Monday, April 19, 2010

Author Interview and Giveaway: Susane Colasanti discusses Something Like Fate

Today I have Author Susane Colasanti with a guest post and mini-interview to kick of her blog tour (click on the icon below for all the tour stops) for her new novel SOMETHING LIKE FATE which I reviewed earlier today (check out my SOMETHING LIKE FATE review). And now...here's Susane!


Welcome to the Something Like Fate blog tour! If you’re like me, you sometimes wonder about how much influence fate has over our lives. I believe that we’re the architects of our own destiny. But how much power does the force of fate have over the parts of our lives we can’t control? Lani and Erin are searching for answers in Something Like Fate. They’re even determined to become fate experts. At the beginning of junior year, they make a list of ten concepts that explore some things about this world we can’t fully explain. During my two-week blog tour, I’ll be discussing a little about each of the concepts on their list. Let’s get this party started!

Topic 1: Astrology

Before becoming a full-time author, I was a science teacher. My educational background mainly focused on astronomy and physics. So it’s unusual that I think there’s some validity to astrology. The thing is, I’ve encountered enough evidence to believe that our Zodiac signs typically define our characteristics. For example, I am such a Taurus. Taurus is an Earth sign, which makes sense since I’m all about green living. I’m also stubborn, sensitive, opinionated, caring, and grounded, all classic characteristics of a Taurus. Pretty much everyone I’ve asked agrees that their Zodiac sign also reflects who they are. Conclusion: There’s definitely something going on.

Lenore: I agree with Lani that bottled waters have a distinctive taste. My favorite is Volvic – what’s yours? Do you share her belief that each brand has a color/shape aura or how did that detail come about?

Susane: Yes, I definitely agree with Lani about the color/shape thing! I associate colors and shapes with other stuff, too, like days of the week (Tuesday is yellow) and numbers (three is blue). At first I thought I was really weird for doing this (not that I still don’t think I’m weird for doing this), but when I told some of my friends about it they totally knew what I meant. This one time in college, my friend Laila and I were comparing our color/shape perceptions. We were getting all hyper about the ones we perceived differently. I was like, “How could Tuesday be purple? That’s outrageous!” I’m not sure when the water classifications first occurred to me. All I know is that my beliefs are unflinchingly rigid. Poland Spring has this full, smooth taste that just feels like a red circle to me. Evian is a sky-blue triangle due to its sharper, crisp taste. I primarily drink Poland Spring because it’s not outrageously expensive. However, I prefer the tastes of Fiji and Smartwater.

Lenore: When I was 10, my grandmother had my chart done for me. Apparently I have a grand trine in air signs which was supposed to mean I would become a writer. I did. Have you ever gotten your chart done by a professional astrologer? If so, did it set you down a particular path?

Susane: You know, I vaguely remember getting my chart done a long time ago, but I can’t remember what it said. It’s easier to remember what my palm reading said because I can refer to palmistry charts if I forget anything. There’s a scene in Something Like Fate where Lani gets her palm read. Some of those interpretations are based on my actual palm lines. For example, I have the same star under my middle finger, which represents finding success after ten years of hard work. My palm reading hasn’t consciously pushed me down any particular path, but it has made me less worried about my future. According to my reading, I’ll live a long, healthy life.

Lenore: What is the craziest “coincidental” connection you’ve had with someone?

Susane: Wow, there are so many to choose from! One of them happened last year. I was out to dinner with my boyfriend, talking about my experience from earlier that morning at a certain computer repair place. It was my first time going to this place. My laptop needed a repair and I was previously told that I’d get it back in two or three days. But then they told me it would take almost a week! I was not in a happy space. Now, I usually try to keep the volume down when I’m ranting in public. I really don’t know how the guy sitting two tables away heard me. The next thing I knew, he was standing by our table giving me a business card. He was the owner of the computer place! He said I should call him in the morning and he’d make sure I got my laptop back right away. Dude. The owner.

In Something Like Fate, I used a quote by David Life that says, “If you believe in coincidence, then you aren’t paying attention.” He means that everything happens for a reason and that everything is connected. So when one of these unbelievable non-coincidences happens, it’s actually quite believable after all.

Lenore: I love that quote! Thanks for stopping by.

I have one signed hardcover of SOMETHING LIKE FATE up for grabs! All you have to do is tell me in the comments one of your craziest "coicidental connections" with someone (along with your e-mail address if it's not readily available in your blog profile). Because this one is sponsored by the publisher, US and Canada addresses only please. I'll keep this one open until 11:59 PM CST on April 30th. May fate smile upon you!

32 comments:

Library Cat said...

I got a phone call with only one sentence at my work place - where my name really was not associated with the phone in the office I used. It said Mammograms save lives. I went the next day and found that I had breast cancer. NOT a coincidence. Life saving!

Thanks for the great interview. I am a typical Virgo!

Kelly said...

I have never really had coincidences like that, but I have had instances where I did something that I would not normally do and it resulted in a positive change in my life. For example, I met my fiance through mutual friends at a hookah bar. We didn't talk to each other much, but at the end of the night, he asked me to go to his place to watch a movie. I didn't really give him an answer and ended up going home with the friends that I came with. Anyway, as soon as I got home, I realized what am I doing sitting here when I could be meeting a new guy. So, I asked for his number from my roommate and called him to see if I was still invited over for a movie. He said yes, came and picked me up, and the rest is history. I don't ever call guys. I expect them to call me. So it was strange that I had that brief moment of like fate intervening in my life because it worked out wonderfully. :)

kghobbs AT gmail DOT com

Zibilee said...

No need to enter me in the contest, just wanted to say that this was a wonderful post! I really liked the bit about color/shape perception and think the author sounds like a very interesting person. You are so lucky to have gotten to chat with her Lenore!

misskallie2000 said...

Hi Susane, I have always been fasinated with horoscopes and fate. I was told yrs ago if I had had the proper training I could tell people things from their past and from the future. I was excited to read you have colors associated with things as I do. My lucky # is 13. Would love to win your book. I know I will enjoy reading. Thanks for stopping by to chat.

misskallie2000 at yahoo dot com

Robby said...

I already have a copy of the book, so no need to enter me into the contest. I loved this book and I love Susane in general. She's so smart and entertaining. Coincidence is a sham. Great interview! :]

bermudaonion said...

When we lived in Alabama, we had just dropped Vance off at school in Virginia. We stopped to get gas and someone saw our license plate and commented that we lived in Lee County and then asked if we knew someone, It just so happened the the guy he mentioned worked for Carl.

I haven't had Volvic water since we lived in France.

milou2ster(at)gmail.com

Miranda said...

At my high school we recieved our schedules on the first day of school before first period. My schedule was extremely mixed up. I was put in a boy's gym class (i'm a girl) I was in classes I had already taken or classes I hadn't signed up for. As I was waiting in the office for a schedule change a boy walked in wanting his schedule changed too. He sat next to me and started a conversation that made me laugh the entire time. He told me he liked my laugh, but before I found out his name I was called into the office. I didn't see him after that for the entire first semester. He was transferred into one of my classes in the second semester. When he saw him he wasted no time coming up to me. He sat next to me and said "I spent the entire first semester wondering what you're name was. I love you're laugh. Can I take you on a date?"
And here we are now, about to graduate college, engaged. I have to wonder if my schedule hadn't been messed up and he hadn't heard me laugh, would he have been just another boy in my class? I definitely think it was fate that brought us together.
miranda.lyons09@yahoo.com

Lasha said...

I have a sweet coincidence, i was at my computer earlier in the morning on a tuesday, drooling over the new upcoming books in may and june, especially everlasting by angie frazier, it looked amazing. i put it on my wishlist and marked it down as a must read. later in the day, i went to my library, and the librarian is nice and very informative about the new ya books and tells me when their getting them in to the library. i was telling him about the book everlasting and how much i couldnt wait to read it. Low and behold, he told me to wait at the desk, he had to go fetch something. believe it people, he came back with an arc of Everlasting and an arc of the sky is everywhere by jandy nelson. I was 100 percent thrilled, so excited, i was grinning from ear to ear. He said he just received them through yalsa yesterday and that i could have it! the best librarian , i wanted to send him a gift basket and make him a t-shirt as the worlds greatest librarian for giving me not one but two arcs that dont release until may. it was the best day and truly a fabulous coincidence.

Lasha
arudd908 at gmail dot com

pepsivanilla said...

My high school screwed up my schedule and I ended up with no math class. When I went to talk to the counselor, there were very limited options as to what classes I could take, so I was put in a Photoshop class without really being asked my opinion and now I'm doing Graphic Design as my major in college.

pepsivanilla14(at)hotmail(dot)com

Alex Bennett from Electrifying Reviews said...

My uncle has been married to a woman for as long as I can remember. Earlier this year, I found out that one of my best friends was the cousin of his wife! His wife is a big beyotch!

Alex :)

John The Bookworm said...

I was complaining to my librarian once about how no one in my general area of central pa has been majorly noticed for publishing things other than local history books...and about a week later, lo and behold, an actual novel written by a former student of hers from a neighboring town was in stock, signed! And quoted by a Pulitzer Prize Winner... O_o Fate, you are strange...

Great interview, btw. Everything definitely has a color. And you're right, Tuesday is so not purple...that's Saturday! :DD

johnrj@mail.com :P

Mandy said...

During the summer before 6th grade, I moved to another city an hour and a half away.
During the 2nd quarter of 8th grade one of my guy friend (that I may have had a teensy crush on) from my old school moved, too, and started going to my new school. Then, during the last quarter of
8th grade he moved away.
One month into freshman year, and im waiting at the bus stop minding my own business, when he runs up and hugs me from behind (scaring the crap out of me BTW). Not only did he move back again, for the second time, going to school with me for the third time, but this time he lived 4 blocks from me.
We became even better friends, but we had a huge fight, and a falling out, and he moved away again. But its still weird to think that of the (un)coincidence that kept bringing us together.

bratdownstairs@yahoo.com

Sophia said...

Oh my goodness. This has to be a coincidence that just occured. I was wanting to read this book (Something Like Fate) but at the moment, I was looking for the book Take Me There. I was oblivious to the same author. And I just found out that both books that I've been wanting to read are from the same author! I know that sounds really insignificant and stupid, but I thought that was a huge deal.


I really hope you won't pick the winner by the most interesting coincidence, because mine is not that fascinating.

Thanks for the giveaway!

mashimaro401[at]yahoo[dot]com

Anonymous said...

Please delete this message....

Nancye said...

My dear friend Carol and I met in a neat way. She began visiting my church and one day called me up out of the blue when she saw me on the prayer list. We have been friends ever since. The most ironic thing is that neither one of us go to that church anymore. It was pure fate, or as I like to think is that God put the two of us together because we were meant to be friends. Pretty cool!!

nancyecdavis AT bellsouth DOT net

Liviania said...

Friday, I wrote "Call Aditi" on my hand before running my on-campus errands. I ran into Aditi, which is pretty coincidental on a campus of 50,000 people. Very good coincidence for me since I hate talking on the phone.

And I agree about water tastes. I buy the cheap stuff, but I like Dasani best whereas my mom likes Aquafina. But generally I carry my own bottle full of tap water.

inbedwithbooks AT yahoo DOT com

Alice said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Alice said...

Hm..that's a toughie. I have a lot of coincidences like that. Hmm...
Okay. The time I left my phone in a taxi and my friend was making fun of me, and the next day he lost his phone in a taxi. The difference is, I got mine back. He didn't :D

alice.2.chan@hotmail.com

Michelle said...

i'm quite supersticious so the idea of getting my chart done freaks me out a little bit. I dhould just take the leap and try it though. Great interview, thanks for sharing :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Lenore,

I just made a comment about this to Susane a couple weeks ago, but I'll post it here too, since it's one of my best "non-coincidence" stories.

Years after I became friends with a girl who lived across the country from me, she posted some old poems that she had written well before I knew her. One of them was... MY poem! It was *identical* to a poem I had written years before I knew *her*! It even had the same title. Mine, however, had one extra verse, but everything else was the same.

At first we thought it had to be a mistake. I asked her if she'd posted it online anywhere, or sent it to friends. And most importantly, I asked her when she'd written it. As it turns out, WE WROTE IT ON THE THE EXACT SAME DAY - *before* we'd ever met each other!

Additionally, I'd based my poem on a particular melody, so it had to fit that rhythm. She had not. My friend is skeptical and objective, yet open-minded. We actually Googled each line and everything to make sure it wasn't coming from somewhere else, but it wasn't.

We're still great friends after ten years, and recently met each other in person. I definitely feel an extra bond with her after what happened.

Thanks for being part of Susane's blog tour! It was a great topic.

skye DOT norwood AT gmail DOT com

mrsshukra said...

We have an uncommon surname and when my DH and I visited Williamsburg, VA many years ago, we checked into a hotel and were surprised to be told by the front desk that our relatives who had the same surname as ours had already checked in. We weren't aware of relatives on the east coast but were really curious so we checked them out, got invited to their hotel room where they were having a potluck. We discovered wonderful relatives/ family and have been connected ever since.... and it all started in Williamburg, of all places.

delilah0180(at)yahoo(dot)com

Unknown said...

I was walking down the street with my friend talking loudly about God only knows what, and a guy walks up to me and goes Rose? It was my best friend from high school. We lost contact while he was in the marines. We started spending time together again and three years later we live together and are getting married soon.

Not a crazy coincidence but one that has definitely made me happy.

Andrea said...

Back in 2002, right after I graduated college, 2 friends and I went to Europe. While there we ran into 3 different set of friends (none of us knew the other was going). How random--and then there's more. One of the guys that my friend knew, David, hung out with us for the rest of the trip and we had a blast.

About two weeks after we got home, my mom called and told me that I would never believe what had happened that day. My mom was telling a fellow nurse that I had gone to Europe and she had brought some pictures in. The nurse said that his son had just gotten back. My mom pulls out the pictures...and the other nurse's son was David! Apparently David and I had grown up in the same city but gone to different schools!

Missie, The Unread Reader said...

*squees* Thanks for offering this giveaway!

Unfortunately, I don't have memorable brushes with fate.. :( Although I do believe in signs and the stories already posted in the comments are amazing.

Once I lost my dog, and I was heartbroken. I put ads in the paper, offering a reward and put posters all around town...looking for him.

Finally, when I had given up hope, the police station from the neighboring town called me! They had him! And he was safe!

Jessy said...

My fiance and I met at a party and have been together since. Now, he says we met a few years before that (which I don't remember) but I just think that we weren't meant to have been together at that time. I know I wasn't ready for a commitment then. So I'm glad we were given a second chance.

Jessy said...

whoops, I forgot my email. Sorry

findjessyhere at gmail dot com

Michelle said...

Gosh. I don't know about any coincidences I've had. Maybe my memory is just bad... Although after college, I ended up getting a job at a library only to later find out a girl I had gone to college already worked there. Of course, we had lost touch during those few years and it was nice to reconnect. And even though I've since moved to a different state, we still keep in touch on a regular basis. Which is always a good thing. Thanks!

mmillet at gmail dot com

Tricia said...

No need to enter me in the contest because I already have Something like fate, but I just wanted to share a cool coincidence story! (One of many).

In elementary school, I had a really good friend named Amelia. We hung out all the time up until 5th grade because she had to move to Tennessee. She would call once in a while, but eventually we just lost touch. I didn't know her number, she forgot/lost mine. Then, after being harassed by fellow classmates and basically hating every second I was at school, I switched schools to the high school that was in the next town over halfway through my freshman year. About a month or two later, I heard people talking about another new girl in the school. They were talking about how pretty she was and how she was related to one of the kids in our grade. I also thought I heard someone say she was from Tennessee. At the time, I hadn't met her yet so I didn't think anything of it. But later on that day, I saw her in the hall and just thought Oh. My. God. That is Amelia! I ran up to her all excited and asked her if she remembered me and all that jazz. We ended up being best friends for most of my high school years. Eventually our friendship kind of fizzed out and we only talk once in a little while now, but I really think it's amazing how coincidental the whole situation was. If I hadn't moved, I would have never seen her again. And the weirdest thing was how she moved right after me. Fate is definitely one big mystery.

Allyson A said...

When I was in kindergarten, I became inseparable from my best friend, Elizabeth. During first grade, she moved away, and I was heartbroken. Of course, first graders aren't exactly prime candidates for keeping in touch with long-distance friends, so naturally, I didn't think about her for a dozen years or so. Then, first day of college, I walk into biology class and sit next to a girl who introduces herself as Beth. We get to talking and 15 minutes into the conversation, we realize that we had been kindergarten buddies! I didn't recognize her at all, and it was pretty incredible, considering we were both hundreds of miles away from our hometowns!

allyson(dot)ayers(at)gmail(dot)com

~The Book Pixie said...

Well I don't know if this really counts but here it goes. Lori from Pure Imagination did a post a while back about where our food comes from. This really got mom and I thinking and wanting to learn more. This led to us watching an independent film called Food Inc. After that, we made up our mind that we refused to ever buy meat from a grocery store again. The other day we went to a local meat market that is owned by a man and his great grandson. It's been in buisness for ages. Well, I go to walk in and the great grandson seems to be my future mister perfect. He's smart, good looking, funny, has a job, obviously values family. Only time will tell and you can bet I won't buy my meat anywhere else. ;) I'm glad I saw that post at Lori's or I may have never met him. *gazes off dreamily*

Who'd have thunk it, eh?

This is a terrific contest and I've really been wanting to read one of Susane's books.

~Briana
thebookpixie[at]yahoo[dot]com

Anonymous said...

I once sat next to a guy in some math class or something... One month before my birthday he talked to the girl sitting behind me. He told her his birthday, for some reason, and it turned out to be the same as mine. Then the girl he was talking to told him her mom had the same exact birthday. It was a funny moment. :D

Lenore Appelhans said...

CONTEST CLOSED. Winner has been notified.