Giveaway Winners + Announcements

Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway for the two copies of Worst Nightmares by Shane Briant! The winners are, out of 77 entries:

#40 Mark

#57 minishoes1

Congratulations, guys! I've sent emails to you two so please get back to me soon with your name and address.

Related to Worst Nightmares is this press release about the fourth annual ThrillerFest 2009 that will be taking place in New York City from July 8-11 (that's this Wednesday through Saturday). If you're interested in meeting famous and upcoming thriller authors, you should check this out!

“From our first event in Phoenix to our new home in Manhattan, ThrillerFest has grown into an industry-wide phenomenon. Beyond the networking opportunities and the many workshops, the true heart of the conference is the intense camaraderie that develops among writers, readers and publishing professionals. It simply should not be missed.”

--James Rollins, bestselling author and ITW co-president

“Once a year, the country’s top thriller writers get together with agents, reviewers, readers, and aspiring authors to mingle, chat, grouse, eat, drink, and talk shop. It’s a great opportunity for devotees of the thriller genre—readers and writers alike—to make connections, mingle with authors, pitch manuscripts and meet agents.”

--Douglas Preston, bestselling author and ITW boardmember

THRILLERFEST 2009 BRINGS MASTERS OF THRILLS, CHILLS, MURDER AND MAYHEM TO THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS

Literature’s Most Thrilling Artists Hit NYC at the Grand Hyatt, July 8-11

The city’s dark alleys will get even darker when the most spine-tingling and pulse-pounding event of the year for fiction’s most popular genre returns to the Big Apple. ThrillerFest 2009 promises to be the biggest yet with over 200 of the best-loved and bestselling authors invading The Grand Hyatt in New York from July 8-11 for a four-day extravaganza to mix and mingle with fellow shock-smiths, budding writers and fans.

Now in its fourth year, ThrillerFest is the brainchild of International Thriller Writers, Inc. (ITW). According to Jon Land, Vice President of Marketing for ITW, ThrillerFest is unique for its spirit of camaraderie and openness. "Where else can fans and aspiring writers mix and mingle with some of the biggest names in the business?" he says. "Not only can writers further hone and develop their craft, but they can also learn the ins and outs of the entire publishing business." Land adds how meeting his own idol, David Morrell, at the first ThrillerFest in Phoenix, inspired him to no end, calling it "a dream come true." Land stresses the friendly, informal atmosphere makes ThrillerFest a special experience for readers and fans.

One of the highlights of the event is the coveted ThrillerMaster Award, recognizing outstanding contribution to the thriller genre. This year’s winner is noted author David Morrell, widely considered the “father” of the contemporary action novel with his 1974 debut First Blood (which introduced the character of Rambo to the world). The award celebrates Morrell’s amazing career, spanning 37 years and 28 novels published in dozens of languages across the globe. "He's the finest thriller writer working today," says Steve Berry, one of ITW's current co-presidents. "Every one of us owes him a debt of gratitude and many, myself included, learned how to craft a novel from studying his work. He is, quite simply, the best."

The prestigious Silver Bullet Award, recognizing outstanding achievement in the encouragement of literacy and the love of reading, will be presented to the #1 New York Times bestselling suspense novelist Brad Meltzer (The Book of Fate). Recipients are chosen on an annual basis representing the corporate, literary and entertainment worlds with past winners including authors David Baldacci and R.L. Stine, publisher Tom Doherty, actor Tony Plana (Ugly Betty), the Nestle Company, Capital One and Macy's.

Additional bestselling spotlight guests that will attend are last year’s ThrillerMaster award recipient Sandra Brown as well as Robin Cook, Katherine Neville, and David Baldacci.

The four-day event includes numerous author signings, a complete bookstore on premises, a cocktail party and reception for readers, a roasting of Clive Cussler, and a breakfast featuring first-time authors. The highlight is the annual ThrillerFest Awards Banquet, which this year will take place at Cipriani, one of New York City’s most spectacular event venues.
Some of the biggest names in the genre will be holding court with interactive panel sessions, including Kathleen Antrim, Steve Berry, Peter Rubie, William Bernhardt, James Rollins, Barry Eisler, Andrew Gross, David Hewson, Jon Land, Eric Van Lustbader, Gayle Lynds, Steve Martini, Donald Maass, Joan Johnston and many more.

ThrillerFest runs in conjunction with AgentFest, in which aspiring writers pitch their work to more than forty top literary agents, and CraftFest, offering workshops with best-selling authors. Some CraftFest workshops presented this year are “Living on the Ritz - How to Hit the Times List in Five Years or Less" with Lisa Gardner; “Creating a Series Character” with Lee Child; and “How – and Why - to Write Thrillers for Young Readers” with R.L. Stine.

Registration for ThrillerFest is open to everyone (ITW members and non-members alike). There are three separately-priced packages: CraftFest/AgentFest on Wednesday July 8; the ThrillerFest Conference from July 9 - July 11; and the Thriller Awards Banquet at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 11. A complete events package is also available as well as day passes. Details and a date/rate schedule can be found at www.thrillerfest.com.

About ThrillerFest

ThrillerFest was established to bestow recognition and promote the thriller genre at an innovative and superior level for and through the Active Members of ITW; to provide opportunities for mentoring, education and collegiality among thriller authors and industry professionals; and to grant awards for excellence in the thriller genre.

2009 Thriller Award Nominees:

Best Thriller of the Year
Hold Tight by Harlan Coben
The Bodies Left Behind by Jeffery Deaver
The Broken Window by Jeffery Deaver
The Dark Tide by Andrew Gross
The Last Patriot by Brad Thor

Best First Novel
Calumet City by Charlie Newton
Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith
Criminal Paradise by Steven Thomas
Sacrifice by S. J. Bolton
The Killer's Wife by Bill Floyd

Best Short Story
Between the Dark and the Daylight by Tom Piccirilli (Ellery Queen Magazine)
Last Island South by John C. Boland (Ellery Queen Magazine)
The Edge of Seventeen by Alexandra Sokoloff (The Darker Mask)
The Point Guard by Jason Pinter (Killer Year Anthology)
Time of the Green by Ken Bruen (Killer Year Anthology)

Featured Blogger (11): Mya of Dissecting Perfection!

You might remember Mya of Dissecting Perfection from winning my Support Teen Lit giveaway with her fantastic entry how she keeps on reading even while traveling everywhere. A while later she asked me to contribute to this awesome Summer YA Playlist that a lot of other bloggers and authors have contributed to! (You should check it out--lots of new songs for your summer playlist there!) Well, as I've gotten to know her more and more, she really struck me as a kindred spirit of sorts. Read this interview to find out why. :)

1. Welcome, Mya! Tell us about yourself in a few short sentences.

I’m not a teen anymore but you won’t catch anyone calling me an adult either! I’m a student and a research assistant – basically a science geek who loves to write. I’m a photographer but am deathly afraid of being photographed. I want to grow up to be a radio show host, an author, the next American Idol, a magazine editor, Nigella Lawson, a New Yorker, or Steph Su ;o)

2. Oh hah hah hah, you're hilarious, Mya. :P Tell us about your blog. When did you start it and why? Where did the name come from? What interesting things can visitors expect?

Dissecting Perfection is only a few months old in practice, but it was actually born years ago. I went to a women’s college, so my friends and I spent a lot of time talking about icky, girly things like feelings and guys and clothes, only in a more intellectual context. One day someone started talking about how all these fictitious lawyers would make a great substitute for her law student and world-class douchebag of a boyfriend at the time, and that sparked a whole discussion about how popular fictitious characters would fare as real-life guys. That got my brain rolling for a “hot-or-not” for fiction. I get less time to write character profiles these days, but that was the basic premise for the blog initially! There will be more, I promise. In the meantime, visitors can enjoy my incredibly amateur-ish reviews, which are more my thoughts on a book and recommendations from a friend. As for the name, I think my blog’s banner explains it better than words could!

3. A while ago you compiled a summer music playlist from the recommendations of authors and bloggers. How important is music to you, and how do you see it affecting your life?

Oooh, that playlist was marvelous fun. Music is my life! I know that’s a cliché thing to say these days, but I really and truly couldn’t function without music. I have to have something playing in my lab, while I write, while I read, while I drive… even as I fall asleep. Every song evokes a certain feeling, and every song tells a story, no matter how many times you listen to it. I’m kind of the female equivalent of Owen Armstrong (Just Listen), anger management issues included! Also, I’m insanely bad at making friends, so my friends are usually people who connect with me based on my playlists or my jukebox picks. As Owen said: “[…]music is the great uniter. An incredible force. Something that people who differ on everything and anything else can have in common.”

4. Aw, that's a nice quote. (And also, I can't believe you actually found a quote to use in your interview, you crazy nerdy person, hehehe.) Quick! Name 3 favorite books and why you think everyone should read them.

Oh God, three?! That’s just evil. Okay 3 books (not including series), real quick:

• If I Stay – Gayle Forman: This was one of the books you sent me! I think it’s an absolutely gorgeous, thought-provoking novel that applies to anyone who’s experienced any kind of loss or failure. Do you give up or do you pick up the pieces and fight on? It’s a stunner, and a guaranteed tearjerker!

• Winnie the Pooh – A.A. Milne: Okay, don’t laugh. I’m dead serious about this one. It’s one of the very few books from my childhood that I’ve kept (alongside my Dr. Seuss collection) and I bought a copy for each of my sisters when they finished the first grade. Why? Because Christopher Robin’s the kid in all of us, and it’s a lifelong reassurance that having a healthy imagination and hare-brained ideas is actually a good thing. Forget Disney, this is the real essence of Pooh!

• My Sister’s Keeper – Jodi Picoult: When I was growing up, John Grisham and law stories were a huge part of my life. So when I first heard about Jodi Picoult, I was immediately drawn to her work, because it’s essentially Grisham with a slightly more feminine, emotional touch. My Sister’s Keeper is one of her best novels ever, notable for its multiple POVs, stunning dialogue and an absolutely heartbreaking premise. Read this BEFORE you watch the movie, I beg you!


5. As you wrote in your winning entry for my giveaway, you've had an unusual childhood, traveling the world constantly. What are some of the best things you got out of your unique experience?

That’s a no-brainer. My favorite part of traveling was always the people I met and the amazing friends I made. I still have “best friends” in all parts of the world, and I’m insanely grateful for every single one of them. They’ve made me who I am today. Being able to share thoughts on books, music and life in general with all kinds of people all over the world – that’s what I live for, even on the web.

6. What is your dream pet?

Sigh. I love animals (especially puppies!). But I can’t have pets because of a) my dad’s allergies, and b) how much I travel *sadface*. My sister adopted a kitty for a while not long ago, though, and I loved him to pieces for the month he got to live with us! My dream pet, I guess, would be anything that’s easy to transport overseas (sea monkeys, perhaps?)

7. Sea monkeys are definitely transportable. They're hard to kill off, too. :) Which current YA author would you love to meet, and what would you talk to him or her about?

Oh wow, there’s so many I’d like to meet. I’d probably be too starstruck to do more than stare at them in awe, though. J.K. Rowling, Diana Peterfreund, Sarah Dessen, Melissa Walker or Megan McCafferty because they’re old favorites. Jenn Echols, Cindy Pon, Sarah MacLean, Gayle Forman, Saundra Mitchell, etc because I’m in total awe of them and their work. Almost ALLLLLL of the Tenners because I have about a million questions for each of them. Trish Doller because I want to steal her (still unpublished) book and also to extricate the details of this mysterious sekrit Team Llama project she has going on… (I heart llamas, FYI)

8. What are some things you just LOVE to receive for presents? :)

LOL umm, hey, let me think about that for a while =P BOOKS! ALWAYS! But I enjoy electronic gadgets, watches, pens and bags, too. (In that order) Plane tickets are nice, too.

9. And finally, tell us 2 interesting/strange things about yourself that can spark conversation.

I can speak 8 languages and have 18 different accents (bonus: when I panic, I think/speak in everything at once!). And I started first grade at the age of 3.5, which was the first time I found out I was a girl, not a guy. (In my defense, I had the horrendous haircut and the clothes that had me and many strangers fooled. Plus all of my older cousins are guys, and they were the only possible species of children that I knew at that age!)

Thank you Steph! I had a fantastic time answering all these questions! You are amazing. ☺

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No, thank YOU, Mya! That was much fun to read! She has several giveaways going on right now that you might be interested in, and Tenners, she's a huge supporter of you guys! Stop by Dissecting Perfection and tell her I say hello! :)

Review: Project Sweet Life by Brent Hartinger

Tags: middle grade, YA, boys, boys, friendship, summer, treasure hunt

Rating: 3 out of 5

Summary

Dave and his friends Curtis and Victor are fifteen, which is the last age when having a summer job is optional. However, when all their dads insist that they get summer jobs, they know that their last summer of freedom is now officially over.

Enter Project Sweet Life, the three friends’ attempt to make their dads THINK they have jobs while they are actually simply going to raise enough money to not have to take real summer jobs! Raising seven thousand dollars can’t be that hard, right? But as their end-of-summer deadline looms and they’re forced to lie even more to their parents, it seems as if even more and more of their schemes fail.

Will they be able to raise the money they need to have one last work-free summer, or will they be punished by never being allowed to see one another ever again?

Review

PROJECT SWEET LIFE is fast-paced, funny, and a bit over-the-top ridiculous. But what can you expect, when the novel stars three hyperactive, slightly ADD, and overdramatic adolescent boys? Their frenetic scheming and failing occurs at a rapid-fire case that occasionally gave me headaches, but despite the too-fast-for-my-liking plot, I found myself cheering for Dave and his friends at the end.

Not everyone may share my problem with the plot and pacing, but I found myself too suddenly thrown into the story, into these crazy boys’ minds and actions. In the course of about 40 pages in the beginning, the boys have already gone through about three tried-and-failed moneymaking schemes. The speed of their plotting made me dizzy at first, but it got better once the story settled down into the exploration of their city of Tacoma, Washington. And by the end, I was definitely caught up with what was happening to the boys. PROJECT SWEET LIFE has a fantastic finale, the kind that is not too predictable and yet sweet enough to make readers smile and nod and say, “Yes, that is what you deserve.”

Dave, Curtis, and Victor are like the Three Musketeers, each with their separate personality. Curtis is the outgoing and talkative one, while Victor is the quieter, more geeky friend, and Dave is somewhere in between. Their different personalities don’t show themselves as well as other, similar group-of-male-friends-as-protagonists novels, but since the focus of this book is on its plot, it worked out alright in the end.

So I didn’t really like PROJECT SWEET LIFE, as too-fast pace and ridiculous schemes concocted by teenage boys are not really my thing. However, this book would make a great present for a middle school boy, one who can relate to the hyperactivity and drama of three male friends scheming to make money and thwart their parents.

Similar Authors

Don Calame (Swim the Fly)

Writing: 4/5

Characters: 3/5

Plot: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3 out of 5

Cover discussion: 3 out of 5 - So I'm not really sure what it's supposed to be a picture of, but I like the title treatment, the placement of the tagline, and the boy. It will appeal to its intended audience (middle school boys), I'm pretty sure.

Thank you, Brent, for allowing me to review your book!

Waiting on Wednesday (19)

Two this week because A) I missed last week, and B) holy cow, I've been discovering some wonderful-sounding books recently!

Dani Noir by Nova Ren Suma

Zoom in on thirteen-year-old Dani Callanzano. The summer before eighth grade, Dani is stuck in her nothing-ever-happens town with only her favorite noir mysteries at the Little Art movie theatre to keep her company. But one day a real-life mystery begins to unravel—at the Little Art! And it all has something to do with a girl in polka-dot tights... Armed with a vivid imagination, a flair for the dramatic, and a knowledge of all things Rita Hayworth, Dani sets out to solve the mystery and learns more about herself than she ever thought she would.

From the synopsis, this doesn't seem like the kind of story that would immediately grab my attention. But after seeing a number of praising reviews, especially Courtney Summers' on Goodreads, I'm definitely intrigued. Middle-grade fiction is kind of hit-or-miss with me, but I definitely want to read this one now that one of my most admired authors has given it her support!

(Also, cover wow. Love the purple accents in the other black-and-white scene.)

Dani Noir will be published in hardcover by Scholastic on September 22, 2009.

Ice by Sarah Beth Durst

When Cassie was a little girl, her grandmother told her a fairytale about her mother, who made a deal with the Polar Bear King and was swept away to the ends of the earth to become a prisoner of the trolls. Now that Cassie is older, she knows that this was a nice way of saying her mother had died. Cassie lives with her father at an Arctic research station, she is determined to become a scientist, and she has no time for make believe.

Then, on her eighteenth birthday, Cassie comes face to face with a polar bear who speaks to her. He tells her that her mother is alive, imprisoned in the troll castle. And that he can bring her back--if Cassie will agree to be his bride.

That is the beginning of Cassie's own real-life fairytale, one that sends her on an unbelievable journey across the brutal Arctic, through the Canadian boreal forest, and on the back of the North Wind to the land east of the sun and west of the moon. Before it is over, the world she knew will be swept away, and everything she holds dear will be taken from her--until she discovers the true meaning of love and family in the magical realm of Ice.

Ice is a retelling of a fairy tale / legend that's been told by authors such as Edith Pattou before, in her book, East. (Er, at least I'm pretty sure this is the story...if I'm not, Sarah, help me out please? *smiles*) I've never read the story of East of the Sun, West of the Moon, but I am a huge fan of retellings, and Sarah's previous books, Into the Wild and Out of the Wild, have gotten rave reviews. (ItW is patiently sitting on my bookshelf, waiting to be read.)

Plus, have you taken a look at that cover?? Wow! The blue tones, the title treatment... it's gorgeous. An eye-catcher for sure.

Ice will be published by Margaret K. McElderry on October 6, 2009.

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What are YOU waiting on today? :)