Far World - Water Keep

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

Months ago I heard about an opportunity to join a blog tour for a book called Far World, Water Keep. All I knew was that Far World was of the Fantasy genre and that’s all I needed to know to want to get in. Fantasy is my favorite genre to read. So I eagerly signed up and waited for my Advanced Readers Copy to arrive. When it arrived I opened the book and 413 pages and 6 or so hours later I closed it. That’s how much I loved it. I just couldn’t put it down. And now that it’s over I can’t wait for the next one to come out.

In brief, the story is about two young children - Marcus Kanenas who is severely handicapped and wheelchair bound on earth and Kyja a young girl living in a magical world but who can’t do any magic herself. Under magical circumstances the two of them are brought together and begin an adventure trying to elude the Dark Circle which will stop at nothing to destroy them. All the while they’re trying to unravel the mystery of their pasts and why the Dark Circle wants them dead.

The author, J. Scott Savage has done a fabulous job writing a book that will appeal to both children and adults. It’s a story filled not only with adventure and magic but with the timeless values of honesty and always doing the right thing no matter the circumstance. This is a book I’ll have no problem reading with my boys (ages 6 and 5) and I can’t wait to start.

I also had the great opportunity of interviewing the author. He flew me to uh….Switzerland, yeah. Just because he knew how important my review might be to the success of his book. We talked while…taking a hike…in the alps. Ahem.

Me: I’ll be honest here - I’d never even heard of you until I saw a blog post advertising your Farworld blog tour. But Fantasy is my favorite genre and I’m always looking for great new books to read. Having said that, I noticed on your blog that Farworld is your first YA book and your first Fantasy series and that the other books you’ve written are mysteries. What made you decide to transcend genres?

Scott: I really didn’t “choose” to write YA or fantasy, even though I love reading the genre. I didn’t think I could write it, because it was so different from what I have read in the past. But I had this idea stuck in my head that wouldn’t let me sleep. I started writing this book at 2:00 AM to prove to myself I couldn’t do it and get this crazy storyline out of my head. But five hours and five thousand words later, I realized I was writing a fantasy and I was having a ball doing it. The rest of the book seemed to flow almost as easily. Now that I’ve done it though, I’m really glad I did.

Me: When you were conceptualizing this book, what was your intended target audience?

Scott: The same audience that read and loved Harry Potter. Not the people that read it because all their friends were. But the people who knew every character and read all the books multiple times before the next one came out. The people that went to the midnight release parties and started reading that night. I wanted to write a book that adults and kids could enjoy and discuss.

Me: So, do you think you achieved that goal and do you think the subsequent books in this series will stay within that range of maturity?

Scott: I hope so. I’ve been getting very positive reviews for the adult bloggers as well as having a lot of kids come to me and say they how much they loved Farworld and why. I guess I won’t know for sure until it hits shelves nationally. And even then, probably not until a couple of books are out. I think I hit the maturity level right though. Enough action and cool magic to keep kids entertained while not dropping down to the silly kind of humor that turns off adults because it doesn’t feel like there is enough depth to it.

Me: What was your inspiration for this story?

Scott: I’m not sure there is one inspiration. But it’s more like lots of little pieces suddenly coming together. I’ve always like the idea that magic is all around us, we just don’t know it. Everybody has to find their own magic.

Me: So I hear there will be 5 books in all when the series is completed. How in the world can you predict that? Am I the only person on earth who doesn’t plan out just how a story will end and when before I sit down to write it? Hmmm, maybe that’s why I haven’t finished any works yet…

Scott: Wow lots of questions on that one. I think that sometimes you start a series thinking this could be one book or it could be several depending on how well it does. That forces you to write a book that could be a stand alone. In this case, the series had to be five books. No more, no less. I know what will happen in each book. Not every detail. But the big picture. To answer the second part of the question, there are writers that can jump into a story without knowing the end and work all the way through. But it’s not easy. For me, I need to know where I am headed before I start walking.

Me: Ok so back to the story itself. I don’t recall ever reading a book with a hero in it as severely handicapped as Marcus is. At times I really couldn’t see any possibility of him getting out of whatever bind he was in. Did you ever find yourself in a bind trying to work his escape plans out? As the story evolved, was it more difficult to write than you thought it would be because of Marcus’ handicap?

Scott: My favorite books are the ones where the challenges seem insurmountable at times. How many times in LOTR does it seem like there is no way Frodo will get out of this one. So that’s what I write. It did make it harder to write Marcus because of his physical disabilities. Sometimes it was very hard to figure out what would happen. But I never doubted that Marcus was the character I had envisioned. I never considered changing him. In fact, if I had to, I think I would have scrapped the whole series. It just wouldn’t have been the same story I needed to tell.

Me: Well thank you so very much for taking the time to answer my well thought out and oh so intelligent questions.

Scott: The pleasure was all mine. Oh, I also wanted to mention that I will be having a release party at the Spanish Fork, UT library on Saturday, September 13th from 12-3. We’ll be having free food, free posters, drawings, and all that good stuff. And 20% of the proceeds will go to the library (is there a better cause?) If your blog gets many Utah visitors and you could give it a mention, I would appreciate it. Also drop by the new website www.readfarworld.com and take a look around.

Me: Sure thing!

What a gracious author eh? Flying me out to Austria like that and all. What? Oh yeah, I mean Switzerland, yeah.

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Farworld, Water Keep will hit store shelves this Friday, Sept. 12, 2008 and I think you’ll love it just as much as I did. But one of you, one very lucky one of you, will win your very own Advanced Readers Copy of Farworld, signed by Mr. Savage himself. Even better you can request whatever personalized message you want!

RULES:
1. You must have a U.S. or Canada shipping address to enter
2. You must leave one comment on this post
3. Would you like 2 extra entries? Blog about the release of Farworld and this giveaway. Make sure to include a link back to this particular post and to www.readfarworld.com.
4. This giveaway will end Sunday Sept. 14, 2008 at midnight.