Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

We are pleased to announce the winners of our 2013 Holiday Giveaway, hosted through Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ.com!

Caitlin, Felicia, Jayme, Maria and Shelby will each receive a signed first-edition of AMBER HOUSE in time for the holidays! ÌýThank you to everyone who entered, and our best wishes for this holiday season!

Starting tomorrow, we will be embarking on a month-long blog tour in celebration of the January 7th release of NEVERWAS. ÌýWe've got interviews revealing clues about OTHERWHEN, exclusive never-before-seen research materials (including a floorplan for the ground floor of the House), and even a giveaway -- readers can enter to win a signed first-edition of NEVERWAS, to be awarded at the end of the tour.

The tour is comprised of some of our all-time favorite blogs:

DECEMBER:
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ Whispering Pretty Stories
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ The Book Geek
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ Marie Loves Books
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ Bibliophilic Monologues
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ Books Take You Places
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ Annette's Book Spot
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ Zach's YA Reviews
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ The Quiet Concert
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ The Musings of AlmyBnenr
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ Books and Cupcakes
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ Books and Whimsy
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ Books Live Forever
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ Must Love Books
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ Words Are Inner Music
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ Jump Into Books

JANUARY:
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ The Reader's Den
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ Heather's Book Chatter
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ Boricuan Bookworms
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ Novel Novice
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ Luxury Reading
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ Izzy's Book Reviews
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ Refracted Light Reviews
Ìý Ìý Ìý~ The Midnight Garden

CONTEST GUIDELINES:

Because each and every one of the above blogs are awesome, we want to encourage you to check out every single one of them. ÌýHence, to qualify for the signed copy of NEVERWAS, entrants must submit the correct version of one of Fiona's sonnets -- the lines of which will be released out of order at the end of each post on the tour.

Happy hunting and happy holidays!

So this morning I stumbled upon something while checking to see if Booklist had released its review yet (you know how you can reset Google to search for related info posted within the last few days), and found something that just disturbed me so much I had to address it here.

A reviewer, who got her hands on an Advanced Reader Copy of NEVERWAS, posted the following:

Let me set the scene for you. This is Maryland, a protest is taking place outside of a movie theater because it "still restricts blacks to the balcony". The cops fire tear gas into the protesters and then turn fire hoses on them. You're probably thinking, "Oh this book takes place in the 1950s", aren't you? WRONG! This book takes place TODAY, 45 min outside of D.C., half an hour or so away from where I currently live.

Let me f------g tell you something, book; I've lived all over the g--damn country, I've lived OUTSIDE the g--damn country, in a place where I, as a Caucasian, was the smallest minority of a population. I even grew up in the most liberal part of the country and yet, I have NEVER lived in a place that is more of a melting pot then [sic] where I live now, 45 min outside of D.C. This place is like a f------g fairy tale, everyone gets along, almost all my friends are in biracial relationships and there is almost NO racial tension. I'm not saying that it's not possible that things are the COMPLETE OPPOSITE such a short distance away, but forÌýsome reason, I'm having trouble buying it.

I honestly don't know if this woman didn't have access to the blurb for the book -- which states up-front that the story is set in an alternate timeline -- or if she just didn't bother reading the blurb beforehand.Ìý She clearly didn't read to the end of the (short) first chapter, when Sarah states she now lives in the equivalent of the Confederate States of America.Ìý And if the blogger had read the first page of the second chapter, she would have got all the explanation she needed regarding historical backstory, and why there is a Confederacy instead of a United States.

Quite obviously, I don't like being cursed out by a total stranger who didn't do any research before publicly accusing not only me and my co-authors of being cultural troglodites, but my agent and my editors at my publishing house, as well.Ìý But what is most upsetting to me is that this woman's post -- and the obscenity-laden comments it inspired -- completely obfuscated the message behind why we chose to set the book in a dystopian alternate history to begin with.

Fantasy author Cat Hellisen -- who, as a South African, has witnessed her fair share of institutionalized prejudice -- recently commented on socially-ingrained prejudice (racial, in this instance) in an interview for her book THE SEA IS RISING RED:

I wanted to write about the way we treat people of an ethnicity or culture different to our own without using specific real-world cultures (yeah, it’s a cop-out, I am fully aware of this, it’s also what science fiction and fantasy loves to do.)

Hellisen went on to add:

I’d like to see more diverse fiction coming out of the US � diverse in culture, diverse in class, diverse in gender � but I think those novels have a smaller audience and will probably always see fewer sales than a YA that perhaps deals with easier issues.

It has always been an intrinsic part of our vision for this series to use the fantasy and science fiction elements in ways that allow readers to witness sexism, racism, classism and other common prejudices firsthand -- through Sarah's flashback visions and through the different realities she creates using the House as a time travel device.Ìý AMBER HOUSE afforded us the opportunity to examine how women, traditionally tasked with safeguarding familial unity and identity, can fail just as easily as their male counterparts in this regard.Ìý We may, culturally, assign women the role of tending the web of connection between past and present -- but is this fair?Ìý What cost does this burden bear?

Kirkus, in its recent positive review, claimed NEVERWAS to be "a stark departure" from the Gothic feel of AMBER HOUSE -- this was a conscious choice we made long before AMBER HOUSE was ever published.Ìý NEVERWAS may snare attention at the beginning with the controversial choice to set the story in an environment where remnants of segregation still exist -- a not-subtle-at-all threat to the burgeoning romance between Sarah and Jackson -- but readers will find that African Americans are not the only race targeted during the book.Ìý And within the first two chapters, the relegation of women to restricted gender-based roles emerges as another obstacle the characters face.

The decision to incorporate issues of racism and sexism -- as well as xenophobia -- as driving forces in the sequel stems from an obligation we feel as authors to address injustice.Ìý "Other-ness" --Ìýusing that which we are not as a means to define what which we are -- has fueled the ugliest compulsions of humanity since the dawn of time.Ìý Man versus woman, white versus black, straight versus gay -- these are common, everyday examples of the dominant (normative) figure turning the "other" into the enemy out of fear of the unknown or seemingly unknowable.

By the by, the first scene in the novel is based on something which happened to my family in my hometown of Jacksonville, Oregon, during President Bush's re-election campaign.Ìý The President was having dinner at one of the nicest restaurants in town.Ìý Protesters had received clearance from the local police to assemble outside the restaurant with signs and a megaphone.Ìý There were whole families with children -- even babies -- there.Ìý Bush supporters were gathered on the opposite side of the street.Ìý It was a peaceable gathering -- which, of course, didn't stop SWAT officers in full riot gear from gathering at each end of the street, or from assigning snipers to monitor the crowd from the rooftops of local shops.

After about an hour -- according to rumor, when the President had finished his dinner -- a SWAT officer with a megaphone marched down the center of the street, barking completely unintelligible orders.Ìý Literally nobody could understand him.Ìý The megaphone was so static-y that his words were all consonants, no vowels.Ìý He could have been speaking an alien language.Ìý Klingon, maybe.Ìý But an older man who had been standing near the officer immediately started fleeing, screaming, "They're going to use chemical agents."Ìý And as if on cue, the SWAT officers starting firing pepper gas pellets into the crowd -- the peaceable crowd of Republicans and Democrats, men and women, children and babies.

In this case, the President and his protection squad were the dominant, normative part of the equation, and the citizens of my hometown were the evil "other."Ìý Which is a long way of saying:

Is plunking Sarah and Jackson into a world full of racists and Nazis extreme?Ìý Yes.Ìý Will it enable a wider audience to access the still-very-applicable message behind this choice?Ìý Yes.

Mere decades ago, the setting Sarah inhabits in NEVERWAS was very real.Ìý We've come a long way in a short time, but the "us versus them" battle -- where "them" is the "other," no matter what that other-ness might be -- still wages on.Ìý We haven't had a female President yet.Ìý Why?Ìý When Travyon Martin walks through a predominantly-white neighborhood, he is killed in cold blood.Ìý Why?Ìý Despite a government based on the assertion of a separation of church and state, minority groups are still subject to the dominant Christian value system.Ìý Why?

I'm not proposing answers here, I'm just stressing the need for everyone to keep questioning.Ìý Why are things the way they are?Ìý Are things ideal right now?Ìý If not, how can we as a society make things better?Ìý How can I as an individual make things better?Ìý Sarah faces all these questions in the book, and it is our hope that readers will do the same.

Keep questioning,

We're hosting a Christmas giveaway through Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ.com.

From November 25th through December 10th, we'll be accepting entries from Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ members.Ìý Five winners will receive autographed first editions of AMBER HOUSE in time for the holidays.

Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ Book Giveaway


Amber House
by Kelly Moore

Giveaway ends December 10, 2013.

See the giveaway details at Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ.

Ìý
Enter to win

In a recent interview, we were asked how Amber House came to be.Ìý Was it based on an actual house?Ìý A love of American history?Ìý Perhaps a family legend?

The answer to all these questions is:Ìý Yes.

The interview explains in part:

~ - ~

KELLY:Ìý The idea of Amber House didn't come from one place, but sort of grew over time.Ìý When I was a little girl, my mother told me a family story about a grandmother who claimed to have detailed visions of a woman's life in the eighteenth century.Ìý This got mixed together with my curiosity about deja vu, and my own takes on Nietzche's Eternal Recurrence and Teilhard de Chardin's concept of spiritual evolution.

Amber House began to take shape when I was in college.Ìý There was a famous old house near where I went to school -- the Winchester Mansion -- that I visited once, and it felt to me like the past echoed in its rooms, almost like it replayed over and over.Ìý About the same time, a friend of mine from Thailand told me about a tribal belief that everything a person touches is imbued with a piece of "soul," or a memory of those who used it.Ìý I thought, What if there was a house filled with old things, and a woman -- like my grandmother -- could see the memories held in the things she touched?Ìý See her own family history?

I decided to invent my own mansion with that kind of recurring past in it -- set some place where a substantial amount of American history had occurred.Ìý It became an ongoing project.Ìý I started pulling photos from magazines, building this house in my mind, room by room, compiling biographies of women who could have lived there.

I worked on it for years, thinking it would make a good novel, and even collaborated for a time on a two-hour pilot for a T.V. series in the 1990s.Ìý But the collaboration fell apart, and I boxed up Amber House so I could focus on raising my children.

~ - ~

Our parents wanted to pitch the teleplay in 1990.Ìý They worked on it together and got a proposal hammered out in 1992.

Sarah, Sammy and Anne were all present, exploring the house and its ghostly echoes -- the grandmothers, the slave woman Sarah confides in, the Revolution-era sea captain (based loosely on William Dobson, our mother's ancestor).

Our parents took a trip to Annapolis, explored the city and surrounding plantations.Ìý Family members mailed information about the Chesapeake Bay Area, and supplied clippings of houses that might fit the picture our mother had long held in her mind -- of a gabled, turreted, balconied, white-clapboard mansion with green-shuttered windows.

ÌýWhen we found the box that held the remnants of this story -- long-abandoned due to issues with the plotting of the teleplay -- we couldn't let it moulder away in the attic, gathering dust.

It became the catalyst for a story the three of us could share, that drew on our childhood fantasies.Ìý Below is a list (in no particular order) of the works we allude to in AMBER HOUSE, the works that shaped our childhoods.

~ - ~

THE SECRET GARDEN

by

Frances Hodgson Burnett

Much like Sarah, Mary Lennox finds herself in an old manor house that is haunted by some unspoken tragedy.Ìý Mary's connection to the secret garden causes her to discover things about herself that she never could have found out otherwise.Ìý And we are forever in love with Dickon, whose name helped us finally settle on what to call our dear Jackson.

Ìý

JUMANJI

starring

Robin Williams, Bonnie Hunt, Kirsten Dunst

Ìý

We have always adored the relationship -- the solidarity -- between Kirsten Dunst's Judy and Bradley Pierce's Peter.Ìý And then there's the ending -- the mind-blowing, time-twisting ending.Ìý One of the trippiest things in a kids' movie ever.Ìý We had the Jumanji game and a jungle of stuffed animals to play along with.Ìý And two felt monkey puppets we named Judy and Peter. ÌýWe considered naming Sarah Parsons "Sarah Whipple" in an homage to Bonnie Hunt's "Sarah Whittle." ÌýAnd we can't help but picture certain aspects of the Parrish residence when we describe Amber House.

Ìý

LABYRINTH

starring

David Bowie, Jennifer Connelly

Another "Sarah."Ìý Anyone who reads AMBER HOUSE will see parallels between Connelly's quest to rescue Toby from Bowie's Goblin King and a certain portion of our book.Ìý We also were inspired by the masquerade ball sequence in the film when it came time to plan Sarah's birthday party.

Ìý

And the titular labyrinth was incorporated, just because it's always fascinated us so much.

Ìý

LOST IN SPACE

created by

Irwin Allen

Ìý

Our mother was a childhood fan of the original "Lost In Space" television show.Ìý Aspects of the episodes "My Friend, Mr. Nobody" (1965) and "The Magic Mirror" (1966) snuck into AMBER HOUSE.

Ìý

ÌýRETURN TO OZ

starring

Fairuza Balk

Mom's "Lost In Space" influences appealed to our childhood fascination with Walter Murch's darkly twisted 1985 sequel to "The Wizard of Oz," in which Dorothy must rescue Princess Ozma, who has been trapped inside a mirror by the witch queen Mombi.

Ìý

THE SHINING

by Stephen King

Stephen King is one of our favorite-favorites, not only because he is an incomparable storyteller with a wicked imagination and a wicked sense of humor, but because he just seems like the coolest guy ever. Ìý(We subscribed to Entertainment Weekly for years solely to read his columns.) ÌýThe maze at Amber House was most directly inspired by the infamous hedge maze at the Overlook Hotel, forever tied to haunted mansions due to the success of Stanley Kubrick's classic 1980 adaptation of King's novel.

Worth mentioning: Ìýwatching The Shining was always a little more disconcerting for us than it probably should have been, because Danny Lloyd, who played Danny Torrance, was a dead-ringer for our baby brother -- who served as inspiration for Sammy Parsons.

Ìý

BACK TO THE FUTURE

starring

Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd

Arguably the best movie ever made. ÌýArguably the most attractive main character ever written. ÌýAs little girls, we climbed on top of the seats of our swing set and pretended we were riding Hoverboards. ÌýEveryone wants to be Marty McFly -- literally such a "dreamboat" that merely interacting with the teenaged versions of his parents makes everybody's lives turn out better in the end.

Enjoy.

Ìý

~ - ~Ìý

The winner of our November
"WHAT DOES AMBER HOUSE LOOK LIKE?"
giveaway is



Nellie will receive an autographed hardcover edition of AMBER HOUSE and an autographed first chapter of NEVERWAS!

Entries are in!Ìý We whittled down submissions to the following 10 images, with our comments below!

The following are organized in alphabetical order.Ìý We'll announce the winner of the giveaway this Monday!

1.Ìý SUBMISSION:Ìý AMELIA



Amelia got the Colonial farmhouse feel we often envision for certain wings of the house.Ìý We actually really loved this angle -- you can just imagine Jackson walking down the brick path to the side door.

2.Ìý SUBMISSION:Ìý ARIANA



Definitely more European-looking than your typical Colonial.Ìý But there's something very evocative of the spirit of in the composition of this picture submitted by Ariana.Ìý Maybe the fog-shrouded hedges?Ìý We'd definitely love to go exploring inside a manor like that.

3.Ìý SUBMISSION:Ìý ERICA



The windows on this abandoned old beauty are to die for!Ìý Erica pointed out to us that the house is lacking Amber House's extensive additions, but that the tower was something she thought Amber House would definitely have.Ìý (And she's right!Ìý There's a tower in Sarah Louise's room!)

4.Ìý SUBMISSION:Ìý FARRAH



Goodness gracious, this is a gem, isn't it?Ìý Look at those third-story windows.Ìý Do they even qualify as dormers, or do they get some other super-special name?Ìý Missing the green shutters, but points for the blend of different architectural styles and the inclusion of a tree -- a plot-important tree! -- in the front yard.

5. ÌýSUBMISSION:Ìý HAILEY



This is clearly a house that has been added onto over generations, don't you agree?Ìý Shutters, a third story attic space, rural fence that Sammy might opine getting taking apart?Ìý Check, check, check.

6.Ìý SUBMISSION:Ìý LAYLA



Layla also found a house that looks like its been around for ages, and tweaked every era, incorporating different architectural styles that all weave together into a lovely end result.

7.Ìý SUBMISSION:Ìý NELLIE



We can just imagine Fiona drawing this sketch of her childhood home in the 1910s, can't you?

8.Ìý SUBMISSION:Ìý QUINN



This place is eerily similar to the Winchester Mansion (the original inspiration for Amber House), and could definitely pass for a simple house that was made grander and grander over time.

9.Ìý SUBMISSION:Ìý SCARLETT



Scarlett let us know that she didn't dare suggest Amber House had peeling paint or boarded windows, just that she imagined the house as having similarly bizarre exterior additions and features.Ìý (Someone buy this house and renovate!)

10.Ìý SUBMISSION:Ìý ZOEY



It does look like a dead-ringer for the house on the cover, doesn't it?Ìý But with more trees.Ìý We love trees.Ìý We also love the tower looming over the widow's walk.Ìý (Kind of hard to see, but it's right under the tree line.)

HONORABLE MENTION:Ìý BRITANNY



Britanny's submission did have Amber House's green shuttered windows, multiple wings, and requisite three stories.Ìý But Britanny managed to find the absolute PERFECT Hathaway House.Ìý Seriously, this is exactly how we pictured it.

°Â±ð'±¹±ð
had readers ask us this question.Ìý We've had our publisher ask us this
question.Ìý Even among the three of us, the appearance of the House differs.Ìý The House as featured on the book cover is similar to the
"real" house, as described in the first book:

I³Ù
had been started in the 1600s as a stone and log cabin and had grown a
little with every generation, almost like a living thing.Ìý Thrust out a
wing of bricked, heaved up a second story and a third, bellied forward
with a new entry, sprouted dormers and gables and balconies.Ìý The house
was mostly white clapboard trimmed in green, with lots of small-paned
windows, and chimneys here and there.Ìý Which sounds messy, maybe, but
wasn't.Ìý Everything came together into this beautiful whole.Ìý All of one
±è¾±±ð³¦±ð.ï»�

Readers have emailed us their own versions of the House.Ìý And we're interested in seeing them!Ìý Leave photos or drawings in the comments, post them on our Facebook page, or email them to us!Ìý We'll updated this post to include submissions!

The submission that comes closest to the "real" house will get a signed copy of AMBER HOUSE and the first chapter of NEVERWAS by November.

The House has more secrets for Sarah, Sammy, Jackson and Richard to dust off and bring to light, and hits shelves January 7th.Ìý We're pretty excited and we'll be sharing a lot of exclusive content on here in the weeks to come!

First off, here is the lovely cover, designed by Whitney Lyle and Shane Rebenscheid.

The official cover reveal was hosted by , who also have told from the point of view of a new character.

In addition to the teaser scene, we're happy to share the NEVERWAS
playlist.Ìý These songs were sometimes played on loop for hours while
writing the book.Ìý We've put them in order for you -- each one
corresponds to a scene from the novel.Ìý And if you listen closely, the lyrics often contain spoilers.

1.ÌýÌýÌý by A Fine Frenzy
2.ÌýÌýÌý by Erik Satie (instrumental)
3.ÌýÌýÌý by A Fine Frenzy
4.ÌýÌýÌý by Erik Satie (instrumental)
5.ÌýÌýÌý by Laura Gibson
6.ÌýÌýÌý by Coldplay
7.ÌýÌýÌý by Book T. & the MGs
8.ÌýÌýÌý by Sara Bareilles and Ingrid Michaelson
9.ÌýÌýÌý by Frank Sinatra
10.Ìý by Ludovico Einaudi (instrumental)
11.Ìý by Vitalic
12.Ìý by Laura Gibson
13.Ìý by Florence + the Machine
14.Ìý by Cinematic Orchestra
15.Ìý by Ludovico Einaudi (instrumental)
16.Ìý by The Veils

All the songs are available for listening online.Ìý We encourage you, if you like them, to purchase them on iTunes or similar!

We have always envisioned this blog as a place where readers could interact with us, introduce themselves, ask us questions, give us honest feedback.Ìý We sincerely apologize that this has been hampered somewhat by our infrequent posting.

Directly before and immediately after hit shelves in October 2012, our little family was subjected to multiple tragedies that made 2013 very difficult for us.Ìý While working on , Tucker was hospitalized in August for spontaneous internal hemhorraging.Ìý Then, from December through February, it was suspected she had cancer and she was in and out of the hospital for biopsies and other tests.Ìý She also got tangled up in civil rights activism when she learned how her university treated female students with health and safety issues.Ìý She filed two federal complaints which launched two official federal investigations, and took steps to file a class action on behalf of other students who had been victimized.Ìý Larkin was in a car accident that left her with a permanent neck injury, for which she has had to have ongoing physical therapy.Ìý And Kelly had to handle a civil lawsuit against two individuals who stole money from our family.

All this made writing the sequel nearly impossible, and impacted our ability to maintain this blog, respond to emails, and update the content of the official website.

We had an extremely hard 2013, but we have high hopes for 2014.Ìý We look forward to the release of , to working on OTHERWHEN, and to turning this blog into what it was meant to be:Ìý a forum for sharing and questioning, forming friendships, and exploring Amber House.