All of us have bad luck and good luck. The man who persists through the bad luck - who keeps right on going - is the man who is there when the good luck comes - and is ready to receive it.
1. Be a follower of my blog3. Include an email with your comment
2. Leave a comment on this post by Oct. 31
Fangtales is the third anthology in the popular ‘tales’ collections published for the YA market by Wyvern Publications. It joins Dragontales, published in 2009, and Mertales, published in 2010.
Fangtales visits the terrifying realms of the most popular creature ever to grace the pages of fantasy fiction. The vampire. The tales are fresh, original and scary enough to send delicious shivers down the spine of every reader. Each tale brings something new to the genre, and will be a welcome addition to any fantasy fan’s bookshelf. Vampires will always be a hugely popular theme – there’s a very good reason why Bram Stoker’s Dracula has never been out of print since it was first published in 1897.
Lose yourself in the blood-soaked pages of Fangtales, where a best friend mysteriously disappears; wonder why a small child roams the woods alone at midnight, and how a terrified girl can get help when her house is surrounded by hungry vampires.
Thank you for letting me guest post, Shannon. You’ve been a great blogging buddy and friend. I appreciate it.Stories are like fruit trees... A novel is a big mature apple tree that produces big juicy red fruit. Trying to make a short using only the first chapters of a novel is like trying to get fruit from the roots of an apple tree... Possible but unnatural.
Tangentially, A two chapter teaser of a novel is like the picture of those roots, making you wonder as to what the fruit must taste like.
A short story is like one of those miniature fruit trees... Perfectly proportionate, just tiny in comparison, and bearing delicious bite-sized fruit.
Theresa's blog:
Fangtales:Amazon
100 Stories for Queensland:
GOD. IS. GOOD!
"Don’t expect me to join in as you talk down my fellow agents and editors and your fellow authors. I’ll just not be a part. My parents taught me all about etiquette, and I believe in using my best manners with everyone I meet."
I have never recommended something on this blog (other than books) that would cost you money, but I can't recommend Harrison highly enough. I assure you, his comments are worth their weight in gold--and then some. If you are struggling with an area of your manuscript, looking for a reliable set of extra eyes and constructive criticism, or preparing to query/submit, consider sending your story to Harrison. You won't be sorry.
Michael Gettel-Gilmartin of
Theresa Milstein of 
1) I will make and keep my commitments.
2) I will find the right people who can help me.
3) I will look for an answer in every problem.
4) I will give up “trying” and simply do.
5) I will make it okay to be wrong and make mistakes.
6) I will create my own “good luck”.
7) I will not be afraid to lose before I win.
8 ) I will do it now!
9) I will be who I am and become what I was meant to be.
10) I will accept that all things are possible.
Sixteen-year-old Neva has been trapped since birth. She was born and raised under the Protectosphere, in an isolated nation ruled by fear, lies, and xenophobia. A shield "protects" them from the outside world, but also locks the citizens inside. But there's nothing left on the outside, ever since the world collapsed from violent warfare. Or so the government says...
Dark Parties was released on August 3rd. I read the eGalley (courtesy of NetGalley) last December and it was love, love, love. It killed me to wait until its release date! Here is some of what I said in my review:Neva and her best friend Sanna believe the government is lying and stage a "dark party" to recruit members for their underground rebellion. But as Neva begins to uncover the truth, she realizes she must question everything she's ever known, including the people she loves the most.
AND . . . Sara Grant is so sweet! She's been wonderfully supportive as I've fan-stalked her for nearly a year. So supportive that she agreed to an interview for today's post, despite touring with limited access to email. I <3 her so much!I loved this book. I'm so sad it doesn't come out until August, because it is awesome! It's unlike anything I've ever read, and believe me when I tell you that the blurb DOES NOT do it justice. And the sexy boy in this one...oh, so hot!
I’d just moved to London from Indianapolis, Indiana. I was immersed in the paperwork of immigration and uncovering news stories on both side of the Atlantic about who and how many should be allowed to enter a country. That got me thinking....what if a country closed its borders to people and ideas?* Can you share a bit about your journey to publication? My readers are mostly published and hoping-to-be-published writers, and we always love hearing about another writer's road to success.
This question led to more questions of national and personal identity. You don’t have to look far to see countries, cities and individuals questioning how to maintain their cultural identity in a global society. What does it mean to be American or British when the cultural make up of your country is changing? I definitely believe that diversity of cultures and ideas makes a country stronger. Dark Parties was my way to explore all these issues.
I also think Dark Parties was influenced by growing up in a small town where it often felt as if I was living in a fish bowl. Everyone knew everyone else – which has many benefits but if you are a teenager, it makes it next to impossible to rebel.
I started playing with the ideas that would become Dark Parties in 2007. It started as a short story, which I submitted to the SCBWI British Isles (www.scbwi.org) Undiscovered Voices anthology (www.undiscoveredvoices.com). I let my friend and fellow editor Sara O’Connor and my niece Megan read it. They both wanted to know what happened next and encouraged me to write the rest of Neva’s story. I told myself that if my story was selected for the anthology, then I would write the novel. And, luckily it was included in the 2008 anthology. I spent the next year writing and revising it and I kept right on writing and revising and re-imagining it until it went to proof reading at Little, Brown in 2010.* When will we get to read book 2? Can you share any hints? *wink wink*
Dark Parties is my first published novel, but by no means the first novel I’ve written. I have several of what I like to think of as ‘apprentice’ pieces – from chapter books to other stories for young adults – tucked safely away. I attempted my first story for children nearly twenty years ago. I remember because I wrote the story when my niece Megan was born. (She’s now a sophomore in college, studying creative writing.) So my message to hoping-to-be-published writers is…don’t give up. Keep reading, writing, revising, learning, improving...and believing in yourself!
My second book will come out in the spring of 2013. It’s another dystopian novel. Its working title is Half Lives. It’s a work in progress, but here’s what I know so far:* What has been the most surprising thing for you so far?
Half Lives chronicles the journey of two unlikely heroes – Icie and Beckett. Both struggle to keep themselves alive and protect future generations from the terrible fate that awaits any who dare to climb the mountain. Even though they live hundreds of years apart, Icie and Beckett’s lives are mysteriously linked.
Half Lives is a race against time and the battle to save future generations. It’s about the nature of faith and power of miscommunication – and above all the strength of the human spirit to adapt and survive.
And. . .I’ve already started working on a third novel, but even I’m not completely sure what it’s about yet!
It’s really a-maz-ing to have people around the world reading something I wrote. You write in solitude for so long, sharing with family, friends and a writers group. Then an agent and editors read and respond to your work and there’s this energy around your book. It begins to have a life of its own. Thanks to the internet – you get to see people responding to your book. It’s flattering and overwhelming! Shannon, yours was one of the first reviews I read for Dark Parties. I remember reading your review and being so excited that a complete stranger had read and liked my book.
As you see all these reader responses, you soon realize that you haven’t really written one book – you’ve written thousands. There’s the book you think you wrote. The one you imagined in your head. The one that’s actually printed in the beautiful book designed by Little, Brown, and then there’s the book each reader reads. It’s fascinating to discover what readers find in the pages of Dark Parties.
Even though I live in the land of the cuppa tea, I would have to pick coffee. I’ve only acquired a taste for coffee in the last few years. Growing up my family drank about a gallon of ice tea a day, but Brits don’t really ‘do’ iced tea. And, if I’m honest, my favorite beverage is Diet Coke.* Chocolate or carrots?
Oh, I’m going to be difficult here. Can I pick the potato instead? I’m not a big fan of chocolate and I’ve been on too many diets in my life to select a carrot of my own free will, but the potato…well, now that’s the perfect food. You can mash it, fry it, chip it, bake it. If left to my own devices, I’d probably eat potatoes for every meal. I’d have to throw in a snack of chips and salsa every now and then.* What's your favorite baseball team?
But if forced, I suppose I’d pick carrots over chocolate.
Oh, I’m going to be a bit difficult again. I was born and raised in Indiana where basketball reigns supreme. I’ve always supported my home teams: the Washington Hatchets (my hometown high school team), Indiana University’s Hoosiers, and the Indiana Pacers.
To continue my line of excuses for not specifically answering your question…It’s not easy to follow baseball in England. It’s not a sport universally embraced by this country. I don’t really have a favorite baseball team. I did go see the St. Louis Cardinals a few times when I was young and I watched the Indianapolis Indians play when I lived in Indianapolis.
Now I live in England where the only real sport is soccer. My husband is a huge Tottenham Hotspur fan. I’ve had a crash course in soccer and follow Tottenham to maintain a happy marriage.
Thanks so much, Shannon, for inviting me and for your enthusiasm for Dark Parties!
"Really, in the end, the only thing that can make you a writer is the person that you are, the intensity of your feeling, the honesty of your vision, the unsentimental acknowledgment of the endless interest of the life around and within you. Virtually nobody can help you deliberately -- many people will help you unintentionally."
After bouncing from foster home to foster home, Magdalene Mae is transferred to what should be her last foster home in the tiny town of Silver City, New Mexico. Now that she's eighteen and has only a year left in high school, she's determined to stay out of trouble and just be normal. Agreeing to go to the prom with Bridger O'Connell is a good first step. Fitting in has never been her strong suit, but it's not for the reasons most people would expect-it all has to do with the deep secret that she is a shape shifter. But even in her new home danger lurks, waiting in the shadows to pounce. They are the Skinwalkers of Navajo legend, who have traded their souls to become the animal whose skin they wear-and Maggie is their next target.
Full of romance, mysticism, and intrigue, this dark take on Navajo legend will haunt readers to the final page.
I started writing on a dare. Or a bet. My sister decided one day, out of the blue, that she wanted to try writing a book and since she was writing a book, would I like to write one too? Yes, please! I mean, why not? She told me all it took was an hour a day and a year. I could do that. So I did it.And did it. And did it again. And again. And yet again, until SHIFTING was born (my fifth book and several years later).Querying is a bleep. That rush of, "Oh my goodness! An agent wants to read my full manuscript!" Which quickly turns into, "Oh my. The agent hated my manuscript." Between the three books I queried (two of them prior to SHIFTING) I probably piled up well over 200 hundred rejections. Agents didn't even want to read SHIFTING. So after a lot of rejections, I gave up.Like really, seriously gave up! (There were times before this that I not-so-seriously gave up, but this time was it. For reals.) I knew, in a sudden flash of clarity, that I was not going to be a published writer and it broke my heart and made an invisible-except-to-me dark cloud hover over my head and start raining--or maybe those were tears on my cheeks? So yeah. Dark, sad time.The very--I KID YOU NOT!!!--next day, I got a phone call. "This is Marlene Stringer of Stringer Literary. I read your book and loved it . . ." Well, thanks to Marlene (and Walker Books), SHIFTING is being released September 27th!So, for all of you aspiring writers out there, if you want something bad enough, and are willing to work for it, then WORK FOR IT! If you can't get an agent for your book, write another. If you can't get an agent for that one, write another. Every single thing you write will only make you a better writer, so one day, you'll write something amazing that everyone wants to represent/publish.
Teagan, Finn, and Aiden have rescued Tea's and Aiden's father and have made it out of Mag Mell alive, bringing a few new friends with them. But The Dark Man's forces are hot on their heels. Back in Chicago, Teagan soon realizes that she is not the target of the goblins. In fact, the goblins call her princess, and call her to come out and play. Something is happening to her, and she suspects it’s an infection she picked up in Mag Mell. An infected cat-sÃdhe becomes her test subject, and Teagan is determined to cure it of the sickness that seems to rot its flesh. If she can find a cure for the cat-sÃdhe, then maybe there is hope for her.
Meanwhile, Kyle and Isabeau, Teagan’s goblin cousins, show up in her school, disguised as a substitute teacher and a foreign exchange student. They are sure she will come back to Mag Mell, as goblin blood is never passive. Once awoken, it will burn away every other aspect of her being, leaving her pure and solely goblin. When the process is complete, she will belong to Fear Doirich, the Dark Man. It is just a matter of time. In the meantime, Kyle and Isabeau are happy to entertain themselves by trying to seduce, kidnap, or kill Teagan’s family and friends.
Tea knows she doesn’t have much time left, and she refuses to leave Finn to be hunted to the death or her family to be tortured and killed. A wild Stormrider, born to rule and reign, is growing stronger inside her, but as long as she can hold on, she’s still Teagan Wylltson, who plans to be a veterinarian and who heals the sick and hurting. The disease that’s destroying her—that’s destroying them all—has a name: Fear Doirich.
And Teagan Wylltson is not going to let him win.
