Hi everyone, I’m so honoured to have Pintip Dunn discussing her experience today on the blog. Pintip is the author of the upcoming FORGET TOMORROW from Entangled TEEN and I can’t wait to share it all with you. (And look at that cover!)
About the Book
Forget Tomorrow by Pintip Dunn
Nov. 3, 2015
Entangled TEEN
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Imagine a world where your destiny has already been decided…by your future self.
It’s Callie’s seventeenth birthday and, like everyone else, she’s eagerly awaiting her vision-a memory sent back in time to sculpt each citizen into the person they’re meant to be. A world-class swimmer. A renowned scientist.
Or in Callie’s case, a criminal.
In her vision, she sees herself murdering her gifted younger sister. Before she can process what it means, Callie is arrested and placed in Limbo-a hellish prison for those destined to break the law. With the help of her childhood crush, Logan, a boy she hasn’t spoken to in five years, she escapes.
But on the run from her future, as well as the government, Callie sets in motion a chain of events that she hopes will change her fate. If not, she must figure out how to protect her sister from the biggest threat of all-Callie, herself.
About the Author
Pintip Dunn graduated from Harvard University, magna cum laude, with an A.B. in English Literature and Language. She received her J.D. at Yale Law School, where she was an editor of the YALE LAW JOURNAL. She also published an article in the YALE LAW JOURNAL, entitled, “How Judges Overrule: Speech Act Theory and the Doctrine of Stare Decisis,”
Pintip is represented by literary agent Beth Miller of Writers House. She is a 2012 RWA Golden Heart® finalist and a 2014 double-finalist. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, Washington Romance Writers, YARWA, and The Golden Network.
She lives with her husband and children in Maryland. You can learn more about Pintip and her books at www.pintipdunn.com
Website: www.pintipdunn.com
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You Can’t Sit Here: A Guest Post by Pintip Dunn
On a hot summer day last year, my family and I spent a relaxing day at the beach jumping waves, digging holes, and building sand castles. Before heading home, we decided to stop at our favorite crab restaurant. Its outdoor seating and butcher-paper decor, we figured, would perfectly suit our attire — sweaty, sandy, and perfectly happy.
My husband and daughter went up to the host stand and asked for a table for five. The host gestured at the table in front of the podium and told us to have a seat. The sons and I, five feet and maybe three seconds behind, began to deposit our things on the wooden bench.
The host was on us like a hawk. “Excuse me! Miss! You can’t sit here!”
I adjusted the baby on my hip, confused. “Didn’t you just say this was our table?”
“No! I assigned the table to this man…” He trailed off as my Caucasian husband approached and took the squirming baby out of my arms. The host then looked at our three children, whose family resemblance is undeniable, even though my daughter favors her father and the boys look more like me. “Oh,” he said foolishly. “You’re together?”
Well, yeah. We only walked into the restaurant together. There was no one else within a twenty-foot radius, and hubby did ask for a table for five.
But I wasn’t mad. I didn’t even get more than vaguely annoyed. Truth is, moments like this have been happening to me all my life. Sad to say, but as a Thai-American, I’m used to it.
My kids, however, aren’t. At least not yet. There have been a few key incidents that have left an impression. Such as the countless occasions when I’ve been mistaken for my kids’ nanny. Or that day in kindergarten when my daughter’s classmates taunted her, “You’re not French! You’re Thai.”
My daughter came home in tears, and this time, I was furious. Because first, since when is being Thai a bad thing? And second, my daughter isn’t “either-or.” She is both. Thai and French, Caucasian and Asian, partly me and partly her father. Above all else, she is herself. And I never want her to feel like she has to choose.
This is why I write novels with diverse characters. I want my children to see themselves reflected in books and in movies, in pop culture and in politics. I want them to read stories about heroes and heroines who look like them, who go on adventures and defeat the bad guys, who overcome adversity and grow and learn and love.
And you know what? These stories don’t have to be about race and identity and discrimination. They certainly can be, and there’s so much value in that. But there’s also value in diverse characters taking center stage in a science fiction novel, where the races have blended and geographic names are no longer what they used to be.
I hope my kids will never get “used to” the you-can’t-sit-here moments, like I did. And if enough diverse books are written and read? Maybe they won’t have to.
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What did you think of Pintip’s post? Let’s discuss it in the comments!
Sadly, this is something I have grown use to. My mom and I get odd looks all the time, and one time a bagger at the store even asked me “How do you know her? Where are you visiting from?” Who asks someone that?! In school, I was black to the white kids, and “acting white” to the black kids. I’m both! Helloooooo!
I really don’t understand how people don’t realize that mixed race families exist.
My husband’s family hails from Mexico, Spain and Argentina and I am a very pale Dutch woman. When my daughter was an infant I had a waitress ask why I adopted a (racial slur redacted) baby. And my husband’s uncle always teases her about her pale skin. Unfortunately people suck. I hope by the time my children have children this type of behavior is a distant memory. (Gorgeous cover by the way. I saw something on this book in the past few weeks and was intrigued, so it may soon be added to my TBR). Laura