Author Chat with Catherine Egan, Plus Giveaway!

 

YABC: Who is your favorite character in the book?

Catherine Egan: I love all my made­up people in some way, but I love Julia the best.

YABC: Which came first, the title or the novel?

CE: I’ve never been asked this question before! I feel as if it must be quite unusual for the title to come first but maybe it’s not as unusual as I thought.

This is the first thing I’ve ever written where the title came first. It started out as the title of a short story about a woman who runs away from her own life. The story wasn’t much good, but I really did like the title. A year or so later, when I had the bare bones of an idea for a YA novel about a spy, I decided to use the title from my discarded short story and give my spy the ability to literally vanish. Then, of course, I had to think about why she could vanish. So much of the story sprang from that.

YABC: What do you like most about the cover of the book?

CE: I love the cover so much! I love the wintry feel of it, and I learned the word “debossed” because the title sinks into the page instead of puffing out, but most of all I love the blur of Julia fleeing, the sense of motion and mystery. When I first started thinking about Julia, I had this image (which opens the first chapter) of a barefoot girl in a white nightgown creeping downstairs – so this cover with a fleeing girl in a white nightgown (it looks like a nightgown, anyway) was particularly thrilling for me to see. It was as if the cover designer had tapped into my original conception of Julia.

YABC: What new release book are you looking most forward to in 2016?

CE: I’m looking forward to so many 2016 releases, and I was delighted to share a release day with two of my most­anticipated new releases, Lindsay Ribar’s ROCKS FALL, EVERYONE DIES and Alison Umminger’s AMERICAN GIRLS, but OK, if I have to choose one book that I’m looking forward to the most in 2016 (see how I sort of cheated there?) I’d say… well, I’m going to keep cheating and choose two more: Stephanie Kuehn’s THE SMALLER EVIL and Kendare Blake’s THREE DARK CROWNS.

YABC:  What was your favorite book in 2015?

CE: I’d have to call it a tie between THE TRAITOR BARU CORMORANT by Seth Dickinson and THE FIFTH SEASON by N.K. Jemisin, with very honorable mentions to ARCHIVIST WASP by Nicole Kornher­Stace and SORCERER TO THE CROWN by Zen Cho. (Really, you think you can ask me to name ONE BOOK, ever?)

YABC: Which character gave you the most trouble when writing your latest book?

CE: Gregor – an ex­aristocrat conman and drunk, and a member of Julia’s gang of crooks. He was falling flat in my early drafts. I just couldn’t quite figure him out. The solution was to give him a one­on­one scene with Julia, because she has this way of bringing everyone around her to life. I wrote the scene where he walks her home in the middle of the book, after she’s just discovered something devastating about her lover and has narrowly escaped an otherworldly serial killer. I loved writing their conversation, and after that I knew exactly who he was.

YABC:  Which part of the writing process do you enjoy more: Drafting or Revising?

CE: There is something undeniably exhilarating about a first draft, but I think I prefer revising. It’s so satisfying to have the story down, with a beginning, middle and end, and then to set about shifting things around, tinkering and adding and deleting, bringing the whole thing closer and closer to what you want it to be.

YABC:  What would you say is your superpower?

CE: Holding two opposing opinions at the same time.

YABC:  Is there an organization or cause that is close to your heart?

CE: Right around the corner from me in New Haven is an organization called IRIS (Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services) that does amazing work helping refugees and other displaced people settle into new lives in the city. You can find out more about them & support their work here: http://www.irisct.org/ 

 

 

Meet Julia Vanishes!

Julia has the unusual ability to be . . . unseen. Not invisible, exactly. Just beyond most people’s senses. It’s a dangerous trait in a city that has banned all forms of magic and drowns witches in public Cleansings. But it’s a useful trait for a thief and a spy. And Julia has learned—crime pays.She’s being paid very well indeed to infiltrate the grand house of Mrs. Och and report back on the odd characters who live there and the suspicious dealings that take place behind locked doors. But what Julia discovers shakes her to the core. She certainly never imagined that the traitor in the house would turn out to be . . . her. Murder, thievery, witchcraft, betrayal–Catherine Egan builds a dangerous world where her fierce and flawed heroine finds that even a girl who can vanish can’t walk away from her own worst deeds.

 

 

Meet Catherine Egan!

CATHERINE EGAN grew up in Vancouver, Canada. Since then, she has lived on a volcanic island in Japan (which erupted while she was there and sent her hurtling straight into the arms of her now-husband), in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Beijing, on an oil rig in the middle of Bohai Bay, then in New Jersey, and now in New Haven, Connecticut.She is currently occupied with writing books and fighting dragon armies with her warrior children. You can read more about her at catherineegan.com and follow her on twitter @bycatherineegan.

Julia Vanishes

By: Catherine Egan

Release Date: June 7, 2016 

*GIVEAWAY DETAILS* 

One winner will receive a copy of Julia Vanishes (US only).

*Click the Rafflecopter link below to enter the giveaway*

a Rafflecopter giveaway