RYAN GRAUDIN INTERVIEW AND ALL THAT GLOWS GIVEAWAY

Happy Monday! I'm happy not to be at work today. We had our first layoffs start last Monday. It was sad to see our friends go and already there are messy, stressful cases to handle. But it'll be get better as I review things. And having a day off will definitely help me be more refreshed as I tackle my desk tomorrow. Once I figure out what's going on in my new cases, things will be better.

FOLLOWER NEWS

Crystal Collier is celebrating the release of her YA book in print version. Go HERE to help her celebrate.

And Charlie Holmberg has a story published in the anthology MY BLOODY VALENTINE. Here's a blurb of the anthology and Charlie's story:

My Bloody Valentine is a multi-genre story collection embracing the fact that love hurts. 

Blurb (Charlie's story"Salt and Water"):

Enslaved and brutalized for the healing properties in her tears, Chellis may find the key to freedom in the soft heart of one of her handlers. To find out more, go here:

Link to the Facebook release party tonight: https://www.facebook.com/events/623476677687751/?source=1

Link to the Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20662978-my-bloody-valentine---story-collection?from_search=true

Alex Cavanaugh's publisher has a sale going on of CASSAFIRE, a sci-fi space opera. You can buy it for $.99 through today. Go HERE for details.

And other news/contest reminders:

 IndieReCon, an online writer conference like WriteOnCon, that focuses on self-publishing, will be February 25th-27th. You can go HERE to find out more details soon. 

And Terrie Wolfe from AKA Literary Management will be doing a picture book contest at Sharon Mayhew's blog on February 10th. Five fiction and five nonfiction writers will win a critique and a 30 minute phone call with Terrie. There will be a MG and YA one in March and April too. Go HERE to find out details.

And one last piece of awesome news. Adventures in YA Publishing is doing a pitch + page contest for MG/YA/NA authors on February 15th. There will be book prizes and a critique by an agent. I'm honored that I'll be one of the judges. Go HERE for details.  

And the winner of THE LOST PLANET is Karen Lange!

Congrats! E-mail me your address so I can send you your book. Please e-mail me by the end of Wednesday or I'll have to pick another winner.

Today I’m thrilled to have debut author Ryan Graudin here to share about her YA fantasy, ALL THAT GLOWS that releases tomorrow. I have known about this book for ages and now I finally got to read it. I loved that this is an urban fantasy about the fae set in our time. And Ryan has created a really unique world, which is hard given the number of books about faeries. And I’m a sucker for the forbidden feelings between Emrys (such a cool name) and Prince Richard, who she was sworn to protect.

Here’s a blurb from Goodreads:

Emrys—a fiery, red-headed Fae—always embraced her life in the Highlands, far from the city’s draining technology, until she’s sent to London to rejoin the Faery Guard. But this isn’t any normal assignment—she’s sent to guard Prince Richard: Britain’s notorious, partying bad boy and soon-to-be King. The prince’s careless ways and royal blood make him the irresistible for the dark spirits that feed on mortals. Sweet, disheveled, and alive with adventure—Richard is one charge who will put Emrys’s magic and heart to the test.

When an ancient force begins preying on the monarchy, Emrys must hunt through the London’s magical underworld, facing down Banshees, Black Dogs and Green Women to find the one who threatens Richard’s life. In this chaos of dark magic, palace murders and paparazzi, Emrys finds herself facing an impossible choice. For despite all her powers, Emrys has discovered a force that burns brighter than magic: love.

Hi Ryan! Happy Release Day!

Thanks! I’m so excited to be here! Literary Rambles was a really big help to me when I was a querying writer!

1. Tell us about yourself and how you became a writer.

I was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina. I did not have a television. I played in the woods and reenacted epic stick sword fights with my brothers. At night I read books. Eventually reading books wasn’t enough, and I had to start writing down the stories of my own. It started at the tender age of eight and just kept going from there. I studied creative writing in high school and college and wrote every chance I got.

2. Sounds like you totally loved writing since you were a kid. Where did you get the idea for your story?

Most of my ideas are born from traveling (which is why I hop on a plane every chance I get!). The seeds for ALL THAT GLOWS were sown back when I was a teenager and made my first trip to London. I got to tour Buckingham Palace, ride the London Eye, meet the tower ravens… all things that eventually bloomed into Emrys’s story. The catalyst was actually a prompt for an anthology I was trying to get a short story published in. The editors were calling for stories about “modern, sexy” faeries. I started thinking about what it would look like if modern day royalty had faery godmothers, which led me to write chapter 2. The story pretty much tumbled out after that!

3. That’s an awesome way to come up with a story idea. And traveling can certainly help inspire story

ideas. I loved that this is an urban fantasy and that it is set in our time. What made you decide to set it now in our world and what tips do you have for others (including me) trying to write an urban fantasy?

The very first “image” of Emrys’s story that came to me was of her exasperatedly trying to protect Prince Richard as he partied in a very crowded night club. The story just came to me that way! I loved exploring how immortal creatures like Fae, who’ve seen so much over the years, interact with the modern age. I was also very careful to balance the mythic feel of Emrys’s narrative with modern detail (laptops, tablets, cell phones, etc). To give the story more of a timeless feel I tried to keep out references that would date the novel, such as Facebook or Tumblr or modern songs, etc. I think the key to setting urban fantasy in the modern world is not to be afraid to weave the two closely together. Make the details of the fantasy aspect just as tangible as real world details. Accenting both makes the reader believe they actually exist in the same realm.

4. That’s great advice on how to balance the two worlds and keep out the things that might date the story. I’ll try to watch for that. Your world building is fantastic and includes Banshees, Black Dogs, and Green Women. Share about your world building process and how you decided on these three magical beings.

Thanks! Because the novel is set in the British Isles I decided to base a lot of ALL THAT GLOWS’s mythology on actual folklore. Banshees come from the Celtic Irish tradition, where hearing their wail means impending death. In ATG they are spirits who are drawn to places of death (funerals, graveyards, etc) and can reap a mortal’s soul with their scream. Black Dogs are also omens of death in English folklore. The Green Women in ATG are based on the Baonan Sith of the Scottish Highlands, which are evil female spirits who appear to men clad in green, dance with them and lure them off into isolation before revealing their demon selves and devouring the men whole. There are other parts of Emrys’s story which are based in real lore and legend. There is a real superstition that if the ravens leave the Tower of London the crown will fall and the kingdom with it. Herne the Hunter is also said to be a spirit who is local to Windsor and its woods. I had a lot of fun trying to implement these legends into my worldbuilding process!

5. I love the myths that come from that part of the world. They really can make for fantastic world building. Name three things you love about Emrys. Do you see yourself in her at all?

She’s a fighter who doesn’t back down from unbearable odds. She wears layers of old queens’ and duchesses’ pilfered skirts. She isn’t afraid to cry.

There are a few pieces of Emrys that I see in myself. Her loyalty and desire to fight for those she loves being the biggest one. I’ve also always wanted to be a redhead. So there’s that.

6. Tell us about your road to a book contract.

It took me over 200 queries, 3 manuscripts and 1.5 years to land my first agent! I actually used Literary Rambles quite extensively as I was building my query lists and searching for the perfect fit. ALL THAT GLOWS (which at the time was known as LUMINANCE HOUR) caught the eye of Alyssa Henkin, who offered me representation in Spring 2011. Together we worked on revisions and went on submission in late July. Two weeks later, August 3, 2011, HarperTeen bought ALL THAT GLOWS and its sequel! Alyssa and I have since parted ways, but I’ll be forever grateful to her for helping me land my first publishing deal.

7. Wow! That’s such an inspiring story of not giving up. To me, it felt like a long time—over a year—between when I heard about your book sale and the release of your book. Share a bit about this timeline and how to handle the long wait.

You weren’t imagining it. It was a long time. From book sale to book shelf it was exactly two and a half years. I’m not going to lie, waiting that long was pretty torturous. The publishing industry is slooooow and it’s not uncommon for books to get pushed back to rearrange lists. I stayed sane by focusing on other projects. I started working on other novel ideas, which ended up paying off, since I have not one, but two books coming out this year.

8. Great idea to work on a new project while you wait. And awesome that you have another YA book, THE WALLED CITY, releasing in the Fall, 2014. Share a bit about it and what it’s been like planning for two book releases in one year.

THE WALLED CITY is one of the projects that I focused on to make the wait for ALL THAT GLOWS’s release bearable. I find it incredibly ironic that, though they were started nearly 2 years apart, they’re releasing within nine months of each other. THE WALLED CITY is a YA thriller that follows the journey of three teenagers who are trying to escape a lawless, walled city. There are opium dens, lost sisters, a boy with a scar and a secret past, ruthless drug lords and dumplings. It’s a project I love with my whole heart and more and I’m really excited for the world to meet it in November!

Planning two book releases in one year hasn’t been too terrible, since a lot of the big edits and things for ALL THAT GLOWS were finished over a year ago. It’s catching up with the next few years that will be challenging (2015 will be another guaranteed two book year for me).

9. Ooh, I can’t wait to read THE WALLED CITY. What are you working on now?

I just finished up major revisions for ALL THAT GLOWS’s sequel, and that’s in copyedits now. In between promo stuff for ALL THAT GLOWS I’m working on the first book in a very sekrit duology that Little, Brown bought when they purchased THE WALLED CITY. It isn’t related to THE WALLED CITY in any way. The first book should be out in Fall 2015!

Thanks for sharing all your advice, Ryan. You can find Ryan at::

Website: ryangraudin.com

Blog: ryangraudin.blogspot.com

Twitter: twitter.com/ryangraudin

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/rgraudin/

Tumblr: ryangraudin.tumblr.com/

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/All-That-Glows-Ryan-Graudin/dp/0062187414/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388440959&sr=8-1&keywords=all+that+glows+-+ryan+graudin

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/all-that-glows-ryan-graudin/1115554637?ean=9780062187413

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12711662-all-that-glows

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18196040-the-walled-city

Ryan and her publisher Harper Teen generously offered an ARC of ALL THAT GLOWS for a giveaway. o enter, all you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment through February 22nd. I’ll announce the winner on February 24th. If your e-mail is not on your Google Profile, please leave it in the comments.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry. You must be 13 or older to enter. International entries are welcome but the winner would get an e-book or $5.00 Amazon gift card.

Here’s what’s coming up:

On Wednesday I’m participating in PK Hzero’s Blog Tour with an interview and giveaway of BUTTERMAN (TIME) TRAVEL INC., a fantastic NA time travel story that I really, really enjoyed.

On Monday I’m interviewing Terry Johnson and giving away a copy of ICE DOGS, her upper MG adventure story about a girl and her sled dogs and a guy she helps getting lost in the wilderness. I read it in early January and loved it.

And Wednesday next week I’m interviewing debut author Gayle Rosengren and giving away a copy of her middle grade historical novel WHAT THE MOON SAID. It’s about a girl moving from Chicago to farmland Wisconsin during the Great Depression.

And don’t forget Casey’s Agent Spotlights.

Hope to see you on Wednesday!