Lucienne Diver's Blog: Lucienne Diver's Drivel, page 14

When is it YA?

I promised my friends at the Colorado Gold Conference this past weekend that I would post my presentation on When is it YA? on my blog, and I’m keeping that promise here.  Some of this may be a bit familiar, since I’ve written on the subject before, but there’s new here as well.

So, when is it YA?

It’s important when targeting editors and agents to how where your work fits, and there’s often confusion about when something is middle-grade or young adult vs. new adult or adult fiction. Is it just the age of the protagonist? Well, no.

For a quick overview:

-Middle grade is considered fiction for kids 8-12. There’s, of course, a range within this from chapter books like the Magic Treehouse to series like Percy Jackson and the early Harry Potter books, which I would argue aged up with the reader. These books mostly have protagonists on the older side of the reader scale (kids will read up in age but not down). So, it’s very likely your hero or heroine would be 11 or 12. Word count generally hovers around 40-55,000 words, give or take.

-Young Adult is for ages 12-18. Of course, there’s a range here as well and again you want to aim for older protagonists to give yourself the broadest readership. Word count is generally 60,000-80,000 words though, of course, this varies as well. It’s not just about the age of the protagonist, but about themes and where the protagonist is in his or her life.

-New Adult this is for older heroes and heroines and has more adult, often sexual themes. It’s generally the next step in the protagonists’ lives—the first really adult relationship—and it’s mostly seen and shelved in romance. Heroes/heroines will be late teens or early twenties and the books will generally be the length of adult fiction.

-Adult: adult fiction can, of course, have younger protagonists, like Mark Haddon’s THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHTTIME or Jodi Picoult’s MY SISTER’S KEEPER or Orson Scott Card’s Ender series, but the themes and situations are adult. The characters aren’t dealing with high school and issues of identity, but having to deal with adult situations even at their young age.

So when is it YA?

Young adult and middle-grade novels do not simply have young characters dropped into an adult world, dealing with their issues.  They have young people in situations and settings that are relevant to their current experience and to what they’re going through. Generally, the characters are in a school and/or familiar setting, dealing with family and social issues that are universal to that period in life.

Common themes (and I say “I” and “you” because what any writer needs to succeed is to become his/her character while writing):

Finding belonging – where do I fit in? Whether your character discovers s/he belongs in the wizarding world or the in crowd, finding a place in the world is a major theme.

Rebellion – young adulthood is definitely a time for questioning the status quo and deciding what you really believe in and what you’re willing to fight for.

Survival – sometimes you’re fighting just to survive. Zombies. High school. Minefields. Mazes.

Self-reliance or the flipside, allowing others in – no matter who your character is, he or she won’t be the same by the end of the story. If she’s a loner, she might learn that she needs people and that there’s sometimes strength in numbers. If he’s used to a certain amount of safety, whether it be in financial or social status, something will happen to teach him how to stand on his own.

How to make a difference – change is sort of the buzzword. Whatever’s going on, there has to be a way for the teens themselves to make the difference and affect the change. Control and coming into their own are all important.

Overall, the most important thing is that the young adult protagonists in your story are the agents of change. They’re not catalysts or observers, they’re active participants, without which…nothing.

What about Language?

Just like it isn’t all about the age of the protagonists, it’s not all about language either. Here are some important things to keep in mind:

-Don’t talk down to your readers. Ever.

-Don’t preach

-Make sure you use relevant cultural references and not those that will be gone in a year. Your heartthrobs will not be theirs!

-Know how kids talk. Dialogue should be natural and contemporary. Language and sentence structure appropriate for your viewpoint character. They know when you’re faking it.

-Cursing – sometimes it’s necessary. Good rule of thumb, always make sure it is. Don’t use it gratuitously and be aware that for some lines, even that’s too much.

Taboos

Here’s a hint – teens know about sex and drugs and drinking. It’s part of their experience, so it will often factor into to realistic portrayals, although some publishers are certainly more open to this than others.

Young adult fiction isn’t adult lite.  It’s not the place to preach to kids or present things as you’d have them appear rather than as they are.  It’s the place where you address teens’ actual world, experiences, insecurities, pressures, etc.  Even if you throw vampires or werewolves into the mix, you’re still dealing with peer pressure, bullying, friends/parents/faculty/enemies with agendas of their own.  And the big secret…none of this ends with high school, which might be why so many adults are attracted to young adult fiction as well.  We’ve all been there, and in many ways have never left. 

The LA Times had a wonderful article recently on the widespread appeal of young adult fiction, where one author (Lizzie Skurnick) speculated that part of the attraction may lie in the fact that “a YA book is explicitly intended to entertain.”  I think another factor may be that young adult fiction isn’t broken down along genre lines, but is a category all by itself, which means that writers are less tied to any particular conventions.  A book doesn’t have to be A or B, but can be something all its own.  (Not that genre boundaries haven’t become increasingly blurry in the adult fiction market as well.)

I don’t think there are taboos of subject so much as differing levels of graphic presentation.  There are times where something might happen off stage or that different language might be used, but the world is not always a perfect or pretty place, and fiction should reflect that. 

That said, if what you want to write about is sexual awakening, you might be writing New Adult rather than YA. It’s a matter of the focus and the nature of the experience.

But death – yup, got it – THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green. Drugs –yup, that too—Ellen Hopkins. Eating disorders – HUNGER by Jackie Morse Kessler. Suicide – THIRTEEN REASONS WHY. Reproductive issues – UNWIND by Neal Shusterman. And those are just examples.

The important thing in young adult fiction is to be authentic and to make sure you truly understand your characters, their struggles and the significance of their triumphs.

Deborah Blake’s WICKEDLY DANGEROUS!

I’m so pleased to be hosting today my good friend Deborah Blake, who’s also hosting me today in honor of our new releases!

What you need to know about Deborah Blake:

We almost share a birthday. Okay, so that’s probably more intriguing to me than to anyone else, but the long and short is that we’re both Tauruses. You know what that means—tough, bull-headed, direct and honest almost to a fault. Very earthy.
She’s a really wonderful person and a good friend.
She’s a practicing witch. PROFESSIONAL witch, as evidenced by all of the non-fiction she’s written on the subject or Llewellyn (THE WITCH’S BROOM, EVERYDAY WITCH BOOK OF RITUALS, WITCHCRAFT ON A SHOESTRING, THE EVERYDAY WITH A TO Z SPELLBOOK, etc.)
She really does melt when you throw water on her, a la her ALS Ice Bucket Challenge!


Oh yeah, and her debut paranormal romance novel WICKEDLY DANGEROUS debuted yesterday! (The same day as the print version of my Latter-Day Olympians novel RISE OF THE BLOOD , which I’m talking about over on her blog.)

But hey, you hear me babble on here all the time. Let’s hear about Deborah and the first in her new series from the lady directly!

LD: Deborah, what can you tell us about your series and the fascinating history you’ve drawn from?

DB: The series is based on the Russian fairy tales about Baba Yaga. She was an interesting character, in that she had considerably more depth than your average fairy tale witch. Although she was often depicted as scary and cruel, she was also known for helping worthy seekers. (And there is some indication that if you look further back in the mythology she had roots as a goddess of life and death and the elements. How cool is that?)

The Baba Yaga from the original tales was sometimes said to have sisters, or that there was more than one of them, so that made it easy for me to create a world where Baba Yaga was more of a job title than the name of one individual, allowing me to write three books with three different—but connected—protagonists. I also had fun updating both the Babas (who are now attractive and can kick butt, on top of doing powerful magic) and their classic symbols: the hut that traveled around on chicken legs is now an Airstream trailer in Wickedly Dangerous, and the mortar and pestle the old Baba Yaga used for transportation became a classic BMW motorcycle. Even Chudo-Yudo, the dragon who was her companion has changed his outward seeming, and is now disguised as a giant white pit bull. (And he seems to be turning into everyone’s favorite character as well.)

LD: In writing a witch character, how much have you been able to draw from your own experience and how much did you invent for your fictional world?

DB: Sadly, I can’t actually perform the kind of magic that the Baba Yagas can. (Or can I? Bwahahaha…) It was, in fact, a lot of fun to have a magical character that wasn’t limited by pesky little things like the laws of physics. I did use some of the ritual basics of modern witchcraft practice in both books (Wickedly Dangerous and Wickedly Wonderful), but most of the magic that the Baba’s use is pure fairy tale invention.

LD: Do you find there are a lot of misunderstandings and misrepresentations of Wiccan characters and of witches in fiction?

DB: Sure. Some of it is either due to confusion, religious propaganda, or malice, I suppose. But mostly, I think, people just don’t know any better. I actually taught a class for writers for a while called “Witchcraft for the Paranormal Author,” so writers could learn enough to get it right. It was a blast. Luckily, writing the Baba Yaga stories was a lot simpler, since they were fairy tale witches and not meant to be at all “true to life.”

LD: How much fun are you having with this series? Your heroine looks seriously tough.

DB: Damn, you caught me! I am having SO much fun with these characters. Barbara, especially, (the heroine of Wickedly Dangerous) was a fabulous character to write. Not only was she beautiful and powerful, she was seriously cranky—so I got to channel my inner growl a lot. Beka, the heroine of the second book in the series (Wickedly Wonderful), isn’t quite as powerful as Barbara, or nearly as cranky, but she does have a very cool collection of sharp pointy objects, like swords and knives. And, of course, they both have dragon-dogs as companions. Who wouldn’t like that?

LD: Are there any promotions your running or contests you’d like to highlight? Any giveaway you’d like to do here?

DB: Well, I’d love to give away a dragon…but since I seem to have misplaced my extra one, how about a signed copy of Wickedly Dangerous? I’ve also got an ongoing (for the next couple of days anyway) giveaway on my blog to celebrate the book release, so people should definitely go check that out. There is all sorts of fun swag, like a mug, a tote bag, and that sort of thing.

LD: And if people want to follow you and learn more about your fiction and fantasy, where would they go to find you?

DB: I’m all over the Interwebs. You can find me in the following places:

Website: http://deborahblakeauthor.com

Blog: http://deborahblake.blogspot.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/deborahblake

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deborah.blake

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20821001-wickedly-dangerous

Thanks for having me here—I can’t wait to read the next installment of the Latter-Day Olympians!

Thank you SO much for being here. I can’t wait to read WICKEDLY DANGEROUS and your Baba Yaga novella WICKEDLY MAGICAL!

____________________________

***Leave a comment below for a chance to win a signed copy of WICKEDLY DANGEROUS!***

New Releases, Court Battles and I Smell Sheep!

So excited that my third Latter-Day Olympians novel, RISE OF THE BLOOD, is out in print today, just in time for the fourth, BATTLE FOR THE BLOOD, to release in digital on September 16th!  (Obligatory links below.)

Of course, my celebration is a little stymied this morning, by my heroine, Tori Karacis, taking me to task over everything I’ve put her through.  It’s true!  Check out the proceedings over at I Smell Sheep.   (There’s a giveaway in it for you…that not I’m trying to win the court of public opinion or anything!)

RISE OF THE BLOOD by Lucienne Diver

Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Books-a-Million, Mysterious Galaxy, Indiebound, Powell’s

Book Blurb: Tori Karacis’s face is on the front of yet another tabloid “news”paper, linked to Hollywood hottie Apollo Demas. It was ONE dinner, and she was pissed with him at the time. But that’s the least of her worries. Just before leaving for her cousin’s destination wedding in Delphi, she learns that her arch nemeses, Zeus and Poseidon, have escaped police custody.

Despite looking forward to seeing Detective Nick Armani in a tux, her bad pre-flight jitters are confirmed when Apollo, with his sexy new co-star on his arm, boards the same plane. A plane that a freak storm nearly tears out of the sky.

What awaits them atop Mount Parnassus is even more deadly. A prophecy, a kidnapping, and a bloodletting that stirs up the mother of all trouble-literally. Rhea is awakened, and she’s none too happy with her offspring for losing their usurped dominion over the Earth.

The Olympians have fallen. It’s time for the Titans to rise again. Which means it’ll be a bad day for anyone standing in their way.

Warning: Bloodbath or blissful union…either way, the stakes are high in this destination Delphi wedding high atop the peaks of Mount Parnassus. Passions will flare, Titans will rise, monsters will awake, blood will boil and some will spill.

BATTLE FOR THE BLOOD by Lucienne Diver

Nook, Kindle

Book Blurb:  Tori wakes after Rise of the Blood to two very shocking realizations: one, she’s in bed with a very naked Apollo, having lost the fight to resist their attraction. Two, she still has her wings. Not dinky little fairy wings. Full-scale, cover-’em-with-a-trench-coat bat wings.

Apollo suggests consulting the Gray Sisters on the wings. Those cannibalistic, psychopathic oracles who, even with only one tooth and one eye among them, manage to see too much. As in a Rapture, zombie-apocalypse, biblical-plague, hellgates-busted-open the end of the world.

While the Sisters are perfectly on board with death and destruction, the thinning of the human herd doesn’t sit well with them at all. They’ll help her. All she has to do is save the world.

Tori and her team trace the origin of the plagues to New York City, which is under quarantine and martial law—as if that’s enough to stop the influx of gods and gorgons, dragons and demons. But as death threatens from without, betrayal lurks within Tori’s ranks. And nobody is safe. Nobody.

Warning: Betrayal and bad-assery, sensuality and a sizzling hot sun god. Death, demons, destruction and, potentially, the end of the world as we know it…zombie style.

 

New and exciting!

I don’t know about you all, but to me there are few things more exciting than the start of a new series!  Diana Pharaoh Francis’s novel TRACE OF MAGIC releases tomorrow, beginning her Diamond City Magic series.  For an early taste of things, Literary Escapism has Di as a guest author today.  Romantic Times Book Reviews has given it 4½ stars and a Top Pick! rating and raves abound (see below).

 In other news, Marie Langager’s debut young adult science fiction thriller/romance, BEYOND OUR STARS, is available for $1.99 on Kindle for a limited time.  Great time to support a new author and get yourself a fast and fantastic read for the long Labor Day weekend.

As if all that wasn’t enough, you can get an exclusive excerpt right now of ROCK ADDICTION, Nalini Singh’s bad-boy, rockstar contemporary romance coming September 9th!

  TRACE OF MAGIC by Diana Pharaoh Francis

Even the most powerful tracers can’t track you if the magical trace you leave behind is too old. But I can track almost anything, even dead trace. That makes me a unicorn, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, and the Lock Ness Monster all rolled into one. In a word, I am unique. A very special snowflake. And if anyone ever finds out, I’ll be dead or a slave to one of the Tyet criminal factions.

Riley Hollis has quietly traced kidnapped children and quietly tipped the cops to their whereabouts one too many times. Now she’s on the radar of Detective Clay Price, a cop in the pocket of a powerful magic Tyet faction. When he blackmails her into doing a dangerous trace for him, Riley will have to break every rule that keeps her safe. Or become a Tyet pawn in a deadly, magical war.

Quotes:

“Wonderfully fun read! The perfect mix of magic, sleuthing, action, and romance—with a likeable, wise-cracking heroine in a dangerous, well-developed world. I couldn’t put it down.” —Barb Hendee, Co-Author of the Noble Dead Saga

“Best book of the year! Best new character of the year! Best new series all year! I. Loved. This. Book. You gotta read it.” — Faith Hunter, author of the bestselling Jane Yellowrock series

“When an exceptional author kicks off an exciting new series, it’s reason to rejoice. From the start, Diamond City, located in an old volcano caldera in Colorado, is nearly a character itself as its denizens are stuck in the middle of a magical gang turf war over diamonds and drugs…. The action is nonstop and the danger palpable in this amazing tale.” – Romantic Times Book Reviews, 4½ Star Top Pick!

“Diana Pharaoh Frances has crafted a winning paranormal mystery that mixes sizzling sex, magic, and a decades old search for artifacts that could change their world.” —Jeanne Stein, Bestselling Author of The Anna Strong Chronicles

“Trace of Magic caught me up fast and pulled me in tight for a fun, action-and-sass adventure full of deadly magic and dangerous romance. Diana Pharaoh Francis delivers a downright terrific read.” —Devon Monk, nationally Bestselling Author of HELL BENT

“A vividly written world of magic and kick-ass action.“ —D.B. Reynolds, Bestselling Author of The Vampires in America series

“A kickass thrill ride with magic, sex, guns and mystery.” —John Hartness, Bestselling Author of The Black Knight Chronicles

Dixie Lyle’s new Whiskey, Tango & Foxtrot mystery series

The Quillery has a great interview of Dixie Lyle and a write up of the new Whiskey, Tango & Foxtrot mystery series from St. Martin’s! That and the brand new release of the second in the series, TO DIE FUR (following on the heels of A TASTE FUR MURDER, which you can right now check out in digital for only $2.99!) gives me the perfect chance to, er, crow about this fabulous new series! 

 

A TASTE FUR MURDER:

Introducing an animal-loving Gal Friday with a telepathic cat, a shapeshifting dog, and a ghost of a chance of solving supernatural crime…

Meet Deirdre “Foxtrot” Lancaster. Trusted employee of eccentric zillionairess Zelda Zoransky, Foxtrot manages a mansion, a private zoo, and anything else that strikes her boss’s fancy. Her job title is Administrative Assistant, but chaos handler would be more accurate. Especially after she glimpses a giant ghost-beast in Zelda’s pet cemetery. For some strange reason, Foxtrot is seeing animal spirits. And, ready or not, in this mystery from Dixie Lyle, the fur’s about to hit the fan…

Still reeling, Foxtrot comes home to find her cat Tango—her dead cat Tango—alive and well and communicating telepathically. But that’s not all: There’s an ectoplasmic dog named Tiny who changes breeds with a shake of his tail…and can sniff out a clue like nobody’s business. So when a coworker drops dead while organizing closets, Tiny is on the case. Can Foxtrot and her new companions ferret out the killer among a menagerie of suspects—human and otherwise—before death takes another bite?

TO DIE FUR:

Deirdre “Foxtrot” Lancaster is back. With trusted companions Whiskey and Tango, she’s on the prowl for a brand-new predator…

Deirdre has her hands full, as usual. Working as a Jill-of-all-trades for a zany billionaire like Zelda Zoransky means the daily grind is closer to a juggling act, and this week is no exception—especially when her side job is directing spiritual traffic in Zelda’s pet cemetery. With ZZ hosting a party for some of the world’s wealthiest animal collectors and a rare albino liger named Augustus in residence at the private zoo, Foxtrot is ready for trouble to take a big bite out of her schedule…

She doesn’t have to wait long. The half-ton big cat is dead, and there’s a houseful of colorful suspects, each one wackier than the next. But if they were all bidding to buy him, who would want Augustus dead? With the help of Tango’s feline telepathy and Whiskey the canine shapeshifter, Foxtrot learns that there’s much more to Augustus than meets the eye. Now they just have to sniff out a killer before any more fur flies…

MARKED FUR MURDER: Coming March 2015

QUOTES:

“A clever new series that deftly blends cozy mystery with the paranormal, and that is sure to please readers of both genres. Dixie Lyle’s debut, A TASTE FUR MURDER, is original and witty, with a twisting plot that contains more than a few ‘shocks’.  I’m looking forward to more adventures featuring the Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot gang.” —Ali Brandon, author of the Black Cat Bookshop Mystery Series

“A delightful, funny mystery filled with eccentric and colorful characters, be they humans, animals or spirits. Dixie Lyle will entertain the reader page after page!” —Leann Sweeney, New York Times bestselling author of The Cats in Trouble Mysteries

“excellently written, a joy to read, and had a murder plot so fantastical that it was a mystery to the very end.” —Murder by Death

“Dixie Lyle is my new favorite detective author!” —Of Thoughts and Words

“This is wonderfully charming, unique, and delightfully original mystery; with bite.” —King’s River Life

“A TASTE FUR MURDER is the first in a new series that animal lovers will adore! Dixie Lyle incorporates the best elements of the cozy and paranormal genres to craft a book that is delightfully entertaining and twisted.” —Fresh Fiction

“Mingling fact with fiction, Ms. Lyle spins an interesting and engrossing tale that drew me in and kept me interested… A very good read and recommended for anyone who enjoys paranormal in their novels. I eagerly await the next in the series.” —Open Book Society

So much good!

First, a very happy book birthday to Amy Christine Parker for ASTRAY, the sequel to her critically acclaimed YA thriller GATED!  (Book deets below!)

Second, for a limited time only, SKINWALKER, the first book in Faith Hunter’s New York Times bestselling Jane Yellowrock series, is on sale in digital form for only $1.99!  Here it is for Nook, Kindle and Kobo.

Third, I’m over at Magical Words today with a post about Pop Author Psychology and (let’s face it) to plug my new Latter-Day Olympians novels RISE OF THE BLOOD and BATTLE FOR THE BLOOD.  I hope you’ll come leave a comment so I have someone to talk to besides the voices in my head!

ASTRAY by Amy Christine Parker (Random House Children’s Books)

Lyla is caught between two worlds. The isolated Community that she grew up in and the outside world that she’s navigating for the very first time. The outsiders call the Community a cult, but Pioneer miraculously survived a shooting that should have killed him. Are the faithful members right to stay true to his message? Is this just a test of faith? One thing is for sure: the Community will do anything to bring Lyla back to the fold. Trapped in a spider’s web of deception, will Lyla detect the sticky threads tightening around her before it’s too late? She’ll have to unravel the mystery of what Pioneer and the Community are truly up to if she wants to survive.
 
Suspenseful and chilling, Astray is Amy Christine Parker’s nerve-fraying sequel to Gated. This fast-paced psychological thriller is masterfully plotted and sure to leave goose bumps. Perfect for fans of creepy YA thrillers and contemporary fiction alike.

Quotes for the series:

GATED

An Amazon Best Teen Book of the Month, July 2013 Spotlight Pick: “Gated goes inside the psychology of a fictional doomsday cult in this highly original thriller… The conclusion is a whirlwind of nail-biting action and I found myself racing through the pages to see how it was all going to end. —Seira Wilson

“This absorbing examination of a cult focuses on a teenage girl who begins to doubt their leader… Compelling and not that distant from real-world cults that have ended in tragedy.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

“Parker skillfully explores the mindset and inner workings of an apocalyptic cult, steadily building toward the inevitable moment of truth… As for the apocalypse itself, Parker keeps things suitably ambiguous, resulting in a complex, intriguing tale rooted in real-world events.” —Publishers Weekly

“Parker is a seriously talented writer. She has that rare talent for getting inside your head and making you look at things in a certain way. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.” —Escape into Words

“Gated is unlike any other YA book out there. It isn’t afraid to push the limits, or to go as far as it needs to go to stay honest. Gated is a candid look at the inside of a cult, an unflinching reflection on today’s society, and of course, a masterful thriller.”— Pretty Deadly Reviews

ASTRAY

“…a thrilling page-turner that will keep even the most reluctant readers engaged until the end.” —School Library Journal

“The suspense builds to an extremely exciting climax.” —Kirkus Reviews

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

My husband and I both got called out for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and, well, you can see what happened here…

 

Whether you get tagged or not, it’s a great cause.  You can click here to donate and/or learn more about Amyotrophic Lateral Schlerosis.

Vamped, Revamped and crime scene curtains!

Which part of the title got you?  Nah, it’s okay, you don’t have to tell me.

I’m so excited that I’ve gotten to tweak and reissue my first two young adult novels, Vamped and Revamped, now at just $3.99!  Check out the snazzy new covers (though if you haven’t read the first yet, don’t read the cover copy on the second!).  The books are already up for Kindle.  Nook, Kobo, iTunes and POD versions should be available shortly, as will the third in the series, Fangtastic!  In the meantime, I know that Flux still has print copies available of Vamped, Revamped and Fangtabulous.  Get them while supplies last!

VAMPED by Lucienne Diver (and for Nook)

Gina Covello’s “Rules for Surviving Your Senior Prom” (spring issue of Modern Goth Magazine):

Rule #1: Do not get so loaded at the after prom party that you accidentally-on-purpose end up in the broom closet with the surprise hottie of the evening, say the class chess champ who’s somewhere lost his bottle-cap lenses and undergone an extreme makeover, especially if that makeover has anything to do with becoming one of the undead.

Gina Covello has a problem. Waking up a dead is just the beginning. There’s very little she can’t put up with for the sake of eternal youth and beauty. Blood-sucking and pointy stick phobias seem a small price to pay. But she draws the line when local vampire vixen Mellisande gets designs on her hot new boyfriend with his prophecied powers and hatches a plot to turn all of Gina’s fellow students into an undead army to be used to overthrow the vampire council.

Hey, if anyone’s going to create an undead entourage, it should be Gina! Now she must unselfishly save her classmates from fashion disaster and her own fanged fate.

Quotes

“VAMPED is a total delight! Diver delivers a delightful cast of undead characters and a fresh, fast take on the vampire mythos. Next installment, please!”   — Rachel Caine, New York Times bestselling author of the Morganville Vampires series

“Those who enjoy a good giggle will respond eagerly to this brassy, campy romp.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Teenagers will likely bite at the fun premise of Diver’s YA debut, first in a planned series…. Readers will be entertained by some great one-liners.” —Publishers Weekly

“This quick read is filled with teen slang and fashion consciousness; it’s a lighthearted, action-packed, vampire romance story following in the vein of Julie Kenner’s “Good Ghouls” (Berkley), Marlene Perez’s “Dead” (Harcourt), and Rachel Caine’s “The Morganville Vampires” (Signet) series. A sequel is in the works.” —School Library Journal

“Diver uses wit and adventure to hook readers with this teen vampire story.” —VOYA

REVAMPED by Lucienne Diver

Having survived super spy club training, Gina, Bobby and their fanged friends are sent on their first mission—undercover at a New York high school where some seriously weird stuff is going down.  As excited as Gina is to get out of spook central, she’s less than impressed with her new identity as goth-girl Geneva Belfry.  No color palette to speak of; more chains than a bike rack; and don’t even get her started on the shoes.  About the only thing she can say for her all-black wardrobe is that it’s great for hiding blood spatter and other fashion faux pas.

And there will be blood.

Kids at the high school are going crazy—sudden outbreaks of violence, kids sleepwalking through school or dropping out entirely. Serious magic surges have been detected in the area, along with a mysterious and nearly mythic figure…someone who should be long dead and at least thrice buried.

Quotes

“This is a witty vampire romance/adventure with plenty of heart and action. Diver has written a supernatural sequel to Vamped that will attract even reluctant readers.”   —VOYA, reviewed by Ava Ehde

“Gina, the 17-year-old fashionista of the undead, is back and as sassy as ever. Thoroughly enjoyable, this sequel is a light, fizzy read… listening in on Gina’s thoughts and quick-witted dialogue is what makes this such a treat.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Revamped by Lucienne Diver was witty, sweet, and just dark enough to ignite my morbid taste buds.”   —Bitten by Books

“Perfect for teens and adults, this is a book to share, savor and revisit. Revamped is full of smart, spot-on dialogue, engaging, authentic characters and a plot that’s so much fun it’s impossible not get swept up.” —Examiner.com

“Lucienne Diver has once again written a truly funny story, while still holding on to the adventure and mystique of the undead.”   —Once Upon a Romance

Oh, and the promised crime scene curtains?  The hotel for the Romance Writers of Australia’s 2014 Conference (the Novotel Olympic Park) had…some very special decor.  As an example, here are the crime scene curtains.  Tell me that doesn’t look like blood spatter!  I felt like I was sleeping in an episode of CSI!

Hmm, maybe they just wanted me to feel really, really comfortable:

I swear, I’m really a very nice person! I hardly shed any blood at all…that would be a waste!

Romance Writers of Australia Conference 2014

As many of you know, I was away for about ten days at the Romance Writers of Australia Conference out in Sydney and then for some sightseeing afterward – because there was no way I was traveling halfway around the world and not doing a koala encounter or visiting the Blue Mountains. I hope to blog soon (with pics) on how fabulous Australia is in general, but for today I wanted to say a few words to and about the Romance Writers of Australia.

THANK YOU all for being so gracious, lovely, entertaining and enlightening. I’ve rarely attended a conference where I felt so comfortable and at home!

For those who weren’t there, RWAUS 2014 had fabulous guests and speakers, including Kate Byrne, Senior Commissioning Editor from Headline UK, Malle Vallik, Sue Brockoff and Flo Nicoll from various divisions of Harlequin, Lex Hirst, acquiring editor for Random House, Haylee Nash and Joel Naoum, acquiring editors for Pan Macmillan, Anna Valdinger and Narelle Battersby from HarperCollins and HarperImpulse respectively, bestselling authors Cherry Adair and Marie Force, Australian agents Alex Adsett and Jacinta di Mase… I could keep going and going, but you can read the guests various interviews here for yourselves! The long and short of it is the conference put together wonderful panels and presentations. I wish I could have seen more. I did get to see Cherry Adair’s speech (was it Saturday morning?) and could have listened to her go on all day. She’s not just funny and charming, she’d remarkably inspirational.

I especially enjoyed the Escape After Party Friday night with its leather and lace theme, hosted by the fabulous Kate Cuthbert of Escape Publishing. The costumes were fabulous, and the adventurous nature of some of them even better.

The gala awards dinner Saturday was wonderful, and I was very lucky with my table companions, including my newest author, Shannon Curtis, who I’m very pleased to be working with! Also, the lovely Eleni Konstantin, Cassandra L. Shaw, and Rachael Herron. Emma Darcy was elected into the Hall of Fame and had everyone laughing and crying with her speech. Thanks to Xanthe Blake tweeting them, I can recall and pass along to you Emma’s Five Fs of Romance: fun, fantasy, feel-good and fabulous fucking! (Hope I didn’t shock anyone with that! She shocked a laugh out of us all.)

After the award ceremony, tables were cleared and we all danced the night away.

I was very sad to leave, especially after making so many friends and finally getting to meet the wonderful Lauren McKellar from YA Rebels in person! Some pics are below so that you can all feel you were there.

Author Translations and Post on Sexism and Bias

Tomorrow I hope to be posting a write up and some fabulous pictures from my trip to Sydney, Australia, first for the Romance Writers of Australia Conference (which was wonderful!) and then from my sightseeing (amazing!). Today, I’m over at Magical Words with a post “It’s a boy thing…” on sexism, bias, fiction and frustration.

Last week, Amy Christine Parker and I posted our last YA Rebels video – author tips, as translated by our husbands. We had fun with it, and I hope you will as well!