All posts by kathymacmillan

Books That Made Me: The Queen’s Thief Series

Authors You Should Know, On Reading, On Writing, , ,

Welcome to the fourth and final installment of my “Books That Made Me” series, part of the #SixteensBlogAbout series featuring The Sweet Sixteens’ favorite books and authors.  So far in this little series, I have written about the book that made me evangelical about reading, that books that enthralled me, and the books that launched me into a community of readers.  Today I get to talk about a series of books that is close to my heart – the series that made me want to be a writer: The Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner.

TheThiefAug05   QueenOfAttoliaAug05   KoA404x612   CoK133x201

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Books That Made Me: The Harry Potter Series

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Welcome to part three of my little series about my favorite books and authors, part of this month’s #SixteensBlogAbout topic over at The Sweet Sixteens.

I’ve already written about two of the seminal books of my adolescence, Watership Down and The Lord of the Rings. Anyone who has spent more than five minutes talking to me is probably expecting this post, because I have never been a quiet Harry Potter fan.

Selections from my HP shelf.
Selections from my HP shelf.

Back in 1998, I was on a mock-Newbery committee made up of local children’s librarians. I read hundreds of books that year, and one of those was an unassuming, unknown book called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. It showed up in the midst of a pile of other books, and I had never heard of it. I was hooked by chapter two, and stayed up all night to read it and recommended it left and right.

And then, well, you know what happened next. It’s easy to forget, now that it’s such a phenomenon, that the first Harry Potter book was rejected by just about every publisher in Britain, that it was released quietly and didn’t gain momentum until kids started passing it around on the playground. I was lucky to be able to read the first book (and the second and third, which I quickly ordered in British editions, as they weren’t yet out in the U.S.) with no expectations and no hype.

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And We Have a Title!

Sword and Verse, Young Adult Fantasy,

After much speculation and back-and-forthing, I am pleased to announce that my 2016 debut Young Adult novel officially has a title:

SWORD AND VERSE

The story takes place in land where writing is the sacred privilege of a few, and a slave girl, Raisa, gets the extraordinary chance to learn the language of the gods when she becomes a royal tutor. But her dreams are threatened by her forbidden love for the prince, and her loyalty is tested by the Resistance, who urges her to join in the fight for her people’s freedom.  It’s about the consequences of following your heart, and learning to trust yourself and other people.

My editor, Alexandra Cooper, came up with the title, and I really like how it incorporates the idea of the pen (or in this case, the quill) being mightier than the sword, and refers to a verse that plays a big role in Raisa’s life.

If you want to know more about the book deal, you can read more here.  Can’t wait to share more news about it over the next year as it gets closer to publication time!

Books That Made Me: THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien

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So here’s the second in my little series, inspired by The Sweet Sixteens’ December #SixteensBlogAbout theme, “Favorite books and authors”.

Last week I wrote about the book that made me a book evangelist, Watership Down by Richard Adams, and I mentioned how Mrs. Whatley, my eighth-grade teacher, changed my life when she introduced me to the wide world of fantasy and science-fiction. Well, while my reading group was discussing Watership Down, I kept hearing snippets of discussion about the book the other reading group was working on, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. I was intrigued, so I read that one too, and enjoyed it.

The dog-eared copies I read every year as a teenager.
The dog-eared copies I read every year as a teenager.

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