Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Barbara Crane | A Sense of Place
Author Guest / February 23, 2017

Until I wrote a historical novel set where I lived nearly all my life, I didn’t really know the place. My latest novel, WHEN WATER WAS EVERYWHERE, explores the lives of a Los Angeles landowner, an immigrant, a young Indian woman, and a Spanish priest during the 1840s when Alta California was a Mexican territory. I had suspected that the landscape was vastly different a century and a half ago. In fact, the seed for the novel came from driving on Los Angeles’ freeways. I’d look down and see a vast plain of houses, stores, and shopping malls. I wondered what lay beneath the concrete. Like most people, I assumed Los Angeles was a desert. Research revealed a place vastly different from the city I called home. It was never a desert. In fact, the landscape was once far more green. Less than 200 years ago, rain flowed down the mountains that rim Los Angeles, swelling its rivers and streams in the rainy season. This rainfall leached into the earth and created large stores of groundwater. Coastal wetlands and inland marshes—important as bird habitats and natural water filters—covered large areas and remained wet all year. As I immersed myself in…

Chris Cannon, Why I Write About Dragons
Author Guest / February 23, 2017

Hello, my name is Chris Cannon. I’m a speech therapist by day, and an author who writes shape-shifting dragons by night. The Going Down In Flames series is about Bryn McKenna, a sixteen-year-old girl who finds out she’s a shape-shifting dragon when flames shoot out of her mouth for the first time. (Surprise!) Bryn is forced to attend a school for shape-shifting dragons where they expect her to sit quietly and do as she’s told. Unfortunately for them, she’s not that kind of girl. Adventure, romance, and snarky banter ensues. FANNING THE FLAMES is the fourth book in the young adult, paranormal romance series and it comes out March 6th. When people find out I write about shape-shifting dragons, they ask some interesting questions. -So you write fiction? “No. It’s autobiographical.” *author shifts into a dragon and blasts flames into the air before launching herself into the sky. -Is it like Fifty Shades of Gray? “No. It’s a young adult paranormal romance. A sweet romance with lots of teenage angst and drama and swoony guys.” -Is it one of those kissing books? “It’s a kick-ass chick who doesn’t take crap from anyone kind of book. And yes, there is some…

Sheryl Nantus | Viva Las Vegas!
Author Guest / February 23, 2017

I remember the first time I visited Las Vegas – striding down the ramp and out into the terminal, eager to pick up my bags and head out for my hotel. It was like any other airport I’d visited, noisy and filled with commuters racing to catch their flights or grab their luggage and head out into the city. But this wasn’t any other airport. Right beside the luggage carousel sat rows of slot machines, waiting to take my money as I watched for my bags to arrive. I couldn’t stop looking over at the noisy, eye-catching displays tempting me with the chance of beginning my winning streak before getting to my hotel. An attendant walked up and down the aisles, exchanging money for eager players. And they won. I saw more than one machine explode into loud bells and whistles, flashing lights as it paid out. It made the usually boring wait for my luggage that much more interesting as I fought to keep from losing all of my gambling money before even leaving McCarran Airport. I went on from there to the hotel and my week-long stay where night only meant it got a bit cooler outside –…

Julie Cross | Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby: Examining Sex in YA Literature
Author Guest / February 23, 2017

The room where it happens…keep it lit or fade to black? In her renowned 1975 novel, FOREVER, Judy Blume took teens Katherine and Michael from first meeting to first kiss, first base to second, second to third. Then with the lights still shining bright and no doubt the rapt attention of each young reader, Katherine and Michael had their first sexual experience together–no fading to black, no glossing over the technicalities with flowery ambiguous language. There was no hidden agenda with this novel, no political statement to be made. It was simply there to show us (or remind us) of what it’s like to be a young person in love, dating, having sexual experiences for the first time. I grew up reading Judy Blume, learning about buying a bra and first periods from Margaret, then later learning about sex from Katherine and Michael. In high school, I had my own “Michael” and a first-serious-relationship experience that was frighteningly similar to this fictional couples’ story. So it’s no surprise that when I began writing YA, I took a small note from Ms. Blume. As much as we’d like to say that our characters make these decisions when it comes to sex…