ELECTED release and blog tour

Wow, have I been neglecting you, poor little blog. (What can I say? I’ve discovered how easy it is to post to Facebook. Darn you, Facebook.) I’m going to be better. I have a whole bunch of releases recently out or about to come out and I need to update my website with them!

What have I been up to? Well, I traveled to NYC for the Teen Author Festival, finally finished the Revisions From Hell, wrote a novella, did proofs for all these releases I’ve been talking about (new short story, reprint short story, non fiction writing book), traveled across the country a few times, took my kid to Florida for Spring Break… I’ll do a big catch up post (with pictures) this week.

But today, I’m doing one more catch up. Yesterday was Earth Day, and thus, the release of my friend Rori Shay’s debut novel ELECTED.

Elected is set in a scary future world where ecological disasters have made the ruling power eschew all technology.

(Sound familiar? You know I love a good techs vs. anti-techs story.)

Aloy, the main character, is the daughter of the ruling family, but she has to pretend to be a boy, because only boys can be rulers.

(And you all know how I love a good gender-bend.)

Rori is a local buddy of mine here in DC, and she’s been through quite the adventure bringing this book to market. After shopping and selling her book to a publisher a year ago, after spending a whole year preparing for her release, going through edits, getting a cover designed, planning all her promotion and marketing… her first publisher shut down, a few weeks before her release!

I can’t imagine. I’d still be hiding under my bed. But Rori wasn’t deterred. She believed in this book and she was determined to get it out by Earth Day, since the book is all about saving the environment. Within forty-eight hours, she’d signed with Silence in the Library, the small independent publisher who is doing the Athena’s Daughters anthology, and they are currently very, very close to funding the kickstarter that will allow her not only an ebook release (like her original publisher) but also a paperback and hardcover version.

Don’t you love a happy ending?

I’ll tell you. Publishing is not for the faint of heart. And neither, apparently, is pretending to be a boy in order to rule a future world on the brink of destruction. So check out Elected today!