nikki roddy

Written by: Nikki Roddy

Kristin Klein is basically the Kevin Bacon of the indie music scene. Having tour managed a long list of bands (including Deerhunter, Atlas Sound, Black Lips, and Thee Oh Sees), she is tangentially connected to just about everyone on Pitchfork’s crush list. So as I was looking her up to talk about her vintage store, Vacation, which opened in the Tenderloin last June, I wasn’t surprised to learn that the small cluster of friends I have who work in music happen to be mutual friends of hers.

This didn’t stop me from being nervous to meet her.

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Written by: Nikki Roddy

What’s your idea of a productive lunch break? Mine involves returning a failed online shopping purchase to FedEx with just enough time to grab a sandwich to shove into my face back at my desk. 

DJ Matt Haze, of the Slayers Club collective, hates this. “A lot of my friends work in the tech industry or in finance,” he explains. “Even though they’re eating a nice gourmet lunch, they’re eating it at their desks. They’re not taking a moment to breathe or take their eyes off the monitor… I want to provide an outlet for people during the day.”

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Hey there - Here’s the reason some of your favorite sites might go dark tomorrow. Crazy, scary stuff.

Hi friends! Hopefully if you’re reading this, your new year’s eve was happy and safe and left you with a renewed sense of newness and all that stuff! This is your year, tiger! Look at you! 

I had a great time ringing in two thousand and twelve by dancing (some might better describe it as “wildly spinning and jumping around”) with a lot of good friends to a killer dance mix in my living room. The next morning, we dragged ourselves to the crepe spot around the corner and then lounged a bit in dolores park, enjoying the unseasonably sunniness. [Pics to follow hopefully if I can get my hands on some once people start uploading to Facebook]

All in all, it was awesome and every additional day I get to spend in San Francisco reminds me that I am extraordinarily blessed. I love this city, my boyfriend, my family, my friends, and my work. Yay for 2012! Come at me, bro. 

Woah. Publishers Weekly called my book “spicy”…I could not be more thrilled!

“In this sardonic gift book, Roddy extracts the implicit messages behind such popular teen movies as Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (“To jumpstart a better relationship with your dad, let your best friend cost him millions in property damage”) and Clueless (“A smart, sensitive guy will eventually fall for a ditzy, self-serving girl as long as she promises to be a little nicer to people—and is ridiculously hot”).

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From Technorati:

“Roddy analyzed fifty popular films and gleaned fifty inappropriate life lessons from them, which she gleefully shares with readers, along with “Sound Bites” (quotes), film stills, a synopsis of each, and goofy multiple-choice questions. Don’t sweat the quiz, it won’t be counted as part of your grade…”

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A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak to the YALSA (Young Adult Library Association) teens at San Leandro Library. It was really fun and interesting, and the librarian, Chris, did a write up of my visit:

“One of the coolest things about having our teens write reviews for SLJTeen is that they get to meet people like Nikki Roddy, Zest Books’ marketing and research manager. Last month, Nikki stopped by a meeting of the Sneak Peek Reviewers Club at our library to give the kids an insiders’ view of the publishing biz….”

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Happy Halloween from Calvin and Hobbes!

Sooooo the book is real! Ha ha. Weird.

One of the cooler perks of working in the publishing industry (Have I mentioned that I work for a book publisher? Well, I do. I also have no long-term memory) is that I consistently get my grubby little hands on galleys, which are unformatted copies of books before they hit the shelves. Mostly, they generate sales and buzz for the book. And generate they do! 

So, I’m going to give a special holler at two new books coming out by one of my favorite YA authors, Lauren Oliver. You should immediately pre-order these:

• Liesl & Po. This is a middle grade book, but I really think all ages could read and fall in love with this story. The writing is beautiful and the story is whimsical and poignant. I think I was in tears by page 4. Pre-order!

• Pandemonium. This is the second book in a trilogy. The first book is Delirium, a dystopian novel set in a world were love is considered a dangerous disease, and citizens line up to be “cured” on their eightieth birthdays. I’m not finished with the second book yet, but it’s already as exciting as the first book. Delirium is on sale now, so get that and then you’ll be ready for when Pandemonium comes out in March. Pre-order!

That’s all for now! But if you feel like it, click over to my GOODREADS account* and friend me.

Now, I’m off to the Russian River (about 1 ½ hrs north from San Francisco) to play wiffle ball, eat BBQ, float on the river, and celebrate two of my friends’ birthdays. And of course, there will be dancing. Oh yes…

Have a great weekend everyone!

Up on Amazon.com and available for pre-order! Heck yes.

Oh heeeeeeeeey! It’s the COVER OF MY NEW BOOK!

PRE-ORDER ON AMAZON!

I’m about to turn in the final draft of my book manuscript!

Just…kidding. Did I entice you?

Yeah, my life has been far from exciting these days. The best part of writing a book is finishing writing a book. But I’m not there yet.

We’re about a week past our final draft deadline and closing in on our 5th edit. But my little baby is definitely, almost there. It’s crazy to think that this book is slotted to be on the shelves this December. More updates on that later.

Once my daily routine does not involve waking up at 6am to get in 1-2 hours of editing before work, coming home to edit after work, and turning down social playtime to edit, I’m going to go nuts. Yes, I’m buying myself 1 ticket to Fun City. Get ready.

Anyway, I wanted to write a little blurb about finishing Book Thief because it was awesome and I highly recommend you read it. Now, I’m spending my time waiting for the bus by reading Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher. I’m still on the first few pages, and it’s felt slightly slow, but I like the narrative voice, so we’ll see what happens.

Ooh, one more thing: I’m going to my first monster truck rally this weekend in Oakland. One of my friends who is also going has been to 17 monster truck rallies in his life. This will be his EIGHTEEN MONSTER TRUCK RALLY. I am VERY excited.

That’s all for now!

Hey there. I want to keep things alive over here, so how about a quick update on my current writing life and the fabulous distractions all up in it? If you didn’t read my post below, I’m working on a second book, which is definitely, absolutely happening…for reals. The first drafts of cover designs just came in this week! Eeeeeee! (That always makes things feel a little more real.) I’ll post more about the book when I can. 

Because a full-time job + book writing is keeping me insanely busy, I had to go on a freelance writing diet, so I don’t have any new articles to post. But! I wanted to share a couple great books I’ve read lately:

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO

So so late to the party on this one, but I finally read it. I liked it. Larsson knows how to write a page-turner (obvs). His writing style reminded me a lot of Dan Brown’s. The Lisbeth character kicked ass, but I found it a little…eh, torture-porny, I guess? I read the first few pages of The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest and it starts off with a 13-year-old being tortured. Um, yeah. Not sure if I can stomach the second book. Just watched the original movie on Netflix and wasn’t super impressed. I thought they left out a lot of key elements that made the book compelling (ex. Mikel and Erika’s complicated relationship). I’ll probably see the new movie, just because.

IT’S KIND OF A FUNNY STORY

I’ll admit that I only picked this book up because I wanted to see the movie because I love Zach Galifianakis. I still haven’t seen the movie, but I thought the book was OK. It read like Vizzini’s autobiography, which I think it pretty much was. It didn’t blow my mind or anything, but I liked reading a story from a dark and twisted teen boy perspective.

THE BOOK THIEF

Just started this one. It’s been on the NYTBest Seller for like close to 200 weeks, so I wanted to get in on the love. I’m not a big holocaust fiction fan (I feel like I read enough holocaust books in high school to last me forever), but this book hooked my shit from the first page. I don’t want to give anything away, but it’s really good, you guys. Like really cool and different and interesting. I’m sure I’ll have a more glowing recommendation when I’m done. 

OK, that’s it for now. After I finish The Book Thief I’m going to move on to Almost Perfect which generated a ton of excitement at the American Library Association Midwinter conference this past weekend. It’s a story about a small-town Missouri boy who falls for a new girl at school. She eventually confesses that she’s a biological male. I flipped through the book at ALA and instantly loved the writing style. Can’t wait to find out why it’s such an award winner. 

Got any book recommendations?  

Why, hello there! I’m thrilled to announce I’ve been working on a second book project, so that’s why there’s been less freelance work posted recently. I can’t give too many details yet, but I can say it’s another fun non-fiction book for teens, and I’ve been watching an insane amount of classic teen movies for research. Really really serious stuff, obviously.

If you feel like checking out my first book, here’s the Amazon link: Take Me With You: Off-to-College Advice From One Chick to Another

More updates to come, and in the meantime, remember the immortal words of Say Anything’s Lloyd Dobler, “I am looking for a dare to be great situation.”

Written by: Nikki Roddy

Life for the Born Ruffians keeps getting bigger. They have a second record, Say It (released by Warp Records), they’re playing larger venues on this year’s international tour, and they’ve even added a fourth member to strengthen their live sound. But while the young, Canadian indie rockers have certainly established themselves; you might not guess it by their no-frills touring style.  

Fans who attended a recent show at San Francisco’s Rickshaw Stop watched the band park their own tour van, work the merch table, and set up their own equipment on stage; things you’d expect from the opening band, but hardly the headliners. This genuine approachability kept their  fans huddled around the band members before the show, asking for photos and hugs. Mitch Derosier (bass), Steve Hamelin (drums), and Andy Lloyd (guitar/keyboard) chatted happily with the crowd, while frontman, Luke LaLonde, received the more emotional attention from star-struck fans. At one point, a zealous teenage boy swung his skinny arms around LaLonde’s neck professing, “oh man. Just looking at you, I could cry.” The fan proceeded to describe which Born Ruffians song perfectly encapsulated his life. “Wow,” LaLonde replied, with total sincerity.

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