Guest Blog & Contest--LM Preston

My guest blogger today is LM Preston, author of YA sci-fi book Explorer X-Alpha, the first in a series. Her book will be out in February of 2010.

WHY I WROTE EXPLORER X – ALPHA

It all started on a long car trip to Florida. My husband, kids and I were on our way to my ‘Happy Place ’, better known as Walt Disney World.

Anyway, while on this long drive, my husband turns to me and says, “You should write a book. You loved to write when we were younger and you haven’t written since.”

I thought about what he said and replied,” Well, I did try to write that one book, but it was boring and didn’t keep my interest.”

Then he told me,” You should write science fiction. You like it, and you work in the IT field. That way you have no boundaries, you create your own.”

That was a pivotal point in my writing career. He told me to think up something and share it with him. Well, let me tell you a little secret about my husband. He is a big science fiction fanatic, and has comic books, graphic novels galore. He watches it and breaths it. It was the ultimate challenge, because I knew that he is a very opinionated person that would not hold back his comments to save my feelings.

I pondered over it so much that I ended up dreaming up Aadi one night. I saw his face, his mischievous smile and thought, “What is your story?”

The next day I thought about Aadi while at a traffic light, and thought up his adventure, by asking myself, what adventure would I want to do? Well after Aadi whispered his idea to me, I was ready to write about him. Later that week, wouldn’t you know it, my husband asked me about my story idea.

I told him, that I had an idea about a boy who’s parents force him to go to space camp only for him to discovered that he was being experimented on so that he could go to any planet, adapt to it, then dominate it. The best moment I can think of was when my husband’s face broke out into a grin and he said, “Write that!! I haven’t read anything like that before.” Little did I realize that Aadi’s discovery would become a series of adventures.

As an avid reader, I get bored fast with books that are long and drawn out. Therefore I wrote this book for my kids to enjoy. I depend on them greatly to critique my work, and believe me, they don’t hold back.

Writing about teenagers is a passion I have because that was the most tumultuous part of my life. I felt deeply, experienced a lot, and overcame enormous trails in my teenaged years. I survived and so can my readers. I wanted to show that strength in my characters, their adventures, and their victories.

WHAT NOW

I am working on the follow-on series to EXPLORER X – Alpha, and just completed the final edited copy of THE PACK, an edgy YA series about a girl who saves her world that comes out Fall of 2010.

By: LM Preston, Author of EXPLORER X – Alpha, www.lmpreston.com

Contest
comment on this post to be entered into a contest to win a copy of Explorer X-Alpha and a poster! Winners will be announced on the 30th of November!

Epic

Epic
written by Conor Kostick



Epic is simply an epic book. It is set in a fascinating (not to mention, scary) new future, where violence is outlawed everywhere but in Epic, a game that determines one's fate. While difficult to grasp at first, readers will easily be sucked in to this intriguing world where parents and children alike win the game to live the life. While I initially found parts to be exceedingly descriptive (I'm sorry, but I don't want to read a page about salt workers), the book later on grows to be extremely action-centric. There is so much you want to know, and everything is ultimately resolved (which makes me wonder, why is there need for a sequel? More story, or desperate reaching for more material?) This is one book all futuristic sci-fi fans should read (particularly all you gamers out there!). I feel like much of it is aimed toward boys, but it can [clearly, since I'm writing this review] be enjoyed just as much by girls. Fan-tastic!

Rating: 5/5

On a side note, I swear, I'm pretty sure this book was written to make me lose the game (which I just lost. And so did you.) a lot.

The Midnighters Trilogy

The Midnighters Trilogy
written by Scott Westerfeld

The Secret Hour



Scott Westerfeld comes up with a fascinating new world in his Midnighters series. It's a brilliant concept to begin with, and one that only Westerfeld could ever have come up with. The book begins with an ordinary girl, and as she learns of her new life in the "secret hour", so do the readers along with her, providing a unique and relatable point of view. While the first novel of the series sets up for an amazing plot to come, on its own, it's nothing special. The writing, particularly the descriptive portions, is at times sloppy and weak, and too much of the focus is put on Jessica (although you do get to know and love all of the other characters as well). Nevertheless, it's worth working your way through, if only for the fact that the next two books will blow your mind.

Rating: 3.5/5

Touching Darkness



Touching Darkness significantly advances the plot from where The Secret Hour left off. All of the characters' stories are told in much more depth, and they are all developed as characters, particularly Melissa, Rex, and Dess, where we mostly only got Jessica in the first book. There is, amidst all the character development, plenty of significant plot development going on, although as a bridge between the first and the last, it does get a little dull sometimes. The dullness, however, is necessary to build up to the stunning conclusion delivered in Blue Noon. I really noticed in reading this particular one the differences between other book series and the Midnighters series. It's not very clear cut at all, it's not one good guy vs. one bad guy. The books introduce a whole new dynamic of a group of kids battling not only their inner demons, but a TIME, an hour, making for a fantastic story. Touching Darkness continues with the series stupendous suspensefulness and plenty of plot-twists everywhere.

Rating: 5/5

Blue Noon



Now here is a man who knows how to end a series with a bang, quite literally. While some of the incessant recapping gets to be incredibly annoying, the plot is moved along really well. You know the characters now, so the things they do make more sense, although Rex & Melissa, v. 2.0's characters are still gradually being advanced. Much like Breaking Dawn, I love how the focus is on logic vs. 'let's go kill things!' Things are thought out, plans are made, and it all involves actually thought and regard for history instead of running into battle, killing things left and right with no clear cut plans whatsoever. Those books just annoy me. Way to bring thinkers into your books, Westerfeld! Loose ends are tied up, and the story is brought to a bittersweet, open-ended close, bringing things full circle. I found myself thinking multiple times of the series as a whole. What if it had been five books, one per character, instead of just the trilogy? Will we ever get a short story or another book even for what happens afterward? My only complaint, in the end, is that we never got to learn much about Jonathan's life, why he thinks the way he thinks, what his home life is like. Not much at all. Nevertheless, it is a mostly satisfying conclusion that I think everyone was happy with.

Rating: 5/5

Final thoughts:
The Secret Hour is for exposition, Touching Darkness is for character, Blue Noon is for plot. I advise you to read them all for a full helping of amazing storytelling.

The House of the Scorpion

The House of the Scorpion
written by Nancy Farmer



While the plot is a well-crafted one, this sometimes frustratingly long book is one best enjoyed in short bursts. There are passages of long, dry description that hinder the reader and make the story less interesting than it is. The characters are all well-developed, particularly Tam Lin, with unique individual personalities (or, with the case of the eejits, a lack of one). It's not a book I would ordinarily read, but I did enjoy it nevertheless, although it's not something completely stunning and breathtaking as many other books out there are. The ending seemed extraordinarily rushed to me, and the chapters with Matt and the other kids working were awkward somehow, didn't seem to fit with the story all that well, and felt completely unnecessary. I thought the ending was powerful, though I felt like Maria and Esperanza should have been there to see the final outcome. Overall, a good book, but not a "must-read, go out and buy it NOW" one.

Rating: 4/5

Skinned

Skinned
written by Robin Wasserman



Okay, so I didn't really enjoy this book at all. I felt like many of the plot threads have been done to death and almost in an identical way (see Airhead, The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Remember Me?, etc.) Same death/near death, replanting the brain kind of story. Same reactions by the parents, friends, and peers. I have read this book before and while the first time it was pretty neat, after that, it got slightly boring. It picks up a little bit after Lia gets out of the hospital and gets to interact with the world again, but just as it begins getting good, it crashes down again. Auden was the only character I liked (and I have a very strong hatred of others, particularly JUDE), and his role progresses dismally. The ending was completely disappointing, and I really think it would have been much stronger if Lia had just chosen to die. What is written instead is cringe-worthy and kind of sickening. It just really seems like this is a patchwork quilt of all the sci-fi futuristic YA books that are currently out there, and I know Robin Wasserman is capable of better.

Rating: 1.5/5