Sarah Beth Durst's Blog, page 55
October 7, 2010
Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour: Stop Two
Stop Two of the Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour!
A little background... I wrote a book about magic at Princeton. It's called Enchanted Ivy, and it's coming out on Oct 12 from Simon & Schuster. This tour illustrates its world. (Cue the dun-dun sound effect from Law & Order.)
East Pyne Courtyard
This is the arch into the East Pyne Courtyard, the foreign languages department. In this courtyard:
"A weight smashed hard into the center of her back. Lily lurched forward and slammed down knees-first on the slate flagstones."
This courtyard is also the place where some friends of mine streaked the campus tour during our senior year. The man in this photo was not one of the streakers.
Unseeing Reader
If you look up... a little higher... not that high... you can see the gargoyle from chapter two of Enchanted Ivy. She's called the Unseeing Reader. Here's a close-up:
She's supposed to illustrate that the purpose of the university is the enlightenment of the students. Or a serious misunderstanding of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey.
Firestone Library
I really, really love libraries.
That said, the stacks of Firestone Library are, well... creepy. Sure, you enter in this warm wood sunlit lobby. But then you take the elevator down into dark, silent catacombs.
Seniors have carrells, basically closets, that they can use to write their theses. So when you're in the stacks, you hear the click, click, click of laptops from people you can't see. Kind of like Poe's tell-tale heart. It's also dark. Each row has its own light, which means the overall lighting for the floor is minimal. And in some areas, the bookshelves are pressed together. They separate with the turn of a crank, and when you turn the crank, there's always the risk that you'll discover the skeleton of some student who was trapped there long ago... (Cue spooky ghost music.)
Coming soon... stop three! And click here to read stop one, or view all Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour blog posts at once.
5 days until Enchanted Ivy!
A little background... I wrote a book about magic at Princeton. It's called Enchanted Ivy, and it's coming out on Oct 12 from Simon & Schuster. This tour illustrates its world. (Cue the dun-dun sound effect from Law & Order.)
East Pyne Courtyard
This is the arch into the East Pyne Courtyard, the foreign languages department. In this courtyard:
"A weight smashed hard into the center of her back. Lily lurched forward and slammed down knees-first on the slate flagstones."
This courtyard is also the place where some friends of mine streaked the campus tour during our senior year. The man in this photo was not one of the streakers.
Unseeing Reader
If you look up... a little higher... not that high... you can see the gargoyle from chapter two of Enchanted Ivy. She's called the Unseeing Reader. Here's a close-up:
She's supposed to illustrate that the purpose of the university is the enlightenment of the students. Or a serious misunderstanding of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey.
Firestone Library
I really, really love libraries.
That said, the stacks of Firestone Library are, well... creepy. Sure, you enter in this warm wood sunlit lobby. But then you take the elevator down into dark, silent catacombs.
Seniors have carrells, basically closets, that they can use to write their theses. So when you're in the stacks, you hear the click, click, click of laptops from people you can't see. Kind of like Poe's tell-tale heart. It's also dark. Each row has its own light, which means the overall lighting for the floor is minimal. And in some areas, the bookshelves are pressed together. They separate with the turn of a crank, and when you turn the crank, there's always the risk that you'll discover the skeleton of some student who was trapped there long ago... (Cue spooky ghost music.)
Coming soon... stop three! And click here to read stop one, or view all Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour blog posts at once.
5 days until Enchanted Ivy!
October 5, 2010
Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour: Stop One
Welcome to the Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour!
A little background first... Enchanted Ivy is a my new YA fantasy novel. It's coming out October 12th, and it's about magic at Princeton.
I love the theme of magic in the real world. I am fascinated by the intersection and interplay of reality and fantasy. (Yes, I was totally that kid who played Wizard's House instead of ordinary House. I also included "magic wand" on my birthday wish list every year. And I'd record the positions of my stuffed animals before I went on vacation so I could tell if they had a party. A creative child. Or crazy. Your pick.)
Anyway, I like the real-world part of my novels to be as accurate as possible. So while I was writing this novel, I visited Princeton and took myself on a tour of everywhere my protagonist Lily would go. Now let's begin the tour. We're walking, we're walking.....
FitzRandolph Gate
Princetonians have a superstition about the main campus gate: If a student walks out the FitzRandolph Gate before commencement day, he or she won't graduate. Of course, no one really believes it, but still... my friends and I wouldn't even walk in the gate for fear that we'd trip, fall backward out the gate, and never graduate.
This superstition provided the key inspiration for Enchanted Ivy. What really happens when you walk through FitzRandolph Gate? What magic lies beyond? *cue cool music*
One hint: You see those eagles? They talk.
Nassau Hall
Nassau Hall is the oldest building at Princeton. It has a cannon ball imprint inside that dates to the Revolutionary War. And it's not really open to the public.
I went in anyway. Oh, yeah, baby, I'm a wild woman.
But Lily enters Nassau Hall to meet the Council (which, incidentally, includes a were-tiger) so in I went. Apologies for the lack of photos of were-tigers.
She also sees these stairs. I love thinking about how many feet must have stepped here to make these stairs look like this. (I mean, not that I love thinking about feet. Feet are fine, but... oh, never mind.)
"As the stone man dragged them downstairs, Lily clutched at the railing. Her feet slipped on the worn steps. 'Please, you have to listen,' she begged the stone man."
More soon.....
7 days until Enchanted Ivy!
A little background first... Enchanted Ivy is a my new YA fantasy novel. It's coming out October 12th, and it's about magic at Princeton.
I love the theme of magic in the real world. I am fascinated by the intersection and interplay of reality and fantasy. (Yes, I was totally that kid who played Wizard's House instead of ordinary House. I also included "magic wand" on my birthday wish list every year. And I'd record the positions of my stuffed animals before I went on vacation so I could tell if they had a party. A creative child. Or crazy. Your pick.)
Anyway, I like the real-world part of my novels to be as accurate as possible. So while I was writing this novel, I visited Princeton and took myself on a tour of everywhere my protagonist Lily would go. Now let's begin the tour. We're walking, we're walking.....
FitzRandolph Gate
Princetonians have a superstition about the main campus gate: If a student walks out the FitzRandolph Gate before commencement day, he or she won't graduate. Of course, no one really believes it, but still... my friends and I wouldn't even walk in the gate for fear that we'd trip, fall backward out the gate, and never graduate.
This superstition provided the key inspiration for Enchanted Ivy. What really happens when you walk through FitzRandolph Gate? What magic lies beyond? *cue cool music*
One hint: You see those eagles? They talk.
Nassau Hall
Nassau Hall is the oldest building at Princeton. It has a cannon ball imprint inside that dates to the Revolutionary War. And it's not really open to the public.
I went in anyway. Oh, yeah, baby, I'm a wild woman.
But Lily enters Nassau Hall to meet the Council (which, incidentally, includes a were-tiger) so in I went. Apologies for the lack of photos of were-tigers.
She also sees these stairs. I love thinking about how many feet must have stepped here to make these stairs look like this. (I mean, not that I love thinking about feet. Feet are fine, but... oh, never mind.)
"As the stone man dragged them downstairs, Lily clutched at the railing. Her feet slipped on the worn steps. 'Please, you have to listen,' she begged the stone man."
More soon.....
7 days until Enchanted Ivy!
October 4, 2010
Touring Princeton
Princeton calls its campus tour the "Orange Key Tour," and it's filled with stories:
- Students used to steal the clapper from the bell on top of Nassau Hall to prevent the start of school. The clapper was later removed after a few too many students fell off the roof. (I find myself wondering how many is "too many"...)
- In a fit of spite, an architect (a Yale graduate) added a gargoyle of the Yale mascot (a bulldog) to the University Chapel. (This one is doubtful because the gargoyle is actually on a gutter -- not the best homage to Yale.)
- The half-buried cannon in Cannon Green was once the treasured prize of an inter-college rivalry. After it was stolen (and stolen back) multiple times, Princeton students half buried it to protect it.
- On the night of the first snowfall each winter, Princeton sophomores used to disrobe and run the Nude Olympics. (Oh, wait, that one's true.....)
You can always spot the tours on campus because the guide walks backwards.
One of my closest friends, Rick, was an Orange Key Tour guide, and on his final tour of our senior year, some of my other dearest friends streaked his tour in East Pyne Courtyard. (I'm not going to name names. You know who you are. Don't worry, though -- your butts do not appear in my book.)
But what does appear is a lot of the Princeton campus.
While I was writing Enchanted Ivy, I used the virtual Orange Key Tour as an initial guide, and then I took two trips to Princeton with my camera and notebook to fill in the details. (Yes, I know I lived there for four years and should know the campus backward and forward, but you see a place differently when you look at it through a character's eyes.) I traced every step that Lily takes.
So I thought that I'd do my own version of the Orange Key Tour here on this blog and show you some of the places that either appear in or inspired my new novel... Please join me tomorrow for the start of the Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour!
8 days until Enchanted Ivy!
- Students used to steal the clapper from the bell on top of Nassau Hall to prevent the start of school. The clapper was later removed after a few too many students fell off the roof. (I find myself wondering how many is "too many"...)
- In a fit of spite, an architect (a Yale graduate) added a gargoyle of the Yale mascot (a bulldog) to the University Chapel. (This one is doubtful because the gargoyle is actually on a gutter -- not the best homage to Yale.)
- The half-buried cannon in Cannon Green was once the treasured prize of an inter-college rivalry. After it was stolen (and stolen back) multiple times, Princeton students half buried it to protect it.
- On the night of the first snowfall each winter, Princeton sophomores used to disrobe and run the Nude Olympics. (Oh, wait, that one's true.....)
You can always spot the tours on campus because the guide walks backwards.
One of my closest friends, Rick, was an Orange Key Tour guide, and on his final tour of our senior year, some of my other dearest friends streaked his tour in East Pyne Courtyard. (I'm not going to name names. You know who you are. Don't worry, though -- your butts do not appear in my book.)
But what does appear is a lot of the Princeton campus.
While I was writing Enchanted Ivy, I used the virtual Orange Key Tour as an initial guide, and then I took two trips to Princeton with my camera and notebook to fill in the details. (Yes, I know I lived there for four years and should know the campus backward and forward, but you see a place differently when you look at it through a character's eyes.) I traced every step that Lily takes.
So I thought that I'd do my own version of the Orange Key Tour here on this blog and show you some of the places that either appear in or inspired my new novel... Please join me tomorrow for the start of the Enchanted Ivy Campus Tour!
8 days until Enchanted Ivy!
October 3, 2010
Upcoming Enchanted Ivy Events
You know, I actually did a little dance when I flipped my calendar to October. And that's not just because I fully intend to wear fairy wings for Halloween, though that's admittedly part of it. (I have no idea how I went through my entire childhood without owning a pair of wings. Really a massive oversight. Must be corrected. As soon as I can figure out where to purchase said wings... Suggestions?)
The real reason for my dance will be obvious to anyone who has been reading this blog for a while:
October is the release month for Enchanted Ivy!!! Just 9 days left until pub date!!!
I have some book events coming up that I'm really excited about. Details are below, as well as on the Appearances page of my website. If you're in the area, I hope you'll come!
First event is this Thursday at one of my all-time favorite bookstores: Books of Wonder in NYC. I'll be appearing with Cinda Williams Chima (author of The Exiled Queen) and Yvonne Woon (author of Dead Beautiful). Here's the lovely poster:
Upcoming Appearances:
Books of Wonder
Thursday, October 7th from 6-8pm
Fantasy for Teens Reading/Signing with Cinda Williams Chima, Yvonne Woon, and Sarah Beth Durst
18 West 18th Street, New York, NY
Bay Shore-Brightwaters Public Library
Tuesday, October 26th at 7:30pm &
Tuesday, November 9th at 7:30pm
2-Part Author Visit & Writing Workshop
One South County Road, Brightwaters, NY
World Fantasy Convention 2010
October 28th-31st (Thursday to Sunday)
Hyatt Regency Columbus, 350 North High Street, Columbus, OH
New York Public Library
Wednesday, November 3rd from 6-7:30pm
Teen Author Reading Night with Rachel Cohn, David Levithan, Sarah Beth Durst, Barry Lyga, Lena Roy, Kieran Scott, and Scott Westerfeld
Jefferson Market Branch, 425 6th Ave (at 10th St), New York, NY
Book Revue
Sunday, November 7th at 2pm
Reading/Signing/Book Launch Party (with cake!!!)
313 New York Avenue, Huntington NY
The real reason for my dance will be obvious to anyone who has been reading this blog for a while:
October is the release month for Enchanted Ivy!!! Just 9 days left until pub date!!!
I have some book events coming up that I'm really excited about. Details are below, as well as on the Appearances page of my website. If you're in the area, I hope you'll come!
First event is this Thursday at one of my all-time favorite bookstores: Books of Wonder in NYC. I'll be appearing with Cinda Williams Chima (author of The Exiled Queen) and Yvonne Woon (author of Dead Beautiful). Here's the lovely poster:
Upcoming Appearances:
Books of Wonder
Thursday, October 7th from 6-8pm
Fantasy for Teens Reading/Signing with Cinda Williams Chima, Yvonne Woon, and Sarah Beth Durst
18 West 18th Street, New York, NY
Bay Shore-Brightwaters Public Library
Tuesday, October 26th at 7:30pm &
Tuesday, November 9th at 7:30pm
2-Part Author Visit & Writing Workshop
One South County Road, Brightwaters, NY
World Fantasy Convention 2010
October 28th-31st (Thursday to Sunday)
Hyatt Regency Columbus, 350 North High Street, Columbus, OH
New York Public Library
Wednesday, November 3rd from 6-7:30pm
Teen Author Reading Night with Rachel Cohn, David Levithan, Sarah Beth Durst, Barry Lyga, Lena Roy, Kieran Scott, and Scott Westerfeld
Jefferson Market Branch, 425 6th Ave (at 10th St), New York, NY
Book Revue
Sunday, November 7th at 2pm
Reading/Signing/Book Launch Party (with cake!!!)
313 New York Avenue, Huntington NY
September 27, 2010
In My Mailbox: Enchanted Ivy and Ice!
Look what my editor sent me!!! Finished copies of Enchanted Ivy and the paperback of Ice, both of which are coming out on October 12th.
I'm so thrilled with how these turned out and I'm so grateful to the publishing magicians at Simon & Schuster who turned my manuscripts into these beautiful books.
You can't really tell from the photo, but the Enchanted Ivy cover is all shimmery!!!!!
I'm a very lucky Sarah.
15 days until Enchanted Ivy -- and the paperback of Ice too!
I'm so thrilled with how these turned out and I'm so grateful to the publishing magicians at Simon & Schuster who turned my manuscripts into these beautiful books.
You can't really tell from the photo, but the Enchanted Ivy cover is all shimmery!!!!!
I'm a very lucky Sarah.
15 days until Enchanted Ivy -- and the paperback of Ice too!
September 20, 2010
Drink, Slay, Love
I have BIG news!
You know that Top Sekrit Project that I've been talking about? Well, it's not top secret anymore! Here's the announcement in Publishers Marketplace:
Children's: Young Adult
Sarah Beth Durst's DRINK, SLAY, LOVE, about a vampire girl who develops a conscience after she is stabbed through the heart by a unicorn's horn, to Karen Wojtyla at Margaret K. McElderry Books, in a two-book deal, by Andrea Somberg at Harvey Klinger (world).
Words cannot express how excited I am a...
You know that Top Sekrit Project that I've been talking about? Well, it's not top secret anymore! Here's the announcement in Publishers Marketplace:
Children's: Young Adult
Sarah Beth Durst's DRINK, SLAY, LOVE, about a vampire girl who develops a conscience after she is stabbed through the heart by a unicorn's horn, to Karen Wojtyla at Margaret K. McElderry Books, in a two-book deal, by Andrea Somberg at Harvey Klinger (world).
Words cannot express how excited I am a...
September 19, 2010
Enchanted Ivy Excerpt
Got a present for you. Close your eyes...
Cancel that. Forgot you can't read with your eyes closed. Okay, eyes open but imagine yourself unwrapping a box. Inside the box is... a new puppy!!!
Okay, no, just kidding. It's Chapter One of my new novel Enchanted Ivy!
"Almost there," Grandpa said.
Pressing her nose against the car window, Lily frowned at the strip malls, gas stations, and industrial parks as they rolled by. "Really?" she said. She'd expected to see something a bit more...
Cancel that. Forgot you can't read with your eyes closed. Okay, eyes open but imagine yourself unwrapping a box. Inside the box is... a new puppy!!!
Okay, no, just kidding. It's Chapter One of my new novel Enchanted Ivy!
"Almost there," Grandpa said.
Pressing her nose against the car window, Lily frowned at the strip malls, gas stations, and industrial parks as they rolled by. "Really?" she said. She'd expected to see something a bit more...
September 15, 2010
Danke Schoen
Sprechen sie deutsch?
I don't. Or really, any other language besides English, though I do know how to say "turtle" and "squid" in sign language. A full semester of it in college and that's all that stuck. Anyway, I am filled with this desire in learn German because I just found out that... (and here is where you can insert a drumroll, if you like)... a publisher in Germany has licensed the German language rights to both Ice and Enchanted Ivy! There are going to be German editions of my...
I don't. Or really, any other language besides English, though I do know how to say "turtle" and "squid" in sign language. A full semester of it in college and that's all that stuck. Anyway, I am filled with this desire in learn German because I just found out that... (and here is where you can insert a drumroll, if you like)... a publisher in Germany has licensed the German language rights to both Ice and Enchanted Ivy! There are going to be German editions of my...
September 12, 2010
Kirkus Review of Enchanted Ivy
Kirkus, Kirkus, KIRKUS!!!
Kirkus is one of the big trade publications that review books. It has a reputation for tough reviews. It also has a name that's fun to say loudly while bouncing on your desk chair after receiving the news that KIRKUS LIKED ENCHANTED IVY!!!
Here is the full review:
"Blithe and flighty at the beginning, the protagonist and plot quickly darken and deepen in this fantasy and magical coming-of-age story set at Princeton. During Reunion weekend, a mysterious group of...
Kirkus is one of the big trade publications that review books. It has a reputation for tough reviews. It also has a name that's fun to say loudly while bouncing on your desk chair after receiving the news that KIRKUS LIKED ENCHANTED IVY!!!
Here is the full review:
"Blithe and flighty at the beginning, the protagonist and plot quickly darken and deepen in this fantasy and magical coming-of-age story set at Princeton. During Reunion weekend, a mysterious group of...
September 9, 2010
Working on my Project
While attempting to work on my latest writing project, I wandered over to Laini Taylor's blog, where I found this video by Levni Yilmaz. It is genius and must be viewed by all humans. That is all.
