Guest Blogger – Stealing it All By Avery Flynn

January 17, 2012 in Guest Blogger

Tom Cruise as Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder.

Melissa McCarthy as Megan in Bridesmaids.

Grandma Mauzer in Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum novels.

What do they have in common? These characters steal the scene. They walk into this fictional world for only a short time, but when you put down the book or walk out of the movie theater you are still laughing (or crying) because of them. Sure the hero and heroine are the stars, but the scene stealing characters, well, I can’t help but have a soft spot for them.

As a writer I don’t set out to write a scene stealing character, but in every story of mine you’ll find them. In UP A DRY CREEK BED, the Layton family matriarch, Glenda, almost walked away with the readers’ hearts even though she was only in a few scenes. In my latest, A DRY CREEK BED, she does it again interacting with her eldest son, Hank.

The kiss curled Beth’s toes. Suddenly, January turned unseasonably warm and balmy under the tight confines of her wool coat.

“What is it with my children? Where did I go wrong?” Glenda Layton’s indignant questions cut through the lust fogging Beth’s brain.

Hank ended the kiss. “Hi, Mom.”

“You are in public you know.” Never one for the cold, the only part of Glenda visible was her brown eyes above the neon green scarf wrapped around her neck and face. Her matching green down coat reached her knees. The entire outfit was topped off with a white

ski cap that she’d managed to bedazzle with neon green stones. “If it wasn’t for this God forsaken cold, Bob and I would sell the RV just so we could keep an eye on you kids. First Claire and now you getting frisky at inappropriate times. It’s like I raised free-love hippies or something.”

“Yep, we’re planning on turning Dry Creek into a nude commune. I’m going to ditch the whole sheriff gig to grow pot.”

Glenda harrumphed and rolled her eyes. “Nobody likes a smart mouth.”

Hank dropped a quick peck on his mother’s wool cap. “Only you, Mom.”

A shy wall flower Glenda is not. She’s not always the most subtle of characters, but she loves her children and really wants to see them happy – even if she has to push and shove them in the right direction.

So why do readers (and I’m counting myself as a reader too) love scene stealing characters? Because they often are our voice in the story, prodding the main characters to realize something they may not be ready to acknowledge yet or they may be the much-needed laugh in a tense situation. In addition, the scene stealers help to show off the main characters’ personalities without the author having to resort to tons of internal dialogue or description.

A prime example of this is from the Lion King and the evil trio of hyenas who steal the show. You already know Scar is a good for nothing villain before you see him interact with the hyenas, but after that first meeting in the elephant graveyard you see the true depth of Scar’s villainy. The way the hyenas suck up to Scar shows how he needs to have yes-men (or yes-animals in this case) around him to feed his massive ego. Their interactions tell far more about Scar as a character than the scenes ever do about the hyenas.

That’s how it works with Glenda. She has a different type of relationship with each of her four children, but she works hard to help them see the light and make their way to happiness. Glenda has her work cut out for her in with Hank in A DRY CREEK BED, but I wouldn’t bet against her.

Find Avery at:

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BDB Inspired Charm Bracelets

January 16, 2012 in Jewellery Based On Books

These started out as an Xmas gift for Pam, Tori & my boss Megan. When I showed them to friends they wanted one, so now they are up on my zibbet store! Sorry for the shitty picture!

Inspired by the BDB series by J.R. Ward, I will customize your bracelet with the initial of your favourite BDB character &/or swarovski crystals

*Boom Box
*Fangs
*Dagger
*BDB Mansion
*Handcuffs
*Music Note
*Initial of BDB Brother

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WLP & Spaz ARC Review: The Kingdom – Amanda Stevens

January 16, 2012 in Reviews

  • Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
  • List Price: $7.99
  • Publisher: Mira; Original edition (March 27, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0778312771
  • ISBN-13: 978-0778312772
  • Amanda Steven’s Website
Pre-Order The Kingdom at:

My name is Amelia Gray.  They call me the Graveyard Queen.  I’ve been commissioned to restore an old cemetery in Asher Falls, South Carolina, but I’m coming to think I have another purpose here.

Why is there a cemetery at the bottom of Bell Lake?  Why am I drawn time and again to a hidden grave I’ve discovered in the woods?  Something is eating away at the soul of this town–this withering kingdom–and it will only be restored if I can uncover the truth.

WLP: There have been four books in my reading lifetime that have completely blown me away and reminded me why I love a good book. One of them happens to be The Kingdom. It completely blew my expectations out of the water and really made one hell of an impact.  After reading The Kingdom, I needed to take a break from reading just to rehash everything that went on, it was brilliant. Pam and I read it together (thank god) so we could review it tag team style. What did you think Pam?

Spaz: I freaking loved this book too, everything you said! I would dare say The Kingdom is damn near perfection. I was already eager to read it, but never in my wildest dreams did I anticipate such an amazingly intense and spooky ride. The imagery Amanda Stevens creates right from the first scene starts the incredibly haunting tone of the book, and it never lets up or runs out of steam – it just keeps plowing ahead. Her narration and descriptions are so colorful and vivid. The characters so deep and interesting, I became entranced, and like you Nat, I could not put it down. Holy crap on a cracker, I need the third book The Prophet right nowwww, thank the gods it’s coming soon!

Click the picture to find out about this cemetery

WLP: I know! I can’t believe how vivid I could picture things in the book. Months ago I remember Amanda blogging about underwater cemeteries and that’s all I could see as I read. That one particular scene with the fence will give me nightmare footage for months to come. (You’ll know it when you come to it people).

Spaz’s Favourite Quote:

“Grudges are like superstitions. You know they don’t make sense, but you cling to them, anyway.”

WLP’s Favourite Quote:

“The dead down there don’t want to be forgotten…..ever again.”

Pam and I are in agreement, The Kingdom is our favourite book of the past few months. It’s dark, it’s sexy and the imagery will stay with you.

Note: We posted this review early so you have time to buy The Restorer ASAP!

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Seleste reviews: Zombie Tag by Hannah Moskowitz

January 15, 2012 in Young Adult Reviews

  • Hardcover: 240 pages
  • Price: $15.99
  • Publisher: Roaring Brook Press (December 20, 2011)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1596437200
  • ISBN-13: 978-1596437203
  • Hannah Moskowitz’s Website
Buy Zombie Tag at:

 

Thirteen year old Wil Lowenstein can’t help wishing his parents would stop ignoring him and go back to the way they were before. Before, like before his older brother Graham died in a recent accidental fire.

Wil copes with Graham’s death by focusing on Zombie Tag, a mafia/capture the flag hybrid game he created for his friends. He, his best friend Anthony, and their other friends fight off brain-eating zombies with their mother’s spatulas. What Wil doesn’t tell anybody is that if he could bring his dead brother back as a zombie, he would. In a heartbeat.

In fact, when he finds a bell that can summon all the dead within five miles, he seizes the chance. Graham returns from the dead, but he’s not the same. None of the returned are. At first they’re just emotionless, apathetic — lifeless. But then some of the zombies slowly start to get one emotion back — anger. And Wil is going to have to find a way to fix zombie-Graham and turn him back into the angsty teenager he?s supposed to be before it’s too late. Because some of the zombies are banding together and plotting something. And Wil isn’t sure his mom’s spatulas are really going to do the trick if the zombies really do want to eat his brains.

There aren’t a lot of authors whose work I run to the bookstore in order to buy on release day—especially when release day falls the week before Christmas and the bookstore is in the heart of the shopping district. I did it to get Zombie Tag though, and I don’t regret the time spent in traffic or the two near accidents (might have regretted an actual accident, but near accidents are okay). I’ve read and loved/liked Hannah Moskowitz’s other books, but those were both YA contemporary. Zombie Tag is her first foray into both middle grade and the paranormal.

She needs to write more of it.

Rather than the typical goofy and/or action-adventure middle grade that dominates the market, Zombie Tag takes the family trauma and drama that permeates Moskowitz’s YA work and makes it accessible to a younger audience. Zombie Tag isn’t just about raising the dead or a silly game; it’s about the pain of letting go and one child’s desperation to fix his family when they fall apart after his older brother’s death. It alternates between touching, funny, and heart-wrenching. If you haven’t read any of her work, you might not understand quite how masterfully she weaves those emotions into her work. (And I highly recommend this book to any young person struggling with loss.)

Wil is a pretty typical middle school boy. He likes to play with his friends, has a crush on the one girl in their group, and doesn’t really want to grow up. His emotions jump around, and though that might bother some people, it’s very realistic for a young teen—especially one dealing with the aftermath of losing his brother and best friend.

The story revolves around what it means to die, what that does to the people left behind, and whether or not bringing someone back would be the best thing for anyone. In that regard, it’s a little like The Monkey’s Paw (for those who remember that story), but without the scare factor. Yes, zombie junkies need a warning here: these aren’t your typical zombies.

However, I can tell you that this is the first book I’ve ever brought into the house that my son and my husband are fighting over who gets to read it next (and both tried to take it from me while I was still reading it). The other grownup has to wait though. The Boy gets this one first.

Favorite line:

I guess the broken bell could end up being a problem, but only if I wanted to be some kind of crusader going around the world waking up dead people. And that sounds like a time-suck anyway.

 

I have a special guest today as well. Since this is a middle grade book, I felt it was only right to have a reader of the target audience do a small review as well. So without further ado, I give you my ten-year-old son, known on the internet as The Boy…

Well, the book was pretty short, which is kind of good because I could finish it quick, but kind of bad since sometimes people don’t want the story to end. And it does have a few bad words in it (“oh my God” &, I think, “stupid.” Mom interjection here, these aren’t bad words at home in and of themselves, but apparently they are at school *shrug*), which kind of sets the whole thing off for being a book for my age group.

They did have some funny parts and some cool parts in the book. Like it was funny that the zombies were scared of the kids playing Zombie Tag. (SPOILER ALERT) Also, at first I thought they were going to kill everybody but they were really trying to find a way to kill themselves again. (END SPOILER) 

I’m going to ask him a few questions since this is his first review.

Did you think the family was realistic? Yes, well no. I don’t know actually.

Did you think the book was unique? Yes, because it’s the only book where the main star was a spatula.

How did it make you feel? Pretty scared but happy at the same time.

If you were faced with the possibility of bringing someone back from the dead would you? If it was someone related to me, I would, but if they were trying to eat me, no. 

If Hannah Moskowitz wrote another book for kids, would you read it? Well, yes, because it was pretty much a good book, except for the bad words part. 

(Yeah, I need to have a talk with him about what constitutes bad words.)

The Boy’s Rating (I told him to take the “bad words” thing out of the equation):

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Mitch Interviews Shiloh Walker About The Ash Trilogy

January 14, 2012 in Author Interviews

After I read and reviewed the first two books in Shiloh Walker’s ash Trilogy, she was kind enough to answer some questions for me about the series and her writing. If you missed the reviews yesterday, go check them out! Then come back and read the interview. Then go buy the books. ;)

How did you get the idea for the Ash Trilogy? Did it start with the characters, or the plot?

Lena. It all started with Lena… by now, it’s not a secret that the heroine of the first book is blind. I kind of kept that quiet because I didn’t want her blindness to define her. It plays very much into the story, I know, but it’s a story about a woman who just happens to be blind…not a story about a blind woman. Her blindness doesn’t define her and I didn’t want that to color anybody’s opinion of her before they started the story.

So it all started with her…and the scream she heard. That was my idea and it all evolved from there.

Ash is like a real town! Do you live in a small town, or have you?

LOL…kinda sorta, yes, no…maybe? I’m definitely familiar with small town life.

Lena is such a strong character! Do you have a blind friend, or did you research blindness to write her?

Well, I spoke to several friends online who are blind. I’m in the Louisville area and close to the Kentucky School for the Blind so I contacted them, asked if I could visit, speak with some of them. They were very helpful…I mentioned the ladies I spoke with in my acknowledgements.

Hope changes so much between the first and second books, it’s great to see her find her strength and identity. Was it hard to create the romance between her and Remy without making it seem like she’d been rushed?

Not really. Certain…incidents forced the change. She was tired of seeing herself as a victim, you see. When you get tired of seeing yourself a certain way, you have to do what it takes to make the change. That’s what she did.

The first two books had dirty cops, and hints near the end of  the second book indicate there’s a very dirty cop in the third book. Was it intentional to make that connection in all of the books?

No comment…you’re trying to get clues out of me…

The killer goes through a sort of transformation, his focus in the second book is different than in the first. Will he change again in the third book?

No comment. ;)

This is the first series of yours I’ve read that has the same bad guy in all 3 books. Is there a reason you decided to connect the stories that way? Was it a challenge to draw out the bad guy and connect him to all of the other plots in each book?

Not at all…the hard part would have been doing it any other way. That’s the way the story needed to be told.

Do you think you might write more series that draw out the way Ash does with the evolving mystery?

It’s entirely possible. It’s fun to get that involved in a series. You get to know the characters more, get to spend more time with them.

I agree!

Anyone who follows you on Twitter (@shilohwalker) knows you’re a Pinterest addict. Any pics you’ve found that might feature in coming books?

Yes…absolutely. If you look at this board, it’s the one that has people that may well end up as characters…

http://pinterest.com/shilohwalker/characters/

Any other secret projects coming up this year that you’d like to share with us?

Secret? Well, if I tell, then they aren’t secret. There’s the next idea I’ve turned into Ballantine, called STOLEN. It’s set in Alaska and it’s…ah. Weird. Yeah. Weird. About a writer. It was inspired by something that happened on twitter.

Shiloh has graciously agreed to answer any reader questions today! (Although she won’t answer anything that might be a spoiler, as you can already see from me trying above.) So if you’re wondering anything else about the series, feel free to ask in the comments. :D

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