Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Cover Love!

After a short hiatus (I was on deadline for the sequel to THE OTHER LIFE), Cover love is back!

Let's start with INFINITE DAYS by Rebecca Maizel




(US, UK, Spanish)

I love the blue eyes on the US cover and the tear trailing over her face. It's the most striking of the five versions in my opinion. I think the UK cover could use some color.


(Dutch, German)

What I love about the Dutch cover is the bat next to the couple! In today's YA books vampires are rarely associated with bats anymore. The German cover is beautifully creepy and I love the title (The Night is yours)!


Next: NIGHTSHADE + WOLFSBANE by Andrea Cremer

These covers aren't international. Penguin redesigned the covers for Cremer's series and I want to show you the old and new cover design.




(Old version/new design)




(Old design/ new design)

I haven't read the books yet, so I don't know if the new cover design fits the books better. I think the old versions are beautiful and striking, so I'm wondering why Penguin would change the design.

Do you think the redesign was the right decision? Do you know why the covers were changed?

Friday, June 10, 2011

DIVERGENT FACTION OF THE WEEK - DAUNTLESS

The Dauntless do crazy things like jumping off trains.  Because that's a good idea I guess.

Despite the fact that the official Facebook app that puts you in your house/clan...FACTION (there's the word I'm looking for - it's Friday...) says I'm DAUNTLESS, there's no way I would ever in a million years jump off a train for any reason at all.  That train stops somewhere and that's when my rear is getting off.  On the ground.

See, I'm deathly afraid of heights.  This week was the perfect week for the DAUNTLESS challenge because over the weekend I went to Cedar Point (amusement park).  I was going to be all DAUNTLESS and ride a roller coaster that I had never ridden before due to my fear of heights.  I've been on the tamest of the tame, but I was ready to go just for regular tame.  My daughter, however, had other ideas.  Like me, she's not dauntless and I stayed with my feet planted solidly on the ground next to hers while my husband and son rode the coasters. 

My seven-year-old son is DAUNTLESS though.  He had no qualms about riding the big boys - any he was tall enough to get on.  The biggest so far was the Magnum XL 200.  Here it is for your DAUNTLESS viewing pleasure:


Monday, June 6, 2011

Guest Post by Katherine Easer Author of Vicious Little Darlings

DISCOVERING SARAH
by Katherine Easer



Before I began writing Vicious Little Darlings, I thought I had a pretty good idea of who my narrator was. Her name was Sarah Weaver, and she was a brown-eyed, raven-haired seventeen-year-old from California. I knew Sarah’s religious beliefs, past experiences, fears, weaknesses, and talents. I even knew her thoughts on Justin Timberlake. Feeling fairly prepared, I began to write.

Thirty pages into my first draft, I realized I didn’t know Sarah at all. The pages were lifeless; her voice was flat. Sarah said what I wanted her to say, and she did what the plot required her to do, but she didn’t feel like a real person. She existed solely in the left hemisphere of my brain—though I didn’t know that at the time—and hadn’t yet come to life. I threw away my pages and spent the rest of the day trying to get to know her. Frantic brainstorming ensued. I interviewed Sarah, free wrote, drank a lot of coffee, free wrote some more. Still, she eluded me. Maybe what I needed was to relax, I thought, and to let my mind wander. I ran a bath. I lit candles and waited for inspiration to strike. Nothing happened. Frustrated, I decided to sit at my desk and try writing again, but three dull paragraphs and an hour later, I was exhausted. It was midnight, and I needed sleep.

When my head hit the pillow, a strange and magical thing occurred. I heard a voice in my head. It was a voice I didn’t recognize, but I knew that it belonged to Sarah. Though I had heard about this kind of thing from other writers, I’d never experienced it firsthand. My subconscious was now engaged, and Sarah, in her own words, was telling me about her life. She was sassy, snarky, and a little bit angry, and she wouldn’t stop talking. I turned on the light and wrote down everything she said.

Writing didn’t exactly become easy after that, but it became easier. I realized that it was when I stopped trying to define, control, judge, or even think about Sarah that she sprang to life. I learned that I didn’t have to force the writing; I just had to let go and trust my narrator. And when I did that, interesting things began to happen. --Katherine Easer



Katherine Easer is the author of Vicious Little Darlings. You can visit her at: http://www.katherineeaser.com/

THANK YOU Katherine for a brilliant guest post. Those are exactly the kinds of stories readers want to know. I wish you much success on the books release!




Be Sure and check out Katherine's novel VICIOUS LITTLE DARLINGS (Hits shelves June 21st 2011). It's one of my favorite novels this year! Put this one down on your to be read list IMMEDIATELY. You can read my review ->HERE<- and see how I gushed away about it even before I knew how awesome the author was. ;)

Friday, June 3, 2011

Divergent Faction Challenge. Accio Sorting Hat!

LAST WEEK I MISSED CANDOR. 

Let me be honest with you.  I always do pretty well with candor.  (See what I did there?)


But online, can you really put your candor out there?  There's been way too much talk about this already, and it's come down to this:  If you're an aspiring author, do as your Mama always told you...If you don't have something nice to say...



Keep your big trap shut!


Moving on to ERUDITE.

Even though the official Harry Potter online sorting hat put me in Ravenclaw, I have little use for this house...I mean faction.  Sure, smart people are necessary.  Where would we be without Thomas Edison, or Albert Einstein? 

That's usin' your noggin.
But let's be honest, we all know how awkward braniacs without any social skills can be.  Being in Erudite, or Ravenclaw--either/or--would be a bit like living with Sheldon Cooper.

You love me, Jamie.
I do. :)