Welcome to Shannon Delany's Start Your Day with Serial Tour! Shannon's debut novel (and first in her YA paranormal series) 13 to Life started as a winning cell phone novel written in serial segments. During the tour you can read bits of the book in order. Miss a day? Hop to Shannon's blog and check the link to the blog tour calendar in her sidebar.
There will also be a contest that will close at the end of the tour. Winners get a bunch of stuff.
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I'm very happy to have gotten the chance to interview Shannon Delany:
Can you sum up 13 to Life in one sentence?
It's a tale of teenage love, loss and--oh, yeah--werewolves.
What initially sparked your idea for 13 to Life?
It was a strange combination of things. The phrase which became the title was rolling around in my head and on a trip to Wisconsin I noticed a definite lack of werewolf novels (of course, that was late 2008).
If you were stranded on a deserted island, what single book would you choose to have with you and why?
My trusty Barnhardt's Dictionary of Etymology. I love language and each word in that book comes with its own origin story. It's fascinating!
What do you hope readers will take away from reading 13 to Life?
Different readers will take away different things depending on how deeply they read. Some will just enjoy the book for its action and romance (I'm being told the relationships in the book feel much more real and authentic than many others in YA currently) and some will catch the foreshadowing, the red herrings and be able to make guesses at the next books in the series.
Can you tell us a little bit about what you have in the works at the moment?
I just handed in my copyedits for the second book in the series and the third's due in August. Beyond that I'm working on some things that explore more of my love of history and mythology. Still mainly YA, though.
Is there anything you would like to add for readers?
Thanks for following along on the Serial Tour and I hope you all give 13 to Life a try (and, of course, I hope you love reading it even half as much as I enjoyed writing it)!
Choco: Thank you for the wonderful interview :)
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13 to Life: Chapter 3, part F (used with the author’s permission)
(For information on the previous section, visit Escape Between the Pages!
I said, “Cool” and a moment later I was free of the food sauna and headed to my table, forgetting Pietr in my need to discuss the Derek situation with my girlfriends.
I smacked my tray down, wiggling in between Amy and Sarah on the table's Formica bench. Sarah set down her copy of Sense and Sensibility and smiled supportively in my direction.
Stabbing my milk with a straw, I introduced my plight. "I just don't get it. Derek actually spoke to me today." I jabbed a cucumber slice with my fork and wondered which of us was older.
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Shannon's hosting several contests during the Start Your Day with Serial Tour. The big contest will award one lucky winner with a royal amber pendant, pietersite jeweled bookmark, stuffed wolf, 13 to Life mousepad, pen, tote, signed poster, personalized copy of 13 to Life and both of the 13 to Life pins. All you need to do is comment at 13 of the blogs hosting Shannon during her 30 day tour. Everyone who does so will be entered into a random drawing. Winner may be international.
