I'm a big fan of Rhiannon Frater so when I was approached to host for her blog tour, I couldn't refuse. This tour is for her latest release, The Mesmerized, which is a pretty awesome stand-alone book. You can read my review here. I'm really greateful she took some time out of her busy schedule to answer a few interview questions. Please welcome her warmly!
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Las Vegas is an interesting choice for the setting of an apocalypse novel. I love the idea (and the city), but what made you chose Las Vegas? Did it involve a lot of "research"?
Well, I was visiting Las Vegas when I had a very intense visual pop into my head of people walking in synch down Las Vegas Boulevard and into the desert. At that moment, the trip became all about research. While I was there, I mapped out a lot of the movements of the mesmerized and wrote quite a bit. Happily, I have a husband who gets this whole writing thing. I told him some of my ideas and he walked around with me as I plotted things out.
Your main character, Minji is obviously a strong and capable woman. Is there a particular reason why you decided to have an American-Korean as a main character?
My characters just tend to appear. I knew that the main character in the book was going to be a tattoo artist from Austin. That much was certain. But she remained out of focus and very fuzzy as I was piecing together the main storyline. I struggled to get a grasp on her, but she was very elusive. One day in the grocery store, I saw an Asian young woman with a ton of tattoos and dressed very similarly to my main character. That’s when Minji snapped into focus. I had wrongfully assumed she was going to be Latina or white. Minji being of Irish-Korean descent is an aspect to who she is, but it isn’t her defining characteristic even when others try to make it be. She does face some very heavy racism and suspicion because of her appearance. It added an element to the story that wouldn’t have been there otherwise.
Conspiracy theorists would take great pleasure in analyzing what happens in THE MESMERIZED. Personally, do you think something similar or terrorist-like could ever happen to us in real life?
Well, the reason for the event is not a terrorist act in the traditional sense, but that being said, I think we all fear something akin to the mesmerized. Contamination of water supplies or the air itself doesn’t seem that farfetched. The idea of a terrorist organization using something like that to drug or poison a city’s population is not a new one, but it is certainly terrifying. It makes sense in the story that people automatically assume it’s a terrorist attack.
I really felt Minji's anxiety when she was trying to get her family back together in the opening scenes, and I thought the writing was brilliant and so captivating. Did you find it difficult to write this scene, especially since there were so many pages without any dialogue?
Strangely, I didn’t even think about the fact that there wasn’t much dialogue until it was pointed out to me by the beta readers. I see my stories like movies inside my mind, so I was just intent on getting all the imagery and emotions onto the page. She’s alone in her immunity and frantic to keep her small family alive and together, and that was my focus.
The media plays some role in your story. Do you think the American media is prone to over-exaggerates some events?
The media tends to ignore real news events for things that will get them bursts of high ratings. We see it over and over again. In the story, the media can’t cover the story the way they are used to doing, so they’re a bit lost. You can see they don’t know how to really cope with the event alongside the rest of the world. They are even at a loss as to what to advise people. One of my characters uses the media to his advantage because he knows they’ll jump on a chance to add a dynamic element to their coverage.
Honestly, I really enjoyed THE MESMERIZED and the overall theme. Do you have any recommendations for us lovers of post-apocalyptic and dystopian novels?
Well, of my own books I would recommend The Last Bastion of the Living. I’ve enjoyed a lot of young adult dystopian books recently. Of course there is The Hunger Games, but I also really liked The Uglies, Matched, and The Breeders.
What projects are you currently working on?
Right now I’m finishing up two series. In Darkness We Must Abide has been coming out in serial form, and I’m about to put out the final two episodes. Then I’m going to retool all three seasons into a trilogy. I’m also working on The Lament of the Vampire Bride, the final book in the Dark Rebirth trilogy.
After that, I have a few ideas banging around in my head that I’m very excited to dive into.
Thanks Rhiannon for the visit today and for answering all my questions!
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If you want to know more about Rhiannon's The Mesmerized, here's the scoop:
It is silence, not screams of terror, which proclaims the end of the world…
Minji Nordim is vacationing in Las Vegas with her small family when she witnesses the beginning of a terrifying apocalypse. When humanity is transformed into mindless drones by a terrifying supernatural event only Minji appears to be immune.
Thousands die instantly, but the other affected people are drawn to the Nevada desert. Nothing stands in the way of the mesmerized. Not fire, not heights, not rubble. As the bodies pile in the streets and the relentless wave of the mesmerized plods into the deadly desert, Minji is trapped in a burning city attempting to rescue her family.
When Minji encounters other unaffected survivors, they band together to survive in a city that is crumbling all around them. With no hope of rescue and the event slowly spreading across the world, Minji and the others must decide who to save among the mesmerized and where to go before the city is in ashes.
Even more unsettling is that Minji senses that the force behind the event is observing them…
Can one woman save her family and the world?Purchase: Amazon | Book Depository
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The grand prize of this tour wide giveaway is an autographed hardcover of The Mesmerized.
Giveaway ends December 19, 2014
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Special Sale on The Mesmerized Ebook
Rhiannon's publisher has extended the sale of The Mesmerized for $2.99 through to December 19, 2014 to help promote the book and blog tour, so find the book at your favorite online retailer to take advantage of this deal!
About the author
Rhiannon Frater is the award-winning author of over a dozen books, including the As the World Dieszombie trilogy (Tor), as well as independent works such as The Last Bastion of the Living (declared the #1 Zombie Release of 2012 by Explorations Fantasy Blog and the #1 Zombie Novel of the Decade by B&N Book Blog), and other horror novels. She was born and raised a Texan and presently lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and furry children (a.k.a pets). She loves scary movies, sci-fi and horror shows, playing video games, cooking, dyeing her hair weird colors, and shopping for Betsey Johnson purses and shoes.
Find or follow her through these links:
Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter
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