Unique by Starr Z. Davies - Book Tour + Giveaway
Unique
Ordinary Series Book 2
by Starr Z. Davies
Genre: YA Sci-Fi Dystopian
He lost everything. His dad, his best friend, and the woman he loves.
Ugene and the other test subjects escaped Paragon. They thought they were finally safe. But the battle for freedom is far from over.
When a rouge group calling themselves the Protectorate offers to help Ugene, he worries that his friends are falling into another dangerous trap. The struggle for freedom becomes a desperate fight for survival. Ugene is determined to stand up for what’s right and save the oppressed citizens of Elpis from persecution by Paragon and the Directorate.
The deeper Ugene digs, the more he uncovers about the Directorate's sinister secrets, the Protectorate's true goals . . . and the dangerous game he is about to play.
It’s time for the deception to end. It’s time for the truth to finally come to the surface. And it’s time for everyone to finally learn that being Powerless isn’t weakness.
Ordinary
Ordinary Series Book 1
Fans of Powerless, The Testing, Hunger Games and the Maze Runner will crave this world of iniquitous secrets, intrigue, and desire to find a place in society.
Divinic. Somatic. Psionic. Naturalist. Who will you be?
Having a superpower is ordinary. Your Power determines your job, social class, and future success.
But Ugene doesn’t have a Power. The only thing special about him is that he isn’t special at all. Ugene is Powerless.
So when the most prominent biomedical research company in the city offers Ugene a solution, he jumps at the possibility to be ordinary. All he has to do is agree to allow them to use him in their research. But the longer he stays at the research facility, the more he realizes something isn't right.
Friendships are forged. Trust is broken built and broken. And everything Ugene thought he understood and believed is called into question.
Who can Ugene trust in his search for answers? What is he willing to sacrifice for Powers?
Q&A W/ S
T A R R Z . D A
V I E S
WHAT DID YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT
WRITING THIS BOOK ?
Solving
the puzzle with Ugene.
Hanging out with Ugene. Watching Ugene grow and accept who
he
is, and that his deficiency doesn’t mean he has no value. Honestly, when I started writing this
book
I wasn’t really sure how it would end. I knew that he had to stop Paragon, and that the
government
was involved in what was going on,
but everything else just sort
of came out. I let the
story
tell itself, and I let Ugene guide me through
the process. So the thing I enjoyed most was
just
hanging out with him.
He’s much smarter than me, and
he sees things that I don’t.
WHERE
DID YOU GET THE IDEA
FOR THIS BOOK ?
One
night my husband,
step-son,
and I were creating a
bunch of crazy “what if” scenarios and we
would
build on them. Ordinary started with the question: “What if a boy lived in a world where
everyone
had a superpower but him and the only job he could get was delivering flowers
by
bicycle?” It made us laugh,
but it was probably
another six years before I realized that there was
actually
a book hiding in there.
Obviously a lot has
changed between that first question and the
final
book, but the basic question remains the
same: what if you were the only person
without a
superpower
in a world full of supers?
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF THIS BOOK AND WHY ?
Ugene's speech to the city. I
was sweating it out with him.
Like Ugene, I'm not a big fan of public
speaking, so I completely related to his apprehension. But the words that started pouring out of
his
mouth gave me chills.
I researched some of the
greatest speeches in history,
and if readers
really
look closely they will see hints of those speeches layered into his words. I have no idea how
to
inspire an entire city to act,
and in the end I was so
proud of how he pulled it together in a way
I
never would have done under such pressure.
DO
YOU WANT EACH
BOOK TO STAND ON ITS OWN , OR ARE YOU TRYING TO BUILD A BODY OF WORK WITH CONNECTIONS BETWEEN EACH BOOK ?
I’m a huge fan of epic sagas. All my favorite fantasy books are epics. Even the superheroes I grew
up
worshiping are sagas,
revised, rebooted,
and linked through the
multiverse. So yes, I am
building
a larger body of work.
In Ordinary, Ugene lives on Cante Road, which
is the surname of
the
hero in another series I’m planning. If my readers pay attention, they will notice little
subtleties
linking all my books in a multiverse.
However, not all my books will take place on the
same
world.
DO YOUR CHARACTERS
SEEM TO HIJACK THE STORY OR DO YOU FEEL LIKE
YOU HAVE THE REIGNS OF THE STORY?
The
characters completely had control of this one. Well, mostly.
I only had a few ideas on
where
this
was headed, so I gave them a lot of freedom to
get to the ending.
They really surprised me,
and
rarely gave me a chance to come up for air.
Ugene quite stubbornly
trusted no one he didn't
know
because of the trauma from Paragon in the first book. Willow was commanding and
insisted
on having her way,
though I did force her
ending on her. Most of the surprised me over
and
over again.
WHAT IS THE FIRST BOOK THAT
MADE YOU CRY ?
I’m an emotional sponge, so
a lot of stories have gotten me going,
but the first one I
really
remember
losing control of myself while reading is Robert Jordan’s "A Memory of Light." The
ending
of that fourteen-book saga ripped at my gut and it
took me so much longer than it
should
have to finish because I had a hard time seeing the pages through my tears. I ugly cried.
A
lot. But I also learned a lot from that ending. Particularly,
how to give your
characters a perfect
ending
even if it’s brutal.
IF
YOU COULD TELL YOUR YOUNGER WRITING SELF ANYTHING , WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Just
write! I spent so much time plotting and
researching writing tips and information for books
that
I didn't do much writing. Cut out the noise and just write the book. Find a good group of
authors
in your genre to critique your story.
But in the end, success as an author comes from just
writing
the book and fixing mistakes later.
DO
YOU HAVE ANY
“SIDE STORIES ” ABOUT THE CHARACTERS
?
Yes! I wrote a short story about Dr. Joyce Cass’s rise to power, titled Superior.
It’s an exclusive
offered
only to people who subscribe to my email list. So
if readers want to know how Dr.
Cass
ended
up the say she did,
sign up and read the
story. There are also some cameos from
other
members
of the Directorate in the short story as well.
WHAT IS NEXT FOR YOU AS AN
AUTHOR?
I've actually already started writing my next series. It's a late-15th century Mongolian Historical
Fiction
with fantasy elements.
I'm excited about the project, but it may not appeal to younger
audiences. There is a lot of sexuality and violence, as there was in the old Mongolian Empire. After
that, I have a massive epic fantasy series to write. Right now,
the plan is a five-book epic series
with
a follow-up five-book series that takes place 100 years after the first. But we will see how
these
actually fall into place.
WHAT IS YOUR PREFERRED METHOD TO HAVE READERS GET IN TOUCH WITH OR FOLLOW
YOU( I.E., WEBSITE,
PERSONAL BLOG ,
FACEBOOK PAGE , GOODREADS,
ETC. ) ?
Sign
up for my newsletter,
follow my social media
pages. I’m
probably the most active on
Facebook, so that’s the best place to start. I encourage reviews on GoodReads, BookBub,
and
Amazon, and I try to respond as much as I can. I also welcome readers to email me directly. I love
hearing
from them. Links for all of them can be found
on my website, starrzdavies.com.
STARR Z. DAVIES is a Midwesterner at heart, and lives in Wisconsin with her husband and kids. From a young age, Starr has been obsessed with superheroes like Batman and Captain America, which inspired her novel, ORDINARY. If Starr had a superpower, she would be an Empath, because she is an emotional sponge and easily relates to how others feel.
While pursuing a degree in Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin, Starr gained a reputation as the “Character Assassin” because she has a habit of utterly destroying her characters both emotionally and physically.
In her free time, Starr loves watching Doctor Who or anything with superheroes, reading books (duh!), writing about her favorite fantasy stories (Song of Ice and Fire, Mistborn, The Wheel of Time), and staring out the window as she dreams up more stories. Oh, and sometimes she steps out the door.
$20 Amazon
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2 Comments
Thanks for sharing this with everyone. For a limited time, you can also get an autographed copy of Ordinary (Book #1) by ordering it directly from my website. I only have about 20 copies left, so the offer is valid until they are gone. You can get all the details about the offer here: https://starrzdavies.com/autographed-copies-of-ordinary/
ReplyDeleteYou can also watch a reading from Ordinary on Youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ3vCampnEM&t=4s
If you subscribe to my Youtube channel you will be notified when I upload new videos, trailers, and more.
To those of you who love audiobooks, the series is currently in production. I am hoping to have the audiobooks available in time for the holidays. If you subscribe to my newsletter, you will receive a notification when it is available. You can sign up here: http://eepurl.com/dDNZWL
You're very welcome! :) Thank you for all of the information!
DeletePlease try not to spam posts with the same comments over and over again. Authors like seeing thoughtful comments about their books, not the same old, "I like the cover" or "sounds good" comments. While that is nice, putting some real thought and effort in is appreciated. Thank you.