Monday, December 1, 2014

Gillian Andrews - Ammonite Planets Virtual Book Tour [Interview]








Young Adult Sci-Fi
Date Published: July 28, 2014

This omnibus edition exclusive to the Kindle bookstore brings you the first three books of the award-winning Ammonite Galaxy series - a thousand pages in one volume!
"Awesome book! I'd give this 6 stars for writing if I could. I stayed up till 5 am last night because I was that enthralled." Rose - Podiobooks reviewer (about Valhai)
Meet Six and Diva for the first time in this special omnibus edition of the first three books in this series, starting with Valhai, which is a Readers Favorite award-winning book and a Parsec Awards finalist.
"It continues to astound me that this author has come up with something so completely original and interesting." Cynikat, Podiobooks reviewer. 

BUY LINK




What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
*** Vanilla with some sort of strong chocolate on top.  I would like to say all chocolate, but I think that can be a bit too much on an ice cream.  No, it would have to be vanilla with a Cadbury’s flake in it or some sort of rich chocolate streak.


What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?
*** Not what I would eat at the moment.  My breakfast consists of two weetabix with some milk, but I like to imagine I am munching a freshly baked croissant with coffee and lots of honey.  What can I say?  I love sugar!


Night owl or early bird?
*** Early bird, definitely.  I write much better in the mornings.  I wish I were more of a night owl, but I think my brain shuts down somewhere around tea-time.


One food you would never eat?
*** Seafood.  I am allergic.  I found that out by chance, when I was little and my grandparents had taken me over to their wealthiest friend for lunch, with strict instructions for best behaviour.  I took two bites and then was violently sick all over the hostess’s beautifully laid table.  I was in trouble for days.


Skittles or M&Ms?
*** That is a difficult one for me, because over here, in Spain, you can’t get either, which makes it hard to answer.  I have Googled them, and found some student assignments about the differences.  Having done that, I guess it would be M & M’s – because of the chocolate thing (see answer 1!).


When you were little, what did you want to be when you "grew up"?
*** The first thing I wanted to be was “a lady who cleaned floors”.  This caused much hilarity with my mother and her friends.  I would be paraded periodically in front of them, and asked that very question.  They would all wait with bated breath for my reply and then burst out laughing.  I could never understand why.
Later, when I learned how to read, there was no contest.  I wanted to become immortal.  I wanted to be a writer.  

You have won one million dollars what is the first thing that you would buy?
*** Right now, the Dyson Animal hoover thingy.  I am sick of these tile floors. My childhood wish to be a lady who cleaned floors didn’t survive, I’m afraid.  I don’t much like housework – never have.  It takes too much time, and I need that time to write.  I want a miracle machine to do it all for me.  Not sure the Dyson would be that, but it seems like a good place to start.  Now I think about it, I don’t need a million dollars for that ...
A Kirkus review for each of my books? (You definitely need to be a millionaire for that!!)  
Joking aside, ... a flat each for my two children.  


Print or Ebook?
*** I have been addicted to print books all my life, but I am in the process of being converted.  I just read all Nathan Lowell’s Solar Clipper series on my ancient old Kindle, and it is soooo light!  The only thing I don’t much like is having to plug it in so much.  I wish the batteries lasted longer.
Let’s face it, the future is electronic.  In 50 years, who will be reading print books, except as a luxury item?


What movie are you looking forward to this year?
*** Anything light and bright and fun.


Finish the sentence- one book I wish I had written is....
*** My own Ammonite Galaxy series.  I have been waiting all my life to write that story.  OK, I know it is 7 books in total, but it is really one long story.  It has taken me 5 years so far, but it is something I HAD to do.  It was such a relief to finish the first draft of the final book.  A great feeling.  As if NOW it was DONE.


What is next on your to read list?
** Michael Connelly’s new Harry Bosch thriller.  I would have read that already on the Kindle, but the electronic version costs as much as the print, almost (at least, it does here), and I refuse to pay that much for the digital version, so I am waiting to see it in print.  
I am very eclectic in what I read, except when I am writing.  Then, I don’t let myself read any fiction at all.


Any other books in the works? 
*** I just said how relieved I was to FINISH the final book, but actually I couldn’t bring myself to let go completely.  I left a tiny unresolved thread for just one of the characters, to give me a way back in if I missed them too much.  I have lived in that universe for so long, I couldn’t completely say goodbye!  So, I am not sure.  Maybe, just maybe, I will write that book.  Everything is up in the air at the moment.  I need to take a small break, do some housework, relax, and go have some of those croissants! 

Thanks! You’re awesome! :D
*So are you, Michelle.  I love “Mom With A Kindle”.  Keep up the good work, and thanks for letting me into your world for a while.



About Author Gillian Andrews

I am English, although I live in Spain now. I've worked at all sorts of things, but have been writing too, on and off, since I was little. I have always been passionate about cosmology and astrophysics, so it was exciting to be able to bring that aspect into the series.  I recently finished a masters in astronomy and astrophysics.

Valhai is the book I always wanted to write, but I got so involved with the characters myself that I simply had to go on writing about them, which turned a one-off novel into a series. I hope readers will identify with them and enjoy them too. I myself have been practically living in The Ammonite Galaxy for the last five years. It has become so real to me that I can almost touch it!

The books out so far in the series are:

Book One: Valhai
Book Two: Kwaide
Book Three: Xiantha
Book Four: Pictoria
Book Five: The Lost Animas
Book Six: The Namura Stone (published September2014)

Book Seven:  The Trimorphs (to be published 2015)

Ammonite Planets is the omnibus edition of Books #1-3 and is exclusive to the Kindle store, and Ammonite Stars is the omnibus edition of Books #4-5, also exclusive to the Kindle store.


                   www.valhai.com

                  www.kwaide.com

                  www.xiantha.com






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