OH HAI GUYS I FORGOT TO MENTION I'M DOING A SIGNING IN TORONTO TODAY:

January 7, 2010 @ 7 p.m., Yorkdale Mall Indigo Books
with Megan Crewe (author of Give Up The Ghost)
and Neesha Meminger (author of Shine, Coconut Moon)

Both Megan and Neesha's books are beautifully written and they are also lovely people, so even if you are justifiably sick of me waving Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter under your nose, you might want to come out and say hello to them and pick up some great new reads in the process.

Or, you know, you could say hi to me and get me to sign your books and stuff. Whatever.

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Also, today is the OFFICIAL release date of Rebel in the UK which means it should now be freely had at all good bookstores (including the noble law-abiding ones in Ireland who have been clinging fast to that embargo notice). Yay!

An utterly inconsequential video really, but it is proof that I have discovered how to shoot videos with my camera and upload them to the Internet, which may mean very bad good things later on.

And speaking of multimedia, I discovered today that the complete and unabridged audiobook of Knife as read by British actor Emma Parish is now available for sale. There's a 5-minute sample from the first chapter on that page if you're interested -- the accent she's given Wink is rather adorable, IMO!

And finally, I have decided that SWIFT (book #4 in my faery series) will be set in Cornwall, land of my maternal ancestors, and that I ought to go there as soon as possible in the interests of eating pasties and saffron buns until I asplode research. Whether this will actually happen is anyone's guess, but I like to think about it, you know?

I have been waiting and waiting for the opportunity to share this good news, and today I finally got the go-ahead from my agent to tell the world about it --

I have sold two more faery books to Orchard, my wonderful publisher in the UK!

Like Knife and Rebel, these next two novels will be more or less complete stories in themselves, but (like Rebel) they are also sequels to the earlier books, so we'll be seeing some familiar characters and plot threads cropping up as well.

If all goes well, then Arrow, the third book, will hit bookstores in the UK and Commonwealth in 2011 and Swift, the fourth volume, in 2012.

My delighted thanks to the good folks at Orchard Books UK, and to all the enthusiastic and loyal young readers, librarians, teachers and booksellers overseas who have helped to make my faery books a success!

Nearly all my good news these days seems to be coming from the other side of the pond -- which is not a bad thing by any means! But in any case, I found out this week courtesy of some schoolchildren who e-mailed me from the UK that Knife has been nominated for the Hillingdon Secondary School Book of the Year for 2010. The nominees are selected by a team of librarians, copies of the nominated books are read by students at all participating schools and then the final award winner is voted on by the students themselves, so I'm really delighted to be part of this!

And also related to the UK editions of my books, I just completed a short "Meet the Author" video where I talk about the inspirations behind Knife and Rebel, for Orchard Books to use on their website:



I have already been mocked* for the Scarf That Ate Rebecca's Head, so you can hold off on that one. :) Next time I shall know better.

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* Not by my publisher, I hasten to add. And it was all in good fun anyway.

Thanks to Rebecca Matthews on Facebook (who hasn't even read my book yet, but says she's planning to), I was just made aware that Knife received a glowing review on The Shak, a popular teen show on Australia's Nine TV network... and after a bit of sleuthing, I was able to hunt down the video. Click on the link below to check it out!


Review This!

I drove to Toronto this morning to do an author visit with fifty schoolchildren aged 9-11, and it was so much fun. The kids all sat cross-legged on the floor and looked up at me with big eyes, which is pretty endearing to start with, and they were really attentive while I was talking about the book and reading. And afterward, they asked great questions -- I've been amazed by the insight and degree of interest some of these kids have in the process of writing.

I got a chuckle out of the boy in the front row who raised his hand toward the end of the session and asked plaintively, "Do you have any books that aren't about faeries?" He was so polite about it!

Really, I love doing visits and readings. And I hope to do some more of them now that I've joined the Skype an Author Network, which makes me potentially available to school groups, book clubs, and libraries all over the world by web chat. I got to do a little test run with a group of librarians yesterday thanks to kmessner, just a 15-minute meet the author thing (including a super-short reading from Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter), and it went off without a hitch.

So if you're a librarian or a teacher anywhere in the world, and you think you might like to have me speak to your school group or book club, check out my author page on Skype an Author Network and drop me a line!

This past Thursday I flew down to the AASL (American Association of School Librarians) conference in Charlotte, NC to meet some fellow debut2009 authors, hang out with my agent, drive up to visit cesario, and maybe, if all went well, get to sign a few of my books at the AASL PitStop. Those were my expectations, and they were modest and practical ones, and I had no idea that there was even the possibility of anything more. Especially since I'd left my laptop at home, my Canadian cell phone doesn't work in the US, and I wouldn't have access to e-mail or Internet until I got back Sunday night.

So I was wholly unprepared, when I met the Debs for breakfast on Friday morning, to find out from carrie_ryan that Knife has been nominated for one of the most prestigious children's book awards in the English-speaking world. The Carnegie Medal. We are talking the British equivalent of the Newbery or the National Book Award, people. C.S. Lewis won it for The Last Battle. So did Richard Adams for Watership Down.

I may have stared blankly at Carrie for about thirty seconds before I started flailing. And then I spent the whole weekend in a happy daze and I haven't come down since.

Congratulations to my fellow nominees sarahtales (The Demon's Lexicon) and halseanderson (Chains)!

I'm featured on Cynsations today (which is a really fantastic newsletter/roundup for those interested in YA lit -- if you're not subscribed to it yet, you should be), talking about the technical aspects of writing Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter.

If you'd like to know why I chose third rather than first-person point of view, or find out more about the research and the worldbuilding that went into the book, check it out!

jadetrekeast just sent me this link to a friend's craft blog, and I was utterly charmed:

Summer Dreams and Faery Wings

A jar of faery wings (and eggs!) with a fanciful label makes me think of something my fellow small faery author Laini Taylor would have in her house. I am completely non-crafty and no good at decorating, but I love seeing and enjoying the creativity of others!

First, the good stuff:



And now for a long-overdue heads-up on what I've been doing. Namely, working on my paranormal YA Touching Indigo every spare moment I get. I was delighted with my 12K progress for the first week -- especially since about a third of that was new material -- but this week it's slowed down considerably due to a houseful of bored kids and my participation in London Book Camp (that's London ONTARIO, FYI -- nobody has offered to fly me to the UK yet!). Still, I have hopes of catching up to my target of 20K by Monday.

To help me stay motivated without an Official Editorial Deadline, I've told myself that if I get the first draft of this book finished by the second week of October at the LATEST, I can buy myself a new laptop. Which, considering that my current laptop is an eleven-year-old refurbished Toshiba with zero Internet capability and a busted hinge, is a pretty good incentive. Now I just have to think of an extra treat I can give myself if I get it all done by the end of September...

In the meantime, I've been delighted to find three Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter reviews in the past month from major US publications. First Booklist came through with some very nice words in their July issue, and then just this past week I got the nod from School Library Journal and VOYA, both of which you can check out on the Barnes & Noble page for Spell Hunter if you're curious.

I'll be offline for the next week, doing family stuff and focusing on getting caught up with Touching Indigo, but I look forward to catching up with everyone when I get back!

I was beginning to fear that the major US review journals were going to overlook Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter entirely, but then Booklist came through in a big way. The full review is subscription-only, but most of it is summary anyway, so I'll just share the Good Stuff:

... First-time novelist Anderson has created a vivid, dysfunctional world ... this is a highly readable, sophisticated tale of romance and self-sacrifice, and readers will hope for more from this talented new author.

Not a starred review, but it might as well be! I am much relieved. Thank you, Booklist!

*dances*

My first audio interview! If you want to hear all about how Knife's story came to be, my road to publication, some Q & A's about characters and events in the book, and a few tidbits about what's coming up next for Knife and the Oakenfolk, all you have to do is listen to this podcast:

KiscoCast 11. A conversation with R.J. Anderson

Thanks to the lovely librarians at the Mount Kisco Public Library for asking such wonderful questions and inviting me to take part in their podcast.

I asked the Twitter folk if I should post the soundtrack I listened to during the final editing stages of Knife a.k.a. Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter, and the consensus seemed to be that yes, people are interested in such things. So here, with special thanks to megancrewe (who has a much broader knowledge of recent music than I do, particularly where female artists are concerned), are some samples from the Highly Unofficial Soundtrack for Knife:

If I had to pick the one song on this list that I felt was utterly and completely perfect for this book, it would be "Somebody's Daughter" by Beth Orton. "Rock In This Pocket" by Suzanne Vega comes a very close second, but believe it or not that song fits better with Wayfarer a.k.a. Rebel than it does here...

Anyway, if you do give the songs a listen, let me know what you think!

Check out these delightful comments from EJ, aged 9.5:

Faery Rebels is a great book. It is about a faery named Knife. She does most of the stuff, well, wrong. Instead of a wooden knife she uses a metal knife. She is very cool. My favorite character is Campion because she is a librarian, she loves books.

I recommend this book for people who like fantasy, fighting, and love.

Yay, Campion can has fans! But really it's "She does most of the stuff, well, wrong" that tickled me.

You can read the whole review including his/her mom's comments here.

Come escape with us - and win all seven of our books! A US prize pack that features all 7 with our US covers, or the UK prize pack that features all 7 of our books with our UK covers when available! Enter once, win twice because we’re giving away secret surprise prizes too! But enter by midnight EST tonight, because at 12:01, it will be all gone! Escape with the 7!

All content shamelessly poached from anywherebeyond, because I'm lazy like that this morning.

So now that my little faery book is widely available in bookstores, and a good number of you folks out there seem to have read it... are there any questions about the book that you'd like to ask? Leave a comment, and I will do my best to satisfy (unless the answer would totally spoil you for some important aspect of Rebel a.k.a. Wayfarer, that is).

Needless to say there will be MASSIVE SPOILERS in the comments, so people who still plan to read the book for themselves might want to skip this one.

I'm all about the videos lately, aren't I? But this one is really relevant! Because it's all about ME. Or, well, my book anyway:



Thanks so much to watchmebe for the hilarious and original review!

This week I'm featured in the Author Spotlight on AuthorsNow!, and I'm giving away a signed hardcover copy of Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter as part of the deal. If you want to throw your name in the hat, check out the interview here and leave a comment!

I'll also be doing another giveaway here on the LJ some time next week, so if you don't win over there, you can always stay tuned for that one.

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On a related note, recently I've been hearing from folks who've tried to find my book in their local Big Bookstore and were surprised/disappointed not to see it there. There's a simple explanation for that: for their own mysterious reasons, the two major US chains have opted out of carrying Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter in their stores. That doesn't make it impossible to find, but it does make it a bit harder, as it's only being physically stocked by independent booksellers.*

Still, if you're not in the habit of visiting your local indie, why not give them a try? I used to think I could get a better deal by shopping elsewhere, so it's only in the last year or so that I started visiting my local indies on a regular basis. But now I've come to see what a great bunch of people independent booksellers can be, and how well they know and love the books they sell. So if you're thinking of picking up a copy of Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter, please consider looking it up on IndieBound first. You can even order the book online through the IndieBound site if you prefer.

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And speaking of book-buying, I should also mention that sarahcross's fabulous, funny, action-packed, utterly charming teen superhero novel Dull Boy just released today. Don't be misled by the title, because it's definitely tongue-in-cheek: Avery Pirzwick's story is anything but dull. You can visit Sarah's website to learn more about her and the book. Or you could just go ahead and buy it!

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* Canadians don't have the same problem, though -- Chapters/Indigo/Coles are giving the book some great support up here, bless 'em.

Janet Ursel, a fellow fantasy author who was kind enough to accompany me to my first school visit in Ottawa last week, posted this on her blog and it is well worth watching -- if for no other reason than to find out how a book gets put together. But really, the idea of books-on-demand is simultaneously thrilling and harrowing, don't you think? Behold, the Espresso Book Machine:



And here's a couple of pictures of me talking to the crowd at that school visit -- 200 kids at Knoxdale Public School, on April 27th:

( Under Me )

When I looked at these photos my first thought was, "Wow, that's a lot of kids," and the second was, "Man, I have really terrible posture." Do they still have those charm schools where you learn to balance a book on your head?

Today I had my official bookstore launch for Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter, and boy, was it fun.

( Picture recap under the cut )

Anyway, it was wonderful to share my bookstore launch and all the fun afterward with family and dear friends, including shing and shoebox2 who came all the way from Toronto to help me mark the occasion. I've been tremendously blessed, and I'm very grateful for it.