Infinity Ring!!

This isn’t the first secret I’ve revealed on this blog, and happily not even the first big secret. But this might have been the hardest one to keep quiet about.

A couple of months ago, I received a call from my editor at Scholastic, asking what I anticipated for my writing schedule over the next year. We were (and still are, in fact) involved in revisions for the second book of the Ascendance trilogy, and the third one is waiting to be written, and we’re already discussing a possible new series to follow THE FALSE PRINCE books. But…was I interested in adding another project?

That’s the sort of question that gets an author’s heart thumping.

“What project?” I asked, trying to sound casual, as if these were the sorts of calls I get all the time (Which I don’t, by the way).

Before the first sentence was out of her mouth, I’d already said yes. Here it is.

Scholastic’s enormously popular series, THE 39 CLUES, is winding to an end, and they had plans for another series in the same multi-platform style. The new series would be called INFINITY RING, and would feature a total of six bestselling YA and middle grade authors. Did I want to be one of the authors?

Did I mention that I said yes even before the first sentence was completed?

INFINITY RING is a time-traveling adventure, fixing the breaks where history has gone wrong.

There will be a total of seven books, the first being released in September 2012 with subsequent releases approximately every three or four months. Between each book will be an opportunity for kids to go online for an interactive game where they get to play as one of the story characters to fix other breaks through history (I’ve seen parts of the game – it’s very cool).

During the read, kids will learn about history, but the best part is they will be so caught up in the adventure, mystery, humor, and danger they won’t even realize how much exciting historical information they’re absorbing (yes, I did just say that history can be exciting).

Book 1, A MUTINY IN TIME, has been written by James Dashner, author of the hugely popular MAZE RUNNER series. I’ve read it, and absolutely couldn’t put it down. Seriously, clear your kids’ schedules for next fall because they won’t want to do anything until they’ve finished this book.

Other amazing authors for this project include Carrie Ryan, Lisa McMann, Matt De La Pena, and Matthew J. Kirby. I’m going to write Book 6, releasing in late 2013. For me, it’s truly an honor to be able to work with such excellent people.

(Photo credit: Ken Karp. Back row L to R: Matt de la Pena, James Dashner, Matthew J. Kirby. Front row: Lisa McMann, Carrie Ryan, Jennifer Nielsen)

And to answer some questions that may come up: Yes, I do know what period of history I’ll be writing, and no, I’m not saying yet what it is. Yes, I do think someone should make this into a movie, and no, I don’t think it would translate well as a “story on ice” (though maybe we should give it a try, eh?).

And yes, I’m humbled, honored, and thrilled to be a part of this project. Many thanks to the stellar team at Scholastic for putting this forward in such a wonderful way.