Jennifer A. Nielsen's Blog, page 29
August 23, 2015
Fun Ascendance News!
I have a few fun things to share in relation to the Ascendance Trilogy!
First, if you’re interested, please go HERE to vote for THE SHADOW THRONE for YALSA’s Teen Top Ten Books of 2015 list. YALSA is the Young Adult branch of the Library Services Association. Of course, there are several other excellent books also worth voting for, if you prefer.
Second, is if you’re a fan of Kellogg’s products (Woot! Frosted Flakes!), watch for specially marked boxes found at either Walmart or Sam’s Club. Buy it, then the box will contain a code that you can enter online HERE and get an absolutely free book. Happy news – THE FALSE PRINCE and THE RUNAWAY KING are both books being offered! But there are many more great books too, all worth checking out!
Third has nothing to do with The Ascendance Trilogy, but hey – it’s news! Just a
reminder that my next book, A NIGHT DIVIDED, will be released this Tuesday! Check it out!
August 18, 2015
A NIGHT DIVIDED, Quote 5
A NIGHT DIVIDED will be released in only one week. ONE WEEK!!!!! I just got my own hard copies, which makes me even more excited to share this story.
In this scene, I won’t say too much about what it is that Gerta wanted, or how she got it, only that she felt it was completely worth the risk.
It was an easy walk home, but as soon as I rounded the last corner I saw Fritz waiting for me on the street. His face was nearly purple and his breaths were harsh and shallow. He grabbed my shirt collar and yanked me inside the apartment building, then twisted me around.
“What were you thinking?” he hissed.
My chest tightened as I got ready for the argument that clearly was coming. I had known he’d be angry when he learned I was gone, especially that I went alone, but my reasons were good. If he wanted to fight about this, we would. But I would win.
“We needed something and I got it,” I said.
“Nothing is worth what you did. How dare you, Gerta?”
I started to retort, but quickly lost any interest in arguing. Now that I really looked at him, it wasn’t anger in his eyes. It was fear, more than I’d ever seen in my brother before.
I opened the burlap sack just enough for him to see what was inside, and when I did, he nodded and tears streamed down his cheeks. He grabbed me into a hug, his stiff fingers digging into my back to communicate the worries still trapped inside him. He whispered, “That was too stupid to count as bravery. What if we lost you? Never do that again, Gerta. Never do anything like that again.”
You can borrow copies at your library (or ask for a copy if they don’t have it yet), or check with your local bookstore, or find it online at Indiebound, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble.
If you want a signed copy, the best way to get it is to find me at one of my upcoming public events, or order your copy from my local indie store, The King’s English. I will sign it to you at my launch party on Sept 9th and they will ship it directly to your home.
August 12, 2015
Today, 54 Years Ago
Today, 54 years ago, the people of East Berlin awoke to find the western half of their city surrounded in barbed wire. For that reason, August 13, 1961 is remembered as “Barbed Wire Sunday.”
It was a day that divided a city, divided its people, and divided family, friends, and loved ones.
Over the next several years, the barbed wire fence became a 103-mile concrete wall designed to keep East Germans from crossing into the free half of their country. No government in history had ever walled in its own people. Hundreds of people lost their lives in attempting to escape. It is unknown exactly how many people succeeded. Those who escaped often hid that fact to protect their loved ones still in the east.
A NIGHT DIVIDED is the story of Gerta Lowe, whose family is divided on Barbed Wire Sunday. When Gerta receives a mysterious note from her father, who is in the west, she begins to formulate a plan for how they might be reunited.
A very dangerous plan.
A NIGHT DIVIDED will be released on August 25th. I think it’s a story you’re going to love, and a time in history everyone should know!
August 9, 2015
A NIGHT DIVIDED Quote 4
I’m posting this quote a little early this week because it’s going to be a crazy few days ahead!
In this scene, Gerta has mysteriously received a drawn picture of a building and becomes convinced it is from her father, who is surely sending her a message to find the building and use it to escape the east. However, when she shows it to her brother, Fritz, he is less certain. Anna, mentioned below, is a friend of Gerta’s.
“How do you know the picture is from Papa?” In frustration, Fritz turned from me and ran a hand through his hair. “How do you know it’s not some test from the Stasi to get us here and then have a legitimate reason to arrest us?”
“They don’t play games like that!”
“They do, Gerta. They do that all the time! If they believe our family has some sort of rebellious streak, do you really think they’ll sit back and wait for us to commit a crime when they could just trap us now? Or maybe Anna’s family drew this picture to lure us here so they can turn us in to the Stasi.”
“Anna’s family wouldn’t—”
“Yes they would, and if you want to stay naïve about how dangerous this tunneling idea is, then you have no business even thinking about it! Our friends could betray us, family members could betray us. Some stranger on the street could report us and we’d never know who it was. There is nobody we can trust!”
It’s about two weeks until the release of A NIGHT DIVIDED (August 25th) – and I’m so excited for you to read it! You can find a copy at your local bookstore, online, the library, or at your Scholastic Book Fair. I hope you’ll check it out!
August 7, 2015
Movie Update…Such As It Is
Hi all! I know we’ve all been anticipating an August announcement about any movie news, and I wish I had something better to report, but…
Paramount has asked for another six month delay while they continue fine-tuning the script. So the news is, no news.
It is their hope to get the best possible script, since that’s so important for how the overall movie will be. And as fun as it would be to have something to report now, most important is to have a great movie, not just any movie. We’ll now keep our fingers crossed for February 2016 news.
Thanks for all your support and enthusiasm. I hope to have more to report again soon!
August 4, 2015
A NIGHT DIVIDED, quote 3
This quote comes from a point in the book when Gerta has begun seriously thinking about an attempted escape. She worries that perhaps her brother is having similar thoughts, though neither of them dare talk about it aloud.
I started walking again and Fritz followed along at my side. “You and I have ideas too,” I told him. “And I don’t want to become like them.” I stared up at him. “That’s not me, Fritz, and I don’t think it’s you either.”
“No, it’s not,” he said. “In fact . . . never mind.”
“In fact, what?” Fritz was avoiding my eyes now so I moved in front of him, forcing him to look at me. “Tell me!”
He opened his mouth, then clamped it shut and walked past me. A new worry sprouted in my chest as I hurried to catch up to him. Fritz had been keeping secrets from Mama for years, just to protect her. But something had changed. Now he had started keeping them from me as well.
A NIGHT DIVIDED will be released on August 25th – only three weeks away! I hope this is a book you will want to check out!
July 28, 2015
A NIGHT DIVIDED, quote 2
A NIGHT DIVIDED will be released on August 25th – I am SO excited to share this book with all of you!
The East German secret police, the Stasi, had files on millions of their citizens, collected for suspicious activity, to use for blackmail, or even in expectation that sometime in the future, that citizen might do something wrong – a future dissident.
In this story, Gerta’s older brother, Fritz, has caught the attention of the Stasi. This is a conversation between Gerta and Fritz shortly after he has an interaction with them:
Fritz shook his head and lowered his voice to almost a whisper. “They have a file
on me. I’ve been branded a potential enemy of the state. It doesn’t matter to them if I’ve done anything wrong. They just figure I will, one day. With that file, I won’t be allowed to go o a university, or to get a good job. By the end of June, I’ll be old enough for the military, and before they put a gun in my hand, that file means I’ll get special training until they’re sure I believe the way they do. After I wear their uniform, I’ll get the most dangerous assignments, the ones few people survive. That file means I have no chance in life, none. They’ve already determined that I will fail.”
“Well, I won’t let you fail,” I said stubbornly. “If you can’t get a job, then you’ll live with me. If they brainwash you, then I’ll talk you out of it when you come home. Whatever they do to you, Mama and I will be there to help.”
Fritz rubbed the top of my head with his hand. Usually, I hated that, but not this time. It was his way of showing affection, and I wanted that comfort from him now. Then he sighed and said, “You don’t understand how bad it is, Gerta. They have a file on you too.”
If this sounds like a book you want to read, you can find it at your local indie store, at your library, or order it online. Links for online orders are below:
July 21, 2015
A NIGHT DIVIDED, quote 1
A NIGHT DIVIDED will release in about one month, so it’s time to begin sharing some of my favorite quotes from the book!
This one takes place early in the story, when Gerta wakes up, having heard sounds out on the street.
“I pulled my curtains apart, expecting the worst. But when I looked out, my heart slammed into my throat. Not even the darkest part of my imagination could have prepared me for this.
It was Sunday, August 13, 1961, a day I would remember for the rest of my life. When a prison had been built around us as we slept.”
There are several ways you can get this story! It will be available in your local bookstore, or wherever you buy books online. You can get a digital version, or an audio book. You can ask your city or school library to get a copy in. And if your school hosts Scholastic book fairs (and possibly other book fairs), it will be there this fall!
July 13, 2015
A Night Divided – The World of East Berlin
Are you getting as excited as me for A NIGHT DIVIDED to release? Okay, probably no one is excited as I am, but I hope you are looking forward to meeting Gerta, her brother, Fritz, and the other characters who populate their world!
A NIGHT DIVIDED will release on Aug 25, 2015. Please support your indie bookstore first, but if you want to buy online, you can also find the book at:
In 1965, East Berlin was under the control of Communist Russia, but run by the East German government known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
Even with the Berlin Wall up, people still made attempts to escape the East.
Some were successful…
Many were not.
To give you an idea of the danger of living in East Berlin, just consider the numbers of their secret police, the Stasi.
You might have heard of the Russian Secret Police, the KGB. At the height of their power, there was one KGB agent for every 5,830 citizens. The Nazi Gestapo had one agent for every 2,000 people. That’s a lot, right?
The Stasi had one agent or regular informant for every 66 East Germans. When we take into account their spies and part-time informants, the number goes to one for every 6.5 citizens. This means that in any dinner party, at least one person was probably there to spy on you.
Every single apartment building had an informant. Every school, university,
hospital, and post office had spies. It might be your doctor, your bus driver, your waitress, or your priest. Phone lines were tapped. Holes were bored into apartments to film private citizens. Stasi officers might break into your home and rearrange the furniture, just to remind you that they can – and did – break into homes all the time.
If you were arrested by the Stasi, nobody knew where you were taken. Nobody knew if or when you would return. And even today, few people who lived in the Stasi prisons will talk about what happened to them there.
Escape attempts were considered treason, and as such, could be punished by immediate death.
This is the world in which Gerta lives. The world she is going to attempt to escape.
A NIGHT DIVIDED. Coming on August 25th!
To read more, do your own Google search or you can start here.
