News from the Across the Universe Facebook Page

This was posted to the Across the Universe:

For those wondering when the new covers for the Across the Universe series will be available--the AMS cover is for the paperback, which comes out November 21, 2012. The ATU cover in the new style will also be available in paperback around that time (up until then, the ATU paperback will be available in its current look). The Shades of Earth cover will be on the hardcover edition of Shades of Earth, which comes out January 15, 2013. Hope that helps!

So, it sounds like the first two books with this cover will be paperbacks and, of course, Shades of Earth will release in hardcover.  I have to say that I'll miss the old covers.  They were so pretty and they were what brought me to the series to begin with.

A Million Suns Launch Party!!!!

Today we’re celebrating the launch of Beth Revis’s A MILLION SUNS by participating in the Virtual Party! Each hour of the day, from 9am to 5pm EST, there will be a different feature on a different blog. And each stop, in true party fashion, will have a party favor to give out—in the form of a signed book plus some cool swag—and a party game: a puzzle piece to a truly epic prize for one winner! So read on to find out exclusive information about A MILLION SUNS and enter to win a signed book!

INSPIRATION IS EVERYWHERE

One of the most common things I'm asked is, "where does your inspiration come from?" And the truth of the matter is....



I don't know.



Honest! I have no idea where I'll get an idea. It could be something complex, like a what-if question. It could come from reading a good book...or even a bad one. But it's often a combination of many of these things.



Usually, my big ideas stem from what-if questions that come from a lifetime of curiosity and cramming my head full of good books and good movies. Part of the mystery of my books comes from dozens of Agatha Christie novels. The sci fi setting came from a love of (a) astronomy, and (b) Sailor Moon.

But the little details sometimes have the best stories. For example: Harley. Harley was supposed to be a minor character who was only in one scene that I was writing on that took place in the Hospital. One of my students had painted a koi fish, and so I made the extra character an artist. My student's name is Charly, so I named the character Harley. From that one scene came Harley, Elder's best friend, complete with a backstory, a dead girlfriend, and a tragic twist.



I hold onto interesting things, like water holds onto a sponge. I'm always on the lookout for something that can inspire me. And here's a detail that I perhaps shouldn't be sharing yet...



In 2010, I was on a European field trip, my last official duty as a teacher. And while there, we saw a glass-making demonstration in Venice, Italy. I popped out my camera and filmed it quickly. And here's the secret: there is something in this video that was an important inspiration for SHADES OF EARTH, the last book of the AtU trilogy. I won't say what it is, but there's something in this video that has made it's way to the final book.

Thanks for stopping by today as a part of the Virtual LaunchParty for A MILLION SUNS! To help celebrate, one commenter on this post will receive a signed paperback of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, the first book of the trilogy, along with some custom swag, including a poster, an art print of a koi
fish (made by the student who inspired Beth to write the character Harley), NASA goodies, and
more. This contest is open internationally, and will end in 24 hours.

JUST COMMENT ON THIS POST TO ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN THIS PRIZE!

Make sure you go back to Beth’s website for full details onthe party. Visit every site in the party to gather clues that will enable you to enter for the GRAND PRIZE—a signed paperback of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, a signed hardback of A MILLION SUNS, an exclusive water bottle, a poster, an art
print, and more!

In order to win that grand prize, you need a clue. And the clue for this blog stop is...

Happy Book Birthday to A Million Suns!!  Beth has a day long virtual party planned and it's going to be epic!  Here is the list of all the need to know details:


PARTY HOSTS
Every hour, from 8am until 5pm, there will be a new post on a new blog from around the blogosphere. Each post will have special content about the books, and a chance to win a prize! There will be direct links on Tuesday, when the party goes live, but the sites will be:

Hypable
YA Book Central
Mundie Moms
Novel Thoughts
Bookalicious
Page Turners
The Secret of the Stars - that's us!
The League of Extraordinary Writers

Here's what Beth has planned straight from the great woman herself:

PARTY GAMES
Secretly I think the best games are party games. So I'm building a game around the virtual party. I'll announce just what that game is on Tuesday, but let me assure you of two things:

(1) The game will be fun
(2) The game will involve an awesome grand prize

PARTY HANGOUT
But you don't just go to a party to play games and get prizes, right? Heck, half the fun of the party is hanging out with the other people at the party!

So, during the live launch party, from 7-9pm, there will be live updates and tweets on Twitter, so you'll be able to participate in the launch party!

Make sure to follow @AMillionSuns, which will be manned by my husband during the launch party. He's going to transcribe highlights from the live launch party, take Twitter questions for us to answer directly at the event, and host some fun giveaways during the party.

There will also be an official chat room for Twitter. To join, all you have to do is sign into Twitter, then go to the TweetChat room here. You're welcome to check it out now, but it will be manned and live for the official chat from 7-9pm, Eastern Standard Time. I might pop in and out throughout January 10th to say hi to any early or late arrivals to the chat room, so please feel free to hangout at the official virtual hangout :)

Also: you can always just use the official launch hashtag to hangout, too: #amslaunch

PARTY FAVORS
Let's see--party hosts, games, and hangouts. What am I missing? Oh, yeah! Giveaways!

At every single blog from the party hosts up above, you're going to have a chance to win a prize--it'll be a random drawing, and open internationally. Each stop will have a party favor to give to one commenter, and that party favor includes signed books, AtU swag, and stuff from...NASA! (heckyeah! NASA! Special thanks to Ex Libris Kate for donating the NASA goodies!)

Head on over to Beth's blog to join the party!!!

Midwinter's Eve Hop

Paperback

Hardcover

Happy Holidays everyone!! No matter what or how you celebrate or even if you don't celebrate at all, we have an awesome holiday time giveaway for you all. In the spirit of giving to others, our giveaway is INTERNATIONAL, as long as the Book Depository ships to you. The winner of the giveaway will have the choice between a paperback of Across the Universe, a hardcover of Across the Universe OR a preorder of A Million Suns which is set to release on January 10, 2012! All you have to do is fill in the Rafflecopter below. It's pretty cake but there are extra entries available for those into that sort of thing. The winner must be over 13 years of age and must respond within 48 hours of notification of their win to claim their prize. This giveaway will run until midnight on December 27 EST. I will announce the winner and email them on the 28th. Please feel free to use the linky below to hop on down the list of other blogs with holiday giveaways.  PLEASE NOTE THAT IF THE RAFFLECOPTER LOOKS WRONG, JUST CLICK THE TITLE OF THIS POST AND IT SHOULD FIX ITSELF.  THANKS!!!

12 Days of Christmas Giveaway Hop!

Paperback

Hardcover

Happy Holidays everyone!! No matter what or how you celebrate or even if you don't celebrate at all, we have an awesome holiday time giveaway for you all. In the spirit of giving to others, our giveaway is INTERNATIONAL, as long as the Book Depository ships to you. The winner of the giveaway will have the choice between a paperback of Across the Universe, a hardcover of Across the Universe OR a preorder of A Million Suns which is set to release on January 10, 2012! All you have to do is fill in the Rafflecopter below. It's pretty cake but there are extra entries available for those into that sort of thing. The winner must be over 13 years of age and must respond within 48 hours of notification of their win to claim their prize. This giveaway will run until midnight on Christmas Eve EST. I will announce the winner and email them on the 27th to give everyone time to enjoy the holiday. Please feel free to use the linky below to hop on down the list of other blogs with holiday giveaways.  PLEASE NOTE THAT IF THE RAFFLECOPTER LOOKS WRONG, JUST CLICK THE TITLE OF THIS POST AND IT SHOULD FIX ITSELF.  THANKS!!!

Pre-Order

Spooktacular Giveaway Hop- Trick or Treat for A Million Suns!

Welcome to our stop on the Spooktacular Giveaway Hop!  We have some great treats for your pillowcase, plastic pumpkin bucket or whatever you take Trick or Treating with you!  One lucky winner with a US or Canada address will win some of Beth Revis' favorite treats as well as an ARC of A Million Suns with a SIGNED bookplate in it!! How exciting is that?!  It's our LAST ARC, even.  Happy Halloween!  How do you enter to win?  Just fill out the Rafflecopter below.  It's that easy.  You need to have a US/CAN address and be over 13 years old to win.  The winner will be chosen on November 1 and will be notified by email, the winner will have 48 hours to claim their prize before a replacement winner is chosen.

NOTE:  For some reason, the Rafflecopter shows up WRONG when you come to the site but RIGHT when you click the title of the post and scroll down.  SO if the Rafflecopter says OVER on it: click the Title of this post and then scroll down.  It should be right.  Sorry for the inconvenience, I understand LOTS of people have been having Rafflecopter issues over the last few days.  Thanks for your understanding!!!

Here is the Goodreads blurb on the 2012 sequel to Across the Universe:

Godspeed was fueled by lies. Now it is ruled by chaos.
It's been three months since Amy was unplugged. The life she always knew is over. And everywhere she looks, she sees the walls of the spaceship Godspeed. But there may just be hope: Elder has assumed leadership of the ship. He's finally free to enact his vision - no more Phydus, no more lies.

But when Elder discovers shocking news about the ship, he and Amy race to discover the truth behind life on Godspeed. They must work together to unlock a puzzle that was set in motion hundreds of years earlier, unable to fight the romance that's growing between them and the chaos that threatens to tear them apart.

In book two of the Across the Universe trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Beth Revis mesmerizes us again with a brilliantly crafted mystery filled with action, suspense, romance, and deep philosophical questions. And this time it all builds to one mind-bending conclusion: They have to get off this ship.

BIG NEWS from Penguin and Beth Revis about A Million Suns!!!

That's right! Run, don't walk over to Beth's blog and read all about the news from Penguin about A Million Suns!!  Beth also has a new giveaway up that you'll want to win!

Let the Countdown Begin!!!

Three months from today, on January 10, we will all have A Million Suns.  That's right, we are down to the last three months.  We're excited for everyone to be able to read this book and love it as much as we did! In hour of the impending release, we're going to be doing some fun teasers and events.  For Halloween, we have a treat bag for all of the trick or treaters with an ARC of A Million Suns with a signed bookplate and some of Beth Revis' favorite holiday treats.  YUM!  We are also hoping to put together a HUGE and AMAZING prize pack for the release so stay tuned on that one!  We hope you'll join us for our countdown! To get this three month long party started right, we're going to give you one line from AMS.  Enjoy!



"It couldn't have been an accident."

Announcing the Winners of the A Million Suns Mystery Prizes from Beth Revis

DRUM ROLL PLEASE!

Here are our winners who have each won a mystery gift from Beth Revis.  Well, the gift is not so mysterious if you followed along with the YA Scavenger Hunt that Beth participated in this summer.  I don't want to ruin the surprise (if anyone still hasn't figured out what the gift is) but I will say that it is a charm (like for a bracelet) that has something to do with A Million Suns.  Yeah.  Moving On!

The five winners are (in no particular order):

Beth Reader

Stacey from Page Turners Blog

Avery from Avery's Book Nook

Misty

Michele from Insane About Books and Page Turners Blog


Congrats to you all!  Your contact info was sent to Beth and she will be getting in touch with you!  Hope you enjoy your gift and that you note the symbolism when you read A Million Suns!

I'm working to compile all the photos from the contest to get them posted here so you'll be able to see the visual entries here soon.  Also, we really encourage you to get out there and not only spread the word about Across the Universe and A Million Suns but to pre-order A Million Suns from your favorite local bookstore or online retailer.  Ordering ahead will help you get your book on or near release day and Beth totally appreciates it.  If you don't want to pre-order, try to buy your copy within the first two weeks after release as this time period is crucial for publishers and authors!

Mindy and I are working on some exciting ideas to get everyone geared up for the release of A Million Suns in January.  We want to start the festivities by Halloween at the latest and continue up to release day.  If you have something you'd like to see please let us know- our email is SOTSblog AT gmail.com.

SOTS supports underdog book boys!

Happy Wednesday everyone!!! I JUST (about 10 minutes ago) got the box of A Million Suns ARC's from Penguin and Beth Revis!!  They could not have come on a better day!  Today is the final voting in The YA Sisterhood Crush Tournament.  For some unknown reason, Elder did not get enough love to make it into the tourney.  So, we're throwing our support behind our favorite guy in the tourney.  He's gone from last place to the final round..... ZACHARY MOORE from the brilliant Jeri Smith-Ready's Shade series!!!

How are we supporting Zach?  We're reaching out to all of you who might want what we just got.  An A Million Suns by Beth Revis ARC.  How do you win?  Just leave a comment on this post with proof of your Team Kilt Affiliation ( leave a link to a tweet or blog post or facebook post that encouarages others to vote Team Kilt) and you email address or twitter name, so we can contact you if you win.  Tomorrow morning, say 11 AM, we'll randomly select a winner and contact them for mailing info.  Sound good?  And YES we know this is a Beth Revis/AtU fansite BUT we feel the need to show our support for someone, who knows maybe we can get one of our characters into the next tourney!  (And we're just so excited about the ARC's! LOL)  ONE COMMENT/ENTRY PER PERSON PLEASE!!!  ]

GIVEAWAY ENDED!!!!!!!!

A Million Suns Mystery Prizes!!!

Today we have something SUPER exciting going on!  The beautiful, amazing, genius Beth Revis has decided to allow us to give away the 5 mystery prizes that go along with her big A Million Suns ARC giveaway!  *fangirl squeeing*  We don't even know what the mystery things are.  Well, we know what they are but not what they are if you get our drift?  The mystery items each have something to do with A Million Suns and Beth has specially chosen them.  You can check out Beth's site for the Scavenger Hunt that will help you figure out what they are but it sounds like you'll only have 24 hours to figure it out!  So, how can you enter to win one?  Well, we here at SOTS LOVE to see people spreading the Beth Revis love.  Here are the ways you can earn entries:

• Preorder  (Amazon) (Book Depository) A Million Suns and copy & paste your confirmation number onto the form +5 
• Spread the word about the Across the Universe Trilogy by doing something fun, taking a picture of it and linking the photo on the form For example, you could use window paint and paint Across the Universe by Beth Reth on your car windows.  Just do something cool and let us know about it. +10
• Add A Million Suns to your Goodreads or Library Thing To Read List and link your to read list on our form. +1
• Take a picture of your copy of Across the Universe out in the Wild and link it on the form. Like at the park, in a restaurant, on a bus bench. +5
• Donate a copy of Across the Universe to your local library, school or youth program. (take a copy of the receipt or a picture of yourself donating it and link it on the form). +5
• Check out the RAK program on Book Soulmates and find someone who is looking for a copy of AtU and send it to them.  (just tell us who you sent to on the form) +5
• Follow us on GFC, NB or Email +1 each
• Put our button on your blog and place the link on the form +2
• Tweet the giveaway and link it on the form (up to once a day)  +2 each
• Follow Megan and Mindy on Twitter  +1 each
• It's Megan's birthday on the 3rd.  Leave a birthday greeting and a book recommendation in the post comments! +2

Now for THE RULES:

You must be over 13 to enter.  

Entries close on August 31st at Midnight EST.

All pictures you send/link to will remain your personal property but we do ask that we be able to show them off on the site.  

Please fill out the form for each thing you do and you can fill it out more than once.  Say you added AMS to Goodreads and commented with a birthday note today and then preordered your AMS next week and then did something else the next day, you could fill it out 3 times each time with different things that you did.  Please do not fill out the form multiple times with the same information.

Please include all necessary links on the form.

Feel free to do as many or as few things as you want.  Each gains you the number of entries allotted on the list.

Please DO NOT put entry links in the comments!  You can post the photos to the Facebook page then link them on the form if it is easier!  

If you have any questions, feel free to email us at sotsblog@gmail.com.

Big Frexing News from Beth Revis and Razorbill!!!

AH!  We have totally HUGE news from Beth!  It's the cover for the second Across the Universe Trilogy book: A Million Suns!   *Fangirl Squeeing*







So I blew it up some so we could better bask in the glory of this cover.  Amy and Elder appear to be standing at the hatch- HOLDING HANDS!!! She is looking out at the stars and he is looking down??? Anyone want to come up with a say, 5 sentence or so description of WHAT is going on in this picture and WHY?  We'll give a signed bookplate and swag set to whoever has the idea that Beth deems "most worthy/interesting/creative."  This is open to our international friends too!   So go, what is happening in this image and why in 5 or so sentences.  We'll leave this open until the end of the month.  Be sure to leave an email or other way to contact you in the comment too!