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books

Kimberly’s Top 17 of 2017

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Contrary to previous years, a lot of the books I read this year were adult titles. Perhaps I just need a break from YA, but it seemed like a lot of the YA titles I read this year didn’t match the quality of previous years. I only gave five titles five stars on Goodreads, and only two of them were YA.

I read a lot this year. As of this writing on the 25th, I’ve read 112 books, and this number will likely go up a few by the end of the year. Like last year, I did most of my reading on audio: 65 on audio versus 47 in print. Most of those print titles were ebooks, which is a pretty significant change for me. I find I don’t miss the physical book as much as I thought I would.

While I did think the field for YA was weaker this year than in past years, my top 17 overall were true standouts. Here’s a brief rundown, in no particular order. Links lead to my own reviews; if I didn’t write one, they lead to Goodreads.

Middle Grade

Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk

This was just a really well-written, heartstring-tugging middle grade novel that reminded me a lot of the books I read when I was around ten years old. It’s definitely deserving of its Newbery honor.

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo

This is a beautiful book. I love the idea of a short bio modified to read like a fairy tale/bedtime story, and the art is GORGEOUS with many different styles represented. The 100 women chosen are from all over the world, from many different time periods, of many different races, and run the gamut of anything and everything a woman can be (which is anything!). We got four copies donated to the library and I would just like to thank that soul because I never would have known about this book otherwise.

Princess Princess Ever After by Katie O’Neill

This is a sort of retelling of Rapunzel, but this time it’s a headstrong black princess, Amira, who rescues a white princess, Sadie, in the tower. They then go on a series of fun, small adventures, culminating in a bigger adventure where they confront the person who put Sadie in the tower in the first place. And yes, they fall in love, and there’s a sweet lesbian wedding in the epilogue, where the two girls are now adults and have accomplished much in their lives – and have come back to each other to live happily ever after.

Young Adult

Midnight at the Electric by Jodi Lynn Anderson

I loved how this was a story within a story within a story – one set in the near future and the others set at two different points in the past. And it was so well-executed and all of the characters were interesting. I’m still thinking about this book, months after reading it. This was the first really great YA novel I read this year.

Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World edited by Kelly Jensen

I mean, obviously. Not just because Kelly is amazing, but because her work is amazing, and the pieces she chose for this anthology are amazing. I especially liked Kody Keplinger’s pieces about not wanting kids.

Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

Bardugo’s novel is action-packed, funny (Diana learning about odd human customs never gets old), and quite deep. Alia is biracial, Greek on her dad’s side and Black American on her mom’s side, and this provides a real-life example of the metaphor that Diana represents: a fish out of water feeling in your own family and your own culture, of straddling two places and not really belonging in either. Romances are hesitantly formed, friendships are tested, and there’s a shocker of a twist near the end – but one that sharp-eyed readers who trust themselves will have seen coming. Bardugo is a fine writer and she was a perfect choice to tell this story.

Dare Mighty Things by Heather Kaczynski

This book ticks so many of my boxes: non-astronauts being sent into space, imaginative futuristic tech, the possibility of alien contact, and a plot full of twists and secrets. It’s so much fun and I wish I could read it all over again, not knowing what was going to happen.

Adult

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

This was my first foray into my goal of reading a ton of classic books this year. I read a total of four (not as many as I intended, but not too shabby), and this was definitely the best. I listened to the audio version that Angelou narrated; she is the perfect reader for her own story.

Shrill: Notes From a Loud Woman by Lindy West

Lindy West narrates her own memoir, and she is pretty great at it. This is just a really solid book about growing up, fighting back, and asserting your place as a woman and as a fat person in a world that would generally prefer you be “as small, quiet, and compliant as possible.”

Persuasion by Jane Austen

This is easily my favorite Jane Austen – the heroine is somewhat close to my own age, the letter at the end is some of the most romantic writing in any novel, and it’s genuinely funny. It’s not her most popular, but it’s the one I can see myself re-reading at some point down the road.

Do You Want to Start a Scandal by Tessa Dare

Tessa Dare’s books are hit and miss for me, but generally she gets better with each book. This one is her funniest yet; I was snorting with laughter while listening to it as I got ready for work in the morning.

The Girl in the Road by Monica Byrne

This was my pick for the book club I joined this year, and I’m happy to say I really enjoyed it. It’s literary science fiction, featuring two young women at two different points in the future. One is making a forbidden journey across an energy-harvesting road in the middle of the Arabian Sea, a road not meant for human travel, and the other is journeying across Saharan Africa toward Ethiopia, running from an act of violence she witnessed. Their journeys eventually coalesce. It’s fascinating and deep with lots to discuss.

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

I also read this one for book club. Lahiri is a master of short fiction. My favorite story is the last one, but the best story is the first.

The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith

J. K. Rowling is really great at writing mysteries, which should come as no surprise. She is a fantastic plotter, and the best mysteries require meticulous plotting. The next two are just as good. The fourth, Lethal White, should be published sometime in 2018.

Version Control by Dexter Palmer

I loved this literary SF novel about time travel, alternate futures, marriage, online dating, casually toxic relationships, and so much more. It’s intelligent and sometimes funny and will satisfy the reader looking for just the right mix of literary writing and SF weirdness.

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

This gothic novella about a school of young people who have returned from other worlds and now have to readjust to living in our own world again is fascinating. None of the worlds the people visited would be appealing to those of us reading, but to the people in the story, they had become home. A murder mystery drives the plot, but it’s the various worlds and the characters that visited them that make this story so engrossing. This also wins my award for Best Title.

In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

Ruth Ware is really, really good at writing thrilling mysteries. In her first novel, Ware has created a cast of interesting, dynamic characters, some of which you’ll like and some of which you won’t, and her plotting is top-notch, plus the atmosphere can’t be beat. It’s pure joy to see the way everything comes together – you won’t be able to quit turning the pages. This is a true marriage of mystery and thriller, just the way I like it.

 

 

 

 

 

2017: Favorite Reads, Reading Experiences, and Year-End Reflection

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2017 Favorite Reads

As 2017 draws to a close with less than a week left, I feel strongly enough that my favorite reads of the year won’t change too much. I always wonder about the lists of favorites that many post early: are they going to miss something that they read later? Are books publishing at the end of the year getting cheated a bit?

Here’s what I’m calling my favorite reads of 2017. I’ve limited to books published this year, though I did read a number of great backlist titles as well. This is a mix of fiction and nonfiction, as well as young adult and adult titles. These are in alphabetical order, not in any ranking. It was interesting to look back and see what books really hit me at the beginning of the year that I’d sort of forgotten about by this point.

 

 

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez

This story about a girl who loses her sister — the daughter who’d been the “good Mexican daughter” of the family — is a look at grief, at cultural pressures, and at how to juggle your familial obligations with the dreams you have which extend beyond the boundaries of your city. A fresh voice, with a powerfully drawn Chicago from an author who I cannot wait to read more from. Sanchez put out a poetry collection a couple of months before this book hit, and I am itching to dig into it.

 

 

I Believe In A Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo

My heart does this little fluttery thing every time I think about this book. Desi Lee lives with her single father, and she is awkward as all get out. But after one poor encounter with a boy too many, she turns to K-Dramas to help her create a list of ways to find love and keep it. This is a hilarious read, with tons of heart, and it’s a rom com that should appeal to both those who love romance, those who love humor, and those who find themselves falling in love with pop culture. This book has mega appeal to any reader who has a fandom and turns to it in times of need. Though K-Drama wasn’t a thing Desi started the story loving, it really becomes a passion for her. Goo includes a ton of recommended viewings in the back of the book, too.

 

 

 

 

Janesville by Amy Goldstein

Not enough people read this book, especially those who fell in love with Evicted by Matthew Desmond (which is also fabulous). Goldstein takes a hard look at Janesville, Wisconsin, and what happened to what was once a true middle class city that thrived around manufacturing and more specifically, a GM plant which paid great wages, when it shut down. I live close to Janesville, and I’ve worked in many of the Rock River cities nearby, which also suffered as a result of this. The book takes a peek inside the lives of a variety of families impacted by the GM closing, as well as the closing of the formerly thriving pen company Parker Pens. It’s a HARD read, but it’s a great one about the ripple effects of job loss. It’s imperfect, but there is so much to pull from here on a micro level that reflects a lot of the macro level economic changes in the last decade. There’s some really insightful stuff in here, too, about the former darling Paul Ryan and how his image has really been changed in the city that once reveled in what he could do for it. For readers who’ve ever been confused by Wisconsin politics, well, this one will help a lot.

I compare this one to Evicted a lot because Evicted takes place in Milwaukee, and it’s incredible to see what happens there vs. Janesville — the two cities are only about 70 miles apart.

 

 

 

 

The Lake Effect by Erin McCahan

I laughed so hard reading this book, and every time I think about it, I find myself trying to stifle a laugh. This is a book about a boy in the summer between the end of high school and beginning of college. He takes a job as an assistant to an elderly woman on the shore of Lake Michigan and all of the….quirks she has. But as much as her quirks are a riot, the true riot is all of the mishaps he has while trying to keep her happy and doing his job for her. Then he meets the girl next door who has some kind of secret that he wants to get to the bottom of. The second (SPOILER) is that she has crones disease and it has made her life a living hell (END SPOILER) and he learns how to lean into the fact she’ll never be anybody but exactly who she is.

There’s a scene in this book that involves funerals (okay, a lot of those) but one in particular had me in hysterics on the train. I had to close to book so as not to get too many weird stares.

 

 

 

 

Like Water by Rebecca Podos

We’ve all read a ton of YA books about the kids who get out of their small towns as soon as they graduate. This is not that book. This is instead about the girl who sticks around to help out in the family restaurant, as well as to help her father who is succumbing to his illness. It’s a book about sexuality and the fluidity of language and definition when it comes to sexuality. This is a book that’s all about a powerful voice, some gorgeous writing, and a take on the sort of “after high school” story we rarely see. Super inclusive, as well as incredibly creative (the summer job that Vanny gets is one of my favorites in YA of all time).

 

 

Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert

This was my first read of 2017, and it remains one of the best YA books I’ve ever read. It’s a story about a solid and powerful sibling relationship — half siblings borne of a blended family — and what happens when one of those siblings struggles with bipolar disorder that the other one can’t fix. It’s also about relationships and romance, about sexuality and about living one’s life on one’s own terms. Colbert is an expert at weaving in a lot of plot lines and complexities among her characters and doing so without ever making the book feel over stuffed or unreal.

 

 

 

Malagash by Joey Comeau

This little book is one that I saw virtually no talk about, despite the fact it deserves so much more love and conversation. Sunday’s father is about to die of cancer, and she’s figured out a way to replicate his life in the virtual world through a virus. By creating this virus, her father’s words and voice will live in the hard drives of millions across the world. Of course, this book isn’t about the virus. It’s about the way we all mourn loss, especially the loss we know is coming and can’t do anything to resolve. It has a lot of dark humor woven through, but this tiny little book (all 182 pages) is an emotional powerhouse.

 

 

Nomadland by Jessica Bruder

I picked this one up to listen to on a series of long drives and found myself unable to stop listening until I finished it. Bruder explores the new American lifestyle that came from the loss of retirement security in the great economic crash. The book followers a few individuals as they make lives for themselves in RVs and other moving vehicles, scraping together pennies in seasonal jobs that seek people just like them out. Back when my husband and I took our annual vacation this year, we went up to the Apostle Islands (a National Park in Wisconsin’s part of Lake Superior), and one of the couples we met while there had told us they lived in Arizona but had spent the summer as camp hosts in Wisconsin, and this was one of their destinations on their way back home. Bruder’s book is a look at lives like theirs.

But what made this really a strong read for me was the look at Amazon’s practices with their warehouse employees. I feel like everyone “knows” how tough Amazon working conditions are, but I felt myself getting sick thinking about someone like my grandmother being forced to walk 20+ miles a day on concrete floors, get repetitive stress injuries, being told to pill up at the pain pill stations, and more, just so they could meet unreasonable daily quotas. It really changed how I use Amazon.

This was a book I recommend with Janesville when it comes to thinking about how much our economy and the middle class has changed.

 

 

 

 

Piecing Me Together by Renee Watson

I think Watson’s YA is some of the most underrated YA out there, and this book — another read with a short page count — packs in so much about race, class, and discrimination. But in addition to taking a sharp look at all of those meaty topics, this is a book that, at heart, is about a girl who loves art. Her passion shines through, and it was such a powerful reminder that, amid all of the awful and tough things a person experiences in their daily life, there can be something that drives them and keeps them afloat.

 

 

 

 

A Short History of The Girl Next Door by Jared Reck

I’m not a crier. But this book? I was crying for the entire second half of the (again!) short little read. This is a book about a boy who has grown up with a great female friend across the street and how he feels when suddenly, their freshman year of high school, she gets a boyfriend. He has to struggle with never taking a chance with her beyond their friendship.

But then THE THING happens and suddenly, this book becomes one about learning how to grow up, deal with your emotions for yourself, and learning that the world does not revolve around you and your pain is not worse than anyone else’s. There’s a great look at toxic masculinity that, while not called that, is so clear and obvious that it begs to be talked about. I read a book earlier this year that has been gracing the New York Times List over and over which tried to do this, but failed spectacularly. But Reck’s book? Gets it.

This is one that readers itching for younger YA protags will want to pop on their reading list. Also, it’s a feels book. You’re going to have them all. And you’ll need tissues, too.

But it’s worth it.

 

 

 

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

If I could choose to write with the sort of brevity and emotional impact as any writer, it’d be LaCour. This is a powerful book about grief, about friendship, and about love. It’s a slower read, but it’s absolutely beautiful. It oozes with loneliness while settling into your bones and making you feel like you yourself are not alone. A literary gem.

 

 

 

 

You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me by Sherman Alexie

This book gave me a lot of the same kinds of feelings that LaCour’s did, but this one is a memoir about Alexie and his relationship to his mother. It’s vulnerable. Told through short vignettes, this explores relationships, family, life on the reservation, and the challenges Alexie had with his mother…while also offering compassion and insight into why and how she did what she did as a mother and what it was he was able to get from his relationship with her. Readers who love Alexie’s YA book will want to give this a read, in part because he talks about the book and the process for how it came to be. It’s not an easy nor a quick read, but the format and style make it one you can pick up and put down over the course of time you need to read it.

 

 

 

 

2017 Favorite Bookish Moments

I was so lucky to be able to do so many things relating to Here We Are‘s release this year, and I got to meet so many incredible readers and writers. Here’s an abbreviated reflection on some of my favorite moments relating to that, as well as some of my favorite/biggest reading moments:

  • I attended two literary festivals: the Tucson Book Festival (wherein I got to see this gorgeous city with the help of Hannah Gomez, who gave me a grand tour as a local) and the San Antonio Book Festival (wherein I spent the morning of my event wandering the River Walk alone, visiting the Alamo again, and then having my event in the most amazing cathedral talking about feminism with Jessica Luther and Siobhan Vivian).

 

  • I’d asked my publicist about doing an event at Book People — the bookstore which really was a buoy for me during my time in Austin — and it happened. Not only did it happen, but it was a standing room only event, and I’ll never forget seeing so many faces from my time at school down there. One of the folks who attended said it was likely the biggest assembly of UT iSchool students in one place that wasn’t a study session.

 

  • After my annual review for Book Riot, we’d talked about dreams/goals/what I’d like to do. We did not once talk about beginning a YA podcast, but a month later, the idea was floated to me, and then when I floated to Eric Smith that I’d love him as a cohost, it was born. This is such a fun little biweekly podcast, and it’s fun to talk enthusiastically about books and reading with someone who is as enthusiastic as Eric is.

 

  • For my 33rd birthday, I set a goal of funding 33 classrooms through Donors Choose. This was in mid-August. By my birthday at the end of September, one of my editors at Algonquin asked if she could take part and up the number of funded classrooms to match her birthday age (her birth date was a few days after mine). We funded over 56 classrooms in a little over a month. It was incredible and reminded me how, when a community can come together, big changes can happen.

 

  • I did a bookstore event in Vermont, driving there by myself from Providence, Rhode Island. It was my first time renting a car alone, and it was my first time driving through the northeast. It was my first time in Vermont. When I got to the bookstore, I was surprised to see not one, not two, but THREE of my friends from various parts of my life. Unbelievable love.

 

  • And that day? It only got better when I then drove from Vermont to the Hudson Valley for an event at Oblong Books, where another friend had surprised me by showing up. Book people are the best people.

 

  • I sold my second anthology (Don’t) Call Me Crazy, about mental health, and spent almost all year putting it together. It’s in copyedits now for a fall publication date.

 

  • I rediscovered my love of nonfiction books on audio. I finally got an audible subscription — a perk of being a podcast host for my job — and I’ve listened to a lot of great nonfiction while doing various household tasks. I’m considering installing one of those bluetooth shower speakers when we move into our new home early next year (we’re moving from Wisconsin to Illinois, which isn’t bookish news, though I guess saying we’ll be 4 blocks from an amazing local indie and under a mile to the local library IS bookish).

 

  • I made the difficult, but necessary, decision to step down from my role as a panelist on this year’s first round YA Cybils committee. It wasn’t giving me what I needed in terms of discussion or critical evaluation, so I did what was best for me and left. No hard feelings with the Cybils or anyone involved; it was 100% for and about me and my needs.

 

  • I read all of Harry Potter for the first time. I revisited all of the Ramona Quimby books. I read through all of Stephen King’s It. I’ve started thinking a bit about what it is I’d like to make my reading project for 2018, and I’m thinking about the LM Montgomery books I never read (I tried reading the Emily series at one point, but I wasn’t ready to commit).

 

  • This here little blog celebrated 9 years. I continue to love what Kimberly and I are able to do every week and continue to appreciate those of you who are new readers, long time readers, or who happened to stumble upon us.

 

  • Attending and speaking at NCTE/ALAN was one of my favorite experiences, as was moderating a panel at ALA on feminism, inclusivity, and the need for all of us to do better — where I got to have five excellent women of color talking about their work, about their stories, and learn so much that, I hope, makes me not just a better person, but also a more thoughtful and critical reader.

 

  • I created the #RiotGrams challenge for Book Riot and ran this Instagram bookish photo challenge in February, June, and October (which, incidentally, will be when it hits again this coming year if you want to take part). It was so fun to build such a fun bookish community on Instagram and build my TBR simultaneously.

 

  • I kept up with Litsy (you can follow me there @kelly) and with Goodreads, as well as kept a massive reading spreadsheet for myself. My longest read this year was It by Stephen King. And with a good estimation, my total page count landed somewhere in the 145,000 range, with roughly 135 books read total.

 

  • One fun thing I did this year: I tracked my library holds on Instagram. I’m going to do this again in the new year, perhaps with a special tag so I can round them up periodically for sharing.

 

 

Thanks for this year, 2017. I’m eager to see where 2018’s reading leaves me. I know for now, in this last week, I’m ready to pick up a few “for me only” reads, tackle some of the excellent gift books I’ve received, and relaxing.

 

 

A Few Cybils Reads – Part IV

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Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo

This might be the first ever media tie-in novel I’ve ever read, and it’s a really good one. It features teenage Diana and her first adventure off of Themyscira and in the human world. It’s set in the present day, so I’m not sure how it actually aligns with the movie (it doesn’t seem like it does at all?) and whether this is actually canonical or if it’s just licensed fan fiction. Regardless, it’s a great story.

When a human girl named Alia washes up on the shores of Themyscira, Diana risks everything – including her right to live with her Amazon sisters on the island – to save her life. Alia is being hunted by powerful people who believe she is the Warbringer, a descendant of Helen of Troy who simply by existing has the ability to bring about a cataclysmic war. Diana and Alia team up with a few other human teenagers to elude Alia’s hunters, hoping to get Alia to a particular place in Greece that will nullify her warbringer ability.

The book is action-packed, funny (Diana learning about odd human customs never gets old), and quite deep. Alia is biracial, Greek on her dad’s side and Black American on her mom’s side, and this provides a real-life example of the metaphor that Diana represents: a fish out of water feeling in your own family and your own culture, of straddling two places and not really belonging in either. Romances are hesitantly formed, friendships are tested, and there’s a shocker of a twist near the end – but one that sharp-eyed readers who trust themselves will have seen coming. Bardugo is a fine writer and she was a perfect choice to tell this story.

 

The Ravenous by Amy Lukavics

This is Lukavics’ third novel, and it’s taught me that she can be relied upon to provide all the chills a good horror novel usually brings. The Cane family looks loving and tight-knit to the outside world, but in reality, their relationships are highly dysfunctional. The father is always away for work (he’s in the military), leaving the mother to take care of the five Cane sisters on her own. She’s depressive and spends days – or even weeks – at a time in bed, leaving the eldest daughter, Juliet, to take care of the other four. Resentment abounds. Things come to a head in an argument where the youngest daughter, Rose – beloved by all her sisters – falls down the stairs in a horrible accident and dies. Only in Lukavics’ world, death is not permanent, and when the girls’ mother finds a way to resurrect Rose, she comes back…different, with a hunger that can only be satisfied by human flesh.

There aren’t a lot of surprises in this novel, since what I wrote about above is all revealed on the jacket flap. This is essentially a zombie novel, but Lukavics makes it her own with the pitch-perfect depiction of the twisted relationship between the sisters (which only grows more twisted as the girls try to find a way to keep Rose alive the second time) and the no-holds-barred descriptions of murder and cannibalism. Lukavics does not shy away from the gruesome, and the penultimate chapter will shock even those readers who saw the events coming. The writing felt a bit weaker to me than in her previous two books; there were times when an awkward sentence drew me out of the story. But overall this is really solid horror for readers who like their scares explicit and messy.

 

Anatomy of a YA Anthology: Natalie C. Parker on THREE SIDES OF A HEART

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“Anatomy of a YA Anthology” is back again today with another interview. Today, Natalie C. Parker talks about the inspirations behind Three Sides of a Heart, which hits shelves tomorrow, December 19. I’ve had a copy of this sitting at the top of my to-read for a while and after reading Natalie’s piece, I am itching even more to dive in.

 

Your Name

Natalie C. Parker

Your Anthology’s Name

Three Sides of a Heart: Stories About Love Triangles

Anthology Description

You may think you know the love triangle, but you’ve never seen love triangles like these.

These top YA authors tackle the much-debated trope of the love triangle, and the result is sixteen fresh, diverse, and romantic stories you don’t want to miss.

This collection, edited by Natalie C. Parker, contains stories written by Renée Ahdieh, Rae Carson, Brandy Colbert, Katie Cotugno, Lamar Giles, Tessa Gratton, Bethany Hagen, Justina Ireland, Alaya Dawn Johnson, EK Johnston, Julie Murphy, Garth Nix, Natalie C. Parker, Veronica Roth, Sabaa Tahir, and Brenna Yovanoff.

A teen girl who offers kissing lessons. Zombies in the Civil War South. The girl next door, the boy who loves her, and the girl who loves them both. Vampires at a boarding school. Three teens fighting monsters in an abandoned video rental store. Literally the last three people on the planet.

What do all these stories have in common?

The love triangle.

How did you get your idea/what was the initial spark?

Keen irritation.

Once upon a time, I wasn’t the sort of person who had a strong opinion about the love triangle. In my experience some were effective and others weren’t, but that was the same with any trope. But one day I attended a panel during which the panelist were asked which trope in young adult fiction they wanted to see die in a fire. One panelist answer, “the love triangle” and I felt an unexpected rage in response.

As I listened to the discussion that followed, I realized that the ire toward the love triangle, specifically in young adult fiction, was centered around opinions of a single, well known love triangle. In other words, a single manifestation of a trope with a long and exciting history had fixed some readers so firmly against it that they’d written off all future iterations. I decided that the best way to engage with that conversation was by inviting others to explore the trope with me. An anthology seemed the best way to do that.


What steps did you take from idea to proposal?

Immediately after that panel, I shared my frustrations with a few friends. And at the end of my doubtlessly eloquent tirade I proclaimed my intentions to build an anthology filled to the brim with love triangles. When my passions cooled and I looked around the room, I found every single person nodding their heads. They were already on board, so my initial steps were a little shorter than they might have been. Essentially, I polished my thoughts about the love triangle and invited a collection of authors to join me in defending, exploding, and exploring the trope.
So the project proposal ended up as something of a problem statement and a list of authors willing to tackle it.

Did you use an agent?

I did and boy, oh boy, am I glad. Before bringing my list of contributors on board, I reached out to my agent and asked if they’d be willing to represent an anthology. We discussed what that might look like both creatively and administratively and when we were on the same page, she took the proposal out to market.


As an editor, were you responsible for contracts between you and your writers? Did your publisher or agent handle the administrative/legal side of things?

While my contract is with the publisher, all of the contributor contracts are with me. So this was a huge learning curve and plenty of paperwork on my end, but my agent managed all contract negotiations. BLESS AGENTS.


How did the editing process work between you and your writers?

I worked in concert with my editors at HarperTeen and we decided on our approach at the very beginning of the process. We would read the stories as they came in then hop on a conference call and discuss our notes. When we were all on the same page, we drafted notes together and I gave them a final review before sending them to the author.
From there, the authors primarily communicated with me via email.


Money talk: how did you get paid for your work?

The publisher paid me via my agency, and I sent payment to each of my authors. Sounds simple, but if anyone reading this is planning an anthology proposal, you should know that you’ll also be responsible for creating tax documents at year’s end*. There’s a fair bit of administrative cost that goes into managing an anthology, so make sure you pay yourself an editor’s fee!

Where and how did you come to “direct” the anthology? Did you have an idea of how you wanted pieces to progress early on or did you wait until all pieces were available to you to begin constructing the collection?

I was fairly hands off in the initial stages. In my invitation to contributors, I told them that I was interested in love triangles all every sort and stories in all genres, and that’s precisely what I got. As the stories began to roll in, I found that we had a fairly even distribution of genres, representation, and triangle outcomes. But we had a few notable gaps and I asked three authors if they would be willing to tackle those gaps. Having that flexibility a little later in the process allowed us to create a more complete collection.

What was your favorite part of the anthology creation process?

By far, my favorite part was working with each of the authors on their stories. It was such a challenge moving between them, bending my mind toward the author’s vision. I loved every moment of exercising my creative and editorial muscles in new ways.

What was your least favorite part?

The paperwork! Part of being a published author is also learning how to run a small business, but this took everything to a whole new level.

What were some of the biggest lessons you as an editor learned in creating an anthology? One of the more magical aspects of an anthology is how it comes together. An editor can begin to arrange the pieces, but the shape of the puzzle won’t become clear for a long, long while. I found that even though I’d invited a kickass team of authors to contribute, I had no idea what the project would end up looking like — no idea whose story would sit where, which would be in conversation with which. It was like trying to see a Magic Eye picture while the pixels were still sorting themselves out.

I learned that there’s a balance between directing an anthology and letting authors do whatever they like. I ended up with the opportunity to cover a few gaps later in the construction process, but that was mostly luck and definitely not by design. If I were to do this again, I would be slightly more active in the early stages offering a broad set of possibilities and parameters. I would also ask for story pitches up front so I could get a sense of the shape of the finished product early on.

What were some of the biggest successes? We received a starred review from School Library Journal in which they said: “The depiction of various identities and romantic choices make this collection an inclusive, relevant one that is likely to foster acceptance among high school readers.” If I’d had a mission statement for this collection, that would have been it. Receiving this review was an incredible moment in my career. I’m proud of it and of the authors who made it happen.


If you aren’t already working on another anthology, would you do another one? Why/why not?

I would absolutely do another one. The process was invigorating and rewarding and I have a trove of ideas waiting.

 

 

*Note from Kelly: this is true if you pay your contributors over $600 each. Under $600, and you don’t need to create the documents.

A Few Cybils Reads – Part III

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Dare Mighty Things by Heather Kaczynski

Seventeen year old Cassie has been chosen to compete for a spot in an elite NASA program, one shrouded in mystery. All she knows is that there is room for a special mission to space – possibly further than humanity has ever gone before – for a young crew member, someone under 25 who will bring something special to the program. She and the other competitors must go through a rigorous set of trials which will test them physically, intellectually, and psychologically. Two people will be selected: the winner and an alternate. Cassie is determined to win, but of course, not all is what it seems.

This book ticks so many of my boxes: non-astronauts being sent into space, imaginative futuristic tech, the possibility of alien contact, and a plot full of twists and secrets. The cast is tremendously diverse, as it should be. If the program is truly gathering the best and brightest young people from all over the world, most of them are not going to be white. Protagonist Cassandra Gupta is an American of Indian descent on her father’s side of the family (her mother is white). She’s asexual, and there’s a really lovely conversation she has with a friend she makes during the competition, who is bisexual, about how both asexuality and bisexuality are totally normal and fine. Cassie is a great main character in general: she’s incredibly driven, and while she does develop deep friendships during the program (something she’s always struggled with), she never loses that drive that defines her; she just learns to balance it better. The competition, which takes up the majority of the book, is exciting and unique, and there’s a mega twist at the end that will make teens want the sequel right this second. Highly recommended.

All Rights Reserved by Gregory Scott Katsoulis

Speth Jime lives in a future America where everything is copyrighted, even words. This means that whenever a person speaks (or writes), the speaker must pay the copyright holder for each word, automatically deducted using a futuristic type of bracelet each person wears. Names are copyrighted, as are most gestures. The values of each fluctuate according to the market, much like the value of goods and services do today. There are a few things still in the public domain, but not enough to be able to communicate in any meaningful way without spending a fortune. Kids can speak freely until age 15, when they give their first speech and begin paying for their words. When Speth turns 15, something horrifying happens, and she decides to never speak again. This sets in motion a chain of events far beyond Speth could have anticipated.

While Katsoulis never quite succeeded in getting me to fully suspend my disbelief regarding his concept, which is taken to the most extreme of extremes, he does raise thought-provoking questions about intellectual property, freedom of expression, and how to balance the two. In Speth’s world, the Bill of Rights no longer exists, and the concept of freedom of speech is obsolete. The gulf between the poor, like Speth’s family (who have their debt for unpaid copyright infringement handed down from generation to generation), and the rich (who own the words and gestures and collect vast sums of money) is enormous. Teens who are still into dystopias will find a fresh and mostly relevant concept here, though the pace in the last third drags.