I’m starting a new email list for book news and updates. If you’d like in, you can join here:
Basically, it’s really easy to miss things on the Internet, so this list is for anyone who wants to be sure they don’t skip the important stuff. (Or at least, the important stuff as it relates to me and my books.)
I’ll keep posting more frequent updates here (along with a whole bunch of other stuff) here, too, of course!
It’s been … well, longer than I thought … since I last did a review-and-interview roundup post. So!
An interview with the Montgomery County Book Festival, where I’ll be February 2. (Are you in the Houston area? Come join us!)
An interview with the Mesa Bookman’s, where I chatted about Bones of Faerie with their Young at Heart book club last fall. (If you’re an adult reader of YA in the Phoenix area, you should totally join them for their spring book discussions.)
SLJ’s roundup of the Fae-Tal Attraction faerie panel I moderated at NCTE this fall. Includes a link to our handout of recommended YA faerie fiction.
FromSkye’s trailer for Bones of Faerie:
Various takes on Bones of Faerie from Writings by K, Readview, For Those About to Read, Bitches with Books, and Fairy Fiction for Young Fans.
Takes on Faerie Winter from The Book Fix and Readview.
Takes on Thief Eyes from Readview and Mette Ivie Harrison. Planet YA also includes Thief Eyes on this fun map of YA books from every country in Europe. In the Iceland slot, of course. 🙂
A review of The Fortune Teller, edited by Lawrence Schimel, in which I had published the short story “Beyond the Flames” a decade or so ago. Because every book is new if it’s the first time you’re reading it.
And Rhiannon says nice things about “Drawing the Moon” and some of my other stories in Bruce Coville’s Book Of series.
There’s a stiff cool (by local standards) wind blowing across the valley today. It feels very much like autumn is shouldering its way in to the desert.
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Today I stumbled upon this reminder that arctic foxes are not always the hero the story.
Or as Freki says in Thief Eyes:
Whispers of vengeance and battle gave way to whispers of bad weather and lost grazing, of failing crops and starving livestock.
I have committed no crime. A charm to keep foxes from lambs, nothing more!
Freki sniffed disdainfully. “There is no charm that can keep a fox from a lamb.”
So they remain the heroes of their own stories, perhaps.
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Addressed a few last-minute page proof questions for Faerie After today. Certain passages still make me cry a little. That is all.
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The raven book still doesn’t have a title (Raven River? Raven Remembering? Ravens and Some Other Things Too?) but, titled or untitled, is due the end of this month. So I’ll be pretty head-down among the shapeshifters the next few weeks.
None of whom, oddly, seem to be arctic foxes.
At the Tucson Festival of Books last month, I was interviewed by the Pima County Library’s Himmel Park Teen Book Club and IT Nation Teens. Hear the entire interview online.
I have a post up today at Tor.com on running away to Minneapolis … I mean Bordertown.
There’s still time to win copies of the paperbacks of both Faerie Winter and Welcome to Bordertown here.
School Library Journal reviews Faerie Winter (meant to blog this one earlier): “Faerie Winter is a beautifully crafted tale, peopled with believable characters and overflowing with dramatic plot twists. But perhaps the most exceptional quality is the vivid imagery that plunges readers into the story and keeps them enchanted throughout. Fans of both fantasy and dystopian fiction will devour this one.”
Rachel Ann Hanley reviews Thief Eyes.
I’m now linkblogging at jannileesimner.tumblr.com (Opinions welcome about whether I should continue to share those random links here as well.)
Various bookish odds and ends, most from before I left town:
I’m the local guest author at Phoenix’s CopperCon labor day weekend. Come join me! It’ll be fun, and there’ll be plenty of chances to ask me about … well, pretty much anything. 🙂
gwendabond reviewed Faerie Winter in the August Locus: “… once again, Simner is able to bring nuance and complexity that elevates her story above the usual. Her faeries can also be good, or at least reformed. She isn’t afraid to paint the race with as much complexity as she does humans. Which isn’t to say that she shies away from making them as terrifying as the murderous woods their magic created ; she doesn’t … A story richer than its slender volume would indicate, Simner’s reimagining of the aftermath of a fantasy war continues to enchant as effectively as any glamour.”
More reviews of Faerie Winter from Bookalicious (for the San Francisco Book Review), ReadPlus, and Sonythebooklover.
Reviews of Bones of Faerie from Mrs. Librarian Lady, Sassi Sam, Sonythebooklover, and the NSW Association for Gifted and Talented Children.
Someone has also started a Wikipedia page for Bones of Faerie. (I’d say this meant I was a real writer, but really, that happened when the TV Tropes page showed up. :-))
I just found out Thief Eyes received a nice review from matociquala in Realms of Fantasy last fall. It was also more recently reviewed by The Book Smugglers.
Booklist on Faerie Winter: “Simner tells a more streamlined story this time around and keeps up the dark atmospherics of her high-appeal blend of unsettling speculative-fiction scenarios.”
And Voya: “The plot moves quickly and leaves the reader waiting for the sequel. While there are deeper symbols to be unearthed by careful readers, all readers will find something to enjoy.”
Some online takes on Faerie Winter:
Feathered Quill Book Reviews: “As good as the first, if not better, this author has done another wonderful job of telling a very creative – one-of-a-kind – story. The strength, courage, battle-scenes, undercurrent of romance – Ms. Simner has left absolutely nothing out of her amazing “faerie” stories and, frankly, there should be a Book III.”
The Fringe Magazine: “There’s such a subtlety in her writing and an effortlessness in the way everything is weaved together that you sink in and simply become immersed in it.”
More takes on Faerie Winter from A New Dawn, Confessions of a Book-a-Holic, Les Semaines, and S.A. Hunter.
Takes on Bones of Faerie from The Reading Stack and The Book Addict.
Thief Eyes is part of Random House’s new Bluefire paperback imprint.
I recently talked with Wendy Trakes at the MCLC library about social networking.
And I (along with several other writers) took time at the Tucson Book Festival to talk with Sandy the Zebra Striped Desk Ducky about proper etiquette for desk tchotkes living in writers’ offices. (Sandy may have a different take on the content of our discussion. But as I already told him, he’ll just have to get his own blog to talk about that.)
I’m hanging out this week on the Random Buzzer boards. Come join me there!
A couple more reviews of Faerie Winter:
From Tor.com: How to Love Someone You Can’t Trust: “Simner’s writing has the solemnity and power of poetry, with the clear directness of the simplest prose … eventually Liza has to learn not only to bear the responsibilities for her own actions, but not to judge others too harshly for theirs.”
From Eve’s Fan Garden: “The world Janni created worked its way into my mind and heart … Her writing is beautiful. She creates characters that are believable and true … and she knows how to write a strong female character.” (This was actually one of Faerie Winter‘s first reviews, only somehow it got dropped from the last post!)
ETA: How could I forget this awesome review based entirely on Faerie Winter‘s cover? 🙂
More takes on Faerie Winter from Snarky Mamma and Bones of Faerie from Rachel at Young Adult Books Central.
And, Thief Eyes has been named a Bank Street Best Book for 2011. Yay!
Which is the day after today. (Insert thoughts here on time, the speed with which it both does and doesn’t pass, and so on.)
Here’s an excerpt from Faerie Winter; and another from Thief Eyes, which gets a whole new look in paperback tomorrow, too.
Here’s where I’ll be signing Liza’s new story once it’s out in the world, along with both my already-out YAs:
Wednesday, April 6, 7 p.m.
Changing Hands Bookstore
6428 S McClintock Drive, Tempe, Arizona
Saturday, April 9 , 2 p.m.
Barnes and Noble Eastside
5130 E. Broadway Blvd, Tucson, Arizona
Saturday, May 14, 11 a.m.
Mysterious Galaxy’s 18th Birthday Bash
7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Suite #302, San Diego, California
But if you can’t be any of these places and would really like a signed copy of any of my books, you can also order one from Tucson’s Antigone Books.
Want a personalized copy of Faerie Winter, but don’t plan to be in Tucson, Phoenix, or San Diego when I’m signing?
You can order one from Tucson indie bookstore Antigone Books. Just email them at info@antigonebooks.com, let them know you’d like a copy (if you’re out of town, be sure to let them know you need the book shipped to you), and they’ll process your order, have me come by to sign the book, and ship it to you!
(Because they’re personalized copies, you will need to email Antigone, rather than going through the website.)
I can also come by and sign Thief Eyes and/or Bones of Faerie.
Faerie Winter and the new Thief Eyes paperback both come out this Tuesday! (But the offer to sign at Antigone stands … pretty much forever.)
Before I get to the review links, here’s something else I’ve been meaning to link to forever: CurryAlley’s Pull the Trigger. It’s about painful scenes in fiction, and being triggered, and why being triggered isn’t always a bad thing, but also about readers have the right to decide not to be triggered, and also, just a little bit, about Bones of Faerie.
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Returned from Nebraska to realize that Faerie Winter (and the new Thief Eyes paperback) are due out in a week and a day. 🙂
I’ll be signing both books April 6 at Changing Hands in Tempe (7 p.m.) and April 9 at the Eastside Tucson Barnes and Noble (2 p.m.) Come join me!
Here are some early Faerie Winter takes:
Reader Girls: “Simner has crafted such a satisfying and full conclusion to her Bones of Faerie novel I’m still in Lizzy’s town as I write my review … Fans of Bones of Faerie will not be let down.”
Can’t Find a Bookmark: “The story is a brilliant mix of fantasy, love, and a dying world. Dark and gripping you’ll devour it in one sitting. I definitely did.”
Proud Book Nerd: “I thoroughly enjoyed delving back into the world After, and continuing on with Liza’s story.”
Kirkus: “It seems unlikely that her [Liza’s] powers will be sufficient to protect herself and the Afters accompanying her from the enemy at the gates, however, especially when she sees how powerful that enemy is. The discovery of old secrets helps set up for the next volume in this series. Oddly, Liza’s tale works despite the jumble of crowd-pleasing elements (post-apocalyptic dystopia, multigenerational faerie love stories, werewolf heartthrob).” (Full review already published, but not online for non-subscribers until pub date).
New readers are still finding Bones of Faerie, too, which makes me happy two years after pub date. 🙂 Here are some of their takes: Tea Mouse Book Reviews, Kids Book Review, Reading in the Bath, Curryalley, MarcyKate Connolly, Small Town Book Blog, Christi of Book Reader Addicts, and Hooked to Books.
Plus a few takes on Thief Eyes: Rose Green, Debbie Winkler, and Bookish in a Box.
