Omnivoracious

Sylvia Day Whets Our Appetite for "Entwined with You"--and More Crossfire

After naming Sylvia Day’s Bared to You a 2012 Best Book of the Year in Romance and devouring Reflected in You, we've been anxiously awaiting the release of the third book in Day's scorching Crossfire series, Entwined with You. To whet our appetites and make waiting for the book's arrival a little easier, Amazon Romance expert Alyssa Morris spoke with Day about what’s next for Gideon and Eva, her upcoming collaboration with Harlequin and Cosmopolitan, her all-time favorite romance novels, and much more.

Alyssa Morris: Now that you’ve had a bit of time to absorb the success of Bared to You, does it feel real? Or are you still surprised?

Sylvia Day: I'm still surprised! I’m glad I’m a veteran and that I’ve been publishing for close to 10 years, so I had some experience under my belt as far as dealing with it. But on the other hand, there’s no way to anticipate writing something that becomes a global phenomenon, you know. I don’t know about other writers--I didn’t even dream about anything like that. I always figured that it just happened to the Stephenie Meyers and J.K. Rowlings of the world. So, yeah, I don’t think I’ll ever get over being surprised that I had a series that struck such a chord.

AM: It just hit such a moment in our culture, where all of a sudden this is what everyone wants to be reading. It’s an interesting confluence.

SD: Right. We always talk about that, about right book, right time. Random House released Fifty Shades on the same day I self-published Bared to You, so talk about the right timing. Just… wow!

AM: Do you have a favorite moment in the Crossfire series so far? 

SD: You know, I really loved the weekend that Gideon and Eva spent in the Outer Banks. These poor guys. When they’re alone, they’re fine. Life is perfect when they’re alone. Unfortunately, they don’t get a lot of time alone. [Laughs] So I just love that. I love seeing them together away from all of the distractions and intrusions and everything else that’s going wrong in their lives.

I can’t talk too much about Entwined with You because it’s not out yet. And that’s so hard, because I so want to talk tabout it! But there’s more alone time with Gideon and Eva as we move forward in the series and they grow stronger, so I’m really enjoying that as a writer. 

AM: Can you tell us a little bit about what we can expect to see next for Gideon and Eva? And is Entwined with You the last book in the series, or it might continue farther?

SD: Yes. It’s definitely continuing, so I can say that for sure. I was not able to wrap up the entirety of the storyline into three books, and I was absolutely adamant that I was not going to try to rush or cram the third book to try to make it fit. And I was fortunate that my agent and my editor they both agree that it would be a big disservice to the series to not let it play out the way it needs to, so there will definitely be future books.

The first book was really the introduction to Gideon and Eva. That’s where we first become familiar with their flaws and their issues, which are of course very prevalent in the first book. The second book they were really apart most of that book. They were mostly broken up through that whole thing. It was very angsty and dark. The third book is very different. Eva’s in a different place. At the end of Reflected in You, Gideon has made a pretty large sacrifice for her. Her big issues had been insecurities, concerns about other people and other women particularly in Gideon’s life. It’s hard to have those sorts of fears and self-doubt after somebody makes a huge sacrifice, like Gideon did for her. So she’s in a much more stable place as far as her comfort level with the relationship and being able to accept the depth of his commitment to her.

Gideon, however--what he’s done, there’s a lot of ramifications. Not just externally, but internally. So as she grows stronger, he’s actually struggling with more. That said, she’s really the anchor for that relationship. She has been from the beginning. So with her being stable, it brings new stability to the whole relationship, and readers will see a lot more moments of calm and connection between the two than we have seen in the previous books.

An Evening with Dan Brown

How do you welcome an author who has sold 200 million books worldwide to New York’s Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center? Show the 2,000 fans in the audience where he lives, of course. At this launch event for Dan Brown's latest Robert Langdon thriller Inferno, Today Show host Matt Lauer introduced the author with a clip from an interview he conducted at Brown's home in Exeter, New Hampshire. This rare glimpse into Brown's life reveals that his house closely resembles his novels--full of beautiful old-world furnishings and secret passages hidden behind paintings and rotating bookshelves. (Imagine Tolkien creating a life-size replica of the Shire in his backyard.)

This turned out to be the perfect kick off to the evening, during which Brown opened up about his personal life and the road to his international success. Taking the podium, Brown talked about how his upbringing influenced the major theme of his novels: the conflict between religion and science. As it turns out, this tension manifested itself at a very young age. Brown's mother was the church organist and choir leader and his father was a math teacher. To illustrate their different beliefs, Brown held up the vanity license plates his parents had when he was a child: one read KYRIE (the Latin word for Lord) and the other said METRIC.

He thanked his parents for their lifelong support, noting that if you encourage your kids to pursue creative fields, you will either end up with a happy kid whose rent you'll be paying forever, or they will be popular enough to speak at Avery Fisher Hall and make fun of you.

Daniel Vaughn, Author of "The Prophets of Smoked Meat"

I think it's official: Daniel Vaughn has the coolest job in the U.S.

As the recently-named barbecue editor at Texas Monthly magazine, he explores the Lone Star state, in search of the best brisket, ribs, and BBQ joints. What started as a hobby (Vaughn was an architect who blogged at Full Custom Gospel BBQ, before landing the Texas Monthly gig) has become a career.

Vaughn visited Seattle to sign copies of his book, The Prophets of Smoked Meat: A Journey Through Texas Barbecue, the first book in Anthony Bourdain's publishing imprint at Ecco (a division of Harpers). At a sold-out Seattle Brisket Experience event, we talked with Daniel about his book and his passion for smoked meat.

[Our thanks to Jack Timmons and Seattle Brisket Experience, the folks at 1927 Events, and MoonGirl, for the tunes] 

 

Amazon Asks: Kimberly McCreight on family, yogurt, and Breaking Bad

Reconstructing Amelia is a media-fest of narrative, emails, texts and other bits a tormented mother uses to deconstruct her teenage daughter's life and figure out whether she did or didn't commit suicide. Climbing the charts, it's the first novel by lawyer-turned-author Kimberly McCreight, who knows a bit about motherhood angst and, well... villainy.

What's the elevator pitch for your book?

A page-turning mystery about parenting in the age of cyber-bullying, Reconstructing Amelia follows a mother as she tries to piece together the last troubled days of her daughter's life.

What's on your nightstand/bedside table/Kindle?

My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor, Going Clear by Lawrence Wright, and Flannery O'Connor's The Complete Stories.

Top 3-5 favorite books of all time?

The Hours by Michael Cunningham; While I Was Gone by Sue Miller; To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, Plainsong by Kent Haruf; The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.

Important book you never read?

The Odyssey. I want to say that I'll read it soon, but now that I have children, I think that might be a lie. Perhaps, once they go to college.

Favorite book(s) as a child?

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. The story felt so huge and important even though I don't think I fully understood why. Unfortunately, my children don't let me read it to them because I always start bawling on page two.

What's your most memorable author moment?

I quit being a lawyer more than a decade ago to chase a dream. The road was much longer and darker than I ever expected, but I'm lucky to have so many amazing friends who helped see me through. I had dinner with one right after my book sold. When I shared the news, she shouted, jumped out of her chair, and burst into tears, pretty much all at the same time. She wasn't the only friend to cry when I told her either. The outpouring of love and support from so many people in my life has been nothing short of astounding. I feel so insanely fortunate

Getting the call from my editor telling me that I'd made the New York Times Bestseller List was another moment I'll never forget. Assuming it actually happened. I'm still half-convinced I hallucinated it.

What talent or superpower would you like to have (not including flight or invisibility)?

I think it may be more of a super-villain power, but mind-control. That's what I'd want. I promise I'd only use it for good, of course. To be honest, I can't imagine why everyone wouldn't want that. The power to make everyone think and, therefore, do whatever you want? Who wouldn't pick that? As it turns out, my family, that's who. Not only did they all give much more hero-ish answers, but now I think they're all sleeping with one eye open. Except for my older daughter. As she sees it, I already have that power. After all, I'm always making her do whatever I want anyway.

What are you obsessed with now?

Greek frozen yogurt. After claiming for years that it was disgusting, I'm now utterly addicted.

What are you stressed about now?

The end of Breaking Bad. I know they'll pull it off in the same flawless, breathtaking form with which they've executed the rest of the series, so I'm not worried about them. I'm worried about me. What am I going to do without that show? I guess I'll still have the yogurt.

What are you psyched about now?

Summer. I can't wait for late afternoons on the beach when the setting sun turns the whole world gold and there's salt on your skin and you've had way too many ice cream cones for no good reason. I'm looking forward to our family vacation too. My daughters are finally old enough to really travel, and we're taking them to France and England. I can't wait to see all of it again for the first time through their eyes.

What's your most prized/treasured possession?

My husband and my children. And, don't worry, I know they're not possessions. I mean not really. But they're what matters most to me.

Author crush -- who's your current author crush?

Can I have two? John Green and Flannery O'Connor. I so wish the three of us could go out to dinner.

What's next for you?

I'm a few hundred pages into my next novel. It's another dark mystery with a deep emotional core. I'm kind of obsessed with it too. That and, you know, the yogurt.

What's the last dream you remember?

I had a dream that my kids' hamster, Chocolate Chip, escaped from her cage. In the dream, she was about six times as large as she is in real life, which is exceptionally bad news because she's essentially an attack hamster. In the dream—I mean nightmare—we all had to escape from her by crawling out a window and down the fire escape. Which reminds me, I really do need to find a hamster tamer.  

Favorite line?

"We changed again, and yet again, and it was now too late and too far to go back, and I went on. And the mists had all solemnly risen now, and the world lay spread before me." Charles Dickens, Great Expectations.

What's your favorite vice?

Candy. I consume all kinds, often in huge quantities. In fact, I consider myself something of a connoisseur. However, if someone happens to stumble on my enormous secret stash, I always lie and tell them it belongs to my children. Of course, that has the unintended side effect of making me look like a terrible parent. But you can't have everything, can you?

What do you collect?

I love the idea of collecting and I'm completely fascinated by people who do. But I'm more of a purger myself. In fact, if there's a disorder that's the opposite of hoarding, I think I might have that.

Best piece of fan mail you ever got?

I heard from someone who'd read Reconstructing Amelia after a loss in his own family. He wanted me to know how the story had helped him process his own grief. It was the warmest, most lovely note, and, reading it, I so felt the love for this person who was no longer here. I was in tears before I'd even stepped away from my mailbox.

YA Wednesday: Marie Lu Talks to Rick Yancy About "The 5th Wave"

Rick Yancey's new book, The 5th Wave, sucked me in and pulled me under from the first page to the last with it's terrifying and thrilling story of an alien invasion like you've never seen.  We made it our Best Teen Books of May Spotlight pick, and past Teen Best of the Month author, Marie Lu (Legend trilogy)  is also a big fan.  In this Omni exclusive, Lu chats with Yancey about The 5th Wave, movies, and, of course, aliens.

Marie Lu: Everybody loves aliens--myself included! But in your opinion, how has Hollywood gotten the “alien invasion” idea wrong?

Rick Yancey: I understand that movies are made by humans to be watched by humans, and depicting anything less than total victory over the bug-eyed swarm would be a bit much to ask for. The simple and, to my mind, undeniable truth is that life forms thousands, if not millions, of years more advanced than us probably wouldn’t view humans as anything special, or at least nowhere near as special as we view ourselves. I think we would be more like pesky insects to them, which raises the question (from their angle): Can we coexist, like humans do with cockroaches, or should we simply drive the disgusting infestation from existence? So I don’t believe that, if they find us, it’ll play out anything like the stereotypical alien drama.

They won’t come to teach us anything (Contact) or save us from ourselves (Close Encounters, The Day the Earth Stood Still) or pluck leaves and go home (E.T.). And they’ll be smart enough and careful enough not to damage too much of their new home (Independence Day) and they will remember to take their flu shot (War of the Worlds).

ML: The 5^th Wave has been optioned for film, which is hugely exciting! Anything you can tell us about it?

RY: Under the terms of my contract, not much! I can tell you producers Graham King (Argo) and Tobey Maguire are on board, which is totally cool.

ML: Alright, the alien invasion is nigh and you're in survival mode. What would be in your survival kit?

RY: Toiletry kit (seriously, you’d want to keep yourself groomed. It grounds you. Also you better have a way to keep your teeth clean. You don’t want a bad tooth – check out Castaway if you doubt me). Basic first aid stuff, including penicillin and antibiotic ointment. A means of making fire. Solar-powered flashlight. A good hunting knife. A handheld mirror (to check yourself out and also to check around corners). A compass. Water bottle. And (speaking only for myself) enough medication to ensure an overdose in case the absolute worst comes upon me. If my end was inevitable, I’d make sure it was on my terms, not the alien bastards’.

ML: The five waves you outline in the book scare the bejeezus out of me. Which one frightens you the most?

RY: By far the 3^rd Wave: the super-virus developed by the Others from Ebola Zaire. I won’t go into all the details here – there’s plenty in the book – but if you’ve ever read The Hot Zone, you know what I’m talking about. A slow, agonizing, horrifying way to die. Your organs liquefy. Your brain turns to mashed potatoes. The other waves are terrible, but they’re quick.

ML: Can you give us a sneak peek at what we’re going to see happen in Book 2?

RY: Did things seem a little desperate in Book 1? They get worse. We still haven’t seen the depths to which the Others will sink in order to rid the Earth of the human infestation. And we haven’t yet seen the heights to which the human spirit can reach. Certain characters introduced in Book 1 will come to the fore--and others will face the ultimate test. The Others will give their answer to Cassie’s defiance. 

“A Curious Man”: Neal Thompson Talks Ripley with Sara Nelson

Leroy Robert Ripley was a brilliant oddball--a lonely, funny-looking kid who grew up to be a fabulously successful connoisseur of the weird, the fantastical, the gross. Amazon Senior Editor Neal Thompson channeled his own fascination with Ripley into A Curious Man: The Strange & Brilliant Life of Robert 'Believe It or Not' Ripley, one of our Best of the Month Picks for May.

Thompson sat down with his boss, Amazon Editorial Director Sara Nelson, to explain why.

An Interview with Dan Brown

The newest novel by Dan Brown (have you heard of him?) went on sale today. Here's a Q&A with the author of Inferno, a book that USA Today calls "as close as a book can come to a summertime cinematic blockbuster."

 

Inferno refers to Dante Alighieri´s The Divine Comedy. What is Dante’s significance? What features of his work or life inspired you?

The Divine Comedy—like The Mona Lisa—is one of those rare artistic achievements that transcends its moment in history and becomes an enduring cultural touchstone. Like Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, The Divine Comedy speaks to us centuries after its creation and is considered an example of one of the finest works ever produced in its artistic field. For me, the most captivating quality of Dante Alighieri is his staggering influence on culture, religion, history, and the arts. In addition to codifying the early Christian vision of Hell, Dante’s work has inspired some of history’s greatest luminaries—Longfellow, Chaucer, Borges, Tchaikovsky, Liszt, Monteverdi, Michelangelo, Blake, Dalí—and even a few modern video game designers. Despite Dante’s enduring influence on the arts, however, most of us today have only a vague notion of what his work actually says—both literally and symbolically (which, of course, is of great interest to Robert Langdon). A few years ago, I became very excited about the prospect of writing a contemporary thriller that incorporated the philosophy, history, and text of Dante’s timeless descent into The Inferno.

When you start on a new book, do you begin with the writing or the research? Do you enjoy doing one more than the other? 

Research definitely drives everything I do. Before beginning the writing process, I spend a lot of time exploring worlds in which I intend to set the book. In Angels & Demons, those worlds included Vatican City, particle physics, and the ongoing battle between science and religion. In Inferno, the worlds include Florence, Venice, the writings of Dante Alighieri, as well as a frightening new science that I believe has the potential either to save humankind or to destroy it.

Where did do your research for Inferno? How long did you spend on it?

Researching Inferno began with six months of reading, including several translations of The Divine Comedy, various annotations by Dante scholars, historical texts about Dante’s life and philosophies, as well as a lot of background reading on Florence itself. At the same time, I was poring over all the new scientific information that I could find on a cutting edge technology that I had decided to incorporate into the novel. Once I had enough understanding of these topics to proceed, I traveled to Florence and Venice, where I was fortunate to meet with some wonderful art historians, librarians, and other scholars who helped me enormously.

Once this initial phase of research was complete, I began outlining and writing the novel. As is always the case, when a book begins to take shape, I am drawn in unexpected directions that require additional research. This was also the case with Inferno, which took about 3 years from conception to publication.

With respect to the process, the success of these novels has been a bit of a Catch-22. On one hand, I now have wonderful access to specialists, authorities, and even secret archives from which to draw information and inspiration. On the other hand, because there is increased speculation about my works in progress, I need to be increasingly discreet about the places I go and the specialists with whom I speak. Even so, there is one aspect of my research that will never change—making personal visits to the locations about which I’m writing. When it comes to capturing the feel of a novel’s setting, I find there is no substitute for being there in the flesh...even if sometimes I need to do it incognito.

What kind of adventure will Robert Langdon face this time? Can you give us any sneak peek at the new novel?

Inferno is very much a Robert Langdon thriller. It’s filled with codes, symbols, art, and the exotic locations that my readers love to explore. In this novel, Dante Alighieri’s ancient literary masterpiece—The Divine Comedy—becomes a catalyst that inspires a macabre genius to unleash a scientific creation of enormous destructive potential. Robert Langdon must battle this dark adversary by deciphering a Dante-related riddle, which leads him to Florence, where he finds himself in a desperate race through a landscape of classical art, secret passageways, and futuristic technology.

What was the most exciting idea or story that you found in your research?

For me, one of the most exciting themes of Dante’s Inferno is the portrayal of pride as the most serious of the seven deadly sins—a transgression punished in the deepest ring of hell. The notion of pride as the ultimate sin dovetails perfectly with Greek mythology, in which hubris is responsible for the downfall of the archetypal hero. In mythology, no man was more prideful than the man who considers himself above the problems of the world…for example, he who ignores injustice because it does not affect him directly. This notion is reflected in a famous paraphrasing of Dante’s text: The darkest places in hell are reserved for those who maintain their neutrality in times of moral crisis. This is a recurring theme of the novel.

What made Florence the ideal location for Inferno?

No city on earth is more closely tied to Dante Alighieri. Dante grew up in Florence, fell in love in Florence, and began writing in Florence. Later in life, when he was exiled for political reasons, the longing he felt for his beloved Florence became a catalyst for The Divine Comedy. Through his enduring poem, Dante enjoyed the “last word” over his political enemies, banishing them to various rings of Inferno where they suffered terrible tortures.

Do you have a favorite place to visit in Florence, like a library or a museum?  

Every visit to Florence should include a trip to the popular highlights—The David, The Uffizi Gallery, The Boboli Gardens, and Il Duomo. In addition, there are a number of other locations that I find particularly inspiring. The Laurentian Library contains a breathtaking staircase by Michelangelo as well as archives of ancient manuscripts that are literally chained to their shelves. Palazzo Vecchio’s spectacular Salone dei Cinquecento is home to one of the great unsolved mysteries in art history, which remains an enigma to this day. And the Battistero di San Giovanni boasts a dazzling mosaic cieling that is said to have terrified the young Dante Alighieri and later inspired his enduring vision of hell. All of these locations make an appearence in the new novel.

The great detective in your novels, Robert Langdon, shares your birth date as well as your place of birth. What else do the two of you have in common?

Langdon and I both share a fascination with history, symbols, and codes, but this is where the similarities end. Langdon is far more daring and exciting than I am. He is, in many ways, the hero I wish I could be.

Drinks with Edward Lee, Author of "Smoke and Pickles"

An interview series in which Amazon Editors meet authors at their favorite bars.

Edward Lee's new cookbook, Smoke and Pickles: Recipes and Stories from a New Southern Kitchen (one of our Best of the Month picks for May), celebrates the chef's Brooklyn upbringing and his move to Louisville, Kentucky, where he opened his restaurant 610 Magnolia. Lee is also a multiple James Beard Award nominee and has been a competitor on both Iron Chef and Top Chef.

The bar he picked was KGB Bar, a barely lit dive bar with a certain Soviet charm. But I learned that KGB Bar is also a venerable writers' haunt, known for hosting literary events almost every night of the week. In fact, when I met up with Lee, there was a poetry reading going on, so the bartender gave us plastic cups for our drinks and headed for the stoop outside, where we talked about the book, bourbon, and his new baby.

---

So why'd you pick this bar?

For me, it was a number of reasons. It was the bar I used to frequent when I was in New York. It has a lot of nice memories for me, probably spent a couple of nights here sleeping on the banquette in the corner. For me, it represents an old school New York, back when people drank really hard and smoked really hard. It was an awesome place. Right out of college, I started working at a literary agency, so there were some writers that introduced me to it. I don't know if they still do now--it was fifteen years ago. But a lot of writers used to hang out here. So, it was just a great place to get drunk but also to trade ideas, and there were a lot of interesting people who were hanging out here--a fermentation tank of interesting people. What little memories I do have of here are fond memories.

What are you drinking?

I'm drinking bourbon on the rocks, Knob Creek.

Is that your go-to?

It's not, but they don't have anything else here.

One thing I like about this bar is that there are no mixologists. You don't come here for the drinks, you come here for the booze. There's a difference: they don't make cocktails, they serve drinks.

Where would you go for a nice cocktail in New York?

There are tons of places: Pegu Club, Pouring Ribbons, Please Don't Tell, for nice mixology drinks. But sometimes you just need a stiff drink.

Exclusive Photos and Reading List from Dan Brown, Author of "Inferno"

Dan Brown's Inferno goes on sale today, and the author was kind enough to send Omnivoracious some exclusive content related to what will undoubtedly be another mega-best seller.

The first part of this post is a series of photographs selected by the author, accompanied by book excerpts related to the photos. Together they reveal locations in the book, along with classic Dan Brown-esque details, the kind of details that make his books so readable.

At the bottom of this post is Dan Brown's suggested list of additional reading materials. Maybe this is the year you'll read both Infernos-- Dante's and Dan Brown's. Enjoy. 

"As Langdon continued on toward the elbow of the square, he could see, directly ahead in the distance, the shimmering blue glass dial of the St. Mark’s Clock Tower— the same astronomical clock through which James Bond had thrown a villain in the film Moonraker."

 

"The Tetrarchs statue was well known for its missing foot, broken off while it was being plundered from Constantinople in the thirteenth century. Miraculously, in the 1960s, the foot was unearthed in Istanbul. Venice petitioned for the missing piece of statue, but the Turkish authorities replied with a simple message: You stole the statue— we’re keeping our foot."

 

"Amid a contour of spires and domes, a single illuminated facade dominated Langdon’s field of view. The building was an imposing stone fortress with a notched parapet and a three-hundred-foot tower that swelled near the top, bulging outward into a massive machicolated battlement."

 

"Langdon found himself standing before a familiar face—that of Dante Alighieri. Depicted in the legendary fresco by Michelino, the great poet stood before Mount Purgatory and held forth in his hands, as if in humble offering, his masterpiece The Divine Comedy."

 

Dan Brown's Suggested Inferno Reading List:

•     The Divine Comedy: Volume 1: Inferno

•     The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil

•     Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture by Ross King

•     The Lives of the Artists Volume 1 by Giorgio Vasari, translated by George Bull

•     The Book Of Symbols: Reflections On Archetypal Images

 

Check back with Omni later today for a video and Q&A with Dan Brown.

Sunny Days and Summer Books

With warm weather finally setting in and the end of school just over the horizon it's finally time to start thinking about all the books we want to read this summer.  Will this be the year I finally read Dante's Inferno?  Maybe it will be Dan Brown's new book, Inferno, or maybe both...  My summer reading plan (because, yes, I have one..) is to mix it up with books that I meant to read, but didn't, and the best of the new releases, so I'm going to hit our Summer Reading store for ideas. If you need some ideas, too, below is a sampling of our Editors' Picks for readers of all ages during (at least in Seattle) the best months of the year.  What books do you want to read this summer?

Best new books (for adults) to read this summer: 

Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen: Hiaasen is back at his wickedly funny best in a new tale about greed, corruption, and comeuppance in Florida--and the Bahamas--thanks to a cast of characters that includes a Bahamian voodoo witch, a kinky coroner, and a very bad monkey.

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini: The bestselling author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, has written a new novel about how we love, how we take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations.  Can lightning strike a third time? For Hosseini, it does.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman: His first novel for adults since Anansi Boys, an imaginative and poignant fairy tale about childhood, memories, mystery and magic.

Editors' Picks for Kids and Teens to read this summer: new books you won't want to miss and some favorites from years gone by.

Books for Kids: 

Paperboy by Vince Vawter (ages 9-12): In this coming-of-age novel, an 11-year-old boy living in the segregated South throws the meanest fastball in town, but talking is a whole different ball game. One summer can change a life, and for this young man a paper route brings a run-in with the neighborhood junkman, a bully and thief, that puts his life in danger.

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (ages 8 and up): Winner of the 2013 Newbery Medal, Ivan is a gorilla who lives a predictable life making art for the visitors to the Exit 8 Big Top Mall from behind glass walls, but everything changes when a new baby elephant arrives and he sees his world through her eyes. 

Pete the Cat: The Wheels on the Bus by James Dean (ages 4-8): Pete the Cat has quickly become a beloved new picture book character and this time he brings his groovy, laid-back style to a classic. As always, singing is required.

Books for Teens:

The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey (teen): The Passage meets Ender's Game in an epic new series where aliens arrive on Earth and it's nothing like you've ever seen before.  Don't let the young adult category fool you--this one is nearly impossible to put down whether you're 14 or 45.

The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen (teen): Luke is the perfect boyfriend: handsome, kind, fun. He and Emaline have been together all through high school in Colby, the beach town where they both grew up. But now, in the summer before college, Emaline wonders if perfect is good enough.

Divergent by Veronica Roth (teen): Summer is the perfect time to start a new series and if you haven't read Divergent yet, put this one to the top of the list.  The first book of a dystopian trilogy filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance, it all comes to an end this fall with the third book, Allegiant.

BookExpo America Bloggers Conference

Bloggers ahoy! On Wednesday, May 29, the BookExpo America Bloggers Conference will connect fellow book bloggers, authors, and publishing industry professionals for a fun day of discussions and panels about the book-blogging world (including complimentary breakfast and lunch).

Session topics include:

• Adult & YA Editor Insight panels
• Insider Secrets from Book Blogging Pros
• Taking Your Online Presence Offline
• Blogging Platforms
• Extending the Reach of Your Blog Online
• Book Blogging & The “Big” Niches

Will Schwalbe, who has worked in publishing (most recently as senior vice president and editor in chief of Hyperion Books) and is the author of The End of Your Life Book Club (an Amazon Best of the Month pick, might I add), will give the opening keynote. The closing keynote will be given by Randi Zuckerberg, the CEO and Founder of Zuckerberg Media, a new digital and traditional media and production company, and Editor-in-Chief of Dot Complicated, a modern lifestyle newsletter and blog.

Learn more about the Bloggers Conference, including how to register, at the BookExpo America website.

Glennon Melton on "The Sacred Order of Motherhood"

[Our thanks to Glennon Melton--author of Carry On, Warrior and founder of Momastery.com--for this essay celebrating the mundane work of motherhood. For some, the daily tasks of child rearing can feel lonely. Melton argues that, when it's an expression of love, such tasks can feel like a spiritual practice, that the monotony of motherhood can be sacred.]

A new monk in a monastery had just finished his breakfast. Finding the master alone, he approached him and said, “What is the meaning of life?”

The master replied, “Have you had your breakfast yet?”

“Yes,” the monk said.

“Then go wash your bowl.”

Part of my work is writing. I write to tell my truth and it’s a calling and a privilege.  I’ve been told that the most revolutionary thing one can do is introduce people to each other. This is how walls are broken down, prejudices are shattered, and peace is slowly built. That is why I feel honored and grateful to be a writer. By sharing my truth through my writing, others have felt inspired to share their stories with me, and that exchange has helped us to see that we belong to each other.

But the other part of my work is the work I do as a mother and that work sometimes makes me feel isolated and lonely. A mother’s work is the application of a thousand unnecessary Band-Aids and the sweeping and re-sweeping of the same kitchen floor. The folding and creating of little laundry piles. The refereeing, and car-pooling, and dinner burning, and constant cheering on the sidelines at soccer games. Being a mother is a little like Groundhog Day. It’s getting out of bed and doing the exact same things again, and again, and yet again—and it’s watching it all get undone again, and again, and yet again. It’s humbling, monotonous, mind-numbing, and solitary.

It’s a monk’s work. Mothers are like monks. We do manual labor. We serve others. We nurse the sick. We feed the hungry and comfort the sad. We sing. We teach. We pray and practice, practice, practice patience. The work of a mother is repetitive. We fold the clothes, we wash the bowls, and we sing the same song and read the same bedtime story night after night.

But that work is our prayer. We express our love through service, so that service becomes a spiritual discipline. As mothers, we devote our lives to love and ask for nothing in return but peace and joy for our children.

So, mothers, the next time someone asks, “What did you do today?” Please take the time to answer accurately. You did not “clean the bathroom.” This response would be like Annie Leibovitz saying, “Oh, I stood around and pushed some buttons.” No. Today you did the holy work of raising human beings. With each word spoken or unspoken, with each offering of forgiveness, you show your children what it means to be brave and kind. The mundane becomes holy, the ordinary extraordinary.

Whenever I feel all alone in the work of being a mom, I think of monks in a monastery—living in community, doing their holy work together—and I picture all my fellow mother monks in their own little monasteries around the world. I imagine us folding together, wiping bottoms together, drying tears together, scrubbing toilets together, sweeping together, spraying together, scrubbing together, and blowing kisses together. And I imagine us all together, after a long day of holy mother monk work, relaxing on the couch and watching some quality television—like “Wife Swap” or “Real Housewives.” Because really, we don’t actually live in monasteries and TV-watching might also be a spiritual practice.

So moms, the next time you feel lonely in the work of motherhood, remember, we are all in this together. Together, we are doing something beautiful: the sacred work of shaping humans and creating the future.

Happy Mother’s Day.

Love,

Glennon

A Conversation with Anthony Marra About "A Constellation of Vital Phenomena"

There’s a debut novel just out that’s been getting a lot of buzz. It’s called A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, and the book has already garnered starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Library Journal. Anne Patchett and recent Pulitzer winner Adam Johnson have given it raves, with more sure to come. And we picked it as one of May's Best Books of the Month. The story covers five days in rebel Chechnya, in December 2004, and is told primarily through the eyes of an orphaned eight-year-old girl and her neighbor, a physician.

We recently linked up with the author, Anthony Marra, to talk about his book.  

• Where did you study in Russia? How did that pique your interest?

As a junior in college I studied in St. Petersburg. War journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya had recently been assassinated; wounded veterans of the Chechen Wars trawled the metro cars for alms; street gangs routinely attacked people from the Northern Caucasus. Yet as an American I knew little about Chechnya. As soon as I began researching its incredible history, I never looked back.

• The setting of your book takes place during the Chechen Wars. Why did you choose this period of history as the backdrop of your novel?

Chechnya is a corner of the world largely mysterious to most Americans, yet it’s a remarkable place populated with remarkable people who have become accustomed to repeatedly rebuilding their lives. To quote Tobias Wolff, “We are made to persist…that’s how we find out who we are.” These characters commit acts of courage, betrayal, and forgiveness as they persist in saving what means most to them—be it their families, their honor, or themselves—from the destruction of war.

• The title of the book has a story. Can you please explain its meaning?

One day I looked up the definition of life in a medical dictionary and found a surprisingly poetic entry: “A constellation of vital phenomena—organization, irritability, movement, growth, reproduction, adaptation.” As biological life is structured as a constellation of six phenomena, the narrative life of this novel is structured as a constellation of six point-of-view characters.

• Your writing style is unique in that you move back and forth between the present and the past. Was that a conscious choice?

Very much so. I wanted to write a novel expansive enough to cover the decade of the two Chechen Wars without losing the drama and suspense inherent in a more tightly coiled plot. By weaving the five-day story of a hunted girl through a larger backdrop, I hoped to combine the tension of a character-driven thriller with the richness of a historical epic. Also, moving through time shines a light on the seemingly trivial moments, relationships, and allegiances that affect characters in profound ways years down the line.

• What has been the greatest influence your writing?

My mom has six siblings and my dad has four sisters and between them all there are more cousins than I count, which means that family events have always been filled with voices, stories, and laughter. From an early age I learned from them that stories are how we understand one another, how we preserve the past, and how we make meaning from the chaos of our lives.

Multiple-Nominee Elizabeth Bear on the Locus Awards

The finalists for the Locus Awards, given for excellence in science fiction, fantasy, and horror, have just been announced, and one name is very prominent among the nominees: Elizabeth Bear. That’s because she’s a finalist in not one, not two, but four categories: novella, novelette, short story, and collection (for Shoggoths in Bloom).

That’s an impressive showing, and we thought we’d check in with Bear to get her reaction. We reached her just an hour after she found out, and she told Omni “I'm kind of stunned by the whole thing, really. I sort of imagine that I now understand what Seanan McGuire is feeling about her five simultaneous Hugo nominations. My head is still spinning. I'm thrilled.”

As for the nominations for other writers, Bear said “there are a lot of works and authors I love on [the list], but I'm absolutely delighted to see Caitlin R. Kiernan’s The Drowning Girl on there. I think it was last year's best SFF novel, and I was sad it didn't get a Hugo nod. I'm also excited to see Saladin Ahmed's Throne of the Crescent Moon because I'm hoping the nomination will encourage Saladin to finish the sequel so I can read the damned thing! Also, I may just wind up voting for Aliette de Bodard's ‘Immersion’ over my own nominee in the short story category. I loved that story. And Donato Giancola for Best Artist. He's doing the covers for my current series at Tor, and he's amazing. Breathtaking. Some of the best dragons in the business. But this is like picking the prettiest flower in the meadow. I can have sentimental favorites, but there is so much good stuff here.”

Bear last went to the Locus Awards in 2009, “when I lost resoundingly. It was very informal, and kind of a blast.” Her advice for attendees is to “Wear a Hawaiian shirt. Really. Really wear a Hawaiian shirt. Or dress. Or something.”

Hawaiian shirts aside, “Awards are important to me,” Bear said, explaining that it’s not why she writes—“I do it because telling stories [provides] some comfort or closure or understanding or source of strength for people”—but “awards are visible proof that it's working; that I'm doing something right, and that this thing that drives my life is reaching somebody. That I am making the world a little better for somebody, and giving ol' entropy and despair one more kick in the teeth. We all need fuel; we can't work in a vacuum.”

What would a Bear-designed award process be like? “That’s a hard one to answer. I'm on two juries this year (Philip K. Dick and Theodore Sturgeon); I think awards are valuable to the field in a lot of different ways. Juried awards involve some horse trading, and aren't necessarily any more indicative of the absolute best than popular vote awards. Popular vote awards happen because people love a thing enough to vote for it. We need the general awards for overview, and the special-interest awards are vital because sometimes really good, brilliant work is in some way marginalized—because of subject matter; because of who the author is; because it's itchy and makes somebody uncomfortable.”

“But,” she added, “I like the idea of awards that come with chocolate. And tiaras. So if I were designing an award, it would probably be the Tiptree Award.”

With any luck, Bear will be taking one or more awards home after the Locus Awards Weekend, held in Seattle June 28-30.

The nominees in the main novel categories are as follows. For a complete list of nominees, visit Locus Online.

SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL

• The Hydrogen Sonata, Iain M. Banks (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Captain Vorpatril’s Alliance, Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen)
•  Caliban’s War, James S.A. Corey (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
•  2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• Redshirts, John Scalzi (Tor; Gollancz)

FANTASY NOVEL

• The Killing Moon, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
• The Drowning Girl, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)
• Glamour in Glass, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
• Hide Me Among the Graves, Tim Powers (Morrow; Corvus)
• The Apocalypse Codex, Charles Stross (Ace; Orbit UK)

YOUNG ADULT BOOK

• The Drowned Cities, Paolo Bacigalupi (Little, Brown; Atom)
• Pirate Cinema, Cory Doctorow (Tor Teen)
• Railsea, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
• Dodger, Terry Pratchett (Harper; Doubleday UK)
• The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, Catherynne M. Valente (Feiwel and Friends; Much-in-Little ’13)

FIRST NOVEL

• Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed (DAW; Gollancz ’13)
• vN, Madeline Ashby (Angry Robot US; Angry Robot UK)
• Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (Random House; Doubleday UK)
• The Games, Ted Kosmatka (Del Rey; Titan)
• Alif the Unseen, G. Willow Wilson (Grove; Corvus)

 

BookExpo America: Calling All Power Readers

Do you consider yourself a "Power Reader"? Then you'll want to be in New York on June 1, when BEA--the year's biggest book bonanza--opens its doors to the book-obsessed public. We look forward all year to BEA because it's an amazing opportunity to learn about the year's biggest books months before they come out, so we think it's very cool that they're opening it up to bibliophiles of all stripes! This is your chance to get your hands on advance copies of the buzziest books, hear favorite authors talk about their new projects, get autographs, get to know the publishers (from the biggies to the niche presses), mingle with fellow fans, and come away with bags of excellent swag. Read all about it here.

The real draw for Power Reader day is the star-studded author line-up, starting with an Author Breakfast featuring Helen Fielding, Diana Gabaldon, Chris Matthews, and John Lewis. Later, Elizabeth Gilbert and Wally Lamb will talk about Creating the Ultimate Book Club Experience, and Neil Gaiman, Jim Gaffigan, and other favorites will take the Author Stage, while about 100 other authors will be on hand to sign autographs.

Last year was the first time Power Readers were invited to BEA, and the response was hugely enthusiastic. Check out this video of Power Readers raving about their experience--and then save your own place for this year! Here's how to register.

YA Wednesday: Team Levithan & Cremer

In the last few years we've seen great examples of two popular authors coming together in one novel and giving fans the best of their combined talents--Will Grayson, Will Grayson and The Future of Us are among my favorites, what are yours?  David Levithan (Every Day and the aforementioned Will Grayson, Will Grayson) and Andrea Cremer (Nightshade series) seemed like an unlikely pairing to me, that is, until I actually read Invisibility (one of our Best Teen Books of May) and watched the video below. 

Now it all makes sense.  Invisibility is the story of what happens when a boy who has been invisible to everyone (including himself) is seen for the first time by a girl who's tough exterior hides a multitude of secrets.  Don't be fooled by the familiar he-said, she-said style, this one is anything but cliché and the twists are surprising and exciting all the way to the end.  Here is an exclusive video of Cremer and Levithan goofing off (check out Cremer's great boots!), teasing each other, and talking about Invisibility:

 

Life After Life: An Interview With Kate Atkinson

She was running late. Her appointment to interview a famous, favorite author was at 12:30 across town, and for once she knew not to try to brave the traffic in a taxi, even if it was right in front of her when she exited her building. She raced instead across the street toward the subway, when splat--her ankle twisted and she fell to hands and knees on the sidewalk. This being New York, ten passersby turned to ask if she was all right; none of them stopped.

And darkness fell.

For once, she was going to be on time, so she left the office a full half hour early and grabbed the cab that had stopped right in front of her building. But she'd miscalculated, and at 12:30--when she was supposed to be inside the publisher's office interviewing a famous, favorite author--she was stuck in midtown traffic with a dying cell phone.

And darkness fell.

OK, so the above is a hamhanded attempt to imitate the main trope in Kate Atkinson's fantastic Life After Life, in which a rather ordinary British woman is born, dies, is born and lives again several times throughout the twentieth century. In far less capable hands (see above) such a setup would seem gimmicky at best, or at least just tiresome. But Life After Life has received uniformly excellent reviews, been a best book of the month and currently hovers around No. 37 on our bestsellers list precisely because it is neither; instead it is smart, funny, and a little odd, much like its creator.

By the time we meet, Kate Atkinson, indeed sitting in her publisher's office, has been on tour for a few weeks and has spent plenty of time talking about what her book means. And yet, though she has surely been asked these questions many times, she has a meandering, very British way of making it seem as if she's just discovering the answers as she goes along.

When I refer, for instance, to Life After Life as a "literary do-over," a term that has been in the press already, she says until this week she hadn't heard that expression; "we don't have it in England," she says. And besides, she doesn't think our heroine, Ursula, is having "do overs" because the locution suggests Ursula is aware of what's happening and that she has a choice. "From my point of view, as the constructor of this narrative, I see what happens to Ursula as character changing. Things happen to her, and she accrues layers," Atkinson says.

In fact, to Atkinson, who has written eight books, including the beloved Behind the Scenes at the Museum and a literary mystery series involving a detective named Jackson Brodie, Life After Life, despite its unusual conceit, was actually more straightforward and easier to write.

"I really enjoyed writing this book, much more than I usually enjoy writing. I felt a huge emotional engagement with it," she says, particularly with the parts about WWII. "I feel I have a very British emotional relationship with the Blitz," she says. What does that mean? I ask. "That's what we English do," she says. "We have a very emotional relationship with the Blitz. We see it as a period at which we were at our lowest and at our best."

She admits that she usually frets (her word) a lot during the writing process, especially when a book is heavy on plotting. But this novel, for all its twist and turns, was more linear, she says. "For me, the structure was simple, not like writing a crime novel at all," she laughs. "Writing the last book, Started Early, Took My Dog, drove me mad; it's knotty, four different narratives that need to go like this," she demonstrates, knitting her hands together. "[With Ursula] I knew she was born, going to die, be born, die."

Yet, much as she loves Ursula--her own (and many readers') favorite in a cast of beloved characters--Atkinson says Life After Life is really not about a single person at all so much as it is about the war itself.

"I've always wanted to write a book about the war. It sounds very cold, but as a novelist, I knew how much mileage narrative mileage there is in it." And, as many reviewers have noted, some of its most inventive, interesting scenes involve Hitler's mistress, Eva Braun, with whom Atkinson says she became "obsessed" during the researching of the novel.

"She's fascinating in the way that she's not fascinating. There's nothing extraordinary about her; she was completely ordinary. She loved makeup and posing for photos. She loved her body, she swam she skied. She was this healthy Bavarian female who was ready to get married and be fecund and have children. Instead, she was with someone who never showed any public demonstration of affection or even acknowledgement. But she was clearly obsessed with him in a kind of erotomania way. Women, so many German women, shared the same erotomania for him, weeping and shouting after him."

But if her depiction of the war is dramatic, it is also worrisome, in terms of how Life After Life will be received, especially in Germany, where Atkinson will soon be touring. "I'm a little worried," she says, "about being asked questions there because the book is about fighting the war, and about patriotism... The German publishers love the book so I'm taking that as a basis, but... I suppose it will either do really well or really badly."

Here, of course, there's no question about its future. In the top 100 Amazon bestsellers almost from the day it appeared, Life After Life is by any definition Atkinson's breakthrough, the title that will make her--has already made her--as famous and successful here as she has long been in the UK.

"When I finished this book, I thought: 'I'll never write a book as good as this,'" she says, with a mix of pride and modesty and anxiety that has become, in this hourlong conversation, characteristic. "I do think it's my best book."

Virtual armies of passionate readers will agree.

The Language of Science Is Language: Lee Smolin and "Time Reborn"

All things originate from one another,
and vanish into one another
according to necessity...
in conformity with the order of time.
   -- Anaximander, On Nature

My second favorite book is called The Life of the Cosmos. Originally published in 1997, it details physicist Lee Smolin's ideas about cosmological natural selection, a mind-expanding intellectual panorama depicting the universe itself as a manifestation of deep laws that trigger self-organization at literally all scales. Beyond physics' usual fundamental forces and constants, Smolin's natural laws suggest that even the cosmos itself emerges from -- and resembles, though not exactly-- its predecessors.

Inspiring for reasons that are as poetic as they are scientific, Smolin's thinking bridges physics, biology, and even philosophy. With his latest book, Time Reborn (hardcover | Kindle edition), Smolin suggests a radical reconception of the nature of time. With his trademark sincere and curious reverence for nature, Smolin kindly entertained a few questions for Omnivoracious readers.

***

How do you think about conveying your ideas to readers not instinctively drawn to science?
Everyone is interested in the question of what time is because how you think about time affects everything we think about our own lives. Are our futures determined already? Are our experiences of willing, choosing, imagining, and inventing all illusions because the future is already written? Or are they true and real and in fact deep hints as to the nature of reality? Is it already fixed what kind of life my child will have or how bad global warming will be, or does what we choose to do really matter? These are the questions my book addresses, and I offer a hopeful answer explained in a way that all can understand.

Exclusive Amazon Interview with Amanda Knox

For four years, Amanda Knox felt silenced.

Italian prosecutors, who had accused her (and two accomplices) of murdering her roommate, called her the devil. The Italian press called her "angel faced killer." Knox’s only rebuttals came during those brief moments of addressing the court. Even after Knox was acquitted in 2011 and allowed to return home to Seattle—after nearly four years in prison—she stayed voluntarily silent. Now, in Waiting to Be Heard, she is finally telling her side of the story. In this exclusive interview with Amazon senior editor Neal Thompson, Knox explains that the book is more than her attempt to set the record straight. She also wants to share with others what it's like to be wrongly imprisoned. "Many people go through what I went through, and a lot of people don't come out of it," Knox said.

Knox said that writing the book (which reportedly earned a $4 million advance from her publisher) was both cathartic and painful. "There's only so much anger you can allow yourself to feel, or sadness,” she said. “And I was incredibly surprised at how hard it was at times to write."

During the difficult years in prison, Knox tried to stay connected to her “real life” by writing letters home and writing in her journals (many of which were confiscated). She read books that helped her temporarily escape, including Douglas Adams' Ultimate Hitchhikers's Guide to the Galaxy--"this big book full of hilarious wittiness"--and Marilyn Robinson's Housekeeping.

These days, she’s studying creative writing, and trying to slowly return to the life she left behind in 2007.

Exclusive Amazon Interview with Amanda Knox from Amazon Books on Vimeo.

Graphic Novel Friday: Celebrating Iron Man

Summer is almost here, and that means one thing: roll out the superhero blockbusters. Last year, the buzz surrounded the mega-successful Avengers film and the finale to Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, and this weekend kicks off with its own Avengers tie-in, Iron Man 3. Once again, Robert Downey Jr. dons the suit of space-age armor as Tony Stark, the billionaire alter ego of Iron Man, and this time he battles the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) with the aid of War Machine (Don Cheadle) and the World’s Most Beautiful Woman (Gwyneth Paltrow, as recently crowned by People magazine). Outside cinemas, Iron Man has a vast career in comics, and the below five stories mark significant moments in his life as a crime-fighter:

• Iron Man: Extremis by Warren Ellis and Adi Garnov: This redefinition of Iron Man influenced the films, from the look of the suit to Stark’s origin. Ellis is a writer skilled with bringing even the most outlandish superheroes to Earth, and Extremis sheds a more human light on the character of Tony Stark as he battles a nanotech virus. This is a great start for new readers.

• Iron Man: Demon in a Bottle by David Michelinie, Bob Layton, John Romita, Jr., and Carmine Infantino: As if that creator lineup isn’t enough, this is probably Iron Man’s most famous storyline. In it, Tony Stark not only battles evil and Nick Fury’s ever-increasing involvement with SHIELD, but it’s where the very human Stark faces his troubles with alcoholism. Iron Man 2 touched on this storyline, and no matter its compressed storytelling and sign-of-the-times narration and dialogue, it’s still the most influential arc in Tony’s career.
• Iron Man vs. Doctor Doom: Doomquest by David Michelinie, Bob Layton, John Romita, Jr.: Here, the aforementioned creative team pits Marvel’s two most famous armor-clad characters against one another. It’s surprising that this idea took even so long to reach publication, and this collection is strangely out of print (although copies are available in the third-party marketplace). Never fear, true believers, for the Doomquest and Demon in a Bottle arcs are both collected in this 900+ page omnibus.