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What you've been waiting for!

The first few paragraphs of Linger straight from Maggie's Blog!

• grace •
This is the story of a boy who used to be a wolf and a girl who was becoming one.

Just a few months ago, it was Sam who was the mythical creature. His was the disease we couldn’t cure. His was the good-bye that meant the most. He had the body that was a mystery, too strange and wonderful and terrifying to comprehend.

But now it is spring. With the heat, the remaining wolves will soon be falling out of their wolf pelts and back into their human bodies. Sam stays Sam, and Cole stays Cole, and it’s only me who’s not firmly in my own skin.

Completely unexpected!

~M.A.CHASE♥

Jackson Pearce Interview

What was your inspiration for AS YOU WISH/SISTERS RED?

AS YOU WISH and SISTERS RED have very different “stories behind the story.” With AS YOU WISH, I set out to create an urban fantasy that starred a paranormal being seldom used in YA fiction. Jinn and Viola’s story slowly developed as I began to play with the idea of a master falling in love with a servant. The story took a long time to develop and become the book it is today.

SISTERS RED was more of an “a-ha!” moment. The idea of a new Little Red Riding Hood, one who wasn’t afraid of wolves, came to me out of nowhere. I’d been wanting to create a story about sisters for ages-- what it means to be the older/younger sister--and the two different ideas crashed into one another. The SISTERS RED that will be available in stores is not wildly different than the first draft.

If you’ve already written a novel what do you do?

I tend to think of the writing side and business side of publication as two entirely different things. If you want to venture into the business side and seek publication, you'll need to prepare yourself for a fairly intense experience. Here's my version of a to-do list:
1) Revise the novel. Edit it. Look at it as if it weren't your baby. Let other people look at it.

2) Write a query letter. Re-write and re-draft the query. Use agentquery.com and the Verla Kay Blue Boards as a source for query letter writing help. Use the blueboards for information while posting to cheer other writers on.

3) Query five agents you're interested in. Wait to hear from at least three before you send another five letters.

4) Begin working on a new project. A new project will take your mind off the project on submission, and give you something new to be excited about if things don't go so hot with your first project (they didn't with mine, and I would've cracked if I hadn't been working on AS YOU WISH).

5) Don't self publish simply because you can't get a publishing house or agent to take on your work. Self publishing is right for some types of books-- non-fiction, text books, etc-- but is generally NOT the thing to do with fiction if you want to be the next Meg Cabot or J.K. Rowling and the like. Make sure you know exactly what you're getting into before you self-publish.

How long did it take you to publish AYW/ Sister's Red?

I wrote AS YOU WISH in about a month, then spent over a year revising it. When it sold to Harper Collins, I spent another year working on it with my editor. The total time from first draft to shelf was probably about three years. SISTERS RED was a tiny bit faster-- about two years from first draft to publication.

How did you react once you got your first approval?

When I learned that AS YOU WISH had sold, I freaked out-- and then didn't tell anyone. I wanted some time with the knowledge just for me, so I could think without everyone's excitement hyping me up. When I finally officially sold the book, I called my grandfather to tell him first.

How does someone become a full author?

Do you mean full time author? I was finally able to become a full time author when I was able to support myself solely off money from writing, without depending on an outside job.

Are there any tips on what to look for in an agent/publisher?

Look for someone who meshes with what you need-- the biggest rockstar agent or famous publisher might be fantastic for some people, but that doesn't mean they're fantastic for YOU.

How do you deal with rejection?

I try to figure out WHY I was rejected, and work on it. Sometimes, it's just a case of the book not meshing with the reader/agent/editor, and there's nothing to be done about it-- there is no universally perfect book.

How did you come up with the idea to create Caliban in AYW?

Caliban seemed a very natural extension of the mythology once I'd created Jinn. His personality leant itself to the world, a place where everything is perfect and yet nothing is.

Do you have any tips for people who procrastinate through writing a book?

Man up and write the book! If writing is what you really want to do, you'll MAKE time to get it done.

Tips on editing?

Be honest with yourself-- don't refuse to change something just because it would be hard, or it'd mess up the sequel, or you're scared

A lot of thanks to Jackson Pearce for taking the time to answer the questions!

~M.A.CHASE ♥

Editing..

Editing a whole bunch of my stories. It's actualy turning out pretty good. Editing is boring though.. I wish it was a little more interesting but you know. Once you write it you have to fix it and fix it again.

Still reading Wicked Lovely. It's getting better as it goes along. A lot of things ary being revealed about the characters. Melissa Marr has a way of describing that makes me envious. I'll keep trying to edit and make my descriptions done as best as I can.

Any thoughts or really good tips on editing? Comment below (:

~M.A.CHASE


P.S. I have just emailed Jackson Pearce to ask if I can have an interview to post on here about her books As You Wish and the up coming Sister's Red. I will keep you posted on how that goes.

Currently Reading...

I'm currently reading Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr Published by HARPERTEEN and might I tell you so far it's amazing (:

Melissa Marr has very strong characters so far... I'm on Chapter 3 for the record... ANYWAY :D I love Aislinn's friend Seth and I love Aislinn's personality again so far.

I'll have a bunch of reading time soon so I"ll get farther in it. I'll blog as soon as anything interesting happens

~M.A.CHASE♥

P.S. The Search bar thing at the top doesn't work.. I don't know I guess it just doesn't like me? Whatever. Thought I would let you know :/

The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins publisher Scholastic

This book in my opinion is the best action/ romance story of the century! This book is absolutely amazing.

It takes place in a fictional North America where there are 13 12 districts. After a huge uprising these districts were forced to send in 2 tributes into the Hunger Games, a fight to the death where only one person can be left standing.

On reaping day Katniss and her friend Gale are just hanging out after hunting like they usually do. Then Katniss Everdeen's life changes when her sister, Primrose (also known as Prim xD), gets picked for these games. She volunteers to take her place as the tribute. Her and -the wonderful- Peeta Mellark are sent to these Hunger Games.

As the story goes on Peeta says that he is in love with Katniss which starts some inner conflict for her.

Then the Hunger Games begin.

SPOILER IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE BOOK


Ok, so I am Team Peeta there is no changing my mind about that. (Sorry for all you Gale fans) Peeta is absolutely amazing in every way. He bakes bread and frosts cookies and cakes. He's the perfect person to just talk to about anything and he will support you.

Sure, Peeta can't fight...much... but at least he knows how to use a knife, maybe it's because he's the baker's son and sometimes he needs to use a knife to cut something *shrugs* who knows. I admit he's not like Gale in that sense, Gale is the one who hunts and the one who knows how to set up snares to catch something.

Peeta, on the other hand, has never needed to use any of that because he has the burnt and stale bread that his father bakes to eat, while, Gale -and Katniss for that matter- have needed to know how to hunt to survive. So, this gives Gale the upper hand when it comes to hunting and fighting. It's not easy to learn how to be swift, silent and how to shoot an animal right in the eye in order not to damage the carcass. It's not meant to be learned in one day, it's meant to be learned over SEVERAL YEARS. As Harmony says "It's not like he could stab someone in the eye while spinning around in the air and doing a roundhouse kick."

Peeta is definitely not weak though. He can paint his skin to camouflage into the scenery. After all, that's what he did to keep himself alive when Cato cut his leg, right? Given that he was able to keep himself alive without even having to worry much about fighting while he was injured.

Peeta is also very convincing. He may persuade a crowd of people that blue is purple and purple is blue when everyone clearly knows it's the other way around. He can even tell you your name is Bob when your name is Williamina (don't ask one of my friends named her pig that, Harmony would know who I was talking about xD). SPOILER FOR CATCHING FIRE He persuaded everyone that Katniss was pregnant when in reality she's never even had a boyfriend (well except for Peeta) SPOILER OVER

Anyway, I'm not saying Gale is a bad guy, he isn't really, I'm just saying in my opinion that Peeta is better. Well, if you think about it, Gale had his chance before the Hunger Games to tell Katniss that he had feelings for her. It's his loss that he didn't say anything to her before the whole Katniss-Peeta thing happened. Then no one should blame Katniss for slowly falling in love with Peeta at all. Peeta is just the lovable guy that makes anyone fall in love with him easily.

SPOILER OVER

Think about it the next time you read Hunger Games or if you read this before you've read the book go to your local bookstore and pick it up to read it! Shame on you for not paying attention to the spoiler warning!

Sorry, I'm done...almost... You should really pay attention to that, I could have told you the whole freaking ending and you wouldn't have wanted to read the book.

Rant and book review by

~ M.A.CHASE

Iron King

The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

This story is about a girl living a normal life...well almost normal... when her brother suddenly hurts her mother she doesn't know what to do. She later finds out from her best friend Robbie Goodfell that Ethan has been kidnapped by faeries and that its a changeling.

She later finds out she knows less about Robbie that she thought. Robbie is acutally Robin Goodfellow (Puck) from A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespear and is a faery that will survive immortally as long as people rememeber him.

Her adventures begin when she steps through the trod to the Nevernever. After a few days there she meets the Prince of the Unseelie Court Ash and she finds out the biggest secret that was never meant to be told. This story has romance, and action and a whole lot of Ash (:

Has the adventure and fantasy elements that any person that loves make-believe to read and all the love and triangles that any love story reader would love. It's basically a one for all book unless you don't like either of these. This book leaves you hanging at the end and having you wanting more.

May I say that I think that the cover of this book is AMAZING. IRON DAUGHTER is even better :DD I'm so excited.

IRON DAUGHTER will be released on August 1st, 2010.

If you read or have read this book make sure to leave a comment if you are Team Puck or Team Ash.

I would love to hear your feedback(:

~M.A.CHASE

Peak

Peak by Roland Smith.

This book is about a boy named Peak that gets into trouble when he's caught climbing and tagging a skyscraper in New York City. Peak's long-lost father presents the opportunity to climb and summit Everest.

It's a great novel that has been told in Peak's own words. It's not a good read for someone who doesn't like a book with no "action" or "fantasy" to it.

It's the perfect book for a class to read in Middle or even High School.

At first this book does get boring when they don't do much but once they start getting to the summit is when everything get's a little more interesting.

To find out if Peak summits Everest or not pick up this book at a local bookstore.


~M.A.CHASE♥

As You Wish

As You Wish By Jackson Pearce.

This book has a girl named Viola who had just figured out that her boyfriend had been homosexual. She begins to become "invisible" because of that. This book has alternating chapters between Jinn and Viola giving you different sides of the scenes.

This story is great if you like the romance-y, part action-y. The relationships between the characters grow as the story progresses.

And don't turn this book down just because one of the characters is homosexual. He's not even a very major character, Jinn and Viola are, he's comes out every once and a while. There aren't even many parts that talk about that... sorry, ranting moment.

Anyway, the story is very great and very original. It mixes reality with fantasy in a very creative way. I highly recommend it.

~M.A.CHASE♥

Shiver

Shiver by Maggie Steifvater

The paranormal romance of her characters Grace and Sam. This story takes twistes and turns and dips that makes you keep turning the pages. I couldn't put this book down! This book is definately a better paranormal book then the Twilight Saga (no offense to Stephenie Meyer but it's true). Be sure to pick this book up in any bookstore in the YA section.

The companion book LINGER is going to be released on July 20th.

Be there or be square!! (:

~M.A. CHASE

Sister's Red

OK, so I know this blog is going to be for reviewing but I do have something to say about a book, does that count?

Anyway, on June 7th, 2010 Sister's Red by Jackson Pearce is going to come out into bookstores. This book is a re-telling of Little Red Riding Hood. It's a new twist on the classic story that everyone has come to know and love.

The two companion books are (2) SWEETLY and (3) FATHOMLESS

Be sure to check them out as soon as they're on the bookshelves.

~M.A. CHASE

Huh, I guess this was kind of like a review (: