Hey Readers! Thanks for all the email lately; it's been a flood, but you know that I do get to it pretty quickly and always do write back. Those of you who wrote to us about the tornados in Nashville know that Jeff and I, and our place and our cats, escaped without damage. We were extremely lucky, and several of our friends were not so lucky. The twister touched down about a mile from where we live, and we were in New York City at the time, so we missed what would have been one of the most harowing days of our life, for sure.
News flash: Two of your sister readers, Christian and Liz, were able to join me at The Kennedy Center in Washington DC on May 17th for the New Visions/New Voices '98 reading of my new play about teens, SEARCHING FOR DAVID'S HEART. I took them to breakfast the morning of the show, and we had a great time. I think they found my new play very, very moving. It will also be a novel, for Scholastic Books, coming at Christmas. Watch this space for all the details!
So many of you have read my first hardcover novel, LIFE IN THE FAT LANE (delacorte press, 1998) , and have told me how much you love it. It is such an honor for Jeff and me. Two years of our life went into this book; it is a joy to see it making such a mark. It has just been nominated for two American Library Association awards. We are overjoyed to say that this book about a prom queen who gains 100 pounds in a year has already gone back to a second printing and continues to get very strong reviews. Big stories in MODE and BBW magazines. I have met many of you on my book tour, and you are all so brave, honest, and fantastic.
Again, here's how to get the book:
1) You can buy LIFE IN THE FAT LANE yourself at any bookstore (if they don't have it in yet, they will definitely order it for you, just give the bookseller the title LIFE IN THE FAT LANE and the publisher (Delacorte) and they will find it in their computer. It is also available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. Or, if money is a problem, talk to your local librarian, and ask her (him!) to order it for your local public library.
2) If you live in the USA, you (or your parental units!) can order the book directly from me. If you do this, I'll be happy to also sign you up in my fan club for a year absolutely for free (it's normally $12.95 per year). So, in addition to a signed-to-you-personally LIFE IN THE FAT LANE, you'll get signed -to-you glossy 8 x 10"s of me and Jeff/me together, a bumpersticker, a ten-page bio (great to help with school reports), a locker magnet or mini-notepad, penpal lists and info, three hard-copy newsletters every year, articles about my work and reviews of my books and plays, a membership card, and more. You'll need to send (or have parent send) a check for $18.95 US ($15.95 for the book, $3 s/h, fan club membership stuff included for free) made out to my husband Jeff Gottesfeld, to: Cherie Bennett, LIFE IN THE FAT LANE, PO Box 150326, Nashville, TN 37215 (USA). If you're planning to do this, send me an email that says
"Cherie, I'm ordering FAT LANE from you. Put a copy and all the free stuff aside for me! I talked to my parents and they're into it."
Here's a cool opportunity: write a FAT LANE review and get famous! There are several very popular websites that are looking for reviews of young adult novels from readers, and I can steer you to them. Just send me an email that says
"Cherie, tell me where and how I can write a FAT LANE review!"
and I'll send you the links.
As for last summer's big pop series, TRASH, here's the full story on what's going on: Yes it's confirmed, Berkley will not be publishing more books in that series. A huge bummer, because everyone knows that those books were waaaay ahead of the curve. However, I have written a new six-book limited series for Berkley for this summer called PAGEANT, about a decidedly very cool national scholarship pageant (motto: No plastic beauty queens allowed!), and I have talked Berkley into letting me finish up the TRASH plots in the last couple of PAGEANT books. I don't think I'm giving much away to say that Jazz Stewart, our outrageous host of TRASH, is going to be one of the judges at the finals of the pageant, in book #5. Can you imagine Jazz as a judge at a scholarship pageant? They'll never know what hit them! And then, in book #6, the winner and runner-up of the pageant will be visiting the set of TRASH and meeting all the TRASH gang. In that book (PAGEANT #6: THE WINNERS ON THE ROAD), you'll get the conclusion to the cliffhangers you've been waiting for. Cool, no? Start looking in June for PAGEANT #1: THE SOUTHERN GIRLS, and PAGEANT #2: THE MIDWEST GIRLS. Again, it's no plastic beauty queens allowed, and you'll meet in the very first PAGEANT book my all-time favorite villainess, a pageant contestant who will do anything to win, named Allison Gaylord, a.k.a. The Virus. Believe me, The Virus gives Bigfoot from TRASH a run for her money. In fact, The Virus makes Bigfoot look like Carrie from SUNSET ISLAND.
Your fan club presidents, Diana and Kissairis, have been busily hooking up sister readers with keypals. If you'd like a keypal who reads my books, just send an email to Diana Middleton, Angel2378@aol.com (if you're 14 or older), or Kissairis Munoz, Kissa K1@aol.com (if you're 13 or younger). Diana or Kissairis will be happy to hook you up with some sister readers. Tell 'em which books you love, whether it is SUNSET, TEEN ANGELS, or whatever. HOPE HOSPITAL readers take note: Kissairis can help you find Swedish keypals, as the books are now published in Sweden. I get lots of letters and email now from Sweden. In English! Also, all the websites, have postings from sister readers (search Yahoo! for the urls, or send me an email asking for them).
So that's our news for now. As always, the regular mail address remains PO Box 150326, Nashville TN 37215. I love to get your photos for my wall, now covered with 1,000+ reader photos. If you want a list of my books and active websites, send me an email that says
"Cherie, babe, send that list of books & websites!"
I'll get it right out to you. I have the greatest readers in the world. Thanks for being one of them, and thanks for having honored me by writing to me about my books. Let me know about what you've got planned for the summer.
