Interview with Victoria Lee for The Fever King

The Fever King (Feverwake #1)

by Victoria Lee
Publisher: Skyscape
Release Date: March 1st 2019
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, LGBT

Synopsis:

In the former United States, sixteen-year-old Noam Álvaro wakes up in a hospital bed, the sole survivor of the viral magic that killed his family and made him a technopath. His ability to control technology attracts the attention of the minister of defense and thrusts him into the magical elite of the nation of Carolinia.

The son of undocumented immigrants, Noam has spent his life fighting for the rights of refugees fleeing magical outbreaks—refugees Carolinia routinely deports with vicious efficiency. Sensing a way to make change, Noam accepts the minister’s offer to teach him the science behind his magic, secretly planning to use it against the government. But then he meets the minister’s son—cruel, dangerous, and achingly beautiful—and the way forward becomes less clear.

Caught between his purpose and his heart, Noam must decide who he can trust and how far he’s willing to go in pursuit of the greater good.

Can you briefly describe the world in The Fever King and their main characters?

The book takes place in a speculative North Carolina, in a world where magic’s a lethal virus and the rare survivors are infected with the ability to use magic. 

The main character is antifascist activist kid Noam who’s always fought against the anti-immigrant government (his parents are undocumented immigrants from Atlantia, a neighboring country that’s dealing with a lot of magic outbreaks). But when he gets infected with magic, he’s recruited by the Minister of Defense to join a government-funded magical training program. He decides he’ll let the Minister teach him the science behind his magic…but secretly plans to use it against the government and bring them down from the inside. He’s pretty passionate and idealistic and just a little reckless.

Dara Shirazi is Noam’s academic rival in the magical training program. He’s the Minister of Defense’s adopted son and he’s incredibly powerful…and he can be a little mean, too. He grew up wealthy and privileged, so his political opinions butt heads with Noam’s pretty often.

Calix Lehrer is the Minister of Defense I’ve been mentioning. He’s a war hero and revolutionary who helped build Carolinia in the wake of a genocide against magic-users a hundred years ago. He used to be Carolinia’s king before he gave up power to form a democratic government. Now, he seems to sympathize with the plight of the refugees.

Carter Ames is Dara’s best friend, another one of the cadets in the training program. She’s snarky, heavily tattooed, and very protective of Dara. But she takes a shine to Noam, too.

Who would you say is your favourite character from the story and why?

This is a hard one! I love Noam, obviously—I mean, he’s the main character—but if I’m brutally honest, Dara is my favorite. He represents so much of what I was trying to say with this book. I relate a lot to his experiences, and honestly I just want him to be happy. 

How did the story occur to you? Did you find inspiration anywhere?

It took me a really long to figure out what story I was actually trying to tell with The Fever King. I wrote several versions of this book trying to figure it out! Some parts of the book were originally parts of other books I’d written that ended up getting coopted and ultimately becoming part of TFK. 

Most of all, I wanted to write about the intersection of intergenerational and personal trauma—about what it means to face our trauma, and the way the world can demand that we “have” to confront our abusers in order for trauma to be viewed as legitimate. I also wanted to write about the experience of feeling like an outsider in your own country. For me, I wrote this through the lens of being Jewish American (for Noam: Atlantian-Carolinian), but so many different groups have experienced this historically and today in different ways.

If you could choose one song to describe your book, which one would it be?

“War Sweater” by Wakey!Wakey!

Since it is still cold outside, what hot drink do you think will go with your book to have a perfect book date?

Spiced cider! Best consumed from a chipped handmade mug in an old bookstore.

Can you recommend your readers any other books in case they are left hungry for more once they finish The Fever King?

Absolutely! From a variety of genres: Vita Nostra by Sergey and Marina Dyachenko, Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan, This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada, The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton, Deathless by Catherynne M Valente, In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan, Monday’s Not Coming by Tiffany D Jackson, The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, Bruja Born by Zoraida Cordóva, The Spy with the Red Balloon by Katherine Locke.

On the adult side, The Poppy War by RF Kuang, The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson, The Fifth Season by NK Jemison, The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, Vicious by VE Schwab, and Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer.

For more debuts coming out in 2019, I recommend Wilder Girls by Rory Power, Wicked Saints by Emily A Duncan, The Grief Keeper by Alexandra Villasante, The Devouring Gray by Christine Lynn Herman, Opposite of Always by Justin Reynolds, Color Me In by Natasha Díaz, Descendant of the Crane by Joan He, and The Tiger at Midnight by Swati Teerdhala.

On the new adult side, I loved Red White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston. 

What’s next for you?

Well, first off…. Proposing my dissertation and finishing my Ph.D.! Writing-wise, though, I’m wrapping up the sequel to The Fever King. It’s called The Electric Heir, and it’ll release in March 2020. The book starts six months after The Fever King ends, and if you thought TFK was angsty and dark, well…I have news for you about book 2.

Other than that I have a few works in progress underway, but I can’t say too much about them just yet!

Victoria Lee grew up in Durham, North Carolina, where she spent twelve ascetic years as a vegetarian before discovering spicy chicken wings are, in fact, a delicacy. She’s been a state finalist competitive pianist, a hitchhiker, a pizza connoisseur, an EMT, an expat in China and Sweden, and a science doctoral student. She’s also a bit of a snob about fancy whisky.

Victoria writes early in the morning, then spends the rest of the day trying to impress her border collie puppy and make her experiments work.

She is represented by Holly Root and Taylor Haggerty at Root Literary.

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Release Day Blitz: The Fever by Megan Abbott

I am so excited that THE FEVER paperback by Megan Abbott releases today and that I get to share the news!

If you haven’t yet heard about this wonderful book by Author Megan Abbott, be sure to check out all the details below. 

This blitz also includes a giveaway for some of the paperbacks courtesy of Megan, Little Brown, and Rockstar Book Tours. So if you’d like a chance to win, enter in the Rafflecopter at the bottom of this post.

The Fever
by Megan Abbott
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Release Date: May 12, 2015
Find it: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Goodreads

Synopsis:

The panic unleashed by a mysterious contagion threatens the bonds of family and community in a seemingly idyllic suburban community.

The Nash family is close-knit. Tom is a popular teacher, father of two teens: Eli, a hockey star and girl magnet, and his sister Deenie, a diligent student. Their seeming stability, however, is thrown into chaos when Deenie's best friend is struck by a terrifying, unexplained seizure in class. Rumors of a hazardous outbreak spread through the family, school and community.

As hysteria and contagion swell, a series of tightly held secrets emerges, threatening to unravel friendships, families and the town's fragile idea of security.

A chilling story about guilt, family secrets and the lethal power of desire, The Fever affirms Megan Abbot's reputation as "one of the most exciting and original voices of her generation" (Laura Lippman).

Megan Abbott is the Edgar®-winning author of the novels Queenpin, The Song Is You, Die a Little, Bury Me Deep, The End of Everything, Dare Me, and her latest, The Fever, which was chosen as one of the Best Books of the Summer by the New York Times, People Magazine and Entertainment Weekly and one of the Best Books of the Year by Amazon, National Public Radio, the Boston Globe and the Los Angeles Times.

Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Salon, the Guardian, Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Believer and the Los Angeles Review of Books.

Born in the Detroit area, she graduated from the University of Michigan and received her Ph.D. in English and American literature from New York University. She has taught at NYU, the State University of New York and the New School University. In 2013-14, she served as the John Grisham Writer in Residence at Ole Miss.

She is also the author of a nonfiction book, The Street Was Mine: White Masculinity in Hardboiled Fiction and Film Noir, and the editor of A Hell of a Woman, an anthology of female crime fiction. She has been nominated for many awards, including three Edgar® Awards, Hammett Prize, the Shirley Jackson Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Folio Prize.

5 winners will receive a paperback copy of THE FEVER! US Only.

Ends on May 22^nd at Midnight EST!

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Cover Reveal: Bulletproof (Songbird #2) by Melissa Pearl

Bulletproof (Songbird #2)

by Melissa Pearl

Release Date: November 20, 2014

Synopsis:

Morgan Pritchett doesn't need anyone. Strong-willed and confident, she's the master of organizing and looking after everyone around her. In her mind, she's bulletproof. But she has one weakness – men. She can't seem to live without them, yet is unable to find her perfect match. After yet another break up, Morgan promises her sister and best friend that she'll write off men for the rest of the year. But then she meets Sean Tate.

Sean Tate has worked hard to become a Hollywood actor, scoring minor roles and slowly making a name for himself as an action sidekick. After a chance encounter with the stunning Morgan Pritchett, he decides to take a risk and put his dancing skills to the test by signing on for the lead role in Superstar, a TV musical. He never thought he'd reconnect with the girl who urged him to ignore his manager and be honest with himself, but when Morgan shows up on the set as a production assistant, he realizes he's found his ultimate weakness — her.

Their passion for dance and music will bring them together, but will their relationship be able to withstand the forces determined to pull them apart? As Morgan comes face to face with her demons and Sean decides just how much he's willing to risk for love, these two lovers discover something... they're not as bulletproof as they thought.

Bulletproof

by Melissa Pearl

~SPOILER ALERT if you haven’t read Fever~ 

ELLA

The shower was hot and divine, the droplets hitting my skin made me want to melt. I was exhausted down to my very core. Gutting the old to make room for the new was hard work. Every muscle in my body ached, but I was so ridiculously happy it didn’t even matter. A smile crept over my lips as I reached for the shampoo, squirting a healthy amount into my palm. I had callouses on my hands and my knuckles were indented with various nicks and scrapes. They stung a little as I rubbed the shampoo into my hair, but nothing could wipe the grin from my face.

A song filtered up my throat as I spun to wash out the shampoo. I went for Frank’s Fly Me To The Moon, belting out the song as my mind wandered towards the man I wanted to kiss. Lathering up my loofah, I scrubbed it up my arms, washing off the grime from another hard day’s work.

“Please don’t tell me that loofah is stealing my job again.” Cole’s deep voice made me giggle.

“It’ll go into early retirement the second you get into this shower.” I kept humming as I listened to him undress, my body already zinging in anticipation. It didn’t help that Cole had joined in the song and was now singing about how I filled his heart with song. I tipped my head back and sighed, still reeling in the awesomeness that my life had become.

After Cole’s grand entrance back into it, he’d given me a weekend of heaven before flying back to Chicago. I’d then had to wait until after we’d both finished out our school year. I didn’t want to fly over for his graduation, knowing David would be around. I couldn’t rub his face in it. I just couldn’t. I was so incredibly happy with Cole; it was impossible not to show it.

June 18th had been the happiest of my life. Cole had flown across the country, I’d flown down and we’d run into each other’s arms at LAX.

“Hmmm.” Cole’s large hands ran around my body as he pressed his naked torso against my back. Ripping the loofah from my hands, he chucked it out of the shower and took over, running his soapy fingers over each and every one of my curves.

A soft moan formed in my throat, whispering out of my lips as I rested my head against his shoulder and wrapped my hand around the back of his neck.

He rested his chin on my head.

“So I just got a call from the architect.” His voice was liquid soft and sexy, in spite of the fact he was talking business. I would have ignored it if he hadn’t said the words I’d been desperate to hear all day.

My eyes popped open and I spun in his arms. “What’d he say?”

Cole grinned down at me, his eyes buzzing with the same excitement I felt. “He’ll be here at nine tomorrow to show us his initial ideas.”

I let out a squeal. Cole laughed at me, capturing my lips. I went on my tiptoes and ran my fingers into his hair, loving the way his body responded to my touch.

We’d basically spent the second half of June holed up in my room...much to my aunt’s disgust. I hadn’t cared. I was with Cole and we'd had major catching up to do, but as July rolled around we knew it was time to get on with it, so we’d excitedly contacted a few real estate agents and the hunt had begun. I still had five months until I was granted full access to

my trust fund, but Cole’s was plenty healthy and was able to get us started. We’d already received pre-approval from the bank and it was just a matter of finding the perfect place.

Three weeks later, we did. It was an old store with a studio apartment on top. It’d been abandoned years ago, but the rights for sale had not been available until the owner passed away. For us, the timing couldn’t have been better. After being handed the keys, we stood on the sidewalk in giddy silence gazing up at what would soon become Reynold’s.

We were both getting a taste of our dreams. I was living back in a place that felt like home. Our little apartment was just under five miles from Pasadena Community College. I was cutting back to part-time classes and would complete my degree over four more years. I wanted to be able to help Cole with the pub. I would have quit college then and there, but Nina had talked me out of it, convincing me that I could handle both.

“It’ll be busy, but you’ll never regret having a college degree,” she’d said. “You guys are gonna be great. I’m so proud of you.” Her eyes had welled with tears as we talked over Skype, making me want to cry.

I still couldn’t believe Cole had left Chicago...and them...for me. But he told me as long as I was there, he could live anywhere.

“Ella, you’re my home and no matter where you go, I’ll follow you. I’d walk a thousand miles, remember?” He'd leaned his forehead against mine and I'd nearly died, but then he'd taken it one step further, his expression softening to mush. “I want to marry you.”

My lips parted, my heart freezing still.

He’d grinned at me. “I don’t have a ring yet. Every penny I have is kind of wrapped up in our future plans right now, but there’ll be one coming, Miss Simmons...I just wanted you to know.”

I'm pretty sure I haven't stopped smiling since that day. We might not be officially engaged, but our hearts got hitched a long time ago and for now I’m happy to wait for my wedding day.

Cole’s tongue was burning as it slid into my mouth. He pressed me back against the cool tiles, his lips working over my chin and down my neck. I ran my fingers across his hard shoulders as his tongue traveled down my body, hotwiring my brain and making coherent thought impossible.

“How much time do I have?” Cole murmured against my belly. “Time? What’s time?”

He chuckled, blowing a raspberry into my belly button. I gently yanked his hair as I giggled.

“Jody’s picking me up at seven.”

“And where are you going?”

“We’re taking Morgan out for karaoke.”

“Again?” He looked up at me. “She’s not looking for that guy is she?”

“The actor?” I chuckled. “No, she just needs some cheering up. She still hasn’t found a

job and since her big break up with Brad she's been working her way through a very lousy dating pool."

"I thought she was swearing off guys."

I shrugged, my insides pinching with worry. "Me too."

Cole's expression mirrored my disquiet, but I forced a smile, not wanting to take my

concerns into the evening.

"Anyway, we have to celebrate as much as we can tonight. Jody leaves next week. It’s

gonna be sad. We have to have as much fun as we can while the trio is still together.” I tipped my head, water running off my hair and splashing into his face. I laughed, brushing his slick curls off his forehead. “I’m so glad I’ve got you.”

Cole ran his hands up my sides, squeezing my hips and giving me one of his megawatt smiles. I leaned down and kissed it, pressing my body against his. “So in answer to your question...” I softly bit his neck before working my way up to his ear and nibbling on the lobe. “I’ve got as much time as we need.”

Cole’s deep chuckle reverberated in his chest. “When it comes to you, my love, there is never enough time.”

I grinned as his lips got back to work and I was sent to heaven, the tune of Cheek to Cheek whistling through my brain as Cole and I danced to our own shower song.

Melissa Pearl was born in Auckland, New Zealand, but has spent much of her life abroad, living in countries such as Jordan, Cyprus and Pakistan... not to mention a nine month road trip around North America with her husband. "Best. Year. Ever!!" She now lives in China with her husband and two sons. She is a trained elementary teacher, but writing is her passion. Since becoming a full time mother she has had the opportunity to pursue this dream and her debut novel hit the internet in November 2011. Since then she has continued to produce a steady stream of books. Recently she signed with Evatopia Press and her first Evatopia book is coming out in February 2014 - True Colors, The Masks Series #1. She is very excited to be trying out new things this year while continuing to publish under her own name as well. She has six books planned for 2014 and is excited about writing each and every one of them.

"I am passionate about writing. It stirs a fire in my soul that I never knew I had. I want to be the best writer I can possibly be and transport my readers into another world where they can laugh, cry and fall in love."