Lex Thomas's Blog, page 9
July 10, 2012
OUR LITTLE STORY'S ALL GROWN UP
One day we got an idea. What if the cliques in high school were actual violent gangs, and what if the school building was the battleground?
Today, we went to Barnes & Noble to see that our little idea is now a real live book, on real live shelves, for real live people to read. It was a surreal experience, and after we found it on the shelf, we looked at each other with "now what?" looks.
Well, now, it's not ours anymore. It's yours. We hope you love it as much as we do.
\
Today, we went to Barnes & Noble to see that our little idea is now a real live book, on real live shelves, for real live people to read. It was a surreal experience, and after we found it on the shelf, we looked at each other with "now what?" looks.
Well, now, it's not ours anymore. It's yours. We hope you love it as much as we do.
\
MUSIC TO READ TO
When we wrote our book, this playlist is a lot of the music we listened to. This music helped shape the world of McKinley High and kept us immersed in the story. We think this playlist is the perfect reading companion for anyone looking for the complete Quarantine experience.
Click the above link for eight hours worth of reading music. Can you handle it?
July 2, 2012
THE CREATIVE STORM
Writing a book is no small endeavor. The process is its own epic journey. You try to map out as much as you can about the story and the characters before you start, but really there's only so much you can know. It's only in the doing that certain details (and *sigh* huge, pivotal elements) reveal themselves. And often they reveal themselves at their convenience, forcing you to go back and rewrite large blocks of story that you had hoped were set in stone. Hence, the need for multiple drafts.
It's grueling; it's frustrating; but it's also euphoric and immensely satisfying when it goes right. We're in the midst of that process now as we hammer out Book Two of the Quarantine series. With just over a week to go until Book One is available for purchase, I thought it would be interesting to share a little time capsule with you, made when we were writing Book One.
During Book One our deadlines were tight, and so our writing was fast and furious. But the only way to keep a solid pace is to know when to break. Like a marathon runner needs to re-fuel their body, a writer with a deadline needs to stimulate their mind. Throughout the writing of Book One, we were drawing strength and inspiration from every possible source: music, art, film, books, fellow writers' advice, real life... anywhere we could get it. We compiled some of these things onto a tumblr site as we wrote. You can check it out here:
Building The Books
As we get deeper into Book Two, we'll try to post more random stuff there. But for now, you can get a glimpse of our headspace when we were locked down in a quarantine of own.
-- Lex
June 29, 2012
LEX THOMAS: THE INTERVIEW
Earlier in June, we were interviewed by Toby Miller for his culturalstudies podcast. We met with Toby at a Griffith Park cafe in Los Angeles, and found him to be an insightful and generous interviewer. On the culturalstudies website, Toby describes his podcast as "conversations... about the politics of culture". In our conversation we talk some about our book, Quarantine, but more about our journey as writers up to this point and how we came to write a novel together.
It was our first interview, and at an hour long, it's in-depth. Thankfully, Toby made it easy for two self-conscious writers to talk about themselves. If you're interested in the story behind the book, check it out...
You can launch the culturalstudies podcast in iTunes here. Just select the "Lex Thomas" interview.
It was our first interview, and at an hour long, it's in-depth. Thankfully, Toby made it easy for two self-conscious writers to talk about themselves. If you're interested in the story behind the book, check it out...
You can launch the culturalstudies podcast in iTunes here. Just select the "Lex Thomas" interview.
June 22, 2012
WIN THE BOOK, GET INFECTED
We've got a little over two weeks until the book is available in stores and online. To celebrate, 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 the McKinley High graduation tassel of your choice (pick your favorite color).
The winner will be sent the book in this Quarantine hazardous material gift bag.
Kind of makes you queasy, doesn't it? Well, there's more where that came from once you crack the spine. Enter below and increase your chances by opting to spread the word through Twitter and Facebook. We want everybody to get infected!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The winner will be sent the book in this Quarantine hazardous material gift bag.
Kind of makes you queasy, doesn't it? Well, there's more where that came from once you crack the spine. Enter below and increase your chances by opting to spread the word through Twitter and Facebook. We want everybody to get infected!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
June 7, 2012
TOXIC BOX
Egmont sent us hardcovers of our book! These are exactly what you'll find on the bookshelf of your local bookseller next month. And they look fantastic in glossy, full color. Add to that a seriously flattering blurb from the great Kami Garcia (BEAUTIFUL CREATURES). The only thing that could have made this experience better is if the postman had delivered the box wearing a haz-mat suit.
A lot of different ideas have been kicked around about the look of Quarantine. We weighed in when we had the opportunity, but what your book cover ends up being is inevitably out of your hands. At a certain point, you just cross your fingers and hope for the best. There were things we dug about the cover of our Advance Reader Copy. It had a striking, unsettling feel, but it was nothing like this. In the end, it was our amazing editor, Greg Ferguson, who had the vision for this final cover, and we love it. It's gritty. It's mysterious. And it's bold.
A year ago, at the beginning of the process, Greg asked us to pull together some book covers and movie posters as a launch pad for ideas. Most of our favorites came from decades past and had a vintage design style, but they evoked a tone that matched our vision of Quarantine. Thought it might be fun to share them with you...
--Lex
June 5, 2012
QUARANTINE PREVIEW: CHAPTER ONE
We got the a-okay from our publisher, EgmontUSA, and we're so excited to be able to share this with you a month before you can read it anywhere else. Without further ado, here's the first chapter of Quarantine, Book 1: The Loners...
CHAPTER ONE
Someone must have bitten off her nose.
David remembered her. Julie Tanaka. She used to be gorgeous. He’d spent an entire semester of biology class fantasizing about her. She was perpetually tan and had a physique that always rendered David speechless. But now she looked like an old sewer rat. The tip of her nose was gone, like a piece of string cheese with the end chomped off. Her arms were spindly, and her bony joints jutted out like thorns. Her skin was brittle and dry. Her white hair was dirty and frayed. David studied Julie’s eyes. They were full of hate. She seemed hungry to get a little payback for what over a year in this place had done to her.
She’d get her chance any minute now. David surveyed the quad. Hundreds of kids stood along the perimeter, staring up at the massive gray veil that obscured the sky. The dim daylight that passed through the translucent canopy cast dull shadows down David’s lean face. He took stock of his competition. Some kids hopped up and down; some stretched their muscles. Others wrung their hands. They were grouped by hair color. The blue-hairs stood together at the south wall, the reds at the east opposite the yellows, and so on all around the quad.
But David had no group. He had only his brother, Will, at his side. A familiar rumbling echoed in from the distance. It was almost time. Anxious chatter got drowned out as the rumbling grew into a quickening thunder. The gray sky began to wobble and shake. The noise settled right above the quad, and the canopy convulsed like the ocean’s surface in a violent storm.
David shouted a staccato command at Will. “Southeast corner!”
He could barely hear his own voice over the swelling roar above. It didn’t matter. Will knew where to meet. David still reminded him every time. And he always got back the same exasperated nod from Will.
David trained his eyes back on the gray canopy and saw what everyone was waiting for. A thirty-yard incision split it open from the outside, revealing a brilliant slash of aqua-blue sky. Kids too timid to step foot onto the quad leaned out of windows and doorways for this brief contact with the outside world. Many of them stretched their arms skyward. Some of them sobbed. Others clapped their hands together in prayer. They came for this moment only, to catch a glimpse of the blue sky, to feel the warmth of the sun. They didn’t have the courage to participate in what would happen next.
A black military helicopter eclipsed the view of the sky and lowered its giant cargo through the opening. Pallets of food, water, and supplies were lashed together into a single block the size of a school bus. The mass of supplies breached the slash and hung there, suspended by a cable forty feet above them.
The cable detached with a plink. The block of pallets fell. It cracked into the ground and broke apart, scattering supplies all over the quad. As the helicopter retreated, an unseen mechanism mended the slit in the gray canopy. The kids on the perimeter bolted toward the mound of supplies. Colors collided. All around David kids kicked, clawed, and stomped each other to get at the food.
David never thought high school would be this hard.
***
That's all we can share right now, but if you'd like to read more, pre-order the book. It will ship to you or download to your reader on its July 10 release.
To pre-order from IndieBound, click here.
To pre-order from Barnes & Noble, click here.
To pre-order from Amazon, click here.
For more pre-order options or for more information, visit Goodreads.
CHAPTER ONE
Someone must have bitten off her nose.
David remembered her. Julie Tanaka. She used to be gorgeous. He’d spent an entire semester of biology class fantasizing about her. She was perpetually tan and had a physique that always rendered David speechless. But now she looked like an old sewer rat. The tip of her nose was gone, like a piece of string cheese with the end chomped off. Her arms were spindly, and her bony joints jutted out like thorns. Her skin was brittle and dry. Her white hair was dirty and frayed. David studied Julie’s eyes. They were full of hate. She seemed hungry to get a little payback for what over a year in this place had done to her.
She’d get her chance any minute now. David surveyed the quad. Hundreds of kids stood along the perimeter, staring up at the massive gray veil that obscured the sky. The dim daylight that passed through the translucent canopy cast dull shadows down David’s lean face. He took stock of his competition. Some kids hopped up and down; some stretched their muscles. Others wrung their hands. They were grouped by hair color. The blue-hairs stood together at the south wall, the reds at the east opposite the yellows, and so on all around the quad.
But David had no group. He had only his brother, Will, at his side. A familiar rumbling echoed in from the distance. It was almost time. Anxious chatter got drowned out as the rumbling grew into a quickening thunder. The gray sky began to wobble and shake. The noise settled right above the quad, and the canopy convulsed like the ocean’s surface in a violent storm.
David shouted a staccato command at Will. “Southeast corner!”
He could barely hear his own voice over the swelling roar above. It didn’t matter. Will knew where to meet. David still reminded him every time. And he always got back the same exasperated nod from Will.
David trained his eyes back on the gray canopy and saw what everyone was waiting for. A thirty-yard incision split it open from the outside, revealing a brilliant slash of aqua-blue sky. Kids too timid to step foot onto the quad leaned out of windows and doorways for this brief contact with the outside world. Many of them stretched their arms skyward. Some of them sobbed. Others clapped their hands together in prayer. They came for this moment only, to catch a glimpse of the blue sky, to feel the warmth of the sun. They didn’t have the courage to participate in what would happen next.
A black military helicopter eclipsed the view of the sky and lowered its giant cargo through the opening. Pallets of food, water, and supplies were lashed together into a single block the size of a school bus. The mass of supplies breached the slash and hung there, suspended by a cable forty feet above them.
The cable detached with a plink. The block of pallets fell. It cracked into the ground and broke apart, scattering supplies all over the quad. As the helicopter retreated, an unseen mechanism mended the slit in the gray canopy. The kids on the perimeter bolted toward the mound of supplies. Colors collided. All around David kids kicked, clawed, and stomped each other to get at the food.
David never thought high school would be this hard.
***
That's all we can share right now, but if you'd like to read more, pre-order the book. It will ship to you or download to your reader on its July 10 release.
To pre-order from IndieBound, click here.
To pre-order from Barnes & Noble, click here.
To pre-order from Amazon, click here.
For more pre-order options or for more information, visit Goodreads.
June 1, 2012
REVERSE-RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES
A high school is quarantined to stop a contagion from spreading. It's the jumping off point of our book, and as of the other day... a real headline. The real school is called McArthur High. Ours is McKinley High. It's getting weird around here. Glad to see the adults here handled the situation considerably better than the one in our book. You better believe we'll be following this story.
TUFF TURF
Dude... The Skaters hit my block this morning! Not even joking. Are our characters coming to life? I'm getting paranoid.
-- Lex
IT'S...
June is upon us. What the... That means there's one month left until our book comes out. Are we ready? No idea. We know what it's like to write and write and write until our fingers snap and our eyes cross. But as for what it's like to have our work officially "out there"? We're fumbling virgins. Sounds like a great incentive for you to keep coming back to read our posts. Check and see if we transform from humble introverts into flagrant assholes, convinced of their own genius. It'll be like Y2K, only obnoxious.
While I'm on the subject of blog posts, you may have noticed that so far... we haven't written very many. That's partially because we've been working on the screenplay for The Loners at the same time as Book 2, but mostly because we didn't really know what to blog about. All our daily creative energy goes into crafting fiction, so when it came to writing about ourselves, it was a circuit overload. But the other day, we settled on something that felt right. The best thing this blog could be is fun. From here on out, what you'll find here is our outlet. It may get random, it may get weird, but what it's always going to be is us. Half Lex/Half Thomas. And maybe it'll make sense why we write together.
-- Lex
PS - When I googled "FINAL COUNTDOWN" for the image above, I also found this jpeg below. Had to share. I'm so confused. Gerard Butler, the kid from Shine, and a rough trade pharaoh evidently walked through a Stargate. If anybody can explain it, tweet us.
