Meet Author Wendy Knight
today at the Book Boost!
**All month long at the Book Boost we're featuring my fellow Astraea Press authors. Come back each day for more and be entered to win a Digital Reader Prize Pack (see below for details)!**
March 20th is International Earth Day. I had no idea – and it’s been around since 1971! But, isn’t it awesome? I knew about Earth Day – the one we celebrate in April, because we always plant a tree, but International Earth Day is just fabulous.
Growing up, I had two dreams. One, to be a writer. Two, to save the planet (well, technically I had more dreams than that – I wanted to be a tennis player and own a monster truck.) My debut novel, Feudlings came out on March 19th, so now I can move on to trying to save the planet!
One thing that has changed quite a bit since I was a little dreamer is the computer usage. I was sooo worried about the amount of paper I wasted when I was writing, but now I have a computer and all those mistakes and rough drafts and crappy paragraphs don’t litter the wastebasket and eventually our landfills. They litter my recycle bin and then I can delete them with no guilt! How awesome is that? And with the huge rise in e-book popularity, resources that would have gone into making all those books are saved.
There are so many small things we can do to help the planet. Maybe I can’t save it all by myself, but if I pester enough people, we can make a huge difference. Instead of throwing away old books you don’t want to read anymore, donate them! Or re-sell them–lots of book stores buy used books and resell them at a lower price.
Feudlings is set in Park City, Utah. Part of the reason I wrote it there is because Park City is gorgeous. It’s in the mountains, where the air is cleaner and everything is greener. My main character, Ari, has never been in mountains like those in Utah, even though she’s traveled all over the world, and she immediately falls in love with them, and with the city, the fresh air, and the wildlife.
We love to go to the street festival they have on Sundays, because vendors from all over Park City bring things to sell, and there are games for kids and delicious foods. The coolest thing is that they have recycle bins for everything, so that the actual garbage waste from the festival is almost nonexistent.
There are a gazillion dystopian books out that show us vividely the cost of not taking care of our planet. I love them all, but I wouldn’t want to live in them!
A Note from the Book Boost: First off, I want to hear more about this dreamy Monster Truck! LOL Secondly, I love the idea of the street festival and it sounds right up my alley. And...super Congrats on your brand new book release! Please tell us more.
Blurb:
Nothing makes a new school suck worse than discovering the guy you’re in love with is your prophesied nemesis.
Ari is the most powerful flame-throwing sorceress ever, and her people’s last hope in an ancient war. But she’s also a seventeen-year-old girl, and in her free, not-hunting-nemesis times, she jumps from school to school, trying to figure out regular people her own age and pretending she’ll get the chance to graduate.
Shane lives a double life. He goes to school and masters the art of popularity, hiding the fact that he has a fate with a slim chance of his survival. He’s destined to end a 300 year-old war by killing or being killed. He knows he’s hunted by a powerful enemy who’s not afraid to die. Only problem? He has no idea who that enemy is.
When Ari shows up at Shane’s school, angry and sullen and determined to keep him at arm’s reach, neither of them realize they are supposed to be killing each other, not falling in love. Until Ari does realize it, and she almost dies – by Shane’s hand.
Excerpt:
“Shane, I’m tougher than I look. I can handle it,” she said, although she wasn’t sure she wanted to know any more about his magic than she already did. It could get him in trouble. But she couldn’t just leave it alone. Part of her wanted to know. Maybe the monster-killer part of her.
She squashed that thought.
Shane stopped, studied her. Under his intense blue gaze her heart started to pound and she thought giddily that her favorite color just happened to be the exact color of his eyes. What were the odds?
“I’m serious, Ari. There’s this war going on, and knowing anything about it could get you killed.”
“Killed?” Ari tried to look dubious.
Shane glanced around and grabbed her hand, pulling her with him out the front doors. The air was crisp and cool; Ari could see traces of her breath. If Shane was aware that half the student population was watching them speed-walk into the woods, he didn’t show it, and after a final glance back Ari ignored them too.
When the school was out of sight, she stopped and pulled her hand away. “Okay Shane. Spill,” she commanded. She crossed her arms over her chest and tried to look cold. Normals would be cold right now, but because of the flames flowing through their blood, neither she nor Shane could feel it.
Shane sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Where to start? Even the short version is long. We’re sorcerers, and there are two sides to this war… of course, because that’s what makes a war, right?” he rambled. Ari raised an eyebrow at him as she tried to shiver. “I’m a Carules. I have magic that stems from these blue flames that, well, they’re in my blood. Hunter, too. And all other Carules. The other side is Edren, and their magic comes from red flames. Basically, we spend all our time trying to kill each other. It’s a lot of fun,” he said with a bitter frown at the ground.
“So you hide your magic because if an Edren found you...”
“They’d kill me. Or try to, anyway,” Shane finished for her.
Ari flinched at his words, and she knew right then that if she had seen him on that battle field in Adlington, she wouldn’t have been able to kill him. Her eyes widened in shock, her mouth opened into a silent “Oh”, and her heart started to pound. This was a very, very dangerous revelation she’d just made to herself.
She had a weakness. And it was Shane.
Want More Wendy?
Visit her on the web here:
Pick up a copy of her book today! Click here.
Contest Time:
Everyone who leaves a question or comment for any of our authors this month will be entered to win a Digital Reader Prize pack from the Book Boost! Pack includes:
- Falsify by Kerri Nelson
- Your choice of books from author Liz Botts
- Saint Sloan by Kelly Martin
- Never Trust A Pretty Wolf by Elaine Cantrell
- The Super Spies and the Cat Lady Killer by Lisa Orchard
- PLUS much more!
.jpg)
4 comments:
Thank you so much for having me!
This is such a fun read.
What an honorable dream!! I am definitely considering e-book publishing because of how popular it's becoming but I never thought of how much it can save the planet. Very noble :)
I admit, the paper saving benefit isn't as much of a motivation for me as the fact that it's more difficult to LOSE a particular document once it's saved on my hard drive. But I'm glad I'm helping the planet too. Great post, Wendy. Congrats on the new release.
Post a Comment