Cover of Raven

Check out the amazing cover of Raven, designed by Sammy Yuen Jr. 

Raven comes out on Feb. 10, 2009...

15:58 - 6 Comments - 5 Kudos - Add Comment

Street Pharm trailer!

A talented young film student in San Francisco has made a Street Pharm trailer. It's a dark and gritty interpretation of Street Pharm, and I was incredibly impressed. Be warned, though: it is only appropriate for mature viewers due to violent content.

17:44 - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Simon Pulse Canada is on Facebook!

If you love to chat about books, and WIN FREE BOOKS (they’re giving away LOTS -- they just gave away 8 copies of Street Pharm and 6 of City of Ashes), then join up!  http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8575522198 

I’ll see you there!

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CONTEST for teen writers (Canada)
Current mood: excited

Want me to critique your work over the phone? 

Want to win a Simon and Schuster prize package? 

What If? Magazine and Simon and Schuster Canada present the SNITCH WRITING CONTEST.

How the contest works:

Send us a poem or story/essay about the negative effects of drugs, violence, or gangs or a success story/poem on someone who was able to break away from them. What If? editors will chose a first and second place winner in each category (poetry and prose). The winners will be awarded the prizes packages as noted below.

How you enter:

You can enter by emailing your entries to: editor@whatifmagazine.com with the subject line 'Snitch Contest'. You can enter by mailing your entries to: What If?
What If? magazine
'Snitch Contest'
19 Lynwood Place
Guelph, ON N1G 2V9
If you would like your mailed entries returned you must include a self-addressed, stamped envelope with sufficient postage.

What you can win:

First Place Prizes
(one each for poetry and prose)
1) A one-on-one, in-person critique of your submission with Allison van Diepen by phone
2) Simon and Schuster book prize package valued at $119.95
3) Publication in the summer issue of What If? magazine

Second Place Prizes
(one each for poetry and prose)
1) Simon and Schuster book prize package valued at $45.97
2) Publication in the summer issue of What If? magazine

Contest Rules:

1) One entry per person in each category.
2) Prose no longer than 2000 words.
3) Poems no longer than 20 lines.
4) Entries must be received at the What If? office no later than April 18th, 2008
5) Book prizes to be compiled by Simon & Schuster Canada and must be accepted as awarded. Prizes have no cash surrender value.
6) This contest is void where prohibited by law or local statute.
7) Full contact information for your entry must be included with the entry. This must include a contact telephone number, email address, and a complete mailing address.
8) Entries that fail to follow the contest rules, as well as entries that arrive after April 18th, 2008, will be automatically disqualified.
9) The judges' decisions are final and only the winning entrants will be notified prior to publication.
10) Family members/relatives of What If? magazine or Simon & Schuster Canada employees are not eligible to enter.
11) All submitting writers must be 19 years of age or under and Canadian citizens.

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Chat with your favorite authors

Did you hear about Simon Pulse Blogfest?  From March 14th to 27th, some of your favorite authors will be answering your questions here: http://www.pulseblogfest.com/ 

To submit a question, go to the Blogfest Myspace page. 

See you there!

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My next book is coming out...

... in the spring of 2009!  It's an urban fantasy about life and death, addiction, and faith.  It's called RAVEN.

I sent the first draft to my editor last week.  The next step is for my editor to read the manuscript and suggest changes.  We'll do a couple of rounds of editing before the manuscript is deemed ready.  Meanwhile, meetings are already taking place to discuss how to market the book.  A big part of that is deciding on a cover. 

I'm thrilled that the cover designer will be Sammy Yuen Jr., who designed some of the best YA covers out there.  Besides designing the awesome covers of  STREET PHARM and SNITCH, he designed the covers of Holly Black's TITHE, VALIANT and IRONSIDE, as well as Ellen Hopkins' CRANK, BURNED, GLASS...  Needless to say, I'm excited to see what Sammy will come up with. :)

07:06 - 9 Comments - 13 Kudos - Add Comment

SNITCH is out TODAY!!

I learned a lot about gangs while researching this book. I even had a student warn, "You should stop asking so many questions." But I didn't. And I still haven't.

While I was teaching in Brooklyn, I was branded a snitch. I witnessed an incident involving some teens from another school, and I reported them. The teens then followed me to the subway station, surrounded me, and threw garbage at me and cursed me out. The subway platform was crowded, but no one did anything.

The next day I told my students what had happened, and to my complete shock, they all said it was my fault because I was a snitch. They said I was lucky I hadn't been thrown onto the subway tracks. I realized that if I'd been a student instead of a teacher, I'd have been in real trouble that day. So I started wondering what it would be like for a teen who lived in fear… and the story was born.

15:07 - 6 Comments - 10 Kudos - Add Comment

Birthday.. whoa
Current mood: satisfied

Thanks for all the birthday wishes.  It means a lot.  This is the big 3-0.  Wow.  A little scary.  A whole new era.  I tried to stop my students from singing, but they ignored me and sang loud enough for the entire floor to hear.  My colleagues plied me with cake.  I am going to an Aboriginal restaurant tonight and will indulge in wine and arctic char.  Partying with my friends will happen Saturday night.  Yes, I don't party on weeknights anymore.  It is the responsible thing to do, since I have to work tomorrow.  OMG, does this mean I'm old?

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Banning Street Pharm?

Apparently there are proceedings underway to ban my book, Street Pharm, from a juvenile correctional facility in the Midwest.  This facility takes a cognitive approach -- they want to "rewire" (their words) the young offenders by keeping them away from fiction that deals with drugs, gangs, etc. And that has led them to ban most "urban fiction" including some books written specifically for teens.

As a teacher, I understand what they're trying to do.  I'm just not sure that keeping Street Pharm out of their libraries is going to help them do it. I think reading about Ty Johnson, a character the teens can relate to, might get them thinking about the changes they need to make in their lives. 

I recently heard about a book club at a maximum security juvenile correctional facility in Ohio that is using Street Pharm. The book club has doubled in size since word got around about the book, and the librarian who started it contacted me about a possible author visit. She wrote
that, when she asked the teens what they thought the point of the book was, "…they mostly thought that you wanted to stress how important it is to get an education. That was the message that they took away from this."

I hope the young offenders at that facility in the Midwest get the chance to read Street Pharm and come to that conclusion themselves.

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STREET PHARM named ALA Top Ten Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers
Current mood: happy

I'm thrilled, especially because I hear from many teens who say they've never been big on reading, but they love Street Pharm.  I hope this encourages them to harass their local librarians and booksellers for more reads!