Interview and Giveaway: Gina Linko

Hello there lovelies! Wow, it has been such a long time since I did an interview/giveaway in Catch the Lune, right? Therefore I'm so pleased to bring you Gina Linko today! Gina is the author of Flutter, the YA sci-fi romance coming from Random House this October 23rd! There will also be giveaway in the end, so without further ado... please welcome Gina Linko! :)

 
Hello, Gina! Welcome to my blog! It’s amazing to have you here! :) Please tell us a bit about yourself.

Thank you for having me! I think your blog is supercool, and I am thrilled to be here! I am a writer, a college writing teacher, and a mother. I have three small kids and basically reading and writing are my hobbies. I used to teach middle-school science too, so I think I’ve always had a sort of bend toward science and science fiction.

What was your inspiration for writing Flutter?

I like to just go with the what-if of things. I like to read science-y things and take it one step further. What if….? The ending of FLUTTER is something I had worked out in my head, just this can’t-guess-it, surprising, twist of an ending, and the story sort of unfolded backwards for me, with the ending driving the story. But basically, Emery is the main character and she has had these seizures her whole life, but they are not just seizures. She believes she is time-traveling. She calls it looping. When her loops start to intersect with her real life, things start to get a little crazy, and Emery follows clues from her loops to solve the mystery of her special power, as well as a few other mysteries along the way. And also a cute boy. Of course, a cute boy with secrets.

Emery, the main character in Flutter, loves Dala horses. Is there any particular reason why she loves the wooden statuette (other than because it’s super cute, of course! ;) )?

They’re Scandinavian, sort of a good luck charm. In the book, she loves the dala horses because she stays at a cabin, one that is called the Dala Cabin, because it is decorated with these little horses. And they become special to her for a number of reasons, which I can’t give away!

What should we expect from Flutter when we read it? :)

Oh, you can expect romance, mystery, a sci-fi twist, time travel, but even more than that it is a story about what is really important in life. Figuring out exactly what is important in life, to you. It’s about love and loss. About our fate and choices. And, of course, you can expect a great big twist at the end!

If you could go back in time and met your teenage self, what would you tell to the young you?

So many things! To start with, perms are not good. Don’t do it! The 80s were not kind to our hair, people! Check out my bio in my web site and you can see the actual photographic proof. Seriously, though. I would tell myself, Be yourself. Cultivate your hobbies – what you like to do. Not what is “in” or what is cool. Be yourself. Because we all only get this one go-around. One life. Fill it with what you are passionate about. (That sounds kinda dorky and cliché, but I mean it!)

If you were a witch, what spell would you cast mostly in your life?

Do I have to choose one? Is there a spell for getting my kids to brush their teeth? Or a spell to clean that grimy stuff out of the kitchen sink drain? I would like those spells. ; )

What would you do if you were transported into before century time?

Probably I’d wander around trying to tell people that I had come from the future and no one would believe me, and then I’d try to find Doc to build me a flux capacitor. (I’m not sure if that is too old of a reference. Is it?) Seriously, I would LOVE to travel back in time, and I’d probably do some dorky things like wander libraries and try to find old first editions of books or something. Stalk old literary stars and artists.

If you could talk to one animal, what animal would you choose to talk to? 

I just love these questions! I would definitely talk to a cat. Don’t they just always look like they have it all figured out?

Lastly:

What do you love most about being an author? :)

Aside from the thrill of sitting at your keyboard and really getting in the groove of writing, I love to hear from fans. To hear that your work, your little spark of an idea, has touched someone out there, it’s inspiring. Truly.

Thank you for answering the questions, Gina! Hehe, I would definitely choose cat too! They always seem to know things you don't know, right? ;)

Gina Linko has a graduate degree in creative writing from DePaul University and lives outside Chicago with her husband and three children. Gina teaches college English part-time, but her real passion is sitting down at a blank computer screen and asking herself the question, "What if...?"

 

 Goodreads * Twitter * Blog

All Emery Land wants is to be like any other 17-year-old—to go to school, hang out with her friends, and just be normal. But for as long as she can remember, she’s suffered from seizures. And in recent years they’ve consumed her life. To Emery they’re much more than seizures, she calls them loops—moments when she travels through wormholes back and forth in time and to a mysterious town. The loops are taking their toll on her physically. So she practically lives in the hospital where her scientist father and an ever-growing team of doctors monitor her every move. They’re extremely interested in the data they collect when Emery seizes. It appears that she’s tapping into parts of the brain typically left untouched by normal human beings.

Escaping from the hospital, Emery travels to Esperanza, the town from her loops on the upper peninsula of Michigan, where she meets Asher Clarke. Ash’s life is governed by his single-minded pursuit of performing good Samaritan acts to atone for the death of a loved one. His journey is very much entwined with Emery’s loops.

Drawn together they must unravel their complicated connection before it’s too late.

Website * Goodreads * Amazon * Book Depository

Now, move on to what I know everyone has giddily anticipated....

Open INTERNATIONAL. The first winner will win a signed hardcover copy of Flutter. The second winner will win a hardcover copy of Flutter, pre-ordered by me from Book Depostory. Three runners up will each win a signed bookmark.. The signed copy and bookmarks are provided by lovely Gina Linko, so make sure that you thank her and follow her journey through the bookishland! :)

Giveaway ends October 24. Winners will be notified by email. May the odds be ever in your favor! :)

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