Shelfari

NYT Bestseller Julianna Baggott Returns with "Fuse"

By Jeff VanderMeer

Julianna Baggott's mega-deal for book and film rights to her post-apocalyptic YA Pure series paid off when the first novel Pure went on to became a bestseller. The movie version is also going forward, with writer-director James Ponsoldt, the director of Smashed and The Spectacular Now, on board. The
books postulate a world that "went from amusement parks, movie theaters,
birthday parties, fathers and mothers"¦to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns,
and fused, damaged bodies." Survivors are gang-pressed into militia or killed,
except for the Pures who escaped the apocalypse and live in domes.

Now that she's back with Fuse, the second book in the series. Omnivoracious caught up with her to ask about this fascinating if sometimes
grim vision of the future"”and whether any of the reactions to Pure surprised her.

"When setting out to write Pure," Baggott told Omni, she knew she "was
blurring genre boundaries in ways I didn't understand." The novel was a "huge
departure" for her: "a sixteen-year-old girl with a doll head fused to her fist
trapped in this ashen landscape." She had to "hole up and tear myself loose
from my own expectations as well as the expectations of others and try to build
this world. It was also my first really intricate thriller-esque plot and my
most psychologically twisted novel to date."

"Still,
I was surprised when Publisher's Weekly
called it horror (in an appreciative way, thankfully). I had no idea what I'd
made really, and since I'd turned my back on critical voices, I was stunned
when the New York Times Book Review
reviewed it at all, much less generously, much less picking it as one of their
100 Notable Books of the Year. It was such a lonesome process in some ways that
it was strange just to lift my head up and find others had read it at all."

The challenges of returning to the same
place for Fuse included wanting to "widen
the landscape so I had to find a way to expand the world outside of the Dome
while getting more psychologically intimate inside the Dome. In Pure, the world itself was a character
that took a lot of time to establish on the page. In Fuse, I was freer to let the established characters really fly."

As for finding the right balance when
writing a dystopia, Baggott said, "It's all about the physical threats outside
of the Dome versus the emotional and psychological torture within it. My goal
is to find a kind of structural balance between them that gives the reader
different kinds of twists without easing up."

New settings in Fuse include a post-apocalyptic Washington, DC. "It was liberating
to finally get to play with places that are iconic and familiar and to make
them new, in my own way. And the characters travel pretty far beyond that too.
New terrain."

Readers
can also expect new elements including "a new kind of Dust, in particular, that
exists outside of the stark remains of an amusement park called Crazy
John-Johns. During this stretch of writing, I was happy that 'creature
creation' was part of my job description"”I found real joy in the making."

Also
of interest: readers will find new, original nursery rhymes in Fuse, just like in Pure. "My husband and I make these up together. In Fuse, I've created characters called the
ghostly girls, who were 'boarding school girls who survived the blasts and
walked to the river singing their school anthem. Some of the girls were blind
because they'd been lying in the grass, staring up at the sky when the Detonations
lit it up"¦They huddled by the river. Some waded in. Water was good because it
soothed the burns"¦Their skins turned papery, peeling away from their arms,
curling like lace collars at their necks. In the end, people knew them by their
uniforms, what was left of them.'"

The
nursery rhyme for the ghostly girls is a good teaser for Fuse, available now"¦

The
ghostly-girls, the ghastly-girls, the ghostly-girls.

Who
can save them from this world? From this world?

The
river's wide, the current curls, the current calls, the current curls.

They
wade in water to be healed, their wounds to be sealed, to be healed.

Death
by drowning, their skin all peeled, their skin all pearled, their skin all
peeled.

Marching
blind their voices singing, voices keening, voices singing.

We
hear them til our ears are ringing, ears are screaming, ears are ringing.

They
need a saint and savior, saint and sailor, saint and savior.

They'll
hunt and roam this shore forever, hunt and roam this shore forever.

 

 

A Dream Come True"”and a New Dryer Purchased

By Chris Schluep

There are so many people who want to write a book, but what do you do once that book is written? Romance author Adrianne Wood has some advice for aspiring authors out there.

 

Dreams do come true"¦and when they are almost 30 years in the
making, they are all the sweeter.

Let me back up. Ten years ago, the book business recognized
that ebooks were on the horizon. How popular they would be was anyone's guess
(and people made lots of guesses), but they were coming, sure as sunrise.

But I don't recall anyone predicting the ebook self-publishing
boom. Now an author just needs to write the book (the hardest part, but authors
were doing this anyway), put a good cover on it, and upload it to places where
readers can find it. Oh, and (the second-hardest part) help readers find their
books among the thousands out there.

I'm not the Tom Cruise of successful self-published ebook authors, but I did buy a new washer and dryer with the royalties from two of my ebooks. They are now known in our house as the Badlands Bride dryer and the Mind Tricks washer, and I grin every time I see them. (Every time I see them when I'm not doing laundry, that is. When I'm doing laundry, I'm never smiling.)

Traditionally, publishers were the taste-makers. With ebooks, readers serve that role. The most genuine reader reviews share their enthusiasm without trying to impress you with the brilliance of their own writing. We all have busy lives and maybe 13.4 seconds to write a review of a book we love, and 13.4 seconds doesn't give you much time to be brilliant but does give you time to be enthusiastic.

I also look at covers when choosing ebooks. A quality cover doesn't reflect the inside of the book any more than a gorgeous face reflects a gracious personality, but it's still the first thing a reader sees. When I published my first ebook, Unruly Hearts I mistakenly thought that the ebook market was still pretty thin and only a halfway decent cover was needed. I'm not sure my homemade cover even passed that low standard. But hey, I created the cover in Microsoft Word.

I smartened up with Badlands Bride by asking a REAL designer
to create the cover. Then, after Pocket Books bought the rights to Badlands Bride, they put their own cover on the book. I quickly gave a new face to Unruly Hearts (again, with a real designer), and then released my third ebook, Mind Tricks (again, cover made by a real designer). An eye-catching cover can make a difference.

Oh, did you notice that part about Badlands Bride
being bought by a traditional publisher? That's the whole dream-come-true part
of this story. I've been writing novels since I was thirteen. So to have A Big
Publisher finally reach over, tap me on the shoulder, and say, "Hey, we want
you""”well, that was the moment I'd been working toward for thirty years.

Don't get me wrong"”being an independent ebook author is great fun and extremely rewarding. Realizing that there are readers out there who like your book (and who are not related to you) is a major thrill. Some compare a book's success to an occasion as sweet as the birth of a child, but as I had an emergency C-section that I'd rather not repeat even in a simile, I prefer to compare it to the day your beloved child leaves home: You've put your heart and soul into raising that kid, and he's finally making his own way in the world.

So try some new books this week. I'm reading Caramel and Magnolias by Tess Thompson and The Dark Thorn by Shawn Speakman, both non-traditionally published, and enjoying them immensely. What new books will you discover?

--Adrienne Wood

The Lee Bros. on Five Underappreciated Charleston Ingredients

By Mari Malcolm

If you're born in Charleston, you absorb the vernacular of its rich local food culture just as you learn to talk. The Lee Bros., who moved from New York to Charleston as kids, found themselves swimming in a whole new language of strange and amazing new food names, flavors, and traditions. As they discovered the pleasure of gorging on mulberries, luring blue crabs with chicken necks on strings, peeling loquats to enjoy their sweet-tart flesh, and so many more food-centered adventures, they developed an abiding sense of wonder about food that's followed them into the kitchen--and eventually fuelled a career as food journalists and writers of award-winning cookbooks.

Their new book, The Lee Bros. Chaleston Kitchen, pays tribute to their adopted hometown's deep and delicious culinary roots. To celebrate its arrival, we asked Matt Lee and Ted Lee to share five unsung, forageable Charleston ingredients--and what they like to do with them. Enjoy, and don't miss the book's beguiling trailer, after the jump! --Mari Malcolm

From Matt Lee & Ted Lee: Charlestonians are no strangers to foraging. We come by it honestly"”and early"”because as a kid it seems so magical to to climb a loquat tree downtown, and to pick and eat these weird little yellow fruits. (Besides, we learn that it's also fun to throw them at your friends, and at the occasional carriage tour!) Here, we present five favorite Charleston-foraged foods.

CHAINEY BRIAR (Smilax bona-nox) "Chainey briar" is what Charlestonians of a certain age call the tender shoots of the smilax"”or cat briar"”vine, which can be found growing in the dunes and in sandy disturbed sites and fencelines throughout the area. The distinctive spade-shaped leaves distinguish smilax from other vines growing in the same terrain. Raw, chainey briar has a delicious asparagus- and olive-like flavor that is fresh and green. We typically grill it, then dress it with a vinaigrette or tamari-based sauce. Or we tuck a few tendrils into a baked flounder in parchment.

 

LOQUATS (Eriobotrya japonica) No more flavorful than a Granny Smith apple, and a whole lot harder to eat since they're smaller than a lime and have three big seeds in them, loquats don't have leagues of champions, even in Charleston. What the most old-school Charlestonians"”and we!"”love to do with them is load a quart-size canning jar with washed fruit, top up with neutral spirits like vodka or brandy, and let stand for a week, or as some prefer, one year. The fruit will oxidize and the alcohol will become infused with a beguiling cherry-almond flavor that's a great shot over ice as an aperitif or nightcap, and a superb substitute for sweet vermouth in your favorite Manhattan cocktail recipe.

 

PRICKLY PEAR CACTUS (Opuntia tuna) Found mostly in the dry zones behind the sand dunes on the sea islands around Charleston (and ornamentally in other places), the purple-skinned fruits this plant puts forth have a mild sweet-tart flavor and electrifying, flame-magenta interior. They're used in many places as a landscaping plant, so we pick from a bank parking lot on Highway 61, buzz them up in the blender, then strain the juice into a dry martini or a margarita because it gives the drink the hue of the most amazing pink sunset you ever saw.

 

KUMQUATS (Citrus japonica) Kumquats look like miniature, oblong oranges, but they function sort of in reverse: the inside is pithy, less interesting, but the skin is sweet, tart and delicious: an otherworldy citrus flavor, like lime and tangerine in one, neat, small package. We infuse gin with sliced kumquats to make an infusion that works wonders in all kinds of delicious cocktails: kumquat martinis, kumquat margaritas, kumquat sparklers (a tablespoon or two of kumquat gin in a flute topped up with sparkling white wine). If you find them at the right ripeness--when the skin is sweetest and the interior is still tender and juicy--they are delicious eaten out of hand.

 

MULBERRIES (Morus nigra) Most people think mulberries are a nuisance: they drop their fruit on Charleston sidewalks and then get tracked into houses on people's shoes, where they stain the carpets. We pick them before they get underfoot, buzz them up in a blender with a tiny bit of salt and then strain the juice into a saucepan of sugar to make a syrup, which is great on ice cream and when cooked down with vinegar and herbs makes a delicious glaze for wild duck and venison. --Matt Lee & Ted Lee, authors of The Lee Bros. Charleston Kitchen

Looking Forward to the End of Winter... and Big Spring Books

By Chris Schluep

This is my second winter in Seattle and I am looking forward
to spring even more this year than I was last year. The funny thing is that
Seattle doesn't suffer through the kind of winters that other parts of the country endure. Nothing like the cold and snow that I knew so well in New York, for example. Seattle winters are gray. And rainy. That's
great reading weather, and not bad if you're a duck or a sea otter, but
otherwise it's slightly depressing. I inserted slightly
into that last sentence just to make myself feel better.

So in these last drippy days of winter, it's been a pleasure
to get together with my fellow Amazon editors to pick our Big Spring Books lists. If you're looking forward to spring half as much as we are, you might be interested in taking a look. If you yourself need some cheering up, check out
our Humor & Entertainment picks. There's also some great literature and fiction, as well as blockbusters, mysteries, thrillers & suspense, and of course our Editors' Top 10 picks.

Go here to see what else the spring holds in books. Happy reading, and here's to seeing the sun again!

"Oz the Great and Powerful Better be Great and Powerful" by John Joseph Adams & Douglas Cohen

By Chris Schluep

John Joseph Adams and Douglas Cohen, the editors of Oz Reimagined: New Tales from the Emerald City and Beyond, which goes on sale tomorrow, have been thinking about an upcoming film that, well, reimagines Oz.

L. Frank Baum's Oz is probably the most famous
American fantasy of all time. So saying that
the bar has been set high for Disney's forthcoming movie, Oz the Great and Powerful, might be the cinematic understatement of
2013.

Even with its estimated 200 million dollar budget, one
would imagine a brand as beloved as Oz will result in Disney easily recouping
its money. But since the definitive cinematic version of The Wizard of Oz was released by MGM in 1939, the subsequent Oz
movies have been massive failures.

The
Wiz
was a successful Broadway musical that fused The Wonderful Wizard of Oz with African-American culture. The 1978 movie version brought some star power with it, with Diana
Ross as Dorothy and Michael Jackson playing the Scarecrow, but it took in just 13
million dollars on a budget of 24 million while getting panned by critics. Then there was Disney's first foray into Oz
cinema back in 1985 with Return to Oz,
an unofficial sequel to MGM's classic film.
As with The Wiz, it flopped,
taking in 11 million dollars on a budget of 28 million. Reviews to this one were mixed at best.

To be fair, the current Broadway musical Wicked"”based on Gregory Maguire's
bestselling novel that tells the classic story from the perspective of the
Wicked Witch of the West"”has proven a smashing success, becoming the top
grossing Broadway show for the past nine years. So perhaps there is reason to hope the cinematic curse that has befallen
Oz will be lifted.

Regardless, reviews and audience reaction will prove
every bit as critical as the financials in determining whether Disney's latest
Oz film is a success, because in this case, the movie needs to be great (and
powerful) on all levels. Like Harry
Potter, Oz is that rare creation where it's perfectly acceptable for adults to
openly like a work of children's fiction. In fact, when the original novel came out in 1900, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was the Harry Potter of its time.

2014 will mark the seventy-fifth anniversary of the
release of the 1939 classic Wizard of Oz
film, which may very well be the most popular film ever. All these years later, Oz has become more
than just a book or a movie or a children's story. It is part of American culture.

Hopefully the filmmakers have learned from the mistakes
of their forebears. They'll have cutting
edge special effects that put 1985 to shame, a massive budget that cuts no
corners, and an audience hungry for another Oz movie "¦but only if it's great. Many would argue that no one is better than
Disney at spinning children's stories into gold. But Oz has become the iconic

mother-lode, the
Grand Poobah of American childhood and imagination. To do this franchise justice, even the
all-powerful Disney is facing a considerable task. Let's hope they rise to the occasion.

--John Joseph Adams and Douglas Cohen

What's Genre Good For, Anyway?

By Susan J. Morris

Do you have a question about your fantasy novel, short story, or spot of flash fiction that's burning for an answer (or even just a question about writing or the column in general)? If so, please email in your questions to susanjmorris@seriouspixie.com.

Dear Susan,

Here's my question: how important is it to write in a genre?

Cheers,

Denise

-

Hi Denise,

Thanks for the question! And what a simple seeming, and yet really complicated topic. You'd think genre would be one of the blander topics out there, when in reality, it's actually quite the hotbed of animated and emotional debates. So, instead of just answering your question simply, I'm going to turn this into a bit of a broader discussion of what genre is, what it's good for, and how I'd recommend interacting with it, when it comes to your own writing. I hope this answers your question!

What Is Genre, Exactly?

It can be tempting to think of genre writing as derivative"”almost as a kind of fan fiction, all swirling around "the Greats" like Tolkien who first inspire us to turn our thoughts to elves and orcs. But at its heart, "genre" is just a fancy word for a category of fiction"”and while, yes, the influence of the heavy hitters is definitely felt in genre fiction, the heavy hitters of life are felt equally strongly, well, pretty damn well everywhere. What can we say? We're human! When we see something we just love"”or even something that makes us shudder with revulsion"”it affects us, in ways big and small.

What's It Good For, Anyway?

So, what, exactly, does genre have to offer? Because, you know, this wouldn't even be a question if it didn't have something to offer. I think genre has a lot to offer, but one of the most obvious things is a "consistent reading experience""”in that, if you pick up a fantasy book, you can expect that it will, for the most part, have more similarities to other fantasy books than to, say, science fiction or autobiographical books. That it will have a certain feel, and satisfy certain needs (not so much that it will have magic wands instead of laser guns"”the trappings mean far less than the filling).

Who Needs a Consistent Reading Experience?

True story: you don't always want the expected. Sometimes you want to try something new. To be surprised. To experience the delightfully unexpected! But think about it like food: sometimes, you're game to close your eyes, and let someone stuff whatever (largely) edible dinner they've arranged into your mouth . . . and sometimes you want Italian. It doesn't mean you want the exact same linguini with meatballs from the exact same Italian restaurant every night"”with exactly the same number of meatballs (of exactly the same radiuses), placed with mathematical precision on exactly the same folds of noodle"¦. That would be like always reading the same book"”just as going to that same Italian restaurant all the time is like always reading the same author. But it does mean that sometimes, you have a hankering for a certain kind of thing. And in those cases? You'd damn well like to have that thing, thank you very much. (Because no matter how good that Surprise-OJ is? It's still not Milk.)

Genre Helps Discoverability

This hankering for a certain kind of thing, which afflicts books as well as food, makes discoverability key. And that? Is where genre is a Viking. I mean, could you imagine if all food looked exactly the same on the outside? Every piece a spherical white blob with absolutely no identifying marks? And the only thing you know is that some taste like kimchi and others like bananas foster"”but there are no ways to know which are which? Yeah. That would give a whole new meaning to the profession of "food tasters."

How to Pick Your Genre

So, largely, when trying to figure out what genre your flash fiction/short story/novel, don't go calculating the number of elves in your book and contrasting it to its adherence to a traditional heist-based plot. And certainly don't think picking a genre is an attempt to completely capture the feel of your book in one, generic word"”or worse, to boil your beautiful, complex creation down to its basest genre bones. Because it's far simpler than that. Picking a genre is about figuring out who your audience is"”and how you can signal to them that your book is one they might enjoy. (Though don't abuse this power! It's not about telling mystery fans they'd really love your hobgoblin love story because the identity of the lover is totally a mystery with solving.)

A Book's Genre Is Its Context

No book exists in a vacuum"”they have context, and they will be judged and enjoyed purely in the light of that context. There are some things that simply wouldn't be possible, in fiction, without that meta-layer of knowledge"”like referencing sphinx without having to describe exhaustively what it is. But this also means that whenever you're being read, like it or not, it's in relation to the outside world, and to books similar to yours. So, if you use a turn of phrase, or a plot device that evokes Edward and Bella? Suddenly, they will be there in your book, haunting your characters. That's why it's so important to know what else is out there, how what you're doing has been done before (it has; just about everything has), and where the lines are so that when you choose to color outside them, you are doing it intentionally. But the bottom line? Is that you need to know what your genre is"”what it represents, what it means to people, and just how far you can push it without pushing people away.

Know Your Genre

It's also good to figure out why you are writing in your genre. Genre, as most fans know intuitively, is not mere window dressing. It's not making Mr. Darcy into an elf, and Elizabeth into a budding magician.* It's what kinds of truths a novel chooses to tackle, and how it chooses to address them. For example, when the hero is a nonhuman character, it's not just for funsies, or for sexier cover art. It's usually because it represents something, or allows the author to explore a subject from a different, perhaps more illustrative angle.** And, when successful, it's (almost) always because those chosen fantastical elements speak to us"”and allow us to identify--on a level that we might not otherwise allow ourselves. For example Gerry Alanguilan's Elmer, a book where chickens have suddenly become essentially humans in chicken skin"”and are grudgingly given the same rights as all other humans"”allows for deft discussion and incredible insight into humanity and society that would not otherwise be possible (or at least, not nearly the same).

* The last thing you want to do is take on the trappings of a genre"”and miss the heart of it. Fans can always, always tell.

**And this is another reason why you really want to know what you're playing with before slapping fantasy (or other genre) trappings all over the place. Some of the toys you're playing with might have meanings of which you're not aware, or derive from things with which you really don't agree, and so you might end up, inadvertently, saying a few things you really oughtn't.

"Genre" Is Not an Excuse or a Limitation

Genre is not a cheat code. You can't up-up-down-down-left-right-left-right-b-a-start your way to success by following the secret rulebook that tells you exactly how to write a [Insert-Genre-Here] book. And just so, the answer as to why you did X or Y in your book should never be "because of the genre." (And if you find yourself answering that, that's a great reason to go back and re-examine that thing, and see if there isn't some better way you can do it!) Genre was never intended to be used as how-to guidelines, or enforced as stringent limitations (sorry, can't publish your story: needs more elves!). It's really just to help readers identify books they might like. But, as harsh as that sounds, this is really awesome news. It means that you have a ton of available space to explore with innovative characters, your own unique writing style, and whatever crazy plots you dreamed up but haven't seen yet.

So, How Important Is It to Write In a Genre, Again?

Somewhat? I don't think it's important to write inside a genre the same way it's important to, say, write in some way in which others can understand what you've written (assuming, of course, your intention is to be understood). And I certainly wouldn't write to a genre, the way one would write to a set of specifications"”I'd just tell the story I set out to tell, but then be very sure I examined it so that I knew all of what I was saying. However, I do think it's important to have a firm understanding and a healthy respect for the genre to which you soon hope to be adding your story, to be able to articulate its audience, and to be aware of where it might fit in amongst all the other awesome books out there.

*

Happy Writing!

Read more Writers Don't Cry
Follow me on Twitter @susanjmorris

Graphic Novel Friday: Gray Morrow's Orion

By Alex Carr

Go ahead and judge this book by its cover: Gray Morrow's Orion is exactly as enchanting as the image to the right suggests. Originally serialized (in color, at least) in Heavy Metal magazine in the late 1970s, Orion follows the swashbuckling titular hero through a fantasy land filled with high adventure. Published late last year, the oversized Orion is a book to behold"”with forgiveness for its pulpy prose. For example, the opening narrative box announces:

Orion's world is not our world but one of which the stuff of fantasies and legends are made. His enemies and conflicts are wrought of demons and sorceries, more palpable here than competitors or tension and frustration. Here powerful dark gods command men's obeisance and magic their beliefs. The secrets of science are privy to but a few"¦and everyone knows they are quite mad.

The text could only be more purple if it were colored as such, and the fun part of it all is that it works when coupled with Morrow's attention to, well, everything. Outfits vary by character"”Orion is clad in bandanas, buckles, tassels, and cummerbunds; he is a pirate, after all"”and the men sport impeccable facial hair, while the women are shapely and usually topless (in tune with Heavy Metal's sensibilities). Plus, the hair! Morrow excels at flowing locks, gently tousled by an ever-present wind. The male characters are men's men"”hairy chests and bulk without any sculpted preening. Orion is the antithesis to contemporary superhero comics, and I loved the outlandish settings and ships, including an airborne armada resembling a school of giant minnows.

As for the plot, the eight chapters revolve around Orion's magical and "terrible" sword, Thorbolt, which is the envy of just about everyone. Orion alternates between keeping it and various women safe from the clutches of arch-nemesis Lamonthos. But again, stay for the visuals and enjoy the compressed narrative for its exclamation points and unabashed chest-beating.

In the bibliographic page, publisher Hermes Press notes that the initial four chapters were scanned from comics, while the last four were sourced from the late Morrow's original artwork. Sure, there is a noticeable shift in quality between the two, but that's part of the charm. Orion is an anachronistic artifact, a story out of time that exists thanks to the genuine love of its curators. Plus, there is a bonus story from Gray Morrow, "Edge of Chaos," that features a similarly bearded protagonist in a more science fiction setting. The overall package is a commemorative unsheathing of a lost narrative, where imagination and skill run rampant (that purple prose is infectious), and where a cover is a sure sign of the contents within.

--Alex

Amazon Asks: George Saunders, on Writing That Doesn't Suck

By Neal Thompson

Picked as one of our Best Books of the Month, George Saunders' brilliant short story collection Tenth of December has become a national bestseller and something of a phenomenon, an example of the lasting power of the short story form. During his visit to Seattle, Saunders spent time with us at the Brave Horse Tavern, where he discussed how the short story format is "beautifully suited to the way we live."

>Read New York Times Magazine's profile, "George Saunders Has Written the Best Book You'll Read This Year"

>Among the writers Saunders mentioned as influencing his work: Tobias Wolff, Alice Munro, Stuart Dybek, William Trevor, Ernest Hemingway, Raymond Carver, Isaac Babel, and Lorrie Moore.

>Writers he's reading: Adam Levin and Horatio Moya.

>See all of George Saunders' books.

George Saunders Has Written the Best Book You'll Read This Year

Broadway, Baby--Tim Federle on "Better Nate Than Ever"

By Seira Wilson

Young fans of Broadway musicals or Glee rejoice--Tim Federle has written your novel. To be honest, I'm not even a huge fan of musicals (don't tell anyone) but I laughed my way through Better Nate Than Ever, and had the most enjoyable experience reading this middle grade story of a small town boy pursuing his dream of stardom on the Broadway stage. Nate reminds me of a much younger version of a good friend of mine (who I think will love this book regardless of the intended reading age)--funny, stubborn, a little bit of a diva, and absolutely delightful to be around.

It's an open casting call for E.T. the musical that ultimately draws Nate to New York despite the dust-up he knows will result at home, and if you are scratching your head asking, did they make E.T. into a musical? the answer is not yet. But maybe they will now. In the guest post below, author Tim Federle shares the story behind Better Nate Than Ever including the answer to the question, why E.T.?

"What's
the one movie they'll never turn into a Broadway musical?" That's the question
I asked myself when I set out to write my first novel"”all about the adventure
of auditioning for a Broadway show"”for young readers.

I
may be a debut novelist, but I know musicals like the back of my own jazz hand.

Growing
up in Pittsburgh, I was the only kid who had memorized Oklahoma! before I'd memorized its state capital (Oklahoma City). When
I moved to New York, I ended up performing in lots of movies-turned-musicals.
In Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, I played
a dancing candy-maker; in The Little
Mermaid, a dancing catfish. In Billy
Elliot, I played a different kind of role"”associate choreographer"”training
the child stars and sending the next generation into the spotlight.

And
yet! As inspired as I was by the kids' talent and ambition, I grew a little
restless about my own. A guy can only dance for so long, and I began quietly
daring myself to follow my next dream"”my understudy
dream, we'll call it"”which was to write a novel.

"But
real writers have MFAs and live in Park Slope," I told myself, and: "I'm not a
novelist, I'm a chorus boy." But then, one day, while coaching one of the Billy-Elliots-to-be
on a nearly impossible dance, I heard myself say: "I know it's scary, but you
cannot give into your fear!" And I was right"”not just for him, but for me. If I
could make these tweens face a Broadway audience, I could make myself face a
blank page.

Better Nate Than Ever is the story of a
thirteen-year-old Pittsburgh-area theater dork who does what I'd only dreamed
of at that age: He runs away from home to try out for a Broadway musical. But
what show should Nate audition for? I needed a hook. Something to make me smile
hard enough to propel my way through a first draft. "What's the one movie," I
asked myself late one night, "they'll never turn into a Broadway musical?"

E.T.!

Of
course, E.T. A classic film so
big-hearted and true that the addition of tap shoes would clomp all over its
very gentle soul. Plus, there was that one, poetic detail: E.T. is an alien, just
like I was; just like a lot of kids are in their little hometowns, and sometimes
their own families. I wanted to write a book for all us kids who get chosen
last for dodgeball. Who can use a laugh and a voice and an unlikely hero. And I
wanted that unlikely hero to audition for an unlikely musical.

Once
I settled on E.T., it took one
frenzied month to write one frenzied first draft"”but Better Nate Than Ever was born.

In
thirty-two years as an alien on this planet, I've been lucky. Two impossible
wishes have come true: I've danced on Broadway and written a book. It feels
like pushing my luck to wish for more, but I d to never let my fears get
bigger than my dreams. No matter how alien they may be. --Tim Federle

2013 Nebula Awards Announced

By Jeff VanderMeer

The 2013 Nebula Award finalists have been announced by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The nominees in the novel category are:

Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed (DAW; Gollancz '13)
Ironskin, Tina Connolly (Tor)
The Killing Moon, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
The Drowning Girl, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)
Glamour in Glass, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)

All of the novel nominees are by U.S. authors. N.K. Jemisin returns to the Nebula list with a strong novel in The Killing Moon, while Mary Robinette Kowal's Austen-ish Glamour in Glass built on the entertainments of its predecessor, Shades of Milk and Honey. Ironskin by Tina Connolly, which alas I haven't yet had a chance to read, is about an alternate-history, magical England.

First-time novelist Saladin Ahmed was profiled here on Omnivoracious last year. In that interview, he said Throne of the Crescent Moon "took about three and a half years to write, mostly part-time, with some entire months off at a couple of points. The world, characters, etc., stayed pretty consistent, but the shape of the thing changed greatly" during the drafting process. He has been a Nebula nominee before, for his short fiction.

We also featured Caitlin R. Kiernan's The Drowning Girl last year, about which she told us, "In this novel I knew that I wanted to examine the nature of hauntings. Not ghosts rattling chains in an attic. Not what most readers expect when they hear a novel involves the paranormal. But what it actually means to be haunted ...

As Imp says in the novel, how hauntings are memes, pernicious thought contagions. And, as has often been the case in my work, I wanted to offer up a narrator who's honest about being unreliable."

Followed closely by The Drowning Girl, Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312 was my favorite novel from last year. When I reviewed it for the LA Times, I wrote, "2312 is a treasured gift to fans of passionate storytelling" that contains several jaw-dropping moments and one of the greatest central relationships in science fiction's history. My opinion hasn't changed with a re-read. The novel is remarkable in many ways."

The winners will be announced at the Forty-Eighth Nebula Awards Weekend, May 16-19, 2013, in San Jose, California, at the San Jose Hilton. Visit the SFWA site for more about the awards, including past winners.