Juche by Adria Carmichael - Book Tour + Giveaway

Juche 1-4 Box set

by Adria Carmichael 

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GENRE: YA Dystopian

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BLURB:

Just when Areum - daughter of a privileged family in the totalitarian state of Choson (North Korea) - thought she was free from her personal prison, her world collapses around her as her family is taken away in the middle of the night to a hell-like camp in the mountains where people who have strayed from the righteous path are brutally re-educated through blood, sweat, tears, and starvation.

There she has to fight for survival together with the family she hates and is forced to re-evaluate every aspect of her life until then: her deep resentment toward her twin sister; her view of her father in the face of mounting evidence that he is a traitor with the blood of millions of fellow countrymen on his hands; and even her love and affection for the Great General - the eternal savior and protector of Choson, whom she had always considered her true father.

Note from the author:

Have you ever wondered what the world looks like when seen through an indoctrinated mind?

This is a topic that has intrigued me for as long as I can remember, so when I came up with the idea to write a book many years ago, I decided to create it from the viewpoint of a victim of indoctrination… which in the end became Areum (the protagonist of the story).

What I try to explore in this story is how deep the indoctrination of a 14-year old girl can run and how much “reality” it can be exposed to before breaking… if it will break at all. As a comparison, the defectors from North Korea who arrive in South Korea are isolated for three months in a de-programming facility called Hanawon before they are allowed to join society where they go through this process in a more controlled (and less brutal) way than Areum.

I hope you will enjoy this slightly different take on the dystopian genre!

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EXCERPT

My father’s words echo in my head.

“Hamhung”

“Hamhung”

I’m standing in a long wide street. There are tall houses on both sides of me. 

Where am I? 

I don’t recognize anything, but still, everything looks familiar.

Then I notice there is something on the ground around me. I try to focus, but my vision is blurry. There is something there. Some kind of objects. 

Or… 

Now the focus is getting clearer. They are bodies! They are everywhere. I jump in panic. I want to run away, but my feet are stuck to the ground. 

I’m standing in a sea of sun-scorched, dried up corpses - as far as the eye can reach. Then I feel it. The stench of their decay stings my nose. I feel nauseous. I look down at the corpse closest to me. A man. He looks so strange. Like all his muscles and fat has been removed, and his skin tightly wrapped around his bare bones. All the corpses look the same. 

All of a sudden, there is a movement in the corner of my eye. I turn my head.

Paralyzed with fear I watch one of the corpses rising until he stands before me a bit further down the street of death. He doesn’t move, just looks at me with his dead silvery eyes. My blood is freezing to ice inside my veins. I look closer, squinting against the distant sun. The features of the man look strangely familiar. Then I suddenly see it. I gasp, and a flash of ice rushes down my spine.

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Author Interview Any weird things you do when you’re alone?

-        Learning languages has always been a passion of mine, so when I find some free time, I could use that to study Arabic grammar or Chinese characters, which many find weird.

What is your favorite quote and why?

-        “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something in your life” — Winston Churchill

Who is your favorite author and why?

-        I don’t think I can say that I have a favorite author because all my favorite books are written by different people. For example, one of my all-time favorite books is “The Master and Margarita” by Mikhail Bulgakov, but his other books don’t reach my top ten, even if they are all good.

What, in your opinion, are the most important elements of good writing?

-       Always progressing the story and not getting carried away with lengthy descriptions. If I have to read several pages describing a person/building/room etc, I lose interest. And I won’t remember most of it anyway, so better to just put some key details and let the reader fill in the rest. That’s how it is for me, at least.

Where did you get the idea for this book?

-        It was over ten years ago and I had just read the Hunger Games trilogy and “Escape from Camp 14” by Blaine Harden, which is a non-fiction book about the only known person to ever escape that North Korean prison camp. I noticed quite a few similarities between the two books and concluded that you don’t need to make up a dystopian totalitarian nation for your story – we have one in the real world. Of course, then it took another 5 years or so before I did anything with it.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Adria Carmichael is a writer of dystopian fiction with a twist. When she is not devouring dystopian and post-apocalyptic content in any format - books, movies, TV-series and PlayStation games - she is crafting the epic and highly-addictive Juche saga, her 2020 debut novel series that takes place in the brutal, totalitarian nation of Choson. When the limit of doom and gloom is reached, a 10K run on a sunny day or binging a silly sitcom on a rainy day is her go-to way to unwind. 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20581191.Adria_Carmichael 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Adria-Carmichael-591550164840779 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adria_carmichael_author/?hl=en 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AdriaCarmichael 

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/adria-carmichael 

Amazon Buy links:

On sale for $0.99!

Juche 1 – The Demon of Yodok: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08FQLHKYP/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0 

Juche 2 – The Weeping Masses: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08J42Y4Y5?notRedirectToSDP=1&ref_=dbs_mng_calw_1&storeType=ebooks 

Juche 3 – The Storm of Storms: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B099BKWKKR?notRedirectToSDP=1&ref_=dbs_mng_calw_2&storeType=ebooks 

Juche 4 – Freedom or Death: https://www.amazon.com/Freedom-Death-Young-Dystopian-Survival-ebook/dp/B09D9NBZ7S/ref=sr_1_1

Juche 1-4 Box Set: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B3F21BKV/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i4

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION

One randomly chosen winner via rafflecopter will win a $50 Amazon/BN.com gift card.

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