Marie Lu, Michelle Hodkin and Caitlin Kittredge Join YALLFest Line Up

YALLFest has announced that they have added three new authors to its already drool-worthy line up. Marie Lu, Michelle Hodkin, and Caitlin Kittredge will also be attending the festival which will be held on November 9, in Charleston, South Carolina.

Marie Lu is the author of the Legend series which will release the third book and final book, Champion on November 5. Michelle Hodkin is the author of the Mara Dyer series with her third novel, The Retribution of Mara Dyer releasing on October 22. Lastly, Caitlin Kittredge is the author of several series including The Iron Code.

They join many other best selling novelists including Lauren Oliver, Veronica Rossi and David Levithan! You can check out the full list of authors right here!

Veronica Roth will be giving the keynote address along with Rae Carson. The event draws thousands of participants each year and is sure to have something for everyone. For more information on YALLFest check out the Facebook page and Tumblr.

‘Divergent’ Movie Faction Symbols Released

Earlier today the Divergent faction symbols for Dauntless, Abnegation, Candor, Erudite and Amity that will be used for the upcoming movies were released by the movie’s official Instagram.

The symbols were released in descending order according to the amount of likes each faction received throughout the day on their specific images that can be seen here.

Divergent is currently filming in Chicago and is scheduled to be released 21 March, 2014. It stars Shailene Woodley as Beatrice ‘Tris’ Prior and Theo James as Four. The third and final book in the series, Allegiant will be released October 22, 2013.

“We are alive. We are free. We are Dauntless.”

“Knowledge is power. Wisdom is harmony.”

“Keep the peace. Build a better world.”

“Face the truth. Let Candor set you free.”

“Lead by serving. Speak by listening.”

Veronica Roth Talks Her Role at Book Expo America

Yes Veronica Roth will be attending BEA next week. But no, she won’t be revealing anything more about Allegiant, or giving any Advanced Readers (They don’t exist). On her blog she explained what she will be doing at BEA. Veronica will be a keynote speaker on May 31st and will be poster signing on May 30th.

Here is her blog post in case you missed it:

Book Expo America!
BEA IS NEXT WEEK! Here are my answers to possible questions about it, or you can skip to the bottom of this post for my schedule while I’m there:

Book Expo America is a conference, primarily for professional industry types (publishing people! Booksellers! Etc.), but also for all variety of people from readers to authors to book bloggers to other press people, and so on. It is in New York City, at the Javitz Center. This year it takes place from May 29th to June 1st. You need a badge to get in, and you have to pay for a badge, and if you want to attend, you can find out more here:http://www.bookexpoamerica.com/Register-Now/

Yes, I will be attending this year! And I am excited.

No, I will not be signing Allegiant there, because it comes out on October 22nd, and there will be no Allegiant ARCs (Advance Reader Copies– early, uncorrected copies of books printed for promotional purposes).

When I say there will be no Allegiant ARCs, I mean there really won’t be any Allegiant ARCs, not even under the tables for super special people, not even in my apartment, not even later this year, nowhere. NEVAH.

However, I will be signing really cool Allegiant posters for you to add to your swag collection. When my name is present on the signing schedule, that’s what it means– poster signing!

Yes, I will be giving a keynote at the BEA Children’s Breakfast on May 31st at 8:00AM with Octavia Spencer, Mary Pope Osborne, and Rick Riordan. Tickets to this event may actually be sold out– not sure– but you can find out more information here:http://www.bookexpoamerica.com/Show-Info/Authors-and-Books/#page=page-1

Yes, I am nervous, thank you for asking.

No, just so you know, my keynote speech will not provide any more details about Allegiant that haven’t already been released elsewhere. It is actually not so much about my books and more about writing, reading, and my experience with both.

TL;DR here’s my BEA schedule

Thursday, May 30th
8:30AM– there will be an Allegiant-themed stunt at the Crystal Palace entrance. If you’re there, you could get a little cool somethingorother. I can’t say anything more.
9:00AM– this is when you can get a ticket to the poster signing, at booth #2039. (They are only handing out 200 tickets, FYI.)
1:00-2:00PM– I’m signing ze posters at #2039

Friday, May 31st
8:00-9:30AM– I’ll be speaking at the Children’s Breakfast in the Special Events Hall. This event is ticketed. It will be fun, though.

That’s it! I won’t be doing any other events in NYC because it’s going to be sort of a tight schedule for me, but hopefully I will be back in the area soon.

See you there, BEAers!

Will you be in attendance at BEA?

‘Divergent’ Instagram Releases Faction Creative Manifesto Graphics

The newly opened Divergent Instagram has released five faction graphics designed to promote each faction’s manifesto! In order of appearance below there is: Erudite, Amity, Dauntless, Abnegation and Candor. The faction symbols are scheduled to be revealed sometime today but first we have to choose which faction we belong in!

The fans have the chance to choose their faction by ‘liking’ the respective manifesto on instagram! The faction that receives the most amount of likes will have their symbol appear first, followed by the subsequent factions in order of ‘likes’. The faction symbols will begin to be revealed following the conclusion of the Choosing Ceremony. You can participate in the Instagram iPhone application, or on the website. Which remaining one are you most excited for? Entertainment Weekly already released the Dauntless symbol, which you can click here to see. These graphics below are NOT faction symbols. They are just artsy graphics of the faction manifestos!

J.K. Rowling’s Annotated First Edition Harry Potter Book Sold For $228,000

A first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone that contains annotations and illustrations made by author J.K. Rowling herself fetched 150,000 pounds ($228,000) at a London auction today.

According to the Associated Press, Sotheby’s said the work, offered as part of a charity book sale jointly organized with the English PEN writers’ association, was sold to an anonymous bidder by telephone.

The book contains many personal annotations, including editorial decisions, comments on the process of writing and a note on how she came to create the game of Quidditch, all of which many fans would love to get their hands on. (Come on Jo give us an encyclopedia!) She also drew about two dozen illustrations in the copy, including a sleeping baby Harry on a door step and an Albus Dumbledore Chocolate Frog card.

As part of the fundraising event, Rowling and dozens of other best-selling authors were asked to “scribble second thoughts, marginalia or drawings” on a first-edition copy of one of their books.

A copy of Roald Dahl’s best-selling children’s book “Matilda” containing new drawings by illustrator Quentin Blake fetched 30,000 pounds ($45,500), while an annotated copy of Kazuo Ishiguro’s acclaimed novel “The Remains of the Day” was sold for 18,000 pounds ($27,300).

Other participating authors in the charity sale included Ian McEwan, Seamus Heaney, Lionel Shriver and Yann Martel.

The final, 51st lot being offered is a fountain pen from Stephen Fry that has been engraved with a quotation by the British actor, writer and broadcaster. Graham Short, known for creating miniature engravings that can only be seen through a microscope, has marked the pen with the phrase: “Waggled in the right way, this inkly little stick can change the world.”

In all, the sale raised a total of 439,200 pounds ($666,310).

To get a look at some of the pages in this special Potter book, navigate over to this page!

Quote of the Week: What is Your Miracle?

“The way I figure it, everyone gets a miracle. Like, I will probably never be struck by lightening, or win a Nobel Prize, or become the dictator of a small nation in the Pacific Islands, or contract terminal ear cancer, or spontaneously combust. But if you consider all the unlikely things together, at least one of them will probably happen to each of us. I could have seen it rain frogs. I could have stepped foot on Mars. I could have been eaten by a whale. I could have married the Queen of England or survived months at sea. But my miracle was different. My miracle was this: out of all the houses in all the subdivisions in all of Florida, I ended up living next door to Margo Roth Spiegelman.”
― John Green, Paper Towns

What is your miracle?

‘Divergent’ Movie Faction Symbol For Dauntless Is Revealed

The filmmakers of the adaptation for Veronica Roth’s bestselling book, ‘Divergent’, have decided to rebrand the faction symbols for the movie. In true movie advertising style, they won’t show us all of the newly designed symbols at once. They’re going to release them slowly and today was the first day! Thanks to Entertainment Weekly for the pic. Below you can see the symbol for Dauntless, the faction that Tris chooses to become a part of. What do you think of it? I personally would have preferred the color version that fans had made. (Check it out below the new film version.)

Divergent, if you haven’t read the books, is a dystopian world set in Chicago. The population is split into five factions: Abnegation (selfless), Erudite (intelligent), Candor (honest), Amity (peaceful) and Dauntless (brave). Children are born into a faction their parents chose for themselves and then when they are sixteen, they get to choose their own faction – but if they choose a different faction from their family, they never get to see them again.

To see the other four faction symbols you can follow @Divergent on Instagram for the full reveal on Thursday, 5/23 at 9 am PT.

Divergent, the film, stars Shailene Woodley as Tris, Theo James as Four, Kate Winslet as Jeanine, Miles Teller as Peter, Zoe Kravitz as Christina, Jai Courtney as Eric, Ben Lloyd-Hughes as Eric, Christian Madsen as Al, Ben Lamb as Edward, and Ansel Elgort as Caleb. Tony Goldwyn and Ashley Judd will be portraying Tris and Caleb’s parents.

The film will be released in U.S. cinemas on 21 March, 2014.

Divergent Movie: Tris Jumps Into Dauntless

Summit has released a new photo from Divergent depicting Tris ( Shailene Woodley) taking her Dauntless jump into the faction’s headquarters.

We get a great look at Tris’ Abnegation outfit, and a sneak peek at Dauntless leader Eric (Jai Courtney). (He’s the one with his hands on his hips.)

“In this photo she’s already jumped off the train and onto a seven story building as part of the initiation rite for the Dauntless,” Divergent director Neil Berger said yesterday. “The next thing they have to do is jump from the building and down through a courtyard that has a deep, black hole. It’s terrifying.”

“We’d been nervously planning it because it is dangerous and there’s a lot of people on that roof,” Burger continued. “We had to pull it off safely and also pull it off cinematically, so you have this knot in your stomach as you watch this young woman decide to do this crazy thing. We had great weather that day and I think this scene really is emblematic of the movie: It shows the energy and the rawness of the way we’re telling the story.”

Divergent co-stars Theo James as Four, Kate Winslet as Jeanine, Ansel Elgort as Caleb, Miles Teller as Peter, Ray Stevenson as Marcus, Christian Madsen as Al, and Ben Lloyd-Hughes as Will. Tris’ parents were the last roles to be cast. Scandal actor Tony Goldwyn will play her father, and Ashley Judd will play her mother. Divergent opens in theaters March 21, 2014.

[Review] Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Published: 1 May 2012

Publisher: Harper Teen

Edition: U.S. Hardcover

Read my review for Divergent here.

Summary: “One choice can transform you–or it can destroy you. But every choice has consequences, and as unrest surges in the factions all around her, Tris Prior must continue trying to save those she loves–and herself–while grappling with haunting questions of grief and forgiveness, identity and loyalty, politics and love.

Tris’s initiation day should have been marked by celebration and victory with her chosen faction; instead, the day ended with unspeakable horrors. War now looms as conflict between the factions and their ideologies grows. And in times of war, sides must be chosen, secrets will emerge, and choices will become even more irrevocable–and even more powerful. Transformed by her own decisions but also by haunting grief and guilt, radical new discoveries, and shifting relationships, Tris must fully embrace her Divergence, even if she does not know what she may lose by doing so.

“New York Times” bestselling author Veronica Roth’s much-anticipated second book of the dystopian “Divergent” series is another intoxicating thrill ride of a story, rich with hallmark twists, heartbreaks, romance, and powerful insights about human nature.”

After the wild ride that was Divergent, the second in Veronica Roth’s dystopian trilogy, did not disappoint in its action-thriller-relationship dynamic. We meet with Tris soon after she has thrown all her cards in the air and decided that her only choice in the world now is to take down the Erudite and their masochistic leader, Jeanine.

Of all the dystopian books that I have read, this one had the most action packed plot of all. Even Catching Fire was slower to take up the pace of its plot than Roth has accomplished with Insurgent. One thing after another, we are left with little moments to take a breath and consider the consequences of Tris’ actions. We do, however, get a good insight into how the death and destruction is affecting Tris. Unlike The Hunger Games, Roth doesn’t try to harden her characters to the point of unrecognizable courage that not one reader could identify with – Tris is a human, just like us, and if we had just killed our friend, whether for a valid reason or not, we would be struggling. Tris’ struggle to deal with the murder she has committed stays with her through the book until the very end, and we see the outcome of the hard psychological struggle she has to live with while she tries to undermine the Erudite control over their little dystopian-Chicago world.

Aside from Tris’ inner struggles, we get a good feel for how Tris was identified as a Divergent. Her strength of body and fearlessness may set her apart as a Dauntless but she also cleverly devises plots to undermine Jeanine and her followers, depicting her Erudite intellect, and the love and selflessness that she has when she goes into a fight, determined that she should die to save the lives of those she loves, and those she does not know, identifies her Abnegation qualities. I felt like I got to know Tris’ character a lot more in Insurgent than in Divergent where we were learning more about the world that Roth created. We also get to see the relationship between Tobias and Tris grow stronger, and yet more easily breakable, when their differing plans to defeat Erudite come at a head.

Overall Roth created yet a stunningly addictive book, that I read with the same enthusiasm as a hungry child placed in front of a banquet. The deliciousness of Roth’s plot made me want more and more until we hit the peak surprise at the end of the book and we are left hanging with a suspenseful ’what will happen next?!’. Unfortunately there’s still a bit of a wait for the next and final book, Allegiant, which won’t be released until October of this year. But that also leaves us time to speculate! What is outside of the world that Roth has created, and how does Tris, or rather, her former self, fit into all of this? Questions! Questions!

Nebula Award Winners

This year’s Nebula Awards are here and the winners have been announced! The Nebula Awards cover the best Science Fiction and Fantasy books published in the previous year.

Check out the list of winners below:

Novel:

2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
Throne of the Crescent Moon, Saladin Ahmed (DAW; Gollancz ’13)
Ironskin, Tina Connolly (Tor)
The Killing Moon, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
The Drowning Girl, Caitlín R. Kiernan (Roc)
Glamour in Glass, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)

Novella:

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall, Nancy Kress (Tachyon)
On a Red Station, Drifting, Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)
“The Stars Do Not Lie,” Jay Lake (Asimov’s 10-11/12)
“All the Flavors,” Ken Liu (GigaNotoSaurus 2/1/12)
“Katabasis,” Robert Reed (F&SF 11-12/12)
“Barry’s Tale,” Lawrence M. Schoen (Buffalito Buffet)

Novelette:

“Close Encounters,” Andy Duncan (The Pottawatomie Giant & Other Stories)
“The Pyre of New Day,” Catherine Asaro (The Mammoth Books of SF Wars)
“The Waves,” Ken Liu (Asimov’s 12/12)
“The Finite Canvas,” Brit Mandelo (Tor.com 12/5/12)
“Swift, Brutal Retaliation,” Meghan McCarron (Tor.com 1/4/12)
“Portrait of Lisane da Patagnia,” Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com 8/22/12)
“Fade to White,” Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 8/12)

Short Story:

“Immersion,” Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld 6/12)
“Robot,” Helena Bell (Clarkesworld 9/12)
“Fragmentation, or Ten Thousand Goodbyes,” Tom Crosshill (Clarkesworld 4/12)
“Nanny’s Day,” Leah Cypess (Asimov’s 3/12)
“Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream,” Maria Dahvana Headley (Lightspeed 7/12)
“The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species,” Ken Liu (Lightspeed8/12)
“Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain,” Cat Rambo (Near + Far)

Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation

Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin (director), Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Abilar (writers), (Journeyman/Cinereach/Court 13/Fox Searchlight)
The Avengers, Joss Whedon (director) and Joss Whedon and Zak Penn (writers), (Marvel/Disney)
The Cabin in the Woods, Drew Goddard (director), Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard (writers) (Mutant Enemy/Lionsgate)
The Hunger Games, Gary Ross (director), Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins, and Billy Ray (writers), (Lionsgate)
John Carter, Andrew Stanton (director), Michael Chabon, Mark Andrews, and Andrew Stanton (writers), (Disney)
Looper, Rian Johnson (director), Rian Johnson (writer), (FilmDistrict/TriStar)

Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Book

Fair Coin, E.C. Myers (Pyr)
Iron Hearted Violet, Kelly Barnhill (Little, Brown)
Black Heart, Holly Black (McElderry; Gollancz)
Above, Leah Bobet (Levine)
The Diviners, Libba Bray (Little, Brown; Atom)
Vessel, Sarah Beth Durst (S&S/McElderry)
Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (Random House; Doubleday UK)
Enchanted, Alethea Kontis (Harcourt)
Every Day, David Levithan (Knopf)
Summer of the Mariposas, Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Tu Books)
Railsea, China Miéville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
Above World, Jenn Reese (Candlewick)

Solstice Awards were awarded to editor Ginjer Buchanan and astronomer and entertainer Carl Sagan, the latter of which was accepted by his son Nick Sagan.

The Kevin O’Donnell Jr. Service Award was awarded to Michael Payne.

(The list above borrowed from this Tor.com posting. You may also see results on SFWA’s own site.)