Latest Content over at Hunger Mountain Young Adults and Chilren's.

Today my Hawaiian vacation comes to an end but the work over at Hunger Mountain never ceases. This week we bring you some powerhouse pieces. Content just officially went live and our first feature by Ellen Levine has already wracked up 30 comments so far.

Here is info from my Welcome From the Editor letter.

This week The Varying Shade of Shadows adds two more features. The first, When, Along with her Characters, an Author Gets In Trouble by Ellen Levine, whose career is varied with award-winning nonfiction and fiction alike, describes running into a wall of silence with her latest book, In Trouble.

The second, The Monster in Us All, by Dr. Ilsa J. Bick is a precursor to Hunger Mountain’s In Defense of YA, which will feature a round up of voices from teen readers, authors, publishers, and parents discussing their reactions to the Wall Street Journal pieces by Megan Cox Gurdon, asking is “Darkness Too Visible?”  We chose to spotlight Ilsa J. Bick’s thoughtful but cutting response  now as she not only disagrees with Megan Cox Gurdon—she also agrees, with certain points, that is. As always, please feel free to weigh in in the comments section of each piece.

For What My Last Book Taught Me, Monika Schröder advises us to Learn to Drive in the Dark as she takes a trip back to discover what her latest novel, My Brother’s Shadow, taught her as a writer.

Lastly, as all the world is a stage, we offer Jest A Minute, which pokes fun at all the dark/light publishing hullabaloo, with a list of Ten Classics Revamped to Capitalize on the Dark  YA Trend (created by none other than moi) and a second list–of Ten New Titles to Please All by author and humorist K. A. Holt.  Read, respond, enjoy!








And for all content, peruse the entire issue, with more pieces yet to come!

Last week The Varying Shade of Shadows invited you into This Writer’s Life: The Politics of Story by Neesha Meminger author of Shine, Coconut Moon and Jazz in Love. Neesha explored and argued, with great clarity, how writing fiction is and always will be a political act. In our Industry Insider we hosted a Q & A with Anita Silvey, author, children’s literature scholar and the creator of the popular Children’s Book-a-Day Almanac.  We also added to our growing list of new fiction with Quarry, a short story by Kevin Waltman that captured the delight and danger in a trip to a forbidden place.


Don’t miss earlier content: a timely FlipSide, The Light and the Dark of It, highlighting Jennifer Ziegler’s Let There Be Light and Clare Dunkle’s On the Dark Side. Both authors had their pieces well in the works before the June 4th Wall Street Journal article by Meghan Cox Gurdon asked the question: Is Darkness Too Visible?.  Also be sure to check out new fiction: Stone Field, a re-imagining of Wuthering Heights, by Christy Lenzi;  Starcatcher, a unique fantasy by Penny Blublaugh author of Blood & Flowers;  Monsters, a surprising and raw read by Jennifer Hubbard;  The Proposal, fiction by Lindsey Lane that dives deep into the hiddenness of our human natures and our desires to be both safe and loved. You can also read earlier features: an exploration of self and sisterhood by Janet Gurtler in Embracing Shadows;  also  In the Half-Light, an essay detailing the shadowy subconscious that aided Hunger Mountain Sneak Peek author Joe Lunievicz in creating his debut novel, Open Wounds (WestSide Books, 2011); the wickedly smart investigation into the use of elision by Janet Fox in The Shadowy Landscape of Dreams Where Reader and Writer Meet. Our Industry Insider Column offers an interview with Elena Mechlin and Joan Slattery in New Faces at Pippin Properties. Be sure to check out the instructive Toolbox piece, Where the Teens Are: 5 Ways to Freshen Up YA Fiction’s Favorite Places from Deborah Halverson, author of the newly released, Writing Young Adult Fiction For Dummies, and the In Response essay to the Passion for the Picture Book special feature by the outstanding author Liz Garton Scanlon.

So, please stop back often.  Read, respond, share your thoughts, delight in the darkness and luxuriate in the light. They both offer respite and reward. Go ahead, see for yourselves.

Best,
Bethany Hegedus, Editor
Please note: submissions are still open for The Art & Insanity of Creativity issue for fall 2011, and we welcome submissions through our Submissions Manager.  Look for 2012 themes to be announced this fall.