• Review of DEVIANTS by Maureen McGowan

    August 21, 2012 /

    Deviants by Maureen McGowan My rating: 4 of 5 stars The Dome is the last community of human survivors on an asteroid-devastated Earth, which is now the province of savage Shredders and lethal Dust. Or so say the privileged elite who run the Dome. But when orphaned, 16-year-old Glory–whose power to kill with a glance makes her one of the Deviants who are feared and hated by the Dome’s inhabitants–is forced to run for her life to protect her crippled brother, she discovers that the world, and the Dome, are nothing like she has been taught to believe. The repressive society that brainwashes its members in order to perpetuate its survival is a familiar dystopian trope. Familiar also is Glory’s first-person present-tense narrative voice, and the love triangle that presents her with two toothsome potential boyfriends (each, of course, with a dark side). DEVIANTS doesn’t feel derivative, however, due to…

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  • Pictures From My Garden

    August 15, 2012 /

    I can’t believe it’s August already. Here in Western Massachusetts, we’ve had unbelievable heat and dryness; last weekend’s rain was the first sustained rain we’ve gotten since (I’m pretty sure) June. I’ve been watering to compensate (relatively sparingly, trying to save on the water bill) but I can definitely see the impact of the lack of rain. The other big change: our neighbors removed the big black walnut tree that used to shade the back third of my garden. I had a love-hate relationship with that tree: it killed some of the perennials I tried (all parts of black walnuts contain juglone, a compound that’s toxic to many plants) and every fall dumped bucketloads of rotting walnuts on my yard; but it also gave me beautiful filtered shade, in which, naturally, I planted a shade garden. Now it’s gone, I get full sun in some areas and afternoon sun in…

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  • Guest Blog Post: The Red Flags of Writing Contests

    August 13, 2012 /

    Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware Among the most frequent questions Writer Beware receives are those involving writing contests. Is it legit? Is it prestigious? Is it worth it? How can I tell? Today's guest blog post from author and edit...

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  • Giveaway Winners

    August 6, 2012 /

    This summer’s YA Scavenger Hunt–which ended yesterday–was a huge success. According to the organizers, the YASH website got over 25,000 pageviews, and more than 1500 people entered each team’s contest. I’d heard it was a high-traffic event, so I was prepared for a spike in visitors–but wow! On Thursday, the Hunt’s busiest day for me, I received more than ten times my normal daily traffic. One of the great things about the Hunt is that participating authors are allowed to run their own extra giveaway contests. Mine was for 10 signed ARCs of my forthcoming YA historical novel, Passion Blue. Here are the lucky winners, chosen with Rafflecopter’s random entry picker: Gaby Navarro Giedre Sliumba Grace Lo Kristen DeLeonard Molly Nudo Frenzel Natalie Cleary Pam Rosensteel Sarah Kalaitzidis Thalia Anderson Violette Starowicz Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to everyone who participated in the Hunt.

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  • Summer 2012 YA Scavenger Hunt!

    August 1, 2012 /

    Welcome to the summer YA Scavenger Hunt! I’m Victoria Strauss, and I write fantasy and historical fiction for adults and teens. The tri-annual Scavenger Hunt was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one signed book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online until noon PST on Sunday, August 5th. There are TWO contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter either one or both. I’m on the BLUE TEAM. There’s also a…

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  • Guest Blog Post: In Praise of Ripening

    July 27, 2012 /

    Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware When I began doing research for the Writer Beware website in 1998, Marcia Yudkin's invaluable article on recognizing writing scams was among the first resources that I discovered. In this week's guest blog ...

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  • Announcing the Summer YA Scavenger Hunt Authors

    July 23, 2012 /

    I’m thrilled to be participating in this summer’s YA Scavenger Hunt. (If you aren’t familiar with the Hunt, you can find out more here.) The Hunt will take place between August 1 and August 6, so be sure to check back for a chance to win some–or all!–of the fabulous books whose covers appear below…including Passion Blue. This summer the Hunt will have two teams (RED and BLUE) of 27 authors each. I’m on the BLUE team. THE BLUE TEAM HEATHER ANASTASIU JENNIFER L. ARMENTROUT GWENDA BOND TERA LYNN CHILDS ANGELA CORBETT GINA DAMICO ED DEHORATIUS LEIGH FALLON MARLEY GIBSON SHAUNA GRANGER CYNTHIA HAND NANCY HOLDER COLLEEN HOUCK TARA HUDSON DENISE JADEN MIRANDA KENNEALLY SUZANNE LAZEAR JODI MEADOWS ALEXANDRA MONIR E.C. MYERS ERICA O’ROURKE AMY PLUM CARRIE RYAN JESSICA SHIRVINGTON J.A. SOUDERS VICTORIA STRAUSS DEBBIE VIGUIE THE RED TEAM JOSEPHINE ANGELINI LEAH BOBET LISA BURSTEIN KRISTI COOK JULIE CROSS TRACY…

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