EARTH'S END TRILOGY

FOR TWO DAYS ONLY, YOU CAN SNAG AN ENTIRE SERIES OF MIND-BLOWING, AWARD-WINNING SCIENCE FICTION-ADVENTURE KINDLE EBOOKS FOR ONLY 99 CENTS!

The Angel & the Brown-eyed Boy’s Kindle edition is 99 cents. This is its everyday price––such a deal for an award-winning book. Link takes you to The Angel’s Kindle page.
Lady Grace: A Thrilling Adventure Wrapped in the Embrace of Epic Love is FREE Friday November 2 and Saturday November 3. The link above will take you to Lady Grace on the Kindle store.
Sam & Emily: A Love Story from the Underground is FREE Friday November 2 and Saturday November 3. The link will take you to Sam & Emily on the Kindle store.

WHAT DOES THAT ADD UP TO? THE SERIES FOR 99 CENTS THIS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. (As always, check to make sure the last two books are still priced at $0.00. Amazon turns these promotions on and off around midnight. This is out of my control.)

I’ve been blog touring recently and readers have been reading about Tales from Earth’s End and saying, “Oh, boy. I’m so excited about new YA reading.” The Angel & the Brown-eyed Boy’s hero is a sixteen-year-old boy, so I guess that seems logical.

Hold on just a big minute! I would NOT recommend the Tales from Earth’s End Saga for YA.

Some people would. It’s a matter of how you view the world. I had one writer and blogger of YA read The Angel. She LOVED it, put me up as her Writer of the Month, and gave the book a 5 star review. She’s still a fan. Another YA reader/reviewer read The Angel, give it 4 stars, said it was a great book and NOT FOR YA.

I agree with her. I wouldn’t let kids read it. (And I wouldn’t let them read or see The Hunger Games, either.) As I’m writing this, I’m thinking , Sandy, are you nuts? Do you know how violent and suggestive kids’ video games are? How about their comic books and graphic novels? Kids are inundated with violence, sex, swearing and all that from the culture at large, and from the entertainment industry. Major films aimed at the young adult audience feature children killing other children as sport. Why should what’s in The Angel bother anyone?

There is a point to that. Compared to what’s out in the culture, Tales from Earth’s End is mild. I’m writing about this because I don’t want readers to expect one thing and get something else. The Tales are luminous. Characters like the angel Eliana, who came to earth to save her planet, are breathtaking. But the world the angel finds is rough. What happens is rough.

The romance industry (major publishers) has rules about romances. They have to go like this: Boy meets girl. (Right away, you see the limitations of the form.) They fall in love, with lots of explicit sex. More than lots. A terrible barrier arises that separates them: She discovers he’s married & has 6 kids. He discovers she’s got hoof & mouth disease. They part, but struggle to overcome the Awful Barrier. (No sex here.) Then an elephant falls out of the sky.

Many romance writers are REALLY CLEVER about getting their hero and heroine out of the pickle they’re in. There’s more explicit sex. (The romance genre does offer some really entertaining reading––hot, too––as well ask skilled writing. I’ve checked it out.) The industry has other rules. No one under 18 has sex, explicit or not. And the book has to end happily. That’s traditional, major publisher romance.

Which is why we have independent presses. My romance isn’t like that.

January 2011 marks the official launch of Sandy Nathan’s new book, The Angel & the Brown-eyed Boy. Sandy’s publisher, Vilasa Press, is planning lots of launch events, so check back here to find out what’s up. For now, two new videos about The Angel & the Brown-eyed Boy.