This author loves technology and exploits it in... Bluescreen by Dan Wells (Blog Tour Review & Giveaway)


Welcome to my stop for Dan Wells' newest, Bluescreen. Learn about the book, check out the Q&A, and enter the giveaway below...

Bluescreen (Mirador, #1)Bluescreen
(Mirador #1)
by Dan Wells
YA Dystopain, SciFi
Hardcover, Audiobook, & ebook, 352 Pages
February 16th 2016 by Balzer & Bray

Summary

Los Angeles in 2050 is a city of open doors, as long as you have the right connections. That connection is a djinni—a smart device implanted right in a person’s head. In a world where virtually everyone is online twenty-four hours a day, this connection is like oxygen—and a world like that presents plenty of opportunities for someone who knows how to manipulate it.

Marisa Carneseca is one of those people. She might spend her days in Mirador, the small, vibrant LA neighborhood where her family owns a restaurant, but she lives on the net—going to school, playing games, hanging out, or doing things of more questionable legality with her friends Sahara and Anja. And it’s Anja who first gets her hands on Bluescreen—a virtual drug that plugs right into a person’s djinni and delivers a massive, non-chemical, completely safe high. But in this city, when something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, and Mari and her friends soon find themselves in the middle of a conspiracy that is much bigger than they ever suspected.

Dan Wells, author of the New York Times bestselling Partials Sequence, returns with a stunning new vision of the near future—a breathless cyber-thriller where privacy is the world’s most rare resource and nothing, not even the thoughts in our heads, is safe.

  
  
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Author Interview

I'm excited to have author Dan Wells stopping by today! His books have such interesting premises. Check out what he has to say about his newest book, Bluescreen...

Q: Bluescreen, which is the start of the Mirador series, sounds quite a bit different from your Partial Sequence series. What are some of the similar and dissimilar aspects we might find between the two series?

A: Both series are science fiction, about a teenage girl caught up in something big and dangerous, but beyond that they're very different. In Partials the world has already ended, but in Bluescreen the world is rich and prosperous, full of amazing technology and incredible opportunities. The trouble is, that kind of prosperity attracts criminals, and criminals can use amazing technology, too....

Q: What was your favorite part of writing this new series?

I love the characters. They're so interesting to write about, and to let them talk to each other, and to see what clever ideas they come up with to solve the problems their jerk of an author throws at them.

Q: Would you give us basic characterizations of the main characters?

A: Marisa wants everyone to be happy, which sometimes makes her loving friend and sometimes makes her a furious online warrior. Sahara wants to be famous, and films herself in a live, 24/7 vidcast. Anja wants to be free, even if that means making stupid decisions just because someone told her not to.

Q: Did you find anything interesting or unique when researching the book?

A: I found that technology is advancing way faster than we're ready for. Every time I'd try to extrapolate a current technology into the future, I'd realize that my first attempt was ALSO current, and I'd have to go back and push myself further to really think outside the box.

Q: What inspired the idea for the djinni and then the Bluescreen virtual drug?

A: In my lifetime I've watched phones go from rotary dials, to push buttons, to cordless, to cell phones, to smart phones that contain computers and cameras and music players and gaming systems all in one device. The djinni is my guess at where we might take that idea next--a single device that does everything and keeps everyone connected, all at the speed of thought.

Q: What are you hoping readers will take with them when they’ve finished reading Bluescreen?

I hope that they'll get excited about technology, and decide to learn not just how to use it but how to create it--how to write code, or program apps, or build robots, or whatever gets them excited. We live in a world completely dependent on technology, and we use technology every hour of every day, for literally everything we do. If all you can do is consume that world, and not add to it, you're letting everyone else make all the important decisions for you.

About the Author


Dan Wells is a thriller and science fiction writer. Born in Utah, he spent his early years reading and writing. He is he author of the Partials series (Partials, Isolation, Fragments, and Ruins), the John Cleaver series (I Am Not a Serial Killer, Mr. Monster, and I Don't Want To Kill You), and a few others (The Hollow City, A Night of Blacker Darkness, etc). He was a Campbell nomine for best new writer, and has won a Hugo award for his work on the podcast Writing Excuses; the podcast is also a multiple winner of the Parsec Award.


Tour Schedule

Week 1:
2/8/2016- Fire and Ice- Interview
2/9/2016- A Dream Within A Dream- Review
2/10/2016- One Night Book Stand- Guest Post
2/11/2016- 5 Girls Book Reviews- Review
2/12/2016- Kindle and Me- Guest Post

Week 2:
2/15/2016- Fangirlish- Review
2/16/2016- Two Chicks on Books- Interview
2/17/2016- Ryan's Bookish Confessions- Review
2/18/2016- Wishful Endings- Interview
2/19/2016- Downright Dystopian- Review

Tour-Wide Giveaway

3 winners will receive a finished copy of BLUESCREEN, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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