Event Information:
Where: Colony High School 3850 E. Riverside Drive Ontario, CA 91761 This event is a completely free and un-ticketed event!
Priority seating WILL be given to teens, but come one, come all! There will also be giveaways and raffles at the Fest, also free! You can visit the website, to see the full schedule of the day by visiting the official Ontario Teen Book Fest website. Books WILL be available for purchase at the event, available from Once Upon A Time Bookstore :)
About Claudia Gray:
Claudia Gray is a pseudonym. I would like to say that I chose another name so that no one would ever learn the links between my shadowy, dramatic past and the explosive secrets revealed through my characters. This would be a lie. In truth, I took a pseudonym simply because I thought it would be fun to choose my own name. (And it is.) I write novels full-time, absolutely love it, and hope to be able to do this forever. My home is in New Orleans, is more than 100 years old, and is painted purple. In my free time I read, travel, hike, cook and listen to music. You can keep up with my latest releases, thoughts on writing and various pop-culture musings via Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, GoodReads or (of course) my own home page.
If you want to contact me, you can email me here, but your best bet is probably to Tweet me. I don’t do follows on Twitter, but I follow everyone back on Tumblr, Pinterest and GoodReads.
Interview with Claudia Gray:
Hi Ms. Gray :) Welcome to A Bookish Escape! We are so honored to have you here with us today. We hope to get to know you a little better, as we know your other fans do too. Thanks for participating in this interview spotlight! 1. When did you know that you wanted to be a writer, and how old were you when you started writing?
I always wanted to be a writer -- as far back as I can recall. But for a very, very long time, that was more like a fantasy than an ambition. I wanted to be a writer the same way I wanted to join Starfleet. Writing was something I did as a hobby, more and more as time went on; specifically, I wrote SO much fanfiction. (And I still do when I have the time, though that happens a lot less often these days.) Only in about 2005 or 2006 did I get serious about writing for publication.
2. Name 5 of your favorite authors and books written by them.
There are literally SO MANY authors that I've loved over the years - this is a tough one to answer. But a few that leap readily to mind:
(1) JK Rowling -- I love not only the Harry Potter books but also her mysteries as Richard Galbraith. I can't wait for a sequel to THE SILKWORM!
(2) E.M. Forster -- my favorites of his are A ROOM WITH A VIEW and HOWARD'S END.
(3) Kazuo Ishiguro, whose NEVER LET ME GO is a tremendously moving book, for me.
(4) Jane Austen, of course! My single favorite is of course PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, but I have a soft spot for PERSUASION as well.
(5) Douglas Adams, whose HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY is one of the great comedy masterpieces.
3. What are some of your favorite hobbies besides writing?
My hobbies are mostly pretty quiet things -- reading, watching classic old movies, etc. I love hiking, but now that I live in flat-flat-flat Louisiana, I don't get to do that as much anymore. But I am a member of a couple of local Mardi Gras krewes, so preparing for parades has become a major pastime! And of course I love to travel.
4. How did you come up with the idea behind the firebird and multi-dimensional travel? Explain how multi-dimensional travel is different from time travel.
Probably I've been entranced by the idea of alternate universes ever since Star Trek first offered up the "Mirror Universe." But the specific idea of the Firebird came to me while I was on a book tour a few years ago. Something about waking up in a new city every day made me wonder what it would be like to wake up in a new world each day.
Multidimensional travel differs from time travel in that you're always in the "now" -- as long as you're in an alternate universe, you're missing from your own universe, etc. However, some of the worlds Marguerite visits are more or less technologically developed than her own, so sometimes it feels to her like she's moved forward or backward in time! But it's always the same year, the same day, even the same hour.
5. Fate was a large theme in A Thousand Pieces of You. Do you believe in Fate and/or soul mates?
... do you know, I can't answer this question without spoiling the books? So I have to plead the Fifth!
6. Give Me 5 Adjectives that best describe the following main characters:
A. Marguerite
B. Paul
C. Theo
Five adjectives each?
OK, here we go:
Marguerite - Creative, impulsive, resourceful, moody, courageous
Paul - Loyal, awkward, intelligent, stubborn, perceptive
Theo - Witty, arrogant, passionate, ambitious, generous
7. You wrote about vastly different dimensions in, A Thousand Pieces of You. Can I just say the my favorite was St. Petersburg reminiscent of the 19th century, when Marguerite was part of Romanov Royalty! That’s when I fell madly in love with Paul. Which dimension did you have the most fun creating and why?
I'm so happy you enjoyed the Russiaverse. As you can no doubt tell, I had an absolute blast writing Marguerite's adventure as a Romanov. But I think the most enjoyable universe to come up with was the Londonverse, because it was so fun to think up all the crazy technology they'd have there.
8. If you could create your dream dimension, what would it look like? Who would be there?
I think my dream dimension is one where we're all a lot kinder, and the world is more peaceful, and James McAvoy is dearly in love with me and gives me foot rubs every day.
9. What does your next writing project look like? Or, what do you hope to write about in the future?
Well, next up for me is the third and final FIREBIRD book. I'm really not ready to be done with this story! But the ending needs to be told. There's nothing more we can talk about at this time, though maybe by the Teen Book Fest I'll have news to share. :D
10. Is there anything that you’d like to tell your fans?
I would just tell every fan THANK YOU. The only way I get to write all these wonderful books is because of you. Every time you tell a friend about one of the books, or post about it on Twitter or Tumblr, you make a real, positive difference in my life. And when I fall in love with a story, like I have with the Firebird trilogy, it's just a joy to know some other people are along for the ride.
Firebird #1
By:
Claudia Gray
Published: November 4, 2014
Publisher:
Harper Teen
Add to Goodreads
Summary:
Every Day meets Cloud Atlas in this heart-racing, space- and time-bending, epic new trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Claudia Gray.
Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention: the Firebird, which allows users to jump into parallel universes, some vastly altered from our own. But when Marguerite’s father is murdered, the killer—her parent’s handsome and enigmatic assistant Paul—escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.
Marguerite can’t let the man who destroyed her family go free, and she races after Paul through different universes, where their lives entangle in increasingly familiar ways. With each encounter she begins to question Paul’s guilt—and her own heart. Soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is more sinister than she ever could have imagined.
A Thousand Pieces of You explores a reality where we witness the countless other lives we might lead in an amazingly intricate multiverse, and ask whether, amid infinite possibilities, one love can endure.
My Review on:
A Thousand Pieces of You by Here
Follow the Blog Tour:
February 28th: Spotlight on Kasie West -- Adventures of a Book Junkie
March 1st: Spotlight on Melissa Landers -- What A Nerd Girl Says
March 2nd: Spotlight on Brad Gottfred -- Recently Acquired Obsessions
March 3rd: Spotlight on Catherine Linka -- Read Now Sleep Later
March 4th: Spotlight on Debra Driza -- Read Now Sleep Later
March 5th: Spotlight on Katie Finn -- Fearless Kurt Reads YA
March 6th: Spotlight on Claudia Gray -- A Bookish Escape
March 7th: Spotlight on Shannon Messenger -- People Like Books
March 8th: Spotlight on Lauren Miller -- The Thousand Lives
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March 19th: Spotlight on Michelle Levy -- The Consummate Reader
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