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 Question: “Is it true that, like, 99% of our presidents were in secret societies?”
Answer: I haven’t the foggiest. I believe some of the founding fathers were Freemasons — though according to Wikipedia, John Q. Adams, at least, was a vocal opponent. People love to point out the signs and symbols of Freemasonry in some of the emblems of our country, design of our money, etc. But saying you were in a fraternal order in the 18th century is pretty much like saying you were a member of a certain societal class. And then I bet a huge number of our presidents were in fraternities in college. Or do secret societies with Greek letters not count? Other than that, I know that at least Presidents Taft and both Bushes were in Skull & Bones.
Question: “Why is the Ivy League called the Ivy League, and what is it, exactly?”
Answer: The phrase originally referred to only an athletic league, like the “Big Ten” or “Division I” or etc. In fact, it is still used that way: Yale sports teams compete within the Ivy League Conference. The teams included are: Harvard, Princeton, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, and Dartmouth. I have heard two stories: that the term came from the ivy on the college building walls, and that the term is a misprint of the fact that originally there were only four (IV) teams in the league: Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Rutgers. There were other schools that came in and out over the centuries, like (I think) Bowden. Or maybe Bowden was offered a position in the conference and turned it down? There are a lot of rumors and legends.  At any rate, only later did the term come to mean anything other than an athletic competition.
 Question: “Is the conspiracy theory website working again?”
Answer: Nope, but it will be when the new site launches! (Note to the uninitiated: I made a web site to match the one that plays a major role in Under the Rose. It’s currently unavailable. I guess the powers that be have more influence than we’d thought!)
Question: Why are your books set at “Eli University” instead of Yale?
Answer: Because it’s fiction, and it’s fun to make up names for things. No, seriously. Why does Superman work at The Daily Planet in Metropolis, rather than The Chicago Sun? I think it’s much more rare, in fiction, for writers to talk about real companies. In The Devil Wears Prada, Prada might be real, but Runway magazine is not. I’m not trying to pull anything over on the reader; anyone with eyes can see that Eli is extensively based on Yale. Even the name “Eli” is a shout-out. You’ll note in the books that I never talk about Yale. Yale does not exist in the world of the books. I talk about Princeton, or Harvard, or Stanford, or NYU… but in this world, there is no Yale, no other Ivy League college in New Haven. In its place, there is Eli.
 The extra layer of fiction gives me leeway, as an author, to not constantly be worried about literal accuracy. I can change geography or traditions or facts to suit the story, because I’m not talking about a real place. Rose & Grave is not Skull & Bones, but its own secret society, composed of a variety of society traditions drawn from collegiate, professional, fraternal, and religious secret societies. Eli is not Yale, nor is it connected to the Yale Corporation. When I’m talking about deans or professors or leaders of campus organizations or rivalries, it’s not real people or real organizations I’m talking about. I make it all up for the sake of the story.
Question: How many books are there in the secret society girl series? Answer: Four. The first three are, in order: Secret Society Girl, Under the Rose, and Rites of Spring (Break). I’m working on the fourth one now, and it will be released in summer of 2009.
Winner of the “Read it before the Release” Rites of Spring (Break) giveaway is….
LIZA!
Liza, email me with your address and I’ll get you a copy of ROSB and some other goodies.
J.K. Rowling’s been busy as a beaver lately. First, there was her commencement speech at Harvard. Then there were all those late night visits to Maureen. And now, she’s posted an 800-word excerpt of the “prequel I’m not working on” at Waterstone’s.*
To read the handwritten note:
1) Go to http://www.waterstoneswys.com/
2) Wait for the Flash-based portion of the site to load
2) Click the “Read our authors’ stories” link
3) Click JKR’s name from the list that appears
Be sure to read both sides!
In related news, my favorite comment from Sailor Boy, who has been reading Rites of Spring (Break)**:
“I knew Poe had a pet snake named Lord Voldemort. What I didn’t realize was that he actually is a Slytherin.”
To which I laughed out loud, then heartily agreed. Poe is a Slytherin, most definitely. Then we had a conversation about the Sorting Hat-potential of all the other characters in my series. He thinks that Amy is a Hufflepuff, which makes some sense to me, though there’s an argument that all of them, just by dint of being at Eli, are Ravenclaws. Alternately, that all of them, just by dint of being in Rose & Grave, are Slytherin.
So what do you think?
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* Thanks to Geoff for giving me the head’s up!
** Out in two short weeks!
Still in the Caribbean. But while we wait for our plane, and for the “go live” date of my brand-new website, I thought we might talk about some of my upcoming appearances for the release of Rites of Spring (Break).
 *Launch Party*
MONDAY, JUNE 30, 7 PM
Borders Books
11301 Rockville Pike 11301 Rockville Pike
Kensington, MD 20895
301-816-1067
*Bookstore Anniversary with Nora Roberts*
SATURDAY, JULY 12, 1-3 PM
With Nora Roberts (and other authors)
Turn the Page Bookstore (13th Anniversary Celebration)
18 N. Main St.
Boonsboro MD 21713
ttpbooks.com
*Virginia Signing*
WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 7 PM
Barnes & Noble
1851 Fountain Drive 1851 Fountain Drive
Reston, VA 20190
703-437-9490
And, because I know you guys love teasers, a thrilling excerpt from Amy’s newest adventures.
That’s me, today. Unfortunately, I am headed toward an island that’s being hit by a tropical storm.
Travel luck strikes again.
Pray for a swift break-up or movement of Tropical Storm Alma. Kicking myself.
In other news, I received my first trade review for Rites of Spring (Break) and boy is it spoilerific! So filled with spoilers, in fact, that this is all I can share:
An ideal summer read, whether island-bound or not. — Booklist.
Lovely, lovely day.
 I may have mentioned that I was dog-sitting this weekend. I have serious dog envy, folks. Now, I’ve known Gracie for seven or eight years now (a fraction of the time I have known her human, who is my best friend) so we understand each other pretty well. Gracie is gorgeous (she’s a random-breed that, back in Florida,would have been called a “Florida red dog” and we keep seeing “Gracies ” all over town), well-behaved, spoiled rotten, and a little princess. She sits around with her paws crossed. And she growls whenever she doesn’t get her way, deep in her throat, like a little lion.
And I mean when ever she doesn’t get her way. Like, after I’ve taken her for her evening walk, if I dare to refill her water bowl before getting food in her dish. Or if I wake her up past her bedtime. Or if I sit on her side of the couch. Or if I don’t scratch her neck for the appropriate number of hours.
Love that dog.
But alas, her humans came home today, so I am again petless.
This morning I went to the Library of Congress, and I got my research card, which I find rather more exciting than you might think about the whole “getting a library card” process. Strangely enough, it was a far more simple process to get into the Library of Congress than it is to get into my own local library. But the LOC Madison building is this vast, windowless, monolithic slab of marble downtown, where every floor is zoned in colors and the staff give directions like “walk to the end of this hall, then turn right, walk to the end of that hall, go past all the reds, and when you hit the blues, that’s where Room 140 is.”
The main LOC building is one of my favorites in all of Washington.
After I got lost trying to get my card (process is simple, fun, and organized), I got lost trying to find the lecture hall where Melissa Marr was speaking about folklore and incorporating same into modern stories. Great speech. I know she’s a once and future teacher, and I can see why — she’s such a natural. I always sound like a doofus when speaking to strangers.
Or even not strangers. I completely forgot my whole spiel at my wedding — all I got out was “I’m so excited to marry you — let’s do it right now!” Still kicking myself over that one.
I was one of the few non-librarians present, and I had a great conversation with the librarians about manga, and steampunk, and why publishers change formats mid-series. Afterwards, the man in charge of the presentation invited me to lunch, so I got to hang out with Melissa, a few librarians, and a Lit PhD candidate, and learn more about her upcoming projects and Harper. Rebecca, the student, is writing a thesis on Rumor Theory, which I wish I’d gotten to chat with her about more, since it sounds so intriguing.
Also, a great band name.
This afternoon, I had a nice long chat with my YA editor about the final tweaks on Rampant, the state of romantic comedy, unicorns we have known, whether or not SB should read my books, and Rites of Spring (Break) — OUT IN A MONTH!!!!!! — an ARC of which she read on her vacation. (She’s a fan — not an editor — of my adult books.)
I’m a little scared of my two editors ever meeting. That much awesome in one place would surely cause a rift in the space-time continuum, right?
Then I had pizza with my best friend, her husband, and Gracie. She was very sweet to me, perhaps trying to show her humans what a good babysitter I was. Or, you know, apologize for the growling.
One of the really nice things about WordPress* is that I can write blog posts in advance and them schedule them to appear, so on days when I can’t check in — not even to change something from “draft” to “published” — we can already have posts raring to go. Just think of it — there will be no more two-week long dry spells like in January, where you heard nothing as I sludged, enfeebled and sick with some sort of named British flu bug (the Brits like to name every “thing that’s going around”) across the continent of Europe in search of the perfect settings for Rampant.
Speaking of Rampant, I got an email from a friend today reminding me that she’s been waiting for this book for over three years, and she still has to wait another 12 months. And I feel for her, truly I do. I feel for her decidedly more than I feel for the person who was standing behind Sailor Boy in line at the cafeteria three years ago when he was describing the book to one of his classmates, and who said, “What is this book called and where can I buy it?”
I often wonder about this complete stranger, and whether she will remember the 1L talking about his girlfriend’s fantasy novel and connect it, sometime in 2009, with Rampant. That would be nice, I think.
Meanwhile, both she and my friend are going to have to wait a year. Because no, I don’t have the ARC. I also can’t promise anyone one, since I don’t know if I’ll have giveaway ARCs in my possession. And it wouldn’t be for a couple of months, anyhow. When I know, you’ll know. Promise.
I am, however, making a single, self-made ARC, which is neither easy nor inexpensive, but that I promised to someone very special so he could read it on his upcoming vacation. He had to beg a lot.
And he’s my dad. So if you aren’t my dad, share a comparable amount of genetic material, or are currently married to me, the answer is no. Sorry.
Currently, there are seven people who have read the full manuscript: Me, Kristin (HC editor), Ruta (HC), Deidre (Agent), Carrie, Justine, and Marley. Actually, there may be more at Harper; I don’t know. And there’s someone else at the agency reading it right now. But that’s it.
Sailor Boy has not read it. Nor has he read Rites of Spring (Break). I know, shocking. His argument is that he is present while I am writing it, and hears me alternately groaning or giggling about the process, so it’s almost like he already knows what happens. It’s a bit like being a fan of a baseball team without watching any games, but maybe he likes the uniform or something. He does promote it to random people in the cafeteria, after all.
But it makes me wonder about the friends and family plan. I encouraged everyone I know to read my first book. People who don’t generally read novels about cute co-eds who say “Dude” and talk about how Everything They Needed to Know About Relationships They Learned From Jane Austen.** People who don’t read novels, full stop. People who wouldn’t be caught dead with something pink, and that’s including their steaks. My dad and brothers read it. My uncles read it. Heck, my childhood dentist read it.
But I don’t think it’s a statement about me or our mutual respect and affection if they decline to read it. After all, I’m sure I’m not so keen on said dentist’s articles for the Journal of American Dental Health.*** It’s my job. Not everyone has to be “into” my job.
Let’s go back to my dad. Like most people , his first reaction to “I’m writing a book about killer unicorns” was best described as “Whaaaaa?” But once I gave him the full-court pitch, he became quite enthusiastic, and has maintained this enthusiasm ever since. He’s read all of my books, and has said, several times, that he’s especially excited about Rampant, which he thinks is “more his style” than the chick lit.****
Followed up by the repeated requests for the extra-special ARC for his vacation. Isn’t that sweet?
SB is similarly excited. He pitches the story to anyone who will sit still enough to listen. He did it today, in fact. But he hasn’t read it. Which is too bad, because I think that this is also “more his style.”*****
Should SB read my books? I don’t know, what do you think?
“Others” and explanations in the comments section.
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* Those of you who have emailed to say their offices block WordPress, never fear. It’s getting dedicated server space shortly. One of the not so nice things at the moment is my inability to get the poll thing to work on it. This will apparently also be remedied when I upgrade from the free version.
** I’d go ahead and claim this title/premise, but I’m pretty sure Karen Joy Fowler already did, and made a mint.
*** Disclaimer: I actually don’t know if my old dentist writes articles, or indeed if this publication even exists.
**** Keeping in mind, of course, that this is the man who named me after Mrs. Emma Peel (I narrowly escaped the moniker Leia.)
***** Keeping in mind, of course, that this is the man who, despite his constant reminders to pack light during our backpacking excursion through Oceania, thought nothing of bringing a complete omnibus version of The Lord of the Rings.
I know I’ve been a bad blogger, but the last few days have been so busy. For instance:
* I volunteered at the Smithsonian’s annual Zoofari
* I attended Sailor Boy’s high school reunion
* I watched Sailor Boy get yet another degree (our walls, they have no room for more diplomas… luckily, the Yale ones are both small and undiploma-y)
* I designed some very cool promotional items for the release of Rites of Spring (Break).
* I judged a contest for my RWA chapter
* I worked on ancillary matter for Rampant
* I reviewed a colleague’s most recent book proposal
* I worked on SSG4, which may have as many as up to seventeen sex scenes.*
And today, I’m going to New York for a get together at the YA Author Mansion. Of course it’s a real thing. Where do you think we get our ideas?
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* In response to a writer who told me, straight faced, that the difference between YA and adult was that adult books had sex scenes. Which, huh? I can think of many YA books with sex scenes. I can think of many adult books, including ones written by me, without. For instance, there is no sex scene in Secret Society Girl. I am, however, keeping mum on the content of ROSB.
A.K.A. My Books And Where You’ll Find Them
 What It Is: Through the Wardrobe: Your Favorite Authors on C.S. Lewis’s the Chronicles of Narnia.
Place You’re Likely to Find It: Border’s Book Stores (Exclusively), either in the YA or children’s sections, shelved with the other Narnia books, OR under B for Herbie Brennan (who edited the collection). Alternately, your local Borders may have a special display at the front of the store for the Narnia books and tie-ins in preparation for the movie. You are unlikely to get any help from the employees, as the book is NOT listed in the system, either by title or ISBN. This has been the case at several Borders I’ve visited in various states. The Borders in Boston where I most recently saw the book had it listed as being written by C.S. Lewis. If you have trouble finding it, try to get a hold of the YA or Children’s Books specialist in the store. I don’t think you can buy it online, either.
What It’s About: A bunch of YA and fantasy authors writing essays about the Narnia series. My essay is called “King Edmund the Cute” and talks about the character of Edmund Pevensie.
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 What It Is: The paperback of Secret Society Girl, my first novel and the first book in the ongoing series.
Where You’ll Find It: Any bookstore, shelved in the literature/fiction section. The easiest way to find me is to look for the massive Jodi Picoult shelves and I’m usually right before it. I heart Jodi Picoult. Alternately, fine online retailers. And finally, I hear you can still find them in Target book sections.
What It’s About: Smart, sassy Ivy League co-ed Amy Haskel gets tapped into the previously all-male secret society Rose & Grave, and that’s just the start of her adventures.
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 What It Is: Under the Rose, my second novel and the follow up to Secret Society Girl.
Where You’ll Find It: Right next to Secret Society Girl. You’ll be more likely to find it this summer, however, than you will now. Meanwhile, your best bet is fine online retailers. I’ve also heard people had good luck at Target.
What It’s About: From Publisher’s Weekly: “Picking up where last year’s Secret Society Girl left off, the novel follows the misadventures of Amy Haskel, who, having endured the initiation only to unravel a misogynistic plot set on destroying the first class of Diggers to include women, is looking forward to putting her troubles behind her. But things begin to sour when all the Diggirls receive a mysterious letter warning them of the society’s impending implosion. To make matters worse, Amy’s ex-boyfriend has a hot new girlfriend; her roommate starts dating a society member with commitment problems; another society member is dying to get under Amy’s ceremonial robe; and Amy’s senior thesis looms. When the Diggers realize they have a mole, Amy is intent on finding the culprit.”
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 What it Is: The World of the Golden Compass, edited by Scott Westerfeld
Where You’ll Find It: In the YA or Children’s section of your local Borders (exclusively), with the Philip Pullman books. Alternately, in the YA section with the Scott Westerfeld books. Like the Narnia book, this book is not listed in the computer system in the store, so it is unlikely employees will be able to help. You used to be able to order it online, but the link appears to be broken now. (Seriously, this is the best picture I can find of it now!)
What It’s About: Another essay anthology. Mine is called “Ghost in the Machine” and is about the concept of daemons and why I named my laptop Pantalaimon.
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 What It Is: Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume, edited by Jennifer O’Connell.
Where You’ll Find It: I know nothing about a paperback release for this book, so your best bet is fine online retailers. Or, you may get lucky in a store.
What It’s About: An essay anthology by women’s fiction writers (including Megan McCafferty and Meg Cabot) about what Judy Blume meant to us growing up. My essay is called “Brave New Kid” and it’s about how I identified with Sally J. Freedman.
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And, coming up:
 What It Is: Rites of Spring (Break), the third book in the Secret Society Girl series.
Where You’ll Find It: Starting on June 24, 2008, you’ll find it in bookstores all over. Check the new release tables, and if that doesn’t work, check next to Jodi Picoult. You can also pre-order it now — today! — online at these fine online retailers and have a book delivered to your door the day it’s out!
What It’s About: For Amy, a week of R&R on her secret society’s private island should be all fun in the sun—and an escape from an on-campus feud with a rival society that’s turned disturbingly personal. But along with her SPF 30 and a bikini, Amy is bringing a suitcase full of issues to remote Cavador Key. Graduation from Eli University looms, not to mention buckets of unfinished business with a former flame and—most pressing of all—the sudden, startling transformation of a mysterious Rose & Grave patriarch from sheerly evil to utterly…appealing? Just when Amy thinks Spring Break can’t get any less relaxing, a wacky “accident” puts everyone on edge. And that’s only the beginning, as Amy starts to suspect that someone has infiltrated the island. With some major Rose & Grave secrets to be exposed, and the potential fallout enough to take down one of America’s most loathsome figureheads, what she can’t know is that the party crasher is deadly serious about making sure “Bugaboo” doesn’t get back to Eli alive….
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And, in 2009, at bookstores everywhere:
June: RAMPANT, a tale of killer unicorns
July: The fourth book in the Secret Society Girl series
The internets are abuzz with conversations about YA:
At Publisher’s Weekly, a panel of YA authors, booksellers, agents, etc., discuss what makes a YA a YA, and why there is such a stigma about it. National Book Award winner Sherman Alexie says:
 “I thought I’d been condescended to because I’m an Indian,” he said. “That was nothing compared to the condescension I get because I’ve written a YA novel.” He said that fellow writers have also accused him of chasing a lucrative market. “Because I’ve written a book about a 16-year-old,” he said, “that means I’m a capitalistic whore.”
At Print Magazine, there’s an article about how to package at market YA throughout the ages.
That means that any clues that the cover isn’t current, whether it’s a highly graphic rendering (so early ’80s!), an outdated star (like Courteney Cox and Lori Loughlin, who modeled for the Sweet Dreams romance covers ), or a wispy romantic typeface (so ’70s dime-store romance!), can hurt the book’s chances with prospective readers. “If someone is an unconventional beauty—or even not white—that’s usually a more contemporary novel, clearly different from the conventional homecoming queen and Ken doll boy who might be on the cover of an older book, which kids will see as out of date,” Pattee says. “But ultimately, it has more to do with what they’re wearing. If the cover looks lame, then it’s all over.”
 I didn’t know that about Courtney Cox and the Sweet Dreams books. (However, I do know that Marley Gibson, who was obsessed with SD as a child and spent all weekend talking about how much her love of those novels are to account for her current foray into YA, will be excited to hear it!)
The fashion element is an interesting one to me. One fashion-savvy writer I know was able to discern very quickly that the cover of her YA novel had a dated look. I didn’t even know what she was talking about. (She managed to get it updated to something more in the moment or timeless.)
But then again, sometimes they make inaccurate choices in cover fashions to make a point. I’ve received responses to my books where the reader was definitely judging the character based on the cover clothing. (The term “prep school girl” comes up a lot.) Amy, who never attended prep school, would never wear the outfit she wears on the cover of the first two books. She’s strictly a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl. Still, the preppy look is also a popular one at the moment, and for some strange reason, it indicates “ivy league school” to people. (The only people I ever saw dress like that at Yale were the ones channeling affectations worthy of Tom Wolfe. There was one guy who wore a straw hat and a raccoon coat, too, but it certainly wasn’t the style!)
 But since I don’t get to stand there every time someone picks up a copy of my book and explain that to them, they need an image that will capture the feeling of the novel. And they do — Amy looks strong and independent on both covers, the bright colors indicate that it’s going to be a light story, and the outfit indicates that it’s set at an elite school. Both of the foreign markets who have published the book to date have used the same image.
I was really pleased, when I saw the cover of the most recent novel, that Amy was in a bathing suit and board short combo she’d actually wear. It’s definitely my favorite cover to date!
 Back to YA: Cory Doctorow, who just released a YA novel, is discussing the phenomenon of adults not daring to venture in the YA section. Apparently, Doctorow has noticed that people wanting to buy his new book Little Brother are walking out of the bookstore empty handed, because it’s not in the adult science fiction section with the rest of his books.
I feel your pain, dude. My books are in the adult section, though they are much beloved by teens, and I am constantly hearing from writers (just writers who know me online and for some reason think my YA books are already out) who can’t find my book in the YA section. To wit: the Secret Society Girl books are adult novels. They have been published by an adult publisher and are shelved in the adult section. They are not YA novels, have never been YA novels, were not written to be YA novels. When the first book made it into the NYPL Books for the Teen Age list, it was under the sub category of “adult novels appropriate for teens.” I think teens would love them (I know a lot of teens that do), and fortunately, you’re more likely to see a teen venturing out of the YA section than an adult venturing in.
And I know why this is. It’s hard enough for an adult to bear the stigma of reading for fun (oh, the horrors!). Imagine the stigma of reading a teen book for fun! We live in a society where the prevailing attitude is that it’s okay to go see a romantic comedy, or to watch Grey’s Anatomy, but to read a romance or chick lit novel is supposedly akin to opening up your skull and pouring acid on your brain. Why entertainment is cool if it’s images on a screen but akin to treason if it’s text on a page is beyond me.
A year ago, I was in my local chain bookstore and witnessed employees ridiculing a grown woman to her face for browsing the YA shelves. Multiple employees. My sense of righteous indignation got the better of me on that occasion, I have to be honest. I’m not saying that a bookstore employee needs to love every book in a store. I am saying that they need to not dress down a customer for attempting to put money in their pockets. I am saying that the correct answer to, “Do you have XYZ YA novel?” is not
a) “What do you want with that?”
b) “Take ABC instead, they are all the same, right?” (please note that she was not looking for a packaged Gossip Girl book, but instead an award winning YA novel)
c) To roll your eyes, turn to the employee next to you and say, “Why they think I’d know anything about kids books is beyond me.” Commence snickering.
And when another book buyer approaches you, wondering why she can’t find Holly Black’s masterful VALIANT, under the author-B section, do not speak to her as if she is somehow mentally disabled, do not point out that B is between A and C, and, most of all, do not explain to her (slowly, using tiny words and short sentences) that your YA section is separated into “fantasy” and “realistic” while pointing at the supposedly “realistic” author A-C section which includes, among other things, Libba Bray’s Rebel Angels and M. T. Anderson’s Feed.
Especially not if said book buyer is me. Turns out the browsing woman was a school librarian.
To make a long story short, Doctorow posits that the most interesting stuff happening in science fiction today is happening on the YA shelves, and if you don’t go there, you’re totally missing out. John Scalzi, who is like me a huge Scott Westerfeld fan, and who also like me has a teen friendly book coming out from an adult publisher, backs Doctorow up on this position.
So, to sum up, what are the big issues facing both readers and writers today:
1) The tyranny of stigma, whether it be the stigma of genre or market.
2) The tyranny of judging books by covers.
3) The tyranny of shelving bias.
4) The tyranny of people who don’t think reading should be fun.
Fight tyranny! Go to a new section! Ignore what it says on the spine or the cover of a book! Read something for pure fun! Read YA. Read adult. Read anything! Read read read! Viva la Revolucion!
NEWSFLASH: First ever (that I’ve seen) review for Rites of Spring (Break) at Teen Book Review. Quote of note:
I loved every second of the time I spent reading this book! Diana Peterfreund has a way with words that will have you spending hours devouring this novel when you only meant to read a chapter or two. I love all of the interesting characters present in this book, although there were some who I wished were a little more present, and, really, Rites of Spring (Break) has so much awesomeness in it that you can’t help but love the book. There’s romance, secret society rivalry, mysteries, a vicious prankster, a private island, conspiracy theorists–basically, everything you need for a delightfully fun pageturner. I love Amy’s voice, too, funny and smart and witty and just awesome.
Today, I am blogging at 70 Days of Sweat. The theme of the post is as follows:
You do not like them.
So you say.
Try them! Try them!
And you may.
Try them and you may, I say.
- Green Eggs and Ham, by Dr. Seuss
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Question: “Is it true that, like, 99% of our presidents were in secret societies?”
Question: “Is the conspiracy theory website working again?”
The extra layer of fiction gives me leeway, as an author, to not constantly be worried about literal accuracy. I can change geography or traditions or facts to suit the story, because I’m not talking about a real place. Rose & Grave is not Skull & Bones, but its own secret society, composed of a variety of society traditions drawn from collegiate, professional, fraternal, and religious secret societies. Eli is not Yale, nor is it connected to the Yale Corporation. When I’m talking about deans or professors or leaders of campus organizations or rivalries, it’s not real people or real organizations I’m talking about. I make it all up for the sake of the story.
