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Next in our Winter 2013 New Voices series is teen debut novel CRASH AND BURN, by Michael Hassan, a book that quite literally stopped us all in our tracks the first time we heard Michael’s editor, Jordan Brown, formally present it.  Today I’ll let Jordan’s powerful words speak for themselves…

Of all the qualities of a manuscript that get me interested in working with an author, one of the most exciting is when I feel like I’m reading the work of  someone who looks for untold stories in places where we don’t expect to find them.  Of course, the most prominent plot elements of Michael Hassan’s debut novel Crash and Burn—the story of a profoundly troubled senior who takes his school hostage at gunpoint, and the profoundly untroubled student who stops him—are, sadly, not unusual or unobvious ones.  But what is unique and unexpected about Mike’s story is the perspective from which he chooses to tell it.

Steven “Crash” Crashinsky is unlike any of the teen male characters one finds in contemporary teen literature.  He is not the brooding, complicated, brilliant outcast; he’s not the bad boy with a heart of gold; he’s not the irredeemable jerk; he’s not the heartthrob who can distill his interior struggles in a moment but is still paralyzed by indecision.  He is all of these things, and none of them.  He is the kind of male character who is remarkable only for being so typical: a teen whose self-image has been defined by his learning disabilities, whose behavior has been shaped by society’s indulgent “boys will be boys” attitude, who has realized that life’s a lot easier when you just don’t care.  He’s the kind of teen we all know, and yet the kind we don’t often find populating teen books—perhaps because he’s the kind we don’t often find reading teen books.

But he is not unreachable, as Mike’s knockout of a first novel shows us.  This is a book—one of the first I’ve seen—that speaks directly to these young men, telling a story they need to hear.  The element of the book that was paramount to both Mike and me in the editing process was keeping Crash’s voice and experiences as authentic as possible.  And thus we have a story that doesn’t pull any punches, that reads more like a chronicle than a novel, that speaks to these readers in a language they can understand.

Crash and Burn is not a book for everyone.  The truths it draws out and elucidates don’t provide many answers for the desperate struggles today’s teens experience.  But I’m a big believer in the idea that the process always starts with asking the right questions.  And Mike asks these big questions while writing a story that is hilarious and frightening and touching in turn; one about friendship and tragedy, first love and first hate; one that shows us that the untold stories can sometimes be the most important.

Thanks Jordan! And don’t forget to visit us again tomorrow for an interview with the author, Michael Hassan.

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No matter what you have planned for Friday, April 12, get ready to DROP EVERYTHING AND READ! April 12 is Beverly Cleary’s birthday and National D.E.A.R Day, and we’ve got just the thing to help you celebrate: classroom activities for the RAMONA books. They’re aligned to the Common Core State Standards, AND they contain fun suggestions and writing prompts to get your students’ creativity flowing.

Look out for the new Ramona Quimby Journal, jam-packed with writing and drawing prompts, quizzes, puzzles, and stickers galore!

Also, keep an eye out for the newly-updated Ramona books with fantastic new cover art and black-and-white interior illustrations!

Visit www.dropeverythingandread.com for more activities, videos, ideas for your D.E.A.R. Day celebration, and much more.

Happy D.E.A.R. Day to you!

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Next up in our Winter 2013 New Voices series is  the teen debut novel PIVOT POINT, by Kasie West.

Addison Coleman’s life is one big “What if?” As a Searcher, a special type of clairvoyant, whenever Addie is faced with a choice she is able to look into the future and see both outcomes. So when her parents ambush her with the news that they are getting a divorce and she has to pick who she wants to live with, the answer should be easy.

However, as Addie searches her two possible futures, one where she leaves with her father to live off of the paranormal compound and the other where she stays with her mother and the gifted in the life she’s always known, she realizes how hard the choice really is. With love and loss in both lives, it all comes down to which reality she’s willing to live through…and who she can’t live without.

This one was love at first sight (or should we say love at first read) for us: it’s bright, fun, well-plotted, and clearly the beginning of a very promising career for Kasie!  Let’s hear why Kasie’s editor, Sarah Landis, loved it immediately too…

 

 

When the agent pitched Kasie’s novel to me, it immediately reminded me of one of my favorite rainy-day movies, “Sliding Doors”, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up.  I’ve been let down more times than I can count by a great idea that doesn’t come through in execution.  But in this case, not only did it live up to my expectations, it exceeded them!  Addie is such a winning protagonist.  She has attitude, spunk, intelligence, and a sense of humor (girl heroines rarely have a sense of humor!). The whole idea that one decision can potentially alter the course of your life has always intrigued me.  I think we’ve all made a decision and then wondered… What If?  In PIVOT POINT, when Addie is faced with a decision, she has the ability to look down both of those roads and decide which one has the better outcome.  But…as we find out, knowing both paths doesn’t necessarily make choosing any easier.  In fact, sometimes it makes it even harder.

 PIVOT POINT had me on the edge of my seat trying to figure out how it was going to end.  As editors, we see the same recycled plots over and over, and I feel like I’m rarely genuinely surprised.  And I totally was!  When I first read it, the ending was so good but so, so frustrating.  Without giving anything away for anyone who hasn’t read it, I begged and pleaded with Kasie to change the ending (that is how strongly I felt about these characters fates).  The way she revised the ending is so completely perfect now.  That brings me to what a dream it is to work with an author who you know is going to be around for a long time.

 

Thanks Sarah!  And don’t forget to check back tomorrow to hear from Kasie herself.

 

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Google has created an interactive Google Doodle celebrating Douglas Adams‘ 61st birthday. The UK author is best known for his comedic science-fiction series, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Check out this YouTube video which shows how internet users can interact with this animated doodle. Random House posted a screenshot of the art piece on Facebook and drew 266 “likes.”

Here’s more from ABC News: “Google’s doodle includes references to Adams’ work: a towel, which according to Adams’ book, is an essential item for space travel, a cup of tea, a staple of his oeuvre, and when users click the door in the doodle, Marvin, the beloved ‘paranoid android,’ from ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide‘ appears.”

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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Former chief evangelist of Apple Guy Kawasaki has joined Writer.ly.com a Seattle startup and online marketplace for writers. He will serve as a new board advisor to the firm, which lets writers create profiles and search for biddable job requests for projects writing, copy editing, book designing, book marketing and so forth.

To celebrate, Writer.ly is offering Kawasaki’s latest book, APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur – How to Publish Your Book as a free download to all new users who sign up by today.

Kawasaki will be one of the speakers at Mediabistro’s new online course to help independent authors publish on a budget, a class taught by indie publishing pros and writers who have topped our Self-Published Bestsellers List.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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Vintage Books is releasing a new writer’s guide from E L James‘ in which she reveals the inspiration behind her provocative erotica series as well as tips for aspiring writers. In The Fifty Shades of Grey: Inner Goddess (A Journal), Grey will include share excerpts from her novels alongside writing tips for aspiring writers, and even the playlists that she listens to while writing.

The book, which will include 125,000 copies in the first printing, will be available in May. The pressing boasts a foil-embossed leather cover and a red-ribbon bookmark.

“As E L James traveled and met with her readers, there was a great curiosity about how she got started writing,” explained Vintage/Anchor’s Anne Messitte, the acquiring publisher of the Fifty Shades series, in a statement. “Her personal story as a writer is inspirational to many women, and journaling has been an important part of her creative process from the start.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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Today I have the privilege of introducing you to Jeff Baron, author of I REPRESENT SEAN ROSEN, the charming and hilarious middle grade novel about an ambitious kid with an admirably clever but potentially disastrous plan to make it in Hollywood.  Jeff’s own work for the theater has been has been published and performed all over the world, but Sean Rosen’s story is his very first novel. Want to know more about Jeff?  So did we! Read on…

Which was your favorite book from childhood, and what are you reading right now?

I loved the Hardy Boys books. I read them all and then I read my cousins’ Nancy Drew books.  I liked starting a book already knowing the characters and then getting to know them better and better. With every book I love, I don’t want it to end.  With a series, it doesn’t end for a long time.

I know I’m late to the party, but I’m finally reading the Harry Potter books.  My friend Melinda, who’s 12, told me I should read them in order, and then when I finish each book, I should watch the movie, so that’s what I’m doing.  The only problem is Melinda always asks me what part I’m up to, then she wants to tell me what happens two books from now.  She should wear a sign around her neck that says SPOILER ALERT.

What is your secret talent?

I love to write music, even though I don’t know how to play any musical instruments.  I’ve always written words to songs, even songs that got published and recorded, but I always worked with composers.  My secret desire was always to write the music myself.  Sean Rosen has the same desire, but he’s braver than I am.  He also never studied music, but he puts the songs he writes on his website (www.SeanRosen.com) for the whole world to hear.

Fill in the blank: _______ always makes me laugh.

Dogs always make me laugh.  They’re always their goofy selves, and never try to act any cooler or smarter than they are.  I wish humans were more like that.

My current obsessions are…

Figuring out how things work, especially computer programs, electricity and plumbing.  I rely on those things all the time, and I love being able to fix things myself.

Any gem of advice for aspiring writers?

Read everything you write out loud, whether it’s a short story, a history paper or an e-mail.  It’s the closest you can get to being inside your reader’s head when they read what you’ve written.  I always do it, and I always catch something that didn’t quite make sense, and I always make changes that make it sound better.

Finish this sentence: I hope a person who reads my book…

I hope a person who reads my book will see from Sean Rosen’s experience that it’s good to dream big and go after what you want.  There are always bumps along the way, sometimes big painful bumps, but getting past them makes you stronger and more likely to succeed.

Tell us more about how I REPRESENT SEAN ROSEN was born.

I was sitting on the beach, and I had an idea.  What if a kid with a big entertainment idea and no connections whatsoever, tried to sell his idea to Hollywood.  How would he break through?  Having done that myself (though not as a kid), I know what a closed world Hollywood can be.  I thought this story might make an interesting movie.

The next day I was back at the beach, and now I thought, “Could this be a book?”  I had never written a novel, and it was a little bit scary to even think about.  But as a writer (I was already a screenwriter and a playwright), you learn that the things that scare you usually make the best stories.  So I spent a little time thinking about who this kid was, and then I just started writing.

Sean Rosen begins the book by saying, “I have an incredible idea.” At that point, I didn’t know what Sean’s idea was, but just writing those words on paper (I write by hand) got me started, and Sean just took over.  I heard his voice in my head, and fortunately, he never stopped talking.  I just wrote it down.

I loved spending time with Sean and his family and friends, and when I finished and showed it to my cousins who are Sean’s age, they felt that way, too.  Then I read chapters of the book to seventh grade classes, and when they liked it, that gave me the courage to try to get it published.

 

Thanks Jeff!  And if you missed yesterday’s post, be sure to check out Jeff’s editor’s take on the delightful, wholly original I REPRESENT SEAN ROSEN.

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Kicking off our Winter 2013 New Voices series is the middle grade debut novel I REPRESENT SEAN ROSEN, by Jeff Baron.

Sean Rosen has a really good idea. So good, in fact, that he’s not going to tell you exactly what it is. What he is going to do is pitch it to a major entertainment company. But first he’s going to take his grandmother’s advice and go on a “trial run.” That trial run has some surprising results in this hilarious story about a middle school kid who, with the help of his manager Dan Welch (not his real name), sells a movie idea to a major Hollywood studio.

This a totally funny, fast-paced, and original novel that we think will appeal to fans of Jack Gantos and Carl Hiaasen. But enough from me– I’ll let Jeff’s editor Virginia Duncan, VP and Publisher of Greenwillow Books, tell you a little more…

 

“Sean Rosen is my hero!”—Lincoln Peirce

“I Represent Sean Rosen is the best book I’ve read in a while. Equal parts Hollywood satire, Louis Sachar‒style deadpan fable, and old-fashioned tale of American gumption, it introduces us to a character who is surprising . . . and quietly heroic. . . . I happily represent Sean Rosen.”—Ned Vizzini

The manuscript began: “I have an incredible idea. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you what it is.” Well, that was enough for me. I was hooked. And when Sean Rosen named his fictitious manager Dan Welch after rummaging around his kitchen for a snack (yogurt? grape juice?), I was sold. Sean Rosen’s “fries-texting” (spelling out a dinner table message using french fries) his mom? Icing on the cake.

I REPRESENT SEAN ROSEN is a bit different, and it is perhaps not your usual middle-grade fare. But it is an adventure nevertheless. I was on the edge of my seat the whole way through. What was this kid going to do next? What was going to happen next?  How was Sean going to convince a major Hollywood studio to buy his movie? Does Sean even have a movie to sell? Would Sean take the deal? How was Sean going to survive middle school? How would Sean dodge Collectibles Dan Welch (a real guy who, unfortunately, shares Sean’s imaginary manager’s exact name). And what was up with his friend Brianna?

Jeff Baron is a great new voice, and he’s thought a lot about voice. It is the voice of this novel that made it irresistible to me. I love the piece Jeff posted on the Greenwillow blog recently about voice. You can read it here.

One of Sean Rosen’s claims to fame in the book is that he produces podcasts—it’s his hobby. What fun that you can actually hear Sean’s voice and listen to his podcasts at www.seanrosen.com. You will want a donut! (And I hope you’ll want to read I REPRESENT SEAN ROSEN.)

-Virginia Duncan

 

Thanks Virginia! And stay tuned for tomorrow, when we’ll hear from Jeff himself.

 

 

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Becoming a published author is usually a tough, demanding mission. But for Denene Millner, it was “a total fluke.” The journalist landed a book deal after writing an article for the New York Daily News, and since then has written 20 more, including Steve Harvey‘s New York Times-bestseller Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man. 

In the latest installment of Mediabistro’s So What Do You Do? series, the author/journalist/blogger tells what cooperative writing is really like. 

“It’s really crucial that the person who’s writing the book trusts me,” she explained. “It’s extremely difficult to walk into a project with someone who doesn’t trust that you can deliver. There’s nothing worse than working with someone who doesn’t trust you to do your job. And that’s whatever you’re doing. You could be bagging groceries at Kroger. If someone doesn’t trust you not to put the eggs underneath the milk, they’re going to give you a hard time for it.”

For more, read So What Do You Do, Denene Millner, Ghostwriter of Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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Scribner has shared the hardcover art for Stephen King‘s upcoming sequel to The Shining. We’ve embedded the online poster with the cover above–what do you think?

In a long interview with Entertainment Weekly, King talked about his writing career, his children and the idea behind the sequel. Here’s an excerpt from the interview:

Driving back and forth from Maine to Florida, which I do twice a year, I’m always seeing all these recreational vehicles — the bounders in the Winnebagos. I always think to myself, ‘Who is in those things?’ You pass them a thousand times at rest stops. They’re always the ones wearing the shirts that say ‘God Does Not Deduct From a Lifespan Time Spent Fishing.’ They’re always lined up at the McDonald’s, slowing the whole line down. And I always thought to myself, ‘There’s something really sinister about those people because they’re so unobtrusive, yet so pervasive.’ I just wanted to use that. It would be the perfect way to travel around America and be unobtrusive if you were really some sort of awful creature.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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It’s a pretty big accomplishment for a first-time author to land on the New York Times bestsellers list, but Isabel Wilkerson definitely deserves it. The Pulitzer-prize winning journalist spent 15 years researching and conducted over 1,200 interviews for The Warmth of Other Suns, an account of the men and women who lived through the Great Migration, when 6 million African-Americans moved to the North.

One of the biggest challenges the author says she faced was time. ” I tried to find the oldest members of this migration and capture a range of experiences,” she explained in the latest Mediabistro feature.

“One of the men I chose, the one from Florida, was keenly aware that he was speaking to unborn generations of people. He took it very seriously. At one point he said, ‘If you don’t hurry up and finish this book, I’m gonna be proofreading from heaven.’ And he was right. He didn’t live to see the book.”

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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An Overview:

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In Chris Crutcher’s upcoming novel, PERIOD 8, a group of students comes together every day during Period 8 to talk about (in the author’s own words) “the important things: hopes, dreams, fears, and the comedy and tragedy of their lives.” Teacher Bruce Logsdon, who runs Period 8, has only one rule—you have to tell the truth. No question is off-limits, no topic is forbidden, as long as the discussion remains honest.

If you’ve read his books or seen him speak, you know that frank treatment of tough subjects is a Chris Crutcher hallmark. Perhaps you are thinking, “Hmmm. I wonder how much of this Bruce Logsdon character is autobiographical.” We can’t exactly answer that for you, but we can offer you this exciting invitation . . .

In the spirit of Period 8, Chris Crutcher is taking real-life questions from teens, and he will answer them in a video to be posted on our teen community website Epic Reads.

Do your teens have burning questions they’d like to ask him? (Who doesn’t, right?) Encourage them to submit their questions on Epic Reads, and check back at the end of March for some video answers from this very wise man.

 

 

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The late David Foster Wallace was born on February 21, 1962, so today is a good day to remember that you can get some free writing advice from the great novelist while working on your computer.

Every Mac computer contains a copy of the Oxford American Writer’s Thesaurus, a powerful tool for writers that features extra “word notes” from Wallace and a number of other authors, including Rae Armantrout, Joshua Ferris, Francine Prose, Zadie Smith and Simon Winchester.

Author Dave Madden explained how to access the extra material in a post: “It’s part of the built-in dictionary. Type in a word, click on ‘Thesaurus’ in the little bar above, and you’ll get the word-for-word entry from this book I paid money for … Here, as a public service, is the list of words with notes by DFW: as, all of, beg, bland, critique, dialogue, dysphesia, effete, feckless, fervent, focus, hairy, if, impossibly, individual, loan, mucous, myriad, noma (at canker), privilege, pulchritude (at beauty), that, toward, unique, utilize.”

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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As Black History Month draws to a close, we’d like to celebrate the life and work of one of our most groundbreaking author/illustrators, John Steptoe.

“I am not an exception to the rule among my race of people, I am the rule. By that I mean there are a great many others like me where I come from.”

-John Steptoe

Born in Brooklyn in 1950, John’s career was filled with highlights of the highest honors: 2 Caldecott Honors, 2 Coretta Scott King Awards for Illustration, among many, many more– but above all he is remembered for his abiding passion for instilling children, especially African-American children, with pride in their identity and ancestry in a time when multicultural books were few and far between.

His first picture book, STEVIE, about an African-American child who resents and then accepts a younger foster brother, was published in 1969 when John was just 18 years old, and remains in print today.

 STEVIE, by John Steptoe, ISBN: 9780064431224

John’s best-known book, MUFARO’S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS, was published to huge critical acclaim in 1988.  This modern fable about pride going before the fall has been a classic for more than twenty years, the illustrations are absolutely stunning, and the research involved awakened John’s pride in his African ancestry.

MUFARO’S BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS: AN AFRICAN TALE, by John Steptoe, ISBN: 9780688040451

If you follow the annual ALA Youth Media Awards, you’ll recognize John’s name from his namesake award: the John Steptoe New Talent Award, which the Coretta Scott King Task force awards annually to a new African-American writer or illustrator whose works “demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values.”  Quite a fitting way to honor a man whose work was a shining light blazing a trail forward.

We hope your Black History Month celebrations were fruitful this month and inspire you all year long!

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Romancing the Writing/Sabbatical Update #3 :: Sara Zarr

7 Things I’ve Learned So Far - Augusta Scattergood :: Guide to Literary Agents

Why “oh well” should become an author’s favorite words :: Lisa Schroeder
Written in January 2011. Still one of my favorites.

Golden Advice: The Wisdom of Solomon :: Molly Blaisdell

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Beyond the Book Author Trivia Quiz Answers!

Last week we posted a super-exclusive Author Trivia Quiz with . . .

• R.L. Stine (Goosebumps, HorrorLand)
• Nancy Krulik (How I Survived Middle School, Katie Kazoo)
• Gordon Korman (The 39 Clues, Swindle)
• Anthony Horowitz (The Gatekeepers, Alex Rider)

From their biggest phobias to favorite books – we got the scoop. How many did you guess correctly? Answers are below!

1. This author would go to a costume party dressed as The Invisible Man. (Spooky!)  
   ANSWER: R.L. Stine 
2. This author has a phobia of mice. (Hint: one of the books this author wrote is titled Be Nice to Mice.)  
   ANSWER: Nancy Krulik  
3. If this author could meet anyone dead or alive, it would be Harry Houdini.  
   ANSWER: Anthony Horowitz 
4. This author likes to end a meal with cookie dough ice cream.  
   ANSWER: Gordon Korman 
5. This author loves fairy tales and loves the movie Enchanted (rated PG).
   ANSWER: Nancy Krulik 
6. This author’s favorite books include: Holes, I am the Cheese, and Cirque du Freak.  
   ANSWER: Anthony Horowitz 
7. This author has a phobia of the number 13!
   ANSWER: Gordon Korman 
8. This author's favorite books are silly poetry books by Shel Silverstein. (A Light in the Attic, Where the Sidewalk Ends)
   ANSWER: R.L. Stine  

BONUS! Check out the personal mottos of each author:

“Never give up. Just take it slow, slow until you get there. (My grandmother used to tell me that all the time and she was a very wise woman.)” Nancy Krulik

“Work hard. Play harder.” Anthony Horowitz

“Every passing hour brings the solar system forty-three thousand miles closer to Nebular Cluster M13 in Hercules – and still there are some misfits who insist that there is no such thing as progress.” Gordon Korman

“Have a very scary day.” R.L. Stine

Inspiring, huh? Let us know what you think, and your personal mottos or quotes YOU might have in the Comments below!

—Ratha, STACKS Writer

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By Kate Harrison Guest Blogger Writing is a dream job – that’s official. According to this survey, being a writer is the number three dream job, after Pilot and Charity Worker. Yet we’ve also been told that there’s a strong link between being an author and mental health problems. So writing is a dream job and a potential nightmare rolled into one. So how can you make sure being an author is

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Barbara Binns, the award winning author of Pull , (Westside, 2010) has a new book coming out this month. It is one of only four young adult books written by an author of color that is released this month. (Yes, only four because Leitich-Smith’s and Bruchac’s books are both re-releases.) Here’s a chance to get to know Barbara before you go order her new book!

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Hi Barbara! Let’s start with a few short questions. Where did you grow up?
I grew up on the south side of Chicago and still live in the Chicago suburbs. Even though I have traveled and resided as far away as Washington D. C., I’ve always ended up returning home.

 

Then winter arrives, and I wonder what in the world is wrong with me, when I could be in Florida or southern California.

 

Do you have any pets?
I acquired a dog over Christmas. I say acquired because she was neither a gift nor a purchase. She had been taken from a shelter by my adult niece as a present for her daughter who decided she didn’t really want a dog. After that she was shuffled to several relatives who all decided a dog was more trouble than they had bargained. I met her as they were deciding to return her to the shelter. To prevent, in my foolishness I agreed to take her for a one-week trial basis. She’s still with me. Honestly, she is well behaved, housebroken, doesn’t chew. She does bark a little too much, and pulls on the leash when we walk (she is strooong!) but, I’ve begun buying doggie toys and treats. We are attached and she has to stay.

 

 What do you enjoy watching on television?
I am into the dramas. I loved the first episodes of The Following and I’m already addicted. I think I’m attracted to the show’s villain because there’s something in me that is fascinated by the idea of a super-psychopath against a wounded hero. 

 

My real guilty pleasure is the restaurant reality show, Kitchen Nightmares. It’s the only reality show I feel required to watch. I think it must be Chef Ramsey and the way he totally tells it like it is. As a side-effect, every time I eat out I worry about what is happening in the back of the restaurant.

 

Meat or vegetables?
Come on, meat. I need my protein.

 

Are there any books that stand out in your memory from your childhood?

I was a voracious reader, and I moved to the adult shelves at a pretty young age, so most of my favorites are adult books. I was seriously in love with books by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert Heinlein while still in elementary school.

 

 What book(s) are you in the middle of reading right now?
I just finished Holly Black’s curse worker trilogy: White Cat, Red Glove, and Black Heart. Its YA, paranormal, noir—a hero who can curse you with a touch having to decide between working for a mob family, the normal life of a curse worker, and the government which in his world isn’t really much better than the mob.

 

I’ve just started Strong Deaf by Lynn McElfresh, a story about two sisters, one deaf and one hearing, told in both voices.

 

 What is Being God about?

 

I have come to realize that almost everything I write is about family relationships. Theme-wise, Being God is about the effects of multi-generational substance abuse. The protagonist is Malik Kaplan who readiers will recognize as Pull’s villain. Pull showed him as a bully, with no respect for other people, including his parents and his girlfriend. Being God shows how he got that way.

 

 

 

Malik Kaplan is a former victim of bullies who now “gives back” by pushing others around. The Kaplan men have always been the top dogs at Farrington High School, and Malik is determined to make himself the worst of the worst. He also drinks, encouraged by his grandfather and uncle. Malik’s mother became the ultimate stay at home mother after an accident left her disfigured and unwilling to face the world. His father is an ACOA (adult child of alcoholics), who doesn’t understand boundary issues or how to be an effective parent, so he retreats into his work. Secretly, Malik and his father want to be close, but neither of them knows how.

 

 As Malik’s senior year winds down he is faced with the price of holding down the family legacy. He goes from the basketball court to a legal court after shouldering the blame for someone else’s crime. (He really didn’t think there would be much of a consequence.) Suddenly he loses his car and his place on the basketball team, and is faced with court-ordered community service shepherding an angry ten-year-old who hates the world. Next comes an “offer he can’t refuse” from the boy’s gang leader brother and an opponent he doesn’t want to fight. Barney, the fourteen-year-old girl from Pull is also in this story. She watched her alcoholic father abuse and murder her mother and now, she wants nothing to do with any bad boy, especially not one who thinks drinking is the way to forget his sins. 

 

Malik, Barney, and Malik’s father all have to come to terms with the meaning of friendship and of family as Malik spirals closer and closer to a bottom that could cost someone their life.

How did you come up with the title?

 

Some people have speculated that it’s because Malik is half Catholic and half Jewish (Hebrew Israelite). The original title was Badass, after the kind of person he thinks he wants to be. For a few months, that morphed into BAMF(I think I thought adults wouldn’t get the meaning). Then at some point I realized that part of my young alcoholic’s problem was a need to face his own reality, that he isn’t god, but he’s not the devil either. Both he and his father needed to accept the twelve steps of alcoholics anonymous (and of al-anon). Especially the first three steps:

 

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become

 

unmanageable.

 

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to

 

sanity.

 

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we

 

understood Him.

 

The Being God title came to me when I realized the story’s epiphany involved both Malik and his father realizing that their attempts to keep control over their lives—to be God, so to speak—were accelerating their problems and destroying their hopes of a family relationship. As I tell people, Malik has to learn that he’s not God, and not the devil either and, the title stuck.

Pull did so well for you, yet you’ve gone the route of self publishing. What happened?

 

After my first publisher, Westside books, went out of business, my agent was unable to find a home for the next book. I could not even find someone willing to take a chance on re-issuing Pull, a book that won numerous awards and sold out its first printing. At one point an editor even suggested I change what I write about and make my stories more “commercial,” then they might be more interested. I tried, but changing my style did not seem right.  I write to attract reluctant and at-risk readers. Most big publishers want stories designed to attract the widest possible audience. I decided to found my own company, allthecolorsoflove press, and became a tiny, boutique, independent publisher.

 

I won’t sacrifice quality any more than I would sacrifice story-line and concept.  I hire editors for my projects, and I have worked with three so far. Eventually I may pick one to have a permanent relationship. I need an editor to call me out when necessary, because self-editing takes me only so far.

 

It’s not an ideal situation. I have limited distribution and exposure. But I did manage to sign with Follett Library Services and books and eBooks are available from both Amazon and my publishing website, allthecolorsoflove.com.

 

At least this way my books will get out of my head and into print. Even if they only influence one reluctant reader, I feel I have done my job. But I know I have done more than that. I have donated copies of Pull to a number of schools and libraries. I have just sent copies to a juvenile detention facility and to a local therapeutic day school, because I want to make sure that kids who can really use a good book have access to mine. During February I will be donating copies to a number of Chicago Public Schools. Reluctant readers do not make publishers rich, but they do give me great satisfaction.

Can you give examples of some of the more commercial changes you were asked to make?

 

There were two areas. First, one group wanted the book from the female POV. They felt that would sell better. Another group asked me to remove references to race, especially from the main characters. Their reasoning was that that way anyone could see themselves in more generic characters.  I listened and understood their reasoning. If this is all a numbers game, those are paths that would probably lead to bigger numbers. But my gut said no.

 

Now, interestingly enough, and it purely my own decision that it is best for this particular story, my current WIP is being told from an alternating male and female point of view.  But my goal is still to reach out to more than just the eager reader, to appeal to kids – especially boys - who normally see no reason to pick up a book for enjoyment. If that makes me less commercial, I have learned to live with that.

 

 

Pull was your first book?! What was it that made you sit down and write this story?

 

Pull was my first published book, but not my first manuscript.  I wrote two others before Pull, both adult books, both meant to be romances. One of those books featured a grown-up Barney and her overbearing and over-protective older brother, David. A number of my reading partners were curious about what made him the kind of man he was. At the same time, I attended the 2009 AWP conference in Chicago, and sat in on a panel of teens discussing why a lot of teen boys avoid reading.  My brain grabbed the opportunity thinking I could write about the forces that shaped David. By letting him tell his own story in his own voice, he helped attract other young men to read about him.

It seems like now that you’ve started writing, you’ve found a passion. What is it about writing that makes it so necessary for you?

 

I think it’s the same thing that made it necessary for me to devour every book in sight during my childhood and early adult years.  Reading helped me develop empathy and learn to really care about others, and to understand people different from me. Even more, it took me to places I could not get to by myself, showed me that more was possible, and made me want to strive to achieve it.

 

Retirement gave me the time and energy to actually create as well as consume.  It rurns out I had a load of stories and characters inside me, sometimes they barely let me sleep with their desire to live out their lives. It was either let them rattle around inside my head, or put them on paper.

 

It really is a passion. I actually tried putting things away, to give myself a break from writing. One month off, I told myself. Everyone deserves a vacation. That “break” lasted two weeks. Two incredibly long weeks during which I nearly bit my fingers off to keep them from writing. I think now I need to write, whether or not anyone ever reads what I create.  But I am determined to let people read it. That’s where the passion comes from, I want to reach kids, let them see themselves in the pages of a book.

Is there a particularly genre that you haven’t written yet, that is somewhat of a stretch for you, but that you might like to try in the near future?

 

I admit a yen to try a paranormal. I have been researching African mythologies, and would love to make a break from contemporary realistic to do a non-traditional paranormal story involving that pantheon.

Thanks, Barbara! It was a pleasure! I wish you much success with you new book!

Where did you grow up?
I grew up on the south side of Chicago and still live in the Chicago suburbs. Even though I have traveled and resided as far away as Washington D. C., I’ve always ended up returning home.

Then winter arrives, and I wonder what in the world is wrong with me, when I could be in Florida or southern California.

Do you have any pets?
I acquired a dog over Christmas. I say acquired because she was neither a gift nor a purchase. She had been taken from a shelter by my adult niece as a present for her daughter who decided she didn’t really want a dog. After that she was shuffled to several relatives who all decided a dog was more trouble than they had bargained. I met her as they were deciding to return her to the shelter. To prevent, in my foolishness I agreed to take her for a one-week trial basis. She’s still with me. Honestly, she is well behaved, housebroken, doesn’t chew. She does bark a little too much, and pulls on the leash when we walk (she is strooong!) but, I’ve begun buying doggie toys and treats. We are attached and she has to stay.

 What do you enjoy watching on television?
I am into the dramas. I loved the first episodes of The Following and I’m already addicted. I think I’m attracted to the show’s villain because there’s something in me that is fascinated by the idea of a super-psychopath against a wounded hero. 

My real guilty pleasure is the restaurant reality show, Kitchen Nightmares. It’s the only reality show I feel required to watch. I think it must be Chef Ramsey and the way he totally tells it like it is. As a side-effect, every time I eat out I worry about what is happening in the back of the restaurant.

Meat or vegetables?
Come on, meat. I need my protein.
Are there any books that stand out in your memory from your childhood?

I was a voracious reader, and I moved to the adult shelves at a pretty young age, so most of my favorites are adult books. I was seriously in love with books by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Robert Heinlein while still in elementary school.

What book(s) are you in the middle of reading right now?
I just finished Holly Black’s curse worker trilogy: White Cat, Red Glove, and Black Heart. Its YA, paranormal, noir—a hero who can curse you with a touch having to decide between working for a mob family, the normal life of a curse worker, and the government which in his world isn’t really much better than the mob.

I’ve just started Strong Deaf by Lynn McElfresh, a story about two sisters, one deaf and one hearing, told in both voices.

What is Being God about?

I have come to realize that almost everything I write is about family relationships. Theme-wise, Being God is about the effects of multi-generational substance abuse. The protagonist is Malik Kaplan who readiers will recognize as Pull’s villain. Pull showed him as a bully, with no respect for other people, including his parents and his girlfriend. Being God shows how he got that way.

 

Malik Kaplan is a former victim of bullies who now “gives back” by pushing others around. The Kaplan men have always been the top dogs at Farrington High School, and Malik is determined to make himself the worst of the worst. He also drinks, encouraged by his grandfather and uncle. Malik’s mother became the ultimate stay at home mother after an accident left her disfigured and unwilling to face the world. His father is an ACOA (adult child of alcoholics), who doesn’t understand boundary issues or how to be an effective parent, so he retreats into his work. Secretly, Malik and his father want to be close, but neither of them knows how.

 

As Malik’s senior year winds down he is faced with the price of holding down the family legacy. He goes from the basketball court to a legal court after shouldering the blame for someone else’s crime. (He really didn’t think there would be much of a consequence.) Suddenly he loses his car and his place on the basketball team, and is faced with court-ordered community service shepherding an angry ten-year-old who hates the world. Next comes an “offer he can’t refuse” from the boy’s gang leader brother and an opponent he doesn’t want to fight. Barney, the fourteen-year-old girl from Pull is also in this story. She watched her alcoholic father abuse and murder her mother and now, she wants nothing to do with any bad boy, especially not one who thinks drinking is the way to forget his sins. 

Malik, Barney, and Malik’s father all have to come to terms with the meaning of friendship and of family as Malik spirals closer and closer to a bottom that could cost someone their life.

How did you come up with the title?

Some people have speculated that it’s because Malik is half Catholic and half Jewish (Hebrew Israelite). The original title was Badass, after the kind of person he thinks he wants to be. For a few months, that morphed into BAMF(I think I thought adults wouldn’t get the meaning). Then at some point I realized that part of my young alcoholic’s problem was a need to face his own reality, that he isn’t god, but he’s not the devil either. Both he and his father needed to accept the twelve steps of alcoholics anonymous (and of al-anon). Especially the first three steps:

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become

unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to

sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we

understood Him.

The Being God title came to me when I realized the story’s epiphany involved both Malik and his father realizing that their attempts to keep control over their lives—to be God, so to speak—were accelerating their problems and destroying their hopes of a family relationship. As I tell people, Malik has to learn that he’s not God, and not the devil either and, the title stuck.

Pull did so well for you, yet you’ve gone the route of self publishing. What happened?

After my first publisher, Westside books, went out of business, my agent was unable to find a home for the next book. I could not even find someone willing to take a chance on re-issuing Pull, a book that won numerous awards and sold out its first printing. At one point an editor even suggested I change what I write about and make my stories more “commercial,” then they might be more interested. I tried, but changing my style did not seem right.  I write to attract reluctant and at-risk readers. Most big publishers want stories designed to attract the widest possible audience. I decided to found my own company, allthecolorsoflove press, and became a tiny, boutique, independent publisher.

I won’t sacrifice quality any more than I would sacrifice story-line and concept.  I hire editors for my projects, and I have worked with three so far. Eventually I may pick one to have a permanent relationship. I need an editor to call me out when necessary, because self-editing takes me only so far.

It’s not an ideal situation. I have limited distribution and exposure. But I did manage to sign with Follett Library Services and books and eBooks are available from both Amazon and my publishing website, allthecolorsoflove.com.

At least this way my books will get out of my head and into print. Even if they only influence one reluctant reader, I feel I have done my job. But I know I have done more than that. I have donated copies of Pull to a number of schools and libraries. I have just sent copies to a juvenile detention facility and to a local therapeutic day school, because I want to make sure that kids who can really use a good book have access to mine. During February I will be donating copies to a number of Chicago Public Schools. Reluctant readers do not make publishers rich, but they do give me great satisfaction.

Can you give examples of some of the more commercial changes you were asked to make?

There were two areas. First, one group wanted the book from the female POV. They felt that would sell better. Another group asked me to remove references to race, especially from the main characters. Their reasoning was that that way anyone could see themselves in more generic characters.  I listened and understood their reasoning. If this is all a numbers game, those are paths that would probably lead to bigger numbers. But my gut said no.

 

Now, interestingly enough, and it purely my own decision that it is best for this particular story, my current WIP is being told from an alternating male and female point of view.  But my goal is still to reach out to more than just the eager reader, to appeal to kids – especially boys - who normally see no reason to pick up a book for enjoyment. If that makes me less commercial, I have learned to live with that.

 

 

Pull was your first book?! What was it that made you sit down and write this story?

Pull was my first published book, but not my first manuscript.  I wrote two others before Pull, both adult books, both meant to be romances. One of those books featured a grown-up Barney and her overbearing and over-protective older brother, David. A number of my reading partners were curious about what made him the kind of man he was. At the same time, I attended the 2009 AWP conference in Chicago, and sat in on a panel of teens discussing why a lot of teen boys avoid reading.  My brain grabbed the opportunity thinking I could write about the forces that shaped David. By letting him tell his own story in his own voice, he helped attract other young men to read about him.

It seems like now that you’ve started writing, you’ve found a passion. What is it about writing that makes it so necessary for you?

I think it’s the same thing that made it necessary for me to devour every book in sight during my childhood and early adult years.  Reading helped me develop empathy and learn to really care about others, and to understand people different from me. Even more, it took me to places I could not get to by myself, showed me that more was possible, and made me want to strive to achieve it.

Retirement gave me the time and energy to actually create as well as consume.  It rurns out I had a load of stories and characters inside me, sometimes they barely let me sleep with their desire to live out their lives. It was either let them rattle around inside my head, or put them on paper.

It really is a passion. I actually tried putting things away, to give myself a break from writing. One month off, I told myself. Everyone deserves a vacation. That “break” lasted two weeks. Two incredibly long weeks during which I nearly bit my fingers off to keep them from writing. I think now I need to write, whether or not anyone ever reads what I create.  But I am determined to let people read it. That’s where the passion comes from, I want to reach kids, let them see themselves in the pages of a book.

Is there a particularly genre that you haven’t written yet, that is somewhat of a stretch for you, but that you might like to try in the near future?

I admit a yen to try a paranormal. I have been researching African mythologies, and would love to make a break from contemporary realistic to do a non-traditional paranormal story involving that pantheon.

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Filed under: Authors Tagged: B. A. Binns, interview

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The Day of Love is almost upon us! There are so many wonderful classics for this holiday (a personal favorite has always been, and always will be I LIKE YOU, by Sandol Stoddard Warburg) and I think the best way to celebrate is with books and chocolate*!  These are a few brand new picks for your Valentine’s Day reading:

 

AN AWESOME BOOK OF LOVE!, by Dallas Clayton
There are so many different kinds of love – the way you love your husband or wife, the way you love your child, the way you love your parents – and Dallas Clayton knows just how to describe them all.

FANCY NANCY, NANCY CLANCY: SECRET ADMIRER, by Jane O’Connor, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser
The second in the Fancy Nancy chapter book series. Love is in the air, and Nancy Clancy is sure to make the most of it!

NOBODY BUT US, by Kristin Halbrook
BONNIE & CLYDE meets BLUE VALENTINE in this addictive, heart-wrenching story about two desperate teenagers on the run from their pasts.

THE TROUBLE WITH FLIRTING, by Clare LaZebnik
A hilarious and romantic twist on the Jane Austen classic, Mansfield Park.

 

*True chocolate-lover tip: all that Valentine’s Day chocolate goes on deep discount starting February 15th–enjoy!

 

 

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Beyond the Book Author Trivia Quiz!

We nabbed some amazing authors for this week's Trivia Tuesday. We're talking . . .

• R.L. Stine (Goosebumps, HorrorLand)
• Nancy Krulik (How I Survived Middle School, Katie Kazoo)
• Gordon Korman (The 39 Clues, Swindle)
• Anthony Horowitz (The Gatekeepers, Alex Rider)

How well do you know these authors? Can you guess the answers to this Author Trivia Quiz? All the answers will be one of the authors above. Ready? GO!

1. This author would go to a costume party dressed as The Invisible Man. (Spooky!)  
2. This author has a phobia of mice. (Hint: one of the books this author wrote is titled Be Nice to Mice.)  
3. If this author could meet anyone dead or alive, it would be Harry Houdini.  
4. This author likes to end a meal with cookie dough ice cream.  
5. This author loves fairy tales and loves the movie Enchanted (rated PG).  
6. This author’s favorite books include: Holes, I am the Cheese, and Cirque du Freak.  
7. This author has a phobia of the number 13!
8. This author's favorite books are silly poetry books by Shel Silverstein. (A Light in the Attic, Where the Sidewalk Ends)

Leave your answers below, and check back next week for the official word!

—Ratha, STACKS Writer

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The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has collected birthday wishes for the legendary author, Judy Blume.

The Giver author Lois Lowry, former National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature Jon Scieszka and Internet Girls series writer Lauren Myracle all contributed messages.

Scieszka and Myracle shared photos of themselves posing with Blume. Read all the messages on the NCAC blog.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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As I've been reading Volume I of Lucy Maud Montgomery's journals, I've been underlining quotes that I've found especially interesting, insightful, and fun. I've been sharing them on Facebook and Twitter but realized readers here might like to read them, too. Here's a glimpse into Maud's thoughts from ages fourteen to twenty. Be sure to return Monday, 25 February to discuss Volume I!

12/2/1889
Miss Gordon looked rather blank. I think she had been expecting to hear that Nate and I broke all the ten commandments all at once every day.

3/4/1890
I thought Jack was killed but when he picked himself up with a real live “cuss word” I concluded he wasn’t. But his face was all spattered with soot and he did look so funny.

10/20/1890
(Very Anne-ish): Today I got a letter from home with some pressed flowers in it. It just seemed as if they spoke to me and whispered a lovely message of a far-off land where blue skies are bending over maple-crimsoned hills and spruce glens are still green and dim in their balsamic recesses.

6/6/1891
Mustard a minister!! Oh Lordy--how it will sound--Rev. Mr. Mustard.

10/4/1891
I must have some duck in my composition for I always love to be out in a rainstorm.

9/1/1892
Grandpa stayed home to look after us all. He told the boys that they could fight the whole evening, if they wanted to. ...Well and Dave were black and blue for a week but they had had the time of their lives. I’m sure they wished Grace Macneill could have got married nightly.

1/12/1983
Books are a delightful world in themselves. Their characters seem as real to me as my friends of actual life.

9/28/1983
Oh, I wonder if I shall ever be able to do anything worth while in the way of writing. It is my dearest ambition.

9/6/1984
I may be teaching my pupils something but they are teaching me more -- whole tomes of wisdom.

9/18/1894
It is a regular fall rain now -- a night wild enough to suit any novelist in search of suitable weather for a murder or elopement.

12/15/1894
Well, my goodness! -- or somebody else’s goodness if mine isn’t substantial enough!

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Scholar Leslie S. Klinger has filed a civil suit in federal court against the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate, hoping to prove that “Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John H. Watson are no longer protected by federal copyright laws.”

The suit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Along with Laurie R. King, Klinger edited A Study in Sherlock: Stories Inspired by the Sherlock Holmes Canon. He was working on a new collection called In the Company of Sherlock Holmes with stories by Sara Paretsky, Michael Connelly, Lev Grossman and more. He made his case, in the release:

The Conan Doyle Estate contacted our publisher … and implied that if the Estate wasn’t paid a license fee, they’d convince the major distributors not to sell the book. Our publisher was, understandably, concerned, and told us that the book couldn’t come out unless this was resolved … It is true that some of Conan Doyle’s stories about Holmes are still protected by the U.S. copyright laws. However, the vast majority of the stories that Conan Doyle wrote are not. The characters of Holmes, Watson, and others are fully established in those fifty ‘public-domain’ stories. Under U.S. law, this should mean that anyone is free to create new stories about Holmes and Watson.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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By Kate Harrison Guest Blogger Writing is a dream job – that’s official. According to this survey, being a writer is the number three dream job, after Pilot and Charity Worker. Yet we’ve also been told that there’s a strong link between being an author and mental health problems. So writing is a dream job and a potential nightmare rolled into one. So how can you make sure being an author is

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