From HarperTeen:

To celebrate the release of Up All Night [an anthology containing short stories by Peter Abrahams, Libba Bray, David Levithan, Patricia McCormick, Sarah Weeks, and Gene Luen Yang], HarperTeen is offering aspiring authors the chance to write their own story to be included in the paperback edition.

Submit an original short story about a charater that stays up all night. The story must take place in the course of a single life-changing night. All stories must be between 5,000 and 10,000 words (2 pt font, double spaced, one inch margins) and all contributing entrants must be between 14 and 19 years old as of April 2, 2008.

Download the official entry form.

Entries must be postmarked by October 1st and received by October 7th.

British Invasion
Edited by Christopher Golden, Tim Lebbon, and James A. Moore
Published by Cemetery Dance

They've invaded before, sending their best and brightest to transform popular music for all time. This time, they're leaving the music behind and focusing on words. The British Invasion has begun again, in a collection of twenty-one unforgettable stories of horror and the dark fantastic.

From the birthplace of horror fiction, the land where writers first dreamed up the icons that shaped the field we know today -- Frankenstein's monster, Count Dracula, the vile Mr. Hyde and more. You think you know desperation? Discover a literary tradition born from centuries of violence, pain, and suffering, distilled through the veneer of civility, and twisted by the reign of tyrants and kings.

You think you know fear?

From creeping dread to hideous humor, from quiet terror to brutal horror, from mad speculation to unspeakable truth, the twenty-one tales here represent the best that the U.K. has to offer. The rising stars and the masters of British horror have joined together.

The British Invasion has begun.

Table of Contents
( Read more... )

British Invasion is available at Cemetery Dance in two formats:
- Limited Edition of 1,000 copies signed by Christopher Golden, Tim Lebbon, and James A. Moore
- Traycased Lettered Edition of 52 signed (by all of the contributors) and lettered copies bound in leather with additional artwork and a satin ribbon page marker
ISBN: 978-1-58767-175-3

Every big city has a soul, and every soul has a dark, secret side.

Christopher Golden and Tim Lebbon are delighted to announce their two collaborative contemporary fantasy novels for Bantam Spectra. The Hidden Cities books are set in places we all know very well - places which hold secrets almost beyond belief.

Mind the Gap: A Novel of the Hidden Cities (coming out late May 2008)

You never know when you'll find yourself falling through one of the cracks in the world...

Two of today's brightest stars of dark fantasy combine their award-winning, critically acclaimed talents in this spellbinding new tale of magic, terror, and adventure that begins when a young woman slips through the space between our everyday world and the one hiding just beneath it.

Always assume there's someone after you. That was the paranoid wisdom her mother had hardwired into Jasmine Towne ever since she was a little girl. Now, suddenly on her own, Jazz is going to need every skill she has ever been taught to survive enemies both seen and unseen. For her mother had given Jazz one last invaluable piece of advice, written in her own blood.

Jazz Hide Forever

All her life Jazz has known them only as the "Uncles," and her mother seemed to fear them as much as depend on them. Now these enigmatic, black-clad strangers are after Jazz for reasons she can't fathom, and her only escape is to slip into the forgotten tunnels of London's vast underground. Here she will meet a tribe of survivors calling themselves the United Kingdom and begin an adventure that links her to the ghosts of a city long past, a father she never knew, and a destiny she fears only slightly less than the relentless killers who'd commit any crime under heaven or earth to prevent her from fulfilling it.

Sneak Peek

Even before she saw the house, Jazz knew that something was wrong. She could smell it in the air, see it in the shifting shadows of the trees lining the street, hear it in the expectant silence. She could feel it in her bones...

Read the first three chapters of Mind the Gap.

Reviews

"A pitch-perfect blend of fantasy and realism. Golden and Lebbon craft a riveting tale of adventure that is both gritty and magical." - Kelley Armstrong, author of Personal Demon

Trailer



Enter The Hidden Cities

Deena Warner created a very cool new site at http://www.thehiddencities.com and we'd love you all to participate. How, you ask?

Watch the book trailer created by filmmaker Martin Roberts, with the vocal talents of actress Jasmine Hyde (Ghosts of Albion) and audio assistance from Rob Francis.

The trailer is being spread all over the net via YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, and blogs. Re-post this message at your blog and spread the love for The Hidden Cities.

Make Your Mark on the Map

On the Hidden Cities website - http://www.thehiddencities.com - you will find a map of the world. We're asking people to submit stories -- NOT FICTION, but local legends, ghost stories, folktales from places you've been or lived or currently live, as well as your own personal experiences, brushes with the supernatural or just plain weird happenings. The two best submissions will each win a copy of the signed hardcover limited edition of MIND THE GAP from Cemetery Dance.

What are you waiting for?
Mark the map with your story for a chance to win.
Watch the trailer at the site.
Watch the trailer on YouTube.
Enter The Hidden Cities.

( Additional details about the book and the authors )

MIND THE GAP.

I am a readergirl! Are you?
Read the new issue of readergirlz. This month, readergirlz are discussing Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale and honoring Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

Talk About It

Discuss this month's book and other great reads at the readergirlz forum.

Check out our roundtable discussion of Book of a Thousand Days.

Join our hour-long chat with author Shannon Hale on Thursday, May 22nd at 6 PM PST/9 PM EST at the readergirlz forum.

Recommended Reads

Considering this month's selection and this month's theme, the readergirlz divas and the postergirlz advisory council also recommend the following books:

Fiction:
Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins
Good Enough by Paula Yoo
Keeping Corner by Kashmira Sheth
Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Non-Fiction:
Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez

Recent Reads
Last month's featured book and author: Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham
Next month's featured book and author: Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson
Visit the readergirlz archive.

Related Posts
Meet the readergirlz divas and the postergirlz advisory council
Read the original readergirlz press release
View all of the readergirlz-tagged posts at Bildungsroman
My interview with Shannon Hale

I'm pleased to unveil the new website for Taylor Morris, author of books and stuff for tweens and teens.

Taylor's debut novel, Class Favorite, hit the shelves in 2007. Her next novel for tweens, Total Knockout: Tale of an Ex-Class President, will come out swinging on September 16th, 2008.

Taylor earned her stripes as a book reviewer and has also had several short stories published in Girls' Life magazine. Please pay her a visit: http://www.TaylorMorris.com

Kim Baccellia wanted a new look for her website, so she asked me to give it a jungle/floral touch in the vein of her young adult novel Earrings of Ixtumea. I found a beautiful background pattern at Squidfingers and took it from there.

Come visit the all-new kim-baccellia.com - I hope you like what we've done with the place!

On Wednesday, April 23rd, Peace Over Violence presents the 10th Annual Denim Day in LA, a campaign to raise awareness and educate the public about rape and sexual assault. Here's more information about the event:

In 1998, an Italian Supreme Court decision overturned a rape conviction because the victim wore jeans. People all over the world were outraged. Wearing jeans became an international symbol of protest against erroneous and destructive attitudes about sexual assault.

Last year, on Denim Day an unprecedented 300,000 people signed up to wear jeans in support of raising awareness about the need to end sexual violence. This year we aim to at least double that amount.

On Denim Day in LA wear your jeans as a visible sign of protest against the myths that still surround sexual assault!

Learn the statistics. Download the press kit.

Also visit Safe Horizon, an organization whose mission is "to provide support, prevent violence, and promote justice for victims of crime and abuse, their families and communities."

Wear jeans on Wednesday no matter where in the world you live! I'm participating, clad in a comfy pair of blue jeans and a Tinker Bell top which declares DON'T TINKER WITH ME.

Further Reading

Sometimes it's hard to discuss such subjects with your kids or your students. Break the ice by reading then discussing a work of fiction. I strongly recommend the following titles for teens and adults.

Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
Dreamland by Sarah Dessen
Hold Me Tight by Lorie Ann Grover
Circle the Soul Softly by Davida Wills Hurwin
Stained by Jennifer Richard Jacobson
Lessons from a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles
Sold by Patricia McCormick
Such a Pretty Girl by Laura Wiess
Leftovers by Laura Wiess
Sandpiper by Ellen Wittlinger

For additional titles, please consult my Tough Issues for Teens booklist.

A Kiss Before the Apocalypse by Thomas E. Sniegoski

"The most inventive novel you'll buy this year. A hard-boiled noir fantasy by turns funny, unsettling, and heartbreaking. This is the story Sniegoski was born to write, and a character I can't wait to see again."
- Christopher Golden, bestselling author of The Boys Are Back in Town

Boston P.I. Remy Chandler has many talents. He can will himself invisible, he can speak and understand any foreign language (including the language of animals), and if he listens carefully, he can hear thoughts.

Unusual, to say the least - for an ordinary man. But Remy is no ordinary man - he's an angel. Generations ago, he chose to renounce heaven and live on Earth. He's found a place among us ordinary humans; friendship, a job he's good at - and love.

Now he is being drawn into a case with strong ties to his angelic past. The Angel of Death has gone missing - and Remy's former colleagues have come to him for help. But what at first seems to be about tracing a missing person turns out to involve much more - a conspiracy that has as its goal the destruction of the human race.

And only Remy Chandler, formerly known as the angel Remiel, can stop it.

A Kiss Before the Apocalypse by Thomas E. Sniegoski is now available in stores and online!

If you dig this book, you'll also enjoy Sniegoski's series The Fallen.

Please feel free to repost this at your blog.

YALSA and readergirlz are partners in Operation Teen Book Drop (TBD). To celebrate April 17th, 2008, Support Teen Literature Day, we've organized a massive, coordinated release of 10,000 publisher-donated YA books into the top pediatric hospitals across the country!

We invite you to celebrate Support Teen Lit Day with us. Donate one of your own books to your community, then join our amazing online book bash, The TBD Post-Op Party, the night of April 17th.

Donate a Book

First, download and print the appropriate readergirlz/YALSA/TBD bookplate. Paste it into the book you plan to donate.



If you are an author, download this plate.
If you are a reader, download this plate.

Blog about Operation TBD and place the I Rock the Drop icon on your site. Get the icon at http://www.readergirlz.com/tbd.html - Simply cut and paste the code we've provided into your blog or at your site, and the result will look like this!



Talk About It

At the readergirlz MySpace group forum (http://groups.myspace.com/readergirlz) look for the threads entitled TBD rgz! and TBD Authors! Post a reply in the thread that applies to you, and participate in other TBD threads as they are posted in the forum.

Drop a Book on April 17th

Leave one copy of your novel, with a TBD bookplate pasted inside, in a teen gathering spot in your community. Place it where the book will be found, taken, and read. (i.e. a coffee shop, the park, your school, a bus stop.) Imagine the fun someone will have when they find your donation! This is the same day all 10,000 publisher-donated books will be dropped in pediatric hospitals across the country, and it is the same day authors and readergirlz worldwide will release their own books into their communities just as you have.

Join the TBD Post Op Party on April 17th

We invite all readergirlz and authors to join our online two-hour book party hosted at the readergirlz MySpace group forum on April 17th, Support Teen Literature Day, from 6 PM - 8 PM Pacific / 9 PM - 11 PM Eastern. The chat will be in a thread titled TBD Post Op Party. The readergirlz divas will be giving away books and prizes, and chatting with teens and authors from around the world.

Operation TBD has special meaning to the readergirlz divas. After researching pediatric oncology wards for her novel GIRL OVERBOARD, Justina Chen Headley spent a year purchasing autographed YA novels to donate to her local Children's Hospital, specifically because most hospitals do not have comfort objects for teens. Lorie Ann Grover (ON POINTE) and Dia Calhoun (AVIELLE OF RHIA) personally know the healing power of stories during hospital stays, since they both live with chronic illness. Mitali Perkins (WHITE HOUSE RULES) has recently joined the team and is eager to support a readergirlz/YALSA special project.

We all know that books give hope. Together, let's show our love of teen lit and ROCK THE DROP.

Read, reflect, and reach out!

~ Dia Calhoun, Lorie Ann Grover, Justina Chen Headley, and Mitali Perkins (readergirlz divas / authors)

TBD Recommended Reads

The postergirlz advisory council recommend a variety of titles for teens dealing with health issues. Their list of picks is split into two sections: Under Redefining Normal, the book characters are facing similar trials themselves or their friends or family have health concerns. Escape Reads are for all teens who need a moment to journey to another place and refuel their own energy and hope. The readergirlz divas and postergirlz hope that many find comfort and encouragement through these works of literature.

YALSA librarians selected books all about teens whose lives are affected by illness and injury, either their own or a loved one's. Some of these books are realistic fiction, some nonfiction, some historical fiction, some science fiction and fantasy. By reading these books, ill and injured teens, or those with sick family members or friends, will know that they are not alone in their battles against disease.

Download the list of books recommended by the postergirlz

Download the list of books recommended by YALSA

Download, print, and share the TBD bookmarks



Official Press Release

For more information contact:
Sara Easterly, Publicist for readergirlz
Sara Easterly & Friends
sara@saraeasterly.com
206-632-8588

RECORD NUMBERS OF YOUNG-ADULT BOOKS WILL BE DONATED TO TEEN PATIENTS THURSDAY AS PART OF READERGIRLZ AND YALSA LITERACY PROGRAM
“Operation TBD” puts 10,000 books into North America’s top pediatric hospitals in celebration of Support Teen Literature Day on April 17

( Read more... )

Download the press release (DOC or PDF)

For more on this and other literacy and activism projects, plus recommendations of remarkable books for teens and adults, please visit www.readergirlz.com

Trying to think of a place to drop books? Here are some ideas!

( Read more... )

Please feel free to repost this at your blog.

Thanks to cloudscome for mentioning Poem in Your Pocket Day. I researched it and discovered the PIYP website:

In honor of April's National Poetry Month, New York City is hosting the 6th annual Poem in Your Pocket Day (PIYP) on Thursday, April 17, 2008. This series of events is intended to celebrate the versatility and inspiration of poetry by encouraging New Yorkers of all ages to carry a poem in their pockets to share with friends, classmates, coworkers and family. Readings across the city throughout the day will culminate in a public poetry open-mike session for kids and adults in Bryant Park at 42nd Street and 6th Avenue in Manhattan.

This year, Poem in Your Pocket Day and Support Teen Literature Day are the same day, April 17th. Perhaps you New Yorkers will attend a PIYP event, then leave behind a book as part of Operation Teen Book Drop!

I am rocking the drop - are you?