In a Handful of Dust Blog Tour: Interview + Giveaway

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for IN A HANDFUL OF DUST! Today I have an interview with the author, Mindy McGinnis, to share with you - and don't forget to enter the awesome giveaway! Be sure to check out the other tour stops - the schedule is posted at the bottom of the page.

In a Handful of Dust (Not a Drop to Drink #2)

Author: Mindy McGinnis

Genre: YA Dystopian

Release Date: September 23, 2014

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Pages: 384
Formats: Hardcover, audio, eBook

Description:

The only thing bigger than the world is fear.

Lucy’s life by the pond has always been full. She has water and friends, laughter and the love of her adoptive mother, Lynn, who has made sure that Lucy’s childhood was very different from her own. Yet it seems Lucy’s future is settled already—a house, a man, children, and a water source—and anything beyond their life by the pond is beyond reach.

When disease burns through their community, the once life-saving water of the pond might be the source of what’s killing them now. Rumors of desalinization plants in California have lingered in Lynn’s mind, and the prospect of a “normal” life for Lucy sets the two of them on an epic journey west to face new dangers: hunger, mountains, deserts, betrayal, and the perils of a world so vast that Lucy fears she could be lost forever, only to disappear in a handful of dust.

In this companion to Not a Drop to Drink, Mindy McGinnis thrillingly combines the heart-swelling hope of a journey, the challenges of establishing your own place in the world, and the gripping physical danger of nature in a futuristic frontier. 

Book Trailer:

1. What inspired you to write the Not a Drop to Drink series? 

I watched a documentary called Blue Gold, which is about a projected shortage of potable water on our planet due to overpopulation. It was a horrible thought --- we all need water to survive, and it's something we can't make. I went to bed very grateful for the small pond in my backyard, and that night I dreamt I was teaching a young girl how to operate a rifle so that she could help me protect the pond. I woke up and thought, "Hey... I wrote a book in my head just now." DUST is the organic growth past that, the question of what is going on in the world outside of Ohio and an attempt to tell the story from a survivor who isn’t a badass.

2. Did you have to do any research for the series? 

Yes, a ton. For DUST it was polio, desalinization, architecture, mountain lions, elevations in the US… I could go on and on.

3. Do you ever base characters on yourself or people you know? 

Never. That way lies madness.

4. What made you want to become an author? 

I’ve always wanted to be an author. Like most writers I started as a reader. Often if I didn’t like the ending of a book I’d just make up my own. I grew past that into writing my own stories.

5. Do you have any advice for aspiring authors? 

Do your research. It’s not just writing. You have to know how the industry works, what the market is like, how to correctly use social media. We’re not just writers anymore –we’re marketers and public figures. At times it’s frustrating, but that’s the case.

6. What's up next for you? 

I have a Gothic historical thriller coming from Katherine Tegen 9/22/15, set in an insane asylum around 1890, titled A MADNESS SO DISCREET.

Thanks for stopping by and chatting with us today Mindy! And can I just say OMG - I'm already dying to read A Madness So Discreet!! A Gothic historical set in an insane asylum? YES please!! :)

Mindy McGinnis is an assistant YA librarian who lives in Ohio and cans her own food. She graduated from Otterbein University magna cum laude with a BA in English Literature and Religion. Mindy has a pond in her back yard but has never shot anyone, as her morals tend to cloud her vision. 

Website/Blog/Twitter/Facebook/Goodreads/Pinterest/Tumblr 

Buy Links: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Giveaway: (1) SIGNED hardcover of IN A HANDFUL OF DUST - Open to US only!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:
9/15/2014- A Dream Within A Dream- Interview 
9/16/2014- Once Upon a Twilight- Review 
9/17/2014- Curling Up With A Good Book- Review 
9/18/2014- Reading with ABC- Guest Post 
9/19/2014- Addicted Readers- Interview

Week Two: 
9/22/2014- Library of a Book Witch- Review 
9/23/2014- Fiction Fare- Review 
9/24/2014- The YA's Nightstand- Guest Post 
9/25/2014- Owl Always Be Reading- Guest Post 
9/26/2014- Magical Urban Fantasy Reads- Interview