Cover Reveal: Almost Night by Emily White

Fourteen-year-old Lilly Grey exists in two worlds at the same time. She just doesn't know it.

As the only albino in a million mile radius, Lilly is used to being different. Pink eyes and white hair aren't exactly the best camouflage in the harrowing jungles formally known as high school. And yeah, she's used to being an outcast and seeing the world in a slightly different way, but she never guessed how literally "different" applied to her.

Not until a clan of shape-shifting dragons tell her she's not just albino. She's a unicorn and the only mortal alive who can live on both Earth and its antithesis, Morcah. Now all those times she thought she saw a floating brown blotch in the sky or eyes peering out at her from the bark of trees make sense. She's been seeing Morcah, a land that exists in the exact same spot as Earth, just in a different phase.

But it's not all sunshine and rainbows for this unicorn. As the only one who can live in both phases, she's also the only one who can bring Morcah--and all its inhabitants--to Earth. And creatures who've been trapped on Earth since the Dark Ages are willing to do worse things than kill to make that happen.

Again.

Cover by Claudia Mckinney of Phatpuppy Art (www.phatpuppyart.com) and font was designed by Ashley at www.bookish-brunette.com.

Emily White lives in NY, wedged between two of the Great Lakes and a few feet of snow and ice.  She's spent most of her life running away from the cold, and even spent a year in Iraq, but now contents herself with writing her characters into warm, exotic places in faraway galaxies.  When not tapping away at her computer keys, she can be found reading, reading, and reading some more.  And when she's not doing that, she's usually playing video games with her husband, peek-a-boo with her kids, or walking through her garden, wondering why the bugs insist on eating all her vegetables.  

You can find Emily on Facebook, Goodreads, or her blog.

Don't forget to check out Emily's debut YA Sci-fi, Elemental (Spencer Hill Press, 2012). Now available through B&N, Amazon, and The Book Depository. And her steampunk short story collection, To Love or Die in a Steamy-Reamy World (December, 2012). Now available through Amazon and B&N.

What I Do...

   I've been invited by my old high school to participate in a "Career Day" next week. My first reaction was, "hey, this will be kinda fun." So, of course, I agreed to come. But now, I'm experiencing several different thoughts.

First, it really is cool that I get to go back to my hometown and talk to kids that are a lot like me at that age. Writing and editing are not career choices on the beaten path, and, I think, it takes a pretty unique person to think "That's what I want to do!"

My second, and least important, thought, is "how the heck did I get old enough to be a guest speaker at a high school???" I just graduated like a year or two ago. (Okay not really, but still...)

But mostly, I'm wondering what to say. "Run while you still can! Only the completely insane want to be part of this maddening business," is probably not the best way to start the conversation. Don't get me wrong. I could talk all day about how awesome my job is, all the perks and just plain fun I have. But I think that to be fair, I should also point out how hard it is to break into the writing world. How many years most people have to work, with zero results, before it pays off. And even then, the payoff isn't typically that great.  Best seller lists, movie deals, and piles of cash are not things most of us will ever see. And honestly, I'm 100% fine with that. (If it ever happens, I'd be fine with that too, but...) I love what I do. And I don't want to squash the dreams of the next potential J. K. Rowling by coming off like being an author is anything short of the best job in the world.

So how do I find that balance? I know I'm probably over-thinking this, but I'd like to hear your suggestions.