Friday, January 31, 2014

Feature Friday: Sophie Jordan

Sophie Jordan grew up in the Texas hill country where she wove fantasies of dragons, warriors, and princesses. A former high school English teacher, she's also the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Avon historical romances. She now lives in Houston with her family. When she's not writing, she spends her time overloading on caffeine (lattes and Diet cherry Coke preferred), talking plotlines with anyone who will listen (including her kids), and cramming her DVR with true-crime and reality-TV shows. Sophie also writes paranormal romances under the name Sharie Kohler.

Interview:

A.L.:
What piece of advice would you give to a budding author?

Sophie:
Read, read and read. Seriously, that’s where it all begins. Read in your genre and out of your genre.

Also, find a writing group – there are several throughout the country. Either online or a group that holds meetings. Being around other writers is not only motivating but an endless source of information and resources.

A.L.:
What's your favorite book and why?

Sophie: 
Tough one! This changes weekly … there are just so many books. Hm. Maybe … Night by Elie Wiesel. I taught this book, and learned something new from it every time I read it.

A.L.:
Where did you get the idea for Uninvited/

Sophie: 
One day I was watching some kids play during my toddler’s gymnastics class. This one little boy was always so aggressive. Every week he hurt other kids in the class … and the question popped in my head: “Huh, wonder if that kid is going to be a serial killer? Is this where it begins….”

I was only being half serious with myself, but just like that. Bam! In a blink, the idea for UNINVITED appeared in my head.
I've always been fascinated with the nature/nurture argument. Are people born evil or do they become evil? This book explores that.

A.L.:
Did you hit any snags while writing Uninvited?  What were they and how did you fix them?

Sophie: 
Oh, every book I’ve written had its challenges. UNINVITED might have been the hardest because it deals with such tough themes. But mostly, just getting up and writing every day is the challenge. Especially when you could be reading or watching TV! ;)

A.L.:
Which one of the characters in Uninvited is your favorite and why?

Sophie: 
My protagonist, Davy. Just because I’m in her head so much.

A.L.:
Can you tell us a little bit about your journey as an author?

Sophie: 
Well. I signed with my agent in 2006 after writing for 2 years. Two weeks later she sold my book to Harper Collins. Eight years later, I’ve written over twenty books and I’m still with the same agent and publisher. I’ve very fortunate to still be with the same agent and editor. It’s not always that way for an author, and I’m very lucky.

In 2008, I started writing YA in addition to romance. I stayed with the same publisher for my YAs, but write them for the children’s imprint of my publishing house.

A.L.:
What are you working on now?  Sequel?  Something new?

Sophie: 
I’m finishing up a historical romance and about to dive into the final revisions on the sequel to UNINVITED. Following that, I’ll be starting my third new adult novel in my Ivy Chronicles series.

A.L.:
Did you do a lot of research when writing Uninvited?

Sophie: 
Actually, yes … with the help of google! ;) I did look up a lot of crime statistics and data.I also watched some documentaries and read some articles on serial killers and serial killers among children.

A.L.:
How do you think you'd react if you discovered you carried the HTS gene?

Sophie: 
Uh-oh … well, you should read UNINVITED because that’s pretty much what I do! I tried to imagine how I would react and put myself in Davy’s shoes. There’s a lot of shock and denial going on  … and coming to terms with your own fears and prejudices. 

A.L.:
When you taught English, what was your favorite topic to teach?

Sophie: 
I enjoyed the Arthurian unit in our curriculum … knights, the code of chivalry. LOVE it! It overlapped a lot with my love of that era of history. And hey … I got to show the kids one of my favorite BBS productions, Ivanhoe. Can’t go wrong there!

The Giveaway:
Sophie is giving away a signed copy of FIRELIGHT (US.)

Firelight:  A hidden truth.  Mortal enemies.  Doomed love.

Marked as special at an early age, Jacinda knows her every move is watched. But she longs for freedom to make her own choices. When she breaks the most sacred tenet among her kind, she nearly pays with her life. Until a beautiful stranger saves her. A stranger who was sent to hunt those like her. For Jacinda is a draki, a descendant of dragons whose greatest defense is her secret ability to shift into human form.

Forced to flee into the mortal world with her family, Jacinda struggles to adapt to her new surroundings. The only bright light is Will. Gorgeous, elusive Will who stirs her inner draki to life. Although she is irresistibly drawn to him, Jacinda knows Will's dark secret: He and his family are hunters. She should avoid him at all costs. But her inner draki is slowly slipping away;if it dies she will be left as a human forever. She'll do anything to prevent that. Even if it means getting closer to her most dangerous enemy.
Mythical powers and breathtaking romance ignite in this story of a girl who defies all expectations and whose love crosses an ancient divide.

Read Goodreads reviews.
Buy on Amazon.
Buy on Barnes and Noble.

How to Enter:
Enter the giveaway using Rafflecopter. Hit the arrow buttons, follow the prompts, and hit the enter buttons when you're done. (You may have to log in using Facebook to do this). There will be one winner (selected by Rafflecopter).  US only.  I will contact the winner via email.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Double Feature!!! -- Len Vlahos

Len Vlahos is the Executive Director of BISG (Book Industry Study Group) and the former COO of the American Booksellers Association, where he worked for the past 20 years. Len has also worked in numerous bookstores, was an on-air personality for a commercial radio station in Atlantic City, and worked for a time for Internet marketing guru Seth Godin. THE SCAR BOYS is his first book. You can visit him online at www.lenvlahos.com and on Twitter @LenVlahos.

Be sure to check out all the stops on THE SCAR BOYS blog tour:

Mon, Jan 13
I Read Banned Books
Tues, Jan 14
Guys Lit Wire
Wed, Jan 15
Read Now, Sleep Later
Thurs, Jan 16
The Book Monsters
Fri, Jan 17
Mon, Jan 20
The Compulsive Reader
Tues, Jan 21
Mother Daughter Book Club
Wed, Jan 22
A.L. Davroe
Thurs, Jan 23
Adventures in YA Publishing
Fri, Jan 24
Geo Librarian


Len is visiting 20+ cities and bookstores around the country--and he’s bringing his guitar. His tour schedule is  here.
The Interview:

A.L.:
What piece of advice would you give to a budding author?

Len:
There are actually two pieces of complementary advice:

First, write every day. If you don’t exercise the part of your brain that creates, it starts to atrophy. Can you miss a day here and there? Of course. But when you start to miss weeks and months, it gets exponentially harder to dive back in. (See below for a personal example.)

I’m a very regimented writer, working at the same time and in the same environment each day. (I write on the commuter train to NYC.) Not everyone is wired that way, so find what works for you. But no matter how you do it, try to write every day, or something close to it.

And second, read every day because, well, duh.

A.L.:
What's your favorite book and why?

Len:
The Scar Boys, and again, duh.

Okay, seriously, I never know quite what to do with this question. It’s like asking which snowflake I like best. There is no rational answer. How about I give you my top three as of this moment in time? (It can and will change before I’m done writing this.)

1. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein. It’s a 1960s science fiction classic that may seem a bit out of date, but the story—of a future lunar colony’s revolt against mother Earth—is filled with political intrigue, a sentient computer, a brilliant heroine, and a plot that twists and unfolds at every turn.

2. Crash and Burn by Michael Hassan. Okay, full disclosure alert. When my publisher (Egmont USA) was putting together the final cover for The Scar Boys, they solicited blurbs from other authors. The only blurb they got back was from Michael. (I was lucky enough to get one from Peter Buck of R.E.M., too. I’m still tingly over that.) I had never met Michael, nor had I heard of Crash and Burn, and I kind of freaked out. “What if I don’t like this book or this author?” I thought.

On the way home from work that night I stopped at Posman’s Bookstore in Grand Central and got myself a copy. And here’s the thing. I loved it. Seriously. It is probably the most compelling teen novel I’ve ever read. The story—of how Stephen Crashinksy saves his high school from David Burnett, a student who has gone around the metaphorical bend—is rife with sex, drugs, and violence, and is definitely not for younger teens. But for older teens, it’s the one book that probably best captures the current generation of high schoolers. And it doesn’t hurt the writing is a masters class in voice, character, and pacing. But really, this is not for the faint of heart.

3. Truman by David McCullough. “Yeah, right,” you’re thinking, “throw in a nonfiction book just to make yourself look smart.” Honestly, I’m not smart enough to pull off that kind of chicanery. No, Truman is here because it reads like a novel, and because it lays before you the most important epoch of American History—the transformation from an agrarian nation in the throes of adolescence, to that of a global super power—told through the life of America’s most interesting president, Harry Truman. This should be required reading everywhere.

There are so many other books (Shantaram, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, City of Thieves, The Book Thief, Will Grayson Will Grayson, etc., etc.) and so many writers (David Mitchell, John Green, Jon Krakauer, Rainbow Rowell, Isaac Asimov, etc., etc.), that I could go on all day. (Fear not, I won’t.)

A.L.:
Where did you get the idea for The Scar Boys?

Len:
When I was nineteen, I dropped out of NYU film school to go on the road with a punk pop band called Woofing Cookies. I played guitar, sang background vocals, and wrote a bunch of the music. We put out a record, bought a van, and went on tour. The van broke down two weeks into the tour, stranding us in Athens, GA. (If you’ve read The Scar Boys, this will be eerily familiar.)

I tried for many, many years to tell the story of that experience. I wrote screenplays, essays, even full-length novels, but nothing worked. I put it all aside and actually stopped writing for a while.

I was finding it increasingly difficult to work my way back in (see my answer to #1 above!) until I had a long conversation with a friend one night in L.A. We were at a Dodgers game, and once she told me she was a writer, we spent the next three hours talking about the craft. I was so jazzed that when I got back to my hotel later that night, I dusted off the word processor and started typing. That’s when I found Harbinger Jones. And that was the moment of inspiration.

The story I’d been trying to tell all those years wasn’t my story at all. It was the story of every kid who has ever found confidence, friendship, and happiness through music. My experience with Woofing Cookies became the backdrop for the book; the real story belonged to Harry.

A.L.:
Did you hit any snags while writing The Scar Boys?  What were they and how did you fix them?

Len:
The book was originally written as an adult novel. Every other chapter featured a forty year-old Harry on his way to a reunion of The Scar Boys, and he’s telling the story of the band. Some publishers showed interest, but it never found a home. I was just getting ready to stuff the manuscript in the back of my sock drawer, when Kristen, my wife and partner in all crimes and misdemeanors, said, “Why do you insist on jamming that forty year-old character into your young adult novel?”

“Young adult novel?”

“Yes, it’s clearly a teen novel.”

It took me three days to come to grips with what she was saying, but she was right. I rewrote the book without the older Harry present, and it clicked.

A.L.:
Which one of the characters in The Scar Boys is your favorite and why?

Len:
I kind of feel like a parent in that I have to love them all equally, but I can tell you that Johnny was especially fun to write. I wanted to make him more than just a foil for Harry, to give him some complexity. I hope I succeeded.

A.L.:
Can you tell us a little bit about your journey as an author?

Len:
I’ve always played music, and I’ve always written. So my journey as an author is lifelong. My journey as a published author, however, is thanks entirely to my day job.

I’ve spent most of my professional career working in the book industry. The vast majority of that time was at the American Booksellers Association, where I worked in the service of America’s vibrant and wonderful family of locally owned, independent bookstores.

Through that experience I got to know booksellers all over America. A small group of those booksellers—Becky Anderson (Anderson’s Bookshop in Naperville, IL), Matt Norcross (McLean & Eakin in Petosky, MI), Valerie Koehler (Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston), and Andrea Vuleta (then of Mrs. Nelson’s just outside of L.A.)—all wrote strong letters of recommendation for The Scar Boys, and I think that’s ultimately what swayed Egmont to buy it.

A.L.:
What are you working on now?  Sequel?  Something new?

Len:
I started a sequel, but it just didn’t feel right. I don’t think the characters are ready to re-engage with me. Instead I have two other projects: A completed adult novel that I’ll describe as a quirky black comedy about a guy with a terminal brain tumor. Like The Scar Boys, it crosses the line between young adult and adult—one of the protagonists is the anchor character’s fifteen year-old daughter—but it’s definitely aimed less directly at a teen audience.

I’m also well into another YA novel that deals with a near future U.S.A. that has devolved into a civil war, but I won’t’ say more until I get farther along. The protagonist, a sixteen year-old boy named Ant Ellis, is very much in my head right now.

A.L.:
Was it difficult writing a character who was so physically and psychologically scarred?

Len:
Writing Harry’s reaction to his physical injuries was very challenging. I’ve never had to deal with anything like that in my personal life, so I was on unfamiliar ground. The real purpose of Harry suffering those injuries was more of way to isolate him, or at least to make him feel isolated.

One of my favorite parts of the book is Harry’s catalog of people—Potsis, Nazis, Faints, Freaks, and Friends. While it was hard to stand in the shoes of someone with physical challenges, it was easy to live in the skin of a teenager who feels isolated and alone. My guess is that this is exactly how many, if not most, young people feel. And yes, most adults, too.

A.L.:
You get +10 points for being a fellow CT author.  What's your favorite part about living in CT?

Len:
I wrote an essay that was kind of about Connecticut a while ago, and I still kind of like it. I’ll let that answer the question; it’s on my website, here:

http://www.lenvlahos.com/straight-to-the-queen/

A.L.:
You bring a lot of personal punk rocker experience to your novel.  Can you tell us (a clean story) about one of your most memorable nights as a member of Woofing Cookies?

Len:
Four or five days before our van broke down for good, we were on our way to a radio interview in Richmond, VA when our transmission gave out. Our drummer, Chad, whose father was actually a mechanic, fixed the cotter pin—a little piece of metal that makes the clutch work, or so I was told—with a hanger and pliers, and he did it on his back beneath the van in a raging rainstorm. (This scene also made it into the book, and is actually an important scene for Harry’s character.) Unfortunately, the beast broke down again a few blocks later, and we wound up having to push it to a service station and wrangle a ride to that evening’s gig. (We had already dropped off our gear.)

There was not one single person in the room when we played that night. Even the soundman was so bored that he got up and left the room. Halfway through the set, some preppy college kids wandered in, sat for a while, and then formed a conga line and conga-ed their way out of the room. We wound up sleeping on the floor at the club owner’s mom’s house. The whole evening was pretty funny.

And, of course, speaking of tours (how’s that for a ham-fisted segue!) you can see a list of Scar Boys (the book, not the band) tour dates, here:
http://www.lenvlahos.com/tour-dates/

The Giveaway:
One lucky winner will receive a copy of THE SCAR BOYS (U.S. only).
The Scar Boys:  A severely burned teenager. A guitar. Punk rock. The chords of a rock 'n' roll road trip in a coming-of-age novel that is a must-read story about finding your place in the world...even if you carry scars inside and out.

In attempting to describe himself in his college application essay--help us to become acquainted with you beyond your courses, grades, and test scores--Harbinger (Harry) Jones goes way beyond the 250-word limit and gives a full account of his life.

The first defining moment: the day the neighborhood goons tied him to a tree during a lightning storm when he was 8 years old, and the tree was struck and caught fire. Harry was badly burned and has had to live with the physical and emotional scars, reactions from strangers, bullying, and loneliness that instantly became his everyday reality.

The second defining moment: the day in 8th grade when the handsome, charismatic Johnny rescued him from the bullies and then made the startling suggestion that they start a band together. Harry discovered that playing music transported him out of his nightmare of a world, and he finally had something that compelled people to look beyond his physical appearance. Harry's description of his life in his essay is both humorous and heart-wrenching. He had a steeper road to climb than the average kid, but he ends up learning something about personal power, friendship, first love, and how to fit in the world. While he's looking back at the moments that have shaped his life, most of this story takes place while Harry is in high school and the summer after he graduates.

How to Enter:
Enter the giveaway using Rafflecopter. Hit the arrow buttons, follow the prompts, and hit the enter buttons when you're done. (You may have to log in using Facebook to do this). There will be one winner (selected by Rafflecopter). I will contact the winner via email.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Friday, January 17, 2014

Feature Friday: Kathleen Hale

Kathleen Hale was born and raised in Wisconsin, and graduated from Harvard in 2010. No One Else Can Have You is her first novel. The sequel will be published in 2015.

You can find her on Tumblr and Twitter, or on her website NoOneElseCanHaveYou.com


To read more of Kathleen's work, click here.
Interview:

A.L.:
What piece of advice would you give to a budding author?

Kathleen:
Write every day, and find a reader you trust.

A.L.:
What's your favorite book and why?

Kathleen:
I have so many! But if I had to choose one, Cruddy by Lynda Barry was really formative for me.

A.L.:
Where did you get the idea for No One Else Can Have You?

Kathleen:
Twin Peaks taught me that starting with the beautiful corpse of a teenage girl is a pretty great hook. Fargo illustrated that northern accents and a friendly demeanor throw dark inclinations into sharp relief.

But overall, growing up in the Midwest and having my first falling out with a BFF were the two things that inspired me most. I wanted to explore the process of growing apart from someone I'd been previously codependent with, and the most exciting and high stakes way of approaching that seemed to be through the lens of murder. *shrugs*

A.L.:
Did you hit any snags while writing No One Else Can Have You?  What were they and how did you fix them?



Kathleen: 
Absolutely! Keeping the killer a mystery was the hardest part. I feel like I might be spoiling it for people by describing the process by which I "fixed" this snag...but let's just say it was a fine balance between making the character sympathetic while still capable of murder. I struggled a lot with that while writing and throughout the editing process, which is why I'm so thrilled whenever people say they didn't see it coming.

A.L.:
Which one of the characters in No One Else Can Have You is your favorite and why?

Kathleen:
I love them all. But I probably laughed the hardest while writing Dom and Miss Rosa.

A.L.:
Can you tell us a little bit about your journey as an author?

Kathleen: 
Sure! I started writing as a little kid. But I stepped away from it as a teenager to really throw myself full force into academics, which was intense. I've never worked as hard as I did in high school and there wasn't time for anything else.

I started writing again in college. My freshman year I took a creative writing class and it just uncapped this volcano inside of me. (That's a terrible metaphor but you get the idea.) All of a sudden, I knew I wanted to be a writer because writing was all I wanted to do besides go out with friends and eat candy, and stuff. Sentences were constantly running through my head, and if I didn't sit down and write fiction every day, I'd end up writing these extremely long emails, or telling exaggerated stories (lies, basically) in the dining hall. Writing became a compulsion. Something that felt vaguely unhealthy, and that I couldn't quit.

I took as many writing classes as my schedule would allow and started winning prizes and getting invited to workshops and retreats. I published some short stories in small literary magazines. I think the college application process, and the sorts of classes and extracurricular activities it seemed to valued, unfortunately taught me to discredit creative pursuits as fluffy or unproductive. So the support and encouragement I received from my college professors and peers - all of whom I viewed as successful humans - was incredibly important to my beginning to take myself (and my writing) seriously. Eventually, one of my mentors, a professor at an MFA program, invited me to join his ranks. So I did.

All my stories were written from the point of view of young people. A lot of my classmates and a few of my professors didn't love that because it wasn't considered literary. I'd gone to grad school because I thought it would help me hone my writing skills--I thought the classes would be about plotting novels, or writing sex scenes that don't feel totally forced and bizarre. But instead I started to feel like I was back in college English classes. I felt like I was learning how to be a critic, not a writer. So I became pretty unhappy there.

Then the opportunity arose to write this Young Adult book. It hadn't occurred to me that my natural narrative voice could fit into a marketable groove. I started studying "commercial" fiction--what makes it entertaining, what makes it readable. I kept attending and teaching classes, but in my spare time I would sneak out to my car and write in the driver's seat. Then I dropped out of Grad school. And then I sold the book.

I've been writing full time ever since.

A.L.:
What are you working on now?  Sequel?  Something new?

Kathleen: 
I just finished the sequel to No One Else Can Have You, so I'm editing that now, and working on a new project that I'm still wrapping my head around.

A.L.:
Did you, at any point writing No One Else Can Have You, ever wonder if you were going too far or going beyond the age limit of your book?

Kathleen:
After seeing MTV's show Awkward? No.

I think that being a teenager is a really exciting and emotional time, and I think that young people crave stories that take their own struggles and triumphs seriously by putting them in a high stakes environment.

I also don't think that people give teens enough credit, and I feel like people who complain about the age-appropriateness of certain books for teenagers are not often teenagers.
Teenagers can handle it.

I once read a New York Times piece that basically begged the question, "Where is all this violence and sex in YA fiction coming from?" The tone of it was very much, "KIDS THESE DAYS!" which I think is something every older generation says in one way or another, as a way of grappling with their own aging process and self-perceived obsolescence. The so-called "inappropriateness" of certain forms of entertainment says more about the people calling it that than it does about the audiences who choose to partake in it. I would take it VERY seriously if a teenager came to me and said, "Your book felt inappropriate to me," but I'm probably not going to sweat if someone older than that says my book is too sexy or violent for teens.

A.L.:
You're a resident of Wisconsin writing a novel set in small-town Wisconsin.  Was there a particular message you tried to relay about your state or did you just write Wisconsin because you know it?

Kathleen:
For me it always takes experiences a little while to percolate, and when I wrote the book, Wisconsin was the place that I knew best and loved anyway. I'd been away from home long enough that my experiences there had sort of settled in my heart and brain, and become knowable. The book isn't meant to be scathing. If anything I see it as a love letter to the people and place that first formed me.

Where I grew up, friendliness and modesty were hailed above all other forms of social interaction. I often felt like a crazy person for craving heart-to-hearts. So I guess if anything I was trying to communicate that feeling, and to point out that politeness can often be worn as a mask. No One Else Can Have You is about murder, sure, but it's also about learning by heart the fault lines of a place, and the personalities therein, and loving them anyway.

A.L.:
What's your favorite place in all of Wisconsin?

Kathleen: 
Ho boy. That's hard. I grew up on the Milwaukee River and will always have soft spot for the muddy brown water, and the sight of dead Christmas trees that people chucked out floating down it every spring.

Minocqua is glorious and fun in the summers - it's about five hours north of where I'm from, and people there talk like the people in my book.

But if you want weird, stunning, and a little overwhelming, go to the Wisconsin Dells. Bonus points if you go during off-season. It's a tourist town full of roller coasters and go-kart tracks that has five million visitors during the summer, but a full time population of about 2000, so when the sky starts dumping snow, it's a very small town. Being there when it's cold and deserted, and seeing the closed water slides and darkened fun houses, and the giant Paul Bunyan statues indicating parking lot entrances--all of which are covered in a fine layer of snow...it's like something out of a dream.

The Giveaway:
The first five people to order No One Else Can Have You will receive limited edition No One Else Can Have You trucker hats. (Unfortunately, this only applies to readers in the United States.)
After that, anyone who orders No One Else Can Have You will receive a drawing and handwritten note from the author (these can be mailed ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD!)
This offer lasts until Valentine's Day.

Just email your proof of purchase and preferred mailing address to Kathleeeeeeeeeen@gmail.com

No One Else Can Have You:  Small towns are nothing if not friendly. Friendship, Wisconsin (population: 689 688) is no different. Around here, everyone wears a smile. And no one ever locks their doors. Until, that is, high school sweetheart Ruth Fried is found murdered. Strung up like a scarecrow in the middle of a cornfield.

Unfortunately, Friendship’s police are more adept at looking for lost pets than catching killers. So Ruth’s best friend, Kippy Bushman, armed with only her tenacious Midwestern spirit and Ruth’s secret diary (which Ruth’s mother had asked her to read in order to redact any, you know, sex parts), sets out to find the murderer. But in a quiet town like Friendship—where no one is a suspect—anyone could be the killer.




Read Goodreads reviews.
Buy on Amazon.
Buy on Barnes and Noble. 

 

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

A.L. Is Going to Arisia

Hi everyone!
Just a quick reminder that I will be at Arisia (a Boston-based media convention) from Friday-Monday!  I'm doing a signing, a reading, and panels.  I'll also have copies of FOR YOUR HEART for sale.  Come stop by and see me if you live in the area!  Send me a Tweet to let me know to look out for you!
-Amanda (A.L. Davroe)

Friday, January 10, 2014

Feature Friday: Tammar Stein

Tammar Stein is the award-winning author of four YA novels, including Light Years, an ALA Best Book of the Year. Her latest release, Spoils, was named an Amazon Best Book of the Month. Her e-novella, Debts, a prequel to SPOILS, is now available.
http://www.tammarstein.com/

Interview:
A.L.:
What piece of advice would you give to a budding author?

Tammar:
My biggest take-away from my own experience is to stick with it. It’s frustrating and lonely to be an aspiring author. Before I was published, it sometimes seemed like a foolish dream to think that one day my books would be in print. It took five long years, but it happened. If I had given up after four and a half years, it wouldn’t have.

A.L.:
What's your favorite book and why?

Tammar:
Not fair! What kind of question is that? I love all books, if not equally, then with much passion. I self-medicate with books, so it really depends on what mood I’m in. Do I need a quiet, thoughtful book? Do I need something fast-paced and exciting? Do I crave something challenging and intriguing? Sorry, I can’t pick one. But a few of my favorites are (in no particular order): The Handmaid’s Tale, Ender’s Game, A Tree Grows in Brookline, Lions of Al Rassan, The Little Prince, The Penderwicks, The Hunger Games. (I could go on, and on, and on…)

A.L.:
Where did you get the idea for Spoils? 

Tammar:
I got it from driving by the PowerBall billboard on a daily basis. I would look at the jackpot and wonder: what would I do with all that money? After the first really fun three minutes where I mentally paid off the mortgage, sent my nieces and nephews off to college on the fully paid Stein scholarship, bought a villa in Tuscany, a vineyard in Napa valley, and invited all my favorite authors on an all-expense paid cruise around the world, I started hitting some snags. My fantasy started turning dark. What would happen when someone asked me for a loan I didn’t want to give? What would happen to my friendships when my friends were still working hard and stressing over bills and I’m gallivanting around the world. Would they feel jealous? Would it be awkward hanging out?

The more I thought about, the more I realized it probably wouldn’t turn out well. When I researched it, I saw I was right. 80% of lottery winners are worse off financially, emotionally, and physically ten years after the win than before. Winning millions of dollars isn’t a blessing. For most people, it’s a curse. That’s how Spoils was born.

A.L.:
Did you hit any snags while writing Spoils?  What were they and how did you fix them?

Tammar:
Nothing too terrible. In my previous books I had major re-writes (which is a nice way of saying a massive proportion of the novel was deleted.) Fortunately it was smoother sailing with Spoils.

A.L.:
Which one of the characters in Spoils is your favorite and why?

Tammar:
I really like Natasha. She’s complicated and intense and she threatened to take over every scene she was in. Part of the reason I wrote Debts, an e-novella, was to give Natasha some space to take over. It’s basically a prequel to Spoils and it tells what happened to Natasha right before the book begins. 

A.L.:
Can you tell us a little bit about your journey as an author?

Tammar:
I studied English Lit in college. When I graduated, I took a year to live in Italy. I brought my laptop. My thought was that by the end of the year I would be fluent in Italian and have a novel to sell. One of those goal came true. It wasn’t the novel part. I wrote and wrote. I worked on my first novel for 5 years before I sold it. It take a lot of practice to write a decent novel, at least for me. Since then I’ve written a new book about every 2 or so years. I can’t say it gets easy, but at least I’m more familiar with the process and I don’t freak out (as much) when I have to do a “major re-write.”

A.L.:
What are you working on now?  Sequel?  Something new?

Tammar:
Something totally different and it’s giving me fits! But I’ve learned it’s really bad luck to talk about a work-in-progress, so just suffice to say I’m staying humble.

A.L.:
Did you get to live your childhood millionaire dreams through Leni?

Tammar:
Yes, sort of. I threw in everything I could think of that would be fun to buy. It shocked me how quickly that got old. (Shopping? Again?) I’m not saying having millions wouldn’t be fun. But having a ton of new things is only fun for so long before they start piling up and choking everything.

A.L.:
What qualifies as a bilingual dog?  What languages does he/she speak?

Tammar:
I adopted my dog while I was living in Germany. She was already trained in German commands, though over the years, she’s picked up English. (For more about the incomparable Scout, you can visit Coffee and a Canine http://coffeecanine.blogspot.com/)

A.L.:
If Spoils is a companion to Kindred, can readers expect a paranormal or spiritual bend to it like Kindred had?

Tammar:
Absolutely. It’s set in the same world, though it’s about two very minor characters from Kindred. Kindred and Spoils can be read totally independently of each other, but Debts is the bridge between the two. It’s both a prequel to Spoils and a post-script to Kindred. As soon as you read Debts, then it’s suddenly clear that it’s one long narrative arc. I’m pretty proud of that, actually.

The Giveaway:
Tammar is giving away a digital copy of he e-novella, DEBTS.

Debts:  In this 50-page novella by Tammar Stein, the author of KINDRED and SPOILS, Miriam and Natasha think they've escaped their respective brushes with otherworldly beings. Miriam has settled into a normal-seeming life, where her biggest worry is her boyfriend's, Emmett's, faithfulness—a far cry from the troubles of her past. Natasha is far more concerned with Emmett's heart, so much so that she deludes herself into thinking she can escape the deal she made with the devil that won her family 22  million cursed dollars in the lottery. As their lives briefly intersect where Kindred's story ends and Spoils' begins, they learn that debts with the supernatural are not so easily escaped.

Read Goodreads reviews.
Buy on Amazon.
Buy on Barnes and Noble. 

How to Enter:
Enter the giveaway using Rafflecopter. Hit the arrow buttons, follow the prompts, and hit the enter buttons when you're done. (You may have to log in using Facebook to do this). There will be one winner (selected by Rafflecopter). I will contact the winner via email.

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Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Faeries and Fantasy Giveaway/Hop

Don't forget to enter yourself in a chance to win IN DREAMS by Erica Orloff (ends 1/10). Don't forget to enter yourself in a change to win DEBTS by Tammar Stein (begins 1/10). 

The Giveaway:
One lucky winner (US/CANADA) will get a chance to pick from any one of the stories below!

For Your Heart:  Experience THE BALLAD OF TAM LIN like you’ve never read it before…

It has been seven years since Jeanette Sauderheim followed her best friend into Carver Hall Park...and came out alone. Jeanette has never gotten over his mysterious disappearance nor has she gone back into the park. While that traumatic night still haunts her, Jeanette distracts herself by balancing her time between trying to pass Spanish, hanging out with her friends, and reading the latest manga.

But, when a promise to a friend drives her back into the park, she's forced to re-live the memories of that night. Lost and confused, Jeanette crosses paths with Tamrin, whose violent reaction to her provides yet another reason to avoid the park.

Tamrin, a knight of the Summer Court, has been sent to Earth to guard a garden of roses that hold special meaning to the queen of the Summer faeries. When his distraction at meeting Jeanette leads to her picking one of the Summer Queen’s roses, Tamrin vows to right his failure to do his duty.

However, the equivalent of one of the queen’s roses is a human heart and Tamrin’s reluctance to readily exact the sum from Jeanette sets in motion a spiral of love, betrayal, and magic that could mean damnation for them both.

*This is an Upper YA paranormal romance novel with NA and contemporary fantasy appeal.


Teeth:  A gritty, romantic modern fairy tale from the author of Break and Gone, Gone, Gone.

Be careful what you believe in.

Rudy’s life is flipped upside-down when his family moves to a remote island in a last attempt to save his sick younger brother. With nothing to do but worry, Rudy sinks deeper and deeper into loneliness and lies awake at night listening to the screams of the ocean beneath his family’s rickety house.

Then he meets Diana, who makes him wonder what he even knows about love, and Teeth, who makes him question what he knows about anything. Rudy can’t remember the last time he felt so connected to someone, but being friends with Teeth is more than a little bit complicated. He soon learns that Teeth has terrible secrets. Violent secrets. Secrets that will force Rudy to choose between his own happiness and his brother’s life


The Iron Witch:  Freak. That's what her classmates call seventeen-year-old Donna Underwood. When she was seven, a horrific fey attack killed her father and drove her mother mad. Donna's own nearly fatal injuries from the assault were fixed by magic—the iron tattoos branding her hands and arms. The child of alchemists, Donna feels cursed by the magical heritage that destroyed her parents and any chance she had for a normal life. The only thing that keeps her sane and grounded is her relationship with her best friend, Navin Sharma.
When the darkest outcasts of Faerie—the vicious wood elves—abduct Navin, Donna finally has to accept her role in the centuries old war between the humans and the fey. Assisted by Xan, a gorgeous half-fey dropout with secrets of his own, Donna races to save her friend—even if it means betraying everything her parents and the alchemist community fought to the death to protect.

Unhinged:  Alyssa Gardner has been down the rabbit hole and faced the bandersnatch. She saved the life of Jeb, the guy she loves, and escaped the machinations of the disturbingly seductive Morpheus and the vindictive Queen Red. Now all she has to do is graduate high school and make it through prom so she can attend the prestigious art school in London she's always dreamed of.

That would be easier without her mother, freshly released from an asylum, acting overly protective and suspicious. And it would be much simpler if the mysterious Morpheus didn’t show up for school one day to tempt her with another dangerous quest in the dark, challenging Wonderland—where she (partly) belongs.

As prom and graduation creep closer, Alyssa juggles Morpheus’s unsettling presence in her real world with trying to tell Jeb the truth about a past he’s forgotten. Glimpses of Wonderland start to bleed through her art and into her world in very disturbing ways, and Morpheus warns that Queen Red won’t be far behind.

If Alyssa stays in the human realm, she could endanger Jeb, her parents, and everyone she loves. But if she steps through the rabbit hole again, she'll face a deadly battle that could cost more than just her head.


Nameless:  When Camille was six years old, she was discovered alone in the snow by Enrico Vultusino, godfather of the Seven—the powerful Families that rule magic-ridden New Haven. Papa Vultusino adopted the mute, scarred child, naming her after his dead wife and raising her in luxury on Haven Hill alongside his own son, Nico.

Now Cami is turning sixteen. She’s no longer mute, though she keeps her faded scars hidden under her school uniform, and though she opens up only to her two best friends, Ruby and Ellie, and to Nico, who has become more than a brother to her. But even though Cami is a pampered Vultusino heiress, she knows that she is not really Family. Unlike them, she is a mortal with a past that lies buried in trauma. And it’s not until she meets the mysterious Tor, who reveals scars of his own, that Cami begins to uncover the secrets of her birth…to find out where she comes from and why her past is threatening her now.


The Rithmatist:  More than anything, Joel wants to be a Rithmatist. Chosen by the Master in a mysterious inception ceremony, Rithmatists have the power to infuse life into two-dimensional figures known as Chalklings. Rithmatists are humanity’s only defense against the Wild Chalklings — merciless creatures that leave mangled corpses in their wake. Having nearly overrun the territory of Nebrask, the Wild Chalklings now threaten all of the American Isles.

As the son of a lowly chalkmaker at Armedius Academy, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students study the magical art that he would do anything to practice. Then students start disappearing — kidnapped from their rooms at night, leaving trails of blood. Assigned to help the professor who is investigating the crimes, Joel and his friend Melody find themselves on the trail of an unexpected discovery — one that will change Rithmatics — and their world — forever.

Bestselling author Brandon Sanderson brings his unique brand of epic storytelling to the teen audience with an engrossing tale of danger and suspense—the first of a series. With his trademark skills in world-building, Sanderson has created a magic system that is so inventive and detailed that that readers who appreciate games of strategy and tactics just may want to bring Rithmatics to life in our world.
 


Cruel Beauty:  Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast in this sweeping fantasy about one girl's journey to fulfill her destiny and the monster who gets in her way-by stealing her heart.

Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.


The Unbound:  Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books. Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.

Last summer, Mackenzie Bishop, a Keeper tasked with stopping violent Histories from escaping the Archive, almost lost her life to one. Now, as she starts her junior year at Hyde School, she's struggling to get her life back. But moving on isn't easy -- not when her dreams are haunted by what happened. She knows the past is past, knows it cannot hurt her, but it feels so real, and when her nightmares begin to creep into her waking hours, she starts to wonder if she's really safe.

Meanwhile, people are vanishing without a trace, and the only thing they seem to have in common is Mackenzie. She's sure the Archive knows more than they are letting on, but before she can prove it, she becomes the prime suspect. And unless Mac can track down the real culprit, she'll lose everything, not only her role as Keeper, but her memories, and even her life. Can Mackenzie untangle the mystery before she herself unravels?

With stunning prose and a captivating mixture of action, romance, and horror, The Unbound delves into a richly imagined world where no choice is easy and love and loss feel like two sides of the same coin.

  

How to Enter:
Enter the giveaway using Rafflecopter. Hit the arrow buttons, follow the prompts, and hit the enter buttons when you're done. (You may have to log in using Facebook to do this). There will be one winner (selected by Rafflecopter). I will contact the winner via email.

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Don't forget to check out the other giveaways being hosted for this giveaway/hop (HERE)!

Friday, January 3, 2014

Feature Friday: Erica Orloff

Don't forget to enter yourself in a chance to win select YA faerie and fantasy novels (ends 1/15) 

After publishing over 20 novels for adults, including Freudian Slip, nominated for best contemporary romance of 2009 by Romantic Times, Erica Orloff took to her Russian ancestry to write the award-winning middle-grade fantasy trilogy The Magickeepers (Jabberwocky), under the pen name Erica Kirov. She also writes young adult novels for Penguin, including new release In Dreams. Her adult novels have earned mentions in many publications, such as Cosmopolitan and Us Weekly, as well as being translated into nine languages. A mom of four, in her non-existent free time, she likes to knit, garden, read, and play her electric guitar.

Interview:

A.L.:
What piece of advice would you give to a budding author?

Erica: 
Write your passion. Write the book you HAVE to write, not what's on trend. I remember, a few years ago, meeting several aspiring authors at a conference I spoke at . . . who were turning to YA because it was "hot" and "easier to break in." Yet I didn't have a sense they liked writing for teens--or even liked teens, period!

A.L.:
What's your favorite book and why?

Erica: 
I can't pick one. That's cruel and unusual punishment. LOL!  A couple of faves include Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake, as well as The Blind Assassin. I love anything Bill Bryson writes. I'd read his laundry list. I loved Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett.

A.L.:
Where did you get the idea for In Dreams?

Erica: 
I am a chronic insomniac (as is my teen heroine). I am also, at times, a lucid dreamer (ditto). I wanted to write a book about the blending of dreams and reality. Then I came up with the idea of a young woman discovering her father is Morpheus, the god of dreams  . . . and a novel was born. Much of Iris's insomnia issues . . . I took that frustration from my own life.

A.L.:
Did you hit any snags while writing In Dreams?  What were they and how did you fix them?

Erica: 
I did. I struggled a bit with the magical realism. Where IS Iris when she goes into the Underworld? I am someone (please tell me I am not the only one) who finds her mind blown by movies like The Matrix. That sort of alternate reality--time travel movies, too--I sometimes have to press "pause" on my DVD to try to figure out plot points. "Wait . . . if he's in THAT reality then . . . WHAT?!?!?!" So I needed to get clear in my own mind the world. I fixed it essentially by finding my world's rules.

A.L.:
Which one of the characters in In Dreams is your favorite and why?

Erica:
I think it's EVERYONE'S (so far, even Kirkus) favorite character. Aphrodite. She is larger than life and I ADORE her. I wrote that "part" for Melissa McCarthy. Melissa? Are you listening?  :-)  Option my book!

I love Aphrodite because she is completely and totally comfortable in her own skin. AND, even more than that, she loves life, embraces it; she has a zest for living passionately that I try very much to embody in my own life.

A.L.:
Can you tell us a little bit about your journey as an author?

Erica: 
I sold my second completed novel at the beginning of the "chick lit" craze. Spanish Disco. I was kind of surprised that it was labeled as a book about an "anti-heroine." That people found Cassie Hayes as unusual in that regard. I hadn't thought of her that way. Maybe because, I suppose, I am an anti-heroine in my own life if I were going to compare myself to my character. My books have consistently had a high "quirk" factor. Not typical romance heroines in any way, shape, or form. In my book Double Down (re-releasing on Kindle in January), Skye is a compulsive gambler. Cassie in Spanish Disco is definitely flirting with alcoholism and has a "colorful" vocabulary; she's also a tough cookie. Georgia Ray in Diary of a Blues Goddess is a bi-racial wedding singer whose best friend is a drag queen. My journey has been about finding my voice--a voice as oddball as I am. When my kids were hitting elementary school, I wanted them to be part of my writer's journey--so I wrote The Magickeepers trilogy. And I found I truly loved the middle grade--and then YA genre. My journey has been about finding the worlds I want to write about.

A.L.:
What are you working on now?  Sequel? Something new?

Erica:
Something new. A retelling of Beauty and the Beast in a way I have never seen before. VERY dark. Very different. I hope a haunting love story.

A.L.:
Iris, the main character, finds out she's the daughter of the god of dreams.  Which pantheon did you chose to work with and why?

Erica: 
I worked with Greek mythology, obviously. But Epiales (the god of nightmares) and Morpheus (the god of dreams)  . . . have a varied mythology, not as well-developed as, say, Poseidon or Zeus. So I got to play with their story a little bit. Epiales, I hope, looks at nightmares in a new way. What won't you give voice to? Aphrodite talks about how movies like Saw are NOT imaginative. Thinking up torture porn, ways to mutilate WOMEN in new and inventive ways? I don't think it's entertaining. I think our real nightmares are things we can't imagine because we don't even want to WHISPER those thoughts. They're about our loved ones. They're things that make us shiver and then we try to change our thought pattern right away. We don't even want the wisp of that thought in our head.

A.L.:
Do you like Virginia or New York better and why?

Erica:
I like Virginia as a place to raise my children. I've made dear and wonderful friends here that I treasure in my heart and am so grateful for. I am a woman whose female friendships are absolutely sacred to me. But I miss NY. Very much. When I go "home"--and it will ALWAYS be home to me--I almost physically feel myself relax, a SIGH. A soul sigh. I'm home. NYC has a rhythm all its own.

A.L.:
You've written books for almost all ages.  Which age group do you prefer to write for and why?

Erica:
I love writing my adult romantic-comedies. The quirkiness. The dialogue. But I love writing YA because it's a way to communicate with teens--I love that AUDIENCE. And as I said in a speech I gave not too long ago, when I write YA it is a conversation with my teen self. And if you look within the pages of my YA writing, you will see the messages I want to say to that girl.

The Giveaway:
Erica is giving away a copy of IN DREAMS (Int).

In Dreams: Inception meets Unearthly in this hot romance for fans of Meg Cabot’s Abandon Series!

In the land of nightmares, she finds the man of her dreams...
He haunts her in her dreams.
She is always searching, looking for the man who calls her from afar, a disembodied voice who knows everything about her.
But when she discovers the unimaginable secret her family has hidden for so long, her dreams—and her nightmares—invade her reality.
Her true love beckons, but the terrors await her. . . . Can she find him in time, or will their love—and her life—be destroyed?

Sixteen-year-old Iris has a recurring dream a long corridor of many doors, and behind each door a hidden world—some magical, some terrifying. But always she is searching for the man who calls to her—the man of her dreams—who knows everything about her, who stirs feelings in her she’s never felt before. When she discovers her father is actually the god of dreams, her nightmares and dreams follow her into reality, with both frightening and romantic results. Hunted by the god of nightmares, stalked by the horrifying creatures of the underworld, Iris must try to navigate both her worlds, as she tries to finally be with Sebastian, the man of her dreams. Can she triumph over the dangers that have haunted her forever, and be with Sebastian, or will terrors ultimately destroy them both?


Read Goodreads reviews.
Buy on Amazon.
Buy on Barnes and Noble. 

How to Enter:
Enter the giveaway using Rafflecopter. Hit the arrow buttons, follow the prompts, and hit the enter buttons when you're done. (You may have to log in using Facebook to do this). There will be one winner (selected by Rafflecopter). I will contact the winner via email.

a Rafflecopter giveaway