I’ve been squirreling away words in the name of this:
And gazing upon beautiful covers in the name of this:
What about you?
Nov 042010
I once was a bad review aficionado. I’d cherry-pick all the most negative reviews and read them first. 1-star? Surely more useful than all the gushing 5-star reviews that didn’t say much about the book beyond, “I <3 this!!!” I preferred snarky, intelligent commentaries exploring the mechanics of why a particular character sucked or why the author was to be avoided. Books that have less mud slung at them must be better books. Right?
But.
Bad reviews and I have broken up. We’re no longer seeing each other. Occasionally, I glance at an unpleasant review of a book I just read, or even break the taboo of glimpsing a not-so-nice review of my own novel. Believe it or not, my reviewing philosophy changed before I became a published author, before I crossed my fingers and toes in the hopes that readers would love my book and not pick it to pieces in the pursuit of a snarky laugh.
Now, I’m more likely to roll my eyes at a reviewer’s attempt to cleverly eviscerate a work of fiction. To me, it’s like listening to a kid rant about the disgusting taste of broccoli. Or worse, an adult eating a cake someone baked and then publicly dissing the poor confection. That’s just rude. Sure, food critics exist. I don’t read their opinions, because I figure that if I want to know whether I’ll like a culinary creation, I’ll have to taste it myself. No amount of broccoli-haters will deter me from trying it–and loving it. And no amount of book-haters will stop me from cracking open a new novel.
If I had a book reviewing clone with identical tastes, then maybe I’d pay attention. But since there’s no Karen II who loves absolutely everything I love, I don’t see why anti-recommendations help in the slightest. You hate my favorite book? Whatever. I want a reviewer raving about the deliciousness of a new paranormal romance, so I can drool in anticipation, rather than a killjoy reviewer who stops me from trying something.
Sure, an exciting debate between good and bad reviews can make me curious about the book being fought over, but more often than not, a bad review taints my opinion of a book so that I’m hesitant to even pick it up. Because in the end, bad reviews–unless they backfire–encourage people to read less books, not more. As an author and bookaholic, that’s a fate much worse than literary gluttony. Give me recommendations any day, and I’ll do the taste-testing myself.
Jun 302010
Guess what? Tomorrow, July 1, is a two-book birthday: Other by yours truly, and Indigo Blues by Danielle Joseph! We’re both Flux authors–and therefore Flux twinsies–who got to hang out at ALA. Danielle and I also concocted some fun book birthday questions for each other. Here are mine, and here are hers:
1. Quick! Elevator pitch for Indigo Blues. You have 15 seconds…
Timer set…Adam and Indigo break up, she wants to move on. He’s not ready and writes a hit song about her. Song makes it big. Really big. And now he’s famous, she not so much. The story is told in both their voices about how they deal with being thrust into the limelight. Buzz..time up!
2. What’s the craziest book you could ever see yourself writing?
A cookbook! And the first item would be Wonder bread surprise balls. Basically my friend Kimberly and I filled the bread with all sorts of toppings, rolled it into a ball and then put them into the toaster oven. You didn’t know if you were eating the chocolate-filled one or the tuna-filled one since it was a surpriseJ.
3. What’s your silliest writing habit? I wish I could say it was standing on my head and reciting the alphabet backwards but it’s more about sitting down, hoping for peace and quiet and then typing away!
First word you associate with each word below:
Pizza. Staple Food.
Pixies. A band from the early 90’s that I used to listen too.
Potatoes. Mr. Potato Head, used to have one of those.
Patchwork. A quilt, would love to make one but since I got a C+ on the bag I made in 7th grade I don’t think that’s such a good idea.
Pookas. I never knew about pookas until I met the one you made and now I want oneJ!
Now, write a story out of those five words! (Kidding… but if you dare…)
How about a tongue twister: The pooka penetrated the pixie’s patchwork palace and pirated all her potatoes and pizza. Now say that five times fast!
Thanks so much for stopping by, Danielle, and Happy Book Birthday!
Jun 282010
Walking down the red carpet right now, just take a look at that dazzling chartreuse evening gown worn by… oh, wait, this is ALA. Still, quite a few of the authors at this conference have undeniable star power. The most famous of them merely have to walk around without a name tag and their fans follow them with cameras in hand. (You might be able to guess who.) For me, though, each author who wrote a book I’ve loved had celebrity status and got their photo taken by me. Without further ado, here are some author stars of ALA, in the order I ran into them.
John Green. He was everywhere. You will see when I post my Day 2 photos, but I swear I wasn’t actually stalking the guy.
Malinda Lo. I have a signed copy of Ash waiting at home for me! Which was my logic for not standing in my bazillionth line for her books…
Christina Gonzalez. A fellow Tenner (yay!), having her photo taken with Skyanne. I ran into Skyanne even more than John Green. Hmm… we seem to have similar book-stalking tastes.
Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Kami and Margaret are such sweethearts; they recognized me by my name tag (due to my online gushing over Beautiful Creatures) and hugged me across the signing table!
Tenners! There were eight of us going out to lunch at one point, but Holly Cupola had to leave early. Holly Nicole Hoxter is hiding in this photo, but you can still see Christina Gonzalez, me, Amy Brecount White, Jaclyn Dolamore, Margie Gelbwasser, and Lindsey Leavitt.
Lindsey Leavitt and Holly Nicole Hoxter. I noticed Holly hiding in the previous photo, so I sneakily took another one of her and Lindsey.
Laurie Halse Anderson. I snaked one hand through the line for her signing (didn’t cut!) and handed her a bookmark, since I adore her books.
Jawa and Stormtrooper. Okay, so they aren’t authors. But they were at the DK Books booth promoting these cute Star Wars books for kids. And there was this little boy who just meandered up with a kazoo and started playing the Imperial Death March.
Melissa Marr. She visited a lot of authors’ signings when not signing her own books, and made me feel better about my own book avarice.
Day 2 – coming soon!
I’m currently flying back from D.C., and my plane has wifi, so I’ve decided to post about how I died and went to Book Heaven, i.e., the 2010 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference. I got to sign finished copies of my debut Other for the very first time on Saturday, and lots of fabulous librarians, teachers, bloggers, and other readers showed up in line!
While I wasn’t signing, I was running around, snatching ARCs (I mailed home 21 lbs. of books, and I’m carrying more on the plane!), and geeking out over authors like the fangirl I am. I am shameless, I swear. I randomly approached authors ranging from Libba Bray to John Green to Carrie Jones and waved my Other bookmarks in their faces, which they accepted with commendable grace. Okay, so maybe Carrie Jones saw it coming, since I’ve already fangirled her online.
If you didn’t go to ALA, you didn’t miss your chance to win one of four copies of Other over at Tynga’s Reviews and All Things Urban Fantasy. And here on my website, you can still win one of 10 signed bookmarks for Other, along with a unique teaser from Other or the sequel, Bloodborn. They are shiny. Maybe shinier than the ones that got all smudgy from my fingerprints at ALA, since it was sweltering in D.C. People from the other Washington (State), such as me, tend to shrivel like slugs in the sun.
Ahem. Anyway, I will be posting another post right after this one, with more photos of the fabulous people I ran into/fangirled over/waved bookmarks in their faces, including a big batch of Tenners!
Finally for Shifting into High Gear, please give it up for Sarwat Chadda, author of Devil’s Kiss and its sequel, Dark Goddess, out July 1 in the UK, and January 5, 2011 in the US! (And yes, I meant to post this earlier, but due to a scheduling hiccup, you get Sarwat now.) Without further ado, the official blurb for Dark Goddess:
BILLI SANGREAL is a Knight Templar and has thrown herself utterly into their brutal regime, shutting herself off from everyone and everything. But when Billi saves a young girl from a savage werewolf attack, she discovers the attack was no random event.
This is no ordinary girl. Vasalisa is an avatar with an uncontrollable force within – and it’s not just the werewolves who want her. The Dark Goddess wants to sacrifice Vasalisa and use her powers to unleash unimaginable catastrophes and devastation.
Can Billi protect Vasalisa from the ancient goddess – and at the same time stop her from destroying the world?
What did Sarwat have to say about my three questions?
1. What’s your YA guilty pleasure? Particularly, a novel or series you gobbled up when you were a teen. When I was a teen I was madly into the Conan books, films, comics, everything really. I never went as far as buying the wolf-fur lioncloth, I hasten to add, nor acquire the muscles either, mores the pity. Still got them on the shelves with the Frazetta covers and do re-read them every now and again, just when I feel the need to inject some testosterone back into my writing.
2. If you could choose between dating a paranormal hottie or being one yourself, what would it be? I’d rather be dating the hottie. All the perks with none of the problems. Nothing better than a superpowered girlfriend to right all your wrongs! Plus, cooking would be so easy for dates. Bag of blood for the vampire and dog-food if she was a big hairy on full moons. My only real concern would be introducing her to mother. My mother always warned me never to date a girl with more body hair than me.
3. What do you foresee as the next trends in YA? With Hunger Games and the Chaos Walking trilogies I wonder if we’re going to move towards more science fiction. I don’t really mind, as long as it doesn’t involve vampires.
Don’t miss the Devil’s Kiss book trailer, or the first chapter of Dark Goddess! You can visit Sarwat on his website and blog.
And now… Shannon Delany, author of 13 to Life, out June 22! As you can probably tell from the cover, this is a werewolfy novel. Though we get a more mysterious official blurb:
Something strange is stalking the small town of Junction…
When junior Jess Gillmansen gets called out of class by Guidance, she can only presume it’s for one of two reasons. Either they’ve finally figured out who wrote the scathing anti-jock editorial in the school newspaper or they’re hosting yet another intervention for her about her mom. Although far from expecting it, she’s relieved to discover Guidance just wants her to show a new student around—but he comes with issues of his own including a police escort.
The newest member of Junction High, Pietr Rusakova has secrets to hide–secrets that will bring big trouble to the small town of Junction—secrets including dramatic changes he’s undergoing that will surely end his life early.
Want to know more about the author? Shannon’s bio:
Since she was a child Shannon Delany has written stories, beginning writing in earnest when her grandmother fell unexpectedly ill. In 2008 her greatly abbreviated version of 13 to Life (written in just five weeks) won the grand prize in the first-ever cell phone novel contest in the western world through Textnovel.com. Previously a teacher and now a farmer raising heritage livestock, Shannon lives and writes in upstate New York and enjoys traveling to talk to people about most anything.
And now, Shannon’s take on my three questions:
1. What’s your YA guilty pleasure? Particularly, a novel or series you gobbled up when you were a teen. I devoured the Arrows of the Queen novels by Mercedes Lackey as a teenager. I desperately wanted to have a blue-eyed Companion seek me out and take me away on an adventure!
2. If you could choose between dating a paranormal hottie or being one yourself, what would it be? I would prefer to be one (dating one would bring a whole different set of troubles, like competition and that dreaded–and unfortunately not paranormal green-eyed monster–jealousy).
3. What do you foresee as the next trends in YA? I think we’ll see more apocolyptic and dystopian books as we approach 2012 because our culture’s absolutely fascinated with our own potential destruction and reinvention. We long to have the capability of the phoenix–to come back again and again–and we’re tremendously drawn to a fiery end.
You can visit Shannon on her website, blog, or series website. And don’t miss her 13 to Life book trailer!
Does reading about werewolves and shifters make you howl with happiness? If so, then be glad that June is here. Because this month is the event Shifting Into High Gear. I’ve teamed up with authors Jordan Deen, Judith Graves, Kitty Keswick, Leah Cypess, Sarwat Chadda, and Shannon Delany to talk about all things werewolf and shapeshifting. You can follow us on Twitter with the tags #shiftinggear and #werewolfjune. Catch me on their blogs at various times during June, and check my blog on these dates:
June 6, 7, 8 (Jordan Deen)
June 9, 10, 11 (Judith Graves)
June 12, 13,14 (Kitty Keswick)
June 15, 16, 17 (Leah Cypess)
June 18, 19, 20 (Sarwat Chadda)
June 21, 22, 23 (Shannon Delany)
Awooo!
Mar 282010
After three nights in Paris, I’m now in Rennes and quite sleepy. I’m still going to post some highlight photos from my stay so far….first, imagine you’re window-shopping with me in the 4th arrondissement (neighborhood) of Paris, in Marais….
Yes, this is a pâtisserie (pastry shop). Yes, it’s even more drool-worthy in real-life. I walked up and down the streets of Marais, where I spent three nights in a hostel within a 17-century building that used to be aristocratic quarters.
A close-up of those amazing cakes. J’adore les gâteaux. And here’s something interesting… see if you can guess what it is:
This was in a shop entirely devoted to foie gras. This must have been their best one, enshrined like a reliquary.
This, of course, is a real reliquary. While meandering around Notre Dame, I discovered a treasury full of gold and jewels belonging to the cathedral. I can barely describe how gorgeous and uplifting the cathedral itself is. But I can share one more photo of golden angels.
Mar 062010
So, I had this dream last night. I was whisked away from a comfortable seaside home and was en route to a brooding boarding school on a high, heathery hill with endless curving switchbacks. (I remember, because I was driving.) In the backseat: a brooding, gorgeous, dark-haired boy. Just the kind of boy you’d expect to see in a YA novel where the protagonist doesn’t know whether to hate him or swoon over him. He may have even had hints of a paranormal past. As we drove to the brooding boarding school where plot was likely to happen, I remember him talking to me in this low, intense voice. Can’t remember the words, sorry.
After I woke up, I sat down and pounded out the first chapter of a thrilling new YA paranormal romance. Just kidding. What I really came away with was the feeling that this guy was an absolute douche-bag. All his brooding and inability to express his tormented emotions resulted in him being really annoying. I was driving to the boarding school to get away from him, actually, but he insisted on following me, obsessed with his love for me. I guess it was love. It wasn’t obvious, beneath all the brooding.
Funnily enough, there was a little follow-up scene about the boarding school. The teacher was reading something in French and butchered the pronunciation. I raised my hand to offer a better reading, but Mr. Brooding cut me off, proved his mastery of French, and flashed me a smoldering smile. That was it. Any chance for a fictional romance was off. In dreams, as in real life, I’m revolted by chauvinism.
Now, the moral of this story. I’ve heard many explanations for why we like to read about romances where the girl picks the exciting, brooding guy over the boring, nice guy. Why settle for safe, he’s-my-best-friend love when there’s the optional of unpredictable, even dangerous, passion? Even I am guilty of writing stories where the girl snubs Mr. Next Door for the smexy mysterious stranger. But my dream last night unpleasantly reminded me that mysterious strangers often have a tendency to become nasty. When the smoldering wears off, there’s not going to be any fun walks through the neighborhood or dishes done in companionable silence. Mr. Brooding is too busy with his own weird hang ups.
I know, I know, romance novels are most definitely not real life. We make much better romantic choices in real life. Usually. Though I have known friends who did actually pursue the brooding guy, and now talk about their relationships in uncertain, bittersweet words. Even sadder, other friends have talked about getting together with guys who seemed darkly exciting, only to later escape an abusive relationship. I seriously think there are many YA novels out there today where the obsessive passion and weird manipulative behavior depict nothing more than unhealthy, harmful so-called romances.
It’s rather icky, to say the least. Why, then, can we not have our fictional girls go for the nice guys?
