The Next Big Thing Blog Hop

Both John Krissalas and Katrina Sincek tagged me in this "Next Big Thing" Blog Hop--go back and check their Big Things out!

A lot of you already know I've got a story awaiting representation about a comic book character who shoots his author. That gets a lot of hype already--it's my popular child--so I'm going to introduce you to the quiet kid in the family.

You know it's a noisy family when the quiet kid tells stories about space ninjas.

Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing:

1. What is the working title of your book? /2. Where did the idea come from?/3. Genre?

Neodymium Sacrifice is a YA sci fi space opera that comes from years of good friendships and sibling rivalries, and a healthy dose of insanity, kick-assery, and philosophy.


4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

The kid who played Spiderman in the new Amazing Spiderman movie should play JE, the teenage pilot who tries to bring medical supplies to needy soldiers, but crash-lands on a planet made of diamond and finds himself attacked by an insectoid-bear!

Dakota Fanning would play Juju, the pre-teen princess who tests robots meant to protect children in warzones--but accidentally loses her robot, unleashing a killing machine on civillian populations. The robot only responds to her face, so she has to catch it and bring it back!

Then awesome youtuber Ryan Higa would play Roz Bereens, the brave space ninja searching all over the galaxy for a cure for his best friend Lem--a cure he believes his worst enemy possesses.

Finally, if Sigourney Weaver were a teenager, her hard-core attitude could play Lem, the 17-year-old space ninja whose bad genetic reaction to a bio-weapon traps her in her own mind. When she's finally healed and awakens, she finds out her entire family's disappeared, and a megalomaniac dictator-wanna-be is mind-controlling Lem's allies with her own secret weapon. Worst of all, Lem's trip inside herself convinces her she's got more in common with the megalomaniac than she wanted to admit; she wants to save her universe, but now she may need to save herself first.

5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

When a lethal bioweapon traps space-ninja Lem Benzaran in her own mind, she must fight for her sanity while her best friend finds a cure--before Lem's own personal secret weapon destroys her family.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

I really need the structure of traditional publishing.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

A little less than a year.


8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

I hate comps with a passion. I guess anything by Kathy Tyers meets Across the Universe by Beth Revis?

9. Who or What inspired you to write this book?

The book's inspired by a childhood game my little brother invented. My siblings and I would team up with our alien friends to battle a megalomaniac who longed to take away our freedom! I don't think we really knew what 'freedom' meant back then, but now it's a tale about children's rights, and two conflicting definitions of 'freedom.' The 'bad guys' aren't really just 'bad'--there's a motive to the madness. They believe they can force intellectual freedom and defeat ignorance by eliminating the ignorant; part of this means destroying dangerous 'freaks of nature' and 'schizophrenics' who talk to invisible, interdimensional beings. Like our protags.


10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

Neodymium maces and oxidizing death-cartridges from flayer guns! Seriously, I love the crazy new weapons and beautiful worlds. This book also celebrates a unique cross-species diversity with a ton of different sentient beings.

Thanks for reading! I don't have 5 people to tag, but I can tag:


Stacey Nash

T.Z. Wallace