A.S. King

"An emotionally damaged seventeen-year-old boy in Pennsylvania who was once an infamous reality television show star, meets a girl from another dysfunctional family, and she helps him out of his angry shell"--

Reality Boy

Lucky Linderman didn't ask for his life. He didn't ask his grandfather not to come home from the Vietnam War. He didn't ask for a father who never got over it. He didn't ask for a mother who keeps pretending their dysfunctional family is fine. And he didn't ask to be the target of Nader McMillan's relentless bullying, which has finally gone too far. But Lucky has a secret--one that helps him wade through the daily mundane torture of his life. In his dreams, Lucky escapes to the war-ridden jungles of Laos--the prison his grandfather couldn't escape--where Lucky can be a real man, an adventurer, and a hero. It's dangerous and wild, and it's a place where his life just might be worth living. But how long can Lucky keep hiding in his dreams before reality forces its way inside? Michael L. Printz Honor recipient A.S. King's smart, funny and boldly original writing shines in this powerful novel about learning to cope with the shrapnel life throws at you and taking a stand against it.

Everybody Sees the Ants

Four teenagers are on the verge of exploding. The anxieties they face at every turn have nearly pushed them to the point of surrender: senseless high-stakes testing, the lingering damage of past trauma, the buried grief and guilt of tragic loss. They are desperate to cope, but no one is listening. So they will lie. They will split in two. They will turn inside out. They will even build an invisible helicopter to fly themselves far away...but nothing releases the pressure. Because, as they discover, the only way to truly escape their world is to fly right into it. The genius of acclaimed author A.S. King reaches new heights in this groundbreaking work of surrealist fiction; it will mesmerize readers with its deeply affecting exploration of how we crawl through traumatic experience--and find the way out.

I Crawl Through It

In this masterpiece about freedom, feminism, and destiny, Printz Honor author A.S. King tells the epic story of a girl coping with devastating loss at long last--a girl who has no idea that the future needs her, and that the present needs her even more. Graduating from high school is a time of limitless possibilities--but not for Glory, who has no plan for what's next. Her mother committed suicide when Glory was only four years old, and she's never stopped wondering if she will eventually go the same way...until a transformative night when she begins to experience an astonishing new power to see a person's infinite past and future. From ancient ancestors to many generations forward, Glory is bombarded with visions--and what she sees ahead of her is terrifying: A tyrannical new leader raises an army. Women's rights disappear. A violent second civil war breaks out. And young girls vanish daily, sold off or interned in camps. Glory makes it her mission to record everything she sees, hoping her notes will somehow make a difference. She may not see a future for herself, but she'll do anything to make sure this one doesn't come to pass.

Glory O'Brien's History of the Future

The first book from LA Times Book Prize and Printz Honor winner A.S. King--a witty, snarky tale of love and family, revenge and reincarnation, and pirates. In the late seventeenth century, famed teenage pirate Emer Morrisey was on the cusp of escaping the pirate life with her one true love and unfathomable riches when she was slain and cursed with "the dust of one hundred dogs," dooming her to one hundred lives as a dog before returning to a human body-with her memories intact. Now she's a contemporary American teenager and all she needs to escape her no-good family and establish a luxurious life of her own is a shovel and a ride to Jamaica...

The Dust of 100 Dogs

'Moving, unapologetically strange, skilfully constructed.... Read this book, whatever your age. You may find it’s the exact shape and size of the hole in your heart.' New York Times Sixteen-year-old Sarah can't draw. This is a problem, because as long as she can remember, she has 'done the art.' She thinks she's having an existential crisis. And she might be right; she does keep running into past and future versions of herself as she wanders the urban ruins of Philadelphia. Or maybe she's finally waking up to the tornado that is her family, the tornado that six years ago sent her once-beloved older brother flying across the country for a reason she can't quite recall. After decades of staying together 'for the kids' and building a family on a foundation of lies and domestic violence, Sarah's parents have reached the end. Now Sarah must come to grips with years spent sleepwalking in the ruins of their toxic marriage. As Sarah herself often observes, nothing about her pain is remotely original—and yet it still hurts. Insightful, heartbreaking, and ultimately hopeful, this is a vivid portrait of abuse, survival, resurgence that will linger with readers long after the last page. I am late to school because I don’t exactly remember the bus I took to get here before. The minute I step into the building, I open the umbrella and walk toward my locker. Superstition abounds. Students act as if I’ve brought a curse upon the building, but that’s only because they don’t know that there is already a curse upon the building. The curse is: Nobody here focuses on the now. A. S. King is the award-winning author of eight acclaimed YA novels. Her novel Please Ignore Vera Dietz earned a 2011 Michael L. Printz Honor and Ask the Passengers won the 2013 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. King lives with her family in Pennsylvania, where she returned after a decade in Ireland living off the land and teaching adult literacy. ‘One of the best YA writers working today.’ John Green 'A. S. King has always brought her unique touch to her YA novels, but she may have outdone even herself in Still Life with Tornado.' Bustle 'You’ll find Still Life’s exploration of an artist’s inner strength particularly enriching.' Teen Vogue 'The presentation of the surreal as real, the deeply thoughtful questions she poses, the way she empowers her teenage characters to change the trajectory of their lives—King writes with the confidence of a tightrope walker working without a net.' Publishers Weekly 'King understands and writes teen anxieties like no other, resulting in difficult, resonant, compelling characters and stories.' Kirkus ‘A slow burn of a novel concerned with the difficulty of coming to terms with life as it is...A riveting and rewarding read.’ Adelaide Advertiser ‘Still Life with Tornado is a slow-burning but fascinating book...With elements of magical realism, this novel is one that will have you glued to the pages. The writing is as lyrical as it is poignant, and I couldn’t recommend this one enough for people wanting to delve into the sub-genre I call existential contemporary.’ Written Word Worlds ‘Still Life With Tornado is the perfect blend of magic, mystery, and real life. It’s clever, heartbreaking, and hopeful.’ Bookish Manicurist ‘A. S. King shows a deep understanding of teen anxieties and writes with streetwise humour, tenderness and originality...Hers is a magical style that dances off the page.’ Otago Daily Times ‘Amid the dark ubiquity of fractured relationships, crumbling families, adolescent angst and rebellion that characterises YA fiction, it is an unusual novel that rises above that common ground, that explores that generic territory in a fresh and compelling way. A. S. King is one writer who does just that.’ Magpies ‘An authentic representation of the effect of domestic violence on an ordinary family, and the complex consequences of trying to keep together while being as wind-swept as a tornado. A thoughtful read.’ Reading Time ‘A fantastic mix of contemporary and magic realism with some of the most well-developed characters I have ever read. If you’re a fan of character-driven novels, then this one is for you...This book has gotten under my skin.’ Younger Sun

Still Life with Tornado

In this truly original portrayal of a girl struggling to break free of society's definitions, Printz Honor author A.S. King asks readers to question everything--and offers hope to those who will never stop seeking real love. Astrid Jones desperately wants to confide in someone, but her mother's pushiness and her father's lack of interest tell her they're the last people she can trust. Instead, Astrid spends hours lying on the backyard picnic table watching airplanes fly overhead. She doesn't know the passengers inside, but they're the only people who won't judge her when she asks them her most personal questions...like what it means that she's falling in love with a girl. As her secret relationship becomes more intense and her friends demand answers, Astrid has nowhere left to turn. She can't share the truth with anyone except the people she imagines flying over her at thirty thousand feet, and they don't even know she's there. But little does Astrid know just how much even the tiniest connection will affect these strangers' lives--and her own--for the better.

Ask the Passengers

A searing and dynamic novel from YA master A.S. King about tangled family secrets and white supremacy in suburban Pennsylvania, for readers of Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give

Vera’s spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie Kahn. And over the years she’s kept a lot of his secrets. Even after he betrayed her. Even after he ruined everything. So when Charlie dies in dark circumstances, Vera knows a lot more than anyone—the kids at school, his family, even the police. But will she emerge to clear his name? Does she even want to? Edgy and gripping, Please Ignore Vera Dietz is an unforgettable novel: smart, funny, dramatic, and always surprising.

Please Ignore Vera Dietz

A brilliant and surreal novel about isolation and human connection, from award-winning author A. S. King.

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Jason Reynolds

David Levithan

G. Neri

Anna-Marie McLemore

Jenny Torres Sanchez

Randy Ribay

M.T. Anderson

e.E. Charlton-Trujillo

Cory McCarthy

From Michael L. Printz Award winner A.S. King and an all-star team of contributors including Anna-Marie McLemore and Jason Reynolds, an anthology of stories about remarkable people and their strange and surprising collections. From David Levithan’s story about a non-binary kid collecting pieces of other people’s collections to Jenny Torres Sanchez's tale of a girl gathering types of fire while trying not to get burned to G. Neri's piece about 1970's skaters seeking opportunities to go vertical—anything can be collected and in the hands of these award-winning and bestselling authors, any collection can tell a story. Nine of the best YA novelists working today have written fiction based on a prompt from Printz-winner A.S. King (who also contributes a story) and the result is itself an extraordinary collection. M. T. Anderson, e. E. Charlton-Trujillo, A.S. King, David Levithan, Cory McCarthy, Anna-Marie McLemore, G. Neri, Jason Reynolds, Randy Ribay, and Jenny Torres Sanchez have each penned a surprising and provocative tale.

The Collectors: Stories

B. A. Morton

Jim Ody

Anita Waller

Louise Jensen

David Evans

April Taylor

Nick Jackson

Betsy Reavley

Ross Greenwood

Lucy V. Hay

Lisa Hall

Alex Shaw

Tara Lyons

S.E. Lynes

Alex Walters

A.J. Sendall

Charlie Flowers

Jane E. James

Paul D. Brazill

Paul Gitsham

Stephen Edger

Pete Adams

Emma Pullar

Bernie Steadman

Richard T. Burke

Tony R. Cox

JT Lawrence

Ron Nicholson

KA Richardson

L J Ross

Joel Hames

Simon Maltman

Steve Dunne

Peter Best

Tess Makovesky

M.A. Comley

Roz White

Mark L. Fowler

Hannah Haq

Jenna-Leigh Golding

A collection of short stories from some of your favourite authors. Do you think you know darkness? Think again. Bloodhound Books presents Dark Minds—a collection of stories by authors who have come together to produce an anthology that will lure, tantalise and shock its readers. What took place By the Water? What goes on behind A Stranger’s Eyes? And what is so special about Slow Roast Pork? From master authors such as Lisa Hall, Steven Dunne, Louise Jensen and Anita Waller, readers can expect a one hell of a ride . . . All profits from the sale of this book will be donated to Hospice UK and Sophie’s Appeal. Dark Minds is a collection of 40 crime and thriller short stories from authors including; Louise Jensen, L.J. Ross, Lisa Hall, Steven Dunne, Betsy Reavley, Alex Walters and Anita Waller plus many more. For the complete table of contents, Look Inside.

A Charity Collection of Short Stories from Some of Your Favourite Authors

Dark Minds

Robin York

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