Don’t miss your chance to be a part of World Book Night. 50,000 people will be chosen to give out 20 books each in order to help pass along the love of reading. Some authors you can choose from are: Laurie Halse Anderson, Sherman Alexie, Stephen King, and Suzanne Collins. There are both adult and young adult authors on the list.

In order to be considered you must apply by February 6th.

The year is 2009.  Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps– it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future. Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler.  Recruit… or kill him.

Get your copy January 17th

How would you like to win a copy of GLOW by Amy Kathleen Ryan? All you have to do is enter your information below.  Click HERE to read my review from yesterday. You have until Friday, January 20th to enter.

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I love Animoto!

Da Da Da Daaaaa!!!! I am happy to feature CINDER again on this blog. This time, thanks to MacMillan Audio, I am giving away a copy of the audio. I am so excited!!!! This book is so good.  No matter what format you prefer there is one for you.

Here is an audio excerpt:

Do you like e books? How about the first 5 chapters for free?

Now is your chance to win a copy of the audio. GOOD LUCK everyone! You have until Friday, January 13th to enter.  Friday the 13th will be a good thing for one lucky reader.


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I loved this book and today is the day that everyone can go out and purchase a copy for themselves. Click HERE to read my review and be sure to watch the trailer below to learn more about it!

About the Book:

Cinder: Book One in The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

Even in the future, the story begins with Once Upon a Time…. Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

LINKS:

Marissa Meyer’s Blog:

http://marissameyer.livejournal.com/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/MarissaMeyerAuthor

Twitter:

https://twitter.com/marissa_meyer

Guest blogging convention states that I have to do several things in order to be a good guest. First, I have to be at least half as interesting as my host. Second, I have to speak about a subject on which I am uniquely well-versed. And third, I have to offer relevant insights that align with the stated goals and interests of the host blog.

You’re not going get any of those, and for that I’m sorry. To be very honest, I’m not even all that sorry. At this point in my travels around the “YA-lit blogosphere,” I’ve discovered that most sites are run by ridiculously well-read individuals (often professionals in the field) whose pithyness is only matched by their great store of pity for my unpithyness (a quality I like to call “ empithy”), and whose market savvy outflanks mine, even though I’m currently one of those publishing chimeras known as the “author/editor.”

It’s a sad state. You’re being guest-blogged by a lesser wit, a witling. Very sorry about that. I am both thankful for the opportunity, and apologetic for your opportunity cost.

My subject today is the books I always liked as a kid that had a similar format to a book I wrote recently–which had an odd format that caused a lot of people to say, “hey, what gives with that format?”

It’s format we’re talking about. I’ve taken the liberty of sprinkling pictures of baby animals throughout this post as a sort of spicing agent for an otherwise bland food. My book, Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow is a collection of four stand-alone novellas that share an overarching theme (though they are completely different genres with no overlapping characters or plots).

Immediately, the book DIFFERENT SEASONS by Stephen King might come to mind. If not, then please consider DIFFERENT SEASONS by Stephen King. It too was a collection of four novellas, which you may know by their film adaptations of three of the stories: “Shawshank Redemption,” “Stand By Me,” and “Apt Pupil.”

King has repeated this format in other books, but never more successfully in my opinion. The title, of course, sets the theme: the four seasons. Each story has a “part title” or “half title” to situate the story within that theme.

For example, we open the book and in front of the first story–”Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption”–we see a half-title page with the phrase, “Hope Springs Eternal,” and nothing else. “What is this?” his readers must ask. It’s not the title of the story. It’s not the book title. And, like me, they probably think of it as connective tissue, a literary ligament by which the spring season is perfectly bridged from the overarching title to the specific story of Shawshank, which is entirely about hope. Its most famous line is, “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things.”

The second story, “Apt Pupil” is preceded by the half title, “Summer of Corruption,” which, if you know the story about a young man who
discovers a Nazi war criminal hiding out in his California suburb, then you see the connection. The last two stories, “The Body” (which was made into the film “Stand By Me”), and “The Breathing Method,” were half titled, “Fall from Innocence” and “A Winter’s Tale,” respectively.

To me, the form is incredibly versatile. It allows a meta-narrative (whether that be an overarching story, or just various ruminations on a theme). It demands the same discipline and concision of short stories. They are read in one or two sittings, which I personally enjoy given the fact that book-bloat is the main problem of most the books I read. 

I certainly hope it will become more popular. Or, at the very least, I hope the majority of novels become shorter. Whichever the case, I hope I have effectively proselytized something I like—DIFFERENT SEASONS, my own book, STRAW HOUSE, or shorter novels in general.

Also, baby animals!

 

 

 

Thank you, Karin, for allowing this witling to guest post. If anything, I’m sure your readers will be all the happier to see you back in the writer’s chair. 

Happy New Year.  Karin’s Book Nook is pleased to feature a Q & A with the author of EVE, Anna Carey for the first post in 2012.

1. Did you intentionally make the Trail similar to the Underground Railroad or did it just develop that way?

“The Trail”, the secret network of safe houses on the road to Califia, developed organically from the story. I loved the idea of this couple who would hide the girls and risk their own lives in the process. It felt real. I read more about the underground railroad as I was writing (which is where the Harriet Tubman quote came from). The more I wrote about this post apocalyptic future, the more it felt like I was writing about the past. The phrase “history repeats itself” has never felt more true.

2. Do you read books by other young adult authors? If so, which ones are your favorites?  What are you reading right now?

I do! I finally read If I Stay by Gayle Forman and loved it. I haven’t cried like that (the UGLY cry) in a long time. Right now I’m reading Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley. I’m reading it slowly and really savoring each chapter.

3. You are currently working on a trilogy with Eve’s story so I’m sure that is the “world” you are living in right now. But, do you have other ideas floating around for future works? How do you keep track of your ideas?

There are so many ideas floating around in my head. Sometimes I’ll get an idea for an interesting character, other times I’ll think of a scene and start from there. Most recently I got an idea from a dream. I have two notepads (one in my purse and one on my nightstand) that I write things on. 99% of the ideas won’t turn into a full book, but I can usually use them in some way–for a scene or character (in Eve or elsewhere), a short story, etc…

4. Can you describe your writing process? Do you outline the story or just let it flow? Do you compose on the computer or write things out long hand? How do you go about developing the world of your characters before starting the story? Are you a Mac or a PC?

Whoa long hand! Do people actually do that? I could not imagine working that way. I use my trusty Macbook, and do extensive outlining before I start writing the first draft. The outline is usually twelve pages or so (single spaced) and gives a detailed description of what will happen in each chapter. Things change as I write, but it helps me see the overarching story.

Eve’s world was always vivid to me. I wanted it to look like a lush, overgrown paradise, with hidden dangers. I read a lot beforehand, about places like Chernoble–where plant and animal life are thriving after a disaster. Some additional details came as I was writing (the scene with the mountain lions was inspired by a nature documentary I’d seen).

Do you want a chance to win a signed copy of the book? If so, fill out the form below.

Keep up with Anna using the social networking tools below:

Official Eve website: www.theevetrilogy.com  

Like Eve on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheEveTrilogy

Follow @AnnaCareyBooks on Twitter: http://twitter.com/annacareybooks

Visit Anna Carey’s blog: www.annacareybooks.com

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Aria is a teenager in the enclosed city of Reverie. Like all Dwellers, she spends her time with friends in virtual environments, called Realms, accessed through an eyepiece called a Smarteye. Aria enjoys the Realms and the easy life in Reverie. When she is forced out of the pod for a crime she did not commit, she believes her death is imminent. The outside world is known as The Death Shop, with danger in every direction. 

As an Outsider, Perry has always known hunger, vicious predators, and violent energy storms from the swirling electrified atmosphere called the Aether. A bit of an outcast even among his hunting tribe, Perry withstands these daily tests with his exceptional abilities, as he is gifted with powerful senses that enable him to scent danger, food and even human emotions. 

They come together reluctantly, for Aria must depend on Perry, whom she considers abarbarian, to help her get back to Reverie, while Perry needs Aria to help unravel the mystery of his beloved nephew’s abduction by the Dwellers. Together they embark on a journey challenged as much by their prejudices as by encounters with cannibals and wolves. But to their surprise, Aria and Perry forge an unlikely love – one that will forever change the fate of all who live UNDER THE NEVER SKY 

The first book in a captivating trilogy, Veronica Rossi’s enthralling debut sweeps you into an unforgettable adventure.

CLICK HERE to read my review.

Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days. 

The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color. 

The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war– and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now. 

Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior. 

In this electrifying debut, Tahereh Mafi presents a world as riveting asThe Hunger Games and a superhero story as thrilling as The X-Men. Full of pulse-pounding romance, intoxicating villainy, and high-stakes choices,Shatter Me is a fresh and original dystopian novel—with a paranormal twist—that will leave readers anxiously awaiting its sequel.

CLICK HERE to read my review.