Tag: tu books

Tu launch roundup

- Stacy 4 Comments
Galaxy Games gets cross town treatment

Let’s take a look at all the things happening online for the launch of Tu’s first three books. First of all, see what our publisher Jason Low would do if we had a million dollars to promote our first three books. Too bad we’re not millionaires!

The Challengers

First up, The Challengers, book 1 of the Galaxy Games series. To celebrate, author Greg Fishbone is currently on a month-long blog tour that includes a game that readers can play along, finding puzzle pieces to fit together and win prizes. To find out more on how to play the game, go to http://galaxygam.es/tour/ and find out what puzzle piece they’re on. Note that there’s also a giveaway—poke around on the site to find more ways to enter!

You can also follow Greg on Twitter, like the Galaxy Games series on Facebook, or like Greg on Facebook for more news as it happens.

Here’s what Publishers Weekly had to say about Galaxy Games:

Complemented by Beavers’s comic book style artwork, Fishbone’s narrative is ripe with kid-friendly humor—i.e., Earth’s radio and TV transmissions are picked up by the toilets on the Mrendarian ship—and many of the plot twists could be straight from the ‘what if’ imaginings of a fourth-grade classroom. Though Fishbone clearly sets up the next book, he gives Tyler enough of a victory to leave readers satisfied. —Publishers Weekly

Wolf Mark

Joseph Bruchac, author of Wolf Mark, recently shared a video on YouTube talking about why he wrote the book, his inspiration, and other thoughts on this exciting suspense-filled paranormal thriller. Check it out!

Here’s what Publishers Weekly and Kirkus have to say about Wolf Mark, too:

 

Bruchac (Dragon Castle) delivers a fun twist on werewolf stories mixed with some mad science and espionage. . . . Bruchac adeptly incorporates characters of various heritages: Luke is Native American; his best friend/crush, Meena, is Pakistani; and the Sunglass Mafia a group of students who are more than they seem are from eastern Russia. Luke also possesses a hefty amount of cultural and political awareness to go with his combat and espionage expertise, which serve him well. . . . [T]he action and Luke’s narration carry the book nicely. —Publishers Weekly

A loner teen finds himself caught up in a paranormal paramilitary threat but he has both untapped personal resources and some unlikely allies to help him out. Ever since his mother died, his father-a sometime Special Ops-type agent who happens to be of Native American descent-has been worse than useless. Lucas just concentrates on doing well in school and mooning over the beautiful daughter of one of the Pakistani scientists working at the new Romanian-owned top-secret facility in town. He goes out of his way to avoid the Sunglass Mafia, a bunch of unusually pale Russian students. But when his father is kidnapped and gives him a coded message by telephone, Lucas discovers that his heritage is more complicated and powerful than he had thought. . . . [T]he scenes with the Sunglass Mafia both defy stereotypes and manage to be very funny, and when the action kicks in, it does so in overdrive. A solid entry into the paranormal market, with an appealingly different hero.—Kirkus Reviews

 

Tankborn

Karen Sandler, the author of Tankborn, has already had one book signing in her area of northern California. She’s also been doing a lot of interviews lately. Check out her latest on the Kirkus Reviews blog. An excerpt:

You’ve set your novel in the futuristic world of Loka. Tell us how you went about imagining that world.

The imagining of Loka happened in layers. At first, I had only a vague idea of what the planet was like. I knew it was ugly, barren of trees, except for the symbiotic junk trees, the plant life scruffy, the creatures hideous by Earth standards. As I made my way through the book, new creatures or plants would pop up, and I’d add them to the taxonomy, adding another layer.

Then in the editing process … a light bulb came on, and I decided that the bulk of Loka’s creatures were arachnid-based—creatures I’d already described were changed to fit the spider-like model. I retained a couple mammals—the drom and seycat—but everything else became eight-legged and a bit on the creepy side.

We’ve gotten a lot more reviews in for this one since my last review roundup. I’ll only share a couple here, for the sake of brevity—this post is already quite long!

I strongly feel that Tankborn is just what the genre has been waiting for. There are a lot of complaints these days about cookie cutter dystopians, and authors who can’t be bothered to consider plausibility or worldbuilding. Sandler’s writing punches those complaints in the face….As for the story, it’s solid, nicely paced, and thoughtful. Kayla and Mishalla are admirable girls, though their upbringing has (understandably) warped their perceptions of the world around them. Kayla’s growth is fascinating, particularly her struggles with religion. —Intergalactic Academy

It’s been a while since I’ve picked up a book that is mainly science fiction and enjoyed it so much. Karen Sandler introduces us to Loka, a planet that the people of Earth colonize in the future due to Earth’s climate crumbling down, and in the process introduces us to a whole new vocabulary. Names of plants, animals, inanimate objects, all strange names for strange things. It is truly a fascinating new world. Fans of dystopia and a little known movie called “Avatar” will enjoy this.—JJ iReads

The world building is very well done and definitely the highlight of this novel. It is a completely fictional, but believable, culture that is created in this book. It is interesting that even though it’s very far in the future, it isn’t the type of sci-fi where there’s robots and lasers and spaceships everywhere. In some ways, the culture felt a bit archaic, what with the strict social hierarchy and all. And I don’t know  why, but I kind of imagined their clothes was kind of traditional Indian-style, but that just be because of the clear Indian inspiration for the caste system in this book. Anyway, I liked how the culture and the story world was sort of antiquated but mixed with, obviously, futuristic stuff, like shock guns, and how GENs are kind of like computers — using a Datapod, one can upload and download information from a GEN’s annexed brain (as opposed to their bare brain, which, I gather, is their normal brain, the kind you and I have). The world is quite unique due to this mixture of the old and the new.—SkyInk.net

Check out her main site, blog, and Twitter. Like Tankborn on Facebook, too.

 

E-book update

- Stacy 1 Comment

I’m in the midst of a cold/sinus thing that has made my brain become enveloped in a big fog, so I’m afraid all my plans for incisive, witty (ha) posts here this week have been put off, reserving all my brainpower for cover copy and sell sheets and other fun things like that (perhaps a post may come of that in a week or so).Galaxy Games

Instead, you get more book promotion. But hopefully you’ll either enjoy it or put up with it, because we’re very, very excited on this end that almost two years of work—actually, more than two years, given that my friend and I started talking about starting Tu way back in June or July of 2009—are finally coming to fruition. So bear with us, and make sure to share the good news with all your friends!

Last time we talked, it looked like the Google Books versions of Tu’s books were optimized for tablets—meaning that they were NOT auto-reflowing e-pubs. This was a mistake, and this has now been corrected. The Google Books versions ARE e-pubs, which means that they can be viewed on a very large number of platforms, including tablets but also cell phone apps, e-readers, and other e-book viewers. So you’ll note on the Galaxy Games page, for example, that platforms that used to have red Xs by them are now all green checkmarks—you’re good to go!

Also, Galaxy Games is now available on iTunes! Which means that Tankborn and Wolf Mark won’t be far behind. And I’ll let you know when they’re available for Nook—it shouldn’t be too long now.

 

 

 

 

Weekend reading! Tu e-books becoming available

- Stacy

For those of you who prefer your books in e-book form: we have some exciting news for Kindle people. Nook and iPad people, your day is coming soon in e-pub form. I’ll let you know as soon as I know!

Here are the Kindle versions!
Galaxy Games Tankborn Wolf Mark

Read them right away! And then let me know what you think. 🙂

RELEASE DAY!

- Stacy 2 Comments

Hey, everyone! The day we’ve been looking forward to is finally here! Tu’s first three books are releasing everywhere TODAY! You may have even been able to find them in your local Barnes & Noble before this, because as we discussed, I saw them out in the wild a couple weeks ago.

For those of you waiting on Kickstarter rewards of finished books and bookmarks, we’re working on getting those out to you. Expect an email soon asking for your contact information and/or the info about the library for which you’d like the books to be sent.

If you didn’t get a book as a reward–or if you DID and now you want to share the joy with all your closest friends too!–you can always order directly from our website at http://www.leeandlow.com/p/tu.mhtml or find them through your favorite online* or brick and mortar bookstore (if your local independent doesn’t carry the books, feel free to share the excitement and ask them to order them in!).

*Ebooks are not quite available yet, but coming soon.

Some thoughts on middle grade voice

- Stacy 7 Comments

I’m going through a big stack of submissions that have been languishing for a while (and if you submitted a partial before Sept. 1 and don’t get a request for a full manuscript by the end of the week, you’ll know the answer is a no thanks). I’m on the lookout in particular for a book that will appeal to middle-grade girls, and I’m having a bit of a frustrating time of it. Mostly because humorous middle-grade voice seems to be a hard one to nail, and so many of the submissions in my pile seem to be going for a humorous bent.

Voice is the one thing that I don’t feel, as an editor, that I can fix. It’s too intrinsic to the art, too personal, something that has to be worked on before it comes across my desk. And a humorous voice? Even harder to shape as an editor. I completely appreciate how tough humor is just in general. It’s very subjective. So something that makes me giggle madly might not tickle someone else’s funny bone.

However, there is also a certain voice that I can only describe as “trying too hard.” The intended humor is super-goofy, overexplaining the jokes and losing the reader in the process. It feels too self-conscious, like the character is watching herself too closely instead of living her life. Humor should come, in my opinion, as a side effect of situations that happen to be a little goofy, rather than forced out of something the character finds funny, which is harder to translate into reader laughs. Thus, I personally think it’s really hilarious that Tyler Sato gets a killer asteroid named after him because, coincidentally, his cousins happened to name a star after him. But Tyler Sato himself doesn’t find it all that funny.

Part of the problem is that self-consciousness can sometimes work in YA, at least more than middle grade, because teens are more likely to notice things  comment on them in a snarky way. Middle graders aren’t expected to be jaded just yet. But it’s not just that. Have you ever noticed that whenever, say, Stephen Colbert loses his deadpan, the joke loses a little something? Part of the hilarity is in the deadpan delivery. And we also have to acknowledge that not everyone is a humor writer—and that’s okay. Sometimes a book can be better when it’s not trying so hard for the laughs.

If you are writing humor, my only suggestion for improving your craft is to read writers who make it work, like Lisa Yee, Michael Buckley, and Tu’s own Greg Fishbone.

What I’d really like to see in my submission pile, though, as far as middle-grade books are concerned, is not necessarily humor—after all, we’ve got the hilarious Galaxy Games coming out this month already; go buy it! or read an excerpt!—but rather straight-on fantasy, science fiction, and mystery for middle-grade readers of both genders, but particularly girls because I don’t have much on my list for middle-grade girls right now. I’d love to see something more along the lines of Shannon Hale’s books for middle grade readers (one of my favorite books of all time is her Book of a Thousand Days, set in a Mongolia-like world): adventure and coming-into-her-own (not necessarily coming-of-age, which is more of a YA thing; would love such YAs, but I’m talking MG here right now). I also wouldn’t mind something along the lines of Michael Buckley’s The Sisters Grimm, while noting that even though the book is funny, the point-of-view character, Sabrina, is the straight (wo)man. It’s everyone else around her who’s all wacky-fairy-tale-ish.

…aaand another thing! Slang. Slang is the bane of every writer, and getting it wrong can definitely affect voice for the negative. It’s so hard to get slang right—current enough that today’s readers will not feel like the character sounds like their parents (even though it was probably written by someone from that generation or older), but also not trying so hard that it sounds corny or—worse—gets dated before it even comes out, just new enough to be thought up-to-date by the adult author but old enough to be completely out of style for the young reader. It’s particularly hard in middle school, an age where kids are sometimes just getting the hang of slang themselves. How do you write up-to-date slang without sounding completely wrong?

The general consensus among the writers of my acquaintance can be summed up in Kimberly Pauley‘s response:

Make it up. 🙂

If you’ve ever watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Firefly, I think one of the biggest strengths of those universes are their mostly undated slang, because they didn’t go for the easy late-90s slang everyone and their brother on Dawson’s Creek was using. Joss Whedon really is a master at made-up-yet-contemporary-sounding slang. (The hairstyles in Buffy, however, haven’t stood the test of time so well.) Find a way to fake-curse, for example, by playing with language and using something that would be unique to your character—it will make them stand out more in a good way anyway, and avoid trendy words that will be out of date before the book even gets accepted by a publisher. You might also run your slang by the tweens in your life, and if  you get an eyeroll, you might reconsider.

Voice is tough to master for any writer. So perhaps take a look at your book and consider: am I trying too hard to make it funny? Can it be played straight and enjoyed for the adventure, mystery, magic, and fun of it all, whether it’s funny or not? Because perhaps its strengths lie elsewhere—and that’s a good thing!

Review roundup–TANKBORN

- Stacy 4 Comments

TankbornWe’ve been getting some really great reviews in for Tu’s fall books, so I figured I’d start by sharing a few that have come in recently for Tankborn by Karen Sandler. I’m just quoting a few parts of each review, so follow the links to the blogs below for the whole reviews! (And this isn’t even all of them—the post was getting too long. Thanks so much to everyone who has read it so far, and of course I look forward to reading more reviews as others get a chance to read it.)

Science fiction is definitely experiencing a renaissance. . . . Sandler deftly weaves strands of race, privilege, politics, greed, and romance into a fascinating culture. The young protagonists are very real and exhibit great strength of character.

—Diana Tixier Herald of Genrefluent

Oh, my goodness, is that a person of color on the cover of a YA novel?  It is!  And she’s beautiful, and Sandler is awesome for writing about women of color in a genre that is inundated with stories about white teenagers, their special powers and their absent parents.  And that cover is beautiful by itself with all that green and blue.

<snip>

Kayla’s assignment is in a large trueborn house, where, as soon as she arrives, she’s called a jik twice.  But here’s where the real story starts.

Here, Kayla is brought face-to-face with Devak, the trueborn boy who saved her brother earlier in the book.  She’s there to care for his great-grandfather, but Zul Manel has other things in store for her.  The best part of this book is watching Devak go from idly racist to enlightened.  Sometimes it’s hard for us to understand intense racism and hate, but I can see how Devak’s insulated trueborn upbringing could make him blind to the GENs’ plight.  ”It’s for their own good”, “they like the way things are”, “resetting and realigning a GEN is in their best interest” are all common tropes that Devak has has drilled into his head since he was a child.  It’s like some sort of benevolent slavery, with “benevolent” having a very flexible definition.  Seeing Kayla changes him, and when he meets Mishalla, he doesn’t even blink.

Mishalla is vital to the story as well, though she’s not nearly as interesting as Kayla.  Mishalla is in a creche, taking care of ostensibly orphaned lowborn children.  She’s frightened and easily cowed for the most part, but that just comes with being a GEN.  I think the plot needed Mishalla to stay where she was for the story to be furthered, but Mishalla really is important.  She overhears vital information and puts her life on the line to save children who, in a few years, would look right through her or call her a jik.  That’s courage.

This book is bittersweet.  I enjoyed it thoroughly, but it made me a little sad at the end.  I wish this one was a series!  Look for it next month!

—Tina at Nose in a Book, Head in a Blog

It is rare that I come across a book that I would love to teach. I’m not headed out to be a teacher, or to make lesson plans of any sort, but there have been a few times that I’ve come across a book so perfectly written that it is made to be in a classroom. A book that has lessons that need to be taught with a plot that can capture the heart of a high school student set against reading. Tankborn is one of these novels.

<snip>

Tankborn brings up the biggest question in history (and literature): what does it mean to be human? Is being human having the traits that we consider to own as ours? Is it being able to think past biology, to make decisions based on reasoning deeper than the need to breed and pass on genes? Or is it DNA and DNA only? By providing the best medical care that we can, are we somehow taking away what makes a person human? Tankborn questions all these  theories and how far we should go in genetic engineering if we wish to remain on top. <snip—read the rest at The Magic Hoodie Literary Society>

—Kenzie Audacious at The Magic Hoodie Literary Society

Let’s just get straight to it: I loved Tankborn. . . . <snip>

The world-building is very well done: the society is clearly described and in detail; I could easily picture it and understand its social rules and the implications for rule-breaking. I did feel a chill run down my spine as one of the main characters discovers a ‘real’ book and comments on how the words are written on paper and not on a virtual screen; I read this book on a Kindle. It also introduces new terms such as “skets” (skill sets), which I found easy to grasp and learn. However, what makes Tankborn stand out is that it explores issues of class and race as this is what the strict caste system is based on. It’s extremely thought-provoking and although it is fictional and futuristic, it mirrors our own society. <snip—read the rest at Pretty Books>

—Pretty Books

This is a great science fiction book for readers that normally don’t read science fiction to ease into the genre.  This book is not confusing in the slightest, the author explains quite well while still incorporating the facts into the novel.

<snip>

The characters in this book are daring, brave, kind, and caring.  The reader will really form a connection with Kayla and Mishalla.  They are extremely likable.  Their thoughts and actions keep the reader updated and make it that much easier to understand the story.  The plot is interesting and fits the dystopian and science fiction genres perfectly.  The events flow well together and are fast-paced.  This book  was surprisingly fun to read and recommended to those who enjoy science fiction, dystopian novels, and intrigue.

—Krystal at Live to Read

<snip>I loved the terminology as well as the use of the caste system. The rich descriptions of color, race, and class added to the beautiful language usage, especially when describing characters like Kayla, Jal, and Zul. I am a really visual person, so the more details the better. The pace of the book was well appreciated, it took me a few hours to finish, and it was engrossing enough that I was sad when I turned the last digital page and realized it was over.

Overall, Tankborn was thoroughly enjoyable Dystopian read that was put together Velcro-tight and had me wishing there was more to be read.

—Allizabeth at The Paperback Pursuer

I absolutely loved this book! The dynamics and prejudice between the different castes intrigued me from the start.  Kayla is a character who hasn’t really accepted her place in life as she still questions it. Everyone views the GENs as not human because they were created in a lab and they are mistreated because of this. Kayls’s best friend, Mishalla, has for the most part completely accepted her place in life but she is also thrown into the intrigue of this novel when the children she cares for start disappearing. As the mystery unravels in this book I found myself getting sucked into the story and wanting to know more. The corruption behind the creation of GENs is especially interesting. I really loved the different culture and view of the world that was created here. I enjoyed seeing the strength of the characters grow throughout the book. This was a great read and I recommend it to fans of dystopian novels.

—Ny Romeo at The Book Queen

At your local Barnes & Noble!

- Stacy 4 Comments

Look what I just saw, right at eye level, at the Union Square B&N!

 

 

It’s a bit early still—these are September releases—but it still makes me giddy to see them!

 

Now it’s your turn! Go look for them! Go buy them! (And if your preferred bookseller doesn’t yet have them or Galaxy Games: The Challengers on sale yet, let them know you’re highly anticipating them and ask them to be sure to order them in.)

 

Tankborn’s first review!

- Stacy

TankbornTankborn received its first press review from Kirkus!

Advanced genetic engineering and upsettingly plausible caste oppression keep pages turning in this futuristic science fiction tale… A good option for science-fiction fans interested in genetic engineering, rebellion and class issues.

ETA: AND TODAY you can download the first four chapters and try it out!

Exclusive submissions vs. simultaneous

- Stacy 2 Comments

Just a little reminder of my personal editorial policy and Lee & Low’s company guidelines when it comes to submissions:

I am a bit slow in processing submissions. Sorry, I just have a lot on my plate that I’m juggling. I’m working on catching up on a LOT of submissions, and will be getting back to several authors soon with editorial letters to further the process, and to others with requests for more.

However, Lee & Low’s policy is to not respond to submissions for which the answer is no.

It’s a tough market out there and I can understand the frustration with policies like this from the point of view of a writer, but it is what it is. There’s only so much time in the day and we’re already kind of swamped.

So combine those two things, and I can understand why a writer might get a little testy if they haven’t heard from me after submitting their book to Tu. This is why my personal (not company) editorial policy is that for initial submissions, I don’t require exclusive submissions. I understand how long the process can be and if each writer has to wait months for each editor or agent to respond, it might take years to get through the process.

Well… it does take years anyway for some writers, and that’s just how it is, but to ease the pain, you are welcome to submit your work to other publishers or agents at the same time (who also are open to simultaneous submissions—you’ll want to watch out for those who require exclusives so as not to send it to an exclusive and a simultaneous at once; these days most writers just note in their cover letters that their submission is a simultaneous submission). But nowadays most people understand that you simply can’t wait months and months to hear back from an editor.

So that should resolve the need for anyone to tell me in their cover letter that they’re “giving” me an exclusive. It’s okay. You don’t have to. Really. It won’t hurry me up any—when I have copyedits to go over or printer proofs in to approve or whatever that is happening with books that are already in the pipeline, I’m afraid those books will usually if not always take precedence over submissions.

Here’s the reason for the need for this policy: other than an intern to be the first pair of eyes on submissions, I am the only person reading submissions for Tu Books at this time. That means I’m the only one editing all the books, the only one working with the designers and production on books about to go to press, the only one going through copyedits when we get them back from the copyeditor, the only one negotiating contracts, and pretty much anything to do with Tu Books on the editorial side of things other than people who come in for short parts of the process like acquisition committee members, copyeditors, and proofreaders (we of course have marketing and sales staff working on those things). So once the intern screens the obviously-not-right-for-us submissions (picture books, realistic books, adult books, main characters who aren’t POC, etc.), she gives me a reader’s report on the books she liked. But I still have to go through that pile of not-completely-wrong-for-us submissions and decide which to pursue, while also doing all the things an editor does in a day. And when I do have the time, I’ll usually spend that time working to further develop manuscripts that already looked promising from my last foray into the submission pile, reading full manuscripts and getting feedback to the authors and/or their agents, getting the manuscripts that are ready out to the acquisitions committee—and I’m backed up on that right now as well (catching up now!).

So I just wanted to gently remind writers that they are welcome to continue to submit widely at the initial stage, which for me is the “partial” stage because I hate queries (some editors who are open to unagented submissions ask for queries; my personal feeling is that I’d rather just see the writing and a synopsis).