P.D. Workman's Blog, page 126
March 16, 2016
Tattooed Teardrops wins Top Fiction Book for Teens
A year ago, I was announcing to you that Ruby, Between the Cracks had won one of the 2015 Top Ten Best Books for Teens award put out by Library Services for Youth in Custody. Wow, how time flies! During the ensuing year, the committee requested copies of three of my books for the 2016 award:
June & Justin, Between the Cracks #2
And then the email arrived with regard to Tattooed Teardrops…
Your book won the award for top fiction title! Congratulations!
Yes, you read that right, first place winner! Fantastic. As I posted back when they confirmed that Tattooed Teardrops had been nominated, I felt that Tattooed Teardrops was an even better book and better contender for the award than Ruby, Between the Cracks, and it looks like the Committee agreed.
More about the award…
In the Margins Book Award and Selection Committee, (ITM) a committee under the umbrella of Library Services for Youth in Custody (LYSC) strives to find the best books for teens living in poverty, on the streets, in custody—or a cycle of all three. They identify quality, age-appropriate resources for librarians and library workers to share with the teens in urban, lockdown, homeless shelters and other non-traditional venues for teens living in the margins.
“This is our third year of highlighting self and small press published books that validate, illuminate and humanize those living in the margins. We bring true diversity to bookshelves and libraries by reading, reviewing, debating, soliciting teen feedback and awarding honors for these titles,” says the Committee. “The majority of our list may be unknown to you or have gotten little attention in traditional reviews, but are hits with our teens. This is a statement for the need for more of us to look for and highlight diverse books.”
If you have contacts in your local library or junior high/high school, please make sure they see this list!
As with Ruby, I will be posting Tattooed Teardrops to Wattpad and they will be featuring it.
For schools and libraries that are ordering copies, Tattooed Teardrops is available through Ingram (softcover ISBN 9781926500294 and hardcover ISBN 9781926500409) and Createspace (softcover ISBN 9780993768750).
More books on the Top Ten Best Books for Teens list (these all look so good!):
BUTLER, Tewhan. America’s Massacre: The Audacity of Despair and a Message of Hope. – Top Non-Fiction Award!
Raise UP Media. October 2014. PB $19.99.
ISBN 9780692281826
Without making excuses for his past, Tehwan Butler articulately describes the growth of gang lifestyle in inner cities. Butler’s gift at persuasive storytelling is what helped him fill the ranks of the first Bloods on the East Coast. Now he uses that same gift to persuade others not to follow the same path.
CARTER, Alton. The Boy Who Carried Bricks:A True Story of Survival.
Roadrunner Press. March 2014. 196p. HC $18.95.
ISBN 9781937054342.
Growing up in a violent, neglectful environment Alton Carter left his family and faced even more horrifying experiences in foster care. Motivated to be a good father, Carter successfully graduated from high school and college. Carter’s straightforward description will resound with many youth who have faced a troubled homelife.
DEUTCH, Kevin. The Triangle: A Year on the Ground with New York’s Bloods and Crips.
Lyons Press. December 2014. 214p. PB. $16.95.
ISBN 781493007608.
Deutsch traces the violence and futility of the war between the Bloods and the Crips in the New York neighborhood known as The Triangle. A once peaceful community locked its doors and minds to the gunfire and bloodshed of the gangbangers who terrorized them in the gangs’ quest to control the drug trade and fight for the “twisted” rewards of respect, honor, and revenge.
FRANK, E.R. Dime
Simon Teen. May 2015. 336p. HC $17.99.
ISBN 9781481431606.
Thirteen year old Dime thought Daddy was different. She believes she has found the long sought-after love and support she needs. What she thinks she has, soon crumbles when she is told she now had to earn her stay and is sent to the streets to make her way. When she discovers a young 10 year old girl alone in a locked room with video equipment, she is finally shocked straight and can’t imagine what type of person could do something so heinous to a young child. Dime knows she has to get away, but does she have the strength to escape? Can she help the others?
KERN, Peggy. Little Peach.
Balzer + Bray. March 2015. 208p. HC $17.99.
ISBN 9780062266958.
When Chelle’s grandfather dies, she is faced with her mom’s drug addiction and the inappropriate sexual advances of her mother’s boyfriend. Would she be better off following her friend Erica to the place called the Pink Houses? She knows nothing about the city or the houses, she only knows she has a friend there. Hopefully she can find her.
LABOUCANE-BENSON, Patti. The Outside Circle.
House of Anansi Press. June 2015. 264p. PB $19.95.
ISBN 9781770899377.
In this powerful graphic novel, two First Nations siblings are given a chance to change their destiny. Pete and his younger brother Joey were raised in a neighborhood of gang and drug violence. When Pete is arrested and sentenced for murder, he discovers that his gang associates are now seeking out his little brother as a replacement.
LEWIS, Tony Jr. Slugg: A Boy’s Life in the Age of Mass Incarceration.
Hanover Place Press. July 2015. PB $9.99.
ISBN 9780692431573.
When Tony Lewis Jr. was two years old, his father was a 19 year old drug kingpin, and a millionaire. They lived with all the trappings of wealth. But at age nine, Tony’s life descended into chaos when his father was arrested and sentenced to life. Lewis also survived the downward spiral after the arrest and the mental breakdown of his mother. In this book, Lewis includes page after page of insight and reflection about prison, choices, fatherhood, and connection.
ROSS, Richard. Girls In Justice. – Advocacy/Social Justice Award!
The Image of Justice. 2015. 192p. HC $29.95.
ISBN 9780985510619.
Ross’s photo-journalistic documentation of girls in America’s detention facilities features full color pages of a stark living experience seldom seen by the public. Each shockingly hard-hitting segment includes national statistics about girls in custody and short biographical stories of the girls in their own words. Short 3-4 page essays by contributors such as Leslie Acosta, founder and executive director of Girl’s Health and Justice Institute and Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children’s Defense Fund, round out the bleak picture.
VOLOJ, Julian. Ghetto Brother: Warrior to Peacemaker.
NBM Publishing. May 2015. 128p. PB $12.99
ISBN 9781561639489.
This graphically formatted biography depicts the life of Benji Melendez, who in 1971 brokered one of the most successful gang truces in the South Bronx and Harlem area. As president of the Ghetto Brothers, he brought a stop to the violence that was tearing his world apart. Instead of gangs meeting in weekly war councils, he promoted planning sessions for weekly rap concerts which fostered the emergence of ’80s hip hop and a new style of dance called break dancing.
March 15, 2016
Excerpt from Intersexion
First draft of Proxy is finished! Look for it to be published later this year. I’m currently planning for my next Camp Nanowrimo novel, to start April 1.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules at Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along!
Since I just launched Intersexion and it is going to be free on Kindle this weekend starting Thursday (go ahead, write it down!) I thought I would share an excerpt for my Teaser Tuesday this week. Intersexion is a heartwrenching YA novel about identity and being true to yourself that will really make you think.
Don’t you dare cry. You’ll mess up your makeup. Let’s just say that someone did something for me once and I’m passing it along. Someday when your life is going better, you’ll help someone else. And that will be how you pay me back.
P.D. Workman, Intersexion
Taylor is a teen teetering on the edge of a steep precipice. Disowned by his family, living on the street, battling abuse and prejudice, he struggles to discover who he really is and how to carry on with life.
The last person you would expect to touch him is Roz, whose foremost identity is a Christian wife and mother. But her world is about to be shaken. Through all that happens, Roz understands she has to be there for Taylor, knowing he is only one step from despair and self-destruction.
—My heart went out to Taylor as he dealt with abuse and rejection. I had a hard time putting down the book because I couldn’t wait to see what happened.
—I think this kind of story needs to be told right now.
—I applaud you for creating such a book that was so near to my heart and one that could and did make me forget daily life.
March 11, 2016
Limited time promotion – children’s classics Dave Dashaway
I have a lot of promotions coming up in March and April! This is the first.
The Kindle version of The Complete Aerial Adventures of Dave Dashaway is on for $0.99 for a limited time only. Whether you are a homeschooler looking for classic adventures for your middle-grade boys, or a connoisseur of the Stratemeyer Syndicate’s series such as The Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, and The Hardy Boys, the Dave Dashaway series is for you!
Come fly away with Dave Dashaway!
Armed only with his wits and a cheerful nature, Dave Dashaway is quick to make friends and pursue his dream of flying an airship. Dave and his friends face smugglers, sharks, a hidden city, saboteurs, and villains of all kinds.
Read all five of Dave’s adventures, brought together in the same book for the first time:
Dave Dashaway Young Aviator
Dave Dashaway and His Hydroplane
Dave Dashaway and His Giant Airship
Dave Dashaway Around the World
Dave Dashaway, Air Champion
This Workman Classic Schoolbook edition contains:
• An exclusive map of Dave’s journey around the world
• Background/Introduction
• Biography
• Footnotes
• Vocabulary and Comprehension/Extension questions after
each chapter
• Discussion Questions suitable for students or book clubs
• Extension activities
Brought to you by the same minds as Bobbsey Twins and Hardy Boys, “Books for Boys” by Roy Rockwood are great for homeschoolers using classic literature studies such as Charlotte Mason or Thomas Jefferson Education. Spellings have been standardized to U.S., but the language has not been abridged or dumbed down. Short, fast-paced chapters keep students engaged.
Appropriate for middle-grade readers.
March 8, 2016
Excerpt from Dying to Read
I am 53,618 words into the first draft of Proxy. Should be done late this week or early next! Then Camp Nanowrimo starts April 1!
Intersexion was released last week! Have a look. I am very excited about this one.
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules at Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along!
I am on a mystery/detective kick! I am currently reading a cozy, Dying to Read by Lorena McCourtney, first book in the Cate Kincaid Files. I have just started, but have run into a number of engaging characters, so it shows promise! My teaser:
“But surely she wouldn’t leave knowing the Whodunit ladies would be here at noon. Unless she forgot, I suppose.”
“Or got a better invitation from Radford.” Doris gave the name an inflection that was not complimentary. “She’d dump us in a minute for Radford.”
Lorena McCourtney, Dying to Read
Cate Kinkaid’s life is . . . well, frankly it’s floundering. Her social life, her career, her haircut–they’re all a mess. Unemployed, she jumps at the chance to work for her PI uncle, even though she has no experience and no instincts. After all, she is just dabbling in the world of private investigating until she can find a “real” job.
All she has to do for her first assignment is determine that a particular woman lives at a particular address. Simple, right? But when she reaches the dark Victorian house, she runs into an hungry horde of gray-haired mystery readers and a dead body. This routine PI job is turning out to be anything but simple. Is Cate in over her head?
March 5, 2016
New book release! Intersexion hits the market
Intersexion is now live at Amazon! Pick up your Kindle or paperback copy now. This is one of those stories that just grabbed me by the throat and demanded to be written. The idea, the cover, and the story all just came together like a tidal wave, and it bumped another book out of its way on my publication schedule.
What are others saying about Intersexion?
—My heart went out to Taylor as he dealt with abuse and rejection. I had a hard time putting down the book because I couldn’t wait to see what happened.
—This book definitely had an impact on me, and I’m still thinking about the issues.
—I think this kind of story needs to be told right now.
—I applaud you for creating such a book that was so near to my heart and one that could and did make me forget daily life.
Here is a teaser, and the synopsis follows:
“I got kicked out,” Taylor eventually offered. He watched for her reaction, as if afraid it might be the wrong answer and she would yell at him or kick him out. Another sign of abuse. The black eye and the cut over his cheek would heal. But he would carry that worried, wary attitude with him for much longer.
Award-winning author P.D. Workman brings you a compelling and thought-provoking tale of human growth, compassion, and understanding.
Taylor is a teen teetering on the edge of a steep precipice. Disowned by his family, living on the street, battling abuse and prejudice, he struggles to discover who he really is and how to carry on with life.
The last person you would expect to touch him is Roz, whose foremost identity is a Christian wife and mother. But her world is about to be shaken. Through all that happens, Roz understands she has to be there for Taylor, knowing he is only one step from despair and self-destruction.
By the author of Ruby, Between the Cracks, a winner of the Top Ten Best Books for Teens 2015 award, Intersection will challenge your deepest beliefs about identity.
March 1, 2016
Excerpt from Magisterium
I am 31,745 words into the first draft of Proxy.
And Intersexion is going to be released soon; sign up for my mailing list to be the first to hear!
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme. Read the rules at Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along!
I just started Magisterium by Jeff Hirsch yesterday. It is a sci-fi/fantasy novel with a striking cover. Holly Black, who I’ve previously excerpted, also has a Magisterium book/series, so don’t mix them up! My teaser:
He hadn’t always been like this; her father had been a promising builder once—had done a lot of the work that led to the invention of the sleek glass tablet in Glenn’s hand—and was supposed to have gone on to do big things, but, like everything else, that went away one night ten years ago. Since then he’d produced nothing, choosing instead to chase ideas down the strange dark alleys that only he could see.
Jeff Hirsch, Magisterium
On one side of the Rift is a technological paradise without famine or want. On the other side is a mystery.
Sixteen-year-old Glenn Morgan has lived next to the Rift her entire life and has no idea of what might be on the other side of it. Glenn’s only friend, Kevin, insists the fence holds back a world of monsters and witchcraft, but magic isn’t for Glenn. She has enough problems with reality: Glenn’s mother disappeared when she was six, and soon after, she lost her scientist father to his all-consuming work on the mysterious Project. Glenn buries herself in her studies and dreams about the day she can escape. But when her father’s work leads to his arrest, he gives Glenn a simple metal bracelet that will send Glenn and Kevin on the run—with only one place to go.
February 23, 2016
Excerpt from Surface Tension
I have finished the first draft of EDS and started on Proxy! 10,000 words in…
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, read the rules at A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along!
My excerpt today is from Surface Tension by Christine Kling, the first book in the Seychelle Sullivan Suspense series. Kling builds a great picture of life on the water in Floria. I am engrossed in solving the mystery and finding out whether Neal is really dead and who is involved in the murders.
I’d met Jeannie in a Winn-Dixie in the frozen-food aisle when one of her boys pitched a box of frozen waffles at my backside as I bent down to reach for a can of orange juice. Jeannie was totally unfazed by the incident. She just flashed me a boys-will-be-boys smile and introduced herself. She gave me her card. Later, when Red died and I needed a lawyer, I gave her a call.
Christine Kling, Surface Tension
Years ago Seychelle Sullivan had the chance to save a person’s life. But on that summer night in Florida, lost in a world of teenage resentment and loneliness, Seychelle was not able to feel any pain but her own. Today Seychelle captains her father’s forty-six-foot salvage boat out of Fort Lauderdale’s New River. But she’s never escaped that one moment when she could have made a difference and didn’t.
On a steamy Florida morning Seychelle is answering a Mayday call launched from the five-million-dollar Broward yacht called Top Ten. Racing her fiercest competitor for salvage rights, Seychelle has a personal stake in this rescue: Her former lover, Neal Garrett, is the yacht’s hired skipper. But being the first to reach Top Ten leads to a bloody payday. A beautiful woman has been stabbed to death onboard. And Garrett is nowhere to be found.
While the police treat her as the prime suspect, Seychelle begins to unravel a tangled plot centered on a strip club where “all the girls are tens on top.” Seychelle is connecting human predators with innocent victims, and a mystery on land with a mystery buried deep beneath the sea. Now, to find out what really happened to Neal Garrett, Seychelle must retrace his last steps, through two murders and a horrific crime wave, to a final confrontation with someone who may want to kill her . . . or be her salvation.
February 16, 2016
Excerpt from Defy
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, read the rules at A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along!
I am really enjoying Defy by Sara D. Larson, a young adult fantasy adventure. Full of sword fighting, magic, and unexpected twists, it is a fun read.
Death was once nothing more than a game to us, back at home, when we were children and we practiced for hours every day with sticks instead of swords. Back when I was still Alexa, instead of Alex, Marcel’s twin brother and member of Prince Damian’s personal guard.
Sara D. Larson, Defy
Alexa Hollen is a fighter. Forced to disguise herself as a boy and serve in the king’s army, Alex uses her quick wit and fierce sword-fighting skills to earn a spot on the elite prince’s guard. But when a powerful sorcerer sneaks into the palace in the dead of night, even Alex, who is virtually unbeatable, can’t prevent him from abducting her, her fellow guard and friend Rylan, and Prince Damian, taking them through the treacherous wilds of the jungle and deep into enemy territory.
The longer Alex is held captive with both Rylan and the prince, the more she realizes that she is not the only one who has been keeping dangerous secrets. And suddenly, after her own secret is revealed, Alex finds herself confronted with two men vying for her heart: the safe and steady Rylan, who has always cared for her, and the dark, intriguing Damian. With hidden foes lurking around every corner, is Alex strong enough to save herself and the kingdom she’s sworn to protect?
February 9, 2016
Excerpt from White Heat
One week in on the first draft of EDS. 32,000 words so far.
Still waiting on making my special announcement, but it’s coming… Be sure to watch here or subscribe to my mailing list so that you don’t miss it. I am very excited…
If you are a Spanish reader, the Spanish translation of Don’t Forget Steven is a kindle freebie right now!
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, read the rules at A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along!
Like my book Questing for a Dream, White Heat by M.J. McGrath is about modern Canadian Aboriginals. Get immersed in their culture and challenges while following Edie Kiglatuk as she tries to track down a killer and unravel the intrigue surrounding the murder. Be prepared for some language (not just the tongue-twisting aboriginal words) and for the depressing realities of alcoholism, drug addiction, suicide, and poverty among our aboriginal peoples.
‘I swear, the shot came out of nowhere.’ Taylor’s voice was querulous and high-pitched. Something flickered across his face, a momentary despair, and, as if sensing the implausibility of his observation, he repeated it. ‘Nowhere.’
M.J. McGrath, White Heat
Half Inuit and half outsider, Edie Kiglatuk is the best guide in her corner of the Arctic. But as a woman, she gets only grudging respect from her community’s Council of Elders. While Edie is leading two tourists on a hunting expedition, one of them is shot and killed. The Council wants to call it an accident, but Edie and police sergeant Derek Palliser suspect otherwise. When the other tourist disappears, Edie sets off into the far reaches of the tundra for answers.
A stunning debut novel, White Heat launches a formidable new series set amidst an unforgiving landscape of ice and rock, of spirit ancestors, and never-rotting bones.
February 2, 2016
Excerpt from James Patterson’s Unlucky 13
The first day of February, which according to my production schedule, means day one of a new book! I started the first draft of EDS today and am just about 6,000 words in.
I will have an announcement to make in the next few days. Be sure to watch here or subscribe to my mailing list so that you don’t miss it. I am very excited…
Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, read the rules at A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along!
I am currently reading Unlucky 13 by James Patterson, a Women’s Murder Club mystery. James Patterson is one of the most prolific writers of our time. He received the 2015 Literarian Award: he is a “passionate campaigner to make books and reading a national priority. A generous supporter of universities, teachers colleges, independent bookstores, school libraries, and college students, Patterson has donated millions of dollars in grants and scholarships with the purpose of encouraging Americans of all ages to read more books.” And his books are an incredibly fun read!
David Katz, the young man who had driven the Jeep, had been doing postgrad work in psychology. Besides being shattered, his parents were completely dumbfounded by their son’s unexplained and tragic death. They hadn’t even the slimmest guess as to why David and Lara had been killed.
James Patterson, Unlucky 13
San Francisco Detective Lindsay Boxer is loving her life as a new mother. With an attentive husband, a job she loves, plus best friends who can talk about anything from sex to murder, things couldn’t be better.
Then the FBI sends Lindsay a photo of a killer from her past, and her happy world is shattered. The picture captures a beautiful woman at a stoplight. But all Lindsay sees is the psychopath behind those seductive eyes: Mackie Morales, the most deranged and dangerous mind the Women’s Murder Club has ever encountered.
