Author Marie Rutkoski joins Blog Talk Radio host Naomi Giroux on "Coffee with an Author" September 0

Sept. 6, 2008 - PRLog -- The exclusive interview will highlight Marie’s successful career and creative writing style. Callers are welcome to join the conversation during the show by calling (646) 716-9724. The live, Internet talk-radio show will stream from the host page athttp://blogtalkradio.com/i-just-finished and on Ijustfinished.com. “This exclusive interview with Marie Rutkoski is a thrill that will enlighten and entertain any writer or fan,” said Giroux, host of the program. “Her successful career as a professor at Brooklyn College, and specialty in the Renaissance Era will add richness to our conversation. We hope to answer some of her fans’ biggest questions, and find out more about Books 1 and 2 of the Kronos Chronicles series .” An archive will be available at the same link immediately following the show, or listeners can subscribe to the archives via the RSS feed located on the host page. Read more about Naomi and the discussion on Ijustfinished.com.  

About Marie Rutkoski and "The Cabinet of Wonders"
(Taken from the publisher's press release)

THE CABINET OF WONDERS: The Kronos Chronicles: Book 1 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / August 2008 / $16.95) by debut novelist Marie Rutkoski launches a dazzlingly imaginative literary fantasy series, which the house won at auction and which is garnering early comparisons to Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials. The critics are also enthused, with Kirkus Reviews citing it as one of the year’s Big Books in its BEA/ALA issue and Publishers Weekly including it in its list of “Galleys to Grab.”


THE CABINET OF WONDERS is set in Renaissance-era Bohemia where, due to political machinations, nearly all children with magical abilities are born into the elite class. There are rare exceptions, and twelve-year-old Petra Kronos is one. Petra lives in a countryside village with her family and her best friend, a tin spider named Astrophil. This magical creature was crafted by her father, who can shape metal with his mind. Mr. Kronos’s skill soon captures the attention of Prince Rodolfo, who commissions him to build a clock in Prague’s center. To Petra’s horror, her father returns home blind: the prince has stolen her father’s eyes, enchanted them, and wears them. Petra determines to travel alone to Prague to save her father’s eyes. During her quest, Petra discovers that she has magic of her own and that her father’s clock has powers capable of destroying their world.


According to Ms. Rutkoski, the genesis of the story sprang from an actual Czech legend as well as from powerful elements in her own life. “The origin of the book was a trip with my grandmother to visit family in Prague. My cousin David took me to see the city’s famous astrological clock. He revealed that the man who commissioned the clock had the eyes of the clockmaker gouged out. The legend made a great impression upon me. It also struck close to home as my mother has battled blindness most of her life. The combination of the personal and the historical prompted my writing a story about a parent who has lost his sight and a child who desperately wants to help,” she says.


The next book in the series, The Celestial Globe, is scheduled for Fall 2009. Ms. Rutkoski provides this sneak peek: “Petra and her tin spider are secretly spirited away to London. As she struggles to escape, her friends Neel and Tomik sail the high seas hoping to find her. Though separated by many miles, Petra, Astrophil, Tomik, and Neel draw closer together in the second book, which includes man-made monsters, the unraveling of a murder mystery, a little romance, and the hunt for a powerful object the prince of Bohemia will do anything to possess: the Celestial Globe.”


Peopled by a rich cast of characters, set in a great and terrible land, THE CABINET OF WONDERS introduces an unforgettable heroine who, while on her adventure, crosses paths with political intrigue, power misused, and the beautiful risks we’ll take for those we love. The audiobook version of THE CABINET OF WONDERS, narrated by Audie Award-winner Lorelei King, is also available from MacmillanYoung Listeners.


Marie Rutkoski attended the University of Iowa, where she took undergraduate classes in the famed Writer’s Workshop and was the editor in chief of the school’s undergraduate literary magazine. She holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University in English literature. Currently a professor of English literature at Brooklyn College, Ms. Rutkoski teaches Renaissance literature, children’s literature, and creative writing. She lives in New York City.

About "Coffee with an Author"
“Coffee with an Author” is an interactive, live Internet talk-radio show that focuses on authors and writers of all genres and mediums and a feature on Ijustfinished.com. Host Naomi Giroux explores the careers, advice, writing style and personality of each guest. Callers are encouraged to call  (646) 716-9724 to listen or ask questions. The stream and archives are available at http://blogtalkradio.com/i-just-finished . "Coffee with an Author" is live every Monday at 10am (CST). The show is hosted on BlogTalkRadio, by Ijustfinished.com.

About Ijustfinished.com
Ijustfinished.com, is an online social community that engages in the conversation of books.  We have an amazing, diverse, group of readers and book reviewers. We bring the publishing the world and book lovers together to talk about  books they love.  As well as creative, informed book reviews, readers can tune in to an interactive weekly radio show "Coffee with an Author" to engage with favorite authors.  Then watch a weekly podcast from everyday readers discussing what they are reading on "Conversation of Books".  Active forums, and reader profiles are another popular area with members.

About BlogTalkRadio
BlogTalkRadio is a free, web-based platform which allows any user with a phone and a computer to host a live, interactive Internet broadcast. Hosts call into the service by phone, managing callers on the web-based host dashboard. Shows stream live directly from the host’s BlogTalkRadio web page with archives available for all past shows. BlogTalkRadio has been featured on ABC News, The Washington Post, Portfolio, Talkers Magazine, and TheStreet.com. The citizen broadcasting network can be found at http://www.blogtalkradio.com.


Press contact:
Renee Giroux (512) 512-577-0405
booklover@ijustfinished.com
ijustfinished.com

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Ijustfinished.com, is an online social community that engages in the conversation of books. As well as creative, informed book reviews, readers can tune in to an interactive weekly radio show "Coffee with an Author" to engage with favorite authors.