Giveaway and Interview with P.J. Hoover!

Here's your chance to get your hands on a Solstice Swag Pack from PJ Hoover! Check out my interview with her below and fill in the giveaway form at the end to enter. Good luck!

Where Mythology and Dystopia meet...

Piper’s world is dying. Global warming kills every living thing on Earth, and each day brings hotter temperatures and heat bubbles which threaten to destroy humanity. Amid this Global Heating Crisis, Piper lives with her mother who suffocates her more than the chaotic climate. When her mother is called away to meet the father Piper has been running from her entire life, Piper seizes an opportunity for freedom.

But when Piper discovers a world of mythology she never knew existed, she realizes her world is not the only one in crisis. While Gods battle for control of the Underworld, Piper's life spirals into turmoil, and she struggles to find answers to secrets kept from her since birth. And though she’s drawn to her classmate Shayne, he may be more than he claims. Piper has to choose whom she can trust and how she can save the people she loves even if it means the end of everything she’s ever known.

SOLSTICE is P.J. Hoover's debut YA novel and is the first front-list novel to be independently published by an Andrea Brown Literary Agency author. 

Thanks, PJ, for answering a few questions for us today! I totally loved SOLSTICE. It’s a unique twist on the whole dystopia theme. What inspired you to use Greek mythology in your story?

Thanks for the opportunity to be here! I love talking about SOLSTICE and the world it’s set in. So great question! I enjoy trying to pinpoint those things that spark my ideas. So many of my other stories, I can identify exactly what it was, but for SOLSTICE, it’s more nebulous. I think it came about as I was hearing about fairy tale retelling after fairy tale retelling, and sure, I love fairy tales. But what I love more is mythology, and I thought how cool it would be to work on myth retellings. And this is when I decided that I wanted to write a myth retelling for the young adult market.



Ok, I have to know. Reese or Shayne? Which one was your favorite to write?

Reese! First off, he’s the more dangerous of the two guys. Reese likes to break the rules. Reese is more willing to do anything to get what he wants. It’s not like Shayne is perfect. He has plenty of flaws. But there’s something about writing characters that walk on the dark side that makes the words flow easier (at least for me).



The world of Piper is fascinating and also frightening. Did your engineering background help with the research on the compound where Piper lives?

Thanks! I had fun developing the dystopic world Piper lives in. I started out with the world being pretty undeveloped, but as I explored it more, it started to expand. I think my engineering helped in trying to decide how much things would really change. Twenty years from now, yes, there will be new technology, but also, many things will remain the same. When we look to the future, we tend to think the world will change drastically. But with something like global warming, if it really does reach the extremes we see in Piper’s world, the global warming will be driving whatever changes come along.



What was the hardest scene to write?

Hardest to write was the scene in the Underworld when they visit paradise. There is so much to show, and the more shown, the more world building required. And at times it felt like I would never fit in everything I needed to and still keep the pacing moving forward on SOLSTICE.



Do you have a sequel planned?

Yes! SOLSTICE is part of a planned trilogy. I have an early first draft of the sequel but it still needs lots of work. Still it’s such an enjoyable world to write in. I would love to expand it with short stories and more books.



Who would your ideal cast be if a movie was made?

Well, if Bo Derek were younger, she’d be Melina. For Shayne, I’ll go with Kit Harrington from Game Of Thrones. For Zeus, a very young Sting. That’s pretty much all I’ve been able to come up with so far. But I did have fun picking stock images to use for my trading cards, shown here: (http://www.pjhoover.com/trading_cards.php).



What made you decide to have your book published in ebook format?

The main driving force was wanting to hit the market window. Dystopia and mythology are hot right now. With a traditional publisher, SOLSTICE may not have been out for a year and a half, and by then, the window for these trends could have faded into obscurity.



How long have you been writing?

I started writing in 2004 just after my second child was born. She was a great sleeper, and both kids would be fast asleep by 8:00. And I had a bunch of time on my hands. Hard to believe, right? I was working full time and had two kids! I’d always loved reading fantasy and decided I wanted to use my extra time to create worlds of my own.



Do you have any writing rituals?

I would love to say something like ‘I always meditate before writing’. Or ‘I only write after I’ve cleaned all the toilets.’ But as much as I’d like to, I am not that disciplined. Still, I do have certain things that make writing easier. Words flow better when my desk is clean. They flow better when the Internet is off. They flow better in a first draft. And I always work better once I’ve made a list of everything I need to get accomplished. It all helps free my mind of clutter.



What is your writing process like?

When I’m starting a new story, I do outline. I use Excel for everything, and try to come up with some semblance of a plot. But once I start writing that first draft, I do love when I diverge from the outline. I view it as a writing gift that I have to take advantage of. I think this is where the true creativity takes over.



What's next for you?

Oh, there are so many choices! I’m not sure. I’m working on a sequel to SOLSTICE, a middle grade fantasy, and a YA apocalyptic story. And aside from those, I have probably five other ideas kicking around inside my head that want their chance to hit the pages.

Thank you so much for interviewing me!


Thanks, PJ!

SOLSTICE is available as a $2.99 eBook on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, and iBooks. SOLSTICE will be released in paperback this summer.

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