THE BOOK
Title: Take Back the Skies
Author: Lucy Saxon
Release Date: June 3, 2014
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Summary:
Catherine Hunter is the daughter of a senior government official on the island of Anglya. She’s one of the privileged – she has luxurious clothes, plenty to eat, and is protected from the Collections which have ravaged families throughout the land. But Catherine longs to escape the confines of her life, before her dad can marry her off to a government brat and trap her forever.
So Catherine becomes Cat, pretends to be a kid escaping the Collections, and stows away on the skyship Stormdancer. As they leave Anglya behind and brave the storms that fill the skies around the islands of Tellus, Cat’s world becomes more turbulent than she could ever have imagined, and dangerous secrets unravel her old life once and for all . . .
Lucy Saxon has always loved reading, but her love of
writing began at the age of 12 when she first suffered from the neurological
disorder ME (chronic fatigue syndrome). She found herself missing lengthy
periods of school, giving her the opportunity to indulge in creative writing.
TAKE BACK THE SKIES is her debut novel. It was inspired by a dream and Lucy
submitted a version of it to the National Novel Writing Month’s online
competition. Lucy can often be found attending comic and fantasy conventions
and ALWAYS makes her own, very impressive costumes.
THE INTERVIEW
Summarize Take Back the Skies in one sentence:
A girl realises that her life is ridiculously
sheltered, and reacts rather drastically to the truth.
What was the initial spark that created Skies?
I
had a sort of half-dream of a girl in Victorian clothing on a steampunk
skyship, and when I woke up I immediately wrote it down, going with that to
develop the plot of Skies and the
world of Tellus itself.
How long did it
take you to write the first draft? Did you use an outline, or discovery-write
it?
I
wrote the entire first draft during NaNoWriMo 2011, so a month (or a little
under, I finished a few days early). I had a vague outline, but I tend to
deviate from my plans quite a lot. I never plan the ending, either, as that’s a
surefire way to make sure whatever I’ve planned doesn’t happen. So I’ll plan up
to a certain point, and usually by the time I get there I know what the ending
will be.
Who was your favorite character to write,
and why? Who was your least favorite
and why?
I really loved writing Ben! A lot
of the stuff I wrote for him didn’t stay in the final draft because of
wordcount, but I just really love his character, and his voice was very easy
for me to find. I can’t really say why
specifically, but he just clicked for me. Least favourite was probably
Nathaniel. It took me a while to get his voice right, and even then it felt a
little forced for me for quite a while. He’s a hard character to pin down.
What is your favorite line/passage in Skies?
Oooh,
that’s a tough one. Also, trying to be spoiler-free is hard! I can’t think of a
specific line, but I really like the bit where Cat is giving the speech over
the newscast after a certain big event has happened. I just think it’s a very
powerful scene for her.
What
were some of the subjects you researched?
It
being a fantasy novel, there wasn’t actually that much to research! I had to
look up plenty of small facts here and there, but I can’t think of anything I
had to properly sit down and research. Obviously I read up on steampunk and
broadened my knowledge of that a bit, but again, it’s fairly open to
interpretation depending on the world it’s set in.
Were there any
particular songs/albums/soundtracks that inspired you while writing Skies?
I
don’t tend to match my music to my writing, unlike a lot of authors! I just put
my iTunes on shuffle and let whatever turns up play. The Legend of Zelda 25th
Anniversary OST was great for some of the more dramatic scenes though!
As a huge cosplayer,
do you plan to cosplay any of your characters? If so, who? (And if you already
have and there are pictures, can we see? ;)
I
do plan on cosplaying my characters! I plan on having a whole group together
for Sunday of LFCC; I’ll be cosplaying Fox. No pictures yet because I’ve been
so busy I haven’t even started yet, but when I do there’ll be plenty of
pictures up on my Tumblr and also my cosplay Facebook page!
Lucy Saxon's Take Back the Skies Love
List
- Ben. Basically everything about Ben.
- Fox defiantly trying to stay grumpy every time Cat amuses him in the middle of an argument.
- The first glimpse we get of the shipyard.
- The relationship between Harry and Alice, which doesn’t get shown as much as I’d perhaps like it to, but it’s always clear how much they love each other.
- Fox’s hair.
- I finally got to use the name Nathaniel. I’ve wanted to use that name for years.
Take Back the Skies is the first in a
six-book series, each book “set in a different land within the Tellus world,
with repeating characters and related, nonlinear storylines.” Can you tell us a
little more about what we can expect with this epic series?
And that's it! My thanks to Lucy for the awesome interview! :)
THE GIVEAWAY
Bloomsbury has graciously provided a copy of the book!
Enter below to win - good luck! :)
US Only | Must be 13+ years to enter
(Cheaters do not prosper here - be warned I check every entry!)
(Cheaters do not prosper here - be warned I check every entry!)
And be sure to check out the rest of the tour!
Monday, June 2: Lili’s Reflections
Tuesday, June 3: Finding Bliss in Books
Wednesday, June 4: Head Stuck in a Book
Thursday, June 5: On Starships and Dragonwings
Friday, June 6: Skye’s Scribblings and Book Briefs Book Blog
Monday, June 9: The Bookish Daydreamer
Tuesday, June 10: Jessabella Reads
Wednesday, June 11: Hello Chelly
Thursday, June 12: That Artsy Reader Girl
