The Musings of ALMYBNENR

Tomorrow is Today

Tomorrow is Today is a prequel short story to Tempest. It was actually released over a month ago, but I had not heard about it until recently.

The story covers the period between 14 May 2009 and 8 June 2009 (Tempest begins in September 2009). It is set before Holly and Jackson get together. Holly is still with David. Adam and Jackson are just fooling around with Jackson’s time travel ability with little consequence. It is unclear how long they have been experimenting, but it seems to have not been long.

I really enjoyed this short story. It allowed me to dive back into the world of Tempest sooner than I thought I would. There are some bittersweet moments throughout it.

Tomorrow is Today also includes the first four chapters of Tempest and I agree with Julie Cross that readers should read those chapters before the short story because it will give you a sense of how the time travel works, whereas Tomorrow is Today does not.

Recommended for fans of Tempest!

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Julie Cross never considered becoming a published author until 2009 but ever since she has written everyday. She works as a YMCA Gymnastics Program Director and lives in central Illinois with her husband and three children. Tempest is her debut novel and will be released on 17 January 2012. Tomorrow is Today, is currently available.

Blog//Goodreads//Facebook//The Tempest Series on Facebook//Twitter

Tortured

Disclaimer: No spoilers from Prized or Tortured, but read with caution if you have not read Birthmarked.

Birthmarked and Prized fans know all about Gaia Stone and her life, personality, and views. Fans also know of Leon through Gaia’s eyes, but we never quite knew what happened to him between books one and two…until now.

What happened to Leon? Well, there is not much I can say without ruining this short bridge story for you all. I can tell you that Caragh O’Brien wrote Tortured in the same style as her other books and that it is awesome. I found Leon’s voice and story intense and interesting. It is a nice story to hold me over until the third book arrives. I am sure that any fan of Caragh O’Brien’s work will enjoy Tortured.

For those fourteen and older who enjoy YA dystopia and Caragh M. O’Brien’s books.

Caragh M. O’Brien got the idea forBirthmarked when she and her family drove across the country from Connecticut to California a few years ago and the drought in the southern states made her think about what may happen to America when the climate drastically changes. She figured the plan would be to annex Canada and have everyone move north, but it was a scary idea and moved her to further think about how politics and power may evolve in such a crisis. Once she added the babies, she had the start of Gaia’s story. O’Brien attended Williams College and received her MA from Johns Hopkins. She taught high school English before resigning to write full-time. She lives with her husband and children.Promised, book three in the trilogy, is expected to be released Fall 2012.

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Related posts:

Birthmarked

Prized

Insider Information: A Possession Short Story

Disclaimer: No spoilers from Insider Information, but read with caution if you have not read Possession.

Insider Information is a short story that takes place prior to Possession. It follows a fourteen-year-old Zenn Bower when he was still Jag Barque’s second-in-command in the Resistance. He is on a mission to save some people who were taken from the Goodgrounds and he is upset at all the risks Jag is taking by ordering this operation. Although Zenn disagrees with Jag’s methods, they share the same goal; to fix society. While he waits for his turn to teleport, his thoughts shift to Vi and how their relationship has changed, blossomed into something more than friendship. Vi has become the most important person in Zenn’s life.

The director, however, is one step ahead of Zenn and the Resistance. Director Myers taunts Zenn, giving him an ultimatum and hinting that terrible things could happen to certain people Zenn cares about. Zenn cannot continue to have things both ways and finally has to choose his side.

Rather than Vi’s perspective, the reader gets to experience this dystopian society through Zenn’s eyes. It provides key information that explains where Zenn’s mind is and his actions in Possession. Poor Zenn becomes outwardly cool to everyone but Vi, but here the reader gets to be inside his head and learn how much he cares for Vi, as well as how tormented his between-a-rock-and-hard-place situation makes him.

Insider Information is a great supplemental story to the Possession series that every fan should read.

For YA fans fourteen and older who enjoy dystopian fiction and Possession.

Elana Johnson became a debut novelist with her Young Adult dystopian novel, Possession. She wishes she could have superpowers, re-experience her first kiss, and tell off the mean girl. Instead, she recreates those desires through writing. She has an undergraduate degree in Elementary Education with a minor in Mathematics from Southern Utah University. She began teaching as an upper grade music and art specialist and now she is a technology specialist. She currently lives in central Utah with her husband and two kids. The second full-length novel in her Possession series, Surrender, is expected to be published on 5 June 2012.

Website//Possession Website//Blog//Goodreads//Facebook//Possession Facebook Page//Twitter

Related posts:

Possession

A Memory of Wind

A Memory of Wind by Rachel Swirsky

How I got my hands on this book: Acquired for free from Amazon.com for Amazon Kindle

Genre: Fiction, Short Story, Fantasy

First Sentence:

After Helen and her lover Paris fled to Troy, her husband King Menelaus called his allies to war.

I was attracted to this story over the summer, not so much because of the content, but because of the haunting cover. A girl with haunting eyes, a slash in her neck, and her body becoming one with the wind.

The story is about Iphigenia, the eldest daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Helen and Paris have gone to Troy and Agamemnon, Menelaus, and Odysseus have their thousand ships waiting in the harbor, only deterred by the lack of wind. The priest of Artemis tells them that the goddess is angry with Agamemnon and the way to appease her and call the wind is to sacrifice his daughter. He agrees.

The story is told in the present with flashbacks to Iphigenia’s childhood and to the day everything changed. She imagines what might have gone through her father’s mind when he made his decision and she reflects on Helen and the rest of her family.

I am still not quite sure how I feel about this one but it is a chilling and haunting short story that depicts the cruelty and desperation of people.

Rachel Swirsky has a MFA from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and is a graduate of Clarion West. Her work appears in numerous magazines and anthologies.

Shadow Days: A Nightshade Novella

Shadow Days: A Nightshade Novella by Andrea Cremer

How I got my hands on this book: Provided free of charge on Amazon.com on the Nightshade page.*

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal

First Sentence:

Home was a word without much meaning to me, but Portland was the closest I’d come to knowing one.

Have you read Nightshade? Well, now it is time to read Shadow Days! It is a novella that is the prequel to Nightshade.

The really cool and special thing about Shadow Days is that it was interactive. In the novella, Shay reaches out to the friends he has made in all of the places he has lived through Facebook and his new blog to help him figure out some of the mysteries of Rowan Estate, especially those that exist in the library. He notices that many of the books he finds in the library have strange, black ink patterns across the pages and unable to solve the puzzle alone, he sends many of the books out to his friends to look at. This is where the fans came in. Six weeks before Nightshade was released (which, awesomely, was about the same amount of time Shay was stuck in Vail without school, but with the mysteries), an email address was set up and some lucky fans who emailed later received packages in the mail of old books with these strange patterns in them so that they could help Shay figure out what they meant. Even better, these fans’s names were used in the novella as Shay’s friends (they also received a special thank you at the end of the novella). A Facebook page was also set up for Shay just like in the book and he had his own blog posts and webisodes. As readers read Shadow Days, they not only get the sense of Shay’s first few weeks trying to solve mysteries in Vail, but also get the sense of “realness” interwoven into the story because of fan participation. How cool is that? It really got fans involved. More on fan involvement here.

If you are interested in the Nightshade series or if you are already a fan, you need to read Shadow Days. It is just such a cool piece of work and it can be read before or after Nightshade, providing useful information to the reader without spoiling the story to come.

Andrea Cremer is a history professor at a liberal arts college in St. Paul, Minnesota. She wrote Shadow Days: A Nightshade Novella which is a prequel toNightshade. Near the release date of Nightshade, Amazon.com customers were invited by email to read the prequel. It is available as an eBook in PDF format. Wolfsbane, the second novel in the Nightshade series, is set to be released in Summer 2011. Book 3, Bloodrose is set to be released in Spring 2012 and an untitled Nightshade companion novel is set to be released in Fall 2012. Cremer is also working on a Young Adult Steampunk series. The first book in that series is called The Inventor’s Secret and is still in progress. She currently lives in Minnesota with her husband.

Official Nightshade Facebook Page

Official Shay Doran Facebook Page

Twitter

*This is an Amazon.com link. I am NOT an Amazon Associate and I will NOT receive any compensation if you click on the link. The link will take you directly to the PDF file of the novella.

Related posts:

Nightshade

Free Stuff?

Hey all!

This isn’t really a real blog post but just a little note to let you all know that after some cleaning, there is some stuff that I no longer have a use for.

If you think you might at all be interested, you can check out the items here.

I normally leave these items up for only ten days before taking down the pictures and donating them or finding something else to do with them.

If you decide you want anything, shoot me an here!

Hoo HOO Who?

You know what I ~~like~~ love? FREE STUFF!

I mean, don’t YOU? ~~Hmm?~~ HOO?

Rebecca over at Sonshine Thoughts is having a fabulous contest to give away three owl buddies (my fave is the shy, green, she-owl!), bookmarks, notepads, and even a book! How great is that?!

So head on over to her blog for a chance(s) to win!!