UFI welcomes Author Sophie Littlefield. Thanks for Joining us!!
What can you tell my readers about yourself that they might not know from looking on your bio or reading in another interview?
One thing that I haven’t talked about much is my admiration for people who break barriers with their art. Even when it doesn’t speak to me – and no one can possibly appreciate all the amazing work being done in various media these days – I love the energy people put into translating their visions into visual art and music and, yes, story. “Avant-garde” derives from the French for advance guard, those who go ahead of others in battle. The works and books that perplex us today may well pave the way for all of us to create tomorrow.
What do you enjoy doing on your down time?
Because I watch so little television, it’s fun for me occasionally to find out what other people – usually my kids – are into. My older one is really into survival shows, which I find perplexing but fascinating. Recently I watched a show about folks trying to find gold in Alaska the very same day the New York Times magazine ran a feature on the same subject. I have to say the TV version captured my imagination in a far more visceral way.
What is your Favorite part of writing?
I love writing internal scenes where I feel like I’m just taking dictation from a character, and in the process, their emotional state is revealed. Getting motivation right feels amazing and always leads to the best action scenes.
Do you have any certain routines you must follow as you write?
I had to learn flexibility a while back when my kids were still more dependent on me. Anything I thought I “had to” have…whether a certain brand of soda, silence, a nap, a clean desk – all of these are hard to come by when your office is out in the living space shared by the whole family. Still, there are a few conventions I follow: I love to listen to loud music when I’m working on a first draft, but for revising it’s important enough to escape distractions that I’ll leave the house and work in a coffee shop if necessary.
Also, I snack all day long. If the doctor ever makes good on her threat of insisting I lose the last ten pounds, I’ll have to stop writing….my “stuck” moments only get unstuck after I’ve had a little something to eat.
What are some of your Favorite books or Authors in the Urban Fantasy/ Paranormal or Dystopian Genres?
I admire the hell out of THE ROAD by Cormac McCarthy. Occasionally, it’s mentioned in a review of the series, and I can’t imagine a higher honor for AFTERTIME than to be compared to that book.
It might be worth mentioning that my first exposure to Fantasy was THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING, which my dad read to me and my brother when we were little. Thanks, Dad!
How would you pitch the Aftertime series to someone who has not heard of the books before?
A recovering addict seeks only to protect her child after the world falls to war and other abominations, but as she is forced to confront one evil after another, she discovers she may not have lost her humanity after all.
Can you tell us a little bit about the world that the series is set in?
Global food shortages lead to starvation, made worse when bioterrorism decimates livestock and crops. As the communications grid fails and militia founder, a devastating fever turns its victims into flesh-hungry cannibals.
Do you have a favorite scene in Rebirth?
I love the way Cass and Dor reach for each other after suffering an especially horrifying episode; though they are broken and clumsy with their emotions, their fierce will to live compels them to seek solace in each other.
Which character was your favorite to write about? What about the hardest to write about?
From the start, I’ve felt like I truly understood Cass. Every one of her decisions – many of them dangerous and wrong – was crystal clear to me as the action unfolded on the page. Simply put, Cass was real to me before I even knew where the story would take her.
In some ways, writing about Ruthie is the most wrenching. If I’m at all successful in convincing readers that Cass keeps fighting because of her desire to protect her daughter, it’s because that protective maternal instinct is so strong in me. It’s true that my kids are nearly grown (both of them will soon be taller than me) but I still feel a visceral rage whenever I think about anything threatening their safety or happiness.
Thank you for asking! HORIZON will be out in February 2012.
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RebirthAftertime #2
July 19, 2011
The end of the world was just the beginningCivilization has fallen, leaving California an unforgiving, decimated place. But Cass Dollar beat terrible odds to get her missing daughter back—she and Ruthie will be happy.
Yet with the first winter, Cass is reminded that happiness is fleeting in Aftertime. Ruthie retreats into silence.
Flesh—eating Beaters still dominate the landscape. And Smoke, Cass's lover and strength, departs on a quest for vengeance, one that may end him even if he returns.
The survivalist community Cass has planted roots in is breaking apart, too. Its leader, Dor, implores Cass to help him recover his own lost daughter, taken by the totalitarian Rebuilders. And soon Cass finds herself thrust into the dark heart of an organization promising humanity's rebirth—at all costs.
Bound to two men blazing divergent paths across a savage land, Cass must overcome the darkness in her wounded heart, or lose those she loves forever.
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AftertimeAftertime #1
Feb 22, 2011
Awakening in a bleak landscape as scarred as her body, Cass Dollar vaguely recalls surviving something terrible. Having no idea how many weeks have passed, she slowly realizes the horrifying truth: Ruthie has vanished.And with her, nearly all of civilization.
Where once-lush hills carried cars and commerce, the roads today see only cannibalistic Beaters—people turned hungry for human flesh by a government experiment gone wrong.
In a broken, barren California, Cass will undergo a harrowing quest to get Ruthie back. Few people trust an outsider, let alone a woman who became a zombie and somehow turned back, but she finds help from an enigmatic outlaw, Smoke. Smoke is her savior, and her safety.
For the Beaters are out there.
And the humans grip at survival with their trigger fingers. Especially when they learn that she and Ruthie have become the most feared, and desired, of weapons in a brave new world
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Winner will receive
- One signed Copy of Rebirth
- One signed Copy of Rebirth
RULES
1) Leave a comment or question for Sophie =)
2) This giveaway is open to US readers only
3) Must leave an email address so I can contact you.
Giveaway Ends 7/27/2011 at 10pm EST
Winner will have 48 Hours to reply to my email or I will pick another
Winner chosen randomly with the help of random.org