Swag. I always have cool swag when I go to the American Library Association Annual conference. This is the front of the bookmark we'll be giving out with the galleys for The Marbury Lens.
On the back of the card is the following:
Sixteen-year-old Jack gets drunk and is in the wrong place at the wrong time. He gets kidnapped. He escapes, narrowly, but when his best friend Conner concocts a scheme to get even with Jack’s abductor, something goes horribly wrong.
Jack is tormented by guilt, and when his California family sends him away to school in England, his paranoia consumes him. He is convinced people are watching him, following him.
Someone is.
Henry has been waiting for Jack to show up in London, and when he arrives, Henry dupes Jack into taking a pair of glasses. Through the lenses, Jack sees another world called Marbury.
There is war and disease in Marbury. It is a desolate and murderous place where Jack is responsible for the survival of two younger boys named Ben and Griffin. Jack’s best friend Conner is there in Marbury, too. But in Marbury, Conner is trying to kill Jack.
A few days ago, a high school student who was one of the few people on the planet to receive a this-early advance copy of The Marbury Lens asked me about names in the book, and why I chose to name this place "Marbury" -- if it had anything to do with anything.
Fair enough question.
So, tomorrow, I'm going to write a post about where names come from -- at least for me -- and what sometimes happens to them along the way.
