Friday, October 18, 2013

Inspiring Teens Blog Hop: Author Interview with Alan Tucker with GIVEAWAY!!!


Wow, it's been a while!! I have been absolutely buried in work and life... but I'm here today for some fun!

This week, we're celebrating Teen Read Week with an awesome blog hop, organized by Greta Burroughs and Vickie Johnstone.

Please check out the full hop schedule following today's post...

 My special guest is Mr. Alan Tucker, author of The Mother-Earth Series (A Measure of Disorder, A Cure for Chaos, and Mother’s Heart), as well as a new science fiction novel, Knot in Time. 

INTERVIEW
1. Reading
Why do you think Teen Read Week is important?
For me, as a teenager, books were a wonderful escape. I was small, with red hair and glasses, which didn't make me the most popular kid in school. In books, however, I could be whoever I wanted to be and go on all sorts of adventures. Teens today have so many more pressures on them than I did growing up. Reading can not only offer a temporary escape from those difficulties, but many stories can also teach us means to deal with our real world problems.

How do you think we could encourage youngsters to read more?
So many of today's movies have their origins in great books for teens, yet I think many people aren't aware of the literary origins of these fun and exciting stories. Most people know of Harry Potter, Twilight, and the Hunger Games, but there are lots of other movies taken directly from the pages of teen novels either out now or coming out soon. Ender's Game, Divergent, The Amber Spyglass, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, the list goes on and on. If folks thought these stories were good enough to put on the big screen, maybe teens should give the books themselves a try.

When you were a teenager what books did you like to read and did you have an all-time favourite character?
I read science fiction for the most part in my early teen years, then branched out into fantasy later on. My favorite character growing up though, was Flinx from Alan Dean Foster's Commonwealth series. He was a red-haired empath with a colorful and dangerous flying snake for a pet, named Pip. Foster wrote a long series of books with these characters that I thoroughly enjoyed.

2. Writing
Were you writing as a teenager? If so, what were you writing and what inspired you? Did a person inspire you to write?
I did write off and on during those years, but I rarely finished any of my writing projects. One story I do remember finishing was about a time traveller who goes back in his spaceship to witness the birth of Jesus, but his ship malfunctions and explodes in orbit, creating the bright star in the east.

Do you think today’s teens are in a better position if they want to be a writer than you were all those years ago (hee hee)?
Most assuredly! The Internet offers so many avenues to explore writing and reading, it's absolutely amazing! Wattpad, fan fiction sites, and GoodReads, just to name a few are all terrific for getting teens involved in writing. Sites like Smashwords and even Amazon have made it easier than ever before to present your writing to the world - it's a great time to be a writer!

What advice would you give a youngster who enjoys writing?
The old joke told to performers comes to mind: How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice! Write something every day. Even if it turns out to be a homework assignment or a short blog or journal post, make sure that you get some words onto paper or the screen. Secondly, read. Read everything you can get your hands on and if an author makes you feel a certain way, or inspires you, delve into the text and figure out why those words affected you the way they did.

3. Your books
What is your latest book about?
My most recent book is called Knot in Time and it's about a young man who gets recruited to work protecting the threads of time, but I'll let him explain it:

My name is Darius Arthur Heisenberg, but most people call me Dare. If my last name sounds familiar, it’s probably because of my great-great uncle Werner Heisenberg. He was a physicist who came up with something called the Uncertainty Principle. But listen, Uncle Werner had no idea how uncertain things really are.

I work for a group, called the Keepers, that label themselves the custodians of time. And, believe me, time is a mess. It needs all the custodians it can get. Which is, of course, why the Keepers selected me, a nineteen-year-old high school dropout, to join them. I recently worked as a janitor for a couple months. Perfect fit, right?

Okay, it didn’t make much sense to me either, but I wasn’t in a position to turn down a steady job and a roof over my head. Besides, all I’m supposed to do is travel through time and save the universe as we know it, how hard could it be?

Yeah, better hold on. This could get ugly.

Are you working on anything new at the moment?
I am putting the finishing touches on the sequel to Knot in Time, titled Abandon Hope. I am looking to have it published some time in November. *fingers crossed*

What do you love about being an author?
The ability to, in some small way, give back to the authors who brought me so much joy, by doing the same for people who read and are entertained by my work. Nothing gives me more pleasure than seeing a glowing, honest review, or meeting someone at a book fair or signing who can't wait for the next book to come out. I treasure anyone who has taken the time to read my stories.

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Author Links

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GIVEAWAY

3 ebook copies of Knot in Time
Alan's fantasy/adventure series, A Measure of Disorder, is free all the time on most major sites.

Book description
Nineteen-year-old high school dropout Darius Arthur Heisenberg is sent on a journey as big as the universe itself when he agrees to accompany a four-foot tentacled blob to be an agent for the Keepers of Time.




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BIOGRAPHY
Alan Tucker, author of The Mother-Earth Series (A Measure of Disorder, A Cure for Chaos, and Mother’s Heart), as well as a new science fiction novel, Knot in Time, is a dad, a graphic designer, and a soccer coach. Mostly in that order. He’s had a lifelong adoration of books, beginning with Encyclopedia Brown, progressing through Alan Dean Foster’s Flinx, and continuing on with the likes of Jim Butcher, Rachel Caine and Naomi Novik, to name a few.




Blog Hop Schedule and Links:

 Blog Hop Headquarters: www.tinyurl.com/kq4f3lv

Monday, October 14

Blogger – Kate Bainbridge - http://read2review.com/
Author - Vickie Johnstone

Blogger - Sharon Ledwith - http://sharonledwith.blogspot.com/
Author - Jennifer Loiske

Blogger - Armen Pogharian - https://armenpogharian.wordpress.com/
Author - Ey Wade

Blogger – Candice Conway Simpson - http://booksforboysreviewsandfun.blogspot.co.uk/
Author - Sharon Rose Mayes

Blogger - Cedar Sanderson - http://cedarwrites.com/
Author - Kim Mutch Emerson

Blogger – Maria Savva – https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/5020446-inspiring-teens-blog-hop-interview-giveaway-with-author-ed-drury/
Author – Ed Drury


Tuesday, October 15
Blogger - Kate Bainbridge - http://read2review.com/
Author - Greta Burroughs

Blogger - Jennifer Loiske - http://jenniferloiske.wordpress.com/
Author - Cedar Sanderson

Blogger – Lisa Cresswell - www.lisatcresswell.blogspot.com
Author - Tim Flanagan

Blogger - Debra J Jameson Smith - http://creationsbydjamesonsmith.com/blog/
Author - Sharon Ledwith

Blogger - David Lowbridge - http://indieebookreview.blogspot.co.uk)
Author - Amanda Haulk Taylor

Writing Contest at 7.45-8.45pm CST / 12.30am GMT
Blogger - Wendy Strain - http://www.writeonwendy.com/
Starring author Greta Burroughs
This is a five-minute fiction contest open to everyone. Please join in. The task is to write a short story using a prompt provided by Greta. A prize will be awarded to the winner. It's a lot of fun and an exciting way to show off your skills at writing.

Wednesday, October 16
Blogger - Kate Bainbridge - http://read2review.com/
Author - Debbie Manber Kupfer

Blogger – Maria Savva - http://quietfurybooks.com/bestsellerboundrecommends/
Author - Linda Deane

Blogger – Debbie Manber Kupfer - http://debbiemanberkupfer.wordpress.com/
Author - Lisa Cresswell

Blogger - Ey Wade - http://dna-bloodtiesandlies.blogspot.com/
Author - Armen Pogharian

Blogger – David Lowbridge - http://indieebookreview.blogspot.co.uk
Author - Dianne Gardner


Blogger - Robert DeBurgh - http://robertdeburgh.weebly.com/blog-blogging-through-the-mire.html
Author - Christine Hughes


Thursday, October 17
Blogger - Kate Bainbridge - http://read2review.com/
Author - Hugo Jackson

Blogger - Vickie Johnstone - http://vickiejohnstone.blogspot.co.uk/
Author  - Paul Plunkett

Blogger - Kim Mutch Emerson - http://masterkoda.com/category/master-koda-blog-tour
Author - Donna Dillon

Blogger - Karen Pokraz Toz - http://kptoz.blogspot.co.uk
Author - JR Simmons

Blogger - David Lowbridge - http://indieebookreview.blogspot.co.uk/
Author - Saoirse O'Mara

Blogger - Brenda Perlin - http://homewreckertheblog.com/
Author - Charlotte Blackwell


Friday, October 18

Blogger - Kate Bainbridge - http://read2review.com/
Author - Tianna Scott

Blogger – Tim Flanagan - http://timflanaganauthor.wordpress.com
Author - Catherine Stovall

Blogger – Sharon Rose Mayes – http://www.notyourmomblog.com/
Author - Wendy Siefken

Blogger – Cassie McCown - http://gatheringleavesreviews.blogspot.com/
Author - Alan Tucker

Blogger – David Lowbridge - http://indieebookreview.blogspot.co.uk/
Author - Michael Chulsky

 Blogger – Wendy Siefken - http://siefkenpublications.blogspot.co.uk/
Author - Juli Caldwell


Saturday, October 19
Blogger – Robbie Cox - www.themessthatisme.com
Author - Debra J. Smith

Blogger – Jonathan Gould - http://daglit.blogspot.co.uk
Author – Sibel Hodge

Blogger - Greta Burroughs - http://booksbygretaburroughs.weebly.com/-a-new-day-has-begun.html
Author - Chris Baker

Blogger – Cassy Wood - http://reviewmetwice.blogspot.com
Author - Vicki Kinnaird 
Created by Cassie at 9:43 AM