News

Con or Bust 2018 Auction

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Con or Bust’s 2018 auction is live! From now until Sunday, April 22nd (4 PM), you can bid on books, jewelry, services, and more. Proceeds go to help fans of color attend sci-fi/fantasy conventions—with the goal of helping as many fans as possible! Per the website:

Con or Bust is not limited by geography or by type of con-goer. It is not a scholarship or “merit based.” Its goal is to help fans of color go to SFF cons and be their own awesome selves.

You can take a look at the auction, and the items up for bid, here. In support of this cause, Tammy’s donated autographed copies of The Immortals (the entire set!) and Tempests and Slaughter. Go ahead and check Tammy’s listings if you’d like to place a bid on these books!

Upcoming Reddit AMA (at /r/Books)

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Get your questions ready! On Friday, April 6th, at 7 PM (Eastern Time Zone), Tammy will be doing an AMA at /r/Books.

AMAs stand for “Ask Me Anything.” If you’re curious about Tammy’s writing process, her inspirations, the fates of characters we haven’t seen in a while… or you just want to know her favorite snack, Friday’s your chance!

You can find Tammy’s older AMAs here (at /r/Fantasy) and here (at /r/Books).

Thank you!

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Thank you all for spreading the word on STAR (Syrian Team for Animal Rescue) and the fundraiser to help Syria’s stray and injured animals!

Together, Tammy’s amazing fans gave donations totaling $140. With her $200 match, we were able to raise a total of $340 for the animals! Not bad, especially for such a quick event!

A very special thanks goes out to Carolyn, Katie, Madeline, Mary, Sarah, Laura, and Brett, for your generosity. And even if you couldn’t donate, your shares, retweets, and reblogs made a difference—and will continue to make an impact as the fundraiser goes on. As always, Tammy’s fans prove to be a kind, compassionate group.

(And if you’d still like to support STAR, but missed the match event, it’s okay! The fundraiser’s ongoing.)

Help the Syrian Team for Animal Rescue!

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If you have a little bit to spare, STAR (The Syrian Team for Animal Rescue) needs help!

Based in Damascus, STAR rescues, rehabilitates, and provides ongoing care and shelter to stray and injured animals in Syria. This shelter depends on individual donations for its survival, and as of this post, STAR is still a ways from their $20,000 goal.

Help STAR look after injured animals in Syria

This is a cause Tammy strongly believes in. To make donations go that extra mile, she will be matching fans’ donations, up to a total of $1,000, from now until March 28th. Just send an email to tpiercemail@gmail.com with the subject line “STAR Fundraiser” and some confirmation of the donation and amount.

I believe in these people and their mission with all my heart.  They’ve been struggling for years to save as many pets (of those who couldn’t take their animals as they fled) and abandoned animals as possible.  They are heroes to me, and since I can’t support them all on my own, I’m hoping my friends and fans will feel the same way. Here’s to the animals cast aside and the hardworking people who rescue them!

—Tammy 

Please, donate if you can, and share. Together, we can raise $2,000 for STAR!

Some words from Tammy:

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Whew!  I am back, bloody but unbowed, maybe a tad bit semiconscious, but what a wild ride!  This is absolutely the longest and wildest book tour I have ever had, including Firehouse Books at Fort Collins, Colorado; The Tattered Cover, Colfax Avenue (they have two stores now) in Denver; The King’s English in Salt Lake City; Barnes & Noble in Orem, Utah; Boskone (the science fiction convention) in Boston; Brookline Booksmith, near Harvard, Massachusetts; Escape Pod Comics, Huntington, NY, together with comics and book writer G. Willow Wilson; Barnes & Noble at Union Square, New York, NY; Books of Wonder, the new 84th Street store in New York, NY; Oblong Books, Rhinebeck, NY;  the University Bookstore hosting Rachel Hartman, Lish McBride, and me at the University Temple United Methodist Church in The Sanctuary in Seattle; three days of Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle, then Changing Hands Bookstore in Tempe, Arizona!

By the way, as if my head weren’t spinning enough, Tempests entered The New York Times Young Adult Bestseller List at #1 right before I left!  Talk about a sign from the gods that things were going to go well . . .

I met many wonderful fans, familiar and new, got to talk with fellow authors and old friends, became acquainted with new landscapes, visited the Seattle Aquarium for the fourth (fifth?) time, saw the Grand Canyon from overhead,  and signed lots and lots and lots and lots of books.  So did my assistant Julie and my spouse-creature Tim, co-writers of Spy’s Guide to Tortall.  I drank way too much coffee, wore my funkiest-in-life-ever (funkier even than the miniskirts and hot pants I wore when I was much younger!) outfits, and came to hate tiny airline seats. And now I’m verblunget, as I say, with catch-up mail, unhappy kitties, new rescues to find homes for, and a book to write quickly!  But I’m home, and it snowed some more, and my office cat—the lovely Autumn—is curled up behind my butt, so all is good!

Back to the book, then!

—Tammy 

Tor.com: Tamora Pierce Writes Fantasy That Changes Lives

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Last month, Meghan Ball at Tor.com wrote a wonderful, personal article about her experiences with Tamora’s books, and the ways in which they’ve made an impact.

Tamora Pierce should be a household name. We should all be crowded around our TVs every Saturday night watching The Song of the Lioness show on HBO. Her works should be considered a cultural touchstone that inspire generations. Prog rock bands should be creating epic concept albums based on her stories. There should be Funko Pops of Alanna of Trebond, Numair Salmalín, and Keladry of Mindelan.

But there aren’t. (At least, not yet.)

Thank you, Meghan, for the kind words!

Read the entire article here: Tamora Pierce Writes Fantasy That Changes Lives

The Daily: Tamora Pierce book reading emphasizes the importance of YA for all audiences

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If you weren’t able to see Tammy when she was in Seattle, you can still read about her University Bookstore event! The Daily has a write-up of the event, which also featured authors Rachel Hartman and Lish McBride. Check it out for some highlights of the event. As the author notes:

YA fiction, which is full of brave, headstrong, mostly female heroines who stand up to authority and earn the right to be taken seriously, has been one of the most positive forms of media that I consumed while growing up. And I still do read it, despite snide comments from adults and peers that they “don’t count” as “real” novels.

Remember: you’re never too old to read YA!

Click here for more: Tamora Pierce book reading emphasizes the importance of YA for all audiences

Bustle: This Tamora Pierce Series Helped Me Understand How It Feels To Be The Only Woman In The Room

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There’s a lot of advice to be found in books for women who work in male-dominated workplaces: lean in, be a girlboss, find your magic, etc. But, to be honest, I learned the most about working in male-dominated spaces from books I read while I was still a child — namely, Tamora Pierce’s fantasy novels, and especially the Protector of the Small series.

The excerpt says it all! In this article, Melissa Ragsdale over at Bustle delves into Kel’s experiences in knight training, and how they reflect some real-world challenges women face in male-dominated industries.

Click here to read it in full: This Tamora Pierce Series Helped Me Understand How It Feels To Be The Only Woman In The Room

 

KUOW: Girls can be heroes, depending on what books you read growing up

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During the Tempests and Slaughter tour, Tammy made an appearance on The Record to speak with writer and columnist Lindy West. The two discussed Tammy’s early writing, the experiences that shaped her, and the stories to elevate in today’s landscape.

The only place in the 1960s where you could reliably find [female heroes] were historicals. To this day, I still reread “The Witch of Blackbird Pond” and “Mara, Daughter of the Nile.” But at the end of each, those characters were asked to come down and live the lives of proper young ladies — or wives, in Mara’s case. And they acquiesced. So I kept looking. But it was Anne McCaffrey who taught me that women could be the hero of the book.

You can read highlights, and listen to the interview here: Girls can be heroes, depending on what books you read growing up!

Some housekeeping…

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While Tammy’s still on the Tempests and Slaughter tour, here’s a quick update on what’s going on around the website, and what’s on the horizon!

Book Pages Updates

When we launched the new website, the books’ pages only included links to retail giants like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. But Tammy’s a big supporter of indie bookstores, and it didn’t sit well with any of her team to just leave the options at that. So, to make it easier to support independent bookstores and small businesses, we’ve made some changes.

Every book’s page now includes new retail options. In addition to big names like iTunes and Google Play, you can now find links to Tammy’s books (when available) on IndieBound, Powell’s, Libro.fm, and– of course– Full Cast Audio!

Head to any book’s page and see the new options.

Fan Mail & Fan Appreciation Project

Between the release of Tortall: A Spy’s Guide and Tempests and Slaughter, the word ‘hectic’ doesn’t even begin to describe Tammy’s schedule. But we just wanted to assure you that your fan mail isn’t floating in a void. The Fan Appreciation Project is chugging along, slowly and steadily. Once things settle down, we’re doubling down on efforts to make sure each and every message gets a response. Yes, even the really old ones!

Just a quick reminder, though:

Upcoming Changes

Keep checking back for more updates to the site! We’ll be adding new sections to the FAQ, posting recommended reading orders (a question Tammy gets a lot!), and restoring the long-lost book excerpts. We’re also brainstorming with Tammy to come up with some fun, new features for the site.

That’s all for now!