Amy K. Nichols's Blog

I have a very serious story to share. I’ve put off writing it for a number of reasons: fear that writing it down gives it more power or permanence in my life, fear that the story isn’t actually over, shame that I allowed this to happen at all, especially given what happened to my dog Holly. That’s probably the biggest reason I’ve put off sharing this on the blog and on social media: I should know better than to just blindly trust a doctor prescribing medication. That killed my dog. And it could’ve killed me.

On April 20, 2016, my doctor (now former) prescribed a fluoroquinolone antibiotic called Levaquin (actually I took the generic, levafloxacin — more on that later) to treat a sinus infection. The only warning he gave me was to take a probiotic along with it, as it might upset my stomach. I’d been a patient of his for years and had no reason to question his medical advice. While I’d never taken a fluoroquinolone class antibiotic before, I trusted he knew best.

Ah, trust. There’s that word. I guarantee you there are some who will read this post and scorn me for just trusting my doctor and not doing research. I know this will happen because it happened after Holly died and it happened to my face when I told people about what Levaquin did to me. Because it’s easy to put on moral superiority when it’s someone else’s pain. If you’re gearing up to comment about how stupid I was to blindly trust my doctor, do everyone a favor and just don’t. I won’t approve your comment anyway.

The morning of April 23, after taking my fourth dose (of a 14-day course), I ended up in the ER with breathing difficulties, racing heart, vertigo to the point of being unable to stand, and extreme anxiety. Let that sink in for a moment: my first symptoms of an adverse reaction were serious enough to justify a trip to the emergency room.

It took the ER techs four tries to get an IV started. While laying there I developed internal tremors–I don’t know how else to describe them other than to say there were earthquakes going on inside my body. I asked the doctor if this was a reaction to Levaquin. He said no, if it was a reaction, my lips would be swollen or my throat would be closing. He said these symptoms were simply me being dehydrated.

He was grossly misinformed. What I actually was experiencing in that moment was an attack on my central nervous system.

Over the next couple of days my symptoms escalated to include: pain in my hamstrings and hips, roaming anxiety, mental fog and confusion, uncontrollable muscle twitching, dizziness, internal trembling, inability to regulate body temperature, difficulty breathing, middle ear pressure and tinnitus, racing heart, insomnia, myoclonus, peripheral neuropathy.

Any one of those symptoms alone is troubling. Combined, they were terrifying.

Then came the word loss and cognitive dysfunction.

Word loss: I would look at an object, know what the object was and be unable to get the name of the object out of my mouth. Remember, I’m an author. I make a living using words. At this point I figured my writing career was over.

Cognitive dysfunction: I couldn’t process information, especially if I had to process more than one information input at a time. For example, if I was driving (one input) and someone said something to me (second input), I would lose the ability to focus on either.

Some of the most crushing moments in this journey came when my friends laughed at me when they witnessed my cognitive impairment first hand, even though I’d told them I’d been poisoned by Levaquin and was going through severe trauma. They actually laughed at me. In fact, what I found is that for the most part, people don’t want to hear that you’re struggling. It makes them uncomfortable. What they want to hear is that you’re fine, because that way there’s no responsibility on their part. I quickly discerned who truly wanted to hear how I was doing and who just wanted me to tell them I was “fine”. I’m so grateful to those friends who actually listened and cared. (Thank you.)

Overwhelmed with this onslaught of symptoms, I of course made an appointment to go back to my doctor, but wasn’t able to get in to see him until the following week. So I opted to see his assistant at the end of the week, still 3 days away. In the meantime, I took to the internet to research what the hell was happening to me.

What I found scared me to death. Story after story of people crippled by this medication. Some cases were so severe, people took one pill and never walked again. If you think I’m kidding, go look for yourself.

During that search I came across a site called FloxieHope. There I found stories not only of people who’d been adversely affected by Levaquin (as well as Cipro, Avelox and other fluoroquinolone antibiotics), but people who had recovered. I scoured the recovery stories, making a list of the things they’d done to get better. From that last I made a plan of action and got to work.

Later that week, I did see my doctor’s assistant. She ran standard tests to check system function, but (as is the case with most people poisoned by FQs) all my numbers came back normal. In today’s medical world, normal numbers means no problem. While the assistant agreed something was happening to me, because my numbers were normal, she had no way of treating me. When I explained to her and even showed her the research I’d done online for how others have recovered, she literally told me to stop reading the internet.

Let me say this as clearly as I can: researching on the internet saved my life.

At this point my doctor, clueless on how to help me and probably afraid I was going to sue him, started passing me off to different specialists. The only one who was of any help at all was my neurologist. He is the only doctor in this process who knew that fluoroquinolone antibiotics cause memory loss and neuropathy (both which he diagnosed me with).

Based on what I’d read from recovery stories, I sought the advice of a naturopath. I also began acupuncture and therapeutic massage. And I prayed. A LOT.

I cannot begin to describe the anguish I was in at this point. I don’t use that word lightly. My body hurt. Every time I tried to fall asleep, myoclonus would startle me awake. Anxiety attacks hit me out of nowhere. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t eat, either. Not only had the antibiotic wrecked my intestines, it had also caused strange issues with my ability to swallow. I also experienced heartburn, which I never have. My guess is this had something to do with the central nervous system damage and smooth muscle function.

I want to stop here and note a couple of things. First of all, two weeks after I took Levaquin, the FDA updated the safety guidelines to state that doctors should not prescribe fluoroquinolone antibiotics for routine infections. This is something I’d literally argued with my doctor about. I told him this medication was like a nuclear bomb going off in my body. He maintained he’d followed standard protocol according to (flawed) FDA guidelines regarding these drugs. (You can read more about the history of those guidelines here.) I have to say, I can’t help but wonder what my life would be like today had the FDA not dragged their feet and instead updated those guidelines even a couple of months earlier.

I contacted a lawyer a month after the initial reaction. He said if I’d taken the name brand medication, Levaquin, I would have a slam dunk case. But because I took levafloxacin, the generic form, I couldn’t sue the manufacturers, because there is a law in America that consumers cannot sue the manufacturers of generic medication. That’s right: no recourse and no justice for people damaged by generic forms of medication. Keep in mind that many insurance companies require patients take generic forms if they exist. The only action I could take, the lawyer told me, was to contact my representatives and ask them to change the law. Isn’t that great? God bless America. (Needless to say, I’m not a huge fan of Big Pharma or Big Gov.)

Armed with the recovery stories from FloxieHope, my naturopath and I came up with a regimen of supplements to counteract and heal the damage done to my body. It was a bit like throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what stuck, but I was desperate to try anything if it would get me my life back.

Here are the things that helped me recover from Levaquin toxicity, as well as additional information for those seeking help. Please note that not everything works for everyone. What helped me might not help you. Because there is no set treatment or protocol for FQ toxicity, you have to try things and see if they help. If they don’t, then don’t use them. That being said, here’s what helped me:

Magnesium

Levaquin robs your body of magnesium, but having an abundance of magnesium available in your body can help prevent and repair damage
Magnesium chloride and magnesium threonate are good forms to take
Add magnesium in liquid form to your drinking water and drink it throughout the day. I used brand called ReMag.
Natural Calm is a magnesium citrate drink that can help calm anxiety, which is helpful before sleeping, but it can irritate your stomach
Magnesium threonate crosses the blood-brain barrier and specifically targets brain function, which can help with brain fog
Epsom salt baths help relax your muscles and rid your joints of pain, but also get magnesium into our system. Very helpful before trying to sleep.
Magnesium lotion is like a miracle for aching joints. You can find it at health food stores such as Sprouts.


Turmeric

Taking turmeric supplements or eating foods rich in turmeric can help fight inflammation


Bone broth and anti-inflammation diet

Eating a clean diet that is high in anti-inflammatory foods will help you recover faster
Avoid sugar and gluten as much as possible, as both impede brain function
Bone broth can help with immune function, gut health and supply collagen


Probiotics

Take a good probiotic to help get your gut flora in balance. Studies show your gut health directly affects your brain health and function.
Fermented foods (sauerkraut, kefir) are also hugely beneficial to gut health


Active B Vitamins

B vitamins are essential for nerve function as well as memory. Taking the active form (often has “methyl” in the name or an L in front of it) makes them more bioavailable to your body
I like the Jarrow’s B-Right. I could tell a different in energy levels and mental clarity after I started them.


ALA, NAC, Taurine

These supplements support detoxification and help restore nerve function


CoQ10, MitoQ

Fluoroquinolones break down cell walls and kill mitochondria. That’s how they work. So even after the drug is out of your system, it leaves a trail of mitochondria damage, which some think is permanent. (That hasn’t been the case for me.) Because mitochondria are your energy centers for your cells, this leads to mental and muscle fatigue, as well as other problems due to poor cellular function.
I found CoQ10 helped with my energy levels. I splurged on two months of MitoQ and felt a big difference. Because it’s expensive, though, I switched to Jarrow’s brand QH+ PQQ. I also found it effective.


Healthy fats

Adding lots of healthy fats to your diet will help boost your brain health and help get neurogenesis (birthing new neurons) get started again.
Coconut oil, MCT oil, avocados and avocado oil, and grass-fed butter are excellent sources of Omega-3 acids which maintain brain health and even reverse neurological decline (such as Alzheimer’s)


Tart Cherry Juice

Full of natural melatonin, so very useful before sleeping. I used the concentrate so I could mix my own ratio depending on how much help I needed getting to sleep.
If insomnia was really bad, or I woke up in the night, I’d take liquid melatonin as well.

My doc prescribed Xanax to help me sleep, but it gave me extreme paranoia, waking nightmares and hallucinations.




Thorne Basic Detox Nutrients

This is a multivitamin that has the active B vitamins, but also has phosphatidylcholine, which helps rebuild cell walls and detox the liver.
I would take this OR active B vitamins, not both at the same time.


L-theanine

I’ve added this recently and find it helps with focus and lifting brain fog


Collagen

Levaquin damages connective tissue, not only in your joints but also in your skin, your teeth, everywhere
I think collagen quickened my recovery, by helping replace what was being broken down by the drug
Most powdered forms taste like cow (ugh). The brand I prefer is Bulletproof Collagen Protein. It has hardly any taste. I blend it into my coffee, along with grass-fed butter.


Eat foods that boost glutathione

Glutathione is a product made by your liver that helps detox bad stuff. Certain foods boost glutathione production: brussel sprouts, broccoli, parsley, cabbage, cauliflower.


Keep moving

Continue to move, even if your joints hurt, but take care to do so carefully so you don’t tax your tendons or risk falling
Using your muscles will help heal mitochondria, but don’t overdo it. Go slow and work your way up after you start regaining your energy.
I did  in the beginning, going very slow


Meditate and pray

Levaquin fries your central nervous system, skewing your autonomic system so that your sympathetic (fight or flight) gets amped up, and your parasympathetic (relaxation) gets suppressed. This is one of the reasons people experience extreme anxiety when on levaquin.
Cyclical breathing (inhale for a count of 5, exhale for a count of 5) can help realign your autonomic system. The Heart Math Quick Coherence technique is really good for this.
Listening to healing meditations can also help alleviate anxiety. Personally, I liked listening to The Honest Guys healing meditations on YouTube.
Every night when I soaked in the epsom salt bath, I’d have a chat with God about how we were going to get through this and this wasn’t how I was going to end. Your mileage may vary as far as your spiritual life goes, but I found this to be immensely helpful, especially in helping calm down the anxiety and fear. I had faith that I’d get better. That’s what our bodies do. They heal. I knew my job was to support my body in doing its job.


Acupuncture

I did a series of whole-body acupuncture sessions, mostly to target neuropathy in my hands and feet. It helped the neuropathy, but also helped calm down my whole body. I don’t know how, but it worked. The first couple of sessions were odd, but after that I actually liked it.


Drink water

I drank a gallon a day to help move the drug out of my system


Therapeutic Massage

I experienced a lot of tendon and joint pain, and found therapeutic massage helped. I think it also helped move the levaquin out of my tissues and lymphatic system.

Some advice for anyone going through this:

If your doctor won’t listen to you or believe you (and odds are they won’t), trust your gut and find another doctor if possible. It took me three months to get an appointment with a new doctor, but it was worth the wait. I found a new doctor who is willing to work with my naturopath and doesn’t mind that I do alternative treatments such as acupuncture. She also didn’t question if this had really happened to me, but rather ordered additional tests that my original doctor didn’t order, to rule out other kinds of damage and risks.

I’ve found that my mindset made a huge difference in this journey. A week after that initial ER visit, I had this overwhelming compulsion to get a massage, despite being in terrible pain. I called some places near my home, but they were booked all weekend. This was at noon on a Saturday. I called another place a little farther away, and they had an opening at 1pm. I raced over there. Chatting with the therapist a bit beforehand to explain what was happening, we came to realize we both were believers. During the massage, the therapist prayed over me. Now, your mileage may vary, but for me, that was pretty amazing. At the end of the session, he said he’d wondered what was up with that opening in his schedule on a Saturday, since he’s usually booked solid. He said clearly God knew I needed that slot. To me, that was a sign that I wasn’t in this alone, and that I was going to get better. I told myself Levaquin poisoning was part of my story, but it wasn’t the end of my story. This wasn’t the end of me. Reminding me of this every day kept me going. I rejected letting this poisoning settle and become who I am. I didn’t and won’t let this define me.

One of the parting shots of Levaquin toxicity is hair loss. Mine started shedding two months after I took the medication. It came out in handfuls. It’s like Levaquin’s one last way of giving you the finger. It’s bad enough that you hurt and you can’t think. Then your hair thins out. Mine got to the point where I didn’t want to leave the house. It was really awful. Again, with the help of internet resources and my naturopath, I did some things to kick-start the regrowth process: Wellness Mama’s Hair Growth Serum, castor oil, essential oils, liquid biotin drops, collagen, and zinc supplements. It’s now five months after the shedding began and a lot of it has regrown. I cut it back to a pixie cut so the difference in lengths isn’t as obvious. It’s definitely growing in.

I’m now almost seven months out from taking that first dose of Levaquin. I’d say I’m about 98% better. I’m writing again, thank God. When people ask when my next book is coming out, I feel a sense of shame. This medication robbed me of most of this year, and that is time I’ll never get back. Still, I have so much to be grateful for. Everyday I’m grateful I haven’t suffered an aortic aneurysm or snapped an Achilles tendon. I still experience some joint and ligament pain depending on what I eat and how I exercise. And while I can tell my cognitive function isn’t 100% yet, I’m going to get there. I’m going to come back from this better than I was before.

This is not the end of me. This has only shown me how strong I am. 

If you’ve taken Levaquin, Cipro, Avelox or any other form of fluoroquinolone antibiotic and think you’ve suffered adverse affects, please visit FloxieHope. The stories and information on that site saved my life. Please also feel free to leave a comment or share your story below. My post about Holly and Deramaxx has proven informative and useful to others. My hope is this post will be helpful as well. That being said, I reserve the right to delete any disparaging remarks. If you have nothing beneficial to add to the conversation, go elsewhere. And if you know someone going through chronic illness or health crisis, please show them compassion, patience and understanding. For the love of God, don’t laugh at them.

TL:DR – Taking Levaquin can seriously damage your health. Proceed with caution.

Filed under: What's On My Mind Tagged: adverse reactions, avelox, cipro, drug reactions, drug safety, FDA, floxed, fluoroquinolone, health crisis, levafloxacin, Levaquin, recovery, toxicity

Spring 2016 YA Scavenger Hunt

Welcome to Spring 2016 YA Scavenger Hunt! My name is Amy Nichols and I’m your host this leg of the hunt.

A little about me:

– I’m the author of YA science fiction Duplexity novels, Now That You’re Here and While You Were Gone, published by Knopf.

– The Duplexity books are available now in a cool, two-in-one flip book!

– I have a ukulele named Gertie. She makes me happy.

Somewhere on this hunt, I’ve hidden playlists for both books of the Duplexity series, Now That You’re Here and While You Were Gone. When you find them, I hope you jam out. But before you go looking, you have to read on so you can check out the amazing author I’m hosting!

First, though, a little about the YA Scavenger Hunt:

On this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each participating YA author, you also get a secret number. Add up the numbers, and  enter it for a chance to win a major prize–one lucky winner will receive at least one signed book from each author on my team in the hunt! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online until noon PST on Sunday, April 3!

You can start right here or you can also go to the YA Scavenger Hunt homepage to find out all about the hunt. I am a part of the TEAM TEAL–but there seven other teams out there and if you do those hunts, too, you’ll have a chance to win seven different sets of signed books! If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.

Check out all the amazing authors on Team Teal:

How to complete the hunt

Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on Team Teal, and then add them up. (Don’t worry, you can use a calculator!)

Entry Form: Once you’ve added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.

Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by April 3, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

And now…the fun part!

I am so excited to be hosting…
Liz Braswell

About Liz:

After the sort of introverted childhood you would expect from a writer, Liz earned a degree in Egyptology at Brown University and then promptly spent the next ten years producing video games. Finally she caved into fate and wrote Snow and Rx under the name Tracy Lynn, followed by The Nine Lives of Chloe King series under her real name, because by then the assassins hunting her were all dead. She also has short stories in Geektastic and Who Done It and a new series of reimagined fairy tales coming out, starting with A Whole New World—a retelling of Aladdin.

She lives in Brooklyn with a husband, two children, a cat, a part-time dog, three fish and five coffee trees she insists will start producing beans any day. You can email her at me@lizbraswell.com or tweet @LizBraswell or, uh, tumble her here: http://lizbraswell.tumblr.com

 

The book Elizabeth is showcasing on the Spring 2016 hunt is…

ONCE UPON A DREAM: A TWISTED TALE

 

About the book:

What if the sleeping beauty never woke up?

It should be simple–a dragon defeated, a slumbering princess in a castle, a prince poised to wake her. But when the prince falls asleep as his lips touch the fair maiden’s, it is clear that this fairy tale is far from over.

 

And now, a word from Liz regarding her bonus content:

Below are the songs I listened to a lot while writing Once Upon a Dream…    They inspired the misty, strange world Maleficent imprisoned Aurora Rose in, and the occasionally deadly, sometimes friendly creatures who inhabited it…

(Aurora Rose’s own playlist would have been longer—much longer; see the chapter “Sing to Me, O Muse”—but included too much lute, in my opinion).

“Once Upon a Dream” – Mary Costa, Bill Shirley (written by Jack Lawrence, Sammy Fain, Samuel Feinberg)
“Once Upon a Dream” – Lana del Rey
“Grande Valse Villageoise” (Sleeping Beauty Waltz) – Pyotr IlyichTchaikovsky
“Shake it Out” – Florence and the Machine
“Red Over White” – Siouxsie and the Banshees (note: note on Spotify, super indie)
“The Mother We Share” – Chvrches (note: ‘explicit.’)
“Is There a Ghost” – Band of Horses
“Heads Will Roll” – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
“The Red Shoes” – Kate Bush
“The Mummer’s Dance” – Loreena McKennitt

(Here is the Spotify link.)

So many great songs by a bunch of my favorite artists (and my favorite composer!) on that playlist! I could listen to each of those songs, like, 3 (that’s right, THREE) times in a row. Thanks for sharing, Liz! Did you enjoy her playlist, too? Let her know in the comments below.

Purchase your copy of ONCE UPON A DREAM: A TWISTED TALE today:

Amazon

B&N

Ready to continue the hunt?

Click here to head to the next stop. Happy hunting!

Filed under: Free stuff, Giveaways Tagged: Amy K. Nichols, Free books, giveaway, Liz Braswell, Once Upon A Dream: A Twisted Tale, playlist, YA lit, YA Scavenger Hunt

Beginning March 1 and running through May, I will be the Writer in Residence for the Glendale Library. This means I’ll be doing a portion of my writing work at the library (main branch), be available to anyone with questions about writing, and be giving workshops on writing and publishing.

How cool is that?

Other authors, including Bill Konigsberg, Tom Leveen, Janni Lee Simner, Betty Webb, and Susan Pohlman, will also be writers in residence at other libraries around the state of Arizona. Be sure to check their websites and social media for info.

The Glendale Main Library is located at 5959 W. Brown St., Glendale, AZ 85302.

Check the library calendar for hours and event listings. I’ll also be posting workshop info on the events page at my website, www.amyknichols.com.

Have questions about writing? Want to chat about writing and publishing? Come see me at the library!

 

 

Filed under: Events, News, Writing Tagged: Arizona, Author, Glendale, Library, Publishing, residency, Workshop, Writer in residence, Writers Resources, Writing

Maybe I’m biased, but when a box of the Duplexity series paperbacks arrived at my house…

…and they did this?

I just about died. Because that is THE COOLEST THING EVER!!

Two books set in two parallel universes.

Read the first book. Flip it over. Read the second.

Genius.

Want to get your hands on a copy? Well you’re in luck.

The Duplexity series paperback goes on sale
Tuesday, February 2.
Pre-order your copy today!

Curious to know more about the series? Visit my website, and check out the trailers.

Filed under: Books, News, Now That You're Here, While You Were Gone

Dear 2015,

You were amazing. In so many ways.

Since this time last year, I’ve gone from unpublished to published author of two books. Now That You’re Here hit the shelves in December 2014. While You Were Gone was published just eight months later, in August 2015. In the lead-up to the first release and straight through to the second, I spent A LOT of time promoting the books online and in person at various events.

Some of the book promo highlights included:

The Holiday Party at Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego, CA
Tucson Festival of Books
YAllapalooza at Changing Hands, Tempe, AZ
Westercon in San Diego, CA
San Diego Comicon
Phoenix Comicon
The Schrodinger Sessions at the Joint Quantum Institute, University of Maryland
Tucson Comic-Con
A bunch of library events across Arizona

2015, you not only taught me the ins and outs of being a published author, you brought me a crash course in Quantum Physics. I mean, how cool is that?!

Best of all, you brought an amazing trip to London, which not only had my husband and I reminiscing about our previous adventures in the UK, but also jumpstarted my creativity, dropping new stories into my head.

Here are a few pics:

Being the fangirl I am, I can’t help but think of the fun celeb encounters I had this year: Peter Capaldi, Tom Hiddleston, Guillermo del Toro, Jessica Chasten, Greg Grunberg, Ciaran Hinds, Leo Bill, and of course, Benedict Cumberbatch.

I met The Doctor. And got to see Benedict Cumberbatch as Hamlet. Fourth row! *gasp*

And don’t even get me started on all the amazing authors I got to meet and hang out with this year.

2015, you were full of love and friendship and laughter. Yes, you had your sad times, your exhausting times, your difficulties. Some of those I’m still processing. Others I’m ready to leave behind and move on from. But I can’t look back on 2015 and not be filled with gratitude.

What will 2016 bring? Here’s what I know so far:

I have new stories to share with the world — stay tuned!
I’m teaching a class at the Piper Writer’s Studio in January
I’ll be on the faculty at the ASU Desert Nights Rising Stars Conference
I’ll be the Writer in Residence for Glendale, AZ from March to May

Hopefully there will be some cons in there. Fingers crossed for San Diego and Phoenix.

I’m also looking to migrate this blog over to my main website (www.amyknichols.com). I’ve avoided doing this for the sake of this post, which has made such a difference in so many people’s lives, and I don’t want it to become difficult to find. So the migration might not be right away. I have to make sure it’ll be seamless and I don’t lose people following that post. But I’ll let you all know when it happens.

Keep your eye out for some new creative ventures here and around the web. Aside from novels, I’m looking to get into some other…media…stuff. Vague, I know…

Now That You’re Here and While You Were Gone

As always, my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported me this year by reading my books and telling others about them. So much of this business is word of mouth. I can’t tell you how amazing it has been to hear from those of you who wrote and told me how much you enjoyed the books. Thank you! And a special thanks to the librarians and booksellers out there. You totally rock.

For those who haven’t read the novels yet, I hope you’ll give them a go! You can purchase the hardback versions, of course, and the paperback — which is in a really cool, two-in-one, flip book layout–will hit shelves February 2! Pre-order your copy today!

Wishing you a joyful and blessed 2016! May this be the year your dreams come true.

Love,

Amy

 

Filed under: News, Now That You're Here, While You Were Gone, Writing

Fall 2015 YA Scavenger Hunt

Welcome to Fall 2015 YA Scavenger Hunt! My name is Amy Nichols and I’m your host this leg of the hunt.

A little about me:

– I’m the author of YA science fiction Duplexity novels, NOW THAT YOU’RE HERE and WHILE YOU WERE GONE, published by Knopf.

– When this post goes live, I’ll be in London!

– I have a ukulele named Gertie. She makes me happy.

– Benedict Cumberbatch likes my handbag.

Somewhere on this hunt, I’ve hidden a bonus scene from NOW THAT YOU’RE HERE from Warren’s POV and I can’t wait for you to read it! But before you go looking for it, you have to read on so you can check out the amazing author I’m hosting!

First, though, a little about the YA Scavenger Hunt:

On this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each participating YA author, you also get a secret number. Add up the numbers, and  enter it for a chance to win a major prize–one lucky winner will receive at least one signed book from each author on my team in the hunt! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online until noon PST on Sunday, October 4!

You can start right here or you can also go to the YA Scavenger Hunt homepage to find out all about the hunt. I am a part of the TEAM TEAL–but there seven other teams out there and if you do those hunts, too, you’ll have a chance to win seven different sets of signed books! If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.

Check out all the amazing authors on Team Teal:

How to complete the hunt

Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on Team Teal, and then add them up. (Don’t worry, you can use a calculator!)

Entry Form: Once you’ve added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.

Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by OCTOBER 4, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

And now…the fun part!

I am so excited to be hosting…
Ty Drago


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About Ty:

Ty Drago does his writing just across the river from Philadelphia, where the Undertakers novels take place. In addition to The Undertakers: Rise of the Corpses, The Undertakers: Queen of the Dead, The Undertakers: Secret of the Corpse Eater, and The Undertakers: Last Siege of Haven, he is the author of The Franklin Affair and Phobos, as well as short stories and articles that have appeared in numerous publications, including Writer’s Digest. He currently lives in southern New Jersey with his wife and best friend, the real Helene Drago née Boettcher. Find out more about Ty at Join the Undertakers.

The book Ty is showcasing on the Fall 2015 Hunt is…

THE UNDERTAKERS: LAST SIEGE OF HAVEN

About the book:

While away on an undercover mission, undertaker Will Ritter has made an unthinkable alliance . . . with a Corpse!

The zombie prince, Robert Dillin, is an alien invader who animates and possesses the bodies of the dead, but unlike the rest of his kind, Dillin isn’t evil. In fact, he wants to help. Ritter is willing to take all the help he can get because the Queen of the Dead has learned the location of Haven, the undertakers’ secret headquarters, and she is planning a massive and deadly assault. With the last day of the Corpse War finally upon them, Will and his friends find themselves in a desperate race to close the Rift between worlds and forever kill the Corpses. But can they do it before Haven is overrun?

And now…chapter one of THE UNDERTAKERS: LAST SIEGE OF HAVEN!

Chapter 1: BACK IN SCHOOL

The last day of the war started with two eleven-year-old girls clutching at me in terror, while a third girl stood protectively between us and a half-dozen of the walking dead, who closed in like lions around a wounded wildebeest.

Oh, and did I mention the Zombie Prince?

Um … maybe I’d better dial things back about ten minutes.

Let’s start with the snarling teacher.

“Mister Kessler,” the teacher snarled. “Why don’t you list for us three things that Walter Raleigh, or people in his employ, brought back to England from the New World?”

I don’t much like teachers. But I hate teachers who call you by your last name, especially when it isn’t your last name. And I really hate it when the teacher who’s calling you by a last name that isn’t yours is—well—dead.

Okay, that probably hasn’t happened to you. But, trust me, it stinks on ice.

My name’s Will Ritter. I’m an Undertaker. That means I spend my days battling Corpses, invaders from another planet, or dimension, or something. We’re not quite sure. These beings, who call themselves the Malum, are actually super-scary ten-legged monsters on their home world. But they arrive on ours with no bodies at all—just man-sized lumps of dark energy that wouldn’t last ten seconds in our atmosphere if they didn’t immediately possess and inhabit dead bodies. These they wear like suits of clothing until the cadavers literally fall apart around them. Then they abandon them and find another, and so on.

Thing is: most people can’t see them. To every adult on the planet—and most kids—Corpses look like regular folks: policemen, neighbors, bus drivers.

Teachers.

End of info dump. You’ll pick up the rest as we go along. For now, just get this: my history teacher, Ms. McKinney, was a Corpse. And if she wised up to the fact that I knew she was a Corpse, she’d kill me.

But at least that was a familiar kind of fear. This “getting called on” thing was something else entirely.

Before this gig, it’d been a while since I’d gone to school.

“Well, Mr. Kessler?”

That was my cover name: Ryan Kessler. The Hackers, the Undertakers’ computer crew, gave it to me when I first took this Schooler gig almost a month ago. Since then, I’d been Ryan, not Will. It had taken some getting used to, but eventually the lie had become second nature.

“Um … tobacco,” I said.

“Yes. That’s one.” She’d left the backboard, and was shuffling down the aisle toward me.

She smelled awful and, whenever she moved, flies as big as marbles flew in and out of holes in her neck and face. She was an early Type Three. That’s this one-to-five measuring system we use to describe how ripe a Corpse is getting. Threes are bloating, their tissues filling up with gases as they decompose. In the next week or so, unless she traded up to a fresher cadaver, Ms. Marcy McKinney—her name and history as fake as my own—would swell like an overripe melon, filling her budget pantsuit until her eyes nearly popped out of her head.

The kids around me, of course, saw none of it. They weren’t Seers. To them, Ms. McKinney was simply a short, skinny redhead in her fifties, alive and, to their eyes, completely normal.

We call it their Mask. It’s the face Corpses show to the world, and only Seers—a few, select kids like me—can recognize the stomach-emptying truth behind it. “Getting your Eyes,” we call it.

“Two more, Mr. Kessler,” she said, coming to stand by my desk. Her voice sounded thick, as if she were drowning. As if she could. The dead—no big surprise—are really hard to kill. Ms. McKinney’s voice box was just melting, that’s all.

I wracked my brain. I’d studied this last night, sort of. Well, you try to study by the light of a kerosene lamp while huddled in a tent in the woods outside of Allentown, Pennsylvania! True, it was June, with only one more day of school left and, yeah, that did mean it was warmer than, say, February. But it also meant that I shared the small tent with a fistful of mosquitoes.

And one big roommate—who snored.

“Potatoes,” I said.

“That’s two,” she said, glowering. “And the third?”

“I …” But the final answer wouldn’t come. A blank. Nothing. Whatever the third thing was the old British dude had snagged in the Americas, I couldn’t remember it.

Every school kid knows that, in such a situation, there’s only one kind of miracle to hope for.

And I got it.

The bell rang.

You could almost hear the room exhale. Suddenly, forty eighth graders were in motion—collecting books, pencils, and paper as they began spilling out through the hallway door.

Ms. McKinney eyed me dangerously. Then she straightened and shouted in her sticky voice, “Final test tomorrow! Everything we’ve studied all year will be on it! I don’t care if it’s the last day of school! It’s fifty percent of your grade, so be prepared!”

Groans.

Only a Corpse calls a test for the last day of school.

Pure evil.

I’d gotten up with the others, a little more slowly maybe, given my close call. I wasn’t the last one out the door, but I was close to it when the teacher suddenly said, “Stay a minute, Mr. Kessler.”

Crap.

I paused and turned, hoping I hadn’t heard her right. She waggled a purple, lifeless finger at me and pointed to the guest chair beside her desk.

My heart sinking, I took a seat.

She settled into her desk chair, her knees popping loudly. Tendons had just torn, I supposed.

“I’m worried about you,” she said, sounding almost kindly. She leaned forward, clasping her hands in front of her on the desktop. As she did, maggots squeezed out through cracks in the flesh of her wrists. They were tiny, like little squirming grains of rice. The sight of them would have grossed out almost anybody. But I’d seen bigger maggots than these.

Much bigger.

Another story.

“Why?” I asked.

“You seem tired today. In fact, you’ve seemed tired all week. How are you sleeping?”

“Okay, I guess.” I wasn’t about to tell her about the tent, its mosquitos, or my snoring roommate.

“Everything okay at home? You and your folks settling into your new house?”

“Sure.” There was, of course, no new house and no “folks.” My mom and sister were back at Haven, the Undertakers’ HQ, thirty miles away in Center City Philadelphia. I hadn’t seen either of them in a month, though we talked on the phone two or three times a week. Mom’s idea.

As far as Merriweather Intermediate School was concerned, however, I had a mom and a dad and we all lived in the suburban house we’d just bought, the details falsified with practiced ease by the Hackers.

“I know how hard it can be to come into a new school, especially at the end of the year,” Ms. McKinney told me gently. “And I want you to know: if there’s anything I can do to help, just say so.”

“Um … thanks.”

“Ryan?”

“Yes, Ma’am?”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Don’t think so.”

“I’ve noticed how you look at me.”

I involuntarily swallowed. Nerves. She noticed.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

She tilted her head. As she did, flakes of skin and wisps of dead hair sprinkled the shoulder of her suit. “You know what I mean.”

So, either she suspects I just got my Eyes … or she thinks I have a crush on her.

I hope it’s the Eyes thing.

I glanced over my shoulder at the open hallway door. Through it, I could see swarms of kids moving back and forth in that funny kind of reluctant haste that’s reserved for the five minute break between classes.

“Want to leave, Ryan?” Ms. McKinney asked and, though she tried to hide it, I caught the edge of menace in her voice.

Sure, I wanted to leave. But not quite how she meant. In truth, even if I’d escaped with the rest of the history class, I’d have hung around in the hallway, waiting until the last possible second to leave for my fifth period lunch. Watching.

Watching for Julie.

I had Ms. McKinney for fourth period eighth grade history. Julie had her for fifth period sixth grade history.

That was no accident.

Julie was the reason I’d come to Merriweather.

Watch Julie. Monitor Julie. Protect Julie.

My mission: Guard a little girl until the end of the school year. And do it without her knowledge.

That’s me. Will Ritter. Guardian Angel.

“I asked you a question, Mr. Kessler,” the teacher snarled. Her “You Can Come To Me With Your Problems” bit was apparently over. She’d sucked at it anyway.

“No, ma’am,” I said, keeping my eyes on the door.

Any second now.

Ms. McKinney said, “Look at me.”

I looked.

She was leaning way over the desk now, her dead face—putrid and bug invested—inches from my own. Then she hissed, “What do you See, Mr. Kessler?”

Yep. It’s the Eyes thing.

“I … um … see the next class coming in.”

And they were. Sixth graders had started slogging in from the hallway, backpacks over their shoulders, weary expressions on their faces—expressions that turned curious when they saw Ms. McKinney and myself.

The teacher sat back and smiled, showing me her hideous toothless maw. The other kids, I knew, saw only a friendly, welcoming grin. After all, they were her adored pupils, and Marcy McKinney was teacher of the year.

Corpses are, above all else, completely full of crap.

“Go to your next class, Ryan. We’ll talk again.”

I stood up with my own backpack, turned toward to doorway to leave —

— and froze.

Julie Boettcher, small and brunette, stood at the classroom’s threshold. Her thin, eleven-year-old body had gone statue still, her expressive brown eyes locked on Ms. McKinney. Her face, usually slightly darker in complexion than her sister’s, had gone pasty white—and, as I watched her, her bottom lip began to tremble.

She just got her Eyes!

Every Undertaker remembers all too well that moment when they started Seeing Corpses, got their first glimpse of the real world and the monsters who inhabit it. All the shock and horror and confusion of that initial moment shone like a beacon on this girl’s face.

I glanced back at Ms. McKinney, but the history teacher hadn’t noticed Julie yet. Her eyes—dead and seeming sightless—remained fixed on me.

Reactions are different for everyone. Some new Seers faint. Others run. Others curse or scream.

Julie did none of those things. She was a Boettcher. Like her big sister, Helene, fellow Undertaker and—let’s just get this out of the way now, okay?—my girlfriend, Julie had liquid steel running through her veins. On some level, she’d sensed the danger in revealing her newly discovered Seer talent. So, again as I watched, she steadied herself, took a deep breath, and stepped into the classroom.

Wow, I thought. Six graders are tougher than I remember.

But then two more girls, a blond and a redhead, walked through the door, took one look at Ms. McKinney, and started screaming.

Oooh, that was good! I could read that, like, 1,000,006 (that’s right, ONE MILLION AND SIX) more times! Did you enjoy it as much as I did? Let Ty know in the comments below.

Purchase your copy of THE UNDERTAKERS: LAST SIEGE OF HAVEN today:

Amazon

B&N

Ready to continue the hunt?

Click here to head to the next stop. Happy hunting!

Filed under: Giveaways Tagged: Amy K. Nichols, Children's Books, giveaways, Ty Drago, YA books, YA Scavenger Hunt

Hey everyone! Exciting news around here. The second book of the Duplexity series, WHILE YOU WERE GONE, is officially released into the wild!

Here’s the trailer, in case you haven’t feasted your eyes on it yet:

And here’s what reviewers are saying:

“Danny and Eevee have off-the-charts chemistry. The nonromantic storylines…allow the characters to develop outside of their romance. The novel’s tense and exciting throughout…lots of fun on multiple levels.” – KIRKUS

“Nichols is clever in reimagining characters in the alternate universe, keeping readers entertained throughout. A great modern-day science fiction novel for fans of time travel or the television show Fringe… A fun great back-to-school series to introduce to students as they think about where else they could be and what their lives might be like elsewhere.” – School Library Journal

“Fans of the first book will flock to this one, but the books can easily be read in either order.” – VOYA

“Both Eevees are smart, daring, and attracted to the Danny in their universe. While science is not as prominent in this novel, the sci-fi backstory adds a thought provoking undercurrent to a sweet love story that revolves around larger societal issues.” – Booklist

Sound like something you’re wanting to read? You can get your copy at bookstores everywhere. Here are some handy links to streamline the process for you:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

iBooks

Books-a-Million

IndieBound

What’s that? You say you want to a signed copy? And you want to get it in person at a book launch party? Well, you’re in luck!

I’ll be having a book launch party this Saturday, August 8th, at 5pm at Changing Hands Phoenix, alongside my friend Austin Aslan who is celebrating the launch of his second novel, THE GIRL AT THE CENTER OF THE WORLD.

Changing Hands Phoenix is located at

300 W. Camelback Rd.

Phoenix, AZ, 85013

The evening will be emceed by fellow author Ryan Dalton whose book THE YEAR OF LIGHTNING will be debuting in December. We’ll also be hosting a raffle of book-related items to benefit the amazing Kids Need to Read. Come along and bring your friends to this family-friendly event! It’s going to be a lot of fun. Oh! And you can get your autographed copy of WHILE YOU WERE GONE.*

(If you can’t make the event, you can still order a signed copy from Changing Hands online or by telephone.)

Thanks for your support! Hope you enjoy the books!

Filed under: Events, News, While You Were Gone Tagged: Amy K. Nichols, book launch, events, News, While You Were Gone

(I should totally apologize to Joyce Carol Oates for that title.)

Hey! It’s been a crazy couple of months, which has made for a lonely little blog. But it’s been the good kind of crazy. The kind of crazy that comes with pictures to share.

Westercon

July started with a bang (ha) with a trip to San Diego for Westercon! While I’ve been to more than a couple comic conventions, I’d never been to a science fiction convention, so I didn’t really know what to expect. All I can say is, wow! What a cool experience! While most of the comic conventions I’ve been to focus on the latest pop culture experiences, Westercon was a convention about ideas. The panel topics varied from climate change to colonies on Mars. It was brainy and scientific and I absolutely loved it. One of the highlights was being on panels with William F. Nolan and Larry Niven. (!!!)  I also made some new author friends: Lisanne Norman, Fred Wiehe, Thomas Voorhies, and Jason V. Brock. Such a cool convention. If you get a chance to go next year (in Portland), definitely check it out.

Here are a couple of pics:

San Diego Comic-Con

Two days after Westercon ended, I turned around and headed back to San Diego for SDCC 2015.

Ahhh, SDCC. This year was magical to say the least. Not only were my books on display at the Random House booth:

But over the course of the con, I met Peter Capaldi, Guillermo del Toro, Tom Hiddleston, Greg Grunberg, and Curtis Armstrong. I also went to a bunch of NerdHQ panels, asked Zachary Levi to smolder, attended both Nerdist podcasts, played both Battlefront and Project Morpheus, and walked my feet off. It was amazing. Here are some pics:

Teen Lit Fest

The weekend after SDCC, I participated in Teen Lit Fest at the Southeast Regional Library in Gilbert, AZ. I was just one of a dozen or so authors appearing at the event. I not only got to see a few of my friends in the AZ author community there (Tom Leveen, Bill Konigsberg, Amy Dominy, Brian Augustyn, Sara Francis-Fujimura, Mark Rude), I also made friends with new authors and chatted with a bunch of teen readers. It was a really fun event, one I hope to be invited back to in the future. Here are a couple of photos:

Payson Book Festival

And this last weekend, I traveled to northern Arizona to participate in the first ever Payson Book Festival! I shared a table with my friend and fellow author, Patricia Grady Cox, and we had a great time spending the day together up in the cool Payson pines. Here’s a pic of us at work:

The Schrödinger Sessions: Science for Science Fiction Authors

This weekend I’ll be attending the Schrödinger Sessions at the Joint Quantum Institute a the University of Maryland. Holy guacamole, I’m getting a crash course in quantum mechanics! If I’m not too busy entangling my brain with quarks, I’m going to post some blog updates. We’ll see. If not, a full recap and pics when I get back.

WHILE YOU WERE GONE Book Launch!

To cap it all off, next Tuesday (August 4), my second novel, While You Were Gone, hits shelves! I’ll be having a couple of events in August to celebrate the launch. Hope to see you there!

Thanks for being on this journey with me!

Filed under: Conferences, Events, My Inner Geek, While You Were Gone Tagged: Amy Dominy, Amy K. Nichols, Ben Kingsley, Bill Konigsberg, Brian Augustyn, Chuck Wendig, Doctor Who, Fred Wiehe, Greg Grunberg, Guillermo del Toro, Jason V. Brock, Larry Niven, Lisanne Norman, Masie Williams, NerdHQ, Nerdist Podcast, Payson Book Festival, Peter Capaldi, Rupert Graves, San Diego Comic-Con, Sara Francis-Fujimura, Schrodinger Sessions, Sherlock, Steven Moffat, Sue Vertue, Teen Lit Fest, Thomas Voorhies, Tom Hiddleston, Tom Leveen, Westercon, While You Were Gone, William F. Nolan, Zachary Levi

The Cake of Voices
(It was delicious.)

I’m in the kitchen icing a cake.

This happens, like, never. I’m a notoriously bad cook. When my kids see me making dinner they cry and run away. Baking is better, but I do it so infrequently no one ever really remembers I can, including myself.

So I’m icing this cake. It’s a zucchini blueberry cake with lemon buttercream frosting. (Kinda weird, right? But also maybe yum.) My hair is a mess. So is my face. Not to mention the kitchen. In fifteen minutes a group of friends will show up at my door for book club (aka, wine club). The knife slides along the surface of the cake, forming tiny wakes of buttercream, when suddenly a voice says, “Most of the time I feel miserable and alone.”

The knife stops mid-swipe and I listen. Not with my ears, though, because the voice is in my head.

The call is coming from inside the house.

I don’t know who this character is talking to me (yet), but in my mind I can see her walking through a crowded high school hallway and in my chest I can feel what she’s feeling. It’s like I’m some kind of medium for fictional people.

I put down the knife, pick up a pen and start writing her down. The cake can wait. So can my hair and my face and the clock and my friends showing up at my door with wine. There’s a voice in my head with a story to tell.

And that’s how this writing thing works.

For me, at least.

Filed under: What's On My Mind, Writing Tagged: Amy K. Nichols, characters, how to write, where ideas come from, Writer Resources, writing advice, YA fiction

Advanced copies!

Thanks to everyone who participated in my WHILE YOU WERE GONE giveaway and signed up for my author newsletter!

The winner of the giveaway is….

Reneth Trinidad!

Congratulations, Reneth! You’ve won an advanced copy of WHILE YOU WERE GONE!

(Reneth, please check your email.)

WHILE YOU WERE GONE hits shelves August 4, but you can pre-order your copy pretty much anywhere online. Here are some links:

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

iBooks

Books-a-Million

IndieBound

***Shameless Author PSA: pre-ordering books is super helpful to authors, so if you’re planning to read WHILE YOU WERE GONE, please pre-order your copy today. It really does make a difference. ***

My first author newsletter will be arriving in your inbox in the next couple of weeks, stuffed full of goodies, so stay tuned. If you haven’t signed up yet but want in on the fun, just go to my website and fill out the form: amyknichols.com.

As always, you guys rock! Thank you for your support!

Filed under: Giveaways, News Tagged: Amy K. Nichols, ARC, giveaway, newsletter, Pre-order books, While You Were Gone