Middle Grade Ninja

Editor Mari Kesselring and author Patrick Hueller share with me the story of how they met, each a set of identical twins with a love of literature, and how they work together now as writers, parents, and spouses. Mari tells me about her publisher, North Star Editions, and Patrick tells me about his newest book, READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL. We also talk author submissions, editorial styles, launching books in the time of COVID-19, reaching reluctant readers, how pantsers and plotters can apparently learn to love one another, and so much more.

Mari Kesselring is an editor with experience working on many fiction and nonfiction books aimed at children and young adults. Some fiction books she’s edited have earned the following honors: YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, Junior Library Guild Selection, and ALA Rainbow List. She enjoys YA novels with compelling narratives and distinct, diverse voices. Mari is also the author of several books, including the middle-grade series, Bridget Gadget.

Patrick Hueller has an MFA from the University of Minnesota. Through various pen names, he has written several YA and MG novels. Foul, a sports-horror story written under the name Paul Hoblin, was described by Booklist as “the strongest entry yet in the Night Fall collection” and “unbearably tense.” The Beast (also as Paul Hoblin) was a School Library Journal selection. Wolf High and The Wish (as P.W. Hueller) both made SLJ’s list of “Accessible Reads for Struggling Reluctant Readers.” As himself, Patrick is the author of the STU STORIES series, which, according to award-winning author Geoff Herbach "hits on pretty much every topic I cared about when I was a kid (love, Jedis, severed legs, etc.). National Book Award finalist Charles Baxter described KIRSTEN HOWARD'S BIGGEST FAN as "beautifully written, with a concert-hall perfect pitch for adolescent speech and idiom and ways of feeling."

Jim McCarthy and I discuss how he became a literary agent and his career in publishing so far. We chat about COVID-19 and its impact on the industry, the excitement he felt when his first client’s book took off, how he falls in love with a submission, the sorts of projects he’s interested in, how he woos a potential client, what a writer can expect when they sign with Dystel, Goderich & Bourret LLC, a haunted apartment, finding an agent that’s worthy of you, and so much more.

Jim McCarthy interned for Dystel, Goderich & Bourret while studying urban design at New York University. Upon graduating, Jim realized he would much rather continue working with books than make the jump (as he had originally intended) to the field of city planning. Eighteen years later, he remains at DG &B as a VP and agent. As an avid fiction reader, his interests encompass both literary and commercial works in the adult, young adult, and middle grade categories. He is particularly interested in literary fiction, underrepresented voices, fantasy, mysteries, romance, anything unusual or unexpected, and any book that makes him cry or laugh out loud. In addition to fiction he is also interested in narrative nonfiction whether it be memoir, historical, science, pop culture, or just a darn good polemic.

Daniel Kraus and I discuss his newest book, THEY THREW US AWAY, a wonderfully dark middle grade novel written by an author of horror. We get along famously. We talk briefly about prequel possibilities for THE SHAPE OF WATER and at length about his collaboration with George Romero on THE LIVING DEAD. We also chat about plotting, the benefits of working on multiple projects at once, creating consistent rules for a fantasy world, the importance of writing without an audience, how to write dark children’s stories without being too dark, and so much more.

DANIEL KRAUS is a New York Times bestselling author. With Guillermo del Toro, he co-authored THE SHAPE OF WATER, based on the same idea the two created for the Oscar-winning film. Also with del Toro, Kraus co-authored TROLLHUNTERS, which was adapted into the Emmy-winning Netflix series. Kraus's THE DEATH AND LIFE OF ZEBULON FINCH was named one of Entertainment Weekly's Top 10 Books of the Year, and he has won two Odyssey Awards (for both ROTTERS and SCOWLER) and has been a Library Guild selection, YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults, Bram Stoker finalist, and more.

His newest books are THEY THREW US AWAY and THE LIVING DEAD, a posthumous collaboration with legendary filmmaker George A. Romero. Kraus's work has been translated into over 25 languages. He lives with his wife in Chicago.

Laura Stegman and I talk about SUMMER OF LUCK, her debut novel that took over 20 years to publish, as well her plan to promote it, and she would know. She was raised by publicists and has been one herself for more than three decades. We also discuss her journey from an actress to an author, the time she visited the set of Mary Poppins, her early influences, learning to trust the process, putting together an effective press kit, effectively targeting media outlets, and so much more.

Laura Segal Stegman is a Los Angeles-based author and arts publicist whose middle grade debut novel, Summer of L.U.C.K., will be published in September 2020 by INtense Publications, followed by a sequel in 2021. Having grown up in Southern California with parents who valued reading, she remains spellbound by kidlit. Some of her favorite middle grade novels, then and now, are The Diamond in the Window, Ellen Tebbits, All of A Kind Family, Wonder, A Patron Saint for Junior Bridesmaids, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and The Miraculous. Laura’s non-fiction credits include collaboration on the travel book Only in New York, and her feature stories have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine, Westways Magazine and Christian Science Monitor, among others. A long-time publicity consultant, she owns Laura Segal Stegman Public Relations, LLC, which has represented a wide-ranging client list of businesses, arts organizations and non-profit events over the years. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of UC Irvine with a B.A. in Drama. Laura and her husband live in Los Angeles and part-time in New York City. She loves reading, L.A. Dodgers baseball, classical music and theater.

Kiana Nguyen and I have a blast discussing our mutual love for THE LAST OF US PART II. Eventually, we get around to her role as a literary agent for Donald Maass Literary Agency as well as a park ranger. We talk about “standard” coming out stories and “girl-saves-the-world” stories and why both are better avoided. We also chat about evaluating queries and manuscripts, agent/client communication styles, quarantine for Covid 19, the future of publishing, the emotional inner lives of characters, a for-real ghost story, and so much more.

Kiana Nguyen joined Donald Maass Literary Agency in 2016, where she assisted several agents, and is now building her own client list. She is seeking YA fiction across genres, particularly those with POC and queer voices. She is also interested in Adult romance and domestic suspense thrillers.

MarcyKate Connolly and I discuss her many bestselling “weird, creepy middle grade” novels, particularly her debut, MONSTROUS, and her transition to young adult with her newest release, TWIN DAGGERS. Despite my best efforts to turn the conversation to ghosts and flying saucers, we actually discuss quite refined topics such as Shakespeare and opera and an opera based on Shakespeare. We also chat about creating magical systems and rules in fantasy worlds, life during quarantine, turning 40, why Scrivener and Beat Sheets are a writer’s best tools, how rejection toughens a writer’s skin, and then we totally talk about flying saucers and ghosts.

MarcyKate Connolly is a New York Times Bestselling children's book author and nonprofit marketing professional living in New England with her family and a grumble of pugs. She can be lured out from her writing cave with the promise of caffeine and new books. Twin Daggers is her debut young adult novel, and she's also the author of several middle grade fantasy novels including Monstrous and Ravenous, and the Shadow Weaver series.

Annie Sullivan and I pick up right where we left off after her previous appearance in episode 40. We talk about her soon-to-be-released YA novel CURSE OF GOLD, sequel to TOUCH OF GOLD, as well as SHARKTOPUS VS WHALEWOLF. Since I know Annie has long been an “aspiring recluse,” I’m eager to learn how she’s been enjoying quarantine for Covid-19 and how she’s promoting her new book without leaving home. We also chat about being a TIGER QUEEN in the age of Tiger King, Greek mythology, leaving Easter Eggs for readers, the time I got robbed, the Loch Ness monster, comma warfare, and so much more.

Annie Sullivan is a Young Adult author from Indianapolis, Indiana. Her work has been featured in Curly Red Stories and Punchnels. She loves fairytales, everything Jane Austen, and traveling and exploring new cultures. When she’s not off on her own adventures, she’s teaching classes at the Indiana Writers Center and working as the Copy Specialist at John Wiley and Sons, Inc. publishing company, having also worked there in Editorial and Publicity roles. You can follow her adventures on Twitter and Instagram (@annsulliva).

Preeti Chhibber, host of the Desi Geek Girls podcast, and I geek out over the things we love while discussing her wonderfully geeky new books AVENGERS ASSEMBLY: ORIENTATION, STAR WARS THE CLONE WARS: STORIES OF LIGHT AND DARK, and A JEDI, YOU WILL BE. She shares how working her side hustle talking about stuff she loved online while working a day job in children’s publishing led to her writing PETER AND NED’S ULTIMATE TRAVEL JOURNAL, interviewing the cast of SPIDERMAN: FAR FROM HOME, and a rewarding career. But mostly we talk nerdy about what characters from different fandoms would make for great stories and what superpower would be best to have.

Called “Spider-Man super fan and author” by Publishers Weekly, Preeti Chhibber is a YA author, speaker, and freelance writer. She works as a publishing professional. She has written for SYFY, BookRiot, BookRiot Comics, The Nerds of Color, and The Mary Sue, among others. Her short story, "Girls Who Twirl and Other Dangers" was published in the anthology A Thousand Beginnings and Endings (HarperCollins, 2018). Her first book, Spider-Man: Far From Home: Peter and Ned’s Ultimate Travel Journal was released in June 2019. You can find her co-hosting the podcasts Desi Geek Girls and Strong Female Characters (SYFYWire). She’s appeared on several panels at New York Comic Con, San Diego Comic Con, and on screen on the SYFY Network. Honestly, you probably recognize her from one of several BuzzFeed “look at these tweets” twitter lists. She usually spends her time reading a ridiculous amount of Young Adult but is also ready to jump into most fandoms at a moment’s notice.

Paula Chase and I chat about her novels SO DONE and DOUGH BOYS and what makes them upper middle grade instead of young adult. She discusses founding The Brown Bookshelf with Varian Johnson, the importance of representation in literature, and how we should focus less on Black pain and more on Black joy. We also talk about her writing practices as a committed pantser, how she fell backward into being an author, writing in the voice of teenagers, refusing to “just shut up” on social media, meeting Flavor Flav at a Waffle House, an actual ghost story, and so much more.

They say if you want something done, ask the busiest person in the room. They'll grab your task, throw it on the fire of their To-Do list and keep on burning. Paula Chase did that with teen lit and her debut novel, So Not The Drama. Concerned that YA was no more diverse than it had been in her teen years, Chase began writing contemporary fiction revolved around characters of color. Proclaiming her work, hip lit, a nod to the impact hip hop has had on mainstream culture, Chase's five-book series helped Kensington Books launch its YA line. Her critically acclaimed Middle Grade debut, So Done is among the growing number of books for readers "lost in the middle" of MG and YA. The married mother of two is also a co-founder of the award-winning blog, The Brown Bookshelf, a site designed to push awareness of the myriad of African American voices writing for young readers.

Sarah Miniaci and I discuss her career in publicity from running a literary magazine to her work with many notable authors at Smith Publicity. She explains giving in order to get, get lists, top gets, longest lead gets, and never forgets. We chat about raising your author profile, establishing publicity goals, measuring your success, reader targeting, tearing down discoverability myths, and a chalk-changing, vacuum-knocking ghost.

Having worked in a variety of roles in fields that include education, entertainment, fine arts and publishing throughout the public, private and not-for-profit sectors, since 2011 Sarah Miniaci has brought a broad range of knowledge and experience to her work at Smith Publicity, where she serves as Director, Literary Strategy. An avid and genre-spanning reader, Sarah also serves on the board of Diaspora Dialogues, a charitable organization working to change the face of Canadian literature which supports diverse emerging writers in turning their craft into a career through mentorship, professional development, and opportunities to present and publish their work. She continues to be energized by designing and executing publicity campaigns for debut and veteran authors alike.