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Book Recommendations
In the northeast US,
Autumn means shorter days, cooler nights, and the best display
of
color this side of the Aurora Borealis. The trees outside my
house are blazing in shades of yellow, orange, and red and the weather
is perfect for tea and curling up with a good book.
Two
books that I've recently read and enjoyed are quite different in theme,
genre, and tone, but both provided me with hours of entertainment.
The first (and I cheat, since I read it earlier in the year)
is Feed,
by Mira Grant.
Ostensibly a YA Zombie novel, this first person narrative,
told
through the voice of a blog reporter in a post zombie-apocalypse world
is a scathing critique on the media and politics in a time of great
societal fear. Grant (the pseudonym of Seanan McGuire) takes
some true writing risks in this novel and wrote a book that I have
passed around to everyone in my family and have recommended widely.
I am waiting (impatiently) for my turn to read the sequel.
The
second book is the latest book in a series that is my guilty pleasure
reading. Well, not really
guilty, but certainly a pleasure. I am a huge fan of Lois
McMaster Bujold and her Vorkosigan saga stories. Her most
recent, Cryoburn,
came out some months ago, but I forced myself to wait to read it,
wanting to savor another Miles story. Her books are a mix of
mission-impossible type adventure, science fiction, social commentary,
and comedy of manners set in a futuristic quasi-Russian society at the
cusp of massive social change. Miles Vorkosigan is an
irrepressible character. I love reading about him.
Given the chaos that follows in his wake, I would
hate to have to live anywhere near him in real life.
If you've read a book recently that you've really enjoyed, please pop
me an email with the details.
(top of page)
What's
New
Soon! Available at a
computer or e-reader near you!
Okay, so I stink at sales pitches. Here's the deal.
Once upon a time, I wrote The Between, a YA
Fae changeling novel.
After the usual revisions, critiques, and writer-angst, I
sent it to my agent who loved it and sent it on submission.
The editors who requested it also loved it. But all of them
passed on buying the book for essentially market reasons.
Not enough of a potential audience for the big houses to be
interested enough to take a risk on an unknown author.
After the requisite mumblings and grumblings about the state of
publishing, I decided I had two choices: trunk the story or enter the
wild-west-world of self-publishing.
So with the blessing of my agency, I am planning to publish that
novel, The
Between, as an eBook.
While The Between
is a
complete stand-alone story, in the coming year I hope to write a
companion novel. However, to do that in the absence of a
publishing contract, I need some sense that folks
really want to read it. My plan is to open a Kickstarter
campaign to
gather a group of supporters interested in helping to fund the sequel's
publication.
If you've never heard of Kickstarter
before, it's somewhat
akin to venture capital for artistic endeavors. There are two
major differences; supporters pledge for the finished work (and other
kinds of goodies like sneak peaks of work in progress, character naming
rights, bonus short stories, etc) rather than a share of the project
and unless the
stated goal is met in full within the 2 month deadline, the money isn't
released and no one is charged.
This
model has been very successful in funding niche publishing projects as
well as for more established authors to complete projects that may not
have been commercial enough for mainstream publishing.
I
will be opening the kickstarter campaign approximately a month after
the publication of The
Between and will let folks know via Blue
Musings, my website, blog, and social media.
Stay tuned!
(top of page)
This
Issue's Story
In anticipation of the
upcoming publication of "The Between," I offer you a brief synopsis and
the first chapter for your
reading pleasure.
High
school senior Lydia Hawthorne is less than grateful when Oberon has her
snatched from the Mortal world and she finds out she's actually Fae.
And not just any Fae, but a trueborn with enough inherent magic to
tip the balance between the warring Bright and Shadow courts.
But that's
their game and she doesn't want to play by their rules. Together with
Clive Barrow, a Bright Court Fae with embarrassing family ties to the
Mortal
world, Lydia fights to regain her old life. Oberon and
Titania get far more than
they bargain for when Lydia fuels her magic with the very Human power
of love and loss, challenging the essential nature
of Faerie itself.
The
Between
LJ Cohen
Chapter 1
Lydia glanced at her phone and jumped down from the edge of
the
sink in the girl’s bathroom. Ten more minutes before the late bus. She
could risk leaving now. Cracking open the door, she looked up and down
the hallway for any sign of Clive. So far, so good. She’d kept her
backpack and jacket with her all day so all she had to do was escape
outside without being seen. Then she'd have the whole weekend without
him following her around. The way he seemed to know where she'd be at
any given time was more than a little creepy. It wasn't right. He
wasn't right. Lydia couldn't figure out what Clive wanted, but whenever
he looked at her she felt unsteady, like the ground was tilting under
her feet.
For once she'd timed it
perfectly—the halls were empty. Shouldering her pack, Lydia sprinted
down the stairs to the side exit where she could see the bus loading
zone and had a clear view of anyone coming in or out of the building. A
few other students and several of her teachers passed by as if she were
invisible. If only she were invisible, then Clive wouldn't be her
problem.
She waited until everyone
else boarded before jogging across the field to the bus. There were a
few other kids she knew, but no one spoke to her. It had been a long
week and Lydia didn't want to talk to anyone, either. As they pulled
away from school, she let her breath out in a long sigh, shoved her
backpack under an empty seat, and slumped against the window. With
Monday off, she had three days to work on her college essays and get
her history paper finished. Three whole days without having to dodge
her personal stalker. "Thank God it's Friday" had never seemed more
appropriate.
"May I?" a deep voice asked, full of
exaggerated politeness.
She jerked her head up, heart pounding. It
couldn't be.
Clive was standing, leaning over her seat, staring at her with his odd
emerald eyes. He shouldn't even be here--as far as she knew, he didn't
live anywhere near her side of town. As usual, no one even glanced her
way. She wondered if anyone would react if she screamed. If Clive tried
to touch her, she sure as hell would. He sat down beside her and she
inched closer to the window.
"It's the glamour," he said.
All
that effort avoiding him for nothing. How did he even get on the bus?
Lydia was sure he hadn't boarded before her and she was the last one
on. Maybe he would just go away if she closed her eyes.
"That's why they don't really notice
you."
Lydia
could hear the perfect smile in his voice. Ever since he came to school
in September, most of the girls and even some of the guys had
practically drooled over him. But no one else seemed to catch the odd
things he said to her. Not the kids who orbited around "Planet Clive,"
not the teachers, who somehow never called on him or collected his
homework. Not the guidance counselor, who didn't seem to register her
complaints about him. No one.
. . .
Continue reading the
opening chapter of The
Between
in the attached pdf. If your email provider doesn't
pass along attachments, it is also available, DRM-free, in pdf,
mobi
or epub
formats. This downloads page has all three
formats and information about how to open the file on your preferred
reading device.
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This work
is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
(This
means you can share the newsletter and/or the story with a link back
to http://www.ljcohen.net, Lisa Janice (LJ) Cohen, but please
do not place it for sale or change it.)
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