ITWD Review In Canadian Children's Book News

i've been quiet because of major life challenges lately, but briefly coming out of hiding to share this delightful quote from an upcoming review of INTO THE WISE DARK in Canadian Children's Book News...

"Neesha Meminger’s third novel, Into the Wise Dark, is rich in languid tones and emotional fragility, particularly when she’s describing Pammi’s connection to Zanum and her boyfriend  Dhan. Indeed, it is one of the best sex scenes I’ve read in a long time, describing the passion, fear, and all-encompassing joy of first love, without the clichés...

[T]he novel’s lyrical rhythms give the reader a sense of history, ancient Goddess spirituality and the emotional turmoil of Pammi’s experience.

Inspired by South Asian mysticism and history...this rich tapestry of experience [shows] the multicultural reality of our modern world."

it's moments like these that help me keep moving.

INTO THE WISE DARK Release Day!!!

SOOOO excited!!!! I feel like I've been waiting for this day for EVER!

Today is the official release day for Into The Wise Dark, heretofore known as ITWD (I like how close that acronym is to IWD - the acronym for International Women's Day :D).

Right now ITWD is available for pre-order at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Go ahead and order your copy - it should ship within the next few days. I'm still watching Amazon.ca and Chapters/Indigo's in Canada and Indiebound and Powell's Bookstore for their listings. Those should be up and live within the next week or so.

If you see ITWD at your local indie, do let me know -- and if you don't, please ask your local indie bookstore to order a copy, or several!! :)

The e-book releases in the next couple of weeks, as well (April 3rd), so those of you who want the digital experience will be able to download a copy soooooon!!!

BREAKING NEWS: * * * As of 7:30 am today, March 13, 2012, INTO THE WISE DARK is IN STOCK at both of the above links!!!!!! * * * :D

My Real Life Time-Travel Story

If you get a chance, check out my guest post for The Book Smugglers' Smugglivus Festival. I reveal my real life time-travel story and share my favourite films/TV shows/books of 2011, in addition to offering a quick glimpse at what I'm looking forward to in 2012... aaaaand, you can win an advance reading copy of INTO THE WISE DARK :).

Happy first day of increasing sunlight hours! And happy holidays to those of you celebrating something this month!!

Cover Reveal!

So this is the cover for my new book, coming out in March, 2012. I am more excited and nervous about this one than I have been with any of my previous books, adult romances included.

I've put so much of everything that's important to me into this book and it was the hardest one I've ever written. For one, I wrote it during some of the toughest times Life has thrown my way, so far, as an adult. Finding the time, motivation, focus, and energy to write was often a mighty challenge in itself. And I've lost count of how many times I revised this novel from the ground up. I revised with an agent and two editors -- I'm talking tear-down-the-walls, clear-the-nether-regions, blast-through-rock revisions.

This book is my Little Engine That Could. It's the mountain I climbed because I loved it and because I wanted to see the view from its summit. I still haven't seen the view. I'm waiting for you to read it to complete the picture :).

ARCs should be available late December/early January. If you'd like a review copy, please email me and I'll put you on the list.

*And now, the cover...

*Designed by the fabulous Eithne Ni AnLuain

Open Fire

It's been a tough summer. We lost a loved one after she fought a battle with cancer and there is a quiet sadness that brackets our days here in the Meminger home. But it also makes us grateful and deeply appreciative of the ones we love who are still here. By the way, can I just say how sick I am of cancer? Seriously. It has been popping up way too much lately.

In any case, I am glad to get back into a busy rhythm of school, writing, and reading again. Who'd have thunk I'd be relieved to get back to the mundane rituals of daily life? :) I am also working super hard on my next novel, which is set to release in March, 2012. I've had a quick peek at the first drafts of the cover and I am *loving* it.

One of the events I have coming up is the SAWCC literary festival. I'll be on a panel with Marina Budhos and Jyotsna Sreenivasan, talking about YA novels and politics. Can't wait. If you're in New York on the 24th, please stop by Revolution Books. Our panel is from 1-2pm, but there will be others throughout the day, followed by readings in the evening.

October is birthday month, so I'm hoping I haven't scheduled anything for then, but November is another busy month. I'll be in Chicago (where I get to meet Ari of Reading In Color, Edi Campbell of the Crazy Quilts blog, and Maggie Desmond O'Brien of Bibliophilia!) for the ALAN workshops on the 21st and 22nd.

Hope everyone had a great summer and is off to a smooth start for the fall.

Megaliths, Mounds, and Peace

So I've been completely absorbed lately in the research for my paranormal novel. Part of what I'm checking out are ancient civilizations. Like, ancient. The kind that built megaliths and have sometimes been termed "moundbuilder civilizations" by archeologists.

It's amazing to me that ancient peoples all over the planet built and created structures that were identical and, quite feasibly, for similar purposes. Societies in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, South, Central, and North America all created -- often by hauling massive stones or earth for many, many miles -- giant megaliths, or something like megaliths. And many built what scientists presume to be ancient observatories for monitoring the movements of the stars and planets. Did you know that a thousand years before Stonehenge, there were Stonehenge-like observatories in parts of Africa and South America? And that there are pyramids in Central and South American, and China? I did not. Yet another reason I LOVE what I do.

Were these one people who roamed from place to place on the planet over thousands of years, setting up identical mounds, pyramids, and behemoth boulder-structures? Or did all the peoples of the world, at some point in time, revere the same things, follow similar rituals and rites, and look to the stars for answers?

If you want to check out some of the sites, here is a list of the world's archaeoastronomical sites from Wikipedia.

And here is one of my absolutely favourite bits -- there is a neolithic structure in Germany called the Goseck Circle. Here's what Wiki says about it:

The Goseck circle is a Neolithic structure in Goseck in the Burgenlandkreis district in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It consists of a set of concentric ditches 75 meters (246 feet) across and two palisade rings containing gates in defined places. It is considered the earliest sun observatory currently known in the world. Interpretations of the ring suggest that European Neolithic and Bronze Age people measured the heavens far earlier and more accurately than historians have thought. The site was made public in August 2003.

Here's an aerial view:

Site of the Goseck circle. The yellow lines represent the direction the Sun rises and sets at the winter solstice, while the vertical line shows the astronomical meridian

I'm sorry, but that is an ancient peace symbol if I ever saw one . . .

I don't know about you, but stuff like this gives me the chills. In a good way.

Peace, y'all!