Writer Wednesday: A New Adventure of Music, Magic, and Myth from Gail Giles and Deb Vanasse

No Returns

Book One of the Battleband Saga

A dead rat and a song about blood sacrifice set off an adventure of music, magic, and myth that pits a boy band against the devil. “The first movement in an ambitious song cycle of a tale,” says Kirkus Reviews.

Excerpt

Becca’s mouth gaped. She shut it, fast, as flies circled her head.

Manny swung at the winged frenzy. Flaco leapt up and beat at the dark, buzzing cloud. I flailed at the horror of insects that wriggled against my skin. Shouts turned to screams as the flies swarmed the stadium, thousands and thousands of crawling feet and glistening wings. Flies climbed the walls. The ventilation system choked and sputtered with them.

Then came Fred.

Flaco jumped over his drums and pitched his sticks straight at his head. Fedora skewed and face bulging red, Fred lunged. I braced for flames.

Manny grabbed the microphone stand and swept it along the floor, knocking Fred’s feet out from under him. He landed with a thump.

 “Run for it!” Flaco screamed to Manny and me. He sprinted to the edge of the stage, opened his arms wide, and dove into the crowd. Their arms went up immediately, catching Flaco in a huge cradle.

Fred scrambled to his feet and grabbed for me with his jeweled fingers. I skidded out of reach. The crowd whooped and hollered like it was all part of the show. Someone hoisted Becca toward the stage. Manny shoved her back. “Get out of here,” he bellowed. She looked stunned as a clobbered fish.

The audience passed Flaco from person to person until he pointed to the ground. On his feet, he swept off his headband and bowed. Manny and I launched in imitation of his leap. Manny was down and running like a fullback while I was still bouncing in the air like a volleyball.

Fred scooted off the platform and began shoving his way through the throng. “Down,” I yelled. “Put me down.”

About the book

Pod does card tricks to prove he’s in control. Flaco is rich and loyal beyond words to his abuelo. Manny is desperate to get out of his Bar Mitzvah. Together, what these middle-school misfits want most is for their fledgling band to get noticed. When their made-up song conjures a strange man in Pod’s ancient barn, fame follows so fast it’s scary. As strange things spew from Pod’s guitar, the boys in the band wonder how much of their success comes from talent and how much comes from a dark power they don’t understand. What will they risk for stardom?

A colorful cast, complex emotions, lively wording, rich allusions, evocative imagery, and multiple layers of meaning add appeal for all ages.

“Brilliant and strikingly new!” says Terry Trueman, Printz Honor Author of Stuck in Neutral. “You’ll be hard-pressed to find three greater kids to root for in this fight against the devil.”

Hunchback Assignments author Arthur Slade says, “Turn this book up to eleven! It puts the buzz in Beelzebub and the power in power chords.”

About the authors

Gail Giles is the author of six young adult novels, including What Happened to Cat McBride and Dark Song. Her debut novel, Shattering Glass, was an ALA Best of the Best Book, a Book Sense 76 selection, and a Booklist Top 10 Mystery for Youth selection. Her second, Dead Girls Don’t Write Letters, was an ALA Top 10 Quick pick and a Book Sense 76 selection. She has over 12,000 ratings and is in the top 50 followed on Goodreads.

Deb Vanasse is the author of more than a dozen books for readers of all ages. Her debut novel, A Distant Enemy, was a Junior Literary Guild selection and is featured inBest Books for Young Readers, as was Out of the Wilderness. Two of her books have been selected as “Battle Books.” Follow her at www.debvanasse.com andwww.selfmadewriter.blogspot.com.

Kindle version: http://www.amazon.com/Returns-Battleband-Saga-Gail-Giles-ebook/dp/B00HRLUI98/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392406968&sr=8-1&keywords=gail+giles+no+returns

Print version: http://www.amazon.com/Returns-The-Battleband-Saga-Volume/dp/1940320046/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1392406968&sr=8-1

You’ll also find No Returns at e-book vendors and through bookstores everywhere.

www.battlebandsaga.com

My Writing Process Blog Tour

A Writer's Space: Where the Magic Begins

I was invited by the lovely and talented young author, Chele Cooke, to participate in this fun and unique blog tour. This week I'm answering four questions about my writing process. I've tagged three other authors to answer these questions on their blog next week.

1) What am I working on?

Emily's Heart by Natalie Wright

Having recently launched my third book, Emily's Heart (Book 3 of The Akasha Chronicles). I've been spending a lot of time writing blog posts, answering interviews, and generally flitting around the cybersphere. But I'm also gearing up to start a new teen, science fiction series (working title H.A.L.F.). I'M SO EXCITED about this new series!!! Well, it's not so new. I had the idea back in 2010 and actually finished the first draft in the summer of 2012. But I shelved it for a while so I could finish up The Akasha Chronicles. But even though it was "one the shelf", by brain and subconscious were still hard at work on it. I'm stoked about the new direction the story has taken in my brain. It will be like The X-Files meets the T.V. show Roswell with a pinch of The Good, the Bad and The Ugly. I'm in the worldbuilding and character development stage right now, but will be sitting my butt in the chair in March to bang out a (second) first draft. I hope to release Book 1 of the series in the Spring of 2015. Stay tuned ;-)

2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?

The Akasha Chronicles

My first series, The Akasha Chronicles, isn't quite like anything else out there! There are a couple of reasons. First, my writing tends to cross the borders between genres. Take Emily's House (Book 1). It's full of magick and myth putting it in the fantasy genre (complete with a spiteful pixie, a banshee, and magickal powers), but it also has a science fiction bent (time travel and black holes at the Large Hadron Collider). Second, The Akasha Chronicles is about Emily's spiritual journey. On the surface, it's a fun series with lots of action and adventure, a bit of romance and the third book is a dystopian lovestory. But taken as a whole, it's a chronicle of a spiritual warrior's journey. There aren't many books written for teenagers that are about a young person's spiritual journey! It's just about absent from teen literature. But readers (especially the 1.4 million reads on Wattpad) have proven that teens enjoy books that make them think. That make them question. And that give them hope.

3) Why do I write what I do?

Because I have to write what I write! It's as if I don't have a choice. I have lots of ideas but some grab hold and become like an obsession, begging me to give it voice. Those ideas become notebooks full of notes, folders full of research, drawings of characters and scribbled on maps. The ideas that begin to fill a notebook become a novel.

4) How does my writing process work?

My stories typically start with a plot. I often have a story come to me in beginning, middle, end form. I then work from the plot idea and consider characters, worldbuilding, etc. I do not outline per se, but I do write a synopsis hitting the main plot points. I spend quite a bit of time working on character back story and I try to understand the main characters and their motivations, etc. before I begin to write. I try to write the first draft in a short period of time (short for me means 30-60 days), then I let it simmer for a while. Then I go back to the manuscript and read, revise, re-write and repeat. I do that until I'm sick of looking at it and can't think of any way to improve it. At that point, it's ready for initial beta reader/content editor. Then the revision process starts anew. My books generally take about 9-13 months to complete. Now that I'm no longer practicing law, I might be able to produce books more quickly. We'll see ;-)

Chele Cooke
Author of Dead and Buryd

Thank you again to Chele Cooke for tapping me to participate in this blog tour. Please check out Chele at her website and do read her debut novel, Dead and Buryd.

And next week be sure to check out Heather Sunseri's blog for her post about her writing process. Here is a little bit about Heather.

Heather writes young adult science fiction romance (but don't let the science fiction trip you up—it's mostly romance). Born and raised in a small town in Central Kentucky, which can be quite boring at times, she had no choice but to create stories in her head in which she can be anything from an FBI agent to a mad scientist who clones human beings to an actual cloned human with supernatural mind control abilities. You can find out more about the stories Heather writes and her publishing journey at http://heathersunseri.com or if you want to discuss other fun life experiences, join her on her brand new experimental blog, http://alifedissettled.com. 

Writer Wednesday: Riding the Roller Coaster with Heather Sunseri

Today I welcome the lovely Heather Sunseri to Writer Wednesday. Heather is smart, funny and a damned good writer. I hope you enjoy her post as much as I did. And I look forward to reading her books, Mindspeak and her new release, Mindsiege. Why not pick up a copy for yourself? Links are below.

Heather Sunseri,
Author of Mindsiege & Mindspeak

Hi, I’m Heather Sunseri, and I’m a recovering rule-follower-aholic.

Somewhere along the path to becoming a writer, someone insisted that I had to follow a certain set of rules if I had any hope in succeeding as a novelist.

I was told that I had to write 1000 words each and every day; I had to be a consistent blogger and blog often; I couldn’t introduce more than two characters in the first scene of any novel; it was imperative that I join a critique group; I would never make money with writing; traditional publishing was the only way to give my writing any merit; and the fact that I don’t like chocolate is the main reason I would never succeed as a novelist.

I kid you not. (Although someone may or may not have been joking about the chocolate. I’m not sure.) All of the above and many more absurd statements have been said to me on the bumpy road I’ve traveled to become a published writer. I’m sure you’ve had your own list of demands put upon you as you strive to reach a goal, whether it be in the realm of writing or something else entirely.

I realized one lovely September day more than two years ago as I sat in front of an agent (who I will not name) at the ACFW conference that I was done. D-O-N-E. I had hit my rock bottom of following all the rules.

It truly wasn’t that I didn’t respect the professionals that I had paid hefty conference fees to hear. The problem? The publishing world had hit a tough time. Really, the entire U.S. economy had hit a tough time. Agents were not accepting very many new authors. Publishers were not making deals. The outlook for aspiring writers was bleak. And with the odds further stacked against writers, I believe agents and publishers were frustrated and had nothing positive to offer many writers. And I got a full dose of this frustration when an agent read one page of my manuscript, looked up at me and said, “Your writing is good, but this will never sell. You’ve introduced like four characters on the first page.” And he went on to say other discouraging, you-didn’t-follow-the-rules-type statements.

This agent meeting came at the end of a long few years of blogging, writing according to what publishers and agents were “looking for,” trying to connect with certain authors and publishing professionals the way I read I was supposed to, and following many other rules. This meeting was my rock bottom, and I knew I had a choice to make.

I could stay the course, or change with an industry that was rapidly transforming, and is still racing at the speed of light to an unknown destination.

I had someone tell me not that long ago, “I feel like I missed the boat to self-publish.” My response? “It’s not a boat. It’s a never-ending roller coaster. You just have jump on while it’s on the uphill and enjoy the ride after it hits one of its peaks and then prepare for the next peak and hang on when it goes upside down.”

Here’s another thing. It’s no longer a debate about whether to self-publish or query agents and traditional publishers. For me, it never was. For me, it was a decision to make career choices that were best for me and what I wanted to write. And not be afraid to make a different choice the next time.

After I left that conference, I reassessed my writing career and aspirations, and realized I had been following all the wrong rules and advice, and for all the wrong reasons. My goal had been to win some publishing game — follow someone else’s arbitrary rules, play a game others had made up, and win some prize that no one could even define for me. A prize I wasn’t even sure I wanted anymore.

That was when it all changed for me. I began listening to my own voice. I thought about the books I enjoyed reading. I envisioned a certain audience that might enjoy my voice. And then I wrote the book that I wanted to write with no consideration as to whether agents or publishers would be interested. I stopped listening to all the publishing rules and wrote to entertain.

Mindsiege, by Heather Sunseri

I’m not sure I’ve gotten it completely right yet, or if I ever will. But I know that I’m enjoying the ride. And I also know now why following the rules was so frustrating for me once upon a time. While I was busy following the rules, the game was changing. And that’s the decision we writers face every day: Are we going to play the game created by others yesterday, or are we going create a new game based on the rules that continuously evolve?

Heather Sunseri was raised on a tiny farm in one of the smallest towns in thoroughbred horse country near Lexington, Kentucky. After high school, she attended Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, and later graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in accounting. Always torn between a passion for fantasy and a mind for the rational, it only made sense to combine her career in accounting with a novel-writing dream.

You can connect with Heather in the following places:

Website: http://heathersunseri.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathersunseri.writer

Twitter: https://twitter.com/HeatherSunseri

Sign up for her newsletter at http://heathersunseri.com/newsletter

Heather’s latest release, Mindsiege, the sequel to Mindspeak, is available now. You can read blurbs about either and find out where the books are available on her website: http://heathersunseri.com/mindspeak-series/. The Mindsiege page will be constantly updated as Mindsiege goes live on each of the bookseller sites.

When Real Life Follows Fiction

If you follow this blog, then you know by now that I've had been holed up writing my third novel, Emily's Heart. Emily's Heart is set in an Apocalyptic America. To get a grip on the world building for the book, I began to write short stories. I play with different ideas, all a variation on the theme "What if?" Like, "What if a growing number of people were psychopaths?", or "What if the police stopped caring?"

As I make the mad push to get this story out by February, I've shunned most media. I came up for air today and saw this story in the news.  Strangely, it contains the essence of one of "What ifs" that sparked one of my short stories. And even weirder, it happened in my home town of Tucson, Arizona!

Check it out:

And here is a snippet of the short story that relates to this video. Is it art imitating life? Or life imitating art? Do you see the correlation? Or have I just been spending too much time in my cave?

From Emily's Heart, arriving February 1, 2014!

.     .     .

Sophie felt tears well in her eyes. What should she do? What had my dad said? Why hadn’t I paid closer attention? There was something about getting the driver’s insurance information. But that would require her to get out of the car. Fat chance!

Call the cops. Yes, she was supposed to make a report. That she could do. She didn’t need to leave the safety of her car to dial.

Her fingers shook as she pressed the three numbers, 911. She put the phone to her ear and heard it ring three times, then five, and six. Isn’t anyone going to pick up? I have an emergency here!

Finally an operator came on the line.

“911, what’s your emergency,” he said. The operator sounded as bored with his job as she was with folding clothes at her job.

“I was just in a car wreck,” she said.

“You and half of L.A. Welcome to the club,” he said.

Sophie didn’t know what to say to that. He doesn’t even seem to care!

“Okay,” she finally said. “That’s great, but I really need a cop to come here and help.”

“What’s your location?” the operator asked.

“Ummm . . .” What’s my location? She hadn’t paid attention to street signs as she texted and listened to music and otherwise tried as best she could to pass the time in the traffic jam without being bored out of her skull. She looked up and around for exit signs or other markers, but she was in a spot without any signs. Shit, I don’t know where I am.

“I’m not sure exactly. I’m on the 405 between Culver Boulevard and Santa Monica Boulevard.”

“How the hell am I supposed to dispatch someone to you when you don’t even know where  you are?”

COVER REVEAL for The SWITCH by Dawn Pendleton and Andrea Heltsley

I'm so excited to be a part of the cover reveal for this fabulous new book, The Switch, co-authored by Dawn Pendleton and Andrea Heltsley. Who doesn't love a story about twins making the switch? Check it out:

The Switch, by Dawn Pendleton and Andrea Heltsley

The Switch

By Dawn Pendleton and Andrea Heltsley

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18241138-the-switch?ac=1

   Honor and Faith haven’t switched places since they were kids. When Honor begs her twin sister to go on a date with her boyfriend, Cameron, Faith reluctantly agrees. The problem is that she lets things go too far. Now Honor and Cameron have broken up and he won’t stop calling Faith, claiming he felt something more for her than he ever felt for Honor. The scary thing is, Faith felt it too. She struggles to come to terms with her feelings for Cameron. There is one rule that sisters and best friends abide by, don’t date their ex’s.

   Honor has her own problems. Breaking it off with Cameron was the right thing to do, she knows that. His best friend, Parker, won’t leave her alone and forces her to talk about her feelings about the break-up. They spend a lot of time together and Honor starts to heal. Suddenly, Honor sees Parker as more than just a friend who cares. She wants more.

   Neither sister wants to complicate things further and cross those boundaries. They can’t stop their emotions for the guys in their lives. Turns out, the switch is the one thing that has changed them forever.