2 TV shows you should be binge watching and 1 parting word

1. Orphan Black

The first five minutes: Sarah is a down on her luck single mom fighting to regain custody of her daughter. She’s standing on a platform waiting for a train when a distraught woman drops her purse and shoes on the ground and moves toward the edge. A train approaches. The woman turns and looks at Sarah, and Sarah stops cold—the two women could be twins. The other woman then leaps in front of the train. Sarah grabs the woman’s purse and bolts.

Why you’ll stick around for more: You guys. THIS SHOW. My husband and I ordered sushi one Friday night and sat down to watch the first episode on a whim, and twenty minutes went by and I realized I was still sitting there, holding a pair of chopsticks over an untouched spicy tuna roll. There are so many things to love about this show—Clones! Secret medical experiments! Heart-stopping suspense! CLONES! But really, what makes this show is the absolutely brilliant acting of Tatiana Maslany, who balances seven different roles and makes each of them unique and sympathetic. She deserves to win ALL THE AWARDS. For serious. Buzzfeed agrees with me. (LINK: http://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelhorner/why-tatiana-maslany-should-be-on-your-radar)

Catch Orphan Black on BBC America. (Warning: Mild sex, nudity, language and some violence.)

2. Continuum

The first five minutes: It’s 2077 and corporations are king. Literally. Policewoman Kiera tracks the leader of a terrorist organization intent on bringing down the corporations. Kiera moves in, but before she can stop him, the leader triggers a series of explosions, killing tens of thousands of people. Six months later, the leader and several of his followers are set to be executed for their crimes. Kiera is providing security. But then the terrorists enable a time travel device, whisking themselves and Kiera back to 2012. When Kiera wakes, the terrorists are gone, and she knows she has to find them.

Why you’ll keep watching: There’s a lot to like about Continuum. It’s a classic fish out of water story, albeit one with some pretty cool, futuristic gadgets thrown in for good measure. But what I love most about Continuum is the time travel world. It’s very different from my own time travel world, but it raises a lot of interesting questions for you to puzzle through. You know, if you like that kind of thing.

You can see Continuum on SyFy, and it’s also available on Netflix. (Some violence).

And as a final parting note, I’d just like to thank the League for inviting me to be an affiliate this month. I had a blast! And if any readers what to chat about anything further—time travel, action scenes, rabid Orphan Black fangirlishness—feel free to drop me a line at merediththewriter at gmail.

Meredith McCardle is June's Affiliate Blogger. To find out more about our guest author positions here at the League, click here.

Meredith McCardle is a recovered lawyer who lives in South Florida with her husband and two young daughters. Like her main character, she has a fondness for strong coffee, comfortable pants, and jumping to the wrong conclusions. Unlike her main character, she cannot travel through time. Sadly. Her debut, THE EIGHTH GUARDIAN, will be published by Skyscape/Amazon Children's in Spring 2014.

The Eighth Guardian

by Meredith McCardle

More info

Iris's world is turned on end when she's plucked out of her top-secret government training school and dropped into an organization she’s never heard of: the Annum Guard. It’s a team of highly trained operatives who have the ability to travel back in time and tweak the past to improve the present. Enhancement, not alteration—or so they claim. But the deeper she gets into the organization, the more she learns that the Annum Guard is keeping some very dangerous secrets. So now she has to start digging for answers without getting caught. For if she fails, it won't just be her life on the line. It will be an entire history's worth of lives.

3 Tips for Writing Better Action Scenes

 1. KISS. We all know what KISS stands for, right? (Although let’s pretend it’s ‘Keep it Simple, Sweetheart’ because I don’t really know you and I make it a general rule to try to refrain from insulting people I don’t know).

Anyway.

This rule is an absolute must for writing an effective action scene, IMO. Simple simple simple. This is not the time or place for flowery language or literary set descriptions. Use strong, clear, active verbs, short sentences, and paragraphs of no more than a few of those short sentences. Let’s take a look at an example.

The mugger—a big, bulky kind of guy—reached into the pocket of his black trench coat and pulled out a gun. It was a shiny silver .357 Magnum, the same type of gun John’s grandfather owned.

John reached his hand out, and his fingers closed around the cold barrel of the gun. John squeezed, then bent his elbow and made the gun aim straight up into the clouds. He turned the gun to the left, then to the right, and began to lower the gun to the ground. There was a crunch as the mugger’s index finger shattered and went limp, which let John retract the gun into his own hand. The mugger sank to the ground and let out an anguished cry that pierced the cloudless sky.

John gripped the gun with two hands. It felt familiar and inviting and took him back to that summer he spent at his grandfather’s Texas ranch, that summer he learned to shoot.

“Don’t move!” John shouted at the man on the ground.

OR

There was a flash of metal and then there was a gun in John’s face. John didn’t think. He went right for the gun.

He grabbed the barrel and forced it up, then immediately twisted it down. There was a crunch and as the would-be mugger’s fingers broke. The man dropped to the ground with a muffled scream.

John aimed the gun at his head. “Don’t move!”

The second scene is clearly more effective at portraying a sense of urgency, right? The first has more detail, but it brings the pace to a grinding halt. You want a reader’s heart rate to pick up a little during an action scene. You want them to frantically turn the page to find out what happens next. Keeping it short and simple is an easy way to accomplish this.

2. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Let’s jump back in with another example.

Mary lunged at her attacker. Her elbow flew up, and she slammed it into his temple. Then she raised a fist and sent it flying into the bridge of his nose. Then came a kick square to the gut. Finally, she finished him off with a palm strike to the throat, and he crumbled to the floor like a house of cards.

Notice something missing?

I’ve been shocked by the number of so-called action scenes I’ve read that only give you half a sense of what’s going on. If your main character is the one throwing the punches, don’t forget about the guy on the receiving end. Unless your character is fighting an inflatable punching toy—one that keeps popping up as soon as it goes down—you need to account for the antagonist. His or her experience in the scene should be just as important as your character’s. Let’s look at the example again.

Mary lunged at her attacker. Her elbow flew up, and she slammed it into his temple. He staggered back, woozy and off balance, but then he straightened himself and flew toward her.

She raised her fist and loosed it into the bridge of his nose. This time he screamed, and blood rained from his nostrils. He looked at her with fire in his eyes, and Mary spun around and landed a roundhouse kick square to his gut.

It forced him back a few steps, but it wasn’t strong enough to finish him.

“I’m going to kill you,” the man said, lunging toward her. But Mary’s hand flew in the air, and she forced her palm into his throat. He sputtered, his windpipe destroyed, and he crumbled to the ground like a house of cards.

Ok, I’ll admit that’s not the best action scene I’ve ever written, but it’s much more fleshed out, isn’t it? So always remember that in a fight scene, there are two (or more) participants. Don’t forget about all of them!

3. When writing a fight scene, YouTube is your friend. There are a number of fight scenes in THE EIGHTH GUARDIAN. For probably half of them, I just sort of closed my eyes and imagined what they would look like. For the other half, I went on YouTube, watched a bunch of videos over and over again, and then described what I was seeing.

I then sent a copy of the manuscript to a critique partner trained in martial arts, and for about half of the fight scenes, her reaction was “This doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.” Can you guess which half?

So if you’re untrained in martial arts (like me), definitely confirm your scenes with a primary source. And if you’re already a jiu jitsu maven, well then I hope you enjoyed my two tips for writing better action scenes!

Meredith McCardle is June's Affiliate Blogger. To find out more about our guest author positions here at the League, click here.

Meredith McCardle is a recovered lawyer who lives in South Florida with her husband and two young daughters. Like her main character, she has a fondness for strong coffee, comfortable pants, and jumping to the wrong conclusions. Unlike her main character, she cannot travel through time. Sadly. Her debut, THE EIGHTH GUARDIAN, will be published by Skyscape/Amazon Children's in Spring 2014.

The Eighth Guardian

by Meredith McCardle

More info

Iris's world is turned on end when she's plucked out of her top-secret government training school and dropped into an organization she’s never heard of: the Annum Guard. It’s a team of highly trained operatives who have the ability to travel back in time and tweak the past to improve the present. Enhancement, not alteration—or so they claim. But the deeper she gets into the organization, the more she learns that the Annum Guard is keeping some very dangerous secrets. So now she has to start digging for answers without getting caught. For if she fails, it won't just be her life on the line. It will be an entire history's worth of lives.

4 Book Recommendations

1. THE 5^th WAVE by Rick Yancey

What it’s about: There have been four waves of alien invasion, which have wiped out over 90% of the earth’s inhabitants. Those who remain abide by only one rule as they wait for the fifth wave: trust no one. But then Cassie meets Evan, and everything she knows is thrown into question.

Why you should read it: This is how I prefer my alien invasions. There’s no raining hellstorm of fire, no aliens kicking down doors, armed with M-16s. No, there’s an almost silent infiltration of our world and a fuzzy sense of what the aliens are after, save our total annihilation. To me, this is much more terrifying, and THE 5^th WAVE will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Available now.

2. SKETCHY by Olivia Samms

What it’s about: Bea Catcher is fresh out of rehab and the new girl in her high school when she discovers sobriety brings an amazing gift: an ability to tap into another’s mind and draw whatever he or she is thinking about. When Bea accidentally “sees” who raped popular cheerleader Willa and left her for dead, Bea feels an obligation to help catch the man.

Why you should read it: When I first picked up this book, I thought I was in store for the witty adventures of a ragtag team trying to solve a mystery, and . . . yeah, no. This book is gritty and raw and unputdownable (real word). I finished it in almost one sitting and wished there was more when it was over.

Available now.

3. ARCLIGHT by Josin McQuien

What it’s about:  Generations ago, the others invaded our world and sent the survivors scrambling toward the only safety they had: the light. The rest of the world is blanketed in darkness. Then Marina stumbles out of the dark with no memory of who she is or where she came from. As she struggles to piece together the clues, she finds herself questioning who she can trust.

Why you should read it: I like my books all twisty. Love when they can surprise me. Want to stand up and applaud when they turn everything on its head in a way I wasn’t expecting. ARCLIGHT did not disappoint. So gripping.

Available now.

4. UNDER THE EMPYREAN SKY by Chuck Wendig

What it’s about: In the future, corn has taken over our lives. The Empyrean—the ruling class—live high in the sky on a floating city, while the Heartlanders live in abject poverty below, completely under the whim of the Empyrean, their cities squeezed in between miles of (poisonous) corn. And Cael feels a growing sense of frustration—with the Empyrean, who threaten to tear his girlfriend away from him, and with his father, who doesn’t seem to want to fight back.

Why you should read it: I’ve saved my favorite for last. Everything about this book is superb—the lyrical writing, the complex character relationships, the richly imagined world Cael lives in. But mostly it’s the inherent believability of this future. A world where corn is king and our dependence on this staple has grown completely out of control? Yep. I’m buying it.

Releasing July 30. I was lucky enough to score an advance copy.

Meredith McCardle is June's Affiliate Blogger. To find out more about our guest author positions here at the League, click here.

Meredith McCardle is a recovered lawyer who lives in South Florida with her husband and two young daughters. Like her main character, she has a fondness for strong coffee, comfortable pants, and jumping to the wrong conclusions. Unlike her main character, she cannot travel through time. Sadly. Her debut, THE EIGHTH GUARDIAN, will be published by Skyscape/Amazon Children's in Spring 2014.

The Eighth Guardian

by Meredith McCardle

More info

Iris's world is turned on end when she's plucked out of her top-secret government training school and dropped into an organization she’s never heard of: the Annum Guard. It’s a team of highly trained operatives who have the ability to travel back in time and tweak the past to improve the present. Enhancement, not alteration—or so they claim. But the deeper she gets into the organization, the more she learns that the Annum Guard is keeping some very dangerous secrets. So now she has to start digging for answers without getting caught. For if she fails, it won't just be her life on the line. It will be an entire history's worth of lives.

5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Start Writing Time Travel

1. What are your thoughts on the grandfather paradox? The grandfather paradox is the notion that you can’t go back in time and kill your grandfather because that would eliminate the possibility of you ever being born. Some people are rigid upholders of the paradox, to which I say . . . eh, it’s fiction. You can make your own rules.

For example, in THE EIGHTH GUARDIAN, I’ve set up the world so that whatever you do in the past, no change will actually be made until you jump back to the present (which I call “projecting”). So it would theoretically be possible to go back in time and kill your grandfather, but then you would be zapped out of existence the second you project.

You’re free to make your own rules, but just make sure you have an answer to the paradox because it’s basically the first entry in the Time Travel Writing 101 manual.

2. Who is your audience? If you’re trying to target people with PhDs in astrophysics, you’re obviously going to have to aim for way more scientific accuracy than you are if you’re writing a rousing MG adventure.

But just because you might be writing for an audience who isn’t going to nitpick the quantum mechanics theories in your book doesn’t mean you can just fudge the details any old way you please. The second a reader—any reader—can figure out a flaw in your scientific world is the second you lose that reader.

That leads us to . . . .

3. Have you thought about how your world works? No, really, have you obsessed over it? Woken up in the middle of the night in a panic because you just figured out something doesn’t make sense? Gotten a wicked headache trying to puzzle through the details? I’m going to go out on a limb and say that if your answers above are “No,” your world is underdeveloped.

For THE EIGHTH GUARDIAN, I decided to use the parallel universe theory of time travel. That theory essentially states, by way of example, that if you go back in time and kill Hitler as an infant (a common time travel trope), when you arrive back in the present, you’ll find yourself in a new, parallel universe where World War II never happened, However, the history as we know it—the war, the Holocaust, Stalin, the atomic bomb—would still exist; it would just be in another parallel universe we no longer have access to.

I can’t tell you how many sleepless nights I endured as I tried to grapple through all the logical consequences of having a parallel world universe. And you’re free to set up your own time travel world as you see fit (and believe me, there are a lot of theories out there at your disposal). Just make sure that, whichever you choose, you ask yourself question after question until you can’t think of any more questions to ask. Then you might be done. (Until you think of more questions at 3 a.m.)

4. What are the consequences? Every act or omission a time traveler makes has the potential to seriously alter the course of history. Make sure you’re really thought that through.

Let’s go back to the Hitler example. If your time traveler goes back to 1889 and kills Hitler when he’s a baby, what is she going to find when she arrives back in the present? If your answer looks exactly like the world she left, you need to start asking some new questions. Namely, you have to think about the economic, political, and social effects. Without World War II, America probably wouldn’t have bounced back from the Great Depression of the 1930s as quickly. Stalin probably wouldn’t have taken over as much of Eastern Europe as he did, which means the Cold War might not have happened. Japan wouldn’t have received all of the post-war support it did, which means Japan might not be the technology leader it is today. There would likely be no NATO, no UN. And let’s not forget that our modern radar technologies were developed during World War II.

So just having your character pop back into the exact social and economic situation she left might be that moment of unbelievability for many readers—the moment they set down your book. (Unless, of course, you’ve  diligently already answered Question 3 and have set up a world where you can change whatever you want in the past, but you keep arriving back to a present where no change has actually happened).

RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH! That’s the moral of the story.

5. Have you read TIME TRAVEL IN EINSTEIN’S UNIVERSE by J. Richard Gott yet? If you’re serious about writing a time travel, this book is a must-read. It explains all the various theories in a way a non-physics minded person (read: me) can understand, and it gives you the tools you need to build your own world. Get thee to a bookstore, stat!

Meredith McCardle is June's Affiliate Blogger. To find out more about our guest author positions here at the League, click here.

Meredith McCardle is a recovered lawyer who lives in South Florida with her husband and two young daughters. Like her main character, she has a fondness for strong coffee, comfortable pants, and jumping to the wrong conclusions. Unlike her main character, she cannot travel through time. Sadly. Her debut, THE EIGHTH GUARDIAN, will be published by Skyscape/Amazon Children's in Spring 2014.

The Eighth Guardian

by Meredith McCardle

More info

Iris's world is turned on end when she's plucked out of her top-secret government training school and dropped into an organization she’s never heard of: the Annum Guard. It’s a team of highly trained operatives who have the ability to travel back in time and tweak the past to improve the present. Enhancement, not alteration—or so they claim. But the deeper she gets into the organization, the more she learns that the Annum Guard is keeping some very dangerous secrets. So now she has to start digging for answers without getting caught. For if she fails, it won't just be her life on the line. It will be an entire history's worth of lives.

SF TV: My Unrequited Love

Most of the time we League members talk books, but every so often we slip across into other media, and that’s what I’d like to do today. Today, I want to talk TV.

Oh, sci-fi TV. You have such a long history of breaking my heart.

Remember SeaQuest DSV? I do! For a start, my high school years were spent in love with Jonathan Brandis, but I loved the near-future world the series created, seeing what had changed and what was different. I loved that the series traced big, bold plots, and intense human stories as well.* And then they cancelled it.

And what about Earth 2? I’m in love with stories about new settlers on unknown planets, and always have been – Earth 2 had everything I wanted and more, from unknown terrain to planetary mysteries, to a great and varied cast of characters with their own, very different, motivations. Cancelled.

I’m barely even ready to talk about Firefly yet, even though it’s been a while. Joss Whedon. Enough said, really. Space, Nathan Fillion, snappy dialogue, smart plots, mystery, heart-in-mouth tension and laugh-out-loud comedy. I can’t bring myself to say it—but you all know what happened.

Most recently, I dipped my toe in the water again with Terra Nova, and I went back in time 85 million years, watching humanity attempt to rebuild, and deal with an invasion from the future. So many mysteries laid out – mysteries I’ll never see answered, because season two isn’t coming. Wah!

The world’s attention has turned to fantasy and Game of Thrones rules the airwaves – and that’s fine with me. I’ve been reading the series for years, and it’s great to share something I’ve enjoyed with a wide audience.

In time, though, the next awesome SF TV show will come around, and broken heart or not, I’ll be waiting! In the meantime, I’m marathoning Battlestar Galactica – I know that one makes it to the end!

What’s your favourite SF TV? Anything you’d love to have seen last longer?

* Please note, all show descriptions may be coloured by the author's rose-tinted glasses and a considerable dose of nostalgia. If it turns out the shows of my childhood weren't quite what I remember, then ignorance is bliss, right?

Science Fiction is Now, But Cars Are Still Ugly

If you follow my personal blog, Writer, Writer, Pants on Fire, you know that I recently lost an entire outbuilding to a massive storm. Shortly thereafter the transmission burnt out on my car and I was starting to feel like a female Charlie Brown. It’s time for a new chicken-coop, and a new car. The science fiction aspect is definitely more applicable to the car than the chickens.

First of all, I dislike cars – and not for the reasons you think. Yes, I love nature. Yes, I like animals. People are OK. Cars manage to kill all these things. But that’s not why I don’t like them.

I don’t like cars because they’re so damn boring.

They all look like… cars. Even the cars with an ultra-modern design seem to be having an identity crisis. Are you an SUV? Are you a car? Are you a station wagon? Are you a truck? So many of the models I’ve been looking at as I shop don’t really seem to know. They’re like, Check me out, I’m ALL these things, and you can be too!

Well, I don’t want to be. I want a vehicle that’s confident in the fact that it’s a mini-van, or an SUV, or a truck. Just BE that thing, man. I drove a PT Cruiser for a decade because I liked that it was reminiscent of 1940’s cars. It was funky, and different from every other box on wheels.

I still don’t know what I want, and am waiting patiently to fall in love. In the meantime, I’m driving my parent’s Lincoln Navigator *cough* bus *cough* and am making lists of pros and cons.

And here’s the thing – despite the fact that I pretty much hate everything I see, I’m uniformly impressed by the technology in all of them. My car knows where I am, and can get me somewhere else. My car tells me when it needs oil, or the tire pressure is off. Cars can show you what’s behind you so that you don’t back into another car, an animal, a tree… or a person. It can call 911 for you if it feels that is necessary, save your life with an inflatable balloon, and auto-brake if a kid dashes into the road.

And most impressive- I can talk to my car. I tell it what to do, and it’s all, “Yeah, got it.”

What the hell? I mean, seriously – when I bought my Cruiser I was super excited because it was the first car I owned that had a CD player. My new car doesn’t even need a CD player. I tell it what I want to listen to, it confers with the phone, and they provide me with music. I’m impressed.

I know this is old news to everyone else. Yes, cars are cool and do awesome things, Mindy, you’re probably thinking. But this girl hasn’t bought a car in ten years, and a lot has changed since then. It makes me wonder what cars will be like in another ten years.

You know what I want? A car that cooks me supper for me.

I ♥ Reviews

One of the most thrilling and terrifying things about being an author is knowing that strangers are going to review your books. If you're lucky, someone is going to pick your shiny ARC from a teetering pile of review copies — that's a fire hazard by the way, you should probably do something about that — and  write a review for a newspaper, blog, or trade magazine. Hopefully it will be a good one, and people who probably have never have heard of you will order your book. Then, in the ideal world that I'm imagining here because I'm a writer and I'm allowed, they'll read your book too and review it on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and Goodreads and tell their friends and family about how amazing you and your book are.

No doubt this scenario is entirely possible for a good many excellent books, but the harsh reality is that for every glowing review of the novel you and many others worked on for years, there will be many more middling reviews and some fairly scathing ones. Maybe a lot of scathing ones. Fortunately, authors have developed healthy coping mechanisms to deal with situations like this. Wine (and whining) are two of the most traditional methods, but the best protection for your fragile ego is abstinence: not reading reviews at all.

Oddly enough, though writing often requires inhuman levels of discipline, authors are notoriously undisciplined at things like: a) avoiding Twitter while writing, b) avoiding Facebook while writing, c) not checking Amazon rankings constantly to see how your book is selling, d) not checking Goodreads, and of course, e) writing.

"Don't read reviews" is probably very good advice, but like all writing advice, it really depends on the individual author. I was never interested in following that particular suggestion, because I actually love reviews. It's not because I'm a masochist (but isn't some measure of that necessary to be a writer, too?), but because reviews — any review, good or bad — is evidence that someone read your book, thought about it, and took the time to write about it. (Sometimes it's also evidence that someone bought your book, which is always a happy thing.)

Personally, one of the reasons I write is that I want to be read. I started out writing science fiction and fantasy short stories. For about five years I collected rejection slips, which don't necessarily indicate that your story was read all the way through, or at all. When I finally started selling fiction to small magazines and anthologies and websites, there was no way to know if anyone had ever seen my stories, let alone read them, and after a month most of those magazines had vanished from time and memory. In a few instances, a story of mine was mentioned in a review with lots of other stories, and might have gotten a short sentence or two, like, "This magazine also includes a story by E.C. Myers," or "This story had words!" In exactly one instance, I met someone who had just read one of my stories in an international magazine then came to a reading right after specifically to meet me, and yeah, that felt pretty good.

Having novels out in the world has been a completely different experience. I know people are reading Fair Coin and Quantum Coin because they're posting reviews and ratings all over the internet where they're very easy for me to find, whether I want to or not. (I do.) That's exciting, and I'm fascinated by how different people have wildly varying reactions to the same material; why are some people raving about last weekend's Hollywood blockbuster, Man of Steel, while I think it was a devastating failure in every conceivable way and a stunning example of how not to tell a story?

I enjoy the collaboration between author and reader, and I think I can learn a lot and continue to improve as a writer by reading reviews, especially from smart readers who read dozens of YA books each week for their blogs. I mean, they're basically free critiques, right? But then, I have a fairly thick skin for such things; I've been through intense writing workshops like Clarion West, and I participate in writing groups that dole out constructive, but honest and often harsh, criticism. Forgive me a brief flare of indignant frustration if you pan my book, but the moment passes quickly and believe me, your review is appreciated and I respect your viewpoint.

So I actually do check for reviews pretty frequently — too frequently. I read all of them, and I share the favorable and/or thoughtful ones on my website and on Facebook and Twitter. It's always nicer when someone likes my books, but if you didn't: I'm sorry it didn't work for you, and thank you.

There's often talk online that suggests reviews aren't meant for authors, but I'm always happen to see one pop up, particularly now when my books have been out for a while and they aren't getting as much attention anymore. So don't be shy: Please post your reviews on Goodreads and Amazon and Barnes & Noble! I want them for more than a potential sale that might result from the word of mouth. Whether they encourage me that I'm not a sham, or inspire me to improve, reviews can help make my next book better.

Oh, but there is one rule about reviews that I do follow, which I think every author should adhere to: Do not respond to negative reviews!

ABANDON and the importance of choice

For all of its high-tech revelry, romantic entanglements and shifting alliances, Elana Johnson's dystopian series, beginning with POSSESSION and continuing with SURRENDER and now ABANDON, has clearly focused on one theme: the importance of choice.

Jag and Zenn narrate this latest installment, and as characters, they bring much to the table in terms of the theme.  Jag has always been the more daring one, the more openly rebellious, the one that will fight until the end to see the dawn of a new world where people can decide for themselves.  Zenn is more careful, more calculated, not entirely sure the masses should be given their own agency and not entirely sure of who he really is deep down - or what he really wants.

Zenn knows he loves Vi. Everything he's done, he's done to protect her.  But Vi is with Jag now, and that leaves Zenn untethered - and unpredictable.

The resistance takes heavy (and heartrending!) losses in this novel, but they also find new hope. ABANDON explores the sacrifices we must make in order to truly be free. 

ABANDON Scavenger Hunt!

Okay, so today I’m talking about a city in the Association that became pivotal. Castledale. I first had Gunner land in Castledale at the end of Surrender after he fled Freedom. True to how I write, I had no idea how important Castledale would become.

If you’ve read Surrender, you might remember that Gunner had help there that came in the form of a green-eyed guy. As I pondered who that might be and why he might be important, I realized how much this city—and that guy—meant to the Resistance.

So as I wrote ABANDON, I knew that my traveling team would need to go to Castledale, and I knew that the Resistance would have to be alive and thriving in the city. I had to have other people, other cities, that were doing as much as Jag was doing. I mean, he’s just one guy. He can’t be everywhere across thousands of miles.

I knew I had to have cities that were anxiously engaged in his cause, and Castledale became the hub of activity for the Resistance when I needed it. I’m still sort of surprised how it all came together. Ha!

I'm running a scavenger hunt all over the Association. It ends this Friday, but you can get caught up (all the way back to June 4) and enter to win with the links and Rafflecopter below.

Today's scavenger hunt can begin here! Somewhere on this map of the Association is the winning city. I've mentioned here in this post, and you can find references to it in all of today's posts. (See complete hunt details here.)

When you know today's scavenger hunt city, enter it in this form for a chance to win one of six Possession series paperback packages and a $50 Amazon gift card!

Continue the scavenger hunt at Kissed By Ink, where Amy has another clue for today's city!

As if that weren't enough, there will be a daily winner of Possession series swag! Enter in the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


If you get lost, you can always go to Elana's blog to find your place. Happy hunting!

Elana lets Peggy test out the tech from ABANDON. And it is awesome.

From the moment I read Elana Johnson's POSSESSION to picking up the final book in the trilogy-- ABANDON, I have been in love with the tech in this series. So much so that when I discovered that Elana actually has the tech, I hopped in my own boring piece of traveling tech (my car) and begged her to let me play with it for an afternoon. Yes, it was every bit as awesome as it sounds. Check it out:

Peggy: Can we start with the hoverboards? I have been dying to ride one of these for two years. TWO YEARS, I tell you!

Elana: Let's do it! 

Peggy: Look what I can do! I'm almost as good as Jag! I can--- Oh, oh. I think I'm going to fall!

Elana: Dude, knock it off! You're nowhere near as good as Jag. He played ball with his brothers waaay more than we've practiced on these things! Now just put your arms out like this, and try to stand more straight.

Peggy: Check me out! I can do tricks!

Elana: Cut it out, Eddleman! You're going to knock me off!

Peggy: Okay, maybe it's time to go on to the next thing. Ooo! I know! Let's check out the transporter ring!

Elana: Oh, this old thing? [puts it on] It takes me anywhere I want.

 

Elana: Ba-bam! Once I went to England just for fish & chips! I bet Jag would've really loved that.  Ha!

Peggy: You wouldn't mind if I borrowed that for a week or two, right?

Elana: [slips ring into pocket] Hey! Check out this distraction!

Peggy: [in reverenced awe] Oooh, is that a food generator?! We can make anything we want with that, right? What should we make?

Elana: What Zenn would order -- toast! In SURRENDER and ABANDON, all Zenn eats is toast. He loves being on the traveling team simply so he can use the food generating cube.

Peggy: Dude, I would join the Resistance and be on the traveling team just so I could use this, too.

Elana and Peggy: Mmmm. Tooooast.

Peggy: After all that toast, I think I'm ready for a mission of my own.

Elana: Come on. I think it's right around this corner... Wait. Enforcement Officers ahead.

Peggy: Are you sure we're at the right Rise?

Elana: Yes, this is Twelve. The Resistance is expecting us.

Peggy: And after a mission, the Resistance always heads back to their cave, right?

Elana: Yep! But this cave is way better than the one the Resistance has to hole up in.

Peggy: Heck yeah it is! I think we should live here. Unless those stalactites stab us in the night... That wouldn't be so cool.

Elana: I can feel the energy in this just like Vi can! Just a little further... Peggy, a little further. Peggy?

Peggy: Zzzzhhhhttt!!

Peggy: I'm feeling a little dazed. I think I may have had enough tech for one day. I'm not quite sure I can make it home anymore. Oh, hey-- how about I borrow that transporter ring?

No? Sigh.

I'll take an awesome book that just hit shelves a week ago instead.

Think the tech in this post is awesome? The book is a million times more so. Elana has an incredible imagination, and she poured it into ABANDON. Trust me: you really want to read this. It's beyond awesome.

A special thanks to Erin Summerill Photography for the fun pictures and SamuraiCatJB (via photopin cc) for the cave image.

Geeky Fun - Visiting Uncle Forry

Forrest J Ackerman in 2006, about two years before I met him. Photo by A. Light

One of the best geeky fun days I had was visiting Forrest J Ackerman’s home. Dear Forry left us five years ago, but he was a key figure of science fiction and fantasy for many decades as an editor, a collector, a writer and speaker. He’s credited for coining the term “sci-fi” in the 60s but in response many authors (including Harlan Ellison) made a point of rejecting that term as degrading and instead promoted “speculative fiction.” Uncle Forry was once the agent for Ed Wood and he embraced the glorious schlock of the sff B-movies. Talk about geek heaven, his home was more of a museum, filled with movie props and treasures. Models and masks of monsters and spaceships occupied every corner. My favorite was a framed short story submission by Stephen King when he was so young he didn’t call himself “Stephen.”

But for someone so enamored of dramatic displays, it’s hard to live to be 92 without drama in your own life. Forry had more than his share. His wife died from an injury sustained in a mugging on a European vacation. He had endless financial problems that appeared to be solved when he won a large six-figure business lawsuit. But then the judgment was never paid, as he explained to me. He ended up losing his mansion and downsizing into a Hollywood cottage, cramming in as much of his memorabilia as possible, floor to ceiling. He had a few books and magazines and buttons for sale and I bought what I could at the time to help support him. He was much thinner a year or two after the photo by A. Light above, but he continued to love meeting people and sharing his delight in his wonderfully geeky world.