Archive for July, 2014

Live Chat with Debut Author
Siobhan Adcock

Wednesday, July 30th, 2014
Live Blog Live Chat with Siobhan Adcock, THE BARTER
 Live Chat with Siobhan Adcock, THE BARTER(07/30/2014) 
3:46
Nora - EarlyWord: 
We will begin our live online chat with Siobhan Adcock, author of The Barter in about 15 minutes.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 3:46 Nora - EarlyWord
3:47
Nora - EarlyWord: 

Meanwhile, here’s the cover of the book…

Wednesday July 30, 2014 3:47 Nora - EarlyWord
3:47
Nora - EarlyWord
Wednesday July 30, 2014 3:47 
3:47
Nora - EarlyWord: 

Siobhan recorded an introductory video that gives a good overview of the book.

Wednesday July 30, 2014 3:47 Nora - EarlyWord
3:48
Nora - EarlyWordNora - EarlyWord
Wednesday July 30, 2014 3:48 
3:55
[Comment From Michy FishMichy Fish: ] 
Can I ask a question now?
Wednesday July 30, 2014 3:55 Michy Fish
3:55
Nora - EarlyWord: 

You can send your questions through at any time. They'll go into a queue, and we'll try to submit them in an orderly fashion (!) to Siobhan before the end of the chat. Don’t worry about typos – and please forgive ours.

Wednesday July 30, 2014 3:55 Nora - EarlyWord
3:59
Siobhan Adcock: 
Hi there! I'm an EarlyWord earlybird I think...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 3:59 Siobhan Adcock
3:59
Nora - EarlyWord: 
No problem at all -- better early than late!
Wednesday July 30, 2014 3:59 Nora - EarlyWord
3:59
Siobhan Adcock: 
I wish I could say I'm always this on time...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 3:59 Siobhan Adcock
4:00
Nora - EarlyWord: 
I see some folks gathering -- say hi to Siobhan everyone.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:00 Nora - EarlyWord
4:00
[Comment From DominiqueDominique: ] 
Hi Siobhan! Loved your book!
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:00 Dominique
4:00
[Comment From Michy FishMichy Fish: ] 
Hi Siobhan -- Love your book.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:00 Michy Fish
4:00
[Comment From S.S.: ] 
Hi
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:00 S.
4:01
Siobhan Adcock: 
Dominique, Michy Fish, thank you so much! And thanks to all of you for being here too.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:01 Siobhan Adcock
4:01
Nora - EarlyWord: 

We received some questions in advance – here is one that seems to be a good place to start :

This is billed as a ghost story, which I have to admit, put me off. But when I got in to it, I realized that there’s so much more to it, about how women struggle over work and family, how husbands and wives relate. How do you describe it?

Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:01 Nora - EarlyWord
4:01
Siobhan Adcock: 
This is such a good question...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:01 Siobhan Adcock
4:02
Siobhan Adcock: 
To whoever wrote it, thanks for sticking with me! It's my hope that women and readers in general will find something to relate to in the book whether they believe in ghosts or not...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:02 Siobhan Adcock
4:02
Siobhan Adcock: 
I've been working on my "one-sentence" elevator pitch—and for a lot of writers I think that feels sort of like stuffing an elephant into a hatbox...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:02 Siobhan Adcock
4:02
Siobhan Adcock: 
But I usually describe it as a ghost story and a love story, set in historical and contemporary Texas, about marriage and motherhood and work.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:02 Siobhan Adcock
4:03
Nora - EarlyWord: 
I like what you said in the video about it being a combo of Stephen King and Lean In!
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:03 Nora - EarlyWord
4:04
Nora - EarlyWord: 

How did you come up with the idea of the ghost?

Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:04 Nora - EarlyWord
4:04
Siobhan Adcock: 
Ha! Yes, that came from a friend of mine and I admit I've been using that line pretty shamelessly.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:04 Siobhan Adcock
4:05
Siobhan Adcock: 
This is kind of a long answer, but ...There's an Alice Munro short story (in Friends of My Youth) in which a character is described as being willing to give up an hour of her child's life for something she really wants. (Spoiler alert: it's related to an affair she's having.) I first read that story more than ten years ago, but ever since then the idea has been percolating: What kind of woman is that? What kind of choice is that?...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:05 Siobhan Adcock
4:05
Siobhan Adcock: 
I ended up writing two stories about that question, Bridget's and Rebecca's, and the ghost came out of, I guess, how spooky that question seems to me, how full of loss and regret in the way of the classic old-school ghost story. The ghost was also what helped me see a way to tie those two women's stories together...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:05 Siobhan Adcock
4:05
Siobhan Adcock: 
I wanted to write something scary—an old-fashioned ghost story—that people could actually see themselves in, and that might move them emotionally even while it scared their pants off.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:05 Siobhan Adcock
4:06
Nora - EarlyWord: 

So the idea of two womens stories came first, with the ghost as a way to connect them?

Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:06 Nora - EarlyWord
4:06
Siobhan Adcock: 
Yes, the ghost came in later, through a side door
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:06 Siobhan Adcock
4:07
Siobhan Adcock: 
I was trying to figure out how to connect these two stories and one night it just kind of hit me, why not try it as a ghost story.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:07 Siobhan Adcock
4:07
[Comment From Boston LibBoston Lib: ] 
BTW, that ghost WAS scary. Something about it not talking.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:07 Boston Lib
4:08
Siobhan Adcock: 
Yeah, those faceless voiceless ghosts are the scariest! Thanks Boston Lib
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:08 Siobhan Adcock
4:08
[Comment From S.S.: ] 
What was your inspiration
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:08 S.
4:08
Siobhan Adcock: 
S., it was really that line in that Alice Munro story that just stuck in my head for years, believe it or not...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:08 Siobhan Adcock
4:09
Siobhan Adcock: 
And as a full-time working mother, the choices that mothers face now (and have always faced) started to take on a new urgency for me once my daughter was born. I wanted to write about a mother faced with some of those choices and more terrible ones besides.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:09 Siobhan Adcock
4:10
[Comment From Boston LibBoston Lib: ] 
Which is why this is such a great reading group book -- so much to discuss!
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:10 Boston Lib
4:10
Nora - EarlyWord: 

Let's talk about those two women -- the chapters altyernate between them, both living in the same area, near Austin, TX, but at different periods of time.

I was fascinated by the specifics of daily life at the turn of the century (I heard that the term “blue Monday” refers to the drudgery of doing laundry on Mondays – you make that real!) How did you research daily life?

Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:10 Nora - EarlyWord
4:10
Siobhan Adcock: 
Thanks so much! I really hope so. Both the main characters face choices that I hope will resonate with other working women and mothers, and this is probably where the more compelling talking points are to be found. I'm thinking in particular of the recent story in the New York Times about how the "opt-out generation wants back in"— and the resulting flood of pieces, online and in print, weighing in for and against. The characters in this book participate in that highly-charged cultural conversation about women, motherhood, and work, and how a woman's identity is valued.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:10 Siobhan Adcock
4:11
Siobhan Adcock: 
Nora, thanks for that question about the daily life aspect of the historical sections--I was so fascinated by that when I was researching!
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:11 Siobhan Adcock
4:12
Nora - EarlyWord: 
How did you do the research? So much written history is about events, but not about daily life.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:12 Nora - EarlyWord
4:12
Siobhan Adcock: 
I researched the (many! amazing! history-altering!) changes taking place in American homes around the turn of the last century; and I read a lot of personal writings by women farmers in different parts of the country.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:12 Siobhan Adcock
4:13
Siobhan Adcock: 
I REALLY recommend Never Done: A History of American Housework by Susan Strasser—a great read. And I discovered a midwestern writer named Rachel Peden who wrote some wonderful, graceful books about life on a farm.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:13 Siobhan Adcock
4:13
Siobhan Adcock: 
And anyone who wants to chat about Texas land grants in the 1850s or how and when plumbing and electricity were rolled out to middle class Americans, I'm your gal. Ha.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:13 Siobhan Adcock
4:13
Nora - EarlyWord: 
How did you get access to the personal writings -- I assume diaries and letters?
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:13 Nora - EarlyWord
4:15
Siobhan Adcock: 
There is a wonderful series published by the University of Indiana press that presents the oral histories of women and homemakers in the early twentieth century--I'll see if I can find a link.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:15 Siobhan Adcock
4:16
Siobhan Adcock: 
And there are also some really super-detailed historical documents that open up a window into that era, when the technology of the home was rapidly changing. Stoves, water sources, telegraphs and telephones, railroads, electricity, indoor plumbing, all those technologies were in a state of development that really reached a peak around Rebecca's time. I spent a lot of time researching that.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:16 Siobhan Adcock
4:16
[Comment From S.S.: ] 
Are you going to write more books in the future?
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:16 S.
4:16
Siobhan Adcock: 
But someone told me that only about 10% of what you research ever makes it into the book, and that certainly felt true to me!
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:16 Siobhan Adcock
4:17
Siobhan Adcock: 
S., yes, I'm working on another book now, but so far it's pretty different. No ghosts.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:17 Siobhan Adcock
4:17
Siobhan Adcock: 
Yet.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:17 Siobhan Adcock
4:17
Nora - EarlyWord: 
To me, and I am sure most of this audience, the research is the part that sounds fun -- the writing would be hard!
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:17 Nora - EarlyWord
4:18
Siobhan Adcock: 
Oh yeah, I definitely went into a rabbit hole with the research. A very nice cozy comfy rabbit hole that I didn't want to crawl out of...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:18 Siobhan Adcock
4:18
Siobhan Adcock: 
I think you're totally right!
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:18 Siobhan Adcock
4:18
[Comment From Kristine HallKristine Hall: ] 
How did you stay focused/get yourself back to the plot with all the interesting research? Were you specific in what you researched? Seems like it would take a lot of discipline to be historically accurate.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:18 Kristine Hall
4:19
Siobhan Adcock: 
I think I was fortunate in that I was researching a couple of really super-specific things: German folkways and culture in Texas, and American home technology at the turn of the century. You look at an achievement like Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel, where she takes in a whole era, and it's a whole other level of discipline
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:19 Siobhan Adcock
4:20
[Comment From Boston LibBoston Lib: ] 
I've heard loneliness was a big issue for farm women at that time. But in the modern time, your character Bridget suffers from her own kind of loneliness.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:20 Boston Lib
4:20
Siobhan Adcock: 
Thanks for that point--I think that loneliness is something a lot of mothers and women who work in the home face, and it's a real thing.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:20 Siobhan Adcock
4:21
Siobhan Adcock: 
Bridget's loneliness has a particularly modern quality too, in that she's connected through her smartphone to her husband and her mother and all her friends, but she still feels utterly isolated
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:21 Siobhan Adcock
4:21
[Comment From Boston LibBoston Lib: ] 
Curious how that carries through to today -- live those similarities between the two women. We think the time periods were SO different.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:21 Boston Lib
4:22
Siobhan Adcock: 
They were, I think you're right...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:22 Siobhan Adcock
4:23
Siobhan Adcock: 
But the early 1900s are an exciting time to write about, because it was a period of huge change in America, and in particular, in the everyday lives of women in America...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:23 Siobhan Adcock
4:23
Siobhan Adcock: 
The technology of the home was making huge strides. Professional and educational opportunities for women were changing, and it was also a period that saw a kind of revolution in the philosophy of rearing children. The parallels between that time and the turn of the twenty-first century inspired me...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:23 Siobhan Adcock
4:24
Nora - EarlyWord: 

That's funny -- we think that all the tech changes are happening today.

Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:24 Nora - EarlyWord
4:24
Siobhan Adcock: 
—because right now we're also living in a period in which technology is changing motherhood and everyday life. And right now, the way Americans raise their children is also a subject of intense cultural debate....
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:24 Siobhan Adcock
4:25
Siobhan Adcock: 
And women's expectations for their lives are still being scrutinized under some really old, traditional lenses. Like for instance, why is it even still an issue that some women choose to work?
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:25 Siobhan Adcock
4:26
Siobhan Adcock: 
So the parallels for me were in the changes they were both witnessing...and also the way things frustratingly stayed the same, for both of them.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:26 Siobhan Adcock
4:27
[Comment From Boston LibBoston Lib: ] 
As you point out, the issue keeps rearing its head -- with some women today thinking it's revolutionary to choose NOT to work!
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:27 Boston Lib
4:27
Nora - EarlyWord: 

Rebecca reads the book Practical Housekeeping — is that a real book? How did you discover it?

Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:27 Nora - EarlyWord
4:28
Siobhan Adcock: 
Yes! It's a real book, dating from the post Civil War/Reconstruction era, and it's available as a Google book here if you want quick access to prowl through it, although some special collections, like the Schaumburg library, might have the real thing:

http://books.google.ca/book...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:28 Siobhan Adcock
4:29
Siobhan Adcock: 
(Sorry took me a second to find the link)
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:29 Siobhan Adcock
4:29
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Ha! Was that book a way to keep women in their place, tending the home?
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:29 Nora - EarlyWord
4:29
Siobhan Adcock: 
It's packed with all this highly technical, scientific information as well as recipes and etiquette. This was published during a time when some early-feminist writers and thinkers were trying to professionalize women's work, elevating what women did in the home all day long to a science and an art.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:29 Siobhan Adcock
4:30
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Amazing -- so it's the opposite of what one might think.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:30 Nora - EarlyWord
4:30
Siobhan Adcock: 
So I think Practical Housekeeping really sort of tried to do both--making women feel comfortable and competent in their homemaking skills, but also pointing out that it took SKILL
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:30 Siobhan Adcock
4:31
Siobhan Adcock: 
I mean, this book, it's crazy. Harvest times for 50 varieties of garden vegetables. Hundreds of recipes. Super technical information about kitchen ventilation.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:31 Siobhan Adcock
4:31
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Melville Dewey said that women would make good librarians because they were good housekeepers, which I always thought was horribly sexist until I realized that he was actually trying to promote the idea of women as professionals.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:31 Nora - EarlyWord
4:31
Siobhan Adcock: 
The American home was changing into a place where there were all these devices, gadgets, things to learn how to do.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:31 Siobhan Adcock
4:32
Siobhan Adcock: 
Yeah, I think what's perhaps ironic about Rebecca's situation is that she becomes a farm wife, but she's also a businesswoman, all of a sudden. That's the part of her new life that she loves: the responsibility, the new learning.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:32 Siobhan Adcock
4:32
[Comment From Michy FishMichy Fish: ] 
One thing that troubles me, but also seemed very real, was how, in both marriages, the partners, well, particularly the women, tended to say hurtful things to each other.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:32 Michy Fish
4:33
Siobhan Adcock: 
Thanks so much for that point Michy--such a big issue...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:33 Siobhan Adcock
4:33
Siobhan Adcock: 
In my day job I work on a lot of women's community websites, and one of the things I always see is women calling each other selfish--or worse--because of differences in their philosophy about work or raising kids or family size...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:33 Siobhan Adcock
4:34
[Comment From Michy FishMichy Fish: ] 
Ugh -- we can be our own worst enemies!
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:34 Michy Fish
4:34
Siobhan Adcock: 
It's the first accusation we seem to level at each other--it's like selfishness is the worst thing you can accuse a woman of, the biggest nuclear bomb you can drop.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:34 Siobhan Adcock
4:35
Nora - EarlyWord: 

Bridget refers to the Grimm stories — did they influence you? Why do you think they have such staying power?

Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:35 Nora - EarlyWord
4:35
Siobhan Adcock: 
Yes, Bridget and Rebecca are both kind of in the thrall of these eerie storytellers, and storytelling has a unique power in their lives. Grimms' stories are sort of the original domestic terror stories—patricide, matricide, infanticide, incest, child abuse, violence...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:35 Siobhan Adcock
4:35
Siobhan Adcock: 
The scariest thing I ever read, I think, is Grimms' tale The Juniper Tree, which is just so rich with messed-up scary family dynamics. Because I love sharing it, here's a version that inspired the magician's story toward the end of the Rebecca plotline:

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/g...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:35 Siobhan Adcock
4:36
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Let's talk about the publishing process. Before THE BARTER, you had already published two nonfiction titles (Hipster Haiku and 30 Things Everyone Should Know How to Do Before Turning 30) and several short stories. You also worked in publishing. Did that make it easier for you to get the novel published?
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:36 Nora - EarlyWord
4:37
Siobhan Adcock: 
Those were published a few years back, and since pop-culture/humor titles tend to have a pretty short shelf life, I'm not sure they're in print anymore! I started my career as an editor in book publishing, though, and I did make really valuable personal and professional connections that definitely helped me get this novel published...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:37 Siobhan Adcock
4:37
Siobhan Adcock: 
My agent, Betsy Lerner, was a senior editor at Doubleday when I was a lowly editorial assistant, and when she left to become an agent, there was this goodbye party, and she came over to where all the assistants were clustered in a group, just drinking the free wine as fast as we could, and she said, "I know every single one of you is working on a novel, and when you're finished, you'd better send it to me or else." And years later, I took her up on that. Of course she denies ever having said it. Ha.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:37 Siobhan Adcock
4:38
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Did she like it instantly?
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:38 Nora - EarlyWord
4:38
Siobhan Adcock: 
Yes, she did, fortunately for me. She was reading chapters as I went, and three weeks after I finished the first draft she sold it.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:38 Siobhan Adcock
4:39
Siobhan Adcock: 
So she's clearly some kind of super agent ninja from outer space.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:39 Siobhan Adcock
4:39
Nora - EarlyWord: 
That is amazing. Did she help you to shape it? Was the ghost in it when she first saw the ms?
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:39 Nora - EarlyWord
4:40
Siobhan Adcock: 
Yes, I think one thing that really characterizes the author-agent relationship now, and a lot of people say this, is that the agent takes such an active role in shaping the ms.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:40 Siobhan Adcock
4:41
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Does that mean the editor has less to do?
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:41 Nora - EarlyWord
4:41
Siobhan Adcock: 
Both Betsy and my editor Denise Roy at Dutton were great with giving actionable, tactical, strategic feedback--totally my style! And sorry, to answer your q, the ghost was in there from the beginning...They both encouraged me to make it even scarier.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:41 Siobhan Adcock
4:42
Siobhan Adcock: 
I think the editor has the hardest job...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:42 Siobhan Adcock
4:42
Siobhan Adcock: 
Not just loving the book, but then making a case for buying it, and then making a business plan for helping it succeed, and then building buzz and excitement in house to help it succeed...all while editing, shaping the creative direction for the cover, creating the marketing language...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:42 Siobhan Adcock
4:43
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Great perspective. You don't think about these things going on at once -- she's selling a product that's not fully fleshed yet!
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:43 Nora - EarlyWord
4:44
Siobhan Adcock: 
Absolutely--it's really on the editor to be a sort of in-house PR agency for all her titles.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:44 Siobhan Adcock
4:44
[Comment From MD LibMD Lib: ] 
When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:44 MD Lib
4:45
Siobhan Adcock: 
I wanted to be a writer from when I was pretty young. I was joking with somebody yesterday that I realized I wanted to be a writer when I realized there was no such thing as a professional band-aid waster.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:45 Siobhan Adcock
4:45
Siobhan Adcock: 
I was the kid in the neighborhood who was always pretending to be a doctor and trying to fix people.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:45 Siobhan Adcock
4:45
[Comment From Bartle B.Bartle B.: ] 
You mentioned having worked in editorial -- do you think that has inflected how you write, as well?
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:45 Bartle B.
4:46
Siobhan Adcock: 
Hi Bartle B.--yes, I really think it has...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:46 Siobhan Adcock
4:46
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Also, I'd like to add -- Did your experience working on several Web sites (including one of my favorites, Epicurious — one of my favorites) influence your writing?
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:46 Nora - EarlyWord
4:46
Siobhan Adcock: 
Some of the writers I respect most started out as journalists, and many more writers that I love write reviews, criticism, op-ed, humor...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:46 Siobhan Adcock
4:47
Siobhan Adcock: 
And of course many of them are editors, too, working with other writers to help shape their work. And lots of writers teach creative writing, which is much the same thing...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:47 Siobhan Adcock
4:48
Siobhan Adcock: 
Personally I'm not sure I'd recommend to any writer that they ONLY ever write fiction. You've gotta get more stuff coming out of your brain than that, just to keep the stove warm. And anyway it might get boring just writing one kind of thing all the time.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:48 Siobhan Adcock
4:48
Siobhan Adcock: 
But that's just me--I bet there are other amazing fiction writers who are focused and disciplined and all those good things...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:48 Siobhan Adcock
4:48
[Comment From MD LibMD Lib: ] 
What was it about Texas that made you want to set your book there?
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:48 MD Lib
4:49
Siobhan Adcock: 
Hi MD Lib. I lived in Texas from when I was in my teens until I went to college, and I first heard about the Germans in Texas when I was in high school, while on a road trip that took me through New Braunfels, one of the historical centers of Germans in the state...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:49 Siobhan Adcock
4:49
Siobhan Adcock: 
The Hill Country is just so unbelievably beautiful, too, what writer wouldn't want to immerse herself in that.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:49 Siobhan Adcock
4:49
[Comment From Prison Lib.Prison Lib.: ] 
Please tell us about teaching creative writing in prisons.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:49 Prison Lib.
4:49
Siobhan Adcock: 
Prison Lib., my "students" in the prison creative writing classes taught me more than I ever taught them.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:49 Siobhan Adcock
4:50
Siobhan Adcock: 
I participated in the Cornell Prison Education program as a graduate student, and I was one of a group of teachers who facilitated a weekly creative writing workshop for men in the maximum security prison at Auburn
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:50 Siobhan Adcock
4:51
[Comment From Prison Lib.Prison Lib.: ] 
Can you elaborate on what they taught you (by the way, I completely agree).
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:51 Prison Lib.
4:51
Siobhan Adcock: 
The classroom environment was incredible. I've never met a more committed group of writers in my life. And most of them were great writers just by any yardstick--that is, not "great prison writers" but "great writers," period.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:51 Siobhan Adcock
4:51
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Amazingly, we only have ten more minutes with Siobhan -- so get your final questions in.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:51 Nora - EarlyWord
4:52
Siobhan Adcock: 
They taught me to write even when you are scared. Write because you are scared. Write around the scared. Write to the scared.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:52 Siobhan Adcock
4:52
Siobhan Adcock: 
Write to make fear into something like belief in yourself.'
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:52 Siobhan Adcock
4:52
Siobhan Adcock: 
That's not very specific but it's probably the best I can say.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:52 Siobhan Adcock
4:53
Siobhan Adcock: 
And obviously they were much better at that way of writing than me, because they had to be.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:53 Siobhan Adcock
4:53
[Comment From Prison Lib.Prison Lib.: ] 
That's beautiful, thanks.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:53 Prison Lib.
4:53
[Comment From MD librarianMD librarian: ] 
Are you willing to speak at libraries? Can we SKYPE you in to one of our reading groups? How do we contact you?
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:53 MD librarian
4:54
Siobhan Adcock: 
Yeah! I would love to skype with you.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:54 Siobhan Adcock
4:55
Siobhan Adcock: 
I can also do a Google Hangout. My Skype handle is siobhan.adcock73
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:55 Siobhan Adcock
4:56
Siobhan Adcock: 
And please feel free to email me: siobhanadcock@gmail.com
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:56 Siobhan Adcock
4:56
Nora - EarlyWord: 
We'll be wrapping up in a few minutes.

Just wanted to remind everyone that THE BARTER is coming will be published on Sept 4 and if you haven't read it, you can request advance digital readers copies on NetGalley and Edelweiss.

Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:56 Nora - EarlyWord
4:57
Siobhan Adcock: 
This has been amazing. Thanks so much everybody.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:57 Siobhan Adcock
4:57
Siobhan Adcock: 
Oh, I almost forgot. I took a picture of some of the books I read while researching. I just grabbed a handful that were lying around.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:57 Siobhan Adcock
4:57
Nora - EarlyWord: 

Thank you, Siobhan -- so much to think about!


This chat will be archived on the Penguin [Debut Authors page on EarlyWord:

http://penguindebutauthors.earlyword.com/

Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:57 Nora - EarlyWord
4:57
[Comment From Kristine HallKristine Hall: ] 
I cannot wait to read this and am so glad we just had teasers today and no spoilers!
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:57 Kristine Hall
4:57
Siobhan Adcock
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:57 
4:57
Siobhan Adcock: 
In case it's interesting...
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:57 Siobhan Adcock
4:58
Siobhan Adcock: 
Thanks Kristine!!
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:58 Siobhan Adcock
4:58
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Believe me, Kristine, it's hard to do!
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:58 Nora - EarlyWord
4:58
[Comment From Bartle B.Bartle B.: ] 
Thank you!
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:58 Bartle B.
4:58
Siobhan Adcock
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:58 
4:58
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Wow -- German Seed in Texas Soil sounds racy!
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:58 Nora - EarlyWord
4:58
Siobhan Adcock: 
HAHAHA
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:58 Siobhan Adcock
4:59
Siobhan Adcock: 
It's a historical romance novel, actually.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:59 Siobhan Adcock
4:59
Siobhan Adcock: 
"She was an innocent cowgirl. He was a dashing German shipping baron. GERMAN SEED IN TEXAS SOIL."
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:59 Siobhan Adcock
4:59
Siobhan Adcock: 
OK I'll stop.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 4:59 Siobhan Adcock
5:00
Nora - EarlyWord: 
By the way, I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your use of similes and metaphors -- never cliched, even in the sex scenes (which I recommend).
Wednesday July 30, 2014 5:00 Nora - EarlyWord
5:00
Siobhan Adcock: 
Thanks! Those kinds of scenes are really tough to do.
Wednesday July 30, 2014 5:00 Siobhan Adcock
5:01
Nora - EarlyWord: 

It's the witching hour -- time to sign off. Thanks, again, everyone.


The next book in our program is FIVE DAYS LEFT BY Julie Lawson Timmer . If you are not already a member of the Penguin Debut Authors program, you can sign up on the EarlyWord site.

Wednesday July 30, 2014 5:01 Nora - EarlyWord
5:01
Siobhan Adcock: 
Thanks again, it was such a pleasure to be here!
Wednesday July 30, 2014 5:01 Siobhan Adcock
 
 

GalleyChatter, What To Read Now

Wednesday, July 30th, 2014

[Ed. Note: This post is by EarlyWord’s GalleyChatter, Robin Beerbower]

Our monthly GalleyChats are setting new records, with more librarians and more titles (over 77 in July’s active session; more than a title a minute). It’s a great jolt for those who may be suffering reading doldrums.

While many professed their love for titles that came up during the previous month’s chat — Caitlin Doughty’s Smoke Gets in Your EyesLiane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, David Mitchell’s The Bone Clocks, (now on the Man Booker longlist) — many new titles were recommended, especially for fans of mysteries and memoirs. Check here for a complete list–July 8 GalleyChat Titles.

Hot Mysteries

Murder at the BrightwellMysteries were a hot topic with three in particular garnering accolades. The group was excited to hear that Louisiana librarian Ashley Weaver has published her debut mystery, Murder at the Brightwell(Minotaur/Macmillan, October).

Set in a fashionable seaside resort during the 1930s and featuring a wealthy young woman as the sleuth, New York librarian Janet Schneider said this is “sort of a  Dorothy L. Sayers/Downton Abbey combo.”

9781250021410_dcbafG. M. Malliet’s newest book, A Demon Summer(Macmillan/Minotaur, October), was recommended as a solid entry in the British Max Tudor series. Library patrons (and librarians) eagerly awaiting Louise Penny’s next book,  The Long Way Home (Macmillan/Minotaur, August), can quell their impatience by trying one of Malliet’s earlier titles as a temporary fix, (caution: they may end up hooked).

Margaret Maron’s popularity has been growing and her August release of Designated Daughters(Hachette/Grand Central) which promises to expose Judge Deborah Knott’s family secrets, was met with great enthusiasm by multiple participants.

9781250009647_b9d37Espionage and romance were both included with Vicki Nesting (St. Charles Parish Library) raving about Dana Haynes’ sequel to Ice Cold Kill, Gun Metal Heart (Macmillan/Minotaur, August) with the return of former Shin-bet agent Daria Gibron. Vicki’s GoodReads review calls it, “Frenetically fast-paced and fun international thriller. Conspiracies, double crosses and drones — oh my!”

phillipsAnd for contemporary romance fans, Heroes are My WeaknessSusan Elizabeth Phillips (HarperCollins/Morrow, August), adds wit to create a pleasing froth. Beth Mills (New Rochelle Public Library) said Phillilps does her “usual smooth storytelling along with amusing riff on Gothic elements a la Victoria Holt.” Sixteen Edelweiss peers have also added their love. No surprise it’s on the LibraryReads list for August. Collection development librarians will want to keep a close eye on this.

Spine Tinglers

horrorstorYou can get ready for Halloween now with spine-tingling galleys of books geared for release this fall.

For the many who love to hate IKEA, Horrorstörby Grady Hendrix, (Quirk/RH, September) is a sure hit. Chatter Kristi Chadwick attests, “It jumps well between amusing and creepy (which kind of describes Ikea itself).” Set in the fictional Orsk Furniture store and formatted like a retail catalog, the haunted store plot mixes well with social commentary. Also, take a close look at the clever jacket.

Boy Who DresAlso popular with those who like to be scared was The Boy Who Drew Monsters, Keith Donohue (Picado/Macmillan, October), the story of a boy whose drawings come to life (as the Macmillan rep characterizes it,  “think Tim Burton”). GalleyChat regular Janet Lockhart (always spot on in her recommendations) calls it,  “An elegantly written tale that is truly bonechilling and reminds me of Thomas Tryon, Shirley Jackson and Neil Gaiman.”

watersThe other eerie read that has been mentioned over the past three chats is Sarah Waters’ The Paying Guests (Riverhead/Penguin, September). In her Edelweiss review, San Diego Library’s Jenne Bergstrom said, “Its agonizing tension and gorgeous sexy romance make this a perfect beach or airplane read, but the sharp characterization and elegant writing will satisfy your craving for literary substance.”

 

perry

Revealing Memoirs

I’ve never paid much attention to Joe Perry, the “brooding” lead guitarist of Aerosmith, or even been a fan of the band, but I was glued to his new memoir Rocks: My Life in and out of Aerosmith(Simon & Schuster, October). It was searing and honest, and I developed a new-found admiration for his dedication to his art and relationships — and yes, he does “tell all” about Steven Tyler.

Other memoirs by famous men discussed were Not My Father’s Son, Alan Cumming (Dey Street/HC, October) and As You Wish, Cary Elwes (Touchstone/S&S, October). Collection development administrator Tracy Babiasz (Alachua County Library District, FL) said of Scottish actor Cumming’s unflinching story of his brutal upbringing, “Amazing memoir! I felt it in my toes!” Charmer Cary Elwes’ BEA appearance was a huge draw and fans of the Princess Bride movie have been raving about his personal behind-the-scenes stories of the filming.

Under the Radar

five daysThorndike Press’s Mary Smith selects fiction for large print publishing and has a good eye for under-the-radar titles. Her latest recommendation is Five Days Left, Julie Lawson Timmer (Amy Einhorn/Penguin, September) and says this story of a woman with only five days left to live has “lots of great topics for book discussion. Might need some Kleenex too.”  It could also be the perfect readalike for JoJo Moye’s Me Before You. Also note that Five Days Left is the next title in Penguin’s First Flight program on EarlyWord.

That’s it for this month! Join us this coming Tuesday, August 5 for our next GalleyChat and please friend me if you want notifications of what I’m anticipating on Edleweiss.

First Full Trailer for Part One of Third Hunger Games Movie

Tuesday, July 29th, 2014

After several teasers, Lionsgate debuted the first full trailer for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 this weekend at Comic-Con. It was released it online early yesterday and currently has 6 million views.

The movie opens on Nov. 21, followed by Part 2, the final movie in the series, on Nov. 20, 2015.

A tie-in edition will be published at the end of September:

9780545788298_96321Mockingjay (The Final Book of the Hunger Games): Movie Tie-in Edition
Suzanne Collins
Scholastic: September 30, 2014
9780545788298, 0545788293
Paperback / softback
$12.99 USD

First Trailer for Third Hobbit Movie

Tuesday, July 29th, 2014

The title of the third and final Hobbit movie was changed in April from the rather passive There and Back Again to one that promises more action, The Battle of the Five Armies.

The first trailer was released yesterday and already has nearly 3 million views on YouTube. The movie opens on Dec. 17

Americans Aren’t the Only Surprise On The 2014 Man Booker Longlist

Monday, July 28th, 2014

The first Man Booker longlist to include American authors has been released. Of the 13 novels, 4 are by Americans. As The Economist wryly observes, the list “has divided headline writers into those who prefer ‘Commonwealth writers edged out’ and those who have chosen ‘Donna Tartt snubbed’.”

But the Guardian gets to one of the most pressing issues,   exploring, “Why The Longlist Has Bewildered The Bookies,“ while taking a familiar swipe at American writers (similar to the Nobel Awards jurist’s claim that Americans are “too insular” to be able to win that prize), by saying, “American novelists tend to write about the US, and none of the four – Joshua Ferris, Karen Joy Fowler, Siri Hustvedt, Richard Powers – set their selected books abroad. So … there’s a marked sense of restricted horizons …”

The Economist, on the other hand, picks American Richard Powers’ Orfeo as one of the two most interesting books on the list. The other is The Narrow Road to the Deep North, by Australian Richard Flanagan.

It happens that just before this announcement, we heard Seattle Public Library’s David Wright describe his excitement about that book, calling the author, “a consummate stylist, but with a style that is in service to the realities he’s writing about, which are often deeply painful and tragic. That is certainly true in The Narrow Road to the Deep North, which depicts with a fair amount of detail the horrific experience of POWs in WWII (Flanagan’s father was a survivor of the Thai-Burma death railway) … He is so skillful in showing how these events affect mens’ lives … his writing is devastating, generous, and deeply caring.”

Flanagan is also modest. He tells the Guardian that he was “stunned” to learn he was on the list.

The author who may be the most surprised to make the list is Paul Kingsnorth. Not only is The Wake his first novel, he had so much trouble getting it published, that he finally turned to crowd-funding it via the U.K. website Unbound. The author describes the novel as “a strange and left-field book,” written in its own language, a version of Anglo-Saxon English.

A taste of it below:

The longlist, with American publishing information, below:

Available now:

To Rise Again  We Are All Completely  9781476747231_f75ed

The Wake  9780393240825  9781620406472_4cf58

To Rise Again at a Decent Hour, Joshua Ferris (Hachette/Little,Brown, 5/13/14)

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler (Penguin/Putnam/Marian Wood; 5/30/13; also in trade pbk)

The Blazing World, Siri Hustvedt (S&S; 3/11/14; Thorndike)

The Wake, Paul Kingsnorth (Unbound) — published via the crowd-funded site Unbound; available as an ebook on Axis 360

Orfeo, Richard Powers (Norton, 1/20/14; Thorndike; Recorded Books)

History of the Rain, Niall Williams (Macmillan/Bloomsbury, 5/6/14)

Forthcoming:

9780385352857_702c0  bone clocks

9780062365583_e119e  9780307378231_0137f

The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Richard Flanagan (RH/Knopf. 8/12/14)

J, Howard Jacobson, (RH/Crown/Hogarth (3/10/15)

The Bone Clocks, David Mitchell (Random House, 9/2/14; Recorded Books)

Us, David Nicholls (Harper, 10/8/14; HarperAudio)

The Dog, Joseph O’Neill (RH/)Pantheon, 10/9/14; RH Audio)

Not Yet Published in the U.S.:

The Lives of Others, Neel Mukherjee (Chatto & Windus)

How to be Both, Ali Smith (Hamish Hamilton)

Titles to Know, the Week of 7/28

Friday, July 25th, 2014

The Husband's Secret  9780399167065_c1185  9780670016389_5c5a8

Among the titles eagerly awaited next week, as evidenced by holds, is Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies (Penguin/Putnam/Einhorn; Penguin Audio; Recorded Books; Thorndike), the author’s next tile after last year’s The Husband’s Secret, which is still on best seller lists and still on hold in many libraries.

The NYT’s Janet Maslin included it in her summer reading roundup and reviewed it yesterday, saying it may have “even more staying power than The Husband’s Secret” and adds “‘a low-level bitchiness thrums throughout the narrative, becoming one of its indispensable pleasures.”

Hollywood has also discovered Moriarty. Both The Husband’s Secret and her 2011 title, What Alice Forgot are in development (The Devil Wears Prada’ director David Frankel, is attached to the latter). This is not to be confused with another adaptation of a book about an Alice with memory issues. Still Alice, adapted from the book by Lisa Genova, starring Kristen Stewart, Julianne Moore and Kate Bosworth is completed and set to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

For readers who can’t get their hands on Big Little Lies, you can recommend the debut domestic thriller, Dear Daughter by Elizabeth Little, (Penguin; Recorded Books). About a  former celebrity, accused of killing her mother, a crime she does not remember committing, LJ says “Fans of Tana French and Gillian Flynn are going to enjoy the smart narrator and the twists and turns in the case” and PW approves of the “entertainingly caustic first-person narrative.”

LibraryReads

9781400067244_c6788Lucky Us, Amy Bloom, (Random House)

LibraryReads recommendation:

“Is a family the people you are born to, or the people who you find along the way? That’s what Bloom explores in this novel set in pre- and post-WWII Ohio, Los Angeles, New York and Germany. The story follows resourceful Eva, who was abandoned by her mother at an early age, and her sister Iris, an aspiring actress who tries to find love at a time when her kind of love must be secretive. Every character is beautifully drawn, warm, and believable.” — Kathryn Hassert, Henrietta Hankin Branch Library, Chester Springs, PA

In the Media

9780670025367_5ffcb  9780544274150_db311

The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It, John W. Dean, (Penguin/Viking)

The Nixon Tapes: 1971-1972   by Douglas Brinkley, Luke Nichter, (HMH)

President Richard Nixon is in the media again, 40 years after he resigned over the Watergate scandal. Two new books timed for the anniversary will receive media attention. John Dean, his White House Counsel and mastermind of the Watergate coverup, later became a key witness for the prosecution, He is publishing The Nixon Defense, in which he reflects on what he learned from the tapes of Watergate conversations that Nixon secretly recorded. Time magazine begins their interview with Dean with the provocative question, “You recruited G. Gordon Liddy to run President Nixon’s dirty-tricks campaign and were intimately involved in the cover-up. Why should a reader pay for your judgment on Watergate?” His convincing response is that he may be the one person most qualified to shed light on what motivated that perplexing person. Dean is scheduled for appearances on CBS Sunday Morning, MSNBC Morning Joe and the NPR Diane Rehm show.

For readers who want to experience the tapes first hand, historians Douglas Brinkley and Luke Nichter have transcribed them for The Nixon Tapes: 1971-1972.

For more titles arriving next week, check our downloadable spreadsheet, New Title Radar, Week of 7:28:14

No Stopping Colbert

Thursday, July 24th, 2014

Sweetness No. 9Now that Stephen Colbert has achieved his goal of making Edan Lepucki’s California a best seller, he is applying the Colbert Nation magic to another upcoming title by a debut author published by Hachette, Sweetness No. 9 by Stephan Eirik Clark, (Hachette/Little, Brown, 8/19/14)

Lepucki appeared on the show on Monday. Colbert asked her to pay it foreword by recommending a book. She replied, “I’m reading Stephan Eirik Clark’s Sweetness #9, (It’s) so good.”

The novel is a satire called by Library Journal, “a hilarious take down of an industry more interested in getting us to buy its products than in selling us good food. Essential for fans of Christopher Buckley’s Thank You for Smoking.”

FIFTY SHADES NS For Morning TV

Thursday, July 24th, 2014

Fifty Shades of GreyThe trailer for the film version of Fifty Shades of Grey was set to debut on the Today Show this morning, but the network has decided to air just a portion of it, saying that the full trailer is not appropriate for morning television (somewhere, the movie’s marketing firm is smiling).

The full trailer, however, will be available on NBC.com following this morning’s broadcast, which will include an interview with the stars, Jamie Dornan, (Christian Grey) and Dakota Johnson’s (Anastasia Steele). Tomorrow morning, the show will feature a behind-the-scenes tour if the film set.

The movie is still seven months away, scheduled to debut in theaters on February 13, 2015.

UPDATE: below is the full trailer.

A truncated version was shown on the Today Show, along with a giddy interview with the stars conducted by a pregnant woman:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Beyond the Emmys — More TV Adaptations In the Pipeline

Wednesday, July 23rd, 2014

Book adaptations are not only hot in the film industry, they’ve also become a major source for TV, as evidenced by the nominations for the upcoming Emmy Awards (there’s so many this year that Word & Film created a  Book Lover’s Look at the 2014 Emmy Nominations. led, of course, by Game of Thrones).

Many more are in the pipeline. Outlander begins August 9. Upcoming is Olive Kitteridge (HBO, November), Fresh Off the Boat (ABC) and Astronaut Wives Club (also ABC).

In total, we are tracking 35 titles that have been announced for TV adaptation.  We know because we recently organized our adaptation information into a spreadsheet, EarlyWord’s Upcoming Book Adaptations,

Here are a few highlights:

9780312429980  American Gods  9780609610978

Wolf Hall — The BBC series based on Hilary Mantel’s bestseller and its sequel, Bring Up the Bodies, is currently filming (see photos from the set).

American Gods — Neil Gaiman — After HBO announced they has passed on their planned adaptation of Gaiman’s book, Starz picked it up earlier this month. Gaiman gave fans hope when he told the Guardian, “It already looks like it’s going to be a smoother run developing it than it had at HBO.” New York magazine, however, dumped rain on the parade with, “Why Adapting Neil Gaiman’s American Gods for TV Is a Bad Idea.The companion novel, Anansi Boys, is being developed by BBC, but there’s been no news since the February announcement. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. is moving along with its adaptation of Gaiman’s graphic novel, The Sandman, as a feature film, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt set to play Morpheus The Lord of Dreams. It is expected for release in 2016.

The Clan Of The Cave Bear  — based on Jean M. Auel’s Earth’s Children series — Although it was  made into a disastrous movie in 1986, starring Daryl Hannah, Ron Howard seems to think he can do better. Lifetime has set him up to executive produce a pilot.

The Magicians  — Syfy has greenlighted a pilot for  an adaptation of Lev Grossman’s fantasy trilogy.

The Last Kingdom  — Bernard Cornwell —  The Saxon Stories series — Named after the first book in the series, it is set to begin filming this fall, BBC America has hired the producers of Downton Abbey to run the production.

CALIFORNIA Rising on Amazon

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2014

9780316250818_1a106-2Stephen Colbert’s call to make California by Edan Lepucki (Hachette/Little, Brown) a NYT best seller has worked. It debuted on the July 27 Hardcover Fiction list at #3.

Colbert urged his audience to buy the book through independent booksellers, rather than Amazon, as a protest against the company’s strong-arming publisher Hachette as part of their terms negotiations.

But now that the book is on best seller lists, it is also rising on Amazon, hitting #208 this morning. Before it was published, when Amazon was not making pre-orders available, it was at #1,610,422 (how it had any ranking a tall when it couldn’t be ordered is a puzzle). After publication on July 8, it rose to #686.

The novel, which was a LibraryReads pick before Colbert made it the centerpiece of his protest, has also been receiving strong reviews in the consumer press:

The New York Times Book ReviewEdan Lepucki’s California

San Francisco ChronicleCalifornia, by Edan Lepucki

The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Secrets divide and destroy in Edan Lepucki’s dystopian novel, California

The Los Angeles TimesA grave new world awaits in Edan Lepucki’s California

Koryta Gains Fans

Monday, July 21st, 2014

9780316279963_05770Reviwer love is growing for Michael Koryta’s. latest thriller, Those Who Wish Me Dead, (Hachette/Little, Brown, 6/3/14).

Featured yesterday as one of of NPR.org’s “You Must Read This” picks, it gets this strong recommendation, “If you want an elegantly written, taut thriller with an amazing sense of place, then look no further.” It’s on the Amazon’s editors’ list of the Best Books of the Year So Far (even though it is published by Hachette, the company Amazon is famously feuding with), and  Janet Maslin praised it last week in the New York Times.

The NPR reviewer ends by saying, “Koryta, I might add, is only 31 years old. I mention this not to be ageist — but to delight in the fact that he’s got a lot of time to keep on telling us stories. That, dear readers, is great news for us.”

We can add that Koryta already has a considerable body of work, having published ten novels.

Several of Koryta’s books, including Those Who Wish Me Dead, are in development for films or television.

Four Titles to Know, The Week of July 21

Friday, July 18th, 2014

9780345530943_07339  9780399173349_9afbd  9781250019929_9811a

The flow of  big titles slows down a bit next week. Two of the author’s names may make you feel like you’ve been listening to the 70’s soundtrack for Guardians of the Galaxy. Danielle Steel’s A Perfect Life (RH/Doubeday; RH large print; Brilliance Audio) leads in holds, although many fewer than one would have expected earlier in her career. Even Tom Clancy returns posthumously, in the third in the Campus series with co-author mark Greany, Tom Clancy Support and Defend, (Penguin/Putnam; RH Auido; Thorndike). Also drawing holds is Elizabeth Adler’s suspense novel, Last to Know (Macmillan/Minotaur).

9780316279963_05770As a result, reviewers have some breathing space to cover earlier releases.The New York Times gave Michael Kortya’s Those Who Wish Me Dead, (Hachette/Little, Brown), published early last month, a stellar review on Thursday (unlike sister publication, the NYT Book Review, the daily NYT generally covers new or forthcoming books).

Below are four other titles to be aware of next week.

NOTE: We’re experiencing technical difficulties in creating our usual downloadable spreadsheet of notable titles arriving next week. We’ll post it as soon as we can work them out.

In the Media

9780062311238_468dcClinton, Inc: The Audacious Rebuilding of a Political Machine, Daniel Halper, (HarperCollins/Broadside Books)

By the online editor of The Weekly Standard, this is, unsurprisingly, deeply critical of the Clintons. Also unsurprisingly, the book was embargoed and was mysteriously leaked last weekend, which is only adding to the media attention.

 

Eye On

9780525954248_736ca-2Prototype, M. D. Waters. (Penguin/Dutton)

Librarians had an early peek at this first title in the two-part series, including a chat with the author, in our Penguin Debut Authors program, It came out in February, setting the stage for fans to eagerly anticipate the quick conclusion. A mashup of recently poplar genres, dystopian science fiction and domestic thriller, it’s received large amount of “much love” on Edelweiss, plus several peer reviews that indicate a passion these books (much stronger than the lackluster pre-pub reviews would indicate).

9781439146934_19c21Travels With Casey, Benoit Denizet-Lewis, (S&S; Thorndike)

Who can resist a dog memoir? Not the L.A. Times, which runs down a brief history of them in their revies this book about the author’s unusual attempt to bond with his dog by taking a road trip across the country with him (it seems his is an unusual dog. The book’s opening line is. “I don’t think my dog likes me very much.”)

9781250005472_bd78e-2Tomlinson Hill: The Remarkable Story of Two Families who Share the Tomlinson Name – One White, One Black, Chris Tomlinson, (Macmillan/St. Martin’s; Tantor Audio)

Tomlinson, an AP foreign correspondent, went back to his home town in Texas and discovered the truth about his slave-owning ancestors. Some PBS stations ran a filmed version of the story earlier this year and others are doing so now. Below is the book trailer.

ME BEFORE YOU Movie Set for Next Year

Thursday, July 17th, 2014

Me Before YouJojo Moyes’s 2012 best seller, Me Before You, (Viking/Pamela Dorman) is being adapted as a film that has just been set for release next year, on August 21.

In April, it was announced that Thea Sharrock, who directed the BBC’s series, Call the Midwife, as well as several Broadway plays, would take it on as her first time directing a film. Moyes wrote the script. No stars have been announced.

British author Moyes broke on to U.S. best seller lists with this, her ninth title, a novel about the relationship between a quadriplegic and his caregiver that also looks at the issue of assisted suicide. It was such a departure for the author, known for more traditional romances, that she worried it would be a tough sell. Instead, it brought her a wider readership.

The author’s most recent book, One Plus One, (Viking/Pamela Dorman), a contemporary, romance, was published in May.

LIVE CHAT TODAY – With S. E. Grove and Lisa Von Drasek

Wednesday, July 16th, 2014
Live Blog Live Chat with S. E. Grove, THE GLASS SENTENCE
 Live Chat with S. E. Grove, THE GLASS SENTENCE(07/16/2014) 
4:48
Nora - EarlyWord: 
We will begin our live online chat with S.E. Grove in about 15 minutes
Wednesday July 16, 2014 4:48 Nora - EarlyWord
4:49
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Meanwhile, here’s the cover of her book, The Glass Sentence…
Wednesday July 16, 2014 4:49 Nora - EarlyWord
4:49
Nora - EarlyWord
Wednesday July 16, 2014 4:49 
4:50
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Since we announced that the book was part of our program, it’s become a NYT bestseller. Nancy Pearl raved about it on NPR and it’s received critical praise in a number of places.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 4:50 Nora - EarlyWord
4:52
Nora - EarlyWord: 
A few excerpts from praise in the consumer press:

“It's filled with these fabulous, interesting ideas about the nature of maps, about the nature of time…The Glass Sentence is so wonderful. This author's imagination is just amazing.” – Nancy Pearl on NPR



“Refreshing…refulgent with nervy invention…I am in no doubt about the energy of S.E. Grove as a full-fledged, pathfinding fantasist. I look forward to the next installment to place upon the pile. Intensely.” – Gregory Maguire, The New York Times Book Review

“[A] page-turner…thoughtful, intelligent.” – The Wall Street Journal


“The next children's book you'll be hearing about.” – Christian Science Monitor
Wednesday July 16, 2014 4:52 Nora - EarlyWord
4:56
Nora - EarlyWord: 

I see chat participants gathering!

We'll begin at the top of the hour.

You can send your questions through at any time. They'll go into a queue, and we'll submit as many of them as we can before the end of the chat.

Don’t worry about typos – and please forgive the ones we will inevitably make.

Wednesday July 16, 2014 4:56 Nora - EarlyWord
5:00
Nora - EarlyWord: 

Here’s our moderator Lisa Von Drasek.


Say hi, Lisa!

Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:00 Nora - EarlyWord
5:01
lisa von drasek: 
hi, Everyone! Could you chime in say hi to the Sylvia and say where you are from?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:01 lisa von drasek
5:01
[Comment From GuestGuest: ] 
Hi Sylvia! Chiming in from Eastern New Mexico!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:01 Guest
5:01
[Comment From MD LibrarianMD Librarian: ] 
Thanks for doing this! You can see where I'm from!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:01 MD Librarian
5:02
[Comment From School librarianSchool librarian: ] 
Hi From Kansas
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:02 School librarian
5:02
[Comment From GuestGuest: ] 
hi from penguin! this is kathryn from marketing
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:02 Guest
5:02
[Comment From Reads for a LivingReads for a Living: ] 
I Love Maps!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:02 Reads for a Living
5:02
[Comment From Deborah BaldwinDeborah Baldwin: ] 
Thanks! Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:02 Deborah Baldwin
5:02
[Comment From Deborah BaldwinDeborah Baldwin: ] 
Hi! I'm from Fircrest, Washington.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:02 Deborah Baldwin
5:03
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
Hi from Penguin also! This is Sylvia's editor, Sharyn November.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:03 sdn
5:03
[Comment From BookWoman, FloridaBookWoman, Florida: ] 
Looking forward to chatting
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:03 BookWoman, Florida
5:04
[Comment From JennaJenna: ] 
Hello from Illinois! I LOVED this book!!!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:04 Jenna
5:04
lisa von drasek: 
Sylvia,

Let's start with the terrific reviews that Nora posted at the top. Gregory Maguire !!! For those who had to look it up REFULGENT shining brightly; radiant; gleaming:

I agree, this book gleams from my pile of new fantasy titles.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:04 lisa von drasek
5:04
SE Grove: 
Thanks, Lisa. And thanks to all of you for joining and for your enthusiasm about the book!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:04 SE Grove
5:05
lisa von drasek: 
Sylvia- say hi and tell us. what was the genesis of the move?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:05 lisa von drasek
5:05
lisa von drasek: 
genesis of this novel...oy
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:05 lisa von drasek
5:05
SE Grove: 
I was wondering… But then I figured it out!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:05 SE Grove
5:05
SE Grove: 
“The Glass Sentence” was largely inspired by my love of history and my wish to travel to other time periods. (Who doesn’t have that wish?!) But I’ve always found the mechanics of time machines scary and forbidding. As best I can remember, the premise of the Great Disruption emerged from the desire to travel to other places without having to use an unreliable time machine!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:05 SE Grove
5:07
lisa von drasek: 
Lets start with Sophie , can you say how you arrived at her character?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:07 lisa von drasek
5:07
SE Grove: 
Sure…
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:07 SE Grove
5:07
SE Grove: 
Sophia is someone I certainly relate to, though I don’t have a broken internal clock. (I think my sense of time is pretty average – not great, not terrible. Sometimes I do lose track of time, mainly while writing!) ...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:07 SE Grove
5:08
SE Grove: 
I relate to her sense of uncertainty about what and whom to trust, I relate to her wish – not always fulfilled – to do the right thing, and I certainly relate to her curiosity about the world. Primarily, though, in writing Sophia I was less focused on channeling myself into the character and more concerned with creating a young person who could realistically inhabit this world…
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:08 SE Grove
5:08
SE Grove: 
Many heroines these days are what I've heard called the “butt-kicking” variety, and while that can be fun, I’m not sure it’s accurate for many times and places. The nineteenth century, even an alternate 19th century, is not one that would very easily cultivate a butt-kicking thirteen-year old girl! I wanted Sophia to be someone who could truly live in this world and who could still be interesting and hopefully likable to present-day readers.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:08 SE Grove
5:09
lisa von drasek: 
and she is being raised by her uncle the cartographer. Her struggles seem relatable and real to me in this fantasy setting
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:09 lisa von drasek
5:09
[Comment From BookWoman, FloridaBookWoman, Florida: ] 
Actually, butt-kicking isn't that relevant to today, either. Few kids are in that position!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:09 BookWoman, Florida
5:10
SE Grove: 
BookWoman, I'm glad to hear you think so! I certainly wasn't a butt-kicker as a 13-year old. (Nor am I now!)
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:10 SE Grove
5:10
lisa von drasek: 
I was thinking about all of the details of the time periods, plants and objects. How did you go about the research /
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:10 lisa von drasek
5:11
SE Grove: 
I did a lot of research! This was fun for me...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:11 SE Grove
5:11
SE Grove: 
A lot of it was in libraries! And some of it was reaching into the past - travels I've done in various places...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:11 SE Grove
5:11
SE Grove: 
I was intrigued by all the possibilities and limitations of these new places. Would Boston be able to get coffee? Sugar? How would slavery exist if there were no more colonial powers? And so on.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:11 SE Grove
5:11
[Comment From Reads for a LivingReads for a Living: ] 
What got you interested in maps?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:11 Reads for a Living
5:12
SE Grove: 
Reads for a Living, I also love maps!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:12 SE Grove
5:12
SE Grove: 
Obviously...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:12 SE Grove
5:12
SE Grove: 
Maps have always fascinated me, but I think they initially fascinated me as aesthetic objects. In later years, they’ve intrigued me because of how they distort – sometimes unwittingly, sometimes deliberately, the present the world in a particular light. It’s always a skewed light, because maps are interpretive. They make arguments about the world, even when they are attempting to represent it “accurately.”
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:12 SE Grove
5:12
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
I never asked you if you made your own chocolate pottery.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:12 sdn
5:13
SE Grove: 
Ha! I wish. That is on my perhaps-to-do list.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:13 SE Grove
5:13
lisa von drasek: 
Sylvia:
Do you have a map you can share with us?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:13 lisa von drasek
5:14
SE Grove: 
Sure! Here's an interesting one that may back up what I was saying about accuracy and arguments...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:14 SE Grove
5:14
SE Grove
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:14 
5:14
SE Grove: 
It's an early Christian T-O map.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:14 SE Grove
5:14
SE Grove: 
To us this probably doesn't look "accurate," but at the time this was understood to represent the known world...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:14 SE Grove
5:15
lisa von drasek: 
What is Christian T-O?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:15 lisa von drasek
5:15
SE Grove: 
Asia at the top, Europe on bottom left and Africa the bottom right.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:15 SE Grove
5:15
[Comment From Reads for a LivingReads for a Living: ] 
Love that map! Where does it come from?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:15 Reads for a Living
5:15
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
T-O?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:15 sdn
5:15
SE Grove: 
These are called T-O because of the T shape in the middle and the "O" around it...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:15 SE Grove
5:15
SE Grove: 
The T and O are oceans...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:15 SE Grove
5:16
[Comment From Reads for a LivingReads for a Living: ] 
So that means T-O maps are so common that they actually have a name?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:16 Reads for a Living
5:16
SE Grove: 
Though to us they don't represent topography "correctly," at the time and place in question (medieval Europe) they were thought to perfectly summarize the state of the world...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:16 SE Grove
5:16
SE Grove: 
Yes, reads for a living! They are very common...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:16 SE Grove
5:16
SE Grove: 
Well, they are a known form - that's probably the better way to put it.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:16 SE Grove
5:17
lisa von drasek: 
Where would someone see a map like that now?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:17 lisa von drasek
5:17
SE Grove: 
Here's a quick link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:17 SE Grove
5:18
lisa von drasek: 
do you have favorite map websites
websites?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:18 lisa von drasek
5:18
SE Grove: 
Lisa, I think most originals are now in museums!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:18 SE Grove
5:18
lisa von drasek: 
should have been reading when I was typing!!!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:18 lisa von drasek
5:18
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
How did you decide on the title of the book?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:18 The Brain Lair
5:18
SE Grove: 
I do! The David Rumsey map collection.http://www.david...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:18 SE Grove
5:18
[Comment From School librarianSchool librarian: ] 
What made you want to write for kids?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:18 School librarian
5:19
SE Grove: 
School Librarian, I really began this book for myself! (You can decide what that says about my inner age…)
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:19 SE Grove
5:19
SE Grove: 
What emerged was a book for 10 and up, but really I think I was writing this for the reader I was when I was 11!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:19 SE Grove
5:19
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
But Sylvia, those are the best books!!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:19 sdn
5:19
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
Have you always been an avid reader?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:19 The Brain Lair
5:20
SE Grove: 
Thanks, Sharyn! I'm glad you think so. ;)
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:20 SE Grove
5:20
lisa von drasek: 
was there an AHA moment book or one that you felt was life changing when you were a kid?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:20 lisa von drasek
5:20
[Comment From Deborah BaldwinDeborah Baldwin: ] 
Do you have any resources, websites you would suggest for kids who find they're interested in maps after reading your book?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:20 Deborah Baldwin
5:20
SE Grove: 
Brain Lair, yes - I have been. It began with picture books. Seduced by the pictures! But it's gone on since then...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:20 SE Grove
5:21
SE Grove: 
Lisa, I think there were several such books. Definitely A Wrinkle in Time and then perhaps the Earthsea trilogy.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:21 SE Grove
5:21
[Comment From School librarianSchool librarian: ] 
Do you mean that you started writing it when you were eleven?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:21 School librarian
5:22
lisa von drasek: 
Can you pin point what they had in common that drew you to them?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:22 lisa von drasek
5:22
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
How did you come up with the idea for the different types of maps? Especially love the water map and the tracing glass.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:22 The Brain Lair
5:22
SE Grove: 
Deborah, I think I'd recommend starting with history books rather than cartography books. My sense about cartography is that it's represented in a rather narrow way in many instructional books these days. One marvelous exception is a book called "You are Here" which is perhaps for an older audience but a young reader would certainly get it!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:22 SE Grove
5:22
SE Grove: 
School librarian - No! I started writing it in my 30s… I just mean that I was writing for my inner 11 year old.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:22 SE Grove
5:23
SE Grove: 
Brain Lair, I'm glad you like them! Here again I think I was imagining the way maps were used in other times and places for other purposes - not just for navigation...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:23 SE Grove
5:24
[Comment From BookWomanBookWoman: ] 
You must be aware of how unusual it is to have a best seller right off the bat. How did that happen (and how did you celebrate/)
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:24 BookWoman
5:24
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
And please comment on the different ways to read maps! Love that too!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:24 The Brain Lair
5:25
SE Grove: 
Brain Lair, continuing there on the maps, the historian's ultimate wish (at least for me) is to really _know_ the minds of people in the past. I think the memory maps emerged from that wish. I wanted a full immersion!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:25 SE Grove
5:25
[Comment From Deborah BaldwinDeborah Baldwin: ] 
Thank you. I can think of some readers who would find the example map you gave interesting, and want to know more.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:25 Deborah Baldwin
5:25
lisa von drasek: 
There is a strong sense of morality in the Glass Sentence yet you do portray the most cruel character in a human frailty way. How were you able to balance those sometimes opposing thoughts?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:25 lisa von drasek
5:26
SE Grove: 
BookWoman, I am VERY aware of how unusual it is! I really think it is due to the fact that so many people, from within Viking and Penguin to small bookstores in remote places, embraced the book early. I can't think of another explanation because this seems to me a very unlikely (nerdy?!) book...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:26 SE Grove
5:27
[Comment From SusanSusan: ] 
Hi Sylvia. Chiming in from Williamsburg, VA
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:27 Susan
5:27
SE Grove: 
Lisa, the sense of morality is important to me, though I hope the book doesn't come across as moralizing… When I read fiction I am most moved by worlds in which good and evil are not simply or starkly drawn. I feel that ambiguity and contradictory tendencies more accurately reflect the way of the world. In creating the villain, Blanca, I wanted to elaborate the idea that people who do bad things can also do good; they wish for good as much as anyone, and they have suffered as much as anyone (sometimes more). Ultimately, drawing evil too starkly as something unequivocal makes it too easy to brush off.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:27 SE Grove
5:27
lisa von drasek: 
I am often curious about the editorial process. Would you mind sharing about the evolution of the manuscript. Were there any big / significant changes or challenges from the original draft?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:27 lisa von drasek
5:27
SE Grove: 
Welcome, Susan.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:27 SE Grove
5:27
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
I could "feel" the immersion! The details created a very vivid picture.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:27 The Brain Lair
5:27
SE Grove: 
Lisa, oh yes! Were there every big revisions...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:27 SE Grove
5:27
[Comment From BookWomanBookWoman: ] 
We like to think that librarian Nancy Pearl had a lot to do with it becoming a best seller (and all the librarians in this program!)
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:27 BookWoman
5:28
SE Grove: 
BookWoman, I have no doubt!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:28 SE Grove
5:28
[Comment From Kathryn @ PenguinKathryn @ Penguin: ] 
how many drafts did you and sharyn go through, do you remember?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:28 Kathryn @ Penguin
5:29
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
I know there were a number before it even got to me!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:29 sdn
5:29
SE Grove: 
The revisions started with my agent. As I said, I really wrote the book for me at the start. Then we went through four revisions with her to make the book something presentable to editors!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:29 SE Grove
5:29
[Comment From Deborah BaldwinDeborah Baldwin: ] 
Please share a little about your writing process. Are you part of a Writers' Group? What kind of support helped most?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:29 Deborah Baldwin
5:29
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
Some of the names aren't commonly found in children's lit. How did you come up with them? Especially Shadrack and the Calixta (hope I'm spelling it correctly, going from memory.)
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:29 The Brain Lair
5:29
SE Grove: 
Then Sharyn and I worked on it more for… a year?f
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:29 SE Grove
5:30
lisa von drasek: 
the sdn- is Sharon November- editor
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:30 lisa von drasek
5:30
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
At least.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:30 sdn
5:30
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
It was a total immersion process.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:30 sdn
5:31
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
So, the book was revised four times before you even gave it to the editor????
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:31 The Brain Lair
5:31
SE Grove: 
Deborah, I'm not part of a writer's group, but I do share my drafts with readers. And I get all kinds of input. But mostly what helps me is a long time percolating in between rewrites.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:31 SE Grove
5:31
SE Grove: 
Brain lair, yes to the four revisions!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:31 SE Grove
5:31
lisa von drasek: 
do you just "give it to an editor" how did that work?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:31 lisa von drasek
5:32
SE Grove: 
About the names, a few questions up: I researched those, too. I love unusual names! Shadrack is, funnily enough, a family name that I also thought was quirky.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:32 SE Grove
5:33
lisa von drasek: 
In more than one place I read that you are a "world traveler" what was the most unusual place that you have been?

Where do you long to return to and why?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:33 lisa von drasek
5:33
SE Grove: 
Lisa, the process was more complicated and only partly revealed to me. ;) My agent works in mysterious and marvelous ways. But she shared it with many editors. At some point in the process I had a conversation with Sharyn November and we very much connected! It seemed the perfect fit.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:33 SE Grove
5:33
[Comment From Reads for a LivingReads for a Living: ] 
That makes me wonder about your name. Why do you use initials?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:33 Reads for a Living
5:33
[Comment From Deborah BaldwinDeborah Baldwin: ] 
What prompted you to start writing books? Have you always wanted to write?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:33 Deborah Baldwin
5:34
[Comment From Deborah BaldwinDeborah Baldwin: ] 
Do you have a routine or place that helps you create and get into the creativity/writer's flow?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:34 Deborah Baldwin
5:34
[Comment From Deborah BaldwinDeborah Baldwin: ] 
Do you use pen/paper, dictate, computer to write?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:34 Deborah Baldwin
5:34
SE Grove: 
Deborah, I have always wanted to write, and there are many book cadavers in my bottom drawer...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:34 SE Grove
5:35
SE Grove: 
Oh, that kind of process! I use the computer, and I use a fantastic program called Scrivener.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:35 SE Grove
5:35
[Comment From Reads for a LivingReads for a Living: ] 
"Book cadavers" is my new favorite phrase!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:35 Reads for a Living
5:35
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
What will be the series title?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:35 The Brain Lair
5:35
SE Grove: 
haha...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:35 SE Grove
5:36
[Comment From Deborah BaldwinDeborah Baldwin: ] 
Do you make school visits?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:36 Deborah Baldwin
5:36
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
What will happen to the Tracing glass? Will Theo and Sophia go looking for her parents?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:36 The Brain Lair
5:36
SE Grove: 
The horror series set in the world of the Great Disruption… That one might not be a best seller.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:36 SE Grove
5:36
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
YIKES NO
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:36 sdn
5:37
SE Grove: 
Deborah, I haven't made any school visits as yet, but I'm open to it!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:37 SE Grove
5:37
SE Grove: 
Brain Lair, Sophia will definitely go in search of her parents in book 2. But Theo and Sophia have separate story lines in this next book - each pursuing a different kind of search.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:37 SE Grove
5:37
lisa von drasek: 
I'm thinking SKYPE as way to get your feet wet in our world
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:37 lisa von drasek
5:37
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
Is this a standalone? Please say no.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:37 The Brain Lair
5:37
[Comment From MD LibrarianMD Librarian: ] 
How can people reach you for school visits?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:37 MD Librarian
5:37
[Comment From Deborah BaldwinDeborah Baldwin: ] 
Is this book part of the Mapmaker's triology?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:37 Deborah Baldwin
5:38
SE Grove: 
It's not a standalone, and it is part of the Mapmakers trilogy!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:38 SE Grove
5:38
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
It is Book One!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:38 sdn
5:39
lisa von drasek: 
thank you Sharon. Sharon, what was the most surprising aspect of this book for you?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:39 lisa von drasek
5:39
SE Grove: 
I think the person to contact (right Sharyn?) is in PYRG publicity.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:39 SE Grove
5:39
[Comment From Kathryn @ PenguinKathryn @ Penguin: ] 
if you want her for school visits, you can email us! pyrgvisits@gmail.com - name the school, timeframe, class or school size and we'll take it from there!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:39 Kathryn @ Penguin
5:39
[Comment From Deborah BaldwinDeborah Baldwin: ] 
Will you be posting any educational resources at your website?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:39 Deborah Baldwin
5:39
SE Grove: 
Perfect! Thanks, Kathryn.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:39 SE Grove
5:39
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
And Lisa -- how coincidental that you mention Skype. We have a Skype in the Classroom program that I was just talking about tday!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:39 sdn
5:40
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
Oh! I love the premise! Have you titled it yet?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:40 The Brain Lair
5:40
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
Lisa -- Hard to say! It's so inventive. The images just stayed in my head and wouldn't leave!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:40 sdn
5:40
SE Grove: 
I have, Brain Lair - The Golden Specific!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:40 SE Grove
5:41
lisa von drasek: 
Can we talk about design? Sylvia- how did you feel when you first held the finished book?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:41 lisa von drasek
5:41
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
GS again, hmmmm
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:41 The Brain Lair
5:41
SE Grove: 
Coincidence, Brain Lair!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:41 SE Grove
5:41
SE Grove: 
Lisa, I was amazed!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:41 SE Grove
5:42
SE Grove: 
It's such a beautiful object. It really reminds you of why books are supposed to be on paper! Don't you all think?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:42 SE Grove
5:42
[Comment From School LibrarianSchool Librarian: ] 
Tsdn -- Please tell us more about Skype in the Classroom program -- sounds interesting.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:42 School Librarian
5:42
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
Ha! Now you have to have GS for the final book. Also, did you draw the maps that were included?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:42 The Brain Lair
5:42
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
I agree with Sharon. The images are very vivid!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:42 The Brain Lair
5:43
SE Grove: 
The maps were made by the wonderful Dave Stevenson. I had made very sketchy and barely readable maps. He made wonderful maps that seemed drawn by Shadrack Elli!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:43 SE Grove
5:43
lisa von drasek: 
As a librarian, I am looking forward to book talking this one in the fall. Anyone out there have a sentence or two that you would book talk this book with?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:43 lisa von drasek
5:43
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
I love how the maps became more specific so that I could hone in on particular places. Extremely helpful.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:43 The Brain Lair
5:43
[Comment From Deborah BaldwinDeborah Baldwin: ] 
Great collaboration between you and Dave!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:43 Deborah Baldwin
5:43
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
Dave's maps are based upon Sylvia's maps.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:43 sdn
5:44
lisa von drasek: 
Sylvia- do you have one of your maps that you drew to post?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:44 lisa von drasek
5:44
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
There's a link here: https://education.skype.com...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:44 sdn
5:44
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
I love the cover design also. How much say did you have?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:44 The Brain Lair
5:44
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
What's the sentence repeated on the glass map? I would use that as part of my talk.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:44 The Brain Lair
5:44
SE Grove: 
Sure, here's a map!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:44 SE Grove
5:45
[Comment From GuestGuest: ] 
Thanks sdn!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:45 Guest
5:45
[Comment From BookWomanBookWoman: ] 
Did I miss your answer to Lisa's Q about your favorite travel destinations! I love travel, too.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:45 BookWoman
5:45
SE Grove
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:45 
5:45
lisa von drasek: 
oohhh thanks
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:45 lisa von drasek
5:46
SE Grove: 
You didn't miss my answer, BookWoman, I didn't get to it! One of the most wonderful places I've been is San Pedro de Atacama in the north of Chile - a desert oasis town that is absolutely transporting. Like stepping into another Age!!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:46 SE Grove
5:46
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
How did you come up with the idea of the glass map not only being a map for people but for other maps?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:46 The Brain Lair
5:47
[Comment From BookWomanBookWoman: ] 
Thanks for that -- will have to look in to it!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:47 BookWoman
5:47
SE Grove: 
And someone asked a while back about posting educational materials on my website. That is SUCH a good idea and I feel foolish for not doing it so far. I will! I have about a thousand books I'd like to recommend. (and I often wonder what to post other than about the book… You've given me the answer!)
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:47 SE Grove
5:48
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
And map resources!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:48 sdn
5:48
SE Grove: 
Brain Lair, I wish I could remember the moment I thought of that, but I can't! A lot of my favorite ideas occur while in the midst of writing, and then I can never recover the thought process that got me there.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:48 SE Grove
5:48
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
And books you like!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:48 sdn
5:48
lisa von drasek: 
... and recipes...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:48 lisa von drasek
5:48
lisa von drasek: 
...just kidding...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:48 lisa von drasek
5:49
SE Grove: 
Thanks, all. ;) great suggestions. I assumed you meant recipes for chocolate, Lisa! That would be very appropriate.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:49 SE Grove
5:49
lisa von drasek: 
really what's your favorite recipe?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:49 lisa von drasek
5:49
SE Grove: 
I'm part central american (Guatemalan), thus the interest in that part of the world, and I have to say that arroz en leche is what always springs to mind...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:49 SE Grove
5:49
SE Grove: 
rice, milk, sugar, and cinnamon. A kind of runny rice pudding.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:49 SE Grove
5:50
lisa von drasek: 
hmmm. now I am hungry.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:50 lisa von drasek
5:51
SE Grove: 
Someone asked me about cover design. Brain Lair? I had a lot of input once the design group had selected artists. And I love what they came up with! Maybe Sharyn can say more there.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:51 SE Grove
5:51
lisa von drasek: 
My, time has flown as if we had a deficit. We are in the last minutes...any burning questions from the peanut gallery?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:51 lisa von drasek
5:51
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
When will book 2 arrive? What else are you writing?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:51 The Brain Lair
5:51
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
http://www.thenakedscientis...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:51 sdn
5:51
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
This was a difficult cover to do, because we had to come at it from a new angle, something organic, reflecting the book ...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:51 sdn
5:52
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
It looks like a map itself
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:52 The Brain Lair
5:52
SE Grove: 
Book two is being written as we speak! Well… it's being revised. It is supposed to come out the same time next year - June. And it will, right Sharyn? ;)
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:52 SE Grove
5:52
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
We did a few rounds before we got it right. More trial and error than most covers, because of the layering.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:52 sdn
5:52
SE Grove: 
As for what else I'm writing… whew. Book 3? I'm pretty swamped, honestly.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:52 SE Grove
5:53
[Comment From Deborah BaldwinDeborah Baldwin: ] 
Please consider adding a bibliography and biography to your website as well.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:53 Deborah Baldwin
5:53
SE Grove: 
That's a great idea, Deborah. I'll definitely put up a bibliography...
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:53 SE Grove
5:54
[Comment From Deborah BaldwinDeborah Baldwin: ] 
I have found my students enjoy getting to know the authors. It's fun to find out about their interests and hobbies.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:54 Deborah Baldwin
5:54
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
Gah! I wish I had it here with me. Now I want to examine it more! Next book, foldout maps!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:54 The Brain Lair
5:54
[Comment From School librarianSchool librarian: ] 
Yes! I wouldn't have guessed your Guatemalan background.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:54 School librarian
5:54
[Comment From GuestGuest: ] 
I second Deborah's suggestion!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:54 Guest
5:54
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
I want to see the maps as I'm reading! Sharyn, can you make that happen?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:54 The Brain Lair
5:54
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
And don't forget our website, which we will be updating and adding to: www.theglasssentence.com
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:54 sdn
5:54
SE Grove: 
Yes, I am a little internet shy with personal details. ;) I will try to put up things that are interesting and informative (like travels, etc.) without oversharing!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:54 SE Grove
5:55
lisa von drasek: 
regretfully it is time to say goodbye. Last thoughts, Sylvia?
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:55 lisa von drasek
5:55
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
Brain Lair -- ha!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:55 sdn
5:55
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
Oh, the website is cool looking!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:55 The Brain Lair
5:55
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
Sylvia, we will have fun discussing all of this. I have some ideas, too. As for THE GOLDEN SPECIFIC -- Summer 2015!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:55 sdn
5:56
[Comment From Kathryn @ PenguinKathryn @ Penguin: ] 
thank you everyone!!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:56 Kathryn @ Penguin
5:56
[Comment From NM LibrarianNM Librarian: ] 
Thanks for such an interesting and original book. Looking forward to the next in the series!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:56 NM Librarian
5:56
[Comment From Deborah BaldwinDeborah Baldwin: ] 
Thank you!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:56 Deborah Baldwin
5:56
SE Grove: 
Thank you all so much for your invigorating questions and wonderful suggestions! I've really enjoyed the chat!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:56 SE Grove
5:56
[Comment From SusanSusan: ] 
Thanks.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:56 Susan
5:56
[Comment From The Brain LairThe Brain Lair: ] 
Thank you for another awesome chat! Thanks, Sylvia, Lisa and Sharyn too!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:56 The Brain Lair
5:57
[Comment From sdnsdn: ] 
Thank you, everyone. And thanks, Sylvia, for writing this book.
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:57 sdn
5:58
Nora - EarlyWord: 

Thanks, Lisa and Sylvia for a fascinating discussion. And thanks to all of you for your great questions.

Our next chat, coming up in three weeks, is with Tracy Holczer, author of The Secret Hum of a Daisy. If you’re not part of the program, you can sign up here -- http://penguinyrauthors.ear...

Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:58 Nora - EarlyWord
5:58
lisa von drasek: 
Thank you Sharon November and Sylvia for giving us insight in what is one of the best novels of the year!
Wednesday July 16, 2014 5:58 lisa von drasek
 
 

YA (and MG) Galleys To Read Now

Wednesday, July 16th, 2014

9780062310637_2b2aa 9780803734968_8eaeb 9780525425632_48b6d

Yesterday’s YA GalleyChat give us even more reason to tackle our TBR piles (just a few of the covers, above).

We were also introduced to the Librarian Rap by  Kirby Heybourne, the audiobook narrator for Scowler audiobook (RH/BOT), which he performed at ALA’s Odyssey Awards ceremony (we’ve seen people pandering to the crowd, but this takes it to a new level — watch out, John Green):

We also discovered that there is a new trend among library marketers, book jacket nail art:

Holm Nail Art  Fangirl Nail

Left — Books on Tape nail art for the upcoming The Fourteenth Goldfish, Jennifer Holmm (RH Young Readers; RH.Listening Library; 8/26). Right —  Macmillan Library Marketing’s tribute to Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell.

The Fourteenth Goldfish was one of the favorites of the book chat, with readers urging other librarians to download it from Netgalley or Edelweiss, calling this middle grade title, “both complex and easy to read.”

9780316236621_f0b65  9780547628400_cfcaf

Another middle grade title getting raves, available as an e-galley, was Kat Yeh’s The Truth About Twinkie Pie.

The star among the YA titles was Mortal Heart, (HMH Young Readers, 11/4/14), the conclusion to Robin LaFevers’ His Fair Assassin trilogy, which is showing “much love” from 35 peers, 22 of them librarian, on Edelweiss. one of the highest ratings we’ve seen, especially for a book that won’t be published for another four months. One librarian said that a teen boy begged her for it on hands and knees yesterday. It’s coming in November, but you can request eGalleys now.

To read about the other titles that were hits with the group, check our downloadable spreadsheet — EarlyWord YA GalleyChat, 7/15/14  — click on the links to check for eGalleys.

Please join us for the next YA GalleyChat on August 19, 5:00 to 6:00 p.m., ET (4:30 for virtual cocktails). More details here.