Everyone please welcome Marissa Meyer, author of Cinder, book one of The Lunar Chronicles. Cinder is her first novel!
Hi Marissa! How does it feel to have your first book out in the world?
In a word: Amazing! It’s absolutely a dream come true. I’ve been imagining holding my book in my hands for many, many years.
Did you always know you wanted to be a professional writer?
Yes, since I knew that such a job existed. I’ve always been an avid reader with an overactive imagination, so being able to share all the stories in my head has long seemed like the best job in the world. (I’m still a little stunned that I’m actually getting paid for it!)
Is there anything you must have when you sit down and write? Coffee, Music, Cookies?
Something to sip on—be it coffee, water, wine, whatever. And socks on my feet.
Cinder is a re-envisioning of Cinderella. Besides fairy tales, what else has influenced your writing?
Sailor Moon fanfiction, Disney movies, Star Wars and Firefly, many different animes and graphic novels, and a whole slew of favorite writers, from Jane Austen to Scott Westerfeld.
Describe Cinder in five words or less.
Cinderella, with cyborgs.
What is your favorite scene from the book?
The ball. I’m a sucker for big finales, especially ones with ball gowns!
If you could spend an afternoon with one of your characters, who would it be, and what would you do for fun?
Iko, Cinder’s android friend who has a penchant for fashion and small luxuries. We’d probably go shopping—I bet she could give me some tips!
Cinder is the first book in the Lunar Chronicles. Can you tell us what to expect from the next books?
The series will be four books long, and each one is inspired by a different fairy tale (Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White). Though Cinder continues to be the main hero of the story, in each book she’s met with new fairy-tale inspired characters, as their paths intertwine and they join forces against their mutual enemy: the evil queen.
Anything else you'd like to say to your fans and future readers?
Only to thank them for reading Cinder, and I sincerely hope they’ll enjoy all the forthcoming books!
Thank you so much for inviting me to your blog, Amy!
Thank you Marissa for visiting Amy's Book Den!
Now I got myself a Harcover copy of Cinder while I was on my trip. And while my purse just about burst with all the stuff I had in it plus the book, I just HAD to buy it when I saw it. Because IT. IS. GORGEOUS! Below is the blurb on the inside flap, and I'll leave you links so you can get your own copy now!
Cinder
(Lunar Chronicles 1)
Sixteen-year-old Cinder is considered a technological mistake by most of society and a burden by her stepmother. Being a cyborg does have its benefits, though: Cinder's brain interface has given her an uncanny ability to fix things (robots, hovers, her own malfunctioning parts), making her the best mechanic in New Beijing. This reputation brings Prince Kai himself to her weekly market booth, needing her to repair a broken android before the annual ball. He jokingly calls it "a matter of national security," but Cinder suspects its more serious than he's letting on.
Although eager to impress the prince, Cinder's intentions are derailed when her younger stepsister, and only human friend, is infected with the fatal plague that has been devastating Earth for a decade. Blaming Cinder for ger daughter's illness, Cinder's stepmother volunteers her body for plague research, an "honor" that no one has survived.
But it doesn't take long for the scientists to discover something unusual about their new guinea pig. Something others would kill for.
