(from publishersweekly.com)
Led by a 65.1% increase in e-book sales, January sales jumped 43.7% in the children/young adult category in 2014 compared to January 2013, according to figures in AAP’s StatShot program.
The hardcover format also had a good start to the year with sales up 53.7% in the children/young adult category. Sales of adult trade titles rose 2.8% in January as e-book sales rose 6.4% and hardcover sales increased 4.7%. Sales of trade paperback fell 5.1% in the month. With sales hitting $116 million, e-book sales accounted for 32% of adult trade revenue in January 2014 compared to 31% in January 2013. The biggest gain in the adult trade segment was recorded by downloadable audio where sales increased 29.0% and at $12.4 million had triple the sales of physical audio.
In other categories, sales of religious presses fell 7.4% and sales of professional books dropped 5.2%. The educational segments got off to a good start with sales of K-12 instructional materials up 5.6% and higher education material sales up 7.0%.
Sales are based on reports from 1,218 publishers.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Must-See Book Trailers: 'Every Kiss a War,' 'Jessie's Girl,' 'Just Sing'
(from usatoday.com
by Robin Covington)
Friends,
April showers bring May flowers — and muddy feet on my brand new (ivory) carpet — overgrown grass that is too wet to mow — and extra time to stay inside and curl up with a good book and marathon Nashville on Hulu. (Why did you not tell me what a great show it is?)
I am a huge fan of all the trailers made by Red14 Films — they are cinematic, evocative and beautifully bring to life the words on the page. The trailer for Every Kiss a War by Leesa Cross-Smith is all of these things and more. The live-action film is sensual and riveting and the narration is pitch perfect to set the tone for this collection of short stories. This video is heartbreakingly tender, and I had to watch it twice right away.
Mojave River Press - Every Kiss A War
The trailer for Jesse's Girl (OK — who else is humming that old Rick Springfield song right now?) by Char Chaffin is simplicity that showcases the story. A tale of lost love, betrayal, lies, and reclaiming a life lost is perfectly highlighted by an unpretentious guitar soundtrack that doesn't take away from the images or the script. It was lovely.
Jessie's Girl - Char Chaffin
Being a singer myself, I have a soft spot for books about them, and the trailer for Just Sing by Rene Gilley is about a young girl whose dreams about achieving her dreams and saving her home collide when she meets the boy who turns her life upside down. I really love the images on this video — they are sharp, modern, colorful and youthful and I think they scream Young Adult. I made a note to grab this one for my niece — and aspiring vocalist.
Just Sing by Renee Giley
Robin Covington writes sizzling contemporary romance. Her stories burn up the sheets ... one page at a time. She loves her family, tasty man eye candy and comic books. Her website is RobinCovingtonRomance.com.
by Robin Covington)
Friends,
April showers bring May flowers — and muddy feet on my brand new (ivory) carpet — overgrown grass that is too wet to mow — and extra time to stay inside and curl up with a good book and marathon Nashville on Hulu. (Why did you not tell me what a great show it is?)
I am a huge fan of all the trailers made by Red14 Films — they are cinematic, evocative and beautifully bring to life the words on the page. The trailer for Every Kiss a War by Leesa Cross-Smith is all of these things and more. The live-action film is sensual and riveting and the narration is pitch perfect to set the tone for this collection of short stories. This video is heartbreakingly tender, and I had to watch it twice right away.
Mojave River Press - Every Kiss A War
The trailer for Jesse's Girl (OK — who else is humming that old Rick Springfield song right now?) by Char Chaffin is simplicity that showcases the story. A tale of lost love, betrayal, lies, and reclaiming a life lost is perfectly highlighted by an unpretentious guitar soundtrack that doesn't take away from the images or the script. It was lovely.
Jessie's Girl - Char Chaffin
Being a singer myself, I have a soft spot for books about them, and the trailer for Just Sing by Rene Gilley is about a young girl whose dreams about achieving her dreams and saving her home collide when she meets the boy who turns her life upside down. I really love the images on this video — they are sharp, modern, colorful and youthful and I think they scream Young Adult. I made a note to grab this one for my niece — and aspiring vocalist.
Just Sing by Renee Giley
Robin Covington writes sizzling contemporary romance. Her stories burn up the sheets ... one page at a time. She loves her family, tasty man eye candy and comic books. Her website is RobinCovingtonRomance.com.
THE QUOTE, THE REVIEW, THE LIST for May 1, 2014
A BOOKISH QUOTE
The only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than we have yet got ourselves.
-E. M. Forster
THE REVIEW
ALL THAT IS SOLID MELTS INTO AIR
by Darragh McKeon
KIRKUS REVIEW
This debut novel is set in 1986, the year of the catastrophe at Chernobyl, and that disaster serves as the dramatic backdrop for the unfolding of action and character.
First we meet Grigory Ivanovich Brovkin, a Moscow physician whose marriage to Maria has recently failed. Maria has a nephew, Yevgeni, her sister’s son, who, at age 9, shows great promise as a piano prodigy, though his poverty militates against his success. For example, except when he goes for lessons at the house of his teacher, Mr. Leibniz, he has no piano to practice on but only a keyboard that makes no sound. Despite his promise, Yevgeni occasionally (and understandably) loses heart, especially when physically tormented, as he frequently is, by his gym teacher and fellow students. After the Chernobyl debacle, Grigory’s medical skills are called on, for he must treat those who have been exposed to massive amounts of radiation. He feels dispirited by this as well as by official attempts to cover up the extent of the ecological and human disaster. McKeon takes the title for his novel from The Communist Manifesto, and everything solid does indeed seem to shift and evanesce as the events at Chernobyl reshape character and landscape. Eventually, Grigory pays a terrible physical price for his conscientious attention to duty, and Yevgeni, in a grace note of a conclusion set in 2011, receives a state prize for his virtuosity.
A leisurely paced novel intended for those who like serious and thoughtful fiction.
Pub Date: April 29th, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-06-224687-5
Page count: 432pp
Publisher: Perennial/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 6th, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15th, 2014
THE LIST
14 New York City Bookstores You Should Visit Before You Die
The only books that influence us are those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little farther down our particular path than we have yet got ourselves.
-E. M. Forster
THE REVIEW
ALL THAT IS SOLID MELTS INTO AIR
by Darragh McKeon
KIRKUS REVIEW
This debut novel is set in 1986, the year of the catastrophe at Chernobyl, and that disaster serves as the dramatic backdrop for the unfolding of action and character.
First we meet Grigory Ivanovich Brovkin, a Moscow physician whose marriage to Maria has recently failed. Maria has a nephew, Yevgeni, her sister’s son, who, at age 9, shows great promise as a piano prodigy, though his poverty militates against his success. For example, except when he goes for lessons at the house of his teacher, Mr. Leibniz, he has no piano to practice on but only a keyboard that makes no sound. Despite his promise, Yevgeni occasionally (and understandably) loses heart, especially when physically tormented, as he frequently is, by his gym teacher and fellow students. After the Chernobyl debacle, Grigory’s medical skills are called on, for he must treat those who have been exposed to massive amounts of radiation. He feels dispirited by this as well as by official attempts to cover up the extent of the ecological and human disaster. McKeon takes the title for his novel from The Communist Manifesto, and everything solid does indeed seem to shift and evanesce as the events at Chernobyl reshape character and landscape. Eventually, Grigory pays a terrible physical price for his conscientious attention to duty, and Yevgeni, in a grace note of a conclusion set in 2011, receives a state prize for his virtuosity.
A leisurely paced novel intended for those who like serious and thoughtful fiction.
Pub Date: April 29th, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-06-224687-5
Page count: 432pp
Publisher: Perennial/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 6th, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15th, 2014
THE LIST
14 New York City Bookstores You Should Visit Before You Die
F Scott Fitzgerald Stories Published Uncensored For the First Time
(from theguardian.com
by Alison Flood)
Scrubbed clean … F Scott Fitzgerald in the 1920s. Photograph: BBC One
From sexual innuendo to antisemitism, a wealth of censored material that was sliced out of F Scott Fitzgerald's short stories by newspaper editors is being restored in a new edition of the author's work which presents the stories in their unbowdlerised form for the first time in almost 80 years.
The stories in his fourth collection, Taps at Reveille, were written by Fitzgerald for publication in the Saturday Evening Post during the late 1920s and early 1930s – a time of debt and personal difficulty for the author, who would die in 1940 at the age of 44. Close study of the final, messy typescripts, complete with handwritten revisions, that Fitzgerald sent to his literary agent Harold Ober show significant differences between what The Great Gatsby author intended to be published, and what the Post – keen not to offend its middle-class readership – actually released, with any sexual innuendo eliminated, almost all profanity cut out, as well as any passages touching on racial or ethnic prejudice, drunkenness or reference to drug-taking.
In the original story Two Wrongs, for example, the unpleasant protagonist Bill describes someone as a "dirty little kyke", an insult which is cut from the published edition. Another scene in the story shows Bill's wife getting undressed and having a bath after ballet practice, with the scene changed in its published version to see her fully clothed before her bath. In The Hotel Child, a reference to the Marquis Kinkallow "surreptitiously feeding a hasheesh tablet to the Pekingese" was also removed from the Post's version, with other cuts including removal of profanities such as "Get the hell out of here!" and slang ("broads" for "girls"), and changing the slur "Sheeny" to "Jewess".
The new edition of Taps at Reveille, the latest volume of The Cambridge Edition of the Works of F Scott Fitzgerald, restores Fitzgerald's original prose in these and other stories, and is published this week by Cambridge University Press. "Major" changes have also been made to the story seen by many to be Fitzgerald's masterpiece in the genre, Babylon Revisited, said CUP. General editor James West, Sparks Professor of English at Pennsylvania State University, believes the edition is important "because we want to read what Fitzgerald wrote, not what the editors at the Post thought he should have written".
"Before these stories were bowdlerised, they contained antisemitic slurs, sexual innuendo, instances of drug use and drunkenness. They also contained profanity and mild blasphemy. The texts were scrubbed clean at the Post," he said.
"Two Wrongs", according to West, "now makes much more sense", with Bill "punished more justly for his wrongdoings – his antisemitism and his reprehensible treatment of his wife". And in The Hotel Child, West says that "the decadence of several of the characters is revealed more clearly because of their alcoholism, drug use, and prejudice".
"More generally, in all of the stories, the characters use the profanity, mild blasphemies, and slang words that Fitzgerald wanted them to use. They speak like real people," he said. "One of the commonplaces of Fitzgerald criticism, for decades, has been that he avoided unpleasant topics and realistic language in his magazine fiction. We can see now that this was not altogether his choice."
West was clear that the new versions of the stories do not expose Fitzgerald as an antisemite: "the antisemitic slurs in these stories are spoken by reprehensible characters. These slurs are not spoken in Fitzgerald's authorial voice. It's the characters who are antisemitic, not Fitzgerald," he said.
Fitzgerald found the medium of the short story difficult, writing in his Notebooks that "the price was high, right up with Kipling, because there was one little drop of something not blood, not a tear, not my seed, but me more intimately than these, in every story", and telling Ober that "all my stories are conceived like novels, require a special emotion, a special experience".
He wrote 178 short stories in his lifetime, selling them for up to $4,000 to the Post and other magazines to support his family. "No purpose is served by criticising the Post for adjusting Fitzgerald's texts," writes West in his introduction to the new volume. "These were the rules of the marketplace: Fitzgerald, as a professional author, accepted them. The Post aimed for a broad middle-class readership and avoided potential offence to readers or advertisers. As Fitzgerald composed and revised, he included language or situations in his stories that he surely knew might be softened or deleted with the blue pencil."
Sarah Churchwell, professor of American literature at the University of East Anglia and author of the biographical study of The Great Gatsby, Careless People, welcomed publication of the new edition. "This is the version which Fitzgerald wanted to see the light of day, and it's really great news," she said.
She predicted that the changes would reveal Fitzgerald in a new light. "It will change how people think about Fitzgerald, particularly in his short fiction. He is seen as a very sentimental writer – even in his novels people think his greatest fault is when he crosses the line into sentimentality or romance and becomes less realistic," she said. "This shows that this was often not his choice."
The original editions of the stories, she said, "will give people the sense that Fitzgerald is actually a bit edgier, particularly in his later stories; that there is more grit in these tales than people think."
Taps at Reveille was Fitzgerald's fourth and final collection of short stories, and his last published book, released in 1935. "It's a short story shadow version of Tender is the Night," said Churchwell. "It's an important collection of Fitzgerald's fiction, and only one or two stories in it are very well-known. Hopefully this new edition will bring people back to Fitzgerald."
F Scott Fitzgerald's Two Wrongs, being published unexpurgated for the first time in the Cambridge Edition of Taps at Reveille by F Scott Fitzgerald
by Alison Flood)
From sexual innuendo to antisemitism, a wealth of censored material that was sliced out of F Scott Fitzgerald's short stories by newspaper editors is being restored in a new edition of the author's work which presents the stories in their unbowdlerised form for the first time in almost 80 years.
The stories in his fourth collection, Taps at Reveille, were written by Fitzgerald for publication in the Saturday Evening Post during the late 1920s and early 1930s – a time of debt and personal difficulty for the author, who would die in 1940 at the age of 44. Close study of the final, messy typescripts, complete with handwritten revisions, that Fitzgerald sent to his literary agent Harold Ober show significant differences between what The Great Gatsby author intended to be published, and what the Post – keen not to offend its middle-class readership – actually released, with any sexual innuendo eliminated, almost all profanity cut out, as well as any passages touching on racial or ethnic prejudice, drunkenness or reference to drug-taking.
In the original story Two Wrongs, for example, the unpleasant protagonist Bill describes someone as a "dirty little kyke", an insult which is cut from the published edition. Another scene in the story shows Bill's wife getting undressed and having a bath after ballet practice, with the scene changed in its published version to see her fully clothed before her bath. In The Hotel Child, a reference to the Marquis Kinkallow "surreptitiously feeding a hasheesh tablet to the Pekingese" was also removed from the Post's version, with other cuts including removal of profanities such as "Get the hell out of here!" and slang ("broads" for "girls"), and changing the slur "Sheeny" to "Jewess".
The new edition of Taps at Reveille, the latest volume of The Cambridge Edition of the Works of F Scott Fitzgerald, restores Fitzgerald's original prose in these and other stories, and is published this week by Cambridge University Press. "Major" changes have also been made to the story seen by many to be Fitzgerald's masterpiece in the genre, Babylon Revisited, said CUP. General editor James West, Sparks Professor of English at Pennsylvania State University, believes the edition is important "because we want to read what Fitzgerald wrote, not what the editors at the Post thought he should have written".
"Before these stories were bowdlerised, they contained antisemitic slurs, sexual innuendo, instances of drug use and drunkenness. They also contained profanity and mild blasphemy. The texts were scrubbed clean at the Post," he said.
"Two Wrongs", according to West, "now makes much more sense", with Bill "punished more justly for his wrongdoings – his antisemitism and his reprehensible treatment of his wife". And in The Hotel Child, West says that "the decadence of several of the characters is revealed more clearly because of their alcoholism, drug use, and prejudice".
"More generally, in all of the stories, the characters use the profanity, mild blasphemies, and slang words that Fitzgerald wanted them to use. They speak like real people," he said. "One of the commonplaces of Fitzgerald criticism, for decades, has been that he avoided unpleasant topics and realistic language in his magazine fiction. We can see now that this was not altogether his choice."
West was clear that the new versions of the stories do not expose Fitzgerald as an antisemite: "the antisemitic slurs in these stories are spoken by reprehensible characters. These slurs are not spoken in Fitzgerald's authorial voice. It's the characters who are antisemitic, not Fitzgerald," he said.
Fitzgerald found the medium of the short story difficult, writing in his Notebooks that "the price was high, right up with Kipling, because there was one little drop of something not blood, not a tear, not my seed, but me more intimately than these, in every story", and telling Ober that "all my stories are conceived like novels, require a special emotion, a special experience".
He wrote 178 short stories in his lifetime, selling them for up to $4,000 to the Post and other magazines to support his family. "No purpose is served by criticising the Post for adjusting Fitzgerald's texts," writes West in his introduction to the new volume. "These were the rules of the marketplace: Fitzgerald, as a professional author, accepted them. The Post aimed for a broad middle-class readership and avoided potential offence to readers or advertisers. As Fitzgerald composed and revised, he included language or situations in his stories that he surely knew might be softened or deleted with the blue pencil."
Sarah Churchwell, professor of American literature at the University of East Anglia and author of the biographical study of The Great Gatsby, Careless People, welcomed publication of the new edition. "This is the version which Fitzgerald wanted to see the light of day, and it's really great news," she said.
She predicted that the changes would reveal Fitzgerald in a new light. "It will change how people think about Fitzgerald, particularly in his short fiction. He is seen as a very sentimental writer – even in his novels people think his greatest fault is when he crosses the line into sentimentality or romance and becomes less realistic," she said. "This shows that this was often not his choice."
The original editions of the stories, she said, "will give people the sense that Fitzgerald is actually a bit edgier, particularly in his later stories; that there is more grit in these tales than people think."
Taps at Reveille was Fitzgerald's fourth and final collection of short stories, and his last published book, released in 1935. "It's a short story shadow version of Tender is the Night," said Churchwell. "It's an important collection of Fitzgerald's fiction, and only one or two stories in it are very well-known. Hopefully this new edition will bring people back to Fitzgerald."
CJ Lyons and Toni Causey: Creating the Cover for 'Farewell to Dreams'
(from usatoday.com)
Writers often label certain books as "a book of the heart." For CJ Lyons, her latest release, Farewell to Dreams: A Novel of Fatal Insomnia, has been a true labor of love, starting six years ago when she first encountered the real and horrific disease the book is based on, to now when it is finally being published.
When you've devoted that much time and energy to a book, who do you trust to create the perfect cover art?
If you're CJ Lyons, you turn to fellow author and accomplished artist/photographer Toni McGee Causey.
Here's a peek behind the scenes of the creation of the artwork for Farewell to Dreams.
CJ: What elements from the story inspired your choice of visual images?
Toni: There was a scene so compelling, the image came to life for me. It occurs when Dr. Angela Rossi plays the fiddle with her family. Her health is deteriorating and she doesn't know why, so hasn't told anyone. It's something we can all relate to, that feeling of secret terror that your life is collapsing and you're powerless.
Despite Angela's isolation, her music is her strength. And there was this moment that was so eloquent when the love interest watches her play and he sees into her soul, essentially. We see that he's falling in love with her … and so are we.
That moment was my starting point. Juxtaposing the beauty of her music against the ugliness around her became the inspiration of the image.
CJ: I loved the way Angela comes to life in the art, she feels very real and human — even vulnerable — yet the chaos around her is so surreal that you sense both hope and despair very poignantly. How did you create that tension visually?
Toni: Having been through grief and loss myself, especially with the passing of my brother last year, I understood it on a level I haven't before. This kind of understanding doesn't come from an analytical place; it comes from a gut instinct. For example, I knew with Fatal Insomnia, Angela's time is ticking away. Having the clock as part of the landscape and having it erode away from her it both grounds her and creates that surreal feeling I was searching for.
The hyper-saturated elements around her — the car, the fire, and the doll, your eye goes to them and says, "OK, each element is real — but in an almost ugly way." Because of their positioning and saturation, you feel, I hope, as Angela does, caught between reality and a nightmare.
.jpg)
Artwork for the cover of CJ Lyons' "Farewell to Dreams."(Photo: Toni McGee Causey)
From my own experience, I know that when we are mired in grief and loss, the objects around us, objects that should be our touchstones, can often feel distant and part of a foreign landscape. I wanted to create that feeling of loss and isolation in that moment.
CJ: I think you evoked that feeling brilliantly. And yet, there's also hope communicated in the image — just as the story itself also is very empowering and hopeful, despite the fact that the main character has a fatal disease.
Toni: What I saw when I was shooting the model, who is a real-life amazing street musician, was her vivacious energy — and that was the same energy I got from Angela's character. I love music, I play the piano, and there is this ability to get lost in art that protects us from the ugliness of the world and creates a sense of hope.
I don't believe in pessimism. It's too easy to be pessimistic; it's too easy to be cynical in this life. What's hard is to look at what you're facing and to face it with courage and hope. To say, "Even if I don't have much time left, I'm going to do everything I can to the best of my ability, I'm going to go all-out" — and that's exactly what Angela does in the book. She treats every single minute as valuable, and she refuses to give up without a fight.
I loved that about her and wanted that to come through with how the model was shot. I lit the model differently, more brightly, than the background elements to set her apart from the stark and deteriorating world around her.
CJ: I love that visual conflict you created! In fact, one of our early conversations inspired me as I finished the book. You said you saw Angela's music as her weapon to fight the chaos her life was falling into and that it gave her the strength she needed. It was so cool to see that feeling come to life in the final art.
You're an artist. Was it difficult going from a conceptual piece of art to a commercial cover, adjusting for editorial elements, like words, titles?
Toni (laughs): I'm probably one of the weirdest people in the world, but it actually made it easier for me. Since I'm also an author, I understood what the parameters were, so it was easy to create within those parameters.
If you give me the whole wide world of possibilities to play in, if you tell me I can do absolutely anything, if the world is my playground and I can do absolutely anything, then I want to do absolutely everything!
Approaching this piece, I knew I was still telling a story. It's not enough to be pretty or edgy — the art needs to tell a story that conveys the same emotion to the viewer as the book does to the reader.
Toni McGee Causey artwork for "Farewell to Dreams" concept.(Photo: Toni McGee Causey)
When I began, I was already thinking in those terms. There were several drafts as I got the elements in place — re-sizing them as needed, moving them around. Simple things, like realizing that I had the buildings where the title textual elements would need to go, so I reversed the background image.
Angela's character is so strong and her music brings her such power, that I switched to a shot of the model standing instead of sitting. But for the most part, those decisions enhanced the creative process. I looked at each element, I asked myself: What will this convey? What emotion will it evoke? How does it interact with the other elements of the composition? What story is it telling? Can I tell that story in a better way?
CJ: I love that, because as humans we're hard-wired for story and search for it in any piece of media or art — it's how we make sense of the world around us. So by combining visual story telling with literal story telling, it creates a compelling and powerful multisensory experience.
I want to thank Toni for taking the time to not only create a true work of art for Farewell to Dreams, but also to take us behind the scenes of her creative process.
If you want to learn more about Toni's work, you can find her at www.ToniMcGeeCausey.com.
Here's the blurb about Farewell to Dreams:
Fatal. Insomnia.
In the chaos of the ER, functioning without sleep is a prized skill. But even Dr. Angela Rossi will admit that five months is far too long, especially when accompanied by other worrisome symptoms: night sweats, tremors, muscle spasms, fevers. Then a dead nun speaks to her while Angela is holding the nun's heart in her hand.
"Find the girl," the nun commands—although no one else in the trauma room can hear, the words drilling directly into Angela's brain. "Save the girl."
Falling into catatonic states where she freezes in the middle of a resuscitation and hears dead nuns talking to her? Not good. Maybe she should check herself into her own hospital…except a lost girl's life depends on Angela.
Because the girl IS real. The threat to her is deadly.
Aided by a police detective fallen from grace, Angela searches the midnight catacombs beneath the city, facing down a ruthless gangleader and stumbling onto a serial killer's lair. Her desperate quest to save the girl leads her to the one thing she least expected to find: a last chance for love.
As her symptoms escalate in bizarre and disturbing ways, Angie realizes exactly how serious her illness is. She might be dying, but she's finally choosing how to live…
Find out more at www.CJLyons.net.
Writers often label certain books as "a book of the heart." For CJ Lyons, her latest release, Farewell to Dreams: A Novel of Fatal Insomnia, has been a true labor of love, starting six years ago when she first encountered the real and horrific disease the book is based on, to now when it is finally being published.
When you've devoted that much time and energy to a book, who do you trust to create the perfect cover art?
If you're CJ Lyons, you turn to fellow author and accomplished artist/photographer Toni McGee Causey.
Here's a peek behind the scenes of the creation of the artwork for Farewell to Dreams.
CJ: What elements from the story inspired your choice of visual images?
Toni: There was a scene so compelling, the image came to life for me. It occurs when Dr. Angela Rossi plays the fiddle with her family. Her health is deteriorating and she doesn't know why, so hasn't told anyone. It's something we can all relate to, that feeling of secret terror that your life is collapsing and you're powerless.
Despite Angela's isolation, her music is her strength. And there was this moment that was so eloquent when the love interest watches her play and he sees into her soul, essentially. We see that he's falling in love with her … and so are we.
That moment was my starting point. Juxtaposing the beauty of her music against the ugliness around her became the inspiration of the image.
CJ: I loved the way Angela comes to life in the art, she feels very real and human — even vulnerable — yet the chaos around her is so surreal that you sense both hope and despair very poignantly. How did you create that tension visually?
Toni: Having been through grief and loss myself, especially with the passing of my brother last year, I understood it on a level I haven't before. This kind of understanding doesn't come from an analytical place; it comes from a gut instinct. For example, I knew with Fatal Insomnia, Angela's time is ticking away. Having the clock as part of the landscape and having it erode away from her it both grounds her and creates that surreal feeling I was searching for.
The hyper-saturated elements around her — the car, the fire, and the doll, your eye goes to them and says, "OK, each element is real — but in an almost ugly way." Because of their positioning and saturation, you feel, I hope, as Angela does, caught between reality and a nightmare.
.jpg)
From my own experience, I know that when we are mired in grief and loss, the objects around us, objects that should be our touchstones, can often feel distant and part of a foreign landscape. I wanted to create that feeling of loss and isolation in that moment.
CJ: I think you evoked that feeling brilliantly. And yet, there's also hope communicated in the image — just as the story itself also is very empowering and hopeful, despite the fact that the main character has a fatal disease.
Toni: What I saw when I was shooting the model, who is a real-life amazing street musician, was her vivacious energy — and that was the same energy I got from Angela's character. I love music, I play the piano, and there is this ability to get lost in art that protects us from the ugliness of the world and creates a sense of hope.
I don't believe in pessimism. It's too easy to be pessimistic; it's too easy to be cynical in this life. What's hard is to look at what you're facing and to face it with courage and hope. To say, "Even if I don't have much time left, I'm going to do everything I can to the best of my ability, I'm going to go all-out" — and that's exactly what Angela does in the book. She treats every single minute as valuable, and she refuses to give up without a fight.
I loved that about her and wanted that to come through with how the model was shot. I lit the model differently, more brightly, than the background elements to set her apart from the stark and deteriorating world around her.
CJ: I love that visual conflict you created! In fact, one of our early conversations inspired me as I finished the book. You said you saw Angela's music as her weapon to fight the chaos her life was falling into and that it gave her the strength she needed. It was so cool to see that feeling come to life in the final art.
You're an artist. Was it difficult going from a conceptual piece of art to a commercial cover, adjusting for editorial elements, like words, titles?
Toni (laughs): I'm probably one of the weirdest people in the world, but it actually made it easier for me. Since I'm also an author, I understood what the parameters were, so it was easy to create within those parameters.
If you give me the whole wide world of possibilities to play in, if you tell me I can do absolutely anything, if the world is my playground and I can do absolutely anything, then I want to do absolutely everything!
Approaching this piece, I knew I was still telling a story. It's not enough to be pretty or edgy — the art needs to tell a story that conveys the same emotion to the viewer as the book does to the reader.
When I began, I was already thinking in those terms. There were several drafts as I got the elements in place — re-sizing them as needed, moving them around. Simple things, like realizing that I had the buildings where the title textual elements would need to go, so I reversed the background image.
Angela's character is so strong and her music brings her such power, that I switched to a shot of the model standing instead of sitting. But for the most part, those decisions enhanced the creative process. I looked at each element, I asked myself: What will this convey? What emotion will it evoke? How does it interact with the other elements of the composition? What story is it telling? Can I tell that story in a better way?
CJ: I love that, because as humans we're hard-wired for story and search for it in any piece of media or art — it's how we make sense of the world around us. So by combining visual story telling with literal story telling, it creates a compelling and powerful multisensory experience.
I want to thank Toni for taking the time to not only create a true work of art for Farewell to Dreams, but also to take us behind the scenes of her creative process.
If you want to learn more about Toni's work, you can find her at www.ToniMcGeeCausey.com.
Here's the blurb about Farewell to Dreams:
Fatal. Insomnia.
In the chaos of the ER, functioning without sleep is a prized skill. But even Dr. Angela Rossi will admit that five months is far too long, especially when accompanied by other worrisome symptoms: night sweats, tremors, muscle spasms, fevers. Then a dead nun speaks to her while Angela is holding the nun's heart in her hand.
"Find the girl," the nun commands—although no one else in the trauma room can hear, the words drilling directly into Angela's brain. "Save the girl."
Falling into catatonic states where she freezes in the middle of a resuscitation and hears dead nuns talking to her? Not good. Maybe she should check herself into her own hospital…except a lost girl's life depends on Angela.
Because the girl IS real. The threat to her is deadly.
Aided by a police detective fallen from grace, Angela searches the midnight catacombs beneath the city, facing down a ruthless gangleader and stumbling onto a serial killer's lair. Her desperate quest to save the girl leads her to the one thing she least expected to find: a last chance for love.
As her symptoms escalate in bizarre and disturbing ways, Angie realizes exactly how serious her illness is. She might be dying, but she's finally choosing how to live…
Find out more at www.CJLyons.net.
Throwback Thursday: Lynsay Sands, Chloe Neill Fess Up On Favorite Vamp Stuff
(from usatoday.com
by Jessie Potts)
For this Throwback Thursday post, I asked Lynsay Sands (Vampire Most Wanted) and Chloe Neill (Wild Things) about their favorite vamp books and heroes.
Favorite vampire character?
Lynsay Sands: I must admit that I love the grumpy types that are crusty with soft gooey centers so … Lucian, of course! (I'm not sure that I should be naming off one of my own characters here, but Lucian Argeneau was the one that came to mind.)
Chloe Neill: Can I say Merit? :) In all seriousness, what a difficult question for an urban fantasy reader! :)
I have several in a list that changes over time, including Acheron from Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunters series, Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Dmitri from Vampire Academy. Because, *rawr*.
Me: OK, so my book harem is chock full of vampire heroes so I can't really choose just one! My top hotties are Lothaire from the Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole (because, daaaaaaaaang, he's hot and a bit crazy). Dimitri from the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead (yea, he totally counts!) and Bones from the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost, because he's so tough and isn't scared by a strong woman.
Favorite vampire novel?
Lynsay: If you're asking about another author's books then I'd have to say J.F. Lewis' Staked and Revamped. I enjoy a good fast-paced, action-packed, humorous story that keeps the readers on their toes and that's exactly what I got with each of his books.
However, if you're asking about my Argeneau series, then my favorite would be either The Accidental Vampire or Under a Vampire Moon. I always enjoy writing the lighter books best because I end up laughing through most of my workday.
Chloe: Oh, that's a hard one, as it changes over time. Right now, probably Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead, which has some fantastic angst in it. And if I love anything, it's good angst.
Me: Ahhh, again, wayyyyy too many to name, but if I had to just name one, I choose two! … Undead and Unwed because Sink Lair is just too awesome, and I laughed so hard a multitude of times because MaryJanice Davidson is made of magic like that. And Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill because that book just clicked for me, and Merit is one of my all-time-favorite heroines. The series just keeps staying amazing, and I get giddy every time a new one is released.
Favorite part about writing a vamp novel?
Lynsay: What's not to like?! I get to write about some pretty extraordinary characters that are immortal but also very human and therefore full of human foibles just like the rest of us. But the best part is I get to play god and kill off any characters I don't like!
Chloe: Folks are generally familiar with the concept of vampires — who they are and what they do. But since I write urban fantasy, I still get to make the rules. Whether their reflections are visible in mirrors (yep), whether garlic works to repel them (nope), whether aspen stakes are killers (most decidedly yes), and whether invitations are necessary for them to enter a house (only for etiquette purposes).
Me: While I don't write vamp books, I can say my favorite part about reading them is the spice of "more" to the book. You have this contemporary romance and BAM give a guy fangs and a brooding personality and I'm just all over that. I love paranormal books and vampire characters are so strong and indefinably cool. Each author brings their own personality and perspective into the vampire tale!
Jessie Potts, also known as Book Taster, adores books in all forms. She also does reviews for Bitten by Books and RT Book Reviews and is an intern at Entangled Publishing. You can follow her on Twitter (@BookTaster).
by Jessie Potts)
For this Throwback Thursday post, I asked Lynsay Sands (Vampire Most Wanted) and Chloe Neill (Wild Things) about their favorite vamp books and heroes.
Favorite vampire character?
Lynsay Sands: I must admit that I love the grumpy types that are crusty with soft gooey centers so … Lucian, of course! (I'm not sure that I should be naming off one of my own characters here, but Lucian Argeneau was the one that came to mind.)
Chloe Neill: Can I say Merit? :) In all seriousness, what a difficult question for an urban fantasy reader! :)
I have several in a list that changes over time, including Acheron from Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunters series, Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Dmitri from Vampire Academy. Because, *rawr*.
Me: OK, so my book harem is chock full of vampire heroes so I can't really choose just one! My top hotties are Lothaire from the Immortals After Dark series by Kresley Cole (because, daaaaaaaaang, he's hot and a bit crazy). Dimitri from the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead (yea, he totally counts!) and Bones from the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost, because he's so tough and isn't scared by a strong woman.
Favorite vampire novel?
Lynsay: If you're asking about another author's books then I'd have to say J.F. Lewis' Staked and Revamped. I enjoy a good fast-paced, action-packed, humorous story that keeps the readers on their toes and that's exactly what I got with each of his books.
However, if you're asking about my Argeneau series, then my favorite would be either The Accidental Vampire or Under a Vampire Moon. I always enjoy writing the lighter books best because I end up laughing through most of my workday.
Chloe: Oh, that's a hard one, as it changes over time. Right now, probably Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead, which has some fantastic angst in it. And if I love anything, it's good angst.
Me: Ahhh, again, wayyyyy too many to name, but if I had to just name one, I choose two! … Undead and Unwed because Sink Lair is just too awesome, and I laughed so hard a multitude of times because MaryJanice Davidson is made of magic like that. And Some Girls Bite by Chloe Neill because that book just clicked for me, and Merit is one of my all-time-favorite heroines. The series just keeps staying amazing, and I get giddy every time a new one is released.
Favorite part about writing a vamp novel?
Lynsay: What's not to like?! I get to write about some pretty extraordinary characters that are immortal but also very human and therefore full of human foibles just like the rest of us. But the best part is I get to play god and kill off any characters I don't like!
Chloe: Folks are generally familiar with the concept of vampires — who they are and what they do. But since I write urban fantasy, I still get to make the rules. Whether their reflections are visible in mirrors (yep), whether garlic works to repel them (nope), whether aspen stakes are killers (most decidedly yes), and whether invitations are necessary for them to enter a house (only for etiquette purposes).
Me: While I don't write vamp books, I can say my favorite part about reading them is the spice of "more" to the book. You have this contemporary romance and BAM give a guy fangs and a brooding personality and I'm just all over that. I love paranormal books and vampire characters are so strong and indefinably cool. Each author brings their own personality and perspective into the vampire tale!
Jessie Potts, also known as Book Taster, adores books in all forms. She also does reviews for Bitten by Books and RT Book Reviews and is an intern at Entangled Publishing. You can follow her on Twitter (@BookTaster).
For May, New Books by Charlaine Harris, Jo Nesbo
(from usatoday.com
by Joycelyn McClurg)
Everybody loves the month of May, especially publishers eager to give readers a jump on summer reading. USA TODAY's Jocelyn McClurg offers 10 notable books arriving this month.
1. Midnight Crossroad by Charlaine Harris (Ace, fiction, on sale May 6)
After saying goodbye to Sookie Stackhouse of True Blood fame, Harris launches a new paranormal trilogy set in Texas about a "telephone psychic" named Manfred Bernardo.
2. Michael Jordan: The Life by Roland Lazenby (Little, Brown, non-fiction, on sale May 6)
Bio of the basketball great by a journalist who has covered him on and off the court for three decades.
3. Wonderland by Stacey D'Erasmo (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, fiction, on sale May 6)
A female rocker attempts a comeback at 44; the book jacket sports a blurb by none other than Michael Stipe.
4. The Bees by Laline Paull (Ecco, fiction, on sale May 6)
The literary world is, ahem, buzzing about this debut novel, a dystopian tale set in a beehive and starring a sterile worker bee who challenges the Queen.
5. The Son by Jo Nesbo (Knopf, fiction, on sale May 13)
A heroin addict escapes from prison to hunt down corrupt Oslo officials; stand-alone novel from the Norwegian author of the Harry Hole mysteries.
6. To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris (Little, Brown, fiction, on sale May 13)
A social media-averse Manhattan dentist has his "virtual identity" appropriated; by the author of Then We Came to the End.
7. Clouds of Glory: The Life and Legend of Robert E. Lee by Michael Korda (Harper, non-fiction, on sale May 13)
The author of Ike takes on the great Confederate general.
8. The Skin Collector by Jeffery Deaver (Grand Central, fiction, on sale May 13)
Forensic detective Lincoln Rhyme is after a killer inspired by the Bone Collector, an earlier Deaver creation.
9. JFK Jr., George & Me by Matt Berman (Gallery Books, non-fiction, on sale May 20)
A memoir by the creative director at George, the shuttered political magazine co-founded by the late John F. Kennedy Jr.
10. Tibetan Peach Pie by Tom Robbins (Ecco, non-fiction, on sale May 27)
The author of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues writes an unconventional autobiography he subtitles "A True Account of an Imaginative Life."
by Joycelyn McClurg)
Everybody loves the month of May, especially publishers eager to give readers a jump on summer reading. USA TODAY's Jocelyn McClurg offers 10 notable books arriving this month.
1. Midnight Crossroad by Charlaine Harris (Ace, fiction, on sale May 6)
After saying goodbye to Sookie Stackhouse of True Blood fame, Harris launches a new paranormal trilogy set in Texas about a "telephone psychic" named Manfred Bernardo.
2. Michael Jordan: The Life by Roland Lazenby (Little, Brown, non-fiction, on sale May 6)
Bio of the basketball great by a journalist who has covered him on and off the court for three decades.
3. Wonderland by Stacey D'Erasmo (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, fiction, on sale May 6)
A female rocker attempts a comeback at 44; the book jacket sports a blurb by none other than Michael Stipe.
4. The Bees by Laline Paull (Ecco, fiction, on sale May 6)
The literary world is, ahem, buzzing about this debut novel, a dystopian tale set in a beehive and starring a sterile worker bee who challenges the Queen.
5. The Son by Jo Nesbo (Knopf, fiction, on sale May 13)
A heroin addict escapes from prison to hunt down corrupt Oslo officials; stand-alone novel from the Norwegian author of the Harry Hole mysteries.
6. To Rise Again at a Decent Hour by Joshua Ferris (Little, Brown, fiction, on sale May 13)
A social media-averse Manhattan dentist has his "virtual identity" appropriated; by the author of Then We Came to the End.
7. Clouds of Glory: The Life and Legend of Robert E. Lee by Michael Korda (Harper, non-fiction, on sale May 13)
The author of Ike takes on the great Confederate general.
8. The Skin Collector by Jeffery Deaver (Grand Central, fiction, on sale May 13)
Forensic detective Lincoln Rhyme is after a killer inspired by the Bone Collector, an earlier Deaver creation.
9. JFK Jr., George & Me by Matt Berman (Gallery Books, non-fiction, on sale May 20)
A memoir by the creative director at George, the shuttered political magazine co-founded by the late John F. Kennedy Jr.
10. Tibetan Peach Pie by Tom Robbins (Ecco, non-fiction, on sale May 27)
The author of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues writes an unconventional autobiography he subtitles "A True Account of an Imaginative Life."
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