We have a winner, folks!

Kelly Simmons has chosen a winner to receive an autographed copy of her book, Standing Still.

Congratulations to Gail F. (the first one) whose comment "So, is this your first sweater?" tickled Kelly's funny bone. She writes, "It both cracked me up and very much hit home, since I just finished knitting a sweater on Monday (my second one, I'll have you know.)"

She also wishes to thank everyone who left a comment, and I do as well! Come back and visit some time!

So you're an author, huh?

Dear readers, I'm excited to announce that author Kelly Simmons (Standing Still) has graciously offered to write a guest post for New Dork Times. She's also giving away one autographed copy of her book to the person whose comment makes her laugh, intrigues her, or just plain catches her eye. Please leave a comment by Feb. 16, 4:30 p.m. central to be entered into the giveaway. Read on!





So You’re An Author, huh?


“Is this your first book?”


It’s the first question everyone asks, at every book club, every cocktail party, every casual conversation I have with another mom on the soccer field or volleyball court, as soon as one of my friends tell them I’m a writer and have they read my fabulous book, Standing Still? (Thank God for my chatty outgoing friends. If they worked in Hollywood I’d have that elusive movie deal wrapped up already.)


And it’s a simple question on the face of it, and yet, not an easy question for me to answer. Because while it is my first published book, it also occupies other numbers. The 8th novel I’ve written. The 5th novel that agents have evaluated. The 4th novel that made the rounds of editors, represented by my 3rd agent. The novel that came out after more than 15 years of writing and 3 years of editing.


These numbers are fascinating to some, and absolutely soul-crushing to others, so I have to be careful how I wield them. In a classroom full of MFA candidates, or a library full of would-be memoirists, or a book club filled with “Ihaveabookinme” types, these numbers scare the crap out of people. They’re dispiriting, discouraging, and well, kinda make me look like a loser. (When you spend 15 years doing something with no success, after all, what is the freaking universe telling you?)


Every so often, there is a brave follow-up question: What made you go on, in the face of so much rejection? I suspect people expect me to claim faith in a higher power, or a driving need to feed my family (remember JK Rowling in the coffee shop and her utilities turned off?). Or perhaps, they crave a more literary motivation: I promised my mother on her deathbed that I wouldn’t stop writing. My older brother is a rocket scientist and I have to prove that I’m smart too.


But the answer is smaller, and subtler: I knew I was a good writer. And while getting rejected was a bummer, writing gave me a simple pleasure, like planting bulbs or knitting a sweater. For many years, it has been my garden. And not everyone likes everything I plant. But I get to look at it, and enjoy it, everyday.


And that’s not for nothing, y’know?


Kelly Simmons, a former journalist and advertising creative director, is the author of Standing Still, in paperback February 10, and coming soon, The Bird House. She visits as many book clubs as she can (here’s a great article in The Philadelphia Inquirer about her visiting clubs:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/36618199.html). And she’s now offering an exclusive Book Group DVD to those she can’t. For more information, see her website: http://www.bykellysimmons.com/, or email her at kellysimmonswrites@yahoo.com.

The Heretic's Daughter, by Kathleen Kent

The Heretic's Daughter chronicles the struggles of life in colonial Massachusetts: the backbreaking labor of farming, the terrors of smallpox, and the accusations of witchcraft from a superstitious community.

Sarah Carrier, 10, becomes aware of a land/house dispute between her mother Martha and her beloved uncle. An unpopularity within their small community, combined with Martha's unusual ways, sparks a cry of witchcraft, egged on by Sarah's uncle and cousin. Martha is jailed and put on trial, soon to be joined by Sarah and her three brothers.

The writing, first of all, is spectacular. Based on Kent's own family history, in which her grandmother nine generations back was hanged as a witch, Heretic's Daughter weaves despair and hope, bleakness and triumph. The mass amount of research put into this work is evident, but it doesn't bog down the story. It instead enriches the tale and helps create unforgettable characters.

4.5 stars

Coming Soon ...

I'm sorry, my lonely blog. I've neglected you, haven't I? But never fear, I vow to update on a regular basis from now on. I've been reading some delicious YA books, and I know you'll want to familiarize yourself with them.

And I have an amazing surprise ...

Coming soon ...

"Certain Girls," by Jennifer Weiner

A follow-up to the smash hit Good in Bed, Certain Girls brings back Cannie Shapiro years later. Her mother is out of the closet, her daughter Joy is about to have a bat mitzvah, husband Peter is a successful diet doctor, sister Elle still begs for money, and ex Bruce is still smarting from Cannie's vicious "fictionalized" portrayal of him in her debut novel. Though to be fair, he started it by chronicling their sex life in a national magazine.

So Girls is the dual story of Cannie and Joy. Cannie struggles with her daughter's growing problems with grades and a negative attitude, along with Peter's desire to have another baby. Unfortunately, due to complications with Joy's birth, Cannie'd had a hysterectomy, which leaves the couple looking for a surrogate.

Joy is thirteen, self-absorbed, hateful to her mother, and completely unlikeable. While I can understand her need to find out more about the book her mother had written so many years ago, especially since it's so based on reality, Joy is just a brat. The things she thinks about her mother made me want to slap her. She begins acting out: shoplifting, lying, sneaking out of state to a party. Then she steals her mother's credit card, books a flight and fancy hotel, along with a car and driver, and hops a plane to California to find her grandfather, certain that her mother, aunt, uncle, and grandmother have all been terribly wrong about what a jerk the guy is. Oh, shocker, she finds out he is a jerk. But what kind of punishment does Joy get for this escapade? She gets the extremely expensive dress that she'd been whining about getting for her bat mitzvah. And grounded for a month. Boo hoo.

As if this wasn't annoying enough, the best character gets killed off. I'm so sick of writers using this as a plot point to finish off a book. It's unnecessary, cruel to the readers, and just stinks of manipulation.

2 stars

"The Year of Disappearances," by Susan Hubbard

I've been putting off reviewing this book because it pains me to give a negative review when I so much loved The Society of S, its predecessor.

The Year of Disappearances picks up where Society left off, with 14-year-old Ariella (who can pass for 21) living with her mother in Florida, learning how she fits as a vampire in a human world. When a new friend disappears, suspicion falls on Ariella, whose best friend had been murdered only months before. With her incredible intelligence and maturity, Ariella is sent off to a private college by her mother to get away from the town's harassment. But a friend is murdered there, as well.

The story really has a lot of potential. How could it not, with Society's haunting prose and intelligence? But Hubbard just seemed bent on packing as many unnecessary elements into the plot as possible. Besides vampires and classes of vampires, which didn't bother me, there were also evil harbingers, sasas (demons that can take over animals or humans), black market drugs that humans think can turn them into vamps, and a (secret) vampire running for president. All of this is thrown in with the series of disappearances/murders taking place around Ari, and by the time that mystery is solved, the whole plot has just become so convoluted that I could care less.

Factor in this teenage girl dealing with being a vampire, having her first real relationship and thinking about sex, her friends missing or murdered, her father deathly ill, college at age 14 -- that's enough for one novel, don't you think? So I asked the 15-year-old, vamp-loving, book-devouring girl who regularly comes to the library what she thought of The Year of Disappearances.

"The author tried too hard," she said. And that best sums it up.

2.75 stars

"The Host," by Stephenie Meyer

In the world that Meyer has created, alien souls have taken over the world and inhabit the bodies of humans, called hosts. They carry on life in much the same way humans once did, with the exception that there is no violence.

When a renegade human woman, Melanie, has been captured after living for years in hiding, a special soul is placed inside of her. Named Wanderer for the many planets she has lived on, the soul's duty is to reveal Melanie's memories and secrets to a Seeker, one who locates these renegade humans. The Seeker, a particularly (and unusual for souls) nasty woman, is determined that Wanderer find out through Melanie's memories if there are any more humans in hiding.

There is one problem, though: Melanie hasn't really gone away. She is still locked up in Wanderer's mind, and she won't let the intruder get the information she needs. Through months of work, Wanderer recovers memories of two other humans, Melanie's brother Jamie and the love of her life, Jared. In fact, the memories are so rich and emotional, that Wanderer herself cannot help falling in love with them. Melanie convinces Wanderer that they need to find them to make sure they are safe, which means escaping the Seeker and locating a hidden reserve in the Arizona desert.

This summary is already long, and this was just the first 100 pages of the 600-page book. While the beginning was a bit slow, which is typical when an author has to not only introduce a foreign idea or concept of a world but then also explain how it came to be and so forth, there was enough action and heart to the story to get me to keep reading. And I'm glad I did! I thoroughly enjoyed The Host.

Once Wanderer (in Melanie's body, remember) finds the people she's looking for, will they believe that Melanie is still alive inside, or will they shoot Wanderer on sight? And how exactly does it work when two women in one body love the same man?

Now, there were a few problems. First, the book, as I mentioned, is pretty long. However, it doesn't drag. There is a lot of action and a lot of emotion in the book, and I couldn't help but be drawn in. Those who had a problem with Meyer's main character Bella in the Twilight series will no doubt have problems with Wanderer as well. As this alien soul, Wanderer is adverse to violence in any form, so expect a lot of cringing, a lot of crying, a lot of trembling ... and eventually, a lot of male protection.

On the other hand, it has its purpose. Its meant to show the ugliness that is within all humans, though who could blame their feelings of hate toward beings who essentially took away the lives of their hosts? And Wanderer's self-sacrificing nature is meant to show the goodness and love that can overcome hate. While they seem at odds, Wanderer will find that humans aren't all inherently monsters, as she will find that she is more like the humans than she'd have ever believed. Likewise, the humans (some of them, anyway) will see that their notions of the souls as evil parasites isn't as cut and dried as they thought.

Would definitely recommend The Host to sci fi fans. They'll appreciate all the worlds Wanderer describes as her previous homes. And I'll definitely read the book again sometime ... probably when the sequel comes out (because you know there'll be one!).

4 stars