Ashwood Updates and Cover Reveal

I know I've been blogging a lot lately about other people's book and not my own. So here is my update on my upcoming debut novel, Ashwood, complete with cover reveal!

Look at that beautiful cover! It's courtesy of designer Nancy Ramos. This was exactly the vision I had in my head, so I'm thrilled with the result. Nancy delivered a dream come true.

Ashwood is a YA horror and officially launches on October 31st. What better way to celebrate Halloween, right? Here's a quick blurb:

"When sixteen-year-old Willow goes urban exploring in an abandoned asylum she expects the dark halls and creepy atmosphere. But she doesn’t expect it to follow her home. After the trip, Willow becomes haunted by nightmares in which she never left Ashwood Asylum. Nightmares where she is pursued by grotesque, mind-infesting horrors called the mora who feed off the fear of mortals. Unfortunately for squeamish Willow, they are hungry. And she is their perfect meal. 

Upon waking, Willow recalls only fleeting memories of dead butterflies, hollow eyes and discordant whispers. But soon the boundary between dreams and reality disintegrates, trapping Willow in a living nightmare. Can she escape before she becomes Ashwood’s next permanent resident?"

Ashwood delves into the world of Slavic folklore and tackles themes regarding fear, loneliness and the struggle to overcome both. It will be available for e-readers such as Kindle and Nook, as well as paperback prints.

If you are in the Metro New York area, I will be hosting a talk and book signing for the release at Kinokuniya Bookstore in Manhattan on Saturday, Oct. 31st starting at 2pm EST. There will be candy and raffles prizes. Costumes are encouraged, and Kinokuniya is having a 15% discount for all costumed guests. Hope to see you there! 

Top 5 MG & YA Halloween Reads

Looking for something spooky to read to get you in the mood for the Halloween season? Well, look no further! Here is a list of my top five favorite spooky Middle Grade and Young Adult books, in no particular order.

Top 5 MG & YA Halloween Reads

Rabbit in Red by Joe Chianakas; photo courtesy of Goodreads

1.  Rabbit in Red by Joe Chianakas

If you are in any way a fan of the horror genre (especially slasher movie classics), then this is the book for you. This YA is dark and bloody, but not without humor too and not to mention FUN. It is Cabin in the Woods meets Ready Player One. In it, teenager Bill Wise wins a trip to the studio of his favorite director to compete in a contest that tests his love for the horror genre and win an internship with the studio. But is this contest really as it seems? I'm not telling - you'll have to find out for yourself. And I strongly recommend you do.

2. The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier

Set during the time of the Potato Famine era, this middle grade book tells the story of two Irish children who have journeyed to England to find work in a remote manor house. They quickly discover that they have found themselves in a house haunted by a mysterious figure called “the night man” who plagues the family who lives there. The children must uncover the secrets of this phantom before it is too late. This is pure classic gothic horror at its finest, and underneath the creepy atmosphere there is a beautifully sincere heart resting in the core. 

3.  Doll Bones by Holly Black

This is one of my favorite books of all time. It is a middle grade mystery and tells the story of three friends who go on an impromptu adventure to bury a doll which they believe is haunted by the ghost of a dead girl. But it is so much more than that. It is simultaneously creepy and sentimental, haunting and tender. At it's heart, this is a coming-of-age story laced with gentle brushes of paranormal horror. It is eerie, it is touching, it is brilliant. 

4.  The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls by Claire Legrand

Another fun and creepy middle grade horror, The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls is delightfully quirky and unsettling. Young Victoria doesn't like nonsense so when her friend Lawrence disappears and things go topsy-turvy, she launches a quest to restore order to her perfectly manicured life. This investigation leads her to the sinister title orphanage where Victoria finds herself in over her head with the malevolent mistress who oversees its operations. It's very reminiscent of Neil Gaiman's "Coraline", but unique enough to stand on its own creepy, crawly legs.  

5.  Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Lovers of J-horror flicks, rejoice. This is the perfect book to get your ghostly fix. While Joe Chianakas' Rabbit in Red veers more toward the slasher genre, Anna Dressed in Blood goes the route of the supernatural. It is a dark YA about Cas Lowood, a teenage ghost hunter who ends up getting tangled in the story of a tragic phantom known as Anna Dressed in Blood. It is utterly frightening and heartfelt at the same time, and it truly exemplifies the YA Horror genre. It's a must read for any horror enthusiast. 

Official Sponsor of Rufflecon

I am proud to announce that I am an official sponsor of Rufflecon!

Rufflecon is an alternative fashion conference celebrating a variety of fashion sub-styles including, but not limited to, lolita, fairy kei, mori girl, gyaru, and steampunk. Since my upcoming book, ASHWOOD, features a protagonist that is a young J-fashion enthusiast, I thought that Rufflecon would be a perfect fit. Additionally, if you attend the High Tea event on Sunday, Oct. 4th, you will have a chance to win a free copy!

I am looking forward to attending and proud to sponsor such a great event. See you there!

Summer Pick 2015

So happy that the humid summer is done and we're slipping into the nice, cool autumn. I managed to read quite a few great reads this past season, but one stands out above the rest...

Summer Pick 2015

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

YA Fantasy

The Summary

Under the Martial Empire, defiance is met with death. Those who do not vow their blood and bodies to the Emperor risk the execution of their loved ones and the destruction of all they hold dear.

It is in this brutal world, inspired by ancient Rome, that Laia lives with her grandparents and older brother. The family ekes out an existence in the Empire’s impoverished backstreets. They do not challenge the Empire. They’ve seen what happens to those who do.

But when Laia’s brother is arrested for treason, Laia is forced to make a decision. In exchange for help from rebels who promise to rescue her brother, she will risk her life to spy for them from within the Empire’s greatest military academy.

There, Laia meets Elias, the school’s finest soldier—and secretly, its most unwilling. Elias wants only to be free of the tyranny he’s being trained to enforce. He and Laia will soon realize that their destinies are intertwined—and that their choices will change the fate of the Empire itself.

– Blurb from Goodreads

The Characters

Our two main characters are Laia and Elias, though there are other notable characters that also play important roles and who are equally as compelling. Laia is driven by her loyalty and love for her family to jump head-first into danger. Though she constantly chastises herself for her cowardice, her actions prove that she is incredibly brave despite these insecurities. She comes off as a bit naive and sounds much younger than she is at times, but as a whole she was endearing.

Elias, likewise, is also likable and I enjoyed witnessing his internal struggles and emotional conflicts. His compassion and fortitude make him an easy favorite. The dynamic between his relationship with other characters are varied, complex and believable... and often heartbreaking. 

The Setting

This isn't quite dystopian and neither does it fully feel fantasy, but instead touches of both. The setting is very reminiscent of Roman-occupied Constantinople with classic mythological elements used to bring out the fantasy aspects. It's never heavy handed on it's use of magic which helps sell this world to the audience. Some have referred to this as a YA friendly version of A Song of Ice and Fire and I can certainly understand the comparison, though I think this book stands on it's own.  

Overall Opinion

This is one of those books that has me not want to put it down. I was fully engaged from start to finish. There are so many moments that had me on edge, with jaw dropped open. It's a great mix of action, intrigue and drama. It's rare when a book lives up to the hype surrounding it, but I am happy to say that An Ember in the Ashes truly does live up to it.

Be warned though - this is a very dark and gritty book, and the setting is an utterly bleak place. As a trigger warning, rape is a subject that is frequently discussed throughout the text, and while nothing occurs "on-screen", as it were, it may still be upsetting to some.

Author Spotlight: Jennifer Gadd

In this "Author Spotlight" I interviewed Jennifer Gadd, author of the recently published book, CAT MOON by Distinguished Press. It is a Middle Grade horror, perfect for kids who like a little touch of spookiness in their stories. 

CAT MOON by Jennifer Gadd

C.J.: Can you tell us about some of the inspiration for your newly released book, CAT MOON?

Jennifer: A few things come to mind on this. One is a long-time interest in the folklore around lycanthropy. Couple that with the character of Remus Lupin from the Harry Potter series and the burgeoning market for teen vampire stuff, and you have a pretty good medium for what I wound up writing.


C.J.: What was your biggest challenge that you faced during writing this book?

Jennifer: When I wrote the book ten years ago, my girls were 11 and 16. And the thing about kids is that they constantly need stuff. Finding blocks of time where I wouldn’t be interrupted was the thing I remember being very frustrating. 

C.J.: Who was your favorite character to write?

Jennifer: Oh, Emma, definitely. I love that girl so much. She sort of sprang out of my imagination fully-formed, as it were, so I always knew exactly how she would react, what she would want, and what she would say without having to think very hard about it.

C.J.:  If you could transform into any animal, what would you choose?

Jennifer: I would like to be a dog who lives in my house. Because that’s a pretty cushy proposition.

C.J.: Who are some of your favorite authors and favorite books?

Jennifer: In my opinion, the finest novel ever written is The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is just so tightly written, with hardly even one word wasted. Just brilliant. I do love a lot of “canon” literature—Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and George Eliot, to name a few. For more popular authors, I would choose Agatha Christie, Douglas Adams,  Candace Robb, and Anne Perry.

C.J.:  How did you get started as a writer?

Jennifer: I don’t remember ever NOT being a writer, to tell the truth. I can remember writing short stories and poems in elementary school. Anytime there was a writing-based choice for school projects, that was my option.

C.J.: What advice do you have for young, aspiring writers? 

Jennifer: Read everything you can get your hands on. Read good stuff, read bad stuff, read easy stuff, read hard stuff. Read. And then write. Write every spare second you have available. And don’t forget to make time for writing. Make it a priority. If you don’t, life will always manage to take the time from you.

You can find CAT MOON here:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Smashwords

Dyscalculia and the Imaginative Mind

I’ve always hated math. It’s not that I’m “just bad at math” – I straight up don’t understand it! No matter how many times I go through calculations or study the formulas, nothing about it makes sense to me. Nothing clicks in place. But it’s not just math that I struggle with. There are other little issues I have too – I have difficulty reading analog clocks, I’m always highly anxious about being late, I have no concept of distance and measurement and I have to hold up my index and thumb on each hand to see which one forms the “L” so I know which is left and which is right. This is how it has always been with me. It’s just a part of my reality.

When I was a little girl it was chalked up to the age-old “she’s just bad at math” and “she just has to study harder”. But I did study hard. I even had tutoring sessions. Nothing worked. Then one day, when I was in 7^th grade, I went to up my math teacher’s desk to get help figuring out a problem. She looked it over and a scowl formed on her face. This was followed by her hastily correcting my work before shoving it back in my hands before loudly berating me in front of the class for being “stupid” and needing to “get my head out of the clouds.”

I went numb. My head lowered while my face burnt with humiliation. I managed to trudge back to my desk but I couldn’t bring myself to lift my head again. The damage had been done. If a teacher said I was stupid, then I assumed that is just what I was. There was no reason for me to try ever again. It didn’t matter – I was just stupid and nothing could change that. From that day forward I didn’t even bother to apply myself with math because it was clear to me at the time that I was a lost cause.

Later, well after I managed to graduate from college, I learned about dyscalculia and it changed my entire perspective. Much like how dyslexia is with letters and words, dyscalculia is a learning disability which effects a person’s ability to comprehend numbers. Every single bullet point of the symptoms matched me to the core. When faced with this revelation, I burst into tears and felt a wave of relief crash over me. I wasn’t stupid. I wasn’t a lost cause. My mind just worked differently.

It’s estimated that between 3-6% of the population is affected by dyscalculia and yet it is still under-diagnosed and not well understood even by educators, who are still only now just learning about this disability. The other fascinating thing I learned about it was that many dyscalculic people score high when tested on language and reading, and tend to be highly creative. So while dyscalculia may have hindered me in mathematics, it allowed me to fully embrace this other wonderful part of my brain. This thing, which I had always viewed as a weakness, had contributed to one of my greatest strengths – my imagination and love for literature. And it is those strengths that have helped me find success and happiness in my life. So if being bad at math is the price for that – I’ll take it!

The struggle to deal with feeling of inadequacies can be suffocating at time, but it’s vital to look beyond perceived shortcomings, be it in ourselves or others, and learn to focus on our talents. I’ve come to accept that I can’t be good at everything and that’s okay! All any of us can do is to try our best and love all the parts of ourselves that make us the people who we are.

Top 5 Favorite Early Childhood Books

Stories are such a huge part of childhood. Certain ones just connect with us and stay with us well into adulthood. These are the stories we hand down to the next generation. These are the stories that still light up our eyes when we think back on how they made us feel. So here is a list of my five favorites from my early childhood that have a special place in my heart.

Top 5 Favorite Early Childhood Books

Image courtesy of GoodReads.com

1.  The Serendipity Books by Stephen Cosgrove

The Serendipity Books were a series of whimsical stand-alone stories that carried a poignant message at the end of each little paperback book. They were morality lessons told to us by fantastical and adorable creatures, many of whom had several of their own books in the series. The beautiful illustrations by Robin James helped stir the imagination and complement the gentle tales. I was absolutely in love with them as a child, with Buttermilk (picture above) being my favorite. 

2. The Whisper the Winged Unicorn Series 

Written by a number of different authors, this series featured the title character of Whisper, a winged unicorn living in an enchanted land. Much like the Serendipity books, it was a stand-alone series that followed Whisper's adventures with her friends as they all learned lessons. They were charming and heart-warming little stories, and really... what little girl could resist a rainbow-maned unicorn? ...Okay, okay - I STILL can't resist rainbow-maned unicorns.

3.  The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

I'm sure this is a favorite on everyone's list, but what can I say? It's a classic for a reason. My mother used to read this to me and my brother when we were little. The stark and simple illustrations do such an effective job at evoking the book's core theme of friendship and loneliness. This is still a household favorite and one we all take turns reading to my two little nephews. 

4.  Jellybeans for Breakfast by Miriam Young

I remember being drawn to this one's bright yellow cover with two smiling girls. Jellybeans for breakfast? Sign me up! This early reader story was a prose about one nameless girl trying to convince her neighbor to come over by telling her about all the fantastical adventures they will have together. It was a great book that captured childhood whimsy and wishes. And a great gift to give a best friend.

5.  The Chick and the Duckling by Mirra Ginsburg

This was another book my mom used to read to me as a young child. It tells the story of a little chick who tries to do everything his bigger ducking friend does, with the line "Me too!" said the Chick echoing throughout the story. "Me too, said the Chick" became a common phrase my mom would use every time I wanted follow or imitate my older brother. She still teases me with it to this day.