Tag Archives | Nova Ren Suma

Cindy M. Hogan loves all things detective, spy and murder.

By on May 16, 2012 in guest posts, murder and mystery
Welcome to week 2 of Spies, Murder and Mystery!
We’re celebrating the release of A Spy Like Me:
Stripping your date down to his underwear has never been so dangerous.
Today we have Cindy M. Hogan with us, author of contemporary thrillers, Watched and Protected. She’s here to talk about one of her favorite things…. murder. Mwahahaha!
The game I loved to play the most when I was in grade school was Clue.
 I rocked it, too. In fact, I’d win every time and it didn’t involve cheating. I remember the day I realized that it wasn’t just listening to what people said that mattered, it was also important to listen to what they didn’t say. I think this game launched my love of all things detective, spy and murder related.
My favorite murder game today is none other than murder. Life size–just like I like it.
How do you play?
Find a basement that you can make completely dark. I mean completely dark. Then gather 15-20 friends to join you. Get some face cards and keep 2 Kings in the stack as well as enough other cards so that everyone will get one without any cards being left over. The 2 people who get the Kings are the murderers.The rest are townspeople.
Have the group stand in a circle and have everyone close their eyes and bow their heads. You, as the host, ask the murders to open their eyes. The murders look at each other while everyone else’s eyes are still closed. Then you ask them to close their eyes. Then ask everyone to open their eyes. Your eyes are closed, too, unless you are a murderer. Now, turn off the lights.
The murderers can strike 10 seconds after the lights go out. When the murderers find towns people, they gently slide their hand across the front of the towns people’s necks to kill them. The dead towns person must stay put until someone who is alive finds them and yells out “body-body”. Yes, the townspeople must move around asking if people are a “body” or dead or the murderers will win for sure. The dead person can not say anything until asked if they are a body. They can’t call out or moan or anything. They are dead, after all.
Then the lights are quickly turned on. All the dead go to an area designated as the morgue and everyone who is alive gets in a circle and they have two minutes to decide on who one of the murderers is. Once they have a majority vote, the person they have accused must say whether or not they were a murderer. If the answer is yes, the townspeople get a shot at accusing the second murderer. If the answer is no, that towns person is lynched and must go to the morgue and the lights are turned out for another round.
You continue this until everyone is dead and the murderers win or until the towns people discover both of the murderers.
So, grab some friends and play murder. Just beware…it’s addicting.
Enter to win a free copy of the first book in the Watched series, Watched. Just leave a comment here about your favorite game. Please tweet with @laurapauling. 
*** And just a side note from me – Laura. I love playing CLUE except no one like to play with me because I keep track of everything with tons of shorthand notes all over the slip of paper. No wonder I write about spies and mysteries!
Thanks so much, Cindy! Tell us your favorite game everyone!
Check out the sequel to Watched!
And check out my guest post on Roz Morris’s Undercover Soundtrack. I talk about the music behind A Spy Like Me!
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Nova Ren Suma and those mysterious sisters.

By on May 15, 2012 in guest posts, murder and mystery

Welcome back to the second week of Spies, Murder and Mystery! Celebrating my release of A Spy Like Me!

Today we have Nova Ren Suma with us. She’s the author of Fade Out and Imaginary Girls. Both will be released in paperback in June with new covers! I read this book called Imaginary Girls and ended up loving it! The mythical relationship between sisters is not easy to show and having an older sister, I related. So I asked Nova to talk to us about mysterious girls.

Nova has run some incredible blog series about Turning Points and authors of upcoming releases. Check them out if you haven’t yet.

Blog ~ Website ~ Twitter

 

Mysterious Girls

I’m drawn to mysterious characters. The characters who give you pause, who make you question. The ones you need to know more about… And then you discover that the more you know, the more mystery there is to unravel. They’re complex. They’re flawed. They’re impossible to truly know, which to my mind makes them all the more real. I think that’s why I created Ruby, the larger-than-life older sister in my novel Imaginary Girls, or, really, why Ruby found me and forced me to sit down and write about her. I wanted to know who she was, and she wanted to play a cruel little game with me to keep me guessing.

It’s the mystery of Ruby that propels that novel—and so much of that comes from telling the story in the voice, and through the lens, of Chloe, the younger sister who idolizes every single thing Ruby does and yet still doesn’t fully understand her. She can’t. I admit I loved telling Ruby’s story through those eyes. I never want a mysterious girl to be stripped of all her mystery.

I wonder where this fascination came from. Even in my first published novel—originally titled Dani Noir, but you’ll see a new version of it on shelves this June called Fade Out—my narrator, Dani, goes searching for a mysterious femme fatale in her small sleepy town, even if there’s no true “femme fatale” to be found for miles. There are the secrets. The lies told behind closed doors. And how Dani idolizes a true mystery girl on-screen, none other than Rita Hayworth, star of glamorous noir movies like Gilda.

Even my upcoming book, 17 & Gone—which is such a mystery I haven’t revealed the summary yet!—is peopled with a whole cast of mysterious girls. You might just say the book wouldn’t exist without them.

I’m simply intrigued by a girl who inspires questions. And I don’t want easy answers.

So who are some mysterious girls from books I’ve read that catch my imagination?

Hannah in 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher: The whole story is set up to unravel Hannah and reveal why she chose to take her own life. Once the truth is exposed, it’s heartbreaking.

Bev in The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour: Colby can’t keep his eyes off Bev, and neither can we. Why does Bev do what she doe—say one thing and then change her mind and do another?

Mandarin in Like Mandarin by Kirsten Hubbard: I remember being drawn to girls like this when I was in high school, wanting to be their friend, never at first realizing what dark, unruly secrets they kept hidden.

Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote: I know this one isn’t YA, but I can’t help but be obsessed with the mysterious, fascinating figure who makes this novel what it is. We only see her through the eyes of another, and we never quite catch up to her.

Francie in The Blonde of the Joke by Bennett Madison: In this novel, Val tries to be like her gorgeous, exciting new friend Francie, but who is Francie, really? And what does becoming like Francie really entail?

Margo Roth Spiegelman in Paper Towns by John Green: It’s an obsession with the girl next door that drives this mystery and the ensuing adventure adventure. We want to climb out the window and follow her into the night.

Who are some mysterious girls you find yourself drawn to in books?

Comment to win a pre-order of the Imaginary Girls paperback or a signed copy when Nova receives her author copies. Your choice! And please tweet with @laurapauling. Thanks!

Comment on yesterday’s post for a chance to win Spencer Brokaw’s The Impenetrable Spy!

Thanks everyone!

 

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Countdown of my favorite books – part 1.

By on December 19, 2011 in book reviews

Instead of signing off for two weeks, I want to try something different. For the next two weeks I’ll post my book recommendations. Books from this past year that I really enjoyed, okay, loved!

Because the frantic Christmas countdown is on! And I still have Christmas cards to mail. Presents to wrap. Cookies to burn. Self imposed deadlines to meet. Squirrels to torment and scare off, I mean  feed with little special nut cakes. And of course sit on my duff and indulge in some eggnog by the fire.

So here are my first two picks.

IMAGINARY GIRLS by Nova Ren Suma

I absolutely loved the beautiful writing, the mysterious story, and the relationship between the sisters.

And the new paperback cover:

BECOME by Ali Cross

When I saw the cover I knew I wanted to read it. I never know when I read a self published book what it’s going to be like. But this one was terrific. The writing. The story. The characters. Worth reading.

Know that I’ll be reading your blogs this next week but most likely won’t be commenting! Feel free to leave your book recs in the comments all week!

Hope you are all farther ahead in your Christmas prep than I am! Yikes!

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Only a small percentage of authors sell through. What’s the solution?

By on December 14, 2011 in publishing industry, social media

In the past few days I’ve read some wonderful posts.

Elana Johnson has proven once again why she’s so well liked in the blogging world. In this post, she talks about being a midlist hardcover author and trying to fit in on the other side of the fence. No whining. No complaining. Just brutal humbling honesty.

That’s what we’re looking for in a blog, in a writer, in an author. Emotion. Exactly what we’re looking for when we’re reading a book as Wendy P Miller points out.

And in another post Elana talks about defining success and how it use to be all about blog numbers for her. But not anymore.

Jody Hedlund posted about the identity crisis that most authors endure after their first book is released. Again, no whining, no complaining. Just honesty.

Angela Ackerman guest posted at Janice Hardy’s blog talking about blogging through the hard times, picking yourself up, and moving forward. Through the rejections, the almosts, the frustrating times. And we’ve all been there. We can relate. Connect.

And my new traditionally published blogging hero is Nova Ren Suma. She seems to have reinvented her blog, taking hold of the reigns with an incredible series of inspirational posts from other authors. And she has new series coming in 2012. She’s making a real effort to reach out and make a difference. And reach potential readers. Very smart.

Maybe some of these posts will extend past the writing bubble and reach non-writing readers. Maybe not. I like these authors, these bloggers. I’ll read their books. I’ll buy their books.

So why I am bringing all this up?

Because these authors are active in social media in a terrific kind of way.

Because I see tweets from industry professionals about how traditional publishers need to combat the 99-cent book. Really? I mean really? Low priced ebooks are not the enemy. (Or they shouldn’t be.) I’ve seen it suggested that the big publishers should brand the front of their books so readers know the difference. (Sounds like a dystopian novel to me.)

Most readers don’t care. And if they do – they’ll find out before purchasing.

Readers want excellent writing. A powerful story. An entertaining story. You’ve got that and you won’t have to worry about putting a logo on the front of a book in order to sell through.

Even then sometimes there’s nothing we can do. It’s out of our control.

Be likeable. Be honest. Create fans of you. Not just your books.

Write the best you can.

Promote and market wisely. (Look to the posts and blogs I mentioned.)

Write the next book and make it even better.

So honestly. Do you think branding the front of a book with a publisher’s logo will make the difference? What would help more authors sell through their advance? Because I’d love to see that happen.

This post by Angie Frazer is a must read. How do these midlist authors get noticed?


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Starred ratings and IMAGINARY GIRLS.

By on September 2, 2011 in book reviews, three dimensional characters

Nothing proved to me how subjective this business is until I read and loved IMAGINARY GIRLS by Nova Ren Suma and then read the reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.

I mean I loved this book. Gorgeous prose and a voice that pulled me through the book. A combination of creepy, paranormal, and mystery.

And no one denies any of that in the reviews.

The biggest complaint is that the magic or paranormal aspect in the book was never explained. The term plot holes was used.

Some said the characters weren’t likeable. Ruby and Chloe (the narrator) were not good role models. #itotallydisagreed #lovedthem

Some said by the end they realized there was no point to the story.

Harsh? Right? I would argue against all those points!

Please don’t let that deter you from reading. I think the story was misunderstood. And it helped that before reading, I knew some things wouldn’t be explained. I was prepared.

As I see it, this story was a tall tale. A myth. A metaphor for the love of two sisters who have a crappy life. The older sister Ruby seems to have a magical hold on the town and on her sister, Chloe. But when you understand that these two girls are half-sisters whose dads aren’t in their lives and their mom is a drunk? They basically raised themselves. It’s a bit easier to understand their eccentric behavior.

In a tall tale the unexplained happens all due to the power of an emotion. It’s not meant to be explained. That would detract from the magic. Ruby comes to the conclusion that her sister is able to bend the rules of physics because of their bond, their love for each other. And for the magic to be explained and there to be a believable explanation for what happens with the dead body and why the whole town bends to Ruby’s desires would detract from the whole point of the story.

Love is powerful.

You can disagree. But don’t the let the reviews deter you from this delicious book. There were plenty of five star ratings too. Honestly? It’s this kind of writing and story that separates the traditional published and the self-published. For me.

Do low-starred reviews deter your from buying a book? Do you ever find a discrepancy based on subjectivity?

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