Interview with Susan Beth Pfeffer and This World We Live in ARC Giveaway!

Today I'd like to welcome author Susan Beth Pfeffer. She is the author of many books for teens, including LIFE AS WE KNEW IT, THE DEAD AND THE GONE and the bestselling novel THE YEAR WITHOUT MICHAEL. Her upcoming book, THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN will be released April 2010. It picks up a year after the devastating meteor crash that came to pass in LIFE AS WE KNEW IT and THE DEAD AND THE GONE. To learn more about Susan or her books, check out her website.

Both LIFE AS WE KNEW IT and THE DEAD AND THE GONE balance a grim envisioning of what the future would hold in the wake of a natural disaster. Yet underlying both books is an undercurrent of hope. Can you discuss your thoughts on the importance of hope in the wake of a global catastrophe?

I am by nature a very optimistic person. I always think things will work out okay. Sometimes I'm wrong, and I can see how being optimistic can blind you to reality. But optimism is just as much a part of me as nearsighted green eyes.

I'm also a very self-pitying person, so if I were stuck in a global catastrophe, I'd be cranky and hopeful simultaneously. In other words, no sane person would want to be anywhere near me.

In any disaster or end of the world themed book, religious issues naturally are going to come into play. The treatment of religion in THE DEAD AND THE GONE and LIFE AS WE KNEW IT differs greatly. Can you give us your thought process on this topic and why you chose to have characters within the dead & the gone turn to religion more so than in the first book?

When I first came up with the idea for Life As We Knew It, I knew I was going to have to deal with religion. You can't end the world without some sort of religious response.

But I decided almost immediately that I didn't want Miranda and her family to be religious. Among other things, I didn't want Miranda to be praying for things to get better, when I knew things would only get worse. So I rejected the idea of faith being the focus of the book.

But I still had to have someone respond in a religious manner to what was going on, so I gave Miranda a friend, Megan, who represents one possible way of dealing with a God who seems to have turned His back. Megan accepts that it's not her place to disagree with God's actions. If God intends for millions of people to die, then she will embrace death.

This attitude seems perfectly reasonable to me, although it upsets lots of people. I do get more angry emails about Mom not liking the president though.

When it came time to write the dead & the gone, I wanted to make the main character as different from Miranda as possible, since both books would be dealing with the same catastrophe at the same time. Since Miranda and her family weren't religious, Alex and his family would be.

I made Alex Catholic because in NYC, the Catholic Church is practically a second form of government. I needed a religion with a strong infrastructure, since Alex and his sisters would have no adult family to depend on.

In this series, there are so many questions unanswered and things left unsaid, especially with minor characters like Chris Flynn or people like Miranda’s father and stepmother. Do you have a clear idea of where you’d like to see this series taking you in the future and how it will all end?

I loved Chris Flynn. I wanted to fix him and Miranda up (don't you think they'd be a cute couple?), but there was no way of getting their paths to merge.

It turned out a lot of kids wanted to know what had become of Dad and Lisa. I was surprised at how much interest there was in their fate. I knew when I wrote the third book (This World We Live In) that I could only bring back one or two characters from Miranda's life, so I chose to have them return.

We do find out in TW what became of Carlos, Alex and Julie's older brother. But he's the only d&g character (other than Alex and Julie, who are significant characters in TW) we find out about.

Reading LIFE AS WE KNEW IT leaves the reader desperately wanting to stockpile canned goods and prepare for emergency situations. How do you think you’d fare in the wake of a disaster – did writing this book inspire you to put together some survivalist type plans of your own?

I got nothing! I don't even have a working flashlight.

I used to stockpile like crazy, but then I downsized from a very big house to a normal sized apartment. I think I have about a month's worth of catfood and a little more than a month's worth of kitty litter. Oh, and lots of 100 calorie snacks. I could probably live for a year on the 100 calorie snacks in the house, and lose weight doing so. Of course I wouldn't be able to see which 100 calorie snack I picked, since I don't have a working flashlight.

What do you think would be the hardest thing about trying to pick up the pieces in the aftermath of a global disaster?

I always find it easier (or so I tell myself) to deal with bad news than to wait to hear bad news. For Miranda, and much more so for Alex, it's the not knowing what's become of people they love that's the hardest.

I used to spend summers in an isolated house on a hill. The only heat came from a fireplace, and when there was a blackout, there was total darkness, which was quite spooky. We also ran out of water on a regular basis and didn't have TV reception, so things could be a bit primitive. But as long as there was a radio with batteries and a working telephone, I could cope.

To be in a world where you don't know what's going on would be horrific. To have no idea if your parents are alive or dead, and therefore unable to grieve for them but unable to have much hope that they'll return is truly my idea of hell.

What types of feedback do you receive from readers? Is there one comment in particular that really affected you?

The positive feedback far outweighs the negative feedback. People really love LAWKI. I was intensely involved with it when I wrote it, much more than I usually am with my books, and people seem to respond to that passion.

A lot of people simply enjoy the story. But there are people who say the book makes them appreciate what they have, their families in particular.

I have no idea how long that reaction holds. But it means a lot to me when I learn, through an email or someone's blog, that they feel that way because of something I wrote.

If there was one messages you’d like readers to walk away from after reading this series, do you know what that would be?

I love making up stories. I just about always start with a What If and move from there. My favorite part of writing is figuring it all out (I do a lot of pre-writing), solving the problems that I've created for myself. My books are story driven, and my characters come from the need to tell a certain story.

So I don't think in terms of messages or even themes. It's just not part of my process.

THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN a sequel to both LIFE AS WE KNEW IT and THE DEAD AND THE GONE will be published on April 1^st 2010. For fans of this series, can you share with us a teaser from the book or give us some inside scoop as to what we can look forward to?

Ooh, I just reread This World We Live In last night. So I know everything about it (although my publisher would prefer it if I didn't blab too much about the plot).

I can say that TW goes back to Miranda and her diary, that her father and Lisa return with their baby, and with Alex and Julie from d&g (they've been traveling back east together). Some good things happen and some bad things happen.

It's a shorter book than the other two, and more intense. LAWKI takes place from May to March, d&g from May through December. TW starts in April and ends in July. Miranda is older, darker, sadder, and tougher. And even though I know exactly how the book ends, it gets me every time.

What other upcoming projects are you currently working on that you can share with us?

I've been traveling a lot the past couple of months, visiting schools and libraries, and even had a couple of long weekend vacations mixed in. The only projects I have upcoming are getting my life back in order and returning my kitten to sanity (he gets very insecure when I'm gone). Of course, writing my blog and answering emails takes time.

But mostly, I'm looking forward to a few months of rest and relaxation.

Maybe I'll even find the time to buy a flashlight!

THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN BY SUSAN BETH PFEFFER

Publication Date: April 1st 2010 by Harcourt Children's

It's been over a month since Miranda Evans has written in her diary, a month of relative calm for her and her family. It's springtime, and with warmer weather comes rain, and the melting of the winter's snow. The shad are running in a nearby river, and Miranda's brothers Matt and Jon leave home for a few days to see if they can catch some to supplement their food supply.

When they return, Matt brings with him a girl named Syl, who he introduces as his bride. But that's not the only shock Miranda and her family have to deal with. A few weeks later, Miranda's father, stepmother, and baby brother show up at her door. Accompanying them are three strangers, a man named Charlie Rutherford, and two teenagers, Alex and Julie Morales. These five people have crossed America together, becoming, in their own way, a family.

Miranda's complicated feelings about Alex, curiosity, resentment, longing, and passion turn into love. Alex's feelings are equally complex. His plans to escort Julie to a convent where she can be taken care of, so that he will be free to enter a monastery, are destined for failure. He wants desperately to live up to his moral code, but his desire for Miranda is too strong. He proposes to Miranda that they take Julie and go to a safe town.

But before Miranda and Alex can go off together, a devastating tornado hits the town of Howell, and in its aftermath, Miranda makes a decision that will change forever her life and Alex's, and the world that they live in will never be the same.

CONTEST TIME!
NOTE: THIS CONTEST HAS NOW CLOSED

I have two ARC's of THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN!
If you are a fan of the series or are eager to start reading them, here is your chance to get a sneak peak look at this much anticipated novel.
All you have to do is leave a comment for Susan with your email address.
Bonus entries for everywhere you link/post about the contest too!
Open to all US residents
Contest Ends 1/1/2010