Eclipse: Report From the Premiere

My friend Charles is a producer in LA and he got to attend the Eclipse premiere last Thursday (his birthday). I was way jealous, but he promised to guest blog, so that won him some points. Here he is: "Last week, I got the chance to attend Summit Entertainment's MASSIVE Twilight: Eclipse premiere and party. The event took over all of LA's downtown NOKIA Theater LA Live and its large courtyard. The red carpet seemed a million miles long and hundreds of screaming fans were barely held behind metal barricades. It was mayhem and craziness. "So many celebs showed up the action on the red carpet lasted for more than two hours. The carpet was star studded - with pro-skater Evan Lysacek, Big Mike from The Blind Side (I know Melissa Loves him), Jennifer Love Hewitt and more. Then the movie's stars came out in full force, Dakota Fanning in a beautiful pale dress (above, right), Oscar nominee Anna Kendrick, Kellan Lutz (who gave the camera his trademark smirk, above right), Peter Facinelli (and wife Jenni Garth). When Rob, Kristen and Taylor walked down the carpet the fans got so intense I was only able to get a pic of Rob, below - he looked great in his red jacket. "Afterwards, everyone shuttled into the huge 6,000 seat Nokia Theater (with our complimentary popcorn in a collectible Eclipse cup!) for the film. The movie looked beautiful, was achingly romantic and featured some really funny Jacob-Edward banter. "Then it was off to the most insane, excessive (in a good way!) party ever which took over the whole roof of an adjacent parking garage. There were bars made completely out of ice, a huge globe that glowed like the moon, VIP areas which looked like snow capped mountains (referencing a v. important scene in the movie), snow cone carts and mountains of food and drink. All the celebs and movie-goers partied into the wee hours of the morning. I had a wonderful time and capped the evening off by posing for a picture with super cute Kevin Alejandro from Southland and True Blood." Thanks, Charles! I'm a little miffed that you didn't get a Taylor Lautner pic (don't you know I'm Team Jacob?) but you can give me the Eclipse cup to make up for it! No, seriously, this was an excellent and fun report--thank you! I love that Charles is all big-time but still not ashamed to take photos with celebrities like the fanboy he is. So that's the story. Are you guys seeing Eclipse this week? I may wait until next week, but I am excited. I hear this one has the blockbuster thrills the other two lacked (though I did enjoy those too. I can't help it.) Happy Tuesday!

Cover Stories: Dark Flame by Alyson Noel

Alyson Noel's latest Immortals book, Dark Flame, is finally here! She's back to tell the Cover Story (read Cover Stories for Evermore and Blue Moon.)Here's Alyson: "Once again, I didn't have a cover concept in mind while writing Dark Flame, but since it's the fourth book in the series, I knew I'd be expected to provide some. So while I was writing, I was definitely on the lookout for various symbols they might be able to use, then my editor and I brainstormed a few additional ideas, which pretty much resulted in a long list of themes and symbols the art department miraculously translated into an actual cover. I feel really lucky to work with such an amazing art department--The Immortals series won first place in the "Best Children's Trade Paperback" category at the New York Book show--so I know I'm in some truly gifted hands! "The first version I saw was a photo-shopped mock up that used a different girl for Haven (right)--a sort of stock photo stand in if you will! And even though I had no idea what to expect, I loved the fact that it was different from the other covers in that it featured two characters rather than just Ever. I also loved the way the determined look in Haven's eyes, and the calculating look in Ever's gaze really hints at the story within, since Dark Flame is definitely the darkest Immortals book to date. And yet, even with its differences, it still manages to retain the mood of the series and the previous covers, which is no easy feat. "The final cover was the result of a photo shoot, which made for much better quality, and a much better Haven! Overall, I'm really pleased with all of these covers and love, love, love, the St. Martin's art department!" Thanks, Alyson! I like the "real" Haven's intense stare -- it totally changes the cover in a great way. I continue to love these really strong covers. The whole series has a great look now (see the four Immortals titles below). What do you guys think?

Photo Friday: Charlotte Sometimes

You guys know I love Charlotte Sometimes. The songs. The voice. The total package. Her new EP is available for free download here. Go get it!My friend Erin and I got to see her show earlier this week, and here's a pic of the three of us (Erin, Charlotte and me). Watch this video for a taste of her awesomeness (this is my favorite song on the new EP), and then go get that EP! PS-We're talking music over on Teen Fiction Cafe too. Come visit! PPS-I'm speaking at the YALSA annual pre-conference in DC today with awesome authors Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl and Malinda Lo! Will report soon. (Say hi if you're coming!)

Cover Stories: Gamer Girl (paperback) by Mari Mancusi

Mari Mancusi's Gamer Girl has a really great Cover Story that I ran when the hardcover was released. Today, the paperback is coming out, and Mari has an update to the tale. Here she is: "It's been a year and a half since the original Gamer Girl came out in hardcover, though it's lived on throughout that time as part of both the Scholastic Book Fair and Book Club. (In fact, I think that's where the majority of my readers discovered it!) And I've realized the best thing about this cover is that it's easy for readers--many of them manga artists themselves--to recreate it. I've gotten tons of fan art from readers who drew their own versions of Maddy and Allora, which I love!

"Now it's time for the paperback version of the book to be released. They kept the same cover--which I'm thrilled about--but added an extra tagline, which you have to turn upside down to finish reading. I think the tagline really makes the book pop. It asks the question: 'What do you do when your ho-hum real life - doesn't live up to your amazing virtual reality?'" (Compare the two covers below, hardcover on left).

Thanks, Mari! I think the tagline is great, and I know Gamer Girl has been a huge reader favorite. I loooove the fan art. Seriously, that is amazing. I still remember when a reader named Hailee dressed up like the cover of Violet in Private -- I loved it!

What do you guys think of the Gamer Girls cover and its subtle change?

Win-it Wednesday: A Boat Name for a Box o' Books

Yup, that's right. This contest is on for one more week. Keep those names coming! I'm writing like a fiend and I've already used at least one of your boat names. I realized there are a few boats in this book, so anyone who names a book in the boat gets some books. I promise! Name that boat!

Tuesday Cooking: Chick Peas!

This week I made this Jamie Oliver Summer Chickpea Salad. It was DELICIOUS, and I did not repeat my bean sprout blunder. I also served fried pimientos with this one, because I adored them in Spain and I'm trying to recapture the joie de vivre I had en Espana! I'm a big meat-eater, but I like the idea of at least one day a week where I'm a vegetarian. This was it! Happy Tuesday, don't forget to visit Holly Cupala's Book Birthday Party!

Cover Stories: Tell Me a Secret by Holly Cupala

Holly Cupala's debut novel, Tell Me a Secret, is out this week! Hooray! I've been thinking about this book since I first saw what I've come to call "The whisper cover." Very hot.

Here's Holly with the back story:

"I don't think I had a cover in mind as I was writing, though I did have a clear picture of what the characters looked like--especially the bad-girl older sister, Xanda, and what her younger sister might look like. And of course, the love interest (Kamran, a.k.a. the super hot sci-fi guy). So when my editor asked if I had any ideas in mind, I sent a bunch of pictures!

The bad-girl older sister, Xanda, kind of looked like Courtney Love, circa 1992 (right).

"I originally envisioned Miranda to have blond hair, but I think I took the hair color refs out so that any girl could imagine herself in Rand's shoes. I thought of her as having a kind of mysterious, haunted look--did you ever see The Virgin Suicides? I always thought of the palette of my book as having that kind of aesthetic, kind of "good girl gone bad" in dreamy, washed-out tones (left).

"Kamran is Persian with green eyes, very cute, of course! Something like this (right), but without the suit. (My editor said, 'Wow. I didn't picture him like that before, but I will now!')

"Then I made this picture myself (below, right) with borrowed images from a labyrinth artist on the web (unfortunately I can't find it now or I would link) and a girl shot from the UO catalogue to capture the tone of the novel - a girl on a journey, and labyrinths play a big metaphorical role.

"It took us a while to figure out the title of the book--it truly came at the 11th hour, about two days before we HAD to get something nailed down.

They couldn't work on a cover concept until we had the title finalized. Once we hit on TELL ME A SECRET (thank you, subconscious dream state!), they turned a cover concept around in something like 24 hours! And it was amazing! My family was visiting, including my 15 year-old niece Molly who had glued herself to the couch the day before and had read the manuscript in one sitting, and I opened the jpeg and GASPED! 'Quick, everybody, come see this!' Everyone charged into the office for one big collective gasp! Molly said it was perfect, which I took as an excellent sign.

"The picture was perfect--captured the tone, the darkness and light, and most importantly, it's hot! I was working on the final copyedit at the time they sent it, so I snuck in some details (note the red T-shirt) to a certain scene to capture the moment. It was cool to be able to do that.

"The one piece of input I had was that the title type wasn't quite right for the story. So in the second incarnation, they changed the type and added the amazing quote from Ellen Hopkins, who now has a lifetime subscription to my undying gratitude and chocolate cupcakes any time she wants! So here's the final, which I LOVE. I feel like I won the cover lottery. (Thank you, awesome design team!)

"And thank you, Melissa, for inviting me to do a Cover Story!"

Thanks, Holly! There is so much fun stuff going on for this book:

* The virtual tour is EVERYWHERE. Here's the schedule (leave comments on each post for a chance to win prizes.)

* The virtual book birthday party happens tomorrow, Tuesday, at Holly's blog. I'm already ready to be there, see?

* Little Willow had authors tell her their secrets, and she's revealing one each day this month... I may be in the mix, possibly... check it out!

Happy Monday!

Photo Fr-Saturday: Dad

So tomorrow is Father's Day, and it's actually the 6th anniversary of my dad's death. Yeah, Father's Day--what a day to go. Time has mostly been healing, and I have the best memories a daughter could have. So bear with me if I ramble for this Photo entry?In the summer, my family always visited to the cemetery in Three Churches, WVA (where Dad is buried today). Here's one of him pointing out gravestones of relatives with me in his arms. Dave once said, "You have a lot of childhood photos in this graveyard." And I said, "Well, sure! It's a family reunion in there." A few weeks ago, I got an email from the office of my dad's college roommate, Ralph Nader. He invited me and Dave to a dinner at Princeton on the weekend of my dad's 55th reunion. Of course, we had to go. We heard Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, speak -- he was the most inspiring person I've ever met in person. Then I snapped a photo with Ralph, who spent a few minutes talking to me and telling me how much he misses Dad. I also got to meet a classmate of my dad's. Oral is blind, and he was blind when he went to Princeton! Talk about gumption. He's a lawyer, and he's also a sweet guy. I teared up a little during a slideshow of old classmate photos where I saw my dad, and Oral must have heard me sniffling. He leaned over and said, "What's wrong?" I told him I'd just seen a picture of my dad. He said, "I can still remember your father's voice." And I thought that was the greatest thing anybody could have said. Thanks, Oral. Here's just one last photo, taken a few years before Dad died. He's aboard his and my mom's last sailboat, "Innisfree." It's a big inspiration for my new book, which is appropriate since it was Dad who was the writer. Happy Father's Day. Hug your dad!

Cover Stories: Lifted by Wendy Toliver

Wendy Toliver's new book, Lifted, is already getting rave reviews. Wings author Aprilynne Pike says, "Lifted is the story of an imperfect heroine seeking her place not only in school, but in life. Its exploration of the amount of truth behind social and religious stereotypes escalates into a double-dog dare to believe them. A haunting morality tale that will leave you questioning just what it means to be 'good.'"Ooh... intriguing! Wendy's here to talk about her cover: "I had a vague idea of what the cover might look like. I visualized dark or bright colors rather than pastels, and maybe a part of a girl (not her whole body and face) or several girls with cross necklaces. "In fact, the cover was complete surprise. When you put so much of yourself into a book, it's always scary to see the cover for the first time, particularly if you know it's pretty much set in stone. My agent is always really good to call so we can discuss our first thoughts together. If I remember correctly, I could change a color or something (like if I wanted her hoodie to be a different color) but couldn't add something, for example, the cross necklace I'd proposed. "I think when people read it, they'll be able to see that the girl in the photo does look a lot like how I describe Poppy, so that's good. And I love the colors and the bold font (which is carried throughout the book in the chapter headings, etc.) When I started sharing the cover image with a few author friends, someone called it to my attention that it's the same cover (well, the same image) as AnnDee Ellis's Everything is Fine (right). The weird thing is, Ann Dee and I both live in Utah and we see each other at local author gatherings. My agent and I brought this up with my editor and she mentioned our concern to the art and marketing departments but they really loved the cover Cara E. Petrus had designed for my book and didn't want to change it. "Honestly, I wasn't sure what to think but by this time I had fallen in love with the cover. I wrote Ann Dee an email so she wouldn't be surprised when she saw the similarity. Then someone else pointed out yet another YA book with the same image: Safe by Susan Shaw (left). Sheesh! "I can't say I'm thrilled about the same image being used so often (are there more?) but as some of you might know, it isn't entirely rare for this to happen. For example, there's North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley and Evermore by Alyson Noel which I believe Alyson mentioned coming out at about the same time (read their cover stories here). The thing is, and I have to keep telling people this, it's not like the artists at Simon Pulse got together and said, 'Hey! Let's copy another cover!' It just happens sometimes. "I love the girl's body language. It's a great mix of good girl, bad girl. Love her clothes (very Poppy-like) and the Converses are spot-on. What I don't love is the background. I get that she's in a classroom (with the blackboard behind her) but I don't get the 'Southern private school' vibe from the wood paneling and rickety stool. The background seems too old-fashioned, like a school from the 1970s or something. I'm a major font fanatic and I absolutely love the font and color palette. I also really, really like the spine. It really stands out and looks interesting." Thanks, Wendy! I really love the font treatment as well, and I also like the way there's a shadow around Poppy but she herself is lit up in a spotlight, almost. I think the presentation of this photo looks really different on all three books. And I can't wait to read Lifted! What do you guys think?

Win-It Wednesday + Your Date With John Green

So this contest is still going on, through June 30th! Don't worry about reading through and not repeating already-suggested sailboat names, just get in that comment box and brainstorm away! It is all soooo helpful. Thank you! The Prize: A box o' books! In other news, there's a LIVE readergirlz twitter chat tonight with John Green at 6pm PST/9pm EST. Be there! If you've never used Twitter before, here's how to do it in three easy steps: 1. First, create a Twitter account if you don't have one already. It's easy and free, and all you need is an e-mail address. 2. Log onto Twitter at 6 p.m. Pacific, 9 p.m. Eastern on June 16. 3. Type @realjohngreen plus your question, followed by #rgz. This asks John your question and funnels it into the readergirlz chat stream. To follow along the chat, go here (the #rgz Twitter stream). Going forward, you'll be able to follow rgz and lots of your favorite authors on Twitter. You can find us and everyone we follow here: http://twitter.com/readergirlz Et voila. Happy Wednesday! PS-I'm on twitter too @melissacwalker.