Tag: YA

Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction, Video Games, Young Adult/New Adult

Minecraft Novels at New York Comic Con!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

I just got the greatest press release in my inbox – there are Minecraft novels for tweens! Not only that, but Skyhorse Publishing, who publishes the books by GAMEKNIGHT999, aka Mark Cheverton’s, has a whole roster of authors that will be at Skyhorse’s booth 2129, signing all weekend at New York Comic Con, all from Skyhorse’s sci fi/fantasy/horror imprint, Night Shade Books.

That’s not enough? How about FREE BOOKS? How about entering a raffle to be selected s the inspiration for a new character in Mark Cheverton’s next Minecraft novel? Drawings will be at 3:00PM on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

More? Okay, there’s also going to be a LEGO diorama of Comic Con itself, created by Jeff Friesen, author of United States of LEGO. And on Sunday – KIDS’ DAY! – Skyhorse will host a LEGO play center for kids.

Here’s the schedule. Plan accordingly!

Thursday, 3:00 PM and Friday, 11:30 AM

Meet Mike Martinez

Buy The Daedalus Incident for $10 and receive a FREE copy of The Enceladus Crisis

*****

Friday, 3:30 PM

Meet Ellen Datlow!

Buy Best Horror of the Year, Vol. 6 for $10 and receive a FREE copy of Vol. 5!

Winner of Six Hugo Awards ● Ten World Fantasy Awards ● Three Bram Stoker Awards ● Eight Locus Awards ● Two International Horror Guild Awards ● Two Shirley Jackson Awards ● The Karl Edward Wagner Special Award

*****

Friday, 5:00 PM

Meet Laird Barron!

Buy The Beautiful Thing the Awaits Us All for $10 and receive a FREE copy of Occultation or The Croning

Three Time Winner of the Shirley Jackson Award ● Winner of the Bram Stoker Award ● Nominated for Three World Fantasy Awards ● Nominated for Seven International Horror Guild Awards ● Nominated for 14 Locus Awards

*****

Saturday, 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM AND Sunday, 11:00 AM and 2:00 PM

Meet Mark Cheverton!

Bestselling Author of the GAMEKNIGHT999 Minecraft Series

Mark Will be Signing Invasion of the Overworld, Battle for the Nether, and Confronting the Dragon

Kids Take Home One Free Book! (only one copy per day allowed)

I’ll be reviewing Invasion of the Overworld very soon, so watch this space!

Posted in Early Reader, Graphic Novels, Toddler Reads, Tween Reads, Young Adult/New Adult

Have you nominated your Cybils books yet?

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

The Cybils are Children’s and YA bloggers literary awards – we bloggers nominate, read, and vote for these books, folks!  I’m thrilled to be a Middle Grade Fiction judge this year, and as a first round judge, I have to read all the nominees and whittle them down for the next round!

Nominations are open until October 15, so please go make your voice heard! The following categories are accepting nominations for children’s and YA published between October 16, 2013 and October 15, 2014:

  • Young Adult Non-fiction
  • Young Adult Speculative Fiction
  • Young Adult Fiction
  • Poetry
  • Book Apps
  • Middle Grade Fiction
  • Elementary/Middle Grade Speculative Fiction
  • Elementary/Middle Grade Non-fiction
  • Fiction Picture Books
  • Graphics
  • Easy Reader/Short Chapter Books

You can nominate one title per category, so make it your favorite!

Posted in Fiction, Horror, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Welcome to the Dark House: where reality turns deadly!

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

darkhouseWelcome to the Dark House, by Laurie Stolarz (Hyperion, July 2014). $16.99, ISBN: 9781423181729

Recommended for ages 14+

Imagine your favorite horror movie director emails you about a contest – where YOU can be in his next movie. All you have to do is tell him about your worst nightmare. For six winning contestants, it’s the chance of a lifetime. For the seventh – a girl named Ivy Parker – it’s the chance to finally rid herself of a real-life nightmare that’s haunted her since she was a child.

Seven fans of horror director Justin Blake find themselves part of his next movie, based on his Nightmare Elf series. They all have secrets – some darker than others. That’s the price of admission. But shortly after settling in and getting to know one another, the group starts experiencing strange things – one member has gone missing. There are strange messages and bloodstains showing up. This is all part of the movie, right?

I loved this book. It’s a great, old-school slasher movie brought to YA, updated with a splash of reality show drama. We get a good backstory for each of the characters (within reason – read the book to see what I mean) – their personalities, their motivations, their secrets – and their interactions with other characters. These folks don’t gel together and become instant BFFs; there are personality clashes and internal issues that affect their actions and interactions. Set within the larger-scale story of Justin Blake’s contest, it’s a great character-driven story. Not all the characters are likable or even sympathetic. I appreciated that.

The book is a horror novel, so expect violence and mind games. If you’re a horror fan, you’ll love this book. If you’re an old school slasher movie fan like I am, you’ll recognize a lot of the tropes that make those movies (and the experience of watching them) so much fun. The book’s ending will hopefully leave you like it did me – wondering when we’ll find out more.

Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Teen, Young Adult/New Adult

Beautiful Creatures – I finally join the bandwagon.

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

Beautiful Creatures Book CoverBeautiful Creatures, by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl, Little Brown (2009). $17.99, ISBN: 978-0316231657

Recommended for ages 14+

I’ll admit it – I’m not a Twilight fan. It’s not my book. And Beautiful Creatures felt, to me, like a Twilight type of book, so I didn’t pick it up. I was recently approved to read the latest, upcoming book in the Beautiful Creatures, though, (Dangerous Creatures – the review’s coming!) so I figured I should at least read the first book, so I could have some idea of what’s going on.

I was wrong, folks. Beautiful Creatures was great. This was my book, just waiting for me to pick it up.

The story involves Lena Duchannes and Ethan Wate, two teenagers in Gatlin, South Carolina. Ethan is a high school basketball player who can’t wait to get out of Gatlin. He’s in with the in crowd, but really doesn’t care anymore. He just want out of the everyday sameness of life in a small, Southern town. Lena is the new girl in school, and she just doesn’t fit in with the Southern beauty queen/mean girls who run the school. When Ethan realizes that Lena looks exactly like the mystery girl he’s been dreaming about, he’s got to find out who she is.

The story weaves a YA romance in with a complex, fascinating tale of witchcraft and Southern history that kept me turning pages, demanding to know what was going to happen next. I love the idea of factions within the “Caster” – they’re not witches and wizards, and this isn’t Harry Potter – community. There are different types of magic, and everyone is born to something different. When Casters reach the age of 16, they are “claimed” by either the light side of magic or the dark side – and wrapped up in this claiming is a mystery that runs through the book as an engrossing subplot.

There’s something here for everyone. There’s paranormal romance, history, mystery, and drama. We meet characters that will take on greater roles in subsequent books. All in all, Beautiful Creatures sold me – and I’m glad I picked it up. I’ve heard the movie is subpar compared to the book, so I’ll keep that in mind and just enjoy the books.

Posted in Adventure, Espionage, Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction, Steampunk

Book Review: Etiquette & Espionage, by Gail Carriger (Little, Brown, 2013)

Posted on by Rosemary Kiladitis

etiquette and espionageRecommended for ages 13+

Gail Carriger, author of the Parasol Protectorate series, kicks off her YA Finishing School series, set in the same universe as the Parasol Protectorate series, with Etiquette & Espionage.

Fourteen year-old Sophronia is driving her society lady mother crazy. She climbs trees. She takes apart things to figure out how they work. She lines her books with rubber from a dumbwaiter in the house. Fed up with Sophronia’s antics, she sends her to finishing school – Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality, to be precise.

What neither Sophronia nor her mother bet on, though, was that this is no ordinary finishing school – when they say “finish”, they mean “finish” – the students learn how to curtsey and flutter their eyelashes, but they also learn about poisoning, espionage, and weapons placement. Sophronia is learning to be a spy and an assassin in addition to being a lady. But she also stumbles into a mystery involving one of the students as soon as she boards the coach to school – what is really going on at Mademoiselle Geraldine’s, and what does her newfound nemesis have to do with it?

While I am a big fan of the Parasol Protectorate series and went into this series with high hopes, I was a little let down here. I understand that this is the first book in a new series, with much to be established, but I felt there was an overall lack of plot to drive the story forward. It seemed more a collection of “look what Sophronia’s got herself into now” moments, with some vague subplot surfacing to give her an archenemy in future books.

The dry humor is there, though, and that kept me reading. I love the way Ms. Carriger writes, and I enjoy her stubborn heroines who can lock horns with a werewolf and then stress about their state of dress and look for a cup of tea. I enjoy the Parasol Protectorate universe, and there’s paranormal and steampunk aplenty here, with werewolves, dirigibles, and automatons for all. There are a few pleasant surprises for Parasol Protectorate fans, too.

If you’re a fan of Carriger’s, you’ll at least enjoy the universe and references. I look forward to the next book in the series.