In 2065, the Lilliput Project created Lina - the
first six-inch-tall winged girl - as the solution to a worldwide energy and
food crisis. Isolated in a compound amidst the forests of Denmark, Lina has
grown up aware of only one purpose: learn how to survive in a world filled with
hawks, bumblebees, and loneliness. However, on the eve of her sixteenth
birthday, she discovers that she’s not the only teenager her size. Six 'Toms'
were created shortly after Lina, and now her creators need to prove to the
world that tiny people are the next logical step in human evolution. In other
words, they need to prove that reproduction is possible.Um. No thanks. Lina's already fallen in love with a boy she met online named Jack. Only he has no idea that thumbelina1847 could literally fit inside his heart.
When her creators threaten to hurt Jack unless she chooses a husband from among the ‘Toms’, Lina agrees to star in a reality TV series. Once the episodes begin to air, the secret of her size is out. Cut off from any contact with the outside world, Lina assumes Jack is no longer interested. After all, what guy would want to date a girl he can’t even kiss?
Slowly, very slowly, she befriends the six young men who see her as their only ticket to happiness. Perhaps she can make just one guy’s dream of love and companionship come true. But her creators have a few more twists in store for her that she never thought possible.
She’s not the only one playing to the cameras.
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Guest post, Welcome Jennie!
As a rule, I do not like reality shows very much. I
definitely don’t like the dating ones. However, I am fascinated by how they use
video editing to build a story and how they manipulate the emotions of the
contestants by putting them into planned, dramatic situations. So when I was
plotting a futuristic retelling of Thumbelina and needed to figure out how to
portray the forced betrothals that happen to her in the original story, I
decided to put her on her own show.
I did a lot of research on how reality shows work,
especially with the help of Reality Steve’s blog with all of his Bachelor/ette
spoilers. I was shocked to read that many contestants barely even meet the lead
(the bachelor/ette) before being eliminated, and the ones that do make it into
the later episodes rarely spend much time with the person they’re supposed to be
falling in love with, either. In that sort of scenario, a lot of decisions have
to be made based on gut feelings. Contestants aren’t allowed any contact with
the outside world while they’re on the show, so they spend most of their time
watching tv and drinking the free alcohol that’s provided by the show. While
there’s no alcohol for Lina and her Toms, I tried to stick as closely to this
model as I could. She gets to know her potential suitors as well as she can in
the very limited amounts of time she’s allowed to spend with them.
While I didn’t get to write about the Toms and their
individual personalities as much as I would have liked in DAMSELFLY, I’m
excited to be diving more into their characters in the sequel that I’m working
on right now. I hope you enjoy the reality show ride!
Thanks for stopping by, Jennie!
I'm a visual
effects artist for film and television by day, and at night I don my author
cape and pen stories for the YA crowd. I love a good fairy tale, especially if
there's a creepy twist, so that's what I write.I met my husband in the World of Warcraft and we live in Los Angeles with our cat. We spend our time playing video games, reading, hiking, sweeping up cat hair, and cursing the terrible traffic.
I have a bachelor's degree in Religion and Philosophy from Hillsdale College, and some of my past jobs have included: swimming lessons teacher, lifeguard, furniture salesperson, barista, and loan officer. I was especially terrible at the loan officer bit and that's what prompted me to make a major change and go off to Canada to get a diploma in 3D Animation and Visual Effects. After that, I moved to Los Angeles by myself and roomed with two crazy sisters I found on Craigslist. But that's another tale.
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I already had this on my tbr list I like the cover and synopsis.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for stopping by!
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