Magan is a self-proclaimed geek-to-glam poster child who channels her inner geek by writing science fiction for teens, even though she slept with a night light until she was in middle school for fear of alien attacks. She now lives with her husband, daughter, and dog in central Illinois where she still sleeps with a night light…just in case.

You can find her online at www.maganvernon.com

The second Sunday in May. It’s that time of year when greeting card companies manipulate our guilt reflex in order to sell merchandise. Less cynically, it’s a day to honor our mothers. But not everyone had a good childhood, and for those folks, it can be difficult to find exactly the right card. It’s not as if they make ones that fit the situations of people like the characters in my books. Ones that say, “thanks, Mom, for making me stronger by being a needy, neglectful alcoholic and forcing me to become the parent at the age of eight,” or “Mom, your narcissistic Jekyll and Hyde parenting style made it impossible for me to form healthy relationships, but I found someone who cared about me, so it’s all good now.”

The mother-child bond is one of the strongest known to man. Psychologists say that if the proper attachments don’t form between a mom and her baby within the first six months of life, that child will never be able to successfully bond with other people. In picture books and Disney movies, one very common and powerful theme is the separation of a child from his mother. The worst nightmare of the young is to lose that intimate connection. Death, divorce, and abandonment are all ways authors make use of this fear to create conflict in a story.

But there are more complicated ways to lose a mother. One that’s common in young adult fiction is for the mother to somehow tarnish the relationship by alienating her child. This is particularly damaging, because instead of pure grief or loss, the teen experiences conflicting emotions. She feels love and hatred at the same time, and that’s complicated by guilt, because after all, we’re taught we should love our mothers unconditionally.

In young adult fiction, characters tend to experience a lot of angst, and one easy way for an author to compound that angst is to create a difficult relationship with the mother. When you’re crafting your YA novel, be aware of the potential power in the loss of the mother-child relationship, but don’t take the easy route. These things are seldom cut and dried. Even when a mother is extremely abusive, if a child is separated from her and placed in a better situation, he’ll want to go back. Even in the worst of circumstances, children try to cover up for their parents, make excuses, and take up for their slack. Be sure to capture all the nuances of this very complicated relationship, and you’ll add layers to your story that will resonate with the reader long after she finishes your last words.

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The last thing on 16-year-old Jess DeLand’s wish list is a boyfriend. She’d have to be crazy to think any guy would look twice at her. Besides, there are more important things to hope for, like a job working on cars and an end to her mom’s drinking. Foster care is a constant threat, and Jess is willing to sacrifice anything to stay out of the system. When luck hands her the chance to work on a race car, she finds herself rushing full throttle into a world of opportunities—including a boy who doesn’t mind the grease under her fingernails. The question is, can a girl who keeps herself locked up tighter than Richard Petty’s racing secrets open up enough to risk friendship and her first romance?

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“The first romance is captured beautifully—just the right combination of natural and awkward, of eager and scared.”

 ~ Bob Martin, writing professor, Pacific Northwest College of Art

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In addition to being a YA author, Lisa Nowak is a retired amateur stock car racer, an accomplished cat whisperer, and a professional smartass. She writes coming-of-age books about kids in hard luck situations who learn to appreciate their own value after finding mentors who love them for who they are. She enjoys dark chocolate and stout beer and constantly works toward employing wei wu wei in her life, all the while realizing that the struggle itself is an oxymoron.

Lisa has no spare time, but if she did she’d use it to tend to her expansive perennial garden, watch medical dramas, take long walks after dark, and teach her cats to play poker. For those of you who might be wondering, she is not, and has never been, a diaper-wearing astronaut. She lives in Milwaukie, Oregon, with her husband, four feline companions, and two giant sequoias.

The exciting follow-up sequel to Clockwise is here!

 
The  last year has been smooth sailing for Casey Donovan. She and her  boyfriend Nate are doing better than ever, and things at home are good,  too. Everything’s been so calm, she hasn’t “tripped” back to the  nineteenth century in ages.
Then  the unthinkable happens and she accidentally takes her rebellious  brother Tim back in time. It’s 1862 with the Civil War brewing, and for  Tim this spells adventure and excitement. Finding himself stuck in the  past, he enlists in the Union army, but it doesn’t take long before he  discovers real life war is no fun and games.
Casey  and Nate race against the clock to find Tim, but the strain wears on  their relationship. It doesn’t help that the intriguing new boy next  door has his sights on Casey, and isn’t shy to let her know it.

Can Nate and Casey find Tim in time to save him? And is it too late to save their love?

 
Sales links:

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Sample Chapter

Chapter One

CASEY

Beginning of Summer Holidays

Sometimes  I wished I were an only child. But then I’d be walking or taking  transit instead of getting a lift from my brother Tim in his Cavalier  beater. He didn’t have air conditioning either, and the wind blowing in  from our open windows was hot and moist. The humidity made me feel like I  was wearing a warm, wet washcloth for a shirt.

“Can’t  you drop me off first?” I said, fanning myself with my hand. I was  meeting my best friend Lucinda at the mall, and she only had a thirty  minute break from her job at Forever21. Plus, the mall was air conditioned. Bonus.

“I  gotta get some cash first. Besides, I’m not your personal taxi service,  Casey.” Tim snarled, turning the volume up on his stereo. The bass beat  was so loud it rattled the trunk. “Get off your lazy butt and get your  license already.”

I  gave him a dirty look and reached over to turn the music down. I had a  very good reason for not getting my license, but I could never tell Tim  or any member of my family what it was. There were only three people currently living who knew the reason. One of them was my boyfriend Nate Mackenzie.

My heart still fluttered a bit when I thought of him in those terms. My boyfriend. Not just some out-of-reach guy I crushed hard on my whole sophomore year, but my boyfriend.

We’d  already been an official couple for an entire year, totally blowing all  the doomsday predictions that we’d never make it. No one thought a  college boy would stick it out with a junior in high school–especially  Nate’s evil former girlfriend!

But  he did, and we were still going strong. I’d be starting my senior year  in a few weeks and then I’d join him at Boston University, too.

“If you dropped me off first, you wouldn’t have to deal with me,” I tried to reason.

“If I didn’t shuttle you around at all I wouldn’t have to deal with you.”

The  only reason he did was because my parents were putting the screws in.  Tim’s bad attitude, questionable choice of friends and poor grades put  him in their bad books. Driving me around was penance.

He  pulled into the parking lot of the bank and hopped out, leaving the car  running. I reached over and turned it off. Idling the car was bad for  the environment for one, and a waste of Tim’s hard-earned minimum-wage  job gas money for another. You’d think he’d know better.

I  checked the time on my phone and grew anxious as Lucinda’s break time  grew nearer. Tim had his back to me as he stood in line at the ATM  window. I looked at my reflection in the visor mirror. Since I’d grown  out of my skinny awkwardness last year (and snagged a hot boyfriend), I  was more mindful of my looks. Instead of trying to hide behind a bush of  dark, curly hair, I used better hair products and found a great  stylist, and I liked the way my curls framed my face now. I took a tube  of lip gloss out of my purse and rolled it onto my lips.

I  tugged on my shorts and rubbed my bare legs. They were so long, my  knees almost touched the glove compartment. Height had its advantages,  but getting comfortable in a small car wasn’t one of them.

I  turned the radio on and hummed along. I daydreamed about me and Nate  and how we could relax for the rest of the summer, hopefully stretching  the lazy days out as long as possible.

I checked the time on my phone again and immediately started stressing about being late to meet Lucinda. C’mon, Tim! He was second in line now. I texted Lucinda to let her know I might be a little late.

I  heard sirens and I perked up. This wasn’t the best neighborhood. The  bank wasn’t huge, just tucked into a strip mall along with a nail place,  a dollar store, and a thrift shop. Litter overflowed from the bin and a  good amount had been blown up against the cement foundation.

I  checked on Tim. He’d finally made it to the front, the last one in  line. If I’d known it was going to take him this long, I would’ve run  into the dollar store and picked up cheap nail polish.

The  siren noise grew increasingly louder and suddenly three cop cars pulled  into the parking lot beside me. My heart jumped, and I thought  fleetingly that maybe Tim was in trouble with the law again. Only, he  was getting money out of the ATM, not robbing the bank.

But someone was.

Everything happened so fast.

A  guy with a ski mask pushed past Tim as he ran out the bank doors. A cop  shouted, “Stop or I’ll shoot,” and another masked man followed. Guns  went off. Tim stood there, stunned and frozen.

I heard myself shout, “Tim!” He was right in the middle of the cross-fire!

A  police officer ran to him, pushing him to the ground just as the second  armed man shot in their direction. The officer fell to the ground,  taking the bullet instead of Tim.

The robbers ran around the corner and out of sight, chased by police officers on foot and a cruiser down the back ally.

I sprinted to Tim where he was on the ground by the fallen cop.

“Are you okay?” I asked, my voice tight.

His face was white, and he motioned to the woman beside him. “Yeah, but I don’t think she is.”

The officer moaned, holding her hand on her chest.

“Oh, ma’am, are you okay?” I searched for blood but couldn’t see any.

“I will be,” she said gasping for breath. “I have a vest on.”

Another officer kneeled beside her. “Ambulance is on its way.”

The  woman had dark hair pulled back in a low bun. Her eyes stayed pinched  together and her pale face glistened with sweat. The impact of the  bullet was enough to do some damage. I picked up her police hat that had  fallen off her head and handed it to her.

“Thank you,” I said.

“Just doing my duty.”

The ambulance arrived. The paramedics pushed us aside and lifted the woman onto a gurney.

The cop who’d checked her pulse stepped forward from his open door cruiser. Radio dispatch noises leaked out.

I watched the ambulance pull away, siren blasting, and realized I didn’t know her name. I asked the officer standing beside me.

“That’s Officer Clarice Porter,” he said. “Now, would you two mind coming with me to the station to file a report?”

We  agreed, and I took my first ride in a police car. It was Tim’s second,  but his first was not for noble reasons. He still claimed it was his  friend Alex, and not him, who’d stolen the cigarettes from the  convenience store.

A thought like a loud banner ran through my mind as the doors of the police cruiser slammed shut and we drove away.

Clarice Porter saved my brother’s life.

1. Artemis Rising Blog Tour Giveaway Winner (Phew!) – Congrats to Naomi H. ! Artemis Rising by Cheri Lasota is on its way. I know you’ll enjoy it!

2. Unfavorable is done! Uh, sort of.  The story is finished, but it still needs an epilogue. I’m having my proofreader/BFF read through it tonight and after I get her notes I’ll figure out how the epilogue is going to go. I have a general idea, but if I end up changing the ending…I like the ending, but I need her opinion. I’m not sure I made the right choice and am too close to it.  Anyway, the epilogue hinges on what happens at the end, obviously, so once I know what it’s going to be I can go from there.  I’ve got beta readers set up for the beginning of next week and I hope to have Unfavorable published by the 18th.

And then the Day of Sacrifice series will be complete!!  It’s going to be sweet having two series under my belt, let me tell ya.

3. Speaking of…Day of Sacrifice is free on Amazon, BN, Smashwords, iTunes, etc. right now. Even if you’ve read it, it would be great if you could download a fresh copy so that it gets lower in the bestsellers ranks and gets more exposure.

Alas, this is how self-published authors get their name (or names in my case) out there! I would be most grateful.

I’ve also added a new short story to my Free Reads section on this site. Surprise, Surprise is from the Indelibles In His Eyes anthology that we put out around Valentine’s Day. The whole anthology is free, if you’re looking for some awesome YA short stories told from a male POV.

Happy reading and writing!

Authors galore, guest posts and book giveaways almost every day!

Gemma Halliday, Cindy M. Hogan, Elizabeth Spann Craig,
 Nova Ren Suma, Elisa Ludwig, and Anne R. Allen….Just to name a few!

And here’s why she’s celebrating!

Stripping your date down to his underwear has never been so dangerous.

After dodging bullets on a first date, Savvy must sneak, deceive and spy to save her family and friends and figure out if Malcolm is one of the bad guys before she completely falls for him.

Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Smashwords

Head on over to Laura’s blog for the start of the Spies, Murder and Mystery Marathon. You won’t want to miss this sizzling series as we head into summer. Stock up on some great thrilling reads! If you dare…

Well, Unfavorable isn’t done yet. It is the story that will not end. I think I’m having last book (story) syndrome. I just want everything wrapped up and for no one to be disappointed in the ending and all that CHATTER.

I keep thinking I have 1K to go and then I sit down and write 3K and still haven’t ended the bloody thing yet! My self-imposed deadline was May 1st, so that didn’t happen, but I DECLARE that mutha is going to be finished this week or…well, I don’t know what, it’s my birthday and Mother’s Day next Sunday and I kinda want to, y’know, get presents and eat cake and stuff and not be mean to myself and I already cheated and bought and read the latest BDB novel, so…I just better finish the damn story.

In other news, I went ahead and started plotting the Penny Black trilogy (previously known as the Society School books) and am RARIN’ to get started on those.

Lastly, there’s buzz that a group of bloggers are preparing some sort of interwebs raking over the coals of an author friend of mine. I have two things to say about that:

1. Why would anyone want their rep to be that they are a bully?

2. Get outside and enjoy some nature. Hanging out on the computer all the time getting whipped up into a frenzy is a lameass way to spend a day.

Peace!

Hope everyone has a great week writing and life-wise.

The e-book is  on Amazon,but if you’re interested in winning a paperback copy, please fill out the form at the end of this post!

The Story

On the voy­age home to the Azores Islands, Eva accepts the pagan name of Arethusa but learns too late that her life will mir­ror the Greek nymph’s tragic end. Her mother reveals that her des­tiny lies with Diogo, the shipowner’s volatile son. But Eva has a vision of another…

When the ship founders in a storm off the coast, Tristan, a local boy, saves her life and steals her heart. Destined to be with Diogo yet aching for Tristan’s for­bid­den love, Eva must some­how choose between them, or fate will choose for her.

A Conversation with the Author

Q: How did you conceive of Artemis Rising?

A: This is a dif­fi­cult ques­tion. How does any­one come up with a cre­ative idea? I gen­er­ally don’t under­stand the mech­a­nism which allows me to breathe life into char­ac­ters and weave plots and develop uni­ver­sal themes within the con­text of a his­tor­i­cal set­ting. I am truly only grate­ful that I’m pay­ing atten­tion long enough to write it all down. Some days it comes eas­ily, some days I think and think and noth­ing comes to me. But Artemis Rising? Wow, it is a mish- mash of all my long­ings and fears. It is an amal­gam of all my hopes for the future and my mem­o­ries in the plea­sures of the past. It is a laun­dry list of my most trea­sured inter­ests and pas­sions. It is also com­plete and utter fic­tion. Does that answer your question?

Okay, some­thing a bit more spe­cific. I used to live in the Azores Islands, a pro­found priv­i­lege that went by far too quickly. But the place and its peo­ple have stayed with me some fif­teen years later, and I knew that no mat­ter what my book would even­tu­ally be about, I would set it on Terceira Island, one of the great loves of my life. The set­ting being carved in stone, I won­dered what to write about for the plot. No answer forth­com­ing, I played on the Internet (what else is a writer to do?). I remem­ber look­ing up the mean­ing of my favorite name in all the world, Tristan. That’s when I stum­bled upon the Arthurian leg­end of Tristan and Isolde. Ooh, did I revel in this deli­cious story! Mad love and long­ing, knights and ladies, treach­ery and tragedy—what’s not to love? And then another day, per­haps months later, I was research­ing mythol­ogy. Can’t recall why. I came across the story of Alpheus and Arethusa and noticed strange sim­i­lar­i­ties to the Tristan and Isolde myth. Something just clicked in my mind. I thought, what would hap­pen if I squished those two myths together? What if they became the sub­text to my own story. . .? And my mind went rac­ing on with the possibilities.

Q: Is there a genre that you enjoy reading that you would never attempt writing? (Mine’s Steampunk.)

Occasionally I read scifi, but I don’t think I’d ever attempt it myself. I’m a little terrified of the research involved in the science of scifi. I’d secretly love to write a space opera, because astronomy endlessly fascinates me. But oh! I can’t imagine trying to create an interplanetary drama complete with spacecraft and lightspeed. Just the thought—gah!

Q: How has being an editor helped/hurt your writing?

Sigh. I really wish I could turn off my Inner Editor. She’s been a living hell for me for years, stymying my creative endeavors and enabling my procrastination. So it’s been a detriment in many ways. On the positive side, it’s been incredibly useful when it came time to editing the novel. My knowledge of grammar, punctuation, rhythm, and structure has been a wonderful asset through the long process of creating this novel.

Q: When did you start skiing?

During the winter season, I work out my writing frustration with a little downhill skiing. Or rather a lot. I slalom race now and my obsession is now speed. If you knew me well, you’d find this amusing given how slow I am in all other aspects of my life. Well, except driving. But that’s another story. I started skiing when I was a shy thirteen. I was terrible then. And terribly afraid of going too fast. I took a break for a decade and picked it back up when I moved to the Northwest. Now I ski most every weekend during the season. Love it!

Watch Dr. Veronica Esagui’s interview of Cheri Lasota on the Author’s Forum:

The Artemis Rising Blog Hop Giveaway: Enter to win one paperback copy of the newly released Artemis Rising! (US residents only please.)

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

To continue on the blog hop, please click here to jump over to RaShelle Workman’s blog.

Plugging along word count-wise on Unfavorable. This puppy needs to be done this weekend so that Sarah can proofread it next week and then I can send it to a couple of betas.

I wrote 1500 words yesterday and then spent the day today rearranging the scenes and writing a new one. My chronology was all off and I had characters explaining why things hadn’t happened yet instead of just having them happen. Also, in some scenes, they have two days until an epic battle and in others, it’s one! Super annoying. So, I stopped what I was doing and made a timeline.

I’ve been writing these stories since October 2010 and when I started them, I didn’t know how many there were going to be, who all the characters were or what was going to happen from one story to the next. (I had a similar experience with the Zellie books.)

Let me tell you, I’m never doing it this way again. It is way too difficult to keep track of everything.  The Society School books are getting a fat stack of Post-its and some poster boarding, that’s for damn sure! The timeline is going to help me a lot with Unfavorable, but I’m not sure why I haven’t made it before!  While I was perusing the stories 1-5, I also made notes of other things I’d flubbed up.  More rewrites!!

Then I will have only three more scenes to write. Or two. Ugh, I can’t decide!

Obviously, none of this is really up to me.

After I made the timeline, I combed through stock photography for three hours looking for the perfect woman/man/couple to put on the Day of Sacrifice Omnibus cover. I finally found them! They are a little more naked than I’d envisioned, but they are the right combo of hair and eye color and hotness level to be Flora and Julian.

The awesome Keary Taylor is making it for me.

That’s it! I’ve been on the computer for 14 hours. I think I can stop now.

The winners of the giveaway are:

Grand Prize: Ima Shrew

1st Prize: Kristin Craven Cross

2nd Prize: Kela McClelland

Congratulations!

Now I’m off to finish Unfavorable. The Day of Sacrifice series comes to an end this week!