Today on Author’s Spotlight, we’re celebrating Saundra Mitchell’s launch day!
Shadowed Summer is OUT!
Saundra Mitchell
Here’s why you should know more about Saundra.
A screenwriter and author, Saundra Mitchell penned more than 300 screenplays for the Fresh Films and Girls in the Director’s Chair short film series. Her short story “Ready to Wear” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and Shadowed Summer has been chosen to be a Junior Library Guild selection. In her free time, she enjoys ghost hunting, papermaking, and spending time with her husband and her two children. She lives in Indianapolis.
About SHADOWED SUMMER
Nothing ever happened in Ondine, Louisiana, not even the summer Elijah Landry disappeared.
His mother knew he ascended to heaven, the police believed he ran away, and his girlfriend thought he was murdered.
Decades later, certain she saw his ghost in the town cemetery, fourteen-year-old Iris Rhame is determined to find out the truth behind “The Incident With the Landry Boy.”
Enlisting the help of her best friend Collette, and forced to endure the company of Collette’s latest crush, Ben, Iris spends a summer digging into the past and stirring old ghosts, in search of a boy she never knew.
What she doesn’t realize is that in a town as small as Ondine, every secret is a family secret.
SHADOWED SUMMER
If you had to give your book a movie rating: G through Rated R, which one would you give and why?
PG. There’s very little bad language and no sex at all. But it is scary in parts, and some parents might find the themes and the use of the occult inappropriate for their families.
What topics, issues, or themes does your book address? What drove you to write about them?
Shadowed Summer is a ghost story, a friendship story, a love story- but really, it’s a story about that crystallized moment when you realize the world is bigger than just you. Most revelation is personal, but this is the one epiphany we share with almost everyone.
Name three examples of readers who would identify with or like your book.
Teens from small towns who yearn to break free; teens from cities who long for the quiet of the country. Anyone who has ever been forced to ask why, of someone who can no longer answer.
List a statistically improbable phrases or sentences one might find in your book. These are phrases or sentences you might never find anywhere else.
“Wind kissed my ear, cool and soft and I heard a voice. It sounded like clover tastes- green and new and sweet.”
Tell us why you think this book is different from the rest.
Shadowed Summer is different because it’s a raw and honest novel, but it’s not stark. Though I admire gritty flash-exposed novels myself, I think Shadowed Summer has a softer kind of gravity. It doesn’t make conclusions about the nature of the world in which it exists, it simply, truthfully illuminates it.
Now tell us about other already-published books that readers of your book might enjoy.
Evangeline: A Certain Slant of Light, Laura Whitcomb
Vintage, Steve Berman
I Heart You, You Haunt Me, Lisa Schroeder
Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush, Virginia Hamilton
The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Carrie Ryan
The Silver Kiss, Annette Curtis-Klause
13 Reasons Why, Jay Asher
Impulse, Ellen Hopkins
Whet our appetites with a teaser. Please provide the first few lines or opening paragraph of your book.
Nothing ever happened in Ondine, not even the summer Elijah Landry disappeared. That was an incident, and being specific, it was ‘The Incident with the Landry Boy.’
Since he never was found, it gave me and my best friend, Collette, something to wonder about, and in Ondine, wondering was about all we had to do.
Are you offering authors visits to schools, libraries, or other organizations?
Yes
Are you willing to speak nationally?
Yes
List a few example titles of presentations, talks, or workshops you might give for an author visit.
Title of Program: Writing for Love, Writing to Live
Length of Program: 45 Minute Talk + 15 Minutes Q&A
Recommended for Grades: 6-10
Audience Size: Small Group Instruction (35 or fewer)
Brief Description : A love of writing doesn’t have to lead to a career- the first part of this talk focuses on personal writing- including journaling, blogging and fan fiction. But if you decide you do want to do what you love, the second half of this talk focuses on how to convert personal writing into a career in writing.
Contact Lisa McClatchy, Random House School Liaison or Kathy Dunn, Random House Publicity Department.
This concludes our interview with our latest author, Saundra Mitchell. We wish her terrific success with her debut novel SHADOWED SUMMER. And congratulations on your launch, Saundra!
To see what Saundra is up to these days, visit her website at http://www.saundramitchell.com or her blog at http://www.saundramitchell.com/blog.
Check out our other Author Spotlights and AuthorsNow! giveaways.
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