Vlog Post with Whitney A. Miller ~ JeanBookNerd

Photo Content from Whitney A. Miller

Whitney A. Miller lives in San Francisco with her husband and a struggling houseplant.
She’s summited Mt. Kilimanjaro, ridden the Trans-Siberian rails, bicycled through Vietnam, done the splits on the Great Wall of China, and evaded the boat police in Venice. However, her best international adventures take place on the page.Whitney is represented by Jennifer Laughran at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

Age Range: 12 and up
Grade Level: 7 - 9
Paperback: 312 pages
Publisher: Flux (March 8, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 073874204X
ISBN-13: 978-0738742045

Praise for THE CRIMSON GATE

"Extreme gore and exciting suspense in a highly strange package." ―Kirkus Reviews

"Miller's first novel was fairly gory and exciting, and this sequel shares that unique brand of horror-adventure." ―Booklist

WHAT FICTION MOST INFLUENCED YOUR CHILDHOOD AND WHAT EFFECT DID THOSE STORIES HAVE ON THE CRIMSON GATE?

There was so much amazing fiction that influenced my childhood. My mom is a big reader and always had a ton of books around…some of them were off limits because I was “too young” to read them, so of course those are the ones I would sneak off her shelf and read the moment she left the house! One that really sticks with me, and which had a huge influence on The Violet Hour and The Crimson Gate was The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. That was the first dystopian novel I ever read and I found the idea of a near-future society completely overtaken by a dominant religion to be utterly fascinating (and completely terrifying). It also had an ending that echoes of a horror novel, in that it doesn’t completely resolve and leaves us fearful of an unknown future. I’d never read a book before that which didn’t tie everything up in a tidy little package, and I thought it was freaking awesome (but don’t worry, The Crimson Gate does have a resolution…mostly…).

The other fiction that influenced me a lot was anything by Stephen King, especially The Stand, IT, Pet Sematary, and The Shining. This is probably where I got my taste for some of the more gruesome aspects of my books—eyeballs, anyone? I loved the sense of realism—King’s books seem so contemporary with this believable edge of the supernatural that makes you wonder if it couldn’t happen to you. He is amazing, and his books definitely influenced me as I wrote both TVH and TCG.

Finally, I’d say that A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’engle was a HUGE influence on me and totally informed the more sci-fi aspects of TCG. This book (and the whole series) introduced me to time travel and altered futures, and I have been obsessed ever since. I love giving these books to my nieces and nephews and introducing a new generation of readers to the magic of L’Engle’s books! Thank you so much for having me on your blog, Jean and Booknerds! This is my favorite spot for readers and I am so grateful for all your support. Hope you enjoy The Crimson Gate.

TEN CHARACTERISTICS OF A GREAT FRIEND

1. Good sense of humor
2. Great taste in shoes
3. Loyal
4. Kind
5. Adventurous
6. Curious about the world
7. Honest
8. Empathetic
9. Likes my books ;)
10. Good sense of humor, again

KEEPING THE SEQUEL FRESH AND NEW

I gave this so much thought before I started writing The Crimson Gate. Not just because I worried about keeping it fresh and new for readers, but also because I wanted to keep it fresh and new for me as the author! Plus, when you’re writing the follow-up to a quirky sci-fi / horror / thriller / adventure you have big shoes to fill.

It’s no secret that approaching your second novel, and especially a sequel, can be daunting. The Crimson Gate was NO EXCEPTION. Looking back on 2014, I’m not even sure how I did it—possibly it was during some sort of writer blackout fugue state. I wrote THE VIOLET HOUR over multiple years and around 20 drafts. Ah, the beauty of toiling in anonymity! By comparison, THE CRIMSON GATE was written in around 9 months and 3 drafts. Ah, the efficiency of having deadlines and a book contract!

In order to write a book that is (hopefully!) really good in a short amount of time, you have to have enthusiasm for what you’re writing (not to mention laser focus, lol). I knew before I started that I didn’t want to write a purely linear narrative like I had in TVH. Randomly, I got inspiration from an adult book that I read and loved in 2013—GONE GIRL. For those who have read it, you’ll remember that it has an unusual narrative structure—there’s a past narrative and a present narrative, and they crash into each other at the midpoint of the book and then resolve together. Super cool.

Without giving TOO much away, I had written myself into a corner at the end of TVH (a fabulous corner, but a corner nonetheless). I needed something unconventional to help me escape that corner and tell the story I wanted to tell in TCG. So I borrowed inspiration from GONE GIRL and created my own narrative device. It definitely kept the sequel interesting (and challenging!) to write, and hopefully also interesting (and not challenging!) to read. I hope you get a chance to check it out!

Harlow must stop her evil counterpart in this thrilling sequel to The Violet Hour.

Harlow Wintergreen has just been named the new Matriarch of VisionCrest, the powerful religious organization previously led by her father. But there's one big problem. The real Harlow is trapped inside a Cambodian temple, and her double, the evil Isiris, has escaped confinement and is masquerading as her.

Now initiated as their leader, Isiris intends to unleash a killer super virus aimed at cleansing the planet of VisionCrest. In order to stop her, Harlow must find a way out of the temple and locate the Resistance...or the world will be destroyed.

You can purchase The Crimson Gate at the following Retailers: