YA Guy Interviews... P.L. Tavormina, Author of AEROVOYANT!

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 had a chance to catch up with the author recently, and here's how our conversation went....

YA Guy: Welcome to the blog!

P.L. Tavormina: Thanks for having me!

YAG: Let's start with some basics. How did you come up with the idea for Aerovoyant? 

PLT: So, for a little background, I grew up watching shows like The Beverly Hillbillies. 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.

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.

YAG: 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? 

PLT: 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. 

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.

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.

YAG: As a fellow environmental writer, I share your feelings and convictions. Other than writing, what do you do to raise awareness about climate change? 

PLT: 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 www.pltavormina.com, where I share ideas about reducing our carbon footprints. I do whatever I can to help.

YAG: That's great to hear! And what's next for you in the world of storytelling?

PLT: At its heart, Aerovoyant 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. 

What’s next? A sequel. I'm writing the manuscript now; it's titled Telomeric. 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. 

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. 

YAG: I couldn't agree more! It was great talking to you, and I look forward to reading your next book when it's out!

PLT: Thanks once more for having me on the blog, and let's talk again soon!

Readers, here's some additional information about author P.L. Tavormina and Aerovoyant. To buy the book, see the links at the bottom of the page!

About the author: P.L.Tavormina wrote Aerovoyant 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 Aerovoyant in late 2019 and has been thrilled to have strangers regularly reach out to say they see the world differently after reading the story. 

You can connect with P.L. Tavormina on Twitter and Instagram: @pltavormina. Her website, www.pltavormina.com, has a newsletter signup at pltavormina.com/contact/, a blog at pltavormina.com/blog/ , and occasional climate news.

Buy Aerovoyant on Amazon in print:

www.amazon.com/Aerovoyant-Industrial-Age-P-L-Tavormina/dp/1734170603

or e-book:

www.amazon.com/Aerovoyant-Industrial-Age-P-L-Tavormina-ebook/dp/B081X4T51G

YA Guy Interviews... Darlene Beck Jacobson!

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!

YA Guy: Hi, Darlene, and welcome to the blog!

Darlene Beck Jacobson: Hi, Josh. Thanks so much for hosting me on your blog to talk about my new book WISHES, DARES, AND HOW TO STAND UP TO A BULLY.

YA Guy: Happy to have you here! I know that your debut novel, WHEELS OF CHANGE, came out in 2014. What have you been up to since then, and what have you learned about writing and publishing in the interim?

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.

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 WHEELS OF CHANGE, the Vietnam War era in the case of WISHES. Why are you drawn to historical fiction, and how do you go about researching different time periods?

Darlene: WHEELS OF CHANGE came about after discovering some interesting facts while researching my family tree. WISHES 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!

YAG: That's really cool--kind of a "write what you know" story. What about the form of WISHES? Why did you decide to tell the story in verse?

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.

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 WISHES. Why is this issue important to you?

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.

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 WISHES to be working on anything else)?

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.

YA Guy: Sounds great! Thanks again for visiting the blog, and congratulations on the upcoming publication of WISHES, DARES, AND HOW TO STAND UP TO A BULLY (a title I love, by the way).

Darlene: Thanks for hosting me, Josh!

All right, readers, if you want to learn more about Darlene Beck Jacobson, here's her bio and social media info!

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 WHEELS OF CHANGE (Creston, 2014) and WISHES, DARES, AND HOW TO STAND UP TO A BULLY (Creston 2020).

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.

Darlene's blog features recipes, activities, crafts, articles on nature, book reviews, and interviews with children’s book authors and illustrators.

www.darlenebeckjacobson.com

Twitter: @DBeckJacobson

darlenejacobson13@gmail.com

More on WISHES, DARES, AND HOW TO STAND UP TO A BULLY

ISBN: 978-1-939547-62-0

Additional information at Creston Books
Amazon preorder link

B&N preorder link

Some reviews:

“Uniquely original and with an important underlying social message for children ages 8-12, Wishes, Dares, and How to Stand Up to a Bully is especially and unreservedly recommended for elementary school, middle school, and community library General Fiction collections.--Midwest Book Review

“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.” --Kirkus

“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.

A historical childhood fantasy in verse, Wishes, Dares, and How to Stand Up to a Bully blends light summer fun with deep emotional challenges.”--Forward Magazine

YA Guy Interviews... Lisa Maxwell, author of THE LAST MAGICIAN! (Plus a giveaway!)

YA Guy's had the good fortune to share a stage with several bestselling YA authors: James Dashner, Kristin Cashore, and others. (Well, okay, maybe I didn't quite share the stage with them; they were the headliners and I was just one of many fellow panelists.) But I've never had the chance to hang out with a bestseller who also happens to be a friend.

Until now, that is. Because the ultra-fabulous Lisa Maxwell, bestselling author of THE LAST MAGICIAN and other magical, marvelous YA tales, is my buddy from way back when we debuted in Fall 2014. And recently, I had a chance to chat with her about her book.

But why stop with a chat? I'm also raffling off a signed copy of THE LAST MAGICIAN, which is simply one of the best YA historical fantasies out there. Don't believe me? Here's my review.

So, let's hear from Lisa first, and then you can enter the giveaway via the Rafflecopter thingie below.

YA Guy: Hi, Lisa, and welcome to the blog!

THE LAST MAGICIAN is a bigger book than any of your previous books, not only in terms of sheer length but in the complexity of the plot, the multiple points of view, the historical background, and so on. Do you think this reflects your maturation as a writer? Or was this book something you'd been saving up all along?

Lisa Maxwell: I think it definitely reflects the experiences of writing my first three books. I have one book that’s shelved where I tried to do a multiple perspective, interwoven story, and I think that mistakes I made trying to write that one very much helped me figure out how to write this one. That being said, I didn’t originally start out to write this book as complexly as it turned out. At first, I thought I was just writing a dual POV with Harte and Esta, but the other characters and their stories and arcs were too complex and essential to the main story to leave out.

YAG: I love the historical richness of THE LAST MAGICIAN, and I know that some of the minor characters (e.g., J. P. Morgan) were actual historical figures. But what about the principal characters? Were any of them either real people or based on real people?

LM: Actually, kind of? I took some of my inspiration for Harte’s background from a book called A Pickpocket’s Tale. It was written by a guy named George Washington Appo, who was a pickpocket and common green games runner in the city, who was also literate enough to write his autobiography. Harte isn’t him, of course, but some of his background was an inspiration for Harte’s backstory. Dolph Saunders was a real guy, but I mostly just stole the name since I really loved the way it sounded. Dolph is a compilation of a couple different historical gang leaders. As for Esta and the rest—they’re all mine.

YAG: I also love time-travel narratives, but I know they can be tricky to write. Did you encounter any specific challenges or plot problems with this aspect of the novel? If so, how did you resolve them?

LM: Everything was a problem. Time travel is so much harder to write than I thought it was when I came up with the idea of making Esta a time traveler. Originally, I hadn’t planned on my thief to be a time traveler, but once I settled on the setting, I realized there was probably no way, historically speaking, that Esta could be the person I imagined with the sensibilities I wanted her to have if she were born and raised in the late 19th century. 

The biggest challenges, though, were rules I imposed on myself. I needed her to have limitations to how and when she could travel, or else she could just magically time travel back to the beginning of the Order and solve everything before it starts. But those limitations meant that I had to make sure there weren’t any inconsistencies in the rest of the book. Don’t even get me started on multiple timelines and time travel paradoxes. The whole thing makes my head hurt, and I’m nowhere close to done thinking about it yet.

Though, I will say that I have solved one paradox/multiple timeline issue AND managed to create a twist that I’m really, really happy about for the next book.

YAG: I can't wait to read it! Thanks again for visiting the blog!

LM: Thanks so much for having me!

Readers, if you want to find Lisa on the web, visit her at http://www.lisa-maxwell.com/. And for a chance to win a signed copy of THE LAST MAGICIAN, enter below. The contest is U.S. only, and it runs from now through Halloween (fitting for a book about magic)!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

YA Guy Interviews... Sabrina Fedel, author of LEAVING KENT STATE!

It's a little known fact that one of YA Guy's first novels was written when I was a college student back in the 80s. The tale of a college campus that's taken over by a revolutionary cabal, it was going nowhere until I decided to do some research into an actual college campus that was subjected to military rule. My research naturally led me to the shootings that took place on the Kent State University campus on May 4, 1970, forty-seven years ago today.

In my book, the historical research formed only the lightest thread in an otherwise boisterously absurd comic novel. But I've been fascinated by the history of Kent State ever since. And that's why I was so excited to discover Sabrina Fedel's debut LEAVING KENT STATE, a YA historical novel set in Kent, Ohio in the days before and during the on-campus massacre. I've reviewed this amazing novel here, and I was fortunate enough to have Sabrina visit the blog to talk about her book, her research, and her current works-in-progress.

YA Guy: Hi, Sabrina, and welcome to the blog! As someone who's intrigued by the history of the Vietnam War and the anti-war movement, I was wondering how you came up with the idea for LEAVING KENT STATE?

SF: The idea for LEAVING KENT STATE came to me while watching television (we can’t always be reading!) and ironing. There was a documentary-style program on about the shooting, and it struck me that it was really a story about young people clashing against their world order. I knew I wanted to write about it. I researched and found that there were almost no books that even mentioned the incident, and no YA stories. Because many YA editors don’t want to see a protagonist over 18, I made my protagonist a high school senior. It wasn’t difficult for me to imagine the rest of Rachel's story, as I was a girl who had to go to the university where my dad taught, even though I didn’t want to, just like her.

YAG: What was your research process for this novel? Did you uncover any unusual or out-of-the-way sources? What was the most interesting or surprising thing you discovered?

SF: To research this story, I started with non-fiction books about the shootings. When I felt like I had a beginning, I made trips to Kent. I studied maps and drove around looking for the neighborhood (and house!) that Rachel would have lived in. I saw where she went to school, where the Twin Lakes were, Main Street, and the campus of KSU. I dove into the archives there, reading the local paper for every day between October 1969, when my story starts, until the end of May, 1970. Every year on May 4th, KSU hosts a memorial commemoration, and I attended a number of those where I spoke to people who worked in the archives or who had been there that day. I went to the local historical society and talked with people there, as well.

One of the neatest things, to me, is that KSU has an online oral history project about that day. Anyone who wanted to come forward and describe what happened to them that day could participate. I found these stories really fascinating and got a lot of contextual information that I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to experience. I also went online to research speeches by President Nixon, and I read autobiographies and nonfiction books about Vietnam. Finally, I interviewed a Vietnam veteran who very generously helped me understand what it was like for him during his service and then coming home.

The thing that surprised me the most was that many people felt that the students deserved what happened to them. The vitriol against the students, even sometimes by their own parents, was horrific. One woman told me that her father was among those who said that the Guard should have shot them all. When she pointed out that she would have been killed if they had, her father told her it was what she deserved. That was really shocking to me. Another thing that surprised me was that during law school, I had lived VERY near to the grave of shooting victim Allison Krause. I learned that from the Vietnam veteran whom I interviewed, who had been a history teacher and had studied the shootings. When he took me to her grave, I thought it was very ironic that I had lived practically across the street from her little Jewish cemetery for a year and never knew it was even there.

YAG: That's an impressive amount of research, and it really shows in your book. At the same time, one of the things I love about LEAVING KENT STATE is that you never let the historical detail overwhelm the story. How did you make sure that didn't happen?

SF: Thanks! I tried to make sure that every detail had a purpose to the story so that it would feel organic. There were things Rachel had to explain, and sometimes I relied on the fact that her family was a bunch of avid newspaper readers to make that happen, or other times I would have it happen in conversations. I tried to keep to a minimum the times that Rachel explained things to the reader. I also tried to pick details that were special to that era, that spoke of it. I did a LOT of research into guitar and car models, the Billboard top forty lists, and double-checked when things that I believed were iconic to the 1970s happened. Sometimes I was surprised to find that things I associated with the period were actually popular later (like the cartoon character Ziggy, who didn’t materialize until after my story ended).

YAG: You mentioned earlier that when you first formulated the idea for LEAVING KENT STATE, you had to develop a high school-age protagonist so it would fit into the YA genre. What do you like most about writing for young people?

SF: I love writing for young people because teens who are readers want to know about other people and cultures. They are eagerly looking to find out both what separates them from others and what is similar. They want to know what it would be like “if.” I’m always fascinated by the way people live and the choices they make, so I think in that way I am a perpetual teen. I want to know the "why" behind things, and so do teenagers.

YAG: Based on that description, I think YA Guy's a perpetual teen, too! So what's the next project you're working on?

SF: I recently completed a contemporary realism novel about a hockey playing girl who loses her mother and runs away to Venice. It’s all about grieving and the meaning of family. I am shopping that now while I work on my next project, which is also a contemporary realism novel that is kind of The Breakfast Club at a psychiatric hospital. This one is in verse, so we’ll see. I haven’t written in verse before. But so far, I am happy with it.

YAG: I can't wait to read those books when they come out. Thanks again for visiting, and best of luck with your new projects!

SF: Thanks so much for having me visit!

Readers, if you want to learn more about Sabrina and her books, here's where to go!

About the author: Sabrina Fedel’s novel, Leaving Kent State, released in 2016 from Harvard Square Editions. Her young adult short story, "Honor’s Justice," has been nominated for a 2017 Pushcart Prize, a 2016 storySouth Million Writers Award, and a Sundress Publications Best of the Net '16 award. Sabrina teaches English Literature at Robert Morris University as an adjunct faculty member, and is a 2014 graduate of Lesley University's MFA in Creative Writing program, with a concentration in Writing for Young People. Her poetry and essays have been published in various print and online journals. You can find out more about Sabrina at www.sabrinafedel.com, or follow her on twitter @writeawhile. She also can be found hanging out on Instagram, Facebook, and occasionally tumblr.

To buy LEAVING KENT STATE: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1941861245

Sabrina's Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15403413.Sabrina_Fedel

YA Guy Interviews... Marty Reeder, Author of HOW TO BECOME A PIRATE HUNTER!

YA Guy is excited to welcome Marty Reeder, author of HOW TO BECOME A PIRATE HUNTER, to the blog! This time-travel fantasy for young readers is a lot of fun, with a boy who feels he doesn't have any talents discovering that he's a natural born pirate hunter! Marty stopped by the blog recently to chat, and here's what he had to say...

YA Guy: Welcome to the blog, Marty, and congratulations on your new book! How did you come up with the idea for How to Become a Pirate Hunter? What do you think is the most fun or fascinating thing about this story?

Marty Reeder: I hear the phrase "natural born" every now and then, and I once wondered what my natural born talent would be. Well, I couldn't think of a modern one, but I thought that it would be cool if I were a natural born pirate hunter (that's where my mind usually wanders). I knew there wasn't much I would be able to do about it ... unless I wrote about it in fiction. The idea stewed for a while until the story came into focus and I finally got to live my dream of what it would be like to hunt pirates!

My favorite parts in the story are those parts that came as surprises to me. While I had the story pretty much figured out, as I was writing some of the important scenes, the reasons for the protagonist to achieve his triumphs were subtly different from what I expected. I'd like to think that it's because there is hidden truth there that refused to be let out of the story.

YAG: I'm a big fan of discovering the truths in my story as I write, too! What do you enjoy most about writing for young readers? (If you have a particular story to share, please do!)

MR: I never write for a young audience. I write what I think would be interesting to read. As it turns out, I must be young at heart because once I started getting serious about doing something with my writing, I found out that I had to label my audience before submitting it to publishers. I realized that my protagonists are all youth--I had been writing to a younger audience this whole time and didn't even notice it. It's probably why I ended up being a high school teacher ... it's about my maturity level!

YAG: Walk us through a day in your life as a writer. Any habits, quirks, or special ways you approach the writing process?

MR: Because I have a family and day job (high school teacher), my writing process has taken some necessary adjustments since my lonely bachelor-writing days. Generally, however, I've found that I write best in the morning and edit best in the evening. The morning is when I am most alert (not the case for everyone, I know!) and my mind is fresh and ready to spill out ideas. By the evening, I'm tired from the day and don't have the endurance for solid writing sessions. However, my mind is calmed down enough that I can take a sensible look at my morning's work and help it make more sense. I suppose it's sort of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde approach.

YAG: I like that approach: draft early, revise late. Speaking of writing, what are some of your favorite YA or MG books? How have they influenced you as a writer?

MR: I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Treasure Island as an influential young adult work for me, especially in the context of How to Become a Pirate Hunter. I've long had a fascination with history and sailing, and I'm not sure if Treasure Island started that or simply furthered it, but either way it is such a strong piece of literature in plotting and characters I would be hard pressed to find a single piece of (non-series) young adult literature that matches it. Lloyd Alexander is another stalwart author from my youth. Going back and reading some of the stories of his that I loved to lap off the library shelf as a kid, I realize how efficient and engaging his writing is, a combination that is truly difficult to sustain. His more known series is the Chronicles of Prydain (The Black Cauldron and The High King earning Newbery Honor and Winner awards, respectively), but one that I simply love is the tight and emotionally investing Westmark Trilogy.

YAG: Now that we know what you've read and what you've written, tell us what's next for you and your fans!

MR: First of all, we'll have to see if I have any fans! But for anyone even remotely interested in How to Become a Pirate Hunter, a sequel is in the process of being written. I know that's pretty common for most young adult stories, but for the longest time I did not think there could be a sequel to Pirate Hunter (and I have had this story finished or close to it for years). But last year, just before it got picked up by a publisher, an idea sparked and I realized that there was a story that I still wanted to tell within this world. I'm a few chapters in and I'm pretty excited by it, so hopefully fans will be too! For now, however, I'm just satisfied with this fun process of letting the story go out there and see how far it reaches.

YAG: Thanks for visiting the blog, Marty! Personally, I'll be on the lookout (in the crow's nest?) for the sequel to PIRATE HUNTER!

Readers, here's some more information about Marty and links to find him on the web!

About the author: Marty Reeder lives in Smithfield, Utah with his wife and five children, where he teaches Creative Writing and Spanish at the local high school. Though not a natural born pirate hunter, he taught sailing at Scout camps for many years and uses his history degree to fuel worlds of piracy and compensate for perhaps being born in the wrong time and place for his passions.

Website: http://www.martyreeder.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/martyreeder
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2872769.Marty_Reeder
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Become-Pirate-Hunter-Marty-Reeder/dp/1462119808
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-to-become-a-pirate-hunter-marty-reeder/1125021081

YA Guy Welcomes... Jennifer Bardsley, author of DAMAGED GOODS!

YA Guy is thrilled to welcome my good friend, Jennifer Bardsley, to the blog! DAMAGED GOODS, the second book in her YA science fiction series, has just been released, and Jennifer was kind enough to stop by and answer some questions.

YA Guy: Hi, Jennifer, and welcome to the blog! Can you tell us about DAMAGED GOODS and the Blank Slate series?

Jennifer Bardsley: Thank you so much for having me on The YA Guy! I always joke that it's like we are Internet married because my Facebook page is called The YA Gal. (And side note, you were really cool about me ripping off your idea on that one.) I'm so happy to be chatting with you today because you and I both write Sci-Fi and speculative fiction, which are my favorite types of books to read.

My newest book is called DAMAGED GOODS, and is the sequel to GENESIS GIRL which came out last year. They are about a teenager named Blanca who has never been on the Internet. Her lack of a digital footprint makes her so valuable that she gets auctioned off the highest bidder. In GENESIS GIRL readers find out why Blanca was shielded from the Internet her entire childhood and how that impacted her life. In DAMAGED GOODS Blanca struggles to move past her sheltered upbringing and doles out justice to bad guys from her past.

YAG: Sounds awesome! Have you always liked sci-fi? If so, what are some of your favorite stories (books, movies, or both), and why are you into them?

JB: I have always loved Sci-Fi because it's the ultimate escape. In high school Ray Bradbury and Kurt Vonnegut were two of my favorite authors and I watched all of the "Star Trek Next Generation" episodes on repeat, These days, if I turn on one episode of "Battlestar Galatica" I will spend the next forty eight hours binge-watching and morph into that couple from "Portlandia" who are the biggest "Battlestar Galatica" fans ever.

YAG: Cool! Now what about the other half of the equation--the Young Adult half. What appeals to you about YA?

JB: As an adult reader, I love young adult fiction because it's the chance to revisit high school and have fun. When I was in high school, I was so focused on grades and getting into a good college that I never went to a wild party or got caught in an epic love triangle. But I also enjoy YA because they so often include stories of teens taking control of their own lives and forging their own paths.

YAG: You've got a great agent (as I know, since she's mine as well) and have built a great platform for yourself and your books. Any tips for beginning writers about how to achieve success?

JB: My biggest tip for writers would be to not give up. This industry is challenging on so many levels, but there are multiple ways to achieve success. My second tip would be to put your manuscript away for three months and then come back to it with new eyes. I'm a big believer in revision. I never give anything to my agent unless I've revised it twenty-two times, and that includes incorporating feedback from multiple beta readers.

YAG: Excellent advice! Last question: tell us something funny or unusual about yourself that few people know!

JB: People who already follow me on social media already know that I have a poodle named Merlin, but what they don't know is that Merlin has a fetish for old ladies. We think Merlin must have been owned by an elderly woman who died before he went to the shelter that we adopted him from. Merlin is a sweet dog to begin with and friendly with everyone, but when he sees a woman of a certain age, he becomes ecstatic. My kids and I joke that Merlin's dream vacation would be a week at a retirement home.

YAG: Okay, not even your internet husband YA Guy knew that story! Readers, if you want to learn more about Jennifer and her books, here's where to go:

Jennifer Bardsley writes the column “I Brake for Moms” for The Everett Daily Herald. Her novel Genesis Girl debuted in 2016 from Month9Books, with the sequel, Damaged Goods, releasing in 2017. Genesis Girl is about a teenager who has never been on the Internet. Jennifer, however, is on the web all the time as “The YA Gal” with over 21,000 followers on Facebook, 19,500 followers on Instagram, and 9,000 followers on Twitter. On Facebook, she hosts the weekly instant book club called #TakeALookTuesday where YA Gal friends geek out, share pictures of what they are reading, and chat about books. Jennifer is a member of SCBWI, The Sweet Sixteens debut author group, and is founder of Sixteen To Read. An alumna of Stanford University, Jennifer lives near Seattle, WA where she enjoys spending time with her family and her poodle, Merlin.

Title: DAMAGED GOODS (Blank Slate #2)

Author: Jennifer Bardsley

Pub. Date: January 17, 2017

Publisher: Month9Books

Format: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook

Pages: 300

Find it: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | TBD

Blanca has everything she ever wanted, a hot boyfriend named Seth and the loving support of her foster father, Cal. She’s finally escaped the abusive control of her birth father, Barbelo Nemo, and her tortured childhood at Tabula Rasa School.

But the scars of Blanca’s Vestal upbringing run deep, especially when the FBI starts asking questions. Blanca feels abandoned by Seth who is hunting for Lilith, Blanca’s only blood relative. The Defectos, a support group of Vestal-Rejects, offer Blanca comfort instead.

While the Vestal order crumbles, Chinese rivals called the Guardians rise to power and wrest control of important Tabula Rasa contacts. Now Blanca’s life is in peril once more, and this time, Blanca struggles to recognize friend from foe.

Title: GENESIS  GIRL (Blank Slate #1)

Author: Jennifer Bardsley

Pub. Date: June 14, 2016

Publisher: Month9Books

Format: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook

Pages: 280

Find it: Goodreads | Amazon | B&N | iBooks | Kobo | Books A Million | Google Play | IndieBound

Eighteen-year-old Blanca has lived a sheltered life. Her entire childhood has been spent at Tabula Rasa School where she’s been protected from the Internet. 

Blanca has never been online and doesn’t even know how to text. Her lack of a virtual footprint makes her extremely valuable, and upon graduation, Blanca and those like her are sold to the highest bidders.

Blanca is purchased by Cal McNeal, who uses her to achieve personal gain. But the McNeals are soon horrified by just how obedient and non-defiant Blanca is. All those mind-numbing years locked away from society have made her mind almost impenetrable. 

By the time Blanca is ready to think for herself, she is trapped. Her only chance of escape is to go online.

YA Guy Interviews... Amy Allgeyer, author of DIG TOO DEEP!

Today on the blog, YA Guy's thrilled to interview Amy Allgeyer, author of DIG TOO DEEP, which comes out April 1! Amy took the time to answer my questions about her writing process and about the environmental issues in her debut novel, which concerns one teenage girl's effort to fight mountaintop coal mining in a small Appalachian town. You can read my review of this terrific novel right here.

And now, without further ado, here's Amy!

YA Guy: Hi Amy! Welcome to the blog. To start out, I'd love to hear about your journey to publication.

Amy Allgeyer: “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…” That’s how it feels anyway. I decided to write my first book twelve years ago. I landed an agent with that book, but it didn’t sell. Since then, I’ve written many more books, lost an agent, found a dream agent, worked through revisions with agents or editors only to have them change jobs or leave publishing for good before we were finished. All in all, I had pretty much the same journey most authors have. We all get those wicked near-misses and crushing lows. Then we turn around and pour all that into the next book. Or we give up and don’t become authors at all. I very nearly did that, and the only things that kept me going were my crit partners.

YAG: I'm glad you stuck with it, because DIG TOO DEEP tells a really important story. Can you tell us about mountaintop coal mining? How did you get interested in it? How much of a problem is it?

AA: Mountaintop Removal Mining started back in the 1970’s. By 2009, over five hundred mountains had been blasted away. Nearly a million acres of forest are gone. The health issues speak for themselves: people living in MTR communities are fifty percent more likely to die of cancer, and babies born near MTR mines are forty-two percent more likely to have birth defects.

I was born in Kentucky. When I was seven, I moved to North Carolina with my parents but my six brothers and sisters (all older) stayed in KY, so I spent a lot of time driving back and forth through Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. The Appalachians represent home to me—even now when I live a thousand miles away. So it’s heartbreaking to see them blown apart, and know some special places are gone forever. And since MTR mining creates fewer jobs than traditional mining, it means these communities are stuck with less money, fewer jobs, more sickness, more death… It’s really awful.

YAG: So this sounds like a very important book to you. What was your research process like for DIG TOO DEEP?

AA: Involved! Even beyond the MTR research, there are aspects of the book that I (thankfully) don’t have personal experience with: prison, water testing, meth addiction, extreme poverty. My writing process was like: Write two pages. Google whether prisoners have access to email. Write another page. Google side-effects of methamphetamine addiction. I also depended a lot on my sister’s experiences volunteering in mountain communities in Eastern Kentucky. Her stories were so insightful and gave me a current and realistic picture of what poverty looks like in that area of the country. The cancer…that I know all too well, as my mom died of cancer. Those scenes where Liberty is caring for Granny were some of the hardest I’ve ever had to write.

YAG: They're also some of the best scenes in the novel, and I can tell they come from a very personal place. To shift back to the environmental issues: I’m from Pennsylvania, a major coal-producing state. What would your answer be to someone who said, “We need to continue mining coal to keep the economy strong and to supply the nation’s energy”?

AA: Yes, Pennsylvania has MTR issues, too, as well as fracking, which is another huge concern. To me, the biggest argument against our dependence on coal is just common sense. It’s reported that we have enough world-wide coal reserves to power us for another twenty-three years. Given that we’re going to have to depend on something else so soon, why would we continue to destroy the environment and sicken communities by expanding the search for coal? We should be focusing on alternative energy and what we’re going to do when the fossil fuels run out. The fabrication of products and infrastructure that use alternative energy (like wind, solar, hydro) would create manufacturing and light industrial jobs to replace the mining jobs that those communities so desperately need. It seems like a no-brainer that we should be weaning ourselves off coal now…not continuing to destroy the environment and expecting our kids to come up with something better once they’re the grown-ups.

YAG: I couldn't agree more! So, what’s next for you as a writer?

AA: Well…I have an option book due to my publisher later this year. I’m currently working on a contemporary Southern-gothic YA novel that’s beginning to feel overly epic and out of control. Think “The Thorn Birds” meets “The Sound and the Fury.” Some days, I think I’ve got things under control. Other days, it feels like I’m trying to lasso a rhino with wet spaghetti. So…typical writer’s journey!

YAG: Yes, that sounds painfully familiar! Thanks, Amy, for being on the blog and sharing your stories. Readers, if you want to find out more about Amy and DIG TOO DEEP, here's where to start digging:

Amy Allgeyer was born in Kentucky, the youngest of seven kids. As an architect, she spends her days remodeling hundred year-old homes in Idaho, where she lives with her son, a pound cat named Nightmare, and a fake owl named Alan. She hates chocolate, loves vegetables, and could easily live on hamburgers for the rest of her life. She has a Bachelor’s of Architecture from North Carolina State University, is a member of SCBWI, and an alumnus of the Nevada Mentor Program. She’s represented by Danielle Chiotti, Upstart Crow Literary.

Website: amyallgeyer.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmyAllgeyerAuthor/

Twitter @amy7a

DIG TOO DEEP

Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company

Release Date: April 1, 2016

ISBN-10: 0807515809

ISBN-13: 978-0807515808

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23502052-dig-too-deep

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Dig-Too-Deep-Amy-Allgeyer/dp/0807515809

YA Guy Hosts... L. L. Reynolds, Author of RAFE RYDER AND THE WELL OF WISDOM!

Ever since YA Guy started tweeting, one of my very favorite tweeps has been L. L. Reynolds, an amazing person, great friend, and now, PUBLISHED AUTHOR! I'm so excited to have her on the blog to talk about her journey to publication and her debut novel, RAFE RYDER AND THE WELL OF WISDOM!

YA Guy: Welcome to the blog, L. L.! Can you tell us about your journey to publication?

L. L. Reynolds: My journey to publication began with the traditional publishing dream. I tested the waters by querying twelve agents, three at a time. (I’m not a mass query type of girl.) I took my time stalking the agents … er ... did I say stalk? I meant … studying the agents, following them on twitter, and generally trying to gauge if our personalities might mesh. 

To my delight, most of them requested at least a partial of my manuscript, and, to my dismay, they took three to six months before letting me know “Rafe Ryder wasn’t right for their lists” in a variety of polite ways.

Two years later, after only my sixth rejection, it dawned on me … it was time to explore my options. As fate would dictate, it was then that I met the fabulous indie author, Katie Cross. She generously shared everything she had learned on her publishing journey with me. She didn’t fill my head with wild notions, she simply gave me questions to consider.

Did I want to solely own my rights to the books I wrote? Did I want to exercise complete artistic and creative control of my books, or did I want to face the possibility of rewriting my work based on publishers’ opinions about what was currently selling? Did I want to control my cover designs? Did I want to choose my own editors? Did I want to make a 12.5% royalty for approximately six months while my publisher helped me market my book in that very limited time span, or would I rather have a 70% royalty forever? Did I want to risk my books someday going out of print? (Good questions, huh?)

As I pondered (and researched the dickens) out of these questions, I wrestled with another dilemma. I wanted to be taken seriously as a writer, but I wasn’t sure that would be possible if I struck out on my own. Yet, at the same time, I felt aggravated that my book might have to conform to somebody else’s ideas and expectations in order for it to have a chance in the world. *Breaks into a tap dance as Sammy Davis, Jr belts out, I've gotta be me* on my iPod.*

Continuing to question, bristle and research, I noticed more and more traditional authors writing articles saying they were switching from traditional publishing to independent publishing. (Hmmmmm. Interesting.) But starting an independent publishing company is a lot of work. Could I do it? More than that, did I even want to do it?

Ultimately, my decision came down to one thing … I’m a fiercely independent soul, and I wanted to decide with whom I worked. Thus, Ananiah Press was born. Now, I am in control of my own destiny. My success rests solely in my own hands, no one else’s, and that really works for me.

YAG: I think those are important questions for anyone who considers publishing to ask. Now tell us a bit about the end result: RAFE RYDER AND THE WELL OF WISDOM!

 

LLR: RAFE RYDER AND THE WELL OF WISDOM is a secular middle grade fantasy. The following is a blurby bit to explain the overall story:

Twelve-year-old Rafe Ryder’s year couldn’t get worse. His parents have shipped him off to live with his grandmother and he doesn’t know if he’ll ever see his sick father again. Arriving in Maine, Rafe plots his return to England, but the possibility of a homecoming slips further from his grasp when an adventure in a corn maze at his new school goes wrong, and he and twelve of his schoolmates are mysteriously transported to Mystfira—a realm of angels, leprechauns, gargoyles and fairies—and home to an elite angelic training school.

Forced to co-exist with student angels and surrounded by more danger than he ever could have imagined, Rafe searches for a way home. But when he discovers unlikely friendships with angels, fairies, and leprechauns, Rafe realizes Mystfira has it charms—even if it rains fire and hosts the universe’s deadliest creatures. Where else could he attend school in a palace, catch a fairy xant, and watch angels prove themselves in Adomis trials?

If only he and his friends hadn’t blundered upon a sinister underworld plot to gain control of the heavens and Earth. Now, like it or not, if Rafe wants to go home, he’ll have to find a way to save it first.

Blurby bit aside, the idea for Rafe Ryder came to me in 2008 when my own son came home for a quick weekend visit and I realized he was extremely ill. I refused to let him return to his home in NYC until we got him checked out at the ER. (Advice for momma bears everywhere: Always follow your maternal intuition!) Long story, short. My son needed two artificial heart valves and a permanent pacemaker inserted at age 24 ... but he was alive! It’s hard not to think about angels when you’re sitting by your sick child’s bed running IV antibiotics round the clock.

Inspired by a gift my son had given me for my birthday a few months earlier—a wooden angel with the words “Believe in Miracles” splashed across its front—and in an effort to remain calm, strong and somewhat sane for him, I began to tell myself a story as I sat next to his bedside… the story of Rafe Ryder.

YAG: That’s an amazing story, and I’m glad it had a happy ending! Now give us some insight into your writing process—walk us through a day in your writing life. Do you write every day? Do you have any particular rituals?

LLR: There has been no such thing as a typical day of writing since last February when we started a kitchen renovation in our house. (HGTV makes these things look so simple and easy! I assure you, they are not!) When the carpenter is here I can’t even think, let alone string words together on the page. After dinner, things begin to quiet down, and I’m able to write.

Yes, I do write every day. I keep notebooks everywhere, even in the car, so I can jot ideas down. (Yes, people! Sometimes how YOU ACT and what YOU SAY incites an author ...er...did I say incite? I meant inspires an author. Use caution when you befriend us. Muhaahaahaaa!)

Over the last few months, I have taken to writing into the wee hours of the morning. It’s quiet and peaceful before the world wakes up, a perfect time to get some writing accomplished with no interruptions. The closest thing I have to a writing ritual is my habit of listening to classical music for ten minutes before I begin writing. It clears the cobwebs and inspires ideas. (At least, for me. I know it puts some people to sleep. Ha!)

YAG: What’s been the most memorable/amazing/awesome thing that’s happened to you in your writing career? (And if you feel like telling us, what’s been the worst thing?)

LLR: The most amazing thing that has happened in my writing career is having dinner with the author of Charlotte’s Web, the spectacular E. B. White! As a young nurse, he told me not to give up on my writing even though, at that point in my life, I hadn’t made it my career. I won’t bore you with details now, but I did write about it on my blog.

The second best thing is developing friendships with other writers. We’re all in this together. I love the camaraderie and general shenanigans of the writing community! (The YA guy is one of my favorites!)

 Other than the rejections I experienced from the six agents in the traditional publishing world (I’m still waiting for the other six to get back to me, but I’m not holding my breath), I can’t think of a “worst experience,” and for that, I’m grateful!

YAG: Well, that’s a good thing—I was just reading a horror story recently about someone whose publisher lost her manuscript! Anyway, do you have any tips for writers just starting out?

LLR: My advice for writers just starting out is twofold. Read, read, read, read (and read some more!), and when you are done reading, apply the seat of your pants to the seat of a chair and write every day. Write “rough.” It doesn’t have to be perfect. Just get your ideas on the paper. You can go back and tweak to your heart’s content when you find yourself in an editing mood.

YAG: Thanks so much for taking the time to visit YA Guy! (And for your very nice comments about YA Guy himself!) Readers, here’s more information about L. L. Reynolds and where to find RAFE RYDER AND THE WELL OF WISDOM!

About the author: L. L. Reynolds is a registered nurse turned middle grade/young adult fantasy writer from Vermont with a husband, three children, two dogs and anything but a dull life!

A labor and delivery nurse for nearly twenty years, L. L. once had dinner with E. B. White, the author of Charlotte's Web, and it remains one of the highlights of her life thus far.

She loves tea, children, books, music, art, animals, and lemon meringue pie.

Find out more:

http://llreynolds.com

http://www.facebook.com/llreynolds777

http://twitter.com/llreynolds777

 

 And to buy RAFE RYDER AND THE WELL OF WISDOM: http://www.amazon.com/Rafe-Ryder-Well-Wisdom-Book/dp/0996931910/

YA Guy Presents... YA! for Nature with Sherri L. Smith, author of ORLEANS!

One of YA Guy's favorite YA science fiction novels of the past, well, forever is Sherri L. Smith's ORLEANS. (Here's my review, in case you missed it.) Today, I had the good fortune to interview Sherri for my occasional series, YA! for Nature. Here's what Sherri and I talked about:

YA Guy: Welcome to the blog, Sherri!

Sherri L. Smith: Hi YA Guy. Thanks for having me!

My pleasure. Please tell us about your book ORLEANS.

SLS: ORLEANS is set in a post-disaster New Orleans where a series of manmade and natural catastrophes have given rise to Delta Fever, a disease so deadly that the U.S. Government builds a quarantine wall from Florida to Texas and disavows that part of the country. Fifty years later, the survivors in the former city of New Orleans have gone tribal based on blood type—the last rules laid down by the CDC to stem the disease. Against this backdrop, the heroine Fen is tasked with saving the life of her tribal leader’s newborn baby after their tribe is destroyed. On the other side of the quarantine Wall, a young scientist named Daniel follows the smuggler paths into Orleans in his search for a cure to Delta Fever. Their paths cross and well, I guess you have to read the book to find out what happens next.

YAG: I know from your dedication and acknowledgments that you have a very personal connection to New Orleans and to the events that occurred when Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. Can you tell us more about that connection and how it shaped your novel?

SLS: My mother was born and raised in New Orleans. She moved up north and met my father, but in later years, she returned to the city to take care of my grandparents until they passed. She was still living in the city when Katrina hit. Faced with the option of sitting in a car in traffic during the storm or weathering it in the 100-year-old house she’d grown up in, she opted to stay. Her house was damaged, but she would have been fine if the levees hadn’t broken and the city hadn’t shut down. There she was, a diabetic running out of insulin and drinking water in a city that had been quarantined against help. The Red Cross was not allowed in to offer aid under some misguided belief that people would be forced to leave. My mom tried to drive out of the city after the storm, but her truck was caught in flood waters and she had to be rescued by someone in a passing swamp boat. All told, it took my family a week of frantic phone calls and crazy plans to drive to the rescue (if only the few open roads were not patrolled by gun-toting law enforcement). At last, the Coast Guard, of all organizations, came to the rescue and got her out of the city and onto an airplane out of Louisiana.

Needless to say, it was a harrowing time.

In the aftermath of the disaster, Fen spoke to me, and Orleans was born. This book is my response to the tragedy of Katrina all along the southern coast. To the conversations about racism and rescue that took place as we watched the city drown. To the stories of gang members turning into protectors and law enforcement going rogue. I tried to remove race as an issue in Orleans and make it about blood type—something that you cannot see. Above all, I want people to remember New Orleans and Mississippi and all of the places forever changed by a single storm.

YAG: Of the two narrators in ORLEANS—a third-person narrator affiliated with the character Daniel, and a first-person narrator representing the perspective of the character Fen—I was most drawn to Fen’s voice and vision. Where did the character of Fen come from? Why did you decide to speak in her distinctive voice?

SLS: As I said above, Fen literally spoke to me. I was driving home from work one day in the weeks after my mom had been safely brought to California, and I heard a voice say “O-Neg Davis, he beautiful.” I had no idea what that was about, but I called my voicemail and left it in a message. And that turned into the powwow scene with Fen’s O Positive tribe and the O-Negs led by handsome Davis with his agate green eyes. Her voice was so natural to the story that I kept it. New Orleans is such a stew of cultures, it made sense that the natural language would be a patois of some sort. So there is “speaking tribe,” which is the voice Fen thinks in, and then there is “proper English,” which is used by the educated, the leaders and scientists.

YAG: Late in the novel, one of the characters—a scientist who lives the life of a hermit—states: “Nature knows what to do with a poison. She dilutes it.” There are so many ways to read these lines, but given your novel’s representation of human society, one of the things they suggest is that human beings are the “poison” that Nature needs to “dilute.” What’s your feeling about this? How do you read these lines?

SLS: That’s an interesting way of looking at it. I certainly do think that humans, along with all other life forms, are as much a boon as a burden to the planet, and Nature has its ways of culling the herd—such as disease, and our own solution, war. It’s like homeopathic medicine—there is the tipping point at which the poison is too weak to kill, but can help you build an immunity. In the case of the character in the book, he is talking about Nature’s ability to recover even after a major disaster—the oil spill from the Deep Water Horizon will have repercussions for decades, but the ocean will survive. One of the reasons it was dangerous to eat seafood in the aftermath of the oil spill was because the shellfish and bottom feeders sift through the water and act as filters. It might make them inedible, and lead to illness in both the shellfish and the creatures that eat them, but eventually the water will be filtered clean and new shellfish will be born and life will continue. That’s what is happening in the Orleans of the book, but it’s hard to take that long view when your life could end the next day.

YAG: Some readers and reviewers have termed ORLEANS a cli-fi novel. What do you think about this emerging genre of fiction?

SLS: Climate has always been a topic in speculative fiction, so I don’t know that the genre is new so much as the classification is becoming more popular now. I think it’s great if it gets people to look at books they might have missed. That said, the climate is the backdrop for ORLEANS, rather than the point of the story. So, if you are looking for eco-lit, maybe you’ll find this title, which is great—and then the characters and the drama will carry you to the final page.

YAG: Last question. You and I are fiction writers, not politicians or pundits. What’s the role, if any, of fiction in calling attention to environmental issues and problems?

SLS: Hmm. I think the job of writers, particularly speculative fiction writers, is to ask interesting questions. Like Mary Shelley—is it okay for man to create artificial life like Frankenstein did? What are the responsibilities of such actions? For Orleans—are we willing to abandon part or our nation to its own devices (which is very much what it felt like during Katrina)? If so, what are the consequences? What happens next? It’s true that writers are not politicians or pundits, but we are citizens of the world, and students of human nature. There is a reason writers become political prisoners in some societies. We ask questions. If we’re lucky, someone reads the book, thinks about it, and answers start to follow.

YAG: Thanks for being on the blog, Sherri! Readers, if you want to learn more about Sherri Smith and her writing, here’s where to go:

www.sherrilsmith.com

www.middlehundred.blogspot.com

Sherri on Facebook

Twitter: @sherril_l_smith

YA Guy Interviews... YA Guy Jr. on THE EIGHTH DAY by Dianne K. Salerni!

In today's post, I interview my 11-year-old son, Jonah, a great reader of Middle Grade literature. Jonah just finished Dianne K. Salerni's wonderful book, THE EIGHTH DAY, and here's what he had to say about it!

Hey, Jonah! How’s it going, dude?

Pretty good.

Tell us a little bit about THE EIGHTH DAY.

Okay. Jax is an orphan who lives with his guardian, named Riley, who he really hates. After his thirteenth birthday, Jax wakes up in a world with nobody there. He’s confused and doesn’t know what’s happening. In his second Eighth Day, he meets Riley there, and Riley tells him about the Eighth Day. He tells him how the Eighth Day is a curse trapping certain people in the Eighth Day. Jax is a “Transitioner,” so he can get into the Eighth Day, but Evangeline, who lives next door, can’t get out of the Eighth Day. In trying to help Evangeline, Jax ends up in a situation where he has to save the world.

What was your favorite part of the book? Who was your favorite character?

My favorite part of the book was the end, but I’m not going to say that! Instead, my second favorite part of the book was when Jax was kidnapped by the villains. My favorite character is Miller, because he’s a double agent and you don’t know whose side he’s on until the end.

What about villains? Did the book have any good villains?

Yeah, the best villain in the book was the Kin lord Wylit. The Kin are the people who are trapped in the Eighth Day. I liked Wylit because he had mischievous plans to destroy the world.

If you had an extra day each week that you could spend doing whatever you wanted, what would you do?

What would I do? I’d go in one of those sea rover thingies underwater to see giant squids and stuff. And I’d go to Pirates batting practice and do batting practice with Andrew McCutchen.

Final question: on a scale of one to five, how many honor blades would you give to THE EIGHTH DAY?

Can I do six?

Thanks, Jonah!

Readers, if you want more information about Dianne or THE EIGHTH DAY, visit her website at http://diannesalerni.com/.

YA Guy Interviews... CHRISTINE KOHLER (plus a giveaway)!

If you read YA Guy's review from last week, you'll know I'm totally in love with Christine Kohler's YA debut, NO SURRENDER SOLDIER. For today's follow-up, Christine was nice enough to answer some questions of mine, and also to alert me to a couple giveaways of her book (see the links at the end).

YA Guy: You’ve published widely as a journalist, a picture story book author, poetry and more. What made you decide to publish a novel for Young Adults?

Christine Kohler: I’ve always written in multiple genres and markets. Some professors criticized me for not focusing on just one. Today experts call that “building a platform.” But editors published my work in those different genres and markets, so that encouraged me not to limit myself. I was an editor and copy editor for a Hearst daily for several years when I started writing novels. I think I did so for a couple of reasons. One, there were stories I wanted to tell that could only be told as fiction, and in the longer form. Two, it was a challenge to write and publish novels. I needed to keep challenging myself as a writer.

YAG: No Surrender Soldier is a historical novel, based on the true story of a Japanese soldier, Shoichi Yokoi, who spent nearly three decades hiding in the jungles of Guam. What drew you to this story?

CK: I worked as a political reporter and foreign correspondent for Gannet, covering the West Pacific. I had lived in Japan, Guam and Hawaii for nearly a decade. While living and traveling throughout Pacific-Asia I was able to visit WWII battle sites and study aspects of the war in the Pacific Theatre firsthand. The courage of people on all sides in the face of horrendous atrocities and deprivation moved me deeply. Researching and writing No Surrender Soldier came out of my effort to try to understand why people do what they do under extreme circumstances.

YAG: How much time did it take you to do the research for No Surrender Soldier?

CK: It’s hard to put a time on my research. When I was a journalist in the Pacific I never thought about writing a novel. Studying WWII just came from a reverence for the people who fought and my natural curiosity. (When I was growing up, my dad took me to Civil War battle sites and told me stories about that war. On my blog I also wrote about how my dad read to me war literature as a child. My dad had served in the US Navy during WWII when he was only 16 years old.) I had brought a Guam high school history book back to the U.S. Mainland when I moved back, and years later I picked it up and read it, along with other books about Shoichi Yokoi and WWII on Guam.

YAG: One of the things I loved about No Surrender Soldier was the relationship between the narrator, 15-year-old Kiko, and two men from the World War II era: his grandfather and the stranded Japanese soldier. Tell us something about those relationships. Why were they important to you? Why are they important to Kiko?

CK: When I wrote the first draft of No Surrender Soldier, the relationship between Kiko and his grandfather is as it stands now in the finished book. It never changed. I’m really not sure where Tatan bihu San Nicolas (Kiko’s grandfather) sprang from. But I do know why I understood his personality and dementia. When I was in graduate school, I did media relations for a long term care community that has one of the best Alzheimer’s units in the country. When I wrote my story I was just telling a story. But in hindsight, I guess it was the best choice to give Kiko a close relationship with a man--his tatan--who went through hell trying to protect his family--and failed--during the Japanese occupation of Guam.

All three men are stuck. The grandfather tests Kiko in a rite of passage, with his father’s blessing. However, because of the dementia worsening, there is also a changing of roles, from protector to dependent and from dependent to protector. Isamu Seto, the WWII soldier, is also stuck emotionally, physically, psychologically, and spiritually. That’s all I can say without giving away spoilers. But those who read No Surrender Soldier will be able to see why it is a classic coming-of-age novel and why the Kirkus reviewer wrote, “Both characters form new understandings when they encounter one another.”

      

YAG: Another thing I loved about your book was how seriously and respectfully you treated the beliefs of the Chamorro people of Guam--both indigenous beliefs and Christian beliefs. Can you tell us some more about your approach to faith in this novel?

CK: Ninety-eight percent of Guamanians are Roman Catholic. As you can tell from my story, Old World Catholicism is part of their everyday life, from celebrating village patron saints in processions and fiestas to coming-of-age rites. I can’t imagine anyone writing a book, fiction or nonfiction, about Guam--Chamorros in particular--and not including how Catholicism plays a part in their lives.

I would also like to add that Isamu Seto is a devout Buddhist with Shinto beliefs and practices. Seto’s faith is every bit as vibrant and crucial to his character, culture and survival as Kiko’s Christian faith is in No Surrender Soldier.

YAG: I’m always interested when female authors choose to write from a male POV (and vice versa). What was involved in the creation of the character of Kiko? How did you decide a teenage boy was the right person to tell this story?

CK: From the first draft, Kiko was the main character. I never hesitated or waffled on this. It is Kiko’s story I needed to tell. What was a difficult decision, though, was to finally switch his voice from third to first person. I knew I had to nail the male voice and the Chamorro pidgin English authentically. That was the only scary part.

In my defense of being a woman writing a nearly all male cast, and a strong coming-of-age male book, one, I grew up as my dad’s “boy.” I’m the eldest from my parents’ first marriages, and have four brothers, four to seven years younger than me, from my parents’ second marriages. I lived with my dad, not my mother. So I grew up working on cars, fishing, dredging the lake, helping with fixing plumbing and electrical and fiber-glassing the boat, and building in the workshop. It’s no wonder I didn’t think anything about going into a male-dominated profession like journalism.

Secondly, a lot of male authors write novels with female protagonists and a lot of women authors write novels with male protagonists. What is gender different, though, is that women who write books with male protagonists often hide their gender using initials. Had I known at the beginning of my writing career that I would end up writing middle grade and young adult novels with strong male protagonists and themes, then I possibly would have used my childhood nickname, Chris. But I couldn’t have known. I believe teen guys are smart enough to care more about the story than the gender of the storyteller. After all, it didn’t stop them from reading a certain male protagonist book written by a female author who went by her initials J.K.!

YAG: Thanks, Christine! Readers, if you want to check out NO SURRENDER SOLDIER, you can find it on Amazon here or enter to win a copy on Goodreads here. There's also a giveaway going on at the OneFourKidLit blog, here. Both giveaways last until the end of January.