Carrie Ryan's Blog, page 6

Infinity Ring: Divide and Conquer out today!

On Sale November 6th!I have a book out today!!  Divide and Conquer is a middle grade novel and is the second in Scholastic’s new multi-author, multi-platform series, Infinity Ring (series website and game portal here).  What does that mean?  Well, if you’re familiar with 39 Clues, you get the drift.  Infinity Ring is a series of books interspersed with video games and it follows the story of three kids: history obsessed Dak, science geek Sera, and language prodigy Rik as they travel through time trying to fix history.  
The first book, A Mutiny in Time written by James Dashner, finds Dak, Sera, and Rik going back in time to the Santa Maria to stop a mutiny against Christopher Columbus.  The video game that follows takes place in Paris during the Revolutionary War and leads right into my book, Divide and Conquer which is about the Viking siege of Paris.  In fact, here’s the flap copy for my book:

Dak, Sera, and Riq might be in over their heads when they attempt to stop a Viking invasion!
Hundreds of ships carrying thousands of warriors are laying siege to medieval Paris. The Parisians are holding their own, but the stalemate can only last so long. And that's bad news -- especially since Dak has been captured, forced to work alongside the Vikings while Sera and Riq defend Paris from within. No matter which side wins, the kids lose!

And if you're interested in learning more or buying a copy, here are the links: Scholastic | Barnes and Noble | Amazon | IndieBound | Target | Walmart | Autographed Copy.  There are seven books total in the series -- the next is The Trap Door by Lisa McMann out February 5, 2013 to be followed by books written by Matt de la Pena, Jennifer Nielsen, and Matthew Kirby.
Why did I choose the Viking siege of Paris?  Back when I started pondering ideas for this book I asked my nephews, who are the target age for this series, what they’d most like to read about.  They said knights and Vikings.  It just so happens that a few days later my husband emailed me an article about some of the craziest sieges in history and one of them was the Viking siege of Paris.  
And this was indeed a crazy siege — an eye witness reported that 30,000 Vikings traveled up the Seine River in over 700 ships to attack Paris which was defended by a few hundred people and which at that time was mostly concentrated on the Isle de la Cite — the island in the middle of the Seine that now holds Notre Dame.  And get this — the Parisians won!  Mostly.
(It feels strange to put in a spoiler alert here when the book itself is based in history which means all this information is out there... but if you don't want to know anything about the underlying background of my book, don't read what comes next until after you've read Divide and Conquer!)
Basically, the Vikings had some pretty advanced boat technology that enabled them to travel up rivers so that they could attack pretty far inland.  Because of this, cities along the Seine were required to build low, fortified bridges that would block the ships.  So when the Vikings reached the bridges at Paris, they were stuck.  They attacked the city walls hard the first day and that night not only did Paris not surrender, they actually built an extra story on one of the defensive towers to show their strength.
The Vikings tried to fill in the shallows around the towers with debris to gain a better strategic advantage — that didn’t work.  They set fire to their own ships and sent them down the Seine hoping they’d strike the bridges and catch them on fire.  That didn’t work.  They tried to tunnel under the fortifications.  That didn’t work.  And eventually they settled in for a very long siege.  At the end of the day, massive rains came and all the debris and burned ships the Vikings had thrown in the Seine clogged against the bridges, eventually weakening one of them and taking it out.  Even then, the Vikings were basically paid to leave Paris alone and they ended up dragging their ships overland to bypass Paris as they went on their way to Burgundy.  
So on its own, I think that’s a pretty cool story with a lot of action and craziness.  Plus, it’s part of a time period I don’t think we spend a lot of time studying so I was excited to dig into the research and find a way to make learning more about the Vikings fun and entertaining.  
from Wikipedia: Rollo on the Six Dukes statue
in Falaise town square.And in that research I found one other detail that pretty much locked in my fascination with this whole event.  It has to do with a Viking named Rollo who was one of the chieftains at the siege of Paris.  There really aren’t a lot of records from the Vikings (most everything we know comes from the people they defeated which, as you can imagine, is why Vikings get a pretty bad rap in history) and the records about Rollo vary a bit.  But the basic story is this:
Later in life, Rollo tried to siege Paris again and failed.  He ended up sieging Chartes instead and he was eventually defeated.  By this time, France had been pretty much continually under attack by the Vikings and the main access point for them was the River Seine.  So the King of France (King Charles the Simple) made a deal with Rollo: he would grant Rollo the land around the mouth of the Seine if, in return, Rollo would defend it against the Vikings and he would pledge feudal alliance to the king.  Rollo agreed.
That land he was given was therefore called Normandy —  the land settled by the Norman or North Men, i.e. the Norse.  This alone fascinated me… but there’s more!  Rollo is the great-great-great grandfather of William the Conqueror and thus Rollo is the ancestor of every current European monarch.
So you have this one guy — this one Viking — who has had an enormous impact on history (think of the role Normandy has played in history!  Think of the role of William the Conqueror!!) and yet I’d never heard of him before.  Once I learned all of this, I knew I had to write about it!
There are two other details that made writing about Rollo and the Viking siege of Paris really fun.  The first is that when Rollo pledged fealty to the King, he refused to bend his knee and kiss the king’s foot as required and for a moment it looked as though the treaty would fall through.  Eventually Rollo ordered someone else do it in his place but that Viking also refused to bend his knee so he simply raised the King’s foot all the way up to his mouth, topping the King over.  I have to admit, I found this pretty hilarious.
The final detail that made me fall in love with Rollo’s story… my husband is also one of his descendants.  It’s a small world after all!  

On NaNoWriMo

I'm not sure I'd have ever written The Forest of Hands and Teeth if it weren't for NaNoWriMo.  For those of you who don't know, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month and it takes place during November every year.  Essentially, it's a time where individuals pledge to write a novel (defined as 50k words) in a month.  There's a huge community built up around it full of support and encouragement and there are many authors who credit NaNoWriMo as a jumping off point for their novels (Erin Morganstern, Diana Peterfreund, Marissa Meyer, ) and many many others — there’s a whole list here.
Back at the start of 2006 I decided that I wanted more than anything else to be an author and I gave myself 10 years to achieve that goal.  Essentially I figured that if could write/revise/submit a book a year, then if after 10 books I hadn't made it I could re-evaluate.  But until then, it was "head down, keep writing, don't let rejections turn you from your course."
So throughout 2006 I wrote.  I started a contemporary romance, a teen vampire chick-lit, a teen paranormal, and a teen contemporary.  On all of these projects I wrote a fair amount of words, but I’d finished nothing.  I took a class on writing YA in the fall and started a book that I was enjoying, but the teacher was a bit delayed in getting pages back to us and so I was a bit stuck — not wanting to write more until I’d gotten feedback on what I’d already written.
Then, in October, I learned about NaNoWriMo.  This sounded like a great idea to me — a way to really motivate and get pages done — and so I decided to sign up.  The only problem?  One of the rules is that you have to start word 1 on day 1 — you can’t start in the middle of an already written project.  I’m a stickler for rules and so I decided I needed a new idea.
I couldn’t come up with one.  I asked my husband, “What should I write?”  He said, “Write what you love.”  I said, “That would be the zombie apocalypse but NO ONE wants to read about that.”  He gave me that “you know I’m right” look.
He was right.  On Thursday, November 2, 2006 I was walking home from work and a line popped into my head that I liked.  So I emailed it to myself myself.  The email is time stamped 6:38PM and has the subject “meh” and says: “My mother used to tell me about the ocean.  She said there was a place where there was nothing but water”
If you’ve read The Forest of Hands and Teeth, you’ll recognize that as the first line and start of the second.  I got home from work that night and I started writing.  I wrote throughout November.  I didn’t “win” NaNo (meaning I didn’t reach 50k words).  But that was okay.  
Here’s why NaNo matters so much to me: First, I never expected The Forest of Hands and Teeth to sell.  I was convinced no one would ever be interested.  I’d spent so much of 2006 trying to write a book that might sell and I don’t know if I ever would have “wasted” time on a project I didn’t think would go anywhere.  Except that NaNo had given me this freedom to just take a month and write.  On a project that probably wouldn’t sell.  And using a brand new voice.  
If I lost one month out of the year on a project that would never sell — so what?  I *loved* writing Forest and in November I got to indulge in that.  I got to experiment on a new voice and story without feeling like I was diverting from the course I’d set for myself.
Second, NaNo is about community as well as words.  There’s a website with forums and message boards and they’re full of people who are indulging in the same passion you are.  It can be difficult in our daily lives to find someone who understands when you talk about trying to figure out how to get to the inciting incident, how to balance writing with life, etc.  NaNo is an easier way to meet those people and make friends.  In fact, I became friends with Diana Peterfreund — now one of my critique partners and closest friends — during NaNo in 2006 (other than my husband, she was the first person to read pages on Forest and her enthusiasm was HUGELY instrumental in me continuing with the project past November).  
Third, while “winning” NaNo means writing 50k, to me the real “win” is that for a month you put writing first.  That November, I came home every day after work and I wrote (well, almost every day).  Because I expected it of myself, because I enjoyed watching my word meter tick up, and because I had other people watching that word meter tick up too.  Like I said, I loved writing Forest and NaNo gave me a reason to indulge in that love.
I get asked all the time what advice I have for writers and it is this: write.  It’s so easy to talk about writing, think about writing, plan to write, and so easy to somehow just not end up writing.  It’s easy to find other things to fill that time: work, cleaning, reading, the internet, balancing the checkbook, friends, family.  I’m not saying these things aren’t important — they very much are.  But I know so many writers who put writing at the bottom of the “to-do list” and never at the top.
NaNoWriMo is an excuse to put writing at the top.  It’s a month where your goal is to indulge in writing.  You can allow your house to get a little messier, you’re allowed to microwave dinner, you’re allowed to turn off the TV and tell friends that maybe you’ll take a raincheck on that movie.  
You’re allowed to put writing first.  
I’ve learned that I’m not good at word count challenges.  I’m too competitive and I’ll sacrifice quality for quantity.  And while there’s a balance to be had, I know myself well enough to know that sometimes I have to slow down my writing to make sure the story is still on track.  Too many times I’ve barreled headlong in the wrong direction in the name of more words.  Clearly NaNo isn’t for everyone and I’ve actually talked authors down from NaNo — letting them know that it’s okay to not hit that 50k word goal in a month.  Because it *is* okay.  
There are those who are anti-NaNo because it inevitably leads to people sending off shoddy, unrevised drafts to agents come December first and that’s a legitimate concern and it’s not the way to get published.  I didn’t finish writing Forest until April and then I revised it over and over and over and over before querying agents in August 2007.  Erin Morgenstern got the idea for The Night Circus during NaNo 2005 and drafted it during NaNo 2006 and 2007 (link here).  Marissa Meyer wrote Cinder during NaNo 2008 but revised it before querying agents in 2010 (Link here).  Diana Peterfreund began Rampant during NaNo 2006 and worked on it through the rest of the year. 
The point is — what you write in NaNo is a draft and often a very very rough draft at that.  Some people will put that draft in a trunk, brush their hands and be happy with the bragging rights that they wrote a novel (and they did! Good for them!) and some will trash what they’ve written because it’s not what they want it to be and they want to head in a different direction (which is fine!) and some will start the long process of revising the draft into something they can move forward with (also great!).
For me, NaNo isn’t about writing a perfect draft you can turn around and sell.  It’s about putting writing first, giving yourself permission to experiment, and, if you’re interested and it won’t detract from your writing time, participating in a supportive and vibrant community of like-minded folk.  
In November 2006 I wrote 20,000 words of The Forest of Hands and Teeth.  I didn’t win NaNo, but I did achieve much larger goals.  I finished that book, revised it, and sold it.  Maybe I would have done it anyway, but I’m not really sure I would have given myself the time to experiment with an “unsellable” idea and an experimental new voice.  It turns out, what I really needed was permission to indulge in what I really wanted to write in the way I really wanted to write it.  I used NaNo to give myself that permission.
Good luck to all the NaNo participants out there: write boldly, write with passion, put your writing first but be kind and gentle with yourself if you don’t hit that 50k word mark by the end of the month.  Sometimes, something like NaNo is a tool to help you reach that bigger win.

FORETOLD out tomorrow!!

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is the release day for FORETOLD: 14 Tales of Prophecy and Prediction!  It seems that this entire year has sort of snuck past me!  So in celebration of release week, I thought I'd post the first line from each of the stories to hopefully whet your appetite for more!  I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to work with such fabulous authors and to include their really amazing stories in this anthology!

If you're interested in reading more, here are links to purchase FORETOLD: 14 Tales of Prophecy and Prediction: IndieBound | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books a Million | Walmart.

Also, just a note to say that if you're interested in ordering a copy of FORETOLD signed by me, you can do so through my local indie, Park Road Books (info here).

I hope y'all enjoy reading these stories as much as I did!



Gentlemen Send Phantomsby Laini Taylor
"Once, when the moon was younger than it is tonight and not as plump, three girls gathered by a hearth to bake a dreamcake."
Burned Brightby Diana Peterfreund
"Tonight, the lodge will be shaken off its foundation by the power of our prayers."
The Angriest Manby Lisa McMann
"On the day the angriest man died, his bones cursed the bed they lay in. Inside the box, the bones seethed and growled."
Out of the Blueby Meg Cabot
"Interview of Dr. John R. Hall; RESTRICTED ACESS: EYES ONLY; 'Well, I can't say I wasn't expecting you.'"
One True Loveby Malinda Lo
"It is never lucky for a child to kill her mother in the course of her own birth."
This Is a Mortal Woundby Michael Grant
"Here is what I said to Ms. Gill: 'All you care about is being in charge and pushing us around.'"
Miseryby Heather Brewer
"Misery was a strange name for a town, and Alek wasn't at all certain that it was fitting."
The Mind is a Powerful Thingby Matt de la Pena
"Joanna's sixteenth birthday celebration kicked off at a small apartment in West L.A. where her and her girls always went to pre-party."
The Chosen Oneby Saundra Mitchell
"I suppose there's nothing to distinguish Vernal, except that it's my home and it has a prophecy."
Improbable Futuresby Kami Garcia
"When I was six years old, my mom sent me to school for a month.  It was the first and last time I ever set foot in a real school."
Death for the Deathlessby Margaret Stohl
"It's not possible.  It can't be. The end of the world should come at the end.  Not now."
Fateby Simone Elkeles
"As I step off the bus with my duffel, I stare at the sign across the street welcoming me to my new home.  Seaside Campground and RV Park.  I never thought I'd be homeless at the age of eighteen."
The Killing Gardenby Carrie Ryan
"They say my father wept at my birth.  Not from joy, but from agony that I was born a daughter rather than a son."
Homecomingby Richelle Mead
"I hadn't expected to be back in Russia so soon.  I certainly didn't want to be."

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 until noon PST on Sunday, August 5th!

You can start right here or you can go to the YA Scavenger Hunt Page page to find out all about the hunt. There are TWO contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the BLUE TEAM--but there is also a red team for a chance to win a whole different set of twenty-five 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!). Hint: the secret number is highlighted in red.
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 August 5, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.Now that all the technical stuff is out of the way, I'll introduce the author I'm hosting on this hunt.  I'm super excited to be hosting.....

Suzanne Lazear

Suzanne Lazear's young adult steampunk dark fairytale, INNOCENT DARKNESS, book 1 of the Aether Chronicles, will be released from Flux in August of 2012.  Suzanne lives in Southern California with her daughter, hubby, and a hermit crab, where she's currently attempting to make a raygun to match her ballgown. She's also part of the Steampunk group blog Steamed.Check out this cover! Isn't it awesome?
Be careful what you wish for...

In an alternate version of 1901 Los Angeles sixteen-year-old Noli Braddock's hoyden ways land her in an abusive reform school far from home. On mid-summer's eve she wishes to be anyplace but that dreadful school. A mysterious man from the Realm of Faerie brings her to the Otherworld, only to reveal that she must be sacrificed to restore his dying world. Her best friend, V, who has secrets of his own, appears to help Noli escape and return to the mortal realm. If they are successful, Noli will live, but if she does the entire Otherworld civilization will perish.
Suzanne has a fantastic website for her Aether Chronicles full of a ton of great information -- check it out here!  You can also buy her book (and support an awesome indie) here!  
Doesn't that flap copy make you want to read more?  Well, you're in luck!  I'm super excited that I get to host an excerpt from INNOCENT DARKNESS: Book 1 of the Aether Chronicles:

A strange sensation, one both hot and minty, filled Noli as she sat in the faery tree. Just as she thought she caught movement out of the corner of her eye, everything began to spin round and round like she was on the carousel at the pier back in Los Angeles. It made her feel odd, even odder than the time she’d gotten drunk on wine leftover from a party at V’s house.

The air shimmered with colors—pinks, blues, and golds. Little lights danced around her and she gripped onto the branch with all her might, afraid she’d fall off. Perhaps she was reacting to the drugs. Or going mad. Yes, that was it. The isolation and everything she’d endured had made her mad.

Holding tight, she sat back, enjoying the colors and sparkles. Suddenly they stopped, jolting her back to reality. She looked around—she was still perched in the tree, the same tree. Yet no longer was she in the faery garden at Findlay.

Yes, she’d most definitely gone mad. How could she not be in the garden? This was a garden but not the garden; the plants were more wild, the colors more brilliant. Everything shimmered and sparkled as if dipped in diamond dust.

Tiny balls of light flew around her. One landed on her hand, tickling her palm. It seemed to be a glowing butterfly. A glowing butterfly with the body of a person? Noli shook her head, startling the little ball. They’d put poppy syrup in her food to keep her passive, and she must have fallen asleep in the tree. She needed to wake up and return to the house or she’d be in trouble.

“Wake up, Noli, wake up.” She squeezed her eyes together. When she opened them, she still sat in the strange garden. The sky above held stars unlike the ones she’d gazed at so many times with V. This dusky-rose sky held no moon. No flying cars or hoverboards darkened it.

Noli pinched herself, hard. That didn’t work. Neither did slapping herself. She jumped out of the tree. Pain shot through her foot. Ow. Dreams didn’t hurt. Did they?

Little balls of light surrounded her as she sat on the ground, cupping her bare foot. They reminded her of illustrations of faeries from one of V’s books.

That was silly. It was all a hallucination. Faeries weren’t real. Science said so. V said they were. But that was V. He always spouted nonsense about faery trees, faery flowers, faery rings …

She drew in a sharp breath as realization cascaded over her with the force of a punch in the stomach. All those things V had told her to watch for, things she’d discounted as poppycock, were present in the garden—a giant oak, the wildness, flowers that faeries liked, a ring of mushrooms. She sucked in a short breath.

A little ball of pink light landed on her hand. She studied it like she might a plant or an engine. Little eyes blinked at her, as if examining her right back. Blue eyes, attached to an all-too-humanlike face. Pointed ears peaked out of blond hair flowing down to her shoulders. Truly, the creature in her hand looked like a miniature person with translucent wings. Her pink dress resembled flower petals.

“Faeries are real?” Noli scrubbed her eyes with her free hand, then looked again. No, it was still there. Gently, she touched the hair of the creature with her finger. It flew off her hand as if startled. Then it flew closer, tugged on an escaped strand of Noli’s hair, and flew a few feet away in a fit of giggles. A few other balls of light joined the pink one. A purple one flew up and perched on Noli’s nose, making her go cross-eyed.

No this wasn’t a hallucination. Everything she knew about science and the world was collapsing on her, making her gasp for breath. They were little people, real things with curiosity.

If faeries were real, what else existed?

The silence was eerie. Her heart thumped at the thought of things like ogres and trolls.

Right now, the bigger problem was how she’d get back to Los Angeles. “Where am I?” she asked, hoping they were intelligent.

The little purple faery joined the others and they flew around her as if trying to say something, but she couldn’t quite understand. Wherever she was, it was wild and beautiful. There was no Miss Gregory, no Dr. Martin.

But no Charlotte. Or V. Or Mama. A crack of a branch made Noli’s head whip around. Her body tensed as she tucked her medallion under her nightdress. “Who’s there?”

“Hello, Magnolia.” A figure emerged from the shadows. While there seemed to be no moon in this place, she could see him perfectly. There stood the man from next door. The one who’d spoken with her and Charlotte. The one who called himself Kevighn Silver.

Like I said, Suzanne has a fantastic website for her Aether Chronicles full of a ton of great information -- check it out here!  You can also buy her book (and support an awesome indie) here! Also, according to Suzanne's website, book 2 of the Aether Chronicles will be out in 2013. Fingers crossed there will be a book 3 out soon after!

WIN PRIZES
Thanks so much for stopping by!! Don't forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, Suzanne Lazear, and more! To enter, find my favorite number in this post (hint: it's in red). 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 (enter here)!

I'm also hosting TWO giveaways!  The first is for one of three ARCs of FORETOLD: 14 Tales of Prophecy and Prediction, the anthology I edited with stories from Richelle Mead (set in her Vampire Academy world!), Laini Taylor, Michael Grant, Heather Brewer and many more!  You can enter that giveaway on Goodreads here:
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Goodreads Book Giveaway Foretold edited by Carrie Ryan Giveaway ends August 17, 2012.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter to win I'm also giving away three autographed paperback sets of my FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH trilogy!  Enter the giveaway on the Rafflecopter form below (this is my first time using Rafflecopter... fingers crossed! It's set up so you get an extra entry for following me on twitter, tumblr, liking me on Facebook and by tweeting about the hunt!)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
CONTINUE THE HUNT
To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author! I'm super excited to be sending you to COLLEEN HOUCK! Not only is she a total sweet-heart and fab author, she's the one who first organized the hunt -- how awesome is that?!  She's put a ton of work into organizing this behind the scenes so don't forget to give her a huge thanks!!

Announcing the Summer YA Scavenger Hunt!!

ANNOUNCING THE SUMMER
YA SCAVENGER HUNT
AUTHORS!
This summer the Hunt will have two teams (RED & BLUE) of 27 authors each. We've added several new authors with some very exciting material. I'm really looking forward to not only getting to know these authors better but adding to my book collection! I will be on the BLUE team.


THE BLUE TEAM

HEATHER ANASTASIU





JENNIFER L. ARMENTROUT




GWENDA BOND




TERA LYNN CHILDS





ANGELA CORBETT




GINA DAMICO

 


ED DEHORATIUS





LEIGH FALLON




MARLEY GIBSON





SHAUNA GRANGER




CYNTHIA HAND





NANCY HOLDER




COLLEEN HOUCK





TARA HUDSON




DENISE JADEN





MIRANDA KENNEALLY




SUZANNE LAZEAR





JODI MEADOWS




ALEXANDRA MONIR





E.C. MYERS




ERICA O’ROURKE

 AMY PLUM



CARRIE RYAN




JESSICA SHIRVINGTON





J.A. SOUDERS




VICTORIA STRAUSS





DEBBIE VIGUIE



_____________________________________________________

THE RED TEAM


JOSEPHINE ANGELINI




LEAH BOBET





LISA BURSTEIN




KRISTI COOK





JULIE CROSS




TRACY DEEBS





KIMBERLY DERTING




TARA FULLER





DAVID MACINNIS GILL





JANET GURTLER





RACHEL HARRIS





ELISSA J. HOOLE





AMALIE HOWARD





CORRINE JACKSON





STACEY KADE





JESSICA KHOURY





JONATHAN MABERRY





CLAIRE MERLE





COURTNEY ALLISON MOULTON





GREGG OLSEN





JOCELYN DAVIES

 



LISSA PRICE





PETER ADAM SALOMON





JERI SMITH-READY





JESSICA SPOTSWOOD





TERI TERRY





LANI WOODLAND

Writing Workshop in Charlotte

Hey Y'all!  Just wanted to let you know about a writing workshop I'll be giving at the Myers Park branch of the Mecklenburg County Library (Charlotte, NC) on Tuesday, December 13, 2011 at 6:00 PM.  Here's a link for more info!

I hope to see you there!!

Teen Read Week in Florida! [updated with B&N event]

I love Teen Read Week and I also love the sun which is PERFECT because I'll be spending the latter half of Teen Read Week in Florida this year! WAHOO! You can find all the details on the flyer below or by checking out the events page of my website.  I hope I'll see y'all there!!!

UPDATED TO ADD! I'll also be doing an event at the Melbourne, FL B&N on Friday at 6PM! It's the perfect time of year to be talking about zombies so I hope to see you there!  More details here.

Teen Read Week in Florida!

I love Teen Read Week and I also love the sun which is PERFECT because I'll be spending the latter half of Teen Read Week in Florida this year! WAHOO! You can find all the details on the flyer below or by checking out the events page of my website.  I hope I'll see y'all there!!!

A few odds and ends on events and stories

I've been writing a lot recently and when I write I tend to go blog quiet because I don't really know what to talk about.  I've never been comfortable sharing details of what I'm working on and all my other blog ideas get turned into tweets or forgotten.  But I can say that I've just finished up another short story (not set in the Forest of Hands and Teeth world) and I'm excited about it and the other stories I'll have coming out in the next while!  In fact, I should probably write a whole post about my upcoming short stories... I'll start working on that!

MEANWHILE, I have odds and ends to share!

First up, EVENTS!  I'm leaving first thing in the morning (Tuesday) for Detroit to meet up with Melissa Marr and Jennifer Lynn Barnes and then we're driving to Lansing, MI to meet Simone Elkeles, Rachel Caine and Melissa de la Cruz for the Smart Chicks Kick it Tour! WAHOO!!  Here are the details.

I was so lucky to be able visit Schuler Books and Music for The Dead-Tossed Waves tour and it's an absolutely fantastic store full of really wonderful and passionate booksellers.  I'm so thrilled to be returning!!

I'll also be traveling to Florida the weekend of October 21-22 to celebrate Teen Read Week with a bunch of visits scheduled.  Preliminary details are here and I'll update my appearances page as soon as I know more!  I can't wait!!!

Another event that will be chock full of YA/MG authors is YALLfest in Charleston, SC the weekend of November 11-12.  Check out all they have going on here.

Then in December I'll be giving a teen writing workshop right in my backyard in Charlotte, NC.  I'm really really excited about this and will post more info when I have it.  The Myers Park Branch of the Mecklenburg County Library system will be hosting and the event will be open to area teens.  Yay!

Next, I've had a few recent RELEASES!

ENTHRALLED: Paranormal Diversions, a collection of stories edited by Kelley Armstrong and Melissa Marr just came out last week!  You can read more about it and order it from your local indie here.

My short story is SCENIC ROUTE and is set soon after the zombie apocalypse that leads to The Forest of Hands and Teeth.  It's about two sisters who hide out on top of a mountain where they think they're safe and plan for the day they can take the ultimate road trip.

I'm really happy that this anthology has been getting some fantastic reviews!  Of Scenic Route, VOYA says, "the suspense and violence of which will please fans of The Forest of Hands and Teeth" and Kirkus says, "allows for the sometimes-neglected horror implied in paranormal stories to be spotlighted, as in Carrie Ryan's zombie thriller, 'Scenic Route.'"

About the collection as a whole SLJ writes, "These consistently well-written stories offer something for every taste, whether it's dark, edgy, and violent or funny and sweet."

So congrats to Kelley and Melissa for putting together such a strong anthology and thanks for letting me be involved!

Another recent release I have a piece in is DEAR BULLY.  You can learn more about it and order it from your local indie here.  This is a collection of tons of YA/MG authors talking about bullying and their experiences.  My contribution, Dear Caroline from Canada, is a letter I wrote to a girl I became friends with on a cross-country bus tour of the US.

Caroline really changed my life that summer though I'm sure she has no idea.  She taught me to not listen to gossip, to stand up for people and to be compassionate even if it risks your own reputation.  Now if only I could find her to send her that letter...

So I guess I now need to go put some laundry in, run errands and pack before heading out to Detroit in the morning!  If you're in the Lansing, MI area come out to the Smart Chicks tour tomorrow evening!  I promise it will be loads of fun!!!

Foretold Announcement!

I have news! Super exciting news that I've been sitting on for ages but that I can finally finally share!  I sold a book!  An anthology, actually, and I'm so in love with the authors involved that I can hardly contain myself!  The title is FORETOLD and it's a collection of stories about prophecies and predictions that will be coming out in the Fall of 2012.

Here's the official announcement from Publishers Marketplace:

NYT bestselling author Carrie Ryan, ed.'s FORETOLD, an anthology about prophecies and predictions featuring stories by Laini Taylor, Jen Lancaster, Meg Cabot, Richelle Mead, and Michael Grant among many others, to Krista Marino at Delacorte, for publication in Fall 2012, by Jim McCarthy at Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. 

Here's my response: SQUEEEEEEE!!!!

Here's the list of authors as it stands now (this isn't the final list -- once it's final I'll make sure to post the updates)!

Meg Cabot
Richelle Mead
Jen Lancaster
Michael Grant
Laini Taylor
Heather Brewer
Lisa McMann
Kami Garcia
Margaret Stohl
Matt de la Peña
Malinda Lo
Diana Peterfreund
Saundra Mitchell

This entire experience has just been a total dream and I still pinch myself when I get emails from these authors because I'm such a huge fan of their work!  It's been truly awe-inspiring to have had the chance to work with such wonderful and creative and just flat out amazing writers.  I can't wait to share their stories with you because they rock!

I promise that when I have more info to share (covers, details, etc etc) I'll post them here!  YAY!!!