Hello and welcome to Gemina Blog Tour day! For those of you that haven’t been paying attention, Gemina is the second book in Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff’s The Illuminae files series. If you haven’t been reading this series, idk why not it is absolutely splendiferous and if you have, get hyped guys because Gemina comes out soon and it is EXCELLENT.

To celebrate, we have a Q&A with Amie and Jay and make sure you at least pretend to read when skipping to the end where there’s a surprise (well, a surprise if you didn’t read the title of this post) (NO DON’T LOOK BE SURPRISED).

Anyway, onward!

What’s it like writing such a heavily visual book? The same but with more post production? Different approach? What does that process look like?

Now we’ve got book two locked down and we’ve drafted book three, we’re all getting way better at it—at this stage, we work with our awesome design team at Random House like a well-oiled machine. When we write up the MS, we’ll include art notes for every page, explaining how we imagine it would look, and we’ll often link to examples online as well. Occasionally Jay mocks something up to demonstrate, and sends along that image. And from there, we go back and forth, tweak, discuss. It takes more rounds than the average book, but we have a lot of fun.

I can only imagine learning about carnivorous parasites was fun. What kind of googling have you done for these books that may bring the authorities to your door?

At this stage, our view is that if the authorities aren’t reading our email, then something’s gone terribly wrong with our monitoring systems, because frankly, they should be. Anyone who googles explosions, ten different ways to die, heavy weaponry, light weaponry and ambush maneuvers all in one day deserves to be monitored.

What do you have against cows?

The cows were just innocent victims of fiction. We felt bad about the cows. Fun cow fact, actually—cows consume serious quantities of resources (so really, we should all be vegetarians if we’re going to save the planet), so we had to make sure we could justify them being on the station. The reasons it’s financially viable to have such expensive-to-run creatures aboard Heimdall is that (a) they help produce a LOT of money and (b) ice miners regularly pass through the station, so unlike some other parts of space, or independent ships, it’s not hard to get your hands on water at Heimdall.

Same question but substitute cows for your readers’ emotional well-being. 

Yeah, our readers were not innocent victims of fiction. We did that on purpose. We drink your tears. We feast upon your screams. Your suffering delights us.

Given that you guys have another series coming up, not to mention personal projects, how do you find time to sleep/not get divorced/have any kind of life away from your computers?

Time turners! They’re not just for Hermione! We’re both kind of workoholics, and we love what we do—writing is what we’d do for fun, even if nobody paid us. (But thank the powers that be, somebody pays us, so we don’t have to get proper jobs.) Mostly, it’s not a very interesting answer—we just work really hard. You can get a false sense of security from blogging, tweeting, talking and daydreaming about writing more than you actually write, but it doesn’t get words on the pace. Also, we sacrifice the souls of the innocent, so that speeds things up.

What is the one (or top three if one is too limiting) thing you hope readers take away from your book(s)

We don’t really want to tell our readers what to take away from our books, because in the best traditions of science fiction (we hope!) they’re full of twisty, turny moral quandaries, and there are lots of different questions a reader should ask themselves over the course of them. Anyone who found themselves cheering for AIDAN at any point in Illuminae knows that. Whatever question’s right for you at the time you read the book, that’s what you should take with you.

The highly anticipated sequel to the instant New York Timesbestseller that critics are calling “out-of-this-world awesome.”
 
Moving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna’s social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed.

The sci-fi saga that began with the breakout bestsellerIlluminae continues on board the Jump Station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of the BeiTech assault.

Hanna is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But while the pair are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy’s most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and theHypatia are headed right toward Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion.

When an elite BeiTech strike team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the station residents one by one, and a malfunction in the station’s wormhole means the space-time continuum might be ripped in two before dinner. Soon Hanna and Nik aren’t just fighting for their own survival; the fate of everyone on the Hypatia—and possibly the known universe—is in their hands.

But relax. They’ve totally got this. They hope.

Once again told through a compelling dossier of emails, IMs, classified files, transcripts, and schematics, Gemina raises the stakes of the Illuminae Files, hurling readers into an enthralling new story that will leave them breathless.

Praise for Illuminae:

A New York Times Bestseller
A PW Bestseller

“Out-of-this-world awesome.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred

“Stylistically mesmerizing.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred

“An arresting visual experience.” —Booklist, Starred

“A game-changer.” —Shelf Awareness, Starred

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indiebound

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Giveaway

Because I love this book, this series and these authors so much and because sharing is caring, I’m giving away a pre-order of Gemina!

Please see the contest rules below for eligibility and instructions on how to enter!

• All Contestants must be over the age of 13 to enter.
• This contest is open internationally to wherever Book Depository ships.
• Please fill out the rafflecopter form below. You can gain points by tweeting or leaving a comment down below.

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