Category Archives: Fiendish

Fiendish Hardback Winners (AKA: Better Late Than …)

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I know, I know—I’m posting on a Sunday* (isn’t that weird?)!

The Summer Nostalgia contest has ended, the entries—as I’ve come to expect from you guys—are utterly delightful, and FIENDISH is officially out in the world!

Which I celebrated by immediately removing myself from all earthly responsibilities, going deep into hiding, and dropping off the face of the world.

(Not really. Really, I celebrated by attending my dear high school friend’s thoroughly excellent wedding in the mountains, far from paved roads, the internet, and cellphone service, but close to horses, rattlesnakes, and shooting stars. As you might imagine, it was gorgeous, wild, and total perfection.)

But now I’m back, ensconced in the coziest corner of my local coffee shop, it’s an all-Bob-Dylan morning on their Pandora station, and here’s the part you’re waiting to hear about.

The US winners of a signed, finished copy of Fiendish are:

  • Alyson C
  • Kelsey

AND

Our international winner is:

  • MarieD

I’ll be emailing you three shortly, so be on the lookout!

Thank you all for showing up, for telling me about your own personal versions of summer. The little details are the best ones. They’re something I never get tired of. You are, have always been, and continue to be the very best, and I still have a whole stack of finished copies that need good homes—as my husband periodically reminds me, there’s no need to hoard them—so stick around!

*This originally said Saturday, because that is exactly how much I know what is going on at any given time.

Countdown to Launch

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One week from now is the 14th of August. Which means: in one week, Fiendish will take flight and land on shelves—weird and spooky and full of monsters, full of teeth and claws and tangled thickets and wind chimes. Which also means: now it’s time for a CONTEST!

Fiendish cover

I wrote this book because there are fireflies in Arkansas and none here. Because when you’re little, the world is big and the middle of the creek is over your head, and Little Sister Yovanoff was born without any propensity for angst. Her mind is astute, her appetite for stories is voracious, but her attitude toward melodrama has always been one of frank bemusement: “I liked the [generic spoiler for the story of your choice] and how they solved the [shocking plot point],” she said to me once. “But why are the people in books always So Upsetting?”

Clementine DeVore—main character of Fiendish—is not upsetting, and that’s the truth.

Clementine is the kind of person who gets things done. The kind of person you can depend on to sally forth. To want to do the right thing. There’s a special version of dramatic tension inherent in a character who wants to do the right thing. A person who loves everything and everyone, and just wants to do right by the world.

So. We come to the part that concerns you: I arrived back home from the highly entertaining, slightly chaotic excitement of Comic Con and Maggie’s Sharp Teeth road trip and three weeks away, to find … a big box of finished books!

Which means, it’s time for me to figure out how to use rafflecopter again.

Today my contest is about a very certain kind of joy. I want to know about summer pastimes. What is that very particular thing that means summer to you—the thing you think of wistfully sometimes when it’s gray and sloppy out?

The prizes are as follows: two finished copies up for grabs for US residents, one copy for international.

I take the internationalness of this contest very seriously, since I’m never allowed to give you guys ARCs, so we’re going to try a thing. I know that automatically makes this whole endeavor about fifty times more complicated, but bear with me:

If you live in the US this link is for you:

a Rafflecopter giveaway for US residents

If you DO NOT live in the US this link is for you:

a Rafflecopter giveaway for international residents

You can get points by commenting here and sharing your most quintessentially-summer pastime, and also by tweeting the message that’s included in the rafflecopter. Contest ends next Wednesday at midnight Eastern.

Sally forth!

Fiendish Winners*

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And now, the first Fiendish contest has officially drawn to a close! (And let me just say—I’m amazed and kind of delighted at how many people’s early memories involve food, pets, favorite toys, or playing in the dirt.)

Your entries have been tallied, your personal anecdotes have been thoroughly enjoyed by me, the winners have been randomly selected, and now I present to you:

  • Lily D
  • Cynthia P
  • Anne Tedeton

I’ll be contacting you guys shortly for your mailing addresses!

To everyone who entered, I had a wonderful time reading through your stories and will endeavor to think up an equally-answerable themed question for the next contest, so stayed tuned for more giveaways!

*Of the book, I mean. I’m sure you’re very lovely people

Fiendish ARC Giveaway

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This is a book I wrote:

Fiendish cover

It has a pretty face!

Kirkus gave it a star (!!!) and said this:

The atmosphere in Yovanoff’s latest is eerily reminiscent of To Kill a Mockingbird, if only Harper Lee’s Maycomb residents had been given magical families as a focus for their bigotry.

I say this:

It’s about magic and monsters—even more monsters than I have ever written about before, and also more magic. Also: girls, boys, cousins, best friends, Trans Ams, tattoos, and catfish. It’s about a girl who has spent ten years underground, and now she’s finally waking up.

Fiendish hits shelves August 14th and then everybody can have it! But three of you can have it RIGHT NOW, so the contest part:

I’m giving away three ARCs, and unfortunately (as usual), ARC rules means no international entries. HOWEVER. As soon as I have finished copies in my hot little hands, I’ll do another giveaway, with prizes set aside exclusively for international entries.

Also, today I’m trying something new. It is called rafflecopter. You probably know more about it than I do, because I set it up this morning. I think it even works. If it doesn’t, we’ll … just roll with it?

You can get entry points by commenting here and telling me about a childhood memory, and also by tweeting (it’s all in the … rafflecopter?). Contest ends next Tuesday at midnight Eastern.

Okay, here we go!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I See You Over There, 2014

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Today is 2014. Which seems vaguely implausible, since yesterday it was decades ago and I was nine and twenty-four and twelve and also eighteen and thirty, because historically, I have a very hard time noting/remembering/reconciling myself with the passage of time.

(I think it might be fake.)

Here are some of the things that happened this year:

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Introducing FIENDISH!

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At last (at long, long—no, seriously, I first told you about this book SO LONG AGO—long last), it gives me great personal satisfaction to present:

Fiendish cover

Fiendish is a book about being wild. And loving where you live. And sticking to your principles. And loving the people who love you back. And figuring out what makes you magic. And whenever I describe things, I always seem to think that subject and theme are the same as plot, which is NOT true. So now, here is what the story-copy says!

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