Guest Author Melanie McFarlane
Today I’m excited to have author Melanie McFarlane, discussing her YA debut, There Once Were Stars!
Peace. Love. Order. Dome. That’s the motto that the Order has given the residents of Dome 1618 to live by. Natalia Greyes is a resident of Dome 1618, a covered city protected from the deadly radiation that has poisoned the world outside for four generations. Nat never questioned the Order, until one day she sees a stranger on the outside of the dome. Now Nat wants answers. Is there life outside the dome and if so, what has the Order been hiding from everyone?
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What was your inspiration for writing this book?
When I got the idea for There Once Were Stars, I had just finished an episode of The Walking Dead. The season had ended and I was thinking about how much I loved that the series was character based, rather than fully focused on the zombies or virus. I started thinking of the last series I read, Divergent (I didn’t start reading until after Allegiant released), and how much I enjoyed its unique take on dystopian. My two favorite things … zombies and dystopian … and then my mind exploded with this image of Nat—a girl in a dystopian world—who watches the stars glitter along the glass of her dome covered city … and the rest is history.
Tell us about the main character(s).
Nat (Natalia) Greyes is the orphaned child of the Greyes scientists, who died while trying to find an area to colonize on the outside of Dome 1618. Since their death, nine years ago, the Expedition program was shut down. Nat still remembers the day the Order members came to their apartment building to tell her grandparents about her parents’ death. That day she ran away, and hid in the Outer Forest, where she found a clearing she returned to often to seek solace from her domineering Grandmother and the ever-increasing rules of Dome 1618. Now, nine years later on her eighteenth birthday, while sitting in the clearing she sees a boy on the outside of the dome just before he’s captured and brought inside. Now Nat wants answers…is it safe outside, and if so, what has the Order been hiding?
What sort of projects do you have going on right now. Any new books coming out?
I am getting ready to edit Summoner Rising, a YA urban fantasy novel I have coming out with Month9Books in early 2017. You can check it out on Goodreads, here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28537447-summoner-rising
Whether it’s uncovering the corruption of the future, or traveling to other worlds to save the universe, Melanie McFarlane jumps in with both hands on her keyboard. Though she can be found obsessing over zombies and orcs from time to time, Melanie has focused her powers on her upcoming YA trilogy: THERE ONCE WERE STARS and her YA urban fantasy series: SUMMONER RISING.
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Thank you for hosting me!