Character Interview + Giveaway: Chatting with Simon & West from Waypoint + Win a Signed Hardcover!

 
 

I recently got to read Waypoint by Deborah Adams and Kimberley Perkins, and it was a great mix of likeable characters, cross-country trekking, technology hacking, romance, siblings, danger, and intrigue! All with a somewhat post-apocalyptic backdrop due to the widespread power outage.

And to celebrate the book’s release, I have something for you all that I’ve never had before on the blog: a character interview! Two characters, actually. Simon and West, twins fresh out of high school and living in the US when the power grid goes down, and although they may look alike, they have quite a few differences.

So let’s get to know them, and be sure to enter the giveaway at the end to win a signed hardcover copy of the book! (Also be sure to follow along the rest of the release week blitz tour!)


Interview Time!

Simon - Waypoint by Deborah Adams & Kimberley PerkinsWest - Waypoint by Deborah Adams & Kimberley Perkins

First Image: Simon // Second Image: West
Artist Credit

Hello, Simon, West, and welcome to the blog! Could you tell the readers a little bit about yourselves?

West: Hi! Thanks for having us on your blog. We are excited to be here. To your question though, before all the craziness that went down at Waypoint we were normal guys. Well, I was normal, Simon’s always been a bit of a dork. But, we’re from the future. 2067 if we’re being specific. And, in 2067, Si stumbled upon the fix for a global power outage.

Simon: I didn’t stumble on it. I found it. Intentionally.

West: Sure. He found it. Whatever. Anyway, before that, we’d both just graduated from high school. I was going to play ball at the University of South Carolina, and Simon was going to MIT.

Simon: We’re from Sunset, SC. I believe in your time there is not much there. But, in our time, it has grown into a small town.

Sounds like you two have very different interests. MIT, huh? I assume to study something in the technology field?

Simon: Yes, Software Engineering. I’m a coder.

West: He’s a hack.

Simon: Hacker. The word you are looking for is hacker.

West: I’m pretty sure I used the word I meant. Kidding aside though, he’s smart around a computer.

How did your passion for computers, coding, all of that, start?

Simon: I’ve always been most comfortable on computers– you know playing games with my friends. Lag kills, and if your system isn’t top notch, your stats will suffer in game. To start, my friend Collins and I were just trying to see who could get their system running the fastest, but we both got a little obsessed with figuring out how the hardware and coding worked. I wanted to be better at it than he was, so I just learned everything I could.

A little healthy competition is a great motivator! So you’re a gamer too? What kind of games do you play?

Simon: I mostly play first-person shooters, but I’ve burned a few hundred hours in RPGs. My team and I are completely entrenched in “Arcadian Fortress.” I’ve played since the first release and it’s now in its fifth iteration. It’s a first-person shooter but also kind of like an MMO (i.e. World of Warcraft but with guns). It’s also intended to be played on the move, but we’ve found some workarounds.

Ah, not big on the ‘moving’ part, I take it? But West, you said you’re an athlete, right?

West: Yeah, staying indoors all the time is my own personal hell. I’ve always been interested in anything I could do to stay active. Football got me a scholarship, but I also ran cross-country and played baseball. My dad and I have always liked outdoors stuff too, like fishing and hiking.

A football player—I’ll bet the ladies love that. You know, I’ve heard you’re quite the player, both on and off the field. *wink* Tell me, are the rumors true?

West: Haha, well…if my coach asks, I’m completely focused both on and off the field. But, if I’m being honest, my extracurriculars have always included a little more than watching game tape (sorry mom). Never anything serious though.

*zips lips* Your secret is safe with me, as long as your coach doesn’t read my blog! You also mentioned being an outdoorsy person—I have to admit, I’m the opposite. I just don’t understand the appeal. What is it that you like so much about being outdoors?

West: Wow, I don’t think anyone has ever asked…I guess it started out as something my dad loved, and because I wanted to be wherever he was, that meant I was outside. Then, it became a part of me. It’s hard to describe, but there’s just a peace to the woods, to a still lake, or a sunset that you can’t get behind closed doors.

You do make it sound beautiful. But all the time you’ve spent outside, I’m sure it came in handy as soon as the grid went down, right?

West: Did it! It was like I’d spent my whole life preparing for the outage without even knowing. But of course, no one else had *elbows Simon*, so my hobbies turned into a full-time job.

Yeah, but, Simon, your skills came in handy too, didn’t they?

Simon: I absolutely was not ready to accept a world without power. I felt like, if I didn’t fix it, then everything I’d done with my life to that point would be worthless. So I managed to poke and prod in the places that got the attention of the right person, or wrong person if you consider the events that followed. But, you’re right, my skills opened doors to the solution.

Simon: I’ll admit though, I must have wished at least a dozen times while I was on the run that I’d gone on at least one of those camping trips with West and Dad. It’s a miracle I survived.

So, combined, you already have the skills to try and bring back the power, but the real question is, how well do the two of you work together?

West: Uh…

Simon: Hmm

West: So he’s pretentious about 90% of the time–

Simon: And West is clueless–always

West: But, I’d say we were likely on a path to not have much to do with each other before everything went down.

Simon: And now I think we’ve reached a rhythm that feels more like family, and we have found things to appreciate about each other.

West: Now Si, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.

Simon: It’s better.

West: Yeah we’re good 🙂

I’m glad to hear it. Well, boys, best of luck with everything, and thanks for joining me for this interview!

 

About the Book

Waypoint by Deborah Adams & Kimberley Perkins

How far will they go to restore the power?

It’s been lights-out for three months and society is already falling into chaos.

Teenage tech-genius Simon Harper and his team of fellow gamers have been searching for the cause of the outage since it went down. Simon and his twin brother West are often at odds, but when the key to restoring power drops into their hands, they’ll risk everything and join forces to bring it back.

Descend into an epic, young adult adventure, featuring family and friendship with a heart-skipping side of romance by debut authors Deborah Adams and Kimberley Perkins.

Mysterious deaths and disappearances are piling up, and unknown enemies are everywhere. As the brothers make their 500-mile journey to Waypoint they’ll have to decide who they can trust, and which secrets can be told.

Goodreads | Amazon | Publisher

 

About the Authors

Deborah Adams & Kimberley Perkins

DEBORAH ADAMS and KIMBERLEY PERKINS are friends and coworkers. They share a love of coffee, literature, and teenagers saving the world. By day, they work for a defense contractor in Huntsville, Alabama as the HR Director and an Excel-wielding Analyst, respectively. By night, they build worlds with words and devour stories. For more information about Deborah Adams and Kimberley Perkins and their foray into writing, check them out on social media.

Website

Connect with Deborah Adams Online:
Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

Connect with Kimberley Perkins Online:
Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

 

Giveaway

The authors of Waypoint are having a giveaway! You can use the link below to enter.

Win a signed copy of Waypoint by Deborah Adams & Kimberley Perkins + a $25 Amazon gift card!

Enter the giveaway here!

 
 
 
 

Talk to me!

Are you excited for Waypoint by Deborah Adams & Kimberley Perkins?
Which brother do you relate to more---the athletic, outdoors-loving West, or the introverted, tech-loving Simon?

 
 
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  1. Roberta R.

    Haha, great job! It did feel like a real interview – I mean, questions spurring from the answers in real time.
    Two twins were never less alike, uh? 😉

    1. Kristen Burns

      Thanks! We did the interview back and forth so that it would flow like that, glad to hear it turned out well! These two are definitely very different lol.

  2. Daniela Ark

    oh me like MIT prospects “we’ll save the world without moving a muscle from behind this computer while eating potato chips” A LOT, well nerds in general especially hackers *sighs* a brilliant technology-oriented mind is my version of 8 pack abs XD

  3. Lola

    Oh character interviews can be so fun! It really shows the different personalities of these two characters and some of their interactions with each other too. Did I miss your review for this one or will it be posted later?

    1. Kristen Burns

      I was kind of nervous since I had never done a character interview, haha but it did turn out to be fun! No, you didn’t miss anything! I haven’t posted my review yet.