Who: Anyone, anywhere is eligible! Entrants must be 13 years of age, or have their parents enter the giveaway for them. Debs and their immediate families are, sadly, ineligible to win. This means you, Snoop and Baxter, sorry. You may only win ONE Debsness bag, but winning a Debsness bag does not disqualify you from other Debs giveaways during the year.

What: The 12 Months of Debsness is here! Win an entire bag of awesome prizes; you might even win a 50 dollar bookstore gift certificate!

When: Enter until midnight tonight, EST on the 15th of every month. Winners revealed at 12:00pm EST the following day!

Where: http://www.feastofawesome.com

How: Just leave your name and e-mail address on the giveaway post when it’s up, and our random monkeys will pick a name out of the hat!

Who: Anyone, anywhere is eligible! Entrants must be 13 years of age, or have their parents enter the giveaway for them. Debs and their immediate families are, sadly, ineligible to win. This means you, Snoop and Baxter, sorry. You may only win ONE Debsness bag, but winning a Debsness bag does not disqualify you from other Debs giveaways during the year.

What: The 12 Months of Debsness is here! Win an entire bag of awesome prizes; you might even win a 50 dollar bookstore gift certificate!

When: Enter until midnight tonight, EST on the 15th of every month. Winners revealed at 12:00pm EST the following day!

Where: http://www.feastofawesome.com

How: Just leave your name and e-mail address on the giveaway post when it’s up, and our random monkeys will pick a name out of the hat!

Who: Anyone but Debs, their families and pets are eligible
What: A giant bag full of win including a $50 gift card!
When: Until midnight tonight, Feb 15, 2009. (Then again next month!)
How: Just leave your name in the entry to be entered!
Where: http://community.livejournal.com/debut2009/500837.html

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.

What: Celebrate the debut of Shadowed Summer and win first, second or third prize, and take home a haunted gift bag! Every bag contains a signed copy of Shadowed Summer! Other prizes include a leather-bound journal, perfume oils from Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs, unexpected Tabasco sweets and more!

When: February 01, 2009 – February 10, 2009

How: Just enter your name and your e-mail address in the form on the website. That’s all it takes! Anyone, anywhere is eligible!

Where: Entries open on February 01, 2009 at http://sweeps.shadowedsummer.com, and close on February 09 at midnight, EST. Winners will be announced on February 10, 2009 at noon, EST!

Who: Debut 2009

What: Debs Giveaway Bag (as shown here)

When: January 15th through 11:59 PM (EST)

How: Leave a comment on the giveaway post

Where: http://community.livejournal.com/debut2009/432264.html

SHADOWED SUMMER by Saundra Mitchell

• Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
• Publisher: Delacorte
• Release Date: February 10, 2009
• ISBN: 978-0-385-73571-1

Shadowed Summer is…
A southern gothic ghost story, and it goes a little something like this:
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.

The Author: Saundra Mitchell
Location: Indianapolis, IN

A screenwriter and author, I’ve written almost three hundred short films for the Fresh Films and Girls in the Director’s Chair short film series. Half of them have competed on the film festival circuit, and ten have competed in categories which made them eligible for Oscar consideration. My short story “Ready to Wear” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2008, and my first feature film, Revenge Ends, debuts on the festival circuit, also in 2008.

But writing hasn’t been my only job- in the past, I have been a phone psychic, a car salesman, a military linguist, a denture-deliverywoman, and a layup waxer. I’ve also appeared on morning radio shows all over the United States as a guest expert on Urban Legends & Folklore, and The New York Times and BBC interviewed me about my part in exposing the Kaycee Nicole Internet hoax.

Ask me about the great vowel shift, the various theories about Tutankhamun’s death, the Salem Witch Trials, how to make paper, what really happens when you call a phone psychic, the easiest way to make a loaf of crusty bread, how to structure a screenplay, or what an urban legend is really about.

Heck, ask me how fan fiction made my career possible! If I don’t have an answer, I’ll try to find one- or at least point you in the right direction! For free right now, let’s assume you asked me how to format a screenplay- here’s a guide you can use and share for free (How to Format a Screenplay by Saundra Mitchell), and a sample script to go with it to see how things work (Sample screenplay by Saundra Mitchell)!

I’m available for teen workshops on fiction and/or screenwriting, and I’m available to speak about writing, about mythology- both ancient and urban, and on a more serious note, to speak about suicide and suicide prevention.

Additional Information:

Saundra Mitchell’s Presskit