C. Lee Tocci

Last updated

C. Lee Tocci is the pen name for Cynthia Tocci. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, Cynthia Tocci is the author of the young adult fantasy series, The Chronicles of Kiva. She is also a screenwriter, film producer, theatrical producer, actress, and accountant.

Contents

Biography

Tocci is the fifth of eight children born to Valentino Tocci and Ruth Carnes Tocci. She was born in Massachusetts and raised in Lexington, Massachusetts. After attending Northeastern University for one year, she transferred to University of New Hampshire, where she received a bachelor's degree in Hotel Administration.

In the 1980s, she began studying acting and appeared in countless theatrical productions throughout New England. She originated the role of Vincenza Vermicelli, the pregnant bridesmaid, in the interactive theatrical production of Joey and Maria's Comedy Italian Wedding .

In 1994, she purchased a function hall in Woburn, Massachusetts at a federal auction and opened the Deco Boston Dinner Theater. From 1994 through 1998, she produced over sixty theatrical productions, including two interactive shows that she wrote herself: Polyester High 20th High School Reunion and The Wake of Maddy O'Malley. She also ran children's theater workshops.

Tocci sold the business in 1999 and relocated to Los Angeles to pursue acting and film production. In 2000 she wrote and produced the independent murder mystery romance film Title to Murder , starring Maureen McCormick and Christopher Atkins. During production, Tocci was involved in a set accident when a large portable generator rolled and crushed her hand, leaving her in the hospital for several key days of shooting. The middle finger on her left hand is still damaged.[ citation needed ]

The film did not achieve the financial success that she'd hoped for. Disappointed with the creative constraints of filmmaking, she began writing novels. She once said, "In a novel, no one tells you we don't have the budget to blow up a four-story building. Heck, blow up a twelve-story building instead! It's only two more letters!"

Her debut novel, Stone Voice Rising, the first in the series: The Chronicles of Kiva, was published in 2009 [1] under the pen name C. Lee Tocci.

Stone Voice Rising

Stone Voice Rising is the first book of a six-volume young adult fantasy series. The story revolves around Lilibit, a young girl destined to become the Stone Voice, the one human who can communicate directly with the soul of the Earth, and Todd, a boy who will rise to be a mighty Stone Warrior. Evil forces, led by the demonic Deceiver Syxx, work to destroy Lilibit before she can achieve her destiny. Under the working title The Road to Kiva, the book won the Editor's Choice Award at the San Diego State University Writers' Conference in January 2006.

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Cooper</span> English fantasy writer

Susan Mary Cooper is an English author of children's books. She is best known for The Dark Is Rising, a contemporary fantasy series set in England and Wales, which incorporates British mythology such as the Arthurian legends and Welsh folk heroes. For that work, in 2012 she won the lifetime Margaret A. Edwards Award from the American Library Association, recognizing her contribution to writing for teens. In the 1970s two of the five novels were named the year's best English-language book with an "authentic Welsh background" by the Welsh Books Council. In 2024, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association named her the 40th Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master in recognition of her significant contributions to the literature of science fiction and fantasy. 

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blodeuwedd</span> Wife of Lleu Llaw Gyffes in Welsh mythology

Blodeuwedd, is the wife of Lleu Llaw Gyffes in Welsh mythology. She was made from the flowers of broom, meadowsweet and oak by the magicians Math and Gwydion, and is a central figure in Math fab Mathonwy, the last of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi.

<i>A Wrinkle in Time</i> 1962 science fantasy novel by Madeleine LEngle

A Wrinkle in Time is a young adult science fantasy novel written by American author Madeleine L'Engle. First published in 1962, the book won the Newbery Medal, the Sequoyah Book Award, the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and was runner-up for the Hans Christian Andersen Award. The main characters – Meg Murry, Charles Wallace Murry, and Calvin O'Keefe – embark on a journey through space and time, from galaxy to galaxy, as they endeavor to rescue the Murrys' father and fight The Black Thing that has intruded into several worlds.

Cynthia Voigt is an American writer of books for young adults dealing with various topics such as adventure, mystery, racism and child abuse. Her first book in the Tillerman family series, Homecoming, was nominated for several international prizes and adapted as a 1996 film. Her novel Dicey's Song won the 1983 Newbery Medal.

Cynthia Rylant is an American author and librarian. She has written more than 100 children's books, including works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Several of her books have won awards, including her novel Missing May, which won the 1993 Newbery Medal, and A Fine White Dust, which was a 1987 Newbery Honor book. Two of her books are Caldecott Honor Books.

<i>The Dark Is Rising Sequence</i> Series of fantasy novels for children by Susan Cooper

The Dark Is Rising Sequence is a series of five contemporary fantasy novels for older children and young adults that were written by the British author Susan Cooper and published from 1965 to 1977. The first book in the series, Over Sea, Under Stone, was originally conceived as a stand-alone novel, and the sequence gets its name from the second novel in the series, The Dark Is Rising. The Dark Is Rising Sequence is used as an over-arching title in several omnibus, boxed-set, and coordinated editions; but the title of The Dark is Rising is also used for the whole series.

Nancy Garden was an American writer of fiction for children and young adults, best known for the lesbian novel Annie on My Mind. She received the 2003 Margaret Edwards Award from the American Library Association recognizing her lifetime contribution in writing for teens, citing Annie alone.

<i>The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe</i> 2005 film by Andrew Adamson

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is a 2005 high fantasy film directed by Andrew Adamson, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ann Peacock and the writing team of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, based on the 1950 novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the first published and second chronological novel in the children's book series The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis. The film is the first installment in The Chronicles of Narnia film series. It was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media, and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nnedi Okorafor</span> Nigerian-American writer of science fiction and fantasy

Nnedimma Nkemdili "Nnedi" Okorafor is a Nigerian American writer of science fiction and fantasy for both children and adults. She is best known for her Binti Series and her novels Who Fears Death, Zahrah the Windseeker, Akata Witch, Akata Warrior, Lagoon and Remote Control. She has also written for comics and film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debra Jo Rupp</span> American actress (born 1951)

Debra Jo Rupp is an American actress. She is best known for her starring role as Kitty Forman in the Fox sitcom That '70s Show (1998–2006) and its Netflix sequel series That '90s Show (2023–present). Rupp also had roles in the NBC sitcom Friends (1997–1998), the ABC animated series Teacher's Pet (2000–2002) and its 2004 sequel film, the ABC sitcom Better with You (2010–2011), and the Disney+ miniseries WandaVision (2021).

Legend of the White Horse is a 1987 Polish-American adventure children's film directed by Jerzy Domaradzki and Janusz Morgenstern, based on the magic realism novel White Horse, Dark Dragon by Robert C. Fleet, who also wrote the screenplay. It was produced by Alina Szpak for CBS Theatrical Films, Legend Productions & Film Polski. The film is also a political satire. It was released on July 13, 1987. It was re-released in 2017 by Legend 44 Productions as White Horse, Dark Dragon; Legend 44 Productions is the successor to Legend Productions, the American co-producer and copyright holder of the feature.

<i>The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle</i> Novel by Avi

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle is a historical novel by the American author Avi published in 1990. The book is marketed towards children at a reading level of grades 5–8. The book chronicles the evolution of the title character as she is pushed outside her naive existence and learns about life aboard a ship crossing from England to America in 1832. The novel was well received and won several awards, including being named as a Newbery Honor book in 1991.

Marie Myung-Ok Lee is a Korean-American author, novelist and essayist. She is a cofounder of the Asian American Writers' Workshop (AAWW). This organisation was formed in 1991 to support New York City writers of color.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marilyn Singer</span> American poet

Marilyn Singer is an author of children's books in a wide variety of genres, including fiction and non-fiction picture books, juvenile novels and mysteries, young adult fantasies, and poetry. Some of her poems are written as reverso poems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Stone</span> British writer

Sam Stone is the horror and fantasy pen name for British multi-award winning Thriller novellist and screenwriter Samantha Lee Howe. She is best known for her USA Today! best selling novel The Stranger In Our Bed published by HarperCollins imprint One More Chapter. This novel has recently been made into a film by production company Buffalo Dragon, The film, directed by Giles Alderson and starring Samantha Bond, Emily Berrington, Ben Lloyd-Hughes, Joseph Marcell, Nina Wadia, Bart Edwards and Terri Dwyer, was released on 1 July 2022 on Showtime Networks. Samantha has since sold three more books to HarperCollins One More Chapter and all three were published in 2021 as The House of Killers Trilogy which consists of The House of Killers Book 1, Kill or Die Book 2, and Kill A Spy Book 3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maggie Stiefvater</span> American author (born 1981)

Margaret Stiefvater is an American writer of young adult fiction. She is best known for her fantasy series The Wolves of Mercy Falls and The Raven Cycle.

Janni Lee Simner is an American author of fantasy and adventure novels and short stories. She writes primarily for young adults as teenagers and upper elementary children.

Janet Lee Carey is an American college professor who writes fantasy fiction for children and young adults. Her novels The Dragons of Noor (2010) won a Teens Read Too Gold Star Award for Excellence, Dragon's Keep (2007) won an ALA Best Books for Young adults, and Wenny Has Wings (2002) won the Mark Twain Award (2005).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Pinchard</span> English writer

Elizabeth PinchardnéeSibthorpe, was an English writer of children's fiction whose stories incorporated moral lessons aimed at older girls. She was recognised above all for The Blind Child, her first and most successful novel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tomi Adeyemi</span> Nigerian-American novelist (born 1993)

Tomi Adeyemi is a Hugo and Nebula award-winning writer, model, and writing teacher. She is best known for her novel Children of Blood and Bone, the first in the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy published by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, which debuted #1 on the New York Times Best Sellers List, and won the 2018 Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy, the 2019 Waterstones Book Prize, and the 2019 Hugo Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book. In 2019, she was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. In 2020, she was named to the TIME 100 Most Influential People of 2020 in the "Pioneers" category. Paramount Pictures is currently developing Children of Blood and Bone into a major motion picture with Gina Prince-Bythewood attached to direct.

References

  1. Tocci, C. Lee (2009). Stone Voice Rising. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN   978-0-15-206292-7.