THE HAUNTED STATES OF AMERICA is Amazon's #1 New Release in Children's Short Story Collections

THE HAUNTED STATES OF AMERICA — Chills on the Yellow Couch

/in , , , , , /by

Release day for THE HAUNTED STATES OF AMERICA was absolutely wonderful. I’m truly  grateful for a sublime day.

The book-birthday celebrations started by chatting about the book with the lovely ladies of The Morning Blend TV talk show on WTMJ, Milwaukee’s NBC affiliate. Hosts Molly Fay and Tiffany Ogle expertly talk through any topic. Here’s how we looked on the yellow couch:

Silvia Acevedo on The Morning Blend on release day of the spooky middle grade anthology THE HAUNTED STATES OF AMERICA, in which she penned the Wisconsin story

And here’s how the segment turned out! Click below and enjoy.

Next I went to my local, independent bookstore, Boswell Book Company, to sign their book stock. Then–and I have to pinch myself here–by midday, Amazon had splashed a pretty little orange banner on the book’s page! Writers know a banner means the book achieved some sort of bestseller ranking, and yes, it had! THE HAUNTED STATES OF AMERICA rocketed up the rankings to become (drumroll, please) the #1 New Release in Children’s Short Story Collections! Whoo HOO!

THE HAUNTED STATES OF AMERICA is Amazon's #1 New Release in Children's Short Story Collections

The love and support of friends across social media and in my inbox were absolutely heartwarming as well. Thank you to all of you who’ve cheered me on and supported me and the other 51 authors of this spooky anthology. Its publication was a journey, and we appreciate your high-fives.

If you’re wondering what all the excitement is about, please click on THIS LINK to check out the book and consider picking up a copy for a little chill-inducing fun. Thanks!

What I’ve read and what I’m reading

/in , /by

A few blog posts back, I told y’all I was joining a book club put on by my local independent bookstore, Boswell Book Company. They run a handful of clubs, each focusing on a different genre. Tonight was their last one for my group, which focused on general book club fiction and held at a local pub/restaurant, as the bookseller who led it is moving away. A few of the participants are carrying on.

So how my experience? I really enjoyed it, actually. It encouraged me to read books I might not have otherwise and see how others view and rate books, the organizer typically asking people around the table to informally rate the book 1-5 stars. I’ve discovered a rate books higher than most, as I tend to rate it on whether it delivered on its promise, whereas most others tended to rate it on whether they enjoyed it.

What have I read lately?

THE GOLEM OF BROOKLYN by Adam Mansbach, which I enjoyed. It was funny, very New York, and brought up some serious questions about anti-Semitism and white supremacy.

THE HACIENDA by Isabel Cañas, which wasn’t as scary as I’d hoped, but I loved the setting of post-colonial Mexico. Her ability to “put us there” was top notch.

ASSISTANT TO THE VILLAIN by Hannah Nicole Maehrer, which was hysterical. I’m looking forward to its sequel, APPRENTICE TO THE VILLAIN.

The above three were part of the book club. Here are some personal reads:

THE RUNNER by Kristin Oakley, which I beta-read and is part of THE DEVIL PARTICLE series. Fascinating concept to this series, and well executed.

DEAR COMMITTEE MEMBERS by Julie Schumacher, book 1 of the trilogy of the same name, and which I’d read before. This book won a bunch of awards for humorous writing, and they were all well deserved. I’m looking forward to meeting Ms. Schumacher at the upcoming Washington Island Literary Festival in September.

I’m currently reading  STILL TRUE by Maggie Ginsberg, who’ll also be speaking at that festival and is a force within Wisconsin authorship. Her writing is lyrical and rich.

In between all those books, I’ve also been writing, submitting my work, and enjoying the start of summer.

Hope you’re enjoying it too! 🙂

The beauty of the wooden clog

/in , , /by

I spotted this gorgeous carved wood clog at Café Benelux in Milwaukee’s artsy Third Ward. It’s a nice restaurant and where my husband and I hosted the Faculty Dinner during our illustration workshop. <–If you don’t know about Fantasy Art Workshop’s Illustration Intensive, please do click on the link to learn more about it–or search my website for past posts about it. It’s our big event, our heartfelt endeavor, that we’re thrilled to present every year.–>

Back to the clog, isn’t it a beaut?

I think when I was younger, I may not have appreciated it as much as I do now. I had a couple of pairs of (regular, not wooden) clogs in my youth and wore them to the point of disintegration, haha. But, in my youth, I might have thought too literally about the utility and comfort of wooden clogs to see any artistry to them. I could be remembering myself wrong, as adults are sometimes apt to do  years removed from childhood, but I suspect not.

But now I see its beauty. Now I appreciate it. Now I marvel at it. Today, as I’ve just finished seeing scores of artists work on incredible pieces for a whole week, I’m pleased to see beautiful, artistic things displayed just for the sake of it. Truthfully, I don’t know if this piece was mass produced–but even if it was, it’s still nice to see pretty things around us. We need that.

There’s no grande message behind this post other than LOOK. Look at this gorgeous thing. It’s truly lovely.

Sometimes you just gotta reward yourself

/in , , /by

I had to share these pictures of high tea–because it was fancy and extravagant and COMPLETELY DESERVED for the two of us, thanks to being put through the wringer the few months previous.

My friend, critique partner, and cheerleader Valerie Biel and I enjoyed afternoon tea at Milwaukee’s famed Pfister Hotel after months of polishing and querying our current manuscripts. It’s a lot of work to get a query package ready and send it out into the world for publication. Plus, the whole endeavor requires fortitude and confidence in the face of the uphill climb. I started the effort a few moths before her, but we’ve been on the journey together since then– and that’s really the best way to do it, IMHO, with a friend, as we helped ready each others’ submissions and kept our spirits high. All this to say, we deserved the pampering.

The tea and dainties were excellent. The whole experience is highly recommended. 🙂

The historic tea kettles at the Pfister

These dainties were DELICIOUS and actually very filling. We started at 2pm and didn’t need to eat again until late evening!

Savories at the bottom, sweets up top.

Soooo good.

Can you believe this detail? Fabulous.

The yummiest of yummies.

Author Silvia Acevedo at High Tea

Me

Author Valerie Biel at High Tea

Val

Image shows book cover -- a cat from the shoulders up, it wearing a business suit, against a black background, the book title in yellow typeface.

What I’m Reading – The Cat Who Saved Books and Starter Villain

/in , /by

Here are a couple of recent reads with cats on the cover. Just coincidentally.

Image shows book cover -- a drawing of a cat walking through a book.THE CAT WHO SAVED BOOKS by Sosuke Natsukawa, translated by Louise Heal Kawai. This was an interesting story about a young boy who inherits his grandfather’s bookstore and the magical cat who takes him on otherworldly adventures to save books in other realms. Each adventure speaks to how certain characters value or devalue books, how they judge their worth, and inward reflection on one’s self. This book was marketed to young adults in Japan, yet marketed to adults in the U.S. It’s a short, light read well tailored to lovers of cats and books.

 

Image shows book cover -- a cat from the shoulders up, it wearing a business suit, against a black background, the book title in yellow typeface.STARTER VILLAIN by John Scalzi. Inheriting his uncle’s supervillain business was more complicated than our protagonist expected, particularly after discovering who’s running the place. There are longtime, traitorous flunkies, sentient cats, foul-mouthed dolphins, a mountainous evil lair, and a cohort of rival supervillains out to snatch thrones, er, inheritances. Our poor every-man is in over his head. I woke my husband laughing so hard at one point. Very highly recommended.

 

(The above links are Amazon Affiliate links, meaning I make a few pennies off the sale of each book, at no cost to you.)

Image shows the cover of the book "KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE." Cream-colored background, the title words in red, a red hand holding a black knife.

What I’m Reading – Killers of a Certain Age, Grave Reservations, Flight Risk, and more

/in , /by

I’m reading of assassins and murders. Fiction, of course.

As a caveat, I generally don’t read true crime stories because, as a former journalist, I saw too much pain and horror from true crime. But fictional crime, especially cozy mysteries, I can find entertaining. That’s just me. (Cozy has a lot of different meanings to different people, but I categorize it as having amateur sleuths and off-the-page crime. So we hear of the crime, maybe even see some of it, but we’re not subjected to traumatizing horrors.) So what have I read and enjoyed?

Image shows the cover of the book "KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE." Cream-colored background, the title words in red, a red hand holding a black knife.

KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE by Deanna Raybourn, in which four female former assassins find themselves as marks of their former organization. To save themselves from an untimely demise and be able to enjoy their well-earned retirement, they rely on their tried-and-true, low-tech skills to survive the day. Honestly, I loved this book. It was such a fun ride, featuring older women who weren’t portrayed as superheroes. They actually have to keep up with their yoga routine to be limber, haha. And I adore stories about female friendships as opposed to mean-girl dynamics. I was rooting for these ladies. Recommended.

 

Image shows cover of the book GRAVE RESERVATIONS. Blue background behind a graphic of a white female with bright red lips, wearing red sunglasses reflecting a crime scene. Yellow title.GRAVE RESERVATIONS (Book #1 of the Booking Agents series) by Cherie Priest. This was a fun mystery with smart, capable characters. The lead is a clairvoyant and travel agent who saves a police detective from an ill-fated flight. Recognizing her unusual skill, he enlists her help to jumpstart a lagging case. Intrigue and deceptions come from all sides, yet our protagonist’s powers come through. For some reason, perhaps conditioning (?), I sort of hoped the protagonists would become a romantic couple, but then perhaps the story would fall into romance, which it doesn’t. I found myself questioning why I expected that, but it’s obvious because they do seem like they’ll make a great couple. Maybe that’ll blossom throughout the series. At any rate, this author has an easy, contemporary voice, and the novel features super karaoke. Recommended.

 

Image shows graphic image book cover of FLIGHT RISK. Purple sky, green mountains, white girl with purple lips, wearing sunglasses reflecting part of the crime scene. Title in purple text.FLIGHT RISK (Book #2 of the Booking Agents series) by Cherie Priest. I won this book from my book club leader after giving its predecessor the highest rating. I didn’t know my favorable rating would lead to a prize, so that’s nice. This sequel brings another mystery, with wholly different motivations, to our trusty characters. It was another enjoyable mystery.

And I’ve also had the pleasure of reading several as-yet-unpublished manuscripts to provide back-jacket blurbs. those recommendations you’ll find on the back jacket of the books once they come out. I’ll let you know when.

Until then, keep reading, folks!

 

(The above links are Amazon Affiliate links, meaning I make a few pennies off the sale of each book, at no cost to you.)

Image shows a bookshelf with books

Tallying the year

/in , /by

Image shows a bookshelf with booksI genuinely love end-of-year lists.

Best of. Worst of. Most this or that. The year 2023 at a glance. I like being reminded of all that’s transpired in the past 365 days. I forget a lot of it and like revisiting with the benefit of hindsight.

One of the lists I always see is “How many books I read this year.” I keep track too, but I don’t feel any strong need to share it. I made the list for myself, not to later share in the hopes to impress or shame. Plus, I like to see how many books I read and actually enjoyed. See, those are the only books that make my list. My tally would be much, muuuuch higher if I included all the books I started but didn’t finish.

That’s the point of this post. If you need permission, I’m hereby granting it. You do not need to finish books you aren’t enjoying. The book police won’t come get you. The creators involved won’t be any the wiser. No one will know what you did or did not finish unless you tell them. There are too many books in the world to read them all, and you have too little life force to expend on entertainments that don’t feed you.

So, keep a tally, if you feel so inclined. Or don’t. Finish that book. Or don’t. But of course I’d always advise you try another. A year without books would be a tragedy indeed.

Here’s hoping your new year is bountiful with spectacular reads.

Picture of poster showing a girl holding a red book in front of her face. The poster reads, "That's what I do. I read books and I know things."Silvia Acevedo

I’ve joined a book club–and I love it!

/in , , /by

Picture of poster showing a girl holding a red book in front of her face. The poster reads, "That's what I do. I read books."I know, I know. It’s shouldn’t be big news if an author is part of a book club. But can I confess something here? **looks around sheepishly** I’ve never taken part in a regular book club.

As a kid, I read the books suggested by my school or library, but I didn’t join group discussions about them. I guess I didn’t want to hear people potentially criticize a book I enjoyed. What can I say? I was fragile. Then, as I got older and talked endlessly about books, I joined short-term clubs led by publishers or literary agencies or even clubs with the focus of having the creators attend. So I’d get to meet the authors or illustrators or editors, etc. That’s amazing, right?

But a club with readers who aren’t publishing-adjacent? Not until November 2023 when I joined one of the many monthly book clubs offered by Boswell Books, my local independent bookstore. I’ll post reviews of those books soon, but for now, I just want to say how fun it is to read books outside of what I may have chosen and then talk with fellow readers about them. Further, it’s fascinating to hear from readers who speak freely about a story (because the creator isn’t right there to hear what they have to say) and expound on other elements of a book (because they may not have thought about industry reasons for certain publishing choices). PLUS, a couple of fellow authors whom I’ve invited to join have, so it’s an overall lovely time.

Do you want to make more friends in the new year? Join a book club. Or another club focused on a hobby or passion you enjoy. I hope joining adds fun and friendship to your life. As for my new enterprise, so far so good. 🙂

Illustration Intensive 2022

/in , , /by

Whoo hoo! We got to hold this event in person for the first time in three years!

Fantasy Art Workshop’s Illustration Intensive is my husband’s and my week-long art workshop for professional and inspiring illustrators. It’s a fantastic event with lectures and teaching by top industry pros, art demos, deep-dive creating, and a week of networking. We last held it in 2019, and wow, judging by the response, people missed it!

To learn more about it, I really do encourage you to go the Illustration Intensive website, as I won’t cover it all here. If you’re an illustrator, do yourself a favor and look into it. If you know someone who’s into art, please share this event with them. We’re thrilled to know that many who’ve attend our event launched their professional careers here. And we love a good time, too.

A poem published!

/in , /by

I recently mentioned renewing my membership to a local writing association. That gave me some encouragement, let me tell you, because I’ve spent the past month and half trying to get back into my writing groove. And it’s paid off! — Not just because something I wrote was published but because I’ve finally, Finally, FINALLY (!) been able to put some words to paper once more.

Like so many people around the world, the past two-years’-plus worth of U.S. and world events have been stunning and horrifying and enraging and exhausting and deflating and utterly stifling. So many people could barely function, much less work at their best levels. I was among them.

The tipping point for me was a personal loss, two cats, adorable sweet sisters, rescues, whom we had to re-home because they couldn’t get along with our resident cats. They were lovely on their own. But we weren’t on our own. So in the best interest of all, they found new homes. That doesn’t mean I wasn’t heartbroken. So I set pen to paper and wrote a poem, tears streaming down my face. Poetry isn’t my default genre, but I’ve dabbled, and it leant itself to this raw emotion. I submitted the poem to the Wisconsin Writers Association’s Creative Wisconsin magazine.

And then a week or so later, I used WWA again as inspiration to write another spooky short story. This one I submitted to their Jade Ring contest. I don’t typically write to submit to contests, but, once again, these are strange times. We take inspiration where we can get it. It can sometimes lead to something good.

Today the inaugural online Creative Wisconsin magazine has my poem within. I’m a published poet! How cool is that? And how wonderful is it that I may be starting to get my writing groove back. It’s jarring when you lose a bit of yourself. It’s joyous when it comes back.

To enjoy the magazine, click on the image below. My poem is on page 21.

June 2022 Creative Wisconsin magazine put out by the Wisconsin Writers Association

Creative Wisconsin magazine – June 2022