‘Tis The Season: Authors Talk Holidays is a special seasonal feature on Pop! Goes The Reader in which some of my favourite authors help me to celebrate the spirit of the season and spread a little holiday cheer. So, pour yourself a cup of hot chocolate and snuggle in by the fireside as they answer the question: “What does the holiday season mean to you?” You can find a complete list of the participants and their scheduled guest post dates Here!
About Kaitlyn Sage Patterson
Kaitlyn Sage Patterson grew up with her nose in a book outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. After completing her M.F.A., she moved to South Korea, where she taught English and started writing her debut novel. The Diminished will be published by HarlequinTEEN in February 2018, followed by its sequel in 2019.
When she’s not staring off into space and trying to untangle some particularly troublesome plot point, she can be found in the kitchen, cooking overly elaborate meals; or at the barn, where she rides and trains dressage horses; or with her husband, spoiling their sweet rescue dogs.
It’s my firmly held belief that the way I ring in the New Year will be reflected throughout the rest of the year. The tone of my night and the choices I make magically influence the coming months, so I can’t just run headlong into the night and hope it works out. Or, rather, I could, but I’m a planner goshdarnit, and I’m not about to take those kinds of chances with my year. Now, you could call me silly, superstitious, outrageous magical thinking. Call it what you will, but I’ve seen it work time and time again.
One year, I’d resolved to stay at home on New Year’s Eve. I had a whole plan. I cooked an elaborate dinner for myself, brewed a cup of tea, and took a brand new book out to my porch to read in the unseasonably balmy night air. Not an hour later, my neighbors were in the driveway wheedling and coaxing me into their apartment to share in their champagne and oysters. That was a year when I was forever being pulled away from my plans to have unexpectedly delightful adventures. That was the year I met my husband.
Last year on New Year’s Eve, I made a point to focus on the things I wanted from 2016: time with my love, writing, dreaming about far off places, and on the floor with my dog. And it worked. 2016 was good to me personally. I got married, sold my books, traveled, and adopted a long wished for second dog.
This year, as I plan for New Year’s Eve, I’ve been considering what I want from 2017 and making my plans accordingly. I’ll write, read, cook an overly elaborate meal, play (and win!) a few rounds of bananagrams with my love, and spoil my sweet dogs. But I’m also going to turn my focus outward more than I have in years past. I’m going to devote some of my energy to the things I can do to help the people around me and insure the safety and happiness of my community in this turbulent time. Because that’s what I want from 2017. I want to affect positive change in the world around me.
What do you want from 2017? How will you use that New Year’s Eve magic to make it happen?
Title The Diminished
Author Kaitlyn Sage Patterson
Pages N/A
Intended Target Audience Young Adult
Genre Dystopian, Science Fiction
To Be Published February 2018 by HarlequinTEEN
Find It On Goodreads
Though most everyone in their world is born in pairs, Vi and Ambrose face their separate lives alone.
Vi has always dreaded the violent mania that inevitably destroys everyone whose twin has died. She dreams of her escape from the grasp of the temple where she was abandoned. But just before her sixteenth birthday, her freedom is ripped away yet again.
Ambrose, one of the rare singleborn destined for the throne, has never felt a part of the royal world, convinced something essential was missing from him. Discovering his identity as one of the singleborn is a lie constructed by his parents, he sets out to find his missing other half.
Vi and Ambrose must learn how to join forces against the cruel system that breaks the backs of the indentured, and one day, the twisted religion that allows it.
