Tuesday, September 23, 2014

2014 Debut Authors Bash: R.C. Lewis


Welcome to my stop on the 2014 Debut Authors Bash, hosted by Y.A. Reads! Check out my interview of debut author R.C. Lewis (which includes her Stitching Snow Love List), and enter to win a copy at the end! 


THE AUTHOR

R.C. Lewis teaches math to teenagers—sometimes in sign language, sometimes not—so whether she’s a science geek or a bookworm depends on when you look. That may explain why her characters don’t like to be pigeonholed. Coincidentally, R.C. enjoys reading about quantum physics and the identity issues of photons.



THE BOOK

Stitching Snow

Title: Stitching Snow
Release Date: October 14, 2014
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Summary


Princess Snow is missing.

Her home planet is filled with violence and corruption at the hands of King Matthias and his wife as they attempt to punish her captors. The king will stop at nothing to get his beloved daughter back-but that's assuming she wants to return at all.

Essie has grown used to being cold. Temperatures on the planet Thanda are always sub-zero, and she fills her days with coding and repairs for the seven loyal drones that run the local mines.

When a mysterious young man named Dane crash-lands near her home, Essie agrees to help the pilot repair his ship. But soon she realizes that Dane's arrival was far from accidental, and she's pulled into the heart of a war she's risked everything to avoid.

In her enthralling debut, R.C. Lewis weaves the tale of a princess on the run from painful secrets . . . and a poisonous queen. With the galaxy's future-and her own-in jeopardy, Essie must choose who to trust in a fiery fight for survival.
THE INTERVIEW

Stitching Snow in one sentence:

Snow White in space, if Snow were a cage-fighting tech-head.

What was the initial spark that created Snow

During my commute home one day, the song “Blinding” by Florence + the Machine came on. There’s a line in the bridge—“Snow White stitching up your circuit board.” The basis of the story kind of blew up in my head right there. (Actually, I thought I was hearing the lyric wrong, but it turned out I wasn’t.)

Who was your favorite character to write in Snow, and why? Who was your least favorite and why?

I’m not sure I have “favorite/least favorite,” but there is “easiest/hardest.” The drones as a group were the easiest to write, because their individual personalities were always very clear to me. Tobias was probably the most difficult, because he went through a few iterations in the revision/editing process. Anytime a character gets changed, I have to “get to know him” all over again.

What were some of the subjects you researched for Snow

I researched the original fairy tale a lot, including commentary by several folktale scholars. I learned a lot about various interpretations of the symbols, like the magic mirror as the voice of Snow’s father, male judgment of female value, etc.

Snow is based on the Snow White fairy tale. What is your favorite fairy tale and why?

To get ready for my book releasing after Snow, I read a lot of lesser-known fairy tales, and two friends pointed me toward “The Wild Swans” by Hans Christian Andersen. What I love about that one is that its core is about the family bond between a girl and her brothers, and that she saves them.

I adored your drone adaptations of the seven dwarfs! If you could own one of the drones, which one would you choose and why?

Most of my critique partners immediately established the Dimwit Fan Club as soon as they read the manuscript. But one friend in particular says Cusser is her spirit drone, and she might have a point. Cusser works hard and gets things done, but he also doesn’t hold back in expressing himself.

What is your favorite line/passage in Snow?

Hmm, that’s tough, but maybe this one: “Feelings can’t be wasted. Knowing they’re real for however long they last makes them worth having.”

That, or just about anything Dimwit says.

Were there any particular songs/albums/soundtracks that inspired you while writing Snow?

Definitely! Besides “Blinding” (as explained above), I listened to a lot of Florence + the Machine in general while writing.

R.C. Lewis's Stitching Snow Love List 

  • Petey and how he watches out for Essie in a quiet way
  • Imagining all the creative ways Cusser might swear
  • Putting Essie in heels
  • Turning a particular fairy tale scene on its head

And that's it! My thanks to Ms. Lewis for the awesome interview! :)

~     ~     ~     ~     ~

THE GIVEAWAY
Stitching Snow

R.C. Lewis has graciously provided a copy of the book! 
Enter below to win - good luck! :)

Open US & CAN | Must be 13+ years to enter
(Cheaters do not prosper here - be warned I check every entry!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The 2014 Debut Authors Bash blog tour continues all this month - be sure to check out all the stops to find out more about this year's debut authors!

September 1st
YaReads - Geoffrey Girard
Swoony Boys Podcast - Jane Nickerson
Kristi's Book Readery - Page Morgan
September 2nd
Book Bandit - Laura Lam
The Word Mineur - Mindee Arnett
My Friends Are Fiction - Samantha Shannon
September 3rd
Nose Graze - Jessica Verdi
Between Printed Pages - L. M. Augustine
You've Been Blogged! - Jody Casella
September 4th
Skye's Scribblings - Kasie West
Lose Time Reading - Emily Murdoch
The Eater of Books - Kelsey Sutton
September 5th
Book. Blog. Bake - Lauren Miller
Bookend 2 Bookend - Jennifer Salvato Doktorski
Musings of a Blogder - Heather Reid
September 6th
Magical Manuscripts - Shaunta Grimes
The Reading Vixens - Sarah Ashley Jones
September 7th
Books for Birds - April Genevieve Tucholke
Book Blather - Romily Bernard
September 8th
Inspiring Insomnia - Stephanie Kuehn
September 9th
Kissed by Ink - Ellen Oh
Sleeps on Tables - J.R. Johansson
Always YA at Heart - Amanda Sun
September 10th
Lisa Loves Lit - A.G. Howard
whYAnot Reviews - Liz Fichera
Samantha Clark - Claire M. Caterer
September 11th
Rampant Readers - Leah Miller
Emily's Crammed Bookshelf - T. Michael Martin
September 12th
The Uninterrupted Reader - Cat Winters
The Book Beacon - Christina Mercer
September 13th
Read & Reviewed - Lindsay Ribar
Paranormal Book Club - Kit Grindstaff
September 14th
Books as You Know it - Mary Gray
Paranormal Reads - Elsie Chapman
Bibliophilia, Please - Helen Douglas
September 15th
The Book Cellar - Erin Bowman
Fantasy Book Addict - Miriam Forster
September 16th
Pond Across the Pond - Laurie Crompton
YaReads - Debra Driza
September 17th
Teen Librarian Toolbox - Mindy McGinnis
Le'Book Squirrel - Kimberly Ann Miller
Finding Bliss in Books - Lydia Kang
September 18th
Rachel Reads - Errica Lorraine Scheidt
Kentucky Geek Girl - Holly Smale
September 19th
Turning Pages - Amy Butler Greenfield
September 20th
Synchronized Reading - J.L Spelbring
Reading is My Treasure - Kristin Halbrook
A&C Book Junkies - Carey Corp
September 21st
Playing Jokers - Lenore Appelhans
Lizzie's Dark Fiction - Elizabeth May
September 22nd
Sandwich Making Book Bitches - Anne Applegate
Little Bookwork Reviews - Jennifer Iacopelli
September 23rd
Moosubi Reviews - Megan Shepherd
Little Miss Trainwreck - Julianna Scott
September 24th
Fictionators - Emma Trevayne
September 25th
Breath of Books - Steven dos Santos
Jennzah - Chelsea Pitcher
September 26th
Nightly Reading - Liz Coley
Pandora's Books - Kelly A. Barson
September 27th
Forever 17 Books - Amie Kaufman
My Bookopolis - Jamie Blair
September 28th
Nick's Book Blog - Jennifer McGowan
Curling Up with a Good Book - Leila Howland
September 29th
Ex Libris - Mindy Raf
September 30th
YaReads - J.J. Howard
Fiction Freak - Kate Karyus Quinn



7 comments:

  1. My favorite Fairy Tale is Snow White.
    Favorite re-telling, Cinder!

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  2. I loved Entwined, the retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses.

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  3. My favorite fairy tale is probably the swan princess and my favorite retelling is Cinder. Nice interview, sounds like a cool book~ :)

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  4. One of my favorite retellings is Beauty by Robin McKinley
    And I always liked Beauty and the Beast, The Swan Princess fairy tales.
    (One of my favorite retelling's of Cinderella is the movie Ever After)

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  5. My favorite fairytale is Sleeping Beauty and my favorite retelling is Red Riding Hood(Scarlet!).

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  6. I really love the classic Cinderella story. And, one of my favorite retellings is Cindy Ella by Robin Palmer.

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  7. Cinderella for me.

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