Kate's Book Blog

Four times a year, children's and YA booksellers from across the country nominate and vote on their fave brand-new books. The resulting list is distributed to bookstores all over the country, so it is pretty awesome to be on it. The Winter IndieNext YA picks are...

1. The Maze Runner by James Dashner
(Delacorte Books for Young Readers, $16.99, 9780385737944)
"James Dashner's The Maze Runner is a fast-paced, disorienting, and frighteningly adventurous story, one that any fan of The Hunger Games or Lord of the Flies is sure to love." --Kyla Paterno, Garfield Book Company at PLU, Tacoma, WA

2. Fire by Kristin Cashore
(Dial Books for Young Readers, $17.99, 9780803734616)
"If Kristin Cashore's Graceling was a jewel, Fire is a treasure trove. In this fast-paced fantasy, we remain in the same mythical kingdom but, this time, with a host of new characters, who are marvelous in their complexity and variety. There is plenty of action, a mystery or two, and intrigue galore." --Jennie Turner-Collins, Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Cincinnati, OH

3. Fallen by Lauren Kate
(Delacorte Books for Young Readers, $17.99, 9780385738934)
"Angels, both good and bad, are among us! Fallen is romantic, dark, thrilling and, at the same time, puts a new twist on immortality. So take wing with exciting romance and adventure and take a break from immortals who want your blood!" --Becky Anderson, Anderson's Bookshop, Naperville, IL

4. Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan
(Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $16, 9780547194899)
"When he takes a picture of a street person who has passed out for his photography class, class clown Blake expects an 'A.' He doesn't expect that he'll soon be ditching his girlfriend to prowl skid row, or conducting midnight corpse-checks at the morgue to track down his best friend's long-lost mom. This authentic (and surprisingly funny) debut novel is the story of a crash course in what it means to be a boyfriend, and a friend, and a man." --Jennifer Laughran, Books Inc., San Francisco, CA

5. Liar by Justine Larbalestier
(Bloomsbury USA Children's Books, $16.99, 9781599903057)
"Ever since Micah began high school, she has layered falsehood upon falsehood. And even though the entire school knows she isn't trustworthy, Micah somehow continues to dupe them. But when her boyfriend is brutally murdered, Micah must come to terms with the truth in all its horror. In this intriguing novel, readers must decide if Micah is what she says, or if she is simply spinning herself deeper into a web of lies." --Megan Graves, Hooray for Books!, Alexandria, VA

( Many more picks under the cut - including books about KILLER UNICORNS! SEXY DEMONS! SAD ROBOTS! and more... )

WOW that was some list, huh? The full list, with younger kid books on it too, is available HERE. Have you read any of these yet? What are some of your brand-new faves?

My, but it's blustery here in Brigantine. Were I to pick a Winnie the Pooh song for right now, it might be "And the rain rain rain came down down down . . . " because the remnants of Ida are now a Nor'easter, and Angela (angeladegroot) and I have sea-view seats for it. We are, even now, in a condo on the topmost floor of an ocean-view building. Fortunately, the building's not located on the beach, but is instead a bit over 1/4 mile from the actual ocean, separated by scrub- and brush-covered dunes from the wildly crashing waves that we can see from the back windows. At least, we used to be able to see it. Lately the rain has been sheeting so much (between large amount of rain and large amount of wind) that we can barely make out the white caps in the distance.

Needless to say, no afternoon walk today. But we've enjoyed tea and writing time, with much more of both to follow. And tonight, as long as we still have electricity, there will be wine and a DVD (we have three Jane Austen flicks from which to choose, although two of them are versions of Mansfield Park, since Angela's not seen either of those yet, as well as The Ugly Truth and Catch and Release).

And now, back to it. Hope you're safe and warm and dry, wherever you may be. Fingers crossed that we keep our power, as I believe 'most everything here to be electric, save for the fireplace - but as the wind is even now gusting loudly down the chimney and knocking at the flue, so we're pretty convinced it would just outen the fire and/or fill the lovely high ceilings with smoke.

For some unknown reason, I got this on my mind:


Ginger Snaps,



Drusilla's red-and-white-tipped fingernails,



and some *serious* buckle boots.



...Don't ask me why. But I mostly blame Georgia McBride & last night's nostalgic #yalitchat. (And maybe a bit for Fluevog & everflame's too-cute fingerless gloves!)

*sigh* Back to surreality!

Dear Antagonist Who Has A Different Personality Every Draft,

You've just crossed a line. You realize that, don't you?

Of course you're free to cross any lines you choose. It's just that ... well, if you were hoping for reader sympathy by the end of the book, you're going to have to work for it now.

Oh, well, if reader sympathy doesn't interest you much ... as you were.

Me

P.S. But I think you're lying about that.

P.P.S. Yes, I know you don't lie. Lots of my characters don't lie. They all seem to make an exception for me, and I don't honestly expect you to be any different.

P.P.P.S. Or you could be trying to fake me out into thinking you're lying, yes. I've considered that possibility, too.

The London Observer looked for bad sentences in Dan Brown’s book, and found a bunch of them. Although I wouldn’t say all of them were bad. Some were totally appropriate for what he was writing. But some were just bad.

Want to judge for yourself? Click here.

          



I just went into my backyard with a camera hoping to capture a colorful birthday shot
for Melodye (newport2newport ) and Laura  (artistq ).

There's not much color out there.
Then I found this pincushion flower (scabiosa)
that a couple weeks ago was buried beneath about three feet of snow.



I realized this little flower-that-could perfectly symbolized two of the strongest and most vibrant women I know.

Melodye and Laura, here are my wishes for a happy day
and a coming year full of love and laughter. . . . .
               

I'm grateful for the gift of another day, another birthday. And I'm especially grateful for this sentiment, which has sustained me all these years.

Behold, Queen Titania!
     

Still wish the ears matched my skin tone better, but I was happy overall. Had fun making the wings.

Natural health solutions...now I've only used this stuff once, but I couldn't believe how quickly it worked. It's called 'Rescue Remedy', and it's by Bach (the flower remedy people). I did some online research yesterday, and when I went to Vitamin Cottage to pick up some things, instead the woman who runs the vitamin section suggestion this stuff. I got the Kids' brand, but she said she uses the adult stuff -- and it's amazing (her words). It's an anti-anxiety, natural stress relief. Somehow, it counteracts the 'panic/stress' signals and just lets use calm down -- and it appears to work really well. I tried it with D yesterday, and I'm a believer ;)

Simple yoga...we're now going to do yoga for 10-20 minutes every afternoon that we're home. It helped me a ton yesterday -- this morning, for the first time in over a week, I woke feeling ready to go and positive (even though I didn't get any more sleep than I have been). We do easy kid yoga (which is all I can do, anyway -- I'm hopelessly inflexible).

Good friends...not only the support I get here, from so many of you -- but all my in-person friends. I'm meeting one of my close friends today for lunch, and even though E will be with us, I know it'll be a positive time for both of us :)

Families who care...even though they don't always agree with our ideas or plans for action, it's still nice to know that our parents care and support us and the kiddos.

Beauty...it never fails to bring peace/joy/calm to my heart.



Happy Thursday!

Dried chickpeas that have been soaked on one's kitchen counter and mixed with a simple solution of salt, flour and baking soda (or was it powder? I think soda) taste scrumptiously like fresh peas, much unlike their sawdusty canned counterparts.

It is actually not THAT terrifying to engage people at the grocery store/in art class/at Starbucks. It is actually fun and often thrilling, and you make all these little intimate connections throughout the day.

Adding "have a good day" to one's customary "thank you" as one steps off the bus is also fun, even if one sounds a little out of breath because one is preparing to leap out the door and onto the curb.

A well-used planner doth make one's life less complicated. Make that waaaaaaaaaay less complicated.

The Internet is home to some amazing, wonderful projects. Case in point: Dictionary of Victorian London, a collection of hundreds (thousands?) of quotes from primary source documents about pretty much anything a writer/history buff could think of.

42 days, 14 hours, 59 minutes until Christmas Day.

1. I asked on my twitter and facebook the other day if anyone would be interested in being able to buy signed copies of SHIVER or my other books online, and the answer was enough yes's to make me go to my local indie and find out if they're game.

They were game.

So, now you can order a signed copy of SHIVER at a normal price with pretty decent shipping (and it's free shipping if you buy over $40 of books there). In time for Christmas, even! Not quite the same as looking into my beady little eyes as I sign your book right in front of you, but . . . it's still signed! By me, even, instead of by the monkey that I am trying to train up to do my signature (he still gets stuck on the S. I do it all loopy.)

2. I am at about 13,000 words on my NaNo novel and I'm doing what they tell you not to. I am going back to the beginning and rereading and ordering and making it relatively coherent. I know this is a NaNo No-No (just say that out loud. Please.) but it's how I write all my novels. I need to be constantly checking pacing and mood, and I can't get that without rereading. Plus, it's hard for me to work in a vacuum, and normally at this point in my novel, I'd be handing it off to my crit partners to glance over and see if I'm on a good path. Which is exactly what I'm doing now. I'm only giving myself a day to tidy and then I'm sending it on to Tessa. I'm not worried about this slowing me down (Again with the hubris). Because I know that I can clock ten thousand words in a day if I'm on a roll or staring a deadline in its red eye. NaNo may be setting the timeline, here, but I'm setting the rules, baby. NaNo is my #itch.

3. I am trying to stop reading the Italian edition of SHIVER. Not that I can really read Italian. I took some years of Latin in college, which means it's vaguely familiar and understandable in a pig-latin sort of way. Mostly, I like reading it out loud and thinking it all sounds very, very sexy. Liek Sam would get laid more if he'd said it this way first. Like (accents totally removed because I'm lazy):

mi schianto nel vuoto tremulo
cercando la tua mano
perso in sterili rimpianti
questo fragile amore e
un modo
per dirti
addio.

Yes, Sam. Yes, indeed. I agree. Whatever you're saying.

We just got home late last night and it was FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hubby and I had such a great time we didn't want to come back. (It's been years since we've had a trip for just the two of us and our home life has been pretty crazy chaos the past two years.)

We went dancing with Miss Olive and Mister Elward Stephens on Front Street in Morgan City - a couple in their 80s that I met last April who are absolutely awesome, practically live off the bayou and swamp right out their back door, and act about 30 years younger. Aren't they cute?



We ate barbecue at Gros Marina eight miles down Four Mile Bayou (a local joke), went to an outdoor Cajun boucharie (pig roast complete with cracklin's being cooked over an open fire in a black cauldron) and hubby was offered moonshine to drink!!! We also ate tons of shrimp, crabs, gumbo, and jambalaya.

We rowed a canoe for 3 hours in the bayous where A FISH LITERALLY JUMPED INTO OUR BOAT!!!! A mullet flopped and danced in the bottom of our boat until we could scoop him out. It was wild. And we saw tons of turtles and birds and gators. We were the only ones out there and it was so peaceful I didn't want it to end. Mullets jumped all over the place. We could see them everywhere as the afternoon deepened. They jump about three feet in the air. Amazing. The weather was perfect all week, too. Sunshine every day and 75 degrees.

We met SO MANY PEOPLE and talked about traiteurs and their personal experiences with traiteurs and my upcoming books, and I have a whole new *fan* base, ha ha!

Hope y'all are well - not sure I'm going to have a chance to read back through 10 days of journals. Not when I gotta finish my first draft by Thanksgiving . . . but I'm waving and sending love!

Let's sit down and celebrate with a cream tea!  Much love and many good wishes for a special day!  xoxo


 

October 14, 1996 (Megan is 15)

I wonder if I will continue to write for teens after I am no longer one myself. One of the main reasons I don’t write from an adult’s perspective is that for the most part I can’t, as I’ve never been an adult so how can I know how they think? And when I’m an adult, will I remember how I thought as a teenager? I guess this and my journal will help, because I hope I am writing these thoughts accurately. But how much can you learn from written word?

I can write from a guy’s perspective only by reading several books written by guys, from a guy’s point of view. But despite all of the books I’ve read from an adult’s point of view, the moment I stuck a foot in that direction, I’d trip and fall flat on my face. I guess age is a lot harder to change than gender thinking, and probably my guy characters aren’t wonderful anyway.

–

An Introduction to Flashbacks
The Flashback Cast
The Flashback Timeline

Originally published at Megan Crewe - another world, not quite ours. You can comment here or there.

SUITE SCARLETT by Maureen Johnson
Scarlett's family lives in and owns a failing hotel in NYC, but when the eccentric Mrs. Amberson takes a room and helps her brother's small production of HAMLET, there is the hope for change. Mrs. Amberson was the most interesting character and I really liked her. Scarlett was harder to get a grasp of, possibly bc of MJ's somewhat distant, 3rd-person style of writing. I liked the open ending, and although I know there is a sequel coming I don't feel the need to read it to come to a more final conclusion. A sweet story that will appeal to NYC theater lovers.

1) Delsym cough medicine is the best. It's expensive, but worth every penny.

2) I really don't like it when men have hairy necks. If you don't want to get your hair cut very often, fine, but please, can you at least shave your neck?

3) Check out this amazing, AMAZING post about ARCs by Kristi, aka The Story Siren. She went to publicists at publishing houses and asked them some questions about ARCs, including how much an average ARC costs. Good stuff, people!

4. Taylor Swift - OMG, she won FOUR awards on the Country Music Awards last night. I can't quite decide if I want to marry Taylor Swift or BE Taylor Swift. I know I want to write books the way Taylor writes songs. Now that I'm learning to play the guitar, I'm trying to teach myself some of her songs. Teardrops on My Guitar is one I've been playing a lot.

In my dreams, I sound like this:



5. Speaking of guitar, I'm playing on the one my husband has had for about 30 years. No joke. It's fine for now, but I'm really hoping Santa might bring me a new one for Christmas. If you know guitars and have any recommendations for him, please let me know so I can pass it along. I think I'd like to try and find one that works well with my small hands. If there is such a thing!

Happy Thursday!

What do you collect for fun or obsession?

I collect girl series books from AMBER BROWN to WOODCRAFT GIRLS; over 5,000 although I haven't counted in years. My hubby collects unusual salt & pepper shakers. And even my characters have collections: Sabine collects nightlights (to keep away ghosts) and Amber collects Hollywood magazines (ambition to be an agent).

So I asked Young Adult and Middle-Grade authors what they collect. Your favorite authors may be on this list. The link is on the front page/bottom on my website.

Or go directly here.

On October 26, I met the amazing Beth at Watermark Books in Wichita.

Beth and Tammi:



Beth treated me to a fine dining experience. Just look at some of my options!


She later had me sign my First Ever Author/Illustrator Wall with such names as Loren Long, Jan Brett, and Tomie dePaola. I was starstruck! I was also smart. I did not sign anywhere near the fancy illustator people.


And, btw, this is Michael. Michael is guilty of videotaping one of my Chicken Dance presentations FOR THE LOCAL TELEVISION STATION. Fortunately for me a miracle occurred and I did not pass out on anyone's gym shoes.


This is Michael in action filming me in action:


In case you missed my 5 minutes of fame, you are in luck. Click here. http://www.usd259.com/news/streaming/Wichita+School+News.htm

And, YES, Brad Pitt, I will co-star with you in your upcoming movie. Now stop calling me!

Carol Hawthorne from the Westlake Porter Public Library in Westlake, OH sent this entry to the Debut Library. She poses here with a copy of Michelle Zink's gothic PROPHECY OF THE SISTERS! As you see, there are twins on the cover, and next year, there will be twins on the shelves. Keep an eye out for the next book in the series, GUARDIAN OF THE GATE, coming in 2010!

Are you a library professional? You can enter to win 46 brand new YA & MG novels for YOUR collection! See this entry for details.

About the book
In her job, she’s an expert on men…

In her own relationship, she doesn’t have a clue.

Boyfriend behaving badly? Suspect your husband of straying? Jennifer Hunter can supply the ultimate test. She runs a company which specializes in conducting fidelity inspections for those who suspect their loved ones are capable of infidelity.

An expert on men, Jennifer can usually tell if they're single, married or lying... Unfortunately, her new boyfriend, Jamie, is one of the few men that she's never been able to 'read.' Has she finally found the perfect man or is he too good to be true? You’ll have to read Love Under Cover to find out.

What the critics are saying
"With a complicated, sympathetic protagonist, worthy stakes and a clever twist on the standard chick lit narrative, Brody will pull readers in from the first page."
– Publisher’s Weekly
 
"Those who enjoyed Brody's debut will be eager to catch up with Jennifer, but newcomers will be intrigued, too...an honest, witty portrayal of modern love."
Booklist

Currently in development as a TV series by the executive producer of Crash!
 

 
About the author
Jessica Brody graduated from Smith College in Massachusetts with degrees in economics and French. In 2005, she left her job at MGM Studios in Los Angeles to become a full-time freelance writer and producer. Jessica currently lives in Los Angeles, where she is working on her next novel. Visit Jessica's website at: www.JessicaBrody.com

I asked, Jessica answered
A: What's the scariest thing that's ever happened to you? Bonus question: have you ever used it in a book?

J: The scariest thing that’s ever happened? Wow. What a question! When I was living in the south of France during my Junior Year Abroad, three teenage boys started harassing me as I was walking down the street. At first it started harmless. They could tell I was a foreigner so they were picking on me. And then when I ignored them and kept walking, they started to throw things at me and scream at me. It was incredibly scary. It was dark out and I was on a deserted street. I didn’t know what to do. My mind went totally blank. Do I try to fight back? Do I run? My language skills weren’t that strong yet so I didn’t feel confident confronting them. Fortunately, a car pulled up and they all got in it. I’m pretty sure all they wanted was to bother me…and maybe take my bag, but it left me pretty freaked out. 

I’ve never used this particular scene before in any of my books, but I’ve definitely tapped into the fear of that night and the panic that settled in when I realized I had no clue what to do in that situation. I’ve transferred that feeling of helplessness to my characters many times. 


A: Mystery writers often give their characters an unreasoning fear - and then make them face it. Do you have any phobias, like fear of spiders or enclosed spaces?

J: Does this count as a phobia? I can’t STAND having my belly button touched. It’s not like a ticklish thing, it’s like an out and out, “Touch my belly button and I might kick you in the shin” thing. I don’t know what it is. And yes, I realize it’s really weird. I just can’t deal. Belly buttons freak me out. 



A: Do you have a favorite mystery book, author, or movie?

J: I love The Spellman books by Lisa Lutz. They’re a good mix of mystery and comedy. She cracks me up. Her characters are hilarious. I’m looking forward to the fourth book in the series next year. 



A: At its heart, every story is a mystery. It asks why someone acts the way they did - or maybe what will happen next. What question does your book ask?

J: LOVE UNDER COVER definitely asks questions about motivations. Why are people motivated to do certain things…like be unfaithful, lie, cheat, betray their loved ones. Or in my main character’s case…the motivation behind her fear of falling in love. 


A: Is there a mystery in life that you are still trying to figure out?

J: Yes. Where did my “blankie” go when I was five years old? My mom says I lost it. My dad says it was stolen. There’s definitely something fishy going on here and I’m determined to get to the bottom of it someday. I hope there is a happy blanket reunion in my near future.