Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: People Like Us
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.danamele.com
CITY:
STATE: NY
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
married with a toddler; https://danamele.com/new-blog
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in Bridgewater, NJ; married; children: one.
EDUCATION:Wellesley College, B.A., 2002; Leslie University, M.Ed., 2007; Syracuse University College of Law, J.D., 2012.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Burton Blatt Institute, legal research assistant, 2010-12, ABLT project attorney, 2013-15; Has been an associate producer, substitute teacher, and first-grade teaching intern. Editor-in-chief of Kaaterskill Basin Literary Journal and associate editor of Luna Station Quarterly.
WRITINGS
Has written short fiction for Buffalo Almanack, Typehouse Literary Magazine, Jersey Devil Press, Lunch Ticket, and Bird’s Thumb, among others.
SIDELIGHTS
Dana Mele holds degrees in theater studies, early childhood education, and law and has worked variously as a teacher, actor, and lawyer. She now lives with her family in the Catskills and writes fiction for the young adult ( YA) audience. Mele is also editor-in-chief of Kaaterskill Basin Literary Journal and associate editor of Luna Station Quarterly. Her first published novel is People like Us.
At her website, Mele revealed that she had picked up and put down her writing over the course of a decade, publishing short works and academic writings along the way. When she was laid off from her job and had moved to the Catskills and started a family, she turned back to writing in earnest. As she put it, “I poured my fear and anxiety into writing another novel about fear and anxiety.” People like Us tells the story of Kay Donovan, a scholarship student and soccer captain at an elite prep school who is trying to win a sports scholarship to college. She and her classmates go swimming in a nearby lake after Halloween festivities, only to find there the body of another student, Jessica Lane, with her wrists slit. The next day the incident takes an even more sinister turn when Kay begins receiving e-mails from Jessica’s account. The sender seems to seek revenge, threatening to expose Kay’s secrets unless she begins to turn on her friends and expose their secrets. As Rob Bittner put it in Booklist, “Murder, mayhem, and unreliable friendships take center stage” in a story with enough “twists to keep readers on their toes.”
A Kirkus Reviews contributor gave a mixed assessment, saying that the “blend of predictable prep school elements with unpredictable suspense makes this a fizzy read.” Kristy Rademacher, critic in Voice of Youth Advocates, called the novel a “fun, dark whodunit” with timely topics of “gender inequality, bi-sexuality, bullying, and gender bias in the media … woven into the plot.” Writing in School Library Journal, Emily Grace Le May praised the novel, commenting that it “is a dark and thrilling look at female friendships, the pressures of scholastic success, and mental health.” In Publishers Weekly a reviewer found it an “eerie, unsettling thriller with deadly consequences.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, December 1, 2017, Rob Bittner, review of People like Us, p. 56.
Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 2017, review of People like Us.
Publishers Weekly, November 27, 2017, review of People like Us, p. 63.
School Library Journal, December, 2017, Emily Grace Le May, review of People like Us, p. 109.
Voice of Youth Advocates, December, 2017, Kristy Rademacher, review of People like Us, p. 58.
ONLINE
Dana Mele Website, https://danamele.com (March 11, 2018).
Dana Mele is a Pushcart-nominated writer and a work at home mother. A graduate of Wellesley College, she is a former actor, lawyer, musician, and briefly, associate producer. She prefers tea to coffee, snow to sand, and stars to sunshine, and she lives in the Catskills with her husband and toddler. This is her first novel.
Dana Mele is the author of People Like Us, and is a Pushcart-nominated writer. A graduate of Wellesley College, she is a former actor, lawyer, musician, and briefly, associate producer. She prefers tea to coffee, snow to sand, and stars to sunshine. Dana lives in the Catskills with her husband and toddler. You can visit her at danamele.com.
Dana Mele is the author of YA novel People Like Us. G.P Putnam's Sons will release her debut on February 27, 2018.
Dana Mele
Dana Mele writes YA novels along with all manner of short fiction and nonfiction. She is a licensed attorney as well as a writer.
Dana’s debut novel PEOPLE LIKE US is forthcoming from G.P. Putnam’s Sons in 2018 and she is currently working on her second, also to be released by Putnam.
Her short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Buffalo Almanack, Typehouse Literary Magazine, Jersey Devil Press, Lunch Ticket, and Bird’s Thumb, among others.
She was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2015 and 2016 and she is Editor-in-Chief of Kaaterskill Basin Literary Journal and an associate editor at Luna Station Quarterly.
She has a B.A. in Theatre Studies from Wellesley College, a M.Ed. from Lesley University, and a law degree from Syracuse University. She is a disability and LGBTQ rights advocate, with a strong focus on mental health issues. She lives in the Catskills with her husband, who teaches high school students, and her toddler, who is dedicated to the proposition that glitter should be a food group. In her free time, Dana enjoys sandwiches, snow, and board games.
Representation: Andrea Somberg at Harvey Klinger Literary Agency
Film + TV: Dana Spector at Paradigm Talent Agency
Mentor: Dana Mele
by Mod Squad | Sep 17, 2017 | Mentors | 0 comments
BIO
Dana Mele is a Pushcart-nominated writer and a work at home mother. A graduate of Wellesley College, she is a former actor, lawyer, musician, and briefly, associate producer. She is currently editor-in-chief of Kaaterskill Basin Literary Journal and associate editor of Luna Station Quarterly. She prefers tea to coffee, snow to sand, and stars to sunshine, and she lives in the Catskills with her husband and toddler.
PUBLISHING BACKGROUND
I like to say that my path to publication has been both long and short. I’ve always wanted to be a writer, but after college I took another path that led me first into theater, then teaching, then television, and then law. I did work at a bookstore along the way, so I was close to books, and I was allowed to write a teeny tiny bit of copy as an associate producer. And I did a ton of academic writing. But it’s not really the same. I started a few short stories here and there, and got my first idea for a novel over ten years ago. But I get really easily convinced that I’m no good, and I shelved it before I finished. I started another one a few years later, and I really liked that one too, even more maybe. But again, I lost my confidence. Fast forward to 2015. I had just come off my maternity leave and moved to the middle of nowhere and my job had become completely remote. I suddenly got laid off and had zero work prospects. I decided to give writing one last try. This time was just as scary, but I had a lot more practice. I decided to double down on that and took a couple of online classes (I mean it when I say the middle of nowhere) and volunteered to work as a reader for a couple of literary magazines so I was bombarded with literature. I focused on short fiction and got a few publications while constantly reading. I eventually took a position as an associate editor and then started my own lit journal. And I started to write another novel. I got a little overexcited then, and started querying it before it was ready, and the rejections started pouring in. And this time, I came so close to giving up again—But instead, I poured my fear and anxiety into writing another novel about fear and anxiety. And I queried that, and got requests immediately. Pretty soon after that, I got “the call” and that’s pretty much the story. It was a long and short journey.
EXPERIENCE
I majored in theater. I have about 7 years of editorial experience now in academia, journalism, and literature. I edit two literary journals currently and used to work for a third before it closed. I have several critique partners and created and admin a YA CP match Facebook group.
www.www.danamele.com
@MsDanaMele
AGENT
Andrea Somberg
WRITES
YA thriller / Sci-Fi / Contemporary with speculative elements
DEBUT
PEOPLE LIKE US (February 27, 2018)
Putnam
OVERVIEW
When I started writing with a goal of getting published, I didn’t really know what I was getting into. Looking back, I wish I’d had a mentor to talk me through manuscript issues and help me navigate the waters of signing with an agent. If I can be that for an aspiring writer with a bright future, then I want to be!
As a mentor and critique partner, I tend to be more of a big-picture sort of thinker, helping identify plot holes or missing pieces of character arcs, and brainstorming ways to work through them. If something isn’t working, I’m going to let you know (while also leaving lots of positive comments on sentences that I love). I love reading character-driven stories with strong voice, but am probably not the right mentor if you’re still trying to figure out the whole voice thing.
Contemporary
Sci-Fi
Mystery/Thriller
#ownvoices
LGBTQIA
Horror
Within sci-fi: I prefer near future sci-fi and sci-fi in settings similar to contemporary with advanced technology. I do like dystopian fiction, and dark stories centered around futuristic technology grounded in current tech (think Black Mirror).
Within mystery/thriller: I most prefer psychological thrillers, but really will read everything in this category.
Horror: No slashers, please. I prefer psychological horror and suspense. Think Hitchcock minus Psycho and Frenzy.
Within contemporary: I’m not so into romance as a genre, but romantic subplots are great.
I WILL PROVIDE:
Edit Letter (Big Picture developmental feedback)
Line edit (dropping notes into a Word Document)
Skype or phone call
WORKING STYLE
I’m very communicative and will go back and forth answering questions and making further suggestions to work with you collaboratively after the initial edit letter. I’m also happy to help strategize re: querying, researching agents, resume building, etc.
SEND ME:
I like dark stories, flawed protagonists, and kinda sorta sympathetic villains. Multidimensional characters, moral gray areas, and stories that challenge. If your manuscript features an “unlikeable girl” I am definitely interested. I would love, love, love to get a YA Gone Girl, The Secret History, or In the Woods, a contemporary with a speculative twist like Before I Fall, anything that uses We Were Liars as a comp, or a horror story that (thoughtfully) examines society’s dismissal of the gravity of emotional violence and the power of words to inflict concrete harm. On the complete flipside, if it’s funny, especially bitingly funny, please sub it!
DO NOT SEND ME:
I’m not the best person for books where characters with mental illness or disability are demonized or die so that abled people can appreciate the value of life.
FAVES
YA books: We Were Liars, Before I Fall, The Window.
Books: The Secret History, The Woods, Gone Girl, The Shining.
TV: Westworld, Stranger Things, Game of Thrones, Lost.
Mele, Dana: PEOPLE LIKE US
Kirkus Reviews. (Nov. 15, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Mele, Dana PEOPLE LIKE US Putnam (Children's Fiction) $17.99 2, 27 ISBN: 978-1-5247-4170-9
For some girls, it's a killer getting into Bates Academy. For others, attending the elite prep school means getting killed.
When Kay Donovan and her popular senior classmates uphold the tradition of skinny dipping in the lake after the Halloween dance, they're surprised to find the dead body of Jessica Lane, a fellow student. But it's not the first time Kay has seen a dead body--and someone knows it. As she, her friends, and other acquaintances begin answering questions for the police, the teen also receives an email from Jessica's account that takes her to a revenge website. There, Kay receives instructions to take down all her friends--this one for doping, that one for sleeping with a professor--or her own secrets will be revealed. The debut novel has all the tropes one would expect from a prep school mystery: plenty of backstabbing, predominantly white young socialites (except for Brie with "smooth brown skin"), and frequent parties with alcohol and sex. Yet this intertwined mystery that has readers figuring out Jessica's murderer and Kay's secrets (and their possible connections) is more than these clichAaAaAeA@s. The characters and their relationships are nuance especially bisexual Kay, who has intimate encounters with males and females.
The blend of predictable prep school elements with unpredictable suspense makes this a fizzy read for fans of the genre. (Mystery. 14-18)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Mele, Dana: PEOPLE LIKE US." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Nov. 2017. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A514267817/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=a969b5a7. Accessed 17 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A514267817
People like Us
Rob Bittner
Booklist. 114.7 (Dec. 1, 2017): p56.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
People like Us.
By Dana Mele.
Feb. 2018. 384p. Putnam, $17.99 (9781524741709). Gr. 9-12.
Murder, mayhem, and unreliable friendships take center stage in Mele's debut novel. Kay Donovan, a popular girl known for her soccer skills and her biting humor, gets more than she bargained for when she and her friends go to the lake, after a night of dancing, and a girl's body turns up, frozen and with her wrists slit. When Kay gets an email the day after, things take a dark turn, and she ends up ruining the lives of former friends and classmates in an effort to assuage her own guilt. As she embarks on the digital scavenger hunt in an effort to clear her name, Kay starts to wonder who is actually behind it all. To some extent, the pacing is inconsistent, and certain characters are static in the end, which may lead readers to wonder how certain relationships came to be. Mele, however, manages to weave a tale of mystery, intrigue, and revenge in the style of Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why (2007), but with its own twists to keep readers on their toes.--Rob Bittner
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Bittner, Rob. "People like Us." Booklist, 1 Dec. 2017, p. 56. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A519036309/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=2129dc7d. Accessed 17 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A519036309
Mele, Dana. People Like Us
Kristy Rademacher
Voice of Youth Advocates. 40.5 (Dec. 2017): p58.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
Full Text:
Mele, Dana. People Like Us. Putnam / Penguin Random House, February 2018. 384p. $17.99. 978-1-5247-4170-9.
4Q * 4P * J * S:
Kay Donovan is a deeply unhappy, cynical person. A senior scholarship student in her expensive prep school, she must win a sports scholarship in order to attend college. The pressure from her parents and coaches is unrelenting. Kay is also one of the school's reigning mean girls, having pecked her way to the top freshmen year, although she never forgets that she is not truly one of the elite. After a dance, Kay and her cronies stumble across a body in the school lake. Despite reporting it immediately, the girls come under scrutiny and secrets pile up as they are slowly exposed. Kay is blackmailed into outing all her friends' secrets, getting them kicked out and even murdered. The culprit will likely come as a surprise to readers and the reason for the murders definitely will shock.
This is a fun, dark whodunit with loads of twists and turns to keep readers guessing. Suspects abound, drawing on the many secrets about the girls' pasts and those in the local community. Despite some unrealistic adult interaction and too-savvy snooping ability by the protagonist, the suspense and intrigue will keep readers frantically turning pages until the end. The author also tackles gender inequality, bi-sexuality, bullying, and gender bias in the media. These topics are not focal points but are woven into the plot, allowing readers a chance to ponder, possibly broadening their minds. This is a solid purchase for anywhere mysteries are popular and a great readalike for fans of Pretty Little Liars.--Kristy Rademacher.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Rademacher, Kristy. "Mele, Dana. People Like Us." Voice of Youth Advocates, Dec. 2017, p. 58. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A522759423/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=b872ee7b. Accessed 17 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A522759423
People Like Us
Publishers Weekly. 264.48 (Nov. 27, 2017): p63.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
People Like Us
Dana Mele. Putnam, $17.99 (384p) ISBN 978-1-5247-4170-9
Soccer captain Kay Donovan gets caught up in a game of murder and revenge in this sharp psychological thriller, Mele's debut. Kay is at the center of a group of seniors who rule their girls' boarding school. The girls find the body of fellow student Jessica Lane in a nearby lake, and as the school reels from her death, Kay receives an email--purportedly from Jessica--that forces her to expose her friends' sins in order to keep her own secrets buried. As evidence mounts against Kay in Jessica's apparent murder, the school turns against her, and Kay learns that cruelty does not go unrepaid. Feeling unmoored, Kay turns to Nola, a former target of the group's bullying, but none of Kay's relationships is without agenda, and Kay finds herself in the killer's sights. Mele creates a cast of sharp-edged, prickly students; the fluid sexuality of various characters is handled well, and themes of betrayal and bullying are front and center. An eerie, unsettling thriller with deadly consequences. Ages 12-up. Agent: Andrea Somberg, Harvey Klinger. (Feb.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"People Like Us." Publishers Weekly, 27 Nov. 2017, p. 63. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A517575740/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=a8258129. Accessed 17 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A517575740
MELE, Dana. People Like Us
Emily Grace Le May
School Library Journal. 63.12 (Dec. 2017): p109.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
Full Text:
MELE, Dana. People Like Us. 384p. Putnam. Feb. 2018. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9781524741709.
Gr 9 Up-Steeped in scandal and profound tragedy, this is a dark and thrilling look at female friendships, the pressures of scholastic success, and mental health. Daring, popular, and athletic, Kay is well on her way to achieving her dreams and securing the best that life has to offer at the prestigious Bates Academy, despite her family's financial situation and lack of pedigree. Then a student turns up dead in the lake, cutting to the core of the school and Kay's friend group. A sinisterly mysterious mastermind begins pulling Kay's strings and setting her up as the murderer. Kay must carefully solve the puzzles while risking what she's worked so hard to achieve before time runs out, her past is revealed, and all is lost forever. A classic and frightening tale of betrayal and mental illness told in a fresh and contemporary way, this book is difficult to set down for even a moment. It is an intricately designed, beautifully written, and extraordinarily chilling story. VERDICT Recommended for fans of psychological thrillers and mysteries who want to be riveted until the very end.--Emily Grace Le May, Williams School, New London, CT
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
May, Emily Grace Le. "MELE, Dana. People Like Us." School Library Journal, Dec. 2017, p. 109. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A516634118/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=ec150690. Accessed 17 Feb. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A516634118