R.L. LaFevers's Blog, page 9

Deleted Scene Link!

I am still jammed up with deadlines, BUT, in honor of this weeks launch of the UK edition of GRAVE MERCY, we are sharing a deleted scene from the book. You can check it out here. (Hint–it takes place at the convent, during their training.)

Mea Culpa! And Eye Candy!

I have been absolutely slammed by this Dark Triumph deadline. It seems like the more I write, the farther away the end gets. Not sure how that’s even possible, as I believe it is in contradiction to a number of laws of physics . . .

I have so much more stuff I want to post here, about the books, about the mythology, and just gabbing in general. But I believe my absolutely FIRST priority is writing the best book that I can, even if that means writing ::gulp:: eight drafts of a four hundred page book in twelve months. (I could do the math and discover just how many pages that is, but I’m afraid my brain will short circuit.)

It also means I will continue to get by on nothing more than a lick and a promise here until I turn the book in next week.

However! I did find some eye candy in one of my inspirational folders that I thought you might enjoy. I collect pictures and images for all the books that I work on, and I stumbled across these, that were just perfect for the Grave Mercy inspirational folder. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

 

 

(As much as I adore that picutre, I’m pretty sure Duval would never wear breeches that tight!)

Also, for those of you who won prizes, I have yet to get them all shipped out to you! Next week, I promise hope!

And The Winners Are . . . !

Boy, next time I do a contest, I think I might try rafflecopter, because the math! She almost broke my brain!

But! I have winners! And because you were all so awesome and it made me so happy seeing all your great reviews (especially while slogging my way toward THE END of Book Two) I have thrown in an extra bonus T-shirt! So, without further ado. . .

The winners are:

Bonnie (who entered over on Goodreads)

Alyssa Susannah*

Jessirae

And the bonus T-shirt goes to Amelia The Authoress!

I think how I’ll do it is the first person can choose which prize they want, then the second person chooses from the two that are left, then the third gets the final remaining prize. So winners, be thinking about which prize you want and I’ll contact you tomorrow so I can get them out to you.

Thanks so much for participating!

 

* (And just FYI, I only counted three entries for Alyssa because some of the things she counted I hadn’t specified in the post, so didn’t count. Just in case anyone is wondering….)

Grave Mercy Discussion Guide

I just visited my first book club for Grave Mercy last week, which reminded me about the Grave Mercy Discussion Guide my publisher has put together. So, for any of you who are teachers, librarians, or involved in book clubs please help yourselves!

To download the .pdf file, just click on the image.

 

 

A Thank You Giveaway!

When I first started writing GRAVE MERCY I did so in private, not really talking about the idea with anyone for fear I would sound, well, deranged. I mean, a romance about assassin nuns in Medieval France? For teens?

To say I was nervous about sharing this story with the world at large is an  understatement. But you, the early book reviews, book bloggers, and passionate reading community have embraced the book far beyond my wildest hopes and dreams.

So I want to say thank you. And even though I’m a writer and know full well the power of words, in this instance words don’t seem like quite enough. So in an attempt to let you all know how much I appreciate all the Grave Mercy love, I am having a giveaway with some very cool prizes:

 

A Why Be The Sheep t-shirt (plus a signed book, if you don’t already have one.)

 

A set of poisons essential oils, the next best thing to one’s own set of poisons (because the lawyers said ix-nay on real poison.)

 

And lastly, a medieval cross necklace that could have been worn by Ismae herself.

 

 

Of course, three prizes means there will be three winners. And yes, it is open to international participants as well.

Now, how do  you enter? Pretty much just leave a comment in this thread and if your name is drawn, have a link handy that shows your review or blog post, wish list entry, or  Goodreads add. It’s that easy. However, if you want extra chances to win, here are some other things you can do:

Tweet or  mention this contest on Facebook so other readers can find out about it. +1

For those of you who are community and literacy minded, blog or tweet about the very cool GLW Book Fair and help an under funded high school library load up on books!  +1

And of course, extra points if you donate one of the books on the wishlist! +5

Please be sure to leave an email address with your comment and  point total so I can contact you! (To avoid spambots, you can format it like this: robin at robinlafevers dot com. Or  you are also welcome to email your entry to me.

The giveaway will run until midnight PST on May 9, 2012, and the three winners will be selected using random.org. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments. And good luck!

ETA: You don’t have to have read the book yet to enter! If you added it to Goodreads, or left a comment on a blog saying you wanted to read it, or tweeted about it, that counts, too!)

[ETA: Due to heavy spam traffic, all comments need to be moderated, but once you've been moderated, you are free to comment at will. Sorry about that, but the spammers will take over, otherwise. ]

 

 

Of Maps and Technology

I love maps. I don’t think I’ve ever written a book without needing to draw myself a map of some sort. Which is why it is too bad that, due to a slight technology fail, the map of Brittany in GRAVE MERCY dropped some of the place names when it was transferred to the printer. So for those of you who are fellow map aficionados and simply canNOT go another minute without knowing where ALL the places in the book really are, I’ve uploaded a correct version of the map. Because no, the entire western half of Brittany is not really city-less.   Future printings of the book will have the corrected version! (And just as an aside, how much do I love that compass rose!!)

And in other news, I really am still working on that contest. But I had to find my camera so I could take a picture of the prizes. Then I had to find the camera battery recharger because the battery was completely dead, then I had to figure out how to use Rafflecopter. Once all those technicalities have been mastered, the contest will commence! Probably Wednesday…

Launch Day Is Here!

Well, today is the day! Hard to believe GRAVE MERCY is finally out in the world after so long.  It's been six years and about twelve different drafts (I'll have to dig up a picture of the stacks and stacks of drafts I have) and three different POVs before I finally settled into the right story.

And a huge thanks to everyone on Twitter and GoodReads who celebrated with all the great tweets and reviews! Thank you!

I am planning some contests with some very cool prizes, but I'll be traveling the next four days so thought I'd wait until I got back. Then, let the contests begin! Hope to see you then!

(Also once this book is launched and the traveling done, I will be getting more up on the website and blogging more often!)

Upcoming Events!

Just wanted to let people know about some upcoming appearances!

I'll be in Burlingame at Not Your Mother's Book Club on Wednesday, April 4 at 7 pm. Barry Lyga and I will be comparing serial killer and assassin notes.

 

Friday night, April 6, I will be in the Seattle area at the Northgate Barnes and Noble at 7 pm.

 

Would love to meet some of you there!

What Makes A Book YA?

A question I've been asked quite a lot lately is, with its dark themes and complex politics, why did I write GRAVE MERCY as a YA?

Which brings us to the question: How does one define YA?

It is such a broad, inclusive category, embracing contemporary, fantasy, historical, science fiction, realistic, romance, horror, and mystery. To confuse things even further, there are absolutely books written with younger protagonists that are either marketed as adult or are very clearly intended for an adult audience, so where lies the distinction?

One definition I heard that really stuck with me, and I'm sorry to say I cannot remember where I heard it—on a forum, at a conference? is that YA features a protagonist who is struggling with teen issues in the now of the story, as opposed to looking back over their lives and infusing it with their adult perspective.

My own feeling is that YA is about taking those first leaps in learning who we really are.

For me, the core story of Grave Mercy—Ismae's story—is one of a person coming into her 'self'. It illustrates the journey she makes from obedient child of the convent to an independent, thinking person who has her own hard won values and views. To me, that is very much a coming of age tale, that taking our first steps into our personal power, and so to my mind that makes it very firmly a YA. The story also deals with first love, first desire, and first steps toward autonomy, again, very much YA themes, albeit older YA, to be sure.

I know that some people think societal age is a better determinant—if a character is doing in an historical or fantasy world what twenty-five and thirty year olds do in our current society, then that makes them adults in the book and therefore it should be marketed as adult.

Here's why that doesn't work for me. The more we learn about kids, teens and adolescence, the more we realize a large part of what defines their stage of development is the maturity of their brains. It is not simply how they are viewed by society. Some areas of their brain have not fully developed. There are some traits and attributes that we don't acquire until our early twenties*!

Which means that adolescence is not just a stage of life assigned by societal roles, but actually defined by neurobiology.

This seems especially pertinent for a time like the middle ages, where over half the population was under twenty one. The entire society was an adolescent society. Just because they were performing what we today consider adult roles, doesn't mean they were adults. It just means more was asked of them in their adolescent state of development than we ask of today's teens. But their brain chemistry, the struggle to find some sliver of identity or autonomy in a rigidly structured society, all those feel very relevant to what we struggle with as teens.

Of course other people's mileage may vary, and that's the beauty of YA. Being such a broad and encompassing genre, there is room for all sorts of stories.

Do any of you have any good explanations you've heard about differentiating between YA and adult? If so, I'd love to hear them!

 

Note: I've had to put comments on moderated status because the Ru$$ian $pambots have found me. Once I've approved your first comment, you should be able to comment freely from here on out. Sorry about the inconvenience!

 

(*This also raises an entire host of issues over whether it is fair to try teens as adults if the parts of their brains that govern impulse control and empathy are not as developed as an adult's, but that's for another post. Or probably another blog altogether.)

Author’s Historical Note

We debated on whether or not to put an author’s note in the book, but ultimately decided against it because it was a trilogy, and not everyone likes to be bumped out of the fictional world by learning the true facts behind the story.

So I am putting the author’s note here on the website. Do be warned that it may contain spoilers, although I will try very hard to keep it from doing so.

All the major historical events and people in Grave Mercy are based on true events, from a twelve year old inheriting the duchy of Brittany, to her having been betrothed to at least a half a dozen suitors in return for the aid in Duke Francis II’s ongoing struggle with France. Just before his death, the duke was forced to sign the Treaty of Vergers, which gave France the right to approve any marriage Anne might make. Immediately upon his death, France sent emissaries to Anne’s court claiming that the French Regent would act as guardian and oversee both her and her kingdom. That was in direct violation of the Treaty of Vergers.

And so Anne assumed the mantle of her father’s long battle for independence from France.

The political intrigue and switching alliances in the book was also historically accurate, although in the interest of not swamping the story—or the reader—I left quite a few additional alliances and machinations out. Suffice it to say there were about twice as many schemes going on in real life as I used in the book, including additional suitors, competing claims for the throne, and additional double crossing.

With the exception of one completely fictional character, all of Anne’s councilors in the book are actual historical figures, all of whom betrayed her in real life just as they did in the book, including her tutors Marshal Rieux and Madame Dinan.((Highlight text to view spoilers.)

Anne had five ‘natural’ siblings, which was a polite word for bastards. The mother of her natural siblings had indeed been the mistress of the former king of France before becoming mistress to Duke Francis and bearing him five children. Gavriel Duval was not among them, for he is a wholly fictional character. Francois however, was one of Anne’s knights and did indeed swear fealty to her before a council of barons. One of the fictional liberties I have taken is having Madam Hivern still alive at the time of our story. In real life, she died before Anne was born.

Count d’Albret is also an historical figure. He was described by the chroniclers of his time as fifty years old, large and ugly, with many children from a previous marriage. He was also devious and cunning and by all accounts so repellent to Anne that she ultimately issued an edict proclaiming she would not marry him. For someone so dedicated to her country, this struck me as an extreme measure that made great fodder for the story.

The book takes place on the very cusp of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Another writer working in this exact same time period might very well call it the Renaissance. However, since my story focused on the spiritual preoccupations such as patron saints, relics, etc., and they were such hallmarks of the medieval period, I refer to the story as taking place in the Middle Ages.

The castles, the towns, and homes were all researched, although very few maps of the time exist. Or if they did, I did not have access to them. Castles were moving away from the earlier design of one great hall and one giant room for all to sleep in. Privacy, at least for the noble family itself, was coming into vogue.

Over the centuries, as the Church struggled to convert an entire population to Christianity, as a matter of policy they adopted pagan deities as saints, painting over the original myths with their own Christianized narrative. They also built churches on pagan holy sites, and organized their own festivals and celebrations to coincide with earlier pagan celebrations to make them more palatable for the local populace. It has been said that Brittany in particular, fought harder than other kingdoms against the loss of their own deities and form of worship.

While the nine old gods in Grave Mercy did not exist in the exact form they were portrayed in the book, they were constructed from earlier Celtic gods and goddesses, about whom we know very little. I have added a few embellishments of my own.

Sadly, the convent of Saint Mortain does not exist except in my imagination, but the Ile de Seine was known to have been the home of the last nine druidesses who served the old gods and ways and bears a small, ancient chapel built right next to a pagan standing stone.