Welcome, Erica! What 5 things should readers know about you?
I am an introvert and asexual. Free food (especially if it happens to be gluten-free) is a lure that will get me nearly anywhere, probably to a dangerous degree, but I don’t like cooking at all. My to-read pile (solely counting the ones I already own and have sitting on my shelves) is so out of control I will never catch up. Last but not least, after spending most of my life in Florida, I am determined to live on or near mountains one day.
I have a theory that as long as I have a lengthy, well-tended TBR pile, I can’t die. Please don’t try to burst my bubble 😉
Where did the inspiration for this book come from?
It’s hard to pinpoint where the inspiration for the series as a whole came from, but I think it might have been a conversation about the impact landscape and food availability have on he development of a society. I wanted a culture inexplicably tied to and molded by their homeland, so I set about creating one. The rest of Island of Exiles grew organically from that question and the answers I came up with. For this particular book, it all came from either Island of Exiles or from conversations with my editor Kate Brauning. A series is shaped by everything that has come before, so I had to start there. It wasn’t easy. I had to rewrite the whole book three times before I found something Kate and I both agreed was a solid follow-up to Island of Exiles—a book I am exceedingly proud of. From the start, though, my editor has been instrumental in the shaping of this series. It truly wouldn’t look the same without her input.
Wow—three times! Impressive—and I’m sure it was worth it in the end.
How long have you been writing, and what (or who) inspired you to start?
My first attempt at writing (as far as I remember) as in eighth grade. The assignment was to get in groups and create a picture book. Instead, I worked alone and ended up writing a 40-page mystery novel. I was reading a lot of my dad’s James Patterson books at the time. After that, though, I didn’t try to create my own stories again until high school. That time it was a fantasy, but I didn’t get very far. At the time I didn’t see it, but looking back it’s pretty obvious that I A) didn’t know what I was doing and B) was writing thinly veiled Tamora Pierce fanfiction. Which was funny because I didn’t even know what fanfiction at the time. Oddly enough, fanfiction is what got me back into writing again. Even though I was a creative writing major in college, it wasn’t until I discovered fanfiction and through it realized I was actually capable of finishing a full-length novel. It was better practice than most of my writing classes, and both the encouragement and the critiques I got pushed me to try writing my own novel. My sister Haley was one of my first and most consistent readers, and between her demands for another chapter of whatever I was working on and my mom’s belief that I’d get my work published one day, I kept going until they were finally proven right.
Fanfic can absolutely act as a gateway to other writing—it’s been proven again and again!
What are you working on right now? What can readers look for from you in the next year?
Currently, I’m editing the third book in The Ryogan Chronicles, and that should release in 2018! After that, Entangled is going to release the first book of a new trilogy, this one set in space. It’s going to be a story about a single ship in the scope of an intragalactic war. There will be stowaways, cybernetics, forbidden love, revolutionaries, and explosions. Definitely explosions.
Sounds great! You can’t go wrong with explosions 🙂
What are you currently reading, and what are your thoughts about it so far?
I was never a real fan of audiobooks before (I found it hard to listen to one voice talking for so long without losing focus), but I think I have finally trained myself to listen to them. Which is wonderful because I don’t have time to read otherwise! In the past several weeks, I’ve listened to This is Where it Ends by Marieke Nijkamp, Wonder by R.J. Palacio, Cinder by Marissa Meyer, The Wild Robot by Peter Brown, Fish in a Tree by Lynda Hunt, Inked by Eric Smith, The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher, Shadow & Bone by Leigh Bardugo, and now I’m listening to Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey (which I technically have already read, but I wanted to reread it before consuming the rest of the series). My thoughts on that one is that I love it as much as I did the first time. I am a huge fan of both the book series and the TV show on SyFy. It is fantastic.
I love audiobooks! I don’t know where I’d be without them. Thanks for all the recs!
If you had to “sell” your book in a single Tweet, what would you say?
Varan may have been hunting gods when he discovered immortality, but now Khya is hunting HIM. — #SeaOfStrangers, sequel to the Kirkus-starred #IslandOfExiles is out now!
Prefect! Thanks, Erica!
About the author:
Erica Cameron is the author of books for young adults including the Ryogan Chronicles, the Assassins duology, and The Dream War Saga. She also co-authored the Laguna Tides novels with Lani Woodland. An advocate for asexuality and emotional abuse awareness, Erica has also worked with teens at a residential rehabilitation facility in her hometown of Fort Lauderdale.
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Sea of Strangers (The Ryogan Chronicles #2)
by Erica Cameron
Publication Date: December 5, 2017
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Know your enemy if you want to survive…
The only way for Khya to get her brother back alive is to kill Varan—the immortal ruler who can’t be killed. But not even Varan knew what he was doing when he perverted magic and humanity to become immortal.
Khya’s leading her group of friends and rebels into the mountains that hold Varan’s secrets, but if risking all their lives is going to be worth it, she has to give up everything else—breaking the spell that holds her brother captive and jeopardizing her deepening relationship with Tessen, the boy who has been by turns her rival and refuge since her brother disappeared. Immortality itself might be her only answer, but if that’s where Khya has to go, she can’t ask Tessen or her friends to follow.
Purchase Links:
Amazon | Amazon Australia | Amazon UK | Amazon Canada | B&N | Kobo | iBooks
Other books in the series:
Giveaway Information:
Sea of Strangers Prize Pack, including:**
* A signed copy of Sea of Strangers
* A $20 Visa gift card
* A swag pack
**For international: 1 copy from book depository and a $20 Visa gift card
