Between Wild and Ruin
by Jennifer G. Edelson
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
Truth, like love, isn't always obvious.
Seventeen-year-old Ruby Brooks has never had a boyfriend. After moving to small-town La Luna, New
Mexico following her mother’s untimely death, boys aren’t even on her radar. Ruby just wants to forget
the last horrible year and blend in. But when she discovers an ancient pueblo ruin in the forest behind
her house, and meets Ezra, a bitter recluse whose once-perfect face was destroyed in an accident he
won’t talk about; Angel, La Luna’s handsome sheriff’s deputy, and Leo, a stranger who only appears
near the ruin, Ruby finds herself teetering between love, mystery, and other worlds. What happened to
Ezra’s face? And why is she so attracted to the one boy in town everyone despises? As Ruby unravels
her own connections to both Ezra and the pueblo ruin, she’ll learn surfaces are deceiving. Especially in
the heart of New Mexico, where spirits and legends aren’t always just campfire stories.
Set against a Northern New Mexico backdrop, Between Wild and Ruin is a young adult coming of age
story that captures the wild and whimsical pulse of New Mexico through the eyes of teens Ruby Brooks,
Angel Ruiz, and Ezra Lucero. The first book in the Wild and Ruin series, Between Wild and Ruin
explores the time-tested credo ‘never judge a book by its cover’ through a paranormal lens, weaving
Puebloan and Hispanic folklore and Southwest cultural narratives into tightly written, high-concept fiction
‘brimming with mystery, intrigue,’ and as Kirkus Reviews puts it, an “intriguing historical drama and an
over-the top quadrangle romance.”
Jennifer G. Edelson is a writer, trained artist, former attorney, pizza lover, and hard-core Bollywood fan.
She has a BFA in Sculpture and a J.D. in law and has taught both creative writing and legal research
and writing at several fine institutions, including the University of Minnesota. Originally a California
native, she currently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico with her husband, kids, and dog, Hubble after
surviving twenty-plus years in the Minnesota tundra (but still considers Los Angeles, the Twin Cities, and
Santa Fe all home). Other than writing, Jennifer loves hiking, traveling, Albert Camus, Dr. Seuss, dark
chocolate, drinking copious amounts of coffee, exploring mysterious places, and meeting new people—if
you’re human (or otherwise), odds are she’ll probably love you.
GUEST POST
What
Makes Someone a ‘Real’ Writer?
Something
a lot of people don’t know, is that I repeated ninth grade twice
then dropped out of school in tenth grade after being kicked out of a
few too many high schools. I’m usually articulate, come from a
demonstrably educated family, and have a BA and a law degree, so
people are often pretty shocked to learn I had a less than
traditional education. But the truth is, I seriously hated high
school and ditched it all together after flailing for years.
Honestly, when it comes up in conversation, sometimes I love waiting
for just the right moment to drop the info, because people’s
reactions are so funny — the slack jaw and eye bloom; as if an
education is somehow the only measure of talent or skill (it helps
though . . . so kids, stay in school!).
I
was a super difficult teenager. As in, really difficult. I was
also uber sensitive in this very lonely ‘who am I, what’s the
meaning of life’ way. Because of that, I spent way too much time
looking for ‘answers’ and ignoring consequences. There’s this
quote by Albert Camus that goes: “You will
never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists
of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life.”
Though I take the quote with a grain of salt, getting older and
looking back at what felt so permanent at the time but wasn’t, has
better enabled me to take ideas like this to heart. I still spend a
good amount of time thinking about meaning, but perspective has been
a lifesaver. Still, the stuff that’s lingered — I know as well
today as I did back then that those feelings are not only part of the
human condition, but a condition (maybe rightfully) endemic to teens.
It’s partly why I love writing in the YA genre. Most adults don’t
give kids and teens enough credit for being smart, savvy, sensitive,
and super creative people. I acknowledge that, and I like writing
stories that both resonates with them AND respects those feelings.
But
I digress. My point is, outside of law school, I never formally
studied writing. I never even really learned the fundamentals of
grammar and the other traditional things you learn about English in
high school. And for me at least, this is where I think Camus’
quote is also vital. Because I didn’t have a degree in English or
Creative Writing, because I hadn’t been to workshops, because I
couldn’t get and agent, etc. I spent years telling myself I wasn’t
and couldn’t be a ‘real’ writer. And in the process, I ignored
the things under my nose that were key. Rather than just owning my
writing, I kept waiting to score some imagined title that validated
my reasons for doing it — something I thought would allow me to
swim among the people I knew with more formal writing backgrounds and
degrees. I kept thinking, ‘if only’ and wasted a lot of time,
energy, and opportunity because of it, that I could have used to
learn the craft better and succeed.
I
have friends who majored in English and have MFA degrees, friends who
have published traditionally, and friends who have no formal
background but who’ve maintained lifelong careers and made a lot of
money self-publishing, to everything in-between. And while the
formal training route seems to better confer access to certain
connections independent publishers and indy writers struggle to make,
and perhaps more of a foundational structure to build upon, frankly
my self-made self-published friends overall have done just as well
career-wise, if not better. They also seem to have an advantage. They
write for themselves and so only have themselves and the indy writing
community (which is wonderfully supportive) to rely on. As a result,
they’ve developed much thicker, more motivated skin. They
understand the fundamentals of writing and publishing inside and out
and know how to get the job done. And surprisingly, they write more.
A lot more. Unlike some of my more ‘traditional’ writing friends,
they aren’t waiting around to ‘get discovered’ but forging
their own destinies.
What
I’ve discovered both through knowing these people and through my
own experiences, is that when it comes to writing and publishing,
it’s all good. There isn’t just one effective way to write and/or
publish, or one way to be a writer, despite what the ‘experts’ in
the field try to sell you. I hate to be cliché, but I’ve learned
through years of experience that you don’t need fancy degrees, or
classes. You don’t have to go to conferences, or workshops, or
score an agent, or win awards, or even publish. You have to just do
it. Stop talking about wanting to write, or dreaming about it,
and then coming up with excuses. If you never take that leap, you
aren’t a writer. If you write, whatever it is, you are. Period.
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