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Book Title: True Born
Author: L.E. Sterling
Release Date: May 3, 2016
Genre: YA Sci-Fi Fantasy
Your fate is in your blood…
Welcome to Dominion City.
After the great Plague descended, the world population was decimated…and their genetics damaged beyond repair.
The Lasters wait hopelessly for their genes to self-destruct. The Splicers pay for expensive treatments that might prolong their life. The plague-resistant True Borns are as mysterious as they are feared…
And then there’s Lucy Fox and her identical twin sister, Margot. After endless tests, no one wants to reveal what they are.
When Margot disappears, a desperate Lucy has no choice but to put her faith in the True Borns, led by the charismatic leader, Nolan Storm, and the beautiful but deadly Jared, who tempts her as much as he infuriates her. As Lucy and the True Borns set out to rescue her sister, they stumble upon a vast conspiracy stretching from Dominion’s street preachers to shady Russian tycoons. But why target the Fox sisters?
As they say in Dominion, it’s in the blood.
Interview with the Author:
What initially got you interested in writing?
What an interesting question. I guess what motivated me was a desire to escape – books were (and still are) the most incredible escape for me when I was a kid. Books have such wisdom: they teach you about people, the world, what makes everything tick. I really wanted to create my own escapes, and I wanted to play a part in conveying all that wisdom to other people.
How did you decide to make the move into being a published author?
I think I always took myself seriously when it came to writing. I took Creative Writing classes in high school, and had the good fortune to connect with some really famous authors through a writing program. These authors gave me such amazing, generous feedback. And from there I kept at it: I was accepted into Creative Writing for a Bachelor’s degree, and then a Master’s degree… and the rest is a lot of hard work! But you know, one of my teachers really gave me the best perspective on the ‘school’ route. He was really pushing me to do a Masters in Creative Writing but not for the actual degree, but because it would give me dedicated time to write. And he was, as in most things, right!
What do you want readers to take away from reading your works?
I would love readers to feel fully immersed in the world I’ve created. I want my novels to linger with them, to stick in their minds like that song that just won’t leave your head. And hopefully, as part of that, I want to have given the reader a perspective they might not have ordinarily had, or an insight, a memory –something special. And I want to affect change in my readers on some level. I think ultimately every writer wants to do that.
What do you find most rewarding about writing?
Being read! No, honestly, I think when I’ve crafted and honed something and found a way to make it work for readers – that’s when I’m most proud of myself, when I know I’ve “made it.” It was the great British novelist E.M. Forster who wrote, “Only connect.” He knew what he was talking about. That’s the job of the writer, to connect with people. And if I’ve done my job well? Then… yay!
What do you find most challenging about writing?
I honestly find being a good writer very challenging. There’s always something more to learn, more skills to hone. And I find that after nearly 25 years of writing professionally and publishing that I’m only just getting to the beginning of where I want to be as a writer. I can practically see people cringing as they read this, but it’s true. Writing is an apprenticeship art, and I needed to apprentice for a long, long time!
What advice would you give to people want to enter the field?
Anyone who is serious about writing is going to find their own way of going about it. But if someone is serious, I would suggest they treat writing like a business. Like any business, you need to go to work every day, learn as much as you can about your job, and keep applying what you learn. Read as much as you can. Practice, practice. Reach out to others and get feedback and advice.
What ways can readers connect with you?
I am all over the place! Readers can get in touch with me in any one of the following ways, and I would LOVE to hear from them!
My website/blog: www.le-sterling.com
Twitter: @le_sterling
My new Facebook page: www.facebook.com/LESterling22/
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/LESterling
Thanks so much for the interview!
Goodreads Book Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26114621-true-born
Amazon Buy Link: http://www.amazon.com/True-Born-L-E-Sterling-ebook/dp/B0166SEV0O
Barnes & Noble Buy Link: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/true-born-le-sterling/1122537957
iBooks Buy Link: https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/book/true-born/id1046533172
Kobo Buy Link: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/true-born
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/True-Born-L-E-Sterling-ebook/dp/B0166SEV0O
Amazon.ca: http://www.amazon.ca/True-Born-L-E-Sterling-ebook/dp/B0166SEV0O
Entangled Publishing: http://www.entangledpublishing.com/true-born/
About the Author:
L.E. Sterling had an early obsession with sci-fi, fantasy and romance to which she remained faithful even through an M.A. in Creative Writing and a PhD in English Literature – where she completed a thesis on magical representation. She is the author of two previous novels, the cult hit Y/A novel The Originals (under pen name L.E. Vollick), dubbed “the Catcher in the Rye of a new generation” by one reviewer, and the urban fantasy Pluto’s Gate.
Originally hailing from Parry Sound, Ontario, L.E. spent most of her summers roaming across Canada in a van with her father, a hippie musician, her brothers and an occasional stray mutt – inspiring her writing career. She currently lives in Toronto, Ontario.
Author Website: le-sterling.com
Author Twitter: @le_sterling
Author Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LESterling22/
Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/LESterling
Read below for an excerpt from True Born:
“Isn’t it a little weird that we have to do our tests again? Was there some kind of mistake with the first one?” Margot says it innocently enough, a slight twang to her voice to match the nurse’s rabble-like twang.
“Well, hon, sometimes they get mixed signals, you know? Like when you think a boy likes you but then he goes all hot and cold?” She winks. Margot’s fingers tighten on mine.
“Uh huh.” Margot nods. “So there’s a problem with your machines? Or with the staff?”
The nurse frowns. “Not this staff. They’re five-star amazing. Must have just been a bad sample or something. Try not to worry about it, sweetie.” She pats Margot’s arm just before she shoves the needle in my sister’s vein.
I squirm on my seat. The skin on my arm crawls from the sharp pain originating in my sister’s arm. Relaxed beside me, Margot doesn’t move a muscle. She knows what I’m feeling even if she can’t do anything about it. This is just how it is with us.
“How much are you going to take this time?” My voice shakes as our coltish nurse comes around to me and drives a needle into my arm. It doesn’t hurt nearly as bad as Margot’s did. Our hands stay folded together. There’s a note in our file about letting us. One of the perks of being born us.
“Oh.” For the first time she looks a little dismayed. “I’m sorry, hon. Didn’t they tell you? We gotta go through the whole protocol again. The whole shebang.”
My twin and I did know. We’d been told. Still, it bothers us. A full day’s worth of giving blood, going through tests, having your organs measured and documented. Urine samples, more blood samples, hair samples. We’d already been through this two times in the last two months. We no longer believe they’d gotten “bad” samples—not that we’re going to let on to the nurse.
And funny thing is, each time we come, the Protocols Nurse is new. This is the third we’ve had, each as clueless as the last.
We know better than to ask our parents. The deepening silence and constant rounds of testing and lies must mean the news is the worst. Late at night we lie together, holding hands and whispering under the deep canopy of one or other of our beds. We’ve thought about what it will mean if one of us turns out to be a Laster. We’ve talked until dawn about what we’d want, what we’d do. I tell Margot I’d want to go with her, but she’s against the idea.
“One of us needs to survive,” she said to me, her gray-green eyes as serious as I’ve ever seen them.
“What if it’s not that?” I asked her.
“What do you mean?”
“What if we’re, you know,” the words mere whispers, “True Born?”
The Giveaway:
$10 Amazon gift card
Thanks so much for joining the True Born blog tour!!
-N