A Hike Through MONSTERS

On my blog last week, I took us through some of the mines that inspired my take on Rule's mine in SHADOWS.  Do check that out if you're into arcane effluvia, like gold mining in Michigan (for real, folks).  This week, though, we look at a couple real locales that figure prominently in MONSTERS: Houghton, MI and Isle Royale.

Houghton really is a college town, home to Michigan Tech University. 

The Keweenaw Peninsula was also very big in terms of copper mining back in the day, and as I pointed out in my SHADOWS post last week, you can still visit the old Quincy Copper Mine and Hoist.  After a day of touring around (or to give you that necessary jumpstart), you can't go wrong with a great cuppa at the Cyberia Café,

whose owner was nice enough to open up early for a caffeine-deprived writer AND let her hang out on his internet because hers wasn't working.  And that brownstone synagogue Tom talks about near the end?  Yup, Temple Jacob, with its very beautiful copper dome, is there, too--

to the right of the lift bridge.

Michigan Tech's real claim to fame is that the university's home to the Isle Royale Wolf and Moose Project, the longest running, continuous study of predator-prey populations in the world.   Over forty miles long, Isle Royale is isolated and remote, the largest island in the largest inland lake in the world, and a place you really have to want to get to.  Most people come by ferry (about 5 1/2 hours from Houghton, 1 1/2 from Thunder Bay, Ontario, or 3 hours and change from Grand Portage, MN),

or--if you can scrape together the change and spring for it--about 45 minutes from Houghton by seaplane (after a 5 1/2 hour drive to the town).

There is nothing on Isle Royale other than a very small National Park Service lodge (with a grill and tiny restaurant), a lookout tower, a former fish farm (and a place that Rolf Peterson, one of Isle Royale's premiere wolf researchers, calls home)

some cottages from the days before the island was made a national park,

a couple water taxis, the research station (on the southwestern tip of this forty-mile long island), and a whole lot of backcountry with some of the most spectacular scenery and fabulous flora and fauna you'll ever see.

 

Why do research here?  In brief, the island's home to a number of isolated populations, and research has focused on moose and wolf populations, beginning back in the 1950s.  Now, moose can swim between the mainland and the island, but wolves can't.  So how did they get there in the first place?   Ice bridges: Lake Superior typically freezes over at least a few days every year, although the thickness of this ice varies from a few centimeters to several inches (enough to support vehicles on an "ice highway" between Bayfield, WI and Madeline Island).  Animals can cross ice bridges if they're thick enough, which is how the wolves got to the island in the first place.  Unfortunately for them, the last ice bridge anywhere thick enough existed between Thunder Bay and the island happened in 1985.  So the wolves are trapped, making them a pretty interesting population for study, and one that's been as high as 24 individuals in three different packs to where they are now: just eight wolves, in two packs, with a single female in a three wolf pack (The West End Trio), another three wolf pack (Chippewa Harbor) and two loners (one of which might be a female).  There's been lots of debate on whether or not we ought to interfere to save the population.  In a way, we already have; the wolves were decimated by parvovirus brought over by a tourist's (illegal) dog; and in 2012, a stunning seven wolves (including a female) died, three of them after falling into an abandoned copper mine shaft that has since been closed off.   So things have looked pretty bleak for the wolves. As I recall, either no pups were born or survived as of two years ago--but researchers at Michigan Tech have recorded evidence of a few pups this past year.   Study on these populations is year-round, but the most fruitful time for wolf study is during the winter, when there's no one on the island other than the researchers; Jon Vucetich, a wildlife ecology from Michigan Tech, leads the team and did a lovely series of blog entries on the research for the New York Times in 2012.

On the other hand, if you ever want to get into the act, you can volunteer to scrounge for moose bones during the Summer Research Season (but bring plenty of mosquito repellant).

Me, I just like to lace up the boots and hit the trails.

Because really, with vistas like this, no wonder Peter decided that, for him, this was heaven on Earth.

The Sincerest Form of Flattery

Okay, first up, before I forget: did everyone have a nice holiday?  See all the relatives?  Get rested up to start another year (which, for some of us, seems to be an artificial distinction because the day after is/was the same as the day before)?

Good.  Now, roll up those sleeves and let's talk turkey.

I'm unsure how this came to my attention, although I believe it was Twitter, but this past week, a friend--my publisher, in fact--posted the cover of an upcoming YA.  NBD, so far; people are throwing up covers for new releases all the time.

Except . . . the reason this particular book snagged my friend's attention wasn't for the content but the look.

Freaky, right?  And notice who's putting the book out there: Amazon Children's Publishing.  Which means that whoever designed the cover for the book had a lot of covers to look to and choose from for inspiration.

If you think this made more than a few fans unhappy or weirded out or mystified . . . you'd be right.  Some wondered what I could actually do about this--the quick and dirty answer is a whole lot of nothing because there's nothing to be done--and that made me feel good, to tell you the truth.  It's not often that fans get irate on your behalf.  

Yet if you think this is some kind of violation of cover copyright . . . you'd be wrong.  Because we all know copyright law as it pertains to using images, correct?  If you need a quick refresher, try this article and this one.  Right off the bat, I can tell you that this is not a violation of copyright in the slightest.  Granted, I don't own the copyright for my book covers; my publisher does (or the artist hired by my publisher).  If this constituted a copyright violation, then so would every book cover featuring, say, a silhouetted figure running across a landscape (I'll bet I saw two or three YAs with that cover last year) or a shot of a forest or a cityscape or girl/guy in profile . . . You get my drift.

If the cover on the left does anything at all--under copyright law, that is--then it comes closest to paying "homage" (and I use that loosely), and then just barely.  Really, all that's been "copied" is the positioning of the title.  Is it close enough to provoke a second glance?  Sure.  Is it a violation of copyright?  No.

But here's an intriguing question--to me, at least: what, exactly, is the cover on the left supposed to convey?  We judge books by their covers all the time.  In an earlier post, I talked about the reason the ASHES series changed; even though I adored the original hardcover, the book itself didn't pop off the shelf.  It tended to get lost.  So the cover had to change because the whole point of the cover is to induce you to pick up the book and start paging through.

To my eyes, the new ASHES look--and more specifically, SHADOWS--evokes menace and ambiguity.  You're supposed to wonder: who's running, and from what?  Who are those people in the background?  Are they even people?  Are they something else?  Shadows, at night and in the woods, are slate and purple and silver and blue, and of course, the thematic motif of smoke references the post-apocalyptic.  It's a lovely cover, and suggests precisely what you might find inside.

SKETCHY's cover is . . . well . . . interesting.  What does sketchy mean, anyway?  Here's what Wiktionary has to say about the word as it pertains to a person:

1. (slang, of a person) Suspected of taking part in illicit or dishonorable dealings.

   Because he is so sketchy, I always think that he is up to something.

2. (slang, of a person) Disturbing or unnerving, often in such a way that others may suspect them of intending physical or sexual harm or harassment.

   Jack is so sketchy, I think he's stalking me.

With that in mind, let's look at the cover again.  There's a girl there, right?  Lying on what looks like a bed?  Covered with a sheet (so you know she's probably naked)?  Only the image is partially obscured by the title itself; you really have to work to see this girl--which is precisely what I think this cover wants you to do.  It wants you to want to see her and, by extension, figure her out.  All that plays into the slightly dangerous, slightly come-hither, slightly illicit and sketchy story this cover promises.

So does the cover do its job?  Yes, it does.  If--and this is a big if--the person responsible for the cover took SHADOWS as a jumping-off point, then he or she might have wanted to capture some of that cover's disturbing and unnerving  elements.  In that way, SHADOWS served to inspire.  Of all the cover designs out there, that graphic artist chose SHADOWS to get his/her point across.  In the end, what I take away from this is the truth of that old saw: imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  I don't think there's any way that anyone will get the two books confused.


Besides . . . we all know which book came first. 

SHADOWS Book Birthday!

Wow, can you believe it's been a year since ASHES?  Nope, me neither.  Well, your wait is over. SHADOWS hits 9/25 (9/27, for those of you in the UK). 

If it's been a while since you've read the first book, I'd suggest dropping by my website for a recap: SO YOU READ ASHES A YEAR AGO.  SHADOWS picks up where ASHES left off; it's a bigger, broader story with multiple storylines and new characters.  No wash-rinse-repeat here, and no recap in the book.  Don't say I didn't warn you.

A ton of blog stops and giveaways, too, both here and in the UK.  For the first half of the month, they are:

9/26: Bookspark (Live Author Chat & Giveaway, 7 p.m.)
         The Book Smugglers (Giveaway)

9/27: Teen Librarian Toolbook

10/02: Books and Bling

10/03: Hoobitsies

10/04: Emily's Reading Room

10/05: Hope, Faith, and Books
           Behind A Million and One Pages (Giveaway)

10/06: The Write Path Blog (Giveaway)

10/07: Karin's Book Nook

10/08: Always YA at Heart (Giveaway)

10/09: I Blog, You Read

10/10: The Librarian Reads

10/11: Guilded Earlobe

10/12: ParaJunkee

10/13: Novel Novice (Giveaway)

10/14: Book Sweets Book Review (Giveaway and Recipe O.o)

10/15: Just Bookin Around


FESTIVALS:

10/13: Sheboygan Children's Book Festival (Sheboygan, WI)

10/19: Chippewa Valley Book Festival (Eau Claire, WI)

10/20: STEMfest (DeKalb, IL)

The Last Word

A few nights ago, I participated via Internet in a big teen lock-in and got a question I hear frequently: why did I choose to end ASHES the way I did?  Now, for those of you who haven't read the book, never fear.  I won't ruin it by telling you HOW it ends.  Let's just say that I broke several rules, and I did that on purpose.  In fact, the end breaks enough rules that a recent Horn Book article talked specifically about this: that the "shocking" conclusion was among the "coolest" examples of an author being "daring enough (or heartless enough, depending on your tolerance for sad endings) to let their protagonists face seemingly insurmountable obstacles and find that they are, indeed, just that." 


Which is pretty darned cool in and of itself.


But, back to the question.  Why did I do that?  Well, whenever I'm asked, I always ask the question right back, not because I'm being coy but I want to hear what or how people think/feel/react.  The answer I hear most frequently is that I did it to make people buy the sequel.  EEEEHHHH!  Wrong.  (Although it's true that my editor and I went back and forth about this--he was a tad nervous about breaking SO many rules--when I explained why, he was right on board.)  Some people think I'm trying to be shocking just for the sake of being shocking, and that's also wrong, but it's a tad closer to what I was thinking and trying to convey.  Going for that emotional gut-punch isn't far off.


Let's think, though, about what good beginnings and endings do for us.  A great beginning grabs our attention, right?  But a fabulous beginning sentence or paragraph also sets the tone for the novel; it hints at what's in store.  For example, one of my favorite beginning lines of all time belongs to William Gibson's cyberpunk classic, Neuromancer:  "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."  Oh, my goodness, is that evocative or what?  You instantly "see" that sky; you know what color it is; you also know that we're talking a lot of light and tech because only a ton of light--and that means, a big city--has the ability to wash out a black sky and bright stars.  (Or skies are muddy orange; I've noticed this in places like New York, where I wonder if people even remember that looking up is fun to do.)  Regardless, that line sets up the entire book.  You've garnered tons of information from fifteen words.  Fifteen.  That's amazing.


Similarly, a great last line (or last couple of lines) sends the reader and the book on her way, and if the writer is very skilled, evokes the mood the writer wants you to walk away with.  For example, at the end of Laurie Halse Anderson's Speak, poor mute Melinda, who's found not only courage and closure but her voice, has the last word: "Let me tell you about it."  


Hand's down, though, I think that Libba Bray is fabulous at these type of send-off last lines/last paragraphs, and IMHO, her best work can be found in her Gemma Doyle series.  All her last lines are great, but my particular favorites (lines and paragraphs) can be found at the end of A Strange and Terrible Beauty: 


"The wind shifts, bringing with it the smell of roses, strong and sweet.  Across the ravine, I see her in the dry crackle of leaves.  A deer. She spies me and bolts through the trees.  I run after her, not really giving chase.  I'm running because I can, because I must.  


Because I want to see how far I can go before I have to stop."   


This is a perfect send-off for that first book because it is all about beginnings and a young woman daring to break the rules.  This end does, in fact, set up the beginning of the next book and helps you understand where this series is headed.


Most often, when I reach the end of a book I'm writing, I know what the last line is because I knew it from the beginning, and the whole book has been a journey to that last line.  The one time I was a little surprised by where I ended up was at the end of SHADOWS, not because the line hadn't been "said" in my head already but because it wasn't the last line/scene but the penultimate scene.  When I got to the end, though, and penned what I had imagined the last line ought to be, it just didn't feel right.  Just didn't.  I realized after a few minutes that the book's journey had really ended the scene before.  So I switched them around, and now I do think that SHADOWS ends in a way that both evokes what I want to people to feel and summarizes the journey.  (I'm sure you'll tell me if I'm right.)


But back to ASHES: this is the G-d's honest truth about why I ended it the way I did.  It's actually kind of artsy-fartsy, but my reasoning went like this: ASHES is a book about what happens when the world falls apart.  Nothing remains that you recognize; all the niceties are swept away.  Alex has to endure in that world, where all the old rules no longer apply.  So my feeling was if she has to do that, why should you get a break?  I wanted you to experience the same kind of shock and dislocation she does, that moment when you finally, truly understand that nothing will ever be the same again.


That's why I did it.  Do I succeed?  I dunno; you tell me.  But I sure hear enough from people who are FRANTIC to find out what happens next; who are so shocked and upset they want to yell and scream at me (that's fine; just be civil); who think about throwing their books or Kindles across the room (some actually do).  All that's good because that means you felt something.  You weren't indifferent.  You weren't . . . oh, cool.  You were . . . SAY WHAT?


All good.  Mission accomplished.  That you care is all and the best a writer can hope for.

ASHES Gets a New Look!

As I mentioned last week, yesterday Mundie Moms hosted an exclusive cover reveal for both the new ASHES paperback (coming in August) and SHADOWS (due out 9/25/12). The lead-up was great fun--lots of tweeting, FBing, excited fans--and now I get to share these covers with the whole wide world.

Be interested in what you think, too.

You remember the post I did about a month ago comparing the various treatments ASHES has gotten overseas? Well, take a peek at the old ASHES look



and now compare it to the new look ASHES will assume in paperback



and, finally, SHADOWS.


I'll be honest. My first response was a Scooby-Doo uh-wuh? I'd grown very attached to my creepy-weird, gender neutral original cover. The new look felt . . . whoa, wait a second. I LIKED being creepy-weird, you know? But I DO remember that when I first that original cover, I'd been a little concerned about the lack of color. As it turned out, that was a legitimate concern. With the all-black/gray tones, the book got lost and easily overlooked. *I* missed it once because it was the last one on the shelf and, literally, in shadows/overshadowed by books on either side. So the addition of a little bit of color for that eye-pop is important from a purely grab-your-attention sense.

Most fans like the new direction. They really respond to the colors, like the air of mystery. Many, however, prefer the older, starker look. Both camps feel that each cover tells a different kind or piece of the story.

So what do you think? Does the new look speak to you? What kind of story does it promise? Are you intrigued? Indifferent? Turned off? What qualities in a cover appeal to you?

By the way, you still have plenty of time--until April 23, 21012--to enter the very nifty giveaway hosted by Mundie Moms. As JD said so well, don't be caught at the end of the world unprepared and without a decent read.

SHADOWS, Revealed! . . . uhm . . . almost

I am cursed, and here's why.

I have this habit of falling in love with shows that last only one season or, sometimes, two. We're talking series like My Own Worst Enemy in which a deliciously diabolical Christian Slater took Jekyll and Hyde to new levels;






that last episode of Stargate Universe when everyone, except Eli, goes into hibernation for a three-year voyage which we all know will never end;



or the series finale for Stargate Atlantis which, while getting our heroes back to Earth after a five-year jaunt in the Pegasus galaxy, left them marooned and cloaked in San Francisco Bay;





or, most recently, The River, which, last time I looked, is likely headed to the cancellation graveyard with one mystery solved but the Magus's crew forever trapped in a no-exit jungle whose landscape has changed around them. (And was it just me, or did that show finally find its legs when Bruce Greenwood showed up?)



I could go on, but you get the picture. There I am, invested in a show. I care about these people. The show's dug in its claws the way all good stories do--and then it--and I--get pushed to the edge of that cliff where we're left, dangling, forever.

And ever . . .


And ever . . .


The same could be said for books that leave you gasping, hanging on by your fingernails, screaming--just like Buzz:



REM got it right. The premature end of a great show feels kinda the same (for me, anyway):




Well, ASHES fans, I'm happy to report that no such dastardly fate awaits you. Your wait is half over. SHADOWS is set to hit shelves on 9/25/12 and, to celebrate, the wonderful folks at Mundie Moms (home base for Cassandra Clare fans everywhere) are hosting a fantabulous cover reveal party on APRIL 1 (no foolin'). You’ll be treated to the FIRST EVER glimpse at the new look for the series, including a peek at the cover for SHADOWS.

In this week's lead-up, I'll also be taking your questions and posing a few of my own on Twitter (@ilsajbick) and Facebook. Have ideas about a movie version? An actress you think would be the perfect Alex? Or maybe you've thought ahead and wondered just what the heck happens next? Always wanted to have a good rant at the way I left you in a lurch? Here's your chance, kiddo.

Oh, and did I mention prizes? Things like an ASHES survival pack? Signed copies of the novel? Your chance to win one of ONLY two SHADOWS ARCs up for grabs for this special event?

So, visit Mundie Moms on April 1, 2012, chat with other fans attending the reveal party, and join in the fun!