…my eyes again stray to the drawing of that guy. In the sketch I can now see the very edge of his cheek. It’s as if he’s just turned ever so slightly toward me.

But that’s crazy.

(excerpt from Drawn by Marie Lamba)

In my new paranormal YA novel Drawn, teen artist Michelle De Freccio moves with her dad to England hoping for a more normal life. In England, no one will know that back in New Jersey everyone calls her family the De Freakos. They won’t know about her supposedly psychic mother (A.K.A. Madame Florabunda) or her mentally ill brother.  But when Michelle starts drawing a medieval ghost, and then she meets him and falls for him, well clearly nothing is going to be normal again.

The thing is, while Michelle is looking so hard for normal, I find I’m actually doing the opposite.  I can’t say I’m a believer in ghosts or the paranormal, but I’d really REALLY like to be. Show me, I think. Prove it.

Like Michelle in my novel, I’m an artist too. Maybe that’s why a particular guest speaker I heard way back in high school made such an impression on me.  It was a woman who created colorful oil paintings of the Hermitage, a Colonial-era mansion in Hohokus, NJ.  She pointed to the shadows in one painting, the stairway in another, the roof tiles in still another.  “See?” she’d said.  “See the figures?”

I drew in my breath. I did see. In one painting dappled shadows revealed a Colonial soldier in military regalia. In another, a bride seemed to materialize on the stairway, her image woven into the wall texture.  In an exterior painting, a few roof tiles were shaped into a face, the expression leering, malevolent.  The artist claimed she never intended to paint any of this, that she didn’t see these figures until the painting was completed. That she was clearly channeling spirits through her art.

My first thought was: Cool!  I want to do that.  I want to go there and pull out my charcoal and find these spirits materializing in the shadows of my own sketches. But of course my next instinct was to narrow my eyes and scrutinize the painter. She seemed sweet, grandmotherly, but was she nutty?  Well of course she was, I thought.

Hey, even Elijah Rosencrantz, a resident of the Hermitage in the early 1800s, thought ghosts were a lot of phooey. According to the website thehermitage.org, he wrote a statement titled “If the Hangings Flutter,” saying supernatural beliefs were “absurdities,” something to only be believed by “persons of the lower classes and from poor early education. “  Hm, then again, what if Elijah became a ghost himself?  I bet he’d be beyond pissed.  Maybe that explains that angry spirit leering from the roof tile…

I guess the question I want to ask everyone is: Is it normal to hope, yet disbelieve?

Is it normal to travel the world exploring graveyards? Because I’ve done that. I’ve sketched tombs throughout England and visited crypts in Italy and wandered through ancient cenotaphs in India, fascinated by the culture of death, the promise of the supernatural. The cold breeze on my neck could have been a ghostly breath, right? The orbs in photos might have been dust, but what if they weren’t?  Just last year my daughter visited Greece and sent me this picture.  Click on the photo and take a good close look. You see the orbs, right?  And the FACES IN THE ORBS?  I pointed this out to my daughter who wrote back freaked out saying, “THIS IS A TOMB!”

But is this proof? I’m still not completely convinced myself.

Wouldn’t you give anything to have some undeniable proof? Do you dream of going on a ghost tour in a castle? Do you watch ghost-hunting on cable hoping that it won’t be silly? Do you get lost in novels laced with the supernatural?  The Woman in White, Dracula, The Picture of Dorian Gray, even The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman?

Well, I do. But of course artists are a little out there, anyway.  Writers too.  Especially writers. We spend all day hearing voices that aren’t there. Writing things that haven’t happened as if they did.

So, yeah, maybe that’s partly why I wrote Drawn.  Why I have my main character meet a ghost and step into his world. Why the final scenes are in a castle dungeon during a ghost tour.  Because I’m a little out there.  And because, unlike my main character Michelle,

I’m not looking for normal. I’m hoping for the weird, the strange, the haunting.

Aren’t you?

– Marie

Click here to get your copy of DRAWN.

Marie Lamba (marielamba.com) is author of acclaimed young adult novels including What I Meant… (Random House), Over My Head, and Drawn. When she isn’t writing or wandering around graveyards, she working as an Associate Literary Agent at The Jennifer DeChiara Literary Agency in NYC.

About Drawn:

Teen artist Michelle De Freccio moves to England in search of a normal life…instead she finds a hot medieval ghost with a sketchy past.

It all begins when a strange guy appears in Michelle’s drawings. When she actually meets him at the town’s castle, she’s unmistakably drawn to him. But something is definitely not right. For starters, he wears medieval garb, talks of ancient murders and tends to disappear each time they kiss.
Could he possibly be a ghost? Could Michelle be losing her mind? Or has she simply uncovered a love so timeless it’s spanned the centuries…

Praise for Drawn:

“A lushly romantic ghost story…captivating and haunting. I didn’t want it to end.” –Cyn Balog, author of paranormal YA novels Fairy Tale, Sleepless, and Starstruck

“…a wonderfully spooky tale of romance and discovery. It’s a magical exploration of the unconquerable power of love.  Highly recommended!” —Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of Rot & Ruin and Dust & Decay

“In DRAWN, Marie Lamba deftly entwines romance and mystery, past and present, into a page-turning adventure. Buy it today and I promise you’ll be finished reading far too quickly!” —Joy Nash USA Today bestselling paranormal romance author of The Immortals series, The Grail King and The Unforgiven

Click here to get your copy of DRAWN.

If your letter is picked, you’ll receive a signed copy of one my books.

To send a question, you can email me at jonathan_maberry@yahoo.com or use snail mail at P.O. Box 84, Southampton PA 18966.  PLEASE NOTE: if you send an email, put READER QUESTION in the subject line! (We don’t want the spam zombies to eat it)

Here’s the first batch of questions:

QUESTION: TAMARA F. from Atlanta: “When will we see a sequel to DEAD OF NIGHT?”

JONATHAN: DEAD OF NIGHT was written as a standalone, however there’s a chance I’ll pick up the story somewhere down the line.  In the meantime, there’s another story coming out that takes place at the same time but with different characters.  That story is “Jack and Jill” and it will be in the anthology, 21ST CENTURY DEAD, edited by Christopher Golden.  The anthology also includes new zombie stories by an A-list of writers including Orson Scott Card, China Mieville, Simon R. Green, Daniel H. Wilson, Elizabeth Hand, Dan Chaon, Duane Swierczynski, Caitlin Kittredge, Brian Keene, Amber Benson, S.G. Browne, Thomas E. Sniegoski, and—with his first published prose—Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter.  The anthology debuts in July.

If you’ve enjoyed DEAD OF NIGHT, I posted a link to seven free Bonus Scenes: http://jonathanmaberry.com/happy-holidays-from-jonathan

QUESTION: Sereta H. from Tucson: Are you going to write for THE WALKING DEAD show?

JONATHAN: I’m not currently part of that creative team. I am, however, a huge fan of the show and the comic, and the creator, Robert Kirkman, has been on this blog and in several of my nonfiction books several times.  Bob’s a great guy and I couldn’t be happier that the show is a success.  He deserves it –he’s done a lot to bring zombies to the cultural mainstream.

However I did write an essay on Rick Grimes, lead character of THE WALKING DEAD. That essay is in the recent nonfiction book: TRIUMPH OF THE WALKING DEAD, edited by James Lowder. The line-up of writers in that book is pretty amazing:

•    Jay Bonansinga (author; The Black Mariah, co-author with Robert Kirkman of upcoming Walking Dead novels)
•    Jonathan Maberry (New York Times bestselling author; Patient Zero, Zombie CSU, Marvel Zombies Return)
•    Kim Paffenroth (professor of Religious Studies and zombie scholar; Gospel of the Living Dead: George Romero’s Visions of Hell on Earth)
•    Lisa Morton (author and screenwriter; The Lucid Dreaming, A Hallowe’en Anthology: Literary and Historical Writings Over the Centuries)
•    Kyle William Bishop (English professor at Southern Utah University; American Zombie Gothic: The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of the Walking Dead)
•    Craig Fischer (professor at Appalachian State, comic scholar; The Comics Journal, The International Journal of Comic Art)
•    Kenneth Hite (game designer and writer; Zombies 101, Trail of Cthulhu)
•    Kay Steiger (editor of Campus Progress and author; The Atlantic, Bitch Magazine, In These Times)
•    Ned Vizzini (young adult author; It’s Kind of a Funny Story, Be More Chill)
•    Scott Kenemore (author; The Zen of Zombie: Better Living Through the Undead, Z.E.O., The Art of Zombie Warfare)
•    Brendan Riley (professor at Columbia College Chicago, author; Journal of Popular Culture, The Amazing Transforming Superhero)
•    Arnold T. Blumberg (instructor at University of Baltimore, author; Zombiemania, The Big BIG LITTLE BOOK Book)
•    Vince Liaguno (author, anthologist, and editor; Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet, The Literary Six, Butcher Knives & Body Counts)

QUESTION: GEORGE C. from Winnipeg: Which of your books is your favorite?

JONATHAN: That’s going to be a different answer every time I’m asked. I’m fickle. I love whichever book or story I’m currently writing. Right now I’m working on EXTINCTION MACHINE, the fifth Joe Ledger novel (due out from St. Martin’s Griffin in 2013) and I’m totally absorbed. It has UFOs and conspiracy theories…and even Men in Black.  However, I’m listening to DEAD OF NIGHT on audio, and William Dufris’ performance is making that story entirely new for me, so I’m digging that, too.  Yeah, this may be narcissistic, but I’m having fun.

To read my interview with Bill Dufris and listen to an audio sample: http://jonathanmaberry.com/dead-of-night-a-zombie-novel-a-conversation-with-audio-book-reader-william-dufris

QUESTION: HARRISON P. from Sioux City: Does what you write ever creep you out?

JONATHAN: All the time. Usually the real-world science scares the bejeezus out of me. I talked about why I write scary science stuff in an interview I did on J.C. Hutchin’s blog: http://jchutchins.net/site/2012/01/11/creator-spotlight-novelist-jonathan-maberry-dead-of-night/

QUESTION: Caitlyn G. from Austin: I notice that a lot of the same names come up in different stories, and some of the same characters, too.  Do all of your stories take place in the same world?

JONATHAN: More or less, yes. There are two types of guest stars I like using: real people and my own characters.  I started doing that with my first novels, the Pine Deep Trilogy (GHOST ROAD BLUES, DEAD MAN’S SON and BAD MOON RISING). Since that story dealt with a big Halloween festival, it seemed appropriate that celebrities from the horror world would be there as guests.  So I reached out to several folks I know in the horror industry and asked if I could write them into the book.  They all agreed, so in that series you can expect to encounter make-up effects wizard and director Tom Savini; James Gunn, the screenwriter for the Zack Snyder remake of DAWN OF THE DEAD; screenwriter Stephen Susco (THE GRUDGE), Ken Foree (star of the original DAWN OF THE DEAD), scream queens Brinke Stevens and Debbie Rochon; drive-in movie critic Joe Bob Briggs; and a few others.  Even bluesman Mem Shannon does a walk-on.

However peppered through that book and others are friends of mine. Captain Keith Strunk from ROT & RUIN is a real guy –and a fellow member of the Liars Club. As is Don Lafferty, owner of Lafferty’s General Store in the same novel.

DEAD OF NIGHT is filled with real people, many of them winners of the “I Want to be a Zombie in DEAD OF NIGHT’ contest, including Shane Gericke, Sheldon Higdon, Nick Pulsipher, Wrenn Simms, Kealan Patrick Burke, Michael McGrath, Andy Diviny, Jillian Weiner, Byron Rempel, Elizabeth Donald, Peggy Sullivan and Paul Scott.

My webmaster, Jeff Strauss, has been killed more times than I can count in my novels.

As for cross-overs of my own characters…I’ve been slowly creating links between the books. Malcolm Crow and Mike Sweeney from the Pine Deep Trilogy are mentioned in the Rot & Ruin books, and they both make cameos in the Joe Ledger novelette, “Material Witness”.  Joe Ledger shows up in FLESH & BONE, the 3rd book in the Rot & Ruin series.  Pine Deep is mentioned in DEAD OF NIGHT.  And Sam Imura, the uncle of Tom Imura, joins Joe Ledger’s Echo Team in EXTINCTION MACHINE.  There are more crossovers, too.  You never know who will show up.

QUESTION: Penelope W. from Akron: I heard that you do Skype visits to classes.  How can I get one of those for my class?  I’m in ninth grade.

JONATHAN: I always have a lot of fun with Skype visits, and I do a bunch of them.  Have your teacher or librarian send me an email at jonathan_maberry@yahoo.com and we’ll see if we can set something up!

Okay…that’s it for now!  We have tons of terrific guest stars coming up soon!

Happy reading!
Jonathan Maberry

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JONATHAN MABERRY: Zombies continue to grow in popularity despite predictions that the genre is (ahem) ‘dead’. Why?

MAX BROOKS: The genre’s dead? Wow. Good to know. I think zombies are continuing in popularity for two reasons. The first is that they are a ‘safe’ way of exploring our apocalyptic anxieties. We’re living in VERY uncertain times right now. The problems we face now, we face as a nation, as a world. Global terrorism, global warming, global pandemics, global economic calamities. Those problems are too big, too real, and the prospect of following those problems to their ultimate end is just too scary to think about. There is an anxiety, certainly in this country, that the system is breaking down, and it’s an anxiety that we haven’t faced since the 1970s. That was the last time zombies were popular, and, coincidently? here they are again. A zombie story allows us to look at the end of the world, total collapse, with all its horrific consequences, and yet, still be able to sleep that night because we know that the catalyst of those consequences (zombies) aren’t real. The second reason for our fascination with zombies is that, unlike all the other problems we keep facing every day, they are at least stoppable! Every other meta crisis our planet is going through continue to re enforce our deepest feelings of inadequacy. As individuals, we are largely powerless against terrorists or melting polar ice, or the toxic evil of a credit default swap. We can all contribute in our little way, as we should, but they are just little parts of a much bigger picture. In a zombie plague, every man has a chance to be a hero. With the right tools and talent, every man (or woman) can survive a zombie plague. That simply isn’t true against a credit default swap. That’s why I think zombies are popular. But what do I know?

ROGER MA: I always find it amusing when people declare the zombie genre passé. As a fan who’s followed the genre for more than three decades, I know that there will always be a desire for the living dead. First, because the zombie is such a malleable creature; it can provide a subtext for an infinite number of subjects, which makes it very attractive for very different creative types and genres. Second, as long as there is a segment of the population that feels frustrated, disenfranchised, or just plain fed up, zombies will be popular. A zombie apocalypse is the ultimate reset button, and unlike other types of disasters, there’s a feeling that as long as you’re smart and prepared, you can not only survive, but thrive in an undead world. That’s another reason why I think zombies will always be popular; it’s a creature that enables people to easily imagine themselves in a heroic role.

DON ROFF: Every genre in the history of genres has climbed peaks and descended into valleys. Yet something keeps bringing each respective genre back, pulling them out of the lowlands and ascending them to the top again. Our current zeitgeist is infectious diseases, overpopulation, terrorism, the downward spiral of the economy, and overpopulation. It’s no surprise that the zombie genre has escalated in popularity. People are afraid. What better way to experience fear than to sit home at watch other people live out their fears with a zillion popular zombie video games, a zillion zombie movies, and hopefully, a zillion zombie books, too? In addition, there’s a certain survivalist mentality/disaster preparedness that seems synonymous with the zombies, more so than with any other horror sub genre. Since those aforementioned fears aren’t going away, I doubt zombies will return to the grave anytime soon.

ALAN GOLDSHER: Last year, I sat on a Comic Con panel with Seanan McGuire, who claimed that zombies will always be compelling because they tap into an area of our id that we’re otherwise afraid to tap into ourselves. (I’m paraphrasing, but that was her general conceit.) Makes good sense to me, but I also think since zombies are a blank slate, they’re a perfect vehicle to tell a horror story…or a comedy…or a romance…or any damn thing. Since there’s no set mythology, zombies are the Bill Clinton of paranormals: All things to all people.

ABI POST: I can only speak from my own experience, but I have often been asked, “Why Zombies?” It’s a good question, one I think has been asked recently over and over about the public’s interest in zombies. Like all good questions, it makes you think even if the answer isn’t neat.

A fascination with zombies happens on a very personal level. My own attraction which is mainly about survival. My zombie fantasies stem from an overwhelming urge to save myself from whatever perceived or real dangers arise from being alive right now.

ANDRE ABRAMOWITZ: We live in an age of tremendous uncertainty. Fears of economic collapse, political turmoil, natural disasters and terrorism have dominated headlines over the last 10+ years and the zombie is the perfect embodiment of these faceless, unseen threats. No longer are our enemies lining up on a battlefield, wearing a foreign uniform. Now the enemy can be your friends, neighbors or anyone – just like the modern zombie. Couple that with the sort of societal breakdown that we see in many zombie apocalypse stories and it’s not so hard to see why the popularity of the zombie genre continues to grow. It’s a safe and fun way to explore some very very bad scenarios that seem all too capable of happening.

CALVIN MILLER: I think it’s the type of fear they represent. Zombies don’t simply stab you, attack you with an axe, or suck your blood. They eat you. And they might be your parents. Or you. That feeling that everyone around you is turning into a monster is horrifying. When you say “Zombies” most people say “Brainzzzz!”. They are more familiar with the parodies like “Return of the Living Dead”. Many are just now getting into the true horror of the genre, and I think “The Walking Dead” TV show is creating a lot of Zombie fans. A Zombie Plague makes Freddy and Jason look like punks.

CRAIG DiLOUIE: For years, the horror shelves in my local bookstore were dominated by a choice of sexy or funny vampires, or Stephen King. Vampires have been popular in fiction for decades, and still are. Zombies have been popular for what, a few years at most? And I’m supposed to believe it’s over already? Hell, no!

I once read a review of a zombie book that started, “Do we really need another zombie book?” The first thing I thought was, “Do we really need another reviewer saying, ‘Do we really need another zombie book?’”

To all jaded reviewers who don’t like zombie books and therefore pronounce the genre dead for everyone else, here’s an idea: Let’s let the market decide what it wants. As long as people keep buying and reading zombie books, then the genre is very much alive. In fact, the big publishers have only recently started publishing zombie books in any real way. Some of them are duds thrown out there purely to exploit the zombie craze, but some are very good and selling well. The commercial success of your own work, Jonathan, is obviously a testament to mainstream demand for good zombie fiction. The number of zombie-themed books, films and so on will likely peak at some point, but zombies are here to stay. And that’s great news for the many readers who only recently have begun to enjoy a broad choice of quality zombie fiction.

DAVID DUNWOODY: People nowadays are too impatient, too quick to denounce something and “discover” its successor. Zombies simply will not go gentle into that good night. Their relevance hasn’t waned a bit and, frankly, I don’t see that happening anytime soon. They’re just too perfect as metaphors for countless aspects of the human condition. Beautiful in their simplicity, universal in their scariness and with boundless potential for further exploration, zombies have plenty of room to expand, evolve and infect before they become played out.

IAIN MCKINNON: Tough question, the short answer is I don’t know. I’m happy the wave hasn’t broken because I am primarily a zombie fan, that’s why I started writing zombie novels. I’d consumed everything zombie I could find and left with nothing to devour I started making my own.

The popularity of Zombies may have something to do with the reaction in horror against torture porn or shiny vampires. It may be because it holds a mirror up to our world the few battling the overwhelming many, the escapism of a world where there are no constraints, no mortgage or credit cards or managers or cops or all the other things that prevent us living the life we want to.

But I think it’s biggest appeal is what would you do? The heros aren’t superhuman or magical or anything like that. The heros in most zombie novels and films are just regular people thrown into the nightmare. You read them thinking “what would I do?”.

JASON KRISTOPHER: I believe that people are scared right now. We hear so many stories of how the global economy is failing, there’s all the change – for good, in my opinion – in the Middle East, new “unforeseen” diseases… the world is becoming a big scary place, and yet with the growth of what I refer to as “indie” media, the people are more informed and knowledgeable than ever before. This leads to we humans falling back on one of our most well-developed of traits: the need for escapism. I think zombie stories in particular are good for this, because it allows people to say “Well, as bad as stuff is right now in the real world, at least it’s not this bad.” Everyone needs a break from the real world from time to time, and I think zombies allow for that a bit easier than most other genres. On a lighter, less analytic note, they’re also more believable, in many ways. Plus, they’re cool!

JEFF WEIGEL: I think there’s appeal in the mindlessness of the threat zombies pose. What’s scarier than an unrelenting creature that can’t be reasoned with in any way. A zombie has one thing on it’s mind (what there is of it, anyway)—your brain. Plus, the zombie virus concept makes monsters out of the people you encounter in every day life. The zombies’ appeal is in the threat of the ordinary becoming your worst nightmare.

JOE McKINNEY: I think it has something to do with what I call the democratic nature of zombies. Almost from the very beginning, zombies (as first expressed in the vision of Richard Matheson and George Romero) came at us from a variety of sources. You’ve got movies, TV, novels, short stories, blogs, radio shows…but that’s not all. You’ve got zombie walks. You’ve got conventions dedicated to them. You’ve got non-fiction. Zombie fans are willing to take their drug of choice in just about any permutation. But that’s still not all, because now, you’ve even got a variety of other professions jumping on the concept of the zombie to express issues in their field. You’ve got economists, computer programmers, biologists, and dozens of others using the idea of the zombie to express rogue elements in their field. The zombie, more so than anything else before it, has proven to be a perfect hook upon which to hang an idea. So many have flocked to the idea of the zombie because it can support so many concepts.

JOHN MACLEOD: I thank Twilight. It poisoned the vampire well for a lot of fans, even with the popularity of shows like True Blood. So, what else could horror enthusiasts turn to? Zombies. All the undead, none of the glitter, and ten times the amount of disemboweling. Add the mass appeal of The Walking Dead on TV, and we may have entered a golden age for our hordes. (Yet, as much as I’m thankful to Twilight for driving people our way, I’d love to see Daryl from TWD dust Edward’s sparkly ass with his crossbow.)

JOHN RUSSO: As I’ve said many times before, zombies weren’t heavyweight fright material like vampires or werewolves, till we made them into flesheaters. That struck a raw cord with people. to make a zombie movie, you don’t need expensive makeups of SFX, so many, many filmmakers seize upon them to make their mark in the biz. And some of the stuff with a new slant or fresh ideas makes it big.

JOSHUA COOK: So many reasons, so little space. Of the number of things that are helping the genre grow, I think it is the sheer fanaticism of the zombie community that is playing the largest role. Over the years there has always been a hardcore fandom, but it has had to be contained underground. Once zombies rose out of the grave and began to infect the mainstream pop culture, we saw the explosion of things like zombie walks and zombie specific conventions. This will continue to work just like a zombie infection and spread through the pop culture psyche until it infects the entire world.

ROBERT ELROD: Zombie culture will be around for a long time to come. The reasons that I see for this are that people are always going to find reasons to be dissatisfied with the world. People dislike their jobs, their government, the weather, their neighbors … their lives. Zombie culture provides a safe venue for people to live through the fantasy of all of those they dislike being taken away and, in place of things, they’re given something that they can destroy without suffering the consequences of modern civilization.

RYAN BROWN: I think zombies continue to grow in popularity because, as literary device, there seems to be no end to how they can be utilized. Metaphorically, zombies can reflect so much about society during any time period throughout history. Sure, we’ve had an explosion of zombie material over the past few years, but with that has also come an explosion of creative uses for the genre. If writers continue to focus on pushing the possibilities the genre – and not on repeating what is already out there – I see no end to the wave of popularity.

SCOTT KENEMORE: I think what people percieve as a zombie “trend” is really just zombies finding their appropriate place in the culture. People have a way for forgetting that Dracula–the seminal work that solidified our idea of the modern vampire–was written in 1890. It’s had over 100 years to sink-in. The modern flesh-eating zombie of George Romero has only been around since 1968. So zombies have some catching up to do, and I think that’s what we’re seeing now.

ZAPH: Everyone likes a good horror story. Whether people watch movies, read novels or read the paper, there is an “at least it isn’t me” appeal to someone else’s mishaps and adventures. Zombie science fiction is a great fantasy realm where the “what if” can be explored with gore, guts, mayhem, societal break down and a whole lot of human nature story telling. The thought of unrestricted violence appeals to the long buried predator in us, and luckily you can kill zombies without remorse. It gives people who live comfortably, the chance to imagine a different life for them selves, prepare for some fictional crisis, to live outside of their normal lives for a while. All the while knowing they are safe and it wont really happen, at least not just yet. After all, HG Wells wrote about submarines and Arthur C. Clarke wrote about space travel…

EVILBOB: Zombies don’t sparkle.

****************************

BIOS

ROGER MA is the author of The Zombie Combat Manual: A Guide to Fighting the Living Dead, published by Berkley Books. He is also the founder of The Zombie Combat Club, an organization dedicated to distributing information on battling the living dead without a firearm. He is also a martial artist and a former Team Chief for one of New York City’s Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT), a civilian volunteer group managed by the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) that assists first responders in the event of a city emergency (including zombie attack.) Find him on Twitter at @zombiecombat and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/zombiecombatmanual

DON ROFF grew up in Milton-Freewater, a small Oregon town, writing stories and making Super 8 and VHS movies with his friends. Later, he served with the 75th Ranger Regiment during Operation Just Cause in December 1989. Roff’s first book was Scary Stories (with creepy hand lock), published by Scholastic in October 2006. Zombies: A Record of the Year of Infection, published by Chronicle Books/Simon & Schuster UK followed in 2009. The 144-page book is the found journal of Dr. Robert Twombly as he documents the 2012 zombie apocalypse with thought-provoking handwritten passages and captivating imagery (drawn by Chris Lane). Roff’s latest book, Zombie Tales, was published in October 2011 by Scholastic. He can be found at his website, on Facebook, on Twitter, and on his blog, The Key Dancer Chronicles. Fans of Zombies: A Record of the Year of Infection can Like the page here.

ALAN GOLDSHER is the author of 11 books, including the acclaimed Beatles/horror/comedy remix novel Paul Is Undead: The British Zombie Invasion. Give Death a Chance: The British Zombie Invasion 2 will be published as an ebook on March 27, 2012, and his Sound of Music/vampire remix novel My Favorite Fangs will be available on August 7, 2012. As a ghostwriter, Alan has worked with dozens of celebrities and public figures, and next November will see the publication of How I Slept My Way to the Middle, his collaboration with actor/comedian Kevin Pollak. Alan lives and writes in Chicago. Visit him at http://www.AlanGoldsher.com, @AlanGoldsher on Twitter, or http://www.Facebook.com/alan.goldsher.

ABI POST is the author and illustrator of Fairweather, a tale of interdimensional evil and survival transmitted via www.fairweatheronline.com. After five years in the fashion industry, Abi launched her zombielife by exhibiting paintings of the undead in Seattle’s Pioneer Square. She hales from the natural state, and holds a BFA from a university in the deep south. Facebook @fairweatherabi www.fairweatheronline.com
http://itunes.apple.com/us/tv-season/zombies-a-living-history/id257241074?i=472481080

ANDRE ABRAMOWITZ is a writer and executive producer on Zombies: A Living History, a TV show that premiered in October for History Channel. While this was my first foray into television writing, I’ve had various pieces published in other venues. When I’m not scouring the darkest corners of history in search of the roots of undead myths and folklore, I can often be found hunting the seas in search of big fish and Cthonian monstrosities. Hopefully I can make a show about that too one day. Other ideas that I’m currently exploring include a couple of undead-related screenplays and comic books, and an anthropological look at dance and coming of age rituals throughout world cultures.

Andre can be found on:
Facebook at http://www.Facebook.com/andreabramowitz
Twitter: @zombiehistorian
The Facebook page for Zombies: A Living History – http://www.facebook.com/ZombiesALivingHistory
The DVD could ostensibly be found (at this time, for some reason unknown to me it’s not listed… typical History Channel incompetance) at http://www.shop.history.com

CALVIN A.L. MILLER II is a horror author/publisher/cartoonist who likes to write from different angles. His first book, “Het Madden, A Zombie Perspective”, is written entirely from the perspective of a man who dies, reanimates, and retains his intelligence in a post-apocalyptic society. His second effort, “The Zombie’s Survival Guide, Thrive In The Zombie Apocalypse AFTER Your Turn”, is written to guide the reader through the Zompocalypse AFTER he or she becomes a zombie. It contains illustrations by artist Alan Gandy and provides everything you’ll need to know to ensure you’ll be the best zombie you can be. Cal started Zilyon Publishing in November 2009 with his buddy Greg Bogle and today they’ve published 12 books, including novels, charity anthologies, graphic novels, and comics. He also does a web comic, “Ted Dead, Just Your Everyday Zombie”, at TedDead.com. Check him out at www.CalvinALMillerII.com, http://www.facebook.com/cal.miller2, Twitter/@cal_in_space, or email him at cal_in_space@yahoo.com.

CRAIG DiLOUIE is author of the popular zombie novels THE INFECTION (www.infectednation.com) and TOOTH AND NAIL (www.infectedwar.com). In early 2012, Permuted Press will publish THE KILLING FLOOR, his sequel to THE INFECTION. Learn more about Craig’s work–including reviews of all things apocalyptic horror, plus links to his Twitter and Facebook pages–at www.craigdilouie.com.

DAVID DUNWOODY is the author of the Empire series of zombie novels and short stories. Infected with the writing bug at an early age, he has been published in a number of anthologies and has two horror collections, Dark Entities and Unbound & Other Tales. Dave lives in Utah and can be visited on the web at daviddunwoody.com and empirenovel.com. Facebook: facebook.com/ddunwoody; Twitter: @daviddunwoody

IAIN MCKINNON was born in Scotland in the early seventies and lived a happy well balanced childhood, with the exception of being forced to wear flares and the 1978 World Cup. Aged 18 he saw George A Romero’s Day Of The Dead and from then on zombies crowned his list of irrational fears. In 2005 he wrote the screen play for the 10 minute zombie film The Dead Walk in an attempt to confront his fear. He has since written two zombie novels Domain of the Dead and Remains of the Dead both published by Permuted Press.

Iain currently lives and writes from his home just outside Edinburgh. At the moment he only has just one irrational fear but he does still keep a survival kit and crowbar close at hand just in case.

You can find Iain McKinnon at: www.remains-of-the-dead.com or www.facebook.com/iain.mckinnon, on Twitter @IainMcKinnon or somewhere in the crowd of a NIN concert.

JASON KRISTOPHER was born in Waco, TX, spent nearly two decades in northern Colorado soaking up the creative energy and beauty of that area, then moved to Houston for “real” work. Throughout this long journey, Jason continued to write all kinds of fiction, including fantasy, sci-fi, horror, children’s tales and even a poem or two. Jason currently lives in Houston and enjoys reading, writing, movies, music (live and not), the Houston Astros (winning and not), singing karaoke and the Texas hill country, especially the vineyards. You can find him on Twitter (@JasonKristopher), Facebook (Author.JasonKristopher) and his website (www.greygeckopress.com). His first book is a zombie apocalypse novel that has been called “…the best zombie book since World War Z.” The Dying of the Light: End is available in print for $15 and ebook format for $4 on Amazon, BN.com, iBooks, Kobo and GoodReads.

JEFF WEIGEL is an illustrator and author of comics and children’s books, along with being the artist for Michael P. Spradlin’s popular series of zombie songbooks. Jeff has done work for Image Comics retro anthology, Big Bang Comics. He’s written and illustrated the two Atomic Ace picture books for Albert Whitman and Company, and the graphic adventure novel, Thunder From The Sea: Adventure on Board The HMS Defender. His next collaboration with Michael Spradlin, The Monster Alphabet, is due out next year from Grosset & Dunlap. Learn more about Jeff’s work at www.jeffweigel.com.

JOE McKINNEY is the San Antonio-based author of several horror, crime and science fiction novels. His longer works include the four part Dead World series, made up of Dead City, Apocalypse of the Dead, Flesh Eaters and The Zombie King; the science fiction disaster tale, Quarantined, which was nominated for the Horror Writers Association’s Bram Stoker Award for superior achievement in a novel, 2009; and the crime novel, Dodging Bullets. His upcoming releases include the horror novels Lost Girl of the Lake, The Red Empire, The Charge and St. Rage. Joe has also worked as an editor, along with Michelle McCrary, on the zombie-themed anthology Dead Set, and with Mark Onspaugh on the abandoned building-themed anthology The Forsaken. His short stories and novellas have been published in more than thirty publications and anthologies. In his day job, Joe McKinney is a patrol commander for the San Antonio Police Department. Before promoting to sergeant, Joe worked as a homicide detective and as a disaster mitigation specialist. Many of his stories, regardless of genre, feature a strong police procedural element based on his fifteen years of law enforcement experience. A regular guest at regional writing conventions, Joe currently lives and works in a small town north of San Antonio with his wife and children. You can find out more about upcoming projects and appearances at http://joemckinney.wordpress.com, follow him on Twitter at @JoeMcKinney and friend him on Facebook.

JOHN MACLEOD (aka “Surfin’ Dead”) hails from western Massachusetts, and has an undying love of zombies, music and geek culture. He is a Staff Writer/Editor for the web site Zombie Zone News (http://www.zombiezonenews.com), and creator of the devilish dolts Doctor Curdle and Squee. Together with those freaks, John spotlights the finest new horror comics every week in his Zombie Pull Box column. You can find his new Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Surfin-Dead/310086379002613#!/pages/Surfin-Dead/310086379002613 or check out @Surfin_Dead on Twitter.

JOHN RUSSO: is an American screenwriter and film director most commonly associated with the 1968 horror classic Night of the Living Dead. As a screenwriter, his credits include Night of the Living Dead, The Majorettes, Midnight, and Santa Claws. The latter two, he also directed. He has performed small roles as an actor, most notably the first zombie who is stabbed in the head in Night of the Living Dead, as well as cameos in There’s Always Vanilla and House of Frankenstein 1997. John Russo is also the founder and one of the co-mentors along with Russell Streiner of the John Russo Movie Making Program at DuBois Business College in DuBois, Pennsylvania. John A. Russo has completed several interviews over the years discussing his film making career, with a recent interview with BioGamer Girl Magazine, in which he appeared on the magazine’s radio show Undead Noise.

JOSHUA COOK is a freelance writer currently residing in Seattle, Washington. Josh lives with his best friend, Sam Dogg, a lab and cocker spaniel mix. A self proclaimed pop culture whore, he drinks in anything that falls in the realm of pop. Over the years he has written for a number of clients and websites, but his most recent project is a short story series entitled ‘Zombie A.C.R.E.S.’. This work has led to a number of other new projects, including a comic in the spring with Ratatat Graphics, various books, and even some short film work. Through all this, Joshua continues to do freelance writing work and takes on new clients everyday. Feel free to contact him at joshuacookwrites@yahoo.com for more info. All the stories, art, contests, ebooks, and more from the Zombie A.C.R.E.S. universe can be found at http://zombieacres.com, on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/zombieacres, and on Twitter @ZombieACRES. Joshua Cook can be found on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/joshuacookwrites and on Twitter @JoshCookWrites.

MAX BROOKS: Max Brooks is the author of the two bestsellers “The Zombie Survival Guide” and “World War Z”. He has also written for “Saturday Night Live”, for which he won an Emmy.

ROBERT ELROD is a self-taught artist / interactive designer who works with a variety of mediums including pencil, color pencil, ink, watercolor, acrylic and digital. Tickling A Dead Man: Stories About George is his self-published comic book in which he relentlessly tortures his misanthropic title character by forcing him to face his deepest fears and anxieties. His comics also appear within the pages of the “Best New Zombie Tales” series from Books of the Dead Press. He’s contributed pinup art to publications by Bluewater Comics, Creator’s Edge Press, Angry Dog Press and the British Fantasy Society. Robert’s artwork has appeared on the covers of several novels and anthologies from small-press horror publishers. You can see more of his work at www.robertelrodllc.com and connect with on Facebook at www.facebook.com/robertelrod and on Twitter at @robertelrod.

As an actor RYAN BROWN has held contract roles on The Young and the Restless and Guiding Light. He has also appeared on Law and Order: SVU, and starred in two feature films for Lifetime Television. He is the author of PLAY DEAD, a comic zombie thriller set in the world of Texas high school football, and THAWED OUT AND FED UP, a neo-western thriller in which a re-animated John Wayne thrusts the Old West into the twenty-first century. Raised in Texas, Ryan now lives with his wife and son in New York City. Find him at: ryanbrownauthor.com. Follow him on Twitter @RyanBrownAuthor and on FACEBOOK at Ryan Brown Author.

SCOTT KENEMORE is the author of the Zen of Zombie series of humor/horror books, and the novel Zombie, Ohio. He blogs about zombies at http://scottkenemore.wordpress.com/.

ZAPH (Elizabeth McCubbin) and EVILBOB (Adrienne Keith) are the creators behind Optimystical Studios embracing geek culture in jewelry with recycled pendants, steampunk and renaissance accessories. With the motto, “We are Wonder Woman!” they have built a business on the foundation of fun and cranking their art ‘up to 11!’. In February 2011 they launched ZombAlert, a pendant to let your loved ones know your final wishes in the event of a zombie bite. Each piece is hand cast and enameled, then stamped with your final wish on the reverse side. You can find Optimystical Studios online at OptimysticalStudios.com or go directly to more information on ZombAlert at ZombAlert.com. Optimystical Studios journeys to many science fiction, horror and gaming conventions throughout the year. You can catch them at a con and follow Zaph & EvilBob’s adventures on Twitter, Facebook, and Google. (Here are the links if you need them; @Optimysticals – http://facebook.com/OptimysticalStudios – https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/115663618942907846599/).

We’re all slaves to the Internet, let’s face it. And too often we think that everything we want to see, everything we want to know, everything we want to read is right there.  Why go to a library?  What does a brick-and-mortar library have that I can’t find on the Net?

Good question, and I asked a bunch of librarians from across the country to discuss that topic. This is going to change your opinions about libraries forever.

JONATHAN MABERRY: A lot of people think libraries are passé. Why is that NOT the case?

TONYA OSWALT: Anyone who works in a library or who visits a library knows that libraries have moved forward with current trends and still have a place in our communities.  Libraries still serve as a place for information and entertainment needs.  In addition, libraries also serve as job resource centers, providing patrons with information on how to create resumes, as well as with computers to create those resumes, do job searches, and fill out online job applications.  Many libraries also offer free computer classes to the public.  Plus, libraries continue to offer programs for all age groups throughout the year to encourage reading among children and teenagers.

SHANNA SWIGERT SMITH: I think it is easy to label the library as passé.  Just the other day, someone asked me if people still use the library and if we still keep the old card catalog around.  If one person is thinking like this, no doubt other people have the same thoughts.  As both a librarian and a 20-something adult, I enjoy correcting these misconceptions by sharing all that is happening at the library.  On any given day we have live music, author events, and art shows.  In fact, I personally have taken friends to events at my library when I am not even on the clock.  I think that says a lot.

ROBIN BRENNER: A lot of people think libraries are passé. Why is that NOT the case?  On the technology angle: While Google is a wonderful tool, we librarians can find you the information you need, and the correct information at that, faster, more reliably, and in more depth than any web search.  I think people forget that while they may do a quick search a few times a day, we librarians do nothing BUT ferret out information at least eight hours a day. (If you’re like me, you also have a hard time stopping, so you also offer customers help in bookstores and are trusted by your friends to find what they need too, even at midnight.)  I live for the questions that come to my desk because I love finding out the answers to questions I would never think to ask.

On the general purpose of libraries: Content has always been a library’s soul — we connect people with the information or entertainment they need or want.  I love the object of a book as the next person, but I care more about the words inside.  Libraries have always changed to accommodate how people are seeking, and that hasn’t changed.  We carry more different types of content and media now than ever, and the restrictions a physical building and physical items is loosening.  That doesn’t mean the idea of lending and borrowing, of having a guide for your search, is going to fade away.

RACHEL KRITZMANN: People that think libraries are passé probably think books are passé.  After all, everything is on Google anyway, right?

The problem with this argument is two-fold:  First, it makes an assumption about what libraries are:  The assumption is that libraries are simply book warehouses.  Of course book are important to libraries (books to libraries are as paintings to art museums) but they are by no means the only part of a library.  Libraries also collect music, movies, magazines, provide free internet access, computers, and programs for all age ranges.  At my library, it’s not uncommon to have a pre-school story time in the morning, a lunch time adult program on almost any topic imaginable (past lunch time lectures have included candy-sushi making and estate planning) and after school teen programs in the afternoon.

The second assumption is that people have all the money in the world, and would rather purchase then borrow, that the ease of going to Amazon and purchasing a book, or CD, or movie is preferable to checking it out from the library.  I think that the hit the world economy has taken over the last few years has changed that assumption.  It can be hard to justify spending money on something when you know you can get it for free at the library.  It may not be available immediately, but you’ll get it.  My library system owns almost three hundred copies of The Hunger Games, 39 copies of the book on CD, 7 copies of the book in Spanish, and two in Chinese.  Even in a city of several million people, you will get the book fairly quickly, for free.  And if you read 50 pages and don’t like, it return to any branch and finds something that you do like.

LIZZ ZITRON: Let’s start with how cool librarians are and work from there. They protect your right to privacy, help you access free information and will show you how to use the copier.

Our services are only the cornerstone of democracy! Where else can citizens access, usually for free, computers, DVDs, books, CDs, magazines and other forms of information? If you want it, we’ll do our darndest to find it for you.

Additionally, libraries are early adopters and advocates of technology. We are on the forefront of the movement to provide affordable, accessible internet access, in particular to underserved communities.

A library is not the sum of its books. It’s a place in which people can access information. This increasingly includes programming, especially for teens and children. For many young people, the library is the only safe space they can go to after-school. Librarians are stepping up to the challenge to make the library a cool place as well. Teen librarianship is one of the fastest-growing segments of librarianship because the profession has recognized a need to more comprehensively serve this population.

KATE VASILIK: A lot of people think libraries are passé.  That statement is correct, but the rationale behind it isn’t.  Libraries house information, and they employ librarians who are trained to help disseminate that information.  It is not a matter of control over the information – all are invited within the doors at their leisure – but rather it is a matter of the guidance that librarians offer as service in order to allow people to gain information more easily, efficiently, and effectively.  Regardless of the format – printed, audiovisual, or electronic – the library still is effective in organizing information, lending material, and guiding users toward previously undiscovered knowledge and perspective.  Additionally, libraries serve more and more as resting places, interactive centers of communities of people, and locations prime for thoughtful discussion and acceptance of ideas.

JESSICA MILLER: Libraries are the new “community centers” of our society. We serve new functions.  Libraries are not just places for serious research anymore.  That is the biggest problem that libraries have today.  We cannot seem to wipe the stereotypical ancient, unforgiving, and rigid library from peoples’ minds.  More people need to realize that libraries have not only changed their collections to suit the needs of today’s users (to include media for entertainment, browsing collections for pleasure reading, and electronic materials) but their entire philosophies and services to enter the 21st century.  Library users can come and enjoy free internet (on our hardware or through wi-fi on their own), free programming (fun and/or educational things for all ages), get assistance to find jobs, learn about new careers, get tax assistance, get free homework help, and generally have a safe place to stay during the day.  Libraries help their users get through all stages of life and all for FREE!

GERI DIORIO: A library is more than a collection of printed materials.  It is more than a collection of DVDs and CDs and Playaways.   It is a community center.  It is a gathering place.  It is where moms can meet other moms when their toddlers are in storytime.  It is where a bookish 7th grader can connect with a bookish 10th grader and their love of reading can bridge the enormous gap between middle school and high school and a friendship can form. It is where seniors can attend a digital photography class and pick up new skills and new friends.  As long as humans are social animals, libraries will not be passé.

ANDREA INGALA: I think of library not only as a center and point of access to information, but as a community center, a meeting place. Not only are we providing access for all, but we are also providing a physical space for the community. Some people think they don’t need the library because they’re “not readers.” That’s not the case at all. Whether you’re a reader or not, there’s something for everyone in the library. I think the criticism about the usefulness of a library actually comes from people who don’t use the library. Passe? Out of date? What?! We have DVD, blu-ray, e-books, audio, GPSes, MP3 players, even the Chelmsford Library in MA will be providing an electronic car charger.

ELIZABETH CORBETT: There are so many compelling reasons why this is NOT the case, it’s hard to know where to begin. I’m a children’s librarian who loves storytimes, from the mobbed, raucous Babies Love Books to the quiet gathering of a few families and their stuffed animals at Pajama Storytime. So, I’m going to answer this question by telling some library stories.

Very early in my career, I was assigned to a library in a struggling neighborhood with lots of abandoned buildings and very few resources. Of the many patrons who came to the branch every day, Nacee was the most beloved and the most notorious. He was seven years old when I met him, dismissed and ignored at home, and completely out of place everywhere else. He walked by himself to the library because he needed a place that was safe and welcoming, and because it allowed him to indulge his obsession with classic horror movies, The Terminator, Conan the Barbarian, Robocop, and …The Golden Girls. I kid you not. Nacee loved Rue McClanahan.
Together, we looked through every movie book in the library, expanding his already encyclopedic knowledge of all things cinema, and giving him a chance to show off by identifying screen stars like Boris Karloff and Bella Lugosi that few other seven-year-olds have ever heard of. Nacee would beg us to print movie pictures off the Internet and so he could construct gruesome collages that he would bestow upon one of the staff before leaving for the day. For this curious, intelligent, eccentric little boy, libraries are not passé.

My current library serves a large and growing community of new Americans, primarily from Mexico, China, and Vietnam. One recent Vietnamese immigrant who has adopted the Free Library as his second home is Hieu, a twelve-year-old boy with disarming dimples and endless enthusiasm. When Hieu arrived in this country with virtually no English skills, he quickly identified the Free Library as the key to his survival. He understands better than anybody how to plumb the depths of the library’s resources. He should give lessons.

Hieu rides his bike from one branch to another, building relationships with a whole entourage of librarians and taking advantage of the different materials, programming, and character of each branch. He is an avid user of the “holds” system, unlocking his access to the holdings of the entire library system, not just the branches he can visit. He audits adult ESL classes in the library whenever he’s not in school. He has joined my book club for 8- to 12-year-old readers, which will start in the fall. He uses the computer to communicate using Google Translator, read Manga comics in Vietnamese, play video games, and connect to people on social networking sites — in both his first and his second language. At the end of his library day, Hieu packs his Hannah Montana backpack (free gift from the library) with a pile of English language books and videos that will keep him busy and learning at home, until he returns the next day. Hieu is tackling a lot of scariness and uncertainty in his life, but there is one thing he is absolutely certain about: anything that piques his interest, anything he wants to read or watch or listen to, he can get through the library. And he does. (He also brings it back, which is the tricky part for many among us.) For this determined dynamo of a little boy, libraries are not passé.

As the kids say, just one more story. This one is about the families who come to storytime. Hordes of them. Strollers line up around the building on a Tuesday morning, waiting to get in. The babies come, they sing, they dance, they get bounced and tickled by their companion grownups, they listen to and participate in the reading of great books, and they are happy. For many of them, it’s their favorite time of the week. They leave storytime so completely jazzed about books, they can’t wait to pull a bunch more off the shelves to take home, or to sit and read in the children’s room right then and there. Sometimes I look out from my desk after storytime (and at other times, too) and I am overcome by the realization that my job lets me witness the joyful development of a community of readers: neighbors of many different backgrounds, sitting together in a place where books are both cherished and free, reading with their little ones, who will grow up loving and feeling connected to books, no matter what format they may come to read them in. For these preschool children and the adults who care for them, libraries are not passé.

EMMA WEILER: Libraries are still the last place in a community to provide free services. To give one example, while most people do have a computer &/or internet, not everyone does.  And not everyone with a computer has internet (I know of homeless people who own computers).  These are the people who most need access.  They need to search for and apply for jobs.  They need to have something that gives them legitimacy – one’s email address does not give away one’s status the way a zip code does.

A second example: libraries are gathering places at a time when people physically gather together less and less.  It is a safe place for kids and teens to congregate in the afternoons. It has sing alongs and storytimes to take your kids to.  It provides free community rooms for groups to meet. Many libraries have free passes to local museums and attractions.  Often, libraries have gallery space, free for local artists to display their work.

Yes, libraries have information.  And I say “information”, not “books” because, to me, that is what is important.  We need access to information that informs and also entertains.  Is reading important? Yes.  Is promoting reading the only function of a library? No.  And that’s what libraries need to get across.  We have always been here providing these services, we just need to remind people of that.

BIG SCARY BLOG:  In this age of e-readers and electronics, why are libraries still relevant?

TONYA OSWALT: This is another example of how libraries are grabbing hold of current technologies and moving forward with them.  Many libraries have embraced e-reader technology by partnering with companies such as OverDrive to offer downloadable eBooks and audio books through the library. Most people who work in libraries acknowledge that while some people will always love the feel of a book in their hand, there are benefits to having these downloadable options.  For example, I have noticed an increase in older patrons asking about our OverDrive service; they say that this is because the e-readers give them the ability to zoom in, making it easier for them to see the words.   The library is here for the people of the community and offering downloadable eBooks and audio books is just one more way for us to give the people what they want and need.

SHANNA SWIGERT SMITH: I believe libraries remain relevant because of the community need.  Definitely those needs have changed through the years, but the library has changed too.  Almost daily, I am exploring new applications for technology, websites, software and electronics, which includes e-readers, and I imagine other librarians are doing the same thing. So when people visit the library and ask about downloading an e-book onto their nook, I can answer with confidence because I did the exact same thing yesterday.

ROBIN BRENNER: Far too many folks forget the large sections of the population who are not able or willing to buy every book they read, movie they see, or gadget they see.  You simply cannot predict the death of books or reading or libraries without also understanding that every single new technology takes decades to become ubiquitous, and every new technology does not kill the old.  They also forget that technologies change and become useless far more frequently than ink on paper (remember 5 1/2″ floppy disks?)

I’m as wired as the next person.  I have in my bag, at any time, my cell phone, my iPod Touch (full of audio books, podcasts, and music), and…a good old-fashioned book.  I can entertain myself any way, anytime, anywhere.  People predict that one kind of reading must wipe out another, but I find more and more people simply use them all, depending on the situation and their own needs for consuming content.

RACHEL KRITZMANN: Well, first of all:  Libraries offer e-books, and e-audio books, and e-video.  Librarians, like all educators, understand that there are multiple kinds of literacy.  We want to make sure that people are able to access the things we purchase.

Specifically regarding e-readers, the initial purchase of the device is a huge investment.  Even on the lower end of the market, dropping $114 for a Kindle without Wi-Fi that has ads is a lot of money, and then you have to purchase the books themselves, at $9.99 a pop on average.  So, getting the complete works of Michael Chabon would still be more expensive than checking them out from the library, and also impossible because not all of his work is available on Kindle.  The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is not available in Kindle format.  But there are 63 available copies of it at my library, and currently the holds list is zero.

LIZZ ZITRON:  See above paragraph.

KATHERINE VASILIK: Books have long been available to the public, both inside and outside of libraries.  Now, electronic materials are also available, both inside and outside of libraries.  There is no shift of the need itself, just a change of format.  The library still employs experts that are on-hand to offer free guidance toward information and reading materials, and unlike purchasing e-books and downloadable audio through the internet (or print books through a bookstore), the library still offers all of its materials for free, to anyone in any community, regardless of socioeconomic status, educational background, or physical or mental ability.  Purchasing and collecting material has value to many, but libraries offer a necessary free alternative.

JESSICA MILLER: In the electronic age, libraries are still a great resource for all the same reasons that people had when looking for print materials.  Want to try out an e-reader before buying? Borrow one from the public library.  What to read an e-book, but not necessarily own it?  Borrow it through your library’s e-book collection.  Not quite sure how to transfer an e-book to your e-reader?  Come in and ask a Librarian or take a class.  Not sure what to read next? Ask us and we’ll help you find your next great read.

GERI DIORIO: Because not everyone can afford those nice toys.  The digital divide is still very much with us. Libraries let anyone, with any income level, come in and use the computers, check e-mail, read the latest bestseller, read today’s Times without a subscription…

ANDREA INGALA: Libraries are still relevant with or without the use of e-readers and electronics. On one hand, we are lending out e-books and downloadable audio to those that want it; we have a collection through our website. But I always come back to the question of everyone else. Are we going to shut our doors to those that can’t afford an e-reader, an internet connection or a computer at home? I’m painting very broad strokes, but the “digital divide” would only worsen if we were to focus our attention only on those that are looking for the electronic format of materials.

ELIZABETH CORBETT: There is something beyond just reading books and finding information that humans seek, because it brings us joy and inspiration and peace. It is the experience of entering a place of books. A place where we can wander around, soaking in the atmosphere of books, letting their beauty and power awaken our senses and our imaginations. A place where we can be drawn to a particular volume on a particular shelf, pull it down, and discover what’s inside, at our own pace, without judgment or expectations, in the company of other humans. Many of us have had this experience at bookstores as well as libraries. The key is that the books – tactile objects prone to the damaging effects of age and use – are carefully arranged, artfully displayed, inviting us to explore them. It is my fervent hope that bookstores will be around for eons; but public libraries are not just free bookstores. They aren’t commercial enterprises. They are social service institutions that our society needs to continue to support and protect, lest unimpeded market forces leave us with no places of books.

EMMA WEILER: Well, how are you going to afford all those e-books without a library?

MABERRY: What happens to a community that loses its library?

TONYA OSWALT:  A community that loses its library loses a central part of what makes the community whole.  The sad thing is that there are a lot of people in every community that may not notice the absence of their community library, but without the library, students lose a place to go to for homework help and research.  Adults and older teenagers lose a valuable job resource.  A library isn’t just a house of books.  It’s also a place where people gather, where the people of the community see one another and catch up at each visit, where memories are made as children interact during library programs.  When a community loses its library, all of these things are lost as well.

SHANNA SWIGERT SMITH: This is not the time for a community to give up on its public library!  Our library seems to get busier and busier every day.  I can only imagine if a library was closed that there would be a loss of educational resources and support, the digital divide would increase, there would be a decreased sense of community, and many children and youth adults would be forced to spend their time in less savory and safe situations.  Personally, I wouldn’t want to live in a community without a library.

RACHEL KRITZMANN: I would like to say that the sun goes out and the locusts ravage the crops ‘afore the eternal winter comes, but that isn’t entirely accurate.  What happens is that community loses.  Just straight up loses.  They lose access, they lose a sense of community, they lose all the money they’ve spent in taxes to support the library when the library closes.  People in the community don’t get that money back, and isn’t that just the worst kind of wasted investment?  Libraries do so much with such little money.  They have story times and class visits, they give people an opportunity to meet each other, and interact in a space that is safe and protected.  They give teenagers a safe space that isn’t home or school, a place where they can have supervised independence.  They allow for people to try things, anything.  To learn to knit, or to make jam, to try and learn French, or how to restore a classic car, all without judgement, all for free, and if something doesn’t take, or you don’t like what you’re doing, you can take the book back and try something else.  For free.  All the time.  Forever.  Losing that, destroying that relationship…I honestly don’t know how a community could recover, losing their sense of adventure.

Lizz Zitron: Communities that lose libraries lose a piece of themselves. Libraries often serve as repositories for local history both in their collection and the physical building. Libraries provide a different sort of community space than a city hall or community center. A library is much more accessible and open to all in a community. You don’t need an appointment to use the library. You can walk in and start using it right away.

I honestly believe public libraries are a cornerstone of democracy. When citizens can easily access information important to them, democracy is working.

KATHERINE VASILIK: A community that loses a library loses one of the few things that can weave commonality through individuals who might not otherwise connect through a single thing.  It loses one of the few things that offer a wealth of things (information, recreation, community support) with asking for little in return.

JESSICA MILLER: The enormity of this question makes it extremely difficult to answer.  The problem is that in a community with no library there are repercussions that are immediately evident and then there are trickle down effects that may not be readily attributed to the lack of a library.  For instance, if there is no library, there are no free materials or internet access.  Then when people need to hunt for jobs they cannot look beyond their own local area.  When the school budgets get cut and class sizes swell and students cannot get the additional assistance they need from their teachers, they can no longer turn to the Library for additional materials, a place to meet with study groups, or free tutoring.  Then when twenty years down the road, a student wants to do a project on local history, people suddenly realize that those pieces of information were not kept and catalogued for future generations, and that that history has not been preserved. Libraries are vital to communities in many, many ways and a community without one will definitely suffer.

GERI DIORIO: It loses a lot of things, but something I’d like to point out is the loss of “the third place” for teens.  Everyone needs a third place – a safe community place that is separate from work and home. For adults this might be a bar, a church, a club.  For teens (who have school and home as their first two places), the choices are narrower.  They might have church, but they do not have a lot of other places, especially if their family is poor.  A library offers teens a safe, interesting, community space to play, learn, and grow in.

ANDREA INGALA: My director once told me that the programs that always get cut first are the prevention programs because you can never assess everything that was actually prevented with them. Take literacy programs for young children in low income communities, even something as simple as a storytime at the library. We can not easily evaluate the effect this has on a kid, whether or not he or she would have had a different path in life based on going to this program. In general, yes, there are things to which we can point: illiteracy rates among criminals, high school dropouts, etc. But when it comes down to budget time and different programs and departments are being evaluated based on bottom lines and whether or not the people of the community need their potholes repaired for safety’s sake or another staff member in the building to help at the circulation desk with the increase in materials circulated, it’s difficult to fight for those things. Potholes are concrete evidence on where tax money is going (ooh, a pun). Make no mistake, though, Public Works is vital to the safety of a community, but so is a library.

ELIZABETH CORBETT: It is broken-hearted. It is starved for a place to come together around books, stories, sharing of information, and discussing issues of importance to the community (e.g., local schools, health and safety concerns). Lost little kids who might otherwise find a safe home in the library, just get more lost. The digital divide in that community expands astronomically. The equity of access to books and information in that community plummets, leaving many of its members with no reliable source of reading material that they can afford. There is no weekly wild rumpus of a storytime where young children have a ball with books. A community that loses its library loses its center of supported exploration and independent learning for all people. It loses the place where all who enter can feel safe to be curious about anything, to ask questions about anything, and to get expert, wholehearted help searching for the answers.

EMMA WEILER: I feel that this fragments a community, or at least creates cracks.  In many ways, I feel that libraries are like the roots of a tree – you can’t see the strength under the ground holding the tree up, and if the roots die, the tree stands for a while.  But without the roots, the tree weakens, dies, and collapses.  I think this is why it can be so hard to define the importance of a library.  They are not things you look at but they support you none-the-less.

MABERRY: What can people do to support their local library?

TONYA OSWALT: One thing that the people of the community can do to support their libraries is to vote for the mill tax, or property tax, during elections, but library support goes much further.  First and foremost, visit your library and checkout the materials!  Use the services that the library offers.  Bring your children and friends!  Tell your neighbors, your friends, and everyone you know, about the library and what it has to offer.

SHANNA SWIGERT SMITH: Visit us!  And when you visit, be sure to bring your friends.

ROBIN BRENNER: Use it!  Critique it.  Tell us what we’re doing right, and tell us what we’re doing wrong.  More than anything, if you go to the library and they don’t have something you want, SAY SOMETHING.  The word of the people we serve in the ears of library directors, trustees, town selectmen, and supervisors, has far more weight than anything one librarian or library staff person may suggest.  Be sure to pay attention to local town budgets and where the library stands — and be informed about how voting will change how your library works for you.

RACHEL KRITZMANN: By using their library!  And telling their friends and families to use their libraries!  By shouting from the rooftops (or at least Facebook and Twitter) about using their libraries!  Now is the time for a library revolution.  Never be shamed faced for being interested in anything-whether it’s gay erotica, or if magic is real, or in the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas, because likely the librarians you talk to will have read that book, too, oh, and wait until you get to page 52, it’s amazing! Libraries are meant for the public.  We are meant to be used by the public.  We want to be used by the public, to help them find what they want, to get them the book they need, or at least get them on the waiting list.  Using your local library, and encouraging others to do so, by building  a sense of connection to the library, that is the best way to support us.  Money?  Librarians can bleed coins from rocks if we have to.  But there is nothing more terrifying to us than an apathetic public.

LIZZ ZITRON: Use them! Vote for them! those are two great ways to start. I’ve heard criticisms regarding supporting libraries when we need to put money towards feeding people or towards schools. Well, libraries are not just a place for books! Libraries are where kids go after school when there’s no place else to go. Libraries are where unemployed folks go to get free computer classes to update their skills and learn how to apply for jobs online. Libraries are where many homeless people spend hot days and cold evenings.
The San Diego Public Library Foundation is an excellent model of how people are involved in supporting their libraries. Not that everyone has to literally take to the streets or do something this big. Joining your Friends of the Library group or helping to start one is a great form for advocacy and support.

Also, follow what’s going on in your state regarding library funding. Writing letters to your representatives really can make a difference. Fortunately the American Librarian Association provides an excellent online tool kit for keeping abreast of issues and ways to advocate. http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/index.cfm

KATHERINE VASILIK: The best way to support any local business or community center is to USE it.  Show that it adds value to your life and the lives of others by taking full and complete advantage of all of the wonderful things it offers.  And to take it a step further: talk to everyone you know about how much value the library adds to your life.

JESSICA MILLER: Honestly, though some people think that donating materials to their local library is the best thing they could do to help, it’s really not. Don’t get me wrong; We LOVE donations of materials or in monetary form, but really what’s needed is positive exposure.  The best thing that people could do is tell everyone they know how much they love their library and how it has actually impacted their life.  Did a Librarian help you get a job?  Did that library tutor help you get into college?  Did having a safe place to go after school help keep you from joining a gang?  Tell people that!! The more that everyone hears these stories the better the public image of today’s libraries becomes – and with the economic crises of today’s society, we need politicians to think that society cannot function without libraries.

GERI DIORIO: They can use it – a lot.  Usage statistics help tremendously when applying for grants and funding.  They can let their town government know they like and use it.  Write letters, send e-mails, make phone calls, and not just when funding is on the line!  Do it outside a time of crisis and show them you love it.  People can also tell other people about the library and encourage them to use it.  Remind folks we are here!

ANDREA INGALA: People need to USE their library to support it! We are not a business and can not be evaluated by sales. We are, however, judged in worth by different numbers: door counts, program attendance, and circulation perhaps most of all. These things matter when it comes to whether or not we are valued in the community, when it comes to where the people of the community spend their tax dollars. I am, of course, speaking only of public libraries.

ELIZABETH CORBETT: Use it! Visit. Borrow materials (and bring them back on time, please). If you don’t see the item or the format you’re looking for, tell the librarian. S/he may well be able to help you track it down. The Free Library of Philadelphia, like many libraries, has downloadable books, audio books, music, and movies. Explore your library’s website to unearth hidden resources and services. Get to know your librarians and ask them questions, give them feedback, let them know what you value about the library and what else you’d like to see there. Make requests for new materials, formats, and programs. Tell your friends about how cool the library is, then invite them to your library fund-raiser. If you can afford to pay your overdue fines, pay them. Think of it as a donation to a community organization you care about. Bring your children to the library. Keep bringing your children. Teach them to understand that the library is theirs to use, to shape, to make demands of, and to contribute to throughout their lifetimes.

EMMA WEILER: All the obvious things – remind their local politicians that libraries support community and that you support funding our libraries.   I think making an effort to use the library more is good (a bit of a ‘duh’ suggestion). Teach your children about libraries, use their services, talk to a librarian.  Before you know it, you will be a more active (and better read) member of your community!

OUR PANEL:

Tonya Oswalt, Young Adult Services Assistant, Bossier Parish Libraries; Bossier City, LA

Shanna Swigert Smith, Teen Librarian, Mesa County Libraries; Grand Junction, CO

Robin Brenner, Reference & Teen Librarian, Brookline Public Library; Brookline, MA

Rachel Kitzmann, Young Adult Librarian, Los Angeles Public Library, Twitter: @libgrrrlla

Lizz Zitron, Outreach Services Librarian, Carthage College Hedberg Library; Kenosha, WI

Kate Vasilik, Adult/Young Adult Librarian, JF Kennedy Public Library; Piscataway, NJ

Jessica Miller, Young Adult Librarian, New Britain Public Library; New Britain, CT

Geri Diorio, Head of Children’s Services and Teen Services Librarian, The Ridgefield Library; Ridgefield, CT

Andrea Ingala, Teen Services/Reference Librarian, Windsor Public Library; Windsor, CT

Elizabeth Corbett, Children’s Librarian, Free Library of Philadelphia; Philadelphia, PA

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DEAD OF NIGHT by Jonathan Maberry
St. Martin’s Griffin; Trade paperback $14.99; $9.99 for e-book
(Also available from Macmillan Audio read by William Dufris)

Click here to buy the audio book.

Once you’re done reading the interview, check out the special audio sample of DEAD OF NIGHT.

JONATHAN MABERRY: What’s your process for preparing to read an audiobook?

BILL DUFRIS: It’s kind of a triple process:
1.    I like to simply read the book to myself, just to gauge my reactions to the material as a whole. I’ve always been an avid reader, and reading’s always been an enjoyable past-time, and so this the effortless part of my process. While reading, I’m also filing away character voices, which I tend to ‘hear’ in my mind’s ear. Also, an overall ‘feel’ for the material is taking place, a very organic aspect, difficult to explain.

2.    I then conduct a second pass through the book, marking passages and dialogue, noting which character is speaking with an initial for their name, indicating vocal level with up or down arrow for volume, ensuring that pages begin and/or end with a clause, allowing a page turn to take place during a natural break – the noise of which is later edited out. Prior to recording, the manuscript is filled with additional notations in my own special shorthand.

3.    Finally, a third pass, or reading, is made of the pages I anticipate recording the following day.

JONATHAN: Walk us through the steps of recording a book?

BILL:   I have my own home studio, so I engineer and read, while recording the material. A level is set, ensuring a listenable volume is established. A sip of apple juice is had, to lubricate the mouth. Chapstick is applied, so as to limit lip smacks. And recording starts. Each time there’s a slip-up in the reading, either a fluffed word or misread, or a noise from outside (passing planes, gaseous eruptions, etc), then I stop the recording, which creates an edit point. I retain original take, and resume recording, with the edit point clearly marked and waiting to be cleared by my editor later that day. After recording and editing is completed, the sound files and manuscript are delivered to my audiobook proofer, who then listens to the recording, while reading the manuscript, ensuring that every word as written is read correctly, and that there are no nasty noises. I am provided with a ‘corrections’ sheet, detailing any such mistakes, and I go through sound files and re-record, fixing errors. Then the sound files are broken up into chapters, and uploaded to either Dropbox or publisher’s ftp site.

JONATHAN MABERRY: How do you pick the voices for each character?  What goes into that process?

BILL:   I tend to ‘see and hear’ characters, as I read them. For example, Dez felt very much like Starbuck in Battlestar Galactica to me. So I gave her more of that attitude in my reading. Other characters in the book, if they’re described well enough (as yours most certainly are), are given attributes, to a greater or lesser degree, of minor and major tv/film actors. Also, what a character says, and their emotional level while speaking, determines how I’ll deliver a line. How a character is described physically will also dictate to me a particular way of giving them a voice (Gibbon was especially fun!). My face and body will also mimic the character, as I see and hear them, so I’m essentially ‘acting’ out each part as I say their lines. My background is stage and radio theatre, so playing characters is what I enjoy most.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Most people don’t really understand the difference between an actor narrating a book and someone simply reading it aloud. Can you give us some insight into those qualities an actor brings to the art of narration?

BILL:  It’s being able to make discoveries along the way. The narrator is guiding the listener through the story, but it’s a story that the narrator is also seeing for the first time, albeit a few steps ahead of the listener. It goes so far beyond a simple recitation of words. Again, it’s somewhat difficult to give words to what is an intuitive and organic process. But the end result is why computerized voices will NEVER match what the human voice can deliver – opening up an entire world for a listener, that is divorced completely from their immediate. This is also why computers can’t ‘write’ a story, either!

JONATHAN MABERRY: DEAD OF NIGHT deals with some dark themes. Are you a fan of horror fiction?

BILL:   I LOVE Horror Fiction!!! (Are you reading this, O Mighty Audiobook Publishers?!?) And Sci-Fi. I actually have a series of audio theatre pieces, entitled HorrorScopes, consisting of original and classic pieces adapted for this medium. My short-lived foray into writing (back in the 5th grade) was a horror piece. I love horror flicks. I prefer horror that has a fantastical element to it, something that kinda says that, “don’t worry, this could NEVER really happen”, as opposed to something on the line of a slasher film, or like the barely tolerable (to me) Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

JONATHAN MABERRY: DEAD OF NIGHT is a zombie novel. How do you feel about that genre?

BILL:   Love it! As do my teenage kids. We spent quite a few enjoyable nights together, watching Walking Dead, The Crazies, and others of that ilk. We also watch Shakespeare productions, Charlie Chaplin/Buster Keaton movies, and zany comedies as well. (That’s for their mom to read!)

JONATHAN MABERRY: Do you have a favorite character from the books?

BILL:   Dez! Absolutely. She rocks – hard-assed chick, built like a brick outhouse, with an attitude to boot. Plus a soft side. Yum!

JONATHAN MABERRY: After reading so many audiobooks, do you still have the energy to read for pleasure?

BILL:   I do. But more often than not, I’ve got my headphones on, listening to an audiobook. I’m a subscriber of Audible, and I have my iPod packed with books, and am listening to one on my walks, drives, while vacuuming… Love ‘em!

Click here to check out the special audio sample of DEAD OF NIGHT!  DEAD OF NIGHT – A ZOMBIE NOVEL

Young adult (YA) literature is hot.  Red hot. Smoking hot.  It’s where the real publishing industry buzz lives.  It’s a growing market despite a crumbling economy; and in a technological age it’s driven by actual word of mouth.  Well, to be fair, it’s word of ‘text’, but it’s close.

I asked librarians from across the U.S. to talk about the genre and why YA is the place to be for readers and writers.

JONATHAN MABERRY: YA literature is getting more and more of the social media buzz.  Why?

SHANNA SWIGERT SMITH: Two words, it is AWESOME and AMAZING!  Plus, people are looking for something to entertain and provide enjoyment.  Rarely, do I have to wade or push through reading a teen book.  They immediately grab your attention and do not let go till the very end.  The marketing of this through social media is a no brainer.  Young adults are not going to the New York Times Book Reviews.  Instead, they are going to Google it and look for an online presence.  (Shanna Swigert Smith, Teen Librarian, Mesa County Libraries; Grand Junction, CO)

ROBIN BRENNER: YA literature is a booming market right now because it’s appealing to teenagers, of course, but it’s also appealing to a wide range of readers.  In terms of social media: many of YA lit’s creators and readers are in that sweet spot of tech users (teens up through 40 year olds) who are more likely than anyone else to be out there tweeting, blogging, and tumblr-ing about their latest read. (Robin Brenner, Reference & Teen Librarian, Brookline Public Library; Brookline, MA)

RACHEL KITZMANN: Because it’s awesome, and that answer is only a little facetious.  YA literature is attracting talent and bravado at incredible rates.  The idea of teens as a force with disposable income came right on the heels of authors taking an actual stab at writing interesting, compelling books with teen protagonists.  Instead of “Issue Books” or books that were written by committee, authors as a force started addressing multiple teen-age experiences.  Doing this allowed teens to see their lives mirrored for the first time: the experiences they were reading about were the experiences they’d had, or their friends had had.  As teens started reading more and more (despite the moaning and groaning of various news outlets about “teens not reading”) authors got bolder and bolder.

Teens like realistic fiction, but what if I add vampires?  Zombies?  Aliens?  What if instead of setting it in the contemporary world, the book is set in WWI, and there are genetically engineered animals?  What if the book is written in verse?  What if the book has two, three a dozen points of view?  YA authors took risks that adult authors were unwilling to take, because the market of teens respected and responded to that risk taking.  Then the adults started respecting and responding to books that were aimed at people 5, 10 even 20 years younger, because the literature was good.  It was interesting and it was different than anything else on the market.  At the end of the day, that’s why YA literature gets a lot of buzz:  Because it is as good (and in my opinion, better) than comparable books in the adult market, and a great story is a great story no matter the age of the protagonist. (Rachel Kitzmann, Young Adult Librarian, Los Angeles Public Library, CA)

LIZZ ZITRON: YA literature takes on challenging issues more than any other genre and yet it struggles to gain respect as an intelligent, thoughtful medium. I think of it as the soap opera of literature. Soaps have long tackled tough issues long before their television counterparts. Positive, homosexual characters in loving relationships come to mind. Soaps had them long before nighttime TV. I see far more positive portrayals of LGBT characters in YA lit then I do in adult novels. Authors like David Levithan, John Green, Alex Sanchez and Maureen Johnson are a few writers who come to mind who have created characters and situations that ring with authenticity. Johnson in particular has avoided what we call the Lesbian Trope in which lesbian characters go crazy, die or both.

Additionally, YA literature is increasingly better-written in my opinion. Somehow authors are able to perform feats of word artistry I don’t see in many adult novels. The Morris award nominees from 2011 come to mind as examples of vastly different genres and storylines that were all incredibly well-written. They tackled fairly specific universes, characters and situations yet each author managed to make his or her work accessible, real and engaging. These books continue to “stick with me” in ways adult books I’ve read this year have not.  When you think about the audiences YA authors have to reach, they must write really well to reach them successfully. They are dealing with a population at wildly differing levels of intellectual, emotional and self-identity development. So they must be deceptively simple yet write deeply. (Lizz Zitron, Outreach Services Librarian, Carthage College- Hedberg Library; Kenosha, WI)

KIM CHRISTOFFERSON: There is so much good YA fiction being written.  Forget the paranormal/vampire books.  Try The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey or Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry.  These books will give you the willies.  If you want romance, pick up a Sarah Dessen book or Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan.  Dystopian stories like The Hunger Games trilogy or Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness are also good reads.

Hollywood picks up these stories and turns them into movies whether they be based on the book or a bit different but with the same story.  I don’t think publishers really recognized the enormity of the teen audience until the end of the 1990′s when Harry Potter became a hit.  Granted, the first couple of HP books are middle school books but so many kids in the 90′s were so excited to read it and wanted to read all of them.  By the time HP finished his 7th year, the kids who started reading him were grown but still faithful fans!  Then there are the Twilight series and The Hunger Games series.  Just a few examples of great YA fiction.  These books may not win a Printz award but they make the rounds at libraries across the world! (Kim Christofferson, Teen Librarian, Garden Grove Regional Library, CA)

JESSICA MILLER: I think this question has to be explained in several ways. First, YA lit itself is becoming much more popular.  With adults realizing, yes they can read these books, the audience has grown.  With many new YA books being made into movies, awareness of the books themselves has grown. With more and more people talking about the books, it has exploded onto the social media sites.  Now that is a self feeding cycle.  With buzz already building on the internet, more and more people are joining book related sites, creating book blogs, and in general adding to the buzz.  As more and more people emerge online with these interests, the publishers are glomming onto this fact and are thus creating more buzz online…and such the cycle goes.  Basically the books are awesome, people realize they are awesome and talk about them, the publishers see people talking and show them more things to talk about…online!  (Jessica Miller, Young Adult Librarian, New Britain Public Library; New Britain, CT)

TONYA OSWALT: The intriguing stories and the high quality of the writing in young adult fiction appeal to people of all ages.  It’s interesting to me that a lot of teenagers will skip over young adult fiction and go straight to adult fiction, while many adults will linger in the young adult section, devouring the books there for years.  There has also been an increase in the number of movies being made based on young adult books, perhaps thanks to the popularity of the Harry Potter and Twilight franchises.  Then there is the ongoing debate over the ‘darkness’ of young adult fiction that has recently resurfaced in the media just a few months ago.  Censorship has and always will be an issue in libraries and schools, regardless of the actual material that is being published, because it is impossible for everyone to be happy.    (Tonya Oswalt, Young Adult Services Assistant, Bossier Parish Libraries, Bossier City, LA)

JONATHAN MABERRY: What are your favorite YA genres/subgenres…and why?

SHANNA SWIGERT SMITH: Currently, I am in love with teen lit that re-imagines history with fantasy and/or the science fiction element.  I have always loved historical fiction, which, to be honest, is already an author’s own imagining of history.  I like the authors who have taken it a step farther, intertwining magic, machines and time travel.

ROBIN BRENNER: As I said above, I love the books that veer into all sorts of genre groupings.  I just want a good story and solid writing.  If I had to define what I want in a YA book: witty banter, strong dialog, well-balanced world-building (whatever that world may be), and spot on pacing.

RACHEL KITZMANN: I started out as a fantasy/sci-fi reader and that’s still what I fall back to.  If there are witches and fairies, chances are I’ve read the book, all the sequels, and have deep and thorough thoughts about the world and how it operates.  The physics of space and time is something that most people have at least a basic understanding of: time moves forwards, gravity is what holds the earth together and that is how it’s supposed to be, then BAM- Magic!  What are you going do when Newton’s laws of motion become mere suggestions?  A good fantasy/sci-fi author takes the time to consider the impact of that on the world as a whole and on the protagonist in particular.  It’s a fun way to really explore the human experience.

LIZZ ZITRON: I am new to the fantasy realm and I blame it all on Neil Gaiman and YA lit, but not necessarily in that order. High fantasy has always eluded me, perhaps because I’m a somewhat literal person and having to imagine new universes confuses me! But I was always fascinated by the whole culture which just looks like a whole heck of a lot of fun. I’m more of a geek groupie than actual geek. As fantasy has become more popular in YA lit and adapted to teen tastes and needs, it’s hooked a lot of adults in the process. And not just because of sexy vampires either. (I long for the day when we can talk about fantasy w/out mentioning vampires or zombies!)

I read Holly Black’s “Tithe” and was smitten. I love when authors play with established genre, subverting it to their will in order to add something fresh to the conversation. YA authors seems to be doing that well with fantasy. Cynthia Leitich Smith for example, is offering a funny, fresh look at vampires and werewolves with “Tantalize,” “Eternal” and “Blessed.” I’m reading “The Replacement” by Brenna Yovanoff right now and it’s a great example of twisting and turning fantasy elements to appeal to a wider audience while staying true to the genre.

What’s awesome is that YA fantasy lit has led me to comic books. I was a typical young girl who avoided comics and now wish someone had set me straight by putting one in my hands when I was a teen. I think I would be a much cooler person now if that had happened.

KIM CHRISTOFFERSON: I love dystopian books.  I started reading the dystopian genre with “The Giver” by Lois Lowry and it had me hooked.  There are lots of dystopian YA fiction and they circulate very well at our library.  I think the reason they are popular is teens want to be seen as the hero.  In most of these books, the teens are definitely the hero.  And not a superhero but a normal kid who does extraordinary things in extraordinary circumstances.  From Katniss in The Hunger Games series to Todd in Chaos Walking series to Sam in the Gone series.  They keep the reader’s attention, they bring out a touch of survivalist in the teen, and they are oftentimes funny.

JESSICA MILLER: My favorite genres have always been fantasy and science fiction.  I have not always been the bravest person in real life, but when you read fantasy or science fiction, you get to experience whole new worlds, travel to exotic places, and have outstanding and magical adventures…without even leaving your reading chair!  Now, there are many more recognized sub-genres within fantasy and science fiction.  Some of my favorites are dystopia (I have a strange fascination with imagining how I would deal with a corrupt and dangerous world), zombie books (…also fascinated with figuring out how to survive the zombie apocalypse), and steampunk ( I LOVE the combination of Victorian sensibilities and awesome gadgetry!).

TONYA OSWALT: I am most often drawn to fantasy and supernatural or paranormal fiction, and these are probably my favorites.  I like both high fantasy and the sword and sorcery type.  I also enjoy supernatural or paranormal books that include magic, vampires, werewolves, witches, etc., but I haven’t read every young adult vampire series there is.  There are a lot of them out there, and after a while, they all started to seem the same to me.  In general though, those are my favorite genres.  I also really like the young adult dystopia and steampunk trends, and I enjoy horror and some historical fiction in YA fiction.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Recommend a few books that you feel are outstanding.

SHANNA SWIGERT SMITH: My recent favorites are Starcrossed by Elizabeth Bunce, Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson, You Against Me by Jenny Downham, Blood Red Road by Moira Young, and Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

ROBIN BRENNER: My absolutely favorite books of the past few years are Patrick Ness’s Chaos Walking trilogy: The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Ask and the Answer, and Monsters of Men.  I have rarely read a trilogy so carefully written and clearly planned that nonetheless leaves readers on tenterhooks throughout three books of rapidly unwinding plot.  A lot of attention has gone toward The Hunger Games trilogy for tackling tough questions, but Ness addresses many of the same themes — war, loyalty, occupation, politics, terrorism vs. freedom fighting — and reveals it to be messy, life-altering, and so much more full of shades of grey than Collins’s series touched on.  In my absolute favorite touch: most tales that include war end with a final wrenching confrontation.  Monsters of Men, the third book, gets through that conflict in the first third of the book.  The rest of the story?  It’s all about the incredibly difficult and intense process that follows every war: reconstruction and reconciliation.  So few trilogies really dig deep into the after effects of a conflict they’ve set in motion in any series, let alone a series of teen books.

RACHEL KITZMANN: The book I read in January and have spent the last few months throwing at people is Beauty Queens by Libba Bray.  It starts as an almost silly premise (what happens when a plane full of beauty queens crash lands on a deserted island?) and spins it into this amazing manifesto on being female in the 21st Century.  Just…such a good, interesting, funny and heartbreaking book.

I’d also recommend The Education of Robert Nifkin by Daniel Pinkwater, one of my absolute favorite books, hands down.  It centers on Robert Nifkin, and the absurdity that is his high school, his family and his life, but it’s funny and relatable, even if the situations are extreme.  Admittedly, I lived in Chicago for about six years, and enjoy reading about streets that I know, or places I used to hang out, so that was a bonus for me as well.  Hilariously, neither of these books are fantasy, which is the genre I read the most in.

LIZZ ZITRON: Again all of the Morris Award nominees. There’s something for everyone in this list: Hush” by Eishes Chayil, published by Walker Publishing Company, a division of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc. “Guardian of the Dead” by Karen Healey, published by Little, Brown and Company/Hachette Book Group “Hold Me Closer, Necromancer” by Lish McBride, published by Henry Holt “Crossing the Tracks” by Barbara Stuber, published by Margaret McElderry Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division “The Freak Observer” by Blythe Woolston, published by Carolrhoda Lab, an imprint of Carolrhoda Books, a division of Lerner Publishing Group

KIM CHRISTOFFERSON: The whole Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness, An Abundance of Katherine’s by John Green, The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak, The Wish List by Eoin Colfer, Tamar by Mal Peet, The Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner

JESSICA MILLER: Three of the best books I have read recently are Divergent by Veronica Roth (girl defies expectations and exposes a coup d’état), Okay For Now by Gary D. Schmidt (boy overcomes abusive family situation to find the good in himself), and Beauty Queens by Libba Bray (beauty contestants on desert island figure out how to rescue themselves – HILARIOUS!).

TONYA OSWALT: I know there are still some people who haven’t read the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, so I have to start by recommending that.  It’s definitely getting more attention now since the movie is coming out in March, but the books are well worth a read before the movies hit the theater.  A fellow librarian recommended the series to me, and I have since continued to pass the recommendation along to all of my colleagues. In The Hunger Games, twenty-four teenagers are forced to fight for their lives in an arena each year while the rest of the country watches, as punishment for the last rebellion against the capital.  As Katniss, the main character, fights for her survival, she becomes a symbol of hope for the rest of the country.  Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson and If I Stay by Gayle Forman are two books that don’t fit my normal go-to genres that I have to recommend.  These books are powerful and haunting in a way that stays with you long after you’ve finished reading them.  In Wintergirls, Lia is fighting anorexia as she struggles to be thinner and thinner.  In If I Stay, a car accident leaves Mia in a coma, her brother injured, and her parents dead.  Mia is aware of this, despite the coma, and that she has a choice of whether to stay and live, or go and join her parents.  Even at the risk of sounding like I’m catering to the host, I also have to recommend Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry.  I’m not usually one to go looking for zombie books, but I was told that this was an excellent book and that it wasn’t really about the zombies.  I was pleased to find out that I agreed, and I usually recommend it to others as a book about relationships between family and friends that just happens to have zombies in it.

JONATHAN MABERRY: Discuss a favorite book that flew under the public radar.

SHANNA SWIGERT SMITH: I received an advanced copy of Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma earlier this year.  I wasn’t exactly thrilled to be reading a book that dealt with the taboo subject of incest, but I literally could not put it down.  Honestly, if it does hit the radar it may be the next banned book, but I would definitely recommend it as an amazing read.

RACHEL KITZMANN: I actually have a series that was discontinued:  The Alfred Kropp series by Rick Yancey.  Alfred Kropp is the last descendent of the Knight Lancelot.  He discovers this fact after his only living relative dies.  After that, Alfred is thrust into a world of high tech gadgets, magic and secret organizations.  It’s fast-paced, has tons of action and a really likable hero in Alfred.  The series is only three books, and though the end of the third book can be read as the finale in the series, Yancey asked enough new questions that I was really excited to see where he was going to take it, and then BOOM!  Cancelled.

KIM CHRISTOFFERSON: Tamar by Mal Peet was an excellent book that I think should have been on reading lists.  It has romance, mystery, suspense, war, everything a reader may want, plus it is a book that I didn’t want to put down until I finished.  Unfortunately, the only readers who knew about this incredible book were those in my book club and those who took the chance to pick it up from a display I created, and regardless of how much booktalking I did about it.  The book is a dense one and teens are reluctant to pick up something they can’t get through in a short time.

JESSICA MILLER: I have two books that I read and really enjoyed that I think most people do not know about.  The first, Dark Life by Kat Falls is a middle grade science fiction adventure.  Set in the future, humans now life under the ocean and children are starting to display special skills developed from inhabiting their new environment.  It’s like a western movie set under the ocean.  The characters are strong and the novelty of an underwater setting makes for all different types of interesting dangers! Secondly, I would strongly recommend your own book, Rot and Ruin. What I really love about the crop of new zombie books is the focus not solely on survival from zombie hordes, but dealing with the day to day life and emotional fallout that occurs after the initial crisis.  Rot and Ruin is a fantastic example of this type of book.  The characters learn a lot about humanity from seeing how the people around them deal with both the zombies and the other survivors. I can’t wait to finally read the next book in the series, Dust and Decay.

TONYA OSWALT: The first book that comes to mind that I absolutely love and that apparently hasn’t gotten as big of a reception as the publishers would have liked is The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey.  This book, the first in the Monstrumologist series, was one of the best horror books in young adult fiction in some time.  The writing style is captivating, as are the characters, and I was hooked from the start! Another book that I love that hasn’t gotten a lot of attention in my library is Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld.  Leviathan is the first in a series that creates a steampunk version of World War I, where the Central Powers, or the Clankers, are known for their machines, and the Allies, called the Darwinists, use fabricated creatures such as whale airships and message lizards.  The story alternates between Deryn, a girl pretending to be a boy so that she can serve as an airman for the Darwinists, and Alek, the son of the Archduke of Austria-Hungary.  One last book that I want to mention is Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta, a fantasy novel that I almost didn’t discover myself.  Though the book starts slow, once it picks up, the characters captivate you and sweep you into the moving story of the people of Lumatere as they try to find their way back home and locate their kingdom’s missing heir.

JONATHAN MABERRY: What’s next for YA lit?

SHANNA SWIGERT SMITH: I definitely know that teen lit is not getting less intense or dark in the near future!

ROBIN BRENNER: I have no idea, and that’s a lovely thing!  I would just say more of it…more of it all!

RACHEL KITZMANN: YA lit is going through some growing pains-it’s still somewhat looked down on as an audience even as every author in the history of ever is writing for it, trying to cash in.  A glut is coming, a YA saturation point, which needs to happen before the market can level.  The authors that care about YA, about the teens that they’re trying to reach with their stories will remain, and those looking turn a quick dollar will leave.  I think the future of YA will be less about trends (“Quick, we need unicorns!  I SAID UNICORNS, NOT PEGASI!”) and more about authors.  The media is having a hard time acknowledging the vastness of YA literature.  The focus tends to be on the “hotness” of vampires/zombies/fairies/mythology books.  That, I think, will change.  The focus will be on the book.  And that day will be oh so welcome.

LIZZ ZITRON: Probably Cthulhu romance. I think the LGBT market will continue to explode, evolve and develop until we no longer notice it as a subgenre, but as an established element of YA literature. At least, that is my hope and I see that happening in the books coming out. The graphic novel will grow in popularity, but I think the format will change in that we won’t see shiny paperback books, but rather books that look like most novels in terms of the packaging. Look for the revolutions in the Middle East to start seeping into YA Literature. I’m so excited about “Zahra’s Paradise” from First Second books to come out September 13. It’s a book version of a popular, anonymous web comic about the 2009 elections in Iran and what happened to those who dared to protest them. It represents what I love about YA lit: it provides a space in which we can view other lives and come to find they are not so different from our own.

KIM CHRISTOFFERSON: I think YA lit is getting bolder in terms of discussing “adult” topics.  Sex, obviously, is a topic in books teens will seek out.  But authors of YA lit will be under the gun in terms of fighting to express in their writing sexual situations.  Death, violence, terrorism, and love are hard to get through tastefully in books and I believe YA authors have done just that and are working more for that type of fiction.

Based on what I’ve heard more and more people asking for through social media and what books I’m seeing gain immense popularity, I think there are a couple of trends that might be coming up soon.  1. The reemergence of straight up science fiction – though this genre has always been strong in adult literature, it is only now starting to really pick up in YA.  Books like Beth Revis’ Across the Universe and Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan that are getting a strong media push will definitely help this trend gain momentum.  2.  The development of a college aged subgenre in realistic fiction.  Many, many YA readers bemoan the fact that YA lit seems to stop with characters graduating from high school. A few books here and there, sometimes shelved in YA, sometimes shelved in the adult area deal with college students.  As we’ve already determined that children and teens read up age-wise, why are we not including books with college age characters geared towards our high school readers? 3. Contemporary (but not issue driven) fiction – Think authors like Jennifer Echols and Stephanie Perkins.  With the overload of dystopian fiction in recent months, I think a lot of teen readers are pulling back and looking for a nice “normal” read. 4.  Lastly, not really a new genre, but a new type of book – Multimedia!

This trend really began in middle grade fiction with series like The 39 Clues. Now with the unveiling of Pottermore and The Capital PN (linked to The Hunger Games), I think more and more upcoming titles and series will be presented with print and online formats, as well as layers of usability.

TONYA OSWALT: The vampires have had their heyday, but they don’t seem to be going away anytime soon.  Zombies have been on the rise for a while, as have angels.  The new thing this year seems to be mermaids, but I’m not sure that mermaids are going to take hold quite the way some other character types have.  The dystopian fiction continues to keep coming, and I’m sure that it’s going to stick around for a little while.  I think in the future we may see more interactive YA fiction.  There are already books like The Amanda Project series that let readers go online to create their own characters and add to the story.  Now with e-readers, smart phones, and other devices used so frequently, and teens using media sites so heavily, I think that authors and publishers will find more ways to use these things to make books more interactive.

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JONATHAN MABERRY: What inspired the creation of Smashwords?

MARK COKER:  It started based on my own experience as a writer, and then grew into something much larger.

My wife and I co-wrote our novel Boob Tube a few years ago.  It’s a roman a clef about the daytime television soap opera industry (my wife is a former reporter for Soap Opera Weekly Magazine).  Despite representation by one of the most respected literary agencies in New York (Dystel & Goderich), every major publisher rejected our book.  The common thread of feedback was that previous soap opera-themed novels had not performed well, so publishers were reluctant to take a chance on it.

I realized there were hundreds of thousands of other talented writers around the world who could not get published simply because publishers questioned the commercial potential of their book.  I imagined the millions of people over the last couple hundred years who took their unpublished works to their grave.  It’s sad on so many levels.  Not only were their life-long dreams of publication never fulfilled, but readers were denied the opportunity to discover an untold number of classics.  How many potential masters on the level of Charles Dickens or Mark Twain have been lost for all eternity simply because a publisher didn’t publish them?

At the crux of the problem is that publishers publish for reasons different than writers write.  Publishers publish books to sell books, thus if they don’t perceive commercial potential, they’re reluctant to acquire a title.  Most writers write because their heads will explode if they don’t.  I think it’s dangerous to judge the value of books by commercial potential alone.  Left unchecked, publishers may one day publish only celebrity books because celebrities have platforms.

I ultimately came to the conclusion that traditional publishing was broken for authors, readers and publishers.  Publishers aren’t able to take a risk on every author, nor would most want to take such a risk if they could.

My idea for Smashwords was to create an online publishing platform that would allow me to take a risk on every author.  We set out to offer free ebook publishing services so any writer, anywhere in the world, could instantly publish an ebook at no cost.  We let readers decide what’s worth reading.

We launched in 2008.  By the end of that first year, we published 140 books.  That number grew to 6,000 by the end of 2009, 28,800 by 2010, and now surpasses 70,000 titles.  We’ll reach 100,000 in the next five months.

JONATHAN: Smashwords is very quickly becoming a go-to destination site like ‘Ebay’, ‘YouTube’ and ‘Amazon’.  What is it about Smashwords that’s catching the e-pub world’s attention?

MARK:  I think writers are drawn to us because we make it fast, free and easy to publish and distribute an ebook.  We’ve built a robust publishing platform that only gets better with time because we’re constantly working to evolve it with better technology, more useful features, and new retailers.  We spend 100 percent of our time asking ourselves, “how can we better serve our authors?”  Our authors are passionately vocal about what they like and what they don’t like, and we listen closely to their suggestions, complaints and kudos.  Our growth has been driven by word of mouth.  It’s all been about happy authors telling their author friends about us.

JONATHAN: What makes Smashwords fun for you?

MARK:  It’s knowing that we’re helping writers realize their dreams.  We’ve broken down the barriers to publication and distribution so every author can realize their dream of publication.  Some of the emails we receive from thankful authors would bring tears to your eyes.  We’ll often hear, “Thanks to Smashwords, I’m writing again.” Whenever I hear that, puts an instant knot in my throat because I know what it feels like to pour your heart and soul into something only to have someone slam the door in your face.  I also know what it feels like to be given a chance.  We give authors a chance.

JONATHAN: Can you share a couple of Smashwords success stories?

MARK:  Oh boy, where to start.  The biggest successes to me are the folks who realize their dream of publication, regardless of commercial success.  It should be stated that very few ebook authors achieve commercial success.  This holds true for traditionally published authors as well, most of whom maintain day jobs to support their writing.  We make it easy to publish and distribute, but we don’t make it easy to sell books.  It’s the responsibility of the writer to write books worth reading.  That said, we do have many authors who have achieved commercial success with our platform.  All the credit goes to the author, so it’s not due to any magic on our end other than us making it fast and free to get the book published and widely distributed.  Most of the biggest names in indie publishing are using us for some or all of their distribution.

A couple names:  I love the story of Brian S. Pratt, a writer of epic fantasy novels.  I interviewed him for the Smashwords blog last year (click here for the interview).  His first quarter at Smashwords two years ago, he earned $7.82.  Many authors with less conviction might have hung up the keyboard at that time and given up.  Brian persevered.  He figured as long as people were buying, he’d keep writing.  In the fourth quarter of 2010 he earned over $20,000.  This year his numbers are much higher and he’ll easily break $100,000 in earnings.  This, from an author who couldn’t get an agent or publisher, and by his own account was living below the poverty level as a single father of three.  Brian’s also a really smart self-publisher.  All his books are full-length, he writes series, and he gives the first book in the series away for free.  He honors the reader with great stories.

Another success story is Shayne Parkinson, a writer of historical fiction in New Zealand.  I met with her and her husband Roger (who also publishes at Smashwords) last October in Auckland.  She told me how New Zealand publishers wouldn’t publisher her books because they told her no one outside of New Zealand would care to read historical fiction set in New Zealand.  Rubbish!  A good story is universal, and Shayne proves this.  Shayne’s a great writer, and although she’s not a household name yet, I think we’ll continue to see her break out in a big way.  It’s great to watch her sales tick up each quarter as more and more readers discover her.

JONATHAN: Everyone has an opinion about the future of e-publishing.  What’s yours?

MARK:  Ebooks are the future of publishing.

Many big publishers are starting to report that ebooks account for 20 percent or more of their annual sales, up from under one percent just a few years ago.  Smaller independent publishers are earning more from ebooks.  Among most indies (self-published authors), ebook sales already trump print.  Most self-published authors find that they’re selling hundreds of ebooks for every print book they sell.  Brian S. Pratt, mentioned above, and Amanda Hocking, another Smashwords author, have both publicly stated they sell over 1,000 ebooks for every print book.

For the next several years, ebooks will likely continue to be the fastest growing format in publishing.  Within two years, the unit volume of ebooks purchased will exceed 50 percent of all sales, and within three years I think dollar sales will exceed print, industry-wide.  Most indie authors who are doing ebooks and print books have already experienced the crossover.

The power of publishing is shifting from publishers to authors.  For the last couple centuries, publishers controlled the printing press and the access to retail distribution.  They determined which writers became published authors, and which authors received distribution.  Now, thanks to ebooks and democratized distribution, any author anywhere can get their book quickly published and distributed.  Rather than earning the traditional 5-12% of list price as their royalty, indie authors earn up to 5-10 times that.

Thanks to the ease and accessibility of indie ebook publishing, we will see more books self-published.  Five years from now, I predict most NY Times ebook best-sellers will be indie authors.  If I do my job properly, many of them will be utilizing Smashwords for some or all of their distribution (at least that’s my goal!).  In the meantime, we’re already seeing Smashwords authors scaling the retailer-specific best-seller charts in their genres, and a small number have already broken out into the NYT and USA Today best-seller lists.

The high-profile successes of indie ebook authors such as Amanda Hocking, Nyree Belleville (writes as Bella Andre and Lucy Kevin), John Locke, Julie Ortolon, Joe Konrath and others inspire other authors to consider the advantages of self-publishing.  I think over the next few years the inspiration provided by these early trailblazers will lead many big-name authors to leave their traditional publishers, or change their relationship with the publisher.  Authors are beginning to ask, “what can my publisher do for me that I can’t already do for myself?”  If brick and mortar bookstores continue to fade, and if the ebook format surpasses print, then the pressures on authors to leave their big publishers will increase.

I think the big New York publishers will have a tough time over the next five years.  The world still needs publishers, though, because not all authors want to assume the responsibility of being their own publisher.  It’s tough work to be a great publisher!  The opportunity for publishers is to do for authors what authors cannot or will not do for themselves.  For a publisher, that means editing (helping the author turn their good book into a super-great book), print distribution and marketing.

More big name traditional authors will start demanding to retain their digital rights.  Here, it helps to have a great literary agent, because publishers are reluctant to acquire a book without digital rights.  I think literary agents have an important role to play in the ebook revolution.  The best agents help their clients maximize their commercial success, whether that success is found by self-publishing a title as an ebook or working with publisher, or straddling both worlds.  I blogged about what this trend means for agents and authors here:  http://blog.smashwords.com/2011/08/literary-agents-indie-ebook-roadmap.html

For writers, I think there’s never been a more exciting time to write and release books.  The market opportunity is wide open.  Ebooks need never go out of print, so indie ebooks have more time to reach readers.  Great books will find readers.  Indie authors have the opportunity to outpublish the big publishers with faster time-to-market, lower prices, broader distribution and closer relationships with readers.  If readers of this blog are interested to learn the best-practices of the most commercially successful indie authors, I captured their secrets here:  http://blog.smashwords.com/2010/10/seven-secrets-to-ebook-publishing.html

Thanks for inviting me to share my thoughts!

Suggested ebook publishing resources:

Smashwords Style Guide (how to format and publish an ebook) – Required reading for all Smashwords authors, and provides a good overview for all authors on how ebook formatting is different from print formatting.

Smashwords Book Marketing Guide (how to market any book) – This free guide is useful to all authors, even those who don’t yet do ebooks.

Smashwords FAQ – Includes a helpful glossary of eBook publishing terms

How to Publish at Smashwords – Good collection of links to the above and other on-site resources

My guest today on the Big Scary Blog is award-winning actor and audio-book reader Tom Weiner who did the narration for the recent release of GHOST ROAD BLUES, first book of the Pine Deep Trilogy.

Tom started out as a drummer in rock bands, opening for Jefferson Airplane, The Band, and Big Brother & the Holding Co. (Janice Joplin). His first film role (at age of ten) was the drummer in the “orphan’s orchestra” in “An Affair to Remember.” After stints with the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and other theater companies, Tom entered the world of dubbing and voice acting. Some of his signature roles include the title role in The Ghost in the Shell; General Bison in Streetfighter; voice-matching Christopher Plummer speaking Klingon dialog in Star Trek VI; the voice of Sid, the possessed ventriloquist’s dummy, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer; the Transformer Grimlock in Transformers: Robots in Disguise; Quent Yaiden, the wolf hunter, in Wolf’s Rain). He’s also become one of the most sought-after audiobook readers in the business. I had a chance to chat with Tom and thought I’d share…

JONATHAN MABERRY: What’s your process for preparing to read an audiobook?

TOM WEINER: If it’s fiction, I read the entire book, making notes as I go about various characters, their emotional agendas, accents or dialects, origins, etc. If the book is part of a series, I’ll try to read as much of it as possible before I begin recording. As Grover (Gardner)** is always telling me, the narrator is a character, too, and if he or she is speaking as the “omniscient entity” who knows what’s happening, why it’s happening, and what’s going to happen, then you, as the narrator, had better know what choices to make in re intonation and interpretation before you start narrating. (When I first started, I gave a character an Irish brogue, until two thirds of the way through the book, I discovered he was from Dallas. Oops.)

If it’s non-fiction, I look at the table of contents, then the index, and make notes re terms (words, names, or places) I don’t know how to pronounce (for the research that will have to be done by me or someone else before I begin recording). I’ll also speed-read the book (a quick scan, about 20 seconds a page), trying to find other terms I’ll have to do research on which aren’t mentioned in the index. Rarely will I read the book beforehand.

(**NOTE: Grover Gardner is Studio Director for Blackstone Audio)

MABERRY: Walk us through the steps of recording a book?

TOM: I start with the “preparation” mentioned above. Then, along with whatever engineer they’ve assigned to work with me, I begin recording the book, usually 4 hours at a time Monday thru Friday. Whenever character voices are required, the engineer will create a “voice ref” (reference) each time a new character speaks. That way, when he or she doesn’t appear for 50 pages or more, I don’t have to rely on my (often faulty) memory to be able to reproduce that character’s vocal characteristics. My voice is recorded onto a hard drive, and when I’m done, those files are sent to the proofing department, where other engineers listen to every word, syllable, breath, burp, etc., and mark which parts need to be re-recorded (for any number of reasons). The necessary corrections (“pick-ups”) are sent back to me and my engineer, and we record those parts again, trying as much as possible to match the tone, ambience, intention, etc., of the original. After that, it’s bye-bye book, and on to the next one.

MABERRY: How do you pick the voices for each character? What goes into that process?

TOM: First and foremost, I think a narrator has to have a certain kind of confidence in his ability to, in a sense, read the author’s mind, which is to say, how the author heard each character’s dialog as he/she was writing it. Also, the author will often give descriptions of a character’s voice (gruff, gravelly, contralto, reedy, nasal, etc.), and if not an actual description, then “clues” which are often there if you look hard enough. As well, I have a tendency (though it’s a habit I’m trying to break) to assign voices to characters relative to their weight and size. I also use the character’s intentions (real and pretended) as a guide to their vocal characteristics.

MABERRY: What’s the role of the director in the performance process?

TOM: After being a dialog director for so many years in L.A., I know what I’d want from a director. If I had one. Which I don’t.

MABERRY: After reading so many audiobooks, do you still have the energy to read for pleasure?

TOM: Absolutely.

MABERRY: You’ve recorded the entire Pine Deep Trilogy. Do you have a favorite character from the books?

TOM: Oh yeah. Ruger.

MABERRY: I’ve had a ton of reader mail from people since I announced that I was going to interview you. Out of that I picked a handful. First up is: Do you feel like the character as you portray him, and how much of yourself do you bring to the role?

TOM: In terms of “feeling like” a character, voice acting is no different from any other kind of acting, which means (in my opinion) you must BE that character when you’re reading his dialog. Of course, in audio books, you may have to do a dozen different characters on the same page (2 to 2½ minutes), which takes a tremendous amount of focus, and a whole bunch of energized neurons trying to keep all those intentions, accents, levels, etc. straight. As for “how much of myself” etc., it feels like I give all of myself to every character.

MABERRY: Reader question: What are some of your favorite performances as an audio performer?

TOM: The Pine Deep trilogy was an absolute blast. Sensational premise and through-line, great characters, the kind of books narrators always welcome, since we get a chance to show off our vocal chops. Also, Harvest of Stars by Poul Anderson, The Tourist by Owen Steinhower, Without Warning by John Birmingham, Inferno and The Draco Tavern by Larry Niven, the Martin Beck detective series by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch and The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick, Armor by John Steakley, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, by Robert Heinlein.

MABERRY: Another reader question: Do people ever recognize you by your voice because they’ve heard you read an audio book?

TOM: More often, I’m recognized by my voice as a result of all the animation and anime I did in L.A. from 1981—2005, or the work I’ve done on stage at the Camelot (Ashland and Talent are VERY small towns). But people are always asking me if I do radio or t.v. commercials, because I have “such a nice voice.” Also, I’m always practicing different accents as I go through the day, doing Cockney at the market and French at the pharmacy, etc. At one point, that led to a lesson in humility. I was standing in line at the market, and behind was a Brit couple, speaking with a Lancashire accent. So, sort of showing off, I mimicked their accent when I spoke to the gal at the register. Behind me, I heard the woman ask her husband, “Is he doing us?” To which he responded, “Yeah, but not very well.”

MABERRY: Last reader question: Do audio performers get any kind of recognition –like an Oscar or Emmy?

TOM: I’ve won several awards from AudioFile Magazine, and an Audie nomination. But now that Emmys are being awarded for narration, that’s what folks are shooting for. Unfortunately, those are usually reserved for celebrities, not us common folk.

Check out a sample of Tom reading from my novel, GHOST ROAD BLUES:

Ghost Road Blues Sample

To view my whole catalog at Blackstone Audio, click here: click here.

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Tom Weiner’s Awards:

Best Audiobooks of the Year Award, Earphones Award

HUEY LONG by T. Harry Williams [Pulitzer Prize & National Book Award]

Read by Tom Weiner • Blackstone Audio 2009

… Many Louisianans populate the story, and Tom Weiner gives them perfect Southern accents…Weiner employs a sharp, authoritative tone for Long, telling his amusing and sometimes apocryphal stories. The combination of excellent material, skillful composition, and Weiner’s engaging narration makes this audiobook easy to recommend. [J.A.H.] © AudioFile

Best Voices of the Year Award, Earphones Award

the laughing policeman by Maj Sjöwall & Per Wahlöö

Read by Tom Weiner • Blackstone Audio 2009

…another excellent police procedural about Martin Beck and his colleagues of the Stockholm Homicide Squad. Once again, Tom Weiner gives a performance that is pitch-perfect for the material. The very different personalities of the squad members are beautifully rendered, as are characters we meet only once or twice—in particular, a detective’s wife and the girlfriend of one of the victims. The plot takes several unexpected turns, but Weiner’s sure narration is always on key with what is happening. The result is that while we are lost in the emotion of the story, we are never lost amid the action. [R.E.K.] © AudioFile

Best Voices of the Year Award, Earphones Award

THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE by Philip K. Dick

Read by Tom Weiner • Blackstone Audio 2009

…downright scary… narrator Tom Weiner delivers a classic performance that captures the Orwellian atmosphere that abounds in this tale while giving a nod to radio announcers from the 1940s. His characters are incredibly rich and perfectly realized. One of the best and most complex readings this year!

[L.B.] © AudioFile

Best Audiobooks of the Year Award

BLACK MASK AUDIO MAGAZINE, VOL. 1

Read by Tom Weiner, Grover Gardner,Anthony Heald, Lorna Raver et al.
Unabridged • Blackstone Audio

Blackstone Audio returns listeners to the thrilling days of yesteryear…from the most popular hard-boiled mystery publication of the ‘30s and ‘40s, BLACK MASK MAGAZINE. This first volume has performances by 14 of today’s top audio narrators, including Tom Weiner, Grover Gardner, and Lorna Raver…a déjà vu of radio days—but even better–given new life by some of the best voices of our time. [A.L.H.] © AudioFile 2009

Earphones Award

THE TOURIST by Olen Steinhauer

Read by Tom Weiner • Unabridged • Blackstone Audio 2009

“Tourists” are the CIA’s special team of assassins spread across the globe. Retired tourist Milo Weaver knows that to survive, he must trust no one. Narrator Tom Weiner gives Milo the gravitas of a man disillusioned by an amoral world. Milo faces danger, deception, and death at every turn and Weiner makes it plausible. As well as handling Steinhauer’s mind-boggling pacing and serpentine plotting, Weiner turns secondary characters into individuals—”the Tiger,” an assassin dying of AIDS; a tenacious Homeland Security investigator; the devious CEOs and assorted thugs at the CIA. A super spy thriller. [S.J.H.] © AudioFile 2009

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Join us for a FREE 3-hour networking and discussion about writing and publishing at the Writers Coffeehouse.

Location:  BARNES & NOBLE WILLOW GROVE (102 Park Avenue, Willow Grove, PA 19090.

Time: Coffeehouse Sunday, August 28, 2011, noon to 3pm

The Writers Coffeehouse is open to everyone.

It’s a bunch of writers sitting around talking about writing…with coffee.  No agenda…just chat about the latest trends in the industry, about markets, about pitching and selling, about frustration, about keeping the inner fires alight, about dealing with our families, about how damn tough it is to make it as a writer at the best of times and what writers can do to stay afloat in these troubled economic waters.

No previous publishing experience necessary…the Writers Coffeehouse attracts everyone from absolute beginner to award-winners and bestsellers.  We’re all writers.

The Coffeehouse is a regular event which meets on the last Sunday of every month from noon to 3pm. Grab a cup of coffee and join us in the meeting room in the left rear corner of the store (next to the music section).

For more information, drop me a line at jonathan_maberry@yahoo.com

And join us online at TheWritersCoffeehouseOnline-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

The LIARS CLUB (www.liarsclubphilly.com) is a group of professional writers from the Philadelphia area who give talks, workshops, signings and events in support of bookstores, libraries, literacy and the love of books.

The Liars Club lineup includes Jonathan Maberry (New York Times bestseller and multiple Bram Stoker Award winning author and Marvel Comics writer);  L. A. Banks (New York Times best-selling author of paranormal thrillers and spooky romances); Gregory Frost (best-selling fantasy author); Solomon Jones (Daily News columnist and crime novelist); Jon McGoran (author of forensics thrillers for Penguin as D H Dublin); Kelly Simmons (women’s contemporary fiction author); Ed Pettit (book reviewer and renowned expert on Edgar Allen Poe); Dennis Tafoya (celebrated crime writer); Don Lafferty (publicist, social media guru, crime fiction and non fiction magazine feature writer), Marie Lamba (author of Young Adult novels); Merry Jones (mystery novelist and humorist), Keith Strunk (actor, playwright, historian and children’s storyteller) and Keith DeCandido (author of dozens of science fiction, fantasy and media tie-in novels).

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