Crossroads Blog Tour Day 4: Amanda Ashby

It's day 4 of The Crossroads Blog Tour! If you're not familiar with how the tour works, you can check out my kick off post here, and then be sure to visit The Crossroads Tour main page for a full list of participating authors and bloggers as well as details on prizes, giveaways, and collecting the mystery clues!

Amanda Ashby is popping in today and I'm excited to welcome her to the blog!




Your zombies become zombies via a virus, how exactly is it contracted?

Normally you would just be bitten by a zombie to catch the virus, but in Mia’s case she did a spell, which inflicted the virus onto people! Now, that’s unlucky!

You were just elected zombie prom queen; can you describe your winning ensemble?

Honestly, I would wear the dress that Mia is wearing on the cover of Zombie. I love it so much that I even wrote it into the book after I saw it!!!!!!

What made you continue your pursuit of a writing career after your initial rejection?

Stubbornness and ego!!!

Do you find it harder to come up with a concept for a novel or a catchy title?

I find concepts really easy to come up with and I have them all the time—ask my long suffering husband!!!! Ditto on titles. Unfortunately I find the whole sitting down and writing the book thing slightly harder!!!!!

Do you write the novel first and then come up with a title, or do you have a title in mind when you’re writing?

I’m either really great at titles or really bad!!!! With Zombie Queen of Newbury High, the title came first and I wrote the book around it (as in, I asked myself the question of how would one become a zombie queen!). Ditto with Fairy Bad Day—I sent my agent a proposal. She hated the story but loved the title so we brainstormed a new book. However, with my first book was originally called Heaven Bent (I know, awful!!!!) before my agent came up with You Had Me at Halo!

Can you write an acceptance speech for Mia if she’s elected prom queen?

I’d like to thank everyone for electing me and if any of you have noticed gravy stains on your clothing or hamburgers under your fingernails, please don’t blame me. Also, if you suddenly feel like you’ve eaten your body weight in steak and rissoles, again, totally not my fault. And finally, if I can give you all one piece of advice as your newly elected prom queen, don’t try doing love spells because they seriously don’t work!

Can you elaborate on your extreme hatred of bananas?

Hahahaha – seriously, this is the funniest question I’ve ever been asked!!!!! And no, I have no idea where the banana thing came from but my mother will assure you that it’s been with me all my life!! It used to drive her crazy that I wouldn’t eat them as a baby, since nothing is easier than mushing up a banana. But bleurgh. I hate everything about them. For a start they make a mushy sound when you bite them, then there is the whole smell thing. Honestly, I feel ill just thinking about them. Though weirdly, I can eat banana flavoured things, it’s just the actual fruit itself I can’t stand!!!!!

A huge thanks to Amanda for answering all my questions! Her next young adult novel, Fairy Bad Day, releases June 2011 from Puffin. For more information on this upcoming release and her other books, you can find tons of fun information here:

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Review: Nightshade

NIGHTSHADE
Andrea Cremer
Young Adult
452 pages
Penguin
October 19th, 2010
Received from publisher

THE STORY
Calla is the young alpha for the Nightshade pack and as such she is expected to set an example of strength, maturity, and dedication to the protection of their masters, the Keepers. Being alpha means more than being a role model, however. It also means her life is not her own. Orders must be followed. Her mate has been chosen. And her union to solidify her status as alpha female looms ever closer.

Perhaps it's the knowledge the course of her life is set in stone that leads her to abandon all her training and disregard pack laws to save the life of a human boy, but whatever the reason, she simply cannot let him die. This one little slip creates a rapidly expanding fissure in Calla's strictly regimented life.

For so long her life has been planned meticulously, but suddenly everything is shifting and spinning out of control. Shay, the boy she saved, not only challenges her mentally and emotionally, but he also pushes her to question her entire way of life and forces her to look deeper into the history of her precious Guardian pack. Her life to this point has been governed by a single truth: the Keepers are to be obeyed and protected, even at the expense of her life. But soon she realizes there are always varying degrees to a single truth.

MY THOUGHTS
This story starts out a bit confusing. We are immediately thrust into the chaos surrounding Calla's decision to disobey her pack, and terms are quickly introduced yet we are provided no explanation for them. Guardians, Keepers and Searchers are continually referred to, but the reader has no point of reference from which to garner understanding of these designations, and no history to explain the allegiances of the various characters or the definition of their roles within the group. Because that information is withheld until almost a third of the way through the book, the beginning is a bit disjointed and we are left clawing for comprehension as the plot plunges forward without us.

Just shy of halfway however, the story starts to change forms, shedding it's jumbled and confusing skin and transforming into an engrossing and mysterious read. Once we are provided some much needed information, it's easy to wrap up in that knowledge and snuggle comfortably into an enjoyable storyline. For all straight lines to be towed and rules to be obeyed in the pack infrastructure, there is an edge of rebelliousness among the younger pack members that sends a little electric shock through the pages and readies the reader for the action to come.

Calla for the most part is a strong female lead. Her blind acceptance of pack mentality in the beginning is frustrating at times (though understandable), and her willingness to succumb to the demands of her superiors is somewhat unbefitting of her alpha title. However, as she and Shay uncover some long hidden truths about the pack's history, Calla's defiant nature sparks to life and she burgeons into not only a leader, but also someone who places the safety and security of her friends and family above her own and above those who have long ruled with an iron fist cloaked in generosity.

Shay and Ren, Calla's assigned mate, are both intriguing characters. Typically, one male lead takes precedence in the love triangle formation, proving himself to be the inevitable romantic choice, but Ms. Cremer does a beautiful job of giving both characters incredible strengths and very redeemable flaws, making the reader oscillate between their amorous attentions as much as Calla does. Just as the story is blanketed in mystery and riddled with questions, the various relationships are equally inscrutable and all the more fascinating for it.

The ending is abrupt and leaves the door wide open for book two which I will be eagerly purchasing in order to bear witness to Calla's inevitable progression to a stronger, more powerful alpha, and to watch as her pack blinders are ripped away, allowing her to blink and see clearly for the first time.

Rating: 4/5

Crossroads Blog Tour Day 3: Joy Preble

It's day 3 of The Crossroads Blog Tour! If you're not familiar with how the tour works, you can check out my kick off post here, and then be sure to visit The Crossroads Tour main page for a full list of participating authors and bloggers as well as details on prizes, giveaways, and collecting the mystery clues!

I'd like to extend a big welcome to Joy Preble who's popping in today to answer some questions!




Did your Russian heritage inspire Dreaming Anastasia, or have you always had an interest in Russian folklore?

I have always had an interest in Russian history. The use of Russian folklore in this series did come from that. My grandmother’s tales of Russia were always wildly dramatic and horrifically sad – on the same grand scale that you find in say, a Tolstoy novel. She was a fabulously unhappy person – which I don’t find depressing, just fascinating. (for a long time I thought everyone’s grandmother slugged down shots and whiskey and took a shocking number of pills, but I later discovered that this was not the case)

Is it difficult to switch character voices in the same story, or do you find the transition from one character’s mind to the next fairly easy?

If I’m writing every day, it’s rarely a problem. But if I have to take a break for one reason or another, I do sometimes have to spend time re-reading the character I’m about to write to make sure I nail the voice and I’m not giving Anne’s verbal tics to Ethan or vice versa. Usually if I slip up, btw, that’s what happens; Ethan starts sounding more like Anne and I have to fix it. Anne NEVER sounds like Ethan.

Of the three characters, did you relate to one more than the others?

I relate to all all them in certain ways – Ethan’s desperate need for a second chance to get things right; Anne’s humor and love for her family… but Tess probably is the closest to the real inner me – she’s snarkier than the others and she calls it like she sees it. I always find myself giving her the best lines…

Favorite paranormal entity or mythological creature (i.e. vampire, werewolf, faery, witch, etc.)?

Well, I was a vampire fan for a very long time, but now it’s witches. And of course, evil Russian mermaids. Disney’s Ariel wouldn’t stand a chance against a rusalka!

Any teaser, hint, or fun fact you can provide about Haunted? How many books in the series?

I hope to be able to do three books, but that’s going to be up to my readers and to Sourcebooks! As for HAUNTED, here’s a blurb:

Anne Michaelson’s world turned upside down last year when handsome, blue-eyed and temporarily immortal Russian Ethan Kozninsky showed up. Now six months later, Anne still has powers she doesn’t fully understand. She’s still dreaming about Baba Yaga’s forest. And she’s definitely still got feelings for Ethan, even though she’s got a new boyfriend—the very normal and very sweet lifeguard Ben Logan. But things are about to get even more complicated. There’s a wicked Russian folklore mermaid stalking Anne. With her heart torn between Ben and Ethan, Anne’s search for the rusalka’s identity reveals deep and startling secrets -- including the true source of Anne’s powers. As the romance heats up, so does the danger. Will Anne’s powers be enough to help the rusalka get what she wants? Or will the longings of her own heart get in the way?

A huge thanks to Joy for taking the time to answer my questions! The second book in the Dreaming Anastasia series, Haunted, releases February 1st, 2011 so be sure and add it to your list. For more information on Joy and her books, you can find her here:

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Crossroads Blog Tour Day 2: Linda Joy Singleton

Welcome to day 2 of The Crossroads Blog Tour! If you're not familiar with how the tour works, you can check out my kick off post here, and then be sure to visit The Crossroads Tour main page for a full list of participating authors and bloggers as well as details on prizes, giveaways, and collecting the mystery clues!

Today I'm excited to have Linda Joy Singleton stop by and answer a few questions!




If you could live in any of the worlds you’ve created, which one would you choose?

In my middlegrade series, STRANGE ENCOUNTERS, the 2nd book SHAMROCKED takes place in Mt. Shasta – literally underneath the mountain in a magical world where imagination creates reality. Mt. Shasta has many legends and one of them is about little people living inside the mountain. I spent some time there for research and it’s such a beautiful mountain community. I love it and go back whenever I can.

Suppose you were a Temp Lifer, whose body would you temporarily want to possess?

J. K. Rowling. I admire her and think her books are genuinely magic. She’s so private that little is known about her. I think it would be wonderful to learn about her from the inside. Also it would be interesting to know the good and bad parts of fame and fortune. My goal is to be a bestselling author, and while I want this passionately, I know there’s always a price for dreams, so it would be fascinating to experience it as a Temp Lifer.

Are you a problem solver like Amber, or more of a problem creator?

More of a problem sympathizer. I would love to solve problems but the worst ones are too big for anything except compassion. I’m peaceful and avoid trouble at all costs. And I worry about family and friends with problems, wishing I could solve them all so everyone could be happy.

Name one book you would describe as “unputdownable”.

HUNGER GAMES. The trilogy was amazing, heart-breaking and hopeful. I’m very honored to be one of the authors who have written essays on this trilogy for an anthology coming out in April called GIRL ON FIRE. My topic was weaponry.

If you could be gifted with one paranormal trait (i.e. vampirism, shapeshifting, seeing ghosts, etc.) what would it be? Why?

I’d love to fly. My office is upstairs so I’m often looking at treetops and rolling hills. But I have a terrible fear of heights, so just getting on an airplane freaks me out a little. But if I could fly on my own with no fear of falling, it would be amazing.

Describe your most memorable moment as an author.

For over a decade, I’ve been doing a writing contest at a local elementary school. I judge the short stories and another author judges picture books. At the end of the contest, there’s a big assembly with booksigning afterwards to celebrate the young writers. Well when the contest was new, I went into the library to pick up the 100+ entries. When I walked in and the kids found out who I was, they got super excited, crowding around me and begging for autographs. They wanted me to sign their stories, scraps of paper, backpacks, hats and one kid wanted me to write on his arm (I offered a signed bookmark instead). This was such an “author” moment and I felt very honored by these kids—glad to see them so excited about books.

Thank you so much Linda Joy for stopping by! You can find out more about her below, and her newest book, Magician's Muse, is available now from Flux.

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Crossroads Blog Tour Day 1: Kitty Keswick

Welcome to the first day of the Crossroads Blog Tour! Over the next 16 days this blog and fifteen others will be posting interviews and guest posts by some fantastic paranormal young adult authors as well as giving away all sorts of interesting books and swag. In addition to all the author fun, there's also going to be a little mystery for everyone to solve by collecting clues each day. Here's how that will work:

Each day of The Crossroads Tour, a new research question will be revealed on The Crossroad Blog Tour main page, and each day the answer to that question will be found within one of the 16 different blog posts by Crossroads Tour authors. Your job is to get the question, read the blog posts, and collect all 16 answers by the end of the tour, on Halloween. Send your answers to judithgraves at ymail dot com by midnight on October 31st to win a fab grand prize consisting of:

• signed copy of Under My Skin by Judith Graves
• copy of Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble
• copy of Freaksville by Kitty Keswick
• gothic stickers
• funky Halloween decorations
• a DVD featuring Classic Horror Films
• a $10 gift certificate for Leap Books
• a Leap Books T-shirt

Each participating blog will also be hosting a giveaway on the last day of the tour, so be sure and stop back to see what fabulous items will be up for grabs! You can find a list of participating authors and bloggers on The Crossroads Tour main page.


To kick off the tour, I'm thrilled to welcome Kitty Keswick to the blog!


Your heroine Kasey has the gift of sight, would you ever want that particular gift?

Oh yeah, I like to know what is going on...especially if there’s something freaky about to happen. I’d want to be prepared.

What made you decide to write Kasey’s story through blog entries?

It seemed to fit the story. People tend to tell more, share more, on blogs. They spill secrets they normally wouldn't. Blogging feels safe. For example I just shared that I’m afraid of spiders. Only family and friends know that about me, well now you do too.

But, book two, FURRY & FREAKED will have much less blogging. It’s because it doesn’t fit with where Kasey is in the story. She doesn’t have the luxury of a computer or time to vent...

What is your favorite part about being in Kasey’s head? Do you find you naturally think like her, or do you have to get in her mindset?

Weirdly it’s very natural. Kasey’s voice came easy to me, too easy.

You write about the paranormal and things like haunted theaters, are you a believer?

Yeppers, seen a ghost or two in my time. Had a row of chairs come flying at me while in a basement of my college theater. Nobody was there. The place was well known to be haunted.

Do you have any pre-writing rituals that prepare you for your day’s word count?

I use POST-IT notes to plot and find it hard to write without them surrounding my desk.



Here’s a look into the madness of my workspace. Note the magic 8 ball; YES I have used it as a plotting device! It kinda works nicely. And the laptop opened meant I was in editing stage, transferring the notes from my editor to my main Manuscript...ah that explains the mess of papers, too.

Thanks so much to Kitty for taking the time to answer my questions! To find out more about her, Freaksville, and Furry & Freaked be sure and visit her website.

Don't forget to stop by the other blogs in search of your first clue!

Cover Critique: God Emperor of Dune

Let me preface this post by saying that my design critiques of these covers are in no way, shape or form a reflection on the author, the content or the publisher. I know the authors have very little, if any, control over the design. These are strictly my thoughts stemming from my design experience.

WARNING: Today's post contains mature content.

Words fail me. I'm trying extremely hard to look at this cover objectively from a nice, professional, graphic design point of view. I'm trying to see a giant snake. Or a worm. But I'm failing miserably. I'm sorry to be crude, but all I can see is a giant wang. I challenge anyone to look at this cover and not have their mind take a spectacularly steep dive straight into the gutter. I know all of you took one look at this cover before you started reading and went "why is she featuring a penis on her blog today?"

Let's take a closer look at our serpent-wang here shall we? First, the designer could easily have made his head circular in shape, or even utilized a nice oval, but no, he/she decided to go with the not-so-subtly phallic mushroom-capped tip. Whuh? Then, to make things extra special he/she made it flesh-colored. This is "the bestselling SF adventure of all time" people! The creature's head could have been gray, blue, green, purple, or any color under the sun. But no, thanks to an incomprehensible use of color, his tip is a lovely orangey-pink. Brilliant. If the shape weren't disconcerting enough, we are given an extra visual treat with an eerily stoic face superimposed right there in the middle of all that fleshy goodness. I'm going to have nightmares now, I know it. I'm going to be forever imagining creepy faces on the tips of male parts everywhere. My life is ruined. Take me to the convent because I can't process monstrous fictional snake wieners that can both look at and presumably speak to me.

Okay, now that we've all been scarred for life by the God Emperor of Dune, I'd like to examine some other simply fantastic elements. Right in front we have three little people in white. Why are they in the desert flagging down an oversize penis? The first gentleman on the left seems to be enthusiastically declaring there has been a touchdown scored somewhere. Perhaps the penis is a fan of sports? The guy in the middle is all "fancy seeing you here, might I have a ride?" (and now my mind is successfully back in the gutter). The final man on the right looks as though he's ready to collapse, perhaps the serpent-wang can lead him to some water. At least they all thought ahead and wore white out into the desert, bravo mini-men, bravo.

Aside from the the worm and his minute followers, my other favorite element is the presence of one lone palm tree in the middle of this desert setting. Not a whole oasis, but just one or two trees that seem to be growing from our serpent's tail. The whole cover is nicely monochromatic for the most part, comprised of oranges, yellows and browns, but then out of nowhere there's a spot of green. Why are those trees there? They don't add anything to the cover in terms of design, and the penis doesn't look like the type to give anyone a ride to a nice shady area does he? I think not.

This cover actually made me snort the water I was drinking in an attempt to not projectile-spit it all over my computer screen. I just cannot fathom how this passed from person to person during the approval process and no one thought "Hm. I see a schlong, how about you?"

I'm not alone in this right? You see it too? Right?