Blog Tour: Joss Stirling Guest Post

To celebrate the eagerly awaited release of Stealing Phoenix, sequel to one of my favourite reads of last year, Finding Sky, author Joss Stirling is on "tour". Today she stops by Teenage Fiction For All Ages and writes about "The Savant Olympics"

Synopsis
What do you do when your soulmate turns out to be a thief? Steal her, of course. Phoenix was raised within the Community, a gang of thieves with paranormal powers, under the control of a harsh master known as the Seer. The notion that there's a soulmate out there for every person with a paranormal gift is mere myth in Phoenix's world. That is until the Seer gives Phoenix the details of her next target, Yves Benedict. He's more than just her next victim, he is her destiny. To be together, Phoenix must break away from the Community but resistance against the Seer puts them both in mortal danger. Phoenix has never trusted anyone before, now it's time to trust Yves with her life.


Trailer

The Savant Olympics

As you might know by now, Stealing Phoenix starts off explosively at the new site for the 2012 Olympics. This got me wondering what kind of Olympics the Savants could hold. They would have an unfair advantage over the rest of us – Zed for example would know exactly where you were going to put the ball in any of those disciplines – football, tennis, hockey etc etc. But if they were playing others like them they could expand the Olympic disciplines in weird and wonderful directions.

So let’s imagine my seven Benedicts limbering up at the start of their competition (please I get to design the strip!).

Trace – he is the one who knows where things have been by touch. This would lend itself to a Round the World in Eighty objects race. The contestants would have to follow the path from artifact to artifact, with each clue leading to the next. A marathon for trackers.


Uriel – he sees the past. This is a tricky gift to turn into an Olympic sport as it sounds more useful for Time Team. Perhaps the guys in his discipline could be each given a ruin (Colosseum, Parthenon, etc.) and have to rebuild it (resources unlimited) exactly as it was on the day it was first opened.


Victor – he in many ways has the scariest power of all the brothers as it involves meddling in the minds of others. I suppose he could enter into a competition to run the most perfect opening ceremony. Watching the Beijing one, you had to wonder if there wasn’t some kind of mind control going on! I’ve got a feeling the London one is going to be less smooth…


Will - I have a soft spot for this guy, everyone’s best mate, tuned for danger. I think we could run a great event for him, like a kind of Capture the Flag where the contestants have to evade ‘the enemy’ to gain the prize. Set him down in the wilderness and let him show what he is made of! Bear Grylls, eat your heart out!


Xav – we already know that Xav rocks at downhill slalom so he could enter the real Olympics without cheating. His healing skills would make him a must as your team therapist.


Yves – so much potential here! How about long distance lighting of the Olympic torch? Or blow up the archery butts rather than shoot them? If we are thinking large, how about a strong of mountaintop beacons just like in The Return of the King, but lit by Savants from afar?


Zed – he can do a little bit of everything but I think he would enjoy a really difficult motorcycle course with random accidents waiting to happen. Those with foreknowledge would have to use it to avoid coming to disaster. Mario Carts, move over!

Many thanks to Joss and Oxford University Press.

The next stop on the tour is at Daisy Chain Book Reviews.

The previous stop was at Serendipity Reviews.

Follow Joss on twitter: @jossstirling and her website is here.

Waiting on Wednesday - Stealing Phoenix

This one seems a long way off, sigh.

Stealing Phoenix by Joss Stirling is published by Oxford University Press on 1 October and is the sequel to Finding Sky which was one of my top ten reads of 2010.


What do you do when your soulmate turns out to be a thief? Steal her, of course. Phoenix was raised within the Community, a gang of thieves with paranormal powers, under the control of a harsh master known as the Seer. The notion that there's a soulmate out there for every person with a paranormal gift is mere myth in Phoenix's world. That is until the Seer gives Phoenix the details of her next target, Yves Benedict. He's more than just her next victim, he is her destiny. To be together, Phoenix must break away from the Community but resistance against the Seer puts them both in mortal danger. Phoenix has never trusted anyone before, now it's time to trust Yves with her life



Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine.

Review: Finding Sky by Joss Stirling

Finding Sky by Joss Stirling (October 2010, OUP Oxford, ISBN: 0192732137)

First Line: The car drew away, leaving the little girl on the verge.

Review: I loved Finding Sky so much I kept putting it down so I didn't get to the end.

Sky Bright moves from Richmond (England) with her adoptive parents Sally and Simon to Wrickenridge in Colorado where her artistic parents have a one year job as artists-in-residence in the new arts centre.

Sky was abandoned at an early age and went through many homes and foster carers, with no memory of who she was and unable to speak, until the Brights rescued her. Sky is quite reserved and fights to remain normal, as from time to time she sees coloured auras around people, which she suppresses.

She hasn't been at school long until, Zed Benedict, the bad boy of the school catches her eye. He takes little interest in her until she ticks him off in front of his friends and then a football match where he allows her to make a save makes him realise that Sky's his destiny. For Zed is a savant and he must make Sky realise that she is his soulfinder, the one that will complement and complete him. Sky struggles with this knowledge and becomes embroiled in the dangerous secrets of Zed's family, which leads to violence and pain. Will Sky accept the truth about herself and Zed or will she run from the possibility of getting emotionally hurt again?

By inventing the concept of a soulfinder, the author gives a good reason why her couple should stay together forever, as it's mentioned a couple of times that teenage sweetheart relationships often don't last. The banter between Zed and Sky seems very natural and sweet. They seem quite mature for their age as they have had to grow up early with what they've both seen and gone through.

Along with the great central relationship, there is the mythology of the savants (these savants are not like Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man) - whose skills include telepathy and telekinesis. There are also action sequences with some serious bad guys, which are rather scary. I liked how the author didn't make Sky a "superhero" at the first opportunity, rather, allowing Sky to find her own way at a slower pace. I loved the setting of the Rockies where we get Sky's English perspective on an American setting. I loved her new friends who were incredibly supportive of the new girl. Basically I loved this book and it's one of my, if not the, favourite reads of 2010. There is to be a sequel, set in the same universe - Zed has six brothers and the next book I understand is about his older brother, Yves.

Joss Stirling is a pen-name for Julia Golding who also writes as Eve Edwards.