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The
Sound of the Stars by
Alechia
Dow
Publisher: Inkyard
Press
Release
Date: February 25, 2020
Genre:
Young Adult, Sci-Fi, Fantasy
Synopsis:
Can
a girl who risks her life for books and an alien who loves
forbidden
pop music work together to save humanity?
Two
years ago, a misunderstanding between the leaders of Earth
and the
invading Ilori resulted in the deaths of one-third of the
world’s
population.
Seventeen-year-old
Janelle “Ellie” Baker survives in an Ilori-
controlled center in
New York City. Deemed dangerously volatile
because of their initial
reaction to the invasion, humanity’s
emotional transgressions are
now grounds for execution. All art,
books and creative expression are
illegal, but Ellie breaks the rules
by keeping a secret library. When
a book goes missing, Ellie is
terrified that the Ilori will track it
back to her and kill her.
Born
in a lab, M0Rr1S (Morris) was raised to be emotionless.
When he finds
Ellie’s illegal library, he’s duty-bound to deliver her
for
execution. The trouble is, he finds himself drawn to human
music and
in desperate need of more. They’re both breaking the
rules for love
of art—and Ellie inspires the same feelings in him
that music does.
Ellie’s—and
humanity’s—fate rests in the hands of an alien she
should fear.
M0Rr1S has a lot of secrets, but also a potential
solution—thousands
of miles away. The two embark on a wild and
dangerous road trip with
a bag of books and their favorite albums,
all the while making a
story and a song of their own that just might
save them both.
Book Links:
Kobo | iBooks | Indie Bound
My
Publishing Journey
Hi
everyone! I’m Alechia Dow, and I’m going to tell you my long and
twisty journey to becoming a published author.
When
I was five years-old, I wrote my first story about a princess trapped
inside a jar. A prince tried to save her, but failed, so she saved
herself, him, and defeated an evil wizard. After, she lived with her
cat in the woods. A few weeks later, I wrote about the princess and
her cat, and sentient trees. My stories were nonsensical and
illegible, but I remember feeling accomplished for having tried.
Years
later, I was featured in our town newspaper for having written an
abstract poem that resonated with my teacher. It was the most
ridiculous thing I’ve ever written, and became a family joke.
Imagine having your aunt quoting your own lines back to you at
Thanksgiving dinner and everyone laughing? Because that’s what
happened. It put me off writing for years.
Instead,
I fell into books. Having been the only black kid in my school, I’d
found the best way to survive was to read everything wherever I went.
You couldn’t be lonely if you had a good book, right? I devoured
mystery (I was particularly fond of Mary Higgins Clark), romantic
comedies, horror (I checked out every R.L. Stine book in our library
at least twice), science fiction, especially Octavia Butler, Philip
K. Dick, and any Star Wars fiction I could get my hands on. I spent
so much time at the local library that I got my first job there!
Bonus, they didn’t charge me late fees, AND I got access to books
before release date. It was a dream.
It
wasn’t until I went to college for pastry arts that I went back
into writing for fun. Weirdly, I developed a bit of a following with
my friends. They’d request new chapters of my rom-coms and sci-fi
faster than I could write them. I did my concentration in food
writing, became a food critic, a pastry chef…and still I wrote. I
delved into fantasy, I read more than ever. I submitted my first
story to small publishers, receiving really great feedback and
affirming that I could actually write a story.
Then
life changed. My mom passed away a few days before I started grad
school and I got a bit lost. Suddenly, my favorite pastime seemed
foolish; I wasn’t talented enough, I’d never be able to pay off
my student loans, I didn’t have the time to spend writing when I
should be working to keep myself out of the poverty I was raised in.
I gave up.
Eventually,
I became a librarian, worked three jobs, and moved to New York City.
I found myself again and felt on top of the world… until I fell in
love with a German, and moved to Germany. The German state of Bavaria
didn’t accept my master’s degree, and while I worked as a
kindergarten teacher, it wasn’t for me. I went back to writing. It
still wasn’t good, and worse, my confidence took a serious hit.
There
was a temp job opening in NYC for my partner, and I tagged along,
with our then two year-old. I worked in Brooklyn as a Children’s
Librarian for nine months in 2016. During that time, I took online
classes for comic book writing, and then a story popped into my
brain. I wrote a 96k book over the course of six months. It was
trash, but I didn’t know that.
I
submitted it to agents and got maybe three full requests out of fifty
queries. Then I applied to Justina Ireland’s Writing in the Margins
mentorship program. To my absolute surprise, I got in! Tamara Mataya
became my mentor, and for the next four months, she taught me how to
write. I’m not kidding. From sensory details to physical anchors, I
owe so much to Tam, and because of her, I could write more books.
Which I did.
In
June 2017, I wrote The Sound of Stars. I revised it for Pitch Wars,
and didn’t get in. But then with the help of Erin Hahn, Tamara
(again), and Laura Weymouth, I pitched it in PitMad on September 7th,
2017. By September 12th,
I had offers. It was the best moment of my writing career; to be
wanted, to feel like I finally had the right recipe for a story, to
feel like I’d found a partner to help get my books out in the
world.
The
truth is though, when you’re querying, you think of agents like
unicorns. Once you have one, you might think, “oh! I’m done now.
I can focus on books.” And it’s just not the case. Agents aren’t
unicorns, they’re human, and they are your partner, your story
sounding board, your advocate. If you can’t talk to them, if you
don’t feel like they understand you or your work, then it’s back
to square one.
After
six months, I was back at square one.
My
second agent (who is incredible!!) sold The Sound of Stars to Inkyard
Press, an imprint of HarperCollins! My editor, Tashya Wilson, is
seriously amazing and a genius, and Inkyard has been an absolute
dream to work with. While revising has been a lesson in learning to
polish and find every loose end, I could not have asked for a better
team in my corner. Team Inkyard!!
Since
then, I had another shakeup with representation, and after nine
excruciating months where I doubted everything, I found my agent
match. I’ve never been more hopeful, never felt so accepted and
supported, and fingers crossed, I’ll get to write more books.
Thank
you for reading my long and rambling account of getting published.
It’s been wild, but I know I’ve been lucky and I hope I can help
others on this journey!
About the Author
Alechia
Dow is a former pastry chef, food critic, culinary teacher,
and Youth
Services librarian. When not writing about determined
black girls
(like herself), you can find her chasing her wild child,
baking, or
taking teeny adventures around Europe.
Author Links:
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