Cheryl Rainfield's Blog, page 91

Inexpensive gift for book lovers, writers, editors, etc

I LOVE book sculptures. When they're done well, they are beautiful, intricate, and show the incredible beauty and imagination of books. Su Blackwell is my top favorite book sculptor. How I wish I could afford one of her book sculptures! I love to look at her works–they are everything I just said–beautiful, intricate, and speak to the magic of books. I could look at them all day long.

And now I–and any other book lover–can, through Su Blackwell's greeting cards. She has created greeting cards with photos of her book sculptures on the covers. They are 3.50 pounds each, which comes to about $5.50 US–or 15.00 pounds for her collection of 6 designs.

These make an incredible gift to a book lover. You could frame them, just have them loose, or use them as a card to write something meaningful in.

My absolute favorite is her Wild Flowers (pictured below). She also has The Illustrated Book of Birds, Alice In Wonderland, Peter Pan, and more! …Excuse me, I'm going to go order some. (smiling)

Important book exposing pedophiles

Author Marie Crist's computer was corrupted by a Russian ring while she did interview on pedophiles and her book exposing them,Citizen Out! To me, that sounds like there's something that pedophiles and organized crime don't want out there. It sounds like an important book. It's available as a paperback for $14.99, or as an ebook for only $2.99.

Some HUNTED goodies now up

I've been working hard on creating some goodies and bonus material for HUNTED. I've got a few things up now–a HUNTED Postcard short story, a Para Survival Handbook, a ParaWatch Guide, a HUNTED questionnaire, a HUNTED Playlist…and there's more to come! I hope you'll check it out. Do you like the sound of it?

Hunted releases late October.

More children's and YA ebooks on sale or cheap. (Week of Oct 12, 2011)

There are two FREE YA ebooks this week (that's always nice!), a free YA short story, and a bunch of children's and YA ebooks on sale or cheap.

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Charlie Woodchuck is a Minor Niner by Dayla Moon. Price: $0.00

Charlie Woodchuck is the most minor of niners. She's the youngest girl at Snowy Cove High School, and so clueless, she wore leg warmers and acid-wash jeans on her first day. Big mistake! Almost as big a mistake as signing up for a boys-only shop class.

Just when she thinks the first week of high school can't get any more weird, Charlie discovers she may be adopted. According to the genetics section in her Science textbook, her eyes should be blue, not brown.

Before she graduates from the ninth grade, the girl with the boy's name and the wrong eye color will employ her detective skills to discover her true identity. She'll use power tools to build fantastical wood creations, and before the year ends, she'll face down the biggest bullies of all: the all-powerful members of Snowy Cove's School Board.

Off Leash by Renee Pace (Use coupon code YR93D). Price: $0.00 This is on Smashwords, so you have your choice of formats.

When life knocks you flat on your back, and you know you've had enough, try telling that to a dog demanding his walk. Jay Walker is a fake. He acts full when starved and happy when sad. How else is a guy who has a deadbeat for a mother and a sister battling cancer supposed to feel? And isn't walking a pet just a chore? Too bad the dog doesn't know that.

The year is 2009. Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he's in college, throws lots of parties, is interested in a girl he can't have, and oh yeah, he can travel back through time.

But it's not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there's no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it's just harmless fun.

Tomorrow Is Today: A Tempest Series Bonus Short Story by Julie Cross is a free short story pre-order.

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The Magic Half (Time Travel) by Annie Barrows is on sale for $3.19

Miri is the non-twin child in a family with two sets of them–older brothers and younger sisters. The family has just moved to an old farmhouse in a new town, where the only good thing seems to be Miri's ten-sided attic bedroom. But when Miri gets sent to her room after accidentally bashing her big brother on the head with a shovel, she finds herself in the same room . . . only not quite.

Without meaning to, she has found a way to travel back in time to 1935 where she discovers Molly, a girl her own age very much in need of a loving family. A highly satisfying classic-in-the-making full of spine-tingling moments, this is a delightful time-travel novel for the whole family.

All of Richie Tankersley Cusick's ebooksebooks have been marked down to $2.99 for the month of August, and they all seem to fit Hallowe'en, or are books for readers who like scary novels. Novels include Trick or Treat, Silent Stalker, The Mall, Fatal Secrets, Vampire, Help Wanted, The Locker, and The Drifter.

The Warriors by Joseph Bruchac is on sale for $4.74

When twelve-year-old Jake Forrest's mother gets a job in a new city, everything changes. He has to move away from the Iroquois reservation he's lived on his entire life–away from his aunt and uncle, and away from the friends he plays lacrosse with. The lacrosse coach and players at his new school in Washington, D.C., believe that winning is everything, and they don't know anything about the ways of his people. As Jake struggles to find a place where he truly belongs, tragedy strikes and he must find out who he really is. Can he find courage to face the warrior within–the warrior who values peace and leads other to more noble pursuits than outscoring the opposition?

Priscilla the Great by Sybil Nelson is $0.99, and so are the next two books, Priscilla the Great: The Kiss of Life and Priscilla the Great: Too Little, Too Late.

Hi, I'm Priscilla, an ordinary seventh grader with some extraordinary gifts. As if middle school isn't hard enough, not only do I have to fight pimples and bullies, but genetically enhanced assassins trying to kill my family and me! But with the help of my genius best friend, Tai, we're gonna bring down the evil Selliwood Institute, an organization dead set on turning children into killing machines.

Lily Dale: Awakening by Wendy Corsi Staub is on sale for $4.79, as is the next book Lily Dale: Believing

Calla thought that her boyfriend breaking up with her in a text message was the worst thing that could ever happen to her. But just two weeks later, her mother died in a freak accident, and life as she knew it was completely over. With her father heading to California for a new job, they decide that Calla should spend a few weeks with the grandmother she barely knows while he gets them set up.

To Calla's shock, her mother's hometown of Lily Dale is a town full of psychics-including her grandmother. Suddenly, the fact that her mother never talked about her past takes on more mysterious overtones. The longer she stays in town, the stranger things become, as Calla starts to experience unusual and unsettling events that lead her to wonder whether she has inherited her grandmother's unique gift. Is it this gift that is making her suspect that her mother's death was more than an accident, or is it just an overactive imagination? Staying in Lily Dale is the only way to uncover the truth. But will Calla be able to deal with what she learns about her mother's past and her own future?

Interview with author Bobbie Pyron on her new book A Dog's Way Home

I love reading about why an author wrote the book she wrote, and background information about it. I hope you do, too! Because today I have a treat for you–Bobbie Pyron talking about her new book A Dog's Way Home.

What made you write A Dog's Way Home?

One day, a few summers ago, I was hiking with my (then) two dogs (I now have three), Teddy and Boo, way up in the mountains. Boo is a coyote mix and Teddy is a Shetland sheepdog. Because of her wild nature, Boo is always off hunting way off the trail; still, she always knows where I am. Teddy, true to his Shetland sheepdog nature, never, ever strayed far from my side. To be honest, Teddy would be happiest if we were somehow physically and permanently attached at the waist. Anyway, I started wondering what Teddy would do if he ever had to survive on his own in the wilderness, especially in the winter. Like any good writer, I asked myself, "What if?" What if Teddy and I somehow got separated from each other? What if he had to survive in the wilderness on his own? How would he eat? Of course, I thought back also to those great classic dog adventure stories I loved so much growing up and read over and over: Lassie Come-Home, The Incredible Journey, Lad, and Irish Red. I like to say my book is my own personal love letter to not only the bond between dogs and their people but also to those great dog stories of the 40s, 50s, and 60s.





In A Dog's Way Home, Abby and Tam are determined to find their way back to each other. I think that shows the depth of their love for each other. Is that one of the things you were trying to show?

Definitely! I was trying to show that almost mystical and (dare I say) even spiritual bond that exists between humans and their animal companions, especially dogs. It seems like every day, I read or hear some news story about a dog that traveled many, many miles to get home to the person she loved, or a dog risking its life to save its person. Some of these true storied I hear about make Tam's trials and tribulations in A Dog's Way Home seem pretty darned tame!

What was your favorite part about writing (or editing, or promoting) A Dog's Way Home?

Oh gosh, that's a tough question! Perhaps because I'm also a librarian, I loved do the research for the book—everything from what types of flora are found in the northern part of the Blue Ridge Parkway as opposed to the central and southern parts, to how a coyote would kill a porcupine. Of course, spending time out in the woods (especially in winter) with my dogs and observing them was a huge part of the research. But I also love writing first drafts. I love that thrill and magic of watching characters and plot unfold, especially when things surprise you!





What was your least favorite?

Honestly, trying to find someone—and agent and editor—who believed in the way I wrote the book. The story is told from two different points of view: Tam, the sheltie, has his chapters told in what I call "intimate" third person; Abby, his 11-year-old girl, tells her own story in first person. The chapters alternate back and forth and weave together. I was told over and over a story for kids "couldn't" be told that way. It was very discouraging! But it really is true it only takes one yes. I found an agent who loved the way I'd written the book and believed that's the way it should be published.

Do you have a dog in your life? Tell us about her, him, or them.

I am rich in dogs! I have three: Boo (the coyote mix), and my two Shetland sheepdog boys, Teddy and Sherlock. All three are rescues. We adopted Boo about nine years ago. She was pretty much a feral street dog—just a wild thing. But she and my husband fell in love with each other; I, of course, was the one who had to "civilize" her. At least a little. She's probably the smartest dog I've ever had, which is saying a lot! We adopted Teddy from Sheltie Rescue of Utah about six months after we adopted Boo. I'd always wanted a purebred sheltie. He and I met and it was love, love, love at first sight. Then I met Sherlock at Sheltie Rescue of Utah three years ago. He had been a stud at a puppy mill and had spent the first three years of his life in a tiny wire cage. I decided he needed a home where he could run on trails and snow and have a big back yard with lots of room to have the puppyhood he never had. And he's done just that!





What do you want readers to get out of A Dog's Way Home?

When I write a book, I never think about what I want the reader to "get out of" the book. To be honest, I rarely think about the reader at all. I guess I hope what any reader of my books gets is an experience that opens and touches something within them. I like to imagine a reader finishing a book of mine and hugging it to their heart.

What are some of your favorite books about dogs?

As I mentioned before, I still love the classic dog books such as Lassie Come-Home, The Incredible Journey, and Lad: A Dog. I also love some of the contemporary books out there like Because of Winn Dixie, A Dog's Life: the Autobiography of a Stray, Ribsy, A Dog's Purpose, just to name a few.







What other books have you written? Do you have anything coming out in the near future?

My first book, The Ring, came out in fall of 2009. It's a contemporary novel for teens about a fifteen-year-old girl named Mardie who gets into a lot of trouble before finding herself through amateur boxing. And yes, I did take boxing lessons as part of the research for that book! I have another book coming out in Fall of 2012 with Scholastic. The title right now is Mercy's Bone, although that may change. It's a fictionalized account of a true story set in Russia in the mid 1990s not long after the fall of the Soviet Union. You can imagine how much research I had to do for that book. I was in research heaven!

Thank you, Bobbie, for a great and interesting interview!

It Gets Better video by Random House

I love it when book people–writers, editors, publishers, librarians, readers–get involved in doing something good. Random House has just done that, creating an Its Get Better video. Kudos to Random House!

Thrilling for me

I know that nothing might come of it–movies probably only get made from books less than 1% of the time that interest is taken in them. But still, it was *thrilling* for me to read this post where April Arrglington talks about HUNTED as being one of four books that she thinks would be good books to make a movie, TV show, or other transmedia out of! And yes–the film rights are still available. (grinning)

Cookie Monster In the Library: No Cookies, Just Books

I love funny videos about the library and books, and Sesame St has made some great ones. Enjoy this one with Cookie Monster at the library.

Know another video you'd like me to feature? Let me know.

mini YA review: Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Publisher: Razorbill/Penguin, Jan 2011

ISBN: ISBN-10: 1595143971, ISBN-13: 978-1595143976

My Rating: 5/5

Source: I bought my copy

Across the Universe is a gripping novel that won't let you go until after you've finished the book–and it's so good that you won't want to finish it. You'll quickly come to care about Amy, who's been frozen along with her parents for a long spaceship flight–only Amy is woken ahead of time. No matter what she does, she will be much, much older than her parents when they are finally woken. Amy is thrust into the politics and complexities of the community aboard the spaceship, and along with some new friends she makes, she must fight for her and her parents' lives. Amy is an emotionally strong character that I cared deeply about. There's also a touch of romance. Revis made me believe in cryogenically frozen people and the world she created. Gripping, compelling read, and beautifully written. Highly recommended!

I'm looking forward to more books from Beth Revis.

More children's & YA ebooks on sale or cheap (week of Oct 8, 2011)

Skulduggery Pleasant: Scepter of the Ancients by Derek Landy is FREE right now on Amazon (middle grade)

Meet Skulduggery Pleasant: Ace Detective, Snappy Dresser, Razor–tongued Wit, Crackerjack Sorcerer, and Walking, Talking, Fire-throwing Skeleton—as well as ally, protector, and mentor of Stephanie Edgley, a very unusual and darkly talented twelve-year-old.

These two alone must defeat an all-consuming ancient evil.

The end of the world?

Over his dead body.

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The Waking: Dreams of the Dead (Waking – Trilogy) by Thomas Randall is on sale for $1.99

When Kara Foster starts her new school in Japan, she has no idea she's about to confront an ancient evil. But before long, Kara begins to have nightmares, and soon students turn up dead, viciously attacked by someone . . . or something.

As Kara makes friends, she learns that there are secrets haunting the student body. Is the spirit of a murdered girl seeking revenge? Or is the culprit more ancient and terrifying than an American outsider can understand? A spooky new edition welcomes teen horror fans to the first book in this riveting series.

Ruling Passion (3 books in one) by Alyxandra Harvey is $7.99 ($2.66 per book) (YA)

Includes: Hearts at Stake, Blood Feud, and Out for Blood.

Readers will meet Solange Drake, her best friend Lucy, and the irresistible Drake brothers–the royal family of vampires whose matriarch is next in line for the throne. The Drakes must keep peace in their town of Violet Hill as warring vampire factions vie for power, and as Solange falls in love with Kieran Black a handsome vampire hunter and Lucy falls for Nicolas Drake. The hot romance and kick-butt action will keep readers coming back for more.

The Seems: The Split Second and The Seems : The Glitch in Sleep by John Hulme and Michael Wexler are both on sale for $1.99 each

Becker Drane may have the coolest job in The World, but he's struggling to keep up with his normal life outside of The Seems. He's so busy Fixing that his Me-2? spends more time with his family than he does. And even though he's supposed to keep his life in The World and The Seems separate, he can't stop thinking about the girl he met during his Mission in Sleep.

And the Missions aren't exactly getting easier.

When a bomb explodes in the Department of Time, Becker is called in to take over for a more senior Fixer. But the bomb has created a path of destruction Becker could never have imagined. And if Becker can't Fix this Mission in Time, he might not have to worry about balancing life between The World and The Seems anymore. . . .

Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines is on sale for $1.99 (YA)

As a modern gladiator's daughter, Lyn and her family live by the rules of the Gladiator Sports Association. But those rules can turn against you. When Lyn's seventh father dies in the ring, his opponent, Uber, captures Lyn's dowry bracelet-and her hand in marriage. To win her freedom, Lyn will do what no girl has done before: enter the arena and fight her father's murderer-even though she's falling in love with him.

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The Night Watchman Express by Alison DeLuca is $2.99

Each night, thirteen-year-old Miriam hears the eerie whistle of the Night Watchman Express. The sound of the train gives her visions of an underground factory and a terrifying laboratory… Miriam has only her guardians' son for company, and she and Simon dislike each other from the start. But they must find a way to trust each other, or they will end up on the sinister Night Watchman Express.

Full of danger, suspense, betrayal, and greed, this steampunk adventure is for readers of all ages.