Introducing a New Member: S. Jae-Jones!

People of Earth, we have news: a fantabulous editorial assistant has now joined the ranks of Pub(lishing) Crawl. We could not be MORE THRILLED. From authors to agents to book sellers, if there was one thing we felt the lack of in our publishing discussions, it was the editorial side. Well, the dearth has been filled, and we would like to share with you our newest member:

S. Jae-Jones!

S. Jae-Jones (called JJ) is an editorial assistant at St. Martin's Press, an adrenaline junkie, a skydiving enthusiast, a lover of baby harp seals, The Libertines, Lady Gaga, and anything gothic, creepy, weird, and whimsical. When not editing books or jumping out of perfectly good airplanes, JJ can be found training for the NYC marathon (ha!), attempting to write a book, and obsessing over Doctor Who and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Other places to find JJ include Twitter, Tumblr, and her blog. If you don't know about JJ, then you SHOULD. Her blog is amazing (as evidenced by this post), and we all feel incredibly outclassed in the intelligence department. [hr] 1) Skydiving, huh? Really? Like...you really jump out of planes A LOT? Um, care to tell us how you got into that death-defying hobby? 

30 jumps, an A license, and an hour of tunnel time. :) Unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity in recent years to jump as often as I'd like (or, to be frank, the spare pocket money either). I'd always wanted to skydive at least once in my life, and one day my boyfriend asked out of the blue if I were interested. Didn't even blink. Said yes, and scheduled our first jumps (beer!—sorry, dropzone rules die hard[1. At a dropzone, or DZ, there are certain rules regarding beer. First, no one drinks until the sunset (last load of the day) load goes up and the beer light turns on in the hangar. (Yes, we have beer lights in our hangars.) If you are caught drinking on the DZ, you're banned from ever returning; we take safety VERY seriously. Second, any time you say the words "first" or "I've never...", you owe the dropzone beer. Third, whenever you screw up a jump--like say, land in a golf course, which I have done—you also owe the dropzone beer. Other special occasions: first cutaway, graduation jumps, attaining the next license level, etc. also call for beer. It's really an opportunity for skydivers to hang out, and in the case of mistakes, talk about what went wrong and how to fix them in the future.]). My first jump was a tandem (hooked up to an instructor) out of a tiny single prop(eller) Cessna in early April of 2008: freezing cold but utterly exhilarating. I immediately got addicted to the sport and Bear and I spent the next two summers working towards getting our licenses. But then again, I am an adrenaline junkie and I'm always looking for the next big thrill. (Sometimes said thrills don't always end well—ask me about the time I fell 1000ft off a cliff during a skiing accident...)

2) You landed on a golf course? This. Is. AMAZING. We expect to hear that story one day. Now, okay...Editorial Assistant. What does that mean. Lay it out for us.

An editorial assistant is exactly what it sounds like: someone who assists another editor (or multiple editors). The position varies from editor to editor, house to house. However, most EA positions mean you do a lot of reading and editing--both for yourself and for your boss—as well as some more mundane and/or administrative tasks, like tracking down foreign rights, going to cover conferences, coming up with marketing plans for book, etc.

3) Perhaps it's mundane to you. It sounds rather glamorous to us. But now for the really nitty-gritty question: Water-bender, air-bender, earth-bender, or fire?

I'd like to think I'm an airbender, a lighthearted trickster, but in actuality, I'm probably more like a firebender—focused, passionate, and overbearing.

4) Haha. I'd like to be a water-bender, but maybe you're right—fire-bending is more my style too. But oh snap! PUB BRAWL!!! What weapon are you wielding?

Well, I was a fencer back in high school (foil and epee), so I'd like to think I'd be wielding my rapier (wit), but in all honesty, I'm blunt and like to pummel my opponents to dust, so probably a Gullwhacker (the knotted rope Mariel of Redwall wields).

Did you seriously just reference Redwall? YOU ARE THE COOLEST. Ten bazillion bonus points to JJ. [hr]

To celebrate our newest addition, we are giving away a copy of one of JJ's favorite books: Flora Segunda by Ysabeau Wilce. In JJ's words:

It's a YA fantasy novel set in an alternate version of California, in which the main character Flora lives Crackpot Hall, a house with eleven thousand rooms. Crackpot Hall used to be one of the Great Houses of Califa, but has now fallen in disrepair and disarray ever since her mother, General Fydraaca, banished their magical ghost-butler. One day, she stumbles upon an elevator that wasn't there, and it takes her to a part of the house she's never seen before, and uncovers the ghost-butler and secrets about her family. The book also includes pirates, a boy best friend who wears makeup and is also a bit of a "rough", and awesome gender-busting characters. Heavy on the whimsy, but I love these books to pieces.

So, if you want a chance to read it, just leave a comment telling us if YOU'VE ever been skydiving. (I, Sooz, have not. It's on my bucket list, though...does that count?) OR, tell us which you'd be: Air, Water, Earth, or Fire? The contest is open internationally and we'll contact the winner next week! a Rafflecopter giveaway