Marie Lu's Blog, page 99

Mysterious Galaxy Redondo Beach Signing Today

Hello, my lovely Los Angelinos! One last heads-up that I am signing CHAMPION today at 2:30pm, at Mysterious Galaxy Redondo Beach. Hope to see some of you there!

Let’s talk. About a dress. And THESE BROKEN STARS.On a...

http://www.meaganspooner.com/these-br...

Let’s talk. About a dress. And THESE BROKEN STARS.

On a cool, overcast day, I took this green dress into the heart of Los Angeles. And by heart, I mean a bustling shopping center. I ran across this gentlemanly snowman, who seemed to take a liking to the dress. I think he wanted to try it on, but I don’t think it’s quite his size (although the color does look good on him). More importantly, I don’t think he quite understood how HARD it is to walk elegantly in a dress this epicly long.

What the heck does this have to do with anything, Marie?! What is this dress?

This dress is no ordinary dress. In fact, this dress is THE VERY SAME DRESS that you see on the cover of THESE BROKEN STARS.

Oh yes. That’s right. This dress is traveling across the U.S. in celebration of THESE BROKEN STARS’s launch on Dec. 10!

Let me wax poetic on this book for a moment. In THESE BROKEN STARS, Lilac LaRoux, daughter of the wealthiest man in the universe, and Tarver Merendsen, the coolest soldier boy I’ve seen since forever, are the only survivors of a luxury spaceliner that crashes out of hyperspace onto an alien planet. If that’s not a recipe for a brilliant story, I don’t know what is. Anyway, as I sped eagerly through this thrilling, heart-pounding, heartwrenching story, I couldn’t stop thinking about how DIFFICULT it must be to trek across a forbidding alien landscape while clad in this dress. So let my photo’s expression be a warning—this thing is pretty, but it’s no easy feat to survive in it. You go, Lilac. You go. (Also—Tarver, marry me.)

This dress will be traveling to some of your favorite authors, so stay tuned tomorrow to see where the dress has gone and what it’s up to! And when Dec. 10 rolls around, you can see for yourself what all the buzz is about in THESE BROKEN STARS. You’re in for an amazing ride.

——

Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner are longtime friends and sometime flatmates who have traveled the world (but not yet the galaxy), covering every continent between them. They are sure outer space is only a matter of time. Meagan, who is also the author of the Skylark trilogy, currently lives in Asheville, NC, while Amie lives in Melbourne, Australia. Although they currently live apart, they are united by their love of space opera, road trips, and second breakfasts.

Visit the These Broken Stars website for the latest news on the series and follow the authors on Twitter at @AmieKaufman and@MeaganSpooner. You may also sign up for their newsletter as well! These Broken Stars will be available in North America on December 10, 2013.

lbardugo:nprbooks:Head to your local indie bookstore this...

lbardugo:

nprbooks:

Head to your local indie bookstore this Saturday and you just might run into your favorite author.

In September, author Sherman Alexie put out a call to authors to help support independent bookstores by moonlighting as booksellers on Saturday, Nov. 30, a.k.a. Small Business Saturday. And because when Sherman Alexie asks you to do something, you do it, authors nationwide signed up in droves.

Check out this map from IndieBound to find out who’ll be peddling paperbacks at your local shop!

Yes yes! I will be at Vromans from 3pm to 5pm. I will recommend books to you! And possibly try to make you hot chocolate.

imnot12:junebug on Flickr.this weekend i finally got a chance...

imnot12:

junebug on Flickr.

this weekend i finally got a chance to read champion, and i liked the ending a lot!

so here is a drawing of june (i always have a lot of fun imagining her sharp features)

Wow, a wicked cool drawing of June! I love her sharp features here, too.

Los Angeles: CHAMPION Signing Event

Hello, my lovely Los Angelinos! The signing event for Champion in Los Angeles will be on December 7 at 2:30 PM, at Mysterious Galaxy in Redondo Beach. After hopping all over the country for the Champion tour, I’m so thrilled to end it in my home town. Can’t wait to see you guys there! Hope you all can make it. Much love, SoCal. <3

Tuesday night, at my first bookstore event for Champion, I...

Tuesday night, at my first bookstore event for Champion, I received a great, fascinating question about Day. An audience member brought it to my attention that many consider Day a non-PoC character, that because he is described almost entirely as just blond-haired and blue-eyed, his Asian heritage doesn’t really stand for much or contribute much. The question was, “Why did I choose to make Day a PoC character?”

The instant she asked this, I totally understood. I understood the argument and the opinion of Day as a non-PoC character. Day is indeed described as a blue-eyed blonde, and his Asian heritage is mentioned only a couple of times. Day is very easily imagined as a white boy.

I think back on when I first created Day for Legend, and I honestly cannot remember thinking much of his race. I decided to make him a half-Asian, half-white person with blond hair and blue eyes because I saw a photo of a breathtaking Mongolian girl (shown above). My immediate thought was, “God, she’s gorgeous. I want my boy to be this.”

And that was it. That was the extent of my thoughts. In hindsight, I’m a bit embarrassed that I thought so little about it, that at the time I knew almost nothing about YA or the issues of race/lack-of-PoC characters in the book world. It just….didn’t occur to me. I simply wanted a diverse cast with varied races and characteristics, for the same reasons that you might want a cast that don’t all have brown hair or all have green eyes. I implanted this image of Day in my head, shrugged, and then went on to write about him the way I always had. If I were writing a story set in the real world, I think I would have thought harder about the implications of Day’s race.

Perhaps his race mattered so little to me because it mattered so little to him. It mattered so little to everyone in the Republic. The Republic is very much a dystopian world, but there are two things about the Republic that are more utopian than our own society: 1) there is zero gender/sexuality discrimination, and 2) there is zero racial discrimination. No one blinks twice that June or Commander Jameson are top females in the military. No one cares that Day is half-Asian or that Kaede is Japanese or that Pascao is black and gay. The Republic could care less what race or gender or sexual orientation you are. The Republic only cares what your class is. Misogyny, anti-gay bigotry, and racism are replaced here by severe class discrimination. This is the world that Day lives in, one where he is judged not by his appearance but by the poverity of his family. Day is an American who happens to look half-Asian. His race has absolutely no effect on his personality, actions, opinions, and preferences. I’m pretty sure I wrote him like this because I feel like an American who happens to be Asian. Aside from a diehard love for Asian food, the ability to speak and understand Chinese, and a few cultural quirks (i.e. I dislike the number “4”, because in Chinese superstition the word for “4” sounds almost exactly like the word for “death”), I am as wholly, completely American as the next guy. When I visit China, I feel as foreign as when I visit Europe.

I’m not sure I’m doing a very good job of answering the original question here; I’ve never been very comfortable at expressing myself in blog posts or articles. I suppose what I’m trying to say is that I didn’t mean to create Day to fill a quota or to make a statement. I didn’t mean to “hide” his Asian-ness behind a blond-haired, blue-eyed mask. To think so is to discredit the fact that many people of color exist on a gradient—we are not always so noticeably Asian or Caucasian or Hispanic or African-American, etc. I’ve received quite a few emails over the years from parents who have hapa children with blond hair and blue eyes, and it makes me smile. Day is half-Asian and half-white, but he is not defined by it, nor does he dwell much on it. He’s just….Day.

My Champion Playlist

As with Legend and Prodigy, I had a playlist of music I left on repeat throughout much of writing Champion. The list changed depending on whether I was drafting or revising, but I picked out some of my favorites from both and compiled them below.

She (by Abney Park)

"We have consoled each other’s fears / we dried each other’s tears / yet always in doubt, and never in doubt / of we."

Sometimes even I forget that there is a thread of steampunk running throughout the entire series, appearing mostly in the military’s fashion and in the airships. So, naturally, Abney Park is always on my playlist. This one reminds me a great deal of Day and June.

We Are Pilots (by Shiny Toy Guns)

"Holding close my secrets / naked broken pieces / from the madness in what you do / the fingers point right back at you."

I feel like these lyrics refer to various characters. Also, it’s no secret that I have a very soft spot for fighter jets, and seeing as how there are many of those in Champion, I had this title looping in my playlist. It also makes me think of Kaede.

Soldier (by Drowning Pool)

"There is no compromise, your pain, your worth, your sacrifice / on your feet, who’s with me / on your feet, let’s go."

Well, the Legend series is a heavily militaristic story. And in my quest to think of a song that had the eerie nuclear bomb siren in it, I settled on Drowning Pool’s “Soldier.” Few things raise the hairs on my neck like the sound of this siren, which is exactly what the sirens sound like in Champion. The rest of the song’s lyrics are also spot on.

Mad World (by Gary Jules)

"I find it hard to tell you, I find it hard to take / When people run in circles it’s a very, very / mad world, mad world."

This fits many dystopian stories, I think. What a mad, mad world.

Those Without Fear (by Audiomachine)

Next to Two Steps From Hell, Audiomachine makes some of my favorite orchestral soundtrack pieces. So heartwrenching and sweeping. Every time I hear this, I picture Champion's battle sequences.

Do You Hear The People Sing (Les Misérables soundtrack)

"Do you hear the people sing / singing the song of angry men / it is the music of a people who will not be slaves again."

Legend was originally inspired by Les Misérables, so of course I have to put my favorite Les Mis track on here! Chills, every time.

Illuminati (by Audiomachine)

Yet another Audiomachine track I had on repeat while drafting Champion.

I Can’t Make You Love Me (Bon Iver)

"Tell me no lies / just hold me close, don’t patronize me / cause I can’t make you love me / if you don’t."

Bon Iver’s music is so wistful and dreamy. This song in particular reminds me of Champion, although I can’t tell you what part.

Dragon Rider (by Two Steps From Hell)

Oh, orchestral soundtracks. How I love thee. The energy in this one fits the action scenes so well for me.

Last Agni-Kai (Avatar: The Last Airbender OST)

Aside from the final credits track, this is my favorite piece from the Avatar:TLA OST. Just…chills. So ominous, heartwrenching, and tense. Beautiful. It reminds me of one specific scene at the climax of Champion.

The Boy Who Trapped The Sun (by Copper Down)

"Suddenly I have this feeling / Tasting copper in my mouth / I look toward the clouds for comfort / When you grow into your skin / I’ll be the hope joining the wall."

Day is the boy who walks in the light. I couldn’t have put in a more fitting song if I had attempted to write one myself.

Imagine (by John Lennon)

"Imagine there’s no countries / it isn’t hard to do / nothing to kill or die for / and no religion too / imagine all the people / living life in peace."

When I was writing the end of Champion's climax, I had this song in my head. It is the only time I have ever cried while writing. I think you will be able to guess the exact moment in the climax that fits this song.

I Will Always Love You (by Whitney Houston)

"I hope life treats you kind / And I hope you have all you’ve dreamed of / And I wish you joy and happiness / But above all this, I wish you love."

<3

Promise (by Thomas Bergerson)

There’s nothing like a cello to bring all the feels out of me. In addition to being a beautiful piece, I think the title refers nicely to Champion's ending.

(Above: me and my inspiration for Ollie)Well. Today is the...

(Above: me and my inspiration for Ollie)

Well. Today is the day. Champion, the final Legend book, is out in the world.

Here I am, sitting in my hotel room, at a loss for words, unsure how to feel now that I’ve said goodbye to the characters and places I’ve been so thoroughly immersed in for the past few years. I won’t lie; I’ve cried and fretted a lot. I’ve been alternately excited and scared. But mostly I am happy, so very happy, that I am sitting here and living my dream.

I don’t have many words today. It’s hard to vocalize exactly what I’m feeling right now. All I can say is this: The publishing world is very, very hard, and the life of a writer is full of twists and turns—both bad and good, most of it completely out of our control. I have been so extraordinarily blessed on my journey, to the point that I wonder if it’s all deserved. After all, I am only as good as my last book, and there are still a million things I need to improve on. Who knows what the future will bring? It’s a scary thought, but it also pales in comparison to how grateful I am for what I have today. I know I would not be here if it weren’t partly for lucky coincidence, for catching the general love for dystopian and science fiction stories. I know I would not be here without the support of so many amazing people and loyal friends. And I know I would not be here without my readers. Champion has been dedicated to you guys from the very beginning.

This is about as articulate as I can be. Thank you all for the honor of telling you stories.

Champion releases tomorrow! I am psyched and terrified. I have...

Champion releases tomorrow! I am psyched and terrified. I have listened to nothing but Enya for the past two weeks. Also, I will be on tour. Here are my public appearances over the next couple of weeks. Hope to see some of you!

Tuesday, Nov. 5, at 6:00 PM

Signing at RJ Julia, 768 Boston Post Rd, Madison, CT 06443

Thursday, Nov. 7, at 7:00 PM

Signing at Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave, Coral Gables, FL 33134

Saturday, Nov. 9, all day

Y’ALL Fest panels and signings, Charleston, NC

Monday, Nov. 11, at 7:00 PM

Signing at Anderson’s Bookshop, 123 W. Jefferson Ave, Naperville, IL

Tuesday, Nov. 12, all day

Teens Write-On Literary Festival, Darien, IL

Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 7:00 PM

Signing at King’s English Bookshop, 1511 South 1500 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84105

Thursday, Nov. 14, at 7:00 PM

Signing at Provo Library, 550 N. University Ave, Provo, UT 84601

Friday, Nov. 15, at 7:00 PM

Signing at Alamosa Books, 8810 Holly Ave NE, Albuquerque, NM 87122

Saturday, Nov. 16, at 7:00 PM

Signing at Tattered Cover, 2526 E. Colfax Ave, Denver, CO

followjunebug:Daniel Altan Wing aka. Day: Discover the...

followjunebug:

Daniel Altan Wing aka. Day: Discover the Legend

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Original source from weheartit

I love this tagline.