Fall Into Fantasy with Melissa De La Cruz!

From New York Times bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston comes this remarkable first book in a spellbinding new series about the dawn of a new kind of magic.

 

Welcome to New Vegas, a city once covered in bling, now blanketed in ice. Like much of the destroyed planet, the place knows only one temperature—freezing. But some things never change. The diamond in the ice desert is still a 24-hour hedonistic playground and nothing keeps the crowds away from the casino floors, never mind the rumors about sinister sorcery in its shadows.

At the heart of this city is Natasha Kestal, a young blackjack dealer looking for a way out. Like many, she's heard of a mythical land simply called “the Blue.” They say it’s a paradise, where the sun still shines and the waters are turquoise. More importantly, it’s a place where Nat won’t be persecuted, even if her darkest secret comes to light.

But passage to the Blue is treacherous, if not impossible, and her only shot is to bet on a ragtag crew of mercenaries led by a cocky runner named Ryan Wesson there. Danger and deceit await on every corner, even as Nat and Wes find themselves inexorably drawn to each other. But can true love survive the lies? Fiery hearts collide in this fantastic tale of the evil men do and the awesome power within us all.

Welcome to Penguin’s Fall Into Fantasy blog tour. Join Alison Goodman, Morgan Rhodes, Kristin Cashore, Melissa de la Cruz, and Michael Johnston as they share what fantasy means to them in a series of guest posts throughout the week of October 7th.

Today’s post comes courtesy of Melissa de la Cruz, co-author of Frozen, the first book in the Heart of Dread series, along with her husband Michael Johsnton. Welcome Melissa!

I’ve always been a huge fantasy reader. I was thirteen when I read The Hobbit which lead to Lord of the Rings which lead to a deep and abiding love for middle-earth and all its inhabitants. I swore when I grew up I would name my son “Legolas” and my daughter “Arwen Evenstar.” I was deeply in love with Paul Atreides. In fact, to this day, whenever I meet anyone named “Paul” I still feel a secret thrill, as if my secret book boyfriend is saying hello to me in the real world.

I was a shy bookworm. I wasn’t very interested in people, I was the kid who brought a book to parties and read in a corner instead of talking to anyone. Reality was often disappointing. People were mean, kids were cruel, friends often failed you. But in fantasy, heroism, loyalty and courage always save the day. I wanted to go to there, as Liz Lemon would say. I wanted to live in a world where friends came to your rescue, a world where handsome rangers teared up when they thought you were dead (Aragorn’s reaction to Frodo almost dying always gets me), a world where even the trees had a tragic history, a world where the bread was always homemade and the mead was always cold and the dark lords were always always defeated even if they came back three thousand years later.

My love for fantasy continued into my adulthood, I used to visit the AOL Lord of the Rings chatroom to talk with like-minded fans (remember those? Also this was way before the movies), and through my love for Harry Potter I discovered writers like Robin McKinley and Diana Wynne Jones, who became one of my favorite fantasy writers. Her satire The Tough Guide to Fantasyland is hilarious and read-out-loud-worthy. Fantasy has always been a mainstay of my library, of my life.

While Blue Bloods has epic fantasy in its DNA, Frozen is my first foray into creating an entire world and populating it with characters from epic fantasy. There are smallmen and sylphs, handsome heroes, loyal friendships and terrible evil. In the end, love and loyalty win the day. Fantasy is a better world than the one we live in, and I am thankful that I get to fall into it every day of my writing life.

About Melissa de la Cruz: 

Website | Twitter

Melissa de la Cruz is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of many critically acclaimed and award-winning novels for teens including The Au Pairs series, the Blue Bloods series, the Ashleys series, and the Angels on Sunset Boulevard series. She has worked as a fashion and beauty editor and has written for many publications including The New York Times, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Allure, The San Francisco Chronicle, McSweeney’s, Teen Vogue, CosmoGirl! and Seventeen. She has also appeared as an expert on fashion, trends and fame for CNN, E! and FoxNews.

Melissa and Michael collaborate in every capacity in crafting their books, from plot outlines to character sketches and dialogue, from first draft to final polish. They have a daughter and live in Los Angeles and Palm Springs.