Okay, a lot of words. And I don't have any sponsors.
I'm delighted to report that Harcourt now has a discussion guide for Life As We Knew It, with one for the dead and the gone on its way. I've put a permanent link to it on the ever more crowded right side of the blog. If you scroll all the way through, you'll see an itty bitty version of Marci's photograph of me. But you might want to linger and read some of the questions while you're there.
Also on the right side of the page, I've added some words of praise from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for d&g that Google was nice enough to lead me to this morning.
I've added something to the list of things I'm doing at ALA. In between autographing for Harcourt and autographing for Scholastic, I'll be doing a taped radio interview, conducted by Susan Raab. The interview will be posted as a downloadable podcast as part of the University of Connecticut’s “Teachers for a New Era” program, which is sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation. Teachers across the country can access the interview and use it in classrooms, etc. It’ll also be available via i-Tunes.
That's mostly copied off the e-mail I was sent about it. It's way too complicated for me to remember on my own. Actually it was the i-Tunes part that set my heart aflutter. Not only can't I carry a tune, tunes run away at the very sight of me. And yet, there I'll be on i-Tunes. What a land we live in.
Now onto the Bolivian Hat part of this entry. Approximately ten minutes ago, UPS was nice enough to deliver twenty-two copies of the Listening Library audiobook of the dead & the gone (read by Robertson Dean).
I have a dozen people/places to give copies to, and I probably should keep a few just in case (in case of what I don't know but there might be something), but even if I give away eleven, keep one for myself, and stash four in honor of just in case, that leaves six that the Bolivian Hat can handle for me.
Here's the deal. If you or your library or school is interested in a free d&g audiobook, send me an e-mail via the cute little link on the top right side (or just copy my e-mail address), and let me know. If six or fewer want one, then you'll all be happy. If more than six of you want one, I'll put your e-mail addresses in the Bolivian Hat (currently in residence on the bathroom wall, and very excited at the thought of seeing some action), and pull out six names.
It's Thursday almost evening now, so I'll keep the Bolivian Hat open through Wednesday night, June 25. If I pull your e-mail address out of the hat, I'll e-mail to let you know and to ask for an address to send the audiobook to. I'll try to send some (or all) off by next Friday, since I'll be going to ALA Saturday, and won't see a post office again until July 1.
So if you're interested in listening to 8 hours and 51 minutes of the book the Seattle Post-Intelligencer said was, "utterly gripping...almost impossible to put down," then e-mail me and the hat.
If you're not interested, please don't tell me. The Bolivian Hat is very sensitive to rejection!
9 comments:
I have sent you an email and am praying to Bolivian Hat Gods as we speak. I can not wait to hear the audio version of D&G!!
-Dawn
Sorry for multiple posts so early in the morning. I just thought that you might want to add another item to the right of your blog. LAWKI has been nominated for the 2009 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults list, "Dead, Dying, and Undead".
http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/popularpaperback/nominations.cfm#dead
I also made an email request. Not praying to any hat gods, though, but maybe I should?
I'm just here to say that I read the Dead and the Gone today. Spent the day at it just as I might have a new Harry Potter book. Awesome, and couldn't put it down!
My only critque? A map of New York City for those of us who don't know the area. I didn't really need it to get the story, (obviously) but a map would have added to the experience.
Great Work!!!
I'll send an email in a minute. I'd love an audiobook!
I still haven't been able to locate a copy of d&g! Crazy, huh? I went to Borders in So. Portland, Maine and they were out. I could have ordered it but since we're on vacation in Florida for ten days, I figured I could get one down here but so far, we haven't even gone near a bookstore.
I'm still dying to read it but am kind of enjoying the anticipation, too!
I'm going to revoke my critque of the book needing a map. I read a lot from the fantasy genre, which of course do need maps since they're made-up places, but if a person doesn't know the lay of the land in a real place such as New York City, it's very easy to get this info.
One of the things I liked most about the book was the church community Alex and his sisters belong to. Very interesting that in a large city there are still smaller communities.
Patti
oh! i can't wait for that podcast!!! :)
Hello Susan,
work has kept me away for a few days, and in that time you appear to have written 75 pages of TWWLI and an 18-page synopsis! Flabbergasting. I look forward to you feeding back your publisher's response - fingers crossed!
This just to say that I read td&tg and, like LAWKI, it was another 24-hour job with pages being snaffled up on the bus/Tube/over breakfast, etc. Such a pacy narrative - and I loved the shaded portrayal of Alex in particular. He could have come across as rather insufferable, but you gave him fine feet of clay: eternally second in his class and conscious of it, laced through with a cultural machismo that (for those from a different background) borders on the misogynistic. It was a bold move to have a hero who actually hits his little sister - and more amazing that he keeps our sympathy afterwards. And I can just imagine the impact on your schools audiences when you read the Yankee Stadium section!
So, I'm very much hoping you get a greenlight for the 15-years-later followup. Having watched you, over the course of these two books, trash much of the known world (can I ask what happens to London, in your world? I'm guessing it's not good!) it'd be fascinating to see you build a little of it back up again.
Kindest wishes,
Victoria
Hi to Dawn (who I'll meet on Sunday) and Mrs. Corbett and Linda Jacobs and Jenni and Victoria J-
I was away for the weekend, at a sleepover with my friends Janet, Geri, and Linda, which is why I'm so far behind answering comments and e-mails. Janet has a beautiful new home in Connecticut and we had great time.
Thanks Dawn for letting me know about the dead/dying/undead list. By the time I got home on Sunday, I was feeling pretty dead/dying/undead myself.
I'm glad people are reading and enjoying d&g. New York City is a city of neighborhoods, which is something people may not realize about it. I really like the Thanksgiving scene, where even Harvey shows up.
Alex is definitely a flawed hero; I don't think he'd be interesting or believable if he were unflawed. When you kill off all humanity (as I do regularly and gleefully), you have to keep all the other details, including how irritating kid sisters can be, as realistic as possible.
I like hearing that a bookstore in South Portland was out of of copies of d&g, since it suggests they once had copies. I was in South Portland this spring, speaking to independent bookstore owners/managers as a guest of Bookstream. While I was there, I had supper with the son, daughter-in-law and grandbaby of my cousin Ellen Conford.
My cousin Ellen says she wants to hear the podcast also. I'm just concerned I'll be stammering and saying you know and well and giggling at inappropriate moments. Oh well. The worse I am, the more memorable it will be!
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