Hey beautiful readers! I hope you're having a wonderful day and that you're ready to get to this because I so am? I have been so ready to share with you this post the day Cake Literary asked me to host this lovely Q&A with author Karuna Riazi. I have been so excited because I love Karuna and her books and I simply wanted to share the love about this new title she has called The Battle. So let's not delay this and get to it, right?

The game begins again in this gripping follow-up to The Gauntlet that’s a futuristic Middle-Eastern Zathura meets Ready Player One! 

Four years after the events of The Gauntlet, the evil game Architect is back with a new partner-in-crime—The MasterMind—and the pair aim to get revenge on the Mirza clan. Together, they’ve rebuilt Paheli into a slick, mind-bending world with floating skyscrapers, flying rickshaws run by robots, and a digital funicular rail that doesn’t always take you exactly where you want to go.

Twelve-year-old Ahmad Mirza struggles to make friends at his new middle school, but when he’s paired with his classmate Winnie for a project, he is determined to impress her and make his very first friend. At home while they’re hard at work, a gift from big sister Farah—who is away at her first year in college—arrives. It’s a high-tech game called The Battle of Blood and Iron, a cross between a video game and board game, complete with virtual reality goggles. He thinks his sister has solved his friend problem—all kids love games. He convinces Winnie to play, but as soon as they unbox the game, time freezes all over New York City.

With time standing still and people frozen, all of humankind is at stake as Ahmad and Winnie face off with the MasterMind and the Architect, hoping to beat them at their own game before the evil plotters expand Paheli and take over the entire world.

The Book Voyagers: Hi Karuna! So happy to have you here and thank you for coming to my blog. Let’s talk about The Battle. Can you tell us a little bit more about this book? What can we expect and are there more dangers than in the first installment? 

Karuna Riazi: Hi Sil! Such a pleasure to be on the blog! The Battle picks up a few years where The Gauntlet left off, and with a different Mirza as our protagonist: Ahmad, Farah's precocious younger brother who got sucked into Paheli previously. He's now a middle schooler himself and will face down the Architect and his new ally, The MasterMind, alongside his classmate (and, he hopes, friend) Winnie. You can expect a video game twist instead of the traditional board game, more scheming from the Architect and other cool things like flying rickshaws and holographic shops!

TBV: One of the things that I found fascinating in the blurb is that this new novel is more futuristic! The evil game Architect has a new partner in crime a.k.a. The MasterMind. And they rebuild Paheli with lots of new things like robots *chef kiss* Tell me a bit more about your inspiration for this book.

KR: Well, as you know, Jumanji was part of my original inspiration for The Gauntlet. Jumanji's sequel is Zathura, which - particularly if you are considering film canon - is more futuristic than Jumanji. We decided to go for video games as the futuristic aspect instead of outer space, and I went from there! (I'm a video game fan myself so this was a lot of fun for me.)

TBV: I love board games and as you said The Gauntlet is inspired by Jumanji. Which board games are your favorite now and which were your favorite when you were a kid? And if you had the chance, would you go into the game like Ahmad and Winnie? 

KR: My favorite board games as a kid were Clue, and these two really educational ones (I was homeschooled). One was called Take Off, and it was dedicated to teaching geography, so you had a fleet of airplanes and you had to get them to a certain airport - if I recall correctly - before the opposing players' planes did. The other was Herd Your Horses - yes, I was a horse girl in middle school, down to the riding classes - and my sister and I used to carry it to our local stables for summer day camp so everyone could take a turn playing it. In terms of going into a game, I'm...a very anxious person. I think all of Alex's nerves in the first book were very autobiographical. I would spend most of my time in a game just like him: worrying, wondering if we'd made a huge mistake and freaking out over every little surprise. So I think I would honestly not want to go into a game!

TBV: Friendship is so important in your books. Can you tell me about the creation of these characters, Ahmad and Winnie, and how they form the perfect partnership? 

KR: Of course, readers will be familiar with Ahmad from The Gauntlet - but, in the way authors often do with hindsight after the book is released, I realized that Ahmad was not given as much of a chance to show his inner spirit and character as his sister was. A lot of readers described him as bratty or difficult for no reason. So, in this book, once I knew he was going to be the protagonist, I wanted to show another side to him: the boy who wants what his sister has, good friends, but is not sure of how to do that or where to even begin. I wanted Ahmad to have a friend he deserved, even if he didn't know it: someone fun, and smart, and loyal, and also another kid of color who believes strongly in sticking together and facing the world together. I think Winnie is all that and more and I love her and hope that I've been able to do her justice and make her spirit shine as strongly as his. (I will also note that, even if he doesn't realize it yet, Ahmad has all those same characteristics, but he's less confident in them than Winnie is, which is why she's the perfect partner to draw it out of him!)

TBV: As a last question, I would love to know which books would you recommend reading for fans of your books! 



KR: Hmm, this is a very good question. As a kid, I loved The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin and I still want to write a book with as much depth and mystery as that book - so readers, if you haven't, get on that! If you want to understand me as a person in general, read Ella Enchanted and Howl's Moving Castle because those titles are the reasons I write. In general within middle grade, I love my Cake sister Anna Meriano's Love Sugar Magic titles, Anne Ursu's middle grades (like, every single one of them) and anything by Mike Jung. I'm sure I'm forgetting people!

Karuna Riazi is a born and raised New Yorker, with a loving, large extended family and the rather trying experience of being the eldest sibling in her particular clan. She holds a BA in English Literature from Hofstra University, and is an online diversity advocate, blogger, and educator. She is a 2017 honoree on NBC Asian America's Redefining A-Z list, featuring up and coming talent within the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community, and her work has been featured on Entertainment Weekly, Amy Poehler's Smart Girls, Book Riot and Teen Vogue, among others.

Karuna is fond of tea, Korean dramas, writing about tough girls forging their own paths toward their destinies, and baking new delectable treats for friends and family to relish. The Gauntlet (S&S/Salaam Reads, March 28, 2017) is her middle grade debut, with a forthcoming companion, The Battle.

Hi, beautiful people! Sil here. I'm excited to be part of this virtual book tour for A TINY PIECE OF SOMETHING GREATER by Jude Sierra. Jude is one of my favorite authors and I hope many people pick up Jude's books! This little interview here will give you a great view inside Jude's head and her characters. Hope you enjoy.

1. Tell us something no one else knows about your characters. 

Reid very badly does and has always wanted to go to college, but so deeply internalized this idea that he was too behind, too fucked up, and a general mess that it isn’t until he’s on the road to wellness that he realizes how easily story we tell ourselves is true (or that we think others have told us is true) can quickly become a fact. It’s a story he’s told himself and that others have told him so often, he won’t even begin to untangle how he really feels about it for a long time. 

I think we can tell from Tiny that Joaquim loves having younger divers in his classes. Where the boys are at the end of the book—happy, together, but unsure of where they will go next—is just the start of a turning point for Joaquim as he begins to evaluate the sustainability of his wandering and free spirited approach to the future. A part of this evaluation is the beginning of some serious thought about what he might want to do some day down the road—and although it’ll be a while before he really unlocks this, I can definitely tell you that working with children is a big part of it.   

2. Do you have pictures that you use for your characters? Can you share them with us? 

I do! I will say that Joaquim was so hard to find, I felt like there was a team of people trying to find the perfect J for us: eventually the wonderful Julian Winters and my fellow book blogger Annie found me the closest match. Joaquim has shorter hair but otherwise this particular male model is A+

Conversely, is so much this boy that I can’t even handle my feelings over how 100% Reid he is.

3. Did you learn anything from this book and what was it? 

I learned a lot about how far into painful emotions I’m willing to go, for one. Which sounds weird, but there were plenty of times when I felt like I was gutting myself writing Reid. But it felt really important and very true and necessary to making this book as realistic and honest as possible. 

I think I also learned more about my relationship with romantic gestures, oddly enough. Reid and Joaquim are by far the most romantic couple I’ve written: they do such lovely sweet things for each other and go on really romantic dates. I didn’t realize I’d never really explored that sort of dynamic in depth before and it was really fulfilling to write, once I let myself go there. In real life I’d be super uncomfortable with the level of romance these two share, because I have a very hard time expressing deep feelings in particular ways. I knew that this applied to me when it came to painful emotions, but hadn’t realized quite how much I protect myself from letting people in across the board. It’s a strange and interesting thing to learn about yourself when you write romance novels! 

4. What do you think makes your book stand out from the crowd? 

On a most basic level, I’ll say that I’ve never seen a book about a character with cyclothemia, although I’m sure they are out there. I’d never even heard of cyclothemia until I was over 30—having known about it I might have been saved or saved myself tremendous suffering in silence. 

Tiny is a love story, and I enjoyed writing it so much; but in some ways, it’s almost like this book is half a love story and half a coming of age. I read a lot of romance that broaches difficult topics, but I tried very, very hard to stay away from the idea that love would cure or fix Reid in any way. The love story enriches his life and Joaquim’s life, and Reid’s mental illness complicates their new relationship as they learn to communicate and navigate each other and their stories. I knew when writing Tiny that some parts of it would be hard enough to read that some people wouldn’t be able to pick it up or finish it. That’s a hard thing to come to terms with ahead of time. But by the same token, there was no other way for me to do justice by the story and the message and the characters. I needed this book to be its best, most honest self, both for myself and for readers.   

5. say it takes a community to write a book: tell us about the community that helped you with this book. 

I dedicated my book to a group of women who were instrumental in my wellness and recovery after I had a mental breakdown. For over a year, every week, our meetings were what I looked forward to, a touchstone for my wellness, a ballast. These women and the relationships we had made a huge difference in my ability to forgive myself. They helped me learn how to draw and stay true to boundaries I needed to create in toxic relationships. They helped me understand that my responsibility to my survival and happiness were of utmost importance in my life, and that if I found happiness, I would be my best self for my family and friends. A Tiny Piece of Something Greater would never have happened without them. I needed a certain perspective and distance from some topics in the book in order to get as close to them as I did (which probably makes no sense, but is true). They were a huge part of that journey for me. 

So far as the writing of the book goes, I was super indebted to my sensitivity readers—Taylor Brooke, Julian Winters and Min (from Min and her Books Blog)—who offered tremendous help and support in large part because they believed in me and the story. I had such personal and honest moments with all three about various aspects of the book that I couldn’t imagine this process without them. Annie, my co-book blogger read every sentence of this book from the first draft. She literally read along as I wrote it during NaNo. When you’re doubting if you can or should do a thing, it helps to have a cheerleader like Annie. I had other wonderful friends who shared stories with me, read snippets of difficult parts (I don’t want to name names if they don’t want them), who gave me feedback on if certain parts rang true, etc. Despite the fact that I wrote this from a POV within these experiences, in no way are my experiences monolithic. I’m super grateful to everyone who gave me feedback and cheered me on and supported this book as I wrote it.

Buy the book:

Amazon | Smashwords | Interlude Press | The Ripped Bodice

Special offer: the ebook will be 50% off on Kindle November 12-18.

Title: Icing the Puck

Series: New York Empires #2

Authors: Isabo Kelly, Stacey Agdern, Kenzie Maclir

Stacey's: Crossing the Lines

Goodreads | Amazon

~ Crossing the Lines blurb ~ 

Contact: Website | Twitter | Facebook

Emily: Hi guys! I’m gonna have to go with…Word 1: Awesome. Word 2: Complex. Word 3: PIRATES!!!!

TBV: Tell us about the inspiration behind The Abyss Surrounds Us.  

Emily: So The Abyss Surrounds Us started when I combined two things I’ve been passionate about since I was a kid. The first was science fiction—I saw Star Wars at eleven and it slowly turned me into a story-obsessed aspiring filmmaker. The second was marine biology, which I believed I was ~destined for~ between the ages of nine and thirteen. This was one of those stories where the world came first—by pairing those two ideas, I got to the concept of Reckoners, massive genetically-engineered sea monsters that escort and protect their companion ships. World in hand, I went looking for a story, and I found Cas Leung.

TBV:   Like Silvana told you before she would really want a giant turtle as her pet! If you could choose to have an giant animal as a pet, which animal would it be? (note: It doesn't have to be only the creatures in your book!) 

Emily: I don’t think it’s any secret that I really love the idea of giant turtles. My editor actually suggested changing one of the turtles in the book to some other kind of creature, and I rejected it outright because I loved my turtles too much. But if I had to pick any other giant animal, it’d probably have to be an elephant. When I was a little kiddo, the first job I ever wanted was to be a zookeeper that worked with elephants, and the notion is still rattling around in my head.

TBV:   Cas Leung aka the most badass girl you don't want to be enemies with. We wanted to know something: Which song would she choose to be - like - her Boxer Entrance Song? 

Emily: Cas Leung would absolutely enter the ring to Fall Out Boy’s My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark. The chorus of “Light ‘em up” is particularly fitting, given her weapon of choice. ;)

TBV: Onto the pirates *eeeep* Pirates are so cool and there aren't a lot pirate stories in YA these days. If you could have any trait of a pirate (of your pirates or movie, TV pirates, etc.), which one would you choose?

Emily: My own Santa Elena is a villainous twist on everything I dream of being, so it’s no wonder the pirate trait I’d choose is her theatricality. She doesn’t just put on a show—she is the show. I wanna be the show.

TBV:    Santa Elena is such a symbol. She emits this deadly energy of command in the ship. But then again, we think she would like Captain Jack Sparrow really well and they would hit it off and go drink in some floating city. How would you describe Santa Elena? And if she was to be in a Hogwart's House, which one would she be in?

Emily: Santa Elena is one of my favorite characters to write. My first concept of her was as “the Beyoncé of the sea”—someone who bled confidence and theatrical flair. She’s a criminal and a leader, a mother and a mentor, a force of nature in her own right. And she’s maybe a little less villainous and a little more noble than she seems at first blush. Hogwarts house-wise, she’s a Gryffindor. Daring and Nerve could be her middle names. Chivalry… well maybe she’ll work on it.

TBV: Swift is another character that has so much to say in this book. We think she catches you by surprise. Was there a time you wanted to write something for her and you didn't because it didn't fit her personality/character? 

Emily: Swift is definitely the kind of character who catches you by surprise—she caught me by surprise while I was writing her. She started out as a counterpoint to the “Tattooed Bad Boy YA Love Interest With Secret Soft Center” that we all know and love, but she moved past being simply that and became this character who was really complex and engaging to work with. I never wanted to write something and then realized it wouldn’t work for her character, but I had the opposite experience, where little things surfaced that I realized were a part of her character—like “Oh hey, so this pirate girl is actually a big nerd about Greek mythology? Who knew?”

TBV:  And one of my (Sil) many favorite moments is definitely the romance. It's so cute and it kind of broke me apart - as it will also break you guys when you read it. Why do you think these two characters fit together so well?

Emily: I think my favorite thing about Cas and Swift is how they challenge each other. They come from two radically different worlds—Swift from piracy, Cas from an industry dedicated to combating piracy. When they end up stuck together as prisoner and guard, they naturally conflict, but they also naturally start working towards a middle ground where they can both survive. They’re two people with very strong wills and very strong convictions, and in some ways they’re two sides of the same coin.

We decided to turn one of our questions into a "game" and decided to make it look like a pinterest board [ahem, there might be a real one in the future and we may possibly pin more if Emily allows it] but for now:

TBV: Ok. So we're going to play a game *yay!* This is what we're going to do: We're going to give you three quotes from TASU and you will have to share with us one picture for each quote that represents best what you feel the quote embodies. 

the quotes: [in order]

• "I'm a pirate queen. I don't make promises."
• "Come back alive and victorious, or don't come back at all."
• "But here the monsters we made our Reckoners to fight have faces and smiles and souls, and that makes them even worse."

Emily: 

Emily Skrutskie is six feet tall. She was born in Massachusetts, raised in Virginia, and forged in the mountains above Boulder, Colorado. She holds a B.A. in Performing and Media Arts from Cornell University, where she studied an outrageous and demanding combination of film, computer science, and game design. 

Her short fiction has been published by HarperTeen, and her debut novel, THE ABYSS SURROUNDS US, will be published by Flux on February 8th, 2016!

TWITTER - WEBSITE

Cursed with a horoscope that promises a marriage of Death and Destruction, sixteen-year-old Maya has only earned the scorn and fear of her father's kingdom. Content to follow more scholarly pursuits, her world is upheaved when her father, the Raja, arranges a wedding of political convenience to quell outside rebellions. But when her wedding takes a fatal turn, Maya becomes the queen of Akaran and wife of Amar. Yet neither roles are what she expected. As Akaran's queen, she finds her voice and power. As Amar's wife, she finds friendship and warmth.

But Akaran has its own secrets - thousands of locked doors, gardens of glass, and a tree that bears memories instead of fruit. Beneath Akaran's magic, Maya begins to suspect her life is in danger. When she ignores Amar's plea for patience, her discoveries put more than new love at risk - it threatens the balance of all realms, human and Otherworldly.

Now, Maya must confront a secret that spans reincarnated lives and fight her way through the dangerous underbelly of the Otherworld if she wants to protect the people she loves.

THE STAR-TOUCHED QUEEN is a lush, beautifully written and vividly imagined fantasy inspired by Indian mythology.

TBV: How did you get the inspiration of writing this book? Did you ever give up during the process of writing it all down?

As idyllic as that sounds, her father would give it all up in an instant if he could only find a map that would allow him to save Nix’s mother, who died in childbirth. Of course, it’s very possible that undoing her death would erase Nix’s life, her memories--even her existence. Nix has to fight for her life, work through her relationship with her father, and figure out her feelings for her best friend and crewmate Kashmir--all while her father draws Nix and the crew into a political plot against the Hawaiian monarchy in an effort to get the map that will let him save the woman he loves.

TBV: If you could describe The Girl From Everywhere in 3 words, which ones would that be?
Heidi: That’s a tough one, especially since the title is four words! But I would just say: myth, history, regret.

TBV: Can you talk about which books/authors inspired you to write? And what made you choose the Fantasy genre?
Heidi: Oh I’ve read fantasy all my life--and before I read it, my father read it to me. He’s a big fan of fantasy and sci-fi (and myth and history too), and since he was the one who read to my sister and I, he shaped my taste in books. It’s honestly hard to imagine writing in a different genre because fantasy is the one I know best! But I do read non-fantasy books, and actually one of the authors who inspired me to actually write a YA novel (instead of just enjoy reading them) is Rick Yancey, who wrote a gothic horror series called THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST that I really enjoyed. That mix of philosophy and adventure was mind-blowing to me, and I wondered if I could ever write something along those lines.

TBV: Thank you so much for this, Heidi! It was so much fun and we're so happy we got to do our very first interview with you! ✧✧ 
Heidi Thank you guise! You honor me! :)