The Crossroads Blog Tour: Press Release

If you love paranormal YA, you won't want to miss this tour:

This Halloween meet 16 YA Paranormal Authors at THE CROSSROADS! From October 16-31st, bloggers and authors will meet at a virtual crossroads, sharing their love of the paranormal and things that go bump in the night with readers.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) – Oct 12, 2010 – Canada, United States, Worldwide:

What’s dark, delicious and READ all over? Young adult paranormal fiction, my FIENDS, and what better way to celebrate debut and established authors in the genre than a blog tour frenzy? Over sixteen days this October (October 16-31) bloggers and authors will meet at a virtual crossroads, sharing their love of the paranormal and things that go bump in the night with readers.

Judith Graves, an Alberta based YA author, (Under My Skin. Leap Books, 2010) has organized the event, the first multi-author blog tours of its kind. She’s wrangled in New York Times bestselling authors (Tonya Hurley. Ghostgirl series. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) and newbies alike for the sixteen day promotional GOREfest. Participating bloggers will giveaway generous amounts of SWAG donated by the authors, as well as signed copies of Crossroad author titles.

Paranormal authors deal with the fantastical and the yearnings of their readers. “It’s a once a year opportunity to be anything and anyone you want to be. Anyone can be a princess, a superhero or a villain- all in one night.” Says Jordan Deen (The Crescent. Black Rose Writing, 2010). Joy Preble (Haunted. Sourcebooks Fire, 2011) agrees, “Halloween is a time for unloosening – of spirits and self.” Why not indulge in the spirit of reading? “[Halloween] is a time where the veil between the real and the unreal, the living and the dead, thins until you think you see strange shadows following you under the pumpkin-orange moon…” adds Karen Kincy (Other. Flux, 2010)

Besides the usual deal with the devil lore, crossroads symbolize so much more, as Angie Frazier (Everlasting. Scholastic Press, 2010) shares, “Literally or figuratively, a crossroads is place where a single decision will change everything. For me, a crossroads symbolizes choice and loss, and sometimes even bravery—when you choose one path, countless others are left behind, unexplored.” Amy Brecount White (Forget-Her-Nots. Greenwillow/HarperCollins, 2010) expands, “A crossroads symbolizes new possibilities. We can’t see what’s going to happen in either direction, but a choice is unavoidable. We are our choices, which is both exciting and scary.”

This Halloween, choose to explore new stories, new voices. “It’s the only holiday that encompasses imagination to the fullest. A night to be whom ever you want to be, try someone’s shoes on for size…experience magic.” Encourages, Kitty Keswick (Freaksville. Leap Books, 2010).

How the tour works:

From October 16-31st, readers, under the thrall of Wade Gervais, a dark-side vampire from Judith Graves’ Under My Skin, hunt for answers to a new paranormal trivia question each day. The answers are hidden within a different blog post daily, encouraging readers to visit each blog, each day of the tour. Bloggers will be giving away a bevy of tricks and treats donated by Crossroads Tour authors. At the end of the tour, on October 31st compiled answers are sent to Graves and a grand prize winner is randomly selected from those with correct and complete entries. There will also be two live chats on October 31st and November 1st, bringing readers, authors and bloggers together for a final celebration on Halloween and the Day of the Dead.
For the full list of participating authors, bloggers and giveaways, check out The Crossroads event page: http://judithgraves.com/events/the-crossroads-tour/

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To book an interview contact:Rachel Sentes/PublicistRachel@gal-fridaypublicity.com/604-366-7846
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gal-friday is a publicist, and freelance writer She works with authors, agents, publishers, businesses and cool arts causes. She is partnered with Brian Wood- a non-fiction literary agent in Vancouver to maximize publicity exposure

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NaNoWrimo is on its Way!

I know that we're only a week into October, but don't forget, NaNoWrimo is right around the corner. Despite not taking part in it this year, YAedge is always a huge supporter. I've done five out of the last six, and each year that I don't, it makes me a little sad.

To me, NaNoWrimo is more than 1,667 words a day or 50,000 in a month. It's a lesson that every word doesn't need to be right, the first draft doesn't need to be perfect. It's a community of writers, online and in my hometown that I may not have met otherwise. It's motivation to prove to myself that I can work every day, and still have time for other things in my life that I love to do.

This next month, I won't be focusing on a new story, but continuing my work on Parlor, my NaNoWrimo book from last year. As I did the last 1k-a-day, I will be focusing on editing. This time, I'm not going to give myself a daily word or edit count, but a challenge to myself to work hard each day. It's easy to get distracted, even when I have the whole day to write, by other things.

For those of you participating in NaNoWrimo this year, be sure to start thinking about your story, plotting it out and developing your characters. I usually fly by the seat of my pants to some extent during NaNo, but you will thank yourself for any pre-NaNo work you can get done. On the days where you don't have much time, or are having a tough writing day, having a plan and really knowing your characters will take you far.

I'd love to hear how many of you plan to participate this November, and what you've done so far to prepare.

On an off topic note, for those of you keeping track, I've started reading Frankenstein for my One Classic a Month Challenge. So far, it's not what I was expecting, but I'm enjoying it. I plan to continue to read modern YA while enjoying the classics, so it will be a little slower than my normal pace. As long as I finish in October, I'll be set!

Did anyone decide to join us in reading a classic a month?

JOY READ: Author visits from the author's POV

As a library technician, I've booked many author visits and am used to the drama. Contacting the author or the booking agency, arranging transport / hotel / meals, following up with the author, getting students and staff pumped for their visit, setting up, the big day and ongoing promos long after the author has left.

But now I'm getting to experience the beasts known as author visits, from the author's POV. Suddenly I'm dealing with taking time off, arranging transport, confirming meals/hotel and because I'm one lucky lady - having my hubbie and my two crazy labs along for the ride.

As we reached our hotel yesterday (after a 6 hour drive), I flipped through the room service menu and found this bookmark tucked inside. How appropriate. Yes, folks, we are on a JOY READ. ;)

Packing for two adults and two crazy labs involves a ton of creative thinking - but not the writer kind. My husband managed to cram all my gear in (books, books, books, laptop, camera, not to mention hair product!), along with his stuff and dog supples: crate, "blankets", food dishes, toys, bones, leashes, etc. (We're worse than new parents, I swear.)

We have a nifty system for traveling with the dogs - we've made several long trips with them before (Salt Spring Island in BC was the best trip EVER). Higgins, our chocolate lab has the back of our SUV, and Willow, our yellow lab, is tucked in her crate. No fighting while we're on the road or playing - you have the window I want to look out of / do you want to look out this window? TOUGH!

Amidst the potty breaks and walks around road-side turnouts, I worked on my presentations, polishing documents on my laptop and getting my husband's (and high school teacher) opinion on what writing process themes would best keep grade 7-12 kids interested.

I had a great time presenting a session this morning: Author Visits to DIE for: Virtual Author Visits - talking about all things writers currently do to promote their books (booktrailers, playlists, SWAG and social media) and how library staff can tap into those readily available resources. Plus I talked up Skype author visits and the Skype An Author Network. Highly recommened for public and school libraries wanting to connect readers and authors on a budget. I hope my session sparked some ideas and would love to hear success stories...hint, hint.

From the Parkland Regional Library conference in Lacombe, Alberta, we travelled through a touristy, but tres cool town, Sylvan Lake. Talk about beautiful pseudo-sea side homes!


I could so move there in a heartbeat. Lots of funky shops along the marina, pubs and restaurants, mini-golf, waterslides, go-carts and more. Nice. Making this a true, JOY READ, we stopped in a larger city, Red Deer, and checked out the Chapters. Low and behold, Under My Skin was on their shelves! I signed the copies and left some UMS swag. A very cool moment and I snagged a Chai latte too. ;)

One stop at a farmer's field later and the dogs were in their element. Yes, they might have crushed some grass as they tromped through a section of field, but man, did they have energy to kill.

Tomorrow, I'll be presenting to students from Rocky Mountain House. A teacher has read all (or most of) UMS aloud to her grade 10 English class. I can't wait to see what kind of questions they ask....yikes! So that's it in a nutshell, lots of travel, fast food, dog walks, planning a la car, promoting reading and writing, and exploring the country. Author visits ROCK. Everyone should get to do at least one JOY READ. Right, Willow? Woof! ;)

Happy Bday YAedge!! And the Winner of Beautiful Darkness

Before I announce the winner of Beautiful Darkness, I wanted to say a few words about what YAedge means to me.

First off, I can't believe Tracy and I have been blogging for 2 years today. I wanted to thank her for sticking with me. I know some weeks it's hard to find something to blog about and after 2 years coming up with something insightful or original to say. For me, the posts that are the hardest to write sometimes are the best. We've been through ups and downs with our writing since we've started this blog, but we've come a long way. I wanted to publicly say I'm proud of you and the success you've found so far with Under My Skin.

Now onto what you've all be waiting for. Just to remind you, I decided to give away a signed ARC of Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl as a token of our love to our readers for the past 2 years.

For those of you who didn't win, thank you for entering and also for reading our blog! We really appreciate it and I wish I had a book for everyone. We do giveaways from time to time, so be sure to stick with us for a chance to win another great book.

I picked the winner by randomly generating a number--that being my husband choosing a number between 1 and 31 (we had 31 total comments). At the time, he had no clue why I asked him to pick a number, so it was completely random.

Drum roll please.....And the winner is:

The Brain Lair (KB)

CONGRATS!!!! Please email me your name and address at YAedge (at) yahoo (dot) com and I will send the book to you on Tuesday (if you send me your info in time)!

If the winner doesn't email by Friday, October 8th, a new winner will be randomly chosen.

Gearing up for Frankenstein

Tami and I will both be re-reading Frankenstein this October, and I must confess, I'm doing so because I'm speaking on a very cool panel at the Edmonton Pure Speculation Sci-fi/Fantasy Lit Fest at the end of the month. Each member of the panel has to choose one classic sci-fi text published before 1980 and defend why it should still be read today. I chose Frankenstein for many reasons:

- it's one of the (or perhaps THE) original sci-fi novels
- it's part gothic novel, the foundation of the paranormal genre today
- I first read it when I was a teen and found parts confusing. The whole "telling a story through letters" convention was a struggle (I also found this with Dracula, but Frankenstein's language is super lofty and if you don't focus, you'll get lost in the prose.). This time around, I want to really soak it in.
- I've seen many films based on the book and in my experience, the book is ALWAYS better because no film budget can match the movie in my mind.

The mention of film brings me to the point of my post. Being October, there are numerous classic horror film collections on sale in the stores and I picked one up with a version of Franky I'd never heard of Frankenstein 80 from 1972. I've seen the original 1932 film with Boris Karloff, but my favourite version would have to be Kenneth Branagh's Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a film that sticks closely to the book. For a romantic version, there's Sting as Frankenstein in the 1985 film, The Bride. From a comedic perspecitve, nothing beats 1974's Young Frankenstein. There are a ton of Franky films out there, some sound super cheesy, like: Frankenhooker, Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster, etc. And then there are films loosely based on the themes in Frankenstein, like Re-Animator (1985) and the 2009 Canadian film, Splice.

It is those enduring themes that perpetuates our fascination with Shelley's monster. Nature vs science. Man's arrogance. Abandonment. Self-awareness. Abuse. Corruption. Ambition. The eternal "why am I here?". And more...all speaking to our day, our time, as if written just for us. Genetically modified food (often called "Frankenfood"), cloning, human genetic engineering, flu shots and super bugs, stem cell research, animal testing, etc, etc...

Why not revisit such a cautionary tale? We might learn something.

Beautiful Darkness Signed ARC Giveaway

Next Friday is YAedge's 2nd birthday. I knew I wanted to do something special for our readers, but wasn't quite sure what. Then, in July I was able to pick up an extra copy of Beautiful Darkness, the sequel to an amazing book by Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia, Beautiful Creatures. Luckily, I had my husband in line at Comic Con when they were signing and giving them away, so he grabbed it for one lucky winner on our blog!


At first, I wasn't sure what would be the special occasion. It's not every day we give away a signed copy of an ARC before the release of the book! Then I remembered, October 1st is YAedge's 2 year birthday! There is no better way to celebrate such a huge date then to say thank you to one of our readers. I wish I could give each of you a book, but unfortunately, that is impossible.



Starting today, leave a comment on this post for a chance to win. The contest will close at noon PT on Thursday, September 30th so that I can choose the winner on our blog birthday, October 1st. The contest is open to all residents in North America (US, Canada, Mexico). Sorry to International readers, but I just don't have the cash to ship overseas at this time. I will be shipping the book to the winner that following Tuesday so that it will arrive before the book is in stores.

If you haven't read Beautiful Creatures yet, now is the perfect time. It was just released in paperback! Here is the description from bn.com:

There were no surprises in GatlinCounty.
We were pretty much the epicenter of the middle of nowhere.
At least, that's what I thought.
Turns out, I couldn't have been more wrong.
There was a curse.
There was a girl.
And in the end, there was a grave.

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

And of course, the desciption for Beautiful Darkness from amazon.com (which officially releases October 12):

Ethan Wate used to think of Gatlin, the small Southern town he had always called home, as a place where nothing ever changed. Then he met mysterious newcomer Lena Duchannes, who revealed a secret world that had been hidden in plain sight all along. A Gatlin that harbored ancient secrets beneath its moss-covered oaks and cracked sidewalks. A Gatlin where a curse has marked Lena's family of powerful Supernaturals for generations. A Gatlin where impossible, magical, life-altering events happen.

Sometimes life-ending.

Together they can face anything Gatlin throws at them, but after suffering a tragic loss, Lena starts to pull away, keeping secrets that test their relationship. And now that Ethan's eyes have been opened to the darker side of Gatlin, there's no going back. Haunted by strange visions only he can see, Ethan is pulled deeper into his town's tangled history and finds himself caught up in the dangerous network of underground passageways endlessly crisscrossing the South, where nothing is as it seems.

If you visit the official Beautiful Darkness webpage, you can read the first 200 pages of Beautiful Creatures and the prologue to Beautiful Darkness right now for free!

Good luck everyone!

More Classics to Dig Into

I loved Tami's post challenging herself to read some of the classics. I've always enjoyed classical lit and have read my share, although I likely missed half of the "heavy" themes...lol... Still, I soak up the language, the stories and the characters.



My favs (I'm not sure if they're technically classics, but I consider them to be so):



Wuthering Heights

Jane Erye

The Odyssey

Tess of the D'Urbervilles

A Christmas Carol

Persuasion

The Scarlett Letter

The Portrait of a Lady

Crime and Punishment



And because I write pararnormal fiction, I'm drawn to classics with a sci-fi / fantasy bent. Some are a bit more modern examples:



Frankenstein

Dracula

The Island of Dr. Moreau

Gulliver's Travels

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

A Clockwork Orange

The Chrysalids, Chocky, and The Day of the Triffides - John Wyndham ROCKS!

A Wizard of Earthsea

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The Tell-Tale Heart and other Poe stories

Around the World in 80 Days

The Birds



Between Tami's list and mine, we have a few bleedovers, however, I'm keen to dig into the titles we've listed and either revisit or discover new favourites. Tami - I recommend we both start with Frankenstein. ;)