Title: The Girl Who Kissed A Lie
Series: Otherworld #1
Author: Skylar Dorset
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: 1st June 2014
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Before the enchantment breaks, Selkie thinks she's just an average teenage girl...
It's the beginning of summer vacation, and everyone at Selkie Stewart's Boston high school is excited. Except for Selkie, who sees herself standing at the edge of an abyss of Nothing To Do. Selkie doesn't want to spend her summer scouring the kitchen for gnomes with her crazy aunts or mooning over the enigmatic boy on Boston Common. So instead Selkie goes in search of a job. What she finds is a new best friend, a cute boy who might be more than he seems, and even more question about her mother and her past — and a sense that Selkie's adventures are just beginning.
It's the beginning of summer vacation, and everyone at Selkie Stewart's Boston high school is excited. Except for Selkie, who sees herself standing at the edge of an abyss of Nothing To Do. Selkie doesn't want to spend her summer scouring the kitchen for gnomes with her crazy aunts or mooning over the enigmatic boy on Boston Common. So instead Selkie goes in search of a job. What she finds is a new best friend, a cute boy who might be more than he seems, and even more question about her mother and her past — and a sense that Selkie's adventures are just beginning.
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Series: Otherworld #1
Author: Skylar Dorset
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: 1st June 2014
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THE GIRL WHO NEVER WAS is the story of Selkie Stewart, who thinks she’s a totally normal teenager growing up in Boston. Sure, her father is in an insane asylum, her mother left her on his doorstep—literally—when she was a baby, and she’s being raised by two ancient aunts who spend their time hunting gnomes in their Beacon Hill townhouse. But other than that her life is totally normal! She’s got an adventurous best friend who’s always got her back and an unrequited crush on an older boy named Ben. Just like any other teenager, right?
When Selkie goes in search of the mother she’s never known, she gets more than she bargained for. It turns out that her mother is faerie royalty, which would make Selkie a faerie princess—except for the part where her father is an ogre, which makes her only half of anything. Even more confusing, there’s a prophecy that Selkie is going to destroy the tyrannical Seelie Court, which is why her mother actually wants to kill her. Selkie has been kept hidden all her life by her adoring aunts, with the help of a Salem wizard named Will. And Ben. Because the boy she thinks she’s in love with turns out to be a faerie whose enchantment has kept her alive, but also kept her in the dark about her own life.
Now, with enchantments dissolved and prophecies swinging into action, Selkie finds herself on a series of mad quests to save the people she’s always loved and a life she’s learning to love. But in a supernatural world of increasingly complex alliances and distressingly complicated deceptions, it’s so hard to know who to trust. Does her mother really wish to kill her? Would Will sacrifice her for the sake of the prophecy? And does Ben really love her or is it all an elaborate ruse? In order to survive, Selkie realizes that the key is learning—and accepting—who she really is.
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Series: Otherworld #1.5
Author: Skylar Dorset
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: October 2014
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"So maybe you’ve finished reading THE GIRL WHO NEVER WAS and you’re angry about the cliffhanger and you’re anxiously awaiting THE BOY WITH THE HIDDEN NAME (in December! which will be here before you know it! I promise!).
Well, if that’s the case, I have good news, because there is a FREE e-novella coming this October, THE GIRL WHO READ THE STARS, and just look at this gorgeous cover!!" --from Skylar Dorset's website.
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Series: Otherworld #2
Author: Skylar Dorset
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire
Release Date: 2nd December 2014
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This is not your average trip to Fairyland...
Selkie Stewart has just saved her quasi-boyfriend, Ben, from a fairy prison run by the Seelie Court. If they weren't the two most-wanted individuals in the Otherworld before, they definitely are now. Along with Ben and the rest of their ragtag group of allies-Selkie's ogre aunts; a wizard named Will; Ben's cousin Safford; and Kelsey, Selkie's best friend-Selkie is ready to embrace her destiny and bring the Court down. Until she hears the rest of her prophecy: Benedict le Fay will betray you, and then he will die.
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AUTHOR INTERVIEW
Did you always want to be a writer? If
not what did you want to be?
I always wanted to be a writer. I became
lots of other things first – lawyer, professor – but eventually I got to be a
writer in the end.
What genre would you place your Otherworld
Series books into?
I would call them young adult fantasy
books.
What made you decide to write that genre
of book?
I realized that the books I was most
enjoying reading were young adult books, so I really wanted to write in that
genre. It just seemed like you could do so much really fun and interesting
stuff there. And fantasy was really calling to me, especially fantasy rooted in
the real world, which is what the Otherworld books really are. I was always
explaining the crazy things around me by pretending they had supernatural
explanations. I figured I might as well write them all down!
Do you have a favourite character from
your books? and why are they your favourite?
Oh, gosh, it’s actually really hard to
choose! But there are characters I would love to write more about, of course. I
love Ben, but Selkie loves Ben, so that’s probably not fair. I also really love
Will, I think he’s probably lived a really interesting life and I’d love to
explore more of it. You’re about to learn a lot more about the Goblin King in
THE BOY WITH THE HIDDEN NAME, and I seriously adore him, and I hope all of you
do, too. And I love Merrow, who’s one of the other fays you’re going to meet in
THE BOY WITH THE HIDDEN NAME, but you can also read all about her story in my
(free!) e-novella THE GIRL WHO READ THE STARS. Merrow’s a delight, go spend
more time with her!
If you had to choose to be one of your
characters in your book/books which would you be? and why?
I think that I’d be Will. I don’t think
I would want to be Selkie, because, let’s face it, her life is crazy! I don’t
think I would handle it with half as much grace as Selkie does! But I think it
would be pretty cool to be Will: a wizard who has gotten to see centuries of
history. I think that would be awesome.
Where do you get your book plot ideas
from for the Otherworld ? What/Who is your inspiration?
I was initially inspired by a dream I
had that, once I’d poked and prodded at it a little bit, grew into the shape of
this story. Of course, the dream didn’t have nearly the details that the book
ended up having, so I filled those in. A lot of the inspiration came from
faerie lore. But I also have a lot of old books about New England that were
written in the early 20th century, and those books say a lot of fascinating
things. A bunch of the New England details in the Otherworld books are true,
and a lot of them came from my collection of old New England books.
How did you come up with the Title and
Cover Designs for your Otherworld Series? Who designed the Cover of your books?
The titles were so hard, let me tell
you. I just fail at titles generally in life. I am bad at titling EVERYTHING. I
won’t even know what to title the Word document I’m typing these answers in! So
my editor was the one who eventually came up with the titles. We worked through
a lot of different titles, and I still have lists of titles that I was
brainstorming my way through. She was the one with the final bolt of
inspiration, and I’m so lucky to have her!
Sourcebooks handled the cover design. I
admit I’m not entirely sure how the process exactly went, because what happened
was they sent me the design and it was awesome and there you had it! I will say
that I got an e-mail over the summer from the girl who served as the model for
Selkie, and she was utterly delightful.
Is there anything in your book/books you
would change now if you could and what would it be?
Hmm. This is a good question. I think there’s
nothing major I would change but there’s lot of little, minor things. When I
read the books over now, I notice word choices that irk me, phrases that I
think get used too much. But it’s the kind of nitpicky stuff that is always
going to be there. A writer is always editing in her head. Someone once said
that writers never really finish books, and I think that’s true.
Do you have plans for a new book? Is this new book going to be part of a
series?
I
have a million ideas for new books, and picking one has been hard. I actually
just finished a draft of a middle grade novel that I wrote for fun, just to see
if I could, and now I’m turning my attention to settle down to a new book. The
idea I’m toying with at the moment is: A girl from 100 years ago walks into
your house out of the blue. She doesn’t know what’s going on, either.
Are there any New Authors you are
interested in for us to watch out for? and Why should we watch out for them?
What a great interview with Skylar. I enjoyed learning more about this series. It really sounds like a fascinating world with interesting characters. I look forward to checking it out. I love that Skylar got the idea for the series from her dreams. Cool! :)
ReplyDelete~Jess