The Delphi Effect by Rysa Walker
(The Delphi Trilogy, #1)
Published by: Skyscape
Publication date: October 11th 2016
Genres: Science Fiction, Young Adult
In this thrilling new series from Rysa Walker, the award-winning and best-selling author of Timebound, a teen psychic is the key to stopping a government conspiracy.
It’s never wise to talk to strangers . . . and that goes double when they’re dead. Unfortunately, seventeen-year-old Anna Morgan has no choice. Resting on a park bench, touching the turnstile at the Metro station—she never knows where she’ll encounter a ghost. These mental hitchhikers are the reason Anna has been tossed from one foster home and psychiatric institution to the next for most of her life.
When a chance touch leads her to pick up the insistent spirit of a girl who was brutally murdered, Anna is pulled headlong into a deadly conspiracy that extends to the highest levels of government. Facing the forces behind her new hitcher’s death will challenge the barriers, both good and bad, that Anna has erected over the years and shed light on her power’s origins. And when the covert organization seeking to recruit her crosses the line by kidnapping her friend, it will discover just how far Anna is willing to go to bring it down.
When did you start writing?
I’ve always written, for as long as I can remember. When I was five, I sat at my grandmother’s old manual typewriter and pounded out stories and poems. Most of my jobs as an adult have also involved writing in some fashion. But I didn’t begin writing fiction for a living until a few years ago when I published Timebound, the first book in my previous series, The CHRONOS Files.
What makes you want to write?
I write the stories I want to read. And also so I don’t go crazy. Now that I’m writing full time, paying the mortgage is also a pretty solid incentive. ;)
Do you ever get writer's block and what do you do to get over it?
Yes. Sometimes I do really stupid things like getting bossy with my characters and telling them what they should do instead of letting the story progress organically. When I act this way, my characters go on strike and stop talking to me. I know what I need to do to fix it, but I can be stubborn when I think I’m right. Sometimes I go write on another project for a few days to clear my head. Eventually, I come back and rip out all of the bits where I was being pushy and then the characters stop sulking and we can get back to work.
Do you have a special way of going about writing?
You mean, other than ingesting way too much coffee? Well…one thing that I tend to do that’s a bit odd is to polish the previous chapters while I’m writing the next one. I can’t just go through a write a rough draft. Every week or so, I’ll go back and read through the manuscript (either from the beginning, or later, from a point where the narrative shifted gears) and revise my way toward the new stuff. The plus side is that my first draft is pretty close to a final draft…it just takes me a bit longer to get there.
Do you have any works in progress?
Yes. I’m currently working on the next book in The Delphi Trilogy. And there’s a novella simmering on the back burner in my head that I’ll be writing once I submit Book 2 to my editor.
What are your hobbies?
Yoga. Reading and watching sci-fi & fantasy. Spending time at the beach with friends and family. And I play a mean game of Scrabble.
Who is your favourite character in The Delphi Effect?
I don’t like to pick favorites with characters, any more than I would with my kids. If I pick favorites, then the other characters are likely to stop talking to me and I end up with the writer’s block situation mentioned above. I will admit, however, that some characters are easier to write than others, and since my books are usually first person present, the protagonist (that’s Anna in The Delphi Effect) tends to be the one with whom I identify most. But that’s also why I like to write novellas and short stories from other characters’ perspectives, as I did in my CHRONOS Files series. Otherwise, it’s easy to end up with cardboard secondary characters and one-dimensional villains. One of my favorite movie villains is Loki, from the Marvel movies, and he sums it up perfectly:
How did you get the idea for The Delphi Effect?
I began writing The Delphi Effect back in spring of 2013, but then my debut book, Timebound, won the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award in June of that year. My new publisher, Skyscape, wanted the sequels ASAP, so I shelved Delphi for a while to focus on finishing up the CHRONOS books.
The story itself was initially inspired by music. There was this playlist that my kids and I always put on each morning for our drive to school, which came much too early for any of us. I was on the way back home when two songs played back to back. The first was "42," from my youngest's then-favorite album by Coldplay. The second was "Oh, Lately It's So Quiet," by one of my favorite groups, OK Go. Both songs are about being haunted, but in different ways. When I got back to the computer, I wrote the first chapter of The Delphi Effect. And while I was writing it, Tegan & Sara's "Walking with a Ghost" came on my Pandora station, so maybe I was being haunted. If so, that ghost is welcome to come back and be my muse anytime.
What was your favourite part of writing The Delphi Effect?
That point where the characters take over and the story just seems to flow. It’s the best feeling, almost like I’m reading the book instead of writing it, because I often really don’t know what’s going to happen next. At that point, when intuition takes over, writing is more joy than work. And when I have trouble reaching that stage, it’s usually because I’m trying to make things too structured, too neat, rather than following my intuition.
What are you currently reading?
Darkness Savage, the final book in The Dark Cycle by Rachel A. Marks, which debuts on the same day as The Delphi Effect! I was very lucky to get an advanced copy.
What is your favourite book?
I could never pick just one. It depends on my mood, for one thing. A few favorites that come to mind right now would be The Stand, The Dark Tower, and the entire Harry Potter series, which I loved sharing with my kids. Watership Down by Richard Adams, We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, Letters from Earth by Mark Twain, and Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak are other faves. But if you asked me tomorrow, you’d probably get a different list!
Who is your favourite author?
Stephen King, although J.K. Rowling is a very close second.
What is your favourite film?
That one is easy. The Princess Bride. There are many other films that could compete for second place, but that movie has topped the list for me for over twenty years.
What is your favourite TV show?
My favorite current show is either Agents of Shield (although they’re on shaky ground right now) or The Flash. Favorite all-time show…that’s another tough one, so I’ll offer up a couple. Lost, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Sherlock, Chuck, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. There are others, but I’ll stop there.
Quick-fire questions:
Chocolate or ice cream? Chocolate (extra, extra dark and bittersweet).
Paperback or ebook? E-book. That way I always have another book waiting.
Dogs or cats? Dogs. I love cats, too, but my husband is allergic. :(
Go out or stay in? Stay in, although I like to mix it up sometimes.
Summer or winter? Fall, but if I have to pick one of those, I’ll go with summer.
Author Bio
Rysa Walker is the author of the bestselling CHRONOS Files series. Timebound, the first book in the series, was the Young Adult and Grand Prize winner of the 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Rysa grew up on a cattle ranch in the South, where she was a voracious reader. On the rare occasions when she gained control of the television, she watched Star Trek and imagined living in the future, on distant planets, or at least in a town big enough to have a stoplight. She currently lives in North Carolina, where she is working on the next installment in The Delphi Trilogy. If you see her on social media, please tell her to get back to her Writing Cave.
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