Rin as a Martian superhero

It's here. This is it. The week forest born emerges into the bright (smiling? unforgiving?) light of the world! Tuesday is the official day, though I'm getting reports from all over the readers now have the purple book in their hot little hands.

A note on the cover--so many of you want to know if there will be an Alison Jay cover to match the original Bayern paperbacks. There are no current plans. I am sorry about this, and am actually looking into the possibility of commissioning a painting myself, designing an alternate book jacket, and posting it here for people to download and wrap around their book, if they wish. I love the forest born cover, but I also love the originals and I understand the desire to have all the hardcovers in a series match. But there will not be an Alison Jay version for sale. Hopefully the story itself will overcome any worries about the cover! Also, there is no release date yet for a UK/Australian version.

Publisher's Weekly did an interview with me about the new book. Note that there are some minor river secrets and forest born spoilers.

While writing this book, I was struggling with character. So my husband Dean suggested a character exercise that I'd somehow never considering doing before (which seems silly now...I mean, doesn't everyone do this?). He said, "Who would Rin be in the Justice League?"

So, okay, I bit. And I went through the core members of the Justice League and assigned them all my major Bayern characters. Of course their personalities and powers aren't exact, but these are the best nearest fits.

Rin - Martian Manhunter
Isi - Superman (Dean thinks Red Tornado is more likely--but I say no to Isi as robot)
Enna - Wonder Woman (Dean votes for Fire, the Brazilian superhero)
Finn- Batman
Razo - Green Arrow
Dasha - Flash (I know, Aquaman seems more likely, but this just felt right)
Geric - Green Lantern

Comments

[Christen]

I'm so excited! Now that I have my job I can actually buy it tomorrow instead of waiting for my library to order it!! :D

Oh, the Justice League. I'm so glad you followed your husband's suggestion because imagining Finn as Batman sent me into hysterics. xD

[Annie]

That list brought out my inner nerd like nothing else. Can't wait to pick up Forest Born!

[Sherry]

I got to pick up a copy early at the Writing for Charity event in Utah. I'm glad I did, I loved this book. I don't know if it was because it's your best or because I had met you and was even more impressed with your ability to write (seeing how different you are from your characters), but I think this may have been my favorite.
I've been recommending it to everyone I know. So wonderful!

[Angie]

That is one awesome character exercise! I love it. Finn as Batman....*grin* Awesome. Can't wait to start FOREST BORN.

[Sondra Eklund]

I was going to wait for the National Book Festival and get you to sign it, but I can't stand it, so I preordered from Amazon and will bring that copy to the NBF. I'm green with envy that others found it early! (I did look on Saturday at a Borders but didn't see it. I've also got a hold at the library in case they get their copies first.)

[Kiers]

Oh, too cool! (: I am so excited for Forest Born!!!! Yippie!
Hhhhmmm.... I will have to try that with my characters. Interesting method....

[Amelia]

Can't wait!Finn as Batman is awesome!

[Enna Isilee]

If you commission a cover, I'll donate to the cause!!!

p.s. I LOVE that you have book releases near my birthday. :)

[Celes]

Yay! I saw it in Barnes and Noble in Orem on Saturday, which was cool. I'm waiting to buy my copy at the release party, though, so I can support the King's English (I am now buying books through them online!)

Can't wait!

[Tessa Reynolds]

I can't wait to get it from the library! I am very excited!!!!!!!
Signed
Age 13

[Je Reve]

Just 24 hrs til I can get to B&N to pick up my copy. I am almost catatonic. I ordered it in June. I can only imagine how I will be tomorrow... scary thought.

I love the list! I'm not a fan of JL, but I babysit enough to know those characters. Thanks for the post, Shannon!

[Kylie]

I'm so so excited for forest born!!!!!
by the way i think it'd be awesome if you wrote a book with Finn as the main character. ***LOVE HIM*** he's one of my favorite characters.

[Q]

Eep! I didn't realize it was this soon!

[Sara]

I've been anxiously awaiting Forest Born. I can't wait to get it!

[Lisa Hunsaker]

Can't wait to read it!

[Meredith B.]

We received it at the B&N I work at in Cincinnati on Friday. :-) The cover is absolutely beautiful-- the digital image doesn't do it complete justice. There's something about perfect binding that can make a cover illustration glow in ways that trade paper rarely can duplicate, and this cover is a very glowing kind of cover. It makes me think of the forest I used to imagine in the place of the tangled sumac thicket in my back yard as a child.

[Shannon M.]

Okay my town sucks. No Forest Born until tomorrow. *grumbles about suburbia*

Well...I guess I can wait less than 24 hours. Maybe. MAYBE...

[Danylle]

Martian Hunter? Who's that? I asked my husband, he said "You know the black guy on Smallville" Ooh okay now my idea of Rinn has taken a complete turn. I'm thinking of this adorable person I met named Ava who is full of spunk and amazing "girl power!"
I can TOTALLY see Razo as Green Arrow with a sling instead of a bow. I wonder if Razo has contemplated soaking his stones in poison for a more dramatic effect?
Oh and I'll help fund the commision for an Alison Jay cover, I need a complete matching set you know? Can we set up a fund for fans to contribute?Otherwise I'm just going to have to buy all new hardbacks in the new covers, and ignore the grunts of dispair coming from my spouse when he reviews the household budget.

[Libbi]

Yay for Forest Born!
I'll pick up the book as soon as possible since I got a Barnes and Noble gift card for $50 for my birthday!!!!! $50!!!! Those relatives will get a very long thank you card. :) I don't normally invest in hard cover books, but if I have $50 to spend in a bookstore and I only buy books under $10...... well, I'd probably be there til my next birthday. And besides, you're always an exception, Shannon :).

[Victoria McDaniel]

The Fanboy in me loved that post. But I am not nearly as excited about the post as I am about the book. Buying it tomorrow:)

[Sycamore]

I can't wait to read Forest Born! I just pre-ordered it today -- I can't imagine why it took me so long to do so!

As to the issue of commisioning a cover and creating a fund to do so -- I think that's a great idea! Believe me, I love the current cover, but I also have a completist impulse. I need it to match the other three! (Am I the only crazy one that way?) And Alison's art is too gorgeous to pass up.

As to the idea of a Princess Academy 2 and/or a Finn book -- YES PLEASE!!!

As to Daisy Danger Brown -- looking forward to reading it!

As to the Justice League -- nice!

Love your work, Shannon! :-)

[Lilac]

Does anyone know how many copies will be going to kings engish? Sadly I have a denitist appointemnt so I can't go tommorw 

[Cheryl]

Just finished it (B&N in Orem released it early) and I LOVE LOVE LOVED it!!!! So many twists and turns! And Rin is such a phenomenal character!

[I Read, I Bake, I Think]

I just finished it!!! Forest Born is great!! I love how you connected parts of all three books that I hadn't ever noticed could be linked!!! Great job - Forest Born know goes down as one of my all time favorites!!!!

[Amber]

I got forest born a tad over a week ago and finished it today! (i would have finished it sooner...but i started high school!) sooo i LOVED it!!!!! Bayern books are amazing....seriously CANNOT pick a fav!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dr. Sallie N. Cheinsteen]

I know I already wrote about this book, and pretty much absolutely love it. But I just wanted to include something. I am the youngest of eight children, Shannon- Rin's the youngest of seven- and so many times I've felt completely like her. Perhaps she was the hardest character to write, the one who was the most lost, but you hit it right on. That's why I cried so much at the beginning. This book was ME. And it hit me in a hard, beautiful way, that no book ever has before. Thank you.

[Juliana]

Hey Shannon :)

I picked up a copy of this from you at the Writing for Charity event a few weeks ago. I am proud to say I posted your first five-star review on amazon.com with a brief little blurb.

Here's to many more five-star reviews! Best of luck with this book.

[Laree]

I would TOTALLY be so psyched if you offered a cover for download. Actually, (and this is dorky) but the cover has actually been the reason I didn't pre-order it. I really want it to match the rest of the set!

But I can't wait to read it!

[Lindsay]

I just have to say, I love the alternate cover idea. I've never seen an author do anything like that, and it would be such a great way to connect with fans!

[Kyle]

It wasn't at Deseret Book (or Walmart or Target) and I expected it to be there for sure! I wanted it for my mom's birthday today :(

[set]

Ahhh! I just got my coppy of this book from the store! I cant wait to get into it. I am one chapter in and so far its wonderful! The idea of the downloadble book cover sounds great to me. If it happens I definatly will get it. Though the cover as it is looks really cool. Im going to read more right now!So excited.

[Melia!]

I just bought it earlier this evening! I can't put it down. So far, it is amazing. Ok. I'm going to stop typing now so I can finish it.

[Laura Z M]

If I'd known you were going to commission an Alison Jay, I wouldn't have put so much time into creating my own new dust jacket for Forest Born. It may not be worthy of your living room wall, Shannon, but it's helping me cope. (Mismatched hardcovers make me twitch.)

[Karen]

And for some reason I thought I had missed out on the opening day!!! I bought my copy Monday night at B&N and just finished this morning (grrs at having to share it with the husband who claimed I was a book thief because I took it to the dentist office with me instead of leaving it at home, KNOWING he would be looking for it. Okay. Maybe I deserved to be slowed in my reading. BUT IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!) And I'm sorry to say but I'm going to have to go with your husband on some of the descriptions, but then hey you know your characters best, right?

[Sondra Eklund]

I read Forest Born in the middle of the night last night and loved it! Literally the middle of the night - went to bed early to read it first, but was too tired. Then was lying awake in the middle of the night and couldn't resist. Also couldn't put it down until I finished.
(And perhaps I should add that my hold for Catching Fire just came in -- but it's sitting ignored until I could finish Forest Born.)
I really liked the way you tied the books together. The new talents (and new aspects to an old talent) seemed just exactly right.
Oh, and I have to say let's hear it for members of big families in children's books! I loved Rin's affinity for babies - does fit with someone who's been around many.
I'll post a starred review on Sonderbooks in a day or two. I mentioned Forest Born on the Mock Newbery blog at schoollibraryjournal.com today. Of course if I were the sole judge, all the Books of Bayern and Book of a Thousand Days would have won the medal each year!
I hope to get my book signed at the National Book Festival next week!

[Shayla]

OMG!!!! I got Forest Born the first day it came out!!!! I am in the middle of it right now i am LOVING it!!! Last night once i stopped reading for the night i totally got into the mood that Rin was in during the book!!!! So far i LOOOOOVVVVEEE IT!!! And also i tried to read all of the Bayern books again before starting Forest Born but i wasn't done when i bought it so i just decided to start it and then go over and reread them... it is also so cool how somethings even from the begining of Goose Girl tie into this book! Love it!

[Lilac]

AGH!!! i cant wait! shannon i will be at kings engish on the 19th, my name is Lilly and i cant wait to see you! you came to my school: Indian Hills a few years ago, but i was sick that day! now that i am in junior high i hope you will visit us at Hillside Middle School in Salt Lake City!!!!! :]

[Lilly]

AGH!!! i cant wait! shannon i will see you on Sept 19th at kings english for the signing! i hear they will get over 100 copies! ummm..i hope i get one...... BYE till then!

[Chelsea]

I just finished Forest Born. Oh my freaking word, Shannon, you've done it again!
And just a warning here, I'm sorry to say, if you do not write another Book of Bayern and include some romance for Rin, I'll have to learn wind-speaking and track you down :)

[MC]

Shannon, I just wanted to thank you so much for writing Forest Born. It was such a gift to read it! I had the time of my life going on ad aventure with the old (Isi, Dashi, Enna, Razo) as well as the new (Rin). One of your best books yet!

[MC]

Yeah, Chelsea, I agree with you there. I NEED ANOTHER BAYERN BOOK!

[Brooke]

I would download a special Allison Jay cover for Forest Born. I'd even be willing to pay for it.

As for the character exercise -- what, Justice League?!? No way. The Bayern characters are so definitely X-Men. Finn's Wolverine, and Geric and Isi definitely have that Cyclops/Jane Grey thing going on. Or whatever.

I think I just nerded myself out.

[Erin]

Oh, Finn is definitely Batman. That made me smile.

[Victoria]

Oh gosh, i really can't wait for Forest Born to be released in my country! I really like the Justice League! Finn is so like Batman =)

[LorLor]

YESSSS!!!!!!!! MY MOM ORDERED FOREST BORN!!!!!!!! It'll take 5 to 9 days though. :(

[Lilac]

I hope you do download the other cover on your site! I have all the books from bayern and princess acdemy in the painting/Alison jay cover and would LUV3 having the forest in that cover too!

[Christy]

Love the idea for a matching cover! I would pay money to have it! The new cover is cute - but in my heart, nothing beats the Alison Jay covers - they are what first caught my eye and got me started on this fabulous adventure (the fabulous writing and great story kept me here!)

[Molly]

AHH! I did not know another Bayern book was in the works! What a lucky treat! I cannot wait. Cannot. Wait. Thank you!

[Sara W.]

i cant wait!!! the fourth one must be absoloutley irresistable!!

[Kyle]

In your interview you said people wanted a story about Finn, well I don't. That seems like it would be boring.

But your interview made me very excited for DDB!!!

(And a little hopeful for another Bayern book.)