Egmont Debut Week: Alexandra Bracken

Hey all-

Hopefully by the time read this, I will have arrived safe and sound in NYC and I'm off to Book Expo America to meet Editor Greg and and a bunch of other author/industry friends. (If not, I hope I've been diverted to the Bahamas and not that I've been kidnapped by international slave traffickers at the airport.) One of the folks I will hopefully get to meet at BEA is the lovely Alexandra Bracken, author of BRIGHTLY WOVEN. But in the meantime, Alex is visiting the blog today for an interview.

BRIGHTLY WOVEN (Available now!): Sydelle Mirabil is living proof that, with a single drop of rain, a life can be changed forever. Tucked away in the farthest reaches of the kingdom, her dusty village has suffered under the weight of a strangely persistent drought. That is, of course, until a wizard wanders into town and brings the rain with him.
In return for this gift, Wayland North is offered any reward he desires—and no one is more surprised than Sydelle when, without any explanation, he chooses her. Taken from her home, Sydelle hardly needs encouragement to find reasons to dislike North. He drinks too much and bathes too little, and if that isn’t enough to drive her to madness, North rarely even uses the magic he takes such pride in possessing. Yet, it’s not long before she realizes there’s something strange about the wizard, who is as fiercely protective of her as he is secretive about a curse that turns his limbs a sinister shade of black and leaves him breathless with agony. Unfortunately, there is never a chance for her to seek answers.
Along with the strangely powerful quakes and storms that trace their path across the kingdom, other wizards begin to take an inexplicable interest in her as well, resulting in a series of deadly duels. Against a backdrop of war and uncertainty, Sydelle is faced with the growing awareness that these events aren’t as random as she had believed—that no curse, not even that of Wayland North, is quite as terrible as the one she herself may carry.

Author Bio: Alexandra Bracken wrote Brightly Woven as a birthday present for a friend, and the story grew and flourished during a year of unpredictable, wild weather. A native of Arizona, she is a recent graduate of the College of William and Mary, where she majored in History and English. She now lives in New York City.


On to the interview:

1. If you could have any super power, what would it be?

The power of invisibility. How handy would that be?? To be a fly on the wall during major historical events, to slip by all of those RESTRICTED ACCESS signs? I think I’m too nosey for my own good…

2. Pretend you're on death row . . . What crime have you been accused of committing (it can be a funny/absurd/unheard of crime)? Are you innocent or guilty? What would your last meal be?

A crime of passion—I’ve broken into Scholastic’s warehouse to steal copies of MOCKINGJAY for all of my friends, and we got so excited we accidentally told the rest of the world how the story ended. Scholastic decided to inflict some HUNGER GAMES-style justice instead of putting us in jail. I’d ask for Spagettios, but let’s be honest—they’d probably give me a piece of bread as they launched fireballs at my head.

3. If you could go on a date with any fictional character, who would it me?

Ron Weasley. I’m sorry, I have a weakness for gingers—especially gingers with an amazing sense of humor. And an awesome family.

***Alex, if you're going after a copy of MOCKINGJAY, take me with you!!***

That's all for now. I'm visiting Alex's blog today so head on over there to check out the interview and enter to win a bottle of TDD nail polish.