Feral by Holly Schindler blog tour with interview, book trailer and giveaway
Hello and welcome to Reader Girls on this fine Monday. It feels like fall where we live and we're happy about that. Our feature today is our tour stop on the Feral blog tour. I have read this YA psychological thriller and will post my review later today. We welcome author Holly Schindler back to our blog and share our interview with her. She is not only a fantastic author but also a lovely person to deal with. Thank you, Holly! And thank you dear readers for your support of our blog and for the books and authors we showcase every day. Enjoy this tour stop and enter the giveaway.
YA mystery/horror
Hardcover/eBook, 432 pages
Published August 26th 2014 by HarperTeen
The Lovely Bones meets Black Swan in this haunting psychological thriller with twists and turns that will make you question everything you think you know.
It’s too late for you. You’re dead. Those words continue to haunt Claire Cain months after she barely survived a brutal beating in Chicago. So when her father is offered a job in another state, Claire is hopeful that getting out will offer her a way to start anew.
But when she arrives in Peculiar, Missouri, Claire feels an overwhelming sense of danger, and her fears are confirmed when she discovers the body of a popular high school student in the icy woods behind the school, surrounded by the town’s feral cats. While everyone is quick to say it was an accident, Claire knows there’s more to it, and vows to learn the truth about what happened.
But the closer she gets to uncovering the mystery, the closer she also gets to realizing a frightening reality about herself and the damage she truly sustained in that Chicago alley….
Holly Schindler’s gripping story is filled with heart-stopping twists and turns that will keep readers guessing until the very last page.
It’s too late for you. You’re dead. Those words continue to haunt Claire Cain months after she barely survived a brutal beating in Chicago. So when her father is offered a job in another state, Claire is hopeful that getting out will offer her a way to start anew.
But when she arrives in Peculiar, Missouri, Claire feels an overwhelming sense of danger, and her fears are confirmed when she discovers the body of a popular high school student in the icy woods behind the school, surrounded by the town’s feral cats. While everyone is quick to say it was an accident, Claire knows there’s more to it, and vows to learn the truth about what happened.
But the closer she gets to uncovering the mystery, the closer she also gets to realizing a frightening reality about herself and the damage she truly sustained in that Chicago alley….
Holly Schindler’s gripping story is filled with heart-stopping twists and turns that will keep readers guessing until the very last page.
FERAL AND THE PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER:
FERAL falls squarely into the realm of the classic psychological thriller. While the book features mystery, horror, and paranormal elements, the emphasis is on the “psychological” rather than thriller / action. The novel features a Hitchcockian pace and focus on character development (here, we’re exploring the inner workings of the main character, Claire Cain). Essentially, every aspect of FERAL is used to explore Claire’s inner workings—that even includes the wintry Ozarks setting. The water metaphor is employed frequently in psychological thrillers to represent the subconscious, and in this instance is incorporated in the form of a brutal ice storm (that represents Claire’s “frozen” inner state). The attempt to untangle what is real from what is unreal (another frequently-used aspect of the psychological thriller) also begins to highlight the extent to which Claire was hurt in that Chicago alley. Even the explanation of the odd occurrences in the town of Peculiar offers an exploration into and portrait of Claire’s psyche. Ultimately, FERAL is a book about recovering from violence—that’s not just a lengthy or hard process; it’s a terrifying process, too. The classic psychological thriller allowed me to explore that frightening process in detail.
I actually write in more age groups and genres than YA and
MG. My writing interests tend to be
every bit as varied as my reading interests (I read everything from juvenile to
adult, comedy to mystery to romance to sci-fi to literary…)
One of the aspects of my career that I’m most proud of is
that I immediately started branching out right from the beginning, rather than
establishing myself as strictly a YA author or romance writer, etc. Of course, there’s something to be said for
author branding, but I know I’d wind up feeling stifled pretty quickly.
As far as what comes most naturally to me as an author,
that’s metaphorical, poetic writing.
What I find more difficult is describing physical action as it’s
happening. I have a great respect for
authors who work in any action-oriented genre.
I do have plenty of work in the pipeline, though, and will
be branching out again in the future.
You also write
covering an expansive divide—contemporary to topical issues like mental issue
and mysteries, even romance—does each story’s theme come easily to you or do
you decide once you have the characters in mind?
Each book is a completely different process:
My firsts two YAs started with themes—mental illness and
creativity (A BLUE SO DARK), and learning the difference between loving someone
and being IN love with someone (PLAYING HURT).
In THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY, the book started out
with a character: Gus. Once I had Gus
down, I worked my way toward the folk art element.
With FERAL, I started out with an MG mystery. During revision, the book took on a dark
tone—so much so, I realized it needed to be bumped up to YA. That meant brainstorming a new, older main
character. When I did, I discovered her
backstory—that she’d endured a brutal gang beating in Chicago. Once I had that, I knew the central theme of
that book was recovering from violence.
You are traditionally
published and yet I see the amount of work you put into getting your books out
there. What advice would you give new
authors seeking to publish?
The publishing industry is currently in a state of flux, due
to a great extent to the rise of e-books.
Reading habits have completely changed since I started writing full-time
back in ’01. Because reading habits have
changed, that means book buying habits have changed, as well. I’m a reader myself, and I no longer browse
in bookstores—I “browse” online, by visiting various blogs, Twitter, etc.
I keep my own book-buying habits in mind as I think about
promoting my own work. Travel and
in-person author events are expensive and (in my own experience) rarely
effective. I prefer to make use of the
blogosphere as a writer—the same blogosphere I make use of as a reader.
Besides providing a venue where I can discuss my latest
releases, the blogosphere also allows me to interact with my readers in a way I
never would have been able to otherwise.
I’m grateful every day for book bloggers.
But that doesn’t mean that other means of promotion don’t
work—they just haven’t been as effective for me. Just as every author has a unique path to
publication, so do they all have their own unique path to finding their
readers. My only advice to debut authors
would be to get out there and try it all—find out what promotional tools fit
for you.
Your novel is being
called “creepy,” “dark,” and “unique.”
Many mention the twists and turns of the story. How did Claire’s story come about? How was it coming from writing THE JUNCTION
OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY to this dark YA?
It’s funny—I don’t necessarily feel like I’ve suddenly come
to a dark place once I start drafting dark work. It honestly feels like I’m flexing many of
the same muscles—building characters, creating conflict and rising action,
etc.
The promotion’s been different for both books—even though
I’m centering my promotion efforts for both books online. I find that teachers have been my best source
of word-of-mouth activity for the MG, especially via Twitter. #mglitchat, #nerdybookclub, #4thchat, #5th
chat have all been really helpful—as have classroom Skypes. For the YA, I’ve been reaching out to the
readership directly, though a blog tour that involved a pretty extensive ARC
outreach (the most extensive ARC distribution I’ve ever had).
Is your writing
career what you thought it would be?
I think a lot of writers—and I was certainly one—assume that
selling your first book means that everything changes. You’ve got your toe in the door of the
publishing world, and it becomes relatively smooth sailing. Not so.
Publishing is a never-ending roller-coaster of highs and lows, of
selling work and rejections, of good reviews and crummy reviews, of being
excited by sales number and disappointed by sales numbers…
I’ve come to realize that the only sure-thing about
publishing is that it’s NEVER smooth sailing.
But I love the work far too much to ever let it get me down. I’m a writer through-and-through, and will be
for the rest of my life.
What can readers /
fans expect from you next and in 2015?
I’ve already finished my next MG and YA; I’ll also be
branching out into new avenues and genres in the near future. Be sure to follow along at Twitter:
@holly_schindler and Facebook: facebook.com/HollySchindlerAuthor for the latest!
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Holly Schindler is
the author of the critically acclaimed A BLUE SO DARK (Booklist starred review, ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year silver
medal recipient, IPPY Awards gold medal recipient) as well as PLAYING HURT (both YAs).
Her
debut MG, THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY, also released in ’14, and became a favorite of teachers and
librarians, who used the book as a read-aloud.
Kirkus Reviews called THE JUNCTION “...a heartwarming
and uplifting story...[that] shines...with vibrant themes of community,
self-empowerment and artistic vision delivered with a satisfying verve.”
FERAL
is Schindler’s third YA and first psychological thriller. Publishers Weekly gave FERAL a starred
review, stating, “Opening with
back-to-back scenes of exquisitely imagined yet very real horror, Schindler’s
third YA novel hearkens to the uncompromising demands of her debut, A BLUE SO
DARK…This time, the focus is on women’s voices and the consequences they suffer
for speaking…This is a story about reclaiming and healing, a process that is
scary, imperfect, and carries no guarantees.”
Schindler
encourages readers to get in touch.
Booksellers, teen librarians, and teachers can also contact her directly
regarding Skype visits. She can be
reached at hollyschindlerbooks (at) gmail (dot) com, and can also be found at
hollyschindler.com, hollyschindler.blogspot.com, @holly_schindler,
Facebook.com/HollySchindlerAuthor, and hollyschindler.tumblr.com
FERAL
Trailer:
Giveaway
There is a tour-wide giveaway of a signed copy of FERAL (running from Sept. 27- Oct. 13):
a Raffle copter giveaway
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