Gah! I am so excited to be the next stop on the blog tour for The Winner’s Curse. I love this book something fierce. You can check out the whole tour schedule here. Learn more about the book and my fangirly thoughts by checking out my review.
For my guest post I was interested in the intricacies of world building. Marie Rutkoski was gracious enough to give us some background information about one of my favorite details… the game of Bite and Sting. Here’s what she had to say:
“Bite and Sting”
In my family, we have always been big game players. We like poker, dominos, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble….really, everything. And as we all know, games are not so much about the games themselves as they are about spending time with people you care about. If my dad says, “How about a game of dominos?” He’s saying, “Let’s spend time with each other.” After my wedding in France (my husband is French), four of our closest friends stayed nearby in a rented house. My honeymoon evenings went a lot like this: Thomas and I would grab leftover wine and wedding cake and walk through vineyards to our friends’ house, where we sat around a table playing Settlers of Catan and calling each other cheaters.
Games transcend class, but it is also true that certain games were the hallmark of people with far too much leisure on their hands. In Jane Austen novels, for example, characters play whist and charades. The Winner’s Curse shows a society with very little to do but serve their own pleasure, so having games and gambling seemed a natural choice for the book—and for my main character, Kestrel, who has a very strategic mind, yet is also somewhat uncomfortable with the way her mind works. Her father wants her to join the military, and they both know that she would be good at that in one crucial way: the way of an officer who sees the elements of a battle clearly, and gives the right orders…and sends people to their deaths. Yes, Kestrel would be good at it, but she wouldn’t be able to bear the guilt.
So for her, games are a way to be herself without blame. To relish a puzzle, enjoy a win, learn from a loss (which hasn’t happened to her in a long time), and take pleasure in the company of friends. Unlike war, there are no bad consequences in a game…or so she thinks.
When I invented Bite and Sting for The Winner’s Curse, I knew that I wanted it to allow me to explore the relationships between the people who play it. I knew that Kestrel would meet her match in Arin, and that his ability to outfox her should be a sign to her that he is perfectly capable of keeping secrets close to his chest, and revealing them at the right time (when he holds the advantage). And most importantly, Kestrel should be able to see that he is her equal, and that Arin is challenging her not just in this game, but also in the way she sees her entire world. Whether Kestrel actually sees these things, or thinks about how it feels for Arin to beat a Valorian at a Valorian game, I’ll leave for the reader to decide.
As for the game itself, it’s a bit like a version of poker played with tiles. I wanted tiles because I’ve always liked the sounds of playing dominoes—the clack against the table, the stacking of one on the other—and because I wanted a visual resonance between the game and something else Kestrel is good at playing: the piano. The first tile I saw in my mind showed a bee, the second a fox. The name of the game—Bite and Sting—followed almost instantaneously, and I loved it. It seemed perfect for a book about how people assert dominance in different ways—and for a book that is a romance. Bite and Sting? Sounds pretty sexy to me.
Uh, yeah. I have to agree. Pretty sexy! Also, now I want a set of Bite and Sting tiles! This totally needs to be a real thing. Thanks again to Marie Rutkoski for taking the time to give us some background on this detail of The Winner’s Curse. I didn’t think it was possible but I think it made me love the book even more.
About the Book:
Winning what you want may cost you everything you love
As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions.
One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin.
But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined.
Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski is a story of deadly games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.
As a general’s daughter in a vast empire that revels in war and enslaves those it conquers, seventeen-year-old Kestrel has two choices: she can join the military or get married. But Kestrel has other intentions.
One day, she is startled to find a kindred spirit in a young slave up for auction. Arin’s eyes seem to defy everything and everyone. Following her instinct, Kestrel buys him—with unexpected consequences. It’s not long before she has to hide her growing love for Arin.
But he, too, has a secret, and Kestrel quickly learns that the price she paid for a fellow human is much higher than she ever could have imagined.
Set in a richly imagined new world, The Winner’s Curse by Marie Rutkoski is a story of deadly games where everything is at stake, and the gamble is whether you will keep your head or lose your heart.
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About the Author:
Marie Rutkoski is the author of the YA novel The Shadow Society and the children’s fantasy series The Kronos Chronicles, including The Cabinet of Wonders, The Celestial Globe and The Jewel of the Kalderash. Her next project is a YA trilogy that begins with The Winner’s Curse, which is scheduled to be published in March 2014.
Marie grew up in Bolingbrook, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), as the oldest of four children. She holds a BA from the University of Iowa and a PhD from Harvard University. Marie is currently a professor at Brooklyn College, where she teaches Renaissance Drama, children’s literature and fiction writing. She usually lives in New York City with her husband and two sons, but she and her family are living in Paris for the 2012-2013 academic year.
Marie grew up in Bolingbrook, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago), as the oldest of four children. She holds a BA from the University of Iowa and a PhD from Harvard University. Marie is currently a professor at Brooklyn College, where she teaches Renaissance Drama, children’s literature and fiction writing. She usually lives in New York City with her husband and two sons, but she and her family are living in Paris for the 2012-2013 academic year.
Giveaway:
Because Macmillan and Marie Rutkowski are awesome I have a fab giveaway for you! One lucky person will win a finished copy of The Winner’s Curse and some awesome goodies (seriously, can I enter?!?) Here’s a pick of the goodies:
The giveaway is US only. Must be 13 or older to win. Use the rafflecopter below to enter:
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