Birthday Bash with Kristin O'Donnell Tubb

We have a wonderful treat from Kristin Tubb, who's next book, Selling Hope will be released this November. She has shared with us, and is allowing us to be the first to post an excerpt from Selling Hope!!

May 1, 1910: 17 Days til the End of the World.

News Headline: Earth Will Pass Through Comet’s 24-Million-Mile Long Tail on May 18

Cross-Eyed Jane poked her head into the tent. Her kinky yellow hair puffed in after her.

“We gots fifteen more minutes with the tarot cards before she and Nick go on.” Cross-Eyed Jane addressed me as “she,” even when she was talking directly to me. This, coupled with the fact that she was cross-eyed, often made it difficult to know who Jane was talking about. But I was the only other person in the tent, so I assumed her “she” was me. I smiled.

Jane smiled back, her wrinkled face carving into deep ruts, and gazed over my shoulder. I moved my head up and to the left to where I thought she was looking, but those crawly eyes of hers crept right past me. Erm… left past me.

***I’m tellin’ ya, the old gal was so cross-eyed, when she rolled her eyes, she hit her ears!***

Huck. There it was – the surest sign that I needed to leave this vaudeville circuit once and for all: those awful one-liners. I guess everyone has a little voice inside his or her head, pointing out all of the things that are funny and fantastical and odd. But my internal voice? Equipped with the kind of one-liner jokes that made vaudeville famous. Not exactly the conscience of your average thirteen-year-old.

I adjusted my robes, the ones I had “borrowed” from the costume trunk so I’d look more like a true medium. The robes were crafted of a thick red tapestry and weighed upwards of 20 pounds. It took half my strength just to keep them draped across my tiny frame. But the robes added an air of mystery to our booth, accented by the massive candles which threw skipping yellow light across the canvas walls, dripping colorful wax on the dusty ground beneath. Did I know how to put on a show! I should – I’d learned from the best.

Jane and I had set up shop – and by shop, I mean our little canvas booth - next to the other peddlers, just outside the vaudeville theatre in Des Moines, Iowa, our latest tour stop. There was a row of us who made a little extra green that way. The actors and stagehands peddled everything from sheet music to medicinal elixirs to stuff they’d purchased in the last town, plus 20%. The theatre-goers loved this makeshift storefront; for them it was part of the vaudeville experience. And too, Mr. Whitting and the other managers took a healthy cut of our profits, so they saw our little side businesses as just fine and dandy.

“Lead the first Coin in,” I whispered to Cross-Eyed Jane. She clicked her tongue at me; she hated it when I called them that. I began to hum, quietly at first, then letting it grow into a noisy, low moan. I told myself I was getting into character. Plus, the moaning sounded good to the Coins. That’s what I called our customers – the Coins.

Hummmmmmm. Farewell, Hope McDaniels. Greetings to Mademoiselle Ari, Gifted Child Medium and Foreseer of the Future.

Cross-Eyed Jane ducked out of the smallish tent, then back in again, goading a female Coin before her. Jane cupped her hand about the Coin’s elbow, trying to lead her to the table where I sat. The Coin yanked her arm from Jane’s grip and shot her a look of utter disgust, as if she might somehow contract Jane’s crazy eye “disease.” This particular Coin was so big, she almost knocked over three of my candles entering our booth.

***I’m not sayin’ the gal was overweight, but she was plump in places where most folks don’t have places!***

Jane jutted her chin at me. “That’s her,” she whispered to the Coin. “She’s young, doncha know, but her youth allows her channels to be fully open to the future.” Jane tried winking her spacey eye at me, but it appeared as if she were winking at the heavens instead. I cleared my throat to stifle a giggle. That “open channels” bit always got me.

I had to hand it to Jane. When she came up with this idea of a “child medium,” I was skeptical. Adults forking over a jitney to hear a thirteen-year-old talk about money and love and death? Most of the adults I knew didn’t even pause to hear me discuss the weather, much less pay an entire nickel to hear it. But Jane was right - the Coins loved me. I relaxed them, as though I was simply peeking ahead in a light-hearted parlor game of Ouija board, as though I couldn’t possibly be the bearer of bad news. And I must admit, I loved the power that came with telling adults what they should worry about.

*Kristin tweeted a picture of her ARCs for Selling Hope last week http://twitpic.com/16sqm9 We love the covers.

Kristen is also giving away some SIGNED goodies! We have signed Selling Hope book marks and 1 signed paper back of Autumn Winifred Oliver Does Things Different (who's review you can see on our Children's Book Review Blog), which was released in paperback yesterday!! We'll also be giving away some signed post cards on Twitter through out the day today.

Be sure to follow us on the blog and leave us a comment with your email address to enter to win our blog giveaways, and follow us on Twitter to enter to win our Twitter giveaways. Our giveaways are open worldwide and will end on March 15th.