When The Silence Ends Blog Tour: Author Interview!

Hey everyone! Today I'm participating in the When The Silence Ends blog tour and have an interview to share with you all from the author, Jade Kerrion. Enjoy! :D

 

First off, can you tell us a little about yourself and your book, When The Silence Ends?

 

Certainly. In real life, I juggle several roles, including that of wife, mother, business executive, author, and publisher. When the Silence Ends is my fourth novel, a standalone YA novel in my award-winning Double Helix series. It is the story of a pair of twins, Dee and Dum. Dee, the protagonist of When the Silence Ends, is ordinary. She’s seventeen years old, and she has ordinary concerns that include holding down two jobs to pay the rent, making sure her brother gets to his speech therapy class, and wondering how to pay for college. She lives in a world populated by extraordinary people who possess psychic powers, but unlike Bella who had the good fortune to be loved by a vampire, Dee can never become that kind of extraordinary, now or ever.

 

Still, Dee finds her own brand of extraordinary. Inspired by her love for her brother Dum, and armed with nothing more than her wits and pepper spray, she navigates the social and political minefield of a world transformed by the Genetic Revolution. In so doing, she changes her life and the lives of those around her.

 

Did you always want this book to contain a strong sibling relationship? If so, why is this?

 

Dee and Dum were secondary characters in the main Double Helix series, but their history was compelling and their bond undeniable. I had explored dysfunctional sibling relationships in the three novels in the main series, and for a change, wanted to write about a sibling relationship that did work. I think the sibling relationship is a key relationship for many of us. In the normal course of a typical life, we would expect to outlive our parents, and we only meet our spouses as adults. Our siblings are the ones who typically accompany us through our entire lives. It’s a fundamental relationship to get right.

 

If you could spend a day with any of your characters, who would it be and why? What are they like?

 

It would be Danyael Sabre, the main protagonist of the Double Helix series who also plays a key role in When the Silence Ends. Danyael Sabre is fascinating. He has many facets. On the one hand, he is a doctor who works insane hours for little pay at a charity clinic. On the other hand, he is an alpha empath. He controls emotions and channels pain. Physical and emotional pain fuels his deadly mutant powers; with a touch, he can heal or kill. Craving privacy and solitude, he shields both his mind and emotions, but we catch tantalizing glimpses of his courage and compassion.

 

Even among the alpha mutants who redefine the boundaries of power in a world transformed by the Genetic Revolution, Danyael is rare and coveted by many who desire to control him and his power. He has the misfortune to fall in love with Zara Itani, a Lebanese-Venezuelan assassin. Sultry and beautiful, she is lethal with blades and guns, and her attitude is more abrasive than steel wool. She thinks Danyael is evasive and a coward, unwilling to face his past or embrace his empathic mutant powers. He thinks she’s an interfering troublemaker with a ruthless and cruel streak, but is too polite to say so. When she finally falls in love with him, they are not certain if she did so on her own accord or whether she was influenced by his emotion-altering mutant powers.

 

No question, Zara and Danyael are made for each other.

 

If you could have any super power in the world, what would it be?

 

The ability to transform matter. For example, if you were falling from a building, I could save your life by transforming asphalt into an air mattress. More practically, however, I could transform leftover pizza into sushi, or spin air into fabric to increase the size of my denim jeans. In theory, I’d never have to buy anything ever again, which I suppose makes irrelevant my ability to turn dirt into gold…

 

If you could live in any fictional world, who's would it be and why?

 

You know, that’s a really tough question. Eliminate all the dystopian settings. They’re so fun to read and write about, but it’s just too hard to live in them. Eliminate all the fictional worlds that do not have climate-controlled homes, flush toilets, and sushi. I can’t live without the trappings of civilization. That eliminates all fantasy worlds and apocalyptic settings. What does that leave me? Not a whole lot, I realize. I think I’ll just keep living in the fictional world in my head. There, I get to do whatever I want, and still have my climate-controlled house, flush toilets, and sushi.

 

Do you need any necessities when writing?

 

Other than my computer? No, not really. I write obsessively and you will find me curled up in various corners of my house, tapping away on my computer at random hours of the day or night.

 

Finally, are you currently writing any other books? Or planning any?

 

Earth-Sim, a whimsical view of Earth’s history as seen through the eyes of the two students and the android assigned to manage it, was just released in February 2013 and is also on tour. I’m currently working on the paranormal-romance-turned-science-fiction, tentatively titled City of Eternal Night. After that, it’s back to the Double Helix series to write the fourth book.

 

Quick-fire Questions:

Print book or ebook? E-book.
Rain or snow? Rain.
Contemporary or Dystopian? Dystopian.
Whale or dolphin? Dolphin.
Early bird or night owl? Both! There’s too much to do.

 

When the Silence Ends is the Young Adult spinoff in the award-winning Double Helix series.

 

Seventeen-year old Dee wants nothing more than to help her twin brother, Dum, break free from the trauma in their childhood and speak again, but the only person who can help Dum is the alpha empath, Danyael Sabre, whom the U.S. government considers a terrorist and traitor.

 

The search for Danyael will lead Dee and Dum from the sheltered protection of the Mutant Affairs Council and into the violent, gang-controlled heart of Anacostia. Ensnared by Danyael’s complicated network of friends and enemies, Dee makes her stand in a political and social war that she is ill equipped to fight. What can one human, armed only with her wits and pepper spray, do against the super-powered mutants who dominate the Genetic Revolution?

 

America, nevertheless, is ripe for change. Exhausted by decades of belligerence between humans and their genetic derivatives, the clones, in vitros, and mutants, society is on the verge of falling apart or growing up. Which path will it choose, and can a mere human, her sassy attitude and smart mouth notwithstanding, light the way to a better future?

 

Buy the eBook version of this book: Amazon US // Amazon UK
Buy the paperback version of this book: Amazon US // Amazon UK

Happy Reading,
Rachel xoxo