T.J. BROWN BLOG

In a market flooded with dystopian novels, award-winning author Karen Bass brings readers a fast-paced story about a real-world era of censorship and struggle too often forgotten by history: Soviet-controlled post-World War II East Germany, where one boy fights for self-expression and the freedom to build his own future.

Speaking out in East Germany is forbidden, but sixteen-year-old Wilm has found his voice. At night he wages a graffiti campaign against the police, who answer to the Soviet Army that controls the country. “Marionetten,” he writes—puppets. And Wilm’s war of embarrassment feels good. It feels powerful. If only Wilm can keep that power he won’t ever end up weak like his father. And he won’t ever stand by and let Soviets—or anyone—hurt his sister again.

But to keep his newfound power Wilm has to become more and more like his adversaries. And when he crosses one line too many, the victims may be the very people Wilm wants most to protect.

Read the first chapter here.

Reviews:

Helen Kubiw of “CanLit for Little Canadians” gave Graffiti Knight a 5-star rating and said, “Bass provides enlightenment via a new perspective.” (http://canlitforlittlecanadians.blogspot.ca/2013/07/graffiti-knight.html)

John Wilson, YA Canadian author, reviewed Graffiti Knight for Canada’s book and publishing news magazine, Quill & Quire: “Bass has artfully recreated an historical time and place peopled by realistic, three-dimensional characters grappling with their own emotions and global forces they can only barely understand.” Full review here. (http://pajamapress.ca/news_reviews/?p=1980)

Pick up a copy!

• Amazon.ca (http://www.amazon.ca/Graffiti-Knight-Karen-Bass/dp/1927485533/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377302127&sr=8-1&keywords=graffiti+knight)
• McNally Robinson (http://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/9781927485538/karen-bass/graffiti-knight?blnBKM=1#.Uhf2t47jZUQ)
• Canadian Indie Bookstores
• Or pre-order at Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Graffiti-Knight-Karen-Bass/dp/1927485533/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377373537&sr=8-1&keywords=graffiti+knight)

Find Karen online:

Website (www.karenbass.ca)

Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/karenbassYA)

Twitter (https://twitter.com/karenbassYA)

Goodreads (http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1370935.Karen

10 Great Authors, 10 Unforgettable Adventures. With every “Today’s Adventure” post between August 1 and August 13, you can register to win the featured book and the grand prize of all 10 books. We’ll announce winners on August 14.  You may enter today’s contest by leaving a comment on Susanna’s blog.

Here’s Susanna:

Nicola’s not looking for adventure. But when a client brings a family heirloom—called “the Firebird”—to her gallery to be appraised for sale, she has to help, despite the fact that helping means she’ll have to use the psychic “gifts” she’d rather hide, and call a favor in from an old boyfriend, Rob, whose gifts are even greater than her own.

Using Rob’s abilities to “see” the distant past, they start their search in Scotland for the client’s long-dead ancestor, a little girl they know will one day own that family heirloom. When they find her, she’s in danger.

Anna sat up fully, straightening her back as her own gaze slipped to the colonel and she asked him, ‘Is the devil really on his way here?’

Colonel Graeme, as he often did, delayed his answer with a question of his own. ‘And do ye fear the devil, Anna?’

Anna heard again the wicked wailing of the wind, and was not sure. She looked to where her mother and her father stood, and then towards the door that was still blocked by Captain Jamieson and guarded by the colonel, and it seemed to her that nothing could so easily get past those two men and their swords, and suddenly she knew that she was not afraid. Not really.

So she said as much. And when she asked the colonel, ‘Can your ship outrun him?’ she felt something stir within her, like the thrill at the beginning of a great adventure.

Nicola knows there are risks in following a firebird. In Russian folklore, when a firebird drops a feather, any fool who picks it up and tries to chase the bird itself is in for trouble. But…

A single white feather had snagged on a low clump of blowing grass and withered wildflowers, fighting the wind that was trying to tear it away.

It was only a gull’s feather, ragged and plain, not a feather of flame from a firebird, but I felt Rob’s amusement before I looked up at him.

There were those eyes again, daring me, waiting.

‘That’s how it begins,’ he said, ‘isn’t it?’

Hands in his pockets, he patiently watched while I looked down again at the feather. The wind caught its end and it started to lift and on impulse I bent down and reached for it.

So two women in two different times set out on separate quests, connected by a simple carving that—just like the Firebird in the fairy tales—may lead them to a treasure nothing like the one they each set out to find.

Leaving a comment on Susanna’s blog gets you entered to win The Firebird and the other nine stories. Keep up with the latest adventures and get more chances to win through any of the authors:

Alison Atlee, The Typewriter Girl    Facebook

Jessica Brockmole, Letters from Skye         Facebook

T.J. Brown, Summerset Abbey: Spring Awakening  Facebook

Sarah Jio, The Last Camellia           Facebook

Susanna Kearsley, The Firebird      Facebook

Katherine Keenum, Where the Light Falls

Stephanie Lehmann, Astor Place Vintage Facebook

Kate Noble, Let It Be Me        Facebook

Deanna Raybourn, A Spear of Summer Grass       Facebook

Lauren Willig, The Ashford Affair Facebook

10 Great Authors, 10 Unforgettable Adventures. With every “Today’s Adventure” post between August 1 and August 13, you can register to win the featured book and the grand prize of all 10 books. We’ll announce winners on August 14.  You may enter today’s contest by going to the Astor Place Vintage Facebook page and liking it. Find links to all the authors below–follow any of them to keep up with the latest adventures.

Here’s Stephanie:

Adventure? What do I know about Adventure? I’m not an adventurous person. I’d rather stay home than travel. And if I do go anywhere, the natives will speak English, wifi will be available, and the restaurants will ideally offer hamburgers and apple pie. If I’m feeling particularly daring, I’ll get cheese on my pie.  Activities that will never appear on my to-do list are sky diving, mountain climbing or African safaris. I like my routines. Give me the same streets in my boring old neighborhood any day.

I suppose Olive, the heroine in my novel ASTOR PLACE VINTAGE, does something pretty adventurous, especially for a woman in 1907. Soon after moving from a small town to New York City, she experiences a catastrophe that will impact the rest of her life. Instead of moving back to the protective circle of her childhood home, she decides to remain in the city, where she’ll have to forge for herself with no emotional or financial support.

It’s not a coincidence that I moved to New York City at almost the same age as Olive. I came to attend NYU, and though I did have emotional and financial support, the city scared me in a big way. I was timid, quiet, and easily intimidated. Moving to Manhattan seemed like the last thing I would do – even to me. And then, as it turned out, I never left. Coming to New York wasn’t on the order of trekking to the North Pole, but it may have been the most adventurous thing I’ve ever done.

I suppose “adventure” is a relative concept. Some people won’t fly in planes. Some people are afraid to go outside. Some people are even afraid to write fiction. And writers must have the dullest, safest routines of anyone as we sit at our keyboards all day, perhaps venturing out to the library or a coffee shop.

But I have been told by more than a few aspiring authors that a novel is inside, clamoring to get out. They just can’t seem to sit down and write it.

Could it be that writing a novel counts as an adventure? The endeavor does involve undergoing a huge challenge while facing the unknown with totally uncertain results hanging in the balance. The threat of danger just happens to be mental, not physical.

Of all my novels, ASTOR PLACE VINTAGE would certainly have to be my most adventurous. I actually dared to travel back in time. When I began, how did I have the audacity to think I’d be able to re-create the social customs, food, clothes, and language particular to New York City in 1907? I didn’t even know if people back then used toothpaste.

But, I suppose, like an adventurerer, my audacity also involved some bravery – the kind that involves faith that you will rise to the occasion… even as you stay seated at your desk. I have to say, I do feel proud of having traveled to the past and returned unscathed. I’ve definitely become a more well-rounded person, and not just because of the weight I gained from all those hours in front of my computer. I have to say, Olive handled herself pretty well, too. She’s just lucky I didn’t make her take a ship bound for Malaysia to hunt wild boar.

Remember to like the Astor Place Vintage Facebook page, and you’ll be entered to win it and the other nine stories. Keep up with the latest adventures and get more chances to win through any of the authors:

Alison Atlee, The Typewriter Girl    Facebook

Jessica Brockmole, Letters from Skye         Facebook

T.J. Brown, Summerset Abbey: Spring Awakening  Facebook

Sarah Jio, The Last Camellia           Facebook

Susanna Kearsley, The Firebird      Facebook

Katherine Keenum, Where the Light Falls

Stephanie Lehmann, Astor Place Vintage Facebook

Kate Noble, Let It Be Me        Facebook

Deanna Raybourn, A Spear of Summer Grass       Facebook

Lauren Willig, The Ashford Affair Facebook

10 Great Authors, 10 Unforgettable Adventures. With every “Today’s Adventure” post between August 1 and August 13, you can register to win the featured book and the grand prize of all 10 books. We’ll announce winners on August 14.

To enter today’s giveaway, please leave a comment on Deanna’s blog.

Here’s Deanna:

The very last thing Delilah Drummond expects when she goes to Africa is a proper adventure. Most travelers journey there on safari, but Delilah is banished abroad by a family that has weathered one too many of her scandals. She’s a flapper with a sharp black bob and a slash of scarlet lipstick, a party girl with a penchant for gin and men other women have left lying around unattended. She is a woman who has seen it all and done most of it.

But nothing prepares her for Africa. Exiled to her father’s savanna manor house, Delilah finds to her dismay that Fairlight is the crumbling, sun-bleached skeleton of a faded African dream, a world where dissolute expats are bolstered by gin and jazz, cigarettes and safaris.

And against the frivolity of the expat community, Ryder White stands in sharp contrast. He is her guide to Africa and all its dangers and thrills—and he is more than a match for the complex beauty of this new land she comes to love. For Delilah, letting down her guard just might be the greatest adventure of them all…

Commenting on Deanna’s blog gets you entered to win A Spear of Summer Grass and the other nine stories. Keep up with the latest adventures and get more chances to win through any of the authors:

Alison Atlee, The Typewriter Girl    Facebook

Jessica Brockmole, Letters from Skye         Facebook

T.J. Brown, Summerset Abbey: Spring Awakening  Facebook

Sarah Jio, The Last Camellia           Facebook

Susanna Kearsley, The Firebird      Facebook

Katherine Keenum, Where the Light Falls

Stephanie Lehmann, Astor Place Vintage Facebook

Kate Noble, Let It Be Me        Facebook

Deanna Raybourn, A Spear of Summer Grass       Facebook

Lauren Willig, The Ashford Affair Facebook

10 Great Authors, 10 Unforgettable Adventures. With every “Today’s Adventure” post between August 1 and August 13, you can register to win the featured book and the grand prize of all 10 books. We’ll announce winners on August 14.  You may enter today’s contest at Sarah’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/sarahjioauthor. Find links to all the authors below–follow any of them to keep up with the latest adventures.

Here’s Sarah:

The year is 1940. The world is on the brink of war. Can you imagine being barely twenty years old and leaving your home on the quiet, safe Atlantic Coast and traveling to an unknown country to an unknown manor house, where you will be required to go beyond your comfort zone in ways you’ve never even imagined?

 My character, Flora, in my fourth novel, The Last Camellia, does just that. She’s brave, she’s bold, and for those she loves, she’s willing to do the unthinkable.

I thought a lot about adventure while writing Flora’s character, namely because I still regret not spending a year in Europe during my college years (I stayed home for the reason many of us do: a relationship that ultimately didn’t end up working out).

 But I got to be adventurous and travel alongside Flora in writing this novel—at least, in spirit. I followed her on her voyage to England, roam the great halls of the Livingston Manor, explore the gardens, and ultimately make life-changing discoveries. It was the adventure of a lifetime—for both of us.

 To enter the giveaway, please like Sarah Jio’s Facebook fan page: www.facebook.com/sarahjioauthor.  Keep up with the latest adventures and chances to win through any of the authors:

Alison Atlee, The Typewriter Girl    Facebook

Jessica Brockmole, Letters from Skye         Facebook

T.J. Brown, Summerset Abbey: Spring Awakening  Facebook

Sarah Jio, The Last Camellia           Facebook

Susanna Kearsley, The Firebird      Facebook

Katherine Keenum, Where the Light Falls

Stephanie Lehmann, Astor Place Vintage Facebook

Kate Noble, Let It Be Me        Facebook

Deanna Raybourn, A Spear of Summer Grass       Facebook

Lauren Willig, The Ashford Affair Facebook

10 Great Authors, 10 Unforgettable Adventures. With every “Today’s Adventure” post between August 1 and August 13, you can register to win the featured book and the grand prize of all 10 books. We’ll announce winners on August 14. You may enter today’s contest at Katherine’s website. Find links to all the authors below–follow any of them to keep up with the latest adventures.

Here’s Katherine:

When I joined the Unforgettable Adventure giveaway, I thought I remembered my main character, Jeanette Palmer, actually using the word “adventure.” Yes! On p. 278 she has been forced to borrow money from an older relative and asks anxiously, “Has the adventure worked out for you, Cousin Effie? The whole thing, I mean—coming to Paris?”

Change the question: “Will the adventure work out for you, reader? The whole thing, I mean—going to Paris with Jeanette and Effie?”

Adventure means finding yourself somewhere new, facing unexpected challenges. It means not always knowing what you are doing or what comes next. If those are the criteria, then writing a novel is an adventure—and so is reading one from a new author. You can’t judge by past experience; you just have to take a chance. How might the chance pay off if you head to Paris with Jeanette?

From the company she keeps on this group blog tour, you can guess that romance will be part of Jeanette’s story, yet it is not what she sets out to find. Jeanette is a naive but determined young woman who crosses the Atlantic in 1878 to study painting. The last thing she expects is to meet an older man haunted by a war and fall in love with him. My hope is that you will fall in love with both of them—that you will be swept up in Jeanette’s talent and ambition, immerse yourself in her friendships with other women artists, experience Paris with all your senses, then feel achingly Edward’s attractions and sorrows. If you remember the characters long after you finish, I’d call the adventure a success.

But that leads to a last question: “What are you looking for in an adventure? What makes a book worthwhile to you?”

GIVEAWAY: To win a free copy of Where the Light Falls, leave a comment on my blog any time before August 13. If you choose to comment on an archived post, be sure to include the phrase “Unforgettable Adventure Giveaway.” The winner will be selected randomly and contacted by e-mail (your e-mail address is automatically recorded by the website but it will never appear publicly).

Keep up with the latest adventures and chances to win through any of the authors:

Alison Atlee, The Typewriter Girl Facebook
Jessica Brockmole, Letters from Skye Facebook
T.J. Brown, Summerset Abbey: Spring Awakening Facebook
Sarah Jio, The Last Camellia Facebook
Susanna Kearsley, The Firebird Facebook
Katherine Keenum, Where the Light Falls
Stephanie Lehmann, Astor Place Vintage Facebook
Kate Noble, Let It Be Me Facebook
Deanna Raybourn, A Spear of Summer Grass Facebook
Lauren Willig, The Ashford Affair Facebook

10 Great Authors, 10 Unforgettable Adventures. With every “Today’s Adventure” post between August 1 and August 13, you can register to win the featured book and the grand prize of all 10 books. We’ll announce winners on August 14. You may enter today’s contest at Jessica’s Facebook page. Find links to all the authors below–follow any of them to keep up with the latest adventures.

Here’s Jessica:

Opportunity doesn’t always knock. Sometimes it slips quietly into the mailbox, folded, stamped, addressed. This was especially true in ages past, before the immediacy of email. College acceptances, job offers, invitations, declarations of love—once upon a time, they all began with a letter. An envelope that, when opened, led to adventure.

For Elspeth Dunn, a Scottish poet with more dreams than adventures, opportunity arrives one day in the form of a fan letter. The letter, from a college student in far-off Urbana, Illinois is more than a glimpse of life beyond the shores of her native Isle of Skye; it’s a line to reach it. Her correspondent, David, is a daredevil. He fills pages with his escapades, going places and doing things she’d only imagined. For David, that first fan letter is just one more adventure; for Elspeth, it’s only the first.

Elspeth wasn’t looking for adventure. She was doing the things women on Skye did in the early twentieth century—spinning, gardening, cutting peat, braiding rope from heather. She wandered the hills with a notebook and wrote poetry, published to small acclaim in London. She was content. But then that letter arrived, with its Illinois postmark and teasing praise, and she began to wonder. To wonder what else was out there, to wonder who else the world held, to wonder how far she could go.

The opportunity for adventure, no matter how small, isn’t always sought. It can arrive, unannounced and unexpected, making you wonder what more your life could be. That was true for me, when I was given the chance to move to Scotland. Like Elspeth, I was content. But opportunity quietly slipped in and I began wondering. That wondering took me across the ocean to the biggest adventure of my life.

Elspeth didn’t expect adventure, but when it arrived, she recognized it. When opportunity sends you a letter, all you have to do is reply.

To win, leave a comment on my Facebook page telling me about a time you found adventure in your mailbox!

Keep up with the latest adventures and chances to win through any of the authors:
Alison Atlee, The Typewriter Girl Facebook
Jessica Brockmole, Letters from Skye Facebook
T.J. Brown, Summerset Abbey: Spring Awakening Facebook
Sarah Jio, The Last Camellia Facebook
Susanna Kearsley, The Firebird Facebook
Katherine Keenum, Where the Light Falls
Stephanie Lehmann, Astor Place Vintage Facebook
Kate Noble, Let It Be Me Facebook
Deanna Raybourn, A Spear of Summer Grass Facebook
Lauren Willig, The Ashford Affair Facebook

10 Great Authors, 10 Unforgettable Adventures. With every “Today’s Adventure” post between August 1 and August 13, you can register to win the featured book and the grand prize of all 10 books. We’ll announce winners on August 14.  You may enter today’s giveaway at Alison’s blog and/or by liking her Facebook page. Enter at both places to double your winning chances!

Here’s Alison:

“But did you know it is almost the best job in London a girl could hope for?”

That question of Betsey Dobson’s turned up in the earliest draft of The Typewriter Girl and survived many revisions, but it took awhile for me to understand just how much it expressed about Betsey and the adventure that changes her life.

Funny how we speak of adventure: Adventure awaits. It beckons, calls. We discover adventure, we embark upon it.

Which all suggests that we have to make ourselves available to it. A shiny new adventure might be sitting in the driveway with a full tank of gas, but it’s going nowhere until we take our place in the driver’s seat.

What I loved about writing Betsey’s adventure was how she kept letting it grow, just a little at a time. She thinks she’s made it, there at the beginning of the story. Getting that typewriting job was an enormous accomplishment for her. She thinks, If I can just hold on to this much, I won’t ask for more.

Except for the word “almost.” Almost the best job. To me, that signaled a spark inside Betsey, a belief that if she gave her dreams a little extra room to run, they’d grow. And then, anything was possible.

 Remember, there are two ways to enter the giveaway: Like Alison’s Facebook page and/or go to her blog, At Issue. Do both and get two chances to win.

 Keep up with the latest adventures and chances to win through any of the authors:

 Alison Atlee, The Typewriter Girl    Facebook

Jessica Brockmole, Letters from Skye         Facebook

T.J. Brown, Summerset Abbey: Spring Awakening  Facebook

Sarah Jio, The Last Camellia           Facebook

Susanna Kearsley, The Firebird      Facebook

Katherine Keenum, Where the Light Falls

Stephanie Lehmann, Astor Place Vintage Facebook

Kate Noble, Let It Be Me        Facebook

Deanna Raybourn, A Spear of Summer Grass       Facebook

Lauren Willig, The Ashford Affair Facebook

10 Great Authors, 10 Unforgettable Adventures. With every “Today’s Adventure” post between August 1 and August 13, you can register to win the featured book and the grand prize of all 10 books. We’ll announce winners on August 14. You may enter today’s giveaway and the grand prize at T.J.’s blog, https://teribrownbooks.com/tjblog/. You’ll find links to all the authors below–follow any of them to keep up with the latest adventures.

And now, T.J. on WWI Women and Their Flying Machines:

Come Josephine in my flying machine

Going up she goes! Up she goes!

Balance yourself like a bird on a beam

In the air she goes! There she goes!

Up, up, a little bit higher

Oh! My! The moon is on fire

Come Josephine in my flying machine

Going up, all on, Goodbye!

Aeroplanes play a big part in the Summerset Abbey trilogy and the eldest sister, Rowena, becomes a volunteer pilot in World War One. Did I stretch the truth too far or did I not go far enough?  Through my research I found that while the numbers were small, there were women who flew actual combat and reconnaissance missions during the war and many more who worked in aeroplane production. The following women were pilots during the war when aircraft technology was in its earliest stages:

• Helene Dutrieu flew reconnaissance flights from Paris to check on German troop movements.
• Marie Marvingt flew bombing missions over Germany and was probably the first women to fly actual combat missions.
• Russia had several such daring aviatrixes: Princess Eugenie M. Shakovskaya, Helen P. Samsonova, Princess Sophie A. Dolgorukaya and Nadeshda Degtereva all flew during the war, though in different capacities.

It’s important to remember just what a fledgling science aircraft actually was. For the first two years of WWI, the average life expectancy for pilots was 10-15 days to three weeks due to the rushed training and the rapid increase of the quality of German planes.

In Summerset Abbey: Spring Awakening, Rowena volunteers to transport newly built aeroplanes, as well as flying key officials,  to various military bases. When the series begins, Rowena is diffident and a bit lost. She is searching for her purpose in life. When she takes to the air for the first time as a passenger, she knows immediately that she has found it. Flying becomes her passion and she does most of her growing as a character while in the air. Volunteering for the war effort gives her adventurous spirit an outlet and changes her outlook on life.

Don’t forget to enter at T.J.’s blog, https://teribrownbooks.com/tjblog/. Keep up with the latest adventures and chances to win through any of the authors:

Alison Atlee, The Typewriter Girl    Facebook

Jessica Brockmole, Letters from Skye         Facebook

T.J. Brown, Summerset Abbey: Spring Awakening  Facebook

Sarah Jio, The Last Camellia           Facebook

Susanna Kearsley, The Firebird      Facebook

Katherine Keenum, Where the Light Falls

Stephanie Lehmann, Astor Place Vintage Facebook

Kate Noble, Let It Be Me        Facebook

Deanna Raybourn, A Spear of Summer Grass       Facebook

Lauren Willig, The Ashford Affair Facebook