Newspaper Writeup for Capturing The Castle

My local newspaper, The Mountain Democrat, interviewed me and featured Capturing The Castle on May 26th:

"In “Capturing the Castle” Jackson’s color and black and white photographs show both Preston’s unique architecture and the types of living arrangements used for staff and wards. Ornately carved corbels and archways vie with the Spartan utility of the basement baths; ivy crawls up walls studded with hundreds of windows."--The Mountain Democrat

You can read the entire article online here and the writeup came out in time for several people to also come to my signing at Preston Castle on the 27th.

I had a great time talking to everyone about Preston Castle and my book! Plus, 30% of the proceeds from that day went directly to the Preston Castle Foundation, and they'll be carrying it in the gift shop starting next week.

Now, on to finishing the editing for the Faerie Crossed novels so they can also hit the bookshelves!

Advance Reader's Copies Are Just Around The Corner

I've had a sneak peek at Crow's Rest's layout for book form, and I wish I could share some screen captures with you all! Such great detail on the interior pages. :)

I can't share just yet, but it does look like ARCs are coming soon, yay!

So if you're a book blogger, book reviewer, teacher, librarian, etc and want to request a review copy, you can do so through Spencer Hill Press's form here. If you're not a blogger or reviewer but would still like to score an ARC, we'll be doing some giveaways, so watch for more info on that!

And here's a picture of the full wrap again, just because it gives me all the feels.

Book Rec: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

I don't do reviews, but I do recommend books through the RTW Best Book of the Month posts. Only, I've just read a great book and it's November 3--the end of the month is too long to go without mentioning it! Here's the trailer, which I also love:



What's not to like? Horses, and not-horses, dark legends, a mysterious boy . . . but be warned that there is a healthy portion of blood and violence and peril (people as well as animals, though it's usually the animals that get to me more in books). If you're not sure if that warning has put you off, download the sample through Kindle or whatever app you use. Enough of a taste of what is to come shows up in there that you should be able to make up your mind.

As an aside, I tried to read her Shiver series and had a difficult time connecting with them. Can't even articulate why, but I had no such problem with this book.

RTW: All My Favoritest Books of June

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors and followers post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on their blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: (Back by popular demand!) What's the best book you've read this month?

Wait, I can only pick one?!?!? I've actually read a surprising number of books in June; surprising because I've also been doing heavy rewrites and they're usually incompatible. Either I can't turn my editor off enough to enjoy the book, or I enjoy it so much that it interferes with my character's voice (speaking of voice, check out this post from May on YA books that do an excellent job with voice).

I was going to mention Divergent by Veronica Roth, but apparently I've lost all sense of time because that came out in early May. Bought it on release date and read it in two days.




So since we didn't do a Best Book for May, I nominate that one.

For June, I'm just going to list all the books I read, since they were all good:









These Best Book RTWs are a love/hate thing for me! I love discovering all these book recs, but I hate that my to-be-read pile increases exponentially!

Characters to Connect With

I had a conversation with an agent last week that led to some recommendations for YA books that do an excellent job of showing the main character's emotional life, their inner motivations and desires. I thought I'd share the titles for the benefit of other writers struggling to find this balance (I think I'm always afraid of going too far and making everything overdramatic, and err on the side of not showing enough). Here are some books that got it right:



Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson (this one was also used as an example of voice in Eve Adler's workshop at our local SCBWI Spring Spirit Conference)



The Maze Runner by James Dashner



The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

My own recommendations would be the Flavia De Luce mysteries by Alan Bradley:





Any other recommendations?

RTW--Best Book(s) of November

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic is: What's the best book you read in November?

Okay, I added the s to the "book" for my blog post, because I read/listened to 3 books that went really well together. Of course, if you read them back to back, you might end up with a slightly twisted mindset like I exhibited in my previous post. BTW, I showed those figurines to my hubby and he didn't think they were interesting or amusing AT ALL, just grotesque. He liked the Humanimals, so I thought he'd go for them. No accounting for tastes.

Anyway, the first book up was The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan on audio. For a book with zombies, the writing was very lyrical in spots. The focus was on the love triangle between Mary and two brothers from her village, and the Unconsecrated (zombies) were almost another aspect of the scenery. Except when they're attacking of course. Without being spoilery, one scene was truly heartbreaking, almost unbearably so for me.

I read the companion book, The Dead-Tossed Waves, on my Kindle in just a few days. Again, atmosphere and mood as an aspect of setting was so well done. A love triangle figures in this one also, and it felt so similar to the setup in the first book that I was almost annoyed, but the author pulls it off. This book was also more layered than the first one, and it seems like she'll need to do another book to pick up some dropped storylines. But still a good read, even with less focus.

The last book was The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman on audio. It's actually Neil Gaiman on the audio, and he does a stellar job. It doesn't hurt that I'm a sucker for British accents ;) This is a more quiet book, sort of a series of adventures that eventually tie into a greater story arc. A great winter CD, it's perfect to listen to on gloomy days. Don't worry, he story itself is not overly gloomy--in fact it ends on a really hopeful note.

Secret of Kells

Saw a lovely little animated film the other day, Secret of Kells. It's beautifully made and well worth seeing.

But what made it particularly interesting is that we were just discussing The Hero's Journey in our crit group. There is a book called The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler, and he uses Joseph Campbell's ideas of the hero's journey as a way to plot a story.

Secret of Kells hit on all those points, so it was timely to have them reinforced. Vogler's model has since been used for many films, especially Disney films, and another good example is The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Trailer for Secret of Kells below, and here's a link to the poem Pangur Ban

Road Trippy Wednesday: Best Book in October

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic: What was the best book you read in October?


Okay, so the photo above has nothing to do with the books I'm going to mention--it's just something I saw on the way home. What appeared to be a large shrubbery merged onto the highway; the pickup was so overloaded you couldn't see the vehicle at all from the back. I had to take 3 photos before I got one that shows a wheel to prove there is indeed a pickup under there.

I thought to myself,"Boy are the Knights Who Say Ni going to be happy when he brings them that shrubbery!"


On to the books: my picks are three books from the same series, Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate. I've already blogged about how I dipped my toe into Soulless and was then sucked into a vortex of do-nothing-else until I had read Changeless and Blameless also, but I'm not sure that counts as a proper review.

I haven't read steampunk very widely (does The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson count? That's one of my all-time favorite books), but as far as I can tell they fit the genre, with the added bonus of vampires and werewolves. And yes, I too am reaching saturation on vampires and werewolves, but I'm always on the lookout for books that put a new twist on the fuzzies and the fangies.

And Gail Carriger does manage a new twist, both with the paranormals and the alternate history/world she has created. The main character's voice is so strong, and it fits her personality so well. I can't wait to read the next book (2011!), even though I thought the third one dragged in places. These are just great, fun reads, with a little bit of sass and spice thrown in.

Road Trip Wednesday: Best Book in August (very mild spoilage)

YA Highway and friends are at it again for Road Trip Wednesday.

Road Trip Wednesday is a "Blog Carnival," where YA Highway's contributors post a weekly writing- or reading-related question and answer it on our own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody's unique take on the topic.

This week's topic:What's the best book you read this month (August)?

I had to laugh this morning when I logged onto Blogger and saw all the posts for Road Trip Wednesday that featured a graphic of Mockingjay, the final installment in the Hunger Games trilogy. Most people that got it on the release date read it in a few days, so I knew it would figure prominently in this topic!

I want to cast my vote for Catching Fire, the second book in the series. I did read it for the first time in August; I read Hunger Games last year and I wanted to wait to read Catching Fire until all 3 were out. So about a week before the Mockingjay release, I re-read HG and then read CF.

I loved the twist in the games that features so prominently in Catching Fire. As a reader, it made me so fired up (had to say it) on behalf of Katniss and the other surviving tributes. As a writer, my mind was spinning at a million miles an hour with all the things you could do with that situation, all the different directions you could take the characters and the districts.

And I was perfectly satisfied with the choices Suzanne Collins made for CF, but I think the biggest reason why I have more affection for CF than I do for Mockingjay is the feeling of hope that it ends with. I've already posted on the violence in the last book so I won't repeat all that here, other than to say I thought the ending was true to the book and the world Collins created. I thought CF ended on a "We can do it!" note, and Mockingjay ended on a "We survived it!" note.

Both valid and true experiences, but it will be a while before I can go back and re-read Mockingjay again.

First Ever Road Trip Wednesday

Every Wednesday, YA Highway does something called Road Trip Wednesday: they post a question or writing prompt, and people answer it on their own blogs. I'm a RTW virgin, but no more!

What's the best book you've read this month?


I finally got around to reading Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr. It reminded me of Lips Touch: 3 Times by Laini Taylor, but only because they both deal with the fae and temptation (and they're well-written).

I picked up Wicked Lovely on the way to a doctor's appointment, and it was a perfect fit. It engrossed me enough that I could tune out all the office/waiting room chatter, and then distracted me while I waited for the radiologist to come back (much better than just sitting there worrying!) So double duty, mission accomplished.

Runner up book for this month:
Fat Vampire by Adam Rex

Love the True Meaning of Smekday, so when I heard Adam Rex had another YA book coming out, I was counting the days. This one is a little Christopher Moore-esque--but that's a very good thing indeed! I should be so lucky as to be compared to CM someday. The highlight: teenage awkwardness compounded by newly-undead status.


I'm about to start on writing another novel (YA contemporary fantasy, working title Crow's Rest) so that means I won't be reading much fiction for a while. I'll be on the lookout for some good non-fiction though.

7/31: It's still technically July, so I want to add another book, The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood. This one is like The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and Jane Eyre rolled into one, with a dash of Lemony Snicket's sensibilities. It also brought to mind an old Gothic I loved, On the Night of the Seventh Moon by Victoria Holt. I can't believe I have to wait until March 2011 to read the next adventures of the Incorrigibles!