The time it was about Sparks of Light

Posted July 31, 2017 by Stacee in Blog Tours, Giveaways, Interviews | 2 Comments

I devoured Into the Dim by Janet B Taylor when I got my hands on an arc of it.  I’m fairly picky about my time travel books, but that one hit the spot.  So when it came time for the blog tour for the sequel, Sparks of Light, I was really eager to get Janet on the blog.

Before we get to the interview, let’s check out the book!

Title: Sparks of Light
Author: Janet B. Taylor
Pub. Date: August 1, 2017
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Pages: 448
Find it: HMH | Indiebound | B&N | Amazon | Goodreads

For the first time in her life, Hope Walton has friends . . . and a (maybe) boyfriend. She’s a Viator, a member of a long line of time-traveling ancestors. When the Viators learn of a plan to steal a dangerous device from the inventor Nikola Tesla, only a race into the past can save the natural timeline from utter destruction. Navigating the glitterati of The Gilded Age in 1895 New York City, Hope and her crew will discover that high society can be as deadly as it is beautiful.

Sounds good, right?

1. Please give the elevator pitch for the Into the Dim books.

When Hope Walton discovers the mother she believed dead is alive, though marooned in the twelfth century by a vindictive time-traveler, the sixteen-year-old joins a team of time-jumping Indiana Joneses to stage a rescue, then becomes a permanent part of the team when she heads off into different, exciting time periods to save the natural timeline from utter disaster.

2. What sparked the idea?

Well, one day I was in the shower, and I was grumbling because I’d been looking for a new book to read, and couldn’t find what I really wanted. So I said to myself, “Hey, Janet,” (You have to retain formality in those shower conversations, or it just gets weird.) “If you can’t find a book about modern teens who travel back through time and meet awesome historical characters like Eleanor of Aquitaine….Why don’t you just write one, yourself?”

3. Why do you love Hope and why should we root for her?

Oh, man…As much as I love all those fantastic, badass female characters out there, I knew from day one that Hope would not be one of them. In the very beginning, she’s just a total mess. A phobia-ridden klutz, her mom had so ruled every aspect of her very insular life, she didn’t really know how to exist. As Hope says about her relationship with her father:  “Since the day my mom—the sun around which we both revolved—went nova, Dad and I had existed in a kind of wobbly orbit. Two orphaned planets. Polite, unfailingly cordial, but never quite touching.”

The only thing she does have is an edetic (or photographic) memory, and a fierce love for her mom that forces her to take risks and endure some of her worst nightmares in order to save the person she loves most. In the end—all these things definitely make her stronger.

I think we’ll root for Hope because—while most of us are not ninja-esque, sword-wielding warriors—most of us do have insecurities that make our lives difficult, and most of us would sacrifice a lot to save the people we love despite those problems. That’s why I think it’s easy for us to see a little bit of ourselves in a heroine like Hope.

4. What was the weirdest thing you googled while researching?

Dude…seriously…If the government ever decided to confiscate my browser history, I’d be locked up in an insane asylum…Coincidentally, a big part of Sparks research! As for THE weirdest, I think learning some of the occupations people had in the Middle Ages really kind of blew my mind. Things like: Leech collectors. Urine stompers (used in making wool).

And I would probably get in a lot of trouble for the amount of times I looked up and viewed lobotomies and evisceration. :0

5. Without spoilers what has been your favorite scene to write?

In SPARKS OF LIGHT, I think it would have to be the part where Hope is tied down to a cold surgical table in a Victorian NYC insane asylum, while a doctor comes at her with an ice-pick, preparing to perform a trans-orbital lobotomy on her!!

Speed {ish} round:

1. You find out that you’re being published for the first time. Describe the next 5 minutes.

Screaming. Then a family-wide Twerk session. (Oh, it was a scene, man.)

2. What three things would you take to a desert island?

  • Cheese
  • The entire Harry Potter series (YES, I AM counting that as one thing.)
  • My hubby, who can make anything, because A) I love him and B) he could whip us up a raft out of coconut shells and vines, so we can escape.

3. You can only read one book for the rest of your life. What is it?

  1. Would it be cheating to say “See b above”?
  2. If so, then….OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon

4. What book character would you want to date and who would you want to be your BFF?

  1. James “Jamie” Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser
  2. And who else???? Hermione Granger!!!

5. What is the one thing about publishing you wish someone would have told you?

How very, very, very, very, VERY long everything takes!!!

6. You wake up and discover you are Bella in Twilight. You know how it plays out. What do you do differently? {Huge thanks to Bookish Broads for letting me use this question}

I would have dumped both those alpha males. Gone to college. Then become a rich and famous author when I write a book about what stupid thing I ALMOST did!!

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The 2013 winner of the coveted #PitchWars, Janet B Taylor, has four years’ experience writing web content for a major television network fan site (CBS) that garners over a hundred thousand hits a day. Janet travels extensively to those places where her novels are set, often roaming around at night to commune with the famous historical figures about which she loves to write. She is a member of several writing organizations, including the SCBWI and the Historical Novel Society, and lives in a tiny town in Arkansas with her family.

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Tumblr | Pinterest

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Huge thanks to the ladies at Rockstar Book Tours for the invite and to Janet for taking the time.  Make sure you’re checking out the rest of the blog tour for extra goodies and keep scrolling for a giveaway!

**Good Luck!!**

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2 responses to “The time it was about Sparks of Light

  1. Ella

    After reading the synopsis, I would love to have this book! It sounds so interesting and the cover is beautiful! If I could smother this comments section with all the heart-eyes emojis in the world, I would.

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