Slave Lake Book Auction

My book CROSSED OUT and a critique of 2 chapters is part of the Slave Lake Book auction.  This is for a great cause!  There are other YA authors who are also part of this!

http://slavelakebookauction.wordpress.com/2011/06/06/auction-41-signed-copy-crossed-out-by-kim-baccellia-a-crit-of-2-chapters/


Auction #41 Signed copy Crossed Out by Kim Baccellia & a crit of 2 chapters


A book AND a critique of 2 chapters? The best of both worlds IMO!



Book description:



Stephanie Stewart didn’t ask for her gift of guiding the deceased to the other side but she’s stuck with it. Why can’t dead people just follow that bright light and leave her alone? When Mr. Undead wants to use her special talent for his own evil purposes, her little gift becomes a major liability.



Critique of 2 chapters:



It’s pretty straight forward. Kim is offering a critique of 2 chapters of a YA book or work in progress.



Thanks so much to Kim for the donation. http://www.kim-baccellia.com/books.html



■This auction will run from today until 11:59 pm Est June 9th and is open to North America.

■All bids will be in Canadian funds.

■Bids must increase by at least a dollar.


**Just go to the above link and make a bid.  I'll even throw in some CROSSED OUT book swag!

I Buy a Kindle

(Please see Peggy Tibbetts' post re Kindles and other eReaders, if you haven't read it yet!)

Anyone who read my previous blog entry regarding tech already knows I’m a “late-adapter”. I have a desktop computer which uses the Windows XP OS and WORD 2003, and a cell phone they stopped making in 2007. As long as my current way of doing something techie still works, you have to drag me kicking and screaming to a shop or website selling some new-fangled replacement.

Consequently, -I’m- even shocked by the fact that I now own a Kindle. I’ve been thinking about buying one for the last two months. I kept rejecting the idea because I’ve been burnt by several purchases of (semi)cutting-edge hardware, like the smart phone that I never learned how to use or my shiny new laptop that buffaloed me because it’s powered with Windows 7. (A friend is giving me “laptop lessons” this summer.)

What if the same thing happened again with an eReader? What if nothing I wanted to buy was available? What if I made a mistake buying the Kindle when I should have purchased a Nook, a Kobo or a Sony? What if I simply couldn’t figure out how to upload book files, no matter how hard I tried? What if I understood how to work the thingie but then never used it?

I thought about all of this carefully, and spent a ridiculous amount of time cruising the more negative Amazon reviews for the Kindle and for the Kindle books that I most wanted to read. Maybe in an effort to scare myself out of the whole idea, I made a tentative list of books I might purchase—with an estimate of how much the Kindle, its jacket, and the books would cost.

This was not necessarily a good move for me. In the past, doing so much research about other possible purchases has often just locked me into the purchase before I was ready. You see, I have a thing about this—once I’ve spent a certain amount of time thinking about a possible purchase, I can’t seem to back out of actually making it, even if I still have doubts.

Thanks to all those hours in the Kindle shop, I discovered that:

1. Books which often appear to be missing their tables of contents aren’t always lacking them. Some kind soul writing a review pointed out that when a user opens a new book the Kindle queues up to the first chapter. What? No table of contents? Yup there is—but you need to back up to see what comes before the chapter.

2. Under no circumstances should readers—especially non-techie readers like me—purchase a cover for their Kindle which fastens hinge-like to the left edge of the reader. Evidently, this arrangement often makes a Kindle freeze or crash. If that happened to me, my pitty-pat little heart would freeze or crash.

3. Amazon has a –wicked- number of books I already love or want very much to read. Like all the young adult & children’s books written by the members of the YAAYNHO blog. See the list at the end. (Or all the ebooks written by my fellow members of the Lost Genre Guild—writers of speculative fiction with a subtle Christian worldview.)

Other older but still yummy books are even free or cost just 99 cents. For instance: many of George MacDonald’s books for children like The Princess & the Goblin, and At the Back of the North Wind; Kipling’s Jungle Book; Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; The Secret Garden; Little Women; Anne of Green Gables; Grimm’s Fairy Tales; Andersen’s Fairy Tales; Stevenson’s Kidnapped; Sidney’s Five Little Peppers series; Kingsley’s Water-Babies; and The Wind in the Willows.

Other goodies cost money: Narnia, The Hobbit; Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising sequence; Madeleine l’Engle’s series; the Nancy Drew books; The Hardy Boys; Harriet the Spy; Artemis Fowl; The Phantom Tollbooth; Island of Blue Dolphins; Witch at Blackbird Pond; Tuck Everlasting; A Series of Unfortunate Events; Graceling; The Hunger Games; some of Brian Jacques’ Red Wall, etc. Roald Dahl and Lloyd Alexander’s books are only available as pricey Kindle audios for some reason.

And then there’s Project Gutenberg or Smashwords books that I’ve looked at from time to time but never downloaded. To say nothing of my fellow writers who have offered me advance PDFs of their manuscripts for review. I’ve turned down these offers in the past. Why? I hate PDF and I didn’t want to read a whole book on the computer screen. I’m at the computer much of the day as it is.

Anyway, I ordered my Kindle, and it came, and there I was opening the package with fingers crossed. (Somewhat hard to do, that.) Fingers still pretty much crossed, I managed to charge my Kindle all by myself. In the meantime, I read the quick start menu. It mainly identified which key is which. Helpful, but not that helpful. The booklet promised that there were more instructions loaded on the Kindle itself. But would I be able to find them? (I have absolutely no confidence left when it comes to tech these days.)

I turned the Kindle on–it went on!--and found the in-depth directions right away. Phew! So I started to read. I read for a while—understanding most but not all of what I was reading & immediately forgetting the previous paragraph—until I noticed a tiny bit of data at the bottom of the screen. It said that I had read 3% of the document so far. Only 3 per cent? How long were these instructions, anyway? I read for a few more minutes, advancing about two screens. The percentage was now 4%. Hm. Assuming my math was correct, that made the entire file of instructions 200 screens long.

Believe it or not, I actually sat & read the whole file at one sitting—except for the fiddly bits at the end where Amazon has all the legalese absolving them from practically everything. Done. Huge sigh of relief. Too bad it hadn’t been a book.

Books! Urk! Time to start uploading books from Amazon. Well, the Kindle hadn’t exploded--yet. It was probably waiting for this to do so. Or freeze. Or just stare blankly with its little screen. (“Come on! Open up! It’s good for you! I mean, I mean, it tastes yummy! Open a’ready! Just one more.”) Long story, short. I was able to upload approximately 30 books. They really do transmit them in a minute. The only delays I experienced were thanks to the response time of my ancient computer, the time taken to find the next Amazon page or, rarely, waiting for the Kindle to catch up. I even created my own categories and stored my purchases by author or type of book. Now understand, none of this was as easy for me as it sounds. I still have to randomly try “Menu”, “Home” and “Back” before I find which one I need to go to in order to perform some operation or other. But, hey, I have 30 books on the critter, a whole list of freebies to install, and a wish list of YAAYNHO & LGG titles I’m itching to get!

Score: Sherry = 1. New tech = 0.

============

Here’s a List of a/l/l Most of the Kindle eBooks written by YAAYNHO Authors.

A few books by YAAYNHO authors appear to be available only in paperback. (Or maybe they have paperbacks at Amazon, plus eBooks for Nook, etc.) I’ve tried to list the paperbacks if that was all I could find at Amazon.

If any author or title is missing--and I'm sure I've forgotten someone--please put the information into a comment—I’ll try to add it to my blog entry!

Christine Norris = The Crown of Zeus: the Library of Athena, Bk.1;

The Mirror of Yu-Huang; The Ankh of Isis.

Kim Baccellia = Crossed Out.

Jenna Kay Francis = Blood Bred Series Book 1: Gift of Blood.

Christine Marciniak = When Mike Kissed Emma.

Beverly Stowe McClure = Caves, Cannons & Crinolines; Just Breeze.

Gloria Oliver = Cross-Eyed Dragon Troubles; Willing Sacrifice; Vassal of El.

Rebecca Ryals Russell = Odessa (The Seraphym Wars series).

Peggy Tibbetts = Letters to Juniper.

Kathi Wallace = Assiniboin Girl.

Mike Dicerto = Milky Way Marmalade.

J L Walters = Flight (pb?);The City That Waits to Die ( pb?)

Kathryn Sullivan = Talking to Trees (pb); Agents and Adepts; The Crystal Throne.

Sherry Thompson = Seabird (1^st Narentan Tumult); Earthbow (2nd Narentan Tumult)

Ophelia Julien = Saving Jake; Hunting Spirits.

Kimberly Blackadar = Nothing But Trouble After Midnight (The Seven C’s series).

New additions - New directions

The word has come and there will be two new grandchildren in my family, arriving from China by the middle of July. Emma will be three and Andrew will be four. What does this mean to me as a writer? Been thinking that I must go back and polish up several stories I wrote when my children were this young. I no longer have the drafts but because they wanted to hear them so often much of the sense is still with me. Of course these should be picture books but I have no artistic ability, but that won't keep me from sharing these stories with the new additions to the family.

Do you write your YA stories for the children in your family, or are they written for yourself? Stories are meant to be shared, to be told. So with the addition of new children, my writing will expand again. I do write for myself and I do write for the children in my family. New additions can mean new directions. We'll see what happens.

I recently finished the last of a four part fantasy series for children. Many of the characters are based on my grandchildren. The young people in these stories have aged as the grandchildren aged. When I learned about the two new ones I had to add them to the story but only in a general way since I didn't know them. I also discovered that while I was writing for these children in the family, I was also writing for myself by exploring the worlds of fantasy and the talents of the characters I was putting my dreams on paper. Sometimes my nightmares as well. Good stories need both dreams and nightmares, writing for one's self and for others.

To CLASSIC or Not to Classic...

A recent YAAYNHO post had to do with whether or not kids should be REQUIRED to read the "classic" books of history.  The writer made the argument that it is much better for kids to read what they are interested in.  What THEY want to read. Requiring students to read the classics was, she felt,  counterproductive to making them interested in reading. I thought about her argument and then I recalled my own history of reading the classics and the irony that I was currently reading Moby Dick. A book I had chosen to read and was not part of any syllabus.

Then I thought back to my favorite teacher ever - Mr. Joe Kraus who was my AP English teacher in high school. In his class we WERE REQUIRED to read Hamlet, Cat's Cradle, Catch-22, Death of a Salesman,  etc etc. I can recall him, much like Robin Williams in Dead Poet's Society, standing atop his desk reciting scenes fromHamlet.  I ate up the books. I will always recall Joe Kraus and his class fondly. He always encouraged me to be a writer. And I am GLAD I was forced to read some classics. 

Anyone who knows me personally is quite aware I am not a conservative conformist who bows to authority. But I also realize that classics are classics for a reason. LikeThe Beatles's music and films by Capra, the work stands the test of time.  They challenge the reader to think and interpret and delve into the layers of meaning. Let's face it- if we let kids make their own decisions about everything they would eat crap food, watch crap TV and never ever do anything for anyone else but their own narcissistic selves.  It's what makes a kid a "kid".  Children, I strongly believe, have to be TAUGHT to appreciate beauty and the value it. Comedian Billy Connolly tells the story of bringing his kids to see the gorgeous scenery in Scotland and telling them "You see, mountains and trees in that order is pretty. OOh. Ahh. Say it kids "Ooooh" "Ahh!".

He is right.

As a teen I was encourage to read on a variety of topics and hold that dear to this day. Would I have CHOSEN on my own to read Macbeth or Waiting for Godot? Probably not. Am I glad I was made to read them?

Yes.  

So I stand on the side of TO CLASSIC. And mix in with that anything else your mind desires to read (including my to-be-released-in-June kidlit novel, RUPERT STARBRIGHT: The Door to Far-Myst from Zumaya Publications's Threshold imprint) . You will be a better human for it. 

Kindle Offspring

For Christmas 2007, my husband Tod surprised me with a Kindle purchase order. I had told him I was curious about it so he ordered one for me. Kindle was so new to the ebook scene and the demand was so great, mine didn’t arrive until late January. I wrote about my love for it in Kindle Spirits.

A couple months ago my daughter Ema ordered the new Kindle Wi-Fi, Graphite, 6" Display with New E Ink Pearl Technology. She brought it over right away. We oohed about the slim new look, and ahhed at the faster speed. We swooned over the improvements in e-ink technology. The screen is way easier on the eyes than my First Gen.

But – if I upgraded to a new Kindle what would I do with my First Gen? I couldn’t just sell it to some stranger on eBay. My First Gen means something to me. We had shared our love of ebooks for over three years.

Then on my birthday this month, Tod and Ema interrupted me in my office while I was reading. I set aside my Kindle and opened the presents they handed me. The first one was a new Kindle and the second was a new cover. There they were – my two Kindles side-by-side on my desk. It was a poignant moment.

While Ema reminded me about all the great features on the new Kindle and showed off the nifty little sliding book light on the new cover, I felt mixed emotions. I had to admit the leaner, faster, and easier to read new Kindle was enticing. It has all the improvements I longed for. I caressed it in my hands.

But I felt so guilty about my First Gen. Finally I held it up and asked, “But what do I do with this?”

“Give it to Hailey,” Ema said.

Hailey is my 9-year old granddaughter. She loves to read. She also just “graduated” from elementary school.

“What a great idea!” I said. “A perfect elementary school graduation gift.”

So I wiped and de-registered my First Gen and wrapped it up. Hailey’s face lit up when she opened it. “I can’t believe it. My very own Kindle!”

My first Kindle is now Hailey’s first Kindle. She’s thrilled. I’m happy. I can’t think of a better solution all the way around. Together Hailey and the First Gen will share their joy and love of books.

Ah, spring and the shiny new Kindle. I’m in love all over again. Now please excuse me while I go read an ebook …


Peggy Tibbetts

Letters to Juniper now available in ebook & paperback @ Amazon

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Magic Ponies

When I was young, I went through the phase of reading horse stories and watching horse movies. Black Beauty, The Black Stallion, Misty, Thunderhead, Son of Flicka, Appaloosa... That was why I have the Fleogende, the talking horses in my fantasy series (The Crystal Throne, Talking to Trees, and several short stories in Agents & Adepts).

But perhaps I'm not "through" the phase as much as I had thought, as I have now discovered the overwhelming addictiveness of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. The show is currently being shown on the Hub cable channel, although many of the episodes are also available on YouTube. (Hint to Hub, please release DVDs of the season so I can addict more friends).

Lauren Faust, the creator of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, also worked on The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends. Friendship Is Magic follows the adventures of Twilight Sparkle, a scholarly magic-using unicorn. Assigned by her mentor, Princess Celestia, to Ponyville, Twilight meets a variety of fillies: Applejack, an apple farmer pony; Rarity, a clothing designer unicorn; Fluttershy, a very shy pegasus who talks to animals; Rainbow Dash, a racing pegasus (who not only has a rainbow colored mane and tail but leaves a trail of rainbows behind her when she flies fast); and Pinky Pie, a baker's apprentice pony who loves to throw parties. Twilight also has an assistant, Spike, a baby dragon who is able to send Twilight's reports to Celestia via his flame breath. As the season goes on, we also meet the little sisters of some of the ponies (who are even cuter than their big sisters, if that is even possible).

It's a fascinating world where not only the buildings and furniture are constructed for pony use but also the language: "everypony" rather than "everyone" and "Fillies and gentlecolts". Attention is even paid to the sound effects, such as Fluttershy's nervous squeaks or the hoof clomping when the ponies stamp to show approval. The writing is clever and fun for both kids and adults and the artwork is amazing. Those ponies are cute. The storylines are about friendship, but there are also ones about workaholics, jealousy and learning to trust.

There's another review of the series at A.V. Club. There is already a growing fandom of this show, with fan videos and fan fiction.

And fans are analyzing the physics of the show, something I'm used to for Star Trek or Doctor Who fans, but not those of a cartoon show.

So if you like horses, or unicorns (with or without glitter) or just good cartoons, you might want to check out My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. But beware - this show is very addictive.

Turning Dreams or Nightmares Into Stories

How many times have you dreamed something so vivid and life-like, you remembered it after waking? Or the dream was so powerful it woke you up? This happens to me quite a bit. Perhaps it comes with the territory of being a writer. I keep a notebook and pen beside my bed for just that reason. I’ve actually had dreams so vivid in detail that with very little tweaking, they became stories.

Here is one of my more recent vivid dreams that could probably become something. I know I was panting when I woke from this one:

I was traveling down river on a smallish boat. I’m sitting on a raised seat on a narrow platform behind the driver and passenger seats—a fishing platform maybe. There are two seats side by side but the other is empty. The boat’s sides are low and this worries me because I think monsters could get into the boat too easily. There is a man steering us down river with a woman seated beside him. A teenaged boy stands beside me, a younger boy is standing on the floor of the boat in front of the passenger seat. There’s a little water in the bottom of the boat.

The murky brown river is about 50 feet across with jungle growth along both banks. We keep dodging drifting fallen trees, stumps, and plants growing into the water from the banks. All around us are Cayman-sized gators which approach the boat and leap into it or try to. One succeeds. I'm screaming at the younger boy to watch out when two more gators leap inside then instantly become small dogs. They come onto my platform, rubbing and acting playful but putting their open mouths on our legs and arms. I tell them if they bite I'll kill them. One rolls his eyes playfully while mouthing my arm. I shove him off and he becomes the gator again and I shoot him.

Next there is a human arm reaching up from the platform trying to grab my leg. I stamp at it until it disappears.

So—what do you make of that one? If you dream analyze, I’m not sure I want to know what this means. But it seems like good fodder for a horror story.

Tell us one of your dreams that would make a good story or one you DID turn into a story.