Welcome to My Official Web Page!

Welcome to My Official Web Page!

Sunday, October 28, 2012

A Book For a Baby


I'm thrilled to have the amazing Natalie Bahm here to discuss her amazing new MG book, The Secret Underground. As some of you know, Natalie is donating all the profits of this book to a wonderful little boy and his family...


A few years ago, I wrote a middle grade adventure called The Secret Underground. It’s about a group of kids who dig a tunnel to an abandoned steel mill.  There’s danger and fun and friendship and a few scary bank robbers (think Goonies).  It’s always been really special to me because it was the first book I finished that I was really proud of.

About a month ago, The Secret Underground was finally released. All of the profits will go to a sick baby named Jayden and his family.

Jayden is a sweet two-year-old with major health problems. He's the same age as my youngest child, but he’s only half his size.  Jayden struggles to put on weight and is constantly in the hospital because he has no reserves when he gets sick.  He’s been near death more than once, but has shown that he’ll fight to hang on.

His family has been through so much.  Along with the stress and anxiety of dealing with Jayden's condition, they're also struggling financially, due to the massive burden of caring for a chronically ill child.

Jayden’s grandmother is my critique partner.  When she told me about the trials that Jayden and his family were facing, I knew I needed to do something to help. I called up agent, Sara Megibow, and asked if we could do a book for him.  She thought it was wonderful idea, so with the support of Nelson Literary Agency, we published The Secret Underground

You can read more about the project and Jayden here. The paperback version of The Secret Underground is available on Amazon (and should be available at most other online retailers soon).  The eBook can be purchased just about anywhere eBooks are sold.  The audiobook is available on Audible, Amazon and iTunes.  The paperback will be in more online bookstores soon.




Thursday, October 18, 2012

The Ascent of Historical Fiction

I am in the happy position of writing a genre that is currently on the upswing. I remember going into the bookstore fifteen years ago and combing the shelves, scanning for covers of ancient Egyptians, Victorian ladies with tiny waists and ridiculous hats, and English kings and queens dead these past 500 years. 

The pickings were slim. In fact, during my high school years I had to resort to the romance section. (Now there's nothing wrong with romance novels, but it's a little odd to find a fifteen-year old reading bodice rippers). I picked up a fair bit about medieval Scotland and Regency England during those years--two popular settings in the novels I read. I also managed a few Danielle Steel novels, learning about the fall of the Romanov dynasty from the pages of Zoya.

I devoured Margaret George's early novels--The Autobiography of Henry VIII, Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles, and Memoirs of Cleopatra. Then The Red Tent by Anita Diamant and Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden came out, both in 1997. I'm not claiming these two books started a movement, but both were wildly popular bestsellers. And both were historical fiction--set in early Judea and WWII-era Japan--that told lush stories about brave young women. 

I read them, and re-read them. Shortly thereafter, I started to notice that every time I went into the bookstore there was at least one new (and sometimes more) historical novel on the shelves. Now, instead of feeling like I've discovered buried treasure to find a book on Cleopatra or Anne Boleyn, I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum, setting popular characters aside and forced to decide between novels about Roman gladiators and slave girls (like Kate Quinn's Mistress of Rome) and Isabella of Spain (like C.W. Gortner's The Queen's Vow). I recently had to buy a new set of book shelves to accommodate my historical fiction collection. 

This is a good problem to have. A very good problem indeed. And should the historical fiction market suddenly crash, I'm quite certain I have enough unread novels to last me at least a few years.

So tell me: do you write/read a genre on the upswing? Or are your favorite reads getting harder to come by? What would you like to see more of in the book stores?