Criminally Good News
Once upon a time, I was a little girl who loved fairy tale bedtime stories.

I’m not sure why I’m wearing pastel boxing shorts, or why I have them on sideways…but then again, it was the 80’s & my style icon was Punky Brewster.
Once upon a time, my long-suffering and infinitely-patient parents banned certain fairy tales from bedtime… because I asked too many questions. With all my whys and hows and wait-a-minutes, it could take hours to reach the happily ever after. And none of their answers were particularly satisfying.
The Princess and the Pea was one of the first stories to be eliminated from our bedtime repertoire.
I’m not a little girl anymore, but I couldn’t forget those questions.* So, I came up with my own answers…
Starting in winter 2015 you’ll be able to find them in:
HOLD ME LIKE A BREATH : Once Upon a Crime Family– book 1
As the name implies, the books are crime family fairy tale retellings. And the crime families traffic human organs.
It’s YA. A little bit thriller. A little bit fairy tale. And, of course there are kissing scenes!
Here’s what Publisher’s Weekly had to say:
*yes, I’ll definitely share a whole lot more about which questions inspired this story, but you’ll have to be a little bit patient…
Bright Before Sunrise
- At May 4, 2012
- By Tiffany
- In BBS, blessings, Book Deals, Bright Before Sunrise, celebration, Emily Easton, Hooray, Joe Monti, news, sleep, Walker Children's, writing
35
The best things in my life come in TWOs.
Obviously there’s my favorite duo – The Schmidtlets.
Look, Momma, we can edit too… |
Then there’s my pair of puggles.
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Being this adorable is *exhausting* |
And now I’m adding a new two to the list: A SECOND BOOK DEAL!
I’m thrilled to share that my second book – Bright Before Sunrise – will be published by Walker-Bloomsbury in winter 2014!
Here’s a little more about Bright Before Sunrise, which is dual-perspective (See! TWO narrators!) and takes place over the course of a single night.
I can’t wait to share Bright Before Sunrise with you all! HUGE thank yous to my amazing agent, Joe Monti. And I’m very excited to be working with Emily Easton and the rest of the Walker-Bloomsbury crew on BBS.
I’m feeling so lucky and blessed and giddy… I feel like I should go celebrate with something that comes in a two-pack.
…if only Twinkies weren’t gross.
Any celebratory suggestions?!
*squee*
Bonus Twin AND Puggle photo – Yes, it’s old… YOU try getting all FOUR to sit still and pose 😉 |
I’d Like To Thank The Academy…
* St. Matt!
* Tiffany Emerick – librarian extraordinaire – who had my book on GoodReads within minutes of hearing the news. Thank you for accompanying me to a zillion book events over the past few years and telling me after each one That’s going to be you some day.
* Scott Tracey & Courtney Summers – for being my sanity throughout this crazy process and reading countless drafts of my synopsis and bio.
* Emily Hainsworth – For… everything: wearing your lucky shamrock pj’s, dog grooming whilst listening to me chatterbox, and the daily refrains of I can’t wait until you’re an Apocalypsie too.
* And to the Apocalypsies for being so welcoming.
* Team Sparkle for always filling my inbox full of ~*~’s and !!!’s
* Always, always to Joe Monti – the maker of dreams-come-true. Thank you for not putting me in time out for asking Can I announce yet? twelve million and two times.
* … finally, to the Schmidtlets for being ever-ready to participate in celebration dance parties, and for taking an hour-long nap so I had time to write this.
It’s a WONDERFUL Thing
- At June 21, 2011
- By Tiffany
- In Book Deals, Emily Easton, Hooray, Joe Monti, Send Me A Sign, SMaS, Walker Children's, writing
1
Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun! But the most wonderful thing about tiggers is I’m the only one”
I have seen the future… @ NYC Teen Author Festival
Yesterday I was a stowaway on another school’s field trip to NYC. I then proceeded to hijack the trip and DEMANDED they attended the NYC Teen Author Festival. And it worked. They politely agreed to amend their itinerary to meet my DEMAND and their teacher (Hi Tiff E) even let me use her pictures below. Blackmail, thumbscrews, and repeated viewings of Pierce Brosnan’s solo in Mamma Mia weren’t even necessary.
And it was fabulous.
Last night was technically called: I Have Seen the Future…and It Sounds Like This
I like to call it: I have heard my favorite authors read & now need to start saving because I need to buy each book that was read from tonight.
It was held at the Mulberry Street Branch of the New York Public Library and hosted by the very funny David Levithan. He’s also quite coordinated – he didn’t stumble over the microphone cord – not even once – despite its best efforts to trip him. Each time he stood, my panic level jumped to red alert and I tensed up – ready to spring from my front row seat and catch him. Or provide a Band-Aid from my purse (I come prepared).
The night’s Guest of Honor was Joe Monti. Each of the reading authors had a sweet (albeit sometimes fictional) anecdote about Joe’s influence. He also came prepared with goggles for Scott (more on that later). Joe has quite the author fan club, one that I’d gladly join.
Each of the authors read from their WIP. Going into the event I was very curious; would their WIP’s sound like my WIP’s (meaning, full of
My WIP has developed an inferiority complex and is cowering in the corner. Hopefully he’ll feel better after I inform him that no one would want to read him until he’s sufficiently re-written. (And finished. Finished would be helpful too).
Enough about me – let’s get to the good parts: what the authors read.
Libba Bray is adorable. She read from Going Bovine, (released date 9/22) which is about a teenage boy with mad cow disease. It’s quite different from AGATB; for one thing it’s modern. It’s also funny and includes a ‘Get Happy’ song, which Libba performed adorably. (I told you she’s adorable).
Barry Lyga got my attention right away. His book-to-be, Goth Girl Rising (release date 10/19) begins with slit wrists and mental hospitals. It’s intense. Kyra needs to hear the “Get Happy” song. I haven’t read its prequel (The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl) but now know that I need to and will get on that right away.
Justine Larbalestier has the coolest boots and accent. The accent’s Australian, I didn’t think to ask where her boots were from. She read from a piece temporarily titled Wild Heat. Rest assured, it is not an Amazonian romance novel, but instead a magical twist on life in the 1930’s. The main character, Lizzie, has great voice and I can’t wait to read more. There’s not a release date for this book yet, but her next novel, Liar, will be out in fall of 2009.
Eireann Corrigan also has excellent taste in footwear. Very cute green heals that I admired from the front row. She read from Person of Interest, which is about two girls who stage a missing persons event to get attention, but horribly wrong. Eireann didn’t read from the beginning – instead she choose a very intense, highly suspenseful part, which I think it slightly unfair because there’s no release date for the novel yet and I can’t stop thinking about it. So, apparently I’ll be mildly obsessed and nightmare-inflicted until: date tba.
Holly Black wasn’t on the original list of authors so I didn’t have any of her books for signatures. I pouted about this for 8 nanoseconds before I switched to: Holly Black as a bonus reader? HOORAY! She is charming and endearing and I loved speaking with her afterwards. (BlanketFortress, rest assured, I told her about our superiority to TeamCastle. Strangely enough, I don’t think she was jealous.) Holly read from The White Cat, which was straight from her editor’s desk (she joked she’d skip the crossed out paragraphs). Her reading started with the main character waking up on the slate roof of his boarding school in boxer shorts. It was intense, but also really intriguing and humorous. Can’t wait… but I guess I’ll have to since it’s not due out until 2010.
Rachel Cohn began by joking that she should name her next book Money, because with books titled Cupcake and Gingerbread, guess what people bring her. Funnily enough, I say the same thing about my next dog (I should name it Coffeegiftcard so I have something to go with all of the Biscotti I receive). Her forthcoming book is one that I can relate to on a tragic level. Very LeFreak is about a girl who becomes addicted to technology. (Twitterverse, I just can’t quit you!) Very is forced to go to technology rehab and have her life unplugged so she can detox. Rachel read to us from Very’s very amusing admission process. I’ll definitely read the book, but I won’t give up my Blackberry (you’re safe Petunia, don’t worry!).
Scott Westerfeld’s gone steampunk. And Joe Monti provided the goggles to prove it. Leviathan, illustrated by Keith Thompson and full of Scott’s trademark Wester-words, will be released on October 6th. Scott not only read an excerpt to us, but also gave us a sneak peak of the illustrations. We were asked not to post pictures, but rest-assured, they’re stunning.
So start saving because you’re going to want these books. Trust me! You’re also going to want Scott’s goggles, Justine’s boots, and Eireann’s shoes.