Category: Blog

Shards Blog Tour Recap, Part 2

6/29/2015

Huge thanks to everyone for a great blog tour for Shards! There's still a little time left to enter the tour giveaway, so check out our stops with the awesome hosts below to get your entries in!

Jo Ann Schneider graciously interviewed us in spite of the fact that we beat her to a great title...

Only using colors and sounds, describe how you feel about mornings.

Matt: Blackness. Moans of despair. Clock radio talking. Clock radio smashing. The deranged laughter of one running freely away. Light blue sky. Resigned sighs of someone remembering responsibility and getting ready for work.

Fiona: Clock radio display red, whining mumbles about how I want to cuddle with Matt forever, Coffee with just enough milk brown.

If you got to pick the shape of a stress ball (one of those squishy ones that you can squeeze in your hand when your plot isn't working) what would it be?

Matt: I could really go for one in the shape of my enemies heads on a pike. I mean, I'd have to get some enemies first, but it would be really cool.

Fiona: I've actually been trying to find one in the shape of the companion cube from Portal. I can't believe they don't make them. I rely on stress balls, but I don't really project what's frustrating me onto them. I wouldn't want one in the shape of something I feel like crushing. They're more like little friends who don't mind siphoning off my aggression so I don't have to deal with it. A companion cube would be perfect to attach to and anthropomorphize in a creepily unwarranted manner... (Click here to read the full interview)

Intisar Khanani interviewed us alongside the stars of The Prospero Chronicles, Ben and Mina. They're rightly not too happy with us...

To start us off, can you sum up your novel in a tweet? (140 characters or less)

Fiona: Prospero High crawls with Shards, a more dangerous breed of shapeshifters who mean to destroy Ben and Mina’s friendship. #YA #Horror #SciFi

Matt: It’s got monsters, flamethrowers, high school intrigue & a crazy guy with a hook. What more do we need to say?

Not much! This series is definitely high on my TBR list!

So, Fiona and Mina, how did you two meet and how long ago was it?

Fiona: It feels like Mina’s been around my whole life, but it’s only been a few years. We’ve been through a lot in that time (a full finished manuscript’s worth beyond Splinters and Shards, in fact). I found her digging through the clutter of her desk, looking for some detail of the Splinters’ activities that she couldn’t find in the clutter of her head. I knew I was going to have to drag her outside more than she’d like.

Matt and Ben?

Matt: I’ve always been a sucker for classic adventure and Ben’s about as classical a hero as they come. He’s honest and strong and can be a little sarcastic when he needs to be. I kind of felt bad for the guy when he auditioned for this story because of what we knew we were going to put him through, but he said he was up for anything, and I think he’s delivered.

I think it might just be the role of the author to take perfectly nice people and do terrible things to them… just to see if they hold up!

What was your first impression of each other?

Fiona: I knew she was special. I knew she was a hero who could stand out among interchangeable cyphers.
Mina: I no longer believe in the existence of a merciful creator.

Matt: I thought Ben was honest, handsome and strong. Basically everything I hated in high school, so I knew he’d be a great foil for Mina.

Ben: Hey!

Mina, don’t give up hope! I mean, at least I’m hoping that you’ll be okay at the end of the series…

Fiona and Mina, what’s the most embarrassing thing that’s happened between you two?

Fiona: Well, there was that Valentine’s poem we wrote together. Mina doesn’t know I helped her with it, of course. That’s not until Slivers, though. How about that time I had to get her arrested just so she’d sit still for our last character interview? (Click here to read the full interview)

Short and Sweet Reviews gave us... well, a short and very sweet review...

We’re back to Prospero, California with Shards, the second book in the Prospero Chronicles following Splinter Hunter Mina and her best friend Ben as they try to navigate high school and protect the town from Splinters who are body snatching the residents. Since the events in Splinters, we find Mina and Ben in a precarious agreement with the Splinter Counsel. The agreement states that as long as they keep quiet about Splinters and stay within Prospero’s limits; the counsel won’t go after them and their friends and families. But the Splinter Counsel is the least of their worries, as they discover a more superior race of Splinters called ‘Slivers’ or ‘Shards’ who are out to start a war by attacking humans and splinters alike.

Like the first book, the chapters alternate POVs between Ben and Mina, enabling readers to immerse themselves into what the characters think and feel. I had so much fun reading Shards and in my opinion it was even better than the first. With the world building and characters’ foundation already set reading this book was a breeze. I love that there’s no more secrets between Mina’s group of friends and the splinters. There are no more fake pleasantries or cordialness, and that’s where the fun begins…when Mina and her friends stop being scared and fight back. The new characters Greg and Julia were a hoot and who knew Haley had so much in her! She definitely surprised me the most... (Click here to read the full review)

Offbeat Vagabond gave me the chance to talk about writing a pair of partner protagonists...

On Writing a Partnership

Matt and I get a lot of questions about how we manage to write books as partners. Not so much about how we manage to write books about partners. The two go pretty beautifully together to make the stories we tackle together different from what one of us could do alone.

The majority of YA books follow a single perspective. The majority of fiction in general has a single, easily identifiable protagonist, even if other characters are heard from. There's nothing at all wrong with that, and Matt and I both love telling stories that way on our own, but The Prospero Chronicles takes a different technique.

This series is about Ben and Mina. Mina and Ben. They're partners, friends, and opposites in many ways. They get equal time to tell things from their sides, and they both do it as earnestly as if they were the only hero to hear from. Making a male and female character literally equal protagonists is an example we really like encouraging, but there's more to it than that. As a pair, they're able to add complexity to a lot of elements of the story compared with what we'd be able to see through one of them alone.

We get to see what it's like in Mina's head, with all her neurological abnormalities and all the terrible things she's been through, sympathize with her, and then be reminded from Ben's side how almost inexcusably awful she can sometimes be to the people close to her. We get her hardened, pragmatic view of the invading Splinters and what should be done about them, and then Ben reminds us to shake off the jaded blinders, and see what's being done to the people of Prospero with fresh eyes... (Click here to read the whole guest post)

And, finally, Girls With Books gave their review and let us share some profiles of the new Splinter suspects Ben and Mina face in the new school year...

Courtney Haddad

Age: 17

Interests: Journalism and Politics. Senior Class President and Editor of the Prospero High student newspaper.

What's up with her lately: She seems to be the target of some unusually brazen Splinter attacks. These could be a trick to win her The Network's sympathy and confidence. Or she may simply be the first victim of changing Splinter tactics.

Greg Nguyen and Julie Kaplan

Age: 16

Interests: Each other, mainly. Julie's also a star student with a particular fondness for History and unusual fashion, while Greg favors conspiracy theories and breaking into cars.

What's up with them lately: They're back from a summer trip out of Prospero and not altogether thrilled with the changes to the Network's lineup in their absence. They're long-standing members, but can the other rebel humans really trust anyone who drops off the map so often, when the Splinters need only a few hours to replace a new victim?

Madison Holland

Age: 16

Interests: Cheerleading. Friends. Boys. The ins and outs of the social order of Prospero High... (Click here to read all the profiles, plus the Girls With Books review!)

Thanks again, everyone!

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Shards Blog Tour Recap, Part 1

6/14/2015

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With Shards, book 2 of The Prospero Chronicles, launching this Tuesday, we're almost halfway through the blog tour! Big thanks to all our hosts so far:

The first chapter tease and giveaway are still live here!

And here :)

Adrienne Monson got us talking about heroes vs. villains and the authors we look up to...

1: Describe your book in one sentence.

Fiona: The shapeshifting Splinters that infest Prospero answer Ben and Mina’s resistance with some particularly horrible new tricks.

Matt: Shapeshifters, serial killers, urban legends and the vicious cycle of being a teenager surrounded by lies: this book has it all.

2: What’s your favorite music to listen to while you write?

Fiona: It depends on what I’m writing, Matt and I have a pretty weird, long playlist for The Prospero Chronicles, but mostly I listen to alternative rock along the lines of Rise Against to get me in an epic kind of mood, and emo pop like A Day to Remember to get me to open up with my characters. Plus a few of Mina’s major anthems in my head are P!nk’s “Please Don’t Leave Me,” Kelly Clarkson’s “Behind These Hazel Eyes,” and Adam Lambert’s “Whataya Want From Me?” Oh, and the bad guy of Shards is all “Enter Sandman.”

Matt: Again, as with Fi, it depends on what I’m writing. My last few projects, both with Fiona and on my own have had me listening to an odd mix of disco, one hit wonders, 80’s hair metal, pop from the last 30 years and Marilyn Manson. Eclectic tastes for eclectic stories.

3: Do you like writing heroes or villains more?

Fiona: This is strange to say, considering how much I love reading and watching a good villain, but so far my favorites to write have been the heroes. One of my favorite parts of the process in fact is really getting into the head of the POV character, figuring out what they want, what their limits are, what makes them different. Shards does have my favorite villain I’ve worked on so far, though. I can’t give away his name yet, but he’s uniquely suited to test those heroes’ limits, and the rules for writing him were basically, once he hits the page, he doesn’t leave until he can make me uncomfortable. That was fun.

Matt: I’m going to go with an obvious answer for a less obvious reason and say I enjoy writing villains more. I don’t particularly like writing them because I think evil is just more fun and uninhibited, rather, I enjoy the challenge that villains offer. I can never just write someone who is evil for the sake of evil. I have to get in their head and understand why they’re doing what they’re doing and write them as if they are the heroes of their own story that we’re just not seeing (though, going by my own recent yet-to-be-published projects, you actually will see them). I enjoy the challenge of making the readers uncomfortable, even sympathetic toward following a villainous character, where at the end of the day you may actually find yourself rooting for them if it weren’t for the fact that they kinda want to take over the world... (Click here to read the full interview)

And then Ann Marie Meyers and I talked about following your dreams...

AMM: Welcome Fiona

FJRT: I’m very pleased to be here. Thanks for having me, Ann Marie.

AMM: My pleasure. When you were a child, did you ever dream of being a writer?

FJRT: Not exactly. I dreamed about being an actress, or a mermaid, or Jane Goodall. I just was a writer. Writing was a compulsion long before it was an ambition. I was always writing, diaries, poetry, fanfics, fragments of original ideas, unsent letters, but I wasn't interested in sharing most of it. It felt very personal (and frankly wasn't worth sharing, as anyone who's been through the early years of writing can no doubt imagine). I didn't find the confidence in what I had to say or how well I could say it and set my sights on becoming an author until my mid-teens.

AMM: Well, I’m certainly glad you found the confidence to go after your dream. Tell me, what do you think was your main inspiration for The Prospero Chronicles?

FJRT: Matt and I were looking for a project to do together, and we wanted to bring our adult Horror and Sci-Fi obsessions into a YA story. We wanted to write about a girl and a boy with equal focus, partly because it's something that's not often done and we're both big advocates of equality and breaking down gender barriers, and partly to make the writing easy to share between us. The biggest influences in the beginning were The X-Files, as inspiration for the partnership between Ben and Mina, and The Thing, as inspiration for the Splinters themselves.

AMM: That’s so interesting! I always love to learn what inspires ideas in authors. What’s it like working as a team with your husband?

FJRT: Matt and I are a team even when we're not. We discuss basically everything about our writing and bounce ideas back and forth all the time. When we write together, we hash out a concept and outline over the course of several lunches and evening walks, and then each week we talk out the details of the next two chapters, each write one, and swap them on the weekend and give each other notes so we stay on track with our general idea.

AMM: Love it! Sounds like a true partnership. What are the pros and cons? And do you prefer writing solo or duo?

FJRT: The big pros are that when we pool our efforts into one project, we can finish a manuscript much faster, we both get to throw ourselves completely into the brainstorming process since we're both in the mindset of it being our project, and because our writing strengths are very complementary, it's easier for us to fill out all the important aspects of a story well.

As for cons, of course there's having to agree on a story we're both passionate enough about, and as much as we love each other, our giant artist egos really crave the chance to take sole credit for something every now and then. And sometimes we find ourselves leaning on each other's complementary strengths too much, rather than working on our own weaknesses... (Click here to read the full interview)

And Matt shared the challenges of writing a sequel with Margo Bond Collins...

On the Fun Challenges of Writing Our Very First Sequel

By Matt Carter

From the very start, Fiona and I knew that we were going to make a series out of Splinters. The world and the number of ideas of what we had to take place in it was too vast and great to just be contained within one book. So with some time and a lot of scribbled-through notebooks we wound up with a rough outline, then a pretty thorough outline of the series as it will be written. It will be big, it will be fun, it will even be heartbreaking (we hope). When we wrote Splinters, we knew we had a solid first act, a book that could stand on its own yet would still leave this door wide open to further adventures of Ben & Mina in their creepy little town of Prospero.

When it came time to jump into the second book in The Prospero Chronicles series, Shards, we were ready, but we knew that there were going to be some new challenges that we would have to face head on.

The first, and biggest problem we wanted to avoid, was preventing the book from being more of the same, which would have been easy to do. At the end of Splinters, protagonists Ben and Mina are trapped in the small town by the titular, shapeshifting aliens who mean to keep a close eye on them. Trapping everyone in a pressure cooker like this with the same characters antagonizing them would have made it easy to fall into the old traps of the first book, so we forced ourselves to go out of our way to give them newer, more difficult problems to have to work through. So we spend most of the first book with the Splinters attacking people physically? Fine, now we’ll have them try to destroy our heroes mentally, or socially; give them some problems that can’t just be fixed with brute force. Our heroes have proven themselves apt at handling and taking down this particular breed of monsters? We’ll introduce some new creepy-crawlies they haven’t seen, forcing them to stay on their toes and have to adapt as the readers no doubt will... (Click here to read the full post)

And Carol Ann Kauffman shared another glimpse of that first chapter.

Thanks again to everyone! Two more days to release :)

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Gender Bending, Jalapenos, and Keeping Your Zombies Their Freshest: Blog Tour Recap

5/10/2014

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In case you can't tell from that title, the last few days have been an AWESOME leg of the Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of) blog tour.

If you still haven't entered the tour giveaway, you can do so on Housewife Blues and Chihuahua Stories or Fictional Candy below, and if you'll be in So Cal in a week's time and would like to celebrate the release with me, you can RSVP and invite your friends here.

And, of course, if you don't have your copy of Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of) yet...

You can order it here!

Now, on to the tour spots!

F.J.R. Titchenell - Of Zombies and Jalapenos

There’s no better way to start than summer than a Cinco de Mayo. Actually it’s required. You can’t get to June without passing through May, and Cinco is definitely on the road. But there’s also no better way to start a writing career than with a book. Maybe one called Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of). That’s where F.J.R. Titchenell comes in, who I’m going to call Fiona because that’s her bloody name. That confused me forever on FaceBook — that FJR stuff. WTH? Well, I’ll find out.

We actually didn’t get the interview done on Cinco de Mayo. We were otherwise engaged. The following exchange occurred Seis de Mayo. The day after. Late in the afternoon.

Johnny: So what the hell? What’s with the initials?

Fiona: Don’t talk so loud.

Johnny: Ouch. You either... and don’t duck the question.

Fiona: Okay, fine. They stand for Fiona Jane Robin, and Titchenell is my maiden name. I kept it as a pen name as sort of my compromise on the whole changing my name or not changing my name marriage debate. Husband’s name for legal and personal use, father’s name for professional use. Problem solved. Plus I already had some short stories out under Titchenell when I got married, and unlike Carter, the Titchenell name is nearly dead and has never been famous yet, so it’s really easy to Google without finding a bunch of stuff you’re not looking for. Very useful for an author.

Johnny: But what’s with the initials?

Fiona: Getting to that. My mother insisted on giving me two middle names, because multiple middle names are common in Australia, where she grew up, and she didn’t have any middle names and was jealous. My father wanted me to be an author right from the beginning, so the multiple middle names grew on him when he connected the idea with J.R.R Tolkien. Hence “J.R” as my middle initials. How could I not use the initials as my author name when that’s what I was given them for, and then in spite of everything we know about how parents’ plans necessarily go awry, I actually did grow up to be an author?

Johnny: Eh, my head. You don’t talk so loud.

Fiona: ’Scuse me for gathering the wherewithal to answer a question. How much did you have, anyway?

Johnny: I remember shots. Did I eat a worm at the bottom of a bottle? I don’t remember much after that.

Fiona: You’re asking me? I’m a lightweight… relatively. Did we split that whole bottle? Feel dead on my feet. Or at least like something dead on its feet scooped out most of my brain.

Johnny: Speaking of zombies, tell me about your book, what’s it called?

Fiona: I told you yesterday! Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of)!

Johnny: Ha! Gotcha! Wouldn’t that be Van Helsing?

Fiona: No, he’s a Vampire slayer. Big difference... (Click here to read the full interview)

Who or What Has Been Your Main Source of Support in Writing about Topics Most Girls Would Think Gross?

Forgive me.

Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of) is a lighthearted and humorous adventure, but this topic compels me to get serious for a moment.

The breaking of gender barriers is quite probably the one issue that I'm most passionate about in the world. I believe people should be who they are without fear or embarrassment over failing to fill a pre-assigned role.

I believe being a good person is the same thing no matter what kind of body you were born into, and that arbitrarily giving people more or less opportunity or credit for their compassion, courage, intelligence, strength, etc. because of other attributes beyond their control is one of the most unjust and harmful habits humanity has.

Art plays a huge role in perpetuating or challenging assumptions about how things are supposed to be, so just as I'd never assume that my future daughters have to love dolls and sons love cars, I'll never write with the assumption that female characters can't fight zombies or that female readers can't enjoy reading about them... (Click here to read the full guest post)

What Was The Process of Writing Your First Book Like? How Did It Feel to Hold the ARC in Your Hands?

Greetings from House-Sale Land! No news on that front. There's no life like it!

On a totally non-posting-related note, today I have the privilege of welcoming agent and publisher-mate F.J.R. Titchenell to the blog as she celebrates the release of her debut novel Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of)! One of the wonderful perks of being an author is having the occasional ARC come my way, and I have to say, I loved reading Fiona's book! CotVFZS(TIKo) is fun and fast-paced, and the characters are strong and quirky. If you like YA and you like Zombie books, you HAVE to check it out.

I featured the cover on the blog as it was revealed in November of 2013...and you can read more about the book HERE.

So the question I posed to Fiona was this: What was the process of writing your first book like? How did it feel to hold the ARC?
Here's her response:

Like many authors, I'd been writing a long time before I finished the manuscript that would be my debut novel. I'd been writing fiction my whole life, and with serious intent to publish for about five years before I started Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of).

I had some short stories published, and I had some earlier novels that I either decided weren't publication-worthy or couldn't get picked up at the level I was aiming for, so Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of) wasn't my first experience with completing a novel-length manuscript. It was the first time I was able to create something I was proud of without an insane number of drafts, though, the first time I started thinking, "I might actually be getting the hang of this," and, of course, that first amazing time I caught the interest of someone in the industry, the awesome Jennifer Mishler.

The process of writing the book itself was a whirlwind. I went from idea to query letter in seven months, and I wrote the first draft in an almost entirely linear fashion, which is rare for me. I usually can't resist jumping forward to my favorite parts, but Zombie Slayer kept dragging me straight ahead with it... (Click here to read the full guest post)

Zombies and Suprbat - Hell Yeah!

Confessions Of The Very First Zombie Slayer (that I know of). Yeah, it's a mouthful. I wasn't sure of what to expect with this book. The blurb sounds awesome, right? Well, no worries, the book followed suit!

The book starts innocuously enough. It's a co-ed Scouts camping trip. Lot's of boy-girl drama, and Cassie long ago figured out she liked hanging with the boys more. She's not a frilly girly girl, she gets down and plays paintball with her buddies. And it's a rousing game of paintball that starts this story. You wouldn't think a paintball could kill someone, but it depends on where they're shot, right? And somehow, that person comes back. Cassie is right there, and she kills them... again. Yeah, that all seemed a little odd for me. In fact, if I'm honest, the first 100 pages or so weren't my favorite. The book is written in first person, which I have no problem with. But it took me a while to get a handle on the fact that the book takes place three years in the past, and Cassie is writing in her journal, basically speaking to the reader. There are some really traumatic things that happen right away, and I just didn't feel the emotion from them. But no worries, my apocalypse loving friends, that changes.

The majority of the book is a cross country trip. It goes fast, the book and the the trip. You get to know the characters, and yes - you lose some. Pretty serious characters, too. Hey, this is the apocalypse - we aren't all going to live!! Friends are made, old friendships are renewed, pacts are reinforced. And well, the group size dwindles. But there is a bright spot in all of that, aside from Cassie. And that bright spot is named Norman. Norman... he's a tough nut to crack. I had to wonder, is he insane, or pretending to be insane? Is he on the verge of cracking, or is this how he normally is? Either way, he has a wicked sense of humor at times, and he really serves well in the purpose of lightening up some of the more tense moments. But Normal also has a more sensitive side. He's not unaffected by everything. I mean, these are fifteen and sixteen year old kids, after all... (Click here to read the full review)

Guest Column: Fresh Zombies

Today we're going to hear from F.J.R. Titchenell, author of the upcoming YA novel "Confessions of The Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know Of)." She's going to talk to us about the challenges of keeping zombie fiction new and exciting:

With all the zombie-related fiction out now, how do you make them seem fresh?

It's true, everyone does seem to be zombie obsessed lately, myself included. As with any trend, lots of zombie stories run together, following all the same tropes and rehashing the same material.

Thanks to the significant lead time in publishing, I had no idea while I was writing Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of) just how big this whole zombie thing was going to get by the time release day rolled around. I'm not one to jump on a bandwagon, certainly not if I don't have something new in mind to contribute, but with all the zombie fiction in existence both before and since I wrote Zombie Slayer, I still see something missing from all there is to choose from.

Cassie’s story is that something.

The vast majority of zombie fiction is written by men, about male protagonists, for a primarily male audience. That's not to say that there aren't female zombie-fic lovers -- I'm proud beyond words to be part of a healthy generation of she-geeks who don't fear the icky bits -- but we continue to be mostly an afterthought.
What zombie fiction there is that's written with a female audience in mind, particularly a teenage female audience, tends to be either unrelentingly depressing dystopia, or sentient zombie romance that isn't particularly zombie-ish.

Now, I'm a fan of a broad spectrum of horror. I like dark stuff, including serious zombie fiction, but zombies of the unromantic and non-sentient variety also have a lot of potential for silliness and humor that's only been widely explored in R-rated guy-oriented comedies.

I wanted to bring the fun of zombie slaying to new zombie geeks, especially girls... (Click here to read the full guest post)

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Heroines, Zombies, and Vegemite: Blog Tour Recap

5/3/2014

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Well, it's been a big week for me and Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of)!

The release party is all set for May 17th, 2:00pm-4:00pm, at Barnes & Noble Fullerton. You can join the Facebook event here to keep aware of any updates. Shares and RSVPs make me do happy dances!

The book will be available all over on Tuesday and is already available on Amazon!

Click here to get your copy!

In the meantime, if you've missed any stops on the blog tour so far, you can catch up below. Most of them include a chance to enter the giveaway!

10 Things You Didn't Know About F.J.R. Titchenell

1: The first zombie movie I ever saw was Shaun of the Dead.

2: Minus the zombies, my husband and I actually did most of the road trip the characters of Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of) take. We went even further, all the way to Maine.

3: I have dual American and Australian citizenship. My mother is Australian.

4: Yes, I like vegemite... (You can read the full list here)

The Creation of Cassie Fremont

At the time when the idea first came to me for Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of), I'd spent the last three years working on The Changeling Saga, a paranormal romance-y YA low fantasy that I was convinced was going to be my breakout. I was utterly in love with it, and it did have elements that I'm still proud of, but it was a pretty by-the-numbers fantasy epic/paranormal romance story, and I was writing it while both those trends were taking a major decline. Several waves of agent rejection letters had already drilled this truth into me, and I was just beginning to come to terms with the fact that I would probably need a new project sooner rather than later.

Even in those days, while writing a very standard fantasy story, I wasn't someone who would or could write a standard golly-gee romantic and naive heroine. Audrey from The Accidental Changeling was a jaded, sarcastic little con artist, and I think the biggest problem the series had, other than being ill-timed and a generally rough early work, was that, while Audrey and her world were both decently fleshed out, they were smothering each other. I kept having to come up with increasingly convoluted reasons why she kept letting herself get caught up in the manipulative mentor's master plan and the two love interests' lifelong pissing match instead of saying, "Screw this, I'm not playing anymore."

Her common sense limited the standard tropes I could embrace, while the tropes I couldn't avoid really limited her chances to be herself.

Lucky for me, I'd also spent those three years delving into full-on horror geekery, and my habit for fantasy was beginning to feel more like a childhood relic than who I really was.

That's when Cassie came along... (You can read the full article here)

Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (And Its Author)

Welcome! Tell us about yourself, as a person, and as a writer. As a person? I'm a pretty boring, happily married, overachieving bookworm and all around geek. I look forward to every moment I spend with my husband, writing together or otherwise, and I wait all year for Halloween. As a writer, I'm sure all those things come through. I write speculative YA, sometimes funny, sometimes dark, usually at least a little of both with a side of love. I live for stories and what they make people feel.

How did you become interested in writing? My life has always been about stories and books. My earliest memories are of the reading circle my parents used to take me to when I was little. I started making up my own stories at the same time I was learning to read. It took me until my late teens to feel confident enough to share any fiction I'd put any real heart into, though. Until then, I spent a while trying out other art forms that didn't make me feel quite so exposed, like theater and music, but they were never a substitute.

Explain the plot of Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I know Of). Well, Cassie becomes the first zombie slayer by accident and happenstance when she sees the first zombie rise and, because she's a geek, instinctively smashes its brain. She survives the apocalypse because she's being kept in a holding cell by the very confused cops, and when the last traces of organization are gone, she escapes to find her friends barricaded in the resort where their parents would have been... if there were any of their parents left. Most of her friends. Lis is missing, stranded in New York City where she was visiting her father. And "friends" is a loose term for some of the group that's left with Cassie in Hollywood. With nowhere else to go, together they embark on an epic road trip across zombie-infested America to find their lost friend, and along the way, they have to learn to get along, keep their sanity (and sense of humor!), and start their lives over. Cassie and her best friend, Norman, can definitely use the chance to see each other in new light.

The beginning of the book is quite shocking (to me, at least!). How did you manage to keep such a lighthearted tone for your main character in such a dark situation? As my theater teacher used to say, comedy and tragedy are two sides of the same coin. If someone else slips on a banana peel, that's comedy, if we slip on a banana peel ourselves, that's tragedy. When we see pain, we either want to cry, or we want to laugh, or both. It's a twisted defense mechanism we have, and that Cassie has a lot of, and as a writer, you have a lot of power over which reaction to invite... (You can read the full interview here)

Book Review: Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of)

With a lot of young adult zombie thrillers the author tries to do a little too much and sometimes things get a bit convoluted. With this book, F.J.R. Titchenell seems to dial back the extra plot lines and spends her time focusing on the characters. To be honest, at times she dials things back a little too far and I felt like I was reading just another zombie book that did not offer me anything unique, but just as I began to feel that way she would fix it and get back on track.

The book is written from a first-person viewpoint and in the style of a running memoir or journal. That is something you don’t see all the time, and it worked rather well. Cassie, the main character, has a lot of spunk and she has an edge to her that works well within the confines of the story. As the zombie outbreak gains steam and she and her friends are thrust into survival mode as they try to make it from California to New York to rescue a family member, Cassie has to make some tough decisions. She also has to deal with trying to keep the group rolling along with as little tension as possible. At the beginning of the story a character known as The Boy Scout takes charge of the group, using is rather obsessive Boy Scout training to try and keep them all safe. He knows what he is doing for the most part, but he still buckles under the pressure from time to time... (You can read the full review here)

Blog Tour & Giveaway: Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of)

Today we have a guest blogger with us, author F.J.R. Titchenell. I hope you enjoy getting to know more about her debut novel Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of) from Jolly Fish Press . This book is a great ride!

Why zombies? I never actually made a conscious decision to write a zombie story. Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of) just popped into my head one morning, the whole first chapter materialized in a few hours, and I knew I had to follow it.

I already loved zombies, as big brainless targets for silly action, and as a foundation for stories both light and dark about how characters live in a world without the structure and civilization we know.

It wasn’t until I started writing the book that I realized how much teenage girls have been left out of the fun side of zombies. The grim side has been well covered in YA, but zombie comedies tend to be more grown up guy-oriented, and I wanted to share that half of the zombie equation with new zombie geeks, especially girls.

Have you always wanted to write for a YA audience? Was there anything you felt was harder or easier once you started?Apart from a brief time in college when the novelty of adulthood led me to try adult contemporary fiction, yes, I’ve always been a YA person. Those are the books that cemented my love of books in general and helped me through some of my toughest times, so those are the kinds of books I wanted to create.

Characterization got a lot easier for me once I started getting the hang of things. That was always a big concern for me, getting a feel for who I’m writing about, and I’d call it one of my strengths now.

Outlines, on the other hand, have remained surprisingly hard for me. I’m an outline person. I like to have a plan, I like technical details, and I’m one of those annoying people always predicting how storytelling conventions will compel other people’s stories to end, yet when I sit down to lay out the outlines for my own books, I spend an embarrassing amount of time wrestling with the blank page... (You can read the full interview here)

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To Negatively Review or Not to Negatively Review? This Author and Reader's Infinitive-Splitting Perspective

12/7/2013

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Whether or not it’s right to give negative book reviews is a topic I’ve seen debated among bloggers with surprising heat. As a reader, author, and blogger of (mostly positive) reviews, I figured I ought to weigh in here.

Brace yourselves or click away, it’s lit rant time!

Quite frankly, I think the fact that this debate exists smacks of the worst of what my generation has to offer, and as proudly as I’ll defend all things youthful and modern much of the time, this assumption that making positive feedback unconditional can do anything but render it meaningless makes me want to never, ever stop apologizing.

(Take that, infinitive!)

I’ll admit I’ve only been on the reader’s side of this specific issue so far. My first novel has not yet hit even advance reviewer’s desks, and I know that when it does, part of me will be praying that the ones who hate it will somehow forget to mention it to the general public. I know that when the first bad reviews do rear their heads, there will be tears and tantrums (private ones, safely muffled by my bathroom door).

But I also know, more than I want the bad reviews to go unnoticed, I want the good reviews to be real. I want people to say they loved my book because they did, not because they want to get some blog hits out of the hours they spent slogging through it and believe love is the only acceptable form a review can take. I want the good reviews to be something that future readers can trust, not the anemic, lukewarm, painfully polite praise I’ve heard for books I’ve then found to be every imaginable level of awful.

I don’t ever want to want to have to wonder if that’s what I am.

So why is my average book review rating on this blog a B+ then? I couldn’t believe that figure when I added it up.

I consider myself a fairly picky reader. As both a writer and an English major, I tend to read for flaws and patterns more than most. I analyze. I like to be able to explain why something does or doesn’t work for me. Knowing how the tricks are done sometimes makes it hard for me to enjoy a book that’s just by-the-numbers competent and okay. I want something special that makes me want to think and talk about it for weeks. Every new book I open, I’m hoping for the next Harry Potter or Hunger Games. I want to be blown away, and I rarely am.

Me, giving away a B+ on average? That couldn’t be right. I spent some time digging through my reviews and what I must have been thinking at the time, and the answer surprised me.

Am I dishonest? Are my ratings inflated by a subconscious fellow-author-coddling instinct? No, at least, not in the way you might think. It’s true that I often read books that are a little outside my usual field of interest because I’ve had some contact with the author or was intrigued by his/her social media platform. When this is the case, I do feel the weight of often being one of the earliest reviewers, one whose words may actually make an appearance when future potential readers consider the book, and I’m extra careful not to let myself take whatever problems I have with the genre in general out on this innocent book and author in particular.

It’s not their fault I decided to take the plunge, knowing that I’m not much of a title romance/tech thriller/what-have-you buff. I remind myself that a target audience exists that I am not necessarily part of, and I do my best to assess as fairly and objectively as I can how well the book does what it sets out to do.

But these occasions when the grade I consider fair may exceed my personal satisfaction with a book aren’t the real reason for my high average.

I’ve realized my average is high because I’m a picky reader.

I read slowly, absorbing every detail of story and prose I can. I write, blog, and work a day job, so my reading time is very carefully scheduled and rationed, enough to keep me sharp, up-to-date in the world of fiction, and well-stocked with potential influence and inspiration, but not enough to become an excuse not to do whatever I’m urgently supposed to be doing.

I do not spend my reading time lightly. I do often find myself finishing an okay book and giving it an okay grade because I invested a lot of time hoping it would turn out better than okay and then decided I’d come too far to cut my losses. I’d rather read one okay book than twenty okay first chapters. But when it becomes clear to me that the book I’m reading is worse than okay, nine times out of ten I put it down and go back to looking for something great.

And I don’t review books I haven’t finished.

So how does a book pry a negative review out of me? Three ways.

1: By being so hilariously bad that I get enough unintentional enjoyment out of it to make me want to read it all.

2: By convincing me I like it for most of the ride and then having an unforgivable ending.

3: By being so wildly popular or well known among people I have a lot in common with that I feel compelled to know what the fuss is all about, from beginning to end, even after I can tell I don’t like it. This is the most frequent way.

So there you have it. Yes, I believe in negative reviews. But it’s not my job to read everything there is to read so I can police its quality. I'm not a full time reviewer. I review because I read, not the other way around. I don’t have the time or desire to read vast amounts of what I don’t like. If I happen to finish a book I feel deserves a negative review for one of the above reasons, you’ll most certainly get to read about it here.

The rest of the time, I’m much happier sharing what I discover of the good and the great that fiction has to offer.

Agree? Disagree? Comments are always welcome! Or keep up with my fictional musings by joining me on Facebook, on Twitter, or by signing up for email updates in the panel on the right!

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Confessions of the One and Only F.J.R. Titchenell (That I Know of) now available via email!

8/25/2013

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Hey, everyone.

I've added a signup sheet so that you can now get notifications of new posts on Confessions of the One and Only F.J.R. Titchenell (That I Know of) delivered directly to your email.

The signup sheet shall sit there in the right hand column evermore, waiting for attention, but for today, I'm blowing it up big and pretty in a post of its own and turning on the puppydog eyes.

If you enjoy my snarky reviews, author guests, literary rants, and lists of the best and worst of pop culture, it would mean the world to me if you'd sign up below. You'll never have to miss one again!

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Liebster Award: 11 Fun Facts about Me and the Next Nominees

4/17/2013

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First, thanks go to Yelena Casale for tagging me for the Liebster Award. Okay, it’s not so much an award as it is a chain letter for bloggers, but it looks like fun, so why not?

If I tagged you for this, and the tag was unwelcome, please forgive and ignore me!

Here goes:

11 Fun Facts about Me:

1: My mother is Australian, and I was raised with dual citizenship. Sadly, I think my papers are now out of date.

2: I was homeschooled from birth until college, which I started full-time at the age of 15. I graduated just after I turned 20.

3: My husband and I are both writers and have been since childhood, but we met in a music theater class, where he talked the teacher into letting me sing “Aldonza” for the final, the first of many times he’s been my hero.

4: Before we were married, we took a summer off from school and quit our jobs to drive from California to Maine and back. It took us exactly three weeks.

5: I’m an obsessive Harry Potter fan. It was my first serious fandom and is still the one to which I compare all others.

6: I’m a food lover and will eat almost anything, but I hate liquorice with a passion.

7: I make all my own bread from a sourdough culture I keep active in my fridge. Its name is Peeta.

8: I love sewing, knitting, crochet, and crafting. I rarely do it, since writing takes up most of my time, but my husband and I do have a large and growing collection of amigurumi DC characters. I crochet them, and he decorates.

9: My jaw is partially, permanently dislocated from the surgical removal of my wisdom teeth. It can’t open or close without clicking.

10: If it weren’t for Christmas and the Renaissance Faire, I would be happy to live in a perpetual October.

11: I used to breed guinea pigs. Not on purpose. It started with a pair named Hedwig and Errol that the pet shop worker told me were both female, and it spiraled out of control from there. To top it off for you fellow Harry Potter fans out there, Hedwig turned out to be the male.

Answers to 11 Questions:

1: When did you start writing?

Answer: As soon as I learned how. I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t obsessed with storytelling.

2: Who is the one author you’d like to sit down with and talk if you could?

Answer: Well, if we’re in total fantasy mode here, Mary Shelly.

3: Who is your favorite fictional character?

Answer: That’s a tough one. I’ll have to go with The Joker. I love my villains, and he’s a great as villains come.

4: Beach house, country house, or city apartment?

Answer: Beach house and country house both hold a certain appeal for me, but I doubt my indoorsy husband would come along. Suburban house, please. A green yard, trick-or-treaters and the room to decorate for them, and city activities within easy driving distance.

5: What is your favorite time of year?

Answer: Fall, especially October. Pumpkins, cool days, and nights with things that go bump in them.

6: What is your favorite sport or fitness activity?

Answer: I’m not much for sports. Fitness is usually, at best, a necessary chore for me, but I am fond of archery and fencing.

7: What is one bad habit you have?

Answer: Other than neglecting my fitness? Spacing out and thinking about stories while people are talking to me.

8: Tea or coffee?

Answer: Coffee, and lots of it. Tea’s good too, but it’s no competition.

9: What is your favorite TV show?

Answer: Another really tough one. I think I’m going to have to go with Lost. No, Futurama. No, Gilmore Girls. No, wait! It’ll come to me….

10: If you could only own one book, what would it be?

Answer: Ouch, almost all my favorites are part of a series. I can’t pick just one Harry Potter book. The first Hunger Games book, maybe. Or Warm Bodies.

11: What is your favorite fruit?

Answer: Pineapple.

11 New Nominees:

My Pathway to Books

I Heart YA Books

Squibley’s Fiction Addiction

Adrienne Monson

Jenniffer Wardell

Teri Harman

Johnny Worthen

Amie Borst

Jennifer Griffith

Elsie Park

Elisabeth Wheatley

11 New Questions:

1: What fictional world would you be most willing to live in?

2: What verbal tic annoys you most?

3: If you could have one cancelled TV show resurrected, which one would it be?

4: If you had to have one currently running TV show cancelled, which one would it be?

5: What’s the most surreal thing you’ve ever witnessed?

6: What book do you think most urgently needs to be made into a movie that hasn’t been yet?

7: What’s the first book that really scared you?

8: What’s the first movie that really scared you?

9: What do you do to cheer yourself up when you really need it?

10: What’s the strangest question anyone (other than me) has asked you about your work?

11: What’s the answer to it?

The Liebster Rules:

1. The Liebster Award is given to bloggers by bloggers.
2. Each blogger should post 11 facts about himself / herself.
3. Each blogger should answer the 11 questions that are asked by the nominating blogger.
4. Choose 11 new bloggers to nominate for the Award and link to them in the post.
5. Create 11 new questions for your nominees.
6. Go back to their pages and tell them they’ve been nominated.
7. No tag backs.

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A Blog is Born!

1/28/2013

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Hi, everyone!

As authors do, I'm officially starting a blog right here on my homepage! Facebook and Goodreads followers, fear not, I will not be withdrawing from elsewhere on the web.

Stay tuned for regular musings on books, writing, and general geek culture, but for now, I'm announcing (as well as my newborn blog) my shiny new press release for Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of)! Check it out!

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Shards Blog Tour Recap, Part 2

Shards Blog Tour Recap, Part 1

Gender Bending, Jalapenos, and Keeping Your Zombies Their Freshest: Blog Tour Recap

F.J.R. Titchenell - Of Zombies and Jalapenos

Who or What Has Been Your Main Source of Support in Writing about Topics Most Girls Would Think Gross?

What Was The Process of Writing Your First Book Like? How Did It Feel to Hold the ARC in Your Hands?

Zombies and Suprbat - Hell Yeah!

Guest Column: Fresh Zombies

Heroines, Zombies, and Vegemite: Blog Tour Recap

10 Things You Didn't Know About F.J.R. Titchenell

The Creation of Cassie Fremont

Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (And Its Author)

Book Review: Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of)

Blog Tour & Giveaway: Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of)

To Negatively Review or Not to Negatively Review? This Author and Reader's Infinitive-Splitting Perspective

Confessions of the One and Only F.J.R. Titchenell (That I Know of) now available via email!

Liebster Award: 11 Fun Facts about Me and the Next Nominees

A Blog is Born!

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F.J.R. Titchenell - Of Zombies and Jalapenos

Who or What Has Been Your Main Source of Support in Writing about Topics Most Girls Would Think Gross?

What Was The Process of Writing Your First Book Like? How Did It Feel to Hold the ARC in Your Hands?

Zombies and Suprbat - Hell Yeah!

Guest Column: Fresh Zombies

10 Things You Didn't Know About F.J.R. Titchenell

The Creation of Cassie Fremont

Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (And Its Author)

Book Review: Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of)

Blog Tour & Giveaway: Confessions of the Very First Zombie Slayer (That I Know of)

Get updates & coupouns fromFiona J.R. Titchenell:

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