The Book Smugglers

Guest Author & Giveaway: Ashley Hope Peréz on Inspirations & Influences

Ana — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:00:29 +0000

“Inspirations and Influences” is a series of articles in which we invite authors to write guest posts talking about their…well, Inspirations and Influences. The cool thing is that the writers are given free rein so they can go wild and write about anything they want. It can be about their new book, series or about their career as a whole.

Today’s guest is Ashley Hope Pérez, YA writer, author of What Can’t Wait which was just named to the ALA Best Fiction for YA list. Her second book, the wonderful The Knife and the Butterfly was released earlier this month and has been reviewed by Ana HERE. We were delighted to be invited to join the blog tour and suggested a piece for our Inspirations and Influences feature.

Here is what Ashley has to say:

Ashley Hope Pérez’s Inspirations and Influences (Okay, Mostly Inspirations)

I owe everything I have as a writer to my students. My influences are many and contradictory,* but they would be nothing but damp tinder if it weren’t for my students. Their inspiration was the spark that made me start writing.

It’s been almost five years since I left high-school teaching to go back to school myself, and my kiddos are still lighting new fires in me as a writer. Let me take you through a tour of all the ways my students inspired me as a writer (my debt to them for how they changed me as a person…that’s even bigger).

My students’ stories.

On paper and in person, my students told me about their lives, and to this day, bits and pieces of their experiences filter through in my writing all the time. Sometimes I’m writing a character’s reaction to something his friend says, and I realize, Chris Escobedo was the one who said that. Seventh period. 2005. Short guy with a sweet grin. Had a baby and worked all the time. Often, though, it’s more general than that, as with the many students who shared with me about how it would feel to be the first in their families to finish high school or to go to college.

My students’ reading.

Some of my most resistant students became avid and opinionated readers by the end of our time together. In the process of that transformation, we had many, many conversations about what spoke to them in the books they were reading—and what didn’t. To this day, when I sit down to write, I ask myself, what would get even my most reluctant readers to turn the page?

For my debut novel, What Can’t Wait, they told me straight out what they thought. Many of them read an early draft of the novel, and I had them draw a line across a page if they found their interest waning.

While writing The Knife and the Butterfly, I was still imagining my students’ reactions. They kept me revising until the plotting was as tight as I could make it, the pacing as compelling as possible. I had a few specific students that I pictured as my readers all throughout the process.

Now, as I work on my top-secret manuscript for novel #3, I ask myself, how do I write the historical novel that my students would devour (and that would keep them from even thinking twice about the boring sound of “historical”)?

My students’ stuff.

For the most part, it was the traces my students left behind in my heart that inspired me. Every once in a while, though, the physical objects they left behind in my classroom played a role.

I’ll never forget finding a note from one of my male students to his girlfriend (also a student) that was so sexually explicit I struggled to look her in the eye after reading it. The intense bravado and sexism of that letter was something I returned to as I wrote in Azael’s voice — especially before he gets so scared that his macho persona starts to slip away.

Another time, one of my students — one who was constantly writing and drawing on my desks — left behind his black book of designs for me to look at. Even though it didn’t change how I felt about him marking up my desks (or how often he had to clean them) it gave me a different perspective of his need to make a mark on the world around him. That’s something that definitely impacted how I portray Azael’s street art and tagging.

A less fun “artifact” from my teaching days was a virulently hostile message from a disgruntled student, a message that cut very, very deep and left me reeling for days and inspired this drawing of me being throttled.

I needed to encounter that hostility and suspicion, though, to later write Lexi’s journal entries believably.

My students’ absences.

I know, this sounds like the most bizarre source of inspiration EVER, but let me explain. It used to drive me crazy when my students—many of whom had very messy, difficult lives—just up and disappeared for stretches of time without notice. And sometimes they never came back; that was the worst. As a writer, though, a lot happened for me when I started to imagine the “why” behind those absences.

In fact, Azael—who is a high-school dropout—was inspired as much by the students I never taught as by the many I did teach. I couldn’t stop thinking about the middle-school students and freshmen who disappeared long before the senior English classes I taught.** Who were these students who fell between the cracks? Writing The Knife and the Butterfly gave me a chance to imagine one answer.

My students’ willingness to make ME work.

My students were the ones who convinced me to start writing a novel for them, and that novel became What Can’t Wait. Once I told them I was going to do it, they never expressed doubt that I would finish. I pushed them really, really hard in my class; they expected me to do the same for them. 200 teenagers waiting for you to practice what you preach—that’s what I call motivation. Even now, when I’m feeling lazy or tired and I don’t want to write, sometimes all I have to do is summon up the raised eyebrows of one class of students to scare me straight.

I still hear from former students quite often. They are all grown; many have families, some have already finished college, and a few are actually teaching in the same district where I once taught. (That really makes me feel old!) Even as I relish the adults they’ve become, I hold onto the memory of the teens they were—what they wanted, how they struggled, and what they taught me. I wouldn’t be writing novels today if it weren’t for their inspiration.

*I am a compulsive reader and a comparative literature PhD candidate. If you want a peek at just how much I read, check out this post.

**In Houston schools, the de facto dropout rate is an astonishing 50%. These dropouts get classified in lots of creative ways, but the reality is, out of a starting freshman class of about 1550 at the high school where I taught (which was typical) only around 800 actually graduated.

Thank you, Ashley!

And now, for the giveaway…

GIVEAWAY DETAILS:

Courtesy of the author and the publisher, we are giving away a copy of The Knife and the Butterfly. The contest is open to ALL, and will run until Saturday February 11 at 11:59 (PST). In order to enter, just leave a comment here – why not share a favourite story about an inspiring teacher (or student)? Only one entry per person, please! Multiple entries will be disqualified. Good luck!

Book Review: The Knife and the Butterfly by Ashley Hope Pérez

Ana — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 07:01:26 +0000

Title: The Knife and the Butterfly

Author: Ashley Hope Pérez

Genre: Contemporary, Magic Realism, Young Adult

Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date: February 1 2011
Hardcover: 216 pages

After a marijuana-addled brawl with a rival gang, 16-year-old Azael wakes up to find himself surrounded by a familiar set of concrete walls and a locked door. Juvie again, he thinks. But he can’t really remember what happened or how he got picked up. He knows his MS13 boys faced off with some punks from Crazy Crew. There were bats, bricks, chains. A knife. But he can’t remember anything between that moment and when he woke behind bars.

Azael knows prison, and something isn’t right about this lockup. No phone call. No lawyer. No news about his brother or his homies. The only thing they make him do is watch some white girl in some cell. Watch her and try to remember.

Lexi Allen would love to forget the brawl, would love for it to disappear back into the Xanax fog it came from. And her mother and her lawyer hope she chooses not to remember too much about the brawl—at least when it’s time to testify.

Lexi knows there’s more at stake in her trial than her life alone, though. She’s connected to him, and he needs the truth. The knife cut, but somehow it also connected

Stand alone or series: Stand alone

How did I get this book: Review copy from the publisher

Why did I read this book: I’ve had Ashley Hope Pérez on my radar since Doret waxed poetic about her books for her Smugglivus post. When I saw this book on Netgalley, I had to request it.

Review:

Warning: this review contains very minor spoilers.

15-year-old Azael wakes up to find himself locked up after a fight against a rival gang. He assumes he is in Juvie again but the conditions of his incarceration are somewhat different this time around. He doesn’t get the phone call he is entitled to, there is no lawyer talking to him, no one will tell him what’s happening and he spends his days observing this white girl called Lexi, in another cell. He knows she is connected to what happened to him but he can’t really remember the details of the night he was arrested – and it is imperative that he does so, before Lexi goes to trial and before time runs out.

The story progresses as Azael tries to not only remember what happened that night but also to understand what brought him there and how Lexi is related to all of it. The narrative reflects this progression by alternating between “now” and “then” from Azael’s point of view. The conditions of Azael’s incarceration are very unsettling from the start – to him and to the reader. It is obvious that something is afoot and I guessed that the story would involve a certain degree of supernatural elements which places the story firmly within the realm of Magic Realism. Although this piece of information might be slightly spoilery, I do think it is important to share it with potential readers who might approach this expecting a straightforward realistic Contemporary YA. I am not usually a fan of Magic Realism but it worked here because the focus is much more on the “realism” rather than on the “magical” aspect of the story.

Plot-wise The Knife and the Butterfly is loosely inspired by a real event that took place in a Houston park and which involved members of the MS-13 gang. This is merely the point of departure though as the story here is Ashley Hope Perez’s own and simply put, the heart of it is the characters and their circumstances.

The book depicts gang-life with complexity focusing on the low-level members that make up its ranks. As such, Azael’s life as a member of the MS-13 is one of crime and violence but also of close bonds of friendship, loyalty and survival. It is not about glorifying it at all but it does provide a thoughtful insight about the circumstances that might make a young kid join a gang. It is about the combination of missed opportunities, bad luck and poor choices. The book explores this dichotomy of circumstance versus choice really, really well – this is in fact the theme of the book: the knife as an easy choice but the hope for change (like a butterfly) is always present.

And that’s the core of Azael’s beautifully portrayed journey. The early death of his mother, his father’s extradition back to El Salvador leaving Azael , his brother Eddie and their sister Regina to fend for themselves as they slip through the cracks of the social system. His decision to leave school, his artistic tendencies, his love for his girlfriend Becca (and his promise to her to leave gang-life) and his family are all part of his heart-wrenching story. His voice sounded very genuine to me and although I flinched at certain parts of his narrative – especially when referring to girls, for example – these were addressed by the narrative in a way that satisfied me not only in a meta-textual way (by making it plain that circumstance can, unfortunately dictate world-view) but also in-text by allowing the reader to connect with a different side of Azael as other sides of him are slowly unveiled. On the other side of the story, there is also Lexi and it is not until later in the book that we get to hear from her. Her story is equally powerful: her problematic relationship with her parents, her love and respect for her grandmother, the fucked-up choices she makes with regards to sex and drugs all provide a frank look at her own troubled life. Where and how their paths cross is the end-game of the story and best left to be discovered by each reader.

Ultimately, The Knife and the Butterfly is a raw, violent, unrestrained story of two kids in trouble. Borrowing its own metaphor, this book is both knife and butterfly: it cuts deep and it’s uncompromisingly graphic but also compassionate and hopeful.

Notable Quotes/ Parts:

Chapter 1: Now

I’m standing inches from a wall, staring at a half-finished piece. Even though I’m too close to read what it says, I know it’s my work. I run my hands over the black curves outlined in silver. I lean in and sniff. Nothing, not a whiff of fumes. When did I start this? It doesn’t matter; I’ll finish it now. I start to shake the can in my hand, but all I hear is a hollow rattle. I toss the can down and reach for another, then another. Empty. They’re all empty.

I wake up with that all over shitty feeling you get the day after a rumble. Head splitting, guts twisted. All that’s left of my dream is a memory of black and silver. I sit up, thinking about snatching the baggie from under the couch and going to the back lot for a joint before Pelón can bust my balls for smoking his weed.

Except then I realize I’m not at Pelón’s. I’m on this narrow cot with my legs all tangled up in a raggedy-ass blanket. It’s dark except for a fluorescent flicker from behind me. I get loose of the covers and take four steps one way before I’m up against another concrete wall. Six steps the other way, and I’m bumping into the shitter in the corner. There’s a sink right by it. No mirror. Drain bolted into the concrete floor. I can make out words scrawled in Sharpie on the wall to one side of the cot: WELCUM HOME FOOL. I turn around, already half-knowing what I’m going to see.

Bars. Through them, I take in the long row of cells just like this one. I’m in lock-up. Shit, juvie again? It’s only been four months since I got out of Houston Youth Village. Village, my ass.

I sit back down on the cot and try to push through the fog in my brain from the shit we smoked yesterday. Thing is, I’ve got no memory of getting brought in here. It’s like I want to replay that part, but my brain’s a jacked-up DVD player that skips back again and again to the same damn scene, the last thing I can remember right.

Additional Thoughts: Make sure to drop by later today when we post a guest post from the author about the inspirations for writing this story (plus a chance to win a copy of the book).

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein.

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Book Review: Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

Thea — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:13:18 +0000

Title: Incarnate

Author: Jodi Meadows

Genre: Fantasy, Speculative Fiction, Dystopian, Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books (HarperCollins)
Publication Date: February 2012
Hardcover: 384 pages

New soul

Ana is new. For thousands of years in Range, a million souls have been reincarnated over and over, keeping their memories and experiences from previous lifetimes. When Ana was born, another soul vanished, and no one knows why.

No soul

Even Ana’s own mother thinks she’s a nosoul, an omen of worse things to come, and has kept her away from society. To escape her seclusion and learn whether she’ll be reincarnated, Ana travels to the city of Heart, but its citizens are afraid of what her presence means. When dragons and sylph attack the city, is Ana to blame?

Heart

Sam believes Ana’s new soul is good and worthwhile. When he stands up for her, their relationship blooms. But can he love someone who may live only once, and will Ana’s enemies–human and creature alike–let them be together? Ana needs to uncover the mistake that gave her someone else’s life, but will her quest threaten the peace of Heart and destroy the promise of reincarnation for all?

Jodi Meadows expertly weaves soul-deep romance, fantasy, and danger into an extraordinary tale of new life.

Stand alone or series: Book 1 in the Newsoul series

How did I get this book: ARC from the Author

Why did I read this book: To be honest, I was a little scared away by the pretty pastel butterfly cover – but then I read the blurb and was a little intrigued. Then I started seeing reviews pop up for the book, many of them highly positive and from trusted sources. When author Jodi Meadows contacted us about a review, naturally, we were in! We were also lucky enough to have the lovely Ms. Meadows give us a mini interview as the centerpiece of our February Newsletter.

Review:

In the realm known as Range, humans live, die, and their souls are reincarnated with perfect memory of their past lives and all those around them. For the past five thousand years, these souls have lived and died, always with the knowledge that they will inevitably be reborn… until one day, one soul dies and a new soul is born in her place.

Ana is an aberration – the only “new soul” (or, as many like to think, a “nosoul” destined to live only one life and incapable of true emotion or meaning) born in five millennia, who has taken the place of another, Ciana, with her birth. Raised by a bitter mother, Li, that blames her for the loss of Ciana, Ana grows up in an environment of fear and loathing. When she turns eighteen, Ana strikes out from and makes her way through the treacherous winter woods – filled with sylph (spectral creatures that burn and consume humans with a touch) and dragons – to the city of Heart, in search of answers.

Along the path to Ana’s self-discovery, she finds danger and fear from those older souls that are terrified of what she might represent – but also acceptance and even love. But as tensions mount and attacks against the city by sylph and dragon alike increase, Ana discovers that her answers may come at a terrible cost, and the fate of all souls hang in the balance.

Incarnate is, in a word, unexpected. The synopsis, which includes elements of fantasy, with its focus on reincarnation, and even some dystopian aspects sounds like a frightening hodgepodge of genres and ideas. And yet, as disparate as these separate elements may seem, Incarnate is actually at its strongest in terms of worldbuilding, making each of these different parts a cohesive and intriguing whole. I loved the visualization of reincarnation in this book – instead of vampires or some other supernatural creature that remains eternally young and beautiful, souls are born into different bodies with each lifetime and have to go through a complete life cycle. Children might be raised by their friends, enemies, or former lovers, and even though a child may have the appearance of youth, she actually carries the memory of every single lifetime in her five thousand year lifespan. This makes for a strangely stagnant society in which life is important – every death, especially violent death, is felt – but a transitional state. It’s also fascinating because it means that everyone knows everything about everyone, having lived with each other for so long – but it also means that the city of Heart is a strangely stagnant place, ominous and frightening in its routine and rigidity, especially as seen through Ana’s eyes.

From a plotting and storytelling perspective, I loved the central conflict of the novel – Ana’s struggle to find answers, to find peace in this world of old souls that seem focused on hating (or simply ignoring) her until she inevitably dies and hopefully disappears forever, is compelling, thought-provoking stuff. Incarnate is both a thoughtful critique of discrimination, as well as the terror that can be inspired by change, and this theme rings as wholly true and utterly genuine. From a pure character perspective, I have to say that I liked Ana. Sure, she tends to get herself into scrapes and requires much saving at the hands of her hunky love interest, but I love that her character makes sense in all of her insecurities and fears. I also loved that she’s impulsive, but not pigheaded, and sees nothing wrong in running away from danger. Her struggles feel real in this world that seems so set on hating her, and above all, I loved her tenacity in the face of such overwhelming spite.

The romance angle, on the other hand, was the only real disappointment I had with the book. Hero Sam is obviously dreamy and completely 100% there for Ana since the beginning (i.e. saving her life on multiple occasions, and clearly head over heels in love with her since their first interaction). It’s fine. He’s sweet. He’s hot. He’s a gifted musician and there is much bonding and sexual tension over the piano and all that jazz. While the cheese level is bearable, the thing that got me was how utterly traditional and predictable the love story was – Ana meets Sam in the first few chapters and, well, you know where it’s going from there. Then again, this is of course subject to personal taste, and while this isn’t my particular cuppa, your mileage may vary.

Regardless of the tepidity of the romance and Sam’s lack of definition as a character, overall, I found Incarnate to be a wonderful surprise of a book, with an impressive sense of worldbuilding, a solid plot, and a heroine worth rooting for. Absolutely recommended – and with its killer ending, I cannot wait for book 2 in the Newsoul series.

Notable Quotes/Parts: From Chapter 1:

I wasn’t reborn.

I was five when I first realized how different that made me. It was the spring equinox in the Year of Souls: Soul Night, when others traded stories about things they’d done three lifetimes ago. Ten lives. Twenty. Battles against dragons, developing the first laser pistol, and Cris’s four-life quest to grow a perfect blue rose, only for everyone to declare it was purple.

No one bothered talking with me, so I’d never said a word—not ever—but I knew how to listen. They’d all lived before, had memories to share, had lives to look forward to.

They danced around the trees and fire, drank until they fell over laughing, and when the time came to sing gratitude for immortality, a few glanced at me, and the clearing was so eerie quiet you could hear the waterfall crashing on rocks a league south.

Li took me home, and the next day I collected all the words I knew and made a sentence. Everyone else remembered a hundred lifetimes before this one. I had to know why I couldn’t.

“Who am I?” My first spoken words.

“No one,” she said. “Nosoul.”

You can download the opening chapters HERE.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: The Thief’s Covenant by Ari Marmell

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Ebook available for kindle US, nook, google, apple & sony

The Amazing Spiderman Sneak Peek Fan Event

The Book Smugglers — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:53:56 +0000

Our movie reviewing Smuggler, Lavanya Narasimhan, is back with the scoop on The Amazing Spiderman Sneak Peek Fan Event. Give it up for Lavanya, folks!

A few days ago, my friend invited me to go to a “sneak peak” preview of The Amazing Spiderman, the reboot of the franchise directed by Marc Webb, starring Andrew Garfrield and Emma Stone. As somone who loathed Spiderman 3, I’ve been pretty excited about the reboot, not least because it’s from the director of 500 Days of Summer. So I agreed to go, thinking it’d be an extended trailer, or perhaps something like the prologue screening of The Dark Knight Rises.

So boy was I surprised when we got there and it was a full-on event, with free popcorn and soda for everyone and MTV’s Josh Horowitz as emcee. It turned out to be a worldwide event, being held in theatres around the country. And on a screen that live-casted the theaters from other cities, we saw Marc Webb in LA, Emma Stone in Rio de Janiero, villian Rhys Ifans in London… and then right in front of us came Spidey himself, Andrew Garfield. The crowd went willd (especially when there was mention of NYC being Superbowl Champions)–someone even screamed “Hallelujah”, to which Andrew replied, “Hallelujah. You said exactly what’s on my mind.” The cast and crew went on to answer a few questions about their roles, and then we got to see the new trailer followed by about ten minutes of new footage.

Spidey himself (Andrew Garfield) made an appearance

From what I’ve read, The Amazing Spiderman is considered a risk; it’s a reboot of a huge franchise with relatively new talent in a genre that some would say is already oversaturated and everyone wants an Ironman, no one wants Green Lantern. Also considering it’s up against super-superhero movies The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises this summer, I can see why they’re trying to get a head-start on their marketing campaign.

The scenes we saw showed that this Spiderman is not only in high school, but he’s a little quippier, a little more glib and funny that Tobey Maguire’s sad-eyed hero. It also seemed to rely heavily on the romance between Peter Parker and Gwen Stacy, whom Emma Stone described as the yin to Mary Jane’s yang. The main difference, Stone said, was that Mary Jane was in love with Spiderman, and Gwen Stacy is in love with Peter Parker. It also rewrites the origin story from the Raimi’s first Spiderman movie; searching for clues to his parents’ disappearance, he encounters Dr. Connors aka the Lizard, aka the Big Bad. Another source of tension is Spiderman’s status as a vigilante, which particularly doesn’t sit with well Police Chief George Stacy, who just happens to be Spidey’s girlfriend’s dad. Awkward family dinners ensue.

We got to see a lot of unfinished footage, but what I did see looked really fun and exciting. Straying away from the hyper-realism of The Dark Knight, and the sentimentality of the first franchise, The Amazing Spiderman looks a little more concerned with how the mask affects the man behind it. It’ got a great cast,including Martin Sheen and Sally Fields as Uncle Ben and Aunt Mae, and seems fresh and fun. You’ll see me in theaters on July 3rd.

Movie Trailers – Movies Blog

Book Review: Pure by Julianna Baggott

Thea — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:01:21 +0000

Title: Pure

Author: Julianna Baggott

Genre: Dystopian, Post-Apocalyptic, Speculative Fiction, Horror

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: February 2012
Hardcover: 448 pages

We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . .

Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.

Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . .

There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss-maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it’s his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her.

When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.

Stand alone or series: Book 1 in the Pure Trilogy

How did I get this book: ARC from the Publisher

Why did I read this book: As you may know, I’m a sucker for novels of the apocalyptic and dystopian persuasion. When I saw this book at BEA last year, I instantly scooped it up. Praised by the wide-ranging likes of Justin Cronin to Steven Schneider (the producer of the Paranormal Activity film franchise), already optioned for film, and positioned as the next great book following in the footsteps of The Hunger Games and The Passage, how could I resist?

Review:

After the Detonations scarred the world, the sky rained ash, its former blue clotted with dust and grime. Only the charred rubble of civilization remained, with homes, neighborhoods and cities laid to waste in the aftermath. People – those burned, scarred people that survived – have been exposed to strange new kind of radiation, fusing them with objects they were carrying at the time of the blasts: a doll’s head; a plastic fan. Or, in the case of the less fortunate, those people that fused with buildings and earth, with animals, or most horrifically, with other people – brothers together, mothers and their babies, forevermore entwined.

After the Detonations occurred, those surviving wretches struggled to find water to drink, food to eat, and watched with envy the beacon of light that represented the Dome, and those lucky souls inside that escaped the bombs and their aftermath. A week after the Detonations, pamphlets fell from the sky with a message from those within the protective sanctuary of the Dome:

We know you are here, our brothers and sisters.
We will, one day, emerge from the Dome to join you in peace.
For now, we watch from afar, benevolently.

Pressia Belze was only a child at the time of the Detonations, and though she remembers little of her life before she remembers this message of fluttering papers from the Dome. The years pass, and Pressia is on the eve of her sixteenth birthday – a death sentence for any child, as sixteen is the age the OSR (once Operation Search and Rescue, now a militia bent on revolution and retaking the Dome) comes for children and turns them into soldiers or live bait for target practice. Pressia’s grandfather, the only person she has in the world, tries to protect her from the inevitable, but Pressia knows it is only a matter of time before she is found, or her grandfather dies and she is left utterly alone.

A lifetime away in the cool, mechanical protection of the Dome, Partridge struggles with the overbearing dominance of his father, the commander of all who live in the Dome. Torn by the memories of his mother, who disappeared during the Detonations, and the death of his older brother Sedge, who killed himself, Partridge lives each day knowing that he cannot please his father, and that he might not care to please him in the first place. When his father tells Partridge that he is resistant to the coding treatments that are necessary for a good soldier, and to remedy the deficiency he will be upping Partridge’s sessions, Partridge knows it is time for him to leave the Dome and make a stake for the outside world to try and find his mother – who might just be alive somewhere outside.

Pressia and Partridge’s fates are intertwined, and as they search for answers, their paths will cross, and life will never be the same.

Pure, the first dystopian/apocalyptic style novel from established author Julianna Baggott is a harrowing, heart-wrenching book that effectively straddles the line between YA and Adult, as well as genre and general fiction – no small feat! As with Justin Cronin’s The Passage, Pure is a novel that casts a wide net and should find a broad audience from both the speculative fiction ranks, and those who might not consider themselves genre readers.

For me, the strongest aspects of Pure lie with the visual, visceral descriptiveness of the world, the history of this future earth, and the people that inhabit the wastes. These characters are fused with objects: the earth, animals, or most terrifyingly, other people (because, really, if bombs went off and you were with loved ones, you’d probably try to grab them too). The horror stories that are told with each character’s “I Remember” arc, a game that children play in which the currency is personal recollection are harrowing realities – from Pressia, with her doll’s head fused to her hand, to the boy Bradwell with live birds living on his back watching helplessly as the family around him are fused to inanimate objects and die slow, painful deaths. While the premise of the novel is from a scientific standpoint sketchy, the reality of the fusions and the cause of the Detonations, rooted in human failings and motivations, are entirely believable. I like that explanation and some scientific background is given to the rationale of these Detonations, though it does require some willing suspension of disbelief. The ensuing human/animal wasteland, the separation between the Dome and outside world by way of physical designation is horrifying, but brilliant in its absolution and it’s easy to see how mankind might have willfully inflicted the apocalypse upon itself in a misguided attempt to establish a new world order.

All of this, so far, probably sounds familiar to readers of SF and apocalypse/dystopia novels – and to a certain extent, this is true. There isn’t much groundbreaking in the tropes used by Pure, but I think the idea of fusions combined with the writing style and characterization are what truly set the book apart from the fray. From a writing standpoint, Pure is sparse yet lyrical, with plenty of attention devoted to world building and setting. Told in an alternating third-person character narrative, encompassing Pressia, Partridge, a Dome girl named Lyda, and an OSR member called El Capitan, Pure plays on a number of tropes that are familiar in the SF/F dystopian/apocalyptic subgenre today. Indeed, with its teenage protagonists, it is interesting that Pure is billed as an adult novel, as it does have firm grounding and crossover appeal in the YA market. That said, there are a number of extremely dark, horrific shades to the novel – there is grimness, and all the slick visuals of a twisted John Carpenter film, which maybe preclude the book from mainstream YA territory.¹

The other fascinating thing about Pure is that it’s also a very human, sympathetic novel that examines the tangle of underlying emotions and ties that emerge, even in the bleakest of circumstances. It’s a family saga, it’s a fable that plays on the Swan Wife parable, and there’s something decidedly Star Wars-ish to the level of family drama (and I mean this in the best possible way). The mystery of Partridge’s mother and the truth of her story – whether or not she’s alive, and why she would have left her children behind – and the bedtime story she told her beloved baby boy, perhaps in the hope that he might find her in the future, is beautifully wrought. There’s the blossoming love story between Pressia and Bradwell, of Partridge and Lyda, and the ties that could bind them from pursuing any future happiness, which is a sweet note in the middle of such darkness.

The best thing about the book, to me, is that while there is ample darkness and impossible odds stacked against our protagonists, just as there are deaths of many characters we have come to love and care for…all through that despair of the ravaged world, there’s a stubborn, irrefutable vein of hope. I cannot wait for the next book, and certainly Pure is on the long list for my notable reads of 2012 (so far).

Notable Quotes/Parts: From the Prologue

There was low droning overhead a week or so after the Detonations; time was hard to track. The skies were buckling with dark banks of blackened cloud, the air thick with ash and dust. If it was a plane or an airship of some sort, we never knew because the sky was so clotted. But I might have seen a metal underbelly, some dull shine of a hull dipping down for a moment, then gone.

We couldn’t yet see the Dome either. Now bright on the hill, it was only a dusky glow in the distance. It seemed to hover over the earth, orb-like, a lit bobble, unattached.

The droning was some kind of air mission, and we wondered if there would be more bombs. But what would be the point? Everything was gone, obliterated or swept up by the fires; there were dark puddles from black rain. Some drank the water and died from it. Our scars were fresh, our wounds and warpings raw. The survivors hobbled and limped, a procession of death, hoping to find a place that had been spared. We gave up. We were slack. We didn’t take cover. Maybe some were hoping it was a relief effort. Maybe I was too.

Those who could still stagger up from the rubble did. I couldn’t—my right leg gone at the knee, my hand blistered from using a pipe as a cane. You, Pressia, were only seven years old, small for your age, and still pained by your wound raw at the wrist, the burns shining on your face. But you were quick. You climbed up on top of some rubble to get closer to the sound, drawn to it because it was commanding and coming from the sky.

That was when the air took shape, a billowing of shifting, fluttering motion—a sky of singular, bodiless wings.

Slips of paper.

They touched down, settling around you like giant snowflakes, the kind kids used to cut from folded paper and tape to classroom windows, but already grayed by the ashen air and wind.

You picked one up, as did the others who could, until they were all gone. You handed the paper to me and I read it aloud.

We know you are here, our brothers and sisters.
We will, one day, emerge from the Dome to join you in peace.
For now, we watch from afar, benevolently.

Like God, I whispered, they’re watching over us like the benevolent eye of God. I wasn’t alone in this thought. Some were awed. Others raged. We were all still stunned, dazed. Would they ask some of us to enter the gates of the Dome? Would they deny us?

Years would come to pass. They would forget us.

But at first, the slips of paper became precious—a form of currency. That didn’t last. The suffering was too great.

After I read the paper, I folded it up and said, “I’ll hold on to it for you, okay?”

I don’t know if you understood me. You were still distant and mute, your face as blank and wide-eyed as the face of your doll. Instead of nodding your own head, you nodded the doll’s head, part of you forever now. When its eyes blinked, you blinked your own.

It was like this for a long time.

You can download the opening chapters HERE.

Additional Thoughts: I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the beautiful book trailer made for the novel:

Also, make sure you check out our interview with author Julianna Baggott and leave a comment for the chance to win a copy of Pure!

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: Shadowcry by Jenna Burtenshaw

Buy the Book:

Ebook available for kindle US, kindle UK, nook & apple

In any case, the visual nature of the story and worldbuilding can only mean good things for the forthcoming film. I’m hoping for something Slither-esque. YES. ↩

Book Review: When We Were Executioners by J. M. McDermott

Ana — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:01:11 +0000

Title: When We Were Executioners

Author: J. M. McDermott

Genre: Fantasy

Publisher: Night Shade Books
Publication date: February 7 2012
Paperback: 246 pages

J. M. McDermott returns to Dogsland in the stunning novel When We Were Executioners, book two of a sweeping fantasy series that revels in the small details of life. Corporal Jona, the demon-stained Lord of Joni, died in the woods. His lover, the Senta Rachel Nolander, is a demon-tainted fugitive, running from the wolfskin-clad priest and priestess of Erin, who track her through the city based on dreams plucked from Jona’s crying skull, plotting to cleanse the world of the lovers’ demonic taint. Past and present collide as the tale of two ill-fated outcasts unfolds, and the executioners of Erin grow ever closer to their quarry.

Stand alone or series: Book 2 in the Dogsland trilogy.

How did I get this book: Review copy via NetGalley

Why did I read this book: Never Knew Another, the first book in the trilogy was one of my top 10 books of 2011.

Review:

Warning: review contains necessary spoilers for book 1, Never Knew Another

When We Were Executioners is the sequel to Never Knew Another, one of my top 10 books of 2011. This trilogy follows an unnamed narrator and her husband, both Walkers and priests of the Goddess Erin, as they investigate the death of a demon-child, the soldier named Jona, in the city of Dogsland. The narrator has formed a connection with Jona’s memories and through them, is able to follow in his footsteps and perform their mission: to eradicate – through the power of fire, through the power of death – all the signs that he was ever alive.

To the Walkers and followers of Erin, the stain of corruption and evil brought by the demon-children is an inevitable reality and they will stop at nothing to obliterate not only everything that Jona ever touched but also the lives of two other demon-children that Jona knew: his lover, Rachel Nolander and his enemy Salvatore Fidelio.

In terms of story, When We Were Executioners picks up right where Never Knew Another left off with the two Walkers still in pursuit of Rachel and Salvatore. As before, the narrative is divided between the anonymous narrator, whose narrative remains stilted and aloof reflecting perfectly the character herself, and the narrative provided by Jona and Rachel’s memories. The different narrative threads intermingle perfectly to provide different points of view of how life is in Dogsland. To Jona, Dogsland is everything he knows, where his family has lived and despite all the things he has come to hate about it – the corruption, the politics – there are things he still loves about it. To Rachel, it is a place where she found, alongside her brother, succour and love. It is also a place of despair, poverty and potential damnation.

To the Walkers, used to the life in the woods, the life in Dogsland is putrid and corrupt and the demon-children are objects of scorn and hatred. The narrator and her husband share a zealous belief in the inevitable corruption of Jona, Rachel and Salvatore – although the more the narrator taps into the memories inside her mind, the more she seems to realise that things might not be as black and white as that – but once she realises that her zeal might be compromised, she demands the promise from her husband that their mission will be accomplished no matter what. And this is what makes this series so interesting: Jona and Rachel are supposed to be evil but through their memories, they are anything but. The more we read about Jona, the more it becomes clear that some of the decisions he makes take him down a path that are certainly damning. The point is: are those decisions made because of his inherent evil nature or because of the circumstances he finds himself in? As such, Jona is an anti-hero: be sympathetic, charismatic and loving as well as desperate, thoughtless and extremely vicious.

These three characters are only but a few of the pieces of this puzzle though and I can’t help but to feel that Dogsland itself is in fact the main character of this trilogy. Through the eyes of the three characters, we see all of its sides: its multi-faceted aspects, its multi-cultural environment, with the wide-spread corruption that begets extreme poverty and social disquiet. If at times, one feels inclined to believe that the demon-children are inherently evil, this assumption is easily put to test by observing the non-demon inhabitants of Dogsland who might as well be easily described as such. But how much of that is truly nature? How much of that is truly circumstance? I feel that this is not a series that provides easy answers to those questions and a lot of it is left at the reader’s discretion and is definitely something else that recommends it.

Moreover, just like in the previous books, the Fantasy elements are played down and are merely another side of each character. The Walkers for example, become Wolves when they don their wolf-skin and any excretion from a demon-child’s body can burn through anything and cause anyone that comes in contact with them to die or become ill. These things are just what they are, an inherent, essential part of the world-building.

All that said, I found the story to be progressing very, very slowly and this book doesn’t move much beyond what we had already seen in Never Knew Another. At this point in time though, I am not entirely certain how I feel about it – at some points, I felt that story lagged considerably and the many characters and different layers to be confusing. At others, I felt this was exactly the point, things are meant to be confusing and detailed because it is the job of the Walkers to sift through all of Jona’s memories in order to see what matters to their mission. This aspect of the story only reaffirms what I believe: plot and pace don’t matter as much as portraying all aspects of this city and its people in detail. This is much more of an observation rather than a negative criticism though, as overall, When We Were Executioners was another fantastic entry in this series.

It is really hard to say or predict how all the pieces of this puzzle will fit together in the end but I can’t wait to see it all coming together. I am invested in the lives of Jona and most of all, the lovely Rachel Nolander not to be there as soon as possible.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: Rachel Nolander cries:

Rachel touched her cheek where the lake water had splashed her, but it wasn’t lake water. It was tears. She was crying. Her sleeves melted in the acid, like smoldering paper.Her eyes widened. “Wait!” she said, “Wait!” Jona turned. She bent over. Her tears fell straight down into the grass. A small stench of burning grass and death followed her tears. “What is it?” said Jona. He noticed her clothes were melting here and there. Rachel breathed hard. She tried to clamp down on the lump inside of her. She tried to close her eyes so tight that no tears could slip out. Jona didn’t say anything. He rubbed her back. He looked at her, mystified by what was happening. She chocked hard on her own sobs. She clamped her eyes shut, and tried to hold all of her tears inside.

Rating: 7 – Very Good

Reading Next: The Knife and the Butterfly by Ashley Hope Perez

Buy the Book:

Ebook available for kindle US, kindle UK and nook

Smugglers’ Stash & News

Thea — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:09:36 +0000

Hello everyone, and Happy Superbowl Sunday! Just a short stash today, before diving back into pre-game preparations.

World Book Night:

As you may have heard, World Book Night has extended the book giver sign-up deadline to Monday, February 6, at midnight EST. If you haven’t signed up, or want to learn more about WBN 2012, make sure to head over to the official website, or you can read more about the event and how you can get involved here.

This Week on The Book Smugglers:

On Monday, Ana reviews one of her most highly anticipated books of the year, fantasy novel When We Were Executioners by J.M. McDermott and sequel to last year’s phenomenal Never Knew Another (which made Ana’s Top 10 list of 2011). Thea also follows up with her (admittedly overdue) review of Julianna Baggott’s post-apocalyptic dystopian novel Pure.

On Tuesday, Thea reviews Incarnate by Jodi Meadows, a genre-bending YA paranormal/fantasy/dystopian-ish tale of souls that have been reincarnated for thousands of years.

Wednesday, Ana reviews The Knife and the Butterfly by Ashley Hope Perez, followed by a guest post from the author and a giveaway of the book.

Thursday, we have a joint review and giveaway opportunity for adventure fantasy novel The Thief’s Covenant by Ari Marmell.

And, on Friday, we close out the week with a review of historical YA novel Code Name Verity, plus a guest post from author Elizabeth Wein, and giveaway opportunity.

That’s it for now! Until tomorrow, we remain…

Art by Sean Anderson

~ Your Friendly Neighborhood Book Smugglers

On the Smugglers’ Radar

Ana — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:58:12 +0000

“On The Smugglers’ Radar” is a new feature for books that have caught our eye: books we have heard of via other bloggers, directly from publishers, and/or from our regular incursions into the Amazon jungle. Thus, the Smugglers’ Radar was born. Because we want far more books than we can possibly buy or review (what else is new?), we thought we would make the Smugglers’ Radar into a weekly feature – so YOU can tell us which books you have on your radar as well!

On Ana’s Radar

Libba Bray seems to be a hit (Going Bovine) or miss (Beauty Queens) for me, but I really like the sound of her upcoming book ( I wonder if this is really the final cover – the book is not out till November!)

A supernatural series set in Manhattan during the 1920s that follows a teen heroine reminiscent of two of the era’s most famous literary women—Zelda Fitzgerald and Dorothy Parker. The story will be a wild new ride full of dames and dapper dons, jazz babies and Prohibition-defying parties, conspiracy and prophecy—and all manner of things that go bump in the neon-drenched night.

Blackbird comes out in April from Angry Robot and I just love the cover and the sound of it so much! I really want to read this.

Miriam Black knows when you will die. She’s foreseen hundreds of car crashes, heart attacks, strokes, and suicides.

But when Miriam hitches a ride with Louis Darling and shakes his hand, she sees that in thirty days Louis will be murdered while he calls her name. Louis will die because he met her, and she will be the next victim.

No matter what she does she can’t save Louis. But if she wants to stay alive, she’ll have to try.

I read my first Graham Joyce novel last year (The Silent Land) and truly enjoyed it. I think his next offering sounds pretty cool too.

It is Christmas afternoon and Peter Martin gets an unexpected phonecall from his parents, asking him to come round. It pulls him away from his wife and children and into a bewildering mystery.

He arrives at his parents house and discovers that they have a visitor. His sister Tara. Not so unusual you might think, this is Christmas after all, a time when families get together. But twenty years ago Tara took a walk into the woods and never came back and as the years have gone by with no word from her the family have, unspoken, assumed that she was dead. Now she’s back, tired, dirty, dishevelled, but happy and full of stories about twenty years spent travelling the world, an epic odyssey taken on a whim.

But her stories don’t quite hang together and once she has cleaned herself up and got some sleep it becomes apparent that the intervening years have been very kind to Tara. She really does look no different from the young women who walked out the door twenty years ago. Peter’s parents are just delighted to have their little girl back, but Peter and his best friend Richie, Tara’s one time boyfriend, are not so sure. Tara seems happy enough but there is something about her. A haunted, otherworldly quality. Some would say it’s as if she’s off with the fairies. And as the months go by Peter begins to suspect that the woods around their homes are not finished with Tara and his family…

I came across On the Day I Died on NetGalley and requested it as soon as I read the blurb: ghost stories told by the ghost, set in a cemetery and with each story taking place in a different time period in Chicago. Sounds great, right?

The phenomenally versatile, award-winning author, Candace Fleming, gives teen and older tween readers ten ghost stories sure to send chills up their spines. Set in White Cemetery, an actual graveyard outside Chicago, each story takes place during a different time period from the 1860′s to the present, and ends with the narrator’s death. Some teens die heroically, others ironically, but all due to supernatural causes. Readers will meet walking corpses and witness demonic posession, all against the backdrop of Chicago’s rich history—the Great Depression, the World’s Fair, Al Capone and his fellow gangsters.

I bumped into Echo on GoodReads and I think the cover LOOKS AWESOME.

Energy-hungry mages travel toward Vallara from every corner of the continent. Fueled by the two suns, each mage holds the power of the elements: air, earth, fire, metal, water, and ether. They harness the elements to draw energy from the most readily available resource. Humans.

Ashara can’t shake her guilt over her brother’s death at the hands of a mage. So when her other sibling wakes up bleeding after violent nightmares—nightmares about Ashara’s fiery death—she is determined to protect her. She seeks help from Loken, a young man who is duty bound to protect their homeland.

Loken is consumed with tracking the the mages moving steadily toward them across the continent. He and Ashara bond over a common goal: to stop the mages from destroying their home.

But Loken suspects the future of their homeland may depend on Ashara’s death.

Holy moses, check out this tagline: “What if being a librarian was the most dangerous job in the world? ”

SOLD!

Worldsoul, a great city that forms a nexus point between Earth and the many dimensions known as the Liminality, is a place where old stories gather, where forgotten legends come to fade and die—or to flourish and rise again. Until recently, Worldsoul has been governed by the Skein, but they have gone missing and no one knows why. The city is also being attacked with lethal flower-bombs from unknown enemy. Mercy Fane and her fellow Librarians are doing their best to maintain the Library, but…things…keep breaking out of ancient texts and legends and escaping into the city. Mercy must pursue one such dangerous creature. She turns to Shadow, an alchemist, for aid, but Shadow—inadvertently possessed by an ifrit—has a perilous quest of her own to undertake.

On Thea’s Radar

SO MANY PRETTIES. I want many of the books on Ana’s list. Ahem. Ok down to business!

First up, a YA novel that is positioned as The X-Files meets 24. I am intrigued. Even though the cover has the decidedly Heroes-esque tagline, “Stop the countdown. Save the world.” I much prefer the UK cover to the US one…

24 meets the X Files in the biggest teen blockbuster of the summer…

STOP THE COUNTDOWN. SAVE THE WORLD…

Leaving the beach, seventeen-year-old Janelle Tenner is hit head on by a pickup truck.

And killed.

Then Ben Michaels, resident stoner, is leaning over her. And even though it isn’t possible, she knows Ben somehow brought her back to life…

Meanwhile, Janelle’s father, a special agent for the FBI, starts working on a case that seems strangely connected to Ben. Digging in his files, Janelle finds a mysterious device – one that seems to be counting down to something that will happen in 23 days and 10 hours time.

That something? It might just be the end of the world. And if Janelle wants to stop it, she’s going to need to uncover Ben’s secrets – and keep from falling in love with him in the process…

This book looks SO ridiculously cheesey it’s awesome, I really, really want it. Look at that glorious cover! THE TAG LINE! (Also, Dark Tower III’s Charlie the Choo-Choo/Blaine, anyone?!)

Imagine there was a supernatural chiller that Hammer Films never made. A grand epic produced at the studio’s peak, which played like a cross between the Dracula and Frankenstein films and Dr Terror’s House Of Horrors…

Four passengers meet on a train journey through Eastern Europe during the First World War, and face a mystery that must be solved if they are to survive. As the ‘Arkangel’ races through the war-torn countryside, they must find out:

What is in the casket that everyone is so afraid of?

What is the tragic secret of the veiled Red Countess who travels with them?

Why is their fellow passenger the army brigadier so feared by his own men?

And what exactly is the devilish secret of the Arkangel itself?

Bizarre creatures, satanic rites, terrified passengers and the romance of travelling by train, all in a classically styled horror novel.

THE TWELVE HAS A COVER. THE TWELVE HAS A COVER. AAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

The epic story of THE PASSAGE continues

At the end of THE PASSAGE, the great viral plague had left a small group of survivors clinging to life amidst a world transformed into a nightmare. In the second volume of this epic trilogy, this same group of survivors, led by the mysterious, charismatic Amy, go on the attack, leading an insurrection against the virals: the first offensives of the Second Viral War.

To do this, they must infiltrate a dozen hives, each presided over by one of the original Twelve. Their secret weapon: Alicia, transformed at the end of book one into a half human, half viral – but whose side, in the end, is she really on?

I love the cover of this book, and the premise (steampunkish/Victorian era novel, in which people take refuge in a reinforced coal mine to avoid the apocalyptic effects of a comet on a collision course with the earth) sounds slightly familiar but completely intriguing. YES.

Wren MacAvoy works as a coal miner for a domed city that was constructed in the mid-nineteenth century to protect the royal blood line of England when astronomers spotted a comet on a collision course with Earth. Humanity would be saved by the most groundbreaking technology of the time. But after nearly 200 years of life beneath the dome, society has become complacent, and the coal is running out. Plus, there are those who wonder, is there life outside the dome, or is the world still consumed by fire? When one of Wren’s friends escapes the confines of the dome, he is burned alive and put on display as a warning to those seeking to disrupt the dome’s way of life. But Alex’s final words are haunting. “The sky is blue.”

What happens next is a whirlwind of adventure, romance, conspiracy and the struggle to stay alive in a world where nothing is as it seems. Wren unwittingly becomes a catalyst for a revolution that destroys the dome, and the only way to survive might be to embrace what the entire society has feared their entire existence.

I love that this new Urban Fantasy series has a night shift nurse as its protagonist – FINALLY! A competent, educated, hard-working UF heroine! Love the title, and even though I’m a bit burned out with traditional UF, but I think I’ll give this one a try.

Welcome to the secret wing of County Hospital—where vampires get transfusions, werewolves have silver allergies, and one nurse is in way over her head…

Nursing school prepared Edie Spence for a lot of things. Burn victims? No problem. Severed limbs? Piece of cake. Vampires? No way in hell. But as the newest nurse on Y4, the secret ward hidden in the bowels of County Hospital, Edie has her hands full with every paranormal patient you can imagine—from vamps and were-things to zombies and beyond…

NIGHTSHIFTED

Edie’s just trying to learn the ropes so she can get through her latest shift unscathed. But when a vampire servant turns to dust under her watch, all hell breaks loose. Now she’s haunted by the man’s dying words—Save Anna—and before she knows it, she’s on a mission to rescue some poor girl from the undead. Which involves crashing a vampire den, falling for a zombie, and fighting for her soul.

Grey’s Anatomy was never like this…

Hate this cover, but the synopsis sounds intriguing. The horror tropes of amnesiac protagonists in a “perfect” town always wins me over.

What if you forgot your identity and had to rely on other people to tell you who you were?

And what if to discover your true self, you first had to unravel a mystery so big and terrifying you were not sure you’d survive solving it?

When Marshall and Elyse wake up in each other’s arms with zero memory of how they got there or who they are, it’s the start of a long journey through their separate pasts and shared future.

Terrified by their amnesia, the two make a pact to work together to find the answers that could jog their missing memories. As they piece together clues, they discover they’re in the idyllic mountain resort town of Summer Falls, where everyone seems mysteriously happy, but as Marshall and Elyse quickly learn, darkness lurks beneath the town’s perfect facade. Not only is the town haunted by sinister ghosts, but none of its living inhabitants retain bad memories of anything—not the death of Marshall’s mom, not the hidden shame in Elyse’s family, not even the day-to-day anguish of high school.

Lonely in this world of happy zombies, Marsh and Elyse fall into an intense relationship…but the secrets they uncover could be the death of this growing love—and the death of everyone, and everything, they love in Summer Falls.

New Garth Nix book about an intergalactic empire space prince on a secret mission. SOLD.

You’d think being a privileged Prince in a vast intergalactic Empire would be about as good as it gets. But it isn’t as great as it sounds. For one thing, Princes are always in danger. Their greatest threat? Other Princes. Khemri discovers that the moment he is proclaimed a Prince.

He also discovers mysteries within the hidden workings of the Empire. Dispatched on a secret mission, Khemri comes across the ruins of a space battle. In the midst of it all he meets a young woman named Raine, who will challenge his view of the Empire, of Princes, and of himself.

This next one also sounds good, and is also along the apocalyptic/dystopian theme:

IT’S WORLD WAR III.
THE ENEMY IS WINNING.
WHAT IF THE GOVERNMENT’S SECRET WEAPON IS YOU?

More than anything, Tom Raines wants to be important, though his shadowy life is anything but that. For years, Tom’s drifted from casino to casino with his unlucky gambler of a dad, gaming for their survival. Keeping a roof over their heads depends on a careful combination of skill, luck, con artistry, and staying invisible.

Then one day, Tom stops being invisible. Someone’s been watching his virtual-reality prowess, and he’s offered the incredible—a place at the Pentagonal Spire, an elite military academy. There, Tom’s instincts for combat will be put to the test, and if he passes, he’ll become a member of the Intrasolar Forces, helping to lead his country to victory in World War Three. Finally, he’ll be someone important: a superhuman war machine with the tech skills that every virtual-reality warrior dreams of. Life at the Spire holds everything that Tom’s always wanted—friends, the possibility of a girlfriend, and a life where his every action matters—but what will it cost him?

Gripping and provocative, S. J. Kincaid’s futuristic thrill ride of a debut crackles with memorable characters, tremendous wit, and a vision of the future that asks startling, timely questions about the melding of humanity and technology

And what is this, ANOTHER post-apocalyptic novel!?! I can hear the groans already! Yes, yes I know, but I love these so there. (The cover looks like a bad ABC Family poster, which makes me cringe a little bit, too…)

WHAT IS OLDEST WILL BE NEW, WHAT IS LOST SHALL BE FOUND.

The ozone is ravaged, ocean levels have risen, and the sun is a daily enemy. But global climate change is not something new in the Earth’s history.

No one will know this better than less-than-ordinary Owen Parker, who is about to discover that he is the descendant of a highly advanced ancient race—a race that took their technology too far and almost destroyed the Earth in the process.

Now it is Owen’s turn to make right in his world what went wrong thousands of years ago. If Owen can unlock the lost code in his very genes, he may rediscover the forgotten knowledge of his ancestry…and that less-than-ordinary can evolve into extraordinary.

And that’s it from us! What books do you have on YOUR radar?

Pure Blog Tour & Giveaway: A Chat with Julianna Baggott

Thea — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 07:01:51 +0000

Today we are thrilled to be a part of Julianna Baggott’s blog tour, celebrating the release of her new novel. Pure is the much-buzzed about post-apocalyptic coming of age novel that has garnered praise from the varied likes of Justin Cronin (The Passage), Robert Olen Butler (Pulitzer Prize winner), and Daniel H. Wilson (Robopocalypse).

Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to Julianna Baggott!

The Book Smugglers: Pure is a post-apocalyptic dystopian novel with shades of the horror and thriller genres. Though it isn’t positioned as a YA title, heroine Pressia is sixteen years old and Pure has strong crossover audience appeal. How did you approach this melange of genres? Did you envision Pure as a crossover, genre-bending novel since conception, or did it evolve organically?

Julianna: I knew it was a huge departure from my other books. And I knew that I wanted to kind of storm the gates of “genre fiction,” but I wasn’t thinking clearly about where I’d go once I’d gotten through the gates. In some ways, genre as well as the appropriate age-level of a book is something that booksellers and publicists and librarians have to sort out. I write it, but it doesn’t mean I know what IT is — or how many different categories it might slip under. I will say this — in many ways, I wrote the novel for my daughter, who is now the age of Pressia. She made a bird of wire — the one you’ll find in the book made by Lyda (and there’s a free app for this too). I read her early pages and she told me that I had to write this book. She’d never really liked much of anything I’d written before so it meant a lot. The book is for her — so if she were a category in a bookstore, that’s where you’d put it — though some of my biggest fans so far are my age and up. Go figure.

Dystopian novels, especially those of the post-apocalyptic persuasion, are an increasingly popular subgenre of fiction. Are you a fan of the genre? What inspired you to write your own dystopia following the “Detonations”? I write a lot of genres and read in a lot of genres. I’m a buckshot reader. I read as much poetry as prose and because I’m usually researching for a novel, I read a lot of nonfiction. I think it’s quite natural — on a deeply psychological level — for both writers and readers to be drawn to dystopian worlds at this point in history. And I think that the teen years are always tinged with dystopia — or, at least, I should speak for myself here. In some ways, dystopian novels can feel the most realistic.

The Book Smugglers: As a “Wretch” that has survived the Detonations and has a doll’s head fused to her arm in the place of a hand, Pressia is a visually striking and memorable character. Can you tell us about this image of a girl with a doll’s head for a hand, and what, if anything, it symbolizes to you?

Julianna: I’d written some literary fabulist short stories, one with a character who had a doll-head fist. But the character was older and it wasn’t as psychologically resonant. I also wanted to do something ambitious, cinematic, world-building. Once I realized the two belonged together, the world started to take shape.

The Book Smugglers: Conversely, Partridge is a “Pure” that survived the Detonations unmarred by the fusings or radiation, thanks to the protective safety of The Dome. The juxtaposition of the Pures and the Wretches makes for a fascinating society in a ravaged post-apocalyptic world. How did you approach worldbuilding and the creation of this dystopian society for Pure?

Julianna: My husband worked in a boarding school for a few years when we were younger. I based much of the Academy within the Dome on this boarding school. I dream about this place often; it’s burrowed into my skull in some very essential way. So I revisited it for the novel.

The Book Smugglers: Pure is the first book in a planned trilogy and has already been optioned for film by Fox2000. Can you tell us anything about the upcoming film (we are very excited), and what readers can expect in Fuse (book 2)?

Julianna: I have no idea what’s going on film-wise. I wish I did. If you hear rumors, let me know.

Now, Fuse, well, I’m deep into edits now so I can tell you that they don’t stay confined to the landscapes I established in Pure and the twists and turns of the Dome take over and the relationships go deeper.

The Book Smugglers: What are your top five recommended apocalyptic and/or dystopian novels?

Julianna: I’m not good at this kind of thing and always tap dance around the answer.

[Insert tap-dancing here.]

The Book Smugglers: We Book Smugglers are faced with constant threats and criticisms from our significant others concerning the sheer volume of books we purchase and read – hence, we have resorted to ’smuggling books’ home to escape scrutinizing eyes. Have you ever had to smuggle books?

Julianna: My husband has, actually. He came with me on tour in London for my first novel back in 2001 or so. We walked into a publishing house and while I was interviewed they told Dave to take any books that caught his eye. When I was done, he walked toward me with as many books as he could carry. I blushed. We left and then proceeded to figure out a way to jam every last one into our suitcases to get them back home.

Critically acclaimed, bestselling author, Julianna Baggott — who also writes under the pen names Bridget Asher (The Provence Cure for the Brokenhearted) and N.E. Bode (The Anybodies) — has published 17 books, including novels for adults, younger readers, and collections of poetry. Her latest novel, PURE, is the first of a trilogy; film rights have sold to Fox2000 — www.pure-book.com. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Best American Poetry, Best Creative Nonfiction, Real Simple, on NPR.org, as well as read on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” and “Here and Now.” Her novels have been book-pick selections by People Magazine’s summer reading, Washington Post book-of-the-week, a Booksense selection, a Boston Herald Book Club selection, and a Kirkus Best Books of the Year list. Her novels have been published in over 50 overseas editions. She’s a professor in the Creative Writing Program at Florida State University and the founder of the nonprofit Kids in Need – Books in Deed. For more, visit www.juliannabaggott.com.

Giveaway Details:

We are giving away ONE copy of Pure! The contest is open to addresses in the US only, and will run until Saturday February 11 at 11:59 (PST). In order to enter, leave a comment here letting us know what your favorite post-apocalyptic novel is. Only one entry per person, please! Multiple entries will be disqualified. Good luck!

Book Review: The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis

Ana — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:00:49 +0000

Title: The Mighty Miss Malone

Author: Christopher Paul Curtis

Genre: Historical, Young Adult, PoC

Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books
Publication date: January 10 2012
Hardcover: 224 pages

We are a family on a journey to a place called wonderful” is the motto of Deza Malone’s family. Deza is the smartest girl in her class in Gary, Indiana, singled out by teachers for a special path in life. But the Great Depression hit Gary hard, and there are no jobs for black men. When her beloved father leaves to find work, Deza, Mother, and her older brother Jimmie go in search of him, and end up in a Hooverville outside Flint, Michigan. Jimmie’s beautiful voice inspires him to leave the camp to be a performer, while Deza and Mother find a new home, and cling to the hope that they will find Father. The twists and turns of their story reveal the devastation of the Depression and prove that Deza truly is the Mighty Miss Malone.

Stand alone or series: Stand alone but from what I understand, Deza made a brief appearance in a previous, award-winning book by the author Bud, not Buddy.

How did I get this book: Bought

Why did I read this book: I read this fantabulous review at one my new favourite blogs: Slatebreakers. I bought the book as soon as I read the review.

Review:

I am absurdly delighted to be writing this review because books like The Mighty Miss Malone are extremely rare in their awesomeness. I loved it. I LOVED IT. I heart Deza Malone with the fire of a thousand suns.

Here is why, in a nutshell:

The storytelling is fabulous: it has great moments, sad moments, and happy moments. It is a great story because it is a story about a family at its heart, and about a country, in the great scheme of things. It is a historical piece but also extremely relevant to the present. The prose is awesome and this review could easily be written around its many wonderful quotes. It features a plethora of superbly written characters, a family that is both ordinary and extraordinary, and a main female character with complexity, agency, voice. It is an inspiring, thoughtful and engaging book.

In fact, the more I think about it the more I want to sing its praises to the entire world.

***

Deza Malone is the narrator of The Mighty Miss Malone and the youngest member of the Malone family which, by the way, is the only family in the world that – to her knowledge – has a motto of their own: “We are a family on a journey to a place called Wonderful”. Unfortunately for the Malones, their journey to Wonderful is via a strenuous, unrelenting, hard road and they travel through Tragedy Place, Homeless Town and the long Separation Avenue on their way there.

It’s 1936 in Gary, Indiana and the country is still in the throes of the Great Depression. Deza’s father has been doing menial work on and off and things are only getting worse. Her mother is a cleaner for one of the rich families but her job is equally unstable and whilst her older brother Jimmie does the odd job here and there, they live in extreme poverty. Jimmie has stopped growing for lack of nutrients, Deza’s teeth are rotten and she has never visited a dentist, their clothes are falling to pieces and most of their food comes from donations. When the father is badly injured in an accident, he has no choice but to go look for work elsewhere. Things get worse when the mother is laid off, they become homeless and the family sets out to find the father and reunite the family – whatever it takes.

For all of the above sadness, this is a hopeful, uplifting, romantic and at times, extremely funny book – and it’s all because of the Malones, their frustrations and hopes:

Roscoe is the father – a smart man who dreams of being a carpenter. He loves alliterations and his children are supposed to refer to him as Dearest Delightful Daddy or Fine Friendly Father Figure. The mother is Peggy – or the Marvellous Mammalian Matriarch – equally intelligent, resourceful and determined. Jimmie – Genuine Gentle Jumpin’ Giant – is the oldest son, loyal to his family and an extremely gifted singer.

And then of course, we have Deza, the Mighty Miss Malone. She is an energetic, smart 12 year old who takes great pride on being the best student at her school and a member of the Malone family.

As Deza herself puts when writing an essay for school:

My most endearing trait, and being as modest as I am, I had to ask my brother Jimmie for this, is that I have the heart of a champion, am steady as a rock and can be counted on to do what is required. Jimmie also said I am the smartest kid he has ever met, but my all-encompassing and pervasive humility prevents me from putting that on this list.

My dream is to read every book in the Gary Public Library and to be a teacher who is tough but fair

The core of the story is the Malone family, their hardships and their journey to find each other after they get separated. As the main characters of the book they are an extraordinary family, and characters that are well-developed and complex. Unlike my supremely clumsy attempt to pin them down in the few lines above, the author takes his time to draw them in depth. As such, the family has its moments of despair, of fury, of making mistakes and paying for them. Deza for example, comes to learn that she can defend her older brother against bullies and that she likes it, she likes to fight and punch people – because she realises she loves to feel powerful and in charge. At the same time, she doesn’t like this side of herself because she understands that she often reacts impulsively and she believes that fighting is wrong.

These are also extremely ordinary people when considering the larger picture. They are not the only family to go through these hardships as theirs is a plight that afflicted an entire nation. Beyond that, the author also incorporates African American history in the narrative and reveals the pervasive racism in society. One of the greatest moments in the book – and in history – deals with the expectations and hopes of African Americans for the Joe Louis–Max Schmeling boxing match.

This brings me to possibly my favourite aspect of the book. Beyond history and family, the story is also Deza’s journey to awareness. Just before the great match, she is told by a friendly white librarian that Joe Louis is “such a credit to your race” and has to grasp the full meaning behind this sentence. In a similar fashion, she has always been an A+ student at her old school and she is extremely enthusiastic about learning. But when joining a new school whose teachers are primarily white, she finds herself getting grades no higher than C, her teachers don’t call on her when she raises her hand and she becomes an uninterested student as a consequence. In that moment, she finds solace in the books she loves so much – Deza is a keen reader – but the more she reads, the more she realises that she hardly sees herself reflected in the stories she loves so much:

When I was in Gary and I would read novels I used to put myself right in the middle of the story. I knew it was a great book when it felt like the author was writing about me. Some of the time I’d get snapped out of the book when I read things that I couldn’t pretend were about me, even if I had the imagination of Mr. William Shakespeare.

Words like ‘her pale, luminescent skin’ or ‘her flowing mane of golden hair’ or ‘her lovely, cornflower-blue eyes’ or ‘the maiden fair.’ I would stop and think, No, Deza, none of these books are about you.

This passage is all the more heartbreaking when we consider that nearly 80 years later, whitewashing and underrepresentation of People of Colour in literature are still an unfortunate reality. Thankfully we have books such as The Mighty Miss Malone which is a bright, shiny light of sheer awesome – a plain good story that is also an important one.

In conclusion: The Mighty Miss Malone is a Superlative Stupendous Story and a Totally Awesome Book.

Notable Quotes/ Parts: The passage below is one of my favourites. It is super sad (it’s the aftermath of the accident that makes Roscoe so ill – he also lost his front teeth which causes him to lisp) but also very funny and then it continues to become poignant. This is a small excerpt from said sequence:

I kissed father’s fevered forehead three times and said, “Kisses…kisses…kisses make you stronger.”

One day when I kissed him the coolness of his forehead surprised me. His eyes blinked open and he smiled, “Yeth, my Darling Daughter Detha, it worked, your kisseth have made me thtronger.”

I plopped down on his chest and hugged him. “Oh, Father! That’th juth what I wanted. Welcome back, my Deareth Delightful Daddy!”

For the first time in a million years my father laughed! It was a rusty old laugh, but it was a laugh, and it felt like chains breaking off of him. It made the hairs on my neck stand up.

“Oh,” he said, “how tharper than a therpent’th tooth it ith to have a thankleth, bratty little child. You’re actually going to thit there and mock your poor Deareth Delightful Daddy’th new lithp?”

I kissed him again and again and said, “Yeth, yeth, yeth! And it really ith about time you pulled yourthelf together, mithter! But I’m not mocking you.”

“No? Well, it thure thoundth like mockery.” He put his hand over his chest. “And it thrure feelth like mockery to my heart.”

I looked to see if he was serious. “No, Father it isn’t, it comes from a book I read.”

He coughed a couple of times, then said, “I know the book, it’th called How To Be Dithrethpectful and Abuthive to a Good Man.”

Rating: 9 – Damn Near Perfect

Reading Next: When We Were Executioners by J.M. McDermott

Buy the Book:

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