JVNLA rides the subway 2013!

Last year for the holidays, JVNLA took to the subway to express our love for our books published in 2012.  We snapped candid shots (and some not so candid shots) of ourselves reading as subway passengers looked on with puzzled expressions. For 2013, we simply had to do it again!

We began by posting pictures of us "reading in the wild" on Twitter--including pictures of us reading on subway platforms, at our desks, in bed, etc.--with the hashtag #readersinthewild. Then we followed it up with our adventure reading in the wilds of the subway!

Below, we present this year's candid and not-so-candid shots for your viewing pleasure.

We started at Times Square.  Here, Tara, Jennifer, and Laura read Love with a Chance of Drowning by Torre DeRoche (Hyperion, May 2013). This and all other photos were taken by our excellent behind-the-scenes photographer, Ariana.

Below is a sampling of the 2013 books we brought along.  When we began piling more books onto the subway seats, a mini-avalanche started!

Alice joined Laura and Jennifer to read The Book of Someday by Dianne Dixon (Sourcebooks Landmark, September 2013).

The day we chose for subway riding was particularly snowy, and so Jean decided to stay home and read in the warm rather than in the wild!  Here she is reading Our Picnics in the Sun by Morag Joss (Delacorte Press, November 2013).

Certain books inspire certain poses, and so Laura, Tara, and Jennifer couldn't help themselves from looking particularly nefarious while reading the noir mystery Sugar Pop Moon by John Florio (Seventh Street Books, July 2013).

We also couldn't help but crack ourselves up while reading the very funny The Heartbreak Messenger by Alexander Vance (Feiwel and Friends, July 2013).

When the below subway rider saw Royal Mistress by Anne Easter Smith (Touchstone, May 2013), she got so excited she had to read it herself! 

Then, she instructed Laura, Tara, and Jennifer how to properly pose for a scandalous historical novel like this one.

Noticing that some of our books had a certain theme to them, we decided to create our own story: First, there's Love with a Chance of Drowning.  Next comes The Heartbreak Messenger.  Which leads to This Is How You Say Goodbye.

While those of us in New York were in the midst of our subway adventures, Elizabeth was in Wisconsin having her own reading in the wild/transportation adventures! Here she is on bike with Sugar Pop Moon, 101 Quizzes for Couples by Natasha Burton (Adams Media, November 2013), Dead Run by Dan Schultz (St. Martin's Press, March 2013), Beyond the Bear by Dan Bigley and Debra McKinney (Lyons Press, March 2013), and more!

Laura, Jennifer, and Alice displayed their favorite parts of Otis Dooda: Strange but True, written by Ellen Potter and illustrated by David Heatley (Feiwel and Friends, June 2013).

Two businessman on their way to lunch were super excited about Otis Dooda too!

As you can see below, Laura, Tara, and Jennifer were each intrigued by Women, Sex, Power, and Pleasure by Evelyn Resh (Hay House, March 2013).

The delicious pie recipes in Sweetie-Licious Pies by Linda Hundt (Skirt! Books, October 2013) got Laura's and Tara's attention.

When the train emptied out, Jennifer had fun reading The Fate of Mercy Alban by Wendy Webb (Hyperion, February 2013).

When it was time for our subway adventure to end, Laura, Tara, and Jennifer got a little choked up reading the last book, This Is How You Say Goodbye from Victoria Loustalot (St. Martin's Press, September 2013).

Thanks for joining us on our subway adventure!

For more about our recent books, take a look through the Recent and Upcoming Titles section of our website--all of the books make for great holiday gifts!

A photo journey through BEA 2013

Last week, book madness descended on New York City for BookExpo America (BEA), an annual publishing conference and book exhibition extravaganza for publishers, industry experts, booksellers, librarians, and book lovers.

While educational panels, subsidiary rights meetings, and more take place throughout the conference, the most dazzling feature of BEA is always the Exhibition Hall, where publishers showcase the books they are most excited about for the upcoming fall season or that they have recently published.  JVNLA's books were featured prominently, so of course we hunted them down and snapped some photos in order to bring a part of BEA 2013 to our blog! 

To give you a sense of what the Exhibition Hall looks like, check out the photo below, showing conference attendees milling around several publishers' booths, including Algonquin and Workman.  Now, imagine this multiplied over 760,000 square feet of exhibition space! 

Clearly, many, many eyes were on the look out for exciting, new books.  We were pleased that so many of JVNLA's books were a part of the spotlight!

According to reports from the front at Sourcebooks, the line for a signed galley of Dianne Dixon's newest novel, THE BOOK OF SOMEDAY (September 2013), was long and didn't end until the last copies were given away!  THE BOOK OF SOMEDAY is the story of three women, each caught up in a web of secrets, and one haunted by a nightmare of a beautiful woman in a silver dress.  While we didn't get a picture of the galley line, we did snap one of Dixon standing beneath her cover as it presided over the Sourcebooks exhibition area.

One woman got started reading THE BOOK OF SOMEDAY right away!

The Lyons Press exhibition booth featured ONE PUNCH FROM THE PROMISED LAND: Leon Spinks, Michael Spinks, and the Myth of the Heavyweight Title by John Florio and Ouisie Shapiro (September 2013).  The book is a narrative nonfiction account of the two famous boxing brothers and the divergent paths their lives took.
 

At the Skirt! Books display table, Linda Hundt's recipe book based on her award-winning bakery of the same name, SWEETIE-LICIOUS PIES: Eat Pie, Love Life (October 2013), made passersby salivate.

C.J. Sansom's newest novel, DOMINION (Mulholland Books, January 2014), was an eagerly anticipated giveaway over at Hachette's booth. DOMINION sets readers in an alternate history in which Britain surrendered to Nazi Germany in 1940, and, twelve years later, a spy for the Resistance must rescue a man with a secret from a British mental hospital and smuggle him from the country.

Soft Skull Press's booth showcased Berlin Reed's just-released part-food memoir, part-argument for sustainable living, THE ETHICAL BUTCHER: How Thoughtful Eating Can Change Your World (April 2013). 

At the Penguin exhibition area, Jillian Cantor signed galleys of her new novel MARGOT (Riverhead, September 2013).  The novel is a reimagining of the life of Margot Frank, Anne Frank's sister, had she not died in a concentration camp in 1945.

Conference attendees were so excited about snagging a copy of MARGOT that even a baby rifled through the pages to get a quick glimpse of the story!

At Smithsonian Books, YOUR TICKET TO THE UNIVERSE: A Guide to Exploring the Cosmos by Kimberly K. Arcand and Megan Watzke (April 2013) stood out on a display table.

PASSION BLUE by Victoria Strauss (November 2012), a YA novel about a seventeen-year-old in Renaissance Italy sentenced to live in a convent when all she wants is true love, graced the display tables at the Amazon Children's Publishing booth.

BEYOND THE BEAR (March 2013), a memoir about surviving a bear attack and learning to live and love again, written by Dan Bigley and co-author Debra McKinney, was featured in the display racks over at Lyons Press.

Meanwhile, Algonquin arranged its featured books on the walls of its booth.  Just to the right and below the center, you'll find A LIFE IN MEN by Gina Frangello (February 2014), a novel of a woman diagnosed with debilitating cystic fibrosis who takes up her best friend's adventurous lifestyle across many countries and with many men after her friend's tragic death.

Jeryl Brunner signed copies of her newest celebrity travel book, MY CITY, MY LOS ANGELES: Famous People Share Their Favorite Places (March 2013) at the Globe Pequot Press booth.  We snapped a photo of her (center) with her agent Jessica Regel (left) and editor Amy Lyons (right).

In addition to Brunner, Slash Coleman was another JVNLA author selected by Globe Pequot Press to sign books at this year's BEA. Below is the sign announcing the times of the signings for Brunner's MY CITY, MY LOS ANGELES and Coleman's THE BOHEMIAN LOVE DIARIES (Lyons Press, July 2013).

And, here, check out Brunner's and Coleman's books on display at the Globe Pequot Press booth.

As you can see in the previous photo, the cover of Coleman's THE BOHEMIAN LOVE DIARIES features a young boy, shirtless and shoeless, wearing a motorcycle helmet.  Well, that boy made a special guest appearance at BEA.  Here he is below, pictured with the author.  Together, they took the BEA by storm!

BEYOND THE BEAR's extraordinary account of survival inspires, per reviews across the board

Just published this month from Lyons Press, BEYOND THE BEAR by Dan Bigley and Debra McKinney has been recently featured in People Magazine!  The magazine gave the book 3 1/2 out of 4 stars.

BEYOND THE BEAR tells the story of Dan Bigley and the day that changed his life forever. A 25-year-old who loved exploring the Alaskan outdoors and who was newly in love, Dan had spent a glorious midsummer's day in July 2003 doing what he enjoyed most, salmon fishing with friends, when a grizzly bear charged around a bend and mauled him, leaving him blind and near death. 

People writes,

In this richly detailed, emotional memoir, Bigley retraces his harrowing journey of recovery, including the six surgeries it took to reconstruct his face. With the help of dedicated doctors, nurses, friends and family--including future wife Amber Takavitz, whom he'd met just before his accident--Bigley returned to health. His story inspires and sticks with you long beyond the final page.

Here's the review in People's books section:

Publicity is ongoing for BEYOND THE BEAR, particularly in Alaska, where the book has taken newspapers and magazines by storm.  The Anchorage Daily News featured an excerpt of the book in its newspaper just this week, and you can read that excerpt here.

Authors Bigley and McKinney also recently hosted an online book launch party, which streamed live (if you're interested in watching it, the live feed is viewable here).  And there was a non-online launch party as well!  Festivities took place at a bar in Anchorage.  The night included signings and a reading.  Check out a photo of Bigley and McKinney signing copies of the book below:

Bigley has been previously featured in an animal attack survivor series on The Discovery Channel, which continues to air on TV.  For a glimpse of what's to come in the book, watch it below:



In addition to the People review, BEYOND THE BEAR has received a wealth of other wonderful praise.  Here's a summation of what's come in so far:

“Inspiring...Unflinchingly recounts the horrific details of the mauling and its aftermath...Perhaps the most moving part of his story, however, is his relationship with Amber, the woman he fell for the night before the attack, who has remained steadfast despite his early attempts to let her go. A well-written and touching tribute to human resilience.” --Booklist

“This moving memoir of his experiences is more about Bigley's emotional recovery and beyond-impressive triumph over adversity...Readers will appreciate Bigley's inspirational and well-written story.” --Publishers Weekly 

“Combine a man shaped by an extraordinary experience with a writer adept at weaving the threads of his story and the result is a stunningly powerful book. BEYOND THE BEAR may compel you to worry less about all the bad things that could happen in life and focus instead on embracing its possibilities. You might as well buy extra copies for you will soon want to give others the gift of this insightful and riveting read.” --Jill Fredston, bestselling author of ROWING TO LATITUDE and SNOWSTRUCK

"BEYOND THE BEAR delivers in gut-wrenching detail the harrowing account of one of the most horrific bear attacks in recent Alaskan memory, but the book is so much more than a bear mauling. BEYOND THE BEAR is a powerful love story, an unforgettable tale of hope and resilience, a triumph of the human spirit in the darkest of hours. A life destroyed in a blinding flash of blood and fur. A bright and beautiful Alaskan landscape seemingly darkened forever, the midnight sun all but extinguished, yet Dan Bigley's courage and heart take us all beyond the bear and along the way we all learn to see the world in a new and beautiful light." --Don Rearden, award-winning author of THE RAVEN'S GIFT

"This book is surprising in so many ways--heartfelt, funny, buoyant, tragic and triumphant--that after awhile I wanted to do nothing else but read it and be inspired and enthralled. And so I was." --Kim Heacox, bestselling author of THE ONLY KAYAK and VISIONS OF A WILD AMERICA

For more information about the authors, visit the website here, and follow them on Facebook here!

Lyons Press, April 2013