Brendan Reichs's Blog, page 5
July 27, 2015
Want to Hear Me Read Some Virals? Click ahead!
The great folks at TeachingBooks.net had me record some background on the Virals series, as well as a reading of the prologue to Virals. I hope I don’t sound as dorky as I suspect. Tell me what you think! Meet-the-Author and Book Reading. Audio Name Pronunciation.
July 3, 2015
By Popular Demand: A Short NEMESIS Teaser
The planet is facing destruction, and there’s nothing Min can do about it. But she’s got more immediate problems — like the man who shows up every two years to murder her. On her sixteenth birthday, as she cowers behind her bedroom door, Min wonders, why must she die so many times? What can she do to stop it?
Noah just wants to be like everyone else. But he’s not. He’s crazy, and always will be. Horrible waking nightmares of murder and death plague him, though he does his best to hide the signs. But when Noah’s idyllic mountain town begins to spiral toward panic and destruction, is there a chance within the chaos for him to become something more?
More Details Coming Soon!
June 15, 2015
June 2, 2015
By Popular Demand: A Short NEMESIS Teaser
NEMESISThe planet is facing destruction, and there’s nothing Min can do about it. But she’s got more immediate problems — like the man who shows up every two years to murder her. On her sixteenth birthday, as she cowers behind her bedroom door, Min wonders, why must she die so many times? What can she do to stop it?
Noah just wants to be like everyone else. But he’s not. He’s crazy, and always will be. Horrible waking nightmares of murder and death plague him, though he does his best to hide the signs. But when Noah’s idyllic mountain town begins to spiral toward panic and destruction, is there a chance within the chaos for him to become something more?
More Details Coming Soon!
May 27, 2015
Cool Poem from WRITE GIRL!
BUY A POEM. HELP A GIRL. Help girls find their voices and alter their futures! Support WRITE GIRL. Here’s where to go for more information: http://www.writegirl.org
May 13, 2015
CHARLOTTE! 6/16/15 at ImaginOn: Book Event with Carrie Ryan and Renee Ahdieh
COME SEE ME AT IMAGINON! Tuesday, June 16, 2015, at 6:00-7:30 PM. ImaginOn, The Round, 300 E 7th St, Charlotte, NC 28202. Meet me, Carrie Ryan, and Renee Ahdieh as we talk about our writing processes and publishing journeys, and sign books! Call 704-416-4660 to reserve a seat.
April 2, 2015
YA SCAVENGER HUNT
HEY EVERYBODY!
Welcome to the Spring 2015 YA Scavenger Hunt! This is my first year participating and I’m super stoked. There are eight killer teams out there, brimming with cool bonus materials. I’m part of #TeamRed. Good stuff. This hunt runs from April 2nd through April 5th, beginning and ending at noon Pacific time. I encourage all Virals fans to give it a try. There are prizes, special deleted scenes, and sneak peaks, including one from me of the new Virals short story, SPIKE, coming this winter. It’s out there somewhere, people. Get looking.
If you’ve never done this before, the scavenger hunt runs like a giant blog circle, one connecting to the next, introducing you to new YA authors and books along the way. There are tons of prizes including a grand prize for each team: a signed book from each author in that group! For more information and hunt updates, sign up for news on the #YASH website. Get cracking, book sleuths. There’s a whole new world out there. You have three days!
OKAY NOW FOR THE GOOD STUFF: For this hunt, I’m hosting Rachel Shane. 
Between the 2 of us, she’s an excellent author. She works in fancy New York City. You can buy her new book, Alice in Wonderland High, right here. It’s a contemporary retelling of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, where Alice follows a group of teenage environmental vigilantes on a rabbit trail into the underground (aka secret society) of Wonderland High. Sounds dope.
Rachel has gracious given you a DELETED SCENE from the original version of chapter one of ALICE IN WONDERLAND HIGH, which comes out April 18, 2015 (but is already showing up in stores). Here it is:
(Note from Rachel: here is the original version of chapter 1. I cut this scene and started later. Some lines in here made it into the final book.)
My empty English classroom promised a few precious moments for me to come up with a new plan of action without making my reputation as endangered as the rainforests. I grabbed a pen out of my bag and wrote: sell body to save up money for farmer’s market? (Note: find another way to fund this that doesn’t require loss of morals or virginity.)
Pursing my lips, I crossed it out. Too small, and only part of that was my boobs. I was this close to sewing a spandex Superhero uniform and crusading the night to save innocent trees. But a nothing-left-to-the-imagination outfit wouldn’t give me the manpower necessary to carry out one of my ideas. I needed help. Preferably in the form of an environ-mental army or at least a cute guy.
A chair scraped the floor beside me and a shadow passed over my paper. I slid my English book on top of my notes and pasted on a fake smile.
My best friend, Dinah, frowned at me. “What are you hiding?”
“Nothing!” I clasped my hands on the table and widened my eyes in the fake-innocent expression I’d perfected on my parents before…well, before their car crash turned me into an orphan. “Just reading over the assignment.” I patted my trusty textbook.
She dropped into her plastic seat, rope-colored hair bouncing. A heavy sigh escaped her throat, the tell-tale sign of not buying it. “Alice, when are you going to stop with this”—she lowered her voice—“tree-hugging stuff?”
My face scrunched up in annoyance at her superhero 20/15 vision that had managed to unmask my identity. She would never understand. Like everyone else, she always thought my parents were weird for their dreadlocks and the free hugs they bombarded people with. And I was weird for following in their footsteps, dreadlocks aside. “I stopped, okay?” What I didn’t add: in public. Di stretched an arm out and placed her palm on my desk. “I’m just looking out for you, okay?”
The final bell drowned out my strained laugh. “Did you do the essay?” I asked. School work: the language of good girls and the only safe topic we discussed these days.
Di launched into a play-by-play account of every answer. I stared out the open window, the breeze blowing my hair all over my face. A spark of color stood out amongst the expanse of dirt that led to the dry creek. Exotic flowers spilled over the exterior the abandoned creek. Daffodils, roses, and orchids curled toward the sun. Leafy potted plants guarded the lip of the creek, like a jungle just sprang up in the middle of dead land bring life back to it.
A figure stomped into view and placed another plant in prime view of the classroom. The girl whipped her head around to look at us. Whitney Lapin. She was in my grade—in this very class. Well, sort of. If your definition of “in” was loose. Her habits mostly included shunning extra curricular activities and cutting class even though she used to be some kind of chemistry genius in Junior high.
I thought we had nothing in common. But maybe that wasn’t true. Because she took nothing and made it into something, a garden of all things, while I couldn’t even make a Farmer’s Market pop out of thin air. I bit back a smile and sat up straighter, finally feeling like somebody understand what I wanted.
The seeds I’d been missing.
EXCELLENT STUFF. Thanks to Rachel for sharing, and be sure to check out the rest of her books. You have found gold. MY BONUS: Leave a comment below about this sample and I’ll draw one winner for a complete signed set of Virals books. Sounds good? Sounds good.
PLEASE PROCEED TO THE NEXT #YASH STOP: JENNIFER MCGOWAN.
March 23, 2015
YALLWEST is April 11-12!
YALLWEST is going to be a truly remarkable YA festival. Come join us in sunny Santa Monica! All the info is right here.
February 20, 2015
TERMINAL TOUR DATES – March 3-7!
Here you go! Kathy and I are excited to hit the road for Terminal, the conclusion of the Virals series. It’s been a fun ride. Hope to see you out there! Northeastern USA, you’re up.
3/3 - Framingham, MA - Barnes & Noble (1 Worcester Rd) - 7PM. Details here: http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/event/86517
3/4 - Madison, CT - RJ Julia (768 Boston Post Road) - 4:30PM. Details here: http://www.rjjulia.com/event/brendan-and-kathy-reichs
3/5 - Philadelphia, PA - Upper Merion Township Library (175 West Valley Forge Road King of Prussia, PA) (Hosted by Children’s Book World) - 6PM. Details here: http://www.childrensbookworld.com
3/6 - Atlanta, GA - FoxTale Book Shop (FoxTale Book Shoppe 105 E. Main Street, #138 Woodstock, Georgia) - 4:30PM. Details here: http://www.foxtalebookshoppe.com/events/
3/7 - Irving, TX - North Texas Teen Book Festival - (Irving Convention Center 500 W. Las Colinas Blvd.) - All Day! Details here: http://www.northtexasteenbookfestival.com
December 23, 2014
SHOCK
Cover Alert! The new Virals e-short. See you in February.
