Five for Friday! And IWALT Bookmarks!

So Soho Press is still keeping the cover for next year's  IT WASN'T ALWAYS LIKE THIS under wraps as best they can. ARCs are sneaking into the world to early readers/blurbers, and the come January to everyone else. But they approved these awesome bookmarks, created by my friend and writing partner Kristin Rae!

Yeah, they're pretty awesome and they hint so nicely at the cover while still not giving it away, so look closely! Very excited!

And in #2, a quick photo recap of last week's Texas Book Festival which was supremely awesome and such an honor to be part of!

Catching some sun with capitol behind us with me, A.G. Howard, Cory Putnam Oakes, Mari Mancusi, PJ Hoover

Our Blood is Thicker than Water panel in the signing tent: me, Heather Demetrios, Renee Watson

And yes, that is Margaret Atwood. 

Meeting fellow Soho author and all around awesome author and human and very tall guy, Adam Silvera

3. It is still summer in Houston. It should move on to Fall. Like NOW.

4. Looking forward to Comic Con Austin and then McAllen Book Festival and then some time to just write, write, write.

5. And between all the above and a brief jaunt to Florida to just hang on the beach in Ft. Walton where it's just you and the white sand and the birds and the sea turtles and it's heaven, I am also now getting better from strep throat/sinus infection. But yeah, it was worth it! 

Five For Friday

And in no particular order…

1. I have many, many thoughts on Peter Pan Live, which so many of us watched last night. But Time and the Daily Beast say it better than I can. Beyond that, I applaud you Allison Williams. You flew very well. And nailed your landings many more times than Walken nailed his lines. There truly are no words for Walken's "I've put the plank on the poop." 

2. Lovely, lovely time Wednesday presenting workshops to amazing librarians in Texas Region 12 at the Waco Library Jubilee. Hooray for librarians!! Plus an entire day hanging out with my partner in crime P.J. Hoover, whose latest MG novel TUT just made the Lone Star list!!

3. Oh how I love writing IT WASN'T ALWAYS LIKE THIS -- which will hopefully arrive in 2016 from Soho Press and will be what happens when you morph Tuck Everlasting with Veronica Mars and amp up the romance and broaden the historical scope. 

4. Still racing through season 2 of House of Cards. Oh Francis Underwood. Oh Claire Underwood. Oh the glorious, nasty corruption.

5. And finally, in a miraculous moment, my favorite Chicago pizza place, Gino's East, is branching out to other states and somehow decided that my little north Houston 'burn was the place to begin!! Yes! They are bringing me their version of deep dish pizza with that yummy blanket of sausage!! It's a pizza miracle, I tell you!! A pizza miracle!

http://www.ginoseast.com/news/ginos-east-expands-texas/

SOME YA BOOT KICKING IN THE LONE STAR STATE: WRITING TEXAS

Mall Culture Heaven: French Fry Heaven!

So here’s the story: One day recently, it occurred to authors Tricia (PJ) Hoover, Mari Mancusi, Mary Lindsey and I that we all had new YA novels set in Texas. This is perhaps not surprising since we all live here in the Lone Star State – Mary and I here in Houston and Mari and Tricia in Austin. But the more we brainstormed, the more we realized that we really had a lot to say about not only why we set our stories here as well as the process involved in the specifics of a Lone Star state setting. Thus was born a panel presentation that we’ll be doing all over Texas this fall at a variety of regional library conferences. Sometimes it will be all four of us; sometimes it will be two. But it’s been both fun and eye-opening to look at the various aspects of setting a novel in Texas and what inspired each of us as well as what Texas elements play key roles.

To catch you up to speed: PJ Hoover’s SOLSTICE is a morph of dystopian and mythology, set in a slightly future Austin where global warming has changed a great deal. Plus two hot guys and one girl who is not quite who she thinks she is!  Mari Mancusi’s brand new SCORCHED uses a West Texas setting to begin a story that is best described as Game of Thrones meets Terminator and has—yup—2 hot guys (twins!) and girl and a dragon egg and a potential dragon apocalypse! Mary Lindsey’s SHATTERED SOULS series has—yup!—two hot guys and a girl who can help lost souls. Right here in Galveston. And finally, my SWEET DEAD LIFE series is about a girl whose brother returns from a fatal car accident as her less than angelic guardian angel, setting in motion a vast family mystery with huge global consequences. Also a cute guy who appears in book 1 for the beginning of a love story that will wind its way through the series. Just 1 guy. At least for now. And set – right here in Houston, with a few Austin road trips.

(Plus all our title start with 's'--something I just noticed)

For some stories, setting is an aspect, but it’s not crucial to the story telling. Certain romances, for example. The story is so much about the couple that the setting feels secondary. But imagine Twilight set in Miami? Uh, no. Even something like Lauren Oliver’s Before I Fall is deeply intertwined to the specificity of a certain economic class in a certain type of suburban CT high school. At least as I see it.

So setting. For those of you who haven’t thought about setting since your 10^th grade English teacher asked you to draw a map of Maycomb Alabama or whatever, there’s more to it than just a geographic location. Setting is everything: time period, social milieu, climate; time of year; physical and political environment and more. Here’s a quick Writer’s Digest article if you really haven’t thought about it in a while:  http://www.writersdigest.com/tip-of-the-day/discover-the-basic-elements-of-setting-in-a-story

When my Soho Press editor first suggested the basic idea for the TSDL series, I remember being a bit nervous when I sent him an email saying that I would love to write this series but that I envisioned it set in suburban Houston. I figured he would say, ‘uh no,’ or perhaps, ‘hell no’ or perhaps wtf are you thinking, Prebs?’ But instead, he said, YES!

So why Texas? Well first of all, I live here. So the small societal details come easily to me because I live them every day. I mean let’s face it, there is a stunning specificity to the ‘wasteland’ of the northern Houston ‘burbs’ : Breakfast tacos and kolaches and mall culture and Olive Gardens and strip centers and stuff like how here in the more affluent suburb where I live, they’ve built us a town center that looks like a small town’s downtown, with stores built into old brick buildings. Only it’s just a façade. The buildings aren’t old at all, just a few years old, really. So in essence – a FAKE town center that everyone raves about. Stuff like that sticks in your head, you know?

So when my brain went whirring about where I would set a story about a 14 year old girl who’s older brother came back as a guardian angel, I thought WHAT BETTER PLACE than in the middle of giant high school football stadiums and Crocs kiosks and FAKE TOWN CENTERS, and western wear and cowboy boots devoid of actual farm work, and churches so enormous that they have a Starbucks inside (yes really) and a societal culture that often professes to have a pipeline to all the answers about faith and salvation and things of that nature. So, my brain said, what if the stoner dude (formerly a football star but down on his luck  and failing his classes because he’s been supporting the family since his dad disappeared and his mom went all depressed) in one of those ordinary suburban houses actually came back as his sassy sister's guardian angel? Right before Christmas. When the next door neighbors were putting out their lights and lawn angels? And became the most unlikely hero ever? And what if there was a big global mystery that could change life as we know it and its center was the Houston Medical Center? And the newly minted Texas boy angel and his narrator sister were at the epicenter of it all?

You see what I mean? Houston Texas was the PERFECT setting for this novel—for not only the main story but also much of the subtext. In fact, the setting works as a character of sorts. I can’t imagine this novel taking place anywhere else.

So what novels have you read where the setting plays a huge role in the story?

TEXAS IS HOT AND PJ HOOVER LETS US KNOW WHY IN SOLSTICE

Today I have the extreme pleasure to welcome PJ (Tricia) Hoover, whose YA dystopian with a mythological twist SOLSTICE just hit the shelves today from TOR books! Full disclosure, Tricia is a fellow Texas writer. I have made her guest room my second home since I seem to be in Austin every five and half seconds these days. She is funny and a fellow Star Trek nerd. She has a kickass collection of nerd t shirts that one day I will STEAL FROM HER CLOSET. If you want to see them, she posts pics regularly. Her family is equally rocking, including the two tortoises. It’s Tricia who decided that a group of us would appear regularly at Austin Comic Con. She is the only one who could convince me to wear an evil mermaid costume for 3 days in a row. She appreciated my geeker joy when I got five minutes of chat time with James Marsters (aka Spike from BTVS). I reciprocated during her photo op with Kevin Sorbo.

BTW—Make sure you read to the end! Tricia’s giving away a signed copy of SOLSTICE!

Tricia’s official bio reads like this:

P. J. Hoover first fell in love with Greek mythology in sixth grade thanks to the book Mythology by Edith Hamilton. After a fifteen year bout as an electrical engineer designing computer chips for a living, P. J. decided to take her own stab at mythology and started writing books for kids and teens. When not writing, P. J. spends time with her husband and two kids and enjoys practicing kung fu, solving Rubik's cubes, and watching Star Trek. Her first novel for teens, Solstice (Tor Teen, June 18, 2013), takes place in a global warming future and explores the parallel world of mythology beside our own. Her middle grade novel, Tut (Tor Children's, 2014), tells the story of a young immortal King Tut, who's been stuck in middle school for over 3,000 years and must defeat an ancient enemy with the help of a dorky kid from school, a mysterious Egyptian princess, and a one-eyed cat. For more information about P. J. (Tricia) Hoover, please visit her website www.pjhoover.com.

And here is the quick summary for SOLSTICE – which I have read and absolutely adore! Yes, Tricia Hoover has made global warming pretty hot in other ways, too –and yes, I’m thinking of Shayne and Reese the two love interests vying for main character Piper as she realizes that she is a much different girl with a much different backstory than she realizes… and that the increasingly hot temps in Austin are just possibly her fault…

Piper’s world is dying. Each day brings hotter temperatures and heat bubbles which threaten to destroy the Earth. Amid this Global Heating Crisis, Piper lives under the oppressive rule of her mother, who suffocates her even more than the weather does. Everything changes on her eighteenth birthday, when her mother is called away on a mysterious errand and Piper seizes her first opportunity for freedom. 

Piper discovers a universe she never knew existed—a sphere of gods and monsters—and realizes that her world is not the only one in crisis. While gods battle for control of the Underworld, Piper’s life spirals out of control as she struggles to find the answer to the secret that has been kept from her since birth—her very identity….

An imaginative melding of mythology and dystopia, Solstice is the first YA novel by talented newcomer P. J. Hoover.

Now let’s hear from PJ Hoover herself!

Joy: Your stories and even your blog title have a focus on mythology. Tell us about that.

PJ: I adore mythology. It started back in sixth grade when I read that book, Mythology, by Edith Hamilton, and it never went away. I love those tales of epic quests and heroes. And I find studying and comparing mythologies from around the world fascinating. I guess that’s why I always find a way to use it in my stories. And the blog title? That’s because so many things in our modern society have their basis in mythological beliefs, most people don’t know about them, and that’s just cool.

Joy: Where did the idea for SOLSTICE come from?

PJ: Well, it came about first and foremost from my love of mythology. So many people were writing fairy tale retellings, but as much as I love fairy tales, I didn’t want to jump into that playground. I wanted to hang out in a playground much closer to home. I started thinking about myths. But instead of a retelling, I wanted to write about what came after the myth, and that’s where the idea for Solstice came about.

Joy: Piper is torn between two hunky guys, but those characters have a great purpose than just the traditional love triangle. Can you tell us about Piper's love interests.

PJ: Well, without spoilers, maybe the best way is to contrast them.

Shayne is all about responsibility.

Reese is all about breaking the rules.

Shayne is willing to wait for what he wants.

Reese is likely to grab whatever he wants with no care to what happens as a result.

Shayne has a deep bond with Piper.

Reese can’t control himself around Piper . . . and she can’t control herself around him either.

Shayne has a temper.

Reese understands the value of chocolate.

The guys are so different, and that’s what made writing both of them so much fun in Solstice!

Joy: For those unaware of the story of Persephone, could you give us the quick, down and dirty version?

PJ: Sure! We’ll go with the traditional version.

Girl is very innocent. Girl never leaves her mom’s side. Until (you guessed it) one day, girl’s mom stops watching for a moment. Evil god comes and steals girl away. Evil god takes girl to Underworld. Never wants her to leave. Tricks her into eating food, thus binding her to the Underworld. Mom is mad. Crazy mad. But King of the gods, makes everyone happy, having girl split her time between her mom and evil god. The end.

Joy: How did you decide the near future Austin in global warming details that build the world?

PJ: Why Austin? Because I live here! It’s a great city and one I know well.

Why the near future? Because of the “what happens next” aspect of the myth. There was no other logical conclusion.

Joy: I'm going to meet Piper for the first time and I ask you to tell me about her. What would you say?

PJ: You totally might think Piper’s meek, based on how her mom controls her every move. But give her an inch of freedom, and watch out! All bets are off. Piper will surprise you (and herself) every chance she gets.

Joy: The one or two sentence SOLSTICE elevator pitch. Quick! What do you tell that Hollywood movie scout!

PJ: Solstice is a futuristic story, set amid a global-warming devastated world, about an eighteen-year-old girl who opens a mysterious present and discovers a world of mythology she never knew existed. And then the world really turns crazy.

Joy: What's next for PJ Hoover?

PJ: I have a middle grade Egyptian mythology book coming out in Fall 2014. It’s called Tut: My Life as an Immortal 8^th Grader, and it’s about King Tut who is fourteen, immortal, and living in Washington D.C. with his one-eyed cat, Horus, when his crazy uncle from 3000 years ago shows up and is out to get King Tut. I am so excited for it to be published!

 Lightning Round

-- M&M's or Twizzlers?

M&Ms!

--unicorns or zombies?

Hobbits J

--favorite guilty pleasure TV?

Star Trek

--book(s) for a desert island?

The Silmarillion

--favorite breakfast foods?

Sunnyside-up eggs and bacon. And coffee. Never forget the coffee.

--wine or whiskey?

Red wine, dark and dry

--fave myth?

Cupid and Psyche

--a song that reflected the high school you?

D’yer Mak’er by Led Zeppelin

 **Joy's note: Zep is the BEST BAND EVER*

Want to know more about PJ Hoover? Check out her WEBSITE

 AND NOW!! Want to Win a signed copy of SOLSTICE? Enter here! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks TXLA12 !

Oh TXLA12! What a good time was had by all. I am very grateful to my publisher, Sourcebooks, for inviting me to come and arranging for me to sign advanced reading copies of ANASTASIA FOREVER. And the the YART committee for choosing me for the Texas Author's Tea and TT4L. It was all great fun. And getting copies of Anastasia Forever in readers' hands for the first time before it comes out in August was a huge rush of excitement!

But now I think I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

My Austin girl Jessica Lee Anderson, rocking her cowgirl hat while Geoff Herbach and our Sourcebooks Director of Children's Marketing and Publicity, Derry Wilkens is thinking: "Oh Herbach, wait till you see *your* hat."

Yup, nothing says Texas like the special Texas author hats at the YART Texas Author Tea. That's what Chris Mandelski, PJ Hoover and I think!

My YART Tea speed dating partner, author Michael Northrup who said, "Oh yeah. Give us all hats and no mirrors." And who writes amazing books like Trapped!

The YAHOUS (Lynne Kelly Mary Lindsey, Jenny Moss, me, Chris Mandelski, Crystal Allen)

Eating dinner with author/blogger Stephanie Pellegrin, Sourcebooks 'brother' Geoff Herbach, Austin librarian extraordinaire Jen Bigheart, and blogger Stephanie Redwine.

hanging with the girls: Amy Fellner Dominy (OyMG) and blogger and all around super human, Maria Cari Soto

and this is when I got 'ferklempt' at the signing with Maria Cari Soto because she's been there through this whole Dreaming Anastasia series journey.

The Sourcebooks team very full after dinner. And laughing a bunch. Melissa Wood and intern Katie Anderson and head publicity honcho Derry Wilkens and me and Geoff Herbach. Geoff ate a manly steak. With beet sauce.

My first ever Nook cover to sign!

And the line kept coming! Thank you. I was overwhelmed with delight that people stood in line for 90 minutes! Crazy talk. Or as my husband likes to say: "If only they really knew you."

My home girl Katie B of Mundie Moms, who has supported me like a crazy woman.

If it's Monday You Must be a Winner

Thanks to everyone who participated in the 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon contest!! Your answers were amazing! The winner of the signed copy of PJ Hoover's Emerald Tablet is Christine, who told a fascinating Hollywood tale!
The signed copy of Jessica Lee Anderson's Trudy is Carrie, who had another fantastic road to Kevin Bacon!

And Valerie Kemp wins the signed (by me!) copy of HAUNTED for her star-studded 6 degree tale.

Sir Bacon would be proud!
All winners need to email me with your mailing address at joypreble at gmail dot com.
Thanks for playing!!

In other news, I'll be conducting a Teen Writer Workshop at the South Regional Library on Lake Robbins Rd. in The Woodlands, TX, on Thursday 10/20 at 6 PM. If you're 13-18, call the library or go over there to register. Not only are we going to write together, but I'll be giving away an entire bag of Sourcebooks YA titles that my editor Leah Hultenschmidt and my publicist Kay Mitchell have sent as prizes!!

And Comic Con in Austin is coming.... More on that soon.... the Ninja Writers of Texas will be going crazy at our booth. Zombie jerky, zombie contacts, zombie glasses, mermaid costumes, greek goddess costumes, Baba Yaga t shirts... plus me, PJ Hoover, Mari Mancusi, Jessica Lee Anderson, Kari Ann Holt and more... November 11-13... Austin Convention Center.

And click on the Crossroads icon on the blog sidebar to find out how to play and win as Crossroads 2 revs up on 10/22!

Thursday Dance Party: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon Contest

Who doesn't love Footloose? Who doesn't want to dance like a fool when that music comes on?

And who wants to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon in honor of the original Ren from the 80's classic? Thought you'd say yes!

Okay, here's how to play, in case you've been living under a rock all these years and have never tried to see how close your connection to Sir Bacon is. I'll go first: A few weeks ago when I was in Malibu with my daughter in law's mom (aka my bestie Pennie), we parked in front of Julia Roberts' house to go to the private beach. (long story, but let me say it was fabulous) Julia Roberts starred in Flatliners with Kevin Bacon. This makes me 2 degrees from Kevin Bacon.

Comment and let me know how many degrees it takes you to connect yourself to Kevin Bacon and I'll put you in the running for three possible prizes -- a signed copy of my very own HAUNTED, and signed copies of books by two of my Ninja Writers of Texas Austin Comic Con cohorts, The Emerald Tablet by PJ Hoover and Trudy by Jessica Lee Anderson.

Contest will run through Sunday night and I'll announce the winner on Monday.

Until then, let's dance:

And the Winners Are

Wow! Since this contest was mainly about PJ Hoover and her new YA dystopian, Solstice, I put her in charge of the contest hat! And I guess she's just magic, cause we ended up with 5 winners!


Drum Roll Please.......


The winners of the Solstice trading cards - one for each character and all with uber cool secret codes and special stuff - are:


Jim Danielson
Lieder Madchen
Bee
April X

And the winner of Solstice Trading Cards AND a signed copy of Haunted (from yours truly) is...

Tasnim

Congratulations to all! If you are reading this, please email me your addresses at joy at joypreble dot com so we can send your prizes.

And stay tuned to this blog for a guest post and giveaway with Janet Fox, in honor of her new historical fiction YA, Forgiven, which is the companion book to last year's Faithful. And later in the month, I'll be hosting fellow Houston YA writer, Christina Mandelski, whose debut novel is the fabulous The Sweetest Thing.

Plus lots more... Trust me, it's going to be one amazing blogalicious summer!

And coming in the fall, I am very, very excited to announce that I will be going to Austin Comic Con in November!! More soon, so stay tuned.

Solstice Contest Closed

Thank you to all who entered and told me and PJ Hoover what you do when it's hot outside! (Did you notice that it is still pretty hot out, btw? At least here in Houston, where it's gonna hit 100 at least twice this week. Again!)

Your entries are headed into the contest hat. (which I've been wearing to protect my pretty face from the sun)
We will announce winners soon!

Stay cool my friends!

PJ Hoover's new book Solstice totally rocks - Plus a Giveaway

Yes, dear readers, another giveaway. Just go with it. I have no idea what’s making me so delightfully generous. Possibly I’ve just lost it with this crazy hot weather we’ve been having. Even for Houston (where we’ve basically got just two seasons – summer and February), this has been a bit extreme. We hit 100 in late May and seem to have skipped right over June and July and gotten stuck in August. Okay, it’s dipped back into the mid 90’s this week, but seriously, it’s hot. Where is Al Gore with that power point when you need him?

And speaking of global warming – which we just were, in case you didn’t catch on – I’ve got a really hot treat for you today, gentle readers! My pal PJ Hoover – Texas Sweetheart, Austin writer, all around cool chick who does hip things like appear at Dallas Comic Con – has written a new book called Solstice. Our mutual literary agency, the fabulous Andrea Brown Literary, has published it as their first front list ebook, which is also way cool. (note how I’m throwing in the word cool to juxtapose with the hot? I am just that good of a writer)

Here’s the Amazon blurb:

Piper's world is dying. Global warming kills every living thing on Earth, and each day brings hotter temperatures and heat bubbles which threaten to destroy humanity. Amid this Global Heating Crisis, Piper lives with her mother who suffocates her more than the chaotic climate. When her mother is called away to meet the father Piper has been running from her entire life, Piper seizes an opportunity for freedom.

But when Piper discovers a world of mythology she never knew existed, she realizes her world is not the only one in crisis. While Gods battle for control of the Underworld, Piper's life spirals into turmoil, and she struggles to find answers to secrets kept from her since birth. And though she's drawn to her classmate Shayne, he may be more than he claims. Piper has to choose whom she can trust and how she can save the people she loves even if it means the end of everything she's ever known.So in honor of the Solstice release, PJ and I thought we’d something different.

First – our giveaway. If you want to win some Solstice trading cards, comment on this post and let us know your favorite things to do when it’s hot outside. (remember this is a family blog!) I’ll leave the contest open until Monday 6/13. And just for good measure, I’ll send the winner an autographed copy of Haunted, too!But before you post, here’s our surprise. It’s too hot for me to come up with questions, so I asked my character Anne Michaelson – the feisty hero of Dreaming Anastasia and Haunted – to have a little chat with Solstice’s Piper. Seems they have a lot in common, these two. Check it out below! And don’t forget to enter the contest!

Anne: When I met Ethan I thought he was totally hot, but honestly? He was sort of stalkerish and intense. It took me a while to realize that what I felt for him was way different than I’ve ever felt for anyone else. And then he went away and I started going out with Ben because I wanted someone normal and uncomplicated - which complicated things even more. Mr. Danger vs. Mr. Normal – but they’re both really awesome people. How about you and the whole Shayne/Reese thing? How did you end up with two guys in the picture?

Piper: Hey Anne, thanks for asking! Like you know, it is a bit of a challenge dealing with two guys, especially when they’re both pulling me in opposite directions. I mean, before I met Reese and Shayne, my mom controlled every single thing I did, and Reese was such a rule breaker; it was kind of awesome. Sure, I knew I was doing things I shouldn’t, but for once, it felt nice to be in charge of my own life. And then there was Shayne. Everything about him made me feel more secure except for the fact that he would never tell me the truth about anything. That, and he was a little overprotective.
So there I was with two guys, and they were both pretty hot. And the best part: they were both in love with me. Are you curious what I did about them? I hope so!

Anne: More than curious. We’ll have to talk later. Seriously. But first, another question, and let me just preface by saying I see where you’re coming from. My life has turned into one huge Russian fairy tale these days – and a happy ending is not necessarily guaranteed! I’ve made this bargain with Baba Yaga, who’s a totally unpredictable witch with iron teeth and removable hands. I’ve discovered that I’m related to a pretty cranky Russian mermaid called a rusalka. And in book three, I’m going to face off with a guy named Koschei the Deathless who basically can’t be killed. How about you? What’s up with all the Greek mythology?

Piper: This girl I know, Melina, she gave me a birthday present when my mom wasn’t around. My mom would have freaked if she found out. She’s so overbearing. Anyway, after Melina left, I opened the present, and it was this gorgeous, ancient, Greek box. You can probably guess where this is going. Yep. Like Pandora, I opened the box. Sigh. Maybe I shouldn’t have, because the next thing I knew, my whole world divided. All of a sudden Greek gods started showing up at the most unexpected places and paying all this attention to me. Who knew? I thought global warming was our biggest issue, not mythological domination.

Anne: And I thought I was the only one on the wacky life train. Possibly Baba Yaga isn’t the only scary thing out there. And I’m sorry your mom keeps freaking. I get that, you know. Family stuff is pretty harsh for me lately. Since my brother David died, my parents haven’t been getting along real well. I think my mother’s developed an eating disorder. And now that my mom knows some of my secrets, well, I think it’s making her even more freaked out. Plus if she had to pick, she’d definitely want me with Ben and not Ethan which is totally not her business, by the way! I know you and your mom are having some issues, too. Any suggestions for how to work it all out?

Piper: I have this total love/hate thing going on with my mom. I mean, on the one hand, she’s really awesome in that she loves me more than anything. On the other hand, her love is so intense, it’s pretty much an obsession. I can hardly go to the bathroom without my mom watching. It’s so bad that back when I was 13, I actually ran away and refused to come home unless she let me go to public school. Which she did. But she calls me every day to make sure I’m still alive. So you want advice on how to deal with a family situation? Unless you want to run away, too, I don’t have anything useful to offer.


Anne: Nope. Not gonna run away. So let’s change the subject to something, um, lighter. What's on your ipod right now?

Piper: Well, in my world here in Solstice, we all actually have something called a FON (functional operating node). So on my FON is DON’T FEAR THE REAPER by Blue Oyster Cult


Anne: Your perfect day?

Piper: It has to be hot, and the sun has to be shining, and it’s best if my mom is out of town and a gorgeous guy asks me out. Oooh, you have to read about it in Solstice! It’s totally hot!


Anne: I think I’ll do that. Then I’ll loan the book to Tess. Speaking of my bff – she and I just had like, an hour long debate - peanut butter or chocolate?

Piper: Peanut butter because with global warming and all that, chocolate melts too fast.

Anne: You’ve the quite the global warming obsession, right? But maybe for good reason…

Piper: It was great talking to you, Anne! I hope we can do this again sometime!

Anne: Ditto.


PJ Hoover’s Bio:P. J. Hoover first fell in love with Greek mythology in sixth grade thanks to the book Mythology by Edith Hamilton. After a fifteen year bout as an electrical engineer designing computer chips for a living, P. J. decided to take her own stab at mythology and started writing books for kids and teens. P. J. is also a member of THE TEXAS SWEETHEARTS & SCOUNDRELS. When not writing, P. J. spends time with her husband and two kids and enjoys practicing Kung Fu, solving Rubik's cubes, and watching Star Trek.
Her first novel for teens, Solstice, takes place in a Global Warming future and explores the parallel world of mythology beside our own. Her middle grade fantasy novels, The Emerald Tablet, The Navel of the World, and The Necropolis, chronicle the adventures of a boy who discovers he’s part of two feuding worlds hidden beneath the sea.

Indie Love Winners!!

Before I announce the lucky winners, let me say thanks again to Lisa and Laura Roecker for spearheading the 'spread some indie bookstore love' event. As much as I love my local B&N and Borders - and all the wonderful CRM's and managers and booksellers who support me - I have a soft spot for the small, independent stores that champion books, readers, and authors. They are my heroes!

Also, your responses made it clear that many, many people are not close to *any* bookstore - chain or otherwise. If it's not stocked at Walmart, you're getting your books on line... or not at all. This speaks volumes - and not in a good way. I hate that just this handful of buyers is controlling what we read. The Dreaming Anastasia series has gotten - admittedly - amazing placement in the big box chains. (Sbooks marketing team, you are gods!) But if there's not a B&N or Borders (whatever is left) near you, then you don't get the choice to choose these books unless you stumble into them on line. (yes, my 1,000 Twitter followers are obviously not as powerful as my fantasy brain would like to think.)

Food for thought...

But now..... drum roll please.....

THE WINNERS!!!!

The signed copy Rachel Hawkins' Hex Hall goes to Emmie, who hangs out the Hastings in Witchita Falls. Emmie, in the words of Rachel herself (yes, we are friends! Feel free to be in awe), "Amazeballs!"

The signed copy of Sarwat Chadda's Devil's Kiss goes to Chey, who loves a store called DowntownBooks and worries that it will stay open. Chey, Sarwat (yes, another friend! I am so popular. Yep, that's what you're thinking) wants to tell you, "Brilliant!" and offer to buy you a cuppa cream tea next time you're in London. (oh wait, that's what he promised me)

I will be emailing both winners later today.
Congrats!

And stay tuned later this week for my fabulous post ever when I let Anne from Dreaming Anastasia and Haunted interview Piper from PJ Hoover's new YA Solstice. This interview is HOT!!!

til next time..