Carrie Ryan's Blog, page 5

Author T.A. Barron coming to Charlotte on October 14th!

I love when authors come through Charlotte, especially when those authors write Middle Grade novels.  And next week, T.A. Barron, author of the Merlin Saga and the forthcoming Atlantis Rising, will be speaking at Park Road Books on October 14th at 5pm.  You can find out more by visiting his website here, or the Park Road website here. I hope to see you there!!!

Author T.A. Barron coming to Charlotte on October 15th!

I love when authors come through Charlotte, especially when those authors write Middle Grade novels.  And next week, T.A. Barron, author of the Merlin Saga and the forthcoming Atlantis Rising, will be speaking at Park Road Books on October 15th at 5pm.  You can find out more by visiting his website here, or the Park Road website here. I hope to see you there!!!

Fall 2013 YA Scavenger Hunt!! (now closed)

The Fall 2013 YA Scavenger Hunt is now over, but stay tuned to the YASH website for updates on future hunts! But even though this hunt may be over, I'm going to leave up the post about Beth because I'm such a huge fan of hers :) Enjoy!!

PRESENTING BETH REVIS!

I'm quite the lucky author because today I get to host Beth Revis on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt! I'm a huge fan of Beth as a person, friend, and author. I can still remember reading Across the Universe,her debut novel. I was fortunate to receive an early copy of the book, but I'd made a deal with myself that I was only allowed to read it if I was working out at the gym. Of course, I couldn't put it down which meant I spent *a lot* of time at the gym! 
And she just keeps getting better and better -- trust me, I've read what's next :) It's amazing!

HERE'S A BIT MORE ABOUT BETH:
Beth Revis is the New York Times and IndieBound bestselling author of the Across the Universe trilogy, as well as several in-world short stories published in various anthologies. She lives in rural North Carolina with her husband and dogs. 
Currently, she is working on a new science fiction trilogy forthcoming from Razorbill/Penguin. 

And you can find out more about her (and BUY HER BOOKS!) by clicking here!

CHECK OUT BETH'S EXCLUSIVE CONTENT:
Thanks for hosting me, Carrie! Today I wanted to talk about inspiration, and how you never really know where it comes from. Or at least, I don't. When I started writing SHADES OF EARTH(available in paperback next month!), I went into it with a basic philosophy. In my favorite television show, Joss Whedon's FIREFLY, there's a scene where a character says, basically, the only way to really know someone is to see him at his worst.
 
The Teachings of Shan Yu (Firefly/Serenity... by mnemosyne23 Let's ignore the fact that the character that most embraces that philosophy is one of the worst villains of the entire show. But that's the basic philosophy that inspired SHADES OF EARTH.I had these characters who I loved--Amy and Elder--and, well, I had to put them to the volcano's edge. So everything I did to them was touched, at least in part, from that philosophy. But, of course, there were other things that influenced my book. Can you spot them all? Each thing in the picture below had a direct influence on something in SHADES OF EARTH.
To test your knowledge and learn more about how each thing influenced the writing of SHADES OF EARTH, just click here!

And to buy SHADES OF EARTH, click here!

Fall 2013 YA Scavenger Hunt!!

Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This tri-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors...and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize--one lucky winner will receive one signed book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!

Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are THREE contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the BLUE TEAM--but there's also a red and a gold team for a chance to win a whole different set of twenty signed books!

If you'd like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt homepage.
SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE
Directions: Below, you'll notice that I've listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the blue team, and then add them up (don't worry, you can use a calculator!).
Entry Form: Once you've added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.
Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian's permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by October 6th at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

PRESENTING BETH REVIS!

I'm quite the lucky author because today I get to host Beth Revis on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt! I'm a huge fan of Beth as a person, friend, and author. I can still remember reading Across the Universe,her debut novel. I was fortunate to receive an early copy of the book, but I'd made a deal with myself that I was only allowed to read it if I was working out at the gym. Of course, I couldn't put it down which meant I spent *a lot* of time at the gym! 
And she just keeps getting better and better -- trust me, I've read what's next :) It's amazing!

HERE'S A BIT MORE ABOUT BETH:
Beth Revis is the New York Times and IndieBound bestselling author of the Across the Universe trilogy, as well as several in-world short stories published in various anthologies. She lives in rural North Carolina with her husband and dogs. 
Currently, she is working on a new science fiction trilogy forthcoming from Razorbill/Penguin. 

And you can find out more about her (and BUY HER BOOKS!) by clicking here!

CHECK OUT BETH'S EXCLUSIVE CONTENT:
Thanks for hosting me, Carrie! Today I wanted to talk about inspiration, and how you never really know where it comes from. Or at least, I don't. When I started writing SHADES OF EARTH(available in paperback next month!), I went into it with a basic philosophy. In my favorite television show, Joss Whedon's FIREFLY, there's a scene where a character says, basically, the only way to really know someone is to see him at his worst.
 
The Teachings of Shan Yu (Firefly/Serenity... by mnemosyne23 Let's ignore the fact that the character that most embraces that philosophy is one of the worst villains of the entire show. But that's the basic philosophy that inspired SHADES OF EARTH.I had these characters who I loved--Amy and Elder--and, well, I had to put them to the volcano's edge. So everything I did to them was touched, at least in part, from that philosophy. But, of course, there were other things that influenced my book. Can you spot them all? Each thing in the picture below had a direct influence on something in SHADES OF EARTH.

To test your knowledge and learn more about how each thing influenced the writing of SHADES OF EARTH, just click here!

And to buy SHADES OF EARTH, click here!


Also don't forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, Beth Revis, and more! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is 3. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the blue team and you'll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

CONTINUE THE HUNT
To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author, Liz Norris.
Tweet #YASH

Friday August 2! Come see me, Beth Revis, and Aprilynne Pike in Huntersville!!

I'm so excited to have a local event this week!  I'm even more excited that I get to share it with two amazing New York Times Bestselling authors, Beth Revis and Aprilynne Pike.  Aprilynne is celebrating the release of her latest book, Earthbound!  I'll be sharing more about my upcoming projects (maybe even reading a bit from them?).

When: Friday, August 2 at 7:00 pm

Where: Birkdale Barnes & Noble in Huntersville (outside of Charlotte)

What: Aprilynne Pike, Beth Revis, and I will be chatting about whatever interests you!  Writing, reading, YA, MG -- anything you can think to ask, we'll be there to answer!  Plus we'll be signing books.  Come hang out!!  I promise you won't want to miss these two authors -- they're so much fun!

New Cover and New Story!

New Cover Available 5.14.13 Hi all!  I have two super exciting bits of news to share!  The first is that The Forest of Hands and Teeth is getting a new cover!  I have to admit that one of the really fun (though sometimes terrifying) parts of being an author is seeing a cover for the first time.  It's just always so fascinating to see your book through someone else's eyes.  And I've been really lucky to have had really amazing covers so far!  I love the direction they've taken with this latest one -- it feels a little darker than the other two, a bit more like a zombie story :)

My understanding is that this new cover will be available on May 14, 2013 but unfortunately I don't know what that means in terms of availability (i.e. when stores will start carrying it rather than the older cover).  As I find out more, I'll make sure to post any updates on my twitter feed!

The second exciting bits of news is that to celebrate the new cover, I've written a new original short story set in the Forest of Hands and Teeth world!  Similar to Hare Moon, this short story, What Once We Feared, will only be available in digital formats and you can get it anywhere ebooks are sold: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books a Million | Google [I'll add more links as they become available - some sites don't have a way to pre-order digital works].

eOriginal Story available 5.14.13What Once We Feared is a story set right at the moment the Return (aka zombie apocalypse) hits and follows a group of teens trying to survive.  Here's the flap copy:

When the zombie apocalypse hits and the dead begin to rise, Jonah and his friends are on a class field trip downtown.  Panicked, they make a split-second decision to seek shelter in the Overlook, an apartment complex built like a fortress on the edge of town.  But as they begin to face the realities of what it will take to survive, they realize that while making the decision of where to run was easy, living out the consequences of that decision may be impossible.  From Carrie Ryan, the New York Times bestselling author of the Forest of Hands and Teeth books, What Once We Feared is an original digital short story about facing a world that is forever changed and in which survival means more than merely escaping the undead.

This is a story several years in the making!  I've mentioned it before, but I spent most of my life avoiding scary movies and it wasn't until I was a second year law student and had just started dating my now-husband, JP, that I saw my first zombie movie (I still have no idea how he talked me into it!).  The movie was the Dawn of the Dead remake and it pretty much sparked my obsession with zombies.

But even then, that obsession was more of a joke between JP and me.  More than anything, it was a really fun thought experiment in world-building: how would you survive? Where would you go? What would happen to the world?  The release of Max Brooks's Zombie Survival Guide only helped to feed my interest, which was also sustained by a diet of any zombie book, movie, or graphic novel I could find.

One of my favorite things to do is to make up stories when I'm on the edge of sleep -- for as long as I can remember, this is how I've put myself to bed at night.  Often, after Dawn of the Dead, the stories I'd make up would be about surviving the zombie apocalypse.  When I lived in Durham, NC, I thought about how I'd fortify the apartment and so naturally, when I moved to Charlotte after law school I had similar thoughts about the new apartment.

And that's the inspiration for What Once We Feared: trying to survive the zombie apocalypse in that apartment.  How to fortify it, how to stock up provisions, how to keep safe, etc.

I loved writing the Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy because I enjoyed figuring out what our world would look like hundreds of years after the zombie apocalypse.  What happens when the zombies become an every day part of life?  But at the same time, I've always loved reading about survival during and after a disaster itself -- how characters cope when every aspect of their normal lives is shattered.

So I wanted to write a story that took place during that time -- from the first signs of the zombie outbreak.  One of the aspects of the Dawn of the Dead remake I love so much is the immediacy of survival that leads to the relief of safety that then turns into the realization of what it will take to survive long term.  What makes something like a zombie apocalypse so terrifying is that you're forced to make quick decisions and then you have to live with those decisions.  For example, you can live a long time in a mall with a horde of zombies outside, but you can't live there forever.  What looks like a brilliant decision at the time may end up being a terrible decision long term.

That's what I wanted to write about in What Once We Feared: the decisions we make -- that we're forced to make -- under extreme pressure and the fallout of those decisions.  But also, I just really love zombies and I wanted to write about running away from them, fighting them off, and getting to safety.  Those are always some of my favorite parts of any zombie story :)

So yeah -- What Once We Feared: the zombie apocalypse, a group of friends, and an apartment complex.  Who will survive?  The story is 7500 words and will be available May 14, 2013!

New Middle Grade Deal Announcement!

I have super exciting news!! My husband and I sold a four book Middle Grade series to Kate Sullivan at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. HUGE SQUEE!!! Though it may change, right now the series is called THE PIRATE STREAM and the first book, which should come out fall 2014, is titled THE MAP TO EVERYWHERE. 

Insert many many more SQUEEs!!

Here's the official announcement from Publishers Weekly:

LBYR Wins Ryan & Davis’s ‘Map’
Winning a four-way auction, Kate Sullivan at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers bought North American rights to the new series by Carrie Ryan and JP Davis, the Pirate Stream. Ryan is an established author (who’s written, among other things, the series the Forest of Hands and Teeth), and Davis, her husband, is a published short story writer who works as a public defender. The series is a quartet, and LBYR acquired all four titles. It follows two children who wind up on a boat, as stowaways, traveling between two worlds. The pair is hunting for a map that can lead them away from their predicament. Merrilee Heifetz at Writers House represented the authors; the first book in the series, The Map to Everywhere, is planned for fall 2014.

And here's the official announcement from Publishers Marketplace:

Carrie Ryan and husband John Parke Davis's middle grade series, about a girl from our world who must join forces with a boy from a magical seaside world to save their families by navigating among pirates, sorcerers and children who can fly, to Kate Sullivan at Little, Brown Children's, at auction, by Merrilee Heifetz at Writers House.  

Rights also to Orion in the UK, in a pre-empt; Fischer in Germany, at auction; Mondadori in Italy, in a pre-empt; Modan at Israel, in a pre-empt; Bayard in France, at auction; AST at Russia; 21st Century in China; and Mondadori at Spain.

And here's a link to the press release our UK publisher, Orion Children's Books, put out about the deal saying,

ORION CHILDREN'S BOOKS ACQUIRES THE PIRATE STREAM: THE MAP TO EVERYWHERE From Acclaimed Author, Carrie Ryan, and John Parke Davis: In a deal for UK and Commonwealth rights, Amber Caravéo, Editorial Director, Orion Children’s Books has acquired THE PIRATE STREAM, an exciting new adventure series for readers aged 9-12 years from the acclaimed author Carrie Ryan (THE FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH) and John Parke Davis, from Angharad Kowal at Writers House UK on behalf of Merrilee Heifetz at Writers House US.

The authors brainstormingJP and I are *beyond* thrilled with all of this!  It's been a complete dream come true and we both owe our agent, Merrilee Heifetz at Writers House, a massively huge thanks.  She's been amazing to work with, as has Angharad Kowal (who handled the UK subrights) and Cecilia de la Campa (who has been handling the our translation subrights).  They're such a fantastic team!
Whenever anyone hears that my husband and I are co-writing a book, they usually give us that "are you sure that's a good idea?" look.  Which I totally understand - lol!  I've always been a huge admirer of JP's writing and he's always been involved in my books from brainstorming to reading draft after draft.    

But even so, when we made the transition from "this middle grade is a fun idea to talk about on long walks" to "hey, maybe we should actually try to write this" I think we both still felt a bit of trepidation.  Would we be able to work together?
The answer has been a resounding yes.  I've *loved* working with JP!  It's always so much fun to read his pages to see where he's taken an idea or a character or a voice.  We've spent hours playing in this world, asking each other "what if?" and feeding off each other's ideas.  The whole process has just been *fun* and I can't wait until the book is out in the world!  MORE SQUEEE!!!!
Unfortunately, that will still be a while - lol.  Until then, I'll leave you with the first line from our synopsis:

This is what the old books say about the Pirate Stream: Nothing.

Other venues

Hey y'all!  I just wanted to drop by to say sorry I've been quiet around here, but these days I've been spending more time over on Twitter and Tumblr.  So if you want to know what I've been up to... head over there to find out!

Signed books for the holidays!

Hey y'all!  With the holidays fast approaching I wanted to remind you that I've partnered with my wonderful local indie, Park Road Books, to make signed books available!  They have all of my books, including the anthologies I've participated in, and I can sign, personalize, etc.  They even gift wrap!  Just give them a call at 704-525-9239 and let them know what you'd like to order (and make sure to tell them who you want the book made out to, how to spell the name, and if you want a specific message included).  I'll be stopping by once a week to sign everything before they ship it out to you!  Super easy!

To make sure the books arrive on time they'll be shipping everything Priority Mail so be aware that might add a bit to the cost (the cost will depend on how many books you order).  I'll be signing my last batch of books on Monday, December 17th so make sure to get your order in before then!

There are a lot of authors who partner with their local bookstores to provide signed books so check out your favorite authors' websites if you're interested!

Another small note: I've finally received my bookplates (they'd been backordered and then backordered again) and I'll be sending those out ASAP.  I'm so very very sorry for the delay and I thank you sincerely for your patience!

Happy holidays!

Charlotte signing November 19th!

So I know I usually list all my appearances on a separate page, but since this is the very first time I'll be signing at a bookstore in Charlotte, I wanted to make sure to get the news out!!!  Seriously, I can't believe I haven't ever had a signing in my own city!  Here are the details:

When: Monday, November 19th at 7:00 PM
Where: Park Road Books, Charlotte NC (4139 Park Road, Charlotte, NC 28209 Tel: 704-525-9239)
What: The signing is officially in honor of the release of My Bookstore: Writers Celebrate Their Favorite Places to Browse, Read, and Shop but I'll also be signing anything else I've written (books, short stories, etc).  I typically like to chat for a bit and then take Q&A so if the store is amenable, I'll be starting that at 7:00 and signing directly after (I'll make a note here if that plan changes).  If you can't make it but would still like signed and/or personalized books, you can also contact the store and pre-order one and I'll sign it that night.  Actually, you can always order signed and/or personalized books of mine from Park Road Books at any time (info here) --  they've always been incredibly supportive and gracious in facilitating that!
More Details here!

A note: I don't know what Park Road Books' policy is on bringing outside books or limits and as soon as I find out I'll update this post.  If you have questions before I can update, you can contact them directly. However, I would really love it if you would purchase a book (or more!) from Park Road while you're there (even if it's not one of mine).  Park Road Books is a really fantastic indie bookstore and they put their heart and soul into what they do -- we as a community need to support them!

On a more personal note, Park Road Books has supported me from day one and I feel incredibly lucky to live so close to such a wonderful store and honored that they chose me to represent them in the book My Bookstore.  I'm awed to be in the company of so many other amazing authors and am thrilled we could all come together to celebrate Independent Bookstores!

Oh... and a final note that signed books make for excellent holiday gifts... :)

I'll hopefully see you soon!