Today author Christine Potter takes over our blog to tell us about her latest novel, Gracie's Time (22 August 2019, Evernight Teen, 175 pages), a Young Adult Time Travel Paranormal Romance, book four in The Bean Books series.
"Love it! Best Bean yet. Suspenseful, with a cast of adorable characters I want to hang around and eat pancakes with."—R. Kelleher
"…the thing is, the story’s pretty amazing, too—and rich with surprises. It’s also dark with threat. Characters like Augustus and Jack (nope, not giving details) can make you alternately sick to your stomach or seethe with fury. But there’s one overriding force that permeates all of Potter’s work, from her stories to her poetry to her works under another name: Love.
Also, her stories are funny. And real—all while being impossible. GRACIE’S TIME is a fantasy, a romance, a thriller, a deft and poignant exercise in nostalgia, a commentary on modern society, a celebration of the arts … but most of all it is very, very much worth reading."—Marcus Damanda, author of The Salvation State series
THREE WEREN’T ENOUGH
That’s how we ended up with In Her Own Time and What Time Is It There? I simply had to keep the story rolling through books two and three. I thought I was done then—but I wasn’t. A few months after I typed THE END on What Time Is It There?, a bunch of new time travelers started bugging me to give them voice. Turns out they own iPhones and live in the here and now. Except one of them, Gracie Ingraham, started out during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
It’s a little complicated, but time travel often is! See, there are people who can time travel (hint: you don’t need a machine or a DeLorean). And there are people who cannot. I guess it’s a bit like muggles and wizards. Gracie Ingraham’s parents are time travelers, or Travelers, as they like to be known. And in late October, 1962, they are as convinced as everyone around them that the world is hovering on the brink of nuclear war. The President has addressed the nation. Gracie’s family wants to give her a chance to survive, so they try to send her back to stay with her wealthy uncle Augustus in the 1890s. Except Gracie has never Traveled before and goes in the wrong direction. Bingo: 2018.
Did I mention that the one rule all Travelers have to follow is NOT to go to the future? You set yourself up for all kinds of danger if you do that…
So Gracie’s Time is the story of someone going from duck-and-cover air raid drills to active shooter drills in school, from transistor radios to the internet. It’s got a love story, a finding-yourself story, and all the best characters from the original Bean series. Plus a demon—just a little one, but …well, no spoilers.
Stephen King said once that he knew he was writing a good book when he couldn’t stop thinking about it even when he was trying to go to sleep. That was the kind of hold Gracie’s Time had on me. I had a blast with it.
One of the reasons I had always set my young adult books in the past before was technology. I didn’t want to write about phones and social media—that is, until I did. I hereby take back everything snooty I ever said about Instagram as a plot device. Bring it on!!
I like Gracie Ingraham a whole lot. I’m glad she banged on my brain until I told her story. Three really weren’t enough!
Gracie's Time
Available NOW!
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThis looks terrific! What a good blog! Thanks for having me here today.
ReplyDeletei guess i didn't tell you, chris, that my maternal grandfather was an ingraham. with a sister named grace.
ReplyDeleteit's not the only reason i love this book, but it sure makes the book all that much more fun to experience!
sherry
Gracie's last name comes from Ingraham clocks. I have one that needs cleaning so it will run again; it's from the late 19th century. They were mass produced and stood on many, many mantles across the US. Also, there is a family named Ingraham in the church Ken and I serve. But it seemed nice to have a time traveler with a clock's name!
ReplyDeleteThe cover looks really nice, this sounds like a great book
ReplyDelete