The 13th Sign Giveaway WINNER!

Hey Quirks! I hope you've enjoyed reading about The 13th Sign by Kristin O'Donnell Tubb this week and have been inspired to check out this book! I had a lot of fun, but now it is time to reveal the winner of the signed hardcover and swag!

Congratulations to...

Brynna!

A big thank you to Kristin and Carla and to all our readers and participants!

Signs, Symbols, and Stars - an interview with Kristin O'Donnell Tubb!

Hey quirks! I have the great pleasure of hosting author Kristin O'Donnell Tubb on the blog today! She has graciously allowed me to pick her brain a little about her latest novel, The 13th Sign, and her research on the zodiac.


WQ:  How did your idea for The 13th Sign begin?

KOT:  Space is one of my obsessions. I majored (briefly!) in aerospace engineering in college, and I always click through those “cool space thing happening TONIGHT!” links on Facebook. When I finished writing Selling Hope (Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan 2010), which is about the hysteria surrounding the 1910 visit of Halley’s Comet, I knew I wanted to write another space book. So I asked myself: what about space fascinated me as a tween? I knew the answer immediately: my horoscope.

I originally thought: SCORE! A twelve book-series! (Every author does this in the beginning, I imagine. :-D) I started researching astrology, and quickly stumbled upon a “missing” 13th sign of the zodiac: Ophiuchus. When he is included in the calendar (which he should be! His ankle dips into the ecliptic that makes up the zodiac), he throws off the calendar significantly, making almost everyone a new horoscope sign. I got that writer ZING! that I get when I read a fact that I want to share with others. I knew I wanted to tell Ophiuchus’ story. (If you want to find out your 13-sign horoscope, hop over here to learn more!)

WQ:  What aspect of the zodiac (the names, the personality traits, the constellations, etc.) interested you the most?
 

KOT:  Ah, great question! I actually think it was the history of the zodiac that interested me the most. Most folks who know about these things agree that the Babylonians were the first to develop this idea, some say as far back as 2500 B.C. Like most humans, they were likely trying to make sense of the world around them, to find order in the chaos. Like most humans, they looked up to do that. At that time, Ophiuchus was included in the zodiac calendar, along with other constellations.

I also discovered in my research that many scholars think that the 12 Labors of Hercules was a way of teaching astrology to young Greek students. Each labor was a constellation. When I found that little tidbit, the idea of “labors,” or challenges, formed the basis of The 13th Sign.

WQ:  In your research, did you learn anything surprising about your personal zodiac sign?

KOT:  I’m an Aquarius (water bearer in the house!), and I thought I knew quite a bit about my sign at the outset. I did discover that Aquarians are the least likely to believe in the zodiac, which is interesting. (For the record, I don’t quite know how I feel about horoscopes. Day-to-day, they are rarely accurate for me. But I personify an Aquarius to a T!) 

WQ:  How did you decide which signs to give to your main characters?

KOT:  I knew I wanted Jalen (which, side note, means “healer;” significant to the story!) to be an Ophiuchus once the signs were altered, so in order to be that, her traditional 12-sign horoscope needed to be Sagittarius. As for Ellie and Brennan, I wrote their characters first, then picked which sign suited them best. Once (tiny spoiler alert!) Ophiuchus is awoken and the characters undergo a personality switch, I kinda already knew what they should act like post-personality change: the zodiac told me which traits they should exhibit! (Another aside: I think the zodiac could be a really cool tool for writers to create well-rounded, realistic characters. Each sign has such a variety of traits!)

WQ:  Which zodiac character was the most fun to write? The most difficult? 

KOT:  Leo and Virgo were by far my favorite signs to write – their characters were so distinct and vivacious and fun! I had the most difficult time writing Pisces. Two fish, but not twins (that’s Gemini’s domain, after all!). I had a difficult time coming up with a challenge that involved fish but was still exciting and unique. I hope I made my Pisces friends proud! 

Thank you, Shalena, for hosting me today! I appreciate any opportunity to chat about books and reading! :-D

And thank you, Kristin, for sharing with us! ^_^

If you want to read my review of The 13th Sign, you can find it here, or if you want to know what I learned about my own zodiac sign(s) after reading Kristin's novel, just click here.

BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY: Don't forget that the giveaway for a signed copy of The 13th Sign and swag ends tonight! Click HERE to go to the giveaway page!

Thanks for reading!

My Old/New/Hodgepodge Zodiac Sign

In The 13th Sign by Kristin O'Donnell Tubb, Jalen Jones accidentally unlocks the 13th sign, Ophiuchus (the healer), causing everyone in the world to have their personalities changed to match their new sign. People who were calm and stoic one minute are suddenly emotionally unstable. Sarcastic and aloof people have become friendly and helpful. How crazy would that be? Do our zodiac signs have that much of an impact on us?

I don't think so. True, I used to read the horoscopes in my local newspaper or a magazine on occasion, and I loved reading the little descriptions of my zodiac sign on magnets and t-shirts and other trinkets. I even liked to see what my Chinese zodiac sign was when I'd visit a local restaurant. But I never believed in any of it. Sometimes the descriptions seemed to fit, sometimes they didn't. It was interesting if not entirely accurate.

So when I read The 13th Sign, I was interested to see what the signs, no longer symbols but characters, were like and if my old one or my new one fit me better. Here is what Tubb's website says about my signs:

Traditional 12-Sign Zodiac:

Capricorn (the goat) - ambitious, trustworthy, calm, a loner, pessimistic, and determined

The 13-Sign Zodiac:

Sagittarius (the archer) - cheerful, optimistic, generous, restless, controlling, and logical

Reading these descriptors is kind of funny because if you were to put all the adjectives together and form one big list (Capritarius? Sagicorn?), it actually fits me pretty well. Even the antonyms, such as optimistic (Sagittarius) and pessimistic (Capricorn) are accurate because while I tend to have a realistic and sometimes gloomy view of things (pessimist), I still try to stay positive and look on the bright side (optimist).

Want to know what your traditional sign and your new sign are? You can head over to Tubb's website and take The 13th Sign Quiz. Not only will you find out your two signs, you will also find out which sign you act like. 

What sign do I act like?

Leo (the lion) - affectionate, self-confident, creative, vain, gullible, and independent

Again, more adjectives to add to my mish-mash of a zodiac sign (Lesagicap? Head of lion, body of a goat, and a bow?) All of this may just solidify my belief that the zodiac is mostly full of guidelines and for entertainment, not a hard and fast rule of personalities, but it is still fun to see what they are all about.

Want to see what life would be like if the zodiac really had an impact on your personality? Read Kristin O'Donnell Tubb's The 13th Sign! It is a fun and fast-paced adventure through the zodiac with a lot of heart.

Don't have a copy? Get your hands on a signed hardcover by entering my giveaway HERE before it ends on July 19th!

I hope you enjoyed this little rundown of my zodiac results! What do you think of the zodiac? Share your thoughts and your results of The 13th Sign Quiz in the comments! And don't forget to come back Friday for an interview with the author!

Thanks for reading!

The 13th Sign GIVEAWAY!

 
Have you ever wondered if the zodiac really determined your personality? What if the zodiac changed, and you changed with it?

This is what happens to 13-year-old Jalen Jones in Kristin O'Donnell Tubb's MG/YA novel, The 13th Sign. This book is a lot of fun and I enjoyed getting the chance to read it (my review is here). Now you have that chance too!

What if there was a 13th zodiac sign?

You’re no longer Sagittarius, but Ophiuchus, the healer, the 13th sign.

Your personality has changed. So has your mom’s and your best friend’s.

What about the rest of the world?

What if you were the one who accidentally unlocked the 13th sign, causing this world-altering change—and infuriating the other 12 signs? 

Jalen did it, and now she must use every ounce of her strength and cunning to send the signs back where they belong. Lives, including her own, depend on it.

I have a signed hardcover copy of The 13th Sign and some swag to give away, so just enter using the Rafflecopter widget below. All of my usual giveaway rules apply (you can find them HERE) and the giveaway runs from today, July 15th, to 11:59pm CST on July 19th.

And don't forget to check back here later this week for more zodiac fun and an interview with the author, Kristin O'Donnell Tubb!

a Rafflecopter giveaway