Showing posts with label Ashen Winter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ashen Winter. Show all posts

Renewal

A few weeks ago, in the midst of this exhausting book tour for ASHEN WINTER, I saw this tree:


It's an old, hollowed out sycamore tree growing beside a stream in Fortville, Indiana. From the top of that seemingly dead trunk sprouts a vibrant young sycamore about six inches in diameter. I took a picture because the image plucked a chord within me.

Sometimes students ask why I became a writer. And I tell them it was the only job left after I got fired from every other profession I tried. I answer that way because it's funny, and I like to be extremely candid in my interactions with students--they can smell fakers from all the way down the hall.

But the truth is that I fired myself; I quit most of the jobs I held before I was a writer. I did a bit of everything: janitor, marketing executive, wine salesman, and remodeling company owner among others. In each job, I felt like that old sycamore tree, getting progressively more hollow as small daily iniquities rotted me and office politics gnawed my core.

Now, I feel more like that new tree, growing fast and proud from a base of failure. In another sense, though, all those abandoned careers were anything but a failure. Everything I tried informs my writing today. The new tree could not exist without the roots the old one put down.

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ASHEN WINTER by Mike Mullin


As ASHEN WINTER opens, it’s six months after volcano day. As you’ll recall, the Yellowstone supervolcano erupted in ASHFALL, and Alex set off on an arduous journey alone to his uncle’s farm in Illinois. He met (and fell in love with) Darla along the way. Now Alex and Darla get a clue that his father is still alive—and they set off back toward Iowa to find his parents. And things have gotten a lot worse this time. Think frozen wasteland filled with cannibal gangs and military contractors. And that’s all I’m going to tell you about the plot. Sorry no spoilers!

But that brings me to one of my favorite review lines about ASHEN WINTER (from Voya): “Mullin has outdone himself with nonstop action and injury.” And they’re right. AW clocks in at nearly 600 pages, but it certainly doesn’t feel like it. (And Alex is pretty battle-scarred by the end of the book.) The pace is quick, and Alex (and Darla) are continually acting and/or figuring out things. Alex grows up even more in this book as he has to make some tough choices, but his actions are grounded in his love for Darla and his desire to protect all of his family.

All of that makes AW an excellent book “boy book” that should also appeal to us girls. I don’t like putting labels on books—like “boy book” or “girl book”—but the truth is that boys do like certain things in stories. And it’s important to direct them to good books they might like in order to get them to read. Author Andy Sherrod talks about what makes a good “boy book” on his blog (and he gives presentations on the topic). Boys are more likely to like a book where the protagonist (boy or girl):

  1. Acts alone
  2. Heads “out there” (as opposed to staying home)
  3. And overcomes a physical challenge

And that’s ASHEN WINTER. Okay, Alex isn’t totally alone. He acts by himself in key parts of the book (minor spoiler), but he does have traveling companions on and off. He sets off with Darla, and he picks up two other kids along the way. All are strong characters. No damsels in distress anywhere in sight. (That makes it a good girl book, BTW.)

Before we get to the giveaway, here are a few other semi-random things I love about AW:

  • Darla is the one who can fix anything.
  • Ben is delightful—a high functioning autistic kid who is also a tactical savant.
  • Despite the odds, Alex believes in himself and doesn’t give up—even when the adults do.
  • The story is heartbreakingly believable but not without hope.
  • The word flenser just gives me the creeps.

Oh, and I have a new appreciation for kale. ;)

And now for the WINNING OF STUFF. You can enter to win signed copies of both books by filling out the Rafflecopter thingie below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The ASHEN WINTER Blog Tour

The ASHEN WINTER blog tour has begun. Mundie Moms kicked it off yesterday with a giveaway--it's super easy to enter, and you could win both ASHFALL and ASHEN WINTER, autographed by Stephanie Meyer! (Well, I really mean that I'll do an extraordinarily bad job of forging Stephanie Meyer's signature if you want, although I'm actually better at signing my own name.)

Today I'm at Book Love 101 with an interview. Book Love 101 is totally the wrong title for this blog, by the way. Amanda Marie has AT LEAST a master's degree in loving books, so it should be Book Love 501, amIright? Anyway, you can go there to learn which book I think everyone should read (well, everyone who was born into a Western culture, anyway).

If you want to follow along for the rest of the blog tour, here are the stops. I'll update these with links to the actual posts as they go live:

Sept 23 - Mundie Moms
Sept 24 - Book Love 101
Sept 24 - Crossroad Reviews
Sept 26 - Good Choice Reading
Sept 27 - Page Turners
Sept 27 - Alluring Reads
Sept 28 - Book and Things
Sept 28 - Bookpics
Sept 30- Bea Book Nook
Oct 2- Unabridged Book Shelf 
There will be at least six giveaways of signed first-edition hardcovers of ASHEN WINTER and paperbacks of ASHFALL--some open internationally. I also wrote about a dozen brand new guest posts--if you're interested in survival tips or taekwondo, you're in for a treat. There will also be some amazing interviews, so stay tuned! Many, many thanks to Savannah Valdez at Books with Bite for organizing the tour.

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Why ASHFALL Has a New Cover

Three weeks ago I posted about receiving my author copies of ASHEN WINTER in hardback--it's the sequel to my debut novel, ASHFALL. (To summarize the post: squee!) I also got author copies of the paperback edition of ASHFALL with its new cover. Fellow blogger and author Lissa Price (I just called Lissa a fellow. Snicker. Sorry, Lissa!), asked a great question in the comments: why'd the cover change?

To answer the question, let me refresh your memory on what the hardback ASHFALL cover looks like:


I love this cover like Santa Claus loves reindeer. The artwork is a composite of photographs taken and digitally manipulated by Ana Correal--see more of her amazing artwork here. It's perfect for my book--tough, dark, and a little bit foreboding.

So why did it change?

In the world of book sales, there's one retailer that wields a huge influence over covers. Not the biggest retailer, that'd be Amazon. But Amazon carries everything--you can have the worst book cover ever, and Amazon will still sell your book. The most influential retailer of physical books is this one:


As I understand it, there was a rumor that someone at B&N didn't like the hardback ASHFALL cover. That they thought it was too dark and grey--a fair criticism, although life after a supervolcano would be pretty darn grey for a while. I have no idea if the rumor was even true. But here's the thing, B&N is so important to physical book sales, that even the rumor that someone there didn't love the cover was enough to spur a change.

Does this bother me? Not in the least. Because I got new covers out of the deal:


They're also by Ana Correal. See, more color! I love these even more than Santa Claus loves his reindeer. Even more than he loves reindeer even if he loved them in highly inappropriate ways, which he doesn't, but I'm just . . . oh, never mind.

And that's why the cover of ASHFALL changed. Look for the shiny new covers in a bookstore near you on October 8th!

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Author Copies of ASHEN WINTER!

One of the wonderful traditions of the publishing business is author copies. When your book is published, a box shows up with however many free copies of your work are specified in your contract. In my case, it's twenty.

I'm fortunate to be published by Tanglewood Press, a small, reputable children's and young adult publisher based only two hours from me, in Terre Haute, Indiana. (If you aspire to write for kids or teens, they're a great house to keep in mind. Unlike most publishers, you don't need a literary agent to submit work to Tanglewood.)

So last year when I heard that ASHFALL was in from the printer, I couldn't wait for them to be shipped--instead, my wife and I hopped in the car and picked them up in person.

I'm not sure I can adequately describe the joy of holding the result of three yeas of work in your hands in the form of a finished hardcover book. It doesn't exactly wipe out all the rejections, all the time spent agonizing over the perfect words, or the sleepless nights wondering if anyone will enjoy your book; but it does make all those worries seem less important somehow.

The other thing about author copies? Our cats love them, too. When I got home from Tanglewood, I laid the books out on the bed for a photo, and all three cats had to come check them out.


I figured that this year, when the author copies for my second book arrived, it would be no big deal. Been there, done that, right? Not so much.

When I got home from my taekwondo class Thursday night, there they were. Twenty hardbacks of ASHEN WINTER, and twenty of the new paperback edition of ASHFALL.


It was almost as squee-worthy a moment as seeing the first book. Aren't they lovely? Here's a close-up:


The cats--well, one of them, anyway--were pretty excited, too:


A huge thank you to everyone who bought, read, talked-about, or blogged about ASHFALL. You made the paperback edition and the sequel possible, and I owe my joy to you. Thank you.


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Let's Build a New Public Library!

Happy Birthday, America!

To celebrate, how about we build a new library? Last week I posted about libraries being closed and librarians cut--what do you say to reversing the trend and opening at least one new one? Here's how you can help:

Hillsboro, the seat of Jefferson County, Missouri, lacks a public library. I first became aware of this problem when Deborah Johnson Horn from Barnes & Noble and Karen Creech Huskey welcomed me to Hillsboro High School last November for a fun and exhausting presentation about my debut novel, ASHFALL.  Now Karen is spearheading the next step—her committee has succeeded in placing an initiative to build a public library on the ballot this fall. But ballot initiatives take money to pass (to buy yard signs, posters, newspaper advertising, mailings, etc.), and this is where you and I come in.

I’d like to support this effort in a bigger way than my personal finances allow. And I happen to have a bunch of ASHEN WINTER advanced reading copies (it won’t be out until October!), rare first editions of ASHFALL, and extremely rare ASHFALL  posters (only nine are left). And I'm in the middle of writing the third book of the ASHFALL trilogy, and I think your name should appear in that book, don't you? So I’m holding an impromptu auction. Simply click on the item you want to win, which will take you to the item page on my personal blog, and place a bid in the comments. Top bidder when the auction closes on Sunday, July 8 at 9:00 p.m. EST wins.

1) A rare signed FIRST edition of ASHFALL. The first editions are no longer available in stores.  Includes shipping anywhere in the world at my expense. Bid here.

2) A rare signed, ASHFALL poster. There are only 9 of the ASHFALL posters left.  I'll ship the poster anywhere in the world at my expense. Bid here.

3) An Advance Reading Copy (ARC) of the forthcoming ASHEN WINTER. The book won't be out until October, so you'll get to read it 4 months early! I'll ship the ARC anywhere in the world at my expense. Bid here.

4) Tuckerization in the third and final ASHFALL book (title and release date TBD). I'll include any reasonable name of your choice as a minor character in the third and final ASHFALL book. Bid here.

Rules:

1) All three auctions will be open until 9 pm EST on Sunday, July 8th.

2) Bid by commenting on the item page with an amount and email address. High bid wins. Minimum bid is $10. Bid in increments of $1 or more, please. All bids should be in U.S. dollars.

3) If bids go high enough, I may award multiple copies of any of these prizes.

4) Winning bidders will be informed by email. The campaign to pass the ballot initiative is decidedly local and low tech, so we don’t have a PayPal account to donate to. Instead, if you win, you have to mail a check to:

Campaign Committee for Hillsboro District Branch
of the Jefferson County Library Committee
P.O. Box 176
Hillsboro, MO 63050

Make your check payable to the same--yes, the name is ridiculously long--write small. When they receive your check, they’ll email me, and I’ll mail your prize.

Everything make sense? If not, email me at mike.mullin.writer at gmail dot com, or ask your questions in the comments on this post. Good luck and bid high—it’s for a good cause!
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Ashfall, Ashen Winter, and Oral Surgery

I'm off to the oral surgeon today. One of my molars has been missing for six years, but until I got my first royalty check in February, I had lacked the funds to replace it. I'm told they're going to drill a hole in my bone and jam a titanium screw into the hole. I can't say I'm looking forward to that, but it'll be nice to have all my teeth again. Maybe I'll have Alex and Darla engraved on it, like this guy did:


Or maybe an ASHFALL cover would look better? I could put my two two books side-by-side like this on the new tooth and the one next to it:


I got this lovely screen printed cake at Appoquinimink High School, and if they can screen print cakes, why not teeth, right?


 On second thought, maybe I'll just settle for naming my new tooth. It'll be named ASHFALL, of course.
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