all the rage (with a side of zombies)

So here is some news that I have! My fifth book is going to be published! You can read about the deal in Publishers Weekly and also–thanks to the magic of copying and pasting–right here!


Summers Goes High School Noir
Sara Goodman at St. Martin’s Press took world English rights to a new YA thriller from her current author, Courtney Summers, called All the Rage. The book, about a 17-year-old who gets into hot water after attempting to blackmail her rich classmates, is Summers’s fifth work; her fourth, the zombie novel This Is Not a Test is coming from SMP in June. Amy Tipton of Signature Literary closed the deal, and likened All the Rage to the film Brick and the TV show Veronica Mars. Summers is a CYBIL (Children’s and YA Bloggers’ Literary) Award winner.


The deal also went in Publishers Marketplace but the description is slightly different:


Courtney Summers’s ALL THE RAGE, about a young girl who wakes up on the side of the road with no memory of how she got there, with a semi-erased message she left for herself her only clue; as she pieces together the evening before and all of the events leading up to it, a dark and sinister game is revealed, to Sara Goodman at St. Martin’s, by Amy Tipton at Signature Literary Agency (World English).


If I mash both of those descriptions together I come up with THIS!

A 17-year-old girl’s attempt to blackmail her rich classmates results in her waking up on a dirt road with no money, no memory of how she got there and a semi-erased message she left for herself the only clue as to why. When she tries to piece together the evening before and all the events leading up to it, a dark and sinister game is revealed.


And there is your ominous placeholder summary until I can tell you more. I’m happy! I’m also like “Fifth book? Really? I wrote four before this?!” But I guess I did! Anyways, ALL THE RAGE is a story I’ve been developing since Regina Afton was getting ostracized from The Fearsome Fivesome and it means a lot to me. My agent had to read many incarnations of it before I finally figured out what I was doing. Amy is very saintly, but not only because of that. I’m quite excited that it’s in Sara’s careful hands and I can’t wait to see what we make of it together. After holding this idea so close to my heart for what feels a long time, I’m thrilled I’ll get to share it with YOU in 2013.

In hardcover!

Oh, and there are no zombies in this one, just so you’re prepared. Zombies would probably UNcomplicate the lives of these particular characters, not make them worse. I am apparently incapable of writing books about people who have it easy, what can I say.

But speaking of zombies…

You can now read the first chapter of THIS IS NOT A TEST right here. I’m also thrilled to tell you early reviews of THIS IS NOT A TEST are making their way around the blogosophere and that people are saying some nice things about it! Here is a little round-up:

Black Inside
BookGasmic reviews (vlog review)
Chick Loves Lit
Hippies, Beauty and Books, Oh My!
Peace, Love, Teen Fiction
The Reading Housewives of Indiana
Under the Training Book
Wear the Old Coat


There are also been some nice and thoughtful early reviews cropping up on Goodreads as well. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read and review! I appreciate it more than I can say. Thank you.

ALSO! I’ll be getting ARCs soon, so you should like my Facebook page because a giveaway of them is bound to happen there in the very near future. I know, I know. This is my sneaky way of getting you to like my page… so that I might shower you with the opportunity to win free books! And that’s not just a line! There is a giveaway going on there right now, in fact! Today is the official release of Daisy Whitney’s sophomore novel, THE RIVALS, the sequel to THE MOCKINGBIRDS and I’m giving away a set of the books to one lucky winner. All you have to do is comment on the status. You have until Friday. Daisy’s books are extraordinarily powerful. If you haven’t read them yet, you should.

And goodness more giveaways oh my Nova Ren Suma, who is only one of my most favourite authors ever, invited me to participate in her Turning Points blog series. I wrote about redefining my idea of failure. If you check it out, you’ll see there is an opportunity to win a signed copy of both SOME GIRLS ARE and FALL FOR ANYTHING and an (unsigned) preordered copy of THIS IS NOT A TEST and (!) my dear friend Damon (thank you, Damon!) donated audiobooks of CRACKED UP TO BE and SOME GIRLS ARE. Entering is easy, so please consider doing it. You have until the 10th, I believe.

AND ON THAT NOTE. Thank you for indulging my latest blog entry full of bookish updates! And thank you especially for reading my work, which has given me the opportunity to write more of it. I hope you have a wonderful week! In closing, here is a gif of birds acting out a scene from ALL THE RAGE.

Okay, not really.

But it COULD be.

Maybe.