"Waistcoats & Weaponry"

New York Times bestselling author Gail Carriger writes comedic steampunk mixed with urbane fantasy. Her debut novel, Soulless, won the ALA's Alex Award. The following books were all bestsellers. She was once an archaeologist and is currently writing her YA Finishing School series. She is overly fond of tea.

Carriger applied the Page 69 Test to Waistcoats & Weaponry, the third book in the Finishing School series, and reported the following:

From page 69:

This seemed to trouble the professor of late, for he would sporadically attempt to rid himself of the fuzzy protuberance. Since he was immortal, this did not work, for the moment the razor was put away his mustache grew back to its exact former state.

Sometimes, like tonight, he’d only managed to shave halfway before getting distracted, so the mustache looked as if it had lost its purchase at last and slid dangerously to the side and was trying, before their very eyes, to claw its way back up. It was hypnotic and difficult not to stare because the facial hair grew as quickly as a vampire’s wounds might heal.

“Young ladies, why are you leaving my class so soon, whot? I believe we have not yet even started. Wait a moment there! Don’t I know you? Yes, I think I do, I believe you are dancers to perform this evening. Or, wait...”

Sophronia and Dimity curtsied apologetically.

“Sorry, sir,” said Sophronia, “we’re excused. There’s this masquerade, you see?”
Dimity added, “Her brother is engaged, very exciting. We have to catch transport tomorrow and we need our beauty rest.”

“Well, that is no lie,” added Preshea from her seat near the back of the room.

The vampire lost interest halfway through their explanation. “Oh, yes, well, if you insist. Don’t forget your sausage, whot.” His mustache had almost resumed full bushiness.

“Of course not, sir,” replied Sophronia with a perfectly straight face.

“I believe they are bringing Viscount Mersey, does he count as a sausage?” Preshea was inclined to be fresh.

I think this is pretty representative of Waistcoats & Weaponry, and of my style. The bit with the mustache is pretty classic Carriger (I have a thing about mustaches, they will creep into most of my writing). Also this scene features a vampire in a position of authority being silly, young women being stroppy, and a hint at romance ~ all typical of this particular installment in my young adult series.

There isn't as much of the main character, Sophronia, on this page as there is in the rest of the book, nor as much action as begins occurring once the girls leave for the masquerade. Also the rest of the story is quite a bit more steampunk. But apart from that, I think it quite representative for the Finishing School series.

I don't know if the skimming reader would be inclined to read on, I suspect that is a matter of the skimmer's taste, as it were.

Learn more about the book and author at Gail Carriger's website and blog.

My Book, The Movie: Soulless.

The Page 69 Test: Changeless.

Writers Read: Gail Carriger (November 2010).

Writers Read: Gail Carriger (February 2013).

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Firelight Girls"

Kaya McLaren is the author of Church of the Dog, On the Divinity of Second Chances, How I Came to Sparkle Again, and most recently, The Firelight Girls.

McLaren applied the Page 69 Test to The Firelight Girls and reported the following:

From page 69:

Ruby’s favorite thing about camp when she was twelve was not doing dishes. As the campers finished eating, they sang songs while they scraped their plates into a coffee can and then stacked them. And that’s when Ruby’s favorite part of the day came—when one person took the pile of plates to the little window of the dishwashers’ station, and that was it. Poof. Gone.

Just two days ago, Ruby stood at the sink, elbows deep in suds scrubbing a particularly difficult cheese-coated casserole dish. “Why do I have to wash all the dishes all the time and Fred never does?” She glanced over at her brother who was leafing through the Sears Catalog, looking at beebee guns.

“Because your brother mows the lawn and chops wood,” her mother answered.

“He doesn’t do either of those things three times a day—or even year-round,” muttered Ruby.

“You can stop that attitude right now,” said her mother firmly.

The discussion was over. Ruby’s place as a girl was reaffirmed—she was destined to be a servant, or at the very least, a second-class citizen. At school, Fred and the other boys got to have P.E. in the shiny new gym with the nice floor, while they, the girls, had P.E. in the old gym with the warped floor. And afterward, Fred and the boys had a towel service, but the girls had to bring their own towels. After school, boys had the opportunity to participate in sports, but if you were a girl, your only opportunity was to cheer for the boys. “It’s just the way it is,” her mom had explained, but nonetheless, the injustice of it infuriated her.

But not this summer. No, not this summer at camp. Here at camp, she was a second-class citizen to no one. Here at camp, she was no one’s servant. Sure, there were chores they did after breakfast and flag ceremony, but they didn’t bother her because everyone made the mess and everyone helped clean it up. It wasn’t like everyone made the mess and only the girls cleaned it up. How she loved her one week a year of equality.

The Firelight Girls has five main characters, and Ruby on page sixty-nine is just one of them, but I think page 69 is pretty representative of the book in one important way: It examines why camp was so important to Ruby. The reason camp was important varies from person to person and some reasons, like Ruby’s, are unique to a time in history. It had never occurred to me that one reason to love camp would be to have a whole week of being a second class citizen to no one, that is until a woman from my mother’s generation said that to me when I asked her why camp had been so important to her. Ruby’s taste of equality leaves her wanting more than a husband that will treat her like a servant, so, when at her wedding reception she sees that’s exactly what he’s going to do, she runs and sets a messy chain of events into action.

Each of the characters in my book discover something profound at camp that changed their lives—their own reason camp was important. Ethel, the former camp director, discovered true love and her life’s work. Shannon discovered the limitations of competition and the virtues of cooperation. Along with that, she learned to appreciate poetry and to lighten up. Laura discovered not only her love of nature, a love that would lead her to find her husband as she hiked the Wonderland Trail, but perhaps even more importantly, she discovered peace.

All of those reasons were profound enough to lead these four women back to camp together just in time to meet Amber, a teen runaway, who discovers family at camp—something she’s never really had before.

The Firelight Girls is warm and uplifting with (spoiler alert!) a happy ending. Enjoy!

Visit Kaya McLaren's website.

Writers Read: Kaya McLaren.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Crashland"

Sean Williams is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of several novels for adults as well as the coauthor of the middle grade series Troubletwisters with Garth Nix. As a resident of South Australia—which he reports is a lovely place a long way away from the rest of the world—Williams has often dreamed of stepping into a booth and being somewhere else, instantly. This has led to a fascination with the social, psychological, and moral implications of such technology. When not pondering such weighty matters, he can generally be found eating chocolate (actually, he eats chocolate when pondering these matters, too).

Williams applied the Page 69 Test to Crashland, the sequel to Twinmaker, and reported the following:

Page 69 of Crashland contains one critical plot turn that will resonate with readers of the series, plus a number of small details that make me smile for personal reasons.

Clair’s best friend Libby, who is the driving force behind book one, has just appeared out of nowhere. What does it mean? How will Clair react? Will it change Clair’s current plan? Is it really Libby at all? These questions vex Clair all through the series, and here they all are on one page.

As to the rest.... Well, every book is at least partly autobiographical, as this page proves. Vanilla oil is my wife’s favourite perfume. Rice broth, or congee, is in my opinion the best comfort food ever invented. “Jitter-punk” is a musical genre I made up on the spot: no idea what it sounds like but I’d love to hear it. The band The Ponies refers to my best friend, who has two unrelated girl friends that he calls “Pony”. It always seemed logical to me that they should form a band. And “Pinch Me”: why not? All the best pop songs have strange/silly names. (He said, thinking that it at least might be true.)

Visit Sean Williams' website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Sword of Michael"

Marcus Wynne is a charter member of the Been There, Done That Club. He's got all the T-shirts and knows all the secret handshakes. He enjoys poetry, ballet, knife fighting, and serial monogamy with fierce feminists. He is the author of multiple Amazon ebook bestsellers including contemporary thrillers No Other Option, Warrior in the Shadows, Brother in Arms, as well as With a Vengeance, Johnny Wylde, and Air Marshals.

Wynne applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, The Sword of Michael, and reported the following:

Page 69 is actually a key scene in the relationship between the protagonist, Marius Winter, a shamanic depossessionist, and Jolene LaMoore, the love of his life, a Wiccan priestess.

Page 69 is a key scene on several levels. From the plot perspective, it’s a foreshadowing of what is unrolling (unbeknownst to the protagonist and his girlfriend) around the two of them. From the character development perspective, for both Marius and Jolene, it’s one of the scenes that illuminates the deep structure of their relationship — and the fierce independence and interdependence that characterizes their love affair.

From Marius’s evolution as a character perspective, it’s one of the key reveals — “I can’t help it. It’s my nature.”

From page 69:

This time.

A faint whisper from my guides…Chicken…

I took a deep breath.

“I respect you and your work, Jolene. You know that. As sure as the breath we both breathe. Okay? Here’s the thing: this is already a violent fight. Dillon and me, we’ve been down this road before. And yeah, so have you. I know this. This is very focused on me. I need to keep my mind in the fight. And yes, it’s a character flaw, and I’m painfully aware of it, but I can’t concentrate when I’m thinking or worrying about you. I will, I can’t help it. It’s my nature.”

“Like the scorpion and the frog.”

“Sure. Whatever. You in this makes me more vulnerable.”

“What?”

“It’s warrior strategy, Jolene. You’re my distraction. You’re my weakness. That’s how they’ll try and get me. They tried the straight on frontal. All it did was add to my body count and Dillon’s compost pile. But with you…they’ll try to get at me through you. It’ll add fear and uncertainty…you know how they feed on that.”

She studied my face. Sat back, touched one finger to her drink. I saw understanding in her.

“Yes,” she said. “I know what they feed on.”

“Will you do this for me? Please? It will help me get through this. Just stay out, look to yourself. I know you can take care of yourself. I need you to be my safe harbor if I need one. I mean, when I need one,” I added in a hurry.

She got up and went to the counter. “Johnny?” she called to the extravagantly tattooed and coiffed rockabilly manager. “Would you get me a refill please?”

“Sure,” he said. “House?”

“No. The Guatemalan Organic.”

He decanted some for her, and dropped me a knowing wink as she turned back to join me at the table.

Thanks for that, Johnny.

She eased into her chair, all back clad lissome length of her. A waft of her perfume, heated by temper and the body I knew so well, filtered my way.

Visit Marcus Wynne's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"What the Lady Wants"

As clichéd as it sounds, Renée Rosen is a former advertising copywriter who always had a novel in her desk drawer. When she saw the chance to make the leap from writing ad copy to fiction, she jumped at it. A confirmed history and book nerd, the author loves all things old, all things Chicago and all things written.

Rosen applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, What the Lady Wants: A Novel of Marshall Field and the Gilded Age, and reported the following:

This snippet leads into one of my favorite scenes from What the Lady Wants. By this point in the novel, Nannie is well aware that her husband is in love with her neighbor Delia and you know what they say about a woman scorned.

But that’s only one aspect of What the Lady Wants. Here’s a better representation of the novel: In late 19th century Chicago, visionary retail tycoon Marshall Field made his fortune wooing women customers with his famous motto: “Give the lady what she wants.”
His legendary charm also won the heart of socialite Delia Spencer, and led to an infamous love affair.

The night of the Great Fire, as seventeen-year-old Delia watched the flames rise and consume what had been the pioneer town of Chicago, she couldn’t imagine how much her life, her city, and her whole world was about to change. Nor would she have guessed that the agent of that change would not simply be the fire, but more so the man she met that night…

Leading the way in rebuilding after the fire, Marshall Field reopens his well-known dry goods store and transforms it into something the world has never seen before: a glamorous palace of a department store. He and his powerhouse coterie— including Potter Palmer and George Pullman—usher in the age of robber barons, the American royalty of their generation.

But behind the opulence, their private lives are riddled with scandal and heartbreak. Delia and Marshall first turn to each other out of loneliness, but as their love deepens, they will stand together despite disgrace and ostracism, through an age of devastation and opportunity, when an adolescent Chicago was transformed into the Gleaming White City of the Chicago’s World’s Fair of 1893.

From page 69:

A few days later Nannie invited Delia to tea. She arrived wearing a purple silk Madame Gabrielle dress with two gathered flounces and a rolling collar trimmed in velvet. But Nanny greeted her in a simple skirt with a tablier hanging down the front. At first Delia thought she had arrived too early, but it became apparent that Nannie had no intention of changing. Delia ended up feeling terribly overdressed and awkward.

Still, Nannie had a lovely table for two set near the window in the parlor. The cockatiels were perched in their golden cage, squawking and flapping their wings in a fury as Delia passed in front of them.

The weather had called for rain according to the newspapers, but so far it was a crisp fall day, not a cloud in the sky. The sunlight coming through the window shades landed directly in Delia’s line of vision. She could see the bands of sunlight running across her arms and hands and no doubt across her face.

“Excuse me,” Delia said, squinting to block the sunlight, “but would it be possible to adjust the shades?”

“Of course, of course.” Delia waited patiently, but Nannie never called for her butler and made no attempt to adjust them herself. Instead, she went on talking. “You and Arthur are such a fun couple. Everyone always says you’re the life of the party.”

“Well, Arthur’s the instigator, you know.”

“That’s not what I’ve heard. Weren’t you the one who started everyone playing charades at the Swift’s dinner party?”

Delia cringed inwardly remembering that night when Arthur had behaved so badly.

Visit Renée Rosen's website, blog, and Facebook page.

The Page 99 Test: Every Crooked Pot.

My Book, The Movie: Dollface.

The Page 69 Test: Dollface.

Writers Read: Renée Rosen.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Deeper Than the Grave"

Tina Whittle’s Tai Randolph/Trey Seaver series — featuring intrepid gunshop owner Tai and her corporate security agent partner Trey — has garnered starred reviews in Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Library Journal. Published by Poisoned Pen Press, this Atlanta-based series debuted with The Dangerous Edge of Things, followed by Darker Than Any Shadow (2012) and Blood, Ash and Bone (2013).

Whittle applied the Page 69 Test to Deeper Than the Grave, the fourth book in the series, and reported the following:

The sixty-ninth page of the fourth book in the Tai Randolph series – Deeper Than the Grave – is entirely atypical for both the series and her life. Tai is the half-owner and sole proprietor of Dexter’s Gun’s and More, an Atlanta gun shop that caters to Civil War enthusiasts and reenactors, especially those of the Confederate persuasion. Her slightly-estranged brother, Eric, is the other half-owner.

Tai is somewhat reckless, highly emotional, and trusts her gut reactions more than a play-it-safe sensibility. Eric is sophisticated, almost ten years her senior, and has a PhD in psychology that he often wields against Tai as if it were an efficiently keen scimitar. The scene on page sixty-nine is a rare moment of détente between them.

Of course Tai is trying to grill him for some information connected to a grotty skull she’s stumbled upon, which is why she’s giving him a ride to the airport. And of course Eric is jetting off to yet another speaking engagement nowhere near his sister’s haphazard “investigation.” But in Tai’s Camaro, for this one scene, there’s a real connection between these two very different siblings, an authentic emotional presence. I hope the goodwill they forge here will turn into foundational ground for them.

From page 69:

The next morning dawned sunny and clear and bitter cold. I kept the engine running and the heater blasting as I parked in front of my brother's house. His lawn wore the dead of winter well, the leafless dogwoods and winter-spare azaleas complementing the lines of his Arts and Crafts bungalow. I knew better than to honk in his part of Virginia Highlands, but of course I didn't have to—Eric was already coming out to meet me, suitcase rolling beside him like a well-behaved dog.

Maybe it was the bright clear light, but he looked thinner, more gray hairs among the dark blond tousles he so carefully cultivated. He'd turn forty this year, I remembered with a start. I had thirty in my headlights and no gray yet, but my brother's hair was a portent of things to come. He popped his luggage in the trunk, then slid into the passenger side, balancing a travel mug as he arranged his messenger bag between his knees.

"I could have gotten a car," he said, fastening his seatbelt. "The coffee's for you, by the way. Blue Mountain. Sugared and creamed."

I took the mug from him. "Let me guess. Organically sourced from a single cow in Switzerland."

"Oh, you are full of funny this morning, aren't you?"

I laughed as I pulled the Camaro into his driveway for a quick turn-around.

Learn more about the book and author at Tina Whittle's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: Darker Than Any Shadow.

The Page 69 Test: Blood, Ash, and Bone.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Ugly Girls"

Lindsay Hunter is the author of the story collections Don’t Kiss Me and Daddy’s. Originally from Florida, she now lives in Chicago with her husband, son, and two pit bulls.

Hunter applied the Page 69 Test to Ugly Girls, her first novel, and reported the following:

From page 69:

Ten hours of that light left Jim feeling like an animal. And he got to leave it after that. These men had to stay. Once, a meek, whip-thin drug addict on a three-year stint had come in, and it was clear he had meant to stay under the radar, never asking for seconds, never looking anyone in the eye. Jim had hope for him, had even stopped outside his cell to talk about the weather. The addict talked about feeling the warm rain on his face once he got out. But those lights. After a month the man had to be thrown in solitary for writing CRACK in his own fecal matter on his roommate’s bed.

Jim rounded the corner and saw that O’Toole was also waiting to be buzzed in to the next area. “Morning,” Jim said.

O’Toole snapped his fingers what felt like mere centimeters from Jim’s nose. “Get a cup of coffee, Tipton. It ain’t fucking morning.” Jim grabbed O’Toole’s hand so tight he could hear the surprise pop pop of O’Toole’s knuckles cracking. Happened almost before he could stop himself. Like he had turned the channel and now he was watching some new scene. O’Toole wasn’t a big man, but he’d fight back if it was called for, and the thought made Jim let go.

“What the fuck, Tipton?” O’Toole was panting, his breath warm and moist.

“Just kidding around,” Jim said. He could barely get the words out. Lactic acid was pouring into his muscles. He felt feverish, and sorry, and filled with dread. “Go on ahead,” he told O’Toole, though the man had already turned.

Sometimes Jim thought if he could just take Perry to work, if she could just see what breaking the rules did to a person . . . but then this shit with O’Toole reminded him that life wasn’t no better on the other side of the bars. He shook his head. Had to stop thinking like that. But it was true. Taking Perry to work would only show her that you’re damned if you do and goddamned if you don’t.

Jim is actually one of my favorite characters in the book, and I love his scenes when he's at work. He's a prison guard, and at home he's got an alcoholic wife and a teenage stepdaughter, Perry, who he sees going in a bad direction, so for Jim maybe the only time he feels any peace is on the drive to or from work. But even then, he's driving toward something terrible. His worry about humanity, his worry about Perry, they are one and the same. He sees how men turn into animals and he has been fighting it in himself for some time. He wants something different for Perry but he knows that might be a pipe dream. This feels pretty representative of the book in that the characters are often working toward or pining for a different life, or even a different moment in the life they're in, and that pining only illuminates the life they're actually in. The moment they're actually in. Over and over, they're confronting themselves. The selves they are and the selves they want to be and the selves they wish they weren't. So read on, readers! We're in this together, now.

Visit Lindsay Hunter's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Forgers"

Bradford Morrow's novels include The Diviner’s Tale, Ariel's Crossing and Giovanni's Gift. He is the founding editor of Conjunctions and has contributed to many anthologies and journals. A Bard Center Fellow and professor of literature at Bard College, he divides his time between New York City and upstate New York.

Morrow applied the Page 69 Test to his new novel, The Forgers, and reported the following:

As fate would have it, page 69 in The Forgers marks the opening of a search the narrator will come to regret he ever began. His interest in locating the whereabouts of a man named Henry Slader, however, runs far beyond mere curiosity. He cannot logically make a connection between the mutilation slaying of his fiancée’s brother, Adam Diehl, a reclusive rare books and manuscripts collector, and this mysterious Slader. When he discovered a hidden invoice demanding payment for a cache of Arthur Conan Doyle letters, however, he was compelled to try to track Slader down.

The reason? He knows for a fact that these valuable letters, dating from when the creator of Sherlock Holmes was writing Hound of the Baskervilles, are forgeries. Magnificent and masterful forgeries, forgeries that even alter and add to Doyle’s biography. But forgeries nonetheless. And more to the point, or closer to the bone, if you will, our narrator Will (who admits his name only once in the book) knows they are fakes because he himself now owns them—and envies the creator of such magisterial work.

It’s a maze of a page, in other words, one in which an iniquitous but brilliant handful of outcasts operating the peripheries of the book world come into contact with “well-meaning decent book people” who constitute “a crazy quilt of devotees who often shared little else than a rabid passion for the printed page.” In this brief passage we also encounter a rare book dealer named Atticus, whose parents were obvious To Kill a Mockingbird fans. Atticus, who sold Will the Baskervilles letters, is his longtime friend and colleague—they’ve had their ups and downs, especially after Will was arrested and prosecuted for fraud, and Atticus discovered he owned a number of Will’s superb but worthless forgeries—and admits to having dealt with Slader in the past but has no idea where he is now.

One of the themes of The Forgers is that to sustain a lie, to create something false that aspires to be real, one must frame that lie in a plenitude of probability. In other words, it takes a lot of truth to tell a good lie. And here, on page 69, just as on the pages before it and the pages after, the reader will encounter a weave of truths and falsehoods, in a book that harbors authentic rarities and artful forgeries side by side.

Learn more about the book and author at Bradford Morrow's website.

Writers Read: Bradford Morrow (February 2011).

The Page 69 Test: The Diviner’s Tale.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Lodger"

Born in London, Louisa Treger began her career as a classical violinist. She studied at the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music, and worked as a freelance orchestral player and teacher.

Treger subsequently turned to literature, gaining a First Class degree and a PhD in English at University College London, where she focused on early twentieth century women’s writing.

Married with three children, she lives in London.

Treger applied the Page 69 Test to The Lodger, her first novel, and reported the following:

When I first heard about the Page 69 test, I was sceptical. How could one page chosen at random possibly capture the heart of my book? Yet uncannily, many of the important themes are right here on page 69. How do you make that work, Marshal?!

The story thus far: Dorothy has been invited to visit her old school friend, Jane. Unexpectedly, she finds herself falling for Jane’s husband, and the feeling seems to be mutual. Mind you, Jane’s husband isn’t just anyone, he is the writer H.G. Wells: brilliant, charismatic, and on the cusp of fame. Wells, or Bertie, as he is known to friends, tells Dorothy that he and Jane have an agreement which allows them the freedom to take lovers, though Dorothy is sure Jane isn’t happy with this arrangement. Dorothy is torn agonisingly between her loyalty to her friend, and an attraction she finds harder and harder to resist.

Page 69 marks the pivotal point where her resistance to Bertie weakens. It also underscores central themes in the novel, like the relationship between love and creativity, here encapsulated in the Wells’s unusual marriage. Jane permits the love affairs that are vital to Bertie’s creativity; at the same time, she holds his life together and he can’t do without her. The page reveals Bertie’s complex character: he has a mesmerising and powerful personality, yet he can be petulant and self-centred.

My novel is also about the art and craft of storytelling, about Dorothy’s quest for a new way of writing that will capture the moment of being, the very essence of existence. “We will have all life within the novel,” proclaims Wells on page 69, in a clear statement of his own literary ambitions. Yet his words have sinister overtones: we are learning that Wells tries to make everyone in his life a character, dominating and shaping them into his own masterfully controlling and egocentric view of the world.

Here is the page:

“Shouldn’t you be working?”

“I can’t work,” Bertie admitted. “My mind and my thoughts – are just swirling about … I’m distracted by wanting you. It’s like someone murmuring continuously in a room while I try to write.”

He saw the doubt in Dorothy’s eyes, and he answered her gently, without her having to put anything into words. “Jane is the anchor of my existence. You are the zest.”

Dorothy stepped into the room and he shut the door behind her. There was silence.

“Damn you!” he burst out. “Not having you is interfering with my work, my mission…” He flung a hand at the untidy heap of pages at his desk.

“May I look?” she asked cautiously.

He nodded moodily. “It’s in its infancy still. It’s an essay called ‘The Contemporary Novel.’”

Filled with curiosity, Dorothy picked up sheets covered with small, densely written prose. He had never let her see his work in progress before.

We are going to write about it all. We are going to write about business and finance, and politics and precedence, and decorum and indecorum, until a thousand pretences and a thousand impostures shrivel in the cold, clean air of our elucidations. We are going to write of waste of opportunities and latent beauties until a thousand new ways of living open to man and woman … Before we have done, we will have all life within the novel.

(Passage in italics from “The Contemporary Novel” by H.G. Wells, Fortnightly Review, November 1911.)

Visit Louisa Treger's website.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Missing Place"

Sophie Littlefield grew up in rural Missouri and attended college in Indiana. She worked in technology before having children, and was lucky enough to stay home with them while they were growing up. She writes novels for kids and adults, and lives in Northern California.

Littlefield applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, The Missing Place, and reported the following:

From page 69:

Colleen bit her lip, trying to figure out how to handle this. She’d known Shay less than twenty-four hours and she already could trace the arc of her volatility. And it was easy to imagine that in whatever low-paying job Shay worked, conflicts were probably settled with direct confrontation.

The Missing Place tells the story of two vastly different women brought together in a search to find their missing sons. They are challenged by their ignorance of each other’s worlds, as well as by the judgment each carries. Colleen, a wealthy and suburban East Coast stay-at-home spouse, has never faced the day-to-day challenges that Shay has to keep her household afloat and the bills paid. And Shay, who finds her comforts where she can, finds Colleen pampered, incompetent, and wearying. Colleen values tact; Shay barrels through life, acting first and apologizing after.

Some readers have found these two women unsympathetic as they try each other’s patience while searching for the truth. But I was attempting to depict mature American women without varnish or softening. Their conflicts eventually turn to strengths as they learn to trust each other, and join forces rather than standing in each other’s way.

Learn more about the book and author at Sophie Littlefield's website and blog.

The Page 69 Test: A Bad Day for Sorry.

The Page 69 Test: A Bad Day for Pretty.

My Book, The Movie: A Bad Day for Pretty.

The Page 69 Test: Aftertime.

My Book, The Movie: Aftertime.

The Page 69 Test: Garden of Stones.

--Marshal Zeringue

"Very Bad Things"

Susan McBride is the USA Today bestselling author of Blue Blood and four other award-winning Debutante Dropout Mysteries from HarperCollins/Avon, including The Good Girl's Guide To Murder, The Lone Star Lonely Hearts Club, Night Of The Living Deb, and Too Pretty To Die. A sixth title, Say Yes to the Death, will be out in September 2015. McBride has another series with Avon that debuted in May 2014, the River Road Mysteries, starting with To Helen Back and followed by Mad as Helen (July 2014) and Not a Chance in Helen (September 2014).

McBride applied the Page 69 Test to her young adult thriller, Very Bad Things, and reported the following:

Page 69 from Very Bad Things is rather an interesting one. It’s kind of the sigh that comes after being startled. Katie Barton has just opened a smelly, leaky package sent to her via her dorm at Whitney Prep. The package contains a severed hand with a rose tattoo that once was attached to Rose Tatum, a girl who’s gone missing and was last seen with Katie’s boyfriend, Mark Summers, son of the headmaster.

In this scene, Katie’s desperate for a sense of normalcy to return to her life at Whitney but she’s not sure how to get it, despite the suggestions of her roommate and best friend, Tessa Lupinski. The point of view is Tessa’s.

Both characters realize at this point that their lives probably won’t ever be the same again. And they’re right.

“You think coffee will make me feel normal?” Katie frowned, hugging a ragged stuffed bear that she’d brought to boarding school with her. “What if the psycho’s there, watching me?”

“So you’re never going to leave the dorm?”

“I will when they catch him,” Katie said, looking at her like she was nuts.

Katie wouldn’t even go to the bathroom by herself, and she made Tessa stand guard when she took a shower that night. Even though Tessa didn’t let anyone near her, Katie emerged white-faced and scared. She claimed she’d seen shadows outside the frosted glass door, like someone had walked past it, though Tessa assured her that no one had been anywhere near.

At bedtime, Katie insisted they leave the closet light on or she couldn’t go to sleep. It had been such a long day and Tessa was pretty bleary-eyed, so she went along with it. She wasn’t sure when they’d finally drifted off. Katie hadn’t gotten off the phone with her Mom until midnight, and then she’d spent another hour texting Mark. It was still dark outside when Tessa heard Katie’s whimpers.

“Tessa,” her friend called, her voice quavering. “Tessa!”

“I’m right here,” she said, flying across the room and grabbing Katie’s trembling hands. “It’s okay. Everything’s all right.”

“No.” Katie shook her head, hair falling in her face. Her eyes welled with tears. “I smelled roses again. Someone was in the room.”

Learn more about the book and author at Susan McBride's website.

The Page 69 Test: Little Black Dress.

Writers Read: Susan McBride.

--Marshal Zeringue

"The Caller"

Juliet Marillier worked as a musician and a public servant before escaping the day job to become a full-time writer. Her historical fantasy novels for adults and young adults are published internationally and have won many awards. The Caller, published on September 9 by Knopf, is her seventeenth novel, and completes the Shadowfell trilogy for young adult readers (the other two novels in the series are Shadowfell and Raven Flight.)

Marillier submitted The Caller to the Page 69 Test, and here is her analysis:

The Shadowfell books are set in a magical version of ancient Scotland, where a band of young rebels attempts to end the iron-strong rule of the tyrannical King Keldec. To achieve this, they need the aid of Alban’s uncanny folk, never known for their willingness to cooperate with humankind. The key is fifteen-year-old Neryn, who has a remarkable and perilous gift: she is a Caller, with the ability to unite human and fey in the struggle for freedom. In this series I explore the theme of rebellion. What does it take to stand up and be counted? And what is the personal cost of being a rebel, not only during the struggle, but afterwards?

I had two editions to choose from, the Australian and US versions, and I must admit I chose the one with the more appropriate page 69! Our narrator, Neryn, must master four kinds of elemental magic before she can use her gift effectively in the final confrontation with the tyrant’s forces. She has travelled to find one of Alban’s ancient Guardians, the White Lady, so she can learn the magic of air. It turns out the Lady is invisible; Neryn has encountered only a swarm of tiny insect-like beings that are in some way connected with this once-powerful entity. The Lady does have a voice – that of a tough, wry old Scotswoman. To hear it, Neryn must be inside a beehive-shaped stone hut; it is here that she does her learning. On page 69 Neryn practises her newfound skill in hearing, and the White Lady warns her that using her ability on a battlefield is going to be much harder. Neryn is accompanied on this journey by Whisper, an uncanny being who looks like a cross between a young man and a white owl. The story is full of strange creatures, some from Scottish folklore and some newly invented.

Here’s part of page 69:

Spending all day inside the cramped confines of the beehive hut was taking a toll on me, body and mind. But my learning progressed. Now I could hear the subtlest of differences in the vibrations of the drum, and in the movement of the small folk inside the hut and outside, in the broader area of the Beehives. I could detect the movement of one bird in the elder trees, out there beyond my vision. I could identify one insect crawling out from cover at a distance of twenty paces. Without needing to be out in the open, looking, I knew when Whisper came early to collect me; I heard the rustle of his wings up the hill, even when the howl of the wind must surely drown it.

‘This new awareness will help ye,’ the Lady said. ‘If ye can hear the voice o’ a wee crawlin’ creature even when a storm’s ragin’, mebbe ye can gather your wits in the clamour o’ battle and send a message tae the ears that must hear it. Do ye no’ think?’

I imagined the battle: my friends and allies falling, dying before my eyes; the noise of clashing metal, the crunch of bones breaking, the screams. I had only witnessed one such conflict. This one would be ten times bigger, twenty times. ‘I can only pray that I have learned enough to do it.’

That passage captures the central themes of the Shadowfell series. Page 69 also gives us a glimpse of the elusive Good Folk, the uncanny inhabitants of Alban, and the way in which they guide Neryn on her journey, sometimes with kindness but more often with brusque doses of realism. These are not fairy folk of the gossamer-winged, nectar-sipping variety, but a strong, ancient people who have good reason to be wary of humankind. That makes Neryn’s ability to coax them out and gain their trust a rare gift, and one that she must use wisely – Alban’s future depends on it.

Learn more about the book and author at Juliet Marillier's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Juliet Marillier & Pippa, Gretel, and Sara.

Writers Read: Juliet Marillier (November 2011).

--Marshal Zeringue