Jeri Smith-Ready

Blogtoberfest Day 19 - Maggie Stiefvater

The winner of the ARC of OF ALL THE STUPID THINGS by Alexandra Diaz is...Karen! Karen, I don't have your e-mail, so please send your mailing address to jeri AT jerismithready DOT com. Thanks to everyone who commented, for their enthusiastic support of this debut author!

Today's Blogtoberguest is NY Times-bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater (pronounced like "Steve-Otter"), who is not only an amazing and lyrical novelist, but is also a visual artist and a musician (music is always important in her books, which makes me heart them so).

Her latest novel, Ballad, is a stand-alone sequel to her debut Lament (click the links to learn more about them). Within the treasure trove that is her website, I found this amazing animated storybook for Ballad, created by Maggie herself.




Today Maggie's here to give away a copy of Ballad and talk about what Halloween means to her.


For me, it’s not Halloween until it’s evening. One of my sisters loves the pageantry—the costumes, the candy, the movies. Halloween for her doesn’t just last all day, it lasts all week. All month. But for me, this is Halloween: darkness. I don’t mind the costumes and revelry. I don’t mind that my son is dressed as a race car driver and my daughter as a monkey—no, princess!—no, baby kitten!

But to me, it’s not really Halloween. I like the old bits about Halloween. The fact that it’s transitional, and it’s about the end of the year, and the end of life, and the end of the day. That’s why Halloween happens in evening for me. It’s when things start to change. To darken. To shift into other things. Everything starts dying in October, so that other things can come to life later.

I set my latest novel, BALLAD, around Halloween, for that reason. Not only is the year changing and transitioning but so are my characters as they come head to head with the faeries. It’s disgustingly exciting to write about as an author; such a dynamic thing to watch. In folklore, it’s always the transitions and edges that are most dangerous. The shift from one season to another. The shift from day to night. The place where water meets the sand. The pause between one frenzied song to another.

So bring it on, Halloween. While the rest of the world curls up with the 16th Saw movie or whatever they’re up to, I’m going to be hunkering down and waiting until the world gets dark, and feeling that chill crawl up my spine as the world changes from minute to minute. I love it.


To enter to win a signed copy of Ballad, leave a comment below. And remember, each comment automatically enters you in the drawing for the grand prize package: all 25 books!

For complete rules, read the introductory post.

Deadline for entry: Saturday, October 31 (appropriately enough), 11:59pm Eastern. NOTE: THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED. The winner is Sylvia!

Melissa Walker and Lovestruck Summer
Sydney Salter and My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters
Christine Marciniak and When Mike Kissed Emma
Tricia Mills and Heartbreak River
Simone Elkeles and Perfect Chemistry

Thanks so much to Maggie for sharing her thoughts on Halloween (with which I completely agree)!

Labels: Blogtoberfest, Contests, guests

• posted by Jeri @ 8:59 AM
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