[INTERVIEW] Carrie Ryan

Carrie Ryan
The Forest of Hands and Teeth
Random House Delacorte (US & CA: 10th March 2009); Hachette Gollancz (AU: June 2009; UK: 1st July 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA)
In Mary’s world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future – between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

The Dead-Tossed Waves Buy (UK)

(Photo from here.)

Tez Miller: The Forest of Hands and Teeth has one of the most unique and memorable settings in fiction. Did it come to you fully formed or arrive piece by piece?
Carrie Ryan: Thanks! It actually came fully formed! I was sitting at lunch with my fiancé, JP, one day and he was talking about a short story idea he had set in a post-apocalyptic world. As soon as he mentioned it the world just became totally clear in my mind (and very different from his own vision). There were definitely details I wasn’t sure about but as I began writing they came to me.

With the winery and ocean references, I assume the village could’ve been in California. How far off the mark am I?
Haha – that’s a good guess but I’m not telling how close you are Actually what’s interesting is that as I was writing it I was thinking about the woods around my house growing up on the US east coast. But then I was talking to my editor and she saw the forests she’d grown up around on the US west coast. So I actually like that it can be set anywhere in the world!

The Carolinas that you call home aren’t land-locked, but do you nevertheless wist for the ocean?
I love the ocean! I really love to lie on the beach with a good book and listen to the waves and feel the warmth of the sun. The coast is only about four hours away from where I live now but even so I only end up visiting once or twice a year.

Fences, gates, ropes, traps, weapons…did you have to do much research, or were you pretty familiar with them?
If by research you count reading lots of fiction and watching movies then yes, I did tons of research

Handy with an axe or scythe, perchance?
Me swinging an axe or scythe would be laughable! But I hope that should the necessity arise I could rise to the occasion!

The fences seemed very symbolic of segregation, and the fences in our minds (see the film Chicken Run). Did you mean for this social commentary, or was it a subconscious thing?
I definitely meant for social commentary but also realise that every reader is going to walk away with their own interpretation (which I think is really cool!). There are things that I didn’t realise would be significant at the time so I do think that some of it can be subconscious.

You dealt with the religious issues quite well, with the cons of strict discipline and the pros of caring for the sick and injured. Are you religious or spiritual?
Thanks! I think I’m still trying to figure out what I believe

I still feel left in the dark about the history of the Sisterhood, the Guardians, the Return and how the virus came to the village. Will you go into more detail about these in The Dead-Tossed Waves? And if not, what will that novel feature?
That was very much part of the story – that Mary was never able to learn the history of the Sisterhood or the cause of the Return so the reader didn’t get to know it either. I didn’t want the story to be about how they got to where they are, but how they deal with the world as it is. That doesn’t mean I don’t know all the secrets (I do!) and I will be touching on some of them in the The Dead-Tossed Waves (the sequel/companion to The Forest of Hands and Teeth).

What kind of work did you do in the Greenville County Coroner’s Office, and did you need any training for the job?
I worked as an intern for one summer at the Coroner’s office basically going to crime scenes, attending autopsies, and in some cases sifting through evidence. Because I was just an intern I didn’t need any special training but it was a totally incredible experience! I learned a ton!

Working on a Mayan archaeological dig in Guatemala also sounds like an intriguing setting. Any chance of it featuring in your future works?
I would love to write a book set on an archaeological dig – it was a really cool place. I really loved wondering about the people who lived there in its prime days, what they thought about, what stories we’ve lost. It was very surreal to dig down and uncover a floor of a palace and wonder whose feet last touched that spot.

In which foreign countries/languages would you like to be published? (Hooray – you’ve sold to the UK and my own Australia! )
All of them – it would definitely put me closer to my goal of world domination But seriously, I’m just so excited that The Forest of Hands and Teeth is being published in other countries – I keep pinching myself but it still seems to be real!

Many, many thanks for allowing me to have this extraordinary read, and I hope you keep me in mind when you get hold of The Dead-Tossed Waves.
Thanks for all your support Tez!

http://www.carrieryan.com/index2.php
http://carrie-me.blogspot.com/
http://carrie-ryan.livejournal.com/
http://www.myspace.com/carrie_ryan

[COVER ART] Angelic – Kelley Armstrong

Cover for Kelley Armstrong’s Angelic, as found here. Word on the street is there’ll be four more illustrations inside.

[REVIEW] The Resistance – Gemma Malley

Gemma Malley
The Resistance (Surplus Problem, Book 2)
Bloomsbury (US: 2nd September 2008; CA: 9th September 2008; AU: October 2008; UK: 4th May 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA)

A pharmaceutical company takes unethical activity to the edge, in Gemma Malley’s The Resistance.

Fifteen-year-olds Anna and Peter are now Legal, and have the opportunity to change society from the inside. Both had sworn they’d never sign the Declaration come age sixteen, but doubts are setting in. Bowing to pressure, signing becomes increasingly appealing – if only to settle guilty consciences. And as Peter works for his grandfather’s PharmaCorp, he expects corruption, but the extent of it is still shocking.

You can’t trust your family. Can’t trust your friends. Can’t trust your allies. And at the end of the day, you can’t even trust yourself, either.

Like The Declaration, The Resistance continues with the themes of liberation, freedom of choice, and oddly believable economics. Further explored here are trust and bioethics, and the internal – as well as external – conflicts are ramped up to the maximum. This is a wrenching, thought-provoking novel, and a sequel that even stretches beyond its fascinating predecessor. You’ll feel the characters’ frustration as well as your own, and be emotionally drained from the more harrowing scenes (including one I was planning for my own writing, damn it).

Get this duology, people – you need these gripping reads.

[COVER ART] City of Souls, Destined for an Early Grave, Unbound, Night’s Cold Kiss

From here: City of Souls (Vicki Pettersson) Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA)
From here: Destined for an Early Grave Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA)
From here: Unbound (Kim Harrison, Melissa Marr, Jeaniene Frost, Vicki Pettersson & Jocelynn Drake) Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA)
From here: Night’s Cold Kiss (Tracey O’hara) Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA)

April 2009 Releases

Done with purchasing March 2009 Releases? Now you can move onto April’s:

Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Fate (Bailey Morgan, Book 2)
Random House (AU: 1st April 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA)
It’s been a year since Bailey, Delia, Annabelle, and Zo bought a set of enchanted temporary tattoos at the mall, and life is proceeding as usual. Almost. As the third Fate, Bailey has the lives of the world in her hands, and even though she’s gotten used to weaving lives, she’s not at all prepared when her own life – and the lives of her friends – take some unexpected turns. Delia sets out on a crusade to find a geeky boyfriend, and for the first time in her life, she finds herself being turned down. Meanwhile, Zo’s mother reappears after a twelve-year absence, and Bailey, suddenly immersed in a world in which the Furies are catty Sidhe teenagers and Aphrodite, the Love Sidhe has a strange obsession with Annabelle, is helpless to get her friends’ lives back on track. But when Aphrodite possesses Annabelle, the friends must set aside their individual problems and work together to save their world – and their friend – once more.

Keri Arthur
Deadly Desire (Riley Jenson, Book 7)
Hachette Piatkus (UK & AU: 2nd April 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (CA)
Guardian Riley Jenson always seems to face the worst villains. And this time’s no different. For it’s no ordinary sorceress who can raise the dead to do her killing. But that’s exactly what Riley expects to find at the end of a trail of female corpses used – and discarded – in a bizarre ritual of evil. With pressure mounting to catch the fiend, the last thing Riley needs is the heat of the upcoming full moon bringing her werewolf hormones to a boil – or the reappearance of a sexy bounty hunter, the rogue wolf Kye Murphy. Riley has threatened Murphy with arrest if he doesn’t back off the investigation, but it’s Riley who feels handcuffed by Kye’s lupine charm. Torn between her vamp and wolf natures, between her love for Quinn and her attraction to Kye, Riley knows she’s courting danger and indulging the deadliest desires. For her hunt through the supernatural underworld will bring her face-to-face with what lurks in a darkness where even monsters fear to tread.

Ann Aguirre
Blue Diablo (Corine Solomon, Book 1)
Penguin Roc (US & CA: 7th April 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA)
Eighteen months ago, Corine Solomon crossed the border to Mexico City, fleeing her past, her lover, and her “gift”. Corine, a handler, can touch something and know its history – and sometimes, its future. Using her ability, she can find the missing – and that’s why people never stop trying to find her. People like her ex, Chance… Chance, whose uncanny luck has led him to her doorstep, needs her help. Someone dear to them both has gone missing in Laredo, Texas, and the only hope of finding her is through Corine’s gift. But their search may prove dangerous as the trail leads them into a strange dark world of demons and sorcerers, ghosts and witchcraft, zombies – and black magic…

Kelley Armstrong
The Awakening (Darkest Powers, Book 2)
HarperCollins (US: 28th April 2009); Random House Doubleday (CA: 28th April 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA)
If you had met me a few weeks ago, you probably would have described me as an average teenage girl – someone normal. Now my life has changed forever and I’m as far away from normal as it gets. A living science experiment – not only can I see ghosts, but I was genetically altered by a sinister organisation called the Edison Group. What does that mean? For starters, I’m a teenage necromancer whose powers are out of control; I raise the dead without even trying. Trust me, that is not a power you want to have. Ever. Now I’m running for my life with three of my supernatural friends – a charming sorcerer, a cynical werewolf, and a disgruntled witch – and we have to find someone who can help us before the Edison Group finds us first. Or die trying.

Libba Bray
The Sweet Far Thing (Gemma Doyle, Book 3)
Random House Delacorte (US & CA: 28th April 2009)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA)
It has been a year of change since Gemma Doyle arrived at the foreboding Spence Academy. Her mother murdered, her father a laudanum addict, Gemma has relied on an unsuspected strength and has discovered an ability to travel to an enchanted world called the realms, where dark magic runs wild. Despite certain peril, Gemma has bound the magic to herself and forged unlikely new alliances. Now, as Gemma approaches her London debut, the time has come to test these bonds. The Order – the mysterious group her mother was once part of – is grappling for control of the realms, as is the Rakshana. Spence’s burned East Wing is being rebuilt, but why now? Gemma and her friends see Pippa, but she is not the same. And their friendship faces its gravest trial as Gemma must decide once and for all what role she is meant for.

[REVIEW] The Declaration – Gemma Malley

Gemma Malley
The Declaration
Bloomsbury (UK: 5th May 2008; CA: 12th August 2008; US: September 2008; AU: October 2008)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA)

Children are NOT the future in Gemma Malley’s futuristic YA, The Declaration.

It’s 2140, and Anna has been raised in Grange Hall as a Surplus – she wasn’t legally allowed to be born. If she’s to have any future at all, it’s to serve as a housekeeper. Indeed, Anna’s a Valuable Asset, though Surpluses aren’t supposed to have self-worth.

But Peter has arrived at Grange Hall from the Outside. He claims to know Anna’s parents, and that they want her back. Then why has she lived here for as long as she can remember? She’s content to be Useful, but as Peter shares his experience of life Outside, Anna yearns for more. But neither is to be released anytime soon, and the House Matron is plotting Peter’s demise.

Mostly the novel doesn’t feel like it’s set in the future. Technology (minus medical stuff) is much how it is today, so really all that’s different are the political/social aspects. But these form the story’s themes, and it’s no surprise that the author has a degree in philosophy and has been a journalist.

Though most characters are annoying, the real drawing card is the concept and its exploration. Dark, dour and definitely believable, The Declaration is an intelligent and thought-provoking read for those not afraid to take a good hard look at society – both now AND in the future.

Kelley Armstrong’s ANGELIC

Look what I found here: In December, Subterranean Press will publish Kelley Armstrong’s Angelic (dust jacket by Maurizio Manzieri).

Limited: 200 signed numbered leatherbound copies, $45 each
Trade: Fully cloth-bound hardcover edition, $20 each
ISBN: 978-1-59606-246-7
Length: 104 pages

As a half-demon master of the dark arts, Eve Levine isn’t what anyone would call angelic. That’s exactly why the Fates chose her for the job. She’s their secret weapon against the forces of evil. However after five years, Eve is tired of being the designated rebel of the angel corps, expected to break the rules, then penalised for it. When the leaderless djinn stage an uprising, Eve sees the perfect chance to get herself fired. As she plunges deeper into the demon world, though, she realises she’s in danger of losing a lot more than her job.

New US & Canadian Pre-Order Links

MARIO ACEVEDO – The Werewolf Sex Club (22 Feb 2010): Buy (CA)
KIM HARRISON – Black Magic Sanction (22 Feb 2010): Buy (CA)
GENA SHOWALTER – Intertwined (1 Sep 2009): Buy (US) Buy (CA)

[COVER ART] Jennifer Armintrout; UK Links

The fab Jennifer Armintrout has shared the release dates for Queene of Light, Child of Darkness and Veil of Madness. They’ll be coming out consecutively in October, November and December 2009. Aye, we get them all before 2010, which is very good news, indeed No pre-order links yet, so stay tuned.

Also, UK links have been updated on Most Wanted.

So I’ve Broken GoogleReader…

You know how Blogger has “Follow Me” on people’s blog, and it’s supposed to important their posts to your GoogleReader? Apparently, it’s selective, thus I’ve missed out on some people’s blogs. As in my GoogleReader doesn’t have a record of them, thus I’m not being updated. And you KNOW how I hate being left out of the loop. And you KNOW how obsessive I am about organisation.

Thus to make sure this never happens again, I will be following people’s Bloggers via GoogleReader, NOT BlogSpot itself. Which basically means I have to create my choice of Feeds from scratch…

And Tezzy’s brain dies a little inside…

You know how here on LJ I only link back to my WordPress instead of mirroring the same content? But I provide a helpful subject title (in the link if not the header itself), so you can choose what is and what’s not worth flicking to my WP for? If you DON’T do a similar thing with your various blogs – the content will just be at WordPress/Blogger/non-LJ without a helpfully titled link – then please let me know the URL of your WordPress/Blogger/non-LJ.

Does this all make sense? It’s almost 1AM, and it makes sense to me, and you know I’m kind of dim, so what’s your excuse?

Thanks if you can help, and have a lovely day!

P.S. Anyway, this post explains why I may not have been commenting on your non-LJ blog. Not that I comment much anyway, but still…