Scott Tracey's Blog, page 7

The Kidney Stone Epidemic

So on Saturday, I was minding my business, working on some edits for a secret project, answering questions for an interview, and generally doing the normal Saturday things.  (Oh, also vlogging, but you already saw that if you went to Amber's blog yesterday like I suggested).

And then came the pain.  Like hunched over the desk pain.  I tried laying down (nope), tried sitting on the couch (nu-uh) and eventually found that the only place that was COMFORTABLE was to sit in my computer desk chair, and stretch myself out so that I was literally leaning half out of the left side of the chair.

And that's where I stayed on Saturday, until the pain went away.  Sunday was perfect, no problems and life was great.

And then came Monday.

Monday, the day in which All The Things started happening, and I got so many emails that were full of Cool News and Interesting Things.

And I was hunched over my desk, only now the Secret Straining Spot no longer worked.  Nothing worked.  I took to walking around, because at least "walking around" pain was better than the sitting pain, or god forbid the laying down pain.

So instead of waiting and going later, I wound up at the hospital last night.  And several fun filled hours later (in which EVERYONE expressed shock and amusement that I've never once been admitted to the hospital or even really in the ER – I mean there was that one time when I jumped off the swing at it's apex the night before 2nd grade started because I was SURE that I could fly like Superman as long as I got enough forward momentum going) they gave me drugs and told me I had a kidney stone.

So as Leah said this morning, when we found out that Amazon and Barnes and Noble were listing WITCH EYES as In Stock, "Man, when someone gets me a stone to celebrate, it's usually diamonds.  But no, your kidneys went one step beyond!"

In other news, the drugs they gave me have apparently made me super productive, so I'm going to go back to that!

Happy Tuesday!

Witch Eyes Blog Tour

I'm super excited that the Witch Eyes blog tour starts this week.  It actually kicked off yesterday with an epic vlog all about what it's like to live with another YA writer.  Leah actually filmed with me, and we were nearly hysterical at some points.  So you should definitely check out that on the Me, My Shelf and I blog!

Starting next Monday, I'll post a round-up of links where I visited over the last week for you to check out if you like.

Also, any authors who are thinking about doing a blog tour, definitely check out Teen Book Scene.  They organized the blog tour for me, arranged the topics, and basically took all the hard work on themselves.  And they've been absolutely fantastic to deal with all the way through.  Just remember that even if it doesn't seem like it's going to be a lot of work, it IS.  Haha.  I did something like 35 stops total, and I was a mess at the end there.

 

PAYA and early copies of WITCH EYES!

So if you haven't heard, Leah and I are undertaking a road trip next week to visit the mystical, enchanted land known to the ancients as….Pennsylvania.  While there, we're going to be stopping in to visit the adorable Tiffany Schmidt and family, and then it's off to the PAYA book festival.

Now, what I found out just today is that not only will Leah and I be there, but so will final copies of WITCH EYES!  And in case you're doing the math, that means you could feasibly get your copy 2 weeks before everyone else! Plus, you can see other fantastic Flux authors like Alissa Grosso, Charlotte Bennardo and Natalie Zaman among others!

So if you're thinking about heading to the festival (and you should, because there are a ton of fantastic authors who are going to be there), you should come and check it out!

Editted to add: The blog tour surrounding Witch Eyes' release starts on Sunday, so every Monday or so I'll post a round-up with links to where I've been (or where I will be) in the last 7 days.  Super-mega-huge thanks to Teen Book Scene, especially Kari and Corinne, who've made it such a blast.

Also also, if you haven't checked out the Witch Eyes Facebook page yet, you should.  I'll be posting tidbits about the city of Belle Dam, musical selections from the soundtrack, and fun bits of randomness, like the Witch Eyes/Mean Girls mashups going on right now.

Bookanista Review: ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD by Kendare Blake

Description: Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. Together they follow legends and local lore, trying to keep up with the murderous dead—keeping pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

When they arrive in a new town in search of a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas doesn't expect anything outside of the ordinary: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

But she, for whatever reason, spares Cas's life.

Reasons I Loved it:

First off, what IS it with books with Anna in the title?  My love for Anna and the French Kiss and Anna Dressed in Blood are equal (and yet thankfully polar opposite).

If you love the show Supernatural, then you'll love Anna.  There's blood, and ghost hunting, and a little bit of romance, it's fantastic.  Cas is a fantastic narrator – he's a teen boy, but he's also a professional ghost hunter, and good at what he does.  The backstory involving all of the characters (including Anna) is absolutely riveting.  There's so much to work with that while Anna is a self-contained story in it's own right, it made me desperate to see what was next for Cas and his friends and family.

This is one of those books where you walk into it thinking you know how the story's going to progress (because like me, you've read eighteen thousand urban fantasy novels), and then by page 30 or so when the first death hits, you're instantly reconsidering everything.

Definitely check this one out.  It's definitely one of those books that's good for boys, and something I totally loved.  ANNA DRESSED IN BLOOD comes out on August 30th.

WE INTERRUPT THIS BOOKANISTA BROADCAST…to celebrate WRITE ON CON!  For some fun writer insights and pep talks, click along to…

Christine Fonseca , Beth Revis , Jessi Kirby and Stasia Ward Kehoe

 And, we know you MUST have your Thursday Bookanista reviews so here you go!

Veronica Rossi loves Legend

Shana Silver serves up a Maureen Johnson double feature of The Last Little Blue Envelope & The Name of the Star

Bethany Wiggins howls over How to Take the Ex Out of Ex-Boyfriend

Carrie Harris is in a frenzy over Stupid Fast

Gretchen McNeil is spellbound by Witch Eyes

Carolina Valdez Miller  and Shelli Johannes-Wells are passionate about Possess

Matt Blackstone blogs From Bedside

Bookanista Review: The Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Summary: Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

My thoughts:

I mean, first off, I was sucked in from the moment I read "A devil's supply of human teeth grows dangerously low."  How could you not be?  I was dying to know what the point of the teeth was.

DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE is one of those books that you don't want to read, as  a writer, while you're working on something of your own.  The writing itself is just fabulous, evocative and lush and full of mystery.  The book feels crafted, like every single word was carefully chosen and dropped into the story like ingredients in a recipe.

The setting, Prague, is fresh and exciting, and made me long to visit even more than I did before.  This is one of those books where the setting's alive – you're never confused about where you are, because Kazou brings the world to life around her, much in the same way she brings to life the monsters in her drawings.

The plot, too, is exciting and unique, even though it hits on some of the same elements in other stories.  It's the way that the story develops, though, that really makes the difference, and proves that anything can be done if you put enough of yourself and your unique spin on it.

I can't say enough good things about this book.  It releases September 27th, and you should definitely pick it up.

See what the other Bookanistas are doing:

Elana Johnson sings out for Chime

LiLa Roecker thinks Epic Fail is a great success

Matt Blackstone feels The Pull of Gravity

Scott Tracey is entranced by Daughter of Smoke and Bone

Carolina Valdez Miller marvels at The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Carrie Harris is spellbound by Possess

 

Bookanistas Review: The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab

Summary: The Near Witch is only an old story told to frighten children.



If the wind calls at night, you must not listen. The wind is lonely, and always looking for company.



And there are no strangers in the town of Near.

These are the truths that Lexi has heard all her life.

But when an actual stranger—a boy who seems to fade like smoke—appears outside her home on the moor at night, she knows that at least one of these sayings is no longer true.

The next night, the children of Near start disappearing from their beds, and the mysterious boy falls under suspicion. Still, he insists on helping Lexi search for them. Something tells her she can trust him.

As the hunt for the children intensifies, so does Lexi's need to know—about the witch that just might be more than a bedtime story, about the wind that seems to speak through the walls at night, and about the history of this nameless boy.

Part fairy tale, part love story, Victoria Schwab's debut novel is entirely original yet achingly familiar: a song you heard long ago, a whisper carried by the wind, and a dream you won't soon forget.

Things I loved about it:

This is a book where every word holds so much weight, you can't wait to read more because you can't wait to see how the language is going to continue to unfurl.  The first time I read it, one of the first things I said was that I wanted to get an audio book of it, because just listening to the words was almost as hypnotic as the winds on the moors in Near.

The characters are all fascinating and dynamic, from the mysterious Cole to the steadfast Lexi, but my favorite is absolutely the sisters.  The Near Witch has a lot in common with the traditional fairy tale, but her characters are more vivid and fascinating all around.

Near itself.  I'm a sucker for settings.  So much thought and detail went into the town of Near, from the way it was constructed to its location, to the way the people acted.

And then there's the story.  I absolutely loved it.  I mean, it had witches so right off the bat you know it was going to be a good book.  But the plot and the pacing and the EVERYTHING…it was fantastic.

THE NEAR WITCH is available NOW, so you should drop everything and go pick up your copy!

Elana Johnson and Scott Tracey find wonder in The Near Witch

LiLa Roecker sing out about Where She Went

Christine Fonseca adores A Scary Scene in a Scary Movie

Corrine Jackson delights in The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Stasia Ward Kehoe marvels at My Life, the Theater & Other Tragedies

Veronica Rossi is wild about Wildefire

Witch Eyes Swag

So it's about a month until WITCH EYES comes out, and I'm super excited.  Which, I suppose, is better than the alternative, which is me huddled in the little cubby under the stairs, rocking back and forth and muttering "thirty-six days" while a creepy looking doll's head stares at me.

One thing I haven't done enough of is provide you guys with some swag.  So I'm fixing that right now.  I have these bookmarks, you see.  They're pretty snazzy, and how could they not be, they were designed by Courtney Allison Moulton.

And now I'm sending them out.  TO ALL OF YOU!  All you have to do is fill out the form below, and I'll do a mass mailing of bookmarks in the next few weeks.  Just in time for the book to come out!

And sorry, but this is limited to US and Canada, otherwise the postage is going to kill me.

Also, if you haven't checked out the Witch Eyes Facebook page, tidbits and facts from the novel are being posted in the weeks up until release, including facts about Belle Dam, some of the characters, some of the music I listened to while writing it, etc.  I'll also be posting there with any contests I hear about, any upcoming events, etc.

It's Stark Week!

Because someone showed me this yesterday, and I couldn't stop laughing.  Brood, Jon Snow, brooooooooooood!

Click the picture for the source (I think).

 

It's Sark Week

My favorite week of the year.  The week where we all stop and talk about how fantastic Mr. Sark was on Alias.

Wait…you mean you don't celebrate Sark Week?  You people are so weird! In case you've never watched Alias, it's basically spies, government conspiracies, and a little bit of mythology and super-science thrown in for good measure.

And Mr. Sark was the second best part of it.  (The best part was, of course, Irina Derevko, but this is not the place to gush about her).

Sark is the kind of villain I kind of like and kind of loathe at the same time.  He's the "cockroach" villain.  No matter what you do to him, and no matter how thorough you think you're being, he will survive to threaten your lives another day.  He's witty, and charming, and he has an accent.  He, along with many of the villains on Alias, is a chess player.  His plots are never just about the short term – there's also something long term going on there, too.

So what can we learn from Mr. Sark?  He's a good example of a villain who is the hero of his own story.  Sark will use anything and anyone to ensure that he survives to scheme another day.  His survival is the most important thing, and he never loses sight of that goal.  If that means turning tail and running like a chicken, well he's going to do it.  Because it means that he'll be around for more schemes tomorrow.

Actually, I lied.  A whole week of posts about Sark?  That's just silly and a whole lot of work.  But enjoy the alternative to Shark Week!

Bookanistas Review: WILDEFIRE by Karsten Knight

Summary:

Every flame begins with a spark.

Ashline Wilde is having a rough sophomore year. She's struggling to find her place as the only Polynesian girl in school, her boyfriend just cheated on her, and now her runaway sister, Eve, has decided to barge back into her life. When Eve's violent behavior escalates and she does the unthinkable, Ash transfers to a remote private school nestled in California's redwoods, hoping to put the tragedy behind her.

But her fresh start at Blackwood Academy doesn't go as planned. Just as Ash is beginning to enjoy the perks of her new school—being captain of the tennis team, a steamy romance with a hot, local park ranger—Ash discovers that a group of gods and goddesses have mysteriously enrolled at Blackwood…and she's one of them. To make matters worse, Eve has resurfaced to haunt Ash, and she's got some strange abilities of her own. With a war between the gods looming over campus, Ash must master the new fire smoldering within before she clashes with her sister one more time…

And when warm and cold fronts collide, there's guaranteed to be a storm.

My thoughts:

Some books, when you start them, just FEEL fresh.  They don't adhere to the cliches you've seen before, they breathe new life into old tricks, they're different and fun and ALIVE.  That's one of my favorite parts about WILDEFIRE.  It's not like everything else.

The main character, Ash, kicks ass.  Literally.  And sometimes teeth.  I always love books where the female characters are strong and empowered, instead of waiting for things to happen they bring the thunder, and Ash definitely brings her own unique…enthusiasm, shall we say.

Then there were the gods themselves.  One of the things that really stayed with me after finishing WILDEFIRE was the elemental nature of it.  It was like reading a modern myth, complete with sometimes irrational, always dynamic gods and goddesses.  Hera used to torture the girls that Zeus hooked up with, and the gods of WILDEFIRE are no different.  Hell, the girl-on-girl violence in the beginning is a more direct, more physical modern interpretation of this itself.

Let's not even talk about that ending.  Karsten pulls a swerve that I didn't see coming (and I almost always see them coming).

And then there's the fact that Karsten himself is pretty cool.  I may mock his hair, tease him about his followers, and basically torture him on a daily basis.

No, there's no but.  I do all those things.

But seriously, go pick up WILDEFIRE.  It's excellent.  And Karsten just revealed that there will be two more books in the series, and I for one can't wait to read them!

Go check out the other Bookanistas:

Elana Johnson  points you to Human.4

LiLa Roecker  glories in The Goddess Test

Christine Fonseca is impressed by Imaginary Girls

Shannon Whitney Messenger delves into The Future of Us – with giveaway

Scott Tracey and Shana Silver are wild about Wildefire

Carolina Valdez Miller shivers over The Eleventh Plague – with giveaway

Jessi Kirby celebrates A Scary Scene in a Scary Movie

Stasia Ward Kehoe embraces All the Things You Are

Corrine Jackson  sneaks into Sean Griswold's Head