Terra Nova
Terra Nova, #1
by MtG
Date of Publication: July 23rd 2020
Publisher: Friesenpress
Cover Artist: Friesenpress
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
ISBN-10 : 1525572016
ISBN-13 : 978-1525572012
ASIN: B08DWQ4FHK
Word Count: 135, 430
Tagline: Everybody dies but only few of us manage to live
BLURB
Evangeline is living the life of a normal teenager until mysterious, severe symptoms begin appearing. After passing out in the middle of a party, life as she knows it spirals beyond her grasp. She is then diagnosed with a rare, genetic blood disorder that causes her body’s white blood cells to kill the red ones. In the delirium of her deteriorating health, a door to a parallel world opens before her; however, once she steps through it, the portal closes, and she is unable to return to Earth.
The place Evangeline now finds herself in is called Terra Nova, a world wherein vampires rule supreme, with no traces of humanity left to speak of. Curious but afraid, she quickly learns that Terra Nova is not the shadow-side of Earth, but rather the tragic result of government experimentation. In order to survive, she must keep her mind open and accept the changes her body is undergoing; soon enough, those who she initially thinks are murderers become her trainers, whose help she must enlist if she ever hopes to return home—and soon enough, a romantic bond begins to bloom.
Meanwhile, Evangeline’s brother and friends back on Earth try to figure out what happened to her, how the government is involved, and how to bring her home. Unbeknownst to any of them is the mysterious outcast Bambi, whose secrecy disguises her power in making a devastating choice: save one world at the risk of destroying the other.
Book Trailer: https://youtu.be/f4kz4TuVe6A
Excerpt:
Evangeline stood up and sighed. She started to walk down the street in the direction of the Duke’s house, done her trailing for the night, when she heard a voice behind her, “Did you expect to track someone who is already tracking you?”
She turned to see Josepina standing in the middle of the road in a blue gown with blue and gold embroidery along its hemlines and birds of all sizes and shapes embroidered into every spot and space on it. Looking at the dress Evangeline wondered how Josepina stalked her so inconspicuously. Did she go around town hiding in holes?
“Yeah, I guess I was a little optimistic in my skills,” Evangeline said.
“Not a little,” Josepina said, “You must know something about me now. I could lead his highness in eternal circles, Evangeline. You would have more chances tracking him, actually. So why is it that you hoped to find me?”
“Well, I guess I was just practising tracking...” Josepina was looking at her with an amused smile. Evangeline knew that Josepina could sense if she was full of shit. Obviously Evangeline could have practised on anyone. She changed approaches,
“Well, I guess I’ve never known a lady of...pleasure?”
Josepina’s smile grew broader, “And what do you hope to learn from me?”
Evangeline’s face turned red, “Nothing, actually. I guess I was just curious about you because you have so much more life in you than most people here. You still talk about everything and seem to think about everything. It’s…. rare. And your clothes...how do you do it?”
“That is a much more interesting question than I thought you had,” Josepina said, “the dress...well, I create them out of hunger during the day with whatever materials I find. Crocheting and embroidering is time consuming. A perfect activity. Dressing up is also time consuming. Another perfect activity. Though I think most find the contrast of the bright clothing and their own ugliness something of a depressing reality.”
Josepina looked up at the night sky and then at Evangeline, “I will walk with you to the Duke’s” She began to walk and Evangeline stepped up beside her.
“The way we are now,” Josepina continued, “vampires as you like to call us, is a stagnant way. We cannot change, on the outside or the inside. You have seen that Ehvan can memorize facts, but his mind will always be that of a child. The inner maturation of his brain is related to the physical changes that happen within it. Something that cannot happen in this state. Someone whose mind was not very...developed...before, will not develop much now. They will know more facts. Learn skills. But they will not grow inside as humans.”
“And you?”
“I suppose my goal was always to understand other humans and through that to understand and know myself. I never considered that it was anything unusual, but looking around me now, I see that it is a rare goal.”
“I wonder what I would be like as one of you,” Evangeline said offhandedly.
“An odd thing to wonder after seeing us,” Josepina said, “though the fact that you actually thought to ponder this means that you would do better than most. You have almost no sixth sense ability but you have more depth than most pretty, young girls.
“Thank you. You know, I didn’t think you liked me much, to be honest.”
“I’m still deciding,” Josepina smiled a little shrewdly, “However, you stood in front of a city of beings that could rip you apart and you were able to look at us and speak to us as if we were still people. I respect that. Respect is more important than like.”
Evangeline let a couple minutes pass in silence before she asked the next question,“So, is it really true about the physical intimacy? I mean, is it impossible for you now?”
Josepina looked at her with that half-curious, half-knowing look and Evangeline quickly added, “I’m just wondering since there are some married couples that I have seen...”
Evangeline was doing her utmost to convince her face not to turn red. Of course she wasn’t just curious out of the blue. She was in an unspoken, apparently platonic, bed-sharing arrangement with a male whom she wanted to kick in the head for the majority of each night while at the same time looking forward to each morning in his room. Every day, when she put down her book and climbed under the covers she lay stiff and anxious, wondering if he would lie down beside her, knowing that he occasionally did, but never being awake when it happened.
Josepina’s lips curled into a wide, knowing smile and killed any chance Evangeline had of keeping the colour on her face normal.
Author Info
MTG has worked in numerous positions, mainly in managerial and executive roles. These include the editor-in-chief of a cultural magazine, an executive director, and most recently, the manager of a non-profit organization that works with immigrants and refugees. She has extensive experience working and studying abroad, including Germany, Italy, Korea, Abu Dhabi, and Pakistan; these experiences taught her about many cultures and worldviews, which influenced her writing.
Terra Nova, her first publication, is Book 1 of a series. The series’ concept emerged when she, like the protagonist, was diagnosed with the blood disorder paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), and her then-boyfriend (now husband) joked she was becoming a vampire. She currently works and resides in Canada.
The Book Junkie Reads . . .Reckless Dreams Interview with . . . MtG . . .
How would you describe your style of writing to someone that has never read your work?
I write in a style that I like to read. I try to show rather than tell, avoiding overuse of adjectives and instead focusing on events and conversations that would help readers see what I’m seeing, especially in terms of character personalities.
I also like books that encompass different genre elements. For example, I don’t often like pure romance. However, I love to have bit of romance within a bigger plot. So, I’ll mix in romance, action, mystery etc.… into whatever genre I’m writing in.
And lastly, I love character development. When I read a book, it’s the characters in it that make me want to know what happens. When I care about the character, I care about the book. So you’ll see me writing from various character perspectives in the Terra Nova series because I love to fully develop even many of the side characters.
Do you take your character prep to heart? Do you nurture the growth of each character all the way through to the page? Do you people watch to help with development? Or do you build upon your character during story creation?
It’s actually a bit of both. I kind of feel a character before I start writing them. I have this image in my mind of how they look and this feeling of what they are inside. I think that’s always based on people we’ve met and seen.
However, I don’t spend days overanalyzing them. I know who they are and I start writing them into the story. Once they enter the story they begin to come alive on their own and sometimes they even end up saying or doing things that I never expected them to, but somehow it feels right.
Have you found yourself bonding with any particular character(s)? If so which one(s)?
In the first book of the Terra Nova series, I love Eros. I mean, let’s be honest. When you create the guy your heroine will find sexy, you kind of create a guy that you’d find sexy. So now you know my taste in men. Lol I also love Ehvan. There’s something very endearing about him. He’s such a quirky combination of lethal and innocent. And of course, you have to like Josepina. She’s the woman you’d love to go for fancy cocktails with on Saturday night.
There are a couple of characters in Terra Destra (the second book in the series that will be released in early winter 2023) that I think are awesome but I won’t spoil it by sharing their names!
Can you share your next creative project(s)? If yes, can you give a few details?
Aside from finishing off the second book in the Terra Nova series and beginning on the third one, I’ve also started on an adult fantasy.
I love the Terra Nova series but writing young adult fiction is in some ways restrictive. For example, you need to watch the language you use, make sure things are never too explicit, and even the vocabulary you use is at a slightly different level.
I’ve noticed how much more free I feel when writing for adults.
My husband is always the first person that reads the most rough draft of my books and when I gave him the first draft of Terra Nova, Book 2, he sat me down and said “You do realize this is a YA book. You need to cut these sex scenes by 80%. But, they are seriously awesome, so save them and write a book for adults after finishing this series.”
Let’s just say that I listened to him and I’m especially excited to be able to add steamy scenes whenever and wherever I feel like it in the adult fantasy! Lol
Where would you spend one full year, if you could go Anywhere, money is not a concern? What would you do with this time?
When I was in my twenties I was obsessed with big cities. So, I’ve visited a lot of big cities, including London, Paris, New York, Dubai etc.… my husband and I also took on work contracts to get into the big city life and spent three years living in Abu Dhabi and three years in Milan. I still love visiting a large city every now and then, mostly to do those cultural things that you can’t often get in smaller places, such as catching a Broadway show or spending the day at the Louvre. But overall I feel like I’ve done the big city thing and now I’m more fascinated by funky nature.
Last year I did a mom-daughter trip to Iceland and the hiking and nature was unbelievable so now I’m craving more. I’d love to go somewhere very remote and funky like the Galapagos Islands and just sail around the islands and study the various species. I wouldn’t mind doing a road trip through the center of Iceland as well – it’s apparently where they train astronauts because of the space-like nature. I could definitely spend a year just reading, writing and exploring a remote place like that.
Website: https://mtgbooks.com/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/mtgbooks777
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