Blog Tour- Love Lies Beneath by Ellen Hopkins

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Collateral comes a gripping novel about a woman caught in a love affair that could be her salvation...or her undoing.

Tara is gorgeous, affluent, and forty. She lives in an impeccably restored Russian Hill mansion in San Francisco. Once a widow, twice divorced, she’s a woman with a past she prefers keeping to herself.

Enter Cavin Lattimore. He’s handsome, kind, charming, and the surgeon assigned to Tara following a ski accident in Lake Tahoe. In the weeks it takes her to recover, Cavin sweeps her off her feet and their relationship blossoms into something Tara had never imagined possible. But then she begins to notice some strange things: a van parked outside her home at odd times, a break-in, threatening text messages and emails. She also starts to notice cracks in Cavin’s seemingly perfect personality, like the suppressed rage his conniving teenage son brings out in him, and the discovery that Cavin hired a detective to investigate her immediately after they met.

Now on crutches and housebound, Tara finds herself dependent on the new man in her life—perhaps too much so. She’s handling rocky relationships with her sister and best friend, who are envious of her glamour and freedom; her prickly brother-in-law, who is intimidated by her wealth and power; and her estranged mother. However perfect Tara’s life appears, things are beginning to get messy.

Writing in beautiful prose, Ellen Hopkins unveils a new style while evoking her signature poetic form that readers fell in love with in Collateral and Triangles.

Goodreads | IndieBound | B&N | Amazon | Powell's

REVIEW TO COME!

“After eight highly successful young adult novels-in-verse, I decided to explore more mature subject matter and wrote my first two novels for adults utilizing my signature verse-style formatting. I changed directions with my third, Love Lies Beneath, choosing to write in prose to better connect with an older audience, some of whom might be resistant to the fiction/verse merger.

I will continue to write YA, of course. (My twelfth YA novel publishes Fall 2015.) Teen characters are hugely appealing to me.
But some topics I want to write about demand adults as main characters. My first adult novel, Triangles, explores midlife directional changes, and my second, Collateral, follows a Marine couple through four deployments, with the inevitable consequences. Please visit the BOOKS page here to learn more.

Love Lies Beneath is sexy, chilling noir fiction about a woman who has it all—wealth, beauty, possessions; everything, except love, which she finally discovers at forty, after three failed marriages. While everything is perfect at first, things change when the doctor’s teenage son moves in. It’s then the lies begin to appear. But who, in fact, is the liar?

Expect the sequel to Love Lies Beneath in 2016 and more books for mature audiences in the future.”

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and I have a quick interview with Ellen:

1) If you could travel in a Time Machine would you go back to the past or into the future?

I’d go back long enough to tell my parents (both deceased) how much I loved them then and how much I appreciate them now. We think there’s plenty of time to tell people things like that, but we don’t really know how long we’ve got.

2) If you could invite any 5 people to dinner who would you choose?

Stephen King, Barack Obama, Johnny Depp, Elizabeth Warren, Ellen DeGeneres. My politics are showing, I guess. But that would be one heck of an evening!

3) Any other books in the works? Goals for future projects?

I’m currently writing the sequel to Love Lies Beneath and a YA called Chameleon, about parental alienation. In the future I might move into something a bit more speculative, but who knows? All I know is I’ll be writing until they pry my dead, cold fingers from the keyboard.

4) Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.

In November I’ll be inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame. I’ll hang on a wall with the best Nevada writers of all time, including Mark Twain!

5) What is your favorite scene in the book? Which scene or characters were the most difficult for you to write and why?

The final scene! I love writing twists. The hardest character to write in Love Lies Beneath was the protagonist, Tara, who’s not exactly likeable. But you do learn to relate to her as the story progresses.

6) What hidden gem do you have in your bookshelves?

A circa 1924 copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

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YOLO Juliet by William Shakespeare and Brett Wright + Interview

YOLO Juliet by William Shakespeare and Brett Wright
Srsly Hamlet by William Shakespeare and Courtney Carbone
"Imagine: What if those star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet had smartphones? A classic is reborn in this fun and funny adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays!

Two families at war.
A boy and a girl in love.
A secret marriage gone oh-so-wrong.

<3 and h8. The classics just got a whole lot more interesting. ;) tl;dr A Shakespeare play told through its characters texting with emojis, checking in at certain locations, and updating their relationship statuses. The perfect gift for hip theater lovers and teens. A glossary and cast of characters are included for those who need it. For example: tl;dr means too long; didn’t read."- summary from Amazon These were such quick, fun reads and both authors were very clever in rewriting Shakespeare for the modern age and incorporating current slang, emojis, and various smartphone apps/lingo (checking in to places, using the Notepad for soliloquies, etc.) to convey each play. The books are still broken up into 5 acts (and then scenes within each act), just like the real plays so it's easy to follow along. I'm really excited to read the next books in the series and I hope they do well and go through the whole Shakespeare canon. And I also hope that this leads a lot of today's teens to see Shakespeare in a new light and bring them closer to his works. and here's an interview with Brett!:

1) How cool is it to have your name next to William Shakespeare's on a book? Was it hard to re-write the play into the more 21st-century friendly format?

I keep joking, "Take that, high school teachers and college professors!" when I see my name in a byline with William Shakespeare. In all seriousness, I love Shakespeare and it's a ridiculous honor to see my name next to his. I like to think he'd find the humor in this adaptation, and that he'd be excited to see language evolving as writers continue to find new and innovative ways to communicate -- yes, even through emojis! The hardest part of rewriting the play was creatively figuring out how to convey certain actions and emotions that didn't make sense in a text message. Otherwise, it was a blast to imagine these beloved characters with smartphones.


2) You're writing a second book in the OMG Shakespeare series based on A Midsummer's Night Dream (which is my favorite Shakespeare play, so yay to that!). How is that coming along? And do you have any original books that you're writing?

I absolutely LOVED writing A MIDSUMMER NIGHT #NOFILTER even though the play-within-a-play structure made it ten times harder to execute than YOLO JULIET. There were so many characters, settings, and mixed-up scenarios to juggle, but from that mayhem springs the humor at the heart of the play. I work full-time as a children's books editor, so although I'm not currently writing anything wholly original, I feel extremely lucky to be surrounded by words and books all the time.


3) What is your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor(s)? Or, if you don't like those, your favorite snack to have while writing or as a reward for writing?

Blueberry and Buttered Popcorn . . . together! I also find Peach and Lemon Lime irresistible. Actually, just give me the whole bag, sans Licorice. As a special reward, I'll treat myself to a little Ben & Jerry's "Half Baked." And by "a little," I mean a whole pint.


4) You have a day job as an editor. How did you get into publishing, and what is your favorite part of the job? Does being an editor help your writing at all?

My main focus in undergrad was creative writing, but my college also offered publishing courses, so I enrolled in classes like copyediting, desktop publishing, book overview (where I worked on a children's book the entire semester), and before long I was interning in New York after graduation. Some very generous people took a chance on me and I've been working in publishing ever since. The best thing about being an editor is reading something new and connecting with it on a level you didn't even realize existed. Editors read so much that after a while, it can all blend together. Nothing beats being able to help develop and nurture an exciting new voice you can't wait to share with the world. It certainly doesn't hurt having an editorial background when it comes to writing, but it doesn't give me a magical advantage. I understand how important an editor is to the process from taking a good book to a great book, and I wouldn't have been able to do this without that invaluable support.


5) What book(s) are you currently reading, or are about to start? Any upcoming books you're excited about?

It's been months but I'm still thinking about Jandy Nelson's I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN with its beautiful, poetic language. I'm currently between reading I. W. Gregorio's NONE OF THE ABOVE and Becky Albertalli's SIMON VS THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA. One day I'll find time to get to the rest of my list, which includes Adam Silvera's MORE HAPPY THAN NOT, Tommy Wallach's WE ALL LOOKED UP, and Katie Cotugno's 99 DAYS.


FTC: Received hardcovers from publisher. Links above are Amazon Associate links; any profits go toward funding contests.

Blog Tour- The Truth Commission by Susan Juby

The Truth Commission by Susan Juby
"Open secrets are the heart of gossip -- the obvious things that no one is brave or tactless enough to ask. Except for Normandy Pale and her friends. They are juniors at a high school for artistsl, and have no fear. They are the Truth Commission. Then, one of their truth targets says to Normandy: “If you want to know about the truth, you might want to look a little closer to home.” This dryly funny, knife-sharp novel, written as "narrative nonfiction" by Normandy herself, features footnotes and illustrations."- summary from Amazon

As part of the Truth Commission blog tour, each participant is doing the Two Truths and a Lie game! Leave your guesses in the comments below and I'll reveal my Lie later this week when I post my review of The Truth Commission!

1) I have been at a signing where I met Sarah Dessen and stood in line with David Levithan and Melissa Walker.

2) I do not like bacon.

3) I love rollercoasters.


Good luck guessing!

And now, here's an interview with Susan:

1) How did you come up with the idea for The Truth Commission? Were you ever involved in a Truth Commission yourself?

I was working on another novel, and was brought up short when I realized that I was using big chunks of the personal story of someone close to me. I abandoned that book and began thinking about who owns true stories, and what that means for artists and writers and their friends and family members. That led naturally to The Truth Commission. I have not been involved in a formal truth commission or even an informal one. I do love to speculate about what may be going on behind the scenes in peoples’ lives. I like to say it’s because I’m a writer, but it’s also because I’m nosy. That said, I don’t want anyone poking into my business!


2) Two books are releasing this year from you- this and the sequel to Home to Woefield. Can you tell us about this other book?

Republic of Dirt is a follow-up to Home to Woefield as it’s known in the U.S. and The Woefield Poultry Collective as it’s known in Canada.

Republic takes place a couple of months after the first book ends. Our intrepid farmer, Prudence, an overly idealistic Brooklyn girl who has inherited a derelict plot of land named Woefield Farm, feels like she finally has things on track. Then she’s felled by a mysterious health condition.

Her motley crew of farm hands consisting of Earl, an elderly, reclusive bluegrass legend; Seth, an agoraphobic heavy-metal blogger in early recovery from alcoholism; and Sara, an 11-year-old girl with a flock of elite show poultry, struggle to keep things together without her.

Efforts are complicated by a renegade mule, attempts to turn a hideously ugly child’s playhouse into a high yield roadside farm stand, and an electrical station’s worth of crossed wires.

The book is told in four, first person voices and is basically about what happens when passions collide with pride and what it takes to save each other, our small part of the planet, and ourselves. I had a lot of fun writing the further adventures of Woefield Farm and its incompetent but endearing inhabitants.


3) What is your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor(s)? Or if you don't like those, do you have a favorite snack to have while writing, or as a reward for writing?

Excellent question! I’m not a Jelly Belly person. My vice is sour jujubes. And raspberry chocolate sticks. And Barbra’s Jalapeno Cheese Puffs. I should really cut back on my vices.


4) What are you currently reading, or are about to start? Any 2015 books you're excited about reading?

2015 is shaping up to be a terrific year for books. Books I’ve read and adored recently include The World Without Us by Robin Stevenson, Best Friends Through Eternity by Sylvia McNicoll, Mosquitoland by David Arnold and The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma. I’m excited to get my hands on All the Rage by Courtney Summers. And I’m extremely thrilled to be going on tour in May with Susin Nielsen, whose new book, We Are All Made of Molecules, is astonishingly touching and charming.


5) You teach creative writing at two different universities and also give workshops. What do you love about teaching, and is there a piece of advice you love to give to writers?

I now just teach at one school: Vancouver Island University. I’ve loved teaching since the first time I tried it when I was in grad school. I’m still surprised and quite thrilled to find myself a writer. Writing our stories is empowering. It’s also tough. Teaching writing involves conveying what I know about craft and giving writers the permission to go for it. Writing classes also help writers get connected. This can be a lonely business. We need all the community we can get. When a new writer finds her or his voice, it’s like magic.

My advice is to a) do whatever it takes to get the words down and b) push past your comfort zone. Don’t be polite in your creative writing! Surprise yourself and others.

Sweet Unrest by Lisa Maxwell + Interview

Sweet Unrest by Lisa Maxwell
"For as long as she can remember, Lucy Aimes has been plagued by a dark, recurring dream of drowning. But when her family moves to an old plantation outside New Orleans, she starts having intense new dreams, vivid scenes of a bygone era filled with people she shouldn't know but does. Searching for answers to her haunting visions, Lucy reluctantly descends into the city's mystical culture.

What she finds is Alex, a charming but mysterious boy who behaves as if they've known each other forever. Lucy shouldn't be so drawn to him . . . but she is. As she tries to solve the mystery surrounding Alex, a centuries-old vendetta unspools around her, resulting in a vicious murder. Now trapped in a dangerous crossfire, Lucy must act fast to save her future—and everyone she loves."- summary from Amazon

Maxwell's debut is a scary but fun book. The mystery surrounding the plantation and Alex makes for a compelling, page-turning read and Maxwell knows when to give enough information but leave some just out of reach. I am a big fan of books that involve voodoo elements because I'm just such a huge fan of various forms of magic, so this was right up my alley. The book is set at a good, slow pace, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat wanting to find out more about what's going on. The attraction between Lucy and Alex makes the book captivating as well, and Maxwell treads the line between romantic and creepy very well when it comes to that part of the story.

Overall, a fantastically written debut and I'm eager to read more from Maxwell, which includes a companion book out this year, which she talks about in the interview below!

and here's an interview with Lisa:

1) How did you get the idea for Sweet Unrest?

The idea for SWEET UNREST started with one of my wedding pictures. There’s a weird smudge in one of them, and the photographer (only partially jokingly) said, "oh, that’s a ghost. We see those all the time.” So that was the beginning of Lucy’s character and the opening lines of the book. From there, I had this idea to write about Zombies, but the more I researched *real* Zombies, the more interested I got in Voodoo. And when I discovered that the first African American Daguerreotype photographer lived in New Orleans… things started coming together.


2) You have a second book coming out in 2016 from Simon Pulse called Heartless Things. Can you tell us about it? Are you working on anything else?

Actually, my second book is a 2015 release with Flux that is a companion novel/sequel to SWEET UNREST. It’s called THE GATHERING DEEP and tells the continuing story from another character’s POV.

Then HEARTLESS (which will be retitled eventually) is in 2016 and another book to be decided from Simon Pulse in 2017. I also have a Middle Grade that’s about to go out on submission called Xavier T. Fletcher, Ornithologist, and the Keeper of the Rend. It’s about birds and boys and goats and monsters and bees and I love it. :O)


3) What do you love most about teaching English? Is there anything you don't like about it?

I love getting to talk to bright students about books and writing—and I get paid for it. There are certain stories and poems that I can teach over and over again and never get tired of them. And I just got to propose and develop a course in YA Literature, so I’ll actually get to teach what I write in 2015 or 2016. There’s plenty I don’t like—starting with the grading. But the hardest thing for me to deal with as a professor is to see students who could really go far not care or not try or not be interested in or believe in themselves enough to put in the time and effort to get ahead. That’s the most frustrating thing—so much potential, and there’s nothing I can do about it. Because, ultimately, learning is internal and personal. No one can make you do it.


4) You blog as part of the Fall Fourteeners. How have they helped you along as you deal with your first published book?

The Fall Fourteeners have been such a lifeline! They’ve been my best cheerleaders and we all have bounced ideas off of each other about publicity and marketing and just surviving this whole crazy launch experience.


5) What book(s) are you currently reading, or are about to start? Any 2015 titles you're excited for?

I’m currently on a binge reading spree, desperately cramming in more words before I get my next round of edits. Today’s book is EVERY DAY by David Levithan, but I have a pile lined up behind that. I’m really excited about the second book in The Winner’s Curse series and also for the follow up to Snow Like Ashes. And I can’t wait for Rachael Allen’s The Revenge Playbook.


6) What is your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor(s)? Or if you don't like those, do you have a favorite snack to have while writing or as a reward for writing?

Favorite flavors are a mix of toasted marshmallow, strawberry something, and coconut.

FTC: Received finished paperback from publisher. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

Contest- Silent Alarm by Jennifer Banash + Interview

Silent Alarm by Jennifer Banash
"Alys’s whole world was comprised of the history project that was due, her upcoming violin audition, being held tightly in the arms of her boyfriend, Ben, and laughing with her best friend, Delilah. At least it was—until she found herself on the wrong end of a shotgun in the school library. Her suburban high school had become one of those places you hear about on the news—a place where some disaffected youth decided to end it all and take as many of his teachers and classmates with him as he could. Except, in this story, that youth was Alys’s own brother, Luke. He killed fifteen others and himself, but spared her—though she’ll never know why.

Alys’s downward spiral begins instantly, and there seems to be no bottom."- summary from Amazon

I absolutely loved Banash's Elite series and was excited to see new books being released from her. I never got a chance to read White Lines (her book from last year) and so jumped on the opportunity to read her latest book. The subject matter interested me because I find school shootings fascinating and tragic and there's so much to be mined from that subject. Banash picked an interesting angle to come at, telling the story from the perspective of the shooter's sister. Alys is such a wonderfully depicted character and I really felt and understood her struggle as she tried to grasp at the reality of the situation and deal with the aftermath of it all.

The vast majority of the book focuses on the aftermath of the shooting, with the actual event itself taking place within the first 30 pages or so. Banash has a beautiful, atmospheric way of writing that really brings the reader into the story and into Alys' life. The ripple effect of this event is immense and deep and while she still has a long way to go toward getting better, there is a hint of hope at the end of the book and the story ends in just the right place.

Overall, a fantastically written book that's extremely compelling and engrossing. I may have to read White Lines soon to get more of a Banash fix. I highly recommend this book- go out and get it now!

and here's an interview with Jennifer:

1) How did you get the idea for Silent Alarm?

I got the idea for Silent Alarm from reading about the 2012 school shooting in Chardon, Ohio. One article mentioned that the shooter had a younger sister and that fact stuck with me--I started obsessively wondering what it was like for her to be related to him and have no idea what he was capable of, to live in the same town. Although the girl in question didn't actually attend the same school as her brother, my wheels began to turn, imagining the possibilities. It's funny because I was slated to write a completely different book altogether, but this story took hold and wouldn't let go. I'm just thankful that I have an editor who, without missing a beat, told me to go for it, to write the story I needed to tell. The result was Silent Alarm.


2) What are you currently working on? Can you tell us anything about it?

I'm pretty superstitious when I'm working on a project, but I can tell you that the next book I'm writing is about a relationship between two high school students that begins online, and then moves into the real world with all of its problems and complications. It's also tangentially about bullying and catfishing, but I don't want to give too much away . . .


3) What is your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor(s)? Or, if you don't like those, what kind of snack do you like to have while writing, or as a reward for writing?

I actually (don't hate me) am not the biggest fan of jelly beans. I much prefer chocolate, and the darker the better. I eat it in vast quantities when I'm working on a book. Basically, my eating habits go right out the window and by the time I'm finishing a novel, I'm usually eating frozen M&M's straight out of the freezer and calling it dinner (I mean, it IS, right?). Writers are not always the healthiest of people!


4) What book(s) are you reading now, or are about to start?

I just finished We Were Liars, by E.Lockhart and loved it, and Afterparty by Ann Redisch. I'm also rereading Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth right now. I love to either read or reread one classic a month, and I adore Wharton's descriptions of the problems and perils of high society. I'm really excited about the memoir from Kim Gordon from the band Sonic Youth that's coming out later this month, Girl in a Band, not to mention the new biography of Stevie Nicks. I love stories of strong, creative women. I find them really inspiring, and I find that often, after I reach a certain point in a manuscript, it helps to read things that are unrelated to whatever I'm working on.


CONTEST!
I have a signed hardcover of Silent Alarm to give away, thanks to Penguin. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post stating why you want to read this book. The contest is open to US/Canada residents only and will run until Monday, April 6 at 9pm EST when I will pick a random winner. Good luck to all!

FTC: Received ARC from publisher. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes towards funding contests.

Blog Tour- Evil Librarian by Michelle Knudsen

Evil Librarian by Michelle Knudsen
"He’s young. He’s hot. He’s also evil. He’s . . . the librarian.

When Cynthia Rothschild’s best friend, Annie, falls head over heels for the new high-school librarian, Cyn can totally see why. He’s really young and super cute and thinks Annie would make an excellent library monitor. But after meeting Mr. Gabriel, Cyn realizes something isn’t quite right. Maybe it’s the creepy look in the librarian’s eyes, or the weird feeling Cyn gets whenever she’s around him. Before long Cyn realizes that Mr. Gabriel is, in fact . . . a demon. Now, in addition to saving the school musical from technical disaster and trying not to make a fool of herself with her own hopeless crush, Cyn has to save her best friend from the clutches of the evil librarian, who also seems to be slowly sucking the life force out of the entire student body!"- summary from publisher

REVIEW TO COME!

About the author

Michelle Knudsen is the author of The Dragon of Trelian and The Princess of Trelian, as well as the best-selling picture book Library Lion, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes; Argus, illustrated by Andréa Wesson; and Big Mean Mike, illustrated by Scott Magoon. Michelle Knudsen lives in Brooklyn, New York.

and here's an interview with Michelle:

1) How did you get the idea for Evil Librarian?

This was one of those stories that I just sort of started writing, without any idea what it was about. I was taking a break from a different, heavier novel, and suddenly Cyn’s voice was just there in my head, and I started writing down what I heard. I liked what she had to say, and so I kept going, writing to find out what was going to happen next. Cyn’s not a high-school version of me, but she does love a lot of the same things that I do ... including musical theater and swoon-worthy guys. I had a lot of fun with her story. Plus it gave me an excuse to listen to Sweeney Todd (and rewatch the video of the 1982 Angela Lansbury/George Hearn production) over and over again, which was possibly my most favorite research ever.


2) You've written a lot of books for younger children. What brought you to the YA genre? Was it a genre you'd read a lot from before diving into it?

I started out in children’s books on the editorial side, at Random House Books for Young Readers. I worked on everything from board books to early chapter books, and read everything from board books to YA novels, and so from the start I always felt comfortable reading and eventually writing books for various age groups. I’m not sure why it took me until now to write a novel for teens ... for a while my ideas just mostly seemed to come for younger books, and so those were the books I wrote. I could tell as soon as I heard Cyn’s voice that she was in high school, though, and knew her story was going to be for an older audience than my earlier books.

When I was in high school, there wasn’t anything like the amazing variety of YA novels that are out there today. Mostly back then I was reading adult fantasy and science fiction, but many of those had main characters who were young adults (and some have since been repackaged for the YA section). So I think that also helped set the stage a little for writing fantasy and paranormal YA stories of my own.


3) What's your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor(s)? Or, if you don't like those, your favorite snack to have while writing or as a reward for writing?

I must admit, I’m not a huge jelly bean fan. If there are a bunch of jelly beans in a bowl, I tend to go for the green ones, but I know Jelly Bellies go far beyond the basic color/flavor spectrum. I would probably have to do some serious taste-testing to figure out my favorite. But as far as other candy-type rewards go, I really like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. For a long time those were my #1 go-to choice at the end of a night’s work. (I tend not to snack too much while actually writing — it makes it hard to type!)

4) What are you currently reading, or are about to start?

As usual, I’m in the middle of a few different books. My current bedside novel is Elizabeth Wein’s Code Name Verity, which is amazingly good. I just started the audiobook of John Scalzi’s new novel Lock In (the version read by Wil Wheaton), and I’m liking that a lot so far, too. And I’m very slowly making my way through George R. R. Martin’s A Dance with Dragons. (I read the first few Song of Ice and Fire novels when they first came out, long before the HBO series, and LOVED them, but I’m not finding myself as helplessly sucked into this book as I was the earlier ones. Still working on it, but it’s definitely my back-burner book; I keep it on my Nook and my phone for when I’m stuck somewhere without something else to read.) Not sure what will be up next; I have so many books in my TBR piles, and they all look so good — it’s very hard to choose!


Check out all the previous stops on the tour!

WhoRuBlog

Elizabeth O. Dulemba

Random Chalk Talk

Books 4 Your Kids

Green Bean Teen Queen

Katie's Book Blog

Word Spelunking

Blog Tour- Amity by Micol Ostow + Giveaway

Amity by Micol Ostow
Connor's family moves to Amity to escape shady business deals. Ten years later, Gwen's family moves to Amity for a fresh start after she's recovered from a psychotic break.

But something is not right about this secluded house. Connor's nights are plagued with gore-filled dreams of demons and destruction. Dreams he kind of likes. Gwen has lurid visions of corpses that aren't there and bleeding blisters that disappear in the blink of an eye. She knows Amity is evil and she must get her family out, but who would ever believe her?

Amity isn't just a house. She is a living force, bent on manipulating her inhabitants to her twisted will. She will use Connor and Gwen to bring about a bloody end as she's done before. As she'll do again.

The book will be out in stores on August 26. And courtesy of Egmont USA, I have a signed hardcover copy of Amity to give away. The contest is open to US/Canada residents and all you have to do is just leave a comment on this post by next Sunday, Sept 24 at 9pm EST. Here's an interview with Micol Ostow:

1) How did you get the idea for Amity?

It was coming time to pitch the second book for my contract with Egmont, and my first novel with them, family, had been a big departure for me tonally (it was much darker than my earlier work). So it felt important to me to try to write something that would serve as a companion to family, that the two might create their own little sub-genre. I was kicking around a few ideas but late one night, happened to come across the original “Amityville Horror” movie on tv (it was around Halloween). Something clicked in my head as I realized that I’ve always wanted to try my hand at pure horror – and what better subject than that classic trope, the haunted house? The original Amityville Horror story, too, fit nicely alongside family (based on the Manson family murders of 1969) as the inspiration for the movie came from a true crime.

Once that seed of an idea was planted, it was just a case of finding the right angle for a YA novel. I went back and forth as to whose story it would be – the boy who’d killed his family? His girlfriend? The sister who’d been killed? The house itself? I realized I really wanted to tell two sides of the same experience, which is how Connor and Gwen’s voices were born.


2) I've noticed that this book and your previous book for Egmont (Family) have been much darker than earlier novels of yours. What caused this transition? Do you still want to write lighter fare as well and move back and forth between the two? What are you currently working on?

I was finishing up my MFA in writing for children, and my then advisor suggested that since I’d already met all of my course requirements, I should try my hand at writing something “just for the heck of it.” I’ve been extremely blessed as a writer in that I came into publishing through the back door (as an editor) and therefore never had to write a whole novel on spec. So the idea of just sitting down to write without a contract or a deadline was completely novel and oddly liberating. The oddest thing about it, though, was what came out: two strange, dark short stories that would become the basis of family.

That said, I definitely go back and forth with what I like to read and write. I have a paranormal YA mystery coming out in 2015, but in the meantime, I’m working on a new, very young chapter book series about a seven-year-old girl in a traveling circus. I’m pretty lucky that my agent and editors (and readers!) allow me to be so diverse.


3) What is your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor(s)? Or, if you don't like those, what is your favorite food to snack on while writing or as a reward for writing?

I don’t have one particular favorite flavor but I love the jelly belly sours. Although I always eat them too quickly and basically burn all my taste buds off.

I love sweets: candy, chocolate, pastries... but believe it or not, I don’t eat while I’m writing. I tend to work in concentrated bursts and trying to maneuver between Red Vines and the keyboard means I can’t really concentrate on either. Usually I save candy binges for after a good writing session, usually in front of some DVR’d reality tv, or a streaming horror movie.


4) What are you currently reading, or are about to start? Any books you're excited for?

My fellow Egmont author, Jessica Verday, has a horror novel out this fall called Of Monsters and Madness which looks amazing! Also Nova Ren Suma’s The Walls Around Us, which we have to wait until spring to read. Boo.

In the meantime, I’m keeping busy with Adele Griffin’s The Unfinished life of Addison Stone, and Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng.


Check out the next stops on the tour- Monday, August 18 will be at Actin' Up with Books and Tuesday, August 19 will be at A Dream Wihin A Dream.

Micol Ostow has written dozens of books for children, tweens, and teens, but Amity is her first foray into horror. I turns out, writing a ghost story is almost more terrifying than reading one. (In a good way.) Her novel family was called a “Favorite Book of 2011” by Liz Burns at School Library Journal, and her illustrated novel, So Punk Rock (and Other Ways to Disappoint Your Mother), was a Sydney Taylor Notable Book for Teens.

In her spare time, Ostow blogs with the National Book Award-winning literacy initiative readergirlz.com. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband, her (utterly fearless) daughter, and a finicky French bulldog named Bridget Jones. Visit her online at www.micolostow.com or follow her on Twitter @micolz.

Blog Tour- Guardian by Alex London + Interview

Amazon | B&N | IndieBound | Goodreads
"In the new world led by the Rebooters, former Proxy Syd is the figurehead of the Revolution, beloved by some and hated by others. Liam, a seventeen-year-old Rebooter, is Syd’s bodyguard and must protect him with his life. But armed Machinists aren’t the only danger.

People are falling ill—their veins show through their skin, they find it hard to speak, and sores erupt all over their bodies. Guardians, the violent enforcers of the old system, are hit first, and the government does nothing to help. The old elites fall next, and in the face of an indifferent government, Syd decides it’s up to him to find a cure . . . and what he discovers leaves him stunned."

I absolutely loved Proxy and was so excited to read the sequel and see where things went from the end of the first book. Guardian is a crazy ride through this new overturned world and I really enjoyed following Syd on this new journey, especially with the prospect of an actual two-way romance this time.


and now I have an interview with Alex:

1) How did you get the idea for Proxy and Guardian? Will there be any more books in the series?

Proxy was the book I’d wished existed when I was a teen—an action-packed cyberpunk thriller with a gay protagonist that engages with the big ideas about the world we live in. It’s about the things that concern me—debt, privilege, inequality, justice, forgiveness, friendship.

Guardian, its sequel, has a very different set of concerns. While its still a thriller, it is certainly darker and more somber than Proxy. Our hero is dealing with the aftermath of some pretty intense stuff and I didn’t want to gloss over it or make it easy. Healing is hard and it doesn’t always work as planned. Sometimes, when things break, no clever plot twist can unbreak them. I wanted to explore how these characters live in a world where that’s the case. I wanted to question the values they have, the ideologies and the beliefs they hold and I wanted to create circumstances to test those things. So Guardian came from this urge to push my characters farther than I ever thought they’d go to see what happens. I think they emerge stronger, if not exactly unscathed. It is, hopefully, still a wild ride (and unlike in Proxy, there’s some romance!)

As of right now, there are no plans for more books in the series, but I have more stories about these characters I could tell and probably one day will. It may not be, however, with another book. What form these stories take is still very much an open question. But if the publisher wanted more books in the series, there is certainly more I could write.


2) These are your first two YA books. Before that, you'd written middle-grade fiction and adult non-fiction. What brought you to YA, and what was different about writing in this genre?

I don’t really write for a particular audience, but I do write books that have more appeal for a particular audience, so my middle grade books are usually about kids in that rage or written in a style that appeals to that age rage, but adults and teens can enjoy them too. It’s the same with YA. They are stories that (hopefully) young adults are drawn to and hopefully they speak to authentic young adult truths, but ultimately, the question of genre or audience isn’t one I think much about. I tell the stories I want to tell and I hope the right audience finds its way to them one reader at a time.


3) What is your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor(s)? Or, if you don't like those, your favorite snack to have while writing or as a reward for writing?

I like Jelly Belly’s just fine (I’ve actually done their factory tour twice) but whenever I finish a manuscript, I celebrate with a bag of Tate’s Whole Wheat Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies. I tell myself I’ll only eat the suggested serving size. I usually eat the whole bag.


4) What book(s) are you currently reading, or are about to start? Any books you're looking forward to reading?

I can’t wait to read 100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith and The Young Elites by Marie Lu, two very different YA novels by two very different YA writers, each of whom has such a vivid style and generous imagination that they make my jaw drop on a regular basis. I’m about to start reading David Mitchell’s The Bone Clocks, which I’ve been waiting for for years—he’s my favorite living writer—and I can’t wait to dive into it.

Alex London writes books for adults (One Day The Soldiers Came: Voices of Children in War), children (Dog Tagsseries; An Accidental Adventure series) and teens (Proxy). At one time a journalist reporting from conflict zones and refugee camps, he is now a full time novelist living in Brooklyn, NY, where he can be found wandering the streets talking to his dog, who is the real brains of the operation.

Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
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Read the Exclusive 3 Chapters from London’s new release, GUARDIAN here.

You can read the short story PUNISHMENT, the PROXY prequel on Wattpad for free right now! Meet Syd, Knox, and Liam (from Guardian) at 15.

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Author Interview- Paula Stokes

1) How did you get the idea for The Art of Lainey?

So awkward, but I got blown off by this guy that I was obsessed with. It was one of those things that dragged on for years without getting serious because no other guy made me feel like he did (and I tried getting over him, believe me!) Anyway, I cried for like a week straight when our on again-off again thing turned into a completely-off thing. And then, like Lainey, I went looking for advice on how to win him back. But instead of game-playing, I decided to write a book. The Art of Lainey healed my heart. It's a miracle that something spawned from so much pain turned out to be so happy and hopeful. I love my little book.



2) You've written the historical Venom novels under the name Fiona Paul, and now have contemporary titles coming out under your own name (Art of Lainey- a contemporary romance and Liars Inc- a dark mystery). Is it fun to go back and forth between different genres? Do you prefer any one over the other?

I am so done with historical stuff. Maybe I'll set a book in the 1990s someday, but that's as far back as I'm going. When I took the contract to write the Venom novels, it seemed like this awesome and exciting challenge. It was, but historical is really far from my comfort zone and I spent more time trying to cull the anachronisms from the novels and get the accuracy right than I spent writing. Historical writing just feels like going back to school, whereas contemporary books still require research, but it's about topics more fun and interesting to me.



3) You're also a registered nurse. How did you get started with that, and does any of that knowledge and experience affect your writing?

I fell into nursing when I finished the prerequisites for veterinary school and realized if I became a vet I would probably be in debt until I was fifty years old. I didn't know what to do--it was a really dark time in my life. My mom was like "Go to nursing school." So I did. I landed in hematology/oncology after my first job was a really bad fit and now I can't imagine working with anything other than cancer patients. They are so inspiring. Medical stuff creeps its way into all my stories. Both The Art of Lainey and Liars, Inc. have little scenes in emergency rooms and some of my other projects involve main characters with physical or psychiatric illnesses. I also have a medical thriller I want to write someday.



4) What is your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor(s)? Or, if you don't like those, a favorite snack to have while writing or as a reward for writing?

Jelly Belly! So fancy :) I eat like a ridiculous amount of cinnamon fire jolly ranchers when I write. I probably consume at least a bag a week, two bags if I'm revising.



5) Can you tell us anything about Liars Inc., your next book? What else are you currently working on?

Liars, Inc is the story of three kids who form a business selling lies and alibis to their classmates. Which is totally as awesome as it sounds, until one of the three asks for his own alibi and then disappears. MC Max has to figure out what happened to his friend because there's only one suspect in the disappearance--Max.

I had so much fun writing from the POV of a teen boy. My crit partners were like "Are you a boy trapped in a girl's body?" Nah--I just spent six years as "one of the guys" in a restaurant kitchen. Liars, Inc. is dark, shocking, and unpredictable, as different from Lainey as Lainey is from Venom. I'm working on like a zillion other things, including a novella in the Art of Lainey world called Infinite Repeat and three other books.


6) Do you have any advice for aspiring writers?

So many people have said all this better than me, but my advice is to write the book you want to read. Not what you know, not what you think will sell. Write the book you're able to read thirty times and still love. Write the book you love so much that you're not afraid to shout from the rooftops that it's yours, no matter what kind of sales figures or reviews it gets. I want my books to succeed. I want my books to be loved. But at the end of the day, I will love The Art of Lainey no matter what, because I believe it does what I set out to make it to--spread hope and happiness (and hot boys :D) throughout the bookish universe.



7) What are you currently reading, or are about to start?

I am reading REBEL by Amy Tintera. REBOOT was one of my favorite reads from 2013 and I have been clamoring for this sequel!

Author Interview- Michael Barakiva

1) How did you get the idea for One Man Guy?

I didn’t come out until I was 21. And I don’t regret that – I think everyone comes out when they’re meant to. But I tried to imagine the set of circumstances that would’ve needed to transpire for me to have come out at 14. Naturally, they involved a hot skater boy. That was the germ of the idea for One Man Guy.


2) Are you working on any new novels now? Can you tell us anything about them?

Yes yes yes! For the last three years, I’ve been working with two dear friends, Suzanne Agins and Rosemary Andress, on The Aether Wild, a fantasy/sci-fi epic set in the future where young people are born with superpowers. We’re hoping to have it finished by the end of this year.

My editor Joy and I are also talking about working on another book together. The protagonist would be Seth, a minor character who appears in a flashback early on in OMG.


3) You also work in the theatre as a director and playwright. How did you get involved with theatre, and what do you love most about it?

Theater is my first love. It took me around three years to gather the courage to audition for a show. I was cast as Orphan #1 in Oliver in 6th grade, and then grew into more mature roles, like Man #2 in Fiddler on the Roof in 7th grade and the Gatekeeper in The Wiz in 8th grade.

As my casting indicated, I was never a good actor, but I loved the people who were in the plays. Like many theater people, I didn’t really fit in anywhere else during those formative and horrible teen years, and finding my clan made me feel like life might be bearable one day.

In college, I directed plays obsessively, and was accepted into Juilliard’s (now-defunct) Directing Program afterwards. I’ve been making my living as a director since.

I think what I love most about theater now is really different than what drew me to it all those innocent years ago. Now, I love the chaos. A rehearsal process is like playing chicken – the temptation in the process is to “set” things, the way in chicken your impulses are telling you to swerve out of the way of the vehicle charging at your full speed. But if you set too soon (or swerve too soon), you lose. Now, in theater, I try to wait until the last possible moment to set things, experimenting and questioning and challenging and creating as much as possible.


4) What is your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor(s)? Or, if you don't eat those, your favorite snack to have while writing or as a reward for writing? Feel free to talk about other foods you love since your bio mentions you as a "lover of food" (aren't we all though? hehe).

It’s a great question – is everyone a lover of food? I guess we all are, which comforts me in some way. I don’t just love to eat food, though, I love to make it as well. Right now, I’m in the process of founding a theater ensemble, The Upstart Creatures, whose mission statement is to create events that combine theater with food.

I don’t really eat jelly beans any more – I’m trying to stay away from that kind of processed sugar after one summer in Ithaca that just lives as a Sour Skittles/Red Bull blur in my mind.

While I’m writing, I reward myself with snacks the way I used to with cigarettes (smoking is evil and you should never do it). I like to have something in the fridge that’s rich and delicious so that just a little goes a long way, like chicken liver mousse (I just found a great recipe that uses yolks instead of butter and cooks in a water bath) or roasted, salted nuts.

When I’m out of town directing a play, I cook furiously because it’s the perfect way to come down after rehearsals. I leave rehearsals in this state of delirium – exhausted and wired, and cooking engages me just enough to bring be back down to normal. My favorite weekday recipes include salt-crust roasted chicken, shell steaks in a shallot/red-wine reduction, kale in almost any form, fresh pineapple (the carving is such fun!), butternut squash, and (since I married a Mexican) anything with jalapenos.


5) Had you read much Young Adult literature before writing One Man Guy? Or was it something you kind of fell into?

To be honest, I hadn’t read much, although I’m a sucker for anything fantasy/sci-fi/post-apocalyptic/dystopic. If there’s magic in a world, I’m hooked.


6) What book(s) are you currently reading, or about to start?

Most of my reading is for my directing work, which is not to say it’s not interesting. One of the things that I love about directing is that I get to research and learn so much stuff. I also used to be one of those people who could only read one thing at a time, but obviously, I’m not anymore.

Next to my bed, which is where I keep the books that I’m reading:

WAS by Geoff Ryman
The Swerve by Stephen Greenblatt
The Hero With A Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell
The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks (this was a gift from Ethan Butler and Cory Tarallo, two of the many stunningly talented cast members in a production of Spring Awakening I just directed up in Syracuse)


7) Your Goodreads profile mentions that you're an avid board game player. Which ones do you most enjoy, and are there any that you don't like?

The only board game I hate is Agricola. My board game group loves it, and sometimes they make me play it and I hate it. It’s horrible. I hate it.

The games that I love:
Last Night On Earth, which was introduced to me by Craig Bridger and which I played incessantly with Joseph Midyett after Spring Awakening rehearsals.

Age of Empires: The Age of Discovery
I guess this is based on a computer game, but I gave up on computer games years ago because I realized they were less fun than board games. Or rather, in the computer game, the computer is your scene partner, and in board games, it’s the other players.

Race For the Galaxy
I play this at board game arena when I need to clear my mind, but I wish they’d update the game to include the deck expansions.

Seasons
I’ve only played this online, which is sort of cheating, but it’s super fun.

T’zolkin
One of the best boards for a board game ever made.

Titan and Talisman
These are old school games and my copies are incomplete for pieces lost over the decades, but if anyone had a complete version (Titan especially) and wanted to give it to me, I would be their friend forever.

Also fun: Smallworld, Ticket to Ride (especially India and Switzlerand), Catan (Cities and Knights only, please), Civilization, Cathedral, Citadels


8) Your pub day for One Man Guy falls the day after the 1-year anniversary of your marriage to your husband Rafael. How was it finally getting married to him, and is that week this year going to be one long celebration party?

Getting married was the best thing I’ve ever done in my life. When we were planning the thing, I thought, “Is it really worth it? All that money? All the energy and resources and time that you have to put into?” Remember, I’m a director, so I know about putting on a show, and having a wedding is like having to be your own producer, playwright, director and leading actor.

But then the day of, you just feel so blessed to be in front of your community. And that’s what it’s really about – taking those vows in front of the people you love. They witness. And the spoken words, the promises you make to the person you love, become powerful, binding things.

Last week was amazing. Rafael and I went to the Gaudalupe Valley to celebrate our one year, and were guests of some of the most gracious and hospitable hosts I’ve ever met, including Tru Miller at Adobe Guadalupe Inn & Vineyards. Our last day there was my pub date. We were off the grid, no cell or email, and then when we got back to New York I was amazed at the out-pouring of love, both for the congratulations of our first-year anniversary and for One Man Guy. To have the two events so close to each other made me feel like the luckiest guy in the world.

Blog Tour- Subway Love by Nora Raleigh Baskin

Subway Love by Nora Raleigh Baskin
"If her parents had never divorced, Laura wouldn’t have to live in the shadow of Bruce, her mom’s unpredictable boyfriend. Her mom wouldn’t say things like “be groovy,” and Laura wouldn’t panic every weekend on the way to Dad’s Manhattan apartment. But when Laura spots a boy on a facing platform, lifting a camera to his face, looking right at her, Laura feels anything but afraid, and she can’t forget him. Jonas, meanwhile, thinks nonstop about the pretty hippy girl he glimpsed on the platform—trying to comprehend how she vanished, but mostly wondering if he will see her again in a city of millions. If he searches, will he find her?"- summary from publisher

and here's an interview with Nora:

1) How did you get the idea for Subway Love?

I am actually not sure. I think I was talking to some students at a school and we were batting around ideas about a magical place where two characters would meet, like a ghost story, but I wasn’t really interested in that kind of story. I was interested in a story, however, about a love that is so real and so strong but couldn’t ever be realized. A romantic tragedy, I guess you’d call it. And the two ideas morphed together.


2) What are you working on now? Can you tell us anything about it?

I am working on another sort of tragic love story, but a very different one. About self-love and suicide and survival and about how falling for the wrong person can be both destructive and healing.


3) You have a dog and a cat. How did you get them, and do you have any funny anecdotes about them?

Of course, they are both rescue pets. Eli, my dog, is from Arkansas and Baby Kitty, my cat, was found on the north fork of Long Island. I am crazy for them both and I have too many stories to even begin. You really don’t want to get me started. My smart phone is filled with photos of them both. One of the best ways I communicate with my grown sons is by sending them photos of the pets doing cute things, like the cat climbing in the bathtub or my the dog asleep under the covers. Stuff like that… See, I told you not to get me started!


4) What's your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor(s)? Or, if you don't like those, your favorite snack to have while writing or as a reward for writing?

I am not that fond of Jelly beans, I must admit. They stick in my teeth and they are not chocolate. But I certainly wouldn’t turn then down. I would eat all the black ones first. I like licorice. And since you asked, revising is the hardest part of writing and so I let myself snack while I am revising: chips, M&Ms, chocolate chips cookies, Oreos… Often my revised manuscript has lots of dirty fingerprints on it. I really need to stop doing that!


5) You used to be a creative writing teacher. What was your favorite part of that job? Did you enjoy teaching? Think you'll ever go back to it?

I still teach creative writing all the time to both children and adults. I enjoy it very much. The key is to remember I can’t really teach anyone anything. I can only share what I have learned and mistakes I’ve made. Writing is an art and it’s very individual. It is filled with rules…all that are made to be broken so that new voices and new forms of expression can be discovered. I see myself as giving permission and inspiration for my students to write. Reading is really the best way to learn “how” to write. It is a personal journey. It is a process and sometimes the only way in is straight into the belly of the beast, so to speak. Make mistakes. Take risks. And listen to your heart.
I know I sound corny, but I believe it.


To follow the rest of the tour, here's the list:

5/12/2014- Who R U Blog
http://www.whorublog.com/

5/13/2014- Great Imaginations
http://www.great-imaginations.com

5/14/2014- Word Spelunking
http://www.wordspelunking.blogspot.com

5/15/2014- Once Upon a Twilight
http://www.onceuponatwilight.com

5/16/2014- A Leisure Moment
http://www.aleisuremoment.com

5/17/2014- Random Chalk Talk
http://www.randomchalktalk.blogspot.com

5/18/2014- The Story Siren
http://www.thestorysiren.com

5/19/2014- Book Chic Club
http://www.bookchicclub.blogspot.com


FTC: Received e-galley from Netgalley. Link above is an Amazon Associate link; any profit goes toward funding contests.

Author Interview- Lisa McMann

1)You're in the middle of two series now- is it difficult to go back and forth writing them, especially since one is middle-grade and the other is Young Adult? How many books are projected for each series?

I actually love going back and forth between Visions and Unwanteds. It keeps the writing fresh for me, and works great with my short attention span. Visions (Crash, Bang, Gasp) is a trilogy. Gasp will be out June 3, 2014. The Unwanteds plan is seven books and I’m writing book 5 now. Book 4, Island of Legends, will be out September 2, 2014.


2)After your Wake trilogy, you wrote a couple stand-alone books but now you're back writing series. Do you prefer one over the other, or do you just follow your ideas whether they're a stand-alone or a series idea?

I just follow my ideas. I don’t ever want to make a series out of something that is clearly a stand-alone, because I think that cheats the reader and they end up angry. So I only consider writing a series if there is a clear path with plenty of substance for each book. And I don’t really prefer one over the other – they both have positives to them. Stand-alones are fun because you can develop the entire story in one book. Series’ are fun because you get to expand on existing characters.


3)It's been several years since I last interviewed you and a lot has changed since then. Can you tell us about your favorite fan experience?

Well, I have come to love seeing you in a variety of tour places, James! That’s definitely a favorite. Another favorite happened in March 2013 at the Tucson Festival of Books, when I got to talking to a great 12-year-old girl at my signing. She told me all about her own book she was writing, and we got along really well and I’ve run into her a couple times since then. I think she’s going to be a great writer one day, and I can’t wait to sit in the audience at her book signing some day.


4)What book(s) are you currently reading, or are about to start?

I’m reading The Center of Everything by Linda Urban (MG) and Restaurant Man by Joe Bastianich (Memoir).


5)What's your favorite Jelly Belly flavor(s)?

Popcorn!


6)You wrote one of the seven books in the Infinity Ring series (Book 3- The Trap Door). How did you get involved with that, and was it difficult to write the book considering it was in the middle of the series and various other authors are writing the other books? What was the process like for that?

I loved working with the authors in this series! I was first approached by David Levithan at Scholastic, who asked if I’d be interested in being a part of a writing team for a historically accurate time-travel series. It sounded cool. Writing book three was great—I got to pick the time period and the historical figures I wanted our characters to visit, and I got to expand on characters who were already developed, which is a real time-saver in the writing process. Telling Riq’s backstory in my book was a real highlight, and it has been a blast reading the subsequent books to see what the other authors did with characters.

The process was pretty exhilarating. We all got together in NYC to talk about the general idea of the series arc, but there was no formal outline, so we had a lot of freedom. With each book in the series coming out every 3 months or so, the schedule was quick. I read the manuscript of book 1 (by James Dashner) in early December 2011, got the rough draft of book 2 from Carrie Ryan on Christmas day, and spent all of January 2012 writing book 3, which I had to turn in to my editor February 1^st, I also gave it to Matt de la Peña so he could start writing book 4 and get his manuscript to Matthew J Kirby and Jennifer Nielsen so they could start writing their books. It was a fun challenge and absolutely the best team of writers to work with.

Blog Tour- Burn Out by Kristi Helvig

"Most people want to save the world; seventeen-year-old Tora Reynolds just wants to get the hell off of it. One of the last survivors in Earth's final years, Tora yearns to escape the wasteland her planet has become after the sun turns "red giant," but discovers her fellow survivors are even more deadly than the hostile environment.

Holed up in an underground shelter, Tora is alone--her brilliant scientist father murdered, her mother and sister burned to death. She dreams of living on a planet with oceans, plants, and animals. Unfortunately, the oceans dried out ages ago, the only plants are giant cacti with deadly spines, and her pet, Trigger, is a gun--one of the bio-energetic weapons her father created for the government before his conscience kicked in.

When family friend, Markus, arrives with mercenaries to take the weapons by force, Tora's fury turns to fear when government ships descend in an attempt to kill them all. She forges an unlikely alliance with Markus and his rag-tag group of raiders, including a smart but quiet soldier named James.

She is shocked when James accidentally fires one of her father's bio-weapons--weapons designed to work only for her. She'd felt a strange pull to James from the start, but the odds of someone sharing her energy vibration are statistically miniscule. Tora must quickly figure out who she can trust, as she must choose between saving herself by giving up the guns or honoring her father's request to save humanity from the most lethal weapons in existence."- summary from Goodreads

I have a hardcover copy of the book to give away, courtesy of Egmont USA! All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog post by next Monday, May 5 at 9pm EST. US/Canada residents only! If you want to get extra entries, comment on the other blog tour posts happening this week at Curling Up with a Good Book, Live to Read, and The Cozy Reader. Curling Up's post will be up today while Live to Read and The Cozy Reader will be posting tomorrow (Tuesday April 29).

And here's an interview with Kristi:

1) How did you get the idea for Burn Out?

A strange combination of a watching a science documentary about the sun burning out, a song, a vivid dream, and a scorching hot day that left me wondering what would happen if the temperature kept rising. That dream also involved my main characters, Tora and James, along with some powerful weapons I’d never seen before. The story about one of Earth’s last survivors when our sun burns out early came pretty quickly after that.


2) You have a PhD in Clinical Psychology. How did you get involved with writing in general, and specifically YA sci-fi?

I started writing picture books and Nancy Drew fan fiction in early childhood, but never even considered that writing was a viable career choice. It was something I did for fun and aside from some angsty teenage poetry, I didn’t write again until a few years ago. Instead, I went to graduate school, got my Ph.D. and became a clinical psychologist. For several years, I worked on a locked unit with teen girls who’d been committed by youth corrections. They were smart, tough, and funny, not unlike my main character, and I learned a ton from them. After the birth of my second child, I started writing again and joined a critique group. I’ve always been a huge sci-fi fan (BSG is the best show ever!), but never planned on writing sci-fi until the aforementioned events in question #1.


3) What is your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor(s), or if you don't like those, a favorite snack to have while writing or as a reward for writing?

I’m not so much a jelly bean girl, but love, love, love Cadbury Creme Eggs. It’s really good for me that they’re seasonal or I’d be in trouble. I’m in the midst of edits for Book 2 right now and decided to have a Cadbury Egg for breakfast. I wish I was kidding. :)


4) What are you currently working on? Can you tell us anything about it?

I’m doing copyedits for BURN OUT: Book 2 right now and will finish by next week (I’ll deserve a Cadbury Creme Egg for sure!) After that, I’m finishing (finally) a YA fantasy about an assassin ballerina. I’ve been working on it in between edits and promotion for the BURN OUT books, so it will be nice to get back to it again.

Thanks so much for having me on the blog today! :)


Kristi Helvig is a Ph.D. clinical psychologist turned sci-fi/fantasy author. She muses about Star Trek, space monkeys, and other assorted topics on her blog and Twitter. Kristi resides in sunny Colorado with her hubby, two kiddos, and behaviorally-challenged dogs. Grab a copy of BURN OUT on Amazon, Indiebound, or Barnes & Noble.

Blog Tour- Into the Dark by Bree Despain

Haden Lord, the disgraced prince of the Underrealm, has been sent to the mortal world to entice a girl into returning with him to the land of the dead. Posing as a student at Olympus Hills High—a haven for children of the rich and famous—Haden must single out the one girl rumored to be able to restore immortality to his race.

Daphne Raines has dreams much bigger than her tiny southern Utah town, so when her rock star dad suddenly reappears, offering her full tuition to Olympus Hills High’s prestigious music program, she sees an opportunity to catch the break she needs to make it as a singer. But upon moving into her estranged father’s mansion in California, and attending her glamorous new school, Daphne soon realizes she isn’t the only student in Olympus who doesn’t quite belong.

Haden and Daphne—destined for each other—know nothing of the true stakes their fated courtship entails. As war between the gods brews, the teenagers’ lives collide. But Daphne won’t be wooed easily and when it seems their prophesied link could happen, Haden realizes something he never intended—he’s fallen in love. Now to save themselves, Haden and Daphne must rewrite their destinies. But as their destinies change, so do the fates of both their worlds.

A pulsating romance of epic proportions, Bree Despain’s The Shadow Prince will leave her fans breathless for the next book in the Into The Dark series.

1) How did you get the idea for the Into the Dark series?

The series was inspired by both the song “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” by Deathcab for Cutie and also by my love for all things mythology. The song got me thinking about the idea of following someone into the unknown for the sake of love—which then lead me to think about the Greek myths of Hades and Persephone, and also Orpheus and Eurydice. Because what’s a scarier unknown than the Underworld?


2) What are you currently working on? Can you tell us anything about it?

I am currently working on revisions for the second book in the Into The Dark series. I can’t spill much about it, but I can say that I am hoping there will be a couple of big twists that will take readers by surprise.


3) I've asked you before your favorite Jelly Belly flavor (it was watermelon), so now I'd like to ask your favorite snack to have while writing, or as a reward for writing?

Cinnamon Bears! I think they’re a Utah/Western US thing. For anyone who hasn’t had a cinnamon bear before, they’re kind of like a gummy bear but they’re spicy cinnamon flavored with a touch of sweetness. I especially like them dipped in melted dark chocolate. My doctor is trying to get me to give up my cinnamon bear addiction—but I really don’t think I can write without them!


4) What book(s) are you currently reading, or are about to start? Any 2014 books you're excited to read?

I’m currently reading SCARLET by Marissa Meyer and then the new Veronica Mars book is next in line. The 2014 book I am most excited about is SNOW LIKE ASHES by Sara Raasch.



Bree Despain is the author of The Dark Divine trilogy: The Dark Divine, The Lost Saint, and The Savage Grace. She rediscovered her childhood love for creating stories when she took a semester off from college to write and direct plays for at-risk, inner-city teens from Philadelphia and New York. She currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, with her husband, two young sons, and her beloved TiVo. You can visit her online at www.breedespain.com.

Editor Interview- Timothy J. Lambert and R.D. Cochrane

1) Both of you have worked together on several novels as well as co-edited the anthology Fool for Love back in 2009 (and of course co-edited the two anthologies being featured this week). How did you two find each other and start writing together? Is it easier or harder writing together as opposed to on your own?

Becky: Timothy and I met in an AOL chat room in 1997. He and I (and our other two writing partners, Jim and another Tim) clicked because we shared the same humor, enjoyed the same books, and liked hearing one another’s real life stories. In time, a suggestion was made that we four should write, in tandem, a fictional story together. It was supposed to be just for us, something fun to do, but when friends started expressing interest in reading what we were writing, then wanted us to write more, we decided to approach it in earnest. When we thought we had a finished novel, we began the long process of finding an agent, and she led us to Kensington.

Timothy: Writing by committee can be difficult, because it can be tricky to get everyone to agree on a plot. Sometimes it's hard for everyone to write a particular character or location the same way. Becky and I rarely seem to have that problem, though. We work well together. It's more difficult for me to write on my own, because I waste a lot of time second-guessing myself. It's also lonely when I don't have someone to bounce ideas off of, or someone to tell me the line I thought was so hysterical is offensive to Baltic women.

Becky: Once Timothy moved to Houston, we also had more time to write together, and that’s when we did our two collaborative novels. A lot of what we write comes out of conversations. One of us says something that makes the other laugh, and we immediately say, “How can we use that?” Like right now, I’m trying to figure out how to work that “Baltic women” line into something.


2) What is your favorite Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor(s)? Or, if you don't like those, a favorite snack to have while writing or as a reward for writing?

Timothy: I love jelly beans, but Jelly Belly freaks me out because they've cornered the jelly bean market. It's hard to find jelly beans that aren't Jelly Belly. I remember a time when jelly beans were just jelly beans and not 50 different freaky flavors. Most of them are really nasty, I think. Anyway, when I'm writing, I'll eat anything I have in the house. I used to smoke cigarettes, and I loved to smoke while writing. But I can't do that anymore, which makes it really difficult to write. So now I have a bag of almonds, or sunflower seeds, on my desk at all times so I can snack on something healthy while I write. Otherwise, I'll head downstairs for the potato chips, cookies, and other not so healthy stuff in the house. Right now I'm rewarding myself for finally answering these questions with a Lone Star beer.

Becky: My old process was write, write, write, then stop and read/edit with a cigarette. The cigarette was a reward. Then like Timothy, I quit smoking. Was it only coincidence that about that same time I shifted from writing to editing? I hope so. I’ve written a few things since, but I don’t have any kind of reward system now. I do chew a lot of gum. And I’m addicted to dental floss. Maybe those are my new rewards.


3) Both of you also work with and support Scout's Honor Rescue in Houston as well as Rescued Pets Movement. Can you tell us a little bit about these organizations, and why they're so important?

Timothy: Some friends and I cofounded Rescued Pets Movement Inc. (www.rescuedpetsmovement.org) on September 23, 2013, in an effort to help Houston's pet overpopulation problem. There are an estimated 1.3 homeless pets at large in Houston, so any rescue group trying to find a home for them is important. RPM has partnered with BARC, Houston's city shelter, to transport 50 adoptable pets a week out of the city shelter to rescue organizations in other areas of the country where pet overpopulation isn't such a dire issue. These are dogs and cats who would otherwise be put to sleep because the city's shelter is always at capacity. Since RPM formed, we've saved over 1,100 dogs and cats from being euthanized. I'm really proud to be a part of RPM.

Becky: I was involved with Scout’s Honor only peripherally when Timothy was fostering dogs for them. Because Timothy lives on the same property as my husband Tom and I, we were sort of Timothy’s foster assistants. I think the total number of fosters who came through us was eighteen. They all went to good homes. I’m a strong believer in dog and cat rescue and in adopting from any organization. If you have specific requirements for a pet companion, adopting through a foster program gives you a lot of information about an animal’s temperament and training that could enable you to adopt more successfully.

When Timothy and his friends/associates founded Rescued Pets Movement, I volunteered to help him with his social media responsibilities, mostly by taking photos of the animals being transported and animals who need fostering and adopting. I’ll also do editing and proofreading, as needed.


4) You've both now co-edited three different anthologies. What is the process like, in terms of garnering submissions, selecting stories, and getting it ready for publication? Are there times where you disagree on what stories should go in?

Becky: The first anthology we did was the idea of Greg Herren when he was an editor for Haworth Press. We handpicked writers whose work we’d enjoyed, or aspiring writers we met through their blogs or at literary events. When Haworth was bought and the new owners opted out of publishing fiction, Richard Labonté gave us an introduction to the publishers at Cleis, and they gave our orphaned anthology a new home.

Timothy: Since then, we have to pitch our anthology concept to a publisher and hope they agree to publish it. After we convince the publisher there's no way our anthology could possibly be short stories about teenaged gay vampires coming of age in the year 2442—

Becky: I’d buy that.

Timothy: —we finally sign contracts to publish an anthology of contemporary gay fiction with a romantic theme. From then on, the process has been different almost every time. Often we'll solicit stories from our writer friends and then ask them if they know anyone who might want to submit a story to us. If, after that, we still don't have enough stories that we want to publish, that's when we'll start panicking and sending random emails to writers begging them for a story. Oddly, it works. After we have a large pool of stories to work with, we'll pick the ones we think are the best written and that best match the theme of the anthology. Then we'll edit them and sometimes work with the writer if significant changes need to be made.

Becky: Best Gay Romance 2014 was an open call because we hoped to get stories from new writers as well as writers who’d worked with Richard on earlier anthologies in the series. We received a large number of stories to choose from. Sometimes those choices were hard. Again, we wanted a range, so if one story was too similar to another, we had to make tough calls.

Timothy: I don't think Becky and I have ever disagreed whether or not a story should be in an anthology. If Becky believes in a story, she's usually good at convincing me why it has merit. And vice versa.

Becky: I do encourage writers whose stories are turned down by anyone, not just by us, to keep refining and submitting them. Maybe writers should regard their unpublished work as “foster” stories. Shape them into the best they can be without losing any of their most endearing qualities, then they are more likely to find their forever homes.