Hypable has an exclusive look at the moody cover art for the YA thriller The Creeping, and an interview with author Alexandra Sirowy!
The realism of childhood trauma blends with a spine-tingling ancient evil in Alexandra Sirowy’s debut novel, The Creeping. A mystery with a hint of moody magic, The Creeping will lead readers down eerie forest paths to the heart of a secret they will never see coming.
The atmospheric cover art for The Creeping by Alexandra Sirowy is exclusively revealed right here!
Summary
Stella Cambren is the lucky one. When she was a kid, Stella and her friend Jeanie vanished while picking strawberries. Stella came back without any memory of what happened. Jeanie never did.
Eleven years later, Stella is over it — mostly. She can’t remember a time when people didn’t look at her with a question in their eyes. But she has a summer full of cove days ahead of her, a best friend with a devil-may-care attitude, and a maybe-crush on a gorgeous, popular guy. All Stella wants is to have the best summer of her life. Jeanie’s fate is lost in the black hole of her mind. It’s nothing but the past.
That is, until the fresh corpse of a little girl is found, one with eerie similarities to Jeanie, and Stella’s memories start coming back in fits and starts. As Stella begins to uncover the truth about the day Jeanie vanished, she discovers a bread crumb trail of disappearances going back generations.
Stella thinks remembering what happened to Jeanie will save her. It won’t.
She used to know better than to believe in what slinks through the shadows. Not anymore.
And before the summer is over, Stella will learn that if you hunt for monsters, you’ll find them.
Interview with Alexandra Sirowy
Tell us five random facts about yourself.
1. I love exploring new cities (Istanbul is my favorite) and seeing what they have to eat (anything sweet, please).
2. I am horrible with goodbyes and endings. I actually avoid watching the last episodes of TV series so I can pretend that they’re not over.
3. I can’t stomach zoos…all those animals kept in cages.
4. I studied foreign politics in college.
5. I am a sucker for good spy movies and vampire TV shows.
What is your favorite element of the cover for The Creeping?
I love that designer Lizzy Bromley captured the book’s unsettling feel in the cover. The eerie woods, the title font interwoven in the confusion of branches, the gorgeous girl barefoot in the tree, and the fade from black and white to indigo, all hint at the dark thriller elements, but there’s also a summery and dreamy quality that hints at crushes, lakeside bonfires, and best friends braving the woods for each other. Photographer Caryn Drexl nailed the atmospheric mood of The Creeping with her striking photograph.
Why did you most want to write Stella’s story?
I think that people have some of their most powerful experiences when they’re kids. The line between what’s real and what’s imagined isn’t as boldly drawn in childhood, and that really fascinates me. I was interested in showing Stella grapple with what to make of this giant, mysterious event that happened twelve years earlier in her life and that, for the most part, she had put to rest until a string of eerie events in her small town forces her to look harder. She’s this rational, clever, and strong protagonist who wrestles with the nature of the evil.
Also, Stella is BRAVE. I was interested in telling the story of a kick-ass girl who is fiercely loyal and would walk into hell for the people she loves.
Which is easier to write: The first line, or the last line?
The first line is easier. It’s usually that first burst of a character’s voice that gets my attention and makes me want to write the story.
What are you working on now?
My second novel, a Young Adult thriller that will be out from Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers in the summer of 2016. It’s dark, suspenseful, twisty, and a little gothically romantic.
For more information…
Keep up with Alexandra on Twitter, and learn more about her present and future projects at AlexandraSirowy.com.
The Creeping by Alexandra Sirowy will hit shelves in August 2015.
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