If there’s any kind of magic in the world it must be in the attempt of understanding someone

The quote is from Before Sunrise, with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy. It's the first in the "Before" saga, and if you haven't seen it, or its nine-years-later sequel, Before Sunset, or its nine-years-after-that sequel again Before Midnight, then you're missing out. Taken together, they form some of the most romantic and interesting hours on film. I saw Before Midnight this weekend. The evolution of these two actors and their continued work on these two characters over the last twenty some years is a real treasure. I highly recommend them. Of course, Dylan thought Before Sunset was neurotic and annoying, and Before Midnight was clever but uncomfortable, so hey, it's all subjective.

But despite his reservations, we happily talked about the film for hours afterward. So there, Dylan, you buttcrack. (Obviously, Dylan does not read the blog.)

Anyway, stuff going on. The trailer for ANTIGODDESS is being shot this weekend, and I'm very excited after reading the rough script. Girl of Nightmares just came out in Spanish, and it's called Anna Desde el Infierno, which I hope means Anna down in hell, because that's sort of funny if you say it fast. I received a copy from my lovely Spanish publisher…if anyone reading the blog would like a Spanish edition and lives in the United States, comment and I'll send one to you. Unless I get a lot of comment requests, because I only have a few, and I'm keeping one.

I'm going to be at San Diego Comic Con! Yay! Maybe for a signing, but definitely for a panel.

Thursday, July 18

10:30 – 11:30 am Paranormal Passion Panel: Authors discuss the inclusion of romantic elements in their action-packed novels at the Paranormal Passion Panel. Protagonists must battle the forces of evil while trying to keep the world (and often their lovers) safe from destruction. Please join Maryelizabeth Hart of Mysterious Galaxy for a discussion with Christine Feehan (Guest of Honor), Amy Vincent (Spellcaster), Aprilynne Pike (Earthbound), Lauren Kate (The Fallen Novels), Magnus Flyte (City of Dark Magic). Room 24ABC

Pretty juiced about this! Although I was previously booked on a superhero panel, and that would have been pretty sweet too.

Also, Minnesota events confirmed!

Friday, September 27th, 6:30 pm, Red Balloon Bookshop, St. Paul, MN

Saturday, September 28th, 7 pm, Scout & Morgan Booksellers, Cambridge, MN

I wanted to have a Minnesota event closer to the Twin Cities this time because I felt super guilty when fantastic bloggers drove all the way up to Cambridge. Both events should feature a goddess-themed beverage menu, with drinks called The Aphrodite, The Hera, and either The Hermes or The Athena. Red Balloon will feature The Hermes, which will pretty much be soda pop. Scout & Morgan will feature The Athena, which is just beer in a bottle, because she doesn't go in for those fancy, fruity umbrella drinks. I'll post menu specifics later on.

Other tour stops still being finalized, but I hope to see some of you on the road in September!

Interview and INSOMNIA giveaway with JR Johansson!!! Ends Friday.

Happy Monday, all. Today there's a first on the blog, an author interview and giveaway. I've got the lovely JR Johansson, with her debut, INSOMNIA! So…you know…read our interview, and then enter to win a signed copy in the comments!

Insomnia

It’s been four years since I slept, and I suspect it is killing me.

Instead of sleeping, Parker Chipp enters the dream of the last person he’s had eye contact with. He spends his nights crushed by other people’s fear and pain, by their disturbing secrets—and Parker can never have dreams of his own. The severe exhaustion is crippling him. If nothing changes, Parker could soon be facing psychosis and even death.

Then he meets Mia. Her dreams, calm and beautifully uncomplicated, allow him blissful rest that is utterly addictive. Parker starts going to bizarre lengths to catch Mia’s eye every day. Everyone at school thinks he’s gone over the edge, even his best friend. And when Mia is threatened by a true stalker, everyone thinks it’s Parker.

Suffering blackouts, Parker begins to wonder if he is turning into someone dangerous. What if the monster stalking Mia is him after all?

INTERVIEW!!
INSOMNIA features some great, creepy dream imagery. Or should I say nightmare imagery. Do you have nightmares? Could you tell us about any that are particularly disturbing?
I have had nightmares off and on my whole life. I had one recurring one as a kid where aliens were attacking and I was running through my dark house trying to find my family. Lights were flashing outside the blinds and I could hear the aliens coming. I finally found my brother, but he was dead already…it was pretty messed up. Yeah, I think my nightmares definitely fed into the book a bit.
When you were writing INSOMNIA, what came to you first? The premise? The characters? One scene, or one line of dialogue? The title? Can you describe one of those special moments when INSOMNIA was coming into being?
The premise came piece by piece, the first was the idea of watching people's dreams, then what that would be the physical ramifications to the body and more importantly, the brain. It all fell into place after that. I think one particularly special moment when everything came together was when I started working on a scene a bit later in the book and Parker reaches his psychological breaking point. Suddenly every page I read or note I took in my abnormal psychology class in college became intensely relevant and it all fed into this scene. It was powerful, creepy and terrifying. I loved every second of it.
Who is your favorite character, and why?
Oddly, I think my answer would be different for the sequel, but for Insomnia I think my favorite character is Finn. He's the comic relief, but he's also so much more. He epitomizes my best guy friends from high school. He's funny, goofy and above all else an incredible friend. Finn is the guy who would risk anything to save a friend and is loyal to a fault. I loved writing every scene he's in.
If you could nightwalk, would you nightwalk anyone in particular? What would you do? What do you think you would see?
Oh gosh…one thing I know for sure is that I would NOT want this power. I guess if I had it, I'd probably watch my friend Kasie's dreams. She's kind of the female equivalent of Finn. Her dreams would probably be very entertaining. My guess is there would be at least one nightmare where her kids pelted her with miniature foam footballs. That could be fun to watch. 🙂
Random: What is the strangest food you've ever eaten?
Hmm…I'm not sure. I guess to Americans, my family's traditional pizza night might seen strange. We make homemade pizzas. One is your typical pepperoni and the other is a tunafish pizza. Just a big pizza with regular sauce and cheese…and also tunafish. My husband is from Finland and tuna and shrimp are regular pizza toppings over there. We tried it out once and it was really quite good. We've been having it ever since and everyone else thinks it's bizarre.
Scenario: You're at the front of the class, reading your book report on The Great Gatsby and BOOM! You're suddenly in your underwear. Surprise! It's a nightmare. What do you do, punk? What do you do?
Haha, I love how my nightmare question is calling me out. As an expert on nightmares, I'd do the smart thing and think really hard about everyone else being in their underwear until suddenly they all were. Then I'd continue giving my book report as planned and act like everything was perfectly normal. Either that or I'd scream and hide under the teacher's desk…both seem like very logical options. 😉
What are you working on now?
I've got a few projects on the burner. I am working on the sequel to Insomnia. I'm getting ready to do edits on a new contemporary urban thriller set in Philly that we just sold to Macmillan. And I'm brainstorming out kinks to three new ideas to decide which one will be my next project. So yeah…I'm keeping pretty busy, but it's all very fun and exciting!
Interview over! Intrigued? Enter to win a signed copy of INSOMNIA! Just comment below, and I'll draw a winner on Friday. Tweet the contest with @KendareBlake somewhere in there and that will count as another entry. Good luck!

At a Daiye spa for a week (BEA, Klindt’s, events, nap time.)

I think the quote from Zoolander is something like, Derek to Matilda: "You can't just come in here, demanding sex and then changing your mind, telling someone they've been at a day spa for a week…."

That's how I feel, after returning from my first Book Expo America and my second YA Day at Klindt's Bookstore in The Dalles, Oregon. Not the demanding sex part. Or the changing my mind part. But like I've been at a day spa for a week. Invigorated. Refreshed. Jelly-legged. With a sort of warped sense of what time and day it is.

Book Expo was terrific. Only there for a blink of an eye, but long enough to be wowed by librarians at a librarian's dinner, blown away by the kindness of people who stood around in a long line for me to sign just one copy of ANTIGODDESS, (wish I could have talked to each one much longer), have a few too-short visits with my publicist and great editors at Tor (my editor, Mel, was struck down by strep throat. Felt terrible for her. Strep throat sucks like a sucker.)

For everyone who has asked about Anna Dressed in Blood movie news, I don't have any. I did meet with Meghan Hibbett, who runs Fickle Fish Films with Stephenie Meyer. It was way cool, and she is way fun, and such a fan of the book that she went as Anna for Halloween last year. The wait for the movie will be long, but I have no doubt it is in good hands. I mean come on, she likes Game of Thrones and Fringe. She told me stories about reading Anna at the same time as Stephenie, and I listened and thought, "this is a person who is enthusiastic enough about Anna Dressed in Blood that she wants to create it again in another medium." It was a brief walk in crazy weirdsville.

Then it was off to YA Day at fabulous Klindt's bookstore in The Dalles. I love that store. Now, back home, ready to get back to work. It's time.

In the upcoming weeks, I hope to have stops nailed down for the ANTIGODDESS tour this September. It's strange, getting ready for this new thing. Getting ready to talk about Cassandra and Athena. I love them both for different reasons. One day when there's more time, maybe I'll write about why. I certainly hope I can think of something to say to anyone kind enough to come out for a tour stop, or there will be just a lot of improvised dance.

You don't want to see my improvised dance.

ANTIGODDESS ARCs are here! So I’m giving some away!

So, this title is pretty self-explanatory. I have ARCs of ANTIGODDESS, and I'm giving some away. Three of them, this first round. I'll do a second round later, when I'm not so frazzled in between travel and can think of something fun (for myself) to do with it.

Here's a crappy photo to serve as physical proof of their existence:

ANTIGODDESS ARCs
Here's how to enter! First, qualifications. 1. Be a reader. Are you a reader? Excellent. Then you are kickass, and have an unalienable right to walk shoulders back and nose to ceiling.

Now, for the actual how: Leave a comment here. And/Or at the official ANTIGODDESS Facebook page. This gives you the ability to enter TWICE. And I would so much appreciate if you would like the page. Never done one of these here Facebook pages for the books before. Anna has one, but someone else set it up, and that is awesome.

Wait, wait, there's more how. In your comment, you have to tell me your favorite deity. Can be a Greek god, or their Roman counterpart, or Egyptian, or Hindu, or Norse, or whatever. It can be She-Ra. She totally counts. It can be Batman. Why not? But if you say The Wonder Twins, there will be debate.

Three ARCs are up for grabs. I hope you enjoy the read. I hope you enjoy it enough to recommend it to others, or ask your local library to stock it. If you happen to enjoy it enough to pre-order, remember I'm doing bookplates for everyone who emails me with their order info (not like credit card info or personal stuff, just where you ordered!) to kendareblake@yahoo.com. US only, because, postage. Which reminds me.

This giveaway is US only. Winners will be randomly drawn on Thursday, May 9th!!! And thank you so much, for wanting to give ANTIGODDESS a try.

I want a name, I want it so it can cut glass, you know, razor sharp. (Celebration! Announcements!)

Those of you film aficionados will know that the title today is from Boogie Nights, when Mark Wahlberg is trying to choose his porn name. I picked it for a reason. Hang with me.

But first, I finished a book today. Pretty much right now. ANTIGODDESS 3, in the can. And I will whoop and holler about it, because it is freshly finished, and I always allow one day for it to feel perfect before I go back and fix everything that is inevitably wrong with it. Later, my editor will fix everything else. Four times or so.

But today! Today it is perfect! It is rock solid, going down to Chinatown perfect. If that is a thing.

So, to celebrate, I'm going to announce some stuff, because why not. How about some trilogy titles? So I no longer have to call the books ANTIGODDESS 2 and ANTIGODDESS 3? See why I chose the "razor sharp" name-related movie quote? Hanging with me pays off.

Okay, so, *drumroll* the second book is officially titled:

ANTIGODDESS 2: The Return of Dirk Diggler.

and the third is:

ANTIGODDESS 3: The Revenge of Chest Rockwell.

Not really. But that would be awesome. Book two's title is actually ARISTEIA. What the hell is an aristeia? Well, I'll tell you. It's the moment in an epic poem like The Iliad where a hero has their finest, bloodiest battle. Like an exhibition of badassery. A time when they've never killed so much before, or killed it so very, very dead. When they're untouchable. When they're almost gods.

Book three is called FATALISTE. Because…because…because it's a pretty word, and I like it. Not everything has to be super deep, you know what I'm saying?

Another bit of announcement, the Goddess War series will release pretty quick. Very little time between books. Maybe six months, or eight. Excellent. I hope you enjoy lots of books, flying at you.

And another bit of announcement: the Goddess War series has been picked up by my UK/AZ publisher, Hachette/Orchard! I think they're releasing about the same time! And also, should be in Greece! And Anna Dressed in Blood and Girl of Nightmares are headed to Greece! Which is great, because I love Greece. There are many photos of me doing posing like fine Greek statues or mugging it in front of the Acropolis. Souvlaki rules.

And just one more thing. If you have pre-ordered ANTIGODDESS already I want to say thank you. So if you have, and would like a signed bookplate and/or doodle, please email me at kendareblake@yahoo.com with your name, address and doodle requests, and tell me where you pre-ordered from. Fair warning, I doodle for crap. But I'll do it, if you want it. Expect stick figures. This is limited to US only residents, because, well, Postage!

Also, this is not to entice people to pre-order if they weren't going to. It's just meant as a thank you, for those supporting my writing, and wanting to read it, and helping the Goddess War get a running start. There will be a formal pre-order/release week thank you contest running later on. Those of you who request bookplates now can still enter that one. You just won't get two bookplates. Unless you order two copies of ANTIGODDESS. I'll do a bookplate for every copy.

I probably don't have to say this, because you guys are excellent, but no being sneaky and getting bookplates for an old copy of Anna or Girl of Nightmares. I might do that at some point, but this one is just for ANTIGODDESS pre-orders.

PS, those wondering what the H a bookplate is, it's a square sticker that I can personalize and sign, and you can stick it in your book to make it a signed copy.

WINTER YA SCAVENGER HUNT 2013

YAScavHuntVulture

RedTeamScavHunt

Welcome to My Leg of the YA Scavenger Hunt!!

A Quick Rundown on how the Hunt Works:

On this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each participating YA author, you also get a secret number. Add up the numbers, and  enter it for a chance to win a major prize–one lucky winner will receive at least one signed book from each author on my team in the hunt! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online until noon PST on Sunday, April 7th!

You can start right here or you can also go to the YA Scavenger Hunt homepage to find out all about the hunt. There are TWO contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or both! I am a part of the RED TEAM–but there is also a blue team and if you do the blue hunt you'll have a chance to win a whole different set of signed books!

If you'd like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, see the full list of prizes up for grabs, or if you get lost along the way, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt homepage.

Directions: Below, you'll notice that I've listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the red team, and then add them up (don't worry, you can use a calculator!). Hint: the secret number is highlighted in RED.

Entry Form: Once you've added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.

Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian's permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by December 2nd, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

HINT HINT HINT about my exclusive content: Okay, it's not a hint, I'll just tell you what it is. Somewhere on this hunt is a lost Cas Lowood story. It might be the last Cas Lowood story. And of course, Thomas and Carmel are in it too. Also, I'm doing a bonus giveaway at the bottom of this post.

This is my first time participating, and I scored such a coup my first time out. I get to host exclusive content from Elizabeth Richards! That's right, the author of the amazing and gritty and seething BLACK CITY! (I almost typed "hosed" instead of "host". I hope that's not portentious of me hosing this up.)

Anyway, today Elizabeth was kind enough to share some exclusive deleted scenes from PHOENIX, the sequel to BLACK CITY. Here's a bit about the book:

phoenixfinal2
Ash and Natalie are just starting to build a life together when things in the United Sentry States go from bad to worse. Ash and Natalie find themselves at the center of the turmoil when dictator Purian Rose threatens Natalie's life unless Ash votes in favor of Rose's Law–a law that will send Darklings and other dissenters to a deadly concentration camp known as the Tenth. Ash can't bring himself to Natalie's life for those of millions of Darklings. The only way to save everyone is to escape Black City and find the Ora, a powerful weapon that could take down Purian Rose for good. But fleeing the city and finding the weapon is easier said than done, and becomes a harrowing journey that could tear Ash and Natalie apart, even pushing them into the arms of others. Fast-paced and absorbing, PHOENIX is a delicious, steamy, can't-put-down read.

Want to buy it now? Sure you do. Here's a convenient link.

And here's a bit about Elizabeth Richards:

elizabethrichardsphoto
Elizabeth Richards is an award-winning journalist, who spent her early career reviewing videogames before making the bold (or crazy) move into travel writing, despite suffering from terrible travel sickness. In her spare time, she ran a successful lifestyle website aimed at teenage girls, where she got to interview many of her favourite bands, go to gigs and basically blag loads of free swag all in the name of ‘research’. Elizabeth lives in Buckinghamshire, England, with her husband. PHOENIX is her second novel. Follow her @theredpenofdoom on Twitter, theredpenofdoom.blogspot.com, or facebook.com/OfficialElizabethRichards

Kept you waiting long enough? Fine, whatever, OKAY!! Exclusive Content Below!!!

Alas, the YASH is over, and I had to take down the tantalizing deleted scenes from PHOENIX. Good luck to all who entered, and thanks for playing!

Now on to the winning! And the bonus contest!

In case you need reminding, there is a butt-load of books up for grabs in this Scavenger Hunt. But you've got to collect all the numbers for your team. Or both teams. Why not? Now is the time to be greedy. Want to win a copy of PHOENIX? And a copy of Girl of Nightmares, and SO many other books? I won't be coy. You need this number. 3!!! Now, on to the next leg hosted by the fabulous Kathleen Peacock. Go HERE!

And now, if I haven't already lost you to the Scavenger hunt frenzy and you're already knocking down Kathleen's door, in which case I'm talking to myself and can say whatever the H I want, how about a bonus contest? I don't know why I chose green. It looks weird.

Want a signed special UK edition of Girl of Nightmares? The paperback with Anna in the red dress? I'll give away three!! Just leave me a comment or tweet me @KendareBlake. I have to limit this one to US only. But the YA Scavenger Hunt copy is of course international, as it is an international contest.

Happy Hunting, All.

Writing the third book in a trilogy is like riding a psychotic horse toward a burning stable.

Thanks, Robin Williams in The Birdcage. Also, thank you to Hank Azaria in the same movie, for his Guatemalan-ness.

So yes, I've never written a trilogy before. Anna was a duo. Everything else I've ever done was short story or stand alone. I had heard from author authors that the third book of a trilogy, especially if you're a pantser, ie do not plot or know where things end up like a sane person might, was a real bitch. Turns out they weren't lying.

If you've never ridden a psychotic horse I can tell you, it's fricken scary. You could die at any moment. Things go through your mind like, "If I can ditch these stirrups I'll be clear to bail!" or, "Steer him into the river! We'll float!" And then you realize your feet are stuck through the stirrups and the damn thing has the bit in his teeth and will not be steered. So on you cling. Or you die, which I've already mentioned was a possibility.

With trilogies, by the time you get to Book 3, lots of stuff has been set into motion. Threads waving in the breeze. Arcs over here and arcs over there and arcs for this person that need to sync with arcs for that person and I am going to kill all the arcs, is what I'm saying. And I don't even have that many characters. Writing ANTIGODDESS 3 has given me a larger cache of awe for George RR Martin, who I think should be given many backrubs and chamomile tea.

But, thanks to the magic that is story, these things tend to work themselves out, if we just relax and don't drive ourselves into therapy first (or so I continue to tell myself.) Anybody out there with trilogy tips, hey, don't hold back, because as usual, I am no use, advice wise.

The Count of Monte Crisco, by Alexander Dumbass

Yep. I was watching The Shawshank Redemption again. This time on AMC with Story Notes. Couldn't really think of an entry title today, and kept hearing William Sadler say that line in my head, so, there you go.

Just made it back (okay, days and days ago) from the Montgomery County Book Festival, where I met lots of excellent authors and lots of excellent readers and bloggers and librarians. It was a solid 48 hours of fun. I love talking with other authors and hearing their stories. Yet, I always seem to take away two things from these encounters.

One: everyone else is way more plugged-in to the writing scene than I am, and I am a big, shambling, half-dead mamluk who only responds to very old news with awe and wonder and a wide open mouth. This doesn't bother me. I like hearing news this way. Agape. And two years later.

Two: I am a slow, dumb, lazy piece of crap. Allow me to explain this one. I continually talk to writers who have several manuscripts on submission, or several projects sold, or several projects in the works. We're talking, two, three, four, five, sometimes in entirely different genres, and they also have great day jobs and children and farms full of llamas that need shaving and milking.

Do you milk llamas? Anyway.

Some have several books coming out in the same year. With different publishers. Under different names. I…do not. I. Write. Slow. I can pull off two novels a year if I push it, and there's a 40% chance that one of those novels will suck. I don't fill in time with short stories, or journal articles or poetry. And I have no excuse for this. No farm full of llamas that need shaving and/or milking. I am just a slow, dumb, lazy piece of crap.

And I know, that there are other slow, dumb, lazy piece of craps out there, just like me. Though I hope they don't call themselves that. And when chatting with other, WAY more productive writers, it's easy to feel like we're not doing enough. But screw that. We write how we write. The only way we can. And honestly, being a slow, dumb, lazy piece of crap works pretty well for me. I don't know how to finish this paragraph…lazy craps unite? That doesn't seem right…

Anyway, as much as I enjoyed the festival, I'm glad to be back home, working on the novel. And diving into some of the great reads I picked up in Montgomery County. Did I mention I'm a slow, lazy piece of crap reader, too? But that's a story for another time.

If you’re gonna kill me, get on with it. If not, shut the hell up – I’m on vacation.

Or at least I was. Took an extended break from all things writing over the holidays. Minimal internets, practically no thinking about Antigoddess 3. It was nice. I read, and ate a lot. I beat the crap out of Final Fantasy 13-2, only to learn it ends on a cliffhanger until Final Fantasy Lightning Returns. Nearly punched the screen. Good times.

But, vacations end. Two days ago I started Antigoddess 3, after several hours of dinking around doing other stuff I'd neglected doing online over the break, trying hard not to acknowledge the fact that I'd only have as long as it took to open and format the new document to figure out where the book actually started. I've never written a trilogy before. It's weird. Right now all I see are possibilities, with no idea which of them will weave together to form the narrative. And where exactly they'll go when they do.

I won't really know until about thirty (or fifty) thousand words deep if I'm writing a book, or riding a bullet train to nowherestown. And the phrase "riding a bullet train to nowherestown" implies a lot more fun than is actually involved. But so far, the book is fun. Writing is fun. Not a chore, still somehow not work (even if I hint heavily that I am SLAVING AWAY to anyone who asks how the work is going) and the small magic of the process never fails to amaze me. People often ask how I get ideas, or how I develop characters, and I usually have to give these douchey sounding answers like, I don't know, or it just develops naturally as it goes along, and part of me always thinks I'm lying and have just blocked out the real process. But it's true. I was just sitting around, watching who knows what on TV, and the structure of the book was just like, "Hey! Here I am." And I was all, "It's about fricken time, I'm starting you in 20 minutes."

In non-writing, movie-related talk: who's excited for Richard Linklater's BEFORE MIDNIGHT? Before Sunrise and Before Sunset are my two favorite films to double feature with a bottle of wine and roll around on the floor lamenting the state of modern romance. And Guillermo Del Toro's MAMA. I can't decide if it looks creepy, or irritating. Also, Hansel & Gretel Witch Hunters. Will I end up rooting for the witch? Because I usually do.

Thanks to everyone who entered the ARTICLE 5 Giveaway! I'm in the middle of BREAKING POINT right now, and it's really heating up. That was a total pun, for anyone who's read it already.