Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Guest Post: Carlyle Clark + Suki Michelle


Today I have authors Carlyle Clark and Suki Michelle taking over the blog to talk a little bit about their newest young adult urban fantasy release The Apocalypse Gene. Welcome to Supernatural Snark both of you!

THOUGHTS ABOUT UNIQUENESS
by Carlyle Clark and Suki Michelle

I bet you’re a lot like us when it comes to reading.

You want to feel like you know the characters yet constantly be surprised by them? You want to be wowed by wild new powers and strange settings, yet still feel you really understand them. I mean, who wants a reading experience to be so complex it feels like a research project? At the same time, you don’t want to be treated like dum-de-dum-dummies who have to be spoon-fed and have everything repeated until your eyes cross cuz you just want to get on with it, already!

What's more fun than meeting someone you immediately like, someone with intriguing mysteries in their past and present, knowing that you will be following them into their future? With these notions in mind, our baby, The Apocalypse Gene, was conceived, born and raised - to fulfill the need to attach emotionally to characters you recognize and feel, instantly and easily, but also have them swirl with unique strangeness. Yes, our novel is unique, especially so during the current vampirification of YA. There are no vampires or werewolves. Our characters are different at first glimpse.

As the story's onion layers are peeled away, everything becomes stranger and stranger still. So how do we keep the most valuable person, you the reader, connected to the story? Make it more familiar, more mundane, right? Wrong. We build it on the foundation of the most wondrous phenomenon in the universe, something that everyone relates to, yearns for and needs - Love.

When is love at its freshest and most powerful? That very first time. That first kiss. There's nothing like it. We didn’t jam our protagonists, Olivya and Mikah, into a love triangle ala Edward-Bella-Jacob. There is no room in their hearts for anyone else - not with the world dying around them - not when each feels like a freak.

Olivya’s home has been converted to a hospice center. Alone and unhappy, her psychic Sight forces her to see the colors of agony in the auras of those suffering and dying all around her. Mikah's psychic empathy compounds his loneliness as the only uninitiated member of the Kindred clan, immortal beings who shield their emotions and deny him the truth of his own nature, forbidding human contact. When Olivya and Mikah find each other, their powers prevent them from masking the truth of their feelings for one another. The usual boy-girl games just don’t work.

We agreed with Kirkus Indie in their review of The Apocalypse Gene - "This action-packed, breakneck-paced novel featuring a duo of lovestruck teenaged protagonists is a wildly imaginative young-adult apocalyptic thriller that also utilizes elements of science fiction, fantasy, folklore, mythology and romance...the well-choreographed, thematically powerful conclusion, coupled with the deeply developed characters of Olivya and Mikah, make this a memorable read."

They could also have simply called The Apocalypse Gene . . . a love story.

Thanks so much for stopping by Carlyle and Suki! For more information on both of them as well as The Apocalypse Gene, you can find them here:

Website
Blog

16 comments:

  1. It is amazing that no matter what depths a romance goes to, that first kiss is usually the most incredible part. And I agree that I want to know a character but also be surprised.

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  2. This sounds great! I agree that love is fresh the first time. Everything is so intense!

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  3. Cute post! I really enjoyed reading this. :)

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  4. Thank you, Supernatural Snark, for allowing us to visit your amazing blog! We hope all your followers enjoy our guest post, as did Alison, Savannah, and Jordon up there <3

    For some reason, the blog link at the end of the post doesn't work - I probably goofed - but there's a blog button at the main website, and that link is fine.

    Please visit, everyone, and enter our Kindle Giveaway - details at the blog.

    Peace and love to all,


    Suki and Carlyle

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  5. I love the sound of this one. It kinda reminds of a YA version of Nalini Singh's' awesome Psy series.

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  6. The powers that the protagonists have sound very unique! I hadn't heard about The Apocalypse Gene before; thanks for the post, Carlyle and Suki! :)

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  7. Wonderful points there Carlyle and Suki! I enjoyed all your guestposts. Most even inspired me to write my own. :D Awesome post!

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  8. Hi everyone. Glad you like our protags. They're our babies! We've sent them out into the big old world, and so far they're being well received. Hope you'll all join them in their wild adventures.

    I'll definitely look up Nalini Singh! Thanks for that, Rummanah.

    Naj - This time, Carlyle is the brains of the operation. He wrote this one. ;-)

    Suki

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  9. Wohoo no love triangle! Glad to hear that since yes if you love someone there is only room for that person

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  10. Yup! No room for a third wheel here - but Olivya and Mikah are far too busy in this first of a series to be doing much romancing. They're too busy saving the world. The romance will heat up in the sequel, but it won't be easy. Easy = no fun. lol.


    Suki

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  11. This review came in today - we're very excited! Have to share.

    http://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/the-apocalypse-gene/

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  12. YAY!!!! I missed you!!!!

    Books sounds fab too!

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  13. Sounds so interesting. Auras and all!

    I hope you are doing well, Snarky girl!

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  14. Love . . . Peace . . . Fabulous Fantasies to ALL.

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  15. That was great! You are so right about what we want and don't want as readers and you started it right with the most basic place we know, love. Thanks, I'll be picking this one up!

    Heather

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  16. It's really hard to find unique nowadays. It's there, it just feels like I have to go through a lot of the same to find it. But when I do *sigh* it's amazing!

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