Book Cover Release: DUSTY by Mary Elizabeth & Sarah Elizabeth

 

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Releasing July 14, 2014

 

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Synopsis

Bliss knows all about bad choices but has yet to make them herself. With an innocent heart, she searches for freedom and finds it in the delinquent down the hall.

Dusty is a foul-mouthed troublemaker, tear-maker and heartbreaker. The boy with summer sky-blue eyes knows to stay away, but he can’t resist the girl who made his house a home.

She’s his reason, but he might not catch her when she falls.

She loves him. He loves her crazy.

This is what happens when a love made of secrets is kept with rules instead of promises.

 

Excerpt

Chapter Ten

Buried beneath the blankets, I press the phone to my ear. Dusty doesn’t realize I’m back on, so I listen to him smoke: light, inhale, exhale, sigh, laugh. Hearing it is almost as good as actually seeing his lips around the end of a joint.

“I’m back,” I whisper.

“Beautiful, beautiful, baby Bliss. Baby, baby Bliss.” He laughs, taking a hit.

My dad’s a juvenile court judge. Our dinner table talk usually consists of him complaining about the kids he sees coming in and out of his courtroom. It’s an epidemic, he says. Children Bliss’ age using drugs. And it always ends with, Bliss, never give into peer pressure. It starts with a little grass.

Maybe it is some kind sweeping epidemic, but weed doesn’t sway Dusty the way my dad claims it does other people. It soothes him. It makes him funny and honest and tolerable.

My dad doesn’t know everything.

“I thought about you all day,” Dusty says softly, lazily. “I miss your face. I miss your candy wrappers all over my room. I miss your cold toes on my legs under the covers.”

“Oh, yeah?” I grip the phone tighter, pressing my knees together. The sound of his low voice sends chills up and down my arms. I bite my bottom lip and curl my toes.

“Come over,” he exhales.

I roll onto my side and turn my face into the hoodie’s hood, inhaling the faint sent of vanilla. I’m lit up, full of crazy butterflies and overriding happiness. This boy makes me smile bright.

“I’ll take my mom’s car. I’ll come get you.” He’s only half-kidding. “Say yes.”

“You’ll drive high?”

“I’m not high.” There’s a moment of silence before he chokes on his laughter. “I’m so fucking high.”

I revel in his tone, and his voice, and his silly, half-slurred words while I lie in the dark pretending he’s close.

“I’m so hungry, Bliss baby. If you were here, I’d probably eat your elbow. I’d eat your—”

“Dusty,” I cut him off. “Tell me a secret.”

“I love you,” he says.

 

 

MeetTheAuthor

 

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FACEBOOK * GOODREADS * TWITTER * WEBSITE * DUO FACEBOOK PAGE

Mary Elizabeth is an up and coming author who finds words in chaos, writing stories about the skeletons hanging in your closets. Known as The Realist, she is one half of The Elizabeths—a duo brave enough to never hide the truth. Born and raised in Southern California, she’s a wife, mother of four beautiful children, and dog tamer to one enthusiastic Pit Bull and a prissy Chihuahua. She’s a hairstylist by day but contemporary fiction, new adult author by night. Mary can often be found finger twirling her hair and chewing on a stick of licorice while writing and rewriting a sentence over and over until it’s perfect. She discovered her talent for tale-telling accidentally, but literature is in her stranglehold. And she’s not letting go until every story is told.

To follow Mary’s upcoming solo and collaborative projects, she can be found at her website http://www.maryelizabethlit.com/.

Brought together by their love of storytelling, Mary and Sarah Elizabeth are a pair of dedicated writers with complementary strengths who’ve cultivated a literary style that captures a Realist’s brutality with a Poet’s grace, uncovering the self-seeking side of tenderness and the undisguised truth of honesty. Inspired by the lyrics of a song, Dusty was born between emails and long G-chats before a single chapter was ever typed. A short story turned into a monster, and more than four years and several edits later, the first half of their collaboration, Innocents, will be released on July 14, 2014. And its conclusion, Delinquents, is set to release on October 23, 2014.

If you’d like to contact The Elizabeths, they can be located on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TheElizabethsDusty?ref=hl.

Sarah Author Pic

GOODREADS * TWITTER * WEBSITE * FACEBOOK * DUO’S FACEBOOK PAGE

Listener, messenger, secret keeper, Elizabeth, and TrueLove, Sarah works two jobs by day so that she’s able to really work by night. She’s written since she was old enough to hold a marker, and her writing bridges the sacred and profane, from first love to forbidden, with a longing for truth and a passion for hearts. She is currently based in Kansas City where her army is comprised of one little buffalo. Her best friends are girls named Moses and Bunny. Her hero is a boy named Bishop, and the one she loves has ocean eyes. In addition to Dusty, Sarah also has a collaborative novella, Light and Wine, due to be released on June 8th, and her solo work will be featured in the anthology Branded, this August.

Brought together by their love of storytelling, Mary and Sarah Elizabeth are a pair of dedicated writers with complementary strengths who’ve cultivated a literary style that captures a Realist’s brutality with a Poet’s grace, uncovering the self-seeking side of tenderness and the undisguised truth of honesty. Inspired by the lyrics of a song, Dusty was born between emails and long G-chats before a single chapter was ever typed. A short story turned into a monster, and more than four years and several edits later, the first half of their collaboration, Innocents, will be released on July 14, 2014. And its conclusion, Delinquents, is set to release on October 23, 2014.

If you’d like to contact The Elizabeths, they can be located on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TheElizabethsDusty?ref=hl.

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EJ Button

PHOTOS: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ellie Goulding & More at DIVERGENT World Premiere

Last night, we attended the DIVERGENT World Premiere Red Carpet and interviewed the big stars of this soon-to-be blockbuster. Check out the photos below of some of the talent we were lucky enough to talk to! We teamed up with That’s Normal and Fangirlish to provide you with unparalleled coverage.

Some of the talent includes: Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ansel Elgort, Miles Teller, Jai Courtney, Veronica Roth, Ellie Goulding, Pia Mia, Christian Madsen, A$AP, Jadan Smith, Kate Winslet, Ashely Judd & more!

Click on the picture to view the image FULL SIZE.

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DIVERGENT is available NOW!

EXCLUSIVE: Interview with “COSMOS: A Spacetime Odyssey” Animation Producer, Kara Vallow

We had the amazing opportunity to speak with the animation producer of the 13 part series “COSMOS: A Spacetime Odyssey” this past week. The first episode of this epic science documentary aired Sunday, March 9th on Fox and 10 other US networks including National Geographic Channel, FX, FXX, FXM, Fox Sports 1, Fox Sports 2, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Mundo and Fox Life. Presented by Neil deGrasse Tyson, COSMOS is the first documentary series to be broadcast on commercial networks.  Approximately 40% of this show is animation, so it’s a big factor in the success and feel of each episode. Kara Vallow, the animation producer, along with her team, and 6 Point Harness, worked extremely hard to create an animated world for the show to thrive in.

You may have heard of Kara from her relationship with Seth MacFarlane, she’s been his producing partner for over a decade on shows like “Family Guy”, “American Dad!” and “The Cleveland Show”.  At one time she was responsible for three half hour shows on Fox’s primetime Sunday night lineup (except for “The Simpsons”), she has created award-winning animation and has been nominated for five Emmys.  Oh and did I mention she also runs two popular blogs on teensleuth.com? To say I’m extremely impressed with her is an understatement.

Check out our interview with Kara below!

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How long did the process take from inception to TV screen?
About 18 months.

How involved in the concept and pre-production were you? (Focused on animation, not entire show)
Seth basically came to me and asked me to create the animation that would serve as the narrative portion of the series, so intimately.

Having this be targeted at the general public how did that affect your decision making / design?
The animation needed to be presented in the most engaging and vibrant way possible to compete with the rest of the episode. We had to keep people engaged when we transitioned to the “unreal” world. We needed to impress the viewer with the vast scale of the universe but also create a mode of scientific storytelling through a style that was sophisticated but uncomplicated. When it came to designing the character style, thee supervising director, Brent Woods, and I first discussed using silhouettes, but later changed our minds in order for the audience members to be able to relate more easily to the characters.

How did you decide what to make the animation look like? Were Ann and Seth involved with that?
Seth told me that he wanted the style of animation to be something that felt “adult” and sophisticated as opposed to what we produce on a weekly basis for Family Guy and American Dad. Seth gave me complete freedom to create this universe, which was an enormous gift. Ann gave me the courage to follow through with it.

I watched many, many films to gain some inspiration. The Secret of the Kells was one of them – it is lushly beautiful without relying on 3-D bells and whistles. It’s deliberately flat, elements are stylized and the movement primitive. They invoke pictures in a medieval manuscript. Another was a short film called Invention of Love by an animator named Andrey Shuskov. It is so simple, no words, just music and blue and gray and black silhouettes moving acres floating cities and country sides, yet the resulting narrative is heartbreaking. Another inspiration was a film called “The Adventures of Prince Achmed”, an animated feature film from 1926 by a German animator name Lottie Reiniger. It’s all done is silhouettes, like Indonesian shadow puppets and is insanely beautiful. I was looking for ways in which animators have used non traditional, non literal modes to convey story and deep feeling.

Did Seth and Ann give you creative freedom with the characters and the emotion or did they have specific ideas and direction?
Ann is so intimately engaged with the characters and their stories that we had the luxury of getting very specific and intimate points of reference. Her insights were essential to understanding the characters.

I was truly enthralled – and emotional – with the Giodarno Bruno segment in the first episode, can you tell me about the process behind it?
First of all, THANK YOU. My animation team (Allie Crane, Brent Woods, Lucas Gray and Andrew Brandou), had become intimately acquainted with Bruno, beyond his role as the first modern European thinker to disseminate the idea that the Sun is just one star among many. We needed get to the point where we felt his struggle and his pain. Before we delved into bringing Bruno’s story to life, I reread a lot of Carl’s words. I was struck by his poetry, his language heavy with lyricism and affection, he is like an evangelist. I wanted to bring this feeling to the Bruno set pieces. I have two passages hanging in my office: “Over the dying embers of the campfire, on a moonless night, we watched the stars”, and “this cosmos, in which we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky”. One of my directors, Andrew Brandou, created the beautiful vistas that Bruno lives so seamlessly in, and that seem to have existed since ancient times.

What challenges did you face?
The biggest challenges were 1) developing an animation style that was worthy of Cosmos 2) shouldering the responsibility of ensuring viewers understand what were often complicated modern theories of science – via imaginary journeys across time and space using animation. The narrative needed to be advanced and the narratives were going to include profound scientific concepts and demonstrating of experiments that needed to be presented with clarity. 3) Devising a narrative, beautifully and economically told in a style that would be arresting yet transition seamlessly from the live action settings. We couldn’t have those transitions be jarring to the viewer, so we chose to portray the landscapes as “real”, using layering of photographic elements and physical textures, shading and lighting that helped create an illusion of depth and drama and perspective.

What episode is your favorite?
My favorite episode will always be episode 1.

Three words to describe Cosmos?
all there is

 

You can catch “COSMOS: A Spacetime Odyssey” every Sunday at 9pm on FOX.

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If you’re interested in checking out a Q&A that was held after the industry show premiere a couple weeks ago, at the Griffith observatory, you can watch it below. The panel included:  Cosmos: host Neil deGrasse Tyson, writer/executive producer/director Ann Druyan, executive producer Seth MacFarlane, executive producer Mitchell Cannold, executive producer/director Brannon Braga, and co-executive producer Jason Clark.

Top 5 Fun OSCAR Moments

There were so many amazing moments from Sundays 86th Annual Academy Awards we wanted to share some of our favorites fun/funny moments!

5. Ellen bring up Jennifer Lawrence’s Oscar falls

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4. Pharell dancing through the star studded audience.

 

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3.  Ellen scaring Leonardo DiCaprio and Sandra Bullock

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2. Ellen having Pizza delivered for the Oscar audience

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1. The Twitter Shattering Selfie

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Highlights of Our Coverage of AFI Fest Premiere, WALTER MITTY

Here’s a video of the best moments from our coverage of AFI Fest’s Centerpiece Gala, THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY!

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Check out our interview with Jon Daly and the cast as well as photos from the red carpet.

WATCH: Fanspired Interviews the Cast of WALTER MITTY

At the AFI Fest premiere of THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY, we talked to Jon Daly, Terence Bernie Hines, Adrian Martinez, and Ben Stiller about what they DAYDREAM about and whether they’d chose a life full of ROMANCE, ACTION, or HEROISM. Their answers are just as inventive as they are HILARIOUS! 🙂

Check out our interview in the video below:

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THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY is out in theaters NOW! See it today![vimeo]http://vimeo.com/123456789[/vimeo]

Jon Daly Talks WALTER MITTY, Romances, & TROPIC THUNDER at AFI Fest

We were on the red carpet of THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY’s AFI Centerpiece Gala screening last month. We chatted with Jon Daly, best known for his role in BRIDE WARS, about how it was like to work with a comedic legend, Ben Stiller, why he’s a fan of TROPIC THUNDER, and more!

Check out our interview with him in the video below:

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THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY is now in theaters! See it TODAY!

PHOTOS: PHILOMENA Cast at AFI Fest

We were on the red carpet of PHILOMENA’s debut at AFI FEST on November 13, 2013! Watch our exclusive interview with Steve Coogan and Gabrielle Tana here! Check out our photos of the cast that attended in the gallery below:

All Photos Copyright (c) Brian Berkowitz

EXCLUSIVE: Steve Coogan and Gabrielle Tana Talk PHILOMENA at AFI FEST

Los Angeles, CA (November 13, 2013) — Steve Coogan (star of the film) and Gabrielle Tana (producer) stopped to answer a few of our questions about PHILOMENA at AFI FEST. Steve talks about the essentials to any great road trip while Gabrielle speaks about the great chemistry Steve and Judi Dench had on set, “it’s wonderful!”

Check out our EXCLUSIVE red carpet interview with Steve Coogan and Gabrielle Tana in the video below:

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Don’t miss PHILOMENA in theaters nationwide TODAY!

PHOTOS: AFI Centerpiece Gala THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY

Los Angeles, CA (November 13, 2013) — THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY premiered at AFI Fest as a Centerpiece Gala film. We were on the red carpet, interviewing the stars of the film — Ben Stiller, Sean Penn, Kristen Wiig, Kathryn Hahn, Adam Scott, Adrian Martinez, and Terence Bernie Hines.

Ben Stiller directs and stars in THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY, James Thurber’s classic story of a day-dreamer who escapes his anonymous life by disappearing into a world of fantasies filled with heroism, romance and action. When his job along with that of his co-worker (Kristen Wiig) are threatened, Walter takes action in the real world embarking on a global journey that turns into an adventure more extraordinary than anything he could have ever imagined.

Check out the photos we took below:

THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY opens in theaters nationwide on Christmas Day!