Out today: OUT NOW!

I am thrilled that my very first traditionally published short story (one of MANY to come) is out today in an anthology titled, Out Now: Queer We Go Again. A sequel to the critically-acclaimed All Out, this anthology is all contemporary stories (in multiple genres) from queer YA authors.

You can read more about my story, “Refresh,” in today’s “Inside an Anthology” feature on LGBTQ Reads; if you would like to purchase a copy, you can do so here and help support independent bookstores!

Introducing my next YA novel... EACH OF US A DESERT

Hello, friends. I am thrilled to official reveal the follow-up to my award-winning YA debut. To be published September 15, 2020 with Tor Teen, I introduce you to Each of Us a Desert.

Cover art by Jenna Stempel Lobell | https://jennastempel-lobell.com

The lovely folks at Latinx In Publishing have revealed not only the cover and title, but have the full synopsis and an exclusive excerpt from Each of Us A Desert.

I’m so excited for you to take a trip through this creepy, romantic, and heartfelt story, which I’ve spent the last three years working on. It’s truly the kind of book I’ve wanted to write since I was a kid, and very soon, it will be out in the world.

I’ll be announcing tons of events over the course of the next few months, including all of the release tour dates, so make sure to keep checking my Tour page and sign up for my newsletter.

Thank you for your patience. I’m so glad I can finally talk about this book!

The ANGER IS A GIFT trade paperback is out TODAY!

I am so thrilled to get to write this: a paperback edition of a book I wrote is out in the world today.

Behold, the paperback of Anger Is A Gift:

The paperback edition still uses Chris Koehler’s stunning illustration, and the Tor Teen design team have reworked the colors in this paperback edition. (It’s mostly greys and reads! IT IS SO PRETTY IN PERSON.)

I am so thankful for the immense support over the past year (the one year anniversary is in a couple weeks!!!), as it allowed me the joy of getting a paperback out in the world. You can now order your copy of the paperback (at a lower price than the hardcover!!!) from a number of places, and I highly encourage you to support your local indie bookstore to do so!

IndieBound
BooksAMillion
iBooks
Barns & Noble
Amazon

Thank you so much for reading my debut novel, and I’ll have updates soon about what’s coming next! (I’m busy at work on the final round of developmental edits on Book #2, so STAY TUNED!)

— Mark

ANGER IS A GIFT has won the Schneider Family Book Award for Best Teen Book!!!

It has been an absolutely surreal week in my life, and I’m happy to say that my debut YA novel, Anger Is A Gift, has been awarded the Schneider Family Book Award “for a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences.”

I’ll be receiving the award and grant for this at the 2019 American Library Association Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. in June, and my book will have that incredible little sticker/medal on it from here on out. I’m so blown away by the response to my book, and this was completely unexpected. Thank you for supporting me and my writing all these years. I can’t believe this is happening, BUT IT IS!

I’ll have more news soon about some really cool things! Until then: thank you.

The ANGER IS A GIFT paperback edition is out May 7, 2019!

Hello, readers! I’m so thrilled to announce that there will be a newly-designed paperback edition of Anger Is A Gift released on May 7, 2019. Here is the stunning new cover this version is getting:

Today, you can now pre-order the paperback of Anger Is A Gift from your favorite online outlets and bookstores just in time for the holidays.

IndieBound
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
Books-A-Million
iBooks
Audible (The audiobook is narrated by ME!!!)

I cannot thank all of you enough for the continued support of me and this book. Please keep an eye on this space for updates about possible bonus features in this edition; you can also find out where I’ll be appearing throughout 2019 in support of Anger on my Tour page.

I want to send a special thanks out to all the educators and librarians who have supported my debut. It has been surreal to see how far this book has traveled and how many classrooms it is now in. Y’all are actually TEACHING my book, and it blows my mind. Thank you for helping to make my dream come true. If any educators are interested in bringing Anger or me to their schools, please check out my School Visits page for more information.

Lastly: book #2. It’s coming. You’ll learn more about it in the new year, but I’ll say this: It is nothing like my first book, and I cannot wait to tell you all about it.

Happy holidays!

—Mark

ANGER IS A GIFT is out today

Friends, today is perhaps the most important day of my life:

I am now a published author.

Today, Anger Is A Gift is now available wherever books are sold. I encourage you to find your local independent bookstore to get the book, and IndieBound is a fantastic research to find one near you to either pick up the book and order it through them. The audiobook should also be out, and I am thrilled that I got to record my own audiobook, so you will hear my voice reading the book!

I am immediately heading out on tour after my NYC launch at The Strand's Rare Books Room with Tiffany Jackson and Dhonielle Clayton. My first author tour will take me across the US, and this is just the start for the promotion of Anger. I will be at TheBookCon immediately after this trip, and Tor has posted all my appearances at the convention! 

If you are inclined to help out, reviews on Amazon are very beneficial to new authors, so please submit a review on Amazon. 

I am eternally thankful to the many people who helped make this happen. My acknowledgments were written nine months ago, so I didn't get a chance to thank everyone. If you played a part in making Anger Is A Gift a reality: thank you. To my friends at Tor and Tor Teen; to my NYC writing crew; to the We Need Diverse Books folks; to the Mark Does Stuff community; to everyone who believed in me and supported me in any way.

This is as much your success story as it is mine. Thank you. I am forever grateful, and I cannot wait to give you more stories. 

Mark

Welcome the new cover art for ANGER IS A GIFT

Today is a very special day in the journey of my debut YA book, Anger Is a Gift. I was so thrilled with my initial cover, and felt privileged that Tor Teen gave me something I loved so very much. I was sitting in my barbershop when the Paste Magazine article revealing the cover, title, and publisher for Anger dropped, and it was—and will always be!—one of the best days of my life. I have been working so hard on this book, and all that dedication and perseverance had finally paid off. 

As things sometimes go in the publishing industry, we have made the decision to go in a different direction for the cover art. After much work by my talented and fabulous Tor Teen colleagues, I can now reveal that I have blessed by the cover gods… twice.

Behold: the brand new cover for Anger Is a Gift.

This cover was designed by Bay Area artist, Chris Koehler. I am thrilled that this now firmly roots Anger’s cover in Oakland with the iconic Tribune Building in view. As you read the book, you will get to experience the beauty and importance of downtown Oakland through the eyes of Moss Jeffries and his friends. I attended multiple protests on the very street where this cover is set, and it is a perfect match for the emotional and empowering story of Moss. 

This book is set to come out amidst a national conversation about student activism and weapon use on campus. It’s surreal watching it happen; Anger was born out of my desire to explore my own experiences with police forces on high school campuses, becoming an activist while still a teenager, and learning how to join with fellow students to fight for what’s right. It is unfortunate that this is all relevant again, nearly 16 years since I graduated high school. That’s one reason I love this cover so much: it conveys a sense of hope more than anything else. It’s my desire that Anger inspire kids everywhere to join a long tradition of student activism and to feel supported while doing so. 

I am additionally thrilled that Adam Silvera (HISTORY IS ALL YOU LEFT ME, THEY BOTH DIE AT THE END) has provided such a meaningful blurb that now sits on my cover:

"ANGER IS A GIFT is an explosion of fury and revolution. Mark Oshiro's beautiful and brutal debut proves that not only can anyone be a hero, but great change comes when the heroes work together." 

He joins Marieke Nijkamp (THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS, BEFORE I LET GO)

"Raw, unflinching, and full of heart, ANGER IS A GIFT is a masterpiece."

and Kelly Jensen (HERE WE ARE, IT HAPPENS, Book Riot)

"An essential book to read alongside THE HATE U GIVE and DEAR MARTIN."

in support of this book. I am eterntally grateful for them!

I am so happy that I can share this with all of you, and that Tor Teen has gifted me AGAIN with such a wonderful cover. There is going to be a DELUGE of news in the next three months to publication date, so keep an eye out here and on Twitter.

I’m so excited to be on this journey with all of you.

You can now read the first two chapters of ANGER IS A GIFT!

I am thrilled to announce that Tor Teen has posted a long excerpt from Anger Is a Gift. Read the first two chapters before anyone else, and check out some new promo designs for Anger!

I am proud to announce my YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT

The secret is finally out: Paste Magazine has the exclusive cover reveal, title reveal, publishing date, and an excerpt from Anger Is a Gift, my YA contemporary debut novel, which will be released on May 22, 2018 with Tor Teen. 

And look at that beautiful, beautiful cover, designed by Adam Carvalho!

Cover designed by Adam Carvalho | https://www.instagram.com/adamscarvalho/

I am so proud to be working with Tor Teen and Miriam Weinberg, my editor, who introduced herself to me at World Con in 2013 by telling me we should ditch the con and go talk about anime in an empty pool. WE HAVE BEEN FAST FRIENDS SINCE THEN. I am also pleased that my agent, DongWon Song, sold TWO books to Miriam, so that second novel I've been talking about on Twitter will ALSO come out with Tor Teen some time in 2019. (Barring other circumstances, of course. I'm 60% done the manuscript already!)

This is obviously a huge day in my life, and I owe a great debt to the Mark Does Stuff community for supporting me up to this point. Everything's about to get weirder, and I can't wait to share it all with you. 

There's a list of pre-order links here, but for the sake of ease:

Amazon
Barnes & Noble
iTunes/iBooks
Books-A-Million
Indie-Bound
Powell's
Google Play Books
Goodreads

Thank you, each of you, for what you've done for me. HERE WE GO.