Strange and Ever After
Release Date: July 22, 2014
If there is a summer
book release that I am looking forward to, it would be Susan Dennard's Strange
and Ever After. If you have not read the first two books of the series
(Something Strange and Deadly and A Darkness Strange and Lovely), please
pick them up and read them!!! I promise you, the books won't let you
down. They are filled with mystery, surprises, and horror.
I had the great opportunity
to talk with Susan Dennard about Strange and Ever After, the
final and third book of her AWESOME trilogy. Hear is what she has to say about the
conclusion of her trilogy!
1. If there is one thing that you want your readers
to learn from the character Eleanor, what would it be?
Oooh, tough question! I guess I would like readers
to learn (as Eleanor does) that there's always a choice--always. We choose not
only what we do in life, but how we feel, how we face the future, and how we
react to each other. All of the characters in the series struggle with this
idea of choice--and this misconception that they don't have one.
So as Jie said in Something Strange and Deadly:
"We always have a choice."
2. Ollie was one of my favorite characters in the
series. Will readers learn more about Ollie’s background story in the third
book?
We do learn more about Ollie! He is totally one of
my favorites too, and the more I learned about his past (and all his angst! So
much angst for our poor demon) then the more I loved him.
3. I enjoyed how historically accurate you made this
series. How difficult was the researching process? Were there times where you
thought, “I am never going to find anything?”
Oh my gosh, researching took SO much time! I spent
more time researching than actually writing. BUT! I think it all paid off. :)
I'm pretty pleased by how 1876 Philadelphia, Paris, Marseille, and Cairo came
to life (not to mention 1873 New Orleans in A DAWN MOST WICKED). Though there
were definitely times where I never could find an answer (like a setting
description or a map of a city) so I would have to drop a setting entire in
favor of something I could research. :)
4. How hard will it be to leave the story of Eleanor
behind?
SO HARD! I cried a million tears when I finished the
third book, and to console myself, I immediately started writing a spin-off
series set a few years in the future. Maybe one day I'll write that spin-off
series entirely and share it with fans of the Spirit-Hunters. ;)
5. You have a new book coming out in 2015 called
TRUTHWITCH (Tor Books). Can you tell us a little about that book?
Sure! On a continent where magic is failing as
people are corrupted by their own powers, only a mythical pair of witches can
heal the taint in the land and bring balance. But the two young friends are yet
to discover their fate, even as their world heads towards chaos.
Basically, TRUTHWITCH was born out of something I
wanted to explore more of in SS&D but didn't have the time for: friendship.
The loyalty between Daniel, Joseph, and Jie, the friendship between Jie and
Eleanor (and between Eleanor and Oliver) really propels the plot in that
series. But I didn't have enough page space to delve into all those key
relationships.
In TRUTHWITCH, the heroines are best friends
("Threadsisters" is the word in their world), and the strength of
their relationship is a huge driving factor in everything that they do. So even
though there's lots of romance (I can't resist steamy romance!), the friendship
between Noelle and Safiya (as well as friendships between secondary characters)
is more important than anything else.
Susan, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to do this interview with me. I really appreciate it. I loved Strange and Ever After and look forward to talking about the book with everyone when it officially comes out. I am so excited about receiving my pre-ordered hardback in the mail. I also can't wait for TRUTHWITCH to be released!!!
To everyone reading this post, please pick up Strange and Ever After. It is such a great read and a fine conclusion of an excellent YA trilogy!
No comments:
Post a Comment