Blog Tour: Q&A with Kat Kruger

Welcome to this stop of the Take a Walk on the Wilds Side blog tour, celebrating the upcoming release of The Night Is Found by Kat Kruger. Read my review here (hint: I loved it!). 

Today we will be featuring a Q&A with the author behind this suspenseful werewolf trilogy. Say hi to Kat Kruger!

Kat Kruger, author of The Magdeburg Trilogy

Q&A with Kat Kruger

Q: From the references to old werewolf cases in the books, it's clear that you did your werewolf lore research prior to creating the Magdeburg Trilogy. How did you decide which folklore/pop culture elements or "rules" of werewolves to keep in your own mythos?

A: I'm a big fan of the genre and werewolves in general so the research came fairly easily. The challenge for me was more in making the scientific connections and pushing the boundaries of paranormal into the realm of scifi. For the most part I re-interpreted the rules. Anything that could be explained scientifically I kept, whereas anything that was more along the magical line of thinking I discarded as superstition. When I wrote The Magdeburg Trilogy, my rationale behind the world was to ground it in reality to make it as believable as possible. 

Q: I notice that you pay a lot of attention to the power dynamics within groups and relationships. Did you model certain relationships after observations of particular human relationships or are the relationship dynamics based off of wolf mates and packs? I'm curious about what your process is. 

A: I didn't consciously model the relationships after ones from my real life. That's not to say there aren't some similarities when I look back on the way my characters interact with each other though!

When I wrote these characters I definitely had an idea of how I wanted to approach the power dynamics. The born werewolves versus bitten humans have different behaviour patterns because they're different species.

Connor starts off as an outsider to both groups because he's a hybrid. Although he muddles his way through the relationships it's kind of par for the course because he's always been a bit of a lone wolf.

Madison is a human who went through the trauma of being attacked and bitten by her ex-boyfriend Josh. Theirs is probably the most complex of all the relationships because Connor appears at a time when Madison is mentally ready to let go of Josh but doesn't quite know how.

Amara is a bit emotionally detached because I based the born werewolves on a scifi theory that Neanderthals evolved into werewolves. Some evidence points to Neanderthals lacking in the social capacity of humans and I sort of went with that. That said, her romance with Arden is based more on wolf mates.

With Arden, it was more straightforward for me to write his relationship with Connor. (SPOILER ALERT) Arden is actually half-human so he has a combination of alpha wolf aggression and pent-up human emotion that makes him more volatile than the rest of his pack mates.

Q: Who was your favorite werewolf while growing up? And now?

A: Growing up it was Etienne of Navarre from the movie Ladyhawke. Now I'd pick Cole St. Clair from Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver trilogy.

Q: This isn't directly related to your novel but I'm curious about your perspective as a writer. What's your take on the portrayals of werewolves in Twilight, who seemed to be concentrated into the Native American community as opposed to the more ethnically diverse werewolf population in your series? 

A: I'm going to be a nerd about it and say that from my perspective technically the "werewolves" in Twilight are shape-shifters who can take on any form so I don't include them as part of werewolf lit per se. That nerdiness aside, as a species overall I think werewolves would be diverse like humans and dogs. Having grown up in Toronto, I was always surrounded by a diverse population. It just comes naturally to me to think in these terms so naturally that's how the Magdeburg werewolves appear. 

While I appreciate the fact that Myers was open enough to include minority group representation in a paranormal world, there's actually diversity within the Native American community itself that I don't think was fully explored in that series. Pretty much every culture on Earth has some kind of werewolf folklore and there's some cool Native American lore that could have been expanded a bit more in depth. But, like I said, I think of Twilight as more of a vampire & shape-shifter series so I can't really criticize it for not exploring diversity among its werewolves.

Q: Do you own a wolf-like dog? What pets do you own (if any)? 

A: No, but I wish I did! I had a senior rescue wire-haired dachshund named Chili Dog but he passed away a couple of years ago. One day I'd like a big wolfy dog like a Belgian Shepherd or Tamaskan. I'll probably name him/her after one of Arden & Amara's kids.

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Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed meeting the mastermind behind this addition to werewolf lore. And now, a giveaway!

Giveaway (courtesy of Fierce Ink Press) of a digital copy of the entire Magdeburg Trilogy!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Blog Tour: THE NIGHT IS FOUND by Kat Kruger

Hey there. Welcome to this stop in the Take a Walk on the Wilds Side blog tour! I was sent this trilogy (including the eARC for the third installment), and my mind is just blown from the vast and complex world of werewolf societies that Kat Kruger has created. To my faerie-loving brain, werewolves had never been as awesome as they are in these novels. This trilogy is like my gateway drug to werewolf lit, and part of what makes it so addicting is the suspenseful storytelling, filled with twists that caught me by surprise and kept me up late at night.

Book Review: SAGA by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples (Volume 2)

Goodreads | Amazon

Saga (Volume 2) by Brian K. Vaughan (writer) and Fiona Staples (artist)

Genres: Comics / Fantasy / Romance / Sci-Fi

I'm going to start by saying that I am in no way immersed in the comic book world. As someone who can probably count all the graphic novels she has read with the fingers of both her hands, I've barely dipped my toes into the waters of the giant ocean of ink, paint, and other media. Most of the comics I've read were introduced to me by a friend who works in a bookstore, Saga included. Since I'm not a collector, I usually wait until the comics I love have been collected into a trade volume. Saga (Vol. 2) was gifted to me by this special friend, and it's taken me at least six months to get to reading it. Yay!

Book Review: The Woodlands by Lauren Nicolle Taylor

The fiercely defiant face of Rosa on the cover was what drew my initial curiosity about this book. Once I started reading, I was sucked into the The Woodlands, a dystopian thriller full of defiance, love, adaptation, and hope in the face of oppressive circumstances. 

The Woodlands

By Lauren Nicolle Taylor

Amazon | Goodreads

(The ebook is free on Amazon right now, by the way.)

Goodreads Summary:

When being unique puts you in danger and speaking your mind can be punishable by death, you might find yourself fighting to survive. Sixteen-year-old Rosa lives in one of the eight enclosed cities of The Woodlands. Where the lone survivors of a devastating race war have settled in the Russian wilderness because it’s the only scrap of land left habitable on the planet. In these circular cities, everyone must abide by the law or face harsh punishment. Rosa's inability to conform and obey the rules brands her a leper and no one wants to be within two feet of her, until she meets Joseph. He's blonde, fair-skinned, green-eyed, and the laid-back complete opposite of Rosa. She's never met anyone quite like him, and she knows that spells danger.

But differences weren't always a bad thing. People used to think being unique was one of the most treasured of traits to have. Now, the Superiors, who ruthlessly control the concrete cities with an iron fist, are obsessed with creating a 'raceless' race. They are convinced this is the only way to avoid another war. Any anomalies must be destroyed.

The Superiors are unstoppable and can do anything they want. After all, they are considered superheroes by the general public. But not everyone sees them this way. When they continue to abuse their power by collecting young girls for use in their secret, high-tech breeding program, they have no idea that one of those girls has somehow managed to make friends even she didn't know she had. And one man will stop at nothing to save her.

Since this is a dystopian novel, let's talk about how this futuristic society works:

• The Superiors want absolute loyalty, and in order to create that loyalty, it must dissolve all other competing loyalties that each person has: family, ethnicity, common history - things that bring people together against outside forces such as the oppressive government. 
• Children are taken away from parents at the age of 18 (or sooner, if the parents have another kid - only one child per household) to learn a trade, and to leave their hometown forever. This destroys any loyalties a person may hold for their family or home community. 
• Children are indoctrinated from a young age with pro-government lines and pledges. 
• The government has a goal of creating a superior race: One race, created by the mixing of all the other races to create a race of people who look exactly the same. Their ideal look is that of light brown skin and blue eyes. It would be the perfect sort of nationalism - one in which the government is literally the creator and parent of each person. 
• Marriage: people are matched with partners, usually from different hometowns and races, and they are expected to produce one child. The goal is that, given time, with enough racial mixing and ethnic erasing, the future generations will have no sense of ethnic identity. 

What I Liked:

• I couldn't put the book down -  I love how Taylor sprinkles hints before shocking us with the revelation. The questions kept me going as I tried to piece together the hints. The story drops just enough hints for me to suspect there is something more than what's being shown, and even throw in a few guesses in the right direction before tying up the loose ends later on. 
• Twists - They kept me on my toes. I kept reading to find out what was really going on. 
• Rosa's smart and observant - She's good at seizing people up, but occasionally errs on the side of being too judgmental. We get to meet characters through her eyes, even when she turns out to be wrong. She is disgusted with weak-willed characters, partly because her mother failed to stand up to Rosa's cruel stepfather because she was too scared and meek. 
• Most characters are more than they appear - There aren't really any two-dimensional characters here. The characters that surround Rosa may act a certain way (thus causing Rosa to form certain judgments), but they are hiding an inner complexity. There are no single-minded characters; everyone acts a certain way for a reason that isn't apparent at first. 
• Rosa and Joseph don't hit it off right away - She's not going to be lovey-dovey right away. She has her own issues to deal with, especially considering her own personal history of being abandoned by her mother. Rosa struggles with her trust issues, but Joseph is patient and considerate. I would like to learn more about why Joseph is so devoted to Rosa, though. 
• Clara isn't as naive as she sounds - As the perfect foil, Clara embodies the good and hope in the world to Rosa. "I know you don't understand it, Rosa, but I love this baby. I am her mother. That is a strong bond. My love is MY choice, don't ruin it. (111)" Where Rosa is mistrustful, Clara is trusting and optimistic. But that quote indicates that Clara is mindfully hopeful about motherhood - she's loving and hopeful because she chooses to be. Clara is a lot wiser than she shows with her light demeanor, and rises to protect Rosa in her motherly way. 
• The concept of the maternal instinct is questioned - Rosa doesn't immediately feel the expected motherly love towards the fetus, which she refers to as "the leech." After having read through a lot of tropes about parental insta-love (which is pretty nice), finding this sort of ambiguity towards unplanned parenthood is refreshing and honest. 

What I Didn't Like:

• There are certain coincidences that are rather convenient for the plot, especially concerning the placements, relocation, and matching of Rosa and Joseph. I can't talk too much about this without spoiling, so I'll leave it here.

Overall, I'm really glad I read The Woodlands. The writing here is amazing. Questions after questions led me throughout the book, and the answers, when given, packed an emotional punch. I didn't want to leave Rosa at the end of the book. I'm still dying to know what happens in the sequel, The Wall.

The society divided into circles (like districts), the oppressiveness of the governments and the weak mother coupled with the strong daughter are similarities that The Woodlands has with The Hunger Games. If you enjoyed The Hunger Games, then you'll probably enjoy this book too. 

To be honest, I liked The Woodlands more than The Hunger Games because the characterization is a lot more complex here, and the plot isn't limited to a survival, must-win game plot. 

My Rating:

Thanks for reading! Have you downloaded The Woodlands yet? It's a great book!

Back From Midterms & Some Thoughts on Childhood's End (Clarke) and A Canticle for Leibowitz (Miller)

Hey all, sorry for my absence this week. I've had midterms and papers due, along with this is the worst reading record I've ever done - I didn't finish reading a book for fun for two weeks! 

I did finish some books for my classes (mostly sci-fi): 

Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke 

A giant alien spaceship hovers above Earth just as humans are on the brink of destroying themselves through wars. Within 50 years, it changes human society by ending crime, violence, and wars. However, along with the end of conflict is also the end of creativity and innovation. But why are the aliens doing this for the humans? Instead of being the colonizers of planets, the human race finds itself colonized by powerful aliens with more advance technology. And later on, worse than colonized. 

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. 

Deals with the cyclical nature of humankind as it progresses from a dark age, middle age, renaissance, and high-tech age before it destroys itself and re-enters the dark ages again. We begin in the second dark age, a thousand years after the end of the total war that wiped out major cities and threw the survivors back into the dark ages. This was published during the early years of the Cold War, with the memory of the atomic devastation of Hiroshima still fresh in the minds of many. 

Now I'm back and happy to get back to blogging. Coming up will be a review on The Woodlands by Lauren Nicolle Taylor. Thanks for stopping by!

All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill -- Debut Book Review

Goodreads | Amazon

Published 2013

Release Date: September 6, 2013

Publisher: Hyperion

Genre(s): Sci-fi Thriller / Dystopian / Time Travel / Romance

Uh, okay--WOW. I mean, what else can I say? I just finished reading this book. I looked for it on the fifth after reading around some blogs on what to read--this one has gotten quite some buzz and the plot sounded interesting. I almost walked out of Barnes and Noble without buying it because it hadn't been shelved yet, but then an employee ran to me holding a bunch of copies. As she handed it to me, I knew I had to buy it.