Danita Minnis

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Christine Hart will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.

Author Christine Hart Interview

1. How did you choose your genre? What made you write this book?

I shifted from YA dramatic stories to NA speculative fiction so that I could tell a story that was weirder, wilder, and darker than anything I had written before. I love writing stories for young people. (I wrote two MG books after this trilogy.) But I also enjoy stories with mature content, which, for me, means making the characters adults.

2. Writers write what they know, and must observe the world. Are you a first born, middle or last child and how does this shape your view of the world?

I’m the eldest of two sisters. And I’m sure it does affect how I see the world. Irina is the older sister in her story too. I’ve heard people talk about firstborn behavior and personalities. I like to be organized, and I try to look after the people around me. I have high standards for my work. Those could be the result of being the eldest.

3. Where is your favorite place to write?

I’ve had many different working spots in the years I’ve been writing fiction. But often, I’m on a laptop. On a couch, in bed, at a desk or vanity, even on my kitchen counter with a baby strapped to my chest. I try to get comfortable and not stay in one position for too long. It’s nice to be able to work through multiple chapters in one day, but my posture can suffer, so I find it necessary to limit how long I write in the same spot.

4. How do you feel about killing your darlings, and what do you do with the remains?

I learned to kill my darlings early in my career. I’d say I even started doing it at university, before fiction was a part of my world. When I was a journalism and communications student, I was less concerned with artistry of language. Now, I think a stay of execution on the odd darling is like buying a ticket in the lottery of quotable literature. Maybe, one day, I’ll write something that’s both special to me, and memorable to my readers. I believe it’s possible for a phrase or sentence to transcend darling status, if it gets the chance to go out into the world.

5. You are introduced to your favorite author. Who is it, and what is that one burning question you must ask them?

This is a tough question for me right now. My favorite author for many years was Neil Gaiman. And I often thought about what would happen if I had the chance to meet him. (I’m shy and can charm almost nobody.) Now, given that he’s being investigated for assault, I don’t think I’d want to make that connection or take any advice I was given. A terrible person can still be a great writer. But my feelings have changed. And I’m sad about it, although the loss is one-sided.

6. Inquiring minds want to know…tell readers something about you that no one knows.

I never set out to be a writer. Of any kind. The career I had in mind when I went to university was lawyer. I can hardly remember why I wanted that path now. I needed to achieve my potential and make a difference. (I had Crown Counsil in mind when picturing myself as a lawyer.) So, it was ‘put bad people in jail’ for a living, even though I don’t see myself as heroic or in a helping profession. It was probably for the best when my first year English teacher told me that I should become a writer.

7. You are stranded on a deserted island with only a back pack for company. What three items are in your survival pack?

That is a tough one! Everything I can think of will run out, whether we’re talking about matches, batteries, food, wood, or seeds. With that finite value in mind … a short story collection I’ve never read, a warm sweater large enough to curl up in, and my reading glasses. Hopefully I’d have some luck making the last item double as a fire starter on a sunny day.

8. If you could have one super power in your existence, what would it be?

A super power for myself and not one of my characters? I’d like to be able to change my appearance. The chance to become someone else could be an amazing experience. I know I’m far too sensitive to hear what other people are thinking. I’ve never wanted to be stronger than I am or play around with elements. I couldn’t process what Irina must manage, seeing the future, cultivating that knowledge and trying to figure out how to stop it from happening.

9. Favorite snack?

I’m a fruit person. I developed a sensitive stomach in my early thirties and too much sugar and processed carbs hurts more than it satisfies.

10. Indy 500 – Do you know how to get where you’re going or do you drive the speed limit?

I drive the speed limit because I’m a painfully meticulous rule-follower. On a D&D alignment grid, I’m somewhere between lawful good and neutral good. If I’m in a speeding car (driven by someone else) all I can think about is how horrible it would be to hit a pedestrian and live with that on your conscience for the rest of your life.

THE VARIANT CONSPIRACY TRILOGY

Christine Hart

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GENRE:  SciFi romance

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Series

What if the men destroying our world were doing it on purpose? The Variant Conspiracy trilogy follows 19-year-old Irina Proffer as she connects the dots between her cryptic employer’s work and an international plot to transform Earth. All while she navigates love and grief, both for the first time.

As Irina comes of age within a subculture of human mutation, she and her friends hunt a group of corporate eco-saboteurs. They discover a singular ancient evil that wants nothing more than to wipe out all life and remake our planet. As Irina pieces together visions of the future, she must figure out a way to change an outcome that seems ‌inevitable

Book 1: In Irina’s Cards

Irina Proffer leaves mundane small-town life behind when she experiences visions inspired by a strange deck of tarot cards. To get answers, she travels from her northern British Columbia home to the province’s coastal capital. She quickly discovers a world of fringe genetic science and supernatural mystery.

Working for Innoviro Industries, Irina is drawn in by a powerful first love and compelling, yet dangerous questions about the nature of the company’s business. Meeting other ‘variants’ brings Irina closer and closer to the dark truth about her origins. She finds herself at the heart of two overlapping love triangles as she scrambles to escape her employer’s grip.

Before she leaves the city, Irina realizes she has merely scratched the surface of a frightening conspiracy on a global scale.

Book 2: The Compendium

Irina and her renegade variant friends are scrambling to pick up the trail of their former employer, Ivan, and his globally catastrophic scheme. After strategically sharing their story with the media, the group heads south from Vancouver to Seattle hoping to recruit more experienced – and lethal – variants to their cause.

Their attention develops a laser focus on an engineered disaster mere days ahead of them. Ivan is using what staff and resources remain of Innoviro Industries to set off a violent earthquake in San Francisco. While they fight to stop the earthquake, Irina pushes the love of her life Jonah as far away as she can, trying to keep his unstable genetic degradation in check.

Irina’s friends think they’ve seen the worst that Innoviro could bring forth by the time they reach a secret facility in the Mojave Desert. As they near the property, the group uncovers a horror none of them had ever imagined.

Book 3: Terra Nova

The end of humanity and an unrecognizable future Earth are now days away. After their first glimpse of the Terra Nova virus, Irina and her variant friends know their former employer’s plans are almost at hand. Their failed attempt to publicize Ivan and Innoviro Industries’ horrific activities has left them utterly reliant on their own wits and weapons.

After surviving a catastrophic earthquake in San Francisco and destroying a secret viral testing facility, Irina’s crew has traveled by a variant portal to London. On the other side of the world, they begin tracking when and where Terra Nova will be unleashed on the world. They know stopping Terra Nova is only the beginning of unraveling Ivan’s plans to reinvent the planet, but if they can’t stop this virus, there will be no one left to save.

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Excerpt: In Irina’s Cards

We walked a bit farther in silence. I had assumed Jonah would find something, at least a mention of the drug, within the files at Innoviro. How could something either guarded or fresh out of the lab, be a trustworthy substance I should let them inject into my veins? Even if Ivan showed me charts and research findings, what insight could I gain from them?

Jonah and I rounded a corner. The path diverged around a ring of shrubs and a large arbutus tree. On the one side, the path jutted out to a viewpoint looking over to the Inner Harbour. On the other, a bench sat tucked into a semicircle of overgrown juniper bushes. The sun had nearly dropped behind the hills in Esquimalt, casting vivid yellow-orange light onto downtown. Bright pink clouds floated like cotton candy in the sky. If we kept going the Harbour would greet us in its gown of twinkling lights. My sunroom balcony had that view at every sunset. I turned towards the bench. I suddenly felt like I needed a break.

Jonah sat down next to me. He touched the side of my mouth and I jumped.

“Sorry; you had some ice cream …” he said sheepishly.

I wished I was the kind of girl who carried a mirror in my purse, but I knew better than to bother searching. I looked out at the ocean and the pink pieces of light floating on the water.

“You look tense.”

His arm slipped behind my back as I kept staring ahead. I turned to answer and found myself nose-to-nose with him.

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Christine Hart Bio and Links:

Christine Hart is a writer of speculative fiction for youth and adults. She also runs an online metalsmithing shop, Hart Fabrications.

Christine’s backlist includes YA, NA, and MG titles. Her first collection of adult fiction, Weird Stories of Strange Women, is coming in 2026.

When not writing, she creates wearable art from recycled metals, vintage glass, and unusual gemstones. She shares her eclectic home with her husband and two children.

Learn more about Christine and her work at hart-fabrications.com and christine-hart.ca.

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