The Dark and Hollow Places -- in all its covery glory

YAY!  I finally get to post the US cover for The Dark and Hollow Places!  I know many of you have seen versions of this cover out and about but they were still working on some tweaks and I wanted to make sure I had the final file before posting.  But here it is!  I am IN LOVE with this cover!  LOVE LOVE LOVE!  I love the model, I love the dirt and grime, I love where she is, I love the expression on her face, I love everything.  It fits the story sooo well and I just feel like the luckiest author in the entire world.

click for high res

Here's the back cover copy:

There are many things that Annah would like to forget: the look on her sister’s face when she and Elias left her behind in the Forest of Hands and Teeth, her first glimpse of the horde as they found their way to the Dark City, the sear of the barbed wire that would scar her for life. But most of all, Annah would like to forget the morning Elias left her for the Recruiters.

Annah’s world stopped that day and she’s been waiting for him to come home ever since. Without him, her life doesn’t feel much different from that of the dead that roam the wasted city around her. Then she meets Catcher and everything feels alive again.

Except, Catcher has his own secrets -- dark, terrifying truths that link him to a past Annah’s longed to forget, and to a future too deadly to consider. And now it’s up to Annah -- can she continue to live in a world drenched in the blood of the living? Or is death the only escape from the Return’s destruction?

Right now, the release date is scheduled to be March 22, 2011!  YAY!  Here's a link to a recent post about ARCs and who to contact to request one.  Please leave any questions in the comments and I'll try to answer them all!

You can also pre-order The Dark and Hollow Places: [Amazon] [Barnes & Noble] [autographed copy from Park Road Books -- my local indie] (I'll add links to IndieBound, etc., as they come available)

Also, don't forget I'll be at the Decatur Book Festival this weekend and appearing on the Vampires vs. Zombies Smackdown panel on Saturday at 3PM!  More details are here.

A HUGE thank you to everyone who's emailed or tweeted to tell me you're looking forward to The Dark and Hollow Places -- you truly make my day!

Overheard around the house

JP: Why are their containers of frozen water in the freezer?

Me: Because I plan on setting them on fire.

JP: Okaaaaay... why are their several of them?

Me: Because I want to use different fuels.  You weren't planning on drinking that 151 anytime soon were you?

JP:  I'm still not sure that answers the fundamental question of Why.

Me:  Research.

JP:  I'll get the fire extinguisher.

Antho! Kiss Me Deadly in the wild!

My first story in an antho!

My first short story has been released to the wild!  The anthology, Kiss Me Deadly, just came out a few weeks ago and my story in it, Hare Moon, is about Sister Tabitha from The Forest of Hands and Teeth when she was a teen.  I've actually written a whole blog post about this -- why I chose to write about Sister Tabitha and what she means to me -- but I still haven't decided if I want to post it.

I always struggle with the tension between my belief that once the author is done writing the story it belongs to the readers on the one hand and my wanting to discuss why I made decisions in the story on the other hand.  I feel like explaining things can get close to defending decisions and... I just don't know how I feel about that.  I have no problem having these dicussions live at signings but for some reason when I write blog posts about the same things I feel like I'm just sounding defensive rather than informative.

Sister T's story

What do y'all think?  Should I talk more about the decisions I made when writing and why?

In the mean time, here's a taste of what people are saying about Hare Moon:

Carrie Ryan (The Forest of Hands and Teeth) offers a story about devastating decisions in villages threatened by the Unconsecrated.
- Publishers Weekly 

This is definitely another favourite. It is part of Carrie Ryan’s Forest of Hands and Teeth series. I have yet to follow this series but Thea is a HUGE fan and now I understand why.... The writing is evocative and beautiful about a very fundamental conflict between love and duty, history and memory and choices.
- The Book Smugglers

I supposed I can't hate Tabitha now that I read her beautiful but bittersweet story. Fans of The Forest of Hands and Teeth series, this is a must read!
 - I Just Want to Sit Here and Read

For fans of Ms. Ryan's previous works The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead-Tossed Waves (like me)... this is a treat, one that will hopefully hold you over until the next book in the series... As always, Ms. Ryan's stories are bittersweet, heartbreaking but so beautifully told.
- all about {n}

Thanks for all the fantastic reviews y'all!!  I've been so thrilled by the responses to Sister Tabitha's story :)

A quick note about The Dark and Hollow Places ARCs

Hey y'all!  I've started to get some emails requesting advanced reader copies (ARCs) for The Dark and Hollow Places.  How stoked am I that people are already looking forward to it?  Wahooo!!  Thanks y'all!!  I just wanted to let anyone who is interested know that (a) there aren't any ARCs yet (I'm still revising); (b) when there are ARCs you'll know it because I'll be jumping up and down on the blog and posting pics; and (c) I very likely won't have any ARCs to give away.  I tend to only get a handful and my family has already called dibs (seriously, my brother-in-law cornered my mom yesterday thinking she might have a draft on her kindle (she doesn't -- if she did my sister would kill me)).

Have I mentioned how much I love my family and how excited I am that people are excited about The Dark and Hollow Places?  YAY!

Me and Appa got some revising to do

Anyway, if you'd like to review The Dark and Hollow Places you should contact my publicists directly and their information is under the contact tab on my website (under Publicity down in the middle of the page).  They'll be the ones with the ARCs (when there actually are ARCs).

(also, I might point out that when I was copying the link to my website above I almost accidentally copied the link to the RockBand download of Do You Want To Date My Avatar - ha!  We know what I'll be doing this weekend).

So it should surprise no one that I haven't been blogging or tweeting as much seeing as how I have revisions to finish so that said ARCs can be produced.  Such silence will probably continue for a few more weeks.  Sorry!

Thanks again for all the interest in The Dark and Hollow Places -- seriously, knowing that people are looking forward to the next book makes revising fun... or at least tolerable... or at least not quite so terrifying (actually, that's not true either, knowing people are looking forward to it does make the revising a bit terrifying).  And thanks to the teen readers at the Terryberry Branch of the Hamilton Public Library and their librarian Pamela for a fantastic Skype session yesterday -- what a great way to end the day!