Winner, Contest, and Interview with Sarah Fine!

This has been a whirlwind week! Lucky, I have more things to giveaway!

First- the Winner of Finnikin of the Rock is........

AMY JARECKI! 

Amy, please e-mail me at Ashley.M.Nixon-1@ou.edu with your address and I'll send your book on your way!

For my next giveaway, it will be a box of things. I got this idea from Rachel Pudelek (who received a 'writer's kit' from her niece). Now, I'd have a picture for you, but my package got lost in the mail. So, I will proceed to tell you about this giveaway:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13482750-sanctum

1. I will be giving away a copy of Sarah Fine's Sanctum. I love this book and I am excited to share it with others.

2. A journal. Remember my journal blog? Well, now I'm going to give one you a lucky person!

3. Pens.

4. Your choice between tea and coffee...and probably hot chocolate!

Okay, how do you win?

Well, enter this rafflecopter thingy (cause during April, you guys are going have to be competitive):


a Rafflecopter giveaway

And now I give you an awesome interview with THE Sarah Fine! 

Hi Sarah! Thank you for joining me! I have to say, I loved your book, Sanctum. I could not put it down! Where did the idea come from? 

I’m so happy that you liked it! I started with the idea for the afterlife (see below for the origin of that), and then I decided to write a story in which one person journeys to that dark place to rescue another. After that, it was a matter of deciding what kind of person would do that and why, and that’s where Lela came from. I’m also intrigued by the idea that death doesn’t necessarily constitute an escape from having to deal with our “issues.”

I remember being struck by the fact that this was a YA book about hell. Where did your idea of hell come from? 

I am fascinated with the concept of hell presented by CS Lewis in his book The Great Divorce, a “grey town” in which citizens can have what they want, but nothing is of very good quality. That was the seed of the idea, and then it sort of took root and grew into the dark city and the entire Shadowlands. My dark city is generated and sustained by despair. Other places in the Shadowlands are generated by … different things.

I work in the mental health field as well, and was very impressed with the issues you explore regarding your characters. In the end, what do you hope your readers take away from your book? 

I’d love it if readers simply enjoyed the characters and the story. Sanctum is meant to be a tale of sacrifice and hope, of finding happiness and love in a place that you’d least expect it, and of the destructive and redemptive power of our own choices.

Were you worried about querying a Young Adult book where the main character (quite literally) goes to hell? 

No. YA literature covers all sorts of dark subjects. My book is probably darker than average, but I certainly didn’t encounter any concerns from agents. I had a good request rate for fulls (about 20%) and ended up with several offers of representation, so I guess I had no evidence it should be something to worry about. I ended up signing with an agent (Kathleen Ortiz) who has a fondness for edgy and dark, which was the perfect fit for me.

The sequel to Sanctum comes out in November of this year. It’s set in a totally different place than the first with an entirely new set of challenges, and Lela and Malachi will have to adjust to that! As for how they adjust to each other … well. I guess you’ll have to read and find out!

What's next for Lela and Malachi?

The sequel to Sanctum comes out in November of this year. It’s set in a totally different place than the first with an entirely new set of challenges, and Lela and Malachi will have to adjust to that! As for how they adjust to each other … well. I guess you’ll have to read and find out!

Thanks again Sarah! 

Okay guys! Get to entering!