Title: Pandemic
Author: Yvonne Ventresca
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Release Date: 6th May 2014
BLURB supplied by Jen Halligan PR
Even under the most normal
circumstances, high school can be a painful and confusing time. Unfortunately,
Lilianna's circumstances are anything but normal. Only a few people know what
caused her sudden change from model student to the withdrawn pessimist she has
become, but her situation isn't about to get any better. When people begin
coming down with a quick-spreading illness that doctors are unable to treat,
Lil's worst fears are realized. With her parents called away on business before
the contagious outbreak-her father in Delaware covering the early stages of the
disease and her mother in Hong Kong and unable to get a flight back to New
Jersey-Lil's town is hit by what soon becomes a widespread illness and fatal
disaster. Now, she's more alone than she's been since the "incident"
at her school months ago.
With friends and neighbors dying all
around her, Lil does everything she can just to survive. But as the disease
rages on, so does an unexpected tension as Lil is torn between an old ex and a
new romantic interest. Just when it all seems too much, the cause of her
original trauma shows up at her door. In this thrilling debut from author
Yvonne Ventresca, Lil must find a way to survive not only the outbreak and its
real-life consequences, but also her own personal demons.
PURCHASE LINKS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Yvonne
Ventresca is the author of PANDEMIC (Sky Pony Press, 2014), a young adult novel
about an emotionally traumatized teenager struggling to survive a deadly bird
flu outbreak. School Library Journal called PANDEMIC "an engrossing
apocalyptic story” and Kirkus Reviews said “this realistic page-turner will
keep most readers enthralled.” Yvonne’s other writing credits include two
nonfiction books for teens, AVRIL LAVIGNE (a biography of the singer) and
PUBLISHING (about careers in the field).
AUTHOR LINKS
EXCERPT
This
excerpt is from the opening of Pandemic.
The main character, Lil, is going through a difficult time even before the bird
flu strikes her town. In this first scene, I wanted to hint at some of her
troubles during her interaction with Jay.
From
pages 1-3 (500 words)
I
stood on the smoking corner behind school reveling in my aloneness. Not many
smokers had the same schedule, which made the corner the perfect place for
solitude. We always stayed a foot off the high school property, near the big
oak tree, and since we were allowed to leave during last period study hall, we
weren’t technically breaking any rules.
As
if rules mattered.
“Hey,
got a light?” Jay Martinez asked, interrupting the quiet. In the fall, he’d
moved from Arizona to live with his aunt down the block from my house.
I
handed him my half-smoked cigarette. Cupping the burning ember, he used it to
light his own. He didn’t fit in with the other smokers, but then neither did I.
My black clothes, basic ponytail, and minimal makeup placed me in my own
category. Maybe Lazy Goth. But the nice thing about smokers was that they
didn’t exclude anyone.
“Thanks.”
Jay passed my cigarette back to me. “Is New Jersey always this cold in April?”
Being
the new guy at school made Jay the flavor of the month with the other sophomore
girls. They craved him in a nauseating kind of way. He was dark, tall, and
lanky, and tended to over-communicate. Totally not my type. Now he ruined my
aloneness with weather chatter. I shrugged so he’d get the idea that I wasn’t
in a talking mood.
“Ethan
was hoping to run into you,” he said.
Another
shrug. I’d managed to avoid my ex for months. No reason to change the pattern
now.
“So
. . . do you have Robertson for bio?” he asked.
I
nodded. Jay definitely wasn’t taking the hint.
“What
are you doing your report on?”
“Emerging
diseases,” I said, finally giving up on staying silent.
“Cheerful
stuff.”
The
school projects I chose did favor the dark this semester. American history report?
The decision to drop the bomb. English book talk? A collection of Edgar Allan
Poe’s stories. Thematically, Ebola hemorrhagic fever fit right in.
“What
are you writing about?” I flicked the accumulated ashes. “Lung cancer?”
He
smiled. “The biology of taste. I write restaurant reviews on my blog and that
was the closest topic I could think of. Do you like eating at restaurants?”
Leaning
slightly forward, he held eye contact a little too long for me. Was he
flirting? Nervous, I pulled my sweater tighter around me and crossed my arms. A
flirtatious guy was the absolute last thing I needed in my life. No boyfriends,
no coy conversations for me. Not anymore.
Jay’s
unanswered question stayed suspended in the air along with the smoke ring I
blew.
“Dinner?
I don’t get out much,” I said, stubbing my cigarette into a sand-filled can
another smoker had left behind. “I have to go.”
“See
you around.”
Maybe
I read too much into the conversation, but his eyes seemed to question: You
need to leave so soon?
It
was all I could do to keep myself from breaking into a run.
TEASER
Q & A
with
Yvonne Ventresca
You’ve published a few previous
nonfiction books and written various articles for teens and adults, but PANDEMIC is your fiction debut. What was
your inspiration for this story? And what drew you to this subject?
I’ve
always been fascinated with disaster situations. Since a pandemic is both a
scary and realistic possibility, it seemed like the perfect scenario for a
story. I began wondering what it would be like if a deadly contagious disease
hit the US. I found it interesting to think about not only the practical
implications (food, water, safety), but also about how fear would change how
people choose to help each other.
PANDEMIC
addresses two frightening subjects – teacher-student sexual assault and
emerging illnesses. Was it difficult to weave those storylines together?
Some
survival stories help the main characters appreciate their pre-disaster lives.
But what if someone’s life was at rock-bottom to begin with? I wanted to
explore the idea in Pandemic that the
main character, Lil, would be struggling with a recent trauma in her life and
would have issues trusting other people, even before the disease occurs. How
would that affect her ability to survive? Could she heal, in a sense, through
the pandemic experience and come out in a better place in the end, despite the
harrowing circumstances? The incident with Lil’s teacher became an integral
part of her character and helped form how she would react to later events.
What kind of research was involved in
writing about a pandemic?
For
several months, I had a teetering pile of books about various infectious
diseases on my nightstand. I read about historical illnesses (like the Spanish
Influenza of 1918) and also researched contemporary outbreaks, like the 2009
pandemic (which although highly contagious, wasn’t nearly as deadly). A local
health department officer helped educate me about the realities of managing an outbreak
and I found documents like NJ’s “Pandemic Influenza Response Plan” online.
Based on these government plans and what a concerned person might do to prepare
for an emergency, I tried to imagine all the things that could go wrong. It
wasn’t hard to do.
After all your research on emerging
illnesses while writing PANDEMIC, have you begun stocking up on supplies and
preparing for the worst yourself?
Yes,
definitely! After researching what it would take to survive a real disaster, I
decided it might be a good idea to have emergency supplies on hand. When we
lost power during an October ice storm a few years ago, it was an interesting
test run which exposed holes in my planning. There are a lot of good resources
online about creating emergency kits. I’ve included some at
yvonneventresca.com/resources.html.
What are you working on now?
I
have a short story called “Escape to Orange Blossom” coming out as part of a YA
dystopian anthology, Prep for Doom, on
June 18th. I’m currently working on a YA thriller.
[I love the dystopian & post apocalyptic genres so I'll be adding this one to my wishlist and keeping my eyes open for this one!]
***GIVEAWAY***
Winner
will receive a signed
hard cover of PANDEMIC,
a $75 VISA gift card,
and a limited edition
necklace (mentioned in the story!).
***Any
entrants using fake or contest only social profiles to enter will be
disqualified.***
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