Claudia Gray

The new HarperTeen anthology VACATIONS FROM HELL should be arriving in bookstores today! Those of you who have read the other books in the FROM HELL series know that each one offers a series of supernatural short stories on a various theme — in this case, summer vacations gone very, very wrong.

I will be particularly interested to hear what you guys think of my story, “I Don’t Like Your Girlfriend,” for one major reason: This is where the idea for the new series, SPELLCASTER, began.

There are huge differences between the two: The short story is more of a comedy, and the heroine, Cecily, is both younger and more lighthearted than Ivy, the main character of the SPELLCASTER series. But a few things from the story do survive in the upcoming books — like the idea of witchcraft as a secret female society. And a heroine who looks at her powers as a tool for good, more of a science than pure mysticism, and hates the secretiveness that comes with it. Who also dreams of finding a guy with whom she can share her whole life, and from whom she would never have to hide her power. And, of course, the bratty little brother. (You can’t leave out the little brother!)

So check out VACATIONS FROM HELL the next chance you get!

And don’t forget, this Thursday:

May 28 — The NYC Teen Author Carnival! Held at the Jefferson Market Branch Library at 425 Avenue of the Americas [at 10th St.] in New York City from 4-6 p.m. Hope to meet some of you guys there!

Sorry I am so behind on posting — I knew that I had some appearances coming up (and soon!), but I didn’t get all the dates locked down until recently.

First things first: Although I was late in picking (at random) the winner of STARGAZER Contest #7, the lucky winner has now been chosen. Congrats to Sarah W.! She posted about the EVERNIGHT series at “Twilight Teens,” and now she gets to name a character, either in AFTERLIFE (book four) or the spin-off Balthazar book, her choice. I look forward to finding out the name. 🙂

Now, upcoming appearances!

May 28 — The NYC Teen Author Carnival! Held at the Jefferson Market Branch Library at 425 Avenue of the Americas [at 10th St.] in New York City from 4-6 p.m. You’ll be able to meet tons of other YA authors; check out the full line-up at the event website.

Then comes the Supernatural Summer Tour! I’m on two stops, along with authors Kim Harrison, Kelley Armstrong and Aprilynne Pike:

June 5 — Portland, OR, at the Barnes & Noble on 2692 Madison Rd. @ 7 p.m. (This is a Friday.)

June 6 — Redmond, WA, at the Borders on 16549 N.E. 74th Street @ 2 p.m. (This is a Saturday.)

Then, it’s time to promote Vacations From Hell! All five authors in the anthology (which is coming out next week — where did spring go?) will appear: Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Maureen Johnson, Sarah Mlynowski and yours truly. Where and when?

June 9 — New York, NY, at Books of Wonder. Time TBA, but I’m guessing 7 p.m. or thereabouts, and will update as necessary.

Finally, the fabulous Elizabeth Scott and I are doing an event together just outside of Washington, D.C.:

June 27 — Tyson’s Corner, VA, at the Barnes & Noble @ 1 p.m.

Whew! I am going to be very tired, but I hope I get to meet a lot of you guys there.

Well, I’ve been saying for months that I’m behind, that things are crazy, that I’m way behind on the reader e-mail: At last I can reveal why, and what I’ve been working on, now that we’ve reached this very happy result. This is what my super-duper agent, Diana Fox, will be sending in to Publishers Weekly today —

YOUNG ADULT: EVERNIGHT author Claudia Gray’s SPELLCASTER, the first in a three-book series in which a well-meaning young witch finds she must call upon darker powers to defeat a dangerous enchantress and break the curse on the man she loves; and BALTHAZAR, a continuation of the EVERNIGHT series that delves into the complicated past of the title vampire; to Zareen Jaffrey at HarperCollins, in a significant deal.

I am very excited about the SPELLCASTER series — and I think you guys will love Ivy and Mateo — but I imagine right now most of you are more hyped about BALTHAZAR. Well, join the club. 🙂 He has always had so much story to tell that he almost didn’t fit within the EVERNIGHT series, and now he’s going to get a book of his own. Although it will be set after the conclusion of AFTERLIFE, and involve many other characters you already know from the EVERNIGHT series, BALTHAZAR will have a lot of flashes to the bad ol’ days and be an independent book about his own journey from the boy he was to the vampire he’s become.

No idea at this point about release dates, etc., but I will keep you posted, of course.

And now that I have less to take care of — and, um, no more excuses — time to get cracking once more on AFTERLIFE (and all that reader e-mail).

Sorry I’ve been gone so long — the days leading up to my break were pretty busy, and then I spent one wonderful week in London. But you know what that means:

I cannot count on eating dinner while watching “Bones.” Particularly not when my chosen dinner is pizza, and the victim was — well, like the one last night. Will I never learn?

Between being very, very busy and having a cold this week, I have not been posting or replying to e-mail as quickly as I should have been. But good things are happening! Stargazer is in its third week on the NYT bestsellers’ list (woo!), I got to visit the HarperCollins offices for a little celebration party on Monday and I am still neck-deep in fiction, writing hard. I hope to catch up on a few more things before I leave for England in — great cats, just a week and a day. Normally I plan my packing way in advance of a trip (I don’t do checked luggage), and this time, I have only the vaguest idea what’s going on. Better dive into the laundry this weekend, unless I want to spend a week sauntering about the United Kingdom in my pajamas.

I am not sure if I’ll have time to do this before my trip, but I was thinking of doing a liveblog/twitter feed of my watching a horror movie. Specifically, the horror movie that had an ad so terrifying that it freaked me out for more than 30 years: “It’s Alive.” I can remember seeing the first TV commercial for that movie and being almost paralyzed with fright; some IMDB searching reveals that I saw this when I was 3 years old. So it’s one of my first memories, actually. When I saw that the long-dreaded “It’s Alive” was airing on cable, I recorded it, intending to face down my old fears and hoping that it just looks cheesy now. (If it is still frightening, I may never recover.) Would anyone out there be interested in reading along with this exposure of my inner demons, and/or MST3King of a creepy old movie?

(I’m going to watch it regardless; this is just to find out if my secret terror will be private or public.)

I promised I would let you guys know when I had it — and now I sort of do, though not very concretely; all I have are months, not actual release dates, and not even all of those. But I thought I would share what I had, for what it’s worth.

SPAIN: You get STARGAZER in both Spanish and Catalan in May 2009. I have started to hear from some people who might have it already, though I don’t know if they are getting US versions. So far, neither the Spanish nor Catalan publisher has bought the rights to HOURGLASS and AFTERLIFE. I know it’s sold well over there, so I’m optimistic, but I can’t give you any release dates past STARGAZER because, right now, they don’t exist.

AUSTRALIA: You get STARGAZER in July 2009. The Australian publisher has purchased the rights to the full series, so HOURGLASS and AFTERLIFE will be headed your way, but I think the time frame is not yet established.

ITALY: EVERNIGHT appears in Italian this month! The Italian publisher will also be releasing STARGAZER, but I have no date for it, and HOURGLASS and AFTERLIFE have not been purchased by them yet.

GERMANY: EVERNIGHT will come out in Germany/German-speaking countries in June 2009. The German publisher has bought rights to all four books, but I have no other release dates yet.

FRANCE: The French publisher has the rights to EVERNIGHT and STARGAZER. I don’t have dates for those yet. The final two in the series are not yet sold to them.

HUNGARY: EVERNIGHT is coming out in Hungarian! I don’t know when, nor whether they will want the other three books, but I find it very cool nonetheless.

That’s all I know right now — hope it answers a few of your questions. Either the publishers themselves or your local bookstore chains might be able to provide more clarification.

As for the U.S.A., Harper finally settled on a once-a-year schedule for the series. So HOURGLASS will be out in early spring 2010, and AFTERLIFE will appear in early spring 2011. I know, I know, it seems like forever! I wish they were coming out faster too, but with STARGAZER in its second week on the NYT list (woo!), they must know what they’re doing.

I am loving the entries I am getting for STARGAZER Contest #7! I hope to post links to several sometime this weekend. And by the way, winners to contest #6, Zazzle held up shipping the prizes forever, but they should finally be on their way.

I am thanking each and every one of you who helped make STARGAZER — (::drumroll::) — #4 on The New York Times Bestseller List for chapter books!

It’s not in the paper yet, and I’m sort of confused still about when it will be, but the announcement came out last night, at which point dianafox, my editor and dianora2 all phoned in short order. So of course I haven’t come down from Cloud Nine yet. Seriously, thanks to all of you who have read and loved the books and told your friends; you are the ones who do the most to help authors make these lists, and I’m so thankful. (I have some news to share about upcoming books, too, but I’ll post that tomorrow or early next week.)

Weirdly, my tiara and limousine had not materialized this morning when I woke up. I shall be on the lookout.

IMPORTANT VAMPIRE BULLETIN

IAN SOMERHOLDER HAS BEEN CAST AS DAMON IN ‘THE VAMPIRE DIARIES.’

CUE HYPERVENTILATING GLEE BY CLAUDIA GRAY

END TRANSMISSION

Yes, it’s March 24 — release day at last! Although plenty of you managed to find STARGAZER in your local bookstores ahead of time, all of you should be able to find it now. I’m tired and relieved and thrilled: You name it.

I also picked the winners for STARGAZER Contest #6 this morning. Congrats to Christine M., Tori W., Ornella S., Lauralee W., Deltay, Hannah G., Jackie D., Moriah D., Misty H. and Jessica J.! Their lucky charms were the luckiest of all. Though it was interesting how many different theories of luck you all had — plenty of people don’t believe in it at all (including a couple of the contest winners!), while others have some pretty elaborate rituals. Interestingly, the most common good-luck talismans were things that people wear on their bodies: rings, pendants, pieces of clothing, tattoos, etc. I think we feel best with good-luck charms we can keep with us all the time.

Next up will be STARGAZER Contest #7! This one will last a lot longer — six weeks, to be exact, with me picking a winner on May 5 (to make a very merry Cinco de Mayo for someone). And it’s for the same grand prize as last time: the winner will get to name a character in AFTERLIFE, the final book in the EVERNIGHT series!

How do you enter? Help spread the word about STARGAZER by posting online! It can be a notice in your blog, a conversation in a books forum, a review in your LJ or on Amazon, whatever. Just post, send me a link to what you’ve posted at evernightclaudia at gmail dot com with the subject line “STARGAZER Contest #7”, and you’ll be entered!

RULES AND CAVEATS: (1) First and foremost, DO NOT SPAM. Spread the word, but you don’t need to post about STARGAZER multiple times/in places that aren’t appropriate/etc. (2) One entry per reader, to help with rule #1. (3) Although ideally you can choose any name you would like for the character in AFTERLIFE if you win, I reserve the right to veto any name that really wouldn’t fit into the world of the series. (No “Fifi Nutella” or any such thing.)

In the rush of getting ready for the big launch, I continue to be seriously behind on e-mails. Bear with me, everybody. And I hope you all enjoy STARGAZER.

For STARGAZER Contest #5, I asked you guys to send in your favorite movies made before 1960. I admit, I had no idea you all would have such incredibly good taste in films. This list is pretty impressive:

The Thin Man
Roman Holiday
Top Hat
The Maltese Falcon
North by Northwest
Sleeping Beauty
Rebel Without a Cause (Lori Ann even has a James Dean tattoo!)
Casablanca
Cat People
Pajama Game
Rebecca
Bride of Frankenstein
Some Like It Hot
The Wizard of Oz
Gone With the Wind
Rear Window
Charade
An Affair to Remember
Calamity Jane
Brides of Dracula
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
The King and I
Dracula
Frankenstein
A Night at the Opera
Citizen Kane
The Philadelphia Story
Penny Serenade
The African Queen
Singing in the Rain
Meet Me in St. Louis
Rope
The Searchers
A Summer Place
Giant
Bringing Up Baby
Splendor in the Grass

I think my favorite entry came from April, who wrote that her favorite pre-1960 movie was either “Psycho or Mary Poppins.”

We had five lucky winners this time: Congrats to Shellye N., who won the grand prize of all four DVDs, and to Rozy C., Janel M., Jennifer A. and Sara M., who won one DVD each!

But there’s one more week until STARGAZER hits stores, and that means we’ve got time for STARGAZER Contest #6!

I have now opened up a Zazzle store! Those of you who might be dying for an Evernight mousepad or T-shirt or whatever may now sate those cravings. Within a couple of days, we’ll have the store linked to the website.*

make custom gifts at Zazzle

To celebrate, I’ll be giving 10 winners one item of their choice from the Zazzle store. What do you have to do to enter? As long as this contest is beginning on St. Patrick’s Day, with four-leaf clovers everywhere, just tell me: What’s your lucky charm? (If you don’t believe in luck, you can just explain that too.) Send your answer to evernightclaudia at gmail dot com, with the subject line “STARGAZER Contest #6.” You don’t have to decide what you want unless/until you win, but be sure that your entry contains a valid e-mail address I can use to reach you.

* For the record, I’m not exactly planning on making tons of money this way; it’s mostly so I can get a mug for myself. I figured I’d offer you guys the option.