Enter to win a copy of Demigods and Monsters: Your Favorite Authors on Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series, edited by Rick Riordan with Leah Wilson (BenBella, 2008)(PDF excerpt)! Read a Cynsations interview with Rick. From the promotional copy:How are the Greek gods like your middle school principal?
Would you want to be one of Artemis's Hunters?
Why do so many monsters go into retail—and why are they never selling anything a demigod really wants?
At the beginning of The Lightning Thief, Percy Jackson tells us to stop reading: if we suspect we, too, might be demigods, we should put the book down right away. But how can we, when the world he lives in is so much fun?
Spend a little more time in that world—a place where the gods bike among us, monsters man snack bars, and each of us has the potential to become a hero.
Contributors: Kathi Appelt; Rosemary Clement-Moore; Paul Collins; Cameron Dokey; Sarah Beth Durst; Jenny Han; Carolyn MacCullough; Sophie Masson; Elizabeth M. Rees; Nigel Rodgers; Ellen Steiber; and Elizabeth Wein.
To enter the giveaway, email me (scroll and click on the envelope) with your name and snail/street mail address by 10 p.m. CST Dec. 2!
OR, if you're on MySpace or Facebook, you can message me on that network by 10 p.m. CST Dec. 2! But DON'T send in your contact information on MySpace or Facebook. I'll contact you for it if you win. Please also type "Demigods and Monsters" in the subject line.
WBBT Interview: Tony DiTerlizzi by Miss Erin. Peek: "I feel that working in the fashion that was used in creating the Spiderwick books allows the collaborators to use all of their tricks, talents and point of view to create the best book possible. And doing so creates a final story that neither Holly nor I would create on our own--it truly is a hybrid."
Congratulations to the YA authors who made the latest Texas Library Association's Tayshas list! Highlights include: The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong (HarperCollins)(author interview); Shift by Jennifer Bradbury (Atheneum, 2008)(author interview); City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (McElderry, 2007)(author interview); Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey (Atheneum, 2008)(author interview); Bliss by Lauren Myracle (Abrams)(author interview); Breathe My Name by R. A. Nelson; The Ghosts of Kerfol by Deborah Noyes (Candlewick)(author interview); The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson (Holt)(author interview); Impossible by Nancy Werlin (Dial)(author interview).Congratulations to the authors whose books made the Texas Library Association's Lonestar List. Highlights included: The Compound by S. A. Bodeen (Feiwel and Friends, 2008)(author interview); The Found (The Missing, Book One) by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Simon & Schuster, 2008)(author interview); The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson (Holt, 2008)(author interview); the dead and the gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer (Harcourt, 2008)(author interview); Unwind by Neal Shusterman (Simon & Schuster, 2008).
Cover Art Interview with Saundra Mitchell on Shadowed Summer from Book Nymph. Peek: "I used to think I wanted a more classic typeface like Trajan for my cover, but I have grown to love the typeface they used for my title. It's called Cult, and it's so distinctive."
Our Secret Society by Margo Rabb from Books, Chocolates, and Sundries. Peek: "Our (not-so-secret-anymore) Delacorte Dames & Dude Society is featured in Publisher's Weekly! Here are a few outtakes from our photo session." Note: very cute author group pics! Read Cynsations interviews with Shana Burg, Varian Johnson, April Lurie, Margo Rabb, and Jennifer Ziegler.
Cover Stories: Dead Girl Walking by Linda Joy Singleton from Melissa Walker. Peek: "Flux/Llewellyn often asks the author for cover suggestions. Then they let the art department and whoever is at their top secret meetings make the decisions (okay, the meetings probably aren't top secret, but as as author who would love to know what really goes on, they always sound mysterious to me)." Read a Cynsations interview with Linda Joy.Project WISE 2009 - Call for Authors: The Writers' League of Texas seeks authors who want to participate in the 2009 season of Project WISE (Writers In Schools for Enrichment), a program designed to put children's authors in Austin-area public schools at no cost to the school. This program is funded by the Writers' League of Texas and by the City of Austin. Authors are paid an honorarium of $300 for each three-hour visit to a school. Application deadline: Dec. 2. Note: You must be a current WLT member to be considered. See more information.
Isinglass Teen Read List hosted at the Barrington (NH) Public Library. Note: click relevant link on Teen Zone page. Highlights of the 2008-2009 list include Beastly by Alex Flinn (HarperCollins, 2006)(author interview); Warrior Heir by Cinda Chima Williams (Hyperion, 2006)(author interview).
Congratulations to Jessica Leader on the sale of Nice and Mean to Kate Angelella at Simon Mix!
Congratulations to Meredith Davis on being accepted to the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults! Meredith is the founder of Austin SCBWI.
What Color is Your Revision? from R. L. LaFevers. Peek: "I've discovered a enormously helpful new revision tool." Note: I'm going to try this for Blessed Candlewick, TBA)!
Interview with Elizabeth Scott from Becky's Book Reviews. Peek: "...the heart of Living Dead Girl is all about the moments where we see something--someone--that gives us pause, those moments where we know something is wrong...and turn away. That was, and is, the hardest thing to think about."
More Personally
Just for fun, here's one more pic of the Austin SCBWI Holiday Party at BookPeople--illustrator Erik Kuntz, Zack Proton author Brian Anderson, illustrator C. G. "Clint" Young, and YA author Thomas Pendleton AKA Dallas Reed (yes, he's a man of mystery).
Tantalize (Candlewick, 2007, 2008) has received a couple of lovely online mentions of late!
In The Next Dead Thing by Donna Freitas from Publishers Weekly, Valerie Koehler, owner of Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston says "She's having success with Melissa Marr's novels, the Blue Bloods series from Melissa de la Cruz, as well as Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith and Beastly by Alex Finn." Source: Michelle Meadows.In a recent interview with Tami Lewis Brown at Through the Tollbooth, agent Sarah Davies of Greenhouse Literary listed Tantalize among her favorite horror novels and said, "Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith is brilliant in mixing horror with food. A winning combination that somehow really works. The final scene, between Quincie and Kieren, is... Well, you'll just have to read it!" Read the whole interview.
readergirlz and ALA YALSA also partner each year on Operation Teen Book Drop, which asks publishers to donate 500 copies of a title to affiliated hospitals to be distributed among their young adult intensive care and oncology patients. I was thrilled to learn that Candlewick has committed to donating Tantalize (Candlewick, 2007, 2008)! More on that later!
Please come see me at NCTE/ALAN! Details below!
On a dare, Lauren Myracle faces her fear of doing the 'Thriller' dance in public..."
Events
NCTE and Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of NCTE (ALAN) Workshop in San Antonio Nov. 24 to Nov. 25. An event I utterly adore for the depth of discussions, sophistication and dedication of the attendees-leadership, and wonderful company of fellow YA authors. Note: NCTE stands for "National Council of Teachers of English," which has a preceding conference. Please stop by the Candlewick booth at 2:30 p.m. Saturday, where I'll be signing ARCs of Eternal (Candlewick, 2009), and look for me at the ALAN Panel - "Gods, Foods, and Tatoos: The Mixed Mythos of Fantasy" on Monday at 2 p.m. ish at the Marriot Rivercenter (Salon E, Third Floor Room). I'll be speaking with Melissa Marr (author interview) and Rick Riordan (author interview).
More Reminders
Take a Chance on Art: purchase one or more $5 raffle tickets to enter to win illustrator Don Tate's painting "Duke Ellington," and support the Texas Library Association Disaster Relief Fund. Note: it's especially important this year in light of devastation caused by Hurricane Ike. To learn more, read interviews with TLA librarian Jeanette Larson and illustrator Don Tate.Hurricane Ike Recovery Fund for Rosenberg Library in Galveston, Texas. Peek: "The Children's Department, Technical Services, Circulation Department and Operations were located on the first Floor and all are gone. [emphasis added]" See more information. Note: Please consider yourself encouraged to pass on this blurb and link. The media has moved on to other stories, but efforts to deal with the aftermath are ongoing.
Hurricane Ike Library Relief: "Following the destructive visit of Hurricane Ike, Blue Willow Bookshop [in Houston] is initiating a nationwide campaign to rebuild the library collections of Anahuac High School, Freeport Intermediate School and, closer to home, the Alief Hastings 9th Grade Center. These schools lost more than 75% of their collections. Our goal is to have 1,000 books to deliver to these libraries by Dec. 1."
