Category Archives: Authors

My friends are awesome!

Best book mail is best! I’m so happy to have this lovely from A. R. Kahler on my shelf now. Also, be jealous because Alex writes the best inscriptions. ? I’m so proud of my amazing friend!

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Book events are the best events.


Had a great time last night at @misterkristoff & @amiekaufmanauthor’s signing in Miami! They were absolutely wonderful, and I highly recommend taking the time to meet them if they come to your area. ?

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Times are hard and getting worse.


When in doubt, support amazing people and diverse stories and creative art.

Books pictured:

  • Dead Girls Society by Michelle Krys  | AmazonB&N
  • The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon  | AmazonB&N
  • We Were Liars by E. Lockhart  | AmazonB&N
  • Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig  | AmazonB&N
  • Boy Robot by Simon Curtis | AmazonB&N
  • Updraft by Fran Wilde | AmazonB&N
  • When the Moon was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore | AmazonB&N
  • Still Life with Tornado by A.S. King  | AmazonB&N
  • Tattoo Atlas by Tim Floreen | AmazonB&N
  • Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo  | AmazonB&N

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The Friday Five – August 26th

THE FRIDAY FIVE

Sometimes we forget the good things that happen because the bad ones feel so much bigger. In an effort to keep that phenomenon at bay, here are my five good things for this past week.

  1. Yesterday, for the first time in a long while, I not only hit my word count goal but actually felt like I’d made appreciable progress. It was a glorious feeling. I have missed it greatly. Hopefully it continues for the next few days until I suddenly have a finished book!
  2. Related to the above, my Entangled editor Kate Brauning continues to be epic and patient and encouraging. I am so happy I get to work with her, and I sincerely hope I can continue working with her for a long time to come.
  3. My dear friend Tristina Wright got to share her words with the world recently! And this week, it opened up from just being available to subscribers to being readable by everyone. Which means you should go read it, because Siren Song is so amazingly beautiful, you guys.
  4. I teach at a in-patient rehab center for teenagers with addiction and other issues. Over the summer I’ve been running a summer reading program, which I’ve done before. Previous incarnations didn’t achieve much in the way of new readers, but this year I had them all reading I am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells. I have never seen a group of students at this center so excited to read, and I have never been more grateful to an author for a book. Or for the perfect timing of a movie version of a book. They’re all looking forward to watching it on Monday! And, honestly, so am I. It looks amazing.
  5. Thanks to the collected efforts of some authors on Facebook, I was able to find a short story I haven’t read since 2001! It’s stuck with me over the years, and I found myself thinking about it more than usual when I started lesson planning for the year, but I couldn’t remember the author, the title, or the anthology that I had originally read it in. Some sleuthing by some wonderful people didn’t just give me the title and author; I got a link to the full text of the story, too! It’s Velvet Fields by Anne McCaffrey for those interested. I highly recommend reading.

Solo, but never alone


Times like #RT16 are a perfect reminder that even though writing can be a very solitary activity, we’re never actually alone. I am so grateful for every one of these ladies! ?

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I met Tamora Pierce!


Talking to Tamora Pierce is the highlight of #RT16 for me! Childhood idols are never not amazing, but Tamora is extra special every time I get to meet her. If you’ve never read her stories, I highly recommend changing that ASAP! ???

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The RT16 YA Spooky Slumber Party


The #RT16 YA Spooky Slumber Party is about to start! Will I see you there? ?

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I was featured on the B&N Teen blog!

The wonderfully talented Michael Waters asked to interview me for a two-part feature about queer YA authors, and of course I was ecstatic and said yes! Part one of the series is out now and you can read about me, Anna-Marie McLemore, and Fox Benwell. Below is a snippet from each of our segments:

Fox Benwell is known around Twitter for his tireless queer and disability activism, his dog and cat photos, and his impeccable taste in ties. The author of The Last Leaves Falling (published under the name Sarah Benwell), he is genderfluid transmasculine and has Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/fibromyalgia. Because of the marginalization he has faced, he is committed to creating safe, intersectional spaces for people like him. “It’s important to me to try to be the kind of visible role model I wish I’d always had—to do what I can to make things better for the next generation.”

For Anna-Marie McLemore, magical realism is an essential staple of both her writing and her cultural heritage. As a queer Mexican-American girl, she grew up reading the genre—she cites magical realism novels such as Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate as the reason she fell in love with literature. Now, they are the reason she writes it.

To McLemore, writing magical realism comes naturally. “[Magical realism’s] heart is the intermixing of the ordinary and the ethereal, and I fell into that easily both because it felt right for my work and because it’s where I come from. The origins of magical realism hold close the idea of culture and community, and rising out of the forces that try to hold down your culture and community. It’s a worldview that feels true to who I am and where my stories live.”

Photo Credit: Lani Woodland

Photo Credit: Lani Woodland

Erica Cameron is fighting for visibility. As an asexual author writing asexual characters, she is working to make her identity known and normalized in the public consciousness. Asexuality—describing individuals who experience little or no sexual attraction to anyone—is frequently misunderstood. Even people familiar with its definition may not fully grasp why, for example, there are asexual awareness marches.

Cameron is well aware of this. “What they don’t realize is that we’re not fighting for rights, we’re fighting for recognition,” she says.

Read the full article here!

Hanging out with Kyle Prue!


Hanging out with @kyleprueofficial at the #RHSLitFest! Great to be back at Riverdale High School again.

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Look at all the great GMSYAC16 authors!


Look at all the great #GMSYAC16 authors that #DeadlySweetLies is hanging out with! Such a great time visiting this school! ?

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