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By: Monica Zepeda,
on 1/18/2015
Title: The Prince of Venice Beach Author: Blake Nelson Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers Publication Date: June 3, 2014 ISBN-13: 978-0316230483 240 pp. ARC provided by publisher Robert "Cali" Callahan is a street kid. He ran away from a foster home in Nebraska when he was 14 and headed for sunny California. Now he's 17 and he spends his days surfing, skateboarding, and playing
By: Jen M.,
on 6/17/2014
Cali is enjoying being hired to find people on the streets of Venice Beach, until he meets a young woman who causes him to question the morality of finding people who don't want to be found. This is an exciting mystery, perfect for your summer reading list. Books mentioned in this post The Prince of [...]
By: Beth Kephart ,
on 4/12/2014
By: Beth Kephart ,
on 4/4/2014
In the small town of Ealing, Iowa, Austin and his best friend, Robby, have accidentally unleashed an unstoppable army. An army of horny, hungry, six-foot-tall praying mantises that only want to do two things.There, in those lines, is the confident craziness of the scheme, the rhythm of the tale, the sounds-convincingly-like-a-teen-but-is-written-by-a-guy-who-studied-Political-Science,-Journalism,-and-Literature-at-college-ness. This book is big, jammed with the promised promiscuity, the necessary confusions, and the wild what if's of a world that has turned terrible toxins on itself. One reads to see what will happen next, what can happen next, what these likable, mixed-up, also truly human characters are going to fumble upon next. It's sci fi. It's something else. It's Drew Smith.
This is the truth. This is history.
It's the end of the world. And nobody knows anything about it.
You know what I mean.
About two years ago, I decided to stop writing. Well, to be honest, not the verb writing, but I decided to get out of the business aspect of it, for which I have absolutely no backbone. I never felt so free as when I wrote things that I believed nobody would ever see. Grasshopper Jungle was one of those things. It was more-or-less fortune, then, that I happened to show the first portion of the novel to my friend Michael Bourret. He talked me into not quitting.I'll be joining Drew Smith as well as Nina LaCour, Black Nelson, and Dana Reinhardt on the Tayshas Reading List and Authors next Thursday in San Antonio, TX. I can't wait to meet all the panelists and our moderator. Maybe we'll see you there.
By: Beth Kephart ,
on 3/28/2014
By: Maryann Yin,
on 5/13/2011
Figment, the writing community catering to young-adult readers, has raised $1 million from an unidentified investor. Figment CEO Jacob Lewis told paidContent that expansion plans include publishing its own works and creating a marketplace where authors and publishers can sell their titles.
On its launch day in December 2010, Figment attracted 4,000 users. The site now counts 35,000 users and 75,000 pieces of writing. In the fall, Figment will release author Blake Nelson‘s Dream School. Meet a Figment author at eBookNewser’s Digital Writer Spotlight today.
Here’s more from the article: “Lewis…said most of the money it’s raised will go to develop new sales, distribution and marketing models. At the end of this month, Figment will launch a writing contest judged by novelist Paolo Coelho, whose novel The Alchemist sold 65 million copies worldwide. Coelho will post the winning story on his blog.”
New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.
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By: April Henry,
on 6/4/2009
In an article for the Oregonian, Blake Nelson talks about how the most unlikely inspiration sometimes leads to great books (including Destroy All Cars
Read more here.
By: David Elzey,
on 5/20/2009
by Blake NelsonScholastic 2009There's a lot about this book I really, really like, and a lot of stuff that bugs me.James Hoff is a self-righteous, pessimistic seventeen year old who believes Americans consume too much. Cars, in particular, make him angry, but the entirety of consumer culture sends him ranting. Being a hormonal seventeen year old boy, vain outsider or not, he's still interested
By: April Henry,
on 3/2/2008
If you click here, you can look at Blake Nelson wearing different hats. Plus he has a nice website. And he’s from Puddletown (AKA Portland), although I have never met him.
By: April Henry,
on 12/19/2007
We don’t get no respect. No respect at all. That’s how a lot of genre (mystery, sci-f, romance) writers feel. And YA authors do as well.
Blake Nelson has been taking some flack for a quote in an article in PW about a reissue of his book, Girl. He’s had success as a writer in YA, so this novel, written for adults, is being reissued as a YA. [Full disclosure: and I don’t think is quote is so bad. Most adults – your peers – don’t read YA. So if you publish YA, you don’t really exist for them.]
“Nelson says when he was first trying to find a publisher, some friends actually recommended that he pitch Girl as a YA book. “I was resistant, because YA was so dead at the time, there was nothing interesting going on there,” he says. “Also I felt like I had done something interesting and wanted it to be out in the real literary world. So it was published as an adult book—and, of course, it took off with 12- to 18-year-olds.””
Cick on the link and look at the original cover – that’s supposed to be a photo of Judith Regan on the cover. At her suggestion, after she bought it. When she was far from a girl. Yes, that big, bad Judith. Who knows if it’s true, but she certainly has the ego for it.
By: Trisha, Gayle, and Jolene,
on 11/10/2007
Blake Nelson is an established young adult author with the following titles under his belt: The New Rules of High School, Rock Star Superstar, Gender Blender, Paranoid Park, Prom Anonymous, and They Came From Below. His titles have been featured on several of YALSA’s booklists including Teens Top Ten (Prom Anonymous), and nominated for Best Books for Young Adults 2008 (They Came From Below) and 2005 (Rock Star, Superstar). If you’re a young adult/teen librarian like me trying to find realistic fiction to recommend to a teenage male that’s a fun read, recommend one of Blake Nelson’s books. He’s also written a couple of adult novels: Exile and User. His first novel Girl is being republished with a great new cover. We’re looking forward to the reissue.
Some of you may be familiar with Blake’s blog, if you’re not you should definitely check it out. This interview probably doesn’t do him justice, but you can glean more of what he’s like by reading his blog entries. I first came across his blog when he was blogging about his experience at the Cannes Film Festival. His book Paranoid Park was picked up and adapted into a screenplay by Gus Van Sant and turned into a movie. It had a warm reception at Cannes and has been featured at several film festivals since.
Paranoid Park the movie, what was the process of adapting the novel to a screenplay?
There wasn’t much adapting on my end. I sent the book to Gus because he had almost optioned my book ROCK STAR SUPERSTAR, and I thought he would like it. He did and I think he started working on the screenplay right then, because by the time all he paperwork was done, he pretty much had it.
I saw an early draft and it stuck pretty much exactly to the book so I was pleased, though I am all for Directors doing their own thing. If that’s what they want to do.
Who would you chose to play yourself in the Blake Nelson movie?
Billy Crudup. I feel kind of lost a lot of the time. He looks kind of lost.
What’s the biggest secret that you remember from high school?
That I was a big reader and was into cultural stuff beside music. I was on the football team and played in bands, so I probably appeared not too bookish.
Do you research your characters before you create them? Are you a skater?
I did some research about skating, which is unusual. Usually I just go for it and if good characters appear I keep going. If the characters don’t work, or the story isn’t right, I stop and start over.
Rock Star, Superstar is about a serious musician who suddenly finds himself in an up-and-coming rock band. Were you ever in a band? Who is in heavy rotation on your stereo (or iPod) now?
Yes I was in a band, and it has served me well as a writer. I have written a lot about it. My favorite group of the new bands around now (3 CDs or under, is INTERPOL.)
Did David Lee Roth really drink iced tea from a whiskey bottle?
That’s what I heard, though you hear a lot of things in dressing rooms.
Your male protagonists seem to get the girls relatively easily, any dating advice for high school guys?
My characters are sort of clueless or obsessed in some way about something. So I guess my advice is don’t think about girls that much. Do what you love and the girls will find you.
They Came from Below is your first foray into a science fiction/fantasy book, was writing in a different genre difficult or a nice change of pace?
It was a blast. Really enjoyed getting into some heavy ideas and some “BIG ISSUES.” I loved that feeling of following an interesting idea out as far as it would go.
What inspired you to write They Came from Below? Do you consider yourself an environmentalist? Impressions of Al Gore’s documentary An Inconvenient Truth?
No, I am from Oregon and we think about that stuff more than other people. Also, I think generally, people are flawed and they make mistakes, and do stupid things. But messing up the planet is not the same. We can’t really afford to do that.
As a young adult librarian I go to schools and talk about books to middle and high school age students, if I could convey a message from you to them, what would that be?
Be interesting. Pursue your interests no matter how weird or off the beaten path.
What are your future plans? I read on your blog that you’re moving from New York to Los Angeles. Are you planning a screen writing career?
No, my wife got a cool job here, at a high school called Viewpoint. It’s awesome. Also, I like to surf. And after ten years in NY, I was ready to try something new.
One last note: be sure to check out GIRL, my first novel, which is being re-issued by Simon Pulse for YA readers. I’m very honored that they have done a whole new edition.
Thanks Blake! And thanks to all the readers and posters who made the Winter Blog Blast Tour possible.
By: April Henry,
on 1/22/2007
The Oregon had an article in last Sunday's edition about YA author Blake Nelson. His latest book, Paranoid Park, is being turned into a movie by another local boy, Gus Van Sant. "Nelson's mother taught Van Sant in her American history class at Catlin Gabel, and more than 30 years later Van Sant filmed scenes from Nelson's novel at the Burnside skate park, Madison High School and the train tracks in Linnton."
[Full disclosure: how come my parents didn't know anyone famous? Well, my dad was Ann Curry's boss on her first job, but all that ever came out of that is that I spent a day with her at Portland's KGW many years ago trying to decide if I wanted to be in TV, too. A single day was all it took for me to come to my senses. TV people work hard, and since it's considered a glamour job, for very little money]
Another snippet: "He got laid off, collected unemployment and studied writing with Oregon author Craig Lesley. [Full disclosure number 2: I met Craig before I was ever published. He remembered my name and treated me as if were already a real author. That was worth its weight in gold.] His first novel, "Girl," began as a poem that he read at a cafe, one chapter per week. People asked about the characters, and he would write more. Back in New York, the manuscript for "Girl" was rejected 40 times. Undaunted, Nelson sent it to the editor of Sassy, which he thought was "the coolest magazine in America." The editor ran an excerpt, and teenage girls wrote and asked where they could buy the book. Nelson took it to the only editor who was remotely interested, Judith Regan, who bought the novel and reportedly put a picture of herself on the cover."
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