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Big Man by Dia

YA may have blown up over the past decade, but it used to be a small section of bookstores.  In the early nineties, it consisted mostly of "teen thrillers," which featured dark mysteries and serial killers, although there was some supernatural fare as well.  The authors of those days were ahead of their time and built an audience in teenagers, and paved the way for the YA that is beloved by so many today. Diane Hoh is one of the big guns in my opinion.  She cranked out a lot of books, mostly slashers, and had one of the biggest YA series of the 90's that you could even pick up in the grocery store.  The Accident was one of the very first teen novels I ever read and changed my life forever. YA Pioneers  The earliest book that I can find written by Diane Hoh is Loving That O'Connor Boy in March of 1985, which was the 67th installment of a romance series featuring teenagers called Wildfire .  Hoh would go on to write another book in the series ...

The third Hunters of the Dark book, Face the Dark , is now available in print! Amazon Barnes & Noble Createspace

With Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 & 2 giving us a final glimpse into Harry Potter's world, it's time to look to new books that people who are fans of the series would likely enjoy.  As a bookseller, I have the pleasure of recommending books to customers, and these are the ones I recommend to fans of the magical series. 1. Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins I think of Hex Hall as the paranormal romance version of Harry Potter .  It's full of magic, and is a series that gets bigger in scope with each volume. Synopsis: "Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It's gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father-an elusive European warlock-only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform...

YA may have blown up over the past decade, but it used to be a small section of bookstores.  In the early nineties, it consisted mostly of "teen thrillers," which mostly featured dark mysteries and serial killers, although there was some supernatural fare as well.  The authors of those days were ahead of their time and built an audience in teenagers, and paved the way for the YA that is beloved by so many today. Some pioneers in teen wrote books based on ideas formed by committee.  Melinda Metz's wildly popular Roswell High was such a series, dreamt up by a publishing company.  This method proved fruitful in some cases, and for Metz at least, launched a career that continues to this day. YA Pioneers Melinda Metz began her career in the book industry as an editor.  After seven years, she made her leap to writing, penning an adaptation of a Goosebumps television episode in 1997 ( Attack of the Mutant ).  Soon after, a publisher a...

Pete's Dragon opens this weekend, so what better time to look back at my favorite Disney movies?  1. Hercules 2. Beauty and the Beast 3. The Little Mermaid 4. Aladdin 5. Mulan

Tennessee by Kiiara

With Suicide Squad opening this coming weekend, touting its cast of merry villains, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to rank my favorite villains from DC Comics. 1. Poison Ivy 2. Talia al Ghul 3. Catwoman 4. Hera 5. Dex-Starr