Watch out. Things Are About To Get Really BAD.

Wistful YA is my reoccurring spotlight, giving young adult literature center stage.

Today I have a brief excerpt and book highlight from a really terrific series. I read book one of the SUPER BAD series. If you're interested, you can find my thoughts HERE. 

Excerpt from Super Bad:

Looking around the room Sandra asked, “Is this an FVA party? It seems too far away.”

“No. SVA. You didn’t even know which school’s party you were crashing?” Disdain dripped from Oceanus’s words.

The condescending tone was too much. Hadn’t she been nice to Oceanus when she dropped by unexpectedly? Anger surged inside Sandra. “What does it even matter? The schools are all balanced now anyway. Thanks to you!”

Lexa’s mouth dropped open.

Oceanus clenched her fists. “I told you, I had nothing to do with it.”

Before Sandra could spit back a reply, a boy sidled up to Oceanus, his eyes scanning the partygoers.

“Hey, babe. Those mozzarella things you made were a huge hit. Can you make more?” The boy ran his hand down her back and finally dropped his gaze to Oceanus. “What’s wrong?”

He followed her glower and squinted at Sandra. “Do I know you?”

“Aaaahhh!” Sandra yelled. “You arrogant jerk.”

She spun toward Lexa, who was all but drooling over the boy. “Let’s go!”

“What?” Lexa exclaimed.

The boy frowned. “So obviously I’m supposed to know you.”

“Set, it’s Sandra. Polar’s sister,” Oceanus grumbled.

“Ah, right. You cut your hair,” he said.

“Yeah, one does that after it’s burned off!” Sandra tugged on Lexa’s arm. “We can’t stay here.”

SUPER BAD 

The unexpected conclusion to the Super Villain Academy series.

The world is in chaos. Violence and thievery reign. And with the supers still balanced, it’s only getting worse. Without good versus evil, the supers care less and less. In order to restore purpose, the world needs its super heroes and its super villains, but the one who balanced them in the first place is missing.

Sandra’s concern over finding her brother, Jeff, isn’t her only problem. Her pathetic excuse for super powers has left her needing a new ankle. And though she’s still very much committed to her boyfriend, Source, she’s growing unreasonably attracted to Set, the boy who double crossed Jeff by stealing his girlfriend.

When Sandra is taken and held as bait by kids who want to unbalance the super world, it becomes the inciting event that changes things for supers everywhere and forces them to answer the question, “Hero or villain?”

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Super Bad is scheduled for release in June, but there have been whispers of it releasing sooner. Don’t miss out. Subscribe to Kai’s mailing list and be among the first to know.

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King of Bad - Jeff Mean would rather set fires than follow rules. He wears his bad boy image like a favorite old hoodie; until he learns he has superpowers and is recruited by Super Villain Academy – where you learn to be good at being bad. Is Jeff bad enough for SVA?

Polar Opposites - Heroes and villains are balanced. After Oceanus is kidnapped, Jeff learns the supers are so balanced, they no longer care to get involved. Ironically Jeff’s superpowers are spiraling out of control. Will they find Oci before he looses it completely, and will they find her alive?

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Win a $10 Amazon gift card or an ecopy of either King of Bad or Polar Opposites. Plenty of chances to win. Open internationally. Enter here:

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About the author:

When her children were young and the electricity winked out, Kai Strand gathered her family around the fireplace and they told stories, one sentence at a time. Her boys were rather fond of the ending, “And then everybody died. The end.” Now an award winning children’s author, Kai crafts fiction for kids and teens to provide an escape hatch from their reality. With a selection of novels for young adult and middle grade readers and short stories for the younger ones, Kai entertains children of all ages, and their adults. Learn more about Kai and her books on her website, www.kaistrand.com.

Eating Disorders & Young Literature

Writers have power. We hold the ability to point out wrongs in the world and work out ways to make them right through our stories. Using good or positive efforts of a character can also bring real life to the forefront. Our interpretation of reality can influence opinions. We can motivate. But all scenarios we consider to include in our fiction come with responsibility. 
I have a soft spot for kidlit, as you already know. That's what I do. That's what I write. The offbeat, quirky, or aloof character with a special talent aka paranormal, naturalistic, or magical is what attracts my heart the most. 
This past summer I began searching the deepest parts of my passion for writing, why I love the creepy and strange over the contemporary or normal - whatever normal really means. I discovered that any characteristic with the spice of supernatural feels safer to me, like tapping into the emotional reality of a contemporary situation would be any different. #Snort ... But for some odd reason, my brain and heart saw it that way. 

T-Shirt Purchase Link Only 4 A Few More Days

That revelation moved me to a place inside myself that, I know now, had been waiting to be released for a long time. Though creating characters with otherworldly issues will always be a love of mine, I decided to take the life's journey of a character I'd had in my heart forever and give her her due. I spent the next three months mapping out a contemporary young adult story, fully outlining each and every chapter, and completing a full-length synopsis.
This story is real life. It's very dear and close to my heart. It's fiction, but some of its scenes have been inspired by my life as a teenager. And that's what leads me to my true purpose today: raising awareness for eating disorders. 
February is Eating Disorder Awareness Month. It's a plague of mind, body, and soul that can touch anyone at any age, but most prevalent among tweens, teens, and college students, who are still trying to discover who they are, who they are supposed to become, and where they fit into their world. For us writers that's middle grade, young adult, and new adult fiction. 
Last year, I provided links to sites where you can find out more about the truth behind eating disorders, how people use them to cope with life-out-of-control. You can find those HERE. But this year, I'll leave you with the blurb I created for that YA contemporary story I mentioned above that I'm currently writing.

Seventeen-year-old Carly Foster learned early in life to keep her emotions hidden. Weighed down by the instability of her mother’s severe depression, she exists behind a wall of ginger smiles and loyal school work, the ability to feel dulled and numb. Her only reprieve is dance, where the safety of rhythm and movement free her to feel.

Liam Blake moves into town in a raging storm of aloofness, yet stalked by the popular crowd like a celebrity. His ‘rich boy’ status is in total contrast with his disheveled leather jacket and grimy baseball cap. Carly finds him rude, always staring at her but never saying a word. Though strange, his attention awakens a longing in her heart, which frightens her. So when an offer to study dance through a prestigious program, she clenches on to her Liam distraction and chance to escape her family pain. But then her mother is diagnosed with a physically debilitating disease, forcing Carly to abandon her dreams. 

Crushed beneath the gravity of it all, Carly spirals, plummeting off a ledge of self-destructive anorexia and drug use that sets the stage for a dangerous night she may never recover from. And, for reasons Carlie is still unaware of, Liam is the only one able to catch her … if she’ll let him.

My hope is in sharing even a glimpse of my experience with eating disorders through fiction, I'll inspire at least one young person to discover that they are stronger than their problems.