E. Kristin Anderson's Blog, page 19

Review: LIFE BY COMMITTEE by Corey Ann Haydu

Life in a small town is tough. It’s even tougher when your best friends turn on you for reasons you don’t understand. And when they insist on hanging around at the coffee shop your parents run? It makes the drama inescapable. But that’s how things are for Tabitha, the main character in Corey Ann Haydu‘s LIFE BY COMMITTEE. And it’s probably the reason that she joins the website Life By Committee, an online community that challenges its members to take chances and be more free-spirited.

Katherine Tegan Books, May 2014.

Sure, Tabitha has made some poor choices. But it’s not her fault that her body changed. And it’s not like it’s a terrible thing that, sometimes, she’d rather talk about guys than homework. And it’s not her fault that her guy friend is kind of hitting on her even though he has a (pretty popular) girlfriend. It’s when she acts on it that it becomes a problem. And, when Life By Committee challenges her to continue pursuing her crush despite the damage it could cause her relationships, Tabitha feels like she has no choice but to do what they ask. Because that’s the rules of LBC. To stay a member, you have to complete assignments. And if you don’t? Your secrets go public. And Tabitha has plenty of secrets. Her young parents are fighting over her father’s pot use, she’s definitely seeing a guy she shouldn’t be, and her only friend left in school is gay — and doesn’t want anyone to know. LBC seemed like a good thing. It pushed Tabitha to take risks and break out of her shell. But now Tabitha isn’t so sure her new friends are all such great people. And she’s in too deep to do anything about it.

Like a much more granola Pretty Little Liars, LIFE BY COMMITTEE is an unputdownable contemporary YA with a refreshingly realistic voice and a real sense of urgency. While there’s a romantic element, this is really a story about friendships and family, and the pressure we put on ourselves to please others.  And while it tackles some heavy topics, this is a book with a sense of fun. This is a novel that readers who like their drama with a lot of heart will just love.

Review: WE ARE THE GOLDENS by Dana Reinhardt

Dana Reinhardt is known for her hard-hitting contemporary YA. She pulls no emotional punches, and her prose is precise and intense. She brings all these elements to her latest, WE ARE THE GOLDENS — a book you must read this summer.

Wendy Lamb Books, May 2014.

WE ARE THE GOLDENS follows the stories of two sisters as they navigate their changing relationship. The book is narrated from the perspective of the younger sister Nell, in second person as she speaks, almost as if in a letter, to her older sister, Layla. Nell and Layla have always been close, and Nell has always considered her big sister her best friend. But something changed when the rumor about a favorite teacher and her sister turns out to be true. And Nell has to keep this secret.

Part of what makes this book so special is the style in which it’s told. It’s definitely as much about the art of storytelling as it is the story. And while this story is very much about sisters, it’s also about self-discovery and identity and navigating divorce. WE ARE THE GOLDENS also explores a beautiful friendship between Nell and her bestie Felix, who is, as they say, the Ducky to her Andie. This book is short, but it’s absolutely rich. Fans of David Levithan and Lauren Myracle will definitely dig this wonderfully real new novel.

You Can Now Pre-order A JAB OF DEEP URGENCY! Plus, a sneak peek!

That’s right, folks. It’s time to put your money where my book is. I mean, if you want to and all.

A JAB OF DEEP URGENCY is coming in October — October 17! — but the lovely folks at Finishing Line Press are taking pre-orders now! Super super exciting.

Finishing Line Press, October 2014.

It’s been wild for me to have two chapbooks on the way. And so soon after A GUIDE FOR THE PRACTICAL ABDUCTEE arrived, I have the official release date for A JAB OF DEEP URGENCY. I’ve never been such a busy little promotion machine. Well, not in a while, anyway.

Anyway, my readers and friends and family have been so supportive. And, you know, I keep saying HEY YOU CAN BUY THIS THING I MADE. And then I get tweets saying HEY I GOT YOUR BOOK. And it’s overwhelmingly lovely. So. I thought I’d share a little sneak peak of A JAB OF DEEP URGENCY. Because, you know, maybe you want to see a snippet of what it looks like before putting your money where my book is. And, also, because I like you.

Anyway, as you may have heard, A JAB OF DEEP URGENCY is a chapbook of 30 erasure poems created using A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD by Jennifer Egan as the source text. There’s an author’s note in the book that elaborates on my process. But you know what’s even better than that? Something I can show you. Ta da!

So this is how my poem “One Night Near Laughing” started:

For each poem in A JAB OF DEEP URGENCY, I used a page that I’d photo copied from the book. (I put Post-It tabs on the pages I thought would be good for finding poems while I was reading it.) I know some others participating in the Pulitzer Remix project — which sparked this manuscript — actually wrote in their books, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that. Anyway, I went through and circled words and phrases I liked, and used those as a starting point when I started scribbling lines for the poem in the margins. The way I do erasure, I only change punctuation and capitalization. The words in the poems I wrote all appear in the same order that they did in the text. It was a challenge. I loved it. This is the final draft of the poem that came from the above page:

“One Night Near Laughing”

Around the fire his eyes

graze ethnographic enclaves –

insomniac ranting about mad hatters,

a contextually induced locus of greed. 

Behind her, the sun is setting.

               There aren’t many trees. 

            Amusement is a soundtrack –

      stratospheric fame, bird watching,

flirts with no structural reason. 

Knocked back, he swears,

words lost out his open window.

There you go! I hope you enjoyed the little sneak peek. And I hope that you liked it enough that you want to see it’s 29 compatriots. Either way, thanks so much for all the support. A writer is nothing without her readers.

Review: PILLS AND STARSHIPS by Lydia Millet

I suppose we’ve all glimpsed a future — either in fiction or in our imaginations — in which the Earth is completely destroyed. That is not a new story, and Lydia Millet has no intention to sell it as such. What is new about her debut YA, PILLS AND STARSHIPS, is the solution that the government has found in order to deal with the wasteland that future Americans will call home.

Black Sheep, June 2014.

In PILLS AND STARSHIPS, the young are highly vaccinated and medicated for mood, and they often don’t spend face-to-face time with anyone outside their families. The old — those who remember life before the tipping point — are depressed.  They are sad enough that the pharms (recreational or otherwise) that everyone takes aren’t quite enough. People can live healthily into their hundreds, so there’s a new industry at play: death.

When Nat’s parents reveal that they have purchased a contract with one of the corps — a contract which will bring the family to a resort of sorts to live out the last days with their loved ones before they pass – she and her brother are shocked. Her parents are former “treehugs,” having spent much of their life going against the norm. Not to mention, Nat and Sam aren’t ready to let them go. And while Nat is just sad, Sam suspects foul play.

Once at their resort in Hawaii, things only seem to get weirder. Sam, of course, is deep in his conspiracy theories. But Nat is trying her best to honor her parents’ wishes. The problem is, Sam is starting to make more and more sense. Soon, she’s worried that, if Sam is right, it’s too late for all of them.

The post-apocalyptic Hawaii of PILLS AND STARSHIPS is eerie and claustrophobic. Lydia Millet has constructed a landscape of horror against a typically beautiful backdrop, making the Huxley-esque society all the more disturbing. The innocence of Nat’s voice makes for a sharp contrast to a world that seems to have lost a sense of morality, and her story, which reads almost like a terrible family vacation is hard-hitting. Sci fi readers looking for a new twist on classic themes are sure to enjoy this new novel.

Review: THE SHADOW MOTHER by Seán Virgo and Javier Serrano Pérez

This quirky, illustrated retelling of a classic folktale is hauntingly beautiful. The language Seán Virgo uses is lyrical — not surprising, as the author has a background in poetry —  and the style perfectly compliments the whimsical illustrations of Javier Serrano Pérez.

Groundwood Books, May 2014.

THE SHADOW MOTHER is brief, perhaps best described as an illustrated short story. With minimal text on each page, it describes the life of a boy raised by a mother who has become sullen in her life away from home. The story is subtle, but the sailor-meets-mermaid-like-creature theme is clear from the start. This is, of course, a selkie story, with an absolutely Irish vibe, and with a lovely strangeness in style that is akin to Francesca Lia Block’s earlier works.

This is a quick read, and while the almost picture-book-esque format may be unusual for a YA, it is the perfect format in which to present this story. I know it will be a well-loved book, this summer and in years to come.

Review: THE FALCONER by Elizabeth May

Part steampunk, part historical fiction, part urban fantasy, I suppose you could say there’s something for everyone in THE FALCONER by Elizabeth May.  Especially when you add in all the action and the killing.  Because that’s what Aileana Kameron does — she kills faeries.

Chronicle Books, May 2014.

It wasn’t always that way. At one point she was a fairly typical girl, living with her well-to-do parents in Edinburgh in the 1840s. Typical, if you don’t count the inventions she was always working on with her mother. Or the fact that her relationship with her father left a lot to be desired. But her life then has little in common with her life since the violent death of her mother at the hands of what she’s since come to realize was a faery.

Having since met up with Kiaran McKay — one of the most dangerous faeries in Scotland — Aileana has spent most of her time training to seek revenge and hiding her true nature from her closest friends. She doesn’t know why a faery like Kiaran would agree to help her, to teach her everything he knows about his secret world, but she doesn’t really care. As long as she gets to kill.

But it’s more dangerous now than ever, with what could very well turn out to be an apocalypse on the horizon. And Aileana’s secrets are coming unravelled. Her reputation is at risk, but, with so much more at stake than her social life, she’s going to need all the help she can get.

With a colorful cast of socialites, faeries, and one lovely honey-addicted pixie, THE FALCONER is a not-to-be-missed title this summer. Fans of Holly Black will love it for its faery mythology, and Hunger Games aficionados will dig the kick-ass heroine. I’m so looking forward to the next books in the series!

Summer Writing Projects

I thought I’d take the opportunity, between bloggy projects and catching up on reviews, to discuss some of my writing projects for the summer. I mean, accountability and all, right? If I tell the blogosphere that I’m putting myself on deadline, I might actually stick to that. Right? Right.

So project #1 will be participating in July’s Camp NaNoWriMo. And this project is pretty freaking crazy. Like, you know how I’m always sending myself crazy middle of the night emails? (Okay, to be honest, usually I sent various patient cohorts these emails. I spared my pals on this one.) Well, a few weeks ago, I sent myself this:

#crazymiddleofthenightemails

So….if you’ve been following me on Twitter lately, you may have noticed that I am becoming more and more infatuated with Prince by the day. I don’t know…there’s something enchanting about him. And…did you see him on New Girl this past season?

Prince is magic.

Damn he is still super fine. Er…and…talented and inspiring on so many levels. So I’ve been thinking a lot about idol worship, and I’ve always wanted to write a YA novel on idol worship, and I find Prince’s body of work so incredibly inspiring — inspiring in the truest meaning of the word — that I knew I wanted to write a book that was somehow about him, but not about him at all. About a character who loved this musician. And I didn’t want an 80s or 90s setting. So it’s YA contemp, a book about friendship and celebrity and Prince songs. I’m excited. And currently brainstorming titles.

Meanwhile, I’ve been working on collecting more Prince albums (research!), and am considering hosting a screening of Prince’s films (Purple Rain, Under the Cherry Moon, and Graffiti Bridge) chez moi. My apartment is tiny, but my love for Prince is huge. Also I’m excited to try and make a bunch of geeky prince-themed snacks. “Purple Rain”-cloud-shaped cookies? “Raspberry Beret” pies? Under the Cherry Roast Chicken? And, of course, Hershey’s “Kiss”-es?

Of course, I’m still working on the epic found poetry project of epic. Magazines keep showing up and I keep mining them for poems. Some of the results are fantastic. Others are terrible. But that is the nature of writing.

And, speaking of magazines, I’m sending these poems to magazines and getting lots of rejections! As one does, of course. As I always say, you can’t win if you don’t play. So I’m submitting, submitting, submitting. Some of the rejections I’ve gotten have been complementary personal rejections, which is a great sign for the found poetry community. Plus, it’s always nice to know when you’ve almost hit the mark!

Of course, there HAS been a magazine acceptance which I can’t wait to share with y’all. Found poetry and everything. SOON.

Anyway, finding focus. That’s what I’m doing this summer. Narrowing things down and creating deadlines for myself and making sure I work every day. Even if it’s only for the promise of chocolate upon meeting my daily wordcount goal.

What will you be working on this summer? Camp NaNoWriMo in July? New novels? New submission goals? Querying? Drafting? Revising? Let’s hear it, y’all.

THEY’RE HEEEEEEEERE!

You can now order A GUIDE FOR THE PRACTICAL ABDUCTEE directly from the Red Bird Chapbooks website! I will also have copies on hand at the Writers League of Texas Agents & Editors Conference this weekend!

Says my publisher,”It is hard to imagine a selection of poems that is more liberating, more imaginative, more real than the poems in this chapbook. Others praise while I still marvel. In this collection no topic is off limits, no subject taboo. This collection reaches fantastic on so many levels.”

Um, WOW! Thank you!

As it becomes available at other retailers, I will let you know. Meanwhile, you may grab the press release here for your press-y purposes.

I HAVE A NEW BOOK OUT.  I HOPE YOU LOVE IT.  IT LOOKS LIKE THIS:

Red Bird Chapbooks, June 2014.

Woohoo!  I’m so excited.  Thanks so much to the team at Red Bird Chapbooks for making this happen.  Also, thanks to Mulder and Scully for, you not, keeping me from getting actually abducted by aliens.  I hear that would suck.

A GUIDE FOR THE PRACTICAL ABDUCTEE Has a Cover! And you can buy it soon!

So you may have already seen this on Twitter or Facebook or at the Red Bird Chapbooks page. If not, check it out! (And if so, check it out again!)

Red Bird Chapbooks, June 2014.

Holy crap, right? The designer and publisher, Dana Hoeschen, let me have a ton of input on this. We went through a few different designs, but as soon as I saw this UFO image, I knew this was The Cover. When we talked about fonts, I mentioned old-school sci fi magazines as something to draw on. And Dana nailed it there, as well. Look at it! Isn’t it pretty?

I’m so thrilled for this book. It’s the first chapbook I sold. I actually got the email while I was at Austin Comic Con, which is oddly appropriate, considering what the book looks like! And, well, the contents are pretty spooky, too. UFOs, crop circles, the wolfman, lake monsters, urban legends, ouija boards and necromancy are just a few slices of what’s inside. It’s a very small volume, but I’d like to think it packs a punch.

The book will be available for purchase AS SOON AS NEXT WEEK (!!!!) from Red Bird Chapbooks. I’ll be making arrangements with local-to-Austin distributors, and hopefully a few places in my home state of Maine as well. If you are a reviewer, and you think your blog or publication would be a good fit for speculative poetry, please email me! I’ll be available for all the usual — interviews, guest posts, shenanigans.

Teachers and librarians — YES, this book is appropriate for middle and high school. There are a couple swear words, but the content is “clean” and the topics are accessible and of interest to young readers. YES I will be offering the same Skype and school visit “perks” that I always do for classes or book clubs who buy a set or assign one of my books for the whole group: a free half-hour Skype visit or a discounted in-person visit (for local schools, libraries and book clubs). A reading guide is in the works. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, I sincerely hope that y’all enjoy this book. And look at that cover! Don’t you just want to pet it?

Pride Week Guest Post from Steff F. Kneff: How Do Two Mums Deal with Father’s Day?

How do lesbian parents deal with the “Father’s Day” extravaganza that Hallmark and its associates have blown into proportions reminiscent of The First Christmas?

I have no idea. It’s our first time.

As the holiday approaches, I find myself giving a wide berth to the “Daddy and Me” themed books at the library, and altogether avoiding the giant kiosks of flamboyant ties at the mall. Frankly, I’m hoping my eleven-month-old daughter won’t notice them for another few years. We need more time to figure out our strategy.

“You can celebrate Father’s Day!” people chime in, enthusiastically. “One of you can be the Dad!” *Cue big band music for brilliant suggestion!*

Evolved Publishing, July 2014.

My wife and I look at each other, wondering if people are truly that oblivious. Maybe they just need so badly to fit two pink triangles into square and circle spaces that they genuinely think this is a good suggestion…?

We’ve considered voting in a second Mother’s Day, since we have to share the May holiday. Seems fair. Other mothers get a whole breakfast in bed to themselves, but we have to split the pancakes. Not to mention sharing the present—or, at least we will when our daughter is old enough to make us macaroni art.

A second run seems like a nice idea. But who would get the ‘real’ Mother’s Day, and who would get the ‘Father’s-turned-Mother’s’ Day? It’s kind of like the deciding who gets to be called “Mom,” and who gets the Mother slot on the birth certificate. It’s kind of like the square and circle…

We patiently explain to other parents at play groups that asking us “Who’s the real mother?” is like asking a heterosexual couple, “Who’s the real parent?” An absurd question. Our kid has two parents—both of whom are female. Both of whom answer to “mother.”

I carried our daughter.

My wife held her first.

I breastfed.

She changed every diaper for a week while I recovered from the C-section.

Our daughter looks like me.

But has my wife’s last name.

She is ours—from the very first glimmer of the idea, to this very moment when she’s throwing strawberries on the floor and giggling maniacally, she is ours—just like every other child in our neighbourhood.

Interior illustration from EMLYN AND THE GREMLIN.

When she gives me the Mummy-shove and clings to her other mother, my heart breaks just a little—and at the same time, I’m overwhelmed to see how close a bond our daughter shares with her non-bio mom. Equal bonding is not easy to achieve.

When my wife says things like “Don’t you know by now that she likes her toast in soliders?” I get a little testy. I’m her mother too, for God’s sake, I don’t need parenting lessons! I carried her; I have rights! Yes, well, so does she. Maybe more so, because she carries her all day long as the stay-at-home parent in this two-triangle marriage.

We’re equal parents. One by blood, the other by love.

One day, I hope that people will just take that as a fact without need for further explanation. For now, we’re not there yet, and the LGBT community seems to agree on the need for education about ‘diversity.’

Let’s be honest: “All families are different. Some have a mommy and a daddy and some have two mommies,” only works until the kids are three or four. By the time kindergarten strikes, there’s an app for that has given them more biological and anatomical knowledge than I had going into high school.

“Yeah, okay, we get that she has two mothers, but where’s the father? He must exist somewhere…”

I hope, fervently, that she won’t look at us one day and ask how the hell she got stuck with two mothers. I hope she won’t come home crying because she didn’t get to make a Father’s Day card.

Looking ahead to kindergarten, I wonder, could I suggest that classrooms nix the label of “Father’s Day craft” and hold a “Gift-making craft” instead, without being called the Scrooge of Father’s Day? Can I make the world a little easier for my kid without alienating the people she has to spend each day with?

Our daughter will probably never know how much thought and time and consideration went into her conception and birth. How many nights we stayed up late, talking about what we’d do when she faced discrimination. How would we help her to explain her family to her new friends at school? How could we make her feel secure while still preparing her for the questions people would ask? How could we help her celebrate her difference?

In the wake of these conversations, EMLYN AND THE GREMLIN was born. Rainbow families in kid-lit are still rare, and I truly believe that under-representation in media and literature directly correlates with misunderstanding and hostility toward minority groups in real life.

Our kids need books that represent their families, not only so that others will understand them, but so they understand themselves and where they’ve come from—in most cases, a place of deliberate planning and extraordinary love.

I wanted to write a kids’ book that teachers, parents, friends, and our daughter herself could pick off the shelf and enjoy for what it was—a fun adventure that featured a two-mum family in a totally natural way.

I wanted an iconic, recognisable example that people could point to, like Ellen & Portia. “Oh, your friend at school has two mums? Like in the EMLYN AND THE GREMLIN books?” A story that lesbian parents could read aloud to their kids, wrapping their families up in a story that represented their experience.

Our little girl has to come up in this world, which still has a little ways to go in terms of open-mindedness and acceptance. I want her life to be inclusive and fun, as well as bright, colourful and happy. She’s a rainbow kid, after all. J

Steff F. Kneff.

Steff F. Kneff is an English professor and a PhD student in the field of creative writing. She devours books for breakfast, lunch and tea, and spends a good portion of every day reading to her young daughter and Great Dane while her wife makes excellent rainbow cupcakes. You can visit her at www.SKneff.com !

Steff’s alter-ego, Stevie Mikayne, is the author of JELLICLE GIRL, an Indie-Excellence Award Finalist. Her debut mystery novel UNCATHOLIC CONDUCT is forthcoming from Bold Strokes Books this December.