Christine Norris's Blog: Christine Norris' blog, page 7

What’s different in the Second Edition?

I realize that I said that the new edition ofThe Talisman of Zandriais REVISED! and EXPANDED! But then I never really gave an example of what that means. So I decided to post a few snippets that compare the old version with the new one.

The opening, for instance, used to look like this:

Ivy Peterson was not ordinary. Nor was she extraordinary or unusual. Ivy Peterson was Less-than-Ordinary. At least she thought she was. With her mouse brown hair, plain brown eyes, and average height, she knew t...

A year ago…

One year ago today, there was a torrential rain. I chose a different way to work. I ended up in a car accident. It wasn’t bad, except for my car.

But I ended up with a new car that I love.

Today I’m just thinking about how a simple 365 days can change A LOT of things.

A lot.

Ten Questions With…Tiffany Trent

I have a teeny-weeny confession to make. I’ve had this interview for MONTHS. I’ve been hanging on to it, never seeming to find the time to get it up here. But that works out well, actually, since Tiffany’s new book, THE TINKER KING, comes out next month! I personally loved THE UNNATURALISTS, and I can’t wait to get my grubby paws on the next book

I also have a bit of a fan-girl squee here: Tiffany and I BOTH have stories in a Steampunk Fairy-Tale anthology, GASLIGHT AND GRIMM, coming from Da...

Hallo? Anyone home?

*door opens with an eerie creak*

Boy, it’s dark in here. *Blows cobwebs out of face*

“Hallo? Anyone home?”

*crickets and creepy echo*

Wow, I nearly forgot all about this place I haven’t been here in forever. *Clicks on the light*

“Ahh! Look at all this! What a mess!”

*voice echoes in huge, empty blog space*

Yes, it’s me. Again. Sigh. Once again, I have let life get away from me and not been here to blog since, what, early November? Yikes. There was so much going on, I guess, but there always is. I h...

Official Philcon Schedule

It’s that time of year again! Philcon!I will be there, as usual, and here is my currently official schedule:

Fri7:00 PMin Plaza II (Two) (1 hour)

DYSTOPIA IN YOUNG ADULT FICTION [FAMILY FRIENDLY] (1422)

[Panelists: Rebecca Robare (mod), Gil Cnaan, E.C. Myers, Christine

Norris, Aurora Celeste]

Dystopias have long been a part of science fiction, dating back to

Huxley, Orwell, and other classic authors. In the 1980s, Young Adult

authors like H.M. Hoover and William Sleator explored dystopic

futures. Tod...

New life for an old title — Book (re) Birthday!

I think I’ve mentioned a time or two that I was working on a new version of my first book, The Talisman of Zandria.It’s finally here! What’s new in this edition? I didn’t want to change the story, it was a nice storyline just the way it was. What I did was apply all of the stuff I’ve learned about writing over the last decade to this nice little story. It is SO much better. I don’t know that I would necessarily written a story like this now, in today’s market, but I have enough kids that buy...

Why I need to visit York, PA

It seems that things in my life in the last year or so are somehow connecting me to the little town of York, Pennsylvania. First, the guys who brew ROCKIN’ mead are headquarterted there. That would these guys:

They own the J&J Miracle Mead Company. Their stuff is AWESOME.

Next, my friend Buffy Andrews lives in York. She is an author who just sold, like, a buttload of books and she runs the York local paper. This is Buffy:

This is Buffy’s Website

And lastly, but certainly not least-ly, is the Book...

Media Monday — What’s new for Fall TV

Last week I went down the list of shows I can’t wait to return for Fall. Most of them end up in my DVR, because quite frankly I don’t have time to watch them when they’re on air, and I like to fast forward through the commercials.

There’s not that much new TV I’m looking forward to this fall. I hate reality TV in general, especially network reality TV. I gave up on American Idol after Season 2. It’s just boring. There are some good looking new shows, like THE 100, and ALMOST HUMAN. BACK IN THE...

Geek Pick of the Week — a little shameless, but what can you do?

This week has turned into a whirlwind of…stuff. Mostly stuff I can’t talk about yet, but I hope to soon. Sorry for all the cryptic non-telling, but it is what it is and I can’t yet reveal it. I promise when I can, I will. It’s also the last week of summer vacation, so it’s a little weird. I want to just spend this week sitting on my butt enjoying the last days of freedom, but I have a long list of stuff to get done, son is in football, yadda yadda yadda.

Oh, and we started the choir season a l...

Media Monday — Fall TV Preview

I’m back! Things just got away from me in the last couple of weeks, but I’m here now and working on keeping up with this blog schedule. One way is to pre-write posts a bunch at a time, which I will try to do.

It’s the end of August, and we all know what that means. Back to school. End of beach days. Winter is coming (ha!). And…fall TV. The new fall lineup always excited me as a kid, my favorite shows picking back up where they left off, new shows taking a shot at grabbing some market share. Th...