Winners for The Iron King and The Owl Keeper Giveaways!

Ending the giveaway for the release of The Owl Keeper early, I've got the results for both The Iron King and The Owl Keeper Giveaways.

The Iron King: 48 entrants, 117 entries!

Winner is...

barbrafl

Congrats!

The Owl Keeper: 45 entrants, 94 entries!

Winner is...

Nikki @ Bookizzle

Congrats!

Winners have been contacted and are expected to respond in the next 72 hours, or else other winners will be chosen. Thanks to all that participated and I will have another giveaway posted soon.

LiLi

Character Interview with Artemis Rose Eccles (The Owl Keeper)

First off, I have to compliment you on your name: Artemis Rose. Wow, that is definitely a show-stopper. Anyways, welcome to ChicaReader, Rose! Now to get down to business, how would you describe your first encounter with Max by the owl tree? What did you think when you saw his golden-eyed, fragile silver owl?

Hi LiLi. I like my name too, it’s very special because I’m named for the moon goddess Artemis who was strong and brave, like I am, except the real Artemis knew how to shoot arrows (but maybe one day I’ll learn how to do that too). When I very first saw Max I thought: who is this scrawny scared-looking kid wearing the weird hat with a bobble and earflaps? I knew he was upset to see me there and I thought well too bad because I go where I want in the nights and nobody can stop me.

But I also realized this kid was special, because he was out in the night, not like most people who’re afraid of the dark. Then I saw this owl up in the tree and it didn’t look too good because its wing was sticking out funny and its eye was only half-open. But its wings were all shiny and silver! Max kept saying it was some old barn owl, but I knew he was just trying to trick me.

Throughout your journey with Max, I noticed you tended to have a whole mess of adventures together. What were some of your best times during those beginning thrilling times?

Lots of our adventures were really scary and we had some pretty close getaways, so they were good and bad all at the same time. But I had fun kicking over Mrs. Crumlin’s basket of muffins and stomping on them and seeing her face go red – she was so mad! It was fun, too, trying to figure out the owl’s message and all that stuff about the prophecy. And even though I was scared out of my wits, I loved the way we left the fortress when the wolf chased us (but I’m not telling you any more about that because you have to read the book to find out what happened!)

How was life growing up with a rebellious father and having a hard time trusting anyone anywhere you were?

Both my parents were secret rebels against the High Echelon and I think that’s very cool. My father always told me to be a free spirit and to think for myself. He said it was important to trust my instincts and not believe everything people told me just because they were adults—especially if I thought they were, like, spies or worked for the High Echelon.

If it's not to painful could you tell us something you remember about your mother before she was falsely incarcerated?

I remember we were hiding out in a place called Tattersall Heath and all around were cornfields and orchards and red-gold wheat and junked tractors and there was this shut-down theme park and my mom and I walked around it and there was this ride she said was called a merry-go-round and she lifted me up on one of the painted horses and we laughed and laughed.

When you heard Max's tales about the Owl Keeper, what was your initial feeling/reaction?

I’d never heard of an Owl Keeper before and I thought Max was just making it up. I told him too bad the Owl Keeper’s not real because we could use somebody around here like that. But he kept saying the Owl Keeper was real so I told him that the Owl Keeper better hurry up and help us because things were falling apart left and right.

Most importantly, how was it that you could cope so well it seems--since you were always the tough one--with the spurts of blindness in the final journey?

Hey, did you forget my name or what? I’m Artemis, the goddess of wild things who was totally fearless and shot her enemies through the heart with arrows! I can handle anything because I’m super tough and I never, ever give up. (On the other hand, I guess you could was glad to have my friend Max along when things got really bad)

And finally, how do you feel about Max? What changed about you when you really got to know him?

Well, Max was pretty lonely and he didn’t know a lot of things because he was stuck inside his house all those years with that old biddy guardian and he was totally clueless about what was going on with the High Echelon and everything. But Max was so kind to his little owl, and that really got to me, and the more I hung out with him, the more I started to think he was kind of mysterious.

Then we ran into the forest and even though Max was scared to death he did lots of brave things and didn’t give up, and he helped me out when things got really bad. One time we thought wolves were going to get us and Max said if anything happened would I remember that we were friends. That was so cute! Like we were olden-day friends and we’d be friends forever.

Any last hoots? (Or should I say barks? Growls? Hmm...)

If you ever get a new dog, especially a shaggy black one that barks a lot, and you don’t know what to name him, then I know a great name: Helios. Helios was a sun god who drove the chariot of the sun and I can’t think of a better name for your dog.

Bye LiLi!

Thanks for the kindred anecdotes, Rose!

LiLi 

The Owl Keeper by Christine Brodien-Jones

 

Published: April 13th 2010 by Delacorte Press

320 pages

ISBN13: 9780385738149

Maxwell Unger has always loved the night. He used to do brave things like go tramping through the forest with his gran after dark. He loved the stories she told him about the world before the Destruction—about nature, and books, and the silver owls. His favorite story, though, was about the Owl Keeper.

According to Max’s gran, in times of darkness the Owl Keeper would appear to unite owls and sages against the powers of the dark. Gran is gone now, and so are her stories of how the world used to be. Max is no longer brave. The forest is dangerous, the books Gran had saved have been destroyed, and the silver owls are extinct. At least that’s what the High Echelon says. But Max knows better.

Maxwell Unger has a secret. And when a mysterious girl comes to town, he might just have to start being brave again.

The time of the Owl Keeper, Gran would say, is coming soon.

Review:

With only memories of his Gran, small treasures that were sneaked past Mrs.Cumlin's inspections, Maxwell Unger lives through the night and dark of the High Echelon's world. Getting monthly injections of grotesque liquid was a result of Max's allergy to "sun particles." The stories of silver owls and Silver Prophecies are practically forbidden to speak. So is Max's Gran's death. With the slow deterioration of his memory, Max tries to visit his owl tree and his silver owl every night. One night he finds a girl under his tree. A peculiar one, at that; raggedy clothes, wild dirty hair, and as thin as a chopstick. Crowding an aggressive attitude, Artemis Rose Eccles is like no one Max had ever met before. Speaking almost a foreign language, Rose endears Max with her crazy antics of the liars in the High Echelon. When the slow realization of the truth of Rose's remarks grows to be too much for Max, a slew of adventures and a final journey to the Frozen Zone are the only solutions that sought to defeat the impending Darkness sweeping the land. Will the end result be what Max and Rose were hoping for all along, or will there be too many near-death experiences to get to their destination in time?

The Owl Keeper is the mesmerizing tale of a young, weak boy that blooms into a brave and powerful Night Seer, with the help of Rose--his best friend, his silver owl and some memories of Gran and a better time. Reading through the best friends' adventures in the gloominess of High Echelon territory was entertaining and kept you interested till that final journey to find the Owl Keeper. Reading about all of the crafted, ugly-looking creatures in The Owl Keeper was intricately satisfying because of its detail. Rose and Max learn to appreciate each other in more ways than one; and upon that a very unique friendship. With a poem of a prophecy hanging over there heads, the pair try to break down its meaning in order to end at their desired destination. Through their fantastic views of the forests and chilling woods, you will keep wondering in your mind what will happen next, and will they get through this.

The Owl Keeper was set in Max's point of view of the situations around him, but with one switch I believe that the author could have made this book great in any--and I do mean any, even little Miranda's point of view. However, since I don't ordinarily read MG books, it took me a while to really get into the story. With other readers or frequenters of MG novels, this most likely may not happen; if you don't frequent MG novels, you might experience a little difficulty in the beginning, all there is to do is wait for the good parts, because they are there! Brodien truly knows what she's doing with the her characters, the only mishap is that she needs to work a bit on the magic storytelling. From time to time, the pace and some details of the story made me question the authors choice for choosing such a young male lead. However, I do believe that may be a bit biased since I used to young adult novels. In the end, Max really showed the side of his childishness and bravery all in one. The Owl Keeper really is an enchanted, mystical read that you won't want to miss. I'd love to know what happens to Max after the last page.

Grade: B

Check out The Owl Keeper's trailer below. I loved everything about this trailer!



LiLi

Guest post: Christine Brodien-Jones on Revising Your Manuscript

The “Alien Relic” That’s Your First Draft

~by Christine Brodien-Jones, author of THE OWL KEEPER

I remember being handed back a short story in high school with a B scrawled in red ink across the top of the page and the words: “Needs more work.” What was that supposed to mean? I was baffled. I’d spent at least two or three weeks working on it! I had no idea, back then, that writers revised. For me revision was a foreign concept. You wrote a story and presto! there it was, for people to read and admire. Besides, I was way too busy with other things to go back and rewrite a story I’d written for English class.

Years later, I’ve become one of those writers who looks forward to editing and revising. I love this process! In fact I have to resist the urge to rewrite every page of my novel as I’m writing it. That’s what Kurt Vonnegut used to do. His method was to revise every page until he got it exactly right and the book was a polished gem. (Somehow I don’t envision that happening with my books!)

After finishing your first draft, the smartest thing you can do is take time off. Your mind and imagination, argues Stephen King in ON WRITING, have to recycle themselves—at least in regard to what you’ve just written. Put the draft away for at least six weeks and write something else. When you finally open the drawer and see your manuscript looking like “an alien relic bought at a junk-shop or yard sale where you can hardly remember stopping,” you’re ready to tackle it again. Read through the manuscript in one sitting, if possible. This can be a “strange, often exhilarating experience, “ because it will be like reading someone else’s work: “This is the way it should be, the reason you waited,” King explains. “It’s always easier to kill someone else’s darlings than it is to kill your own.”

While reading over the manuscript, ask yourself these questions: Do the first few pages pull the reader in? Does the action flow smoothly from one chapter to the next? Is the plot compelling? What about the overarching story: have you left out important details that the reader needs? Does the ending make sense? Will it satisfy the reader? Go back and revise these major structural points.

Once the main elements of the book are established, it’s time to eliminate unnecessary details and keep the action moving. Avoid overlong descriptions, but don’t skimp on interesting details. Make the dialogue snappy. As you go through the book, paragraph by paragraph, find ways to improve your prose. Polish your sentences. Find just the right words to create strong visual images. What I’ve learned over the years is this: believe it or not, even in a novel, every word counts.

Finally, ask yourself: Do the lead characters jump off the page? Are the stakes high enough? Check the beginnings of each chapter for “hooks” and the endings for “cliffhangers.” Get rid of unnecessary scenes that don’t move the story forward. Look for inconsistencies, and words repeated too often or appearing too close to each other. Get rid of all typos and grammatical errors. Beware of overusing vague adjectives and adverbs; instead use specific terms.

Outside readers, such as trusted friends or members of a writers’ group, can be extremely valuable, offering objective viewpoints and suggestions for improvement you may not have considered.

One of most thorough revision checklists I’ve ever seen was written by author/literary agent/blogger Nathan Bransford. You can find it at: http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2009/06/revision-checklist.html. For those of you with a first draft sitting in a drawer, waiting for it to morph into an “alien relic,” I highly recommend consulting this list. 

Thanks for the essay, C!

LiLi

Character Interview with Max Unger (The Owl Keeper)

I had the wonderful pleasure of interviewing Maxwell Unger from Christine Brodien-Jones' The Owl Keeper.

Look below to see what he had to hoot:

Hey Max, from the beginning to your present, how has your perception of Rose changed?

When I first saw Rose under the owl tree, looking all wild and acting kind of superior and everything, I was scared out of my wits! Rose was so bossy and annoying, and I never knew whether I could believe anything she told me. I didn’t even know if I could trust her! What if she was a spy for the High Echelon? But now, after our long scary journey together, we’re the best of friends, and I’ll do anything to protect her, just like my silver owl. I guess you could say Rose is my best friend in all the world (even if she still gets a bit bossy sometimes). I think she’s totally brave and amazing.

Have you always hated Mrs. Crumlin's cooking, and is there a dish that at least tastes slightly edible before you found out the truth?

Everything Mrs. Crumlin cooked was always burned and had a weird texture and made my stomach do flip-flops. She was always trying out these disgusting radio cook-show recipes. I guess when I was younger I sort of liked her griddlers, that is if I poured enough golden-eye treacle over them to drown out the metallic taste…

You say that you love the night, what are some basic things you like about it?

I love everything about the night: the way the dark wraps around me like a cloak, climbing the owl tree and sitting in the dark with my owl, gazing off into the forest (which can be a bit scary sometimes). I love the smells in the night, and sometimes the sound of a distant bird or animal (though, sadly, there aren’t too many left). I love the light of the two moons shining down and the way the cattails whipped at my legs and the overarching branches of trees against the sky.

What's one memory you can remember about a time when you went hiking with your gran in the woods?

When I was little I’d go tramping off into the night with my gran; back then the forest wasn’t so dangerous. My best memory is of us going deep into the forest, where I found a certain kind of fungus that glows in the dark. It was really cool and I was so excited I started jumping around and accidentally stepped on it. I started to cry, so to cheer me up, Gran told me a story about an Owl Keeper and these magical creatures, the silver owls. It was the first of many times that she told me these tales of how the owls were freed from a dark spell and about the Owl Keeper who, in times of darkness, gathered silver owls and Sages to fight the powers of evil.

How does it feel being so young and having to adjust to a fated destiny?

It’s kind of hard. Sometimes I think: why can’t I just be an everyday all-American kid hanging out with my friends after school and going to friends’ birthday parties and stuff? But I’ve always known, deep down, that I wasn’t meant to have, like, an ordinary kind of life.

Any last hoots?

I just want to say that if you’re looking for a pet, owls are the best pets in the world because they’re mysterious and loyal and they cough up owl pellets that sometimes contain interesting things.

I’m happy to meet you, LiLi, and I hope you like owls as much as I do. (:

Thanks for stopping by, Max! Pleasure to hoot with you. ;)

More about Christine and The Owl Keeper:

Website

Blog

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Twitter

LiLi

The Owl Keeper Release Giveaway!

Celebrating the release of Christine Brodien-Jones' novel The Owl Keeper, I am giving away an ARC of the novel and some very unique swag. Not only will the winner receive business cards, bookmarks and postcards but also a small hand-painted owl from Argentina.

Just fill out the form below to enter! Ends April 20th at midnight EST. US residents only!

LiLi