Catherine Ryan Hyde Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of more than 25 published and forthcoming books, including the bestselling When I found You, Pay It Forward, Don't Let Me Go, and Take Me With You.
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On the 12th of October, my new Young Adult novel, Jumpstart the World will...well, hopefully it will do what the title suggests. In a small way. Or a medium way. Or...well, I don't know what it will do out in the world. I just hope people will find it and read it.
It's a novel about a teenage girl who falls in love with an older guy before realizing he's transgender. Which means, as a sort of follow-up for my "Speak Up About Speak" blog post, it's the kind of book the Wesley Scrogginses of the word would probably love to see banned. I'm not sure how someone would go about banning it, as it's about emotion, not sex. But I wouldn't be surprised if someone tried. But I'll cross that bridge if and when I come to it, heartened by the knowledge that the book community stands up and speaks loudly for
Those of you who are reading the Sainsbury's Book Club edition of Second Hand Heart will already know Erin and Betty Ann. If not, a brief background. Betty Ann is a living kidney donor, and Erin is the recipient of her incredible gift. I wrote about their experiences in a true donor story as an exclusive for the Sainsbury's edition. Betty Ann was Erin's third donor, and Erin's situation was quite desperate by the time the third kidney arrived. And Erin and Betty Ann barely knew each other then. But they sure know each other now.
I also mentioned in the story that, after six long years of waiting due to her health issues, Erin and her finance, Joe, were finally planning their wedding. Imagine my delight when Erin's mother sent me wedding photos, including one of Erin with all three of her donors!
Who could possibly think the YA novel Speak is pornography? Unfortunately, there's an answer to that question. He's a guy in Missouri, Wesley Scroggins. In an article called Filthy books demeaning to Republic education, he mischaracterizes Laurie Halse Anderson's classic YA novel Speak, the story of a young rape victim, and says it should be classified as soft pornography. Because it contains two rape scenes.
Is the suggestion here that the purpose of writing about rape is to entertain and excite? Because that's a pretty sick sentiment, Mr. Scroggins. In a world where the statistics on child sexual abuse are so shockingly high, does he really think the solution is not to utter a word about the problem in books? It's better if they don't read about someone who survived it, even if it's happening to these readers right now?
Such dangerous logic. But then, all censorship is dangerous. If you think a book is
Well, it's here! Second Hand Heart has been in stores in the UK since Thursday. The blog reviewers have been wonderfully positive in their reception of the book (I just added a big bunch of review quotes to the Second Hand Heart book page) and I'm already beginning to hear from readers. That's what makes this all worthwhile.
A quick note for those of you who are reading the book, are just about to read the book, or who have read it. On the Second Hand Heart book page, I have some original photos that I took myself. You see, Vida and I have been to some of the same places.
The photo you see here on this blog is the memorial stone at Manzanar. The one Vida visited with Victor and Esther (and Jax). But I also have a photo of Mt. Whitney from
Yesterday I appeared on a KCBX Public Radio book program called BookWaves. It's a collaborative live program between KCBX and the San Luis Obispo (California, my home county) Public Library.
The book we discussed was Chasing Windmills. If you've read the book, or are interested in learning more, you can listen to the hour-long program at:
This time I got to see it. Through rain and fog for the first day. Through snow and sleet for the second. But I saw it. And the third day, the day I boated over to Wizard Island and hiked, couldn't have been more beautiful.
Here's a pair of sentences for you. I have been to Crater Lake, once. I have never seen Crater Lake. Weird. But both statements are true.
Last September, I took my dog Ella and my 88-year-old mom on an RV trip to Oregon. One of our first--and most highly anticipated--stops was Crater Lake. We'd heard such great things about it. But before we could get there, we hit smoke. A wildfire, too new to have been reported before we left, had begun near the route we were driving. But we were still a long way from Crater Lake, so we were sure we'd pass through it. The trouble, though, is
Is it just me, or is there a lot going on with censorship right now?
There's Young Adult author Ellen Hopkins' reverse invitation to a Texas Book festival (they invited her, then withdrew the invitation). Then there was that mess regarding Glen Beck's 9.12 Project getting books pulled from school--and even public--libraries without any formal book challenge. I wrote a report on this backlash against (primarily) LGBT lit, and it's featured on the Red Room home page all this week. You can read it here. And it's almost Banned Books Week (September 25th through October 2nd, 2010).
But there is a bright spot in all of this. Some interesting and important groups and projects have emerged. Well, emerged to me. They've probably been around for quite awhile. But I'm now lucky enough to have discovered them.
The bookmark you see at left is free. It's individually hand-signed, so it's the next best thing to a signed copy of one of my books. It can be personalized on request. And I'm offering it to any and all of my readers for just an S.A.S.E.
But now I have a better offer for book groups who are reading one of my titles.
If you'll contact me and tell me how many people are in your group, and send me one mailing address for a group representative, I'll send you enough bookmarks for everybody. And the postage will be on me.
It's a small thank-you for reading and discussing my work.
And here's another small thank-you. When you've completed your book discussion, I invite you to email me any questions that came up. I'll be happy to answer them personally.
I was fortunate enough to be asked to provide a guest post for LGBT Lit Days (August 9-20) on The Story Siren, an excellent book review blog. I'm sure my upcoming transgender novel Jumpstart the World is a big part of why I was asked, but my novel Becoming Chloe also falls into the LGBT category. In fact, my novel Pay It Forward also included the character of a gay/transgender young man, but most people don't know that, because he didn't make it into the film.
If you don't know the importance of LGBT literature to gay and transgender individuals, especially as they come of age, I hope you'll take a minute to read what I wrote.
It's August first. And some of you know I've been collecting entries for a giveaway through June and July, for which I promised to announce a winner in early August.
What you may not know is that when I say I'll draw a name out of a hat, I mean it quite literally. So here is the hat in question, an Australian Akubra that was given to me as a gift while I was touring Australia and New Zealand in 2001.
Ella is normally a bit camera-shy, so why she decided to plant herself front and center in one of these shots, I can't say. But I saw no reason to push her away.
Enough of that. Time to say whose name came out of the hat.
On August 28th and 29th, I'm going to be conducting a "weekend intensive" workshop. And, oh, believe me. I don't call it intensive for nothing. Unlike many of my other workshops, this will be specifically geared to beginning and intermediate writers. Think of it as a place to feel welcome no matter what your skill and experience level.
It will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday and 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday, with an hour lunch break both days. Each participant will receive no less than one hour of group attention to his or her work-in-progress (time a standard critique group just doesn’t have). We’ll cover story arc, characterization, self-editing, dialogue, great beginnings, great voice. If you’re brand new, and have never experienced a critique group, this weekend will help get you started. If you’ve spent time in critique groups, it will help you make sense of the feedback you’ve been receiving.
My first one!I just...and I do mean just...got a terrific suggestion from a Facebook friend and fan. A video slideshow featuring my readers. After all, as I've said on more than one occasion, who's more important than my readers? Without you, I'd be out of a job.
So, this will be very easy...for you. Just send me a photo of yourself with one of my books. Be straighforward, or highly creative. It's up to you. That's it. I'll do the rest.
Give me time with this, because it will take a while to gather enough photos. But if you'll send 'em, I'll make it happen. Count on it.
Familiar with Internet references to something "going viral"? Here's hoping it's healthier than it sounds.
All I seem to have figured out for sure about viral-ness is that it happens to other people. People with truly bizarre YouTube videos. Celebrity stuff. But today I decided to play a game to see how viral I can get a video to go. I figure it's like changing the world. You set out to change it a lot, but maybe miss the mark and change it a little. But that's still good, right? Small change is better than no change at all.
The video is the Love in the Present Tense video excerpt.
Several months ago, I posted a blog making an offer. I had just cleaned out a storage space full of books, mostly my first two small-press titles, Funerals for Horses and Earthquake Weather. It didn't pay to keep storing them, but I didn't think I could fit them in my garage. So I offered to give some away.
Well, with the help of many loyal readers and fans who sent stamped, self-addressed mail bags, plus a fundraiser for the new Cambria library in which I gave three of my early hardcovers to anyone who donated to the library fund...they fit.
Here's a fun thing that I sincerely hope a few of my readers will try. There's a great site, www.storycasting.com. I was just reminded, via a Storycasting "tweet," that it was May 1, 2008 when I "cast the first cast" on the new site. (First author cast, really, but I couldn't resist saying "cast the first cast.") I was invited to participate, it sounded like fun, and I went out and cast the theoretical remake of Pay It Forward. (Don't get me started.)
Since then, I've cast some of the characters for a few of my other titles, so you can see how they look in "the movie in my mind."
Usually I don't like to say too much about the actual purchasing of books. I really don't lead you out to this site as a sales ploy. Of course I hope you read my work, but it's not all about the dollars and cents of what you buy.
But for several days I've been noticing what seems like a great deal to me, and I'm thinking some of my US readers might want it drawn to their attention. If you go to this page at The Book Depository, you'll see that they're selling pre-order copies of my new UK novel Second Hand Heart for $5.24. $5.24! It's marked 49% off. Granted, it's a paperback edition, but it's a big, nice trade paperback, high quality, not like a mass market edition. And they offer free international shipping!
After all, it's a brand new site, it's a brand new day...and I just happen to have one last ARC (advance reader's copy) of my brand new Young Adult novel (debatable, as always) Jumpstart the World. Check out its book page if you want to know what you're getting into (and with this book you just might).
Here's how easy it is to get into the running: just leave a comment. That's it.
A note to my wonderful (and I do mean that sincerely) UK and other out-of-the-US readers:
...that I figured out how to link this blog to MySpace entirely on my own. Which feels important, because I haven't been paying enough attention to MySpace lately. And I have so many wonderful MySpace friends. So, as with Twitter, I'll just have to repent, and keep my feet on the good road. I do solemnly swear.
...that I figured out how to get these blog posts to "echo" onto both my personal Facebook profile and my "page" as an author on Facebook?
In a word, no. Not even if this post appears in both places. I didn't figure it out. My Facebook friend Susan Gaddis was nice enough to tip me that it could be done, and as a result of that tip my very helpful techie friend Bob DeLaurentis figured out how to do it with my blog while I was out walking Ella. I'd love to take credit, but I'm too honest for my own good.
Many thanks to both Susan and Bob for helping me keep up in today's wired world.
But who counts. Right?
