#TEMPER by Nicky Drayden: All you needed to know about the Vices & more!

• One of the fantastical elements of TEMPER is that nearly everyone is born with a twin, and those twins split seven vices among them, each getting branded down their arms early in childhood. I’m a sucker for good twin/bad twin stories, but for this one, I wanted to tell the story from the point of view of the bad twin, Auben, who has six of the seven vices.

The vices are:

1. Vainglory, or vanity and the consumption with one’s own beauty
2. Envy, or the intense desire to have what others hold dear
3. Duplicity, or the propensity to tell lies and otherwise deceive people
4. Doubt, or the uncertainty of self
5. Lechery, or the drive to indulge in sexual or mental pleasures (in this context, practicing science is seen as a form of lechery)
6. Greed, or the desire to accumulate wealth and material goods past the point of need
7. Temper, or the violent loss of self-control

Are the Vices like the Seven Deadly Sins? If so, does it relate to Christian Themes?

• They are very similar, but I wanted to put my own spin on it. For one, these vices are literally branded upon your arm for all the world to see. They drive your actions, but if your twin is close by, they’re more or less diluted or tempered into something manageable. When twins separate for an extended amount of time or distance, those vices run wild, and someone with vainglory as a vice might find themselves consumed with their reflection in a mirror, forgetting to eat, forgetting to sleep. But virtues run wild, too, and a charitable person might be driven to give every bit of their life away, including the shirt off their back. Either extreme could mean death for one or both twins if they’re not brought back into proximity of one another.

List the virtues:

1. Humility
2. Conscience
3. Sincerity
4. Diligence
5. Chasity
6. Charity
7. Grace

•  The chapters are named after Auben’s six vices and his one virtue, Charity.

Can a person have all vices & no virtues? Or vice versa, all virtue & no vices?

• The number of vices a person has can severely limit their potential in society. It determines what jobs they’re eligible for, what neighborhoods they live in, and who they marry. Having four vices is common. Five, less so, about ten percent of the population, and those with six, like Auben, are fairly rare, about one in three hundred. No one has been born with all vices and all virtues since the original twins, Grace and Icy Blue, the deities that created humanity.

How does the “demonic possession” & “demons” tie in with the vices & the twin phenomenon in this version of South Africa?

• The big horror element in the novel is that there are demons lurking around, and they particularly get up to no good when the weather turns cold, the Narrow Season in this book. People participate in rituals that will keep the demons away, like putting out cinnamon-scented candles and hosting feasts, so that family stays close and they can keep an eye on each other during this dangerous time of year.
• Possessions are common enough that the local churches or sanctuaries offer buy-one-get-one-half-off exorcisms during the Narrow Season. Most possessions are an annoyance, but sometimes particularly strong demons can cause people to black out, to perform violence, and lose their minds. Auben is afflicted by such a beast, and must figure out a way to exorcise the demon before it destroys his life.

What do you think is the worst vice & the most common vice among people in or out of the book?

• Well, it’s tempting to say temper, since so much violence is born out of it, but really the most damaging, in and out of the book, is doubt. Doubt kills dreams. Squashes hopes. There’s so much potential for good out there, but we are often brought down, and not by some nefarious villain, but oftentimes by our own family and friends. Tempers flare, but fade eventually. Doubt lingers. Burrows through your heart, steals away your happiness, and consumes you from within. 

If you could choose just one message this book would deliver to a reader, what would that message be?

• That for better or worse, we are all connected. Our ties to family and friends can feel like both a burden and a gift, depending on the day, but we need to actively cultivate those relationships, or they’ll whiter away. Even relationships between people who are tied as closely together as twins.

#TemperCityTour – A 10 day virtual tour where you can win NEW RELEASES!

Announcing the start of a 10 day #TemperCityTour on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, where I’ll be giving out prizes for tagging an image of TEMPER with the hashtag above and a message like “Losing my Temper in [City Name]” or “Temper spotted in [City Name]” or whatever else is book related.

Tempers are rising in Eau Claire, Wisconsin! #TemperCityTour #TEMPERReleaseDay #TEMPER pic.twitter.com/ma4lUl0o8s

— Olivia Sitter (@OliviaSitter) August 7, 2018

It can be a picture of you reading the book, a picture of it on a library or bookstore shelf, a photoshopped image of the book cover with a city monument or attraction in the background, a cool “bookstagram” image, whatever!

Prizes include daily drawings for a 2018 release paperback of the book of your choice (under $20), with additional prizes chosen by me for funniest, cutest, and best overall post. If we get 50 cities, I will have bonus prizes!

Open Internationally, ages 18+.

SWAG BRAG!

Also thanks to everyone who’s done swag brags! I’ve seen you out there! (These are just a few.) You are all amazing! Keep it up!