Today we’re celebrating the launch of Beth Revis’s A MILLION SUNS by participating in the Virtual Party! Each hour of the day, from 9am to 5pm EST, there will be a different feature on a different blog. And each stop, in true party fashion, will have a party favor to give out—in the form of a signed book plus some cool swag—and a party game: a puzzle piece to a truly epic prize for one winner! So read on to find out exclusive information about A MILLION SUNS and enter to win a signed book!
THREE SECRETS
In an effort to get Katie of Mundie Moms to read on the Harry Potter series (I mean, come ON! How can you not devour those books, amirite?), I tantalized her by promising to tell her a secret about A MILLION SUNS if she kept reading Harry Potter.
That didn’t quite work out, so instead, I’m going to tell YOU some of the behind-the-scenes secrets that I worked on for A MILLION SUNS.
And because I’m morbid and like to make you sad and think about death and stuff, all of these secrets deal with murder.
ACROSS THE UNIVERSE is a book that I like to call “a murder mystery in space,” but A MILLION SUNS is more of a puzzle mystery. I guess you could say AtU is an Agatha Christie and AMS is a Sherlock Holmes. You know, in space. Because everything’s cooler in space. Still, there’s a pretty high body count in A MILLION SUNS, and there’s definitely a murderer working quietly behind the scenes.
But here’s what you didn’t know:
Secret #1: When you discover who the killer really is, I hope you’re shocked. I was. In my original plan for the novel, this character was NOT the killer. In fact, he was supposed to be the good guy of the third book. However, when I rewrote A MILLION SUNS, I realized that this character had a much stronger motivation than the original character who was the killer, so I switched around the plots of both the second and third book to make this character be the bad guy of A MILLION SUNS.
Secret #2: The killer changed three times in each subsequent draft. In my original draft, the killer was Character A. However, while *I* thought I was rather clever by making Character A the killer, none of my initial readers understood that character’s motivation. In the second rewrite, Character B was the killer. Although it made sense for Character B to be the killer, my editor pointed out that Character C had stronger motivation. With each rewrite of the novel, a different character was the bad guy…so you can imagine how surprised even my initial readers will be once they see the final version! Until ARCs were printed, the only people who knew who the final killer was was my agent, my editor, and me.
Secret #3: This secret is a bit of a spoiler. If you want to remain 100% in the dark, do not read further.
Seriously. Quit reading now if you want to avoid a spoiler.
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Okay, don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Kayleigh is Harley’s girlfriend in the first book. Harley always believed that she committed suicide. However, in the second book, it’s revealed that Kayleigh did not commit suicide. Here’s the secret: her true killer is not the person everyone suspects. I will reveal the full story of Kayleigh’s death at a later point in time, but suffice it to say, there’s a lot more mystery surrounding her death than anyone on the ship currently knows.
Thanks for stopping by today as a part of the Virtual LaunchParty for A MILLION SUNS! To help celebrate, one commenter on this post will receive a signed paperback of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, the first book of the trilogy, along with some custom swag, including a poster, an art print of a koi fish (made by the student who inspired Beth to write the character Harley), NASA goodies, and more. This contest is open internationally, and will end in 24 hours.
JUST COMMENT ON THIS POST TO ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN THIS PRIZE!
Make sure you go back to Beth’s website for full details onthe party. Visit every site in the party to gather clues that will enable you to enter for the GRAND PRIZE—a signed paperback of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, a signed hardback of A MILLION SUNS, an exclusive water bottle, a poster, an art print, and more!
In order to win that grand prize, you need a clue. And the clue for this blog stop is...
