Cover Reveal Day! Christian McKay Heidicker’s THROW YOUR ARM ACROSS YOUR EYES AND SCREAM!

Today we bring you another pink-and-purple inflected cover, this time for the (fabulously titled) new YA by Christian McKay Heidicker coming this September from Simon & Schuster: THROW YOUR ARM ACROSS YOUR EYES AND SCREAM!

As  die-hard 50s Sci-Fi schlock fan, I just love this book so much. As with his debut, CURE FOR THE COMMON UNIVERSE, Christian manages to take a stock trope from pop culture and turn it completely on its head. Oh, and it’s also funny as hell.

Without further ado, here is the cover…

Phoebe Darrow is a lightning rod for monsters.

She and her mom are forced to flee flesh-eating plants, blobs from outer space, and radioactive ants. They survive thanks to Phoebe’s dad—an invisible titan, whose giant eyes warn them where the next monster attack will take place.

All Phoebe wants is to stop running from motel to motel and start living a monster-free life in New York or Paris. But when her mom

mysteriously vanishes, Phoebe is left to fend for herself in small-town Pennybrooke.

 

That’s when Phoebe starts to transform . . .

Christian McKay Heidicker returns with a book unlike any other, challenging perceived notions of beauty, identity, and what it means to be a monster.

Check out THROW YOUR ARM ACROSS YOUR EYES AND SCREAM on Goodreads, and preorder today!

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You can find Christian online at http://www.cmheidicker.com/and https://twitter.com/cmheidicker, and get his debut CURE FOR THE COMMON UNIVERSE at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Indiebound.

“A plugged-in young adult comedy about the pain of unplugging… perfect for teen gamers and readers who are fans of Jesse Andrews and John Green.” (School Library Journal)

“Heidicker’s debut crackles with twitchy energy… this is a fun, absurdist romp through gaming culture, populated by zany characters and a quest narrative worthy of its own game.” (Booklist)

Congrats to Christian McKay Heidicker on his debut middle-grade!

Real talk: every time Christian Heidicker pitches me an idea, I think “How on earth is he going to pull that off?” And yet, he always does, coming back with something weirder, more lovely, more heartbreaking, more original than I could ever have expected.

I cannot wait to share SCARY STORIES FOR YOUNG FOXES with you all. This is going to be such a thoroughly unique and wonderful book, with some gorgeous art by Junyi Wu.

Here’s the announcement from PW:

 

Christian’s second YA, THROW YOUR ARM ACROSS YOUR EYES AND SCREAM, is coming September 11th from Simon & Schuster.

You can find Christian online at http://www.cmheidicker.com/ and https://twitter.com/cmheidicker, and get his debut CURE FOR THE COMMON UNIVERSE at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Indiebound.

“A plugged-in young adult comedy about the pain of unplugging… perfect for teen gamers and readers who are fans of Jesse Andrews and John Green.” (School Library Journal)

“Heidicker’s debut crackles with twitchy energy… this is a fun, absurdist romp through gaming culture, populated by zany characters and a quest narrative worthy of its own game.” (Booklist)

Congrats Christian!

Congrats to Christian McKay Heidicker on his latest deal with Simon & Schuster! From Publishers Weekly:

Christian Trimmer at Simon & Schuster has acquired Christian McKay Heidicker‘s YA novel Throw Your Arm Across Your Eyes and Scream. Pitched as Pleasantville meets Cloverfield, the novel follows 15-year-old Phoebe, daughter of the woman who was carried to the top of the Empire State Building by King Kong, in a world where the horrors of 1940s and 50s sci-fi movies are everyday occurrences. Publication is planned for summer 2018; John M. Cusick of Folio Jr. / Folio Literary Management brokered the deal for world rights.

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You can find Christian online at http://www.cmheidicker.com/ and https://twitter.com/cmheidicker 

Get his debut CURE FOR THE COMMON UNIVERSE at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Indiebound, and check it out on Goodreads.

“A plugged-in young adult comedy about the pain of unplugging… perfect for teen gamers and readers who are fans of Jesse Andrews and John Green.” (School Library Journal)

“Heidicker’s debut crackles with twitchy energy… this is a fun, absurdist romp through gaming culture, populated by zany characters and a quest narrative worthy of its own game.” (Booklist)

Heidicker’s CURE a Most-Anticipated YA

So excited to see Christian Heidicker’s CURE FOR THE COMMON UNIVERSE on Barnes & Noble’s 26 Most Anticipated June Young Adult Books!

Literally minutes after a real (!) live (!) girl (!!) agrees to let him take her on his very first date, screen-addicted Jaxon’s dad and stepmom drag him off to video game rehab. There, he must earn one million points over the course of four days in order to win his freedom in time to go on his date—which will require interfacing not with pixels but with actual humans.

“A plugged-in young adult comedy about the pain of unplugging… perfect for teen gamers and readers who are fans of Jesse Andrews and John Green.” (School Library Journal)

“Heidicker’s debut crackles with twitchy energy… this is a fun, absurdist romp through gaming culture, populated by zany characters and a quest narrative worthy of its own game.” (Booklist)

Pre-Order out CURE FOR THE COMMON UNIVERSE at Amazon, Indiebound, and Barnes & Noble, and check it out on Goodreads.

You can find Christian on twitter, too.

Christian Heidicker, Hannah Moskowitz, and Kat Helgeson on HuffPo’s YA Trends List

So cool to see Christian Heidicker’s CURE FOR THE COMMON UNIVERSE and Hannah Moskowitz and Kat Helgeson’s GENA/FINN on Huffington Post’s YA Book Trends list. Check it out…

5 Exciting YA Book Trends to Look for in 2016

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Check out CURE FOR THE COMMON UNIVERSE (Simon & Schuster, June 2016) on Goodreads, or preorder at Amazon and IndieBound.

And GENA/FINN (Chronicle Books, April 2016)! Goodreads, Amazon, B&N.

MANIC PIXEL SCAVENGER HUNT WINNERS (AND FER REALS COVER REVEAL)!

Today we announce the winers of the #manicpixel scavenger hunt and #CureFortheCommonUniverse cover reveal giveaway! And now here’s Christian…

Welcome back, scavengers! Glad you survived that crazy, pixelated city.

It would be exhaustive to list everything discovered on the CURE cover, so I’ll just name the top ten things I didn’t even know were on there (and a few that made me chuckle):

1. “Six barber-pole swords”
2. “A man reading a love letter written with invisible ink”
3. “A lucha libre parade float falling in the street” alternately “Just the sweetest, fattest, blue-haired little baby chubbo that better end up on a t-shirt or I’m going to scream and cry at the same time. Scry? Cream? Hmmmm.”
4. “A camouflage helicopter blasting David Bowie music (obviously)” alternately “the Quad City DJs copter blasting tunes to the neighborhood”
5. “1/10 of a robo-squid”
6. “The bottom of someone’s leg, wearing a purple-striped sock. This person must be a giant.”
7. “Two happy green tripods talking about the upcoming presidential election (they’re both rooting for Trump).” alternately “A couple of gleeps having a sweet convo”
8. “A rather muscular wrestler standing under a purple umbrella with his favorite child (everyone has a favorite).”
9. “A potted succulent on a balcony.”
10. “That yellow dog head is totally licking its own eyeball.” alternately “A dog-head sculpture. Maybe it’s a vehicle… If people ride in these, do they stick their heads out the window?”

And, of course, they can all by seen now, by you, in full, on the no-longer-pixelated CURE FOR THE COMMON UNIVERSE cover:

Add on Goodreads.

Preorder on Amazon this weekend.

This eye candy of a book was pitched by John Cusick, bought by Simon & Schuster Teen, edited by Christian Trimmer, and designed by Greg Stadnyk with art by eboy. I feel obscenely lucky to work with such talented people and to have such a jaw-dropping luscious cover. I only hope the words inside live up to it.

As my friend Korey Hunt, who actually came up with the idea for a story about a video game rehab in the first place . . . MISCHIEF SCAVENGED.

But that’s not why you’re here.

You’re here to see if you won one of our five elite prizes, which, to remind you, look like this:

Ooh, look! The cover isn’t blacked out anymore!

Our five Manic Pixel Scavenger Hunt winners are . . .

1. Krys McCintyre
2. Yamille Mendez
3. Annette Weed
4. Alicia Van Noy Call
5. Tim Campbell

The Cotton Floozy will get stitching and Simon & Schuster will get printing and we’ll hopefully have your stuff out to you by December.

Thank you for hunting. I hope you enjoy the inside of the book as much as I enjoy the outside.

See you in June,

Christian McKay Heidicker

P.S! Thanks to all of the bloggers who participated: Christian Trimmer, John Cusick, Elana Johnson, Jennifer Bardsley, Valynne Maetani (friend and agent-getter), Brooke Lark (who designed my website and shot the prizes!), Carol Lynch Williams (who taught me a thing or eight about writing), and finally, Marie Davis Brian, The Cotton Floozy, who made the embroidery-posing-as-cross-stitch that elicited just as much drool as the cover, and whose company I misspelled several times throughout the blog because I’m not accustomed to using the word floozy.

Editor’s note: Both spellings (floozy and floosy) are acceptable, but there’s only one acceptable place to order top quality embroideries: http://www.cottonfloozy.com

CURE FOR THE COMMON UNIVERSE Cover Reveal and Giveaway Starts Today!

Today the #CureForTheCommonUniverse Manic Pixel Scavenger Hunt and Giveaway continues! Take it away Christian…

WELCOME TO THE MANIC PIXEL SCAVENGER HUNT!

LET’S GET SCAVENGING!

This is it, folks. This is your chance to easily win the CURE prize package:

An ARC of Cure for the Common Universe and an embroidery of ‘Nobody Puts Princess in a Castle’ from The Cotton Floozy!

Oo. Aah.

For a chance to win, just participate in the Manic Pixel Scavenger Hunt.

Oh, look, here’s a pixel now!

What do you see?

Write down your findings from this and the other pixels at any or all of the other blogs (listed below) and email them to me at cmheidicker@gmail.com or message them to C.M. Heidicker on Facebook.

For every three things you send, I’ll put your name in the hat (or my jeans pocket) again and again and again, and then I’ll draw five names out of the hat (pocket) and send prize packages to those people.

Go! Get started! Win it! Win it all!

Valynne Maetani

Carol Lynch Williams

Elana Johnson

Christian Trimmer

John Cusick

Brooke Lark

Brooke Kelly

The Cotton Floosy

#cureforthecommonuniverse #manicpixel

(I hope you’ll take some time to explore the amazing blogs.)

(I also hope this means that more than just my mom will participate.)

Tune in tomorrow to find out if you’ve won!

Happy Scavenging!

Go check out the book on Goodreads!

Prepare to be cured June 2016.

CURE FOR THE COMMON UNIVERSE Cover Reveal and Scavenger Hunt!

Today client-extraordinaire and brilliant author Christian Heidicker takes over the blog for this awesome cover reveal scavenger hunt and giveaway. Take it away Christian…!

Hello, everyone. My name is Christian McKay Heidicker.

WELCOME TO THE CURE FOR THE COMMON UNIVERSE COVER REVEAL AND SCAVENGER HUNT!

Whew. That’s a mouthful. Let’s try . . .

MANIC PIXEL SCAVENGER HUNT!

There. Better.

You may be asking yourself, where’s the cover? I came here to see a cover.

Okay, first, have I told you how nice your hair is looking today?

And second, the cover isn’t here.

CURE’s cover art is a little intense to take in all at once, so for everyone’s safety, I’ve divided it into nine pieces (er, pixels) and spread them across the internet.

WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO US?

To make a scavenger hunt, of course. What’s the use of a book about a kid going to video game rehab if there isn’t some gaming first?!

Also, this will be your chance to take in all of the juicy (potentially scandalous) details of the cover before it’s fully revealed.

The art is reminiscent of books like I Spy or Where’s Waldo, so this scavenger hunt will work just like that . . . except instead of finding a cats eye marble or some seemingly friendless chump in a red and white striped sweater, you’ll receive ACTUAL PRIZES.

ACTUAL PRIZES!

Five lucky winners will receive a signed ARC (advanced reading copy) of CURE FOR THE COMMON UNIVERSE (cover obscured for obvious reasons) AND an embroidery of one of the phrases from the book, hand stitched by the extremely talented Cotton Floozy.

GAH! I WANT THAT. HOW DO I WIN?

For every three things you discover hidden in the nine pixels and email to cmheidicker@gmail.com or message to C.M. Heidicker on Facebook, I’ll enter your name again . . . and again . . . and again. (There’s a lotta stuff on that cover.)

EXAMPLE:

Subject: Manic Pixel Scavenger Hunt

Dearest Christian,

I found:

1. A puppy made of garlic cloves
2. A bottomless bowl of undercooked breadsticks
3. A Christmas tree wearing lipstick
4. Amelia Earheart’s monocle
5. A bottomless bowl of overcooked breadsticks
6. A Who*

*(Objects not actually on cover, but no less interesting than what’s really on there.)

THAT’S IT!

So, no, the cover is not here. But fear not! Tomorrow, I’ll be posting their whereabouts on this blog and at www.cmheidicker.com. (You can also follow them with #cureforthecommonuniverse and #manicpixel.)

Tomorrow, the Manic Pixel Scavenger Hunt begins!

In the meantime, go check out the book on Goodreads!

Again, the cover is exquisitely complex, and in my personal opinion, AMAZING. It was designed by Greg Stadnyk with art by eboy (that of Miley Cyrus fame).

Prepare to be cured, June 2016.