Some vampires suck more than others June 12, 2007

Ah, vampires. Some people love ‘em. Me, not so much, unless they happen to be in a YA book. My ambivalence toward Twilight aside, I’ll willingly, even eagerly, pick up a YA novel with vampires in it. But adult books with vampires, particularly romance novels? Unless your name is Meljean Brook (since I just bought and read Demon Moon), I avoid them like the plague.

So what’s the difference? I think it’s partly that vampires tend to be angst-ridden and moody, something a lot more, er, palatable in YA books and much less appealing in adults, since teenagers at least have an excuse for being angst-ridden and moody. Also, the vampire universes in YA books are more novel, more exciting. Vampirism as an STD? Vampires coming to America on the Mayflower? Actually being the bad guys instead of the hero/heroine? So much more appealing to me than some random person who just happens to get bit by a vampire. And just as I have a hard time getting into adult fantasy and science fiction, even though I do read YA fantasy and science fiction, I just don’t find vampires in adult books interesting in general. There’s more, but I’m having a hard time articulating exactly why this is.

Just out of curiosity, why are there so many rich vampires? They never seem to work, yet they’re all millionaires, even though they’ve been alive for hundreds of years, which must be expensive, what with having to constantly move because you don’t age. Because they don’t die so don’t have to pay estate taxes? That sounds like a bad joke, but I’m genuinely curious. Anyone?

Anyway, the first vampire novel I remember reading that really stuck with me was The Vampire Diaries. Okay, so that’s a series of four books, not one book, but whatever. It’s so good! (Even if Stefan and Damon are millionaire vampires.) And now they’re being reissued! I still have the books myself, but I need to buy them for my library to give to all those Twilight fans. I thought Volumes I and II, now combined in one edition, was supposed to be published in August, but either the date was moved up or I’m remembering things wrong, because it’s actually coming out on June 26. But what’s with this cover? I like that logo thing with the title and author, but that guy is just so creepy looking. Isn’t Stefan supposed to be hot? It could be someone other than Stefan, but weren’t all the other vampires beautiful people, too? (Another question: why are vampires always attractive?) I suppose part of my dislike is because Elena was on the cover of the original editions and seeing some dude on the cover makes me nostalgic. Or maybe it’s just shock that we’re actually seeing a real head on the cover of a book. Even if it’s only half a head. How Scott Westerfeld.

The Invisible by Mats Wahl June 11, 2007

Hilmer Eriksson is alone in his classroom when two of his classmates enter. Neither Henrik Malmsten nor Lars-Erik Bulterman likes Hilmer, so Hilmer is puzzled when they ignore him. Surely they would at least say nasty things to him, or go even further, since on one else is around. But they act as if he isn’t there. Hilmer’s confusion increases when class begins and his teacher announces that a detective will be visiting to talk to them about a classmate’s disappearance. Hilmer, Detective Fors announces, is missing, and does anyone have information the police will find useful? No matter how much Hilmer tries to make his presence known, he is unable to do so. And why can he not remember what happened on the day he went missing?

Detective Harald Fors has been sent to investigate Hilmer’s disappearance. The more he learns, the surer he is that Hilmer is the victim of foul play. But the people he questions have their own reasons for being less than forthcoming.

The Invisible is a prime example of the YA vs. adult conundrum. My first thought after finishing the book was, “Why is this a YA novel?” In many ways, this is your stereotypical Scandinavian mystery, in setting (on-the-brink-of-dying village; Swedish, in this case), subject matter (racism and immigration), lead detective (divorced middle age man), and in style. And while the story opens with Hilmer, Detective Fors is the character we spend the most time with, the one who uncovers what happened to Hilmer. It’s through Fors’ interviews and investigation that we view most of the events. Hilmer discovers the truth along with Fors (and the reader) as a passive character who can only observe. It is this passivity that makes me question the YA designation the most. Hilmer is not telling the story, nor is he the protagonist of the story. He is the subject of an investigation. He does not drive the story, his disappearance does. Fors’ investigation of Hilmer’s disappearance is the lens through which Wahl examines Swedish society, not Hilmer’s actions itself. While we get glimpses of Hilmer’s thoughts while he is invisible, these thoughts are mostly of bewilderment at what happened to him, not recollections or flashbacks of what actually happened.

While teens may pick up The Invisible on their own, I think it has more appeal to adult readers of Scandinavian mysteries. Like, oh, me. So I’m not sure why this was published as a YA book. Is it the movie? (Which I haven’t seen, but is apparently completely different from the book.) The length? (186 pages.) This could have easily been published as an adult book, marketed to fans of Scandinavian mysteries, perhaps fans of Henning Mankell and Faceless Killers, in particular, and maybe cross-marketed to teens and YA librarians as an Alex Award-type adult book with teen appeal.

Oh well, enough puzzling over this. I did like the book, though I probably should admit that I was predisposed to like it, but the “YA or adult?” issue rather sidetracked me. Now, to catch up on the Kurt Wallender series so I can read Mankell’s YA book when it comes out later this year. Which doesn’t sound like a mystery at all, but I’m just that kind of reader.

I know, I know May 23, 2007

that most books that get optioned for film or television don’t end up being made, but some of these titles made me pause.

From the Creative Artists Agency ad in the April 30, 2007 issue of Publishers Weekly (pages 6-7):

YA-Related:
As Simple As Snow - Gregory Galloway (Alex Award winner)
The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game - Michael Lewis (Alex Award winner)
The Children of the Lamp - P.B. Kerr
I Love You, Beth Cooper - Larry Doyle (you know, that guy)
Larklight - Philip Reeve
Seeker - William Nicholson
Sold - Patricia McCormick (yeah, this is one that made me say, “Huh?” It’s a good book and *sob* made me cry, but I can’t imagine it as a movie)

Some of the more eyebrow-raising adult titles:
The Lost Painting - Jonathan Harr
Pompeii - Robert Harris
The Rape of Nanking - Iris Chang
Sacred Games - Vikram Chandra (need to read this when I have time for a 916 page book. I assume they’re going to have to cut a lot from it)

Trendwatch: Demon/Hell Books April 22, 2007

First there were the Ravenscliff books by Geoffrey Huntington (which never concluded, much to my dismay) and Darren Shan’s Demonata books.

Last fall, we had Devilish, Hellbent, Hellphone, and Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony (yes, I’m counting it!).

But the whole thing came to a head yesterday when I saw that Repossessed is one of the newest recommendations at Reading Rants!, and it’s about a demon. Then I asked a patron if she wanted to request Succubus Blues, an adult book, before we started talking about other titles, and I kept on getting Prom Nights from Hell and Prom Dates from Hell confused. “Wait, which is the anthology with Meg Cabot and Kim Harrison?”

Now I find out about Demon Envy, and, well, I suppose if there has to be a paranormal trend, I much prefer books about demons and/or hell than vampires. I’m tempted to make a joke about how it’s because they haven’t been done to death yet, but I’m too lazy to come up with a halfway decent one right now. Must think on it…

There’s a reason I’m not in marketing April 17, 2007

I was flipping through Entertainment Weekly* and saw an ad for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.   Which makes me wonder how many people who read EW need to see an ad to know that it’s coming out this summer.  Calendars counting down the days until the book comes out are cool and all, but aren’t there other books Scholastic could be spending their marketing dollars on?

 * Is it just me, or are this week’s EW and People unusually uninteresting?  Which sounds weird since I managed to blog about both, but this and the Meg Rosoff review in People were the only things that caught my eye.

Random thoughts April 13, 2007

about upcoming YA books:

Bloodhound: The Legend of Beka Cooper by Tamora Pierce — $21.99? Are you kidding me?  $18.99 for the regular hardcover; $21.99 for the Library Edition.  My bad.

Primavera by Mary Jane Beaufrand — ooh, Italian Renaissance. Is this J or YA?

A Bridge to the Stars by Henning Mankell — Henning Mankell? Henning Mankell wrote a YA book?

Long May She Reign by Ellen Emerson White — 720 pages? Are you kidding me?

Gert Garibaldi’s Rants and Raves: One Butt Cheek at a Time by Amber Kizer — Well, it’s definitely a memorable title.

My Swordhand Is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick — Now this is a memorable-in-a-good-way title. Makes me want to read it based on the title alone. And the British cover and description make it even more enticing.

It Had to Be You: The Gossip Girl Prequel by Cecily von Ziegesar — Gossip Girl prequel? I only read the first book in the series, and that left me feeling slightly sl–Wait, why Serena left boarding school? (You mean it hasn’t been explained in the other, what, ten or so books?) Can someone read this and tell me, or am I going to have to read it myself?

Clicks by various authors — ooh, interesting.

Secret Santa by John Scognamiglio and Sabrina James — Froggy? I thought the only Froggy I’d ever see was in The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things. John Scognamiglio? As in the Kensington editor John Scognamiglio?

These covers do not belong on YA books.

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak — $11.99 for a YA paperback? After discounts you can get the hardcover for less than the cover price of the paperback (only $1.09 more after the paperback discount).

The Romance of Writing for Teens? April 5, 2007

I should start by thanking Jackie for her review of Adiós to My Old Life. Otherwise, who knows how long it would have been before I got around to writing about this topic. Even before starting this blog, I’d been toying with the idea of discussing the number of romance and chick lit authors who also write YA, but more along the lines of “Harlequin” and “world domination” and “you’re basically publishing every genre of fiction for women but Young Adult,” except they are publishing Kimani TRU, so it doesn’t quite work anymore.

Why is it that there are so many romance/chick lit/YA authors? Just off the top of my head, I can think of roughly twenty them.

More Fodder for the Chain Haters April 4, 2007

From Pub Rants:

I had one interesting conversation with an editor from Farrar, Straus during my calls today. She mentioned that they had heard the news about a month ago that Barnes & Noble stores were not planning to expand their Young Adult section despite strong sales in that realm and a burgeoning need for shelf space to house the upcoming titles.

Consequently, they were being a little more cautious about what YA titles they took on because the main seller of YA is B&N and if the stores weren’t going to be accommodating titles for lack of shelf space, it could doom some releases.

Edited to add: Oops, hit publish a little too fast.  I can understand why B&N sells more YA than other stores. I mean, the last time I went to Borders, I got confused by all their Independent Reader, etc. breakdowns, not to mention the YA books wrapped around a shelf and ended right next to the Psychology section or something.  Don’t understand that floor plan at all. Getting back to the B&N news, though, all I can say is, “Huh?”

Let me see, we constantly read about the purchasing power of teens.  YA lit is selling well.  People are going to your stores to buy their YA books.  You’re in the business of selling books.  If the editor is correct, I don’t get B&N’s logic here.

Author Websites (and some book news) April 4, 2007

Maybe my expectations are just too high, but these days I expect authors to have a website. So when today’s Publishers Lunch reported a deal for a new Kristen Tracy book, and since I’ve been meaning to read Lost It, I thought, “Oh, maybe I’ll go to her website.” Only I can’t find a website, or a blog, or even a MySpace page. And I can’t be bothered to continue searching for an author I’ve never read. If authors don’t want to blog, that’s their prerogative. But not having at least some web presence? In this day and age? When you’re writing for teens?

If you’re an author, please, please get yourself a website. Your readers will appreciate it, and so will librarians. I’m on the YA statewide picks committee for our library system, and our goal is to select those upcoming books we think will be popular and that each library should have (and we’re talking about 51 libraries here). Since we try to order pre-pub, usually three months ahead of time, often we’re just guessing at what’s going to be the most popular. There are some authors we’re pretty sure of (like Meg Cabot), but there are so few pre-pub reviews and you can’t always find blurbs on publisher or vendor websites, that sometimes author websites and blogs are my only source of information. And if you do have a website, can you please post information about your upcoming book more than a month or two in advance? Thanks.

Anyway, Tracy’s next book definitely sounds interesting: “follow[s] a clique in Kalamazoo, Michigan who set out to have an unforgettable summer while attempting to commit the best crime ever — and to prepare their college applications — as they contend with aggressive parrots, a knife-wielding psycho brother, their underdeveloped consciences, an unfortunate kayaker, and the long arm of the law.”

Two other YA deals were mentioned, a debut novel by Cecilia Galante (about best friends “forced to runaway from the religious commune they’ve lived in their entire lives”) and a novel by television writer Robin Epstein (”a 15-year old girl in the midst of an ethical dilemma”).

Update: Kristen Tracy now has a website! Go visit.

Peering Into the Crystal Ball, Part 2 March 28, 2007

I should really finish going through my Bloglines feeds before posting anything. Oh well.

So apparently agent Kristin Nelson is in New York meeting with editors of Teen and Middle Grade books. (See this post and also this one) Very interesting stuff. “Paranormal YA that’s not vampires or werewolves”? Really? Even with Twilight still going strong? And HarperTeen reprinting The Vampire Diaries? Man, if only romance editors were also looking for non-vampire and/or non-werewolf paranormals. (One of our Library Assistants and I both agree that we like YA vampire books much more than vampire romances, but that’s a topic for another post)

Speaking of romances, Liz B. mentioned that she’d like to see more teen romances in response to this YA Authors Cafe post (to which I say, “Ditto.” Actually, ditto to everything else she’d like to see, especially the minority character who just happens to be a minority–another topic for anther post, because Gayle and I could go on and on about this one), and hey, Penguin would love teen romances, complete with happy endings.

YA psychological thrillers? Folks were having a hard time thinking of examples of it. Diana Peterfreund mentioned What Happened to Cass McBride?, which I actually just read this past weekend, and I’m thinking maybe The Rules of Survival? In any case, both posts are about fiction. But how about some non-fiction ideas? I was talking to a high school teacher/library school student a few weeks ago, and we both agree that we want (and know teens who want) financial management personal finance books for teens. Not books on how to invest in the stock market or how to pay for college, but basic things like how to balance a checkbook, what your credit score is and why it’s so important, how to pay taxes, etc. What other kinds of non-fiction books for teens would you like to see?