American poetry. Pure. Truth-filled. Here lies your cowboy song, amigos. This ain’t nothin’ off of “A Prairie Home Companion.” Johnny Cash recorded a group of La Farge songs, but radio refused to play the single “Ira Hayes” Cash payed for a full page ad in Billboard: “radio programmers where are you guts?” Can you imagine this happening now? These were serious characters, friend. These were the times when our folk-writers: La Farge, Tim Hardin, Fred Neil, Johnny Cash and others - had done time in the Army, Navy, Marines, jail, and divorce court…had been exposed to all forms of powerful hard drugs and violence; the quicksand of catastrophic romantic relationships. Who were they? Where did they go? Married; divorced; addicted; disappeared; forgotten; dead; found Jesus, Buddha; day jobs; lost…. gone to Florida or Potter’s field, or crazy in hotel rooms, back streets, and bars. Many sank to the bottom - terminally depressed when Bob Dylan weaved and danced through it all like a blacksnake with wizened biblical poet knowledge; then went on to prosper with his Picasso-esque confidence. The rest of the generation (to mimic William Carlos Williams and Allen Ginsburg) went all crazy and died, some of ‘em, as the purest minds of our culture are want to do.

From

How to Write the Gordon Ramsay Way

But several viewing hours in, I realized that there was another, even more central reason I love watching Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares. Surprise: it reminds me of the struggle to become a writer as well. It’s just one more bit of evidence that the quest to become a successful craftsman, to elevate one’s art and self, is universal. As proof of this theory, here are some lesson’s from Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares that apply to the aspiring writer just as well as the aspiring chef:

I’ll post a simple list of the lessons with a brief line about each and then encourage you to check out the entire thing.

Just Because You Think You’re a Superstar, Doesn’t Mean You Are

Any one can call themselves a master, but to become one takes years of development, education and dedication. The act of self-crowning does not make one a king, but believing that it will does make one a fool.

Listen to Criticism

If you get the chance for expert, seasoned advice, listen to it. Don’t just listen: be open to changing accordingly. Talent isn’t enough, and even the best can be sidelined by their own ego, rigidity, or fear of change.

Build Your Palette

In order to build and maintain a palette, you have to ingest the type of product that you seek to produce.

Don’t Make Things Unnecessarily Complicated

Likewise, a good story told expertly has no peer, and no amount of over-reaching language or pretentious narrative structuring can beat a story consisting of fresh observations on humanity presented in a way that they can resonate fully.

Keep the Kitchen and the Dining Room Separate

Likewise, writers should worry about their writing. Don’t let commercial concerns into your kitchen. Let the agents and publishers worry about running the business, you just worry about the product itself.

Creation is an Act of Love

Love what you do. Love what you create. Love the act of creation. Love those you create for. Because when you love, you will respect.

Any thoughts?

That was the month a man actually managed to kill himself by jumping off the Burrard Bridge. A number of enterprising depressives had tried, but despite their enthusiastic leaps from the bridge, they were dredged still breathing from the water by fishermen, who wrapped them in blankets and gave them warm toddies. The fishermen had better things to do than fish fish for men who’d failed to kill themselves, but what else could they do? There was practically a traffic jam of people waiting to throw themselves from that bridge.

The men who didn’t want to kill themselves came down to drink and gamble in Gastown, the rough old part of the city near the port, where Dermot had his beer hall.

When we* talk of the best of a genre are we obligated to include other mediums to make sure the picture is as accurate as possible?

(*We meaning all of us — readers, reviewers, readers, editors, readers — you know, all of us.)

For two years I have been saying that Scalped is the best crime story being told right now. But because it’s a comic I’m not too sure how many radar screens it’s on. So, is it fair to say that a comic is better then most of the novels being written? I think so.

Or another example. When The Wire was on TV wasn’t it one of the best, if not the best, crime story being told. But that’s off the air now in the U.S. so how about something like Breaking Bad, one of the most original crime stories to come down the road in awhile.

One of the most striking crime shorts I’ve heard in recent years was actually a song.

So again, the question is simply this:

When we talk of the best of a genre are we obligated to include other mediums to make sure the picture is as accurate as possible? Should our lists and discussions be more blended?

Business cards picked up along the way:
Sugar Ninjas, “an anthology featuring over 100 female artists and storytellers,” which has some cute artwork but not much detail on their website. The book is available through lulu.com and seems reasonably priced for a 350+ page collection, but again, I can’t find enough information to decide - as a librarian - if this is appropriate for my teen area or if I should recommend it to the adult librarian. It does intrigue me, and considering how popular manga is with my teen patrons - male and female - I’d love to be able to justify a purchase. 
Strawberry Comics are all about romance. Six writers/artists have teamed up to make SC home to a variety of manga, webcomics, and eBooks. They also have a discussion forum and a zine, along with photos from conventions and events, which hasn’t been updated since this summer but has some cute pictures nontheless. I’d love to see some from DragonCon.
I spent a considerable amount of time and money at the Holy Cow Anime booth. They visit a lot of conventions, so if you are a con fan, you may want to check to see if they are/will be there. Sailor Moon, Digimon, and Cardcaptors (we picked up a Challenge of the Clow Spirits board game, which kept us busy in the hotel room at DragonCon) seem to be their specialty, as they consider themselves ‘old school,’ but they do carry items of more current interest/themes, including Kingdom Hearts and Bleach. They are also an official retailer for Gaia Online. 

Panels/events I missed and am sorry that I did: Dune Messiah - Frank Herbert’s Works in Prose and Film; The Atlanta Radio Theatre Company’s presentation of Lovecraft’s ‘The Call of Cthulu,’ which was cancelled; The Music of the Ainur - A Celebration of Middle-Earth Song; Chuck - A Glimpse Within the Intersect; The Future of Star Wars; Adult Themes in Star Wars; Dinosaurs Gone Wild! (dinosaurs in film); Classic Battlestar (adventures with Dirk Benedict and Richard Hatch); 70 Years of Batman in the Media; Neography and Scripts; Star Wars in Art; Dreamtime, the Worlds of Neil Gaiman; The Future of Storytelling in MMOs; The Lore of Warcraft; Podcasting with Puppets (the lure? the cast of Battlestar Galactica in foam); and Vending Machine Culture and We Speak Engrish Here (Engrish is a particular fascination for me). Some of the short film festival entries looked worth the effort of catching, but like the activities listed above, the times conflicted with others I ended up attending. The dilemma of such a busy con . . . then again, I was not sorry to miss the ‘how to make your own booze’ panel, as I am aware of how moonshine comes to life - so to speak.

“If you keep preaching to the converted, how are you ever going to get new converts?” - Rick Klaw

The above quote is from two years ago and I think the whole thing is worth a read and the idea is gold quite frankly.

So riddle me this. You are fairly established in one community, how come you don’t try and make inroads with another? Then another.

Or wider still.

How come Hard Case Crime didn’t push The Dead Man’s Brother heavily in the SF/F community. A new Zelazny book dropped and still the same drums are being beaten in the pulp and crime communities?

Or this.

How come producers of crime comics don’t look at their products genre of storytelling rather then the medium and push them at the appropriate sites? Why in the holy hell would Vertigo put a blurb from a wrestler on the back of the first trade of 100 Bullets but not a single person from the mystery/crime community? Do I give a fuck what Raven thinks of the book? Me thinks not.

If this sounds like work, well it is. But here’s the thing. In many cases all you have to do is ask. Most communities are generous and are willing to help and there may be more overlap then you think.

But again, what the hell do I know. It must be obvious by now that I’m in a throwing-bricks-at-the-temple-shouting-into-oblivion-”Darby-pick-up-the-mic” mood.

These three are banging away at the walls trying to get my attention:

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Liar by Justine Larbalestier
Unwind by Neal Shusterman

I feel like I want to dive down the rabbit hole and see what’s up.

Wouldn’t it be great if book reviewers could be, would be, should be as honest as film critics. I really think that the genre would benefit if reviewers were able to write lines like this:

“Those who think “Transformers 2″ is a great or even a good film are, may I tactfully suggest, not sufficiently evolved. Film by film, I hope they climb a personal ladder into the realm of better films, until their standards improve.“

For years I have maintained that honesty and disagreements in reviewing are a good thing. But what the hell do I know, I’m just a product of the Baltimore school system.

“Reviewing should hold the field to the highest standards. Not everything is “the best,” but by measuring the gap between what is and what could be, we can suggest a way forward.“

*This was actually said to my face at Bouchercon

“I’m a huge fan of Pulp Fiction novels” — Aly Fell

And damn does it show, check out these mock covers:

This is a character for a Thunderdome challenge on Concept Art.org. The theme was The Beginning of the End, and Lavinia King is a dodgy Defense Attorney who’s misdeeds have finally caught up with her. Ah… cruel fate!

Taken from this piece:

Here’s more:

The full gallery can be found here

A boneshaker was actually - IRL - an iron bicycle with a wooden seat, sans springs. Ouch. In Priest’s tale, it is a mining machine, doomed to create havoc and destroy life, as it were, in late nineteenth century Seattle, a Seattle not yet part of the States, and the States still in the midst of the Civil War, which has continued for nearly two decades. This is really a story of a tough woman set on saving her teenage son, and the relationship between the two that has led up to his adventure and how it changes during and because of their discoveries. Priest is all about a fast pace, which keeps the reader’s eye on the page and wanting more; her descriptions are detailed but not overdone; and the emotional drama is present but not mushy or overpowering. 

My only question - and perhaps not a question, at that - regards a statement by Yaozu, in answer to Zeke’s question about the power behind the lights: “They are powered by the future.” Nothing more is mentioned about this ‘future’ aspect, and I was left wondering through the rest of the novel what, if anything, the future had to do with the doctor or the technology. I thought perhaps the doctor had appeared from the future - a la Connecticut Yankee - or the knowledge/machinery itself had been transported in some manner from the future.

Amazon.com, the world’s largest online retailer, and Walmart, the world’s biggest retailer, are vying for sales of hardcover books scheduled for release in November. Walmart also offered free shipping and price cuts of 50 percent or more on 200 bestsellers, including Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol,” according to a statement yesterday by the Bentonville, Arkansas- based company.

“The book price war does not impact every possible book, but it goes after blockbuster titles that drive a lot of volume,” Richard Hastings, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based consumer strategist for Global Hunter Securities LLC, said today in an e-mail. “Walmart is looking to cross-pollinate its online-to-stores business, something that Amazon.com cannot do since it has no physical stores.”

The problem is, such prices are unrealistic and unsustainable. Under the current system, many publishers pay for what’s called co-op. When you walk into Barnes and Noble or Walmart, the books on the shelf ends or in those cardboard cutouts or on the tables aren’t usually there because the staff read them and liked them, or think they’ll be good products suited to their regular customers. No, they’re there because the publishers pay for the spots.

Most books have a standard profit margin afforded to the retailers, and the price Walmart and Amazon have set for select bestsellers means there’s essentially zero profit from the sales. The books are basically lost-leaders, helping these consumer giants retain their clout with publishers who’ll give them extra discounts because of the volume they sell at.

But at the end of the day, the slashed prices could hurt the bottom line for publishers who are already struggling, and can’t afford to continue discounting volumes of stock.

The other problem is that this feeds into a larger problem, one that’s contributed to the current economic crisis. Pricing books at this level makes it seem as though it’s realistic and sustainable. How many consumers walk into a store and think about lost leaders? When I worked at Canadian Tire we used to have door-crasher specials, something that was drastically slashed in price, and available for that price on a specific day and only as long as supplies lasted - no rainchecks. The idea was that people would come in for this one item, and see other things they’d buy, and the profit on the other sales would make up for the loss.

That might be Walmart’s philosophy (I couldn’t say), but it certainly isn’t helpful to the book industry as a whole. Most people walk into a store and, unless they know something about sales and marketing strategies, think things are priced within reason. This is part of Walmart’s power. When you can buy jeans there for $12, why go to the mall and pay $30? You have to look beyond price, to quality, and to manufacturing. Walmart imports cheap products from overseas, made by people who are little more than slaves by our standards, in order to keep costs low, and much of it has a short shelf life. One sweater I bought at the local Walmart last year was threadbare inside of six months. The problem is, many might think it’s worth it to buy a new sweater in the fall for $5 and enjoy it as long as it lasts, discard it in the spring, and buy a new one again the next year… Instead of spending $25 on a sweater that will last for years.

That kind of thinking has directly contributed to the current economic mess, and to a depreciation of product amongst consumers. I can look in my closet and still find clothes I wore ten years ago. I have shirts that are older than my fifteen-year-old niece, from back when we spent a little more to get a quality product that actually lasted.

How does this relate to books? We’re damaging books by inferring that it’s reasonable to sell hardcovers for $9. If booksellers slashed prices accordingly they’d go bankrupt. How, then, can you entice readers to spend even $18 on a hardcover when they can get books for half that price elsewhere? Discriminating readers will understand the limits of selection available for Walmart’s reduced-price offerings, but less discriminating readers won’t. This will never produce a scenario where those unknowing readers begin to purchase books that aren’t being hyped, that aren’t current bestsellers. In order for that to happen, you need to draw people into actual bookstores, where there’s a wide variety of material available… and when bookstores can’t afford to play the price war game, it’s unlikely the Walmart book-buyers will translate into avid readers and local bookstore shoppers.

In the long term, the push on bestsellers and the power of volume purchasing that retailers such as Amazon and Walmart yield could end up meaning fewer books published, with less emphasis on quality and more emphasis on ‘blockbuster appeal’. Ultimately, as consumers are left with only formulaic or mainstream reads to choose from, regular booksellers could be forced out of business because of their inability to compete directly with Walmart and Amazon.

I think booksellers should stop trying to compete for the consumers Walmart and Amazon are targeting through these promotions, and put an emphasis on being a specialty retailer, showing consumers they have more to offer than just the latest ten bestsellers. I can’t see regular booksellers competing head-on, but for the same reason that those who care about the cut and fit and durability of the clothes they’re buying will shop elsewhere, there are consumers who will favor booksellers if they show they have more to offer.

That’s what I’ve concluded, after thinking about this for a bit this morning. Thoughts? Agree? Disagree? What do you see as the future for the book business?

I’ll also be at an event in Pittsburgh in January, and of course, Murder and Mayhem in Muskego, interviewing Jeffrey Deaver, in November.

The Adventures of Amir Hamza. This was required reading, and a long tale to boot, as are most epics. It is rather repetitive, again, as some epics, with the usual battle, triumph, marriage/feast. There is a particularly strange line/translation that I just can’t make sense of - “her eyebrows shot out the arrows of her eyelashes and deeply pierced his heart” and one phrase that I really like - “the crocodile of their swords.” What a great image, and one I have not yet encountered. I like the dust clouds that, while contrived, magically appear before or during a battle to offer an intermission, if you will, for discussion and consideration between armies and enemies.

How to Take Over Teh Wurld - this is an absolute scream. Beyond snorting, in fact. I can’t get enough of these great cat pictures, tagged with brilliantly hysterical captions in LOL-speak. For someone like me, who responds to my son’s “ROFL” with “MAO” - not via email, but in everyday passing conversation, as if such an exchange could be considered conversation - this is like manna from the sky. This sort of business keeps me sane, or insane, take your pick. I need to get my hands on its predecessor, I Can Has Cheezburger? in order to make my life complete.

I made the mistake of re-reading Rebecca West’s Henry James. I really can’t stand Rebecca West, but I know I need to - and want to - know what others think of my man Henry. As my coworker Miss Terri says, it’s best to know your enemy. What an obnoxious, self-centered person this one was, too.

More required reading in the form of Efuru, the very concise tale of an African woman that leaves so much unsaid. Nwapa’s no-nonsense prose is reminiscent of Hemingway and the iceberg; so much under the surface. This book could be ten times as long as it is, but there is no reason for an expansion. Efuru’s experience is understood, and the lack of bemoaning her plight or celebrating her triumph - if it is a triumph, and isn’t it pretty to think so - only adds to that which the reader can imagine.

Just finished Jacqueline Kolosov’s A Sweet Disorder, which was, well, sweet, but not as good as The Red Queen’s Daughter. It was a bit slow to start but I knew that Kolosov would make the time investment worthwhile, and she did. The focus on needlework made this romance particularly interesting to me, along with the relationship between embroidery and healing, both of which require strong observation and creative skills: “a man must study life if he is to master even a fraction of its complexity,” one of Miranda’s suitors notes, and in this case, it is attention to detail that allows her and other strong female characters to greater agency in their fates. 

Who else can accuse a character of “excessive barbering” but Scott Donaldson? Just in love with his collection of essays, Fitzgerald and Hemingway: Works and Days.

Native Son by Richard Wright
Black Boy by Richard Wright
Kim by Rudyard Kipling
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
Grendel by John Gardner
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Franny and Zoey by J.D. Salinger
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

The best thing about displaying these books (and this is the short list, there are more) during a program is that I can talk to the kids about them; I know Courtney and Autumn love fantasy and romance, as well as the Twilight series, so I can introduce them to Tolkien; Sarah would love Picoult and Kaysen; and Matt would love Grendel. Most of the kids have to read Mockingbird, and some can’t stand it because it is an assigned book. This is perfect opportunity to talk to them about why I like it, and to ask them why they don’t. Are all of these books right for all of the teens I see every afternoon? Of course not, no more than all adult books are right for every adult reader. I specifically tell teens if there is sex, violence, drug use, or something that they may want to discuss with their parents. Some teens are excited by the illicit activities in fiction; others aren’t ready and are unsure, and are happy that I have told them, so they can set the book aside for later. I always tell them that they should show and talk to their parents about what they are reading, and also take a look at what their parents and other family members read. Ask them why they like that author or genre, and tell them why you like your favorites as well. Sometimes they are surprised to discover that a parent used to read superhero comics, which are not so far removed from the manga that is so popular with my afterschool crowd, or an older sister likes the true crime paperbacks their mother hides in the bathroom and reads late at night (yes, this is a true situation - all three of them reading the same book without knowing it).

What brought this to mind was an amusing example I was recently reminded of. A friend of mine caught the movie Short Circuit 2 on television few days ago. Not exactly rigorously hard science fiction, but it was, in its time, one of the more prominent popular depictions of the idea of artificial intelligence. (And perhaps the high-water mark of the obsession with wacky comic relief robots that loomed like a vast black shadow over much of the 1980s. ) Protagonist Johnny 5, a self-aware robot with at least human-level intellect, boasts at one point that he possesses “5oo hundred megabytes of memory.”

I’m typing this on the computer I use for work and most other things writing-related. It’s a few years olds, and was not a top-end model even when it was made. It has 160 gigabytes of memory. I have a 1 gigabyte USB flash drive shorter than my pinky finger. I paid about $20-30 for it a few years ago; compared to what you can get now for the same price, 1 gigabyte is nothing impressive.

A figure intended to make audiences think “amazing computer technology from a secret government lab” when I was a child is now dwarfed by cheap consumer electronics you can buy in a Wal-Mart clearance aisle and carry in your shirt pocket. It makes me wonder what technological trends (and soical trends, for that matter) present-day science fiction is missing, and what glaring omissions will strike readers 40 years from now as the equivalent of “Wow, 500 megabytes!” or interstellar starships that calculate their trajectories with microfilm records and a slide rule. If anyone has any guesses, I’d love to hear them.

Contemporary:
Castell, Dianne. Hot and Irresistible
Dale, Lisa. It Happened One Night
Davis, Dee. Set Up in Soho
Donovan, Susan. Ain’t Too Proud to Beg
Halliday, Gemma. Scandal Sheet
Kauffman, Donna. A Great Kisser
Kendall, Karen. Take Me for a Ride
Mallery, Susan. Hot on Her Heels
Novak, Brenda, et al. The Night Before Christmas
Warren, Nancy, et al. A Very NASCAR Holiday

Erotica:
Alexander, Lacey. What She Needs
Hayes, Jasmine. Yours for the Night
Jones, Lisa Renee, et al. Wrapped in Seduction
Jordan, Crystal. Untamed
Lloyd, Joan Elizabeth. Flesh for Fantasy
Lyons, Susan, et al. Men on Fire
McIntyre, Amanda, et al. Winter’s Desire
MacNeal, Melissa. Sexual Secrets
O’Clare, Lorie. Seduction Island
Swann, Leda. Temptation
Whiteside, Diane. Captive Desires

Fantasy:
Howell, Morgan. Candle in the Storm
Taylor, Holly. May Earth Rise
Wilson, C.L. Queen of Song and Souls

Historical:
Bridges, Kate. Alaskan Renegade
Brighton, Lori. Wild Heart
Campbell, Anna. Captive of Sin
Enoch, Suzanne. The Care and Taming of a Rogue
Garlock, Dorothy. Leaving Whiskey Bend
Grothaus, Heather. Taming the Beast
Haeger, Diane. The Queen’s Mistake
Heath, Lorraine. Midnight Pleasures of a Scoundrel
Howell, Hannah. Wild Conquest
Hoyt, Elizabeth. To Desire a Devil
Hunter, Jillian. The Wicked Duke Takes a Wife
Laurens, Stephanie. The Untamed Bride
Lawson, Anthea. All He Desires
Layton, Edith. To Love a Wicked Lord
London, Julia. Courtesan’s Scandal
Lyon, Kate. Destiny’s Captive
McCabe, Amanda. The Winter Queen
MacTavish, Dawn. Counterfeit Lady
Metzger, Barbara. The Bargain Bride
Miller, Linda Lael. Creed Country Christmas
Mortimer, Carole. The Rake’s Wicked Proposal
Nash, Joy. Silver Silence
Petersen, Jenna. What the Duke Desires
Rosburg, Helen A. Lady Blue
Stone, Lyn, et al. A Regency Christmas

Inspirational:
Perry, Marta. Leah’s Choice

Mystery:
Baxter, Cynthia. Murder Had a Little Lamb
Caine, Leslie. Holly and Homicide
Coyle, Cleo. Holiday Grind
Harris, C.S. What Remains of Heaven
Harris, Charlaine. Grave Secret
Kingsbury, Kate. Decked With Folly
Viets, Elaine. Fashion Hound Murders
Washburn, Livia J. Huckleberry Finished
Washburn, Livia J. Killer Crabcakes

Paranormal:
Armintrout, Jennifer. Child of Darkness
Black, Shayla. Possess Me at Midnight
Butcher, Shannon K. Finding the Lost
Chapman, Janet. A Highlander Christmas
Cooke, Deborah. Winter Kiss
Francis, Diana P. Bitter Night
Graham, Heather. Home in Time for Christmas
Gray, Ava. Skin Game
Hall, Traci E. Beauty’s Curse
Kessler, Jackie. Road to Hell
Laurenston, Shelly. Mane Squeeze
MacAlister, Katie. Me and My Shadow
McCarty, Sarah. Caleb
Markham, Wendy. The Best Gift
Owens, Robin D. Heart Change
Pineriro, Caridad. Sins of the Flesh
Rosetti, Denise. Thief of Light
Singh, Nalini. Blaze of Memory
Sizemore, Susan. Dark Stranger
Stover, Deb. The Gift
Summers, Jordan. Crimson
Windsor, Anna. Captive Soul

Romantic Suspense:
Brant, Kylie. Waking the Dead
Burton, Mary. Dying Scream
Dane, Jordan. The Wrong Side of Dead
Howard, Linda. Ice
Lovelace, merline. All the Wrong Moves
Lyons, CJ. Urgent Care
Neggers, Carla. Cold River

Suspense:
Beres, Michael. Traffyck
Gagnon, Michelle. The Gatekeeper
Martin, P.D. The Killing Hands
Robb, J.D. Kindred in Death
Teller, Joseph. Depraved Indifference

Time Travel:
Halliday, Dawn, et al. A Highlander Christmas
Wolff, Veronica. Lord of the Highlands

Urban Fantasy:
Arthur, Keri. Bound to Shadows
Garey, Terri. Silent Night, Haunted Night
Hamilton, Laurell K. Divine Misdemeanors
Hamilton, Laurell K. et al. Never After
Handeland, Lori. Apocalypse Happens
Kenner, Julie. Tainted
Peeler, Nicole. Tempest Rising

Young Adult:
Cast, P.C. and Kristin. Tempted