Unquietly Me

 

Today I’m very lucky to be interviewing C.B. Lee, author of Not Your Sidekick.

Hi C.B., thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us a little about yourself, your background, and your current book.

Hello! Thank you so much for having me on your blog, I’m very excited to be here. I’m C.B., a first generation Chinese American woman from California, with a passion for travel and hiking and the outdoors. My current novel is Not Your Sidekick, set in a post-apocalyptic world populated by superheroes, and Jess is struggling to find her place in it despite not having superpowers.

1. What are your ambitions for your writing career?

I want to tell as many stories as I can and reach people, and really bring more characters that youth today can relate to, can see themselves in these stories having adventures and having happy endings.

2. How many published books do you have? Can you tell us something about them?

My first novel, Seven Tears at High Tide, was published in 2015 and is about a summer romance between a boy and a selkie who have to navigate the magical consequences of their relationship. It was nominated for two Bisexual Book Awards last year. Not Your Sidekick will be my second novel.

3. Give us an insight into your main character. What does he/she do that is so special?

Jess comes from a family of high expectations; her parents are both superheroes, her older sister is one, and even her younger brother, who doesn’t have powers, is a super genius. She’s very insecure as the overshadowed middle child desperately wants to prove herself. She has more power than she realizes, and learns a lot about her own strength in this novel.

4. What are you working on at the moment? What’s it about?

I’m working on the sequel to Not Your Sidekick! It continues the adventures, this time focusing on Bells and his journey as he tries to clear his name and find out where these rogue killer robots are coming from.

5. Do you aim for a set amount of words/pages per day?

No. I used to, but it stressed me out and I would feel bad about not making my goal. Now I try to just write as much as I can, and I do about twenty minute writing intervals at a time. It helps me set reasonable small goals that I can accomplish, and as long as I’m productive in those twenty minutes, I can do many many rounds of those and call if a productive day, and even squeeze those into and around my busy work schedule.

Thanks again & Congrats on your new release!

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Author Name: C.B. Lee

Book Name: Not Your Sidekick

Release Date: September 8, 2016

 

Blurb:

Welcome to Andover, where superpowers are common, but internships are complicated. Just ask high school nobody, Jessica Tran. Despite her heroic lineage, Jess is resigned to a life without superpowers and is merely looking to beef up her college applications when she stumbles upon the perfect (paid!) internship—only it turns out to be for the town’s most heinous supervillain. On the upside, she gets to work with her longtime secret crush, Abby, whom Jess thinks may have a secret of her own. Then there’s the budding attraction to her fellow intern, the mysterious “M,” who never seems to be in the same place as Abby. But what starts as a fun way to spite her superhero parents takes a sudden and dangerous turn when she uncovers a plot larger than heroes and villains altogether.

 

Pages or Words: 296 pages // 74,000 words

Categories: Young adult; LGBT romance; Fantasy; Super hero

 

Excerpt:

“Pretty sure the comic artists were all inspired by actual events.” Abby shows Jess how all the comics start with the “origin:” Lieutenant Orion finding Gravitus at the scene, Gravitus creating a natural firebreak with his earth powers, and Orion flying firefighters to safety. “There aren’t holos of these things anymore, though, not of Gravitus being heroic. I mean, there is a record of this particular fire and Lieutenant. Orion being there, but—”

“They wrote Gravitus out of it,” Jess says.

“Exactly.”

Abby leans close. Their shoulders touch. Abby’s close enough for Jess to smell her shampoo—apple and cinnamon.

Abby looks up and their eyes meet; Jess is too afraid to look away, too nervous to move closer. She hangs in the moment, wondering, wondering. It’s the worst part about being attracted to girls—she doesn’t know how to flirt. Will Abby think she’s just being friendly? Should she just say it? But then if she says something, their whole friendship will change, and they only just started being close. And Jess likes that a lot. The chances that Abby is straight are high, and asking might ruin everything.

Abby’s eyelashes and eyebrows are a darker red than her hair, and there’s a faint scar running down her left cheek. Jess takes in all the details of her face so she can look back on this moment and remember—one time Abby Jones was on my bed and was this close, close enough to kiss—

 

Buy the book:

Interlude Press Web Store: http://store.interludepress.com/collections/not-your-sidekick-by-cb-lee

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2bLiCAx

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/not-your-sidekick-cb-lee/1123872213?ean=9781945053030

iBookstore: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/not-your-sidekick/id1119850434?mt=11

All Romance eBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-notyoursidekick-2058756-143.html?referrer=55feb862851f8

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/640025?ref=InterludePress

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/not-your-sidekick

Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.com/Not-Your-Sidekick-C-B-Lee/9781945053030 /?a_aid=InterludePress

Indiebound: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781945053030&aff=InterludePress

 

About the author:

C.B. Lee is a bisexual writer, rock climber, and pinniped enthusiast from Southern California. A first-generation Asian American, she is passionate about working in communities of color and empowering youth to be inspired to write characters and stories of their own. Lee’s debut novel Seven Tears at High Tide was published by Duet Books in 2015 and named a finalist in the Bisexual Books Awards. This summer, C.B. was named to Lambda Literary’s Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices.

 

Where to find the author:

Get to know C.B. at http://cb-lee.com; on Twitter at https://twitter.com/author_cblee ; on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/authorcblee/ ; on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/cblee_cblee/ ; and on Goodreads at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/11230592.C_B_Lee.

 

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29904219-not-your-sidekick

Publisher: Duet Books

Cover Artist: C.B. Messer

 

Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway:

Grand prize: $25 Interlude Press gift card + Multi-format eBook of Not Your Sidekick // Five winners receive multi-format eBook of Not Your Sidekick

 

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