Sean Easley's Blog

Okay y'all, here we go! It’s time for my Pitch Wars 2019 wishlist! All the things I want to see in my inbox, all the people I want to work with, it’s all going to be right here for you. I'll be mentoring middle grade again this year, mainly looking for adventure and genre fiction, but since last year I got way more submissions than I bargained for I'm going to be narrowing my scope just a bit, so there are lots of caveats.But first, a little about me, so you know what you’re getting into.WHO...

Okay y'all, here we go! It’s time for my Pitch Wars 2018 wishlist! All the things I want to see in my inbox, all the people I want to work with, it’s all going to be right here for you. I'll be mentoring middle grade this year, mainly looking for adventure and genre fiction, but there are lots of caveats to that which we'll get to in due time.But first, a little about me, so you know what you’re getting into.WHO I AMI’ve always been a kid. I’m still a kid. I always will be a kid (and people w...

It’s August, and that means we’re about a month out from the pub date for The Hotel Between. Just a month! Wow. I’m so excited to share these kids’ stories with you all. And because I’m excited, I decided to give all y’all who preorder a copy of The Hotel Between a little something extra. And yes, I mean EVERYONE. (Well, as long as supplies last, that is.)If you preorder The Hotel Between by September 1st, I’ll send you a swag pack including:» 1 The Hotel Between bookmark » 1 signed The Hotel...

In case you haven't heard I've joined Pitch Wars for a second time, only this year I'll be on the other side of the equation. Back in 2015, I was mentored by the brilliant J.A. Souders, and now I get the immense privilege of mentoring someone else for Pitch Wars 2018! I had the joy of mentoring Julie Abe through Author Mentor Match last year (she just signed with her agent on that manuscript, and I couldn't be happier for her), and I'm itching to share the things I've learned with one of the...

I'm giving away The Serpent's Secret and Legends of the Lost Causes, two of my favorite recent middle grade releases! First up is THE SERPENT'S SECRET by Sayantani Dasgupta. On the morning of her twelfth birthday, Kiranmala is just a regular sixth grader living in Parsippany, New Jersey . . . until her parents mysteriously vanish and a drooling rakkhosh demon slams through her kitchen, determined to eat her alive. Turns out there might be some truth to her parents' fantastical stories-like ho...

Beyond a Darkened Shore, by Jessica LeakeBeyond a Darkened Shore makes me want to watch Vikings all over again. Its a grand exploration of what you get when Celtic magic and Norse mythology collide. I'm ashamed to admit that I'd forgotten some of these awesome creatures and stories ever existed going into this amazing story, but I was so glad I did in the end. Things like the Morrigan, and selkies, and valkyries. What makes this fun, too, is that those stories, and that culture, were so bruta...

Legends of the Lost Causes, by Brad McLelland & Louis SylvesterLegends of the Lost Causes = orphans in the wild west + zombies. No joke. And it's full of win. I don't know why people keep trying to say that westerns are "done." Sure, we don't have as many western books and movies these days as we used to, but maybe that's a good thing. Maybe we were oversaturated. Maybe we just needed to see the next evolution in what "western" might mean.And maybe, just maybe, all we needed were a few zombie...

Okay y'all, it's time for my requisite Pitch Wars day post--the one where I remind everyone that Pitch Wars is just ONE path to publication, and even it requires engaging with some of the others to see success. First, the stats: I was selected for the 2015 Pitch Wars class with The Outs, a mind-bending YA sci-fi thriller with comics references, an amazing heroine, and a Jekyll/Hyde relationship that gives me the creeps. I loved that story. I still love that story. That book received exactly z...

Pax, by Sara PennypackerPax made me love my pets so much more. And I already loved my animals a lot, so that's saying something. This story is about a fox and his boy, but more than that... it's about finding peace in the midst of loss, and about learning to flourish with the life you find yourself in. Beautifully written, sweet and kind, with quotable lines you'll hold onto for a long time. It's a short read, just right for many young readers, What Pax is: A book for young readers that's fil...

The Real Boy, by Anne UrsuThe Real Boy grabbed my emotions like few books do. For starters, I'll just go ahead and admit that I didn't see the connections between this book and the classic Pinocchio until waaaaay too late in this awesome middle grade. Our protagonist had me so enthralled in his worry that he wasn't like other kids that I couldn't think of much else besides how much I felt for him and his situation. The protagonist, Oscar, is the most engaging part of this story. I don't want...