Mundie Moms

Monday, January 27, 2014

Her Dark Curiosity by Megan Sheperd; Blog Tour: Author Interview / Giveaway


Hello & welcome to today's tour stop for HER DARK CURIOSITY. I'm so thrilled to have author Megan Sheperd on the blog today. But I share my interview with Megan, here's a little bit about her sequel, which hits shelves TOMORROW.



About HER DARK CURIOSITY
By: Megan Shepherd
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
To Be Released on: January 28, 2014
To defeat the darkness, she must first embrace it.

Months have passed since Juliet Moreau returned to civilization after escaping her father's island—and the secrets she left behind. Now, back in London once more, she is rebuilding the life she once knew and trying to forget Dr. Moreau’s horrific legacy—though someone, or something, hasn’t forgotten her.

As people close to Juliet fall victim one by one to a murderer who leaves a macabre calling card of three clawlike slashes, Juliet fears one of her father’s creations may have also escaped the island. She is determined to find the killer before Scotland Yard does, though it means awakening sides of herself she had thought long banished, and facing loves from her past she never expected to see again.

As Juliet strives to stop a killer while searching for a serum to cure her own worsening illness, she finds herself once more in the midst of a world of scandal and danger. Her heart torn in two, past bubbling to the surface, life threatened by an obsessive killer—Juliet will be lucky to escape alive.

With inspiration from Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, this is a tantalizing mystery about the hidden natures of those we love and how far we’ll go to save them from themselves.



***************


Hi Megan! Thank you for being on Mundie Moms today. I love the cover for Her Dark Curiosity. Did you have a say in your cover?

I did! HarperCollins has been great about showing me early concepts and taking my thoughts into consideration. For this cover, they used the same model from The Madman’s Daughter and held the shoot in London. We went back and forth a bit on finding the perfect moody background, and I adore what the designers chose. The colors and design are a perfect compliment to the first book. I’ve had an early peek at the third book’s cover as well, and it’s gorgeous!

In what ways has Juliet changed from the girl we first met in The Madman's Daughter to the one we'll read about in Her Dark Curiosity?

In The Madman’s Daughter, Juliet is wise to the ways of the world but still a bit naïve in regards to herself. She thinks she can reconcile with her father and live happily ever after, and well, that clearly doesn’t happen. So in Her Dark Curiosity her innocence is gone and she’s a bit lost, struggling to find her identity, making lots of mistakes, spiraling into sickness and madness. I think it’s safe to say she hits rock bottom a few times and does some very questionable things, which she is going to have to atone for in the third book.

What do you feel is Juliet's greatest character trait?

I love that Juliet isn’t afraid of life in the way many people are. She can operate in the gray areas between right and wrong, and do ruthless and sometimes violent actions others can’t—whether they need to be done or not. Amid it all, she struggles to hold onto her humanity. She doesn’t always succeed, but I admire the fact that she’s trying.

I've been fascinated by your series, and the inspiration behind it from The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. How fun has it been for you to create your own story based on the characters from Robert Louis Stevenson's story? 

I adored it, though it was challenging. Jekyll & Hyde is a difficult story to retell, since the action is told through somewhat unrelated narrators and letters that span several years’ worth of events, and it’s also quite a short novella. I always knew Her Dark Curiosity couldn’t be a straight retelling because it had to fit with Juliet’s story, but I loved pulling out inspiration wherever I could. The characters of Jekyll, Hyde, Inspector Newcomen, Sir Danvers Carew, and some of the victims all make an appearance, as does the science of serums and chemistry, and the themes of humanity’s dual nature.

Is there a book you've read as an adult that you wish you had, had when you were a teen?

When I was a teen I mostly read adult fiction, so I seemed to have missed out on lots of teen classics like VC Andrews and fantasy of Garth Nix and Tamora Pierce. I’ve enjoyed going back and reading some of these classics, though the writing style has changed, and I wished I’d read them when I’d been the real target age.

Are you working on anything at the moment that you're able to tell us about?

As of today (!) I’m completing the final revision for the third Madman’s Daughter book. It’s my favorite out of the three. It’s based on Frankenstein and takes place in a mysterious manor on the Scottish moors and is where all of Juliet’s darkness comes to a head. It’s a strange, satisfying, but also melancholy thing to finish my first series. However, I’m already hard at work on my next series, a YA sci-fi called The Cage, about six very different teenagers taken by an otherworldly race and put into a microcosm of Earth they discover is a “human zoo”.

*****************

About Megan
Hello! 
I’ve been many things, like a professional exchange student, park ranger in Montana, and LOST enthusiast, but what I am now is a writer.
I think it’s fair to say I was born into it. I grew up in the mountains of North Carolina, raised behind the counter of my parents’ independent bookstore, Highland Books in Brevard. Ah, so many free books. But I never thought being a writer could be a real career. After college I thought I’d end up as a foreign service officer somewhere dashing and exotic, like Canada. I studied French, Spanish, German, and Russian and still speak a few of those. Then I joined the Peace Corps and spent two years in Senegal, where I learned a few more languages I’ll never speak again and lived in a mud hut with no electricity or running water. You can probably imagine how that experience went, but if you’re curious, here are the dirty details
It wasn't until a chance aquaintance read something I wrote and said, "have you ever considered being a writer?" that something clicked and I realized it was possible. My husband encouraged me, and I quickly fell head-over-heels in love with writing and children's literature in particular. I started out writing articles, which have appeared in Faces, Appleseeds, and Calliope magazines, and stories for younger children. I soon realized I wasn’t sweet enough to write fiction for that age and found myself writing young adult literature instead, which doesn’t require nearly as many tender moments and includes a lot more cursing.
When I'm not writing, I can usually be found horseback riding, day dreaming at coffee shops, or hiking in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina. I love to hear from readers, so please drop me a line!
I am represented by Josh Adams of Adams Literary.
Author Photo by Kristi Hedberg Photography


Giveaway Details
1 grand prize pack a paper back of Madman's Daughter, hardcover of Her Dark Curiosity, a tea canister for both books, and bookmarks. US/Canada Only
5 Tea prize packs that will include individual custom book tea bags and bookmarks! US/Canada Only
a Rafflecopter giveaway



Tour Schedule
Week One:

1/20/2014- A Backwards StoryInterview
1/21/2014- Crossroad ReviewsReview
1/22/2014- Step Into FictionInterview
1/23/2014- Chapter by ChapterReview
1/24/2014- Tales of the Ravenous ReaderInterview

Week Two:
1/27/2014- Mundie MomsGuest Post
1/28/2014- All Things Urban FantasyGuest Post
1/29/2014- Bookhounds yaReview
1/30/2014- Confessions of a ReadaholicReview
1/31/2014- Two Chicks on BooksGuest Post

Labels