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Random Updates On Books and Such

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Super congratulations to Jeff Kinney, who happens to own the top two spots on the New York Times Bestseller list, his first book at number two and his latest one debuting at number 1. I know Jeff through slight acquaintance and attended his panel at the Texas Book Festival. Since I doubt he’ll brag about it I’ll do it for him, and point out that he’s six places above the National Book Award winner and has been up there for over 41 weeks.

The Thirteenth Reality On other news, I’m passing this around as something you should keep an eye on. The first book in this series is coming in March and already things are starting with their grassroots hype. I absolutely love the music on this site, and if it’s got anything to do with the feel of the book it’ll be spectacular. I emailed James Dashner, the author, and he is so excited about this book coming out. Once I get my hands on one I’ll write something up here.

Also, I just got word that my friend and bestselling author Kaza Kingsley has finished the third book in her series! As you read in my interview with her, the book will be called Erec Rex: The Search For Truth and continues the adventures of Erec on his journey to become king. Kaza will have all the latest news on it at her site. My site also had the honor of debuting the first word of the book as it stands now, which happened to be ‘It’.

As for me, I watched Pan’s Labyrinth last night and was captivated all the way through. I will write up a short review soon.

New Music by Me

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[singlepic=68,150,100,,left] As usual, my new music track is quite different from all the other’s I’ve made so far, since I like experimenting. I made the theme for this track in 2007 but I never got around to working on it any more than a few days. Anyone who knows me probably know what this was made for, though even if you don’t you can either guess or ask me.

[audio:http://kalebnation.com/audio/theme-1.mp3]

If you’ve already heard this at the other site, this version is different, longer, mixed better and doesn’t have all the thunder and lightning sounds. I also added in a type of bridge to a different but similar theme about 3 minutes in. I really liked the arpeggios (and I can honestly say that is the first time that word has been used on this site). Enjoy and please give opinions.

Interview with Kaza Kingsley

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kaza kingsley tour

Kaza Kingsley is the author of the Erec Rex series. Already there are two books out in the series, titled The Dragon’s Eye and The Monsters of Otherness.

 

 

Thanks Kaza for being here. First, for all the writers here, I have always been curious about that very first book signing, your first time out with your published book. How did that go and where were you? What did you do to prepare?

My first signing at Borders Books in Cincinnati was fantastic. Of course it helped that everyone I knew and their brother showed up to support me. I was floating on air, truly. I didn’t do much to prepare – I didn’t even do a reading at that signing. It was too busy, so I just socialized and signed books. A lot of fun! Then I had a party at my house that night to celebrate.day-14-kingsley.gif

You appeared at the Book Expo America some time ago to promote your books. What was the BEA like your first time there as an author?

That was an amazing experience. The Javitz center was enormous and packed with people. And the signings I did were incredibly busy. It was a little overwhelming – my publicist had given me a list of people to meet, but only a few of them were at their booths.

The best part was winning a bunch of awards at the BEA. ForeWord Magazine Awards took place in the middle of the Javitz center, and Erec Rex won silver for YA Book of the Year! The worst was that I got incredibly sick the second day I was there. It was hard to even walk. I had been throwing up all night.

Have you ever walked into a bookstore and stumbled upon your own book when you weren’t looking for it?

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10 Things I Learned At Home

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  1. If you get a tattoo in college, you’re out of the inheritance.
  2. A five year old can make a song out of anything (aka: beans and stinky rice! beans and spice! stinky kinky winky dinky you’re weird stinky! )
  3. Don’t take too much colloidal silver.
  4. Good pencils are hard to find.
  5. Dad can’t give permission for food or computer time.
  6. The piano is an instrument of angels and an instrument of torture simultaneously.
  7. Same goes for the violin.
  8. Winter gardens don’t work.
  9. If you want peace and quiet within the next two hours, don’t mention any of the following around my sister: Scarlet O’hara, Gone With The Wind, cats, or the Nancy Drew movie.
  10. Beans and rice are a complete protein.

Online masters programs can make your work from home a lot better.

First Post of 2008

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And thus they drive away and usher in my new life.

It all feels quite strange, though the strangest feeling of all is one I did not expect. My mind, for some reason, still thinks that a week from now, they will be coming back to pick me up: but in reality, I could be spending the next few years of my life here. It makes it hard to unpack when your mind tells you it’s a waste of time because you’ll just have to pack it all up again.

I’ve got most of the most important stuff out and ready, though the other shipmates who live in the apartment are nowhere to be found. pirate shipLuckily, I have my own room and the internet is lightening fast: however, it is quite disconcerting to see evidence of someone living here and yet no one is around (especially when that evidence is a stack of steak knives on the counter).

Things are much quieter, and though I thought before it would be easier to hear myself when things were quiet, the silence seems to press upon me louder than any sounds from where I used to live. I have a certain feeling that the experience of the first week here will leave a lasting impression upon not only me but upon my writing, possibly because when I write, I seem to project wherever I am in life onto my characters. Since writing the second book will be spent in this place, I sincerely believe that my new life will affect it in ways only real life experience can, and perhaps bring out something I hadn’t imagined before.

All the silent noise also makes it quite hard to climb into bed, knowing when I wake up there will be no one around to wish me a good morning. However, things seem to be lightening for me already. First things first, I got my stereo out and hooked two of the speakers up so I could drown out the irritating silence. Flipping through the stations I found something I liked, only to discover it was Delilah. Certainly not something I wanted to hear when I was down enough as it was. So I flipped to the country station and caught the rough vocals of Johnny Cash, singing:

My daddy left home when I was three
And he didn’t leave much to ma and me
Just this old guitar and an empty bottle of booze.
Now, I don’t blame him cause he run and hid
But the meanest thing that he ever did
Was before he left, he went and named me “Sue.”

Well, he must o’ thought that is quite a joke
And it got a lot of laughs from a’ lots of folk,
It seems I had to fight my whole life through.
Some gal would giggle and I’d get red
And some guy’d laugh and I’d bust his head,
I tell ya, life ain’t easy for a boy named “Sue.”

Well, I grew up quick and I grew up mean,
My fist got hard and my wits got keen,
I’d roam from town to town to hide my shame.
But I made a vow to the moon and stars
That I’d search the honky-tonks and bars
And kill that man who gave me that awful name.

hillbillyWell, it was Gatlinburg in mid-July
And I just hit town and my throat was dry,
I thought I’d stop and have myself a brew.
At an old saloon on a street of mud,
There at a table sat the dirty, mangy dog that named me “Sue.”

Well, I knew that snake was my own sweet dad
From a worn-out picture that my mother’d had,
And I knew that scar on his cheek and his evil eye.
He was big and bent and gray and old,
And I looked at him and my blood ran cold
And I said: “My name is ‘Sue!’ How do you do!
Now your gonna die!!”

Well, I hit him hard right between the eyes
And he went down, but to my surprise,
He come up with a knife and cut off a piece of my ear.
But I busted a chair right across his teeth
And we crashed through the wall and into the street
Kicking and a’ gouging in the mud and the blood and the beer.

I tell ya, I’ve fought tougher men
But I really can’t remember when,
He kicked like a mule and he bit like a crocodile.
I heard him laugh and then I heard him cuss,
He went for his gun and I pulled mine first,
He stood there lookin’ at me and I saw him smile.

And he said: “Son, this world is rough
And if a man’s gonna make it, he’s gotta be tough
And I knew I wouldn’t be there to help ya along.
So I give ya that name and I said goodbye
I knew you’d have to get tough or die
And it’s the name that helped to make you strong.”

He said: “Now you just fought one hell of a fight
And I know you hate me, and you got the right
To kill me now, and I wouldn’t blame you if you do.
But ya ought to thank me, before I die,
For the gravel in ya guts and the spit in ya eye
Cause I’m the
cough-cough that named you “Sue.'”

I got all choked up and I threw down my gun
And I called him my pa, and he called me his son,
And I came away with a different point of view.
And I think about him, now and then,
Every time I try and every time I win,
But if I ever have a son, I think I’m gonna name him
Bill or George! Anything but Sue!

Far away from home, but at least I’m still in Texas. All is well.

End of the Year 2007

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Tis the end of 2007, a time which brings about so many new things and ends so many old ones.

It is the last week of the year, and also my last week of living at home. Friday is move-in date at the new apartment, so everything is to be packed and in the truck Thursday evening. We shall drive for five hours to the destination, unload and look around a bit: and then my family will climb back into the trusty white Suburban and drive back home without me.

I’m leaving a huge shelf of nearly a hundred CD’s behind- most of them albums from when I was 13 or 14 that I still have from my old show. I’m leaving that and my old stereo from when I was 13, along with gobs of junk; but I’m taking my big writing desk with me, even if I have to stuff it into my new room. That desk has been with me through three houses, my first novel, my old stories and two radio shows. It stays with me now into whatever is meant to come my way in the year 2008.

This next year is predicted to be one of the biggest of my life so far, since it almost seems that all I have done over the past few years has lined me up for 2008- everything is ready to burst now, and the preparations are all ready to launch. It feels very strange to write those words and realize that by December 31 of 2008 I will come back to this page and perhaps nod wistfully, and remember so many things I did not know today would happen in the next year. It is also interesting to look back on December of 2006, and realize how many enormous things I had absolutely no clue would happen in 2007 awaited. From my blog back then:

Everybody says 16 is the best but it wasn’t for me- I had chicken pox on my birthday, and it went downhill from there. 17 though was the best year so far, up next to 15, which was also one of my favorite times… so any brainless scarecrow can see some sort of a pattern to this. Every other year is good, every year in between isn’t as good. 15, 17 good…14, 16, 18 not as good. Whether it’s linked to the year, or to my age, I don’t know yet. This gives me an amazing amount of hope as the Good Year is coming up when I turn 19. So who knows what’s gonna happen?

Luckily, big things happened for me at 18 which partially disprove my theory: and now I am 19 and back on track. I have a whirlwind week ahead of me, and my next post will probably be the first one of 2008 and the first one in my new apartment. So many new things all at once. And luckily, it is to be a Good Year.

And thus we pass from 2007 into the great and unknown 2008.

List Of Teenage Authors: Writers Published As Teens

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It has become quite interesting discovering how many authors were first published as teenagers. This is certainly an encouragement, as for the longest I thought Paolini was the only teenage writer and author. I discovered that there are quite a few others who were published as teens, some of them below:

Kenneth Oppel

Christoper Paolini

Robyn Schneider

S.E. Hinton

Catherine Webb

Eze Imade Eribo

Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

Nancy Yi Fan

Flavia Bujor

Danielle Steel

S.E. Hinton’s first book was the Outsiders, the second biggest selling book for Young Adults in publishing history- over 8 million in print! Christopher Paolini’s first book was out when he was 19 and has sold over 9 million as well.

This is a growing list, so if you know any more email me and I’ll add them.

–Added November 14 2007 – Thanks Cat- I added Catherine Webb

–Added November 19 2007 – Thanks Mimi- I added Eze Eribo.

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Comment 100

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We are gathered here today to witness the 1-hundredth comment on this site (not counting my old blog)! Thanks to all you readers and especially Suzan Abrams, who had the honor of comment number 100.

Now we will return you to your regular programming….

Birthday

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Thank you all for your wonderful messages on my birthday yesterday. The day went perfectly and my mom’s cheesecake was wonderful. I got calls from my friends and family and my brother Jaden got me a shirt that says ‘Celebrity’ on the front.

As usual, my life should follow a pattern, so that since fifteen went very well, and sixteen might have been less-than-desirable, and seventeen went very well, etc, following the pattern 19 should be one of the really good years. Now all I’ve got to do is take on the immense task of changing my age on all my different websites…

If I have time this week, I have a new Izzy video for Youtube and I’ll try to get some birthday photos up.

Orchestral Theme

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I just completed my first orchestral soundtrack piece. I am very proud of this as it is my first real composition complete with violins, flutes, and a driving, clear piano which I spent hours searching for. I created this piece all myself, starting out at the piano a few months ago and creating the theme, and then moving to my computer and getting everything in perfect order. It turned out better than I expected, so I decided to go all out and make a whole suite for it.

You can hear a shortened (1:30), online-quality version of the song at the ‘Coming Soon’ homepage of www.branhambric.com. I thought if we’re to be coming soon then I might as well have a bit of something different than just a text message. There is a little button in the top, left corner, which will begin to play automatically after it is loaded.

There is another version I will record next week which will include the vocal power of a full cathedral choir, if I can get my hands on it by then. For this one, I made use of the Miroslav Philharmonik Orchestra (and I didn’t even have to fly to Germany to use it).

For the comment box: for those of you who have read the book, does the theme fit? For those who haven’t, does the theme have a reflective and slightly dark edge, though not too sad?