Author Stop: Kimber An

Kimber An is stopping by today. She has written a YA series, the Ophelia Dawson Chronicles, which includes Sugar Rush, Crushed Sugar and the latest, Sweet Bytes.

Book blurb: Ophelia’s escape from Martin, an Addicted Newblood, came at a terrible sacrifice. Adrian, the boy she loves, is now infected and hunted like vermin.

As her new Protector, Tristan Li represents the Oldblood determination to destroy Adrian, along with all the Newbloods, addicted or not.

In her grief, Ophelia hates everything about Tristan, until his subtle strength empowers her to resist being turned into a vampire by the High Prefect.

As Tristan helps Ophelia harness her empathic ability, his need for redemption rings in her heart. Her own strength grows, along with her passion for freedom.

The veil of mourning lifts.

The evil of Martin returns.

Ophelia seizes ownership of her destiny.

We welcome Kimber An back and here is her Guest Post.

Alaska, a Great Land for My Stories

Good morning, Geniuses! The Reader Girls wanted to know why I set my Ophelia Dawson stories in Alaska. Well, the simple answer is, I live here and know it well. It’s difficult to write a story set in a real place I’ve never been. I’m sure the real residents of that place would laugh at me. It can be done, of course, but it’s tough.

The more complicated reason is that Setting is like another character in a story. I learned this from one of my mentors, Linnea Sinclair. http://www.linneasinclair.com/ The setting must contribute to the story. Would the Harry Potter stories done so well set in Forks instead of Hogwarts? Of course not. The misty forests surrounding that Washington town was perfect for Twilight though.

For most of the Ophelia Dawson stories, she is a cornered animal, chased by the predator, Martin, who’s addicted to her sweet diabetic blood. It’s kind of a ‘monster in the house’ story, as coined by Blake Snyder in his screenwriting book, Save the Cat! http://www.blakesnyder.com/ Alaska in the wintertime can be a very challenging place to live. A small, isolated town like Togo can be shut off from the rest of humanity by an avalanche. No phone, no Internet, no way out. Trapped in Togo, Ophelia has no choice but to fight back in order to survive and protect the people she loves. To do that, she must discover her own strengths and become confident in using them.

Who needs werewolves in Alaska? We got real wolves and lots of ‘em too!

Alaska isn’t all frozen and isolated! It truly is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. In Sweet Bytes, the plot allows me to take the characters to some of these places. Springtime finally comes to Togo and Ophelia goes fishing with Tristan with romantic results. Meanwhile, the presumed-dead Adrian tries to kill himself by diving off Beluga Point at Turnagain Arm. This is a real place. You can go there and watch Beluga Whales swim by. After suicide fails, Adrian contemplates his dilemma at McHugh Creek nearby. This is also a real place. My husband carried me across a stream to pick a flower there on our first date. http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/aspunits/chugach/mchughckpicartl.htm

Ophelia visits her grandmother because Seward is my favorite place in all of Alaska. http://seward.com/ I just had to have a few scenes there! They’ve got the SeaLife Center in Seward. You can go on whale-watching tours in Prince William Sound. It’s gorgeous. My husband and I honeymooned there.

So, there you have it, Alaska, the Great Land, a wonderful place to live…and write.

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About the author: Kimber An was seriously deprived of great YA stories when she was a teen in a small isolated town before the advent of the Internet and eBooks. Nowadays, she writes her own YA stories while wrangling four offspring with her pilot husband in Alaska.

Sweet Bytes was just released by Noble YA. You can learn all about it here- https://www.nobleyoungadult.com/Books/342/Sweet-Bytes

To learn more about the first two books in the series, pop over to my main site- http://www.kimberan.com/

GIVEAWAY: And please don’t forget to comment to win a free copy! 

After that, you should pop over to
http://fabulouslyyoungepubs.blogspot.com/2011/10/friday-news-release-festivities-for.html to enter the Grand Prize Drawing too. It ends Monday, October 24th.

We thank Kimber An.