Janet Kravetz is award-winning author and is nearing her launch date for her upcoming novel, Sky Curse: A Near-Future Apocalyptic and Spiritual Novel. Frankly, the novel is gripping and the world that Kravetz created is amazing. If you love sci-fi with a strong protagonist, then this upcoming book is for you. However, you'll have to wait as the book does not come out until September 20, 2020. Stay tuned as I update you on this launch. For now, get to know Janet Kravetz.
JANET KRAVETZ
Sky Curse: A
Near-Future Apocalyptic and Spiritual Novel
Tell
your readers a little about yourself, where you grew up, where you live now,
where you went to school etc. Let them get to know the personal you.
I was born in
Ukraine. When I was seven years old, my family moved to Israel after the
collapse of the Soviet Union. I am a member of the Israel Bar Association; as a
law student at Bar Ilan University, I specialized and worked for leading
non-profits in the field of environmental law. Later I embarked on a career as
a professional researcher. In 2009 I moved to Canada, and I still currently
live in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
What
inspired you to author your book?
Writing
previously under the pen name Topaz Ruby, I shared my Jewish-Ukrainian,
Israeli, and Canadian legacy and my vision for the world in my 2013 debut
poetry book, Reaching Beyond Ourselves: Leading a Peaceful, Spiritual
and Diverse World. The book won the 2nd Annual Beverly Hills Book
Awards in the Poetry category. Around that time, I realized that to ensure a
peaceful, spiritual, and diverse world, there must very soon be a global move
towards more environmentally sustainable ways of thinking and living, which
touch upon almost every aspect of social norm and human spirit. Writing an
environmental science fiction novel was the next step, and I used my
professional research skills and imagination to catch a glimpse of one of the
many possible futures awaiting humanity.
Inspired by the book ‘War of the Worldviews: Where
Science and Spirituality Meet – And Do Not’ by Deepak Chopra and Leonard
Mlodinow, I’ve created a sci-fi and urban fantasy world, where the battle
between science and spirituality has never before had more dire consequences.
I hope
that Sky Curse will resonate with readers from around the world and make
them consider possible futures awaiting them and future generations.
Where
did you get the inspiration for your book’s cover?
I was
imagining a future in which humans colonize another planet (perhaps Titan),
then humanity faces a doomed Earth in the age of global environmental chaos and
interplanetary politics. Thus, the picture of burning Earth and across from it
– Titan.
Who
has been the most significant influence on you personally and as a writer?
In my childhood,
my older sister loved reading books to me and instilled in me a great
appreciation for that art form in my early years. When I was five years old,
she read to me my first novel in Russian– it was Captain Grant’s Children by
Jules Verne. It became my favorite book, a tale of traveling adventures, new
languages, and new places. I remember wanting to write before I could even
read. Wanting to explore the world, live in different countries, speak various
languages, and learn new cultures. Today my sister continues to inspire me to
write and experiment with different writing styles.
What
were your struggles or obstacles you had to overcome to get this book written?
Writing in my
third language (Russian and Hebrew being my first languages), I often struggle
to find the right English words to describe something complex. That forces me
to research the topics of my writing to learn the right jargon. It is tedious
work that slows me down quite a bit (it took me around six years to research
and write this book), but my readers benefit from a wide array of information
that I pass on to them in my writing as a result of extensive research. Writing
science fiction wasn’t easy, and it had a significant learning curve, but I
love learning, so I enjoyed the process overall. I can only be as good as my
support team and I was lucky while writing Sky Curse: my friends
volunteered information I needed for writing and my amazing editor and
proofreader ended up giving me the support I needed to polish this novel and
overcome the language barrier.
Tell
your readers about your book.
This is my first novel. Titled Sky
Curse: A Near-Future Apocalyptic and Spiritual Novel, it is a thought-provoking,
spiritual, and environmental science-fiction, and urban fantasy novel.
The year is
2045, and the world’s population has grown to a horrific twenty-five billion
people who are divided into two politically opposed groups – Localists in Canada
and Universalists around the rest of the world. Most are planning to abandon
Earth and leave it to its fate to colonize a new world through Titan
Pioneering. However, there are those who still hold on to hope for Earth and
humanity untainted by AI. As humanity struggles to survive, nothing is as it
seems, but one thing is clear -- you reap what you sow.
Cecilia Miller, an American, has dedicated her life to science and dream technologies. A cyborg herself, she works for DITT Corp., striving to develop technology to help humanity survive global climate chaos until a sudden revelation about the company forces her decision to leave and launch her own start-up. When Canadian Duncan MacDougall has a plan to save humanity and Earth through the use of ancient Mayan crystals, he recruits a team of hand-picked people to help, including Cecilia Miller. Cecilia is skeptical, yet eager to make a difference, but these crystals come with a curse, and she soon must learn that the answer to saving humanity does not lie in technology alone.
Cecilia Miller, an American, has dedicated her life to science and dream technologies. A cyborg herself, she works for DITT Corp., striving to develop technology to help humanity survive global climate chaos until a sudden revelation about the company forces her decision to leave and launch her own start-up. When Canadian Duncan MacDougall has a plan to save humanity and Earth through the use of ancient Mayan crystals, he recruits a team of hand-picked people to help, including Cecilia Miller. Cecilia is skeptical, yet eager to make a difference, but these crystals come with a curse, and she soon must learn that the answer to saving humanity does not lie in technology alone.
Who
is your target audience, and why?
In a perfect
world, my target audience for this book would be every teenager and adult who
cares about Earth’s future and sustainability. The book is written in simple
English and has a quick pace that caters to most ages. Realistically speaking,
my protagonist is a female, so it might be more appealing for females and
feminists who read science-fiction and urban fantasy as well as readers who are
interested in topics of environmental sustainability and spirituality.
If
you were going to give one reason for anyone looking at your book to read, why
should they buy it?
The book is dealing with one possible near-future
scenario where Earth is overpopulated and technology is extremely advanced, but
not advanced enough to stop global climate chaos or provide food and water for
an ever-growing world population. This scenario is important to consider. If
even a fraction of that science fiction actualizes, this book will become very
relevant to every human being on Earth. On a light-hearted note, if nothing
else, you might learn how to bribe a robot in the age of AI singularity, when
robots are writing their own code.
What
do you consider your greatest success in life?
I have been
committed to life-long self-learning from an early age - learning new languages
and different cultures. My greatest success in life is that I have been able to
be surrounded by people who constantly teach me new things, inspire me to grow
and keep me on my toes.
What
one unique thing sets you apart from other writers in your genre?
I actually
managed to slip into my science fiction and urban fantasy novel some poetry. In
Sky Curse the year is 2045, humans are colonizing Titan, and the norm is
that political speeches in the age of interplanetary politics are delivered in
the form of spoken word poetry.
How
do you overcome writer’s block?
I jump from
one genre to another. If I get stuck in poetry – I start writing a novel. If I
get stuck writing the novel – I start writing a children’s book or a screenplay.
After writing for ten years in the English language - I have many almost-finished
manuscripts and even one screenplay in my drawer, ready to be pulled out when
writer’s block strikes.
What
one piece of advice do you have for new authors.
You always know more than you give
yourself credit for, so don’t be afraid to experiment with new genres and
ideas, it’s thrilling and exciting. Consider
all the applicable knowledge you have from different disciplines, then go ahead
and apply it to writing. For example, I have learned a lot about the economy of
words from studying law. When I first started writing, I realized that if I
could draft a contract – I could probably write a poem.
Tell
your readers anything else you want to share.
Writing this book has been an incredible
journey of learning and following my imagination. I’m already thinking about
the next book I want to write. I don’t know if it’s something that’s already in
my drawer, or something completely new, but I’m getting thrilled just thinking
about my next creative project.