TENtalizing Tidbits: Kiersten White

Kiersten White is the author of the Paranormalcy series. The first book, Paranormalcy is out in 2010. She has a well written and well read blog, with interesting and amusing anecdotes about everything from writing to The Punctuation Nation.

Hello, Liyanaland! You can't see me, but I'm waving madly in the general direction of Singapore. Thanks for inviting me to play here today and talk about my upcoming novel, Paranormalcy (9 1/2 months and counting...and believe me, I'm counting).

When I was a little girl I used to lay in my bed at night, look out the window, and see monsters and witches congregating in my backyard. Not imagine them there, or wonder if they were there, but SEE them there. (No, I wasn't a weird child, why do you ask?) (This was also the reason I spent every night on the floor in my parents room.) (I got over it.) There isn't a country in the world without a rich history of supernatural legends populated by incredible, fantastic, and bizarre creatures.

Last January I was daydreaming (as I am wont to do), when I started thinking about one of these legendary creatures: the vampire. So maligned, so glorified, so sensationalized. But then I wondered how, if you didn't want to stake the dang things, you would control them.

Which got me thinking about those masters of misapplied control, Government Agencies. Which got me thinking about a girl--a sixteen year old girl--a sixteen year old girl with a very unusual ability--who happened to work for said Agency. And who, as it so happened, wasn't too enamored of this paranormal world she was forced to be a part of. Because, unlike what pop culture tells us, vampires in real life? Not so sexy. Pretty sucky, in fact. Blood sucky. Still not as bad as hags, though. And if you were sixteen and had a full-time job protecting the rest of the oblivious world around you from the things that stalk them in the night, well, you'd probably have quite the story to tell.

And a lot to complain about.

Like kissing. Where does a girl who spends all of her time processing and regulating supernatural creatures find the time (or even just the boy) for kissing? And even if maybe Evie's finally found someone she's quite certain she'd very much like to kiss, what's she supposed to do when these paranormal creatures she's been protecting the world from suddenly start turning up dead?

Ah, the teenage years. What made writing Paranormalcy so fun was that I could combine all of this supernatural mythology with a very modern setting and voice, and use it to tell a very basic story--a story about a girl who can't figure out where she belongs.

Because really, who can?

As for me, I sleep with my blinds closed now. I'll leave spotting the scary beasts to Evie. After all, it's her job.

Thanks for giving us this insight into your inspiration for writing Paranormalcy!

Stalkerage:
Kiersten White
Kiersten Writes
Twitter

The Dewey Tree Project

Most of you know of Dewey from The Hidden Side of A Leaf. Dewey was a great blogger, who loved reading and books. Her reviews were insightful and she believed in creating a wonderful community for bloggers. She loved talking about books and spreading her love for them. More than that, she was also a kind and lovely person, who believed that everyone had a right to read. This is a quote from Dewey, that I extracted from Weekly Geeks.

My main focus in blogging is community. I want to share my love for books with other bloggers, hear what they think of what they’re reading, and have lots of bookish fun. My non-review blog activities...are all meant to build community.

Dewey passed away about a year ago. Sadly, I never had the chance to meet or talk to Dewey, and I truly am sad that I will never get to know such a wonderful person. Her legacy lives on in the Dewey 24-Hour-Readathon, Weekly Geeks and The Bookworms Carnival. Dewey has set a great example for us bloggers, and in memory of Dewey's contributions to the book blogging community, Lisa Roe from OnlinePublicist has created a donation project entitled The Dewey Tree.

Here's what you can do:

Gather up the books you can live without.
Find a worthy group you would like to donate your overflow books to. It can be your local library, a literacy campaign (mine will go to the literacy center I volunteer for), or overseas. There's a great list of book donation sites here on the ALA. Find a charity that speaks to you!
Then take a picture of your donation and email it to me (onlinepublicist [AT] gmail [DOT] com). It can be a pic of the mailing label on your package, one of your kids giving a box of books to a librarian, or you handing books over to your literacy center. Be creative and have fun!

I will accept pics (and will post favorites) until January 4, 2010. At that time, I will enter the names of all who sent donation pics into Random.org and choose three. Those three winners will receive custom made totes from me! I will email you pics of my available fabric and have you build one you like. The pic above is of two I made recently.

[Use] the official The Dewey Tree donation project button! Please help me spread the word (and the button!) to bring our book blogging community together in the spirit of spreading the love of reading.
-OnlinePublicist

Rampant by Diana Peterfreund

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy, Contemporary, Romance
Copyright: 2009
Pages: 416
Publisher: HarperTeen
ISBN-10: 0061490008
ISBN-13: 978-0061490002
Buy at: Book Depository | Amazon
Rating: 2.5/5

Synopsis: Forget everything you ever knew about unicorns…

The sparkly, innocent creatures of lore are a myth. Real unicorns are venomous, man-eating monsters with huge fangs and razor-sharp horns. And they can only be killed by virgin descendants of Alexander the Great.

Fortunately, unicorns have been extinct for a hundred and fifty years.

Or not.

Astrid Llewelyn has always scoffed ather eccentric mother’s stories about killer unicorns. But when one of the monsters attacks her boyfriend in the woods – thereby ruining any chance of him taking her to prom – Astrid learns that unicorns are real and dangerous, and she has a family legacy to uphold. Her mother packs her off to Rome to train as a unicorn hunter at the ancient cloisters the hunters have used for centuries.

However, at the cloisters, all is not what is seems. Outside, the unicorns wait to attack. And within, Astrid faces other, unexpected threats: from crumbling, bone-covered walls that vibrate with a terrible power to the hidden agendas of her fellow hunters to – perhaps most dangerously of all – her growing attraction to a handsome art student… and a relationship that could jeopardize everything.

---

Review: This is one of the best books I've read so far. I had some misgivings about this book after the initial hype. Killer unicorns? Really?

Diana Peterfreund pulled off the whole shebang without a hitch. We're first introduced to Astrid, who's just a normal teenager with a loony for a mother. It's not loony, adorable loony. It's crazy loony. You have to read Rampant to find out just how crazy her mother is.

Astrid doesn't believe in unicorns. She's heard of them, of her so called heritage from her mother, but tch. Unicorns. Who in ther right mind would believe that? Then her boyfriend almost gets gored by a unicorn during a make out sesshun. Add in a cameo by a backstabbing best friend, and away goes Astrid's life as she knows it.

This is where reality takes a backseat, and fantasy gleefully takes the reins. Astrid is sent off to a convent in Rome where she learns how to fight unicorns now that she's received her calling. The action really starts there, even though at times I'm struck by the absurdity of it, like when potential hunters start coming from all over the world, and all of them seemed to be rich and/or influential in some way, and just able to stave off normal lives. Which also means that their parents are willing to sacrifice their daughters to a foreign land "fighting unicorns". It could be a kidney smuggling ring, for all they know.

However, the descriptions are breathtaking, the writing is superbly lucid and the characters are just fantastically detailed. I especially dislike Astrid's mum, in case it wasn't obvious before. It's the worst case of parents pushing their dreams onto their children that I have ever read. Astrid's roommate, Cory, was pretty horrible even though there was a backstory to explain why. Her cousin, Phil, however, is just plain awesome. It was convenient that she was quickly removed as a potential adversary for Astrid.

There's a hint of romance in Rampant. Astrid's requisite love interest is lackluster and easily forgettable. All that I remember of him is that he's through and through a normal boy. The mythology makes up for all of that, with the different types of unicorns and their origins. Read it for the idea and the world.

Things you should know about Kami Garcia and Margie Stohl

Here are the authors of Beautiful Creatures themeselves, Kami and Margie, to tell you more about the other person.

Things You Probably Don’t Know About Margie
1. Margie is the queen of disaster preparedness. She has huge water drums in her laundry room and who knows what else. But if there’s an earthquake, you want to be at her house.

2. Margie could easily live on: marzipan, Wheat Thins with cream cheese, beans, and Diet Coke. (Generally, not in the same meal.)

3. She likes See’s candy, not Godiva. Starbucks, not Coffee Bean. The taco truck, not the fancy Mexican place down the street.

4. She knows more - about more things - than anyone I know. Who else can recite Eudora Welty and Stevie Smith poems from memory and tell you almost every item they unearthed on the Wilkes Expedition? (Do you know what the Wilkes Expedition is? I had to look it up.)

5. Margie is fiercely loyal. If you mess with the people she loves, she’ll take you down.

6. She is the best writer I know. And the best friend.

Things I KNOW you don’t know about Kami:
1. Kami is small but scrappy. That’s right, her stepfather was a cop, and she can Take You Down. When not busy breaking out of the locked trunk of a car, which (of course) she can. Muggers of the world, hear me now: she only looks small. Run, I say – RUN!

2. Kami does not like Crap On Things. Her hamburger: plain, well done, ketchup only. Her pizza: cheese. Her sandwich; turkey, plain. But if you don’t put extra ice in her Diet Coke, she will know. I don’t know how, but she will. Trust me.

3. Kami expects things to be difficult, but does believe anything is impossible. As a result, she routinely does things – and gets you to do things - you never thought she or you (or anyone in their right mind) could do.

4. Mrs. Garcia can get any child to become ten times the reader they were at the beginning of her class by expecting them to, believing they can, and telling them how. Same goes for writing partners. Same for friends.

5. Aside from writing, Kami is famous for her paintings, her photography, and her crab cakes. Her only flaw is her irrational hatred of commas. (Even if some people love them abusively.)

6. Kami is the one person you want with you in the trenches. Which is, I guess, why she is the one person with me in the trenches. Because,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

7. Kami has your back.


That made me go :3, right guys?


Photo credits to Alex Hoerner.

Beautiful Creatures Launch Day Contest

Beautiful Creatures is launched today! Buy it at Amazon or Book Depository.

Synopsis: Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she’s struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps, and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town’s oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

To celebrate this launch, let's hold a contest. Los Angeles(LA) residents, you can win a meet and greet session with Kami and Margie. Details to be decided with them later. You can bring up to three friends with the meet and greet.

All you have to do?
+1 Leave a comment and email.
+3 Spread the word anywhere. One link = 3 extra entries.
+5 Why do you want to read Beautiful Creatures?

Ends 15th December.

I'm changing this contest to a SWAG contest, so that international readers can also participate. Just leave a comment by 20th December. Existing comments have been counted. :) Sorry for the confusion!