INFINITY RING Cover Reveal

I am very excited to present the cover for Book 1 of THE INFINITY RING: A MUTINY IN TIME. This book, written by James Dashner, will be released on August 28, 2012. I've read it, and it's fantastic!

BUT....Blogger is being a pest for me today and nothing I try can get me to upload an image. So you can visit here at Goodreads.

But it only gets better. Because it's not only James' twisted and brilliant mind at work. Subsequent books will be written by Carrie Ryan, Lisa McMann, Matt De LaPena, Matthew Kirby, and in some amazing bit of luck, I'll be writing book 6 (my fingers are itching to start on it, by the way - it's going to be an exciting adventure). Then James returns for book 7 to wrap things up in the way only he can.

The PW announcement is here, and you can see it on Amazon here. Here's a description of the series:

History is broken, and three kids must travel back in time to set it right!

When best friends Dak Smyth and Sera Froste stumble upon the secret of time travel -- a hand-held device known as the Infinity Ring -- they're swept up in a centuries-long secret war for the fate of mankind. Recruited by the Hystorians, a secret society that dates back to Aristotle, the kids learn that history has gone disastrously off course.

Now it's up to Dak, Sera, and teenage Hystorian-in-training Riq to travel back in time to fix the Great Breaks . . . and to save Dak's missing parents while they're at it. First stop: Spain, 1492, where a sailor named Christopher Columbus is about to be thrown overboard in a deadly mutiny!

I'm telling you right now, if you have middle grade readers, they will love it. Just trust me. And you may as well go pre-order the book right now. Just sayin'...

Launch Party Invite!

If you are in the northern Utah area (or feel like getting yourself to the northern Utah area), then please come to a launch party for the highly anticipated release of THE FALSE PRINCE.

It will be held at Wasatch Fencing

353 Market Street

Kaysville, UT

Monday March 26 at 7 pm

There will be food, giveaways for Hunger Games movie items, and some fun fencing demonstrations. Then if you want, you can try your own hand at fencing too! And of course, if you feel like picking up a copy of either the final Elliot book, ELLIOT AND THE LAST UNDERWORLD WAR, or the first book in the Ascendance trilogy, THE FALSE PRINCE, then that's great too!

If you plan to fence, please wear tennis shoes and sweats (easier to move in, and sweat pants don't have belt hooks or pockets that can snag the swords). Minors need a signed parent consent form.

This is a free event, and I would love it if you shared this invitation with friends and family!

THE FALSE PRINCE is the story of a defiant orphan named Sage, who becomes caught up in a contest where he must either impersonate the missing prince or be killed. This book has received great reviews and is already receiving comparisons to Megan Whalen Turner's Queens' Thief series and Hunger Games!

ELLIOT AND THE LAST UNDERWORLD WAR is the final battle between Elliot and the good creatures of the Underworld versus Kovol the Demon and the creatures who are out for revenge, and who plan to destroy planet earth. Rude, huh?

If you'd like signed copies of these books but cannot make it to the launch, please click on the link above and King's English Bookstore will send you out a personalized autographed copy.

And the Winner is...

Many thanks to all who Tweeted, Facebooked (is that a word?), Pinned, or otherwise let the world know about THE FALSE PRINCE. The winner is Stephanie (you can follow her on Twitter @stephthomasbook)! I'll get a book out to you soon!

In other news, THE FALSE PRINCE received a starred review from Publishers Weekly today! Among other niceties, it says, "Sage is deftly characterized through humorous first-person narration, quickly establishing himself as a beguiling antihero: 'I'd never attempted roast thievery before, and I was already regretting it,' he says when readers first meet him. 'It happens to be very difficult to hold a chunk of raw meat while running.' ...This is an impressive, promising story with some expertly executed twists."

I sincerely appreciate the enthusiasm of those who are eager to read this book. I can hardly wait to share it with you too. Ack! If you want to watch the trailer, you can find that here, and if you want to read the first chapter and get a feel for the story, you can read it here.

Want THE FALSE PRINCE now?

This weekend will mark fifty days left until the release of THE FALSE PRINCE (squee!), but I have in my hands a paperback copy now, and I'd love to give it away to someone. Shameless self-promotion to follow...

There are three ways to enter to win. Enter as many times as you'd like:

1. Tweet about this contest. You can write your own tweet, or to make it even easier, you can copy and paste this:

Lose the Game, Lose your Life! Only 50 days until THE FALSE PRINCE release: RT to win a copy now! http://tinyurl.com/76dk7j4 @nielsenwriter

2. You can tell your friends on Facebook about THE FALSE PRINCE. If they share your post with their friends, let me know and I'll give you an extra entry for that too! (Leave a comment below to tell me about this.)

3. You can add THE FALSE PRINCE to your Goodreads "To Be Read" list. If it's already added, then you can find it on a Goodreads lists and give a vote for it. (Leave a comment below to tell me about this.)

This contest is open now and will continue until midnight Sunday Feb. 12.

Upcoming Local Events

There's a lot coming up over the next few months, and so an update might be in order. If you're a local, or might consider becoming a local for a few days, here are places to find me!

* This weekend, February 9-11, I will be a panelist at the "Life, Universe, and Everything" (LTUE conference at Utah Valley University. The Thursday panel will be about creating conflict, Friday's panel is called, "You've Written Your Book, Now What?" And on Saturday, I'll be talking about breaking into the market. I'll also be part of the mass book signing on Friday evening and will be doing a reading Saturday at noon.

This is a great conference, and mostly I'm excited to meet a bunch of new people. Please come and say hi if you're there!

* On March 17, the Rock Canyon writers of Utah will be hosting the Writing for Charity Conference. Here's the official pitch, which is better worded than I'd do on my own:

Have your writing critiqued by professional authors ON SITE! Fabulous

workshops! Very affordable! Lunch provided! A silent auction with

amazing things to bid on....all donated by the authors.

Items include advance copies of novels, lunch with authors,

manuscript critiques, andmuch more! Come schmooze with

writers for a great cause--putting books inthe hands of underprivileged

children. March 17, 2012 (that's St.Patrick's Day) at the Historic Provo Library.

Check out the website formore information: www.writingforcharity.blogspot.com

I'll be on some panels there and will probably be teaching a class on character psychology. I'd love to see you there!

* On March 26, I will be finally, finally launching THE FALSE PRINCE. I'm not sure exactly where or when yet, but I'l be announcing the details soon! But please do reserve the date and please, please do come!

* On April 12, Davis County Schools will host a literacy night (location and time still TBD) with eighteen local authors. Although this is primarily for Davis School District students, the event is free and open to everyone, so I'd love to see you there!

* On May 4 and 5, I'll be teaching a class on middle grade writing at the LDS Storymakers Conference. Registration is now open.

And if you're out of town, and intend to stay that way, I have other things in the works, so please watch my website for announcements.

Winter Institute and ALA Midwinter

Last weekend, I was honored to attend both the Winter Institute in New Orleans, an intimate conference for independent booksellers, and the ALA Midwinter Conference in Dallas. These events, to promote the upcoming release of THE FALSE PRINCE were so much fun, not only because of the spectacular booksellers, librarians, and book people I was able to meet, but because hanging out with Scholastic peeps is nonstop fun! This is a photo of the lovely Nikki Mutch, a Scholastic District Sales Manager (who is also responsible for the cute packet in the picture below)

At Winter Institute, I did a reading at a dinner for an invited group of booksellers.

These packets were at every seat - if you've read the book you understand the significance of these items! I was so glad they had one of these for me,

because I was thoroughly prepared to steal one away, if necessary.

Then the following evening, I signed books and met so many wonderful people. This is a picture of me with Eddie Case from Changing Hands Bookstore (one of my all-time favorite stores!) in Arizona. Photo credit to Claire Kirch, who I also met and liked very much. One of the other perks is that I also had the chance to meet Robin LeFevers, another author who was signing ARCs of her upcoming book, GRAVE MERCY. Even if she doesn't know it, she's been a mentor of mine, and getting to meet her was a real honor.

While I was flying from the beautiful weather in New Orleans to Dallas, here was the weather at home. Nice, huh? Thank goodness for a wonderful husband and family who support me while I'm gone.

On to ALA Midwinter. The highlight event was a reader's theater for librarians in which the participating authors read excerpts of each other's books. Group one was Siobhan Vivian for THE LIST, Francisco Stork for IRISES, and Ed Fotheringham and Barbara Kerley for THOSE REBELS, JOHN AND TOM. Wow! With their amazing source material, you can imagine how wonderful the performance was.

Siobhan, Francisco, Ed, Barbara

Then in my group was Jordan Sonnenblick for CURVEBALL: THE YEAR I LOST MY GRIP, and Lin Oliver for GHOST BUDDY. Her writing partner, Henry Winkler, was unable to attend because of a conflicting family event. However, standing in for him was David Levithan, who was absolutely hysterical. They all helped in the reading of THE FALSE PRINCE, and I was thrilled with what a great job they did.

Lin, David, Jordan, and Me.

Between all of that, we ate, enjoyed the sun, soaked in books, ate, met fantastic people involved in all levels of the book business, and snuck in some spare time to eat.

I found the hidden stash of FALSE PRINCE ARCs!

Francisco Stork, Jennifer Nielsen, Lin Oliver, Siobhan Vivian, Barbara Kerley, and Ed Fotheringham saying hello.

Mmm. beignets!

Elliot and the Last Underworld War

I've been negligent on blog posts lately (well, let's be honest, I'm always negligent on that). But this time it's a bit of a problem because there actually is lots of news to report.

The final book in the ELLIOT series will be out on April 1 (the same day as THE FALSE PRINCE, so if you're pre-ordering the one, you may as well get the other...just sayin') and is called ELLIOT AND THE LAST UNDERWORLD WAR.

I always support Indies first, so please try to buy it from your local bookstore. But if you want to learn more about the book, here's a link.

In this story, Elliot has to finish the battle that was started during Book 2, ELLIOT AND THE PIXIE PLOT. Kovol, the most evil demon of all time, has vowed to destroy earth in revenge for Elliot stealing his socks, and now Elliot will need the help of his family, friends, and all the good Underworld creatures to stop Kovol.

Below are several of the wonderful illustrations for the book, created by the infinitely talented Gideon Kendall. There are even more great illustrations inside the book.

To see what others are saying about this series, you can read this review here.