Amanda Ashby: Care what you wear!

Amanda Ashby, Author of You Had Me at a Halo and Zombie Queen of Newbury High

Finishing High School (or When Nice People Make Bad Clothing Decisions)

When Diana first asked me to take part in her blogoversary, I was thrilled, not just because anyone with an alliterated name is okay by me, but also because finishing high school can be hard work (actually, so can blogging for that matter) so I just wanted to say a big congrats all round!!!!!

Anyway, since the theme is about what happens after you finish school I thought I’d better take a trip down memory lane. The time was 1985 (does that date me?), the place was the western suburbs of Brisbane, Australia and the mood was positive. After all, not only had I managed to get into the University that I wanted to study English and Journalism, but I also had a whole summer of fun in front of me. Of course there was the small niggle that none of my close friends were going to the same University as me, but for most of that summer, I just ignored it. Another thing I ignored was what I should wear for my first day. Now this isn’t as strange as it seems, since I spent my entire school life having to wear a uniform so the idea of being able to wear whatever I wanted, was slightly foreign. It was also when things started to get messy.

You see not all of the eighties was about Wham T-shirts and leg warmers and when I was a teenager there was quite a lot of gothic/second shopping going on so on my first day, I lovingly picked out my outfit. It went something like: some old boxer shorts worn as regular shorts, a retro mustard-colored polo shirt that I’d found in some charity shop for about fifty cents, with a pair of leather gladiator sandals and my favorite ancient leather belt (which, for the record, I still own). Feeling pretty pleased with myself, I headed off to my first day, excited about joining the liberating, bohemian environment of Uni (as we called it in Australia).

Unfortunately, turns out that no one else got the memo and when I arrived (friendless remember) I discovered that everyone else was wearing big hair, big shoulder pads and those stupid silver fob chains that were so popular back then. In other words, in a sea of yuppies I looked like something that Kurt Cobain’s cat might’ve dragged in. Humiliating doesn’t even come close to cracking it and I was pretty close to wishing that I was back in the safety of High School again.

Thankfully, by the end of the day I had the good fortune to meet my wonderful friend Delia, who didn’t even come from Brisbane but somehow already managed to know EVERYBODY. Anyway, for whatever reason she seemed to think it was perfectly normal to wear retro mustard polo shirts and boxer shorts for the first day and the more we hung out, the more I discovered that between those yuppies in their chambray shirts and matching brogues, there was actually loads of other weirdly dressed students, all excited to finally be able to express themselves anyway that they wanted to. By the end of the month we had managed to get quite a group together and we all spent the next three years having the time of our lives—something we still reminisce about now!!!!!!

So my advice to anyone leaving school and taking their next step. Be brave. Be fearless. Wear weird clothes and meet your own Delia and Co. Trust me, it’s worth it!

To be with a chance to win a copy of Zombie Queen of Newbury High or my first novel, You Had Me at Halo, just tell me about your worst ‘first day’ outfit ever!!!!!

www.amandaashby.com

~~~

Read my review for Zombie Queen of Newbury here! A very light and funny novel for zombie fans!

Contest Time

Giveaway Item(s): A signed copy of Zombie Queen of Newbury High or You Had Me at a Halo

# of Winners: 1

Eligibility: International

Entries (Leave links if needed)

+1 New follower (MANDATORY)

+1 Answer question! (MANDATORY) Come up with a possible worst outfit if you don't have one!

+2 Old follower

+1 Link (5 max)

+1 Add Stop, Drop, and Read! to your blogroll

Candice Bailey from Zombie Queen of Newbury High

When Diana Dang asked me to help celebrate her blog anniversary I was thrilled since lets face it, I really don’t get all the attention that I deserve so I figured ‘hey, this is totally my chance to shine’. And in case you’re wondering who I am, my name is Candice Bailey and I was a character in Amanda Ashby’s ‘Zombie Queen of Newbury High’.

I would like to say I was the heroine of that book, but for some inexplicable reason, the author (in her complete stupidity) decided that my best friend Mia Everett should be the star of the show. Not that I begrudge Mia her success since we go way back and really you couldn’t meet a nicer girl if you tried. But still, if you ask me, it was a little bit unfair.

I mean for a start Mia didn’t do anything heroic at all. In fact she did the opposite of heroic when she turned me and every other senior at Newbury High into almost zombies. Okay, so technically I might’ve been the one to suggest Mia buy the questionable love spell that ended up causing all the problems, but really that’s beside the point. The important thing to remember is that I almost got turned into a zombie and I didn’t even get my own book.

In what world is that fair?

And while we’re talking about injustice, don’t even get me started on the problems I’ve had trying to get my parents’ medical insurance to cough up for my ongoing rehabilitation costs. According to Chase Miller (he is the totally hot guy that helped us with the whole zombie thing and who Mia ended up falling desperately in love with. Thankfully tall, dark and silent isn’t really my type so I can let her off for that one), anyway, according to the Department of Paranormal Containment that Chase works for, I’m completely back to normal with no outstanding medical conditions whatsoever.

Oh, please.

That is so not the case and ever since the whole almost-zombie thing not only has my digestion been ridiculous but I’ve had circulation problems, my skin doesn’t have that peachy glow and even my hair seems to have gone up a shade in the dull-o-meter. Of course I’m sure that all this could be quite easily fixed by a three week trip to a health spa – though nothing American, since after doing my research I firmly believe that the European spas are best equipped to deal with my specific needs. Except of course the stupid insurance company for some reason agree with Chase’s equally stupid department and are refusing to pay the money that I require.

I know. What’s that about?

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, it’s Diana Dang’s blog party so I would like to take this opportunity to wish her a lovely day and as a gift (don’t look so surprised, I mean I might’ve almost turned into a zombie but I still have manners), I would like to give her a few words of advice.

First up, if your best friend ever wants to do a love spell then make sure you are at least five miles away from her. Also, if you wake up one morning and have a weird rash on your arm and totally flip out thinking that you’re got leprosy and are going to die, then apparently you have nothing to worry about because it’s probably just the non-precious metal bracelet that you forgot to take off before you went to sleep. And finally, have fun!!

~~~

Zombie Queen of Newbury High is such a cute and funny zombie novel! And you can now win a copy of your own! (I wonder what Amanda will have in stores next for her new book!)

Prize(s): A signed copy of Zombie Queen Newbury High
# of Winners: 1
Eligibility: International

How to get entries: (please put keep it in the format below when you comment!)
+1 Comment
+1 New follower
+2 Old follower
+1 Linking this contest once somewhere else around the web

Author Interview: Amanda Ashby

Zombie this, zombie that, I don't think I will ever get tired of them! Speaking of zombies, today I have a new author interview for you! Amanda Ashby is the author of the funny and zombirific young adult novel, Zombie Queen of Newbury High! You can learn more about Amanda either on her site: http://amandaashby.com/ or her blog: http://amandaashby.blogspot.com/.

If we were in an Apocalypse right now, what do you think your chances of survival are?

Pretty good because I’ve been secretly taking some special pills that will make me taste bleurgh to all zombies. In fact if they even take one bite of me they will shrivel up and die. Best news is that these pills are chocolate coated!!!!

Let's say you and your love ones are separated by cities. Would you try to save them, knowing the fact that the city they are in are crawling with zombies? And not knowing if they are alive, dead, or already escaped?

Okay so I’m not a particularly brave person but there is no way in the world I’d let any zombies munch on my kids so yes, I’d definitely go back and those zombies had better be scared because I’ll have my mean face on!!!

If you became a zombie, who would be the first person you would want to snack on first?

Is it wrong that it would be David Boreanaz????

Are you planning on making a sequel to Zombie Queen of Newbury High by any chance?

If my publisher would like a sequel I’d be happy to do one. In fact I already have a rough plot and let’s just say that if Mia caused all the problems this time around, in the next book, it will be Candice that makes a wee small mistake!!!!

What is your current project at the moment? Can you please give us a brief description on what it is about?

My next book for Puffin is about a girl who goes to an elite slaying academy and longs to follow in her dragon-slaying mom’s footsteps. Instead she gets stuck slaying four-inch fairies. Not exactly the stuff that high destiny is made of, but things start to go a bit crazy when she suddenly starts to another kind of fairy that no one has ever heard of before and this is one is a lot bigger. And a lot more dangerous as well…

What kind of themes/genres are you planning on writing in the future?

I love writing young adult books with a touch of paranormal but I could see myself eventually trying to write a mid-grade fantasy book (though whether I’d be any good at it is another thing entirely!!!)

What is your favourite zombie movie of all times?

Shaun of the Dead

And lastly, please give us an interesting fact about yourself that not many people know about!

I can’t spell. Like really can’t spell, which is pretty embarrassing to admit since I’m a writer. Thank goodness for spell checker, critique partners and editors, that’s all I can say!!!

Zombie Queen of Newbury High by Amanda Ashby

Title: Zombie Queen of Newbury High

Author: Amanda Ashby

Age Group: Teens

# of Pages: 199

My Rating: 4/5

What to do when your hot prom date might get stolen away by a pretty, stuck-up cheerleader?

Well, Mia Everett is definitely in trouble if she doesn't do something soon because this is the exact situation she is in. So her best friend, Candice, drags her to a shady part of town to an equally shady store. An old hag named Algeria sells Mia a love spell for a hundred bucks. Of course Mia doubted that it would work because, seriously, a love spell? But blinded by dashingly handsome Rob, she can not help but do stupid things.

So during the school ceremony, she does the spell in the gym. After doing so, Rob approaches her with a really nice attitude and even offers her sweets. But then strange, quiet Chase Miller tells her in reality that she has infected the whole school with Viral Zombaticus. Meaning, she has turned everyone into zombies! And now they are fattening her up as their zombie queen so she could be eaten! What is a girl to do when prom is days away and everyone attending is planning to have her as their appetizer??

When I first saw the book, I never expected it to be so thin. I am so used to YA novels being around 300 pages. But, I did finished it in a day. Which is good in a sense because it let me review it much sooner. Since it had a lower word count compared to others, everything went by too quickly for me. I found that there were a few things that I wanted to know but was never revealed. It would have been much nicer if an additional fifty pages was added on so there could be more meat.

Another thing I did not expect was the story to be in third person. When I cracked it open, I immediately assumed I was going to read it through Mia's point of view. It caught me a bit off-guard when it was not so. Also, I was thinking that there would be actual flesh-eating zombies, like the ones you see in Resident Evil. I was expecting a lot of action but with a comedy twist like Shaun of the Dead. To my disappointment, these zombies just inches near that stage but no where close to being complete rotties.

Zombie Queen of Newbury High is a fun and fast-paced read. There are a few times where I got some good chuckles from it. Don't expect a deep story with characters that has complex layers. But check it out if you want to have a good laugh revolving around the oh-so-getting-popular zombie species.