This Mortal Coil by Emily Suvada (Interview & #Giveaway)

Saturday, November 4, 2017 - Leave a Comment

I'm excited to be welcoming Emily Suvada to my blog today to answer some of my
questions about her debut! Make sure you check that out as well as the giveaway below...

This Mortal Coil

(This Mortal Coil #1)
by Emily Suvada

YA Dystopian, SciFi

Hardcover, Paperback & ebook, 432 Pages

November 7th 2017 by Simon Pulse

Summary

In this gripping debut novel, seventeen-year-old Cat must use her gene-hacking skills to decode her late father’s message concealing a vaccine to a horrifying plague.

Catarina Agatta is a hacker. She can cripple mainframes and crash through firewalls, but that’s not what makes her special. In Cat’s world, people are implanted with technology to recode their DNA, allowing them to change their bodies in any way they want. And Cat happens to be a gene-hacking genius.

That’s no surprise, since Cat’s father is Dr. Lachlan Agatta, a legendary geneticist who may be the last hope for defeating a plague that has brought humanity to the brink of extinction. But during the outbreak, Lachlan was kidnapped by a shadowy organization called Cartaxus, leaving Cat to survive the last two years on her own.

When a Cartaxus soldier, Cole, arrives with news that her father has been killed, Cat’s instincts tell her it’s just another Cartaxus lie. But Cole also brings a message: before Lachlan died, he managed to create a vaccine, and Cole needs Cat’s help to release it and save the human race.

Now Cat must decide who she can trust: The soldier with secrets of his own? The father who made her promise to hide from Cartaxus at all costs? In a world where nature itself can be rewritten, how much can she even trust herself?

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Interview

Welcome, Emily, to my blog today and congrats on your debut release!

Hi Tressa! Thanks so much for having me!

1. Would you tell us a little more about the main characters from THIS MORTAL COIL?

The main character in THIS MORTAL COIL is Catarina, a seventeen-year-old genehacker, who has spent the last two years surviving on her own through the outbreak of a horrifying plague. She’s smart, resourceful, and isn’t afraid to do whatever it takes to survive and help others. Cole is a soldier for a large organization called Cartaxus, so he’s carrying cutting-edge military technology in his body, altering his senses and reflexes. He’s patient, and he’s actually a sensitive soul, but he’s been crafted into a weapon by Cartaxus.

2. Is the setting fantasy or a futuristic earth and what is the world like?

It’s a futuristic earth, but it’s still very recognizable. The world has been ravaged by the virus’s outbreak, leaving society split into two main factions: those who retreated into Cartaxus-controlled underground bunkers, and those who have remained on the surface, struggling to survive. Since genetic engineering is a big part of this world, there are also ‘hacked’ plants and animals, and many people have altered their own bodies in strange, and sometimes frightening ways.

3. What was your favorite part about writing this story?

My favorite part was coming up with cool ways that gentech - the technology to manipulate DNA through code - would change the world. I thought about how it might affect humans, of course - but I also thought a lot about medicine, animals, agriculture, and fashion, as well as how people might try to use it as a weapon.

4. What do you think readers will relate to the most?

I think readers will relate to Cat’s struggles to understand the morality of the world she’s in. The advent of genetic engineering poses a lot of ethical questions, and it’s not always clear what the right answer is. As a society, we haven’t really developed a social framework or philosophy to usher in the age of genetic manipulation. Cat has no concrete answers - she spends the book trying to do what she thinks is right, but, as we see, that doesn’t always end up working out for everyone.

5. Would you want to be able to change your DNA in order to change your body? Why or why not?

I would! There are some things I’d love to have the choice to change - to lower my genetic risk of various illnesses and cancers, for instance. I’d love an app that would give me super-human eyesight, and healing tech would be awesome. I would absolutely love to have a built-in virtual reality interface like those in the book.

6. What are you working on next?

I’m working on the sequel for THIS MORTAL COIL! It’s a series, and there is SO much more to come. We’re just getting started :)

Sounds fantastic! Thanks so much for answering my questions, Emily!

About the Author

Emily Suvada was born and raised in Australia, where she went on to study mathematics and astrophysics. She previously worked as a data scientist, and still spends hours writing algorithms to perform tasks which would only take minutes to complete on her own. When not writing, she can be found hiking, cycling, and conducting chemistry experiments in her kitchen. She currently lives in Portland, OR, with her husband.

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