Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Out of Left Field
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://krishuilee.wordpress.com/
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http://www.brenda-drake.com/a-pitch-wars-2015-success-interview-with-kris-hui-lee-lori-goldstein-and-chelsea-bobulski
RESEARCHER NOTES:
| LC control no.: | n 2017075637 |
|---|---|
| LCCN Permalink: | https://lccn.loc.gov/n2017075637 |
| HEADING: | Lee, Kris Hui |
| 000 | 00296nz a2200109n 450 |
| 001 | 10636170 |
| 005 | 20171221190237.0 |
| 008 | 171221n| azannaabn |n aaa |
| 010 | __ |a n 2017075637 |
| 040 | __ |a DLC |b eng |c DLC |e rda |
| 100 | 1_ |a Lee, Kris Hui |
| 670 | __ |a Out of left field, 2018: |b ECIP title page (Kris Hui Lee) |
PERSONAL
Female.
EDUCATION:Received degree from UIC School of Design.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Graphic designer and author.
AVOCATIONS:Sushi, playing piano, Disney, dogs.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
The 2015 Pitch Wars competition gave Kris Hui Lee her start as an author. Her entry into the contest ultimately evolved into her introductory work, Out of Left Field. In an interview featured on the Adventures in YA Publishing website, Lee talked about how the novel had originally been a long-time work in progress. “This might sound insane, but I first starting writing about Marnie and her friends when I was eleven years old,” she explained. “It wasn’t until I spur-of-the-moment decided I wanted to enter the online writing contest Pitch Wars in 2015 that I really sat down and wrote the story from start to finish with an actual plot.”
Out of Left Field follows a girl by the name of Marnie, who has devoted most of her life to baseball. From the time she was small, she nursed a strong interest in the sport. While she knows how to play, she has only done so casually—up until one fateful day. Marnie happens to be sitting in the bleachers watching her close friend, a boy named Cody, participate in a game with his team. During a play, Cody winds up injured with a fractured arm. While he powers through the rest of the game as best he can, he is in no condition to play any more games in the foreseeable future. Without Cody, the team is in a rough spot; prior to his injury, they were well on their way to the sectional games. Now they have no choice but to look for someone to take over for him.
Luckily, Marnie has the skills needed to handle Cody’s position. She auditions for Cody’s spot and manages to get in. However, this success soon comes with the realization that Marnie has a big responsibility on her shoulders. She takes it upon herself to try and hone her skills even further by asking for help. Her tutor ends up being the person responsible for Cody’s injury. His name is Santino, and his displays a phenomenal pitching technique. While Marnie is thankful for Santino’s help, she can’t help but feel guilty about seeking him out. The feeling eats at her, and she grapples with whether to inform Cody and how. At the same time, she must try to figure out how to be loyal to her friends and her newfound teammates at the same time. A Kirkus Reviews contributor called Out of Left Field “forgettable fodder but fairly fun as sports fantasies go.” School Library Journal reviewer Abby Bussen expressed that “readers who are into sports fiction/romance will breeze through this.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2018, review of Out of Left Field.
School Library Journal, March, 2018, Abby Bussen, review of Out of Left Field, p. 119.
ONLINE
Adventures in YA Publishing, http://www.adventuresinyapublishing.com/ (May 5, 2018), Jocelyn Rish, “Kris Hui Lee, author of Out of Left Field, on starting her story when she was eleven,” author interview.
Kris Hui Lee website, https://krishuilee.wordpress.com (July 26, 2018), author profile.
About
Kris is a contemporary YA author who found success through the online writing contest Pitch Wars in 2015. Her submitted manuscript became her debut novel OUT OF LEFT FIELD, which comes out with Sourcebooks Fire in May 2018.
Repped by the badass Courtney Miller-Callihan at Handspun Literary.
See also: Graphic designer, pianist, Ravenclaw, doggo enthusiast, Disney nerd, sushi lover.
Lee, Kris Hui: OUT OF LEFT FIELD
Kirkus Reviews.
(Mar. 1, 2018): From Book Review Index Plus. COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Lee, Kris Hui OUT OF LEFT FIELD Sourcebooks Fire (Young Adult Fiction) $10.99 5, 1 ISBN: 978-1-4926-6385-0
Marnie's love of baseball--and the stalwart friends with whom she plays the game with such passion--has been the centerpiece of her life; but now she's 17 and things are changing.
The novel opens with a thriller of a play: Ace pitcher Cody is hit by a ball at the plate, breaking his arm, though he takes first in spite of it. Teammate Joey hits toward a gap in left field, bringing Cody in to home base on a slide, landing on his broken arm. With Cody out of commission, Marnie steps in as pitcher for the team as they head into sectionals and dream of going to state. Team dynamics play a big role in the story and so do the games, but it's the action off the field that is the focus. Secrets between friends and romantic entanglements between Joey and Marnie's best friend, Sara, compound the drama, as Cody and Marnie discover their mutual attraction but shy away from acting on it. Having known each other for more than a decade, these four are transitioning to more adult relationships, and it's proving uncomfortable. The few black, Asian, and Latinx characters are limited to the supporting cast. Humorous moments and appealing characters fail to rescue this unrealistic portrayal of a female athlete who joins a boys' sports team at a crucial juncture.
Forgettable fodder but fairly fun as sports fantasies go. (Fiction. 11-15)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Lee, Kris Hui: OUT OF LEFT FIELD." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Mar. 2018. Book Review Index Plus,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A528959825/GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS& xid=3699a91b. Accessed 5 July 2018.
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http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
Gale Document Number: GALE|A528959825
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http://go.galegroup.com/ps/marklist.do?actionCmd=GET_MA...
LEE, Kris Hui. Out of Left Field
Abby Bussen
School Library Journal.
64.3 (Mar. 2018): p119. From Book Review Index Plus.
COPYRIGHT 2018 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
LEE, Kris Hui. Out of Left Field. 336p. Sourcebooks/Fire. May 2018. pap. $10.99. ISBN 9781492663850.
Gr 9 Up--Marnie Locke, a 17-year-old with a loud mouth, a feisty attitude, and a major-league arm, loves baseball more than anything. When her best friend, Cody, has his wrist busted during a high-stakes game, Marnie jokingly suggests that she should become his replacement. With Cody's encouragement, and much to the chagrin of the other guys on the team, Marnie tries out and wins his spot as starting pitcher right as the team heads into sectionals. Worried that her killer curve and wicked fastballs won't be enough against the powerful hitters on the other teams, Marnie turns to Santino, the pitcher who busted Cody's arm and jeopardized his future, to learn his sidearm technique. While it might seem traitorous to hit up her best friend's mortal enemy for advice, it's more complicated than that--Santino is a week away from becoming Mamie's cousin through marriage. Struggling with when to tell Cody this surprise development, catching feelings for her BFF all the while, Marnie is tasked with focusing on the biggest ball games of her life while making sure her friendships and family don't fall apart. Debut author Lee has created a brash, conflicted character in Marnie. She's not always likable, but her self-doubt is endearing and readers who are into sports fiction/romance will breeze through this. VERDICT An additional purchase where realistic fiction is popular.--Abby Bussen, Muskego Public Library, WI
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Bussen, Abby. "LEE, Kris Hui. Out of Left Field." School Library Journal, Mar. 2018, p. 119.
Book Review Index Plus, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A529863618 /GPS?u=schlager&sid=GPS&xid=c45d0fbd. Accessed 5 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A529863618
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Kris Hui Lee, author of OUT OF LEFT FIELD, on starting her story when she was eleven
We're thrilled to have Kris Hui Lee join us to share more about her debut novel, OUT OF LEFT FIELD.
Kris, how long did you work on OUT OF LEFT FIELD?
This might sound insane, but I first starting writing about Marnie and her friends when I was 11 years old. For reference, that was 12 years ago. That’s not to say I’ve been working on the story for 12 years straight, though. It started as an endless plotless story vaguely about a girl who was on her junior high softball team but got picked on for playing baseball (or something like that, I can’t really remember…). Over the years I came back to it on and off, writing and rewriting, never really finishing anything. It wasn’t until I spur-of-the-moment decided I wanted to enter the online writing contest Pitch Wars in 2015 that I really sat down and wrote the story from start to finish with an actual plot.
What was your inspiration for writing OUT OF LEFT FIELD?
This is a long multi-part answer, so bear with me.
This was when I was probably 10 or 11, so the details are vague, but I remember my dad was watching a softball game on TV, and the commentator pointed out two players that stuck out in my mind: the pitcher with a killer changeup, and a hitter nicknamed The Mouse for how fast she scurried around the bases. I can’t say why I was so intrigued by this. Maybe because this was also around the time the Chicago White Sox won the World Series in 2005. (I’m from Chicago.) Anyways, those were my inspirations for Marnie, who in earlier versions of the story had a killer changeup, and her best friend Sara Fox, who in earlier drafts was nicknamed The Fox for being a fast runner.
I was also inspired by the times I went to the neighborhood park with my dad and siblings to hit a ball around. I’m the least athletic person I know, but I loved those summer evenings when we would walk to the park with a bat, our mitts, and a few baseballs, and just goof around until the sun went down.
Also, when I was 11, I picked up Wendelin Van Draanen's Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception, a book part of a middle grade series about a spunky girl who solves mysteries with her friends. This was the series that really sparked my love reading and writing. Sammy’s voice was so fresh and funny, and it inspired me to write a character like her. Marnie’s snarky and witty voice definitely has roots in the Sammy Keyes series. Incidentally, Sammy also plays softball.
And the 1993 movie The Sandlot. I frickin’ love that movie.
What are you working on now?
There is a significant lack of marching band stories in YA (and in general?), and I plan on remedying that with my current WIP.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Out of Left Field
by Kris Hui Lee
Paperback
Sourcebooks Fire
Released 5/1/2018
Marnie has never had a hard time fitting in with the guys. It would take a lot more than their goofy antics to keep her from joining them at the neighborhood sandlot to do what she loves best: play ball.
An added perk of hanging out at the sandlot? Spending time with Cody Kinski, their high school's star pitcher and Marnie's best friend. Sure, he can be stubborn and annoying. He also knows how to make her laugh and respects her skills on the field. And when he gets nailed in the arm by a bone-fracturing pitch, Marnie becomes the team's best chance at making it to the playoffs. Except no one told the guys they're supposed to be on her side.
With her own team against her, Marnie begins questioning her abilities. And when fate throws her a curveball, can she play without losing the game, Cody, and her belief in herself?
Purchase Out of Left Field at Amazon
Purchase Out of Left Field at IndieBound
View Out of Left Field on Goodreads
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kris is a contemporary YA author who, when not writing, can be found doing graphic design-y things with her recently earned graphic design degree from the UIC School of Design. And when not doing either of those things, she will most likely be cuddling with a doggo on the floor.
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Have you had a chance to read OUT OF LEFT FIELD yet? Did you start writing a novel as a kid that you've restarted as an adult? What book did you read when you were young that inspired you to write? Share your thoughts about the interview in the comments!
Happy Reading,
Jocelyn, Halli, Martina, Charlotte, Anisaa, Erin, Susan, Shelly, Kelly, Laura, Emily, and Lori Ann
Tweet this! Posted by Jocelyn Rish at 6:00 AM
Labels: YA Author Interviews