterword of all three books in the Leviathan trilogy that some elements of the story are true and others are fiction. How did you choose what to keep true to history and what to change or make up?

I keep the interesting bits and throw the boring ones away. The fact that the assassination of one aristocrat ignited the war is so tragic and strange, and the fact that Franz Ferdinand had a son (who might feel responsible for the entire war, given that his own family tragedy started it) was fascinating. So that was a keeper. The fact that armored vehicles didn't exist in 1914 was rather boring, so I ignored it and gave Alek an awesome walking tank.

Steampunk stories more often take place in Victorian Era Britain. Why did you choose to retell the events of the beginning of the First World War instead?

The Great War is a very strange era for technology. Many of the familiar components of modern warfare, like planes and tanks, appear in World War I, but the forms they took look quite odd to us now. (There are planes with three wings, for example, and the tanks looked like boilers on tractor treads.) So in a way, the fantastical machines of steampunk weren't too far away from the realities of that time, so this era makes steampunk more real, in a way. I also wanted to take the fanciful elements of alternate technologies and place them in a very serious context, a war that became the symbol of all that is wrong with war.

The way Goliath ends sort of leaves a door open and a possibility for more stories about Deryn and Alek. Do you think you will ever go back to their stories?

There will be a guide to the world called The Manual of Aeronautics, a full-color large-format collection of art from behind the scenes. Keith, my illustrator, created deck plans for the Leviathan, cutaways of the vehicles, and color rendering of all the uniforms and beasties. As for going back to Alek and Deryn as characters, I'm not sure. If I do, it will probably be in another medium, like manga or film.

Thank you to Scott Westerfeld for answering these questions and be sure to grab your own copy of Goliath, in stores today!

Interview with Margie Gelbwasser

Today I have the pleasure of having Margie Gelbwasser, author of Inconvenient, on the blog to answer a few questions about her book, her characters and her inspiration. But there is a catch, all the questions had to be answered with lines from the book, which might not be as easy as it sounds. Here is was Margie Gelbwasser had to say.

Is there a character in your book you feel closer to or to whom you relate more?

I can't say I'm exactly like Alyssa. I think there's a part of me in Lana, Alyssa, and Alyssa's mom. But Alyssa is the one I feel closest to because she's the voice I heard first, and she's the one who's story I wanted to tell, and I'm proud of how she's grown through the book.

Which of your characters do you dislike the most and why?

“Jerky Jake. He takes beer, vodka, and shot glasses out his backpack. He tosses a beer to each of us, and then lies back down next to Lana. To living single, seeing double, and sleeping triple, he says.”

If you were in the book, where would we be able to find you?

“The swings, spinning ourselves, twisting the chains until they were tight.”

Has anything similar to the events in the book happened to you?

“I hate that even though we went to Hebrew school with many of the kids, we're just pegged as Russian. After we studied the Cold War in history class, some guys at school decided to go retro and call us 'commies' for a few weeks.”

Out of everything in the book, what would you most and least likely do?

Most likely: “Hunched over her computer heavily engrossed in an assignment.”

What I'd love to do more: “Run past the CVS, past the pool, past the Russian stores we get dinner from...my feet flying through the puddles...”

Least likely: “It's almost three in the morning, and I'm sandwiched between Trish and Ryan, our bodies moving in sync to pulsating music....The room spins faster and I feel vomit rising in my throat. I can barely move, but I make myself run to the bushes."

What is the best or your favorite line from the book?

“Through the wind whipping our faces, the numbness creeping into our toes, the darkness heavy and sparkling.”

Thank you Margie for answering my questions is a rather creative way. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for Inconvenient through The Teen Book Scene. And if you missed it yesterday you can see my review for Inconvenient right here.

Interview with Holly Schindler

Today I have the pleasure of having Holly Schindler, author of A Blue so Dark and Playing Hurt, on the blog as part of the Canadian blog tour for Playing Hurt. She was kind enough to answer a few questions for me. Here is what she had to say.

How was writing PLAYING HURT different from writing A BLUE SO DARK, your first novel?

Actually, I drafted PLAYING HURT before I ever drafted A BLUE SO DARK. And while BLUE wrote really very quickly, PLAYING HURT had a longer drafting process. PLAYING HURT also changed the most, from first draft to final published version—in fact, the first draft of PLAYING HURT didn’t feature the sports subplot or chapters written from Clint’s POV.

Where does inspiration come from when you write? Did it come from different places for A BLUE SO DARK and PLAYING HURT?

All my books come from a scenario, rather than from an idea for a character. With A BLUE SO DARK, I knew I wanted to write about the possible link between mental illness and creativity. With PLAYING HURT, I knew I wanted to write about learning the difference between loving someone (which is how Chelsea feels for Gabe) and being passionately IN love with someone (how Chelsea feels for Clint). From those basic scenarios, I start to create characters, outline a plot…

Both Chelsea and Clint were very involved in sports in high school. Were you particularly athletic in high school or more into music like Chelsea’s brother Brandon?

Very perceptive question! Yes, I was very much like Brandon, rather than Chelsea or Clint. I’ve never been particularly athletic at all—if you’d told me a few years ago that my second book would feature athletes, I would have laughed.

But I’ve always adored music. When I was in high school, I took guitar lessons from a local musician who played with the Ozark Mountain Daredevils (and was the most innately talented person I’ve ever known)…

Did you always want to be a writer or was there something specific that made you want to write?

I’ve always loved books and reading—and was writing stories by the time I was in the first grade. It’s always been a lifelong dream, just something I always had to do.

Are you working on anything new you’re allowed to share with us?

My debut middle grade novel will be released by Dial in the summer of 2012—the book doesn’t yet have an official title—or cover art! I can’t wait to finalize both…

You can visit Holly Schindler on her website at hollyschindler.com and on her blog at hollyschindler.blogspot.com, as well as follow her on Twitter @holly_schindler. You can also find her and other YA authors at YA Outside the Lines and she also recently started a blog with a group of middle grade authors which you can find at Smack Dab in the Middle.

Be sure to check out the final stop of the Playing Hurt Canadian blog tour on Readers Unite next week.

Interview with Cindy Pon

Today I have the pleasure of having Cindy Pon, author of Silver Phoenix and Fury of the Phoenix, stopping by the blog to answer a few questions as part of her blog tour. So without further adieu, here is what she had to say.

How much did your background influence the story you chose to write in Silver Phoenix and Fury of the Phoenix?

I've always been a reader and fantasy is my first genre love. I also happen to be a student of Chinese brush painting for ten years now. And when I decided to write my first novel, I wanted to combine these two loves, fantasy and China--so I wrote Silver Phoenix, a fantasy inspired by ancient China. I always say that my stories are Asian-American influenced, because that is my experience and point of view.

How was the writing process for Fury of the Phoenix different from the one for Silver Phoenix?

Writing Fury of the Phoenix was honestly the hardest thing I've ever done. I had all the time in the world to write Silver Phoenix, and took a year to revise it at least six times. I didn't have that leisure with the contracted sequel. It was an entirely different process. The draft of Fury I sent to my editor was very rough. I barely knew how I wanted to tell the story yet. My editor worked with me and we did three major revisions to bring Fury to the level it needed to be for the reading public. She is a genius. And I'm very proud of Fury of the Phoenix.

Are any of the characters in your books based on yourself or other people you know?

The only person I draw traits from is myself. Ai Ling is like me in that she enjoys to eat (there is a lot of food in my novels--I think it's essential to fantasy world building!) and she is also a student of brush art. In this way, I could describe how she views the world very similarly to how I view it. I'm drawn to color and nature and flowers, just as she is.

Is writing something you have always wanted to do, where did the inspiration come from?

I've written creatively since around age twelve. Like so many readers, I began writing because I loved reading so much. As for inspiration, it comes from all over, from a visual scene, from a sentence or sometimes even a word, from a dream or an emotion.

How would you describe your books in one sentence to encourage people to read them?

A classical heroine's journey inspired by ancient china filled with food, adventure, immortals, demons and cute boys. =)

Thank you Cindy for stopping by and be sure to check out the rest of the tour on The Teen Book Scene's website. You can also find out more about Cindy and her books on cindypon.com. Below you can also check out the book trailer for Silver Phoenix. And be sure to come back on Wednesday to see my review of Silver Phoenix!