REVIEW INTERVIEW & GIVEAWAY: Earth & Sky by Megan Crewe

Earth & Sky

By: Megan Crewe

Publication Date: October 28, 2014

Seventeen-year-old Skylar has been haunted for as long as she can remember by fleeting yet powerful sensations that something is horribly wrong. But despite the panic attacks tormenting her, nothing ever happens, and Sky’s beginning to think she’s crazy. Then she meets a mysterious, otherworldly boy named Win and discovers the shocking truth her premonitions have tapped into: our world no longer belongs to us. For thousands of years, Earth has been at the mercy of alien scientists who care nothing for its inhabitants and are using us as the unwitting subjects of their time-manipulating experiments. Win belongs to a rebel faction seeking to put a stop to it, and he needs Skylar’s help–but with each shift in the past, the very fabric of reality is unraveling, and soon there may be no Earth left to save.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TK6UCybzEE]

ABOUT MEGAN

Like many authors, Megan Crewe finds writing about herself much more difficult than making things up. A few definite facts: she lives in Toronto, Canada with her husband and son (and does on occasion say “eh”), she tutors children and teens with special needs, and she’s spent the last six years studying kung fu, so you should probably be nice to her. She has been making up stories about magic and spirits and other what ifs since before she knew how to write words on paper. These days the stories are just a lot longer.

Megan’s first novel, GIVE UP THE GHOST, was shortlisted for the Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic. Her second, THE WAY WE FALL, was nominated for the White Pine Award and made the International Reading Association Young Adults’ Choices List. Her Fallen World trilogy (THE WAY WE FALL, THE LIVES WE LOST, THE WORLDS WE MAKE) is now complete and she has a new trilogy forthcoming in October 2014, beginning with EARTH & SKY. Her books have been published in translation in several countries around the world. She has also published short stories in magazines such as On Spec and Brutarian Quarterly.

Where did the idea for Earth & Sky come from?

Like many of my story ideas, it was a combination of factors. I’d read a story in which at one point the main character realized tiny details in his world had changed, but no one else seemed to realize it, and I wanted to capture that sense of confusion and fear in a story of my own. I’d also been really wanting to write something more intensely science fiction than my Fallen World trilogy, something with space ships and aliens like the sci-fi stories I grew up with. When I realized that the changes my main character sensed could be due to time travel, and that the time travelers making the changes could be aliens, the rest of the story fell into place. (For a more detailed explanation, see my blog post here!)

What is the weirdest thing you googled while researching for this series?

Hmmm… Difficult to say, because I did most of my research a few years ago when I first started planning the books, but most likely something to do with different energy-producing technologies or space engines or that sort of thing.

What was your favorite scene to write and why?

In the first book, probably the kissing scene, because it’s such a major turning point in the relationship between Skylar and Win… though not in the way kissing scenes usually are, heh.

Did any of your characters surprise you by doing something you didn’t expect?

My characters surprise me more during the outlining stage than the actual writing, since I do outline in a fair bit of detail. I don’t think I’d realized just how brave Skylar was going to be until I was figuring out the climactic scenes in Ohio and saw how much danger she’d throw herself into to get her and Win out of there alive.

This is only book 1 of the series, but do you already know how it all ends?

I do! I’ve actually known how it ends for quite a while—when I met with my editor in NYC last summer I told her how I envisioned the final scene in book 3—but I know in much greater detail now, because I’ve just finished book 3 and turned it in. As a planner, I always have at least a vague idea of the entire story arc before I begin a trilogy. I think it’d be difficult for me to take a story I hadn’t already seen as being part of a larger arc and spin it off into further books.

What are you currently reading? What books boys make you swoon?

Right now I am mostly reading for research for a new project. As far as swooning, I tend to fall for the clever boys, like Gen from the Attolia books and Westley from THE PRINCESS BRIDE.

If you only get to read one book for the rest of your life what would you pick and why?

Only one book—that sounds horrible! But if forced, I’d have to pick THE PRINCESS BRIDE, which I continue to enjoy no matter how many times I read it, and is funny enough to be somewhat comforting when I’m wishing I could be reading other books too. 😉

Do you have a dream cast, or did you have anyone in mind while writing?

I usually go looking for visual references of my major characters while I’m writing, to help me picture them more concretely, though those references often wouldn’t work as an actual cast because I may have to pick younger photos of people who are now technically too old to play the characters accurately. Luke Pasqualino circa Skins is exactly how I pictured Win, and maybe could still work; Jeanant could be played by Sendhil Ramamurthy. I never did find a perfect Skylar, but the closest actress, Laura Prepon circa That ‘70s Show, I don’t think could pull off a convincing 17 year old anymore. (For those interested, I have a post with my visual references for the characters here)

What did you learn about publishing the hard way?

The hardest thing for me was learning that having one book published doesn’t mean you’re “set.” I had this idea before I got published that since I was always improving my craft, once I could write one publishable book, every book I wrote after that would presumably be publishable too, so continuing to get published would be much easier than getting started at it. But the truth is that a huge number of factors determine which books get published other than how “good” your writing is: the strength of the story idea itself, how well similar books have been selling at that particular moment, whether the book fits into a current trend that publishers are already overwhelmed by, etc. The book I wrote immediately after my debut, GIVE UP THE GHOST, was another paranormal at a time when the market had been flooded by paranormal YA, and even though my agent at the time thought it was a much bigger and more exciting book, it never found a home—which is why there was a two and a half year gap between my first and second books.

Any advice for aspiring writers?

Keep at it. Keep reading and learning about what makes a good story; keep writing and challenging yourself with what you write; keep working on improving what you’re written as well as you can. There’s a lot of luck involved in getting published, from timing to tastes, but if you write a powerful enough story, *someone* will probably want it. And the only way you guarantee you’ll never get published is if you give up.

What’s next for you? Are you working on anything right now that you can tell us about?

The next two books in the Earth & Sky trilogy, THE CLOUDED SKY and A SKY UNBROKEN, of course (drafted but still some edits on the way). Next on my plate is a YA with a political thriller angle that I can’t say much more about right now. J

5 Favorites

Favorite Song (right now)– “It’s Only Me” by Dessa (who I got to see in concert recently)

Favorite Book (right now) – From the last year, probably THE SPARROW by Mary Doria Russell

Favorite TV Show/Movie (right now) – I’m going to say Justified, because I adore that show and no one I know seems to be watching it (you should!)

Favorite Word– onomatopoeia

Favorite Snack – Doritos (esp. Jalapeno Cheddar flavor—yum!)

Jaime’s Thoughts
Earth & Sky by Megan Crewe
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I’m a big fan of YA Sci-Fi and I can’t seem to find enough of it that I just click with. When I read the summary for Earth & Sky by Megan Crewe I thought that this might just fit what I was looking for.

Skylar is seventeen and she suffers horrible panic attacks… but they are brought on by very powerful sensations that something that she’s experiencing is wrong. She’s afraid she might be a bit crazy, but then she encounters a boy named Win who tries to explain exactly what is happening for her.

Let’s just say without going into too much detail that Earth is kind of an experiment for alien scientists and they are the subject of time manipulation. Win is trying his hardest to end what is happening but he can’t do it without Skylar… and they are quickly running out of time.

This is my first Megan Crewe book and I have to say that I really enjoyed her writing style. It’s easy to read and the story was easy to follow even though it could have easily fallen into the overly complicated zone due to all the time travel and alternate world explanations.

I found our main characters, Win & Sky definitely interesting. Sky is dealing with this sudden influx of information and having to deal with things that is hardly believable, and Win… well, he’s got his own problems as well. As part of the rebel group trying to help Earth, he’s being chased by people who don’t want that to happen. I really enjoyed how much he cared, not just for Sky, but for Earth in general. One thing I think I would have liked a bit more of is the connection between Win and Sky to develop. I like a bit more swoonyness with my YA and I felt that was lacking a bit here. Though that said there is definitely room for a potential romance in future books … I think.

If you’re looking for something unique and a bit different than your typical YA Sci-Fi story, definitely give this one a try!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

Recent Reviews

Related Posts

About Jaime

Recent Comments

Recent Posts

Recent Reviews