My daughter is turning seven today! Look at how big she’s gotten!
Daughters of Zeus
YA Scavenger Hunt
Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!
Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are SIX contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the BLUE TEAM–but there is also a red team, a gold team, an orange team, a red team, and an indie team for a chance to win a whole different set of books!
If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.
SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE
Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the blue team, and then add them up (don’t worry, you can use a calculator!).
Entry Form: Once you’ve added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.
Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by October 9th, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.
SCAVENGER HUNT POST
Today, I am hosting Elizabeth Briggs on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt!
Elizabeth Briggs is the New York Times bestselling author of the Future Shock trilogy and the Chasing The Dream series. She graduated from UCLA with a degree in Sociology, currently mentors teens in writing, and volunteers with a dog rescue group. Elizabeth lives in Los Angeles with her husband and a pack of fluffy dogs.
Find out more information by checking out the author website or find more about the author’s book here! Visit Elizabeth’s Website | Check out Future Shock |Check out Future Threat | Follow Elizabeth on Facebook | Follow Elizabeth on Twitter
A New York Times bestseller!
What do you do when the future is too late, and the present is counting down to an inevitable moment?
Elena Martinez has street smarts, the ability for perfect recall, and a deadline: if she doesn’t find a job before she turns eighteen, she’ll be homeless. But then she gets an unexpected offer from Aether Corporation, the powerful Los Angeles tech giant. Along with four other recruits–Adam, Chris, Trent, and Zoe–Elena is being sent on a secret mission to bring back data from the future. All they have to do is get Aether the information they need, and the five of them will be set for life. It’s an offer Elena can’t refuse.
But something goes wrong when the time travelers arrive in the future. And they are forced to break the only rule they were given–not to look into their own fates. Now they have twenty-four hours to get back to the present and find a way to stop a seemingly inevitable future–and a murder–from happening. But changing the timeline has deadly consequences too. Who can Elena trust as she fights to save her life?
The first book in an unforgettable series about rewriting your destiny in the city of dreams.
Exclusive Content
I always make playlists for every book I write. The songs inspire me, help me set the tone for the book, and make it easier for me to get back into the writing after some time off.
For Future Shock, I chose a lot of dark, angry songs that reflect Elena’s state of mind, along with songs about being an outcast, about running out of time, and about not being able to trust anyone. You can check out the playlist here.
Future Threat is the second book in the trilogy and comes out March 1, 2017. I’m excited to present the playlist for it, exclusive to the YA Scavenger Hunt!For this playlist I also kept the songs pretty dark, but they’re not as angry as in Future Shock because Elena is in a different place now. She’s struggling with getting over her past and trying to live in the present with the man she loves, but is forced to return to the future again for another mission. The songs are moody, a little sad, but also a tiny bit hopeful – just like Elena in the book.
If the spotify window isn’t working, click here to see the playlist on Spotify.com
And don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of books by me, Kaitlin Bevis, and more! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is 2. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the blue team and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!
CONTINUE THE HUNT
To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author!
New to my site? Sign up for my newsletter for a free audio copy of Persephone. Want more free stuff? Comment below to enter for a chance to win an e-copy of the first book in my newest trilogy, Aphrodite. Winner will be chosen via random number generator on Monday, October 10th.
“No one ever knows about all my cats”: the inscrutable divine trickster Hermes
I am busy with birthday fun for my daughter this week, so the amazing Molly Ringle offered to do a guest post about one of my favorite mythological characters from her series. Hermes.
Thank you for having me back, Kaitlin!
I am always happy to ramble about the Greek myths, and by the end of my Chrysomelia Stories trilogy (Persephone’s Orchard, Underworld’s Daughter, and Immortal’s Spring), Hermes had become one of my sentimental favorites, and the favorite of many readers. Today I’m giving a brief sketch of who he is, and why I love him.
You might know of Hermes as a deliverer of messages between gods, or between gods and humans. Which he is. But he’s more than that.
You might know him as a trickster and thief, and he definitely is. But not just that.
You might think of him as untrustworthy, and you’d be right. But that’s not the whole story either.
You might even know he’s a psychopomp: a guide who brings departed souls to the Underworld. Again true, but it’s only one of the many jobs he performs.
In fact, he has so many facets, and is always coming and going on so many mysterious errands, that the more I studied Hermes, the more I decided no one (except Hermes himself) knows all the things he does. He’s a variety of things—nimble, clever, mischievous, untrustworthy, playful, dangerous, seductive, helpful, adaptable, irreverent, dark and light and good and bad all at the same time. He fascinates me, and when starting my mythology-based series of novels, I knew I wanted him to be one of my major characters. And indeed, after Hades and Persephone, he’s one of my main secondary characters.
However, he’s never one of my point-of-view characters. That is, I never got fully inside his head and showed his thoughts, his errands, his loves, his motives. And that’s mainly because I feel like even I, the writer, cannot possibly fathom the depths of the mind of the divine trickster. In Underworld’s Daughter, when another character discovers a trick he’s pulled, and remarks, “Your cat’s out of the bag,” my Hermes character answers, “No one ever knows about all my cats.” I still believe that. While I do reveal some of his secret plans, I’m certain there are lots more that I know nothing about.
Hermes is the quickest thinker, the nimblest thief, and one of the most charismatic of all the gods. In mythology, on the day he’s born, as an infant, he steals all of Apollo’s cattle, covers his tracks, gets caught anyway, then charms Zeus and everyone else—including Apollo—into not holding a grudge and indeed forgiving and liking him. In my version, he’s the one to call on when you need anything (or anyone) stolen or acquired; he’s a con man and sometimes plays tricks even on his friends, but he also protects and avenges them. He’s unpredictable, but mainly benevolent. Chaotic good, some might call him.
One of the interpretations that helps me understand Hermes, and ties together all his diverse personality traits, is that he’s a god of boundaries, and the transgressing of them. As the god of travelers, he helps keep you safe on the road: his name comes from the piles of stones called herms that people used to build at crossroads or countries’ boundaries to mark the way. As a psychopomp, he guides souls across the living world/Underworld boundary. As a thief and a trickster, and the patron god of thieves and tricksters everywhere, he embodies the irreverent transgression of the taboo against stealing and deceiving—stepping over the boundary between lawfulness and crime.
But even with his dark side, Hermes is generally considered a bringer of good things. He’s often described in myth as youthful, playful, and light-footed; he flies through the air in the sunlight and starlight on his winged sandals. Yes, he’ll screw you over sometimes and drive you crazy. But he’ll also surprise you with unexpected gifts. For example, as an apology for the cattle incident, he gave Apollo the lyre he (Hermes) had just invented, and graciously let Apollo become the god of music even though Hermes himself was just as enchanting a musician.
As I have one of my characters say, “It’s wise to leave room in our lives for the chaotic, the unexpected. Hermes has always been excellent at providing those elements. It’s part of the reason I like him, despite the trouble he causes. Ultimately you will find he brings more good than harm.”
And anyway, haven’t we all had friends like that?
—
Excerpt from Immortal’s Spring, in which Hekate encounters Hermes at a Dionysia festival:
Hermes’ presence stole up beside her. She smiled without turning, and didn’t even look when he slid his arm around her waist and said in her ear, “What a fetching young woman. I must fondle her.”
“Hello, Hermes.”
“Hush, my darling. We are all masked tonight. No names.” He drew her forward and began dancing with her.
“You’re not even trying to disguise your voice. And I can sense who you are, stupid.”
“Oh, come now. I’m many terrible things, but never stupid.”
She conceded with a shrug, and spun in the dance in harmony with him.
His mask covered the top half of his face, a fitted piece of leather that sparkled with scattered gold leaf. Mistletoe wreathed his head. “It makes me happy to see you at another of these,” he said.
“I thought it time to come back.”
“I agree. Hey, Aphrodite gave me a new perfume. I tried putting it on my mask. Smell it and tell me what you think.”
Hekate leaned her face close and inhaled. She was about to tell him she could hardly smell anything when he took advantage of her proximity and kissed her on the mouth.
She planted her hand on his face and shoved him, though her annoyance was mixed with laughter, and she didn’t bother trying to escape from his arms.
He was grinning. “Such a simple trick, and you fell for it. Now who’s stupid?”
Like what you read? For the months of October and November 2016, Persephone’s Orchard will be free on all major ebook retail sites! Download today and get started on the series. Find out more below:
Molly Ringle is the author of the New Adult Greek mythology series that begins with Persephone’s Orchard and continues in Underworld’s Daughter and concludes with Immortal’s Spring. She has also written ghost stories in The Ghost Downstairs and Of Ghosts and Geeks—and, to some degree, in What Scotland Taught Me. She stays within the bounds of reality (though still fiction) in her romance novel Summer Term. She lives in Seattle with her family, is happy when it’s cool and cloudy, and gets giddy about fandom, things that smell good, and gorgeous photos of gardens.
Visit Molly Ringle at her website, Goodreads, or Twitter.
Vesuvius Day
Did you know that today is the anniversary of the day that Mount Vesuvius exploded and destroyed Pompeii?
Today’s a great day to learn all about Pompeii. Or if you want to make light of it and go a bit more pop cultured, watch the episode of Doctor Who called The Fires of Pompeii.
Also, mythology stuff. Vulcan = Hephaestus. Volcanic links to that etymology wise.
Back to School
I know for many of my readers, school started weeks ago, and for many more school has not yet started. But today was my daughter’s first day back to school. She’s starting the first grade! I can’t believe how big she’s gotten.
Good luck to everyone this school year. I hope it’s a great one. Now I’m off to be all emotional about my baby growing up.
Book 3 has a name!
Aphrodite 3 has a name! As many of you know, I was struggling with this one for a long time. And I love all your suggestions! I feel terrible not using them, it’s not your fault. They were all great titles, but I gave the wrong parameters.
Originally, my naming pattern for the Aphrodite series was going to be based on which person she’s with the most for that book, because Aphrodite (my character, I can’t speak for the goddess) tends to define herself by who she’s with. So I was going to do Venus and Adonis, Love and War, and end with Aphrodite.
But, my publisher felt that broke the naming pattern I’d established with the Persephone series where all the names were titles that also fit the context of the book. Not just for the sake of the pattern, but because naming the first book of the trilogy Venus and Adonis sets up an expectation for 1. her name to be Venus, so instant confusion on page one paragraph one when she’s called something else (not because no one would instantly recognize that Aphrodite equals Venus, but because it makes it look like I’m going more into Roman territory for the series, like Rick Riordan did. It sets up a false expectation for the reader), and 2. that she and Adonis are end game. Those were all super valid points, so book one was renamed Aphrodite, Love and War was unaffected, and I’ve been struggling to name book 3 for years.
See, I was convinced I needed to have the word beauty in the title to fit the naming pattern I’d established. But nothing sounded right because the names have to do more than fit the pattern. They have to fit the book, and there’s nothing about the third book that relates to beauty. The fact that Aphrodite is the goddess of beauty matters less and less as her series goes on. And I thought anything to do with Venus was out the window because of the whole name confusion thing. But when I casually mentioned I wish it wasn’t because this name had been knocking around in my head (for years) they jumped on it. It’s enough into the series and not after a break in direction that it won’t establish any false promises, and it fits the book.
So super long story short, Aphrodite 3– Untitled is now named Venus Rising!
Friday Faves: Writing T-Shirts
A few weeks ago, I posted my favorite litograph shirts, which are shirts made up of the words of different books. This week, I thought I’d share my favorite writing t-shirts. So here they are in no particular order. One day I hope to own them all.
These shirts came from two different websites. Tee-Spring and SunFrog. Check them out.
Bella Recovery, day 1 and 2
Life has been pretty uneventful on the recovery front. Bella’s home and she’s been talking away. Her voice doesn’t even sound hoarse.
Every now and then, she’ll mention her throat is hurting, or her tummy is hurting, or her head is hurting. But it’s only gotten severe enough to inspire tears once, and every time it’s happened in the thirty minutes before her pain meds are due.
The prescription pain medicine stings.We were following the doctor’s suggestion and giving ibuprofen except for at night, but then we realized that we could only give ibuprofen every six hours instead of every four. And at 3 and a half, she’s hurting. Every time we did two doses in a row of ibuprofen instead of alternating prescription pain meds with ibuprofen, she’s been in a lot more pain and the medicine has stung more going down.
So, now we alternate, and that seems to defeat most of the stinging and keep the pain minimal.
With the pain managed, the next hardest thing to deal with is boredom. She can only watch so much television before getting bored. We have an entire season of Dragons: Race to the Edge that we’re working through, and she has video games to play. Between episodes, we do crafts and play board games, but with the exception of that thirty minutes between doses, she feels like she can play. She gets down right hyper.
Also difficult is food. We’ve got breakfast down (eggs, yogurt, banana), and for lunch I found these great birds-eye pasta shapes meals that have soft pasta and corn and squishy peas and such that she can eat. But she doesn’t want it twice a day and she’s still unwilling to try soup or mashed potatoes. It wouldn’t be so bad if she wasn’t starving. We’re keeping the worst of the hunger at bay with those two meals, lots of ice cream, jello, yogurt, and pudding, and at least one carnation instant breakfast a day. But my kid, who has happily lived on air for most of her life, has now of all times decided she really wants a meal she can sink her teeth into.
But overall, I’m really pleased with how well her recovery is going. By contrast, here’s where I was on day one and two (post-op, if you’re counting the day of the surgery push both back by one).
Bella’s Surgery
We’ve known Bella needed to have her tonsils and adenoids removed since February. After a long wait to meet with the ENT (May), the surgery was scheduled for yesterday. That means my poor kid has known about a pending surgery for five months. She’s had five months to dread it, five months to chew her nails to bits.
Some things that helped prep her for the surgery were these two books and talking to other kids who’d had their tonsils removed. Also, the promise of ice cream and unlimited screen time.
What didn’t help was the fact that she was around when my tonsils were removed two years ago. Everyone kept telling us adult tonsillectomies were worse, but I kind of wonder if that whole “worse” thing has to do with kids limited abilities to express pain.
But, she had to have her tonsils removed. She caught every bug under the sun last year, and her tonsils were obstructing her airway and causing some major sleep apnea. So two days ago, we had a Bella day, where she was allowed to choose whatever she wanted to eat all day (and she did good. I was half expecting candy and junk food, but she wanted waffles and bananas for breakfast, McDonald’s for lunch, and pizza for dinner. Not super healthy, but not cookies all day either). And had a goodbye tonsil party that night where we watched a Bella movie and had cake to say goodbye. Then yesterday, at 6:30 AM, we arrived at an outpatient facility to have the tonsils removed.
She was pretty upset about not being allowed to have breakfast or water, but the promise of a popsicle after surgery kept her going. I’m glad I brought her leap pad with us, because we were in the waiting room for a good hour filling out paper work and (this was a surprise) paying for the surgery up front. Then they called us back and we spent about another hour meeting with the anesthesiologist, the surgeon, and the nurses. They all asked the exact same questions to make sure we were all on the same page. It was a really subtle safety precaution. We filled out more paperwork, and then Bella got changed into a really cute hospital gown with tigers on it.
They gave her medicine to stop her from salivating and we had the option to give her something to reduce her anxiety before they took her away from us and put her under, but we were warned this would impact her ability to come out from under the anesthesia. She’d be way more out of it and it would be a much bigger deal. Fortunately, this is where the books came in handy. Each kid in the books was given a medicine that made them sleepy and relaxed before they left their parents. Bella assumed the medicine she drank did just that and since it was early in the morning and she was sleepy and no one slept well the night before, she legitimately felt sleepy. So we opted not to go with the other medicine.
It was really hard letting them wheel her bed away. When I got my tonsils out, there was this little kid the next room over screaming for his mommy and daddy. The poor thing was so terrified that I was crying on his behalf. There’s really no worse sound than a terrified child. I kept picturing Bella getting back there without us and flipping out and us just sitting out in the waiting room not knowing. But when I talked to her about it later, she said that everyone was so nice that she never felt scared.
She woke up asking for chocolate and assuring us it didn’t hurt as bad as her throat normally did. Her doctor said her tonsils were pretty inflamed and riddled with tonsil stones, which he was expecting, but he was surprised by the size of her adenoids. Apparently they were much larger than he anticipated.
Bella gave the doctors evil glares when they checked on her, which was surprising since she’d just said they were so nice. Further investigation revealed she’d been promised a popsicle, which had not yet been delivered, and that she’d get to blow up a balloon. But the balloon was’t a real balloon (the thing they breathe into for anesthesia).
We got her a real balloon and a popsicle and all was well.
Then the kid in the next curtain partition over woke up and started screaming. Which had to hurt. So he screamed more. Poor kid was just too little to understand what was happening. His mom was frantically trying to calm him down and the doctors gave him something, but it was really awful to hear, and it stressed Bella out because she’d been fine pain wise but now she was thinking, maybe she should be in pain.
The rest of the day went much better. Bella took her pain medicine and napped until the next dose was due (four hour gaps), at which point we switched to Ibuprofen because her doctor insists it works just as well for managing pain.
We’ll see.
By the end of the day, Bella was bored with unlimited screen time, tired of ice cream, and unwilling to try soup or mashed potatoes. She was hungry for real food and very upset she couldn’t get any. I wasn’t too worried because I wasn’t allowed to eat anything on my first day, so she was better off. And since I’d done this before, I knew all the tricks. I had the humidifier ready, the ice collars frozen, the meds spaced out perfectly. Movies and shows and games all picked out. Gatorade with crushed ice and an intimate knowledge of just how much the pain killers sting going down, so she had lots of warning.
It got worse at night, which I was expecting. That’s when all the talking kind of crashed down on her. She didn’t want to take the stinging medicine, but we had ice Gatorade ready to chase it down. Once the medicine kicked in, she went to sleep. We set the alarm for more doses (switching to ibuprofen for the rest of the night), and she slept really well throughout the night.
This morning, she was happy to eat her breakfast. Eggs, banana, and greek yogurt. Chewing doesn’t seem to bug her as much as it did me, so that’s good, but we did wait until her ibuprofen kicked in before feeding her. She’s excited to be able to brush her teeth and enjoy a full day of screen. I’ll let you know how it goes tomorrow.
For comparison, this is what day one of an adult tonsillectomy looks like.
Thumbs Up
Fave Friday: Zombies Run Radio Mode
I love Zombies Run. It’s by far the best running app out there. I’ve been a fan since they launched the premise on kickstarter (my name is in the survivor’s log, you know.)The story is great, the premise is entertaining, and I mean, come on. Zombies! You can read my review on the app and the 5k training app here.
Weirdly, Zombies Run is one of the top search terms leading people to my site, so in an effort to help out my fellow runners, I’m going to answer a question that’s gone unanswered on their facebook page and yahoo ask, and the zombies run wiki.
How long is radio mode?
First, I emailed the question to the support staff. Here was their answer.
Hi Kaitlin,
Thanks for getting back in touch.
I’m afraid we don’t have any hard and fast data on how long each Season of Radio Mode is, so I can only give you estimates. Seasons 2 and 3 are the longest, whereas Season 1 and 4 are of about equal length and shorter than Seasons 2 and 3. Currently Season 5 can be completed in between 1-2 hours, but this will increase once we add more clips.
There are approximately 8 hours total of Radio Mode content for Seasons 2 and 3, but that is an estimate on the low side, and also doesn’t account for the 2 minute gaps in between each clip. You would need to at least double this, probably treble it, to get the true length of Radio Mode when played through the app. Seasons 1 and 4 are about half that length, so roughly 4 hours uninterrupted, as a conservative estimate.
I hope that answers your question. If there’s anything else I can help with then please let me know.
All the best,
Lou
I’m really grateful to Lou for getting back to me, and that information was more than I had before, but if you’re like me, that’s not enough. I finished a season a few weeks ago and in the gap, I started listening to radio mode during my runs. But, I didn’t want it to end in the middle of my run. But with this answer, I was confident enough to get started knowing there would be many missions worth of content. Because of that, I can provide a more detailed answer. At least for season 1.
Quick review of season 1 Radio Mode. It’s not as motivating as the actual missions. No one is telling me to run faster or harder and no one’s dying. Earlier in the season, there were a lot of clips that were basically “That was a great song. Here’s the next one.” But as the season found its stride, I laughed out loud listening more than once (the sports bra quip was the best). Laughing is super awkward when you’re running, by the way. I enjoyed the stories toward the end and getting to know Jack and Eugine even better. Definitely listen if you’re a fan. No materials, but still worth the listen.
Stats:
Season 1 radio mode lasted for 10 thirty-minute (estimated time, sometimes I went longer if a clip was still going, and today the actual radio mode ended at 29 minutes.) runs if you set it to 2 minutes between clips. I used an external music player, so my songs didn’t factor into that. Each run started and ended with a clip. I’ll break it down into more detail below. Hope this helps!
Run 1: 30:03 Minutes. 11 Clips Included: Testing; The Major Won’t Be Happy; Stay Away; Update Your Maps; More Music, More Chat; Pretentious; Technical Difficulties; Radio Abel Is Off Air; Getting Some Air; Public Service Content;
Run 2: 32:25 Minutes. 11 Clips Included: Misting Up; Happening Tune; Stay Safe; Reminders of Home; Small Caliber; Flashing the Quad; Tips from the Road; Quiet Is Key; In a Post-Civilization World; Terrible B.O; Not Anymore.
Run 3: 30:29 Minutes. 10 Clips Included: Balanced Diet; Touch it And See; Zee-Bay; Clean, Dry Feet; Pretty Addictive; Drop Us a Line; Network Recovery Effort; ROFFLENET; Totally Moronic; Cool Story.
Run 4: 30:04 Minutes. 9 Clips Included: The Well Has Run Dry; Call For Equipment; Eugene’s Choice; Sing Along, Fever Dreams; Paging Dr. Freud; Full Upgrade; Robot Radio Abel; Priorities; Useful Starting Location.
Run 5: 35:29 Minutes. 11 Clips Included: Think Big; Thursday!; Indulgences; Money Where Your Mouth Is; Abel Minds; What are You Thankful For; What’s Your Weapon; Hopes for the Future; To the Doctor!; Water, Food, Fuel; Find It, Filter It, Boil It.
Run 6: 30:07 Minutes (The saddest/sweetest radio mode mission). 9 Clips Included:Committed to Your Entertainment; Brain Freeze; Tim Vine Jokes; A Mess Without You; Phreatic Aquifer; Thrunners; Emotionally Open Individual; No More Spam; Martyr
Run 7: 30:17 Minutes (The funniest radio mode mission). 9 Clips Included: Like You’ll Ever Forget; Alright; If You Want to Live; Martin!; Tyresias; Ben? Ben!; Father Michael; I Will Share My Evidence; Be Wary;
Run 8: 30:03 Minutes. 8 Clips Included: Erase You From My Mind; Very Exciting; CookBook; Apology Song; Be Careful!; Survival Tips; Spatter; Standards; Mud.
Run 9: 30:36 Minutes. 11 Clips Included: Ear Present; A Mixed Bag; Twice a Day!; Eye Candy; Squidlet; No More Sports Bras; Ring; Resurrection; Brock Samson; Stay Strong; Lady Cluck.
Run 10: 29:00 Minutes of Radio Mode, 1 minute of music at the end. 6 Clips Included: Dark; This Zombie Life; This Zombie Life; This Zombie Life; This Zombie Life; This Zombie Life. ^ Not a typo, that’ what they were all called because it was the continuation of a story. Made for a great run.
So there you have it.95 Clips coming in at 300 minutes in total (though that will vary because a new clip starts every time you start and the spacing isn’t consistent). I hope this helps anyone with the same questions I had.
Kaitlin Bevis 