Tag Archives: Dale Basye

A great big book blur

14 Oct

So, yeah, September just barreled into October sometime in the past few days…and it’s like I just fell off a cliff into book insanity. I’m actually doing published author things. Crazy things. Like getting interviewed for my Blog Tour, which is gonna be all over the InterWebs in mere MOMENTS. Ten “appearances” between 10/17 and 10/28. (Go to the bottom for a complete listing of dates.) I’ll definitely  be posting links to the interviews on my Facebook fan page….and, well links to any reviews that are at least 51% positive. (Any other reviews you’ll have to seek out and then keep to yourself.)

And, of course, last weekend was filled with the whirlwind that is Wordstock. As opposed to years past, I had more to do than just sneakily snagging up the free swag. Not only did I get to drool over the really cool Spart Art Turned Magnet Swag (at left), but I also got to sign ARCS for some lucky raffle fans…I actually hugged a kid and posed for a photo. Like I was person you get your photo taken with.  I also  realized that I need to think before writing in a book with a pen. No one enjoys: “For James. Best Wishes. -May John.” (I also need to sign my name more clearly. No one knows who May John is.)

When I wasn’t strutting around, hoping someone would recognize me from the face on the book’s one sheet, I was filling pages and pages of notes at workshops (worth mentioning was one about writing for teen boys, led by the gregarious D.F. Walker). My favorite panel discussion was about coming-of-age novels. You should check out Jen Violi’s Putting Makeup on Dead People. Have you heard of a simpler or cooler plot than a teen girl getting a job as a makeup artist for dead people?? No. You haven’t. Not this decade, anyway. Pass the lipstick, please.

I also got to meet Dale Basye at his booth, who signed all 4 books in his Heck Series for me–he even scribbled an inside joke in Fibble: the Fourth Circle of Heck about something only he and I know about. Oh, ho, ho, me and Dale. Or “Dolly”, as we call ourselves.  Rubbing elbows. Just chatting like two old best-friends-y jay birds! You couldn’t shut us up….! Aaah….oh dear.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Ms. Johnson doesn’t understand that a blog is not the proper place for embellished truths regarding public figures.

Back to reality. Oh, right. One more thing. Just a…well, it’s a small thing– it was so inconsequential I almost forgot it. A teeny something about seeing my name casually mentioned along with a certain Spartacus and the Circle [sic] of Shadows novel in a modest little magazine called

Wired…

Yeah, psh. Whatever. I’m so used to this by now that…

Who am I kidding?! I’m still tap dancing over it. Z and Achilles were done hearing about it an hour after I found it. But just the mere mention of my book in a magazine–well, the online version–okay, what’s basically on an online site that could be changed at any moment, obliterating any feelings of grandeur…well, not today, my friends, because for today at least, it’s STILL THERE. And I’m immortalizing it here, to prove it:

Oh. Well, so you have to keep scrolling….

THERE! You see it? MY NAME. MENTIONED. Sure, sure, it’s toward the bottom, like an afterthought, and he got the title wrong. And sure, he hasn’t read the book, made no mention of a sincere intention to, and it was only an “unexpected” find. But. It’s there. Me. Spartacus. The Circle of Shadows.

Like I said, October is gonna be cray-cray. (One of my co-workers says that in lieu of crazy.  I’m not sure if it’ll ever catch on.) Stay tuned….

October Blog Tour:

Monday, 10/17: Corrine at Lost for Words (Author Interview)
Tuesday, 10/18: Nicole at Books Complete Me (Review)
Wednesday, 10/19: Reagan at Star Shadow Blog (When I’m Not Writing)
Thursday, 10/20: Basma at In Between the Lines (Review)
Friday, 10/21: Jessica T at Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile(This or That List)
Monday, 10/24: Jessica T at Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile(Review)
Tuesday, 10/25: Basma at In Between the Lines (Author Interview)
Wednesday, 10/26: Corrine at Lost for Words (Review)
Thursday, 10/27: Nicole at Books Complete Me (Tens List)
Friday, 10/28: Reagan at Star Shadow Blog (Review)

What the what…?!

6 Sep

(Yes, I realize that blog post title is a reference to a TV show that is now maybe three years old. And no, I do not care.)

Just sitting here, having my morning coffee and doing some work…when I get a new review over The Email Wire. It’s a review from…OMG, Dale Basye? THE Dale Basye? As in, from Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go series???

WHAT?!

*jaw drops to the now-coffee spattered floor*
(Like I said, I was drinking coffee while my jaw was plummeting.)

“As an author, there’s a moment when noble emotions such as “admiration” and “respect” for a fellow scribe cross over into outright, green-eyed jealousy. And, about midway through reading Molly E. Johnson’s page-turning debut Spartacus and the Circus of Shadows, my appreciation for her quirky, breezy style quickly gave way to wanton prose-envy of the worst kind. The “E” surely stands for either “Effortless,” “Eclectic,” or perhaps “Eunice”…I can’t be sure. Only someone with the middle name of Eunice, like a creepy secret hidden at the nougaty center of their name, could create a charming outsider such as Spartacus Zander, AKA “Poop Lip.”

As exotic as his name is, Spartacus grounds the fantastical events of his story in a deeply affecting and relatable way. His insights and feelings at being a runaway in a difficult situation at a difficult age hold your metaphoric hand as Johnson leads you, circuitously, to the inevitable big showdown at the Big Top. But it’s the various roadside attractions and delightful deviations along the way that make her story sparkle like the creepy-shiny eyes of a carnie. Seriously: your mind will do advanced yoga moves at the story’s twisting twists and—at times—stomach-turning turns. But I’m a better person for every mile spent with Spartacus on his darkly comic road trip. And, if you’re from inner- or even outer-Portlandia, you will derive extra joy from the numerous inclusions of various beloved landmarks, twisted like a helium-filled balloon animal into Johnson’s wonderful story.”

— Dale E-for-Eunice Basye

Sooo….I’m done for the week (yes, I know it’s Tuesday after a 3-day weekend, but still). If you need me, you can find me on the fainting couch.

Spring reading list

5 Apr

There’s something about spring that makes me want to read more books. I know, most people are winter reading people; curl up on a warm couch or bed, away from natural light. For me, it’s a springtime addiction: find a coffee shop, restaurant, park, or (gasp) bar and stake out the spot nearest the sun. Then I ignore all nature and get lost in some ridiculous plot, missing all of spring’s flowers and showers and chances to hike or play volley ball poorly.

Spring also means I get to carry my big, book-toting purses. Mmm. Giant purses…

Anyway, my spring’s lineup is meant to bring me up to speed in the YA/MG world as my current YA touchstone relies solely on mid-nineties hits, Harry Potter, and John Greene. (Go ahead and snicker at my list, saying “That is sooo 2008″ …I’m fully aware.)

  1. Mockingjay (actively devouring)
  2. New Moon (then Eclipse and Breaking Dawn in quick succession, because once you start, well…)
  3. Lemony Snicket (the first, just to try it out)
  4. Heck (turns out that I sit in Dale Basye’s old desk at work–awesome)
  5. The Lightning Thief  (eh…I bought it but I don’t really want to read it.)

At least, that’s the plan, anyway. I might get sidetracked by trying to figure out the intricacies of Twitter’s trending topics. But at least I have a goal to aim for.

The reason I’m sharing, though, is to ask if there are other books that I should bump up the list? Add to it? Remove? Even if your advice is that it’s actually too late for me to try to catch up by starting in 2008. Maybe I should just give up on Twilight, watch the movies, and get on with 2011 already. Has the vampire trend bled out or what?