Archive for the 'Young Adult' Category

2013 Teen Author Festival!

Posted by ecmyers on 03/18/2013 at 8:00 AM in Novels, PSA and Young Adult.

It’s here! This week is the annual Teen Author Festival in NYC, consisting of author panels, readings, signings, and performances. I’m thrilled to be participating in one panel this year, on a topic I know a little something about:

“Alternate World vs. Imaginary World”:
Of these authors, some have written stories involving alternate or parallel versions of our world, some have made up imaginary worlds for their characters, and still others have written books that do each.  We’ll discuss the decision to either connect the world of a book to our world, or to take it out of the historical context of our world.  How do these strategies help in telling story and developing character?  Is one easier than the other? Is the stepping off point always reality, or can it sometimes be another fictional world? With authors:

Sarah Beth Durst
Jeff Hirsch
Emmy Laybourne
Lauren Miller
E. C. Myers (that’s me!)
Diana Peterfreund
Mary Thompson
Moderator:  Chris Shoemaker

Friday, March 22, 2013 | 4:40 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

New York Public Library
Steven A. Schwarzman Building (the one with the lions)
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street
Bergen Forum, 2nd Floor

While I won’t be in this year’s big group signing at Books of Wonder on Sunday, the store still has signed copies of Quantum Coin, so just ask if you don’t see it on the shelves. And if you’re hoping to get something signed or just say hi or want a bookmark or some gummi bears (really!), I’ll be lurking around the Festival from Thursday to Saturday, either attending panels and events or writing in the beautiful Rose Main Reading Room. I hope you’ll drop by!

The full Festival schedule is below and you also can join the Facebook page for the latest information:

http://www.facebook.com/NYCTeenAuthorFestival

Continue reading ’2013 Teen Author Festival!’

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think younger

Posted by ecmyers on 03/07/2013 at 9:31 PM in Books, Novels, Science Fiction and Fantasy and Young Adult.

hugo-logo*climbs onto soapbox* *teeters*

I don’t usually get on soapboxes. I have poor balance and I don’t like it when everyone looks at me like that… Yeah, like that. But I just noticed that the deadline for voting for the Hugo Awards is approaching–March 10th!

If you attended Worldcon last year or have a membership for this or next year’s Worldcon, you are eligible to vote for the Hugo Awards. Please do! The good news is that even if you can’t make it to the convention, anyone can buy a non-attending membership for $60 which will let them vote for the awards, but I don’t actually know who does that.

Anyway, I love books for children. Probably 90% of my leisure reading consists of middle grade and young adult books. I write young adult books. So I was very pleased when I heard last year that there was a proposal to add a new award category for Best Children’s/Young Adult Book.

And I was shocked when it was voted down.

Continue reading ‘think younger’

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a year ago today

Posted by ecmyers on 03/06/2013 at 8:00 AM in Books, Novels, Science Fiction and Fantasy and Young Adult.

Pulp-O-Mizer_Cover_ImageWow, has it really been a whole year since my first novel was published? The official release date for Fair Coin was March 6, 2012; sometimes it seemed like that day would never come, and now it’s hard to believe my debut year is over :)

It was an amazing year though. In some ways, being an author was exactly the way I imagined it, and in other ways, it was very surprising. Fortunately, the unexpected things were mostly good! It has been wonderful meeting so many people who love books and young adult fiction: the readers, bloggers, librarians, book sellers, other writers, agents, publicists, editors…

Most of all, it’s always humbling and thrilling to realize that people are reading Fair Coin and Quantum Coin. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of seeing reviews, e-mails, drawings, and tweets about the books. No, really—even the lukewarm or “bad” reviews. Thank you, all!

There have been a lot of high points, some even quite recent. I usually mention squee-worthy reviews on the Facebook page and Twitter, and archive them on my website, instead of blogging about them. But I think a few of them are worth highlighting, if you’ll indulge me for another moment:

“(Fair Coin) is fabulous from start to finish… …I recommend it to you highly.”
— Charles de Lint, F&SF, Mar/Apr 2013

“I really liked Fair Coin, and the smart universe the author created.”
— Felicia Day, Goodreads

And of course, an oldie but a goodie:

“Tired of cookie-cutter young-adult novels? The cure awaits, in the shape of E.C. Myers’ astounding Fair Coin — a book which, among other things, achieves the feat of seeming like a dark fairy tale and a clever science fiction epic, rolled into one.”
— Charlie Jane Anders, io9 (2012 Summer Reading List pick!)

Happy anniversary, Fair Coin! You’ve done me proud.

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andre norton award nom!

Posted by ecmyers on 02/20/2013 at 2:37 PM in Novels, Reading, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Writing and Young Adult.

Am I the only one who likes the shortened form of “nomination” because it reminds me of food? Nom nom nom.

Anyway.

I’ve been sitting on this news for a while, but now that it’s public and I can talk about it, it’s finally sinking in, and I’m even more excited: Fair Coin was nominated for the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy!

Deep breaths.

nebulaawardlogoJust like the Nebula Awards, the Norton Award is voted on by members of SFWA, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. It is more than an honor to have my first novel recognized by writers — it’s freaking awesome is what it is. I have wanted to be a member of SFWA since I started writing, and Fair Coin is the fiction sale that finally made me eligible. And ever since I found out that there was an award for middle grade and young adult SFF (which by the way, is a great thing and very progressive, are you paying attention, Hugo Award committee?), I’ve wondered what it might be like to be nominated for it. Now I know! Freaking awesome.

I’ll admit though, I didn’t really think it would happen this year. As you know, Bob, I was on the committee that added three titles to this somewhat longish shortlist of nominees, and of course, mine couldn’t be one of them. And so many wonderful books for children and teens were published in 2012, which is good for everyone who loves fiction… even the author hoping someone will notice his little novel. After all, I’m not just a writer, I’m a reader, and I’m thrilled that so many of my favorite books made it onto the ballot this year:

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy

Iron Hearted Violet, Kelly Barnhill (Little, Brown)
Black Heart, Holly Black (S&S/McElderry; Gollancz)
Above, Leah Bobet (Levine)
The Diviners, Libba Bray (Little, Brown; Atom)
Vessel, Sarah Beth Durst (S&S/McElderry)
Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (Random House; Doubleday UK)
Enchanted, Alethea Kontis (Harcourt)
Every Day, David Levithan (Alice A. Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Summer of the Mariposas, Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Tu Books)
Railsea, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
Fair Coin, E.C. Myers (Pyr)
Above World, Jenn Reese (Candlewick)

If you’ve read even a few of those novels already, you’ll know how amazing it is for me to see Fair Coin listed anywhere near them. If you haven’t read some of these yet, don’t just take my word that they’re great—a lot of other writers think so too. I love reading and writing YA so much, and this ballot is a solid representation of the best that the genre can offer both kids and adults. *blushes*

I’m bouncing around a bit about all the other nominees for the Nebula Awards, many of whom are personal friends and/or writers I admire and also just swell people. (Don’t worry, I’m not gonna name-drop.) Congratulations to everyone, especially my fellow Norton nominees. I, for one, am going to go practice my knot-tying skills and archery to prepare for the arena. There are twelve of us, after all.

Meanwhile, even though I’ve read all the novels on the Norton ballot already (did I mention how great they are?), I still have a lot of reading to catch up on.

In other news…

I just joined the League of Extraordinary Writers! Here’s today’s introductory post in which I have annotated my author bio.

And speaking of reading and things being freaking awesome, if you have the March issue of F&SF, check out the book review section. I’ll blog more about that news later…

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helping fans of color attend SFF cons

Posted by ecmyers on 02/19/2013 at 9:00 AM in Books, Novels, Science Fiction and Fantasy and Young Adult.

2b-Green-dino-only-smaller-whiteIt’s Con or Bust time again! This auction raises funds to help fans of color attend science fiction and fantasy conventions. Naturally, I think this is a terrific cause, and I’m happy to support it and the Carl Brandon Society, the non-profit that runs it with the mission “to increase racial and ethnic diversity in the production of and audience for speculative fiction.” Good mission, right?

Last year, I was thrilled to contribute a signed ARC of my first novel, Fair Coin, which raised $25 for the fund. This year, I get to offer a signed first edition of the hardcover!

Fair Coin is in its second printing, so this is your chance to get the first edition, first printing for your collection. Shipping is international-ish (read the item description for more details), and even though it isn’t on the auction page, I’ll even throw in some signed bookmarks, postcards and a rare Fair Coin promotional coin case for the winner–I only have a handful of these left.

The auction ends on Sunday, Feb. 24 at 11:59 p.m. EST. There are tons of other great items and services being auctioned, so bid early and bid often!

Please bid on Fair Coin here. The bid is up to $20 so far, but I think we can do better…

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