It's a busy day here at Supernatural Central. Get a big cup of coffee and sit down because Denise Marques Leitao has dropped by to answer our three fave questions for us. Ready?
SC: Tell me a
little bit about your main character of this book.
DML: Karina.
She’s 14, and she likes math but she’s bad in English, French (cause I imagined
her living in Montreal) and social sciences in general. She doesn’t like
questions without clear answers, meaning that she lacks interpretation skills.
But she works on it. She’s not great at
verbal skills either, but that’s something that she obviously can’t improve in
the course of one book. I think she’s also a loyal friend
SC: Do you believe in the paranormal and if so, do
you have an experience you can share?
DML: Oh, I
was born in Brazil. Are you kidding me? I’ve seen people incorporating spirits,
people talking to spirits. I’ve also seen things. But I don’t think these
things are paranormal, I think they are part of our world, in a sense.
Sometimes I think it’s just residual energy forming images. I’m not sure I
believe in ghosts, even though I believe in spirits, which is odd. One
experience I can share is that, when I was a kid, I played with a glass. It’s
like a ouija board, but with a glass turned upside down and letters (any kid
could do it, and of course we did it). The glass moves, but we have to touch
it. I sometimes think it’s only the people’s energy moving it. We used it to
answer questions, but it never answered anything decent. Anyways, it’s super
ridiculous. Even if it was a spirit, how would they know anything about us?
SC: I had a
Ouiji board as a kid. Funny how they are so taboo now. Different times,
different toys I guess. What titles are
you working on now that you can tell us about?
DML: I’m
working on getting the word out about Karina’s Silver Shoes.
SC: That's a
big job in itself, for sure. I'd better let you get back to it. Thanks for
dropping by today. Let's take a look at the book.
Karina’s Silver Shoes
Denise
Marques Leitao
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Publisher: Sparkly Wave
Date of Publication: September
18th, 2017
ISBN: 9781775063711
ASIN: B074T8RFWX
Number of pages: 250
Word Count: 70k
Tagline: She’s got the fate of a
kingdom in her hands—or rather, in her shoes.
Book Description:
When two princesses ask Karina to
go to Whyland, a kingdom in a parallel dimension, to destroy her fascinating
and potentially evil silver shoes, of course Karina accepts. Who would refuse a
free trip to an alternate world?
Advised by a wise master and threatened
by a beautiful stepmother, Karina goes on a journey with a princess to defeat a
powerful witch. But Whyland is nothing like she expected. Karina finds herself
stuck in a kingdom she doesn’t understand, with no clue on who to trust. Before
saving anyone, she’d better save herself—if she figures out how.
From
Brazilian / Canadian writer Denise Marques Leitao comes Karina’s Silver Shoes,
a teen parody of fantasy and fairy-tale tropes with many female characters,
friendships between girls and women, and some subtle romance.
If
you like to read about strong girls and women, you’ve found your book.
Excerpt
1
Karina just
stared in amazement. After the so-called genie, now it was time for two
princesses. Special shoes can really make one feel important. In the dim glow,
all she could see was their shapes, their dresses and their dark hair. The
situation was too strange to be real, but too real to be a dream. She didn’t
know what to make of this visit, and had no idea where that light was coming
from. She looked around puzzled.
“What’s with the
orange glow?”
The room fell
dark.
“What orange
glow?” a voice asked in the darkness.
Some nerve these
girls had. The light from the window would have been enough to make shapes
distinguishable in the dark, but not right after a light had been turned off.
Still, Karina knew her room well enough to walk up to the switch on the wall, almost
stumbling on the older girl on her way, who let out a gasp.
Now clearly
visible for the first time, the girls were simply two normal looking teenagers.
They had the same very dark brown hair, but looked different. The older girl,
Cayla, who seemed to be about fifteen or sixteen, had sharp facial features and
her dress was actually yellow. In a plain blue dress, not green, Ayanna had a
pleasant round face with bright eyes. She seemed to be around twelve.
“What are you
doing here?” Karina asked.
Ayanna jumped
ahead and started apologizing, talking fast, “We’re really sorry, we didn’t
mean to disturb you, it’s important, we need your help, it’s the sh—”
“Pssst,” Cayla
interrupted.
“Let her talk,” Karina said.
But the younger
girl just looked down and remained silent.
“Continue,”
Karina urged.
“Right.” Ayanna
looked at her sister, who nodded, then took a deep breath and started,
“Sometime ago, a day or two, the witch came here.” She talked fast, almost
stumbling on her own words as she went. “We think she came here, to this room,
and talked to you. We think she wanted her shoes, we think you still have them,
and if she gets them, it is bad, like, really bad, the end of the world.” Then
she breathed again.
End of the
world? Witch? A day before? That was not making much sense. The girl’s fear and
urgency were probably contagious, because Karina started feeling a chill in her
stomach as she sat on her bed.
Cayla crouched
in front of Karina looking right in her eyes, and asked, “Do you still have the
shoes?”
“Yes.” It was no
occasion for lies. “But, no. I mean, the only visit I received was tonight, and
she didn’t seem to be a witch. I mean, I don’t know, but still, it was a little
less than an hour ago, not yesterday.”
Ayanna whispered
to her sister, “The time difference, it’s greater than Odell thought.”
“Yes,” Cayla
replied and turned to Karina. “So you’re saying she came tonight?”
“Yes. But, I’m
not really sure she’s this witch you are talking about. She seemed really
nice.”
Ayanna rolled
her eyes. “She had to seem nice! She’s cunning.”
“We followed her
path to get here, so we know it was her,” Cayla said. “Was she really
convincing?”
Spot on. Karina
nodded. She remembered with embarrassment her delight at the opportunity of
making a wish. But one thing bewildered her. “If she’s evil, why didn’t she
take the shoes?”
Denise Marques Leitao was born
and raised in Brazil. When she’s not creating worlds and characters, she’s
discussing the meaning of the Universe with her son, writing unintellectual
poetry, podcasting about popular culture, or teaching. She lives in Montreal, Canada,
and has a Master’s in English Literature.
To learn more about Denise, get
news, bonus materials and preview chapters, visit http://denisemarquesleitao.com
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