On Tour with Prism Book Tours
Welcome to another stop on the tour for Stuck by Samantha Durante! Today she tells us a bit more about her books and the writing process, as well as sharing a tender and heartbreaking time in her life. Please enjoy this interview and check out the whole series! You can also read more from her over at one of my other sites, Andi’s Young Adult Books, about creating these amazing covers. Please leave her comments and more questions!
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Hi Andrea! Thank you so much for hosting me at Candrel’s Crafts, Cooks, and Characters – I’m so grateful for the opportunity to introduce your readers to the Stitch Trilogy and hope to hear more about what they think about the series!
1.) What is the appeal of dystopian novels for readers, for writers?
I’ve been drawn to science fiction, and particularly dystopian novels, from a very young age as a reader – it’s always been so fascinating to me to think about how with just a few tweaks a society could go from looking like ours to something supposedly better but with a very dark underside. So that was one of the things I set out to explore with the Stitch Trilogy.
2.) Tell us about the rest of the series.
Over the course of the trilogy, you join our protagonists as they uncover the sordid truth and dark history of their society, Paragon, a place set in a world much like our own but with some important (and chilling) differences. In fact, some members of this society are so blinded to the truth that they don’t even realize they are, in fact, living in Paragon… which is something you get to experience firsthand in Book 1. (Trying not to give away too many spoilers here!) In Book 2, we learn more about how this world came about, and in Book 3, the main characters struggle against nearly insurmountable odds to try to bring those responsible to justice. And of course, there’s some romance along the way!
3.) How do you make yourself stand out in this competitive genre?
The main thing that sets the Stitch Trilogy apart from others in its genre is that it takes place in a very young dystopian society. Whereas in most other dystopian novels, things have generally been in place for a very long time and everyone who lives there just accepts that this is the way it is, in this series, we are joining the characters in Paragon only about a decade after it came to be. So we get to see through the eyes of these characters exactly how – and why – this transition came about, and of course, how very wrong it can all go when power is abused, even by people who set out with relatively noble intentions.
4.) What inspires you as a writer?
Being a reader! I love losing myself in a book, or even better, a long, immersive series of books. So my goal as a writer was always to “pay it forward” and hopefully create something that other people could enjoy as much as I’ve enjoyed other writers’ work.
5.) What is something readers may be surprised to learn about you?
I had originally set out with the intention of releasing one book a year, which means that this trilogy – which I started in 2012 – should have been complete in 2014. But shortly after I released Book 2 in 2013, my first child, my daughter, Alana, was stillborn just two days before her due date. After an otherwise normal, healthy, and uneventful pregnancy, this was (as you can imagine) a heart-shattering and soul-rending shock. We had absolutely no idea that such a thing could even still happen in this day and age, and our world was basically turned upside down by grief, and then by the anxiety of the subsequent pregnancy and infancy of our son, Kiran, a year later. With all that happened, I really needed to focus on my health and my family for a while, and it took a long time for me to be able to write again. I still can’t quite wrap my mind around the fact that there is now a 5 year gap between publishing Books 2 and 3, but it honestly took me this wrong to feel ready to tackle the conclusion of the series from both an emotional and functional standpoint. We were lucky to welcome our second daughter, Mia, over the summer, and I made it a goal to finish Stuck before she arrived. I knew if I didn’t get this book written before she was born, it could have been another 5 years before I managed to find the time!
6.) When not writing, what can we find you doing?
I’m a work-at-home mom, though these days the “mom” side of that scale is definitely outweighing the “work” (or at least the paid work!), so you’ll usually find me knee-deep in toys and bodily fluids… (Hey, no one ever said being a mom is glamorous! hahaha) But in all seriousness, especially given everything we’ve been through, I feel just feel so incredibly lucky to have these kids here to drive me nuts with their projects (my son definitely has the creative itch!) and their poop (thankfully that’s mostly limited to the baby at this point… mostly). I have a hard time tearing myself away from them, even for an hour break (which I definitely need, as I am still human). But I do make it a point to make room in my life to devote a good portion of my time to volunteering for stillbirth research and education through the Star Legacy Foundation. It’s important to me to honor our first child and to know that I’m doing my part to try to ensure that no family ever goes through what we did (or, at the very least, never goes through it alone). And hopefully sometime soon, I’ll be able to find time for another book!!
Stuck
(Stitch Trilogy #3)
By Samantha Durante
YA Dystopian, SciFi
Paperback & ebook, 306 Pages
December 15, 2018
3, 2, 1… BOOM.
Things are finally looking up for the Resistance. Sure, Alessa is still processing the revelation that the best friend she’d presumed dead is miraculously alive, though far from well… And her boyfriend is being manipulated under threat of blackmail. But her quest for justice against those behind the systematic extermination of the world population is so close to victory she can taste it.
And then in a matter of seconds, everything Alessa believes in is shaken to the core. Months of preparation are obliterated. The people she cares for most are lost.
But Alessa is still standing. And Paragon must pay.
The odds are grim, but unexpected allies surface in the most unlikely of places: A new pair of citizens still under the colony’s rule who notice something amiss in the latest drama. An old adversary who realizes the error of her ways. And a veritable army of inhuman power and terrible strength, with an insatiable thirst for vengeance. The trustworthiness of each of these factions is yet to be proven, but without many other options, Alessa may have to take what she can get. Especially since the Engineers, never to be outdone, also have a few more tricks up their sleeves…
The long-awaited final installment in the riveting Stitch Trilogy, Stuck will have readers gripping their seats as Alessa and a handful of intrepid survivors usher their harrowing journey to a close, risking everything as they endeavor – once and for all – to set things right.
Goodreads│Amazon│Barnes & Noble│Smashwords│Kobo
Other Books in the Series
About the Author
Samantha lives in Westchester County, New York with four of the five loves of her life – her husband, son, younger daughter, and cat – and carries her fifth love, her stillborn daughter, in her heart. An avid reader herself, Samantha’s dream is to bring the same delight to readers that other authors have brought to her life. In addition to penning novels and writing candidly about grief, she is also a sometimes freelance writer/consultant – though more often than not these days she’s on full-time mom duty! A former software engineer, Samantha said goodbye to the corporate world in 2010 to pursue her entrepreneurial dreams and lifelong love of writing. Learn more at www.samanthadurante.com.
Website│Goodreads│Facebook│Twitter│Instagram
Tour Schedule
December 10th:
Launch
Andi’s Young Adult Books
Mythical Books
December 11th:
Candrel’s Crafts, Cooks, and Characters
Paulette’s Papers
December 12th:
JeanzBookReadNReview
Lisa Loves Literature
December 13th:
Coffee, Books and Cakes
Why Not? Because I Said So!
December 14th:
FUONLYKNEW
Bri’s Book Nook
December 17th:
Colorimetry
Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile
December 18th:
Lovely Reads
Chapter Break
Words Are the Breath Of Life
December 19th:
Books & Such
Bri’s Book Nook
December 20th:
fundinmental
Coffee, Books and Cakes
December 21st:
Christy’s Cozy Corners
Oh Hey! Books.
December 22nd:
Grand Finale
Tour Giveaway
– 1 First Place Winner will receive: Signed Print Copies of All 3 Books in the Trilogy, a Limited-Edition Stitch Scarf, Bookmarks, and a $15 Amazon Gift Card
– 3 Second Place Winners will receive: eBook Copies of All 3 Books in the Trilogy for You *and* a Friend, plus a $5 Amazon Gift Card
– Open internationally
– Ends December 27th
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