BLOG TOUR # 42 - TEAM HUMAN - 6 BOOK GIVEAWAY - INTERVIEW WITH JUSTINE LARBALESTIER & SARAH REES BRENNAN - ALLEN & UNWIN

Today I have for you an awesome interview with the lovely ladies Justine Larbalestier & Sarah Rees Brennan and 6 Paperbacks to giveaway. 5 for Aussie addresses, big thankyou to Allen & Unwin and 1 for International, big thankyou to me for buying this for the lucky winner, hehe:D 

Thank you ladies for taking the time to answer my Q's. So without further ado, here is my interview:D

Enjoy!

INTERVIEW

Michelle:   I am very intrigued with the whole duo writing team thing. Could you please let us in on how you decided to come together and write Team Human and how does an Australian and an Irish writer make it work? Do you each tackle a chapter, do you just write into the dead of the night and then pick each others work until a happy medium?

Sarah

Sarah Rees Brennan: We'd each write two chapters and then turn them over to the other, alternating, and both of us would go over and over and over each chapter until we were happy. Justine loves cutting... which is lucky because I love adding. Very symbiotic! Or like I kept kicking sand into the hole Justine was digging on the beach. Not sure which. ;)

I did always think it was fun to write at top speed so Justine would wake in the morning and find new chapters lurking for her there. Time differences are cool.

Justine Larbalestier: It wasn't just in the morning! Sometimes I'd finish a chapter for her to read and comment on and she'd get back to me to talk about within about twenty seconds and would then go off and write the next chapter before I had time to get up from my desk. Truly, Sarah, is not human.

Michelle:   I really loved Francis’ character. Who thought him up and that sun proof suit?

SRB:  Aw, thank you! Well, we both thought of him, really, though I think I like him better than Justine does. (She's the hardcore Team Human girl!) He was a mixture of a lot of different fictional vampires (and non-vampires, the way he writes his Great Work is based on a character called Casaubon from George Eliot's Middlemarch) and yet we wanted to make him our own as well: he's funny (not on purpose) but he's also a loyal and loving person. We wanted our vampire to seem real.

Justine was very firm that our vampires be allergic to the sun--I totally agreed with her--and we felt the sunproof suit was the next logical and hilarious step.

Justine

JL:  Francis, like all the characters in the book, was made up by both of us. The book is truly collaborative from start to finish. We named him Francis about Lymond from the Dorothy Dunnett books. Don't tell any Dunnett fans--they take Lymond very seriously--but we did that as a joke.

Michelle:  Would you ladies consider or have considered a novella about Francis?

SRB: Mayyyybe. I am much pleased by this Francis devotion!

Michelle: Sarah, what 10 words would you use to describe Justine?

SRB:  I only need one word. She's indescribable. ;) 

Michelle: Justine , what 10 words would you use to describe Sarah ? 

JL:  I'm going to cheat and use the same word as Sarah. 

Michelle:  Sarah , I am really loving, The Demon’s Lexicon Trilogy, Team Nick. The Lynburn Legacy book # 1 Unspoken , is due for release September 11th 2012, I must read this. How many books will be in this series and do you have any other paranormal series you are looking at writing? I find Nick and the crew very addictive reading.

Oh, thank you very much! Team Nick is a fine team to be on. A little demon-y but still good. ;)

The Lynburn Legacy is going to be three books. I love a trilogy, because I have a rule for trilogies--book 1, set up, book 2, make out, book 3, defeat evil!--and my Gothic tale of a girl who finds out her imaginary friend is a real boy lends itself very well to those rules, and that's all I'm saying.

But Team Human was my very first stand alone (Justine had to guide me through it) so it'll always be special!

Michelle:  Do you ladies have any works you would like to plug that are in...the works, no pun intended...well maybe:D 

SRB: Well, I'm playing with the idea of writing a retelling of a classic tale, and I'm also working on something I call the Ice Queen of Boston series. I've never written a bad-girl heroine before and I'm loving it!

JL: The book I'm working on right now is still too delicate for me to talk about it.

Michelle:  What character in any of your books was the hardest emotionally for you to write and why?

SRB: Oh lord, I couldn't pick one. They were all hard to write emotionally from time to time! If you're not crying, it's not working, I think. Same if you're not laughing. (Writing books for me: like having a mini nervous breakdown...)

JL: Probably Micah from 'Liar'. It's very draining to write about some who has such a tenuous grip on reality.

Michelle:   If you could write your co-writer into a paranormal story, have fun, what character would you write her as, and what would you name her?

SRB:  I think I'd prefer to write her as a superheroine? She's very strong (sports, all those mystifying sports!) and very into justice. Just-Justine? Justicine? I like Justicine! (There may be a reason Hollywood did not break down my door begging me to write the latest Spiderman movie.)

JL:  Definitely as a vampire. In fact, sometimes I suspect Sarah already is a vampire. She sure does spend a lot of time awake. And she hasn't aged a day since I first met her . . .

Michelle:  What are both of you ladies philosophy on life?

SRB:  'I may not agree with a word you say, but would defend to the death your right to say it.' OK, I stole that from Voltaire, but it's good, right?

JL:  I'll go with Sarah and Voltaire.

Michelle:  If both of you went on a night time date, with Francis, where do you think he would take you?

SRB:  Like both of us at once? ... I guess it'd end up just being me, since I think Justine might run away. ;) Oh Francis knows how to show a lady a good time. We might go to the opera, or for a promenade around the park. And he would look at me with his beautiful blue eyes and draw in close and whisper 'I feel deeply uncomfortable doing this without a chaperone.'

Classic Francis.

JL: Sarah is right I wouldn't go on a date with Francis. But if he and Sarah were on a date I would, in fact, stick around to chaperone. Poor Francis who knows what Sarah would do to him? :-)

Thanks ladies for this fun interview, all the best with your next projects.

Michelle

This is a cool little vid. The person making it was unwell so some parts are unfinished, but you get the idea of how long it would take them to draw these great images of the characters.

GIVEAWAY TIME

 AUSSIE ADDRESSES ONLY

ALLEN & UNWIN HAVE KINDLY DONATED 

5 PAPERBACKS OF TEAM HUMAN 

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BUT!!!

INTERNATIONAL ENTRIES ONLY

I SHALL VIA BOOK DEPOSITORY DONATE 

1 X PAPERBACK TEAM HUMAN

PLEASE CHECK WITH BOOK DEPOSITORY THAT THEY POST TO YOUR COUNTRY

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BOOK REVIEW - TEAM HUMAN by SARAH REES BRENNAN & JUSTINE LARBALESTIER

By: Justine Larbalestier & Sarah Rees Brennan

Published By : Allen & Unwin

Released : 3rd July 2012

Details: Paperback For Review From Publisher, 359 Pages

RATING : 3.75 FRANCIS STARS!!

Book Blurb : Goodreads

Just because Mel lives in New Whitby, a city founded by vampires, doesn't mean she knows any of the blood-drinking undead personally. They stay in their part of town; she says in hers. Until the day a vampire shows up at her high school. Worse yet, her best friend, Cathy, seems to be falling in love with him. It's up to Mel to save Cathy from a mistake she might regret for all eternity.

On top of trying to help Cathy (whether she wants it or not), Mel is investigating a mysterious disappearance for another friend and discovering the attractions of a certain vampire wannabe. Combine all this with a cranky vampire cop, a number of unlikely romantic entanglements, and the occasional zombie, and soon Mel is hip-deep in an adventure that is equal parts hilarious and touching.

Acclaimed authors Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan team up to create a witty and poignant story of cool vampires, warm friendships, and the changes that test the bonds of love.

BOOK REVIEW by Michelle :

I am going to start by saying I had not read any of Sarah Rees Brennan or Justine Larbalestier’s works before I read Team Human, so I was coming in fresh. I have since read Sarah’s , The Demon Lexicon, and loved it.

Team Human was not at all what I was expecting. I have been interested in this book for a while as I love vampire stories and YA genre. Putting these two authors together as a writing duo made for a quick and easy read where you could tell behind the scenes these ladies were having fun. It comes across in the writing.

Mel , looooovvveee her full first name, no, not in a million years will you guess it. I have to be honest and say, that I personally found her to be a tad annoying as a character. She was sticking her nose into all sorts of business , very blindly, and throwing accusations about like last years fashion. But, this IS her character. It didn’t make it any less annoying, but , she is deliberately written this way. Mel is Mel and she truly believes in her job of bff to Cathy.

I looovved Cathy and Francis. I could see Team Human being their story, it is semi, but it is mainly the most, LOL!! annoying Mel and her endeavours to break up, stop things with Francis and Cathy. Well, she is Team Human.

I would have liked to get to know Francis loads more as I really, really, loved his characteristics. He is very funny, without trying to be. Sure, everything goes rather quickly in Cathy and Francis’ relationship but Francis is well over 150 years old so, hey, why not.

I loved Francis’ family. Minty is a tad frightening, Kit is the human amongst the vampires. I liked this! Kit , again, wait until you find out his name...I laughed but I also went...awwww! There was some silly fun with Kit, being raised by vampires, hence why I think these ladies were having a lot of fun behind the scenes writing this book.

Mel was spending her time throughout this book with the ‘anti Francis’ campaign, and trying to solve a mystery, with Kit slowly growing on her until he too drops a bombshell. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to shake Mel or commend her for caring toooo much for her friends business.

I really liked Cathy. She is intelligent, she suits Francis. She is not prejudiced, she really ‘sees’ Francis. She thinks things through, unlike Mel, who I thought was a bit too pepped up, sometimes.

I liked the ZDU - Zombie Disposal Unit, idea. A bit of a different take on turning vampire, sometimes it doesn’t stick. I think readers are used to seeing a rather painful, long, turning vampire process in books. The ladies have written their version a bit more........ well, that would be spoiling. Shame on you for wanting to know......hehe!

I enjoyed the mystery that was playing behind Mel’s busy bodying. There was a great twist and I am looking forward to more Kit. He is a great guy, just a bit naive to some things. Mel has so much prejudice and Kit has none, so this will be an interesting friendship.

I enjoyed Team Human, it is a read that will make you laugh, you will find that a good friend comes with great intentions, but sometimes they need to be told politely, ‘thanks for caring I hear you, now hear me.’

Michelle