It's All About the Book with Kristen Morie-Osisek @evernightteen @KPM223 #AmazonGiveaway

It’s All About the Book…

* Please tell us about your current or upcoming release. 

The Sixth Event, by Kristen Morie-Osisek.

Blurb: Eighteen-year-old Raquel isn't eighteen anymore...
During Raquel's first semester of college, she witnesses the end of the world, only to wake up in her old room at her parents' house two years in the past. Even worse, it seems she's the only one who remembers—until Chris Lyley, a boy Raquel always thought was a loser, tells her he remembers the catastrophe.
Before long, they both discover new abilities. They're able to understand any language and teleport through time and space. If Raquel and Chris can figure out what caused the end of their world, maybe they can stop it.

 *What is this book’s genre?  Is this the genre you usually write in?  Are there any genre’s you haven’t written that you’d like to try?
 

The genre is YA Science Fiction, with a healthy dollop of romance. I routinely write YA Sci Fi or YA fantasy—I can’t help but want to think about how the world could be different if we lived far in the future or in a world with all sorts of paranormal goings-on.

 *What inspired you to write this book?

I’ve always been fascinated by the natural world, and by extinct animals. It always seemed tragic to me that so much of the Earth’s history is gone, accessibly only via fossils. Not to mention that human history spans a tiny amount of time given how long the planet has been around! I wanted a time travel story that would give a unique look at the history of the planet. That’s why the plot revolves around the main characters checking out major extinction events. 

*How did you pick its title?  Did it come first or did you have to write the story first?

At first, I was going to title it A Second Chance, but a peer in a writing group suggested The Sixth Event. It stuck!

 * How did you create your characters?  Did you use any real life people in their making?

Raquel, the main character is my own invention, and kind of represents someone who is focused on their own life and doesn’t think too much about anyone else. Only after she witnesses the apocalypse does she get shaken out of that mindset, and writing her development as the book goes on, as she becomes more empathic and knowledgeable about the world, was really fun.

Chris, on the other hand, is a lot more like me and my friends. He wants his boring life to change, and likes to downplay serious situations with a joke or two. He too changes as the book goes on, and becomes a little less goofy.

* Who is your favorite character of this book and why?

I have to go with Chris. I like the idea of the comic relief character being the love interest. Plus he has his own problems he has to learn to deal with—he uses humor to hide a lot of his own pain.

*What is your favorite part of this book?  Can you share an excerpt from that part?

Naturally, its when they go back in time to check out dinosaurs. Everyone loves dinosaurs! 

The trees began to thin, and I saw what Chris had been so excited about.

My first dinosaur. Dinosaurs, to be more precise.

They were huge. Not quite as big as the mammoths, but still huge. Two legged, long tails, no feathers at all, ducking their billed heads into the water of a small lake and pulling up green muck to eat. A few of them had ridges over their heads, like a crest made of bone. My heart pounded, and even though I knew it was real, I once again entertained the thought that I was crazy, or that I really had died that day in Vermont and was only living out a fantasy.

“They look like Ducky, but adult,” Chris said. I looked at him. “From Land Before Time?”

“Oh yeah.” It was true. I didn’t know what they were called, but I recognized them from the movie.

Kind of sad, I realized, that I only knew them from a kid’s movie. Then again, it wasn't something I ever thought would be relevant.

I shook my head, like shaking away an insect. Not crazy, right?

“Wow.” Chris just stared. The world was silent save for the sounds of the giant dinosaurs dipping their heads into the water. It was like … they moved like two-legged bears, some of them wading into the water up to their thighs. One of them threw back its head quickly, water sprinkling the others and hitting me, far back in the trees. I yelped.

One of the turned, staring at me sideways, its giant eye looking right at me. I froze, obeying an instinct that had probably served mammals like me well for millions of years. Then it turned back to the lake.

We didn’t matter here. We weren’t supposed to be here. I remembered stories from elementary school, about how animals hadn’t reacted to European hunters because they didn’t know what to make of them. We weren’t hunters, sure, but it felt the same.

Of course, the dinosaurs had no reason to fear us.

“Look!” Chris pointed.

Something small and brown darted out of the bushes. By small, it was about my height, with a long feathered body and a feathered tail. Dinosaur or bird?

The dino-bird, like a turkey crossed with a raptor, darted toward the lake’s edge, edging behind the enormous tree-trunk like leg of one of the lake dinosaurs.

With a casual toss of its head, one of the lake dinosaurs dashed and butted the dino-bird, the small creature squawking in pain and falling into the water. With frantic splashing, it managed to get back to the edge of the lake, where it stopped for a moment, preening its feathers, a wicked claw visible on the edge of its wing.

Another of the lake dinosaurs moved toward it, an angry testing headbutt, and the dino-bird hurried off in a limping run into the bushes, disappearing. The whole thing had taken a few minutes.

“Wow,” Chris whispered, turning wide eyes to me. “This is like … every kid’s dream.”

I slapped at a bug that was buzzing around my head. I wanted to disagree out of principle, but I couldn’t. “So do you know what they are?”

“I don’t remember the names,” Chris commented. “But damn.”

“Yeah.” We watched them a while longer.

It was different than the mammoths. The mammoths resembled elephants, and ancient humans had seen mammoths before, once upon a time.

But these—the giant crested lizards, the dino-bird—no one ever seen them before. No one ever would. For a moment, I figured that even if I was dead and this was all some sort of purgatory, it was all right, because I had seen this.

Chris kind of ruined it by starting to hum the Jurassic Park theme, and then sang it aloud, subbing in the words “holy fucking shit, it’s a dinosaur,” in tune with the music. It was kind of clever, though.

 *What was the hardest part of this book to write? Can you share an excerpt from that part?

The end was the hardest part. Without spoiling anything, I had a hard time picking out how it should end. I didn’t want it to be a tragedy, but at least one person had to make a big sacrifice. I think it does end very well, though. I love the epilogue. I hope readers like the idea of little flowers. J

* Did you have any special rhythm or quirks while writing this?

Not particularly. I was playing a video game that also featured time travel, so playing that game was a bit of an inspiration. I also did a lot of research into prehistory—that was a lot of fun.

*Is this a stand-alone book or is it part of a series?  If so, we want to hear about it and what’s next in the series.  If not a series, what comes next to be released?

This book is a stand-alone, at least for now. There are other stories that could be told—after all, the book focuses on two characters, but there are seven that help to save the world. For now, though, it’s a stand-alone. In terms of what’s next, I’m working on three new projects—A YA fantasy in the fairy realm and a YA sci fi that’s too early to talk about. ;)

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The Sixth Event

Kristen Morie-Osisek

Sci-Fi/Time Travel/Romance/Suspense/Dystopian

Evernight Teen Publishing/ 74K words

Eighteen-year-old Raquel isn't eighteen anymore...

During Raquel's first semester of college, she witnesses the end of the world, only to wake up in her old room at her parents' house two years in the past. Even worse, it seems she's the only one who remembers—until Chris Lyley, a boy Raquel always thought was a loser, tells her he remembers the catastrophe. 

Before long, they both discover new abilities. They're able to understand any language and teleport through time and space.  If Raquel and Chris can figure out what caused the end of their world, maybe they can stop it.

Buy Links:   Evernight Teen    Amazon    ARe

My heart pounded as my white ceiling greeted me when I opened my eyes.

 I blinked frantically, the vision of the rock hitting me still fresh in my mind, the instantaneous crushing sensation throughout my body fading to a dull, residual mental ache. Fear crashed and faded in a wave of relief when it all resolved into the deep blackness of my dorm room.

That had been one hell of a dream.

I narrowed my eyes, still staring up at the ceiling. My dorm ceiling was gray, not white.

I sat up and turned to the left expecting the glaring green glow of my digital clock. Instead, I was greeted with the dim shape of a dresser, outlined in the rosy hue of a rising sun.

My pink and white dresser at my parent’s house.

Shock spread through me, sending tingles down to my toes. My bedroom was coming into view, not my dorm room.

A stuffed dog sat at the foot of my bed. Instead of the giant glass window over the football field, my lace pink curtains fluttered in a warm California breeze, a copy of Teen Vogue sitting on the sill.

I rolled over and stood, grabbing the magazine. Justin Bieber smiled at me from the October 2010 cover.

Impossible. This was impossible.

“Elsie!” I shouted my roommate’s name. The magazine hit the floor with a ruffle of pages. The plush, carpeted floor, not the hard tiles of my room at college.

My comfy bed, complete with a feather mattress, took up the same side of the room it always had. My computer desk sat at the far side of the bed, the blocky Dell PC taking up most of the space. A life sciences textbook lay next to it, the image of a tiger on the front coming into focus as my eyes adjusted to the darkness. On the floor, my giant shoulder bag from high school lay with papers strewn around it. I took a step closer, peering at the letters, my heart pounding so hard I didn’t think to turn on the light.

High school biology notes. I had taken biology in my junior year.

I fled, my door banging against the wall as I ran to the bathroom, flicking on the light.

Elsie wasn’t here. I stared into the mirror of my parent’s bathroom, at my frizzy brown hair. I didn’t look so different. A little bit shorter, a little bit ganglier. No freshmen fifteen. I still had that annoying pattern of three pimples that kept coming back on my chin.

But I was still younger. Not eighteen, not a college student.

A girl in high school. High school. Again.

I stared in shock. This couldn’t be true. It must still be part of the dream, part of the green sky and rocks hitting me. I blinked hard, touching my nightgown, pinching my arm until I winced with pain.

“Mom!” I shrieked so loud I thought the mirror would shatter. “Mom, Mom, Mom!”

My mother came rushing in, her robe pulled tightly around her. “Raquel, what is it?” Her hair framed her face in an unruly brown cloud, her eyes wide and face pale. “What’s wrong?” She was as scared as I was.

“What happened?” I shouted as I grabbed her. “What happened?”

“What do you mean?” She pulled me out of the hug, looking into my eyes. “Raquel, what is wrong? Are you sick?”

In the glaring bathroom light, I stared into her wide eyes. She stared back at me, full of concern, full of worry for her daughter.

“The…I died. There were birds dying, and a rock hit me, and I should be in college…” I babbled, and she shook her head, gripping me tight.

“Raquel, it was a nightmare. That’s all.”

“What’s going on?” My dad’s voice shouted from the dark hallway.

“Nothing, dear,” my mother shouted back. “Raquel just had a little night terror.”

“At sixteen?” Disbelief and exhaustion edged his voice. “Go to sleep, Raquel,” he added, mumbling.

My heart pounded harder, even as I shut my mouth, looking back into the mirror. The mirror in my parent’s house, where a sixteen-year-old me stared back. My stomach flipped, then sank into my feet.

I was two years younger. The world was two years younger.

And no one else remembered anything.

Kristen Morie-Osisek has always had a fascination with the natural world. She is an academic by trade who specializes in addiction research, but also has a healthy interest in geology and the history of the planet. She focuses on writing science fiction and fantasy. The Sixth Event is Kristen’s debut book.

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Giveaway:  $20 Amazon Gift Card