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Ghost in the Machine by Patrick Carman

September 3rd, 2009

I must be honest and admit that I am a huge fan of Skeleton Creek and, as such, have high expectations for the sequel.

To talk about the sequel, though, I’m going to need to talk about some details from Skeleton Creek. To avoid ruining the surprises, I’m going to place a giant picture of a crow here to warn you of spoilers.
Spoilers!

Spoiler Alert!
I see Ghost in the Machine by Patrick Carman as an alternate ending to the first book.

Carman gained a huge amount of respect from me by how he left Ryan and Sarah in the dredge in the first book. To think that they would be trapped there forever left me in the same level of awe as when Anthony Horowitz shot Alex Rider at the end of Scorpia (and we knew that he was moving on to the Raven’s Gate series, so we thought that was the end of Alex…Ark Angel and Snakehead took some effort to exceed that feeling of “wow”).
Update: I just talked with a teacher at lunch. She laughed with excitement to hear that Ryan and Sarah had made it. I guess I have too much English teacher running through my blood; I enjoy it when characters die.

Frankly, I was disappointed to see Ryan’s name on the journal.

But then I realized that there were so many questions left unanswered: who’s left of the Crossbones, what’s up with the alchemy, and will Ryan and Sarah ever hook up?

It was in the quest to find those answers that I really enjoyed Ghost in the Machine. This book takes on more of a murder mystery/conspiracy theory style to it.

There are still the suspenseful videos. In fact, I don’t think I learned from my experience of sitting alone in the dark with my MacBook watching the videos for the first book. One in particular, where a character is breaking into someone’s house in the middle of the night, has the whole Rear Window/Disturbia “No! Get out of the house!” vibe to it.

What makes the experience work is that Patrick Carman is a talented screenwriter on top of novel author. His choice of director doesn’t hurt, either.

One part that I liked is a scene where they parody the creepy videos (and an Internet trend) to release some stress during the investigation. Even though I saw the joke coming, it still made me crack up.

It’s a great book that students will enjoy. I don’t see anything wrong with students watching the book’s videos during lunch in the library. The screaming heads may be disruptive to a silent reading program, but I have seen groups of students get behind the first book and catch up on the videos during their off hours. (And I think that’s one of the concepts that I appreciate about Patrick Carman’s experiment. These students are using their own free time to explore more of the story.)

I’m an official fan now. We have a Patrick Carman category on the site.

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Posted in Horror, Mystery, Patrick Carman, Suspense

Inside Access: Ghost in the Machine by Patrick Carman

July 9th, 2009

If you liked Skeleton Creek, the creepy immersive technology ghost story book, then I’m guessing you’ll like Ghost in the Machine. (‘Ghost in the Machine’ is a programming term for when code goes wrong and it looks like everything you’ve done is right. Future Professionals will remember what my previous major was in college.)

What’s great is that Patrick Carman is giving a lot of behind-the-scenes access to the work in progress.

Check out the Back Lot to be able to follow the actors, director, and the rest of the crew on Twitter and the main blog to follow the big updates about the project.

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Posted in Administrative, Horror, Patrick Carman, Technology

Neil Gaiman reads Graveyard Book

June 23rd, 2009

On his book tour, Neil Gaiman read parts of his Newbery-winning book, The Graveyard Book.

Now we get to see his readings in their entirety, from the first chapter to the end. Very cool! Click here to check it out.

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Posted in Administrative, Horror, Technology

Fact: Vampires Love Cinco de Mayo

May 5th, 2009

picture-15
I never knew.

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Posted in Horror, Romance

Be in the sequel to Skeleton Creek!

April 27th, 2009

Did you like Skeleton Creek? (Creepy, right?) In October Ghost in the Machine is coming out. I’m very excited.

Yes. How does that book have a sequel? Perhaps it’s a companion book.

But would you like to be one of the video stars in the book? Patrick Carman’s studio will be holding auditions on May 1. Click on the link for more information.

Choose whether you want to read for the guy script or the girl script and it will open the audition PDF file. Videotape your audition and put it on YouTube following their directions.

Even if you don’t want to audition, it’s still pretty fun to read parts of the script ahead of time.

I can’t find where to audition as the bearded librarian…

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Posted in Administrative, Horror, Patrick Carman

Heather Brewer’s 10th Grade Bleeds

April 21st, 2009

I just finished 10th Grade Bleeds by Heather Brewer.

I will be completely forthright: I’m not a fan of vampire books. I read Bram Stoker’s Dracula as well as saw it performed at the Herberger and I broke into cold sweats.

I know that blood is necessary, but I’m just not a fan.

What I love about the Vladimir Tod series is that it takes your vampire cliches and has some fun with it. Nelly, Vlad’s guardian, sneaks home expired blood packets from the blood bank to put in his Twinkies. The ancient superweapon is a giant tube of condensed sunlight. Vlad can walk around with the lowly humans after he wears tons of sunscreen.

But book three breaks from some of the comedy elements (don’t worry, there still are some funny parts) and delves into some darker issues. Can Vlad survive off of just blood packs? Should Henry still be his drudge, forced to obey any command? Is it okay to lie to the people trying to take care of you?

10th Grade Bleeds takes the issues that teenagers struggle through and adds a vampire spin to it. What happens when friends grow apart? Can you make that sacrifice in letting people choose their own paths? Can a vampire date a popular girl?

It also has many more action sequences. Where before it was one battle in the middle and then a major fight at the end, every time you turn a corner you’ve got some vampire being thrown significant feet into a wall.

I’m a fan.

I will warn you, though – much like Ranger’s Apprentice Book 5 and The Hunger Games, be looking for a cliffhanger ending.

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Posted in Horror

Hunger by Michael Grant

February 26th, 2009


I just finished book two of the Gone series today. Hunger continues life in The Fayz where everyone 15 and older jumps out. To where, we don’t know, and we still don’t know by the end of this book.

But!

We do get to see what The Darkness is, we do get to see Drake take on Caine, and we get introduced to even more characters. The story plays out like a TV show, with little segments introducing new characters. Sometimes these characters are developed, and sometimes a new grave has to be dug in town square.

What’s great about the series is that, like I mentioned at AzLA, it’s Lord of the Flies with superpowers. Tough issues like addictions and eating disorders are amplified when adults are gone and the world is mutating. What I appreciate, though, is that Michael Grant maintains a decent balance between edgy and respectful with serious issues that teens face.

Expect this one in late May/early June. Definitely add it to your collection. It’s good to see a series improve with each book. I read 300+ pages, immersed in the book, this weekend while my wife was out of town. Never before have I eaten so much food, like my food supply would be in shortage.

Check out Sinder’s blog at thefayz.com (for when the Internet comes back up).

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Posted in Action, Horror, Sci-fi

Hear from Jeffrey Townsend, director of Skeleton Creek

February 20th, 2009

If you remember, Skeleton Creek has quite a bit of spooky videos important to the plotline. Hear from Jeffrey Townsend on Monday, February 23 at 4:30pm on his Internet broadcasting channel. Click here to visit the channel.

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Posted in Horror, Patrick Carman

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

February 6th, 2009

At first I thought this was a pretty gutsy choice for the Newbery (and some of me still says that) but The Graveyard Book is awesome. It’s inspired by many classic works, like The Jungle Book and Robinson Crusoe.

The premise is that Nobody Owens escaped from a killer and was orphaned at 18 months old. He is raised by the denizens of the graveyard who adopt him. What makes it work is that as we’re reading about death, life is observed. There are some great quotes:

Bod had allowed himself no friends among the living. That way, he had realized back during his short-lived schooldays, lay only trouble.

Really…if you couldn’t trust a poet to offer sensible advice, who could you trust?

But if I Unfade for one person, it makes it easier for other people to see me…

“You didn’t kill them?”
“Of course not.” Bod sad, “This is my home. Why would I want them hanging around for the rest of time?”

There was a smile dancing on his lips, although it was a wary smile, for the world is a bigger place than a little graveyard on a hill…

Love it.

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Posted in Fantasy, Horror

Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman – Only if you don’t want to sleep tonight

January 23rd, 2009

I’m watching the final video and it’s cool to finally see Ryan, the narrator. Skeleton Creek is a stepping stone to change how stories are told.

This is not an ordinary YA book. Sure, you’ve got the boy and girl who have been forbidden to see each other. You have the adults who have no clue/you can’t trust. But the execution of these elements is what’s beautiful from Patrick Carman.

Have you seen his virtual touring? Intriguing…

Skeleton Creek is set up in part as Ryan’s journal. It’s from here that you see his thoughts and feelings on the situation. There is some plot, but for the most part it is character development as we see him interact with the people around him while he’s injured.

The creepier parts of the book, for me, were the online videos hosted at sarahfincher.com (if you have an ARC, it’s not sarahfletcher.com. I freaked out that I might miss some videos.) The craziest video is the last video, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. Showing some of the earlier videos to students and staff made them jump. Mission accomplished.

The premise is that there’s a land-based dredge used in a small town to dig for gold. One of the workers may have gotten caught in the gears and could be the cause of the Old Joe Bush ghost stories. Ryan and Sarah are trying to investigate the dredge, but Ryan is seriously injured.

What’s crazy is that with so many sites out there and with the ability to put anything online, we don’t know how much is history and how much is Carman’s story. (Unless you use whois.com.)

It’s for that reason that I jumped at the videos (picture no soundtrack but only frogs, wood creaking, and trickling water). I love the ending, but you can’t skip to it. The only hang-up that I can think of would be if your school has a silent reading time and you’re not able to get to the computer to watch the videos. You can still piece together what happened from the journal, but you definitely can’t miss the first and last videos.

Update: One of the Science teachers took home my copy of the book over the weekend. She was just going to read a couple of entries and then spend the rest of the weekend working on grades. Instead, she read the whole book.

This is a must-have for your library when it hits in February.

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Posted in Horror, Mystery, Patrick Carman