Description:
In the second book in the Ramtalan Trilogy, Argus Dachel, a far-from-ordinary half-alien teen, finds himself mixed up in the battle between a hostile faction of Invaders and the peaceful Ramtalans he’s come to know as his friends.
With his brother Tai held captive at the Citadel and disturbing news about his father, Argus has to come to grips with the truth about who he really is. Not only is the government agency, the Astronomical Urgent Recovery Administration, AURA, hot on his tail, but his relationship with his girlfriend Lola is in jeopardy. As his special abilities increase and become stronger, he risks exposure and capture.
When the enemy closes in and the Citadel is attacked, it seems victory is impossible, but losing means certain death. He must find some way to protect everyone around him, but winning is impossible.
Or is it?
GUEST POST
YA is on Fire!
I write multi-genre, which means I enjoy not sticking to one genre. I’ve written science fiction, romance, historical women’s fiction, horror and romantic paranormal with a humorous twist. But, my recent work is in Young Adult, specifically science fiction. Right now, as most people know, this genre is red hot. There was a drop-off of young readership with the advent of video games, computers and the internet, but Harry Potter changed that.
When Harry Potter hit the scene, young people (as well as adults) started reading again. As with most things, when something becomes popular, there are lots of mimics. Tons of wizard books came out, but when readers started to lose interest, another sub-genre of YA sprung up. Vampires. Vampire books, movies and TV shows were everywhere, with a sprinkling of werewolves, witches and assorted other-wordly creatures. There is still an interest in these stories, but again, this led to the current sub-genre: the dystopian/apocalyptic/science fiction YA stories.
So what makes a YA story popular? There are several factors that contribute to the popularity, such as likeable, relatable characters and a story that grabs a young person’s attention. It’s really no different than a movie, except a book takes more time to develop a character and plot. This is one reason why it’s hard to turn a novel into a movie. The slow build-up of a character, or even the plot and sub-plots, has to be done quickly and sometimes things are left out that were in the book.
What makes a character relatable to a young adult audience and how does a writer create a character like this? Understanding what young adults are going through at a certain stage of life is critical. When you look at the popular books, they have characters that most people, young and adult, can understand. Harry Potter was bullied and mistreated, Tris from Divergent had to suddenly leave her parents and take on a brand new life and Bella from Twilight was moody, full of angst and craving love These factors draw young people into the story because it’s like they are living it. If a writer can do that, it’s a success!
So, how does an adult write young adult? I’m a single mother and had three teenagers in my house at the same time. I know, yikes. But they’re older now, so I can’t use them as much for current teen slang and behavior. That’s made me a stalker. Well, not really. I just watch and listen very carefully whenever I’m around teenagers, especially where they congregate at Starbucks or the mall. I look at it like a social experiment and store it all in my writer’s brain.
What about plot? What sort of plot attracts a young adult audience? For young people these days, the plot has to move fast with action or suspense and a threat of some sort to the main character. The world has changed and people aren’t generally too willing to read long, drawn out descriptions or slow-building plots, they want instant gratification. That means even longer books have to have a constant bombardment of thrill, threat and overcoming obstacles, but always maintaining in the background a danger to the character or characters. And, especially for YA, the young people generally have to compete with, go against or defeat the adults.
Almost all of the popular YA books can be considered ‘crossover’ books. This means they are not only popular among a YA audience, but also adults. This could be because everyone enjoys a good story, or perhaps it gets deeper than that. Even adults have the need to escape from their lives and maybe, just maybe, relive their youth. And there’s nothing wrong with that at all. After all, a story is supposed to be entertaining, no matter what your age.
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About the author:
Sofia Diana Gabel is a multi-genre fiction writer who was born in Sydney, Australia, but is now living in the United States with her family. With undergrad degrees in environmental science and archaeology, and currently attending graduate school in archaeology, she enjoys learning and being out in nature when she's not glued to her desk writing or researching a new story idea. Writing is a true passion of hers, born from a love of the written word that can transport the reader to different places or worlds and deliver them back to reality, safe and sound. 
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