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Archives for Jan 2012

A Warm Welcome to Kimberly Marcus

Jan 17, 2012

We’d like to issue a warm welcome author Kimberly Marcus as she joins us this week to discuss her first YA novel, Exposed! Exposed follows best friends Liz and Kate after an innocent fight one night turns into prolonged silence and distance as Kate begins actively avoiding Liz, leaving Liz trying to piece together what happened between Saturday night when Kate left her house, and Monday morning at school when Kate stops being her best friend.

Let's give Kimberly a big welcome by giving her a shout out on Twitter (@kimberlymarcus) or posting your questions with her on the forum here! In the meantime, enjoy this letter she wrote to all of us!

Hi There!

I’m thrilled to be here, once again, on Random Buzzers! I’m here, this time around, to
celebrate the paperback release of my ﬁrst novel, Exposed. This book is close to my
heart, and I’m hoping the story will touch readers and make them think.

Exposed is the story of Liz Grayson, a high school senior intent on pursuing her love of
portrait photography. She’s conﬁdent about what she sees when she looks through the
lens, and conﬁdent in her relationship with her forever-best friend, Kate. But all of Liz’s
conﬁdence is shaken when Kate suddenly pulls away from her. At ﬁrst, she thinks she
knows why this is happening and does everything she can to try to repair their
relationship. But Liz comes to learn that the reason for Kate’s avoidance is tragically
different from what she originally thought. And it tears open her black and white world,
ripping apart everything she held to be true about friendship, family, and her own
abilities. For answers, Liz must turn the lens on herself.

I wanted to write a book about friendship and family. I wanted to look at what it means to
be loyal to others while staying true to who you are. I wondered how a girl, placed in a
position that seemed impossible to navigate out of, might ﬁnd a way to cope and move
forward. Exposed doesn’t provide neat, tidy answers. But real life doesn’t do that either,
does it?

Exposed is written in free verse poetry which, for me, proved the best way to zoom in to
the heart of this character and her story.

I also hope you’ll check out my website at kimberlymarcus.com for more information
about me.

I’m thrilled to answer any questions you might want to ask. I’ll do my best to answer
them well. Ask away!

- Kimberly

by HeadBuzzer | 20 comments |

Filed under: author chats Exposed Kimberly Marcus
Survival is just the beginning...

Jan 13, 2012

Would you sell your youth to survive? That certainly is the question in STARTERS by Lissa Price. Now, there are lots of books coming out this year that we are excited for but this may be the on top of our to-be-read list this Spring. Why are we so excited? Well, for starters (haha, get it?!) just read the premise!

Callie lost her parents when the Spore Wars wiped out everyone between the ages of twenty and sixty. She and her little brother, Tyler, go on the run, living as squatters with their friend Michael and fighting off renegades who would kill them for a cookie. Callie’s only hope is Prime Destinations, a disturbing place in Beverly Hills run by a mysterious figure known as the Old Man.

He hires teens to rent their bodies to Enders—seniors who want to be young again. Callie, desperate for the money that will keep her, Tyler, and Michael alive, agrees to be a donor. But the neurochip they place in Callie’s head malfunctions and she wakes up in the life of her renter, living in her mansion, driving her cars, and going out with a senator’s grandson. It feels almost like a fairy tale, until Callie discovers that her renter intends to do more than party—and that Prime Destinations’ plans are more evil than Callie could ever have imagined...

Seriously, the premise alone has on edge with excitement. Even Kami Garcia, co-author of Beautiful Creatures, says "Fans of The Hunger Games will love it!" and we know there are a lot of Hunger Games fans out there.

Buzzgirl got a taste of this book back in the Fall during her trip to Comic Con, but now everyone can get the scoop on the series! The new website and Facebook page are now live! Explore the website to get the exclusive chapter sampler, watch the book trailer and read more about the series!

The book doesn't officially go on sale until March 13th, but you can always pre-order your copy ahead of time! There's also an e-original short story coming out on February 14th called PORTRAIT OF A STARTER which you'll find out more on the Starters Books Facebook page in the next few weeks. The book will be followed up by two more e-original stories and then the epic conclusion titled ENDERS, which goes on sale in December!

They'll be adding Lissa's tour dates soon, but don't worry we'll be posting those in our events section as well once they are finalized. Want more from Lissa? If you're on Twitter, you can follow her @LissaPrice!

So tell us Buzzers, are you excited to read Starters!

by HeadBuzzer | 33 comments |

Filed under: book trailers Chapter Samplers dystopian hunger games Kami Garcia Lissa Price Starters
Author Recap: Robin Bridges

Jan 13, 2012
We’ve had a busy week with author Robin Bridges visiting us this! We welcomed Robin and her debut novel, The Gathering Storm on Monday, and it’s had us all a flutter with the historical fiction and paranormal romance it promises at! Since then, Robin’s been super busy with donating to Red Cross for every “like” she got on The Katerina Trilogy’s Facebook page and answering all our questions!

This is our recap of what we’ve learned:
- There are three books planned in the series
- Most of the character names from The Gathering Storm come directly from history itself
- Robin has two bookcases dedicated to books on Russian history and 19^th century Europe
- Robin specifically chose 1888 as the opening year for the series because a princess Elena of Montenegro really did open a ball with the prince Nicholas
- Robin’s all time favorite books are: Howl’s Moving Castle, Anna Karenina, and Pride and Prejudice
- Robin has some very distant relatives living in Russia and Ukraine, although her great-grandparents immigrated to American in 1907
- Rasputin and his friendship with the Montenegran sisters prodded Robin to look deeper into Russian occult history
- Robin writes the first draft of her stories in three overall acts
- It took three months for Robin to write her first draft of The Gathering Storm
- At the moment, the sequel’s title is The Unfailing Light – but that might change!
That’s just a bit of what we’ve learned! To read through the rest of Robin’s responses, visit her forum here! Interested in learning and reading more about The Gathering Storm? Check out one Buzzer’s review and check out the chapter sampler to read for yourself! BuzzGirl has also created a handy tourguide of the real life inspiration behind The Gathering Storm, and its chock full of beautiful pictures!

If you’ve already got a copy of The Gathering Storm and want musical accompaniment as you read, listen to our Katerina Trilogy reading playlist:

Join us next week as author Kimberly Marcus will be visiting next week to discuss her new book Exposed! Exposed is written in a unique form of free verse instead of straight narrative, which makes this story about two best friends torn apart by a devastating secret even more poignant and interesting! After you’ve read the chapter sampler and watched the book trailer, feel free to leave Kimberly a question on her forum here!

HAPPY WEEKEND BUZZERS!
by HeadBuzzer | 15 comments |

Filed under: Author Recap Reading Playlist Robin Bridges The Gathering Storm The Katerina Trilogy Things We Learned
The Facts Behind the Fiction of The Gathering Storm

Jan 11, 2012

I've been eagerly waiting to get my own copy of Robin Bridges' The Gathering Storm - so while I have to wait for my book to arrive, I contented myself with a little history and research project of my own! My findings were amazing! Robin Bridges has done a fantastic job in grounding her book in real life places, events, and people - which makes The Gathering Storm seem so much more exciting to read knowing that there's a basis of truth, which sparks a lot of possible what ifs? in my imagination!

Using The Gathering Storm chapter sampler as a sort of tour guide, I decided to jot down a few of the places mentioned in the first three chapters - and see if they existed!

While main character Katerina isn't based on an actual person, the royal family in The Gathering Storm are based on the soon-to-be last ruling family of Russia, the ill fated Romanovs. The tsarevitch Robin writes about as a dashing, charming young man is the last tsar Nicholas Alexandrovitch Romanov. The opening year of The Gathering Storm, 1888, would place him as a dashing 20 year old man. While there aren't any pictures of Nicholas as a teenager, this official portrait of him as tsar shows him to be a handsome man.

The handsome tsarevitch Nicholas

Nicholas' younger brother, George, who plays a pivotal role in The Gathering Storm is also a real life person - one of Nicholas' three younger brothers in fact!

The protective younger brother, George

Apparently in 1888, a Princess Elena of Montenegro really did open the Smolny Ball with Nicholas. I could only find one matching case. According to her biography, she was born in 1873, making her a 15yo girl at the time of The Gathering Storm!

Katerina's possible archnemesis?

Speaking of the Smolny Ball, the Winter Palace that the Tsar and his family live in, and the place of the opening ball, is an actual palace. I found a modern day photo of what the palace looks like - and it's grand! Can you imagine drawing up to the palace in a horse driven carriage on a night of a ball?

The Winter Palace in modern times

Katerina is a student at the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens, which was an actual school, founded by Catherine the Great! Smolny Institute was the first official school for girls. Robin found some great pictures of daily life inside Smolny Institute on her blog and we've shared them here!

The original design for Smolny

What Smolny Institute looks like present day

While at the time of The Gathering Storm, Smolny Institute was an actual finishing school for young noblewomen, with the pending October Revolution in 1917, the building would be chosen by Vladimir Lenin as headquarters for the Bolshevik party that would overthrow the Romanovs.

In the meantime, Katerina might have spent her days daydreaming in music class and eating dinner in the dining hall with her friends.

Music class in the early 1900's

The dining hall of Smolny Institute

A classroom Katerina could have daydreamed in

In addition to the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens, the Corps de Pages military academy Katerina mentions was an actual school for boys! Sons of noble families would be sent to Corps de Pages to receive training and an education that would prepare them for life in the military. The palace that the school was housed in, the Vorontsov Palace, is a real building that still stands today!

The Vorontsov Palace as seen in modern day

Now that I have visual aids to help me imagine all these grand scenes of betrayal, paranormal intrigue, and romance - I can start reading happily! The one aspect I did need a little help envisioning was the mazurka dance that Katerina likes so much. I found a basic video for it here, although I think the group mazurka dance better demonstrates what it would look like on a ballroom floor, don't you think?

I hope you enjoyed all the pictures and research I dug up on my quest to better understand the historical setting of The Gathering Storm! I know I certainly had a lot of fun!

Do you Buzzers prefer to read a book without knowing the real history behind it to better envision things your way?

All photos were found and are courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

by Buzzgirl | 29 comments |

Filed under: Buzzgirl historical fiction Katerina Trilogy Robin Bridges The Gathering Storm
Random Hour #133: Is Literature Only Meant to Elevate?

Jan 11, 2012

I fell into a Twitter-hole last week (it’s not my fault! The Random Buzzers Twitter updates so often!) and somehow ended up on Matt de la Pena’s page, where he had just tweeted about an article that he was very upset about. After I read the article he posted, I too, got a bit upset.

You can read the original article here, but this piece was basically in reaction to Random House author Walter Dean Myers (mentioned on the Buzz Blog yesterday) being appointed the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature (congratulations, Mr. Myers!).

So why am I upset? Article author Alexander Nazaryan was not only very condescending but he managed to indirectly snub YA literature because to him, it has no value because it just “entertains”. Mr. Nazaryan said teenagers should read the works of Homer and more classics rather than wasting time on contemporary literature because “the purpose of literature is to elevate,” not to entertain. Excuse me mister, you’ve completely missed the point.

If you want to read classics, that’s great! If you want to devote your reading time to Twilight and Harry Potter, that’s fine too! Read whatever you like - as long as you’re reading! I think we can all agree that our reading choices are very personal and factors into our tastes, likes, and dislikes. Some of us want to read books that take us far away and some of us want to read books with real life situations and people we can relate to. Whatever our reasons for reading are, no one should try to tell us what the purpose of reading should be – what’s the point of reading only high brow classics if you hate them and it makes you miserable?

Here’s my proposal Buzzers: continue to read what you like, and read a lot! If you want to expand your horizons and branch out into more “adult” genres, good for you! If you have a mile long list of “guilty pleasure” reads with loads of YA, flaunt your books with style and pride! The important thing is that we’re all reading!
What do you think Buzzers? Do you agree with this article? What is the purpose of literature?

by Buzzgirl | 48 comments |

Filed under: Random Hour Walter Dean Myers
Buzz Blogger Review: The Gathering Storm

Jan 10, 2012

A note from HeadBuzzer: This week's review was written by our member ImaginaryKris. This review was originally posted on her blog Imaginary Reads. Click here to view the original post.

The Gathering Storm by Robin Bridges

Reviewed by: ImaginaryKris

Buy a copy | Watch the trailer | Read the Chapter Sampler | Add to your RB bookshelf

About The Gathering Storm: St. Petersburg, Russia, 1888. As she attends a whirl of glittering balls, royal debutante Katerina Alexandrovna, Duchess of Oldenburg, tries to hide a dark secret: she can raise the dead. No one knows. Not her family. Not the girls at her finishing school. Not the tsar or anyone in her aristocratic circle. Katerina considers her talent a curse, not a gift. But when she uses her special skill to protect a member of the Imperial Family, she finds herself caught in a web of intrigue.

An evil presence is growing within Europe's royal bloodlines—and those aligned with the darkness threaten to topple the tsar. Suddenly Katerina's strength as a necromancer attracts attention from unwelcome sources . . . including two young men—George Alexandrovich, the tsar's standoffish middle son, who needs Katerina's help to safeguard Russia, even if he's repelled by her secret, and the dashing Prince Danilo, heir to the throne of Montenegro, to whom Katerina feels inexplicably drawn.

The time has come for Katerina to embrace her power, but which side will she choose—and to whom will she give her heart?

Review: I love, love this book. To name my top three reasons: One, it is historical fiction. Two, the gorgeous Russian setting. Three, the paranormal aspects. There are also the characters that I love and hate. Robin Bridges has brought to us Katerina Alexandrovna, better known as Katiya to those close to her, a forward-thinking young woman with an interest in science and the medical professions despite her mother's intentions of marrying her off. There is her cousin and confidante Dariya, her many other relations, the shady Princess Elena and her sisters, and the tsar's son George Alexandrovich.

There is plenty of intrigue and mystery in this novel. To begin with, Katiya must deal with court politics, and she can never be too sure of her allies. Even those who would help her have their personal agendas. I feel that the synopsis blurs the lines of Danilo's loyalties a little too well; I like George much better despite his suspicions of Katiya. In truth, I still don't understand where his interest in her turned more romantic, but he is definitely my choice for hero.

The best part of this story has to be the necromancer business, the part that draws attention to Katiya, the part that has to do with the dead rising. It drives much of the plot and led to many scenes where I found myself speeding through the words, eager to find out what happens next. There were times when I was frustrated with Katiya's need to deal certain things herself, but her feelings are completely understandable. Regardless of her actions, her enemies are powerful, so even if she resisted their blackmail, they would most likely have put another plan into motion, one not as friendly if possible.

The Gathering Storm is a unique read that brings together old superstitions and the advent of a new age of science. I'm afraid that a bit of it rubbed off on me, as I could not go to bed without finishing this book for fear that the undead would haunt my dreams. Alas, they will haunt me enough while I anticipate the next installment in the trilogy!

by ImaginaryKris | 18 comments |

Filed under: Buzz Blogger Imaginary Reads Katerina Trilogy reviews Robin Bridges The Gathering Storm
Walter Dean Myers Named National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature

Jan 10, 2012

We’d like to congratulate Random House author Walter Dean Myers for being named the new National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature!

For those of you who’re unfamiliar with the term, being a National Ambassador for YA is basically the same thing as being named a poet laureate – which is a very prestigious title! As National Ambassador, Mr. Myers will be touring the country during his two year term to speak at schools and libraries about the importance of reading and literacy. Mr. Myers will succeed Katherine Patterson (Bridge to Terabithia), who held the post before him.

Mr. Myers first started writing in the fourth grade when his first poem was published in the school yearbook, and he’s been writing ever since! Some of you may be familiar with Mr. Myer’s works; his most famous books include Monster, Hoops, and Riot. Mr. Myer’s works are very much about a life he is familiar with, having grown up in the 1940s in Harlem. While his books are primarily about young African-American protagonists facing very grim realities, his other works include the occasional children’s picture book, non-fiction, short stories, and poetry. You can check out some of his other books on his author profile here and let us know if you’ve read any of his work!

Which Walter Dean Myers books have you read, Buzzers?

by HeadBuzzer | 19 comments |

Filed under: Hoops Monster Walter Dean Myers
Robin Bridges Donates to the Red Cross

Jan 9, 2012

Tomorrow is The Katerina Trilogy day and to celebrate Robin Bridges is hosting a few fun online and offline events to get the buzz rolling for her new book THE GATHERING STORM!

First and most importantly, for ever new "like" the Katerina Trilogy Facebook page receives and every Twitter user that changes their profile pic to be the cover of The Gathering Storm tomorrow, Robin will be donating $1 to the Red Cross! She's aiming to donate $200, so let's help her reach the goal tomorrow Buzzers!

Robin is also offering a special prize for the first person to spot Katerina out in the wild! Take a picture of The Gathering Storm on the shelf in your local bookstore (or library) and post it on the Katerina Trilogy Facebook page, or tweet it to Robin (@robinbridges)!

For more info, see the original blog post on Robin's website.

by HeadBuzzer | 21 comments |

Filed under: Katerina Trilogy Robin Bridges The Gathering Storm
Welcome Robin Bridges!

Jan 9, 2012

Happy Monday! It's an exciting week over at Random House, the first crop of books for the new year are going on sale tomorrow and that includes this week's featured book THE KATERINA TRILOGY VOL. I: THE GATHERING STORM. Joining us for a week long Q&A session and giving us all the details behind her historical fiction / paranormal / sci-fi / romance novel is the author ROBIN BRIDGES!

If you haven't posted your questions yet, click here to do so! In the meantime, let's give Robin a big welcome! We'll be tweeting with her throughout the week as well, so if you're on Twitter give her a shout out @RobinBridges! To celebrate the release of her first book, Robin has written a letter to all of us:

A LETTER FROM ROBIN BRIDGES

Hi Buzzers! I’m so excited for the chance to chat with you all! I can’t wait to answer any questions you have about The Gathering Storm… or any other questions you’d like to throw at me. Video games? Eighties trivia? Life in general? Anything but calculus!

I think I’ve been writing since before I was old enough to write. My mom has a poem I dictated to her when I was five:

“When you are a baby, you are a little seed.
When you are a child, you are a little bud.
When you are a grown-up, you are a beautiful rose.
And when you are old, the wind blows your petals away.”

All right, so what if it didn’t rhyme? When I was six or seven, I made my first book by stapling two pieces of cardboard and some notebook paper together. I was in love with Laura Ingalls’ Little House books, but I did not live in the Big Woods, or on the Prairie. At the time, we lived on 11th Street, so my story was called “The House on 10th Street”. It was about a house that had a mean family that lived in it, and the bad kids drew all over the walls. The house was very sad. Then a nice family moved in and fixed up the house. The house lived happily ever after.

I stuck with writing poetry until seventh grade, when I wrote my first novel, a hundred-plus page mystery written on notebook paper, called “The Tunnel Murders”. I don’t think there was a single murder in it, actually. It was more like a bad soap opera rip-off. With smooching scenes! I can’t believe I let my grandmother read it.

In high school, I was more interested in being a rock star and a movie actress than being a writer. I kept a journal and I wrote lots of horrible songs with obscure lyrics. A little too obscure, perhaps. Blood and dragons were mentioned a lot. And no, I will not post any of my song lyrics here for your amusement.

During our senior year, a group of us published our poems in a chapter book, titled Revolutionary Pen and Ink. It led to a short-lived lit magazine, named Back Alley Review. We were interviewed in Coast Magazine! We were famous! Umm, or not.

I went to college and studied theater. One day in Fundamentals of Acting, our teacher held up a picture of a bunch of rocks and told us to write a scene based on that picture. Two hours and seven pages later, the class was over and I was still sitting in the tiny arena theater writing a short story about a girl who grew up in Hollywood and met Lucille Ball. I’m not sure how I got from rocks to Lucille Ball- but I should have known that day I was in the wrong major. It wasn’t long before I switched to English and began down the path of a Serious Writer. I wrote serious and depressing literary short stories until I finished school and began teaching seventh graders. Two revelations occurred to me then:

1. I was not meant to teach middle school.

2. I was not meant to write literary adult fiction.

I quit teaching, and wrote a middle grade fantasy, set in ancient Ireland. And then I wrote another middle grade story, about a girl who could talk to dolphins.

(And then I went back to school for a nursing degree because I really like to eat.)

And then I wrote my first YA paranormal. I got an agent. The book didn’t sell. I had an idea for a book but I was scared I wasn’t ready to write it. I wrote another instead. It didn’t sell. I decided to write the scary book idea, a fantasy about a girl growing up in Imperial Russia. The agent didn’t think it would sell. I got a new agent. We revised this book over and over before submitting to publishers. It didn’t sell. We revised it again. And it sold. Along with its two sequels. So don’t give up, and don’t panic. Everything happens for a reason. Even if you don’t take the path you thought you needed to take.

by HeadBuzzer | 18 comments |

Filed under: Author Letters Katerina Trilogy Robin Bridges The Gathering Storm
Weekend Reads: Exposed

Jan 6, 2012

Hip hip hooray for the weekend Buzzers! What books will be gracing your eyes this weekend? If you're looking for something different to read but all together amazing, we've got just the chapter sampler for you. Below is the sneak peek for EXPOSED written by Kimberly Marcus, and the trailer!

Listed as one of Amazon's Best Books of 2011 for Teens, Exposed is a quick, one-sitting novel written entirely in free-verse poetry and the first book published from Kimberly. It's on sale now in hardcover and ebook, but the paperback version is coming out February 28th.

Ms. Marcus will be joining us the week of January 16th for a second round of Q&As (she previously visited us last Spring) so once you've finished reading the sampler, head on over to her forum here and post your questions! Now onto the sampler, happy reading Buzzers!

Add it to your RB shelf | Follow Kimberly on Twitter | Goodreads

Exposed by Kimberly Marcus

Now that you're done reading, head on over to Kimberly's forum and post some questions and don't forget to watch the book trailer below and add the book to your RB bookshelf!

by HeadBuzzer | 31 comments |

Filed under: book trailers Chapter Sampler Exposed Kimberly Marcus