JacketFlap connects you to the work of more than 200,000 authors, illustrators, publishers and other creators of books for Children and Young Adults. The site is updated daily with information about every book, author, illustrator, and publisher in the children's / young adult book industry. Members include published authors and illustrators, librarians, agents, editors, publicists, booksellers, publishers and fans. Join now (it's free).
Login or Register for free to create your own customized page of blog posts from your favorite blogs. You can also add blogs by clicking the "Add to MyJacketFlap" links next to the blog name in each post.
Blog Posts by Tag
In the past 7 days
Blog Posts by Date
Click days in this calendar to see posts by day or month
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: March, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 25 of 35
How to use this Page
You are viewing the most recent posts tagged with the words: March in the JacketFlap blog reader. What is a tag? Think of a tag as a keyword or category label. Tags can both help you find posts on JacketFlap.com as well as provide an easy way for you to "remember" and classify posts for later recall. Try adding a tag yourself by clicking "Add a tag" below a post's header. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a 'More Posts from this Blog' link in any individual post.
This was a tag from Bella back in the beginning of January, which I'm not finally getting to. (Congratulate me, friend! Two blog posts in March!) It was supposed to be a New Year's Tag, but since I'm so late, it's going to be a "2015: A Summary" tag. So whatever.
1. What was the single best thing that happened last year?
Um, let's see. Honestly, probably going to Carmel and visiting a couple of the missions. That was such a wonderful and epic trip. My older sister and I went for three days and it was just really lovely. Plus, the ocean was gorgeous! (I think I might love the ocean.)
2. What was the single most challenging thing that happened?
I had a two-day jury summons, waiting while the judge and attorneys tried to decide on jurors.
3. What was the most memorable thing?
Christmas. Christmas was definitely the most memorable thing about last year.
4. What did you get really, really excited about?
'Kay, I was able to go to this thing called WordWave, where I got to meet an agent from Fuse Literary. That was really cool and exciting and SO helpful for my query and synopsis.
I was also excited to hear that Prison Break is getting a new season. YAY! :-)
5. What song/album will always remind you of 2015? Josh Groban's STAGES CD. Especially "What I Did For Love" and "Dulcinea."
6. How did you spend your Christmas? Epicly! (Epically?) We had Midnight Mass privately up near where we live, and we got some pretty awesome snow Christmas Eve, so we had these huge soft drifts everywhere, and there was a full moon that night, so I wished on it. Christmas is always glorious in our house. We light the Christ Candle first thing and sing Joy to the World, and put Baby Jesus in the manger. My dad always gets a fire going and makes sausage rolls and puts down a pot of coffee, and we open stockings and eat food and drink mimosa and/or orange juice and coffee and pass out gifts and get really, really loud. We had a lot of people over that day, too. We have a friend who moved to Tahoe from Wyoming, and her brothers came for dinner, which was our traditional gnocchi and ham. We also had a snowball fight later that night, and it was pretty freakishly cold out there, which probably wasn't good for all of us with our wicked chest colds. We were all:
7. What was a hardest thing you to face in 2015?
I don't even know. Maybe... That one time... Or perhaps... Nope, I got nuthin'.
8. What were the best movies you saw in 2015?
Antman, Age of Ultron, and The Scorch Trials, because Marvel, because AVENGERS, and obviously because Dylan O'Brien.
9.What were the best books you read in 2015? What Came From The Stars by Gary Schmidt;The Winner's Curseby Marie Rutkoski.
10. Was there any awesome/fun TV show you discovered in 2015?
I was briefly hooked on Person Of Interest, then a female character was introduced who sort of usurped my boys, Reese and Finch, and I later discovered she was having a relationship with another female and I lost interest. I restarted 24, though. (Still adore Jack.)
11. Did you discover any new musicals?
Yes! Finding Neverland, and A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.
12. Did you write any new books? I am mostly revising books I've already written - namely, DragonFire and Fulcrum. I had been kicking around an idea concerning nightmares, and that one has really taken off this month. I've been actively writing it a few hours each night. I'm pretty excited about it. :-)
13. Did you make any new friends?
14. What was your biggest personal change from January to December of this past year?
15. Is there some change you will have to go through in 2016? Gosh, I hope not. Well, I'd like to move. But otherwise... Gosh, I hope not.
16. What was your single biggest time waster in your life this past year?
Pinterest.
17. What was biggest thing you learned this past year? Life is hard, but trust in God. Worry gives you insomnia.
18. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year. "He will always hate me / No matter what I say / And there is no mistaking the love is gone." (This is actually a man's song, so I had to change the "she" in the original lyrics to "he".)
19. What are five things you want to do in 2016? a.) Land an agent. (That makes me sound like I'm hooking a fish. Sorry, agents!) b.) Buy a piano and start composing music again. c.) Go to one of the two SCBWI Annual Conferences in either LA or New York (though since I didn't get tax returns this year, that's probably not going to happen this year). d.) Get a better job. e.) Move.
20. Describe 2015 in your own words.
Truly, not the best year I've ever had. It had it's ups and downs, and I was mostly very worried and stressed during it. I concentrated on trying to be a bit more trusting and take it one day at a time. I sometimes felt like I was doing good with that, but then someone would say, "Are you okay? You seem sad," and I so I guess I wasn't being as brave as I'd thought I was being.
2015 did have some epic moments - Carmel and WordWave and Christmas were three incredible highlights to the year and I want to go back to check out more of the missions in the very near future. That's a definite To-Do. I also got myself submitting to agents, which is an A+ for me in regards to my courage. (Submitting to agents is scary!)
However, I seem to have grown more antisocial. The best thing in my life is going to my little home and being alone, with no people other than my sisters. And Netflix. (Seriously, guys. NETFLIX.)
Maybe the biggest highlight of a fairly eventful San Diego Comic Con was the moment when Congressman John Lewis cosplayed as himself, donning the trench coat and backpack he wore to march for voting rights across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, 50 years ago. He led a touching children’s march through the halls of […]
1 Comments on Lewis, Aydin, and Powell’s March featured on CBS This Morning, last added: 7/26/2015
Let’s end up this week in comics with an inspiring event: Rep. John Lewis’s full half appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Monday. The occasion was the 50th anniversary of the march over the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and that by itself is inspiring enough. There was much discussion of the two March graphic novels as well, though. Just think how a graphic novel is being discussed as an influential part of inspiring today’s youth with the history of the civil rights movement…a movement that very much needs to be revived in light of today’s racial inequities…well, comics should be proud.
White-folks have ruined the u.s. and are working on the world with their hate, homosexuality, abortions,guns and bombs..most of the white-folks in the u.s. are just as worse as ISIS.
Brian said, on 3/14/2015 3:28:00 AM
Correction, it was at least the second time. Lewis was on a few years back promoting the first book.
Leigh said, on 3/14/2015 8:49:00 AM
Hi Brian, maybe you’re thinking of his Colbert Report appearance in August 2013?
Mike said, on 3/14/2015 10:13:00 AM
Great interview! I enjoyed watching it. Thanks for posting this.
Each month we bring you the best new release books in our Book Brief. Get FREE shipping when you use the promo code bookbrief at checkout Fiction Books Touch by Claire North The premise alone of this book is enough to give you goosebumps. The main character, who we become to know as Kepler, is […]
One big focus on my blog and in my writing is our responsibility towards all life on this planet, so I had to do a post about yesterday’s historic climate march! I believe it to be the most important issued … Continue reading →
The names of titles have curious sources and often become international words. The history of some of them graces student textbooks. Marshal, for instance, is an English borrowing from French, though it came to French from Germanic, where it meant “mare servant” (skalkaz “servant, slave”). Constable meant “the count of the stable.” One of the highest officers in Norwegian courts was skutil-sveinn “cup-servant” (the hyphen in foreign compounds is here given for convenience). As everybody understands, only reliable people could be responsible for the king’s stable, cup, bed, or bottle (from bottle we have butler, not necessarily royal). Later, such words became titles divorced from their original meanings, while other people—if I am allowed to pursue the equine metaphor—continued to curry favor with the high and mighty. Herzog means approximately the same as duke, that is, “leader (of the army).” It may have been an independent Germanic coinage, not a “calque” (translation loan) of some Greek noun.
Titles tend to wander (compare marshal, above) and sometimes get entangled in a way baffling to a modern etymologist. There was an old German word gravo (with long a, which means with the vowel of Modern Engl. spa), the name of various royal administrators. Its continuation, Modern German Graf, sounds familiar to English speakers from landgrave (German Landgraf) and the name Palsgrave (from count palatine; palatine “pertaining to the palace”). Although the origin of gravo is not entirely clear, it need not delay us in this story. Alongside gravo, Old Engl. (ge)refa existed. In Anglo-Saxon times, it was the name of a high official having local jurisdiction. It has survived as reeve and can, with some effort, be recognized in the disguised compound sheriff, that is, shire reeve. (Many people mispronounce the word shire: it rhymes with hire, but as part of place names, for Instance, Cheshire or Yorkshire, it is a homophone of sheer.) In late Old Icelandic we find the title greifi, corresponding to German Graf. It could have been a borrowing of Old Engl. gerefa or, more likely, of some German reflex (continuation) of Old High German gravo. The uncertainty stems from a chance similarity of two unrelated nouns.
The most famous of all marquises: Madame (Marquise) de Pompadour.
Titles may reflect jurisdiction over some territory, as is, from a historical point of view, the case with sheriff. This brings us to the origin of marquis, originally the ruler of a so-called march, or frontier district. Once again the word was taken over by English from French, but its homeland is Germanic. A synonym of marquis is margrave, or to use its obsolete form, markgrave (German Markgraf). Mar(k)grave reminds us of landgrave (German Landgraf). The central element in the story of marquis is mark, the source of French marque and a most important term in the legal system of the speakers of ancient Germanic. It meant “sign,” “boundary,” and, by extension, “district.”
Mark is English. When after a long stay on Romance soil it returned to Middle English, it had the form march. Mark and march, in so far as they mean “boundary,” are synonyms and etymological doublets. The verb march “to constitute a border” has limited currency, but it is a living word in some situations, especially when used about countries and estates. This is exactly where I, at that time an undergraduate, first encountered it. A character in Jane Austen says: “Our estates march.” I needed a dictionary to understand the sentence. Either because, in North America, there have never been estates of quite the British type or because fewer and fewer young people understand rare words, when I cite this usage in my courses on the history of English and German, it is always new to the students and causes surprise. In England it would probably, and in Scotland certainly, have been different.
The Old English for mark was mearc, and it appeared as the first element of numerous components. Historically, march is most familiar with reference to the boundaries between England and Scotland and England and Wales. Old Engl. Merce or Mierce were “people of the march,” or “borderers”; hence Mercia, the Medieval Latin name of their borderland. Its inhabitants were Mercians, and their dialect is called Mercian. Those who lived outside the “mark” were foreigners, aliens, as follows from the alja-markir on a rune stone (alja is related to Engl. else). The use of the word mark in place names and the names of the people who live in such places is nothing out of the ordinary. The county of Mark (German Die Mark) in Westphalia offers a typical example; compare the Mark of Brandenburg. And there were Marcomanni, an old Germanic tribe, obviously, still other inhabitants of a borderland.
Mark “sign” and mark “border” are two senses of the same word. The CenturyDictionary says: “The sense ‘boundary’ is older as recorded, though the sense ‘sign’ seems logically prevalent.” There has been some discussion about the order of those senses, but the opinion, just quoted, seems to carry more conviction, though Hjalmar Falk and Alf Torp, the authors of the great and excellent etymological dictionary of Norwegian, thought differently. Mark “sign” occurs also in the compound landmark.
The most miserable of all marchionesses: a poor abused servant in Dickens’s The Old Curiosity Shop.
An unexpected sense development of the noun mark can be seen in the Scandinavian languages. One need not know any of them to notice the country name Denmark. Old Icelandic mörk (this is modernized spelling) meant “forest.” In present day Scandinavian languages, mark usually means “a piece of land; field,” but “forest” and “uncultivated land” have also been attested. Jacob Grimm believed that “forest” might be the earliest sense of mark, but it was probably not. Rivers, mountains, and wooded areas used to separate and still separate countries. Although a thick forest is a natural boundary, it is curious that Scandinavian had lost the sense so prominent elsewhere. Yet its close cognate turns up in compounds, such as Old Icelandic al-merki “common land held by the community; commons” and landa-merki “a boundary sign” (but landa-mark also existed!). Denmark may have acquired its name after the forests that covered its territory had been largely cleared. In any case, the same Scandinavian noun (mark) can mean both “forest” and “arable land.”
Some words hold great attraction to foreigners. Germanic mark- was borrowed not only by Romance but also by Finnish speakers: in Finnish, markku occurs in place names. Nor was it isolated when it was coined. Its obvious Latin cognate is margo “margin.” The other candidates for relationship with mark are less certain. The word’s ancient root may have meant “to divide.”
Here ends my story of the marquis, “captain of the marches,” a man presiding over a “mark.” As is well-known, his wife or widow is called marchioness.
Subscribe to the OUPblog via email or RSS.
Subscribe to only language articles on the OUPblog via email or RSS.
Image credits: (1) Portrait of Madame de Pompadour by François Boucher, 1756. Alte Pinakothek. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. (2) The Marchioness 1889 Dickens The Old Curiosity Shop character by Kyd (Joseph Clayton Clarke). From “Character Sketches from Charles Dickens, Pourtrayed by Kyd”. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
It’s that time again!!! Since last month we held the Winter Reading Games, we skipped one Books of the Month post, but now we’re back and better than ever! At the end of January, we asked you what books you were reading. So many of you are reading different books! There are some clear winners this time, but I’m really excited that we have so many new titles in the running. Keep reading awesome books, you guys!
We’re going to do this again for next month, so tell me in the Comments what books you’re reading right now. I can’t wait to see what new books show up. I’ve got a few new recommendations now, and I’m so excited to start reading! See ya in a month!
well, the first day of March has officially arrived, which means spring is not too far off. happy for most people right? not so much for me, as winter is my favorite season and we seem to have gotten shafted of yet another really snowy winter (which makes the arrival of spring even harder for me to digest) :(
anyhoo...my beautiful aquamarine hued mermaid, Beryl, has been featured in a treasury over at etsy welcoming in the new month. take a peek at some of the other interesting pieces she has featured in shades of the calming and peacefully beautiful aquamarine.
below are some crops of March themed illustrations and their links, where you can purchase prints of them.
oh, and Easter is early this year (March 24th) so i believe there may be a CUTE little bunny FOR SALE in my shop as well, an ORIGINAL PENCIL DRAWING. check him out, if you will....:)
In March 2011 I found 16 MG & YA releases, in 2012 I found 4 and this year, 6. Nonetheless, this looks like a pretty impressive list of books! All are very establish authors.
(clicking the image will take you to a description of the book.)
The Keysha Diaries, Volume One: Keysha’s Drama\If I Were Your Boyfriend (Kimani Tru) (9780373091249): Earl Sewell: Books
Flowers in the Sky by Lyn Joseph
Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina
Panic by Sharon Draper
Hollywood High: Get Ready for War by NiNi Simone and Amir Abrams
For most people, lying is easy. If it were for me, I could say I was on a morning walk. Or pretend I wanted to catch the sunrise, even if it were still an hour off. Maybe I wanted a hot muffin for breakfast, the best table in the library, or the center-front seat for lecture. I didn’t want any of that, but it hardly mattered.
Any of those sorry excuses would fit the image of a valedictorian better than what I was actually doing. Though, as long as I wasn’t caught, I wouldn’t need to lie about skipping my first class of the day. I had a pretty good record—six years of unnoticed truancy. Surely, my last year in secondary education wouldn’t be my downfall.
The familiar creak of the lecture hall’s double doors brought a smile to my face. Stifling a yawn, I slipped into the dark auditorium and shut the door behind me. Motion sensors set gears clicking into place until sparks ignited the Blaugas lighting. I took in a big breath, surveyed the auditorium seating and stage set with just a lectern. Only shadows stared back.
I bit off the last chunk of my apple and threw the core into the compost bin hidden by the velvet drapery on the walls. The same two stairs as last year squeaked under my feet. My fingers slid over the smooth finish on the tables in the third row as I moved to the fourth section. No one ever sat over here. I sank into the last armchair, pushed out a breath, and stilled. After a minute, the lights shut off to conserve the gas.
Now I just had to wait. I clenched my jaw against another yawn. An hour was nothing compared to the year I’d already waited. My hands clutched the lion heads at the ends of the armrests. This would be easy.
Suddenly, the door creaked. I shot under the table as the Blaugas lit again. My hand clasped my shirt over my heart. I would’ve clutched it instead if I could to stop the deuced thumping. So loud. Had someone seen me? Hang it all.
A soft, low hum filled the auditorium. Footsteps climbed down the stairs to the front of the room. Casual, comfortable. If it were a student, I could probably convince them to keep quiet, but if it were a professor, it’d be a bit more difficult. I released a shaky breath. Difficult, but not impossible. If they caught me, I’d just have to tell them the real reason I was here.
I peeked around the corner of the desk. White hair puffed on the top of a head like a cloud. The professor. He shuffled to the stage in full academic robes. His knees cracked, and the sound echoed through the room.
“I guess that’s what I get for refusing those joint replacements last year!” he said to himself. He grinned his way to the lectern on the left side of the stage. His hands opened its cabinet door and started fiddling with the projector’s settings.
I dropped my shirt. Nothing to worry about. The professor wasn’t here for me. My entire body loosened, and I resettled myself under the desk. Closed my eyes. Started my mental countdown.
This professor wasn’t the only one who’d refused to trade out their arthritic joints last year. Premier Castol had, too—and every year beforehand. That old man even wore glasses. He was the only person I knew who did. He insisted he didn’t need prosthetics to be healthy. Most of the professors who’d been born at the end of the war were like that.
The door opened again. Much too soon. I held my breath. Was it someone coming to tell the professor he had a sneak in his class?
“Aren’t you rather early, Eques?” the professor asked.
I choked. I’d forgotten Gavriel would be attending the lecture this year, since he’d become an intern. Even if he’d seen me, he wouldn’t tell, would he? I would hack into the system and fail him in every single one of his classes if he did.
Gavriel’s soft chuckle resounded through the room. It pinched the nerves al
I really like that this is all in scene, without too much background information, and I can tell that there's a cool premise behind the "historians." The main thing that didn't work as well was the beginning. The first few paragraphs were confusing and seemed to be a little disconnected from the rest of the story, and the sentence structure just didn't seem to make as much sense either. Maybe tightening the first paragraphs would help. Also, I wasn't too sure what the MC was doing, so I wasn't as invested in her trying not to get caught. It became clear towards the end that she was sneaking into a class, but I think a small hint a little earlier on would help me to focus on the story - otherwise, it was just a girl sneaking into an auditorium, and it was a little hard for me to care why she was. Overall, this is a great beginning.
The first sentence drew me in...and then the other sentences muddled up the initial idea. I'd say to simplify.
"For most people, lying is easy. I had my share of excuses and a pretty good record—six years of unnoticed truancy. But surely my last year in secondary education wouldn’t be my downfall."
I mean, not perfect, but it's to the point. I'd do the same for some of the other paragraphs...get to the point. First.
Don't let an hour and a half pass while she's hiding in the room. Have her purpose--in seeing her father again--be forefront to everything. Maybe she slips in the back of a lecture that's already taking place.
Things I LOVED: the emotion over seeing her father (hollogram or not), the hugging the desk leg, etc. the dialogue, just a hint at what's going on, but enough for now. throwing her apple away behind the velvet curtain. All that little stuff helps me picture her character and empathize with her.
Thanks Kheryn and Sarah. These are GREAT comments and I can totally see where you're coming from :) I can't wait to edit this and see how much improved it'll be.
I was also confused about the beginning. At first I thought she was talking about other people lying because of the "if it were me," line. It is her so she doesn't wouldn't think that.
I wasn't hooked until the end when I realized all this was for the chance to see her father. I think you need to hint at that from the beginning. Let us know how desperately she's been waiting for this chance to see him. How nervous she is about getting chucked out before she has the chance. This would make her much more sympathetic to the reader. We need to see the stakes.
Also - the paragraph about the (assumed) love interest, confused me. "He had some kind of trick with that sort of thing—be it from across the parterre or from two floors down. It was a worthless talent." No clue what you're talking about here - his ability to see her from far away? At first I thought it was electronics as he was needed to help out.
Could the professor have a name? Much easier than calling him professor all the time. If that is his title and the way your MC names him, then professor needs to be capitalized.
I was very touched at the lengths she went to to see her dad. Good job.
I love the premise, and I will absolutely echo what everyone else said. Although we don't normally line edit here, I have to say that Sarah's suggestions were really good. The opening line drew me in, but I was pulled out because I was trying to figure out what was going on, and I didn't get hooked back in until the historians came in. Then when I found out she was wanting to see her father, that was awesome.
I was also pulled out a bit because I kept getting tripped up wondering if this was a historical, or if it was set in Britain, or both, and trying to remember that it was SciFi. I wonder if you don't need to differentiate the world a little bit more? Is there something that you can pull up front here to really ground us in your "different" world? Touches like the compost bin in the lecture hall are awesome, but again, a little too close to be--at least for me--other than disorienting.
Apart from that, while I really like the promise of a potential romance with Gavriel, you might go back and check to make sure his characterization is what you were hoping for. Things like "soft chuckle" (sounds older to me) jar with clomping boots (which sounds younger). Overall, I'd love to get a little more of a hint about their current relationship. They were best friends at eleven, and they're the same age now, but he's an intern and she isn't? If she is good enough at school to be a valedictorian, why isn't she an intern? If she has been doing this for six years, then what is different for her is the entrance of Gavriel, and so that's what I would suggest you focus on, together with the world-building. The fact that he gets to do something openly that she has to sneak to do is fascinating in terms of what it suggests about the world and their relationship. (Unless I'm completely off base?)
A wonderful beginning to a story that sounds very interesting. I loved the hologram idea of 'dead historians'as well. It raised some more questions, like why dead historians, what happend them, but I guess that comes later in he story.
Oh, the emotion when she sees her father! Heartbreaking.
When the hologram materializes, she says... “Hi, Dad.” I wrapped my arms around one of the table’s legs. Does she think the words, or whisper, given that she is hiding.
All in all, a wonderful chapter to a start of an awesome sci-fi story. :)
Take what you can carry by Kevin Pyle; Henry Holt and Co. BYR Paperbacks; March MG/graphic novel
In 1977 suburban Chicago, Kyle runs wild with his friends and learns to shoplift from the local convenience store. In 1941 Berkeley, the Himitsu family is forced to leave their home for a Japanese-American internment camp, and their teenage son must decide how to deal with his new life. But though these boys are growing up in wildly different places and times, their lives intersect in more ways than one, as they discover compassion, learn loyalty, and find renewal in the most surprising of places.
Power Hitter by M. C. Higgins; Darby Creek Pub, March
Sammy Perez has to make it to the big leagues. After his teammate’s career-ending injury, the Roadrunners decided to play in a wood bat tournament to protect their pitchers. And while Sammy used to be a hotheaded, hard-hitting, home-run machine, he’s now stuck in the slump of his life. Sammy thinks the wood bats are causing the problem, but his dad suggests that maybe he’s not strong enough. Is Sammy willing to break the law and sacrifice his health to get an edge by taking performance-enhancing drugs? Can Sammy break out of his slump in time to get noticed by major-league scouts?
Pammi has a Secret–she is an Able. At night, she travels through time to an ancient city called Zanum. She’s been visiting Zanum since she was seven and she’s kept it a secret from everyone–including her own mother. Especially her mother. Everything’s been fine…until now.
On the night of an important Zanum ceremony, Pammi follows her gut instinct and defies an elder’s orders, inadvertently leading evil directly to the door of the city she loves. Now the evil that plans to wipe out the city is coming after her. Can she save herself, and Zanum, before it’s too late? Or will she seal the doom of all Ables and witness the annihilation of everyone she loves?
Worn down by the constant petitions of the villagers who think she has special powers, sixteen-year-old Sonia leaves behind her shawl covered with milagros and her mountain home and sets out to live a life of her own choosing in the capital c
2 Comments on POC March Releases, last added: 3/4/2012
Happy March everyone! Two weeks until my birthday, and Spring is on the way. What could be better?
I'm happy to announce that I once again reached my word count goal last month. Though February had only 29 days, I still managed to write over 50,000 words, to bring me to over 100,000. I've got not intention of stopping now!
Here's a flashback interview today with one of the characters from "The Last Archangel". I'm currently writing the third installment and she figures pretty importantly there too. Enjoy!
Interviewer: Today we have Mrs. Eden Fortuna with us, witha segment you won’t want to miss. Sherecently experienced a rather…traumatic episode in her marriage. I’ll let her explain.
Eden: Traumaticis one word for it. I recently found out that my husband Daren is possessed bya demon.
Interviewer:That’s awful. I’m sure many of ourreaders have suspected the same thing in moments of frustration. Tell us, what were the warning signs?
Eden: Well there are the more obvious signs. My mild-mannered husband suddenly took aviolent turn. I prepared this really nice dinner and got all dressed up andinstead of a romantic evening, I ended up with bruises and a nearly shatteredwindshield.
Interviewer: I’msorry to hear that, but there are many reasons a man could turn violent. What were some of the other signs that tippedyou off?
Eden: Now here’sa weird one: demons have an affinity for spicy food. My husband hates spicy food, but then I foundout that he started going to lunch several times a week at this Indian curryhouse—Taste of Bombay. For a guy thatcan’t stand a green pepper in a sauce, that was a serious change of character.
Interviewer: Whatdid you attribute all this to before you found the truth?
Eden: I thoughthe might be having an affair. He wasspending much longer hours at the office, and seemed less interested inspending time with me. He even startedtelling me that he couldn’t even discuss what he was doing at work. Eventually, he even claimed that there wasanother woman, but something still didn’t add up.
Interviewer: Whatfinally tipped you off that something extra strange was going on?
Eden: The nightafter he stormed out, I found his cell phone that he had left behind and hisday planner. On the day he stormed out,he had written, THE END, and when his cell phone rang and it startedsmoking. Before I dropped it, I saw thenumber…with a 666 area code. Then when Ipicked it up again, I thought it would be a lump of ashes, but it didn’t evenfeel hot after it stopped ringing.
Interview:Creepy! Did the caller leave a message?
Eden: Yes, but Icouldn’t make out a word of it and neither could my friend, who is a professorof Linguistics. That really awakened myinner conspiracy theorist.
0 Comments on Angel Thursday: Interview with Eden as of 1/1/1900
February’s blog challenge has come to an end here at the last hour. Tomorrow, March issues its own challenge. The prompt for March is “Whether.” This looks to be a marvelous opportunity to try all sorts of new topics.
Whether I take to this challenge as eagerly as the last, I intend to give it my best shot. I plan to make this a writer’s month of technique aspects, personal challenges, and thoughts on what other writers have to say about the business and the markets.
I encourage everyone who has been kind enough to stop by Claudsy’s Blog this month to continue to drop in to see what’s on the conversational board during March. Come in and give your two cents’ worth.
Until then, a bientot,
Claudsy
4 Comments on Winding Down Only to Gear Up, last added: 3/1/2012
Well, it's March, rgz, and do you know that means it's our 4th birthday? Woohoo! Raise a book and drop a comment in celebration. Share your love!
Looking over the past 4 years, I recall our launch, March 1st, 2007, in honor of Women's History Month. How about our migration from MySpace to Facebook and Blogger and Twitter? I think of great chats like the midnight worldwide extravaganza with Stephenie Meyer, Halloween, 2007. I think of 31 Flavorites where we hosted a different author everyday. I think of celebrations for Teen Read Week, donations of 30,000 books to underserved teens through Operation Teen Book Drop with YALSA and Guys Lit Wire, and the recent A Novel Gift with First Book, driving hundreds to register for 125,000 books. I think of winning the National Book Award for Innovations in Reading and the James Patterson Grant.
I think of great dialog, passionate teens, and those who work to serve them. I think of an amazing crew of ladies who has donated their time to sustain this site.
Here's to YA literature. Here's to you, rgz! Happy 4th birthday!
This month’s prize drawing will be done at 11:59 pm EST on March 31st so you have until that time to make entry/reviews counting for March’s prize drawing.
Chris…how awesome! Thank you so much for having so much confidence in SHOW ME HOW! I won’t link up because I don’t want to be in the running to win my own book. What a wonderful way to celebrate World Read-Aloud Day!!!!
Chris Singer said, on 3/7/2011 9:03:00 PM
I love your book Vivian, this is a terrific prize to win for any family!!
I'm very pleased with my article work for the Month. I have to admit I had set myself a target of 30 by the end of the month. Realistically as I only had 2 weeks to do this it was a little too much. Never the less I'm delighted with my articles.
New Target for March.
Oh, happy March by the way. My new target based on the articles I've managed to write so far is 50 artciles in total by the end of March. So I've got 29 articles to write over the course of the month. I think this is a realistic figure and from what I read on the Suite101 forums, the money gets better after the 50 article milestone.
Here's to a wonderful March, lots of writing and reading.
0 Comments on Finished The Month with 21 Articles as of 3/1/2011 5:42:00 AM
This gorgeous book by Clare Beaton will be reluctantly returned to our library soon. My son loves finding the tiny bit of a lion hiding on each spread, the refrain of "Shhhh, listen", and giant ROAR at the end. There is so much love and attention to detail in Clare's illustrations. I love the marriage of stitching, buttons, patterned fabrics and solid color. Can you believe you can commission her to create an Alphabet Animal, and for a very reasonable price? Wow.
Which leads me to Bow-Wow. Short story - I bought this because I needed another naptime book for my son, not looking too carefully at it but liking the look and counting premise. My son loves this, and laughs at things that seem beyond him. There are angry penguins, sausages, and fish - common objects around here. But Bow-Wow is just so fierce and loveable. I had no clue about the author/illustrator so I was surprised to find out the author is a legendary cartoonist and party responsible for my childhood addiction to Garbage Pail Kids (gasp, I still have mine in the basement!). You need to go to Mark Newgarden's Wikipedia page or website. It's a life too big to blog briefly. You also need to check out the Bow-Wow website. Holy-moley! It's super fun, with games and printouts for the kiddies, and information about all the Bow-Wow books (and creators) for the adults. We'll definitely be getting more of this series.
I realize March goes out like a lamb but quite frankly, all our 'lamb' references are a bit tired. Lambs/Sheep puzzle pieces are in my son's fists constantly and I'm in the middle of felting this little guy for his easter basket. So... baaaa!
1 Comments on March: In like a lion, out like a... bow-wow?, last added: 4/2/2010
OOOOH yes,Claire Beaton was my muse for many years. So captivated by her work. Ex Pbj buddy, Janee Trasler got me an autographed copy of one of her books at a conference that I still treasure. I may have to order a letter for myself, I didn't know she was taking commissions now. Awesome!
It was sunny and close to 70° here this past weekend! I spent both days completely overdoing the physical thing in the vegetable garden. But it felt so good to work outside after a long winter... a perfect antidote to long hours at the drawing table.
The plot we started last year was a mess of brambles and roots-- and a complete nightmare to clear. (Just ask my back.) We dug every inch by hand.
This year, not as bad. Tall, ugly deer fence in place. (It really works!)
I managed to turn over half of the soil, amending it as I went with peat moss, lime, our homemade compost, and dried up chicken manure. (Good to have chicken-raising friends!) I planted a few rows of peas, spinach, kale, turnips, and radishes. It's early in the season, but these are cool weather crops, and I'll take the chance.
I'm using the 1977 version of "Crockett's Victory Garden" as a guide this year. (It belonged to my grandmother. I love finding her handwriting inside!) It's a wonderful book, because it follows the gardening season month by month. (Though the author drenches almost everything with Diazinon. Yikes! No thanks.)
The husband made this handy-dandy planting board, one of the many great ideas in the book. It's notched every 6 inches to help space plants evenly when planting. The bottom edge is beveled to make a nice little groove in the soil for seeds.
I decided it might be smart to actually write down what and
6 Comments on Crazy Garden Lady Returns, last added: 3/24/2010
Oh my! I love that I found your blog. (thanks for visiting mine!) Your garden spot is looking great. I've got a few old gardening books too and it's pretty funny in some of them to see the stuff they advised soaking the soil and leaves in. Bleh...
Thanks! Yes-- it's horrifying, actually! I flip out when my neighbor dumps chemicals all over his lawn, even though it says "Natural" or some such on the side of the truck... :-/
By the way, I found you when searching for "when to plant peas in CT."
I did an author interview with the incomparable, goofy hat wearing Liz Czukas (No, I don't know how to pronounce it either) over on her blog! Despite the hat, she's a heck of a writer and it was a lot of fun.
You'll get some information on the book, a little on me, and maybe some you never wanted.
It was so much fun in fact, that I'll even forgive her for using the wrong cover image.
In the world of "Forts" there are a hundred doorways leading to a hundred different worlds. While I won't be able to visit them all over the course of the three books, I thought it might be fun to add to the mythology by sketching up a few alien races on the spot.
Here's the third in the series.
The book is being released Saturday the 20th!
Steve
0 Comments on 100 WORDS - 100 MONSTERS - EPISODE 3 as of 1/1/1900
Here's a little sample chapter from the upcoming book which is released on March 20th.
Hope you enjoy!
Steven
THE PROMISE
The long white hallway on the fourth floor of the Fairchild Medical Center was mostly empty and rather quiet. Occasionally a nurse or a doctor walked by with their head buried in a set of papers on a clipboard, their shoes clicking against the tile floor with every step. It was night, and with visiting hours coming to an end, most everyone, patients and family alike, had either drifted off to sleep or returned home. On an empty bench near the end of the hallway sat ten-year-old Tommy Jarvis. Too short to reach the floor, his legs swung back and forth over the edge of the bench. His hands rested softly on his lap as he twiddled his fingers quietly, trying his hardest to think about anything other than this place. Behind the door to his right are his mother and father. For almost a year now his mother had become progressively sicker. At first the trips to the doctor were for small things like high fevers or sore throats or pain in her joints. In the last few months, the trips were more frequent. She was admitted to the hospital three weeks ago, and it was here that she remained. Every night like clockwork his father left him and Nicky with Auntie Carol and go to visit her. On the weekends – like today – he would bring them along. Nicky might be too young to really, truly understand every nuance of what was going on, but Tommy believed the young boy understood the basics of the situation. Their mother was sick, and she wasn’t going to get better. She was dying. No doubt Nicky couldn’t make total sense out of the concept of death, but he knew that a time would come very soon when he would never see his mother again. Tommy looked up as the door to his mother’s room opened; his father stepped out with a sleepy-sad Nicky pulled tightly against his chest. He looked in Tommy’s direction. “Hey buddy…how are you feeling?” Tommy didn’t know quite how to respond. The idea of summing up everything going on in his head seemed like a task more impossible than anything he had encountered in his young life. He saw no point in trying. Chris Jarvis gently laid the half-awake Nicky down on the bench next to his older brother, softly brushing the hair from the boy’s eyes. When Chris looked down he noticed his hand was shaking. He could feel a torrent of emotions building up inside him, but forced himself to ignore them. He needed to be strong, even if he wanted so very badly to cry and scream, and denounce his faith in God, the universe, and whatever unseen force was putting his family through this. He wanted to yell at the doctors for not doing more, or curse the nurses for their pointless pitying looks, or simply run away and leave all the sadness and the stress behind, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t do any of these things or a number of others. Not in front of his boys, and not now. These were things better left to the nights alone, shrouded in the darkness of his room, spread out across his marital bed with soaking wet eyes. He had to be bigger than that; he had to be better than that, for them – even if it hurt more than he could stand. After taking a deep breath and wiping away a single tear in the corner of his eye, he knelt down in front of Tommy, gazing into the soft blue eyes of his eldest son. “Hey big man, your mom…your mom wants to see you alone for a minute. Would you like to do that? Are you going to be okay, or do you want your ol’ dad to go with you?” Tommy noticed the shaking of his father’s hands as well. He spotted the very faint glimmer of wetness, catching the pale glow of the fluorescent lights, in the corner of his eye. Despite trying so hard, Chris Jarvis could not hide his emotions well. Tommy wanted badly to see his mother - to hug her and kiss her and hear
0 Comments on FORTS SAMPLE CHAPTER - THE PROMISE as of 1/1/1900
With book one in the “forts” series due out in just a couple weeks, and book two tentatively scheduled for sometime later in the year I thought I might type up a little something to give you an idea of what to expect.
I personally think the trailer is cooler than Steve McQueen in “The Getaway,” or a beat up Arnold in the chopper after he finished throwing dukes with the Predator, or even Cool Coolerson moments after winning the “National Cool Competition” in Coolsville U.S.A.
He edged out Coolton McCool for the title.
Honestly though, beyond being so darn cool – the trailer really doesn’t tell you a whole heck of a lot about the plot.
Lets start with a little background.
At roughly 120,000 words book one, which is titled “Fathers and Sons,” was written a little over two years ago and took me about year to finish. Why so long you ask? Well, I was only able to write between the hours of 10pm and 2am, and I did take a few months off sometime around June. Why the time off?
None of your business – stop being so nosey.
I shopped the book around quite a bit and amassed an impressive pile of rejection letters. Most were positive, “I like what you’re doing, but I’m just not interested at this time” sorts of things. There was one slightly pompous, “This is good but I’m just not feeling passionate about it, and I can’t get behind anything I don’t feel passionate about” response, and there were even a couple “I have absolutely no idea who in the world buy this” tossed in there.
With memories of my nerdy high school years rising to the surface once again, I had taken just about all the rejection I could handle and was ready to move onto the next project when Canonbridge came along.
Turns out all of those rejections were a blessing in disguise. Canonbridge has been a dream and at this point I can’t imagine there being a better partner in the publishing process.
I’m not saying that just to brownnose either.
Believe it or not that chocolate colored smear on my schnoze is actually nothing more than chocolate. I’m a messy eater. You know those pictures of little kids with bowls of spaghetti on their heads? I took one of those last week – of me.
When book one hits on or around the 20th of this month it’ll hopefully be some of what you’re expecting, and a lot of what you aren’t. If I can leave you surprised and wanting more I’ve done my job.
Without giving away too much of the plot let me tell you that you’ll get very real drama in a world familiar, and even more in worlds not so much. There are ancient prophecies, underground cities, castles, kings, swords, monsters so incredibly large their heads get lost in the clouds, and an army hell-bent on stacking the bodies of the dead just as high. At the center of it all is a group of five children from very different situations with abilities they can scarcely understand, let alone hope to control.
You’ll get some actions, you’ll get some tears, you’ll get some scares, maybe even a couple laughs here and there, and hopefully a few moments that will you feeling like you’ve been slimed.
I of course mean that in the most positive of ways.
In the end, I just hope you dig it.
I dig it.
If I didn’t I wouldn’t have written it, and would feel like the worlds biggest jerk trying to sell it to you.
Steve
2 Comments on FORTS: A Little Background, and What to Expect, last added: 3/11/2010
Yeah, giving them the vote, look how well that turned out. Any wonder the country’s in the mess it is.