Wednesday, November 21, 2012

The First Twelve Revised Pages Of The Shade Of The Moon

I've been meaning to post the first twelve revised pages of The Shade Of The Moon for a while now, so you can see the difference between a first draft and a revised with the help of an excellent editor draft, but my printer died after a long illness, and then I bought a new printer which works, but I got distracted by the various vicissitudes of life (ha! I spelled vicissitudes right!!).

I don't want you to think I'm unvicissituded right now, but I finally remembered that I intended to scan the revised pages and bring them over here. So I have.

For those who like a compare and a contrast, here are the original pages.

And here are the revised ones:










38 comments:

Anonymous said...

Pretty good!

And I hope you have a good Thanksgiving.

Anonymous Santa Fe

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Thank you, Anonymous Santa Fe.

And a happy Thanksgiving to you!

Anonymous said...

I loved it!!! I can't wait for the rest of the book!
P.S. Is this the last book in the series?

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Hello Anonymous-

As far as I know (and certainly as far as my publisher knows), it's the last book.

But then again, I thought the third book was the last book, so what do I know!

Anonymous said...

That's right -- as long as people want to read the saga, keep at it. Your publisher was wrong before, and could (hopefully, will) be wrong again! Besides, just reading those revised pages gave me the idea of an underground group of people who've lived off the grid since before the meteor who are doing the forbidden: teach the so-called "grubs" the self-sufficiency the safe towns deny them. Secret greenhouses constructed of reused windows and storm doors (google MOTHER EARTH NEWS), secret factories manufacturing chlorella, which NASA used to feed the astronauts and which many believe might've been the actual "manna" of the Bible (got this from History Channel's ANCIENT ALIENS) and quietly distributing them.

There's so much further you can go with this -- unless, of course, you've already gone that far in the rest of this book.

Once again, happy Thanksgiving!

Anonymous Santa Fe

Linda Jacobs said...

I love the way you are developing Jon's character! Thanks for this little tease...a nice Thanksgiving treat!

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Thank you (again) to Anonymous Santa Fe and thank you to Linda Jacobs.

Have the happiest of happy Black Fridays. I will be braving the crowds myself to buy Scooter his cat food at an excellent sale price!

Anonymous said...

I just finished the series over Thanksgiving break. I am a 6th teacher and half my language arts class has read at least the first book. We have thoroughly enjoyed them! I am very excited to hear that the saga will continue. Is there a tentative release date yet? Can't wait to tell my students tomorrow!

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Good morning Anonymous and thank you-

The Shade Of The Moon should come out in Fall 2013, so probably less than a year from now.

Please say hi to your students for me!

Lulume said...

Holy baloney, I just finished the first three moon books. I haven't had a peaceful night's sleep since I started them two weeks ago. I had multiple vivid and creepy dreams about the characters and story. Maybe I'll finally get some rest tonight. I can't wait for the next book, sleepless nights and all.

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Good morning Lulume-

It always makes me happy to know I'm ruining people's sleep.

I also like hearing I made grown people cry.

That's me- sweet on the outside and vicious on the inside (okay, I'm not all that sweet on the outside either)!

Lulume said...

That's funny because although I felt tortured while reading the books, I can't wait for my 12 year old son to read them. They're going to freak him out just like they did to me! Ha!

Anonymous said...

I think that Mami and Papi are still alive from The Dead and The Gone. Alex didn't see her at Yankee Stadium, and Bri talked to Papi on the phone, which makes me think that they are both still alive.

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...


Well, Lulume, it's safe to say great and evil minds think alike.

And Anonymous, I guess we'll never know what really became of Mami and Papi. I know I don't!

Anonymous said...

Wow! Fantastic! Thank you for this! I love how you have Alex and Miranda together! Loved the romance in "this world we live in". FANTASTIC!!!! :)(:
Best of luck! C:

Anonymous said...

So Mami and Papi won't be in the fourth book?

Lulume said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Hello to Anonymous C: and to Anonymous-

Yes to Alex and Miranda being together and no to Mami and Papi showing up!

Anonymous said...

You should really try to get the moon books to be made into a movie! That would be awesome. Have you put any thought of having movies made?

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Hello Anonymous-

I think it would be great if someone made a movie from my books, but it costs a lot of money to make a movie.

Maybe someday it will happen!

karen f said...

Susan --

I discovered the first of this series yesterday as I stood in line at the library. Another patron -- both of us on the higher side of fifty, myself well into my sixties -- was returning the second including much enthusiastic back-and-forth with the librarian. I had to ask, came home with Life As We Knew It, and finished it close to midnight. I've read raves about the innovation and excitement in the YA book world and found that in yours so the next one's on hold. I love your wit, candor and enthusiasm here as well. Now if they'd just publish YA books in large print for us OA readers! ; ) Best wishes from a lifelong book lover.

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Thank you Karen.

I love it when grownups like my books. It makes me feel almost grownup!

VKR said...

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I love it when authors do this kind of thing and you are one of my favorite authors. When you get done with this series, you should do a periodic journal from one of the character's point of view :) That seems like it would just be a nice side project. Also, I think I saw a couple of typo's, although I could just be misreading it. Here they are:

first page (3) "calm the little"
6th page (8) "Sarah had learned about him"

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Good morning VKR and thank you.

My guess is by now the manuscript is in the capable hands of the copyeditors, and they'll spot the typos with their keen and critical eyes.

I have no idea if more than one copyeditor reads a manuscript, but I wanted gender neutral pronouns.

The English language is a complicated thing!

Unknown said...

Love the series but my big question is will alex ever be reconnected with his parents?

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Hi Brianne Turner-

There's no mention of Alex's parents in The Shade Of The Moon, so my guess we'll never find out exactly what happened to them!

jenniemoo said...

I just finished the first book and loved it. I immediately ordered book 2 & 3. I am 33 and am not ashamed to admit just how much I enjoyed it...I even dreamed about it. Its been a long time since a book has had me that deeply immersed. I cant wait to read book 2 and 3 and then I'm sure impatiently wait for book 4!

Anonymous said...

I love the moon books so much!It is so intriguing! I can't wait for the next book to come out.

Carissa said...

I am so excited about your new book. I have been waiting since I finished the third! I have also read them all a few times. :) I can't wait till this fall! Thank you for the preview.

Elisabeth said...

I used to not really enjoy reading but your series is amazing and i just cant seem to put these books down. So i just wanted to say thank you and please keep up the awesome work!

Anonymous said...

omg thank u for this amazing series!!!!!! :) the first time i read it. when i finished the 3rd book it felt like i lost juile in real life!!!! but i love the series and cant wait for the next book(s). one question though will we get a view of miranda and alex?

Anonymous said...

I love these books!! I would have to say my favorite is "Life As We Knew It''. Favorite part?- The few months following the volcanic eruptions, when temperatures start to drop.P.S.- Will we ever find out what happened to Grandma in Las Vegas??

Sam said...

I've never been more excited for a book in my whole entire life.

Unknown said...

I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am for this book!! I am turning 40 this year and have read the first three books several times. I don't sleep well for days after reading them and it appears book four is just as good!
Thanks for writing this one - I was dying to know what happened to everyone!

Anonymous said...

These are my all time favorite books. This world we live in was the best of them all. I was hoping that this book would be in Miranda's point of view. I thought the books were better from hers, but i really hope theres a fourth book. possibly in Miranda's point of view?

Anonymous said...

I love these books. When I found the first book I started reading it 3 hours a night and the same with the other 2. I can't wait for book to come out and this preview was great. I would also like to know what Alex and Miranda's lives are like now too.

Isabella Judge said...

I remember getting my 6th grade class hooked on this excellent series after reading the part in the first book where Miranda is at the grocery store to them out loud. Now as a sophomore in high school, I am SO ecstatic for The Shade of the Moon. Thank you SO SO SO much for deciding to continue the series from my favorite character's point of view! Once I get Grapes of Wrath out of the way for summer reading, this book is at the very top of my list! :D

Emily Green said...

Hi there! I had never heard of your books until my librarian showed the series to me! Let me just start off by saying these are EXCELLENT books! I was so intrigued by the first, but was a little confused with the second one as to why it still wasn't in Miranda's perspective, but soon I caught on. I love Alex and Miranda's love story, and now I am in hopes of reading the four one soon! And these would make for excellent movies! But of course, the books would be better!