Worlds Collide by S.M. McEachern
(Sunset Rising #2)
(Sunset Rising #2)
Publication date: March 3rd 2014
Genres: Dystopia, Young Adult
Genres: Dystopia, Young Adult
In Worlds Collide, the second book of the Sunset Rising trilogy, Sunny and Jack must continue a life of subterfuge in order to stay alive and find a way to free the Pit. But in their attempt to save the urchins, they uncover the horrifying truth about President Holt and the evil he could unleash on the world.
Purchase:
Sunset Rising:
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.
Worlds Collide:
Barnes and Noble: http://www.
EXCERPT
The drops soon gathered
speed and turned into a downpour, as if someone had turned on a showerhead. It
made a drumming noise against the hard-packed earth, which came as a surprise.
I had no idea rain made a sound.
Everyone on the training
field carried on as though there wasn’t a storm in progress. Dena continued
with her tour. It wasn’t until a flash of light lit up the sky that Dena said
it was time to go inside. The unexpected flash was blinding, but it was the
booming noise that followed that sent me careening into Jack’s side. For just
an instant I wondered if it was an attack.
Jack’s shoulders shook with
barely concealed laughter. I shot him a look. “As if you’ve ever been in a
storm,” I said.
The trek back up to the
courtyard was a little trickier on wet ground. As we went, the lightning became
brighter and the thunder louder. Jack’s sunglasses weren’t much protection. I
never thought I’d be relieved to go back inside a mountain again, but I
was.
Pausing inside the
entranceway to shake the water off, I took in the big empty room—what was once
the lobby of the hotel. The grotto was made entirely of stone tile with high
arched ceilings. The ghostly outlines of bygone furniture hinted that the hotel
was once quite grand, but now crumbling tiles and dark stains ground into the
stone had robbed it of its beauty. I rubbed the toe of my boot against one of
the dark spots, wondering what it was.
“Human misery is a stubborn
stain,” Dena said. “A lot of skeletons were found here, the floor darkened by
their decay.”
A shiver went down my spine
when her meaning registered. How many people had sought refuge here after the
war, only to die a slow horrible death? Were they from the valley? Were they
the same people who had been turned away from the Dome by the bourge? The
stains of decay were everywhere. For a moment I closed my eyes against the
mental image of what they must have had to clear out of here in order to
reclaim this building.
Behind me the door opened
and a few people entered the lobby. They glanced in our direction and continued
to the far side of the room.
“The entire hotel is built
inside the mountain, hidden to the outside world,” Dena said.
I watched the small group
open the bags they carried and spread out blankets on the floor.
Jack pointed to the
artificial lighting. “You’ve made your own light?”
Dena smiled. “It’s not
nuclear science. It’s just a filament.”
Jack looked a little
embarrassed by his question. I had thought the same thing until Jin-Sook had
corrected me. As much as I professed that these people weren’t heathens, I
still made assumptions about them, as though they wouldn’t be as smart as we
were. But as we walked through the reclaimed ruins, I was reminded of the
ingenuity of the human spirit. As someone who came from the Pit, this was not
something I should’ve forgotten.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
S.M. McEachern was born in Nova Scotia, Canada. She attended Dalhousie University in the 1990s where she earned an Honours Degree in International Development Studies. She worked in the field of International Development for several years, specializing in ocean development."Sunset Rising" is S.M. McEachern's first novel. She says the idea for the story first came to her in the 1990s when she researched a Bio-Dome experiment in Arizona for an academic paper. The thought that the world might one day need a Bio-Dome to escape a global catastrophe set her imagination into overdrive. And the ethics behind such an idea formed the backdrop for Sunset Rising.
Her goal in writing the novel is to entertain the reader with an interesting plot and colourful characters.
Author links:
AUTHOR INTERVIEW
2014 has been a big
year for your writing career. Can you tell us a bit about that?
Yes, it has been big a year for me. For one thing, I
published the second book of the “Sunset Rising” series, entitled “Worlds
Collide”, last March. I was happily surprised when it rocketed up the Amazon
ranking chart and maintained a spot in the top ten Amazon action and adventure
romance bestseller list for months. That in turn attracted new hybrid-publisher
Vook to ask me about acquiring the Sunset Rising series. After a few phone
calls, many emails, and a lot of deliberation, I signed with Vook. I’m very
happy I did.
I’m also working on the third book of my series, tentatively
titled “New World Order”, which I plan to release in January 2015.
In the past, you’ve
blogged about enjoying being an indie author, but you signed with Vook?
I have to admit, I do like having control over my books.
When I want to do a promotion, or put the books on sale, or give the books away
if I want to, I don’t have to ask permission from a publisher. I can just do
it. So yes, when Vook first approached me I was hesitant to sign with them.
However, Vook is a different kind of publisher; they are a “hybrid publisher.” They
provide an enhanced publishing platform with ongoing marketing support via
proprietary software that tracks ebook sales so authors can make better and
more informed marketing decisions, and authors retain all copyrights and
control over their books.
I officially joined them in July and I have received so much
more than they promised. Vook is a dynamic, enthusiastic team of individuals that
have partnered with me to bring my series to readers through all ebook
retailers at affordable prices. Good for authors and good for readers! And as a
company, they’re growing and constantly investing in themselves and their
authors. For instance, they recently acquired their first publishing imprint,
Byliner. I’m really excited to be a part of Vook, because I truly believe they
are the future of publishing.
Your third book of
the “Sunset Rising” series, tentatively titled “New World Order”, will be
released in January?
That’s the plan. I’m madly writing everyday and no longer
take weekends off! Not that I mind. Writing a book is like reading a good book;
I don’t want to put it down. And this third book has a LOT going on. It’s
definitely the most action-packed of the series, with minor characters from the
first two books sharing Sunny’s spotlight.
You do a lot of
world-building in the series. What’s your process for creating a post
apocalyptic world?
In a nutshell, research and imagination. I love research
because not only does it give me a good, solid foundation to begin my stories,
but it also ignites my imagination. It’s
kind of like taking what is and
projecting what can or could be. So I read a lot of non-fiction
articles and I also reach out to experts, most of whom have been really happy
to help me. Dr. Bergren of the National Institute of Nanotechnology and Chris
Kratt of the Wild Kratts have been two super helpful resources. I’ll be doing
an interview with Chris this weekend, talking about what a post apocalyptic
creature world might look like, and will have it up on my blog by September 18th
if you’re interested in checking it out.
Is your third book
the last one of the “Sunset Rising” series?
The series was named for the heroine, Sunset O’Donnell
(Sunny), and the first three books are told from her point of view (spoiler
alert: there’s another person sharing the story in book 3!). But as I said
above, I’ve gone to great lengths to create a new world. I can definitely see
more books told from other characters points of view as they reinvent their civilization
and explore a post nuclear earth. And with recruiters, scorchlanders, and
northerners out there, who knows what they’ll find…
Note from author:
Thank you so much for inviting me to your blog and giving me
the opportunity to talk about all the exciting things happening with the
“Sunset Rising” series. For anyone who hasn’t read the series, the first book “Sunset Rising” is on sale everywhere for
just 99 cents from September 16-24, 2014. I also have seven satellite
stories (short stories based on the series) posted on my blog you can check out
here: http://smmceachern.com/category/satellite-stories/
The first six stories were written in between books one and two; the seventh
story is more recent and picks up between books two and three. I always love to
hear from readers, so if you do check out the series, please feel free to get
in touch and let me know what you think!
Cheers – Susan (aka S.M. McEachern)
GIVEAWAY
Blitz-wide giveaway
--50$ iTunes Gift Card (INTL)
--5x eBook copy of Worlds Collide (INTL)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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