Welcome to the official blog tour for When the World Was Flat (And We Were in Love)! I'm excited to have the author, Ingrid Jonach, here today for a guest post and don't forget to scroll to the bottom of the post to enter the tour wide giveaway! Also - I just finished reading the book and I'm WAY too emotional and unable to form words for how I feel about it to write anything substantial to do it justice. Be sure to check back soon for my review!!
When the World Was Flat (And We Were in Love)
Author: Ingrid Jonach
Genre: YA Science Fiction/Fantasy /Romance
Release Date: September 3, 2013 (US/CAN) and September 5, 2013 Worldwide
Publisher: Strange Chemistry
Description:
Looking back, I wonder if I had an inkling that my life was about to go from ordinary to extraordinary.
When
sixteen-year-old Lillie Hart meets the gorgeous and mysterious Tom
Windsor-Smith for the first time, it’s like fireworks — for her, anyway.
Tom looks as if he would be more interested in watching paint dry; as
if he is bored by her and by her small Nebraskan town in general.
But
as Lillie begins to break down the walls of his seemingly impenetrable
exterior, she starts to suspect that he holds the answers to her
reoccurring nightmares and to the impossible memories which keep
bubbling to the surface of her mind — memories of the two of them,
together and in love.
When she at last learns the truth about
their connection, Lillie discovers that Tom has been hiding an
earth-shattering secret; a secret that is bigger — and much more
terrifying and beautiful — than the both of them. She also discovers
that once you finally understand that the world is round, there is no
way to make it flat again.
An epic and deeply original sci-fi
romance, taking inspiration from Albert Einstein’s theories and the
world-bending wonder of true love itself.
Tipping Your Hat To Other Artists, a.k.a. Intertextuality
I
am really excited to be stopping by A Dream within A Dream as part of
my Around the World in 80 Days Blog Tour, because the title of this blog
is actually connected to my debut YA novel When the World was Flat (and
we were in love)!
I have previous posted on intertextuality by
imitation, but this post is about intertextuality by quotation. I have
read a thousand (probably not an exaggeration) books which directly or
indirectly reference other books, poetry, films, paintings, songs, etc. A
lot of books also include an epigraph to capitalize on prior
understanding of a text, including its themes.
Bible passages
tend to be popular (I am using one in my current WIP!). Stephanie Meyer
used a quote from Genesis in Twilight to foreshadow the forbidden
relationship between Bella and Edward:
But of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil,
thou shalt not eat of it:
for in the day
that thou eatest thereof,
thou shalt surely die.
Meanwhile, the epigraph Mary Shelley selected for Frankenstein gives me goosebumps!
Did I request thee, Maker, from my clay
To mould me Man, did I solicit thee
From darkness to promote me?
I think this quote from Paradise Lost really sums up how the monster feels towards Dr. Frankenstein.
F.
Scott Fitzgerald not only used intertextuality in his epigraph for The
Great Gatsby, but metafiction, as his epigraph quotes his own fictional
character Thomas Parke D’Invilliers:
Then wear the gold hat, if that will move her;
If you can bounce high, bounce for her too
Till she cry, “Lover, gold-hatted, high-bouncing lover,
I must have you!"
My
epigraph for When the World was Flat (and we were in love) is not from
another work of fiction, but instead quotes Albert Einstein: Logic will
get you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere. However,
there are a number of references to other texts within the novel,
including:
A Dream Within A Dream – Edgar Allan Poe
I
have loved this poem since my childhood and when it came time to decide
upon the first words of a certain character (I am not going to say
who!), I realized the final words of this poem were perfect on so many
levels.
Excerpt from A Dream Within A Dream:
Take this
kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now
Thus much let me avow
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream
Yet if
hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream
within a dream.
Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
I
credit this novel for inspiring When the World was Flat (and we were in
love). In the novel my main character Lillie likens Tom to Mr. Darcy
and his home to Pemberley.
Excerpt from When the World was Flat (and we were in love):
Tom
paused when he saw us and, in that moment, he looked like some kind of
modern day Mr Darcy on the steps of Pemberley. I frowned. When had I
read Pride and Prejudice? Jo was the bookworm. Maybe I had seen the
movie. I think it starred Colin Firth. And maybe Keira Knightly? Or was
that the BBC series?
Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
This
is one of my all time favorite children’s books and I jumped at the
opportunity to reference it a couple of times in When the World was Flat
(and we were in love).
The concept of going down a rabbit hole or through a looking glass is very much aligned with my story.
Here is the non-spoilerish reference from When the World was Flat (and we were in love):
I
dropped my camera and heard it clatter on the sidewalk, its lens
shattering. But the sound was distant, as if it had fallen down a deep
well or down a rabbit hole, like in Alice in Wonderland. The blare of
music through the open doors of the record store became muted, as did
the roar of cars up Main Street, full of college guys doing laps during
their summer break. All I could hear was the rush of blood in my ears,
like static from a TV.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Truman Capote
Holly
Golightly famously says, “Cross your heart and kiss your elbow,” which I
use to show the change in a character (again, I am not going to tell
you who due to spoilers!).
Excerpt from When the World was Flat (and we were in love):
“Are you… OK?” I asked, as we walked down the driveway.
“Fine.”
I bit my lip. “Cross your heart?”
“And hope to die.”
Wrong answer.
I
also referenced Shakespeare and The Road not Taken by Robert Frost in
When the World was Flat (and we were in love), as well as a range of
musicals like Oliver, Chicago and Singing in the Rain.
There is
also some metafiction in When the World was Flat (and we were in love),
as the characters talk about an information booklet that I really want
to write
(again, I am not going to give details due to spoilers, but it relates to something in the novel called the Evacuation).
But metafiction is a whole other post!
Thank you so much for stopping by the blog today and talking about some of your inspirations while writing your novel Ingrid! I especially love the nod to Edgar Allan Poe's poem, since it is the name of my blog! :)
Ingrid Jonach writes books for children and young adults, including
the chapter books The Frank Frankie and Frankie goes to France published
by Pan Macmillan, and When the World was Flat (and we were in love)
published by Strange Chemistry.
Since graduating from university
with a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Writing (Hons) in 2005, Ingrid
has worked as a journalist and in public relations, as well as for the
Australian Government.
Ingrid loves to promote reading and
writing, and has been a guest speaker at a number of schools and
literary festivals across Australia, where she lives with her husband
Craig and their pug dog Mooshi.
Despite her best efforts, neither Craig nor Mooshi read fiction.
Find out more at www.ingridjonach.com
Enter below for your chance to win one of two awesome prize packages
as part of the Around the World in 80 Days Blog Tour for When the World
was Flat (and we were in love) by Ingrid Jonach!
There will be two winners worldwide. Each prize package includes:
* a signed copy of When the World was Flat (and we were in love)
* a pair of silver plated key-shaped earrings in a When the World was Flat (and we were in love) gift box
* a When the World was Flat (and we were in love) bookmark.
The competition will run until 21 October 2013 and the winners will be announced on this page and via www.ingridjonach.com
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