Blog Tour: Steve Brezenoff & Giveaway

1. If Noah, Lily, and Simon could each spend the day with a celebrity (living or dead)- who would they choose and why?

Lily: She’s got a thing for Orlando Bloom. She’d probably go with that. But I bet the real answer is Einstein.

Noah: He’d probably say Tara Reid or Megan Fox. And you know what? I think the real answer is probably Tara Reid or Megan Fox.

Simon: He’d probably say Hemingway or Salinger. But you know what? I think the real answer is probably Tara Reid or Megan Fox.

2. What are three songs you think really suit The Absolute Value of -1?

Easiest question ever! Each of the characters actually has their own theme song, and I listened to them a LOT when I wrote, to get into the right mood for each narrator.

Lily: Kittie “Paper Doll” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNR2_iFTsak

Noah: Pharcyde “Passin’ Me By” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjWG1h5j4eE&feature=related

Simon: Helmet “He Feels Bad” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93b3KsYYVLE&feature=related

These probably aren’t songs your readers are familiar with, but they all come from the 90s—the decade I finished high school—so they mean a lot to me, of course. They’re definitely not for everybody, but hopefully someone will dig ‘em.

3. What has been the hardest part of transitioning from writing for younger readers (The Field Trip Mysteries) to young adults (The Absolute Value of -1)?

Oddly enough, I always thought I’d be a middle-grade writer. I have a couple of finished or almost-finished manuscripts “in the drawer” that are middle-grade. I’ll probably get around to finishing them . . . eventually. What I’m saying, though, is that I started writing |-1| ages ago, and I rarely worked on it. I never intended to write YA at all. I’m not sure I even knew |-1| was YA when I started, nor even when I’d written all of Simon’s section. (I wrote his first, and didn’t add Lily and Noah’s parts till there some editorial interest.) I just wrote it because I wanted to . . . or had to, maybe. I never thought I’d publish it, or even try to publish it.

Meanwhile, in my career as a writer, I have written WAAAAAAY more for middle-grade, like the Field Trip Mysteries, and dozens of chapter books under other names, than I have for YA. So the transition wasn’t anything I worried about, I guess. It turns out I am compelled to write YA. I enjoy writing for younger children too, but it’s not a compulsion. It’s more like a really great day job.

4. What’s next for you writing wise?

I’ve sold my second YA novel, TWO SUMMERS AROUND THE FIRE, and it is slated for Fall 2011 or Spring 2012. It will be coming out from Carolrhoda Lab, the same publisher who just put out |-1|. My editor recently called it a young adult A MOVEABLE FEAST set in Brooklyn, and I can definitely be okay with that.

5. Stranded on a desert island, what five books would you want with you?

1. The Catcher in the Rye: Since 7^th grade, I’ve read this book at least once per year.

2. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: This book (and the whole series) has a lot of issues, like sexism and racism for starters. But it’s still my go-to middle-grade fantasy and I can’t help getting caught up in it, even as I get annoyed that girls are told they can’t do what boys can.

3. Riverside Shakespeare: His complete works. I could really catch up on the ones I’ve forgotten . . . and the ones I only pretended to read the first time through!

4. The Life of Pi: I happen to love this book, first of all, but mainly it would offer hope that I’d eventually reach civilization again.

5. SAS Survival Handbook: How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea: This speaks for itself. I have a lot of Shakespeare to read, so starving to death really just wouldn’t do, would it?

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Thanks so much Steve!

Click here to visit his website!

Thanks to The Teen {Book} Scene for sponsoring this tour!

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GIVEAWAY!

I have some awesome The Absolute Value of -1 bookmarks to send to one lucky commenter!

Rules:

US Only

Ends October 1