Blog Tour- GEMINA by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff An Interview

I am so excited to be hosting a spot on the GEMINA blog tour! I love Jay and Amie and this book f***ing rocks! I loved it more than ILLUMINAE!!! So make sure you grab a copy! 

Haven't heard of GEMINA Check it out!

Title: GEMINA (The Illuminae Files #2)

Author: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff

Release Date: October 18, 2016

Pages: 608

Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers

Format: Hardcover, eBook, audiobook

Find it: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes& Noble | iBooks

The highly anticipated sequel to the instant New York Times bestseller that critics are calling “out-of-this-world awesome.” 

Moving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna’s social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed.
     The sci-fi saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminae continues on board the Jump Station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of the BeiTech assault. 
     Hanna is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But while the pair are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy's most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed right toward Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion. 
     When an elite BeiTech strike team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the station residents one by one, and a malfunction in the station's wormhole means the space-time continuum might be ripped in two before dinner. Soon Hanna and Nik aren’t just fighting for their own survival; the fate of everyone on the Hypatia—and possibly the known universe—is in their hands.
     But relax. They've totally got this. They hope.
     Once again told through a compelling dossier of emails, IMs, classified files, transcripts, and schematics, Gemina raises the stakes of the Illuminae Files, hurling readers into an enthralling new story that will leave them breathless.

Praise for Illuminae:

A New York Times Bestseller
A PW Bestseller

“Out-of-this-world awesome.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred 

“Stylistically mesmerizing.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred 

“An arresting visual experience.” —Booklist, Starred 

“A game-changer.” —Shelf Awareness, Starre

Now on to the interview!

Hi Amie and Jay! First I want to say welcome back to Two Chicks on Books! GEMINA was absolutely fantastic! I think I liked it better than Illuminae and am so happy that you could stop by for a visit!

Thank you so much for having us! We’re so excited to see Gemina getting ready to head out into the world, and there’s no higher compliment than readers liking book two even better!

For the readers: can you tell us a little bit about GEMINA and the characters? BTW I’m calling it Event Horizon meets Pandorum, and Alien with a bit of Die Hard and romance mixed in :)

Oh, that’s awesome! We’ve been called it Die Hard meets Alien, so you’re right there with us. Readers of Illuminae might remember that the Hypatia was broadcasting to Jump Station Heimdall, desperately hoping for help, or that the station would even be there when they arrived, seeing as how they weren’t replying. Gemina is the story of what was happening on Heimdall in the meantime. 

We’ll meet Hanna Donnelly, the station commander’s daughter, who has a killer 

wardrobe (and some killer moves as well… literally) and Nik Malikov, who’s a member of the station’s local criminal element, and would really like to date Hanna. He’s been striking out on that one so far. And for everyone who wants to know if they’re going to see the characters from book one again… absolutely, yes. 

The ones who survived, anyway.

What about book 3? Is there a title yet?

There is a title, but it’s top secret! We’ve finished drafting it and we’re editing it right now. We’re really happy with how it wraps up everyone’s stories, and you’ll get to see some stuff that we’ve been planting in books one and two really come to the fore in book three!

Ok who’s idea was the Lanima? Because they freaked me the hell out (seriously I had creepy dreams!) and I don’t freak out easily!

We decided together that there were going to be super freaky creatures in this book, and Jay wrote  the original description for them. We don’t freak out easily either, but those things… ugh.

Tell me about Nik’s tattoos did you research different gang tattoos or did you just make them up?

The tattoos are inspired loosely by the tattoos of the vory v zakone, the modern-day Russian Mafia. Jay researched vory tattoos to get an understanding of the patterns of the iconography (he has an unhealthy obsession with international criminal groups – give him a drink and ask about the Hell’s Angels and you’ll be there for hours). But the House of Knives, which is the name of the syndicate Nik and Ella belong to, is inspired by several international criminal groups.  Members of the HoK get tattoos on their bodies to denote stretches they’ve served in prison, and the crimes for which they were incarcerated, which is a vory v zakone tradition. But they also have tattoos to denote their House affiliation, which is closer to the practices of the yakuza.

Nik has a particular tattoo—an angel across his throat—which symbolizes a certain crime he’s committed for the cartel. But, we won’t say anything else about that one, because, spoilers. J

Who was your favorite character to write? What about your least favorite?

This probably sounds like cheating, but there really aren’t any least favourite scenes. If we’re not having fun writing something, it goes, or we rework it until we are having fun. After all, if we don’t love it, readers probably won’t either!

In terms of favourites… gosh, that’s really hard. Nik and Hanna are obvious choices, because we love them to bits. We also really enjoyed writing Nik’s cousin Ella, and a bunch of the badass mercenaries you’ll meet in this book. They’re not all good guys, but they’re a lot of fun!

What is your favorite passage/scene in GEMINA? I know you both probably have different ones!

That’s like asking us to choose a favourite limb! There are so many we could pick. Without spoiling anyone, for today we’ll say… the mirrored scenes.

OMG those scenes killed me!!!!!!!!

Please tell me you have the full lyrics for “I Wanna Lick Ya (Lollipop)? I am really dying to see them all together!

Yes, of course we do! You’ll even hear a snatch of it sung on the audiobook! We’ll share the whole thing one day… when the time is right.

What can we expect for book 3? I’m hoping we’ll get to see the gang again? 

Well, we can say that whoever survives Gemina, you’ll definitely see them in book three. As for what else you can expect… well, lots of answers. And the most epic battle we’ve ever written. Which is saying something.

Thanks so much Amie and Jay for answering my questions! I can’t wait for everyone to read GEMINA and I can’t wait for book 3!

Thank you so much for having us!

About Amie & Jay:

Amie Kaufman is the New York Times bestselling co-author of These Broken Stars and This Shattered World, and Illuminae, the first in a new series starting in 2015. She writes science fiction and fantasy for teens, and her favourite procrastination techniques involve chocolate, baking, sailing, excellent books and TV, plotting and executing overseas travel, and napping.

She lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband, their rescue dog, and her considerable library. She is represented by Tracey Adams of Adams Literary.

Jay Kristoff is the award-winning author of THE LOTUS WAR trilogy, a Japanese-inspired steampunk fantasy. Part 3, ENDSINGER, is out now. He's also co-author of the upcoming ILLUMINAE (with Amie Kaufman), a YA Sci-Fi... thing, to be released by Knopf/Random House in 2015, and NEVERNIGHT, the first part of a new fantasy trilogy kicking off in 2016.

Jay is 6’7 and has approximately 13380 days to live. He abides in Melbourne with his secret agent kung-fu assassin wife, and the world’s laziest Jack Russell.

He does not believe in happy endings.

Meet Amie and Jay

Tuesday, October 25 @ 7:30 PM
Mysterious Galaxy
5943 Balboa Avenue #100
San Diego, CA 92111
In-store Launch Event with Marie Lu

Wednesday, October 26 at 7:00 PM ( JAIME WILL BE AT THIS EVENT!)
PANEL EVENT WITH KIERSTEN WHITE (AND I DARKEN), JESSICA CLUESS (A SHADOW BRIGHT & BURNING), AND ARWEN ELYS DAYTON (TRAVELER)
Menlo Park Public Library
800 Alma Street
Menlo Park, CA 94025

Thursday, October 27
Old Town Library
201 Peterson Street
Fort Collins, CO 80524

Friday, October 28 @ 7:00 PM
Tattered Cover Colfax
2526 E Colfax Ave
Denver, CO 80206

Saturday, October 29 at 7:00 PM
The King’s English Bookshop
1511 1500 E
Salt Lake City, UT 84105

Sunday, October 30 at 2:00 PM
BookPeople
603 N Lamar Boulevard
Austin, TX 78703

Tuesday, November 1 at 6:00 PM
Books of Wonder
18 W 18th Street
New York, NY 10011

Wednesday, November 2 at 6:30 PM
Barnes & Noble Yonkers
Central Plaza Shopping Center
2614 Central Park Avenue
Yonkers, NY 10710

Thursday, November 3 at 7:00 PM
Bethesda Library
7400 Arlington Road
Bethesda, MD 20814

Saturday, November 5 at 7:00 PM
Malaprop’s Bookstore & Café
55 Haywood Street Asheville, NC
28801

Sunday, November 6 at 5:00 PM
Little Shop of Stories
133 E Court Square # A
Decatur, GA 30030

Monday, November 7 at 6:00 PM
Barnes & Noble Cumming
The Collection at Forsyth
410 Peachtree Pkwy #252
Cumming, GA 30041

Wednesday, November 9 at 6:30 PM
Parnassus Books
Hillsboro Plaza Shopping Center
3900 Hillsboro Pike #14
Nashville, TN 37215

Friday, November 11 – Saturday, November 12
YallFest
Charleston, SC
Book Festival Panel Events

If you haven't started the series now's a great time!