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When you control minds, only your heart can be used against you.
Bestselling YA novel Open Minds, Book One of the Mindjack Trilogy, is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and iTunes. The sequel Closed Hearts has just been released. Susan Kaye Quinn's business card says "Author and Rocket Scientist," but she mostly plays on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.
In celebration of the release of Susan Kaye Quinn's novel Closed Hearts, she has created bonus content that relates to the Mindjack Trilogy. This bonus content arises from the story time between Open Minds (Bk#1) and Closed Hearts (Bk#2) - it's not terribly spoiler-ish, but you'll enjoy it more if you've read Open Minds already.
In Closed Hearts, mindjackers are no longer hidden from the larger mindreading public, but how they deal with that fact varies by their situation. Many continue to "rook" or masquerade as mindreaders.
In Kira's future world, everyone turns into mindreaders at adolescence, when the mindreading capabilities of their minds are activated by the turbulent chemicals that course through the brains of teenagers. Some mindreaders are driven insane (or demens) by the constant barrage of thoughts coursing through their mind, but most pass through their time as a changeling to become a fully functional mindreader. I think of mindreaders as radios that both broadcast and receive thought waves. Their mental "antennae" isn't activated until they reach adolescence, but after that, they can receive thought waves from anyone that's broadcasting, and in turn broadcast their thoughts indiscriminately to anyone that can receive them.
Jackers are fundamentally different from mindreaders in how their brains operate. As is explored in Closed Hearts, their thought waves operate on a different "frequency" from mindreaders. This is because they are actively in control of their mind-fields, rather than being passive broadcasters or receivers like mindreaders. Mindjackers literally reach out with their mind-fields, projecting the influence of their minds outside of their physical bodies. This is the difference between shouting at someone and reaching out to them with your fist. (You can see how the fist might be a little more intimidating? Especially if it can reach into your mind?) So, mindjackers can grapple with other mindjackers, their respective mindfields battling for control, or jackers can reach into the minds of mindreaders and control their relatively passive minds.
Since mindjackers can control what mindreaders think/feel/remember, they can easily masquerade (or "rook") as mindreaders (at least to the mindreaders around them; any mindjacker will not be fooled). The easiest way to do this is to reach into the mindreaders' head and link in the mindjacker's thoughts. This way the mindreader is fooled into thinking they are "receiving" the thought waves of another "mindreader." This is easier than trying to jack everyone around them (which is more forceful than just linking), especially if the jacker is in the middle of a crowd of mindreaders. Some mindjackers are so weak that this is all they can ever do, linking their thoughts to other people. These "linkers" are pretty much forced to "rook" as mindreaders, or they will be discovered as mindjackers, without the ability to do anything about it (tough luck!). Some mindjackers choose to rook as mindreaders, hiding within the larger mindreading world so they can pass for readers, hold normal jobs, and have a semblance of a normal life.
In Closed Hearts, mindjackers are no longer hidden from the larger mindreading public, but how they deal with that fact varies by their situation. Many continue to "rook" or masquerade as mindreaders.
Mindreaders
Mindjackers
Rooks (and Linkers)
Since mindjackers can control what mindreaders think/feel/remember, they can easily masquerade (or "rook") as mindreaders (at least to the mindreaders around them; any mindjacker will not be fooled). The easiest way to do this is to reach into the mindreaders' head and link in the mindjacker's thoughts. This way the mindreader is fooled into thinking they are "receiving" the thought waves of another "mindreader." This is easier than trying to jack everyone around them (which is more forceful than just linking), especially if the jacker is in the middle of a crowd of mindreaders. Some mindjackers are so weak that this is all they can ever do, linking their thoughts to other people. These "linkers" are pretty much forced to "rook" as mindreaders, or they will be discovered as mindjackers, without the ability to do anything about it (tough luck!). Some mindjackers choose to rook as mindreaders, hiding within the larger mindreading world so they can pass for readers, hold normal jobs, and have a semblance of a normal life.
In Closed Hearts, Kira starts out rooking as a mindreader, so she can hide out in the suburbs and avoid the jackers who hate her (for outting them to the world) and the readers who fear her (for being a world famous mindjacker, and revealing that hidden underworld to them). Many other jackers do the same, trying to hold down normal jobs. Other mindjackers have moved to Jackertown, embracing and using their jacking abilities to their fullest.
Cast Your Vote
Would you choose to be a mindjacker who embraces who they are? Or a rook who hides and pretends to be a mindreader?
If you were a mindjacker, which would you choose?
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Thanks so much for hosting, Heather! Looks like the rooks are winning ... :)
ReplyDeleteI am happy to host. These are GREAT books!
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