Ahh, Halloween! Auntie Heather’s most favorite holiday of the year (and, I’m quite certain, many Minions’ as well). A day that’s filled with costumes and candy and frights and spooky ghosties galore. What more could you possibly ask for?
Why…music…of course.
This one’s for you, Minions. You’re in my thoughts today. Just like you’re always in my heart. My shriveled up, black lil heart.
Oh, Minions. How your Auntie Heather’s head doth spin as of late. So much that it’s launched from her neck, hit the ceiling and SPLATTED on the floor. I’m not sure what’s worse: that teh kittehs keep swatting at the pile of goo it’s become, or that Jacob keeps poking it with a stick. Nevertheless, your Auntie’s been living inside a crazy tornado, waiting for some semblance of normalcy (heh) to return to her life.
AND I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO TELL YOU ALL ABOUT MY TOUR.
Yeah. I’m ~that~ brain dead lately. I went on a two and a half week tour of AWESOME, came home, and didn’t even mention it in my last blog! Where is my head??? (Oh right…it’s a pile of goo on the floor…)
The tour was…in a word…nommy. So nommy that I nommed on its amazingness and it nommed right back. It was so much fun! So many of you came out to see me (many of whom were Master Minions), and I loved each and every hug, treasured each and every gift, and I just want to thank you, Minion Horde, for being there for me, and for giving me some love, when I very much needed it. You guys all rock my world, and it’s my pleasure and honor to rule over you.
Things here are good. I’m busy working on the second round of edits for The Slayer Chronicles #2 (due October 25th), and working on an outline for the second Legacy of Tril book (after Bloodbound). Plus, we’re getting ready for some pretty major website/forum changes soon. Speaking of the forum…if you’re new, and need a friend, I urge you to reach out to Mina, Tod, Pravus, and K8. They’re there to be your friends. Trust me.
Are you still reeling over the graphic novel news?? I am! I’ve known for some time, but when Penguins say “SHHH!!!! Don’t tell a soul!!!” I’m forced to super glue my lips together and hold on to all that awesomeness until I might burst. But I’m so relieved/thrilled that we can talk about it now! Are you geeked? I can hardly wait to see more artwork and share it with you. It’s going to have an effect on fan art, I imagine. But we shall see.
Ooooh! I can has great news! Who wants to see the family trees of both Vlad and Joss? You can! Head on over to Hastings’ website and click View the Family Tree off to the right side of the page. It ROCKS! And so does Hastings for helping make it happen.
Speaking of Joss…what are you guys thinking of FIRST KILL so far? Spoilers welcome in the comments – just be careful reading them if you don’t want secrets spilled!
I’m off to do that whole typey-typey thing I do. And, of course, to relish in the hoodie weather we finally have.
Oh, yes, my hungry little Minions. The title of this post does not lie. Sooooo many of you have been BEGGING, PLEADING, INSISTING that I create a graphic novel based on my Vlad series, and now, with the amazing work of some incredibly talented peeps (including artist, Julia Laud, colorist, Richard Suwono, and brilliant writer, Tony Lee), I can bring you just what you’ve been asking for. I give you…the graphic novel cover for EIGHTH GRADE BITES!!!
What do you think, Minion Horde??? I completely, totally love it. And I love the script as well – Tony did a fabulous job. I can hardly wait for you all to get your grubby lil hands on it! But alas, you’ll have to wait until August 16, 2012, as that’s the date it goes on sale. The moment I have a link to where you can pre-order it, I’ll post it. And I’ll also have more yummy bits for you to salivate over soon. But for now…what do you think???
Greetings, Minions! I’m betting your all wondering why I haven’t blogged to name of the ARC winner from the last entry. Well…that’s because I…have no excuse. *hangs head* BUT…to make it up to you, I’m choosing TWO winners! So get your addresses to my assistant at k8@heatherbrewer.com and I’ll get those out to you ASAP, VampireConverse and LadyCawCaw!!!
So…have you pre-ordered your copy of FIRST KILL yet? Are you planning to come see me on tour? Have you seen the new trailer??
Oh, and a little surprise for those Minions who can’t come see me on tour…I spent a day in Alabama at the Books-A-Million warehouse, signing over 3000 books, just for you! They’ll be in BAM stores across the country, so grab yours fast!
Greetings, Minions! And how are my horrifically darling members of the Horde fairing this fine, gloomy day? Your Auntie is coming down from a deep-breath-taking kinda weekend. One spent without teh internets and with lots of relaxation time, after a long year of stress and craziness. But I’m good now. And I’m getting a new kitteh tomorrow.
“WHAT?!”, you all say. “But Auntie Heather! You just GOT a new kitteh, not that long ago. Remember Fang???”
Of course I remember him! He lies on my desk while I write, and I love him more and more every day! Which is precisely why I’m getting another. See, Amenti largely ignores Fang during the day, when taking her 12 hour nap. So he gets lonely. Thus, the new kitteh. His name is Loki. And I am a happy kitteh momma. Pics to come!
In other news, BLOODBOUND is totally finished and on its way to the copyeditor! It’s also huge, clocking it at 93,000 words…which is about 21,000 more words than TWELFTH GRADE KILLS had. But it’s a fantasy, and fantasies tend to be long anyway. Plus, I had to make room for all the monsters and blood and gore and swords and kick-buttedness.
The second SLAYER CHRONICLES book is currently experiencing its first round of edits. Truth be told, I already know the title…but it’s a SURPRISE!
And we’re just over a month away from the debut of FIRST KILL. I’m sooooo excited! But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous. I worry that no one will buy it, for a variety of reasons. Maybe they won’t want to read about Joss. Maybe they won’t know I have a new series coming out. Maybe…a million other things. That voice of doubt keeps creeping in, no matter how many times I squash it. Sometimes it gets so loud that it keeps me up at night. I call it “Fuddy”. And when I get really sick of hearing it, I literally say out loud, “Shut up, Fuddy.”
Why am I telling you this, Minions? Because even the most awesome of us experience self-doubt, and I want you to know that your Auntie goes through it too. Because, the truth is, sometimes I get really scared about the future, but it helps me to know that I’m not alone. That all of you sometimes get scared too. And together, if we all shout loud enough, maybe we can shut Fuddy up for a good, long time.
If you haven’t checked my Appearances page recently, you might want to, as I’ve added my upcoming tour dates. Also, watch for some changes coming soon to the website and forum. (Note: by “soon”, I mean “eventually” or “when I find the time”) Plus, very soon, I’ll have a big contest to announce! But for now, I think a mini-contest is way overdue, don’t you? So…comment to enter. You can say anything you like (but let’s keep it positive, k?), but no matter how much you comment, you’ll only be entered once. Winner gets an ARC of FIRST KILL. I’ll pick a winner in a few days!
It’s funny, the things that people never really tell you about being an author, and the things you hear, but don’t really think about. Like how travel and deadlines and day to day stuff will take up all of your blogging time. You think “I’ll blog tomorrow!”, only tomorrow takes a month to come. And before you know it, your Minions are wondering if they should form a search party. But no worries, my Minions! Your Auntie Heather is alive and well. Alive and…well…
I’ve been busy! Not only did I turn in two books (the first draft of THE SLAYER CHRONICLES #2 (title to be announced later) & the second draft of BLOODBOUND), but I was also traveling. I went on an amazing Disney Cruise to the Bahamas with my family, I was in Omaha, Nebraska, spreading the word about why bullying sucks, and then I was at San Diego Comic Con, handing out advanced copies of FIRST KILL.
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A brief detour so I can SQUEE about SDCC. In short, I met tons of awesome Minions (which was the absolute best part of SDCC), spoke with Jhonen Vasquez (of JTHM fame) again, met Nick, Zak & Aaron of Ghost Adventures fame, and nearly ran into Gerard Way…AGAIN. Plus, I went to the Lucasfilms party and Stan Lee himself brushed right by me…and Christopher Moore stopped by to say hi to me at the Mysterious Galaxy booth! My geeky little heart was very pleased. I can’t wait to go back! Neither can Gargy. He dressed up like a Jedi the whole time….which made him very popular at the Lucasfilms party.
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So I’ve been busy. With books. With travel. With life. Oooooh, and I should know where I’ll be touring this fall very soon! Actually, I kinda already know. I just can’t tell you yet. The moment I can, I’ll post it on my Appearances page. And we can be busy together!
You know I’m never too busy to think about my Minions. And I have something FANGtastic for you all!
How would you like to be one of my Master Minions???
That’s right! So many of you have mentioned rank in the Minion Horde. Well, here’s your chance.
As it says on VladTod.com – Sign up to be one of Heather Brewer’s Master Minions!
Get exclusive access and early sneak peaks plus a Minion Kit to help you talk up
The Slayer Chronicles to your friends!
Visit VladTod.com for official rules and how to join.
Spread the word and sign up FAST, because this isn’t going to last and the free stuff you’ll get is AMAZING! I’m so geeked. What do you guys think??
Most authors have a special place that they go, Minions, when they are in writing mode, when they are driven to create. Many writers refer to this place as their “writer’s cave”. My special place, my office, my sanctuary, is affectionately referred to as my “writer’s lair”, thanks to the fangtastic Melissa DeLaCruz, of Blue Bloods fame. And today I’m going to give you a little glimpse of it, just so you’ll know the kinds of things that surround me as I pound out manuscripts or blog or tweet (oh man, do I tweet…). Please forgive the relatively crappy images, as I took them with my iPhone, and the iPhone hates pretty, clear pictures.
We will start with the door to my lair.
Not bad, eh? looks normal enough. Just double doors. Plain. Boring. So…normal, right? But when we open them…
PA-CHOW!!! The spookiness begins! This is the view from my open doors, followed by a closer view.
Yeah. I have some skeery stuff in my office. Creepy bodiless hands coming out of the wall, a human skull, a monkey like the one from Monkey Shines. It’s cozy, right? And if we begin to turn to the right, we see this:
That’s the corner of my coffin couch (which is glorious, and yes, made from an actual coffin). My husband often teases that he plans to bring along a mirror just to check on me during nap time. Turning again to the right (we’re spinning – are you dizzy??)…
…we see my favorite corner, where I’ve placed my asylum window, my baby doll (I cannot tell you her name – it may disturb some of you), and antique baby shoes. And right again to the door from the inside.
The dolls on the bottom right, I refer to as my “Creepy Children”, because when I open the office door, they stare at me through the glass with their haunting button eyes. *sigh* I love them so… If you keep turning right, you’ll see a second set of doors that lead to my dining room.
And right from there brings you back to my bookcase, which has a distinct lack of books. (The books are all in the reading room in the upstairs loft) But it does contain some of my most precious belongings. I’ll give you a top to bottom shelf by shelf view.
Not too shabby, right? It’s nice here. I like it. Whenever I enter my lair, I feel at home. To some, it’s creepy. To me, it’s beautiful. And you should be your own kind of beautiful, Minions, no matter what people say.
So…the only thing I haven’t done is hang up curtains. Mostly because I’m torn between curtains and black wooden blinds. Once I make up my mind, my lair will be complete. Yay lair!
As far as “what’s new in the world of Auntie Heather”, I’m currently wrapping up writing the second book in The Slayer Chronicles. I know the title, but you don’t. (neener neener neener) No worries! I’ll tell you soon…ish. Also, I’m finishing up the last few edits for Bloodbound, which is so good it makes my brain all explodey. I can’t really describe it…mostly because I have no idea how. Seriously! The description on my website doesn’t even do it justice. I just want to live in that world forever. And I hope you’ll join me for at least a few hours. I promise it’ll be worth the ride. (Or it won’t, and you’ll hate me forever…but I’m betting on that first one)
On Monday, I head out on a Disney cruise (woooooo, Mickey!!!), so I’ll be offline from July 4th til the 11th, but I’m thinking that I should arrange an Ask Auntie Heather chat on the forum soon. What do you guys think? I can set aside an hour or two and we can just talk…y’know? It sounds like fun to me, and I think it’ll breathe new life into the forum. If you don’t hang out on the forum, please do! It’s a fangtastic Minion hangout and I want you guys to treat it as your own.
One last thing before I go. How many of you have or have access to an iPod, iPod Touch, or iPad? Go grab it. Right now. It’s okay…I can wait.
*hold music plays while you grab your technology*
Got it? Sweet. I’ve got the fire extinguisher ready, because I know how you Minions burst into flames when you get excited. Ready?
Go download this right now, because Minions – WE HAVE AN APP!!!
It’s only 99 cents, and it’s a FANGtastic game that’s kinda like PacMan, but with Fang! You can eat bloodbags for invincibility and killing slayers gifts you with their tiny lil screams. (Mwahahahahaha!!!) It’s sooooo much fun. I am seriously, totally addicted. So go. Now. Grab that app and tell the rest of the Horde (and non-Minions! Or should I say “soon-to-be-Minions”?). Because this thing is too fun!
Can you tell I like it?
Okay, so in my brief absence, I’m leaving you all in charge. I DO NOT want to come back to the world in ruins and zombies on the rampage AGAIN, Minions! *gives you all the Mom look* So behave. Be nice. And SOMEBODY feed the thing under my bed.
Books save lives, Minions. In particular, YA books save lives. When I was growing up, hated by virtually everyone, and so terribly bullied, my escape, my refuge, my island in the storm was the library. I escaped the painful world that was my own and delved into other worlds–worlds that entertained me, worlds that gave me hope. Without those books, I might never have known that some people had it worse than I did in school (CARRIE by Stephen King) or that I wasn’t alone in my body changes (ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET by Judy Blume). Books helped me get through being a tween and teen–they helped me to stay alive, when I had thoughts of suicide. Books saved me.
So I’m completely confused at why the Wall Street Journal would post an article saying the opposite (click that link, go read that, and then come back here), that books about darker issues are inappropriate in any way for today’s teen. One of the books mentioned, RAGE by Jackie Morse Kessler, blew me away. In fact, I loved it so much that I blurbed it. And when I said, “RAGE is raw and real, a truly dark, honest look at self-harm and the teenage psyche. Kessler left me breathless.” I meant it. Jackie’s book is truly fantastic, and gives us a great avenue to discuss the issue of self-harm. The fact that Megan Cox Gurdon (the author of the WSJ article) actually insinuates that RAGE would make anyone want to self-harm disgusts me. It also tells me two things: 1. Ms Gurdon needs to read Jackie’s book again and again until she fully understands it, and 2. Ms. Gurdon clearly does not understand how a teenage brain works, and grossly underestimates your intelligence, Minions. Not only are you smart enough to know that a book like RAGE is showing you what NOT to do and why, you can figure it all out without someone crying out for censorship, thankyouverymuch. People like this make me crazy. We NEED books. Particularly dark issue books. So that we know that we’re not alone. So that we know we’re not a freak. So that we can find a shred of solace during some pretty scary times.
Jackie’s response is here – you should go read that. Then you should go read RAGE, if you’re interested in darker YA themes. And never let the censors win. This is your life, Minions. Live it.
Seriously? *raises eyebrow at self* THIS is what you call staying in touch with your Minions? You haven’t blogged in a friggin’ MONTH??? That’s crazy talk! Unforgivable! You’ll be lucky if the Minions haven’t crawled away into tiny dark holes to ignore you forever. Not that you haven’t been busy, but still. A month. Psshaw, Auntie Heather! Psshaw!
Minions, I know I’ve said it before, but your dear Auntie is absolutely sorry for the looooooooooooong silence on her blog. Time sometimes gets away with me – especially when I live half of my life inside my head, and inside other worlds. Worlds full of vampires and blood and monsters and teeth. Worlds with katanas and darkness and the hope that our hero will somehow survive the impossible. It’s distracting – very distracting – from the real world, but I’ve been there plenty too. And so I’ve been pretty distracted from blogging lately, but never (never ever ever, my Minions) am I distracted from you. You are always in my thoughts, always at the center of my shriveled up, black little heart, and I love you all more than I can say. So, with that, I give you…the past month of my life.
After accepting the Truman Readers Award, I had a few adventures with some of my favorite authors. First off, in early April, I attended (for the third year in a row – wooooooo, threepeat!) Book Battle at Pattonville Heights Middle School in Maryland Heights, MO. As always, it was EPIC! I got to hang with Minions, and even got to meet and hang out with the great and powerful James Dashner – author of THE MAZE RUNNER series and five-star general of the Dashner Army. After Book Battle we had a nice lunch, wherein James and I contemplated our eventual world domination. (It’s what writers do – we also forget to take pics of us together…as in this case.) And so a good day was had by all!
These Minions designed their team t-shirts with me in mind (no, really)!
Shortly after Book Battle, I took a little trip to a place called Rochester, NY, where I took part in something so incredible that words cannot possibly convey how cool it was (is!). I took part in TBF (otherwise known as Rochester Teen Book Festival). First off, let me say that the good folks at TBF know how to spoil authors rotten. Dinner, presents, accolades, and great company, followed by getting driven to the event in classic cars, partaking in a parade, walking up the red carpet to screaming fans, and that’s all just before the festival! Seriously, Rochester – how am I supposed to enjoy other festivals now?? It was amazing. And even more amazing was the fabulous Punching Bag panel I was on with A.S. King and Jackie Morse Kessler. We discussed bullying in every form – external/physical bullying, self-bullying (emotional), relationship bullying (by friends and boy/girlfriends).
Yep. That's us!
We had three panels and I’m not sure we got through any of them without at least one person tearing up. But it felt so good to share our experiences, and it was so amazing to connect with so many of you on that level. I positively adore A.S. and Jackie, and love their books, so you should totally give their stuff a try – if you like books that make you feel like someone understands how you feel, theirs totally do. AND! I have pics!
Our Fabulous Ride to the Festivities
The Fabulous Eric Luper Takes the Passenger Seat
A.S. King, Yours Truly, and Jackie Morse Kessler Riding in Style
The floor was lined with gold stars with our names on them!
Our Keepers: without them, A.S., Jackie, and I would have likely wandered off into parts unknown! (which is something else that authors often do...)
Since TBF, I’ve been dealing with some weird jaw issues. Apparently, I clench my jaw when I sleep, due to stress. So I kinda injured a joint and muscle in my jaw, and had to get on all this weird medication just to fix it. It’s almost all better now, but it was incredibly difficult to sleep there for a while. And that really messed with my ability to write, so I’m a bit behind on BLOODBOUND (which my incredibly patient editor has been amazing about). But I’m working hard on it now, so the second draft of that book should be done very soon (WOOT!).
In how-FANGtastic-is-this? news: My Italian publisher, Nord, just created this trailer for CoVT! Check it out: http://youtu.be/skZTlzRyamM (Sorry – tried to embed it, but the video refused to bend to my omnipotent will…er sumfin’.)
And DUDE. When’s the last time you stopped by www.VladTod.com or www.highschoolbites.com?? We now have Minion Horde membership cards, and a couple new Fang lines of awesomeness (including the adorable Fangette). It’s crazy how big you’ve grown, Minion Horde. You do your Auntie Heather very, very proud.
And…she promises not to leave you all alone for another month.
Hey…who painted all the coffins purple??? And what happened to our spiderweb curtains??
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