On August 22nd, from 12-2pm, I’ll be signing at the SMART Author Fair! See below for more details, and click on the image to see the event on Facebook, where you can RSVP to the event. There will be many other authors in attendance, including Rosanne Parry (Heart of a Shepherd, Written in Stone), Heidi Schulz (Hook’s Revenge series), and Victoria Jamieson (Roller Girl)! Hope to see you there!
Filed under Events
I’ve gone ahead and cleaned up my website. JUST A BIT. Just enough.
I’ll do another update soon. What’s happening now, though? Well, for one, I got promoted at work. For two, I finished PAPER MOON, that book I kept talking about finishing. Now I’m in revisions! For three, I don’t have an appropriate link for this, but I’ll be in ALA in June! In San Francisco! I’m there for work, but if you’re there and want to say Hi, I certainly won’t stop you. But I may talk to you about comics.
Filed under Events, My Books, Work In Progress
I’ve added an event (and hints of events) on my EVENTS page! I’ll be doing quite a bit of traveling in the fall. Only to Oregon and Idaho, but still!
In the meantime, I’m hard at work finishing up that YA I’ve mentioned a few times. I’d like to finish it by the end of August, so posts may be smaller and more sporadic.
I also went to San Diego Comic Con this year, which was a lot of fun. Met with a lot of great people, ate a lot of great food, saw a lot of great costumes, and sold a lot of great books. In fact, you should totally pick them up if you’re into comics at all:
I WAS THE CAT by Paul Tobin, illus. Benjamin Dewey – ever wonder if your cat is actually plotting something sinister while it sits there and licks its paws? This book is for you. (It’s even for you if you don’t LIKE cats.)
ARCHER COE & THE THOUSAND NATURAL SHOCKS by Jamie S. Rich, illus. by Dan Christensen – I was telling people at San Diego that this book is like all the best parts of THE PRESTIGE. Great mystery paired with fantastic art, this book tells the story of Archer Coe, The Mind’s Arrow, a hypnotist who may be losing his mind.
THE BUNKER by Joshua Hale Fialkov, illus. by Joe Infurnari – I’m so proud of this book. It looks sharp, the story keeps you guessing, and I love how deliciously flawed every character is. The art takes this book to a whole new level – Infurnari’s subtle lines and color choices tell the story so perfectly. Great for time travel enthusiasts.
LETTER 44 VOLUME 1 by Charles Soule, illus. by Alberto Jiménez Alburquerque, colored by Guy Major and Dan Jackson – imagine if there was actually a conspiracy so large that only the United States President and a handful of people knew about it. Such is the premise in LETTER 44. I read the first issue script over a year ago, and when I finished, I emailed Jill, the book’s original editor, and demanded all the rest of the scripts. This is an intricately-plotted story, drawn with amazing detail.
Of course, these are all adult-ish books, so I wouldn’t read these unless you’re at least thirteen. Okay, time to go write. Happy Friday!
This may become a regular feature. But here are some things I’m excited about this week! (And it’s only Wednesday!)
FIRST, Louis Sachar is writing another book. EXCITEMENT!
SECOND, Larissa Theule, whose work I was lucky enough to read at Vermont College, posted the cover of her new book, FAT & BONES. EXCITEMENT!
THIRD, Marie Lu dropped some info about a LEGEND graphic novel. EXCITEMENT!
FOURTH is, of course, the Kidlit Trivia I’m co-hosting at Green Bean books in Portland this Saturday. (See previous post for pertinent information.)
A few weeks ago, my friend Chris Struyk-Bonn asked if I’d be interested in doing an event with her at one of our local bookstores. When she mentioned that it would be a TRIVIA EVENT I was beyond thrilled.
So, here’s the deal: We (Me, Chris, and our other friend, Mary Elizabeth Summer) wrote up some AMAZING young adult and middle grade trivia questions! And we will be holding a trivia competition THIS SATURDAY!
Some of the questions are hard, some are easier, and some are just weird. (Like my Library of Congress Subject Heading Guessing Game.) But if you consider yourself a children’s book expert, you should come give the trivia course a shot. We did write it with kids in mind, so if you know some avid child readers, bring them along!
Here’s all the info in a HANDY, DANDY FLYER. I’d love to see you there!
And if you can’t make it, watch for my recap next week and get a taste of some of my sweet, sweet Library of Congress questions.
Filed under Events
Last week, Hope Is a Ferris Wheel came out!
Along with doing a reading at A Children’s Place bookstore and some school visits coordinated with Barnes & Noble, I also held my first ever LAUNCH PARTY at Powell’s Books.
I REALLY NEED A HAIRCUT
As you may be able to tell from the above photo, it was a fun-filled event complete with three boxes of donuts and a ton of flowers! And of course I wore my lucky cat socks.
There was a nice crowd, even! Made up of people I knew, but still. They showed up, which was really nice. Seated in front in the above photo are members of my critique group. Also in attendance were members of my family, some friends who had driven up from Eureka, my BFF Tessa and her family, my friend Amy (who helped me make my book trailer) and her family, some of my former students from the school I worked at (which made my heart swell), practically all of my co-workers (along with a couple of our creators!), and some other Portland friends and writers! I wish I’d had more time to print up the flyers I’d made and deposit them around town, but launch month had me pretty beat. Still, enough people came to the event that I think it was considered a success!
One thing I didn’t get to mention at the launch party was that I had specifically gotten donuts from Heavenly Donuts. Which, if you’ve read the book, is a phrase Star and her family use often. It was such a good tie-in! HOW COULD I NOT MENTION IT.
I must have been too excited by the fact that my critique friend, Barbara, brought me an actual working toy Ferris wheel to display! (You can see it in the background of the following photo.)
There are a lot of posts I need to make, about books I’ve read and places I’ve been and things I’ve done, and I hope to post them soon. But for now, here’s this, at least: A record of a great launch party.
Thanks to everyone who made it out!
Filed under Events, Hope Is a Ferris Wheel, My Books
If you look at the navigation bar up top here on the ol’ website, you’ll see a tab for EVENTS. I just added three I’ll be doing in March!
HOOZAH
These are Portland, Oregon-centric, so probably of no use to you if you don’t live there. But if you do, now you can be in the know!
My disembodied head wants you to come to Portland and party!
Filed under Art, Events, Hope Is a Ferris Wheel, My Books
