My most anticipated upcoming books of this fall

I don't know if it's some sort of weird alignment of the stars or planets or publishing companies, but basically the second or third books in all my very favorite series are coming out this fall. Here they are, in order of excitement:

Blue Lilly, Lilly Blue - Maggie Stiefvater

October 21, 2014

 Summary:
There is danger in dreaming. But there is even more danger in waking up.

Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs.
The trick with found things though, is how easily they can be lost.
Friends can betray.
Mothers can disappear.
Visions can mislead.
Certainties can unravel.

Thoughts:
I prefer not to have any thoughts about this book. If I do, I'll realize there are still months until it comes out, and then I'll realize that there's one more book in the series, and who knows how long until it'll be out, and then I'll start considering cryogenically freezing myself, and that never ends well.

Unmade -  Sarah Rees Brennan

September 23, 2014

This is the third in the trilogy, and the summary contains many spoilers. So here's the summary for the first book:
Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met . . . a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn’t silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood, and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn’t suffered too much from not fitting in. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head.

But all that changes when the Lynburns return. The Lynburn family has owned the spectacular and sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in-the-Vale for centuries.The mysterious twin sisters who abandoned their ancestral home a generation ago are back, along with their teenage sons, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami. Kami is not one to shy away from the unknown—in fact, she’s determined to find answers for all the questions Sorry-in-the-Vale is suddenly posing. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him? Does she hate him? Can she trust him? 

Thoughts:
I have done a terrible job of harassing people until they read this book. But I adore this series. There need to be more heroines like Kami. Also, Sarah Rees Brennan writes the most hilarious dialogue in the history of time. Here, have some example quotes:

“Hark,” Jared said, his tone very dry. “What stone through yonder window breaks?”
Kami yelled up at him, “It is the east, and Juliet is a jerk!”
Jared abandoned Shakespeare and demanded, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Throwing a pebble,” said Kami defensively. “Uh… and I’ll pay for the window.”
Jared vanished and Kami was ready to start shouting again, when he reemerged with the pebble clenched in his fist. “This isn’t a pebble! This is a rock.”
“It’s possible that your behaviour has inspired some negative feelings that caused me to pick a slightly overlarge pebble,” Kami admitted.” 

***
“The Lynburns built this town on their blood and bones."
"That was their first mistake," Jared said. "They should've built a city on rock and roll.” 

***
“Put the jerk in the south wing, you won't see him for weeks at a time. Or lock him in the attic. The law will not be on your side, but literary precedent will.” 

Clariel - Garth Nix
October 14, 2014

Summary:

Clariel is the daughter of the one of the most notable families in the Old Kingdom, with blood relations to the Abhorsen and, most importantly, to the King. When her family moves to the city of Belisaere, there are rumors that her mother is next in line for the throne. However, Clariel wants no part of it—a natural hunter, all she ever thinks about is escaping the city’s confining walls and journeying back to the quiet, green world of the Great Forest.
But many forces conspire against Clariel’s dream. A dangerous Free Magic creature is loose in the city, her parents want to marry her off to a killer, and there is a plot brewing against the old and withdrawn King Orrikan. When Clariel is drawn into the efforts to find and capture the creature, she discovers hidden sorcery within herself, yet it is magic that carries great dangers. Can she rise above the temptation of power, escape the unwanted marriage, and save the King?

Thoughts:
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I still can't believe this exists.





This Shattered World - Amie Kauffman and Megan Spooner
December 23, 2014*

Summary:

Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac should never have met.
Lee is captain of the forces sent to Avon to crush the terraformed planet's rebellious colonists, but she has her own reasons for hating the insurgents.
Rebellion is in Flynn's blood. Terraforming corporations make their fortune by recruiting colonists to make the inhospitable planets livable, with the promise of a better life for their children. But they never fulfilled their promise on Avon, and decades later, Flynn is leading the rebellion.
Desperate for any advantage in a bloody and unrelentingly war, Flynn does the only thing that makes sense when he and Lee cross paths: he returns to base with her as prisoner. But as his fellow rebels prepare to execute this tough-talking girl with nerves of steel, Flynn makes another choice that will change him forever. He and Lee escape the rebel base together, caught between two sides of a senseless war.

Thoughts:
I really wish, when I'd first read These Broken Stars, that I'd known the trilogy was three loosely connected books all about different characters. In any case, TBS was one of those books I read at lightning speed, and I hope this one is just as well-plotted.

The Infinite Sea - Rick Yancey

September 16, 2014

Summary:

Surviving the first four waves was nearly impossible. Now Cassie Sullivan finds herself in a new world, a world in which the fundamental trust that binds us together is gone. As the 5th Wave rolls across the landscape, Cassie, Ben, and Ringer are forced to confront the Others’ ultimate goal: the extermination of the human race.
Cassie and her friends haven’t seen the depths to which the Others will sink, nor have the Others seen the heights to which humanity will rise, in the ultimate battle between life and death, hope and despair, love and hate.

Thoughts:
This was the first dystopian in a long time that didn't feel formulaic. Which means I have absolutely no idea where it's going next, and that's a great thing.



Indeed, this will be the autumn of Many Book Purchases. I can't wait.





Oh, and there's just one more thing coming out this fall:

*Shut up, this totally counts as fall. It's off by only three days, anyway.

Making a dead-tree book

I recently had a new baby. Thankfully this one's labor pains were more psychological in nature, less physical. ;) I created the paperback version of my novel, CONVERGENCE. This is a task I've meant to do for a LONG time, so the fact that I did it is worth celebrating, hooray!

But for you, dear reader, I thought I'd go through a few of the details of producing a dead-tree book in case you haven't done it yet. This was my first, although I've created ebook versions of many of my books and stories.

By way of reference, since I use Scrivener for my primary writing tool (you should too - I can do a post about this in the future but I really love composing in Scrivener) I find the ebook creation process takes no more than 2-3 hrs per title, sometimes less. The dead-tree version was a bit more involved, and I had to configure my Create Space account, tasks that are one-off and now that they are completed I won't need to do again. But even with these, I'd estimate it took about 8-10 hours total to produce the paper book, which is not a bad investment.

So what does the process look like from a high level?

1. First you need your wraparound cover. If you're a graphic designer, awesome (and more power to you!) If not, find yourself a good cover designer. I personally use The Cover Counts, helmed by my good friend Renee, but you can find cover designers in many places online. Renee participates in a group called The Cover Art Collective, which is a group of cover designers. You can also find a few links via JA Konrath's blog and others. NOTE: Until you know exactly how many pages your manuscript is once it's formatted for print, your cover designer won't be able to finalize your wraparound because one key variable is the page length (which dictates spine width.) However, since a cover can't be produced overnight, it's best to get the cover in-process before you get too far down the path, hence I list it first. You will need to write whatever blurb or tagline for the front cover that you want, plus the back cover blurb and any about the author or other info you want to offer. Give that all to your cover designer at once, simpler for you and for them.
2. Go to Create Space and create an account. Spend a little time filling out all the background info (including bank info, since presumably you're hoping to get paid for your books somehow!) It'll save you time later in the process. 
3. Decide what kind of "trim size" you want. There are many options. I stuck with 6x9, which is a pretty standard size for paperbacks these days, indie published or not. 
4. Decide what color you want the interior paper. I went with ivory, because I've read that fiction is more commonly done in ivory. Bright white tends to be more common in non-fiction, and I had no desire for my science fiction novel about a girl on a space station to get confused for a non-fiction title! ;) Plus I thought it would look lovely. I am very happy with this choice. 
5. Download one of the templates that matches the size you chose for trim. These are MS Word templates, so I used a final .rtf export of my Scrivener file as my base for my MS Word document. The advantage of using an .rtf of the document is that it had very light formatting, which meant I had to do less tinkering. 
6. Tinker. ;) Formatting is formatting. I followed the guidelines from Create Space as much as possible and used their pre-defined styles as best I could. If you don't know how to use styles, it would be a good idea to read up on this first. It's much easier to manage a complicated book formatting project if you're prepared. 
7. Upload your file to Create Space and use their previewer to see how you did. I found I didn't like the way the pages fell (which one was on the left/right) at the beginning of the book, so first I tinkered until I had them the way I wanted. I ended up creating an interior cover page so that I have a place to sign, when and if I get so famous that people want me to sign their books. I also ended up adding in a graphic to break up the end of the book so that my two "About the Author" pages faced each other. 
8. Figure out your current page count and let your book designer know ASAP. 
9. Get and upload your final wraparound cover. 
10. Preview again. This is one of those "measure twice, cut once" kinds of pieces of advice. Just take another detailed look. Page through. Look at what you have on the header/footer on a dozen or two pages, makes sure the page numbers are working properly, that the left/right pages are set the way you want (from my perspective it was difficult to tweak this without screwing other things up, so try to limit your tweaking to one single additional page, which should push everything one page over.) 
11. Cross your fingers and submit! Create Space will take 24-48 hrs (or whatever their website says at the time you submit, this may change over time) to review your title. Then PREVIEW AGAIN! Just to be sure. 
12. Lastly - order your personal copies! Create Space will recognize you as the author of the book and offer you preferred pricing, which should just be a few dollars per copy. If you've set up distribution using Create Space channels, you may be surprised to find your paperback book available on sites like Amazon and Barnes and Noble almost immediately! And, this cracks me up, you may find your book available even on extra sites like you can find on the "New from xyz$" panel on a product's information page. Makes me feel just that wee bit more famous! FYI, your cut is a little higher when you can direct people to purchase directly from Create Space, so offer that on your personal sites and when you market your book, if at all possible. 

So there you have it, my tale of dead-tree publication. Any questions or corrections? If you've put out your own books in paperback, have you found any tweaks to this process that help streamline things for you? 

Go forth and publish! Thanks for letting me share my book baby with you!

A few awesome links...

I don't know about you, but whenever I sit down at the computer to educate myself on marketing strategies for self-published authors, I end up just watching cat videos. And I don't even particularly LIKE cat videos. (Except this one...I LOVE this one.)

But this is important, people! We could be the best writers since Shakespeare and no one will ever find out if we suck at marketing. So my plan for this week was to carefully research great marketing strategies to share with you. 

But... as previously stated, my attention span for marketing articles is pretty short, but I did make it through this one about indie published books into bookstores. I REALLY want to give this a try. Read it. See what you think.

*** 

Much more interesting to me is this article a friend sent to me about the uproar over adults reading YA books. Its premise is that adults in the 20s and 30s were raised to believe they could conquer the world and then the world kicked them in the teeth. The economy tanked, finding even a crappy job is difficult and they've been kind of forced into this land of perpetual childhood. Of course (says the writer) they identify more with YA themes of finding themselves. 

I'm interested to know if you agree. It doesn't really fit MY life. Why do I read YA when I'm over 40?  I'm definitely not in a state of perpetual childhood. Sabrina says to love what you love and don't feel guilty about it, and she's absolutely right, and I don't feel guilty about it. What I feel is curious. Why do most adult books leave me cold? 

For example, someone said, "Hey adults! If you loved Harry Potter, you should try The Magicians." So I did. And it was awful, and dark, and pretentious, and I stopped midway through when I realized it really wasn't going to get better.  

If you are a lover of YA books, have you read any great books for adults lately? 

Some recent book reviews, because to be a writer, you must love books

Isn't that the truth? That to be a writer, to want to labor over stories and words and sentences and meaning and themes and truth and the hard realities and the wild fantasies…you really have to love reading books, too.

I find as an author myself, reading informs my work in subtle and overt ways. There have been times when I can't read a certain book because the project I'm working on at the moment is too close in theme or content (e.g., last year when I was living with my father's cancer and writing my novelette CANCER GIRL, I knew I couldn't read John Green's THE FAULT IN OUR STARS because it's about a girl with cancer. I both was too raw emotionally to read his telling, plus too concerned that I'd accidentally co-opt his writing style or thematic treatment. Now I'm still being a big baby about picking up the book. It's been six months since we lost my Dad but it still feels too close…)

But other times, like after reading THE LAST UNICORN, which due to some fluke and horrible oversight of my schooling I had never read before…I found all kinds of interesting similes and metaphors slipping into my writing. Things I had never thought to compare before suddenly seemed easy to compare. Peter Beagle makes the most amazing comparisons throughout the book, and I found myself nodding vehemently more than once. That's magic, right there, when an author can inspire me to write better/work harder/put more into my own work.

So with that as a long-winded preamble, I invite you to read a few of my recent book reviews. These are posted on Goodreads as well. (and I welcome the follows! If you're into reading YA and Middle Grade speculative fiction I need you in my corner!)

First up - THE DREAM THIEVES, by Maggie Stiefvater which has been reviewed elsewhere on The Prosers… (we've all been a bit obsessed with this series…)

So difficult to review this book….it is, in short, excellent, amazing,

wonderful, fantastic, and the best of all that is literature. 

I read The Raven Boys last year (about 12-13 months ago) and it was one of my favorite books of the year. I've recommended it right and left. Something about how the book *feels* just…it just feels wonderful to read it. You feel very enmeshed in the lives of these interesting and earnest kids, none of whom are perfect though two of them are perhaps less damaged than others in the cast. 

So the prequel to this book is excellent and well worth a read. But this book just kind of blew my socks off. It's the kind of book I DELAYED finishing…by a longshot (partly because I got sick and was mentally out of it - I didn't want to finish when I wasn't fully "there." It's too good a book for that.) I didn't want to finish because now I have the problem of WHAT DO I READ NEXT??? Wah! :( 

Okay, specifics…for any kid readers or gatekeepers - be aware that there's a number of curse words (mostly uttered by two characters, and it's completely in character for the two) and some alcohol use by minors and some drug use by minors (mostly a side character, but one character uses a sleeping pill type of thing to do the dream-theiving the story title alludes to.) From my perspective this is only for the mature readers, but it's a completely fine book for mature readers because it really opens up into thematic content about personal responsibility, identity, loving yourself, family bonds, friendship bonds and relationships (and how in your teens those sometimes become stronger than family, depending on your family), etc. There are some really wonderful messages about learning to accept yourself with your faults, though you have to get through some mucky stuff with a drug-abusing side character to see that. 

I strongly recommend you read THE RAVEN BOYS in close connection to this book. I read them too far apart, and it's not that I had trouble figuring out what was going on - the author is far too skilled for that, but I felt like I was missing out on cool stuff that I would remember if only I had more recently read RAVEN BOYS. It bummed me out to the point I borrowed Raven boys from the library and may just read it now because I don't want to leave the world Maggie Stiefvater created and these people and their kind of complicated but awesome relationships and connections to one another. 

Just read this book, please. It's set in modern-day Virginia and touches on magic and paranormal but is much much much more than that. 

And the finale to Marie Lu's excellent LEGEND trilogy:

I liked this better than Prodigy, the middle book of the Legend trilogy. This book again

alternates between Day and June point of view chapters. It takes their story broader than we've seen before, with a trip to Antarctica. I would have liked to see even more set in Antarctica, as the environment and cool sci-fi elements of Lu's imagined world were brighter and more interesting than the dark and frustratingly dystopian world the main characters live in most of the rest of the trilogy. I would have also liked to see more depth given to the Colonies' governmental system based on corporations, something I think the author dipped into but didn't explore adequately to pit the styles of governance against each other. 

Instead, this story is fundamentally about a boy trying to do everything to save his brother, and trying to come to terms with his feelings for a girl who has caused his family deep loss in the past. This is where my biggest frustration with the book comes from, as I feel that the June/Day romance could transcend the past that the author uses as a wedge between them. I am perhaps hampered by having read each book in the trilogy quite a distance from the other. It could be reading the three in a row or with less time elapsed between would lead to a different take on the emotional beat here, but I felt the romantic plot difficulties were ones that were recoverable instead of wedge issues as the author portrays them. 

I do have to say after some significant dissatisfaction with other Dystopian trilogy endings, this one at least was satisfying, albeit a bit of a head-scratcher. At some point the two main characters will have to have a reckoning….but so be it. At least the principals survive the storyline, something other YA Dystopia authors don't seem to care to do. (Or have them survive but with so much psychological damage that they're hardly the same people, as was true at the end of Mockingjay.) 

Still, Lu's writing style sparkles throughout, and she keeps the story moving through small but exciting turns of events and various meetings and re-meetings of the main characters. I did enjoy this book and will continue to look out for Lu's writing in other venues, as I believe she is one of the contemporary voices of YA. 

Content warning for those reading this review with an eye toward recommending it for children. The main characters do have sex, although it's done with a reasonable "fade to black" YA sensitivity, but there's no ambiguity about what transpired. It's that scene that makes me recommend this only for mature readers, probably age 12/13 and up, 7th grade and up.  

THE TESTING by Joelle Charbonneau

Isn't this cover excellent?

I really enjoyed this first novel from Joelle Charbonneau. I thought the main character was likable and believable. The setting was interesting, the idea of having to genetically re-engineer plants to survive a blighted landscape is a bit of a twist on the usual dystopia "struggle to survive." 

Like many other reviewers, I found many similarities to The Hunger Games, however, I felt this book compared more positively in virtually all ways. It is a "survival of the fittest" style challenge (The Testing) that young people must go through, but most are excited about the opportunity and looking forward to it, even as the challenges up the stakes and kids die. The main character is a mostly hopeful sort, a glass-half-full, plucky and determined. I contrast her with the main character of HG who is hard to get into the head of, hard to get to know. It's a deeper immersion here in The Testing, I believe, and thus it makes it easier to root for the character fully, without the conflicted feelings I personally experienced when reading HG. 

The love story is a little simpler, which I actually liked. I get tired of authors writing in love triangles just to up the dramatic tension. Sometimes there really aren't competing beaus and confused girls who don't know what's in their heart. Or, the only confusion is "do I like this particular guy or not?" instead of "Do I like Dude A or Dude B better?" 

I also thought the ominous overbearing governmental agency was a little less dramatically bad in The Testing, which makes for some more ambiguous feelings about it on the part of the character, which I found a little more interesting a dynamic. I found myself really puzzling over what the motivations of the government could be, whereas in HG I found myself revolted by the bad-as-possible-then-they-killed-my-dog style of forces of antagonism. Too much. This is more subtle. In general I think The Testing is a more subtle book, plays its hand a little more lightly, but in a good way. 

I really enjoyed this book but from reading reviews it seems to me to be a love it or hate it kind of book. From my perspective it's a fine book for grades 7 & above, and below that if they have some familiarity already with Hunger Games or similar ilk. The Testing does feature a few tiny sips of alcohol, a fair amount of kid death, and later on some kid-on-kid violence that gets a little gory. The main character maintains her own moral code throughout, though, which I think is a little more straightforward than where you get by books 2 and 3 in Hunger Games. 

 EYE OF MINDS by James Dashner:

A new series from James Dashner, who's well known for the Maze Runner

series. I enjoyed this book, it's a virtual-worlds set story, of the cyberpunk ilk and gave me a vague feeling like I was reading a Gibson or Stephenson book, without the extra brain warping those two SF/cyberpunk giants do. It also felt a little like Ready Player One (by Ernest Cline), though much quicker and shorter. 

The pace was very fast. That raises to me the one limitation/downside of this book. It feels as though the characterization was sacrificed in service of a quick moving plot. I found it a little difficult to really connect with the main character, which is what usually carries me through a book. He was a bit too much of an "everyman" and it was difficult to find reasons why THIS story was happening to HIM of all people. 

However, because it's in an interesting setting and moves fast, the book kept me turning pages regardless of my reader engagement with the character (and that's not something every reader cares about, either.) 

The main mature content in this is violence. I found it a little less bloody/gory than the first Maze Runner book, in part because any of the real violence or blood happens in the VirtuNet, which we know from the very beginning is not the real world. There are some creepy bits that might scare some readers. It is certainly no worse than others of its ilk like Hunger Games (and less bad in ways because it's not kid on kid violence.) I think this book would be fine for mature readers grades 5 and up. Particularly great for any boys who are into video games, since that's an underlying theme of the book and the main character is male. 

DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE by Laini Taylor

I enjoyed this book, but have a few caveats/warnings for those unfamiliar with it or considering it.

First, as far as appropriateness for kids - there's some explicit nudity mentioned very early in the book, plus mentions of loss of virginity and sex (with consequences being only shame/embarrassment on the part of the main character because the boyfriend talked, not for any other reasons.) The remainder of the book progresses with very little explicit anything (til near the end when there's some implied sex but not described.) At any rate, all this to say this to me makes this a solidly high school and up book. 

Next, storytelling-wise, this book paints a really interesting world, a very richly detailed one. I was fascinated by the main character and her crossing between multiple worlds - her own and the shop in "elsewhere" where she grew up, and the fascinating characters who raised her. That said, by midway through the book takes a turn and it's almost a different book, telling a different person's tale. Because of this and the overall dreamy storytelling style, it was difficult to get a sense of the structure of the book - the way most books lead you to an increasing pace, speed, need to answer some burning question. The main character is on a quest of sorts, but it's like the author forgot to restate the quest very often, forgot to light the fire under the main character and give us the burning desire to pursue the quest with her. Then takes a left turn and tells us someone else's tale for a while (in flashback-style, since that character's tale happened earlier chronologically than the events of the story), which in my opinion derails the narrative somewhat. 

I still found the book very enjoyable, but be forewarned that it's not a traditional linearly told story. I listened to it on audiobook and enjoyed the voice narrator, who took on several different accents and speaking styles to denote different characters (even though I didn't care for the jamaican-sounding accent she gave Brimstone.) Very good voice talent. 

ALL OUR YESTERDAYS, by Cristin Terrill

Great book examining the kinds of things that would change if you could go back in time and...change yourself and/or those you are/were close to. Hard book to explain as time travel books usually are, but this was a very enjoyable read. It's brutal at times, and there's at least one instance of the f-word and a few other curse words for those reading with children. A few references to sex/sleeping with someone. For these reasons I'd put it up in the higher YA range, teens and up (7th/8th grade at the youngest.) 

But very very interesting and worth a read, I really enjoyed this. Rather than being a big story about all the huge issues a time travel device could create, it's a small story about three friends and their intertwined relationships with each other, their parents, and a few key figures. Definitely one of those books that makes you think. 

MIND GAMES by Kiersten White

This was a read-in-one-sitting book, if at all possible. I read it in two. Fast. The disjointed narrative (it switches between two POVs and a gradually decreasing time interval from the past) makes it a little tricky to keep up with (and something I think many other reviewers had a problem with) but it added to the way the story *feels* which is something of an accomplishment as most writers seem to think the only way they can make a reader feel something is by murdering puppies or parents or shoot...well, that doesn't work so well as my analogy. 

At any rate - the story is riveting. It's a psychological thriller with paranormal components. The main character is hard not to root for, even as she reveals her brokenness over and over (perhaps a bit too much. It is hard at times to bear.) But the lovely thing about this broken main character is that she ends up controlling her destiny. It's difficult to say more without spoilers but I'll just say I have a great appreciation for the arc of the main character and the journey we see her take in what is a short time interval (the flashbacks cover a much longer range of time, but ultimately the main storyline takes place over the course of maybe 2 days.) 

I'd recommend for anyone interested in darker, moodier YA books. Due to the alcohol use and some allusions (but no actual) sex, I'd say this is best for teen readers and up. 

So, I'll be done with what I'm reading soon…any recommendations? :)