One more day to win!

Don't forget...you've got one more day to be entered to win an awesome t-shirt from Stacey Jay, author of YOU ARE SO UNDEAD TO ME!

Check this earlier post for details on how to win!

I'll announce winners tomorrow morning right here!

The Season - Sneak Peek!

As promised, a sneak peek at The Season, in bookstores March 1, 2009!

***

January 1815
Blackmoor Estate, Essex, Britain

The rain fell steadily on the slick rocks marking the edge of the Essex countryside, where the land fell in sheer cliffs to a frigid winter sea.

His horse was uncertain of its footing, shying away from speed and direction in favor of steady ground. The creature’s fear would ordinarily irritate him and mark it for sale or slaughter, but today the wet cliffs made him equally cautious. He hadn’t planned to make this particular journey today—but some things would not wait.

He had received word by messenger early that morning—critical information that pointed to the possibility that the scheme he had set in motion was about to be compromised. Someone was determined to ruin everything…and that someone had to be stopped.

He had done all he could to keep his work a secret. But the Earl had somehow discovered everything. Well, not exactly everything. He didn’t know how closely his precious earldom was tied up in the whole plan. Wouldn’t that be a surprise? He couldn’t wait to see the look of shock on the Earl’s face. That would make this whole miserable trek in this godforsaken rain worth it.

He turned his gaze to the ocean, where a ship was anchored not far from the bleak Essexshire cliffs. Thirty yards ahead, the path split into two. To the left began the steep descent to the sea—too dangerous for a horse, barely wide enough for a man. To the right, the passage continued along the tops of the cliffs and, not far from the fork, offered the perfect spot for anyone interested in watching the events taking place below. There, he would find his prey.

He dismounted just before the split and left his horse, continuing to the right on foot. Without a mount, the advantage of surprise was his. On foot, he moved by instinct. He knew every inch of these cliffs, having traveled them hundreds of times before. They provided the perfect cover for the work he was doing, the perfect rendezvous point for his partners, and, coincidentally, the perfect place to dispose of someone.

The Earl had, at long last, made a mistake. And now he would pay.

***

April 1815
London, England

“Oof! I’ve been stabbed!”

The Duchess of Worthington did not look up from her needlepoint. “Perhaps that will teach you to fidget while at the hands of your dressmaker.” She cast a sidelong glance in the direction of her youngest child. “Besides, I highly doubt that Madame Fernaud ‘stabbed’ you.”

Lady Alexandra Stafford, only daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Worthington, heaved a sigh and rolled her eyes. She rubbed the spot at her waist that bore the mark of London’s finest dressmaker’s needle, “Perhaps not stabbed—but wounded nonetheless.” Garnering no reaction from either her mother or the unflappable modiste, Alex slumped her shoulders and muttered, “I fail to understand why I must suffer this fitting anyway.”

The Duchess continued with her needlepoint. “Alexandra, there are plenty of young women who would happily assume your position, standing on that platform, ‘suffering’ through a fitting for that dress.”

“May I suggest any one of them take my place?”

“No.”

Alex knew when she was fighting a losing battle. “I didn’t think so.”

The Duchess of Worthington had been waiting seventeen years for her daughter to be released, finally, into the social whirlwind of a London season. For the last three years, Alex’s daily lessons had been shortened to accommodate hours of ridiculous tutorials designed to make her most marketable to those unmarried men whom her mother deemed to be “good catches”—-which is to say, titled, wealthy and thoroughly dull.

Perfectly useful time in Alex’s days had been taken up with a rigorous schedule designed by her mother and her governess to break her of all her quirks, that is, anything about Alex that someone with a thimbleful of intelligence might find interesting. From "Poise and Posture," a torturous half-hour designed to keep Alex’s back straight and chin tilted just-so, to "Proper Conversation," a playacting session designed to help Alex to understand what to say and what not to say to the various men she would be meeting over the course of her first Season, to "The Subtlety of the Dance," during which she learned the quadrille, the waltz, the cotillion…and any number of other dances that would give her a chance to “try to appear graceful and lovely” while practicing all she had learned about Proper Conversation, the lessons were a precious waste of time as far as Alex was concerned.

Unfortunately, she didn’t imagine anything short of Napoleon’s army marching straight through the drawing room of Worthington House would steer her mother from the course of marrying off her only daughter and, even then, she didn’t put it past the Duchess to question the Captain of the French Guard on his lineage and inheritance before surrendering.

After all, a carefully won marriage was far more important than affairs of state.

The lessons had taught Alex some of the rules of the London aristocracy, however: Do: pretend to be interested as men regale you with the boring details of horses, hunting, and themselves. Don’t: reveal any amount of intelligence. Evidently, it scares eligible gentlemen off. Also, refrain from suggesting that there must be men who are looking for a woman who knows the difference between Greek and Latin. That particular remark sends governesses into hysterics.

Without considering the repercussions, Alex let out a deep, resigned sigh. And received a needle in the backside for her troubles.

“Ouch!”

Madame Fernaud may have been considered the most renowned dressmaker in all of England, but Alex knew better. Clearly, the Frenchwoman was waging a quiet war against her British enemies by poking the young maidens of London to death.

This was the final fitting of the most important of Alex’s new gowns—-the one she would wear to her first ball at Almack’s in a little over a week’s time. An appearance at Almack’s was essential for any debutante. Here, London’s most revered aristocrats—collectively referred to as the ton—were given a good look at the fresh young faces of the season. Like livestock going to market, Alex thought to herself, a single eyebrow rising in wry amusement as the corner of her mouth kicked up. The simile was too apt. Of course, most of the other girls who would join Alex for her coming out had been dreaming of the moment their entire lives. Alas, there was simply no accounting for taste.

A quiet throat clearing came from the door of the room and Alex, being careful not to move too much for fear of being skewered again, craned her head around to look at Eliza, her lady’s maid.

“Excuse me, Your Grace,” Eliza directed her words to the Duchess while dropping into a quick curtsy, “Miss Alexandra has visitors…Miss Eleanor and Miss Vivian are in the downstairs sitting room.”

“Thank goodness. I’m saved,” Alex muttered under her breath and snapped her head around to send a pleading look at her mother. “Please? I’ve been standing here forever. The dress must be perfect by now.”

Madame Fernaud stepped back from her work and spoke for the first time, “Perfect is right, Mademoiselle,” she turned to the Duchess and said, “Et voila. Your Grace…she is a masterpiece…do you not think?”

Alex pounced on this statement. “A masterpiece, Mother. I rather think we shouldn’t fuss with such a tour de force, don’t you?”

The Duchess, ever a perfectionist, stood and walked a slow circle around her daughter, casting a critical eye at a seam here, a detail there. After what seemed like an eternity, she raised her gaze to meet Alex’s. “You are lovely, Alexandra. You’re going to set the ton on its ear.”

Alex knew she’d won. Her face broke into a wide smile. “Well, with a mother like you, how could I not?

The Duchess chuckled at her daughter’s blatant flattery, “Rather excessive, Alexandra. Off with you.”

Alex clapped her hands and hopped down from the raised platform where she had been standing, throwing herself into the arms of her mother and planting a kiss on the Duchess’ cheek. “Thank you, Mama!” Alex bolted for the door of the room, tossing back a complimentary, “Merci, Madame Fernaud! The dress is just gorgeous! Oui, c’est magnifique! Thank you!

Behind her, the duchess spoke to no one in particular, “What am I going to do with that girl?” If Madame Fernaud hadn’t been wrapped up in her own indignant sputtering at the atrocious treatment her creation was suffering at the hands of Alexandra, she would have detected a hint of laughter in the duchess’s voice.

YAY for Saundra Mitchell!

Just had to share this...a fantastic review for a fantastic book! Chill with the ineffable Saundra Mitchell here!

Meet Stacey Jay! (And win cool stuff!)

I'm super psyched to welcome the amazing and fun Stacey Jay to MacLeanSpace to celebrate the launch of the first 2009 Debutantes book, You Are So Undead to Me!

Megan Berry's social life is so dead. Literally. Fifteen-year-old Megan Berry is a Zombie Settler by birth, which means she's part-time shrink to a bunch of dead people. All Megan wants is to be normal--and go to homecoming. But someone in school is using black magic to turn average, angsty Undead into flesh-eating Zombies, and it's looking like homecoming will turn out to be a very different kind of party--the bloody kind.


Stacey is one of the hardest working writers in the business...with three pennames in three different genres, not to mention a gaggle of kids! I'm so happy that she took the time to answer my questions! She's also offering a special, You Are So Undead to Me t-shirt to one lucky MacLeanSpace reader. I promise you, you want one of these...they're awesome (see the awesome image to the left)! Comment below to enter the contest!

Meet Stacey Jay

When first conceiving of You Are So Undead to Me, what came first? Megan? The sentient Zombies? The Zombie Therapy concept? Or something else entirely?

Zombie therapy. The idea of a teenager having to deal with all these stinking, rotting zombies with issues made me laugh. Everything else built from there, though Megan was always very clear in my mind. She's the most "real" to me of any character I've ever written. I talk about her like she's an actual person. My husband thinks I'm nuts.

Why do Zombies so often get such a bad rap, when it sounds like they just want to be understood?

Well, black magically raised zombies like to munch flesh so they give the average zombie a bad name.One flesh muncher spoils the whole bunch and all that.

You are launching YASUTM, working on two more books...and as if that's not enough, you just had a baby. How do you keep all the balls in the air? What's your writing regimen like?

I also have two other pen names with books coming out this year and a four year old, a ten year old, and a fourteen year old and I work part time as a photographer. So mostly I'm just crazy busy. And busy. And crazy. I keep the balls in the air with a mixture of fear, ambition, and sleep deprivation. I work every day, without fail, and hold myself to a strict word count per day. I'm scaling back for next year, however. I'd like to stay busy, but lose the crazy.

You lived on a commune...what are the best and worth things about communal living?

The best thing was the peace and quiet. There was no television and most of the people spent a lot of time meditating and some had even taken vows of silence. I also enjoyed helping cook for dozens of people. It felt like you'd really done something when you'd finished cooking for a huge group of hungry hippies. The worst part was the peace and quiet. Sometimes I like things loud! (I do have four kids.) And sometimes things got too healthy. Bad food can be fun in moderation.

And, finally, Stacey Jay on...

What's Harder to Birth:
Babies or Books?
Babies. Babies! A thousand times babies. Books don't take nearly as long or hurt half as much.

European Boys:
Irish or Italian?
Both please? If I were a single woman of course.

Zombie Movies:
Night of the Living Dead or I Am Legend?
Hmmm...how about "Sean of the Dead"? I need some levity with my brain munching. But if forced to choose, "Night of the Living Dead". Gotta stick with the classic.

Firsts:
First Kiss or First Zombie Beatdown?
First Kiss. Zombie Beatdowns can blur together, but a first kiss will stay with you forever.

American Cities:
New York or Los Angeles?
New York. It's a tough place to live at times, but it's a REAL city. And you can't beat the food in NYC. Yum, better than brains.

----

Thanks so much for coming over to play, Stacey!

For everyone else...find Stacey at her website and on Goodreads. I also think she'd appreciate you pre-ordering You Are So Undead to Me on Amazon. That last part is just a hunch, though.

----

Meet someone else here!

Bless Amazon....

First the life-changing Kindle and now, their promised pre-order comes perfectly on time!

This just arrived on my desk, wholly making my day:


As many of you know, I have been patiently not so patiently waiting for the release of the third novel in Anna Godbersen's incredible Luxe series...I'm crossing my fingers for Henry and Diana, and hoping the odious Penelope gets her due. Can I go home and get under the covers RIGHT NOW, please?

Lizzie says: "BRAINZ"

From the "Uhm, Yes." shelf, via the unparalleled Libba Bray:

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies -- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies features the original text of Jane Austen's beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Complete with 20 illustrations in the style of C. E. Brock (the original illustrator of Pride and Prejudice), this insanely funny expanded edition will introduce Jane Austen's classic novel to new legions of fans.

Available April 2009. Preorder it. NOW. Aunt Jane would want you to.

Regency, Meet Pop Art!

For all of you who have been so kind and generous with your excitement for the launch of The Season, I give you my Warholian interpretation of Lady Alexandra. You'll note this is a different look at Alex...not the same, caught-doing-something-bad Alex from the cover. This is a different shot from the photo shoot...and one that I think works better in the pop-art genre.


Oooh...and stay tuned! Later this week, I'll be posting the prologue of The Season...to whet your appetite for March 1st!

Hmmm.

Your International Spy Name is Diva Goodnight

Your Code Name: Barefoot You Reside in: Istanbul Why You're a Good Spy: You're a good lover

What's Your International Spy Name?

I expect you all to refer to me as "Ms. Goodnight" from here on out.
That is all.

Best. Website. Ever.

http://www.joebidensteeth.com

Brush for America

Don't forget to play the game!

In which cory doctorow is a smartypants...

On the long list of things I like, Cory Doctorow ranks pretty high. I think he's thoughtful and interesting and the fact that he refers to YA sections of bookstores as "Parallel universes of little-regarded awesomeness" only makes him that much better.

As you know, I've been a bad writer recently (ok, ok, let's refrain from making the obvious snarky retort here...'recently?'...you're very funny), and yesterday Eric found this piece of genius somewhere online...Cory Doctorow: Writing in the Age of Distraction from Locus Magazine, in which the Doctorow shares his tips and tricks for writing on a machine that is basically connected to everyone, everywhere, all the time. Certainly my computer is one of the biggest problems with my work regime...if I can twacespacechatbookmail instead of writing, I will.

Enter CD, and his six techniques to staying "on top of your workload and your muse."

1. Keep a short, regular work schedule
2. Leave yourself a rough edge
3. Don't research
4. Don't be ceremonious
5. Kill your word-processor
6. Realtime communications tools are deadly

I'm intrigued by this list...and have tried to incorporate it into my writing this weekend. Here's what I'm thinking:

1. Of course, the short, regular work schedule is critical. Writing is a skill more than a talent, and practice definitely brings us closer to perfect. Also, I find that if you get out of the habit for even one day, you've got an enormous uphill battle coming when you start again.

2. This is my favorite of his techniques. CD says, "when you hit your daily word-goal, stop. Stop even if you're in the middle of a sentence. Especially if you're in the middle of a sentence." I love this, because the next day, when you start, you don't have to think at all about what to write first. You finish the sentence. A friend who is working on her Ph.D. told me that she refers to this as "Parking on the Down Slope." I call it awesome.

3. I'm struggling with don't research, frankly. I write historical, so the research process is critical. While I definitely see his point that a half-hour researching what kind of pants Regency men wore to the opera is not helping the arc of my story at all, I also know that, for me, I need to have those details in my head to make a scene as rich as possible. I'm gong to try leaving that stuff out and then returning to fill in the research, but I'm not sure it will work for me.

4. I can't agree more with him on Don't Be Ceremonious. I carry a notebook with me and write longhand as much as possible. This means writing on the subway, in line for my morning coffee, waiting for friends in restaurants and on my couch. Write when you find time. It helps with keeping your skills honed.

5. He's basically saying here that you shouldn't be formatting/spellchecking/etc. I get this, and respect his ability to ignore bells and whistles, but the idea of a .txt document scares the bejeezus out of me.

6. Agree. IM is a time suck. As are all the others. I turn off my AirPort when I write. This doesn't mean that the first thing I do when I pause isn't check my email. But it helps not to see the message indicator pop up.

I would add one thing to his list....the thing that works best for me...Write long hand as much as possible. That way, you're not only not distracted, but when you type your words into your computer eventually, you're actually on your second draft...not your first. Also, I feel way less pressure to write something good if I'm scrawling in a notebook.

Ok...thoughts? additions? what's your trick for staying focused on writing in this insanely distracting world?

Sunday Awesome

In honor of the big week...I give you this, which made me do a little dance...

Winner winner winner!!!

Thanks to everyone who commented, posted, and sprout posted to win a signed ARC of The Season!  And now....cue the drumroll as my lovely assistant chooses the winner...

But wait!  I actually have TWO ARCS left!  And...so...lovely assistant and dog will BOTH choose winners!  

Congratulations to:

Polo.Pony!!!! 

and 

Darling Diva!!!!

YAY!  

If you both email me at sarah (at) macleanspace (dot) com...I will happily sign your ARCs and mail them off to you!  

Congratulations!  And...for those who were less lucky...stay tuned!  Because, I got finished books this week!!! and one of them is definitely marked for giveaway!!!

New Book Review Blog!

I know you're all waiting with bated breath for the announcement of the winner of the Win an ARC of The Season contest...which I will post at midnight on the nose!  

But...I just had to post now and tell you all to go over and meet/read/introduce yourself/comment on Rebecca's Book Blog!  Rebecca has been reviewing books on Amazon for ages...and she's finally started a book review blog!  (A certain historical YA author suggested she do it...I'm just saying)

So...yeah.  Go chill with Rebecca for a bit...read her incredibly generous review of The Season if you'd like!

Meet Jessica Burkhart!

When putting together a list of awesome authors and other fantastic book people to interview on MacLeanSpace...how could I not include uber-amazing, wunderkind Jessica Burkhart, author of the Canterwood Crest series? Leaving aside that we are agent sisters (both represented by the incredible Alyssa Eisner Henkin), we're talking about a woman who has sold 8 -- count them -- 8 books to Simon and Schuster! (Of course, when they include horses, drama, boys, and secrets...is there really any question that you want to read as many of those as you can get your hands on?) The first of the books, Take the Reins, is out this month!

Who says teammates have to be friends?

When Sasha Silver and her horse, Charm, arrive on the campus of the elite Canterwood Crest Academy, Sasha knows that she's in trouble. She's not exactly welcomed with open arms. One group of girls in particular is used to being the best, the brightest, and the prettiest on the team, and when Sasha shows her skills in the arena, the girls' claws come out.

Sasha is determined to prove that she belongs at Canterwood. Will she rise to the occasion and make the advanced riding team by the end of her first semester? Or will the pressure send Sasha packing?

Jess is on the craziest pub schedule I've ever heard of...with one book due every 10 or so weeks (OMG.)...So, needless to say, I was really excited to hear that she was willing to spend some time answering some questions for me! She'll be lurking in comments this week to answer any questions or respond to any comments that you have in comments! So...ask away!

Meet Jessica Burkhart

For those who don't know...you finished your first novel during 2006 NaNoWriMo. Was it a whim that you participated? Or had you always had the idea for CC and just used NaNoWriMo to execute it? What did the manuscript look like on December 1, 2006?

I heard about NaNoWriMo in October 2006 and thought it would be the perfect time to take the chance and see if I could write a novel. I’d freelanced for five years and felt ready for a new challenge. I played around with novel ideas up until a few days before NaNo, but none of them felt right.

The idea that kept coming back to me was a horse novel, but I was afraid to let myself go there. I’d been a serious equestrian for most of my life until back surgery stopped me from riding. I worried that writing about horses would make me miss riding. But I decided to go for it! Writing about horses brought me back to the horse world and I loved it!

On December 1, the manuscript was a Big. Awful. Mess. The timeline was a disaster, too many characters had names that started with K or C and the plot was a jumbled mess. I reminded myself that at least I had a draft and now I could edit. And edit! And edit! :)

A few weeks ago, I pulled out the first draft of Take the Reins and forced myself to look at it. I almost died of embarrassment! :)

Canterwood Crest features a trio of snarky girls who aren't exactly the picture of niceness. Did you grow up with Heather, Alison and Julia? Or are they truly figments of your imagination? If you had to hang out with one of them for an afternoon, who would it be, and why?

Surprisingly enough, I didn’t grow up around a Heather, Julia or Alison. There were always the super-popular girls, but never girls this mean. I got lucky! If Heather, Julia or Alison had been at my school, they would have made fun of me for wearing paddock boots to school. They also would have hated my favorite sweater—one with a giant horse head on it. :) There’s a photo of that somewhere…

I’d love to hang out with Heather. We’d sip hot chocolate, she’d refuse to tell me any juicy Canterwood Crest gossip and I’d hate her but secretly want to be her friend. She’s one of those love-to-hate girls, which makes her envy-worthy.

You're working on an incredibly grueling pub schedule for the Canterwood Crest books (almost a bimonthly release, right?) ...what's the secret to keeping the ideas coming...and quickly?

The pub schedule can be tough and the most important thing for me is emotional support from my close friends. When I’m feeling confident, I’m able to come up with my best ideas. With this schedule, you have to be “on” most of the time. There’s no room to sit back and say, “Well, I just don’t feel like writing today.” I get my best ideas when I stay in work-mode and am absorbed in the Canterwood Crest world. The support from people involved with Canterwood is important because it boosts my morale and helps cut down on the panicked moments when I’m sure I’m the Worse Writer Ever.

What's the one piece of advice you'd give another author looking to get into the middle grade market?

I’d say to be savvy about what kids and tweens like. Spend a little time reading books that are popular with tweens, listen to music that kids and tweens enjoy, flip through Girls’ Life and watch a few new tween-friendly movies. You may never incorporate any of the trends into a novel, but I still think it’s important to know what your audience enjoys.

So many girls (including me) are drawn to horses. What do you think it is that is so attractive about them?

I think many girls love horses because of the unconditional love they offer. Horses are thousand-pound animals that choose to be gentle with us. How amazing is that? Plus, they’re sooo much fun. I loved the adrenaline rush of racing a horse through a field and leaping every obstacle in sight.

And, finally, Jessica Burkhart on...

Fictional Horses:
Black Beauty or Mr. Ed?
Gotta be Black Beauty. Has anyone else seen at least four different movie versions of the book?

Lip Balm:
Cherry Chapstick or Burt's Bees?
Cherry Chapstick! (It WAS popular before Katy Perry…)

Famous Equestrians:
Paul Revere or the Headless Horseman?
Headless Horseman. So. Scary.

Teen Magazines:
Seventeen or Teen Vogue?
Love ‘em both, but I’d have to go with Teen Vogue. The fashion—sigh.

The Triple Crown:
Preakness or Belmont?
Preakness! Big Brown’s win last year was amazing.

----

Thanks so much for coming over to play, Jess!

For everyone else...find Jessica at her website, on Goodreads, on Twitter, and on Facebook. I also think she'd appreciate you pre-ordering Take the Reins on Amazon. That last part is just a hunch, though.

----

Meet someone else here!

On inspiration...part II

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm feeling particularly uninspired this week...partially because of crazed busy-ness (and business) at my day job, partially because I was a terrible procrastinator over the last few weeks, and partially because it's January and isn't everyone just a little bit uninspired in January?

Anyway...I have to snap out of it...and I figured I'd take a moment to tell you about my relationship with Strauss. Yes...that Strauss. Johann Strauss, Jr. The king of the Waltz, composer of dance music--the Madonna of his time. Yes...he looks like a madman, all woofy haired and pork chop sideburns, but he created some of the most incredible dance music in history.

Don't believe me? Try listening to Voices of Spring and you tell me if you aren't struck by a desire to put on a gorgeous dress (or a long-tailed tuxedo) and whirl across a ballroom, arms around some stunning partner. When you write romance, that kind of desire is EXACTLY what you need to get lost in your story...and it is Strauss, and only Strauss, who can put me in that zone. So, I write regency and he wasn't born until 1825...what are a few decades between friends?

I write exclusively to Strauss...hours and hours of his waltzes on endless repeat still haven't gotten old...and he's never let me down. When I'm not able to focus on the words or on the story or on the characters, it's almost always because I don't have my headphones on. And so...while the first strains of the Blue Danube Waltz begin as I write this sentence, I realize I have to go. I have writing to do.

But before I do...I have to ask. What music inspires your writing? And why?

One of those days...

One of those weeks, more like it. I've been feeling totally uninspired, which leads to unmotivated, insecure and blech.

But then I saw this. And it helped.


I like Ze Frank a lot. I think he's cool. And I don't know anyone who doesn't appreciate his moves.

The Season on Better.tv!

(I'm particularly fond of the part that starts at 2:11!)

Meet Saundra Mitchell!

As promised, in honor of the new year, I'm starting a series of interviews and Q&As with awesome book people who you should know and love. I'm very very happy to launch the series with the fantastic Saundra Mitchell, author of the soon-to-be-released Shadowed Summer, available in stores February 10th.

Nothing ever happened in Ondine, Louisiana, not even the summer Elijah Landry disappeared.

His mother knew he ascended to heaven, the police believed he ran away, and his girlfriend thought he was murdered.

Decades later, certain she saw his ghost in the town cemetery, fourteen-year-old Iris Rhame is determined to find out the truth behind "The Incident With the Landry Boy."

Enlisting the help of her best friend Collette, and forced to endure the company of Collette's latest crush, Ben, Iris spends a summer digging into the past and stirring old ghosts, in search of a boy she never knew.

What she doesn't realize is that in a town as small as Ondine, every secret is a family secret.

I read Shadowed Summer in one sitting...it is a fantastic story and sets a standard for modern ghost stories that will be hard to match. I adored Iris...her relationships with her friends and family are perfectly executed, her emotional turmoil is thoroughly compelling, and I just wished she'd never end. Saundra Mitchell succeeded in taking this romance novel-obsessed reader and making me care deeply for a ghost story.

Saundra is a fellow 2009 Debutante, and I've been lucky enough to spend some quality time with her there, sucking her brilliant brain dry of information on everything from the movie business (Saundra is a screenwriter by day), to graphic design (she's a whiz with photoshop), to ghosts (which she knows WAY TOO much about).

So, needless to say, I was really excited to get Saundra to share some of her knowledge and experience here with you all... She's answered questions below...and she'll be lurking in comments this week to answer any questions or respond to any comments that you have in comments! So...ask away!

Meet Saundra Mitchell:

There are so many memorable things about Shadowed Summer, Iris, the setting of Rural Louisiana, ghosts, family secrets...did these all come to you at the same time? Or were you struck by one specific anchor?

I think the first line I ever heard in Iris' voice was, "Well that's about dumb, Collette." So Iris showed up first. With her cadence and her accent, and her best friend's name, I knew it was Louisiana.

Everything else came out of planning or happy accident, when I sat down and poked Iris and made her participate in her own story. I had no idea where we were going, or what we would find when we started, so always, the anchor for Shadowed Summer was Iris, her time and place and her friendship with Collette.

You're a screenwriter by day...which is obviously why Shadowed Summer reads so vividly. Do you find that your experience with screenwriting makes writing novels easier, harder, or a different thing entirely?

Some of both. Screenwriting says if I've spent more than 5 minutes in a particular scene, I'm boring people. It's easy for me to get in and get out, which I think is hard for some novelists. I feel confident when it comes to pacing the natural rise and fall of each scene- and natch, I kinda think my dialogue is okay. ;)

But conversely, in screenwriting, I'm not supposed to tell the actors what to do or how to feel. So sometimes, I have a hard time figuring out what my characters should be doing while they talk. (Initially, they nod and look and bob their heads a lot- I change that in revisions.) And my first drafts are mysterious- nobody feels anything in the first draft; that gets added in revisions as well.

SS is set in hot, sticky, rural Louisiana--a place that has inspired many. What do you think it is about Louisiana that makes for such meat fictional food?

Louisiana contains one of the oldest ports in the United States. Everyone knows about the French influence, but even before the French, the Spanish had settled the coastal regions there, mingling with Native Americans, with Caribbean freemen, and then later, African and Caribbean slaves.

There was already a wealth of culture and mythology layered throughout Louisiana by the time the French arrived from France, and the Acadian French arrived from Canada. New Orleans was one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world- it was literally the gateway through which the south passed- out to the Indies, to Mexico, to Europe, and in to the Mississippi which was *the* major highway of the time period. Through locks, canals and tributaries, you can start at the Mississippi in New Orleans and make your way all the way to Erie, Pennsylvania.

So stir together six or seven disparate families of folklore with heat- which we all know makes us crazy. Blend that with the highly ritualized power of the Roman Catholic church burning incense and holding Mass in Latin. Blend with a constant flow of strangers, in and out. And sit it all on top of unusual geography- earth so saturated with water that it won't even contain the dead; bayous filled with almost mythical creatures and unfathomable lights- and I don't see how an author can avoid writing about Louisiana, at least once in her lifetime!

You've written a heckuva ghost story, and your blog is a haven for ghost lovers. Have you always known that paranormal was the genre you could make sing?

I like weird stuff and I cannot lie/I dig the freaky and I can't deny... Uh, sorry. I had a Mix-A-Lot moment. Won't happen again.

I've always loved ghost stories. I've always loved the supernatural, and horror, and dark fantasy. I dig gentle horror- which is what I would call Twilight, for example. It has all the horror elements without necessarily being scary.

And I love screaming horror, which is what you get when you foolishly read Stephen King's Pet Semetary on your very first babysitting job ever. (I don't recommend it.) I met my husband on an online group for vampire fans!

But the thing is, what appeals to me about horror, the paranormal, the supernatural- is how they inform the natural, and the ordinary, and the human. I'm not real big into splatterpunk or gorecore because the wounding doesn't interest me- I want to know about people.

I want to know how they face the unknown, how they grapple with themselves and the monstrous parts of themselves. I want to explore the ways we are open, and the ways we are closed, and what it means to have a mind that might not go on after our bodies. Or what it means if we do...

And I think it's boring to just set out to explore those explicitly. Straightforwardly. So for me, it's always going to be the paranormal, the supernatural, the horror- sometimes I think who we are when we're afraid is who we're truly meant to be.

What's next for you?

Well, right now, I'm fixing to go finish baking some monkey bread that started life as elephant ears, but wouldn't fry proper. You want some?

Uhm...yeah. I want some.

And, finally, Saundra Mitchell on...

The Masters of Horror:
Stephen King or Edgar Allen Poe?
Poe!

Ghosts:
Casper or Jacob Marley?
Marley!

Louisiana Musicians:
The Neville Brothers or Harry Connick, Jr.?
The Neville Brothers! (My best friend is going to kill me.)

Carbonated Beverages:
RC Cola or Coca Cola?
Cocola!

Bayou Food:
Crawfish Etouffe or Powdered Sugar Beignets?
Beignets!

Sleepover Ghost Games:
"Bloody Mary in the Bathroom Mirror" or "Light as a feather, stiff as a board"?
Light as a feather, stiff as a board.

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Thanks so much for coming over to play, Saundra! Congrats on the debut!

For everyone else...find Saundra at her website, on Goodreads, on Twitter, and on Facebook. I also think she'd appreciate you pre-ordering Shadowed Summer on Amazon. That last part is just a hunch, though.

The Season ARC Giveaway!

In honor of the new year (which just so happens to be my pub year, as well, did you know?), I'm happy to announce the very first MacLeanSpace contest! Comment here (or anywhere on the blog) between now and January 15th to be entered to win a signed ARC of my book, The Season! Link to the contest from your blog and let me know about it, and I'll enter you three times! Share my Sprout on your blog, and you get 5 entries! I know! It's totally crazy! I'm giveaway MAD!

This is the first of a number of 2009 excitements that are coming on the blog...including awesome interviews with debut and veteran authors, guest bloggers and visitors who will answer all your burning questions, thrilling giveaways, and a general sense of terrific that I hope will imbue MacLeanSpace with rad. Yes. I said it. Rad.

You like rad, right?

International Debutante Ball

I've been meaning to post about this since the 30th, when the New York Times ran a fantastic piece on the International Debutante Ball, which took place in New York City at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel on December 29th.

According to the listing for the ball on CharityHappenings.org,

Forty-five young women of distinction from the United States and abroad will make their bow to society at the 54th Anniversary of the International Debutante Ball and dinner dance. The debutantes represent England, Austria, Africa, Hong Kong, France, Germany, Scotland, Yugoslavia and eleven American states. Each debutante will be accompanied by her own escort in white tie and tails, and a military cadet in dress uniform who carries the flag of the country or state which she represents. The Ball benefits The International Debutante Ball Foundation Charities.

The Times article made some really interesting points about this year's ball...as we all know, the world is in something of an economic crisis, so the $14,000 pricetag for a table at the IDB was a bigger ticket item for many than it has been in the past. Add to that the cost of the designer dresses (from Vera Wang and others), kid gloves, Mikimoto pearls, and the flights and hotels in New York during one of the city's most travelled weeks of the year, and launching your daughter into society in 2008 is no small amount of money. But, that's not to say that it isn't worth it. The IDB, like many of the other Debutante Balls around the country, has a long and venerable tradition--since 1954, it's been launching bright, beautiful young women into society. The Times piece references several mothers who, aside from launching their daughters at this year's ball, were IDB debutantes themselves.

As you know, I write Regency historicals--and there is little question that in the early 1800s, ballrooms were the center of politics, business, and world events. The Duke of Wellington planned the battle of Waterloo on a dance floor in Belgium, for goodness sake. While, certainly, debutante balls hold less geo-political weight these days than they used to, there's no question that coming out is about more than pretty dresses and boys in tails for these young women. It's fun, but it also serves a purpose.

I think Anna Moody from Jacksonville, Fla., said it best.

“I love it,” Ms. Moody, 18, said after shaking hands for an hour and a half in the receiving line, wearing a Vera Wang gown inspired by Audrey Hepburn and Mikimoto pearls. “I’m networking.”

Congratulations to the 47 newest and brightest International Debutantes. Welcome to the World.

Lessons on January 2nd...

The best thing about having January 2nd off from my day job?

Chilling on the couch with my sweet (albeit depressed because he is no longer lying in front of a warm fire and being fed beef from my father's benevolent hands) puppy and watching (you guessed it!) The West Wing!

Even more awesome!!! I just learned that Ainsley Hayes went to my alma mater! While I'm not wild about her serious conservatism...I do sort of love her relationship with Sam Seaborn. So I'll take her!

Now, back to lounging...and then to yoga...and then, yes. to writing.

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Other posts you might like:

Claudia Jean Cregg sings The Jackal
Barack Meets Bartlett
On The Farnsworth Invention