Book Spotlight: Hourglass by Pauline C. Harris (Author Interview)

Title: Hourglass
Author: Pauline C. Harris
Publisher: Fire and Ice YA Books
Publication Date: March 11, 2015

Synopsis: Jude Sprocket has been a pirate her whole life. Taken in by a man who found her alone on a distant planet at the age of seven, all she has to remember of her past life is the loss her hand - the vague memory of a race through the woods and a bloody aftermath. Now, her father recently dead, seventeen-year old Jude has inherited his spaceship - Hourglass. Determined to get off Earth and continue her father's legacy of piracy, she assembles a crew and takes to the stars. But more than abandoned ships and hidden treasure await Jude in the vast void of space. She's haunted by dreams of a distant land, children hiding in the shadows, and a little girl she somehow feels the need to find. When Jude and her crew stumble across an uncharted planet, curiosity gets the better of them and they land, unaware of the dangers that wait. Suddenly, Jude's worst nightmares are coming true as she lands on the planet she was never meant to leave.

About the Author: Pauline C. Harris is the author of middle grade and young adult science fiction novels and published her first book at the age of fourteen. She's currently working toward a degree in English. Other than writing, her time is consumed mainly by reading, playing the violin, watching old black and white movies, and trying to survive her college classes.

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Author Interview:

First off, I'd like to thank you for joining me on the blog today! 

1. Describe Hourglass as a tweet (140 characters or less)! 

In this gender bent retelling of Peter Pan, Jude inherits her father's spaceship and stumbles across a hauntingly abandoned planet.

2. What made you decide to do a Peter Pan retelling? 

I’ve been really into retellings lately (both reading and writing them!). I also love the idea of taking a normally male oriented fairytale and changing the protagonist to a female. I think it gives a nice twist and new vantage point to the story. And I’ve always loved Peter Pan and I thought a space travel, scifi retelling would be super fun!

3. What inspired you to start writing? 

I credit a lot of my initial inspiration for writing to the Maximum Ride series by James Patterson. I absolutely love those books and when I first got into them when I was in elementary school I knew I wanted to write books like that.

4. What kind of research, if any, did you do for Hourglass? 

I watched the Disney version of Peter Pan, read the J.M. Barrie novel, and quizzed my dad (in his infinite wisdom on scifi novels) about how spaceships work. That was basically it.

5. Do you have a specific place where you write? 

Not really. Especially now since I’m in college, I’m constantly moving around – from home to school to various trips – so I just write whenever and wherever.

6. What are you reading right now? 

I’m just about to start Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, and I can’t wait. I’ve heard so many great things about it.

This or That... 

Ebook or Real book? 

Real book, definitely. I love the feel and the smell and everything.

Twitter or Facebook? 

That’s a hard one…probably Twitter. Facebook is better for personal stuff, but I love talking with other readers and writers in Twitter.

Chocolate or Vanilla? 

Chocolate!

Past or Future?

Future. Scifi future. ;)

Peter Pan or Captain Hook? 

Captain Hook! Villains are always more interesting than the protagonists. (And if you read my retelling, you might find Peter Pan isn’t as nice as everything thinks)

And just for fun- What is the strangest thing on your desk right now? 

It’s not necessarily strange, but it is a little random. I have a typewriter on my desk.

-Kristen ♥