A Dream Within A Dream: The 13th Continuum Blog Tour: Guest Post + Giveaway

The 13th Continuum
Author: Jennifer Brody
Genre: YA Science Fiction
Release Date: April 19, 2016
Publisher: Turner Publishing

Synopsis:

One thousand years after a cataclysmic event leaves humanity on the brink of extinction, the survivors take refuge in continuums designed to sustain the human race until repopulation of Earth becomes possible. Against this backdrop, a group of young friends in the underwater Thirteenth Continuum dream about life outside their totalitarian existence, an idea that has been outlawed for centuries. When a shocking discovery turns the dream into a reality, they must decide if they will risk their own extinction to experience something no one has for generations, the Surface.

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Me

By Jennifer Brody

1. I was born in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, though my parents moved back to Virginia when I was a baby. My dad was the public defender. He got tired of working in a stuffy law firm, so he applied for the job in St. Croix and got it. So I’m technically a “Cruzan” and my parents claim that’s why I’ve always hated cold weather.

2. My fur baby is one-eyed Goldendoodle named Commander Ryker! Yes, he’s named after Star Trek: The Next Generation. He’s super fluffy and kind of resembles a Muppet. I love taking him for hikes in the Hollywood Hills. I know I’ve been holed up in my house writing for too long when I start talking to him like he’s a person.

3. I originally moved to LA to work in Hollywood after studying film at Harvard. I worked at a movie studio for the Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings films. Yes, I got to hold the Oscar for Best Picture in my hands! I also produced a movie called Make It Happen that stared Mary Elizabeth Winstead. It was written by Dwayne Adler, who wrote Step Up. The film’s biggest claim to fame is that it’s the first movie to feature a song by Lady Gaga. We used it for the final dance sequence and discovered her before her first album came out. The song went to number 1 on the Billboard charts.

4. My book The 13th Continuum was optioned for film by some great producers! Currently, we’re looking for the perfect director to bring it to life on the big screen. I can’t say who…yet. But we’re sending my book out to some very exciting people.

5. My favorite band is Nine Inch Nails. I always dreamed about meeting Trent Reznor—and my dream came true after I moved out to LA! I met him at a party after a concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Even more amazing, he was incredibly nice to me. He invited me down to the studio when he was mixing his album With Teeth and played me some new songs and asked for my opinion. I wanted him to score a film for the movie studio where I worked, but it never came together. I knew if he ever did a film score, it would be genius. A few years later, he scored The Social Network and won the Oscar.

6. I’m obsessed with the deep-sea trenches! I got interested in them when I was a kid and saw a National Geographic issue with pictures of the crazy, alien-like creatures that live down there. This fascination was a huge influence on my book The 13th Continuum. We know more about Mars than the deepest parts of our oceans. I always wondered what it would be like to live down there. That’s why I set the main colony in my book at the bottom of the Puerto Rico Trench, the deepest place in the Atlantic Ocean.

7. My best friend from high school is Robin Talley (award-winning author of Lies We Tell Ourselves and the forthcoming As I Descended). Considering that we’re from a small city in the mountains of Virginia, it’s kind of crazy that we’re both writing YA novels now. Of course, we always loved the same films, music, and books. So it makes sense.

8. I met my husband at a high school debate tournament in Kentucky. It was nerd love at first sight! This was before email and cell phones, so we had to exchange actual addresses and write letters to each other. He was from Des Moines, Iowa, and I was from Virginia, so it was very long distance. We continued to date that way through college. After he finished law school, he finally moved out to LA. The rest, as they say, is history.

9. I’m a huge horror movie buff! But none of my friends will go see them with me. They get too scared. I actually worked on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake and prequel, helping develop the backstory for Leatherface. It was a highlight of my film career. I also love A Nightmare on Elm Street and worked at New Line, the studio that made all those films. While I was there, we made Freddy vs. Jason. My favorite horror films of all time are The Shining, Hellraiser, and Hellbound: Hellraiser II. Nobody can scare me like Clive Barker. Don’t believe me? Go spend some time with Pinhead.

10. I’m a huge, voracious reader. My parents used to call me a night owl because I’d stay up so late reading books every night as a kid. I got hooked on Nancy Drew mysteries first, then I discovered Stephen King, Anne Rice, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Anne McCaffrey, and J.R.R. Tolkien. I still stay up far too late reading, but now I also write books. I love it so much! Writing a book is like being inside a Choose Your Own Adventure story where you get to decide what happens next. It’s the BEST!

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Jennifer Brody’s debut novel The 13th Continuum sold to Turner Publishing in a 3-book deal and is being packaged into a feature film. The book is the first in a trilogy and will come out in Spring 2016. She is a member of the Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America. She lives and writes in LA.

After studying film and graduating from Harvard University, she began her career in feature film development. Highlights include working for Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes and New Line Cinema, most notably on The Lord of the Rings films and The Golden Compass. In 2008, she produced the feature film Make It Happen for The Weinstein Company. Her recipes and articles have appeared in xoJane, Fox News, Parade Magazine, Whole Life Times, and Meatless Monday, and many other publications.

She is an alumni of the Sirenland Writers Conference, where she studied with Meg Wolitzer, and the Tin House Summer Writers Workshop, where she studied with Victor LaValle. She recently completed a 3-week residency at The Lemon Tree House and has been accepted for a residency in Spring 2016 at the Helen R. Whiteley Center, run by the University of Washington.

She founded and runs BookPod, a social media platform for authors with 400 members. She’s also a mentor for the Young Storytellers Foundation. In Spring 2015, her mentee’s script was picked out of over 900 scripts for the Glee Big Show, where it was performed by the cast of the hit Fox TV show, and in Fall of 2015, her mentee’s script was chosen for the Biggest Show, where it was performed by Jack Black and Leslie Mann.