Guess the MG & YA Fantasy Book Covers: Back-to-School Style

It’s September – the month of back-to-school, shiny apples, and changing leaves… and a new round of Guess the Fantasy Book Covers!

As with our first round back in June, the author names and titles have been cleverly edited out of these MG and YA book jackets.  Do you have what it takes to identify them anyway?

You get one point for the correct title and another for the correct author. Books span the years from 1959 to 2013, and we use the first hardcover edition whenever possible (and, Lena says, with some exceptions! :)).

Ready? Pick up your pencils and begin!

Scoring system:

0-7 points:  Time to hit the books and do some extra-hours study.
8-13 points:  You’ve earned an E for effort.  A few more pop quizzes and you’ll be up to speed.
14-19 points:  Go to the head of the class!  You get all the stars.
20 points:  Good heavens – you must be the teacher!

Answers at the bottom!

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

As before, this post was a tag-team effort between me, Lena Goldfinch, and the wonderful Amy Greenfield. We had so much fun putting it together, we're tossing around the idea of doing it again!

Confession, I'm to blame for stripping these beautiful books of their titles & author names, with sincere apologies to book designers everywhere, and Amy deserves the credit for scouting out a fabulous selection of book covers for me to choose from & for introducing our game.

Here's a little more about us and a look at our own book covers stripped of their titles & author names – just for fun.

AMY BUTLER GREENFIELD was on her way to a history PhD when she gave into temptation and became a novelist. She loves music, romantic adventure, alternate history, and twisty plots, which explains how she came to write her first YA novel, Chantress (McElderry/S&S, May 2013).


LENA GOLDFINCH writes young adult fantasy with a healthy dose of "sigh-worthy" romance. In her creative heart, she loves travelling to all sorts of exciting places, past and present, a perk of making things up for a living. Her upcoming release, HAUNTING JOY: a ghostly little story, makes its first spectral appearance on October 20,2013.

Interview with Lisa Amowitz, on BREAKING GLASS and Ghostly Demands

Today we have with us fellow Inky & debut YA author Lisa Amowitz, who's ghostly Breaking Glass releases this month.

On the night seventeen-year-old Jeremy Glass winds up in the hospital with a broken leg and a blood alcohol level well above the legal limit, his secret crush, Susannah, disappears. When he begins receiving messages from her from beyond the grave, he's not sure whether they're real or if he's losing his grip on reality. Clue by clue, he gets closer to unraveling the mystery, and soon realizes he must discover the truth or become the next victim himself. Breaking Glass is a gripping, emotionally-raw story. Jeremy's story is at times reality-bending, but heartbreakingly real. It's a gritty YA mystery with creepy supernatural elements, that explores some disturbing & mature issues. The pov character, Jeremy Glass, is deeply flawed, but also sympathetic. I was routing for him — even yelling at him at times! — but always on his side. I flipped through the pages greedily, wanting to know what was going to happen next.

Hi, Lisa, thanks for chatting with me today! Jeremy Glass is such a wonderfully complex character. He's a terribly flawed boy--even self-destructive--and yet he's also so sympathetic. What do you think it is about Jeremy that makes  him so appealing to readers (or what is it about him that appeals to you as the author)?

LISA: What I love about Jeremy is that no matter what, his mind is always working — he's clever and funny. And though I guess his ability to mask his pain is what makes him able to hide it so well, I think it is also what is so endearing about him. His heart, underneath the pain, is essentially pure and caring —his wacky humor and nerdiness are the defenses he has constructed to protect it (along with some other not so endearing habits).

If you were haunting someone, theoretically, of course, what three items would you demand to appease you and send you off happily to the afterlife?

LISA: 
1) A really good strong cup of coffee with half and half — hot in winter, iced in the summer. Even as a ghost I know I will want that — whether I can drink it or not.
2) Pandora so I can still listen to my favorite music — no music would really be HELL.
3) Supernatural email — there must be an internet in the afterlife, right? Or would I just be able to speak to whomever I wanted into their minds?
4) Really nice shoes. Hey — even ghosts need to look their best.

I'm sure I'm going to make a really lousy ghost — I am way too high maintenance!

That's four, but anything for you, Lisa! I love the idea of Supernatural email. :-)

Where did the initial idea for Breaking Glass come from? 

LISA: Oh boy..I've answered this so many ways. But I'm going to back to the very beginning like my friend Kimberly Miller who wrote TRIANGLES did. In a recent interview she said her book started as a few lines in a file. So did mine. It was back in the winter of 2009, and I wrote something like:

Recuperating boy raises missing girl from the dead...hanky panky ensues. 

Okay — those weren't the exact words, but I do remember that I called it Spectacular. Initially I was going to have ghost posess the boy's current girlfriend, but nixed that idea fast. I didn't actually start writing Breaking Glass until the winter of 2011, by the way.

What's your favorite scene? 

LISA: I have a few, but one of them is when Jeremy comes home from the hospital on a snowy winter night a few weeks before Christmas, in deep physical and emotional pain. His father is also devastated and, as usual, has a terrible time trying to communicate with Jeremy — so what does Jeremy do? He makes a lame but totally barbed joke that makes his poor dad feel even worse. I have a son, so that's how I learned all this stuff. To me, that scene captures the dynamic between Jeremy and his dad perfectly and illustrates how stuck they both are. It also captures some of the bleak angst people who are not so happy often feel around the holidays.

If you could cast Jeremy in the movie version of Breaking Glass, who would the actor be? 

LISA: Ahhhh! No!!! It's so hard. The only person who could do him justice is Jesse Eisenberg or Michael Cera, but they are both too old and too well known and not really cute enough! But they are smart enough.

I love it! I can picture Jesse Eisenberg for Jeremy! Thanks for the interview, Lisa. That was a lot of fun. To learn more about Lisa, her books and her art, visit her blog. And get up a copy of Breaking Glass. It would be a great (creepy) book for one of those summer thunderstorm days when you're curled up in a cozy armchair (praying your house doesn't get hit by lightning ;)). 

We leave you with this serious question: 

If you were a ghost, what three things would you demand before you went off to the afterlife? (We'll assume in your ghostly form you can actually appreciate corporeal items. ;))

Can You Guess These Popular Fantasy Books from their Covers?

Here at the Inkpot we’re fans of the Guess the Phantom Book Covers game over at PWxyz. Today we thought we’d do our own variation, using MG and YA fantasy book covers from the past 50 years.

As you can see, the author names and titles have vanished. Are you clever enough to identify the books anyway?

Super bonus points to the cover aces who can name them all – and extra twinkly gold stars if you know the pub years, too!

Answers at the bottom!

Book 1

Book 2

Book 3

Book 4

Book 5

Book 6

Book 7

Book 8

Book 9

Book 10

Today's post was a tag-team effort between me, Lena Goldfinch, and the wonderful Amy Greenfield. We had so much fun putting it together, we're tossing around the idea of doing it again!

Confession, I'm to blame for stripping these beautiful books of their titles & author names, with sincere apologies to book designers everywhere, and Amy deserves the credit for scouting out a fabulous selection of book covers for me to choose from & for introducing our game.

Here's a little more about us and a look at our own book covers stripped of their titles & author names – just for fun.

AMY BUTLER GREENFIELD was on her way to a history PhD when she gave into temptation and became a novelist. She loves music, romantic adventure, alternate history, and twisty plots, which explains how she came to write her first YA novel, CHANTRESS(McElderry/S&S, May 2013).


LENA GOLDFINCH writes young adult fantasy with a healthy dose of "sigh-worthy" romance. In her creative heart, she loves travelling to all sorts of exciting places, past and present, a perk of making things up for a living. Her new release, SONGSTONE, comes out in July 2013.

Belated Shamelessness

I was supposed to post this last week.  Lest you think that's becoming rather a broken record response with dear bubble-headed Gretchen, I have a decent excuse this time.

I got engaged last weekend.

:D

The authors in today's post have been very understanding of having to wait an extra week for me to toot their horns.  They deserve a round of applause!

First off, a cover reveal!  This is AIRE by Lena Goldfinch, designed by her and another talented Inkie, Lisa Amowitz!!!

AIRE is available now!

Dawn Metcalf has ARCS of INDELIBLE and she's giving them away!  Trust me, you want to win one. Look for them on Goodreads, Netgalley, at BEA and contests at www.dawnmetcalf.com!

Speaking of new works, Laura Williams McCaffrey has a new fantasy short story out on YA Literature Network's site, which pretty much looks totally and utterly amazing.

There's an Inkie out there getting mad love from Kirkus!  Yes, Kirkus!!!!  A BOX OF GARGOYLES, the sequel to Anne Nesbet's much ballyhooed THE CABINET OF EARTHS, earned a starred review in this month's issue! This is my favorite line:

"A flavorful mille-feuille with equally tasty layers of dark magic, light comedy, and salty determination." 

A BOX OF GARGOYLES hits shelves May 14th.

And last but not least, there's a new First Five Pages Workshop this week, run by our own Martina Boone.  Check it out!

That's it for me this week.  I'll just be over here in the corner, staring at my shiny ring!

Happy Shameless New Year!!!

2012 was a banner year for the Inkpot - releases, awards, new book sales, critical acclaim.  How can we possibly top that?

Our bi-monthly shameless posts will show you!!!!

Case in point, or first shameless post of 2013 is just chuck full of awesomeness.  Don't believe me?  Take a look!

Starting off with a bang, featuring the cover release for Dawn Metcalf's INDELIBLE, he first in a new series from Harlequin Teen, which will hit shelves July 2013!

There's a new blog on the scene for 2013!  Lisa Amowitz, along with author Michelle McLean, has founded the new Scene 13 blog to showcase and highlight 2013 releases. In total there are 29 members including Inkies Lena Goldfinch, PJ Hoover, Ellen Booraem, Lisa Gail Green and Hilari Bell.

Speaking of Lisa Gail Green, she recently announced her 2013 debut THE BINDING STONE, the first in her Djinn series. Check back here for more updates!

We love collaborative Inkie efforts here in the Inkpot, so we're proud as punch about all the rave reviews for DIVERSE ENERGIES, a multicultural YA dystopian anthology featuring works by Cindy Pon and Ellen Oh.  Here are the latest reviews:

from VOYA:

Teen angst in the future makes for a very popular genre and this well-written collection should prove popular if promoted to the The Hunger Games or Divergent series crowd.

from Publisher's Weekly:

While there's not a single misfire in this anthology, particular works stand out. Ellen Oh's "The Last Day" takes place in a world torn apart by a decades-long war...and Cindy Pon's "Blue Skies" is almost painful in its longing for escape. Not only do these stories feature racially diverse casts, set all over the world or in space, some have gay and lesbian protagonists, giving readers plenty with which to identify.

Amazing!

More accolades for Anne Nesbet's THE CABINET OF EARTHS which appears on the Chicago Public Library's "Best of the Best" list for 2012 and is a Finalist for the 2012 Cybils award for Fantasy & Science Fiction (Middle Grade), along with Jennifer Nielsen's wonderful book, THE
FALSE PRINCE.

And to top it all off, Shannon Hale just put THE CABINET OF EARTHS on her list of "'Girl'
books that boys love"!

Which dovetails into our big finale here with perhaps the most exciting news of all. Paramount Pictures has announced it has contracted with Bryan Cogman, story editor for HBO's GAME OF THRONES series, to adapt the screenplay for Jennifer Nielsen's THE FALSE PRINCE.  HBO?  GAME OF THRONES?  OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See?  2013 is going to give 2012 a run for it's money...  :)

INTERVIEW WITH LENA GOLDFINCH

Today at the Inkpot it’s my pleasure to interview fellow inkie, Lena Goldfinch, author of the novella Language of Souls.  I adored Language of Souls. It is a novella jam packed with romance, mystery, adventure and suspense.  And how gorgeous is that cover??? 

 

 

 

Hi Lena, thanks so much for taking the time to answer all of my questions!  As you know, I loved The Language of Souls! It is such a unique story.  How did you come up with the premise?

Thank you! I'm not entirely sure where ideas come from. It's a very mysterious process. (Not unlike cooking, at least for me. ;)) I know at some point I started thinking about the idea of two people who had no common language. Would it be possible, under those circumstances, to fall in love? So much of how we form bonds with others is through conversation (language), but with language stripped away, could someone still win your heart?

Later, I had this concept that came to me about the soul, which is also mysterious and fascinates me. What if it was a physical, visible thing, something we carried around with us always? What if we needed to consciously protect and watch over it? And what if it could be taken from us or we could choose to give it away? So, that was essentially the sci fi/fantasy element that drove me to create the votif. Otherwise, the only "magical element" in the story is Solena's gift of healing.

And over and above all that—which are just the mechanics of the plot—was Solena and Rundan, two characters who stole my heart and kept drawing me back to their story. They wouldn't let me go until I'd completed it. And even after that, the story went through many layers of revisions.

One of my favorite things about the book was the vivid and richly painted world that you created. What are your world building techniques?

 At first, it's primarily intuitive, where a mish-mash of influences and images in my life spill over into each other and combine to make something new. The setting almost chooses itself, but then as the storyline develops, I start to questions things and do research. I'm heavily influenced by ancient Italy & Turkey, for example. I'm also absolutely passionate about culture and languages (with a title like The Language of Souls, perhaps that's obvious!). Art, religion, music, education, society, intriguing landscapes...all of these things collect as I'm researching. The differences between people sparks my imagination, and, maybe even more so, what we still have in common beyond those layers of differences.

Are their parts of you in any of the characters?

I wish! They're such amazing characters to me. I'd especially like to be more like Solena. She's so brave and so loyal, and she's extraordinarily kind too. She's driven by a genuine desire to save her beloved grandfather. And in her quest to save him, she gives too little thought to the risks to herself, which gets her into trouble. I wish I was more like that. I'm afraid I much less of a risk-taker!

The Language of Souls has something for every reader – romance, suspense and plenty of action.  Was it difficult to accomplish so much in a novella?

It's funny; I had rather naively set out to write a short story (along the lines of "I think I'll write a short story! Gee, won't that be fun?"). Then, come to find out, it's really hard to write short. I like writing novels and the long form suits me best as a writer, so writing shorter is a challenge for me. The earliest draft ended up sounding more like the first chapter of an epic series, and I simply didn't know how to fix it. So I set it aside and occasionally came back to it when I had some fresh vision. I really had to work hard to tighten the structure and to narrow my scope, but it still ended up being over 25,000 words! (Way too long for a short story, but perfectly okay for a novella.) I think because I'd set out to write a short story, it forced me to very economical and examine every word and sentence to make sure it contributed. The short answer though, is: yes, it was very difficult, and I actually failed at what I set out to do, which was write a short story :) , but I'm perfectly content with that. I really love this story.

What inspires you as an author?

People. People just intrigue me. I'll see someone in a store or I'll read a news article, and I'm just amazed at how many different types of people there are in this world. It provides me with endless inspiration. I'm also inspired by acts of faith or when I see someone who has a lot of personal drive, a mission, some personal passion....

And reading. I think being an avid reader from a very young age taught me a great respect for books and a deep love for stories.

What are you working on now?

I have a couple of young adult fantasy novels in the works. And also a "ghostly little short story," which is already threatening to become a novella.

Thanks so much, Erin!

Thank you Lena! I can’t wait to read what you come up with next!

 

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD SHAMELESSNESS!!!

We're starting out with ridiculously exciting news!!!  This year's winner of the National Book Award for Young People's Literature is...

WILLIAM ALEXANDER 

for 

GOBLIN SECRETS!

Plus there's an amazing interview with Will in Publisher's Weekly.  We pretty much couldn't be more excited.  You should have seen the email chain that went through the Inkies group.  It was epic.

But that's not all the news we have today. The new YA edition of Lena Goldfinch's fantasy novella, THE LANGUAGE OF SOULS, is now available as an ebook (print forthcoming). And yes, there's a cover reveal!!!

Nancy Holder has accepted a position as writer in residence at Odyssey, a six-week intensive science fiction and fantasy workshop held at St. Anselm college in New Hampshire. The workshop runs from June 10-July 19, 2013.

She will also serve on the faculty at the Stonecoast MFA in Creative Writing Program at their campus in Dingle, Ireland, in July of 2013. For those of you who haven't been, the Dingle Peninsula is one of the most beautiful places in the world.  So yes, I'm ridiculously jealous.

Hilari Bell's first four novels have been re-released as ebooks! You can look for SONGS OF POWER, NAVOHAR, A MATTER OF PROFIT and THE WIZARD TEST, wherever ebooks are sold. And if you check out her Facebook page, you can get a Smashwords coupon to get any one of those books free.

And that's it!

"It."  WILL WON THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD!!!!  *flails*

:)

What's Your Inner Mythology?

Here in Southern California, we've had a spate of cloudy/drizzly/downright rainy days recently (I had to use my windshield wipers on the way to work this morning! joy!), and every single time I am filled with hope, with flutters of possibility. Dark clouds always feel like something big, something good, is about to happen. I feel like I'm living in a movie, or a fairy tale.

this is where my daydreams live

And that got me wondering about others' go-to mythologies, the ones they are always drawn to, whether it's the comfort and nostalgia of revisiting childhood daydreams, or the allure of otherness, the unknown, the endless what-ifs.

So I asked them, and got some great answers. For my part, as I mentioned above, I think I will always be drawn to British & Celtic fairy tales & mythologies, and two recent releases build on and use them in very different ways. Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys is about the search for a centuries-old dead and missing king, which is such a weird premise I had no idea what to expect (hint: it's pretty amazing), and Talia Vance's Silver has descendants of the goddess Danu (the forebear of the Sidhe in Ireland) mixing it up with other fey-type folk.


Speaking of Celtic mythology, here's what Erin Cashman had to say:

I love all kinds of mythology. As a teenager I was obsessed with Greek mythology. I really enjoyed the Percy Jackson series. Since my mother was born and raised in Galway, Ireland, and always shared Irish stories, I am particularly drawn to Celtic mythology. My WIP, Legend of the Four, is loosely based on the Tuatha Dé Danann from Celtic mythology.


Kate Milford:

I'm a folklore girl, and for no particularly good reason it appears to be that Americana's my default. I particularly like hunting down regional lore, and I like finding obscure stuff best. Since American folklore draws from the traditions of all the cultures that emigrated here, I often wind up following strings elsewhere, which always feels to me like following old roads around to oddball towns. :)

The Jack tales and crossroads lore are big inspirations for me; the big villain in the background of The Broken Lands (and a character in The Boneshaker) is Clever Jack, and the story in which Jack beats the Devil after getting three wishes from Saint Peter is a big part of the mythology of both books. Both The Boneshaker and The Broken Lands are based on the idea that there's great power to be had at a crossroads, because a crossroads is a place of potential and choice--and the crossroads is a perfect example of a bit of folklore that has variations all over the world. So while The Boneshaker plays with Southern crossroads traditions, the crossroads in The Broken Lands is very different.

As a reader--I guess as a reader, I gravitate toward obscure stuff, too. I'm trying to think of examples, but frankly, I've been reading 1812 histories and Civil War stuff for about the last year with no end in sight, so frankly I can barely remember what fiction I've read in the meantime.

And gallons more under the jump!

Faux Fantasy! (For all our April Fools)

Ah, April. Such a wonderful month, time for spring flowers...and tricks, pranks, and jokes of all kinds. In honor of April Fool's day, I urged the intrepid authors of The Enchanted Inkpot to tickle our funny bones. And I have to tell you, they're a pretty funny bunch. I'm still smiling. :)

Check out these (faux, tongue-firmly-in-cheek) fantasy books, coming soon to a bookstore near you!! Or maybe not. Perhaps they'll appear in another realm entirely, one full of magical, lightning-fast printing presses and wizardly editorial types with ink-stained fingertips. Whatever. I'm sure these are all destined to become instant classics.

"A story about a girl wizard who infiltrates a school for vampires, only to find out that only one student gets to graduate alive. It's a combination of Harry Potter, Twilight, and the Hunger Games! Plus, if there is any new huge success between now and this book's publication, I'll figure out a way to work that in too."
Leah Cypess

“Plucky youngsters create small golems out of belly button lint. They wear fuzzy sweaters all the time to generate enough lint, and develop powers of static electricity as a result. But their powers are tested when an army of bullying booger-golems attacks the school. Buffy meets Captain Underpants!”
William Alexander

"CSI meets Pretty Little Liars meets Disney when Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Ariel and Cinderella go on a girls’ weekend and one of them is murdered. Luckily, our protagonist, a mind reading detective is also staying at the resort, and she must solve the crime, before she's next!"
Erin Cashman

"Mary Sue discovers she is the Chosen One and must attend the Chosen One Academy with five thousand other Chosen Ones. When she and she alone discovers that all the Chosen Ones must battle to the death to really become the actual super-chosen Chosen One, she meets her one true love and together they embark on a fascinating journey of the heart."
Nancy Holder

“A troupe of princesses are on their way to a ball when a portal opens beneath the carriages and drags the hapless damsels into a post-apocalyptic world where their Prince Charmings never had their Happy Endings and all the kingdoms fell under a corporate merger. Now the princesses have been sorted into districts run by KingdomCorp and find themselves the unlucky contestants in a beauty pageant to the death; the winner will have massive merchandising rights on all the products in the pink-colored toy aisles and the chance to choose her own Prince Charming on the reality TV show, 'Princess Bridal.' Who will win the ultimate challenge or will the princesses overthrow KingdomCorp to change their pasts and their world's future?”
Dawn Metcalf

“Sam Alex Price has always felt out of place in her high school, where everyone is conventionally attractive and mostly just downloads songs you hear all the time on the radio anyway. Sam Alex, on the other hand, has to suffer from an acutely cool musical sense (punk rock + Flamenco), while her radiant emerald eyes, fiery hair, and gorgeous birthmarks in the shape of Celtic dragon-rune tattoos for some reason make her the last girl anyone would ever take to the prom. And why does her nervous mother always insist on keeping a juniper branch (sprinkled with Holy Water) above the front door? All is explained when the most gorgeous dark-eyed dude shows up in pre-calc: Blade is a demon-angel-vampire hybrid, who just needs to assassinate Sam to get the equivalent, in demon-angel-vampire circles, of his GED. Sam's secret identity as a Nephilim-Seelie-warriorgirl-with-slight-phoenix-tendencies is betrayed when a swarm of demons kidnaps Sam's mother (see?! She was RIGHT to be nervous!), leaving a portal open to the magic library where Sam's mother's all-revealing diary has been mis-shelved all these years. Fortunately, Sam, due to her Flamenco training, turns out to have serious battle skills and to be very good with a dagger. Blade is impressed. The assassination is delayed. Kissing is involved.”
Anne Nesbet

"An orphanage, overcrowded with kids destined by prophecy to perform heroic deeds, becomes the headquarters of a fierce resistance. The orphan's mission - to rid the world of fantasy novels that kill off parents and bind kids to futures full of scary things and near-death experiences. Will their dastardly plot to kill of all fantasy writers succeed, or are they doomed to fail, to live out their own preordained destinies? And just how do they plan to squelch all that uncomfortable inner angst and romance brewing under the surface? One orphan holds the key, but that orphan, Goober Tickletrunk, lowliest of them all and guardian of the keyring, won't reveal its location!"
Pippa Bayliss

"Kafka meets Celebrity Apprentice when young Sam's mother breaks it to him that his father was a cockroach. Threatened by nuclear extinction, humanity must learn survival skills from the roaches. Sam undertakes a perilous journey through the silverware drawer to find Trump, a wise old cockroach who runs a school for half-roaches and holds the key to his species' longevity. Hair gel becomes a factor. And antennae. Also (apologies to Anne) kissing."
Ellen Booraem

Too funny!! Thanks, everyone!

If you have a faux fantasy pitch, please feel free to share it in the comments section. :-)

Lena Goldfinch is the author of The Language of Souls, a short-but-sweet tale that will "appeal to teens who enjoy fantasy with a side of sigh-worthy romance". She lives in New England with her husband (born on April Fool's Day--happy birthday, hon!!), two teens, and a very spoiled black lab. You can visit her online at www.lenagoldfinch.com.