Our Dried Voices
Author: Greg Hickey
Publisher: Scribe Publishing Company
Publication Date: November 4, 2014
Pages: 234
Genre: Dystopian / Science Fiction
Format: Paperback, eBook (Kindle / PDF)
Book Description:
In 2153, cancer was cured. In 2189, AIDS. And in 2235, the last members of the human race traveled to a far distant planet called Pearl to begin the next chapter of humanity. Several hundred years after their arrival, the remainder of humanity lives in a utopian colony in which every want is satisfied automatically, and there is no need for human labor, struggle or thought. But when the machines that regulate the colony begin to malfunction, the colonists are faced with a test for the first time in their existence. With the lives of the colonists at stake, it is left to a young man named Samuel to repair these breakdowns and save the colony. Aided by his friend Penny, Samuel rises to meet each challenge. But he soon discovers a mysterious group of people behind each of these problems, and he must somehow find and defeat these saboteurs in order to rescue his colony.
Format: Paperback, eBook (Kindle / PDF)
Book Description:
In 2153, cancer was cured. In 2189, AIDS. And in 2235, the last members of the human race traveled to a far distant planet called Pearl to begin the next chapter of humanity. Several hundred years after their arrival, the remainder of humanity lives in a utopian colony in which every want is satisfied automatically, and there is no need for human labor, struggle or thought. But when the machines that regulate the colony begin to malfunction, the colonists are faced with a test for the first time in their existence. With the lives of the colonists at stake, it is left to a young man named Samuel to repair these breakdowns and save the colony. Aided by his friend Penny, Samuel rises to meet each challenge. But he soon discovers a mysterious group of people behind each of these problems, and he must somehow find and defeat these saboteurs in order to rescue his colony.
Buy Links:
Character Interview
1. Samuel, quick, describe yourself in
seven words or less!
A: Brown, male, good-at-speaking, climber,
door-opener, alone
2. Tell us something about your current
hometown.
A: I live with grass and trees and a river.
There are big buildings. I sleep in some and I eat in others. Most days there
is sun. Sometimes there is rain. There are others here too. They look the same.
3. What's the strangest thing that has ever
happened to you?
A: Many things are happening. Sometimes
doors are locked. Sometimes the food does not come. Sometimes it rains and
rains. The heroes are gone. One day the bridges were broken. On one bridge was
a paper.
I do not know what it means. I think someone
made it. But I do not know who.
4. What's your favorite food?
A: I eat meal cakes. The bells ring three
times every day. When the bells ring, I go to a building to get food. There is
a hole in the wall of the building. I go to the hole and there is a red light.
Then a meal cake comes from the hole. I eat it in the building or on the grass.
5. Can you tell us a little about what to
expect in Our Dried Voices?
A: More things begin to break. The tables
in the buildings where we get food are gone. But I find them. Some people get
big meal cakes and some get small meal cakes. Some people are very hungry. Some
begin to hurt others. I find more papers. I want to know who made them and why.
I want to know why the buildings are breaking. I try to fix things but there
are so many. Penny helps me. We give food to the other people. We walk at night
to look for others, others who break things.
6. Can you tell us something about yourself
we don't learn from the book?
A: I like to get out of bed just before it
starts to get light. I like to see the sky get light. Everything is quiet.
There is water on the grass like little drops of rain, even when there is no
rain. The light comes up over the mountains and the black mountain-shapes run
to the fence and then step back slow. It is cold at first and I like to feel
the light on me as it goes up in the sky. I get warmer and warmer and the
mountain-shapes go back and the light comes in and there is nothing else then.
Just the light and the mountains and the grass and me.
7. What is your author Greg Hickey like?
A: I do not know “Greg Hickey.” What is
“author?” Is it like “Storyteller?” I know one Storyteller. Maybe I knew the
one before him. They are all the same. He tells the same story each time. It is
a story about two little people. One is male and one is female. The male is
called “Sully” or “brother.” The female is called “Penny” or “sister.” Penny
gets lost and Sully tries to find her. He meets many people, strange people. He
finds something shiny called a “ring.” In the end, he finds Penny again.
8. Name five items in your purse or pockets
right now.
A: There is one thing in my pocket right
now. It is part of the window in one of the buildings where I get food. It is
sharp on one end. I used it to open the doors in the floor. I used it to fix
the bridges.
9. What was your first impression of Penny?
A: She looked different than the others.
And she followed the First Hero, like me. No one else did that. At first she
talked like the others. Her eyes are big and dark. When I first looked at them
I thought they were scared like the others’. But she was different. She walked
different. The next time she pretended to talk like the others, but she really
knew how to talk right. She made me laugh.
10. If you had one chance to change
anything about your life what would it be?
A: I would not make our home the way it is.
I would make everyone have to think.
Discuss
this book in our PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads by clicking HERE
Greg Hickey was born in Evanston, Illinois in 1985. After
graduating from Pomona College in 2008, he played and coached baseball in
Sweden and South Africa. He is now a forensic scientist, endurance athlete and
award-winning writer. He lives in Chicago with his wife, Lindsay. You can visit
Greg’s website at www.greghickeywrites.com.
Author Links:
Thank you for hosting the tour. - Kathleen Anderson, PUYB Tour Coord.
ReplyDelete