We are getting closer and closer to TBF! I chatted with Justina Ireland, author of Vengeance Bound, Promise of Shadows, and Dread Nation. Take a look:
Miranda Reads: Dread Nation, your latest novel was released last week! What can readers expect?
Justina Ireland: Danger! Drama! Intrigue! And old-timey zombies. People keep telling me it’s like nothing they’ve ever read before because no one expects zombies to appear during the Civil War, I guess. But it’s sort of like The Walking Dead meets Grownish, but set in 1880.
Miranda Reads: What was the inspiration behind Dread Nation?
Justina Ireland: I read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and I had a really hard time imagining well-to-do white women defending themselves from zombies. And then I rewatched Gone With The Wind and started thinking about how poor Mammy does just about everything and a half for Scarlet. And next thing you know, I started writing the first draft of Dread Nation. It’s gone through a lot of changes since then, but the core of the story is still there.
Miranda Reads: Do you outline a WIP (Work-in-progress) or do you just dive right into it?
Justina Ireland: I am a terrible outliner. I hate them so much, and even when I do them I end up just doing what I want. I prefer to just jump into things. That, of course, means I have to do a lot revising.
Sooooo much revising.
Miranda Reads: What was one of your favorite books as a teen?
Justina Ireland: I loved Christopher Pike books, and one of my favorites of his was Remember Me, about a dead teen who solves her own murder. I still have a copy of the book, and the cover just haunts me, it’s so good. His books were so weird and twisty, and one day I want to write books that stick with readers as much as his books stuck with me.
Miranda Reads: Which TBF Author are you most excited to meet this year?
Justina Ireland: Bruce Coville. I read My Teacher is an Alien as a kid and it’s pretty surreal to be at a festival with an author whose name I remember from my school library.
Thank you so much, Justina! We can't wait to meet you at TBF!
You can purchase Justina's books at Barnes and Noble or Amazon (Be sure to use Amazon Smile and make the Greater Rochester Teen Book Festival your charitable organization) or you can check out her books at your local library.
That's all for today! Be sure to check out the blog again for more author interviews, book reviews, and fun posts!
Miranda
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