Welcome Leighgendaries to the twenty first edition of 10 Questions With…
Today, our guest is:
Susan Kaye Quinn
Let’s just jump right into this.
It’s time for:
10 Questions With Susan Kaye Quinn
Before we get to the questions, tell us about yourself.
I’m an engineer/scientist turned Speculative Fiction author, mom of three boys, and an advocate of wearing PJs while working. Which is what I’m doing right now. I’ve written a bunch of SF novels, short stories and serials – most recently, I’m hip-deep in writing my Singularity series. The first two novels are out (The Legacy Human and The Duality Bridge) along with the first two companion short stories (Restore and Containment,which is published in a space opera anthology launching today, Dark Beyond The Stars – I’m super excited about DBTS and hope everyone snags it at the low intro price while it lasts!).
1.) What is something that many people might not know about you?
I’ve worked at three different NASA facilities while getting my degrees in engineering… but none of the ones you’ve heard of (Langley, Dryden, Goddard).
2.) What inspired you to write your first book?
I wanted to write a love story that didn’t involve vampires—my niece was big into Twilight, and I enjoyed sharing that with her, but I wanted to show there was more. Once the writing bug bit, I couldn’t stop.
3.) Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?
I really have too many to count – Scott Westerfeld, Suzanne Collins, Hugh Howey are at the top. I love that they write SF with heart and rich, imaginative detail. It’s the kind of SF I’ve always loved and strive to write.
4.) If you could have dinner with any author, dead or alive, who would it be and why?
I had dinner with Hugh Howey once—it was fascinating. The man is as animated and brilliant in person as he is online. I would do that again in a heartbeat.
5.) What book are you reading now?
Just finished The Selection trilogy – YA SF for-fun reading while I was laid up with a cold. I’m looking forward to reading (R)evolution by PJ Manney next—looks spectacular!
6.) Are there any new authors that have captured your interest?
I know so many authors who are so amazingly talented. I wish I had time to read all their books. I love anthologies (like The Future Chronicles anthology series) because I can sample many author’s works without having to read a full novel. This is one reason I’m super excited to be part of Dark Beyond The Stars—it has a ton of fabulous authors whose stories I love and who have also become my friends (like Annie Bellet, Sara Reine, Rysa Walker, Jennifer Foehner Wells, Ann Christy, and more…).
7.) If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in any of your books?
Nope. Each represents the best I could produce at the time… and I like to respect that and move forward.
8.) Can you share a little of your current work with us?
Here’s a snippet from the short story I’m finishing up today—Defiance (Stories of Singularity #3). It will be published in The Future Chronicles(releases 9.18):
What good is working in a black market cybernetics shop, if you can’t use it to impress girls?
Anna’s slender fingers press against the glass countertop as she peers inside the case. My boss, Riley, has it stocked with the latest gadgets. It’s mostly mechanical stuff, like the subdermal implants and ocular films the virtual reality freaks like—but Anna’s scrunched up face is all about the simulated organics. The slimy purplish lump in the center will be someone’s liver soon, and the reddish heart floating in the bio-gel container is still auto-pumping to keep it fresh. Those replacement parts aren’t genetic mods—that’s too dangerously illegal for even Riley to handle—they’re just straight-up human flesh simulations. The kind the ascenders, with their self-righteous superiority and immortal cybertech bodies, have decided to ban legacy humans like us from acquiring. At least, by legal means.
Anna looks both impressed and slightly disgusted.
I can work with that.
9.) If you were to get rid of one state in the US, which would it be and why?
I’d be the person wearing the protest sign against people trying to get rid of states.
10.) A penguin walks through that door right now wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why is he here?
“This is not the Red Hat I was promised.”
Go ahead, pimp whatever book you want:
The Legacy Human (Singularity #1)
What would you give to live forever? Seventeen-year-old Elijah Brighton wants to become an ascender—a post-Singularity human/machine hybrid—after all, they’re smarter, more enlightened, more compassionate, and above all, achingly beautiful. But Eli is a legacy human, preserved and cherished for his unaltered genetic code, just like the rainforest he paints. When a fugue state possesses him and creates great art, Eli miraculously lands a sponsor for the creative Olympics. If he could just master the fugue, he could take the gold and win the right to ascend, bringing everything he’s yearned for within reach… including his beautiful ascender patron. But once Eli arrives at the Games, he finds the ascenders are playing games of their own. Everything he knows about the ascenders and the legacies they keep starts to unravel… until he’s running for his life and wondering who he truly is.
The Legacy Human is the first in Susan Kaye Quinn’s new young adult science fiction series that explores the intersection of mind, body, and soul in a post-Singularity world… and how technology will challenge us to remember what it means to be human.
WHAT REVIEWERS ARE SAYING:
“This book is Hunger Games (without the violence or controversy) meets Divergent.”“If I were a movie producer, I would option this in a heartbeat.”
“This story is so intense I felt I couldn’t get a proper breath.”
“Science fiction with philosophical depth!”
“Palpable intelligent fiction at its best, for any age reader.”
*****
The Duality Bridge (Singularity #2) is now out. To celebrate the release, Susan Kay Quinn is doing a giveaway where you can win a 6″ Kindle Fire HD. You can enter the contest below:
*****
I would like to thank Susan Kay Quinn for joining us today. I hope you enjoyed learning more about Quinn. Make sure to enter her giveaway above and to check out her books.
You can learn more about Susan Kay Quinn and her books on her website. You can also follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, and her blog.
Don’t forget to purchase The Legacy Human (Singularity #1), currently $.99
And don’t forget to purchase the newly released The Duality Bridge (Singularity #2):
Elijah Brighton is the face of the Human Resistance Movement. He’s the Olympic-level painter who refused an offer of immortality from the ascenders—the human/machine hybrids who run the world—in solidarity with the legacy humans who will never get a chance to live forever.
Too bad it’s all a complicated web of lies.
Worse, Eli’s not even entirely human. Few know about the ascenders’ genetic experiments that left him… different. Fewer know about the unearthly fugue state that creates his transcendent art—as well as a bridge that lets him speak to the dead. But the Resistance is the one place he can hide from the ascender who knows everything the fugue can do. Because if Marcus finds him, he’ll either use Eli for his own nefarious purposes… or destroy him once and for all.
The Duality Bridge is the second book in the Singularity series and the sequel to The Legacy Human. This thrilling new young adult science fiction series explores the intersection of mind, body, and soul in a post-Singularity world.
The Singularity Seriesnovels
The Legacy Human (Singularity #1)
The Duality Bridge (Singularity #2)
The Untitled Book (Singularity #3)…coming March 2016short stories
Restore (Stories of Singularity #1)
Containment (Stories of Singularity #2)
Defiance (Stories of Singularity #3)
Augment (Stories of Singularity #4)
#2-4 coming December 2015The above short stories are also available in anthologies…
Restore – The AI Chronicles
Containment – The Dark Beyond the Stars
Defiance – The Future Chronicles
Augment – The Cyborg Chronicles
What would you give to live forever? Answer below.
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