sarahcross

I should have put up a Mineshaft Warning a while ago. I have descended into the hermit cave of doom because all I am doing is writing, and watching occasional action movies while Tolstoy and J.D. grumble about Seagal's ill-fitting jacket. I will return with some actual content later this month. And if you wrote me a lovely email about Dull Boy and haven't heard back yet, trust that I am treasuring it and will indeed reply once I escape from this pesky mine shaft.

Speaking of escape ...

I come not only with excuses, but with prizes! Win seven spectacular YA books in the Escape with the 7 giveaway!



Go to: http://www.escapewith7.com/freebooks.html and tell us which set you want to win: books with US covers, or UK covers (where available). The UK covers are on the bottom half of the graphic, in case you weren't sure.

The books in each prize pack are: Shadowed Summer by Saundra Mitchell, The Season by Sarah MacLean, The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan, Faery Rebels: Spell Hunter (Knife in the UK) by R.J. Anderson, Wings by Aprilynne Pike, Dull Boy by Sarah Cross, and The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan.

Contest is open from July 1st, 2009 - July 7, 2009. Prizes will be awarded July 8th, 2009. Go enter!

Please welcome debut author Sarah Ockler!



( Learn more about Twenty Boy Summer! )

Craving more Sarah? Visit her @ http://www.sarahockler.com

Money burning a hole in your pocket? Buy Twenty Boy Summer at IndieBound!

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Now it’s Build-a-Superhero time! Because building bears is lame. (No offense, bears … but you are all on notice; this should not surprise you.)

What would your superpower be?
Teleportation.

What color would your tights be?
Purple with silver stripes. Vertical stripes.

What would your Kryptonite (aka weakness) be?
Orange chocolate.

Animal sidekick?
A 3-legged pig.

Advice to young superheroes:
Always eat a good breakfast before going out to fight crime and have adventures. Do NOT under any circumstances eat your animal sidekick.


Thanks for stopping by, Sarah!

While visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art recently, I came upon what is quite possibly the most badass wolf ever, in "Wolf and Fox Hunt" by Peter Paul Rubens and Workshop, circa 1615-21. I stood and stared at it, awestruck by the wolf's audacity and pwnage.

You won't get the full effect from a jpeg; the actual painting is enormous. So pretend that this wolf is towering over you--and is 1000 times more awesome than this screen can convey.



THIS WOLF IS MY HERO! Don't even try to hunt him; he will bite your spear, and he will do so like a boss!

Read more about the painting here.

Oh, and in case you weren't sure which wolf was the awesome one, I have subtly highlighted him:



Thanks, Photobucket. Your gratuitous glitter text makes everything more eloquent. Don't stare at that pic too long, tho. It appears to be pulsating ... O.o

Please welcome debut author Mandy Hubbard!



( Learn more about Prada and Prejudice! )

Craving more Mandy? Visit her @ http://mandyhubbard.com

Money burning a hole in your pocket? Buy Prada and Prejudice at Amazon!

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Now it’s Build-a-Superhero time! Because building bears is lame. (No offense, bears … but you are all on notice; this should not surprise you.)

What would your superpower be?
Flawless skin and perfect hair. What? Beauty is totally a weapon. Just ask the Bond girls.

What color would your tights be?
Black? Black is slimming.

What would your Kryptonite (aka weakness) be?
Bond, of course. Bond always gets the girls to admit to their evil doings in time to save the world.

Animal sidekick?
Um, a horse? Seriously, animal sidekicks are so 1990.

Advice to young superheroes:
Good luck on your world domination. Just don't get grounded, because that really puts a damper on your plans to take over the world.

Thanks for stopping by, Mandy!


You guys! I have been full of blog tour fail lately! Yeah, maybe you noticed? ^^; I still owe you tour posts for these fantastic books! -->



They are on their way, I promise!! In the meantime, click the covers to find out more about them! ♥

Please welcome debut author Danielle Joseph!



( Learn more about Shrinking Violet! )

Craving more Danielle? Visit her @ http://daniellejoseph.com/

Money burning a hole in your pocket? Buy Shrinking Violet at B&N!

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Now it’s Build-a-Superhero time! Because building bears is lame. (No offense, bears … but you are all on notice; this should not surprise you.)

What would your superpower be?
I'd love to be able to fly and zap bad guys!

What color would your tights be?
Purple.

What would your Kryptonite (aka weakness) be?
Chocolate.

Animal sidekick?
Snoopy.

Advice to young superheroes:
Be yourself and don't succumb to peer superhero pressure!


Thanks for stopping by, Danielle!

This is odd ... but strangely compelling & hypnotic. "Alice" is a song by an artist named Pogo. In his words, it's "an electronic piece of which 90% is composed using sounds recorded from the Disney film 'Alice In Wonderland'."

Interesting, right? Take a look:

It's hard to find a good badass these days. Zac Efron, Ed Westwick, and that dude who plays Captain Kirk in the new Star Trek movie all serve a purpose, but sometimes you're looking for a hero who kicks ass & takes names, shoots first and asks questions later, and loves his arsenal more than his hair gel.

Let me introduce you to a few of my favorites:


EXHIBIT A: Jason Statham, who can deal more damage with a fire hose than most ninjas could manage with a pair of spiked nunchakus. Observe:


Next up:


EXHIBIT B: Batman, aka Bruce Wayne, aka not afraid to choke a b*tch. Or a Joker. Or whoever. He'll knock you out with a Die Hard battery, punch a dog if he has to, and open a can of whoop ass on an 80 year old man--all in the name of justice.

Last but not least (and the real purpose of this post):


EXHIBIT C: Nick Ryves from Sarah Rees Brennan's THE DEMON'S LEXICON! Nick slays demons and evil magicians, fixes the sink when it breaks, looks out for his brother, and is just the right blend of ill-tempered and hot. ;)

Here's a description:

Nick and his brother, Alan, have spent their lives on the run from magic. Their father was murdered, and their mother was driven mad by magicians and the demons who give them power. The magicians are hunting the Ryves family for a charm that Nick's mother stole -- a charm that keeps her alive -- and they want it badly enough to kill again.

Danger draws even closer when a brother and sister come to the Ryves family for help. The boy wears a demon's mark, a sign of death that almost nothing can erase...and when Alan also gets marked by a demon, Nick is desperate to save him. The only way to do that is to kill one of the magicians they have been hiding from for so long.

Ensnared in a deadly game of cat and mouse, Nick starts to suspect that his brother is telling him lie after lie about their past. As the magicians' Circle closes in on their family, Nick uncovers the secret that could destroy them all.

I got to read an advance copy, and I've been counting down the days till you guys could read it too. THE DEMON'S LEXICON is funny, sexy, mysterious, and filled with amazing characters you won't forget. Sarah Rees Brennan (sarahtales) is a fabulous writer, and I bet that if you give DL a shot, she'll soon be on your list of favorite authors ever.

Bottom Line: Sell your underwear on ebay, peddle your plasma, or burgle your little sister's piggy bank, but buy this book! You won't regret it. It's 210% awesome, and it's AVAILABLE NOW!

HAPPY RELEASE DAY, SARAH REES BRENNAN!!! ♥ ♥ ♥

In case you forgot ...

I will be at the NYC Teen Author Carnival on Thursday, May 28 from 4-6pm, at the Jefferson Market Branch of the New York Public Library (425 Avenue of the Americas, at 10th St.)

I've been assigned to Team Caramel Apple, along with authors like rock goddess Libba Bray and romance maven Sarah MacLean. The other teams are Cotton Candy and Funnel Cake.

BRIBES! I will have mini Twix bars, Airhead pops, and shiny Dull Boy bookmarks for you. Also, there will be books for sale at the event, so if you've been wanting Dull Boy and haven't had a chance to get it, come to TAC, buy a copy, I will sign it for you with my abysmal scrawl, and even write a deceitful message of your choosing on the title page! Such as "thanks for saving me from that runaway freight train! I would have perished if not for your heroic assistance! xoxo, Sarah Cross"

NOTE: This may be your last chance to meet Maureen Johnson before she dies on the trapeze Friday.

RSVP if you can, at TeenAuthorCarnival@gmail.com. However, if spontaneity is more your thing, please come anyway! Just tell them you're in my entourage and you brought that bottle of water I requested.



If you can't attend, you can watch the event live on blog TV; head on over to the Teen Author Carnival site for more details.

Please welcome debut author C. Lee McKenzie!



( Learn more about Sliding on the Edge! )

Craving more C. Lee? Visit her @ http://www.cleemckenziebooks.com

Money burning a hole in your pocket? Buy Sliding on the Edge at Amazon!

FIRST, videogames. The third game in the series that started with ICO and continued with Shadow of the Colossus has a teaser trailer!!! It's early on in the process, so they're just calling it "Project TRICO" for now.


It's like if you replaced Agro (the horse from SotC) with a ginormous feathered chinchilla. Not sure how I feel about that, but I am willing to give it a chance, because these games have been nothing but groundbreaking & AMAZING so far.

More info @ KOTAKU.

Oh, ICO games, how I adore you ... I may be forced to buy a PS3. ;_;

NEXT! Diana Peterfreund has revealed my superhero costume to the interwebz. So if you ever saw a pink ninja, and asked yourself, "Could that be Sarah Cross?", you now have an answer.

Visit Diana's blog to enter to WIN a copy of DULL BOY, and show off your own superhero costume for an extra shot at the prize! Come on, I can't be the only person here with a secret identity; I know like, half of you are fighting crime when you aren't blogging. Suit up!

TAP & GOWN, the 4th book in Diana's Secret Society Girl series, just released! This book brings all the unicorns to the yard, so go get it! (What ... you thought Killer Unicorns would be reading RAMPANT? That is far too traumatic for them!!)

LASTLY, next week I'm going to be at an event you may or may not have heard about: TEEN AUTHOR CARNIVAL.

Will there be elephants? Cotton candy? A Ferris wheel? No ... but there will be authors, and free candy (if you say hi to me, that is; I will not pelt you with it), and books for sale, and giveaways!

You're supposed to RSVP if you'd like to attend. But if you want to drop by on THURSDAY, MAY 28, from 4-6PM, at the Jefferson Market Branch of the New York Public Library (425 Avenue of the Americas, at 10th St.) ... I say go for it. Tell them the rule-breaking Sarah Cross sent you, and will whip out the ninja stars if they turn you away.

Hope to see you there! :)

Please welcome debut author Leigh Brescia!



( Learn more about One Wish! )

Craving more Leigh? Visit her @ http://www.leighbrescia.com

Money burning a hole in your pocket? Buy One Wish at Amazon!

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Now it’s Build-a-Superhero time! Because building bears is lame. (No offense, bears … but you are all on notice; this should not surprise you.)

Leigh says: Okay, since I’ve never really imagined myself as a superhero . . . I enlisted my husband (i.e. the guy I’m sorta married to but not allowed to talk about online) for help. It was a test, really, to see what he’d come up with . . . and how well he knew me.

What would your superpower be?
He said I would “bore [my] antagonist with my meaningless banter.”

This is freakin’ hilarious . . . so I’ll stick with it. Although I would like to be able to “zap” things done. Like: “poof” I’m dressed. “Poof” my house is spotless. “Poof” my writing is done for the day, etc. But then, that’s not much fun. Clean houses are *so* overrated.

What color would your tights be?
He said black.

I say he is *absolutely* right, because black is my favorite clothing color. My closet is a sea of black.

What would your Kryptonite (aka weakness) be?
He said chocolate.

Again: spot on. Hand me a piece and I will instantly stop boring you with my “meaningless banter.” (Hmm, maybe that’s why he keeps throwing Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups my way. . . .)

Animal sidekick?
He said I would have a miniature dachshund . . . with a sweater.

*So* right! Only this doggie would be a superhero, too, and would never have any kind of health problems. (We recently had to put my miniature dachshund, Trixie, to sleep because of a back disorder.) Or . . . I could pull a Napoleon Dynamite and tame a wild honeymoon stallion. . . .

Advice to young superheroes:
He said my advice would be: “Read lots of books.”

Good advice, but I would tell them: Love yourself. Or . . . love yourself while reading lots of books. There. Perfect.



Thanks for stopping by, Leigh!

So I hear that many of you are having trouble finding DULL BOY in the chain bookstores (Borders and Barnes & Noble). This saddens me. In fact, it makes me utter "sadface" in a slow, robotic voice a la Master Chief in the fine video series "Arby & the Chief."


:( = sadface

BUT! All is not lost!

The book does exist. Check your local independent bookstore; you may have better luck there! Search for one @ IndieBound.

Or, if you are at Borders or B&N, ask them to order it for you. I know it sucks to do that if you're shy & hate talking to people, but you will earn my undying love & gratitude.

And of course, there is always Amazon.

Do not be thwarted!!!


Master Chief thanks you for your patronage.



You can also win a copy! Are you hilarious? Head over to Shooting Stars Mag and tell me what you think Wolverine said to warrant a KRAK!ing backfist to the face from Cyclops.

My fave response will win a signed copy of Dull Boy.

You have until May 31st to come up with something good. :D

I'll be reading tonight (and/or hiding under a table, and/or fainting) with these fine people:

May 13 -- Teen Author Reading Night
(6-7:30pm, Jefferson Market Branch of NYPL, 425 6th Ave, at 10th St.)

Nick Burd, The Vast Fields of Ordinary

Cecil Castellucci, Geektastic

Susane Colasanti, Waiting for You

Sarah Cross, Dull Boy

Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty

Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, The Real Real

Kieran Scott, Geek Magnet

If you get a chance to come out, there may be something in it for you. Something containing pear concentrate, and delicious pectin, and psychedelic fruity colors ...


Could it be this??

Don't make me depend on the kindness of strangers. Come by and say hello! :)

Come chat with me & 4 other author Sarahs (MacLean, Ockler, Quigley, Rees Brennan) at 9pm EST tonight!

Click here for the details!

Note that this is a chat for readers/bloggers, not for my mom. Mom, you have my phone # if you want to chat.

Ahem. Anyway ...

Hitting the New York Times Bestseller List is a distant dream ... but today I discovered I have hit a different list: the secret hit list of YA blogger and ne'er-do-well Sharon of "Sharon Loves Books and Cats" (and Torture!) fame. I probably never would have discovered this wicked plot, but a brave anonymous do-gooder calling herself Ms. X has exposed Sharon's treacherous hit list and published it on the internet!

If you think you are safe ... you may not be. Future installments are expected.

Apparently my punishment is to be doused with pig's blood at the YA author reading next week. *gasp*

THE HORROR!


Omg as if reading in front of strangers isn't scary enough??

Want to see whether I'll meet my doom? Here are the event details. I'll remind you again next week, since I'm shameless like that.

May 13 -- Teen Author Reading Night
(6-7:30pm, Jefferson Market Branch of NYPL, 425 6th Ave, at 10th St.)

Nick Burd, The Vast Fields of Ordinary

Cecil Castellucci, Geektastic

Susane Colasanti, Waiting for You

Sarah Cross, Dull Boy

Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty

Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus, The Real Real

Kieran Scott, Geek Magnet

Hope to see you there!! One of you will save me from Sharon, right?

Right??

... anyone?

... and artist David Finch wins at life.

Check out his tribute to 80s cartoons, featuring Strawberry Shortcake, My Little Pony, and a Ninja Turtle who has definitely seen better days ... all done Frank Frazetta style. The painting was done for an art show called "Gag Me with a Toon 2," which was held at Meltdown Comics on May 2.

April (and BEDA) are over and it's time for a celebration!

In honor of her own May birthday, Lauren @ Shooting Stars Mag is having a May Party ... and you're invited!



I'm a May baby, too, and a May release, so I'm super excited to be a part of it! There will be giveaways. And cupcakes. Or at least digital cupcakes. ;)

Note: If you post the above graphic on your blog and link it to SSM's May Party post, you will get ONE extra point in your choice of ONE May contest. Make sure you comment on SSM's May Party post if you do this.

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Also: Saundra Mitchell, author of Shadowed Summer, interviewed me for her 5 Minute Interview series. We talk about monkeys (and how they are not in Dull Boy), and what superpower Will Shakespeare would have. Check it out here.

I found this book in a Borders outlet store years after it came out, and picked it up because the title intrigued me. ("Yellow blue bus" is a language misunderstanding. More about that in a minute.) Also, the book was super cheap. That is always appealing. ;)

Check out those amazing jeans! And the dog, who is not at all relevant to the story. Oh, bad watercolor covers of the 90s ...

The book opens with Tim, the Russian-immigrant main character, spotting his classmate Phoebe changing with her blinds open. Then later Phoebe says "yellow blue bus" to him at a dance, because someone dared her to. (She might be a little drunk.) And he's surprised because he mistakes it for "ya lyublyu vas," which means "I love you" in Russian.* Eventually they get together and, from what I remember, she is a total b*tch & is mostly using him, and meanwhile, his very nice (but less hot) friend is waiting on the sidelines, unappreciated. And I read and read, totally into it, certain that Tim would wake up and get with the nice friend--especially after Phoebe tops her previous horribleness and everything ends badly: DOOM. EXPULSION!

Because that's what happens in books, right? AT THE END THEY MAKE ME HAPPY!**

But Tim doesn't get with the nice girl. He gets kicked out of his fancy boarding school and is left with nothing, except the chance to reflect and figure out what the hell happened. And back then, I was so angry about the lack of a predictable, happy ending that I threw the book across the room. But something about it stuck with me. I loved the voice, for one thing. And as much as it pissed me off, it felt real.

I feel like YBBMILU was a pivotal book for me. It might have been the first time I realized YA didn't have to mean Sweet Valley High. And btw, don't let the placid watercolor cover fool you--YBBMILU is racy & honest like whoa.

The book is out of print, but you can read reviews and a brief excerpt @ Amazon.

I should dig out my copy and reread. I wonder if the voice I thought was so fresh would grate on me now, and whether I would still think Phoebe was a b*tch--or if I'd be able to sympathize with her, less eager to divide the girl characters into bad girl and nice girl camps. Hmm ...

*Srsly ... just try pronouncing that: Ya lyublyu vas.

**I no longer demand this. ;)

My question for the writers out there: Do you have any pivotal books that set you on the course to write YA?

And readers: Any love/hate books you're still nostalgic for?

Just got this in the mail today. Soooo excited ...

Grizzled old Jean-Claude Van Damme of Bloodsport and Timecop fame playing ... himself? JCVD opened in theaters in a super limited release last November, and I've been waiting all these months for Netflix to get it. I'm sure it will be EPIC.

Please welcome debut author Deva Fagan!



( Learn more about Fortune's Folly! )

Craving more Deva? Visit her @ http://www.devafagan.com

Money burning a hole in your pocket? Buy Fortune's Folly at Amazon!

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Now it’s Build-a-Superhero time! Because building bears is lame. (No offense, bears … but you are all on notice; this should not surprise you.)

What would your superpower be?
I'd love to be able to teleport. Sadly, the only actual superpower I have is that I can wake up when I need to without an alarm clock.

What color would your tights be?
Blue, in honor of my favorite superhero, Kitty Pryde aka Shadowcat.

What would your Kryptonite (aka weakness) be?
Superhero movies. I will watch any superhero movie, even if it is really bad.

Animal sidekick?
My dog Charlie!
His power is super speed:


Look at him go! Amazing!

Advice to young superheroes:
Don't accept a no-win situation (also good advice for young folks heading off to Starfleet Academy).


Thanks for stopping by, Deva!