How To Run A Top Notch Blog Tour in Seven Easy Steps by Michael Gettel-Gilmartin

Although my ultimate goal in life is to be the second coming of J.K. Rowling, I am currently only known for my efforts at blogging--both as the fearless manager of this here Project Mayhem, as well as the Don's reluctant sidekick at Middle Grade Mafioso. As such, I often get invitations from both authors and publicists to review books or to take part in blog tours.

In my first flush on enthusiasm, back in 2010, I would often jump at every chance. No request for a review was turned down; no blog tour ignored. It got to the point where blogging was becoming a full time job--except I was unpaid and my own novel writing was being shoved on a shelf to look pretty and sparkly and very obviously untouched. Something had to give.

As a result, I have now become exceedingly picky in accepting requests. (In fact, I feel a bit like an agent winnowing her query list and only showing interest in topics she really loves.) As for blog tours, I will take them on--on one condition: they are well-run, and I pretty much have to do no heavy lifting.

One of the best blog tours I have participated in recently was Jennifer Lynn Alvarez's cover reveal for book three of her Guardian Herd series--LANDFALL. Let me break down what Jennifer did that made it so easy for me to say yes.

1. She contacted me early, about five weeks before the blog tour was set to start. In her email, she showed familiarity with my blog, and addressed me by name. I therefore knew I wasn't part of a mass mailing--a technique which always makes me feel good.
2. She told me the dates of the blog tour, and asked for my top two tour dates.
3. She offered a selection of articles I could use in the blog tour: an interview with the illustrator, or an interview with the voice actor in the audiobook version, or a fan art showcase. (In other words, Ms. Alvarez was producing the content, which is balm to a busy blogger's weary soul.) 
4. To sweeten the deal, she included a swag pack I could give as a prize to a "winner" on my blog.
5. She promptly and professionally emailed me everything I requested, as well as links to her social media, and sent jpegs I could use in my post, as well as links about where to buy her books.
6. On the day of my post, she went on social media (Facebook and Twitter) and drew attention to my post. As a result, I had huge blog traffic on that day, along with many new commenters. She retweeted my own tweets, creating a pleasant buzz around the event.
7. After the blog tour had ended, she sent a very kind email thanking me for my hard work, and telling me she was looking forward to sending the prize pack to my winner, once I had one. (This reminded me that I actually needed to pick a winner.)

The thing is, I had not heard of the GUARDIAN HERD series before Ms. Alvarez contacted me. But you can bet your bottom dollar I'm a fan now, given that the author was so pleasant, personable, and professional. In fact, I'm linking to the original blog tour post, so you can see for yourself what a great cover Book 3: LANDFALL has, and read about David McClellan, the wonderful illustrator who created it. 

Let me know if there are other things which make it easier for you to take on blog tours. And let me know if you, or a young reader in your life, has read the GUARDIAN HERD books! I'd love to know what you think.

Book Review: Survival Strategies of the Almost Brave by Jen White

Take away the gingerbread cottage, and there is nothing sweet about Hansel and Gretel. Two children are abandoned in the woods to die by their stepmother, then entrapped by a witch who plans to turn them into dinner. The children escape with wits and fingers intact, and the witch meets a gruesome end, roasted in her own oven. It's classic Grimm Brothers -- children's darkest fears expressed and then resolved, with a happy ending that's only happy for the deserving.

Survival Strategies of the Almost Brave by Jen White
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014)

Jen White's debut middle-grade novel, Survival Strategies of the Almost Brave, is Hansel and Gretel set in the modern world. Hansel is now12-year-old Liberty, and her little sister is 8-year-old Billie, abandoned by their father in a grimy gas station in the middle of a desert. Liberty and Billie fear predators of the two-legged kind -- the drifters, long-distance travelers, and maladjusted overnight-shift workers of rest stops, interstates, and motels.

The girls have already lost their mother to a fatal traffic accident, and when their reluctant, unstable photographer father takes them in, his RV seems as a good as a gingerbread cottage. But when things go wrong, he abandons the girls, as he has once before, this time without even a pocketful of bread crumbs.

Liberty reassures herself with an endless trove of animal facts and survival strategies gleaned from Animal Planet and National Geographic and recorded in her notebook for just this kind of emergency.  Survival Strategy #8: Escape if you dare. Survival Strategy #35: Beware of Unexpected Gifts. She's more than almost-brave -- she's all the way there, resourceful even in fear and protective of her sister. Encountering people who might be dangerous and some who turn out to be helpful, Liberty invents new survival strategies based on her own experiences: Survival Strategy #41: Dr Pepper can ruin everything. Survival Strategy #48: Rescue yourself. These strategies are way beyond anything on Animal Planet.

Before I picked up Survival Strategies of the Almost Brave (my copy was provided by the publisher for an honest review), I read Sage Blackwood's Jinx, which opens with a Hansel and Gretel beginning: Young Jinx is lead into the vicious and dangerous Urwald by his step-father-many-times-removed to be abandoned to his inevitable death. His eventual triumphs take many more wrong turns than Liberty and Billie's -- he must battle trolls, ally with werewolves, defeat evil wizards, unite a kingdom, recover from his own death.

Yet Liberty and Billie's trials are more frightening. Survival Strategies of the Almost Brave is filled with heart, color, and good humor -- Liberty and Billie are vivid and appealing characters, and Liberty's first-person voice is authentic and convincing. But this is not a comic adventure -- the girls face loss and peril that is all the more real because of the realistic contemporary setting.

And this is when I remember that the Grimm Brothers didn't write of events that were remote, but of fears that were all too possible. Their stories were not just stories, and neither is White's.

Take away the rest stop Twinkies, Dr Pepper, and Nutter Butters, and there is nothing sweet about Survival Strategies of the Almost Brave. The losses and risks Liberty and Billie are the primal and darkest fears of modern children, and for many children they are too real. Liberty and Billie save themselves in the end, as surely as do Hansel and Gretel, but there is no witch, no gruesome justice enacted -- just survival strategies that Liberty and Billie take forward to the next time life takes them somewhere they don't want to go.

BLAZING COURAGE, by Kelly Milner Halls - First Page and Cover Analysis, by Matthew MacNish

Kelly Milner Halls is the author many non-fiction children's books covering topics as diverse as Astronauts, Cryptids, Dinosaurs, and Saving the Baghdad Zoo. Blazing Courage is her first novel. I will be reviewing it next month, but today I wanted to announce its publication, and take a quick look at its cover and first page.

Here is the cover:

I love the look of it! There's a certain kinetic energy to the moment captured here, and with the human character rushing left, possibly toward the fire, and the terror in the horses eyes, it really sets up a tense situation, and entices this reader to want to know what happens inside the book.

Here is the full jacket and the jacket copy:

Since getting a job at Top Tier stables, Annie has had her mind set on just one thing: earning enough money to buy a horse of her own. When she reaches her savings goal, she bids on a horse at an auction and buys Poco, a four-year-old Buckskin mare that Annie couldn't love more. But someone is trying to sabotage Top Tier, and a terrible fire breaks out at the stable. Annie must summon all her courage to save her beloved horse as well as many others in an act of heroism she didn't know she was capable of doing.

Here is the first page:

I really like this opening. I like that that story is not only narrated in first person, but in present tense no less! I used to hate present tense, but after writing a manuscript or two in it myself, I have come to appreciate the immediacy it lends to a tale, and the sense of urgency that can be felt, especially when it comes to scenes of action, which is the kind of scene I'm sure a book like Blazing Courage is full of.

I also love that this first page really captures everything I hope to see in an opening. There is action, and even dialog from two characters whose relationship we can immediately understand, but it also vividly describes a scene in a way that allows me to clearly picture it, and ground myself in a setting that feels at once authentic and believable.

I can almost smell the horses and taste the dust in the air.

What do you think? Do you like stories about animals? Do you like adventures? If so, you may want to check out Kelly Milner Halls' Blazing Courage.

Blazing Courage, published by Darby Creek Publishing, a Lerner imprint, will be released on August 1, 2015, and is written by Kelly Milner Halls and illustrated by Phil Parks. It is the first in a series call Animal Rescues.

Book Review: THE GIRL IN THE TORCH, by: Robert Sharenow

Image credit: HarperCollins website

Hi Mayhemers! Marissa Burt here. Today, I'm delighted to introduce you to Robert Sharenow's wonderful new MG historical THE GIRL IN THE TORCH. I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. First, a bit about the novel from the promotional materials:

"THE GIRL IN THE TORCH tells the story of Sarah, a 12 year-old immigrant girl who is orphaned when her mother dies upon their arrival in America, escaping the pogroms of Czarist Russia. Everyone in their village dreamed of America after a tantalizing postcard of the Statue of Liberty featuring Emma Lazarus' poem circulated among them. But when no American relatives can be located to sponsor Sarah after her mother's death, her hopes are crushed as she is placed on a ship for deportation back to Russia.

In desperation, she makes a daring leap into New York Harbor and swims to the nearest land mass, Liberty Island, where she takes refuge inside the Stature of Liberty, the torch becoming her own private bedroom. To survive, she scavenges for food among the tourists during the day, evading capture by hiding amid the trees and retreating to Lady Liberty upon nightfall.

Eventually, she is discovered by a troubled night watchman named Maryk who takes her under his wing and brings her to his boardinghouse in Chinatown. There, Sarah is integrated into a very diverse and eccentric group of outsiders who become like family to her. As she struggles with her new life and identity, crackdowns on illegal immigrants sweep Chinatown, putting Sarah and her housemates at risk. Will she escape their wrath or be sent back to Russia to face what promises to be a tortured life?"

I was delighted to discover that THE GIRL IN THE TORCH is as rich with historical details and

Image credit: Wikimedia, public domain

well-fleshed out characters as the promotional materials promise. The obviously well-researched historical background created a vibrant setting that was full of life.

And Sarah! What a main character! It takes skill to create empathetic characters facing difficult situations with pluck and still keep them realistic. I liked Sarah's strength despite the direness of her circumstances and how she discovers a kind community in the midst of her own loneliness and loss.

I found the narrative to be a winsome blend of gratitude, optimism, and realism that seems relevant today. I left the story with a rekindled interest in the stories of past immigrants and, though not directly addressed in the book, with questions about how we deal with immigration today.

All that to say, I highly recommend that you add THE GIRL IN THE TORCH to your summer reading list! It is available in bookstores and libraries now. Happy reading, Mayhemers. :)

How To Care For Your Muse by Robert Lettrick

Let’s pretend that the moment we decide to become writers, our muse is born. Four inches tall, ten ounces, gossamer wings and all.

Great. Another mouth to feed. 

Then we find that our muse can be pretty helpful. They offer up imaginative ideas and ask little in return. You decide your muse is a keeper. But like all living things, a writer's muse needs tlc. Let’s talk about the care and feeding of our mini shoulder creatures.

1). FEEDING
Muses thrive on a strict diet of books, journals, blogs, magazines and other written material. And just like a human diet, the better the food quality the healthier your muse will be. It’s important to note that most television programming is the equivalent of fast food, and if you’ve ever watched Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me, you know that eating nothing but fast food day in and day out is a beeline to organ failure. Feed your muse a steady and varied diet of well-written stuff (FYI, I wrote a whole paragraph on inspecting your muse’s droppings to determine if it’s getting proper nutrition, but for the sake of brevity, I edited it out.)

2). EXERCISE
(Cue Rocky montage music)
This one goes without saying, for a muse to be fit and healthy, you have to give it plenty of exercise. Muses don’t get ripped on Tai Bo, P90X or Zumba. If you want your mini writer-whisperer to have six-pack abs, you have to write every day. Even on Christmas. Read and write, read and write. That's how muses get buff. 

3). FRESH AIR
In today's age of cellphones, iPads, Nooks, Crannies, and white noise, we’re constantly bombarded by stimulation. Other than installing a sensory deprivation tank in your house, the best solution to “get away from it all” may be to simply go outside for a walk. Leave your house, take a stroll and think about your story. A little nature goes a long way toward lifting your muse’s spirit. 

4). CHANGE OF SCENERY
To date I’ve written four books. I started each of them in a different city. Sometimes a jarring change is necessary to shake your muse out of its funk. Not everyone can relocate between books, but vacations, especially research and/or writing excursions, are a great way to wake up your hibernating muse (Caution: Do not let your muse hibernate too long as they may turn feral upon waking.) 

5). PLAY DATES
Muses are very social creatures. They find interaction with other writers' muses to be both stimulating and motivational. Critique groups are a great source of kinship, and you can find them by searching the regional pages of the scbwi.org website or through google, but if you don’t have one in your area you can always start one. And if the internet is more your thing, there are plenty of places online where your muse can connect with play pals. Twitter, for example, is basically a dog park for muses. 

The bottom line is take care of your muse and your muse will take care of you. 
And remember, have your muse spayed or neutered.