Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Musical Update, and Created Beings Tour Special Guest Beth Revis!

Hey hey!

I'll keep this short because I want to get to my guest authors--FINALLY--but life has been utterly crazy this month. The Magic Under Glass musical (the title has been changed to match the books instead of Clockwork Heart) premieres in just a little over a week in Columbia, MD. Get tickets here!: http://www.tix.com/Event.aspx?EventCode=872553

Our Erris has been vlogging the process so you can get a tiny peek of all the behind the scenes work to get the music, choreography and everything else to be spectacular! It really only is a tiny peek. I wish I could show you some of the amazing music I've heard at rehearsals.


Onto our first guest for the Created Beings tour! Since the two series I have going this year involve my lifelike living doll people, Fanarlem...an adult romance between a Fanarlem concubine and a sorcerer in The Sorcerer's Concubine, and a YA subplot that really kicks off in The Stolen Heart, I thought it would be cool to round up as many authors as I could whose books involve doll people, androids-with-feelings, cyborgs, automata, golems, etc. And today we have Beth Revis, whose book A WORLD WITHOUT YOU also releases today (and sounds fascinating)...but she is also known for her sci-fi novels. I spoke with her about THE BODY ELECTRIC, which has a very interesting variety of created being.




1. Tell us about the created being(s) in your book! How were they made? Who made them and why? What is their place in the world?

The beings in The Body Electric are called cy-clones, a combination of cloned and cyborg body parts. They're (of course) an experiment of the government's...and I can't say much more than that in order to avoid spoilers!
2. Stories about created beings can delve into many themes, such as what it means to be human, how we treat people who are different, the quest for immortality, and the relationship between an artist/craftsman and their work. What was your reason for telling this story?

But the creation of cy-clones is highly experimental and not entirely ethical--two topics that I really wanted to explore. When is it too far to push for this kind of technology? Can we "play God" if we're doing it to find a cure for disease...and where is the line for finding a cure for disease and finding a cure for death? A huge part of my story wanted to explore that--at what point do we just stop, and is there even a point?

Another part of me wanted to question souls. I believe in souls, and I wanted to explore the point when the body and the soul disconnect. Are you still you if your body (or a cloned version of it) exists but not your soul? When do you lose yourself?
3. Do you have a favorite fictional created being?

Right now, because I'm in an angry mood, I'm going with the Terminator. That movie always gets me--I love it when he fights so hard that his humanity literally is ripped from his metallic frame.

Find Beth on the web:

Twitter: @bethrevis
Facebook: /authorbethrevis

Instagram: @bethrevis




Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Spotlight on Books with Created Beings! Doll People, Automatons, Androids-with-Feelings, Cyborgs, Golems, etc.

Hey all!

The Sorcerer's Concubine is out and what a great launch! The book already has two glowing reviews on Amazon and the rank has mostly stayed above 20k on Amazon.com. It's really going well in France, where it doesn't take that many sales to top a bestsellers list. I'm #3 in epic fantasy there!

I spent some money on promo which begins to kick in today. Just one little promo site today, but some solid bookings from the 7th-11th, so I expect the peak rank is yet to come. I'm going to be pretty useless the next few days...

Meanwhile, yesterday I attended the first read-through with the cast of Clockwork Heart, the Magic Under Glass musical. Wow... that was utterly surreal. I hardly know what to say. Seriously, pretty speechless about the whole experience. Hearing our Erris and Nimira sing their love song...*SWOON* If you're in the Baltimore/DC area, I would love to see you there!

All of the books I've released this year that take place in the Hidden Lands, especially The Sorcerer's Concubine and The Stolen Heart, feature my race of lifelike living doll people called Fanarlem. They've been an integral part of the world since I created it, a slave race that gains something closer to equality over the course of the past century. The character of Anubis who appears in The Vengeful Half and The Stolen Heart as the Grim Reaper and world's most adorable dad was created 19 years ago. But I first published this theme in Magic Under Glass and Magic Under Stone, where Erris's soul was trapped in the body of a clockwork man. I was kind of ripping off my own doll people. Or should I say riffing off?

But I don't just love artificial people as a writer, I also love them as a reader/viewer, in all their variations--starting with Sally in the Nightmare Before Christmas, who was the original inspiration for Anubis and all the Fanarlem who came after him. I especially love the theme of someone who is not-quite-human trying to live among humans or wrestle with human emotions. I didn't focus on stories about literal dolls coming to life and living in doll worlds as in most children's stories about doll characters, because mainly, I love when the worlds meet. (Still, I was not that picky about theme in approaching authors. I love talking to other writers about their inspirations, whether they press my buttons or not, and I'm delighted at how many authors got back to me with their interview!)

So, for July, I have gathered up some fellow writers to talk about their created beings, and I also made a master list of "created beings" stories. Please PLEASE tell me if you have any other favorites as I'm sure I've forgotten some!

If the book has a * beside it, we'll be hearing from the author this month!

BOOKS
--The Scorpion Rules and The Swan Riders by Erin Bow (AI...with some twists)*
--The Mad Scientist's Daughter by Cassandra Clarke (androids)*
--Wired for Love series by Greg Dragon (androids)*
--MILA 2.0 by Debra Driza
--Untamed by Madeline Dyer (enhanced humans)*
--The Poppet and the Lune by Madeline Claire Franklin (patchwork girl)*
--Spare and Found Parts by Sarah Maria Griffin (girl builds a boy from scraps)
--The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee (robot with emotions)
--Broken Dolls and Shattered Girls by Tyrolin Puxty (doll people)*
--The Body Electric by Beth Revis (cyborg/clone hybrid)*
--Man-Made Boy and This Broken Wondrous World by Jon Skovron (Frankenstein's monster's son and other artificial characters as well)
--The Mennyms series by Sylvia Waugh (doll people)
--The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker (golem)

MOVIES

--Bicentennial Man (robot with emotions)
--The Nightmare Before Christmas (rag doll Sally)

...I'll add some more as I remember them, too. I just need to get on with my day! =D

The first author interview will be posted soon!