Jennifer Iacopelli's GAME SET MATCH, the first in a young adult series following the friendships, romances, and rivalries at the Outer Banks Tennis Academy, where champions are made, dreams are shattered, and love is truly a four-letter word, to Lisa Rutherford at Coliloquy, in a three-book deal, for publication in spring 2013, by Michelle Wolfson at Wolfson Literary Agency. Both Lisa and Michelle first requested the full of GAME SET MATCH from the Submissions Mailbox in April.

Maris Wicks's THE HUMAN BODY THEATRE, which explores the wonderful complexity that is the human body, from bones to blood to brains, to Calista Brill at First Second, by Bernadette Baker-Baughman at Victoria Sanders & Associates.

Lauren Hawkeye writing as Lauren Jameson's THE DARKER SIDE OF TEMPTATION, about a young woman entering into a BDSM relationship with the CEO of a massive corporation and must find a way to deal with his sexual appetite and need for control that plagues him, to Kerry Donovan at NAL, releasing in six serial installments, in a nice deal, by Deidre Knight of The Knight Agency. 

Vella Munn's DEATH CHANT, about a lonely archeologist's vow to learn the truth about her mentor's murder and the Native American forest ranger determined to keep his people's ancient secrets from her, to Liz Pelletier at Entangled Dead Sexy. 

Amy Andrews's 'TIS THE SEASON TO BE MERRY, a novella in which a jaded woman's snowy New Year's Eve in Vermont takes a spicy turn after an unexpected visit from her best friend's younger brother, part of the four-book, multi-author series BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE, to Heather Howland at Entangled, for publication in November 2012.

Heidi Rice's 'TIS THE SEASON TO GO SHOPPING, in which a Christmas Day blizzard turns steamy in this novella when a work-obsessed young woman gets snowed in with her boss's very off-limits playboy son, who proves that you can't judge a package by its wrapping, part of the four-book, multi-author series BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE, to Liz Pelletier at Entangled, for publication in November 2012.

Kate Hardy's 'TIS THE SEASON TO KISS SANTA, a novella in which a young British woman finds herself snowed in on Christmas Eve with an Ebenezer-turned-Santa hottie, part of the four book, multi-author series BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE, to Liz Pelletier at Entangled, for publication in November 2012. 

Debut author Scott Craven's DEAD JED: ADVENTURES OF A JUNIOR HIGH ZOMBIE, pitched as Shaun of the Dead meets Diary of a Wimpy Kid, in which the cardiovascularly-challenged Jed becomes the target of the supreme school bully, and his pack of moronic minions, and Jed's revenge proves it's awesome what you can do when you're already dead, to Courtney Koschel of Month9Books, in a nice deal, in a three-book deal, for publication in fall 2013 (world English). 

Author of the Blood Coven Vampire Series, Mari Mancusi's trilogy starting with DRAGONBOUND, pitched as Terminator meets Daenerys' Dragons from Game of Thrones and centers on a teen girl whom twin brothers claim is the owner of the last dragon egg, and the only one who can stop a future apocalypse wrought by a fiery dragon war, to Leah Hultenschmidt at Sourcebooks Fire, in a very nice deal, by Kristin Nelson of Nelson Literary Agency (NA).

Author of POSSESS, TEN and the upcoming 3:59, Gretchen McNeil's new Don't Get Mad series, GET EVEN and GET DIRTY, pitched as Revenge meets The Breakfast Club, about four girls who form a secret revenge society for bullied classmates which goes well until one of their targets turns up dead, to Kristin Daly Rens at Balzer & Bray, in a very nice deal, in a two-book deal, by Ginger Clark at Curtis Brown (NA).

D.R. Rosensteel's THE PSI FIGHTER, in which a quirky protagonist uses 'mental arts' and technology to battle an evil secret society, kidnappers and the occasional bully, to Liz Pelletier at Entangled, in a nice deal, in a three-book deal, for publication in spring 2013, by Nicole Resciniti at The Seymour Agency.

TOUCH OF DEATH author Kelly Hashway's INTO THE FIRE, in which a sixteen-year-old descendant from the mythical phoenix bird is nearing her rebirth where she will forget everything, including the love of her life and she attempts to embrace her last days with him even if it means drawing deadly phoenix hunters to her doorstep, to Georgia McBride at Month9Books, in a three-book deal, in a pre-empt, for publication in spring 2014, by Lauren Hammond of ADA Management Group (world).

NYT bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater's THE RAVEN BOYS, to New Line Cinema, with Akiva Goldsman at Weed Road under new partnership with Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell, at Safehouse Pictures, set to produce, by Alicia Gordon and Ashley Fox at William Morris Endeavor, on behalf of Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway's MERCHANTS OF DOUBT: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming, to Participant Media and Rob Kenner, director of Food Inc, by Ayesha Pande Literary in association with Hotchkiss & Associates.

Peggy Shinner's INTIMATE POSSESSIONS, a collection of essays about the body in which the author turns a searching eye on her own body, female and Jewish; her parents, the bodies she came from; and the collective body, with all its personal, social, and political implications, to Susan Bielstein at University of Chicago Press, for publication in 2013, by Ayesha Pande (world English).

Kate Kaynak, founder and Lead Editor of Spencer Hill Press was featured in a recent Publisher's Weekly article on the growth and success of the press. Darby Karchut, whose FINN FINNEGAN will be the press' first MG release was also mentioned.

TWO AND TWENTY DARK TALES

by Georgia McBride and Michelle Zink (eds)

Publication date: October 23, 2012

Publisher: Month9Books

Who doesn't love Mother Goose? From Jack and Jill falling down the hill, to Old Mother Hubbard and her poor dog. These are the stories and songs from our childhood. But you've never heard Mother Goose told quite like this. 

TWO AND TWENTY DARK TALES contains 22 dark young adult retellings of Mother Goose rhymes from some of today's most exciting YA authors.

 

Featured in the 2012 anthology are: Michelle Zink, Georgia McBride, Nancy Holder, Sarwat Chadda, KM Walton, Nina Berry, Leigh Fallon, Suzanne Lazear, Angie Frazier, Gretchen McNeil, Suzanne Young, Karen Mahoney, Heidi R. Kling, Leah Cypess, Pamela van Hylckama Vlieg, Shannon Delany with Max Scialdone, C. Lee McKenzie, Lisa Mantchev, Jessie Harrell, Sayantani DasGupta, a foreword by Francisco X. Stork and jacket design by Heather Howland.

 

Proceeds from the sale of the first 5,000 copies will be donated to YALITCHAT.ORG! 

 

SACRIFICE

by Cayla Kluver

Publication date: October 23, 2012

Publisher: HarlequinTEEN

This is not the time for the fight to end. Now is when the fight will begin. This is the time to regain what has been lost. Alera:  Queen of a fallen kingdom, secretly in love with the enemy. Shaselle:  Daughter of a murdered father, rebel with a cause. 

One lives behind the former Hytanican palace walls and walks the razor's edge to keep the fragile peace in her beloved homeland. The other slips through the war-torn streets, seeking retribution for her family's tragedy, following whispers of insurgency. Both face choices that will separate them from those they cannot help but love. 

 

As their stories intertwine, a conspiracy ignites that may end in slavery or death-or lead to freedom anew, if only each can face what must be sacrificed.

 

ASK THE PASSENGERS

by A.S. King

Publication date: October 23, 2012

Publisher: Little Brown Books

Astrid Jones desperately wants to confide in someone, but her mother's pushiness and her father's lack of interest tell her they're the last people she can trust. Instead, Astrid spends hours lying on the backyard picnic table watching airplanes fly overhead. She doesn't know the passengers inside, but they're the only people who won't judge her when she asks them her most personal questions . . . like what it means that she's falling in love with a girl. 

 

As her secret relationship becomes more intense and her friends demand answers, Astrid has nowhere left to turn. She can't share the truth with anyone except the people at thirty thousand feet...

 

THE TWISTED TRAGEDY OF MISS NATALIE STEWART

by Leanna Renee Hieber
Publication date: November 1, 2012

Publisher:  Sourcebooks Fire

I'm coming for you. 

 

The whispers haunt her dreams and fill her waking hours with dread. Something odd is happening.

 

Something...unnatural. Possession of the living. Resurrection of the dead. And Natalie Stewart is caught right in the middle. Jonathon, the one person she thought she could trust, has become a double agent for the dark side. But he plays the part so well, Natalie has to wonder just how much he's really acting. She can't even see what it is she's fighting. But the cost of losing her heart, her sanity...her soul.. 

Each month we spotlight one submission to the Submissions Mailbox. This September enjoy the first 500 words of Jennifer LoBeth's successful submission!

About Jennifer: Jennifer LoBeth was born and raised in Augusta Georgia.  She has an addiction to Cheesy Guacamole Bean Dip and loves to sit in the middle of a bookstore aisle to read. She loves the smell of patchouli and currently resides in North Carolina. This is her first submission to the panel. 

Title: VOODOO CHILD
Genre:  YA Paranormal Horror
First 500 words:  

SAGE: I'll be dead in less than a month.
The wind whirled like abandoned desert sand across my windshield, and the vent beside the glow-in-the dark dashboard welcomed the spray of dead skunk into my car. I sprayed my blueberry car air-freshener, made sure all of the windows were rolled up, and spun the AC knob counterclockwise to low heat.Up ahead the breeze pushed the stoplight back and forth, and as it dissolved from yellow to red, my foot moved in slow motion, pressing effortlessly against the brake.

The streets were well kept and desolate. Crushed brown leaves swept the lane, and an old woman sat, mournful, at a deserted bus stop. Her silver hair dangled over her downturned face. Her long blue skirt started high on her waist, and her silk white blouse was buttoned all the way to the lifeless skin of her neck. Lines of wisdom covered her skinny arms and legs exquisitely. She seemed refined-content to have lived such a full life.

I turned briefly to face the never-ending red light and then shifted my attention back over to the old woman once again. She raised her head slowly, as if it hurt her spine to do so. I saw it in her eyes first. The right iris was soulless--cloudy like the sky before a brutal storm. The left eye revealed little remembrances of what appeared to be shades of grey. The rim of her nose stood pointed like that of a witch's shoe. Her face was covered with a slew of black blemishes that resembled ruptured lesions, and her mouth opened wider than Mick Jagger's mid chorus, revealing her dusty pink gums and uneven, buttery teeth. She was one of them--an Anavore.

I drove off just before the light turned green and looked back once more to find the old woman still seated on the iron bench. She extended her arm with her palm facing my direction, as if saying goodbye. I could tell she was ready to die, but then again, after celebrating my 18th birthday for over two hundred years, so was I.

As I continued to drive farther and farther away, I could not get the image of the old woman's earnest hand out of my head. I wondered what had led her to the decision to cease her ingestion of raw flesh, because I knew that Anavores could retain their natural human-like appearance for weeks without eating.

Oddly enough, I began to think of what kind of life the old woman must have once had. I wondered if she had children or grandchildren. Had she had a husband? What was his name? And more importantly, what was her name?

Misty, colossal mountains came into view and surrounded my car, swallowing it within their magnificence. I drove steadily down the winding road where, in decades past, men had blasted through the highlands to create the picturesque I-40.

Requests: Partial from Krystal Wade of Curiosity Quills and Georgia McBride of Month9Books. Full from Lindsay Ribar of Sabford J. Greenburger Associates and Erika Galpin of Nobel Romance.

In addition to our fabulous YALITCHAT events, October is full of awesome conferences and events in the writing world!  A few highlights are listed below.  For more details on these events and many others, please check out the Events Tab on YALITCHAT.ORG

Florida Writers Association Annual Conference 

Kansas SCBWI Conference 

Maryland Writer's Association Conference Mid-Atlantic SCBWI Fall Conference 

Muse Conference (COMPLETELY ONLINE) 

Screenwriters World Conference 

Surrey International Writers' Conference 

Texas Book Festival 

Writers Digest Conference West

There is also an ongoing conference opportunity this fall at Writing For Children Live, which has published authors presenting on different topics on the writing craft via free, online teleconferences and webinars. This fall there are three YA authors presenting: K.M. Walton, Angela Morrison, and Susan Shaw, plus a webinar on Point of View by Newbery Honor Winner Marion Dane Bauer.

We're scouring the Internet to find events that our members might be interested in, but the Internet's a big place! If you know of a conference, festival, or other literary event that is of interest to YA writers and isn't on our calendar, please email  membership@yalitchat.org attention Jessica Capelle.  Check the Events Tab often to see if a great event is headed your way!

October 3 - Balancing writing and parenting how to successfully work (from home) and not ignore your kids!

October 10 - Technology and writing. Do you use it or prefer to go "old school"?

October 17 - International Chat, 3 PM EST. No evening chat!

October 24 - TWO AND TWENTY DARK TALES author chat. Join us as we discuss the dark and hidden meanings behind some of the most beloved Mother Goose nursery rhymes through short story retellings.

October 31 - HOWLAWEEN chat discussing best of paranormal fiction including werewolves, vampires, angels, and more! Who's doing it right, which books we should know about, and how not to write the worst paranormal book ever!

EDUCATION GRANT

Available for Teachers and Librarians who are members of YALITCHAT.ORG. Educators join YALITCHAT.ORG's Premium membership for $25/annually though it is NOT necessary to do so in order to qualify for the EDUCATION GRANT. 

Apply for a grant for use on classroom supplies, technology purchase, author visit, etc. Grants available in amounts of $50.00 per member. Five available per membership year. NB: Educators (regardless of membership level) qualify for FREE classroom supplies at beginning of each semester. Join our EDUCATORS group for more info. 

HARDSHIP GRANT*

Want to expand your horizons and connect with others in the industry but just don't have the funds? YALITCHAT offers TWO types of Hardship Grants and is available to individuals who desire to join YALITCHAT, SCBWI, RWA, RWAYA and other related organizations but need help doing so. 

YALITCHAT Membership Grant 

Covers the cost of a full year's premium membership in YALITCHAT.ORG or $30.00 per grantee.
There are 5 grants available for the 2012-2013 Membership year (July-July).
BALANCE AVAILABLE FOR 2011-2012 MEMBERSHIP YEAR: $150 (5 GRANTS).

YALITCHAT OTO Hardship Grant*

Covers the cost to JOIN any Other Trade Organization in disbursements of $25 per grantee.

There are 4 available for the 2011-2012 membership year (July-July). You MUST be a premium member of YALITCHAT.ORG in order to qualify for this grant. 

BALANCE AVAILABLE FOR 2012-2013 MEMBERSHIP YEAR: $100 (4 GRANTS).

MARKETING SUPPORT GRANT*

 Are you a newly published author in need of marketing support materials for a new release? How about an author about to head on tour in need of giveaways and promo items? Do you need to purchase more ARCs from your publisher to get exposure for your book? Need money to get that new website off the ground? We can help.

Last year we gave away $600 in grants towards supporting published members in promoting their books! There are be five grants available or $100 per person/grantee. Grants are available to premium members only.

BALANCE AVAILABLE FOR 2012-2013 MEMBERSHIP YEAR: $500 (5 GRANTS)

QUICK LEARNING GRANT*

Up to $50 toward any learning initiative such as a webinar, online course, conference, etc. You must be already registered for said initiative and have already paid in full. Must be writing or publishing industry related.
$250.00 USD year available total and $50 per grantee.
BALANCE AVAILABLE FOR 2012-2013 MEMBERSHIP YEAR: $250 (5 GRANTS).

Want to learn more about grants or need an application? Please send an email to grants at yalitchat (dot) org.

*Available to Premium Members ONLY!