Christine Amsden's Blog: Christine Amsden Author Blog, page 54
April 20, 2011
Interview with Darby Karchut, Author of Griffin Rising
I recently had the chance to chat with Darby Karchut, author of Griffin Rising, which came out as an eBook April 15. (check out my review) Here's what she had to say:
Christine: Do you believe there are angels among us?
Darby: Certainly. In, fact, some of them live right next door. They have a rather odd schedule, but they are the nicest people you'll ever meet. My dog would have been insanely crazy about them.
Christine: Are you a dog lover? What kind of dog do you have?
Darby: Not any more. I love all animals, but right now there's just my cat, Heisenberg (who is uncertain about everything).
Christine: In the movie version of your book, who would you cast as Griffin? Basil? Katie?
Darby: Rats, I was hoping you weren't going to ask me that. I have no idea who should play Griffin or Katie, but I totally could see Liam Neeson as Basil.
Christine: Just keeping you on your toes! How about this, instead: Would you want this made into a movie, or do you think too much would get lost in translation?
Darby: Good question, Christine. I guess it depends on who directs it. I mean, Peter Jackson managed to pull off The Lord of the Rings, a film that I was convinced could NEVER make it as a movie. And Griffin Rising is so much smaller in scope, so it could easily go to screen.
Christine: Which character was the most fun to write and why?
Darby: That would be a toss up between Griffin and Basil. Griffin was a hoot to write because one moment he's this superhero good guy and then in the next scene, he's a snarky sixteen-year-old. One moment, he is wise beyond his years, and the next, he's still a troubled kid with a lot of issues. But Basil was probably my favorite. He is the perfect blend of warrior and dad, and has a delightful British accent. I think I have a crush on him.
Christine: Any chance of a romance for Basil in the future? Or would that be too big a spoiler?
Darby: Romance? But, of course! Why, Basil is just as human as the next guy.
Oh. Wait. On second thought: no, he's not.
However, right now, he's focused on getting Griffin through his apprenticeship and protecting mortals – he's got his hands full, to be sure.
Christine: Which character was the most difficult to write?
Darby: Surprisingly, it was Katie. Girls are harder for me to write, for some reason. I really have no idea why.
Christine: You're not the first female writer I have heard say so, but if it helps, I thought you did just fine.
Darby: Thanks, Christine!
Christine: What's your favorite book?
Darby: The Lord of the Rings and The Mortal Instruments series.
Christine: What made you decide to write young adult fantasy?
Darby: I didn't. The genre picked me. Which was good since it's the only thing I can write. Must be my refusal to grow up.
Christine: Without giving anything away, what lessons do you want people to take away from your book? Did you write it with a moral in mind, or did that come later?
Darby: Not so much a moral as a desire to profess my belief that a person (mortal or supernatural) need not be defined by their past. And that every hero-figure needs a father-figure. Once in awhile.
Christine: What are you working on now?
Darby: The next book in the series, Griffin's Fire, is with the editor now. I am currently working on the first draft of Book Three as well as a parallel series based on Irish mythology.
Christine: Good, because you really left me hanging there at the end! Will book three conclude the story?
Darby: You know, Christine, I've always envisioned Griffin's story as a four book arc. For some reason, each book seems to be tied metaphorically with each of the four elements. For example, Griffin Rising is Earth (and the cover artist, Ardy M. Scott, nailed it with the rich brown and gold tones). Book Two, Griffin's Fire, will naturally be Fire, Book Three will be Water, and Book Four will be Wind.
Christine: Is there anything else I should have asked?
Darby: Just don't ask me the time. My watch battery is dead.
Christine: Is there anything you wish I hadn't asked?
Darby: Well, the whole movie thing. I guess I'll have to ask my fans about that one! LOL!
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April 19, 2011
Virtual Book Tour Starts Today!
The first stop in my virtual book tour is Book Him Danno!. Today, you can read a new review of The Immortality Virus, and tomorrow there will be an interview and GIVEAWAY of The Immortality Virus (ebook).
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Book Review: Griffin Rising
Have you ever wondered if there are angels among us? Guardian angels, who help us during all those times we get into trouble? If it seems like a miracle that you survived a bad car accident, maybe it was.
And what if one of those angels looked like a sixteen-year-old boy and lived across the street?
Griffin is an apprentice angel, still hoping to earn his wings (figuratively speaking – this type of angel does not have actual wings). His gifts are fire and earth, and his curse is a mentor named Nicopolis. For three years, he suffered gross abuse at the hands of an angel who has the same free will as humans, and uses it badly. By the end of those three years, he is a failure, unable to use his gifts properly, and afraid of his own shadow. Nicopolis wants him cast among the mortals, but Basil steps in to give Griffin the guidance he needs.
This is a love story, partly about the love between a young person and his father figure, and partly about the more traditional love between Griffin and the girl across the street.
Griffin is a character you can't help but like, even when he has his normal teenage mood swings. He quite simply cares too much, and is willing to put himself at risk to ensure that others are safe. All this, despite being so badly mistreated early in life.
My only reservation about this book was the first-person journal entires from three different characters' points of view. I think this is the reason I found the first half of the book a bit slow to read — but I couldn't put the second half down!
This is the first book in a series, and so I'll say this much about the ending – it left me hanging! I have to know more.
I recommend this to those who loves young adult fantasy.
Rating 4/5 stars
Title: Griffin Rising
Author: Darby Karchut
Publisher: Twilight Times Books
ISBN: 978-1-60619-210-8
Genre: Fantasy
Format: trade paperback/ebook
Trade paperback release date: June 15, 2011
But it now as an Amazon.com Kindle
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April 18, 2011
And the Winner Is…
The winner of the Touch of Fate book giveaway is Judy Cox, who was of the opinion that in the year 2450, we would stop hating one another, try to do good things, and the government would recognize the need for equality for all people.
I want to thank everyone who entered my contest, or who just visited my website over the weekend. For those of you who are still interested in reading Touch of Fate, Amazon.com still has the kindle for $0.99 — I honsetly have no idea how long that will last.
And though all of you made it difficult to pick and choose, here are a few of my favorite predictions of what the world will be like in 2450:
"Hopefully by then we'll have figured out a way to live sustainably!" — Melissa (I hope we figure it out a lot sooner than 2450!)
"think that by 2450, at least one compatible, habitable planet will have been discovered and a colony ship will be on its way if not already landed and settling in." — GoodyScrivener (And may I add that I volunteer?)
"What I do hope is that one day everyone is going to be treated equally no more gender/love/racial lines drawn in the sand." — Drea Becraft (This seems to be a popular sentiment. My heart hopes right along with you, although my brain wonders if there won't always be some new way to divide humans into groups.)
"I would think that there would be robots to do housework." — June M. (You should meet my robots — Chase, our vacuum cleaner, is a cute little Roomba that bounces off the walls as it cleans. Max, our lawn mower, is a Robomower RL1000 who uses a buried wire to find the edge of our lawn. I want a robot to clean the bathroom, but my husband, who's really into robotics, thinks it would be exceptionally difficult to design. Ah well.)
"I think everything will be just like the Jetsons!!!" — mommy_to_7 (I'll take Rosie!)
I very much hope some of the more dire predictions don't come true, but of course, my own imagination took me to the dystopian world I present in The Immortality Virus.
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April 16, 2011
Great New Ebooks by Twilight Times
You probably know by now that my new science fiction novel, The Immortality Virus, is available as an eBook, but you may not know about some other great titles newly available through Twilight Times Books. I managed to get an interview with both of these authors, and will be posting those in the next few days:
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Abithica by Susan Goldsmith:
(You can read my review here.)
What if you knew you were about to be torn from your body and replaced by an imposter in a seamless switch forever separating you and the one you love? Would you do whatever it took to stay? Even if YOU happened to be the imposter?
Abithica must borrow all that she is from others: names, lives, even bodies, but only for periods of time she cannot control. When she switches into the troubled life of Sydney Turner she breaks the one rule that has sustained her—never get attached—and learns the pain of loving and being loved in return. Lane Riley has no idea he's fallen for Abithica, wearing Sydney Turner's body, or that he's asked the impossible when he suggests marriage. Desperate to stay with him, Abithica struggles to uncover the mystery of what she is, only to learn she's a pawn in the eternal battle over souls, and worse, she's more than likely one of the "bad guys." What will happen if she refuses to leave the body she's inhabited?
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Griffin Rising by Darby Karchut
(My review is coming this week.)
Armed with the power to control the ancient elements of Earth and Fire, sixteen year old Griffin is determined to complete his apprenticeship and rise to the rank of Terra Angeli.
But first, he must overcome a brutal past if he is to survive in this world. Will the perseverance of his mentor and the love of a mortal girl give Griffin the strength he needs to triumph?
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The Immortality Virus available through amazon, B&N
The Immortality Virus is now available as an EBOOK through Amazon.com's kindle store and through Barnes and Noble (nookbook). The official print release is still in June, but we made a last-minute decision to get the eBook out there sooner. And right now, both places have it 50% off. (I don't know how long that will last.)
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-...
http://www.amazon.com/The-Immortality...
April 14, 2011
Touch of Fate Book Giveaway
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Amazon.com has marked down the Touch of Fate kindle to $0.99 for a limited time only. — buy now!
"Marianne knows the future can't be changed, but sometimes even a lifetime of experience can't keep her from wanting to try. Sometimes, it's too personal. With the shadow of a killer looming over her, Marianne is running out of time to learn the truth — about herself, about her power, and about the murderer."
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When the cost of eternal youth grows too high, will we give up our chance at immortality?
The Immortality Virus
Available in Trade Paperback June 15, 2011
Buy Now – epub, html, pdf, mobi
Pre-order now through Barnes and Noble
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For your chance to win a signed copy of Touch of Fate, simply post a comment with your prediction, in 50 words or less, of what the world (or some small aspect of it) will be like in the year 2450. Have fun with this! It won't be graded, but I will post my favorites on Monday, when I announce the winner.
You must live in the U.S. or Canada to win. Contest will run April 15, 2011 at 12:01 a.m. through April 17, 2011 at 11:59 p.m.. Winner will be chosen at random and contacted by e-mail on April 18. The winner will have 48 hours to respond to the e-mail, or another winner will be selected.
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Book Review: The Darkest Powers
The Summoning, The Awakening, and The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong make up the Darkest Powers trilogy, a young adult fantasy series about a fifteen-year-old girl who sees ghosts — or perhaps, she's schizophrenic — at first, she isn't sure.
Read together, these three books tell a complete story of a group of teenagers trying to escape from the adults who were supposed to care about them. Each has a special ability, but each is given a mental health diagnosis to explain the ability away.
I greatly enjoyed the characters in this series, beginning with Chloe, who is also the first-person narrator. She is a determined girl, just coming into womanhood, with a certain vulnerability that makes her feel real. Each of the others — Liz, Victoria, Derek, Simon — adds to the group dynamic.
One of the things I really liked about this story was that it fit very well into the young adult category. I wouldn't have towked with adults. It couldn't have. This fact added to what I would call a genuine teen sensibility. There was no talking down, no holding back. This was a book for teens about teens, and because of that fact, I found it enjoyable as an adult as well.
I did have a few believability issues when the answers started coming in books 2 and 3, but even then I enjoyed the ride and the adventure.
I also liked the minor romantic subplot, although I didn't see a need for it to be a triangle. It took time away from everything else that was happening (and there was a lot happening), and the romance was generally too minor a plot to need to be thickened in that way. It made me feel like, in the wake of Twilight, everything has to be a triangle now, but it rarely works.
I do recommend this book to anyone who enjoys YA fantasy.
4/5
Title: The Summoning, The Awakening, and The Reckoning
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Genre: YA Fantasy
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April 13, 2011
Touch of Fate $0.99
My debut novel, Touch of Fate, has gone on sale through amazon's kindle store: for a limited time, it's just $0.99!
"Marianne knows the future can't be changed, but sometimes even a lifetime of experience can't keep her from wanting to try. Sometimes, it's too personal. With the shadow of a killer looming over her, Marianne is running out of time to learn the truth — about herself, about her power, and about the murderer."
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New Cover Art
For those of you who have been following my posts, you know that a couple of weeks ago, my publisher and I decided to tweak the cover art for The Immortality Virus. This came after we received some negative feedback, especially about the size of the breasts on the second character. I agreed with the sentiment, but not being a visual artist, had kind of left most of the details to the artist, who I thought generally captured the scene (straight from the book) fairly well. Well, the new version is in, and I am much happier with it. Not only is that second character a bit more reasonably proportioned, but the way she's falling looks more believable, and I like the look on her face better. I also like the lighting in the new version, particularly how the phasor casts a blue glow, brightening the scene. So, here it is:
And, for the sake of comparison, here is the old cover art, also the cover art on the ARCs:
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