When We Wake: My Big Idea

Internets, y'all know John Scalzi's Big Idea feature at the Whatever, right? This is the feature where authors will tell you the Big Idea behind their latest release, also known as The Place Not To Go When You Are Poor And Have Instituted A Book-Buying Ban, Yes, On Everything, Even That Really Cool One, Oh Wait, Maybe Just One Or Two Or Five.

It's a great feature. Directly responsible for me spending a lot of money on very good books.

Anyway, the point is, I wrote my Big Idea for When We Wake, talking about (naturally) Sleeping Beauties, and why I wanted an action hero with verve to be my leading lady. Go! Read!

When We Wake: Reviews

When We Wake has been getting some awfully nice reviews. Particularly, it is getting nice reviews from sci-fi venues, which pleases me very much, since this is my first sci-fi story.

Kirkus Reviews gave the book a starred review, calling it: "a fast-moving and carefully built science-fiction story… accessible, thoughtful and compelling".

Publisher's Weekly says that I managed a: "very persuasive future world… The diversity of the cast is authentic and natural"

Liz Bourke at Tor.com says that When We Wake is: "an excellent YA novel. It’s also really excellent science fiction. … Healey really nails voice."

Sarah Frost at Strange Horizons says the book is: "exciting and powerful. … [Tegan] is both a believable teenager and an admirable person."

So that's all pretty excellent, huzzah!