Character Interview with Cass + Giveaway: Shadows Cast by Stars ARC!

Hi everyone! Today, I have a special visitor from the future. Cass temporarily left her story world – Shadows Cast by Stars – to join us today at Fragments of Life! Do stick around and get to know her and her world.

What do you think of the present world?

Such beauty, but such luxury and such waste.  I've never ridden in a car, or visited a shopping mall, or taken an airplane.  What amazing things (though, my family could never afford them)!  And coffee - everywhere I look, there are coffee shops!  In my world, transcontinental quarantines prohibit the trade of coffee, though some people can get it through the black market.  Still, I've never had it before.  Oh, and books!  Real books with paper pages are rare in my world, and so precious.  I envy those of you living in 2012, though I also hope people of your time work to save the earth before it's too late.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen here so far? Why?

Skiing!  People go up a mountain and use slabs of wood to ride on the snow.  How odd!  Though, I'd try it, if I had the chance.

What’s the most surprising thing you’ve seen here? Why?

No one has chips.  We do, in our forearms.  They allow us to connect to the etherstream, so we have no need for computers or televisions or...what do you call them?  Cell phones?  All we need to do is connect.  Some people are connected all the time, but my family isn't.  My father doesn't allow us to have an etherstream connection in the house, so we only connect when we're at school.  I like that you have no chips, because that means when you want to communicate, you must do so with a real person.
 

What are the things in the present (our time) and in your time that are the same?

People are, I think.  I see people in your time trying their best to make their way in the world, to leave it a better place than they found it.  That's the same where I come from, though it's more difficult for us, because life is more tenuous in my world.

If you had a chance to choose between living in our time and in yours, which one would you choose? Why?

Mine.  It's not that yours isn't lovely, because it is.  But my brother and my father are in my time, and they are my home.
 

If you were living in our time, could you still imagine this world turning out to be your world? Why?

I think so.  I'd like to hope things will change, but...change is hard.  Change is really hard, and it requires a great will.  It requires sacrifice, and it requires hard work.  Words aren't enough.  So, we'll see.  And I'll hope.

Thank you, Cass! Keep hoping. :)

Giveaway: ARC of Shadows Cast by Stars by Catherine Knutsson

AddShadows Cast by Stars in Goodreads!

Two hundred years from now, blood has become the most valuable commodity on the planet - especially the blood of aboriginal peoples, for it contains antibodies that protect them from the plague that is ravaging the rest of the world.

Sixteen-year-old Cassandra Mercredi might be immune to the plague, but that doesn't mean she's safe. Government forces are searching for those of aboriginal heritage to harvest their blood. When a search threatens Cass and her family, they flee to the Island, a mysterious and idyllic territory protected by the Band, a group of guerilla warriors, and by an enigmatic energy barrier that keeps outsiders out and the spirit world in. And though the village healer has taken Cass under her wing, and the tribal leader's son into his heart, the spirit world is angry, and it has chosen Cass to be its voice and instrument...

Here’s another giveaway for you! Just use the form below. Don’t you just love Rafflecopter? It makes everything easier! <3

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Catherine’s YA dystopian debut, Shadow Cast by Stars will be published by Atheneum, an imprint of Simon & Schuster in June 2012. She’s represented by Diana Fox of Fox Literary.

Connect with Catherine: Twitter | Site | Goodreads

 

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