Katharine McGee's debut dystopian novel, THE THOUSANDTH FLOOR comes out tomorrow. Imagine New York City 100 years in the future. Most of the city lives in one building that is 2.5 miles high and has - you guessed it - 1,000 floors. The richer and more prominent you are, the higher up you live. It's a pretty amazing idea that an entire city could live in one building and have everything at its fingertips - houses, restaurants, gyms, schools. And what would it be like being a teenager living in a world like this? The Thousandth Floor follows the lives of five teens, all living different lives, yet finding a way to intersect in some way.
Today I have something special for you - we know what Katharine McGee's view of NYC 100 years from now is. What about her thoughts of it in 2016? I asked her what her top 10 favorite things about New York City in 2016 are. Here are her answers...
Katherine McGee's Top 10 Favorite Things About New York City in 2016
10. It’s still the city that never sleeps. No matter the day or time, something is always happening in New York. Life there is so convenient—restaurants and drugstores are always open, and everything delivers. Pouring rain outside? No need to leave home; just order Chinese food delivery and watch the rain from your window, snuggled up in a blanket!
9. Shakespeare in the Park. It’s a New York rite of passage! You have to sit in line all morning, starting at around 6 AM (earlier on the weekends!) just to get tickets when they go on sale at noon. But being in line is actually incredibly fun—everyone is laughing and talking, reading books, sharing snacks. By the time you finally get your ticket, you feel like you’ve earned it!
8. That first magical weekend of spring. You can always tell the day that the weather changes in New York because suddenly, everyone streams outdoors wearing sunglasses and scarves, pale from the, but determined to walk outside and get an iced coffee instead of hot!
7. The Frick museum. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Met, but the Frick is underrated. If you’ve been to their summer garden party and seen their fountains in action then you know what I mean! The house itself is a historic monument, with gorgeous staircases and light fixtures and furniture, and the art is breathtaking. Sometimes I go there alone to just sit in the room lined with Fragonard paintings.
6. Rooftops. Once the weather turns warm, New York goes totally nuts for rooftops—everyone wants to sit outside to share a glass of wine with friends and enjoy the sunset. There are so many fantastic rooftops (the Hotel Gansevoort, or the Empire Hotel, which always makes me think of Chuck Bass) but my favorite is still the roof of the Met Museum!
5. The transit system. It’s so easy to get around New York: no matter where you’re headed, a subway will take you there. After five years of living in New York, I basically had the subway map memorized—a bit of a useless skill now that I’ve moved away, but at least I get to go back occasionally.
4. The food. New York has every kind of food imaginable! One of my best friends and I used to do monthly dinners where we tried a new cuisine each week, everything from Moroccan couscous to Korean barbeque to Russian borscht and pastries. I loved all of it, but I have to say my favorite food in all of New York was the bread pudding at Jacob’s Pickles. They make it out of crumbled honey biscuits and smother it in vanilla ice cream and now I’m hungry just thinking about it.
3. The West Village. When I lived in New York, my apartment was in the West Village, and it’s still my absolute favorite neighborhood. I love the adorable winding cobblestone streets and random boutiques. The West Village is always full of surprises—like a gourmet popsicle stand, or a bar that’s long and skinny and only four feet wide (it opened in the alleyway between two buildings). I miss it!
2. Broadway. I inherited this love from my mom, who unlike me is a great singer, and always walks around our house humming show tunes. When I was growing up, we saw Broadway shows every time they toured through Houston, and as I got older, we started taking annual trips together to New York to see new shows as they opened. Favorite show of all time: Les Miz. Favorite new show: Hamilton, without a doubt.
1. The people. New Yorkers are unlike anyone else on the planet. Of course I’m an adopted New Yorker, not a native, but I’m just as fiercely proud as any of them ☺ It constantly amazes me how New York attracts such a brilliant, eclectic, ambitious, and diverse group of people. New Yorkers sometimes act gruff and impatient with one another, but the truth is, they will always help one another. I saw it firsthand during Hurricane Sandy and this year in winter storm Jonas—there’s no one like New Yorkers for banding together in a crisis.
The Thousandth Floor (The Thousandth Floor #1), by Katharine McGee
Publish Date: August 30, 2016
Publisher: Harper Teen
Genre: young adult dystopian
To Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
(Synopsis) New York City as you’ve never seen it before. A thousand-story tower stretching into the sky. A glittering vision of the future, where anything is possible—if you want it enough.
Welcome to Manhattan, 2118.
A hundred years in the future, New York is a city of innovation and dreams. But people never change: everyone here wants something…and everyone has something to lose.
Leda Cole’s flawless exterior belies a secret addiction—to a drug she never should have tried and a boy she never should have touched.
Eris Dodd-Radson’s beautiful, carefree life falls to pieces when a heartbreaking betrayal tears her family apart.
Rylin Myers’s job on one of the highest floors sweeps her into a world—and a romance—she never imagined…but will her new life cost Rylin her old one?
Watt Bakradi is a tech genius with a secret: he knows everything about everyone. But when he’s hired to spy by an upper-floor girl, he finds himself caught up in a complicated web of lies.
And living above everyone else on the thousandth floor is Avery Fuller, the girl genetically designed to be perfect. The girl who seems to have it all—yet is tormented by the one thing she can never have.
Debut author Katharine McGee has created a breathtakingly original series filled with high-tech luxury and futuristic glamour, where the impossible feels just within reach. But in this world, the higher you go, the farther there is to fall….
Check out the rest of the stops on The Thousandth Floor blog tour, organized by Irish Banana Tours:
Week 1:
8/22: In Wonderland - Review
Week 2:
8/30: Forever Bookish - Review
LINKS: Website | Twitter
Enter below to win one of three finished copies of The Thousandth Floor (US Only)!
