Later this year, Lucasfilm will launch an epic new era of Star Wars storytelling that will be explored through multiple voices in adult and young adult novels, children’s books, and comics from a variety of publishers including Disney Lucasfilm Press, Del Rey, IDW Publishing, and Marvel.
Star Wars: The High Republic, which has previously been referred to as “Project Luminous”, will be set in an era when the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order are at their zenith, about 200 years before the events of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. This period on the Star Wars timeline will not overlap any of the filmed features or series currently planned for production, giving creators and partners a vast amount of room to tell Star Wars stories with new adventures and original characters.
“In Defy the Stars, a new YA novel from Star Wars: Lost Stars and Star Wars: Bloodline author Claudia Gray, a young soldier named Noemi is enmeshed in an intergalactic war — while also fighting a more philosophical battle closer to home. You see, there’s a robot, Abel, who’s programmed to obey her, but if her plans go into place, the robot could end up dying — and, Westworld-style, he seems a whole lot more like a living, feeling being than a collection of metal and computer chips.
A THOUSAND PIECES OF YOU finally went on sale today! I’m out here on the Compelling Reads tour (coming to Greenville, SC tomorrow), trying to write and travel, and so I’ve been completely unable to keep up with all the wonderful support and good energy you guys have been sending my way. But here’s my best attempt!
Welcome to the latest edition of the YA Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event was first organized by Our Glorious Leader, author Colleen Houck, as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors and a chance to win ALL the good prizes. At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, but you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues (this part is important), and you can enter for our grand prize–one lucky winner will receive one signed book from each author on the hunt in my team!But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!
Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are SIX contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the RED TEAM also known as “Team Sexy” — but there is also a blue team, a gold team, an orange team, a red team, and an indie team, and you should make the circuit on each and every team for a chance to win a whole different set of signed books!
If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.
SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE
Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the red team, and then add them up (don’t worry, you can use a calculator!). (If your math skills are like mine, DEFINITELY use a calculator.)
Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by October 5, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.
And who have we here? Why, it’s my hosted author —
YA author Adi Alias
Today, I am hosting the absolutely wonderful Adi Alsaid on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt! Not only is he a wonderful writer, but he’s also just all-around terrific, and has helped me out a lot while getting ready for this fall’s YASH. You want to know even more about Adi? Well, Adi was born and raised in Mexico City, then studied at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. While in class, he mostly read fiction and continuously failed to fill out crossword puzzles, so it’s no surprise that after graduating, he did not go into business world but rather packed up his apartment into his car and escaped to the California coastline to become a writer. He’s now back in his hometown, where he writes, coaches high school and elementary basketball, and has perfected the art of making every dish he eats or cooks as spicy as possible. In addition to Mexico, he’s lived in Tel Aviv, Las Vegas, and Monterey, California. A tingly feeling in his feet tells him more places will eventually be added to the list.
And now, drum roll, please, because it’s time for the —
YA SCAVENGER HUNT EXCLUSIVE CONTENT!!
This little scene from Bree’s section in Let’s Get Lost was one I had a lot of fun writing.
Bree is a runaway teen, hitchhiking through Kansas when the mysterious Leila picks her up in her bright red car. They hit it off, aided by a little bit of lawlessness that starts with candy bars and, after too much time in Leila’s AC-less Plymouth Acclaim, ends up with a “borrowed” car. This scene takes place while they’re on their joy ride. It ended up getting cut fairly early in the revising process, but I loved the crazy composer in the Mercedes, as well as the thrill of the race. It was cut for pacing, and because it was too repetitive from other scenes. Also the hints of Hudson (the character in the first section of the book) were a little too obvious. But I still picture it as part of Leila and Bree’s adventures, and I think readers might enjoy this glimpse at other shenanigans the two girls could have gotten themselves into.
Enjoy, and always seize the Tuesday. — A.A.
* * *
It was dusk now, about an hour since they’d taken the car. Bree started the car and pulled out onto the street, headed away from downtown. She noticed Leila looking through her phone. “Expecting a call?”
“No,” Leila said. “Just thinking of someone.”
“Ooh. Someone special?”
“Everyone’s special,” Leila said with a wry smile. She put the phone back in her pocket. “Come on, it’s been a while since we got into trouble. Let’s go find some more.”
A few blocks later they were stopped at a red light when a car pulled up next to them. It was another Mercedes, royal blue, its windows reverberating from the music inside. A man in his fifties was at the wheel, waving his hand vigorously in the air like a composer. His thin, white hair flapped with each motion and the girls couldn’t help but laugh. He noticed them and offered a smile, then went back to his wild composing.
“See? Everyone’s special,” Leila said.
“He sure is,” Bree said.
A few seconds later, they heard the sound of the other Mercedes’ engine cutting through the night. The driver was smirking as he composed. He turned to them and raised his eyebrows a couple of times.
“I bet that’s exactly what he looks like when he eats ice cream after sex,” Bree said.
Leila laughed but didn’t turn away from the neighboring Mercedes. He looked up at the still-red traffic light and revved his engine again. “Bree, our day means nothing if we don’t drag race this man and beat him.”
Bree was about to respond when the light turned green. Leila screamed for her to go and Bree stepped on the accelerator but nothing happened. “Leila, why won’t the car go? I’m asking it to go. Why won’t it do as it’s told?” The blue Mercedes was roaring ahead.
Then Bree realized she was pressing down on both pedals. She released the brake and the car jolted back into motion with a loud screech of the tires. Bree could imagine a layer of rubber being literally peeled away by the road and she finally understood where the expression had come from.
She stepped as hard as she could on the gas, as if it was her enemy, as if it deserved to be crushed. Leila was shouting something that could have been, “Go,” but could just as easily have been a guttural battle cry.
They were closing the gap, but the composer’s car was still in front. Through the back windshield, she could see his hand waving back and forth, like a checkered flag, declaring itself the victor.
“Do not let him win,” Leila yelled.
Then Bree felt the gas pedal hit the floor of the car. The engine growled as if in pain and then picked up so suddenly it was as if something had shoved them from behind. The speed was palpable.
Up ahead was a traffic light. It was still green, but Bree could see the flashing red numbers of the crosswalk signal counting down. They were almost even with the blue Mercedes when the light turned yellow. He started to slow, but Bree left the pedal right where it was, as if suffocating its last breaths. She couldn’t help but turn away from the road to look at his expression as they passed him by. A horn blared at them as they shot past the intersection.
Bree only slowed down when she saw his headlights come to a stop in her rearview mirror, when she knew they had won. There was a second of pause as she and Leila recuperated from their rallying cry during which the only sound was the air conditioning humming through the car. Then they burst out into the victorious laughter and whooping that was quickly becoming the soundtrack of their day.
Awesome, right? And don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, Adi Alsaid, and more! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is 88. (It was my parents’ secret code when they were dating; they would say “88” to each other in public, because there are eight letters in “I love you.” Say it with me: AWWWWW.) Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the red team and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!
CONTINUE THE HUNT
To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author on Team Sexy the Red Team — Kristi Cook!
And by the way, I’m offering an additional giveaway here! My upcoming book, A THOUSAND PIECES OF YOU, is about the daughter of two famous scientists, who is chasing her father’s killer through alternate dimensions — including a futuristic London and a Russia where the czars never fell from power. Let me know in comments what kind of alternate universe YOU would like to visit! I’ll choose four lucky winners at random to receive a signed copy of my paranormal novel FATEFUL and an autographed poster of the ATPOY cover! In case you haven’t seen it yet, the cover looks like this —You know you want that poster! So take a moment to let me know what sort of alternate universe you’d find interesting, then return to the glorious YA Scavenger Hunt!
I’m excited and honored to be a part of this anthology — cooked up by my friend/partner in crime Dan Wells and Brandon Sanders — which will give you exclusive glimpses of deleted scenes/first drafts/other previously unpublished work by some of your favorite writers in YA and scifi. Let me tell you a little more about it …
Here’s where I go 100% fangirl on you guys. If you haven’t seen the film yet (or, obviously, read the book), don’t go any further, because spoilers lurk within!
Welcome to the latest edition of the YA Scavenger Hunt! This tri-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give you guys a chance to read exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to rack up on prizes! This time, I was lucky enough to be asked to take part. At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each participating author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one signed book from each author on the hunt in my team!But read like the wind, my friends: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for (about) 72 hours!
(Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are THREE contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the BLUE TEAM–but there is also a red team and a gold team for chances to win a whole different set of twenty signed books!)
If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt homepage.
SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE
Directions: First of all, you ought to know: My favorite number is 47. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the blue team, each and every one of us!, and then add them up. (Calculators/online programs/little sisters who are very good at arithmetic = all acceptable problem-solving solutions. This is a scavenger hunt, not math class.)
Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by OCTOBER 6, at noon Pacific Time! Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered, alas.
Today, I’m hosting the one, the only ANN AGUIRRE on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt! USA Today bestselling author Ann Aguirre has been a clown, a clerk, a savior of stray kittens, and a voice actress, not necessarily in that order. She grew up in a yellow house across from a cornfield, but now she lives in Mexico with her husband and children. She writes science fiction, steampunk and YA.
Salvation is surrounded, monsters at the gates, and this time they’re not going away. When Deuce, Fade, Stalker and Teagan set out, the odds are against them. But the odds have been stacked against Deuce since the moment she was born. She might not be a Huntress anymore, but she doesn’t run. With knives in hand and her companions at her side, she will not falter, whether fighting for her life or Fade’s love.
Now, read on to get a COMPLETELY EXCLUSIVE scene from OUTPOST … written in Fade’s POV:
I wake to the sound of screaming.
Night. My entire body aches; it feels like they broke some ribs with the last beating. Hurts to breathe. Hurts even more to consider what I’ve lost. My vision is blurred, showing me only darkness. I taste blood. I’m bound like livestock, so I can’t tell what’s going on, but the other humans in the pen with me are frightened.
Someone rolls me over and I fight. I try a head-butt, but I can’t tell how many there are. I won’t die like Frank. I won’t.
“Fade, it’s me. Deuce. Can you run?”
At first, I think I’m hallucinating, and then shame and anger washes over me until I’m choking on them in the form of bile in my throat. I can’t stand for her to see me like this; I’d rather die. Why couldn’t you let me go?
I’m still not sure she’s real when I whisper, “…Deuce?”
More screams ring out. The others in the pen with me are running. She’s saved them, too. That makes me feel even worse. This pain is nothing like I’ve known before, nothing like the whippings I took in the livery for angering my foster father. It’s down in the bone. But with her help, I struggle to my feet. Maybe I’m not strong enough, but she is. I can’t be the reason she dies. Trying to save me.
If I was better, stronger, faster—anything—I could’ve stopped this.
“Run,” she begs. “Don’t fight. Don’t stop. Just follow me and run.”
I do. She’s so determined. Each step sends fire lancing through my side. I can’t breathe. I can hardly see. And she’s shoving from behind. I want to scream at her to stop, but she wouldn’t understand. Strength is everything to her.
It might not have been so bad, except when we staggered away from the killing field, I find Stalker waiting in the woods. Of course he came with her. Of course he did. Shame melds with anger, though I know it’s not fair. But he’s my enemy, and I’m now I’m indebted to him.
“You did it,” Stalker murmurs.
I say nothing. Thank you would be insincere when I want to strangle him and I want to punch something, but more shamefully, I also want to crawl away and cry, huddle like an animal and lick my wounds. I can never, ever be strong enough to fight at her side again. She wants a warrior at her back, and I’m… broken. I’m like the people in Salvation now, cowering behind their walls. How can she look at me and see anything but meat? That’s all I am. When you’ve seen what I have, all illusions fall away.
Deuce signals for us to move out, and I follow. What else is there? The pain becomes a white-hot blaze behind my eyes. I can hardly breathe, and the trees are only dark smudges through my swollen eyes. Eventually, she calls for us to make camp. I still haven’t spoken. My words are dry as withered leaves, crunching underfoot, and I break more of them with each stride.
She comes to me, soft and tentative. And it’s so unlike her—that makes it worse. Now she has to be someone else, even to approach me. I jerk back, unable to imagine what her touch will be like when it’s laced with pity. But more than that, I don’t ever want anyone’s hands on me again. My skin crawls.
“Don’t,” I whisper roughly.
I should have died out there. I wish I had.
And don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of signed books by me, Ann Aguirre, and more! To enter, you need to remember that my favorite number is 47. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the blue team and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!
CONTINUE THE HUNT
To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author – SHELLEY CORIELL! Shelley’s blog awaits you …
Still here? On the last night of the contest?
THEN YOU’RE IN LUCK.
For you guys still playing along with the YA Scavenger Hunt on its last night, you have a chance to WIN BOOKS! Just comment below (with a way I can contact you), and FIVE of you will win autographed hardcover copies of my novel BALTHAZAR. I will ship internationally, so anyone can enter and maybe win! But act fast … you only have until noon PST on Sunday, October 6!
Yes, it’s the most burning issue of our time! Which movie shall we watch together, via the magic of Twitter, on Thursday, August 8? Shall it be “Mean Girls,” the source of approximately 68% of all jokes on Tumblr? “Iron Man,” which will let us talk about Robert Downey Jr. a lot? Or “Moulin Rouge,” which is so hugely over the top that we’ll be coming down from that sugar coma for days? No wrong answers, but one must be chosen. Let me know what you think in comments!
