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*blinks*
*stares at teleprompter*
*keels over*
It's actually 2015, which means that we Fearless Fifteeners will soon send our tottling babies out into the world.
Gulp.
It also means that I'll be posting gobs of amazing Fifteener interviews all year long. (!!!) You guys, my fellow Fifteeners' books have inspired and astonished me time and time again, and I cannot wait for you to read their incredible stories.
Recently I was fortunate enough to nab an interview with the adorably sweet Susan Adrian, author of TUNNEL VISION, which will be swooping onto the shelves on January 20th, by way of St. Martin's Griffin. Here's a little bit about the story:
Romance
and action come crashing together when a teenage boy with incredible powers is
brought to the attention of the government.
Jake Lukin just turned 18. He's decent at tennis and Halo, and waiting to hear on his app to Stanford. But he's also being followed by a creep with a gun, and there's a DARPA agent waiting in his bedroom. His secret is blown.
When
Jake holds a personal object, like a pet rock or a ring, he has the ability to
"tunnel" into the owner. He can sense where they are, like a human GPS,
and can see, hear, and feel what they do. It's an ability the government would
do anything to possess: a perfect surveillance unit who could locate fugitives,
spies, or terrorists with a single touch.
Jake
promised his dad he’d never tell anyone about his ability. But his dad died two
years ago, and Jake slipped. If he doesn't agree to help the government, his
mother and sister may be in danger. Suddenly he's juggling high school, tennis
tryouts, flirting with Rachel Watkins, and work as a government asset, complete
with 24-hour bodyguards.
Forced
to lie to his friends and family, and then to choose whether to give up
everything for their safety, Jake hopes the good he's doing—finding kidnap
victims and hostages, and tracking down terrorists—is worth it. But he starts
to suspect the good guys may not be so good after all. With Rachel's help, Jake
has to try to escape both good guys and bad guys and find a way to live his own
life instead of tunneling through others.
Ooooo...sounds amazing, doesn't it?! ;) Now, check out the interview:
Can you tell us a little bit about your background?
Sure! I was an English major...I always loved to play with words. For my day job I'm a scientific editor. I moved from southern California to Montana about 12 years ago with my husband and daughter, and I love it. I love being in the mountains, with all the space we have here. I think it's a good place to be a writer.
Where is your favorite place to write?
I do most of my writing at 5:30 am, so it's almost always my sofa in the living room, in the dark. Just me and the story.
Do you ever get writer's block? Any tips to get past it?
I definitely have times when I struggle. Usually it means there's something off about the story, and I need to either move on to a different one or dig deep and figure out where I went wrong.
Was there ever a time that you considered giving up on your aspiration to write?
I did give up! The year I wrote TUNNEL VISION, in fact. I was so frustrated, after 10+ years of trying and banging my head against the wall, that I stopped, cold turkey. But my brain wouldn't give up on stories, and I started telling myself one every night before I went to sleep, continuing night to night. It got to the point where it was keeping me up at night, with twists and turns, so I gave in and finally wrote it down. That was TUNNEL VISION.
Can you tell us a little bit about your hero/heroine?
Jake Lukin is an 18-year-old boy who's had a secret his whole life--that he can hold any personal object in his hand and see not only where the owner is, but what they're seeing and feeling. His father, a general, told him never to tell anyone or the military would want to use his skills. But Jake's dad dies, and he slips up...and Dad was right. Jake tries so hard to be normal, to go to Stanford and get a degree in history, to be a good big brother, to date the girl he likes. He loves to hang out with his friends, game, play tennis. But he can never quite make it. He keeps getting sucked in deeper and deeper, until he has to choose between his family's safety or his own future.
What other projects do you have coming up?
I'm currently working on a sequel to TUNNEL VISION, and I have a middle grade out there too that I'm passionate about. After that there's another thriller that I'm working on, about two sisters from Spain...
Thanks so much for having me, Marci!
My pleasure, Susan!
* * *
Here a little bit about Susan:
Susan
Adrian is a 4th-generation Californian who somehow stumbled into living in
Montana. She danced in a ballet company and worked in the fields of exotic
pet-sitting, clothes-schlepping, and bookstore management. She’s settled in,
mostly, as a scientific editor. When she’s not with her family, she keeps busy
researching spy stuff, traveling, and writing more books.
Susan is represented by Kate Schafer Testerman of kt literary (kate@ktliterary.com). For film/television rights she is represented by Jon Cassir of CAA. She is a member of SCBWI, SFWA and ITW.
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