Interview: J. Scott Savage

Wow, J. Scott Savage stopped by for an interview. He's on a whirlwind tour talking about his new book Farworld Water Keep. You can read my review here.

Hi Scott,
Thank you for joining me here on this snowflake. I hope the shrinking process wasn’t too painful, and I’m glad you brought along your parka, it can sometimes be a bit cold.

You know, I'd never really wanted to ride on a snowflake until you mentioned
it, but I have to admit. It is really quite a kick. I definitely think Disney needs to make a snowflake ride.


In your newest book, Farworld Water Keep, your main characters both suffer from disabilities that set them apart from their worlds. Why did you choose to create characters that seem most unlikely to save anyone, let alone a world, especially when people generally look on disabilities with such disdain?

I like to have characters with real challenges to reaching their goals. I love a lot of fantasy, but I think a story loses something when the character who has to save the day discovers they are really the most powerful hero or magician or sports star or whatever. I believe the most amazing things are not done by the most powerful people, but by ordinary people extending their reach.

Do you really believe there’s magic in everyone?

Absolutely.

What kind of magic?

It depends on the person. I think the happiest people are those who have discovered the magic inside them, and the unhappiest people are those who have given up hope or forgotten what their magic is. One of the greatest adventures in life is finding and using your magic. Look at the recent Olympics. Can't you just see a glow around those people who have found something they can really excel at?

Yes, you can.

Some of your character’s names are a mouthful. How did you come up with those names? When you said Thrathkin S’Bae out loud to your wife did she ever comment, “Say it, don’t spray it?”

Only when I was eating graham crackers. I like to play with sounds. Thathkin S'Bae just sounds evil.

You're right, it does.

I regularly jump between snowflakes (they melt, you know), but the idea of jumping between worlds is fascinating, especially when trouble is brewing. Did you ever wish you could jump between worlds?

Hmm I guess I should be jumping too. That explains my sopping wet socks. I would love to jump between worlds. I think everyone who likes to read fantasy is really just jumping from one world to another. Our favorite authors are the ones whose worlds we like to visit the most.

Usually, only one character is the main character, but you have two. Why did you decide to include two, and why a boy and a girl?

One of the standards of writing YA is that boys will only read about boys, but girls will read about boys and girls. I'm not sure I completely buy that. It may be harder to get a boy to try a book with a girl as the hero, but if the story is written well enough, he will stick with it.

That being said, I didn't want my story to be about a girl with a boy sidekick or visa versa. I wanted to unique stand alone heroes who can only succeed by working together. A real case of 1+1=5.

You’ve created some scary creatures, especially the unmakers. How did you come up with the idea for these “bad guys?”

I like to bring out real emotion in a reader, whether it's laughter, fear, tension. And I think one way to make the reader feel real concern for the heroes is to create "bad guys" that are truly scary. So I try to come up with creatures that would scare me.

You certainly accomplished that with the unmakers--they're defintely scary!

Well, this snowflake is about to melt and I’ll need to find another one. Thank you for stopping by, Scott. Farworld Water Keep will be available in bookstores in September, right?

Correct. They should actually start showing up in stores by the end of the first week of September. Thanks so much for having me. I have to remember this whole snowflake gig. It would make a great story angle.

Thank you so much for stopping by Scott. It's been a pleasure. Yes, close your eyes and jump. Time for me to jump off this snowflake, too. Until next time . . .

Learn more about J. Scott Savage and his other books

Summer Book Trek

This is my wrap-up post for the Summer book Trek that I participated in over at the LDS Fiction blog.

This summer was crazy busy with 9 of my 10 kids at home, Wood Badge Training (for my husband--2 different long weekends in another state) for the BSA, Scout camp, drama camp, MTC camp, 4-stake Youth Conference (my husband is serving as Stake Young Men's President so he's been very involved with all stake youth activities), garden, trip to California, having my son return home from his mission to Italy, and moving that same son and my oldest daughter up to Provo this last weekend. Yep, it was insane and I'm just glad I kept my head above water :).

Here's my answers to the questions:

1. How many fiction books by LDS authors did you read? Only 2

Farworld Water Keep by J. Scott Savage
Season of Sacrifice by Tristi Pinkston

2. Did you read more than you would have read if you hadn't participated in this book trek?

Yes, I probably wouldn't have read anything.

3. Did the reviews posted by other participants influence which titles you read? How?

I liked reading the other reviews and will pick up other books based on the reviews.

4. Did the Whitney awards influence which titles you read? No.

5. Did the many, many virtual blog tours that happened this summer influence which titles you read? Yes.

How? I participated in the blog tour for Farworld.

6. Did you finish all the books you had planned to read? Yes.

7. Did you discover any new authors whom you now love? Yes. Love Tristi and Jeff, er, J. Scott.

8. Did you nominate any of the books you read for Whitney awards? Not yet.

9. Would you be interested in another LDS themed reading challenge either this winter, or next summer? Yes.

It was fun participating, though the other participants all put me to shame with the number of books they read. Wow, some of them must be speed readers! I really enjoyed reading everyone's reviews and I think it helped bring more awareness to LDS fiction.

Book Review: Farworld Water Keep

Farworld Water Keep
by J. Scott Savage

From the back cover:

Other people may see thirteen-year-old Marcus Karnenas as an outcast and a nobody, but he sees himself as a survivor and a dreamer. In fact, his favorite dream is of a world faraway, a world where magic is as common as air, where animals tell jokes and trees beg people to pick their fruit. He even has a name for this place—Farworld.

When Marcus magically travels to Farworld, he meets Kyja, a girl without magic in a world where spells, charms, and potions are everywhere, and Master Therapass, a master wizard who has kept a secret hidden for thirteen years, a secret that could change the fate of two worlds.

But the Dark Circle has learned of Master Therapass’s secret and their evil influence and power are growing. Farworld’s only hope is for Marcus and Kyja to find the mythical Elementals—water, land, air, and fire—and convince them to open a drift between the worlds.

As Kyja and Marcus travel to Water Keep, they must face the worst evil Dark Circle can throw at them—Summoners, who can command the living and the dead; Unmakers, invisible creatures that can destroy both body and soul; and dark mages known as Thrathkin S’Bae.

Along the way, Marcus and Kyja will discover the truth about their own heritage, the strength of their friendship, and the depths of their unique powers.

Marcus and Kyja both suffer from what their individual worlds would consider disabilities. Marcus has physical limitations while Kyja believes she has no magic.
They both feel out of place in their respective worlds, and like most teenagers, they desperately want to fit in. But they don’t. It’s because they don’t fit in that they can become such highly identifiable characters and the story is so powerful. I love that Savage showed two visibly flawed characters overcome their obstacles, find inner strength and courage, and work to save Farworld.

Savage creates an interesting and detailed world complete with scary, creepy characters. The Unmakers are just plain creepy.

Readers will definitely enjoy the trip through this fantastical world with the underlying message that we all have magic inside us.

Farworld Water Keep will be available in stores in September.

Learn more about the author, J. Scott Savage, and his other books.

The Whitney Awards and Other Stuff

For a list of books eligible for a Whitney Award this year you can visit LDS Publisher, LDS Fiction, or Write Bravely. Books are added each week to the list so be sure to check it out regularly. If you read a fantastic book by an LDS author, go to The Whitney Awards and nominate it. Changes have been made to the awards this year and representatives will be at the LDS Booksellers Convention in August.

LDS Fiction is hosting a Summer Reading Trek. You can still sign up and win books. You have to commit to read a book (or more) by an LDS author and then post a review before August 31. It's fun to read the reviews and see other people's reading lists.

I will be posting a review of Farworld Water Keep as well as an interview with J. Scott Savage next month. I'm still reading the book because I'm the world's slowest reader, but I do love how the main character has a disability and it's not limiting him. That really speaks to me because it's the message I want to shout about my own son.

My blog tour concluded yesterday. I've been very touched by the wonderful reviews and the great support everyone has given me. I'll leave the links up for a bit in case anyone has a chance to stop by any of the blogs. I can't express enough gratitude to all of the amazing bloggers who participated in the tour. Thank you!

I hope everyone had a fabulous 4th of July weekend. We had a family picnic, watched fireworks, and took the kids swimming. We also visited Henderson Lake which is located high in the mountains with spectacular views of the valley below and other mountain ranges. The lake itself is gorgeous, surrounded by mountains and pine trees. Absolutely breathtaking.

Farworld Water Keep ARC

Yesterday I received my ARC, Advance Reader's Copy, of J. Scott Savage's newest book Farworld Water Keep. I'm excited to read it. My college-age daughter just told me (twice) as I'm writing this blog, that she wants to read it. All of my kids were duly impressed with the cover art which, I must say, is very cool.

I'll be posting my review and an interview with J. Scott himself in late August. Watch for the exotic place from which we'll be doing the interview and stay tuned to win your own copy.

The book will be available nationwide in September.

Blog Tours

In answer to Ali's question about blog tours, I'll try to explain them as best I can.

Since blogging has become so popular, authors are turning to blogs to help them promote their books. Authors contact bloggers (or make an announcement and allow bloggers to contact them) and supply a copy of their book. On an appointed day, the blogger posts a review of the book as well as an interview with the author. (The blogger has previously contacted the author with a list of questions and then posts the author's replies).

The author links to the blogger and vice-verse and posts a list of the dates he/she will be featured on each blog. All of the bloggers link to each other and post the blog tour dates.

Basically, the blogger reads a free book, posts a review, and posts an interview of the author on a certain day.

Authors can set the tours up themselves or can hire someone to set it up for about $400.

A blog tour provides more visibility for the author, his/her book, and the blogger. It's a win-win situation, but it does take some work.

Jeff Savage will be doing a blog tour this summer for his Farworld book. I'll be participating in that one. Candace Salima will also be doing a blog tour for her book Forged by the Refiner's Fire, but I don't have specific details on that one yet.

Book Blog Tours, or is it Blog Book Tours, seems to be the book tour of the future. And, if anyone is interested in helping me do a blog tour with my book Heaven Scent please let me know. Thanks :)

Farworld Blog Tour

J. Scott Savage (aka Jeff Savage) is kicking off a blog tour for his upcoming fantasy book Farworld.

I'm excited to read this book. Now, I'm not a big fantasy fan. I tend to read (and write) realistic fiction, but this book sounds amazing. Jeff, er, Scott, really knows his stuff so I look forward to a great read.

My kids love fantasy. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and anything with dragons, other mystical creatures, or magical spells is popular with my kids. I'll probably have to hide this book from my kids just so I can read it. Who knows, maybe he'll get me hooked on fantasy? I'm just excited to be a little part of his tour.