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March 28, 2024

Novel Lives

Book Publicity, Book Reviews, And Author Interviews

Ahead Of The Release Of Containment (Sanctuary Series Book #2) Author Caryn Lix Discusses A Love Letter To Marvel And Resident Evil, Traveling To Tokyo, Students That Inspire And How Sometimes It Isn't The Book- It Is Timing- oh and pssst- GIVEAWAY!

Caryn Lix, a teacher (meaning she will always have a soft spot in my heart) was kind enough 1) to follow me out of the blue for no reason I will ever understand and then 2) agree to let me interview her when I DMd her out of the blue when I was granted an ARC of Containment for the Summer Fling. Additionally, I was thrilled when Simon and Schuster/Simon Pulse offered a second ARC of Containment as a giveaway

Add Containment to Goodreads!

Containment (Sanctuary Series Book #2) Releases August 6th


Giveaway time! This is a USA/Canada/UK Giveaway of an ARC Copy of Containment (Sanctuary Series Book #2) 

FYI- The below picture is the beat-up copy of MY ARC of Containment. The winner’s is safely stashed away brand-new and purrrrrrrrrrty!

Containment ARC giveaway

Here is how you enter (this will seem really familiar if you entered any other giveaway):

  1. Comment on the this post
  2. Follow Caryn Lix on twitter
  3. Follow me on twitter
  4. Like and Retweet this TWITTER post!

Entries begin today and run through Midnight Eastern Time Tuesday,July 23rd (the day I post The Containment Review). 

Link: Summary/review (non-spoiler) of the first book of the Sanctuary Series

1.) I read that you had pitched two completed book before someone bought Sanctuary. Although that was hard you also said you learned a lot. What did you learn that has helped you the most?
I think the thing that helped me the most was learning that sometimes, you can write a book that you really like, that agents really like, that editors really like — and it just won’t be the right time to publish that book. Rejection isn’t necessarily a sign that you should give up on something. There are so many factors in publishing beyond whether you’ve written a good book, you really have to take that into consideration so you don’t get discouraged.
2) Did Marvel and you, as a person, have as much of an influence on Containment as it did on Sanctuary? For those that don’t know, what about Marvel and you, as a person, influenced Sanctuary?
In many ways Sanctuary was a love letter to all the things that influenced me, from reading Marvel comics as a kid to playing Resident Evil, the first survival horror game that really sucked me into the genre, to all the sci fi I’ve loved over the years. I think those things will always have an influence on me, and on everything I write: they’re just part of me, and that’s always going to make its way into my writing!
3) How does teaching middle school influence your work? Have any of your students ever critiqued or written about your work in a way that really made you take pause about what you have written?
My students are my biggest fans! I never get honest critique from them because they’re just so happy that someone they know wrote a book! But teaching definitely influences my work. My students are such an integral part of my life that their ideas and worries and concerns bleed into my writing, and I think that’s a good thing, because in the end they’re the ones I’m writing for. Teaching middle school helps me write more authentically to those students. They’re always in front of me, and if I start forgetting who I’m writing for, start getting too wrapped up in writing for myself, they’re always there to remind me what actually matters.
4) What do you read to push you out of your comfort zone? Is there anything you’ve written, or considered writing,  that has/will push you out of your comfort zone? 
Honestly, I will read just about anything. I have a background in English literature so I’ve read everything from Shakespearean literature to banned American novels to contemporary sci fi. When I read for fun, I tend to stick to stories with a lot of imagination — sci fi and fantasy primarily, worlds that jump off the page and characters that catch my attention. I don’t know that I’ve written anything that really pushed me outside my comfort zone, but I do try to stay true to my characters, whether their perspectives mirror my own views or not.
5) What inspired your trip to Hong Kong this summer? What are you most excited about seeing or experience you want to bring back with you?
I’m super excited because Hong Kong has always been somewhere I wanted to go. I honestly can’t even tell you why — I think way back in high school I fixated on Hong Kong as a Place I Want To Visit. Since we’re in Japan, Hong Kong was a natural stopping point on our way back home. I’m really excited to just experience the city, and every time I travel I hope I can bring back a bit more perspective on the world and a greater sense of people as a whole — maybe feeling less self-important, more aware of the world around me.
6) Without spoiling anything, what are you most excited about as fans of Sanctuary move to the second book of the series, Containment?
I’m genuinely excited for fans to see the characters change and grow as they process the losses and victories from book one. In Containment, the characters are just dealing with so much trauma, and I really wanted to be true to that experience. I wanted readers to feel for them as they struggled through the notion that their victory wasn’t really a victory at all, just a reprieve — that the underlying issues are still there to be dealt with.
7) What might be the most shocking (if you can tease this)?
Hmmm! Tough question! I don’t want to give anything away, but let’s just say that there’s a character named the Silver Oni who might take people by surprise.
8) Is there anything you have ever wanted to Express to anyone about anything in all the interviews you’ve done but haven’t had a chance to, or haven’t been asked the right questions? If so, this is your time… the floor is yours… 
I don’t know if there’s anything specific that comes to mind, but one thing I like to reiterate is how important stories are to my life and, I think, to all of our lives.
I absolutely love stories in any form: books and graphic novels and TV and movies and podcasts and sitting around listening to my friends tell me things that happened in their day.
And I really want to encourage people not to lose that love of stories. Children have it, and they don’t mind hearing those favorite stories over and over again because they forge such a connection with them. I think we could all use a dose of story in our everyday lives!

BIO

author-photo

Caryn Lix has been writing since she was a teenager and delved deep into science fiction, fantasy, and the uncanny while working on her Masters in English literature. Caryn writes novels for teens and anyone else who likes a bit of the bizarre to mess up their day. When not writing, Caryn spends her time obsessively consuming other people’s stories, plotting travel adventures, and exploring artistic endeavors. She lives with her husband and a horde of surly and entitled animals in southern Alberta.

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