Blog of Authors

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Rachel Caine

Rachel Caine is the internationally bestselling author of thirty novels, including the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Morganville Vampires young adult series: Glass Houses, The Dead Girls’ Dance, Midnight Alley, Feast of Fools, Lord of Misrule, Carpe Corpus, and Fade Out, with five more to follow in 2009-2011. The series has been optioned for film, television and multimedia by prominent British production company Noel Gay Motion Pictures.

She also writes the bestselling Weather Warden series: Ill Wind, Heat Stroke, Chill Factor, Windfall, Firestorm, Thin Air, Gale Force, and Cape Storm, with the final book in the series coming in 2010. She recently launched a third series, Outcast Season (Undone, Unknown, Unseen, Unbroken).

She has also written paranormal romantic action/adventure for Silhouette Bombshell, and her most recent paranormal romance novel, Athena Force: Line of Sight, was a 2008 RT Reviewer’s Choice award winner. She also published an original novel for the television show Stargate SG-1 (Sacrifice Moon) under the pseudonym of Julie Fortune in 2005. She previously published under the names Roxanne Longstreet and Roxanne Conrad.

She is a contributor to a number of Dallas publisher BenBella Books’ SmartPop anthologies of nonfiction essays, and had short fiction in several bestselling anthologies, including My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding, My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon, Strange Brew (St. Martins) and Many Bloody Returns (Ace).

Rachel continues to work in corporate communications for a large multinational company based in Irving, Texas. She has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Texas Tech University.

She and her husband, award-winning artist R. Cat Conrad, live in Fort Worth.

Bio from official Website.

Morganville Vampires

When 16-year-old Claire Danvers arrives in the sleepy Texas town of Morganville for a parentally-enforced year at Texas Prairie University before heading off to MIT, her life takes a turn for the scary. First, the mean girls come after her, but a quick life-saving move to off-campus housing fixes that problem, and introduces her to three new friends: teen rocker Michael Glass, Goth Eve Rosser, and hottie/slacker Shane Collins.

But Morganville's got more secrets to reveal, starting with one very big one:

It's run by vampires.

The books in order:
Glass Houses
The Dead Girls' Dance
Midnight Alley
Feast of Fools
Lord of Misrule
Carpe Corpus
Fade Out
Kiss of Death (coming early 2010)

Weather Warden

Joanne Baldwin controls the weather. Sometimes. Wielding that kind of power as a Weather Warden (one of the three kinds of Wardens in the world -- in addition to Earth Wardens and Fire Wardens) means that you're never at a loss for a challenge, whether it's killer intelligent storms or a very angry Mother Earth out to get you.

But Joanne's got even more problems. Half the time, those who want to kill her are coming at her back ... from the same people who ought to be standing by to help her.

A whirlwind love affair with a super-hot (and super-powerful) Djinn named David brings her even more trouble, and enemies she can't really afford.

But in the end, Joanne Baldwin is the person you want to have risking her life for you ... because she won't hesitate to lose it in your defense.

The books in order:
Ill Wind
Heat Stroke
Chill Factor
Windfall
Firestorm
Thin Air
Gale Force
Cape Storm
Total Eclipse (coming August 2010)

Outcast Season

Once Cassiel was a Djinn ... an eternal, powerful creature with no liking for humanity. But one decision put her at odds with Ashan, the terrifying leader of the Old Djinn, and now she's that worst of all fates ... human.

And now dependent on the Wardens for her very existence.

As her life becomes entangled with the lives of her new Warden partners, Cassiel begins to change ... and learn what it means to care about others. When an ancient enemy surfaces to stalk Cassiel, the choice she made to become human begins to take on new, sinister significance ... for humanity itself.

The books in order:
Undone
Unknown (Feb. 3, 2010)

http://www.rachelcaine.com

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Christine Fletcher

Ten Cents a Dance

Chicago, 1941

When her mother becomes too ill to work, fifteen-year-old Ruby Jacinski is forced to drop out of school to support her family. Her dull factory job makes life one long dead end...until she meets neighborhood bad boy, Paulie. Soon, Ruby is getting paid to dance with lonely men—and learning how to "fish" them for cash, clothes, even jewelry. As long as her family doesn't find out what she's doing, her problems—and theirs—are solved. But secrets and bad boys are both hard to keep...especially when swinging with the hepcats turns into swimming with the sharks.

A mesmerizing look into a little-known world and era, Ten Cents a Dance is resplendent with soul-shaking jazz, killer '40s style, and the passions of a young generation on the eve of war.

Tallulah Falls

What would you do if your best friend disappeared?

Find her.

When seventeen-year-old Tallulah Addy gets a frantic message from her best friend Maeve, she drops everything—including her own difficult family—and sets out from Oregon to rescue her. But a few days later it's Tallulah who needs help after she finds herself abandoned and penniless in rural Tennessee. Calling her family is out of the question, yet when help does come, even Tallulah couldn't have guessed it would be in the form of a dying dog.

Before long, Tallulah has a pull-out couch to sleep on, a job at the local veterinarian's office, and the beginning of a friendship (and perhaps more) with Kyle, the young assistant whose tongue-tied ways conceal a more complicated heart. But the ornery vet, Dr. Poteet, doesn't want her there, and Tallulah has little patience for cleaning kennels or holding horses that seem hell-bent on kicking her. Furious with herself for failing Maeve, Tallulah swears she'll resume her rescue mission the first chance she gets. But when that chance finally comes, will it be Maeve or the eccentric group of strangers who has the bigger claim on Tallulah's heart?

www.christinefletcherbooks.com

Leslie Connor

Leslie Connor grew up outside of Schenectady, New York, and frequently crossed Freeman's Bridge on her way into the city. Waiting for Normal was inspired by a not-at-all-glamorous lot on a corner. Leslie thinks of this story as a love letter back to the city of Schenectady. She is the author of the award-winning picture book Miss Bridie Chose a Shovel and Dead on Town Line, a young-adult novel in verse. She lives with her family in Connecticut.

Waiting for Normal

Michael Grant

Gone, first book in the Gone series: published June 24, 2008

Hunger, second book in the Gone series: published May 26, 2009

Lies, third book in the Gone series: May 2010

Plague, fourth book in the Gone series: yet to be published

Darkness, fifth book in the Gone series: yet to be published

Light, sixth book in the Gone series: yet to be published

MAGNIFICENT 12 series: co-authoring between Michael Grant and wife, Katherine Applegate: yet to be published

Michael's Harper website.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Lisa McMann

Wake

Fade

Gone

Interview

A Chat with Lisa McMann

http://lisamcmann.com/

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Laurie Faria Stolarz

Laurie Faria Stolarz has a great interest in young adult culture, and admires young adults for their passion, energy, and creativity. Blue is for Nightmares is the product of her desire to write a novel that would have appealed to herself at that age, namely one that has a blending of suspense, romance, and the art of keeping secrets.

Stolarz has an MFA in Creative Writing with a concentration in Young Adult Literature and a graduate certificate in Screenwriting, both from Emerson College in Boston. She currently teaches writing and is a member of the SCBWI as well as several professional writing groups. She has also written and edited numerous middle school and high schools texts.

Blue is for Nightmares, November 2003
(Fan made trailer)