Illusionarium Blog Tour: Interview + Giveaway

I'm crazy excited today to welcome author Heather Dixon to the blog as part of the promotional tour for her latest release, Illusionarium. I've always been fascinated by the idea of parallel worlds, so as soon as I read the synopsis for this book I knew I needed it in my life immediately. Given my obsession with the multiverse concept, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to ask Heather all sorts of parallel world-based questions, so I hope you all enjoy the interview and add Illusionarium to your lists if it's not already there. Welcome to Supernatural Snark Heather!

If Jonathan were asked to introduce himself to all the readers out there about to share in his story, what’s one fun personal fact he would toss out to help break the ice?

Jonathan would emphasize that he’s no one important; in fact, he might not even introduce himself at all. In the book, he insists that he’s a sort of person. Sort of tall. Sort of smart, but sort of not. Sort of curly hair, sort of thin, just…sort of. He’s a behind-the-scenes character who’s thrown into an adventure and has to rise up to meet it.

One thing that Jonathan does love: helping others. It’s manifested in his goal of becoming a surgeon, but throughout the story he gets kicked in the teeth time & time again, just so he can save his family. He’s selfless, and that isn’t sort of at all.

If you could step into the world of Illusionarium and bring with you one small thing from our modern world, what do you think would fascinate Jonathan most?

Ooo, good question. Jonathan would probably be fascinated with any kind of medical technology—x-rays and MRI’s and such. Super exciting, I know. I’m pretty sure he’d be fascinated with a moon rock. Heck, I’d be fascinated with a moon rock. That generation went to the moon with technology less powerful than a cell phone. Insane. I really respect that.

Let’s say parallel worlds truly do exist and you manage to find your way into one only to come face to face with another version of yourself. What would you most want to know about the life she’s lived?

I’d hope my alternate-world version is super exciting; maybe I’ve done adventurous things like, you know, eaten llama meat or something. Since real life is a lot more boring than fiction, I’d bet my alternate-version self isn’t much different than my real self. 

In fact, the encounter would probably just be me getting mad at myself for being such a loafer.  Like Calvin here, when he meets himself.

click to enlarge

Go figure.

A deadly plague is always more terrifying to me in a piece of fiction than any villain or monster could ever hope to be since it feels much closer to our reality. Which is more likely to send you into a state of panic: The threat of a plague or the zombie apocalypse? *shudders*

Zombie apocalypse, for sure. With plagues, you just need to remember to wash your hands. But avoiding zombies—while they are crawling through your windows, scratching at your doors, clawing through your flowerbeds, waiting in the plumbing for you to go to the bathroom—that takes a lot more work. I’ve been building up my food storage and practicing with a machete, of course, but could you really machete a family member if they wanted your brains? I couldn’t. Thankfully, I don’t have any brains…so this will never be a problem.

If the worlds of every piece of fiction were in fact parallel worlds that we all could travel between, what one character would you most like to meet in person and what villain would you hope never crosses your path?

THEY ARE THE SAME CHARACTER.

The Child Catcher, from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. So amazingly awesome, so absolutely terrifying…kids had to live in the sewers to avoid him. In a lot of ways, the Child Catcher is symbolic our own vices, dressed in candy and roses to lure us from safety and entrap us in our own misdeeds…yeah.  Best Villain Ever.

*Jenny falls down dead* This guy haunted my dreams for YEARS. YEARS HEATHER! *takes deep breaths*

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions!

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ILLUSIONARIUM

What if the world holds more dangers—and more wonders—than we have ever known? And what if there is more than one world? From Heather Dixon, author of the acclaimed Entwined, comes a brilliantly conceived adventure that sweeps us from the inner workings of our souls to the far reaches of our imaginations.

Jonathan is perfectly ordinary. But then—as every good adventure begins—the king swoops into port, and Jonathan and his father are enlisted to find the cure to a deadly plague. Jonathan discovers that he's a prodigy at working with a new chemical called fantillium, which creates shared hallucinations—or illusions. And just like that, Jonathan is knocked off his path. Through richly developed parallel worlds, vivid action, a healthy dose of humor, and gorgeous writing, Heather Dixon spins a story that calls to mind The Night Circus and Pixar movies, but is wholly its own.

Amazon • B&N • iBooks • Goodreads

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HEATHER DIXON

Heather Dixon grew up in a large family with four brothers and six sisters. She is a storyboard artist as well as a writer, and lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Viennese waltz is her dance of choice. She is the author of the novel Entwined.

Website • Tumblr • Instagram • Pinterest • Goodreads

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GIVEAWAY

One lucky winner will receive a finished copy of ILLUSIONARIUM, plus an ARC of THE UNQUIET by Mikaela Everett! Please enter via the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway is open to US addresses only.

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WEEK ONE
5/11/2015- Chapter by Chapter- Interview  
5/12/2015- Bumbles and Fairy-Tales- Review  
5/13/2015- Fiktshun- Guest Post  
5/14/2015- A Dream Within A Dream- Review  
5/15/2015- Two Chicks on Books- Guest Post

WEEK TWO
5/18/2015- Mundie Moms- Guest Post  
5/19/2015- Falling For YA- Review  
5/20/2015- Fire and Ice- Interview  
5/21/2015- Reading with ABC- Review  
5/22/2015- Supernatural Snark- Interview

Review: Entwined

ENTWINED
Heather Dixon
Paranormal Young Adult
474 Pages
Greenwillow Books
Available March 29th
Received from publisher for review

THE STORY
Princess Azalea and her eleven younger sisters love to dance. Their mother taught them a variety of dances and steps, and in the wake of her untimely death it's the only thing that helps them through their grief. Their father the King is dealing poorly with the loss of his wife and has been called off to war, seemingly glad to leave behind his twelve reminders of what is now lost to him.

Because the entire home is in mourning, the girls are made to wear black and forbidden from dancing for an entire year, but as their palace has a bit of magic pulsing through it, the girls find a secret passageway leading them through a silver forest and to a beautiful pavilion all set up for their dancing. In this passageway they meet Keeper, a man forced to live in this magical in-between world by the ancient High King, a man rumored to be able to trap souls after death.

While at first Keeper seems welcoming and the girls begin to deal with the pain of their loss, it soon becomes clear there is more to Keeper than a man just looking for a bit of company in his lonely existence. While Azalea has her suspicions, she's distracted from them by the return of her father, the anger over his treatment of her and her sisters prior to his departure rising to the surface. As father and daughters work to build a connection, and suitors for the three eldest daughters come calling, Keeper lies in wait, patiently biding his time before his true intentions can be known.

MY THOUGHTS
Full of sweetness and romance and positively radiating charm, Entwined is a story that appeals to us on a variety of levels, luring us in with a bit of humor and whimsy, but utterly enthralling us with its enchanting portrayal of sisterly affection and father/daughter relationships. Between these covers we find ourselves entangled in not only the day to day life of a family dealing with profound loss, but also in the mystery and allure of just a touch of magic–grounding us in the realism of family dynamics while simultaneously stirring our imaginations with fanciful possibilities. Reading this tale is like sitting down to a lush and savory meal where dishes that appeal to every part of our palettes are spread before us in offering, and we are tantalized with various flavors all at once, experiencing each one in rich detail and smiling soundly as we eagerly indulge.

Azalea is a young woman for whom we easily care as she is saddled with the burden of looking after her grieving younger sisters while also dealing with her responsibility as future queen, facing the prospect of a parliament-arranged marriage as opposed to one entered into with love. She admirably stands for all her sisters, boldly questioning and admonishing the King when he pushes his daughters away in bereavement, speaking her mind and heart even as the sharp pain of her own loss constantly pricks at her from all sides. When the house is left in a darkness to match the girls' wardrobes, Azalea assumes the responsibility of lifting the spirits of eleven impressionable young girls, helping them to remember and celebrate their mother through their shared love of dancing. She keeps all our hearts light enough to temporarily banish the encroaching darkness as we together recover from the painful absence of both parents and revel in the sometimes tenuous but always unbreakable bond between these sisters.

One of the more fascinating aspects of this tale is the various relationships between not only the girls, but also the girls and their father, as well as Azalea, Bramble, and Clover's individual relationships with potential husbands. Reading on as the King eventually begins to see the error of his ways and seeks to make amends for the deep and staggering pain his emotional and physical abandonment caused is an absolute pleasure. Each tentative step at forming a connection to his daughters when before he left such intricacies to his wife sends welcome warm shivers down our spines, that blissful heat seeming to flow back into him as though the pages themselves are a conduit between us, and we wish our wholehearted encouragement might give him the strength to fill the gaping hole left by the girls' mother with the laughter and smiles etched across twelve loving faces. Into the humorous and and complex familial bond Ms. Dixon also artfully weaves a subtle touch of romance, just enough to quicken our pulses and flush our cheeks, but not so much as to become the sole focus and take us away from the slowly healing relationship between father and daughters that has us so captivated.

Entwined is a cute story, not one full of action that has us gripping the pages white knuckled, but one that draws us in nonetheless, the subtle changes taking place in each individual character as they struggle with a very personal loss and attempt to remedy the monstrous tear in the fabric of their family a heartwarming drama we can't help but adore. Pick this one up if you enjoy a little magic in your reality, a little humor to alleviate your pain, and a little sweet giddiness to your romance.

Rating: 4/5