Author Guest Post: Jeff Szpirglas

Evil Eye Origins

Evil Eye is the novel I’ve wanted to write since I was 12, and never thought would ever see the light of day. It’s about a boy whose eyeball becomes possessed, takes on the ability to pop out of its socket, and float off and do nasty things. Making it worse, our hero can see it all happen – both from the eye in his head, and the disembodied one up to no good. I admit the plot gets pretty weird after that.

The genesis of Evil Eye dates back to my university days, when I rabidly consumed as many movies as possible. We’re talking upwards of at least one movie a day, sometimes three. I was a sponge, soaking in everything from Jean Cocteau to Akira Kurosawa and beyond. But it was the films of David Cronenberg and Brian De Palma that I connected to in an almost visceral way. De Palma in particular developed a style that was often ridiculed because of the way he aped Hitchcock. Despite wearing his influences on his sleeve, De Palma’s horror films from this period (Sisters, Phantom of the Paradise, Dressed To Kill) have a gleeful mania, cutting sense of humor, and artful compositions.

Evil Eye is the movie in my head that little Jeff yearned to see, answering that age-old question: what if your eye could pop out of your head, levitate through the air, and stare back at you? I envisioned a De Palmaesque split screen sequence in which a hero fought his own disembodied eyeball with a tennis racket. Movie audiences would see both images at once, just like Jake, the story’s hero.

Back in school, some people were trying to write the next great American novel; but this sort of lurid schlock truly fed my soul. I’ve always gravitated towards movies and stories that married gutsy comedy with legitimate scares – movies like Re-Animator, Creepshow, and An American Werewolf In London. Both horror and comedy rely on timing and payoff to give their audiences something unexpected. Each genre has its bag of tricks and distinct rhythms. I admire storytellers who try to pull the rug from under their audiences, substituting shocks for laughs, and vice-versa. Horror movie plots are often cyclical, reminding us that evil recurs over and over again. But that doesn’t mean we can’t laugh at our fears and failures (mortal and all) along the way.

There’s a sub-genre of horror in which disembodied body parts come to life: The Hand, The Crawling Eye, They Saved Hitler’s Brain, Dr. Terror’s House Of Horrors – I’m not saying these are cinematic classics, but I wanted to take the genre to its ultimate limits, much in the same way that composer Jim Steinman wanted to take motorcycle crash songs to their apex in Bat out of Hell. Some of my favorite parts of Evil Eye involve our hero Jake on his bike, chasing his own runaway eye, trying to process both images in his brain and stay balanced on his bike.

The ultimate goal for Evil Eye? Scare kids hard, and scare them silly. I looked to R. L. Stine’s Goosebumps, and wanted to take that kind of E.C. Comics-style horror to the edge. I wanted to make the monsters real and scary, but still keep the laughs and fill the plot with weird twists and turns.

Chances are, if you’re into the sort of genre fiction in which vampiric adolescents stare lovingly into each other’s otherworldly eyes, you’ll hate my novel. But if you have a zeal for bodysnatching monsters who take over bits and pieces of their human hosts, graveyards hidden within graveyards, and blood-curdling schemes of global domination, then I think you’ll dig this book. Not that I’m biased.

Jeff Szpirglas has had a varied career. He's shoveled manure, worked in a steelyard (he hails from Hamilton, after all), and even frolicked in the offices at CTV Television and Chirp, chickaDEE, and OWL magazines, where he was the kids' page editor. His manure-shoveling days long behind him, Jeff currently teaches children by day and writes books/fights supervillains by night. Visit his Facebook to learn more about his writing.

Thanks so much to Jeff for stopping by In The Next Room! Evil Eye sounds like a charming and scary novel perfect for middle grade readers.

Author Guest Post: Tatjana Soli

The Second First Novel

Readers can be forgiven for believing that books are published easily, that authors take a grand view of the world around them, choose a subject — mix and bake — and two years later a beautiful new book appears. The reality, like life, is always much messier and more complicated.

I’d devoted a good six years off-and-on to writing my first novel, The Lotus Eaters, about a photojournalist in Vietnam. The book had been roundly rejected, and my agent told me none too gently (he’s of the tough-love school) that I needed to move on and write something new. I was in mourning. The first lines in The Forgetting Tree are Octavio’s, but to a much lesser extent my own feelings of loss at the time were mirrored in his.

But he also was in mourning for the missing boy. Did they not see?

What I did during this difficult period in my life is the same thing I do almost every day when home — take long walks in the regional park where I live. When I first moved to this area in Southern California, one could walk through orange, avocado, and eucalyptus groves and rarely run into another person. It was incredibly beautiful and peaceful except that over the years it began to change. A eucalyptus grove on top of a hill where we used to picnic is now a gated, luxury development where we can no longer walk. The flat, sandy bed where my puppy loved to run is now paved road. One of the most painful sights that I can remember was driving past bulldozers tearing out orange trees. This scene found its way into the book:

Each tree was an individual, with a personality, and this treatment seemed a desecration of nature. When the trees were dead… bulldozers came and tore their roots from the earth, piling them into big heap from where they were trucked away to be shredded for compost.

One of my favorite writers, J.M. Coetzee, writes, “To imagine the unimaginable” is the writer’s duty. Novels grow from complex root systems. I don’t know what the turning point was, but during those walks in the groves the story of the Baumsarg ranch, and the struggle of its owner, Claire, against the dark forces that confronted her began to form in my mind. Hers was a family torn apart by tragedy and time. The crown jewel, though, was Minna, who appeared to me like the Indian god Shiva, both creator and destroyer, concealer and revealer, ultimately unknowable. At this stage these were all simply pieces that would take months to put together into a story, but they captured my imagination.

The tree had not resurrected — rather, its life was simply hidden to the eye, beating deep in the soil, trembling within the roots hairs, in sap, wood, and bark.

So I wrote my “second” first novel not with the idea of an audience, or the idea of it being published, but because the story burned inside me, and the writing of it was the thing that fulfilled me as a writer. As I finished a first draft of this book about Claire and her search for redemption, I got the surprise call of my life that my first novel had sold. Was I ecstatic? Of course. But I had already proved to myself that even during the most fallow times, story could appear mysteriously. What made one a writer ultimately was the daily laying of those words on the page.

Tatjana Soli is a novelist and short story writer. Her bestselling debut novel, THE LOTUS EATERS, winner of the James Tait Black Prize, was a New York Times Notable Book, and finalist for the LA Times Book Award, among other honors. Visit her website, http://www.tatjanasoli.com/index.html to learn more about her two novels.

Thanks so much to Tatjana for stopping by In The Next Room again!  A review of her debut novel, The Lotus Eaters, can be found on In The Next Room here. Her guest post on Writing Near History can be found here. A review of her second novel, The Forgetting Tree, can be found on In The Next Room here.

Author Caitlin Rother on Interviewing Killers For a Living

I interviewed my first accused killer in June 1994, when I’d been a newspaper reporter for about seven years and was covering mental illness in California jails and prisons. It was long before I knew as much as I do now about the criminal justice system, mental illness and how the criminal mind works.

It was so long ago that I’d forgotten his name and just had to look up the story I wrote about him for The San Diego Union-Tribune – it was Juan Galvan. But I still remember how he looked in the fluorescent light of the George F. Bailey Detention Center in Otay Mesa, and a few details about his case: This guy was paranoid schizophrenic, and he’d been sent home on a bus from state prison to his Spanish-speaking parents’ house in the Golden Hill area of San Diego with a vial of prescription meds, which he, not surprisingly, lost on the bus.

When I talked with him, Galvan was awaiting trial on charges that he’d attacked and murdered a number of people in his neighborhood park. Uneducated and with limited English-language skills, his parents didn’t seem to understand mental illness and didn’t know what to do when their son sat on the sofa chain-smoking through a blowhole between his pulled-down hat and turned-up collar and didn’t know who they were. Or when he locked himself in the boiler room, which he’d made up to look like a solitary prison cell, played sad Mexican songs, or talked to the birds in the back yard. I remember quite clearly that his skin had a green cast in the light of the county jail, and I wasn’t sure if it was because he was not well or if it was just the artificial lighting.

Galvan, who didn’t believe he was mentally ill, told me he was “confident, optimistic” about his case because he did not commit the crimes. “I know everything’s going to be all right,” he said.

His parents believed in his innocence as well, that it was a conspiracy by law enforcement to blame their son for the murders. “If he was guilty we would know it,” his father told me. “He lived here and never did anything to us.”

Fast forward to 2012. I’m no longer a daily newspaper reporter, but a New York Times bestselling author, working on my seventh true crime book as I’m promoting my newest book, LOST GIRLS, which was just released July 3, about the rape and murder of Chelsea King and Amber Dubois by sexual predator John Gardner.

Suffice it to say, I’ve learned a lot about the criminal mind and the criminal justice system since 1994, but some things still haven’t changed: Even the convicted killers are still telling me that they’re innocent, or in Gardner’s case, that it wasn’t all his fault – that he tried to seek treatment to stop himself before he killed again. It’s unclear how hard he tried, but I did check out his claims, and was horrified to learn that there are NO substance abuse or mental health treatment beds in San Diego County that will take a convicted sex offender like him.

He and his mother did try to get him committed at a public psychiatric hospital in Riverside County, but because the laws regulating the admission of patients under the imminent danger law are so arcane, the doctor reportedly didn’t believe Gardner qualified as 5150 – someone who is deemed to be in imminent danger of harming himself or others – he sent him on his way with two vials of prescription medications. About a week later, Gardner went on a near fatal suicidal drug binge and then another week later, he raped and killed his second victim, 17-year-old Chelsea King.

Just recently, I headed up for a sentencing hearing in Orange County for Nanette Packard and Eric Naposki, two former lovers who were convicted recently of conspiring to kill Nanette’s multimillionaire boyfriend Bill McLaughlin back in 1994, the same year, coincidentally, that I was interviewing Galvan. I’ve interviewed Naposki twice now for more than seven hours and he is a charming, friendly guy. A real talker. A former linebacker in the NFL and also the World Football League, Naposki is a really big guy, who joked with me and flexed his enormous Popeye-esque biceps to prove that he doesn’t need steroids to be big.

When he wasn’t regaling me with stories of his winning tryout for the New England Patriots or background about his career in security and his two failed marriages, he was explaining to me how Packard had hired a hit man to kill McLaughlin – and it wasn’t Naposki, who was named the shooter by police and prosecutors, and then last July by a jury.

Naposki’s lawyers have spent months putting together a motion asking for a new trial, saying his first one wasn’t fair because evidence that would have proven his innocence has long been destroyed, witnesses have died, etc. So, as it turned out, he wasn’t sentenced that day, to give the defense more time to respond to the due process/new trial motion his attorneys have just filed.

Unlike Gardner and other convicted killers I’ve written books about, Naposki isn’t mentally ill. The case against him is murder for financial gain, a “special circumstance” allegation that made him eligible for the death penalty. And he has changed his story multiple times.

But what people need to understand – and why they can learn from reading my books – is that killers, whether they’ve been convicted or not, don’t have a big sign on their forehead or a greenish hue to their skin. Gardner won an award in school as “Best Conversationalist,” and could be quite friendly and seem nonthreatening – whether he was at the dog park, or on the hiking trial. Just 90 minutes before he killed Chelsea King, he was perched on a rock in the Rancho Bernardo Community Park, drinking beer, smoking cigarettes and chatting with a woman, who was out running with her dogs, about the live rattlesnake he used as a ruse to get her into a conversation.

Like all three men I’ve interviewed since April 2009 -- Eric Naposki, John Gardner and Skylar Deleon – some killers can seem quite charming. They are manipulative by nature. Two of them have sung to me during the interviews. They try to play me and persuade me that they are good people as I ask them probing questions that try to uncover their secrets without them knowing and to reveal who they really are. My author friend Laurel Corona, a fellow SDWW member, says I’m brave, but frankly, I just find it fascinating.

My writing students at UCSD Extension asked me if I confront these men and call them on their lies, and I said no, not always. As Naposki put it, I play devil’s advocate, point out when they contradict themselves or say things that don’t make sense, but I know that if I become too confrontational they will shut down and the interview will be over. Or they just won’t trust me and won’t let their true colors show. So I let them say what they want, then I come around and ask what I want to ask.

It’s a subtle exercise of psychological gamesmanship, which I always find interesting. But my goal is to show readers a three-dimensional picture of these people. I’ll let my readers decide if I come away with the winning stuff.

Thanks so much to Caitlin for stopping by In The Next Room! For more information about Caitlin Rother, please visit her website at http://caitlinrother.com, follow her on Twitter, @caitlinrother, or “like” her author’s page on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Caitlin-Rother/190361197708434

Author Genevieve Graham on Where the Writing Happens

There are almost 90,000 words in “Sound of the Heart”. Isn’t that wild? This blog post is less than 500. And yet as I was writing, there were so many more. I had to edit it back. So it kind of begs the question: Where do all those words come from?

Ah. I’m so glad you asked. Because that’s something I’d like to know as well!

It’s probably easiest to start with the physical. When I write, I head into my quiet office (which my husband assembled for me) with a cup of tea. I light a couple of candles … then stare at my computer screen.

Tour from left:

• Usually I have tea there, but we’re having a bit of a heat wave lately, so I’m going with ice water. No, that is not vodka.
• Basket of pens, most of which don’t work.
• Hershey kisses. Yeah, so?
• Candles (at least one). I like these new dangling square ones I picked up a few weeks ago, but they’re expensive so I only burn them on special occasions.
• Computer (this is the third laptop I’ve owned since 2007. I’m a big Mac believer now).
• Cat carving which my beloved husband made for me. I’m a dog person, but he says I collect so much stuff (yes, I’m disorganized) that he calls me a Cat Lady. I just like it because he made it.

The entire wall in front of me is a huge world map, which I sometimes use to distract me when I need something new and entertaining in my head. Like when I see “Farafangana” in Madagascar and wonder what kind of stuff goes on there. You know. Very important stuff.

Right. Now onto the writing part. Like I said, I stare at the computer screen, and I kind of wait. I think, in a way, I meditate, though there are no ohms or soothing imaginings going on in my world.

Actually, my dog, Murphy, occasionally does ohms. Kind of like a “Poor me, what a hard life I lead” kind of a comment.

Then the words start flowing, and it’s absolute magic. Sometimes the pictures are so clear in my head, I feel like I’m channelling the stories. Words literally fly out of my fingers. It’s kind of interesting, because a few people have suggested I carry around a tape recorder kind of thing so I can just speak into it and type out stories later, but I’ve found I can’t do that. The words get stuck in my brain. So I have to type. Back in 1990 I bought one of those “Typing Tutor” programmes, then taught myself to type when I was applying for a job as a marketing assistant at a top advertising agency in Toronto. Seriously. In two weeks I went from 0 to 85 wpm. I have no idea how quickly I type now, but my fingers move more quickly than my brain most of the time. I can’t carry on much of a conversation with my voice, but if I could type it I’d be just fine!

So the question remains: where do all those words come from? And the answer is still: “I don’t know.” My favourite part about writing Historical Fiction is that no one can tell me what I’m writing didn’t actually happen. After all, no one alive today was alive then (unless you’re talking about reincarnation or something). The stories come to me from somewhere I’ve never been, giving me words I rarely use in my day to day life. Where do they come from? What if I am actually channelling them? What if the words come straight from the stories themselves because … maybe, just maybe, they really happened.

Genevieve Graham graduated from the University of Toronto in 1986 with a Bachelor of Music in Performance (playing the oboe). Writing became an essential part of Genevieve’s life a few years ago, when she began to write her debut novel, Under the Same Sky. The companion novel, Sound of the Heart, was released May 1, 2012.  

Thanks so much to Genevieve for stopping by In The Next Room! To learn more about her novel, Sound of the Heart, stop by her website.

Character Interview with Honor and Rusty from In Honor

1. How would you sum yourself up in five words? 
Honor: honest, brave, afraid, hopeful, genuine

2. What are three things you love? 
Rusty: Finn, Honor, The Pala

3. What are three things you hate? 
Honor: Losing people, lies, and letting go

4. If you could have a dinner party with any five people, living or dead, who would they be? 
Honor: My mom, dad, Finn, Rusty, and Kyra Kelley, of course

5. What does your average day look like? 
Rusty: eat, sleep, football practice, beer, repeat

Jessi Kirby is the author of MOONGLASS, published in May 2011 by Simon and Schuster. She is also a former English teacher and librarian, wife, mom, beach lover, runner, and lover of Contemporary YA, strong coffee, and dark chocolate. In that order. Jessi’s second novel, IN HONOR, will be released in May of 2012.

Thanks so much to Honor, Rusty and Jessi for stopping by In The Next Room! To learn more about In Honor, stop by her website. Click here to check out the other stops on this tour. 

Author Jill Hathaway on Books

So there are a ton of amazing books I’ve read recently!

FRACTURE by Megan Miranda

I was soooo excited to get to read this one early. The book grabbed me from the very beginning, when Delaney falls through the ice. This is actually one of my greatest fears. Whenever I drive on a bridge over a river or something, I picture what I would do if I accidentally drove into the water. So I was completely on edge when Delaney fell. After they pull her out, she develops this weird affinity with people who are about to die; it’s fascinating. Also, Decker is one of my favorite characters of all time! Definitely check this one out!

UNEARTHLY and HALLOWED by Cynthia Hand

There are a ton of angel books out there, but what really sets Cynthia’s books apart is her gorgeous writing style. I read UNEARTHLY while I was on a camping trip last summer, and I’m afraid I was totally rude, ignoring everyone so I could find out what happened to Clara. UNEARTHLY has a really smart mythology, and I was riveted as Cynthia slowly revealed the secrets of Clara’s background. When I finished reading the book, I contacted Cynthia to let her know how much I liked it, and we became friends. She sent me a copy of HALLOWED, and it was every bit as brilliant as UNEARTHLY. It actually had me in tears, and I’m not one to cry when I’m reading. I can’t wait to read the third book in the series!

11/22/63 by Stephen King

So I’m a huge Stephen King fan (as is Rollins in SLIDE), and I needed something to read during those late night feedings after my son was born. I downloaded King’s latest novel and was immediately daunted by the book’s length… a whopping 1000 pages! But I was quickly sucked in by the brilliant premise. Jake Epping, a high school English teacher, finds an… um… portal (?) through which he can travel to the year 1958. So he’s able to go back and change things and see how they alter the future. But there’s a catch… Every time he goes back through the portal, history is reset. So he basically has to go back and change everything again and again if he wants to keep those same results. Ultimately, he wants to prevent JFK from being assassinated, but I felt like that was almost a backstory to the real tale, which is about Jake falling in love. This book explores whether, indeed, everything happens for a reason.

Thanks for having me, Zoe, and allowing me to share some wonderful books with you!

Thanks so much to Jill for stopping by!  Click here to follow the rest of the stops on this tour. 

Character Interview with Chase from Article 5

Hi Zoe,

Thanks for taking the time to ask Chase a few questions today. I…um…well, I’m just going to apologize now. He can be a little curt. He’s under a lot of stress you know, what with the soldiers coming after him and Ember and all. He’s really worried about her. Anyway, he’s agreed to play nice, but if he gets a little short, you’ll know why.

Take care!

Kristen

Paperback or hardcover? Paperback for sure – easier to carry. When I was in Chicago, after the bombs dropped, they set up this mobile library at one of the Red Cross Camps. That’s where I picked up FRANKENSTEIN. It’s Ember’s favorite.

Hey, don’t tell her I said that, okay? She’s got a lot on her mind…I don’t want her feeling weird about it…I mean, it’s just a book. She probably doesn’t even remember us talking about it anyway. That was a long time ago.


Coffee or tea? Tea? What is this? England? The borders are closed, last I checked. I’d take some coffee if you’re offering. Put it in a to-go cup. I can’t stay all that long. Running for my life here.


Chocolate or vanilla? Hard to say. They both sort of remind me of her. Damn, did I just say that? What’d you put in this coffee?


Walk or run? When the FBR’s tailing you, you don’t walk, you run. Got it?


Morning or evening? Morning. Better visibility. More people around, easier to blend in. Evening’s are dangerous. That’s all we need – some soldier snagging us on a curfew violation.


Cats or dogs? What the hell use is a cat? A dog can bite someone, and bark if someone’s coming. Definitely a dog.


Beach or pool? I’m sorry, does this look like a vacation to you?


Pen or pencil? Now we’re talking. The truth is, it doesn’t matter. Both of them can be used in self-defense. Remember, quick, deliberate moves. Go for soft spots – the eyes, the mouth, the groin. If you get in trouble, hit fast and hard and then get out.


Hot or cold? What do you…wait, is this about Ember? It’s hard to tell with her. Sometimes I think it’s like before, and everything’s good. Other times…I don’t know. It’s complicated.

Why? Did she say something?


Bath or shower? Is this about Ember? Because if so…I uh…I’m pretty sure that’s not your business.

Are we almost done? Man, it’s hot in here. Crack a window or something.


Science or art? Art. I was in chemistry when the air sirens hit. Chicago was bombed for three straight days, so no, science class doesn’t exactly hold fond memories for me.


Single or attached? Right. So, I’ll be going now. Thanks for the coffee. What’s that supposed to mean, anyway? Single or attached. Like am I dating or something? Listen, nobody dates. Not anymore. And definitely not with all that’s going on. Single or attached. What kind of interview is this, anyway? More like a monthly inspection. Don’t worry, I’m compliant officer.

…

…

Attached. On my part anyway.

We done here?

Thanks so much to Chase (and Kristen!) for stopping by. Click here to follow the rest of the stops on this tour.

Guest Review: Graveminder by Melissa Marr

Prior to reading Graveminder, I’d already read Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely series, which I really enjoyed. She has a beautiful writing style, one that’s straightforward, yet compelling. Graveminder is set in a completely different world from Wicked Lovely. Where instead of faeries, they have to worry about the dead being put properly to rest....and you don’t really want to see what happens when they aren’t, but hey, without that...there wouldn’t be a story, would there? :P

I don’t read many books that could be categorized as horror, but with Graveminder, while it was a darker story, I never once categorized it as being “horrific.” It isn’t over-the-top or gratuitous, which “horror” often is in mind, although maybe that’s just the movies. :P Anyway, I think that even people who aren’t big fans of horror would still like this one. Personally, I prefer to watch my horror movies rather than read about them, but with Graveminder, I really didn’t mind reading about it. Not only is Graveminder full of action and darker aspects that intrigue the reader, it’s also got a complicated romance which keeps it from getting too dark.

I liked getting to read Bek’s story. She was a fantastic narrator, and I really liked her. She was strong, independent, and while she may have protested too much at times, I loved how dedicated she was to Maylene, especially since they weren’t actual blood relatives. I also loved Byron, the undertaker. ;) They had some amazing chemistry, and the way their past was revealed was convoluted and given to the reader in parts, which I actually really enjoyed. I liked that there was some mystery in their past, and it kept me compelled with the romance aspect. There was also an element of mystery surrounding the graveminding aspect. It took a while for the truth of it to be revealed, for Bek to figure out what she doing...and also to figure out how Maylene, her grandmother, was killed, and the most convoluted and mysterious part of it all...who was the one responsible for it.

The most fascinating aspect of the story for me, aside from the romance (which I’m always a sucker for), was the history of the Graveminders and Undertakers. I liked learning about them, Mr.D, and the tradition behind why they did their duties, and the intricacies that were involved between the Graveminders and Undertakers. I’d definitely read another book about Graveminders and Undertakers just so that I could learn some more. :P

Overall, Graveminder is a fabulous story that will keep you on your toes, and while it differs from Melissa Marr’s Wicked Lovely series, I think that fans that enjoyed the series will also enjoy this one. If you’re a fan of original supernatural and paranormal stories, you’ll love this one, and it will definitely pique your interest if you like reading about reinventions of the afterlife.


This book was reviewed by Ambur from Burning Impossibly Bright- you can check out more of her awesome book reviews here. Thanks Ambur, this sounds like a creepy and exciting story, and I'm always a sucker for a good romance too :)

Author Mary Lindsey on Naming Characters

Character Names: Horace (Race) and Maude (Maddi)

Naming characters in Shattered Souls was complicated because Intercessors (both Speakers and Protectors) keep their names throughout multiple lifetimes. Many were inducted centuries ago, so I needed older names.

I wanted my characters (except the timeless Alden) to have names so dated, that they would be inclined to change them in modern times.

The naming of Horace and Maude came easily compared to others. My parents had me pretty late in life, just as their parents had done. That gave me World War I-era grandparents and great-grandparents who born in the1870’s.

Horace and Maude from Shattered Souls were named after my great-grandparents, Horace and Hettie McLain. (I believe they still spelled the name MacLean). The name Hettie was too cute, so I snagged the middle name, Maude, and used that instead.

Below are pictures of my great-grandparents from 1896 (at least that’s the date on the photos). The originals are too big to fit in my scanner and since there is glass, I had to take the photo from an angle to avoid glare.

Meet my great-grandparents, Horace and Maude:

Thank you so much, Zoe, for having me on your blog today and for hosting this stop on the Teen {Book} Scene Shattered Souls Blog Tour.

Mary Lindsey's debut young adult novel, SHATTERED SOULS, is scheduled for release December 8, 2011 from Philomel/Penguin. Having received a B.A. in English literature with a minor in drama from the University of Houston, she currently teaches acting to children and teens at a private studio in Houston, Texas. Mary lives with her husband, three kids, two dogs, her daughter's pet rats, an Australian Bearded Dragon, and dozens of Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches.


Thanks so much to Mary for stopping by In The Next Room! To learn more about her debut novel, Shattered Souls, stop by her website. Click here to check out the other stops on this tour. 

Author Trinity Faegen on the Top Ten Places She Can’t Write (She's Tried)

Top Ten Places I Can’t Write (I know because I tried)

10. Swimming pool: I spend so much time making sure no one can see my hairy legs, or that side car of ice cream I had with my apple pie, which is now making my belly way too jolly, I’m then burning up, so have to lose the cover-up and get in the water, after which the whole process begins again. Words written: Zero.

9. Starbucks: There is only one in my town, and as soon as I get settled, with ear buds in, laptop on, book loaded, someone I know walks in and I’m chatting away, instead of writing. If no one familiar comes in, I strike up a convo with strangers. Also spend $15 on additional products such as lemon pound cake and old coffee grounds I may someday use when I someday plant a garden, which I now need to Google how to grow tomatoes in west Texas. Oh, and look, those kids are playing Scrabble. Words written: Zero. Scrabble score: 211

8. Airplanes: Whomever is behind me is reading every word I write, which has become the worst drivel I’ve ever produced and my humiliation knows no bounds. Alternatively, I’m writing something sexy and my over-the-shoulder reader looks like my Grandma, or my ten-year-old niece. There is also beverage service and possible snacks to consider. Words written: 100, but later deleted, so final count: Zero.

7. Backyard: There are wasps in summer, it’s too cold in winter. I’m also distracted by how badly I need new patio furniture. A trip to Lowes ensues. Word count: Zero.

6. Kitchen table: There is food, which I feel compelled to organize, rearrange, cook, eat, or throw out. Words written: Zero. Calories consumed: 1,900

5. Mother-in-law’s: Yeah. No. Words written: -1,000 after I delete the sexy times because I realize she may read it someday.

4. Writer Conferences: I’m always inspired and enthusiastic at a writer conference. All those panels of editors and agents, talking about what’s selling, and successful authors talking about How To Write. Unfortunately, it’s also when I see my writing friends in real life, so all downtime is spent over coffee, or hanging out in the lobby, or eating delicious expensive food at beautiful restaurants, while talking about kids and books and the meaning of life. Time in my hotel room is limited to showering and sleeping. Word count: Zero Face Time: Priceless

3. Doctor’s office: If I don’t take the netbook, I’ll be waiting over an hour, wishing I had it because I could have gotten some words in. If I do take the netbook, I’ll see the doctor within five minutes of sitting down. Truthfully, doctor visits are typically stressful, so writing anything is a stretch. Word count: Zero Articles read in People: 6

2. Boats: My mom and I went on a river cruise through Germany last December, stopping along the way at wee, quaint villages to go to the Christmas markets. The ship was small, intimate and beautiful. Also filled with fun, interesting people, several who liked to hang out in the ship’s library. I had moderate success working on revisions, but it was a little distracting when we passed towering cliffs with castles perched up there, in the snow, with snow falling, and hot chocolate in the lounge, and a cute steward who liked to chat about Romania. Recently, I took an Alaskan cruise with my husband. As if. Word count: Zero Castles: 15 Bears: 1

1. After surgery: Valium and hydrocodone are not conducive to creative process. Not taking them means pain, which is also not helpful. On the upside, the hazy drug effect means you don’t really care. Words written: Zero

All to say, the only place I actually manage to get significant writing done is at home, in my office, at my desk, headphones on, with all my random, comfortable things and books around.

Thank you for having me here, Zoë!

Trinity Faegen wasn’t always a writer. She had an illustrious career as a Campus Cop in college, led many children astray as a camp counselor, and decorated Christmas trees for sweet, and notsosweet, little old ladies. She loves metal and rock, the Rocky mountains, chocolate cake and college football. She hates sappy stuff and hypocrites. Mostly, though, she loves to write. 

Trinity lives in the outback of Texas with her husband and a mean cat. 


Thanks so much to Trinity for stopping by In The Next Room! To learn more about her debut novel, The Mephisto Covenant, stop by her website. Click here to check out the other stops on this tour. 

Author Joan Leegant on Inspiration

I’m one of those fiction writers who doesn’t plan the story out ahead of time. Instead, I’ll conjure some characters and a setting and follow them to see what they do and where they take me. I might have a dim sense of their struggles and passions, what might be driving them, but I try not to think about that too much before I start writing. Otherwise the story tends to come out as too engineered; there’s no room for surprise, for letting the characters develop the way they need to develop, not the way I might want them to develop.

With Wherever You Go, I knew only two things when I started the book: that I wanted to write a novel set in Israel and that I wanted to write about young Americans in Israel. I’ve spent a lot of my adult life either in Israel – since 2007, I’ve been teaching in Tel Aviv a semester each year—or thinking or reading or worrying about Israel. So it was a natural place for me to explore through fiction. I came up with 3 Americans, all in the country for different reasons. Finding the characters sounds straightforward, but coming up with those particular characters took several years. Though the character Yona is the first one you meet in the book, she was the last one I wrote. For a long time, I had another woman in her place, a holdover from an early draft that had a very different tone and an entirely different storyline. Eventually I realized that the first woman didn’t belong in the book; she wasn’t a fit. I had to send her back to her own story and find someone else. When I found Yona, the novel began to fall into place.

Not surprisingly, my characters took me straight into the heart of the West Bank and the contentious matter of the settlement cause. I’m very interested in people who attach themselves to causes, who live for “the movement,” whatever that movement might be—and that’s what I wanted to explore in the book. What draws people to causes, especially ones that involve violence? How much is ideology and how much is psychology? The power of such fierce attachments was something I first became aware of when I was a student during the Vietnam war. There were anti-war protests and feminism and all kinds of radical movements sweeping the US then. People who exhibit that kind of revolutionary fervor fascinate me.

I’m also very interested in religion and how embracing a religious discipline can save a person, but can also destroy a person. This was something I explored in the book through the character of Mark Greenglass, who’s lost his religious passion when the book opens and doesn’t know why. I didn’t know why either, so I had to write the book to find out. That’s one of the pleasures of writing fiction that you don’t plan out ahead of time. You get to find out what happens the same way a reader does: by discovering it as you go.

Joan Leegant is the author of WHEREVER YOU GO, and AN HOUR IN PARADISE. Formerly an attorney, she taught at Harvard University for eight years. Since 2007, she has lived half the year in Tel Aviv where she is the visiting writer at Bar-Ilan University and lectures for the U.S. State Department. When not in Israel she lives in Newton, Massachusetts.

Thanks so much to Joan for taking the time to stop by In The Next Room. You can find my review of her beautiful yet horrifying novel, Wherever You Go, here. To connect with Joan, visit her website, http://www.joanleegant.com/.

Guest Review: Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots by Abby McDonald

Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots is about Jenna, a vegetarian with some extreme eco-ideals. To avoid being stuck in Florida with her mother and grandmother for the summer, as her parents planned, she concocts some plans of her own. These plans involve going to stay with her godmother, Susie, her new husband, and her stepdaughter in Canada. While there, Jenna learns how to deal with nature, unfriendly new acquaintances, and she finds a survival guide, which she applies to surviving the woes of being a teenager, as well as the wilderness.

This may seem like just a light summer read, but it is so much more than that. The characters are real, and pretty awesome...once they start to actually let Jenna in...at first, they were pretty mean to her. All in all though, I thought that Abby McDonald did an amazing job at making all of the characters so realistic. They had real problems, and they actually spoke like real people too. It’s always nice when characters don’t speak like robots...I hate when dialogue doesn’t seem natural, but with Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots, Abby pulls of the dialogue perfectly. I especially liked that she didn’t try and make the kids have weird lingo just because Jenna went up to Canada...we aren’t that different you know. :P

I also loved the evolution of relationships. Fiona, Susie’s stepdaughter, was such a bag to her at first, but as the book went on, she started to open up, and she realized that if she kept treating everyone so poorly...she wouldn’t have any friends left. Jenna was the one to point that out to her, and I loved that, it showed Jenna’s growth, and I loved that she was also sticking up for her godmother, Susie. Fiona actually turned out to be an alright character...which kind of surprised me. Oh, and the boys...well, they were definitely jerks at first...jerks or just plain oblivious, but I liked how Jenna didn’t give up. She’s persistent if nothing else, and she made sure they gave her a chance to show that she wasn’t a snob who looked down upon the small-town hicks as they referred to themselves. I especially liked Ethan and Reeve, for two completely different reasons, but I don’t want you to be spoiled, so I’ll let you read it and see if you like them, too.

I really liked Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots. I think it’s a great book to pick up for a summer read, or one to pick up when you’re feeling like you want something a bit different because Jenna isn’t your typical YA heroine, and this isn’t your typical light and fluffy read. It broaches on some serious topics, but it doesn’t really dwell on them, mostly it just reminds you that they’re there. This story also reminds you that you don’t have to always do everything to the extreme. Jenna learns that throughout this story. She sees that her extreme ideals don’t fit everywhere, and that sometimes you have to make adjustments to what you believe because not every situation is black and white. I think that people who enjoy contemporary stories, but prefer character development to romance, would love this one. There is romance, but I think this story is more about Jenna’s growth with a bit of romance thrown in. ;)

Release Date: April 13th, 2010
Pages: 304
Source: ARC From Publisher
Buy the Book 

This book was reviewed by Ambur from Burning Impossibly Bright- you can check out more of her awesome book reviews here. Thanks Ambur, this sounds like a fun and spunky book that I look forward to reading someday!

Author Sarah Winman On Publishing Her First Novel

The publication of my novel has surpassed all my hopes and imaginings, and therefore, when faced with the simple question of, How does it feel? All I ever seem to come up with are the words, overwhelming, and humbling.

I had always hoped to be published one day. That, for me, was the ultimate. But down to the vision and hard work of my publishers, and two elusive ingredients, my novel has crossed the bounds of those imaginings and attracted a readership I could never have imagined. I say elusive ingredients, because one must never forget the vital and potent forces of Timing and Luck. Would this novel have had the same response had it been published a year before? When the world was a year younger? Or a year later? I don’t know. I ponder the question to keep me aware of the fickle nature of the art world, and to keep my eye on the work. It must always be about the work, no matter what success has gone before.

To think that my work is out in the world making some people feel a little less lonely, or making some people laugh or think about a time before; to think that it’s out there promoting discussion or disagreements is what any art form is all about. And to have found a space for one’s voice in an already loud and cluttered world has a value beyond words.

It’s been quite an adventure, and When God was a Rabbit has taught me a huge amount about myself and the craft. A new world is starting to call now, and the portal awaits.

Sarah Winman is an actress who attended the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and has gone on to act in theater, film, and on television. When God was a Rabbit is her debut novel. She lives in London.

Thanks so much to Sarah for taking the time to stop by In The Next Room. You can find my review of the intriguing and beautifully written When God Was A Rabbit, here. To connect with Sarah, visit her Facebook.

Guest Post With Author Jo Treggiari

What are some things that scare you about the future? What are some things that excite you about the future? And most importantly… do you plan on teaching your kids how to skin a rabbit?

The thing that scares me about the future is the human race.

The thing that excites me about the future is the human race.

I think that it is in our nature to balance between total self-annihilation and pursuits of incredible beauty, selflessness, and genius, and the desire to treat each other well.

I thought a lot about the human race, not only while I was writing this book but also ever since I’ve had children. I know how lucky I am that my children were born in the Western hemisphere. There are so many things we take for granted. Safety, shelter, food. I wondered what it would be like if all that was stripped away. Along with all the accoutrements of relative wealth – the technology, the electronic devices – all those things which are really a luxury but are so commonplace that they have almost become a right, and a necessity.

But of course, they aren’t really. Our basic needs for survival are the same as every other human on the planet. In my book, I took everything away from my characters and then I figured out how they would live. Survivors are always interesting because they have lived through something unimaginable; the ultimate in worst case scenarios. And in a way, an apocalypse brings out the best and the worst in people, which is what I kept in the back of my mind while I was writing the book.

Skinning a rabbit is remarkably similar to skinning a turtle, only without the pesky shell, so when they are a bit older my kids can read my book and find out how to do it.

I think I’ll teach my kids whatever I can to help them survive, whether that’s looking for cars when they cross the street, or outrunning a tsunami. Isn’t that what parents do?

Jo Treggiari's first book, a middle-grade fantasy THE CURIOUS MISADVENTURES OF FELTUS OVALTON, came out in 2006. Her post-apocalyptic adventure ASHES, ASHES was published June 1, 2011 by Scholastic Press. She's just finished a punk rock YA- FIERCE and is working on an urban fantasy, BRINY DEEP.

Thanks so much to Jo for taking the time to stop by In The Next Room. Ashes, Ashes is an intense novel,  you can find my review here, that I highly suggest everyone pick up. To learn more about Jo's book visit her website http://jotreggiari.com/

Author Guest Post: Brian Farrey

INTERIOR: MR. PEABODY’S LABORATORY.SHERMAN IS SEATED AT A DESK AS MR. PEABODY ENTERS.

MR. PEABODY: You don’t look at all happy, Sherman. What seems to be the problem?

SHERMAN:  It’s this book report, Mr. Peabody. I don’t know what to write about. I could use some help.

MR. PEABODY: Then help you shall have. Sherman, set the Wayback Machine for (mumble, mumble) years ago.    We’re going to visit that world renown book recommender, Brian Farrey.

SHERMAN:  Book recommender? Is that a real thing?

MR. PEABODY: Shut up, kid.        

WE SEE MR. PEABODY AND SHERMAN TRAVEL BACK IN TIME.

MR. PEABODY: (VOICEOVER) We set the Wayback controls for central Wisconsin in the 70s and just like that, we were outside Brian’s childhood home.

THEY SPOT A BOY SITTING ON THE GRASS, READING A BOOK.

MR. PEABODY: You must be Brian Farrey.

BRIAN (age 6): Who are you?

MR. PEABODY: I am Mr. Peabody and this is my boy, Sherman.

SHERMAN:  Hello!

BRIAN (age 6): Dogs don’t talk.

MR. PEABODY: This dog does. And we’re here to ask if you can recommend any books for Sherman here to write a report on.

SHERMAN:  It would mean a lot.

BRIAN (age 6): Well, right now I’m reading The Monster at the End of this Book. It’s pretty good.

MR. PEABODY:  But is it good enough to write a report on?

BRIAN (age 6):  I shouldn’t talk to strangers. And I probably shouldn’t talk to talking dogs.

MR. PEABODY:  You really need to get over that.

BRIAN (age 6): I’m going to take my book and go now.

HE DOES.

SHERMAN:  So should I do a report on The Monster at the End of this Book.

MR. PEABODY: Brian wasn’t very helpful, was he?  Maybe we should try him at a later age and see what he has to say.

SHERMAN:  Good idea. But he has a point. I mean, dogs don’t talk—

MR. PEABODY: Seriously, I will bite you. Shut up and let’s go.

MR. PEABODY AND SHERMAN JUMP FORWARD SIX YEARS.  THEY FIND BRIAN IN HIS BEDROOM IN HIS PARENTS’ HOUSE.

MR. PEABODY: Hello, again.

BRIAN (age 12):  I remember you guys. (TO SHERMAN) Can I talk to you? Talking to a dog freaks me out.

MR. PEABODY:  We’ll leave you alone if you can recommend a book for Sherman to report on.

BRIAN (age 12): (HE PULLS A PAPERBACK FROM HIS BOOKSHELF) This is my favorite right now. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin.  I’ve read it six times already.  It’s got a great mystery and Turtle makes me laugh.

MR. PEABODY: (UNDER HIS BREATH) So talking turtles don’t bug you but talking dogs….

BRIAN (age 12): What was that?

MR. PEABODY: Nothing.  There you are, Sherman. There’s your book.

SHERMAN: Maybe. I don’t really like mysteries.

MR. PEABODY:  Look, you wanted a book to report on and—

BRIAN (age 12): Why don’t you check back with me in about four years? My tastes diversify then.

SHERMAN: How do you even know that?

MR. PEABODY: Who cares? Let’s go.

MR. PEABODY AND SHERMAN JUMP FORWARD IN TIME FOUR YEARS.  THEY FIND BRIAN WALKING THE HALLS OF LINCOLN HIGH SCHOOL.

BRIAN (age 16):  (HE BRANDISHES A BOOK) Check it out! I was ready for you this time.

SHERMAN: But how did you?

BRIAN (age 16): I’m a sci fi geek. You’re time travelers. Didn’t take much to figure out.

MR. PEABODY: (READING THE COVER OF THE BOOK)  The Stand  by Stephen King.  Is it good?

BRIAN (age 16): It….is….awesome!  Post-apocalyptic world, blood and guts, and…swearing.

MR. PEABODY: (HANDS BOOK BACK TO BRIAN) Sorry, Sherman, we can’t expose you to things like that.

SHERMAN:  But it sounds good—

MR. PEABODY: I mean it. I will bite you and you will cry. Is that what you want?

SHERMAN: (TO BRIAN) Thanks, anyway.

BRIAN:  This is censorship--

MR. PEABODY:  You’ve got one more chance, Farrey.  We’ll see you again in four years.  You’re a world renowned book recommender.  Do your job.

BRIAN:  Is a recommender even a real thing?

MR. PEABODY BITES BRIAN, WHO CRIES OUT.

MR. PEABODY: (TO SHERMAN) You’re next, pal.

MR. PEABODY AND SHERMAN JUMP FORWARD FOUR YEARS. BRIAN IS AT THE DOG POUND.

MR. PEABODY: You work at a dog pound?

BRIAN (age 20): Nope.

A DOG CATCHER JUMPS OUT FROM AROUND THE CORNER AND THROWS A NET OVER MR. PEABODY.

BRIAN (age 20): (TO SHERMAN)  Here, kid. Enjoy.

BRIAN HANDS SHERMAN A BOOK.

SHERMAN: (READING COVER) One Hundred Years of Solitude?

BRIAN (age 20):  It’s pretty good. You won’t forget it anytime soon.

THE DOG CATCHER DRAGS A HOWLING PEABODY FROM THE ROOM.

SHERMAN:  Is Mr. Peabody going to be okay?

BRIAN (age 20): Do you care?

SHERMAN: (THINKS ABOUT IT) Not really.

BRIAN AND SHERMAN HIGH FIVE.

Brian Farrey’s debut YA novel, WITH OR WITHOUT YOU, will be published May 24 by Simon Pulse. He tweets @BrianFarrey and he blogs at www.brianfarreybooks.com/wordpress.

Author Guest Post: John Pollack

The Best Puns

The best puns are always spontaneous, powered by context and surprise. Some of my all-time favorites occurred in the following exchange at the1995 O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships, in Austin, Texas. I was paired with an opponent and we were given a topic. Alternating, each of us had five seconds to make a pun on that topic, back and forth, until someone missed. It was single elimination.

The emcee—a tall Texan in a straw hat—introduced me and my opponent to the crowd of about 500. I was already outmatched; my adversary was a bespectacled, forty-something man named George McClughan who, as the judge pointed out, just happened to be a former champion. Talk about a bad draw.

The topic was “Air Vehicles.”

“George, why don’t you go ahead and start,” the judge said.

“Oh, all right,” my opponent said. “If a helicopter had babies,” McClughan asked, “would it be a baby Huey?” It took me a moment to get it—a clever reference to both the cartoon duck and the workhorse chopper of Vietnam. He was going to flatten me.

My mind flashed to all the aircraft hanging from the rafters back at The Henry Ford museum outside of Detroit, where I worked. “I hope I come up with the Wright Flying Machine,” I said.

“Wait, wait . . .” It was the judge, holding up his hand. “It’s gotta be a puh-un.” In his Texas drawl, pun was almost a two-syllable word.

“The Wright Brothers,” I said. “W-R-I-G-H-T—I hope I pick the Wright Flying Machine.”

A sudden cheer swept the audience. The brawl was on.

“That was so plane to see,” McClughan said, grinning.

I struggled to come up with a response, but saved myself at the last second with a crude pun on Fokker, the defunct Dutch aircraft maker.

McClughan didn’t flinch. “I guess if I’m going to B-52 next week I’m never going to C-47 again,” he said.

“Well…,” I said, scanning the audience, “I’m looking for a Liberator out there.”

McClughan toyed with me. “This guy’s pretty good,” he said. “I was hoping he’d B-1 bomber.”

I was finding my rhythm. “You don’t think I’d take to flight, do you?”

“I don’t know,” he answered casually. “You’re just up here winging it.”

“U-2?”

In its economy and perfect congruence of sound and meaning, a pun couldn’t get any purer. I could pun for an entire lifetime and never make a better one, ever. It was a knockout punch, and the crowd roared. But that rangy Texan refused to fall.

John Pollack is a journalist, author, and former Special Assistant and Presidential Speechwriter to Bill Clinton. He has written for publications such as the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Advertising Age, and the Associated Press. He was named the World Pun Champion at the 1995 O. Henry World Championship Pun-off and has written speeches for corporate and public-sector leaders such as Jeffrey Katzenberg, Carly Fiorina, John Glenn, David de Rothschild, and actress Goldie Hawn. He currently works as a speechwriter and consultant for ROI Communication, an internal communication consulting firm. He lives in Manhattan. To learn more about John, visit his website http://www.thepunalsorises.com/

A review of The Pun Also Rises can be found on In The Next Room here.

Author Guest Post: Gillian Deacon (+Giveaway!)

Earth Day Message From Gillian Deacon

Earth day shouldn't just be an annual tip of the hat to greener living. This year, make it the day you recalibrate your everyday patterns to be more earth-friendly all year long.

You don't have to be a treehugger to care about avoiding toxins in your everyday bodycare. Synthetic chemicals in personal care products contaminating groundwater and wildlife is alarming enough—but they’re also contaminating us. Those hard-to-read ingredients you squint at on the back of a product label? They’re building up inside your body and in your children’s bodies—on Earth Day and everyday.

Make today the day you start paying attention to that fine print. Turn a product over and read the ingredients label before you are seduced by the “green” imaging on the package. The good news is, there are lots of safer products on the market.

Good luck and I hope you’ll check out There’s Lead in Your Lipstick for more ideas on how to clean up your act!

Gillian's Earth Day Tip:
Make It Yourself: Moisturizing Mask
Greek yogourt is also very moisturizing and can be used as a base for this mask.
1/2 medium to large avocado
1 to 2 tbsp honey 5 to 15 mL
Puree ingredients together in a blender or whip by hand.
For dry, sensitive skin, add one tablespoon of oatmeal and on tablespoon of water.
Mix together into a smooth paste and apply to the face and neck area, leaving on for about ten minutes.
There’s Lead in Your Lipstick by Gillian Deacon (Penguin Canada). Copyright © Backbone Inc. FSO Gillian Deacon, 2011

Your Chance to Win:
One prize pack of There’s Lead In Your Lipstick and an Eco Kiss kit from Saffron Rouge.

Click here to learn more about There's Lead In Your Lipstick, and click here to learn more about the All Natural Eco Kiss Kit. This prize has a total retail value of approximately CDN $48.95!

Enter to Win:
In order to enter to win this There's Lead in Your Lipstick Earth Day Prize Pack, you must be a follower and leave a comment letting me know one thing you do to make the environment a better place. Make sure to include your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win, after which you will have 48 hours to claim the prize. You can spread the word for a second entry, just make sure to leave a separate comment with a link. This giveaway will run until May 11th 2011 at 11:59 MST and is open to Canada, including PO boxes.

Happy Earth Day and Good Luck Everyone!