Congratulations to Maurissa Guibord on the release of her debut novel, Warped, from Delacorte Press!
About Warped:
Tessa doesn't believe in magic. Or Fate. But there's something weird about the dusty unicorn tapestry she discovers in a box of old books. She finds the creature woven within it compelling and frightening. After the tapestry comes into her possession, Tessa experiences dreams of the past and scenes from a brutal hunt that she herself participated in. When she accidentally pulls a thread from the tapestry, Tessa releases a terrible centuries old secret. She also meets William de Chaucy, an irresistible 16th-century nobleman. His fate is as inextricably tied to the tapestry as Tessa's own. Together, they must correct the wrongs of the past. But then the Fates step in, making a tangled mess of Tessa's life. Now everyone she loves will be destroyed unless Tessa does their bidding and defeats a cruel and crafty ancient enemy.Reviewers have already begun crowing about it. Booklist says: “Debut author Guibord easily shifts the action between de Chauncy’s 1511 Cornwall village, the timeless and forbidding forest world of the tapestry, and Tessa’s modern-day Portland, Oregon. Will’s enslavement is told in flashbacks, which builds a nice tension around the connections between Tessa and Will and allows the author to reveal details at just the right moments.”The Bulletin says: “The relationship between Tessa and Will is fraught with misunderstandings and secret longings, a standard but wholly effective formula for irresistible romance. Teens who just can’t get enough of the brooding hero and the spirited heroine will therefore do well to pick this one up.”Warped truly has something for everyone: romance, action-packed adventure, chilling and exciting unicorn and Fates mythology, and of course...a sultry villainess!Get your copy of Warped now—everyone is crowing about it!
Even though 2011 is already upon us, two Upstart Crows made huge splashes in December with their sophomore novels for teens, and we didn't want to overlook them in the welter of the new year!
First, Sarah Ockler tackles romance, secrets, betrayal and family drama in her novel Fixing Delilah, a follow-up to her debut novel Twenty Boy Summer.Fixing Delilah was recently an Amazon.com Kindle bestseller, and has been receiving a slew of rave reviews. A starred review from VOYA claims that Delilah is “one of the more realistic adolescent girls in contemporary fiction. She tells her own story in a lyrical and authentic voice; the thoughtful reader will get lost in her anguish, her triumphs, and her eventual resolution.”
Booklist says: Ockler's follow-up to 20 Boy Summer (2009) is another perfect fit for those seeking expressive writing, emotional depth, and lush, cinematic romance, cementing her comfortably next to similar teen favorites like Deb Caletti, Carolyn Mackler, and Sarah Dessen."Meanwhile, Bree Despain offers up the second entry in her Dark Divine trilogy, delving into the star-crossed love of Grace and Daniel in The Lost Saint.With hot romance, thrilling action scenes, and an incredibly unique take on the werewolf mythology—this series has it all. It is totally un-put-downable and readers have simply been eating these books up!
Kirkus says: “Despain’s fans will be pleased by the introduction of a flannel-clad hottie who is more than ready to comfort Grace during Daniel’s mysterious absences” and acknowledges the presence of “rippling muscles and naked pecs”—so be sure to pick this baby up to keep you warm on these cold winter nights!And if you haven’t read THE DARK DIVINE…shame on you! But fear not: it’s out in paperback!Huge congrats to Sarah and Bree on these fantastic new books!
The American Library Association Awards were announced this morning, and I am incredibly proud to congratulate Antony John on winning the 2011 Schneider Family Book Award for Teens for his novel Five Flavors of Dumb.
The Schneider Family Book Awards honor an author or illustrator for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.Five Flavors of Dumb is Antony’s second novel (his first was Busted: Confessions of An Accidental Player) and is published by Dial, an imprint of Penguin Books for Young Readers.
As described on the ALA website: Dumb is not the name Piper, a high school senior who is Deaf, would have chosen for a heavy metal band, yet she volunteers to manage this disparate group of would-be musicians. In her attempt to make Dumb profitable, Piper learns a few things about music and business, striking a chord within herself.This novel is so many things: an incredible portrayal of what it’s like to live with a disability, a depiction of what it feels like to confront a challenge head-on and succeed, a hysterical, laugh-out-loud rollercoaster, a tender love story, and an examination of the many different definitions of the word “family.”And the critics agree!In a starred review, Kirkus says: “Making Piper the manager of a rock band never feels like a cheap trick (pardon the pun) because Piper is not A Great Deaf Character but a great character who is deaf. Complex characterizations, authentic dialogue and realistic ups-and-downs give this title chart-topping potential.”School Library Journal says: “The parallel attention to Piper's hearing family and the strain her parents' decision to treat her sister with cochlear implants adds to the greater story and informs the novel's direction and ending in a satisfying way. Set in the Pacific Northwest, this rock-and-roll novel joins the ranks of Randy Powell's equally thoughtful Tribute to Another Dead Rock Star (Farrar, 2003) and Blake Nelson's Rock Star Superstar (Viking, 2004)Publishers Weekly says: “In this witty yet thoughtful behind-the-music account of Dumb's journey to semistardom, John (Busted: Confessions of an Accidental Player) creates a series of humorous surprises while demonstrating how Piper's deafness, which is integral to the story and never feels like a gimmick, affects her life and those of her parents and brother, who are equally complex and well-developed characters. Relying on help from unexpected sources, Piper learns important lessons about music and media hype, while growing closer to her family and friends in the process.”Please pick up your copy of FIVE FLAVORS OF DUMB today, and visit Antony at his website: http://antonyjohn.netAnd from everyone here at Upstart Crow: CONGRATULATIONS!
[Dear All— Reposting this note from last December because, well, it says it all. Why remake the wheel? Enjoy your holidays and we'll see you back here in January. —MS & CR & DC & TM]_______________________________________I am a huge fan of good design, and also a great fan of pithy expression. So it probably makes sense that Stefan Sagmeister would be a hero of mine. He has a firm in New York that has designed packaging for many things you've likely seen but not known came from his team, and he is also a creator of winningly temporary public art installations. For a few years now, he's been orchestrating a series of strange and stunning artworks that deliver aphoristic bits of wisdom (such as "Assuming is stifling," or "Helping other people helps me," or "Complaining is silly; either act or forget"), many of which have been collected in a truly gorgeous Abrams book entitled Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far. Want to give it a gander? Click on the video above. Abrams, who have never forgotten the impact of beautiful book production, show us just how beautiful a book can be—it's a series of pamphlets in a die-cut cardboard sleeve.But that's not the reason for this post. No, I'm writing because of the video I've linked to below,which is a talk Sagmeister gave via the free-lectures-by-awesome-people website TED. A deeply reflective man, Sagmeister often takes time out of the hustle of life to consider who he is and what he is doing, so as to be certain he is focusing on where the worth of his life may be. In his TED talk, he explains why he requires his team to take a year-long break every seven years. It's not about vacation, it's about rekindling one's love of the work, and about seeing in a fresh way again.And that explains, in part, why the four of us here at Upstart Crow will be taking a sabbatical of sorts beginning 15 December and extending through 23 January 2011. I will be pulling down our submissions pages and putting up "Not so fast!" notes all over the website. Anyone who sends us a note will get back a brusque but friendly note explaining that we're closed for the duration. (We will likely continue posting to this blog, but much more infrequently. Just when we can't stop ourselves.)Partly, yes, we are taking time away because of the holidays. And partly, yes, we will be taking time to clear our desks and catch up on all the work that has not gotten done before now. (For me personally, that means editing three novels, finally clearing through all of my submissions, redesigning our rights guide and putting it up on our site, and drafting a novel of my own.) We will still be doing work for our clients, of course, but much of that work is finite.The rest of the time, we'll be reflecting on where we are and where we are going, looking at the industry and what's happening, reading current books, thinking about where, exactly, we want to be in twelve months—both professionally and personally. It's been a tremendous eighteen weeks since we launched, and we want to be certain we're doing this right and not falling into habit and thoughtlessness. So we're going to take some time to think about things, to gather kindling for the fires that will keep us warm in the coming year.And then, once 24 January 2011 has rolled around on the calendar, we'll raise the shades and open the gates and be at our desks, reinvigorated for the work to come.
When Antony John informed me that he wanted to write a novel about a deaf girl who was the manager of a rock band, I thought he was… brilliant.And, as it turns out, others do too.“Making Piper the manager of a rock band never feels like a cheap trick (pardon the pun) because Piper is not A Great Deaf Character but a great character who is deaf. Complex characterizations, authentic dialogue and realistic ups-and-downs give this title chart-topping potential”—Kirkus, Starred Review“In this witty yet thoughtful behind-the-music account of Dumb's journey to semistardom, John (Busted: Confessions of an Accidental Player) creates a series of humorous surprises while demonstrating how Piper's deafness, which is integral to the story and never feels like a gimmick, affects her life and those of her parents and brother, who are equally complex and well-developed characters. Relying on help from unexpected sources, Piper learns important lessons about music and media hype, while growing closer to her family and friends in the process”—Publishers WeeklyHuge congrats on the release day for Five Flavors of Dumb—which is actually quite smart, incredibly charming, and wonderfully feel good.Everyone at Upstart Crow is incredibly proud of this novel. Get your copy now!
Looking for a little light reading/book chat/way to procrastinate whatever tasks are on your to-do list today? Head on over to the excellent Mother.Write. (Repeat.) blog, where I'll be answering reader questions about all things books until 5pm. today.
I’m currently in the process of finishing up intensive manuscript revisions with several of my clients. And since I’m a total geek, I think it’s a whole lotta fun. But I’m not so sure my clients agree with me, at least not at this particular moment in time.
Giving editorial advice and doing revisions with clients is a large part of my job, and I take it quite seriously. That’s why, even when I sign clients whose manuscripts are in fine shape, I have them do at least one round of revision before I submit their project to publishers.Why am I so keen on revision? Is it because I enjoy being a slave driver? Because I’m addicted to the pretty colors that pop up on the screenwhen I use track changes? No and no. You see, editors are constantly bombarded with manuscripts—way more projects than they could ever hope to accommodate on their seasonal publishing lists. For that reason, editors say no to many more projects than they say yes to. Which is why it’s of utmost importance for a manuscript to be in tip-top shape before sending it out to publishers. It helps you stand out from the pile, rather than getting lost in it.When I begin an edit with an author, and sometimes even before I sign them, I give them some variation of this speech: Before I submit your book to publishers, I’m going to edit it. At the beginning of the edit, you’re going to love me. Somewhere around the halfway point, you’re going to start to think I’m annoying and picky. About three-quarters of the way, you’re going to hate my guts. And by the end, you’ll love me again.At this point, I have a couple of authors in the three-quarters stretch. I know they’re tired. I know they dread seeing my name pop up in their inboxes, asking for more changes here or there. I know they feel like they’re going to rip their hair out if they have to look at their manuscript for another second. I know that every time they see my yellow highlights and my wordy little track changes, complete with my over-use of inspirational exclamation points (it’s a writing tic of mine!), they feel like calling me up and telling me where to stick my suggestions.But that’s okay with me. I can live with them shaking their fists at me or ranting about me on Twitter or to their writing groups. What I can’t live with is sending a manuscript out into the world that’s in less-than-nearly perfect shape.These days, editors have plenty of reasons to say no, even to manuscripts that show flashes of greatness. It’s not my job to give editors reasons to say no. It’s my job to give them a reason to say yes.And so: Revisions.You may hate me for it now, but you’ll love me for it later.What about you? Do you enjoy revising your work? Do you have any revision tricks or tips that you use to get through the process?
Do you like books? Do you love books? Do you have more of the damned things than you know what to do with? More than you can read in a lifetime? Do you sacrifice the love of spouses, friends, pets, whatever because of the many volumes that clutter your home like snowdrifts after a blizzard?Well, my friend, join the sorry ranks of us book-loving fools. And take shelving inspiration from the awesome pictures at Bookshelf Porn, a website dedicated to ... well, to what its name suggests: Photographs of groovy bookshelves. Up there and to the right is Karl Lagerfeld's bookshelf in his apartment. (He also owns the bookstore next door, which I suppose you can afford when you're a super-wealthy creepy looking living dead fashion designer). But there are just as many other cool/strange/head-scratching shelves on the site. Makes you want to redesign your home, doesn't it?
Hey folks! If you're in the greater New York area this weekend and find yourself pining for great books, cupcakes, or moustaches, feel free to come out to a really terrific event at Books of Wonder.On Sunday the 10th of 2010 (10/10/10) at 1 pm, Books of Wonder will be hosting ten authors whose debut books came out in '10. And just to make it even more special, they've added an eleventh author in Amber Benson, who you may know from her days playing Tara Maclay on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show. The real stars of the event in our 100% biased opinion, however, will be Upstart Crows Shaun David Hutchinson and Josh Berk (pictured below), who will each be reading from and signing their books for legions of screaming fans. The complete list of participants:
And now for the real reason you came to this blog post: Josh Berk and Shaun David Hutchinson, reimagined with Tom Selleck moustaches. Hope to see you there!
Special congratulations are in order to Antony John, whose upcoming teen novel Five Flavors of Dumb just received its first review—a starred one from Kirkus!Typically, we'd wait until the book appears in stores to ballyhoo a starred review, but we're just so jazzed about this novel that we thought we'd share the good word early. Here's what the smart folks over at Kirkus have to say:
Piper—gutsy, savvy and, yes, deaf—has signed her way into a gig that promises a big, necessary payoff: manager of Dumb, Seattle’s Battle of the Bands winners. Seething with resentment and feelings of inadequacy after her parents raid her college account to pay for her baby sister’s cochlear implants, Piper is determined to shape both Dumb’s future and her own. Piper’s struggles and growth as a manager—she is initially hampered by lack of both experience with intra-band politics and knowledge about music—enjoy realistic treatment, as do her nuanced relationships with family members and the super-talented and adorable Ed Chen. As Piper learns about Seattle’s rock heroes (Cobain and Hendrix), she sees both the band Dumb could be if they would choose rocking over fighting and the person she will become once she truly owns her deafness. Making Piper the manager of a rock band never feels like a cheap trick (pardon the pun) because Piper is not A Great Deaf Character but a great character who is deaf. Complex characterizations, authentic dialogue and realistic ups-and-downs give this title chart-topping potential.
Visit Antony and learn more about how to be DUMB @ antonyjohn.net