All posts by Katie Jane Gallagher

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About Katie Jane Gallagher

Author of the Beauty and Her Alien series and Specter.

A Good, Old-Fashioned Haul

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You know that feeling-spendy itch, the kind where the only way to scratch it is by heading to Barnes and Noble or Amazon? It doesn’t hit me often, especially now that I receive ARCs, but maybe it’s the change of seasons or something—I just had to add some new books to my TBR shelf. And it’s not a lot, but listen, this girl has a limited amount of shelf space, so I have to be choosy about the physical books I bring into my house. (Spring cleaning un-haul coming soon!!)

Since this is the only book of the bunch that just came out, I wanted to buy this in hardcover at Barnes and Noble in the first week of release. That’s my general rule of thumb for new releases I care about—I do this 1) because I’m surprisingly often able to buy a signed in-store copy; 2) because I’ve found that many times these books are still stashed in the back, even though they’ve just been released, so I feel it helps the author out to go specifically to the store and remind the booksellers to get them on the shelves; and 3) because I have a vague sense that buying the hardcover helps the author more than buying the ebook in terms of sales numbers and the possibility of future opportunities. Would love to know if those suspicions are correct… :/

Anyway, I’m super excited to read this book, since I’ve heard good things about the author and it’s supposed to be similar to Stranger Things. I’m also really interested to see how the aliens are handled in this book, since aliens in YA aren’t a huge thing. Or are aliens the next vampires or something???

The other three books I bought were from Amazon. Under Rose-Tainted Skies only landed on my radar recently, since I was searching for a book featuring a character suffering from agoraphobia. I have a book in the works that may have an agoraphobic character, so I’m curious to see how other authors have written about agoraphobia, as well as to get some sense of how people deal with the condition. It’s just the first step of what will likely be a whole lotta research. Look at that gorgeous cover—I’m pretty psyched for this one to arrive in the mail.

This is the final book in the Downside trilogy by S.L. Grey, the South African horror duo who wrote The Apartment. The Downside books can be read as standalones; it’s really the horror worldbuilding that ties them together—and it’s the best worldbuilding, let me tell you. If you are a Silent Hill fan, especially if you’re a Silent Hill 3 fan, then do yourself a favor and read The Mall. There are no words to express how excited I am to read this book—it’s going to be fantastic.

The last book I picked up was Matt Haig’s The Humans. This is definitely one of those books that’s made the rounds in the book blogosphere, and also another book to do with aliens! As I think I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I have an idea marinating for a book about an alien, so I’m trying to read some alien-related fiction to get a sense of how other authors approach the topic. I’m also pretty interested to see how funny this book is; most people say it’s hilarious, but I have a track record of disliking supposedly funny books. (Bad Omens, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, etc.)

And that’s my haul! Short and sweet, but I think keeping hauls smaller makes me more likely to read the books for some reason.

Have you picked up any exciting books lately? Are you also getting that spring shopping fever? Let me know, and thanks for reading!

Just a real quick reminder that Chapter Five of The Gold in the Dark will be posting this Sunday at 11 AM EST! All right, that’s all, folks. ❤

Short Tuesday #4: “Manuscript Found in a Bottle” by Edgar Allan Poe

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For this week’s Short Tuesday, I switched away from the Kelly Link collection to a short story anthology called S.O.S.: Chilling Tales of Adventure on the High Seas. This is a pretty obscure anthology, with only one Goodreads rating and two Amazon reviews, so I’m excited to see it passes muster! Sometime soon I’ll tell you how I came to have this book in my collection… but not today.

The first story I read in the anthology was Stephen King’s “Survivor Type.” It’s a grisly tale about a surgeon with copious amounts of heroin marooned on a barren island, but I unfortunately can’t find a legal copy to link to, so I don’t want to dwell on it overlong—just know that I highly recommend it, but readers should have a strong stomach. 😉

The second story I read was Edgar Allan Poe’s “Manuscript Found in a Bottle.” It’s been forever since I read any Poe, so I was excited to jump in, but pretty much from the start I didn’t enjoy this story—heretical, I know, since Poe is an American literary legend. I found the story’s language too dense to be enjoyable (though now I know what simoom means!), and the plot was also… nonexistent? The story is more a description of an immense, fantastical ship than anything else. I can see a tie to modern weird fiction, though, which is unsurprising given that Poe spearheaded the movement.

One last interesting thing to note is that some critics believe Poe meant this story to satirize classic sea tales. Maybe that’s one reason it wasn’t working for me, since I don’t normally read sea tales, let alone older ones. I’m not writing off Edgar Allan Poe, of course—just simply don’t think “Manuscript Found in a Bottle” is the tale for me.

Love & Luck by Jenna Evans Welch

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Top o’ the mornin’ to ya and all that! In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, a couple weeks ago I went on a quest for some Irish-themed reads. The Call almost made the cut, but I couldn’t stomach taking on another series at the moment, so that’s how I ended up with Love & Luck!

If you’re in the mood for a quick, cute St. Patrick’s Day read, look no further! Love & Luck is an adorable read that will transport you to the Emerald Isle. Readers follow Addie, who is in Ireland with her large, boisterous family for her aunt’s wedding. Fresh out of a relationship, Addie has a secret™ that is eating her up inside. She’ll need to spill the beans eventually, but is working on first coming to terms with how her relationship ended. Her moral support through all this? A guidebook called Ireland for the Heartbroken, which has Addie soon gallivanting across Ireland with her older brother and his Internet best friend.

This is one of the only road trip book I’ve truly enjoyed; most of the other ones that I’ve read didn’t feel entirely cohesive. But with the guidebook framework, everything comes together into a whimsical package, aided by the fast pace and authentic-feeling characters. The Maeve/female empowerment stuff did read a little bit cringey and forced to me, but this is a small aspect of the book only, so not much to worry about.

I’d say this is an excellent read for anyone who enjoyed Morgan Matson’s Save the Date. There are a lot of similarities (in the best way possible), from the older brothers-younger sister relationships to the romantic themes. (And the obvious wedding common thread.) Another pretty obvious comp is 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson, which has a larger European focus… But you guys have heard me harping on about Johnson lately, so I’ll leave it at that. 😉 And if you do read this book and love it, Love & Luck has a sister novel called Love & Gelato, featuring Addie’s best friend Lina in, you guessed it, Italy. So hopefully I’ll be picking that up sometime, since this was such a cute book.

Writer’s Corner: Close POV

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If you’ve read some of my reviews lately, you may have noticed me harping on about “close POV.” (Or the unfortunate lack thereof.) I realize that this phrase might look like gobbledygook, so I thought today that I would explain what I mean when I say close POV, why I like it, and some quick ways to implement this in your own writing. Just a head’s up: once you start writing this way or noticing these techniques in the books you read, you will really notice when authors don’t write in this way, and it will annoy you.

So “close POV” stands for “close point of view.” I often say “close 3rd POV” or “close 1st POV.” “1st” and “3rd” stand for “first/third person point of view.” Explaining the differences between these terms is a little bit beyond this blog post, but here’s a good explanation if you need it.

“Close” is the key word, and it refers to the closeness of the reader to the main character. Ideally, the reader should feel like they are the main character themselves, rather than a camera following the main character around. Feelings, thoughts, actions, observations—all these things need to be written in a natural, engaging, “show, don’t tell” way that tethers the reader to the main character.

But wait, you might ask, what about first person POV? Isn’t that the absolute definition of being as close to the main character as possible?

Actually, no. There are many books out there written in first person that feel like the narrator is, well, narrating. If there is any sense that the narrator is talking to the reader, then this isn’t close enough to qualify. Consider the opening lines of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song.

Now this is a story all about how
My life got flipped, turned upside down
And I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there,
I’ll tell you how I become the prince of a town called Bel-Air.

Apologies for getting that stuck in your head. You see how it feels like we all just settled down around a campfire, ready to hear Will Smith tell us an awesome story? Close POV does not do that. Instead, it’s visceral and raw, as if you’re a neuron in the main character’s mind.

Here are some simple tips to implement close POV in your writing.

“Verbs of the Head” Must Go!

Get rid of “verbs of the head.” Nothing annoys me more than seeing a sentence like this:

Marge wondered to herself who this “Slenderman” was that her niece was always going on about.

If Marge is the main character, we know she’s the one doing the wondering. So why is “wondered to herself” necessary?

The answer is that it’s not necessary, so just ask the damn question: Who was this “Slenderman” that her niece was always going on about?

Another (bad) example:

Barbie squinted at her reflection in the mirror, seeing something that gave her pause. Was that a wrinkle? she wondered. God, I’m getting old, she thought.

And the fix: Barbie squinted at her reflection in the mirror, something giving her pause. Was that a wrinkle? God, she was getting old.

See how much smoother that is? Plus now there’s no need for awkward italics to indicate character thoughts. (Also, notice how “seeing” is also a verb of the head you can sometimes get rid of?) So quick rule of thumb is to adjust your sentences to be more direct, eliminating any of the following example verbs if at all possible:

  • wondered
  • thought (this is the big one)
  • noticed
  • saw
  • knew
  • felt
  • pondered
  • observed

Show, Don’t Tell is Fucking Important!

Mary felt sad.

God, don’t you just feel that in your gut? Don’t you just understand exactly the level and depth of Mary’s sadness? How her eyes are watering or stinging? How she knows this is going to be a big cry—and where are the fucking tissues?! How she’s trying to dam up the tears by pushing her tongue to the roof of her mouth? How it feels like a cold stone weight has settled over her shoulders?

Oh, you didn’t get any of that from Mary felt sad? How strange.

So don’t tell the reader about the main character’s feelings. Show them how those feelings are making the character feel and act. Is your character nervous? Probably they’ll have heightened or dulled senses, perhaps a quickening pulse or breath. Is your character confused? Maybe they’ll blink a few times rapidly or rattle off a litany of questions in their head. If you have a hard time coming up with these sorts of details, I highly suggest brainstorming what you yourself feel and do under the influence of different emotions, then looking up body language guides if you’re stuck.

Narrative Descriptions in the Character’s Personality

Which of these sounds more like the internal thoughts of your typical horny teenage girl?

I looked in the mirror and smiled. The merlot-red dress caressed my every curve. Perfect.

I looked in the mirror and smiled. The dress clung to my hips just right. Fuck-me red—perfect.

So maybe your character will think like the first example, but more likely it’s the second one, right? The first one feels a little too old, what with “caressed” and the wine reference.

What I’m trying to illustrate here is that detailed description alone doesn’t mean you’re achieving close POV. The character’s personality and identity should inform the narration, glimmering through whenever it can. It’s hard to do, but this is what will take your close POV from a B to the A+ range.

Present Tense

I sort of hesitate to put this in here, but I think it bears mentioning. Present tense POV is increasingly popular, especially in YA, and the reason is that it’s an easy way for the POV to feel closer, even if it’s not. For example, I walk to the store is just as blah and boring as I walked to the store. There’s nothing inherently wrong with using present tense, but first off, understand that you’re going to annoy some readers by writing this way. Secondly, present tense shouldn’t be the only technique you’re using to achieve closeness, lest your narration come across as plodding and boring.

I hope this guide proves useful to people who are trying to write close POV. Please don’t take all this to mean that I am some sort of all-knowing writing guru, because I am not, but I do truly believe that these techniques make stories more interesting and engrossing, and I do my best to use them in my own writing as much as possible.

Feel free to drop a comment down below if you use these techniques or others to bring your POV closer! Which authors do close POV really well? Any recommendations?

Short Tuesday #3: “The Specialist’s Hat” by Kelly Link

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This week I read the third short story in Kelly Link’s Stranger Things Happen, “The Specialist’s Hat.” You can read the short story here… FYI that there are vague spoilers in this review.

Now that I’m three stories into the Kelly Link book, I’m starting to get a pretty good grasp of her style. I went into this anticipating I’d have little to no concrete answers at the end of this story, and I was right, but again I was left with that eerie, uncomfortable, awful things are happening in the background feeling that Link does so well.

One thing I did notice was the emphasis on the concrete, in particular the constant numbers throughout the text. The chandelier has “exactly 632 leaded crystals shaped like teardrops,” the house has eight chimneys, the twin main characters’ game has three rules. (A few things in the story even smell like Chanel No. 5.) And then there’s the difference between “gray” and “grey,” and “dead” and “Dead.” It feels like everything that is happening to the girls is so vague and creepy that they rely (subconsciously or otherwise) on numbers, definitions, and rules to define their slippery reality.

Overall, I can’t say I loved this story; I have the sense that it’s well-written, just not for me, or maybe not for me right now. It might have to do with the fact that I kept getting interrupted while reading, so I had to read the story in a very fractured way. In any case, I think I’m going to set down Stranger Things Happen for a week or two and try something else for next Tuesday.

Chapter Four of The Gold in the Dark and a Writing Update!

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The fourth chapter of The Gold in the Dark drops today! If you need to catch up with the last few chapters, you can do that right here. New chapters post every other Sunday at 11 AM EST, and each one is accompanied by a beautiful, custom illustration drawn by a mysterious illustrator. I especially love Chapter Four’s illustration this week, so I just had to put it down below—isn’t it just gorgeous?

You know, it’s really funny reading back through these old chapters—gives me a sort of a “high school reunion” feeling, if I’m being honest. I absolutely love The Gold in the Dark, don’t get me wrong, but some of the phrasing and sentence-craft is just a bit different than my current voice. I’m drafting a blog post right now about how to write close POV, and I’m finding that as I do final edits on The Gold in the Dark chapters that I’m stopping every so often to make use of some of the techniques in that post.

This week I’ve gotten back into drafting, at long last! The book I’ve been working on has a lot of sad details requiring research in the opening few chapters, and it’s been hard to find the motivation to do the research to make sure all the details are accurately and sensitively portrayed. But I’m pushing through, and even though there’s been a long gap from when I started drafting the book, I really do like what I wrote originally. The voice is pretty different for me… but in a good way, I think.

As for Specter, I’m still mired in formatting hell. As I comb the web for the absolute perfect fonts, sometimes I wonder if I’m too particular about the little things, but I do think these tiny details add up to a world of difference in terms of making the final book look professional. Like I said a few weeks ago, Specter is tentatively slated for release in late May or early June, so if anyone wants to be part of my ARC team, drop me a line.

I also wanted to mention a couple cool things that are happening on the blog right now. You may have noticed that I’ve started a new blog series called Short Tuesday, where I review short fiction and link to the piece if at all possible. The first couple posts have been some really eerie short stories by Kelly Link, so if you’re a magical realism or weird fiction fan, check them out!

There’s also a Saint Patrick’s Day themed post coming up, as well as bookcase spring cleaning and the introduction of #TSOOSI. What’s that mean? you may ask. You’ll just have to wait and see. 😉

So those are all my updates; exciting stuff is in the works! Have a great rest of your weekend, and enjoy Chapter Four! ❤

Tell Me Everything by Sarah Enni

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I’ve been a loyal listener of Sarah Enni’s First Draft podcast since 2014, so I was psyched to pick up a copy of her debut novel. Tell Me Everything follows Ivy, a sophomore photography nerd who’s been struggling with growing distance between her and her BFF Harold. To take her mind off her absent, over-scheduled friend, Ivy becomes engrossed with the new app VEIL, which allows users to view Instagram-style anonymous pictures local to a five-mile radius. The book follows Ivy as she attempts to uncover the secrets of the students at her school posting on VEIL.

It’s a cute, short book that I read in less than twenty-four hours. I really enjoyed the local art scene focus, and I feel that there’s a missed opportunity here for the book to include some photographs and illustrations to color the narrative, like in a Ransom Riggs book. Yet the book isn’t without its flaws; it felt plotless for a good portion of the book, like we were being treated to individual scenes that made up some sort of abstract whole. The voice, too, is a bit younger than I usually read. (More a preference thing than an actual detractor.) You know how a lot of readers (rightly) complain that a good portion of YA isn’t really YA anymore, but really just New Adult, repackaged with “eighteen-year-olds” and pretty YA covers? This isn’t that; it reads young, and Enni was clearly purposeful in the decision to make Ivy and Harold sophomores instead of upperclassmen.

I’ll admit that the tone of the book was a bit off to me. There is a lot of quirk for quirk’s sake, almost reminiscent of Katy t3h PeNgU1n oF d00m. That combined with an especially cringy (cringey?) scene between Ivy and Harold that read like progressive buzzword mad libs had me not exactly racing for the end of the book, but still edging toward eager-to-be-done territory.

***SPOILER INCOMING***

I did also feel like some questions briefly raised throughout the book weren’t explored deeply enough. In this book, online anonymity and an unmoderated user base butt heads with “safe spaces” and helicopter parents. There is a kind of resolution to this conflict in terms of the VEIL app, but not a satisfying one in my opinion, and what resolution Enni offers us doesn’t do much to address the very real debates that society is currently having about social media platforms. VEIL is deleted in the end, but let’s face it, Mark Zuckerberg isn’t about to delete Facebook, nor Jack Dorsey Twitter, so what exact lesson are we supposed to take from Tell Me Everything into the real world?

So some good, some bad. Tell Me Everything was a pleasant, quick read for a Sunday afternoon, but I wouldn’t highly recommend it for older YA readers, though a younger, less picky crowd might have some fun here.

Just a real quick reminder that Chapter Four of The Gold in the Dark will be posting this Sunday at 11 AM EST! All right, that’s all, folks. ❤

Short Tuesday #2: “Water Off a Black Dog’s Back” by Kelly Link

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This week I read the second short story in Kelly Link’s Stranger Things Happen, “Water Off a Black Dog’s Back.” You can read the short story here… FYI that there are vague spoilers in this review.

I enjoyed this short story, though I do think I connected more with last week’s “Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose.” I assume that the name of the short story is tied to the idiom “like water off a duck’s back,” meaning that harsh critique doesn’t have any effect on someone, but I’m struggling to connect that idiom to the story. Perhaps something to do with the black dogs’ constant, menacing presence? Or the MC’s steadfast commitment to his clearly odd relationship?

I think the thing I liked most about this story was the penetrating feeling of dread. You can just feel that the MC, Carroll, has embroiled himself in something bad, and you’re left waiting for the other shoe to drop. (My, we’re all about idioms today!) This is another story built more on mood than plot; don’t expect much to make sense, but if you want to read something vaguely uncomfortable and foreboding, I’m getting the sense that Kelly Link is your author.

One thing I’m wondering having read these two Link stories thus far is whether magical realism necessitates a more passive MC. Both MCs in these stories do things, but they’re not exactly the questioning type. Strange things happen (har har), and the characters just sort of mosey along through life, taking the oddities as they come. I haven’t read much magical realism save for Murakami, so it’s hard to say for certain, but I think it’s a trend that I’m noticing.

The Vanishing Stair by Maureen Johnson

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Last year’s Truly Devious wasn’t just fantastic in its own right, but also introduced me to Maureen Johnson. I read two more of her books in short order, then was left to ache for the Truly Devious sequel. Well, Stevie, our lovable, smart, anxiety-suffering protagonist is back and better than ever for the 384 pages we’re allowed with her. The book is great, as can only be expected, but heed my warning: The Vanishing Stair is only a temporary cure for Truly Devious-itis, since Johnson leaves readers with another massive cliffhanger at the end.

First things first, massive thanks to Johnson for the way she seeded the introductory chapters of the book with character and plot details from its predecessor. Before I started reading, I searched online for a full book synopsis for Truly Devious to get up to speed, but came up with nothing, so I ended up just throwing my hands up and diving right in. If you are in the same boat, fear not; you won’t feel lost if you read the first book last year.

I do want to touch on one thing which I… honestly hesitate to bring up, but what the hell, here goes nothing. I read books to get away from the world. The best kinds of books are transportive—there’s a real kind of magic to words that guide you to conjure characters, places, and scenes in your mind. In my opinion, this is what distinguishes books from other forms of media like TV and movies, which feed you pictures and audio filtered through a director’s lens. With books, the author lays all the groundwork, but the reader is ultimately the director.

That’s why I hate when things drag me out of an engrossing story—things like clunky verbiage, out-of-character decision-making, and preposterous plot twists. The Vanishing Stair suffers from none of the aforementioned literary crimes, but there are definitely a few instances when Johnson includes some politically-tinged language that instantly rocketed me out of the book. (And please understand that I am NOT bringing this up in regards to the Edward King politician character, since he’s an integral part of the story.) For better or worse,  we live in a time where it feels like politics consume all, and it is exhausting and annoying to be reading and reach a sentence that randomly throws in something about “the patriarchy.” One of many reasons I love reading is that books get me away from all that.

She was second in command to Charles, which seemed unlikely, until you remembered that Charles was a guy. Even at Ellingham, the patriarchy reared its shaggy head.

This book is binge-worthy, but unnecessary political language like the above quote keep it from being a five-star read—NOT because of the author’s political beliefs, but simply because the book shouldn’t need to get political at all, as this is not Twitter, but rather a YA whodunnit. I don’t care whether the author is on the left or right side of the aisle—unless your book has a specific political thread (political thriller, MC is a political activist, etc.) understand that you are potentially alienating a potential audience, dating your book, and, worst of all, weakening the story. What need is there for politically-tinged details in a cozy mystery? None, as far as I’m concerned.

But the above complaint aside, this was a very enjoyable read, and I highly recommend it for anyone who enjoys boarding school stories, the perfect amount of witty dialogue, and a twisting, well-constructed mystery.

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

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At last, I’ve done it: I’ve successfully completed one of the two famous “Seven Evelyns.” The other, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, continues to look plaintively at me from my TBR shelf. Like, how does this even happen that two titles are this similar? Do all the marketing people in publishing gather round and sacrifice a goat to an all-seeing algorithm, waiting for it to spit out titles worthy of doing the rounds on BookTube? Is this how we keep ending up with all those “thing” titles?

The pitch for Turton’s debut novel is essentially Clue meets Groundhog’s Day. The MC, Aiden Bishop, is charged with stopping a murder that is going to take place at Blackheath Estate, but he is a displaced spirit only, cycling between the bodies of eight hosts who all have different strengths, weaknesses, and personalities. For me, it was the interplay of personality between Aiden and his hosts that sealed the book as good; we watch as Aiden goads on cowardly hosts, restrains violent hosts, and everything in between.

That being said, I did feel like there were just quite a lot of other non-host characters—enough that it got hard to keep them straight. I think this might not be an issue if you binge-read the book, but I read this book over the span of a couple weeks. Every time I came back to it I had to reintroduce myself to everyone, making full use of the character list at the front of the book.

Something else worth mentioning is that this book is the prime example of characters saying “I can’t talk about that right now because reasons.” Honestly, I’m not sure if anything can be done about that given the unique premise and story structure, but all the same it was a bit frustrating. Nevertheless, the fascinating host characters and the strong writing kept me moving forward in the story.

I think a lot of people are wondering if there will be a sequel to this book, either with the same structure or following Aiden Bishop wherever he goes next. In vague, non-spoiler terms, I do wish we got to know more about what happens after. (I also realize how semi-ridiculous it is to want this to be a series, given the amount of series I have yet to finish.) Yet I also have to begrudgingly appreciate an ending that gives the book a standalone feel, yet is still ambiguous. Maybe Turton should just leave things where they are and keep us guessing—the book’s a mystery, after all, so why not leave readers with some cool questions to ponder?