Our Winner...

of this past weekend's Caption It! contest is...

YA Vampire Books

for her take on one of my favorite songs, Walking on Sunshine, which happened to fit so perfectly with our photo!

YA Vampire Books, please contact me at admin@tinaferraro.com and we'll chat about which of my books you'd like me to send!

Thanks to all who entered! Such fun!

Caption It! Contest

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I really enjoyed watching the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, especially the ski and snowboarding spots that sent the athletes flying through the air.

I noticed the announcers kept using the term "getting big air" in praise of the jumps, and for some ridiculous reason, this picture would return to my head:



So I thought I'd post it today in another of our Caption It! contests!
With my caption being: "Tandem Four-Legging Jumping: Going for the Gold!"

Now it's your turn. Anything that strikes you. You have until Sunday at 6 pm PST to post your own captions. No limit--go crazy!
The winner will NOT be chosen randomly (as we usually do here at YA Fresh) but by a small committee of, well, Ferraros! And that winner can choose to receive a signed copy of any one of my three books, Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress, How to Hook a Hottie or The ABC's of Kissing Boys.

Have fun with it!

TFC Anniversary--Join the Celebration!!

Teen Fiction Cafe is celebrating a three-year anniversary of blogging!! The authors are coming together for 13 days and sharing a look back to where we were when TFC banded together--and, of course-- there are goodies to win!

It's the TFC Three-Year Blog Anniversary Party! Every day through March 13th we'll be posting about the last three years, giving away prizes (winners announced here March 15), and celebrating in style.

Sounds good to me! Please drop in and leave a comment to win some cool giveaways and help Teen Fiction Cafe celebrate!!

Year of the Horse Winner!!

Many thanks to those of you who left a comment for a chance to win Justin Allen's adventurous novel YEAR OF THE HORSE!

And the lucky winner is...

BEE!!

Yay, Bee! Please email me through my website with your mailing address for your book.

Thank you and Happy reading!

What's Fresh with Justin Allen's Year of the Horse with a giveaway!!

A thrill-ride adventure novel capturing the adventure, mystery, legend, and lore of America

Year of the Horse is literary fantasy at its very best—a novel that delves into our myths, legends, hopes, and fears; a coming-of-age fable set in our fondly remembered (if often fictional) past—an adventure more than capable of setting your hair on end.

Year of the Horse tells the story of Yen Tzu-lu, a child of Chinese immigrants unwillingly pressed into service by a gang of roughnecks bent on stealing a gold mine from a shadowy villain deep in the western wilderness. With Tzu-lu as our guide, we experience a landscape of legend, stand toe-to-toe with those larger-than- life heroes and villains of our shared American mythos, and learn the inescapable facts that have both enriched and plagued our nation from its inception.

Resonating with echoes of Mark Twain, Larry McMurtry, and J. K. Rowling, this is a book of fabulous adventure and deep resonance. Allen gives readers a picture of how America sees itself, and in so doing he offers up both a heroic vision of the past and hope for the future.

Hi Justin, thanks so much for visiting with us on YA Fresh! Could you please tell us a little about your writing background and how you made your first sale?

Justin: Fiction writing has been my primary focus since college. I attended Boise State University (Fiesta Bowl Champs, go Broncos!), where I majored in Philosophy and minored in Fiction Writing. But I always intended to chase a career in writing. My goal was, and still is, to create an archetypal character (just one!) - the kind that seems to exist beyond the bounds of the printed page. The best example I can think of is Sherlock Holmes. Otherwise intelligent, witty people have been known to go to 221B Baker Street, in London, to see the apartment of the famous detective of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s novels and stories. And most of those people KNOW that there never was a Sherlock Holmes. Heck, I’ve been tempted to go myself. Why? Well, because Sherlock FEELS real. Can you imagine the world WITHOUT Sherlock Holmes? I can’t. I often wonder if the whole world wasn’t just waiting for Sherlock to spring onto the scene. Maybe it was! So that’s the dream. To create a character that leaps from the page and into the hearts and souls of readers everywhere. Dang! That’s one tough dream, hunh?

Anyway, after college I figured the best way to learn how to create such a character was to go to writing school. So I went to Columbia University’s Writing Program. I suffered horribly at Columbia. I hated what I was writing, and I hated what everyone else was writing. It was all so subtle. Blech! Then one day I was talking to a classmate – the brilliant novelist Kelly Braffet as a matter of fact (name dropper!) – and she told me that she’d been working on a fantasy novel about some young people trapped in a castle. “Why don’t you bring any for us to read?” I wondered. As it turns out, she was wisely concerned about how she would be viewed by our other classmates (and instructors) if they knew she liked (gasp!) genre fiction. Being foolish and more than a bit rebellious myself, I sat down that very night and composed a story which would become the basis for my first novel, “Slaves of the Shinar.” It was unabashedly a heroic fantasy adventure – very much in the realm of Robert E Howard’s Conan the Barbarian. I showed it to everyone!

Did the other Columbians look down at me for writing a genre piece? I won’t lie to you, some did. But many more were surprised to be reading something that was written first and foremost for the sake of pure fun. Either way, I no longer cared. For the first time in a long while, I was excited by what I was writing.

It took me five more years to finish that novel, but I have never looked back. “Slaves of the Shinar” was published by The Overlook Press in 2007.

Readers and writers often like to get a behind the scenes peek at an author's writing routine. It would be great if you could please share your typical writing day schedule.

I don’t have a set schedule. I get up fairly early to make breakfast and pack lunch for my wife (she works at a middle-school in Brooklyn). I check up on all my correspondence (clear out the junk mail folder), and try to figure out what appointments I simply MUST keep that day (a ballet rehearsal at 11:30, dentist appointment, answer some questions for Kelly at YA Fresh, check up on the latest news on college football), and then get down to some serious writing. I usually have lunch around noon (woops, missed that rehearsal. I guess I was so into writing that new werewolf wedding scene that I lost track of time), and then get back to work. If I am writing well, I tend to look up again around four, realizing that I once-again missed the dentist (root-canal shmoot-canal, right?). Seriously though, I try to write passionately. If that means I get nothing done in a day, and instead roll on the floor and cry because it is all just SO HARD, and the stupid characters never seem to want to do what they are supposed to, so be it. If I write thirty-five pages in ten hours, great! But either way, it has to be done with passion and belief.

Well, I'm glad you kept our interview appointment. LOL! Please tell us about your latest novel Year of the Horst and what we can expect from your characters.

Justin: “Year of the Horse” came out this past October 23rd (my wife’s and my anniversary, as a matter of fact. Nice right?), again from Overlook. It tells the story of an American boy named Lu, the child of Chinese immigrants, who gets drafted into a troop of rough customers bent on crossing the continent and then stealing a gold mine from the devil. Yep, you read that right. They are going to try to steal a gold mine from THE DEVIL.

Lu’s companions on this journey are the famed gunfighter Jack Straw, a former slave and sharpshooter named Henry Jesus, a Californio outlaw who goes by the nickname ‘Chino,’ a southern gentleman by the name of John MacLemore, and his wild-child daughter Sadie. As they cross the continent they have to contend with violent cavalry soldiers, vengeful Native Americans, a murderous cult, the headless horseman, the ghost of Henry Hudson, a gang of fire demons, a were-coyote, and a whole town full of vicious racists. And if they survive all that, they still have to beat the devil.

Since you ask about the characters in particular, I want to tell you about the one closest to my heart - Sadie. I don’t know if she’s quite on the level of that archetypal character I was talking about earlier, but she sure does mean a lot to me. Sadie is a special girl. She’s rough and tough (swears with the best of them), capable (an expert rider at the age of sixteen), is marvelously brave and loyal, and not willing to take crap from anyone. She is also beautiful and sensitive (her feelings get hurt easily, though she tries not to show it), worries about her Dad, wishes she knew more about her mother (she died when Sadie was just a year old), feels out of place sometimes in a world dominated by men, and has huge, wonderful dreams that she wouldn’t give up for anyone or anything. I guess I am just awful proud of Sadie, and want everyone to like her (I feel like a Dad sending his daughter off on her first day at school!).

Sounds really awesome and action-packed! What's up next? Do you have another project in the works? If so, please tell us about it.

Justin: I have three projects, actually (You’re right if you’re thinking that may well be too many). I’m writing a science fiction book called “Tomorrowland,” a travelogue about the US National Parks, and, if you happen to be in New York later this summer, a ballet is being produced based on a story I wrote called “The Beatitudes.” They’re all really different projects, each taking up huge amounts of time. And I’m thinking about adding another book to the mix!

I’ve been thinking about writing a sequel to “Year of the Horse.” I have two ideas for sequels, as a matter of fact. One idea would have Sadie and Lu trying to convince Quetzalcoatl to help protect the United States from a clan of Chinese dragons being controlled by the British East India Company.

The other idea would have Jack Straw working with Al Capone and Eliot Ness to find and destroy a serial-killer and his vampire flunkies in Chicago in the 1930’s.

Thanks again for sharing with us, Justin! I wish you the best with you writing. Would you like to close with a writing tip?

Justin: Tell you what, I’ll give you two! The second is lagniappe!

Tip one!

Subtlety is for real life, not writing. When you write, be bold! If you like fantasy or romance, action or mystery, horror or emotional drama, coming-of-age stories or stories about kids in serious trouble, I say embrace your passion. Think back on the books that you have enjoyed the most. I’ll bet that in nearly every case you are remembering a book that had huge seemingly earth-shattering themes, enormous swings of fear and trepidation followed by thrills of triumph and joy. Well, don’t hold back on the fun for your readers! If you want to write a horror novel about zombies then, for love of pete!, scare us ‘til we think we might wet our pants. If you want to write romance, make us love your ideal man and wish, oh how we want to wish, that he would be OUR ideal man as well. If you want to write about kids in trouble, don’t hesitate to keep letting them slide ever deeper into the pitchiest darkness (she’s a drug addict and pregnant at twelve? How in the world will she survive?). If you want to write fantasy, make your pages crackle with magic, so that we feel the wonder even in the most ordinary of things. As readers, we want to be thrilled. So thrill us, baby, thrill us!

Tip two!

No matter what sort of work you choose to write, eventually you will be faced with writing some form of action scene. It’s unavoidable. Your characters are going to have to DO THINGS. My advice to you is to keep their movements focused, simple, and revealing. You know how you can watch a movie nowadays where two guys are fighting, and the camera angles switch
around so fast that you have no idea what in the heck is going on? Well, that mistake gets amplified when it is made on the printed page. Let a single action speak volumes! One kiss can say more than a hundred kisses described in detail. One gunshot. One swing of a sword. One slap. One suicidal leap. Whatever it is, that one action can be oh so meaningful, just so long as you don’t hide it beneath a pile of other actions. In writing, action is almost always a result, not a cause. As readers we are really interested in WHY one character shoots another, one character kisses another, one character walks-out on another. If we know WHY they are doing whatever they are doing, then the action itself is nothing more than the fulfilling of a destiny a whole book in the making.

Great tips, Justin!! Okay, YA Freshers, leave a comment and be entered for a chance to win a copy of Justin's Year of the Horse!! Contest begins now and will end Sunday night, February, 28th. Winner will be announced Monday, March 1st! Happy commenting!!

Justin Allen is the author, most recently, of the all-ages fantasy-western, "Year of the Horse." The Colorado Springs Independent calls the book, “Charming and full of heart… like a secret discovery from the dusty back shelf of a library,” while the Philadelphia Weekly Press calls it “Lots of fun.”

Justin also has a passion for classical ballet, having performed with such companies as Dances Patrelle, Eidolon Ballet, and Idaho Dance Theatre. Justin is roughly six feet tall, weighs somewhere around 185 pounds (often more, to his chagrin), has dark-brown hair and eyes, and suffers from near-sightedness, motion-sickness, and a tendency to get angry at airport personnel. His wife, Day Mitchell, a licensed master social worker, is trying to help him overcome this last item, but finds the going hard. He can be contacted via his website: justin-allen.com.

Get TANGLED Up!

The next best thing to reading a great book is talking about it. And while I promise no "spoilers" in this blog post, want to say that I fell madly in love with Carolyn Mackler’s latest young adult novel recently, TANGLED and am excited to share!


Here is the book blurb:

Paradise wasn't supposed to suck.

Not the state of being, but a resort in the Caribbean.

Jena, Dakota, Skye, and Owen are all there for different reasons, but at Paradise their lives become tangled together in ways none of them can predict. Paradise will change them all.

It will change Jena, whose first brush with romance takes her that much closer a life, and not just reading about those infinitely cooler and more exciting.

It will change Dakota, who needs the devastating truth about his past to make him realize that he doesn't have to be a jerk just because people think he's one.

It will change Skye, a heartbreakingly beautiful actress, who must come to terms with the fact that for once she has to stop playing a role or face the consequences.

And it will change Owen, who has never risked anything before and who will take the leap from his online life to a real one all because of a girl he met at Paradise...

From confused to confident and back again, one thing's certain: Four months after it all begins, none of them will ever be the same.

And here is just one of its glowing endorsements:

“Subtle then intense, hilarious yet heartbreaking. Tangled grabs you and doesn't let go,” Jay Asher, New York Times bestseller author of Thirteen Reasons Why.

From the onset (and from a writer’s point of view), I was curious to see how Carolyn was going to “tangle” these very different characters and storylines while continuing on the path of one central storyline. And (as a reader) I was hungry for another one of her so-real-I’m-practically-in-the-main-character’s skin tales.

And keeping to my promise above, I will say that she delivers both expertly, offering up just enough character detail and storyline to fascinate, but leaving of room for surprises and realizations that leave the reader thoroughly satisfied, and so sorry that the book has to end!

While I’ve never had the pleasure of meeting or chatting with Carolyn, I sent her a note telling her how much I loved this book and how I was going to review it here. And I ended it with a question--asking her what her initial inspiration was for the book--if she wasn’t too busy.

I was delighted to hear back from her:

“Tangled inspiration....let's see. I was walking around the Reservoir in NYC and thought of a story with two guys and two girls who meet on a vacation. I knew right away there would be love, lust, betrayal and redemption, but I didn't know any details. Spent the next 18 months figuring that out!”

The fact it took so long to work out this beautifully tangled plot seems reasonable to my author’s brain. But the book seems so smooth and on-track, I had half-thought maybe she'd just had the idea, sat down and penned it.

Anyway, now it’s your turn to experience the magic. Get your hands on a copy of Carolyn Mackler’s newest and get TANGLED up!

Up on the Podium...

Thanks to all who entered this weekend's contest about your favorite (fantasy) Olympic sport. Kelly and I really enjoyed reading all the entries--and hope you did, too.

By random-number generator, the winner is:

JESSICA!

Jessica, please contact me at admin@tinaferraro.com with mailing information and I will get a signed copy of How to Hook a Hottie soaring through the air (okay, the mail) to you!

The Winter Games: What’s Your Pleasure? (and giveaway)

Like many people around the globe, I am enjoying watching the winter Olympics in Vancouver. The grace, the guts, the glory--and I especially like the little behind-the-scenes stories that help me “get to know” athletes.

As a teen, I was completely in love with ice skating, especially the women’s solo events. So no surprise, really, that the backdrop of my 2008 young adult novel, How to Hook a Hottie, is an ice skating rink.

But as the years have passed, I have developed a new love. A fantasy, actually, because the event I want to “compete” it does not even exist: Women’s Ski Jumping. And let's not overlook the fact that I haven’t skied in years, get dizzy at high altitudes, and won’t ride on a ski lift because, well, I’m afraid it’s going to stall out and leave me dangling for many hopeless and frostbit-laden hours. And that my age and degree of fitness puts me entirely out of Olympiad competition range.

So I’ve settled for being an armchair ski jumper. When the event comes on the screen, I sit forward in my chair, my “skis” perfectly aligned on the carpet. Then, I, too, take off...hunched down, speeding...until the time comes to take off....soaring, soaring, soaring...in utter tranquility, just me and the sky...until the moment is JUST right for me touch down in a gentle, perfect, and of course, record-setting gold medal landing.

Lovely...

Okay, realistically, I know this is a super-challenging sport that requires years of hard work, training, and probably trips to the ER. But nothing of this is grounded in reality, so please, allow me to enjoy my fantasy. In fact, a few years ago, I visited the Innsbruck, Austria Olympic Ski Park.


And see that little speck walking toward the railing? That’s me! Assuredly, with ideas of grandeur running wild.

So now that I’ve dished, tell us. If you could enter one event--talent, conditioning and the like not at an issue--what would it be?

And as a bonus, leaving a comment will enter you in our giveaway, a signed copy of How to Hook a Hottie. Check back on Monday to see which random commenter will...well...staying in theme and at the risk of sounding immodest, "take gold."

What's Fresh with Suzanne Young's The Naughty List

As if being a purrfect cheerleader isn't enough responsibility! Tessa Crimson's the sweet and spunky leader of the SOS (Society of Smitten Kittens), a cheer squad–turned–spy society dedicated to bringing dastardly boyfriends to justice, one cheater at a time. Boyfriend-busting wouldn't be so bad . . . except that so far, every suspect on the Naughty List has been proven 100% guilty!

When Tessa's own boyfriend shows up on the List, she turns her sleuthing skills on him. Is Aiden just as naughty as all the rest, or will Tessa's sneaky ways end in catastrophe?

The Naughty List. Is your boyfriend on it?

Hi Suzanne, thank you for joining us on YA Fresh! Could you please tell us a little about your writing background and how you made your first sale?

Suzanne: I actually started writing in the 7th grade. I wrote murder mysteries starring my friends—always involving an impossible twist. Really? The Pillsbury Dough Boy did it? Thankfully I got better. And I went to college and got a degree in Creative Writing. My book sale was a crazy roller coaster involving querying editors and agents reading my blog posts. But luckily, three offers later, I sold four books to Razorbill. The title was originally Smitten Kittens-later renamed The Naughty List.

Readers and writers often like to get a behind the scenes peek of an author's writing routine. It would be great if you could please share your typical writing day schedule.

Suzanne: I’ll warn you—it’s not glamorous. I wake up, down a cup of coffee and get the kids to school. I then check my email obsessively, drink another cup of coffee, and open my manuscript. I zone out with my work—never getting up—until about one. Then I eat lunch, shower and pick up the kids. I work a little bit longer after that. The next day—I do it all over again. Revise. Rinse. Repeat.

Please tell us about your latest novel The Naughty List and what we can expect from your characters.

Suzanne: My book is The Naughty List-Feb 4th, 2010 from Razorbill/Penguin. It’s about a group of cheerleaders who investigate cheating boyfriends. I like the fact that my girls are not the norm for cheerleaders in YA books. I hope readers are charmed by them.

What's up next? Do you have another project in the works? If so, please tell us about it.

I’m just finishing up the third book in the series: A Good Boy is Hard to Find. I’m also working on a non-Naughty List project that I hope to have news about soon.

It was great to chat with you, Suzanne! Would you like to close with a writing tip?

Suzanne: I always tell people that it wasn’t my first book that sold. Or my second. Third. Fourth. It was my fifth novel. So my advice is always: Keep Writing!

Suzanne Young is a brilliant scientist. Not really. But she is a former middle school teacher turned zookeeper (mother). When Suzanne’s not fending off zombie squirrels or narrating her daughter’s Barbie soap operas, she can be found camping on the Oregon coast or writing obsessively. Suzanne is the author of The Naughty List series coming February 4th, 2010 from Razorbill/Penguin. The Naughty List is about a group of cheerleaders who investigate cheating boyfriends. Which Suzanne never did. Or at least, not that you can prove.

A Sneak Peak at The Cinderella Society

Continuing our Fresh Teasers (featuring books we are looking forward to in the upcoming year) comes a debut release from our friend, Kay Cassidy.


What’s a girl to do when the glass slipper fits, but she doesn’t want to wear it anymore?

Sixteen-year-old Jess Parker has always been an outsider. So when she receives an invitation to join The Cinderella Society, a secret sisterhood of the most popular girls in school, it’s like something out of a fairy tale. Swept up by the Cindys’ magical world of makeovers, and catching the eye of her Prince Charming, Jess feels like she’s finally found her chance to fit in.

Then the Wickeds--led by Jess’s archenemy--begin targeting innocent girls in their high school war against the Cindys, and Jess discovers there’s more to being a Cindy than reinventing yourself on the outside. She has unknowingly become part of a centuries-old battle of good vs. evil, and now the Cindys in charge need Jess for a mission that could change everything.

Overwhelmed, Jess wonders if The Cinderella Society made a mistake in choosing her. Is it a coincidence that her new boyfriend doesn’t want to be seen with her? And is this glamorous, secret life even what she wants, or will she risk her own happy ending to live up to the expectations of her new sisters?

The Cinderella Society releases on April 13th, and to make sure you get your copy right away, click on Kay’s name above to skip over to Amazon and pre-order!