I'm so excited to introduce this next author, Lenore Appelhans, who I was lucky enough to meet when she came to St. Louis for a book event!
Goodreads Book Description: In this gripping exploration of a futuristic afterlife, a teen discovers that death is just the beginning.
Since
her untimely death the day before her eighteenth birthday, Felicia Ward
has been trapped in Level 2, a stark white afterlife located between
our world and the next. Along with her fellow drones, Felicia passes the
endless hours reliving memories of her time on Earth and mourning what
she’s lost—family, friends, and Neil, the boy she loved.
Then a
girl in a neighboring chamber is found dead, and nobody but Felicia
recalls that she existed in the first place. When Julian—a dangerously
charming guy Felicia knew in life—comes to offer Felicia a way out,
Felicia learns the truth: If she joins the rebellion to overthrow the
Morati, the angel guardians of Level 2, she can be with Neil again.
Suspended
between Heaven and Earth, Felicia finds herself at the center of an
age-old struggle between good and evil. As memories from her life come
back to haunt her, and as the Morati hunt her down, Felicia will
discover it’s not just her own redemption at stake… but the salvation of
all mankind.
My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Author Blurb:
Thanks to her father's job in the US military, Lenore
Appelhans became addicted to travel early. To date, she's visited nearly 60
countries and has stepped on every contintent except Antartica. She currently
lives in Frankfurt, Germany with her husband and three fancy Birman cats. Her
novel, The Memory of After (published as Level 2 in hardcover by Simon &
Schuster BFYR) is "immensely layered" (VOYA) and "a griping
debut" (NYT Bestselling Author Megan McCafferty). The second book in The
Memory Chronicles, Chasing Before, is due summer 2014. She has been blogging
about books at Presenting Lenore since 2008.
Author Interview
You
have an unusual path to becoming a writer-- a blogger first and then the
writer. I'm so jealous and awed by you! Can you tell us more about that
journey?
Sure! So back in 2004, my husband, an illustrator, and I set out
to create a picture book. We worked on that first story for years until finally
stumbling upon the organization SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and
Illustrators). SBCWI’s 2008 conference
in Bologna was a turning point for us. My husband’s artwork got discovered (and
he was later offered a 2 book illustration deal) and I discovered both YA and
book blogging – both of which I quickly embraced. By the time LEVEL 2 sold to Simon &
Schuster in March 2011, I had read (and blogged about) hundreds of YA books.
Blogging definitely helped me analyze what works and what doesn’t in YA. It was
an intensive course in writing!
Where
did you get your inspiration for this novel? I love the whole ideas of bees and
hives.
Thank you. This novel arose out of two main questions: 1) How
might memories be used as currency in the afterlife? 2) What might a dystopian
afterlife look like?
The hives were inspired by an interview I saw with Tori Amos
about her album THE BEEKEEPER and the idea that bees fly in a figure eight
pattern which somehow links them to the eternal.
Do you
outline or do you just create characters and just see where the story takes
you?
I don’t outline in detail, but I do start with a vision of where
I want the story to go and I know the main plot milestones. A lot about writing
is unconscious and magical, so I was often surprised about where the characters
took me.
I was
curious about the title change from Level 2 to the Memory of After-- why the
change and did you have any say in it?
S&S had gotten feedback from their sales team that many
people were overlooking Level 2 because they thought it was a sequel. The Memory of After was another title I
always liked, and when I discussed it with the team, we agreed that it would
best to repackage the book going forward so it might find a larger audience.
What is
your favorite mode of communication (this can get as specific as twitter) and
why?
I used to write and receive so many snail-mail letters. I do really miss that mode, even though
e-mail is so much more convenient! Have
you ever heard the Arcade Fire song Used to Wait? Love it!
What
were some of your favorite YA reads of the past year?
Some of my favorite reads of 2013 so far can be found here:
I’ve been recommending In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat
Winters to everyone recently!
What
has it been like to become a peer of some of the authors you've admired? Is there
one you were particularly starstruck by and awed to meet?
One of the perks of being a book blogger was getting to meet
authors and realize that they were regular people – that writing and publishing
was an attainable dream. Probably the
most starstruck I ever was? When I met Neil Gaiman! I kind of followed him
around for 10 minutes before I worked up the courage to speak to him.
Tell us
a little about what going on tour for a new book is like-- the good, the bad,
and the ugly!
It’s a blast to meet all the readers. I’ve had such great
experiences at all of my stops so far – so I can’t complain at all! I will say
that because I live in Europe, I have to cluster my events, and that can be
really tiring. By the end, I just want to collapse in my bed for about two
weeks.
Can you
tell us a little bit about the follow-up to Level 2 without giving too much
away?
Whereas the arc of Level 2/The Memory of After is about a “bad”
girl seeking forgiveness, Chasing Before is about a redeemed girl tempted back
down a dangerous path. It’s also about
the way we curate our memories and how that shapes who we are as people.
Readers are in for lots of explosions, twists and the return of
characters that seemed to be lost forever …
Thanks so much for this terrific interview! Now sign up to win a signed copy of her book, The Memory of After, or some great swag!
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