It’s so fun that I get to chat with you about your book Pandemic.  Thank you so much Yvonne for taking the time to be a part of BOD’s author spotlight interview.  We’re so happy to have you!

Thank you! BOD is an amazing group, so I’m thrilled to be interviewed here.

Before we get into Pandemic, tell us how you got into writing.  Was it something you’ve always wanted to do, or have done?  Or does it come from a love of reading?

I still have old poems from around sixth and seventh grade. I was always an avid reader, and wanting to work with words seemed like a natural extension of that. I took my first formal creative writing classes in college but didn’t write seriously until my children were born.

Will you please tell us about Pandemic, and what inspired you to write it?

Here’s a blurb about the story:

In Pandemic, only a few people know what caused Lilianna Snyder’s sudden change from a model student to a withdrawn pessimist who worries about all kinds of disasters. After her parents are called away on business, Lil’s town is hit by what soon becomes a widespread fatal illness. With her worst fears realized, Lil must find a way to survive not only the outbreak and its real-life consequences, but also her own personal demons.

In terms of what inspired me, I’ve always been fascinated with disaster situations. For example, I loved Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. When the Swine Flu pandemic occurred in 2009, it wasn’t particularly lethal, but it did make me wonder. What if a virus was extremely contagious and caused a high death rate? And what if a teen girl had to survive the illness on her own?

Pandemic is more about the experience during the disaster than the aftermath.  I found it interesting to think about not only the practical implications of a contagious disease, like potential food shortages, but also about how fear would change social interactions. Dire circumstances can bring out the best and the worst in people and I wanted to explore that in this story.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Pandemic.  I love how informative it was from beginning to end.  Does the knowledge you write about come from personal experience of what to do in an emergency, or from research?

I’m happy you liked it.

I did a lot of research, starting with the Spanish Influenza of 1918, then reading about current emerging infectious diseases as well. (I recommend Spillover by David Quammen and Emerging Epidemics by Madeline Drexler.)

The story is set in New Jersey and I was able to find planning documents online, as well as interview a local health officer. He spoke frankly about the H1N1 experience and gave me insight into what problems could potentially occur if a more deadly pandemic struck.

By the way, I thought because of my research that I was well prepared for an emergency. In the midst of writing the novel, we were hit by a severe October ice storm and lost power for about ten days. I quickly found the flaws in my efforts. And there were many! (For example, we didn’t have an easy way to recharge our multiple cell phones.)

I include information about pandemics and preparedness on the Resources section of my website.

I find it ironically scary to have read this book the same week a patient with Ebola was admitted to a hospital in America.  How do you feel about this?

Ebola is frightening. The disease obviously differs from bird flu—it has a longer incubation time, for example, and it’s not airborne. But it seems incredibly difficult to protect the medical staff needed to treat it. The spread of the disease is very worrisome.

The sexual assault sub-plot was so well handled in Pandemic.  Why did you put this sub-plot in a story about a viral epidemic?

I wanted to create a story where the main character is in a difficult place at the onset, even before the disease strikes, so that she must find a way to heal and become stronger during the crisis. The sexual assault was an integral part of Lil’s character for me.

I was also interested in the moral dilemma of whether or not we would help others if it puts us at risk. Since Lil’s philanthropy leads to harm prior to the outbreak (it’s after a food drive that she’s assaulted), she struggles to become altruistic again.

Now tell us some fun facts about yourself.  Do you have a favorite treat you like to eat when you’re writing or reading?

I love hot drinks while I’m writing— coffee, tea, hot chocolate—even during the summer. And I’m a big fan of Hershey kisses as a reward for a creative, productive session. I also like Skinny Pop popcorn but it messes up the keyboard if I eat it while I’m typing, so I have to save that as an editing treat.

Do you have a writing ritual or routine you do to get you in the writer’s zone?

It’s not exactly a routine, but in August and September, I participated in WritingChallenge.org. (I’m taking October off from the group to focus more on Pandemic publicity.) The idea is to write 500 words or edit for one hour each day for the month, tweeting and tracking your daily progress. It’s a great way to feel accountable for getting the work done, and like BOD, the group is friendly and supportive.

If you could do one thing differently about your writing career, what would it be?

Earlier in my career, I tended to rush the fiction writing process and I often felt “done” when more revisions were needed. Writing a novel takes a long time for me, and I wish I had realized sooner that leaving a manuscript alone for days (even weeks) between revisions is a good and necessary step.

Thanks for sharing your time with all of us at BOD, and for creating awesome stories to get lost in!

You’re welcome. As a special offer to BOD members in the US, if anyone wants a bookmark for Pandemic,  email me the address.

Keep reading to learn more about Pandemic and Yvonne!

PANDEMIC

An excerpt from the opening pages of Pandemic.

I stood on the smoking corner behind school reveling in my aloneness. Not many smokers had the same schedule, which made the corner the perfect place for solitude. We always stayed a foot off the high school property, near the big oak tree, and since we were allowed to leave during last period study hall, we weren’t technically breaking any rules.

As if rules mattered.

“Hey, got a light?” Jay Martinez asked, interrupting the quiet. In the fall, he’d moved from Arizona to live with his aunt down the block from my house.

I handed him my half-smoked cigarette. Cupping the burning ember, he used it to light his own. He didn’t fit in with the other smokers, but then neither did I. My black clothes, basic ponytail, and minimal makeup placed me in my own category. Maybe Lazy Goth. But the nice thing about smokers was that they didn’t exclude anyone.

“Thanks.” Jay passed my cigarette back to me.

“Is New Jersey always this cold in April?”

Being the new guy at school made Jay the flavor of the month with the other sophomore girls. They craved him in a nauseating kind of way. He was dark, tall, and lanky, and tended to over-communicate. Totally not my type. Now he ruined my aloneness with weather chatter. I shrugged so he’d get the idea that I wasn’t in a talking mood.

“Ethan was hoping to run into you,” he said.

Another shrug. I’d managed to avoid my ex for months. No reason to change the pattern now.

“So . . . do you have Robertson for bio?” he asked.

I nodded. Jay definitely wasn’t taking the hint.

“What are you doing your report on?”

“Emerging diseases,” I said, finally giving up on staying silent.

“Cheerful stuff.”

The school projects I chose did favor the dark this semester. American history report? The decision to drop the bomb. English book talk? A collection of Edgar Allan Poe’s stories. Thematically, Ebola hemorrhagic fever fit right in.

“What are you writing about?” I flicked the accumulated ashes. “Lung cancer?”

He smiled. “The biology of taste. I write restaurant reviews on my blog and that was the closest topic I could think of. Do you like eating at restaurants?”

Leaning slightly forward, he held eye contact a little too long for me. Was he flirting? Nervous, I pulled my sweater tighter around me and crossed my arms. A flirtatious guy was the absolute last thing I needed in my life. No boyfriends, no coy conversations for me. Not anymore.

Buy Pandemic: Indiebound |  Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Powells | Books-a-million | Book Depository |  Chapters

ABOUT YVONNE

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

Before becoming a children’s writer, Yvonne Ventresca wrote computer programs and taught others how to use technology. Now she happily spends her days writing stories instead of code. Yvonne’s the author of the young adult novel Pandemic, available since May from Sky Pony Press. Yvonne’s other writing credits include two nonfiction books for kids: Avril Lavigne (a biography of the singer) and Publishing (about careers in the field). You can visit her website at www.YvonneVentresca.com.

Post by Angie Taylor

This week I had the amazing privilege of interviewing fellow BOD member and author Ilsa J. Bick. Please enjoy this awesome author spotlight interview!

Thank you so much, Ilsa, for taking part in our BOD author spotlight interview. I know all our BOD members are so excited to hear from you!

My pleasure. I love knowing that all those hours spent hunched over a hot keyboard actually means something to someone besides my cats, who really only see me as the Can Opener.  But you take what you can get.

You have done so many interesting things in your life, and have had many different careers. When did you know that writing was going to stick?

Gosh, I don’t know. I’d like to say that it snuck up on me gradually. See, as a writer, you start out with small goals—or, at least, I did. First, all I ever wanted was to write nonfiction essays on film and television. Then my husband dared me to write a story; he thought I was afraid to because I might actually like it. So then it was . . . finish a damn story. Then it became publish a story. Then, it was a couple stories, and then that morphed into what was my biggest goal: to write a Star Trek book.

Hey, you think I’m kidding? Look, Captain Kirk was serious beefcake in my day. So that was definitely something in my sights. I even remember telling an editor that all I wanted was to hold a Trek book in my hand that I had written.

But, you know . . . it’s always something new and more and different. Once you’ve accomplished something, you need to keep moving, or you become boring, and I knew that I really couldn’t stick with Trek forever because I kept thinking bigger and broader.

A very wise writer once told me that every book should be a challenge; that you’re always about trying something new. I guess you could say that I got addicted to that idea. I love learning new things. In fact, researching topics and learning new stuff is one of the most exciting and gratifying things about being a writer. My mind is a kind of magpie. You know, these are birds that see something glittery and think, Oh, that would look great in my nest and Wow, that’s a pretty shiny thing. Me . . . I’m like that, gathering scraps of data, interesting facts. I hate being bored, and that’s the thing about being a writer: it’s never boring. Frustrating, yes. Slit your wrists because what you’ve just labored over all day is absolute garbage . . . that happens a lot. But it’s never boring. Drive you to drink, yeah. But never boring.

How have your other careers influenced your stories, and more especially, Ashes?

It’s so interesting you ask that. I was just thinking about my past lives: Air Force major, child psychiatrist, forensic psychiatrist, film scholar, surgery intern, wannabe actress. You know, past lives aren’t like bad cases of the flu. You don’t get over them, you only move on and, in another context, I once wrote that you can’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been. We are our memories and experiences and dreams, pure and simple.

Gandhi once said, “A man is the sum of his actions, of what he has done, of what he can do, nothing else,” and so you might say the same of memories and experience. I’ve met a lot of people in pain, and I’ve sat across from a scads of others—I’m talking when I worked with inmates in a women’s prison—who you really wouldn’t want to know or meet on a street, even in broad daylight. So, in my case, I think that when I write, I really want to work my way into a character’s head, squirm into those deep, moist, dark, nasty, very secret places most people hide or don’t want to admit they’ve got. It’s not as simple as understanding what makes them tick; I want to see through their eyes, and I can only do that if I also access everything that’s gone into making them the characters they become on the page.

In terms of ASHES: When I set out to write this trilogy, I was very clear from the get-go that my book had to be as real as possible and not one more in a seemingly endless (and boring) array of books about the world centuries after a plague, a virus, blah, blah. So, the science is pretty real. What I present—massive waves of electromagnetic pulses that effectively throw the world into a preindustrial black hole—could conceivably happen. Congress has known that for years, and if you think what went down in Fukushima was bad, imagine what might happen if all reactors went off-line with no ability to keep them from melting down or the water cooling those spent fuel rods from boiling away.

So now we’re talking about a world where things are going from bad to worse, and people struggle to stay alive. By the way, all that survivalism is real, too. Making debris shelters, purifying water, making fires—all that and much more—are things I’ve done and techniques that will keep you alive if the worst happens. Mind you, I didn’t say comfortable; we’re not talking toasty slippers before a hearth, but you can make it if you know basic survival tricks. Ditto the medical stuff, too, and the surgical procedures. Been there, done that, bought the tee-shirt.

Also, having served in the military definitely played into what I did with the trilogy (and in almost all my writing). First off, my dad was in the Air Force; I served at the same base he did; and I’ve been around military folks in some capacity all my life. I treated a lot of servicemen and women who were doing jobs that took them away from their families, exposed them to immense stress, and—in some cases—nearly broke them. I have nothing but admiration and a tremendous amount of respect and compassion for their sacrifice. When I think of what soldiers endure to keep me and everyone else in this country safe to enjoy the freedoms others want to take away, or hear the National Anthem, or see a bunch of soldiers hanging out? I can get pretty choked up. I’m not embarrassed by that either; it merely reflects how strongly I feel.

I’ll be honest, too. I don’t think that enough people truly understand what it’s like to be in the military. They may sympathize and they can be supportive, but that’s not the same. There is no sense of shared burden or sacrifice here as there is in other countries where service is mandatory. As unpopular as the draft was, if you think back to how many young men and women lined up to serve in World War II, it’s not right when that kind of patriotism—that sense that we’re all in this together—is so lacking.

I know some people who treat military members the same way they do guns—wouldn’t touch ’em with a ten-foot pole—and that’s just a shame. What troubles me even more is the notion of the military—and, by extension, war—as things most kids know only from playing computer games. They glorify it, and they shouldn’t because combat is ugly and the cost is high. So I bring a lot of that when I deal with characters like Tom and even Alex: people who’ve seen a lot of combat and death.

Teachers always ask me about the violence quotient in the trilogy: like, I should be bothered because I make the violence so realistic and in your face. My response is this. Nothing I do is any worse than any video game or movie. More to the point, I try very hard to dwell on what happens to the person who pulls the trigger. A lot of books don’t. Video games never do. But I remember the first time I shot a .45. I remember how I felt; how I nearly peed my pants; how I was shaking—because firing a gun and understanding that you now have the power to take a life is a visceral, humbling experience. It shouldn’t be glorified, and the idea of blowing someone away is most certainly not fun. So I want my readers to get that, too. The person who pulls that trigger pays a price.

As a reader, I love discovering characters who appear normal but end up having special powers. I especially loved that this happens to some of your characters in Ashes. Why do you think readers are so drawn to protagonists who exhibit supernatural strengths?

I don’t think that it’s anything more mysterious than a good story almost always involves ordinary people put in extreme and extraordinary circumstances. Supernatural abilities are just one manifestation of this “specialness.”

Then, too . . . and I’m not being condescending, but it’s true . . . teenagers, in particular, need to believe that they are special in some way. Think about it: you’re being asked to leave everything you’ve known, all the people who’ve taken care of you, and strike out on your own, whether that’s in college or a job or whatever. Well, that takes extraordinary courage, for one—it really does—and a belief in your own specialness, for another. If you didn’t believe that you could conquer that great unknown beyond your parents’ front door . . . why ever would you turn the knob? Boil them all down, and that’s what these stories are: they are coming of age narratives, when a young person is thrust into a position of having to face a hostile, unknown world and, in doing so, discovers an unknown strength (or has it imposed on him/her).

You illustrate so clearly in Ashes how delicate the mind is, and yet at the same time, show what a magnificent machine it is. What interested you in focusing on this dynamic in Ashes?

Gosh . . . I don’t know? I guess that, as a shrink, I’m always interested in the mind driven to the brink or an extreme. I don’t stint here either because one thing I do know as a shrink who’s crawled through some pretty slimy sewers of the mind: people can be quite brutal and no one ever does what he imagines he would when his life is on the line. In my books, we see people making choices and doing some fairly horrible things because I think that reflects reality. That’s what interests me: the rules people are willing to break and the compromises they’ll make just to survive. People say, I’ll never do this or that. I say, Baloney. You don’t know because you’re not there yet. Talk to me when you’re starving, or someone’s holding a gun to your kid’s head. Conversely, I am also intensely interested in what things are truly worth dying for—and I don’t think there’s a single answer for everyone.

To my mind, it’s also not enough to simply survive. I want to understand what it means to live.  I see this novel—and the entire trilogy—as a journey as the principal characters fight to carve out some kind of life for themselves in a world gone to pieces.

In Ashes, the majority of the humans portrayed lose their humanity pretty quickly when they feel threatened. Do you think, for the most part, that we as humans would really act like this if faced with similar circumstances?

Without question. Just turn on the evening news, if you don’t believe me. Or go read some history. My dad is a Holocaust survivor; the Nazis came for him when he was just a little boy, and he was in three different concentration camps before he was finally shipped west and out of Europe to America. The rest of his family, except his grandmother, all died in Auschwitz.

We act in depraved ways now, not only to one another but to the other inhabitants on this Earth who have no advocates and whom we drive into extinction simply because we can or believe our needs are so very much more important. Trust me: humanity can always be counted on to live down to your lowest expectations. The hard part is not to stand by and think someone else will fix it for you. You want something to change? You want something better? Then get off your butt and make it happen.

If you were to develop a super sense, what would it be, and what would you use it for?

Bless me, I don’t know. I’d rather have a superpower, to be honest. Like . . . I wouldn’t mind being able to fly. Or read minds. Except then I’d know what you really think about me.

Use it for? Heck, I don’t know. You know if I could fly, my carbon footprint would be really low. That’s something.

Out of all the characters you have created, which one do you feel you’re most like, and which one would you most like to be similar to?

You’re going to think this is a cop-out, but they’re all me. They have to be because they all came out of my head. So I understand and feel like every single one of them, even my villains.

Of all the stories you’ve written, is there any one in particular that’s nearest to your heart?

Nope. Every book I write is my baby of the moment. I have to feel that way in order for the book to have any life at all.

Can you tell us anything about your work in progress? What’s next for you?

Well, I’m just finishing up proofs of The Dickens Mirror, which is the sequel to White Space and Book II of The Dark Passages Series (Egmont USA). I’m now in hand-to-hand combat with a standalone about love and spiders and lies, tentatively entitled (appropriately enough) Love Among Spiders. With any luck, I’ll either finish this book, or it will kill me.

Ilsa, thank you again for spending a little time with us at Band of Dystopian! It has been such a pleasure!

Thanks for having me!

Ashes Links: Egmont USA | Amazon |Barnes & Noble | Indie Bound | Walmart | Target

Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick

It could happen tomorrow . . .
 
An electromagnetic pulse flashes across the sky, destroying every electronic device, wiping out every computerized system, and killing billions.
Alex hiked into the woods to say good-bye to her dead parents and her personal demons. Now desperate to find out what happened after the pulse crushes her to the ground, Alex meets up with Tom—a young soldier—and Ellie, a girl whose grandfather was killed by the EMP.For this improvised family and the others who are spared, it’s now a question of who can be trusted and who is no longer human.

Author Ilsa J. Bick crafts a terrifying and thrilling novel about a world that could be ours at any moment, where those left standing must learn what it means not just to survive, but to live amidst the devastation.

ABOUT ILSA J. BICK

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Ilsa J. Bick is a child and forensic psychiatrist, as well as a film scholar, surgeon wannabe, former Air Force major, and an award-winning, best-selling author of dozens of short stories and novels.  Her YA credits include the critically acclaimed paranormal mystery, DRAW THE DARK (winner of the Westchester Fiction Award, a VOYA Perfect Ten, and Bank Street College 2011 Best Book); the bittersweet DROWNING INSTINCT, a story about a sixteen-year-old girl’s relationship with her chemistry teacher; and THE SIN-EATER’S CONFESSION, a mystery revolving around the murder of a young boy, who may or may not have been homosexual, that was also a 2014 YALSA BYFA and just honored with the 2014 Independent Publisher Gold Medal for Excellence in Young Adult Fiction.

ASHES—the first book in Ilsa’s YA apocalyptic thriller trilogy—follows Alex Adair, a 17-year-old with an inoperable brain tumor.  Embarking on what she believes is a one-way journey into Michigan’s north woods, Alex suddenly finds herself fighting to stay alive after a wave of electromagnetic pulses sweeps the globe, crippling power and communications grids and killing most adults, sparing only the very young and the very old while most teenagers are “Changed,” meaning that they not only make an interesting lifestyle change but become people you really don’t want to meet in a dark alley.  ASHES was a 2011 VOYA Perfect Ten; 2012 YALSA Top Ten Teen Nominee; 2012 YALSA Best Fiction Nominee; 2012 Outstanding Book by a Wisconsin Author;  2013 ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers Finalist; 2013-2014 Gateway Award Final Nominee; 2014 Oklahoma Sequoyah Book Award Nominee; and 2014 Abraham Lincoln High School Book Award Nominee.  SHADOWS is the second volume, and MONSTERS, released September, 2013 to starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus, rounds out the trilogy.

Ilsa’s latest YA novel is WHITE SPACE: Book I of the Dark Passages series, a  psychological horror/sf YA thriller that’s been pegged as both metatextual—whatever that means—and “a freaking head trip,” which sounds much more to the point.  Think The Matrix and Inception meet Inkheart: a story that revolves around teenagers who may be real or might only be characters plucked from horror novels penned by Frank McDermott (Wisconsin’s Most Famous Crazy Dead Writer).  Now, imagine that they’re all trapped in a bizarre, snow-shrouded, fog-filled valley that has the knack of bringing all their worst nightmares and monsters to life—and you’re getting warm.  The sequel, THE DICKENS MIRROR, will be released in 2015 from Egmont USA.

Ilsa lives with her very tolerant family and other furry creatures across from a Hebrew cemetery in rural Wisconsin.  One thing she loves about the neighbors: They’re very quiet and only come around for sugar once in a blue moon.

Today, Author Emily Goodwin has joined us for an interview about her work, particularly her zombie series, Contagium. 

Do you remember your first introduction to zombies? When did you first get hooked? 

I’m a fan of the Resident Evil games and movies, and I saw Zombieland in theaters, but that was really the extent of my zombie love until after I wrote Contagious. I had a dream about zombies and woke up knowing that I had to write about them. I actually went into the zombie genre as a total zombie newb. I had no idea about zombie stereotypes, or that female zombie authors aren’t always well received. Luckily, I avoided said stereotypes and I’ve been warmly welcomed into the genre.

Your protagonist Orissa is a carefree, party-like-tomorrow-is-the-apocalypse kind of girl, but when the actual zombie apocalypse occurs, she shifts into another role, one of a fierce warrior. Orissa is well-trained in weaponry. Do you have expertise in archery and firearms or did you spend time researching arms combat? 

I’m no expert, but I do know how to handle a variety of guns. I’ve been into shooting since I was a kid, and while normal girls were inside playing with dolls, I laid on our deck shooting targets through my mom’s decorative grass pretending to be a sniper. I’ve used a bow and arrows before, but that is something I am currently working on learning. I spent a lot of time researching weapons and speaking with others well-versed in using those weapons. I also shot a lot of ‘zombie heads’ to see how different weapons exploded zombies brains. That was a lot of fun.

If you could give one piece of advice to Orissa, what would it be? 

I would tell her to let go of the past. In the beginning of the series, she is still very angry and hurt from things that happened to her in the past. And she holds onto a lot of guilt from things she did, which she channels into anger. She is a very complex character, and I love that about her.

Uh oh! It’s the zombie apocalypse. Which author, living or dead, do you want by your side? 

Don Mann – he’s a former Navy Seal and wrote a survival guide. Who better, right?

After writing apocalyptic fiction, have you made preparations for the end of the world? Are you a prepper like Orissa’s Grandfather? 

It’s definitely made me think about the worst possible scenarios. I do like to have enough bottled water and food on hand, and I may or may not always have a weapon on me (there is not a machete in my trunk…). But I’m by no means a crazy prepper. My husband is the voice of reason. If it weren’t for him, I’d have a room full of food, water, ammo, and weapons.

One of my favorite characters in Contagious is the fierce, but lovable Doberman, Argos. As a proud Doberman mama myself, I know that behind the scary exterior lies a total softy. Do you have experience with this breed or a pet that serves as inspiration for Argos? 

I have a German Shepherd who is our furry baby. I wanted to pick a dog that was similar in traits, so I went with a Doberman. I worked at a vet office and then a pet store while I was in college, so I do have experience with Dobs. They are wonderful dogs! You are so right too; they are great dogs!

Not all zombies are equal, which was evident in Contagious. Your zombies display unique characteristics that correspond to their individual state of decay. Can you tell us a little bit about them and their fun nicknames?

I tried to make my zombie virus as realistic as possible. I was in nursing school at the time of writing this series, so I had many doctors and nurses around to ask for advice. I also spoke with a neurologist about brain function. In my series, the virus attacks the parts of the brain that control memory and emotion—basically what makes us human. As the virus progresses, it kills off more of the brain, giving the infected that typical zombie stagger. The body starts to slowly die off, and blood flow decreases. The extremities are the first to go, and the skin becomes necrotic, which allows the infected to look like zombies. You find out more about the virus in the final book, and I don’t want to give away spoilers! The virus does progress in three distinct stages: getting infected and going insane, zombie, then really zombied-zombies that are literally falling apart. The characters refer to them as crazies, zombies, and gummies…since the skin and organs get gummy and gooey so close to the end.

What can we expect next from you?

I just started a new series. I don’t have a formal description or blurb written yet. The series has a dystopian setting in modern times, but the US is still set up in colonies. Witchcraft is illegal, and if you are found guilty you are either sentenced to burn at the stake or allow your body to be used for medical testing.

Thank You Emily for taking the time to answer my questions and for your active participation on BOD.

Thank you for the interview! It was fun!

Emily’s Links: Facebook | Website

ABOUT CONTAGIOUS

During the Second Great Depression, twenty-four year old Orissa Penwell is forced to drop out of college when she is no longer able to pay for classes. Unable to find a job, she moves in with her aunt in Indianapolis. Down on her luck, Orissa doesn’t think she can go any lower.

Orissa is used to only being responsible for herself. When she finds herself a reluctant leader of a group of survivors, she must make a choice: set aside her issues and help the others or go off alone in search of her own family and friends.

ABOUT EMILY GOODWIN

Emily Goodwin is the international best-selling author of the stand-alone novel STAY, The Guardian Legacies Series: UNBOUND, REAPER, MOONLIGHT (releasing 2014), The Beyond the Sea Series: BEYOND THE SEA, RED SKIES AT NIGHT (releasing 2015) and the award-winning Contagium Series: CONTAGIOUS, DEATHLY CONTAGIOUS, CONTAGIOUS CHAOS, THE TRUTH IS CONTAGIOUS (Permuted Press).

Emily lives with her husband, daughter and German Shepherd named Vader. Along with writing, Emily enjoys riding her horse, designing and making costumes and Cosplay.

Awesome BOD members, it is with great pleasure, and a little trepidation that I will be outsmarted in the process, that I am able to help us all get to know better, author and fellow BOD member, Travis Mohrman. Thank you so much for taking the time for this fun author spotlight!

I was just napping on the couch, I have plenty of time. By the way, who let you in my house? Was it the cat? That dude can’t be trusted. He didn’t try to put anything in your pockets, did he? Maybe ask you to deliver a message to someone? Don’t do it! Don’t be a mule for the cat!

Anyway, can I get you something to drink? Perhaps some goldfish crackers? Don’t mind the smaller hound, he’ll calm down in several minutes.

It’s so interesting for us to learn how authors decided they wanted to be a writer. Can you tell us about the first moment you knew that you wanted to be a writer?

Well, I was kind of drunk.

Hang on, I should probably have on pants for this, right? *runs upstairs, then runs back downstairs*

Do you like my flannel Voltron pants? Not an easy thing to find for a tall guy. Anyway, what was the…oh yeah, how I started writing.

Well, I had heard about NaNoWriMo, but I had never really written anything other than snarky emails to those deserving of the snark. Then, on the last night of October, my wife’s friend was in town and we were drinking rather heavily in our living room. With purple stained teeth, I declared that I was going to write a novel! Nobody really batted an eye, I am rather prone to large declarations that come out of nowhere. Christina, our guest, asked what it was going to be about. I replied with something close to “plants and dogs, maybe some homebrewing…” Seriously, that’s how it went down.

Then, we drunkenly threw around story ideas and I wrote down an outline type thing because we weren’t really doing anything else. I don’t really have any neighbors so kids aren’t coming by asking for candy on Halloween. Anyway, this outline had something to do with three different societies fighting each other and then somebody changed sides, I don’t know. I threw it all out the next day and just started typing.

I’m not one of those authors to claim I have to write just to get the stories out. I’ve never secretly wanted to write. I’m just a normal guy with very large feet who daydreams all the time. Sometimes I write those daydreams down and other people seem interested in reading them.

What made me keep writing was meeting amazing indie authors that are very talented. Guys like Tony Bertauski and Rick Gualtieri blow me away with the stories they write but they seem to be just normal, down to earth guys who share the same dashing looks and chiseled physique as myself.

Down The Path is the first book in the Path series. Although it is a dystopian book, I loved that it focuses on the good in others, rather than how poorly people can treat each other when hard times come. What made you want to write a book like this?
 
I love the Dystopian and Post-Apoc genres, but my biggest complaint is that I don’t think the people are very realistic. It seems that in many books, the fear of law is all that keeps society from plummeting into madness. To be fair, I think in any kind of apocalyptic scenario there would be massive chaos and lots of fighting, looting, etc…but that would all end pretty quickly.

I think that people, as a whole, are good and more than willing to help someone in need, even a stranger. Down The Path is set roughly 500 years after a collapse, so it’s just people trying to survive. Vastly fewer people equals more outreach and compassion for your fellow man. If your car breaks down on a country road, how many cars drive by and don’t offer to help?

I love all the interesting survival skills and details that Cooper has to learn in order to survive. Can you tell us how much of his knowledge is or isn’t from personal experience?

Pretty much all of the things in the first book came from personal experience. Even the illness that Cooper contracts (that was a helluva week). I have long been a fan of survival skills, but it was never really for any fear of society collapsing. It was because I wanted to learn how make fire several ways. It feels good to know how to do things, especially things in the woods. Also, it impresses the dickens out of the ladies.

What is the craziest survival story you have experienced, or would love to experience?

I fell down a cliff once; that was painful and bloody.

I’ve worked on over 100 prescribed fires and that has led to some very interesting experiences, but nothing really “survival level.” Who needs body hair, anyway?

I also got lost in the woods in southern Illinois when I was around 13 or 14. I was out hiking with my uncle and I wanted to follow a trail by myself. I got all turned around when the trail inevitably vanished and I began rationing my Certs (which was the only thing I had on me). I generally walked downhill until I hit a small river and then followed that because at least I knew I wouldn’t walk in circles. Then I saw some power lines and I followed those because it was easier walking and I knew that they had to lead to people. They eventually led me to a road and I walked down that until I ran into my uncle who was more than a little worried about me since I was gone for many hours. We decided not to inform my mother about the day’s excitement. It’s been twenty years since then, so I figure the statute of limitations has expired, so I’ll go ahead and make the story public!

I did two ten-day backpacking/portaging trips through the wilds of Canada when I was in the 7th and 8th grades. You could drink the water straight out of all those lakes, it was amazing.

Truly, none of it is too crazy, though.

As far as what I would like to experience…I just like being outside. Whatever happens or doesn’t happen, I’m happy.

When you’re not writing books, what are some of your favorite hobbies, and do those hobbies transfer into the details of your characters?

I draw heavily from my hobbies for my writing. I like to brew beer and wine. We cure all kinds of meat from hard salami to bacon to ham. I hunt and fish and my wife and I proudly do all of our own butchering. I really enjoy woodworking. I love to cook. I really just like making things. Not only for the pride that comes with enjoying the fruits of your own labor, but also the look on people’s faces when you give them a pound of the best bacon they have ever had and then tell them that you made it.

One last question. If you had the opportunity to be and do anything for a day, what would it be, and who would you want to be with you?

Pretty much whatever I’m doing I want my wife and hound dogs to be with me (you can keep the cat). This way, when I do something spectacularly stupid, I have someone else who can back up the story as well as drag my battered body out of the woods. As far as the first part of the question, I’m happy being me. I’m all broken in like a good pair of boots. If I were to try to be someone else, I bet I would get blisters. Wait…unless I got to be Wolverine! Is that an option? I would like to be him, but I want to stay my same height. Yeah, I would be a tall mutant with healing abilities and an Adamantium covered skeleton. Plus, because of the healing factor the blisters wouldn’t be an issue.

What are your writing habits like? Do you write every day or just when time allows?

I tend to write very quickly. I go through writing phases, basically. When I’m writing a story, I will lay down at least 2,000 words a day, every day. After a month I have the book written as well as one round of edits and it’s off to the editor. I usually write after work. I have about an hour or so between when I get home and when my wife gets home and that’s when I write. This is where she really shines because instead of cleaning the kitchen or doing any chores after work, I am sprawled on the couch pushing down little black keys. I can’t thank her enough for picking up my slack while I’m in one of these phases. Thankfully, those only come about every 3-4 months. The rest of the time I just let the next book unfold in my brain. Which means I basically just play video games sans pants.

Are any of your characters actually based on you?

I think I strive to be Cooper, all full of optimism rubbed with a decent portion of luck. I also think a part of me is afraid of turning into Handro. He’s not a bad man so it’s not terrible to turn into him, but he’s clearly kind of broken and supremely jaded and I hope I’m not that way.

Some of my other characters are based on my friends, though. Ceannt is a real man who brews beer with strange ingredients and plays the bagpipes.

Brian, from Singular Points, is based on a very good friend of mine. What I tend to lift from my friends is their attitude. I really have no idea if other writers do something similar, but it helps cement the characters in my head.

The character of John from Down The Path and Futher was meant to be based on someone but while writing him, nothing fit and he became the John that is in the story, kind of a lovable but slow giant man-child.

What’s your favorite saying?

Currently it’s “Enjoy Your Burrito”

Care to explain that?

Not really. Some people will understand it immediately, others will hopefully seek enlightenment.

Thank you so much Travis for letting all of us at BOD get to know you better and for sharing your talent of writing with us!

Thanks a ton for coming into my house and waking me up from my nap. No, really, it wasn’t awkward at all. Oh, before you leave, please check out the authors of DeadPixel Publications. It’s a diverse mix of writers all under the same roof and you can certainly find something for any taste there. Enjoy your burrito, everyone.

ABOUT TRAVIS

Travis writes stories about plants, dogs, and maybe some homebrewing.

Facebook  |  Website  |  DeadPixel  |  Amazon

Several generations after the collapse of civilization, an isolated city is fighting to survive. Food is scarce, resources limited, and the population is dwindling alarmingly fast. Twenty-year old Cooper, marked since birth by his bright red hair, is selected to embark on a journey of a lifetime to bring hope and prosperity to his city. Prepared as best as he can for the unknown, he sets out with little idea of what he will find. Along the way he forages for food, battles sickness and the swift current of a river, and finds an unlikely companion – an immediately faithful dog he names Lupe. The duo follow the great river south until they find themselves invited into a thriving village. Cooper knows he must learn all he can and use this knowledge to save his own city before it’s too late. Down the Path is an enthralling adventure story backed with real-world survival knowledge. An exciting read for all ages!

Hey all you fantastic BOD members, thanks for reading! Check out this week’s author spotlight. I’m very excited to introduce and interview A.J. Leavens. Welcome!

Hello! Thanks for having me. It’s been fun getting to know all the cool folks on the blog and the Facebook group, and I’m humbled to be chosen for the spotlight.

A.J., why don’t you tell us a little about yourself and how you got into writing?

I’ve been reading forever. I loved the escapism that books provided. When I was 12, I fell in love with Piers Anthony’s Xanth series and Terry Brooks’ Landover series. I read them as fast as they came out. When I hit Grade 8, I wrote a story that took my favorite characters from both series and melded them into one book. It was full of magic and crazy powers. It really got the bug going.

By the time I hit high school, I was hooked. I took English all the way to Grade 13 – it’s an Ontario thing – and was even selected to be part of a new writing development class that they were piloting with a poem I wrote entitled My Father, The Tree. Somewhere, my dad has a copy of that, framed.

I prefer to write fantasy and sci-fi, as it allows me to use my over-over-active imagination, but I’m slowly working on a mystery novel also. It’s a long work in progress that keeps getting put on the back burner.

I really enjoyed your first book in the Meechan Chronicles. Can you tell us where you came up with the setting for Death’s Twilight?

Thanks! It means a lot to me when someone who is a fan of the genre enjoys Slade’s world. In the opening scenes of Death’s Twilight, the reader is introduced to the world after the bombs, and it mentions that George Washington found a Risk board in the Smithsonian.

My wife and I were playing Risk with my teenaged sons, and I looked at the game board and asked, “What would it take to get the world to actually align itself like this?” The first answer that popped into my head was Nuclear War.

I took a picture of the game board and used that as a basis for the world, circa 2308. I wanted an elitist society to exist (The Emissaries), but with a Big Brother feel to it. That’s how IRIS came into being. Meechan Chronicles Trivia Fact: IRIS is SIRI’s really evil cousin

You have some awesome fighting scenes in Death’s Twilight. Do you have personal knowledge of hand to hand combat, or are these scenes results of intense research?

A little of both. I took Karate and Aikido as a youth, and those lessons have always stayed with me. Hotaru’s washroom fight scene was written based on some of the teachings I received. Her training session when she is praised by Lao Shi was the result of weeks of studying Tai Chi and gymnastics.

I also watched a lot of fight scenes in movies and on YouTube, especially ones that were specifically hand to hand. I’d watch them in slo-mo, backwards and forwards to make sure I was getting the feel of the fight, and how bodies would react to the things the characters were doing to them.

There is pretty clear message about the power people have in law enforcement positions, and how they go about administering the rule of law. What do you want readers to take from reading Death’s Twilight?

I hope that people will see Death’s Twilight for what it is – a story. I find it quite amazing that some of the things I wrote into the book (postal mail being finished by 2015; Canada Post announced they are stopping home delivery in January, and Crimea being an independent state) actually coming into existence. Even more amazing considering I finished the book in 2012.

There have been some recent developments in the world that highlight (to extremes) what can happen if the wrong people have power – or the right people have power but choose to wield it wrongly. What I want readers to take away from Death’s Twilight is that yes, there are corrupted people (systems) in the world. There always have been and probably always will be. But if the people who know about it are willing to stand up and do something about it, there is a chance for hope and peace.

Can you tell us where Slade’s story is headed in the next book? And when will we be able to read it?

Slade, Brooks, Nathaniel, and Hotaru are off to stop IRIS. Brooks has been keeping a journal that contains clues to help them. Along the way, Slade meets some new friends, makes more enemies, and discovers something about himself that he thought he had lost. They travel around the North American continent in their search for the things they need to stop IRIS.

I am 60ish% done with the first draft and have a goal of releasing the final product February 17, 2015. Folks who can’t wait that long can get a serialized, beta version of the story via email starting this month. I’m also hoping that these folks will be additional sets of eyes to point out any glitches I’ve missed. (Link)

Now tell us some fun random facts about you. What kind are your go-to books to unwind?

Random? Hmmm…I own a still sealed Beatles Blue Album (my all-time favorite band). My favorite gum flavor is cinnamon. I have CDO (which is like OCD, but in the correct alphabetical order).

I love books that can make me laugh out loud when I read them – not necessarily from comedians or the like, but just from the happenings in the book. Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series is one that does it every time. So is JR Ward’s Fallen Angels series. My go-to genre though? Vampires. Anything with vampires. Absolutely love vampires. I have ever since I met Louis and Lestat in Interview With the Vampire.

Do you have a favorite band or type of music you listen to help you write?

It completely depends on what I’m writing. Music is a very important and motivating thing for me. When I’m writing a chase scene or a fighting scene, I need something upbeat, almost techno. If I’m writing something sad or moving, like when Slade reset Sarah or the scene between Hotaru and Kozel, I listen to somber music, usually a piano concerto or similar. I draw from the music and try and put that emotion into the scene.

For Death’s Midnight, though, I was lucky enough to stumble onto a local indie band (The Neutral States) whose music fits the changing world near-perfectly, regardless of what type of scene I’m writing. They definitely have more plays on my iPod than any other in my writing playlist.

A.J., I love Slade’s boomstick as a weapon of choice. If you lived in a society where it was completely normal to carry such a weapon, what would you choose and why?

I would have to say a sword – samurai or 17th/18th Century. There is something elegant about a sword – from the skill needed to craft a sword, to the training needed to properly wield one. I’m not talking about hack and slash. Think The Three Musketeers and The Last Samurai, not Highlander. Graceful, yet deadly.

Truthfully, though, if I could find a way to create a Boom Stick like Slade uses? I’d be all over that.

Thank you so much A.J. Leavens, for sharing your time and gift of writing. It has been a pleasure to get to know you, and to learn about the fun world you have created in The Meechan Chronicles.

Thanks to you for the opportunity! I’m open to questions from any of the members. Would love to chat and get to know you all better. Feel free to connect!

A.J.’s Links: Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter
Death’s Twilight:  Amazon  |  Barnes & Noble  | iBooks  |  Smashwords

ABOUT A.J. LEAVENS

A love of reading as a kid allowed me to explore worlds with dragons, spaceships, robots, and antique cars. I’ve always had stories in my brain, and I’ve finally had the time to let them out onto the page. I’m a father of 4 who’s been married for 15 years. My kids may or may not be inspirations for characters in my works.

Today, Band of Dystopian’s Angie Taylor interviews Ann Christy, author of YA Dystopian, Strikers. Check out their chat below and enter to win a copy of Strikers!

It is such a pleasure to interview you and help the BOD members to get to know you better. Thank you for letting me spotlight you!

Super glad to do it! I see the BOD names and icons every day, and I’m just as curious about them!

Ann, you have written many books. Tell us when your journey to be a writer first started.

It all began with Hugh Howey. No joke. As a naval officer of over 28 years, I’m very good at telling myself stories out in the middle of the ocean to help the night watches move along, but I’ve never written them down. So, I guess I had some experience with world-building in that way.

Then I read WOOL…the first one…not too long after it came out when the little Amazon recommendation came up. I was hooked. By the time the third episode of WOOL came out I had the story sort of germinating in my head. Still, I dallied. I finally wrote to Hugh as the SHIFT episodes finished coming out, told him what I wanted to do and he gave me permission.

After that, I wrote the Silo 49 series, which remains very popular. I was amazed. Why would thousands…then tens of thousands…of people read my stuff? Baffled was I. So, I kept writing and I learned a whole lot in the doing of it. I’m hooked.

Tell us a little about your most recent book, Strikers, and the different meanings the title carries?

Strikers is absolutely from my heart. That is the name given to those who escape Texas. Most do to avoid getting their fifth and final strike, because that brings the death penalty. How it came about it from reading real life news.

I’m a news junkie, but most interesting to me are the comments on news stories. I started to notice that stories about repeat offenders of petty crimes, perpetual ne’er-do-wells and such called for fairly extreme things. Like, giving them tattoos so people would know what they were or giving them so many chances and then giving them the death penalty because they were just plain of no use…that sort of thing.

It made me ask myself the question. What would happen if we actually did that? We’re human and we’ve shown over and over that no matter how carefully or how good our intentions are, our systems get misused and go haywire.

Strikers is that dystopian future. I built the world very carefully and Karas, our main character, doesn’t know the origins of her world so we…as the readers…don’t either. It will play a role in future books for sure, but Strikers is a full novel with a full story. No cliffhangers, no sequel bait. I hope people enjoy it for what it is.

It’s a book about escape, about growing up in bad circumstances and yet shining, about realistic folks who make brave decisions and take enormous risks for others, about loss and finding hope. And there’s love because they are teenagers and well, falling in love is a huge part of that!

Almost the entire book is a chase between the good guys escaping the bad guys. It creates such a fantastic intensity. How do you think this method of writing allows for Karas, Jovan, and their friends to develop?

I suppose because I’ve had some experience with motion and tension in long term situations. Deployments on ships are a long tense action (depending on what you’re doing) and doing Humanitarian Assistance after a disaster is much the same. It flavors life with an intensity that is lacking in any other situation. There’s less caution, less reserve. You get to see who people really are. I wanted to incorporate that and let these young people strip themselves of artifice. I think they did pretty well at that. I think it revealed both weakness and strength and allowed for them to care for each other despite it all. That may sound all deep and artsy-fartsy, but I think it made it fun as well.

As a reader, Strikers has a very realistic feel to it. What inspired the setting and circumstances the characters live in?

Google maps! Nah, real life travel and lots of research. But the world-building was difficult because of the wider story and the wider actions that brought Strikers-world to be as it is. (I can’t give all that away!) So, *where* I would put the land of Strikers was based on current laws but also on weather patterns and all sorts of physical parameters. So, Texas was the winner, but no offense was meant to Texans!

What can you tell us about your future writing projects?

I have a slew of stuff on the docket. A novella (that started as a short story…yikes!) called Yankari is coming out soon. It started as a story with the theme of super-powers but morphed into something else. I have another sort of double length short story (again with the length!) coming out sometime soon called Sedge. I like it, very intimate. Really only two characters, but they are stuck in the middle of big conflict not of their making.

Strikers book two is being written, but those are big books with a lot of hard work involved. It will be a while. I’ve gotten some reader email asking for a prequel on how the Strikers world came about. I have that history, but I think putting it out before book two will spoil it some. Look for those in the next six or seven months, if nothing else goes nuts, that is.

I’ve also got Silo 49: Roughneck coming within the next 75 days. Again, too much reader email for me to not do it. It takes us from just before they went into the silos until right after. I love, love, love this character!

And finally, a collection of my short stories from the anthologies I’ve been in, plus some new ones is scheduled for sometime soon. Is that enough? ::laughs::

Now for the random questions. Which of your books would you like to see made into a movie, and who would you want to act the main parts?

No fair! I want them all to be! Seriously, Strikers would be fun and I have a pinterest page that has a collection of photos on it. Go look and tell me…hot or not? Yes or no? Send me pins of your ideas for who they should be. http://www.pinterest.com/annchristy792 For Jovan…I’m thinking JD Pardo. Anyone agree?

Actually, the one I think would be the best TV series would be Silo 49. It would be too many movies. And a story that is coming out in my collection called, Life/Time, is probably my choice for a movie. I can’t even think of who the characters would be yet. Maybe Liam Neeson for Darren.

If you could star in a movie, what kind of movie would it be and why?

Jeepers! Probably sexy older woman up to no good. Because yeah, that’s not me so I’d have to play that on TV.

Thank you so much, Ann, for being a part of the BOD author spotlight!

Thank you! I really look forward to seeing some of the other author’s get their turn under the ax…er..spotlight. And it would be great to see some of readers as well. Happy Reading All!

ABOUT ANN CHRISTY

Website  |  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Pinterest  |  Goodreads

Ann Christy is a navy commander by day and a secret science fiction writer at night. She lives by the sea under the benevolent rule of her canine overlords and assorted unruly family members.

Post by Angie Taylor

One of the great things about being a member of BOD is that authors and fans get to interact and share together in their love for all things dystopian. 

We have so many wonderful authors on BOD. It is my great pleasure to introduce, for those who don’t know her, and for those who do, to become more acquainted with her, one of our author members: Casey Hays! Welcome, and thank you for being a part of BOD’s author interviews. 

Thank you! I was really excited when I saw you were going to be interviewing authors. I had to jump at the chance to talk with the wonderful Angie Taylor!

Well, thank you. It’s my pleasure. Now, Casey, tell us a little about yourself. How long have you been a writer? When did you first know you wanted to write books? What kind of stories do you like to write?

I’ve been writing since I was a little girl, probably around age 8 or 9. When I was 11, my mom bought me a journal, and instead of using it for its intended purpose, I wrote my first novel, with illustrations. It was long and boring about a girl going through the wiles of life from her first kiss to her death. Not very creative and not a bit interesting! I’ve since learned what I want as a reader, and thus, what many readers want from me as a writer. The first inclination that I was going to become a writer was during my stint as an English Composition and Literature teacher. During the 2006-07 school year, a little genre called YA cropped its head and soared in popularity with the Twilight books shoving the door wide open. And suddenly, I thought to myself, “I could do that! I could write books for teens!” And so…I wrote my first YA Supernatural Romance, The Cadence. And voila! I was suddenly a writer.

I’ll read lots of genres, but I love writing YA. I love adding in a bit of the supernatural in every book, too, including my dystopian series. I like exploring the ideas of super-human abilities. I like creating characters who have an extra flare, and so I will always include a few in my stories. Sometimes, they’re only background characters or sidekicks; other times I have a main character with the ability to feel someone’s emotions by simply touching them, or some other such anomaly. It’s fun to create these people who can do things I can’t. I also enjoy sculpting a strong female lead who can take care of herself and stand on her own but who still contains a softness about her that attracts a leading male. I always like there to be a hint of vulnerability in my characters because in the end, that’s what makes all of us human. I like to pair a healthy balance of stubborn feminism with a dose of submissiveness. I want to show my younger female audience especially that you can be instilled with both qualities and be that much better for it.

So fun! I love that you started so young! Why don’t you tell us about your latest book, Breeder. 

Breeder, is the first novel in the Arrow’s Flight Series, and my favorite of all my books so far. It’s the story of Kate, a sixteen year old girl living in a primitive village after the Fall destroyed the Earth and left her village the only one standing. She is assigned to become a breeder early in the novel, and her story unfolds from there. She’s a rebel, and she finds herself in a world of trouble when she refuses to follow the rules. It was a fun journey.

How do you think the characters of Breeder relate, or don’t relate, to readers? 

I’d love to talk about all my characters, but I’ll stick to my main characters here:

Kate is a strong girl with a stubborn will, coupled with a sincere empathy for the hurting. I think a lot of women could relate to her. She has a moral compass that causes her to stand up for what she believes is right rather than comply with the village mandates. And this even at the risk of severe punishment for disobeying the rules. She’s compassionate . . . and selfish. Hard-nosed . . . and tender. Again, something many people find within. Trying to do good, but evil’s right up there alongside it. Kate struggles with this in her own life.

Ian is a young, scared boy who has his issues. But he also has no clue what’s just become of his life when he awakens in the breeding Pit. He’s a typical teen, with mood swings and a bad attitude, but so loveable at the same time. He’s very immature in the beginning of the first novel, and purposely so. Because by the end, he has begun to mature. And in the sequel, he evolves into a confident, well-rounded character who lets his fears motivate him instead of control him.

As for Mona, the harsh, unbending village leader, I’m hoping very few people relate to her . . . but there could be a few out there, I suppose.

Let’s hope not. Mona is the villain you love to hate. What do you want readers to take away, or to think about as a result of reading Breeder? 

I hope that readers see the moral backdrop. I hope they see that Kate’s decisions are based on her desire to maintain a sense of dignity in a place where such things no longer seem to exist. I’d like readers to recognize that she stands up against injustice even when she’s standing all by herself for most of the novel. To understand Kate’s sense of freedom and her desire to have a say about her life. To see that she questions the human condition, and that we as readers should do the same. And lastly, that anyone can be a survivor, but it takes something much deeper to be an overcomer. This is my ultimate plan for Kate and Ian by the end of the series.

What can you tell us about the sequel, The Archer? 

My editors and I are finishing the last set of revisions before the big release! And I love the continuation of Kate’s story! It’s very scary to write a sequel. I know that readers will be looking for a certain standard in the second book, and I worked very hard to recapture my characters and maintain the same voice. I think I achieved it. And although this book is very different from Breeder in the sense that things have drastically changed for Kate, and a whole new adventure awaits her, she’s still Kate. She’s the same strong girl we left in Breeder, but very much out of her element. I can’t really say too much without giving away things for readers who haven’t read Breeder yet, so I’ll leave it at that.

When are we going to be able to read it? 

My plan is October, but this all depends on the cover art, which is being sketched by my sixteen-year-old procrastinating son, haha! He promises to have it ready, and in the end, he usually doesn’t disappoint. We shall see…

We’ll keep our fingers crossed that it’s sooner than later. Now for some random fun facts about you. If you could be any literary character, who would it be and why? 

I suppose I might want to be Hadassah from the Mark of the Lion Series by Francine Rivers. I have never seen anyone go through so much and still be so faithful to God. I would like to be that kind of person when the time comes. And there has never been anyone loved the way she was loved by her man. Wow! Talk about a tearjerker! I highly recommend the books.

I’ll have to add them to my TBR list. Okay, one last question. What is the first book you read that made you love reading? 

The first books I remember reading were the Little House on the Prairie series. I loved them, and they made me want to read everything afterwards.

Spoken like a true bookaholic. Now Casey, you have a chance to ask fellow BOD members a question. Their answers, in the comments below, will be one of the entries for the Rafflecopter drawing for a free signed hard copy of Breeder. 
Oh, fun! Okay. If someone wrote a book about you, what would be the title and why?

You heard her fellow BOD members, give us your answers below. Be sure to check out Casey’s books, and keep in mind, The Archer, the sequel to Breeder, comes out this October!

Thank you so much, Casey, for sharing your awesome time and talents with us! 

Casey’s Links: Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Website
Breeder Links:  Amazon  |  B & N  |  Goodreads

Post by Cheer Papworth

Hi Katie, thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview for all your fans, myself included. It has been truly wonderful to be able to interact with you on the Band of Dystopian Authors and Fans group page.

Thanks so much for having me here. I feel honored! I absolutely love the group Band of Dystopian. It’s a great place to pop in and hang out. You guys run the best contests and those “would you rather” questions… Love them! I try to make it a point to pop over at least once a day to see what fun you guys are having.

When did you discover that you enjoyed writing, and when did you realize that you wanted to make it a career?

Writing is in my blood. I’ve been doing it since I was just a little girl. Of course the stories I wrote back then were sweet and innocent, not the gritty fiction I write today. I was always jotting down craziness in my journals. One of these days I’ll find them. I know they are packed somewhere in my garage. By the time I hit middle school I was typing out my first novel on my old Apple IIc computer. I miss that old box with the green screen. Sadly though, that manuscript was lost when we moved cross country. Those floppy disks were pretty breakable… But, that didn’t stop me completely. It would be almost ten years before I wrote another full-length manuscript, but I did. The start of my Immortalis series was the next major work, and what propelled me into indie publishing.

As a busy mother of three, how do you find the time to write? Do you use anything to sustain you during the writing process? Caffeine? Music? Chocolate?

Caffeine… lots and lots of caffeine. Seriously, I should probably be dead of a heart attack with as much of the pepper-upper potion as I drink. With three kids (two still in diapers) sleep is something of a treat. The Littles, as I call them, are morning people. My older one knows the value of a good morning’s rest. She’ll sleep ‘til noon if you let her. Good girl! But the babies, nope. They are up with the sun. And that means I am too. And writing, ha! None of that gets done until the house is quiet. Other authors will back me up on this. You need a certain kind of quiet to write. That doesn’t mean silence. It’s more of a white noise or a mood noise effect. The right music works, or maybe reruns of a tv show you know by heart. But nothing jarring. No kids hammering you with requests. No husband bothering you. To write you need to hear only your muse. So, with that said, I only have that kind of quiet after the house is sleeping. Which makes for a lot of late nights and a mom-zombie every morning. And that is where the caffeine comes in. I drink it damn near all day in whatever form I can find.

Besides dystopia, what other genres do you write? Is there a genre that you would like to cut your writing teeth on in the future? 

I dipped my toes into the Dystopian genre with the Chronicles of the Uprising, but I do have works out in a variety of genres already. I have a pen name which handles Paranormal Romance. I am in the process of moving my erotica titles to a new pen name as well. And then there is my other love, Urban Fantasy! That’s what I cut my teeth on. My Immortalis series is a gritty Urban Fantasy set in modern day Las Vegas and Boston. My writing tends to lean towards realism rather than fantastical, however, I would love to attempt an Epic Fantasy one day. Those are such difficult books to do because of all the tiny world-building details involved. I think it would be pretty labor intensive, but rewarding.

I love a fierce female protagonist and Mira, the enslaved gladiator vampire, certainly fits the bill. She is a bit of a realist and has an outlook that isn’t very cheery. In Revolution, Mira said, “Positivity doesn’t get you anything.”  Do you also subscribe to that philosophy or are you more of an optimist?

I’m certainly not as jaded as Mira, but I do tend to lean towards realism. It’s always nice to be hopeful, but to get things done, one has to work for them. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t put a little of my own self into the main character. I think all authors do to some extent. Mira, however has dealt with much more hardships than I have, so her perception is a bit exaggerated. She reacts harshly to her situation because she has not had anyone there to help her. Thirty years of bloodsport, torture, and having to destroy her own people had hardened her and colored her outlook on everything. Even when she does taste a bit of freedom, she does so cautiously because it could all come crashing down at any point, and she could end up right back where she started.

Although this series has romantic elements, I don’t see it as the main focus of the story. I love a little romance in my dystopia, but I have to ask, with the controversy swirling around love triangles, did you experience trepidation writing yet another love triangle? 

I’d considered the romantic element when writing all three parts of this trilogy. And I wanted to delve deeper into that topic, however, looking at the main character Mira, it did not fit for her to be overly emotional and fall for someone so quickly. To remain true to her character, she had to be closed off. She can barely stand to have someone touch her to comfort her, how was she supposed to choose between two men obviously vying for her attention? So, with that in mind, I allowed her to acknowledge that the men were there, and that they both had good qualities, but not build on that until real trust was formed. Remember, Mira has been tortured for her entire existence as a vampire. Love cannot blossom until there are some basic elements. Trust is one of those most important elements.

As for the love triangle, I had no worries about making it part of the story because it fit the story. When I write, I have to be true to my characters and my plot. Altering things just for the sake of some readers feels wrong to me. You are never going to please 100% of the people. But, I feel, if you are true to the story, people will see it.

The love triangle between Mira, Lucian, and Stryker definitely ends in Revolution with Mira making a choice between the two. Did you know who she would choose from the beginning of the story or did the final outcome develop as you were writing?

Mira chose the opposite person I had originally selected for her. But, again, being true to my characters, there was really only one good option for her. She went with the person she could have a real relationship with. The other is still her partner and will remain by her side, but as far as a real romantic connection, there was no question… for Mira.

The desire of the otherkin to seek revenge against humans is an important theme in Revolution.  Mira faces her nemesis, the ultimate mean girl Olivia Preston, and has the opportunity to obtain sweet revenge.  Is the character Olivia Preston based on a real person?  If so, did writing Olivia’s finale serve as a form of revenge?

Is Olivia a real person? No. Does she represent people who might need a little comeuppance? Sure! Writing is sometimes a cathartic process. It’s nice to be able to exact karma on characters who really deserve it, especially when in life you see people get away with atrocities every day and never seem to have any recompense. And, for the record… I think Olivia got exactly what was coming to her.

As a vampire, Mira has supernatural abilities including a heightened sense of sight and her blood with healing properties.  If you could have a super power or sense, what would it be and why? 

I’d take heightened sense of sight. I’m practically blind as it is, so being able to see clearly, without coke-bottle glasses would be a dream come true. LoL!

In your series Chronicles of the Uprising, there is an otherkin sanctuary hidden from humans.  Where is your sanctuary?

Sadly, I don’t have one. Unless you count the bathroom. LoL. But then, the littles find me. Mom of three kids, I’m never alone. Not that I’m complaining, it’s just the truth. No sanctuary for me for a while. But that is okay.

What can readers look forward next from you?  Do you plan of writing a fourth book this series? Do you have a current WIP? 

There is a potential for a 4th in the Chronicles, but for now the trilogy is complete. I’ve been asked if I will return to Alyssa and Lysadner in the Immortalis series, so I may have to revisit them for a 7th book. As of right now, I am finishing up a story for my Paranormal Romance pen name that is set to be part of an anthology in October. Vampire Erotic Romance entitled One Night With A Vampire.

Thanks again for having me here. Great questions!!

ABOUT KATIE SALIDAS

Katie Salidas, author of the Immortalis series (Urban Fantasy), Consummate Therapy series (Erotica), and the recently released Chronicles of the Uprising (Dystopian) is a Jill of all Trades. She’s a Super Woman endowed with special powers and abilities, beyond those of other mortals. Katie can get the munchkins off to gymnastics, cheerleading, Girl Scouts, and swim lessons; put hot food on the table, assist with homework, baths, and bedtime… And, she still finds the time to keep the hubby happy (nudge nudge wink wink). She can do all of this and still have time to write.

And if you can believe all of those lies, there is some beautiful swamp land in Florida for sale…

Katie Salidas resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mother to three, Wife to one, and slave to the craft of writing, she does try to do it all, often causing sleep deprivation and many nights passed out at the computer. Writing is her passion, and she hopes that her passion will bring you hours of entertainment.

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The stunning cover for Mirror X immediately caught my attention, but after reading the synopsis it promised even more. I knew from page one that this was my kind of book and at that moment interviewing Karri Thompson became priority one. I was thrilled when she agreed to answer my questions for this interview as I found Mirror X to be an original dystopia with a minefield of controversial subjects.  

Your new book Mirror X is an original YA Sci-Fi Dystopian novel.  Did your career as a high school English teacher influence your decision to write YA novels?  Do you find being surrounded by teen culture, as a mother of a teen and as a high school teacher, helps you stay current and up-to-date on teen language, dress, and attitudes?  Have you ever based a literary character after a student or someone you know?

Being a high-school English teacher did influence my decision to write YA. During the school year, I’m around teenagers 6 hours a day – approximately 180 of them. Yikes! But it does keep me current with teen attitudes, etc. Even so, I try to stay a bit generic when it comes to teen language and dress. The lingos and fashions change so much that I don’t want to “date” a book. For example, to kids, “sick” means crazy or cool, but it’s not used that much anymore – at least not by my students. “Oh, snap,” isn’t used anymore either. I don’t want a teen to read one of my books and think the character is totally out of it because he or she is using “archaic expressions.” Styles change so much, too. Jeans, T-shirts, and tennis shoes are always safe to use though. They are timeless when it comes to fashion.  One cool thing is that with sci-fi/dystopian, a writer can come up with their own expressions and style. In MIRROR X, tunics are worn most of the time.

I’ve never based a character on a particular student. My characters tend to be a combination of several teens. I’ll pull special things from each one and use them to develop and round out one character.

When do you find the time to write?  Do you ever allow your students to read for you as beta readers or contribute ideas to your work?

Finding the time to write is always a challenge. During the summer, it’s a bit easier, but with MIRROR X releasing just a few weeks ago, I’m still in promo mode and haven’t had a chance to work on anything else. During the school year, I really have to discipline myself by setting the goal of writing and/or editing 35-50 pages a week. I usually reach that goal.

So far, I’ve never used a student as a beta reader. Students are so busy with their own studies and sports, it’s hard to find a student who will have time to read anything extra. Just getting them to read 10 pages a night of To Kill a Mockingbird is a challenge. I do have many of them on my street team though. Many of them read MIRROR X and posted honest reviews for me. I really appreciate them for doing that.I’m still building my team, so it helps when my students join.

I read on your blog that you are a self-proclaimed “music freak.”  Do you listen to music while you write?  If so, what type of music do you listen to while writing?

I am a music freak. I don’t listen to music while I write though. It can get too distracting because the stuff I listen to is pretty hard. When I jog, I listen to music and use that time to rework plots in my head though. That’s my special “me” time. When my students ask me what type of music I listen to, I ask them what kind of music they think I listen to. OMG! They always say classical or jazz. I can only hope that’s because they think I’m intelligent and sophisticated. Lol. I actually listen to hard, alternative modern rock and classic rock. For example, I love Korn, Breaking Benjamin, Slipknot, Nickelback, Disturbed, three hourBuckcherry, etc. I’m going to see Seether next week at the Ventura County Faithree-hourdrive, but it will be worth it. I love going to concerts.

What made you decide to write a dystopian novel? Do you have a favourite dystopian author?

I’ve always been fascinated with future worlds. I read 1984 and Brave New World in high school. Both of those books totally fascinated me. As a teacher, I’ve also taught The Giver and Lord of the Flies. Iconsider Lord of the Flies a dystopian, since the society the boys create is so dysfunctional. As much as I love Suzanne Collins, I’d have to say that my favorite dystopian author is Aldous Huxley. I still can’t believe that book was written in 1931. He was a genius.

What other genres do you write or plan on writing in the future?

I’ve written two paranormal romances (Amateur Angel and Hollywood Angels), but my love is sci-fi. There are two more books in the MIRROR X series, and I’m working on a new sci-fi this summer. In the future, Iplan to continue writing sci-fi and maybe another stand-alone dystopian. The story is in my head. I just need to find the time to write it.

The cover of Mirror X is intriguing and symbolic.  Can you tell us a little bit about it?

I love the cover. My publisher came up with it although I did suggest the hour glass. The hour glass is obviously suggesting that time is running out. In terms of the grass vs. the dry, barren landscape, one is fertile and the other is not. People who’ve read the book will get that. The colors are also symbolic, representing the hope for a bright, colorful future.

Mirror X is a modern day Rip Van Winkle story with a Sci-Fi twist. Cryonics is the first controversial theme readers are introduced to in Mirror X, but it leads to a whole hornet’s nest of other hot topic subjects. If you could be cryonically “frozen” and return to life in the future, would you do it?  Why or why not?

Wow, this is a tough question. I think I would do it, but only if I knew it was actually possible to be brought back to life. For MIRROR X, I did a lot of research into this process. There is a place right now in the U.S. where people can pay to be frozen once they are legally brain dead. The problem is that when cells freeze, the integrity of the cell membrane is compromised, so people can’t survive the thawing process – at least not now in our time period. That’s why Cassie is from 2025 and not 2014. I’m not sure if this problem will be solved in 11 years, but scientists will be closer to finding a way to mend each cell or keep it from bursting in the first place. I’d love to see what the world will be like 1,000 years from now.

Besides cryonics, cloning is also an important theme in Mirror X.  What famous person already deceased would you like to see cloned and why?  If spirits or souls were cloned as well as physical bodies, what famous person would you like to see spiritually cloned in order to meet him/her?

Another hard question. There’s more than one. I’d love to see James Dean and Marilyn Monroe because they are so iconic. If souls were cloned as well, I’d pick Michael Hutchence. I had a huge crush on him when I was in high school. He was the lead singer of the band INXS. He committed suicide (although that’s still up for debate) after a drug binge. He made some terrible decisions in his life, but I’ve also read enough about him to know how creative, intelligent, and caring he was. I read an interview where he said he was reading the book Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. How cool is that? To me that says a lot about him as a person. I’d also want to see him perform with INXS or maybe he could even give me a private concert.

I found myself highlighting several memorable quotes while reading Mirror X.  Do you have a favourite quote and will you share it with us?

One of my favorite quotes is when Michael tells Cassie, “Now that you’re awakened, everything is different.” In my mind, I can so vividly imagine this scene. He is hot and sincere.  I know a lot of readers go back and forth when it comes to what they think about Michael because he has let Cassie down so many times, but he does genuinely care about her. This is a young man who never had a childhood, and as such, is easily manipulated by the team at GenH, believing that as part of “the team” he has to do as told. I forgive him for his mistakes. And don’t forget – I know what happens in book 2.

What can we look forward to in the future from you?  Do you currently have a WIP?

The second book in The Van Winkle Project series is written. Book three is outlined. I have two WIPs – a sci-fi called Enestia (that’s the name of a planet), and Ashes on the Rhine, a contemporary romance that takes place in Europe. Yeah, I know. ASHES isn’t a sci-fi, but this book is different. It is based on the trip that I took to Europe 2 years ago.

My plan is to have MIRROR X book 2 to my editor within the next two weeks, and then I’ll start writing the third. I can’t wait. Finally everything will come together.

I want to give special thanks to Karri Thompson for taking the time to answer these questions.  I appreciate her thoughtful responses, as well as her support and participation in Band of Dystopian Authors and Fans.  I wish her continued success in the future and I’m looking forward to reading more in the Mirror X Saga.  

Karri’s Links:  Facebook  |  Twitter  |  Website  |

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Mirror X 
(The Van Winkle Project, #1)

Cassie Dannacher wakes up in a hospital over 1,000 years into the future after her space capsule is retrieved from space. She soon learns that 600 years prior to her arrival, the earth was struck by a plague, killing over half of the world’s population. Naïve and desperate, Cassie, who longs for home and is having trouble adjusting to the new, dictatorial 31st-century government, is comforted by Michael Bennett, the 20-year old lead geneticist at the hospital where she was revived.

But why is Cassie in genetics’ hospital in the first place, and why do several of the people around her seem so familiar, including Travel Carson, the hot and edgy boy she is fated to meet? Soon she discovers there is a sinister answer to all of her questions – and that they want something from Cassie that only she can give.

“A highly original and thought-provoking dystopian novel.
I don’t think I’ve ever read anything like it!”
Luisa Plaja, Chicklish, the UK’s Teen Fiction Site

Do you have any strange or habitual writing habits, such as listening to a certain type of music?

I prefer to write in a quiet environment actually, without music playing. I write straight to my laptop on the dining room table, surrounded by my kids’ clutter.

What were you like as a child? Did you have a favorite toy or game, and was it gender specific? Did you have childhood experiences that you could draw from while writing XY?

Good question! I played with lots of different toys. I had Sindy dolls but I also had Action Men. Clothes-wise, I was quite a tomboy. I had very long hair but I refused to wear dresses; it was jeans all the way. When I was a child, toys weren’t marketed in such gender specific ways as they are today. Now, when I walk into a toy shop with my children, I am horrified at the gender stereotyping, particularly all the pink princess things aimed at girls. I have two sons but I think I would find it quite a challenge to raise a girl in today’s society.

What were the psychological and social challenges you faced as a writer in dealing with the controversy surrounding gender reassignment surgery?

I didn’t really think about it in that way – I just wrote Jesse’s story. Writing XY was no different to writing my other novels – I always start with a character in crisis and follow the journey until the story is told. I carried out a fair bit of research into intersex conditions and sex assignment/gender assignment for XY to help me understand some of the sensitivities involved. But ultimately the story is fiction and set in an alternative reality, where 91% of humans are born with indeterminate biological sex. It’s a very different situation to real life, so I felt there was a certain amount of freedom.

I noticed from your bio that you once worked at a teen sexual health hotline. Did any real life experiences, work related or otherwise, influence the theme of gender identity in your book?

The intersex aspect didn’t come from my experience on the teen sexual health helpline. But talking to teenagers every day for three years probably influenced my writing in terms of creating an authentic teen voice and understanding the issues that teens face. Jesse is like any other teenager, grappling with identity and self-esteem, trying to find herself.

Is there one subject you would never write about as an author? What is it?

I don’t think any subject is off limits if it is handled in the right way. I don’t shy away from controversial subject matter but I do try to handle it in a complex and sensitive way.

Is there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or as an adult?

I have been influenced by a great many authors and books. In fact, I have probably been influenced in some way by just about every book that I read. As a teenager at school, there was a huge distinction between the books you had to read and the books you wanted to read. The first time the two coincided for me was To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, which we studied for our GCSE English Literature exam. I was right there with Scout and the whole character cast. It is such a thought provoking, engaging book – a real ‘must read.’ That was the first time a book I read at school touched me. Other than that, it was the Judy Blume books that were doing the rounds at our school. We thought Forever was so illicit!

If you could cast your characters in the Hollywood adaptation of your book, who would play your characters?

Ooh, it would have to be Cara Delevingne as Jesse. I know she’s not a teenager but it wouldn’t be like casting Sissy Spacek in Carrie, is it? Who would play Ork? Hmm, it’s a tricky one. Maybe Jake T. Austin because he’s very pretty. Then I would have some unknown actors, new faces breaking onto the Hollywood scene… If only, eh?

What are you working on now? What is your next project?

I am currently completing the sequel to XY.

Shanta Everington is the author of seven books, including three young adult novels – Give Me a Sign, Boy Red and latest release XY (joint winner of the Red Telephone Books YA Novel Competition). She has had all sorts of jobs in the past, from baking vegan muffins and working as a private tutor to appearing as a guest agony aunt and running a teen sexual health helpline. With an MA in Creative Writing with distinction, Shanta currently teaches Creative Writing with The Open University. She lives in London, UK, with her husband and two children.

Shanta’s Links: Website  |  Twitter  |  Facebook  |  Goodreads

XY on Amazon.com

XY on Amazon.co.uk

Images included at the author’s request. Image credits are as follows.
Boy in skirt  – photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography https://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/
Girl in suit – photo credit https://www.flickr.com/photos/bigmikeyeah/