What's Going to be the new Trend in YA?

When I wrote the first book in my Blending Time trilogy, the agent liked it because the dystopian genre was wide open. Little did I know that The Hunger Games would open a Pandora's box of dystopian of dystopain novels. At the time my agent said he was getting to many queries about vampire and zombie books. The vampire books have kinda morphed into sexy vamps, and sex and erotica is becoming more mainstream in YA books. Why not! Teens are full of hormones. When I was a teen it was "dirty" to read stuffy like that. I can't picture sexy zombies, but who knows.

So what will the next genre topic that lights up the eyes of YA readers? I have no idea, but it will be fun to watch the trend.

HOW TO CONCLUDE A TRILOGY

I've sent the publisher my final manuscript of book-2 in the BLENDING TIME trilogy: THE FIRES OF NEW SUN. Now I must finish the trilogy with book-3, to be finished by year's end. Questions to self: Do I have a 'happy' ending? It's a dystopia, so the ending cannot be a joyous, doing-cartwheels ending. Do our heroes (Jaym, Reya, and D'Shay) settle down, or go off to another another struggle in their dysfunctional world? Ah, so many ways a writer can go. Any reader tips welcome! (No title yet for bk-3).

New Reviews of THE BLENDING TIME

Here are clips of recent reviews (pretty good!):

The Blending Time by Michael Kinch will be reviewed in the November 1, 2010 issue of Booklist [circ. 24,150].

The Blending Time.

Kinch, Michael (Author)

Oct 2010. 288 p. Flux, paperback, $9.95. (9780738720678).

Set in a dystopian future in which young heroes and heroines are pursued and harassed by corrupt government officials, Kinch’s first novel calls to mind Suzanne Collins and Cory Doctorow. It’s 2054, and plagues, devastating pollution, and predetermined (and deadly) jobs are the norm. Seventeen-year-olds Reya, D’Shay, and Jaym meet during a sea voyage to Africa, where they are to become “blenders,” creating offspring with native Africans (who can no longer reproduce with each other). Each blender encounters horrific experiences, including rape and attempted murder, but all find sympathetic allies and make their way to the underground resistance movement. While this debut title lacks the tight construction of Collins’ Hunger Games series, Kinch’s depiction of the many different landscapes is a nice distinction. Determinedly multi-ethnic, fast-paced, and with plentiful gore and violence, the book will draw reluctant readers who enjoy action and adventure. Sequels are definitely in order, as the protagonists are left hanging on several cliffs. — Debbie Carton

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The Blending Time by Michael Kinch is reviewed in the Sept 15 issue of Kirkus Reviews

THE BLENDING TIME
Author: Kinch, Michael

A well-realized, harsh dystopia provides the setting for this exciting debut. Sometime in the late 21st century, three 17-year-olds face a future dictated by their corrupt global government. All might be sent to work on the “canal,” a death sentence, so they take measures to get any other job possible. The three wind up in Africa, where they are supposed to marry local people and produce offspring—the entire population of the continent has been sterilized by an intense solar flare. One finds herself captured by the “gades” (presumably short for “renegades”), bandits who raid the back country and keep captured women as sex slaves. After some hair-raising adventures, the other two boys find themselves battling the “gades” as well. Kinch invents a plethora of abbreviated jargon that heightens the credibility of his awful future world. His three main characters will easily convince readers that they’re real, distinct people. Full of action, this is a compelling, realistic and exciting thriller for more mature young readers. (Science fiction. 14 & up)

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NEW YORK JOURNAL OF BOOKS (ONLINE)

Friday, October 1, 2010

The Blending Time by Michael Kinch

(Flux, October 1, 2010)


...This is not a book for the tenderhearted, because it doesn’t flinch at showing us how an already terrible situation could continue to get worse, and how that situation affects real people who are stuck in the middle of it. It’s brutal and enraging, and yet The Blending Time makes the reader simultaneously happy not to be there, and uncomfortably aware that events like those that occur in this book are actually happening now.

Yes, The Blending Time could easily be the start of a series. This is Kinch’s first book, and it’s a rough one, but a good one. He’s certainly a name to follow.

Reviewer Samantha Holloway is a freelance writer and editor, and is working on her first novel. Her most recent short story is in Fiction International’s FREAK issue and an upcoming anthology, and her academic work has appeared in The Essential Science Fiction Television Reader, and at various conferences.

My new (and first!) YA novel

My YA novel, The Blending Time, will debut in early October 2010 by Flux Books. I am new at blogging, so forgive the underlining and whatever other garbage falls out of my posts.
It took me years--eons--to learn to write a decent manuscript, so this may be my 15 minutes of fame. Beneath the image I've posted an excerpt from Amazon's listing. Get your friends to rush out and buy dozens of copies! It's not a bad book, if I say so myself. (Blush). I'd be curious how many of you like dystopian fiction (where the near future is really messed up and people have to survive).

Congratulations on turning age seventeen. You are now ready for placement by the Council government.

"For kids in the year 2069, turning seventeen means they’re ripe for Global Alliance work assignments that range from backbreaking drudgery to deadly canal labor. Trying to survive in a desiccated world that’s been ravaged by plagues, AIDS III, and environmental disasters, three “s’teeners” from very different backgrounds think they’ve gotten lucky. Jaym, Reya, and D’Shay are chosen to be among thousands of blenders whose task is to help repopulate Africa after a solar flare left its people sterile.

But the continent itself—roiling with civil war and mercenaries intent on crushing the blending program at any cost—poses the gravest danger of all. Separated, the three friends struggle to escape horrific situations, somehow reunite, and reach a camp in the mountains that promises salvation from the harsh and threatening world."

"Shocking and unrelenting--Kinch delivers a blistering, no-holds-barred tale of a dystopian future that feels all too real"

(Arthur Slade, Governor General Award-winning author of The Hunchback Assignments.)