In Which I FREAK OUT!!!!

So . . . yeah, this is totally nothing but a self-serving post.:D In case you don't follow me on Twitter or Facebook, MTV.com is hosting an exclusive cover reveal for EARTHBOUND and there's a possibility I am just tickled out of my gourd!!!!!!!

Here's the link:

Yay!!!!!!!!!

*ahem* Yeah, that's all.:)

Ciao!

WINNER and Time Vortexes (Vortices?)

So . . . something weird happened last week. Last Monday I was walking down the sidewalk on my way home to announce a winner for the Lesley Livingston contest when suddenly a time lord (who looked remarkably like David Tennant) swooped down and carried me away! We had several amazing adventures that I can't tell you about (lest I have to kill you) but when David dropped me back onto earth is wasn't last Monday, but today! So a week of my life was sucked into some kind of time vortex, never to be seen again.

And that is why this announcement is a week late.

Honest! Do you doubt me?

*koffkoff*

Anyway, thank you everyone for reading and commenting on the STARLING giveaway! The winner is:

June G of Paranormalists! June, please drop me an email at aprilynne pike at gee mail dot com with you full name and address so I can get STARLING right in the mail to you!

I was going to tell you how my Thanksgiving went and how I managed to feed over fifty people at my house, but I can't, because that week of my life disappeared. *shifty eyes*

Ciao!

Lesley Livingston's STARLING, Q&A and Giveaway!

I am so excited to have a Q&A today with one of my very favorite authors, Lesley Livingston! (Seriously, if you ever get a chance to spend a bit of time with her, do it! You won't regret it!)

Lesley has a new book out--the first of a new series, yay!--called Starling and I am lucky enough to be one of the stop on her blog tour!

 So let's jump right it!

Hi Lesley! Nice to have you here. What? Oh yes, I am looking lovely today, thanks for noticing. Oh, I look brilliant and thin besides? Your eyes are clearly working very well. But enough about me, for the moment, we're here to talk about you. And your book! 

It's looking quite lovely today too.

So I'm just going to jump right into setting, which most people think is boring, but not when it's New York City. This is your second series set in NYC (which I am completely in support of.) I just wondered if there was a reason you are so drawn to that area. Other than the subway which, in my opinion, is borderline magical.

The subway is a magical mystery tour, isn’t it? I’m always a bit mystified—and pleasantly surprised—when I actually arrive at the destination I intended by that method. It’s all terribly esoteric and (I suspect) involves travel between dimensions.

As for the city? Ah… You know what they say Aprilynne (aside from saying you really are looking quite lovely today—which is true!). “New York, New York…” It really is a hell of a town. Which, for the purposes of this particular series, is enormously useful. With the WONDROUS STRANGE series, during my research phase I would routinely stumble across real, historical details of the city that struck me with wonder and awe. With STARLING, my research filled me with… well, eerie tingles and foreboding (and wonder and awe). The history of the city is crammed with obscure factoids and tangled tales that make it such fertile ground for telling the kind of stories that I do—especially when I manage to unearth (quite literally, in some cases) real historical details that lend themselves nicely to the idea that a kind of arcane mystical “Bermuda Triangle” exists right in the heart of the city! Very handy!

So let's talk about Mason. I actually see a lot of you in her--maybe that's just because I am lucky enough to personally know you. Or maybe I see similarities where they don't actually exist.;) In what ways do you feel similar to Mason and conversely, how are you different?

You must mean my staggering good looks, yes? Why thank you! I do see a slight resemblance… the sparkling blue eyes… um… the… raven hair… the… tall… er… personality! Yes! The tall, plucky, quiet-yet-intuitive, subtle-witted, determined, do-or-die personality. Or maybe it’s just the fact that we both really like to play with swords *evil grin*.

And on to our brave hero. Tell us how hot Fenn is. I mean, tell us what you think makes him a great compliment to Mason.

Oh. Um. Do you mean, like, in Scoville Units?

*waits here while readers unfamiliar with spicy pepper terminology take to the google-nets*…

I’m gonna say “Ghost Chile” hot!

*waits for more google-pedia-ing*…

Now, I might be somewhat biased but, then, I also have an advantage. The Fennrys Wolf tends to hang around in my head a lot so I’m fairly familiar with his hotness factor. But I think the thing that makes him a great match for Mason is, for one thing, he respects her—her skill and her spirit. He also appreciates her dry, quiet sense of humor (it’s a good match with his own) and her willingness to go out on a limb to help a (naked) stranger. Fenn might not remember much about his past, but he does know he’s previously screwed up in the relationship arena—that much he remembers (vaguely)—and he’s determined not to jeapordize his tenuous bond with Mason in the hopes that it could develop into something more. Of course… they both have to stay alive long enough for that to happen…

Norse mythology. It's just an area of mythos that we don't see often in the mainstream. Or if we do, it's been very European-ized, if you know what I mean. So it's fun to see it come to life in Starling. What is it that drew you to the Norse mythology and what is your favorite part of it?

I do know what you mean! And I’m glad you enjoyed STARLING’s take on it! There’s something so intriguing to me about Norse mythology’s cheerful fatalism. It’s the spiritual embodiment of a people that clearly reveled in life and living but lived in a very harsh and unforgiving environment. It’s Life and Death, hand in hand, whistling and skipping along (and hacking the heads off anything in their way!), and it’s bizzarely alluring in that respect. The fact that it celebrates and, at the same time vilifies a guy like Loki—and never really lets you know which one is the real deal—intrigues me. Also, if you’ve ever seen pictures from those Icelandic volcanic eruptions, the ones where the sky is literally exploding with fire, ice, thunderclouds, lightning and the Aurora Borealis all at the same time, you can begin to understand where a lot of the imagery of these tales comes from.

I just spent a few days north of the Arctic Circle here in Canada and the landscape is so evocative. The Northern Lights are bewitching and the sky is full of ravens the size of pterydactyls. It’s easy to begin to grasp the origins of these myths in a place like that. But what was really fun for me was being able to take those primal, muscular tales and transmute them and filter them through the lens of a thoroughly sleek and modern setting like New York City.

And last but not least, and I mean that quite literally--let me take a calming breath first--Lesley, the ending. Seriously? Are you trying to kill me? Do you at least feel bad for torturing me? And, at the very least, can you tell me when the second book will be coming out so I get my hot little hands on it?

Oh. Uh… oh yeah. Sorry, Aprilynne. I really really feel… dreadful. For that. Sorry. What? I am not grinning diabolically. It’s… uh… face yoga. All the rage.

Is August 2013 soon enough? How about if I smile charmingly when I say that…? And give you a cookie…

It’s a good cookie…

It’s chocolate…


It had better be one seriously good cookie. Good. Cookie.

While Lesley is off baking the best darn cookie ever, you can win a copy of STARLING!!! Super-duper easy (because I am doing a bunch of traveling and don't have much time, eeep!), please comment with some rendition of "This is my entry for the contest" below. You have until Sunday night at midnight (because that is when i am getting home from Las Vegas, not seriously, it will be about midnight . . .) to enter and I will ship this baby internationally, so it is open to everyone! 

Lesley, is that cookie done yet?

Ciao!

Life After Theft

I love this book.

I might love this book more than anything else I've ever written. And for those of you who don't really know much about it, it's got quite a story. And in celebration of the cover reveal that's coming up this week, I wanted to share the story of Life After Theft.

Which begins way back in November of 2006. Six months before I had any inkling I was going to write Wings I woke up with a first chapter, and a voice. I mean a writing voice, not like a voice in my head. Though some people do it that way too.:D I literally got up early (and if you know me you know how rare it is for me to do that voluntarily) and wrote a query pitch (yes, the query pitch is what came to me first, maybe it was the 300 agents I'd queried in the previous two years) and the first chapter.

I spent several days messing with this idea, but mostly it was just a query pitch, and a first chapter. For those of you who remember Miss Snark, the most awesome thing happened--she decided to hold what she called a Crap 'o Meter and she would read and give feedback on a . . . wait for it, wait for it . . . pitch and then first 500 words. I'm telling you, it was fate.

I was at a pretty down point in my writing journey; I had written three books, I had a couple of agents reading fulls after putting in a massive, massive revision that turned two of those books into one, but I was on my last round of agents and was looking into the yawning chasm with which all aspiring authors are familiar--the point at which you need to shelve your manuscript and start a new one. And I wasn't sure it was worth it.

Long story short, Miss Snark loved the pitch and the first 500 words and actually had an agent contact her asking for my information. I ended up signing with my agent (a different one) just a few weeks after that and Life After Theft got pushed to the back burner. But that one experience, having two agents not only approve of, but want more of my little book, gave me that jolt of confidence that the long, grueling query process had stripped away. Not to mention a ton of new blog readers. A big percentage of my long-term blog readers can be traced back to that contest. It was . . . a major light during a dark time.

Fast forward to six months later when no one wanted my book. The one I signed with my agent with. I was at the yawning chasm again! I had a choice--choose to believe blindly in my book and write its sequel (rarely a good idea, just sayin'), finish Life After Theft (which probably had three or four chapters at this point), or write something completely new.

I wanted to write Life After Theft, but sadly, despite having a query pitch, it really didn't have . . . oh, how to put this nicely? . . . a plot. So I decided to do something new. But writing the little bit that I had on Life After Theft made me realize something--I like writing teenaged characters. (The book my agent had shopped was an adult.) So even though it would ultimately be Wings that was both written and published first, it was Life After Theft that made me realize I wanted to write YA. And talk about a decision I have never once regretted!

So then Wings happened and revisions happened and deadlines happened. Life After Theft was slowly growing a plot, but every time the actually-contracted books came calling, Life After Theft had to go to the back burner.

By the time I finished the draft of Life After Theft that my agent sold to Harper, it had been just shy of three years since I'd started. By the time I finished edits and got a firm publication date it was two years later. Next month marks six years and when it comes out in April (well, April 30, so basically May :D) it will have been a six and and a half year journey.

Life After Theft means a lot to me--it's the book that gave me the confidence to keep writing, that helped me realize I wanted to write for teens, the first book that got me any attention in the publishing industry, the book I have fought for and refused to compromise on often enough that I worry my team thinks I've become a difficult author. It's what I think Beth Revis termed The Book of My Heart. This book has more of me in it that any of my other books including my upcoming Earthbound series. I. Love. This. Book. And I'm so excited that it is coming out soon(ish) and that I get to share the cover with you this week!

But be warned, this book is not like Wings. No, this book is pretty much nothing like Wings. Boy protag, first person, a little edgy. There's a ghost but I wouldn't call it fantasy, and there's kissing, though I wouldn't call it a romance. It's . . . it's something else entirely. So I'm letting you know before you pick it up, not to expect it to be like Wings. Because you will be disappointed. And I so very much do not want you to be disappointed by this book.:)

So, the whole point of this very long story is, as I've alluded, the cover reveal!! Which will . . . not be here!:D Melania Tolan of Fangs, Felines, Fins, and Fun Fiction is hosting my cover reveal with an ARC giveaway and a couple of teasers! (In fact, because I was supposed to have this post up yesterday, she's already got the teaser up there.;)

So go check it out!!!

Ciao!

Where I'll Be

This is a VERY IMPORTANT POST!!!! (hehe!)

Except it really is. I always feel bad when people say, "Oh, I live in XYZ, I wish you could come here!" and I was just there, but they didn't know it because I was bad about spreading the word. So the spreading is going to commence!:D

Here are some of the events coming up in the next several months where you can find me.

First and possibly the most exciting, I am going to be attending FAERIECON in Maryland next month!!!!! (No, I'm not excited about this in the least . . . .;))

Here is the FaerieCon website. You will note that there are several other amazing YA faerie authors including Julie Kagawa and Melissa Marr. In fact, we are doing a panel together where we will discuss if YA has become the new mainstream. (That's a panel *I'm* interested in listening to even though I'm on it!) This Con will run from Friday, November 9 through Sunday, November 11 just outside of Baltimore, MD. (The website is loading a little slowly today, be patient! I assume that means that millions of people are checking out the extreme awesomeness of the WORLD'S LARGEST FAERIE CONVENTION!!!)

The next couple events are not for four to six months, but I want to let you know ahead of time because early registration is required.:D

I will be presenting at the third annual Teen Author Boot Camp sponsored by the Utah Valley University in Orem Utah on Saturday, March 16th. There will be a ton of authors there like Shannon Hale and Janette Rallison, and also literary agent Amy Jameson. It is an all day class and workshop conference for teen aspiring authors and it looks like it is going to be amazing! (Check it!)  If you are a teen who wants to attend, be aware that the event is capped at 350 (up from 250 last year!) so don't wait until the day before to register. *wink* (Note, registration is not open YET! But be thinking about it.:))

For the second year, I am a presenter at The Romantic Times National Convention, and of particular note, am participating in the amazing Teen Day on Saturday, May 5th. This has become THE premiere Teen Book event int he entire country ya'all. Last year there were over seventy authors and as well as getting to meet and listen to them read, teach, make weird jokes (I'm looking at you, Ally Carter;)) and get some serious one-on-one time at the party, every teen also gets a goodie bag with a bunch of books (often ARCs that haven't been released yet!!!). Last year we had over 70 authors and gave away over 3500 books. This year there are over eighty authors and who knows how many books we can get together to give away!!! Seriously people, this event is in Kansas, but if you are close, or even kind of close, this is an event worth saving up and going to! Last year we had teens fly into Chicago for New york and California and tons of places in between! It is an amazing event and I am so excited to be a part of it AND as a bonus, to have it be the week that Life After Theft releases!!! Whoo-hoo!!!!:D

I am starting to get a few details about touring next summer, but really, that's over six months away, so you can't expect much. *wink* But these three events are going to crazily awesome!!!! (Awesomely crazy?:D) PLEASE COME SEE ME!!!!:D

Ciao!