KAREN BAO GUEST POST AND DOVE ARISING GIVEAWAY

Happy Monday Everyone!

First, if any of you got a weird e-mail from me asking for money, I'm sorry. My yahoo e-mail account got hacked for the second time this year. Hopefully I fixed it.

I have a few winners to announce.

The winner of MARK OF THE THIEF is Emily Moore!

And the winner of VILLAIN KEEPER is Bish Denham!

Congrats! E-mail me your address so I can send you your books. Please e-mail me by the end of Wednesday or I'll have to pick another winner.

Today I'm thrilled to have debut author Karen Bao here to share what influenced her to write her YA science fiction DOVE ARISING. It sounds really good and I love science fiction so it's on my TBR list. Details of the giveaway will be at the end of the post.

Here's a blurb of DOVE ARISING from Goodreads:

Phaet Theta has lived her whole life in a colony on the Moon. She’s barely spoken since her father died in an accident nine years ago. She cultivates the plants in Greenhouse 22, lets her best friend talk for her, and stays off the government’s radar.

Then her mother is arrested.

The only way to save her younger siblings from the degrading Shelter is by enlisting in the Militia, the faceless army that polices the Lunar bases and protects them from attacks by desperate Earth-dwellers. Training is brutal, but it’s where Phaet forms an uneasy but meaningful alliance with the preternaturally accomplished Wes, a fellow outsider.

Rank high, save her siblings, free her mom: that’s the plan. Until Phaet’s logically ordered world begins to crumble...

Suspenseful, intelligent, and hauntingly prescient, Dove Arising stands on the shoulders of our greatest tales of the future to tell a story that is all too relevant today.

Now here's Karen!

How my childhood inspired me to write Dove Arising:

Looking back, I feel that I’d prepared my whole life to write Dove Arising. I’d always loved science, especially biology, and my scientist parents encouraged me to pursue it as a career – Mom’s a telecommunications engineer, and Dad’s a medicinal chemist. Early on, I realized that human activity endangered the living things that fascinated me, and decided to study and preserve wildlife as a career.

But science wasn’t my only passion. I couldn’t get enough of literature and history in school; reading Victorian novels and studying twentieth-century world history made me actually want to go to class. I learned that my own parents had lived through a pivotal episode in world history: China’s Cultural Revolution, in which Mao Zedong tried to purge capitalist ideas and traditional Chinese thought from the country. The authorities sent my mother’s father, a professor, to a labor camp in the countryside – for ten whole years. Because I grew up in a liberal democracy, I couldn’t wrap my head around it.

My interest in science and my family’s history came together, informing the worldbuilding for Dove Arising. The idea of living on the moon came out of my worrying over Earth’s environmental devastation: I predicted that hundreds of years from now, after decades of government inaction, scientists from all over the world pool their funding to set up lunar colonies. They’re concerned for our species’ survival, and they mean well. But because the Moon’s environment is so hostile, scientific progress is paramount and surveillance necessary for citizens’ safety. It takes only a small scuffle with the remaining nations of Earth for the Lunar government to seize “emergency powers,” take total control, and become truly oppressive.

That’s where my mom’s stories about her childhood came in. The corruption, surveillance, emphasis on

science for progress’ sake, and separation of family members all featured into the Lunar society. Also, smaller things – like when Mom’s school ranked students on monthly exams, and the government made her study chemistry in college – fit right into Dove Arising’s manuscript.

Next, I thought about what a perfect Lunar citizen would look like – and this person became Phaet, the protagonist. She’s a stellar science student. And her quiet personality is a product of her totalitarian society: the less she talks, the less likely it is that she’ll get in trouble. Although quiet people may seem shy or weak, I know that they aren’t; for example, my best friend doesn’t talk much, and truthfully, I don’t either. I wanted to convey that Phaet had inner resolve despite her quiet exterior, and hopefully it worked!

So there you have it: Dove Arising was the product of my interest in science, my mom’s stories about China, and my interactions with introverts. Hope you had fun reading this post, and thanks to Natalie for having me on the blog!

Find me at: 

Website: www.karenbaobooks.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KarenJBao

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karenbaoauthor

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/karenjbao/

Karen's publisher, Penguin Young Readers, generously offered an ARC of DOVE ARISING for a giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment through March 7th. I’ll announce the winner on March 9th. If your e-mail is not on your Google Profile, please leave it in the comments.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry. This is for US only.

Here's what's coming up:

On Wednesday I have a guest post by debut author Alison DeCamp on marketing middle grade novels and a giveaway of MY NEAR-DEATH ADVENTURES, her MG historical fiction similar to Diary of a Wimpy Kid. 

Next Monday I have an interview with debut author Victoria Aveyard and a giveaway of RED QUEEN, her YA fantasy/dystopian.

And next Wednesday I have an interview with agent Alex Slater at Trident Media Group with a query critique giveaway. And he has great advice for self-published and small press authors too!

Friday next week I'm participating in the Lucky is Reading Giveaway Hop. I'll have lots of great new releases for you and an Amazon gift card if you don't like my choices.

The following Monday, I'm interviewing debut author N.A. Traver and giving away DUPLICITY, her YA cyber thriller.

Hope to see you on Wednesday!