Thursday, October 31, 2013

October Top 5


Happy Halloween, Friends! October has been crazy – the blog has suffered a bit, due to grad school and a full time job happing right now. My fun reading has also taken a hit. I read so few books for the blog (for myself) this month it’s kind of depressing. But my lack of time has made me way more picky about the books I’m picking up and I’m lucky that they all turned out to be awesome.

1. Crash into You - Katie McGarry
I didn’t think I could love a couple more than Noah and Echo, or a book boy more than Ryan. But I clearly didn’t know Isaiah and how awesome he is with Rachel. I dare say this is my favorite Pushing the Limits book and one of my favorite contemporaries this year – maybe ever. My review goes up tomorrow!

2. Allegiant - Veronica Roth
I think Veronica Roth is an incredibly brave writer. I have no complaints about this final book. It was an explosive end to a wonderful series.

3. The Darkest Minds - Alexandra Bracken
It took me a long time to get into this book and through most of it, I thought it was just good – enjoyable but not epic. Then the last 100 pages happened. And then the last 10. And my view of the whole book changed. It’s pretty epic actually.

4. Sweet - Erin McCarthy
I have qualms about the end. It makes me really cranky, actually. But up until the end I was so in love with this book and these characters. There was something just a little different about this NA story. It’s just very strong and it kept me up way too late reading. You can read my full review here.

5. Another Little Piece - Kate Karyus Quinn
This was my Halloween read for this year and it was a good pick. I mean, I wanted spine-tingles and I got them. There are so many creepy images and sensations in this book. Also, you know it’s a good book when you get nightmares from reading it. 

What were your top reads this month?

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Book Blitz: Unbreathable by Hafsah Laziaf



Title: Unbreathable (Unbreathable, #1)
Author: Hafsah Laziaf
Publisher: Self
Release date: October 29, 2013
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fantasy
--------------------------------
Excerpt:
I’m drenched in sweat and embarrassment. Julian doesn't seem to notice when he guides my arm back behind my neck.
My hand trembles beneath his touch. My heart races so fast, I’m afraid it will explode from overheating like the motors I’ve read about. Julian notices. My breath catches at the intensity in his gaze.
“Clear your head, Lissa,” he says softly. I swallow. His hand closes around mine again and my whole body pulses with my heart.
“Pull your hand back, like this.” He pulls my hand back toward my shoulder.
“Focus on the target and nothing else. Then throw.” His voice is lulling. I can't focus on anything but my thrumming heart, my hand pulsing beneath his, and my body, slick with sweat. How can I focus when he is so close?
But when my breathing synchronizes with his, my pulse slows. My mind clears. Julian releases my arm.
And the faded red and white target is all I see. I think of all the physics Gage taught me. The rules of trajectory paths. I close my eyes for a brief heartbeat, expecting to hear his voice and see his face, but all I see is the target. I open my eyes and throw. My arm swings forward and my fingers release the knife. I hold my breath.
And watch as it sticks into the cushioned wall between two targets.
Just as the door opens. And Dena laughs.
I think I might die from humiliation.
“You did good for your first try,” Julian says, but his voice is tight. I could have done better. Especially because she was here to see it.
Dena pulls the dagger from the wall and twirls it her hand.
“I bet you need a break, Jules.” Her voice is suggestive.
Julian's eyes dart to me. “No, I don't. Just leave, Dena.”
She scoffs. “Can't you see how pathetic she is? Why bother? Let the Jute do whatever they want with her. At least they’re good-looking. Better than good, I should say.”
Julian clenches his jaw. His voice drops. “Dena. Leave.”
Dena looks at me for the first time. She opens her mouth.
And I can’t take it anymore. Because anger is stronger than fear. Because I finally snap. “Did anyone ever tell you to take a hike? On Earth, that meant shut up and leave, no one wants your condescension.”
I clamp my mouth shut, heat exploding across my face. Julian snorts and barely covers it with a cough. Dena turns bright red and glares at him.
“You don't want to die anymore, do you, Julian?” She takes in his stricken face before she storms out, slamming the door behind her.
My hands shake when I retrieve the dagger from the floor.
“I'm sorry,” I can barely say.
He scoffs. “Sorry? That was—I didn't think you had it in you. And besides, Dena deserved it.”
I struggle to change the subject. “Can I keep this with me?”
He doesn't answer right away. Finally, he blinks. “Oh yeah, sure. Tomorrow then?”
“Tomorrow,” I say.
He hurries out, leaving me surrounded by a multitude of weapons I can't even use. I stare at the knife in my hand.
We learn as fast as they heal, Julian said.
Pathetic, Dena said.
I'm not. I step back and angle my arm. I'll show her I'm not. I throw the knife. It lands an embarrassing length away from target, worse than before. I pull it free and release a shuddering breath. Anger still pulses through my veins. It is new to me, this anger.
I let it stay, fuel me. And I throw the knife again.
And again and again.


--------------------------------
About the Book:


One hundred and fifty years ago, Earth was destroyed, and the remaining humans fled to the dusty red planet of Jutaire, where the only oxygen is manufactured, food is scarce, and death strikes often.

When Lissa's father discovers Earth still exists, she accidentally inhales the toxic air of Jutaire, and in one breath, discovers she isn't quite human.

Her father hangs for his discovery, and Lissa knows the Chancellors will come for her, for she saw the Earth that night too. With nothing to lose, she sets out to expose the truth. It isn't long before she meets Julian, a beautiful boy who can breathe the toxic air like she can - and shows her that the Jute, the original inhabitants of the planet, are more tangled in their lives than she knows.

But the Chancellors are only pawns in a greater game - one where the Jute control everything. Worse, the Jute plan to leave Jutaire for Earth, but to get there, they need her. And they'll stop at nothing until Lissa is in their clutches, even if they kill every human in the process.

The race for Earth has begun.

Unbreathable is a tale of love, redemption, and sacrifice, and one girl's struggle to find her place in a world where she doesn't belong.

Add Unbreathable to Goodreads

Purchase links:

Book Trailer:
                                     

--------------------------------
About the Author


Hafsah Laziaf was born on the east coast on a hot summer day in 1993, raised on the west coast and is now stuck in the middle – in Texas – with more books than she can read. She’s the designer behind IceyDesigns and the blogger behind IceyBooks.

UNBREATHABLE is her debut novel.

Connect with Hafsah Laziaf: 




--------------------------------
Giveaway

1st place: a signed paperback copy of UNBREATHABLE (US)
2nd place: an e-book of UNBREATHABLE (INT)
3rd place: an UNBREATHABLE swag pack (US)

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Cover Reveal: Scan by Walter Jury & S.E. Fine

I'm so happy to help reveal the cover of Scan by Walter Jury and S.E. Fine, coming from Putnam on May 1, 2014!


The cover has also been revealed on MTV Crush. Check it out HERE
You can also read more about the author on The Hollywood Reporter HERE
---------------------------------------
About the Book: 

MacGyver Meets War of the Worlds in this Exhilarating Adventure

Tate and his father don’t exactly get along. As Tate sees it, his father has unreasonably high expectations for Tate to be the best—at everything. Tate finally learns what he’s being prepared for when he steals one of his dad’s odd tech inventions and mercenaries ambush the school, killing his father in the process and sending Tate on the run from aliens who look just like humans. 

Even with all he knows like how to defend himself with useful tools made out of bubblegum, Tate fears he’s still inadequate. With the help of his girlfriend and estranged mother, all Tate can really do is keep moving and ensure his father’s invention stays out of the hands of his pursuers and that his father didn’t die in vain. A riveting, fast-paced adventure, Scan is a clever alien thriller with muscle and heart.
---------------------------------------
About the Authors:
Walter Jury was born in London, has a background in the film industry, is a big fan of the New York Giants, and is an enthusiast of Jamba Juice’s Protein Berry Workout smoothie only with soy, never whey. Scan is his first book for teens. Oh, and under his real name, he’s a producer of one of 2014’s biggest blockbusters. Let’s just say he “diverges” in his career from film to literature quite well.

S. E. Fine was born on the West Coast, raised in the Midwest, and is now firmly entrenched on the East Coast, where she lives with her husband and two children. She’s a clinical child psychologist and the author of the YA fantasy series Guards of the Shadowlands.
---------------------------------------
Giveaway: 
I have one (1) galley of Scan up for grabs! Contest will run for a week and the giveaway is US/Canada only. 

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Interview with Ilsa J. Bick

I'm happy to welcome Ilsa J. Bick, the author of the incredible Ashes trilogy. If you're looking for a great, scary series to read to get in the mood for Halloween, this is a great one! Make sure you check it out! The final book in the trilogy, Monsters was just released!
-----------------------------------
In the Best Worlds: Since you write books for teenagers, what were you like as a teen?

Ilsa J. Bick: Enormously geeky, really shy, very isolated with few friends, and not terrifically good-looking: God, that depresses me just to read all that.  But it’s the truth.  I didn’t travel with the in crowd at all, and they all made fun of me anyway, until they needed help with their homework.

I kind of wrote about this experience for DEAR TEEN ME; you can read some of the gory details here: http://dearteenme.com/?p=240

ItBW: Congrats on the publication of Monsters, the final book in this trilogy! What were some of the obstacles you unexpectedly encountered in writing this story in three installments?

IB: Thanks, and hmmm . . . good question. I think it’s that I didn’t write all these in a row but wrote other books in-between.  I’m not sure this was necessarily an obstacle.  In fact, that was a good thing because I was a different writer by the time I did SHADOWS and different again, with more completed novels under my belt, when I got to MONSTERS.  So, in some ways, I think that coming at each book with more experience and a fresh eye was helpful because I could better see opportunities to re-imagine and expand.  If I’d done them all at once, I’m not sure that would’ve been the case.  For example, I had a very different ending in mind for MONSTERS when I’d just finished ASHES.  Wrote it down and everything.  But when it came time to write that final section, I realized that my original idea was okay but not great because, by then, my characters and the situations had grown, in a very organic way.  Forcing them to be what I’d imagined a couple years back would like wearing clothes that just doesn’t suit you anymore.

ItBW: You create this awesomely dark world that unfolds right before us. What was your biggest challenge in building an apocalyptic world?

IB: Not pulling back on how horrible people can be and would become.  While I know that everyone would like to think that people will pull together, history—and current-day reality—sort of suggest the opposite.  In a disaster, I truly believe that many otherwise decent people will behave in ways they never dreamed possible.  Look around: people routinely do all the wrong things for what they believe are the right reasons.  Why should the Apocalypse be any different?  At the end of the world as we know it, I think people will be surprised at the monsters they meet.  Some might even be staring out from the mirror.

ItBW: I’m from the Midwest, and I really love that the Ashes trilogy covers familiar terrain. How has the Midwestern landscape influenced the world you’ve written?

IB: Oh gosh, that’s a tough question.  Having lived all over (my dad was military) and then worked for more than twenty years on the East Coast, I felt this tremendous amount of relief leaving all that frenzy behind.  As a shrink, I think that half the problems I saw stemmed from the lifestyle people thought they had to live and then forced on their kids, who were scheduled up the wazoo and had no conception of anything beyond a very narrow focus (and most of that tied to an urban setting).  A lot of these kids’ problems came from being overscheduled, overbooked, overworked, and over-pressurized.  Their parents were anxious, and so were the kids.  I’d often wondered what would happen if the pace were ratcheted back a tad.  Plus, I’ve always enjoyed the outdoors and way more than my folks ever did.  Whenever I got a chance back in D.C. to head to the hills, I did.  Taking potential boyfriends on excruciating hikes to see if they could make it to the top without passing out was, you know, my thing.

Coming here, to a very small and insular village, has been a true eye-opener—and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.   Not that the Midwest is uniform, though.  Just as there are different neighborhoods in a city, trying to talk about “the Midwest” runs the risk of oversimplification.   But, by and large, I like that I can hop on my bike and be in farm country in about five minutes or, when the breeze is right, know exactly what the farmers are doing to their fields at any given moment (ah . . . the smell of cow manure in the morning: smells like . . . breakfast).

I think the biggest influence the Midwest’s had on my writing is this: not only have I become acquainted with people who are not white-collar professionals, I’ve learned a tremendous amount about all types of lifestyles and industries about which most of us have no clue.  I’m talking farmers, miners, lumberjacks, papermill folks, that kind of thing.  A ton of kids here never make it to college, or only do a couple years at an extension or tech school.  There are people here who believe that a town with 50,000 people is a big city.  I’ve met kids who’ve never been on an airplane or left the state and for whom going to New York was a huge adventure.  Yes, it’s often times insular, but there is also something lovely about living in a small village where the school has 500 kids, total, K-12; teachers have known the kids forever; and the kids have known each other forever, too.

Still, people here do make assumptions because differences here aren’t huge.  The vast majority of folks are white and Protestant (although you’ve got a huge Hmong population in the next town over because the Lutherans, principally, brought them over after the Vietnam War when the U.S. effectively abandoned them).  I’ve had long conversations with people who’ve never met a Jew.  Ours is, in fact, the only mezuzah in the village.  Some folks have a couple interesting ideas of what Jews are all about (like . . . we bury our dead standing up).  The things you take for granted on the coasts aren’t here, and that goes for tolerance, too.  You can no longer assume that you’re in like-minded company, and sometimes—often—have to be careful what you say.  The mindset is completely different.

But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  Like I said, where I last came from, people were kind of full of themselves and very focused on letting you know just how hard they worked.  Now, that’s not to say they didn’t work hard.  We all did.  Yet one thing here that is so different from there: people work very hard here, and their opportunities are limited.  Kids whose folks are farmers not only do the sports and school, but they get up early and take care of the animals.  They work the farm.  They can spend a summer walking the rows of a seed field, pulling anomalous weeds, by hand, because you can’t let weird seed get all mixed up in pure stock.  And they do that over acres and acres and acres, all summer long.  Money is often very tight, and kids aren’t wearing the latest trendy clothes either.  Those stores don’t exist out here.  Yet this is an accepted part of life.  No one talks about the work or complains.  They just do it.

ItBW: Can you tell us anything about what you’re working on now?
IB: Sure: I tend to do is pretty much line up my books like Boeing 747s on the runway.  Just go to clear them for takeoff, is all.

In a couple weeks, I’ll be going through the final pass-through for Book I of my new Dark Passages Series, WHITE SPACE.  Currently, though, I’m in hand-to-hand combat with the sequel, THE DICKENS MIRROR.  If you want a general idea what the books are about . . . think The Matrix meets Inkheart and Inception, and that will give you a clue.  They’re basically YA horror/psychological thrillers with a dash of sci-fi and, in the case of DICKENS MIRROR, a dash of historical fiction.

Just as soon as I’m done with DICKENS MIRROR—if the thing doesn’t kill me first—I’ll go back to a new standalone I’m about halfway through.  Finish that, and then I’ll revisit SAVING SKY, which is the first book in another projected YA sf series that I’ve also got about half-written.  I’ve also got ideas for three other standalones that are in the outline phase.

So I’m busy.  But that’s how I like it.  Otherwise, I just get bored.

Finish these sentences…
My weapon of choice for the zombie apocalypse would be…Frankly?  My two feets: I would get myself very far away from where the zombies might be.  It’s a military thing, if you stop to think about it.  The idea is to live to fight another day, not go looking for trouble.But, if push came to shove, and I had to choose, then I’d go for three different kinds of firearms, because specific guns are made for specific purposes, and there is no all-around weapon that will do every job equally well. So, for those close encounters of the worst kind: Glock 19. For long-range work (and hunting because we all have to eat): AR15/M4 variant. For versatility and the ability to accept all kinds of ammunition: Mossberg 500 pump-action.  Love that ratcheting sound, too.  Scares the bejesus out of an intruder, though—maybe—not a zombie. 
People would be surprised to know…Just how incredibly shy I am.  Really.  Melt-into-the-wall shy.  I only look confident and social.  Thank years of acting and forensics.  Why do you think I became a shrink?  It’s so I can get you to talk to me.
We could be best friends if…Crap.  Other than my husband, I have no best friends, so I don’t know.  Really.

-----------------------------------
Thanks so much to Ilsa for answering my questions! Make sure you check out Monsters and the rest of the Ashes trilogy! 

Find Ilsa J. Bick Online: Website :: Twitter :: Goodreads

Thursday, October 31, 2013

October Top 5


Happy Halloween, Friends! October has been crazy – the blog has suffered a bit, due to grad school and a full time job happing right now. My fun reading has also taken a hit. I read so few books for the blog (for myself) this month it’s kind of depressing. But my lack of time has made me way more picky about the books I’m picking up and I’m lucky that they all turned out to be awesome.

1. Crash into You - Katie McGarry
I didn’t think I could love a couple more than Noah and Echo, or a book boy more than Ryan. But I clearly didn’t know Isaiah and how awesome he is with Rachel. I dare say this is my favorite Pushing the Limits book and one of my favorite contemporaries this year – maybe ever. My review goes up tomorrow!

2. Allegiant - Veronica Roth
I think Veronica Roth is an incredibly brave writer. I have no complaints about this final book. It was an explosive end to a wonderful series.

3. The Darkest Minds - Alexandra Bracken
It took me a long time to get into this book and through most of it, I thought it was just good – enjoyable but not epic. Then the last 100 pages happened. And then the last 10. And my view of the whole book changed. It’s pretty epic actually.

4. Sweet - Erin McCarthy
I have qualms about the end. It makes me really cranky, actually. But up until the end I was so in love with this book and these characters. There was something just a little different about this NA story. It’s just very strong and it kept me up way too late reading. You can read my full review here.

5. Another Little Piece - Kate Karyus Quinn
This was my Halloween read for this year and it was a good pick. I mean, I wanted spine-tingles and I got them. There are so many creepy images and sensations in this book. Also, you know it’s a good book when you get nightmares from reading it. 

What were your top reads this month?

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Book Blitz: Unbreathable by Hafsah Laziaf



Title: Unbreathable (Unbreathable, #1)
Author: Hafsah Laziaf
Publisher: Self
Release date: October 29, 2013
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Fantasy
--------------------------------
Excerpt:
I’m drenched in sweat and embarrassment. Julian doesn't seem to notice when he guides my arm back behind my neck.
My hand trembles beneath his touch. My heart races so fast, I’m afraid it will explode from overheating like the motors I’ve read about. Julian notices. My breath catches at the intensity in his gaze.
“Clear your head, Lissa,” he says softly. I swallow. His hand closes around mine again and my whole body pulses with my heart.
“Pull your hand back, like this.” He pulls my hand back toward my shoulder.
“Focus on the target and nothing else. Then throw.” His voice is lulling. I can't focus on anything but my thrumming heart, my hand pulsing beneath his, and my body, slick with sweat. How can I focus when he is so close?
But when my breathing synchronizes with his, my pulse slows. My mind clears. Julian releases my arm.
And the faded red and white target is all I see. I think of all the physics Gage taught me. The rules of trajectory paths. I close my eyes for a brief heartbeat, expecting to hear his voice and see his face, but all I see is the target. I open my eyes and throw. My arm swings forward and my fingers release the knife. I hold my breath.
And watch as it sticks into the cushioned wall between two targets.
Just as the door opens. And Dena laughs.
I think I might die from humiliation.
“You did good for your first try,” Julian says, but his voice is tight. I could have done better. Especially because she was here to see it.
Dena pulls the dagger from the wall and twirls it her hand.
“I bet you need a break, Jules.” Her voice is suggestive.
Julian's eyes dart to me. “No, I don't. Just leave, Dena.”
She scoffs. “Can't you see how pathetic she is? Why bother? Let the Jute do whatever they want with her. At least they’re good-looking. Better than good, I should say.”
Julian clenches his jaw. His voice drops. “Dena. Leave.”
Dena looks at me for the first time. She opens her mouth.
And I can’t take it anymore. Because anger is stronger than fear. Because I finally snap. “Did anyone ever tell you to take a hike? On Earth, that meant shut up and leave, no one wants your condescension.”
I clamp my mouth shut, heat exploding across my face. Julian snorts and barely covers it with a cough. Dena turns bright red and glares at him.
“You don't want to die anymore, do you, Julian?” She takes in his stricken face before she storms out, slamming the door behind her.
My hands shake when I retrieve the dagger from the floor.
“I'm sorry,” I can barely say.
He scoffs. “Sorry? That was—I didn't think you had it in you. And besides, Dena deserved it.”
I struggle to change the subject. “Can I keep this with me?”
He doesn't answer right away. Finally, he blinks. “Oh yeah, sure. Tomorrow then?”
“Tomorrow,” I say.
He hurries out, leaving me surrounded by a multitude of weapons I can't even use. I stare at the knife in my hand.
We learn as fast as they heal, Julian said.
Pathetic, Dena said.
I'm not. I step back and angle my arm. I'll show her I'm not. I throw the knife. It lands an embarrassing length away from target, worse than before. I pull it free and release a shuddering breath. Anger still pulses through my veins. It is new to me, this anger.
I let it stay, fuel me. And I throw the knife again.
And again and again.


--------------------------------
About the Book:


One hundred and fifty years ago, Earth was destroyed, and the remaining humans fled to the dusty red planet of Jutaire, where the only oxygen is manufactured, food is scarce, and death strikes often.

When Lissa's father discovers Earth still exists, she accidentally inhales the toxic air of Jutaire, and in one breath, discovers she isn't quite human.

Her father hangs for his discovery, and Lissa knows the Chancellors will come for her, for she saw the Earth that night too. With nothing to lose, she sets out to expose the truth. It isn't long before she meets Julian, a beautiful boy who can breathe the toxic air like she can - and shows her that the Jute, the original inhabitants of the planet, are more tangled in their lives than she knows.

But the Chancellors are only pawns in a greater game - one where the Jute control everything. Worse, the Jute plan to leave Jutaire for Earth, but to get there, they need her. And they'll stop at nothing until Lissa is in their clutches, even if they kill every human in the process.

The race for Earth has begun.

Unbreathable is a tale of love, redemption, and sacrifice, and one girl's struggle to find her place in a world where she doesn't belong.

Add Unbreathable to Goodreads

Purchase links:

Book Trailer:
                                     

--------------------------------
About the Author


Hafsah Laziaf was born on the east coast on a hot summer day in 1993, raised on the west coast and is now stuck in the middle – in Texas – with more books than she can read. She’s the designer behind IceyDesigns and the blogger behind IceyBooks.

UNBREATHABLE is her debut novel.

Connect with Hafsah Laziaf: 




--------------------------------
Giveaway

1st place: a signed paperback copy of UNBREATHABLE (US)
2nd place: an e-book of UNBREATHABLE (INT)
3rd place: an UNBREATHABLE swag pack (US)

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Cover Reveal: Scan by Walter Jury & S.E. Fine

I'm so happy to help reveal the cover of Scan by Walter Jury and S.E. Fine, coming from Putnam on May 1, 2014!


The cover has also been revealed on MTV Crush. Check it out HERE
You can also read more about the author on The Hollywood Reporter HERE
---------------------------------------
About the Book: 

MacGyver Meets War of the Worlds in this Exhilarating Adventure

Tate and his father don’t exactly get along. As Tate sees it, his father has unreasonably high expectations for Tate to be the best—at everything. Tate finally learns what he’s being prepared for when he steals one of his dad’s odd tech inventions and mercenaries ambush the school, killing his father in the process and sending Tate on the run from aliens who look just like humans. 

Even with all he knows like how to defend himself with useful tools made out of bubblegum, Tate fears he’s still inadequate. With the help of his girlfriend and estranged mother, all Tate can really do is keep moving and ensure his father’s invention stays out of the hands of his pursuers and that his father didn’t die in vain. A riveting, fast-paced adventure, Scan is a clever alien thriller with muscle and heart.
---------------------------------------
About the Authors:
Walter Jury was born in London, has a background in the film industry, is a big fan of the New York Giants, and is an enthusiast of Jamba Juice’s Protein Berry Workout smoothie only with soy, never whey. Scan is his first book for teens. Oh, and under his real name, he’s a producer of one of 2014’s biggest blockbusters. Let’s just say he “diverges” in his career from film to literature quite well.

S. E. Fine was born on the West Coast, raised in the Midwest, and is now firmly entrenched on the East Coast, where she lives with her husband and two children. She’s a clinical child psychologist and the author of the YA fantasy series Guards of the Shadowlands.
---------------------------------------
Giveaway: 
I have one (1) galley of Scan up for grabs! Contest will run for a week and the giveaway is US/Canada only. 

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Interview with Ilsa J. Bick

I'm happy to welcome Ilsa J. Bick, the author of the incredible Ashes trilogy. If you're looking for a great, scary series to read to get in the mood for Halloween, this is a great one! Make sure you check it out! The final book in the trilogy, Monsters was just released!
-----------------------------------
In the Best Worlds: Since you write books for teenagers, what were you like as a teen?

Ilsa J. Bick: Enormously geeky, really shy, very isolated with few friends, and not terrifically good-looking: God, that depresses me just to read all that.  But it’s the truth.  I didn’t travel with the in crowd at all, and they all made fun of me anyway, until they needed help with their homework.

I kind of wrote about this experience for DEAR TEEN ME; you can read some of the gory details here: http://dearteenme.com/?p=240

ItBW: Congrats on the publication of Monsters, the final book in this trilogy! What were some of the obstacles you unexpectedly encountered in writing this story in three installments?

IB: Thanks, and hmmm . . . good question. I think it’s that I didn’t write all these in a row but wrote other books in-between.  I’m not sure this was necessarily an obstacle.  In fact, that was a good thing because I was a different writer by the time I did SHADOWS and different again, with more completed novels under my belt, when I got to MONSTERS.  So, in some ways, I think that coming at each book with more experience and a fresh eye was helpful because I could better see opportunities to re-imagine and expand.  If I’d done them all at once, I’m not sure that would’ve been the case.  For example, I had a very different ending in mind for MONSTERS when I’d just finished ASHES.  Wrote it down and everything.  But when it came time to write that final section, I realized that my original idea was okay but not great because, by then, my characters and the situations had grown, in a very organic way.  Forcing them to be what I’d imagined a couple years back would like wearing clothes that just doesn’t suit you anymore.

ItBW: You create this awesomely dark world that unfolds right before us. What was your biggest challenge in building an apocalyptic world?

IB: Not pulling back on how horrible people can be and would become.  While I know that everyone would like to think that people will pull together, history—and current-day reality—sort of suggest the opposite.  In a disaster, I truly believe that many otherwise decent people will behave in ways they never dreamed possible.  Look around: people routinely do all the wrong things for what they believe are the right reasons.  Why should the Apocalypse be any different?  At the end of the world as we know it, I think people will be surprised at the monsters they meet.  Some might even be staring out from the mirror.

ItBW: I’m from the Midwest, and I really love that the Ashes trilogy covers familiar terrain. How has the Midwestern landscape influenced the world you’ve written?

IB: Oh gosh, that’s a tough question.  Having lived all over (my dad was military) and then worked for more than twenty years on the East Coast, I felt this tremendous amount of relief leaving all that frenzy behind.  As a shrink, I think that half the problems I saw stemmed from the lifestyle people thought they had to live and then forced on their kids, who were scheduled up the wazoo and had no conception of anything beyond a very narrow focus (and most of that tied to an urban setting).  A lot of these kids’ problems came from being overscheduled, overbooked, overworked, and over-pressurized.  Their parents were anxious, and so were the kids.  I’d often wondered what would happen if the pace were ratcheted back a tad.  Plus, I’ve always enjoyed the outdoors and way more than my folks ever did.  Whenever I got a chance back in D.C. to head to the hills, I did.  Taking potential boyfriends on excruciating hikes to see if they could make it to the top without passing out was, you know, my thing.

Coming here, to a very small and insular village, has been a true eye-opener—and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.   Not that the Midwest is uniform, though.  Just as there are different neighborhoods in a city, trying to talk about “the Midwest” runs the risk of oversimplification.   But, by and large, I like that I can hop on my bike and be in farm country in about five minutes or, when the breeze is right, know exactly what the farmers are doing to their fields at any given moment (ah . . . the smell of cow manure in the morning: smells like . . . breakfast).

I think the biggest influence the Midwest’s had on my writing is this: not only have I become acquainted with people who are not white-collar professionals, I’ve learned a tremendous amount about all types of lifestyles and industries about which most of us have no clue.  I’m talking farmers, miners, lumberjacks, papermill folks, that kind of thing.  A ton of kids here never make it to college, or only do a couple years at an extension or tech school.  There are people here who believe that a town with 50,000 people is a big city.  I’ve met kids who’ve never been on an airplane or left the state and for whom going to New York was a huge adventure.  Yes, it’s often times insular, but there is also something lovely about living in a small village where the school has 500 kids, total, K-12; teachers have known the kids forever; and the kids have known each other forever, too.

Still, people here do make assumptions because differences here aren’t huge.  The vast majority of folks are white and Protestant (although you’ve got a huge Hmong population in the next town over because the Lutherans, principally, brought them over after the Vietnam War when the U.S. effectively abandoned them).  I’ve had long conversations with people who’ve never met a Jew.  Ours is, in fact, the only mezuzah in the village.  Some folks have a couple interesting ideas of what Jews are all about (like . . . we bury our dead standing up).  The things you take for granted on the coasts aren’t here, and that goes for tolerance, too.  You can no longer assume that you’re in like-minded company, and sometimes—often—have to be careful what you say.  The mindset is completely different.

But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  Like I said, where I last came from, people were kind of full of themselves and very focused on letting you know just how hard they worked.  Now, that’s not to say they didn’t work hard.  We all did.  Yet one thing here that is so different from there: people work very hard here, and their opportunities are limited.  Kids whose folks are farmers not only do the sports and school, but they get up early and take care of the animals.  They work the farm.  They can spend a summer walking the rows of a seed field, pulling anomalous weeds, by hand, because you can’t let weird seed get all mixed up in pure stock.  And they do that over acres and acres and acres, all summer long.  Money is often very tight, and kids aren’t wearing the latest trendy clothes either.  Those stores don’t exist out here.  Yet this is an accepted part of life.  No one talks about the work or complains.  They just do it.

ItBW: Can you tell us anything about what you’re working on now?
IB: Sure: I tend to do is pretty much line up my books like Boeing 747s on the runway.  Just go to clear them for takeoff, is all.

In a couple weeks, I’ll be going through the final pass-through for Book I of my new Dark Passages Series, WHITE SPACE.  Currently, though, I’m in hand-to-hand combat with the sequel, THE DICKENS MIRROR.  If you want a general idea what the books are about . . . think The Matrix meets Inkheart and Inception, and that will give you a clue.  They’re basically YA horror/psychological thrillers with a dash of sci-fi and, in the case of DICKENS MIRROR, a dash of historical fiction.

Just as soon as I’m done with DICKENS MIRROR—if the thing doesn’t kill me first—I’ll go back to a new standalone I’m about halfway through.  Finish that, and then I’ll revisit SAVING SKY, which is the first book in another projected YA sf series that I’ve also got about half-written.  I’ve also got ideas for three other standalones that are in the outline phase.

So I’m busy.  But that’s how I like it.  Otherwise, I just get bored.

Finish these sentences…
My weapon of choice for the zombie apocalypse would be…Frankly?  My two feets: I would get myself very far away from where the zombies might be.  It’s a military thing, if you stop to think about it.  The idea is to live to fight another day, not go looking for trouble.But, if push came to shove, and I had to choose, then I’d go for three different kinds of firearms, because specific guns are made for specific purposes, and there is no all-around weapon that will do every job equally well. So, for those close encounters of the worst kind: Glock 19. For long-range work (and hunting because we all have to eat): AR15/M4 variant. For versatility and the ability to accept all kinds of ammunition: Mossberg 500 pump-action.  Love that ratcheting sound, too.  Scares the bejesus out of an intruder, though—maybe—not a zombie. 
People would be surprised to know…Just how incredibly shy I am.  Really.  Melt-into-the-wall shy.  I only look confident and social.  Thank years of acting and forensics.  Why do you think I became a shrink?  It’s so I can get you to talk to me.
We could be best friends if…Crap.  Other than my husband, I have no best friends, so I don’t know.  Really.

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Thanks so much to Ilsa for answering my questions! Make sure you check out Monsters and the rest of the Ashes trilogy! 

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