I love Thanksgiving. Not just because of all the carbs that I get to consume tomorrow, not just because it signifies the start of the holiday season, but also because of what the day does to people. It gets friends and families to reevaluate their lives - to find and celebrate things for which they are truly grateful. I love getting on Facebook and Twitter to see all the status updates that celebrate the best things in our lives.
In the spirit of my favorite tradition, I am celebrating five of my favorite debut novels of 2011 (in no particular order, as they are all equally awesome).
1. FURY by Elizabeth Miles
I think Ms. Miles must have inadvertently brushed shoulders with Stephen King, because she shares his mastery of atmosphere. I have never been so freaked out by the noises of a radiator - and that was only in the first few pages! I also love that FURY dares us to like - and even come to love - characters with real flaws.
2. DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth
This one is worth all the glowing praise it has received. Not only does this dystopian get your heart-pounding, but it also REALLY makes you think about human nature. This book decidedly earns its place on the shelves next to 1984 and THE GIVER.
3. THE NIGHT CIRCUS by Erin Morgenstern
Perhaps it's now trite to say this, but this book truly is magical. As one of my friends so aptly put it, I'm sad that I don't get to read this for the first time again. Give yourself a pre-Christmas treat and READ THIS NOW!!
4. THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER by Michelle Hodkin
Mmmmm...Noah Shaw. This one is twisty and weird and uncategorizable and oh so good.
5. THE REVENANT by Sonia Gensler
I've intentionally NOT listed my good writing-buddies' books for fear of showing favoritism. (Even though their books are truly great, including STARCROSSED by Josephine Angelini and DIE FOR ME by Amy Plum). But I just have to give thanks for a book like Sonia's. THE REVENANT is a classic Gothic in the vein of JANE EYRE, and set in Oklahoma. This one is fascinating, meticulously researched, and just plain good.
Thank you to all five debut authors for making 2011 the year of excellent reads!
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Thursday, November 17, 2011
The Real-Deal ARISE cover
The second book in the HEREAFTER series come out on June 5, 2012 and I couldn't be more excited. ARISE not only exemplifies all that I've learned as a writer and plotter, but it also raises the stakes for Amelia & Joshua. Plus, it's set in New Orleans - my favorite city on earth, no exaggeration - which just makes everything all the better!
The early version of the ARISE cover started floating around on the interwebbies a few weeks ago and has already garnered some much-deserved buzz. Cause, um, it's freaking BEA-U-TIFUL, right? But the final version, below, is even better. So...signed ARC of ARISE to the first person who can tell me the difference between the ARISE cover image floating around out there, and the one below. It's like the "find the differences" Highlights Magazine game, but much prettier and sexier. :)
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Creepy Cake N Bake: My Heart Bleeds for You (plus winners!)
First of all, I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who participated in my Betting on Yourself Contest. Each and every one of you are so brave, and you all have given me such strength and inspiration! This is a pretty courageous lot! That's why I've chosen two winners for the signed hardcover HEREAFTER and signed ARC of ARISE (when it's available this winter).
Poploli and Sara M, you both are incredibly brave - please send me your mailing addresses, via tara@tarahudson.com.
Poploli and Sara M, you both are incredibly brave - please send me your mailing addresses, via tara@tarahudson.com.
To celebrate you guys and this spooky season, I'm participating in something really awesome: the YA Authors Creepy Cake N' Bake-A-Thon! Be sure to check out the previous authors' posts, as well as the ones following mine, and comment on your favorite entry, below. You can comment on EVERY Cake N' Bake post, one entry per post, for a chance to win a $20 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble or an official Creepy Cake N' Bake doll! Please include your email in order to be entered to win.
Trophies will be awarded on Halloween for the top creeptastic creations. Winners will be chosen by our special celebrity judge, Adam Rex, author of such deliciously creepy creations as FAT VAMPIRE, FRANKENSTEIN TAKES THE CAKE, FRAKENSTEIN MAKES A SANDWICH and PSSST!
For the bake-a-thon, I decided to create a favorite of the guests as my annual Halloween party: the My Heart Bleeds for You Cake. But I also decided to make a few heart-babies to go along with the big momma heart. :)
You can find my inspiration (and the recipe) for the cake here, at Epicurious.com. Word to the wise: definitely use the cake recipe they provide, as cake mix is just too sticky/soft. I use their recipe for the overall pink frosting, but I like to cheat and buy tubes of grocery-store red and blue frosting for the veins. And just FYI, squeezable jelly makes the best blood! Here are my ghastly creations, pre- and post-surgery.
Check the list of the other contestants and their post dates so you don't miss any of the fun:Mon Oct 3 Saundra Mitchell
Wed Oct 5 Stacey Jay
Fri Oct 7 Erin Dionne
Sat Oct 8 Sydney Salter
Mon Oct 10 Brenda Yovanoff
Wed Oct 12 Tara Hudson (me!)
Fri Oct 14 Karen Healey
Sat Oct 15 Robin Bridges
Mon Oct 17 Michelle Zink
Wed Oct 19 Julia Karr
Fri Oct 21 Victoria Schwab
Sat Oct 22 C. Lee McKenzie
Sun Oct 23 Emily Kristin Morse
Mon Oct 24 Natalie Zaman
Wed Oct 26 Stephanie Burgis
Fri Oct 28 Dawn Metcalf
Friday, October 7, 2011
I Feel a Contest Coming On...
Today I took a major step in my life, a step that explains my long absence from blogging. Mostly because I spent so much time hemming and hawing over whether or not I was making the right decision for myself and my family. Ultimately, I answered: yes, I was.
Today, I finished my last day of full-time employment at a corporation. Today, I became a full-time writer.
Today is a big day.
Of course, I've been a writer for a long time. And I've been a published writer since the day HEREAFTER was released. But before today, I hadn't yet decided to dedicate my career to writing. I hadn't taken the risk.
Writing, as we all know, is scary. It is hard, mentally exhausting, creatively challenging work. The publication process, too, is a roller-coaster of praise and punishment, as is the life of a published author. These are things I know and have experienced on a very personal level.
But to build my entire career on writing - something I love and respect and fear and crave so much? Well, that's a whole other ball of wax. It took a lot to get here.
So I'm challenging you to tell me the riskiest thing you've done for yourself - the moment you bet biggest on yourself. I'll choose the most daring, and that person will win a signed copy of HEREAFTER and a signed ARC of ARISE (when ARC's become available)!
Today, I finished my last day of full-time employment at a corporation. Today, I became a full-time writer.
Today is a big day.
Of course, I've been a writer for a long time. And I've been a published writer since the day HEREAFTER was released. But before today, I hadn't yet decided to dedicate my career to writing. I hadn't taken the risk.
Writing, as we all know, is scary. It is hard, mentally exhausting, creatively challenging work. The publication process, too, is a roller-coaster of praise and punishment, as is the life of a published author. These are things I know and have experienced on a very personal level.
But to build my entire career on writing - something I love and respect and fear and crave so much? Well, that's a whole other ball of wax. It took a lot to get here.
So I'm challenging you to tell me the riskiest thing you've done for yourself - the moment you bet biggest on yourself. I'll choose the most daring, and that person will win a signed copy of HEREAFTER and a signed ARC of ARISE (when ARC's become available)!
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
NEWS! Lots of it!
Hey ya’ll! It’s been so long, and I have so much news, that I’m going to have to hold off until this weekend on posting about my adventures on my debut day, on my amazing Dark Days tour, and on my first signing in my home state of Oklahoma. (But if you’re pining for that info, Amy Plum of DIE FOR ME fame has a great series of posts about our tour, here.)
Instead, I’m going to give a smorgasbord of exciting news about HEREAFTER and the Hereafter trilogy. Awesome, right? So here we go:
1. I have a bajillion new signings in Oklahoma and Texas coming up, which means I get to meet more of you! I’ll be signing tomorrow night, July 14th, at 7 pm at the Barnes & Noble on 63rd & May in OKC. I’ll also be giving a Book Chat and mini-signing at the Latimer County Public Library in Wilburton, OK (yes, THAT Wilburton!) at 1 pm on July 30th. Then, on August 6th, I’ll be popping by Blue Willow Books in Houston, TX at 2 pm to signing some stock and say “hey” to anyone who comes by. Finally, I’ll have an all-out-signing at 4 pm on August 27th in Frisco, TX at the Stonebriar Mall Barnes & Noble, to coincide with their Back to School Event. Whew, right?
2. HEREAFTER is now out in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, which is just sort of incredibly awe-inspiring. Next up on the international list? Publication in Germany, as Wenn Du Mich Siehst (“If You See Me”) on August 29th. (Check out some more foreign sales in the column to the right, too, to see if HEREAFTER is coming to your country!)
3. I’m freaking pumped to be giving a radio interview to a certain, very cool Northeastern radio show next week…more details when I get the date that they’ll air the interview!
4. I’m lucky enough to moderate a first-ever LiveChat Bookclub on Inkpop.com, at 5 pm EST on July 28th. Our first book? BEFORE I FALL, by Lauren Oliver. Swoon!
5. I'm participating in this incredibly cool Website Scavenger Hunt with a gaggle of great YA authors like Colleen Houck, Andrea Cremer, Amy Plum, Lisa and Laura Roecker, and more. The official Scavenger Day will be one day only - August 1, 2011 - and each of our websites will have a piece of new material - new trailers, short stories, deleted scenes, new book excerpts. But here's the catch: each of websites will have another author's new stuff, and each will you lead on the trail to find more! A sneak peek of BLOODROSE, maybe, or a deleted scene from THE LIAR SOCIETY? Yes, please! Be sure to check out my website on August 1 to play the game!
6. Finally, I wanted to make a Hereafter Trilogy announcement: I have a preliminary cover of ARISE. And it's awesome. Like, really awesome. Even better than HEREAFTER's cover, if that's possible. And the artists are still working on it. And...I'm not sharing...yet. :)
Instead, I’m going to give a smorgasbord of exciting news about HEREAFTER and the Hereafter trilogy. Awesome, right? So here we go:
1. I have a bajillion new signings in Oklahoma and Texas coming up, which means I get to meet more of you! I’ll be signing tomorrow night, July 14th, at 7 pm at the Barnes & Noble on 63rd & May in OKC. I’ll also be giving a Book Chat and mini-signing at the Latimer County Public Library in Wilburton, OK (yes, THAT Wilburton!) at 1 pm on July 30th. Then, on August 6th, I’ll be popping by Blue Willow Books in Houston, TX at 2 pm to signing some stock and say “hey” to anyone who comes by. Finally, I’ll have an all-out-signing at 4 pm on August 27th in Frisco, TX at the Stonebriar Mall Barnes & Noble, to coincide with their Back to School Event. Whew, right?
2. HEREAFTER is now out in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, which is just sort of incredibly awe-inspiring. Next up on the international list? Publication in Germany, as Wenn Du Mich Siehst (“If You See Me”) on August 29th. (Check out some more foreign sales in the column to the right, too, to see if HEREAFTER is coming to your country!)
3. I’m freaking pumped to be giving a radio interview to a certain, very cool Northeastern radio show next week…more details when I get the date that they’ll air the interview!
4. I’m lucky enough to moderate a first-ever LiveChat Bookclub on Inkpop.com, at 5 pm EST on July 28th. Our first book? BEFORE I FALL, by Lauren Oliver. Swoon!
5. I'm participating in this incredibly cool Website Scavenger Hunt with a gaggle of great YA authors like Colleen Houck, Andrea Cremer, Amy Plum, Lisa and Laura Roecker, and more. The official Scavenger Day will be one day only - August 1, 2011 - and each of our websites will have a piece of new material - new trailers, short stories, deleted scenes, new book excerpts. But here's the catch: each of websites will have another author's new stuff, and each will you lead on the trail to find more! A sneak peek of BLOODROSE, maybe, or a deleted scene from THE LIAR SOCIETY? Yes, please! Be sure to check out my website on August 1 to play the game!
6. Finally, I wanted to make a Hereafter Trilogy announcement: I have a preliminary cover of ARISE. And it's awesome. Like, really awesome. Even better than HEREAFTER's cover, if that's possible. And the artists are still working on it. And...I'm not sharing...yet. :)
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Three Days Away...
I'm freaking out - are you freaking out? More on my pre-publication jitters later. Right now, you want to know who won the giveaway, don't you? :)
I wish I had enough money to send everyone who commented a shiny hardcover of HEREAFTER, delivered on June 7th. Unfortunately I don't, but I hope I CAN make 4 people have a better day, right now!
1. 2-day preorder hardcover of HEREAFTER: Wulfluva
2. Standard preorder hardcover of HEREAFTER: Chey
3. HEREAFTER ARC plus goodies: Jade
4. Goodies plus a surprise: Paradise
Congrats to the winners, and thank you everyone for telling me why you want to read HEREAFTER! Even though you didn't win, Amazon has HEREAFTER here, for ridiculously low-priced preorder in case you just can't wait to find it at your local bookstore on June 7th.
I wish I had enough money to send everyone who commented a shiny hardcover of HEREAFTER, delivered on June 7th. Unfortunately I don't, but I hope I CAN make 4 people have a better day, right now!
1. 2-day preorder hardcover of HEREAFTER: Wulfluva
2. Standard preorder hardcover of HEREAFTER: Chey
3. HEREAFTER ARC plus goodies: Jade
4. Goodies plus a surprise: Paradise
Congrats to the winners, and thank you everyone for telling me why you want to read HEREAFTER! Even though you didn't win, Amazon has HEREAFTER here, for ridiculously low-priced preorder in case you just can't wait to find it at your local bookstore on June 7th.
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