Author/Character Interview & Contest: Dew Pellucid of The Sound and the Echoes‏

Hi everyone! Today I have some happier things to pass along to you, an interview with Dew Pellucid, author of The Sound and the Echoes!

Read on for the interview and as a lovely side bonus I'd also like to announce that Pellucid has also agreed to give away five copies of his book for the kindle! All you have to do is post something below, be it a comment, a song lyric, or just the name of your favorite book! Make sure to leave an email address to contact you through if you've won, but type it emailname at domain dot com so the spammers don't get you!

In one week on August 30th, I'll announce the five lucky winners!!

Dew Pellucid first started writing books so he might have something new to read. Indeed, of the million books at the Orphanage of Castaway Children, there isn't one his watery eyes had not perused; this taking place in less than a decade.
But now, as this old Echo draws near his one-hundredth birthday, his hunt for a good story is only rivaled by his everlasting quest after Cold Fire Mushrooms. For it was as he scrapped the bottom of his crystal ball mushroom container that Dew Pellucid first heard of Fredrick Fingeldy.
Then strange events began to happen in his beloved library. And watching faithfully down every corridor, every garden path, Dew Pellucid witnessed a wonderful story, happening there, right before his eyes (his many Eyes). And, best of all, even he had a part to play in the unfolding tale, which he set down at last in the pages of a book.
"I will make you famous!" he promised the Prince's Sound. And so he has.

If you were to be trapped in a room with someone for a day, who would you most like to be trapped with? Who least to be trapped with? They can be anyone living or dead. (Although of course the dead person would be alive for the duration of the day unless you want to hang out with a dead body, which would be a little morbid.)

Dead or alive…? Quite amusing! Though you’ll have to read The Sound and the Echoes to find out the double meaning here. So who would I gladly join in a solitary prison? Fluid Conway, without a doubt. A Sound with an Echo’s name. Think of him as an inventor-warrior, a cross between Thomas Edison and George Washington. He could tell you stories about Crystilleries that would turn your hair into icicles.
As to least desirable, I’d say Lewis Carroll (author of Alice in Wonderland). I couldn’t abide being outwitted by another for twenty four hours at a stretch.

If I were to make a pizza, what would your favorite topping be?

Blancmange. A fish delicacy, which only Frenchmen and Echoes have the wisdom to savor. Sounds, on the other hand, have been known to dub it fish-puke.

Do you have any news from the author that you’d like to share? (Hopefully something they’d like you to share, anyway.) 

Ms. Boldo invented me as her pen name for an excellent reason. Being shy and dull (like many writers), she needed a witty, charming old man to speak for her. When no one’s listening, she carries on conversations with her dogs (mimicking funny voices as the dogs reply). But if this should be considered news from the author (or a mark of insanity), is not for me to say.

A million book library? You uh, wouldn’t happen to have a spare key to the library lying around anywhere. No reason, just um… asking. For safety purposes. Totally not planning on trying to break into your library and read everything I can get my hands on… (I promise I won’t break any spines! That’s sacrilege!) 

Wise Sound, you do strike me as a sensible person despite your warm-blooded origins. I only wish others at the Orphanage of Castaway Children were half as promising as you. Last week I stumbled on a “corrected” book cover. Harry Snotter! How amusing… But what can I do? My library is open to all. Almost all, that is… almost all my library. But very few Sounds have discovered that for themselves, and I’m certainly not going to say anymore on the subject. Not a word! No!

What do you do when you get writer’s block, the bane of any writer’s existence? 

It’s a sad day when one has to take advice from Pooh Bear. But A. A. Milne was quite a sensible philosopher. “Think, think, think,” Pooh Bear mumbles to himself in a quandary. And so do I. With the same results. Nothing happens. Then I take the afternoon off and drive to the sea. The sight of flowing water washes over my empty thoughts like a soothing caress. 

Other than yourself, who would you say is your favorite author? Are there any specific authors that inspired you along the way?

In the realm of Children’s Stories, I’ve listed my favorite books on GoodReads. As to inspiration, I’ll allow Ms. Boldo to answer, as she invented me along with the Echoes, and I could hardly have inspired my own birth.

She (Ms. Boldo) informs me that it were Plato (the ancient Greek philosopher) and J. K. Rowling (the wonderful late 20^th Century Children’s author) who inspired her to write The Sound and the Echoes. All snowflakes and nonsense, of course. Writers think they invent us. But of course, we actually exist in another realm. The realm where fiction is real.

Since you write so many books for yourself, have you ever put anything from your real life into your writings?

Once upon a time there was an old Echo who sat by a desk all day and read books. The end! No, I’m afraid my life’s story is about as exciting as a still-life painting. But (with an author’s license) I have woven myself into The Sound and the Echoes. But which character I am, you’ll have to find out for yourself, by turning page after page in my story.

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The Sound and the Echoes 

A see-through world. A reflection of ours. An echo to our sounds.

The Sound and the Echoes is a high-concept, fantasy adventure for middle grade and young adult readers, with 27 illustrations.

Imagine that everyone around you has a mirror image living somewhere else. Your world is like a sound, which produced that other world of echoes. And in this land men are governed by a terrible law—no Echo is allowed to live after his Sound dies.

One Sound especially must die. The Prince’s Sound. The Fate Sealers and Fortune Tellers will make sure of that! Because after this Sound dies, the Echo Prince will have to die too.

Now, twelve-year-old Will Cleary is about to discover that he is the Sound the Echoes are hunting. And so begins his perilous adventure into a see-through, sparkling world, filled with spying crystal balls, an eerie fortress of castaway children, a hunt for clues in an ancient book of riddles, and a last-chance escape through a frozen gem-studded lake into a secret land that holds the key to placing the Prince on the throne and returning freedom to the Echoes.

Dew Pellucid  is the pen-name of Tal Boldo. Ms. Boldo is a freelance writer on Yahoo! Finance among other sites. Her short story, Vera Icon, won first place in Spider Thief Publication’s anthology competition (out of print). The Sound and the Echoes is her debut young adult novel, self-published as an e-book and paperback.

Book Links

Amazon Page: http://amzn.to/MnvFnu
Book Website: http://TheSoundAndTheEchoes.com     
Book Blog: http://thesoundandtheechoes.blogspot.com
Book Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/TheSoundTheEcho  
Book Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/TheSoundAndTheEchoes
GoodReads Page: http://bit.ly/Ox6hM0
Shelfari Book Page: http://bit.ly/Pt4oyn