Shaken & Stirred

I Know, I Know & Hangovers

It's as if I've abandoned the site lately, but I haven't. I've just been exceedingly busy. (This is also why you haven't gotten e-mail from me, if I owe you one.) I'm going to aim for some actual books posts this weekend, even. Promise. And there are so many books I love coming out in the next month or two, and I'll be hosting some of the wonderful writers who wrote them on blog tours too, and doing a giveaway or two. Sound fun? I think so.

• Books Inc. has a new kids' book blog that you should be checking out.
• Justine Musk on "The Art of the Start."
• I totally missed posting about Jackie Dolamore's Magic Under Glass ARC comp while it was on, BUT you should make a note of the title because you'll be wanting to get yourself a copy when it comes out.
• Shannon Hale's excellent, much-discussed post about how reviewing impacts reading and vice versa. See also: John Green on times he was being a wronghead about certain books. (And so agree about The Fountainhead--the only place it belongs is as a character grace note in Dirty Dancing.)
• Stephany on how Shirley Jackson's fictionalized family-centered nonfiction confused the memories of her children.
• Want.
• Bennett Madison's The Blonde of the Joke is finally out. This book is AMAZING. Please read it. I loved it all the way back in 2008: "It is SO good. With this book, he's pulled off something so difficult to do; as I told a friend in e-mail, it satisfyingly blurs the line between realism and the fantastic in a way that's still rare. It's a realistic novel, but flirting with being something else, flirting heavily, and in the process becoming its own unique, perfect thing. Beautifully written, too." And it does, in fact, pair excellently with Frankie Landau Banks.
• Do not miss Tempest's list of Mindblowing SF by Women and People of Color.

Arranged Marriages

Matchmaking for dogs in New Delhi:

And so a year ago she put up a poster in an upscale market in New Delhi. A few calls have trickled in, but so far none of the matches have worked out.

"I have already got him about two or three girlfriends, and he is not interested," she said. "I think he is already committed. There is no point looking for a girlfriend because he already has a boyfriend. I hear that a lot of small dogs are gay."

Via Jenny D.

Smells Like Teen Angst

Or, rather, a playlist for the new revision I'm working on for the Medea book (well, really more of an experimental rebirth than a revision, but it still falls under that heading). The new approach is really getting me in touch with my inner angsty teen, and if I'm going to stick with it I have to have a playlist*. Thank god, this does not mean including the Jim Morrison poetry songs. This angst is more interesting than the type I possessed.

I also used this as an excuse for a little iTunes slurge, although the Bowerbirds was the only thing newly purchased that was tonally right. We'll see how this experiment progresses. I make no promises, and after Blue Heaven I'll dive back in to the new book armed with notes aplenty and make it presentable. (And hopefully this will be--or nearly--a new book by then, too.) 

*Why so short? This is the portable version, as I am currently iPodless, since mine exploded in the car awhile back. It was very exciting.

Thursday Hangovers

• Bill Clinton's been checking out Carolyn.
• Kassia with a post on reading in an age of distraction: "The competition for books isn’t necessarily other books as much as everything else in life."
• A good post on basic book structural issues.
• An interesting discussion over at the Enchanted Inkpot about the dynamics of stories where the love interest is WAY older than the protag (or vice versa) due to supernatural factors.
• A modern kid tries to figure out the walkman and replace his iPod with it for a week: "It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape." Suddenly, I am ancient.
• The ultimate dead letter.
• Cherie Priest on steampunk.
• Rachel Aaron on villains.
• An essay about John Hughes from the potential inspiration for Ferris Bueller, now a government attorney.
• Bitch magazine is adding a YA column--the first one features Sara Zarr.
• Make sure you don't miss the posts from yesterday's southeast Asia one-shot day in the kidlitverse.

The Special Ones

The latest SF Mind Meld is up: "Books That Hold Special Places in Our Hearts and On Our Shelves." I participated and while it wasn't as hard as I thought to settle on which books to talk about, am feeling a little pretentious in the morning.

R.I.P.

John Hughes. His influence lives on.

EW names his 20 key movies; Mark Kozelek remembers a phone conversation; and a long-time pen pal remembers her long-distance friend.

Good Decision (updated)

Bloomsbury is replacing Liar's jacket for the hardcover release in October:

This week Bloomsbury officials have switched course. "We regret that our original creative direction for Liar—which was intended to symbolically reflect the narrator’s complex psychological makeup—has been interpreted by some as a calculated decision to mask the character's ethnicity," Bloomsbury officials said in a statement to PW. "In response to this concern, and in support of the author’s vision for the novel, Bloomsbury has decided to re-jacket the hardcover edition with a new look in time for its publication in October. It is our hope that the important discussions about race and its representation in teen literature continue. As the publisher of Liar, we also hope that nothing further distracts from the quality of the author’s nuanced and accomplished story, and that a new cover will allow this novel's many advocates to celebrate its U.S. publication without reservation."

I sure hope Justine's book can now get the response it deserves. 

And update: Justine has posted the new cover (see right). Isn't it just gorgeous?

Thursday Hangovers

• Sara Zarr recommends some great books, including Bennett Madison's wonderful wonderful The Blonde of the Joke.
• Errol Morris on lying again, with Ricky Jay.
• Stacy Whitman condenses a discussion on YA and middle grade and the differences between them (particularly in relation to their frequent conflation in SFF).
• An interview with Kathleen Duey, whose follow-up to her brilliant novel Skin Hunger is out now. Yay! (Sacred Scars, for those not keeping track.)
• A dissenting opinion on the first 100 pages of Little Brother that I'm linking because I like contrarian posts, generally speaking. (In other words, this doesn't mean that I agree, but that I found the discussion interesting.)
• Justine Musk has some wise words on revision.

Wah.

Twitter outage!

Some Like It...

I wrote a piece on what's happening in the realm of erotica and erotic romance (paranormal doing well, just like in everything else) for this week's Publishers Weekly. More importantly, I think I may have hit a personal best with the sidebar headline "Some Like It Historical," especially since I always struggle with headlines. (See also: Boom and Busts!)

Check it out if you're so inclined.