YA Guy Presents... The August "9 on 9" Feature!

It’s exactly ONE MONTH before Survival Colony 9 debuts! As you can imagine, YA Guy is excited, nervous, exhausted, overwhelmed: all those things everybody tells you you’ll be in the month leading up to your debut but no one believes until you’ve gone through it yourself!

For the final “9 on 9” feature before my book’s release, I thought I’d focus on mysteries. Survival Colony 9 is full of them, partly because my narrator, Querry Genn, has lost his memory, partly because so much knowledge from the old world has disappeared in the series of cataclysms that produced the world of the novel, and partly because people in Survival Colony 9 have a lot to hide! And that’s not even counting the Skaldi, whose ability to consume and mimic human hosts adds a whole new layer of mystery to the story! So read on—and to learn the answers to these mysteries, make sure you pick up a copy of the book!

1. What lies in wait for Survival Colony 9 in the unexplored western desert?
2. Why does Laman Genn decide to establish a permanent encampment?
3. Why are Korah and her boyfriend Wali quarreling?
4. Who’s behind the unrest in Survival Colony 9?
5. What does Petra know about the Skaldi that she’s not telling Querry?
6. What is Aleka planning without Laman’s knowledge?
7. Which teenagers are on Querry’s side—and which aren’t?
8. Is there a Skaldi hiding in Survival Colony 9—and if so, who?
9. What vital information has Querry forgotten—and will he remember in time?

To be entered into a drawing for a signed copy of Survival Colony 9, just leave a comment below or contact me via my website, telling me which of these mysteries you can’t wait to find out the answer to. If you leave me your address, I’ll also send you some signed SC9 swag!

Thirty-one days and counting....

YA Guy Presents... This Month's "9 on 9" Feature!

I’m a bit late on this month’s “9 on 9” feature, largely because I just returned from a family vacation in Florida. (Swam with dolphins, fed gators, got sunburned, the whole nine yards.) But it got me thinking about how important place is to Survival Colony 9: the novel’s desert setting was one of the first things that came to me when I was drafting, and the physical world the characters inhabit plays a huge role in the events that unfold.

And so, I thought I’d lead you around 9 of the key places in Survival Colony 9!

1. Desert. The world’s a wasteland due to wars and catastrophic climate change. Fourteen-year-old Querry Genn describes the landscape as “a dead reddish-brown, the color of dried blood under fingernails.” Not a place to live, just a place to survive.
2. Hollow. A Skaldi attack forces Survival Colony 9 to flee the hollow where they’ve camped and strike out into unknown territory.
3. River. The colony’s lifeline, a sluggish brown stream that yields barely drinkable water. But they can’t camp right by its shore, because the Skaldi have figured out humans’ need for water and have waylaid colonies there in the past.
4. Compound. An abandoned community that Querry’s colony discovers in the desert. A place to rest and recuperate, a place to hide—or, as some members of the colony fear, a perfect place for a Skaldi ambush.
5. Pool. Empty of water and half-filled with dust, it’s a spot where Querry and the girl he secretly loves, Korah, have a nighttime talk. It’s also the spot where Korah’s jealous boyfriend catches the two of them.
6. Headquarters. The commander of Survival Colony 9, Laman Genn, sets up his headquarters in a bombed-out building more intact than most. It only lacks doors or windows—and its top floor’s been sheared clean off. It's the site of an interrogation that changes everything Querry believed about his colony and its leader.
7. Tree. There aren’t many trees left in this world, but there’s one where the colony, lacking a jail cell, holds an important prisoner—a man some believe is trying to destroy the colony from within.
8. Valley. The desert landscape is mostly flat, but Querry discovers a hidden valley where he meets someone he never expected to.
9. Shelter. Where Querry and Korah share a secret kiss—and a much darker secret as well.

To be entered into a drawing for a signed copy of Survival Colony 9, just leave a comment below or contact me via my website, telling me which of these places you’d like to find out more about. If you leave me your address, I’ll also send you some signed SC9 swag!

YA Guy Presents... 9 on 9!

As the publication of SURVIVAL COLONY 9 approaches--less than three months away!!!!--YA Guy has created a new feature to run on my website and blog: "9 on 9," which will provide 9 intriguing and tantalizing facts about my novel. And that’s not all--if you contact me via my website, I'll send you some signed swag and enter you in a drawing to win a signed copy of my book!

To get started, I thought I’d introduce you to some of the characters (9 of them, to be exact) you’ll meet in SURVIVAL COLONY 9.  Let’s begin with…

1. Querry Genn. The novel’s narrator. Fourteen years old and a member of Survival Colony 9, one of the small groups that formed in the wake of catastrophic wars that turned the planet to a wasteland. Due to an accident six months before the book starts, Querry can’t remember his past, his identity, or his relationships with anyone else in the colony. Not even with…
2. Laman Genn. The commander of Survival Colony 9. Demanding, authoritarian, and unwilling to accept advice or excuses from anyone in his camp. His famous “focus” speech drives Querry nuts. And there’s no other officer Querry can turn to for support, because Laman’s second-in-command happens to be…
3. Aleka. Tall, slim, and severe, she enforces discipline in Laman’s camp. A fierce defender of the colony, she’s also a mystery to Querry--her face is a mask, and there’s no telling what’s going on behind her deep gray eyes. The only thing Querry feels pretty sure of is that she can’t tolerate…
4. Yov. One of the other teens in Survival Colony 9, three years older than Querry. The camp clown, with a nasty edge to his wit. He calls Querry “Space Boy,” a snide reference to his memory loss. The only other teen who seems able to stand up to him is…
5. Korah. Two years older than Querry and amazingly beautiful, she’s one of Laman Genn’s strongest supporters but also Querry’s only sympathetic ear. One glance from her brilliant blue eyes makes his face flush and his tongue tie. He feels he’d have a chance to get to know her better, if not for…
6. Wali. Korah’s boyfriend, who loves to flex his sizable muscles any time Querry looks her way. Nowhere near as infuriating as Yov, he’s still a serious obstacle, and not only because he’s with Korah. It also seems he’s getting sick of Laman and Aleka’s rule and might be cozying up to…
7. Araz. Laman’s driver, a burly, taciturn brute who could be recruiting opposition to Laman’s leadership behind the commander’s back. Like so many things that are going on in Survival Colony 9, Querry can’t be sure--his loss of memory makes it incredibly hard for him to sort through the shifting allegiances in camp. He’s not even sure of…
8. Petra. The camp’s best scout, stocky and self-confident, so sneaky in the field she’s virtually invisible. Querry thought she was on Laman’s side--but that was before she lost her scouting partner in an ambush and Laman steered the interrogation toward her. Maybe he needed to--maybe Querry’s uncertainty about his fellow colonists doesn’t come solely from his amnesia. It could also be because of…
9. The Skaldi. Monsters that appeared on the planet after the wars of destruction, the Skaldi have the ability to take over human bodies, mimic their owners, then shed the corpse like a skin before moving on to the next victim. No one knows where they came from or what they are--no one’s even seen one outside the human bodies they steal. All anyone knows is that they’re out there, in the western desert--which is precisely where an attack on Querry’s camp in the novel’s opening chapter forces the colony to flee.

So there you have it. What do you think, readers? Which of these characters would you like to get to know better? Drop me a line on my website for some signed swag, and make sure to pre-order SURVIVAL COLONY 9 to learn the whole story!