Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Inspirations for This Shattered World & Giveaway!

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[Banner Image Credit: Amie Kaufman Facebook Page]
I was a huge fan of These Broken Stars when I read it a few months ago, and I’m really excited to have the blog tour for this second book stop by the blog today. I’ve got both authors over here talking about the inspiration behind Starbound! Here’s a bit of info on this book first:

Inspirations for This Shattered World & Giveaway!This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman, Meagan Spooner
Published by Disney Hyperion on December 23rd 2014
Genres: Sci-Fi, YA
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads

The second installment in the epic Starbound trilogy introduces a new pair of star-crossed lovers on two sides of a bloody war.

Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac should never have met.

Lee is captain of the forces sent to Avon to crush the terraformed planet's rebellious colonists, but she has her own reasons for hating the insurgents.

Rebellion is in Flynn's blood. Terraforming corporations make their fortune by recruiting colonists to make the inhospitable planets livable, with the promise of a better life for their children. But they never fulfilled their promise on Avon, and decades later, Flynn is leading the rebellion.

Desperate for any advantage in a bloody and unrelentingly war, Flynn does the only thing that makes sense when he and Lee cross paths: he returns to base with her as prisoner. But as his fellow rebels prepare to execute this tough-talking girl with nerves of steel, Flynn makes another choice that will change him forever. He and Lee escape the rebel base together, caught between two sides of a senseless war.

TSW-preorder


Guest Post by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner

What Inspires Us
The question “how do you come up with your ideas” is hands down the most frequent question we stumble across when talking to readers. As much as we’d love to say “from the corner mart,” the real answer is that inspiration comes from everywhere. It comes from the conversations we have with friends, from the stories we read in the news, from the advancements that scientific pioneers are making every day. It comes from everything we do and see, including art, music, television, movies, and, of course… other books!

Those who’ve been reading about These Broken Stars know that a lot of the inspiration for the story came from our joint love of space and shipwreck stories. This Shattered World comes from an entirely different fascination of ours: star-crossed friendships, the moral grey area issues involving loyalty and treachery in times of war, and how just one person—or two!—can make a difference.

So here are a few of our favorite inspirations for This Shattered World… some of them might surprise you!
Firefly/Serenity: Okay, this one’s not a surprise. Cowboys in space? There’s no question our fascination with the idea of newly developed planets full of abandoned and angry colonists aligns nicely with this show’s premise! Not to mention the fact that the character of Zoe Washburne would definitely, definitely, be pals with Jubilee Chase.

Firefly-Serenity

Pride & Prejudice: This was a great inspiration for all three of our books. We love friendships and romances that spring up in unlikely places, between unlikely people. Any time two people start off hating each other on principle but find that first impression changing as they grow… well, we’re sold.

Pride and Prejudice

Doctor Who: We’re both Whovians, and we’ve never tried to deny it. Sure, the show can get campy (really campy) but it’s got heart, and characters you love, and in the midst of the worst kinds of hardship the Doctor can find hope and humor. We try to do that in our books, as well—and in This Shattered World especially, they have to search and work hard to keep that hope alive.

Doctor Who

Far and Away: There’s no doubt that a big inspiration for the culture and political situation on Avon comes from a mutual fascination with immigrant culture, particularly that of Irish immigrants to America—hence the fierce Fianna, our mostly-Irish band of rebels living in the swamps of Avon.

Far and Away

Star Trek: Space. The final frontier. Need we say more? (Okay, just one more thing: we love how often Star Trek episodes deal with philosophical and moral conundrums… it’s classic science fiction, and something we love to explore in our books as well!)

Star Trek

Romeo & Juliet: While the literary references in These Broken Stars are harder to spot because we didn’t want to spoil certain twists, it’s not hard to see that a big, big inspiration for This Shattered World came from the Bard himself. There’s a reason we named our planet Avon…

 


About the Authors

Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner are longtime friends and sometime flatmates who have traveled the world (but not yet the galaxy), covering every continent between them. They are sure outer space is only a matter of time. Meagan, who is also the author of the Skylark trilogy, currently lives in Asheville, NC, while Amie lives in Melbourne, Australia. Although they currently live apart, they are united by their love of space opera, road trips, and second breakfasts.

Visit the These Broken Stars website for the latest news on the series and follow the authors on Twitter at @AmieKaufman and @MeaganSpooner. You may also sign up for their newsletter as well! These Broken Stars will be available in North America on December 10, 2013.


This post is part of the This Shattered World blog tour hosted by The Midnight Garden.

Monday, December 8 – The Midnight Garden
Tuesday, December 9 –  The Book Smugglers
Wednesday, December 10 – Ivy Book Bindings
Thursday, December 11 – Cuddlebuggery
Friday, December 12 – Little Book Owl
Monday, December 15 – Mundie Moms
Tuesday, December 16 – Xpresso Reads
Wednesday, December 17 – A Book Utopia
Thursday, December 18 – Supernatural Snark
Friday, December 19 – Love is Not a Triangle


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Giveaway

These wonderful authors and Disney-Hyperion have generously offered up some fab prizes during this blog tour! See what’s up for grabs:

— Autographed copies of These Broken Stars and This Shattered World
— Starbound swag
— A secret letter from Tarver to Lilac, which you may keep secret for yourself, or may be posted and shared with others
— Your choice of coffee with the authors at one of their upcoming U.S. tour stops (locations TBD) OR a Skype chat!

 

Use the Rafflecopter below to enter:

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Giselle

Canadian blogger, wife, mother, coffee lover, and sarcastic at heart! She has had a love for all things bookish since before Amazon and eReaders existed *le gasp*. You can also find her organizing tours and other fun things at Xpresso Book Tours.

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27 Responses to “Inspirations for This Shattered World & Giveaway!”

  1. Christina R.

    LOVE how Pride and Prejudice inspired a scifi novel! Wouldn’t have guessed, but it’s awesome the romance is like Austen’s:)

    And I love how immigrant culture and a movie about it also inspired you!

    Lovely post 🙂

  2. Pili

    As a lover of everything Irish I love to hear that you based the Avon settlers on them, and given the first chapters that I read on the novella I could very much get that Irish vibe!

    Also if Jubilee and Zoe would be best pals, is Flynn anything like our dear Wash?

  3. Ellie

    I love how Pride & Prejudice was an inspiration. I can totally see Jubilee, Uhura, and Zoe, all chilling with each other. That would be the BEST!

  5. Katie

    I think one of the things that I love the most about this trilogy is that it is so colorful and layered; while reading “These Broken Stars” you could see hints of all the things that influenced Amie’s and Meagan’s story, which makes it appealing to a large crowd of readers. I feel like anyone who picks up the “Starbound Trilogy” is bound to find something in it for themselves to love and cherish, and it makes for a special experience as a reader.

  8. Danielle D.

    I love that Firefly/Serenity helped inspire this series! My love for both the show and the books just makes it even cooler.

  10. Isabella

    I was really surprised to learn that Romeo and Juliet was an inspiration for the story, since the characters of Romeo and Juliet seem so different from those in This Shattered World. I did love that Firefly and Serenity were inspirations and can totally see the parallels. Can’t wait to read it!!

  20. Lisa Foster

    The story sounds like a great read and to add romance is always fun. It reminds me of the old STar Wars analogy with Hans Solo and Princess Leia. We all know opposite attracts!

  21. Jen

    Firefly! Star Trek! I knew there was a reason I loved these authors. And I love this series – it combines all the elements of sci-fi and politics and suspense and action – and we all know there’s always a bit of romance with Cap’n Mal and Picard/Data/Ryker/Troi/Worf/Dr. Crusher and company.

  22. Miranda

    I think I’m going to enjoy reading these books. All of the things you listed as your inspirations are ones that I like. I’m looking forward to this read.

  23. Runaway Bunny

    Oh my gosh! This is so awesome! I love this series and these authors! Thx for the giveaway ; )

  24. Stacy

    I would have never guess that Pride and Prejudice inspired this novel! I can totally see Star Trek (I am a Trekkie :P) and Dr Who and even Romeo and Juliet, but that surprised me.

  25. Olivia

    I really want to read these books because I have heard so many awesome things about them! And I love the covers. What inspires me most of all can be different things, but it might be my family and close friends because they keep me happy.