FFBC: Feral Holly Schindler + GIVEAWAY

Feral
by Holly Schindler
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: August 26th 2014

Synopsis:

The Lovely Bones meets Black Swan in this haunting psychological thriller with twists and turns that will make you question everything you think you know.

It’s too late for you. You’re dead. Those words continue to haunt Claire Cain months after she barely survived a brutal beating in Chicago. So when her father is offered a job in another state, Claire is hopeful that getting out will offer her a way to start anew.

But when she arrives in Peculiar, Missouri, Claire feels an overwhelming sense of danger, and her fears are confirmed when she discovers the body of a popular high school student in the icy woods behind the school, surrounded by the town’s feral cats. While everyone is quick to say it was an accident, Claire knows there’s more to it, and vows to learn the truth about what happened. 

But the closer she gets to uncovering the mystery, the closer she also gets to realizing a frightening reality about herself and the damage she truly sustained in that Chicago alley….

Holly Schindler’s gripping story is filled with heart-stopping twists and turns that will keep readers guessing until the very last page.

“Opening with back-to-back scenes of exquisitely imagined yet very real horror, Schindler’s third YA novel hearkens to the uncompromising demands of her debut, A Blue So Dark…This time, the focus is on women’s voices and the consequences they suffer for speaking…This is a story about reclaiming and healing, a process that is scary, imperfect, and carries no guarantees.” – Publishers Weekly Starred Review

“From the opening pages readers will be immediately immersed in this dark story…[which] has echoes of classic Hitchcock. Issues of cliques, peer pressure, bullying, self-esteem, post-traumatic stress syndrome, teacher-student relationships, and pet abandonment will provide substance for discussion.” – School Library Journal

FERAL

by Holly Schindler

Scrambling to free herself, Claire turned to see exactly how badly her feet were tangled in the fallen limb.  But the shattered branch that had just tripped her was a strange shade of blue—purple—gray. 

She was staring at a human hand.

“No—no,” Claire screamed as she attempted to get away from the limb and the dead body, tripping on the hem of her coat in the process.  She stumbled back to the earth, falling on her backpack.

An angry hiss pried Claire’s eyes upward, away from the waxy, blue fingers.

A cat edged forward from its perch on top of the limb that pinned the body; a pair of yellow eyes with black stripes narrowed at Claire; pink fangs flashed.  Nearby, another yellow set of eyes popped from the shadows as a tail curled up onto a black curved back.  More fangs.  More eyes.  More angry, fat tails.

Ferals.

Holly Schindler is the author of the critically acclaimed A BLUE SO DARK (Booklist starred review, ForeWord Reviews Book of the Year silver medal recipient, IPPY Awards gold medal recipient) as well as PLAYING HURT (both YAs). 

Her debut MG, THE JUNCTION OF SUNSHINE AND LUCKY also released in ’14, and became a favorite of teachers and librarians, who used the book as a read-aloud. Kirkus Reviews called THE JUNCTION “...a heartwarming and uplifting story...[that] shines...with vibrant themes of community, self-empowerment and artistic vision delivered with a satisfying verve.” Bloggers also quickly fell for the book; Susan at Bloggin’ ‘bout Books said of THE JUNCTION, “Triumphant and compelling, this is one of those books that will make you cheer. And look a little bit closer for the unique beauty in all of us.” 

FERAL is Schindler’s third YA and first mystery / thriller. She encourages readers to get in touch, and can be found at hollyschindler.com, hollyschindler.blogspot.com, @holly_schindler, Facebook.com/HollySchindlerAuthor, and http://hollyschindler.tumblr.com/

IN COLD BLOOD by Truman Capote. I discovered the book in college, and was instantly sucked into the quietly chilling depiction of murder in a small down.

Love THE AMERICANS. Also a big fan of TRUE DETECTIVE with McConaughey and Harrelson.

I’m a giant fan of classic movies. I love Hitchcock (I think REAR WINDOW might be my favorite)—I’m also sure to watch the old ALFRED HITCHCOK HOUR on MeTV every Sunday. Speaking of MeTV, I also love to watch Svengoolie on Saturday night, too. Horror PLUS vintage? Oh, yeah. I’m in. 

It changes incessantly. I’m a huge music buff; I taught piano and guitar lessons while drafting my earliest books. I do think the Indigo Girls’s “Mystery” has some of the best lyrics ever written.

It’s a tie between Mexican and Springfield-style cashew chicken. If you’ve never had it, Springfield-style cashew chicken is kind of a cross between fried chicken and Chinese food. (I’m a lifelong Springfield resident, so I grew up on the stuff, and have often said it makes incredible writing fuel.) I could also write an ode to Mexican Villa in Springfield, MO. Life is good when you’re looking down at two beef enchiladas and a Coke. 

Mr. Darcy. No doubt.

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You’ve got to go after it with a club.” – Jack London

Musicians. When my favorite musicians respond to my Tweets, it sends me over the moon.

I studied literature through college, and I still do dearly love the classics. I think I’d be torn between Jane Austen and Emily Dickinson. Only, I wouldn’t want to pull either of them into my own time period—I’d want to go to theirs. I’d love to have tea with Jane Austen, settle into the peace of the countryside. And I’d love to meet Dickinson—find out for myself what she was really like.

I learn something new from every book release—bloggers have pushed me to think critically about book packaging, character development, reviews. I’m starting a regular series at my own blog regarding reader questions. Send your question to hollyschindlerbooks (at) gmail (dot) com, and I’ll write a blog post to answer!

Hi, Holly! We’re super excited to host you in our FFBC.

The Lovely Bones meets Black Swan in this haunting psychological thriller with twists and turns that will make you question everything you think you know.

It’s too late for you. You’re dead. Those words continue to haunt Claire Cain months after she barely survived a brutal beating in Chicago. So when her father is offered a job in another state, Claire is hopeful that getting out will offer her a way to start anew.

But when she arrives in Peculiar, Missouri, Claire feels an overwhelming sense of danger, and her fears are confirmed when she discovers the body of a popular high school student in the icy woods behind the school, surrounded by the town’s feral cats. While everyone is quick to say it was an accident, Claire knows there’s more to it, and vows to learn the truth about what happened. 

But the closer she gets to uncovering the mystery, the closer she also gets to realizing a frightening reality about herself and the damage she truly sustained in that Chicago alley….

FERAL’s gripping story is filled with heart-stopping twists and turns that will keep readers guessing until the very last page.

FERAL AND THE PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER:

FERAL falls squarely into the realm of the classic psychological thriller. While the book features mystery, horror, and paranormal elements, the emphasis is on the “psychological” rather than thriller / action. The novel features a Hitchcockian pace and focus on character development (here, we’re exploring the inner workings of the main character, Claire Cain). Essentially, every aspect of FERAL is used to explore Claire’s inner workings—that even includes the wintry Ozarks setting. The water metaphor is employed frequently in psychological thrillers to represent the subconscious, and here is incorporated in the form of a brutal ice storm (that represents Claire’s “frozen” inner state). The attempt to untangle what is real from what is unreal (another frequently-used aspect of the psychological thriller) also begins to highlight the extent to which Claire was hurt in that Chicago alley. Even the explanation of the odd occurrences in the town of Peculiar offers an exploration into and portrait of Claire’s psyche. Ultimately, FERAL is a book about recovering from violence—that’s not just a lengthy or hard process; it’s a terrifying process, too. The classic psychological thriller allowed me to explore that frightening process in detail. 

Because this is a book about recovering from violence, I did do some research into PTSD. I’d long been aware of the fact that we had a town in Missouri named Peculiar, though I didn’t do a bit of research into the actual town. Peculiar as it appears in FERAL is a complete fictionalization. I think that’s part of fiction writing, though—you have to know where the line is in your research, not get so bogged down in the facts that you actually hamper your imagination.

Brave, smart, determined, smart, beautiful.

FERAL’s got some pretty brutal scenes—and I can’t say those are really fun to write. But you do have a sense that they’re incredibly important. They weigh more, and you feel a responsibility to do them justice. That first scene with Claire, for example—I knew that it was every bit (actually more) important than the first scene with Serena. I think I must have revised that chapter about a hundred times (that’s really not an exaggeration).

But writing a tough scene doesn’t make you feel the same way you do when you’re watching a really gruesome horror movie. We’ve all been there, where something on the screen is just so cringe-worthy, we’ve resorted to watching through our fingers (or from under the seat). You don’t have to hide from it when you’re writing it, you don’t have to be afraid of seeing something that disturbs you, because you’re in control of it. 

I think that because it’s a classic psychological thriller, I see younger versions of vintage actors. Think a teen version of Janet Leigh or Tony Perkins. I know that’s completely impossible, but that’s what I see (I also actually see certain scenes—like the scene in which Claire is being chased into the woods) in black and white. Talk about classic movies!

I wouldn’t use an existing song…I’d use a lonely, slightly out-of-tune piano echoing in an empty room. In the background, a door creaks open…

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