Wasteland Blog Tour: Guest Post and Giveaway

Hi everyone, and welcome to my stop on the Wasteland blog tour. There are two things I wanted to know about Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan and their project and both of them were kind enough to answer my questions. But here are a few things about the book first:

Title: Wasteland

Authors: Susan Kim, Laurence Klavan

Release date: March 16th 2013

Publisher: HarperTeen
Buy: Amazon
         Barnes & Noble

Welcome to the Wasteland. Where all the adults are long gone, and now no one lives past the age of nineteen. Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan’s post-apocalyptic debut is the first of a trilogy in which everyone is forced to live under the looming threat of rampant disease and brutal attacks by the Variants —- hermaphroditic outcasts that live on the outskirts of Prin. Esther thinks there’s more to life than toiling at harvesting, gleaning, and excavating, day after day under the relentless sun, just hoping to make it to the next day. But then Caleb, a mysterious stranger, arrives in town, and Esther begins to question who she can trust. As shady pasts unravel into the present and new romances develop, Caleb and Esther realize that they must team together to fight for their lives and for the freedom of Prin.

1. Could you share with us the dynamics of writing with a co-author?

LAURENCE: I’ve had different collaborators on other projects. Most of them were scripts, and that’s easier: no one ever reads your stage directions, so they don’t have to be that well-written. But, with novels, strangers are going to be reading every word, so you end up, side by side, going over every one. The important thing is to agree that the book means more than any (brilliant) individual idea either one of you might have. Also, learn to apologize and to accept an apology. As a last resort, turn on the news—or think about your friends or relatives who are sick or broke—and get some perspective on life. Then kiss and make up (depending on who your co-author is).

SUSAN: The one thing I can kind of compare it to happened when I was a kid and I was competing in a 3-legged race with my friend, Leslie. Everyone around us was going through their strategies for winning (which leg to start with, where to put their arms), and we were convinced we were going to lose. So I looked at her and said, “just run as fast as you can.” We did, and by some weird fluke we fell into sync and won. I’m not saying writing is that easy, because obviously, it’s not… but you do have to trust that the other person is working as hard as she or he can. And so are you. Because that’s the ONLY way it’s going to work.

2. What do you think are 5 essential things for surviving the apocalypse?

LAURENCE:

1.      Flashlight

2.      Batteries

3.      Things that can be used as weapons as well as for their original purpose (flashlight and batteries)

4.      Books you haven’t read

5.      Pills that can calm you down or, if taken in excess, end the whole thing

SUSAN: I think the best person to survive an apocalypse is someone who’s paranoid and a trained survivalist. Considering that I’ve so totally neither (I’m ashamed to admit I’ve never even been camping), I don’t think I’d last too long. However, these would be my essentials:

1)      Something to start a fire with, preferably one that doesn’t need fuel. Back when I smoked, I had a really cool/dorky lighter shaped like a little metal dish that used the rays of the sun to light your cigarette. Something like that would be super useful.

2)      Salt. It not only will make your terrible food taste better (i.e. pigeons, rabbits, opossums, blecchh), you can also use it to clean things. Kind of.

3)      A hunting slingshot. Because any dummy can use one of those and you’ll need it to get dinner, scare off trespassers, and kill hostile zombies.

4)      Really good sunglasses. I’m assuming the apocalypse would have some kind of climate change/global warming component to it, and besides, too much sun is murder on your eyes. I also get killer migraines, so it wouldn’t just be a fashion statement.

5)      Access to books. It should be easy to find—a good library, a Barnes & Noble. Books represent everything: not only entertainment and instruction, but hope and even a possible way to rebuild a workable future. 

Thanks, Susan and Laurence! Please visit other tour stops where you'll find more interesting things to read. Here are the links:

Monday, March 25th – SciFi Chick
Tuesday, March 26th – The Irish Banana

Wednesday, March 27th – IB BookBlogging
Thursday, March 28th – The Nocturnal Library
Friday March 29th – Candace’s BookBlog

Monday, April 1st – The Book Swarm
Tuesday, April 2nd – Supernatural Snark
Wednesday, April 3rd – Alison Can Read
Thursday, April 4th – Bewitched Bookworms
Friday, April 5th – Alice Marvels

Thank you to the ever amazing Jenny @ Supernatural Snark for doing all the hard work and organizing this tour.

Thanks to HarperTeen, three winners will each receive a copy of WASTELAND. Each tour stop will post the same Rafflecopter giveaway for people to enter. Giveaway is US only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway