Lex Thomas's Blog, page 8

WIN A SIGNED COPY, GET INFECTED

To kick off the New Year, we wanted to give you a chance to win a very special copy of the book -- a signed hardback from our personal stash as well as a Quarantine bookmark with a graduation tassel.














































































Enter below, starting January 1st, and if you want to embed the contest on your site, here's the link:



http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/shar...



We want everybody to get infected!





a Rafflecopter giveaway

THANK YOU

When we were writing Quarantine: The Loners, we'd occasionally reflect on what we were doing and say: "What if this actually works? What if people actually read it and they like it? Or even better... what if they really get it and they love it?"



It seemed unfathomable then. It was only a dream, that our story could click so perfectly with someone out there. But this year, it became a dream come true.



To everyone that read our book and spread the good word to a friend or posted a supportive review or emailed us to say how much you enjoyed reading it, we'd like to offer our most heartfelt thanks.



You made what we do worthwhile.

THE YEAR OF THE SEQUEL

If you reached the end of The Loners and thought... you bastards!!! I gotta wait until Summer of 2013 until I find out what happens next? We've got news for you.



Book 2 is finished, at long last. We handed in the final draft just before the holidays. Now, there's only six months to go until you get to revisit McKinley High. Put it in your calendars -- July 9th -- QUARANTINED.



Whoo! It's hard to believe.



If you were in pain because you had to wait so long to read Book 2, we felt it ten-fold because we had to go on and write it. Book 1, The Loners, was a big accomplishment for us -- our first novel. The proposition of creating a worthy follow-up was not one we took lightly. There were things we knew would happen in Book 2, but a lot more things we didn't know. And so, the process of writing our first-ever sequel made 2012 a doozy of a year. We had frequent spells of angst, misery and hopelessness (maybe someday we'll disclose the details), but we finally reached the finish line, and what we've got... is a doozy of a book.



If you were a fan of the gangs and the madness and the twists and turns of The Loners, we've got even more coming your way in Book 2. Check in with us here in the coming months for a title reveal and a sneak peak at the cover, and maybe even a chance to win an ARC copy of the book.



Until then, stay safe.



-- Lex Thomas

WHAT THE?!

Quarantine: The Loners was chosen by Booklist for their 2012 Editor's Choice List! 




Here's what they said:




The best high-concept YA thriller of the year is this paranoia-soaked novel in which an infected Colorado high school is quarantined by the government, leading to various cliques that transform into warring tribes. Gritty and fearless.




So rad. We're freaking out over here.

#31HORRORFILMS31DAYS

Daniel Kraus convinced us to try and watch 31 horror movies in 31 days across the month of October, and tweet something about each movie after we finished. Neither of us made it to 31, our Book Two deadline got in the way, but it was fun to try. My favorites that I watched were Santa Sangre, Demons, and Outcast.




We'll hang our heads in shame until next year when we can try for the full 31 again. Here's the list of what we watched, the tweets we posted about them, and a few pics.




-Thomas 




THOMAS




1. THE KEEP - Nazis face a Romanian citadel full of evil wind, glowing eyes, and a tedious pace. Plus Tangerine Dream




2. THE SENTINEL- A 70's model gets an apartment thats also the entrance to hell. The finale uses real life freaks!




3.FASCINATION-A bandit in 1916 hides in a castle with weird lesbians who seduce you to death. French erotic horror




4. LINK- Friendly monkey horror. An orangutan in a three piece suit gets a deadly crush on Elisabeth Shue




5. DEMONS- An evil movie theatre turns the audience into bloodthirsty monsters. Kicked ass.




6. DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK- Sad little girl deals with gremlins in a nice old house. Be better with Don Knotts.




7. HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER. Ugh, I need to take three showers. Rooker's great.




8-FRANKENHOOKER- Guy assembles a new body for his dead fiancé with hooker parts. Not good. 




9. DUMPLINGS- Just what will an aging actress eat to look young again? The secret ingredient is sickening.




10. SANTA SANGRE - This movie is WEIRD. An intense Mexican carny hallucination with epic mommy issues. Mind melted




11. THE INNKEEPERS - Haunted hotel. Nice look. Nice vibe, tons of suspense and almost no payoff




12. THE CORRIDOR - Old buddies find a hallway of energy in the woods that controls their minds. Fun




13. MIMIC - Genetically engineered roaches evolve into giant humanoid cockroach beasts that live under NYC




14. DOGHOUSE- Unhappy dudes take a boy's trip to a village full of comical female zombies, and get their mojo back




15. THE WOMAN IN BLACK- Harry Potter must survive child-killing ghosts long enough to do some dead people's taxes




16. BRAIN DAMAGE - Sweet talkin brainworm makes you kill, but gives you constant acid trips




17. THE UNBORN - A slapped together evil pregnancy movie with odd cameos and a hideous baby




18. PONTYPOOL- Making sense is the real enemy. And zombies.




19. PIG HUNT- Hicks, hippies, wild boar and gore




20. PRISON- Viggo in Renny Harlin's 1st US movie about a haunted jail. Lots of ethereal blue light, and lightning




21. EMANUELLE AND THE LAST CANNIBALS-The gorgeous Laura Gemser couldn't save this soft-core-snore-gore. Gross junk




22. VIRGIN WITCH - 60's British beauties in miniskirts fall victim to a classy coven, and fail to remain clothed.




23. V/H/S- Horror is scarier when you can barely see what's going on. More horror anthologies, please. 




24. PARANORMAL ADOPTION- Ultra-boring movie about adopting a kid and her evil ventriloquist dummy. Regret.




25. OUTCAST - Gritty witchcraft, greasy Scottish slums, a frightening mother, and James Nesbitt. Sweet movie. 




26. THE STEPFATHER (1986) - Some of these 80's Blu-rays are too sharp, they look all grainy. Movie was alright







LEX




1. THE WARD: John Carpenter makes Mean Girls meets Shutter Island when cute girls easily navigate a psych ward.




2. THE VINEYARD: Lo Pan writes/directs himself as same character who lures actors to the house from Burnt Offerings




3. WAKE WOOD: Worst parents ever. Pet Sematary meets Wicker Man when a couple works out issues in Ireland. Good scenes




4. SHEITAN: A doll-making, bucktoothd French hick hosts Eurotrash clubbers for Christmas dinner. Eyeballs get plucked. 




5. THE NEW DAUGHTER - Overlong, str8-2-vid flick with Kevin Costner about mud gods that want to marry his daughter.

FAN FICTION

How cool is this? Last month Novel Novice held a contest where they asked readers to give their take on how life could take a dark turn if their high school was quarantined. This week they announced the winners. Congrats to Amy Cokenour, Natalie Richards, and Anahit Moumjian for their gritty takes on the premise. Check out their work here.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

We just finished up at the Austin Teen Book Festival, which was a total blast. We participated in our first-ever event panel with Will Richter, Eliot Shrefer, and Ally Carter, moderated by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. It was a thrill to be part of such an esteemed group and to answer questions about craft in front of a packed house. Thanks to everyone who came and all the festival volunteers!


For those of you who weren't there, we thought we'd compile all of the Q&As we've done thus far. If you're curious about what makes Lex Thomas tick, maybe you can find some of your answers here....



Hypable Interview



Random Acts of Reading Interview



Novel Novice Interview Part 1 and Part 2



Novel Thoughts Interview



Figment Fiction Interview

COME SEE US!

At the end of this month, we'll be in Austin, TX and then Shreveport, LA.



If you're kicking around Austin on September 29th, we'll be at the Austin Teen Book Fest signing books and participating in the Thrill Of The Chase panel with some awesome YA novelists. Click here for all the info on ATBF!



And if you're in Shreveport, we'll be at Barnes and Noble on October 1st. Click here for all the deets.



Hope to see you there!

BLOG TOUR

So, it's been a while since our last post. We've been working fast and furious on both Book Two and the screenplay for The Loners. Needless to say, it's been a busy summer. But we've found some time to meet with some really terrific bloggers to talk about the Quarantine series and what our process has been so far. The blog tour will run through September and is hosted by the good folks at Kismet Book Touring.



Click here for a full schedule and any good stuff you may have missed.

THE WEEK AFTER

So, the book's been out for a little over a week. Every day brings its own little tid bit of excitement. Most of that has been coming in the form of reader reviews and reactions. The book is out there now. Our characters are living in other people's imaginations, and they're getting great reactions.



It's such a huge reward for us to hear that readers are digging details, characters and story twists that we took such special care to craft. It's why we wrote this story in the first place -- to thrill you. So, please keep your experiences of McKinley High coming on GoodReads, Amazon, Twitter, Facebook.... anywhere you can put 'em! We're reading them!



The other excitement this week has come just by spreading the word about the book on other sites. It's always easy to feel a little nervous about putting your face out in the world and talking about yourself. But thankfully, we've been in great hands across the board. Here's a recap of the places we've been featured:



Novel Thoughts interviewed us.







Figment let us contribute a Daily Theme and our Ten Most Influential Horror Movies.












Teen Librarian's Toolbox let us guest blog a Top 10.









And Scripts & Scribes posted their interview of us at this year's ALA.




Thanks to everyone for such a successful first week!