Middle Grade Ninja is available on Soundcloud, Stitcher, itunes, Podbean, Podblaster, RadioPublic, blubrry, Listen Notes, Google Play, and many other fine locations. Annie Sullivan and I
pick up right where we left off after her previous appearance in episode 40. We
talk about her soon-to-be-released YA novel CURSE OF GOLD, sequel to TOUCH OF
GOLD, as well as SHARKTOPUS VS WHALEWOLF. Since I know Annie has long been an “aspiring
recluse,” I’m eager to learn how she’s been enjoying quarantine for Covid-19
and how she’s promoting her new book without leaving home. We also chat about
being a TIGER QUEEN in the age of Tiger King, Greek mythology, leaving Easter
Eggs for readers, the time I got robbed, the Loch Ness monster, comma warfare,
and so much more.
Annie Sullivan is a Young Adult author from Indianapolis, Indiana. Her work has been featured in Curly Red Stories and Punchnels. She loves fairytales, everything Jane Austen, and traveling and exploring new cultures. When she’s not off on her own adventures, she’s teaching classes at the Indiana Writers Center and working as the Copy Specialist at John Wiley and Sons, Inc. publishing company, having also worked there in Editorial and Publicity roles. You can follow her adventures on Twitter and Instagram (@annsulliva).
Curses and queens. Pirates and kings. Gods and magic. The final saga of a princess cursed by Midas’s touch, a vengeful Greek god, and a dazzling kingdom in the balance.
After barely surviving thieving, bloodthirsty pirates and a harrowing quest at sea to retrieve her stolen treasure, Kora finds readjusting to palace life just as deadly. Her people openly turn against her, threatening to overthrow her as heir to the throne due to fear of her magical powers. When Dionysus puts out a challenge to kill the girl with the golden touch and burn down her kingdom, it’s not just her future on the throne in danger. Kora’s life and entire kingdom are now on contract.
With no other choice, Kora sets out to find Dionysus, journeying to the mysterious disappearing island of Jipper. If she wants to save her kingdom and have any chance at reversing her father’s curse, she will have to enter into a deadly game with Dionysus, the greatest trickster the world, or the underworld, has ever seen.
Middle Grade Ninja is available on Soundcloud, Stitcher, itunes, Podbean, Podblaster, RadioPublic, blubrry, Listen Notes, Google Play, and many other fine locations. Mystery writers Lillie
Evans, Tony Perona, C.L. Shore, and Janet E. Williams are all prominent members
of the Speed City Sisters in Crime, which has just released its newest
anthology, MURDER 20/20. We chat about how the stories in the anthology were
selected, the benefits of belonging to an organization for writers, such as the
Sisters in Crime, the ins and outs of writing short and long mysteries, and much,
much more. We also have an extended chat about flying saucers and ghosts you
won’t want to miss.
Speed City Sisters in Crime is the Indiana chapter of the world-wide mystery/crime writers' association Sisters in Crime. The Speed City chapter was founded in 2005.
Members of the organization are published mystery and crime authors, writers working on mysteries and thrillers, and readers and fans of the literary genre. There are currently 40+ members who live in Indiana or the Midwest.
Speed City Sisters in Crime hosts monthly meetings with speakers on topics of interest to mystery and crime writing. Past speakers have included police officers, prosecutors, investigative reporters, forensic specialists, weapons experts, researchers, and publishing and media professionals.
Chapter members have published 6 short story anthologies over the years with the themes that are related to Indiana or the midwest. Members of the organization have also written and produced a play, Deadbeat, which was performed at a local fringe festival and will soon be available to for others to produce.
The chapter also hosts writing and other educational workshops for its membership with well-known authors and publishing professionals.
Lillie Evans is an author, playwright, and storyteller. Under her pen name, L. Barnett Evans, she is co-author (with Crystal Rhodes) of the cozy mystery book series, Grandmothers, Incorporated. In addition to the novels, she is co-writer of the plays Stake Out and Grandmothers, Incorporated, based on the characters from the book series. The play Grandmothers, Incorporated enjoyed a very successful Off-Broadway run. Lillie is the writer and producer of the play, Take My Hand, which was chosen for a reading at the prestigious National Black Theater Festival and was performed at the 2018 OnyxFest at the Indy Fringe Theatre Festival. Lillie has appeared as a crime commentator on TV One’s “Unsung” and is a member of Sisters in Crime. See more at: lilliebarnettevans.com and grandmothersinc.com
Tony Perona is the author of the Nick Bertetto mystery series (SECOND ADVENT, ANGELS WHISPER, and SAINTLY REMAINS), the standalone thriller THE FINAL MAYAN PROPHECY, and co-editor and contributor to the anthologies RACING CAN BE MURDER and HOOSIER HOOPS AND HIJINKS. Tony is a member of Mystery Writers of America and has served the organization as a member of the Board of Directors and as Treasurer. He is also a member of Sisters-in-Crime.
C.L. Shore began reading mysteries in the second grade and has been a fan of the genre ever since. Maiden Murders (2018), a prequel to A Murder in May (2017), is her most recent release. Her short stories have appeared in several Sisters in Crime anthologies, Kings River Life Magazine, and Mysterical-E. Shore has been a member of Sisters in Crime for more than a decade, serving as a board member of the Speed City chapter for several years. A nurse practitioner and researcher, she’s published numerous articles on family coping with epilepsy as Cheryl P. Shore. Cheryl enjoys travel and entertains a fantasy of living in Ireland for a year. She’s currently working on Cherry Blossom Temple, a women’s fiction novel. See more at: clshoreonline.com
Janet E. Williams has been writing since she could hold a pencil. Her first work of fiction was a collection of stories she wrote and illustrated by hand to entertain her mom and dad. In college, she majored in English and became an award-winning journalist, covering politics and crime in Pittsburgh. When the newspaper folded, she landed in Indianapolis where she worked as both a reporter and editor at The Indianapolis Star. Today, Janet teaches young journalists as part of a college immersion program while continuing to work on her writing. She has had short stories published in four anthologies. She lives in Indianapolis and remains a faithful companion to her dog, Roxy.
The 7th anthology by the Speed City Sisters In Crime presents fresh thrills and kills in this collection of short stories that span over a decade, to the far past and the not so far off future. Another great collection by a fine group of Indiana authors. Introduction by Susan Furlong; Edited by MB Dabney, Lillie Evans, and Shari Held; Authors Andrea Smith, Janet E. Williams, J. Paul Burroughs, Ross Carley, Elizabeth Perona, D.B. Reddick, Stephen Terrell, Shari Held, T.C. Winters, Mary Ann Koontz, C.L. Shore, Hawthorn Mineart, B.K. Hart, Elizabeth San Miguel, S. Ashley Couts, Ramona G. Henderson and Diana Catt.
My friend Barbara Shoup returns to the podcast to share lessons from her writing life and her new book about writing, A COMMOTION IN YOUR HEART. She talks candidly about struggling with depression, finding joy in writing even when it doesn’t lead to great fame and fortune, and the challenge of bringing forth something as ethereal as a story using only language. We chat about author estate planning, learning from writers you don’t like personally, ethically basing characters on real people, the cruelest editor rejection ever, and so much more.
Barbara Shoup is the author of eight novels for adults and
young adults, most recently An American
Tune and Looking for Jack Kerouac,
and the co-author of Novel Ideas:
Contemporary Authors Share the Creative Process. Her short fiction, poetry,
essays, and interviews have appeared in numerous small magazines, as well as in
The Writer and the New York Times travel section. The recipient of the PEN
Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Working Writer Fellowship and grants from the Indiana
Arts Commission, she is the Writer-in-Residence at the Indiana Writers Center
and a faculty member at Art Workshop International.
For writers of fiction, creative nonfiction, autobiography and memoir, and from amateurs to professionals, this book about the creative process is a book for writers everywhere interested in learning more about the craft of writing. A perfect gift for writers of all ages and levels of experience, A Commotion in Your Heart: Notes on Writing and Life takes the reader from the author's childhood dream of being a writer through the ups and downs of publishing. She tells her story with highly relatable vignettes that focus on her own personal moments of clarity about what writing is (and what writing isn't), sharing the pleasures and lessons of more than 40 years of experience teaching writing.
Part memoir and part writing workshop, A Commotion in Your Heart: Notes on Writing and Life offers writing inspiration and practical advice for authors at every stage of their writing journey.
With short, easy to read chapters, A Commotion in Your Heart: Notes on Writing and Life will inspire veteran authors as well as beginning writers just getting started. And when writing is especially difficult, or when writer's block sets in, award-winning author Barbara Shoup is full of encouraging wisdom.
A Commotion in Your Heart: Notes on Writing and Life is for anyone who understands that writing isn't just a hobby... It's a necessary part of living fully.
Angie Karcher and I talk quite a bit about writers conferences, specifically how to get the most out of them and things writers shouldn’t do when attending one. Who better to discuss conferences with than the Indiana Regional Advisor for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators who also hosts her own writers conference? We also discuss rhyming picture books and writing about local Hoosier history, including the infamous Grey Lady ghost of Willard Library.
Angie Karcher is a former Kindergarten teacher, Developmental Therapist and children’s author of WHERE THE RIVER GRINS 2012, M.T. Publishing, THE LEGENDARY R.A. COWBOY JONES 2014 M.T. Publishing and SANTA’S GIFT 2017 M.T. Publishing.
Her poetry is included in AN INDIANA TRIBUTE BICENTENNIAL ANTHOLOGY, compiled by Byron Buckley 2017.
She has two upcoming titles: SIDELINE SLUGGER, M.T. Publishing, May 2018 and THE SIGNATURE SHIP, M.T. Publishing, October 2018.
Angie is the creator of Rhyme Revolution. This annual event held in April, is a writing challenge on her blog for children’s authors. She has a passion for writing rhyming picture books and poetry and encourages educators and parents to read rhyme frequently to children. Rhyme encourages language development and fosters a love of reading.
Angie is the founder of The Rhyme Revolution Conference, held first in New York City in December 2015 and next in New Harmony, Indiana, October 2018. This conference supports and encourages children’s writers to use proper picture book writing techniques, as well as applying perfect meter and rhyme.
Angie also founded and hosts The Best in Rhyme Award, announced annually in February in New York City, NY, naming the best rhyming picture book and several honor books each year.
Her most recent endeavor is hosting Ms. Angie’s Craft Corner for KidLitTV. This will be a monthly recorded segment where she shares simple crafts for kids, teachers, parents and librarians that accompany her favorite picture books.
Angie frequently presents at schools, libraries, bookstores and writing conferences. She is the Indiana SCBWI Regional Advisor and lives in Evansville, Indiana with her husband and four teenage children. Her beloved beagle Gracie and Miniature Dachshund Lucy are her constant assistants.
Angie is represented by Victoria Selvaggio with Storm Literary Agency.
Once upon a time a 35 foot tall Santa stood at the edge of town waving his mitten to all the good boys and girls as they left home or returned from out of town, smiling a hello or goodbye. He was a beloved landmark with his red suit and blue eyes. After 20 years of wishing safe travels to those that passed by, his bright red suit had faded, his beard had become chipped, and he had lost the twinkle in his eyes. Then one day… Santa disappeared.
Santa had been hauled off to a junkyard where he lay, face-down and forgotten. One day a local resident found Santa and decided to “Stand Santa Back Up.”
Santa’s Gift is the story of how a community came together to save a beloved landmark, restoring him back to his original jolly self and finding him a new home where he once again can wave safe travels to all that pass by.
SANTA’S GIFT is a book for the young and young at heart. It is a great story to share with your children or grandchildren and will include documentation of the restoration of Evansville, Indiana’s Santa statue. Do not delay – Order your copies TODAY!
A portion of the proceeds will go to support and sustain this historical landmark! Many thanks to Ron McKeethen for finding and saving Santa!
Prepare yourself, Esteemed Audience, for this spooky first episode of October that features real ghost stories. Fellow Hoosier Francesca Zappia and I talk about our mutual love of writing horror stories set in Indiana, such as her newest, NOW ENTERING ADAMSVILLE. We discuss fictional world-building and organizing the creative life and all the things you expect us to chat about on this show. But then Chessie reveals that she lives in a haunted house and I can't stop asking questions about her paranormal experiences.
Francesca Zappia is the award-winning author of Made You Up, Eliza and Her Monsters, and the serialized novel The Children of Hypnos. She is represented by Louise Fury of the Bent Agency. She graduated from the University of Indianapolis with a degree in Computer Science and Mathematics, and currently lives in Indiana. She spends her free time drawing, playing video games, and baking.
She looks mean, but she's actually a ball of floof on the inside.
You can find her on Twitter and Instagram @ChessieZappia, on Goodreads, and on Pinterest. She also sells her artwork at her Society6 shop.
Zora Novak has been framed.
When someone burns down the home of the school janitor and he dies in the blaze, everyone in Addamsville, Indiana, points a finger at Zora. Never mind that Zora has been on the straight and narrow since her father was thrown in jail. With everyone looking for evidence against her, her only choice is to uncover the identity of the real killer. There’s one big problem—Zora has no leads. No one does. Addamsville has a history of tragedy, and thirty years ago a similar string of fires left several townspeople dead. The arsonist was never caught.
Now, Zora must team up with her cousin Artemis—an annoying self-proclaimed Addamsville historian—to clear her name. But with a popular ghost-hunting television show riling up the townspeople, almost no support from her family and friends, and rumors spinning out of control, things aren’t looking good. Zora will have to read between the lines of Addamsville’s ghost stories before she becomes one herself.
With a compelling cast of memorable characters, a vivid small-town setting, and elements of a classic whodunit, Now Entering Addamsville is perfect for fans of Brittany Cavallaro, Victoria Schwab, and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
What don't Annie Sullivan and I talk about in this extensive episode? We discuss her new novel, TIGER QUEEN, of course, but we also talk about her travels to all seven continents and her cage-diving with great white sharks, which leads to our mutual love for bad shark movies. We discuss teaching at the Indiana Writers Center, Professor Dan Barden of Butler University, and all things Hoosier author. The second half of this episode is an in-depth discussion of book marketing through social media you won't want to miss as Annie Sullivan shares specific details about how to grow your author platform.
Annie Sullivan is a Young Adult author from Indianapolis, Indiana. Her work has been featured in Curly Red Stories and Punchnels. She loves fairytales, everything Jane Austen, and traveling and exploring new cultures. When she’s not off on her own adventures, she’s teaching classes at the Indiana Writers Center and working as the Copy Specialist at John Wiley and Sons, Inc. publishing company, having also worked there in Editorial and Publicity roles. You can follow her adventures on Twitter and Instagram (@annsulliva).
From Annie Sullivan, author of A Touch of Gold, comes Tiger Queen, a sweeping YA fantasy adventure that tells the story of a fierce desert princess battling to save her kingdom. Fans of Rebel of the Sands and Meagan Spooner will devour this retelling of Frank Stockton’s famous short story, “The Lady, or the Tiger?”
In the mythical desert kingdom of Achra, an ancient law forces sixteen-year-old Princess Kateri to fight in the arena to prove her right to rule. For Kateri, winning also means fulfilling a promise to her late mother that she would protect her people, who are struggling through windstorms and drought. The situation is worsened by the gang of Desert Boys that frequently raids the city wells, forcing the king to ration what little water is left. The punishment for stealing water is a choice between two doors: behind one lies freedom, and behind the other is a tiger.
But when Kateri’s final opponent is announced, she knows she cannot win. In desperation, she turns to the desert and the one person she never thought she’d side with. What Kateri discovers twists her world—and her heart—upside down. Her future is now behind two doors—only she’s not sure which holds the key to keeping her kingdom and which releases the tiger.
Barbara Shoup, one of my most favorite writers and the executive director of the Indiana Writers Center, joined me for this second episode. We had a fantastic discussion about writing, young adult novels, the Indiana Writers Center, and our love of being Hoosiers. This is one of my favorite conversations I've had with a fellow writer and you can see it happen live below.
And now, enjoy the second ever episode of Middle Grade Ninja TV:
When Paul Carpetti discovers “On the Road” in Greenwich Village while on a class trip to New York City, the world suddenly cracks open and he sees that life could be more than the college degree his mother is determined for him to achieve, a good job and, eventually, marriage to his girlfriend, Kathy. But upon his return, his mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer and his world falls apart.
Set in 1964, “Looking for Jack Kerouac” tells the story of how Paul’s dreams of a different life and his grief at the loss of his mother set him on a road trip with his rowdy friend, Duke, that includes a wild night on Music Row in Nashville, an all-too-real glimpse of glimpse of racism; and an encounter with a voluptuous mermaid named Lorelei – landing him in St. Petersburg, where he finds real friendship and, in time, Jack Kerouac. By then a ruined man, living with his mother, Kerouac is nothing like the person Paul has traveled so far to meet.
Yet, in the end, it is Kerouac who gives him the key that opens up the next phase of his life.
Barbara Shoup is the author eight novels, including Night Watch, Wish You Were Here, Stranded in Harmony, Faithful Women, Vermeer's Daughter, Everything You Want, An American Tune, and Looking for Jack Kerouac, as well as the co-author of Novel Ideas: Contemporary Authors Share the Creative Process and Story Matters. Her young adult novels, Wish You Were Here and Stranded in Harmonywere selected as American Library Association Best Books for Young Adults. Vermeer's Daughter was a School Library Journal Best Adult Book for Young Adults. She was the recipient of the 2006 PEN Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Working Writer Fellowship. She lives in Indianapolis, where she is the Executive Director of the Indiana Writers Center.
Do you like a great podcast, Esteemed Reader? Me too. Especially the Kurt Vonneguys.
I've been wanting to start my own podcast, but there are only so many hours in a day. Still, it's something I may revisit when Little Ninja is older and no longer chattering and yelling in the background of every phone conversation I have:) Wouldn't it be nice to hear me chat with writers and publishing professionals through the magic of the interwebs? I think it would. One day, Esteemed Reader, one day...
Until then, you can fulfill your biggest bucket list item of hearing my melodic voice as I chat with authors during the Genre Writing Panel from Saturday, October 14, 2017 at Central Library in Indianapolis. The video didn't quite work out, but I think the audio is lovely and deserves to be shared with the world.
So if you've got to do the dishes or some other chore, why not listen to this video and hear me chat with fellow genre writers Maurice Broaddus, Sandy James, and Tony Perona, in an event sponsored by the Indiana Writers Center. It's a great discussion and if you hear me being quiet for long stretches, its because I too wanted to hear what advice such talented authors had to share.
My sincere thanks to everyone who helped to put this event together as it was a lot of fun and I learned a lot. The Indiana Writers Center will be putting on more events and I hope to see you at the next one.
Maurice Broaddus is the author of the Knights of Breton Court trilogy, and has published dozens of short stories, essays, novellas and articles. He founded the Phoenix Arts Initiative, which encourages use of the arts for at-risk youth to express themselves. He teaches at the Indiana Writers Center
Sandy James has published numerous romance novels with Forever Yours and Carina Press, and is the recipient of two HOLT Medallions for excellence in that genre. Her indie-published romance novels have been Amazon #1 Bestsellers. She lives in suburban Indianapolis.
Tony Perona is the author of the Nick Bertetto mystery series (SECOND ADVENT, ANGELS WHISPER, and SAINTLY REMAINS), the standalone thriller THE FINAL MAYAN PROPHECY, and co-editor and contributor to the anthologies RACING CAN BE MURDER and HOOSIER HOOPS & HIJINKS. Tony is a member of Mystery Writers of America and has served the organization as a member of the Board of Directors and as Treasurer. He is also a member of Sisters-in-Crime.
Robert Kent is the author of numerous horror novels and stories for young people, including ALL TOGETHER NOW: A ZOMBIE STORY and BANNEKER BONES AND THE GIANT ROBOT BEES. His newest is the serial horror novel, THE BOOK OF DAVID. You're at his website right now. If you really want to know more about him, why not check out his bio page:)
Please forgive my brief absence, Esteemed Reader. It turns out publishing a serial novel is a lot less like publishing one book broken into five parts and a lot more like publishing five books about one story. The fourth chapter of The Book of David, available Halloween day, is longer than Banneker Bones and the Giant Robot Bees or All Together Now.
I got hold of a great story and it turns out to be a long one, which is fun, but also a whole lotta work, which is why this blog's posting schedule will probably be a bit erratic until Chapter 5 and the inevitable compilation of all five chapters have been published.
But our old friend Barbara Dee will be here Tuesday with a fantastic guest post and I've got some great interviews to share with you and a few posts actually written by me as well. But I'm a writer of books first and a blogger second since y'all don't pay nothing for this here writing:) Book writing leads to bill paying, blogging leads to "exposure," whatever that is. If you'd like to continue freeloading, the first chapter of The Book of David is also free all day every day:)
If you'd like to come tell me to my face how offensive it is (I know already, but I love to hear from readers), I'll be teaching two classes at the Indiana Writers Center this month and would be thrilled to have you in attendance. I'll also be speaking at two panels at the Indiana Author Fair held at Central Library in Indianapolis on Saturday, October 9. In you're in Indy or close, come see me, my homies, Sarah J. Schmidt and Skila Brown, and a whole bunch of other writers.
Editor Peggy Tierney says she receives thousands of manuscripts per year, reads perhaps fifty, and publishes only one or two. With publishers consolidating and purchasing fewer books each year, advances shrinking, and legacy contracts becoming more restrictive than ever – and with breakout self-publishing successes like Hugh Howey, Andy Weir, and Amanda Hawking making headlines – self publishing is no longer a marginalized zone for writers not talented enough to get a "real contract." It's a practical approach to to making real money through writing and reaching actual readers that's so much more fun than sending endless queries into the void.
Author and film director Clive Barker says, "Horror fiction shows us that the control we believe we have is purely illusory, and that every moment we teeter on chaos and oblivion." Do you like scary stories? Do you want to hold your readers frozen in heart-pounding suspense until they can turn the page and either breathe again... or scream? Robert Kent, author of All Together Now: A Zombie Story and other tales of terror, will share some of the most common tricks of the trade. He'll discuss popular plotting strategies, effective characterization techniques (for people as well as monsters), establishing credibility in a genre about the incredible, and many other spine-tingling subjects. Most stories could benefit from incorporating a little romance, but ALL stories could benefit from incorporating elements of horror. Whatever your preferred genre, expect to gain a deeper appreciation for horror's place in fiction to improve your own writing and reading.
Adults and teens are invited as noted authors will share their experiences and expertise covering writing styles ranging from young adult novels to chapter books and picture books. This program is presented by the Indiana Writers Center and features John David Anderson, 2015 Emerging Author Finalist Skila Brown, Rob Kent and Sarah J. Schmitt. As a program of the Eugene & Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award and the Library, this event will be held in Central Library's Clowes Auditorium.
Adults and teens are invited to learn the ins and outs of self-publishing during this workshop presented by the Indiana Writers Center featuring Rob Kent. As a program of the Eugene & Marilyn Glick Indiana Authors Award and the Library, this event will be held in the Knall Room.
WARNING: This week’s book is actually edgy YA and it is filled with adult content. It is absolutely not appropriate for younger readers and adults should view it as the equivalent of an ‘R’ rated movie.
First Paragraph(s):If I was good at the grocery store, I got a Yoo-hoo. If I was really good, I got to see the lobsters. Today, I was really good. My mother left me at the lobster tank in the middle of the main aisle while she went to get Dad’s pork chops from the deli counter. Lobsters fascinated me. Everything from their name to their claws to their magnificent red had me hooked. My hair was that red, the kind of red that looks okay on everything but people, because a person’s hair is not supposed to be red. Orange, yes. Auburn, sure. But not lobster red. I took my pigtails, pressed them against the glass, and stared the nearest lobster straight in the eye. Dad said my hair was lobster red. My mother said it was Communist red. I didn’t know what a Communist was, but it didn’t sound good. Even pressing my hair flat against the glass, I couldn’t tell if my dad was right. Part of me didn’t want either of them to be right. “Let me out,” said the lobster. Hi there, Esteemed Reader! I hope this post finds you well and set to have a Merry Christmas (or whatever holiday you prefer) and a Happy New Year. Next week we'll have a guest post and then I'm signing off until 2016. The blog has been a little slow here recently as I'm devoting most of my energy into preparing a massive horror serial novel for adults (details coming in my first post of 2016). But I couldn't finish the year without telling you about Francesca Zappia's wonderful novel. I had the good fortune to meet Francesca earlier this year. We did an author panel with our old friends Shannon Alexander and Barbara Shoup. We were asked what made Indiana a great place for writers, or something to that effect. I don't remember what I said (something about how Hoosiers rock!!!), but I remember Francesca said that Indiana is Gothic and creepy, a good place for stories. At that moment, I knew she was a kindred spirit and that I wanted to read her novel as I'm endlessly fascinated by how my fellow Hoosiers craft Indiana tales. Made You Up is a fascinating read and absolutely an Indiana story: Hannibal’s Rest. Home. Here’s the thing about Hannibal’s Rest, Indiana: It is astoundingly small. So small I’m sure it wouldn’t show up on a GPS. You’d pass right through without realizing you were anywhere different. It’s just like the rest of central Indiana: hot in the summer, cold in the winter, and the only way to know the weather other times of the year is to walk outside. You drive west to get to Hillpark and east to get to East Shoal, but nobody from either school can tell you the name of a single person who goes to the other, and they all hate one another. My parents didn’t grow up here or anything. They chose to live in this nowhere town.
Meet Alex, named for Alexander the Great. She's transferring to a new high school her senior year after some trouble at her previous school that led to her being "chased out." Her father is somewhere in Africa and her mother is a strange person, homeschooling Alex's little sister to be a future strange person. Reading about the family made me wonder who the crazy person really was (spoiler, it's Alex).
You'll recall the first paragraph featured a talking lobster, which is always a wonderful way to begin a novel. In the next chapter, Zappia hits us with the first of many twists and surprises:
For two years after that fateful day in the supermarket, I thought I’d really set the lobsters free. I thought they’d crawled away and found the sea and lived happily ever after. When I turned ten, my mother found out that I thought that I was some kind of lobster savior. She also found out all lobsters looked bright red to me. First she told me that I hadn’t set any lobsters free. I’d gotten my arm into the tank before she’d appeared to pull me away, embarrassed. Then she explained that lobsters only turn bright red after they’re boiled. I didn’t believe her, because to me they had never been any other color. She never mentioned Blue Eyes, and I didn’t need to ask. My first-ever friend was a hallucination: a sparkling entry on my new resume as a crazy person. Then my mother had taken me to see a child therapist, and I’d gotten my first real introduction to the word insane. Schizophrenia isn’t supposed to manifest until a person’s late teens, at the earliest, but I’d gotten a shot of it at just seven years old. I was diagnosed at thirteen. Paranoid got tacked on about a year later, after I verbally attacked a librarian for trying to hand me propaganda pamphlets for an underground Communist force operating out of the basement of the public library. (She’d always been a very suspect type of librarian—I refuse to believe donning rubber gloves to handle books is a normal and accepted practice, and I don’t care what anyone says. As you know, I'm not a mental health professional and thus far, I have no diagnosed mental disorders (but if you've read my books, you've got to wonder). So I can't vouch for how accurate Zappia's portrayal of schiziophrenia may be, which I realize is a point of controversy elsewhere, but it's a fantastic story device. Alex may be the most unreliable narrator I've ever come across and it's not her fault. But the reader can't trust her and in a first person narrative, we never know which things are actually happening in a scene and which are in Alex's, not because she's hiding information from us or intentionally making things up, but because she doesn't know what's real: The doctors were oodles of help, but I developed my own system for figuring out what was real and what wasn’t. I took pictures. Over time, the real remained in the photo while the hallucinations faded away. I discovered what sorts of things my mind liked to make up. Like billboards whose occupants wore gas masks and reminded passersby that poison gas from Hitler’s Nazi Germany was still a very real threat. I didn’t have the luxury of taking reality for granted. And I wouldn’t say I hated people who did, because that’s just about everyone. I didn’t hate them. They didn’t live in my world. But that never stopped me from wishing I lived in theirs. One of my many rules of writing is that the more extraordinary a situation, the more normal the characters should be and vice versa. Since Alex is such an extraordinary character, her situation is mostly normal and it's compelling stuff. She wants to fit in and be normal. What teenager couldn't relate to that goal? When she meets Miles, an equally interesting boy with a love of obscure history and a touch of autism, the narrative takes a turn of the familiar. Sure, he makes money by carrying out revenge pranks, but he's mostly friendly and he and Alex spar like Bennedict and Bernice in Much Ado About Nothing--me thinks they're might be something there. The only issue, and it's a small thing, but Alex is concerned Miles might not actually be real. He might be an updated version of the same boy with blues eyes Alex remembers from the day she freed the lobsters: He laughed and disappeared into the kitchen. Was that Blue Eyes? I grabbed the Magic 8 Ball and rubbed the scuff mark as I looked down into its round window. Better not tell you now. Evasive little b#@ch. Whether or not Miles or any other story element is real or a fantasy created by Alex's treacherous brain is not for me to say. You'll have to read Made You Up and see for yourself and you'll be glad you did. Zappia's finely turned prose and sense of humor shine in this debut and I'm looking forward to seeing what she does next and I hope we bump into each other again so I can tell her how much I enjoyed this fun and interesting novel that's not quite like anything else I've ever read. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll have a good time. Make your holidays happier by picking up a copy of this book. Should you need further convincing, I shall leave you as always with some of my favorite passages from Made You Up by Francesca Zappia:
“You smell like lemons.” I felt a flurry of delirious joy because he’d said, “You smell like lemons” instead of “Your hair is red.” I knew my hair was red. Everyone could see my hair was red. I did not, however, know that I smelled like fruit. “You smell like fish,” I told him. He wilted, his freckled cheeks burning. “I know.” It was ten-thirty, and the place was dead. And by dead, I mean it was like the entire possum population of suburban Indiana. The first thing I noticed about East Shoal High School was that it didn’t have a bike rack. You know a school is run by stuck-up sons of b#@ches when it doesn’t even have a bike rack. In AP Chemistry, Ms. Dalton seated us in alphabetical order and handed out lab notebooks, which look like notebooks on the outside but are filled with graph paper and make you want to kill yourself. I turned to Art, a black kid who was a foot and a half taller than me and whose pecs were about to burst out of his shirt and eat someone. I gave him a two on the delusion detector. I didn’t trust those pecs. Was there some kind of law about drop-kicking @#holes in the face? Probably. They always had laws against things that really needed to be done. STANDARD DISCLAIMER: All reviews here will be written to highlight a book’s positive qualities. It is my policy that if I don’t have something nice to say online, I won’t say anything at all (usually). I’ll leave you to discover the negative qualities of each week’s book on your own.
Francesca Zappia lives in Indiana, majors in Computer Science at the University of Indianapolis, and still isn't sure exactly how that happened. She spends most of her time writing, reading, drawing, watching anime, and playing way too much Pokémon. Some of her stories have nice neat endings, and others don't have very neat endings at all.
You can find her on Twitter @ChessieZappia, Tumblr (exeuntstormtroopers.tumblr.com), and on her website, www.francescazappia.com. And now Francesca Zappia faces the 7 Questions:
Question Seven: What are your top three favorite books?
1- The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
2- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
3- Fire by Kristin Cashore
Question Six: How much time do you spend each week writing? Reading? I spend at least half an hour each day writing, but if I don’t have to work that day, I’ve been known to write from the minute I get up until I can’t hold my eyes open anymore. It really depends on the story I’m working on and what my schedule looks like. As for reading, I try to get in an hour of reading every day while I exercise, but if I really can’t put the book down, I’ll spend 4-6 hours finishing it in one day. (Definitely did that with Fire!)
Question Five: What was the path that led you to publication? I started writing when I was eight years old, but when I was fifteen I realized that publishers don’t just pick books off trees somewhere; writers have to send them in. I did some research, started looking for literary agents, and the summer after my freshman year of college, it all paid off. I got an agent, and six months later we’d sold my first book to HarperCollins. I did a lot of work over many years, but I also got very lucky, and I’m thankful every day for the happy circumstances that got me here.
Question Four: Do you believe writers are born, taught or both? Which was true for you?
A little of both, which I think is true for any skill. You can be born with an aptitude for anything, but if you never practice or try to improve your skill, you’re not going to go anywhere. On the flipside, maybe you don’t have an aptitude for a specific something, but if you practice it often, you can become much better at it. It also helps if you enjoy what you’re doing.
I can’t say whether or not I have an inborn aptitude for writing, but I know that I practice it a lot, I learn from reading, and I love doing it, so that’s enough for me!
Question Three: What is your favorite thing about writing? What is your least favorite thing?
Brainstorming! I LOVE coming up with ideas, especially for fantasy, sci-fi, and horror stories. Nothing beats the rush you get when a great idea hits you, then knowing that you can actually put it into a story.
I enjoy editing, too, which is weird because editing is also my least favorite part. It’s my least favorite because sometimes I just want a story to be right the first time around, sometimes because I don’t like it that much or because I have other books I want to work on, but when I figure out a way to fix the problems in the story and make it better, it all feels worth it.
Question Two: What one bit of wisdom would you impart to an aspiring writer? (feel free to include as many other bits of wisdom as you like) If you want to write books, write books. It’s difficult, and it takes a long time, but if you have the passion for it I promise you can do it. Don’t worry about whether it’s good or not. And don’t feel obligated to write “literary” or “highbrow” fiction unless that’s what you love. Write what you want, because when you enjoy it, you’ll do it more, and you’ll get better at it. Question One: If you could have lunch with any writer, living or dead, who would it be? Why? J.K. Rowling. I’d probably be too star-struck to speak, though. Harry Potter was the reason I started writing in the first place, and it was my life from ages six through eighteen. I’d be grateful just to be in her presence.
