Free children's book from Borders!

It's just like in the old days - at least in North Carolina where I went to the library constantly - a good old book reading contest!
Borders is offereing a free book to all children (under 12) who read and list 10 books over the summer. I know my kids can read 10 books in about 2 weeks but who says they can't do the contest a couple of times? There is no purchase necessary but I'm sure the folks at Borders are banking on a few extra purchases once you walk into the fun-factories that are Borders or Borders Express.
Print out the form and get the kids reading!
http://media.bordersstores.com/pdf/summerreading.pdf

The Map of True Places - Brunonia Barry

Brunonia Barry's new book, The Map of True Places, has been out since yesterday (May 4th) but I bought an advance copy at the Muse & Marketplace conference so I've already finished it. Lucky you!

This novel revolves around a psychotherapist, Zee, who loses a paitent to suicide. Zee's life begins to unravel after her patient jumps off a Boston bridge. Her father, who she's been putting off visting, turns out to be losing his battle with Parkinson's. Zee moves to Salem, where her father lives, and tries to help her father's partner - cleverly named Melville - take care of him. While there, Zee is forced to relive her own mother's suicide, unlocking her families secrets along the way.

Unique and interesting characters are strewn through out the book from the aunt who is a witch (and not really Zee's aunt), to the uncle who plays a pirate, to the handyman who reads the stars, each page is full of characters and history.

The various threads of this story were perfectly woven together to keep the reader interested and turning pages. Each character's voice is explored, with unique chapters dedicated to Finch, Zee's sick father, and Roy, a hard scrabble character who the author pens just as deftly as the women.

I delighted in Brunonia's revisting a few of the characters from The Lace Reader. These references are delicately woven into this story, making Brunonia's readers feel "in on the joke" as she mentions Mae Whitney, Towner, and Rafferty.

The twist at the end of this novel isn't as dramatic as that in The Lace Reader, but it puts a smile on the reader's face and gives them a sense of peace where moments before there was none.

Buy ten copies and go hear her read. Upcoming schedule of reading:
http://www.brunoniabarry.com/blog/book-signings-events/

Enjoy!

The Murderer's Daughters - Randy Susan Meyers

Yipes! I promised a review of this book awhile back then got caught up in life. Well that was a disservice to my readers because I loved this book almost as much as I loved the author.

The Murderer's Daughters revolves around two young sisters who witness, to one degree or another, their mother's death at the hands of their father. The sisters are shuttled from the house they lived in, which neither they nor I call a home, to their aunt's house, which proved to be even less of a home than their first.

The aunt quickly finds she doesn't want the children and sends them to live in an orphanage. One of the sisters makes out alright, while the other is teased and bullied, leading to issues we'll see later in her life. I found this section of the story riveting and intense. Having two young children of my own made it even harder to read but the author added enough supporting characters that you didn't feel you were drowning in the sister's sorrowful tale.

As the girls mature, one turns to academia and the other to men and drink. I have to admit I am a sucker for a good alcoholic story and we this one does not disappoint. Merry's story unique and true to life, which is what gives it power.

The central factor in the story is how the two women deal with the father that floats about the periphery of their lives from his prison cell. Lulu, the doctor, refuses to see him, while Merry dutifully visits him but pays a price for each trip.

The ending of the novel was action-packed and terrifying. The story resolves nicely, though not too nicely. Really a very good read. I'd suggest you pick it up.

The Muse & the Marketplace conference

Yesterday I attended day one of the Muse & the Marketplace conference at the Park Plaza Hotel in Boston. The event was fantastic and very rejuvenating for my tired, beat-down writing soul. Plus, I met an agent I would love to work with, Mitchell Waters. Before we get too excited, he hasn't agreed to take me on - yet. He did ask for my card and promised (well, not promised but said) he would read my submission. He represents the key note speaker at yesterday's event, Vestal McIntyre who wrote Lake Overturn which you can pick up on Amazon by clicking on the link - it's on sale for $10!! I haven't read it yet but it won the Grub Street Book Award so it's a no-brainer.

I also got a chance to chat with my friend Brunonia Barry whose new book The Map of True Places is coming out tuesday! I am on page 150 (at the event she had 10 pre-debut copies available and, of course, I scooped one up) and LOVING it. Not sure I should say this but I like it even more than the Lace Reader, which is saying a lot!

I also bumped into Randy Susan Meyers, who remembered, which is amazing considering she must do a ton of speaking engagments over the course of the year, and Amy MacKinnon, who you may recall turned me on to Grub Street and was gracious enough to call me, way back when, to give me some much needed advice. She had actually read my blog and gave me an addiitional pointer that was hard to hear but clearly true and useful, so I thank her again for that.

Other than my brushes with greatness - I attended three seminars. One on the publishing industry's glossary of terms, one on query writing, and one where they randomly selected first pages and read them aloud.

The glossary session was extremely helpful. I thought I knew it all but they discussed a lot of insider terms I have never heard, like "quiet" and "up-market". Having attended the seminar I will be a more savvy marketer of my work.

The Literary Idol session was wonderful until they got to my page, which was the very last one. In fact, the actress who was doing the readings was standing there with my page in her hand for about five minutes as the panel of four agents chatted and answered questions. My heart literally raced and I could feel my face flush as I waited, hopefully, to see if they would get to my page. They did. Which was good and not so good. The agents stopped the actress before she got to the end of her reading but they had very good input and made me see somethings I can fix to better catch their eye in the future.

My final session, on query writing, was a little less helpful only because I feel pretty confident about my query letter. I did enjoy meeting the agent who ran the session, Sorche Fairbanks, because she is local and clearly very good at what she does.

At the end of the day I got to meet one on one with an agent, Julie Barer, who had reviewed 20 pages of my novel and critiqued it. Yippee, she said the writing was great. Not so yippee she said the structure needed work (put it back how it was - and Dad & Karen nod to each other saying "we told you so"). She wasn't interested in taken the project on but she did give me great feeback and, overall I thought the session was well worth it!

The Muse & the Marketplace is held yearly and sponsored by Grub Street. If you are serious about writing it's well worth attending.

Matters of Faith - Kristy Kiernan

Matters of Faith revolves around a family: mother, father, son, sister. The son is in college and brings home, for lack of a better term, a wacko. She is a religious freak, which the mother seems to think is OK because she's liberal and willing to let her child experiement with his beliefs and pretty much anything else.
The father, having been raised by a religious wacko of his own, disapproves of this girl but keeps quiet, receeding into his work, giving fishing tours to local tourists.
The family's daughter has a peanut alllergy. When the son and girlfriend decide to take the father's boat out for a ride, the younger sister asks to come along. The girlfriend, trying to ingratiate herself with the family, readily agrees. While the three are on the boat an accident occurs. There is blood everywhere - so much blood it's difficult to figure out what really happened. It turns out the son and girlfriend mixed a bit of peanut butter into the sister's sandwich because the girlfriend thought the daughter would build up a tolerance. The girlfriend unfortunately convinces the brother their prayers would pull them all through, but of course, she is horrifically mistaken.

Not to give away too much away - as the daugher lays in the hospital, struggling to recover we learn about the parents and their battle to believe their daughter will (or won't) recover. They argue over how best to handle their son who, upon being released from prison and bailing out zealot girlfriend, flees to live with his grandmother - the same one his father refuses to speak to.

In the end the daughter comes out of her coma but will never be whole again. The girlfriend returns to her fugitive life after being outed as older than she let on and more criminally inclined. She escapes back to her family leaving the son holding the bag and facing years in prison. The end of this novel could have easily been sappy but wasn't which was a plesant surprise.

If you are interested in matters of faith and enjoy an interesting twist on a family saga, check this book out.