As an SFF reader and writer, I was really excited about the premise of Cities. It reminded me a bit of Margaret Atwood's Happy Endings and Kasie West's Pivot Point series. The novella is brimming with possibilities, and I'd love to see more books like this in the market.
About the Book:
Celia has dreams.
She dreams of going to Seoul for a scholarship she never took, of leaving everything behind and moving to New York.
In all those dreams, she finds herself attached to Benedict, the boy she has always loved, but who doesn’t love her back.
Ben believes in parallel worlds.
Worlds where things you didn’t do come true—worlds in which he goes to London and falls in love with Celia, where he shows up on the day she needs him the most. He believes that dreams are glimpses into that parallel world, and it’s not a coincidence that Celia’s been having them too.
But here, now, they’re in Manila. It’s the day of Ben’s wedding, and a typhoon is raging through the city. How will these dreams and unmade decisions change their lives? Will they bring them closer together or drive them farther apart?
You can purchase the book through any of the following links:
• Amazon
• Createspace
• Smashwords
Excited yet? Get to know a little bit more about the author and the process that went into writing her novella.
Q: How long have you been writing? Can you share a little about how you got your start as a writer?
A: I've been writing since I was a kid, scribbling on scratch papers until my mom got me a scented diary. I started out writing about my own experiences (pouring milk over my
sister's head, having a pet die) and putting them in the context of my favourite cartoon and
anime characters. Then when we got dial-up, I discovered fanfiction. Oh what a world it
turned out to be. I like to say I really got into writing because of fanfiction (I'm still on Fanfiction.net and Archive of Our Own!). Reading all those adventures these characters
potentially had made me think of my own. Things kind of spiralled from there. :))
Q: What first sparked the idea for Cities?
A: To be honest, it was an article that I saw from Thought Catalog. It was an essay about someone who wasn't in love with someone else, but desperately wished that they were. The only comfort they could offer themselves was that somewhere else, s/he did love them
back. It was such a heartbreaking thought, and something I'm sure many people have experienced. Then all of the “what ifs” in my head started, and Cities was born.
Q: We see two notable fandoms in Cities, Star Wars and Dr. Who. Are these fandoms you
share with your characters?
A: Yes, definitely! More Doctor Who than Star Wars, really. I grew up watching the Star Wars Saga several times, and I remember it was Queen Amidala that struck me as a strong, steady character to admire, which carried over to Princess Leia in the older movies.
As for Doctor Who, my love is relatively new, and I've only seen the new series (that's 9th
Doctor onwards). But I was just so amazed by the stories! I could wax poetic on my favorite episodes, and how much I love Series 3 and 4. I consider 10 my Doctor and Donna Noble
and Martha Jones my favourite companions. I love the complexities of the characters and
how they react when faced with a new adventure. The show breaks my heart and makes
makes me happy, really. I couldn't write a book without mentioning it.
Q: Are Star Wars and Dr. Who where you got the idea for alternate timelines and
multiverses?
A: Doctor Who definitely helped me get a couple of the details right—the concept of dreams as glimpses definitely has shades of inspiration from Doctor Who. But the book isn't very into the fine details of the multiverses, it's just accepted.
Q: Do you have a personal favorite among the multiverses in this book?
A: Oooh. I would have to say that London is my favorite (which is mainly why we used it for the cover). I enjoyed writing about Ben still kind of stumbling his way through becoming a Londoner, and doing the same with his relationships with Vivian, Celia and Henry. Their story has several parallelisms with my own adventure there, so it's very close to my heart.
Carla de Guzman had horrible handwriting as a kid. That didn't stop her from writing, though. Riddled with sleep apnea and a vivid imagination, she started writing every midnight. She grew up with her toes in the sand and her bags packed and ready to go on adventures. These books are chronicles of her journeys, with a silly love story mixed in.
Contact Info:
• Blog: http://somemidnight.wordpress.com/
• Tumblr: http://www.somemidnights.tumblr.com/
• Archive of Our Own: http://archiveofourown.org/users/ckwhales/pseuds/ckwhales
• Instagram: @ckwhales
Want your own copy? Win an ebook of Cities (open to international entries) by joining the giveaway below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
1 comment:
Damn I wish I saw this earlier! It sounds so interesting (actually, the typhoon part got my attention...because it's so Pinoy haha).
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