End-of-Year Debut Author Events (aka Signed Books Make Great Holiday Gifts!)

The Fearless Fifteeners’ debut year is coming to an end, and we plan to send it out with a bang. Come celebrate with us at author events from coast to coast. Special thanks to all the amazing bookstores and libraries (and haunted castle) hosting us in the final weeks of 2015.

Tuesday, November 24
BOOK LAUNCH Cambridge, Mass.
Celebrate the release of Kate McGovern’s debut novel, Rules for 50/50 Chances (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), 7 p.m. at Porter Square Books (25 White Street). Kate promises cupcakes with hearts and skulls.

Saturday, November 28
SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY Hockessin, Del.
Visit an independent bookstore near you to celebrate this “Shop Small” answer to Black Friday! If you happen to be in Delaware, Sharon Huss Roat, author of Between the Notes (HarperTeen), will sign books and serve as guest bookseller at the Hockessin Book Shelf (1729 Lancaster Pike) from 1:30-2:30 p.m.

Wednesday, December 2
NYC TEEN AUTHOR READING NIGHT New York, N.Y.
Natasha Sinel will read from her debut novel, The Fix (Sky Pony Press). Event takes place 6:00-7:30 p.m. at New York Public Library-Jefferson Market Library, 425 Avenue of the Americas, New York.

 

Friday, December 4
BOOK LAUNCH Lewisburg, Pa.
Join YA author Virginia Zimmerman to celebrate the release of her novel, The Rosemary Spell (Clarion Books), 7 p.m. at Barnes & Noble (400 Market St.). Virginia will talk a little, read a little, answer some questions, and sign books. All are welcome, including and especially kids.

Saturday, December 5
YOUNG ADULT AUTHOR PANEL Los Angeles, Calif.
Chevalier’s Books (126 N. Larchmont Blvd.) will host a 2015 debut panel from 3-5 p.m. Featured authors include Michelle Levy (Not After Everything), E. Katherine Kottaras (How to be Brave), Charlotte Huang (For the Record), Jen Klein (Jillian Cade: Fake Paranormal Investigator) and Nicola Yoon (Everything, Everything) conversing about their beautiful edgy stories with seasoned YA novelist Gretchen McNeil (Ten, 3:45, Get Dirty and Get Even).

Saturday, December 5
BOOK LAUNCH Pasadena, Calif.
All are “gleefully” invited to celebrate the release of Ingrid Sunberg’s debut, All We Left Behind, 3 p.m. at Vroman’s Bookstore (695 E. Colorado Blvd.). In addition to book talk and signing, Ingrid promises homemade baked goods, prizes, free books, swag and photo booth bookmarks.

Saturday, December 5
DAY OF SIGNINGS Asheville, N.C.
Laurie McKay will be on hand at 11 a.m. to sign copies of her novel, Villian Keeper (The Last Dragon Charmer series, book 1, HarperCollins), as part of this spectacular event at Malaprops.

 

Wednesday, December 9
BOOK LAUNCH Pasadena, Calif.
Join Romina Russell to celebrate the release of her novel, Wandering Star (book 2 in the Zodiac series), 7 p.m. at Vroman’s Bookstore (695 E. Colorado Blvd.). She’ll be talking about and signing copies of her gorgeous new book!

 

Saturday, December 12
BOOK SIGNING Reno, Nev.
Heather Petty, author of Lock & Mori (Simon & Schuster), will be signing at 1 p.m. along with authors Ellen Hopkins, Terri Farley, and Craig Lew, 1 p.m. at Barnes & Noble (5555 S. Virginia St.)

 

Saturday, December 12
BOOK SIGNING Danbury, Conn.
Natasha Sinel (The Fix) will appear at Barnes & Noble (15 Backus Ave.) to sign and personalize books for the holidays!

 

Saturday, December 12
YA AUTHOR PANEL Doylestown, Pa.
Authors Cordelia Jensen (Skyscraping), I.W. Gregorio (None of the Above), Marcy Beller Paul (Underneath Everything), Randy Ribay (An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes) and Sharon Huss Roat (Between the Notes), will talk about writing realistic fiction, 1:30 p.m. at the Doylestown Bookshop (16 S. Main St.).

 

Sat.-Sun., December 12 & 13
HOLIDAY BAZAAR Ione, Calif.
Angelica Jackson, author of Crow’s Rest (Spencer Hill Press), will appear with authors Christine Mercer and Linda Joy Singleton at the Preston Castle Old Tyme Christmas Holiday Bazaar (900 Palm Drive).

 

Tuesday, December 29
AUTHOR APPEARANCE Aspen, Colo.
Natasha Sinel, author of The Fix, will be reading and signing at Explore Booksellers (221 Main St.), at 4 p.m.

Come see us!

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Middle grade Q&A with Virginia Zimmerman

Today on MG Wednesday, mystery and magic abound in THE ROSEMARY SPELL. Before we get to the book, though, there be ogres here. What will debut author and fearless 15er Virginia Zimmerman do?

Virginia, you wake up and find a massive ogre in your bedroom. If you had to choose one MG character to fight him off who would you choose and why?

I would choose Jonas from The Giver because he would soothe the ogre by giving him carefully chosen memories. I’m always interested in how the past helps us in the present, and it would be fascinating to see what memories Jonas would choose and what effect they would have on the ogre. Plus, I also think villains are always more interesting (and more dangerous) when they are complex characters: seeing the ogre softened by memory would make his character much more compelling.

Having defeated the ogre, you find that your car doesn’t start. Bummer. Would you rather ride a dragon or a unicorn to work? Why?

I would definitely rather ride a dragon. If I’m honest, I think the reason is that I believe in dragons, and I don’t think I believe in unicorns. Lots of great writers—J.K. Rowling and J.R.R. Tolkien, not to mention Peter Yarrow who gave us “Puff, the Magic Dragon”—have worked hard to make dragons real. Since I teach some of these dragons in my job as a professor of literature, it would be quite appropriate to show up for class with wings flapping and scales glinting, proving once and for all that these great authors really wrote dragons into the world.

Arriving at work late, your boss asks you what your most embarrassing childhood memory was. You have to tell him.

When I was in fourth grade, we had cubbies for our backpacks and lunches and coats. The cubbies were very deep. At one point, a foul odor started coming from the cubbies, so the teacher made us all clean out our stuff, tidying what really needed to be stored inside and getting rid of anything else. At the back of my cubby, smushed and oozing, was an old lunch. It had once been a Lebanon bologna sandwich, but the meat had softened and melded to the brown paper bag. It was vile. It was the source of the odor. What I remember most vividly is the weight of the decomposing food in my hand, as if rot and stench were heavy things that added to the density of my former sandwich. To my teacher’s credit, she didn’t say anything as I scurried to the trashcan with my incriminating garbage. I knew I’d been the one responsible for the odor and for making everyone clean their cubbies. That was punishment enough.

You’re pretty fed up now, so when a time machine appears offering to take you to any historical event, you agree. Where do you go and why?

Well, I’ve written about Spain in the 1930s and prehistoric Orkney, so I could take the chance to check out those places, but in writing about those times, I sort of feel I’ve already traveled there. My next thought is that it would be cool to go to England in 1865. This is when Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was published, and it was the first book written for the sole purpose of entertaining children. It would be amazing to be there at the beginning of children’s literature and to see that first generation of kids discover how books open doors to magical worlds and, at the same time, make the real world magical.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. As a Fearless Fifteener, your debut is out this year. Tell us about your book in 15 words or less.

Books are magic. Magic is real. Magic is dangerous. Books save the day.

About THE ROSEMARY SPELL

Part mystery, part literary puzzle, part life-and-death quest, and chillingly magical, The Rosemary Spell has plenty of suspense for adventure fans and is a treat for readers who love books, words, and clues. Best friends Rosie and Adam find an old book with blank pages that fill with handwriting before their eyes. Something about this magical book has the power to make people vanish, even from memory. The power lies in a poem—a spell. When Adam’s older sister, Shelby, disappears, they struggle to retain their memories of her as they race against time to bring her back from the void, risking their own lives in the process.

Author Bio: Virginia Zimmerman

Virginia Zimmerman grew up in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., though she was named for a great aunt, not for her state. When she was young, she enjoyed writing and talking to friends about books, so she decided to grow up into a person who could do those things all the time. She was an English major at Carleton College, and she went to graduate school in English at the University of Virginia. Altogether, she enjoyed twenty years of formal education, much of it focused on reading. When she finished school, she wasn’t done reading, writing and talking to friends about books, so she became an English professor at Bucknell University. This means—and she still pinches herself to make sure this is real—she gets to read and write and talk about books for a living.

Virginia lives in a two-hundred-year-old house in a small town on the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, where she gets to read and write and talk about books with dear friends, inspiring students and beloved family. She lives with her husband, three children and little white dog.

Follow her at her Website, Facebook, and on twitter @VZAuthor.  You can find her book at Goodreads, Indiebound, Amazon, HMH.

THE ROSEMARY SPELL received a starred PW Review!

Laurie McKay is an author and biology instructor who lives in Durham, NC. When she’s not working, she spends time with her family and her two elderly dogs. You can find out more and see pictures of her dogs at lauriemckay.net or by following her on twitter. Her debut MG fantasy novel, VILLAIN KEEPER, is available from HarperCollins now. The sequel, QUEST MAKER, will be available on Feb 2, 2016.

The 15ers Happenings: November News

3rd: RUBY REINVENTED by Ronni Arno
3rd: THE SISTER PACT by Stacie Ramey
3rd: BLOOD AND SALT by Kim Liggett
10th: FOR THE RECORD by Charlotte Huang
15th: THE YEARBOOK by Carol Masciola

24th: RULES FOR 50/50 CHANCES by Kate McGovernan

 

Several 15ers will be at Main Point Books Young Adult Extravaganza in Bryn Mawr, PA, on Sunday, Nov. 15th from 11 a.m.–1 p.m. Authors include: Cordelia Jensen, Skyscraping; I.W. Gregorio, None of the Above; Marcy Beller Paul, Underneath Everything; Randy Ribay, An Infinite Number of Parallel Universes; and Sharon Huss Roat, Between the Notes.

These same awesome fifteeners will also take front and center at The Doylestown Bookshop’s YA Author Panel in Doylestown, PA, on Saturday, Dec. 12th at 1:30pm.

Tessa Elwood with be on a fantasy panel at the ALAN workshop, on Monday, Nov 23rd from 2-2:30pm.

UNUSUAL CHICKENS FOR THE EXCEPTIONAL POULTRY FARMER by Kelly Jones was chosen for the 2016-2017 Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List and for Amazon’s Best Books of the Year 2015: Ages 9-12!

THE FIX by Natasha Sinel won a FINALIST award in the 2015 USA Best Book Awards for the YA Fiction category!

INHERIT THE STARS by Tessa Elwood made the Indie Next List for teens for Winter 15/16.

 

Tessa Elwood designs sites, breathes da:i, & haunts highways in her dusty baby. Her YA, INHERIT THE STARS, arrives 12/2015 from Running Press.

Middle Grade Q&A with Ronni Arno

Today is fabulous, fantastic, MG Q&A Wednesday, and we have Ronni Arno, author of RUBY REINVENTED to chat about her book. Before we get to the book, though, we have to deal with some orges…

You wake up to find a massive ogre in your bedroom. If you had to choose one MG character to fight him off who would you choose and why?

Hermione Granger, of course. First of all, she has experience fighting all sorts of fantastic beasts and magical creatures (including ogres). And secondly, even if she didn’t know how to fight an ogre right off the bat, she would find out real quick because she’s a genius and a total Type A. I’d cheer her on from my bed.

Having defeated the ogre, you find that your car doesn’t start. Bummer. Would you rather ride a dragon or a unicorn to work? Why?

I’m generally a very nice person. Really. Except when I drive. Traffic makes me crazy and that’s when my evil side comes out. So I’d prefer to ride a dragon to work, since there’s a good chance all that fiery breath would force those other cars out of my way. Plus, my coffee would stay hot!

After arriving at work late, your boss asks you what your most embarrassing childhood memory was. You have to tell him. 

Can’t I just have my dragon eat my boss? No? Okay, then. My Dorothy Hamill haircut in fourth grade was pretty humiliating. Even more so because my mother (who is a psychologist and not a hairdresser) cut my hair.

You’re pretty fed up now so when a time machine appears offering to take you to any historical event, you agree. Where do you go and why?

Ancient Greece so I could wear a toga. They look very comfortable.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. As a Fearless Fifteener, your debut is out this year. Tell us about your book in 15 words or less.

Ruby escapes Hollywood for Maine and finds best friends, a first crush, and her own spotlight.​ (That might be 16 words!)

About RUBY REINVENTED

When Ruby flees Hollywood to escape the fame of her parents, she tells a lie that could ruin the life she loves at her new boarding school in this M!X novel about courage, families, and finding your own spotlight.

Ruby Miller has it made. As the only child of model-turned-TV-host Celestine Cruz and pro-baseball star Zack Miller, she has everything a twelve-year-old girl could want. Well, except for real friends.

After a disastrous birthday party where she discovers her supposed BFFs are only friends with her because her parents are uber-famous, she finds a place as far from fake and phony Hollywood as she can get: a boarding school in Camden, Maine. In her desperation to distance herself from her star-studded parents and the paparazzi who trail them, Ruby tells her new friends that she’s an orphan. She feels awful about lying, but once she starts, it’s hard to come clean. Plus, now that nobody’s comparing her to her perfect parents, Ruby can finally let her own talents as a dress designer take center stage.

When Ruby finds herself connecting with a cute boy who really did lose his parents, she’s torn between who she is and who she’s pretending to be. And with Parents’ Weekend approaching, she must find a way to keep her secret—without losing her new best friend, the trust of her first crush, and the chance to shine as the designer of her very own fashion show.

Author Bio: Ronni Arno

Ronni Arno Blaisdell has written for several magazines, blogs, and websites. In a previous life she worked as a publicist in Hollywood, and eventually built a home in Maine. She is a keen SCBWI member and contributor to the KidLiterati.com blog. Follow her at her Website and on Facebook, Twitter and Goodreads.  RUBY REINVENTED is available as of Nov. 3rd, 2015.

Laurie McKay is an author and biology instructor who lives in Durham, NC. When she’s not working, she spends time with her family and her two elderly dogs. You can find out more and see pictures of her dogs at lauriemckay.net or by following her on twitter. Her debut MG fantasy novel, VILLAIN KEEPER, is available from HarperCollins now. The sequel, QUEST MAKER, will be available on Feb 2, 2016.