The Chosen One

May 29, 2009October 8, 2010 - Stacy

I got this ARC a couple of weeks ago, but I’ve been holding onto it because I knew from going to Carol’s reading that it would make me bawl. I had to be ready for that, and busy as I’ve been, I haven’t been ready for it.

Once again tonight, as many nights, I couldn’t sleep. So I took the book to bed with me about midnight, and here it is 4 in the morning and I’ve read the whole thing, and bawled the whole way through. In a good way! It’s a powerful book. But be warned–Kleenex should be handy when navigating this book.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, let me ‘splain: Carol Lynch Williams’s new book, The Chosen One, is about a 13-year-old girl, Kyra, who lives in a polygamous compound much like any of the ones you’d see driving through southern Utah. The FLDS aren’t the only sect, though they are the most notorious. Living in Utah, you often see reports on the news about women who have escaped these situations, or about the Lost Boys, the boys who are sent out to die in the desert because the girls are for the older men. When Kyra is told that the prophet of their sect has had a revelation that she is to marry (remember, she’s 13!), and marry her own uncle, no less–not is he her father’s brother, but he’s also 50 years older than she is–she has a crisis of faith that leads her to question what she’s been taught all her life about the blind obedience to the prophet’s commands.

I love that Carol made this completely unrelated to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints–of which you’ll probably remember that I’m a member. People, often people who don’t know a real Mormon, often get the real Mormon church and the wacked-out splinter polygamous groups confused and conflate them. There’s a huge difference (I’ll not get into them, because that’s not what this is about–let’s not go there–I’m just saying that I appreciate, finally, seeing something that addresses the subject that doesn’t conflate the two). I don’t know what it’s like to live in these compounds, so I won’t say it’s “so realistic” or anything as if that means anything–but it rings true to the reports I’ve seen and the books I’ve read.

Most importantly, it rings true to Kira as a character. She’s strong, capable, and learning to become independent. I really rooted for her to win, and felt just as torn as she did about what “winning” would mean–would it mean having to leave her family behind, the only world she’s ever known, loving people who are just trying their best to be good? What is freedom without family beside you? It’s a book that doesn’t shy away from the tough stuff, and it’s oh so good.

Just remember the tissues when you read it.

…And let’s see if I can sleep NOW!

Provo Book Festival (& other recent events, including a reading cat)

May 20, 2009October 8, 2010 - Stacy

Well, now that I’ve gotten my camera back up (I killed the battery Saturday, forgetting to upload the pictures while it was still hooked up for hours, and now I’ve finally gotten back to it), I will share with you some of the fun things that happened at the Provo Book Festival. I was really impressed. This was the first time I’ve been to it, though I’ve heard good things about it for a few years, and I must say, it was really cool to see how the kids who came were so excited to get involved with books, to see their favorite authors speak, and to be able to get books signed by them. There had to have been twenty or so local authors involved, and several illustrators as well.

I’m trying out this “insert gallery” option. If that doesn’t work, I’ll try individual pictures. We’ll see!

ETA: Whoops! I’m fixing it!

Okay, to purge the photo files, before we get to the festival, here are some shots from the recent book signing by Carol Lynch Williams, at which she read a portion of her book, The Chosen One, as well. I have an ARC and can’t wait to read it. Just have to catch up on work first!

Carol Lynch Williams reads at her booksigning

Notice how Cheri Earl (Carol’s partner in crime on many endeavors, most notably the BYU Writing for Young Readers conference every June) must either make a face at me for taking her picture, or turn away. It’s all a ploy to show off her cute hair.

Mogget likes to read, too.

Now, on to the festival! They had a puppet show for the kids (the farmer’s animals kept making all the wrong noises! cats baaing, cows meowing–what is a poor farmer to do? turns out he forgot to read their owner’s manual.) Shannon and Dean Hale performed an interpretive dance of their collaboration project, and authors who signed books all afternoon include Emily Wing Smith, Aprilynne Pike, Brandon Mull, Brandon Sanderson, James Dashner, Carol Lynch Williams, Mette Ivie Harrison, Jessica Day George, Shannon and Dean Hale, and many, many others.

The end. Say good night, Mogget.

Good night, Mogget!

LTUE and the undead cold

February 21, 2009February 21, 2009 - Stacy 1 Comment

For the last couple of days I’ve been at BYU’s Life, the Universe, and Everything, sniffling my way through several panels. The zombie cold seems to be lightening up–it was a whole lot worse yesterday than it was today, though my nose still feels like it’s a drippy faucet.

So far I’ve had a great time catching up with local authors and readers who I usually see a few times a year–and hanging out with old friends who I see nowadays a whole lot more often than I have in the past. 🙂 Had some great salmon, etc. etc. Your average small local con (symposium!), but peppered with a high percentage of knowledgable published authors. We were talking about that at dinner tonight, actually–not that it’s news or anything to many people, but Utah really is a hotbed of authorly experience.

Tomorrow I’m on three panels, and if you’re heading to LTUE, I’ll inform you right now that I plan to hijack the noon panel on “the difference between MG/YA and mainstream [sic] books.” Yeah, baby, since we don’t have a moderator, I’ve come up with my own questions, because the four or five other panels we’ve already had in the last two days have already rehashed the definition of children’s books to death. So it will be a panel potpourri. Our first question: the ever-controversial “zombies or unicorns?” Given my cold, I think the zombies have it in for me, so I’m siding with Team Unicorn.

Stay tuned. I think it’ll be the best panel yet.

No, seriously. It’s an important question. Just ask Holly Black or Justine Larbalestier.

Kindling Words update TK

February 12, 2009February 14, 2009 - Stacy

Oh, and I keep forgetting to post about Kindling Words, which I’ve been back from for over a week. I was able to take pictures, and got some really great ones of Ashley Bryan, our keynote speaker, who was the best keynote speaker I’ve ever heard speak, and he didn’t even have a speech.

But for today, I have a book to finish reading, a chapter to finish writing, and a lot of business stuff to work on. I think the business stuff might be of more general interest, anyway, and a photo post will have to wait until I can carve out some time to craft it.

The fashion report, New York, and cameras

January 28, 2009February 14, 2009 - Stacy

I’m sitting in my friend’s New York apartment having just finished a rousing discussion on each of our personal existential crises. There’s always something that makes you think, "What do I *really* want to do when I grow up?" isn’t there? As things change, you have to adjust, and there’s always some negotiation as you figure out how you fit in the bigger plan.

Also, I’m making chocolate chip cookies.

And finishing a critique (you know who you are! almost done!).

I was going to spend the afternoon at a museum or something, but it’s rainy and slushy out, and I decided it was time to just sit and not be running around. Plus, the heel part of the sole came separated from the leather one of my shoes as I was taking it off last night. Random. But I th
ink it’s fixable. I just need to find a good shoe repair place at home. They’re much less common in Orem than they are in bigger cities.

So as I was heading back to my friend’s house from a quick visit to Alvina’s office this morning, I stopped by at a Payless and found a cute pair of boots on sale, which makes me happy because I’ve been looking for boots. The shoes that broke are Mary Janes–cute, but impractical even if you’re just running through the snow from the car to the house and vice versa, and even more so while running around New York in the slush.

But obviously they’re new boots, and they have a little bit of a heel, so they need some breaking in to be comfortable for everyday wear. It was either them or a pair of flat white suede boots with really weird leather fringe trim, and that was just not happening.

But I’m happy to have some cute boots before I head up to Vermont, even if it’s not the most practical thing to have un-worn-in boots, because they’re calling for snow and I think I want to go out on the snowy trails. I wonder if there’s snowshoe rentals up there? I had a great time earlier this month going snowshoeing with my friend in Utah. I don’t believe I ever shared anything about it on this blog at the time, because I was still trying to figure out how to get the pictures off my phone. Well, here you go:

Yes, that is me falling over. It happened several times. Have you ever tried standing up again from snowshoes in five feet of snow? That tree behind me? It’s the top limbs of the tree I fell in. It’s normally at least 10 feet tall.

But that won’t stop me from going again. It was a great workout–very invigorating. When I wasn’t feeling how impossible it was to get back up from falling.

Also, while I’m at it, a fun shot I took with my cell phone at the Salt Lake Library. Boy, do I miss my good SLR! But it’s fun to get some nice shots out of a little 2 MP camera.

If you ever get a chance to see the Salt Lake Library (the downtown branch), definitely check it out, by the way–it’s gorgeous.

I just found a great point-and-shoot camera (Sony Cybershot, 8.1 MP), so at least I’ll be able to get my snapshot fix while I work on replacing the good camera (and actually, the shoe and cookie shots are made with that camera). But I’m still sad and going through photography withdrawal.

November 10, 2008February 15, 2009 - Stacy

I’m back from my trip to New York City. It was really nice to see everyone, and those of you I missed, I’m sure I’ll catch you on the next trip, which I’ll take more time to plan. 🙂 I also made it to The Strand for the first time, and wow! I think I want to live there. Just set up my little leather chair and ottoman and read to my heart’s content. I took some pictures with my cell phone, but I need to find my microdisc adapter before I can post them. It’s just a 2 megapixel little cell phone, not my regular nice camera, so the clarity isn’t so hot, but it was fun to memorialize a little of my trip.

There are some things in the works which I’m not ready to talk about on the blog yet, but hopefully I’ll be able to post about them soon when I get all the information together.

In the meantime, I was thinking about all the reading that I’ve done recently, and it occurred to me that this is the perfect place to talk to bookish people about all those good books.

So: what have I read lately?

Alcatraz vs. the Scrivener’s Bones by Brandon Sanderson. Disclaimer: Brandon is a friend of mine from college. But who cares? Whether I know him or not, the book is funny–even funnier than the first book, Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians (well, disclaimer on that too: I read book 1 in draft form, so I bet book 1 in print is even funnier).

I got started on Bad Kitty by Michelle Jaffe (the YA novel, not the picture book) before the flood happened, and I haven’t had a chance to finish it yet. So that goes back in the TBR list (i.e., books I want to read but don’t have physical copies for for the TBR pile). As far as I read, I was enjoying the snarky teen girl voice.

The Luxe by Anna Godberson. I had expectations going into the paperback version–because I think I had read spoiler at some point–that were conf
irmed by the end, but despite my expectations being confirmed I loved the way this story was told. One thing I did not expect was five different viewpoints, but it was really amazing how it all fit together so well, despite the different characters’ vastly different agendas. We in publishing can often make generalizations about the number of viewpoints a book should have; this book is a great example of the exception to he rule. If you’re thinking about doing more than one viewpoint in a book you’re currently working on, The Luxe is one to look at as a craft example. I’ve been told that its sequel, Rumors, is even better, so that goes in the TBR list.

Currently reading

Lamplighter by D.M. Cornish. The sequel to Monster Blood Tattoo (or Foundling, as it’s now called, and now the series name is Monster Blood Tattoo), which I heard on audio. Highly recommend that listening experience–I loved the narrator. I’m not very far into Lamplighter yet so I can’t really comment on it–yet!

Skinned by Robin Wasserman. Seems like science fiction for teens is taking a turn from the dystopian, which I’m really glad to see. There’s so much more to science fiction than that one subgenre. So far so good–the main character Lia Kahn is in an accident that nearly kills her and her consciousness is downloaded into a new body. It’s almost a zombie meets an android, I suppose–it almost fits in with books like Zombie Blondes and Generation Dead, but not quite–so if you have readers who liked those books this might be one of those "if you liked _________ then you might enjoy ________" recommendations (depending on the reader, of course). It looks like it’s going to tackle some interesting subjects while Lia deals with being dead, but not dead.

On the TBR pile/list (not comprehensive! 🙂 and amazingly enough, they’re not all YA)

Manolito Four-Eyes by Elvira Lindo
How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justina Larbalestier
The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
My Rotten Life: Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie by David Lubar (this looks HILARIOUS)–ARC for the book coming out Aug. 2009, so no link yet
Zoe’s Tale by John Scalzi (a YA branch-off in the world of Old Man’s War)
Veil of Lies: A Medieval Noir by Jeri Westerson
The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama (which I’ve been meaning to read for a couple years, and wanted to read before the election)
Lord Loss by Darren Shan
Skin Hunger by Kathleen Duey
The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett (this is an ARC–the book doesn’t come out until March of 2009)
Minders of Make-Believe by Leonard S. Marcus (another one that I started before the flood but hadn’t gotten through before all the craziness began. I fou
nd it at The Strand for $13! I heart The Strand!)
The Good Neighbors–Book One: Kin by Holly Black and Ted Naifeh
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd edited by Holly Black and Cecil Castellucci (which also looks hilarious–stories about geeky life). Also, another ARC for a book coming out Aug. 2009, so no link yet.
Sovay by Celia Rees. This looks awesome, but I haven’t started it yet. It’s about a rich teen girl in the late 1700s who becomes a highway robber. If you’ve read Witch Child, it’s the same author. I LOVED Witch Child, though its sequel, Sorceress, wasn’t as strong. I haven’t had a chance to read Pirates! but I’ve heard good things about it.
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin. I’ve been meaning to read Grace Lin’s books for a while, so I’m excited to get a chance to read the ARC of her new book, which comes out next year.
Meg Cabot’s 1-800-WHERE-R-YOU series.

Oh, and another reason I love The Strand? Richard Scarry’s What Do People Do All Day? for $10.50. Not even Amazon has that price. I had this book as a kid but I can’t find my copy of it. I also had the fairy tale book–little kitty as Little Red Riding Hood? It was awesome! I didn’t go looking for it, though. Too much temptation, if I found the Richard Scarry section. I
didn’t go with a lot of extra money in my pocket. But oh, the temptation! I think this is an updated version of a book my brother and sister and I had as kids. My brother had Cars and Trucks and Things That Go. I think one of these days I need to get them all and do an homage post to Richard Scarry.

Jetting off

November 3, 2008February 15, 2009 - Stacy

I’m taking a trip to New York City this week. I’m leaving on a redeye tomorrow night and staying through Saturday. It’s going to be a short little trip, but I’m excited to see the city again and see friends I haven’t seen in a while.

If you’re in the area, perhaps we might have a get together or do some touristy things. I’ve talked to a number of you already and started to make plans, but I’m still looking for fun things to do, so comment here or email if you’ll be around.

Sadly, there will be no pictures because my camera was ruined in the flood. But perhaps it will make me remember all the more, because I won’t spend half my time behind a camera. 🙂

Mormons in fantasy

November 20, 2007August 1, 2009 - Stacy

As you may be aware, because I’m certainly not hiding the fact, I am a Mormon (a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). It’s kind of interesting to note how many Mormon professionals there are in fantasy and children’s/YA lit. I get past counting on both hands (especially when including editors), and while that might not seem as much compared to the various other religious and/or nonreligious groups a professional in this industry may claim, it’s always an interesting subject for Mormons to talk about. 😀

I’ve been asked to write an essay for a Mormon publication, Dialogue, on Mormon writers of mainstream YA and children’s literature. While I’m working on that, I thought I’d throw the topic out there, both to my readers who I know for a fact are LDS, and to anyone else who might be interested in the subject. What YA and children’s fantasy writers out there are LDS? Does knowing they’re LDS affect how you perceive the book? Did you learn they were LDS before or after reading, and did that change your percep tion of the book?

Let’s contrast this to a notorious example, and a timely one at that. You’ve all probably heard of the emails going round some parts about boycotting the movies based on Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials.* Would you go to see the movie? Do you believe that it should be avoided? If so, why? If not, what do you like about Pullman’s work? What influence, if any, does his background have on your reading?

Some LDS authors off the top of my head:

Orson Scott Card (included for the recognizability factor, but not really included in my essay because the book of his most considered YA material, Ender’s Game, was published so long ago–though funny enough, made some great predictions–my favority being the notoriety of internet fame)
Stephenie Meyer (Twilight, etc.)
Shannon Hale (Princess Academy, Book of a Thousand Days, Goose Girl)
Brandon Mull (Fablehaven)
Brandon Sanderson (Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians is his only children’s title right now, mostly adult books)
Rebecca Shelley (Red Dragon Codex, which I edited and is coming out in Jan.)
Dan Willis (several Dragonlance: The New Adventures titles)
Dave Wolverton/David Farland
James Dashner (new series coming out from Shadow Mountain, 13th Reality, and the Jimmy Fincher Saga)
Mette Ivie Harrison (The Princess and the Hound; Mira, Mirror and several other excellent titles)
Jessica Day George (Dragon Slippers)

And a few, though less current, realism authors, all YA:

McNeal/McNeal (forget their first names, but they wrote one book, white, with a little Kewpie devil on the front for which the name is escaping me, too)
Louise Plummer
Kristin Randle

(Of course I won’t be covering *all* those because this will be a short essay!)

Who am I missing?

*Full disclosure: I think Pullman’s writing is beautiful. While I didn’t necessarily agree with the conclusion of the series (as a member of a slightly unorthodox religious group that in a way rebelled/withdrew/rejected the teachings of the organized church of its day, I’m in a strange position of agreeing with him and disagreeing at the same time), I did think that HDM was beautifully written and a well-crafted fantasy story. And so what if I don’t agree with him? I think that there’s room for all of us to read each others’ perspectives and learn from them, and that freedom to do so brings to our world beauty and understanding of both our differences and similarities.

In all the correspondence I’ve seen from Pullman himself on children’s lit listservs, he’s always been respectful, articulate, and a knowledgeable advocate for children in education. And he’s got one of the best first lines of all time, too. I’ve got the Sally Lockhart mysteries lying on my bedside table begging for me to finally getting around to reading them.
So I certainly don’t advocate boycotting the movies. On the contrary, I think they look gorgeous from what I’ve seen so far and I’m interested in seeing how the books are adapted to film.

Stacy Whitman's Grimoire

Thoughts on writing, editing, and publishing books for children and young adults

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