Monthly Archives: June 2012

Chicks Dig Books Discovers Jennifer Weiner

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I admit that I have never read a Jennifer Weiner book until recently.  Okay, I know, I am waaaay behind on the times.  I enjoyed the movie In Her Shoes, but other than that my experience with her books was limited.  Maybe I wasn’t in touch with my inner girly-girl before now.  But I got to hear her keynote speech at the BEA Bloggers Conference a few weeks ago, and was really captivated by what she had to say.  Among other topics, she spoke about being pigeonholed as a “chick-lit” writer, and how contemporary women’s literature is often dismissed by book critics.  That made me wonder if I too had been guilty of ignoring trade fiction books with female protagonists because I assumed they weren’t “serious” enough for me.  And wouldn’t I be a crappy book blogger if I didn’t open myself up to different kinds of writing?  Okay, inner girly-girl, you win!

I picked up Weiner’s 2011 release Then Came You at BEA, and downloaded her upcoming title The Next Best Thing from NetGalley.

Then Came You (2011)

Then Came You is an ensemble story about four women’s experiences with motherhood.  Jules is a college student who sells her eggs to raise funds for her father’s addiction treatment.  Annie is a young wife and mother, who elects to be a pregnancy surrogate  to bring in extra cash for her struggling family.  India, a past-her-prime trophy wife, is looking to get pregnant right away to secure her place in her wealthy husband’s will.  Meanwhile, India’s step-daughter Bettina is hellbent on exposing India as a gold-digging fraud.  Throughout the course of the novel, the women’s stories become connected through the common themes of love and family.

Since I have no children, this book’s subject matter was obviously outside my realm of experience.  But that doesn’t mean that I was unable to relate to the characters.  The characters are all interesting and well crafted, and in reading their stories I was able to feel their wants, dreams, and struggles.  So even as a non-mom, I was still pulled into the novel by the storytelling and characterization.

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The Next Best Thing (pub date 7/3/12)

A woman tries to find success in Hollywood as a television writer in The Next Best Thing.  With her grandmother in tow, Ruth Saunders moves from Massachusetts to California to pursue her lifelong dream of being a writer.  After paying her dues as a lowly assistant, Ruth is overjoyed when a network signs on to shoot a pilot for her TV show, a sitcom aptly called ‘The Next Best Thing.’  Her excitement soon fades, however, when the network starts making drastic changes to the script she worked so hard to create.

Ruth is a very determined person with a lot to prove, to others and to herself.  At age three she was in a car accident that killed both her parents and left her with significant facial and body scarring.  For her, writing has always been a refuge, a way to forget about her disfigurement and concentrate on something positive.  Now living in Hollywood, the land of perfect bodies, Ruth has to battle her own insecurities while fighting to maintain the integrity of her show.

I very much enjoyed The Next Best Thing.  It has a great protagonist, a relatable plot, and a good message.  It’s about staying true to yourself and learning to feel comfortable in your own skin.  It’s also about the pros and cons of finding success in your chosen field, especially if it’s a competitive field like the arts.  At first, all Ruth wants is to be a television writer.  But then she starts to wonder whether she’s cut out for the backstabbing and lies that come with a career in show business.

I especially enjoyed reading about Ruth’s journey toward embracing her physical appearance, particularly because it’s a journey I’ve had to make myself.  I have a scar on my back from surgery when I was fifteen and three light facial scars from an accident when I was nine.  Even though Ruth is a fictional character, her pain and self-consciousness are quite real, and it was refreshing to read a story with a female protagonist with imperfections.  Ruth’s love interest also adds more dimension to the story, but I was happy that the romance wasn’t the main focus of the book.

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I’m glad that I (finally) discovered Jennifer Weiner’s writing.  The two books I read were different than the books I usually go for, but in a good way.  They were heavy on exposition, but that really let me get to know the characters.  As I was reading I felt that I was relaxing with a good friend as she was telling me a story.  I can’t wait to find out what Jennifer is working on next!

Book Review: Rachel’s Secret

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Rachel’s Secret by Shelly Sanders (pub date 4/1/12)

“We are exiles in our own country.”

A young teen’s childhood innocence is lost forever as she faces hatred and violence in this powerful debut YA novel.

Inspired by actual events, Rachel’s Secret is set amidst the anti-Jewish riots which took place in 1903 Russia.  Fourteen-year-old Rachel is a bright and spirited Jewish girl, who dreams of one day becoming a writer.  After a day of ice skating with her friends, she returns to the ice pond to retrieve her lost shawl and ends up witnessing the murder of her gentile friend Mikhail.  Terrified of what could happen to her and her family if she reveals the truth, Rachel keeps what she saw a secret.

Soon after, Mikhail’s murder is blamed on the Jewish community, and wild stories about Jews killing gentiles for blood rituals are spread in the local newspapers.  Rachel, who never before thought of Jews and gentiles as being so different, now comes to know the pain of being hated simply because of her religion.  Then violence erupts in her small town, and Rachel’s life is changed forever.  These circumstances force her to make a choice of whether to reveal her secret and put herself at greater risk, or keep it hidden and let the truth die.

Aside from the story and the solid writing, what makes Rachel’s Secret so compelling is that it is based on historical events.  Rachel’s character is based on author Shelly Sanders’ grandmother, who fled from Russia to Shanghai due to anti-Jewish pogroms.  Eventually, Sanders’ grandmother made her way to the United States, and it was her strength and persistence that inspired Sanders to write this book.

This is a great book for YA readers, and can be enjoyed by adults as well.  It’s nice to see a YA story with substance, instead of more recycled dystopian/vampire junk.  For anyone interested in European or Jewish history, I would definitely recommend this book.

Interview with Comic Illustrator Jason Lenox

Interviews
We all know that the publishing world is filled with indie authors trying to find new audiences for their work.  Well, the world of comics is no different!  But thanks to blogs, online portfolios, and funding vehicles like Kickstarter, indie comic writers and illustrators can promote their work and gain new fans.  Meet Jason Lenox: artist and co-founder of Ugli Studios.

Jason (right) with colorist Dani Kaulakis

Jason recently launched his book UGLI Studios Presents #1, and I recently interviewed him about his work and where he gets his inspiration.  Check out the book’s cover!

Issue #1 cover

Like what you see?  Read the interview and take a look at more samples of Jason’s art!
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1. How did you get started as an illustrator? 
I loved to draw since childhood as far back as I can remember, and would draw constantly throughout my school years… I drew comics, pinup illustrations, tee shirt art- whatever I could get my hands on.  Unfortunately, I lost my will to work on my art a few years after I graduated from college, around 2001, and just packed it up and quit.  I didn’t pick up a pen to do illustration until 2010, and I’ve been on fire ever since then trying to catch up for the lost time, I feel like I’m picking up where I left off then almost a decade later.
2. What led you to start Ugli Studios?
David Paul and I wanted to create our own artistic home base to rally our projects under one simple banner as we were working on “The Great Vermin” in Fall, 2011.  It gave us a way to have our own brand to do our projects, or as needed- do work for other larger publishing entities in the future.  It’s a great thing to have your own label to promote your work, and that of your collaborators- Gary T. Becks, Dani Kaulakis, Joseph Freistuhler and Damon Haigh have all done work under the “UGLI” imprint with David and I so far, and it’s been great.  We would love to see the work in ”Ugli Studios Presents” get into a larger publisher’s hands, but we are more than happy to create, market and sell our own work, sort of like Joe Linsner and Joe Monks did with the classic independent horror anthology “Cry for Dawn” in the early 90′s.  I met Mr. Monks at a show in 1992, and his energy in person about buying his book sticks with me, so I can’t wait to start getting out to cons and putting my book into the hands of comic book fans to get their feedback on it!
3. Your comic is inspired mainly by the EC Horror comics from the 1960s. What are some other sources of inspiration for your work?
Heavy Metal Magazine, Yukito Kishiro’s Battle Angel Series and the Outer Limits TV Show (60′s and 90′s versions)- all of these have transcended their respective medias.
4. What is more challenging for you, working on collaboration projects or working on your own projects? 
It’s always more difficult and boring to work on my own, I like to work with writers to push me and create as a team, or at least get some direction.  In a vacuum by myself, I find it hard to be as effective creatively.
5. There’s a lot of buzz about using Kickstarter for indie projects. What was your experience like using Kickstarter? 
I loved it, and feel that it is a great tool to help small projects like this.  But the caveat is “you reap what you sow” on Kickstarter- the funding you get is proportional to the amount of work you put into it.  Ive seen some cool projects die on the vine on that site, and I think it’s just people expecting money to come to them, when in reality you have to self promote and work to get those dollars. Kickstarter provides a great stage, but you have to bring your “A” game as a creative person to let people know why they need to fund your work.
6. Any advice for people who want to become comic writers or illustrators?
For Illustration- enjoy doing your art, and make everything count, pour everything you have on that page- make it pop.  Try to make images both ”Creative” and “Different”.   The seminal 1970′s comic art style guide, How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way, preaches this philosophy, and I believe in it, find new camera angles, exciting views of the same old action.  And finally, with art- practice, practice, practice- master the fundamentals, then you can branch into the fantastic.  As for writing, take notes! I save my idea scraps to review with David Paul, and he refines the raw material I babble on about into polished scripts.  I have ideas at random times, normally just bit of ideas or images, so I dont want to lose them.  David has a great ability to transform these disjointed concepts and partial ideas into finished work that I really think is great, so I always keep a pen handy!
7. What are you and Ugli Studios working on now?
The scripts for “Ugli Studios Presents: Volume 2″- We are going to do Grizelda’s next chapter, a new Western story set in 1800′s California, and blow up the mini story of “The Great Vermin” into a full scale sci fi universe.  It’s great stuff, I cant wait to draw it.
8. What comics or “regular” books do you like to read?
Dynamite’s Flash Gordon :Zeitgeist, Dark Horse’s Conan, High School of the Dead from Yen Press, Dorohedoro from Viz, and IDW’s Transformer Books, Viz’s Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, and Heavy Metal Magazine - all of which are great reads.
***
Here are some more awesome art samples!

“Through the Eyes of Grizelda” teaser art

The necromancer Amon Kadesh

The Great Beast

Still want more?  Check out Jason’s official site, where you can watch the comic trailer, see his appearance schedule, and buy a copy of the comic.  And then visit Ugli Studios’ site for even more info.

Book Review: Shadow on the Wall

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Shadow on the Wall by Pavarti K. Tyler (pub date 5/1/12)

“Actions could be decided, people could be corrupted, but faith is the only thing left that could remain pure no matter what trials it endured.”

Heroes can come from anywhere, and they are often born out of unusual and sometimes tragic circumstances.  Although in order to be a hero for others, they must first rise above their own fears and shortcomings.  In this novel by indie author Pavarti K. Tyler, a young Muslim man faces his own demons in order to fight corruption in his home city. 

Shadow on the Wall is the first installment in The SandStorm Chronicles, a new series about a Muslim superhero who battles the brutality of an organization called the RTK.  The RTK is a corrupt group who wish to impose Muslim fundamentalist law in Turkey.  Operating with the support of the mayor of the city of Elih, the RTK act as “morality police,” spreading terror and arresting people for any perceived infraction.  

In this book we are introduced to Recai Osman, the privileged son of deceased billionaire parents.  After being forced to witness an act of extreme cruelty committed by the RTK, Recai retreats from the world and goes on a journey of self-discovery.  Recai comes to terms with his own failure to act on that terrible day, and returns to Elih to assume control of his family’s corporation and fortune.  Then with the help of his friend Maryam and pseudo father figure Hasad, Recai becomes The SandStorm and vows to bring down the evil powers that be.

In short, Shadow on the Wall is a new spin on the Batman mythos, though it is not a graphic novel and is also not suitable for children.  But Tyler did more than just write a new Batman story.  She made it her own, and took a risk by writing about a controversial topic like Muslim fundamentalism.  This story could have been set anywhere in the world, but Tyler dared to set the story in Turkey and use Muslim characters, even though she is not Turkish or Muslim.

This is an ambitious and very unique story.  It tackles some very heavy themes, including faith, honor, and the treatment of women.  Tyler does not consider this to be a feminist novel, but there are prominent female characters in the story, each with her own opinion of Islam and of wearing the traditional headscarf and veil.  Maryam sees her coverings as a comfort and protection, while the power-hungry Darya sees them as tools of subjugation.  The issues regarding women in Islam were what I enjoyed most about this book.   

It’s a solid story with interesting characters, though it might not be everyone’s cup of tea.  But if you enjoy stories that challenge the way think and how you see other religions and cultures, then give Shadow on the Wall a try.  And don’t worry if you think you don’t know enough about Islam to understand it; there is a glossary in the back of the book that explains some of the more obscure words and phrases.

Shadow on the Wall was nominated for several awards, and won the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Award for general fiction.  It’s great that in an industry dominated by about only six publishing conglomerates, indie authors are still finding their voice and receiving recognition.  I’m psyched to find out what happens in Book Two of The SandStorm Chronicles!

New Book Review Site Coming Soon!

News,

Are you looking for a new way to get information about what books to read?  Well I’ve got news for you!  There’s going to be a new aggregate review site going live within the next few weeks…think Rotten Tomatoes, but for books.  The site compiles reviews from professional critics and bloggers and gives each book an overall score.  Right now they have over 1200 books in their database and are still adding more.  

Here’s the best part: I’ve been given the chance to let you, my readers, visit the site before it goes live!  Just visit http://idre.am and enter the code “discover_books.”  I’ve already checked it out and it looks really promising.  Try it for yourself, I think you’ll like it too.  I’m sure it’ll help me choose a few books to review in the near future.

Look for the site to go live around the end of June or beginning of July!

Book Review: NightWhere

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NightWhere by John Everson (Kindle edition 6/5/12, paperback 10/2/12)

“Are you the harvester, or the harvest?”
A little sexual experimentation is fine, but the wrong kind can get you killed…or worse.  For the young couple in John Everson’s erotic horror novel NightWhere, the world of pleasure mixed with pain proves to be both enticing and dangerous.
Mark and Rae have been enjoying the swinging scene for a few years.  Though Mark is less excited by it than Rae is, he is happy to give his wife the freedom she needs because he knows she will always come home to him.  When the couple receive an invitation to the exclusive underground sex club NightWhere, Rae is awash with excitement.  Though curious, Mark agrees to go more to keep an eye on his wife than to hook up.
On the surface, NightWhere seems to be just a BDSM club.  Mark and Rae are welcomed to “go in and sin,” and both quickly find themselves enjoying what the club as to offer.  But after a few more visits to the mysterious club, Mark notices a drastic change in his free-spirited wife.  Rae becomes obsessed with pain, both giving and receiving it.  At NightWhere she gets to indulge her secret fantasies with real whips and chains, and her bloodlust earns her an invitation into an even more exclusive part of the club simply known as The Red.  In The Red, the pain and degradation are more intense, and more addictive.
When Rae doesn’t come home one night, Mark discovers that she has been to NightWhere without him, and he faces the unthinkable in order to bring her back.  What horror would you endure to save someone you love?
Woah.  For once I’m speechless.  Simply put, this book is disturbing.  Even if you enjoy horror, this book might be tough for you to get through.  NightWhere is not a sex club where couples go to play with trick handcuffs and silk blindfolds.  It’s more like a sex club run by the cast of Hellraiser.  When you play at NightWhere, you play for keeps.  The book’s content is brutal and extremely graphic, and the pain dealt is both physical and emotional.  This is not a romance, and it makes Fifty Shades look like Fun With Dick and Jane.
But make no mistake, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  When you look past the gory content, you will see this book has substance.  NightWhere has all the themes I love in a good story: good v. evil, sin and redemption, and (believe it or not) love.  Mark’s love for Rae is pure, and it causes him to risk everything to try and save her.  Rae’s love for Mark is empty, and she seeks to fill the void within her with pain and acceptance by the people of NightWhere.  As Rae falls deeper under the seductive power of The Red, she struggles with the last remaining traces of her humanity.  There’s a lot to this book that make it more than a typical “torture porn.”
This is the third John Everson book I’ve read.  Last year I read (and loved) The Pumpkin Man and Siren.  And like these other novels, NightWhere combines reality with supernatural elements and creates a truly scary and unforgettable story.  If you’re anything like me, it’ll freak you out, but it’ll also make you come back to find out what happens next.  If you’re a horror fan and you can handle more graphic content, definitely read this book.  But afterward if you find a red invitation slipped under your door, do yourself a favor and don’t open it!

Book Review: Let’s Pretend This Never Happened

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Let’s Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson (pub date 4/17/12)

“People with anxiety disorders are often labeled as ‘shy’ or ‘quiet’ or ‘that strange girl who probably buries bodies in her basement.’”

In my recent post about the BEA Bloggers Conference, I wrote about Jenny Lawson’s entertaining and heartfelt closing speech at the conference.  She struck me as one of those people who is just naturally funny, and her delivery and comedic timing cracked me up all throughout her speech.  But even as she discussed more serious issues like her battle with anxiety problems, she still captivated the audience with her honesty and unique perspective on life.  After receiving a copy of her book at the conference, I knew I wanted to read it right away.

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened is Lawson’s (mostly true) memoir.  It’s a composite of events from her childhood, stories from her experience as a human resources rep, random arguments with her husband, phobias, and obsessions.  With a poignant wit, she describes growing up poor in rural Texas with a taxidermist father who also enjoyed bringing home live wild animals.  She moves onto meeting her husband Victor and how on the night he proposed she was convinced he was going to kill her.  Later in the book are side-splitting stories from her HR days, and various calamities that you feel bad for laughing at, like the time she had to bury and then exhume her beloved pug Barnaby Jones.

Though humorous at heart, the book has its tender moments as well.  Lawson writes about the misfortunes in her life, like her multiple miscarriages and battle with anxiety disorder, with a voice that lets you know she is using humor to deal with the pain.  She fears going out in public, and when she does her obsession with fitting in causes her to unintentionally make a scene.  Her descriptions of these events are hilarious, but you somehow feel bad for laughing.  Yet in the end it’s OK to laugh, because she is laughing along with you.  Lawson also describes the joys in her life, like the birth of her daughter and her love for her husband.  Moments like these give a lot of substance to the book, and let you know more about who Lawson is as an individual.

Let’s Pretend This Never Happened is probably the funniest memoir you’ll ever read.  With chapter titles like “Stanley the Magical Talking Squirrel,” “If You Need an Arm Condom, It Might Be Time to Reevaluate Some of Your Life Choices,” and “Thanks for the Zombies, Jesus,” you know you’re in for a real treat.  It’s dark, it’s offensive, it’s gross, and it’s also human.  It’s about the moments that we wish we could just forget, but ultimately make us who we are.  It’s definitely not for everyone, but if you have a twisted sense of humor and an appreciation for the macabre, you definitely need to read this book.  And check out Jenny Lawson’s blog The Bloggess, the thing that started it all!

I’m Baaack! Book Expo 2012

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Book Expo America has once again come and gone, and I’m thrilled to have attended it this year.  This was my second time at BEA, and I’m happy to say I had an even better time than I did last year.  So much so that next year I’m going to try to attend for the whole week…one day just isn’t enough!  Once again I went with book nerd extraordinaire Jenn N. and some of the lovely ladies from the Booksellers Without Borders NY blog :)

I attended on Tuesday, the opening day of the expo.  My day started with getting up at 3:30 just to have time to get into New York and get to the ticketed author booth by 7:00.  Yup, they start giving out tickets for reserved author signings two hours before the expo even opens, because they’re sadists like that.  I was already running on little sleep from the previous day spent at the BEA Blogger Con, but in the end it was totally worth it.  It was even worth paying zombiegeddon prices like $2.60 for a banana and $4.40 for a Diet Coke…thanks, Javits Center.

Picking up galleys and meeting authors is only part of what makes BEA so awesome.  Some of the fun is just looking at the publishers’ displays and taking silly pictures:

No Arnold, I don’t want to get it on in the choppa with you…

And also picking up non-book swag, like this button which I’m totally going to wear to work on Election Day:

Hell, I’d vote for him!

YA was not surprisingly the big theme of this year’s expo.  It seemed that almost every publisher I visited was promoting a YA title of some kind.  While YA isn’t quite my specialty, last year I was greatly impressed with Ashes and of course The Hunger Games, so I grabbed some YA books that piqued my curiosity.  Some of the titles I am most excited to read include Rachel’s Secret by Shelly Sanders, Call the Shots by Don Calame, and Perry’s Killer Playlist by Joe Schreiber.  I actually got to meet Shelly Sanders when I picked up a copy of her book, and she gave me some more information about it.  It strikes me as a deep and moving story, and I’m very excited to read it.  The other YA titles I picked up seemed humorous and edgy, two of my favorite things when choosing a book to read.

Speaking of edgy, Jenn and I made sure to stop by the booths for Ellora’s Cave and Cleis Press, two publishers who specialize in erotica and sexuality.  We grabbed some kinky looking books (like Best Erotic Romance by Kristina Wright) and posed for a picture with the “cavemen” of Ellora’s Cave (I’m in the middle):

Yes, THESE are the type of guys you can meet at book conventions!

We met a ton of authors; there are just too many to name.  But the ones we were most excited to meet were Jennifer Weiner (who looked adorable in her polka dots) and RL Stine (who is super nice).  I scored an autographed copy of Weiner’s 2011 release Then Came You, and an autographed copy of RL Stine’s upcoming book Red Rain.  Stine is staying true to his roots in writing another horror story, only this one is for adults.  Look for it in bookstores around Halloween!

For a horror writer, RL Stine is so non-scary in real life!

Then after a delicious but overpriced lunch, we were ready to get back out onto the expo floor and pick up some more galleys.  I grabbed so many that I can’t name them all.  But a few that I’m most excited about reading are Wilderness by Lance Weller (Bloomsbury), Conning Harvard by Julie Zauzmer (Lyons Press), The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers (Little, Brown), and Panorama City by Antoine Wilson (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).

Finally, at 3:00, we were ready to get in line for one of the ticketed author signings.  The author we were in line to meet was none other than film icon Molly Ringwald!  She was there promoting her upcoming title When It Happens to You.  We weren’t allowed to actually pose for pictures with her, but I snapped one anyway while I was in line.  However the picture doesn’t do her justice; she is still as pretty now as she was in her John Hughes days.

The fabulous Molly Ringwald signs her upcoming book

All in all, BEA 2012 was an exhausting but thrilling experience, and like I said before I’m going to try to attend for the whole week next year.  It felt so amazing to feel connected to such a large community of book lovers, to spend an entire day talking about books and getting excited about new ideas.  Unfortunately it also made going back to my ”day job” just that more dreadful.  But reading and blogging are my passion, so look for me next time at BEA 2013!

Guest Post from Indie Author Pavarti K. Tyler

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I’m so thrilled that I got to be a part of Book Expo America 2012!  Yesterday I spent the day in New York with a few of the lovely ladies from the Booksellers Without Borders NY blog and we all met some wonderful people and picked up some interesting books along the way.  I’ll be sure to post a full report soon.  Right now I want to let you all know about one author in particular that I met at BEA: Pavarti K. Tyler, author of Shadow on the Wall and winner of the 2012 Indie Book Award for general fiction.

Shadow on the Wall is about a Muslim superhero, and I’ve heard it described as a new spin on the “Batman” mythos, even though it is not a graphic novel.  If you’re thinking you might be put off by a book with a Muslim protagonist, don’t let first impressions fool you!  Take a look at this guest post by Pavarti, in which she describes how she got started on her book:

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How a Unitarian from Jersey writes about a Muslim Superhero

 

Have you ever gotten that feeling in the back of your head that there’s something not quite right about the way you think?  I’ve always daydreamed about things others have considered impossible or ridiculous.  I’m the loon who decided statistically charting various vampires’ awesomeness was a good idea.

So when the suggestion was made that someone needed to write about a Middle Eastern superhero my imagination went into overdrive.  Of course we need a Middle Eastern superhero!  Others have tackled this topic to great success, like Dr. Naif of the99.org, what’s different here is that I am not from the Middle East.

I sat down and started writing and a character named Recai Osman appeared on the pages before me.  With green eyes and red beard, Recai stood in the middle of a windblown desert, daring me to take the challenge.

And cue the theme to Beyond Thunderdome.

A problem soon presented itself.  It’s impossible to discuss the Middle East in any meaningful way without bringing religion into the conversation, and while I’ve studied Islam, I am not a Muslim.  I’m not Jewish either.  In fact, I’m about as far from the religious spectrum of the Middle East as you could get.  I’m a Unitarian Universalist.

UUism is based on the idea that we all have the right to our own path to Truth.  For some that Truth is God, for some it’s not.  What connects us within the UU church is the belief that the search is valuable and that there is benefit to having a supportive and respectful community with whom to share that search. (You can read more about our principles here: Our Unitarian Universalist Principles)

For me, the importance of an individual’s expression of faith within a community is huge.  I believe in God.  Because of this, I often find myself listening to the fundamentalist rhetoric of all religions with a frustrated sigh.  Why does someone have to be wrong in order for another to be right?

It was with this in mind that I thought about Recai.  What makes a good man?  What makes a good Muslim?  And in a society in which religion is such a prominent part of day-to-day life, what would be the shape of evil?

Recai is a faithful man; he’s erred and he’s sinned, but his belief in Allah and in humanity is solid.  Underneath his layers of confusion and self-doubt is a good man.  His day-to-day life has been isolated from the city he lives in: Elih, Turkey (Google it for a good giggle). What would happen if a flawed man was forced to confront real evil, real sin?  Could he rise to the occasion?

Islam and Judaism run throughout Shadow on the Wall. Some of the phrases and cultural idioms may be unfamiliar to Western readers, but I hope that you will see a little of yourself in the characters. The issues they face are written at high stakes, but the questions posed are ones we must all answer.  Who am I?  What do I stand for?  Although Shadow on the Wall has supernatural elements, I like to think heroes exist in life, and I like to think that religion can fuel the good in people.  Perhaps we’re all capable of great things.

***Want to know more about Pavarti Tyler?  Check out this bio and visit her fan pages.  And look for my review of Shadow on the Wall, coming soon!

 

 

Author Bio:

Pavarti K Tyler is an artist, wife, mother and number cruncher. She graduated Smith College in 1999 with a degree in Theatre. After graduation, she moved to New York, where she worked as a Dramaturge, Assistant Director and Production Manager on productions both on and off Broadway.

 

Later, Pavarti went to work in the finance industry as a freelance accountant for several international law firms. She now operates her own accounting firm in the Washington DC area, where she lives with her husband, two daughters and two terrible dogs. When not preparing taxes, she is busy working at Novel Publicity and penning her next novel.

 

My blog is all ages: http://www.fightingmonkeypress.com

My tumblr is 18+ only: http://pavartidevi.tumblr.com/

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BEA Blogger Conference 2012

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I just got back from this year’s Book Bloggers Conference!  This year was the first time the conference was fully integrated with Book Expo America, and my first time attending.  Despite my exhaustion, I’m feeling totally excited to read all the new galleys I got today, and totally inspired by the amazing speakers I heard.  I attended the event with my comrade-in-arms Jenn N. from the Booksellers Without Borders NY blog.

The day started off with a networking breakfast and a keynote speech by bestselling author Jennifer Weiner!  Ms. Weiner shared her experiences as a blogger and an author trying to defy the stereotype of being a “chick lit” writer.  She was a brilliant speaker and a perfect choice to give the conference keynote speech.  Plus I was pleasantly surprised at what a dirty mouth she has! I received a copy of her book Then Came You, and having heard what an intelligent person she is, I’m excited to read it.

The morning continued with a Q&A panel entitled “Blogging Today,” and then a networking lunch featuring up-and-coming authors from several different genres.  I met the corset-wearing, extremely energetic author Leanna Renee  Hieber, who wrote The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart and other Victorian-era inspired titles.  I also chatted with Emma Koenig, author of Fuck I’m In My 20s!  We talked about her book and about the hardships facing young people today.  I’m looking forward to reading both these upcoming titles.

After lunch I sat in on two hour-long seminars, one on how to monetize a book blog, and another on developing a relationship between bloggers and publishers.  The second seminar was the highlight of the entire conference.  It featured blogger Jenn Lawrence, Lindsey Rudnickas from NetGalley, and Lucille Rettino, the director of marketing for Simon & Schuster.  They offered a ton of practical advise on book blogging, from how to reach out to publishers for reviews to how to increase traffic to your blog.

The day’s final event was a closing speech by Jenny Lawson, whose book Let’s Pretend This Never Happened I received today and can’t wait to read.  Ms. Lawson explained how her blog led to a book deal and shared her experience of blogging about her most personal issues.  Like Jennifer Weiner, she also has a filthy mouth, and she was also a commanding speaker.  Incidently, my maiden name was Lawson, so it was nice to see another member of the “clan,” especially such a successful one.

It was a day filled with information, camaraderie, a ton of humor, and one or two weirdos.  It is New York after all, and when New York weirdos are weird, they are WEIRD…but mostly harmless.  If you have a book blog, it’s definitely worth the trip and worth the money.  So print out some business cards and look for me at the 2013 BEA Bloggers Conference.  Jenn and I will be there representing our blogs and looking for some amazing new books to read!