Stargazer
by Claudia Grey
March 24, 2009
read anexcerpt here.
Stargazer returns to Bianca's story a few months later. Both she and Lucas will stop at nothing to see each other again—even if it means living a life of secrets and lies. But even as Bianca finds herself torn between two worlds, she soon discovers they aren't the only ones keeping secrets. Will powerful forces within Evernight Academy keep her from deciding her own fate, or claim her forever?
I'm eager anticipating next week's release of Satrgazer by Claudia Grey. I was working at the library when one of my regulars, someone to who I always have an interesting book to recommend to her, returned the favor by insisting I try Evernight. I was admittedly a little skeptical about another book about a vampire boarding school. After all the Vampire Academy is pretty perfect and it would be hard to keep up with it.
Evernight turned out to be a wonderful reminder that in fiction anything is possible. With the exception of a glitch in the middle of the book, one that had me saying out loud, "What the hell, that makes no sense!" It turned out not to matter. There's a bigger picture at play here. Evernight is the beginning of a promising series with engaging characters and an especially dreamy male lead in Lucas. Grey turns the almost crippling cliche of the brooding and tortured male vampire a complete 180. Enter Bianca, an unremarkable girl in remarkable circumstances. Everything that makes her unique is how unlike a "vampire" this little vampire is.
The danger in this series is palpable, you feel it at every turn of the page. So I'm glad that Stargazer is nearly here to sweep us back into Lucas and Bianca's world, to see if these star-crossed lovers can ever be together.
by Claudia Grey
March 24, 2009
read anexcerpt here.
Stargazer returns to Bianca's story a few months later. Both she and Lucas will stop at nothing to see each other again—even if it means living a life of secrets and lies. But even as Bianca finds herself torn between two worlds, she soon discovers they aren't the only ones keeping secrets. Will powerful forces within Evernight Academy keep her from deciding her own fate, or claim her forever?
I'm eager anticipating next week's release of Satrgazer by Claudia Grey. I was working at the library when one of my regulars, someone to who I always have an interesting book to recommend to her, returned the favor by insisting I try Evernight. I was admittedly a little skeptical about another book about a vampire boarding school. After all the Vampire Academy is pretty perfect and it would be hard to keep up with it.
Evernight turned out to be a wonderful reminder that in fiction anything is possible. With the exception of a glitch in the middle of the book, one that had me saying out loud, "What the hell, that makes no sense!" It turned out not to matter. There's a bigger picture at play here. Evernight is the beginning of a promising series with engaging characters and an especially dreamy male lead in Lucas. Grey turns the almost crippling cliche of the brooding and tortured male vampire a complete 180. Enter Bianca, an unremarkable girl in remarkable circumstances. Everything that makes her unique is how unlike a "vampire" this little vampire is.
The danger in this series is palpable, you feel it at every turn of the page. So I'm glad that Stargazer is nearly here to sweep us back into Lucas and Bianca's world, to see if these star-crossed lovers can ever be together.
Here's my interview with the awesome Claudia GreyIBT: If you could choose one fictional character to bring into real life, who would you choose?
CG: This is a tough one! So many of them come to mind: Wouldn't it be fun to get Lizzie Bennett's take on all your problems? Or hear the snide things
Rhett Butler would say about people you disliked? If I chose Seeley Booth from the TV show "Bones," could I get him to go out with me? Or would I
prefer to hear the poems Randolph Henry Ash (from POSSESSION) would write today? I could pick dozens. Right this second, while I'm waiting in anairport, I think I'd pick Sydney Bristow from "Alias," because she has her own plane and could give me a lift. Plus, if I were ever in trouble, she
could break in to rescue me. And maybe I could borrow the awesome clothes from her spy closet.
IBT: How did you survive being a teen?
CG: Hiding in books, hoping for a better tomorrow. That and luck.
IBT: Have you ever written something that you feel uncomfortable writing, knowing that your family and friends will probably end up reading it?
CG: Sometimes the more passionate scenes in the EVERNIGHT series make me squirm when I think my parents might read it. But that's when I know the scene is
finally hot enough!
IBT: What do you think are the biggest issues that teens need to be thinking about today? Do you think teens today are looking for quality in the books
they read, or just to live vicariously through superficial characters?
CG: I don't think I can stand up and say all teenagers need to be thinking about X or Y. I mean, we're all individuals, and we all have different
concerns -- maybe somebody needs to think about being independent and thinking for himself, and somebody else needs to think about dealing with
mental illness in the family, and everybody else has their own top concerns. (And the really universal issues -- like taking care of our environment,
or ending violence against women -- those aren't things teens need to be thinking about; they're things we ALL need to be thinking about.) I
suspect that no teenagers want to be preached to or told how to think, but that they are open to a wide range of stories -- from the escapist to the realistic,
and all the books that fall in between or manage to blend both.
IBT: How have the books you've read inspired the books you've written, if at all?
CG: There's no one answer to this question, but I would say that every single time I write a book, I try to look for what the author is doing well. Even
the worst books I've read have *something* about them that the author gets right, and I've learned a lot by looking for the virtues of books that I don't like. Maybe that sounds funny, but it's true!
IBT: What is the strangest thing you have ever gotten inspiration from? Where did the inspiration for this series and these characters come from?
CG: I once got a very good story idea while waiting in a drive-thru line at Wendy's. I thought, if only my car could fly, I could just get out of this
stupid line. I can't explain how the flying-car moment led to the inspiration, but it really did!
IBT: Many writers say parting with a character is hard. Do you ever look back on a character and wish you had changed something about him or her?
CG: Yes, sometimes. But that's natural. When you are a fan of a book or TV series, you can come up with thousands of potential stories for those
characters and believe in them all equally; when you're the author, you have to pick one storyline and commit to it. So I think about other routes I might have taken, and sometimes really wonder if I made the right choice.
But I don't really have regrets, because making those choices is part of being a writer.
IBT: What is the one thing such as, sky diving or any other daring thing, that you would love to do but you are too afraid?
CG: If I really want to do something, I do it! Actually, I hope to try skydiving for the first time next summer.
IBT: What do you do when you are faced with writer s block? What helps you get over it?
CG: Luckily, writer's block is not a huge problem for me. I always outline my stories, so whenever I sit down to work, I know what I need to accomplish.
As long as I have a few periods of inspiration a year, I can build the outlines I need to keep me busy the rest of the time. Not everybody can
work with an outline, but I always urge would-be writers to give it a try. It's worth a shot.
IBT: Paris is the one city I cannot die without first visiting. Do you have a place you've yet to visit but cannot live without?"
CG: Russia. I can't wait to visit St. Petersburg and Moscow.
IBT: Most vampire fiction depicts the male play that role and I loved that you switched the usual roles. Would you ever write from Lucas's
perspective?
CG: I'm so glad you enjoyed the switch! The whole EVERNIGHT series is from Bianca's perspective, but I would definitely consider writing a short story
or book from Lucas' POV if the right opportunity came along.
Thank you Claudia!
