Review on Wands and Worlds

Into the Wild was reviewed today on Sheila Ruth's Wands and Worlds blog. I loooove this review! I've already read it aloud twice to my husband (and once to my cat). I love the way the reviewer describes the book -- I swear she describes it better than I do! And she totally gets the novel! And she says lots of things that make me do the Snoopy-dance-of-joy! And I should just let you read it for yourself...

Here's my favorite line:

"Into the Wild is an amazing, wild, romp of an adventure."

Yay!

Click here to read the full review.

(Apologies to all you pork-fighters out there. The next Brotherhood Pig.0 will be up in a couple hours.)

Brotherhood Pig.0 - Straw

One of the best things about having written a fairy-tale-based novel is that I get to meet fairy-tale characters all the time. Oh, yes, it's true. They come over, tell me their stories, we have tea, it's all very nice. But lately, as the release date for INTO THE WILD has gotten closer, some of them have gotten a bit pushy, started asking for favors. And hey, I owe these characters, so I'm happy to oblige.

Just last week, I was contacted by a famous porcine trio. They explained that they are big fans of John Green and Hank Green's video blog, Brotherhood 2.0, and that they wanted to use Sarah's Journal as a platform for their own experiment in video blogging. Unfortunately, pigs have some difficultly operating video cameras, so the three brothers have elected to do their blog in text instead. Anyway, without further ado, I'm proud to present Brotherhood Pig.0. Today, we'll hear from Straw. Tuesday and Wednesday, Sticks and Bricks.

Three Brothers, One Blog
3 Days of Text-Full Communication
It's a whole new kind of brotherhood.
Brotherhood Pig.0

Good morning, Sticks. Good morning, Bricks. It's Monday, April 30, and today I am thinking about horses. Now, you know me, and you know I am a friend to all domesticated farm animals, be they porcine, bovine, or equine. But lately, I have been wondering if horses could benefit from a new type of food. Specifically, not hay, which as I'm sure you've noticed, closely resembles straw.

Yes, that's right. I am having a little equine problem here. I lost my front porch to a peckish filly yesterday.

As you both know, I am very proud of my house. It's environmentally friendly. Carbon-neutral, in fact. And it's rather unique. You don't see thatching like this outside of England. Do you have any idea how many hours of work it took to thatch the roof of that porch without the benefit of opposable thumbs?

Speaking of thatching, did you know that... Did the wind just pick up? Hold on a minute while I close the window... What the...

OK, Sticks, Bricks, fellow pork-fighters... You aren't going to believe this, but there's a big hairy dude outside and... This is seriously not cool. He's totally adding to the level of carbon dioxide around here. Definitely increasing WorldPuff.

I think he just called me "little piggy."

Hey, furball, I do not say "wee, wee, wee" all the way home! I am a mature swine, thank you! Did that horse send you?

Whoa, watch the thatching!

Sticks, Bricks, I'll see you tomorrow.

Review from Charles de Lint in F&SF Magazine!

Today I checked my email and found a message with the subject line: "review from F&SF July 2007 issue attached". Needless to say, it caught my eye. I clicked on it. OMG... The news comes in four parts:

1) CHARLES DE LINT READ INTO THE WILD!
2) CHARLES DE LINT LIKED INTO THE WILD!!
3) CHARLES DE LINT WROTE A NICE REVIEW OF INTO THE WILD!!!
4) CHARLES DE LINT'S NICE REVIEW OF INTO THE WILD WILL APPEAR IN THE JULY ISSUE OF THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION IN HIS "BOOKS TO LOOK FOR" COLUMN!!!!

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

DEEP BREATH, SARAH.

STEP AWAY FROM THE CAPS LOCK.

Charles de Lint is one of my all-time favorite writers. He's the author of Jack the Giant-Killer -- one of my absolute favorite novels and one of the best fairy-tale retellings EVER -- as well as The Onion Girl, Dreams Underfoot, Widdershins, Tapping the Dream Tree, Greenmantle, Yarrow, Memory and Dream, The Ivory and the Horn, The Blue Girl... He is a master of stories in which cool-magical-things-happen-in-the-real-world. AND HE LIKED MY BOOK... AND WROTE NICE THINGS ABOUT IT IN A COOL MAGAZINE LIKE F&SF...

CALM DOWN. BREATHE. SERIOUSLY NOW SARAH, PUT THE CAPS LOCK AWAY.

A year ago, if someone had told me that Charles de Lint... There is no way I would have believed them. No way.

After I came down from my initial hysteria, I noticed that my fellow Class-of-2k7er, Melissa Marr, also got a wonderful review in the very same column. Eeeeeeeeeee for Melissa! Today is a cool day.

Now here's my dilemna. I really, REALLY, want to tell you all what Charles said, but the magazine's not out yet. They sent me an advance copy of the review as a courtesy, and I doubt they want me spilling it all over the internets before the actual magazine comes out. Right? So I should wait to post it... Right??? I think I'm right about this, but if anyone has a compelling counter-argument, please do tell! Otherwise, I'll be sure to post a link to the review as soon as the magazine comes out.

Now I think I need to lie down...

Once Upon an Interview: Carrie Jones

Welcome to a brand-new segment on Sarah's Journal: author interviews! But these won't be your run-of-the-mill author interviews. In keeping with the fairy-tale theme of INTO THE WILD, these will be author interviews with a fairy-tale twist. Today, for the very first interview, I'm very excited to welcome Carrie Jones.

Carrie Jones is the author of TIPS ON HAVING A GAY (ex) BOYFRIEND, coming from Flux/Llewellyn on May 1, 2007.

ONCE UPON AN INTERVIEW WITH CARRIE JONES:

What is your favorite fairy tale?
Puss in Boots, with the Master Cat as a character, because:
1. It’s a cat.
2. It inspired the title for a Crash Test Dummies CD.
3. I like to say "Meow."

Do you (either consciously or subconsciously) use fairy-tale themes or motifs in your writing?

Well, I think Stith Thompson said there were 40,000 different motifs. Yes, 40,000! So, you have to figure everyone who writes must be using some. Sure, it might not be the obvious glass slipper, but how about the evil stepmother? The lowly girl snagging the high born guy? And if you go by Katherine Briggs' definition of motifs as "strands that make up the tale" it seems every writer has to have them. How can you have a tale without strands?

In TIPS ON HAVING A GAY (ex) BOYFRIEND, there's evil, there's good, there's a quest to figure out which is which. There's a blue guitar, which may not seem magical to most people, but I think it falls under the motif "magic object received from a fairy." Sure, it was given to Belle, the main character, from her dad when she was a baby, but her dad's dead, so I think that counts.

If the protagonist of your most recent novel met Cinderella’s fairy godmother, what would he or she do/say?

Belle would say, "I'm hallucinating aren't I? Or you're punking me, right? Because you can not exist. Although, oh, maybe you can exist, because who am I to say what exists or not. I mean, it's not like I know everything, the sum total of everything in the universe. But... I mean fairy godmother? Cinderella's fairy godmother? No offense or anything, but that's so weird."

She would then pause.

Then she would say, "Those are some really nice shoes."

What would your protagonist do/say if he or she met Little Red Riding Hood's wolf?

"Why are you so angry? Is it just low blood sugar? Because, I mean, there's a McDonald's right down the street and they have take-out. I'll buy."

What would you do/say if you met a fairy godmother or talking wolf?

"Hi. Would you like a fudge bar?"

This is pretty much how I greet everyone.

If you could be any fairy-tale character, which one would you want to be?

Well, I couldn't figure out how to answer this. So I went to the internet and took a quiz, which doesn't say which fairy-tale character I want to be, but which fairy-tale character I am.

So, according to the internet I am a fairy.
I've got to say I’m cool with that.
Magic mushrooms sprouting up where I walk? Sounds good.
Ability to do magic? Yep, I'll take that.
Sparkly dresses? Sign me up.
Now, which fairy to be......

What does your (or your protagonist's) happily-ever-after look like?

Happily Ever After looks like a place where everyone tries hard to be kind. There's a lot of guitars and fudge bars. If you're a bigot or you're mean, you get booted out. There's a really big boot that does this, it's that same boot from "There was an old lady who lived in a shoe, she had so many children, she didn't know what to do." Only, it's a boot, obviously. How could you fit that many kids in a shoe, or a flip flop or a stiletto heel? It has to be a big, warm boot, preferably UGGs.

----------

Carrie Jones is a founding member of the Class of 2k7, a graduate of Vermont College's MFA program, and a Maine resident. She's also super-sweet (which may or may not be related to her professed fondness for fudgicles). For more about Carrie, please visit her website at: www.carriejonesbooks.com

And if you'd like to know more about TIPS ON HAVING A GAY (ex) BOYFRIEND, here is the description from Amazon: "It isn't every day that my high school boyfriend, Eastbrook High School's Harvest King, tells me he's gay. It's not every day that the Harvest Queen is dumped in the middle of a road with the stars watching the humiliation and the dogs barking because they want to come help tear my heart out and leave it on the cold gray ground. It isn't every day that my entire world falls apart. Belle believes that Dylan is her true love-maybe even her soulmate. Until one cold night when Dylan drops the ultimate bomb: he's gay. Where, Belle wonders, does that leave her? Should she have some­how been able to tell? Is every guy that she loves going to turn out to be gay? This beautifully-written debut explores what happens when you are suddenly forced to see someone in a different light, and what that can teach you about yourself."

Thanks so much for appearing here, Carrie!

Inside Scoop on my Cover Art

A couple weeks ago, I answered a question on the Class of 2k7 blog about cover art. The question was: Does the art director read your entire book to get inspiration for the cover? Or does the editorial team just tell the art director what they want to see?

An interesting question, but I had absolutely no idea. So I went with my old standby -- the cutesy dodge -- and said:

I don't know, but I'm totally in love with my cover. I especially love the little creatures that are hanging out in the swirls. Best part about those little critters: they appear inside the book! At the start of each chapter, there's a silhouette of a creature. When I first saw the design pages, I called my husband at work and shrieked in his ear, "My book has bunnies!" I love it. It was designed by Jose Nieto at square zero.

But today, providing a much-needed remedy to my cluelessness, Jose replied to that post with a really cool answer. So here's the inside scoop on the inspiration for the cover art of INTO THE WILD, straight from artist:

In answer to your question... This is Jose Nieto, from square zero, the designer of Sarah's book cover. The answer is yes, I did read the book and loved it. The idea of the main character getting lost in (almost literally) a tangle of words suggested the concept. You can't tell from the image, but the swirly mass at the right edge of the cover is actually an uber-decorative letter R from an 18th century type specimen book. You can see the whole letter when you open jacket flap. Even though I developed my own concept for the cover, I did have a long discussion with the editor beforehand about overall goals -- audience, market, etc.

How cool is that? Thanks, Jose!

And just in case you missed seeing Jose's very cool design in one of the other bazillion places I've posted it, here's the final version of the cover:


Click the image to see it in glorious high resolution...

YA Author Prom

Earlier this week I went to the prom. No, not a high school prom (mine was many moons ago), the YA Author Prom! Everyone's already blogged about this, but just in case you've been trapped under something heavy for the past few days, this was a very fun party where lots of YA authors from the NYC area dressed up in their prommy finest, boogied to 80's music, and partied like it was 1992! The inspiration for this enchanted evening was the release of the new YA anthology, 21 PROMS, with proceeds from both the party and the book benefiting Advocates for Youth. This picture, stolen from Coe Booth, pretty much sums up the evening for me:

Me, Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Josh, Coe Booth, and Ellen Wittlinger

Review in Realms of Fantasy Magazine

INTO THE WILD received its very first print review! And it's good! Snoopy Dance of Joy!

It's in the June issue of Realms of Fantasy Magazine. Here's what it says:

"Julie Marchen doesn't lead a normal life. Her mother is Rapunzel, her adopted brother is Puss in Boots, her grandmother is a witch, and the enigmatic force known as the Wild, which was the dominating force behind the fairy tales of old, lives under her bed, just waiting for a chance to break free. But as long as the Wild remains quiescent, its former victims are free of the tales they once inhabited. And then someone makes a wish, and the Wild is free to devour the world. Now Julie is the only one capable of traveling into the Wild to once again defeat it. In the process she'll finally understand what happened to her father, the fateful decisions her mother made, and why she's uniquely qualified to undertake this quest. Into the Wild is an entertaining, introspective, clever remixing of traditional fairy tales with a Labyrinth edge and a self-aware sensibility, and it signals a strong debut from Sarah Beth Durst." -- Michael Jones, Realms of Fantasy Magazine

Yay!

First Print Review for Into the Wild!

INTO THE WILD has its very first print review! And I now have it in my grubby little hands! Mwah-ha-ha!

My Quest to Obtain a Copy of My First Print Review:

Day One: Received an email from one of my Broad Universe friends (Kathy Sullivan -- thanks, Kathy!) saying that she'd received an advance copy of the June issue of Realms of Fantasy and that it included a good review of INTO THE WILD. Danced around the house. Emailed Kathy to thank her. Discovered it's hard to dance and type at the same time but it can be done if one is persistant enough. I am nothing if not persistant.

Day Two: Dropped by the local Borders on the off-chance that they would also have an advance copy of the June issue. They didn't. Bought the April issue anyway so that I could stare at the reviews page and picture what my review would look like. Held my bookmark up against the magazine so that I could better imagine my review. Hid bookmark when husband came in the room so he wouldn't think I'm crazy-obsessive. Husband asked to borrow bookmark to hold up against the magazine.

Day Three: Received an email from another writer friend (Laini Taylor -- thanks, Laini!) saying that she'd seen the review of INTO THE WILD in Realms of Fantasy and offering to type it into an email if I hadn't seen it. Worried that she'd think I'm crazy-obsessive if I said yes. Decided that I am in fact crazy-obsessive and said yes. Checked email every five minutes. Received email and read review. Snoopy Dance of Joy! It is a good review!!

Day Four: Decided to wait until I could see it in print before posting about it on my blog.

Day Five: Still waiting.

Day Six: Still waiting.

Day Seven: Checked the Barnes & Noble in Worcester (where I'll be doing a reading/signing on July 14th). Still the April issue.

Day Eight: Checked again just in case. Still April.

Day Nine: Called the local Borders. Nope.

Day Ten to Infinity: I am not good at waiting.

Day Infinity: Called the local Borders. Considered disguising my voice so that they wouldn't tip to the fact that I'm crazy-obsessive. Decided that would look even crazier. Put on hold while bookseller goes to check the shelves.

Day Infinity plus Ten Minutes: Disconnected.

Day Infinity plus Eleven Minutes: Called back. No answer.

Day Infinity plus Twelve Minutes: Called back. No answer.

Day Infinity plus Thirteen Minutes: Called Waldenbooks in mall. Wait while bookseller checks shelves. No June issue.

Day Infinity plus Fifteen Minutes: Called Borders again. Put on hold while bookstore guy checks shelves...

Day Infinity plus Twenty Minutes: Victory! They have it! Hop in car and drive to Borders.

Day Infinity plus One Hour: Home again.

Now: I have the magazine! Ooh, there's a story by Charles de Lint in it. Cool... Must focus. Flip to review section. And yes! There it is! The review is in the Young Adult fiction section by Michael Jones. It's the very first review on the page, and there's a picture of the cover art right up at the top!

I'll tell you what it says in the next blog entry... (It's only fair. I had to wait. :) ) Oh, who am I kidding, I'll post it right now, but in a separate entry so I can link to it from the Reviews page of my website.

Obscure Fairy Tale: Godfather Variants

A couple weeks ago, Sam Enthoven (fellow Razorbillian and author of the super-cool book THE BLACK TATTOO) mentioned to me that he liked the obscure fairy tale "Godfather Death," especially the bit about the cabbage heads. I replied, "Oh, yeah, that part was great," and then went to look in my Grimm's book to see what the heck he was talking about.

I didn't find any cabbage heads. Or lettuce either, for that matter.

So I went online and discovered that there are multiple versions of the Godfather Death story out there. In fact, they are classified as type 332 in the Aarne-Thompson folktale classification system. The variant that Sam was referring to was also collected by the Brothers Grimm. And it's much cooler than the version I knew. Or at least much randomer. (Before you ask, "randomer" is a perfectly cromulent word.) So, thanks, Sam, for introducing me to the cabbage variant!

In care you're curious, here are my thoughts while reading these two versions of type 332:

Godfather Death (from the Brothers Grimm) -- the non-cabbage variant

A man walks down a road to search for a godfather for his thirteenth child.

Why is he taking a leisurely stroll when he has thirteen kids? Doesn't he have things to do? Or by number thirteen, do you just let the kids fend for themselves like baby sea turtles?

He meets God, who offers to be the child's godfather, and the man rejects him. He meets Satan and rejects him as well.

Picky, isn't he?

Lastly, he meets Death and says, "You are fair to all. You take rich and poor alike. The baptism is Sunday. Be on time."

And pushy. Really, if I met Death, I'm not sure I'd boss him around. For one thing, he's holding a scythe. Scythes are big. And sharp. For another... the guy sort of defines having life-and-death power.

Scythes are big and sharp.

Death becomes the boy's godfather, and when the boy grows into a man, Death visits him and says, "You will become a famous doctor. If you see me standing at the foot of the bed of an ill patient, you will be able to cure him. If you see me standing at the head of the bed of an ill patient, you must let the patient die."

FYI, I may have that foot/head thing backwards. I'm typing this from memory. Feel free to look it up yourself if you really must know.

So Death's godson becomes a famous doctor, healing many and pronouncing others uncurable. One day, the king's daughter becomes ill. The godson is summoned, and he sees that Death is standing at the head of her bed. But she is so beautiful that he cures her anyway.

Gotta admit: I kind of sympathize with the godson here. He has to be under a bit of pressure. I can't see the king saying, "Oh, yes, of course my daughter must die because you see some shadowy hallucination standing on the wrong side of her bed." He's much more likely to say, "You know I have a dungeon, right? And did you notice the soldiers? Yeah, those guys with the pointy sticks -- they work for me."

The princess is cured, but Death is angry. He takes his godson to an underground cavern where there are hundreds of thousands of candles burning. "Each person has a candle," Death says. "When the candle goes out, that person dies." The godson asks to see his own life light.

Now I can understand the curiosity, but I question his timing. Death is obviously not a happy camper. Do you really want to draw Death's attention to your own candle when he's feeling grumpy?

Death shows him a candle that is a tiny stump. The godson begs him to light a new candle for him. Death pretends that he is going to grant this wish, but instead of lighting a new candle, he knocks the little stump of a candle onto the floor.

This just seems mean and rather petty. Couldn't Death have simply said "no"? Or cackle maniacally and then snuff out the candle? Why the cruel charade?

The light is extinguished, and the godson drops dead.

And they all lived happily ever after...


The Godfather (from the Brothers Grimm) -- the cabbage variant

A man walks down a road and asks the first stranger he meets to be the godfather to his thirteenth child. The stranger agrees. When the thirteenth child is old enough, his godfather gives him a vial of water and says that he can heal the sick with it, but he must always look to see where Death is standing. If he's by the head of the bed, the patient can be saved. If he's by the foot, the patient will die.

One might think that at this point, the godson would be a wee bit curious as to the identity of his godfather.

He becomes a famous and rich doctor. One day, the king's child becomes ill. The godson is summoned, sees death by the head of the bed, and saves the child. Sometime later, the child becomes ill again. Again, the godson saves her. The third time, Death is standing by the foot of the bed, and the child dies. After this, the godson goes to his godfather's house to tell him what happened.

Personally, I think he should ask what's in the water.

On the first floor, he finds a dustpan and broom fighting with each other. He asks them, "Where can I find my godfather?" The broom says, "Upstairs."

Note that he is not troubled by or curious about the fact that inanimate objects are beating each other up. And, you know, TALKING.

On the second floor, he finds a heap of dead fingers. He asks them, "Where can I find my godfather?" A finger says, "Upstairs."

I suppose I should admire how goal-oriented and focused the godson is. Nothing distracts him from his mission.

On the third floor, he finds a heap of men's heads. On the fourth, he finds fish cooking themselves. On the fifth, he finds a door to a room, peeks through the keyhole, and sees his godfather sporting a pair of long horns. When the godson enters the room, the godfather covers his horns.

Brave or stupid? You decide.

The godson says, "Sir, you have a strange house."

Understatement of the year.

He mentions the dustpan and broom, and the godfather says, "You idiot, that was the servant-boy and maid." He mentions the dead fingers, and the godfather says, "You moron, those were roots." He mentions the dead men's heads, and the godfather says, "Imbecile, those were heads of cabbage."

Ah-ha! The cabbage!

He mentions the fish leaping into the pan and cooking themselves... As he says this, the fish enter the room and serve themselves on platters.

Cool. I want food that does that.

The godson then says, "When I reached the fifth floor, I peeked through the keyhole and saw you with long horns." And his godfather says, "Oh, that's not true." Frightened, the godson ran out of the house.

Frightened of what? The talking dead fingers and heads didn't faze him, but his godfather saying "no"... There has to be something missing here. I'm thinking that his godfather suddenly revealed vampire fangs or a pitchfork or... I don't know, his collection of bottlecaps... The story ends on this line (and I'm going to quote directly here):

If he had not done so, who knows what the godfather would have done to him?

And they all lived happily... Well, who really knows? As the story says, there's just not enough information to guess. The godfather seems to me to be a reasonably pleasant fellow. Strange house perhaps, and the horns are an interesting fashion statement, but he never actually threatened the godson. In fact, he served him a lovely fish dinner. Plus the godfather can't be all bad. After all, he was the one really responsible for saving all those people that the godson gave the magic water to -- which, I should point out, the godson totally took credit for. I think the godson is an ungrateful brat who has a bizarre delayed reaction to events in his life. (Seriously, I would have run out of the house at the sight of the dead fingers. I like to think I would have lasted through the dustpan and broom...)

I'm not scared of sentient cleaning supples.

I'd love to hear what you guys think happened that made the godson run out of the house...

If you'd like to check out other obscure tales (unfortunately not involving cabbages), here are links to: The Tinderbox, The Princess in the Chest, The Juniper Tree, Molly Whuppie, Tatterhood, Jack My Hedgehog, or The Wishing Table.

NYPL Reading

Two very cool things to report:

1) I just found out that I will be doing a reading at the Tompkins Square Branch of the New York Public Library on July 11, 2007. (Yes, yes, I know it's ages away. I promise I'll announce events again closer to their actual dates.) It will be part of a Teen Author Reading Night, hosted by Scholastic editor and YA author David Levithan.

David announced the roster for upcoming readings at last night's Teen Author Reading Night. I was so excited to hear my name mentioned that I kind of forgot to listen to the other names for that night. (Yeah, I'm a doofus.) I believe Sarah Mlynowski (author of Bras and Broomsticks) will be reading that night as well, and I think Robyn Schneider (author of Better Than Yesterday) too. I'll add all the names to my Appearances page once I'm certain.

These events are flush with MG/YA authors. At last night's event, there were 7-8 authors (including fellow 2k7er Cassandra Clare) reading -- all of whom were fabulous -- and at least that many of us in the audience. We filled up almost an entire row. (I'm happy to report that John Green is out of the hospital and says he's fine and that Maureen Johnson carries her FREE MONKEY with her everywhere.) Anyway, if you'd like to see MG/YA authors in their natural habitat (a.k.a. a library), I definitely recommend attending one of these.

2) The second cool thing to report is that someone somewhere makes caution cones that talk. I discovered this in Penn Station last night. I walked in the door, headed for the escalator, passed an ordinary-looking caution cone like the one pictured below.

I swear it talked to me.

And the caution cone said to me, "Warning! Floor may be wet! Proceed with caution!"

I thought this was very nice of it. I like it when inanimate objects look out for my safety. I proceeded with caution, feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.

Oh, sidenote here: the company that makes the cones pictured above is called "Unicorn Chemicals." This name amuses me nearly as much as the talking caution cone itself. I keep picturing a laboratory filled with unicorns in lab coats...

Google Images has failed to supply me with a photo of a unicorn in a lab coat, so I'll have to leave you with my favorite insane unicorn picture.

Don't let this unicorn in your lab.

Review and Some Awkward Segues

This past week, I got a lovely review for INTO THE WILD from Jen Robinson (kidlit blogger, online reviewer, and 2006 Cybils judge) on her site, Jen Robinson's Book Page. Here's my favorite bit:

"What I like best about the book is the way Julie is a real 12-year-old girl, albeit living in unusual circumstances. She isn't some sort of idealized fairy tale princess... But she's loyal to her family and to her best friend, and she's capable of making huge personal sacrifice for people she loves."

Yay for Julie!

Click here to read the full review.

On an unrelated note (or more accurately, a note that's only related because it involves my book)... The February issue of Publisher's Weekly includes a listing of spring/summer children's book titles, and INTO THE WILD is in there! I know, I know, that's not really news, especially since it's been online for a while. But I just picked up a copy of the magazine yesterday, and even though I'm well aware that the book is coming out this summer, and even though I'd already seen the PW listing online, seeing it there in print was something totally different. Wow. Very wow. Part of me still doesn't believe this is really happening.

This issue also included listings for many of my fellow 2k7ers, which was also cool to see. (If you're wondering what the heck a 2k7er is, click here.)

On a note that's only related because I mentioned 2k7... The next issue of the Class of 2k7 e-zine is coming out on April 15th. If you haven't signed up yet, click here to subscribe. It will be full of lots of cool info about a pack of cool and kooky debut authors (including yours truly).

On a note that's only related because I mentioned "kooky"... Mary Poppins is a lot scarier than I ever knew. Click here to see the movie trailer for Scary Mary Poppins.