Authors are Rockstars! Guest Post + Giveaway with Megan Shepherd

 

 Hi guys,I know it's been awhile since I've last done a blog post,and unfortunately,it's going to continue that way until next May/June,when I'm finally done with my O'levels.But anyway,I'm really excited to be a part of the 2nd Annual Authors Are Rockstars tour.Full schedule of the tour can be found HERE so be sure to check out the other blogs participating as well! And without further ado,I'm glad to present my tour stop with Megan Shepherd,author of The Madman's Daughter!!!

Now on to the big question.Why did I choose her as a rockstar author?!!You see,I got the opportunity to read and review an ARC of her debut The Madman's Daughter right before its release last winter thanks to some awesome folks at HarperCollins.And I absolutely fell in love with it.This book gave me the courage to pick up more YA historical fictions which I seldom did before as they rarely aligned with my tastes.Not only that,reading The Madman's Daughter gave me this huge surge of adrenaline,the kind you get when listening to your favourite or any good rockband for that matter.So she definitely fits into the rockstar criteria. ;) 

She even did this post on Great Gothic Classics for today,a bit similar to the premise of her book,which makes her all the more awesome!Check it out below:

One of my favorite parts of being a writer is getting to read other books as legitimate “work.” Since my first series, THE MADMAN’S DAUGHTER, are Gothic thrillers, this meant brushing up on one of my favorite genres: Gothic classics. I adore all the dramatic and creepy elements of these novels: tortured romance, secrets in the attic, lightning crashing, windswept moors. Gothic books are such a wonderful blend of beautiful writing, melodramatic plots, tortured characters, and there’s usually a few brilliant twists. Here are some of my favorite iconic Gothic classics.

The works of Edgar Allan Poe

There really are too many too chose a favorite. The Cask of Amontillado, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Masque of the Red Death, The Tell-Tale Heart… Poe was a master of horror, science fiction, and satire. One of the first authors to truly explore death and its various manifestations as literary fiction, his works have been giving readers nightmares for generations.
 

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, Oscar Wilde

I love almost every Oscar Wilde quote I come across, and it’s a shame he only wrote one novel. Luckily, it’s a brilliant one. In the book, a beautiful young man named Dorian Gray sells his soul so that his portrait will age instead of himself, thus giving him eternal youth. This hedonistic freedom leads to a sinful life, which manifests on the portrait. It’s a creepy story of the supernatural as a metaphor for our own split natures and how we can never escape ourselves.

FRANKENSTEIN, by Mary Shelley

Even more than the book itself, I love the story behind how Mary Shelley came up with this idea. One night, she and her husband Percy Shelley, along with Lord Byron, were sitting around an old manor daring each other to tell stories. At the time, galvanism (experimentation on dead flesh) was a flashy new sort of science, and Mary twisted this idea into the story of obsessed Dr. Victor Frankenstein and his tortured monster. There are so many different versions of this story in books and movies, but I highly recommend reading the original. 

WUTHERING HEIGHTS, Emily Bronte

Along with her sister Charlotte, who wrote JANE EYRE, the Bronte sisters are known for starting the feminist Gothic genre. WUTHERING HEIGHTS is the story of a doomed love affair between beautiful Catherine and the brooding Heathcliffe, set on the windswept English moors, and should be required reading for anyone who loves tortured romance and family secrets.

Thanks for the lovely post,Megan!And now,on to the giveaway.Now I'm going to make this a super long one as I won't be active in the blogging world for a while.Also,this one will be an international giveaway,with two winners.One will get an ARC and the other will get a finished international edition paperback of The Madman's Daughter.Before that,here's a bit on The Madman's Daughter itself and you'll find a rafflecopter widget for the giveaway at the end of the blurb.

The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd

Publication date: January 29th 2013 by Balzer + Bray


Links: MyReview / Personal Guest Post With Author

Blurb:  
  
In the darkest places, even love is deadly.

Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father's gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.

Accompanied by her father's handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father's madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island's inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father's dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it's too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father's genius—and madness—in her own blood.

Inspired by H. G. Wells's classic The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Madman's Daughter is a dark and breathless Gothic thriller about the secrets we'll do anything to know and the truths we'll go to any lengths to protect.

 
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Blog Tour: Chantress Guest Post by Amy Butler Greenfield + Giveaway!!

 

 **P.S this post was supposed to go up on Saturday but blogger failed me yet again with its poor abilities in putting up scheduled posts on time so here it is, a day later. :( **

Hi guys!I am so excited to be a part of the Chantress blog tour,hosted by Shane@ItchingForBooks.

For my stop I've got an awesome guest post from the author on worldbuilding and of course,a giveaway as well.You can check out the rest of the tour stops here.

 

About Chantress :

Lucy’s Chantress magic will make her the most powerful — and most hunted — girl in England.

“Sing, and the darkness will find you.” This warning has haunted fifteen-year-old Lucy ever since she was eight and shipwrecked on a lonely island. Lucy’s guardian, Norrie, has lots of rules, but the most important is that Lucy must never sing. Not ever. Now it is 1667, Lucy is fifteen, and on All Hallows’ Eve, Lucy hears a tantalizing melody on the wind. She can’t help but sing — and she is swept into darkness.

When she awakes in England, Lucy hears powerful men discussing Chantresses — women who can sing magic into the world. They are hunting her, but she escapes and finds sanctuary with the Invisible College, an organization plotting to overthrow the nefarious Lord Protector. The only person powerful enough to bring about his downfall is a Chantress. And Lucy is the last one in England.

Lucy struggles to master the song-spells and harness her power, but the Lord Protector is moving quickly. And her feelings for Nat, an Invisible College apprentice and scientist who deeply distrusts her magic, only add to her confusion…

Time is running out, and the fate of England hangs in the balance in this entrancing novel that is atmospheric and lyrical, dangerous and romantic.

Release date: May 7th 2013

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Purchase: Amazon

 

About the author :

 

Amy Butler Greenfield was a grad student in history when she gave into temptation and became a writer. Since then, she has become an award-winning author. 
Born in Philadelphia, Amy grew up in the Adirondack Mountains and later studied history at Williams College, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Oxford. She now lives with her family in England, where she writes, bakes double-dark-chocolate cake, and plots mischief.

Official links: www.amybutlergreenfield.com | twitter.com/ab_greenfield

Book Trailer :

 

Amy's world building guest post :

 

Chantress is the story of a girl who sings magic in a world that forbids it—and finds herself in the middle of a life-and-death struggle for the future of her country.  Its setting is an unusual one, based on a time and place that stole my heart long ago: London in the 1600s.

 

The London part is easily understood.  After all, I’m far from the first to fall for that ancient and endlessly fascinating city.  But why the 1600s?  Compared with the popular Tudor and Victorian periods, the seventeenth century languishes, almost a forgotten era in fiction.

 

And yet it’s one of the most gloriously intriguing centuries ever.

 

Mind you, I didn’t always see it that way.  For a long time, the 1600s just meant Pilgrims and Puritans to me—worthy but not hugely engaging.  But the century came alive for me when I read The Witch of Blackbird Pond, set in Connecticut in the 1680s  How could I not be interested in a time and place that had witch hunts and seafaring and spirited, rule-breaking girls? 

 

It was only when I came to study history in England, however, that I really fell in love with the 1600s.  What an extraordinary—and dangerous—time to be alive!  Terrorists almost blew up Parliament and the King.  Civil War raged.  The first coffeehouses were springing up, and chocolate and tea were brand new.  Alchemists abounded.  Scientists were working out the mysteries of the universe.  And the women—oh, the women!  They were spies and playwrights and actresses and artists and travelers.  They had nerves of steel.  They were women of wit and laughter and fire.

 

Chantress’s London is based on this world. It’s a London of twisty streets and half-timbered houses and secret passageways beneath great mansions.  Just like the real 1660s London, it has clockmakers, apothecaries, engravers, street criers, alley brats, and dapper aristocrats. 

 

Some of the great landmarks of London are there, too, including the River Thames and the Tower of London and its ravens.

But there is one truly vital distinction between this London and the real one:  In Chantress, there is magic. 

 

In Chantress’s world, the King and his Court really are blown up—and a cruel Protector uses magic to seize control of England.  Using terrifying creatures called the Shadowgrims, he holds the kingdom hostage.  He destroys all magic-workers who might have a chance of defeating him, except one—a girl who’s been hidden out of his reach.  A girl who doesn’t even know she’s a Chantress… until she sings.

 

If you read Chantress, it’s my wish that you’ll slip as easily into this world as I did.  I’d love to have you experience the danger and romance and mystery of its streets—to shiver when the fog rolls in, to feel a surge of fear when a Shadowgrim draws close.  And when the book ends, I’m hoping a small piece of seventeenth-century London might just have a hold on your heart, too.

  

GiVeaWaY!!

Every tour stop on the Chantress blog tour comes with a giveaway!!!And mine's no different.Use the rafflecopter below to enter.

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An Insight Of The Characters' World: Guest Post + Giveaway by Liesl Shurtliff

This is a feature where I ask authors to do a guest post discussing about the world building of their books and share their experiences in creating the world for their characters.For more information on this feature,click HERE.

Today,Liesl Shurtliff stops by at Daydreaming Bookworm to discuss about the world building of her MG debut,Rump,which is a retelling of  Rumpelstiltskin.Thanks so much for stopping by,Liesl! :)

ABOUT RUMP:

In a magical kingdom where your name is your destiny, 12-year-old Rump is the butt of everyone's joke. But when he finds an old spinning wheel, his luck seems to change. Rump discovers he has a gift for spinning straw into gold. His best friend, Red Riding Hood, warns him that magic is dangerous, and she’s right. With each thread he spins, he weaves himself deeper into a curse.

To break the spell, Rump must go on a perilous quest, fighting off pixies, trolls, poison apples, and a wickedly foolish queen. The odds are against him, but with courage and friendship—and a cheeky sense of humor—he just might triumph in the end.






ABOUT LIESL:

Liesl Shurtliff was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, with the mountains for her playground. Just like Rump, Liesl was shy about her name, growing up. Not only did it rhyme with weasel, she could never find it on any of those personalized key chains in gift shops. But over the years she’s grown to love having an unusual name—and today she wouldn’t change it for the world!
Before she became a writer, Liesl graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in music, dance, and theater. She now lives in Chicago with her husband and three young children, where she still dreams of the mountains. Rump is her first novel.

  



LINKS:

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Liesl's Guest Post:

An Insight of the Characters' World:

RUMP: THE TRUE STORY OF RUMPELSTILTSKIN by Liesl Shurtliff

When I started to write a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, I decided I wanted to stick pretty closely to all the major events of the original tale, the unique shift being in the point-of-view character. My Rumpelstiltskin was going to be a loveable hero, so how could I explain all the strange and horrible things he does in the original tale? The world of Rump plays and intricate and vital role in accomplishing this seemingly impossible task.   

Names

From what I recall, my very first idea for this story was that names would be at the center of Rump’s world. That made total sense to me. In the original Grimm’s tale of Rumpelstiltskin, it is his name that is the key in the end, though we don’t know exactly why or how. Some folklorists believe that Rumpelstiltskin was a demon that wanted the baby to feed upon, and discovering a demon’s true name gives you power over him. This answer seems logical enough, but I wanted to defy logic. My Rumpelstiltskin had to be loveable.

So the first thing I realized about this world was that names were intricately tied to a person’s destiny. Your name affects your future, how people judge you and treat you. A name might reveal social status or a particular power or virtue. It might also reveal weakness or the sorrowing of a parent. Though it’s magnified in the world of Rump, this is not wholly unfamiliar territory in the real world. Names have always held great meaning and power in many cultures; I just took it to another level. With Rump in particular, his name reveals a gap in his identity. His mother died before she could reveal his entire name, leaving him with a rather embarrassing portion. This is the starting point for the entire story.

 

Magic

 

Names were the easy part to work with in this world. It was an obvious choice from the beginning, but what about the magic of this world? As I considered other aspects of the tale, such as spinning straw into gold, I had to consider a magic system. Who could use magic? What were the consequences of its use? I felt the more specific and concrete the answers, the better. For Rump, the magic of spinning straw into gold is deeply rooted in his family history, as are the consequences of that magic, which don’t reveal themselves right away. And without giving away too much, Rump’s magic is also connected to his name.

Magical Creatures

 

Though I did not want to create a high fantasy world full of elves, dwarves, centaurs, mermaids, dragons, etc. I wanted Rump’s world to be magical beyond just the use of magic. That is, I wanted some magical creatures. This part was slower for me, probably because it intimidated me. I like magical worlds, but they also need to have some basis in logic in order for them to be satisfying, and I don’t like to make things up just to add flavor and intrigue to the story. Anything that pops up in my story, in the end, must have a necessity. So the pixies and gnomes and trolls that Rump runs into along the way are all entertaining in their own way, but they also each play roles in moving the story along and even bringing about the resolution. 

Building the world of Rump was challenging, but so rewarding as I found those moments of connection between the fantasy and reality. That’s when a fantasy world really comes to life.

 GIVEAWAY!!!

 

Liesl is giving away a signed copy of RUMP and a bookmark to one lucky INTERNATIONAL winner!Enter using the rafflecopter below and check the Terms And Conditions on the widget for the rules.Good Luck! :)



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An Insight Of The Characters' World: Guest Post + Giveaway by Emma Pass

This is a feature where I ask authors to do a guest post discussing about the world building of their books and share their experiences in creating the world for their characters.For more information on this feature,click HERE.

Today,Emma Pass stops by at Daydreaming Bookworm to discuss about the world building of her debut,ACID.Thanks for stopping by,Emma!

ABOUT ACID:


2113. In Jenna Strong’s world, ACID – the most brutal, controlling police force in history – rule supreme. No throwaway comment or muttered dissent goes unnoticed – or unpunished. And it was ACID agents who locked Jenna away for life, for a bloody crime she struggles to remember.

The only female inmate in a violent high-security prison, Jenna has learned to survive by any means necessary. And when a mysterious rebel group breaks her out, she must use her strength, speed and skill to stay one step ahead of ACID – and to uncover the truth about what really happened on that dark night two years ago.

 

  




ABOUT EMMA:

Emma Pass has been making up stories for as long as she can remember. Her debut novel, ACID, will be published in 2013, followed by another stand-alone thriller for young adults in 2014. By day, she works as a library assistant and lives with her husband in the North East Midlands.

Links:

Website
 
Blog

Twitter

Facebook




Emma's guest post:


ACID – An Insight of the Character’s World



Writing a novel set in the future is a tricky business, because often, you’re writing about things that don’t exist (yet). In one way, this is very freeing and exciting, as you can make everything up – literally anything can happen! But in another, it’s quite scary, because you can’t expect your readers to just believe whatever you tell them. Even a future world has to follow its own logic, and be plausible. With ACID, I wanted to create a version of Britain that reflected the brutality of ACID and how much it might be possible for a country to change over the span of a century, yet it had to be believable – familiar, even – so that the worldbuilding didn’t pull readers out of the story because it didn’t feel ‘right’.

I started with the politics, trying to work out how a police force as ruthless as ACID (which stands for The Agency for Crime Investigation and Defence) could have taken over from the government and got into power – then hung onto it for so long. I wrote pages and pages of notes, as well as looking back at notebooks from when I tried to write earlier versions of the book that didn’t work out.

I decided that the UK of 2113 would no longer have a monarchy, so I renamed it the Independent Republic of Britain, which reflects the way ACID have cut the country off from the rest of the world to ensure their power is absolute. At this stage, I read up on North Korea, where the authorities have done this in real life. North Korean citizens don’t even have access to the internet; instead, government officials have created their own intranet, loading information onto it so no-one sees anything they don’t want them to – something which, when people read ACID, they will see I drew on directly.

Next, I had to figure out the implications of this for the ordinary people who lived under ACID’s rule. At the time I started to write the book, there was a big outcry in the ‘real world’ about the UK becoming a ‘nanny state’, where everything people did was micro-managed by the government. For example, did you know that in 2009, the Shetlands, a tiny collection of islands north of the Scottish mainland, apparently had more CCTV cameras than the San Francisco police department?

So I tried to imagine what life would be like if this was truly taken to the extreme, with ACID watching your every move: deciding where you live, what sort of education you get, what sort of job you have, what food you can eat (and what you can’t), what sort of clothes you can wear, even how much TV you have to watch every day and who you marry – a process called LifePartnering, which people go through at 16. Everything depends on your social class, which, again, is decided by ACID, who’ve even gone as far as dividing up London, still the country’s capital city, into sections where people are placed according to their status. If you step out of line, punishment is swift, and terrifying. ACID have created super-prisons where you can be sent for the slightest infringement. Even hugging someone of the opposite sex who isn’t your LifePartner could result in you being arrested – and sent down without a trial. And as for the people they want to get rid of forever… well, you’ll have to read the book to find that out!

Creating ACID’s world was interesting and, at times, quite scary, as I began to see how easy it would be for a real-life dystopian society to develop. And it was fun, too – as a reader, I’ve always loved the ‘what if’ posed by these sorts of novels, and it was great to have the chance to create my own.  

 

 Giveaway!!!

Emma is giving away a signed copy of ACID to one INTERNATIONAL winner.Enter using the rafflecopter below and see TERMS AND CONDITIONS on rafflecopter widget for the rules.
  
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Guest Post + Giveaway: Pretty Girl 13 by Liz Coley

Today,Liz Coley,author of Pretty Girl 13,stops by at Daydreaming Bookworm along with a guest post and is giving away a U.K Edition copy of her book to one lucky INTERNATIONAL reader!Check them out below.

About Pretty Girl 13:

Angie Chapman was thirteen years old when she ventured into the woods alone on a Girl Scouts camping trip. Now she's returned home…only to find that it's three years later and she's sixteen-or at least that's what everyone tells her.

What happened to the past three years of her life?

Angie doesn't know.

But there are people who do — people who could tell Angie every detail of her forgotten time, if only they weren't locked inside her mind. With a tremendous amount of courage, Angie embarks on a journey to discover the fragments of her personality, otherwise known as her "alters." As she unearths more and more about her past, she discovers a terrifying secret and must decide: When you remember things you wish you could forget, do you destroy the parts of yourself that are responsible?

Liz Coley's alarming and fascinating psychological mystery is a disturbing - and ultimately empowering page-turner about accepting our whole selves, and the healing power of courage, hope, and love.

About the Author:

 

Liz Coley writes fiction for teens and for the teen in you.

Her first published work was science fiction short stories, published in Cosmos magazine and several anthologies.

Self-published YA novel Out of Xibalba features a contemporary teenager thrown back to ancient Mayan times.
The story starts when the world ends.

Pretty Girl-13 from HarperCollins will be released in at least ten languages on five continents, in print, ebook, and audiobook.
There are secrets you can't even tell yourself.

Liz lives in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband, her teenaged daughter, a snoring dog, and a limping old cat. When she's not involved in writing-related activities, she can be found sewing, baking, shooting photos, playing tennis, and singing.

**Guest Post : Write What You Want To Know**

There’s a maxim for beginning writers: “Write what you know.” But it is equally valid to write about what you want to know. Lack of pre-existing knowledge doesn’t have to hold you back, not in these wonderful days of internet and free long-distance calling.

When I decided to write Pretty Girl-13 in 2009, I had two starting points for my subject matter research: understanding Dissociative Identity Disorder and learning about the new research field of optogenetics. Having a degree in science helped in both areas.

Of the many autobiographies on Multiple Personality/Dissociative Identity Disorder, I studied The Flock (Joan Frances Casey and Lynn Wilson), and When Rabbit Howls (The Troops for Truddi Chase), both of which featured terrible instances of child abuse. They were a rough read. I supplemented these personal stories by reading extensively on the internet--DID help sites, the Sidram Institute, the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, medical websites, and original scientific papers. I verified and amplified what I had learned by interviewing a DID survivor “J” who is almost completely reintegrated. Long after the manuscript was in, I read two more autobiographies: A Fractured Mind (Dr. Robert B. Oxnam) and Breaking Free (Hershel Walker), and it felt like I was hearing the same tale again and again. The principles of the condition seem to be very consistent from case to case--from origins to discovery to therapeutic process, from internal metaphoric imagery to the complex  interrelationships among alters.

Part of my drive to write this story began with a popular science article I read on the new area of neuroscience research: optogenetics. In optogenetics, a light sensitive gene from an archaebacteria is introduced as a control sequence into a gene that produces neurotransmitters. Yes, the science geek in me found this fascinating: Essentially light can be used to turn on and off the flow of messages between nerve cells. I read several scientific papers on the process and on the results and interviewed my brother, a university neurobiologist, on whether Angie’s “experimental technique” was theoretically possible in the future. The answer was yes, and potentially in the not-so-distant future. Optogenetics has been called “the technique of the decade” and is now a major area of grant-funded research. Given that I wrote the story in 2009, I’ve been reminded yet again how hard it is to write near-future science without it coming true before publication.

All the other research was on the fly—location details via Google maps, forensic advice from the LA coroner’s office, and even a restroom signage consultation with a high school. Did you know that high schools in California have GIRLS’ rooms and not WOMEN’s? I didn’t. Now I do.

My review of Pretty Girl 13 will be posted on the blog sometime soon so be sure to check back or you can always subscribe to the blog for it to show up on your feed.

 

Giveaway!!

 

As promised,Liz is giving away a U.K Edition copy of her book to one lucky INTERNATIONAL winner.Please see Terms And Conditions on the widget for details.Good Luck! :) 

  Giveaway : Pretty Girl 13 by Liz Coley

An Insight Of The Characters' World: Guest Post + Giveaway by Cat Winters

This is a feature where I ask authors to do a guest post discussing about the background of their books and share their experiences in creating the world in which the characters are portrayed.For more info on this feature,click HERE.

 Today,Cat Winters stops by to share her insights on her upcoming debut,In The Shadow Of Blackbirds.Thanks for stopping by,Cat! :)

IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS by CAT WINTERS

In 1918, the world seems on the verge of apocalypse. Americans roam the streets in gauze masks to ward off the deadly Spanish influenza, and the government ships young men to the front lines of a brutal war, creating an atmosphere of fear and confusion. Sixteen-year-old Mary Shelley Black watches as desperate mourners flock to séances and spirit photographers for comfort, but she herself has never believed in ghosts. During her bleakest moment, however, she’s forced to rethink her entire way of looking at life and death, for her first love—a boy who died in battle—returns in spirit form. But what does he want from her?

Featuring haunting archival early-twentieth-century photographs, this is a tense, romantic story set in a past that is eerily like our own time.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

Cat Winters was born and raised in Southern California, near Disneyland, which may explain her love of haunted mansions, bygone eras, and fantasylands. She received degrees in drama and English from the University of California, Irvine, and formerly worked in publishing.

Her debut novel, IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS—a YA ghost tale set during the World War I era—is coming April 2, 2013, from Amulet Books/ABRAMS. She currently lives outside of Portland, Oregon, with her husband and two kids. 






  

CONTACT INFO:
 
Goodreads:  http://www.goodreads.com/catwinters   
Twitter:  http://twitter.com/catwinters 
Facebook:   http://facebook.com/catwintersbooks
Website:   http://www.catwinters.com


 Here is Cat's guest post for today's feature.

IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS isn’t a typical historical ghost story. It doesn’t take place in a decrepit old manor house rising out of the gloom of an English moor. The setting is a very specific moment in time: October and November 1918, during the last weeks of World War I and the height of the deadly Spanish influenza pandemic that killed millions of people around the globe.

My main character, Mary Shelley Black (named after the author of FRANKENSTEIN), travels from Portland, Oregon, to live with her aunt in San Diego, California, after watching her father get arrested for treason. There’s an atmosphere of fear and paranoia gripping America. Anyone who speaks out against the war is at risk of arrest. Anyone who catches the flu might die within hours. Encountering the ghost of her first love is only one of the many reasons Mary Shelley is trying to keep hold of her courage and sanity.

After researching 1918 America in depth, I realized I was dealing with a real-life version of a dystopian/apocalyptic setting. I decided to draw out the science-fiction elements of the time period. One of the first scenes that came to me was the opening chapter, in which Mary Shelley boards a train. I envisioned a crowded railroad car populated by passengers wearing flu masks, with only their eyes visible. Onions were a popular folk remedy used to fight off the flu germs, so I smelled the potent fumes of onions in the air and imagined Mary Shelley making her way past all the watchful eyes in her quest to find a seat. When a woman sneezes, Mary Shelley holds back on saying “gesundheit,” for the word is German, and Americans were fighting Germany. She’s worried she might go to jail for seeming un-American, like her father.

To add richer layers to my otherworldly atmosphere, I continuously drew upon reports of the 1918 flu and all the homemade flu remedies. Some people sprinkled sulfur over hot coals to try to chase away the germs, creating a smelly, eerie blue smoke—which seemed perfect for a paranormal funeral scene in the novel. I read accounts of coffins piling up in front of undertakers’ homes and children climbing on the caskets as if they were playing in a fortress—chilling details that also went into the book.

In the research archives of the San Diego History Center (http://www.sandiegohistory.org), I learned about a Red Cross House that was opened for recovering war veterans in November 1918. Two scenes that are important to the story’s central mystery take place in that convalescent home. I merged the archives’ descriptions of the building with my own interpretation of what the men recuperating there would have looked like and how the place would have smelled and sounded. Those chapters became some of my favorite parts of IN THE SHADOW OF BLACKBIRDS, and even though those sections of the book were more grounded in the real, living world, they contain their own touch of the novel’s surreal atmosphere.

There are also scenes involving the ghost—a troubled, terribly haunted eighteen-year-old soldier named Stephen Embers. Those moments usually occur at night, and most of the tension and fear my main character endures were drawn from my own experiences of lying in bed after reading a scary book or watching a frightening movie, my heart thumping so loudly until it sounded like a second heart beating inside my mattress. The aunt with whom Mary Shelley lives can’t afford electricity, so most of the ghostly encounters occur by the light of an oil lamp, or in pitch darkness…as all frightening ghost scenes should.

Atmosphere and world building are an essential part of submerging one’s readers into a story. I hope you enjoy your journey into Mary Shelley Black’s dark and dangerous historical world and feel I’ve fully transported you to this strange, sad, and fascinating period in time—even if it makes you want to leave your own lights on at night. 

 
GIVEAWAY:
 
Cat is giving away a signed swag pack containing a bookmark, postcard, and bookplate, as well as a clock-gear necklace inspired by the jewelry that technology-loving Mary Shelley Black wears in the novel (All pictured below) to one lucky INTERNATIONAL winner.Giveaway is international.Enter via the rafflecopter below and please check the TERMS AND CONDITIONS on the widget.Good Luck! :)

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An Insight Of The Characters' World: Guest Post + Giveaway by Jennifer Archer

This is a feature where I ask authors to do a guest post discussing about the background of their books and share their experiences in creating the world in which the characters are portrayed.For more info on this feature,click HERE.

For today's post,Jennifer Archer stops by at my blog today to share her insights of her upcoming novel,The Shadow Girl.

 

THE SHADOW GIRL by JENNIFER ARCHER

"Sometimes I forget for an hour or two that she's with me. Sometimes I convince myself that she was only a dream. Or that I'm crazy."


For as long as Lily Winston can remember, she has never been alone. Iris, a shadowy figure who mimics Lily's movements and whispers in her ear, is with her always—but invisible to the rest of the world. Iris is Lily's secret.

But when Lily's father is killed in a tragic accident, his cryptic final words suggest that he and Lily's mother have been keeping secrets of their own. Suddenly, Iris begins pushing Lily more than ever, possessing her thoughts and urging her to put together the pieces of a strange puzzle her father left behind. As she searches for answers, Lily finds herself drawn to Ty Collier, a mysterious new boy in town. Together, Lily and Ty must untangle a web of deception to discover the truth about her family, Iris . . . and Lily's own  identity.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

 At the age of ten, Jennifer Archer made up her mind to become a writer. Then she grew up, became “sensible,” and earned a business degree with a minor in accounting instead. After years of trying to find her way through a confusing maze of debits and credits she realized that, for her, accounting was no more sensible than becoming a World Federation wrestler. So in 1993, she enrolled in a creative writing class, and five years later, sold her first novel. Since then, Jennifer has published several novels for adults, as well as numerous non-fiction works.

Jennifer has been a finalist twice for RWA’s Golden Heart award and in 2006 was a finalist for the prestigious Rita Award and a nominee for a Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine Reviewer’s Choice Award. Her debut Young Adult novel, THROUGH HER EYES, was an April, 2011 release from Harper Teen. She has taught creative writing and has presented numerous talks and workshops for educators, students, writers' organizations and bookstores.

The mother of two grown sons, Jennifer lives in Texas with her husband and two dogs, Marge and Harry.

 CONTACT INFO:  

 Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/28572.Jennifer_Archer 

 Twitter:        http://www.twitter.com/jenniferarcher1

 Facebook:    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jennifer-Archer/159335414094711

 Website:       http://www.jenniferarcher.com/           

 Here is Jennifer's guest post in which she shares the story behind The Shadow Girl's creation.

Typically many different elements come together to form the ideas for my stories and it’s often difficult for me to pinpoint exactly one thing that inspired a book, a character, or a fictional world. That’s definitely true of The Shadow Girl. When I think back to the time when the story and characters were percolating in my mind, I remember pondering the following things: 

• When I was in 6th grade, one day I slipped out of the room while class was in progress to go to the restroom. The school building was old, with dark echoing hallways, and the restroom across from my classroom was small and empty except for me. I remember standing at the sink, washing my hands. I could hear the distant sounds of teachers lecturing, books slamming shut, students talking quietly. I turned off the faucet and looked up as I reached toward the paper towel dispenser on the wall, and when my eyes connected with my own image in the mirror, my breath caught and for a moment I froze as I stared at myself. Who are you? That was the thought that flashed through my eleven-year-old  mind. It lasted only a second , that odd and disconcerting feeling of disconnection from the girl in the mirror . . . myself. But I have never forgotten it.  I think that moment was a natural part of growing up and trying to figure out who I was – not literally, but in the scope of my place in the world and what I believed about myself.  And I think that the memory of that experience is at the core of my idea for The Shadow Girl. What if a girl named Lily senses a presence that stays with her all the time? Another girl whose whispers Lily hears in her head? A girl named Iris who feels to Lily like a separate part of her?

•  My love of ghost stories is apparent when I look back at the books I’ve written. In my novels for adults, two books – Sandwiched and Off Her Rocker – have subtle ghostly elements. However, my young adult novel Through Her Eyes is a full-blown ghost story in that the ghost is very much a crucial main character. In The Shadow Girl, I wanted to write a ghost story with a twist. Another true ghost story, but one that’s more than that. And because I don’t want to ruin the twist for anyone who hasn’t yet read the book, I’ll leave it at that!
  
  
• In building Lily’s world, I realized she needed to live in a somewhat isolated location with a fairly lonely existence so that Iris is one of the few “friends” she has. For this reason and others, I decided that her parents would home-school Lily. And I realized that setting her home in a fictional location in the mountains of southern Colorado would be perfect, because it is a very remote place. My husband and I have a cabin in the Spanish Peaks there, so I know and love the area. The two peaks – the east and the west – stand side-by-side and seem to me a perfect analogy for Lily and Iris. Lily explains this better than I can! Here are her thoughts about the peaks outside her bedroom window in her own words:
  

My parents and I live in a cabin my dad built in the Rocky Mountains of

southern Colorado. My bedroom is in the upstairs loft. As I roll to face the

   window beside my bed, two peaks in the distance are the first things I see. 

       They’re as vigilant as always, their frosty heads twinkling beneath a hazy wash 

    of moonlight.My parents and I call them the twin peaks, and they’re so close 

together that I used to imagine they held hands.Though the west peak 

changes colors with each season, the east peak remains black and gray, 

somber and dark. It’s slightly taller than the west one and stands a step 

behind, as if to watch over its smaller friend.  

Also,the Spanish Peaks are rich with Indian legends,and I discovered that a few of them worked with my   storyline. For instance, one legend states that anyone who sleeps in the shadow of the peaks never dies.How cool is that?

I love stories that feature characters facing challenges that force them to change and grow and learn something about themselves. Characters who ask “who am I?” Characters who ultimately learn that there is more to themselves than they ever imagined. That is the character I attempted to create in Lily.

Thank you so much for the guest post,Jennifer! :) 

This guest post also comes with a giveaway!Giveaway is INTERNATIONAL and PLEASE CHECK the rafflecopter widget for the rules.Here's what you can win:

 

                    

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