A REBORN Excerpt

A while back, someone asked me on Twitter to post an excerpt of REBORN. Of course, I said yes. Because I love sharing teasers! I had planned on posting this back when that dear, sweet reader asked for an excerpt, but I've been having website issues and just now fixed it. Or it seems to be fixed. If you have any issues posting comments or navigating on here, please tweet me or email!

So to celebrate getting the site back up and running, and to do what I promised I'd do, I'm posting an excerpt of REBORN from Nick's point-of-view. This takes place early in the book, and you'll see Nick has gotten himself in a bit of trouble. I really did love writing Nick. He was sometimes unpredictable. Sometimes so kind and caring it hurt. I seriously can't wait for you all to read REBORN.

All right, here we go!

--------------

Anna gave me a shove. "Sit down so I can take a look at your injuries." All trace of the earlier panic was gone, leaving only her exasperation, and a driving need to take care of something that was broken. Unfortunately, that something was me.

"You don't have to—"

"I know I don't have to." Her jaw tensed. "Sit down."

I closed the toilet seat and sat, feeling the ache of the fight settling into my joints. I needed pain killers. Maybe something stronger than OTC.

"Where's Sam?" I asked.

"In town, filling the gas cans."

"Cas?"

She bent down to fish out the first aid kit from beneath the sink. "He went running about a half hour ago." She unzipped the kit on the vanity top and started tearing into gauze packs. I caught her hand mid tear and she glared over at me.

"Stop," I said. "Don't waste the supplies. A rag will do."

She frowned, but didn't argue, and switched over to a rag she dug out of the closet. She wetted it down and came over to me, hunching so we were face to face.

Her blond hair was braided, and it hung over her shoulder, tied off with a black rubber band. Dark shadows painted the skin beneath her eyes. She hadn't been sleeping well lately. Flashbacks and old demons haunting her out of bed. I could relate. None of us really slept well, except for Cas. Cas could sleep through an air raid.

Anna cleaned the blood from my face, and the open wound on the side of my eye, working with the methodic confidence of a professional, even though she wasn't.

"Why do you keep doing this?" she mumbled.

I scowled. "Why do you keep asking?"

Another frown. It was her default expression with me.

"What's going on, Nick? Is it more flashbacks?"

Yes.

I looked past her at the towel hanging from the towel rack. It used to be brown. Now it was a faded mud color.

I saw a flash of a girl and I slammed my eyes shut.

I kept seeing her. The same girl. And every time I did, she was shaking. No, not shaking. Trembling.

REBORN: More on Nick's Book

I’ve received a lot of questions about Reborn (Altered #3), especially now that people have read Erased, so I thought I’d do another update post for those of you who might be new to the series (or the blog).

Altered and Erased were Anna’s books, and her story ended with Erased. But, while her story has an end, the Branch’s story doesn’t. The same could be said for the boys. There are still a lot of holes in the boys’ pasts. Who were they before the Branch? How did they come to work together? This was something I wanted to explore in Reborn, and I really really wanted to explore it with Nick.

Reborn is Nick’s book, for sure, but it will be told in a dual POV. Half from Nick’s POV, and half from a new girl character’s POV. If you read my old post about A3, then you might have heard me call her Callie, but once I started writing the book, I realized she wasn’t a Callie at all. So I changed her name! It’s now Elizabeth, and it fits so much better.

Nick has been having flashbacks about his life before and after joining the Branch, and there’s one girl he can’t get out of his head. He breaks from the group to do a bit more digging, and that’s when the action begins. Who is this girl? And is she connected to the Branch?

Reborn is very close to being finished (YAY!), so I can confidently say that it turned out to be a lot different than Altered and Erased. For one, it’s a dual POV, and one of those POVs is a genetically altered (male) badass. I’ve never really tackled writing a male POV (other than Trout in Bot Wars – but he’s a preteen, so it’s different!). Nick doesn’t see the world the same way Anna does. That was an adjustment, but a great writing experience. He’s also a lot angrier, a lot more broken, and a bit unpredictable. I loved writing him.

Elizabeth is also broken, for many reasons, and I certainly don’t want to give anything away. But, I can say, she’s a perfect match for Nick, in that they’re both confused about the past, present, and especially their future. They both have a lot of healing to do before either of them can let another person into their lives.

When I set out to write this book, and when I tried to picture who would make a great companion for Nick, I originally pictured a girl who was as equally badass as Nick, someone to whip him into shape, someone who wouldn’t take his crap. But then I realized, Nick would never let someone like that into his life. He would immediately go on the defensive. He grew up in a home where he was constantly pushed around, whipped into shape, and those kinds of strong personalities turn Nick off.

What someone like Nick needs is a person who is not afraid of a damaged past, who knows what pain is, and who would accept him, flaws and all.

I love writing characters who kickass, especially female characters that kickass! But strength can come in many forms, and I thought perhaps it was time to write a female character that, on the outside, is the opposite of kickass, but on the inside, is as strong as steel.

Reborn is a long ways away (eleven months!) but I can’t wait for people to read it. It IS different from Altered and Erased, but I think it’s a good different. And of course, there IS lots of ass kicking!

If you have any other questions about Reborn, drop them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer! 

Salt & Erased Release Day Fun

It’s Friday! And you know what that means? ERASED is only 3 days away from being released! Not only that, but my good friend, Danielle Ellison, has a book coming out the same day. SALT is a YA about witches and hot boys, and I highly recommend you read it.

Danielle and I are hosting a Twitter party January 7^th 9-10 PM EST to celebrate our release day. We’ll be giving away books and swag, answering questions, and most certainly chatting about hot guys. We hope you all can make it! But, in the event you’re busy (kids, homework, deadlines, your own hot guy), we wanted to give everyone a chance to win a prize pack simply by entering through the Rafflecopter form below. It’s that easy!

Here’s what you’ll win:

I'm throwing in some Altered bookmarks and Altered boy pins as well, and Danielle is throwing in a necklace with a salt charm. So, you'll definitely be winning some great prizes! 

Enter on the Rafflecopter form below, and if you can make it, we'd love to see you at the Twitter party on January 7th 9PM! Follow along on the #HotBoysWin hashtag.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FORGED Cover Reveal!

We are just over a month away from the release of the Altered prequel, FORGED, and I seriously cannot wait for you guys to read it. Even more so now that the cover is final and I get to share with you!

I LOVE it. Obviously. If there is a shirtless guy involved, then I'm there.

You may be wondering who it is on the cover. With Altered, Sam was on the cover. Erased, it was Nick. And with FORGED, it's Connor! The bad guy in Altered is on the cover of FORGED and I'm seriously stoked for you all to find out how he fits into Dani's story. Was Connor always the bad guy? You'll have to read FORGED to find out!

So what do you guys think? :-)

FORGED releases on December 3, 2013. Pre-order it now!

Pre-order on AMAZON
Pre-order on BARNES & NOBLE

ERASED ARC contest favs!

First, let me apologize about how long it took me to get this post together for the ERASED ARC contest. We're still in the midst of moving (I feel like I'm swimming in boxes), and Altered 3 was due today! So it's been crazy over here. 

This ARC contest is by far one of my favorite contests ever. You guys are seriously talented people, and you picked some of the hottest guys for the fan casting. It was sooooo hard to narrow it down!

For this post, I'm sharing my top 5 (actually, it ended up being 7) Altered/Erased fan art picks. You guys get to help me narrow it down to just one. There will be a poll below. Vote for your favorite one and the winner will get an ARC of ERASED! I seriously can't wait to see what you guys vote for. Because I'm not sure I could pick just one if it came down to it. 

On Friday, I will officially announce the winners of the Fan Art portion, and the Fan Casting portion (I'm picking the winner of this one), of the contest. Voting ends at 2PM EST on Friday. I will contact the winners shortly after. 

Okay, enough of me talking. Let's get to the good stuff! 

#1

by @katnipsonfire

#2
by street of mercy

#3
by mig art

#4

by sturmhond

#5

by adaamkent

#6

by @sleepsontables

#7

by Adzs

Now, get to voting! 

I'm giving away TWO ERASED ARCS!

I have been hoarding my ARCs of ERASED for several months now. And I think it's time to give a few away. Of course, there will be many more chances to win copies, as I have a few more giveaways planned for later this fall, closer to the release date.

But I'm so excited about this contest, I couldn't hold on to it any longer. Because it involves two of my very favorite things: fan castings and fan art.

So here are the details!

FIRST WAY TO WIN

If Altered were a movie, who would play Sam? Cas? Nick or Trev? Or Anna? Put together the very best cast and post it on Tumblr, your blog, Twitter, Facebook, somewhere where I can see it. I'll be picking the very best casts (and will have some friends weigh in as well!).

SECOND WAY TO WIN

One of my very favorite things in the world is fan art. I love seeing what fans make for Shadow and Bone, and The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, and Teen Wolf and Supernatural. The internet is an artsy place, and I want more of it!

Create fan art for Altered and post it at any of the above mentioned places. I'll pick my top five favs and post them here, and ask the Internet to vote!

The fan art can be anything, from an Altered cover, to an altered image (see what I did there), to a song you wrote, a poem, an Altered trailer, to a poster you made with markers on your kitchen table. However you want to make it!

For some great examples of fan art, check out this and this and this and this.

THE DEETS
Wherever you post, be sure to tag it with #AlteredSeries. That's how I'll track what's posted. And if you're worried about whether or not the entry has been counted, feel free to email me at jennvrush [at] gmail [dot] com with a link to where I can find it.

The contest starts NOW! And will end September 23rd. I'll post the top five fan art entries on the 23rd. Winners will be announced September 27th.

Contest is open internationally!

If you have any questions, feel free to comment below!

Now, GOOOO! 

(I am so excited about this one you guys. SO EXCITED)

An Altered 3 Teaser: Nick's Perspective

For those of you who don't follow on Twitter, I posted an Altered 3 teaser. More importantly, a Nick teaser.

When my editor suggested I try writing Altered 3 from the dual perspectives of Nick and Elizabeth (the new girl!), I was immediately terrified. 

Nick is special to me. So special in fact, I might even consider him my favorite character. And I was worried about ruining him. I was worried I wouldn't do him justice. 

Since Altered 3 is still in its early stages, I'm not sure if I am doing him justice, but one thing I can say is I am loving writing him. More than I thought I would. And its easy to write him. Maybe even easier than Elizabeth, or even Anna. Nick's voice/character has always been extremely clear to me, and I've found that writing from his POV is an amazing experience. 

I'm hoping it continues as I finish drafting Altered 3. And I hope my editor loves him as much as I do. And more importantly, I hope readers love him! 

ALTERED: THE BEGINNING

I have news! I tweeted about this last week, so for those of you who've already heard the news, forgive the repost.

Also, a warning, if you haven't read Altered, there *may* be spoilers in this post. I will try to highlight them as a pre-warning warning. :-)

From Publisher's Marketplace:
Jennifer Rush's ALTERED: The Beginning, a digital original prequel to the Altered series, shedding light on how the Branch came to be and how the boys, and a girl's older sister first became involved with the organization, to Pam Gruber at Little, Brown Children's, for ebook publication in Fall 2013, by Joanna Volpe at New Leaf Literary & Media (World English).

I am BEYOND thrilled to continue writing in the Altered world, especially when it dives even deeper into the past of the characters and the Branch. [SPOILER] The "older sister" mentioned in the summary is Dani, Anna's older sister. I wrote Dani's origin story way back before Altered sold, and I couldn't wait to share them with the world. Originally we had considered putting them in the back of the Altered paperback, or the Erased hardcover, but at the time, the Dani pages were only about 2,000 words or so, and I knew her story was so much more than that. Furthermore, some of what is revealed in those original pages are revealed in Erased. And I didn't want to repeat what readers might already know. [END SPOILER]

I told my agent and editor that I wanted to do a novella in the Altered world earlier this year, and thankfully Little, Brown was on board! It all happened fairly quickly, and before I knew it, I was drafting the novella at lightning speed so it would be ready for release this year. I turned in the first draft last month, and my equally lightning fast editor already returned first round edits. Which are brilliant! No surprise there!

When I announced the news on Twitter, I received a few questions about the project, so I'm going to answer a few of them here.

What's the release date?
December 3, 2013, the same day as the Altered paperback!

How long will the story be?
I've drafted the story, but it hasn't gone through edits yet, so it will definitely change. As of right now, the story is 11,000 words, which I think roughly translates to 55 pages. 

When will the novella take place?
Far, far before the opening of Altered.

Will there be hot shirtless boys? 
OH YOU KNOW IT.

Will you have to read Altered first in order to understand what's going on in the novella?
No. Definitely not. But I think it would only add to the fun of reading the novella if you did. :-) Furthermore, if you read the novella first, a few things will be spoiled for when you read Altered. And I hate spoilers. I'm sure you do too! 

[ALTERED SPOILER FOR SURE]

Will we see Dani and Sam's relationship begin?

Kind of. Sort of. I don't think I can say more than that!

Will Anna be part of the story?

No. Anna will only appear in Dani's thoughts. 

[END SPOILER]

I can't wait for everyone to read Altered: The Beginning. I had a ton of fun drafting it (especially the Altered style twists and turns!) and I'm looking forward to revising over the next month or so to whip it into shape! 

Nick's Book Q&A

Since I posted the news about Nick's book (my 3rd YA), I've gotten a lot of questions about it and the future of the Altered world. So I thought I'd try to answer as many of those questions here, for anyone who is curious.

++ When will Nick's book be released? 
If all goes as planned, I imagine it'll follow the same release schedule as Altered and Erased, so January 2015.

++ Will it be told from Nick's perspective, or Callie's?
When I first envisioned this book, I only saw it from Callie's POV, but that may change. It will definitely be told from Callie's first person perspective, but there may or may not be chapters from Nick's POV. That didn't really answer the question at all, did it? ;-)

++ When does Nick's book take place?
The summer after Erased.

++ Will Anna, Sam or Cas make an appearance?
Definitely. Nick will be on his own for much of the book, but I do plan to have the others pop in at least once. How could I not? ;D

++ Will the other boys --- Cas and Trev --- have their own books too?
This is a question I can't really answer, yet. A lot has to happen first for it to be a possibility. Most importantly, I have to write Nick's book first, then come up with the framework for Cas's and Trev's stories before finally submitting those ideas to Little, Brown.

I do have origin stories written for all of the boys (and Dani), so we might do something with those in the future. And I also have a loose summary of a Trev story that takes place between Altered and Erased.

++ Will Nick's cover follow the same design as Altered and Erased?
I'm not sure. I, personally, would love to see another neon, shirtless boy cover!

If I haven't covered something here that you're curious about, comment below and I'll do my best to answer. I hope this Q&A cleared up some curiosities! And, let me say again, I am SO happy to hear you all are excited to read Nick's book. I seriously cannot wait to write it.

The Who and What of my 3rd YA

A lot of people have asked me in the last few months whether Altered is going to be a trilogy or not. And the answer is no. Well, sorta no.

Anna's story definitely wraps up with Erased. In a lot of ways, so does Sam's. But, the cool thing about the Altered world is that there are still a lot of question marks about the other characters' histories that I couldn't possibly pack into one story or even two.

When Altered sold, it was in a three-book deal, but we knew from the start that my 3rd book would be decided later on down the line, that we didn't necessarily have to spread Anna's story into three books. And after finishing Altered, I knew I wanted to end her story with book 2.

But, there was someone else from that world that I wasn't quite ready to let go. I'll give you a hint.

For those of you who don't know, that is Sean O'Pry, my Nick in real life.

MY THIRD YA WILL BE NICK'S STORY!!

I am BEYOND thrilled that Little, Brown dug the Nick pitch enough to say, YES. And I'm even more thrilled that they loved Nick enough to give him his own story, beyond even Erased. I've mentioned before that Erased delves deeper into Nick's character, and his past, and how that factors into Anna's past, but there is so much more to learn about him. 

As of right now, my 3rd YA will be told from the point of view of seventeen-year-old Callie who had a run-in with Nick before the farmhouse lab. She remembers him, but his memories of her are still murky. 

I can also tell you that Nick will definitely be the love interest of this story. So there will be more shirtless Nick scenes, and some kissing too.

And, as promised, here's an excerpt from Erased, that gives you just a sliver of a glimpse inside the third Altered book. 

**Excerpt taken from the Erased ARC, some text may be different in the final copy**

"Gabriel" is the alias Nick used during the mission where he met Callie. She doesn't know him as Nick. At least not yet. ;-)

I am so excited to dive into this story and learn even more about Nick. I'm also excited to write the kissy scenes. AS USUAL. 

So, my dears, are you excited for Nick's book? Are you sad to leave Anna and Sam behind after Erased? Talk to me in the comments! 

ERASED COVER!

I have been dying to show you guys the cover of ERASED, the sequel to ALTERED. Because it's bright and beautiful, but still dark and edgy at the same time. And there is a shirtless boy on the cover. :-) Specifically Nick this time. ERASED is definitely a Nick-heavy book. We find out a bit more about his past, and how Anna factors into it. I am sealing my lips now! But let me finish by saying that I am so very excited for you all to read this book.

***SIDE NOTE: This is the ARC cover, so the design is not final yet, though I imagine at this point, any tweaks will be small. Since, HELLO THAT COVER IS GORGEOUS. 

To celebrate, and to help spread the word! I'm doing a giveaway. The winner will receive a signed hardcover copy of ALTERED, an ALTERED poster, and any (or all) of the ALTERED buttons.

Now, you must tell me what you think of the cover! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Anderson's Event

I'm slowly working on my FAQ page and will hopefully have that up soon! Thank you to everyone who offered suggestions on what to include!

I wanted to post real quick about an event I'm doing this week in Naperville, IL at Anderson's Bookshop. I'll be signing/speaking with Julie Cross (Tempest & Vortex) and Erica O'Rourke (Torn trilogy & upcoming Dissonance) and it will be tons of fun, I suspect. You should be there!

Here are the details from the Anderson's website:

THREERIFIC YA AUTHOR NIGHT: JULIE CROSS, ERICA O'ROURKE & JENNIFER RUSH Wednesday February 13th at 7:00 PM
Come in out of the cold to meet a trio of great Young Adult authors including Julie Cross (Vortex: Tempest Novel), Erica O’Rourke (the Torn trilogy), and Jennifer Rush (presenting her debut, Altered). For young adult fans this is not just terrfic, it’s threerific! I hope you'll be there! I will have lots of swag to pass around.

F. A. Q. and an Event

I'm in the process of updating the pages on this site and am working on an F.A.Q. page. There are a few questions I already plan to answer, such as whether or not ALTERED will have a sequel (it will!) or whether I'm Team Dean or Team Sam (Dean Winchester all the way! [okay, that question wasn't really asked, but if it was, the answer would still be Dean]).

So, if anyone has any questions they'd like answered, let me know! Or if you have any general suggestions for me, like perhaps there are popular Q & A's that every writer needs that perhaps I wouldn't think to include, please let me know in the comments. I quite frequently need all the help I can get.

Also, I will be posting later this week about a few upcoming events I have scheduled. As a matter of fact (and probably I am posting this here far too late, because it's practically [errr, rather IS] Wednesday and the event is Saturday but whatever, carry on JENN, you are rambling) I have an event coming up this Saturday, January 26th, in the DC/VA area! Arlington, to be exact.

I'll be speaking on a YA panel with Victoria Schwab, Jessica Spotswood, Miranda Kenneally and Tiffany Schmidt at One More Page Books in Arlington, Virgina. It'll be moderated by the extremely fabulous Diana Peterfreund! We're kicking off at 4PM and if you can make it, you totally should! Because I imagine it will be very exciting and awesome.

A Finished Copy of ALTERED!

Something very special arrived today.

A finished hardcover copy of ALTERED.

I cannot adequately describe the feeling of opening the package and seeing my book in its final, printed version. All those months working on it. Revising. Revising. Copyedits. First pass pages. ARCs! And now, finally, it's done. I want to compare it to baby making, but truthfully, being pregnant was far easier than revising Altered. Being pregnant is actually a pretty charmed life if you have people who care about you. And thankfully I did. When I was pregnant with my daughter I napped a lot. Husband cooked me dinner almost every night. I napped some more. My shoulders were rubbed regularly and so were my feet. I watched a lot of TV. Read a lot of books. Napped. Napped. More napping.

I would compare revising a book to walking across a bed of hot coals, then jogging through a mountain valley with only peanut butter M&Ms and tequila to get you through the night. And then you emerge, only to realize the valley goes on and on for another ten miles and you're running out of tequila, and you have one M&M left but it's frozen solid, just like your feet, and you can't quite remember what real life felt like, you've been jogging for so long, and...don't you have a husband and kids? What do they look like? You've been buried so deep in edits mountain jogging that you can't remember.

Okay, okay, so perhaps I'm exaggerating a wee bit.

But when experienced writers warned me about the revision process, I never quite believed them. It's one of those things you don't understand until you've gone through it. And even then, it's different for every writer, and every book. For instance, Bot Wars was a lot easier to revise than Altered was, but that's perhaps a different post for a different time. This was supposed to be about celebrating!!

I opened the package that arrived on my doorstep early this AM and this is what came out ---

This is the moment where I felt like weeping. Holding the book! Seeing the little gift box and the card from my editor. I hugged the book to my chest and jumped up and down and hollered a lot. It was entertaining. 

This is what my editor sent along as a congratulatory gift ---

A tree necklace! It's absolutely perfect. Not only does it match the cover, but the tree symbolizes the tattoo on Sam's back. It's an incredibly touching/thoughtful gift, and it just served as a reminder of how lucky I am to have such an AMAZING editor. 

And then, after reading the card (and getting misty-eyed), I examined the book for what felt like forever. The dust jacket itself has a matte finish, and the branches, title and author name have a glossy, raised finish. I absolutely love that detail. You can see it better here ----

And then the spine and the back cover with all of those amazing blurbs from such amazing writers! 

Basically I was feeling the major love today. This package served as a reminder of how lucky I am, how grateful I am, to be here. I know there are unpubbed writers out there still trying to snag an agent. Or maybe you are represented, but you can't seem to sell anything yet. HANG IN THERE. It may not happen next week. Or next month. Or maybe not even next year. BUT IT WILL HAPPEN if you keep trying. 

And now, I am off to clutch the book to my chest again and pet its pretty spine work.