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Abraham’s Men
Birch Harbor Series, Book 2
Kristen Selleck
Kristen Selleck
Genre: YA paranormal romance
ISBN: 9780615706122
Number of pages:
394
Word Count: 86,000
Cover Artist:
Kristen Selleck
Book Description
College sophomore
Chloe Adams returns to Birch Harbor determined to find the remnants of the
secret society known as Abraham's Men.
Yet, the only clues
she has are the words 'find Ian Rose' and a strange coded journal that once
belonged to her father.
No longer able to
hear the voices that have plagued her for most of her life, and finally having
the loving home she has always dreamed of, Chloe struggles to define what she
wants--
Until fate and her
mentor conspire to offer her the chance to discover the truth.
Unfortunately, the
truth might kill her.
Kristen Selleck's Guest Post
The
Silent Character
By
Kristen Selleck
“Detroit
is a fairy tale city?” Seth laughed.
“Stop! It is kind of. Fairy tales aren’t all happy, shiny,
and bright until Disney gets a hold of them. They’re a little dark really. They’re a little scary. You’re not really sure that there’s going to be a happily
ever after. The wolf actually does
eat Grandma. He eats Red Riding
Hood too, and the woodcutter has to slit his belly open with an axe to get them
out. That’s dark and bloody and
kind of twisted, but still magical.
They come out of a wolf’s belly unharmed, they eat goodies. Detroit is funny like that. It’s kind of dark and decaying and
feels dangerous and gritty. It has
these beautiful gothic-looking buildings dying on the pavement, and the streets
seem empty…but… but you have this feeling like at any moment people might come
back. They might run into the
buildings and turn all the lights on, open the windows, hang flowers, vines
will grow up through the cracks in the sidewalk and cover the rot and it could
be beautiful again and happy. If
there was still magic in the world somewhere, this is where it would come.”
“You’re
an optimist,” he smiled.
-from Abraham’s Men by
Kristen Selleck
I grew up in the suburbs outside of
Detroit. When I was little, it was
considered a special treat to go to the city. We would watch the Tigers at the old stadium, or ride the
People Mover to Joe Louis Arena and see the Icecapades. Every year we went to Cobo Hall to see
the auto show, and on one memorable evening, my parents took me to the Fox
Theater to see Cats. I felt very
glamorous to be ten years old, wearing my Christmas dress, and walking into the
beautiful old theater at night--way past my bedtime!
Detroit seemed like the center of
the universe to me. It was scary
when I overheard adults say things like, “Detroit is dying” or “It isn’t even
safe to walk around there in the daytime!” Of course I noticed that there
weren’t a lot of people walking around, like when you’d see New York or Chicago
on TV, and many of the buildings were obviously abandoned. In my memories, Detroit is a city in
greyscale –cold and perpetually overcast.
Yet at the same time, I can remember thinking that it was just like the
castle in the story Sleeping Beauty, somebody had only put it to sleep. Detroit is only briefly mentioned in my
second book, Abraham’s Men, but I hope it was done in a way that will cause
readers to see it as I do. The
city was so much a part of my young life, it seemed to have a personality of
its own.
When I set out to write the Birch
Harbor Series, I knew that it would have to be set in Michigan, because the
setting of a novel can become a character onto itself. It had to be one I knew well and
loved. I chose the Upper Peninsula,
because it allowed for just the right amount of alienation. In the first book of the series,
Asylum, various references are made to things that are distinct to the U.P.
--pasties, the northern lights, the early winter, the black flies, the mom
-n-pop restaurants that are identified by signs like “Eat” or “Good Food”. I tried hard to evoke the images for
readers that I could see in my head--the color of the water around Pictured Rocks,
or an army of red pines lining either side of a two-laned highway.
After the release, I received
emails from people who had read the book and lived in the U.P., asking which
town I had based Birch Harbor off of, or where exactly it would be on the
map. That was a good feeling, but
it was even better when someone wrote a review saying that Michigan’s upper peninsula
was now on their list of places they wanted to visit!
Setting is important. Whether you’re reading a detective
novel that’s played out on the streets of Chicago, or a teenage love story with
sparkly vampires set in the verdant pacific northwest, it’s often what gives
the story a realistic feel. Real
places can be a point of connection to the story for fans, and well-written
imaginary settings can become as familiar as a weekend cabin. Setting is the silent character that
can make the difference between a good read, and a great book.
Here’s a list of my top ten
favorite ‘silent characters’ (If I’ve neglected to mention anyone’s favorite
setting, let us know in the comments!):
1. Hogwarts-
the Harry Potter Series (This
place seemed so real to readers that they recreated it at Univeral Studios,
Florida, knowing that people would come in droves to see it!)
8. 1930s Moscow- The Master and Margarita
About The Author
Kristen Selleck is
avidly evil. Until recently, she worked as a mad scientist. After several
diabolical attempts at world domination proved unsuccessful (most notably,
building an army of robots from used pipettes, empty reagent boxes, and other
things left lying around the lab), she decided to pick up the pen. She used the
pen to poke an annoying lady at the gas station in the eyeball. Then she
decided to write.
She has been known
to speak with a strong Russian accent. This is inexplicable due to the fact
that she was born in Detroit. It has also been documented that she likes vodka,
roller coasters, things which are purple, and blowing things up with dry ice.
She abhors kittens, wood paneling popularized in the 1970's, and her
arch-nemesis Jimmy (the Evil Overlord of Specimen Processing). She was last
known to reside in Grand Rapids, and may be in the company of two evil
apprentices, and her devoted henchman, Shad. If seen, please contact the FBI
immediately (she owes someone in Accounting a sandwich).
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