One Line Wonder Review: The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong

You can also file this one under "Notes from a Kelley Armstrong Fangirl"...

Let me know what you thought about the book in the comments below or send me your video response using the tag #1linewonders on YouTube or Twitter.

Interview with Jo Treggiari author of Ashes, Ashes

There's this thing called Atlantic Author Day that takes place in June of every year. It's basically where authors from the region tour bookstores around the province in allotted time slots. On Saturday, I caught up with Jo Treggiari at Woozles Bookstore to wrap up her Canadian "Plague & Pestilence" blogger tour for her YA dystopian novel Ashes, Ashes. The interview was filled with lots of surprises including:

• special guest co-host Lauren Oostveen from ZombiesAteLauren.com who dressed as a post-apocalyptic survivor
• most of the streets downtown were closed to a massive street hockey tournament which made us all a little late (welcome to Canada!)
• we made the very poor judgement call of situating the interview next to a children's train set (you'll see what I mean)
• a very special treat for Jo at the end (if you've been paying attention to her other blogger interviews you might find this funny)

Slave Lake Book Auction

File this one under "And Now For Something Completely Different." This post really has less to do with YA and more to do with the book community coming together to help out one of our own. The Slave Lake Public Library faced a devastating fire and is trying to rebuild. Through the generous spirit of book blogger and writer Colleen McKie, an idea was born to raise funds through a book auction. To help make a final push in these last days, I put together this short video:

If you can help out by bidding on the amazing items listed on the site, you could not only potentially be walking away with some great books and other items but you'll also be supporting a library in need. Visit the Slave Lake Book Auction site for full details.

Reading (out loud and in public places)

Earlier tonight, I read my as-yet unpublished novel in public for the first time. In fact, it was my first time reading any of my work out loud unless you include all the plays I wrote and performed in elementary, junior high, and high school (I don't). In any case, when I heard that All Rights Reserved was holding a reading/fundraiser at the Company House in Halifax, I jumped on the opportunity. There were lots of pros around including local legend Steve Vernon who just published his first YA novel, Sinking Deeper. Needless to say, I had to get on stage before him or else all bets were off..! Before heading to the stage I asked for writerly advice from fellow Book Madam contributors, Jill Murray and Julie Wilson (the Madam herself). Some of the valuable tips:

• Keep the reading under five minutes
• Stay hydrated all day but don't drink water too close to reading
• Practice
• Don't rush
• Smile with your eyes

Another tip I'd like to add is:

• Don't eat a three course meal directly before you appear on stage (I may or may not know this from experience)

In any case, here's the video. The quality of the video and audio isn't fantastic but I'd love to hear any constructive feedback (besides the fact that I look like a chubby little chipmunk from that angle).

Do you have any tips to add for author readings?

Live-to-Chat with Lauren DeStefano (Author of The Chemical Garden Trilogy)

Had a blast chatting with Lauren DeStefano whose debut novel Wither was the first of my One Line Wonders book reviews. We talk about hype, the Queen of CanLit, and the controversial WSJ article that's got everyone in YA circles hot and bothered. Check out our conversation below.