(Website, , , )Published by Entangled Teen
Abandoned by her family in Plague-ridden Dominion City, eighteen-year-old Lucy Fox has no choice but to rely upon the kindness of the True Borns, a renegade group of genetically enhanced humans, to save her twin sister, Margot. But Nolan Storm, their mysterious leader, has his own agenda. When Storm backtracks on his promise to rescue Margot, Lucy takes her fate into her own hands and sets off for Russia with her True Born bodyguard and maybe-something-more, the lethal yet beautiful Jared Price. In Russia, there’s been whispered rumors of Plague Cure.
While Lucy fights her magnetic attraction to Jared, anxious that his loyalty to Storm will hurt her chances of finding her sister, they quickly discover that not all is as it appears…and discovering the secrets contained in the Fox sisters’ blood before they wind up dead is just the beginning.
As they say in Dominion, sometimes it’s not you…it’s your DNA.
1. Hi L.E.! Thanks for stopping by A Leisure Moment.
Hi! Thanks so much for having me — delighted to be here!
2. True North is the second book in the True Born trilogy. How was it different writing the second book than the first?
Oooh, good question. True North represents the first time I’ve attempted to write a sequel. It was a learning curve to figure out how to catch readers up on such a complex world and plot. I rewrote the beginning of the novel, where most of the catch-up happens, at least six times to get it anywhere near right. And then there’s the fact that the story continues in Book 3, so I had to tell “just enough” in Book 2 to get us to the next one. It was, to say the least, a delicate balancing act! I’m quite pleased with the results, though. When I finished True North I thought to myself, this is the best book I’ve ever written.
3. True Born was optioned for a television series right near its publication in 2016. How exciting! Can you tell us a little bit about how that’s going and if we can anticipate Lucy and Jared on the small screen anytime soon?
Aha! Thanks for bringing that up! Yes, the series was optioned by Glamazon Productions. All I can really tell you is that they have met with me to talk about “what happens” in Books 2 and 3 as they have been working on developing a pilot script. I don’t know where the project stands right now but I have my fingers crossed.
4. You created an intricate class system in True Born! Can readers expect those same rules to apply, or is the world in True North completely different than the world that Lucy and Margot have grown to know?
I agree — True Born does have a very intricate class system. That was one of the driving intrigues of the novel for me as a writer. I think I can say without hesitation that this complex system grows even knottier and more complex in True North as Lucy is mired in her world’s politics. In some ways, Lucy and Jared are taken completely outside of the class system of Dominion City. They also stumble upon societies they don’t know or understand because these are “hidden” societies, hidden castes.
5. Your book has high fantasy stakes and an evil villain that makes your toes curl, but there’s also a romance! I love Jared. Is it okay to hope for a few more stolen kisses and wicked smirks in True North?
YES!! Things become more complicated between Jared and Lucy in True North as these two figure out what their challenges are. But they also begin to reveal their hearts to one another. I think readers will get a bit swooney — and if you like what you see in True North just wait until the third instalment!!
6. Margot and Lucy are twins, which is rare in this world. Why did you choose to give them this kind of sisterly bond, as opposed to close sisters?
It was necessary from the perspective of the plot to make the Fox sisters twins (I can’t say anything more on this subject). But their “twinness” was also what intrigued me about writing their story. I was inspired by my great-grandmother, a twin who took on her sister’s identity after they were separated as very young children. She literally forgot her own name. This kind of closeness struck me as magical, and that was something I really wanted to explore.
7. The girls are stolen away to Russia in this book! If you could visit any place on the planet, that you’ve never been before, where would you go?
Well, I haven’t been to a lot of places that are on my bucket list. But high on my list is New Orleans (for the voodoo – I’m working on a novel), as well as Australia and New Zealand. Aboriginal and First Nations culture and ways of understanding the world are very important to me (here in Canada as well). I would really, really love to experience Aboriginal and Maori culture in person.
8. Which character is the most like you and why?
I would absolutely have to say I’m most like Lucy. Like her, I think I was always a good girl on the surface, but with a hot streak of rebellion roiling just underneath. Too, I think one of Lucy’s strengths is that she’s far more intelligent and – dare I say it, strategic – than anyone gives her credit for. And I think of myself this way (if that doesn’t sound too self-aggrandizing?). I think of myself as smart. And while I wouldn’t call myself a strategist I would say I work thoroughly towards solving problems – especially problems with plot holes!
9. If I could sneak a peek at your characters’ bookshelves, what would they be reading?
What a subversive question — I love it! I think Margot would be reading Emma by Jane Austen, but I also think she’d be reading a biography on Katy Perry. Lucy, on the other hand, would be reading Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, A Journal of the Plague Year by Daniel Defoe, and Angela Carter’s Wise Children (another book about sisters). And maybe Pintip Dunn’s Forget Tomorrow.
10. I participated in the Urban Fantasy versus Epic Fantasy Twitter chat, but for readers that weren’t there, what are your favorite parts of writing epic fantasy?
I love this question!!! The reason I turn to fantasy (I also like really far-out SF) as a writer is the same reason I gravitate to it as a reader: this genre allows you to reinvent the world. You can escape the bounds of reality — your perceptions can become completely altered. This is the ultimate gift of stories, as far as I’m concerned. I seem to recall I wrote during that chat, “I want the snow queen’s shard to be buried in my eye.” In other words, how can I not want to be utterly transported. But that’s not its only function. Even while you’re escaping the “Real World,” this genre allows you to critique it. I love that power, to
Thanks for stopping by, L.E.! 🙂
Thank you — such a pleasure!!
About L.E. Sterling
L.E. Sterling had an early obsession with sci-fi, fantasy and romance to which she remained faithful even through an M.A. in Creative Writing and a PhD in English Literature – where she completed a thesis on magical representation. She is the author of two previous novels, the cult hit Y/A novel The Originals (under pen name L.E. Vollick), dubbed “the Catcher in the Rye of a new generation” by one reviewer, and the urban fantasy Pluto’s Gate.
Originally hailing from Parry Sound, Ontario, L.E. spent most of her summers roaming across Canada in a van with her father, a hippie musician, her brothers and an occasional stray mutt – inspiring her writing career. She currently lives in Toronto, Ontario.
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