What a fun series!! I am happy to welcome the author, Shelley Workinger, to Colorimetry for an interview. The third book in her trilogy just came out on the 1st of November!!
The books:
Solid
Paperback, 221 pages
Published July 9th 2010 by Createspace
Clio Kaid may be 17 and just beginning the last summer before her senior year, but her life is anything but typical.
She's just discovered she was genetically altered before birth and is now headed to a top-secret Army campus to explore the surprising results of the experiment.
Follow Clio and the other teens as they develop fantastic super-abilities, forge new friendships, and find love as they search for answers.
SettlingPaperback, First Edition, 242 pages
Published July 4th 2011 by CreateSpace
Picking up where “Solid” left off, Clio and her friends realize that they aren’t ready to go home; they’re determined to stay on campus and continue their journey of self- discovery. But someone doesn’t feel the same way and will do anything to drive them away – even kill.
Friendships will be tested, abilities will evolve, and more secrets will come out as the teens race to stop the killer before he sets his sights on one of them…
SoundPaperback, First Edition, 218 pages
Published November 1st 2012
With no answers and the end of summer closing in, Clio's terrified of going home more lost than when she arrived.
Will she finally find everything she's been looking for?
Find out in this exciting conclusion to the Solid trilogy.
There are so many things I love about these premises. The books sound so exciting. But after meeting Shelley Workinger? Well, I'm hooked. Check out this fun interview!!!
What inspired this series? Did it grow into a trilogy, or did it come
to you like that?
The whole series sprang from one scene (which eventually
became chapter 12 of Solid). I do
have vivid dreams all the time, but not all stick in my conscious like that one,
particularly because it came around the same time I started feeling a real
concern for young teens that I saw losing interest in reading. I remember the
point in my own life when required school reading became so overwhelming (in
quantity and antiquity) that I stopped reading for fun, and so I decided to
flesh out my Solid idea into the book
I wish someone’d written for me back then. J
Solid was
originally intended to be a stand-alone novel, but once those characters
unpacked and settled in, they simply wouldn’t leave. I could tell they had more
than just a second book’s worth of stories, but I also knew that I didn’t want
to launch a never-ending saga, so I planned two more books to close out a
trilogy.
Of course, now that Book 3 (Sound) is complete – and in a completely acceptable end-of-series
way, I promise – I can’t help thinking about a new scene that would make a
perfect opener for the next book, the next chapter in the characters’ lives…
We’ll see. ;)
Do you have a favorite scene in Solid? In Settling?
I love every scene with Garrett in it; he’s my go-to guy for
comic relief. J
My favorite moment of his is probably in Settling,
when he and Clio go for a run and make a very unexpected discovery. I also like
the one in Solid that includes this
conversation:
Miranda
and I looked at each other, took a deep breath, and focused on disappearing.
Again, I saw and felt nothing, but knew we’d done it by Garrett’s amazed,
“Whoooaa.”
He
reached one long arm toward what apparently looked to him like open space, and
I had to take a quick step back before his paw landed right on my chest.
“Watch
it,” I complained, dropping the mind-chant and re-entering the visible world.
Miranda laughed her way back beside me, a sound I was overwhelmingly glad to
hear after the past two stormy days.
“You
want to take a practice run, too?” Jack asked, turning to Bliss.
She
nodded demurely, not thrilled about putting on a show, but also wanting to make
sure she’d be able to perform on command if she had to.
And
if Miranda and I thought we’d impressed him, Bliss’s transformation totally
blew Garrett’s mind. “I think I’m…stupid-fied.”
The scenes Jack creates for Clio – the constellation in Solid, the picnic in Settling – run a close second in the
favorites race, because I love how he always says and does the right thing. I
work hard to do him justice because he really is perfect, not too good to be true.
And I do love Miranda’s “helpful tips,” even though they’re
not so well-received by her friends!
Share something personal about you!
Hmm, how do I put this? I am a glutton for life. Let me try
and explain; I see the world as an infinite smorgasbord with tables of
offerings stretching far beyond my sightline. There aren’t enough hours in the
day – days in a lifetime, really! – for me to do and try everything and go
everywhere that I’d like to. (Think Katniss at President Snow’s house during
the victory tour and apply it to all aspects of life, seriously.)
Take books, for an immediate example. If someone recommends
a novel to me, I can’t just pluck it from the shelf and walk away; I also grab another
volume, maybe because it’s a fetching color…then the one after that because it
deals with a subject I know nothing about…and the one after that because it’s
by a new-to-me author…you get the idea. (And, let’s be honest, half the time my
hands are too full of new things that I never even make it to that initial
target, which is why my TBR list is well over 1,000 titles and growing by the
minute.)
Lol. I think there's a few of us who understand gathering more books than we can read. I love looking at that like an infinite smorgasbord!!
I’m the same way with food – needing to try everything I’ve
never seen before, from limited edition flavors of Pringles to fruits I can’t
identify at the farmer’s market. When I go to wine tastings, I sip every
variety, even the port. Sure, I’ve never tasted a port that I actually like,
but that doesn’t mean it’s not out there, only that I haven’t encountered it
yet.
Places are another thing I compulsively “sample” – again,
too many to try and not enough days. L
I want to visit pretty much every destination on the planet – each continent,
each country, each state in the U.S., each major city, each interesting small
town! When I go on vacation, I try to
explore and experience every regional activity/site/custom/food while I’m there,
because, with all the other places I’ve got to get to, it’s hard to justify
hitting the same spot twice.
I'm cracking up. This is partly why I love Pinterest. It's not the same as going everywhere, but I can't miss anywhere and, just in case I might, I collect them all. Food, though? I can do Pringles flavors, but I have a few limits. Took me years to eat tomatoes. *shrug*
I also try to explore all the corners of my own home area,
because being a tourist in your town is the best! This year some of my funnest
(yes, I know “they” say that’s not a word, but it should be, so I’m using it)
local firsts were conquering a corn maze, trying 4 kinds of peanut butter
sandwiches at Peanut Butter & Co. (the best being PB & dill pickle),
and riding the ferris wheel in the Times Square Toys ‘R Us.
So, as you might’ve guessed, I find it wholly impossible to
relate to people who things like “I always
vacation in Florida” or “I never
read romance” or “I only drink pinot
noir.” How can they put such silly limits on themselves in our truly limit-less
world? I know that I’ll never finish my “list” because the list itself will
never be finished, especially since I just added another “to-do”: turn all
those done-ers into do-ers. J
Jajajajajajaja Ok, Ok... there are some things that should not come with limits. Agreed? I always say "there's an exception to everything", but your wild abandonment to LIFE is wonderfuller. I love it!
About the Author:
Shelley Workinger grew up in Maine, graduated from Loyola University New Orleans, currently resides in New Jersey, and considers all of them home.
When she's not working on the SOLID series, she's chatting about FoodFic on her blog:http://bookfare.blogspot.com. Stop by and let her know what you're reading and what they're eating!
Find & Follow:
Barnes & Noble
Amazon:
Giveaway:
Enter to WIN one eCopy of your choice out of the Solid Series! (Update: Solid & Settling are available in eCopies! One of these two is available.) Must be 13 to enter, able to accept winnings & enter the Rafflecopter below. See all my general giveaway rules under the About tab.
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