Interview with Mike Mullin by Lissa Price

Mike, your first book, ASHFALL, had tremendous awards and honors. You were one of NPR’s top 5 YA novels, and Kirkus had you on a Best Teen Book List as well as a starred review.  There were many more honors. How did any of this affect you as you wrote the sequel, ASHEN WINTER?

It has certainly increased my writerly anxiety. The question is always hovering just out of sight behind my left shoulder: Can I write anything as good as the first book? Answering that question will be up to my readers, of course.

You also had many amazing blurbs from wonderful authors. How did the Richard Peck one come about?

One of the disadvantages of being published by a small press is that they don’t have a stable of famous authors to solicit blurbs from. Tanglewood Press’s most famous author is Audrey Penn, who wrote the perennially best-selling picture book, The Kissing Hand. Not exactly the same target audience as ASHFALL. So I took it upon myself to solicit blurbs. I wrote to 18 famous authors, most of whom I’d met while working at Kids Ink Children’s Bookstore in Indianapolis. Richard Peck was gracious enough to reply, read ASHFALL, and offer a few kind words about it. He’s an amazing writer and true class act.

Definitely. So does ASHEN WINTER close the series?  Or will there be more books?

There will be one more novel, tentatively titled SUNRISE. I’m working on drafting it now. I’m also putting the finishing touches on a novelette called DARLA’S STORY. It covers everything that happens to Darla between the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano and the afternoon when Alex falls into her barn.

I noticed your website mentions that you are working without a literary agent. Has that changed? 

Nope. I recently got a rejection from a literary agent who I queried MORE THAN TWO YEARS AGO!

Another literary agent called me earlier this year and requested a copy of ASHFALL. I sent it, waited a couple of months, and got a rejection. Next time that happens, I’m sending the dang agent to their local bookstore. That way at least I’d get a sale out of it.

The world of literary agents is baffling to me. Most authors I’ve talked to tell me I should keep trying to find an agent willing to represent me. Michael Grant, on the other hand, has built a career I very much admire without an agent, and tells me not to bother.  Anyway, it’s irrelevant for at least another year—I sold SUNRISE to Tanglewood Press with a proposal back in March, and finishing that and promoting ASHEN WINTER will consume all my time for a while yet.

Well, you’re saving 15% this way, that’s a plus. So I’m guessing you sold ASHFALL directly to Tanglewood.

Yes, and ASHEN WINTER, and SUNRISE. Tanglewood is one of the few publishers that still accepts unagented submissions.

What would you most like your readers to take away from ASHEN WINTER?

The most important thing in Alex’s life at the beginning of ASHEN WINTER is his relationship with Darla. So, being a sadistic writer, I test that relationship in numerous ways over the course of the book. While none of us have to face tests quite as severe as Alex does (supervolcano, eternal winter, cannibal gangs, etc.), all our relationships are tested in smaller ways nearly every day. I would hope that the way Alex faces his tests and what he learns from that experience might inspire some of my readers.

You are doing an enormous number of signings! What’s your worst/funniest/most surprising event story?

I had an event scheduled at the Cedar Rapids Juvenile Detention Center last year. On my calendar, it was two forty minute presentations with a twenty minute break in between. Easy.

So I get buzzed in through the airlock-style double doors and meet the staff. They say something like, “Our inmate population is fairly light, so we’re putting them all together for you in one presentation.” I think, great, I’ll be out of here in forty minutes. But no—it quickly became clear that they needed me to fill the entire two hours that was originally scheduled.

Now, I’m a very entertaining speaker. I have no problem holding the attention of almost any crowd for forty minutes. But two hours? No way. So I quickly changed what I’d planned to a writing workshop, in which I speak for part of the time, the students write for part of the time, and we hold a discussion on writing for part of the time. And it was absolutely freaking amazing. You would not believe the incredible stories these juvenile delinquents had to tell. I still remember it as one of the best events I’ve done yet.

I love that story. What looks like it’s going to be the worst thing, turns out to be the best. You gave them a chance to tell their stories. What about short stories for you, do you ever write them?

I wrote a short story for Halloween last year. You can read it here. I tried to write a short story about what happens to Darla between when the volcano erupts and Alex shows up, but that turned into a novelette. In general, I prefer long-form fiction both as a reader and a writer.

Is there one piece of advice you’d like to give unpublished writers?

Read. A lot. Both in the genre you write in and in other genres. If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time to become a writer.

What’s next for Mike?

I’m finishing up SUNRISE, and then I’ll probably write this strange near-future science fiction yarn that’s simmering at the back of my overheated brain.

Is there anything else you’d like to say to the League readers?

Umm, I hope you’ve found my posts interesting?  I’m pretty sure I’m the world’s worst blogger, so thanks for putting up with me for the last 9 months!

I always enjoy your blog posts, Mike. So keep doing what you're doing. Thank you for this interview during your busy launch week!

Bio

Mike Mullin’s first job was scraping the gum off the undersides of desks at his high school. From there, things went steadily downhill. He almost got fired by the owner of a bookstore due to his poor taste in earrings. He worked at a place that showed slides of poopy diapers during lunch (it did cut down on the cafeteria budget). The hazing process at the next company included eating live termites raised by the resident entomologist, so that didn’t last long either. 

For a while Mike juggled bottles at a wine shop, sometimes to disastrous effect. Oh, and then there was the job where swarms of wasps occasionally tried to chase him off ladders. So he’s really glad this writing thing seems to be working out.

Mike holds a black belt in Songahm Taekwondo. He lives in Indianapolis with his wife and her three cats. Ashen Winter is his second novel.  His debut, Ashfall, was named one of the top five young adult novels of 2011 by National Public Radio, a Best Teen Book of 2011 by Kirkus Reviews, and a New Voices selection by the American Booksellers Association.

About ASHEN WINTER

It's been over six months since the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. Alex and Darla have been staying with Alex's relatives, trying to cope with the new reality of the primitive world so vividly portrayed in Ashfall, the first book in this trilogy. It's also been six months of waiting for Alex's parents to return from Iowa. 

Alex and Darla decide they can wait no longer and must retrace their journey into Iowa to find and bring back Alex's parents to the tenuous safety of Illinois. But the landscape they cross is even more perilous than before, with life-and-death battles for food and power between the remaining communities. When the unthinkable happens, Alex must find new reserves of strength and determination to survive.

Excerpt

The first two chapters are available on my website: www.ashenwinter.com. You may reprint the first two chapters in whole or in part on your website so long as you do not charge anyone anything to access them.

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ASHEN WINTER Scares Me

And maybe it's not for the reason you think. But because it's so, so real. If you haven't read ASHFALL yet, you should. I read it on the way home from Denver, and the first thing I did when I made my shopping list was add vitamins to it.

And not just Flintstones for my kids. But bottles of vitamin C for my food storage. Because ASHFALL had that much of an impact on me.

See, I live along an earthquake fault, and we're counseled to be prepared for an emergency. I've seen dozens of supply lists, attended emergency preparedness fairs, the works. Never once have I had someone tell me I need to have vitamins. I hadn't even thought of it.

So it was with great trepidation that I picked up ASHEN WINTER. What was I going to find lacking this time? Bandages? Check. Warm clothing? Check (sort of). Fuel? Shoot.

ASHEN WINTER takes place several months after the close of ASHFALL, and while Alex's situation hasn't really gotten worse, it certainly hasn't gotten better.

Note to self: emergencies could last a long time. Surviving the initial catastrophe might only be the beginning.

Things definitely go bad in the first chapter when Alex discovers a bandit with something that used to belong to his parents. And off he and Darla go, back into the wilderness -- full of uncertainties and bad guys -- to find his family.

Note to self: not knowing what happened is worse than knowing.

I'm not going to go through every point of discovery I had as I read the book, but know this. It's scary. And the reason ASHEN WINTER is so perfectly fearsome is because it could actually happen.

And I like that in books. I like a healthy dose of contemporary realism mixed in with my fantasy.

If you haven't read ASHFALL yet, get your copy today! And be sure to pick up ASHEN WINTER too -- because you won't be able to stop after one book. Oh, and we're giving stuff away! A signed copy of both ASHFALL and ASHEN WINTER!! Be sure to fill out the Rafflecopter to win! a Rafflecopter giveaway

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.

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Celebrate ASHEN WINTER!

All this week we're celebrating the launch of Mike Mullin's ASHEN WINTER! This is the sequel to his debut, ASHFALL, and is just as gripping--if not moreso :)

Here's a little bit about ASHEN WINTER:

It’s been over six months since the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano. Alex and Darla have been staying with Alex’s relatives, trying to cope with the new reality of the primitive world so vividly portrayed in Ashfall, the first book in this series. It’s also been six months of waiting for Alex’s parents to return from Iowa. Alex and Darla decide they can wait no longer and must retrace their journey into Iowa to find and bring back Alex’s parents to the tenuous safety of Illinois. But the landscape they cross is even more perilous than before, with life-and-death battles for food and power between the remaining communities. When the unthinkable happens, Alex must find new reserves of strength and determination to survive.

ASHEN WINTER has an amazing cover that illustrates the desperation of the situation perfectly, in my opinion. And let's not forget the new matching cover for ASHFALL! Don't you just love how well those covers go together?!

I think the thing I find most fascinating about these books is the possibility of it truly happening. And I'm not the only one who thinks that. Charles Benoit, author of YOU, says:

"ASHFALL is smokin' hot. The story races like a wildfire with enough plot twists and action for two books. Mullin puts his hero through hell--and we get a front row seat. The scariest part? It could really happen."

Don't believe us? You can start reading the series right here for free!

All this week we're going to be talking about these two science-based near-future dystopias. Stick around for exclusive interviews with Mike, reviews, and more. Oh! And you can also WIN signed copies of both books right here! Just fill out the Rafflecopter below and you'll be entered to win!


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Should books be rated for mature content?

As I was perusing the ALA Banned Books Week site—and their nifty 30-year timeline -- I stumbled upon the 2009 entry. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky had been challenged by one of my local school systems that year. Yikes! Happily, the resolution was that the school board would NOT ban the book. (Whew. You can read the story here. ) However, the Roanoke County Schools did something interesting (good interesting or bad interesting, I’ll let you decide). They didn’t take the books out of the library, but they required students’ to have their parents’ permission to check out Perks. Essentially, the school board decided to give the book an R-rating. (The movie version that’s out now is PG-13, by the way.)

I’m not saying I necessarily agree with the school board, but it got me thinking. What if we gave books ratings? Video games, music, and movies all come with a parental rating or at least guidance as to content. Actually, in a US News article earlier this year, a BYU researcher proposed a rating system on book jackets. She states, "I thought long and hard about whether to do the study in the first place—I think banning books is a terrible idea, but a content warning on the back I think would empower parents."

If I were a parent, maybe I’d agree. But, I think I buy YALSA director Beth Yoke’s argument. In the same US News article, Yoke gives a very cogent rebuttal, which I won’t restate here. I agree with her that kids should have a safe place to explore issues like sexuality, violence, drugs, etc. Bottom line: ALA’s position is that “any rating system for books is censorship.”

And it is censorship. Think about the movies. If a movie gets the dreaded NC-17 rating, studios re-edit the hell of it to get it down to an R. The people with the money see NC-17 as the box office kiss of death. So the rating drives content. That’s de facto censorship. No one forces the studios to cut scenes, but the effect is just the same.

Imagine putting publishers in the same position. What if school boards or certain book chains decided only to carry PG-13 children’s books? Would that pressure publishers to change editorial policies? Would works like Perks or Crank get sanitized for kids' so-called protection? Would challenging books get published at all?

Ok, the effect might not be as drastic as that, but, as a writer and reader, the idea of a book rating system gives me the willies.

What do you guys think? Should there be a content rating system for children's books?

Guest Post: World Building

Today it is my great pleasure to introduce you to Lorin Oberweger. Lorin is going to be hosting a YA & MG Workshop soon, and wanted to give you all a sample of some of her knowledge. You can find out more about the workshop in her bio below. Now, without further ado...

ARE YOU WORLD BUILDING OR WORLD RECYCLING?

You’ve seen them before:

The pseudo-medieval world complete with rustic taverns and sword-wielding thugs; the desolate post-apocalyptic world where rugged survivors fight among the ruins of fallen civilizations; the white and sterile world of the generation spaceship, sailing through blackest space.

You’ve seen them; I’ve seen them; and gate-keeping editors and agents have seen A LOT of them.

As writers, it’s not always the case that we write what we KNOW but that we write what we’ve READ. And seen on television and in movies.

Most lovers of fantasy have spent happy hours in the kind of world originated by Tolkien and others of his ilk: a world of ox-carts and flagons of mead, of battle-axes, horses, and torches to light the hero or heroine’s way. Name the genre, and any of us could rattle off its common world-building tropes. And many of us don’t push ourselves to stray past those familiar—and comfortable—conventions.

My question: why not? Instead of a typical medieval, dystopian, or even a typical contemporary world, why can’t your novel’s physical landscape be something else entirely?

Often, I’ll challenge people to play with the most ridiculous ideas they can imagine: a world made of toast, an upside down world, a world made of ice or one that exists in the spot on a butterfly’s wing. A world where people live underwater or up in trees?

How about a world that exists as a flat disc, balanced on the backs of four elephants, which stand atop a giant turtle? Or a world that exists within the threads of an heirloom rug?

Crazy, right? But two authors--Terry Pratchett (Discworld) and Clive Barker (Weaveworld)--might argue otherwise. They pushed themselves to dream deeper, to create something singular and idiosyncratic and then to create plausible worlds and social orders within these fantastic realms.

The best writers challenge their assumptions—about genre, about setting, about “typical” human behavior or stereotypes. They challenge themselves to create rich and powerful language that is at least a little different from the language employed by other writers. They unleash their specific and powerful perspectives upon the page. So why not do this for the world of your stories?

It’s easier, of course, to do what’s been done. A pseudo-medieval fantasy world works for so many reasons. It makes it more plausible that journeys can take a very long time, that people need to wield knives and swords rather than just blasting each other with guns. A spaceship is probably going to look a certain way to maximize its efficiency. A contemporary high school in California is probably going to reflect what we know of contemporary high schools.

Creating something truly different on the page requires a much deeper plan for the novel as a whole. The physics of an ice world are different from the physics of a typical medieval earth. Traveling, eating, social relationships—all will be very different in a world that takes place in the trees than in a slightly futuristic version of our own. The conflicts that will emerge from these settings are different from the conflicts that will emerge from worlds more like our own.

Of course, to quote Tom Hanks in A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN, “It’s the hard that makes it great!” Pushing yourself to dig in deeper, to let your imagination really soar, to examine the expectations of a world—fantasy or realistic—and find ways to subvert those expectations, is difficult and time-consuming, but it can also pay off by setting your story and your world apart from the thousands of submissions plopping into an agent’s inbox on a daily basis.

And more importantly, it can give readers something absolutely new and fresh, if only an unexpected twist on the overly familiar.  It can light them up inside, give them a fresh way of looking at their own lives and their own hearts, and isn’t that what the best novels do?

So, I’ll leave you with these questions (and would love to see your answers in comments if you’d like to chime in!):

What authors’ worlds really live in your imagination, and why?

What’s different about the world YOU’RE creating?

How does your world impact your protagonist’s journey in the story?

How does it contribute to your story’s conflicts?

What three things can you do to take your world from the expected to the unexpected, to surprise or delight the reader in some small—or large way?

Are you willing to do it?

 LORIN OBERWEGER is a highly sought-after independent book editor and ghostwriter with almost twenty-five years experience in publishing. Her company, Free Expressions, offers writing seminars nationwide with literary agent Donald Maass and others, including the upcoming Your Best Book workshop for YA and MG writers.

Her students and clients have millions of books in print and have been published by imprints of HarperCollins, Random House, Penguin, Scholastic, and other mainstream and independent presses. They have also gained representation with some of the industry’s leading literary agents.

Lorin is represented by Tracey Adams at Adams Literary.

Extraordinary News from the League

Lots of news has happened this month in the world of the League! 

First, excellent news from Elana, who revealed the beautiful cover of her third book, ABANDON! You can find out more information about it here (and add it to your GoodReads). Additionally, in the month of October, Elana's holding a Review Drive. You can find out more information here.

As we gear up for two (two!) launches of League books this month, there's lots of exciting news for both Mike and Genn. Make sure you don't miss any of Mike's stops for his blog tour celebrating ASHEN WINTER. And if you'd like to see Mike in person, a full list of his upcoming appearances can be found here.

Genn will also be touring blogs throughout October, as well as touring in real life with the Fierce Reads book tour from October 16-22. A full list of all the stops can be found here. And lots of people are loving on CREWEL--not only have the Italian rights sold to Rizzoli in auction, but CREWEL was chosen as an Amazon Editor's Fall Pick for Teens!

CREWEL's not the only molto bene title in our group--Lissa's STARTERS was just released in Italy! Additionally, it is now in a second printing and also made a surprise re-appearance on the Southern California Independent Booksellers Assoc Bestseller list at #8! If you'd like to meet Lissa in person, she has several upcoming appearances:

• Orange County Childrens' Bookfair on 10/30 at 11 am
• Portland's Wordstock 10/13 at 12 and 2pm 
• 10/13 7pm Jan's in Beaverton
• 10/15 Beach Books in Seaside, OR 
• 10/18 7pm Burbank Library Buena Vista 
• 10/20 2pm B&N Grove with Melissa de la Cruz and David Levithan. 

And Lanore has been able to reveal a full list of awesome blurbs for her debut, LEVEL TWO! Look at what's being said--and who's raving about her book!

“A gripping debut! This utterly unique take on the afterlife poses fascinating questions . . . I can't wait to read the rest of the series to find out the answers!”—Megan McCafferty, New York Times bestselling author of Bumped and Thumped 

“Appelhans brings the afterlife to a whole new level. . . . A high-voltage thrill ride through love, death, and memory that will leave you breathless.”—Jess Rothenberg, author ofThe Catastrophic History of You and Me
“Absolutely gripping. My heart pounded on nearly every page. You won't be able to put it down.”—Mary E. Pearson, award-winning author of the Jenna Fox Chronicles

And finally, I've got some news of my own...I'll be at NY ComicCon this year! Not only will I be on several panels, but I'm also going to signing (free!) copies of SHADES OF EARTH during the con. I'll also have an event at Books of Wonder. For more information on these and all my stops, just check here.

I also have a little bit more news, including an upcoming giveaway, but all I can say now is that you should probably check out my blog around October 15...