Yep, you read right! In Diana Peterfreund’s Rampant (now available in paperback!), killer unicorns with incredible strength and venomous horns emerge from extinction and begin a series of mysterious attacks. Astrid Llewelyn and her all-girl class of unicorn hunters attend a school in Rome that teaches them how to fight these My-Little-Ponies-Gone-Bad (and these girls seriously kick butt, think Buffy the Vampire Slayer here). But when Astrid starts falling for Giovanni, a handsome, kind art student, things get complicated. Can’t say too much more without giving it away . . . just ditch the sparkles and rainbows, and get started reading Rampant!
After reading Rampant, you’ll want to get your hands on the second book in the series, Ascendant. Get a sneak peek with this seriously cool book trailer before it hits stores in a few weeks!
I’ve had a lot of readers ask me, “Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?” Which to me translates to “I’ve been writing forever, and I want to do this for the rest of my life.” That’s understandable and I applaud them, but most writers have more than writing skills at their fingertips. Most have come to writing after a list of varied jobs ranging from Vegas Show Girl to Financial Trend Analyst, though admittedly not in the same person.
I’m no different, and my pre-publication job credits include a more modest Vet tec (where I learned how to be brave), Owner/Manager of licensed Day Care (where I learned to work with temperamental, strong-willed people), Office Assistant (where I learned how to type), and my favorite: running live animal trap lines, tagging and releasing chipmunks and mice (where I learned about my limits and how to push through them).
All the mysteries in your world can be explained, by understanding ours. —Pittacus Lore
Post your best photo caption suggestion in the comments section and Pittacus Lore, Planet Lorien’s ruling elder and author of I Am Number Four will choose his favorite!
I’m not sure it was supernatural, but it’s been pretty great. I started out doing final revisions on The Goblin War, which will come out next year, following The Goblin Gate. When I first wrote The Goblin Wood, over ten years ago now, I intended it as a stand-alone novel. But everyone who read it said, “You CAN’T end it there!” So I wrote a rough first draft of The Goblin Gate, mostly featuring Tobin’s brother cleaning up the huge and complex mess that Tobin and Makenna left behind. Tobin and Makenna were forced to run from the villain. Jeriah has to defeat him.
But then, I started thinking about the third book. Book three would have to solve the underlying problem facing this world—which is an invasion by an army of barbarian warriors, whose cannibalism-based magic makes them so strong that the Realm’s army cannot beat them. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I wasn’t good enough to write that book. It would need three viewpoint characters, carrying out three separate, but intersecting, plot lines . . . and I wasn’t entirely sure how they could beat the barbarians, anyway!
If you’re like me you’ve seen a lot of vampires. You’ve seen ugly vampires like the ratlike bald guy in Nosferatu, handsome vampires like the boys in Vampire Diaries, shape-shifter vampires like the ones in Van Helsing, and even whiny vampires with no fangs like the guy in Martin. Heck, you’ve seen shimmery romantic vampires. You’ve seen evil vampires and good vampires, and lately a lot more good than evil. But you know what they all have? Every one of them, even the sweet ones, have the power of brute strength over humans. With few exceptions, vampires are faster and stronger than you or I, and they usually also have the capacity to hypnotize us (with hotness, of course) such that running and fighting wouldn’t help, anyway.
You know what? That’s not always the side I want to be on, and it’s why we launched the Alex Van Helsing series this summer.
Who’s Alex Van Helsing? He’s a 14-year-old who’s destined to be the greatest vampire hunter in history, but he’s not really clear on that yet. He doesn’t even know vampires exist. He thinks that’s just something people tease him about, with a name like that. He’s a quick-thinking, hard-riding freshman who’s spent his whole life being trained to fight and survive when the odds were against him, but he always thought those odds would come in the human variety. And in Alex Van Helsing: Vampire Rising, he learns differently when he stumbles upon an army of vampires out to take over the world. Luckily there’s a yin to that yang, in the form of a vast, high-tech spy organization called the Polidorium that takes Alex under its wing and sets him up with weapons and wheels.
Fun with Photobooth — Michael Grant
Post your best photo caption suggestion in the comments section and Michael Grant, author of LIES: A Gone Novel, will choose his favorite!
Okay, this is my favorite tagline for Firelight, which some genius at HarperTeen came up with. I should really find out who since it’s brilliant, and the first time I heard it I got chills and thought, YES! That’s it! That’s my book. It alludes to . . . well, everything!
While there are several conflicts and themes going on in Firelight, it’s a star-crossed love story at its core. Of course there’s going to be a sizzling romance involved in anything I ever write. The first books I read were romances. I used to filch them from my mother’s nightstand when the summers stretched long and hot and I found myself with nothing to do. There is always such a universal message of hope in a romance novel. Love conquers all. No matter what happens to the hero and heroine (and seriously bad stuff happens!), they’re going to make it. Their love will not only survive but flourish. Who doesn’t feel a little encouraged and hopeful after reading a book like that?
When I decided to try to write a young adult novel, it took a while for the characters and plot to arrive fully in my head, but one thing I always knew was that there would be a compelling romance within the book. And nothing is more compelling, or at least conflict-ridden, than a story of forbidden love. Shakespeare knew that perhaps best of all.
The leads in Firelight are Jacinda and Will. Both are enemies, but in a big sink-your-teeth-into way that you could only find in a paranormal setting. Jacinda is a draki, a descendant of dragons. Basically, she’s what dragons have evolved into over the millennia. And even more unique than that, she’s a fire-breather . . . the very last one among her kind.
I’ve heard from a lot of readers since The Body Finder was published in March, and YES, I’m totally listening! Some have told me that they were happy Violet’s parents were involved in her life, while others have said they liked how there weren’t any bloodsuckers, howlers, or other creatures that go bump in the night. Some readers were glad to find out that Jay was a “nice guy” and liked that there was no love triangle in the book.
Getting emails from readers is one of my favorite things about being an author, so please keep ’em coming—I love hearing what you think! Of course, haters need not apply. (Fine, haters can apply, too, but don’t be surprised if my spam filter “accidentally” deletes your emails.)
But all this feedback has me thinking about what readers are really looking for, and as a reader myself, I think I’ve finally figured it out.
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