STACKED

books

The V-Word: Cover Reveal!

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Remember when I talked about The V-Word anthology many moons ago (or last year early in the year)? 

Now I have loads more I can share about it.

First, the cover, which you can click to make much bigger: 

I really like how it looks so mature, without looking off-putting. It’s enticing and appealing and will easily catch the eyes of teen girls — the target market. 

Here’s the official blurb for the anthology:  

THE V-WORD: True Stories about First-Time Sex

An anthology edited by Amber J. Keyser

HAVING SEX FOR THE FIRST TIME IS A BIG UNKNOWN. LOTS OF PEOPLE WILL TELL YOU WHAT TO DO, BUT IS ANYONE TELLING YOU WHAT IT’S REALLY LIKE?

The V-Word pulls back the sheets on sex. Queer and straight. Relished and regretted. Funny and exhilarating. The seventeen women in this book (including Christa Desir, Justina Ireland, Sara Ryan, Carrie Mesrobian, Erica Lorraine Scheidt, and Jamia Wilson) write about first-time sex—hot, meaningful, cringe-worthy, gross, forgettable, magnificent, empowering, and transformative.

Whether you’re diving in or whether you’re waiting, we hope these stories will help you chart your own course.

Beyond Words/Simon & Schuster
Released date: February 2, 2016
Simultaneous hardcover and paperback release.

ISBN: 978-1-58270-521-7 (TP) / 978-1-58270-522-4 (HC)


Along with a bio of Amber, who edited it: 

Amber J. Keyser believes in the power of sharing our experiences. She’s the author of the young adult novel THE WAY BACK FROM BROKEN (Carolrhoda Lab, 2015) and numerous nonfiction titles. Connect at www.amberjkeyser.com.

The full contributor list: 

Molly Bloom
Kiersi Burkhart
Chelsey Clammer
Christa Desir
Kate Gray
Justina Ireland
Laurel Isaac
Karen Jensen
Kelly Jensen
Sidney Joaquin-Vetromile
Amber J. Keyser
Alex Meeks
Carrie Mesrobian
Sarah Mirk
Sara Ryan
Erica Lorraine Scheidt
Jamia Wilson

Readers will also find a Q&A with teen librarian Kelly Jensen on how teen sex is portrayed in the media, resources for teens who want to learn more, guidelines for safer sex practices, support for girls wanting to delay sexual activity, and even a resource section for parents on how to approach this topic with their teenager.

I’m so thrilled — and completely scared — to be a part of this incredible and important anthology. I have both an essay and the Q&A included. Writing this essay was one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever written. It meant digging from a well of feelings I didn’t know that I had. But I am really pleased with my piece, am excited to know teen girls will find it and (maybe!) relate to it, and I’m eager to see how this entire anthology comes together from start to finish. Amber has done tremendous work building a great and vital collection. 

Working through the Q&A portion meant devoting weeks to reading and thinking about depictions of sexuality in YA. I wrote a bit about that here, but the book features a much longer series of thoughts and insights into what YA is doing great and what could be improved. 
That cover again, though, just for good measure: 

Taking A Break

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We’ve been blogging at STACKED for over six years now. Through that time, Kimberly and I have both moved (more than once), switched jobs/careers, and taken on a ton of outside responsibilities in our personal lives. We’ve maintained a lot of consistency here, too — the longest we’ve gone without posting is a week.

Kimberly’s newest adventure in home buying and my need to buckle down a bit on my anthology means that we’re going to do something we’ve never done before: we’re taking an extended vacation. July tends to be a quiet month in publishing, as well as in the blogging world, so we’re going to take advantage of this time to relax, refocus, and take care of the things outside the blog.

We will return from our vacation on July 20 with our regular posting schedule. It’s possible a post will pop up between now and then, but we’re taking this chance to read, relax, and unwind a bit.

Giveaway: Sarah McCarry’s “Metamophoses” series

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Kimberly and I are about to announce a bit of a blogging vacation. This will mean that we won’t be posting anything new for a while — but we’ll get to that next week in more detail.

Because of that, we won’t be talking about July releases immediately. This is okay, as July is generally a very slow month in publishing. Few titles are released, so we don’t feel we’ll be doing a huge disservice not highlighting them as soon as we can.

That said, one book hitting shelves in July is really important, really good, and one I absolutely want to make sure I mention before we vacation. It’s the third book in Sarah McCarry’s very loose “Metamophoses” series, About A Girl. This book features, like the rest of the series, a diverse cast in terms of ethnicity, race, and sexuality. It’s got a killer, important, necessary cover to go along with it.

I’ve written about this series before, but each of the titles are related, building upon one another. They’re takes on mythology, though familiarity with those myths isn’t necessary. Neither is reading the books in order, though readers who do will see not only the growth of a writer, but the growth of a series of interconnected, fascinating, enveloping, lush worlds.

These are books that are perfect for readers who love fantasy, mythology, or books by authors like Francesca Lia Block or Nova Ren Suma. They’re rich stories with rich, fully-fleshed characters. Readers who like literary fiction — especially the kind that doesn’t “feel” like YA but adult fiction — will eat this series up.

To celebrate the release of About A Girl and to encourage more people to pick up this fantastic series, I’m giving away a complete set of “Metamophoses” books. You’ll get All Our Pretty Songs, which was a YALSA pick for the Outstanding Books for the College Bound title, Dirty Wings, and About A Girl. I’ll pull a winner around July 15, and this give away is open to US and Canadian residents.

Good luck!

I don’t know whether I need to make a disclosure or not, but Sarah has become a friend over the last couple of years, is a contributor to Book Riot where I work, and she will be contributing an essay to my Feminism for the Real World anthology (hey, there’s your first spoiler at who is involved!). I won’t be writing a review of About A Girl for these reasons, but my enthusiasm for the series and the book are real and authentic. I want more people to read them.

Hardcover to Paperback Makeovers: 5 Changes To Consider

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How about another round of books getting new looks in their paperback editions? I’ve been letting these pile up in a draft post and I’m ready to talk about a handful of them now; I’ll talk about some more soon since I’ve got a ton.

Let’s take a look at five of them this time — some of which are great makeovers and some which aren’t maybe as solid as their initial look in hardcover. Which do you think does it better? Have you seen other recent changes you’d love to talk about?

Ally Condie’s Atlantia is getting a pretty dramatic makeover in paperback. Where it looks like an adult science fiction title in its hardcover edition on the left, the change in paperback looks a lot more like a generic YA novel geared toward teen readers on the right. The paperback tells the readers almost nothing — it could be a book in any genre, since it’s nothing more than a big face. The tag line, which is repeated from the hardcover, doesn’t give much insight, either.

While I think there’s maybe more teen appeal on the paperback, I think that’s at the expense of being distinct and memorable. Also sort of interesting is that the author name seems to have shrunk in the new edition. Where it took up two lines and was more prominent than the title on the hardback, it’s gotten smaller on the paperback and the title has sized up.

The hardcover is a stronger image on this one and wins for me. The paperback edition will be available October 20.

The original look for Una LaMarche’s Like No Other followed in the tradition that began with Eleanor and Park — an illustration depicting two teens who clearly have some sort of romantic relationship with one another. It’s a cover trend I’ve never been fond of, since I think illustrated covers like this tend to not only tell you too much as a reader, but more, they actually begin blending together after a while (imagine someone asking for the book that’s got an image of a couple that’s illustrated — you could probably name a pile of them that all came out around the same time). I also think they tend to look a little young. Which isn’t to say I hate all illustrated covers, but rather, I dislike the ones that look like they’re modeling a trend. More, this one bothers me since it’s a story with people of color at the center and we don’t get to see them face first. We just get their backs.
The paperback for this one is a winner, though. While I’m not wild about the models’ faces being cut off, the fact we have their faces facing the readers is noteworthy. These are two people of color, and seeing that on a book, especially with the implication that they’re in some sort of relationship in the story and aren’t the same race, is important. This is a book you face out on a shelf because you know that readers are not only looking for these books, but readers are going to instantly identify with these faces. 
However, because we can’t skip a beat with following in the footsteps of trends, I find the pull quote on the paperback unnecessarily distracting. Any comps to The Fault in our Stars at this point feel like they’re a real reach, and while I get it’s an EW review, I think the fact that it’s called “one of the best” since a book published in 2012 really undermines so many other books at the expense of the one it’s featured on. I much prefer the blurb as featured on the hardcover. 
Though frankly, you could ditch the quote all together on the paperback and use just the title and image to sell the hell out of it. This is a book that has a nice look that will appeal to teen AND adult readers easily.
Like No Other will be available in paperback on July 14. 

I’ve got complicated feelings on the cover remake of Delilah S. Dawson’s Servants of the Storm, and it’s not because I dislike either of the covers. I think they’re both pretty great for depicting a horror story that follows in Gothic traditions. They have similar color schemes; the difference is primarily that they feature a different central image. The hardcover uses a girl who looks creepy, while the paperback makes use of a sign, a storm, and what is probably a not-too-happy carnival in the background. 
The paperback’s biggest difference in terms of the feel it gives off is through the tagline: “When we die, we belong to her.” Imagine that on the hardcover. THAT, I think, would offer up a different feel with that cover and be more effective. On the paperback, who does the “her” refer to? There’s not a person on the cover, and thus, there’s not a lot of intrigue in terms of who we’re supposed to be fearing. If the tagline were pulled off the paperback, it would be more effective, as there’s a lot of feeling in the image alone that isn’t necessarily contradicted by the tagline. 
I’m not sure one of these covers is better than the other. Both are actually pretty intriguing and would appeal to the same type of reader. 
Servants of the Storm hit shelves in paperback on June 2. 
The redesign for Sara Polsky’s This is How I Find Her might be one of the most dramatic in terms of the feeling it gives off that I have seen in a long time. The hardcover on the left has, since I initially saw it, made me immediately think of an Amish story. I don’t think that’s the intent, as this is a story about a girl dealing with her mother’s bipolar disorder and suicide attempts. The hardcover, aside from that, does give off a more somber feel than its redesigned paperback on the right. 
I’m having a hard time understanding the paperback. This looks like a lighthearted beach read, complete with a repeat of the tagline from the hardcover but in a context that makes it sound like a summer love, as opposed to dealing with a family challenge. More, I’m not sure I understand the font choice (I dislike the font here, period) and the decision to make the “I”s and “How” and “Her” pink, leaving the rest black. Is there something symbolic in it? Am I supposed to read another word in there? I am confused, rather than intrigued. 
Neither of these covers tells me anything about the story and neither is particularly appealing or memorable to me, except for how they don’t work. The hardcover might appeal more to older readers, whereas the paperback looks like it might reach younger readers more readily…even though it doesn’t exactly get to the heart of the story. 
The paperback edition of This is How I Find Her hit shelves on May 1. 

I saved the biggest change to talk about last because there’s so much to talk about with this one. The book on the left is Fat Boy vs. The Cheerleaders, a standalone novel that came out from Geoff Herbach last year. I love this cover for so many reasons; it’s bright, it’s different, and the can is representative of the story and actually plays a role in it. This cover is memorable and stands out on a shelf.

The title, though. While it’s accurate — this is a story about Gabe, a fat boy, and it’s about the things that happen to him in a turf war at school — it’s also sort of a turn-off. It generalizes the characters and creates a strange stereotyping of characters in high school. Since there’s not a lot to go off in terms of the story’s feel from the cover, even though it’s a good one, that title becomes the anchor for readers in terms of what the book will be about. And the title isn’t telling them a whole lot (or maybe it’s telling them everything and that’s not great, either).

The paperback makeover for this book means not only a facelift, but it received a title change, too. Rather than being Fat Boy vs. The Cheerleaders in paperback, it became Gabe Johnson Takes Over, which is a title that is so much better, more engaging, and less reliant upon stereotypes, which really are not at the heart of the story itself. The cover itself is fun, looking like a defaced school notebook, along with ephemera that is relevant to the story. The pop can hasn’t disappeared, though it’s taken a backseat. In many ways, this is a much more generic cover, but it’s not generic in the way you’d forget about it, like a large image of a girl’s face is. Where I usually don’t love when a review or blurb from a review is used on a cover, it works here. Part of why it works is that this book really got lost in the shuffle and because the title changed, this signals to readers that it’s a book that’s earned recognition before. It’s clearly not brand new or fighting for a spot. It’s instead working toward reaching its audience better.

What I like about this makeover, too, is that the cover doesn’t hide that it had a different original title. This is a useful tool for not just readers who may have picked up the book before, but it’s extremely useful for those who will wonder whether it’s a book they’ve purchased for a collection before.

While I’m sad that the cover isn’t the pop can anymore, I think the makeover, both the title and the image itself, does a huge service for this book. The paperback of Gabe Johnson Takes Over is available now.

Read by the Author

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Authors who narrate their own books produce audiobooks of mixed quality, in my experience. Often authors who read their own memoirs or autobiographies have more success than authors who read their novels (presumably because they lived the words and therefore feel them more authentically), but even then, I’ve run across some real duds. Some authors just aren’t meant to be narrators.

During Cybils season last year, I listened to a lot of audiobooks as part of my strategy to read as many nominees as possible. One such book was Night Sky by Suzanne and Melanie Brockmann (who narrated). The book itself was just OK, but it could have been elevated by some truly excellent narration. Unfortunately, Melanie Brockmann isn’t really up to the task. Her narration isn’t terrible, but it has enough negatives to impinge on the listening experience – she sounds like she runs out of air a lot (probably not helped by the really long sentences), and she doesn’t voice any of the characters at all. Sometimes voicing can negatively impact an audiobook when it’s done poorly, but here it was just confusing and pretty dull.

There are a few novels read by their authors that I’ve really enjoyed, though. Sherman Alexie’s narration of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is so good that I didn’t even miss the illustrations, and Neil Gaiman has a voice made for narration. I also really love Philip Pullman’s treatment of The Golden Compass and its sequels for Full Cast Audio. He provides the general narration while a full cast of other readers provide the dialogue. His calm, even voice is a perfect backdrop for the more energetic characters performed by others.

When it comes to nonfiction, I’ve really enjoyed David Sedaris’ works, though it took me a while to warm up to his style of narration. He’s quite dry and it doesn’t always seem like he’s telling a joke – though of course he is. Now I can’t imagine listening to his books read by anyone else. Stephen King’s On Writing is also an exceptional example of nonfiction read by the author (though Stephen King’s writing is so good, I’m not sure even a bad narrator could ruin the experience completely).

Audiobook lovers – what has been your experience with books read by their authors? Are you a fan?