Falling Under launch party
Posting today is extra special for me as I’ve just returned from one of the greatest launch parties I’ve ever attended–for Debutante Danielle Younge Ullman’s FALLING UNDER. Not only do I love this book, I had the honor of blurbing it. As a former Deb and Founder, I felt a bit misty watching Danielle read last night. If any of you get the chance to hear Danielle read, take it. Knock the newspaper boy off his bike, drag him inside to watch the kids, and get yourself into the audience toute suite. Danielle is an actress and she does not “read” from her book, she acts out the scenes. Fabulous. I attended the event at the Rivoli with Adrienne Kress (Alex and the Ironic Gentleman) and Lesley Livingstone (Wondrous Strange) and a good time was had by all. Or it was from where I sat.
Okay, on to what’s been going on since I last attended The Ball. First off, I miss you guys! Seriously. Initially my slothful side was happy to put weekly blogging aside but I feel as if I’ve moved away from some great friends. I don’t know, maybe we need to invent some debauched Post-Ball after party where we all sit around in our torn dresses and tarnished tiaras–smoking clove cigarettes, drinking backwash from forgotten glasses we found on the floor, talking about innocence lost and zen attitudes found.
Like Anna, things didn’t happen as I expected. Town House came out quietly in the U.S., but to massive media interest in Canada. It was surreal to this little wannabe-agoraphobe, and I rattled the confidence of photographers all over Toronto as I was shot for various pieces, each time telling them I’m like a ghost who doesn’t appear in a photograph. They’ll shoot away, thinking they’re shooting a regular human, then they’ll look at their shots later and think, “What the F—?”
Town House wound up surprising us all this winter by being a regional finalist for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize–something my editor says has never happened for a humorous book. So that was a happy, sappy, weepy, kneeling on the rug looking up and wailing “I’ll always have this” kind of moment. The whole thing was very James Bond because the finalists are informed two weeks before winners are picked (in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Canada & the Caribbean) and are told they cannot even tell their agent, mother or worst frenemy. There is a news embargo and you’re warned if news leaks you’re forever banned and can never win and go on to meet the Queen. And, well, I kinda want to meet her. So I told my husband and no one else. And now that all of you know I can keep a secret, call me. Spill all. I can take it.
Then, under the heading of “Always Go to Everything You’re Invited To,” I was excited to be auctioned off like a trip to the spa or a bracelet made of swirly goo at a charity event and, as a result, attended a book club meeting with some fabulous ladies in Toronto. I read from Town House, and the next thing I knew I was being called by a producer who loved The Invisible Rules of the Zoe Lama. So the book is in development as a TV series and I’m having a ball as “consulting producer.”
Inside Out Girl US cover
One week ago, Inside Out Girl came out in the US, where Target picked it as a “Breakout Book.” I haven’t seen the display yet, but apparently it’s on a special shelfy thing with a sticker and everything. We’ve had a great review on Bookreporter.com and About.com, as well as Chateleine, ELLE, and Maclean’s magazine. If anyone wants to know more about the book other than it centers around a learning-disabled child who becomes an accidental superhero to the people around her, you can find out on my website, TishCohen.com.
As for the Town House film, we’ve had lots of waiting because of the writers’ strike, but the director’s new script is now final and apparently we’ve moved into casting. John Carney was in USA Today a few months ago talking about the Town House script, and I’ve just heard it’s on its way to me and I couldn’t be more excited.
Other than all this, I’ve just finished my first book for teens (Little Black Lies) and I’m working on the next adult book, which is set in Toronto and Los Angeles. I’m pretty excited about both of these, actually, and hope to one day come up with an actual title for the LA book.
If you’ll allow me a moment to gush about my kids, my younger son, Lucas, is at overnight camp for the first time and just wrote to say his cabin is “sick” (ultimate praise coming from a twelve-year-old). And my older son (who has just reached 6’3″!) won the 2008 Stephen Leacock student prize for his essay “I Hate Mondays.” Max also had special mention in an adult short story contest over at the Smoking Gun for his darker story “Carrion,” and is now working on his first novel.
I’ll say it again, I miss all of you and love hearing all the spectacular things you’re up to!
August 19th, 2008
| Posted by Tish | Tish Cohen, Town House, book brags
| 18 Comments
Deb News
Unpredictable hit at #24 on the Barnes and Noble Romance Trade Bestseller List! A round of champagne for all. Eileen wants to offer up a huge thanks to everyone who has helped with spreading the word. Her book tour starts this week so check her site for a list of dates and locations.
Deb Jenny appeared here on Valentine’s Day and is resting comfortably after the SLEEPING WITH WARD CLEAVER debut blitz 
. 
She’ll be speaking at the Virginia Writers Club on Wednesday, February 20, from 6:30-8:30. She also appears online this week at OnceWritten.com.
Deb Jenny got a wonderful review from Fresh Fiction: “SLEEPING WITH WARD CLEAVER is as clever as its title. Jenny Gardiner dares to delve into the dark underbelly of marriage, answering the question “What really happens when ‘happily ever after’ doesn’t last as long as one might hope?” While Claire’s emails will have you rolling on the floor, and the upbeat supporting characters provide a great counterpoint to Claire’s often pessimistic outlook, the heart of the story is in the painful honesty with which Claire faces the hard work necessary to make a marriage succeed. You’ll want to believe that love really can conquer all.”
And lastly, Deb Jenny has a short story in the new Dreams & Desires 2 anthology, for which complete proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to an emergency shelter for battered women. Reviews have been wonderful for the collection, that includes a number of well-known women’s fiction and romance authors, including Candace Havens, Gemma Halliday, Rhonda Stapleton, Lois Winston, Rachelle Chase, Susan Lyons, Amanda Brice and more. The anthology was also featured as a Fresh Fiction Fresh pick. CocktailReviews.com says of Deb Jenny’s story: “A fab story that made me laugh out loud. With a great voice—one that endeared me to Julia immediately—There’s No Place Like Home is a must read.”
Founder News
Founder Tish Cohen’s debut novel, Town House has been nominated for the Commonwealth Prize in the Best First Book category for Canada/Caribbean region! Winners are announced March 13, and regional winners are flown to South Africa for the final awards. Final winners get to meet the Queen. As in The Queen! No, actually, it’s this Queen.
Deb Founder Mia King‘s next novel, SWEET LIFE, has a cover! In bookstores everywhere September 2008 …
Meet New Yorker Marissa Price, corporate exec turned full-time mom. When her husband Paul is offered a position in Hawaii, it seems like the perfect opportunity for Marissa to finally kick back, to trade in her stilettos for sandals. More importantly, she hopes the move will give her flailing marriage the jumpstart it so desperately needs. Sure, the house is a rambling, expensive eyesore and a single box of cereal costs $8, but that’s the price of paradise, right?
Then Paul enters a midlife crisis, quits his job and moves out, leaving Marissa to fend for herself and their precocious eight-year old daughter, Pansy. Marissa finds allies in the unlikeliest of friends as she comes up with ways to fund their way back to New York, and discovers that the pursuit of paradise may not be so futile after all.
Contest News:
Thanks to all who participated in the Deb Eileen Cook, Unpredictable Launch Week contest. The winner is: Joanne Levy! Congratulations Joanne!
February 17th, 2008
| Posted by Danielle | Jenny Gardiner, Mia King, News Flash, Sleeping With Ward Cleaver, Sweet Life, Tish Cohen, Town House
| One Comment
I’ve never been one for drawn-out goodbyes, especially when I have children and dogs running into the room full of delicious ideas, like blueberry pancakes and long walks in the snow. I just want to say to my fellow founders, I’ve loved getting to know you all. It was heaven having others to share in the publication process. I wish you the very best and hope we’ll stay in touch. To this year’s Debs, enjoy your debut moment, try to stay relaxed, and enjoy this, your first book. To all the loyal Deb readers–you guys are the best. Your support helped get me through a very wild year, so thank you for everything!
As for me, I’m spending most of my time camped out by the fire on my living room floor, writing a new book. For me, there is no better way to pass my days. THE ONE AND ONLY ZOE LAMA will be out in July and INSIDE OUT GIRL in August, and is about an overprotective mother, her teenage daughter besotted by the girl next door and a man hiding a terrible secret–and how their lives are changed forever by a learning-disabled 10-year-old girl who desperately needs a hero.. In Canada, the mass-market paperback version of TOWN HOUSE will be released with P.S. pages at the back.
Come mid-January, you will also be able to find me writing a weekly serial on a brand new website (a sort of Youtube/Facebook for the horse world) called barnmice.com. I hope you’ll stop by, my saga is to be something of a Desperate Housewives in a luxurious international stable. Here’s a little teaser…
UNBRIDLED, a salacious and hay-covered weekly saga set in a most sumptuous North America stable.
-Threadbare Aubusson rugs in the barn loo.
-A dust-coated Monet in the tack room.
-Five tinkling Austrian crystal chandeliers in the viewing room.
Which begs the question –who is swinging from them?
Maxim - a wealthy, preening, milquetoast of an international hunter/jumper star who owns the barn. Walks with a swagger from who-knows-what. Heads roll if Maxim cannot see his own preening reflection in the sheen of his boots. Specifically, Gelden’s.
Hillary - Maxim’s flaxen-haired goddess of an unappreciated wife. Has four Bedlington Terrier’s, all of whom have the word “Lamb” in their names, one of whom chewed up the precious Persion rug in the viewing room. If Hillary has a flaw, it has yet to be found.
Gelden – the romantically castrated, stable manchild hopelessly besotted with Hillary. He’s 90% sure she feels the same way. Maxim is his much-despised 2nd cousin. They shared a playpen as infants. Now Gelden lives in an claptrap apartment above Maxim’s quarantine Barn.
Pammie - Gelden’s co-worker. Spends way too much time thinking about how many cinnamon rolls are left in the tack room. Is rumored to have enjoyed a drunken romp with Gelden in a temporary show stall in Santa Barbara. Gelden doesn’t remember. Pammie can’t forget.
Bounder – Pammie’s randy lurcher of unknown origins. Has bedded each of Hillary’s “Beds.” A scoundrel of a dog willing to swipe his own mistress’s last cinnamon crumb.
December 8th, 2007
| Posted by Tish | 2007 Debs, Farewell, Tish Cohen, Town House
| 7 Comments
Deb News:
Deb Danielle’s Falling Under received a great endorsement this week: “What happens when our heroine wants mindless sex and the new guy wants – gulp – to get to know her? Mara’s journey is a wild ride, back toward the harrowing story of her first love and forward toward the possibility of new love. Danielle Younge-Ullman writes about human connections with thrilling energy, honesty, and fury. And her sex scenes are as raw and gutsy as any I’ve ever read.” Ellen Sussman, Bad Girls: 26 Writers Misbehave (WW Norton) and On A Night Like This (Warner Books)
Guest Author Series:
This week we are thrilled to have Karen Karbo, journalist and author of numerous fiction and non-fiction books. Karen’s latest, Minerva Clark Gives Up The Ghost, has just been released and also hot on the shelves in 2007 is Karen’s How to Hepburn: Lessons in Living from Kate the Great.
Deb Founder and Deb Friends:
Tish Cohen, Bev Katz Rosenbaum and Adrienne Kress will all be doing reading/signings at Toronto’s Word on the Street festival today. If you’re in Toronto, check out this fab literary festival!
Deb Friends:
We are thrilled for Lynne Griffin, whose debut novel Life Without Summer has sold in a pre-empt to St. Martin’s Press.
Tasha Alexander (from one of our favourite grogs http://www.good-girls-kill.com/) has had a big week with a two-book deal from Minotaur for her historical novel Tears of Pearl, and the release of of her novel, Elizabeth, The Golden Age. We hope you’re enjoying every second, Tasha!
Greg Logsted sold his YA, Alibi Junior High to Simon MIX. Congrats Greg!
September 30th, 2007
| Posted by Danielle | 2008 Debs, Authors on the Web, Falling Under, News Flash, Tish Cohen, Town House, guest author
| 2 Comments
A good friend told me today that she’s never met anyone quite so obsessed with jeans as me. My answer was that if anyone else had had the wild and wooly denim ride I’ve had over the past two years, they’d be every bit as manic.
It began with what was supposed to be a one-time denim splurge–a pair of gorgeous, faded black, boot-leg Sevens that cost more than all the pajama bottoms and sweatpants I’ve ever owned. But, I reasoned with myself, the cost was justified as I planned to wear them constantly. The cost per wearing would be so low, I figured I couldn’t afford NOT to buy them. I picked them up just after Town House sold (and I went into my own personal agoraphobic hell, which left me five pounds lighter) and they served me well until spring, making me feel fairly normal and chic the few times I got out of the house and mixed with actual people. Their ultimate fate? My husband accidentally threw them into a hot dryer, I gained a few post-recluse pounds. There’ll be no squeezing into them ever again. Cost per wearing = about $18.
Naturally, once I got through the five stages of shrinkage grief, I dove back into the expensive jean pool, snapping up a faded-beyond-belief-with-requisite-rock-star-shreds-and-holes pair of flares. Also Sevens. The week after I bought them, the fashion world declared flares to be over and I had them taken in. Big mistake. My rock star jeans looked like something you’d see on a pasty teenage boy, only he’d have made them more stylish by sewing marijuana and ACDC patches on the ass and never, ever washing them. Ultimate fate? Other than my own bastardization of their once glorious cut, my husband threw them in a hot dryer, rendering them both ugly AND too small. CPW = $200. Worn once, they didn’t even take me into summer 2006.
Being a girl who learns from her mistakes, I thought I’d give chichi jeans one more go. This time, NO dryer and no more buying jeans that actually fit. Nooo way. I wasn’t going to be sucked into that scheme again. This time I bought overpriced blue Seven jeans one size too big. That the rear end sagged like my toddler nephew’s onesie didn’t bother me in the slightest. These jeans took me to New York and back. Through interviews and editor lunches. To LA, and Boston. They were with me waiting by my gate at JFK while terrorists were arrested for attempting to bomb the gasline. They were with me when David Spade held the door for my kids and I at Norm’s in West Hollywood. They’d be with me still if not for one unfortunate event: my husband threw them into a hot dryer. CPW= about $2. They served me well. RIP, my darlings.
This all-too-brief Golden Age in my denim history was followed by what I now refer to as my Fleece and Flannel Period. I’d been spoiled by blue Sevens and dared not attempt jeans again. It was nothing but sweatpants and lumberjack pajama bottoms for longer than I care to admit. Oh, I gambled on a few pairs of American Eagle jeans, but they were centimeters too short and, as a result of slipshod and callous bodily calculations, sliced me in half dangerously close to the bladder.
Which brings us to publication day. I didn’t need a publicist to tell me I couldn’t show up at book events in my flannels. Back to the expensive jeans store, the very source of my angst. This time, I choose a straightforward, mid-rise, dark blue pair of straight-leg jeans. Nothing spectacular, nothing rock star-ish. A sensible choice, I thought. My denim senses were maturing. I managed to squeak two wears out of them–one with Rex Pickett and Anna David, the other in a New York heat wave with far-too-wintry boots and always-summery Patry Francis. Then I went home and it happened. My husband threw them into a hot dryer. CPW = $120.
Two years later and it’s finally sunken in. I’m a denim fool. Having nothing to wear for my Word on the Street reading this Sunday in Toronto, I marched straight past the pricey store and straight into Gap. I bought two pairs of sale jeans, both darkish Long and Lean cut, and skipped out of there for less than a quarter of the cost of any of the others. And the truth is, my ass looks just as lousy in these as they did in the fancy jeans. And the best part? Based on my crappy average CPW of $85 over the past two years, I can’t lose. Even if my husband throws them into a hot dryer while they’re still inside the bag, tags attached, my numbers have to improve. They only cost $69.
September 29th, 2007
| Posted by Tish | 2007 Debs, Tish Cohen, Town House, fashion
| 23 Comments
We’ve never had a living room before. Well, technically, the room came with the house, but other than lining one wall with our dream floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, we’ve always pretty much ignored the room, only stopping by to search for a book, or store a hockey bag, or display the piano I swore I’d learn how to play but eventually wound up selling.
The room was a glorified garage.
One evening, as our kids entertained pals in the den, my husband and I parked our friends in our living room/garage for drinks. Two of us were lucky enough to have chairs from my grandmother’s basement. My husband sat on an unpopened crate of Town House books. Another guy sat on a skateboard.
My friend balanced her drink on the vaccum canister and said, “You guys are fortyish now. Isn’t it time for a real living room?”
She had a point. Even my husband agreed she had a point.
It was time to grow up.
Then came the news that, in order to promote an upcoming literary festival, my house was to be featured in the home section of a newspaper. I panicked. My house, my gardens, they’re all suffering from the same problem–absolute neglect.
The interviewer said they’d need to shoot in 3-4 rooms and they gave about two months’ notice. Just enough time to pick out a couple of sofas, some tables, pick up a few lamps and a pair of curtains. And, of course, we’d need to paint. And if we painted the living room, we’d need to paint the dining room, and the kitchen, which I painted yellow once, to match a sweatshirt I’ve since threw out. And then we’d need to paint the hall, which meant painting all the way up the stairs.
I didn’t break this painting news to my husband all at once. I broke it to him gently, one Town House white, washable matte latex gallon at a time.
As the summer weeks passed, we spent our evenings laboring away to get the house ready. Painting. Scrubbing. Moving furniture.
I found a huge five dollar metal milk can with the bottom rusted out, painted it black and filled it with tall sticks. I bought a ten dollar wooden ladder, stained and waxed it and propped it in a corner and hung blankets from it. I ordered tables from the Mennonites and rearranged the bookshelves. I picked up linen curtains from Ikea. I dug up a silver tray from my mother and polished it–yes, using actual silver polish–and filled the tray with thick, white candles.
When the room was fully furnished, I drove up to Newmarket to a particularly toothsome antique mall with prices time seems to have forgotten. For two years, I’d been stalking a vintage ceramic German Shepherd. It was oversized, about the size of a malnourished rabbit, black, brown and cream, with a bright red tongue. Sleek, stylized, 1950′s chic. The canine equivalent of chrome-bordered kitchen table, a beehive hairdo, or an avocado-colored stove.
At $20, the dog was hardly a splurge. I don’t know why it took me two full years to make this purchase. I didn’t trust myself. Just kept walking away, daring myself to forget about the gaudy Alsatian.
In the end, I couldn’t.
A few weeks ago, I bought it. Carried it home and set it on the fireplace.
The living room was complete.
(On a side note, that very day, my youngest son was looking for a book. I told him it was in the living room. He looked confused. “Where’s the living room?” he asked. Poor lamb. This is what our delayed growing up has done to our children. They’re lost in their own home.)
Today, the photographer arrived to shoot the house. We’ve been straightening and cleaning every night this week. While the main floor looked pristine, the upstairs was groaning with laundry baskets, paint cans, and ugly bits and bobs we’d pulled off the main floor. The upstairs had become our new, if temporary, glorified garage.
The photographer asked which rooms he could shoot. I showed him three or four, just like I’d been told. The photographer shot the kitchen, dining room, den, and, of course, the living room. We were done. I could finally relax–no more tidying, fussing and cleaning!
The photographer turned to me and smiled. Said he needed more rooms. He’d been told to shoot seven rooms. Maybe eight. Nine would be best. He glanced up the stairs and said, “Shall we head up?”
August 24th, 2007
| Posted by Tish | Tish Cohen, Town House
| 13 Comments
Deb News! Deb Lisa’s book FIFTEEN MINUTES OF SHAME (PLUME, MARCH 2008) received a fabulous endorsement from best selling author CLARE NAYLOR (LOVE: A USERS GUIDE and THE FIRST ASSISTANT) this week — “I was instantly hooked on Darby’s life which had me laughing and cheering her on as she gets mad AND even.”
Deb News! Deb Danielle’s book FALLING UNDER (PLUME, AUGUST 2008) received a wonderful endorsment from Founding Deb, TISH COHEN, author of Town House. “As heartfelt as it is tragic, FALLING UNDER tells the touching story of an artist’s childhood crippled by divorce and emotional neglect. A fearless, penetrating debut.”
Founding Deb News! Founder Tish Cohen appears in today’s Toronto Star in the Entertainment section discussing the recent Variety article announcing TOWN HOUSE beginning film production in January. Online (photoless) version here: http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/247661
TOWN HOUSE was also featured on ModernGirlStyle.com this week. http://www.moderngirlstyle.com/
Deb Friends!
Deb friend and fellow Backspacer Heather Brewer released her much-heralded YA vampire story, The Chronicles of Vladimir Todd: Eighth Grade Bites, this week, with a cool trailer, a window display at a local B&N and lots of great expectations! Congrats Heather!
Another Deb friend and fellow Backspacer, Patricia Wood’s recently-released Lottery has garnered glowing reviews from the Washington Post, the New York Times and USA Today. Congratulations Pat!
And yet another Deb friend and fellow Backspacer has a YA book out to great reviews: Adrienne Kress‘ Alex and the Ironic Gentleman. Congrats Toothpaste!
August 19th, 2007
| Posted by admin | 2008 Debs, Authors on the Web, Danielle Younge-Ullman, Falling Under, Fifteen Minutes of Shame, News Flash, Tish Cohen, Town House, press mentions
| No Comments
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