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Black Hole Sun is a novel set in a dystopian future. So of course, I’m going to tell you about the past.

It’s 1969.  My big brother is watching Star Trek on my uncle’s TV. I’m hiding behind a chair. There’s a woman with green skin on the screen. Green skin scares me. Because I’m five, and no one I know has green skin.

It’s 1973. Watergate. Vietnam. Civil unrest. If you listen to my parents, the world is going to hell in a hand basket. We’re watching the news unfold on a dinky black and white set. B&W TV is hell, in my opinion. Because all my friends have color sets, and they get UHF channels. Which means they get to watch Gigantor, a Japanese cartoon about a kid who controls a giant robot. Is that cool or what? All I get to watch is John Wayne movies and spaghetti westerns. My dad’s huge for The Duke. The Horse Soldiers and The Rescuers, directed by John Ford, are his favorites. Westerns aren’t Gigantor. But they’re better than, say, watching wrestling.

It’s 1979. My dresser is chock full of tattered Star Wars ’77 t-shirts. There’s a well-used faux light saber hanging on my wall, next to a poster of Close Encounters. I’m hiding under the covers, having just had the bejesus scared out of me by a new movie called Aliens.  Darth Vader’s famous line, “I am your father” is still a year away. But I already have that figured out. Science fiction and pulp novels are piled on my nightstand–Logan’s Run, Doc Savage, Dhalgren, and Starship Troopers. But my teenage self wants more. More sword fights. More stolen kisses on the Deathstar. More swashbuckling with laser blasters. More deliciously wicked villains and more teen heroes who shed the bonds of parental expectations to go off to save their little piece of the universe. So like any teenager who wants more stories, I sit down and do what seems natural. I write my own novel, typing madly on an old manual typewriter that does more to build up my finger muscles than to improve my nascent writing skills.

It’s 2003. I’m in Greensboro NC at Orson Scott Card’s writers boot camp, doing my homework. Which is to scan magazines for the small details that can make a science fiction story feel real to the reader. I find an article about bioadaptive cloth and its possible use in military situations. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines has just been released, and one evening, instead of writing, I sneak off to see it. Back at bootcamp, I write a story about sentient chiggers tunneling through Mars’ core, part of a terraforming experiment. A classmate calls it “Crabs from Space.”

It’s early  2009.  I’m struggling with a follow-up to my debut novel.  Ideas are leading nowhere. First drafts become dead-ends. Then I’m cleaning out the garage and find an old manuscript, yellowed and crinkled. The casualty of many moves from dorm to apartment to houses in different parts of the country. I read a few pages. The story’s lame. Completely void of inspiration. But the writing has a certain spark, and I remember the teen who wrote this. His passion. His need to see something of himself in story. His wish to make a difference somehow, even if it’s in the pages of a book.

So I email my editor a single sentence. The idea for a new novel. It’s the kind of story I tried to write in 1979 but couldn’t—a heroic but flawed teen with parental issues who stares down his monsters instead of hiding behind the furniture. She likes the idea, and it leads to the book you’re holding. I hope you enjoy it—after all, it’s forty years in the making.

And that sentence I sent? It wasn’t “Crabs from Space.” But it could have been, dear reader. It could have been.

Fire by Kristin Cashore
(Dial)

The 2010 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award finalists are:
Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork
(Arthur A. Levine)
The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
(Simon and Schuster)
North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley
(Little, Brown and Company)
The Sweetheart of Prosper County by Jill S. Alexander
(Feiwel and Friends)

All Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award titles will be identified by an award sticker—gold for the winner
and silver for the four finalists. This year’s winning title and finalists will be honored at an open
reception on Monday, November 22, immediately following the 2010 ALAN Workshop in Orlando,
Florida.

The 2010 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee would like to thank: the Amelia Elizabeth
Walden Award Foundation; the ALAN Executive Council; the ALAN Board of Directors; past AEWA
chair Dr. Wendy Glenn; NCTE; and last, but not least, the more than twenty publishers who submitted
titles for consideration.

The 2010 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee considered 202 young adult titles throughout
the process. The committee was comprised of ten members representing the university, K-12 school,
and library communities.

They are:
Daria Plumb, Committee Chair
Classroom Teacher
Riverside Academy, Dundee, MI
Erica Berg
Classroom Teacher
Rockville High School, Vernon, CT
Jean Boreen
Professor
Northern Arizona University, Department of English, Flagstaff, AZ
C.J. Bott
Retired Classroom Teacher and Consultant
Solon, OH
Lois Buckman
Librarian
Caney Creek High School, Conroe, TX
Jeff Harr
Classroom Teacher
Theodore Roosevelt High School, Kent, OH
Jeff Kaplan
Associate Professor
University of Central Florida, College of Education, Orlando, FL
Bonnie Kunzel
Youth Services and Adolescent Literacy Consultant
Germantown, TN
Teri Lesesne
Professor
Sam Houston State University, Department of Library Science, Huntsville, TX
Barbara Ward
Assistant Professor
Washington State University, Department of Teaching and Learning, Richland, WA

However, the good folks at Greenwillow weren’t done. At ALA, executive editor, Steve Geck, shared a jacket with the title debossed, meaning that the letters are recessed below the surfaced.  It was a blast sharing it during the YALSA coffee klatch.  The librarians enjoyed running their hands over it. Annnnnd we’re still not done. Today, I received the final final version of the jacket. Along with the debossed letters, the cover is coated so that light bounces off of the surface, looking like a prism is shining on it. Holy holographic! Way too cool!  Here’s a photo, although honestly, it doesn’t do the cover justice.

Hope you like it.

2. Summer has settled in for a long, hot July in which I find myself spending more time chasing down the elusive cause of the evil check engine on our Honda van than spending time writing the next novel. I’m this makes my editor very happy. Maybe I shouldn’t share this info with her.

3. Later this moth, I’ll be taping a podcast for HarperTeen. I’ve never recorded messages for the Pod People before, but it’ll fun to converse with an alien race. Also, it’s time to make the book trailer for Black Hole Sun. Someone take care of that for me, will ya?

4. The Older Locust has finished the galley of THE IVY, which I picked up at ALA. She gives it a hearty “thumbs up.”

5. After spending a year trying to convince myself that it’s a great idea that I just don’t have time for, I’ve taken the baby steps of creating an online community for YA readers and writers. Details to come.

Session: AL.01 – 8:00 am to 2:00 pm 11/22/2010 Format: Day-Long Workshop
Room: Unassigned Topic: Literature
Level(s): General (proposals of interest at all instructional levels)
Title: LOOKING FOR THE REAL ME: THE SEARCH FOR SELF IN YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE
(Sponsoring Group: Assembly on Literature for Adolscents of NCTE/ALAN)
Young adult literature aficionados, such as teachers, librarians, professors, authors, editors, and publishers come together to celebrate the genre. Presentations, readings, breakout sessions, and author signings comprise the majority of this two-day workshop.
Tradebook Authors:

• Tom Angleberger, Abrams Books for Young Readers and Amulet Books, New York, New York
• Derrick Barnes, Scholastic, Inc., New York, New York
• Holly Black, Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York, New York
• Judy Blundell, Scholastic, Inc., New York, New York
• Robin Brande, Random House Children’s Books, New York, New York
• Sigmund Brouwer, Orca Publishers, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• Ally Carter, Disney Book Group, New York, New York
• Sarwat Chadda, Disney Book Group, New York, New York
• Cinda Williams Chima, Disney Book Group, New York, New York
• Cassandra Clare, Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York, New York
• Rachel Cohn, Random House Children’s Books, New York, New York
• Sneed Collard, Bucking Horse Press, Missoula, Montana, and Peachtree Publishers, Atlanta, Georgia
• Art Corriveau, Abrams Books for Young Readers and Amulet Books, New York, New York
• Brent Crawford, Disney Book Group, New York, New York
• Melissa de la Cruz, Disney Book Group, New York, New York
• Matt de la Pena, Random House Children’s Books, New York, New York
• Carlos Eire, Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York, New York
• Becca Fitzpatrick, Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York, New York
• David Macinnis Gill, HarperCollins Children’s Books, New York, New York
• Christina Diaz Gonzalez, author, Random House Children’s Books, New York, New York, ‘Will the Real Latino/a Please Stand Up’ -share-
• Amy Gordon, Holiday House, New York, New York
• P.J. Haarsma, Candlewick Press, Somerville, Massachusetts
• Laban Carrick Hill, Little, Brown, New York, New York
• Sara Holbrook, Mentor, Ohio
• Ellen Hopkins, Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York, New York
• A.S. King, Random House Children’s Books, New York, New York
• Lisa Klein, Bloomsbury/Walker Books for Young Readers, New York, New York
• David Levithan, Random House Children’s Books, New York, New York
• Malinda Lo, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers New York, New York
• Carolyn Mackler, HarperCollins Children’s Books, New York, New York
• Abby McDonald, Candlewick Press, Somerville, Massachusetts
• Lisa McMann, Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York, New York
• Sarah Mlynowski, Random House Children’s Books, New York, New York
• Lauren Myracle, Abrams Books for Young Readers and Amulet Books, New York, New York
• Lauren Oliver, HarperCollins, New York, New York
• Cindy Pon, HarperCollins Children’s Books, New York, New York
• Janette Rallison, Bloomsbury/Walker Books for Young Readers, New York, New York
• Dana Reinhardt, Random House Children’s Books, New York, New York
• Laura Resau, Random House Children’s Books, New York, New York
• Adam Rex, HarperCollins Children’s Books, New York, New York
• Jewell Parker Rhodes, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers New York, New York
• Carrie Ryan, Random House Children’s Books, New York, New York
• Rene Saldana, Arte Publico Press, Houston, Texas
• Michael Salinger, Mentor, Ohio
• Darren Shan, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers New York, New York
• Jane Springer, Groundwood Books, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Rebecca Stead, Random House Children’s Books, New York, New York
• Megan Whalen Turner, HarperCollins Children’s Books, New York, New York
• Siobhan Vivian, Scholastic, Inc., New York, New York
• Ned Vizzini, Hyperion Books, New York, New York
• Hilary Wagner, Holiday House, New York, New York
• Jessica Warman, Bloomsbury/Walker Books for Young Readers, New York, New York
• Robin Wasserman, Simon and Schuster, Inc., New York, New York
• Rita Williams-Garcia, HarperCollins Children’s Books, New York, New York
• Allan Wolf, Candlewick Press Boyds Mills Press Asheville, North Carolina
• Lisa Yee, Scholastic, Inc., New York, New York

Beyond luggage news, this an exciting ALA because it’s the coming-out party for Black Hole Sun, my latest novel from Greenwillow Books. With a release date of August 24^th, it’s already received terrific blurbs from Suzanne Collins, the author of The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, and Mockingjay, as well as Chris Crutcher, author of Deadline, Ironman, and others.  Black Hole Sun also got a starred review from Booklist and is generating a lot of great buzz, if you’ll forgive me for cheerleading for my own book (Yay! BHS!)

Here’s my schedule for ALA. Come say hi!

SATURDAY, JUNE 26

7:15 am – 9:00 am: HarperCollins Fiction Breakfast

12:00 pm – 12:30 pm: HarperCollins Signing Booth #2512–Signing: Black Hole Sun galleys; Soul Enchilada

SUNDAY, JUNE 27

8:30 am – 10:00 am: YALSA Coffee Klatch

7:00 pm – 11:00 pm: Newbery-Caldecott Banquet

MONDAY, JUNE 28

8:00 pm – 10:00 pm: Printz Reception