Category: Uncategorized

Since I’ve been bad about keeping my own blog up, I’m primarily going to post book-related news here. (I’ll still be blogging over at the League of Extraordinary Writers weekly and every once in a while on the Class of 2k11 blog.)  So, here’s the latest Memento Nora stuff:

• Memento Nora has it’s own website and Facebook page.  Check these sites for more info on the book, its inspirations, science, and activities.  With the help of Kirsten Cappy of Curious City and a few schools in New England, I’ll be launching a very cool art contest in the near future. See Micah’s Gallery on the Memento Nora site for a preliminary idea of what we’re up to. (The entry rules may be subject to change once we get all the kinks worked out.)
• Memento Nora was chosen as a Junior Library Guild selection for 2011.
• The rights to Memento Nora sold in Korea to Hankyoreh Children’s Books and in Germany to Heyne Verlag. (Kind of old news, but hadn’t posted it here yet.)

I usually do most of my blogging over at the League of Extraordinary Writers. (Thursday is my day, btw. Hint. Hint.)  This week we’re all giving away prize packs based on books. For MEMENTO NORA, in addition to a few shiny bookmarks and postcards, I’m offering up a few things the main character, Nora, might think are glossy (her favorite word):  a pearly pink iPod cover, some mobile minutes, and a charm bracelet.

To enter, all you have to do is comment on my post. (Not here, at the League.)  You can also register to will all 5 of our books. So head over to the League!

I am a proud member of the  Class of 2k11, a group of 19 debut middle grade and young adult authors working as a team to promote our books and reading in general.  We’re calling ourselves Team 11, and today (11/11, get it?) we launch our year officially–with a big old thank you to the Class of 2K10.  So drop by the Team 11 site, and enter to win a buttload (technical term) of books.  All of the previous year’s books, in fact. That’s 23 in all.  Think Christmas presents.

Across the Universe is a sci fi coming out from Penguin/Razorbill on January 11, 2011. Author Beth Revis describes it as “a murder mystery set in space,” but it also has romance, adventure, and dystopian elements. In the book, a girl boards an interstellar spaceship in a journey across the universe to find a new planet.

To celebrate the book’s upcoming release, Beth’s gathered together writers and readers from across the blogosphere to share their stories of adventures they’ve had across the world. Check out her site the first two weeks of November to read about adventures from the Wild West to Indonesia, from Europe to Africa.

And as you’re going across the world with all these adventures, be sure to pick up the clues. On Beth’s webpage is a secret link–LOOK for it, and you’ll SEE it. But it’s password protected! To find the password, you’ll need to go on the adventures with us, pick up the letters, and re-arrange them into the secret phrase.

What do you get for playing? On the password protected page there’s tons of secret information about the book–hidden Easter Eggs, the surprising origins of one of the characters, and the unexpected inspiration behind the space ship. But, more than that–there’s also a chance for prizes! Only accessible from the password protected page is a form to enter a drawing–the winner will get a signed and doodled ARC of Across the Universe, pin-buttons featuring the book, star-related swag–and a secret something else!

All you have to do is follow us across the blogosphere, pick up the letters, and unscramble the password! Your clue for today is…

Cross posted from the League of Extraordinary Writers.

Since it’s nearly Halloween, let’s talk paranormal fiction.  I am a fan, but a picky one. I like strong female characters.  Not simpering victims or mooning lovers.  So, I was thrilled to discover Kelley Armstrong’s books a few summers ago.

The Women of the Otherworld series and her YA series—The Darkest Powers—share the same universe. All the supernatural races—werewolves, vampires, witches, shamans, necromancers, etc.—exist secretly alongside our world.  The sorcerers have even organized themselves into family-run Cabals, something akin to a corporate mafia.

In the Otherworld series, each novel is told from the point of view of a strong female supernatural (No vampires, though.) as she kicks butt and/or sleuths her way through some mystery or intrigue.   Elena, the werewolf, is by far my favorite narrator. The others are no slouches, though. Paige, the witch. Jamie, the necromancer. Hope, the half-demon. The latest books of the Otherworld series are from Savannah, a witch, who has grown to young womanhood since the third book.  The 12th Otherworld novel comes out next year.

The first three books of Armstrong’s YA series are told from 15- year-old Chloe’s perspective. Because of their budding powers, she and several other teen supers find themselves in a half-way house for kids with psychiatric problems. I won’t spoil the plot if you haven’t read any of the books. The fourth—the Gathering—comes out next Spring.

What I love about Armstrong is that she doesn’t sacrifice strong men for the sake of strong female characters.  Although there may be a few chauvinistic holdouts, her male and female supers are on equal footing.  Armstrong has written several short stories about the Otherworld men, which were anthologized in Men of Otherworld.