Amazon Insider

The hunt is on for the next breakout comic strip talent, and it's up to Amazon customers to help pick who will be the grand-prize winner.

In late August, Andrews McMeel Publishing, the publisher of contemporary comics classics like Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side, Zits, Foxtrot, and more, unveiled their plan to bring fresh ink to the newspaper funnies, and Comic Strip Superstar was born. The floodgates opened, and budding talent answered the call. A panel of celebrity judges and industry experts then narrowed the list down to 10 Finalists, and now it's your turn!

Help us decide who will win the grand prize: a publishing contract and the opportunity for comic strip syndication with Universal Press Syndicate. Amazon customers can visit the contest page, log in, and vote for the winner. Here's a quick run-down of the 10 Finalists with links to samples of their respective strips:

• Belle Plaine by Eric Gapstur
• Büni by Ryan Pagelow
• CounterCulture by Kory Merritt
• Evil Twin by Alexander Matthews
• Girl by Dana Simpson
• Hemlock Heights by Todd Machen
• Joe 6-Pack by Mike Floyd
• Lil Witby Andrew Paavola
• Nutz n' Doltz by Michael Underhill
• Thatababy by Paul Trap

Important Note: The deadline for voting is Friday, November 6. For synopses of all finalists, creator bios, contest details and rules, plus videos from our judges, head on over to the contest page. Place your vote and let us know which strip should be the next big thing in comics.

It's only natural to read the daily newspaper, glance at the comics section, and think, "I can do that." The void left by Calvin and Hobbes' departure has long been lamented (see this October's Looking for Calvin and Hobbes), and aside from a few veteran staples and fun newcomers, the Comics section is in dire need of fresh blood (or, rather, ink).

Andrews McMeel Publishing, the publisher behind many of our favorite collections, including Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side, Zits, Foxtrot, and more, is prepared to offer an unprecedented prize to one talented artist: a publishing contract and the opportunity for comic strip syndication with Universal Press Syndicate. Behold, Comic Strip Superstar!

Aspiring cartoonists will submit their work for the chance to be critiqued not only by Amazon customers, but by professionals in the field. Several top names have offered their experience in laughs and storytelling to help narrow the talent pool.

Topping the list of celebrity judges is Garry Trudeau, renowned creator of Doonesbury, and he is joined by daily strip stalwart Lynn Johnston, whose For Better of Worse series has captured readers' attention for nearly 30 years (and recently celebrated a milestone event in Just a Simple Wedding, a collection of what may be the last of entirely new strips).

Alongside these veterans are Mark Tatulli (Heart of the City and Lio) and Scott Hilburn, up-and-coming creator behind The Argyle Sweater. Of course, someone has to keep all of these creative minds in check, and Lee Salem, President and Editor of Universal Press Syndicate, and John Glynn, V.P. of Rights & Acquisitions of Universal Press Syndicate, round out our judging panel.

So what does it take to be the next Comic Strip Superstar? Your entry will need:

1. 10 daily comic strips
2. 2 Sunday comics
3. A title
4. A brief synopsis

And it will have to be submitted by the deadline of Saturday, September 12, 2009. More details and official rules can be found here, including videos from the judges and more. Sharpen those pencils and spark those creative synapses. For all you budding cartoonists waiting for a big break, the time is now.

Teenagers tend to keep journals. They are a form of pen-and-ink therapy for making sense of confusing relationships, articulating hazy dreams, and truly having the first and last word. I recall having a bunch of notebooks filled with random observations about frenemies, family, places I'd hoped to visit, and love interests--usually boring frogs disguised as junior high princes. Buried some three sweaters deep in my bureau, I prayed no one would ever, ever find those notebooks, least of all my older sister.  Today, teens have digital diaries: personal blogs, Facebook and MySpace pages, and other virtual blank spaces for recording and sharing their thoughts. These don't seem so very private to me, but times have changed.  Or have they...

A Wisconsin teenager named Cayla Kluver kept notebooks, lots of them.  These colorful spiral notebooks are the kind you get at the local pharmacy or supermarket.  Nothing fancy, but the perfect canvas for personalizing, or maybe writing a narrative.  On those pages, Cayla set down story lines, kept lists of characters' names and attributes, established bloodlines, and mapped an entire kingdom named Hytanica. Her notes evolved into Legacy, a five-hundred page YA novel that she published at the tender age of fourteen.  That's no typo: she was just fourteen. 

An unusual fairytale story with a mystery and ancient rivalries at its heart, Legacy introduces readers to the beautiful and unpredictable Princess Alera, who is pursued by two very different suitors determined to win her over at any cost. Twists and turns abound much to the delight of readers. Rave customer reviews started rolling in, followed by two book awards in 2008. Then the book caught the attention of the editors at AmazonEncore,  a new program that partners with authors to bring books that have found enthusiastic readers on Amazon.com to the attention of a much wider audience.  Cayla's now sixteen and has just seen the AmazonEncore edition of Legacy release last week.   

In the midst of writing Allegiance, the anticipated sequel to Legacy, Cayla's been a good sport about answering all of our questions.  Here's a snippet of our Amazon interview with her (read more of our interview with Cayla Kluver, download a free chapter excerpt, and see more on our page for the AmazonEncore edition of Legacy).

Amazon.com: Your notebooks are filled with handwritten notes, lists, and charts (ie: character names, physical descriptions, family trees).  Some people might think taking pen to paper is old fashioned.  As an author, what is useful about the physical act of writing things down instead of say, typing them into a computer file?

Kluver: You're so close to it when you write in a notebook.  I don't know how else to put it--there's nothing like having a hard copy of what you're working on, especially for editing.  But a blank page and a pen give you complete freedom and room to scribble. A computer file is what I want to use once I actually know what I'm doing.

 
Amazon.com:  What advice do you have for other young writers?

Kluver: Writing is different for everyone, but I'll go out on a limb and say what I know would have helped me a couple years ago.  Try to learn to identify constructive criticism, because you may think your work is perfect, but you need it.  At the same time, recognize when people are just discouraging you.  Pursue what you know will make you happy and fulfilled as a person even if others are saying it isn't what's practical, or that you're not good enough.

Amazon.com: How much do you relate to the novel’s heroine Princess Alera? You were fourteen when you wrote Legacy, and she's about to turn eighteen—and is expected to marry Lord Steldor and become Queen of Hytanica. How did you put yourself in her frame of mind?

Kluver: The thing with Alera is that she's a medieval princess, but in all other ways is just a teenage girl, dealing with a lot of the same pressures today's teenage girls (myself included) have to deal with. Alera is trying to figure out how to have her own voice and what's truly important and beautiful about herself, while her society is telling her to concentrate on being superficially beautiful and relatively complacent. Alera's situation is admittedly extreme, but the fundamentals are the same, so in that sense putting myself in her frame of mind was the same as being in my own frame of mind, and I relate to her closely. In addition to that (to address the age difference between myself and my main character), Alera is based in large part off of my sister, who is older than me.

Amazon.com: What is at the heart of the powerful attraction between Princess Alera and Narian, the mysterious boy from the rival kingdom of Cokyri? He seems to be the exact opposite of Alera’s intended suitor, the impossibly conceited but incredibly handsome Lord Steldor.

Kluver: There are a lot of similarities between Steldor and Narian in actuality — they both challenge Alera and obviously are attracted to her for many of the same reasons--but what makes Alera respond well to one and negatively to the other is a core difference between the men. Narian views Alera as competent, intelligent, spunky, and strong, even before she learns to view herself that way. By comparison, Steldor finds Alera's spunkiness amusing, and challenges/goads her for entertainment's sake--he's patronizing to her. Coming from a society in which women are respected and powerful, Narian sees in Alera a woman who has been wrongly repressed, but who tries in her own way to be something more even with those societal restrictions. He has great admiration for her, because he knows that takes a special sort of strength. From Alera's point of view, Narian is opening her eyes, and showing her a world in which it is possible and right for her to serve a purpose, not just the men in her life.

Amazon.com: Who was the hardest character to write in Legacy?

Kluver: Definitely Narian. As a person, he’s very closed off, so no one can tell what's going on in his head – including me, to start off with. I had to consciously sit down and figure out what his life experience had been and what his thought process was across the board, as well as in several specific scenes, so I could make sure he was coming across correctly both to readers and to my main character, Princess Alera. It was challenging – but a fun challenge.

Amazon.com: If you could choose any author to read Legacy, who would you choose?

Kluver: There are so many authors I admire--and the idea of almost any of them reading Legacy scares me! I really truly love Philippa Gregory's work--she has such a distinct voice and is true to herself at every turn. Nobody can write like her. Another person to whom I'd love to (shakily) hand my book is Joss Whedon. I think he's an absolute genius.

Amazon.com: Every writer has their own remedy for writers’ block. What's yours?

Kluver: Organization and motivation. For me at least, knowing what I'm doing from the outset (having a pretty detailed outline) is the best way to prevent writers’ block. The other part is to just make myself write it, which most of the time is easy because I really enjoy doing what I do--but other times, laziness gets in the way.

--Lauren

Sci-fi fans know him as Bill Adama, the Old Man, or simply Gaff. We recently got the opportunity to chat with EJO regarding the end of Battlestar Galactica and BSG: The Plan (which is now, coincidentally, available for pre-order on Amazon.com, and which we are sure will be totally awesome--so say we all!!). Listen below, or in our Battlestar Galactica Store.  --Leah

Just wanted to give a shout out to the winner of our second Omnivoracious giveaway: Renee Hall of Cottage Grove, Oregon. A box of our editor's picks for April is headed down I-5 to lovely southwest Oregon as I write.

Thanks everyone for entering and subscribing. We'll be doing more of these throughout the year (expect the next one in early July when we announce our annual Best of the Year So Far list...). --Tom

We're back again with another sweepstakes to encourage readers to sign up for our daily e-mail digest. All you have to do to enter is fill out the form here to receive our posts straight to your inbox (if you are already a subscriber, our appreciation is its own reward. Just kidding, you can still enter.).

One winner will receive this set of six DVDs... and these aren't just any DVDs. They are:

Battlestar Galactica: Season 3

Dexter: The Second Season

There Will Be Blood (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

Spaced: The Complete Series

Lars and the Real Girl

Into the Wild (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

So enter today and win. Good luck! --Ellen

There's a feature here at Amazon called Movers and Shakers, which highlights the products that have suddenly jumped in sales rank compared to the previous day. One of today's DVD jumpers is Once (current rank: #43; yesterday: #389), due no doubt to Kris Allen's performance of "Falling Slowly" on last night's episode of American Idol.  If you haven't seen the film--a intimate and touching story about a pair of musicians in Ireland, played by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová--you can watch how they performed "Falling Slowly" below.  --David

I hope this doesn't sour the weekend of those of you counting on Dame Fortune to send you a big box of springtime reading, but we have selected the winner of our first Omnivoracious sweepstakes. Congratulations to Helena Manley of San Jose, CA, to whom a (heavy!) box of our top 10 editors' picks for 2008 is on its way.

And thanks to all the people who signed up for our email digests in March (and via that, for the sweepstakes as well). We had a great time doing our first contest and hope to do more like it here soon. Hope you enjoy the emails in the meantime (and Helena, hope you enjoy the books). --Tom

What it is: Doubt is a mesmerizing, suspense-filled drama with riveting performances that will have you pinned to the edge of your seat. Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Streep), the rigid and fear-inspiring principal of the Saint Nicholas Church School, suffers an extreme dislike for the progressive and popular parish priest Father Flynn (Hoffman). Looking for wrongdoing in every corner, Sister Aloysius believes she's uncovered the ultimate sin when she hears Father Flynn has taken a special interest in a troubled boy. But without proof, the only thing certain is doubt.

Why it's significant: Boasting an A-list cast of Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams, Doubt, had five Academy Award nominations and Meryl Streep won the SAG Best Actress award for her role. Doubt is based on the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play, that may take some back to their Catholic school days. The film holds you on the edge of  your seat, not knowing if Sister Aloysius' accusations are baseless and just plain vicious, or if Father Flynn is trying to get away with inappropriate behavior.  --Meredith

YA Wednesday fans: just a shout out that our own Heidi Broadhead has also debuted as the BookNerd at Publicola, a new news-and-culture site here in Seattle that's started up to fill the gap left by newsroom cutbacks. (Full disclosure: it's run by a very good friend of mine whose own booknerdism runs heavily toward the Federalist Papers (hence the site's name) and the late '60s NBA.) She'll be posting every Sunday on whatever bookish thing she pleases, beginning with this account of what it was like to go back and read The Second Sex way after it was cool:

--Tom