Amy Plum's Blog, page 16
March 4, 2014
AFTER THE END’s 1st review (and it’s a doozy!)
I am SO EXCITED (and relieved, and honored, and way too many other adjectives to list here) to share with you AFTER THE END’s very first review.
First of all, the review is from Publishers Weekly. Being reviewed by them is an honor in itself.
But amazingly, it is a starred review. As in it got a star. From Publishers Weekly. This is the point where I fall off my chair and start babbling an improvised awards speech. (“I would like to thank Snuffleupagus for igniting my desire to read,” etc.)
I’m so excited. Truly. It’s the first starred review I’ve ever gotten from that magazine. And as a still-very-new writer, one of my hopes is that I’m getting a little better with each book. This feels like a confirmation that that might actually be happening. Which makes me oh so happy.
Here is the review that has got me floating around a few inches off the floor today (and here’s the link if you want to read it from the source):
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, March 3rd issue
AFTER THE END. Amy Plum. HarperTeen, (336p) ISBN 978-0-06-222560-3
Seventeen-year-old Juneau has grown up isolated in the postapocalyptic Alaskan wilderness, a pristine landscape of “crystalline fields veined with frozen streams.” When her clan is kidnapped, she discovers that the nuclear war they supposedly fled never took place. Struggling to disentangle truth from lies, Juneau plunges into an unfamiliar world to rescue her clan, aided by her connection to the Yara, a mystical nature-force. In this series opener, Plum (the Die for Me books) introduces a resilient, crossbow-wielding, part-Chinese heroine, then forces this driven survivor to cooperate with a spoiled rich kid. Miles Blackwell seeks to redeem himself in the eyes of his CEO father by capturing Juneau, but he’s instead pulled into her attempt to find her people. Misunderstandings and betrayals abound as Juneau and Miles set off on a road trip through the West, coming to appreciate each other in a slow-moving, believable romance. Alternating first-person narrators let readers get to know intense Juneau from inside and out, while offering a window into Miles’s gradual maturation. Ages 13–up. [em]Agent: Stacey Glick, Dystel & Goderich Literary Management. (May) [/em]
February 5, 2014
Excerpt Thursday
Thursdays are usually pretty boring, right? Well, not any more! I am going to be giving you a short excerpt of AFTER THE END every single Thursday, until I have revealed the entirety of Chapters 19 and 20.
Why 19 and 20, you ask? Because there are 2 parts of the book. Part 1 is Juneau in Alaska, and it’s a bit dark. For example, I could give you something like,
“My arrow flies true and the great bull caribou slumps to the ground. I sling my crossbow over my shoulder, and the virgin snow crunches under my moccasins as I sprint across the field to kneel by the beast’s heaving side. ‘Thank you,’ I say as I draw my knife from my belt. I pet the bristly fur of his muzzle and look him straight in his huge glassy eye. And then I slit his throat.” (AFTER THE END, p. 11)
But I wouldn’t want to do that. Because then you’d think that the book is about hunting and violence and that Juneau isn’t a very nice person. Instead, we’ll skip over to Part 2 and I’ll give you the chapters where Juneau Newhaven (17) and Miles Blackwell (18) meet. It’s a good introduction to them and the rest of the two-book series.
Why am I doing this? Well, I admit, my goal isn’t solely to liven up your Thursdays. I am hoping that you will like the story enough to pre-order the book. So I have put handy pre-order links at the bottom of the page. But DON’T PRE-ORDER IT unless you are thoroughly intrigued by the characters, by their mysteries, by the suggestion that things are not as they seem. So don’t order it right away. Wait until you can’t stand it any more and are totally hooked. And then click the button!
Instead of posting each excerpt in a separate blog post, I will just add the new excerpt to this one each Thursday. That way you can easily find your way back to read more. So…are you ready? Here begins the world-exclusive teaser of Chapters 19 and 20 from AFTER THE END, to be released by HarperTeen on May 6, 2014.
Dec. 5, 2013 Excerpt
Chapter 19: Juneau
I have searched the streets of Seattle for several days, looking for the person my oracle spoke of, without the foggiest notion of what he looks like. Yesterday I felt he was near, but I had to run from my pursuers before I could spot him.
Used to being the hunter, I am now the hunted. Men are chasing me—they aren’t dressed like Whit’s captors, so I have no idea who they are. I just know I have to continue looking for the person I’m supposed to meet while keeping the men at bay. It would help if I knew what he looked like instead of just trusting my hunter’s instinct that he is following me.
But the second he walks into the library, I know it is him.
Dec. 12, 2013 Excerpt
I am sitting at my usual table: the one I use whenever the rain drives me off the streets, reading magazines and newspapers to familiarize myself with the events of the last thirty years.
I keep my head down, scanning the pages of a Time magazine while I see him glance my way and take a seat at the end of my table. Only when he pretends to be reading a book do I allow myself a peek.
I study his features carefully. His light-brown hair is the color of fireweed honey tossed about in a scramble of loose curls. He has a long, straight nose and lips that look like they’re hiding a joke. Or a secret.
He glances my way and sees me staring at him. I can’t tell if his eyes are blue or green. I rise, walk to his end of the table, and sit down directly across from him. He watches me, his face reddening with surprise.
“What’s your name?” I whisper. The page-padded hush of the room swallows my voice, but he hears me.
He hesitates, looks uncertain, and then focuses on my left eye. Clearing his throat, he whispers, “Miles.”
It’s the answer I’ve been waiting for.
Dec. 19, 2013 Excerpt
I nod and study him for another few seconds. And then I rise to my feet. “Come on,” I say. I swing my backpack over my shoulder and stand next to him, waiting.
He sits there looking dumbfounded. “What? Where?”
I extend my hand. He looks at it warily—like it’s an inanimate object. Like it’s one of those mystery boxes Kenai loves to make: you never know if it holds a piece of blueberry cake or a coil-spring snake that will smack you in the face.
The boy doesn’t take my hand. Instead, he follows me out of the library into the parking lot. It’s still raining. I pull up my hood and let the rain drizzle down my jacket, while Miles huddles beneath the building’s overhang.
“Which one is yours?” I ask.
“The Beamer.” Miles points to a silvery-blue car that looks brand-new, and then wraps his arms back around himself. It isn’t very cold, but his shirt is too light for the weather. Doesn’t come prepared, I think, continuing the mental assessment I had begun the moment I saw him.
I walk to his car and stand next to the passenger side. “What are you doing?” Miles calls.
“Waiting for you,” I respond. “And getting wet.”
Dec. 26, 2013 Excerpt
He gives me an incredulous look. When I don’t move, he leaves his dry spot and jogs through the rain toward me, pressing something on his keys as he runs. I hear the locks click and I open the door, slide in, and stash my backpack in the rear seat. Miles bundles into the car and turns to gape at me. “What are you doing?” he repeats.
“I could ask you the same thing,” I respond. “You were looking for me. And now you’ve found me. I’ll tell you what I’m doing if you tell me what you already know about me.”
His jaw snaps shut and his eyes grow wide. Green eyes. I can tell now. They’re the dark blue-green-black of a Denali lake at dusk. The thing about lake water is it’s opaque. You never know what’s hidden underneath.
Jan. 2, 2014 Excerpt
“What I know about you? Nothing!” he says.
I stay silent, crossing my arms as I wait. He sees that I won’t talk until he does.
“Seriously,” he claims. “All I know is that some people are looking for you. And the locals think you’re crazy because you go around asking people’s names.” He pauses, looking sorry that he said that last part. Understandable. It’s not the kind of thing you would want to mention when sitting in an enclosed space with said crazy person.
Tactless, I add to my list, and ask, “Do you?”
“Do I what?” he asks, looking cornered.
“Think I’m crazy?”
“Um, I would have to say…at this moment…yes,” he admits.
I chew my lip and look out the window at the parking lot. No question about it—I’m sure Miles is the one Frankie foresaw.
Jan. 9, 2014 Excerpt
I look back at him and raise my eyebrows impatiently.
“What?” he asks, looking defensive.
“Let’s go,” I say.
“Go where?”
“To find my clan.”
His features flip through a series of comical expressions: incomprehension, doubt, surprise, and finally exasperation.
“Where…where do we have to go to find your…clan?”
I lean forward to peer at the point where the sun hides under the rain clouds to get my bearing. “It looked kind of desertlike. Kind of Wild West. It’s in that direction,” I say, pointing southeast.
“Whoa,” he says, holding his hands up in a defensive gesture. “Listen here. I don’t have any clue what you’re talking about. And I haven’t said I’m taking you anywhere. Much less to the Wild West.”
“Then tell me why you were following me.”
Jan. 16, 2014 Excerpt
He stares back at me as long as he can before shifting his gaze away. I just sit and watch him, waiting for him to come around. Finally he sighs and says, “Okay, I’ll give you a lift. But I was headed south, actually. To California. We’ve got a lot of Wild West there. You could ride there with me and then go look for your clan. But I’ll need to make a stop and pick up some…stuff first. Clothes. You know.”
“What’s in the suitcase behind the seat?” I ask.
“Um…clothes,” Miles says, fidgeting. “Yeah, I forgot about that. But I could take you to your hotel if you need to get…supplies.” He rearranges his face into a helpful smile and then lifts his eyebrows in a way that I think is meant to charm me.
Nome would be eating this up, I think. She had actually gone through the Encyclopedia Britannica and ranked the photos of every scientist, politician—anything male—from one to ten, based on “charisma,” as she called it. I can never think of John F. Kennedy without the number 7.5 popping into my head.
But I feel only amusement watching Miles. I have goal, and he is the one who will help me. My interest ends there.
Jan. 23, 2014 Excerpt
“I don’t need to go back to the guesthouse,” I say. “I’ve been here seven days and paid up front for the week. Plus, I have everything I need in my pack. Let’s go.”
“So you have money?”
“Some.”
“Well, then, why don’t you rent a car and drive yourself?” he asks curiously.
“I don’t know how to drive.”
He raises a skeptical eyebrow. “You could take a bus.”
“You’re supposed to take me. And California’s due south. I’m going southeast.”
Miles clenches his jaw in frustration. He digs his fingers into his temples and squeezes his eyes shut. And then, opening them again, he glares at me. Doesn’t like to take orders, I think, noting that tidbit on my checklist, and then add, Is used to getting what he wants.
“Why in the world would you trust me to take you anywhere?” he asks. “I could be dangerous. I could be psycho. You don’t know me from Adam.”
I turn to him. “Actually, I don’t trust you. Frankie told me not to, but he also said I had to be honest with you.”
“Who the hell is Frankie?” A note of hysteria creeps into Miles’s voice.
“Frankie is the guy who sits and drinks beer on the corner of Pike and Pine. People call him Crazy Frankie.”
“You take advice from an insane alcoholic?” Miles’s face is dead serious now.
Be completely honest, I hear the voice say in my head. I exhale and brace myself. “He was my oracle,” I respond. “And he told me to go with you. Therefore, whether or not you are dangerous or psycho—which I don’t think you are—”
“Thanks,” Miles interjects drily.
“—you are driving me.”
Jan. 30, 2014 Excerpt
“How does this Crazy Frankie even know who I am?” Miles asks.
“He doesn’t,” I respond. “He told me to go with the person whose name will take me far.”
Miles stares at me, all semblance of coolness gone. He looks scared. “You are psychotic,” he says, eyes wide.
Tearing his gaze from mine, he sits for an entire minute staring straight ahead at the parking lot. He needs you as much as you need him, Frankie had said. I wait.
Finally, shaking his head in despair, Miles turns the key in the ignition. “Okay, I’ll take you at least part of the way on your crazy road trip.” He reaches for something on the dashboard. “But first I have to make a call.”
I get to the contraption first. “Is this your cellular phone?” I ask.
“Yeah,” he says.
Clasping it in my hand, I close my eyes and contact the Yara. I’ve been waiting a week for this to happen. I’m ready. A little spark flies out of the side of the phone, and its screen goes dead.
“What the—” Miles yells.
“Frankie also told me not to let you use your phone,” I reply. “Now let’s go.”
Feb. 6, 2014 Excerpt
Chapter 20 (Miles)
My brain hurts. I am so far out of my comfort zone that I might as well be in the Amazon, swimming with piranhas. This girl somehow just broke my phone and now she’s telling me to drive her to Mount Rainier. And I’m actually arguing with her over directions, like we’re some geriatric married couple.
“You pointed south a minute ago. The mountain is due east,” I say, stopping the car at the edge of the parking lot. “You have no idea where you’re going, do you?”
She wraps her arms around her chest and says defiantly, “Actually, I pointed southeast. Our destination is in that direction.”
“And you know that because Crazy Frankie told you,” I state incredulously.
“I don’t think he’s actually crazy,” she says.
Oh my God, I’m driving a psychopath. “So if the wino told you to go southeast, why are we heading due east?”
“Because. As I said, we have to go to that mountain first,” she insists, nodding in the direction of Mount Rainier.
I just sit and stare at her for a minute until I remember how valuable this girl is to Dad and the fact that my name is, at this very moment, written in his bad books in bold capital letters. The last thing I want is for her to get out of my car and find someone else named Taxi or Greyhound Bus and ditch me.
Next excerpt: Feb. 13, 2014
If you’re dying for more, click below to pre-order!
From IndieBound
From Amazon
From Barnes & Noble
January 15, 2014
Excerpt Thursday
Thursdays are usually pretty boring, right? Well, not any more! I am going to be giving you a short excerpt of AFTER THE END every single Thursday, until I have revealed the entirety of Chapters 19 and 20.
Why 19 and 20, you ask? Because there are 2 parts of the book. Part 1 is Juneau in Alaska, and it’s a bit dark. For example, I could give you something like,
“My arrow flies true and the great bull caribou slumps to the ground. I sling my crossbow over my shoulder, and the virgin snow crunches under my moccasins as I sprint across the field to kneel by the beast’s heaving side. ‘Thank you,’ I say as I draw my knife from my belt. I pet the bristly fur of his muzzle and look him straight in his huge glassy eye. And then I slit his throat.” (AFTER THE END, p. 11)
But I wouldn’t want to do that. Because then you’d think that the book is about hunting and violence and that Juneau isn’t a very nice person. Instead, we’ll skip over to Part 2 and I’ll give you the chapters where Juneau Newhaven (17) and Miles Blackwell (18) meet. It’s a good introduction to them and the rest of the two-book series.
Why am I doing this? Well, I admit, my goal isn’t solely to liven up your Thursdays. I am hoping that you will like the story enough to pre-order the book. So I have put handy pre-order links at the bottom of the page. But DON’T PRE-ORDER IT unless you are thoroughly intrigued by the characters, by their mysteries, by the suggestion that things are not as they seem. So don’t order it right away. Wait until you can’t stand it any more and are totally hooked. And then click the button!
Instead of posting each excerpt in a separate blog post, I will just add the new excerpt to this one each Thursday. That way you can easily find your way back to read more. So…are you ready? Here begins the world-exclusive teaser of Chapters 19 and 20 from AFTER THE END, to be released by HarperTeen on May 6, 2014.
Dec. 5, 2013 Excerpt
Chapter 19: Juneau
I have searched the streets of Seattle for several days, looking for the person my oracle spoke of, without the foggiest notion of what he looks like. Yesterday I felt he was near, but I had to run from my pursuers before I could spot him.
Used to being the hunter, I am now the hunted. Men are chasing me—they aren’t dressed like Whit’s captors, so I have no idea who they are. I just know I have to continue looking for the person I’m supposed to meet while keeping the men at bay. It would help if I knew what he looked like instead of just trusting my hunter’s instinct that he is following me.
But the second he walks into the library, I know it is him.
Dec. 12, 2013 Excerpt
I am sitting at my usual table: the one I use whenever the rain drives me off the streets, reading magazines and newspapers to familiarize myself with the events of the last thirty years.
I keep my head down, scanning the pages of a Time magazine while I see him glance my way and take a seat at the end of my table. Only when he pretends to be reading a book do I allow myself a peek.
I study his features carefully. His light-brown hair is the color of fireweed honey tossed about in a scramble of loose curls. He has a long, straight nose and lips that look like they’re hiding a joke. Or a secret.
He glances my way and sees me staring at him. I can’t tell if his eyes are blue or green. I rise, walk to his end of the table, and sit down directly across from him. He watches me, his face reddening with surprise.
“What’s your name?” I whisper. The page-padded hush of the room swallows my voice, but he hears me.
He hesitates, looks uncertain, and then focuses on my left eye. Clearing his throat, he whispers, “Miles.”
It’s the answer I’ve been waiting for.
Dec. 19, 2013 Excerpt
I nod and study him for another few seconds. And then I rise to my feet. “Come on,” I say. I swing my backpack over my shoulder and stand next to him, waiting.
He sits there looking dumbfounded. “What? Where?”
I extend my hand. He looks at it warily—like it’s an inanimate object. Like it’s one of those mystery boxes Kenai loves to make: you never know if it holds a piece of blueberry cake or a coil-spring snake that will smack you in the face.
The boy doesn’t take my hand. Instead, he follows me out of the library into the parking lot. It’s still raining. I pull up my hood and let the rain drizzle down my jacket, while Miles huddles beneath the building’s overhang.
“Which one is yours?” I ask.
“The Beamer.” Miles points to a silvery-blue car that looks brand-new, and then wraps his arms back around himself. It isn’t very cold, but his shirt is too light for the weather. Doesn’t come prepared, I think, continuing the mental assessment I had begun the moment I saw him.
I walk to his car and stand next to the passenger side. “What are you doing?” Miles calls.
“Waiting for you,” I respond. “And getting wet.”
Dec. 26, 2013 Excerpt
He gives me an incredulous look. When I don’t move, he leaves his dry spot and jogs through the rain toward me, pressing something on his keys as he runs. I hear the locks click and I open the door, slide in, and stash my backpack in the rear seat. Miles bundles into the car and turns to gape at me. “What are you doing?” he repeats.
“I could ask you the same thing,” I respond. “You were looking for me. And now you’ve found me. I’ll tell you what I’m doing if you tell me what you already know about me.”
His jaw snaps shut and his eyes grow wide. Green eyes. I can tell now. They’re the dark blue-green-black of a Denali lake at dusk. The thing about lake water is it’s opaque. You never know what’s hidden underneath.
Jan. 2, 2014 Excerpt
“What I know about you? Nothing!” he says.
I stay silent, crossing my arms as I wait. He sees that I won’t talk until he does.
“Seriously,” he claims. “All I know is that some people are looking for you. And the locals think you’re crazy because you go around asking people’s names.” He pauses, looking sorry that he said that last part. Understandable. It’s not the kind of thing you would want to mention when sitting in an enclosed space with said crazy person.
Tactless, I add to my list, and ask, “Do you?”
“Do I what?” he asks, looking cornered.
“Think I’m crazy?”
“Um, I would have to say…at this moment…yes,” he admits.
I chew my lip and look out the window at the parking lot. No question about it—I’m sure Miles is the one Frankie foresaw.
Jan. 9, 2014 Excerpt
I look back at him and raise my eyebrows impatiently.
“What?” he asks, looking defensive.
“Let’s go,” I say.
“Go where?”
“To find my clan.”
His features flip through a series of comical expressions: incomprehension, doubt, surprise, and finally exasperation.
“Where…where do we have to go to find your…clan?”
I lean forward to peer at the point where the sun hides under the rain clouds to get my bearing. “It looked kind of desertlike. Kind of Wild West. It’s in that direction,” I say, pointing southeast.
“Whoa,” he says, holding his hands up in a defensive gesture. “Listen here. I don’t have any clue what you’re talking about. And I haven’t said I’m taking you anywhere. Much less to the Wild West.”
“Then tell me why you were following me.”
Jan. 16, 2014 Excerpt
He stares back at me as long as he can before shifting his gaze away. I just sit and watch him, waiting for him to come around. Finally he sighs and says, “Okay, I’ll give you a lift. But I was headed south, actually. To California. We’ve got a lot of Wild West there. You could ride there with me and then go look for your clan. But I’ll need to make a stop and pick up some…stuff first. Clothes. You know.”
“What’s in the suitcase behind the seat?” I ask.
“Um…clothes,” Miles says, fidgeting. “Yeah, I forgot about that. But I could take you to your hotel if you need to get…supplies.” He rearranges his face into a helpful smile and then lifts his eyebrows in a way that I think is meant to charm me.
Nome would be eating this up, I think. She had actually gone through the Encyclopedia Britannica and ranked the photos of every scientist, politician—anything male—from one to ten, based on “charisma,” as she called it. I can never think of John F. Kennedy without the number 7.5 popping into my head.
But I feel only amusement watching Miles. I have goal, and he is the one who will help me. My interest ends there.
Next excerpt: Jan. 23, 2014
If you’re dying for more, click below to pre-order!
From IndieBound
From Amazon
From Barnes & Noble
December 16, 2013
DIE FOR ME photo contest (answers posted)
When I saw these photos taken by DIE FOR ME fan Amanda Meum (half-French, but lives in Norway), I knew I had to do something special with them. So I’ve decided to have a DIE FOR ME photo-identification contest!
After not having been to France for 6 years, Amanda visited Paris last summer and went to all of the places she remembered from the DIE FOR ME series. And then she sent me the photos!
Here they are in all of their Parisian glory, and for those of you who write me an email (amy at amy plum books dot com) telling me what each one is and one example of where it comes in in the books, I will put your name into a drawing to win a WHOLE SET OF signed DIE FOR ME books! (3 books.) Each correct answer puts your name in the hat 1 time. An example would be:
“Photo 45: this is a photo of Le Corbeau, the shop that Bran and his mother worked out of. Kate visited it in Book 2 to get more information on a cure for Vincent.”
Please DON’T put your answers in the comments below, because then everyone can see them and copy them! 
You have 1 week. This is a little ho ho ho from me to you, as well as a bit of holiday fun. Enjoy!!!
[UPDATE : CONTEST OVER. Winner was Christina Condomaros, with second place going to Mailis. Thanks to everyone who participated!]
Photo 1. Door to left of Eglise St. Paul, also the entry to Jules’s art studio where Kate meets Jules. Site of numa break-in in book 2. (Also my apartment in the 1990s.)
Photo 2: quai of the Ile St. Louis, where Vincent and Kate decide to give an undead-human relationship a go. A view of this is in the last scene of book 3. (I hung out here in the summers.)
Photo 3: Used to be the Dome Cafe, where Kate gets a crepe before following Vincent and Jules into St. Paul metro and witnessing Jules’s death-by-metro. (Across the street from my old apartment.)
Photo 4: where Vincent takes Kate for hot chocolate in book 1. (Went here for hot chocolate when I couldn’t be bothered to go across the Seine to Angelina’s.)
Photo 5: where Lucien takes Charles’s body and stages an attack on the kindred in book 1. (Will fight my claustrophobia to visit this amazing place.)
Photo 6: pont du Carrousel, with creepy tunnel to right where sword fight took place in book 1. Vincent dove from this bridge to save the teenager attempting suicide. (Love wandering along this quai all the way down to the Jardin des Plantes.)
Photo 7: Metro for Vincent’s and Kate’s neighborhood. They meet there before Village St. Paul date in book 1. (Didn’t ever hang out in this ‘hood, but thought it was perfect for Papy and Mamie.)
Photo 8: Village St. Paul, where Vincent and Kate go on their first date, he buys a necklace for Charlotte, and they spot Lucien. (Loved shopping for unique presents here. Right around corner from my old apartment.)
Photo 9: the Picasso Museum, where Kate bumps into Jules and Vincent (and Ambrose, volant), and has coffee with Vincent after Jules takes off. (One of my favorite museums, but closed for the last few years.)
Photo 10: Eiffel Tower – in last scene (Kate’s birthday surprise) of book 1. (Love seeing this from far away. Hate actually going.)
Photo 11: Sacre Coeur basilica. Site of battle between Violette and the sisters in Book 2. (You feel like you’re on top of the world when you’re here. I go only occasionally.)
Photo 12: interior of Rue du Bac metro. Also shows up in scene where Kate runs into Charlotte and Charles, and he gives major attitude.
Photo 13: The taxidermy shop that Kate tells Charlotte she used to come with her mom. (And my FAVORITE taxidermy shop. I love this place.)
Photo 14: cafe where Kate sees Vincent with Genevieve in book 1, and in book 2 where the sisters run into Arthur. (Spent much time here my first few years in Paris, eating their yummy tarte tartin.)
Photo 15: Metro where Kate follows Vincent and Jules and witnesses a bardia “save”. (“My” metro when I lived in Paris in the ’90s.)
Photo 16: Pont des Arts (nighttime shiny shot): site of Vincent and Kate’s first kiss. (I kissed a British guy here. I was young. He was younger. It was super-romantic.)
Photo 17: Pont Alexandre III: Vincent rows Kate under this in rowboat at end of Book 1. (My favorite bridge in Paris.)
Photo 18: Papy’s antiquities gallery, in the 6th, next to the Seine. (The real antiquities gallery was happy to hear they were in the book, and let us take pictures.)
Photo 19: The Musee Maillol. I used this building (but changed the facade and courtyard) to be my La Maison – home of Jean-Baptiste and the kindred. (This building has so much history – used to be a convent!)
Photo 20: Centre Georges Pompidou. Kate finds proof of the 1968 death of Vincent and Ambrose in the library here, then sees a re-animated Jules upstairs in the museum. (I have spent much time studying in the library and perusing the permanent collection.)
Photo 21: the building in the 6th where I set Papy and Mamie’s apartment. (I scoured the neighborhood until I found the perfect building.)
Photo 22: rue Champollion, where Ambrose and Vincent were killed saving people from a fire during the riots of 1968. (Also where I lived in 1995.)
Photo 23: St. Paul Metro. Kate and Vincent sat in front of it on the steps of Eglise St. Paul while Kate told him about the jousts that used to take place in this spot.
Photo 24: the quai near rue du Bac where the rowboat was waiting at the bottom of this staircase. Book 1.
Photo 25: our lovely photographer Amanda on the Pont des Arts!
DIE FOR ME photo contest
When I saw these photos taken by DIE FOR ME fan Amanda Meum (half-French, but lives in Norway), I knew I had to do something special with them. So I’ve decided to have a DIE FOR ME photo-identification contest!
After not having been to France for 6 years, Amanda visited Paris last summer and went to all of the places she remembered from the DIE FOR ME series. And then she sent me the photos!
Here they are in all of their Parisian glory, and for those of you who write me an email (amy at amy plum books dot com) telling me what each one is and one example of where it comes in in the books, I will put your name into a drawing to win a WHOLE SET OF signed DIE FOR ME books! (3 books.) Each correct answer puts your name in the hat 1 time. An example would be:
“Photo 45: this is a photo of Le Corbeau, the shop that Bran and his mother worked out of. Kate visited it in Book 2 to get more information on a cure for Vincent.”
Please DON’T put your answers in the comments below, because then everyone can see them and copy them! You have 1 week. This is a little ho ho ho from me to you, as well as a bit of holiday fun. Enjoy!!!
Photo 1
Photo 2
Photo 3
Photo 4
Photo 5
Photo 6
Photo 7
Photo 8
Photo 9
Photo 10
Photo 11
Photo 12
Photo 13
Photo 14
Photo 15
Photo 16
Photo 17
Photo 18
Photo 19
Photo 20
Photo 21
Photo 22
Photo 23
Photo 24
Photo 25
Photo 26
December 5, 2013
Excerpt Thursday
Thursdays are usually pretty boring, right? Well, not any more! I am going to be giving you a short excerpt of AFTER THE END every single Thursday, until I have revealed the entirety of Chapters 19 and 20.
Why 19 and 20, you ask? Because there are 2 parts of the book. Part 1 is Juneau in Alaska, and it’s a bit dark. For example, I could give you something like,
“My arrow flies true and the great bull caribou slumps to the ground. I sling my crossbow over my shoulder, and the virgin snow crunches under my moccasins as I sprint across the field to kneel by the beast’s heaving side. ‘Thank you,’ I say as I draw my knife from my belt. I pet the bristly fur of his muzzle and look him straight in his huge glassy eye. And then I slit his throat.” (AFTER THE END, p. 11)
But I wouldn’t want to do that. Because then you’d think that the book is about hunting and violence and that Juneau isn’t a very nice person. Instead, we’ll skip over to Part 2 and I’ll give you the chapters where Juneau Newhaven (17) and Miles Blackwell (18) meet. It’s a good introduction to them and the rest of the two-book series.
Why am I doing this? Well, I admit, my goal isn’t solely to liven up your Thursdays. I am hoping that you will like the story enough to pre-order the book. So I have put handy pre-order links at the bottom of the page. But DON’T PRE-ORDER IT unless you are thoroughly intrigued by the characters, by their mysteries, by the suggestion that things are not as they seem. So don’t order it right away. Wait until you can’t stand it any more and are totally hooked. And then click the button!
Instead of posting each excerpt in a separate blog post, I will just add the new excerpt to this one each Thursday. That way you can easily find your way back to read more. So…are you ready? Here begins the world-exclusive teaser of Chapters 19 and 20 from AFTER THE END, to be released by HarperTeen on May 6, 2014.
Dec. 5, 2013 Excerpt (longer than usual, to get you into it!)
Chapter 19: Juneau
I have searched the streets of Seattle for several days, looking for the person my oracle spoke of, without the foggiest notion of what he looks like. Yesterday I felt he was near, but I had to run from my pursuers before I could spot him.
Used to being the hunter, I am now the hunted. Men are chasing me—they aren’t dressed like Whit’s captors, so I have no idea who they are. I just know I have to continue looking for the person I’m supposed to meet while keeping the men at bay. It would help if I knew what he looked like instead of just trusting my hunter’s instinct that he is following me.
But the second he walks into the library, I know it is him.
Next excerpt: Dec. 12, 2013
If you’re dying for more, click below to pre-order!
From IndieBound
From Amazon
From Barnes & Noble
December 2, 2013
The Great AFTER THE END ARC Contest
I’ve been thinking and thinking (and thinking some more) about what kind of contest I could have for the 2nd signed ARC of AFTER THE END. (The first was won at an auction for Authors for the Philippines.) Lacking a lightening bolt of inspiration, I cheated and looked at all of the various things that other authors do. And what caught my eye was the Street Team idea, where authors choose loyal readers to hit the streets and pass out bookmarks, etc. I took notes on that.
But there is that old niggly international problem. I love my international readers, but foreign language rights haven’t been offered to foreign publishers quite yet. So any street teams I could have, out there hitting bookstores and libraries, would have to be in the U.S. Which isn’t fair to so many of you.
SO…I came up with a plan. I’m going to give away 2 ARCs:
1 ARC to someone in the U.S., and
1 ARC to someone in ACETUS (All Countries Except The U.S. —I just made that acronym up so don’t say it in public and expect anyone to know what you’re talking about)
We’re going to work on a point plan, here. As in, for each point you get, your name goes in the hat 1 time. And the final drawing will be randomly chosen from all of those names. (Again one from the U.S. and one from ACETUS.)
POINTS
Here are the points that ANYONE can get
1 point per new person (no point limit): get a friend/lots of friends to like me on Facebook (need to give me their name so I can make sure they joined). My FB = http://www.facebook.com/amyplumfanpage
1 point per new person (no point limit): get a friend/lots of friends to follow me on Twitter (ditto about giving me their name so I can check). My Twitter = @amyplumohlala
1 point per new person (no point limit): get a friend/lots of friends to “want to read” AFTER THE END on Goodreads (blah blah blah give me their name blah blah blah). That page is here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13601681-after-the-end
1 point (maximum of 3 points): Retweet the following: RT: Win an ARC of AFTER THE END (or a signed bookmark) in @AmyPlumOhLaLa‘s ARC contest! http://bit.ly/IF8tVq
Now we get to the Street Team part.
For U.S. Readers
10 points per bookstore: call or visit a local bookstore, ask them to order my book, and tell them why they should. (I don’t know…you like my books, you heard it was going to be good, you think their teen customers will like it…whatever.)
10 points per library: call or visit a local library, ask them to order my book, and tell them why they should. (Amy Plum has good oral hygiene, you are a bird lover and heard a raven named Poe is in the story, you heard it was a magical adventure and that’s right up your alley…whatever.)
For ACETUS
AM TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO FOR CANADA, UK, AUS AND NZ READERS…since the below wouldn’t apply to you. Check back tomorrow and hopefully I’ll have a solution!
10 points per publisher: write an email or letter to your favorite Y.A. publisher in your country. Ask that your message be forwarded to the foreign rights person. Say that you’ve heard about Amy Plum’s AFTER THE END, which HarperTeen is releasing in May 2014. Tell them you’d like them to publish it in your language. And tell them why. (See sample reasons in the two paragraphs above.)
RULES
Leave your points in the comments below. Try to pack them all together and group them into one or just a few comments. Tell me how many points to give you, and who you spread the word to (their name on FB, Twitter, or Goodreads; name and city of library or bookstore; name of foreign publisher).
I’m setting the contest at 2 weeks. So we’ll say that on Monday, December 16 at 2pm Paris time, I will close the contest, and then take a day to check entries and add up points. I will announce the 2 winners (1 U.S. and 1 ACETUS) the next day, on Tuesday December 17.
And before you even start…a huge thank you to all participants for helping me spread the word about my exciting new series (at least, I think it’s exciting!): AFTER THE END. To show you how much I appreciate it, I would like to send 1 signed AFTER THE END bookmark to anyone who enters with 40 points or more. If you get that many points, please write me an email with your mailing address, and I will mail you your signed bookmark!
On your marks, get set…
November 26, 2013
A Christmas Offer to Die For!
Last year I had so much fun with my Revenant Christmas promotion, that I’ve decided to amp it up this year.
If you have book lovers on your Christmas list,
this is a gift idea that might just send them into
a frenzy of holiday joy!
1. For every copy that you buy of DIE FOR ME, UNTIL I DIE, or IF I SHOULD DIE, I will send you an Amy Plum bookplate that is signed and dedicated to the person of your choice, and mailed from France.
JUST TO MAKE IT MORE FUN…I can either have these gifts mailed to you so that you can wrap them up with the books. OR, I can have them mailed to the person of your choice, and across the back of the envelope will be written “A gift from [your name].”
2. For every copy of AFTER THE END that you pre-order, I will send you a signed and dedicated bookplate and an AFTER THE END bookmark with a note that says, “Amy Plum’s AFTER THE END has been pre-ordered for you, and will be delivered in May 2014.”
The rules: this can be hardback, paperback or e-Book, but it has to be a first-time buy (not a used book). You can buy anywhere—online or on the street, just scan the receipt and email it to me. This is an international offer, good for any translation of my books in any country. Email your receipt to amy at amyplumbooks dot com. Offer runs from today (Nov. 26) to Dec. 20 (the day before I leave for Detroit for Christmas).
Want to see what your gift could look like?
And thank you all, in advance, for being enthusiastic enough about my books to want to share them with your friends and family!
November 20, 2013
Bid for the VERY FIRST signed/dedicated ARC of AFTER THE END
Five hours left to the Authors for the Philippines auction, which has a ton of amazing lots including the VERY FIRST signed and dedicated ARC of AFTER THE END!! The bidding is currently at £120 = US $193 = Canadian $201.
If you want to donate money to the Red Cross and read AFTER THE END 6 months before it releases, feel free to bid. (And do check out the other lots – I’ve bid on a few myself!)
New offer: The bidding is so high that I’m adding signed/dedicated paperbacks of the DIE FOR ME series (3 books) to the winning bid!
You can see the auction here!
October 18, 2013
Revenants in Brazil!
It’s so fun to get news about how DIE FOR ME is doing in other countries. The book has just released in Brazil, to much fanfare and lots of emails from Brazilian readers! (Oh, how I wish I spoke Portuguese!)
For your viewing pleasure, just imagine you’re in Rio watching the Brazilian book trailer:
or maybe lying on the Copacabana beach reading this article in TodaTeen (to read the whole article go here):
Kind of makes you want to pack your swimsuit and buy a plane ticket, no? (It does me!)
