Interview with the Steampunk Vampire

Why has no one told me about Key, The Steampunk Vampire Girl until now?

Becket, long-time assistant of legendary bestseller Anne Rice, presents his new middle-grade novel Key the Steampunk Vampire Girl and the Tower Tomb of Time with illustrator Raven Quinn.

The first book, Key the Steampunk Vampire Girl and the Dungeon of Despair (Volume 1), was released on Oct. 23, 2013. The second is scheduled to be released next week on Feb. 17, 2014 at 7 p.m. with a launch party at my favorite independent bookstore, Changing Hands.

Key the Steampunk Vampire Girl and the Dungeon of Despair (Volume 1)

Key had a very happy life on a farm — until her ninth birthday, when she lost her mom and dad, was changed into a vampire, and was ushered to the City of the Dead where she was thrown into the Dungeon of Despair. Key is now imprisoned for the rest of her immortal life in darkness, loneliness, and emptiness. But hope is not lost when Key is befriended by a ghost, a witch, and an immortal puppy. Through friendship, Key must learn that she herself is the key to freedom from Despair. Brought to life with the dazzling artwork of Raven Quinn, Becket - assistant to New York Times bestselling author Anne Rice - shares with you an enchanting world of vampire castles, glowing flowers, Crinomatics, and mostly dead Mystical Creatures.

Key, the Steampunk Vampire Girl and the Tower Tomb of Time (Volume 2)

Key the Steampunk Vampire Girl has escaped from the Dungeon of Despair, but now she must race through the Necropolis to the Tower Tomb of Time before Old Queen Crinkle can rewrite history. With the aid of Mr. Fuddlebee the ghost and Miss Broomble the Witch, Key and her immortal puppy, Tudwal, must drive a MotorHog, ride a Hobbeetle, and cling to an Umbracopter without getting lost in time, where she will have to confront an old enemy and a long forgotten past.

Gosh (and I use that wicked word boldly) Monday is going to be busy between the Renaissance Festival and the Launch Party! I simply cannot wait to read these!

A great nation is a reading nation

Children's Book Week originated in the belief that children's books and literacy are life-changers. In 1913, Franklin K. Mathiews, the librarian of the Boy Scouts of America, began touring the country to promote higher standards in children's books. He proposed creating a Children's Book Week, which would be supported by all interested groups: publishers, booksellers, and librarians.

Mathiews enlisted two important allies: Frederic G. Melcher, the visionary editor of Publishers Weekly, and Anne Carroll Moore, the Superintendent of Children's Works at the New York Public Library and a major figure in the library world. With the help of Melcher and Moore, in 1916, the American Booksellers Association and the American Library Association sponsored a Good Book Week with the Boy Scouts of America.

Established in 1919, Children's Book Week is the longest-running national literacy initiative in the country. Every year, commemorative events are held nationwide at schools, libraries, bookstores, homes -- wherever young readers and books connect!

The need for Children’s Book Week today is as essential as it was in 1919, and the task remains the realization of Frederic Melcher’s fundamental declaration: "A great nation is a reading nation."

When worlds collide

I am a huge fan of mashups and the latest I have heard of is The Oz/Wonderland Chronicles.

Dorothy (The Wonderful Wizard of Oz) and Alice (Peter Pan) have grown up and gone to college. They're now roommates - plus Wendy Darling (Peter Pan) and Susan Pevensie (The Chronicles of Narnia).

Apparantly none remembers her childhood adventure, but that's about to change....

Wowzer! Dorothy, Alice, Wendy, and Susan.

Talk about the Fantastic Four!

Curtsies & Conspiracies

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Momma and I devoured Etiquette & Espionage this weekend, and are happily rereading her Parasol Protectorate series.

You. Must. Read. These. Books.

Does one need four fully grown foxgloves for decorating a dinner table for six guests? Or is it six foxgloves to kill four fully grown guests?

Sophronia’s first year at Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality has certainly been rousing! For one thing, finishing school is training her to be a spy (won’t Mumsy be surprised?). Furthermore, Sophronia got mixed up in an intrigue over a stolen device and had a cheese pie thrown at her in a most horrid display of poor manners.

Now, as she sneaks around the dirigible school, eavesdropping on the teachers’ quarters and making clandestine climbs to the ship’s boiler room, she learns that there may be more to a school trip to London than is apparent at first. A conspiracy is afoot–one with dire implications for both supernaturals and humans. Sophronia must rely on her training to discover who is behind the dangerous plot-and survive the London Season with a full dance card.

In this sequel to bestselling author Gail Carriger’s YA debut Etiquette & Espionage, class is back in session with more petticoats and poison, tea trays and treason. Carriger’s distinctive voice, signature humor, and lush steampunk setting are sure to be the height of fashion this season.

It's due out Nov. 5, 2013!

 

Etiquette & Espionage

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

I've written about Gail Carriger's books before, and I just discovered (belatedly) that a new one came out in February.

And a new series to boot!

It's one thing to learn to curtsy properly. It's quite another to learn to curtsy and throw a knife at the same time. Welcome to Finishing School.

Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than proper manners--and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine's, young ladies learn to finish ... everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but the also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage--in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year's education.

Set in the same world as the Parasol Protectorate, this YA series debut is filled with all the saucy adventure and droll humor Carriger's legions of fans have come to adore.

 

That about covers it

courtesy of Kindred Thread

I am astonished, and I am certain author L.M. Montgomery would be horrified.

I know my dear friend Anne of Green Gables is.

Someone recently self published a trilogy of Anne's books (Anne of Green Gables, Anne of Avonlea, Anne of The Island) as Anne of Green Gables: Three in One Set with a new, um, updated cover.

If you have ever read Montgomery's 1908 classic, Anne is a 10-year-old red-haired orphan.

She is NOT a blonde temptress.

amazon.com

Anne of Green Gables is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before Jan. 1, 1923.

Montgomery died in 1942, so this work is also in the public domain in countries where the copyright term is the author's life plus 70 years (or less).

Interestingly enough, the recent controversy about the cover seems to have reached Amazon since the cover is no longer displayed.

Oh darn.

Some spider

From bears to spiders.

Sixty years ago, on Oct. 15, 1952, E.B. White's Charlotte's Web was published. It has since become one of the most beloved children's books of all time.

According to a story by NPR's Michael Sims, White sat down in a studio in 1970 to record the narration.

"He, of course, as anyone does doing an audio book, had to do several takes for various things, just to get it right," Sims says. "But every time, he broke down when he got to Charlotte's death. And he would do it, and it would mess up. ... He took 17 takes to get through Charlotte's death without his voice cracking or beginning to cry."

Me too.

The Adventures of the REAL Winnie-the-Pooh

New York Public Library

Speaking of British bears, the beloved children's book Winnie-the-Pooh was first published on Oct. 14, 1926!

I said goodbye to Paddington and popped back across The Pond to wish Winnie and his friends a happy anniversary.

Author A. A. Milne originally gave the stuffed bear to his son Christopher for his first birthday. Eventually named Winnie-the-Pooh, the bear and other stuffed animals inspired Milne to write his famous books.

Milne later donated the stuffed toys to American publisher E.P. Dutton in 1947. Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet, Kanga (Roo was long gone), Eeyore and Tigger remained with Dutton until they were donated to the New York Public Library where they have been on display since Sept. 11, 1987.

British politicians have been asking for the historic toys return (and American politicians refusing) since at least 1998.

Mike McCurry, spokesman for then-President Bill Clinton proclaimed, "As the President indicated to some of us, the notion that the United States would lose Winnie is utterly unbearable."

It's nice to see some toys getting the respect they deserve.

The adventure is about to begin

Sometimes I wonder why the British love their bears so much.

Bears haven't existed in Great Britain since the 10th century, yet they have produced fictional literary bears such as Winnie the Pooh (1926) and Paddington Bear.

Paddington Bear (written by Michael Bond) first appeared on Oct. 13, 1958 and is now featured in 21 books, which have been translated into 30 languages and sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.

Plus, his own moving picture in two years!

The polite migrant bear from darkest Peru, with his old hat, battered suitcase (complete with a secret compartment!), and duffle coat has become a classic character from English kidlit.

Paddington is always polite and well-meaning, although he inflicts hard stares on those who incur his disapproval.

He likes marmalade sandwiches and cocoa and has an endless capacity for getting into trouble.

I asked Paddington why the British love bears so much, but all I got was a hard stare.

Ahh, a bear after my own heart. I completely understand.

 

The wild rumpus starts

Beloved illustrator and author Maurice Sendak died today.

Even if he didn't believe in an afterlife, I do and I think he's there now, creating a wild rumpus with all those he loved.

On the fourth day of Christmas

On the fourth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Four calling birds
Three French hens, two turtle doves
And a partridge in a pear tree.

Dec. 28, 2000 was a sad date in retail history when U.S. retail giant Montgomery Ward announced it was going out of business after 128 years.

Montgomery Ward was founded by Aaron Montgomery Ward in 1872. Ward had conceived of the idea of a dry goods mail-order business in Chicago, Illinois, after several years of working as a traveling salesman among rural customers. The business grew at a fast pace over the next several decades, fueled by demand primarily from rural customers who were also attracted by the innovative and unprecedented company policy of "satisfaction guaranteed or your money back", which Ward began using in 1875.

Laura Ingalls Wilder fans recognize the importance Montgomery Ward catalogues had for those who lived far from the big city:

For themselves, they decided to buy a present together, something they could both use and enjoy. After much studying of Montgomery Ward’s catalogue, they chose to get a set of glassware. They needed it for the table and there was such a pretty set advertised, a sugar bowl, spoon-holder, butter dish, six sauce dishes, and a large oval-shaped bread plate. On the bread plate raised in the glass were heads of wheat and some lettering which read “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Laura Ingalls Wilder

The First Four Years

That breadplate was one of the very few things to survive the housefire that destroyed their home a few years later.

One of Momma's treasures includes an identical antique glass breadplate. (She loves to collect antique china and glass patterns mentioned in her favorite kidlit books. So far she has Laura's breadplate and Blue Willow china as well as Tacy's china pattern in a teacup and saucer. She's trying to hunt down a sandwich tray in Mrs. Ray's china pattern, too.)