New Look for the Eternal Rose Books + Free Short Story

Hi :)

Many of you probably know I blog mostly (and by "blog mostly" I mean run a contest about once a month) over at my Paula Stokes website. In fact I'm running an awesome build-a-book-boyfriend contest over there right now where the winner can see their ideal book boy in a future Paula Stokes novel! But today I wanted to reach out to all of the Secrets of the Eternal Rose fans to make sure you knew you could score a free short story prequel called Disastrous Desire. It's full of glamour and mystery and it has a gorgeous sexy cover that will look fabulous on your e-reader or tablet. See:

“A sensual tale where no one can be trusted and passions kill.”
–Andrea Cremer, New York Times bestselling author of the Nightshade series

Eighteen-year-old Mariabella has recently elevated herself from the rank of common prostitute to the status of courtesan, a respected high-class escort for those men in Venetian society who can afford one. Mariabella steps out to attend a party on the arm of her powerful new patron, certain that the night will be filled with glamour, secrets, and adventure—but the world she has immersed herself in is more dangerous than she believes.

Don’t miss this short story prequel set in the thrilling world of Fiona Paul’s Secrets of the Eternal Rose series. This free story also includes four chapters of Venomous Kiss, the first book in a romantic series tinged with true love and heartbreaking betrayal.

Download from Amazon     Download from B&N   

In fact, the book development team Paper Lantern Lit has renamed and redesigned the entire trilogy, so if you wanted to read this series but you've been struggling to find copies of any of the books, they will be widely available again this spring, starting with the re-release of Venom as Venomous Kiss on March 17, 2016.

In the meantime, feast your eyes on the amazing new covers!

Cassandra Caravello has everything a girl could desire: elegant gowns, sparkling jewels, and a handsome, wealthy fiancé—yet she longs for something more. Ever since her parents’ death, Cassandra has felt trapped, alone in a city of water, where the dark and labyrinthine canals whisper of escape.

When Cass stumbles upon the body of a murdered woman, she’s drawn into the dangerous and tempting world of secret societies, courtesans, killers, and a mysterious street artist named Falco, who could be the most dangerous temptation of them all.

Soon, she finds herself falling for Falco, but his habit of getting into trouble could destroy the perfect life Cassandra has built. Will she find the murderer before he finds her? And will she stay true to her fiancé or succumb to her uncontrollable feelings for Falco?

Formerly published as Venom, Fiona Paul’s first installment of the Secrets of the Eternal Rose is perfect for fans of Libba Bray’s A Great and Terrible Beauty.

In the second installment of the Secrets of the Eternal

Rose series, Cassandra Caravello is trying to forget Falco, the wild artist who ran off with her heart, as she grows closer to her strong, steady fiancé, Luca. But Luca has his own share of secrets. When he’s arrested by soldiers in the middle of the night, Cass’s life is once again thrown into chaos. 

So begins her journey to Florence to prove Luca’s innocence. In the city haunted by whispers of vampirism, secret soirees and clandestine meetings of the Order of the Eternal Rose, Cassandra also finds Falco, who is working for the Order’s eerily stunning leader, the Belladonna herself.

Nothing is as it seems in this seductive mystery, where the truth may be the deadliest poison of all.

Formerly published as Belladonna, the second book in the trilogy is perfect for fans of Jennifer Donnelly’s These Shallow Graves.

Available April 12, 2016

Cassandra Caravello and Luca are fugitives, on the run from the law and the deadly Order of the Eternal Rose. As they pursue the only evidence that could save them, their worlds—and their romance— are torn apart by spiteful friends and murderous enemies.

When Cass finds herself ensnared in the Order’s twisted plot, Falco emerges once again as her only hope for freedom…but this time, Luca has a shocking scheme of his own.

From ancient mercenaries to sly magicians, clever courtesans and vengeful killers, no one can be trusted. In the breathtaking conclusion to the Secrets of the Eternal Rose trilogy, Cass must confront the Order and decide where her heart lies, once and for all.

Formerly published as Starling, this romantic mystery is perfect for fans of Philippa Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl.

Available May 24, 2016

Right now you can pre-order all three titles for .99, 1.99, and 2.99 respectively! That's over 1000 pages of swoony Renaissance mystery for less than $6.00. I'm not sure if these prices will go up, so if you're interested in the books, you might want to snap them up sooner rather than later :)

Where I've Been...

Heeeeeeey.

I'm not sure how many people are still reading this blog, but you probably know I also write as Paula Stokes. My first YA contemp, THE ART OF LAINEY, released last month, and I now have five more books and a 100-page e-novella coming out under my real name. Pretty epic, right? I think so ;-) I'll be blogging over at Author Paula Stokes mostly from now on. Come see me--I miss you! :-)

Happy Birthday STARLING!

Hi hi :)

I'm so excited that STARLING flutters into the world today. If you happen to see it at your local bookalicious place (be that a library or bookstore), snap me a pic and tweet it to @FionawritesYA.

I'd talk all about what it's like to finish a trilogy, but I already did that for my friend Stacee at Too Fond of Books, so look for that post on Monday. Speaking of Monday, Australian STARLING releases then. Go get that pretty dress cover, Aussie-types :)

AND

In honor of both Starling's release and @pstokesbooks finally amassing 1000 twitter followers, I am getting ready to do a dual WHERE IN THE WORLD IS?? contest with both Starling and The Art of Lainey. Be sure to stay tuned for that.

Happy reading and writing!

Happy Birthday Nikki: Thoughts on Serendipity

When I was in elementary school, I was obsessed with a series of books by Stephen Cosgrove. One of them was called Serendipity.

Isn't she the cutest? I don't honestly remember the storyline, but I remember this was my introduction to the word serendipity. Even as a seven-year-old, I loved the idea of stumbling across something awesome purely by chance.

This happened to me in June of 2012, at a book event called Teen Author Carnival that took place in NYC. I got invited as Fiona Paul because I was going to be at Book Expo America with the 2012 debut group, the Apocalypsies. I remember being overwhelmed by BEA, being exhausted as I hurried from the conference to the library with a group of other authors. I remember feeling outclassed and outperformed by many of the other writers doing panels with me. They were all so polished, so professional. Me, I was sweaty and shy and scared.

After the panels were over, the authors hung out to sign books. My first book wasn't out yet so I was signing ARCs and bookmarks. One of my editors came up to me and gave me an ARC of Venom that someone had won as part of a box of books but forgotten at the library. "I figured you might want this," she said. My first thought was: Yikes. One more thing to fit in my already overstuffed luggage. But I put it away and kept talking to readers. I was sitting next to Lauren Morrill, another 2012 debut (she's awesome, buy her books!), when a tiny sprite of a girl bounced up to me. "Do you know if they'll be giving away more ARCs of Venom at BEA tomorrow?" she asked.

"I'm not sure." (Authors are usually the last to know anything). I paused. "How old are you?"

"Thirteen," the girl replied.

"Hmm. Venom is technically age 14 and up." I looked at Lauren Morrill. She looked at me. This girl looked younger than thirteen. But she was so cute and enthusiastic and it wasn't like the people at BEA were carding book readers to make sure they were old enough to get the free ARCs. I made one of those split-second decisions. "Here." I pulled out the copy of Venom my editor had just given me. "I just happen to have an ARC with me. You can have it, but if any of the material makes you uncomfortable, just skip over it, okay?"


The girl nodded happily. I signed the ARC for her and she bounded off. That girl was blogger Nikki Wang from the blog Fiction Freak. I didn't think too much about the interaction, aside from praying that I wouldn't get an angry email from Nikki's mom if she found the ARC and deemed it too adult for her daughter.

After I got home from the conference, Nikki emailed me about doing a feature on her blog. I said yes. We got to talking. We got to talking some more. Slowly, via the magic of the interwebz, Nikki and I became friends.

Since then, Nikki has been a such huge motivational and promotional force in my writing career that I wanted to write this happy birthday blog post just to thank her. THANK YOU, NIKKI! Many other bloggers have inspired and promoted and motivated me too, and I am grateful to all of them. But Nikki truly has gone above and beyond, in so many ways. Here's just a smattering of things she is to me:

1. One-girl focus group if I have a question about teenspeak or whether teens do or don't like something.

2. Reviewer extraordinaire. The PenguinTeen catalog even blurbed her:

3a. Epic supporter. She sponsored a readalong with blogger Annabelle from Sparkles and Lightning:

3b. She also made my first fan art for both the Eternal Rose series and The Art of Lainey:

3c. She also personally encouraged her friends to read my books.

3d. She also had me on her blog multiple times to promote my writing.

3e. She's also heading up THE ART OF LAINEY blog tour via the company she started with her friends, Merp Squad.

3f. She's also done a lot of other little things to promote me, like being first to sign up for my street team and tweeting and FB likings and sharing my bookmarks, etc.

4. Graphic designer. She made the banner and button I'll be using as part of a multi-author tour this July. More info on that coming soon.

5. Last, but never least, friend :) Maybe it's weird for a "grownup" to have teens as friends, but I like to think of it as one of the best things about the internet. Cyberspace breaks down barriers that might keep people apart in real life.

I am so glad I made that random serendipitous decision to give my extra copy of Venom to Nikki almost 2 years ago. Whether you're Team Fate or a big believer in free will, I encourage you to remain open to the idea of serendipity. Life hands you amazing things sometimes when you're not even looking for them. You never know--the next person you meet might become your Nikki Wang :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NIKKI! <333

The STARLING BLOG TOUR!!

Guys, guys, I can't believe it's finally time for STARLING to release. I finished revising and editing this book over a year ago, so for the longest time it felt so dreamy and distant, almost like it hadn't happened.

But that time has come to an end as the book gets ready to finally hit the shelves. Thanks to Jean and Book Nerd tours for setting up an awesome tour for me. It's full of Q&As, fun guest posts, and GIVEAWAYS! Here's a link so you can follow along with the merriment!

Thoughts about STARLING, plus an excerpt!

Hi. There seems to be some confusion about the third book in the Secrets of the Eternal Rose series. Originally the book was called FORBIDDEN. This title was in place before I even began to write the book, and when I was finished  my editors and I all believed that the book needed a new title. STARLING was suggested by my Penguin editor, along with two other possibilities, both of which didn't capture the feeling of the narrative arc the way STARLING did.

We all felt STARLING was a good choice, but it was March of 2013 when we made this decision and the VENOM paperbacks were already at the printer. So if you bought a Venom paperback (thanks!) the end of your book will announce the title of book three as FORBIDDEN. That is no longer the title. Apologies for the confusion :-)

Note: many readers believe STARLING to be a spoiler for the end of the trilogy, since that's the nickname that Falco gave her. The reason we went with this title is because it fit Cass's journey of learning to fly, to free herself from the expectations on her under her own terms. It has nothing to do with the romantic resolution.

Here's a short excerpt to give you a little idea of what Cass and Luca are up to at the beginning of the book!

Excerpt from Chapter 4, edited slightly to remove spoilers

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next day, Luca awoke free of fever and feeling stronger. Cass informed him of everything Narissa had told her.

“Vampire attacks in Venice? Could it be a coincidence?” He stretched his injured shoulder across his chest, massaging his stiff muscles with his other hand.

“I don’t know, but we should find out more before we go to Florence,” she said. “If Belladonna has come to town, it quite possibly means that she believes the book is here.”

Luca looked down and noticed Slipper still curled up on the wool blanket. He petted the cat gently. “What do you recommend?” he asked.

“I suppose we could do like Narissa and eavesdrop at the market,” Cass suggested.

“What about that workshop you told me about, the one with the symbol for the Order? Perhaps we should go by there and see if there’s any obvious activity.”

Cass blanched. She had mentioned Angelo de Gradi’s workshop to Luca but had never told him that she had broken in with Falco. He didn’t know about de Gradi’s collection of body parts or how the physician had nearly caught Cass trespassing. He didn’t know the mere mention of the place terrified her. She scooped Slipper into her arms, nestling the cat against her chest. He blinked sleepily and then started to purr.

“Cassandra,” Luca said. “You’ve gone white as a seabird. I don’t mean for us to go inside. I thought we might watch the building for a bit and see if anyone comes or goes.”

She nodded, but the thought of it made her breath go taut and her heart slam against her rib cage. The room with the tin basins appeared before her. She could smell the tinge of balsam in the air. She could feel the fabric of her nightgown catching on the broken shutter.

Angelo de Gradi’s hands reaching out for her...

“Or I could go alone,” Luca offered. “You could wait here for me.”

Cass knew they would be in little danger if they were only going to watch the de Gradi workshop from afar, but she never wanted to go anywhere near that horrible place again if she didn’t have to. But how to explain that without divulging that she had been inside, with Falco?

“What if you go to the workshop and I go to the market,” she suggested, releasing a squirming Slipper to the floor. “Then we can meet back here later and discuss what we’ve found.”

Luca watched as the cat pounced on a ball of dust. “It’s not safe for you to go wandering around the Rialto by yourself.”

“Luca, be reasonable. I’ll borrow a servant’s outfit and no one will even notice me. The market is always crowded. I’ll blend in with the masses.”

He reached out to touch the diamond necklace that hung in the hollow of her throat—a lily. He had given it to her before his arrest. “You’re a little well adorned to be a servant,” he said drily.

Cass tucked the pendant inside her bodice and chemise so that even the chain was hidden. “All better,” she declared. “Besides, consider this: if anyone is still looking for us, there’s a greater chance we’ll be recognized if we stay together, right? It’ll be safer for us to split up.” She wasn’t sure if this was technically true, but it made a logical kind of sense. The Senate knew she and Luca had escaped as a pair. They would most likely be expecting them to still be together.

Luca appeared to be thinking it over. “Just the market?” he asked. “You promise you won’t go anywhere else without me?”

“I promise I won’t do anything foolish,” Cass said. “Between the two of us, perhaps we’ll hear something about Dubois or Belladonna, or if not them, then something about this sudden scourge of vampires. If we don’t, we’ll plan to head to Florence tomorrow.”

Luca frowned. “I know how strong you are, Cassandra, but I hate the thought of leaving your side even for an instant. Perhaps we’re crazy to fight the Order by ourselves. Perhaps you should remain here and I should take the pages we have to the Senate and ask them to hear my testimony.”

Cass shook her head vehemently. “Don’t be ridiculous. Dubois owns the Senate. They wouldn’t hear your testimony. They’d probably execute you immediately.” Leaning close to Luca, she ran her fingers through his hair and then pressed her lips to his cheek. “I risked the world to get you back. I will not lose you again.”

Luca turned toward her. Cradling her face with one hand, he closed the gap between them until his forehead rested against hers. “I never imagined you . . .”

“What?” Cass whispered, the soft word melding with Luca’s breath. The sharp smell of the theriac balm tickled her nose. She could see the beginnings of a beard already growing out on his cheeks. “Wouldn’t want you to die?”

He leaned away so that he could look into her eyes. “That you would look at me as you are, and speak in this manner. Not as if you’d feel responsible if something happened to me, but as if you’d feel . . . lost.”

Cass felt her heart opening. It was like Luca had put into words something she hadn’t been able to herself. “Without you, I would be lost,” she admitted.

Want more STARLING? The book goes on sale March 20, 2014.

The YA Scavenger Hunt is now over

#YASH is now over. Thanks to everyone who participated. I totally loved reading your comments about your favorite part of the hunt. THE RAFFLECOPTER HAS SPOKEN! My winner is Tal R.


Thanks again for visiting and I hope everyone had a wonderful #YASH :-)

A few things...

Updates and info and fun stuff--list style:

1. I am starting a critique collaboration with Tara Kelly, Jessica Spotswood, and Elizabeth Richards. We each have two published novels with more on the way. All four of us love to critique query letters and manuscripts. We're offering competitive pricing for a variety of services and even student discounts on full MS critiques. Our official launch date is October 1. Come check us out at Manuscript Critique Services.

2. I am participating in YASH, the YA Scavenger Hunt which will run from Oct 3rd to October 6th. I will be giving away a signed copy of BELLADONNA, as well as running a secondary international contest for a gift card to Powell's Books. My exclusive material is a deleted scene from BELLADONNA, as well as a little teaser from STARLING. There are 60 authors participating this year! If you love books, you don't want to miss YASH.

3. It has come to my attention that some of you have not read the amazing GOING BOVINE, one of my favorite books of all time, so I will be rambling on about its awesomeness on the YA Valentines blog on October 8th. If you have not read it, come find out why you should.

4. My cover reveal for my first contemp, THE ART OF LAINEY, will be on October 9th at Ensconced in YA. I don't want to give away all of the fun details, but let's just say if you ever wanted to be in a book, you should probably stop by and enter the contest :)

5. I will be launching a Paula Stokes website/blog in October. More info on that soon. I will still post relevant Fiona-esque things here.

6. Someone left this random sunflower in the hallway of my building and it brightened my day. I have decided I really like sunflowers :)

That's all I got! Happy reading, writing, and whatever :)

BELLADONNA playlist

So I came across this list when I was finishing up the edits for Starling and figured I'd share. Once again, I've tried to include more contemporary choices along with the dark 90s music that is my favorite. Sorry, I am not linking these, because I worry about linking to websites that will go dead and/or are in violation of copyright.

PRETTY GIRL by Sugarcult

VOODOO by Godsmack

BLOODSTREAM by Stateless

GET OUT ALIVE by 3 Days Grace

DOWN BY THE WATER by PJ Harvey

COSMIC LOVE by Florence and the Machine

AERIALS by System of a Down

PASSIVE by A Perfect Circle

INFECT by Bad Religion

LEAVE by Jojo

LYING FROM YOU by Linkin Park

DOWN IN A HOLE by Alice in Chains

Blog tour winner!

Winner of the entire signed trilogy is: Rebecca Herman!

Email me or DM me on twitter, please. Let me know if you want the books signed, personalized to someone, etc.

Thanks to everyone for your comments. I responded to some of your blog tour ideas at the bottom of the comments of the previous post. I will definitely revisit your ideas in the future :) Thanks to all the Australian, US, and Canadian bloggers for being part of my fabulous and fun blog tours and thanks to everyone who came along for the ride. I had a blast. See you next time!

When blog tours COLLIDE! + GIVEAWAY!!

Hi guys. So today is the day--the end of the blog tours and BELLADONNA's release day. Man, it seems so long ago that I finished writing that book. Publishing is weird like that--by the time your book comes out you're like, "Wait, which one is that again?" :)

So I had big plans for this contest. I was going to turn the whole Where in the World thing around and do a Where in St. Louis, featuring some of my local hangouts and some of the things I love about my city.

But then I got another edit letter for my first contemp, and some unrelated distressing news. And then I wasted some time being sad and anxious and going through the whole "I am working twice as many hours for half as much money. Is this whole writing thing worth it?" line of questioning.

And it is. It really is. But my work-life balance sucks right now. I can't remember the last day I quit work before midnight and I don't foresee doing that anytime in the next week until my next round of edits are done. So instead of spending all day wandering the city in search of fun photo ops for this contest, I'm going to do something different with the contest and spend today working on revisions. I hope you understand.

To some lucky US or Canadian person, I am giving away a VENOM paperback, a BELLADONNA hardcover, and a STARLING ARC--a trilogy of books for one big winner. All signed to whomever you want. All with matchy-matchy covers. I am going to select the winner of the contest randomly, from people who comment in the comments below, but I am giving everyone an extra entry (up to 15 total entries) for each of the US/CA blog tour posts they comment meaningfully on.

I don't normally angle for comments/likes/etc. in this manner, but I worked hard on the tour posts and all of the awesome US and CA bloggers worked hard too, getting everything up on time and laying out their posts in a visually appealing way. (Australia--you guys also rocked, but I can't send books overseas at this moment and you guys wouldn't want our US covers anyway, but for realz, I love you too). All of my lovely blogger peeps retweeted each other and supported each other and I feel so lucky to know them. They deserve your page hits and your comments.

For your comments on this post, I am curious to know how you feel about blog tours: Why do you like being a tour stop? Do you only read the posts with giveaways? Do you ever follow an author's entire tour? What do you wish you could see more of in blog tours? What do you want to see less of? I offered a stop to one US blogger who said, politely but frankly: "No thanks--I don't want an excerpt." You won't offend me with any of your thoughts. For your first entry, tell me anything you want to tell me about blog tours so next time I can make mine even better :)

This contest will run from now until the morning of July 22nd at which point I will close comments on this thread, count up the comments elsewhere, and use a random number generator to pick a winner. BEST OF LUCK!

Get a signed copy of BELLADONNA

Hi guys! BELLADONNA releases in the USA one week from today and I just wanted to let everyone know if you want a signed/personalized copy, and you live in the USA, you can preorder your copy from my local indie bookstore, Left Bank Books. I live about a mile away from the Euclid Left Bank store and will don my walking shoes (actually, they're Nike running shoes I designed myself on the NikeID website!) and hoof it to the store just to sign your book :)

Just order from this link and in the special comments let them know that you want the book signed and if you want it personalized what name I should write. Easy, breezy! If you're looking for a signed VENOM paperback, those should be available also. Thanks for all of your support <333

A TRILOGY of blog tours!

Because I pride myself on being an international sort of chica, I was psyched when bloggers from Australia, Canada, and the USA all reached out wanting to be part of a BELLADONNA blog tour.

Therefore, I give you:

Featuring: reviews, fun Q&As, excerpted teasers with commentary, and an interview with a certain dashing artist.

FOLLOW THE AUSTRALIAN TOUR:

1 July http://badassbookie.blogspot.com.au

2 July http://turnersantics.blogspot.com

3 July http://treasuredtalesforyoungadults.wordpress.com

4 July http://speconspecfic.com/

5 July http://pixelski.blogspot.com.au/

6 July http://tsanasreads.blogspot.com.au/  7 July http://bookomatic.blogspot.com.au

I also give you: This US tour kicks off with the release of the COMPLETE VENOM EPILOGUE which was cut during editing. Then, all week I will be posting exclusive excerpts from BELLADONNA and talking about research, revision, collaborating, etc. If you're interested in the writing process or checking out non-spoilery bits before the book hits the shelves, don't miss this tour. Tour ends with a giveaway of a STARLING ARC! FOLLOW THE USA TOUR: Posted by Website URL Date Adam Paper Lantern Lit http://paperlanternlit.wordpress.com/ July 8th Pam Bookalicious bookalicio.us July 9th Teresa Readers live a thousand lives http://www.readerslive1000lives.com/ July 10th Lili Lili’s Reflections http://lilisreflections.blogspot.com/ July 11th Kari Kari’s Crowded Bookshelf http://karisbookshelf.blogspot.com/ July 12th Nikki Fiction Freak http://fiction-freak.blogspot.com July 13th Sara Forever 17 Books http://forever17books.blogspot.com/ July 15th Fiona Fiona Paul’s blog http://fionapaulbooks.blogspot.com July 16th Running concurrently with the USA tour and not to be outdone, I give you:   Team Canada's tour is full of fun lists, interviews, travel recommendations, deleted scenes, and thoughts on writing a trilogy. This tour will also culminate on my blog on BELLADONNA'S release day where all of you North Side peeps will also be eligible to win an ARC of STARLING. FOLLOW THE CANADIAN TOUR: Posted by Website URL Date Razorbill CA Razorbill CA Razorbill.ca July 8th Kathy A Glass of wine http://glass-of-wine.blogspot.ca/ July 9th Siobhan Conversations of a reading addict http://conversationsofareadingaddict.blogspot.ca July 10th Maria Fantasy’s Ink http://fantasysink.blogspot.ca/ July 11th Jessica Read My Breath Away http://readmybreathaway.blogspot.ca/ July 12th Emilie Emilie’s Book World http://emiliebookworld.blogspot.com July 13th Giselle Book Nerd Canada http://booknerd.ca/ July 15th Fiona Fiona Paul’s blog http://fionapaulbooks.blogspot.com July 16th SEE YOU ON RELEASE DAY WHEN I GIVE AWAY THE FIRST ARC OF STARLING, THE FINAL BOOK IN THE SECRETS OF THE ETERNAL ROSE TRILOGY :)

For love of blog tours...and MAD PRIZES

Hi! I just wanted to let you know about a few fun things coming your way:

I am doing a 4-day Summer Solstice Sequels blog tour with my fellow Breathless Reads alums Elizabeth Richards, Jessica Spotswood, and Lili Peloquin. All of these spots are filled, but thank you for your interest :)

We'll be hanging out on 4 different blogs and sponsoring 4 different contests with 4 different prizes. Also, I've heard there may be humiliating teen photos of us... On June 20th we're having a Twitter party under the #SSSequels hashtag where there will be MAD PRIZES.

Now that I have your attention, heh, I also wanted to tell you I'm thrilled to be doing an Australian blog tour as well as a North American one for BELLADONNA. The Aussie tour is good to go, but the American one needs four more bloggers. Dates for this tour are July 9th through July 15th. Since I only have a few spots, I will be giving precedence to bloggers that are really crazy about the series but that I have never done features with before. Not to say that I don't appreciate my super-loyal bloggers (you know who you are <333) but I just want to give some new people a chance to get in on the fun.

Requirements:
You must have a primarily YA book-related blog.
You must have at least 250 followers.
Your blog must be formatted and designed to be readable.
You must have read and reviewed Venom (GR, Amazon, blog, etc.)
You must be at least 13.

Is this you? Email me at fionapaulbooks at gmail dot com by June 10th if you're interested in being part of the tour. I will select people randomly from the responses I get. If you're not selected or your blog doesn't have enough followers, no worries. I have (at least!) 3 more books coming out and I promise I will include you in the future if you remain interested.

Thanks! Happy reading, writing, and living :)

For love of bloggers

So I haven't been as visible online lately because I finished graduate school and went on an epic trip without much internet access. And I honestly feel healthier being online less. I'm in the process of working up some promotional stuff for Belladonna's release, as well as edits for my contemp, revising a seekrit manuscript, and drafting an MG. (Not sure how that last one will go, but it's going to be a fun experiment).

Oh, and I'm looking for jobs in Portland, OR because I would like to move there. Do you live in Portland? If so, hire me :D

Anyway, I just wanted to say a kazillion hugs and love to all of the readers and bloggers who have posted, tweeted, emailed, and/or bought Venom. You guys mean the world to me, even if I'm not online every single day telling you that. Thank you, thank you, thank you! When I get a tweet like the one I got today, with the awesome fan art below, it totally blows me away and reminds me of how amazingly lucky I am to have supporters like you. Yes, YOU! So thanks to Nikki from Fiction Freak for this totally cute representation of Cass, and if anyone else has Venom fan art, send it my way so I can loooooooove on it :)

An interview with VENOM's interior book designer

After Venom hit the shelves, a lot of people emailed and tweeted to say that it was one of the most visually appealing books they had ever seen. From the gorgeous mask on the cover (courtesy of cover artist Kristin Smith), to the deckled edges, to the swirls and whorls on the pages, there's no doubt--Venom is stunning. In fact, the inside is so ornate in places that many bloggers, like this one and this one, included pix of the design in their reviews. And even the readers who weren't huge fans of the story quite still commented on how beautiful the book is. So who do I have to thank for that? My editor? Book faeries? Would you believe an interior book designer? Yeah, apparently that's a real job, and what a cool job it must be :) I reached out to Venom's designer, Amy Wu, to find out more about just how  the book ended up so gorgeous and perfect. 

1. So you're an interior book designer. What exactly does that entail?. 

A: Yes, I am an interior book designer for YA novels here at Philomel Books! I also work on our picture books. The art department is made up of the art director, Semadar Megged and myself.

Everything within the pages are planned and specifically placed on the page. The best way for me to explain what we do is we decide how a book is read, from the size and style of the typeface, to how many pages it will be, and how a chapter opens, usually with artwork or ornament elements.


2. When you're assigned a title, what's the process like? Are you given basic instructions by the editor or cover designer? Do you have to pitch your ideas to a committee? Or are you just given free rein to make books beautiful however you see fit?

A: Semadar and I meet with the editor to discuss each title. We ask questions like what is the age group, how long should the book be, is there anything we should incorporate into the design, such as a symbol or emblem from the story. For example, here are the notes I jotted down during the Venom meeting with Jill:

• 14 and up
• Venice
• 16^th century
• Renaissance
• If possible, page count should be around 400 pages (Venom was 448-pages)
• Big margins, spacious design
• Type size and space feel
• Need room for epigraphs introducing each chapter
• Rose petal design element
• Deckled edges

The interior designers aren’t always shown the jacket design. Sometimes I do not see the front cover until after I have designed 1^st pass. This is a double edge sword. Firstly, it is good if I don’t see the jacket because I do not feel bound to the jacket’s aesthetic. However, I do like to tie the jacket and interior design together. Usually I accomplish this by using the same typefaces and title treatment on the jacket.

I come up with several design variations, which I show the art director, and we tweak what I have. Once I’ve finalized at least 3 options, I show the editor who has the final say. I’m not sure if I would want free rein with the interior design, Semadar and Jill will always catch something that I might not see. It’s nice that I can collaborate and go back forth before settling on a final design.

3. Do all Penguin Teen books have interior designers?

A: Yes!

4. Do you have any specific training that helped you land your position?

A: I went to the School of Visual Arts for my undergraduate and I specifically studied book design. My portfolio out of school centered on books. I took a class with Steven Brower in my junior year called Book Jacket Design and Beyond and he was later my senior portfolio teacher. My very first design job out of school was at Eric Baker Design. I worked on many books there, but no experience in children’s books and YA Novels until coming to Penguin Group.

5. Can you tell us some of the other books you've designed?

A: Since I’ve started at Penguin Group, I’ve designed three picture books, The World’s Greatest Lion by Ralph Helfer, Bully by Patricia Polacco, and Max and the Tag Along Moon by Floyd Cooper. YA Novels I’ve designed include John Flanagan’s latest series called Brotherband Chronicles, Lisa Graff’s two novels with us, Double Dog Dare and A Tangle of Knots, as well Jane Yolen’s spin on fairy tales, Snow in Summer and Curse of the Thirteenth Fey, as well as the Charlie Collier series by John V. Madormo. My latest interior book design was Kari Luna’s The Theory of Everything.

6. What about one book you wish you could have designed, but didn't?

A: One book I wish I designed amongst the Philomel titles is Between Shades of Gray. When I first started back in May 2010 that was the first novel I read of ours. Semadar designed the interior of this one, along with Ruta’s newest title Out of the Easy. This was before Amy’s (B.A.) time. Another YA novel I wish I designed outside of Penguin is Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (Quirk Books). I’m a big fan of Diane Arbus and the interior design of this book reminded me of her.

7. Have you read any of the blog reviews that gush about your work with Venom? I've read more than one where the reviewer was so blown away by the interior that she posted pictures of it on her blog. (Pretty sure you're earning Venom an extra half star per review...and I'll take it! :D)

A: That is very sweet. I have read blog reviews of Venom, where they mention the interior design and the deckled edge, but not the one you speak of with photo evidence! Please send it my way!

8. What's your favorite part of the interior of Venom, the design you most enjoyed doing?

A: My favorite part of Venom’s interior design are the epigraph pages, dark background, the triangular florid ornament framing each quote from The Book of the Eternal Rose. The quotes are all dark and mysterious and hint towards the chapter ahead and the stark black background is aligning with the tone. I also really like the sliver of the flourish in the gutter of the book. It ties in well with the Venetian backdrop of the story and it reminiscent of the gilded architecture during that period.

I enjoyed designing Venom. I really got to take my time and reiterate my layouts until what the readers now see. Here are some designs that did not make the cut; perhaps your readers would be interested in seeing those too. 

[Amy sent these amazingly awesome other sketch ideas, but alas I am not skilled enough to embed pdf stuff into my blog or make pdf stuff into jpg stuff. I am not even skilled enough to make Blogger stop doing this weird highlight-y stuff and changing my arial to TNR when I'm not looking. #AuthorFail]

9. Do you do any freelance design of books or other stuff? 

A: There are only two books I’ve designed as a freelancer and they were both with W.W. Norton. Those two titles were Carl G. Jung’s The Red Book and the photographs of Benjamin Mendlowitz in the third volume of the Wooden Boats. My most recent freelance gig was a European healthcare and tech magazine called Insights. I helped design their premiere issue. My personal website is www.amywutoo.com.

10. And, you know, because it's the question that is most pertinent to everything in the world...Falco or Luca? [Actually Amy volunteered to answer this herself, but, you know, it is super-important :D]

A: I’m torn. I keep going back and forth between the two lads. My head picks Luca and my heart picks Falco.


Like Amy, I also need both boys :) Luca is so sweet but Falco is, well, Falco. Do you have questions for Venom's amazing designer? What other books have you really noticed the interior design of while reading?