Books, Graves, and Spirits with Dianne Salerni



    Please join me in welcoming Dianne Salerni, author of The Caged Graves to the blog today. As a part of the 2013 SARC, I had the chance to interview Dianne about her novel. I hope you enjoy!


1.) Your novel The Caged Graves is based off real graves. Could you explain the back story a little? Why were you so drawn to it?

I stumbled across a photograph of a caged grave on the internet and thought it was the spookiest thing I’d ever seen. It was supposed to be located in an abandoned cemetery not far from the place in the Pocono Mountains (of Pennsylvania) where my family goes skiing. I wouldn’t stop talking about the photo, so my husband tracked down the cemetery with Google Earth, and on our next ski trip we took a drive out to Catawissa to find it.

Imagine my surprise when we pulled up in front of the cemetery and discovered there were TWO caged graves. The article never said there were two! That was even creepier than one. From that moment on, I knew I was writing a story about these graves.

2.) What was it like to have another one of your novels, We Hear the Dead, turned into a short film? Would you like to see some sort of cinema recreation of The Caged Graves too?

It was a real thrill to be involved in the making of this film, even from a distance. The producer showed me th
e script and asked me if the dialogue was historically accurate. She sent me photographs of the set and kept me up-to-date on the production. The film, titled The Spirit Game, is going to Cannes 2013, which is really exciting! The producer also hopes to pitch the film as an idea for a television series.

As for The Caged Graves, it doesn’t lend itself well for a series, being a standalone mystery. But I think it would make a great television movie!

3.) What are you currently reading? What's up next?

I just finished Deck Z, The Titanic: Unsinkable. Undead by Chris Pauls and Matt Solomon. Yeah, zombies on the Titanic. I have no excuse. No, wait. Yes, I do. I was in withdrawal from The Walking Dead.

As for what’s next, I’ve got several samples waiting on my Kindle, including Taken by Erin Bowman, The Madman’s Daughter by Megan Shepherd, Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson, and What She Left Behind by Tracy Bilen. I’m not sure which one will grab me first.

4.) Do you think you and your main character would get along as teens?

I was pretty shy when I was a teenager, and Verity Boone is definitely not. She is confident and outspoken and refuses to let herself be bullied. I think, if I had known her as a teen, I would have admired her and wished to be more like her.

5.) What could be (or is) the theme song to The Caged Graves?

Oddly enough, The Caged Graves is one of the only books I’ve written that doesn’t have a song or two attached to it in my mind. I don’t listen to music while I write, but I do love music in the car. And I love to brainstorm while I drive, so often a particular song will get “stuck” to the book I’m working on. Not The Caged Graves, though. For some reason, it remains songless!

6.) Speed Round! What was the last thing to make you cry? Laugh? Mad?

I cried all week after the bombing in Boston. I wanted to stop reading the new stories about the victims and all the brave people who saved them, but I couldn’t. It seemed as if the only way to commemorate who they were and what they did was to read about them.

The last thing that made me laugh was probably The Big Bang Theory. Practically any episode will do it.

And I would love to tell you about a decision at work that made me mad, but I want to keep my job. So let’s just say … I was really mad at work! :D

Britta, thanks for the opportunity to do this interview! I enjoyed being your guest!

Thanks for stopping by! I enjoyed having you :) 


About the Book

17-year-old Verity Boone expects a warm homecoming when she returns to Catawissa, Pennsylvania, in 1867, pledged to marry a man she has never met. Instead, she finds a father she barely knows and a future husband with whom she apparently has nothing in common. One truly horrifying surprise awaits her: the graves of her mother and aunt are enclosed in iron cages outside the local cemetery. Nobody in town will explain why, but Verity hears rumors of buried treasure and witchcraft. Perhaps the cages were built to keep grave robbers out . . . or to keep the women in. Determined to understand, Verity finds herself in a life-and-death struggle with people she trusted.

Inspired by a pair of real caged graves in present-day Catawissa, this historical YA novel weaves mystery, romance, and action into a suspenseful drama with human greed and passion at its core.

Coming of Age in a Post Apocalyptic World



For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund
402 Pages (Hardcover)
Balzer + Bray
June 12, 2012
Source: Library
Format: Hardcover
ISBN:0062006142
It's been several generations since a genetic experiment gone wrong caused the Reduction, decimating humanity and giving rise to a Luddite nobility who outlawed most technology.

Elliot North has always known her place in this world. Four years ago Elliot refused to run away with her childhood sweetheart, the servant Kai, choosing duty to her family's estate over love. Since then the world has changed: a new class of Post-Reductionists is jumpstarting the wheel of progress, and Elliot's estate is foundering, forcing her to rent land to the mysterious Cloud Fleet, a group of shipbuilders that includes renowned explorer Captain Malakai Wentforth--an almost unrecognizable Kai. And while Elliot wonders if this could be their second chance, Kai seems determined to show Elliot exactly what she gave up when she let him go.

But Elliot soon discovers her old friend carries a secret--one that could change their society . . . or bring it to its knees. And again, she's faced with a choice: cling to what she's been raised to believe, or cast her lot with the only boy she's ever loved, even if she's lost him forever.

Inspired by Jane Austen's Persuasion, For Darkness Shows the Stars is a breathtaking romance about opening your mind to the future and your heart to the one person you know can break it.


    I am a bit of a history nerd, so when I read the synopsis of this book and saw "Luddite" I was immediately enthralled. Historically, the Luddites were a group of workers during the English Industrial Revolution who would break into factories and destroy the machinery. They believed that the new technology would threaten their jobs, so they resisted it. The Luddites in this novel do not have the exact same motives, but they stem from the same ideals.

    Luddites are at the top of the social hierarchy. Years ago when people started genetically modifying everything - including themselves- the Luddites resisted. Eventually the modifications took a toll and the new generations became Reduced, riddled with deformities. The Luddites were the only ones who were not effected by this sort of apocalypse, so they rose above. They run farms, directing the reduced like slaves, hoping to create enough food to last. Recently the Reduced's children have been born "COR"s (Children of the Reduced), or Posts as they like to be called, with none of the apparent reduced symptoms. Does this mean the world is starting over again?

    Elliot North has always been involved in the running of her family's estate. After her mother dies prematurely, it was up to Elliot to keep everything running, although officially it should not be her job (as the second daughter, the estate is not even in her inheritance). Elliot grew up side by side with a Post child, Kai, who she grew to love. When Kai left unexpectedly, she was heart broken and kept waiting for him to reach out to her. Years later he returns, not as the boy she once loved, but rather Captain Malakai Wentforth, and he is determined to show Elliot just how little he thinks of her. The more time Elliot spends around Malakai and the other Post members of the Cloud Fleet the more Elliot questions her own Luddite upbringing and the future of the world. How many secrets can she learn until her whole world is shattered? Just how far is she willing to go to protect the ones underneath her? Even if it means loosing everything she has ever known?

    I really enjoyed this one! In-between the chapters there would be letters written by Elliot and Kai as they grew up. It was a really interesting tool to let the reader learn about the world and to see how the two minds progressed. Elliot mentions how Kai was when she was little, but it is another thing entirely to actually read it for yourself. I also just love reading letters in general, so it was really great to see so many used in a way that really benefited the story.

    Another thing that I loved is that the relationship between Elliot and Kai is not a sweeping romance. In fact, Kai - excuse me - Malaki is a real jerk to her. The romance lays in what they used to have together, not their current situation. This adds so much romantic tension I cannot even accurately describe it in words. Their relationship pissed me off, but then it would turn around make me extremely sad. I understood where both of them were coming from. I really liked how this relationship wasn't one where you could easily predict where it was going, it kept me guessing right up until the end.

    Although Elliot spends a good portion of her time pining after the boy she lost, she is a strong character that I really enjoyed learning more about. She was born and raised Luddite, but she is constantly at odds with what she has grown up to believe. Is genetically modifying one strand of wheat really so terrible if it means that everyone on her farm will last past winter? Should the Reduced really spend most of their pregnancies cooped up in a birthing center that many of them do not live to walk out of? Aren't Posts the same as Luddites now? Does the existence of Posts mean God has forgiven the Reduced and the apocalypse is over? Elliot cannot accept what someone has told her just because they know the world to be a certain way. She has to see and learn things for herself, which I really appreciated.

    Overall, For Darkness Shows the Stars is a great read. It is a touching and intriguing story of coming of age in a post-apoctalyptic world.



A Moment with Marcia Mickelson



   Please welcome Marcia Mickelson, another 2013 SARC author whom I had the pleasure of interviewing. I hope you enjoy!

1.) You'll be asked to describe your book a thousand times... So instead I am asking, fans of which TV show (currently playing or off-air) will enjoy your novel, The Huaca?

That’s a tough one, but maybe Roswell, Charmed, Medium, or Veronica Mars.

2.) What is currently on your nightstand?

The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith is on my nightstand. I’m always looking for a good love story.

3.) What is your writing process like? Are you a "plotter" or a "pantser"?

I am not a plotter. I tried outlining once, and after I was done, I didn’t feel like writing the book anymore. I felt like I had experienced the book while outlining it, so the magic of developing the story was gone. I don’t outline anymore. What I do, is plot out the bones of the story in my head. I write down a short list of major plot points. Then, I start writing. I don’t write from start to end. I pick which scenes I really feel like writing and then I just jum
p around until it’s done.

4.) What could be (or is) the theme song for The Huaca?

My theme song would be “Gone Too Soon” by Daughtry. In The Huaca, Ellie Cummings is suffering after the murder of her mother. Everything reminds Ellie of her mother, and the need to find out who killed her overwhelms Ellie.
5.) If you had an unlimited budget, what would be your dream swag for this novel?

My dream swag would be beautiful, hand-crafted wooden boxes like the huaca (wa’ka) depicted on the cover of my book. I would love to have one myself. Of course, they wouldn’t contain the powers of the huaca in the book!



About the Book

May 14, 2013
Cedar Fort, Inc.
ISBN: 1462111904
Seventeen-year-old Ellie Cummings just wants to be a regular teenager, but after her mother’s mysterious murder, she isn’t sure if she’ll ever be normal again. Her mother’s death has left Ellie and her father worlds apart. And when her best friend abandons her, Ellie has no one else to turn to—except for the strange boy who says he can help.

Gabe de la Cruz seems to know way too much about everything, and her instincts tell Ellie to stay far away. But when he claims that he can communicate with the dead through an ancient Incan artifact, Ellie can’t resist the temptation of seeing her mother again. In the hanan pacha—the Incan afterworld—Ellie’s mother sends a message to help Ellie understand what happened the night of the murder—a message that may be better kept a secret . . .