News and an Upcoming Cover

I've got news! I've got a huge buildup of news, actually. I love news! So here goes:

1. I am doing an event this week! Listen up, Idaho people, because I am moderating an event at the Boise Barnes & Noble on THURSDAY, Feb 9, at 7pm. I'm going to get the chance to interview the phenomenal Victoria Aveyard, author of THE RED QUEEN series (I toured with Victoria a couple years ago and it was so fun--she's a fellow Tolkien / George R. R. Martin fan, so of course we got along wonderfully) and the brilliant Sophie Jordan, who I've been a huge fan of since her FIRELIGHT series (and now she's going to be here promoting REIGN OF SHADOWS series) and can't wait to spend some time with in person!

I'll also be signing copies of the UNEARTHLY series, THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE, and MY LADY JANE. So come out!

2. The ebook of THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE is on sale, big time in Germany all month! The promotional price will be 5,99 € (usually 14,99 €) and the promotion will run 2/1 to 2/28. (Sidenote: I love this cover. The title translates to "The Improbability of Happiness." Make of that what you will, ha, but I love the way it looks like a math problem on the cover, juxtaposed with the dandelion and the girl. (And the ya! in the corner.)

3. MY LADY JANE hit the New York Times list in January! I am so thrilled about this, especially because my two co-authors now get to put the all-prestigious "New York Times bestselling author" label in front of their names. And that label will now go on the paperback, too. (The paperback is coming in June.) MLJ has also been landing on all kinds of wonderful lists lately, including the Amelia Bloomer list (which is all about celebrating feminism, which we really wanted to do when we wrote MLJ), the YALSA 2017 Best Fiction for Young Adults list , and the Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices. It's so great to see this book that gave us such joy to write being appreciated by so many people. Thanks, people!

4. This week, the Janies and I are finishing the first official draft of MY PLAIN JANE, which is the book in which we save Jane Eyre / Charlotte Bronte. This novel has been so much fun to work on, and we can't wait until YOU get to read it. Which will be a while. Like Summer 2018, a while. But we are hard at work on it, and it's coming!

To tide you over, I'll leave you this. It's a brilliant cartoon by Kate Beaton that captures, in a nutshell, what we think might be wrong with Jane Eyre. *spicy language alert*

And now for the biggest news of ALL:

4. I HAVE A NEW SOLO BOOK COMING OUT. It's called THE AFTERLIFE OF HOLLY CHASE, and it will be out on November 7, 2017. You can pre-order here. It's a teenage retelling of Charles Dickens' A CHRISTMAS CAROL, which I had loads of fun writing. It's got a touch of magic and romance and great costumes, and I WILL SHOW YOU THE COVER TOMORROW.

That's right. TOMORROW. 9 Eastern. I will reveal the cover of THE AFTERLIFE OF HOLLY CHASE. It is, in my somewhat biased opinion, the best cover EVER. 

Enter the contest (which involves shamelessly plastering the Holly Chase cover everywhere you can think of) to win the very first ARC of THE AFTERLIFE OF HOLLY CHASE that I get my hands on.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So stop by here tomorrow!

The Last Time We Say Goodbye in Italy

It's June! (How did that happen?!)

This month THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE is coming out in Italy. (June 16, to be exact). The publisher there (Harlequin Mandadori Editore) has been so wonderful and proactive, so there's going to be an official Italian blog tour, starting today, featuring lots of exclusive content from me and other sources.

And here is the Italian cover:

Beautiful, right? I love it.

So if you're Italian, or if you speak Italian, here's the link to where you can buy the Italian version.

Ciao!

Another Giveaway and A Bit of News

Wow, time is moving fast. THE LAST TIME WE SAY GOODBYE comes out in two weeks!

I got another wonderful package in the mail--5 real copies of the Australian version of TLTWSG.

Pretty, right?(See below for how another rafflecopter, where you can win a copy or one of the last 2 ARCs before the book actually comes out.)

Which brings us to how, yes, TLTWSG is going to be available in some other countries:

Here's the list so far:

• Australia from HarperAustralia (Happy sigh--I love my Australian fans and I will someday finally get over there to meet them!)
• Italy from Harlequin Mondadori
• Germany from Darkiss
• Hungary from Maxim Konyvkiado

I also wanted to announce that TLTWSG will be available as both an ebook and an audiobook, all out on February 10th.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Update on Foreign Editions

Thanks to everybody who tweeted and blogged and posted about this giveaway. It's been so fun! So far I have taken 3 trips to the post office and made a lot of people cranky with how many packages I had to mail. But it was worth it.

I still have a lot of books left, but I am out of the British, Australian, German, Taiwanese, and Polish copies.

I do have a lot of the Brazilian, Danish, Croatian, Czech / Slovak, and a few Lithuanian, a few Hungarian, and a few of the Australian audio versions.

I also have a few of the Hallowed paperbacks, the US style, and the Boundless ARCs to give away to anybody who tweets or posts about the giveaway.

Thanks again, everybody.

Peace out.

C

Unearthly Foreign Edition Giveaway

I've been quiet lately, writing a new book. I can't tell you much about the book yet, except to say that it's a contemporary stand-alone and it will likely be out in Winter 2015 (sorry, it takes me a LONG time to write books), and it's on a subject that's near and dear to my heart.

So I've been quiet, because my mind is occupied with something that I can't share with you. And I've been busy with my summer.

But school is starting in a couple weeks and I will crawl out of my writerly hidey hole and brush myself off and hang out on Twitter and this blog and facebook and all the places again. I promise.

In the meantime, I am trying to clean up my house to prepare for school. This week, as I was cleaning, one thing became abundantly clear:

I have too many books.

That's kind of a given, I know.

But I noticed this time I was organizing said books that I have WAY TOO MANY foreign editions of my books. I mean, I love that I get free copies of my foreign editions. I love their awesome covers. I love to flip through to see how a foreign language translates some of my favorite lines:

"Schwing dich schon rein, Karotte." German translation of Tucker's: "Get your butt in here, Carrots." Hee.

I also love to read the acknowledgements section of the book to my friends and family who are in the acknowledgements. This is good fun.

But I do not really need, say, 12 copies of the Polish version of Unearthly. I look at those copies, and I even feel a little guilty. People could be reading these books. People who are not me, because I cannot read Polish. The only foreign language I can fluently read is French, which is ironic, because France is one of the only European countries not to buy the foreign rights for Unearthly. :) It's a shame for all these books to be sitting here gathering dust.

This is just one of the many places where I have stashed my foreign editions.

Therefore I am going to have a big giveaway.

Now before you get too excited, let me just say out front that I am only going to send these books to U.S. addresses, which, I know, sucks. But I looked up how much it would cost to send 12 copies of Unearthly to separate people in Poland and it was more than $200. Which I honestly can't afford.

So. Here's the terms of my giveaway. I am giving away free signed copies of my foreign editions from the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Taiwan, Turkey, and the UK. Yes, free. I will give them away on a first come, first serve basis.

BUT I will only send to people in the U.S. Which can work out one of 3 ways:

1. You can speak/read the language the book is translated into (which will be easy for the UK and Australian versions, although if I get a flood of requests for these books I will give preference to those who are natives of Australia or Great Britain. Because these books are really for you.) and you are currently residing in the United States. Awesome. Free book for you. Scroll down my list and see which copies I have. Then just shoot me an email at writercynthiahand@gmail.com and follow these instructions exactly:

• Use the term "foreign edition giveaway" in the email's heading, so it will not get lost in the scary black hole that is my business email.

• Give me your name, your full US address (you'd be surprised at how many requests I get for things where the requester doesn't include the zip code, to which I say ARGH), and what copies of which books you would like me to send you. To be fair, please do not ask for copies of multiple languages, like a UK and a Croatian version, for instance. And do not ask for multiple copies of 1 book, like 2 copies of the German edition of Boundless, for instance, unless you can give me a very, very good reason. (I will listen to very good reasons.) I am also happy to send you the foreign editions of all 3 books (Unearthly, Hallowed, and Boundless) if I have them.

• Be patient, because I will wait to gather a bunch to go to the post office, and I will send these at Book Rate, which is slower than a cold snail.

• Enjoy your book. Shoot me an email if you find part of the translation that is particularly funny or beautiful. As a wordsmith, I love to hear about how the meaning can be changed in translation.

• When you get your book, it would be nice, and make my foreign publishers very happy indeed, if you would say something about the book to someone: tweet or blog or write a review or something like that. This is not a requirement, of course, but it would be nice. It would also be AWESOME if you would email me a picture of you holding your book, so I can put together an "Unearthly Around the World" video.

2.  You can speak the language the book is translated into, but you do not live in the U.S. But you do have a wonderful friend who DOES live in the U.S. who will agree to mail the book to you once they receive it. Then just follow all of the above steps except give me your friend's name and US address, and be even more patient, because it's going to take even longer.

3. You can speak the language the book is translated into, but you don't live in the U.S. and you don't have a friend willing to mail you the book. In this case, sit tight. I will be having a giveaway raffle for the rest of my foreign editions in a few months.

So here we go. The list:

Australia / New Zealand copies of all 3 books

Australia! I have 8 copies each to give away of Unearthly, Hallowed, and Boundless. Aren't the covers divine? I love these. I also love that in this book Clara calls her mother "Mum" and it describes the forest fire as a "bush fire." I want to go to Australia in the worst way. It's actually on my bucket list. So, as I mentioned, anybody who speaks English can receive this book but I will give first dibs to readers who are actually from Australia and New Zealand (I didn't forget you, New Zealand!).






Brazilian? (I think?)  version of Book 2. 7 paperback copies

Croatian copies of Hallowed and Unearthly

Croatia:

I have the following editions:

4 hardcover and 5 paperbacks of Krila Andela (Unearthly, Book 1)

2 hardcover and 4 paperbacks of Sjena Andela (Hallowed, Book 2)

I love how they've added wings to the original US cover and made Clara blonder--very cool.







Czech / Slovak edition, 9 hardcover copies of Unearthly (Nadpozeska) , Book 1

Danish edition: 2 paperback copies of Unearthly

 

German copies of all 3 books

Germany:

Sadly, I don't have that many of these. I have 5 of Unearthly (Dunkle Flammen), 2 of Hallowed (Heiliges Feuer) and 1 of Boundless (Himmelsbrand), all in paperback.

Sidenote: can somebody tell me the translation of these titles?

Another sidenote: Fun fact: In the first draft of Boundless, the first scene took place in Germany, while Clara and Angela were visiting there. My editor made me change it to all happen in Italy (which made sense), and then later those scenes ended up being a totally different book: Radiant.

Another fun fact: Radiant is available as an ebook only, EXCEPT for in Turkey, where you can also buy the hard copy, or you will be able to very soon.

Hungary: 5 hardcover copies of Hallowed, Book 2. Not sure why, but I don't have any copies of Book 1



Poland: 2 copies each of Unearthly and Hallowed, paperback
 

Turkish editions

Turkey:

5 copies of Koruyucu (Unearthly, Book 1)
6 copies of Kutsanmis (Hallowed, Book 2)

Both are paperback.

Side note: When I was in college I spent a semester in Greece, Italy, and Turkey studying archeology, and I found Turkey to be the most surprising and wonderful place to visit. So much of their archeological sites are unspoiled.

Taiwan: 3 copies of Book 1, 2 copies of Book 2

 The UK:

6 paperback copies of Unearthly. Like I said, I will give these to anyone who speaks English, but will give preference to people originally from the UK.

Fun fact: When I was 7 I won a writing contest where the prize was a 10 day all-expense paid trip to England, Belgium, and France. I loved England so much, and tragically lost my rolls of film with all of my pictures. But I still remember the lavender gardens near my dorm at Cambridge. Sigh. On the ferry to Belgium I vowed to myself that I would come back someday. I haven't been back yet, but it's at the top of my to-do list. I want to take a writing retreat there with my friend Brodi Ashton so that we will have the right atmosphere to do a funny historical project together.

Also UK related: I have copies of the UK audio version of all 3 books: 2 copies of Unearthly, 3 copies of Hallowed, 4 copies of Boundless. These are CD recordings, unabridged, by Eloise Oxer.

And finally, if you had the patience to wait until the end, I am going to give away 5 paperbacks of Hallowed and 5 ARCs/hardcovers of Boundless to anybody who can show me that they tweeted / blogged / posted / pinned about this giveaway somewhere. I'll only send to the U.S., but I will give these away to anyone.

Happy reading, everyone!

I'll be back with regular posts soon. Soonish. When I am done with this new book.

xoxo

C


Some Frequently Asked Questions

It's finals week for me, so this is going to be brief, but I thought I'd post the answers to a few questions that I am receiving A LOT lately. So here goes:

About Radiant

Q: I plan to buy Radiant this week. Can I get that special autographed something you talked about in your last post?
A: Nope. That was last week only. But, fear not, I will be running an even cooler promotion for the pre-orders for Boundless, so check back soon.

Q: I don't have an ereader, so I can't read ebooks. Will Radiant ever be available as a real, physical book?
A: Um, no. The deal I made with HarperCollins is for the ebook only. But if you have a computer, you should still be able to read ebook files. Click here for Amazon's Kindle For PC information. Also, a lot of libraries these days are loaning out ereaders and ebooks, so check your local library.

Q: I live in the UK. Will Radiant ever be available for me?
A: Yes. I checked today and it still isn't up on AmazonUK, but my editor tells me that it should be VERY SOON. Keep checking.

Q: I live in Australia, same question.
A: I don't know yet. I don't think it's available now. But I do think that possibly stuff is in the works to make this happen. Sit tight and I will update you when I know anything.

Q: Why is Radiant so short?
A: Because it is a novella, not a novel. Actually, Radiant is what used to be the first two chapters of Boundless, supplemented by Angela's point of view. It's around 70 pages, which is about as long as a novella can be and still call it a novella. It's meant to be short! I like to think of Radiant as a little Unearthly snack, whereas Boundless is a three-course meal!

Q: Why isn't the hot guy I'm rooting for (insert Christian/Tucker here) in Radiant?
A: Radiant is about what happens between Clara and Angela during their summer in Italy. It doesn't have much of the hot guys because neither of the hot guys go with them to Italy. However, there is one entire significant scene in Radiant with Christian in it (a flashback) and a bunch of little flashes of Tucker all throughout. And there is a NEW HOT GUY in Radiant. And he strongly resembles Orlando Bloom. Is all I'm saying.

 

About Boundless

Q:When does Boundless come out, again?
A: January 22, less than 6 weeks away!

Q: I heard that Boundless is not being published in the UK. Is this true?
A: Sort of. The publisher who published the UK versions of Unearthly and Hallowed decided not to pick up Boundless, so there won't be a special UK edition with a different cover from the US like there was with Unearthly and Hallowed. However, you can still buy the US edition in the UK. (Click here to go to the UK Amazon page, for instance.) And my agent is hard at work finding a new UK publisher.

Q: What about Australia and New Zealand?
A: Yes! Boundless is being published separately in Australia! It's coming out even earlier than it is in the US, on January 2! Click here to be taken to the Boundless Australia page. There will also be a Boundless ebook available in Australia.

Q: Will Boundless be available as an audiobook?
A: Yes! It will! And it will be narrated by the lovely Samantha Quan again! I don't know when it will be available yet, but I am guessing shortly after Boundless is released as a hardcover. I will announce it as soon as I know anything!

Q: Goodreads lists Boundless as being 320 pages. Why so short?
A: Because Goodreads is wrong. Boundless is the longest book I've written to date--I think somewhere in the ballpark of 450 pages. It's big boned.

Q: Clara better end up with Tucker(/Christian) or else!
A: That's not really a question, is it? Of course, the second grader in me wants to say, "Oh yeah, or else what?" But here's the thing I really hope for you, as a reader: that you will judge the book, not by which guy Clara is smooching in the end, but by the person she is in the end of her journey. Yes, there is love she finds along the way, and there are choices she makes, but I'd like to think that the romance doesn't define her. (Also: please don't hurt me. . . )

Q: I'd like you to sign my copy of Boundless, but you aren't coming to my town. What can I do?
A: I am going a lot of places this year, and I'm sure there are more announcements on that front to come, but if I'm not doing any appearances near you this winter, you can buy signed and personalized copies of all of my books from Diesel Bookstore. Here's the manager's email, to make your request: cheryl@dieselbookstore.com. This is the bookstore email, not my email, just to clarify. You can also call Diesel at 310-456-9961. I go into this store regularly to sign copies, but please remember that I will be on tour this winter, so there might be a week or so between when Diesel gets the request and when I will be available to come in and sign, so please be patient.

Q: Will you do an interview/guest spot for my blog post?
A: I am doing an extensive blog tour this winter with Mundie Moms (yay!) and will probably also do a few separate interviews with people who request stuff through my publicist, not to mention the marketing stuff that HarperTeen has planned for the Dark Days. So, in January/February: probably not. Last year around the launch of Hallowed I wrote more than 20,000 words worth of interview answers. That's 1/4 of a novel, and it takes just as long. So, probably not. Although when things slow down for me a bit in March and April I might consider it. Try me then.


Wow. That was a lot of questions. Not so brief, then. But I hope it helps.

Now I must go back to grading papers. Please leave any further questions you have about Radiant or Boundless in the comments, and I will try to answer in a timely fashion.

What color is Clara's hair, anyway?!

So some of you may of seen the UK cover floating around the internet. It's beautiful, ethereal and provoking, I think, but when I first saw it some months ago, it kind of made me laugh. I've had four covers designed for Unearthly, and each one shows Clara with a different hair color! This kind of makes sense, since in the book, Clara is a blonde but dyes her hair (disasterously, I might add) to red in Chapter 2. But now I have them all.

Check it out:

Clara as a platinum blonde, in the UK.

Then there's:

Clara as a red-head. What I love most about this one is the orange, smoky forest. And, of course, the dress.

Then we have:

Clara in purple. Ha ha. Okay, so we can't quite tell what color her hair is, but she seems to me like a brunette. (That and I know the model has brown hair. . .)

And finally:

The raven-haired Portuguese Clara. I was drinking a glass of milk when my husband showed me this cover, and I literally spit milk all over the counter. It's a cool cover, that I will give it, but Clara was showing a bit more skin than I expected. Hee hee. My husband reminded me that everything is more exciting in Portugal.

So, what do you think? Which model seems the most like Clara to you?

I am waiting with bated breath to see what they come up with for the Hallowed cover.

In other news, Unearthly is coming to ebook (yes, I mentioned this before) on April 19, so just a few days now! You can pre-order it from Amazon here.

And it will be available in the UK on May 2. Woohoo! I got my box of UK editions this week, and I am completely charmed by the way they changed the word "Mom" to "Mum," as in "I find Mum standing at the kitchen stove. . ." Love it.

And tomorrow (takes deep breath) I am showing my face to the public again, at least in the authorial sense. I am thrilled to be taking part in the Ontario City Library Teen Book Fest in Ontario, CA along with Katie Alender, Nancy Holder, Alyson Noel, and Marlene Perez from 1-4 pm. There will be a question and answer session and a book signing, so if you live nearby, come by and see me! I will also (takes another deep breath) have my baby girl Maddie with me, as she does pretty well strapped to my chest (I taught my novel-writing class with her in a carrier on Wednesday, and she was fabulous and quiet and just looked at my students all perplexed while they cooed at her).

Cross your fingers for me that she cooperates this time.

News from Carlsbad

So, all this time that I was in my writing Carlsbad Caverns, I accumulated a bit of news. We're seven weeks out from Unearthly's release on January 4th, and it seems like every few days something amazing happens. Reviews are pouring in like crazy on Goodreads, people are pre-ordering the book on Amazon, and all kinds of fun stuff like the completion of the book trailer is happening in the meantime. So keep checking back, because these things are all going to go live very soon.

The rights to Unearthly have sold in a number of foreign countries, bringing the total list up to:
Germany
Portugal
Spain
Poland
the UK
and Australia/New Zealand, which will publish in January as well, with this lovely cover:

Squee! I love my US cover oodles, but the Aussie cover really took my breath away! Just look at that smoky forest!

This past week a few of the big reviewers have run their reviews of Unearthly, and they've all been positive.

Kirkus Review said:
After receiving visions of saving a teenage boy from a forest fire, 16-year-old Clara Gardner (one-quarter angel-blood), her half-angel mother and her younger brother relocate from their suburban California home to Teton County, Wyo., so Clara can find this mysterious boy and realize her angel purpose. Despite the ever-growing surge of angel stories and its hefty length, this solid debut novel stands out with even pacing, fully developed characters, vivid descriptions of the West’s rugged beauty and Clara’s independent spirit. As she learns more about her gifts and angel lore—particularly fallen angels known as Black Wings—from her evasive mother and a fellow angel-blood classmate, Clara struggles with her mother’s expectations of her purpose (is she just a heavenly puppet?) and her desire to acknowledge her human side (does she have any control of her own life?), as well as her feelings for both Christian, the boy from her visions, and rodeo star Tucker. The cliffhanger ending, with an unexpected twist, leaves plenty to ponder until the sequel. A divine supernatural romance. (Paranormal romance. YA)

And Publisher's Weekly also gave Unearthly a STARRED review, which is beyond awesome.

To top it off, my author page on HarperTeen went live this week.

I've sent my draft for Book 2 to my editor now, which means I'm no longer caught in the tunnel vision of writing all the time--so I can actually pay more attention to all this stuff. I know I've said this before, but it's incredibly surreal. Yesterday I was chatting with fellow debut writer Courtney Allison Moulton, whose book Angelfire is coming out this spring from HarperTeen, and she said, "When are we going to wake up?" I knew exactly what she meant. This feels like the best dream ever.

Now to catch up on my emails. . .