In Memorium, Ann C. Crispin 1950-2013

September 11, 2013September 9, 2013 / Susan O. / Leave a comment

Just barely a month ago, I was sitting on a panel next to writer Ann Crispin hashing out issues with the film, Star Trek: Into Darkness. I’d known she’d been battling cancer for some time, but I was surprised how well she seemed. I guess she was very good at hiding it, for she passed away on September 6, 2013, just 3 days after posting to her fans that she was not doing well after all. She was 63 years old.

Ann was a gifted science fiction and fantasy writer. She wrote Star Wars novels, V novels, the StarBridge series, and created novels and backstory for Pirates of the Caribbean, but her Star Trek novels, Yesterday’s Son, and later, Sarek, are often regarded as among the best Star Trek novels ever written; they are certainly in my top ten, and I’ve read hundreds. Ann knew and truly loved her material, and it showed in her clever and conscientious works. Earlier this year, she was named the 2013 Grandmaster by the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers.

A native of Connecticut, Ann served as Regional Director and later Vice-President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. She cofounded Writer Beware, a subgroup of the SFWA, to help writers avoid the myriad con artists and scams aimed at them, and prosecute the people running them. At her workshops she would drill into her students, “Money flows to the writer, never away. If someone is asking you for money up front to publish your work, run. It is a scam.”

Ann was a frequent guest at science-fiction conventions, often running workshops for writers, one of which I attended perhaps 15 years ago. Ann was a tough teacher and a tough editor, which was not unreasonable. Like Hollywood, the writing industry is a tough business, and it’s best to get the stars out of your eyes at the start. While I felt gifted for not getting her “You need to go back and take a class in basic grammar and sentence structure” speech, my hands shook for the next year with every word I put to paper. She helped greatly, but at the time it felt like getting pushed off a cliff.

Ann’s books will survive, but they are a shadow to such a brilliant and talented writer.

Love the Warriors series? Try some of these books…

September 10, 2013March 1, 2018 / Sharon Tyler / 3 Comments

Time Cat

Are you, or your child, a big fan of Erin Hunter’s Warriors series? There are many fans out there, which sometimes makes waiting for the next book pretty hard. So, while you are waiting for the next release, you might want take a look at some books that I think you might like because of your love of these warrior cat tales.

Time Cat: The Remarkable Journeys of Jason and Gareth by Lloyd Alexander is a classic in adventure fiction. In this tale Jason and his magic cat Gareth travel through time to visit countries all over the world during different periods of history.

Whittington by Alan Armstrong is about a feline descendant of Dick Whittington’s famous cat from English folklore. He appears at a rundown barnyard plagued by rats and restores harmony while telling his ancestor’s story.

The Tygrine Cat

The Tygrine Cat by Inbali Iserles follow Mati, a cat who is lost and alone. He seeks acceptance from a pack of feral cats at Cressida Lock, but to defeat the assassin on his trail, Mati must unlock the secret of his identity and learn to harness an ancient and deadly feline power.

Reserved for the Cat by Mercedes Lackey takes place in an alternate London in the year 1910. A penniless young dancer is visited by a cat who communicates with her mind to mind. Though she is certain she must be going mad, she is desperate enough to follow the cat’s advice to impersonate a famous Russian ballerina.

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett is about a talking cat, intelligent rats, and a strange boy that cooperate in a Pied Piper style scheme until they try to con the wrong town and are confronted by a deadly evil rat king.

Highway Cats

Highway Cats by Janet Taylor Lisle is the story about a group of mangy highway cats that is changed forever after the mysterious arrival of three kittens.

If you prefer getting caught up in another series, rater than a stand alone book, you might also want to read Redwall by Brian Jacques, Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins, The Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima, Lion Boy by Zizou Corder, Fablehaven by Brandon Mull, Guardians of Ga’Hoole by Kathryn Lasky, or Catwings by Ursula Le Guin.

As usual, there is no way to list all of the appropriate books here, I am sure I have left someone’s favorite out. If you have another recommendation of favorite that I missed, please mention it in a comment so other Warrior fans can read it too!

Sharon Reads: Weather Witch by Shannon Delany

September 5, 2013October 23, 2013 / Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

Weather Witch

Weather Witch by Shannon Delany is a young to new adult novel with a bit of a steam punk feel. In the New World rank is everything, and being deemed to carry some sort of magic is the worst curse of all. Jordan is from one of the highest ranked families in society, and she is celebrating her seventeenth birthday, a moment when she should have been clear of any suspicion of magic and ready to start planning marriage and her future. However, a back alley dealing leads to Jordan testing positive as a witch. She, and her family, lose rank and all respect in the society as Jordan is whisked away to be tested further and ‘made’ into a usable source of power. But the Maker is having trouble doing changing Jordan. Meanwhile, Jordan’s friend and romantic interest Rowen seems to be the only one of rank that has not given up on her and does everything he can to save her, while an escaped witch works to bring down the man and culture that made him an outcast.

Weather Witch is a more complicated story than I expected when I picked up the book, in a good way. I expected the standard fare of young adult finds out they are ‘special’ and both good and bad happen because of it. While there is a certain aspect of this here – Jordan is considered special – there is also deep world building and several related story lines running through the book as well. We get to see into the heart and personal life of the Maker, who without that insight would have simply been the bad guy. We get to see into the psyche of a good number of side characters as well. At times it felt like it would soon become overwhelming, for me it never crossed that line, rather it made me curious to see how everything would come together. I was not disappointed, well maybe in a couple twists but only because I liked the characters that I knew would no longer appear after certain moments. I could understand others getting confused by the voice changes and the incremental world building, but it really worked for me. I really enjoyed getting inside the head of Rowen, Jordan, the Maker, and even some servants to see the whole picture, rather than the limited perspective a single character might offer. I do not want to talk about the plot more, or give away any good stuff, because I found the book to be a surprising journey and would hate to ruin that for anyone.

I would recommend Weather Witch to readers that enjoy steam punk, coming of age tales, historical fiction, science fiction or fantasy, and simply reading something that feels fresh and new.l I think that young adults and adults would both enjoy the book, while the majority of main characters are of the teen set, the setting and political factions will keep everyone interested and turning the pages. Frankly, the only thing that really bothered me about the book was an ending that was obviously a set up for a sequel, and the knowledge that Stormbringer will not be released until January of 2014. I would give Weather Witch 4 stars.

This review was originally published on Sharon the Librarian.

Short Story Book List for Young Adults

August 29, 2013August 23, 2013 / Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

Summer is coming to a close, and we are running out of extra reading time. If you are looking for something that you can read in short bursts or get through rather quickly, but is still touching or highly entertaining you might want to check out one (or more) of these titles. Just remember, just because these books are in our young adult section, it does not mean that readers without a ‘teen’ in their age cannot get just as much out of these titles as the age group the publishers market them towards.

Zombies Vs. Unicorns

Zombies VS. Unicorns is a selection of short stories compiled by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier that deals with a question as old as time itself: What is better, strong, more awesome; the zombie or the unicorn? Stories in this anthology offer strong arguments for both sides of the debate. Contributing authors include Cassandra Clare, Libba Bray, Maureen Johnson, Meg Cabot, Scott Westerfeld, and Margo Lanagan. Are you Team Zombie or Team Unicorn?

Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd is another anthology with Holly Black on the editing team. This anthology covers all things geeky, from Klingons and Jedi Knights to fan fiction, theater geeks, and cosplayers. No matter what kind of geek you are, or want to be, Geektastic can help you get your geek on! Contributing authors are M.T. Anderson, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, John Green, Tracy Lynn, Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith, David Levithan, Kelly Link, Barry Lyga, Wendy Mass, Garth Nix, Scott Westerfield, Lisa Yee, and Sara Zarr.

Athletic Shorts

Athletic Shorts: Six Short Stories by Chris Crutcher are stories about athletes, including some you might recognize from Crutcher’s longer works. Despite the title, while the stories are all about athletes they are not necessarily about sports. They are tales of love and death, bigotry and heroism, of real people doing their best even when that best is not all that good. This collection is suitable for younger readers as well.

M Is for Magic by Neil Gaiman and Teddy Kristiansen is a collection of eleven stories that involve strange and fantastical events. Humpty Dumpty’s sister hires a private detective to investigate her brother’s death, a teenage boy who has trouble talking to girls finds himself at a rather unusual party, and a boy you might recognize from The Graveyard Book makes a discovery, and confronts the much more troubling world of the living. This collection is also suitable for younger readers.

Cloaked in Red

Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances by John Green, Lauren Myracle, and Maureen Johnson offers readers three intertwining short stories. In the tales several high school couples experience the trials and tribulations along with the joys of romance during a Christmas Eve snowstorm in a small town.

Cloaked in Red by Vivian Vande Velde offers eight different twists on the familiar tale of Little Red Riding Hood. The author uses the stories, and a highly entertaining introduction, to question the original tales and to exploring issues including why most characters seem dim-witted.

On the Day I Died: Stories from the Grave by Candace Fleming offers readers ten ghost stories set in White Cemetery, an actual graveyard outside Chicago. Each story takes place during a different time period from the 1860’s to the present, and ends with the narrator’s death. Some teens die heroically, others ironically, but all due to supernatural causes.

On Our Shelves: New Young Adult Fiction

August 25, 2013August 23, 2013 / Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

Looking for something new to read, or want to place a hold on the newest books in our young adult collection? Well, you are in luck. Here is a list of some of our most recent additions that just might capture your interest regardless of if you are an adult or young adult.

1. Playing Tyler by T. L. Costa
Tyler MacCandless is looking at a bleak future. With his father dead and his mother mentally checked out, Tyler is responsible for his older brother Brandon who’s in rehab for heroin abuse–again. With no skills to speak of outside of playing video games, a fast food future is all but a certainty. That is, until the day Tyler’s mentor Rick asks him to test a new video game. A good enough score can earn him a place in flight school. When Brandon goes missing, and Tyler discovers the game is far more than it seems.

2. Wild Awake by Hilary T. Smith
The discovery of a startling family secret leads seventeen-year-old Kiri Byrd from a protected and naive life into a summer of mental illness, first love, and profound self-discovery.

3. Boy Nobody by Allen Zadoff
Sixteen-year-old Boy Nobody, an assassin controlled by a shadowy government organization, The Program, considers sabotaging his latest mission because his target reminds him of the normal life he craves.

4. Far Far away by Tom McNeal
When Jeremy Johnson Johnson’s strange ability to speak to the ghost of Jacob Grimm draws the interest of his classmate Ginger Boltinghouse, the two find themselves at the center of a series of disappearances in their hometown.

5.Charm & Strange by Stephane Kuehn
A lonely teenager exiled to a remote Vermont boarding school in the wake of a family tragedy must either surrender his sanity to the wild wolves inside his mind or learn that surviving means more than not dying.

6. Openly Straight by Bill Koningberg
Tired of being known as “the gay kid”, Rafe Goldberg decides to assume a new persona when he comes east and enters an elite Massachusetts prep school–but trying to deny his identity has both complications and unexpected consequences.

Other new titles include Vortex by S.J. Kincaid, Ship out of Luck by Neal Shusterman, Mortal Fire by Elizabeth Knox, September Girls by Bennett Madison, Spies and Prejudice by Talia Vance, Rules of Summer by Joanna Philbin, How I Lost You by Janet Gurtler, Careful What you Wish For by Shani Petroff, The Spectacular Now by Tim Tharp, Golden Boy by Tara Sullivan, I’m with Stupid by Geoff Herbach, Golden Girl by Sarah Zettel, and The Lost Sun by Tessa Gratton.