Chicago and Indianapolis and Other News

Hi Everybody!

I know I haven't posted for a while, but I was busy on a two week trip to Chicago and Indianapolis speaking at schools. It was an incredible trip - I gave 14 speeches and spoke to approximately 2,500 kids about my book, reading, and reaching out to help each other. It was great to see the kids get so excited about not only reading and writing, but about doing good in the world. Here are a few pictures from the trip:

With students at Attea Middle School in Glenview, Illinois

Speaking to students at Countryside Montessori in Northbrook, Illinois

Signing books at St. Pius X in Indianapolis, Indiana

At Amore Pizzeria in Zionsville, Indiana talking with a teen library group

I have several videos of speeches that I gave at schools and I will post them as soon as I can. You can also view a list of all the schools I visited on the trip at my website here. In the mean time, I've also had several interviews since I got back from my trip.

I had a live interview on Fox 31's Everyday on Thursday, the 17th. You can watch the video here.

I also taped a segment with Fox31's MartinoTV which will air on Christmas Day.

Today, I participated in a live blog chat with Indiependent Books. You visit their website and buy and autographed copy of The Fire Stone here.

I'll post again soon, but for now, happy holidays to all!

Check back soon,

Riley

Interviews, Fan Videos, Reviews, and More

Hi all!

Now that I have digested my Thanksgiving dinner, I am finally able to write a blog post. First off, here's a link to my appearance on Cyrus Webb's radio show Conversations LIVE! Thanks so much to Cyrus for having me!

Also, a faithful fan posted this video on YouTube of her review of The Fire Stone. It's excellent! Thanks so much for that!



Also, check out Chris Brett's blog The Pirate's Bounty. He has posted a review of The Fire Stone and is also doing a giveaway of the book. Thanks so much, Chris!

I did a guest review on Books For Kids Reviews on Going Bovine by Libba Bray. You can read it here.

Monday, 11/30, I leave for Chicago and then go on to Indianapolis to speak to a number of schools in both cities. You can see a complete list of all schools here.

Check back soon for updates on all of the events!

Riley

Cherry Hills Village Elmentary School Book Fair, Blogs, News, and Appearances

Hi all!

I have a lot to report in this post! Last week, I signed books at the Cherry Hills Village Elementary School book fair. I sold 110 books in four hours! Here's a picture from the event:


Also, I’ve been featured on a few blogs. Here’s an interview I did with Shelli Cornelison at her blog Shelli’s Soliloquy and Tara Michener at her blog Whoaminotwhatiam. I was also featured on Feed Your Good Dog. Thanks to Shelli, Tara, and FYGD for the support!

I was also featured in a brief news story by 9News. You can view it here. I was interviewed yesterday by Fox31 here in Colorado for their Martino Show and I will be interviewed live on Fox31's Everyday Show at 4:00 mountain time on December 17th.

On November 24th, I will be on Cyrus Webb’s Conversations LIVE! Radio at 8:00 eastern time. You can listen to it live here.

And now, the most action-packed part of the post! I will be touring Chicago and Indianapolis for the first two weeks of December to speak to kids at schools. Here’s the schedule:

12/1 – Central Elementary School
Wilmette, IL
12/2 – The Skokie School
Winnetka, IL
12/2 – Lake Forest Country Day School
Lake Forest, IL
12/3 – Wilmette Junior High
Wilmette, IL
12/3 – Attea Middle School
Glenview, IL
12/4 – School of St. Mary
Lake Forest, IL
12/8 – St. Thomas Aquinas School
Indianapolis, IN
12/8 – Westlane Middle School
Indianapolis, IN
12/9 – St. Pius X School
Indianapolis, IN

This evening from 7:00-8:30, I'll be talking to the Teen Creative Writing Group at Koelbel Library in Centennial, Colorado. I'll post about it afterward, so check back soon!

Riley

Now Available on Kindle

Hello!

The Fire Stone is now available on Amazon Kindle, so all of those with Kindle reading devices, buy it and enjoy! Here's the link.

Riley

List of Must-Reads!

Hi all!

Just for kicks, I put together my personal partial list of must-reads. Enjoy:

The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (of course)
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
The Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer
The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, David Oliver Relin
The Maximum Ride series by James Patterson
The Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
His Dark Materials series by Phillip Pullman
The Redwall series by Brian Jacques
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The Merlin series by T.A. Barron
The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke

Until next time,

Riley

Cherry Hills Village Elementary School Visit

Hello!

Yesterday, I spoke to classes at Cherry Hills Village Elementary School in Colorado. I spoke to seven different groups, each around twenty-five minutes long - whew! I had a really fun time and the kids were great!

Here are some pictures:


My next appearance is at the Teen Writing Group at Koelbel Library. More information here.

Check back soon!

Riley

Book Review - The Demon King, and Other News

Hi everybody!

It’s been a while since I last posted, so first I thought I’d list the most memorable events from the past couple of weeks:

1) I'm now on Facebook - become a fan of The Fire Stone here! (and follow me on Twitter)
2) It snowed 18 inches in Denver and melted two days later (typical Denver)
3) I finished the first book of my next series! (it's an urban fantasy trilogy, but that's all I can say about it...!)
4) I also read The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima. Here's the review:

The Demon King is an exciting and highly enjoyable read. In the fantasy world of the Seven Realms, transformed streetlord Han Allister is struggling to feed his mother and sister and stay out of the gang-life he abandoned. When hunting with his friends Dancer, Han comes across a group of wizards and takes a strange amulet away from them. Later, he discovers that it once belonged to the Demon King, the evil wizard who nearly destroyed the world thousands of years ago. With the amulet comes bad luck Han’s life changes from complicated to chaotic.

Meanwhile, Princess Raisa ana’Marianna is confronting her own set of problems. Her mother, the queen, is being heavily influenced by Gavan Bayar, the High Wizard who advises her. Raisa feels trapped in her own kingdom and begins to notice trouble brewing that no one else seems to notice.

Both Han and Raisa are strong, free-spirited characters. The secondary characters in the book are also engaging and it is easy to sympathize with all of them. The overlap of Han and Raisa’s lives is particularly interesting because the reader witnesses it through two points of view. I really enjoyed reading this book and found that in addition to the connection the reader has with the characters, the plot was intriguing and mysterious. I highly recommend The Demon King.

In other news, I’ll be speaking at Cherry Hills Village Elementary School here in Denver tomorrow morning and I will be signing books at their book fair next week. On November 19th, I will also be at the Koelbel Library Teen Writing group. More information on that here.

Also, my book should be on the Amazon Kindle soon, so watch out for that!

I will post pictures from tomorrow if I can.

Check back in soon!

Riley

Cinda Williams Chima

Hi!

I went to Cinda Williams Chima's book signing at Tattered Cover Bookstore here in Denver yesterday. She was great! I got a copy of her new book, The Demon King, and gave her a copy of The Fire Stone.

In other news, I'm on Twitter now so check out my tweets.

Riley

Prairie Winds Elementary School Visit

Hi Everybody!

Yesterday, I visited Prairie Winds Elementary School in Monument, Colorado and spoke to the third, fourth, and fifth grade classes. I had a great time! The kids were great listeners and asked some really thoughtful questions. There were some avid readers there and a lot of kids seemed really interested in writing, which is great to see!

Here's some pictures from the event:


Thank you to everyone at Prairie Winds, especially the Hapkes and Tiffany Brown! I had such a great time!

At the moment, my next event will be at the Cherry Hills Village Elementary School in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado. Right now it looks like I will be speaking to the kids and signing books at the book fair the week of November 9th, but I'll post more on that as we get closer.

Riley

Book Review - The Hunger Games

Hello!

I know it's been a while (again) since I last posted, but as always things have been very busy. I am more than halfway finished with my latest book, the first of an urban-fantasy trilogy for teens, and things are still going strong with The Fire Stone. I have an appearance at Prairie Winds Elementary School on Tuesday. But today, I thought I would do something different, so I wrote a review of one of my favorite books, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. The sequel, Catching Fire, was released a few weeks ago. Both books are fantastic reads as you'll see below. Enjoy:

Imagine living in a world build upon the ruins of civilization, where twenty-three children are annually sentenced to death. The Hunger Games, a teen science-fiction novel by Suzanne Collins, takes place in the futuristic nation of Panem, built in the ruins of North America. Every year, two children between the ages of twelve and eighteen are selected as Tributes from each of the twelve districts to go to the capitol to compete in the Hunger Games, a brutal death match that leaves only one victor standing.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen saves her sister's life by stepping forward to enter the Hunger Games in her stead. Joining her from her district is Peeta Mellark, a boy who once saved Katniss from starvation. Katniss and Peeta are joined by the other twenty-two Tributes from the various districts at the Captiol, the ruling body that keeps strict watch other the districts. Sent to an arena with treacherous landscapes, the teenagers are forced to battle for their lives. Katniss is forced whether to fight for her survival or for her heart.

As Katniss narrates her heart-stopping story, the reader feels her raw emotions and experiences the perverse methods of control used by the Capitol. The violence of the Hunger Games is televised throughout Panem, and the Tribute that emerges alive from the brutal ordeal is awarded fame, fortune, and glory. The parallels that Collins draws between Katniss's world and our own provide an alarming illustration of the unsettling prevalence of violence in our own society. The barbarity that is so commonplace in the Hunger Games is constantly relfected in our culture through newspapers, magazines, television, books, and video games.

Collins pressures us to examine our society's emphasis on violence through this often gut-wrenching story. The destructive effect of violence on Katniss and the other teenagers is a battle that is currently being waged in the streets of American and around the world. The Hunger Games is an introspective look into our society and what it could become; the acceptance of violence in entertainment is the precursor for the application of violence in the real world. By creating and emotional, and very real connection to her characters, Collins entreats the reader to amend the tacit approval of violence. The first book of a trilogy, The Hunger Games leaves room for expansion upon and exploration of Panem society, promising to further thrill and challenge the reader.

So there's my review. I thought Catching Fire was even better and I would definitely recommend both books. They're probably for ages 13 and up.

Check back soon!

Riley

Amazon, Trade Show, and Upcoming Events

Hi Everybody!

I know it's been a while since I first posted, but things have been really busy. First of all, good news: my book has now been officially released and it's finally available on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, and it will soon be available in bookstores! Buy it, write reviews, and spread the word!

Second, this weekend was the Mountains and Plain Independent Booksellers Association Trade Show where all of the small and independent bookstores from around the region come to Denver for the trade show to see all the new titles from publishers and authors. I went to show The Fire Stone and had my first author signing with the forty other authors that were there. Here's some pictures from the show:

Me with Patrick McDonnell who writes and illustrates the comic strip MuttsThe trade show

Me signing books

Me at our table

It was an amazing experience and I met a lot of great people!

In terms of future events, I'll be Koelbel Library in Greenwood Village, Colorado on November 19th to talk to the teen writing group there. I'll also be at the book fair at Cherry Hills Village Elementary School in Cherry Hills Village, Colorado in November, and others signings are currently being arranged. I'll post more information about all of these as we get closer.

Thanks for reading! I promise I'll be more diligent about posting and please drop a comment and I promise I'll answer!

Riley

Introductions

Hello and welcome to my author blog!

So first off, I should introduce myself. My name is Riley Carney and I'm sixteen years old. I live in Colorado with my mom, dad, older brother, and our giant Bernese Mountain Dog, Ben. More than anything I love to read and write.

I wrote my first book, The Fire Stone, when I was fifteen. It took me about month to write the first draft and several months of editing followed. It's YA high-fantasy, for ages 11 and up most likely. It's currently available on my website rileycarney.com and is available for preorder on Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com, though that should change in the next week or two. The Fire Stone follows the journey of Matt, a fifteen-year-old living in the world of Mundaria. A series of strange occurrences befall Matt and he is thrust from his ordinary life into a life of magic, danger, and adventure as he joins many unusual beings on a quest for the Stones of the Elements which have either the power to save or destroy his world. The rest of the five-book Reign of the Elements series is complete.

Here's a picture of The Fire Stone cover:

I'm planning on using this blog to post news about my book and appearances/signings or anything else I feel like sharing. I'll try to post at least once a week, probably more often if I can. Feel free to comment and I promise I'll answer you to best of my ability.

Thanks for reading and stop by again soon!

Riley