Beth Kephart's Blog, page 92

GOING OVER and Audible. On launch day I listen to another read my words.

And so, after so much pre—pre-pub, pre-launch, pre-anxiety—Going Over goes out into the world today.

This morning, for the first time, I listened to Jessica Almasy read the story—brilliantly!—for Audible.

It had been many years and many books since I heard another read my words, and it is startling, truly startling. Someone else, I thought as I listened, wrote this story.

Thank you, Jessica Almasy. This could not have been easy to do. I learned from you, from listening to you.

The Audible edition can be found here. I highly encourage you to find it.

For more about the book, for a look at early reviews, for a link to a free download-able sample, and for another look at that terrific Chronicle-produced book trailer, please visit here. To bop along to some 1980s music as you do, please visit the Going Over Playlist. 

In the days to come I'll be linking to the bloggers who are kindly hosting interviews and my guest posts. Today (later) we will begin at home, with Chronicle Books.

4/1/2014
Chronicle Books
 "Music in Our Bones"

4/2/2014
My Friend Amy
"The first (first) page"

4/3/2014
The Flyleaf Review
"It might not have happened: the beginnings of GOING OVER"

4/4/2014
The Book Swarm
"East Berlin Escapees"

4/5/2014
There's A Book
"Interview"

4/6/2014
YA Romantics
"Interview"

4/7/2014
Teenreads Blog
"The Berlin photo album"

4/8/2014
The 3 R's Blog
"Interview"

4/9/2014
Forever Young Adult
"The naming of GOING OVER"

4/10/2014
Kid Lit Frenzy
"Interview"

4/11/2014
Tales of the Ravenous Reader
"At the Core of the Novel: Truth"

4/12/2014
Addicted 2 Novels
"Final day of our blog journey"

Boy, Snow, Bird: Helen Oyeyemi/Reflections

So many unread books stacked on my floors, on my shelves, on the couch, and still I bought a new one—Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi. I blame Porochista Khakpour's review in The New York Times. It was smart; it was seductive.

And so is this book. The story of a run-away, a rat-catcher's daughter (her name is Boy), who arrives in a place called Flax Hill, marries a widower with a fair daughter named Snow, and discovers, when she gives birth to a girl she calls Bird, that the family she has married into has masqueraded all along: they are light-skinned African Americans. The fair, sweet Snow has (unwittingly) allowed this family to live their lie, to hide, to elegantly pretend. Boy will have none of that–or of Snow—once the darker-skinned Bird arrives. Snow is banished. Bird grows up. Weird things happen with spiders, with storytellers, with (but of course) mirrors.

Boy, Snow, Bird must be trusted. Its readers must relinquish their hold. Don't try to guess where this is going. Don't look for Dopey. Don't think Oyeyemi is actually going to chant "Mirror, Mirror on the wall." Don't read thinking that this is all about race or all about fairytales, because it's bigger and more wild than that. Boy, Snow, Bird is brand-new country. It's a young writer (Oyeyemi is not yet thirty but already a veteran of publishing) inventing her own kind of fiction. Her sentences and images, often, are beguiling. Here is Bird, imagining herself in a spiderweb hat:

No, a spiderweb hat is a better warning to beware. Bird would look out from under this hat with the watchful eyes of a girl from long ago, each pupil an unlit lamp, waiting for the magic ring to be rubbed, for the right words to be said. She'd give a lot to know why she and her mom have those eyes—the eyes of people who come from someplace strange they can never go back to. Bird and her mom and that servant-of-the-lamp look they go around giving people. Bird can't think of a single excuse for it.

More and more, I think, we are seeing writers who are willing to go to the edge, to carry us forward, to take daring risks, to suggest that we set aside our expectations and follow along. We see critics embracing the brave and tangled; we see other readers not so sure. There are new fractures breaking in the land of literature. Personally, I'll always be grateful for the sure-footed flights of fancy that abound in books like Boy, Snow, Bird.

A World Without Walls? and A Most Generous Launch of the Going Over Blog Tour

This is the 25th anniversary year of the fall of the Berlin Wall—an anniversary that is being commemorated with lights, balloons, exhibitions, proposals of hope. And yet, in so many places, for so many different reasons, we remain a world divided.

I write of those contradictions, those residual fears, in today's Publishing Perspectives, in a piece that begins like this:

We live in a world of infinite gradations and restless infiltrations. We live in a world of checkpoints, watchtowers, walls. We are free to go, or we are not. We are here, but never entirely there. We are fenced in or fenced out. We are on the move (some 232 million around the world left one country for another in 2013, according to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs) or we are hunkered down—stuck—behind a fortress of distance-making words: “Aliens.” “Illegals.”

We are global.

We are divided.

... and continues here.

My hope, today, is that you'll find time to read this piece and, if you are so moved, to share it.

My hope, too, is that you will send Miss Serena Agusto-Cox, most faithful and intelligent reader and writer, all kinds of yellow-tulip thoughts, for she has written such kind words about Going Over and soft launched the blog tour with all kinds of goodies, including the offer of a free book to one reader. You can find the whole thing here. I share, below, Serena's final words about the book:

Kephart’s Going Over is stunning, and like the punk rock of the 80s, it strives to stir the pot, make readers think, and evoke togetherness, love, and even heartbreak — there are lessons in each.

 Thank you.

world in crisis

Missing airliners. Earthquakes. Mudslides. Snow in Washington, DC. A loved one driving through snow to Washington, DC. Rising sea levels. Russian tankers. Crimea losing/gaining two hours of time. People in desperate need. Terrible inequalities. People who cannot help themselves.

And the rain. And the rain.

I find myself overwhelmed with concern.

How do we fix this world?

How do we save it?

I have nothing.

I say, only: Peace. Love. Hope. I am thinking of you.

the gift of yellow on a gray day

(just saying)

That Florence, Italy, novel: the title, the synopsis

Next spring, Tamra Tuller and Chronicle Books will be releasing a novel set in Florence, Italy, and (to a lesser extent) West Philadelphia. It took me a long time, and many drafts, to get it right, and it is only recently that we have settled on a final title.

I share that here, with an early book description:

Something is just not right with Nadia Cara. She’s become a thief, for one thing. She has secrets she can’t tell. She knows what she thinks, but when she tries to speak, the words seem far away. Now in Florence, Italy, with a Master Chef wanna-be brother, a professor father, and a mother who specializes in at-risk teens, Nadia finds herself trapped by her own obsessions and following the trail of an elusive Italian boy—a flower thief—whom no one else has ever seen.  While her father tries to write the definitive history of the 1966 flood that threatened to destroy Florence, Nadia wonders if she herself will disappear—or if she can be rescued, too.

Set against the backdrop of a glimmering city, ONE THING STOLEN is an exploration of obsession, art, and a rare neurological disorder. It is a story about the ferocious, gorgeous madness of rivers and birds. It is about surviving in a place that, fifty years ago, was rescued by uncommon heroes known as Mud Angels. It is about art and language, imagining and knowing, and the deep salvation of love written by an author who is herself obsessed with the beguiling and slippery seduction of both wings and words.  

My students Katie Goldrath, Maggie Ercolani, and Stephanie Cara inspired me as I wrote. Emily Sue Rosner and Mario Sulit helped me get the Italian right. Alyson Hagy, Amy Sarig King, and Kelly Simmons kept me going. Patty McCormick and Ruta Sepetys listened. Lori Waselchuk gave me her West Philadelphia. Wendy Robards gave so much of her time and heart during desperate days. And Tamra Tuller stood by.

Always grateful.

oh, my! headed to Texas to do time with Nina LaCour, Andrew Smith, Blake Nelson, Dana Reinhardt, and the Good TAYSHAS and Texas Teens and Texas Tea Folks

I love when this sort of thing pops up on Facebook. Me and the Real Writers. Headed to Texas. Here's the caption, in case you are going to be near:

Join Nina LaCour, Andrew Smith, Blake Nelson, Dana Reinhardt, and Beth Kephart for Tayshas Reading List & Authors on Thurs, April 10th, 10am in 103 AB, Street Level at #txla14

I'll be at other events as well, in dear San Antonio with dear Chronicle. My schedule:

April 9:
3:00pm  
Going Over Book Signing

April 10:
9:30amTexas Teens 4 Libraries (TT4L) ARC signingGrand Hyatt Hotel
10:00am                   PANEL: “Tayshas Reading List and Authors”
Moderator Susan Schilling, Chair, Tayshas Committee 2012-2013
12:00pmTexas Tea with YA Authors
Good Glory. I'm going to also make some time for some barbeque, even if that occurs at 4 AM in the morning. All thanks to Tayshas, Texas Teens 4 Libraries, Texas Tea, and Chronicle Books!

The GOING OVER Blog Tour: It's Gonna be Grand

I have Lara Starr of Chronicle Books and a number of super generous bloggers to thank for the upcoming blog tour of Going Over, which will launch on April 1. I know how much time it takes to write a blog, to post it, to monitor the comments. I can only imagine how much work this was for Lara. And so I am deeply indebted to both these bloggers who said yes and to Lara who extended the invitation, then coordinated the event.

Here's the line-up. I've written a number of personal and historical pieces to accompany the tour, and some of the bloggers have asked me wonderful questions. My hope is that, by tour's end, you'll know more about Berlin, more about my Ada and Stefan, more about how I write and why, and more about the music that shaped this tale.You'll also know a little more about my editor, Tamra Tuller, to whom the book is dedicated.

For more about the book, for a look at early reviews, for a link to a free download-able sample, and for another look at that terrific Chronicle-produced book trailer, please visit here.

And if you want to bop along to some 1980s music as you do, please visit the Going Over Playlist.

4/1/2014
Chronicle Books
 "Music in Our Bones"

4/2/2014
My Friend Amy
"The first (first) page"

4/3/2014
The Flyleaf Review
"It might not have happened: the beginnings of GOING OVER"

4/4/2014
The Book Swarm
"East Berlin Escapees"

4/5/2014
There's A Book
"Interview"

4/6/2014
YA Romantics
"Interview"

4/7/2014
Teenreads Blog
"The Berlin photo album"

4/8/2014
The 3 R's Blog
"Interview"

4/9/2014
Forever Young Adult
"The naming of GOING OVER"

4/10/2014
Kid Lit Frenzy
"Interview"

4/11/2014
Tales of the Ravenous Reader
"At the Core of the Novel: Truth"

4/12/2014
Addicted 2 Novels
"Final day of our blog journey"

I had a messed-up dream, and GOING OVER is available as a free Kindle download sampler

There I was, just the other day, extolling the virtues of sleep. Last night, the durned beast was elusive (to say the least) and when I did finally fall away, I had one heck of a dream.

Let's just say that I was shoeless (how cliche!) and poorly dressed (of course I was) and standing before an unruly crowd about ready to speak (they had NO interest whatsoever in what I had to say) and — well — I'd forgotten my speech. Not only that, I'd forgotten the topic of my speech. Not only that, but when the guy introduced me, I could not imagine who he was, how he knew me, or what town I was in.

And there I stood. Speak! Speak!

Such is the messed-up mind of the author who is about to launch a book.

Thank goodness, therefore, that the incredible team at Chronicle Books has my back. That it keeps doing these wow things—like making a trailer, like running a blog fest (more on that soon), like (and I just found out about this yesterday, thank you, Ali Presley, Kristina Jutzi, and Sally Kim!) offering a download-able sample of the book for free.

So if you are on the fence about Going Over (oh dear, how cliche!), please check out the free sampler here. It won't cost you a dime. And maybe, by the time you see me next, I'll be able to speak.

I had a messed-up dream and GOING OVER available as a free Kindle download sampler

There I was, just the other day, extolling the virtues of sleep. Last night, the durned beast was elusive (to say the least) and when I did finally fall away, I had one heck of a dream.

Let's just say that I was shoeless (how cliche!) and poorly dressed (of course I was) and standing before an unruly crowd about ready to speak (they had NO interest whatsoever in what I had to say) and — well — I'd forgotten my speech. Not only that, I'd forgotten the topic of my speech. Not only that, but when the guy introduced me, I could not imagine who he was, how he knew me, or what town I was in.

And there I stood. Speak! Speak!

Such is the messed-up mind of the author who is about to launch a book.

Thank goodness, therefore, that the incredible team at Chronicle Books has my back. That it keeps doing these wow things—like making a trailer, like running a blog fest (more on that soon), like (and I just found out about this yesterday, thank you, Sally Kim!) offering a download-able sample of the book for free.

So if you are on the fence about Going Over (oh dear, how cliche!), please check out the free sampler here. It won't cost you a dime. And maybe, by the time you see me next, I'll be able to speak.