Zenn Scarlett Blog Tour! (Featuring author Christian Schoon)

I feel like Watercolor Moods' cup runneth over recently in terms of quality blog posts and interviews from some amazing authors! But I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, so talented writers - keep on coming! 

Today, thanks to Strange Chemistry's wonderful Amanda Rutter, the Zenn Scarlett blog tour is stopping in. In case you haven't heard about this awesome sci-fi, here's a quick rundown:

When you're studying to be exoveterinarian specializing in exotic, alien life forms, school... is a different kind of animal.

Zenn Scarlett is a resourceful, determined 17-year-old girl working hard to make it through her novice year of exovet training. That means she's learning to care for alien creatures that are mostly large, generally dangerous and profoundly fascinating. Zenn’s all-important end-of-term tests at the Ciscan Cloister Exovet Clinic on Mars are coming up, and, she's feeling confident of acing the exams. But when a series of inexplicable animal escapes and other disturbing events hit the school, Zenn finds herself being blamed for the problems. As if this isn't enough to deal with, her absent father has abruptly stopped communicating with her; Liam Tucker, a local towner boy, is acting unusually, annoyingly friendly; and, strangest of all: Zenn is worried she's started sharing the thoughts of the creatures around her. Which is impossible, of course. Nonetheless, she can't deny what she's feeling.

Now, with the help of Liam and Hamish, an eight-foot sentient insectoid also training at the clinic, Zenn must learn what's happened to her father, solve the mystery of who, if anyone, is sabotaging the cloister, and determine if she's actually sensing the consciousness of her alien patients... or just losing her mind. All without failing her novice year....

Pretty cool, no? And just take a gander at the authors who have already read and loved it: Phoebe North. E.C. Myers.

Guys. Temple Grandin.

'Nuff said.

In any case, I'm going to step away from the mic and let Christian Schoon introduce his masterpiece to you guys. I hope you enjoy his awesome guest post, and look out for a review for Zenn Scarlett coming soon!

Dystopi-para-romanta-medico-science-fictional? What is this book-thing, Zenn Scarlett?

I’m Christian Schoon, your visiting author. Zenn Scarlett is my debut novel. Strange Chemistry Books was kind enough to want to publish it, and it’ll be shelved with the sci fi titles at your local Barnes & Nobel and on Amazon in early May. And it’s SF, all right. But it’s got some identity issues.

So, what sorta SF is Zenn?

It’s got a young girl in her novice year of learning to be an exovet who specializes in big, potentially deadly off-world animals. Pretty straight-ahead skiffy sounding to me. But, lately she’s been experiencing strange mental “links” with some of her alien patients. So… is this ESP? Is this paranormal SF? Now, Zenn doesn’t believe in fringy stuff like extra-sensory perception. She’s way too scientific method for that. But if it’s not ESP, what the…?

How about the romance. That’s gotta be cut and dried, right? No. Liam Tucker is a reasonably good looking, reasonably pleasant-if-cocky towner boy from nearby Arsia City. But towners, in general, are deeply suspicious of the Ciscan Exovet Cloister and their “unclean” alien animal menagerie. Liam seems interested in Zenn. And this, Zenn finds both odd and annoying. Odd because towners, as noted, are xenophobes and tend to avoid the cloister. Annoying because she’s in the midst of end of term tests and can’t afford to deal with the new friendship Liam seems to be offering. She doesn't seem to be in the market for romance. 

Then we have the creatures Zenn interacts with. She climbs onto the snout of an 80-foot marine predator to administer a therapeutic eye-wash. No problem. She gives vaccinations to buffalo-sized Procyoni yotes with bone-crushing jaws that could snap her in half. Easy. She goes inside a 200-foot-long swamp sloo as part of her end of term tests, and her response is... excitement (this is accomplished using a small, personal vehicle called an in-soma pod, but still. She goes INSIDE this animal). So, are we now in fantasy land? How is the reader to believe Zenn can do what she does? No human is this fearless. Well, Zenn grew up at the Ciscan Cloister Exovet Clinic where all these animals are housed. They’re not aliens to her. They’re everyday acquaintances. She knows their behaviors, what they’re capable of, how to stay safe in their presence. And her mother and uncle are both exovet masters. She’s followed them on their rounds every day since she was out of diapers. So, now we’re into a credible hybrid of SF/medical. Or, SF/veterinary, at any rate.

Maybe the book is space opera. It’s got some starliners, after all. Off stage primarily in this first book of the series, but doesn’t that qualify as full-on space opera? Hmm. The starships are powered by ginormous vacuum-dwelling creatures called indra. So maybe it’s science fantasy. But the indra have a clearly delineated backstory explaining their billions of years of evolution and how they developed the ability to assimilate dark matter in order metabolize a substance that allows them to penetrate the membrane of the space-time continuum… so now we’re back in space operatic form again.

And on top of all this: Zenn’s cloister sprawls out across a deep canyon on Mars; where the centuries-old Earth colonies are on the verge of total social collapse due to a decades-long trade embargo with Earth. People are eating roots and tubers. Buildings are cobbled together from scrap iron and old shipping containers. Outlaw bands roam the hinterlands. There are rumors of people being kidnapped and sold into slavery. Dystopian for sure. OK, I’ll buy this one. But… a Martian dystopia. So there is that.

Bottom line: the book belongs in the sci fi section. No argument. All I’m saying is, there’s more going on here than a person might suspect from the label on the shelf.

Born in the American Midwest, Christian Schoon started his writing career in earnest as an in-house writer at the Walt Disney Company in Burbank, California. He then became a freelance writer working for various film, home video and animation studios in Los Angeles. After moving from LA to a farmstead in Iowa several years ago, he continues to freelance and also now helps re-hab wildlife and foster abused/neglected horses.  He acquired his amateur-vet knowledge, and much of his inspiration for the Zenn Scarlett series of novels, as he learned about - and received an education from - these remarkable animals. 

Christian's website | Zenn Scarlett on Amazon | Christian on Twitter | Zenn Scarlett's page at Strange Chemistry

Thanks again, Christian! Guys, be sure to keep an eye out for Zenn Scarlett hitting the shelves in your area, and show Christian your support by spreading the word!

Khoury, Jessica: Origin

Expected publication: September 4, 2012
Razorbill (Penguin)
YA Sci-Fi/Dystopian, 372 pages
Acquired and read: From the lovely folks manning the Penguin booth at BEA (NEVER going to get tired of telling people I actually went there); I read it within two days

Pia has grown up in a secret laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon rain forest. She was raised by a team of scientists who have created her to be the start of a new immortal race. But on the night of her seventeenth birthday, Pia discovers a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her sterile home—and sneaks outside the compound for the first time in her life.

Free in the jungle, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Together, they embark on a race against time to discover the truth about Pia’s origin—a truth with deadly consequences that will change their lives forever.

Origin is a beautifully told, shocking new way to look at an age-old desire: to live forever, no matter the cost. This is a supremely compelling debut novel that blends the awakening romance of Matched with the mystery and jungle conspiracy of Lost.

Disclaimer: This is a pre-release ARC received from the publisher. As such, please check any quotes or information against the finished copy of the book.  

When I think back about my Origin reading experience, four words come to mind.

Lush.

Powerful.

Overwhelming.

Green.

I hope that's enough to tell you from the get-go that this is one debut you can't pass up.


All Pia has ever known is the bountiful rainforest that engulfs her and the science compound she's been raised within; along with her mother and father and the other scientists that she chooses to label as her uncles and aunts. She has a pet jaguar, a magical birthday party to look forward to, and a goal to reach: shedding her weak shell of unnecessary human compassion to reach her full potential as an immortal beacon for a new race of mankind, and be allowed to learn the secret behind her own creation.

However - like any of the other YA heroines you've probably rubbed elbows with, before - that fairy-tale life is quickly melting away to show some hard iron bars. She isn't allowed to go out past the fence and explore the warm, beckoning rainforest. She's forced to experiment on animals (and not with some measly Maybelline cosmetics, either), and she has no idea where on Earth she actually is.

No, seriously. She isn't just being metaphorical. Her mom won't allow her a map.

All that changes in a sudden window of potential. A new scientist crashes the party, unleashing some old secrets Pia hasn't been privy to, and becoming her telescope outward to a world of discovery. And then there's that hole in the fence that she shimmies through in true Cinderella fashion (and on the night of her big birthday gala, no less!).

And the boy.

Yes, I'm sure your attention got caught on the last part, didn't it? *snorts* YA readers and their boys. I'm sure it'll thrill you even more to know that he's a native. Yes, a real hunting, anaconda-wrestling (and eating) man of the jungle.

Jacob Black, I don't think there's enough room in the woods for the two of ya.

And I think you know who's going to go.


Anyway...the book. I have to say that, in general, I enjoyed this WAY more than I thought I would. I mean, it's a dystopian. Or at least, I think it is - and if it is, you probably know that dystopians and I have a pretty rough love-hate relationship.

Origin nearly passed under my BEA radar, until I happened to be standing at the booth and the really awesome publishing representative guy was like, "Here, take this one, too", and I just took it and went.

Bless you, Awesome Penguin Guy. Bless you.


It was totally worth the whole cramming it under the table at the wedding reception and holding a napkin over it so I didn't splatter curry on it and avoiding grimy little kids wanting to take a look scenario in the end. I closed my eyes after I turned the last page and I saw green.

No lie. I think the cover got burned onto the back of my eyelids from too much staring.

As you can probably see, the rainforest was my favorite part. It's interesting that my recent sci-fi loves swing from a dying spacecraft (Across the Universe by Beth Revis) to one of Earth's last little patches of heaven. This is why I keep reading, even through all the disappointments and near-misses and "Gah, the hype! I can't look!" moments. It all pays off for those times when I turn the page and I practically fall into a new world, one that I've never visited (and might never find the time to, if it really exists) to the point that I can feel the loam under my nails and smell the dampness of an approaching rainstorm.

I'm really curious as to whether or not Jessica Khoury actually made it to the rainforest for research. Because if not, she is really dang good at this writing thing.

Okay...now for the cons. I will have to warn you that (and I've noticed a few other pre-readers mentioned this as well) it's a little annoying how Pia's rebellion gene suddenly kicks in after years of being trapped within the compound. There were also a few moments where I was like, "PIA, GET A GRIP AND GET A MOVE ON," but I think you'd have those screaming matches with any of the other YA heroines currently on the market, so I'm not sure if you'd count that as a viable con.

Also, Eio's background...well, this might count as a spoiler. But it was a little predicable for me. That's all I'm going to say.

In any case, I'm pleasantly surprised - and eagerly awaiting more - when it comes to Jessica Khoury. Kudos on a job well done (and thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for making it a stand-alone so I don't have to agonize over a sequel).


Reader, I read it. And you should too. Embrace the green!

Warnings: Ladies and gentlemen, this is one of the few books this year where I can say there is no swearing. Thank God. There is a little bit of innuendo, though, and some disturbing sequences involving animals and laboratories (but I think the load of movies about mad scientists involving squeaking mice in their cages, large syringes and the ominous crack of fresh plastic gloves should have you prepared for this).