Cheryl Rainfield's Blog, page 69

HUNTED is a finalist for the Monica Hughes Award for Science Fiction & Fantasy!

Oh my GOSH!! I just found out–HUNTED has been shortlisted for the Monica Hughes Award for Science Fiction and Fantasy! (grinning & grinning) (I did a tiny happy scream just now when I found out.) It is SUCH a good feeling when other people love your book, a book you put your heart into, and they acknowledge it like this. I am just…wowed. Honored. Happy!! (beaming) I don’t have a link yet, but when I do, I’ll share. I have the press release, though.

The Canadian Children’s Book Centre and the jury for the award said, about Hunted:

“In Caitlyn, Rainfield has crafted a tough and compassionate heroine who uses her psychic and empathic abilities to save her brother and friends from a fascist government…. From its first word to its last, Hunted grabs the reader with its forceful and dynamic prose, its disturbing and alarming world, and its sympathetic and complex characters.”

That felt so good to read! It is such an honor to be a finalist!! The top winner won’t be announced until the Fall. Meanwhile…I am absolutely delighted to be a finalist!

AND many, many congratulations to the other wonderful writers who are also finalists for the Monica Hughes Science Fiction and Fantasy Award! They are:

Lesley Livingston for Tempestous,

Nicole Luiken for DreamLine,

Jonathan Auxier for Peter Nimble And His Fantastic Eyes, and

P.J. Sarah Collins for What Happened To Serenity?

Children’s & Teen eBooks on sale from $0.99-$2.99 on Amazon

Picture Books:

Chicken Big by Keith Graves, $0.99 (94% off)

On a teeny little farm, in an itty-bitty coop, a very small hen laid a big, giant egg. And out of this egg came one big, humongous . . . something. ‘It’s big!’ clucked the little rooster. ‘It’s enormous!’ clucked the small chicken. ‘It’s an elephant!’ peeped the smallest chicken. ‘Run for your lives!’ they cried. No matter how they try, these clueless chickens can’t make sense of the gigantic new member of their family-until he saves the day. With wacky, laugh-out-loud humor and silliness to spare, this BIG twist on the classic Chicken Little story lends a whole new perspective to what it means to be chicken.

Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld (I *highly* recommend this fantastic picture book.) $1.99 (88% off)

[image error]

From the award-winning author of Little Pea, Little Hoot,and Little Oink comes a clever take on the age-old optical illusion: is it a duck or a rabbit? Depends on how you look at it! Readers will find more than just Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s signature humor hereGÇöthere’s also a subtle lesson for kids who don’t know when to let go of an argument. A smart, simple story that will make readers of all ages eager to take a side, Duck! Rabbit! makes it easy to agree on one thing–reading it again!

Little Hoot by Amy Krouse Rosenthall and Jen Corace, $1.99 (87% off)

[image error]

It’s not fair! All Little Owl wants is to go to bed at a reasonable hour, like his friends do. But no . . . Mama and Papa say little owls have to stay up late and play. So Little Owl spends all night jumping on his bed, playing on the jungle gym, and doing tricks on his skateboard–but he’s hooting mad about it ! Children who have a hard time going to bed will love this fun twist on the universal dilemma.

Little Oink by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Jen Corace, $1.99 (87% off)

[image error]

From the creators of Little Pea and Little Hoot comes this tidy tale of a decidedly different pig. Little Oink is a neat little fellow. Clean, clean, clean, that’s all he wants to do. But Mama and Papa won’t have it! They say in order to be a proper pig, he has to learn to make a proper mess. ‘Don’t come out until your room is a pigsty,’ says Papa Pig. ‘I won’t have any child of mine going out looking so neat and clean. It’s just not acceptable,’ says Mama Pig. Readers who hate to clean up will love this humorous twist on a universal dilemma.

Middle-Grade Books:

Real Mermaids Don’t Wear Toe Rings by Helene Boudreau, $1.99 (72% off) (I recommend this book!)

Freak of nature takes on a whole new meaning…

If she hadn’t been so clueless, she might have seen it coming. But really, who expects to get into a relaxing bathtub after a stressful day of shopping for tankinis and come out with scales and a tail?

Most. Embarrassing. Moment. Ever.

Jade soon discovers she inherited her mermaid tendencies from her mom. But if Mom was a mermaid, how did she drown?

Jade is determined to find out. So how does a plus-size, aqua-phobic mer-girl go about doing that exactly? And how will Jade ever be able to explain her secret to her best friend, Cori, and to her crush, Luke?

This summer is about to get a lot more interesting…

Rise of the Heroes (Hero.com) by Andy Briggs, $1.99 (75% off)

Toby, Pete, Lorna, and Emily are just average kids-until they stumble upon a Web site that turns them into real heroes. Hero.com allows them to download flying, invisibility, or teleportation abilities, and suddenly, Toby’s rivalry with his sister, Lorna, and Pete’s trouble with Jake Hunter, the school bully, don’t seem so bad! But when the supervillain Doc Tempest kidnaps Toby’s and Lorna’s mom, will they be able to combine their powers to fight evil and bring their mother home? Of course, little do they know that Villain.net is out there too, recruiting teens for the other side. . . .

YA Books:

Liar by Justine Larbalestier, $1.99 (80% off)

Micah is a liar. That’s the one thing she won’t lie about. Over the years, she’s duped her classmates, her teachers, and even her parents. But when her boyfriend Zach dies under brutal circumstances, Micah sets out to tell the truth. At first the truth comes easily-because it is a lie. Other truths are so unbelievable, so outside the realm of normal, they must be a lie. And the honest truth is buried so deep in Micah’s mind even she doesn’t know if it’s real.

The ultimate unreliable narrator takes readers on a thrill ride in this highly acclaimed novel. Prepare to grasp for truth until the very last page.

Water Wars by Cameron Stracher, $1.99 (80% off)

[image error]

Would you risk everything for someone you just met?

What if he had a secret worth killing for?

Welcome to a future where water is more precious than oil or gold…

Hundreds of millions of people have already died, and millions more will soon fall—victims of disease, hunger, and dehydration. It is a time of drought and war. The rivers have dried up, the polar caps have melted, and drinkable water is now in the hands of the powerful few. There are fines for wasting it and prison sentences for exceeding the quotas.

But Kai didn’t seem to care about any of this. He stood in the open road drinking water from a plastic cup, then spilled the remaining drops into the dirt. He didn’t go to school, and he traveled with armed guards. Kai claimed he knew a secret—something the government is keeping from us…

And then he was gone. Vanished in the middle of the night. Was he kidnapped? Did he flee? Is he alive or dead? There are no clues, only questions. And no one can guess the lengths to which they will go to keep him silent. We have to find him—and the truth—before it is too late for all of us.

The Girl Is Murder by Kathryn Miller Haines, $2.99 (73% off).

It’s the Fall of 1942 and Iris’s world is rapidly changing. Her Pop is back from the war with a missing leg, limiting his ability to do the physically grueling part of his detective work. Iris is dying to help, especially when she discovers that one of Pop’s cases involves a boy at her school. Now, instead of sitting at home watching Deanna Durbin movies, Iris is sneaking out of the house, double crossing her friends, and dancing at the Savoy till all hours of the night. There’s certainly never a dull moment in the private eye business.

Revealing Eden: Save The Pearls Part One

Eden Newman must mate before her 18th birthday in six months or she’ll be left outside to die in a burning world. But who will pick up her mate-option when she’s cursed with white skin and a tragically low mate-rate of 15%? In a post-apocalyptic, totalitarian, underground world where class and beauty are defined by resistance to an overheated environment, Eden’s coloring brands her as a member of the lowest class, a weak and ugly Pearl. If only she can mate with a dark-skinned Coal from the ruling class, she’ll be safe. Just maybe one Coal sees the Real Eden and will be her salvation—her co-worker Jamal has begun secretly dating her. But when Eden unwittingly compromises her father’s secret biological experiment, she finds herself in the eye of a storm—and thrown into the last area of rainforest, a strange and dangerous land. Eden must fight to save her father, who may be humanity’s last hope, while standing up to a powerful beast-man she believes is her enemy, despite her overwhelming attraction. Eden must change to survive but only if she can redefine her ideas of beauty and of love, along with a little help from her “adopted aunt” Emily Dickinson.

In Too Deep by Amanda Grace, $1.99 (80% off)

I never meant for anyone to get hurt. All I wanted to do that night was make a play for Carter Wellesley. His heartless rejection was mortifying, but people got the wrong idea when they saw me leaving his bedroom, crying. That’s how rumors of rape started.

Now girls at school are pouring out their sympathy to me. Guys too. But not everyone’s on my side. The school has become a war zone and the threats are getting scary. What began as poetic justice has morphed into something bigger—forcing me to make a terrible choice.

A Junior Library Guild Selection

Shifting by Bethany Wiggins, $1.99 (88% off)

After bouncing from foster home to foster home, Magdalene Mae is transferred to what should be her last foster home in the tiny town of Silver City, New Mexico. Now that she’s eighteen and has only a year left in high school, she’s determined to stay out of trouble and just be normal. Agreeing to go to the prom with Bridger O’Connell is a good first step. Fitting in has never been her strong suit, but it’s not for the reasons most people would expect-it all has to do with the deep secret that she is a shape shifter. But even in her new home danger lurks, waiting in the shadows to pounce. They are the Skinwalkers of Navajo legend, who have traded their souls to become the animal whose skin they wear-and Maggie is their next target.





Little Women and Me by Lauren Baratz-Logsted, $1.99 (88% off)

Emily is sick and tired of being a middle sister. So when she gets an assignment to describe what she’d change about a classic novel, Emily pounces on Little Women. After all, if she can’t change things in her own family, maybe she can bring a little justice to the March sisters. (Kill off Beth? Have cute Laurie wind up with Amy instead of Jo? What was Louisa May Alcott thinking?!) But when Emily gets mysteriously transported into the 1860s world of the book, she discovers that righting fictional wrongs won’t be easy. And after being immersed in a time and place so different from her own, it may be Emily-not the four March sisters-who undergoes the most surprising change of all. Lauren Baratz-Logsted’s winning confection will appeal to fans of Little Women as well as anyone who enjoys a modern twist on an old favorite.

Space between Trees by Katie Williams, $1.99 (89% off)

Not your everyday coming-of-age novelG. This story was supposed to be about Evie how she hasn’t made a friend in years, how she tends to stretch the truth (especially about her so-called relationship with college drop-out Jonah Luks), and how she finally comes into her own once she learns to just be herself but it isn’t. Because when her classmate Elizabeth ‘Zabet’ McCabe’s murdered body is found in the woods, everything changes and Evie’s life is never the same again.

How I Stole Johnny Depp’s Alien Girlfriend by Gary Ghislain, $0.99 (94% off)

David is the son of a famous French child psychologist. Zelda is his father’s new patient. Zelda believes she’s from outer space. David believes she’s TOTALLY BONKERS. But totally bonkers doesn’t mean much to a boy who’s 14 and in love, and soon David and Zelda are tearing around Paris as she looks for her chosen one so that she can take him back to her planet. And who is her chosen one? The same guy millions of girls wish they could fly away with: Johnny Depp! This wacky novel by a debut author is an irresistible mix of love story, police caper, sci-fi adventure, and laugh-out-loud fun.

David by Mary Hoffman, $1.99, (89% off)

Michelangelo’s statue of David is famous around the world. Millions flock to Florence to admire the Renaissance masterpiece -and to gaze upon the physical perfection of the young man captured in the marble. But the identity of the model has never been known. . . until now.

In this epic story Mary Hoffman imagines the story of Gabriele, a handsome eighteen-year-old who is hired asMichelangelo’s model, and finds himself drawn into a world of spies, political treachery, and murder. Set against the vibrant backdrop of Florence, this is a rich, colourful and thrilling tale.

Eyes in the Mirror by Julia Mayer, $1.99 (80% off)

Every teen girl fantasizes about having a double and best friend rolled into one-an alter ego with whom she can trade places, allowing her to disappear. Samara is a troubled and lonely adolescent, prone to cutting, who desperately craves both intimacy and escape from her unfulfilled life…until she meets her reflection, Dee, the seeming answer to all her problems.

With dual and dueling points of view, Eyes in the Mirror provides a perspective on one girl’s life never before seen in YA fiction: her own and from her freer, wilder reflection.

My Own Worst Frenemy by Kimberly Reid, $2.99 (70% off)

Straight outta the Mile High City, Chanti Evans is an undercover cop’s daughter and an exclusive private school’s newest student. But Chanti is learning fast that when it comes to con games, the streets have nothing on Langdon Prep.

With barely a foot in the door, fifteen-year-old Chanti gets on the bad side of school queen bee Lissa and snobbish Headmistress Smythe. They’ve made it their mission to take Chanti down and she needs to find out why, especially when stuff begins disappearing around campus, making her the most wanted girl in school, and not in a good way. But the last straw comes when she and her Langdon crush, the seriously hot Marco Ruiz, are set up to take the heat for a series of home burglaries—and worse. . . .

The Phantom Limb by William Sleator and Anne Monticone, $3.99 (76% off). I know it’s $3.99 (despite the post title) but it’s William Sleator!

Isaac is the new kid in town. His mother, Vera, is in the hospital with a mysterious illness, and the only person left to care for Isaac is his distant grandfather. Friendless and often alone, Isaac loses himself in his collection of optical illusions, including a strange mirror box that he finds in his new house, left behind by the previous tenants. Designed for amputees, it creates the illusion of a second limb. Lonely Isaac wishes someone would reach out to him, and then someone does—a phantom limb within the mirror box! It signs to Isaac about a growing danger: Someone who has murdered before and is out to get Vera next. The only way Isaac can solve the mystery and save his mother is with the help of the mirror box. But can he trust the phantom limb?

Cheated by Patrick Jones, $1.99 (75% off)

Mick, Brody and Aaron spend most of their free time drinking and commiserating about the raw deal they have in life. One night, instead of going to the high school football game, they start on a drinking binge that spirals down farther and farther until it ends with a deadly mistake. Although he’s not part of the violence, Mick helps his friends cover up their terrible actions. When they get caught, Mick must decide whether to trust his friends not to talk to the police or to choose to be the one tha t makes a deal to get himself off the hook. An exploration of class, opportunity-or the lack thereof-and the consequences of taking the wrong path.

The Joshua Files: Ice Shock by MG Harris, $2.99 (67% off)

After returning from his adventure in Mexico and learning about the secret Mayan prophesy that his father and grandfather were a part of, Josh is certain his father’s death was no accident. Piecing together the clues with the new information he has, all while avoiding his mom’s questions, Josh sets out to prove it. But when he finds out a shocking secret about the legendary Ix Codex, he must go back to Mexico to the secret city of Ek Naab. Only this time he must do it alone, because as the stakes rise, Josh can no longer trust even his closest allies. In the next installment of the action-packed Joshua Files, Ice Shock will bring readers back to the secret world of the Mayan ancient civilization where the mysterious 2012 prophecy still threatens the world. Can Josh solve the riddle before it’s too late?

Love news like this. :)

I just found out from Mellisa Walker that Scars is on “Summer Reads” table at B&N in Park Slope, Brooklyn! How very, very cool! And this is 2 years after it was first pubbed! (Beaming)

That kind of news just makes my day.

Get 2 free YA audiobooks this week only – one modern, one classic

Do you love listening to audiobooks? Do you love free? I do! Well, guess what? SYNC Summer is doing it again! You can download 2 free YA audiobooks this week only (a new set will come up next week). Download modern The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch, and classic The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

What I Want In My Ideal eReader Device

I love my Kindle Touch. I really, really do. I love the ability to instantly download ebooks, anywhere I am (and that I can use 3G for free to download them). I love how I can carry thousands of books around without it getting heavy. I love that the e-ink feature doesn’t strain my eyes when I read, like reading on-screen does. But there’s still a lot that for me is wanting.

Here’s my current wishlist for an ideal ereader device. I want it to have:

e-ink in color. No eye strain, but be able to read picture books, comics and graphic novels, and magazines all in color–and to be able to see book covers in color. I miss that.

access to millions of current novels that are DRM-free, so that if I change my eReader device, I am not limited to a specific format. (I know that’s more about ebook format wishes, not eReader, but I’m including it any way.)

the genres and tags for ebooks automatically download with the ebook itself, so that they’re easily sortable, and have ebooks be able to be sorted in those genres or tags (and have all the tags and genres be editable) such as YA fantasy, YA realistic, suspense/thriller, etc.

the ability to *easily* and intuitively change any of those tags and categories/genres to ones that work best for me.

the ability to *easily* take notes, highlight material, etc, and share them. Emphasis on easily, and without any delay. This, for me, means more of an Android tablet-like interface, where, if you’re typing by touch on the screen, an arrow pops up where you touch the screen, and you can drag it to the correct place to edit. And better word suggestions pop up while you type, and learn from what you type, the way some Android keyboards do.

software that allows me to easily create file folders on my eReader; add or delete ebooks; file ebooks; and create tags and categories. I would also love it to have open software so that 3rd-party developers can add their own tweaks and products.

the ability to file and sort ebooks the way you can on a computer, not just with folders (and the genres and tags) but also with subfolders (folders contained within others) to make sorting even easier, so that I could put, say, YA fantasy within YA books.

the ability to buy ebooks no matter what country you’re in. Really. (Okay, that’s something that publishers control, but it makes my wishlist).

spell check for when you’re typing or making notes.

easy social networking and sharing of notes and book recommendations (Kindle Touch already allows me that through allowing me to tweet notes and comments while reading….). AND the ability to completely turn off that social networking and sharing or to choose what you share and what you don’t.

an intuitive and easy interface.

a way to request (and receive) notifications of when new ebooks come out for specific authors, from all the places I buy ebooks. The request part is important. I only want notifications for authors whose books I love, not every book I buy.

a way to request (and receive) notifications of price drops for specific books (like books in my wishlist, or books that I create a list for just for that purpose, to get a notification if the price drops) from all the places I buy ebooks.

a way to resize graphic content using the pinch and pull method, and to have the graphics be clear and vivid, including the text that comes with them. (And of course a way to resize text–that’s a given).

a way to intuitively read graphic novels and comics, more like some of the online graphic novels are, where you can move from pane to pane, so that each pane is clear, and follows the story consecutively.

the ability to borrow ebooks from libraries (currently not possible in Canada with the Kindle).

the descriptions for ebooks automatically downloaded, attached with the ebook itself, again for easy sorting or to see which book you want to read next

the ability to quickly mark ebooks as favorites with a star or some other symbol beside them, and have an automatic linkable list created that I can easily refer to and leave comments on for myself.

bookmarks easily viewable and sortable for each book.

the ability to automatically remember where I was last in the book *even if it was not connected to the 3G network* so that I never lose my place in an ebook again, even if I’ve switched to another ebook and then come back to one.

the ability to remember the last 10 books I read, so that I can switch between books.

the ebook you’re currently reading show up at the top of the list of ebooks, no matter how many ebooks you’ve added, or have a button where you can always get back to the last 5-10 ebooks you’ve been reading. And not have that count an ebook you open for 10 seconds to see if you like it or what it is.

a low weight, so lightweight, but sturdy.

long battery life.

free 3G in the US, Canada, and UK. (We all buy a lot of ebooks! Currently, my Kindle Touch has that; it’s a great feature) AND if there are any deals from ebook companies, to not have those deals exclude where we happen to reside (such as Canada).

So those are the things I want in my ideal eReader device; they’re all I can think of at the moment.

How are you? What do you want?

Guest Post: The Neuroses of Writers by JR Wagner

Today J.R. Wagner, author of the newly released Exiled, joins us with a guest post on the emotional trails and traits of writers. I understand the self-doubt and worry J.R. mentions–I think many of us have been there. Welcome, JR!

The neuroses of writers

By J. R. Wagner

A neurotic writer? Preposterous!

Please. I’ve been exposed to enough of ‘us’ to realize that I am far from the only writer who suffers from, as the dictionary so nicely puts it:

feelings of anxiety, obsessional thoughts, compulsive acts, and physical

complaints without objective evidence of disease, in various degrees and

patterns, dominate the personality

At the end I’d tack on ‘while writing’.

Think about it. Maybe it doesn’t happen during your first draft, maybe it does, but it happens. You start to second-guess yourself. Is this the right way to express what I’m trying to express? Am I really using the character’s true voice when I write this? Does this word even make sense? Does this sound too much like (insert a well-known book title here)? And so the questioning and self-doubt has begun (along with the anxiety).

Is this where it ends? Hell no. You’re just warming up.

You have a draft and you’re ready to share it with some close friends or peers. You think to yourself, (on more than one occasion) is this really worth sharing? Maybe I should do another round of edits before I show it to anyone. What if they think it’s terrible? Have I wasted my time writing this? Maybe I should change that scene in chapter twelve first. Did that dog really need to get hit by the car?

Eventually, most likely after another round of edits (or two or three or four), you ‘man up’ and share your work. You’ve been writing for a while so it isn’t as bad as the first time you shared your work with someone…is it? If you’ve published, there are expectations of higher quality. (Maybe you’d better run over it one more time.)

While they’re reading it, you have to fight the urge to check in and see how things are going. You may find yourself doing some unusual activity to keep your mind off of how far along your reader has gotten. You were really psyched about the first chapter and she blew through it without saying a word. Did she hate it? Why wouldn’t she say something –anything? You’ve put countless hours into this and she has the nerve to remain silent! Perhaps you should re-think your friendship. Maybe she won’t get a copy of your next project. Look at her…sitting there… reading …with that arrogant expression on her face. What does she know about writing anyway?

You get it back. Finally, someone else has read and commented on your work. Was it positive? Negative? Riddled with change suggestions? Maybe they didn’t say anything at all when they finished and you have to pry an opinion from them –what a nightmare that would be!

Somehow, you’ve been convinced that your work is good enough to publish. Time for another round of insecurity and doubt as the rejection letters start piling up –all based on your one page query. How do you base an opinion of someone’s work after reading just one page? You get single phrase replies like ‘Not for us’ and ‘Keep trying’ that provide no helpful insight whatsoever. You’ve spent a year writing this novel and some agent’s assistant has the nerve to say ‘Not for us’. How infuriating! Doubt and fear and doubt and doubt and fear and insecurity haunt you on a regular basis.

After a short stay at the State Mental Hospital, you return to find a letter in the mail accepting your project. Yes! Let the good times roll! Right? Now the professionals are going to have a shot at tearing apart your work. Can you handle that? Cut this, change that, move this chapter, delete this chapter –yes your favorite chapter. You need to have some more target-audience specific content.

So your manuscript has been run through the editorial meat grinder and is all shiny and pretty now. Phew. Oh, by the way, how is your author platform building coming along? Do you have any Facebook followers? Twitter? Goodreads? Are you posting on your blog regularly? Do you have a website? Do you update it often? Are you spending enough time building a following? What do you mean you aren’t working on the sequel while you’re waiting for the release? What have you been doing with your time?

After a slightly longer stay at the State Mental Hospital, your galley is ready and the reviews start to come in. Do you read them? Should you read them? Maybe a few just to make sure you’re on target. One star, WTF! She had the nerve to give you one star and provide no explanation other than it took too long to read! She shouldn’t even be allowed to review! And this one says it wasn’t well edited. No SH*&, Sherlock that’s why they call it an Advanced Reader Copy! That one totally doesn’t get my story! You think this person made an account just to give me a bad rating –they have no other activity (because you checked) on the site whatsoever. What does that mean? Is there someone out there who hates you? Do you have an enemy? Your only solace at the moment is the reviewers are not speaking for your target readers –they aren’t your target readers. Are they?

The big day comes. Release day! All your work, all your efforts…will they pay off? Check your Amazon sales rankings. How are you doing? You’re up a few slots…now you’re down a few slots. Now there is a lull in buying altogether. Maybe you should run a special price offering? Did that help with your numbers? Your exposure? Your financial goals? Perhaps some advertizing on Facebook or Goodreads or another reader-friendly site will jack up your sales. You call your publicist…every day. Have they scheduled anything for you? What’s your book tour schedule looking like? What can I do to increase sales?

And on and on it goes until you either tear yourself away from the micromanagement or you don’t. You need to get your mind somewhere else…back to writing! And so the circle begins again!

Give yourself credit. What most normal people don’t understand is that writers, with every page they put out into the world, are exposing a part of themselves –a part of their psyche. How many other careers require such things? Not many. It takes guts to put it out there for people to read and enjoy or hate and tear apart. More guts than most people have. Be proud that you’ve done it. You’re in a select group. Writing with the intent of sharing your work with the world is not for the faint of heart.

About the author:

J.R. first started writing at 10 years old with his sequel to “Return of The Jedi” – the self-proclaimed “Star Wars geek” had lofty aspirations of working with George Lucas on filming the project. In 1990 he began filming his version of “The Lord of The Rings” in his parent’s basement, but the plug was pulled after he nearly burned down the house. Since then the storyteller has also written a full-length science fiction screenplay, a thriller novel and a second screenplay.

After graduating in Kinesiology from Arizona State University, J.R. returned to Downingtown, where his creative fires were re-stoked by his two beautiful daughters.

J.R. also endearingly considers his wife Lisa his muse. It was during their trip to Maine he began writing Exiled.

About Exiled:

Exiled is a fantasy novel written for young adults about a boy (15) who is wrongfully accused of murdering his mentor and banished to The Never, a place from which there is no chance of escape. James must first learn to survive in this inhospitable environment before finding a way to return home, where he believes he must be the one to save his kind from destroying themselves.

Full of sorcery, treachery, tragedy, adventure and excitement, Exiled is book one of The Never Chronicles, which in full, completes the story of James, The Never and the feared Epoch Terminus – the rapidly approaching date marking the end of his world.

Every other chapter follows James in The Never, while, in “Lost”-like fashion, the alternating chapters provide back-story. The story lines eventually come crashing together in dramatic fashion, tying sub-plots together and providing the reader a “wow” moment.

Watch the book trailer for Exiled.

SCARS ebook free today, too! And it’s reaching people :)

SCARS as a giveaway on Amazon is doing really well; right now it’s at #5 out of the Top 100 free ebooks! (beaming) If you haven’t downloaded your copy yet, I hope you will. It’s free worldwide.

Don’t forget–even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can read Scars on your computer, iPhone, iPad, Android phone, or Android tablet using the Kindle app.

SCARS free today and tomorrow on Amazon! (June 5-6)

Have you been wanting to read SCARS? Or have a copy for your e-reader? You can download SCARS for *free* today and tomorrow (June 5-6) on Amazon. In SCARS, Kendra must stop hurting herself—before it’s too late. I hope you’ll grab your free copy, and let as many people know as you can that they can get a copy, too.

Even if you don’t have a Kindle, you can still download a free copy and read it through a Kindle app on your computer, iPad or iphone, or Android device.

If you’re on Twitter and would like to help, here’s an easy tweet:

In SCARS by @CherylRainfield Kendra must face her past & stop hurting herself—b4 it’s 2 late! Free June 5-6 http://tinyurl.com/getScarsFree

or

“Scars by @CherylRainfield is ‘must’ read 4 any teen. I couldn’t put it down” -Gail Giles. Free June 5-6! http://tinyurl.com/getScarsFree

Enjoy!

“Scars is a brave novel, a read-in-one-sitting-except-when-you-have-to-put-it-down-to-breathe novel.”

– Ellen Hopkins, author of Burned, a National Book Award nominee and an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, and Glass, an ALA Top Ten Book for Young Adults

“Scars is a painful and well told story, obviously written with the heart’s blood of the author. It could prove to be a life-saver for other young victims of abuse and self-harm.”

– Lois Duncan, Margaret A. Edwards Award-winning author of Killing Mr. Griffinand I Know What You Did Last Summer

“Scars is the ‘must’ read for any teen. I couldn’t put it down.”

– Gail Giles, author of Right Behind You, a 2009 ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers

LOVE YA author Beth Revis’ post on how to respond to negative reviews

I’ve seen some posts lately about YA authors and/or their supporters flipping out on reviewers online. It makes me curl my toes up. It’s just…not professional, you know? But it’s also not feel-good. It can bring a negative feeling for others watching the author flip out, especially if they’re mean or ill-behaved or rude.

I get hurt feelings over reviews. I SO get it. We bare our souls, we put SO much of ourselves into our books, and to have someone not like our books can feel like they don’t like us. And that hurts. Or to have someone really, *really* not get something that seems so basic or true to us can feel really hard. But that’s when you go rant privately to your friends, or write a letter and burn it, or go eat a piece of chocolate, have a cry, or immerse yourself into one of your favorite feel-good books that always makes things better. You don’t, if you can help it, flip out on the reviewer. We all have books that just don’t work for us, and what is good writing is always, always subjective any way.

I just read a post by Beth Revis on how to deal with negative reviews, and I gotta say–I LOVE it. (She was already one of my favorite authors just for the quality of her books, but this post nudged her up a bit.) She reminds us that there are people out there who hate chocolate, and puppies, and things that most of us would love–AND there are people who hate your very favorite books (she tells you how to get proof) and so, if they hate those things, then of course there are people who hate your books. But there are also people who love them!

She says it much better than me, so go on over and check out her post.

What do you think? How do you deal with negative reviews? (Or with rejection, if you don’t have a book out.)

Dr Seuss political cartoons from WW II period show his voice so well

The Mandeville Special Collections Library has scans of more than 400 cartoons that Dr. Seuss drew during WW II.

It’s cool to see cartoons that Dr Seuss drew, not from his books but in newspapers during wartime. You can clearly see his style–it’s so vivid–which to me is also like an author’s voice. If an artist or an author has a strong enough voice, you can pick it out anywhere. And that’s one of the things (in my opinion) that make a great writer or artist.

Found via Huff Post