Sammy Bojar on Inside the Characters Studio

Here's the thing about being a member of the 2009 Debutantes. There aren't many men on the scene over there (probably because they don't care to be referred to as "debutantes") but those who are, aside from being incredibly secure in their sexuality, are also super DUPER cool. SO...I'm very very happy to host Sammy Bohar, the star of the ineffable Jon Skovron's Struts & Frets, on Inside the Characters Studio!

More than anything, Sammy wants to play guitar in a famous indie rock band. The problem is that his front man is a jerk who can't sing, his bassist is a burn-out who can't remember the songs, and his drummer is just out to lunch. But Sammy needs this band because it's the only good thing he's got going. His father skipped out before he was born, his mother is an overworked therapist with a drinking problem, his grandfather is slowly losing his mind to Alzheimer's, and the girl of his dreams is dating his jerk lead singer.

Now that jerk lead singer has entered them in a Battle of the Bands contest to win free studio time and guaranteed radio play. Sammy has two weeks to get them to sound like a real band, or face public humiliation in front of the entire local indie music scene.

Welcome, Sammy!

What is your favorite word?
Music. it's what I love.

What is your least favorite word?
Hobby. It's what you call music if you aren't good enough to be a real musician.

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
When other people express passion for something.

What turns you off?
Posers

What is your favorite curse word?
Fuck. Can I say that? I don't want you to get in trouble or anything...go ahead and put something else in if you have to.

What sound or noise do you love?
My guitar

What sound or noise do you hate?
The sound of Eddie Vedder's voice. Talk about a mega poser.

What profession would you like to attempt?
Rock star.

What profession would you not like to do?
Anything that has to do with math.

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

Do you know what would be really awesome? If he said something like, "Dude, I have all your albums! You rock!" How cool would that be?

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Check out other interviews from Inside the Characters' Studio here.

What do Goethe, Dostoyevsky & Austen have in common?

At first glance, not much...but when you see what the Pawling Book Cove has scheduled for the afternoon of November 14th in Pawling, New York, it all becomes awesomely clear!

I'm super excited to announce that I'll be signing with the hilariously awesome Michael Northrop and the incredibly talented Dina & Daniel Nayeri at that very place at that very time! I will say that Gentlemen and Another Faust were two of my favorite 2009 books...and I'm honored that the Book Cove has included me in this sure-to-be terrific event!

Michael says that Pawling is a great little town...and I believe everything he says. Also, I know for a fact that upstate New York in mid-November can be gorgeous (as long as it's not rainy and frigid)...so if you're in the area, please consider a trip up on Metro-North (or down, left or right via other modes of transportation) and come hang out with us for the afternoon!

Send a letter today...by post.

Via the amazing Ze Frank, here's something that will put a smile on your face. Two artists handwrote 467 letters and postcards to the residents of a tiny village in Ireland. They're awesome.

I guarantee this story will a) reaffirm your faith in humanity and 2) make you want to send a letter.

Cora Bradley on Inside the Characters' Studio!

This week on Inside the Characters' Studio, Cora Bradley, the star of Lisa Ann Sandell's A Map of the Known World.

Cora Bradley dreams of escape. Ever since her reckless older brother, Nate, died in a car crash, Cora has felt suffocated by her small town and high school. She seeks solace in drawing beautiful maps, envisioning herself in exotic locales. When Cora begins to fall for Damian, the handsome, brooding boy who was in the car with Nate the night he died, she uncovers her brother's secret artistic life and realizes she had more in common with him than she ever imagined. With stunning lyricism, Sandell weaves a tale of one girl's journey through the redemptive powers of art, friendship, and love.

They say no land remains to be discovered, no continent is left unexplored. But the whole world is out there, waiting, just waiting for me. I want to do things-I want to walk the rain-soaked streets of London, and drink mint tea in Casablanca. I want to wander the wastelands of the Gobi desert and see a yak. I think my life's ambition is to see a yak. I want to bargain for trinkets in an Arab market in some distant, dusty land. There's so much. But, most of all, I want to do things that will mean something.

As many of you know, Lisa Ann Sandell is my very best friend, and so I have known Cora for quite a bit longer than those of you who are just now meeting her. I'm so happy to finally have a chance to host her here at MacLeanSpace! (Although, I will say that I'm bummed that she was so tight-lipped about her gorgeous boyfriend, Damien, but I will leave that for another time.

Welcome, Cora!

What is your favorite word?
Crisp. It sounds like exactly what it means.

What is your least favorite word?
Freak. It's just plain ugly.

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
maps; the notion of traveling; interesting, spicy smells; looking at art. Pablo Picasso is my favorite artist, and when I see his paintings, I feel so
inspired.

What turns you off?
Shrill, shouting, shrieking mothers.

What is your favorite curse word?
Does "crap" count as a curse word?

What sound or noise do you love?
I love the sound of ice skates scratching against the surface of an icy pond, and I love the rustling whisper of autumn leaves before they fall off their branches.

What sound or noise do you hate?
I hate the screeching and wailing of tires.

What profession would you like to attempt?
I am going to be an artist.
Or I promise I'll die trying.

What profession would you not like to do?
Anything else.

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive
at the Pearly Gates?
Cora, your brother Nate's been waiting for you.

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Check out other interviews from Inside the Characters' Studio here.

Ze Frank Makes Me Less Scared

Today, I need Ze.

Mary on Inside the Character's Studio!

This week on Inside the Characters' Studio, Mary, the star of Carrie Ryan's The Forest of Hands and Teeth.

In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

I have been SO EXCITED about hosting Mary...so let's get started, shall we?

What is your favorite word?
Ocean.

What is your least favorite word?
Unconsecrated.

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
Dreaming.

What turns you off?
Rules that limit the possibilities.

What is your favorite curse word?
I've never known and curse words!

What sound or noise do you love?
I love the tangle of noises that could either be the wind through the trees or the waves crashing against the shore.

What sound or noise do you hate?
I hate the moaning of the Unconsecrated.

What profession would you like to attempt?
I don't even know what the possibilities are! Growing up everyone pitched in to do what was necessary to survive.

What profession would you not like to do?
I definitely don't want to be in the Sisterhood.

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
Well done :)

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Check out other interviews from Inside the Characters' Studio here.

Samar on Inside the Characters Studio!

This week on Inside the Characters' Studio, Samar, the star of Neesha Meminger's Shine, Coconut Moon.

Seventeen-year-old Samar -- a.k.a. Sam -- has never known much about her Indian heritage. Her mom has deliberately kept Sam away from her old-fashioned family. It's never bothered Sam, who is busy with school, friends, and a really cute but demanding boyfriend.

But things change after 9/11. A guy in a turban shows up at Sam's house, and he turns out to be her uncle. He wants to reconcile the family and teach Sam about her Sikh heritage. Sam isn't sure what to do, until a girl at school calls her a coconut -- brown on the outside, white on the inside. That decides it: Why shouldn't Sam get to know her family? What is her mom so afraid of? Then some boys attack her uncle, shouting, "Go back home, Osama!" and Sam realizes she could be in danger -- and also discovers how dangerous ignorance can be. Sam will need all her smarts and savvy to try to bridge two worlds and make them both her own.

Let's get to it!

What is your favorite word?
Lush. I first really noticed it with the bath and beauty products store, but now I think it's my favorite word, EVER.

What is your least favorite word?
Heimlich. Ew.

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
To feel like I really belong somewhere. There's no question about it. And if I weren't there, people would notice that there was a big hole where I'm supposed to be.

What turns you off?
Ignorance. Definitely.

What is your favorite curse word?
Sh*t. I don't know if it's my favorite, really, but it's the one I use the most :D.

What sound or noise do you love?
Windchimes. My mom has some in the backyard and when there's a soft breeze, you hear this little tinkling and it just soothes you.

What sound or noise do you hate?
People coughing up phlegm.

What profession would you like to attempt?
Astronomy. I'm not stellar at science (ha ha, get that? Stellar...? Astronomy...? Anyway), but I'm fascinated with the movement of the planets and the stars. There's SO much up there that we know nothing about.

What profession would you not like to do?
Be a therapist working with domestic violence survivors. That's what my mom does and, even though she says she loves it, she comes out of her office looking totally stressed sometimes.

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
"Eternal Paradise; down the hall and to your left."

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Check out other interviews from Inside the Characters' Studio here.

Cece Charles on Inside the Characters' Studio!

This week on Inside the Characters' Studio, Cece Charles, the star of Cynthea Liu's The Great Call of China.

Chinese-born, Cece was adopted when she was two years old by her American parents. Living in Texas, she's bored of her ho-hum high school and dull job. So when she learns about the S.A.S.S. program to Xi'an, China, she jumps at the chance. She'll be able to learn about her passion—anthropology—and it will give her the opportunity to explore her roots. But when she arrives, she receives quite a culture shock. And the closer she comes to finding out about her birth parents, the more apprehensive she gets. Enter Will, the cute guy she first meets on the plane. He and Cece really connect during the program. But can he help her get accustomed to a culture she should already know about, or will she leave China without the answers she's been looking for?

For the record, Cece is a blast to hang out with.

What is your favorite word?
That's easy. Artifacts. Especially when Will says it.

What is your least favorite word?
Objectivity. Not because I don't like the idea of it. It's just hard to live up to that word.

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
Old, dusty stuff that no one knows the whole story behind. Another time, another place.

What turns you off?
Weird guys who crush on me that I'm just not into.

What is your favorite curse word?
Oh! I don't curse! "Dang" is about as far as I go.

What sound or noise do you love?
The din of Xi'an's busy streets. Vendors selling roasted eggs, the obnoxious honks of crazy motorists, old guys arguing over a game of Go on the sidewalk.

What sound or noise do you hate?
Jessica whispering into Will's ear.

What profession would you like to attempt?
Curator for a museum. No doubt!

What profession would you not like to do?
Anything involving a parking lot and a stuffy toll booth.

If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
Cece, you've just one a million dollars! (Just kidding.) Actually, I know exactly what I'd want to hear but mum's the word. You have to read the book!

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Check out other interviews from Inside the Characters' Studio here.

Meet Anna Godbersen!

Ok...I'm SUPER JAZZED that this week, I get to host the lovely and talented Anna Godbersen here at MacLeanSpace! 

It's no secret that I'm a huge Luxe fan...Since that very first book with that gorgeous pink dress on the cover, I've been hooked. lined. and sinkered. Envy is one of only a handful of books I've read during the last few months--I simply couldn't wait to finish my book to finish Anna's! And now, I'm on pins and needles waiting for the last book in the series...

Pretty girls in pretty dresses, partying until dawn.
Irresistible boys with mischievous smiles and dangerous intentions.
White lies, dark secrets, and scandalous hookups.
This is Manhattan, 1899.

Dear HarperTeen,
Any chance you could hurry up and publish Splendor now??? Because I'm DYING to find out what happens!!!
Love, Sarah

Aside from writing sweeping, epic, incredible historical fiction, Anna is also a pretty great person (who said some lovely things about The Season, which you can read on the back jacket of the book).  I'm so happy that she agreed to come chill here for the week! 

Meet Anna Godbersen

The Luxe series is juicy and fantastic and, while I'm certain it would be no matter what the setting, the historical period doesn't hurt! What is it about Victorian New York that makes for such meat fictional food?

Thank you for saying so! I agree, the era is really rich for a writer, and I think this is in part because of the fantasy and pretension of the period. Just look at the architecture and the clothes—that is some overblown, self-important and yet also deeply romantic stuff! And also because the rules of behavior were so stringent—any time you have a situation where flesh and blood humans are trying to conform to very narrow codes of being, you're going to have a lot of wrenching decisions and drama.

From one historical writer to another, what were the best and worst parts of writing historical fiction set in Victorian New York?

I think that historical fiction is always a particular kind of challenge, because you deprive yourself of your own individual observations and have to depend upon the watered down accounts of memoir, newspapers, etc. Luckily, the culture in which my series is set was a very verbal one—there is a lot of source material to work with. But the flip side of that is that I, as well as most readers, come to the project with a lot of preconceived ideas of what Victorian era New Yorkers looked and talked like, and I as a writer don't want to fall into clichéd images or notions or phrases, and I hope that my readers won't be distracted by the pictures of Michelle Pfieffer and Daniel Day Lewis stored in their cerebral cortexes.

You write about four very different, very compelling young women and, while you're supposed to love all your children equally, we all know you definitely like some more than others. So who's your favorite, and why?

I adore them all, and they've each in their way taken on some traits of their creator, but Diana is my favorite—she is really the beating heart of the series, the character with the greatest mistakes to make and lessons to learn. She is the one readers will most likely relate to also, because she is an imaginative, dreamy reader type, and because she is full of this rather modern desire to seek out what the wider world has to offer her, rather than just accept the joys and sorrows of her native milieu.

You live in New York and set so much of your book in places that remain part of the fabric of the city...tell us a story about Anna in one of these great locations.

I remember walking out of the New-York Historical Society one hot October afternoon—I had been doing research, this was after my series had sold, but before I'd finished writing it—and into Central Park. The Historical Society is in a grand old building, next to the Natural History Museum, and it might be a good location for a costume drama. And the park, of course, neutralizes the signs of aging that you see around the rest of Manhattan; it might be any time in the last century and a quarter or so. I strolled through the park, feeling kind of keyed up with all the possibilities, and exited near the Plaza and went to Bergdorf's and bought an outrageously expensive sweater. Then I had this sensation of having been in a Woody Allen movie—everything seemed very zippy and New York and I could hear a little ragtime in my mind.

And finally, Anna Godbersen on:

Wealthy Families:
Carnegies? Or Rockefellers?

I don't actually know much about the Carnegies, but I think you'd have to go Rockefellers for the sheer scale of their wealth, their weirdness, and the aftershocks of their business dealings and importance on the twentieth century.

New York Parks:
Gramercy? Or Central?

Gramercy is charming, but Central Park has grand vision and mystery going for it. Not to mention the fact that anybody can experience it—what good is a park with a locked gate to me or almost every other New Yorker?

Authors of the Gilded Age:
Wharton? Or James?

I love Wharton, and that kind of shrewd observation greatly appeals to me both as writer and reader. But Portrait of a Lady is a book that teaches me something new about the character and myself and life every time I read it, so I think if I were heading to a desert island, it's the gentleman I'd bring with me in my tote.

Writing:
Outline? Or see what comes?

I live by outline. Of course small details and realizations come to me magically out of the air when I am writing, and I can go by intuition on the arc of a paragraph or scene of dialogue, but there's no way I could get narrative build or explore my themes without having a very clear sense of a book from above.

Coastal living:
East coast? Or West?

I won't choose, and you can't make me! I grew up in California, but I became a grownup in New York—I moved there for college at eighteen. I currently have this low rent bicoastal existence going—my apartment is in Brooklyn, but I do a lot of visiting friends in Los Angeles and my parents in the Bay Area—and I wouldn't give it up for nothing.

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Thanks so much for coming over to play, Anna!

For everyone else...find Anna on her MySpace page. I also think she'd appreciate you ordering The Luxe...or Rumors...or Envy.
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Meet someone else here!

This is What I Want to Tell You

ok...I'm knee elbow neck deep in ROMANCING A RAKE, but I just had to post quickly and tell you all that my fellow Brooklyn 2009 Debutante Heather Duffy-Stone's book is out today! This is What I Want to Tell You is out from Flux and is edgy and amazing.

Don't believe me? Come hear Heather read from TIWIWTTY on Wednesday night as part of Teen Author Reading Night at the Jefferson Market Branch of the New York Public Library (6th Avenue and 10th Street)!

Aside from me (reading from The Season) and Heather reading, you'll also get a taste of books from the awesome Donna Freitas (The Possibilities of Sainthood), P. E. Ryan (In Mike We Trust), and Siobhan Vivian (Same Difference). The whole shindig is hosted by David Levithan (who needs no introduction), so I can guarantee it will be super fun!

So...if you're free on Wednesday from 6-7:30, come celebrate with us!

Meet Courtney Summers!

I'm thrilled to have a chance to interview the amazing Courtney Summers on MacLeanSpace! If you haven't had the chance to read the amazing CRACKED UP TO BE, run out and do so. Now. We'll wait.

WHAT’S THE WORST THING YOU’VE EVER DONE?

When “Perfect” Parker Fadley starts drinking at school and failing her classes, all of St. Peter’s High goes on alert. How has the cheerleading captain, girlfriend of the most popular guy in school, consummate teacher’s pet, and future valedictorian fallen so far from grace?

Parker doesn’t want to talk about it. She’d just like to be left alone, to disappear, to be ignored. But her parents have placed her on suicide watch and her counselors are demanding the truth. Worse, there’s a nice guy falling in love with her and he’s making her feel things again when she’d really rather not be feeling anything at all.

Nobody would have guessed she’s turn out like this. But nobody knows the truth.

Something horrible has happened, and it just might be her fault.

I scrambled to Amazon to buy CRACKED UP TO BE after I saw its awesome book trailer...and boy did it deliver. I read it in one sitting...simply couldn't put it down. Parker is a fantastic character--beautifully written in her witticisms and confusion and self-exploration...and her past is perfectly doled out in little morsels that keep the pages and mind turning, until everything comes together in an explosion of wow.

Meet Courtney Summers

I'm always interested in the genesis novels...Where did CRACKED UP TO BE come from? Did you see Parker first? One of the other characters? Was it a seed of the plot that started it all? A line of dialogue? A location?

I knew I wanted to write a really abrasive, not-so-nice female main character and I knew I wanted to frame the novel around the question, "What's the worst thing you've ever done?" But there are a lot of things I know I want to write and there are lots of questions I frame ideas around and they don't necessarily become novels. So it wasn't until I jotted out the opening ("Imagine four years" etc) in a blank Word Document, sort of spur of the moment--but a really inspired moment--that I had Parker's voice and I had Cracked Up to Be. She was just really there. And then Chris followed with his inappropriate-for-school talk (oh, Chris), and the rest, as they say...

So many of us have felt that incredible pressure to be perfect--particularly when we're teenagers. It's such an all-consuming feeling that it is hard to imagine how any of us survive it. What's your advice for those of us who just can't seem to shake the demands to be perfect?

It can be very difficult. It's so easy to be your own worst enemy and the pressure we can project on ourselves is amazing. I think the most important thing is to have someone to talk to. A friend, a family member, a professional--just someone you can trust. It's crucial to have an outside voice to remind you of your options, to tell you it's going to be okay and to give you some perspective about your situation. When you're really overwhelmed, that's next to impossible to do on your own.

I blogged before about your awesome book trailer...which made me run out and pre-order the book. What's the trick to making a great book trailer?

Thank you! I'm glad (relieved?) the trailer did its job. :) I'm not really an expert, but in my opinion: sound and pacing are incredibly important when it comes to book trailers. I think the less time you use to say it, the better. Killer music can make a trailer and bad music can break it. Be visually engaging and creative. Don't be worried about being super-literal. Don't just talk about the book, tell a story and have fun, whatever you do!

CRACKED UP TO BE tackles the popular kids. Your next book is about mean girls. What is it about high school hierarchy that makes for such great fictional food?

I just find it absolutely compelling. When I was in school, I was constantly trying to make sense of it and now that I'm out of school, I still am. So much of being in high school is trying to figure out your place; where you fit in among your friends, where your friends fit in among your peers. You basically have an entire world, an entire society, inside this little building, just waiting to explode, for better and for worse. It's amazing. I love writing about it.

We're both big Ani DiFranco fans...what song of hers most inspires you?

Ooh, so many! Ani's fantastic. I don't know if I could narrow it down to just one. All of her songs inspire me in different ways... but I've always had such a soft spot for Marrow.

And, finally, Courtney Summers on...

High school cliques:
Cheerleaders or Band Geeks?
Neither! Can I chose neither? I chose the Inbetweeners. The people that don't raise eyebrows. I was totally one of those.

Uniforms:
Plaid Skirts or Khaki Pants?
Oh, God. I hated them both. At my school, you had to wear shorts under the kilts because people would just randomly kilt you all the time (they would flip up your skirt and help you flash your classmates--lovely!), but on the other hand, khaki pants are khaki pants. I hate to chose 'neither' again, but yucck.

Zombies:
Night of the Living Dead or Omega Man?
Night of the Living Dead! Night of the Living Dead, totally. Actually, I haven't seen Omega Man, shamefully, but I feel like if I did, I would probably still choose Night of the Living Dead. I have a fierce loyalty to that movie and George Romero.

On volcanoes:
Mauna Loa or Vesuvius?
Mauna Loa gets definite props, but I'm for Vesuvius all the way. It's incredible. I loved the docudrama they had on the Discovery Channel, Pompeii: The Last Day. I became a big Vesuvius fangirl the first time I saw that. I used to be afraid of volcanoes, but when I saw that, I realized they were not only to be feared--but respected! And admired!

On Survivor:
Eating bugs or Starting a fire without matches?
Starting a fire without matches. But I am sure I could get hungry enough to eat a bug. I might be hungry enough to do that now, actually...

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Thanks so much for coming over to play, Courtney!

For everyone else...find Courtney at her website. I also think she'd appreciate you ordering Cracked Up to Be on Amazon.

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Meet someone else here!

Meet Jenny Moss!

I'm so happy to have a chance to introduce you all to Jenny Moss who is not only a fellow 2009 Debutante, but who also shares my editor (for her SECOND novel)...But this is about Jenny's first, wonderful book, WINNIE'S WAR!

A debut novel set against the backdrop of the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918.

Life in Winnie's sleepy town of Coward Creek, Texas, is just fine for her. Although her troubled mother's distant behavior has always worried Winnie, she's plenty busy caring for her younger sisters, going to school, playing chess with Mr. Levy, and avoiding her testy grandmother. Plus, her sweetheart Nolan is always there to make her smile when she's feeling low. But when the Spanish Influenza claims its first victim, lives are suddenly at stake, and Winnie has never felt so helpless. She must find a way to save the people she loves most, even if doing so means putting her own life at risk.

Jenny Moss is a former NASA engineer. She earned a master's degree in literature and taught writing as an adjunct at University of Houston-Clear Lake. Winnie's War is her first novel. She lives with her two teenagers in Houston, Texas.

Meet Jenny Moss

When first conceiving of Winnie's War, what came first? Winnie? The Spanish Influenza? Winnie's family? Or something else entirely?

Yanno, I'm a child of the suburbs, so I wanted to create my own small town. So Coward Creek came first. Then Winnie's voice, her relationship with her mother, and finally the influenza. After I selected that time period, it did seem perfect. So many changes happening in 1918, a time when people rode horses and drove cars, and then came the well-known influenza, but this strain was a virulent killer that confounded doctors -- to the surprise of those in the new twentieth century.

You took on a really interesting time period when writing the book. From one historical writer to another, what were the best and worst parts of writing historical fiction?

Researching is the best. And it's great to have an excuse for spending days and days in the library. :) All that research does take time from the actual writing of the story, though; sometimes I get frustrated when a few unknown historical details are slowing down the writing of a scene -- and I can't find the answers anywhere!

You used to be a NASA engineer, and now you've got two books in the pipeline! This seems like a drastic switch to most people. What caused it...and is it that drastic, after all?

I've been writing stories since I was a kid. Even when I was an engineer, I was taking writing classes at night. For me, it doesn't feel like a sudden switch from engineer to author -- rather, it's a lifelong dream finally fulfilled!

And finally, Jenny Moss on:

Pluto:
Miscategorized? Or misunderstood?
I like the idea of a Pluto just misunderstood.

Dylan:
Blonde on Blonde or Blood on the Tracks?
Blonde on Blonde is genius too, but 90% of the time I prefer Blood on the Tracks.

Sickness:
Feed a cold or Starve a fever?
Always eat?

Winnies:
Winnie Cooper? or Winnie the Pooh?
I love Pooh bear!

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Thanks so much for coming over to play, Jenny!

For everyone else...find Jenny at her website. I also think she'd appreciate you ordering Winnie's War on Amazon.

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Meet someone else here!

The Forest of Hands and STARS!!!

The amazing Carrie Ryan just scored a lovely little red star from Publisher's Weekly! You guys...no joke...The Forest of Hands and Teeth is the next big thing.

Don't believe me? Believe this instead:

Mary's village has been trapped for generations by a very near, very visible menace: the Unconsecrated—insatiable, flesh-eating zombies that constantly tear at the village's fences. Yet the Sisterhood—a conventlike order of religious women charged to protect the village's survival—is as much responsible for the submission of Mary's village as the Unconsecrated. When the fences are breached and the village overrun, Mary and several others escape through gated paths and arrive deep into the Forest of Hands and Teeth, forced to search beyond it for their future. Mary's observant, careful narration pulls readers into a bleak but gripping story of survival and the endless capacity of humanity to persevere. That Mary maintains emotional distance serves to render her yearnings and romantic feelings even more poignant and powerful. Fresh and riveting.

Meet A.S. King!

Ok. For those of you living under a rock who haven't been struck dumb by the incredible cover of A.S. King's first YA novel, The Dust of 100 Dogs, here's your chance to look cool at parties. Amy has written a YA book about pirates and dogs.

Once I stopped rending my garments and asking all within earshot why I hadn't thought up this idea, I decided to contact the mind herself and ask all the questions I was dying to ask. You, dear reader, get the fruits of that particular labor. Yay for the Internet! And for generous authors!

In the late seventeenth century, famed teenage pirate Emer Morrisey was on the cusp of escaping the pirate life with her one true love and unfathomable riches when she was slain and cursed with "the dust of one hundred dogs," dooming her to one hundred lives as a dog before returning to a human body-with her memories intact.

Now she's a contemporary American teenager and all she needs is a shovel and a ride to Jamaica.

Possibly the best concept for a novel ever in the history of concepts for novels. I'm just saying.

A.S. King has recently returned from Ireland, where she spent a decade dividing herself between self-sufficiency, teaching adult literacy, and writing novels. Her short fiction has been published in a bunch of cool journals and has been nominated for Best New American Voices 2010.

Meet A.S. King

There's something about pirates...and about dogs...and you've melded those two worlds (both of which I'm totally in love with)...what came first with Dust? Pirates or dogs? Or Saffron? Or some other thing?

Oliver Cromwell came first. Emer’s story was first inspired by Cromwell’s 1649/50 invasion of Ireland. Then Saffron arrived. Then dogs and then pirates.

The cover of The Dust of 100 Dogs is a total knockout. Exactly how much did you plotz when you first saw it?

I plotzed a lot. I’m still plotzing. Not just because it’s beautiful, but because it manages to communicate the premise in a few simple images. It’s just unbelievable. I think I have at least another forty years of plotzing in me for this cover.

Writing a book about a 300 year old character in the 1970s couldn't have been easy... from one historical novelist to another...what was your research process like?

Well, Saffron isn’t really 300 years old. She’s a teenager, dealing with her parents, her brother, school, and all the other complications of teenage life. She just happens to have memories from Emer, who lived 300 years ago, and from the 100 dogs in between. So, writing Saffron was probably the easiest task, because she was born during the same era I was born, in a boring Pennsylvania suburb, just like me. Our lives were nothing alike, thankfully, except that we both, along with every other teenager on the planet, felt an urgent need to escape.

My research was a lot of fun because I actually lived where the Irish parts are set and I was fascinated by the history right in front of me. I had a few local historians offer up their libraries, and I devoured books about the Cromwellian invasion, European history and local history. Cromwell’s letters from the time were captivating as were the few books I managed to find on piracy.

Writing the three-century-old parts was simplified by having a close third person narrator. Technically, it’s Saffron telling you about Emer’s life, the same way she is telling you about the lives of dogs in the Dog Facts and her own first person life as Saffron. That was incredibly helpful. In reality, the dialog in the Irish part of the book would have been in Irish (Gaelic). Obviously, writing it that way wouldn’t have been a great idea. So, having the close (English-speaking) third person narration allowed me to describe the practical history – Cromwell, the weaponry, the daily routines, the journey to Connacht, Tortuga’s slavery, the life of pirates – and omit content that would have bored or confused readers.

The Dust of 100 Dogs is your first foray into YA. How has your experience with the YA literary world differed (if at all) from your experience with the adult literary world?

I’ve found the YA community to be a laid back, genuine and generous one. Because of my similar nature, I feel at home here. On the business side, it’s harder for the adult literary world to take risks on unconventional work, because literary books are a hard sell to start. I find the YA world more open to the unconventional, which is how I landed here, and I’m thankful for that. Still, I wish we could invent a genre for my other books, which are a mix of kooky and heavy, like D100D, but meant for my generation. (You saw it here first, folks. X-lit. Fiction for Slackers.)

You've been an adult literacy teacher...which I think is one of the hardest and most rewarding jobs there is. What's the biggest lesson you learned during your years of teaching older struggling readers?

The smartest people on Earth are the ones who know what they don’t know and want to learn more. The dumbest people on Earth think they know everything and feel they have little to learn. Humility is essential.

In your bio, it says you ran off with the circus. What's the craziest thing you ever saw in or around the Big Top? (Note: If you didn't actually run off with the circus, too bad. You'll have to make a crazy thing up.)

Keeping in mind I ran off with a circus in Ireland, where it rains most of the time, the craziest thing I ever saw on the circus is what it takes to actually run a circus. It’s insane. Over the span of one week, they could move up to six times, breaking down the entire show and dragging themselves, truck by truck, wagon by wagon, out of the deep mud [sometimes with a tractor, and usually in the dark] only to get to the next place, set up the tent (and everything else – generators, wagons, bathrooms, animal areas, etc.), do two or three shows, and break down again. The people I know in circus don’t really sleep. I’ve known hard working people all my life – restaurant owners who work 18 hour days to farmers who can calve 48 hours straight – but Irish circus is the hardest work I’ve ever seen. You have to be crazy to do it.

And, finally, AS King on:

Piratical Punishment:
Walk the Plank or Marooned on a Desert Island?
If it was me, I’d choose marooned on a desert island. Then, I could finally bring those five essential books/albums/movies people always ask about.

Irish Literary Heroes:
Beckett or Joyce?
Beckett. 

Man's Best Friend:
Shake or Fetch?
Fetch.

Tom Robbins Heroines:
Sissy Hankshaw or Ellen Cherry Charles?
Ooo. That’s tough.
Ellen Cherry Charles, I guess.
No. Sissy Hankshaw. Hmm.
Can’t decide.

Corn pie.
What's that about?
It’s the yummiest thing in the whole world. One time, I hard boiled three eggs that were still warm from the hens, picked fresh corn, blanched it and took it off the cob, mixed the pastry from ground spelt flour and made the freshest corn pie ever. I’ve just drooled on my keyboard thinking about it. Some newer recipes add all sorts of other stuff, but all you really need is fresh corn, hardboiled eggs, and salt and pepper in (and topped with) pie crust. Bake. Serve with hot milk with melted butter. Drool.

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Thanks so much for coming over to play, Amy!

For everyone else...find AS King at her website, on the D100D website, and at her blog (where Baxter will be featured soon as part of Wagging on Wednesday!) . I also think she'd appreciate you ordering D100D on Amazon.

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Meet someone else here!

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.

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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.

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Meet someone else here!

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.

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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.

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Meet someone else here!

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.