Spring YA Covers: Yes, dresses--but also swords and fire and blood, blood red

There was a time when you could tell a fantasy was “Young Adult” because the cover featured a one-word title and a gorgeous dress or exceptionally great hair. Nothing wrong with that, of course.  But today’s covers—dark, mysterious, sometimes explosive—offer a refreshing variety of images.

Not that designers don’t get messages from the great hive mind. This season (meaning January-June 2014), the message seems to have been “darkly mysterious blue,” alternating with “eye-popping red.” Anything to drag us across that bookstore, right?

Also there are badass heroines and heroes, swords, eyes compelling or threatening, fire, shadow, explosions—and marvelous dresses. Can’t wait to read these books!

“Young Adult” in this case means age 12 to 18. As always, if there’s a cover we’ve overlooked, please link to it in the comments.

Tell us which is your favorite, and why!

(Click the link below to see the covers)

Spring MG covers: The Light! And the genders. Also hooves. And goldfish.

Ever since Harry, Ron, and Hermione, the two-boy-one-girl combo has been a winner. That’s apparent in this season’s roster of middle-grade fantasy covers, although we see pretty much every combination of genders. (Interestingly, there seem to be more all-girl covers than all-boy—we’ll leave you to debate what THAT means.)

The girls, we’re pleased to note, appear to be active  and self-sufficient—we didn't find any “boy reaches out to help girl climb the castle stairs” motifs. Girls have swords nowadays, and they know how to use them.

Once again this season, light is a big factor. Sometimes  our heroes run toward it, sometimes away, but designers know that a bright and mysterious light on a cover always will draw the eye.

Some publishers seem to be lowering the age-range for middle grade—we included several covers this time that were earmarked for ages “8 to 12” rather than the usual “9 to 12” or “10 to 14.” As a result, some of the covers look a little younger than in the past.

These covers hit the bookstores between January and June 2014. If you know of a great one we’ve overlooked, please link to it in the comments. 

And tell us which is your favorite!

(Click the link to see the covers . . .)

THE HOBBIT QUIZ AND GIVEAWAY

In celebration of the release of THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG on December 13th, we here at the Inkpot (HOBBIT loving fans ourselves!) have a quiz to test your knowledge of the book, and refresh your memory before the big release! 

We will choose 5 winners and each winner will receive a signed copy of a book from an Enchanted Inkpot Author! And come back tomorrow, as we discuss how our books are like THE HOBBIT in a very fun post!

And here are thirteen Questions, one for each Dwarf, and because the movie comes out on December 13th:

1. What is Bilbo’s mother’s name?  

2. What was the rumor about the Tooks? 

3. How many are in the company, and of what races?   

4. What does Bilbo decide to call 

his sword?

5. What is the color of Bilbo’s Sword when enemies are close?

6. Where does the company first encounter the Elves?

7. What is the riddle that Bilbo stumps Gollum with? 

8. What mountain are the Dwarves trying to reclaim? 

9. Who discovers the Arkenstone? 

10. What special item does Thorin give to Bilbo from the treasure, that is featured again in LOTR? 

11. Who kills Smaug? 

12. After Smaug is defeated, what two races might go to war with the Dwarves over the treasure?

13. Who takes the Arkenstone from Thorin?

The first five people to get all questions right win! (Hint - if you're stumped, the answer to some of the questions may be found in our Hobbit read along posts of last year) You will be asked to pick your first, second and third choice from one of the following books (in alphabetical order by author) donated by Inkpot members. The book will be signed by the author and mailed to you. Good Luck - and remember to come back tomorrow!

THE LAST KNIGHT, by Hilari Bell 

Need a Hero? You've got one in Sir Michael Sevenson. Although there hasn't been a knight errant in over two hundred years, this young noble has decided to revive the trade. He's found himself a reluctant partner in Fisk, a clever rogue who has been given the choice of serving as Michael's squire or going to jail for a very long time. Now Michael and Fisk are on a quest to right wrongs, protect the innocent, and make the world a happier place. It's not going to be easy. On their first attempt at rescuing a damsel in distress, they break a lady out of a tower, only to discover she was there for good reason: awaiting trial for poisoning her husband. Now the would-be heroes must find Lady Ceciel and return her to justice or be condemned themselves

TEXTING THE UNDERWORLD, by Ellen Booraem: 

A Kirkus Starred Review

.

Conor O’Neill always thought spiders—and his little sister, Glennie—were the worst kind of monsters life had in store. That was before an inexperienced young banshee named Ashling showed up in his bedroom. The arrival of a banshee, as Conor soon learns, means only one thing: Someone in his family is going to die. Not only will Ashling not tell him who it is, it turns out that she’s so fascinated by the world above that she insists on going to middle school with him. The more Ashling gets involved in his life, the harder it becomes to keep her identity a secret from his friends and teachers—and the more Conor worries about his family. If he wants to keep them safe, he’s going to have to do the scariest thing he’s ever done:  Pay a visit to the underworld. If only there were an app for that.

THE EXCEPTIONALS, by Erin Cashman 

A Bank Street College of Education Best Book of The Year, 2013

In a famous family of exceptionally talented people, fifteen-year-old Claire Walker is ordinary . . . or so she leads everyone to believe. Yet the minute she steps out of line, her parents transfer her to Cambial Academy: the prestigious boarding school that her great-grandfather founded for students with supernatural abilities, or “specials”. Although Claire can’t see ghosts or move objects with her mind like the other students, she does have a special she considers too lame to admit: she can hear the thoughts of animals. Just as she is settling in, one by one the most talented students – the Exceptionals – go missing. After years of ignoring her special gift, Claire decides the time has come to embrace her ability . . . before it’s too late.

WITCHLANDERS, by Lena Coakley 

A high fantasy full of swords, snow monsters, and singing magic. Kirkus, School Library Journal, and Publisher's Weekly Starred Reviews. High in their mountain covens, red witches pray to the Goddess, protecting the Witchlands by throwing the bones and foretelling the future. It’s all a fake. At least, that’s what Ryder thinks. He doubts the witches really deserve their tithes—one quarter of all the crops his village can produce. And even if they can predict the future, what danger is there to foretell, now that his people’s old enemy, the Baen, has been defeated? But when a terrifying new magic threatens both his village and the coven, Ryder must confront the beautiful and silent witch who holds all the secrets. Everything he’s ever believed about witches, the Baen, magic and about himself will change, when he discovers that the prophecies he’s always scorned— Are about him.

CITY OF A THOUSAND DOLLS, by Miriam Foster

Nisha was abandoned at the gates of the City of a Thousand Dolls when she was just a child. Now sixteen, she lives on the grounds of the isolated estate, where orphan girls apprentice as musicians, healers, courtesans, and, if the rumors are true, assassins. Nisha makes her way as Matron’s assistant, her closest companions the mysterious cats that trail her shadow. Only when she begins a forbidden flirtation with the city’s handsome young courier does she let herself imagine a life outside the walls. Until one by one, girls around her start to die. Before she becomes the next victim, Nisha decides to uncover the secrets that surround the girls’ deaths. But by getting involved, Nisha jeopardizes not only her own future in the City of a Thousand Dolls—but her own life. 

 THE BINDING STONE, by Lisa Gail Green 

Tricked into slavery by the man she loved, the Djinni Leela has an eternity to regret her choices.

Awakened in the prison of her adolescent body, she finds a new master in possession of the opal that binds her. But seventeen-year-old Jered is unlike any she's seen. His kindness makes Leela yearn to trust again, to allow herself a glimmer of hope. 

Could Jered be strong enough to free her from the curse of the Binding Stone?

THE EMERALD TABLET, by PJ Hoover

Benjamin is different from other kids—he can read minds and use telekinesis. But it isn’t until he’s sent to summer school on a hidden, underwater continent that he learns the truth. 

It turns out, Benjamin isn’t really human at all—and the powers he thought made him special, just make him normal. But then the mysterious Emerald Tablet chooses him as its champion and he’s thrust into a mission to save the world.

Thanks for entering and see you tomorrow!

The Gift of Fantasy

 The fantasy that gave me the greatest gift was Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain series.  I was in first grade, and every few days I’d check out a stack of picture books limited only by the need to get my hands underneath it and my chin on top.  One day the school librarian handed me The Book of Three.

“I think you’d like this,” she said.

“I don’t know,” I said.  (Just like every kid in the universe confronting their first novel.)  “It’s awfully thick.”

“Give it a try.”  And she smiled.

So I opened that thick intimidating book and started to read, and fell into a real, long, dense story for the first time in my life.  I think I lived in Prydain more than I did in the real world for the next few years.  If Mrs. Burris had handed me some other book, a mystery for instance, I might not be a fantasy writer today.  Or even a writer today.  So that’s the fantasy that’s given me the greatest gift.  (And thanks to Mrs. Burris, too!)

                                                                        --Hilari Bell

From Elizabeth Bunce:

For me, it came about ten years ago when I read Sharon Shinn's ARCHANGEL for the first time. I had spent so many years reading To Learn the Craft, to soak up knowledge and study storytelling techniques, that reading had become more work for me than pleasure (although I didn't realize it at the time). I had lost sight of one of the most important things: Reading should be fun. But Archangel swept me away like no book had in years. I picked it up, dove in, and before I knew it, five chapters were past, and I REMEMBERED. Shinn brought back that sense of reading for pure delight that I had lost somewhere along the line. I've said that this is one of the most important lessons I've ever learned as a writer... but it's also the greatest gift: the reconnection to the experience of reading a great book for the pure joy of it. Thank you, ARCHANGEL!

From Erin Cashman:

For me, it was Lord of the Rings. I was having a hard time my freshman year in high school - 3 middle schools all joined together, and I found that my good friends were hanging out with another group of girls -- and one of the girls decided I was not welcome. One night I started reading Lord of the Rings, and instead of worrying or crying (as I had been doing every night) I completely forgot about my troubles and was swept up in the story. I read it straight through -- claiming a stomach ache and missing the next two days of school. For some reason, when I returned to school I didn't care that much anymore (maybe it was simply that a mean girl is not so scary when compared with the Nazgul!) and I sat at lunch with two girls I didn't know, who became good friends. I realized then the power of a good book - and the ability it has to transport the reader to a new world, away from the issues and problems of every day life. Lord of the Rings inspired me to
become a writer, and even to this day when I feel down, my escapism is often found in the pages of a fantasy novel.

From Dawn Metcalf:

I'd consider "starter" fantasy books like BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA by Katherine Paterson, PROTECTOR OF THE SMALL by Tamora Pierce, DRAGONSONG by Anne McCaffery and, of course, HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE by J.K. Rowling can start a lifelong love of fantasy books!

For old folks like me, I love transportive, quirky and somewhat shadowy fantasy and I'd give THE NIGHT CIRCUS by Erin Morgenstern, THE DAUGHTER OF SMOKE & BONE by Laini Taylor, NEVERWHERE by Neil Gaiman or THE TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE by Audrey Niffenegger.

(And if kids are darker like me, then I'd probably wrap up a copy of HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE by Diana Wynne Jones, ARTEMIS FOWL by Eoin Colfer or our own William Alexander's GOBLIN SECRETS!)

From Pippa Bayliss:

I consider every fantasy novel I've ever read as a gift which isn't very helpful to you for your TOTW :) but what stands out as a particularly special novel to me was Roald Dahl's 'Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator'. It's the sequel to the better known 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' and an old dilapidated copy found its way into my hands. My son was a reluctant reader so I started reading it to him out loud at bedtime. He loved it. Even though it was so old and strange, it became one of his favorites., and he'd make me repeat any parts that involved the 'vicious knids' - no silent 'k'. Just the sound of k-nids made him laugh and that alone gave us both a gift that I'll always cherish.

From Will Alexander:

I don't know if this counts, since it isn't a fantasy novel, but my first thought is Lewis Hyde's The Gift: a book-sized essay about the role of art and the artist in society. It's made up of the same raw material as a fantasy novel, given that it's filled with folk and fairy tales, and it's a boon to any artist trying to sort out their own gifts and how best to use them. (Hyde's Trickster Makes This World is also very, very good, but given the focus on trickster figures that one commits gleeful theft rather than offering presents.)


Let me try again with an actual fantasy novel. When I took over reading bedtime stories to my youngest sister, we first picked up The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. That was a gift, I suppose. "I loved this, and I think you'll love it, so here. Let me read it to you." It utterly failed as a bedtime story, though. We didn't sleep at all. We just read straight through until dawn, and finished The Dark is Rising while the sun was rising.

From Ellen Booraem:

One marathon weekend in the dregs of high school, THE LORD OF THE RINGS opened a new world for me. And I don’t mean just Tolkien’s world of Middle Earth—I mean the universe of fantasy written for anyone older than ten. My parents weren’t fantasy readers, so up to that point my experiences with speculative fiction consisted of fairy tales, Pooh, and a couple of other books distinctly written for younger crowd. I had no idea that you could give up childish things and still read about dragons and elves. Imagine how the top of my head blew off when I met Bilbo. And Gandalf! In fact, I barely slept that weekend—read the entire trilogy, day and night, stopping only for meals and to exchange a word or two with my long-suffering parents. Thank you, Professor Tolkien.

So tell us, what fantasy story has been a “gift” to you?

Fall YA Fantasy Covers: Gorgeous & Eerie

Fantasy covers for a young-adult audience tend to go with the flow—specifically, flowing dresses and hair. This year’s gorgeous fall covers have some of that—okay, a lot of it—but most of those we collected go off in various cool directions.

LOTS of cool directions.  Early on, we despaired of finding any common themes at all.  But then we looked closer and noticed . . . The Bare Shoulder. 

Yes! *fist pump*

These stunning covers are from books with pub dates between July and December 2013. We defined “young adult” as written for teens 12 and older.

The covers start after the "read more" jump. As always, if we missed one you wish we’d caught, please link to it in the comments. And—as always—we want to know your favorites!

Fall MG Covers: The Light Fantastic

Every season seems to have its dominant graphic themes, as designers do their best to drag us across the bookstore and make us pick up That Book.

This fall, middle grade fantasy covers are calling us to the light. Usually, it’s a blazing sky with one or more heroes either hurling themselves into it or running for their lives. But who can say no to flashes of lightning, glowing gizmos, or good old-fashioned magical energy?

I have to say, I like the fact that so many covers show boys and girls battling demons (or whatever) together and as equals. No more boys with swords, girls standing there looking scared. We're making progress!

Designers this fall also are fond of the “magical peephole” technique, in which the solid plane of the cover is broken by a circular portal to a fantastic world we want to see more of.  

As always, some designers use a sprightly cartoonish style to reassure us that all will be well. How bad can a zombie apocalypse be if it’s comic?

And then there are those who invent cool graphics to tell their tale: The forthright Flora matched with the flowing fonts of FLORA & ULYSSES, or the marvelously shifty Alexander Baddenfield and his cat. Being a typeface fanatic from way back, I’m drawn to THE CREATURE DEPARTMENT’s amazing alphabet.

As always, we’ve spread our parade of covers over two days. Come back tomorrow for a content-oriented post: Dragons! Princesses! And, of course, cats.

We’re featuring books published July-December, 2013. If we overlooked an amazing cover, please link to it in the comments. And tell us which cover is your favorite!

Click the link to see more covers . . .

I will face this scary flaming thing alone!

Interview & Giveaway: Ellen Booraem on Death, Jelly Beans, and TEXTING THE UNDERWORLD

I have been a great fan of Ellen Booraem's since I read Small Persons with Wings, her novel about some marvelously touchy and irritable fairies. So I jumped at the chance to read an ARC of her latest, Texting the Underworld (Penguin/Dial Books for Young Readers), in stores this month. I loved it, and you will too. Read more about it below in the giveaway section, and then enter to win your own copy.

In this interview, Ellen talks about how to make death funny and the secret to a non-corny Irish voice (which I am stealing). Also, for the record, she describes my own feelings about drafting vs revising to a precise T.  -Katherine Catmull

1. You have the BEST titles. I 100% read Small Persons With Wings because I correctly assumed that with a title like that, it had to be smart and funny and delightful (ed. note: If you have not read SPWW, read it—it was on pretty much every Best of 2011 list). Did the title Texting the Underworld just come to you, or was it A Process?

Ellen Booraem

It was definitely A Process. I can take credit for naming Small Persons with Wings, but absolutely not Texting the Underworld. The search for this title was terrifying at times—my editor Kathy Dawson and I emailed lists back and forth with various combinations of key words ranging from Death to Jelly Beans, and it seemed like we’d never come up with anything. (At one point, I did want to call it Death & Jelly Beans. ) We agreed only that we needed to combine the mundane with the otherworldly.  My memory has blurred, but I’m pretty sure it was Kathy who came up with Texting the Underworld.

2. I love how you treat such serious subjects — like 12-year-old Conor’s anxiety issues, and, you know, DEATH—in such a light, funny, but never unserious way. How do you balance the tone so beautifully?

Chiefly it’s a matter of setting up characters and contrasts that are likely to be funny—the banshee learning about the world through outdated Trivial Pursuit cards, for example—and getting them clear in my head before I start writing. Since the story’s about something inherently scary, like death and the unknown, I made my protagonist, poor Conor, the kind of person who’s least likely to tolerate such things. (He’s a naturally fearful kid who’s obsessed with mapping his known world.) Once you have elements that naturally lend themselves to humor, you’re free to write a serious book and let the comedy take care of itself.

Also, though, I think I’m incapable of taking anything too seriously. Sometimes it’s a curse—I’ve learned over the years that when tragedy happens I have to just keep my mouth shut, for fear of saying something utterly inappropriate.

3. I thought you did a wonderful job with the banshee Ashling’s voice. She spoke with foreign cadences, both Irish and ancient (and hilariously interlarded with modern slang the longer she’s with Conor), without ever falling into corniness or Tolkien-pastiche. How did you find that voice and keep it so consistent? (Am doing something similar in a book right now, and it makes me nervous.)

I was nervous about that, too. The last thing I wanted was to make Ashling some caricature Irish wench, and I certainly wasn’t going to use any gosh-and-begorrah vocabulary. So I did something sneaky—I gave her first few speeches a VERY Irish cadence, then stopped trying to make her sound any way in particular. I figured if I got her voice established in the readers’ minds from the outset,  they’d just assume she sounded Irish from that point on. I did make her vocabulary a little bit archaic, befitting someone who’d been stuck in the afterlife for sixteen hundred years.

4. I know that although you live in Maine now (which is at the top of my why-have-I never-visited places, by the way), you grew up in Massachusetts. Any Irish heritage? At least to my inexperienced eye and ear, you nailed the Boston Irish family at the center of this book.

Oh, I do hope that’s true! I really wanted South Boston to seem right, and I had a lot of advisers helping me make it so. My mother’s family was mostly Irish, and she definitely identified as such. The town I grew up in north of Boston was predominantly Irish and Italian, and there were Irish families in my neighborhood. I named Conor’s school after one of my mother’s best friends, who came from a big Irish family. When I was in Southie for research, the speech patterns and attitudes were very familiar from my childhood.

You definitely should visit Maine. It’s gorgeous.

5. Celtic mythology is a pretty significant vein in this book, though it’s not the only ancient source you use. How deeply did you have to dig yourself into that research? I thought I knew something about Celtic myths, but had never heard of Testing the Birds, for example, which is crucial in your story.

Oh, goody—I’m so glad the Birds sounded authentic, because I totally made them up. Ravens and the number three are common in Celtic tales, though, and if a crow or raven appeared on the battlefield it meant the Morrigan (a battle goddess) was near.

I did do a lot of reading, both in books and online, about ancient Ireland and Celtic mythology. I found the mythology a little hard to pin down, frankly—everything I read seemed to have a different take on it. I think that’s partly because none of it was written down until the eighth century or so, and then the writers were Christian monks who probably imposed their own beliefs. It was a big relief when I realized that the underworld needed to be multi-cultural and that I was going to have to make up a lot of stuff on my own.

6. This is your third book — how was the process of writing it different from the others? In general, do you feel like your writing is changing with experience? Complicating, or tightening, or lightening, or serious-ing, or — ?

This was the first time I wrote a plot synopsis before I wrote the book. Before, I knew the last line but not how I was going to get there. With a synopsis written ahead of time, I had to overcome the feeling that I’d already told my tale—I did that essentially by ignoring the synopsis when I started writing. But now I’m addicted to having a synopsis first—it’s a comfort to know that it is possible to make the plot work, even if you end up writing it in a completely different way.

Otherwise, I think the major thing I’ve learned (although I have to keep re-learning it) is not to let the supernatural elements take over for the basic human story. It’s easy to get distracted by all the bells and whistles and forget that the important story is about a person with a problem.

7. What was the seed idea for Texting the Underworld?

I was reading Abbey Lubbers, Boggarts & Banshees by the late British folklorist Katharine Briggs, and discovered her theory that a banshee was a maiden who died too young and came back to warn her family of an impending death. I’d always thought of banshees as horrible screaming hags. Briggs’s version seemed like she’d have an interesting tale to tell.

8. Which do you like better (or anyway which is less dreadable): drafting or revising?

Definitely revising. I have a love/hate relationship with drafting—it’s fun to be making things up, but I’m terrified of the blank screen.  During the drafting stage, I have to make strict rules: Write every day, and no lunch until I have a thousand words—otherwise I’d never get anything done. I also keep reminding myself of Anne Lamott’s reassurance that first drafts are supposed to be terrible. Revision is pure joy—that’s when you finally figure out where the story’s going and what might be special about it. So I’ll revise all day without having to impose any rules at all.

9. Tricia Hoover always asks her interviewees for a favorite inspirational thought at the end of her interviews, and I’ve found some great ones that way. Do you have one that’s working for you now?

I have this stuck to my computer monitor on a post-it note: “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” That’s Marcel Proust, and I have no idea where I picked it up because I’ve never read Proust. ( I guess I should do that sometime.) For me that’s the core of fantasy: to give the author and the reader a new perspective on reality.

This was fun, Katherine—thanks for interviewing me!

The next stop on Ellen’s blog tour for Texting the Underworld is tomorrow at Prose & Kahn. See you there!

And now for the GIVEAWAY. Two copies of Texting the Underworld are up for grabs (U.S. only, sorry)--all you need to do is comment on this post, and be sure to leave your email. For extra credit, tweet about the giveaway and follow @EnchantedInkpot on Twitter--just see the Rafflecopter widget below. Entries close on August 21, 2013. Good luck!  And here's a quick description of the book:

Conor O’Neill always thought spiders—and his little sister, Glennie—were the worst kind of monsters life had in store. That was before an inexperienced young banshee named Ashling showed up in his bedroom.

The arrival of a banshee, as Conor soon learns, means only one thing: Someone in his family is going to die. Not only will Ashling not tell him who it is, it turns out that she’s so fascinated by the world above that she insists on going to middle school with him.

The more Ashling gets involved in his life, the harder it becomes to keep her identity a secret from his friends and teachers—and the more Conor worries about his family. If he wants to keep them safe, he’s going to have to do the scariest thing he’s ever done: Pay a visit to the underworld.

If only there were an app for that.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

It's the Weekend - I Can Still Be Shameless!

After a massive YA author event and two birthday parties yesterday (er, attended, not thrown) I dropped the ball on Saturday Shamelessness.  But it's still the weekend, so I figure, it counts.

We've got another awards winner here in the Inkpot! Katie Carroll's YA fantasy ELIXIR BOUND took second place in the June You Gotta Read cover contest.  And you can see why.  Gorgeous!

More great reviews for Ellen Booraem’s TEXTING THE UNDERWORLD, which comes out August 15. Publishers Weekly called the story of a boy visited by a young banshee “affecting, funny, and provocative,” while The Horn Book praised it for “complex characters, a moving story line centered on family and courage, and plenty of exciting moments.” Ellen starts a three-week blog tour August 5 at The Childrens Book Review with a guest post about banshees, the Irish ancestral spirits who wail as death approaches.

And last but not least, we have a NEW INKIE BOOK coming out this week!!!!

INDELIBLE by Dawn Metcalf hits shelves JUNE 30th!!!!

You definitely want to check this one out!

That's all for this installment.  Next week, many of us will be gathering at SCBWI LA.  We'll be sure to post photos!!!!

Embarrassed by the Shamelessness

So apparently its been like a month since I did a Shameless Saturday post. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?  I swear I'm losing my marbles, on deadline for this new book.

Whatever.  I'm here now, right?  DOESN'T THAT COUNT FOR SOMETHING???

On with it.

Book Expo America 2013 is rapidly approaching, and several Inkies will be in attendance. Lisa Amowitz will be signing BREAKING GLASS at the Spencer Hill Pres booth #2567 on Thursday, May 30th at 9:00am.  Dawn Metcalf will be stopping by the Harlequin Teen booth #1238 on Thursday, May 30th.  Amy Butler Greenfield will be at Simon & Schuster's blogger preview party Tuesday night, May 28th.  And I will be signing copies of 3:59 at Table 12 in the autographing area Thursday, May 30th at 10:30am.  Yeah, BEA is going to be nuts!

We've got a cover reveal!!!

The cover and title for the sixth book in Scholastic's INFINITY RING series has been released. BEHIND ENEMY LINES by Jennifer Nielsen, takes our heroes, Dak, Sera, and Riq into the heart of World War 2 where they must help the allies succeed with a most dangerous spy plan that will either chance the course of the war, or else destroy any hope for victory and freedom. It will be released on November 26, 2013.  Wanna see?

In addition, Jennifer's THE FALSE PRINCE is a double 2013 Whitney Award winner for Best Middle Grade Book of 2013 and also Best Overall Youth Book of 2013. In addition, it is a nominated title for Yalsa's Teens' Top Ten books!  Phew.  That's a lot of news!!!!

Speaking of awards, both THE CABINET OF EARTHS by Anne Nesbet and THE EXCEPTIONALS by Erin Cashman are on the Bankstreet Best Children's Books of the Year list, 2013 edition! Plus, Lena Coakley's Witchlanders was named an Honour Book for Canada's White Pine Award at the Forest of Trees, Festival of Reading, Canada's largest children's literature festival. And Goodreads named Amy Butler Greenfield's CHANTRESS one of its top 6 "Movers and Shakers" for May YA releases. Plus there's a swag and finished copy giveaway running at thoughtsandroses.blogspot.com this week.

We've got some great news for brand news books here at the Inkpot. Ellen Booraem’s TEXTING THE UNDERWORLD, due out in August, got its first journal review—and it has a star attached! Noting that the book has death as its major theme, Kirkus Reviews said:

“Booraem applies a light touch to her heavy subject . . . . But she doesn’t avoid staring death in the face, saddling her likably unlikely hero with an agonizing decision that, though framed in fantasy, is all too gut-punchingly real. Like Conor, readers will emerge from this adventure a little better equipped for heroism.”

Makes me want to snatch it up!

On the announcement side of things, new Inkie Katherine Catmull and three other middle-grade authors, Stefan Bachmann, Claire Legrand, and Emma Trevayne, have been posting creepy/spooky/unnerving short-short pieces at EntertheCabinet.com since January 1. This week Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins) announced that they will publish a collection of the stories, tentatively titled THE CABINET OF CURIOSITIES, in summer 2014.

And on the debut side of things, Lisa Gail Green's THE BINDING STONE (the first book in the Djinn series) is now available on Amazon!

Lisa also has amazing blurbs from both Nancy Holder and Lisa Desrochers!

"I dream of Lisa Gail Green! The Binding Stone is magical in so many ways. My Djinn asks for my third wish? The sequel, of course!" - NYT bestselling author Nancy Holder

"Genies like you’ve never seen them, THE BINDING STONE is a wild ride of treachery and deception. For my first wish, I’d like a sequel, please." - PERSONAL DEMONS author Lisa Desrochers

Rock on.

See what happens when I forget to post?  Things get crazy.

Great dresses, kick-butt women: New YA Covers!

Some cover elements scream “young-adult fantasy”: Great dresses, amazing hair. Brooding faces. Titles of one sizzling word.

We get all those things this season, and more. There’s some serious water action, over and under. Kick-butt women with weapons. Images with an unsettling beauty. Not to mention some very cool insects.  

Today and tomorrow, the Inkpot will take a look at young-adult fantasies with pub dates between January and June 2013. We’re calling a book “young adult” if it’s intended for readers between ages 12 and 18. As always, if there’s one we’ve overlooked, please link to it in the comments.

Click on "read more" to see the covers. And tell us which is your favorite!

Cute and Creepy: More middle-grade covers

Animals, gorgeous, gruesome, or cute. Spectacular images. Interesting typefaces, sometimes neon
green.

Cover designers, sly bootses all, have an arsenal of tricks to catch our attention.  And if all else fails, you can’t beat a good dragon.

   

Herewith, day two of our spring middle-grade fantasy cover extravaganza. These books have pub dates between January and June 2013. “Middle grade,” again, means the audience is somewhere between ages eight and fourteen.  We’ll show you young-adult covers April 8 and 9.

As always, if there’s one we’ve missed, please link to it in a comment.

Click on "read more" to see the covers. And tell us your favorite!

In Your Dreams: New Middle-Grade Covers!

If a cover designer wants to draw us into a book, what better way than to tap into our dreams?

Or our nightmares.

And so on this season’s middle-grade fantasy covers, we float or we fly, sometimes on magnificent beasts. We swashbuckle with swords. We hobnob with mermaids and ghosts and our fellow humans. Boys face danger alone and unafraid . . . and just LOOK at the number of girls taking charge of their destiny!

Sometimes there be monsters. Very cool monsters.

This post covers middle-grade covers for books published between January and June 2013. (“Middle grade” these days seems to be anywhere between ages eight and fourteen.) As usual, there are so many we’ve split the post in two—look for more cover awesomeness right here tomorrow. We’ll show you the young-adult covers April 8 and 9.

If we missed one you think the world should see, please link to it in the comments.

The covers are after the break (click on "read more"). Which one's your favorite?

Interview with Maurissa Guibord, author of REVEL

Before becoming a writer, Maurissa Guibord’s work life consisted of slinging pizzas, alphabetizing things, and . . . oh, yeah, practicing medicine. Now she writes teen fantasy that’s mysterious and romantic with more than a touch of humor. (Even a sea god is human, after all.)

Maurissa’s first novel, WARPED (Delacorte, 2011) was a Rita Award finalist  for Best First Novel and Best Young Adult Romance. In a starred review, School Library Journal called it “imaginative, compelling,  and impossible to put down.”

With her second novel, REVEL, Maurissa moves from enchanted medieval tapestry to modern-day sea monsters—some of them the stuff that daydreams are made of. 

She lives on the coast of Maine with her husband and three kids. She’s a former Inkie, so we say: Welcome home, Maurissa!

Boy, Maurissa, you sure know how to show a girl a good time. In your first book, WARPED, you sent a modern young woman into a medieval tapestry to fight a dragon and an evil sorceress. And now, in REVEL, your heroine is trapped on a mysterious uncharted island complete with sea monsters. What propelled the leap from medieval England to a modern —but still harrowing—Maine island? What got you started on the road to REVEL?

So glad you had a good time, Ellen. I hope other readers will too! The idea for REVEL began with a visit to a real place here in Maine—Peaks Island. A ferry leaves from Portland several times a day to transport visitors and residents to this beautiful, rocky island. Each time I visit I’m impressed by the feeling of being very removed from everyday life on the mainland as well as a very distinct air of independence among the close knit people who live there year round.

Those features—the island being isolated from “real” life as well as the reserved nature of the inhabitants—just needed one more thing to get a story going in my head. Monsters!

I have to say, this book surprised me at every turn, and I NEVER would have predicted what happens to your heroine and her friends. Did you surprise yourself, or did you always know how things were going to turn out?

I had no idea what was going to happen or how things were going to be resolved. Even now I’m wondering what’s going on over there on Trespass…

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...  :)

Happy New Book Year!

Happy New Year! This is one of my favorite times a year; fat with promise, with hopes and dreams and goals...and fat with BOOKS!

SO MANY good books coming out in the next few months! I've asked the Inkies to help me get my TBR list all nice and corpulent and oozing with stories I can't wait to read. So here goes (I'll start):

In case you missed it, the first book on my list was featured last week on the Inkpot: PROPHECY, by our own super-awesome Ellen Oh. Go read the interview, and then go buy the book!

It's a good thing my signed copy of PROPHECY is winging its way to me right now, because all the other books on my list are SO FAR AWAY. *cries* I fell in love with TYGER TYGER a hundred years ago and have been waiting impatiently for the completion of the series ever since. Only five months to go for the release of WHEN THE STARS THREW DOWN THEIR SPEARS!

Another one that's even FURTHER away *shakes fist* is the second book in Sarah Rees Brennan's unassailable gothic trilogy, UNTOLD (UNSPOKEN, the first book, is made of so much awesome it hurts my brain...it hurts it and then my brain is like THANK YOU SO MUCH I LOVE YOU MORE PLEASE). (and, thanks, Masters of the Book-Release Universe, that's the only semi-coherent link I can find because it doesn't come out until SEPTEMBER)

GRR. Let's move on to what everyone else is looking forward to. I need to be cheered up.

Lisa Amowitz:

Well, mine for starters!

BREAKING GLASS comes out in July 2013 from Spencer Hill Press and I may have another one to sneak in, but that's still up in the air..

But I am also seriously looking forward to the next installment in Laini Taylor's DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE trilogy, PRODIGY from Marie Liu (that's not out yet, is it?) THE GATHERING DARK, by my good friend Christine Johnson, and the next installment of Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Boy series. And anything that John Green puts out--as they say--I will read his grocery list. :)

Just started Leigh Bardugo's Grisha Trilogy (SHADOW AND BONE) and I LOVE IT--also loving Will's GOBLIN SECRETS--too much to read!!! Not enough time!!!

TRUTH. Looking forward to more Grishas and Ravens, myself.

More delicious books under the jump!

The Hobbit Read-Along: Chapters 5-8!

Today, we continue our group read of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, preparing ourselves for the movie coming out next month. Return tomorrow for chapters 9-12!

 “…till suddenly his hand met what felt like a tiny ring of cold metal lying on the floor of the tunnel.”

Did JRR Tolkien have any idea what he was getting us into when he wrote those words? Eighty years later, when someone says “the Ring” they’re probably not talking Wagner.

The chapters we’re discussing today are Riddles in the Dark, Out of the Frying Pan into the Fire, Queer Lodgings, and Flies and Spiders. In addition to introducing us to the One Ring and Gollum, these are the chapters in which Bilbo (and hobbits) come into their own in the wide world.

The summary: Bilbo awakes alone in the dark, having been knocked out and left behind while he, Gandalf, and the dwarves fled the goblins. Groping around in the dark, he finds the ring and sticks it in his pocket, thinking nothing of it. He stumbles upon the underground lake that is home to Gollum, whom Tolkien describes as “a small slimy creature . . . dark as darkness, except for two big round pale eyes in his thin face.”

You can watch Gollum take hold of his author’s imagination. At first, the narrator is dismissive, saying, “I don’t know where he came from, nor who or what he was.” A page later, we learn that Gollum had once played riddle games “with other funny creatures sitting in their holes.” A page after that, we find out Gollum once had a grandmother and remembers sun on daisies.

A high-stakes riddle game ensues—if Bilbo wins, Gollum shows him out of the goblins’ maze of tunnels; if Bilbo loses, Gollum eats him. The score’s tied when, desperate for a new riddle, Bilbo fumbles in his pocket, feels the Ring, and muses aloud, “What have I got in my pocket?” Gollum takes this as a riddle question, can’t guess, then makes an excuse to fetch his own ring—a magic one that, to his horror and despair, turns out to be gone. “What has it got in its pocketses?” he hisses, and the chase is on. Bilbo learns that the Ring makes him invisible, and Gollum unwittingly shows him the way out of the goblins’ realm.

In one of my favorite scenes—bursting with typical Tolkien humor—an invisible Bilbo squeezes through a doorway gap to escape, mystifying the pursuing goblins when his waistcoat buttons pop into view scattered on the ground.

Bilbo reunites with Gandalf and the dwarves—tellingly, he neglects to mention the Ring. Our heroes are treed by wolves and goblins, who set the trees on fire. The eagles come to the rescue—foreshadowing future events not only in this book but in The Lord of the Rings.

After an utterly charming scene in which Gandalf wins hospitality through a good tale, the troupe enjoys a little R&R with Beorn, the shape-shifter and animal lover. Beorn helps them find the entrance to the path they must follow through Mirkwood. As this exceedingly mysterious and dangerous leg of their journey is about to begin, Gandalf leaves for mysterious duties elsewhere.

Despite Beorn’s warnings, the dwarves are lured from their path by the sounds of elvish feasting, then captured by giant spiders. (And may I just say . . . ew). Bilbo, who has been growing in cleverness and bravery the deeper he journeys into the woods, uses the Ring to save everyone but Thorin, who is captured by the elves.

Discussion questions: The Bilbo who emerges from these four chapters is a very different little chap from the Bilbo who got left behind as the chapters started. Which events do we think contributed most to his growth?

Tolkien is careful to build in rest periods: Rivendell in yesterday’s chapters, the Beorn sojourn in today’s. How important is this to you as a reader? Are you charmed or bored?

Bilbo’s uncharacteristic attempt to keep the Ring secret has great significance in The Lord of the Rings, when Gandalf cites the lie as his first clue that this wasn’t just any magic ring.  In this book, though, it strikes me as an odd loose end. Gandalf gives Bilbo a funny look when he initially misleads everyone, but never refers to the incident directly again. Is this a flaw, or just Tolkien playing a deep game? (We do know he’d started the trilogy before The Hobbit was published.)

What about old Gandalf? Why’d Tolkien choose to send him away at this juncture?

In addition to the ring, Gollum, and the eagles, what other aspects of these chapters do we think foreshadow events in The Lord of the Rings?

***

Ellen Booraem is the author of the middle-grade fantasies THE UNNAMEABLES, SMALL PERSONS WITH WINGS, and TEXTING THE UNDERWORLD (coming in August 2013). She lives in coastal Maine with an artist, a dog, and a cat, one of whom is a practicing curmudgeon. She's online at www.ellenbooraem.com.