Musical Zenith

VIA «Foster + Partners have reincarnated in Zenith»

City in a miniature

VIA «Entertaining ecology in Hamburg»

Bristol architect Angus Meek has won competition on restoration of landing stage Weston-super-Mare which have suffered in a fire in July of this year, having bypassed architects of five firms, including Grimshaw. Colourful and the shone 18 metre design which will cost not less than 10 million pounds sterling, has been chosen by owners of a mooring and 59% from 20,000 respondents voting for the project.

Exact data about voting are coded, but on hearings, company Grimshaw, the prize-winner of award Ferguson Mann has received less than 10% of voices, and the others of 31% were divided between AWW and Ray Hole Architects. The won project which consists of four similarity of a column and sidewalk round a building, is considered the most suitable to shape of the pier constructed in 1904.

Angus Meek — the director of company Roger Ellams — has told: “We scooped inspiration from quay elements — waves, beach huts, and also from radical architecture art-deco”. Kerry Michael, one of owners of a mooring, along with sister Michel, has declared, that “they aspired to find modern design which would be entered in historical surroundings of a pier”. This design with four pontoons — the best decision. Owners of a pier finance the project from the money resources private and received under the insurance. Building is planned to finish by 2010.

VIA «Landing Stage by Angus Meek»

Luxury Restaurant in Sydney

Sean Kitchen — the project of studio BEE Design opened in September, 2008 in Sydney.
The head cook and owner Sean Connelly (the Winner of popular competition head cook Sydney Morning Herald in 2007) supervises over this dynamical restaurant.

Sean Kitchen by Sean Connelly

The restaurant consists of the several zones named “contact points”. In each of such zones various variants of a delicatessen and a decor that gives possibility to diversify the menu in the same institution, at invariable quality of service. Zones are named: Tapas Bar, Ocean Shelf, Patio Bar and Lounge.

Restaurant in Sydney (Australia)

The restaurant on 300 places, with the Mediterranean interiors perfectly combines in the interior earthy shades red and brown with sharp illumination.
However the most intriguing aspect of a premise is the openness of area for cooking of the dishes, allowing to observe skillful masters of culinary arts in work and all movement of the kitchen personnel.

VIA «Sean's Kitchen Restaurant»

Fire festival

VIA «Promo-pavilion for the city of Żory»

City design

VIA «Fosters and FXFOWLE have won award World Architecture News»

All the Just Contemporary Giveaways have ended! And here I am to announce the winners! All the winners have been contacted and will have until Monday evening to reply, before I pick new winners. But the winners are:

Far From You Farah M!
Between Here and Forever Nancye Alicia Bonnie Morgan Justine
Antony John — Five Flavors & Road Trip Linna (Road Trip) Tayte (Five Flavors) Thirteen Reasons Why Traci
Fixing Delilah Kara
Stephanie Kuehnert Mera
Yvonne & Sandy Katelyn (The Black Sheep) Sarah (Love, Inc.)
(Trade Secrets) Rabiah Jacque Olga Sarah Through the Haze
Congratulations to everyone! And a huge thank you to everyone who participating in Just Contemporary November!

It's Back! The Second Incarnation of the Award Winning Reads Challenge is here! Who else is totally excited for this?! I know it can't just be me!!:)
Last year, Jacinda and I hosted this reading challenge from May through September. And it rocked. I have personally been meaning to read all the Newbery and Printz books for years. And I've found some absolutely phenomenal books because of it. (Umm hello and thank you — Jellicoe Road, my absolute most favorite book ever.) And last years challenge gave me the motivation I needed to pick my list back up and get reading. (I think I read 16).
Because it was so awesome last year, Jacinda and I decided that this year, it would be a year long challenge of awesome (with extra awesome during the months of the original challenge).
My goal for this year is even bigger. I am so close to finishing both award lists. (Just the winners, not the honors). I only have 4 Printz winners and 13 Newbery winners left to read (including the 2012 winners to-be-announced). I would love to finish these lists next year.
So that is my goal. But I would like to read more than only 17 of the books on the list, so my official goal is going to be 24. That's only 2 a month, totally do-able.:)
To see the books on either list that I've already reviewed on the blog, you can click the corresponding tags below
Newbery Award
Newbery Honor
Printz Award
Printz Honor

And now — Onto the rules!:)

Luxury Bar in Las Vegas

Bar in Las Vegas, work of the Japanese studio “Design Spirits Co., Ltd” became one of winners of competition The Great Indoors Awards. The Chinese restaurant is in one building with very large casino and hotel on 3,300 apartments.

Luxury Relax & Consume

The project has won a nomination “Relax and Consume”. Walls and a ceiling are covered by a white openwork pattern from a steel.

Habitual registration of an interior — division into various zones by means of various "samples". In the given premise there is one magnificent feature — an absolute openness, absence of columns. Designers have decided to use this fact and have issued all interior in uniform style. The space has turned out unique and picturesque.

VIA «The Bar Interiors»

Spaceport for Virgin Galactic

The well-known architectural bureau

VIA «Norman Foster has become interested in lunar architecture»

I am so excited to have a guest post today with Sarah Ockler! She has a really fun post today, in the spirit of love for all genres, which I totally adored and even though Contemporary is my favorite, I do read and love many other genres and I love this post talking about the common threads between all genres.

Contemporary Realism vs. Paranormal & Fantasy: Smackdown or Lovefest?

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As an author of contemporary realistic teen fiction, I'm often asked about the imbalance in the bookstores between contemporary titles and paranormals — yes, those sparkly black covers of awesome. Some have asked me why I write contemporary instead of chasing the fantasy "trend." Others want me to convince them to read one over the other, or defend my own favorites, or talk about why contemporary is so much better.

Some of this is in jest, of course. All in good fun. But sometimes it does feel like there's a bit of rivalry going on, doesn't it?

I'm not sure why. To me, fantasy isn't a "trend" anymore than realism *isn't*, and the only thing that's "so much better" is that teens and adults are reading tons of YA — way more than we used to. A big part of that is availability and choice. Even as recently as ten years ago, bookstores might've only had one YA shelf, or the teen fiction might've been mixed in with the younger children's stuff. Now, it's so popular that it usually has it's own section, and that section includes rows of ever-expanding shelves — plenty of room for magic *and* reality.

My favorite local indie, the Tattered Cover, just expanded its YA section, and they host young adult and middle grade authors almost every month — contemporary, fantasy, scifi, dystopian, romance, mystery — we're all represented, and we're all awesome.: -) Walking down those long shelves stuffed with sparkly black covers, pink ones, white ones, scenic ones, close up kissing ones, monster ones… it just makes me insanely happy to have so many choices for my ever-growing TBR list.

So what about the original question? Smackdown or lovefest?

I say lovefest. I love contemporary realism. I love fantasy, paranormal, and scifi. I love it all. Because in young adult fiction, contemporary realism and paranormal / fantasy are just two sides of the same coin. The difference is in the execution. Maybe your boyfriend broke up with you because the scent of your blood makes him want to tear you apart with his pointy little fangs. Or maybe he just likes another girl. Maybe your parents are getting divorced because Mom discovered that dad is a dark elf plotting to take over the world. Or maybe he just leaves the toilet seat up. These are silly examples, but the point is, the underlying emotional strife is the same. Both types of story explore complex emotions and issues like changing friendships, death, sexuality, sex, heartbreak, addiction, family problems, physical challenges, violence, and economic hardship, to name a few. Both feature multi-layered characters forced by difficult — sometimes life-threatening — external situations to dig deep to uncover their own hidden strengths. Both have the twists and turns and surprises that often come when teens experience new situations for the first time. And let's not overlook the best part — all the kissing. Sexy vampires, beautiful witches, six-pack-ab-rockin' shapeshifters, and plain old regular humans… there's plenty of romance to swoon over in most young adult fiction. Team Kissing, are you with me? Yes!

So whether you're typically into contemporary realism or paranormal, whether you like your boys human or bloodsucking, whether you go gaga for girls with wings or wands or just plain old pom poms, whether you're reading about transgender issues or trans-species ones, whether you like escaping to the beaches of California or the halls of Hogwarts, I encourage you to read a bit more of… well… everything. This is a lovefest, after all. Let's show some love!

Need a few recommendations? Check out the newly posted Best Teen Books of 2011 over at Kirkus. Editor Vicky Smith says, "With shelves fairly groaning under the weight of paranormal love triangles, it may be easy to think that books for teens are all the same these days. Not so, we are delighted to report. In sifting through the piles of great books published for teens this year, I was happy to discover soulful romance of the utterly normal kind, deliciously frothy historical novels, piercingly intelligent nonfiction, thrillingly inventive fantasy and science fiction and some great kickass horror, as well as some books that may leave you weeping with laughter."

Some of my faves from the list are Misfit, Winter Town, Virtuosity, Anna Dressed in Blood, and Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and many more are on my TBR list. There's something for everyone over there. Happy reading!
~ Sarah Ockler

Author of Twenty Boy Summer, Fixing Delilah, and the upcoming Bittersweet (which features the special magic of cupcakes and hockey boys… mmmmm...)

Thank you again Sarah, so very much! I love it!:)

And for all my awesome readers, Sarah has been generous enough to donate a signed paperback of Fixing Delilah to one luck winner! This is a phenomenal book, absolutely amazing, and I'm already excited for whoever wins this one!

Enter Below. Like all Just Contemporary Giveaways, it will end Dec 10th. This is also only open to US/CN.

I read Antony's Five Flavors of Dumb earlier this year and was blown away. It is seriously amazing and I loved it. So of course I wanted to get Antony on board for Just Contemporary and he has been totally awesome to work with! He is an author that will be on my stalk watch list for the rest of forever! You can read my review of Five Flavors of Dumb here, and later today I will be posting my review of his upcoming novel, Thou Shalt Not Road Trip.

Five Flavors of Dumb is an awesome novel and the basic idea — a deaf band manager — is something unexpected. How did you get the idea for Dumb and what made you decide to make Piper deaf. (Or did you decide...)

First off, thanks for the HUGE compliment, and a big hi to all your readers. Since I often read your blog, that includes me. *waves at self*

Okay, moving on...

Before I started writing, I was heavily into music. As in, I have a Ph.D. in it. I always knew I wanted to write a YA novel about rock music, but as my agent ever-so-gently reminded me, there are quite a few of those already. So I sat down with my wife (who is much smarter than me) and asked if she had any ideas. Straight away, she suggested that if I wanted a true challenge, I should consider writing about music from a deaf teen's perspective.

I knew straight away that she was right. Still, it took another four months of research before I dared to write it!

Dumb has gotten a lot of attention and love (and least in the blogging world). How does it feel, knowing that a book you wrote has resonated so strongly with such a large and varied group of people?

It feels wonderful! And you’re right... it really is a varied group. I’ve had messages from deaf and hearing readers, young and old.

But it’s also a relief. When the book came out, I was nervous. I mean, really nervous. What if deaf teens felt misrepresented? What if just one said, “That’s not how it really is”? I knew I’d feel like I’d let them down. Realistically, no more than a handful of books featuring deaf narrators will be released each year. If mine had failed to give deaf teens a narrator they could root for, and failed to shed light on deafness for hearing teens, then it would have been worse than a flawed novel. It would have been a wasted opportunity. The first is inadvisable; the second, inexcusable.

The fact that the book resonated with readers has enabled me to sleep again at night. (So thanks, bloggers!)

I actually just realized that you had a novel come out before Dumb (saw the title in the signature of your email, actually) called Busted: Confessions of an Accidental Player. Have anything you'd like to share with us about your debut?

It’s definitely funny. And fast-paced. But Five Flavors of Dumb is better. Can we leave it at that?

Your third book, Thou Shalt Not Road Trip is coming out next year. What has been the difference in your experience waiting for each book release?

Ooh, what an interesting question...

I think with my debut novel, I wasn’t sure what to expect. There’s so much that goes on around the book (i.e. publicity, distribution, trade reviews, etc) that I felt swamped.

With #2 (Five Flavors of Dumb) I was better prepared, and I knew that the book was much stronger, so I was just excited, rather than freaked out. I was also impatient, I suppose (a common trait among writers, I've heard).

For book #3 (Thou Shalt Not Road Trip) it’s different again. Dumb is still going strong, and so I’m going to be busy answering questions about that, and doing school visits connected with it. Plus, the paperback has only just come out, so it’s certainly not an “old” book yet. At the same time, the ARC of book #4 (see below) will be coming out at the same time as Road Trip, so I’ll be dealing with that too. In other words, it’ll be a really interesting (and possibly chaotic) period. But I still can’t wait!

What inspired Road Trip?

Growing up, I spent a lot of time at church as a member of the choir. Because of that, I was privy to a lot of really interesting theological discussions, not all of which made a whole lot of sense to me.

Oh, and I adore road trips. Route 66 is a national treasure. So...

I had an idea of a smart, religious sixteen-year-old boy named Luke who writes a bestseller called Hallelujah. To capitalize on the success, his publisher sends him on a road trip along Route 66. Trouble is, his older brother is driving, and the guy has some serious baggage (no, I’m not talking about suitcases). Then Luke’s ex-crush, Fran, hitches a ride. Suddenly the road trip is veering off-course as fast as the curveball questions at his turbulent book signings.

It’s funny, slightly crazy, but also (I hope) thought-provoking.

Why Contemporary?

Contemporary YA is my first love (in terms of books, I mean). There’s such extraordinary variety, and room for everything from laugh-out-loud comedy to highly literary explorations of personal tragedy.

To be honest, it’s far too broad to be a single genre, and it benefits from that, I think.

Whereas readers of adult genres often confine themselves to their favorite sections of the bookstore, fans of contemporary YA might be surprised by a book that’s a romance, another that’s a thriller, another that’s a comedy, and so on. I reckon that exposure to multiple kinds of book has to be a healthy thing for teen readers especially.

Aside from the writing itself, what would you say has been the most challenging part of being a writer?

That would have to be staying on top of publicity. I do regular tour events, school visits, even Skype appearances with book clubs. I love it too, but almost every one requires a lot of organization, and there’s never a day when I can focus exclusively on writing. I think this is maybe the one aspect of being a published author that most writers underestimate. Again, though... I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Are you working on book 4 now? Any details you can share with us?

Yes, indeed! Book 4, titled Elemental, is almost finished, and will be released in fall 2012. It’s the first in a fantasy trilogy set on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It tells the story of a colony in which everyone is born with powers of the elements—earth, water, wind, and fire—except for one boy who is powerless... or is he? I’m so psyched about it I can barely see straight.

Thanks so much for having me along today, Ashley!

Website: http://www.antonyjohn.net
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Antony-John/124596187591570

You are so welcome Antony! Thank you so much for participating! This was such a great interview! I loved it! Also, I'm really intrigued by book 4! I'm always a little apprehensive when a favorite writer switches genres (because I'm a huge baby: P) but it sounds awesomeand I've always loved stuff that ties into the elements like that! It sounds amazing!! And now — YOU have a chance to win a copy of one of Antony's novels! He's offering a signed copy of both Dumb and Road Trip to two different winners! It's only open to US/CN and just enter below!

I like mini-reviews. I don't do them terribly often, partly because I talk/type too much to be consistent with 'mini' anything, but I also have a lot of books that I would love to spotlight during Just Contemporary, so I'm chearing and doing three.:)

These three books are completely different from each other, and have pretty much nothing in common besides being Contemporary and books that Ashley very much enjoyed and since those are the 'requirements' for posts in November, I'm totally doing it!

It is not even kind of a secret that I love Lisa Schroeder. Like, a lot. I've read all her books, I've loved all her books and I talk about her all the time. But I was a tiny bit nervous to read It's Raining Cupcakes because it's very different from her other books. Not only is it MG, but it's also written in prose, not verse. But, it was a Lisa book and I wanted to read it, so I did. And it was seriously so charming and delightful and just so much fun.
At first I thought it was just going to be a light fluffy book about cupcakes and baking, but there was quite a bit more to the story, which surprised me. Isabel want to enter a baking contest that will get the winner sent to New York. She has always dreamed about going places and this would be an absolute dream come true for her. But her best friend, Sophie, who always seems to get whatever she wants is going to enter too. And Isabel has some great ideas for recipes to send, but her mom, who has just opened up a cupcake shop wants her to submit a cupcake recipe because it would be great publicity. And Mom is heavy on the guilt trip, and Mom is (in Ashley's opinion) depressed (although it's hard to nail down exactly what she is, or how to explain it) and Isabel needs to decide where her priorities lie. And that's something that's hard for a 12 year old to learn, and in this instance, while I totally understood where the mom was coming from, I was also really upset at how selfish I felt she was.
So, this is yet another win from Lisa Schroeder. It's completely and totally different in style, feel, and tone than her other novels but it's definitely worth a read.

Overprotected by Jennifer Laurens is a book that really surprised me. I've always been pretty upfront about the fact that I don't generally read books that are very romance heavy, but I won a copy of this from the author and it just really appealed to me for some reason, so I picked it up and I just loved it! It was exactly what I was in the mood for (how great is it when that happens?!) and it just made me happy. I don't know that I would have liked it so much if I had read it at any other time, but as it stands, I seriously enjoyed it.
It's very definitely a romance novel for teens and the romance is the most important part of the story. But it didn't really bother me this time around. It was a fun book with interesting characters (even if I probably wouldn't want to know a single one of the IRL) and the 'danger' that Ashlyn's father perceives her to be in is just real enough to be believable. But I will say that Ashlyn's dad is a major creeper. He didn't really feel like an overprotective father to me. He felt more like a jealous and possessive lover/ex-boyfriend which seriously igged me out. He's obsessed with her, with keeping her close and making sure that she belongs to him. Seriously — CREEPY!
I will also say that I was initially worried about Colin and Ashlyn falling for each other, because how could you want to be with someone that is not only okay with creeper dad keeping you totally locked up, but being the one who enables the locking up. But Daddy misleads Colin and he is not aware of the full extent of his job until he gets there. He thought he was going to be more bodyguard, less prison guard, which made me feel better about their situation.
I honestly wasn't expecting to like this one as much as I did, but it was the perfect book at exactly the right moment and I had a lot of fun reading it.

Choker by Elizabeth Woods is the most different and the heaviest of these three novels. It's a Contemporary story but it is also a bit of a thriller type. (which are also Contemporary, but seem to get their own genre... Greedy, aren't they). In Choker, Cara is kind of an awkward loner. She hasn't had any really good friends since she moved away from her best friend in 5th grade (or thereabouts) and now she is either ignored or teased by the other kids at school. It's tough being that kid. There's nothing necessarily wrong with her, she's just that shy, quiet kid that no one really talks to. But then her old best friend shows up in her room. Some bad stuff was happening at home and she's run away and come to Cara for a safe haven. They don't tell Cara's parents because Zoe is very probably in some real trouble and doesn't want anyone to know where she is. And then some seriously weird and freaky stuff starts happening.

I was surprised by this book because a lot of it caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting the story to go where it did, and watching the dynamic between Cara and Zoe was very unsettling. Zoe is not a very nice person and although she's the best friend Cara ever had, even Cara is starting to get weirded out by her. Cara is a character that I think people can, at least initially, relate to. She's an outsider with a crush on one of the cutest boys in school, no one notices her and when they do finally start paying attention to her, it's to be mocking and cruel. My heart went out to her, but she definitely makes a bunch of bad decisions.

And then the ending. I kept waiting for something to happen and I thought I knew what it would be. And then, it wasn't. At all. And maybe I should have seen it coming, but I totally didn't and it was definitely one of those, like, whoa moments for me.

If you are looking for something a little out of the norm, this is one that is definitely worth looking into. It's not going to be for everyone, and I get that. But I for one was most definitely a fan.

I am soincredibly excited to have Stephanie on my blog today! She is amazing. I read Ballads of Suburbia earlier this year and was completely blown away by the book and the stories within the story. Stephanie wrote such a raw and emotional book that I was consumed by it for days and now I talk about it all the time. (Wanna read my review? :) ) So, when I got the idea for Just Contemporary, I knew that I wanted to ask Stephanie to be a part of it and I made embarrassing noises she emailed me yes!:)

Here are some links to places where you can see more of Stephanie — Her website, her blog, Rookie an online magazine she writes for (and is crazy excited about, with good reason to be), and Twitter. And now — The Interview:

I've heard you mention before that Ballads of Suburbia is a deeply personal book, one that a lot of you went into writing. What was it like, to write a book like that? A book that used so much of you? Did that make it easier or harder to write that I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone?

It was definitely a lot harder to write than IWBYJR, though that book dealt with some pretty hefty things, too, so there were some scenes that were difficult, but all of Ballads was hard. I mean I guess writing the setting was easier because unlike with IWBYJR, I wasn't making it up, I was writing about the place I lived during the time I lived there, so it was all in my memory, but that was the only easy part about that book. Early on, I worried a lot that I didn't want to make it too autobiographical. Fortunately as soon as I stopped thinking about it and started really creating the characters, especially through their ballads, I was relieved to find that they were all fictional... Well, Kara has a lot in common with me, but her story is different. Then it was time for revisions and the main feedback I got from my editor on it was something like "get closer to Kara's emotions, get into her head and really let us feel what she's feeling." At first I was all mad, thinking, I did that! Kara's head was basically my head when I was a teenager. But then I reread it and realized I'd actually held back a lot during my first few drafts, not intentionally but because I didn't want to go back there. The things I dealt with as a teenager, primarily the depression and the self-injury affected me into my early twenties. I'd felt like I'd healed, but probably only about five years before I was working on Ballads, so I had those emotions locked up pretty carefully and I knew it would be scary to revisit them. I reread old journals and things I wrote about cutting to get into Kara's mindset. I actually got so scary close to her that I was exhausted both mentally and physically when I finished the revision. When I was a teenager I'd had an ulcer form from all the stress and that ulcer had healed in my mid-twenties, but started acting up again after I finished Ballads. It really was the hardest thing I've ever done, but as a result, it is also the thing I am most proud of.

Does I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone draw from your personal experiences the way that Ballads did?

Both books in a way are me looking at my own life and saying "What could have happened if... " With Ballads it was, "What could have happened if I did heroin more than once" because in real life I did it one time and it scared the shit out of me, so I sobered up completely for the rest of high school. With IWBYJR it was, "What would have happened if I actually could have learned to play the music I loved so much." If Kara from Ballads was the girl I was was, then Emily from IWBYJR is the girl I wanted to be. However, I actually have more in common with Louisa. Without giving the book away, I'll say that Louisa is carrying an awful secret that has to do with a guy she dated in high school, while I dated a guy who didn't do quite as bad things as this guy, he did some pretty bad things to me and while I didn't do what she did to the guy, I still came away from the situation, well to put it bluntly, really fucked up and I ran away in a manner of speaking for awhile, but not as long as Louisa did. Once again, with her I projected, "What would have happened if I never came to terms with that guy did to me... " I know that a lot of readers really don't like or relate to Louisa, but I actually feel for her because that could have been me. For the most part though, IWBYJR came from my love of punk rock, especially girl bands like Sleater-Kinney whose song "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone" I named the book after. I dreamed of a world where they would take over the mainstream rock airwaves.

Did you have a goal while writing either of these books? A specific message or meaning you hoped people would take away from the experience? Or were they just stories that needed telling?

They were just stories that needed telling. I honestly wrote both books because they were the books I needed as a teenager. I was a punk kid and I wanted there to be this big girl rock revolution, and would have loved reading about it, so I wrote it. On a more serious note, my friends and I were dealing with some pretty heavy stuff like the characters in Ballads, but in the mid-90s there weren't really YA books that dealt with that or if they did, they were all preachy and after-school special like. I just wanted to see someone like who survived so that I could draw strength from that. I wrote that story to give voice to teenage me and all the other teenagers like me who weren't seeing their stories out there.

Do you look back on either of these novels and see things you would like to change? Things you wish you would have done differently?

There is one minor character in IWBYJR that I wanted to kill off, but my agent told me not to. I still sort of wish I had. I can't really say more without spoilers. There are probably sentences or words here or there that I might change just because everyone grows as a writer (hopefully) so I might see a phrase as awkward or overwritten now that I didn't back then, but if I intentionally looked for that stuff it would make me crazy, so I don't. I am very proud of those books. I told the stories I wanted to tell. The only thing I wish is that I'd fought harder for them to be marketed more as YA. Sometimes they were in the adult sections of book stories and libraries and I want more teens to be able to find them.

I know the 'Bartender Book' is considered to be more Women's Fiction than YA, but is there crossover appeal? Are the people (specifically the teens) who enjoyed your previous novels likely to want to read the Bartender Book?

I must say that the Bartender Book isn't the actual title, I'm just being all secretive about that because I'm afraid of jinxing it, but yeah it is set a lot in a bar, so that and the fact that the main characters are 18 and 38 makes it "women's fiction" rather than YA, but like IWBYJR it is a mother/daughter story. The mother is in the story a lot more than Louisa was in IWBYJR because the chapters alternate, but the mother is actually a lot more like a teenager than the daughter. I actually tried to inject a bit more humor into it because I had to after writing a book like Ballads or that ulcer would come back for good, but it's not a "light" book by any means
It deals with a lot of the same issues as my other books though, like finding a home or place to fit in, coping with grief and life not turning out like how you thought it would be. I'm pitching it as "an edgier version of The Gilmore Girls." So if you liked that show and/or if you like my other books, I think you'll like this one. At least I hope so!

Any hints or ideas you can give us for what is in the works next?

The Bartender Book is only just going on submission, so I'm not deep into anything else yet. I have three ideas... No, two, I think I've successfully limited it down to two. They are both YA, so a YA project is definitely next. They are both the edgy, real-life type of stories that readers have come to expect from me, but both would have a paranormal/magical realism twist to them because I have always admired Francesca Lia Block and wanted to add some small element of strangeness to the very real contemporary issues that my characters are dealing with. Though I love reading paranormal and sci-fi books, I'm kind of afraid to dip more than my feet into those waters, but I feel like I should at least deep my feet in and challenge myself if that makes sense.

Other than the writing itself, what is the hardest part of being a writer.

Honestly there are a lot of hard parts. Waiting is hard. Things happen at a snail's pace in publishing. Rejection is super hard and so is reading really nasty reviews. I am not a thick-skinned person and that is why I would say hardest of all is the self-doubt and the worrying. Even though I have two books published, I worry that I am not good enough to get published again. I worry that I will never be successful enough as a writer to properly make ends meet and should get a more reliable job. I worry that I will run out of ideas or start to suck. I worry that deep down I really do suck, but have been managing to squeak by somehow. In short, there is a lot of self-doubt and worrying that goes along with writing for me. But I do my damnedest to push past it because I love telling stories, I don't know what I would do if I couldn't write.

Anything else you'd like to add or share with us?

I just want to thank you for having me and supporting contemporary fiction!

You are so welcome Stephanie and thank you so very much for being a part of this event! You are amazing and I for one am very grateful that you keep writing! Can't wait to read your next book!

And now — The giveaway! Because Stephanie is all kinds of awesome, she has donated a signed copy of either of her books, winners choice! How awesome is that?! Both are amazing and I'm so excited that you will have a chance to win!

To enter, fill out the Rafflecopter below! It's open US/CN only will end Dec 10 and there are chances for extra entries!! I promise, you don't want to miss this one! Here is the link to Rookie , the online magazine. Going there will get you extra giveaway entries!

It is now September, which means Danya, from A Tapestry of Words has started Psychtember! I've already posted for her a few times, and there shall be more to come, both from Danya and from myself soon.

But for now-

My first guest post was about Depression in YA and how it's represented, along with misconceptions people have about depression, especially that people thinks it's just a case of the sads to 'get over'.

You probably already saw the big one here on my blog, but I also wrote a post about my frustrations with the representation of OCD in YA. The post on my blog (read it here) is very long and is a full on rant, but the guest post on Danya's blog is shorter and a bit less... angry. I do still make a lot of the same points, but there are differences as well.

And finally for Psychtember, I wrote a guest review of Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann, and talked both about the book and about the way I felt McMann handled OCD. (and if you can't guess from the ranty guest post right before it, IMO, it wasn't done very well...)

Next, Meredith from Mint Tea and A Good Book did a little interview with me, and asked some fun questions for her new Blogger Detour feature! If you want to know a bit more about me, go check it out!!

And finally-

I have an ARC of Shut Out by Kody Keplinger sitting here, next to me, just begging me to send it to another person who can read it. Books like to be read, ya know. They thrive on touch, just like people... (You can read my review of Shut Out here)

SO, if you would like a chance to win Shut Out, just leave me a comment! But please, Make it something interesting! No offense, but I find the — Thanks for the contest! — comments to be boring. So, tell me that you read one of my guest posts, tell me that you think my blog title is too long and/or that the shortened version (Basically Amazing Ashley) is pretentious. Tell me that you loved Melina Marchetta's Jellicoe Road (we can be best friends!) Tell me that you hated Where the Red Fern Grows (actually... don't... That was my absolute favorite book as a child, and I might accidentally delete your comment... ;) )

But, I digress... SO to enter to win an ARC of Shut Out ALL you have to do is leave me a comment. An interesting comment. And, having your email address or Twitter name would be awesome as well, because that will give me a way to get in touch with you if you do happen to win.

The giveaway will last until I draw a winner.;) It will be open for a full week, with the winner being drawn sometime next Sunday, September 18th.

Edit — (sorry!!) This giveaway is open Internationally!:)

Hey all! Today is the official end of the Award Winning Reads Challenge. I've had a lot of fun hosting the challenge and I'm so glad that Jacinda from The Reading Housewives agreed to co-host!

I do want to encourage people to continue reading from the lists, whether it's a goal to read every book on the lists, just one list, only winners, or even just to pay especial attention to winners for possible reading choices. Honestly, there have been some books I picked up only because they were on the list and I didn't enjoy them. But, there have also been some that I wouldn't have picked up without the list that I have absolutely loved. And you know what, Jellicoe Road, which is one of my all time absolute favorite books is a book I picked up because of it's Printz Award. I might have read it anyway, but it was on my radar because of the Printz and it is such an amazing book. I can list so many others that are like that for me, and I love these two lists.

I strongly encourage participants of the challenge to keep going, and non-participants to maybe pick up some of the list books (I'm more than happy to recommend good starting places, if you'd like!:) ) and let's keep giving these two lists some love!:)

Anyway, at the last check in, I mentioned that I had read 16 award winners, and was hoping to finish off the Printz list. But... alas. I didn't get any new reading done, but I'm still very satisfied with the progress that I've made! I think I'll have to reform my goal for the end of the year, and we'll see where that gets me.:)

So now — We have the final check-in/accounting and giveaways! If you'd like to write up a finish line blog post, we'd love to see it! Love to hop over and check out your progress. If you don't have a blog, or don't want to write a post, just go ahead and fill out the form below. Jacinda and I will be contacting the winners of the giveaways this Saturday, the 10th, which gives you a week to fill out the form.

If you completed your challenge level, you are entered to win a giveaway for your level. If you signed up for the challenge, but didn't complete it, you are still entered to win a randomly drawn prize.

AND, if you read any of the award winners from the list I posted in the initial sign up post, you are entered to win a special giveaway, just from me! So make sure you list all the books read in the form or your completion post and show us links to your reviews, no matter where they got posted so we can tally it all up!:)

Also, please let me know if you have any questions! Thank you all for participating! Let me know if this is something you'd like to see happen again next year!:)

Make sure you don't forget to link up! Link your finish line posts, and/or any reviews!!:)

This is the last official Award Winning Wednesday of the challenge! I've loved having a reason to review an award winner once a week, since I read so many of them! I hope you all have enjoyed them as much as I have! So, be sure to wrap up your reading, wrap up your reviews and link up!

For my last official AWW post, I decided to review Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King which won a Printz Honor this year. It's the story of Vera, a teenage girl who just wants to make it through high school and out of her town as far off the radar as she can. But things don't always work out, and when her best friend Charlie starts acting like a total pr*ck and then has the nerve to up and die on her, she's left totally conflicted about what she's supposed to feel, what she wants to feel, and what she wonders if she's allowed to feel.

First, let me just say that I absolutely love the way this book was written! Like, seriously. Vera is the main character and the main narrator, but every few chapters we get A word from the dead kid (aka dead ex-best friend Charlie), advice and discussion from the dad (complete with flow charts) and a few thoughts from the Pagoda (yup. An inanimate architectural eyesore gives us a commentary). And each of them are given their own distinct voice, their own attitudes, their own way of speaking that I didn't need the headers announcing which narrator was being given voice, because it was just so surely theirs that it couldn't have been anyone else talking.

The story itself is also so well told. This is again why I love Contemporary YA. Seriously. It's a raw and emotional story of trying to deal with all the crap life throws at you in high school, and Vera has definitely had her share of the major crap. As the story progresses and you learn more and more of what Vera has gone through, more and more of what happened with her and Charlie, or to Charlie, the more your heart breaks and the more you just sit there and hope that there is going to be a way to happily settle the story. But when several of the chapters are narrated by the dead kid, it's not like he's going to be coming back.: (

But even with that, Vera is such a strong character. She is the type of person that I would love to know in real life. She's got just enough attitude and sarcasm to be funny and witty without being obnoxious or a total b*tch. One of my favorite lines from the book, one that I feel illustrates the large angst of the novel as well as both Vera and Charlie as characters perfectly is — "Let me tell you — if you think your best friend dying is a bitch, try your best friend dying after he screws you over. It's a bitch like no other."-pg. 7 And that right there my friends, is Vera.

I honestly and truly cannot think of one single thing that I didn't love about this book. Everything about it feel authentic and believable and it's just so incredibly real. This is a book that I could read over and over again and never tire of. There is just so much to this story and I absolutely loved it. Honestly and truly, Please Ignore Vera Dietz has been one of my favorite recent reads. This is the type of book that makes me love reading award lists. Because without the Printz Honor, I might have missed this one. It wasn't really one I'd seen around a lot. But it would have been a shame to have missed this one, and it's one that I highly recommend you go out and read. Now. (But no, seriously... Make this one a priority. If you haven't read it, go. Get it. Read it.)

Today's Award Winning Wednesday post is the first that isn't being written about books I read during this challenge. I read two of Jim Murphy's award winners long before this challenge started. But, since the Newbery Non-fiction winners get a little overlooked (in my opinion) I wanted to talk about some of it today.

Jim Murphy wrote The Great Fire (the big Chicago fire) and An American Plague (about the yellow fever epidemic in 1793). He's written many, many other books, but these are his Newbery Honor winners that I've read. (He might have one or two more, but I can't remember off hand).

I believe Jim Murphy to be a pretty much perfect writer of non-fiction for children. His writing is very easy to follow, easy to understand but it isn't basic. He doesn't dumb the history down, or assume that his readers are going to be stupid. And, something I believe to be very important when writing history for young kids — he tells the history like a story. It makes it more interesting for kids (... for adults too, actually) and the storyline is easier to follow because it's not just a parade of facts.

And Jim includes 'characters'. He'll pull real life experiences and thoughts/writings from people who lived through the event and include their experiences, and when possible, he includes photographs of them. It gives people something to latch onto, something to focus and follow, and I think it works wonderfully.

Murphy's books also include a lot of pictures, maps and writings from the actual event, and most pages include at least a small image. It gives you something to focus on and it gives you a frame of reference. In The Great Fire, every so often there is a full two page sized map of Chicago, and it shows the spread of the fire as you read about it in the book. So the street names and locations that Murphy mentions are more meaningful, because you can see the fire overtake them on these maps.

These are really great books to give to kids interested in the history of a time period, or for kids needing to write a report and unsure how to research. (More on him later, but Russell Freedman is also a Newbery nonfiction author, although he does biographies and is great to keep in mind if you work with kids) I'm interested in reading more by Murphy, even some if his that aren't Newbery titles. These are great for kids, and great starting points for adults who are interested to learn more. I highly recommend Murphy.

I'm hosting a contest as part of
Enna Isilee's Birthday Bash 2011
Presented by Squeaky Books
From August 22nd until September 22nd Enna Isilee at Squeaky Books is having a HUGE bash to celebrate her birthday! There’s a giveaway nearly EVERY DAY, tons of author interviews, and guest posts from a bunch different YA book bloggers. And I get to host a contest!

Dude — You guys, I love Enna! She's one of my favorite bloggers, so when she started asking around for people to host contests as part of her birthday celebration? I was definitely excited. And then, when I found out that Zoe Marriott was one of the authors participating, (who you should definitely know that I adore) and that I could get to have her contest be mine?! Sigh. It's like it was meant to be!

So my giveaway? I get to give away a copy of ANY of Zoe Marriott’s books! Entering is simple, just fill out the form (with optional bonus entries). THIS GIVEAWAY IS INTERNATIONAL! See that right there?! International folks! ANY one can enter my giveaway! Most of the contests this month will be US only, but mine is open anywhere! You have until September 21st at 11:59 MST to enter. All winners will be announced on Enna Isilee's birthday (September 22nd) on Enna Isilee's blog (Squeaky Books) . And today, Ennalee interviewed Zoe at Squeaky Books. You should totally go check it out.

Want to know more about Zoe’s Books ? in my blog!

Without further ado, enter to win! Click below.

in my blog to enter

Hey everyone! It's now August, which means month two of the AWR Challenge has just ended. I hope you all are doing well and on track to meet your goals!:)

I would love to hear about how well everyone is doing with their challenges! Feel free to link any reviews after this post, and link up your July check-in as well! I want to know how everyone is doing!

Since the beginning of the challenge, I have read 16 award winners. 8 of those have been from the Printz list, 8 have been from the Newbery list and 3 have been rereads. I know that I have met my goal of 12 books in three months, but I'd like to do even more. I'm only three books away from having read each of the Printz Award winners (although I've still got about 25 of the honors to read) and I'd love to finish the list by the end of the challenge. I own two of the winning books that I've yet to read, and my library has a copy of the third.

As for the Newbery list, it's significantly larger, but I've also been working on it longer. But, I'm really close. At least, I feel close. I only need to read 13 books to finish that list (and I haven't even counted the Honors I'm missing). I'd like to get closer to finishing this list as well by the end of the challenge and think I'll set my goal for this list to 2, maybe 3 additional books my Labor Day.

Wish me luck!: P

Don't forget to write your own post, link up and let me know if you have any questions! I'm always good for a recommendation or a book push!:)