Hey guys! Today Kim Zarins, the author of Sometimes We Tell the Truth, is here to share a fun guest post with us~ Before we get to that, here's a little about the pre-order giveaway she's hosting!
If you pre-order the book by its release date, September 6th, drop Kim a message on her website or Twitter and she’ll send you a sticker featuring spot art from the book (if there is a character who intrigues you, let Kim know, and she’ll give you that sticker), along with a bookmark and signed bookplate!
Sometimes We Tell the Truth
by Kim Zarins
September 6, 2016
448 pages
Goodreads Summary:
In this contemporary retelling of The Canterbury Tales, a group of teens on a bus ride to Washington, DC, each tell a story—some fantastical, some realistic, some downright scandalous—in pursuit of the ultimate prize: a perfect score.
Jeff boards the bus for the Civics class trip to Washington, DC, with a few things on his mind:
-Six hours trapped with his classmates sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
-He somehow ended up sitting next to his ex-best friend, who he hasn’t spoken to in years.
-He still feels guilty for the major part he played in pranking his teacher, and the trip’s chaperone, Mr. Bailey.
-And his best friend Cannon, never one to be trusted and banned from the trip, has something “big” planned for DC.
But Mr. Bailey has an idea to keep everyone in line: each person on the bus is going to have the chance to tell a story. It can be fact or fiction, realistic or fantastical, dark or funny or sad. It doesn’t matter. Each person gets a story, and whoever tells the best one will get an automatic A in the class.
But in the middle of all the storytelling, with secrets and confessions coming out, Jeff only has one thing on his mind—can he live up to the super successful story published in the school newspaper weeks ago that convinced everyone that he was someone smart, someone special, and someone with something to say.
In her debut novel, Kim Zarins breathes new life into Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales in a fresh and contemporary retelling that explores the dark realities of high school, and the subtle moments that bring us all together.
Jeff boards the bus for the Civics class trip to Washington, DC, with a few things on his mind:
-Six hours trapped with his classmates sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.
-He somehow ended up sitting next to his ex-best friend, who he hasn’t spoken to in years.
-He still feels guilty for the major part he played in pranking his teacher, and the trip’s chaperone, Mr. Bailey.
-And his best friend Cannon, never one to be trusted and banned from the trip, has something “big” planned for DC.
But Mr. Bailey has an idea to keep everyone in line: each person on the bus is going to have the chance to tell a story. It can be fact or fiction, realistic or fantastical, dark or funny or sad. It doesn’t matter. Each person gets a story, and whoever tells the best one will get an automatic A in the class.
But in the middle of all the storytelling, with secrets and confessions coming out, Jeff only has one thing on his mind—can he live up to the super successful story published in the school newspaper weeks ago that convinced everyone that he was someone smart, someone special, and someone with something to say.
In her debut novel, Kim Zarins breathes new life into Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales in a fresh and contemporary retelling that explores the dark realities of high school, and the subtle moments that bring us all together.
Five Favorite Scenes
Today I wanted to share my five favorite scenes! Here they are with no further ado. (And, sorry, I tried to rank them, but it’s like ranking your children—so this is a pretend ranking):
#5 A kitty, doughnuts, and boys…all in one scene
When I found out I would get to appear on BookCatPin, I started thinking, do I have a kitty in my story? And actually, I DO have a cute kitty making a brief appearance in one my very favorite scenes. It’s a scene that has it all: the kitty, doughnuts, and characters trying to act cool but actually full of quasi/maybe/eek! romantic tension. So it seems perfect for Eileen’s blog to mention that the scene really gets going once you see the kitty.
#4 Sophie’s Tale
Although my novel is a contemporary YA, I really liked the freedom of writing in other genres in the tales told by the character. Sophie is very shy and sweet, and she surprises the whole bus by telling a paranormal romance between an angel and a devil. (If you want to see an excerpt from her tale, check it out on the Novel Novice’s site on 8/29/16.)
#3 Tale Wars
I’m cheating a little here, but I’ll explain. Some of the most fun tales to write were the ones with enemies using their stories to get back at one another. So when Rooster tells a contemporary tale that makes fun of Reeve, Reeve tells his tale in revenge. Similarly, when Frye mocks Mace in his tale, Mace gets back at Frye next—with a devil in a regular high school as the common thread. As a non-confrontational introvert, I had a blast writing dialogue and tales full of in-your-face confrontation!
#2 The Ending
Once I entered the editorial process, the main revision I had to make was to scrap everything from the arrival at Washington D.C. to the very last page. I deleted about forty pages of writing and started all over, and the two chapters in D.C. are so much stronger for it. Everything about the resolution with Cannon, the group dynamic, and Jeff and Pard feel better, and the last page in particular felt really good to me, good to write it, and good on the page. Ahhhh.
#1 Alison’s Tale
I have to warn you that Alison’s personal story is very raw and hard-hitting. But I wanted to be faithful to Chaucer and the balance he strikes between a very vibrant, liberated and optimistic woman—a real fighter—and at the same time a person who’s had some very rough experiences and is still processing them.
Thank you so much Kim! I love the sound of the kitty scene and can't wait until I get to read it!!
About the Author
Kim Zarins has a PhD in English from Cornell University and teaches medieval literature at Sacramento State University. Her YA contemporary retelling of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Sometimes We Tell the Truth, will be released on September 6, 2016. When she isn’t reading, writing, or teaching, she hangs out with her family in Davis, CA, and coaxes a scrub jay named Joe to take peanuts from her hand. You can find her at www.kimzarins.com, on Twitter @KimZarins, and on her public page on Facebook at Kim Zarins.
Website Authors Goodreads
Website Authors Goodreads
Giveaway
Week One:
Week Two:
This book sounds right up my alley. I love that cover, too!
ReplyDelete