Publishing News: Asher & Mackler (UK release)

I was so pleased to receive this press-release as it means a UK release for Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler's Future of Us. I loved Asher's, Thirteen Reasons Why and can't wait for this new book.

22nd July 2011, London—Simon and Schuster today announced the acquisition of a new teen novel for the Facebook generation, with a hugely successful collaborative team behind it – New York Times bestselling author Jay Asher and award-winning author Carolyn Mackler.

The Future of Us was acquired at auction, amidst a flurry of global interest and numerous international deals being signed. Venetia Gosling, Fiction Editorial Director for S&S UK, bought UK and Commonwealth rights, including e-book editions, from Helen Boomer, Group Rights Director for Penguin US. Film rights have been optioned byWarner Brothers, with Denise Di Novi (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, What a Girl Wants and the upcoming The Lucky One) set to produce.

Everybody wonders what the future holds for them. Emma and Josh are about to find out in this unique and compelling story… The Future of Us opens in 1996, when few high school students have ever used the internet. Facebook will not be invented until several years in the future. Emma has just got a new computer and an America Online CD. She and her best friend Josh load the CD and log on… only to discover their Facebook profiles in 2011. So begins a quirky, original and accessible story as the teens see their futures laid out before them, and realise that every decision they make in the here and now changes their lives in the future…

Written as a dual narrative from both characters points of view, The Future of Us is a funny and romantic read for tweens and teens, cleverly exploring the impact of what is now second- nature online networking on a previous generation. The Future of Us will be published in the UK and Australia simultaneously in January 2012. A high-profile marketing and publicity campaign will be focussed online, and of course will include Facebook and other social media elements.

Publishing Deal - Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler

It's been a while but news of Jay Asher's follow-up to Thirteen Reasons Why has finally been announced. From Publishers Weekly:

It’s a busy time in the publishing life of Jay Asher, whose 2007 debut novel from Razorbill, Thirteen Reasons Why, with its anti-bullying message, was a break-out bestseller. Razorbill has recently acquired The Future of Us, a novel coauthored by Asher and Carolyn Mackler, which is scheduled for November 2011 release. Thirteen Reasons Why, which has 750,000 hardcover copies in print in the U.S. and has been sold into 31 countries, is due out in paperback from Razorbill on June 14. And today Penguin Young Readers Group launches the Thirteen Reasons Why Project, an online venue where fans can post their thoughts on and reviews of the novel via several media.

[The Future of Us] centers on two best friends who log onto AOL in 1996 and discover themselves on Facebook—15 years in the future.

In The Future of Us, the authors continue to explore some of the themes Asher investigates in Thirteen Reasons Why.“Though The Future of Us is a more playful book, it too delves into the concept of destiny, and how each move we make affects our future and the futures of those around us.”

Read the rest of the article here.

Review: Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher (October 2007, Razorbill, ISBN: 1595141715)

First Lines:
"Sir?" she repeats. "How soon do you want it to get there?"

Review: Clay Jensen receives a mysterious package through the post. When he opens it, he finds seven audio cassettes in a shoe box. When he plays the first tape he is shocked to hear the voice of his dead classmate and crush, Hannah Baker.

Hannah committed suicide two weeks before. Her voice tells Clay that if you are listening to the tape that you're one of the reasons why she took her life. There are thirteen sides and thirteen stories. Why is Clay on the tapes? What had he ever done to hurt her. He hasn't received the tapes in error though as Hannah says that she sent the people mentioned on the tapes, a map before she died. And he has one.

Taking the map and the tapes, Clay borrows a Walkman from a friend and listens and walks and understands how one thing lead to another and culminated in the death of Hannah Baker.

I can't imagine that I'll read a more gripping novel this year. I really didn't want to put it down and even when I did, ie to go to sleep, I was thinking about it. I may as well have given in and read it for all the sleep I got. The tension of finding out who's on the tapes, what they did and Clay's role in the story holds the attention completely.

Thirteen Reasons Why is a very moving book and shows how one thoughtless action can lead to an awful lot of pain. Much like Clay doesn't want the tapes to end and Hannah's voice to disappear I didn't want the book to finish. It leaves the reader with much to think about and will linger in the mind for a long time. I can't recommend it enough.

Cover: The cover is very appropriate and would attract me to pick it up even if I hadn't already heard such a buzz about it.

NB. The UK edition is now available (paperback, Puffin, ISBN: 0141328290)

Waiting on Wednesday - 13 Reasons Why

Not long to wait for this one. Jay Asher's 13 Reasons Why will be published in the UK on 6 August by Puffin.

Clay Jensen returns home from school one day to find a mysterious box, with his name on it, lying on the porch. Inside he discovers thirteen cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker — his classmate — who committed suicide two weeks earlier. On tape,
Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she did what she did — and Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list — and it'll change Clay's life forever.