Title: In The Beginning There Was Us
Author: Ingrid Jonach
Date of Publication: April 28, 2015
BLURB supplied by Oops I Read A Book Again
What would you do if you were God? If you had the power
to not only give life, but take it away in the blink of an eye? These are the
questions that haunt fifteen-year-old Abbey Baxter after she resurrects a boy,
long lost to the ages.
The achingly beautiful and eternally melancholy Cole not
only serves as a welcome distraction from her long-time crush, Elwin, but also
eases the heartache that persists since the sudden passing of her younger
brother, Junior, four years earlier.
As the intrigue of her relationship with Cole deepens, so
too does the mystery that surrounds a growing phenomenon sweeping through her
small West Virginian town, transforming the lives of its residents. Around her,
two bedroom cottages are transforming into mansions without explanation and
residents are waking up to bank balances that have tripled overnight, all under
the watchful gaze of the sinister American Laboratory for Particle Physics,
located on the outskirts of town.
As Abbey searches for answers in a bid to solve the
mystery in partnership with Elwin, she’s forced into a realization that that
some things are better left buried, including her newfound love, Cole.
This cautionary tale of heartache and obsession explores
the endless possibilities of the universe and its devastating impact on two
young lovers from different worlds.
PURCHASE LINKS
[I really like the sound of this book, it sounds really "different"~Jeanz]
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ingrid Jonach
writes books for kids and teens.
Her young adult
sci fi romance novels When the World was Flat (and we were in love) and In The
Beginning There Was Us are available now.
She is also the
author of the picture book A Lot of Things and the chapter books The Frank
Frankie and Frankie goes to France published by Pan Macmillan Australia.
Ingrid has worked
as a journalist and public relations consultant, and has a Bachelor of Arts in
Professional Writing with Honors in Communications.
She lives down
under - in Canberra, Australia - with her husband Craig and their pug dog
Mooshi.
Website: http://ingridjonach.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/IngridJonach
GUEST POST
Ingrid Jonach answers . . .
Why I love writing YA Sci-fi
I love
writing for young adults—mainly because I like reading young adult novels, so I
guess I feel like I'm writing for myself. And, even though I’m now well beyond
the traditional age bracket, my favourite contemporary author remains Sarah
Dessen (who has just released her twelfth novel Saint Anything. Yay!).
When I was writing
books for kids, I used to get asked all the time whether I had kids myself. I
somewhat sheepishly replied, ‘No,’ as if this somehow disqualified me from
being able to entertain and educate that age group. After all, I was a kid once
myself.
And that’s exactly
how I look at my obsession with young adult novels. I was—not too long ago—a
teenager and it left an indelible mark on me. I think what really appeals to me
about writing for young adults is that you’re exploring the transition to
adulthood, which gives you some really heavy themes like the loss of innocence
and search for identity, coupled with characters who vary vastly in maturity.
I’ve always
been a big fan of fantasy—more so than science fiction. The books I adored
growing up were mostly supernatural (for example, anything by Australian author
Victor Kelleher). I particularly adored the horror genre. I devoured anything
with vampires in it (WAY before Twilight) and cut my teeth on R. L. Stine.
When I
started pitching my first young adult novel—When the World was Flat (and we
were in love)—to agents, I actually described it as a fantasy novel. Embarrassing
as this is for someone with a writing degree to admit, I wasn’t a reader of
science fiction and thought of it largely as stories set in space (hard science
fiction). When I finally pieced together that Albert Einstein and his Theory of
Everything were science and NOT fantasy (duh!), I started describing my story
as science fiction fantasy and then soft science fiction and now science
fiction romance and sometimes speculative fiction. The genre, however, that I think
really sums it up is the non-existent genre of urban science fiction (a
hypothetical counterpart to urban fantasy).
My follow up
young adult novel, In The Beginning There Was Us, is also urban science fiction
(I’m just going to go ahead and coin it as a genre). Both of my young adult novels
look at re-imagined histories and possible scientific explanations for the
inexplicable in a contemporary setting. For example, scientific theories I have
developed (or dreamed up) about ghosts and luck. I use the term ‘scientific’
loosely, of course. The theories are only based in science – the rest is based
in what if?
You know how
kids go through the ‘why?’ phase. They ask what you’re doing and when you tell
them they want to know why. And when you tell them why their next question is
inevitably, ‘why?’ I think I’ve never left that phase behind. I enjoyed maths
at school until my teachers stopped being able to explain to me why I needed to
understand trigonometry and calculus. Then I dropped it (something I somewhat regret,
but that saw me pass my final exams with flying colours!).
This
insatiable curiosity has led me to the science fiction genre. The romance that’s
spread throughout my novels is just the icing on the
cake. Couple both of those with the young adult demographic and I have so much scope
for my imagination!
EXCERPT
Chapter One
I
WAKE TO the sound of sirens and a bedroom lit up, as if by fireworks on the
Fourth of July.
I
blink owlishly at the ceiling for a moment or two, before I throw back the
covers and crawl across my bed to peer through my window at the blue and red
flashing lights of a police car and a fire engine. They’re followed moments
later by an ambulance and two more police cars.
The
five vehicles careen around the corner, like clown cars off to throw confetti
on a fake fire, and I realize that they’re headed in the direction of the Lab.
The
American Laboratory for Particle Physics—as it’s officially called—is located
on the outskirts of our small town and employs at least a third of the
population, including my dad.
The
Lab has also put our town on the map as the least visited town in the country,
unless you count the protesters that camp on the outskirts of Albert Falls. No
one else wants to be within a hundred mile radius of the largest particle accelerator
in the United States.
I
watch through my window as the surrounding houses light up one by one, like
fireflies at dusk. It’s more like dawn though. I glance over at the digital
clock that sits on my chest of drawers. Yep. 3.46am.
I
open the sash and a warm breeze ruffles my curtains as I strain to hear the now
distant sirens, which intermingle with the sound of screen doors slamming and
neighbors yelling at barking dogs.
I’m
suddenly blinded by the bedroom light above my head.
“Pack
your bags, Abbey.”
“What?”
I ask, turning and rubbing one of my eyes with the heel of my hand.
“Now,”
my dad says. I hear his shoes clomp down the hallway and it registers that he’s
already dressed.
I
remember to place my right foot on the floorboards before my left as I climb
out of bed. I may as well go back to bed and pull the covers over my head if I
start the day on the wrong foot—so to speak.
It’s
just one of many symptoms of my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, which my best
friend Mali Kendrick had helpfully diagnosed via Google three years ago.
I
have a couple of other rituals—including one for walking through doorways and
another for putting on seatbelts.
There
are others that I make up on the spot. For example, deciding that if I close my
eyes for two minutes and thirty seconds I’ll pass an exam, or if I hold my
breath through a television commercial my mom won’t need her medication
anymore.
I
rummage through my wardrobe for my overnight bag and start filling it, not
knowing how many pairs of underwear to pack, or whether I need to take my
swimsuit.
I
shake my head as I stuff it back into my drawer. This isn’t a holiday. It’s an
evacuation, I remind myself and the hairs on the back of my neck prickle at the
realization.
We’ve
been through the drill a thousand times at school. We’re supposed to pack
clothes and toiletries only and then await further instruction from the
authorities.
Like
everyone else in town, we already have a container of food and water stored in
the trunk of our station wagon. No one’s supposed to take valuables like
jewelry, or non-essential items like photographs and pets. A few kids had cried
when we were told about the policy on pets, but they’re not permitted at the
shelter in Charleston. Yep. Charleston. They may as well evacuate us to the
Lab.
My
ears pick up the sound of a public announcement and I rush to my window again.
“—in
your homes,” a recorded voice is saying through a megaphone mounted to the top
of a black sedan emblazoned with the acronym A.L.P.P. “I repeat: stay in your
homes. Albert Falls is currently in lockdown by order of the United States
Government.
***GIVEAWAY***
This is a Tour Wide International Giveaway
for an e-copy of
In the Beginning Was US
&
When The World Was Flat And We Were In Love
Both titles by Ingrid Jonach
This Tour was organised by:
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