2011 Round-Up

I do these every year.

Mostly real-life hannah, but writer hannah makes her appearances too.

1. What did you do in 2011 that you'd never done before?

Had two books come out in one year. Started dating a girl. Went abroad with my family. Starred--twice--in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Wrote one, solitary book.

2. Did you keep your New Years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I kept almost all of them. I'll probably make some more.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No.

5. What countries did you visit?

Just Spain.

6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?

Serenity.

7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

April 19th, 2011--Invincible Summer!

December 20th, 2011--Zombie Tag. And that other thing. She's going to come up a lot.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Selling magicgayfish was really, really amazing, as was Teen Author Carnival and doing a panel next to David Levithan, oh my God.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Not writing.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

There was the exciting head-over-heels-down-some-stairs adventure that left me with a sprained ankle and a shitton of scrapes, and I had the flu in the spring. And then I tested positive for Lyme, despite having been tested and treated and cured four years ago, so I had to do a round of antibiotics which made me sick, and hell if I even know what's up anymore. I'm finally on meds for the arthritis and they're helping a ton. THIS IS BORING, I'M SORRY, I DON'T MAKE THE QUESTIONS.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

No contest.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

My magic gay fish, of course.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Clothes, as always.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Turning 20. Invincible Summer. Each semester to be over. Holidays, always. Rocky shows. The deal for Fishboy.

16. What song will always remind you of 2011?

"Carry on Wayward Son" by Kansas, because...yeah.

17. Compared to this time last year, you are:

Happier?

God, yeah.

Richer?

Yep.

Thinner?

noooo

18. What do you wish you'd done more of?

Reading, like always. Sleeping. Being calm.

19. What do you wish you'd done less of?

Same as last year: "Freaking the fuck out."

20. How will you be spending Christmas?

At home with my family, and I can't fucking wait.

22. Did you fall in love in 2011?

Ask me in a few months.

24. What was your favorite TV program?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA come on. You know me.

(Supernatural.)

25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?

No.

26. What was the best book you read?

SO GLAD YOU ASKED. There are six I read for the first time that I absolutely HAVE to mention.

BROOKLYN, BURNING by Steve Brezenoff
CLEAN by Amy Reed
JELLICOE ROAD by Melina Marchetta
THE PIPER'S SON by Melina Marchetta
STOLEN by Lucy Christopher
THE GHOSTS OF ASHBURY HIGH by Jaclyn Moriarity

27. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Frightened Rabbit.

30. What was your favorite film of this year?

I saw Easy A for the first time on New Year's Eve last year and loved it, so let's count that.

31. What did you do on your birthday. And how old were you?

Twenty. We went out for fondue like we have for my last five birthdays. It was fantastic.

32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Not being in school.

33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2011?

Cozy.

34. What kept you sane?

Twitter, Rocky Horror, Supernatural, the Musers, my mom.

35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

He's surprised by the question.

36. What political issue stirred you the most?

Same as last year, DADT.

37. Whom did you miss?

Everything and all the things all the time. But it's going to be okay.

Eating My Brain

So my third book, Zombie Tag, is officially released in 4 hours and 37 minutes. I have my last exam of the semester in about eighteen hours, and Hanukkah begins about four hours after that, let's say.

I'm thrilled and impatient and excited, but really I'm just sitting here crying a little and wishing I could disappear, and I figured I should blog about that a little, even if it's not the post I'm supposed to write. I should be writing a big BUY MY BOOK thing right now, but you guys know I want you to buy my book. You know how this works.

What I think you might not know is how hard this all gets.

The reason I don't like writing these posts isn't because I'm afraid of being honest with you guys; you guys know I'm pretty much the most open of books, and until someone is like WHOA HANNAH STOP I'm probably going to keep doing that forever and ever. But I don't write these sad damn posts because I'm worried about how they make me see, so, upfront, okay? I know how lucky I am. I really, truly do. I thank the universe every single damn day that I have this job.

And then stupid things swallow me whole.

You guys are so fucking NICE to me. That's what kills me. Do you ever look at people you love and just want to cry because you love them so much, and they love you, and you feel like there's this pocket of the universe that exists JUST to take care of you?

That's how I feel.

And it scares the shit out of me.

Because I don't want to let you guys down.

I don't want to fuck up and not sell and have to stop writing books.

I don't want the criticism to wear me down to the point that I can't write anymore.

I don't want to get eaten alive by my own brain and have to stop and work some office job.

I don't want to flame out before I'm thirty.

I just feel like I'm phoning it in lately, not with writing (because I haven't BEEN writing, and let's not talk about that tonight) but with publicity, talking to you guys, the sheer act of getting my shit together. And it's just this agonizing fear of failure weighing me down, and that's NOT me. I'm a lot of damn things, but, compared to a lot of writers and compared to a lot of the other things that are fucked in my head, I'm not much of a worrier. I don't overanalyze. I don't panic.

And yet here I am, crying on my bed because someone said something nice to me and my damn heart couldn't take it.

I keep writing things and deleting them because I don't know how to say it. I'm just scared. I'm scared no one will read the book and you guys will forget about me.

That's what it is. You guys loving me is scary because I'm afraid that one day you won't.

You don't have to reassure me and flatter me in the comments or something. I mean, I wouldn't HATE that, but that's not what I'm going for. Really I just want you to understand the crazy places a writer's head goes to, because I think release turns a lot of people into robots publicly, when really it tosses our brains like salads, and you know me and my problem with compulsive honesty so here I am.

So, uh, buy my book. I just hope you like it, if you do.

Really, I just hope that even if you don't like it, you don't give up on me.

ZOMBIE TAG Book Trailer!

How cool is that?

It's Teaser Tuesday!

Apparently I've never shared this excerpt, which surprised me!

From the magic gay fish book! Happy Tuesday, everyone.

--


“So I know where you came from, by the way,” I say.

“Humans and a house and all that. Yeah, I know.” Fishboy isn't even looking at me. His eyes are busy tracking something under the water.

“That house. The big one, right there.”

“You must think I'm an idiot.”

“What are you looking at?”

“I'm--” Then he dives and emerges with a tiny fish in his mouth. He spits it onto the deck. “Look at that! Check that out! Oh, man, Teeth is the king. Teeth is the king. I am the king of the seas. Look at that.”

I squirm away from it. It's flopping around like my brother during a bad night. “What is it?”

“Minnow. Oh, God, look at this minnow. Mmm. It's beautiful.” He kisses it and cuddles it against his cheek, then he neatly slits its head off with his teeth.

“Oh, Jesus, Fishboy.”

He looks up, a laugh, halfway through, frozen on his face. “What did you call me?”

“Fishboy.” But I didn't mean to. Shit. “It's, uh, what I called you in my head before I knew your name.”

He shrugs and nods a little. “Fishboy. Yeah, that's cool.”

Thank God. This would have been such a stupid fucking thing to fight about.

He's really grossing me out with this fish, licking the blood off its neck, so I shake my head quickly and say, “You know how I found out where you're from?”

“I don't care.”

“I made out with your sister.”

“What's made out?” He's looking at me with these huge innocent eyes.

“Kissed.”

“Ew,” he says. “You kissed a fish?” Then he buries his face in the minnow and rips it to pieces.

“This is so gross.”

He comes up with a mouth full of flesh. “Oh my God. Rudy, this is the best minnow in the world. You have to try this.”

“I'll pass.”

“I'll save you the liiiiver.”

At least now I know he's screwing with me. “Do fish even have livers?”

“You're a liver.”

“How do you know that word?”

“I'm very very smart.” He licks the skin clean. “Oh my God. Minnow. You are a beautiful minnow.”

“It's dead.”

“It doesn't speak English anyway. Oh, lovely, lovely minnow.”

“You're disgusting.”

“You're the one kissing a fish. Sicko.”

“Your human sister.”

“I knew what you meant. Seriously. You think I'm an idiot, don't you?”

I lie down on my back, as far as I can get from the remains of the fishboy's lunch. He's chewing on all the little bones.

Eventually he finishes eating, and I don't say anything, and he doesn't say anything. He reaches up to the dock and walks the fish bones back and forth like they're people. I half-watch his hands and half-watch the sky. It's the first time we've been absolutely silent together when it doesn't feel like we're fighting. It almost feels like we're tucked in to go to sleep. The silence must last nearly five minutes before he looks up at and smiles at me.

It doesn't matter what side I'm on and what side I'm on, for a minute. For a minute, it's just me and that smile. It's this kid.

“If you're done telling me my family history,” he says, “I have a mission for us.”

Remember That Time I Had News? HOW ABOUT AGAIN.

In lieu of a post with actual thought-provoking content, how about some NEWS!

FIRST OF ALL, congratulations ONE ZILLION TIMES to Erin Bowman, the winner of the cover contest, with her use of a beaaaautiful photograph by John Goodridge!!

NOW. Okay! So!

S&S (and at least one other publisher, if I understand correctly) is trying out this badass new thing where they release a hardcover and a paperback simultaneously.

The logic behind this is that big bookstores like B&N and...oh wait, just B&N (guh my heart my soul) are more likely to stock a paperback than a hardcover because it is thinner and takes up less space. It's also less expensive to ship and generally lower-risk for the store to carry.

This is the main reason BREAK and INVINCIBLE SUMMER were in paperback rather than hardcover. Contemporary YA is a kind of scary place and putting it out in paperback increases the chances that the stores will be willing to stock it. (And I am SUPER lucky that B&N stocked both BREAK and INVINCIBLE SUMMER. Sidenote: they will be carrying ZOMBIE TAG as well. Which is a hardcover. So that news does not really belong in this post. HENCE THE PARENTHESIS.)

But there are people and places that like hardcovers more: some independents, libraries, my parents, etc.

WHICH IS WHY it is really, REALLY exciting that S&S has decided to EXPERIMENT ON ME

no no no not like that

and release GONE, GONE, GONE simultaneously in paperback and hardcover!







I KNOW, Jared and Jensen, cast of Fantastic Mr. Fox, and guy with chair!!

I'M EXCITED TOO!

I will have MORE INFORMATION closer to pub date, when I trust you to remember it (you dear little fish with your horrible memories) but I think you guys can figure out how to best support your chica on this if you are so inclined. You know as well as I do that the best way to show some love for a writer is with that wallet, so. If you shell out the extra money for the hardcover, eternal gratitude (AND POSSIBLY SOMETHING ELSE I'M WORKING ON IT). It shows the people over at my publisher that you like me enough to support me in hardcover, and they like when people like me because then they can wear their I LOVE HANNAH shirts without fear of embarrassment or egg-throwers.

BUT the paperback and the ebook will be available at exactly the same time (I should say when that time is, right? APRIL 17TH, 2012) so buy it in one of those if you'd rather. This is why we give you options. Because we love you.

Pretty, pretty fish.

At Long Last: Cover Contest FINALS!

Okay. Let's do this.

Here are our Top Four in the INVINCIBLE SUMMER COVER REDESIGN CONTEST! These are the 3 from my Top Ten that received the most votes, and the fan favorite you all picked from the remaining entries! I've scrambled their order just for kicks.

You may vote ONCE for ONE cover. Each cover's number is above it. Remember you can click each to make it bigger.

And so you remember what a big deal this is, the winner will receive...

--a signed copy of my first book, BREAK.
--a signed copy of my second book, INVINCIBLE SUMMER.
--a signed arc of my first MG book, ZOMBIE TAG.
--a signed arc of my third YA book, GONE, GONE, GONE.
--their cover, printed up on pretty photo paper, signed by me (if you want me to? It's your art, you might not be into that. Let me know.)
--however many bookmarks I have lying around (three?) signed by me.

AND. MOST IMPORTANTLY:

--the first chapter of my just-sold novel, FISHBOY, printed out and signed. This is pre-edits! Who knows if this chapter will even EXIST in the final draft?? This is a first look that ONLY YOU WILL RECEIVE.

You have until MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19TH, MIDNIGHT EST to cast your vote.

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO:

#1

#2

#3

#4

BIG Middle Grade News!

First of all, I am wicked wicked sorry that I haven't put up the next round of the cover contest yet. It IS happening, I swear.

But first I have TWO very exciting things to tell you!

The first is that I've received the final(ish, oh publishing) cover for ZOMBIE TAG, and I am so psyched to show you guys.

Isn't it AWESOME? I love the excerpt they chose for the back, and I think my favorite part is either the spatula over the barcode or Graham's zombie face on the spine.

The SECOND piece of big news is that I just got the go-ahead for my second MG book! It's right now called MARCO IMPOSSIBLE, and it'll be out early 2013. It's about two best friends, Stephen and Marco, who go on a go-for-broke heist to break into the high school prom and get Marco onstage to steal (hence the heist) the heart of Benji, the British exchange student and bass player of the prom band. (Yes, yes, YES, gay main character, and could I BE any more excited about that? OH I THINK NOT.) If you follow me on twitter, you'll know this as #veryscaryMG; not because it is scary, but because it was scary for me to write. Because I had to plot a freaking heist I mean come on.

The best part of getting good news is when I can tell you guys, so thanks so much for reading and hanging with me. Yay!!

Teaser Tuesday!

Don't forget to vote in that really exciting cover contest, but yesterday I promised a teaser and now, in honor of finishing the 2nd draft of the #sparklyfairyprostitute book (confetti!) I think it's time for an excerpt from said book.

Roughly two-thirds of this book are in the present timeline, and the last third is in the past. This is from that last third.

--

It was amazing how quickly things became normal. Beckan and Josha shared a room, officially, and they tended house while Cricket and Scrap went out and came home with enough food to get them through the day, or fabric for a new shirt for Beckan, or pills for Josha's cold. They got used to chasing the mice around, staying up late singing folk songs their fathers taught them, comparing imperceptible battle scars and finding the bits of them that looked like the other species they all were. Because they were comfortable with that, when it was just the four of them. They could talk about how they were not all fairy. They could talk about anything.

They were just so close and all so crazy about each other, so quickly. Beckan had a space on Cricket's shoulder that she told Josha was only for her, and she would rest her head there when she was tired and kiss it over and over when she wasn't. She had a favorite place on the floor to stretch out with Josha and take a nap. And Scrap. Scrap was giggles through the walls, secret smiles, notes passed back and forth, but they were slow, they were childish about it, they never stepped over any kind of line. For some reason, it felt important to them both that they be careful. Because they would look at Cricket and Josha and see how crazy they were for each other and wake up gasping hard in bed, freezing cold, thinking about how dangerous it was to love someone that much during a war.

Anyway. They had plenty of time.

Gradually, around the time Josha started spending more nights in Cricket's room than Beckan's, they began to live their lives in new pairs. Josha and Beckan were still, in their way, ridiculously in love, but they spent less and less time together as Cricket and Josha threw themselves into shared sweatshirts and last-bite-of-ice cream kisses, and Beckan and Scrap lived like their parents, teasing each other for sleepwalking and flat gnome noses, curling up together with a book after the kids were in bed.

It obviously wasn't long before Beckan knew what Scrap and Cricket did for their living; Cricket had told Josha within days—the kind of indiscretion Cricket grew and died with—and Scrap never made much of an effort to hide it, coming home with half his glitter rubbed off, sometimes drugged and giggly, always in the mood for a kiss on the cheek and a bit of babying before he was sent off to bed. They never talked about it; Beckan washed bloodstains out of his underwear and rubbed his shoulders when he looked tense, and Josha sulked for an hour each of the three days Cricket accompanied Scrap to the mines. “I don't make as much as Scrap does,” Cricket said once to Beckan, explaining his part-time work. “He's the best little whore in Ferrum.”

Scrap scrambled onto Cricket's back and started smacking him on the head with both hands and wouldn't get down, no matter how much Cricket bucked and ran back-first into the wall, and Josha and Beckan laughed and laughed.

There was so much laughing.

A few weeks into the war, the tightropers invaded the mines and took the women captive, and business boomed for Cricket and Scrap. The men had been wanting before, surrounded by women who dreamed about fairy boys and fairy babies instead of another generation in the mines, but now they needed Cricket and Scrap more than ever, and the boys were happy to oblige. During that initial surge, when sex was valuable and food wasn't, quite, they ate and drank like kings.

And somehow, in the war, Scrap came alive. While Josha and Cricket nervously discussed weapons and production, Scrap tried three-ingredient recipes with whatever three ingredients they had left and made Beckan guess what he was trying to make. He invented card games called Treeman and Souffle and lied when he said he would let Beckan win. He once lay half-naked on the kitchen floor and laughed hysterically while the other tree rubbed him as hard as they could to get glitter off him, and he kicked and screamed and alternated between begging them to stop and pulling them on top of him, one by one, and tackling them into a hug.

And one night he and Cricket came home too late and empty-handed for the fourth night in a row and sat in the kitchen and cried, their fingers laced together, and Josha and Beckan sat with them and eventually there was no way to avoid the fact that two prostitutes were no longer enough, in a time when the gnomes were clinging to each bit of meat like it was made of gold, and licking their teeth and smacking their lips whenever Cricket and Scrap came down, to secure food for four mouths.

“Teach me,” Beckan said, and most of her was excited, most of her had been waiting, most of her wanted to feel everything that Scrap had ever felt, because that was where she was then. “I'll go.”

INVINCIBLE SUMMER COVER CONTEST: Round #1!

Yes, we have a new look! We so pretty.

So you remember that ridiculously awesome, ridiculously high-stakes contest I had?

The turnout was seriously beyond my wildest dreams. I was worried I wouldn't get ANY entries. Instead I got twenty-seven incredible submissions, and I love them to tiny pieces.

But

THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE.

Because of the ridiculous prize I'm giving away to the winner, it is of the utmost importance that I choose the very, very best. Which means I can't rely on my taste alone! I need you to help me.

I've chosen my top 10 favorite covers. You will see them momentarily (or now if you are impatient and scroll down, but don't because I'm about to give you IMPORTANT INFORMATION). You can vote for one of those. The top 3 with the most votes will go onto the next round, one week from today, where the ULTIMATE WINNER will be chosen!

BUT WAIT. What if you look at them and say "hannah wtf you didn't choose THE BEST ONE"??

Well. After the poll (where you vote for ONE of the top ten covers) you will see a link to a slideshow of ALL of the covers. They're all labeled with "Contest Entry #14" or whatever. Each of those that was not chosen for the top 10 will have a spot on the second poll! That is the FAN FAVORITE poll. And whichever one of THOSE gets the most votes will also move on to the next round, to make a top 4! See? You can fix my mistakes!

You may only vote once, but PLEASE campaign as hard as you possibly can for your favorite cover whether in the comments here, on twitter, your own blog, facebook, wherever. And thank you so, so much for voting (and for entering, if you did!)

A quick recap:

--Below are my ten favorites of the covers I was sent. They're in random order. Most of them you can click to make them bigger, some were subbed to me kinda small.
--You can vote ONCE on ONE COVER.
--Below THAT poll is a link to a slideshow of ALL THE ENTRIES.
--Below THAT link is a poll with each of the entries that was not chosen.
--You can vote ONCE for ONE OF THOSE COVERS.

And here we go!

THE TOP 10

1)


2) (No, I am not really a NYT Bestselling author, but if the cover fits...) >


3)

4)

5)
Photo by badjonni and used under the Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/badjonni/5389624442/

6)

7)


8)

9)


10)



Here is a link to the slideshow of ALL the covers (including the top 10). The poll below is for all the covers that were NOT chosen in the top 10. If it was in the top 10, it will not appear on this poll (notice there's no option for "Cover Contest #1" on this poll, because that one was chosen for the top 10). Please don't get the numbers in the slideshow confused with the numbered entries above! Just look underneath each picture in the slideshow for its number and use that.

THE SLIDESHOW

ZOMBIE TAG ARC TOUR!

At long last...

here we go! I'll be sending out two different arcs at once, one to roughly west coast and one to roughly east coast! Hurray!

This means we have some extra time to to read. You'll notice I didn't put dates! That's because we have 13 people (I think? eh?) for each arc, and we have roughly 20 weeks until Zombie Tag comes out. So...try to send it out a week to a week and a half after you receive it. If you have to keep it longer, IT IS NOT A BIG DEAL. If the arc doesn't get to me until like a month after Zombie Tag comes out, eh, who cares? Just MAKE SURE IT GETS BACK. No losing the thing. You know the drill.

SO! The order is!

ARC #1

1. T.O., Ontario, Canada - Reut C.
2. Brunswick, OH - Lydia Sharp
3. Whitehall, PA - Cara Bes
4. Portland, ME - Lindsay Breen
5. Boston, MA - Grace Ausick
6. Manchester, NJ - MaryBeth
7. Bel Air, MD - Jessica
8. Philadelpiha, PA--Katie
9. Chesapeake, VA - Pam Harris
10. Gastonia, NC - Samantha Rae
11. Anderson, SC - Jeremy West
12. Memphis, TN - Allison Renner
13. Paragould, AR - Tabitha Michelle

ARC #2

1. Port Richey, FL - Sarah
2. Cape Coral, FL - Tracey M. Hansen
3. Dothan, AL - Amanda Baxter
4. Lake Charles, LA - Steph Campbell
5. Edinburg, TX - Jamie
6. Cleburne, TX - Marcy Funderburk
7. Dallas, TX - Jeannette
8. Dallas, TX - Kari
9. Los Angeles, CA - Ashlyn Rae
10. Coeur d'Alene, ID - Taylor
11. Brackendale, BC, Canada - Rebecca Christiansen
12. Thorsby, Alberta, Canada - Ambur
13. Alberta, Canada - Halli


Now. As soon as you've seen this, email me with THE FOLLOWING SUBJECT LINE--your arc number and then your number on the list. So if you are Grace, your subject line is "ARC #1, person 5." If you don't follow this format, I'll be all sweet to you but in my head I will be RAGING WITH FIRE.

Oh yeah I should give you my email address. until.hannah@gmail.com

In that email, put your address! Even if I already have your address from the Gone, Gone, Gone tour. Even if you've given me your address so many times for so many different things that I should have it memorized at this point. Give it to me again! I love your address! And I'll pass that along to the person who needs to send it to you, and hit you up with the address of the person you need to send yours to. Easy peasy, thanks to you guys organizing yourselves with the above subject lines! Yay!

One other thing that makes me rage with fire: having to chase people down. So please do not do that. I have to do it for the GGG tour already and it is so exhausting.

Don't forget to mark the thing up when you get it! As soon as I get addresses from our first two people, I'll scribble over two arcs and send them out! Thank you so much!!

The Biggest Contest That Has Ever Been Known to Humankind

SO.

If you recall, yesterday I had some pretty huge news.

To celebrate, I am having a hideously amazing contest. The prizes, which will be revealed MOMENTARILY, are, I think you would agree, completely over-the-top in number and shipping charge. Which is why, in order to win, you have to do something fairly intense and VITAL TO THE SURVIVAL OF HUMANKIND.

You have to design a new cover for Invincible Summer.



As many of you know, there has been considerable drama over the Invincible Summer cover! While I think it's a beautiful cover, the opinion has been raised that it doesn't fit what the book is about. So let's make a game out of it!

Design a new cover. Use stock photos, use MS paint, take photos, scan a drawing, use all text, however you want to do this. Please do not use copyrighted images or otherwise do anything to hurt someone in any way (no real blood, etc). Make a cover that you believe represents what the book is really about.

This is obviously going to be an easier task if you've read IS, but if you haven't, PLEASE don't let that keep you from entering! I recommend reading a bunch of goodreads reviews, here, both positive and negative, and checking out the Invincible Summer tag (at the end of this post) for excerpts from the book and my own commentary on said excerpts. You can find a LOT in the soundtrack posts especially about what I think the important parts of the book are. And you can always ask around! You can always ask me! I'd be happy to answer questions.

Since this is a fairly intense thing I'm asking you to do, I am giving you ONE MONTH FROM TODAY. That means that, on August 13th, I will post a to-be-determined number of my favorites on the blog and we will vote on the winner!

Here's the big thing. I am really terrified that no one will enter. So in order to entice you...the prize.

THE WINNER WILL RECEIVE:

--a signed copy of my first book, BREAK.
--a signed copy of my second book, INVINCIBLE SUMMER.
--a signed arc of my first MG book, ZOMBIE TAG.
--a signed arc of my third YA book, GONE, GONE, GONE.
--their cover, printed up on pretty photo paper, signed by me (if you want me to? It's your art, you might not be into that. Let me know.)
--however many bookmarks I have lying around (three?) signed by me.

AND. MOST IMPORTANTLY:

--the first chapter of my just-sold novel, FISHBOY, printed out and signed. This is pre-edits! Who knows if this chapter will even EXIST in the final draft?? This is a first look that ONLY YOU WILL RECEIVE.

In the words of my hero, worth playing for?

This contest IS OPEN INTERNATIONALLY, but if you are not in the U.S. and Canada, the prize is a little less exciting: You will get Invincible Summer and Break via Book Depo and preorders of Zombie Tag and Gone, Gone, Gone. But still good, right? Three books? Eh?

You have until AUGUST 13TH to submit your covers. Please EMAIL THEM TO ME: until.hannah@gmail.com. And please please spread the word.

Have fun.

Dear Magic Gay Fish

You've had that name for a long time.

A bunch of you probably don't know why the followers of my blog and my followers on Twitter are called magic gay fish.

The truth is, that before there was you, there was a manuscript.

The magic gay fish manuscript.

It was always called Fishboy, but I wanted to be funny, and, well...the thing is about a magic gay fish, after all. Well, a magic gay half-fish, half-boy. Named Teeth. Who, I've got to say, is a character unlike any I've ever written and one that I adored writing in a way I've never really loved anything.

So it's this manuscript. I wrote it last July. If you hit the tag "Fishboy" at the end of this post, you can see some of the excerpts I've posted. It's just this manuscript, except that it's this manuscript that's special to me in a way I can't really explain. It's this way that makes me feel like one of those floaty sensitive writers that I never really thought I was. I don't know. I just know that this manuscript was my weird, crazy long shot book about a magic gay fish and a dusty, dreamy boy named Rudy who loves him, and a girl named Diana who teaches Rudy about Roald Dahl, and Rudy's parents who love the shit out of him. And his sick little brother, because, let's be honest, it's a hannah book.

It's really as hannah as any of my books have ever been, really.

It's the only manuscript I would have ever considered naming my fans after. It's THE book.

So here's the deal, my beautiful, beautiful, amazingly magic and amazingly gay fish.

You are immortalized.

The deal closed yesterday, and I am honestly the luckiest girl in the planet.

Sometime in 2013. Consider it my love letter to you.

A Need So Freaking Beautiful

(You can still enter the ZOMBIE TAG arc tour right here!)

So you may have seen a bunch of posts today about the release of this amazing book called A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young. I don't usually do promotional stuff on this blog, but I make an exception today for two reasons:

1) Suzanne Young is my best friend. Which would be enough all on its own, but
2) A Need So Beautiful is a really, really, REALLY amazing book.

So we're having this wicked awesome contest, but first I'm going to give you a story about an act of kindness that changed my life, like how Charlotte changes people's lives--and her own--with her acts of kindness in A Need So Beautiful.

So once upon a time, about thirty years ago, this guy and this girl were in college and dating, pretty casually. They'd been together for the better part of a year, but they both knew that the guy was going to move out to California over the summer to meet the girl he'd been with before this one. All cards were on the table, everyone knew how it was going to go down.

And then the new girl sprained her ankle, right when the guy was supposed to move out to California.

And it wasn't as if it was life-threatening. It was a sprained ankle. He could have gone anyway. He wasn't obligated.

But he did. He blew off the girl he was supposed to move with (and never called her...but that's a different story) and stayed in North Carolina with the girl with the sprained ankle.

And that's how a random act of kindness changed my life. Seeing as I wouldn't exist if he'd gone out to California. Thanks, Dad!

:)

So here's the contest.

It's the same one from all the blogs, so you only need/get to enter once. The contest is open until June 28th.

There are SO MANY AWESOME PRIZES, and you'll get to choose which ones you want to try to grab on the entry sheet. Pretty cool, yeah? Some prizes are international and some aren't, so pay attention to what's available for you.

There will be 1 winner per item, and then three people will also be chosen to win a signed copy of A Need So Beautiful. Woohoo!

HERE IS THE ENTRY FORM!

And here's how to earn lots of points. You can only enter once, so make sure you have all your extra points ready to go when you fill out the form.

Earn one extra entry for each of the following:
Take a picture of an author's book in the wild and tweet it to the author and Kari (check the form for her twitter handle).
Post a positive Amazon review for a book you loved
Donate a book to a library or classroom
Tweet a good deed you plan to do this week, using the #ANeedSoBeautiful hashtag

Earn 10 extra entries for each of the following:
Take a picture of A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL in the wild and tweet it to us and Suzanne Young
Post an Amazon review for A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL
Donate a copy of A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL to a library or classroom

And here are some of the amazing prizes you could score:

First 3 chapter critique (Jessica at Confessions of a Bookaholic: http://www.totalbookaholic.com/)

YA Lit Swag Bag (Sara at Novel Novice: www.novelnovice.com)

Hourglass Order from TBD – Int (Corrine at Lost for Words: http://lostforwords-corrine.blogspot.com)

Random Books (Jessi at The Elliott Review: http://elliottreview.blogspot.com)

2 Header/Button Packs (Jessica at Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile: http://www.hopelessbibliophile.com/)

First 3 chapters Critique (Cindy at Books Complete Me: http://www.bookscompleteme.com/)

First 15 pages Critique (Kari at A Good Addiction: http://agoodaddiction.blogspot.com/)

Signed ARC of Hereafter (Kari at A Good Addiction: http://agoodaddiction.blogspot.com/)

Query Letter Critique (Shannon Messenger: http://ramblingsofawannabescribe.blogspot.com/)

Signed copy of Invincible Summer – US/Can (Hannah Moskowitz: hannahmosk.blogspot.com)

First Chapter Critique and a Skype Chat (Keri Mikulski: http://kerimikulski.com/books/pay-it-forward-the-author-edition/)

Signed copy of Tell Me a Secret with signed TMAS art print - US (Holly Cupala: http://www.hollycupala.com/search/label/blog)

Signed copy of Chasing Brooklyn – US (Lisa Schroeder: www.lisaschroederbooks.com)

The Pledge Swag Pack including ARC (Kimberly Derting: http://kimberlyderting.blogspot.com/)

ZOMBIE TAKEOVER!

Well hey!

I realized that I have all the Zombie Tag arcs and nothing to do with them.

And Zombie Tag is a pretty cool book, I think. Check out this description!

Ever since twelve-year-old Wil Lowenstein's older brother Graham died a few months ago, Wil's spent most of his time fighting off imaginary zombies with spatulas in Zombie Tag, the Mafia/Capture the Flag hybrid he invented with his friends. What Wil doesn't tell anybody is that if he could bring his dead brother back as a zombie for real, he would. In a heartbeat.

So when Wil finds a way to bring back all the dead within five miles, he seizes the chance. But the Graham who comes back isn't the same. None of the returned are. At first they're just emotionless, apathetic - lifeless. But then some of the zombies slowly start to get one emotion back - anger. And Wil is going to have to find a way to fix zombie-Graham and turn him back into the angsty teenager he's supposed to be before it's too late.

Because some of the zombies are banding together and plotting something. And Wil isn't sure his mom's spatulas are really going to do the trick if the zombies really do want to eat his brains.


Here! A visual!

So remember how I did an arc tour for Gone, Gone, Gone? Remember how that's going on right now and it's super fun? LET'S DO IT AGAIN!

Wait, what's an arc tour? It's a way for a lot of you to read one arc! It's the chain letter of giveaways! I send out a copy, put you guys in order, and you guys send to each other. And before I send it out, I'll write lots of notes in it and tell you guys to write in it too, so by the time it gets back to me it'll be like a scrapbook from all of you, and that makes me really happy.

Mostly the same rules as before, but first, a few things:

This is an upper MG book. This is not a young adult book. If you don't read/review MG, you're going to open the thing up and go "where's the sex?" and that's no good for anyone.

I have a few arcs this time! Either two or three will be going out, and we're going to do REGIONAL TOURS! So everyone around the west coast will get one arc, etc. This means it will get to you faster, and you will have more time with it it! Which is good because Zombie Tag comes out DECEMBER 20TH, and I would very much like the arcs to come home around that time. So we must get this show on the road.

We'll scribble in them just like we're scribbling on the Gone, Gone, Gone, one! It's really fun.

HERE ARE THE RULES.

YOU ARE ELIGIBLE TO ENTER IF: You are in the U.S. or Canada, you are a book blogger, and you promise to review this book. (NOTE: My definition of "book blogger" is pretty lenient. If you have a blog where you will review my book, you're in. Hell, you're probably in if all you'll do is review the thing on Goodreads and tweet about it. I'm easygoing.) You're also totally eligible whether or not you're in the Gone, Gone, Gone tour.

To get into the tour, you need to comment on this post telling me that you've done both of two things:

1. Added Zombie Tag on Goodreads. Right here.

2. Bought either Break or Invincible Summer. (Brownie points for both, obviously)

Same apology as I gave you for Gone, Gone, Gone, It's totally gross, I know, but chick's gotta eat. Just comment and be like "yeah, I bought that shit" or "yeah, I'm buying it now 'cause you're making me."

(But hannah, can't we just lie and tell you we bought it if we haven't? Yeah, you can, but then Santa doesn't bring presents and your kids hate you.)

I have no idea how long I'm giving each person with the book because I have no idea how many copies I'm sending out or how many of you will sign up, so yeah, just hit me and we'll see what happens. I'll close this at some point in the future, I don't even know.

Once you get the book, you'll have a predetermined amount of time to get it, read it, and send it to the next person. I'll send to the first person, the last person will send it back to me. If you drop the ball and lose my arc, I WILL HARVEST YOUR ORGANS AND MAKE THEM INTO SPATULAS. If you're late sending it out, no one cares, it's fine.

NOW FOR THE POINT OF THE ARC TOUR: YOU MUST REVIEW THIS BOOK, whether or not you like it. But! Please DO NOT post this review on your blog until a month or two before release date. But PLEASE PLEASE rate it, and even review it! on Goodreads or Librarything or wherever the fuck (but Goodreads, please, I'm a Goodreads ho) as soon as possible after you finish it.

IN SUMMARY

Tell me your name

Tell me your email address

Tell me which of my books you've bought

Tell me you added Zombie Tag on Goodreads

Tell me your city and state

and the thing is as good as yours.

Teen Author Carnival!

So Monday, May 23rd, I'm going to get my ass to New York City to be a part of Teen Author Carnival 2011.

This is a pretty huge deal for a couple of reasons.

1) It's the first thing anything like this that I've ever done. I will be a nervous wreck.

2) In a second I'm going to post the list of authors in the panel I'm in, and if you know anything about me, you will find out another HUGE MAJOR REASON that I will be a nervous wreck. (I will put this reason in BOLD so that you will be able to locate it even if you do not know anything about me).

3) I bought a new dress.

4) I will be signing stuff! And you can probably snag an arc of Gone, Gone, Gone. Or even Zombie Tag! And duh Invincible Summer and probs Break too, who knows!

5) My family will be there. Yes. YOU CAN MEET MY MOM.

6) Check out this amazing list of authors:

Carol Estby Dagg - The Year We Were Famous
Nova Ren Suma - Imaginary Girls
Carrie Jones - Need, After Obsession, Dear Bully
Scott Tracey - Witch Eyes
David Levithan - Every You, Every Me
Melissa Walker - Small Town Sinners
Michelle Hodkin - The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
Elizabeth Scott - Between Here and Forever & As I Wake
Michelle Zink - Circle of Fire
Michael Northrop - Trapped
Leah Clifford - A Touch Mortal
Nick James - Skyship Academy
Amy Fellner Dominy -OyMG
Kirsten Hubbard - Like Mandarin
Malinda Lo - Huntress, Ash
Bettina Restrepo - Illegal
Caridad Ferrer - When the Stars Go Blue
Kody Keplinger - Shut Out
Torrey Maldonado - Secret Saturdays
THIS BITCH RIGHT HERE
E Archer - Geek Fantasy Novel
Gayle Forman - Where She Went
Courtney Allison Moulton - Angelfire
Susane Colasanti - So Much Closer, Something Like Fate
Andrea Cremer - Wolfsbane, Nightshade

7) I have practiced a new author signature. It includes a magic gay fish.

8) I did something weird to my hair! You should come see if you like it.

9) UM SO HERE'S THE REALLY EXCITING PART.

So the way Teen Author Carnival works is there are a bunch of different panels and you can see us talk and stuff! My panel is from 5:15-6:10 and it is called Teenage Angst: Getting It Right - The Emotions, The Voice, The Drama. And, well...here is who is on this panel.

1. David Levithan

2. Susane Colasanti

3. Melissa Walker

4. Kody Keplinger

5. Hannah Moskowitz

6. Gayle Forman

7. Torrey Maldonado

8. Caridad Ferrer


In case you didn't notice, I BOLDED THE NAME David Levithan.

Know why?

Because David Levithan is my FAVORITE AUTHOR IN THE WORLD.

I mean, just check out what I wrote at the front of the traveling GONE, GONE, GONE arc.



I am not only going to talk to David Levithan, I am going to be expected to say intelligent things before or after or possibly both David Levithan. I am going to be a disaster and I am probably going to be hilarious, so you have to come see.

So pretty please, if it is at all possible, come. It is Monday, May 23 from 4pm-7:30pm at the Mulberry Street Library (10 Jersey Street, New York, NY 10012-3332). It is also a zillion percent free, unless you buy something, obviously. Which you probably should.

Most (all?) of the writers on this list I've never actually met, so I'm hideously excited to meet them and hang out with them, and if you want to come and fangirl/boy, I will be fangirl/boying just as hard. We can do it together. But come. Say hi. I like you guys so much.

Even More ARC Tour News!

So! The arc of Gone, Gone, Gone is out--later than I intended, which is further reason that the dates I've given you are purely estimates and not anything to freak out about.

In case you didn't know, arcs of Gone, Gone, Gone are now available electronically on Galley Grab as well! So I had to do something a little different to make this arc extra-special. I totally encourage you to pick up and read the arc online, whether or not you're in the tour. And I'd love it if you'd consider doing the same review guidelines I posted for the tour itself--review/rate the hell out of it on Goodreads, but save posting it on your blog until closer to release date.

So! To make the arc exciting, I wrote all over the damn thing. There are comments and notes everywhere! I marked which parts were my favorite and which parts were added most recently. I have a little existential crisis in there about the inherent vulgarity in writing about history. One of my favorite things I did was underline the parts that are allusions to songs and other books. I think you guys will like that.

Now for your part. PLEASE fill my book with drawings and comments and whatever the fuck else you want! If you have pictures or drawings or anything you'd like to slip into the binding/into the envelope, I would LOVE that. And if the arc comes to you with any of these goodies, please look at them, enjoy them, and keep them safe so everyone else gets to look at them too! I am SO excited to get the arc back with all the evidence of all of you guys.

If you haven't emailed me your address first, PLEASE do so, even if you know I already have it from something else. Remember to put the week you've been assigned, as arbitrary as those dates are, in the subject line to help me organize. Thank you so much, and I hope you guys like the book!

Tour Update

Okay, I did, as predicted, leave someone out, so we're going to be sticking someone else in with the Texas people. Since I'm too lazy to shift all the dates around (okay, it's not really a matter of laziness, it's a matter of keeping my records consistent) I want you guys to go by the dates I originally gave you when you're emailing me, but DON'T WORRY ABOUT ACTUALLY KEEPING TO THESE DATES. It's really not a big deal if the book takes until June or something to get back to me. It really doesn't matter. So just be prepared that those dates aren't actual, but PLEASE keep using them in your emails to me. They're just my way of keeping things straight. Thank you!

GONE, GONE, GONE's Travel Schedule!

Thank you so much everyone who signed up! I am mega, mega excited to get this thing out!

A few notes:

1) I assigned everyone a week that goes from Wednesday to Wednesday. I'm putting it in the mail on Monday so it will hopefully arrive to person #1 on time. It would be great if you could get it in the mail before Wednesday as well. This leads to point #2.

2) Don't freak out about the dates. They're more so we have an order than anything. This is not the army. Nothing is set in stone. Things happen, I understand! People get sick, people have birthdays, the mail takes longer than it logically should, etc. etc. If you need another day or two, go for it. If the book doesn't get to you by the assigned date, wait a few days before you freak out. Just email me and keep me abreast (teehee) of what's going on. I have the tour ending two weeks before the book comes out, so we have a lot of extra days to play with. It's all good.

That being said! If you look at this list and go "oh shit I'm on vacay that week/am getting my brain replaced/am getting my mailbox taken in for a tune-up" let me know and I'll switch you with the person before/after you. Which is easy becaaaause:

3) Everything was determined geographically. That's how the order was worked out. I tried to take the order that people signed up into account, but it very rarely made much of a difference (and thanks to the cruel world, the person who signed up first is getting it last. I'm totally sorry!). But the order of who gets it in Ohio first was decided by who entered first. Same as the people in LA. (Not Texas. You guys were just "how can I not go back and forth across the state a zillion times." Who knows how I did.)

I did it this way so the book can get from place to place as quickly as possible.

So now! A few rules!

1) You know this one already: rate (and review, if you like) on Goodreads ASAP, hold off on blog stuff until March or April. You are now OBLIGATED to review, fishies, even if you hate the damn thing. Tell us WHY you hate it. Tell us in excruciating detail.

2) If you lose it, I will starve you while you watch the other fish gobble up all the fish flakes that should be yours.

3) As soon as you read this blog post, email me. I WILL start tracking you down if necessary, but that'll make me cranky.

PLEEEEEEEEASE put the week you are getting the book in the subject line of your email.

IN THIS EMAIL, I NEED:

Your real name (and do let me know what name I have you under, so I can streamline everything)
Your address
The URL of your blog.

I don't care if I already have this info, send it again.

As soon as I get your address, I will give you (if I have it) the address of the person who comes after you. I won't give out your address until the person I'm giving it to has given me theirs, k? So everything's fair and all. Try not to lose the email with the address, but I'll have them all on file, so don't freak out.

4) Write in it. Yep. I want a note at the beginning or the end. It can say something about the book or it can just say hi or it can say something dirty (preferred). I want you to slip photos or drawings between the cover and the title page for everyone else (and me!) to see. I will write a little letter in it for you before it goes out! Return the favor. Make me smile when I get it back.

Oh, one last thing! If you are not on the list and you have no idea why not, let me know. Also if you're on it twice, because I'm really not all that smart.

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO!

May 11th-May 18th: A Book Vacation
May 18th-May 25th: Pam Harris
June 1st-June 8th: sassysam
June 8th-June 15th: Jeremy West
June 15th-June 22nd: Al
June 22nd-June 29th: Tara
June 29th-July 8th: Tracey Hansen
July 6th-July 13th: M.A. Chase
July 13th-July 20th: Jamie Manning
July 20th-July 27th: Mandie Baxter
July 27th-August 3rd: Allison
August 3rd-August 10th: Another Book Junkie
August 10th-August 17th: Christwriter
August 17th-August 24th: Tabitha Michelle
August 24th-August 31st: Kari
August 31st-September 7th: Kelsey (TX)
September 7th-September 14th: Yara
September 14th-September 21st: Jeanette Bruce
September 21st-September 28th: Jacob
September 28th-October 5th: Liz
October 5th-October 12th: Linda
October 12th-October 19th: Janelle Alexander
October 19th-October 26th: Cory
October 26th-November 2nd: fakesteph
November 2nd-November 9th: Fiktshun
November 9th-November 16th: Nora Coon
November 16th-November 23rd: Eliza
November 23rd-November 30th: Lindsay
November 30th-December 7th: Becca C.
December 7th-December 14th: Sara (Manitoba)
December 14th-December 21st: Nicole Loren
December 21st-December 28th: Jamie Kline
December 28th-January 4th: Rachael
January 4th-January 11th: Erin Thomas
January 11th-January 18th: Erin (Michigan)
January 18th-January 25th: Loren Chase
January 25th-February 1st: Jamie B. (OH)
February 1st-February 8th: Lydia Brunswick
February 8th-February 15th: Amanda Sage
February 15th-February 22nd: Jess Tudor
February 22nd-February 29th: Kelsey (NJ)
February 29th-March 7th: Mbee
March 7th-March 14th: April
March 14th-March 21st: Weechagirl
March 21st-March 28th: Miranda White
March 28th-April 4th: Brittany Moore
April 4th-forever: Hannah Moskowitz

I'm Very Excited About This

EDIT: AAAAND WE'RE CLOSED. Thanks everyone!

So. I have this thing. Look at it!



It's an arc of GONE, GONE, GONE! (and here it is all snuggled with the rest)...





In case you've missed it or you're new here (in which case hey I'm hannah what up have some pizza), GONE, GONE, GONE is my 2012 YA coming out with Simon Pulse.

I don't like to pick favorites, but...I really like this book.

You can check out the official blurb right here, on the back of the book: (click to make it bigger!)



But I should say a little about it, right?

GONE, GONE, GONE is one of my very favorite things I've written. It's about love and guns and lots of other ugly little things. It is dark and quiet and it is also really damn jubilant, if you ask me. It has my favorite narrator I've ever written in the form of this weird, passionate, awkward insomniac named Craig, and one of my favorite characters in Lio, who is maybe the character I've put through the most shit, ever, but is also ridiculously well-adjusted.

Also there are parents! They are present! And they are good parents!

And of course there are siblings, because it is one of my books.

Anyway. I hope you like it because I really do.

BUT HERE'S THE EXCITING PART.

Usually, when I get my two arcs from Simon Pulse, I keep one for my greedy little self and give one away to someone on the blog.

But why give it away to one person when I can give it to all of you??

That's right, fishies...WE'RE HAVING AN ARC TOUR.

And guess what? This book doesn't start until April 17th, 2012, but if you guys help me out, you can have this damn thing really, really soon.

Here's the deal.

YOU ARE ELIGIBLE TO ENTER IF: You are in the U.S. or Canada, you are a book blogger, and you promise to review this book. (NOTE: My definition of "book blogger" is pretty lenient. If you have a blog where you will review my book, you're in.)

To get into the tour, you need to comment on this post telling me that you've done both of two things:

1. Added GONE, GONE, GONE on Goodreads. Right here.

2. Bought INVINCIBLE SUMMER.

Yeah, that's kinda gross, I realize. But chick's gotta eat. Just comment and be like "yeah, I bought that shit." It counts, obviously, if you ordered it and it's on its way. It counts, obviously, if you order/buy it as a response to this post.

(But hannah, can't we just lie and tell you we bought it if we hadn't? Yeah, you can, d-bag.)

I want to give each of you a week with the book, which means the first 50 people to comment are in. U.S. and Canada only, sorry, it's just not fair to make someone else pay the postage to get it to you, internationals. I love you dearly.

If 50 people don't enter, no problem! I'll close this after a week and send the book out however many weeks before release. So if 20 people enter, I'll send it to the first person 20 weeks before release. So if you want it now, tell your friends! The more people, the sooner you get it. EDIT: If I get enough entries, I'll consider extending the tour through a month or so after it comes out.

I'll organize it geographically, so the closest person to College Park, MD will get it first, you lucky dog. LEAVE YOUR CITY AND STATE in your comment, and later I will make you email me your address and I will pass it along to the person before you in the tour. Hopefully I will not fuck this up. I promise not to give your address to weird people.

So yes, you'll have a week to get the book, read it, and send it to the next person. I'll send to the first person, the last person will send it back to me. If you drop the ball and lose my arc, you will be BLACKLISTED FROM EXISTENCE. You don't want that.

Important note, worth repeating: YOU MUST REVIEW THIS BOOK, whether or not you like it. But! Please DO NOT post this review on your blog until a month or two before release date. But PLEASE PLEASE rate it, and even review it! on Goodreads or Librarything or wherever the fuck (but Goodreads, please, I'm a Goodreads ho) as soon as possible after you finish it. I need the buzz, kay? Let's grassroots this shit.

Any questions, PLEASE hit me up either in the comments or on twitter (@hannahmosk). Aaaand go!

So Here's The Thing: Invincible Summer's Cover

When I first saw this book, I thought it was a summer kind of read. I've heard it's rather emotional. The cover doesn't make it appear that way at all!

Because of the cover I did think it was going to be a beachy read that I wouldn't be able to get into.

The cover of this book is entirely misleading.

Actually, I'm ashamed to say I think I DID judge this by it's cover. I've seen it around a bunch of times, wasn't really drawn in by the cover so just skipped over it. STUPID ME! This sounds like exactly my kind of read!

Cover and synopsis are pretty misleading. Don't judge this book based on the cover.

First off, this cover is weirdly my #1 favorite of 2011 so far!

The cover is so infuriatingly off. But honestly, I don't have a better idea....maybe a portrait of Albert Camus?

The current cover sucks. They should really let readers take votes on these things before they come out.

The synopsis is a little misleading. Sure there were girls and boys, love and lust, and a beach, but that wasn't what the book was about.

The cover and the reviews I've read of this book turned out to be 2 different things.

They really should change the cover. It doesn't fit the book whatsoever.

From all the reviews I've read, I just can't get over the fact that the cover kind of gives the wrong impression

Now I'm going to tell you that this whole blurb is totally inadequate and only the very last line really describes this book, in my opinion. Also, this is the worst cover ever for this book.

These are all quotes from reviews, positive and negative, and I could go on forever and ever. These are the ones I could find in five minutes.

All right, guys. I hear ya.

I did a post a while back where I responded to a lot of the "wow, your cover makes me want to go to the gym" comments I'd gotten, etc. (A quick summary of that post: you're hot, shut up, and that chick is photoshopped. I saw her when she had half the tits she has now.)

But this is kind of a different issue, yeah? Because this isn't really about what the cover looks like, but about what it says about the book.

It's a beautiful cover. I'll state that outright. It's a cover I'm proud to have on one of my books. It's doing its job and people are picking it up. I think the spine in particular is absolutely lovely. If you've seen IS in person, you'll know that the cover is made out of some kind of fantastic soft I don't even know that makes you want to put your head on it and go to sleep.

It's a beautiful cover.

But no, it's not the cover I would have chosen for this book.

So my 2012 book, Gone, Gone, Gone? It's a love story. It is so completely a love story. The WIP is a love story. I fucking love writing love stories.

Back in 2008, when I wrote IS, I did not know how to write a love story.

And I wasn't trying to.

This is a story about a family.

Some of the people up there ^ are responding to a little line at the end of the goodreads description that says "Not your typical beach read." That's not part of the real blurb. That's not on the back of the book.

That's something I went in and added myself a few weeks ago.

My publisher is amazing. Hands down. And they chose a cover and a blurb that would get people to pick it up. And I think it's working. I honestly could not be happier with how many people seem to be hearing about IS and picking it up. I saw a comment on an interview the other day where a girl said that the only reason IS was popular was because it had a chick in a bikini on it. Um guys. SHE SAID MY BOOK IS POPULAR.

This cover is doing its job. My publisher knows its shit, man. It's a beautiful cover, and I have so much support from the beautiful people in-house, and damn am I proud of my little book and INCREDIBLY thankful for the people who helped me make it and nourish it and get it out into the world. I really can't say that enough, and if you take one thing away from this post, let that be it.

But see, this cover is also pissing you guys off.

And that part sucks.

You all know this, but it's worth repeating: authors don't choose their covers. Authors don't write the blurb on the back of the book. And here's one you maybe don't hear as often: authors do not know what sells.

Yes, the love triangle aspect of IS's plot has been heavily pushed. It has been since the second my then-agent read it. The two brothers sleeping with the same girl? Of course it's weird. It's the hook because it's weird. It's not a hook I'd thought of. It wasn't a major part of the story, as far as I was concerned.

Once the book sold, I amped that up and made it a larger part of the plot. I made Noah have a real relationship with Melinda. I added more fights and conversations. These things absolutely strengthened the book as a whole.

It's not as if my book was ruined by this marketing, is what I'm trying to say.

The only part of that book I can control is what happens inside of it. And the truth is, the parts of that that I think are important would make really shitty book covers. Like the girl up there said, how do you design a book cover for a book about brothers and sign language and sex and Camus?

It's not easy.

But please. That don't judge a book by its cover thing? You have to understand something.

When you don't pick up a book because of its cover, you are not punishing the design team.

When you say, I would have picked up this book, but I hate the cover, so I won't, you are not punishing the design team.

When you refuse to read a review or take a second look at a book because of its cover, you are not punishing the design team.

You are punishing the author.

There are SO MANY reasons not to pick up my book. If that's the road you want to take, pick a good reason! Make it something that I did wrong. Make it about the ugly paragraph on page whatever or the fact that you hate books about big families or that you hate philosophy or that I peed on your front lawn or I said something mean to you on twitter or you don't like my nose. Make it something about ME. About something I did. Okay, maybe not the nose thing, then.

But guys. It's a book about a family. I will tell you a zillion times if I have to. It is a book about a boy and his family. It is a book about a boy and the siblings he is co-dependently creepy close to. There is sex in. There is more sign language than there is sex. This is not a book about a girl.

Not to mention, and here's the zinger:

I have made an executive decision.

If we're going by screen(page?)-time and character importance alone, that's Chase's goddamn sister (the only character in the book ever described as wearing, and I quote, "that green bikini," just sayin') on the cover and NOT the girl Chase and Noah are sleeping with.

And Claudia, the little sister, is the hero of the story. I will say that a million times too. Claudia is the hero of the story.

And in my mind, that's Claudia on the cover. That's my girl.

She deserves a cover.

And believing that makes me like my cover a hell of a lot more. Because it makes it darker and stranger and a fuckload more awkward and dirty sexy and God don't you want to put a towel on her and cover her up now? GOOD. Then read my book because you will like it. Seriously. Read this book if you want to cover up your little sister.

My point is: it's Claudia on the cover. That's my official statement. It's Claudia on the cover. And any time discussion of this cover ever comes up again, that's what I'm going to say.

And if you want to do me a favor, you will a. buy the book because bitch has to eat and b. TELL PEOPLE. You don't have to defend the cover. You don't have to like it. You don't have to offer a big explanation. But if you see a review dissing it, just leave a comment that says, "Hey, actually that's the sister on the cover."

And then walk away.

And that won't change the way a lot of people feel. But maybe, maybe it'll make a few say guhwhatthefuck? And that's why I write, really. It's especially why I write messed up shit like IS.

So. The chick on the cover. It's Claudia. And it is a beautiful cover beacause Claudia is goddamn beautiful.

It's not Melinda. It's not the girl they're sleeping with.

And really, this is all kind of appropriate, because it's Melinda's job to screw up everything.

So that's really all I have to say, so I'm going to leave you with a few things.

The first is Invincible Summer's trailer. Yeah, I just posted this. Have it again. And here's why.

1. I worked closely with Vania in developing this. I chose the images at the beginning. I also told her I wanted making out. Because making out sells, guys. That's the moral of this story. And maybe that sucks a little.

The more important reason is:

2. The voiceover? I wrote that. Just me. No input. Vania said do whatever you want, make it in Chase's voice. And I wrote that. It isn't an excerpt from the story.

And maybe it's a response to that girl, that girl that everyone assumes--and I'm not saying it's dumb to assume this, guys, it's only natural--is the girl on my cover, and therefore the girl everyone thinks is the focus of the story.

Maybe that's what the voice over is about. Maybe I'm talking about the girl who ruined it.

I don't know.



And I'll also give you links to two reviews, one positive and one negative, from two people who I think really captured what the book is about, whether or not they liked it.


Nay

Yay


I would absolutely love comments on this post, and I would also love if you would tweet the shit out of this or get it tattooed on you or otherwise let this be known to the entirety of the world. Make a song out of this post and then sing it. Put it on youtube. Add a bugle. Self-publish a book with only the words IT'S CLAUDIA ON THE COVER repeated over and over and over.

Whatever you do, be it tattoo or nothing, thank you for reading. This is all for you guys, you know?

And the Last Winner Is...

Nice job, guys! I especially loved seeing you name those Muser books. I'm so proud of my musers.

1. Tons of correct choices, but a few: The Naughty List/So Many Boys/A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young, Handcuffs/The Red Masque of Death by Bethany Griffin, When the Sea is Rising Red by Cat Hellisen, The Unidentified by Rae Mariz, Kiss The Morning Stare by Elissa Hoole, and I'm sure many more that I've missed. We're kind of an awesome bunch.

2. Gray!

3. Zombie Tag is out December 20th, 2011. That's just before Christmas and the first night of Hanukkah, so it's a good time to be a present for some middle grader you love.

4. Well, mine would have to be "You've been chosen as an extra in the movie adaptation of the sequel to your life" from my homegirl "Shady Lane," though earlynerdspecial's line from The Engine Driver is way up there. (Although, on my more angsty days? "As I hide behind these books I read, while scribbling my poetry/like art could save a wretch like me, with some ideal ideology/that no one can hope to achieve, And I am never real; it is just a sketch of me/And everything I made is trite and cheap and a waste of paint, of tape, of time" from Bright Eyes's "A Waste of Paint." Good times!)

So we had 16 correct answers! And our winner is...

maine character. :) yaaaaay. email me!

You guys are so fabulous, thank you for being interested in IS! I hope that if you didn't win, you'll scoop up a copy of Invincible Summer on your own. Because, you know, I think the book is pretty cool.

I think in the next few days I'm going to be addressing the issue of the cover and the cover copy that almost all the reviewers have pointed out. It's important! And we might need a refresher course on why you can't use my book to hate your body. Come on humans!

You guys are amazing, and thank you so much for giving a shit about my little book.

THE LAST SCAVENGER HUNT

Happy Invincible Summer release day! I hope it's as spectacular for you as a Tuesday can be.

So here are the answers from yesterday's..

1. Abby (Also acceptable: Abigail, though I not sure she would agree with me on that.)
2. Shady Lane
3. "Shady Lane" by Pavement, teehee
4. Wil (Zombie Tag) and Will (Break). Wil is short for Wilson, Will is short for William. Go figure.

Everyone got them right! Which means today will need to be much harder...

And the randomly selected winner:

Essie!! Congratulations, Essie! Emailing me within 24 hours would be fabulous.

So we have one more scavenger hunt left! Here are the rules, same as every day:

You will have 24 hours, starting from the minute this post goes up, to answer a series of questions. You will post your answers in the comments section of this post. Some of these questions have multiple (perhaps nearly infinite) correct answers, and some do not. You must answer all correctly to have a chance to be the randomly selected winner. There will be one winner each day, and I will announce that winner in the post opening the next round of the contest. If you do not win, you are absolutely free to enter the next few rounds! If you do win, you have 24 hours to email me your mailing information before I pass off to a different winner. And please do not enter again.

To find the answers of the questions, I suggest you try some of the following strategies:

a) look deep inside yourself

b) Google it

c) copy the answers of someone who posted before you

d) ask a muser. Just saying. These guys tend to know things. They're also busy people, so you might be lucky and you might not.

(Some names to try: @gracetopia, @Sagecollins, @sayitwhirly, @althrasher, @_bethanygriffin, @briannaorg, @suzanneyoung, @brittanimae, @libbymartin, @raemariz)

e) ask me. I may take pity on you, especially if you ask me in a funny way.

f) otherwise bribe/cheat/steal. This is a lawless society.

There will be none of that +1 for following or retweeting nonsense, but I would be ever so much obliged if you would consider adding the little book in question to your goodreads shelf, because I am a goodreads whore and sometimes you need little things to make you happy.

--

Today's rules!

THE PRIZE IS:

One copy of INVINCIBLE SUMMER and one CD of INVINCIBLE SUMMER'S PLAYLIST, as well as one signed bookmark.

THE RESTRICTIONS ARE:

WE'RE INTERNATIONAL TODAY!! Enter from anywhere in the whole world. Even Antarctica!

One entry per customer. No exceptions. Don't make me come down there.

Contest ends at 5:45 PM, April 20th, 2011.

And our questions are:

1) So I know you've heard of the musers. We're a family of about 25 writers. Besides mine, what are two of our published (released already or no) books?

2) As of right this minute, what color shirt am I wearing?

3) What is Zombie Tag's release date?

4) If you had to choose one lyric that best describes you and your life, what would you choose?



Break a leg!

An Important Interruption

We're nearly an hour early, but...



Happy Invincible Summer day, everyone.

:)

THE THIRD SCAVENGER HUNT

Well done, guys! Yesterday's scavenger hunt had 21 people answering correctly! The answers were:

1. EEF

2. Elise (French middle name in the middle of my mega-Jewish name ftw?)

3. False

4. It's just a jump to the left and then a step to the right, put your hands on your hips and brings your knees in tight, but it's the pelvic thrust that really drives you insane. Repeat!

And the randomly selected winner is...

Karen Yuan!!! Congratulations, Karen! Please get in touch with me with your info sometime in the next 24 hours. But I'll attempt to track you down if I don't hear from you, don't worry.

Time for the 3rd of our 4 scavenger hunts, since Invincible Summer is out TOMORROW!! Oh wow.

The same rules as the days before:

You will have 24 hours, starting from the minute this post goes up, to answer a series of questions. You will post your answers in the comments section of this post. Some of these questions have multiple (perhaps nearly infinite) correct answers, and some do not. You must answer all correctly to have a chance to be the randomly selected winner. There will be one winner each day, and I will announce that winner in the post opening the next round of the contest. If you do not win, you are absolutely free to enter the next few rounds! If you do win, you have 24 hours to email me your mailing information before I pass off to a different winner. And please do not enter again.

To find the answers of the questions, I suggest you try some of the following strategies:

a) look deep inside yourself

b) Google it

c) copy the answers of someone who posted before you

d) ask a muser. Just saying. These guys tend to know things. They're also busy people, so you might be lucky and you might not.

(Some names to try: @gracetopia, @Sagecollins, @sayitwhirly, @althrasher, @_bethanygriffin, @briannaorg, @suzanneyoung, @brittanimae, @libbymartin, @raemariz)

e) ask me. I may take pity on you, especially if you ask me in a funny way.

f) otherwise bribe/cheat/steal. This is a lawless society.

There will be none of that +1 for following or retweeting nonsense, but I would be ever so much obliged if you would consider adding the little book in question to your goodreads shelf, because I am a goodreads whore and sometimes you need little things to make you happy.

--

Today's rules!

THE PRIZE IS:

One copy of INVINCIBLE SUMMER and one CD of INVINCIBLE SUMMER'S PLAYLIST, as well as one signed bookmark.

THE RESTRICTIONS ARE:

WE'RE INTERNATIONAL TODAY!! Enter from anywhere in the whole world. Even Antarctica!

One entry per customer. No exceptions. Don't make me come down there.

Contest ends at 4:30 PM, April 19th, 2011.

And our questions are (today we have a theme!) :

1) Hannah Moskowitz has one sibling. What is his or her name? (hint: are you and I facebook friends? That will help.)

2) What is Hannah Moskowitz's Absolute Write username?

3) That username is a reference to a song. What is the name of that song?

4) Here's the tricky one: A major character in BREAK and a major character in Zombie Tag have the same name, though they are spelled slightly differently. What is this name?



Good luck!

THE SECOND SCAVENGER HUNT

So! Yesterday's answers were:

1. Sarah Greenhill
2. 445.3 lbs
3. (you guys had good answers for this one!)
4. Gideon

Fourteen people got all four answers correct. And from those fifteen, the randomly selected winner is....

ERIN!! (though the worst lyric of that song is obviously "today never happened before.")

Congratulations, Erin! You have 24 hours to email me your info.

Now for the next scavenger hunt! These are the every day rules. Please skip if you read them yesterday:

You will have 24 hours, starting from the minute this post goes up, to answer a series of questions. You will post your answers in the comments section of this post. Some of these questions have multiple (perhaps nearly infinite) correct answers, and some do not. You must answer all correctly to have a chance to be the randomly selected winner. There will be one winner each day, and I will announce that winner in the post opening the next round of the contest. If you do not win, you are absolutely free to enter the next few rounds! If you do win, you have 24 hours to email me your mailing information before I pass off to a different winner. And please do not enter again.

To find the answers of the questions, I suggest you try some of the following strategies:

a) look deep inside yourself

b) Google it

c) copy the answers of someone who posted before you

d) ask a muser. Just saying. These guys tend to know things. They're also busy people, so you might be lucky and you might not.

(Some names to try: @gracetopia, @Sagecollins, @sayitwhirly, @althrasher, @_bethanygriffin, @briannaorg, @suzanneyoung, @brittanimae, @libbymartin, @raemariz)

e) ask me. I may take pity on you, especially if you ask me in a funny way.

f) otherwise bribe/cheat/steal. This is a lawless society.

There will be none of that +1 for following or retweeting nonsense, but I would be ever so much obliged if you would consider adding the little book in question to your goodreads shelf, because I am a goodreads whore and sometimes you need little things to make you happy.

--

NOW. For the special rules for today.

THE PRIZE IS:

One copy of INVINCIBLE SUMMER and one CD of INVINCIBLE SUMMER'S PLAYLIST, as well as one signed bookmark.

THE RESTRICTIONS ARE:

U.S. and Canada only once again (sorry guys! There will be an international day).

One entry per customer. No exceptions. Don't make me come down there.

Contest ends at 4:00 PM, April 18th, 2011.

AND YOUR QUESTIONS ARE:

1) When played on piano, what are the first three notes of "Ode to Joy?"

2) What is Hannah Moskowitz's middle name?

3) True or False: In INVINCIBLE SUMMER, Claudia is older than Chase.

4) Explain to me, please, how one dances the Time Warp.



Go go go!

THE FIRST SCAVENGER HUNT

So.

We are having the first of four scavenger hunts today.

You are about to embark on a quest to win a copy of INVINCIBLE SUMMER.

Good luck.

--

First, the rules for every day:

You will have 24 hours, starting from the minute this post goes up, to answer a series of questions. You will post your answers in the comments section of this post. Some of these questions have multiple (perhaps nearly infinite) correct answers, and some do not. You must answer all correctly to have a chance to be the randomly selected winner. There will be one winner each day, and I will announce that winner in the post opening the next round of the contest. If you do not win, you are absolutely free to enter the next few rounds! If you do win, you have 24 hours to email me your mailing information before I pass off to a different winner. And please do not enter again.

To find the answers of the questions, I suggest you try some of the following strategies:

a) look deep inside yourself

b) Google it

c) copy the answers of someone who posted before you

d) ask a muser. Just saying. These guys tend to know things. They're also busy people, so you might be lucky and you might not.

(Some names to try: @gracetopia, @Sagecollins, @sayitwhirly, @althrasher, @_bethanygriffin, @briannaorg, @suzanneyoung, @brittanimae, @libbymartin, @raemariz)

e) ask me. I may take pity on you, especially if you ask me in a funny way.

f) otherwise bribe/cheat/steal. This is a lawless society.

There will be none of that +1 for following or retweeting nonsense, but I would be ever so much obliged if you would consider adding the little book in question to your goodreads shelf, because I am a goodreads whore and sometimes you need little things to make you happy.

NOW. For the special rules for today.

THE PRIZE IS:

One copy of INVINCIBLE SUMMER and one CD of INVINCIBLE SUMMER'S PLAYLIST, as well as one signed bookmark.

THE RESTRICTIONS ARE:

U.S. and Canada only this time (sorry guys! There will be an international day).

One entry per customer. No exceptions. Don't make me come down there.

Contest ends at 2:30 PM, April 17th, 2011.

AND YOUR QUESTIONS ARE:

1) What is Hannah Moskowitz's porn star name?

2) What is the weight of a Tyranitar?

3) What is the worst lyric from your favorite song? (Example: My favorite song is "A Perfect Sonnet" by Bright Eyes, and the worst lyric is absolutely "so I stand in the sun/and I breathe with my lungs" because wow. That's pretty terrible. Obviously there are many correct answers. I want yours.)

4) Who is the first character named in INVINCIBLE SUMMER?


aaaaaaand go.