A themed tour with Prism Book Tours.
We're LAUNCHING the BOOK TOUR for
Parched
By Georgia Clark
Robots, renewable resources, and romance get tangled together in this thrilling futuristic adventure novel about a utopian city struggling to keep its peace.
January Tour Schedule
6 - Hope To Read & Book N Blog
11 - Welcome to Book City
13 - Bookish Events
14 - Typical Distractions
15 - Lilac Reviews & Wishful Endings
More About the Author and Parched
1. What is your motivation behind Parched? Why did you want to write it?
I suppose most writers answer this question with something like, ‘X was a deeply personal story I just had to write’ or ‘Y is an important topic more people should be taking about’. But here is the truth: I wrote Parched because I was unemployed and didn’t have a lot of friends. It was 2010, I had just moved to New York from Sydney with all the bright-eyed optimism of a pilgrim. Getting a great job, finding a lovely apartment with lots of natural light and making some good friends would be a piece of cake, I thought. Cut to me, one year later, living in a rickety Williamsburg apartment with part-time nudists and full-time cat hair, writing this book because I have two friends, and both of them are nudists. I distracted myself from this by writing a great, big action-adventure story with equal parts action, romance, and drama. I also wanted an excuse to explore the ethics of artificial intelligence and alternative economic systems, because, quite frankly, ethics of artificial intelligence and alternative economic systems are important topics more people should be taking about.
2. What do you hope readers take with them when they read your book?
An umbrella, enough change for a taxi, and if you’re wearing shoes with heels, a pair of flats that fold up. If you mean this question less literally, then I’d say, Parched is about a girl who joins a rebel underground group to fight for what she believes in. I hope this book inspires readers to do the same. Either join an actual rebel underground group and let me know when your meetings are, or find people who are passionate about what you’re passionate about, and make something together.
3. Do you have a favorite scene?
In my book, I like the scene in Part Two where Tess and Hunter talk in the florist. It’s tense and sexy and dramatic. In someone else’s book, I love the scene where Katniss first enters the arena. It was so exciting, I was practically frothing at the mouth.
4. Share something about you that is unique - maybe about how/where you write... or favorite snack foods?
As I was writing this novel, I was reading it aloud to my mum over Skype. I live in Brooklyn and she lives in a tiny beach town in Australia. Not only was it good for me to read it aloud to hear how everything was working, but Mum’s a very enthusiastic audience. Whenever I asked if there was anything I should change, she’d reply in a bewildered voice, ‘No! It’s just so good!’ and I’d smile smugly and pour myself a glass of wine.
Georgia is gearing up to teach a short, online writing class about writing sci-fi through a Lit Reactor course. Want to go check it out and join? Go HERE! Begins January 14th.
Parched
by Georgia Clark
YA Romantic Sci-Fi
Hardcover, 312 Pages
March 14th 2014 by Holiday House
YA Romantic Sci-Fi
Hardcover, 312 Pages
March 14th 2014 by Holiday House
"A gutsy teen living on an arid, depleted Earth two centuries in the future faces danger and shocking revelations when she covertly joins a subversive group.
Sixteen-year-old Tess lived in Eden, a seemingly idyllic, domed city where access to information and water is regulated by the governing Trust. After a rogue robot killed her scientist mother, Tess fled with a terrible secret to the desperate, arid Badlands, where she’s recruited by Kudzu, explained to her as a “nonviolent collective working to undermine the Trust and free the Badlands.” Learning Kudzu plans to destroy Aevum, the Trust’s latest advanced robot, Tess reluctantly returns to Eden, where she finds the luxurious life morally unconscionable and secretly trains with Kudzu. Living with her uncle, who’s involved with Aevum, Tess is strangely attracted to his sympathetic assistant, Hunter. During a Kudzu raid on the Trust’s lab, Tess discovers that Aevum will be used to eradicate all inhabitants of the Badlands—and that Hunter’s not what he seems to be.
Tess’ first-person, present-tense voice lends chilling immediacy to her no-nonsense story of mixed loyalty, disturbing secrets, and ethical dilemmas associated with diminishing natural resources and scientific experimentation.
Bold futurist adventure with unusual romance, riveting action and ominous ecological red flags." —Kirkus Reviews
While allegedly studying a BA in Communications (Media Arts & Production) at the University of technology, Sydney, she instead became an activist in the student movement and spent too much money making terrible short films.
After graduating, she became a professional hipster as Editor of The Brag, a free, weekly music magazine. This lead to her starting a band, the not-at-all seminal electro pop trio, Dead Dead Girls. This experience formed the basis of her first novel, SHE’S WITH THE BAND, published by Australia’s largest independent publisher, Allen & Unwin in 2008. SHE’S WITH THE BAND was distributed in the U.S. and the U.K. in 2011 and attracted five-star reviews.
In 2007, Georgia won a national pitching competition at SPAA, the Screen Producer Association’s annual conference, for Starts At Sunset, a one-hour drama/comedy about vampires who play in a band.
Georgia has worked as an acclaimed freelance teen and lifestyle journalist for over ten years. She is published in Girl’s Life, Cosmo, CLEO, Daily Life, Sunday Life and more. She has worked as the acting Features Editor and senior contributor for Australia’s number one teen magazine, Girlfriend. She has also attended writers’ residencies in Martha’s Vineyard, California and Portugal, and received grants for her work.
Georgia moved to New York from Sydney in 2009. Here, she performs improv comedy and writes from the New York Writers Room, which involves eating macaroons and drinking many, many cups of tea. A play she co-wrote and performs in, PICKLES & HARGRAVES, AND THE CURSE OF THE TANZANIAN GLIMMERFISH, will be on in the 2014 New York International Fringe Festival.
Tour-Wide Giveaway
$20 Amazon Gift Card (INT)
Signed copy of Parched (US only)
Ends January 25th
This sounds really interesting, thanks for sharing it with us!
ReplyDeleteI like her reason for writing it. But that's brave to pack up and move to NYC without any friends or family. Sounds like a good book!
ReplyDelete