Dermot Nolan is a New York Times bestselling author who is suffering from a bit of writers block. He's already spent the million dollar advance he received from his publisher His bestselling book is being made into a movie. All of this success should be inspiring, but his creative juices are tapped out.

Then one day, Nolan notices an old man depositing something into his mailbox. It's a manuscript detailing a series of horrific murders. Each murder is described in such vivid detail Nolan begins to wonder if they are real. The killer refers to himself as the The Dream Healer, and his Web site promises individuals relief from their nightmares. Unknowing victims log on to this site and reveal their nightmares, in real time, to The Dream Healer. Those suffering from nightmares due receive a release from their nightmares, but not the way they intended. The Dream Healer hunts them down and kill them by reinacting their nightmares.

Nolan's wife, Neela, and his long-time friend Nick encourage Nolan to use the manuscript as a basis for his new novel. Nolan begins to research this crimes and discovers evidence the crimes were real. He allows the book to be published and it's an instant bestseller. However, The Dream Healer hasn't stopped killing. When a number of crimes detailed in Nolan's novel take place, he becomes a person of interest. His life and the lives of those he loves are put in danger. What will it take to stop The Dream Healer?

I was lucky enough to meet Shane Briant at BEA. He took the time to come up and introduce himself to me at the blogger signing booth. He wanted to thank me for agreeing to review his book. I have to admit, I was a bit stunned at first. Never had I been thanked before writing a review. What if I didn't like the book!? In the end, I did...I loved it. It was an honor to have met him!

I read Worst Nightmares

while on vacation. It's not a short book, 352 pages, but I literally read it in one sitting. Briant's writing is chilling, his descriptions are so vivid and detailed that I literally had to stop and catch my breath. Not for the weak at heart, but a must for someone who craves excitement and a thrill. Be sure to lock your doors first though!

Shane Briant is definitely an author to watch. I hear a sequel is in the making and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy! And like Nolan's bestseller, I hope this one hits the movie screen!

I happen to have an extra copy of Worst Nightmares

to give away to one lucky reader.

To enter, you must answer the following question: What is your worst nightmare (I promise I won't send THE DREAM HEALER after you!)?

The rules:

• entries must contain an email address. Entries that do not will be deleted
  
• for an extra point, blog and/or tweet about it. Be sure to include a link to your post/tweet in your comment.
  
• US and Canadian residents only.
  
• Contest will end Friday, July 31st.

  A winner will be announced on this blog on Saturday, August 1st.
  

Penelope, who was born in a suburb of Madrid, first worked with Johnny a decade ago in movie Blow and they have remained close friends ever since - so she explained she jumped at the chance to work with him again on Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
She explained: 'When I first came to America I only knew two phrases in English. One was, "How are you?" and the other was, "I want to work with Johnny Depp."
'Then after I worked with him on Blow, I learned how to say, "I want to work with Johnny Depp again!" He’s very addictive and he just gets better and better over the years.'
Shiver me timbers: Penelope plays Angelica in the movie, an old flame of Johnny's Captain Jack Sparrow, and the daughter of Ian McShane's Blackbeard
However, she explained there was a slight problem with working with him again - trying not to laugh during shooting.
She told the Mirror: 'The only problem is he has a very peculiar sense of humour – and even though I know all his tricks, he can still crack me up.
'I can’t stop laughing when we are working so we had a few problems on the set. One time we were stuck for two hours and couldn’t finish the scene because we couldn’t stop laughing.'

Avast me hearties! Huge banners advertising Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides went up on the facade of the Carlon Hotel in Cannes ahead of the 64th Cannes Film Festival this month
Oscar-winner Penelope also revealed that they have a shared love of animated comedy show South Park - and Johnny created a fancy dress outfit based on the show's Mr Hanky The Christmas Poo that she had to wear as a forfeit on set.
Penelope laughed: 'Johnny made this outfit for me and we had a bet which I lost. And I had to wear the Poo outfit on the set.
Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides opens in cinemas on May 18.


source :dailymail

VIA Penelope Cruz on dream job with Pirates Of The Caribbean star

Help me welcome Susan Niz to the blog today, author of Kara, Lost, a story about a 16 year old who runs away from home. Susan was kind enough to stop by and answer some questions about herself and about her new novel.

Why do you write?

I believe that I was born to write. I notice details and I like to imagine people’s stories, which I think has to do with a fascination with analyzing emotions, reactions, and relationships. Also, I’ve been through so many crazy things that I could keep writing forever. And because my life is stable now, allowing me the opportunity to write.

Have you always wanted to be a writer? If you couldn't write, what would be your 'dream job'?

I have always wanted to be a writer. When I was three or four, I would staple together any kind of scrap paper, scribble a title on the cover, and imagine that it was my own book that I had written. I became a teacher and taught for many years. I found many aspects of teaching to be very fulfilling; teachers can really make a difference for kids.

I would like to be a baker, a musician, an artist, a textile weaver, or design educational children’s toys. I don’t necessarily have the skills for most of those jobs. Ideally, I would get paid to do something where I could collaborate creatively with other people.

The story in Kara, Lost is not a light-hearted book, and Kara's journey sounds like a truly painful one. Why this story? Why did you need to share this story with the world?

I ran away from home when I was sixteen and was homeless for a few months. Kara’s story is fiction, but I told my story through Kara’s voice. I felt driven to get the story out of me, to try to make some sense of it, to share it with other people, and to put it out in the world so that it wasn’t just living in a shameful place inside me. I feel liberated by the process, but it wasn’t clean or easy. Writing my story as fiction allowed me to explore motivations, causes and effects, and emotions in a way that was a little less personal and not tied to ideas of blame.

What does it feel like, knowing that your book is now in print and soon to be read by people all over? Do you ever just stop and think, Wow! I'm a writer?!

Yes, I do sometimes think, “I actually did it.” It’s a process of finding my voice as a published author and enjoying the sense of accomplishment that comes along with sharing my book with others.

What is the hardest part of writing for you? The easiest? Most rewarding?

If someone wants to write a book, they should now that it takes a lot of hard work. The most difficult part was just the consistent effort and commitment of time and focus that it took. The easiest part was the drive to tell the story and the actual story ideas. The most rewarding part is knowing that I followed through with my dream. Now I can ask myself, “What is my next dream? What is my next story?”

If you could share anything with your readers, tell us any one thing, what would it be?

Know your worth and don’t let others keep you down. Be strong. Keep going and find a positive path in life.

Thank you so much for stopping by Susan! It's great to hear more about the motivation behind your book!

Last year, I saw a movie, I think it was called Definitely, Maybe, that got me to thinking. In this movie, one of the girls was on a quest to find a particular copy of Jane Eyre, I forget now the specific reason why. But in the process of her search, she ended up with this massive collection of Jane Eyre books, from all sorts of places and years and styles. She had a shelf that went all the way around her room, filled with these wonderful Jane Eyre books.

It made me wish I had a collection like hers, a collection of one particular title, in all it's various versions.

So, Weekly Geeksters, tell us, do you have a collection, (or are you starting a collection,) of one particular book title? If so, what's your story? Why that book, and how many do you have, and what editions are they? Share pictures and give us all the details.

Or perhaps you dream about starting such a collection. What title would it be and what would it take for you to get motivated to start collecting?

Or maybe it's the works of a particular author you collect (or want to collect) instead a certain book title?

Once you've written about your collection (or dream collection) be sure sign Mr. Linky with your post and don't forget to visit other Geeksters to see what they're collecting!

Entrust repair to professionals!

VIA «Home builder in Sydney»

This week the geeks were asked to assess their hoarding behavior - specifically:

Share with us your habits, tendencies or obsessions when it comes to hoarding behavior.

• Post a photo (or two or three) of your books to-be-read
• Share your buying or book accumulating habits - how bad of a problem do YOU have?!?!?
• Do you keep all the books you've read, or do you give them away or sell them?
• Can you walk past a bookstore and not go in? If you go in, do you impulsively purchase?

Bart from Bart's Bookshelf did a photo montage of his TBR books and 'fessed up that he buys about two books for every one he reads. He also laughed at the idea of walking past a bookstore without entering!

Trisha from Eclectic Eccentric showed us an amazing collection of books in her library. She admits she is obsessive (she apparently came home with more than 100 books from the BEA!), but she is working on it - giving away books to her library and getting ready to sell some in a garage sale. Trisha's TBR pile numbers around 535 - whew, I feel better already!

Kerrie from Mysteries in Paradise created an awesome graphic for her Mount TBR (which would provide her with great reading for about 10 years). Kerrie has a great attitude towards her hoarding behavior - she refuses to feel guilty!

Molly from the Restless Reader doesn't limit her hoarding behavior to just books - she collects magazines too. But living in a small apartment in NYC helps her keep things under control!

Zee from Notes from the North stores her books all over the world! She seems to have inherited her hoarding behavior from her parents who apparently have a library in the thousands...

Iris from Iris on Books writes:

My dream, ever since I was a little girl, has been to have a huge library of books when I grew up. And since I started living on my own, I seem to have made an effort to fulfil that dream. I am not quite ready to give it up.
And Melissa at The Blog of Melissa Pilakowski has a great motivation to hoard books:

Unlike my other hoarding obsessions—sunglasses, shoes, office supplies, costume jewelry—collecting books does come with a perk. As a teacher, I get a tax deduction every April for the books I put in my classroom library.
Check out the great stacks of books posted on Erotic Horizon, The Book Coop, and It's All About Books.

All the entries were wonderful - if you haven't already done so, please go visit them (you can find all the links here).

Thank you to all who played along this week - I know I, for one, felt so much better knowing my problem is not all that bad!!

On Monday I created a video to share how badly I'm doing on National Novel Writing Month this year. I had one really good day this week where I wrote over 3,000 words, but then it all kind of fell to the side. Working on an essay project is a lot more challenging than working on a fiction book because I can't really just make a bunch of stuff up. At the same time, when I finished National Novel Writing Month last year I never wanted to see what I wrote again. I can already tell you that won't be the case this year. In any case, I'm hoping to do a lot of writing this weekend so I won't be very busy doing much else (except writing a paper or two).

I'm going to share a beginning of an essay I struggled through this week. I'm really excited about the idea but still need to fill it out more. The essay is titled On Planes.

I was a bumbling, tall girl in a giant leather jacket my father lent me so I could pretend to be Amelia Earheart. I was twelve and I thought I wanted to get my pilot’s license. My father had his and I knew he always wanted to be a pilot. I didn’t want to become a pilot, but I thought being able to fly a plane would be something that would bring my dad and I closer together. We could sit in the cockpit together and fly over cornfields and soybean fields and talk about what we thought of that yellow green earth.

Amelia Earhart saw her first airplane at the Iowa State Fair where her father tried to interest her in taking a flight, but she was too afraid to ride in what appeared to be a very unsturdy airplane. Approximately ten years later she took her first flying lesson.

My dad took me flying when I was three weeks old, I’ve never met someone who flew sooner than that, and it’s always been a source of pride for me. I used to have a recurring dream about it. I was outside of the plane in the dream, floating by it. It was yellow and black like a goldfinch. A small plane made just for three people. I looked through the window of the plane to see a small, baby version of myself sitting in my mothers lap. I am sleeping with a smile on my face

How are your projects going?

Grace by Elizabeth Scott is my 5th Scott Contemporary (although it is arguable that this is not quite Contemporary) and it has firmly cemented the idea that I (quite atypically) much prefer Scott's lighter Contemporary novels to her darker more... issue-y set. Grace is a good book, don't get me wrong, but that's all it was. Just a way to spend an afternoon, flipping pages, which is, I assume, not what you are supposed to feel when reading a book about a suicide bomber who decides she doesn't want to die.

Grace was an angel — raised from birth, or just after, that she would be blessed to die for the cause, to die in a fight for freedom against tyranny. But when it comes time to actually die, she places her bomb and walks away, knowing that it will go off, but that she will go 'free'. Now she is on the run and she meets up with a man at the train station, running from something himself. They talk, because sitting on a train for hours, there's not really anything else to do and both learn things that will change their lives.

I never really connected with Grace or the man she travels with. I knew that there stories were ones that should have been emotional but I never felt it. And Grace had such a disregard for life that I had a hard time with her. I understand why — When you have known your whole life that you are going to die for the cause and that it is an honor, and that your death is more important if you are able to take other lives with you — life doesn't mean the same thing as it does to most people. But it took her so long to realize that what she had done — setting that bomb and walking away — was wrong, because people still got hurt and people died. She never even thought about it. And then, there is a scene on the train when Grace should have been taken off by soldiers for being one of the rebels, but they sacrifice another, completely innocent woman instead. That's not okay with me — Your life isn't more important than anyone else's and sending innocent people to death so you can live isn't okay with me. I will say that the ending to this book was solid. Grace learns a lot about what it means to be human and it's something that will really make you think.

But, even with that solid ending, while I didn't hate this book, I didn't particularly like it either. I felt like the story was too vague. They spent the whole time talking around things and never really talked about them. If you want to try it — go for it. There are others out there who really connected to it. It's just... not for me.

On a totally different note:

So Much Closer was my first book by Susane Colasanti, and while I didn't love this particular book, I can see why so many people really love Colasanti's writing. I actually loved the way the story was written, but the story itself was a little... off for me.

Brooke has had a huge crush on Scott for years. She just knows that he is the one for her, despite only having had one, maybe two conversations with him. So, when he announces that he's moving with his family to New York City, she decides to follow him and move in with the dad she hasn't spoken to since he walked out on them 6 years ago.

Okay — Seriously?! SERIOUSLY?! Who DOES that?! Who honestly thinks that's a good idea?! I don't care who you are — that's creepy stalker behavior and NOT a good idea. Note to Brooke — also not a good idea to tell him about it... So, poor Brooke has chased this guy to New York only to realize that he barely knows who she is and he already has a girlfriend.

But luckily for Brooke, she has always wanted to live in NYC, so even though she's not with her dream guy, she's living in her dream city. And honestly, I would have liked this book so much better if the romance with Scott had been left completely out of it. Have her decide to move because Scott broke her heart (still kinda pathetic, but way less creepy) or because she has just decided to stop dreaming about living in New York and actually get there. Or, it could have been about her dad. She hasn't spoken to him in 6 years, although he has tried a few times, so maybe it's time to mend that relationship. Instead, it ended up being a convinient plot device, giving her a way to follow Scott. I felt that the story line with her father ended up being a lot of wasted potential. It could have added so much to her growth as a character, so much to the story, but instead, dad was just the facade for an apartment for Brooke to legally sleep in at night.

I had such a hard time believing in, or relating to Brooke's character, but I totally felt her love for the city. The descriptions of New York were phenomenal and just made me want to revisit the city. I spent a weekend there when I was doing an internship in Washington DC and I loved it (although, since it was February, it was really cold). I loved reading while Brooke discovered the city. I also really liked the new friends Brooke makes at school, especially John and Sadie. They brought so much to the story and I just loved reading about them, watching them form a solid friendship.

For the most part, I really enjoyed the book. EXCEPT for Scott. Seriously. If Scott had just been completely erased from the book, I think I would really have enjoyed it. They wouldn't even have to change the title, it could just mean so much closer to her dreams, instead of to some random guy. There is enough other stuff happening in the story that Scott really wouldn't have been missed much. Or, he could have been a totally different character with a much smaller part. Maybe I'll just pretend he isn't real and only remember the awesome New York scenes and the awesome times she has with the new friends she makes.

Australian Muay Thai legend John Wayne Parr is many things; lethal, fighter, champion. Now add movie star to the list. Parr is the subject and star of a new documentary, Beneath The Venom, which charts his evolution from a kid dreaming of being a boxer to his current status as one of the most recognised fighters in the world.

In January Parr and a camera crew headed to Thailand where they interviewed trainers, promoters and opponents who were there for the first part of his professional journey which began at a Muay Thai camp when he was 17.
``I was a kid with a dream who in 1996 had the opportunity to go to Thailand and I was only supposed to be there for six months but after I won a few fights they saw I had the potential to go all the way,'' said Parr.
``I went and lived in Thailand for four years and had about 40 to 45 fights over there.
``It did a lot for the Australian Muay Thai scene and I was the first Australian to fight at Lumpinee Stadium and on the Thai King's birthday which had crowds of 150 000 out in the park.
``I was the first Westerner to really make an impression on them and we've managed to get fight footage from those early days in Thailand that no one's ever seen before.''

Working on the documentary with Parr as the writer, director and producer is Guy Norris, best known for his second unit directing work on the Oscar-winning Lord Of The Rings trilogy.
Parr, who's known of Norris' work as the head stuntman on films such as Moulin Rouge, Superman Returns and the upcoming Mad Max 4: Fury Road, said he was ``very lucky'' to work with him on the doco.
``He showed a lot of interest and got behind it,'' said Parr.
``He's got contacts to some big players in Sydney who helped get the doco going financially.''
Parr said the documentary is ``about ninety per cent finished'' and already they are in talks with several major Australian TV networks for the broadcasting rights. Beneath The Venom is also expected to get a limited theatrical release in America later this year. In the meantime the seven-time world champion, based at the Boonchu Gym in Burleigh, is concentrating on defending his World Kickboxng Federation title against Mike Zambidis in Melbourne later this month. Parr has six more fights scheduled for the year but after that he said he's looking at hanging up his gloves and pursuing a career in film.
``I wanted to be a fighter since I was five or six-years old and now I'm almost 35 and have been lucky enough to live my dream many times over,'' he said.
``Hopefully this documentary opens a few doors.''
Parr made his acting debut in the short film The Violent which won the Best Fight Choreography Short at the Action On Film International Film Festival in Los Angeles. Beneath The Venom is set to debut on Australian television later this year.

VIA Parr-ty time, excellent

In case you haven’t realised by now, yes, it’s my first blogversary. It seems insane to think I started this unusual blog on this day a whole year ago. Alas, 286 posts later, here I am still ranting and raving about anything semi-movie related. Over the past few weeks, when my brain has gone for a wander mid-conversation, I’ve pondered about what to write/do on my blogversary. I tend to get uncomfortable when it comes to celebrating my own birthday so I figure there is no harm in celebrating this one properly. That is, I have caught and trained 13 marsupials and shaved this web address into their fur. I intend to release them at the entrance to the nearest shopping centre and let their frenzied rampage be its own kind of celebration/marketing ploy. My plan does not go into effect until 2100 hours. In the meantime, I thought I would share some personal reflections about this blog.

• Surprisingly, I’ve kept to my original mission statement and avoided any posts about the exploits of my personal life. Except for the post about my friend who broke her vagina because, well, that was simply too good NOT to share.
• Originally I was inspired to start this by the brilliance of good friend Rickis’ much wittier and substantial blog. That has not changed, however, the pool of writers who now inspire and entertain me has grown to include the likes of Siamese Saffron, King Of New York Hacks, Fuck You Penguin and Little Bohemian.
• A fitting tagline for this site finally occurred to me a few weeks ago in a dream which may or may not have featured Mark Wahlberg.
• Within a year some friends have gone and others nearly been lost which makes me appreciate having this outlet to write about things I love, however trivial that may seem to some.
• I have maintained this site for a year, which is approximately 11 months and 15 days longer than any relationship I’ve maintained with a member from the opposite sex.
• A newspaper journalist by trade, I founded art & architecture as a way to improve my writing and vent all the film thoughts I had going on in my head. After the first few months I began to realise how much I loved writing about movies and started treating this blog as a portfolio of movie related stories. Without revealing too much, a year on this site has helped me take those few important steps closer to my dream career.
• Damnit! I did not want to get soppy and here I am preaching about dreams coming true if you work hard enough and blah blah blah.
• Thanks to this blog I have met an awesome bunch of like-minded people on the 20 something bloggers network. They were even helpful enough to suggest some ways to celebrate my first blogversary. These included strippers, a vlog (which it turns out is not a vampire-hog like I originally presumed), commemorative post, getting hammered, strippers, give-away’s and strippers. Er, thanks guys.
• I have had the opportunity to meet some amazing up and coming filmmakers, actors, producers, special-effects experts and bring their work to you. With an exciting trip on the horizon, I hope to give you some more juicy juice in the next month.
• 365 days does not change the fact that despite being of indigenous France heritage, I do not appreciate being called `cuz’ or `Maori-a’. Unless it is amongst the select group of friends with whom racist and parental jokes are allowed.
• I have broadened my readership from two faithful subscribers to a bunch of peeps from all around the globe. I hope you continue to find something mildly interesting on this site so you keep coming back and sharing your opinions with me.

VIA «Happy blog birthday to me, happy blog birthday to me!»

Tent on a tree

VIA «Children's dream have realised»

Hey everyone! Joining us today is author Daniel Coleman. If you remember back to yesterday, I just reviewed Coleman's novel, Jabberwocky. (click the link to read my review) It was a great story, one I felt definitely did the poem justice, and I'm really happy to have him here on the blog today for an interview! So, here's Daniel! BIO:
When he’s not firefighting, Daniel Coleman spends his free time jumping genres in fiction. In 2006 he discovered small-town living and isn’t looking back. Jabberwocky, a novella, is available now. Hatter comes out June 10th. If you’ve got a few hours to kill he’d be happy to discuss PEZ, ice cream, or Scrabble.
The Interview:
What made you decide to become a writer?
This may seem scripted, but I started writing novels so I could tell the story behind the Jabberwocky poem.

Why Jabberwocky? What made you want to turn this poem into a story?
I learned the poem in college and fell in love with the imagery and heroism. If this monster was so horrible, how could a boy kill it? And what’s the significance of the Tumtum tree? And why was the hero so uffish while he stood there leaning against it? Of course, in any decent hero story there’s got to be a girl involved. Who is she and how does she fit in? For more than a decade the questions percolated in my mind before I came up with the story for Jabberwocky.

If you weren't a writer, what would be your dream job?
I’m the luckiest guy alive because my two dream jobs are writer and Fireman, and I get paid to do both! I’m a Firefighter/Paramedic with the biggest department in Utah. While firefighting involves real life-and-death situations, writing gives me a chance to escape and decide on the outcome for myself. I see people on the worst day of their lives, and I do my best to channel that emotion when I write.

Do you have another project currently in the works? If so, can you share anything about it with us?
I’ve written another novel set in the same world as Jabberwocky. It’s inspired by the Mad Hatter and tells his backstory—how he ended up going mad and why he’s such an influential character in Wonderland. For those who’ve read Jabberwocky, you’ll recognize Chism; he’s one of the main characters in Hatter. It will be available through Amazon on June 10th! The first two chapters are available on my website: www.dcolemanbooks.com.

If you had only one thing to say to your readers, what would it be?
I realize it takes a tremendous amount of trust to try a new author. Your time is valuable and your reading time is invaluable, so I try to make every word worthwhile while building to a surprisingly satisfying climax. But it’s a very small investment to read some sample chapters or download a sample and give it a try.
You heard him folks! Stop by and read a few sample chapters! Also, I think it bears mentioning the right now, you can purchase your own copy as an ebook on Amazon or Smashwords for only. 99! (Link) Jabberwocky Or, you can purchase the paperback for only $4.99! Jabberwocky How great is that?! I definitely recommend checking this book out! And Daniel, thanks again for joining us today! I loved reading your story, loved the interview, and I look forward to reading more from you in the future!

Joining us now we have Bonnie from A Backwards Story interviewing Sarah Porter, author of the 2011 debut Lost Voices.
Check it out!

Sara Porter’s debut novel, Lost Voices, is the first in a trilogy... about MERMAIDS. While not directly re-telling any single tale, Porter weaves together mermaid lore from several places while creating her own world. The most creative twist is the fact that mermaids were once human girls, reincarnated after “dying” and have siren-like tendencies. For a teaser of Lost Voices and to learn more about the novel, please visit A Backwards Story. A full review is scheduled to post on ABS June 21th to celebrate the first day of summer. Lost Voices comes out two weeks later on July 4, 2011, so please add it to Goodreads and your TBR now!

1) What were your favorite fairy tales growing up? What drew you to them?
I grew up with this old book of Russian fairy tales that someone gave my mom’s dad when he was a kid back in 1911, and I adored them. They were long and dark and complicated and painful, and I think they’re very true to life. A lot of them follow a storyline where the protagonist betrays his or her magical beloved and has to go through a long journey and a series of ordeals to win that lost love back. In fact many of us do have to undertake a long (emotional) journey before we’re ready to truly love.
Those stories are embedded in my mind. I still see life through the lens they revealed to me.

2) What made you decide to write Lost Voices? What brought everything together for you?
It’s hard for me to say where it all came from. One source was a talk I had with a friend on the beach, where we improvised a story about a punk mermaid who lived apart from the others. And I wrote an earlier story in graduate school that used some of the same ideas as Lost Voices. In it, mermaids were orphaned girls who could swim through the earth and steal other girl-children away. When I actually started writing Lost Voices, I was unemployed and stuck on another book, and the story just kind of picked me up and carried me. I wrote a draft in four months.

3) Was it hard coming up with your own lore when you began world-building? How did you bring everything together? The mermaids felt so real!
Thank you. They feel real to me, too. The mermaid lore actually develops a lot more in the second volume of the trilogy, Waking Storms, when my heroine Luce begins to learn about the history of the mermaids and why they’re so driven to kill.
But I wouldn’t say it’s hard to come up with the lore or the world. The hardest part of becoming a writer is getting yourself to the place where the stories come to you by themselves. Once you’re finally there, it’s all a lot easier. I knew from the beginning that the mermaids were the lost girls who’d flowed away to sea.

4) Can you tell us more about your overall goals for the trilogy?
That’s hard to do without giving too much away! But Luce has a long way to go, and things will get much worse for her before they can start to get better. The trilogy is really about a choice we all face: we can stay stuck in our pain and keep repeating the same reactions to that pain, the way the mermaids keep sinking ships. Or we can look for creative ways to break the cycle and move on. It’s an incredibly difficult thing to do, but ultimately that’s what Luce has to accomplish.

5) What other ideas are you working on right now?
I only work on one idea at a time, because I can only live in one imaginary world at a time! But I do have a novel for adults sitting around half-finished; it’s sort of a horror novel about sentient objects, called Boudoir, and as soon as I complete The Lost Voices Trilogy, I want to get back to it. And I’m playing with the idea of a young adult novel based on some of those old Russian fairy tales, too.

6) What are some of your favorite fairy tale inspired novels and/or authors?
Well, it’s not YA at all, but I really love Ingeborg Bachmann’s Malina. It starts out seeming realistic and then gets creepier and more fairy-talish as it goes along. The heroine’s boyfriend gives her a hairy black dress that eats into her skin, and that she can’t take it off. And Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell was fantastic and really captured the odd logic of the fairy world. That’s a book I think a lot of YA fans would adore! Most of my favorite books have kind of a fairy tale quality about them even if they’re not directly inspired.

7) If you could live out any fairy tale, what would it be and why?
Hmm. Maybe I’d like to be the Frog Princess. She’s such a badass.
In fact I think we all live out fairy tales all the time, whether we want to or not. Not necessarily the happily-ever-after parts, but the struggling-to-make-our-way-through-forces-that-are-bigger-than-we-are parts.

8) What's your favorite Disney rendition of a fairy tale? What makes it so special?
Dumbodoesn’t count, does it? Then I think I’ll go with “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” section of Fantasia. It conveys so much of the feeling of being overwhelmed by magic, caught up in a dream.

9) Rapunzel is named after lettuce; what odd thing would you be named after if you were in a fairy tale?
Sparrow. I totally identify with little hoppy, dust-colored birds.

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Presenting Lenore

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My choice — Advanced Direct Security

VIA «Your house trusts Advanced Direct Security»

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
  


• Open to a random page
  


• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  


• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  


• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser comes from CEMETERY DANCE by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child:

It was as silent as a tomb in the basement lab, with the faint hissing of the forced-air system like a steady whisper in the darkness. The nightmare at the hospital had spooked her-the dream had been so real.

Please share your teaser!

Once again, here is a link up of all the Contemporary happenings I've stumbled across in the past week on blogs other than Shanyn's and my own! There are some seriously awesome things happening around the blogosphere, so click through the list and check it out!

And since it is absolutely impossible for me to really be aware of all that is happening everywhere, if you have seen or posted anything Contemporary related, Let me know! I will either add it to this list, or include it in next week's post!

Awesome Reading Challenge: The Keeping It Real Contemporary YA Reading Challenge hosted by Kat @ I Write, I Read, I Review. And, there will be prizes!:)

REVIEWS:

Sarah @ The Storybound Girl — Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

Candace @ Candace's Book Blog — Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler, Amplified by Tara Kelly, Vintage Veronica by Erica S. Perl, North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headly

L.L. @ The Story Girl — I am the Messenger by Marcus Zusak

Katelyn @ Katelyn's Blog — The Pull of Gravity by Gae Polisner and My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody

Melina @ Reading Vacation — Past Perfect by Lelia Sales and The Daughters Join the Party by Joanna Philbin (this is the third book in the series.)

Author Jessi Kirby — Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez

Asheley @ Into the Hall of Books — We the Animals by Justin Torres

Samual @ Books for All Seasons — The Unwritten Rule by Elizabeth Scott

Danya @ A Tapestry of Words — Dear Bully by Various

Shannon @ Books Devoured — Looking for Alaska John Green and The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart

The Busy Bibliophile — Artichoke's Heart by Suzanne Supplee

Anna @ Anna Reads — Bunheads by Sophie Flack

Raquel @ The Book Barbies — Moonglass by Jessi Kirby

Page @ One Book at a Time — Lie by Caroline Bock

Emily @ Red House Books — Reasons to be Happy by Katrina Kittle

Giselle @ Xpresso Reads — dancergirl by Carol M. Tanzman, and Room by Emma Donoghue (probably more Adult than YA, but it is definitely a crossover book).

Somer @ A Bird's Eye View — Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Liz @ Consumed by Books — The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han

Nicci @ Paper Dreams — Perfect Cover by Jennifer Lynn Barnes and Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez (she also wrote a fun — Five Reasons to Read Virtuosity post!)

Julie @ A Tale of Many Reviews — The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines

Chris @ Between the Covers — Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Ginger @ Greads! — Amplified by Tara Kelly

Carrie @ Stalking the Bookshelves — Saving June by Hannah Harrington and The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen

Rowena @ The Book Scoop — My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody

Mindi @ Books Complete Me — Geek Girl by Cindy C. Bennett

Sarah @ YA Love — How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr

Jennifer @ Novel Thoughts — Saving June by Hannah Harrington

Aubrey @ holes in my brain — How to Save a Life — Sara Zarr

Mary @ Anxirium — Chain Reaction by Simone Elkeles

Lori @ Pure Imagination — Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Lisa @ The Garden of Books — Where She Went by Gayle Forman and Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta

John @ Dreaming in Books — Spoiled by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

Kelli @ I'd So Rather Be Reading — Going Too Far — Jennifer Echols

Princess Bookie — Past Perfect by Lelia Sales and Pure Red by Danielle Joseph

For the Love of Contemporary — His Eyes by Renee Carter

Tiffany @ Tiffany Reads — The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder and Moonglass by Jessi Kirby

Ashley @ Bookaholics Anonymous — Raw Blue by Kirsty Egar

Hannah @ Paperback Treasures — If I Tell by Janet Gurtler, Calli by Jessica Lee Anderson and Between Here and Forever by Elizabeth Scott.

Bailey @ IB Book Blogging — Past Perfect by Lelia Sales

The Book Faerie — The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder (WARNING — This review DOES contain spoilers)

Jenny @ The Mimosa Stimulus — Amplified by Tara Kelly and Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez

Sophia @ The Book Basement — If I Stay by Gayle Forman, Just Listen by Sarah Dessen and The Duff by Kody Keplinger

Natalie @ Quirky Vintage — Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly (not completely Contemporary, but mostly & amazing, so...)

Karen @ For What It's Worth — Where You Are by Tammara Webber

Lisa @ The Garden of Books — Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott (this is actually a short — What on Earth could I possibly say about this level of intensity — post)

AUTHORS:

The Nerd Girls @ Books to the Sky Interviewed Janet Gurtler! (And there is a giveaway!)

For the Love of Contemporary spotlighted Sarah Ockler!!!

Candace @ Candace's Book Blog interviewed Anne Pfeffer (and there is an international giveaway!) and she also interviewed Stasia Kehoe!

The Contemps blog spotlighted new author Josie Bloss and her novel Faking Faith.

Sam @ Books for all Seasons interviewed Melissa Kantor!

Liz @ Consumed by Books has a fun This or That Interview with Hannah Harrington!

Hannah @ Paperback Treasures has a guest post from Megan Bostic about the songs that inspired her book!

Melina @ Reading Vacation has a guest post from Joanna Philbin.

Kristi @ The Story Siren has a guest post from Catherine Ryan Hyde (with a giveaway)

DISCUSSION TOPICS

Allison @ The Allure of Books vlogged about her favorite YA Contemporary Books
Mandie Baxter: Why I Love Contemporary
Rowena @ The Book Scoop: Why I Love Contemporary
Author Carol Tanzman: Why I Write Contemporary YA
Bee @ Dreamcatcher's Lair: Her favorite Dark YA books. (Not all are Contemporary, but most of them are!)
Author Abbi Glines: Her 11 favorite Indie Contemporary YA Romances

Tough Stuff in Contemporary YA: (again, many of these were written as guest posts and I am only identifying the author of the post, not the host blog)

Rie @ Mission to Read
Bonnie @ A Backwards Story
Candace @ Candace's Book Blog
Jacinda @ Reading Housewives
Katelyn @ Katelyn's Blog
Cara @ Chasing Words
Mandie Baxter
Nicci @ Paper Dreams
Shannon @ Books Devoured
Ginger @ GReads!

Again — If you have seen or written a post talking about Contemporary YA or reviewing a book, LET ME KNOW!! I'd LOVE to include you in the link up AND I personally read and comment on all of them. (It takes a while, but I'm LOVING It!) So leave me a comment, shoot me an email or send me a tweet and I'll add you to my list!:)

I don't know about you, but I always thought the whole lawn care thing was stupid. My dad spent his whole weekend mowing the yard when I was a kid and it looked so boring. It didn't help that when he taught me how to mow the lawn I ran into the clothesline. I never mowed again.

But seriously-- why do we care so much about lush green yards? It's supposed to be a sign of dedication, hard work, neighborliness, and pride. Unfortunately lawns across America are poisoning the people living on them and their neighbors. See, the green grass in all these yards is not native grass which means it requires a lot of upkeep, including a pesticide called 2,4-D. 2,4-D causes lots of nasty problems, the most terrifying is a type of blood cancer. It's easily absorbed through the skin and lungs and causes other problems besides cancer, like nausea, vomiting, and birth defects.

I'm a huge fan of the This American Life radio show and recently I watched the TV show on Netflix. In season two episode two there is a story about a Bulgarian man living with his wife in the United States. He loves his home, neighborhood, and wife, but he refuses to mow the lawn. This is seemingly the only argument he and his wife have, and his wife is terrified of what will happen if he doesn't start mowing the lawn. I mean, terrified. Rightly so. Slow Death by Rubber Duck mentions three cases where people were taken to court for not keeping up their lawn. In all these cases the lawn owners won, but I'm sure there are cases where they have not.

Interestingly the writers of this book didn't really do any experiment related to 2,4-D. The reason they didn't is cosmetic pesticides are illegal in Ontario. And Quebec. And Alberta. Rightly so, as "[i]n farming families in North America, for instance, there is a higher incidence of miscarriages and birth defects than in the general population. Farmers in Ontario who use pesticides also have lower sperm counts and poorer-quality sperm than non-farmers" (202). The effects of pesticides aren't just limited to farms and those who apply pesticides to lawns though, they effect everyone. Unfortunately cosmetic pesticide bans are extremely rare in the U.S. because it is such a huge industry and people continually buy into the green lawn dream, whether they really believe in it or are just following the crowd.

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July 8-11

Those that know me are aware of my obsession with thriller and horror fiction. Thrillfest is like my dream come true; the opportunity, according to Jon Land, Vice President of Marketing for ITW, to "mix and mingle with some of the biggest names in the business." But, alas, since I took time off to attend BEA in May, I can't take off any additional work time without experiencing intense feelings of guilt.

One of the highlights of the event is the coveted ThrillerMaster Award, recognizing outstanding contribution to the thriller genre. This year’s winner is noted author David Morrell, widely considered the “father” of the contemporary action novel with his 1974 debut First Blood (which introduced the character of Rambo to the world). The award celebrates Morrell’s amazing career, spanning 37 years and 28 novels published in dozens of languages across the globe.

The prestigious Silver Bullet Award, recognizing outstanding achievement in the encouragement of literacy and the love of reading, will be presented to the #1 New York Times bestselling suspense novelist Brad Meltzer (The Book of Fate).

Additional bestselling spotlight guests that will attend are last year’s ThrillerMaster award recipient Sandra Brown as well as Robin Cook, Katherine Neville, and David Baldacci.

The four-day event includes numerous author signings, a complete bookstore on premises, a cocktail party and reception for readers, a roasting of Clive Cussler, and a breakfast featuring first-time authors. The highlight is the annual ThrillerFest Awards Banquet, which this year will take place at Cipriani, one of New York City’s most spectacular event venues.

Some of the biggest names in the genre will be holding court with interactive panel sessions, including Kathleen Antrim, Steve Berry, Peter Rubie, William Bernhardt, James Rollins, Barry Eisler, Andrew Gross, David Hewson, Jon Land, Eric Van Lustbader, Gayle Lynds, Steve Martini, Donald Maass, Joan Johnston and many more.

2009 Thriller Award Nominees:

Best Thriller of the Year

Hold Tight by Harlan Coben
The Bodies Left Behind by Jeffery DeaverT
The Broken Window by Jeffery Deaver
The Dark Tide by Andrew Gross
The Last Patriot by Brad Thor

Best First Novel

Calumet City by Charlie Newton
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
Criminal Paradise by Steven Thomas
Sacrifice by S. J. Bolton
The Killer's Wife by Bill Floyd

Best Short Story

Between the Dark and the Daylight by Tom Piccirilli (Ellery Queen Magazine)
Last Island South by John C. Boland (Ellery Queen Magazine)
The Edge of Seventeen by Alexandra Sokoloff (The Darker Mask)
The Point Guard by Jason Pinter (Killer Year Anthology)
Time of the Green by Ken Bruen (Killer Year Anthology)

So, if you are able to attend Thrillerfest, do so! I plan on attending next year. For more information, and to register, visit The International Thriller Writers Web Site.

Today I have an interview with up and coming author Alexandra Bracken. Her novel, Brightly Woven, debuts March 23. The short description of the novel from her website is, "Sydelle Mirabil is living proof that, with a single drop of rain, a life can be changed forever. Tucked away in the farthest reaches of the kingdom, her dusty village has suffered under the weight of a strangely persistent drought. That is, of course, until a wizard wanders into town and brings the rain with him." I haven't read her novel yet, though I plan to, so many of you might be wondering why I chose to interview her. Bracken is unique in that she was working on publishing her novel while she was still in college. She signed with an agent on her 21st birthday and after spending her senior year revising the novel her dream is finally coming true next week. How did she do it you might ask, and I think the work diligence pretty much sums up Bracken's story. I won't just leave it at that though, as follows you can read her answers to my questions about how she balanced school and writing and what path (or paths) she took to get there.

Where did you go to school, when did you graduate, and what did you go?
I went to the College of William and Mary, graduated last Spring, and majored in History and English

Did you start as an English major? What made you decide to become an English major?
When I was applying for schools, I focused on the Virginia area, mostly because I knew I wanted to study Early American History and I would freeze my butt off if I went to school in New England. I had always loved English, but my dad had convinced me to major in History and Government because he wanted me to be a lawyer. BIG mistake. I took one Government class and realized how stupid it was for me NOT to major in English--AKA the subject I really loved.

What were your plans for after graduation? How have those plans been fulfilled or how have they been different than you expected?
Originally, I was going the pre-law route (I'm sure you've all noticed that when you say you're an English major, most people assume that you want to be A) a lawyer or B) a teacher)... but I realized, in the middle of taking the LSAT unfortunately, that being a lawyer would make me MISERABLE, and spent all of the summer between Junior and Senior year moping around without a life plan. My next idea was to work in PR/Communications (which I definitely recommend), but I ended up getting a scholarship to attend the Columbia Publishing Institute and decided to take it. I now work as an editorial assistant in children's publishing. Looking back, it seems like a natural choice since being an author had given me a lot of insight into the business.I'm not sure if it's what I want to be doing forever, but I'm happy to be employed and doing something I enjoy!


What made you decide to take on writing a novel while in college?
I first tried my hand at writing a novel my freshman year--I always say that NaNoWriMo made me very brave, and it's true. I thought I would just give it a go, and ended up getting hooked on the process.

Were you planning to publish this all along?
No... I tried to be very realistic about it and not get my hopes up, but secretly I was hoping I'd be able to sell something before I graduated.


How did you balance school and writing?
I get asked this all the time, and I'm still not sure what the right answer is. I was very disciplined and made a lot of social sacrifices on the weekends. You really do have to find a schedule that works, though. The first three years of college were incredibly reading and writing intensive (I was once assigned 2000 pages of reading a week in my Sophomore year. Not. Fun.), but that helped me write. Knowing that I only had an hour here or two hours there meant that I used that little time for writing and writing alone. When i was working on revisions with my agent, I gave myself a deadline to finish the first round before finals that May. Starting in March, I woke up at 6 AM every day and wrote until I had class at 1 PM, and when I was done with homework at night, I'd be back to revising. I tried getting up at 5 AM and squeezing in an hour of work out time, but... uh... I quickly decided an extra hour of sleep was more important than getting my fitness on.


What advice would you give college students who want to write seriously in college? What advice would you give those who want to publish? What steps should they take?
The advice that I always give to high schoolers and college students that ask me this question is this: While you're in school, focus on being a writer before you focus on being a published author. I really miss the days I had before I was published, when I could write whatever I wanted regardless of how crappy it was and I didn't have to worry about another person's judgment. I can't reinforce this enough, being published in college is like having a full-time job, and one that isn't always fun. It's an incredible amount of stress and pressure to put on yourself, when you're already anxious about exams/papers/what-have-you. Not everyone will have a negative experience, but I would also add that a good portion of my friends thought that I had graduated a semester early because I was so deep in my revision hole that I only surfaced for food and class. School is such a unique and wonderful time, but you don't get to experience it when you're by yourself writing. There are a zillion and a half elements in Brightly Woven that I picked up from the classes I was taking at the time. Be a sponge and absorb as much as possible from your classes and friends. Make sure you're taking advantage of all that college life has to offer, and if you happen to write something that you feel is ready to be seen by the world, go for it! Revise it seriously, submit it to agents, and learn from the feedback you get. Make sure that when you're writing you are happy and excited, because the minute you start feeling stressed out or depressed, it often means that your life has become unbalanced, and you need to step away and refocus.


What advice would you give to English majors about how to make the English major work for them after school?
Okay guys, here's a secret: what matters in the job world isn't necessarily what you majored in, but the internships and work experiences that you have. My current boss didn't hire me because I was an English major (though I'm sure that helped)--she claimed it was because I talked about coordinating our Student Assembly's Thanksgiving airport shuttle rides. So don't discount any work experience you have, regardless of how small or insignificant you think it is. I would also recommend networking with alums in the career field of your choice, and seeking out speciality programs like the Columbia Publishing Course, which often feed you directly into jobs. Besides the fact that companies are always looking for good writers (seriously--critical writing does not tend to be a strength of most business majors), so be sure to always play that up. Plus, you've spent how many years analyzing and forming your own arguments, right? That's another skill you have in the bag.

Alexandra's novel, Brightly Woven, comes out March 23. You can read a longer synopsis if you follow the Brightly Woven link.