Take it away, Sue!
by Susan Kaye Quinn
My new middle grade fantasy, Faery Swap, is about a fourteen-year-old boy who is tricked into swapping places with a warrior faery prince and has to find his way back home before the dimensional window between their worlds slams shut.
2 minute book trailer
In my prior life, I worked for NASA and got a lot of degrees in engineering. (Yes, I really am a rocket scientist and have the Ph.D. to prove it!) I used the logical-left-side of my brain a lot in my work designing aircraft engines and studying global warming. Now that I write fiction, I love using the creative-right side of my brain to create compelling characters and dramatic adventures and the logical-left side to weave in math, science, and technology into my stories. Math and science have always seemed wondrous to me, so it made sense to me to create a story (Faery Swap) where warrior faeries steal mathematical knowledge from humans in order to enhance their magickal faery powers.
In my story, knowledge is literally power.
I'm passionate about this message - that knowledge is power and math is magick - and the ethical use of that knowledge (and those who possess it) is a key theme throughout the story. I wanted to share this message, so I created a Virtual Author Visit, Common-Core-based Teacher's Guide, and a card-based game, so any teacher, anywhere on the planet, could share this message with their students.
9 minute Virtual Author Visit
In this video, I share my background in science and engineering and talk about the book, then show how humans use math in the real world to do amazing things... even without magick to help them.
The Teacher's Guide, activities, card game, and videos are meant to be flexible - teachers and librarians can spend as little as 2 minutes sharing the trailer or they can use the materials to create a whole unit around the book and the Knowledge is Power When Math is Magick theme.
My hope is that some of my love for math and science will rub off on young readers, and kids will see they each have an inner warrior faery capable of seeking knowledge and performing great deeds with it!
Susan Kaye Quinn is the author of the bestselling Mindjack Trilogy, which is young adult science fiction, and Faery Swap is her foray into middle grade, which is her first writing love. Her business card says "Author and Rocket Scientist" and she always has more speculative fiction fun in the works. You can subscribe to her newsletter (hint: new subscribers get a free short story!) or stop by her blog to see what she's up to.
Faery Swap
Fourteen-year-old Finn is tricked into swapping places with a warrior faery prince and has to find his way back home before the dimensional window between their worlds slams shut. Faery Swap is on tour March 3rd - March 21st with a $25 gift card and magick wand giveaways! Sign up here.
This sounds like a very cool book! Delighted to see something mathy--my kids (and I) will love it!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by, Heather!
DeleteThanks so much, Heather! I would love to hear what your kids think of the mathy stuff! (As well as the story :))
DeleteLoved Faery Swap. And it's so awesome how Susan incorporated her knowledge of math into the story.
ReplyDeleteSue is generally awesome in every way!
DeleteOh Matt! You always make me blush! And thank you so much for having me on Project Mayhem!!
DeleteNatalie - thanks so much for reading/reviewing Faery Swap. You've always been a tremendous supporter of MG fic, which I greatly appreciate!
Love how you combined the logical and creative sides of your brain! Your trailers are both informative and interesting
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting and reading/watching, Brenda!
DeleteThank you, Brenda! My brain is happier this way. :)
DeleteThanks for visiting, Susan. Your books sounds wonderful! You sound like you could be a kid out of my Young Inventors Guild books! Rocket science and kid lit might not be an expected combo but clearly it works for you. My 10-yr-old has been doing advanced science (quantum physics? really???) that I don't even understand. We just may have to introduce him to your books so he has an ally!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a match made in heaven to me, Eden!
DeleteI would absolutely love for your 10yo to become acquainted with the books - but I bet he would LOVE the Knowledge Seekers card game!
DeleteA card game? You really invented a card game for the story? That's awesome! I love stuff like that!
ReplyDeleteSue is the real deal.
DeleteWhere's that "like" button? :-)
DeleteAw, thanks you guys! My 12yo gamer boy helped big time with how to make the game work in the real world (as opposed to the fantasy in my head of how it should work!). But it sure was fun to put together.
DeleteThe logical vs the creative part of the brain is a convenient subdivision. Engineering and math is very much from the logical part, and art is from the creative part. But I think much of scientific research uses both, in the sense that it's creativity within the laws of physics (and with math as the main tool).
ReplyDeleteI applaude anything that can trigger kids' and young people's interest in science and math which is extremely important in the modern society. Without math there would be no computers, cell phones, air planes or sky-scrapers.
(I never worked in rocket science, but my background is quantum mechanics, and my current job is in geoscience)
Cold As Heaven
I think you make a very valid point, Cold.
DeleteIt's a simplification, to be sure, the left-brain-right-brain meme. But you would be surprised how prevalent that thinking can be early on - kids self identify well before Gr 3-6 that they're "not into reading" or "no good at math". I think by putting it in reductionist terms like this, it helps kids see that BOTH of these traits are inherent to everyone's brains. Because we all have right halves and left halves, yes? This is my simple approach to try to bridge the gap that exists. Because truly, the future depends on all sciences be creative and all arts being inventive.
DeleteLove the cover! Sounds like a great premise, and I'm looking forward to reading
ReplyDeleteI completely agree!
DeleteThank you Marissa!!
DeleteWish I'd had this book as a kid - I knew there was magic in numbers, but my teachers didn't.
ReplyDeleteAnd very cool video, though the soundtrack about made me want to leap on a dragon in full armor. :-)
LOL. There's not really anything that DOESN'T make me want to leap on a dragon.
DeleteHaha to both of you! And please, do not let me hold you back from the dragon jumping. :)
DeleteNever!
DeleteSounds like a very cool concept! Even though math still makes me twitch :) Congratulations on your book, Susan!
ReplyDelete