Feature Book of the Week #3: Cinder by Marissa Meyers

Cinder

by Marissa Meyers

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

A Guest Post by Marissa Meyers

I'm so thrilled that Cinder was chosen as one of your battle books this year. I don't think we had Battle of the Books when I was in school - or if we did, my school didn't participate - but I like to think I would have rocked that battle if we had. I do clearly recall the excitement of receiving the Scholastic catalogues each season, the singular joy of discovering a book that I absolutely adored and wanted to share with all my friends, and that surprising moment when I would realize that a book I was reading "for school" turned out to be kind of awesome.

See, I've always been an avid reader, a lover of books. My mom claims that one of my first words was "story" (along with "cookie," because I had priorities). I have fond memories of filling my arms with books at my local library, and staying up way past my bedtime to read them. And I remember that shocking realization I had when I was still pretty young, that behind every book was a real person who had the job of writing that story. The knowledge that one could tell stories for a living was new and brilliant and I knew very early on that this was what I wanted to do with my life.

So to think that my life has come full circle now - that students may be discovering my books through their teachers or libraries or Scholastic catalogues, through their Battle of the Books list - is mind-boggling and a little bit magical.

I very much hope you'll enjoy getting to know Cinder and the world of the Lunar Chronicles, and that you'll totally rock this year's Battle of the Books! Good luck!

 

 About the Author

One of my first spoken words was “story” (right along with “bath” and “cookie”), my favorite toy as an infant was a soft, squishable book, and I’ve wanted to be a writer since I first realized such a job existed.

When I was fourteen my best friend introduced me to anime and fanfiction—over the years I would complete over forty Sailor Moon fanfics under the penname Alicia Blade. Those so inclined can still find my first stories at fanfiction.net. Writing fanfic turned out to be awesome fun and brought me in contact with an amazing group of fanfiction readers and writers. As Alicia Blade, I also had a novelette, “The Phantom of Linkshire Manor,” published in the gothic romance anthology Bound in Skin (CatsCurious Press, 2007).

When I was sixteen I worked at The Old Spaghetti Factory in Tacoma, Washington, affectionately termed “The Spag.” (Random factoid: This is also the restaurant where my parents met some 25 years before.) I attended Pacific Lutheran University where I sorted mail that came to the dorm, carted tables and chairs around campus, and took writing classes, eventually earning a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing and Children’s Literature. Knowing I wanted a career in books, I would also go on to receive a Master’s degree in Publishing from Pace University. After graduation, I worked as an editor in Seattle for a while before becoming a freelance typesetter and proofreader.

Then, day of days, someone thought it would be a good idea to give me a book deal, so I became a full-time writer. CINDER is my first novel, though I have an adorable collection of unfinished ones lying around too.

I now live with my husband and our three cats (Calexandria Josephine, Stormus Enormous, and Blackland Rockwell III), who go in and out, in and out, about eight hundred times a day. My favorite non-bookish things include Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, re-watching episodes of Firefly, and playing all manners of dress-up. (bio from author website)