This February I’m lucky enough to be doing a blog tour with 13 other great authors to celebrate the launch of the first book in the YA series WANTED that I’m writing as Erin Johnson.
Lots of great books and authors and fabulous prizes, including a free Kindle. Check out Facebook and Twitter to learn more.
More about WANTED… It’s a new YA series set in the Wild West…
After her family is slaughtered by outlaws, sixteen-year-old Grace Milton goes on a vendetta to capture the gang who did it. But once she meets a rugged range rider, she’s torn between revenge and love.
It’s always fun to read books by friends, even more so when they’re YAs. I confess, I’m a YA addict. Maybe because I’m still a teen at heart. Or maybe I love them because YAs are usually better written, more tightly plotted, and faster paced than adult books. I prefer stories that move along rather than meander along. I’m big on action and characters, not too interested in getting bogged down with description and setting.
So I found Jill Williamson’s YA thriller, The New Recruit, a rapid rollercoaster ride that met all my requirements.
Here’s the book blurb:
Forced to choose between military school and a Christian spy organization, skeptic Spencer Garmond signs on with the Bible geeks. But before he even boards the plane for Moscow, Spencer realizes this is no Bible club.
These guys mean business.
Stumbling onto a case involving a gang of homeless boys, a chilling tattoo, and the always beautiful Anya Vseveloda, Spencer struggles to find the faith needed to save the Mission League from enemy infiltration.
This isn’t the only book of Jill’s that I’ve enjoyed. She has an award-winning fantasy/speculative fiction trilogy, The Blood of Kings, and the recent YA sci-fi release, Replication. Coming in 2013 is the first of a dystopian YA trilogy, Captives.
And this must be thriller release month for my friends, because one of my CPs, Don Helin, just released Devil’s Den (Headline Books), a fast-moving adult suspense that moves from a ghostly disappearance on the Gettysburg battlefield to a plot involving an Irish mob. The hero, with his post traumatic stress syndrome, becomes the prime suspect in a ghost-related crime.
I began January by submitting the beginning of a YA set in the Old West. I love how my projects dovetail with each other and with my life. The first connection is that the heroine falls in love with a boy who was adopted into the Shawnee tribe. So how perfectly does that fit with the project I just finished–the 5 vol. Encyclopedia of Native Tribes?
But the connections don’t stop there. My father bought a house in an Arizona ghost town near the Sonora desert. That mining town is now being rehabbed, but I got to see it before it came back. The heroine lives in on a ranch outside town, so I feel I know the area. Walking with forked sticks while watching for rattlesnakes, the scorching sun, the saguaro pointing like fingers toward the sky, the smell of mesquite rising from an open fire. I even spent time on a nearby reservation learning to make pottery. It’s wonderful how life experiences can filter into fiction to make it come alive.
Can’t wait to sit down and finish this one. So many ideas are running through my head. What projects have you started for the New Year? And how do they dovetail with your life?
I thought I’d share a bit about the authors I’ll be signing with this weekend. With such a long list, I’ll highlight them 2 at a time. First up will be David Macinnis Gill and Bonnie J. Doerr. Interestingly enough, both of them are teachers and have written YA novels.
If you haven’t already done so, check out David’s website. I’m not going to say any more and spoil it for you, but I think it’s one of the coolest I’ve ever seen.
David Macinnis Gill Soul Enchilada, a BBYA 2010 and Kirkus 2009 Best Book Black Hole Sun (August 2010)
from Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins www.davidmacinnisgill.com
Bug Smoot, on her own at 18 after all her family members died off one by one, broke, about to lose her cruddy apartment and her job delivering pizza, finds that fate has dealt her one more blow. Apparently her grandfather had sold his soul to the Devil for a Cadillac, but when he died he somehow escaped collection. So now the Devil’s minion, Beales, wants the car and Bug’s grandfather’s soul, and if she can’t deliver, he’ll take hers instead. But Beales may have more on his mind than a simple repo job.
David Macinnis Gill is the author of the YA novels, Soul Enchilada and the forthcoming Black Hole Sun, from Greenwillow/Harper Collins. His short stories have appeared in several magazines, including The Crescent Review and Writer’s Forum. His critical biography of young adult author Graham Salisbury, Graham Salisbury: Island Boy, was published by Scarecrow Press. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English/creative writing and a doctorate in education, both from the University of Tennessee.
When city girl Kenzie Ryan moves to a Florida wildlife refuge, she plunges straight into an eco-mystery. Kenzie trades New York streets for Keys pollution cleanup, and now, instead of hailing cabs, she’s tracking down a poacher of endangered Key deer. Her new home does have some benefits—mainly Angelo, an island native, who teams up with her to nab the culprit. But will they both survive when the killer turns from stalking deer to hunting humans? Island Sting includes notes on the endangered Florida Key deer and the National Key Deer Refuge.
A lifetime educator, Bonnie J. Doerr has taught students from kindergarten to college in eight states. Degrees in reading education, combined with a brief post as a science teacher, led her to write ecological mysteries. Her novels celebrate caring, involved, “green” teens who take action with attitude and a touch of romance. Bonnie is a member of the Class of 2k10, a group of exciting MG & YA debut authors who are working together to promote their novels.
See Bonnie’s book trailer and one from the Class of 2k10 below.
The Susquehanna Writers, of which I’m an honorary member, have been reaching out to support area Indie bookstores. We gave out gift baskets to two Indie bookstores this fall, and now we’re banding together for a group booksigning at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore in Harrisburg, PA, on December 19, 2009. A large group of authors will have books for sale and will autograph them for you. From romance to history, from mystery to self-help, from thrillers to YA; you’ll find something to please everyone on your holiday gift list. And if these books aren’t enough to entice you (though they certainly should be), the Midtown Scholar offers the largest array of rare and used books between New York and Chicago. They have more than ONE MILLION secondhand and out-of-print books in all fields.
Need a gift for that hard-to-please person? Consider a book. It’s a gift they’ll treasure for a lifetime.
If you want to know where and when to show up, here are the additional details:
3-5 pm, December 19, 2009
1302 North Third Street
Harrisburg, PA 17102
(717) 236-2665
And I’ll be there to sign copies of Rihanna and Summer Lovin‘. Feel free to drop by and get your copy signed if you already have one, or pick up some as gifts for the teens in your life.
A teen reader just commented that she “loved” my story, “Summer Storms,” in Summer Lovin’. And as for the rest, she said: “So far the stories in this book are amazing.”
Laurie J. Edwards ~ Author, Artist, Dreamer... 