tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79726345203651086012024-03-23T06:13:58.519-04:00YA GuyJoshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.comBlogger252125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-65532104697171570132020-08-05T21:16:00.000-04:002020-08-05T21:16:35.789-04:00YA Guy ... Says Goodbye!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaPG9HYoc7wn53EoWvAMTSnxNMg3YzeuHd5Ym5UnXXHGIbAM7dpsIx8MHGZeH1iAWWgyIMtWHIS3uADtVYWL6dtXjz9raqt_l8yHHeNF_qai5Vwe3L9sACyJUQOrRgyqNjTXjintycZxBU/s809/Me+and+Liza.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="607" data-original-width="809" height="384" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaPG9HYoc7wn53EoWvAMTSnxNMg3YzeuHd5Ym5UnXXHGIbAM7dpsIx8MHGZeH1iAWWgyIMtWHIS3uADtVYWL6dtXjz9raqt_l8yHHeNF_qai5Vwe3L9sACyJUQOrRgyqNjTXjintycZxBU/w513-h384/Me+and+Liza.jpg" width="513" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>I started the YA Guy blog back in 2013, the year before the publication of my debut novel, <i>Survival Colony 9</i>. (That's a picture of me with my agent from 2014.) It's been fun posting book reviews, author interviews, and other information these past seven years, but I've noticed that as time has gone by and my life has become busier, I've been posting less and less--only 6 times this year, down from my high-water mark of nearly 60 in my debut year. The last thing I want to happen is for this blog to become a chore instead of a passion, so I think it's time to call it quits.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'll still be publishing books, of course, and if you'd like to keep apprised of new publications, you can sign up for my newsletter via my website:</div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://joshuadavidbellin.blogspot.com/p/contact.html">https://joshuadavidbellin.blogspot.com/p/contact.html</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Thanks to everyone who's read the YA Guy blog over the years. I hope you've enjoyed it, and I hope to see you around (if only electronically) in the future. Blog or no blog, I'll always be YA Guy.</div><div><br /></div><div>As far as the blog goes, though, it's time to say goodbye.</div>Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-63572382072339037122020-06-30T09:00:00.001-04:002020-06-30T09:00:01.582-04:00YA Guy Launches... DAUGHTER OF DUST!<i>YA Guy is thrilled to announce the publication of my new novel, DAUGHTER OF DUST! The first volume in the Book of the Huntress trilogy, this is a novel I've worked on for many years, and it's become very close to my heart. Here's the cover, plus a blurb:</i><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxgD-QRkYcoUzVYoSYb231T-j4Ljde-Ow7hF7zERRfqhscVUHBUd3dyUi25hL0ryWX2c1atAyDNc_AcbqngTYohJTW-6BliurAIkJ5g6MQdPVmGrNbQufnGrGNYWVISXTe6QxyRrxXoGIb/s2700/Daughter-of-Dust-ebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2700" data-original-width="1800" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxgD-QRkYcoUzVYoSYb231T-j4Ljde-Ow7hF7zERRfqhscVUHBUd3dyUi25hL0ryWX2c1atAyDNc_AcbqngTYohJTW-6BliurAIkJ5g6MQdPVmGrNbQufnGrGNYWVISXTe6QxyRrxXoGIb/w333-h500/Daughter-of-Dust-ebook.jpg" width="333" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Michelle Simmons watched the eerie yellow fire consume the countryside on her seventeenth birthday. Cut off from home, she's lost in the desolation that remains. When Michelle is discovered by other survivors under the command of Jason, a ruthless leader with a mysterious past, she fears she may never be freed to search for her missing family. And when a video surfaces showing nightmarish creatures with the ability to mimic human beings, Michelle is sure the end has come.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">But then Kareem, a teenage boy, arrives in Jason's camp claiming to have lost all memory except one: there is a city nearby, a city that holds the secret to the attacks that shattered Michelle's world. He can take her there, if she's willing to risk leaving Jason's camp behind. What Michelle doesn't know is that there are other, more sinister secrets hiding in the scarred city. And that Kareem might not be what he claims to be.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">You can order DAUGHTER OF DUST from Amazon at the following links:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Paperback: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Huntress-Joshua-David-Bellin/dp/1734831502/" target="_blank"><font color="#f57c00">https://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Huntress-Joshua-David-Bellin/dp/1734831502/</font></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Kindle: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Dust-Book-Huntress-1-ebook/dp/B087W5YN5G" target="_blank"><font color="#f57c00">https://www.amazon.com/Daughter-Dust-Book-Huntress-1-ebook/dp/B087W5YN5G</font></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I hope you love this book as much as I do. And please remember to leave a review--authors rely on reviews to get the word out about books readers love!</div></div><div><br /></div>Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-72144584339434809512020-05-28T10:00:00.000-04:002020-05-28T10:00:06.079-04:00YA Guy Introduces ... A VERY SMALL CHILD CALLED EUGENE!<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiItbKs8RdZdzDvQCc_GLUVG8PNg_qPxxOZvlmnVyq2Ry2FxqX1USfWdrn9FTdhYh_Gn55aRb2xcGr7F7n3ALSg8s5jHzouYtssqUnU4joREC0LQkW0jpqZ2FncELhUkVeciY0E-a6IhNRf/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3047" data-original-width="1910" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiItbKs8RdZdzDvQCc_GLUVG8PNg_qPxxOZvlmnVyq2Ry2FxqX1USfWdrn9FTdhYh_Gn55aRb2xcGr7F7n3ALSg8s5jHzouYtssqUnU4joREC0LQkW0jpqZ2FncELhUkVeciY0E-a6IhNRf/w251-h400/Eugene+cover+6.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Years ago, before YA Guy was YA Guy, I wrote a science fiction short story about the rise of a white supremacist United States. It was published in a small journal, and I thought nothing of it until a few years later, when the rise of the #BlackLivesMatter movement brought increased attention to racism in our society and criminal justice system. I decided to expand the story to novel length, keeping the original title but bringing in a host of new characters and delving deeply into the history of the imagined world. I completed it somewhere around 2014, then sat on it, not knowing quite what to do with it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Because the truth is, this novel is quite different from anything else I've written. It contains a heavy dose of objectionable language, graphic violence, and other material unsuitable for young or sensitive readers. It's a satire or dark comedy, and so it runs the risk of being misunderstood, the same way many of my students think that Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" is actually advocating the eating of young children. Since it deals with race and racism, it's particularly likely to offend: some readers won't understand that it's a critique of racist ideology rather than a work of racist ideology, while other readers will get what I was trying to do but argue that I shouldn't have tried to do it. The book isn't political in the sense of attacking particular parties or persons, but it's deeply political in the sense of shining a light on the cancer of racism in the contemporary U.S., and that won't sit well with some readers either.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Nonetheless, I decided to publish it. Every day brings us new evidence of how deeply divided along racial lines the nation remains: the murder of unarmed black men and women by law enforcement and private citizens, the systematic inequities in our criminal justice system, the differential impact of environmental ills (including the current pandemic) on people of different skin colors, the inflammatory anti-immigrant rhetoric of some of our politicians, and too many other examples to name make it clear that those of us who walk around in skins somewhat lighter than the global norm enjoy rights and privileges that others have to struggle to gain, or can't gain at all. That's white privilege, but it's also the root of white supremacism, and as long as the former exists, the latter won't be far behind.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So if you think this kind of thing would be interesting to you, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B087YS1T3N" target="_blank"><font color="#f57c00">here it is</font></a>. I've made it free for the rest of the month of May, so even if you read a few pages and throw it aside in disgust, you won't have lost anything except a few minutes of your time (and, possibly, whatever respect you might have had for me). But one of the most important things I've learned about writing is that you have to write what you feel, and this is what I feel. I hope others feel the same way.</div>Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-48914116766488311722020-04-22T10:00:00.000-04:002020-04-22T10:00:03.253-04:00YA Guy Interviews... P.L. Tavormina, Author of AEROVOYANT!<i>YA Guy loves climate fiction (cli-fi), and P.L. Tavormina's novel AEROVOYANT is one of the most original and interesting works I've read in the cli-fi genre! (It also has a really cool cover, as pictured below.) The story of a planet not unlike ours in the early days of industrialization--and of the people who fight against the rapid rise in fossil fuel use, one of them gifted with the power to see the concentration of gases in the atmosphere--AEROVOYANT is both scientifically and narratively rich, and I highly recommend it for readers of cli-fi, sci-fi, and environmental literature.</i><div>
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<i>I had a chance to catch up with the author recently, and here's how our conversation went....</i></div>
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<b>YA Guy</b>: Welcome to the blog!</div>
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<b>P.L. Tavormina</b>: Thanks for having me!</div>
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<b>YAG</b>: Let's start with some basics. How did you come up with the idea for <i>Aerovoyant</i>? </div>
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<b>PLT</b>: So, for a little background, I grew up watching shows like <i>The Beverly Hillbillies</i>. You remember—this poor family struck it rich from oil on their property, and they moved to Beverly Hills, and hilarity ensued. As a country kid, I loved the whole bumpkin-meets-high-society story, and the idea of buried treasure—I loved that too. In the '70s oil was big, and we were just starting to understand that it's also hugely detrimental to the environment. So that's how I grew up—living through those decades where we collectively learned about the hazards of fossil fuels. When the Exxon Valdez spill happened (in 1989), it became clear to a lot of us that the fossil fuel industry wasn’t as interested in the environment as they ought to be.</div>
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So, I became a scientist. In some of my research, I worked on the BP spill (in the Gulf of Mexico, in 2010) and the Aliso Canyon methane leak (in Porter Ranch, California, in 2015). With methane, you can't see the leak except with infrared equipment. That gave me the idea for a character, someone who could see carbon emissions like methane and carbon dioxide, when we burn fossil fuels. My character, Myrta, sees methane, carbon dioxide, and everything else in the air that we don't see or really think about. The Combustion Industry on her planet wants her gone, in essence to hide the damage their industry does.</div>
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<b>YAG</b>: That is such a cool concept, and it made for a fascinating story. As a cli-fi writer, what do you think the relationship (or responsibility) of a writer is to the issue of climate change? </div>
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<b>PLT</b>: The beauty of fiction is that it frames issues in creative ways, to help us think along new lines. Climate fiction can take real elements of this environmental crisis—from hurricane refugees to toxic sludge on the seafloor to drought—and place those elements in a relatable frame. </div>
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If cli-fi writers have a specific responsibility (I think we do), it's to get people to act harder toward a better future. Our society needs a "space-race" level of mobilization to slash emissions. Most cli-fi writers agree, most of us bring our passion to our work, and many of us see our responsibility as one of clarifying the climate crisis through stories.</div>
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Independent of responsibility, cli-fi writers have an opportunity. We can bring our message at any of a number of levels, whether it's social justice, tangible impacts, or solutions. We're all in this together, and we're all fighting for the same outcome—a more livable future for ourselves and the species we share the ecosystem with.</div>
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<b>YAG</b>: As a fellow environmental writer, I share your feelings and convictions. Other than writing, what do you do to raise awareness about climate change? </div>
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<b>PLT</b>: Whatever occurs to me, I do. 😊 When I teach, I integrate impacts of the climate crisis into my lesson plans. When there's a climate strike, I pull out my protest signs and march. Marching in a protest is always a great experience, because you meet so many people who want to protect Earth. I've also written letters to the editor, and I give talks at local libraries on climate and science. I've started bringing the issue up with strangers—saying something as simple as "climate change is real" can really bring a smile to their face and mine. It opens the lines of communication. I keep a blog at <a href="http://www.pltavormina.com/">www.pltavormina.com</a>, where I share ideas about reducing our carbon footprints. I do whatever I can to help.</div>
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<b>YAG</b>: That's great to hear! And what's next for you in the world of storytelling?</div>
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<b>PLT</b>: At its heart, <i>Aerovoyant</i> tells the story of a young woman and a young man embracing their strengths to make their world a better place. Having said that, the story also places Earth’s geological history and atmospheric chemistry into accessible form. The story "teaches," hopefully gently and enjoyably, about geology and the atmosphere. </div>
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What’s next? A sequel. I'm writing the manuscript now; it's titled <i>Telomeric</i>. Ultimately, this story is about family. Family of origin and found family—it's a story about values, how we choose what to fight for. But there's a "science end" in the story, again, which is specifically climate impacts and sustainable technologies. </div>
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This writerly journey has been fantastic. I'm meeting people almost daily who care passionately about Earth. The tide is turning. We're doing it—we're getting everyone on board. Look at how the crisis has made its way into Democratic primary debates, into books and movies, into public discourse. Look at the thousands of activists, young and old, turning out every day to raise awareness. There are so many reasons to hope. Human willpower is a force of nature—and what we're building is a better world. </div>
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<b>YAG</b>: I couldn't agree more! It was great talking to you, and I look forward to reading your next book when it's out!</div>
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<b>PLT</b>: Thanks once more for having me on the blog, and let's talk again soon!</div>
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Readers, here's some additional information about author P.L. Tavormina and <i>Aerovoyant</i>. To buy the book, see the links at the bottom of the page!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS12M4SXA_P5EjS4Zgx0Scx5BUaMm1hgf_UPz6GEBAjPXXQpWX9SrZl0c8s-5ojFU0UFGzndgDIAlpXJAMIWHM8Ax0sHG1mSgJFGuB3DmWhY-hjLfV74QFdE2DRUAoSIBk8f3bc34FVnP9/s1600/tavormina_headshot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="715" data-original-width="605" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS12M4SXA_P5EjS4Zgx0Scx5BUaMm1hgf_UPz6GEBAjPXXQpWX9SrZl0c8s-5ojFU0UFGzndgDIAlpXJAMIWHM8Ax0sHG1mSgJFGuB3DmWhY-hjLfV74QFdE2DRUAoSIBk8f3bc34FVnP9/s320/tavormina_headshot.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
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<b>About the author</b>: P.L.Tavormina wrote <i>Aerovoyant</i> in 2017 and 2018, and queried agents and presses in 2018 and 2019. She was approached by a small independent press interested in buying the rights, but she ultimately decided to self-publish and get the story out into the world. As she says, the climate crisis is now. Tavormina published <i>Aerovoyant</i> in late 2019 and has been thrilled to have strangers regularly reach out to say they see the world differently after reading the story. </div>
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You can connect with P.L. Tavormina on Twitter and Instagram: @pltavormina. Her website, <a href="http://www.pltavormina.com/">www.pltavormina.com</a>, has a newsletter signup at <a href="http://pltavormina.com/contact/">pltavormina.com/contact/</a>, a blog at <a href="http://pltavormina.com/blog/" target="_blank">pltavormina.com/blog/ </a>, and occasional climate news.</div>
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Buy <i>Aerovoyant</i> on Amazon in print:</div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Aerovoyant-Industrial-Age-P-L-Tavormina/dp/1734170603"><span style="color: #e69138;">www.amazon.com/Aerovoyant-Industrial-Age-P-L-Tavormina/dp/1734170603</span></a></div>
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or e-book:</div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Aerovoyant-Industrial-Age-P-L-Tavormina-ebook/dp/B081X4T51G">www.amazon.com/Aerovoyant-Industrial-Age-P-L-Tavormina-ebook/dp/B081X4T51G</a></div>
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Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-44196642615607811982020-04-13T12:10:00.000-04:002020-04-13T12:10:51.558-04:00YA Guy Launches... THE LAST SENSOR!<h2>
YA Guy is thrilled to announce the VIRTUAL launch party of <i>The Last Sensor</i>, the final book in the Ecosystem Cycle!</h2>
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Yes, that's right, I'm launching the book via Facebook live stream. The event takes place this Thursday, April 16, from 7:00-9:00 PM (EST) at the following Facebook event page:</div>
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The event is public, so anyone on Facebook can listen in. There will be readings, Q&A, giveaways (of e-books to be safe), and other merriment. It won't be quite the same as a live launch, but it does have one nice wrinkle I've never used before: two of my writing friends from Pittsburgh will be joining me! Also, anyone who wants to purchase a signed copy of the book can order it through the bookstore that's co-sponsoring the event, Riverstone Books, at this web page:</div>
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<a href="https://riverstonebookstore.indielite.org/pre-order-signed-copies-josh-bellin">https://riverstonebookstore.indielite.org/pre-order-signed-copies-josh-bellin</a></div>
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Specify whether you want to pick the book up in-store or have it mailed to you, and once Riverstone reopens, they'll take care of the details. (P.S. I know the link says "Pre-order signed copies of Josh Bellin," but trust me, it means pre-order signed copies of my BOOKS.)</div>
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Come join us!</div>
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Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-62662017876703562482020-03-31T10:00:00.000-04:002020-04-07T18:06:46.691-04:00YA Guy Participates in... The Spring 2020 YA Scavenger Hunt!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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These are tough times for all of us, but one of the things we'll never lose is the love of reading. Which is why I'm happy to be participating in the Spring 2020 YA Scavenger Hunt!</div>
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As you can probably tell by all the <b><span style="color: #bf9000;">gold lettering</span></b> in this post (not to mention the banner at the top), I'm on the <span style="color: lime;"><b><span style="color: #bf9000;">GOLD TEAM</span><span style="color: lime;"> </span></b></span>this time around, along with the other awesome authors you see below:</div>
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The YA Scavenger Hunt is a bi-annual event first organized by author <a href="http://www.colleenhouck.com/"><span style="color: #bf9000;">Colleen Houck</span></a> as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors...and a chance to win some awesome prizes! Add up the clues on each <b><span style="color: #bf9000;">GOLD TEAM</span></b> page, and you can enter for our prize--one lucky winner will receive <span style="color: #bf9000;"><b>one e-book or audiobook from each author on our team!</b></span> (We're doing it that way in order to avoid sending physical copies all over the country and the world.) There are four contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! But don't delay: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will be online only until noon Pacific time on <span style="color: #bf9000;"><b>SUNDAY, APRIL 5!</b></span> (I'm also running a personal giveaway during the same period of time.)</div>
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<b><span style="color: #bf9000;">HOW IT WORKS</span></b></div>
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<b><br /></b><span style="color: #bf9000; font-weight: bold;">Directions</span>: In the author biography below, you'll notice I've listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the <span style="color: purple;"><b><span style="color: #bf9000;">GOLD TEAM</span></b></span>, and then add them up (don't worry, you can use a calculator!). </div>
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-weight: bold;">Entry Form</span>: Once you've added up all the numbers, make sure you <a href="http://www.yash.rocks/p/enter-here.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bf9000;">follow this link and fill out the form</span></a> to qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.</div>
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<span style="color: #bf9000; font-weight: bold;">Rules</span>: Open internationally. Anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian's permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by <span style="color: #bf9000;"><b>Sunday, April 5, at noon Pacific Time</b></span>. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered. For more information, <a href="http://www.yash.rocks/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bf9000;">follow this link to the YA Scavenger Hunt page</span></a>.<br />
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<span style="color: #bf9000;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Personal Giveawa</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">y</span></span>: In addition to the prizes named above, readers who enter my personal giveaway will have a chance to win an <b><span style="color: #bf9000;">e-book copy of the 4 books in the Ecosystem Cycle!</span></b> Like the Hunt itself, the personal giveaway is open internationally. See below on how to enter!<br />
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Got all that? Then let's meet the author I'm hosting, <b><span style="color: #bf9000;">BREEANA SHIELDS!</span></b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvw9w-4f98kkWkw9vPtrpQuS2FSEWb4dqdk5iNuxvGW4RvsYTNQNi22sYDVH3tWU549aIhuNevTjCTeeHrrw6mzBnJFWFMYhXtAW3yvqCquQFI2BCDK-HtteM1hvztt-xoWhMYmZqChLg0/s1600/BreeanaShields.authorphoto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1255" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvw9w-4f98kkWkw9vPtrpQuS2FSEWb4dqdk5iNuxvGW4RvsYTNQNi22sYDVH3tWU549aIhuNevTjCTeeHrrw6mzBnJFWFMYhXtAW3yvqCquQFI2BCDK-HtteM1hvztt-xoWhMYmZqChLg0/s200/BreeanaShields.authorphoto.jpg" width="155" /></a>Breeana Shields is an author of fantasy novels for teens including <i>The Bone Charmer, The Bone Thief, Poison’s Kiss</i>, and <i>Poison’s Cage</i>. When she’s not writing, Breeana loves reading, traveling, and playing <b><span style="color: #bf9000;">22</span></b> board games with her extremely competitive family. She lives near Washington D.C. with her husband, her three children, and two adorable, but spoiled dogs.</div>
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To find out more about the author, <a href="https://breeanashields.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bf9000;">follow this link to her website</span></a> or visit her favorite social media hangouts:<br />
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Twitter: @BreeanaShields<br />
Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/breeanashieldsauthor/"><span style="color: #bf9000;">https://www.facebook.com/breeanashieldsauthor/</span></a><br />
Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/breeanashields/"><span style="color: #bf9000;">https://www.instagram.com/breeanashields/</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuuArNCywIxFQRIF9Hx0cx0DjcaBSMA9JiGob7M5K_ZMOpjd3fozdAl4_4LNJJIihHAPR-qM4ktKoCvYgTDX4mdsFxCYXmPOsiWtvtu-rZ7JMCOIBHpnTk9WYg8NR0ZEPfBLQjU-eho0OA/s1600/The-Bone-Thief-Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuuArNCywIxFQRIF9Hx0cx0DjcaBSMA9JiGob7M5K_ZMOpjd3fozdAl4_4LNJJIihHAPR-qM4ktKoCvYgTDX4mdsFxCYXmPOsiWtvtu-rZ7JMCOIBHpnTk9WYg8NR0ZEPfBLQjU-eho0OA/s320/The-Bone-Thief-Cover.jpg" width="213" /></a>About <b><span style="color: #bf9000;">THE BONE THIEF</span></b>: A deft exploration of the weight of grief and cost of revenge, Breeana Shields’s Bone Charmer duology reaches its spine-tingling conclusion in this high-octane fantasy-thriller.<br />
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To buy the book, <a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/breeana+shields" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bf9000;">follow this link!</span></a><br />
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The Spring 2020 Hunt is over, and winners have been chosen for the team giveaways and my personal giveaway. Thanks to all for playing!</div>
Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-21841233411482727022020-03-12T10:00:00.000-04:002020-03-12T10:00:04.051-04:00YA Guy Interviews... Darlene Beck Jacobson!<i>One of YA Guy's all-time favorite Middle Grade authors is Darlene Beck Jacobson, author of WHEELS OF CHANGE (2014) and, now, WISHES, DARES, AND HOW TO STAND UP TO A BULLY, due out on April 7 from Creston Books. I had a chance to ask Darlene some questions prior to the publication of her new book, and here's what she had to say!</i><br />
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YA Guy: Hi, Darlene, and welcome to the blog!</div>
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<b>Darlene Beck Jacobson: Hi, Josh. Thanks so much for hosting me on your blog to talk about my new book <i>WISHES, DARES, AND HOW TO STAND UP TO A BULLY</i>.</b></div>
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YA Guy: Happy to have you here! I know that your debut novel, <i>WHEELS OF CHANGE</i>, came out in 2014. What have you been up to since then, and what have you learned about writing and publishing in the interim?</div>
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<b>Darlene: I worked on a number of projects that for one reason or other didn’t quite work out. It can be discouraging to try and stay on top of publishing trends and the changes and decisions we authors have no control over. You can either give up, or keep writing. I kept writing and finally found a story that was a perfect match for CRESTON BOOKS--the publisher of my first novel.</b></div>
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YA Guy: I think "never give up" is the best advice aspiring (and established) writers can get! Let's talk about the subject matter you gravitate toward in your writing. Both of your novels are set in the past--the early 20th century in the case of <i>WHEELS OF CHANGE</i>, the Vietnam War era in the case of <i>WISHES</i>. Why are you drawn to historical fiction, and how do you go about researching different time periods?</div>
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<b><i>Darlene: WHEELS OF CHANGE</i> came about after discovering some interesting facts while researching my family tree. <i>WISHES</i> ended up set in the 1960’s when I realized I wanted a modern era, but also a time when kids could be outside all day without parents hovering about. No cell phones, video games to occupy time, just imagination and creative play. I grew up in the 60’s, so the research took me back to my own childhood. So much fun!</b></div>
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YAG: That's really cool--kind of a "write what you know" story. What about the form of <i>WISHES</i>? Why did you decide to tell the story in verse?</div>
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<b>Darlene: I didn’t consciously make that decision. The main character, an eleven-year-old boy named Jack, introduced himself to me as I awoke from a dream. He spoke to me in that raw emotion, stream-of-consciousness way from the first moment I met him. He knew exactly what he wanted to say and all I did was write it down in his voice. It was the most amazing way I’ve ever written a story and a total joy to write.</b></div>
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YA Guy: Isn't it amazing how the characters we create end up seeming like real people with their own stories to tell us? And speaking of stories, bullying is a central aspect of the story in <i>WISHES</i>. Why is this issue important to you?</div>
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<b>Darlene: For all that has changed in our culture, some things remain the same. Friendship, love, kindness, and acceptance are issues that are important to kids and always have been. Dysfunctional families are not new. Bullying is not new. Finding a way to talk about these issues and offering solutions that children can employ in their own lives seems important.</b></div>
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YA Guy: Definitely--literature has to hit both the timeless and the contemporary. So what's next for you? What are you working on now (or are you too busy and excited preparing for the release of <i>WISHES</i> to be working on anything else)?</div>
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<b>Darlene: I am working on a contemporary novel in verse, which is in the early stages yet. The verse format is so intriguing and inviting. I don’t feel like I’m done exploring this form and am excited to be giving it another try.</b></div>
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YA Guy: Sounds great! Thanks again for visiting the blog, and congratulations on the upcoming publication of <i>WISHES, DARES, AND HOW TO STAND UP TO A BULLY</i> (a title I love, by the way).</div>
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<b>Darlene: Thanks for hosting me, Josh!</b></div>
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All right, readers, if you want to learn more about Darlene Beck Jacobson, here's her bio and social media info!</div>
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Darlene Beck Jacobson is a former teacher and speech therapist who has loved writing since she was a girl. She is also a lover of history and can often be found mining dusty closets and drawers in search of skeletons from her past. She enjoys adding these bits of her ancestry to stories such as her award-winning middle grade historical novel <i>WHEELS OF CHANGE</i> (Creston, 2014) and <i>WISHES, DARES, AND HOW TO STAND UP TO A BULLY</i> (Creston 2020).</div>
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Darlene lives and writes her stories in New Jersey with her family and a house full of dust bunnies. She’s caught many fish, but has never asked one to grant her a wish. She’s a firm believer in wishes coming true, so she tries to be careful what she wishes for.</div>
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Darlene's blog features recipes, activities, crafts, articles on nature, book reviews, and interviews with children’s book authors and illustrators.</div>
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<a href="http://www.darlenebeckjacobson.com/">www.darlenebeckjacobson.com</a></div>
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Twitter: @DBeckJacobson</div>
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<a href="mailto:darlenejacobson13@gmail.com">darlenejacobson13@gmail.com</a></div>
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<b>More on <i>WISHES, DARES, AND HOW TO STAND UP TO A BULLY</i></b></div>
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ISBN: 978-1-939547-62-0</div>
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<a href="https://www.crestonbooks.co/wishesdares" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Additional information at Creston Books</span></a><br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wishes-Dares-How-Stand-Bully/dp/1939547628" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Amazon preorder link</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/wishes-dares-and-how-to-stand-up-to-a-bully-darlene-beck-jacobson/1132126165" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">B&N preorder link</span></a><br />
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<b>Some reviews:</b></div>
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“Uniquely original and with an important underlying social message for children ages 8-12, <i>Wishes, Dares, and How to Stand Up to a Bully</i> is especially and unreservedly recommended for elementary school, middle school, and community library General Fiction collections.--<i>Midwest Book Review</i></div>
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“Although it's set in the 1960s, the story reflects timeless issues that will resonate with modern readers. A fresh, inspiring exploration of a daunting issue.” --<i>Kirkus</i></div>
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“Its free verse lines crafted with care and concision, the book captures Jack’s emotions, and his 1960s small town setting, because of its sharp attention to detail. References to John F. Kennedy, John Glenn, and Joe DiMaggio round out the period, and the shadow of the war hangs over everything. Still, the children roam unsupervised—fishing, biking, and camping—in a world that is otherwise familiar and safe. They’re dealing with serious issues all the while, from Jill and Cody’s abusive stepfather to Jack and Katy missing their father. By the end, they have all developed the courage and strength to deal with their struggles.</div>
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A historical childhood fantasy in verse, <i>Wishes, Dares, and How to Stand Up to a Bully</i> blends light summer fun with deep emotional challenges.”--<i>Forward Magazine</i></div>
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Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-58634698535443303732019-12-09T18:13:00.000-05:002019-12-09T18:13:03.230-05:00YA Guy Presents... His 2019 Top 10!Confession time: YA Guy didn't read as much YA this year as usual. There's a long story behind that, but here's the short version:<br />
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<li>I was working on two distinct book-length manuscripts, which cut into my reading time.</li>
<li>In honor of my dad, who died in November 2018, I decided to read some of the books he'd loved. He tended toward epic-scale historical novels, so that left less time for YA.</li>
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But there's a happy ending to both of these stories: I did complete both manuscripts (one of which will be published in 2020, the other in 2021), and I felt closer to my dad after reading <i>Giants in the Earth</i>, <i>Doctor Zhivago</i>, and other similar classics.</div>
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And there's even more good news--I did read enough YA (and MG) in 2019 to compile a Top 10 list. In no particular order, here goes!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSZr8YDiH55SJP6QK1R6k9pLcqLEt4Dx_WkyF_K5J1BTJWyzpcrwKVKbQdTOY-pHBhinJ2xGCUQu_Wc5ehMbi8OLoXMPQZ5D_UdIPWsbtUJiGVbv6OGToW0KKBrHkSWeQ95guzdPd7GmW1/s1600/sweep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="334" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSZr8YDiH55SJP6QK1R6k9pLcqLEt4Dx_WkyF_K5J1BTJWyzpcrwKVKbQdTOY-pHBhinJ2xGCUQu_Wc5ehMbi8OLoXMPQZ5D_UdIPWsbtUJiGVbv6OGToW0KKBrHkSWeQ95guzdPd7GmW1/s200/sweep.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
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Jonathan Auxier, <i>Sweep</i>. The story of a girl who works as a chimney sweep in London, this multi-award-winning book showcases Pittsburgh author Auxier at his magical, whimsical best.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjK2bQLEMf9JefJrWPBWMh5BKYnYTf9mWvH5rrzmpuByEy0to8CThOTfY66usyT4e1__Ml4dVwppvFhUfNdQ5J_uGNsLJpNiMKKITfZyvNmzZlJlAXV46nUCO76Faz_UL-Vi52A519k_RM/s1600/Wasted+Pretty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="333" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjK2bQLEMf9JefJrWPBWMh5BKYnYTf9mWvH5rrzmpuByEy0to8CThOTfY66usyT4e1__Ml4dVwppvFhUfNdQ5J_uGNsLJpNiMKKITfZyvNmzZlJlAXV46nUCO76Faz_UL-Vi52A519k_RM/s200/Wasted+Pretty.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
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Jamie Beth Cohen, <i>Wasted Pretty</i>. A YA novel for the #MeToo generation, this book tells the story of a teenage girl's sexual assault by a family friend. The voice of the protagonist glows with honesty, authenticity, and acerbic wit.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPPPfIUuS0dOWOOSh16mzOyulX3W3xuh49j3FkaigHb6Kot4zga5aXBh1EXXhYiYhHp9x1ndoRGx8Dh75pQ9nIFRIHwdMXJJIToJjPdxne5oo2IzcciTPT0gGBuYC1BwJUYjfmFJ_CG9TD/s1600/Merged.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="334" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPPPfIUuS0dOWOOSh16mzOyulX3W3xuh49j3FkaigHb6Kot4zga5aXBh1EXXhYiYhHp9x1ndoRGx8Dh75pQ9nIFRIHwdMXJJIToJjPdxne5oo2IzcciTPT0gGBuYC1BwJUYjfmFJ_CG9TD/s200/Merged.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
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Jim and Stephanie Kroepfl, <i>Merged</i>. What could possibly go wrong when the minds of dying geniuses are merged with those of teen hosts? (Hint: a lot!)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQg7jQtdZI3JRaiDkN-wHZkBc22kQquMIHjQdK-TYpzMcW4CckUIQYz8stK_KFlCBjV3SVbqS0kLwy4w1Bse5sE4EXRWkIkix8fh7LTn_Vp-dQBIGCOMFpImaegiuF2SojDyZ6BKLE1beN/s1600/Neliem.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQg7jQtdZI3JRaiDkN-wHZkBc22kQquMIHjQdK-TYpzMcW4CckUIQYz8stK_KFlCBjV3SVbqS0kLwy4w1Bse5sE4EXRWkIkix8fh7LTn_Vp-dQBIGCOMFpImaegiuF2SojDyZ6BKLE1beN/s200/Neliem.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
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Clare Di Liscia, <i>Neliem</i>. A swashbuckling fantasy romance with a kick-butt heroine who, unlike so many in the sub-genre, genuinely merits the title.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbBvz6gW_phFc9KkdnHwMSHbXukQpmwXfpzZWu2gJ42s58vi7yIQ1y73BSgBQNmeNE_HGefp88V9Ov8TEr2VqRegHcnWeZAI2hyphenhyphenN5e0YOVlXh8NfBMhwPRiodKGuf8VzG9au606GBbgy4b/s1600/Storm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="331" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbBvz6gW_phFc9KkdnHwMSHbXukQpmwXfpzZWu2gJ42s58vi7yIQ1y73BSgBQNmeNE_HGefp88V9Ov8TEr2VqRegHcnWeZAI2hyphenhyphenN5e0YOVlXh8NfBMhwPRiodKGuf8VzG9au606GBbgy4b/s200/Storm.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
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Nick Courage, <i>Storm Blown</i>. Another Pittsburgh author (born and raised in New Orleans), Courage delivers a pulse-pounding hurricane saga told from the perspectives of the children--and animals--caught up in the storm.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVQSpJo-By7dugKo4dUdEVMzUdV2R6m2kREkfWq_NrH1LroEIjCkkjoppgteY2QOYWaYjdtxofWvVmvc5pZ2YuGyzXVjwogXsOKkg28V7XCDzCkKDMmDTQk8rzBNsMCj2e9Lx2O3Ocs48p/s1600/Water+Dancer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="329" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVQSpJo-By7dugKo4dUdEVMzUdV2R6m2kREkfWq_NrH1LroEIjCkkjoppgteY2QOYWaYjdtxofWvVmvc5pZ2YuGyzXVjwogXsOKkg28V7XCDzCkKDMmDTQk8rzBNsMCj2e9Lx2O3Ocs48p/s200/Water+Dancer.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
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Ta-Nehisi Coates, <i>The Water Dancer</i>. Not exactly YA though narrated by a teenage slave, this meticulously crafted debut novel by the National Book Award winner is slow but exquisite and powerful.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi65FTq9ei7vQaPiC2p_8HYmVdMfv_IaH-vrmmGVvRrQVevJfRBhNcqnXskcDHjGgFF-bOjOcv6vKxp_FGAJ1ejWB86ZRlRHwxNq4Z8HC8RnkJdE0eJ_h3iT_pCkvWQn3i_yqwdX0s12Kxf/s1600/Lesson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="313" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi65FTq9ei7vQaPiC2p_8HYmVdMfv_IaH-vrmmGVvRrQVevJfRBhNcqnXskcDHjGgFF-bOjOcv6vKxp_FGAJ1ejWB86ZRlRHwxNq4Z8HC8RnkJdE0eJ_h3iT_pCkvWQn3i_yqwdX0s12Kxf/s200/Lesson.jpg" width="125" /></a></div>
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Cadwell Turnbull, <i>The Lesson</i>. Another not-really-YA with several YA-aged characters, this debut science fiction novel set in the U.S. Virgin Islands during an alien invasion features a wonderful sense of place along with a historically rich examination of slavery and colonialism.</div>
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Mindy McGinnis, <i>Heroine</i>. "Harrowing" doesn't begin to do justice to this novel about an injured high school athlete's descent into opioid addiction.</div>
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Jessica Khoury, <i>Last of Her Name</i>. An outer-space retelling of the Anastasia story, with a cast of humanoid species, romance aplenty, and one of the most mind-blowing alien intelligences you'll find in all of sci-fi, YA or otherwise.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikrp3GgdWX4lIfxtWXJZLVkzFWMH1_4II4QyF74fsZFHzsL6yV8cUFyTAOg7rxymRDXraB_AkX2tFKN3SQY_-wUNqwht3S-QtA8SUxUkEIhSRqpayRUbLpPVuo0uu7lcKE_1j9exzxrmRy/s1600/House.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="313" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikrp3GgdWX4lIfxtWXJZLVkzFWMH1_4II4QyF74fsZFHzsL6yV8cUFyTAOg7rxymRDXraB_AkX2tFKN3SQY_-wUNqwht3S-QtA8SUxUkEIhSRqpayRUbLpPVuo0uu7lcKE_1j9exzxrmRy/s200/House.jpg" width="125" /></a></div>
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Joshua David Bellin, <i>House of Earth, House of Stone</i>. Book Three in the Ecosystem Trilogy. Soon to be Book Three in the four-part Ecosystem Cycle!</div>
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That's all for now, folks. I look forward to more great books in 2020!</div>
Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-49816427227255283962019-10-29T10:18:00.001-04:002019-10-29T10:18:56.620-04:00YA Guy Reveals... The Cover to the Final Book in the Ecosystem Cycle!YA Guy's initial conception for the Ecosystem series was to wrap it up in three books. But Book 3 didn't quite conclude the series to my satisfaction, so I decided to add a fourth and final installment (thus transforming the series into a "cycle" instead of a mere "trilogy"). Titled <i>The Last Sensor</i>, it's due to come out early next year (by my birthday, February 5, if I can swing it).<div>
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Today, though, I'm ready to reveal the cover, which is (if possible) my favorite in the entire series.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5X2So1ldrTMVleVphmd2aeZf48gak7dfSHONC_5xe9KgU_74yW8JJ6aD0Q5Y486LW2AKLyxYr06S7PPuMEoehwN_MnsO4Wh894zIu7Ijf4xjoRIIo_J6g6f2kuoPRetPiaoDWZ8wyFn3K/s1600/The+Last+Sensor+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="627" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5X2So1ldrTMVleVphmd2aeZf48gak7dfSHONC_5xe9KgU_74yW8JJ6aD0Q5Y486LW2AKLyxYr06S7PPuMEoehwN_MnsO4Wh894zIu7Ijf4xjoRIIo_J6g6f2kuoPRetPiaoDWZ8wyFn3K/s640/The+Last+Sensor+5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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Pretty cool, huh? Here's the blurb:</div>
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<i>Fifteen years ago, war nearly destroyed the City of the Queens. In the time since, Queen Rebecca’s reign has been marked by reconciliation between the Ecosystem and its people. With the aid of Chief Sensor Miriam and her husband Isaac, an era of peace and prosperity seems to have been assured at last.</i></div>
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<i>But then a new and unparalleled threat arises: the Ecosystem itself is dying, and Rebecca is powerless to restore it. Joining the Queen’s guard in their search for a cure to this mysterious malady is teenage apprentice Hadassah, daughter of Miriam and Isaac. For her, the quest is deeply personal: she seeks word of her friend and guardian Sarah, the former queen of the city who has been missing for years. Hadassah’s journey will take her to the ends of the earth, to a place of legendary wonder, beauty, and danger. And it will require her to tap a source of power even the queens have never imagined if she is to save her family and heal her world.</i></div>
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So enjoy the cover, and let me know what you think! I'm really excited to bring this series to a close; it's been near and dear to my heart for many years, and I hope readers will be as pleased as I am with the places the final book takes them!</div>
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Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-33315466790734333562019-10-01T10:00:00.000-04:002019-10-06T15:14:33.755-04:00YA Guy Participates in .... The Fall 2019 YA Scavenger Hunt!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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YA Guy loves Fall, and YA Guy especially loves the <span style="color: blue;"><b>Fall YA Scavenger Hunt</b></span>!</div>
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As you can probably tell by all the <b><span style="color: blue;">blue lettering</span></b> in this post (not to mention the banner at the top), I'm on the <span style="color: lime;"><b><span style="color: blue;">BLUE TEAM</span><span style="color: lime;"> </span></b></span>this year, along with the other awesome authors you see below:</div>
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The YA Scavenger Hunt is a bi-annual event first organized by author <a href="http://www.colleenhouck.com/"><span style="color: blue;">Colleen Houck</span></a> as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors...and a chance to win some awesome prizes! Add up the clues on each <b><span style="color: blue;">BLUE TEAM</span></b> page, and you can enter for our prize--one lucky winner will receive <span style="color: blue;"><b>one signed book from each author on our team!</b></span> There are four contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! But don't delay: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will be online only until noon Pacific time on <span style="color: blue;"><b>SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6!</b></span> (I'm also running a personal giveaway during the same period of time.)</div>
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<b><span style="color: blue;">HOW IT WORKS</span></b></div>
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<b><br /></b><span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;">Directions</span>: In the author biography below, you'll notice I've listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the <span style="color: purple;"><b><span style="color: blue;">Blue Team</span></b></span>, and then add them up (don't worry, you can use a calculator!). </div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;">Entry Form</span>: Once you've added up all the numbers, make sure you <a href="http://www.yash.rocks/p/enter-here.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">follow this link and fill out the form</span></a> to qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.</div>
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<span style="color: blue; font-weight: bold;">Rules</span>: Open internationally. Anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian's permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by <span style="color: blue;"><b>Sunday, October 6, at noon Pacific Time</b></span>. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered. For more information, <a href="http://www.yash.rocks/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">follow this link to the YA Scavenger Hunt page</span></a>.<br />
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<span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Personal Giveawa</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">y</span></span>: In addition to the prizes named above, readers who enter my personal giveaway will have a chance to win a <span style="color: blue;"><b>signed copy of the three books in the Ecosystem series!</b></span> Like the Hunt itself, the personal giveaway is open internationally. See below on how to enter!<br />
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Got all that? Then let's meet the author I'm hosting, <span style="color: blue;"><b>C. Lee McKenzie!</b></span><br />
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C. Lee McKenzie loves to write for young readers. Mostly she writes contemporary/realistic Young Adult novels, but when she writes Middle Grade, they’re all about fantasy and adventure.<br />
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<i>Sliding on the Edge, The Princess of Las Pulgas, Double Negative,</i> and <i>Sudden Secrets</i> are four of her published YA novels. Her next YA book, <i>Not Guilty</i>, will soon be released by Evernight Teen. She has an MG trilogy: <i>Alligators Overhead, The Great Time Lock Disaster</i>, and <i>Some Very Messy Medieval Magic</i>. She also has a stand alone MG called <i>Sign of the Green Dragon</i>. Add them all up, and though it's not quite <span style="color: blue;"><b>22</b></span> novels, it's pretty close!</div>
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To find out more about the author, <a href="http://cleemckenziebooks.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;"><b>follow this link to her website</b></span></a> or visit her favorite social media hangouts:<br />
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Twitter: @cleemckenzie<br />
FB: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/cleemckenzie"><span style="color: blue;">https://www.facebook.com/cleemckenzie</span></a><br />
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About <b><span style="color: blue;">DOUBLE NEGATIVE</span></b>: "My life was going, going, gone, and I hadn't been laid yet. I couldn't go into the slammer before that happened." —Hutch McQueen.<br />
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Sixteen-year-old Hutchinson McQueen is a big time loser. Trapped in a dysfunctional family, his one thought is escape, but everything he does to get away lands him in trouble.<br />
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Shackled by poor reading skills, he squeaks through classes with his talent for eavesdropping and memorizing what he hears. When he shoplifts and lands in juvenile detention, the court sentences him to a county youth program. There he meets the priest and Maggie, a retired teacher. They’re determined to set Hutch on a path leading away from trouble. Hutch is determined not to cooperate.<br />
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It isn’t until he’s facing serious charges that he confronts the truth—his own bad choices are trapping him. When he's offered the freedom he craves, all he has to do is take it.<br />
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To buy the book, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Double-Negative-C-Lee-McKenzie/dp/1771309415" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: blue;">follow this link</span></b></a>!<br />
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But wait, there's more! I'm also running a personal giveaway, in which one reader will win a signed copy of the three books in the Ecosystem series: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ecosystem-Trilogy-Book-1-ebook/dp/B07C2HDF9G" target="_blank"><b><span style="color: #b45f06;">ECOSYSTEM</span></b></a>, <b><span style="color: orange;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Devouring-Land-Ecosystem-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B07HVM4T8V" target="_blank">THE DEVOURING LAND</a></span></b>, and <b><span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/House-Earth-Stone-Ecosystem-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B07Q1DNK38" target="_blank">HOUSE of EARTH, HOUSE of STONE</a></span>!</b></div>
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On a future Earth, Nature has evolved into a planet-wide predator, and only those with the psychic power known as the Sense can survive. When seventeen-year-old Sarah sets out into the Ecosystem on a mission of vengeance, she must face the Ecosystem's deadliest creatures and travel to its most terrifying places. And she must decide whether to save the boy she loves at the cost of losing everything else she holds dear.<br />
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You can enter my personal giveaway by using the Rafflecopter form below:<br />
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<a class="rcptr" data-raflid="6d6990c332" data-template="" data-theme="classic" href="http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/6d6990c332/" id="rcwidget_yeto34gz" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>
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The Fall 2019 Hunt is over, but there are still a few hours to enter my personal giveaway. I'll announce the winner soon!Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-67425662511182562312019-07-21T12:42:00.001-04:002019-07-21T12:42:07.092-04:00YA Guy Reads... Classic Plague Novels!YA Guy will admit that the title to this post is perhaps the weirdest I've ever written. But as I'm sure I've mentioned, I'm not only a YA writer; I also have a doctorate in American literature and teach at the university level. What this means is that I read a lot of non-YA literature, and sometimes, I find that it dovetails with the YA I read (and write).<div>
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That seems to be the case now, though I'm not sure exactly how or why I started reading the genre I'm currently reading: classic novels about plague. Plague novels are super-popular right now, in both YA and non-YA: we have zombie plagues, hot zone plagues, superbug plagues, and so on and so forth. No doubt this plague craze has to do not only with actual medical threats but with generalized anxiety about the state of the world.</div>
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And I suppose, though I've never written (and have no plan to write) a novel specifically about plague, all of my novels are similar to plague novels in that they're about people surviving against hostile environments: the desert-plus-monsters environment of the Survival Colony novels, the sentient, predatory Nature of the Ecosystem trilogy, the threatening exoplanet of <i>Freefall</i>. Come to think of it, the draft novel I just completed does feature a disease as one key plot element. So when I started reading plague novels, maybe I was preparing for my own next book.</div>
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Anyway, here are the top three classic plague novels I've read, in order of the date of publication. I wish I could say "enjoy," but like all books of this sort, these three are pretty grim.</div>
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Daniel Defoe, <i>A Journal of the Plague Year</i> (1722). Written by the author of <i>Robinson Crusoe</i>, this is a fictionalized account of the 1665 plague in London that killed nearly 100,000 people. Defoe's book relies on archival research, testimony from survivors, and other sources, but its narrator is pure invention, as are some of the incidents. That makes it an early example of experimental, hybrid fiction (or creative nonfiction). Coincidentally, the novel I wrote my senior year in college was titled after Defoe's work, which I'd heard of but hadn't read as of then.</div>
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Mary Shelley, <i>The Last Man</i> (1826). Almost one hundred and fifty years before Richard Matheson's 1954 <i>I Am Legend</i>, Shelley wrote this novel of a worldwide plague that leaves no one but the narrator alive. Shelley's <i>Frankenstein</i> (1818) is sometimes considered the first science fiction novel, and you could call this book the first post-apocalyptic novel (unless you think of the Book of Revelation that way). It's nowhere near as influential as <i>Frankenstein</i>--and, truth be told, it's nowhere near as well written, with the first 100 pages in particular being full of turgid prose and Romantic excess--but it's still quite an accomplishment.</div>
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Albert Camus, <i>The Plague</i> (1947). Originally published as <i>La Peste</i>, this novel tells the tale of plague descending on a twentieth-century city in French Algeria. Narrated by one of the town's doctors--who avoids death himself but loses his wife, ironically, from an unrelated illness she's escaped the city to cure--the book can be seen as an allegory of the German occupation of France or, more generally, as a work of existential philosophy, with the plague standing for the human condition of inevitable death and capricious fate. Either way, it's beautifully written, focusing much more on people's diverse reactions to the pestilence than to the graphic details of plague itself.</div>
Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-39685422410466695512019-06-11T11:14:00.003-04:002019-06-11T11:14:40.449-04:00YA Guy Reviews... NELIEM by Clare Di Liscia and WASTED PRETTY by Jamie Beth Cohen!<i>YA Guy has a confession: I haven’t read much YA this year. There are lots of reasons for that, starting with the fact that I’ve been catching up on some literature I want to teach (and alas, I don’t have the opportunity to teach YA). But since I am YA Guy, I did read two really great debuts/new releases that I want to recommend. Both are similar in being the stories of young women growing to maturity during difficult times, though one is cast in the fantasy mode and the other in contemporary realism.</i><br />
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The first is <i>Neliem</i>, a YA fantasy by debut author Clare Di Liscia. This action/romance is very much in the “kick-butt heroine” vein, which I don’t always enjoy; at times, I feel that the character of the strong, capable, physically active YA heroine has become a mere reflex on the author’s part without context or nuance. Happily, that’s not the case with <i>Neliem</i>, which offers a fully realized, flesh-and-blood main character who kicks her share of butt while remaining complex and convincing.<br />
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The narrator and protagonist of <i>Neliem</i> is Oriana, a teenage girl living in squalid poverty on an island nation that’s fallen under the control of the mainland conquerors her people name Untouchables. Her prospects are bleak; many of her fellow islanders have died of the plague that almost took her, and those who survive eke out an existence of penury, servitude, and near-starvation. Oriana draws strength by imagining herself as the legendary hero Neliem, a savior of the poor and unprotected. But when Ezra, an Untouchable boy possessed of all the wealth and power Oriana can only dream of, unexpectedly chooses her as his bride in a coercive ceremony she has little choice but to obey, she’s whisked away to an alien world and forced to live in the household of a husband she can’t trust. Whether she can become the hero she longs to be drives the action of this novel, as Oriana uncovers the truth of the Untouchable culture and of the boy who claims to love her.<br />
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I won’t give away whether Ezra truly loves Oriana, but I will give away that <i>I</i> did. She’s a remarkable character, fiercely drawn and richly layered, provided with a credible personal and social history that makes her thoughts, feelings, and actions utterly believable. She can be scared and overwhelmed one minute, risk-taking and bold the next—but she’s never, from first page to last, anything less than fully real. The world she inhabits took me a bit longer to settle into, probably because Di Liscia doesn’t rush the world-building but lets the details emerge gradually. This approach makes sense, inasmuch as we’re discovering the world through the relatively inexperienced Oriana’s eyes, learning it as she does. The result is a fascinating plunge into an alternative reality that feels both fantastic and familiar, which is what the best fantasy novels achieve.<br />
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From YA fantasy, I turn to YA contemporary realism with Jamie Beth Cohen’s debut novel <i>Wasted Pretty</i>. I’ll admit I was sold on this book from the first page, which opens on a summertime film screening at Flagstaff Hill in Pittsburgh’s Schenley Park, circa 1992. Yes, these screenings are real—they’ve been going on for years, and in fact my first date with my wife was at one such event! So as a lifelong Pittsburgh resident, I had an immediate connection to the world Cohen recreates.<br />
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That wouldn’t have been enough to hold my interest, though, if the main character's story weren’t equally strong. Cohen’s narrator is sixteen-year-old Alice Burton, daughter of a radio DJ and a mother who’s developed a line of health foods (and tested them on her daughter, enabling Alice to shed pounds and show the world a newly curvy body). That’s good in one respect—it attracts the attention of college student and aspiring grunge rocker Chris Thompson—but it also garners the unwanted advances of professional baseball player and family friend Karl Bell. An act of sexual assault traumatizes Alice just as other parts of her life seem to be falling apart as well: her dad’s gambling addiction is preventing him from keeping up with tuition payments to her private high school, her relationship with her best friend is feeling the strain of boyfriends and beer bashes, and the enigmatic Chris Thompson clearly likes her but won’t fully commit to her. Spanning a turbulent summer, <i>Wasted Pretty</i> paints an unsparing portrait of a young woman coming to terms with who she is and what she wants from life.<br />
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The disturbing scene in which Karl Bell assaults Alice is the novel’s centerpiece, with everything else connected to it in some way. But there’s no shortage of marvelously realized scenes to choose from in this novel (perhaps my favorite being the nicely understated scene in which Alice and her father overcome their estrangement to share a meal at the neighborhood Friendly’s). Cohen gets the local and period details right, delving into the music groups, hair and clothing styles, and high school party culture of the day; she also gets the interior details right, with Alice’s pain, confusion, hopes, and anger coming through with perfect timing and clarity. The butterfly on the book’s cover becomes a multilayered symbol for the transformation Alice undergoes, with all its struggles, possibilities, and triumphs intact.<br />
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You don’t need to know Pittsburgh to love <i>Wasted Pretty</i>. You just need to know someone like Alice—and we all do.<br />
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Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-11757906906230611492019-06-04T17:00:00.000-04:002019-06-04T17:00:38.930-04:00YA Guy Shares... Artwork from HOUSE OF EARTH, HOUSE OF STONE!If you've read HOUSE OF EARTH, HOUSE OF STONE, the final novel in YA Guy's Ecosystem Trilogy, you know that there's an illustration at the end representing the family tree of the Queens who are featured in the trilogy. The artist, Jessica Khoury of Lizard Ink Maps, produced the stunning line drawing, and I couldn't be more thrilled with the results.<div>
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Or, then again, maybe I could--because as a special favor, she produced a mind-blowing <i>full-color</i> version of the illustration, using a technique that simulates the look of stained glass. Here it is in all its glory!</div>
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This is, by the way, one of the pleasures of self-publishing; though I enjoy publishing books the traditional way as well, it's unlikely I could have convinced a publisher to include an extra illustration in my book. With self-publishing, it's all up to me!</div>
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Enjoy the artwork, and let me know what you think!</div>
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Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-43864469470564997892019-05-07T10:00:00.000-04:002019-05-07T10:00:09.429-04:00YA Guy Hosts... Malayna Evans, Author of JAGGER JONES AND THE MUMMY'S ANKH!<i>YA Guy is excited to introduce debut author, friend, and agency sibling Malayna Evans, whose middle grade novel JAGGER JONES AND THE MUMMY'S ANKH comes out on May 28! To me, this historical fantasy-adventure, first in a series set in ancient Egypt, sounds like it rivals the Kane Chronicles series by Rick Riordan, so I can't wait to read it. I asked Malayna to talk about her path to publication, and she responded with a story that's both bittersweet and empowering for aspiring authors everywhere!</i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ty-t8rg9SdqTr3-kgJ-SSaJjKp8KscnYTeE_3fWaAynRWrlzlFnsryp2rA_EiNSf1Me7LT9LETNohlhjC5LuhKztlG6Vk7edZ3KXiMD4NCJG3tjVdyU4JNhHkuarjh0i59YvCZkKKTrK/s1600/AnkhCover1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1174" data-original-width="1500" height="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1ty-t8rg9SdqTr3-kgJ-SSaJjKp8KscnYTeE_3fWaAynRWrlzlFnsryp2rA_EiNSf1Me7LT9LETNohlhjC5LuhKztlG6Vk7edZ3KXiMD4NCJG3tjVdyU4JNhHkuarjh0i59YvCZkKKTrK/s640/AnkhCover1.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
I always wanted to be a writer … in the same way my eleven-year-old daughter wants to be a mermaid. It’s not that I didn’t mean it. I did. I even went back to school to earn grad degrees in ancient history, in part because I thought a few fancy pieces of paper might magically transform me into the next Margaret George or Madeline Miller.<br />
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Then life happened. And believe it or not, my mermaid job never magically materialized.<br />
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And then, life happened some more. In the midst of a family crisis, I took my son, then nine, to lunch one day for a heart-to-heart. I don’t know how we ended up talking about ancient Egypt. At the time, we both adored the topic. (Sadly, one of us--now sixteen--has outgrown it). After a depressing debrief, perhaps we just wanted to lighten the mood. It’s the following moments that are still clear in my mind. He asked me what ancient Egyptians looked like. I told my beautiful, biracial son he’d fit in well. And he said someone should write a book about a kid who looked like him in ancient Egypt.<br />
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When my son and I drafted chapter one, it was a parenting exercise, something for us to work on together during a rough spot.<br />
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When I kept writing, it was a hobby to spend time on as I found myself with a lot more free time on my hands than I was accustomed to.<br />
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When I finished a full draft, tracked down real feedback, tossed the first manuscript in the trash, and started again, I began to wonder: could I really land a job as a mermaid?<br />
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I didn’t know at the time how hard it is for unpublished authors to get an agent, or find a publisher, or actually launch a book into the world. In retrospect, my naivete might have been a blessing.<br />
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I did know I wanted to write a book that featured bright, creative kids--kids like my two little people--on a memorable adventure in ancient Egypt. And I wanted to share my passion for history with middle school kids, and make it fun enough that they’d enjoy learning, or, better, not even realize there was learning involved.<br />
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When I landed an agent, I thought my big mermaid-break was just around the corner. Turns out, as hard as that was, it was only the start. Fortunately, my fabulous agent, Liza Fleissig, has the patience of a mollusk. She stuck with me, helping me improve the work until it was good enough to send out. It took a minute (okay, a few billion minutes), but eventually she found my series a home.<br />
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Book one, <i>Jagger Jones and the Mummy’s Ankh</i>, is scheduled to be released on May 28th from Month9Books. And no, it doesn’t mean I’m a professional mermaid now. Turns out, most authors need regular-old-human day jobs. But it’s a start. And the goals that animated my pursuit are in sight. If kids read this book and see themselves in Jagger and Aria, or discover an interest in the ancient world, I’ll coin myself a successful mermaid … and quite possibly track down a seashell-drenched tiara to don. Because mermaids may not be real, but celebrating life’s accomplishments should be!<br />
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<b>About the Book</b>: Jagger Jones is a whiz kid from Chicago's South Side. Ask him anything about Ancient Egypt, and Jagger can fill hours describing all that he knows. But when he and his precocious little sister Aria fall more than three thousand years back in time to the court of Amarna, Egypt, Jagger discovers a truth that rocks his world: books don't teach you everything there is to know. Mummies, pyramids, and cool hieroglyphics make awesome movie props, but the ancient court of Amarna is full of over-sized scorpions, magical amulets, and evil deities determined to scare unwanted visitors away. If Jagger and Aria are to return safely home, they must find nine soul-infested gemstones, defeat an evil general, save the royal family, and figure out how to rescue themselves! Armed only with Jagger's knowledge of history and a few modern objects mined from his pockets and Aria's sparkly purse, the siblings have exactly one week to solve supernatural riddles and rescue the royal family. If they can pull it off, Jagger Jones just might return to Chicago a hero.<br />
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<b>About the Author</b>: Malayna Evans, author of <i>Jagger Jones and the Mummy’s Ankh</i>, earned her Ph.D. in ancient Egyptian history from the University of Chicago. She’s used her education to craft a magical time-travel tale set in ancient Egypt for middle graders. Malayna lives in Oak Park, Illinois, with her two kids, a rescue dog, and a hamster named Pedicure.<br />
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You can learn more about Malayna on her website: <a href="http://malaynaevans.com/"><span style="color: blue;">http://malaynaevans.com</span></a><br />
Or you can follow her on social media:<br />
Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/Malayna"><span style="color: blue;">https://twitter.com/Malayna</span></a><br />
Instagram: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/malaynaevans/"><span style="color: blue;">https://www.instagram.com/malaynaevans/</span></a><br />
Goodreads: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/MalaynaEvans"><span style="color: blue;">https://www.goodreads.com/MalaynaEvans</span></a><br />
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To preorder JAGGER JONES, go here:<br />
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Jagger-Jones-Mummys-Malayna-Evans/dp/194867162X/"><span style="color: blue;">https://www.amazon.com/Jagger-Jones-Mummys-Malayna-Evans/dp/194867162X/</span></a>Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-79859405796037075822019-05-02T13:00:00.000-04:002019-05-02T13:00:04.928-04:00YA Guy Proudly Presents... The Ecosystem Trilogy!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-17udDwTZPHhtqxHR5TdMJs2xzT-PcPyjH9TFgUPV4OXzwn0Pw-WFU5k1mB-ClFEOotbMUkOyzywXPVjG4cA-jLPGVP3-mQtRBhF01uhBjQ8SzRPWG07J2KxXiAHSlm4YgjpLJU0BVTlV/s1600/3+covers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="818" data-original-width="1600" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-17udDwTZPHhtqxHR5TdMJs2xzT-PcPyjH9TFgUPV4OXzwn0Pw-WFU5k1mB-ClFEOotbMUkOyzywXPVjG4cA-jLPGVP3-mQtRBhF01uhBjQ8SzRPWG07J2KxXiAHSlm4YgjpLJU0BVTlV/s640/3+covers.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Well, it's finally done. The Ecosystem Trilogy, a project YA Guy's been dreaming about and working on for years, is completed, released, and launched. The three books are out there in the world, and I hope readers enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them.<div>
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To celebrate the completion of the series, I'm running a promotion for the Kindle e-books, each of which is on sale from May 2 through May 6 for only $0.99. By my calculations, that means you can buy the whole series for a mere $2.97. If you're interested, here's the link:</div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ecosystem-Trilogy-3-Book-Series/dp/B07Q3YN7QB"><span style="color: orange;">https://www.amazon.com/Ecosystem-Trilogy-3-Book-Series/dp/B07Q3YN7QB</span></a></div>
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Thanks for tagging along with me on this journey. Traveling through the Ecosystem with you has been one of the best adventures of my life.</div>
Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-76816236475737986012019-04-22T09:00:00.000-04:002019-04-22T09:00:02.952-04:00YA Guy Launches... HOUSE OF EARTH, HOUSE OF STONE!YA Guy was happy to find a big box o' books on his doorstep a week ago, heralding the arrival of copies of HOUSE OF EARTH, HOUSE OF STONE, the third (and hence final) book in the Ecosystem Trilogy.<div>
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Anyway, today--Earth Day, 2019--is the book's release date. (The first book in the series, <i>Ecosystem</i>, released on Earth Day last year, with the second book, <i>The Devouring Land</i>, tucked in between.) I'm personally very proud of this series, into which I poured a lot of my heart and soul, and I hope readers will enjoy its futuristic vision of an Earth in which the natural environment has become a collective sentience bent on humankind's destruction--and of the brave people who try to come to some sort of reconciliation with Nature. Yes, it's an allegory for our times--but even more, it's an exciting adventure story with a fiery protagonist, tons of action, and really cool monsters. So check it out and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/House-Earth-Stone-Ecosystem-Trilogy/dp/1732185964" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;">order a copy today</span></a>!</div>
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Or, if you're in the Pittsburgh area and would like a signed copy, you can check out the book's launch party, which takes place next Tuesday, April 30. Here's all the information you need:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1HgkKxpik7m3TXwcEt7GSPb09g01_6rEVK9CeqObovnVq0Aa4pYePznlFDy9eXbZ1vpfEr8MrpjU8Fw4kY0MVQ4fPpl0jrjE8cxach0-4yE6ApWwbk9aXxrgFixiTm-StdACaixme4h5v/s1600/Launch+Party+poster.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1320" data-original-width="1020" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1HgkKxpik7m3TXwcEt7GSPb09g01_6rEVK9CeqObovnVq0Aa4pYePznlFDy9eXbZ1vpfEr8MrpjU8Fw4kY0MVQ4fPpl0jrjE8cxach0-4yE6ApWwbk9aXxrgFixiTm-StdACaixme4h5v/s640/Launch+Party+poster.jpg" width="494" /></a></div>
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I hope to see some of you at the party, and I look forward to hearing from you about your reaction to the Ecosystem Trilogy!</div>
Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-42340018542784941652019-03-05T08:40:00.000-05:002019-03-05T08:40:25.231-05:00YA Guy... Reveals All!Okay, YA Guy admits right up front that the title of this blog post is misleading. I'm not revealing ALL (because trust me, you don't want to know!). But I am revealing the cover to the third book in the Ecosystem Trilogy, HOUSE OF EARTH, HOUSE OF STONE, which releases April 22 of this year (Earth Day, of course). Here it is, in all its glory:<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk8Y9Pnw0yiZc0nVMC4EAaiZP-a1Jt3v_eVGzPBbd7ck30PEAoG9bTN3omVfVtu3EFu651xT9bQUpOPHssCrPLK__VtkaLCwBw6AM_wcZ_KIIq0H5OyeiyLCRmUREnZCUPikftfCUZutBX/s1600/House-of-Earth_ebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="999" data-original-width="636" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk8Y9Pnw0yiZc0nVMC4EAaiZP-a1Jt3v_eVGzPBbd7ck30PEAoG9bTN3omVfVtu3EFu651xT9bQUpOPHssCrPLK__VtkaLCwBw6AM_wcZ_KIIq0H5OyeiyLCRmUREnZCUPikftfCUZutBX/s640/House-of-Earth_ebook.jpg" width="406" /></a></div>
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Two notes about this cover.</div>
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First, though I love all of the covers my design team produced for the Ecosystem series, I love this one the most. Something about the colors, the layout, and the totally cool circlet they created based on my description in the book--perfect! I hope you like it too.</div>
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Second note: this is yet another thing I love about self-publishing. I woke up this morning and said, "Gosh, I feel like revealing the cover to my book," and so I did it. No permission needed. No hoops to jump through. Just me, on my own, doing my thing. Nice!</div>
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Let me know what you think about the cover, and I look forward to releasing HOUSE OF EARTH, HOUSE OF STONE to the world!</div>
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Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-62666300125652066412019-02-12T10:00:00.000-05:002019-02-12T10:00:10.452-05:00YA Guy Can't Wait for.. These 2019 Books!YA Guy's always on the lookout for great books. Here are five from the first half of 2019--all but one of them for young readers--that I'm particularly excited about. I'll freely admit that I have a personal connection to each of the five authors (heck, I'll even tell you what that connection is), but at the same time, no one's paying or even prompting me to promote their books. I've listed them in order of release date--and the first one on the list comes out a mere week from today!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuhL3ENFYodHsh0uLHJpmjkBm9S4501jo9WwPZYGjJPLaP3v0RQaSg6xL2YBOChdx8sHk5s7urcbs53Yo8Wz6vEopgS6EPrqK67G0BkMeiSgX9jcbl3HSC8BkE_kxEVVMA8aUFAJ6lKs4I/s1600/Room.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuhL3ENFYodHsh0uLHJpmjkBm9S4501jo9WwPZYGjJPLaP3v0RQaSg6xL2YBOChdx8sHk5s7urcbs53Yo8Wz6vEopgS6EPrqK67G0BkMeiSgX9jcbl3HSC8BkE_kxEVVMA8aUFAJ6lKs4I/s320/Room.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
Louise Cypress, NARCOSIS ROOM (February 19). We share an agent and (sort of) a moniker--she's the YA Gal, I'm YA Guy--but one other thing we share is a love of twisty, creepy sci-fi stories. Her latest, set in a world where one's looks and identity can be surgically enhanced--or destroyed--will definitely freak you out in the best possible way.<br />
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Jessica Khoury, LAST OF HER NAME (February 26). I've loved Khoury's books since her debut, ORIGIN, and I love space operas. (I also love the artwork she drew for two of my own recent novels.) Her latest is a sci-fi retelling of the Anastasia story set in a distant galaxy, and it's just what I need to get through the wintertime.</div>
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Kat Ross, INFERNO (March 15). Way back in 2014, Ross and I met as members of a debut YA novelists' group. Since that time, she's put out some of the highest quality fantasy novels I've read, including two series that span the centuries and are linked by common characters. INFERNO, the final book in the Fourth Talisman series, promises to be yet another wickedly fun adventure into the worlds of the weird, the monstrous, and the undead.<br />
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Cadwell Turnbull, THE LESSON (June 18). Currently one of the rising young stars in science fiction, Turnbull was once a student of mine at the college where I teach. But trust me, I didn't teach him how to write this novel, a wildly imaginative tale of an alien race that settles for unknown purposes in the U.S. Virgin Islands.</div>
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Nick Courage, STORM BLOWN (July 16). Pittsburgh author Courage writes the kind of books my kids loved when they were still kids. (Now the one in high school reads ancient history, and the one in college reads what she has to read for her classes.) His latest, which focuses on children battling a hurricane, sounds like a high-energy thrill ride.</div>
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Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-15411265824041105742019-02-05T10:00:00.000-05:002019-02-05T10:00:03.096-05:00YA Guy Has... Trilogy Fever!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The final book in YA Guy's Ecosystem Trilogy is due out in April (on Earth Day, of course). Titled HOUSE OF EARTH, HOUSE OF STONE, it completes a series I first dreamed up in 2011 and have been working on pretty much nonstop for the past two years.<br />
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So I figured, while we're waiting for Book Three, what better time than now to offer readers a discount on Books One and Two? From today (which also happens to be my birthday!) through February 11, you can purchase the e-books of ECOSYSTEM (Book 1) and THE DEVOURING LAND (Book 2) for only 99 cents each. That way, you'll be all caught up on the adventures of Sarah, Isaac, Miriam, Leah, and the rest as they battle the Ecosystem, search for love, and defend the City of the Queens--just in time for the release of HOUSE OF EARTH, HOUSE OF STONE!</div>
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Here are the links. Enjoy, and let me know what you think about the Ecosystem Trilogy!</div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ecosystem-Trilogy-Book-1-ebook/dp/B07C2HDF9G" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Buy ECOSYSTEM here</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Devouring-Land-Ecosystem-Trilogy-Book-ebook/dp/B07HVM4T8V" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Buy THE DEVOURING LAND here</span></a></div>
Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-57880521700893979822019-01-29T10:00:00.000-05:002019-01-29T10:00:02.938-05:00YA Guy Defines... Success!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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What does it mean to be a successful writer?<br />
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For many writers--and, perhaps, for the general public--"success" means six-figure advances, bestseller status, big-ticket awards (including <a href="https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=slj-reviews-the-newbery-caldecott-and-printz-award-winners" target="_blank">those just announced for this year's very deserving Newbery, Caldecott, and Printz Award winners</a>).</div>
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By that definition, most of us--including YA Guy--are abysmal failures. Given the very nature of publishing, the very nature of any business venture, most people don't achieve that kind of success. Most of us plug along somewhere in the middle, perhaps making some money, perhaps not, perhaps making a career of it, more likely not, perhaps winning an award or two, perhaps not, but never becoming household names.</div>
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I've been writing since I was about eight years old. (Actually, earlier than that, but it was around age eight that I tried to write my first novel--on my mom's manual typewriter. After a page of typos and frustration, I gave up.) Since that time, and with increasing frequency from the year I started college (1983) to the present, I've produced numerous creative nonfiction essays, short stories, academic books and articles, and partial or completed novels. Some of the above has been published, some of it hasn't. None of it has skyrocketed to fame. But all of it, even the things I didn't finish for one reason or another (because the idea wasn't as good as I first thought, because I ran out of steam, whatever), has been <i>written</i>.</div>
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So I decided to pursue a different definition of "success," one based purely on page totals. In my calculations, I ruled out academic books and articles, as well as short pieces (fiction and nonfiction), and focused on novels. The numbers are skewed downward by that decision, considerably so, but since novel-writing was and is my highest aspiration (as it is for many writers), it made sense to me to narrow my output in that way.</div>
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For purposes of this quantitative analysis, I estimated a completed novel (whether published or unpublished) at 300 manuscript pages (except for my earliest novels, written in the years 1981-1987, which tended to be shorter, so I averaged those at 250 pages per novel). An unfinished novel--either one that I've discarded permanently or that I'm still working on--I assigned an average of 100 pages. With those estimates, here's what I came up with:</div>
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In total from the years 1981 (when I completed my first novel at age 16) to the present, I've written roughly 4,750 manuscript pages of novel-length works. This breaks down as follows:</div>
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<li>On average, I've written 125 pages worth of novels per year over a period of 38 years, or about a page every three days.</li>
<li>Narrowed down to the years of my greatest productivity, from 2010 to the present, I've written about 3,900 pages, for an average of 433 pages per year. That's over a page a day for almost 10 years.</li>
<li>Limited to <i>completed</i> novels, it works out to approximately 3,300 pages or 366 pages per year.</li>
<li>Confined further to completed <i>and published</i> novels, it drops to about 2,100 pages or 233 pages per year. However, that number is unacceptably low--because, of the seven novels I've started but not finished, only three of them have been completely abandoned, so the other four might be considered "on their way" to completion and, hopefully, publication. Ditto with the four novels from 2010-2019 that are completed but unpublished; two of them will never see the light of day, but one is currently being shopped by my agent and the other I plan to self-publish.</li>
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The point is, any way you slice it, I've been pretty productive as a writer of novels throughout my life, and especially in the past decade.</div>
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Dare I say I've been successful?</div>
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Maybe yes, maybe no. If the almost 5,000 pages of novel-material I've produced in my lifetime have been complete and utter garbage, then maybe I'm less successful than delusional. But on the other hand, even if those pages <i>have</i> been junk, I've written them, and writing counts for something in and of itself. I like to think my success as a writer has been like my career as a writer: somewhere in the middle. No, I'm not one of the great writers of my own or any time, but I'm not a hack either. I'm a writer like most writers, producing as much work as I can that's as good as I can make it.</div>
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I hope this exercise doesn't seem merely a pep talk to myself. My purpose in conducting it was to offer words of encouragement to the many writers who are in the same place that I am: people who've been writing for years without the obvious signs of "success" that some writers have achieved. I'm thinking it would be a good idea for those writers to take the time, now and again, to redefine "success." You can do it quantitatively as I've done, or you can find some other qualitative measure: satisfaction, personal growth, positive reviews, the stranger on the street who recognized you. All of those measures (and many more) are valid, and validating.</div>
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So be a successful writer. Your <i>own</i> kind of successful writer.</div>
Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-16123087833142782182019-01-23T11:00:00.000-05:002019-01-23T11:00:02.622-05:00YA Guy Hosts... Erica George, author of WORDS COMPOSED OF SEA AND SKY!<i>YA Guy is delighted to introduce my friend and agency sibling, Erica George, whose debut YA novel, WORDS COMPOSED OF SEA AND SKY, will be published in 2021. That seems like a long way away--but as Erica so eloquently narrates in the following post, her writing journey, like so many others', has been long and unpredictable. (I can relate: though I've wanted to be a writer since age eight, I didn't publish my first novel until age forty-nine.) For all of us who dream of publishing novels, Erica's story is a true inspiration.</i><br />
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<i>So enjoy the post, and make sure to follow Erica on Instagram and Twitter so you can keep track of her as she continues her journey!</i></div>
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Benjamin Churchill first appeared to me when I was thirteen years old. It was a rainy December night, and my family and I were driving home from having seen a production of <i>A Christmas Carol</i> put on in Princeton. I was consumed by the concept of change, whether we were all capable of change, or if, for some of us, it was too late.</div>
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I think that’s why he materialized that night, riding a horse, keeping pace with the car—to help me explore this question.</div>
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When I got home, I crawled into bed, pulled out my trusty notebook from the nightstand (I still keep one there, by the way), and wrote down everything I knew about Benjamin Churchill, a character that would stay with me for twenty years.</div>
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He’s changed a lot since then. He’s been British, he’s been American, he’s been in the Navy, the Army, and then finally I decided he was going to be a whaler. He’s been surrounded by multiple casts of characters, he’s been the main character, and now he’s a supporting character. He’s also been shelved for most of this time.</div>
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I’ve always been a writer, a teller of stories, but I didn’t think I was capable of being published until after college. I had just completed my teaching degree and was working with a group of fifth graders. We were reading a fairy tale retelling (that no one was particularly fond of), and one of the students said, “You know, I think you could write a better version of this.”</div>
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It was a challenge, but I did it. Having no idea what to do with a completed manuscript (well, at least I thought it was completed), I sought the advice of my neighbor who I knew was a writer as well. She invited me to join her writer’s group, and that’s where everything really started coming together for me.</div>
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Writing is a fairly solitary occupation, and it’s easy to be intimidated and keep your work to yourself. This was the first time I was sharing my writing with a group of like-minded people. I received feedback (some positive, some constructive—mostly constructive), and I kept working. Finally, when I felt like I had polished my fairy tale retelling, I decided to attend the New Jersey conference of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). Something must have possessed me, because I also signed up to pitch my book to an agent.</div>
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As I waited in line for my turn, I kept rereading my pitch, trying to memorize every word. I was shaking. I was sweating. I could just picture myself trying to describe my book, something so personal and close to me, to someone who just wouldn’t be interested or see my vision. Finally, I sat down in front of Liza Fleissig, took a deep breath, and got halfway through my pitch before she stopped me and said, “I want you to send me the whole thing.”</div>
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You’d think the shaking would stop there, but no. Cue more incessant nerves.</div>
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Liza signed me as an author at the Liza Royce Agency in 2014, and I was positive, absolutely certain, that it would be smooth sailing from that point forward.</div>
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Only no one can truly prepare you for your personal voyage to publication. I figured that because it had been so easy to secure an agent, my book would obviously be snapped up in a second by an editor. That book ultimately didn’t go anywhere. My next two made it farther than that, but ultimately went nowhere as well.</div>
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Writing is hard, and giving up is so much easier. But I’ve wanted to be an author since I was little, since I sat in the children’s section of my local library, piling up books to bring home and devour. Books were my constant, and I knew that simply reading stories wouldn’t satisfy me forever. I had to write them. I had to hold my own book in my hands.</div>
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It was only this past year that Benjamin Churchill resurfaced for me, and this time, he took the form of a Yankee whaler. He was always tied to the sea, but I finally realized where he belonged, what his story actually was.</div>
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My Young Adult novel, <i>Words Composed of Sea and Sky</i>, debuts in Summer 2021 from Running Press Kids/Hachette. It’s told in two alternating points of view, one of Michaela, a girl living on present-day Cape Cod, writing poems in an effort to escape her home life, and the other of Leta, a girl living in the same town but during the height of Yankee whaling, who also uses poetry to escape the social conformities of her time.</div>
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You’ll find Benjamin Churchill among the pages, too.<br />
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<u>About Erica</u>: Erica George is a writer of Young Adult fiction and a graduate of The College of New Jersey with degrees in both English and education. She resides in scenic Hunterdon County, New Jersey, but spends her summers soaking up the salty sea air of Cape Cod. Many themes of Erica's writing rotate around environmental activism and helping young people discover their voices. You can find her writing, whale watching, or engrossed in quality British drama with her dog at her side.<br />
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Twitter/Instagram: @theericageorge</div>
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Website: <a href="http://www.ericageorgewrites.com/"><span style="color: orange;">www.ericageorgewrites.com</span></a></div>
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Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-72910052260952860262018-12-11T10:00:00.000-05:002018-12-11T10:00:01.125-05:00YA Guy Hosts... Jamie Beth Cohen, author of WASTED PRETTY!<i>As you can tell from my past several months' posts, YA Guy loves hosting debut authors, especially when they live in my hometown of Pittsburgh. But it gives me particular joy to host Jamie Beth Cohen, whose debut novel WASTED PRETTY comes out in April, 2019. I first met Jamie years and years ago when I was a counselor at a day camp in Pittsburgh and she was (no kidding) one of my campers, so to see her succeed as a writer is the next best thing to watching one of my own children grow. Now, before I embarrass myself (or Jamie) even more, let's hear from her on the artistic and commercial sides of being a debut author!</i><div>
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Have you seen this image floating around the interwebz? I love it!<br /><div>
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Writer <a href="https://www.erindorney.com/" target="_blank">Erin Dorney</a> made these suggestions, and I think they really speak to the fact that although publishing is a business, there are still ways we can engage with it that don’t involve money. </div>
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As a debut author, with a young adult novel coming from a small press in April 2019, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I want to engage with the commercial side of my art. </div>
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And let me just stop myself right here, because I actually don’t consider myself an artist. I tell stories in order to connect with other people and -- if I’m doing it right -- the stories will help them in some way. A reader might feel less alone after reading something I’ve written or might feel better about a tough choice they’ve made after seeing how tough choices are handled in my work. Whatever it is, language and craft are not my top priority. It’s the connection to others that is most important to me.</div>
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Art is amazing. Art is important. I love art! And maybe some people consider what I do art, but if they do, I hope they’re talking about the kind that is accessible to everyone and integral to life, not the kind that is set apart from it (hung on walls in expensive museums or unintelligible without an advanced degree).</div>
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But I digress…</div>
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The truth is, I want my book to be widely read, not because of any monetary goal, but because I did that thing people tell young adult authors to do: I wrote the book I needed when I was a teen, and I believe there are teens out there today who still need it. </div>
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To get the book into the hands of people who don’t know me, I have to engage with the commercial side of publishing. To that end, I have to spend money -- money I don’t really have -- to promote my book in various ways. I will throw parties, I might do giveaways, I may pay for ads, and to make up that money, I will need to sell books.</div>
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This is the vicious cycle of capitalism that many writers don’t want anything to do with. They feel it corrupts their art or takes time away from writing, but, as I said, I don’t consider myself an artist. I feel this story is important and to get it out there, I’m going to jump in with both feet and try to figure out this balancing act.</div>
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<b>Side Note</b>: Here’s another paradox that people have been asking me about lately: I will make about five times as much money per book if you buy it directly from me, but sales I do “out of my trunk” don’t count in the measure of “how well” my book is doing. My book will be available online directly through my publisher, on Amazon and through other outlets, but in order to quickly make up the money I spend to promote my book, I’m going to have to sell a fair number of copies “out of my trunk.” </div>
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And to be clear, it’s not just small press authors who have to spend their own money on these things. Check out <a href="http://theyaguy.blogspot.com/2014/10/ya-guy-reports-marketing-madness.html" target="_blank">Josh’s great post</a> about what he spent promoting his debut (which came out with a big house) and <a href="http://theyaguy.blogspot.com/2015/01/ya-guy-talks-about-book-promotion-what.html" target="_blank">his other great post</a> about what worked and what didn't.</div>
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So, all of Erin’s suggestions above on ways you can help an author are great, but there are some things my writer-heart and my writer-brain are struggling with right now. Taking the lead from Josh, I’m letting you in with the hope that transparency is the way to go. Because people ask all the time how they can support my debut, but I’m never sure if they really want the truth…</div>
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●<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My writer-heart wants you to love this story.</div>
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●<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My writer-brain wants you to buy this book for yourself, your family, and your friends!</div>
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●<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My writer-heart wants you to buy enough books through your local indie bookstore that the next time I want to sell a story, people think I’m a safe bet.</div>
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●<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My writer-brain wants you to place an order with me so I can recoup my marketing costs and maybe see a movie with my family.</div>
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●<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My writer-heart wants to sit over coffee and talk to you about this story.</div>
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●<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My writer-brain wants you to tell everyone you know to buy this book!</div>
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●<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My writer-heart wants you to write honest reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.</div>
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●<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My writer-brain wants you to keep your criticisms just between us. Tell me what you think so I can be a better writer, but please don’t put me on blast.</div>
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●<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My writer-heart wants to travel the world visiting my friends and coming to book clubs they set up with their friends.</div>
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●<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My writer-brain knows I don’t have the kind of time or cash to make this happen, but I hope I can video-chat with lots of fun book clubs.</div>
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●<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My writer-heart wants you to buy my book and love it without me ever having to mention it again.</div>
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●<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>My writer-brain knows it takes roughly seven mentions to influence behavior... apologies in advance…</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNvq0vTvBFvPTSOtXAV5bNd9zSJ4uh1aJxyX30qvflbBNXUn9XN5KnQIyJEas7_uX9YlBm3dROgk13e2-hmtw-iuGx80Uj2llY7CEH5z1KDFCQXzJWYTdOAO-PNhDXNKrJY904pVLYRSpH/s1600/pic+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1437" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNvq0vTvBFvPTSOtXAV5bNd9zSJ4uh1aJxyX30qvflbBNXUn9XN5KnQIyJEas7_uX9YlBm3dROgk13e2-hmtw-iuGx80Uj2llY7CEH5z1KDFCQXzJWYTdOAO-PNhDXNKrJY904pVLYRSpH/s320/pic+2.jpg" width="287" /></a></div>
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<b>About Jamie</b>: Jamie Beth Cohen is a writer, storyteller, and community organizer whose writing has appeared in TeenVogue.com, The Washington Post/On Parenting, Salon, and many other outlets. WASTED PRETTY, her debut YA novel about a sixteen-year-old girl who faces wanted and unwanted attention when she accidentally goes from blending in to standing out, will be published by <a href="http://www.blackrosewriting.com/home" target="_blank"><span style="color: #b45f06;">Black Rose Writing</span></a> in April 2019.</div>
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<b>Stalk Jamie here</b>:</div>
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Author website: <a href="http://www.jamiebethcohen.com/">www.JamieBethCohen.com</a> </div>
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Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/JamieBethWriter/">https://www.facebook.com/JamieBethWriter/</a> </div>
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Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/Jamie_Beth_S"><span style="color: #b45f06;">https://twitter.com/Jamie_Beth_S</span></a></div>
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Insta: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/jamiebeths/">https://www.instagram.com/jamiebeths/</a> </div>
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Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-88146763210502535122018-11-24T20:12:00.000-05:002018-11-25T09:00:03.324-05:00YA Guy Lists... His 2018 Top Ten!Here's the bad news: YA Guy didn't read much this year. <a href="http://theyaguy.blogspot.com/2018/02/ya-guy-stops-reading.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: orange;">As discussed in a previous post</span></a>, I took a bit of a hiatus from reading in 2018, my hope being that this would free up time for my own writing.<br />
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Here's the good news: it worked. I produced two novels in 2018 (both of them already published), plus a collection of short stories (also published). Two additional novels are in the final stages of revision, and should be published next year. So that's all very exciting for me personally.</div>
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And here's the even better news: I didn't stop reading entirely during 2018. I read what I needed to for the classes I taught, as well as reading a few novels that were recommended to me (including Nabokov's truly bizarre <i>Pale Fire</i>, recommended by, of all people, my fifteen-year-old son). I also read some YA novels--nowhere near the fifty or so I've been reading each of the past few years, but enough to produce a Top 10 List.</div>
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And so, without further ado, here they are, in no particular order:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMt_R9C9hcZJYhyKCwlk8AuUVmVT8WUSlzOf0S259YiYFr9sV9_GYir5fGIrcSAgdB7TXGNMA9ejXBaWP2l-TwkuEY1kqgUmALlajgnUrAztYYsWea9XFA2saskGCc_aTbhWEO1vqR5-dh/s1600/tomb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="333" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMt_R9C9hcZJYhyKCwlk8AuUVmVT8WUSlzOf0S259YiYFr9sV9_GYir5fGIrcSAgdB7TXGNMA9ejXBaWP2l-TwkuEY1kqgUmALlajgnUrAztYYsWea9XFA2saskGCc_aTbhWEO1vqR5-dh/s200/tomb.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
S. A. Bodeen, THE TOMB. If you've read any of Bodeen's previous novels--including her acclaimed THE COMPOUND--you know she likes to play with your mind. THE TOMB does that in a big way, and in the service of a gripping sci-fi narrative.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfZNVPVWzwVBWt_b7UdtAWeNLd2AMk8JFa87MO1dGHt_0zYDRnKtkYLmrh4JfPrU4nPvvvu4ylBJJta3cTH69mJNZykcbIWWYK3q4mf4QnX5v4-_bqAnLAIGFDfPo0uHH3Ori7y8AeYtBV/s1600/room.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1054" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfZNVPVWzwVBWt_b7UdtAWeNLd2AMk8JFa87MO1dGHt_0zYDRnKtkYLmrh4JfPrU4nPvvvu4ylBJJta3cTH69mJNZykcbIWWYK3q4mf4QnX5v4-_bqAnLAIGFDfPo0uHH3Ori7y8AeYtBV/s200/room.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
Parker Peevyhouse, THE ECHO ROOM. Peevyhouse impressed me a couple of years ago with her debut WHERE FUTURES END, a collection of linked short stories that fused magic with dystopian science fiction. THE ECHO ROOM is even better, a literary Escape Room with a twist you'll never see coming, even when you're sure you see it coming.</div>
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Fonda Lee, CROSS FIRE. This sequel to EXO, about an alien colonization of Earth and the human factions that develop to contest (as well as support) it, is my favorite novel so far by my favorite YA science fiction writer. If you don't read this two-part series, you're missing something truly exceptional.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiclFsWlMI_GSKyVLGbAjwsTPe5z5dcALKMN09ugf9XgOTepliY1_0E7upS01tZr9MlwkJMPA2JuAmbMB3ONrQ1w70r4AwsGTQrx5DZxk3xXxmJyKQJeEOPYVXeFJ3c3foLtaag71zCRe9Y/s1600/thief.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1059" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiclFsWlMI_GSKyVLGbAjwsTPe5z5dcALKMN09ugf9XgOTepliY1_0E7upS01tZr9MlwkJMPA2JuAmbMB3ONrQ1w70r4AwsGTQrx5DZxk3xXxmJyKQJeEOPYVXeFJ3c3foLtaag71zCRe9Y/s200/thief.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
Lisa Maxwell, THE DEVIL'S THIEF. Every bit as good as its predecessor THE LAST MAGICIAN, this complexly plotted, densely peopled, mind-bending historical fantasy proves beyond a doubt that Maxwell is one of the most talented and inventive YA writers of this or any time.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3CfzY881t18g9B4T9kSF_VgIo2NpyUmCb0L22c7sLuy-H23AJ3FUN_T9OkNbMxEj1qP99d0sUd1z_9wXWktwsPjmXx2Up2tYyCH4YVPLn43LA1vWlxOsaasLLawYMG3tJCqX6fkTegqK9/s1600/orphaned.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="792" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3CfzY881t18g9B4T9kSF_VgIo2NpyUmCb0L22c7sLuy-H23AJ3FUN_T9OkNbMxEj1qP99d0sUd1z_9wXWktwsPjmXx2Up2tYyCH4YVPLn43LA1vWlxOsaasLLawYMG3tJCqX6fkTegqK9/s200/orphaned.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
Eliot Schrefer, ORPHANED. The concluding book in Schrefer's "Ape Quartet," each of which focuses on a young person's relationship with one of the four great apes--bonobos, chimpanzees, orangutans, and gorillas--this book imagines the meeting of prehistoric gorillas and humans due to a changing volcanic landscape. It's told from the gorilla MC's point of view, and it's a satisfying conclusion to one of the best YA series I've ever read.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinJSrTgUED_LOSsXSBEVV6iD4SAIlosrJxM0da0Ceg4HfP3w8tnO2YIn9DDiFWM1wWjl-12sE4DGtMsEQprkOSu2lVkYJDhbzqHTZ4e3UKX11cAsw_2tATnbWcVS9SoV9aWpNYmv0RgLd1/s1600/obsidio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1061" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinJSrTgUED_LOSsXSBEVV6iD4SAIlosrJxM0da0Ceg4HfP3w8tnO2YIn9DDiFWM1wWjl-12sE4DGtMsEQprkOSu2lVkYJDhbzqHTZ4e3UKX11cAsw_2tATnbWcVS9SoV9aWpNYmv0RgLd1/s200/obsidio.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, OBSIDIO. I'll admit that the graphic pyrotechnics of this third book in the Illuminae series are nowhere near as excitingly radical as they were in the first book, and the endless teen-snarky emails are a bit wearying. But this is still a solid ending to a revolutionary series that suggested all kinds of new directions for YA science fiction.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_sl8kGbGFIj2rDIn45jDEIEebd7ofQxFkkSUU9075qgyJ3dDi1oFGTS4ZR0CqZ4S1y3YQGEC1udQf8c23L89WUynpLz7hVn3paJYhh4PeFzTAo89tFJ1QIi53TtYdMvREihBQGr5oTwcC/s1600/storms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_sl8kGbGFIj2rDIn45jDEIEebd7ofQxFkkSUU9075qgyJ3dDi1oFGTS4ZR0CqZ4S1y3YQGEC1udQf8c23L89WUynpLz7hVn3paJYhh4PeFzTAo89tFJ1QIi53TtYdMvREihBQGr5oTwcC/s200/storms.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
Erica Cameron, WAR OF STORMS. The third installment in Cameron's epic fantasy The Ryogan Chronicles, this book wraps up a story and a world so immersive, so fully realized, you'll believe you're actually there. Read the books in order to get the full experience, starting with ISLAND OF EXILES and then SEA OF STRANGERS.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzYcXeN4tPrj8GaOVCWG6ovrUCJaldYmVdj64oHYc2dfX3xMUY2whZSI874DOYY2BzLV6LYFl2yrPIwLfsI6R1-AHo45ChYp-IF-3u4Whr9E-T_Dd1HSvlMuiFsYqF7K7jPpHjaxVBAvgL/s1600/world.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="454" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzYcXeN4tPrj8GaOVCWG6ovrUCJaldYmVdj64oHYc2dfX3xMUY2whZSI874DOYY2BzLV6LYFl2yrPIwLfsI6R1-AHo45ChYp-IF-3u4Whr9E-T_Dd1HSvlMuiFsYqF7K7jPpHjaxVBAvgL/s200/world.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
Thomas Sweterlitsch, THE GONE WORLD. This is the one book on the list that isn't YA, but I couldn't resist, because any book by Pittsburgh author Sweterlitsch is a major event. His first novel, TOMORROW AND TOMORROW, is set in large part in a virtual Pittsburgh that's all that remains after the real city is destroyed in a terrorist nuclear attack; THE GONE WORLD takes place in a variety of (possible) futures where a military investigator travels to try to unravel a shocking crime from the present. Both books are wildly imaginative, beautifully written, and mind-bendingly original works of science fiction.</div>
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Joshua David Bellin, ECOSYSTEM and THE DEVOURING LAND. My own books, the first two in a three-part series, tell the story of a future Earth in which the physical environment has developed into a sentient, and predatory, being. I decided to self-publish the series so I could realize a vision I've had for many years, and I couldn't be happier with the results. Look for the final book in the trilogy, titled HOUSE OF EARTH, HOUSE OF STONE, in early 2019.<br />
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Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-21602480640328127692018-11-07T10:00:00.000-05:002018-11-07T10:00:02.079-05:00YA Guy Hosts... Natasha Garrett, author of MOTHERLANDS!<i>YA Guy is super excited to introduce my friend and colleague--and fellow writer--Natasha Garrett, whose debut collection of essays, MOTHERLANDS, is available now! A book that explores the modern migrant experience, MOTHERLANDS is particularly timely in today's social and political climate. Natasha talks openly about her experience as a writer in the guest post below, and then you can find out more about (and order a copy of) MOTHERLANDS! </i><br />
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AN OCCASIONAL WRITER</div>
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I am curious about other authors’ writing spaces and habits the way some people are interested in celebrity homes. Some writers, like Hemingway and Dickens, wrote while standing; in contrast, Truman Capote wrote while lying on his couch. Mark Twain’s office was painted mauvish-pink and contained a pool table. Benjamin Franklin wrote in the morning, after waking up and stripping naked. I enjoy learning these tidbits and browsing through photos of writers’ offices, because I am being reminded of the behind-the-scenes work that happens before a book is finished, and the various routines and locations that support one’s writing life. I am also a bit envious of the writers, famous and not-so-famous, who allow themselves the time and space to write with regularity.<br />
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In my recent collection of personal essays, <i>Motherlands</i>, I write about my discomfort with calling myself a writer, because in many ways, I feel like an outsider to writing. I have a full-time job that doesn’t require literary skills, a busy family life and a great social circle. My approach to writing lacks the routine and the structure of many of my favorite writers: I don’t set aside a time to write. I don’t have a designated workspace in my house for writing—no pretty desk with a view; actually, no desk at all. I don’t belong to a writer’s group. I have never attended a writing workshop. I write in English, my second language. Perhaps not labeling myself a writer is a defense mechanism: I am free of all the pressure, expectations, anticipation, and disappointment that real writers seem to experience. It may be a way of creatively avoiding the responsibility of regular writing while claiming all the pleasure from it.<br />
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Desk or no desk, writing and publishing essays, poetry, and translations inevitably makes me a writer. I don’t have a writing schedule, but I do have a method; otherwise, nothing will ever be done. I am not a freewriting-type of person, though I swear I have tried to be. Once I get an idea for an essay, I let it live in my head for a while. I work on it in my mind as I am doing something else, like driving or taking a walk. Once I know what the opening paragraph or two will look like, I start writing. The act of writing typically generates more ideas, and I slowly but steadily unspool the essay. Since the piece lives in me for quite some time before it sees the light of day, my first draft is not that removed from my final draft. I let it sit for a few days, and I go back to it for revisions. I often ask a trusted friend (a “real” writer) to read it before I deem it finished and ready for submission.<br />
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Not being “only” a writer gives me a wider field of inspiration to draw from. As a Macedonian living in the US, an international student advisor, a mother to a bilingual child, a wife, a translator, a traveler, an avid reader, and an occasional and somewhat hesitant writer, I draw from a range of personal and professional experiences--which are often in conversation with one another—when I write personal essays like the ones in <i>Motherlands</i>. This collection in particular benefits from the weaving of the professional, personal and literary, because it tackles topics that are naturally multidisciplinary, such as cross-cultural living (cooking, gardening), language, identity, and education.<br />
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I have two writing projects percolating at the moment—an idea for a novel (part travelogue, part love story) and a poetry collection. I’ll let them live in my head for a bit longer, but eventually, I will have to sit down and start writing, perhaps at my own desk this time.<br />
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<u>About MOTHERLANDS</u>: In this collection of personal essays, Natasha Garrett explores various facets of the modern migration experience. Weaving academic and literary sources, as well as personal and professional experiences, Garrett uses transnationalism as a springboard for discussing topics such as home, motherhood, identity, bilingualism, family, education, and travel. The essays in <i>Motherlands</i> offer a well-researched, witty and heartfelt look into migration both as a global phenomenon and as a deeply intimate experience.<br />
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Buy MOTHERLANDS here: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Motherlands-Natasha-Garrett/dp/1897493665"><span style="color: orange;">https://www.amazon.com/Motherlands-Natasha-Garrett/dp/1897493665</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjca7cBQknYxgZhYS2XSKsHvOvvDh1lLevgUHnszDRoITOhK7tvYK0ogmMc13Due6SHKJp8BS7z5EynfZkQsdhvZO1zkDjg71oJGgLK7i035e0MepudRc593IPIe7lPdXxLac62Bfz20QC_/s1600/Garrett+photo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjca7cBQknYxgZhYS2XSKsHvOvvDh1lLevgUHnszDRoITOhK7tvYK0ogmMc13Due6SHKJp8BS7z5EynfZkQsdhvZO1zkDjg71oJGgLK7i035e0MepudRc593IPIe7lPdXxLac62Bfz20QC_/s320/Garrett+photo.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<u>About Natasha</u>: Natasha was born and raised in Macedonia and lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she serves as a Director of International Student Services at La Roche College. Her poetry, personal essays, and translations have appeared in <i>Transnational Literature</i>, <i>Gravel</i>, <i>Allegro Poetry Magazine</i>, <i>Arts and Letters</i>, and other publications. She is the editor of <i>Macedonia 2013: 100 Years After the Treaty of Bucharest</i>. She obtained her PhD in Education at the University of Pittsburgh, and her Master’s in English Literature from Duquesne University.<br />
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To find out more about Natasha's books and the events where you can meet her in person, visit her website: <a href="https://natashagarrett.pittsburgh412.com/"><span style="color: orange;">https://natashagarrett.pittsburgh412.com</span></a><br />
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And if you're in Pittsburgh, you can come see Natasha speak at the Squirrel Hill Library next week:<br />
<a href="https://www.carnegielibrary.org/event/meet-the-author-natasha-garrett/"><span style="color: orange;">https://www.carnegielibrary.org/event/meet-the-author-natasha-garrett/</span></a>Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972634520365108601.post-39903970281618702262018-10-23T10:00:00.000-04:002018-10-23T10:00:03.677-04:00YA Guy Hosts...Barbara Barrow, author of THE QUELLING!<i>One of the nicest things about being an author is meeting other authors--and authors-to-be! This year, YA Guy's been thrilled to see a number of friends realize their dream of authorship with their debut works of fiction or nonfiction. Though not all of these fellow authors write YA, I wanted to celebrate their achievements and spread the word about their books.</i><br />
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<i>So I'm going to be running a series of guest posts over the next several months to do just that! First up is Barbara Barrow, whose psychological thriller THE QUELLING was published last month. Barbara has kindly written a post about her path to publication, and after you read her story, you can find out more about THE QUELLING and its author.</i></div>
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Ever since my debut novel, <i>The Quelling</i>, was released, people have asked me two questions. </div>
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The first: What inspired your book? </div>
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This one is easy! I love Gothic novels like <i>Wuthering Heights</i> and <i>The Woman in White</i>: sinister books about madhouses, gender, hysteria, and crime. So I wrote a contemporary Gothic novel about a couple of bloodthirsty siblings, a murder, and a rare psychiatric disorder. I told the story through multiple narrators: two sisters, their doctor, and their two nurses. </div>
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The second question: How long did it take to get published? </div>
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Well. </div>
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This one is hard. The truth is, my road to publication was less a direct path and more of a long, meandering detour, the kind that can leave you feeling stranded and lost and desperately behind schedule. But just as a detour can make us slow down and pay attention to new scenery and unexpectedly beautiful vistas, so too did my winding path to publication teach me invaluable lessons about the publishing process, and about my own writing. </div>
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The road to publication began with an email and a phone call from an editor at a small press. I had revised the manuscript five times, over the course of several years, and had been submitting for a few months when he requested the full manuscript and showed it to the lead editor. He liked the manuscript very much, he said, especially its elegiac and mournful mood. However, he felt that the characters’ voices needed to be “peeled apart” more, to be made more distinct, perhaps with different vocabularies and ways of speaking. Would I be willing to make revisions? </div>
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Thrilled that a press liked my book, I said yes right away. And I began the revisions. I re-read and studied classic multiple-narrator books like William Faulkner’s <i>As I Lay Dying</i> and began to peel two of the first-person narrators apart. I gave my learned doctor character more of a scientific vocabulary and a clipped, businesslike tone, and my loutish nurse character Simon a frank, talky, and arrogant voice. I worked through a revision or two with my beta reader friend, and I sent the chapters in. </div>
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Then…silence. </div>
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Finally, the editor emailed back. He appreciated the revisions, especially to Simon’s chapter, he said, but he felt that with the new voices the book had lost some of the lyric, elegiac quality that he had admired so much in the earlier draft. What did I think about trying a close third-person omniscient narrator who could get into all of the character’s heads? </div>
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So I went back to my desk. I studied novels with a close third-person narrator like Meg Wolitzer’s <i>The Position</i>, and, over the course of one bleary weekend, I switched my whole novel into third person. I sent the revised book back in, and waited. </div>
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And waited. </div>
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This was the hardest part. Months elapsed without much other than a few lines of acknowledgement, and I began to wonder if the novel would ever be published at all. I dallied. My creative life felt stalled. At the encouragement of my friend, I kept submitting the original version of the manuscript, since I hadn’t yet had much feedback on the third-person revision. And I waited and waited. It was a long, agonizing summer. </div>
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At the same time, that interval deepened the third-person revision for me. I began to think of my characters in the third person. Whenever I read fiction or watched television I paid even more attention to perspective and point of view. Whenever I listened to a friend tell a story, I noticed the switch between the I and the They. In that time period, my novel went from being written in the third person to actually becoming a third person novel. </div>
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Then, one day, I checked my email and found some correspondence from a small press that specialized in the “weird and strange.” Expecting another rejection, I clicked on it to discover the opposite: the editors had read my submission, loved it, and felt that the style was a great fit for the aesthetic of their press. Was the manuscript still available? </div>
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I was elated. I reached out to writer friends (including YA Guy!) for advice, I parted ways cordially with the first editor, and in a week, I had a contract with the new press. A year later, after some revisions and some copy-editing, the book came out: with its original cast of first-person narrators. </div>
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It’s tempting to think of my experience as roundabout: almost as if I had to walk in a very long circle in order to get back to square one. And there were days, especially during that long summer, when it felt that way. But the process taught me patience, and also a kind of creative flexibility, a willingness to re-imagine my characters and story and structure in radically different ways. </div>
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It also reminded me that the editorial process is subjective. At the launch party for <i>The Quelling</i>, someone asked me about the revision process, and I talked about the third-person alternative version. Afterward, a colleague and writer friend who had read the book said, “Oh, I don’t think this would work in the third person at all.”</div>
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Was he right, and the editor wrong, or vice versa? Probably neither. In the end, I learned, the best stylistic choice is the one that a publisher and author agree is right for this story. There is another version of <i>The Quelling</i> that exists in an alternative universe, and I’m okay with that. It also taught me the importance of always submitting up until you have a signed contract in hand. It’s important to revise, of course, but it’s also important to find a press whose aesthetic vision merges with yours. </div>
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Finally, the process taught me that editorial feedback has a long, rich afterlife. For my next novel, a multiple-POV book, I’ve been thinking a lot about the power of richly contrasting voices, about other uses for the different versions of the two characters I revised, and the lessons I learned from studying other books and re-thinking my own manuscript.</div>
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As it turns out, even a long, agonizing detour can be worthwhile.</div>
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<i>Thanks, Barbara! Readers, when you dive into THE QUELLING, I think you'll be pleased to see that Barbara stuck with her vision and her gut (while also cultivating the flexibility to make the editorial changes needed). It's a taut, tense story with great characters and tone, and I can't wait for the next book to come out of Barbara's (dare I say slightly twisted?) imagination!</i></div>
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<b>About THE QUELLING</b>: Addie and Dorian have always been together. They're clever, beautiful--and hopelessly violent. Diagnosed with a rare psychiatric condition and accused of murder in childhood, the sisters have spent most of their lives in a locked ward under the supervision of eccentric researcher Dr. Lark. Now on the cusp of adulthood, Addie has a plan: start a new family to replace the one she lost. Dorian struggles to quell her violent tendencies in time to help raise her sister's child.</div>
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But Dr. Lark sees these patients as key to the completion of his revolutionary cure, and he will not allow Addie's absurd ideas to get in the way. As his "treatments" become increasingly bizarre, they put Addie and Dorian's safety at risk. The girls' only lifeline may be Ellie, a ward nurse with troubles of her own, who's never felt the need to protect anyone--until now.</div>
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Harrowing and bittersweet, at times claustrophobic, this gritty debut explores the fragility of familial bonds and the sometimes intractable tension between freedom and safety.</div>
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Order THE QUELLING from Amazon: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Quelling-Barbara-Barrow/dp/1941360181"><span style="color: #e69138;">https://www.amazon.com/Quelling-Barbara-Barrow/dp/1941360181</span></a><br />
Or directly from the publisher: </div>
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<a href="https://lanternfishpress.com/shop/the-quelling?category=Books"><span style="color: #e69138;">https://lanternfishpress.com/shop/the-quelling?category=Books</span></a></div>
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<b>About Barbara</b>: Barbara Barrow is a literary critic and fiction writer who loves all things Gothic and strange. Her short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in <i>Cimarron Review</i>, <i>The Forge Literary Magazine</i>, <i>Folio</i>, and elsewhere. She is Assistant Professor of English at Point Park University in Pittsburgh. In her spare time she eats mangoes and binge-watches old seasons of <i>Grey’s Anatomy</i>. THE QUELLING is her first novel. Anca L. Szilágyi calls it a “ferocious, tender, astonishing” book that “lays bare our animalistic drives toward violence and love.”</div>
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Author website: <a href="http://www.barbarabarrow.com/">www.barbarabarrow.com</a></div>
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Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/barbarabarrowauthor/">https://www.facebook.com/barbarabarrowauthor/</a></div>
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Twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/dustyoldbagz">https://twitter.com/dustyoldbagz</a></div>
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THE QUELLING on Goodreads: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40518199-the-quelling"><span style="color: #e69138;">https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40518199-the-quelling</span></a></div>
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Joshua David Bellin, Sci-Fi Authorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18259500581833010699noreply@blogger.com0