Musings of a YA author throwing herself into the fray. Join me on the journey ...

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Come See Me at YAK Fest this Saturday!!!

Hi Everyone :)

I'll be speaking on a panel and signing books in Keller, TX (near Dallas) this Saturday with a bunch of other really cool YA authors!  Check out the schedule below for more info and if you're in the area, come see me!!!!!

WHEN: Saturday, January 19, 9am – 5pm
COST: FREE.
OPEN DOOR: Come when you can and stay for as long as you like.
WHERE: Keller High School, 601 N. Pate Orr Rd. Keller, TX 76248
SOCIAL MEDIA: twitter / facebook / blog
https://twitter.com/YAK_Fest (hashtag #Yakfest13)
https://www.facebook.com/YAKbookfest
http://teacherweb.com/TX/KellerHighSchool/YAKFest/apt1.aspx
http://campus.kellerisd.net/schools/khs-001/Pages/YAKFest.aspx


KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Simone Elkele

Panel Breakdown:

Keeping It Real – Jessica Anderson, Charles Benoit, Chris Crutcher (afternoon only), Simone Elkeles, Guadalupe Garica McCall, Jessica Warman, Lori Aurelia Williams and Shannon Greenland

This is Not Normal – Rosemary Clement Moore, Cory Oakes, Victoria Scott, Mary Lindsey and Jeff Hirsch

This is Not Normal Either – Krissi Dallas, Tracy Deebs, Greg Leitich Smith and Andrea White

Vampire Smack Down - Cynthia Leitich Smith, Rachel Caine and Jason Henderson

Poetry Workshop – Colin Gilbert

A Walk on the Weird Side – Kelley Milner Halls

Choctaw Tales – Tim Tingle

Schedule (tentative)

Time Event Location
9:00 - 10:00 Doors open; book sales Commons
10:00 - 10:45 Keynote- Simone Elkeles, followed by introduction of authors Fine Arts Center
10:55 - 11:40 select a panel or session Lecture Hall, Band Hall, classrooms
11:40 - 12:40 Lunch - food for purchase; Book sales Commons
12:40 - 1:20 select a panel or session Lecture Hall, Band Hall, classrooms
1:30 - 2:10 select a panel or session Lecture Hall, Band Hall, classrooms
2:20 - 3:00 select a panel or session Lecture Hall, Band Hall, classrooms
3:10 - 3:40 Poetry reading Commons
3:40 - 5:00 book sales; author signing Commons
There will be books available for purchase from The Book Carriage, and they will be selling books all day. The Book Carriage will accept cash and credit cards. You may bring some books from home for authors to sign. Food and drinks will be available for purchase at lunch.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Doomed Release Day!!!!!

Hi, Everyone!  I'm so excited to host the last day of the Doomed Scavenger Hunt (and am especially excited because today is release day!!!!)  So, before I head out to my local bookstore to sign copies of Doomed, I'm posting one more excerpt from the book.  Hope you like it!  And remember to comment for the chance to win a $75 Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Apple Store gift card :)

Happy Tuesday!


Eli bursts through the door.  “A bunch of unmarked, black vehicles just pulled up to the front door.  We need to move.  Now!”

            Before I even process Eli’s words, Theo’s up, grabbing the backpacks and my hand  Then  we’re running.  Down the hall and three flights of stairs.  Out the back door. 

            I start to flee into the parking lot, but Theo holds tight to my hand as he drags me against the building.  We race along the perimeter, Theo in front, me in the middle and Eli in back, until we get to the corner, where Theo stops dead.  Flattening himself to the building, he peers around the edge.  “Damn! There are four of them at the truck—including that jerk from your house, Pandora.”

            The information has me reeling, as there’s only one “jerk” Theo saw at my house—Mackaray.  “That means they’re Homeland Security,” I tell them.  “What are we going to do now?”

            “The only thing we can do,” Eli says, heading back the way we came.

            Theo and I exchange frantic looks, but we follow him.  If he’s got a plan to get us out of this, I’m more than willing to go along.  It looks like Theo is as well.

            We get to the other edge of the building and after checking to make sure it’s safe, Eli slips around it.  “What are you doing?” Theo hisses.  “You’re getting us closer to them—“

            “Sssh.”

            Eli creeps all the way to the front edge of the building and I follow him, even though I’m also beginning to doubt his sanity.  We wait, plastered against the building, as eight agents stand around staring at the window we broke earlier.  Guns come out and then most of them are slipping through the same hole we used to get in. 

            I want to run now, while they’re inside, but Theo holds me steady against the building, his hand around my wrist.  “What are we waiting for?” I hiss, and Eli grins at me.  It’s a wicked, wild thing, filled with a strange elation I don’t understand. 

            “Grand Theft Auto, anyone? For the second time?”  He grabs my free hand and we’re running again, straight toward the Homeland Security vehicles instead of away from them. 

            “Get in!” he yells, yanking open the driver’s door of the first one.

            I don’t let myself think as Theo and I pile into the back.  Eli’s pulling out before we even get the door closed, flooring it as he drives right past the agents going over our truck.

            It’s not the brightest move, but it’s the only one we’ve got.

            Sure enough, our escape doesn’t go unnoticed.  “Get down,” Eli yells, and Theo shoves me face first onto the seat, covering me with his body.  Shots ring out and the back windshield, right where I’d been sitting, shatters.

            “Shit!”  Eli swerves back and forth.

            “Hit the gas!” Theo yells.

            “I’ve got the thing floored,” Eli shouts back.  “Just shut up so I can concentrate.”

            The next few minutes pass in a blaze of absolute terror.  I can’t see anything—Theo has me completely covered—but I can hear plenty and that makes everything worse.

            Sirens sound as the remaining Homeland Security guys come after us, shots ringing out as they pursue us through the empty business park.

            “Where’s the road, where’s the road?” Eli mumbles to himself as he sends us careening around a corner so fast the SUV takes it on two wheels.

            “Up ahead, half a mile,” Theo tells him.

            “We’re not going to make it that far.  It’s only a matter of time before they hit a tire.”  He yanks the car to the left around another corner and Theo loses his balance, pancakes me.

            I can’t breathe with him crushing my rib cage and my face pressed completely into the seat and I struggle against him.

            “Sorry, Pandora,” he says a minute later as he pushes himself up.

            “No problem,” I answer before I realize how absurd we sound.  Nothing like manners in the middle of a life or death crisis.

            We hit the main road just as more shots ring out.  They hit the side of the car, slamming into the metal.

            “How are we going to get out of this?” I whisper to Theo, afraid of distracting Eli.

            “I don’t know.”  His hands are clenched and I know it’s hard for him to sit back here with me, leaving our fate in Eli’s hands.  But Eli’s doing a good job, taking turns at breakneck speed, dodging back and forth among the few cars that are on the road. 

            Homeland Security is still behind us—I can hear their sirens—but they don’t seem as close. Eli whips around another corner and hits the brakes, hard, as he strings together every curse word I’ve ever heard in the most imaginative way possible.  We've driven straight into a mob of angry people.

           

Thursday, January 3, 2013

The Doomed Scavenger Hunt is On!

Hi Everyone!  I can't believe that Doomed comes out in less than a week!  I'm excited and thrilled and terrified all at the same time and can't wait to hear what you guys have to say about it.

To celebrate Doomed's release on January 8, I've put together a fun little blog scavenger hunt.  Keep reading for all the details.

Welcome to the Doomed Scavenger Hunt! Over the next eight days, Tracy Deebs and Mundie Moms are sending you on a scavenger hunt through eight different blogs. In Doomed, the three main characters embark on a scavenger hunt that winds itself through a video game and the real world in order to stop a countdown to nuclear annihilation. Our scavenger hunt is nowhere near as complicated-- or as scary-- as what Pandora and her friends have to go on. Instead, all you have to do is visit the eight sites, read the excerpts and find the hidden number in each of the entries. At the end of the eight days, add up all eight of the numbers and include them in the rafflecopter entry spot for the Scavenger Hunt to earn 10 extra entry points for $75 gift card to your choice of Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Apple. There are also prizes to be won at every stop, so make sure to get your entries in and be sure to comment on each of the blogs to be entered to win. Happy hunting!!!!!

Here's the schedule:

1/2- Mundie Moms, excerpt #1
1/3- Reading Teen, excerpt #2
1/4- Fangirlish, excerpt #3
1/5- Girls In the Stacks, excerpt #4
1/6-
1/7- I Read Banned Books, excerpt #6
1/8- Page Turners Blog, excerpt #7
1/8- Tracy Deebs, giveaway, end of the scavenger hunt


And here's the basic info about Doomed:

Pandora's just your average teen-glued to her cell phone and laptop, surfing Facebook and e-mailing with her friends-until the day her long-lost father sends her a link to a mysterious site featuring twelve photos of her as a child. Unable to contain her curiosity, Pandora enters the site, where she is prompted to play her favorite virtual-reality game, Zero Day. This unleashes a global computer virus that plunges the whole world into panic: suddenly, there is no Internet. No cell phones. No utilities, traffic lights, hospitals, law enforcement. Pandora teams up with handsome stepbrothers Eli and Theo to enter the virtual world of Zero Day. Simultaneously, she continues to follow the photographs from her childhood in an attempt to beat the game and track down her father-her one key to saving the world as we know it. Part The Matrix, part retelling of the Pandora myth, Doomed has something for gaming fans, dystopian fans, and romance fans alike.