Author: Janci

I’ve got another guest post up today, this time over at Macteen Books, about developing the ideas for CHASING THE SKIP, and what that had to do with bad boys in YA lit.

I’m off presenting at The Book Academy in a few hours.  Wish me luck!

CHASING THE SKIP comes out in less than a week!  There’s likely to be a lot of announcements and book talk going on here over the next few weeks.  After that we’ll be back to the regularly scheduled pictures of flowers and trees, I promise.

Today I have a guest post up over at Adventures in YA and Children’s Publishing as part of their WOW Wednesday feature.  I talk about copyediting, which is more exciting than it sounds.

Tomorrow I’m presenting at The Book Academy, which is looking like it will be a great event, and has walk-in registration, if you’re local and interested.  I’ll be talking in the afternoon about how to run the business side of writing, which will be heavily informed by my experiences running our painting business as well.  I’m going to talk numbers.  Should be fun.

 

Let me tell you about my buddy James.  He’s the kind of writer I dearly wish I was–the kind who can string together a sentence so beautiful it belongs in poetry and then work it into prose like it was born to be there.  He’s the kind of thinker who always has something complex and balanced to say about everything from canon literature to video games.  (I’m sure he also knows how to spell canon in that context.  I had to google it.)  He hops genre and media often, always deconstructing expectations and pushing to see what else can be done.  In short, James is awesome.

And he’s written a book, available today.

I know what you’re thinking: Oh, no.  Not a book about Jesus.  But let me tell you, this is not a religious screed, or  a didactic affirmation of faith, or a blasphemous romp, or a Mormon rewriting of scripture to fit established doctrine.  It’s a literary exploration of the Gospels, weaving together old testament symbolism and prophecy with fictional character interpretations.  It’s gorgeous, largely because James is the kind of writer who can pull off the improbable.  I don’t like religious fiction as a rule, but I love this book.  So, you know.  You should read it and stuff.

Read what James has to  has to say about it here.  You can get copies in a variety of formats, both print and ebook, and he’ll tell you how.

 

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway!  Seeing all your creative responses made me want to give all of you a book.  But sadly, I only have one.  (And, you know, can’t afford all those books and postage.)

Comment #10 is Melissa Tosh!

Melissa Tosh Says:
September 10th, 2012 at 8:59 pm

It would probably be because i stole an armful of puppies and i would run away to England. By the way is this International giveaway?? I hope so  im in Aus. congrats on ur book 

 

Who can resist England and an armful of puppies?  Although I have to admit that the image of you trying to get from Australia to England with arms full of wiggling pups amuses me.  Congrats, Melissa.  I will contact you shortly.

In other news, I’ve neglected to link to the Kirkus review of CHASING THE SKIP which came out at the beginning of the month.  And they didn’t hate it!   (If you don’t know, Kirkus has a reputation of hating everything.)   To say I was quite pleased was an understatement.

Chanelle Gray’s new novel, My Heart be Damned, was supposed to be released today, but hit the street a little early.  You can find out more about Chanelle and her new book at her website, her blog, or her twitter.  Welcome Chanelle!

First, tell us about the book.

If you’re a Hunter, there are only three things you must know about
the Damned. The Damned can’t lie, can’t live without a body, and can’t
leave you alone.

Amerie Carter has the blood of a Hunter, unfortunately. She is one of
a rare line of women who, upon her sixteenth birthday, will come into
extraordinary powers used to hunt the Damned; escaped souls from Hell
who take up residence in human bodies. It’s supposed to be her sweet
sixteen, but Amerie has never dreaded a day more, and her worst fears
are confirmed as the celebration turns tragic when her mother is
killed.

Grief-stricken, Amerie vows to never hunt a day in her life. She’s
determined to hide behind normalcy, attending school, hanging out with
her friends and working an after-school job at The Hut. All Amerie
wants is to be left alone. But try telling the Damned that. The harder
Amerie tries to ignore her powers, the more the Damned come looking
for her.

When an attack leaves one of Amerie’s friends in the hospital, and
endangers the lives of her fellow students, she knows she has no
choice: Hunt or Be Hunted. Thankfully, the gorgeous, secretive, and
so-off-limits Marshall offers to train Amerie to take out her
supernatural enemies. But training with Marshall means lying
to her friends, her family, and confronting the mysterious
circumstances surrounding her mother’s death.

Amerie soon discovers she’s not the only one with something to hide,
Marshall’s secrets might kill her before the Damned get the chance.

So many secrets.  Now I need to read the book to find the answers.  Speaking of Hunters, let’s say you’ve skipped bail, and a bounty hunter is looking for you.  (Thankfully not Amerie, though.)   What three things do you bring with you?

Oh…my Kindle, my phone and my hair straighteners – because believe me, you don’t want to see my hair without them!

Where does the bounty hunter find you?
In bed, probably! No, more than likely in a shopping mall somewhere.

Now you’re the bounty hunter.  When three things do you bring with you
while tracking your skip?
My laptop, my dog (company and sniffer skills!) and my kindle for
those long moments of waiting between tips.

  After all that waiting, you’ve found your skip, right where you thought they would be.  Describe your location and approach.

I would set my dog loose, pretend that he’d escaped and ask the
skipper to help me catch him. And while they’re chasing the dog, I’ll
be chasing them with handcuffs!! (All this talking about bounty
hunting makes me want to be one!)

Ah, playing on the charity of others.  Sounds like a great hunting technique.  Now you’ve just caught a skip, and you’re surprised to find them
attractive.  What three things make them irresistible to you?

Confidence, intellect, and the ability to get on with my dog!

Thanks for joining us, Chanelle.  Anything else you’d like to tell us?

I no longer want to be a writer. I now want to chase people who have
skipped out on bail. That is all.

 

The summer I read the fifth Harry Potter book, I was angry.  I couldn’t have told you what I was so angry about, and I can’t tell you now.  In fact, I probably wouldn’t remember that I was angry all this time later, except for one thing.

Harry was angry.  Harry was so angry that he spent portions of the book talking in all caps.  I was angry, and I spent 870 pages living inside an angry person’s head, and that made me angrier still.

Before I go on, I feel I have to say, I loved the Harry Potter series.  I had to avoid reading each book until I was ready to give over the next forty-eight hours of my life to it wholly and completely, because once I began reading I was not going to stop until I finished.  Still, here’s the truth:

That summer, I hated that book.

But.

There’s that scene halfway through where the Weasley twins have finally had enough.  And they set off all their not-so-practical jokes in the hallway at Hogwarts and hop on their broomsticks and fly off, giving the family-friendly finger to Umbridge and all of the stifling, maddening nonsense that came with her.  This, to me, remains one of the most satisfying moments in all of literature.

They just left.  And maybe that’s why one of them wasn’t the chosen one who was ready to save the world, but they also didn’t have to sit around and be mad.

And you know, I didn’t stay angry, either.  I moved on from that summer.  I escaped from the things and the places that were making me feel so trapped that I wanted to speak in all capital letters myself.

And when I feel like screaming at the stifling, maddeningness of the world, I still think about the Weasley twins.  There are other ways of dealing with life than sitting around being angry.

Their way was certainly a lot more fun.

 

I have a post up today at the Apocalypsies blog about a day in my life.  And don’t forget about my giveaway, running through Monday, and please do come to the release of CHASING THE SKIP, if you’re in the area and so inclined.

 

Want to read more from teamTEENauthor?  Check out other posts below:

http://juliecross.blogspot.com/2012/09/teamteenauthor-september-topic-harry.html

http://jessicacorra.wordpress.com/

http://www.suzannelazear.com

http://www.trishdoller.com/

http://ecmyers.net/

http://www.elizabethamisu.com/

***This giveaway is now closed.  Thanks all!***

This came in the mail for me over the weekend:

It’s my very, very first ever finished copy of my very first ever published book.  It’s gorgeous.  I love it.   And there’s absolutely nothing I’d rather do with it than give it away.  Because, really, I’ve read the thing.  A lot.  And most of you haven’t.  I can’t tell you how excited I am that in less than a month, you all can read it, winner or not.

But you want this copy, right?  I know you do.  So leave me a comment.  Let’s say you’re on the run from a bounty hunter.  Tell me what you’re wanted for, and where you go.  The more detail, the better.  (Winner will be chosen by random number generator, though, so don’t sweat it too much.)  I’ll pick a winner after next Monday, September 17th.  (Or, you know, the number generator will, at my behest.)  Be sure to leave your mail in the mail field, so that I can contact you to send you this very copy of the book.  I’ll even sign it, if you’d like, which would make it the first book I ever sign.

Also, just to remind you, you’re invited to my release event at the King’s English on October 2nd.  Join the facebook group if you’d like and let us know you’re coming.

 

 

C. J. Redwine’s new novel, Defiance, just came out last week.  If you didn’t read it over labor day, well, it’s still around this week.  You can repent.

First, tell us about the book.

When Rachel Adams’ father goes missing in the Wasteland outside her cloistered city-state, she is determined to rescue him. But making an alliance with the boy who broke her heart and rebelling against her leader carry a heavy cost, and the truth that waits for her in the Wasteland could start a war two decades in the making.

Now, let’s say you’ve skipped bail, and a bounty hunter is looking for you.  What three things do you bring with you?

A hot pink bedazzled Taser, the bag of cash I may or may not have
buried in my backyard for just such an occasion, and a collection of
really fabulous wigs.

Now we know where to dig.  So, where does the bounty hunter find you?

In a skeevy little dive of a place just south of the border where the
decor is atrocious but the chips and salsa are DIVINE.

Chips and salsa are my favorite.  Now you’re the bounty hunter.  When three things do you bring with you while tracking your skip?

A sexy car I “borrow” from the local Italian sports car dealership in
the middle of the night, a collection of weapons I probably don’t know
how to use, and Robert Downey Jr.

What?

You’re right. The sports car is a little over the top.

When you are carrying a pink, bedazzled Taser, nothing is over the top.  Now, you’ve found your skip, right where you thought they would be.
Describe your location and approach.  

The skip is holed up a dusty little house at the end of a cul de sac
in Nowheresville, Tennessee. I drive my sexy little sports car right
through the front door, slide out of the sun roof, and distract him by
shouting “Hey! Isn’t that Robert Downey, Jr.?” so I can take him down.

You’ll get him for sure, since you’ve blocked the escape route.  Now, you’ve just caught a skip, and you’re surprised to find them
attractive.  What three things make them irresistible to you?

He does a mean Jack Sparrow impersonation, he bakes irrestistible
cupcakes, and he can intelligently explain all the many ways George
Lucas ruined Star Wars by making episodes 1-3.

We all know that the Star Wars conversation alone can last a lifetime.  Anything else you’d like to tell us?

While I am the most unprepared girl in the world when it comes to
apocalyptic events (although I would have Robert Downey Jr. and that
has to count for something!), my heroine is not. She would be ashamed
of my approach to skip tracing. And she wouldn’t be caught dead
carrying a bedazzled ANYTHING. 🙂

You can find C. J. online on her blog, facebook, twitter, and pinterest.  Thanks for joining us, and good luck with the book!

The release day of CHASING THE SKIP is less than two months away.  Two months!  Can you believe it?  It’s been two years since the book sold, and I still can’t believe we’re getting so close.

I’m happy to announce that I’ll be doing a launch event on October 2nd (release day!) at The King’s English in Salt Lake City.  I cannot tell you how excited I am to be doing an event with them.  If you live in the area and haven’t visited, you’re missing out.  They are a fantastic local indie and they are wonderful about supporting local authors.

I’ll be doing a reading, taking questions, and of course signing.  The event starts at 7.  Please come celebrate with me–and they should have plenty of books to go around, if you are so inclined.