The year Louisiana – Easy for short – meets Janis Joplin is the year everything changes. Easy is a car mechanic in her dad’s shop, but she can sing the blues like someone twice her age. So when she hears that Janis Joplin is passing through her small town of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Easy is there with her heart – and her voice – in hand. It’s 1970 and Janis Joplin is an electrifying blues-rock singer at the height of her fame – and of her addictions. Yet she recognizes Easy’s talent and asks her to meet her in Texas to sing. So Easy begins an unusual journey that will change everything.
Review
One of my favorite things about Caroline Stellings is her ability to tell a story with huge emotional layering. At its surface, this is a really simple tale about a girl who has a dream and takes a road trip. The backdrop of America in 1970 gives the story some added intensity. I loved that Janis Joplin makes an appearance, and even more that Easy talks so much about Billie Holiday and Bessie Green as influences of her music.
The power punches come in the characters. I don’t want to give anything away, but there were several moments where things unfolded in this perfect way. Like when you make complex origami and on the last step, pull the piece into its final shape, so that suddenly it transforms from being a bunch of sequential folds to a crane or dragon or something so much more than paper. That’s how it felt reading Freedom’s Just Another Word. Like being part of a transformation.
I loved that meeting Janis didn’t suddenly propel Easy to fame. It was a significant moment on her journey, and she learned a lot about herself and others through her encounter. But she had so much more to learn and to give. She just also had to find the courage to take those steps.
At any rate, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. (Check content to make sure it’s okay for your readers as there is some language.) If you enjoy fiction about music or musicians, definitely get yourself a copy of Freedom’s Just Another Word. I loved it.
Cultural Elements
Easy was raised by African American parents. Her mother is white and her father is black. Where she lives in Saskatoon there aren’t very many black people. She experiences some prejudice as a child. When she drives through Texas, she’s threatened and thrown out of a restaurant because of her race. There’s some discussion about places it’s unsafe for her to go, especially at night. Some places won’t let her in, others treat her coldly.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used infrequently.
Romance/Sexual Content Easy wonders how her mom forgave her father for having an affair with a white woman.
Spiritual Content Easy meets two nuns and helps them buy a car. One is judgmental and cynical. The other is kind and welcoming to Easy. Later she meets a Reverend Mother who shows a great deal of compassion for the people around her, which moves Easy.
Violent Content A man threatens Easy’s life if she doesn’t leave his restaurant.
Drug Content
Easy meets Janis Joplin and her gang. They clean out a liquor store, many of them already drunk. Janis wants Southern Comfort, and Easy finds it for her. She reflects on Janis’s hard living way of life with some sadness. Later she meets another heroin addict. When Easy sees Janis again, she talks to her about him. Janis seems sad about the man’s predicament, but expresses no desire to change her habits. Not long afterward she’s found dead of a heroin overdose.
Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Rick Gutierrez is . . . the Cat King of Havana! A cat-video tycoon turned salsa-dancer extraordinaire, he’ll take Cuba by storm, romance the girl of his dreams, and ignite a lolcat revolution!
At least that’s the plan.
It all starts when his girlfriend dumps Rick on his sixteenth birthday for uploading cat videos from his bedroom when he should be out experiencing the real world. Known as “That Cat Guy” at school, Rick isn’t cool and he knows it. He realizes it’s time for a change.
Rick decides joining a salsa class is the answer . . . because of a girl, of course. Ana Cabrera is smart, friendly, and smooth on the dance floor. Rick might be half-Cuban, but he dances like a drunk hippo. Desperate to impress Ana, he invites her to spend the summer in Havana. The official reason: learning to dance. The hidden agenda: romance under the palm trees.
Except Cuba isn’t all sun, salsa, and music. There’s a darker side to the island. As Rick and Ana meet his family and investigate the reason why his mother left Cuba decades ago, they learn that politics isn’t just something that happens to other people. And when they find romance, it’s got sharp edges.
Top Ten Things that Inspired Characters and Scenes in The Cat King of Havana
I asked Tom Crosshill to share ten things that inspired him to create various characters and scenes in his novel, The Cat King of Havana. Here’s his list. If you’ve already read the book, see if you can pick out which scene or character he’s referring to!
The sweet, sweet excitement of watching a real master of something — dancing, sports, whatever — and saying — I’m going to do the work to be like that one day!
The marvel of attending a Silvio Rodriguez concert live at Carnegie Hall — and realizing how much more each of his songs meant to the native Cubans in the audience.
The experience of competing in a dance contest in Cuba as a foreigner — with all the stress, mortification and exhilaration that goes with it.
Long night-time walks down the unlit streets of Havana — watching life go on amidst decay and poverty and desperation.
The sheer ecstatic thrill of having Los Van Van blast their music at you from mere feet away at Casa de la Musica Galiano in Havana.
The frustration of being a beginner dancer who partners try to avoid — and the long-term satisfaction of pressing on regardless.
The thrill of having your flight out of Cuba cancelled — and realizing your only alternative is a Soviet plane operated by an airline with a dubious safety record.
Going for a night-time swim in the dirty water of the Malecon — because a girl you just met challenged you.
The regrettable experience of trying so hard to become cool that you lose a bit of yourself — and hurt others in the process.
The satisfaction of training hard at something for hour after hour, day after day, month after month, year after year — often alone, often without recognition — simply because you love what you’re doing.
Tom Crosshill’s fiction has been nominated for the Nebula Award (thrice) as well as the Latvian Annual Literature Award. His stories have appeared in venues such as Clarkesworld, Beneath Ceaseless Skies and Lightspeed. In 2009, he won the Writers of the Future contest. After some years spent in Oregon and New York, he currently lives in his native Latvia. In the past, he has operated a nuclear reactor, translated books and worked in a zinc mine, among other things.
Tom’s young adult novel “The Cat King of Havana” is forthcoming from Katherine Tegen Books (HarperCollins) in 2016.
Enter to Win One of Three Copies of The Cat King of Havana (US Only)
The month of August screamed past, packed with the final days of summer, a last-minute vacation, and the start of a new school year. My family spent a long weekend in Hendersonville, NC, which was lovely! And I was able to attend Read Up Greenville and meet some awesome authors. You can read about my experience and see my book haul here.
Here at The Story Sanctuary, things were bustling, too, with lots of reviews and book news. Here’s a quick look at what you may have missed:
I loved the way Engle incorporated Viking lore into this story featuring werewolves. I’m not a big reader in the paranormal genre, but I definitely enjoyed reading this book.
I’d been seriously anticipating the conclusion of this series, and I’m not sorry I read it. But if I’m honest, I’m a bit disappointed in this book. Yes, we get some satisfying conclusions to some romantic tension, but overall, the ending just didn’t live up to my expectations.
This is the second book in a series. Sometimes you can read the second book without reading the first. I don’t recommend that with this particular series. If you’re going to tackle the Stone Braid Chronicles, I say read Thunder first.
Pirouette (Andari Chronicles #3) by Kenley Davidson
I loved this whole series of fairytales retold and would read anything new by Kenley Davidson. There’s some brief, light profanity, but otherwise these books are clean and not to be missed!
While it starts with a girl taking diet pills, this book goes way beyond anorexia to look at body image and teen pressure in a very different way. I liked the unique spin on the topic that St. Pierre gives. She shares more in an author interview found here.
Fantasy with girl power– that’s what I’d call this book. Though some of the plotlines were a little muddled to me, there’s a strong sense of independence and strength from the female cast members. Fans of The Key by Jennifer Anne Davis should check this one out.
Novels which address grief seem to hold a special place in my heart. This one is no exception. I loved the way the author used birdwatching and a love of nature to nurture Wren through the loss of her father.
Though I read this book much earlier this summer, I’m still not totally sure what I think about it. I liked some things about it. I know a lot of people rave about the series, but I’m not sure I liked it well enough to continue through the other books.
This was one of the most fun reads I’ve had in a long time. I liked the charm of it and the way the romance resolves. The strong profanity felt out of place in novel that channels Jane Austen, but other than that, I really liked it.
The Paris setting made me swoon (and crave crepes). I enjoyed the window into Sophie’s world of music and her first love, despite a few plot points that I had trouble buying into.
Right after reading One Paris Summer, I dove into this other novel about a talented pianist. In this story about sisterhood and betrayal, it’s Vanessa’s music that carries her through the darkest times. The story moved me and definitely took a different direction than I expected.
Have you read any of these books?
If you’ve read these titles, what did you think of them? Which ones on this list look most interesting to you?
I haven’t been to a lot of book events, and I’m starting to regret it. As a pretty deep introvert, I much prefer the part of book blogging where I’m sitting quietly in bed or in a comfy chair with a book and possibly a snack, or, even better, a cat in my lap. But as I start to read multiple books by authors or hear about new authors with great new books, I’ve started wanting to get out there and meet authors and listen to what inspired them or how they write such amazing characters and stories. So… my first foray into the wild was a last-minute trip to Read Up! in Greenville, SC on August 6, 2016. I got some great books and had an awesome time listening to authors speak about writing and what inspired the stories they’ve written. Here are some of the things I learned.
1. Jay Asher is pretty hilarious.
He’s one of those guys where you might not realize he’s funny if you aren’t paying attention. He has that cool sort of dry delivery. I listened to his keynote speech in the morning, and it was absolutely awesome. He breezed by some info about the Thirteen Reasons Why Netflix series that’s coming out and his new book What Light which will be out late this fall. (Can’t wait!)
2. Also– did you catch how Thirteen Reasons Why is written like a suspense novel?
Am I the last person to figure this out? I don’t read much suspense, so maybe that’s why it didn’t immediately jump out at me? As soon as he said it, I was like, ohhhhhh…. YES. And wow, what a difference that made. (My Thirteen Reasons Why review is here.)
3. Prepare before meeting an author.
You know how people react to shocking news in really different ways? Apparently my fangirling is more like my mind going completely and utterly blank and then me standing as still as possible and saying almost nothing besides a few profoundly stupid words. So. *facepalm.*
Okay. So I had a massive headache the morning of the event, but I decided to tough it out and go anyway. Then I was almost late arriving, so I went to the keynote and book signing without that magic elixir some of us call coffee. Let me say that I LOVED Thirteen Reasons Why. I’ve read it more than once, even! But do I tell Jay Asher this? No. I mean, honestly, I figure it’s one of those things that stops really meaning so much if you just say, hey, I loved your book. Like, he’s heard that a million times, right? What I wish I’d done: thought of something specific from the book that REALLY mattered to me. Because I think that would have been more meaningful. Instead, I had him sign a generic autograph because I figured I might give it away on my blog. But…. I’m afraid it may have sounded like all I cared about was capitalizing on how much other people like the book or like I couldn’t have cared less. Which is so untrue. Jay Asher, you are awesome! Forgive my zombie introvertedness. I’ll make cue cards for myself next time.
4. Author Panels = AWESOME!
The next thing I did was go to a panel with Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Ryan Graudin, Carrie Ryan, and Tiffany Schmidt called Bad Blood. This was a great idea. If you have a chance to go to panels like this, DO IT. I loved getting the chance to hear different authors talking about a single topic. Super fun!
5. Jennifer Lynn Barnes only likes music to which she knows all the words. Also, she listens to one song while she writes a particular novel.
All the panelists had a chance to talk about how they use music in their writing process. This stuck out to me, though. I think it’s cool and also funny. I don’t typically listen to music while I write (I find the words distracting) but I wondered if listening to one song again and again would work for me. I might try it.
6. Ryan Graudin had me at Social Justice.
Listening to her talk about living overseas in Cambodia and how that inspired her to write The Walled City made me want to ask her so many more questions. I have an ebook copy of Wolf Road and bought and asked her to sign a paperback copy of The Walled City, but I haven’t had a chance to read either of those yet. Also, dude. I probably owe her an apology, too, because I zombie-gawked at her, too, instead of having anything coherent or useful to say. Worse, still, I finally found my feet when I talked to Carrie Ryan, who was sitting right next to her, so it probably looked like it was sort of personal. Nooooo. I felt horrible.
7. Carrie Ryan wrote Forest of Hands and Teeth as a NaNoWriMo novel. How cool is that? (Actually, Marissa Meyer wrote Cinder in NaNo, too.)
My coffee must have kicked in as I stood in line to talk to Carrie Ryan. I thought of a specific thing I wanted to tell her, and that made things much easier. What did I say? I told her two things. One, I asked her to sign a copy of The Map to Everywhere for my daughter and explained that I recently realized I’d given copies to her friends as birthday gifts but never gotten her one of her own! Also, I told her (and this is true) that after I read Forest of Hands and Teeth, I lent my copy to a guy at work that I liked. We are married now. She was like, WIN! So that was cool.
8. Tiffany Schmidt writes fairy tales set in crime families.
Before the panel, I hadn’t even heard of her or her books. When she explained what she writes, I was like wait, what?! How cool is that? I bought a copy of Hold Me Like a Breath which is a retelling of The Princess and the Pea in a family that deals in illegal organ transplants. I must read this!
9. Writer’s Block Technique a la Tiffany Schmidt: take a notebook with you on a run and leave it on a table or place you’ll pass. Make a loop. Write down anything you think of re: your problem. Still stuck? Make another loop.
Let me say that I will absolutely be trying this!
10. Look for common themes or structure across the big bestselling books, says Jennifer Lynn Barnes.
Twilight: forbidden love with the threat of death. Take that idea and look at Hunger Games. Pretty similar when you pare it down that far, right? Makes me want to break down other stories and think about them this way. I like how you think, Jennifer Lynn Barnes!
Fish Wielder is kind of like Lord of the Rings, set in Narnia, if it was written by the guys who made Monty Python and the Holy Grail while they were listening to the music of They Might Be Giants.
In ancient times, the Dark Lord Mauron cooked the most powerful magic chocolate dessert ever made, the Pudding of Power. One thousand and two years later, the evil leader of the Bad Religion, the Heartless One, is trying to recover the lost pudding in order to enslave the peoples of Grome. Only the depressed barbarian warrior Thoral Might Fist and his best friend, Brad the talking Koi fish, have a chance to save the world of Grome from destruction, but that’s going to take a ridiculous amount of magic and mayhem. Thus begins the epically silly epic fantasy of epic proportions, Fish Wielder—book one of the Fish Wielder Trilogy.
Jim has worked as a writer, screen writer, animator and director in entertainment and commercials since graduating from Columbia College of Chicago in 1988. He is the author of The Helm, which YALSA praised as one of 2010’s best graphic novels for young readers, and has directed animated commercial and entertainment projects, including spots for M&M’s, AT&T, and Kellogg’s. He co-founded Character LLC in 2000 and has given story advice to many of the world’s largest brands, such as Target, Verizon, Samsung, McDonalds and Walmart, and has even appeared on NBC’s “The Apprentice” as an expert adviser on brand characters. Jim lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife, two kids and two dogs. Fish Wielder is his first novel.
Enter the Giveaway
1 winner will receive a $10 (USD) Amazon Gift Card and a copy of FISH WIELDER
*Gift card is open internationally, but FISH WIELDER can only be mailed to a US mailing address*
Tara St. Pierre, author of Just a Few Inches joines me today to talk about inspiration and some behind-the-scenes information about her book.
Hi Tara. Thanks for taking time to answer my questions about Just a Few Inches. 🙂
You’re welcome! It’s a pleasure to be here, Kasey.
I find that a story was often inspired by a question. Was there a question that inspired you to write Just a Few Inches?
What if one of those checkout-counter magazine headlines that claimed a diet could “shrink inches from your waist” caused a person to shrink in height instead? I realize that it’s a somewhat odd question to pose, but it’s the one that crossed my mind while I stood in line at a drugstore when I first came up with the idea for this story. The usage of the word “shrink” in that context is what really jumped out at me, and my imagination went to movies like The Incredible Shrinking Woman and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. I figured I could make this into a story about body image but in a much different way than had been done before. Rather than Carrie (my protagonist) battle with an existing eating disorder—and risk the book being too heavy-handed or worse, inaccurate or insensitive—I chose to show weight loss in the most outlandish way possible with this sci-fi/fantasy twist. There are claims that fashion dolls cause young girls to develop body image insecurity, and though I don’t know if that’s true, it became a much more interesting question to posit while Carrie was literally the size of a fashion doll. By employing the speculative element of Carrie shrinking, I could still tackle the issues I wanted but integrate them into a unique, gripping, entertaining plot.
Very cool stuff. As I was reading, I definitely had a few moments where I thought about those movies, too. I liked that you had that moment about fashion dolls, too. I think you’re right– the way you chose to tell the story did explore the issue in a really unique way.
Do you have a favorite character? Were there things about your favorite character which couldn’t be included in the novel?
I think my favorite character would have to be Carrie’s mother. Imagine watching your own daughter shrink smaller and smaller with possibly no end in sight. A chilling thought, isn’t it? She’s brave and supportive because she has to maintain that face for her daughter, but inside, she’s terrified and angry and trying her hardest no to be completely devastated. Because the story is told from Carrie’s point of view, I can’t just tell the reader how her mother feels; I can only show her mother’s emotions during her interactions with Carrie. There’s an entire perspective there that I couldn’t include as much as I would’ve liked. Also, in the first draft, I went into more detail about the legal matters between Carrie’s parents and the manufacturers of the diet pills, but my advance readers, which included some teens, didn’t respond to these scenes as positively as other parts of the book. They would have shown Carrie’s mother fighting the external conflict for her daughter. But no matter how much of her mother’s story that I had to keep out of the book, Carrie is extremely grateful for all the love and support her mother provided—and I have what I think is a neat way of symbolizing that in the final chapter.
As a mom myself, I totally identified with Carrie’s mom, so I hear you. Kudos to you for trusting those advance readers. I’m sure it wasn’t easy to make some of those changes.
Is there a scene or moment in your novel that really sticks with you? Can you tell us a little bit about it?
There’s a chapter about halfway through the book where Carrie and her younger stepsister Amy have a significant confrontation. I don’t want to spoil it with details, but their relationship had been bubbling to this point, and it was exhilarating and frightening and draining to write about when it reached its boiling point. I had a handful of advance readers who were reading chapters every few days after I’d draft them, and I vividly remember their reactions to this chapter above all others. The consensus was that in the first few paragraphs, they dreaded what could conceivably happen in the chapter. Then that dread developed into full-scale panic. But in the end, they were surprised with where I went with it, and it was the confirmation I needed to know that I had achieved what I set out to do in that chapter. I’d love to tell more, but I want readers to really feel that chapter—and they’ll surely know which one it is when they get there.
I remember the scene you’re talking about. Yes! It’s really intense. What a great scene. 🙂
What do you most hope that readers take away from your novel?
We should not be a hostage to our shape and/or size because what’s inside is what really makes each of us incredible. Carrie wanted to be smaller, and she got smaller in ways she could never have imagined, but did she really need to be smaller? Even as she shrinks, she never lets it fully stop her from doing what she wants, and her family, friends, and school find ways to accommodate her growing disability. In the end, I would like readers to think about their own inner strength and confidence, about respecting and helping out others, and about being true to themselves.
That’s a great message. I liked that her changing size made her reevaluate those things and challenged her to see herself in a different way. It also challenged her friends in some unexpected ways, too.
What is one question about your novel you are often asked by readers?
A question I’m often asked is: “How did you make Carrie’s experience seem so real?” It all starts with the decision to tell the story from her first-person point of view. Doing so allows the reader to always be inside her head and see through her eyes, especially as her perspective changes—the world seemingly grows around her. To make it seem real, I measured everything in my house—countertops, windowsills, doorknobs, pillows, phones, you name it. Then I’d walk around the house on my knees or lie down on the floor and look up, trying to imagine myself at Carrie’s varying size. To an outside observer, I’m sure I would have looked a little strange, but hey, it was all research necessary to make the journey believable!
Funny the things writers do to really get inside those characters, huh? 🙂
What are you most looking forward to reading next? How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather. I grew up close to Salem, Massachusetts, and I was involved with a production of The Crucible when I was in high school. The Witch Trials have always fascinated me, particularly how hysteria prevailing over rational thought can have serious consequences. That theme can be applied to many eras in history as well as the present. The author is a descendant of someone involved with the Trials, and so is the main character of the book. A retelling of sorts with a modern Mean Girls kind of vibe? What’s not to be excited about with that?
Oh man. I remember reading The Crucible in high school, too. I like the idea of marrying that with a Mean Girls vibe. I can totally see that!
Kasey, thank you so much for featuring me and my book in your Sanctuary. It has been an absolute pleasure to answer your questions! As Carrie would blog, I hope you and your readers are always looking up!
Tara St. Pierre has been writing for over two decades, but her muse only sporadically provides inspiration. Her laptop is filled with incomplete manuscripts and other plot outlines, and she feels blessed when one finally pushes its way through to completion–no matter how long it takes!
She enjoys classic science fiction movies and television shows. When driving, she sings along with the radio loudly and off key. She prefers tea over coffee, spring over autumn, vanilla ice cream over chocolate, and caramel over hot fudge. Though she lives by herself, one of her two cats enjoys cuddling with her.
To fit into the perfect dress for the Valentine’s Day Dance. To look beautiful for her boyfriend, the school’s star basketball player. To keep his jealous ex-girlfriend, a rival cheerleader, away from him. And to be noticed by her classmates. Exercising and dieting don’t work, but an advertisement for weight loss pills promises a quicker solution to her problem. As time runs out, she takes more than the recommended dose until she’s just a few inches slimmer... Getting everything she once wanted has created new problems—problems that are growing more terrifying every day.
