I’m excited to be part of the epic book launch of Catherine Stine’s young adult futuristic thriller, RUBY’S FIRE! RUBY’S FIRE is the sequel to the award-winning FIRESEED ONE. See my 5-star review on that here.
There’s cool Rafflecopter prizes (see below) and fun quizzes on blogs. I’m also giving away one copy of RUBY’S FIRE, paperback (U.S. only) or ebook. Your choice. To enter simply leave a comment below. Sign up for Catherine’s newsletter for more cool promotions and book news.
SYNOPSIS RUBY’S FIRE:
If everything about you changes, what remains?
Seventeen year-old Ruby, long-pledged to the much older Stiles from the Fireseed desert cult, escapes with only a change of clothes, a pouch of Oblivion Powder and her mute little brother, Thorn. Arriving at The Greening, a boarding school for orphaned teens, she can finally stop running. Or can she? The Greening is not what it seems. Students are rampaging out of control and as she cares for the secret Fireseed crop, she experiences frightening physical changes. She’s ashamed of her attraction to burly, hard-talking Blane, the resident bodyguard, and wonders why she can’t be happy with the gentler Armonk. She’s long considered her great beauty a liability, a thing she’s misused in order to survive. And how is she to stop her dependence on Oblivion to find a real beauty within, using her talent as a maker of salves, when she has nightmares of Stiles without it?
When George Axiom, wealthy mogul of Vegas-by-the-Sea offers a huge cash prize for the winner of a student contest, Ruby is hopeful she might collect the prize to rescue her family and friends from what she now knows is a dangerous cult. But when Stiles comes to reclaim her, and Thorn sickens after creating the most astonishing contest project of all, the world Ruby knows is changed forever. This romantic fantasy set in 2099 on earth has a crafty heroine in Ruby, and a swoonworthy cast, which will surely appeal to the YA and new adult audience.
EXCERPT RUBY’S FIRE:
Seventeen year-old Ruby and her classmate, Armonk have a talk in an abandoned house they find half buried in the sand on their way to the food depot:
I tell Armonk about my hope to win the prize money in order to rescue my friends and mother from the cult—that’s how I think of it now. “I’ll buy a shiny blue house in Vegas-by-the-Sea and move them all in. We’ll get blue dishes and blue tablecloths and eat blue crabs. Ha! What would you do with the money?”
“Help my sector dig wells. Black Hills has no more drinking water, and most can’t afford enough water pellets. My mom said that George Axiom used to be in the oil business before the border wars. He knows drilling. George Axiom could drill incredibly deep wells that may still actually hit water.” Armonk sighs wearily. “I’d also pay for my mother to get better medical help. She has bad breathing problems, we’re not even sure what it is.”
“That’s terrible,” I say.
“I hope Dr. Varik comes soon.” Armonk adjusts his leg. “So many people need him here.”
I’d like to ask the doctor about the humming in my head, whether it means I’m going insane. And about the strange cymbalta greenish tint on my bite wound, plus my eating problem, or should I say non-eating problem? I examine the scar. Whatever it was, it’s healed normally. “I should ask him a few things myself,” I say.
Armonk looks over at me. “You’re getting awfully skinny. You could use a check up.”
I hug myself, embarrassed. “I hoped no one would notice. I’m never hungry,” I admit.
“Really? Nevada has such good food at The Greening.”
“Have you spoken to Dr. Varik recently?”
“Sorry to say, I’ve lost touch.”
My gut sinks, and then rises, with an idea. “Let’s ask if anyone’s heard of Dr. Varik at Skull’s Wrath Depot. They’d know of any news, any new residents.”
“Quick thinking, you’re—”
Just then, we hear the whirring of a low-lying hovercraft, as if it’s landing on the roof of this cockeyed house. In a panic, I run toward the door. As I do, I catch my pants leg on a broken doorframe, and go flying, headfirst. My forearm cuts against a sharp edge of a metal scrap, buried in the sand. I brush myself off and spit out a mouthful of grit.
Outside, whatever hovercraft was overhead has zipped away. How is that possible, when it was so incredibly loud only a few seconds ago?
As Armonk and I exchange mystified glances, Blane’s words when he told me about the time he saw that pearl blue hovercraft flit through my mind: when I didn’t answer the guy’s question, his ship disappeared into thin air.
My arm is smarting. I turn it over gingerly to survey the damage, and gasp. It’s not bleeding red—rather some thin, greenish liquid. My insides freeze. “Armonk, I need to find that doctor now.”
He rushes over. His pale, frightened expression tells me he agrees.
BIO:
Catherine Stine writes YA, New Adult and middle grade fiction. Her YA futuristic thriller, Fireseed One, illustrated by the author won finalist spots in both YA and Science Fiction in the 2013 USA Book News International Book Awards. It was also granted a 2013 Bronze Wishing Shelf Book Award and a 2013 Indie Reader Approved notable stamp. Her YA Refugees, earned a New York Public Library Best Book. Middle grade novels include A Girl’s Best Friend.
Fireseed One sequel, Ruby’s Fire is earning advance praise from reviewers and authors:
“Ruby’s Fire, returns to the sun-scorched earth of Fireseed One. In this long-awaited sequel, Stine delivers a thrilling adventure led by a new and exciting cast of characters. Ruby, Armonk, Thorn and Blane are memorable, and the romance is really well handled. Favorite quote: ” It feels wrong to lean on Armonk right now with Blane staring at me, a hungry, lonely look in his eye. It’s as if he’s never been hugged, never been fed, never been loved…” ” -YAs the Word
More and more, Catherine enjoys writing speculative tales where her imagination has wild and free reign. She has taught creative writing workshops at the Philadelphia Writing Conference, Missouri University Summer Abroad, The New School and in her own ongoing NYC writing workshop. She loves her readers, and enjoys blogging.
Buy links (and online links) for Ruby’s Fire:
Catherine’s author page on Facebook
Catherine’s blog
Catherine’s website
Thanks for the awesome post, Donna. Tweeted, Google+, and Facebooked it.
Congratulations on your all new release! This series sounds fabulous and as an artist myself, I would love to own an illustration of either Ruby or Thorn’s creatures.