Haley in my novel

[Mr. Bill]

So I've succeeded in getting Haley in my next novel!

Hey guys, longtime fanatic and rare poster here... I keep an eye on the site but I don't write too much.

I'll remind people next year, but I thought you'd get a smile out of this: my forthcoming young adult novel, The Porcupine of Truth, comes out from Scholastic next summer. In it, two teens, Carson and Aisha, take an epic road trip to solve a family mystery, and along the way they learn how to connect to each other and the world.

The book has a bit of a soundtrack, as the kids listen to music a lot. Here's a snippet from Chapter 35, which has now made it past my editor:

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We know we’re officially in California when, about 12 miles from the border at Truckee, we see actual trees. A smattering of pine trees along the hay-colored hills are a welcome sight after so much brown, and soon the hills illuminate, golden. I think: Golden State. Yes.
Aisha must be enjoying the beauty too, because she says, “There’s a line in The Color Purple by Alice Walker that says, ‘I think it pisses God off if you walk past the color purple in a field without noticing it.’”
I snort. “Far be it for me to want to piss the Big Man in the sky off.”
Aisha shrugs and we go back to listening to Haley Reinhart, who, for the millionth time on this trip is asking me where love goes when it’s gone, where hearts go when they go wrong.
“You think it’s possible that there actually is a God?” she asks.
I laugh. “I think agnostic dyslexics lie awake at night, wondering if there is a dog.”
She laughs a little. Something about the way she asked the question makes me think about how far we’ve come from Montana. Because that isn’t even a question one of us would have considered asking four states ago.
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It's not much, but it's my little way of immortalizing my favorite singer. And if we get a movie deal, you know we'll be getting more Haley in there! :-)

xo
Bill Konigsberg