The Best Present Ever

Every September, I embark on a grand quest to find a birthday present for my brother John that could win the title of Best Present My Brother Has Ever Gotten. Current record holder (purchased by our mother) has held the title for the last twenty-one years.

It was a box of cereal.

Specifically, it was the sugariest cereal ever sold (or at least that our local grocery store sold). We had a strict no-sugar-as-the-first-ingredient policy in our house, and this gift skyrocketed to the number one spot with ease.

For twenty-one years, no one has beaten the sugar cereal. Until now. (I dare to hope.)

I had dedicated Drink, Slay, Love to John. (Drink, Slay, Love is my latest novel. It's about vampires and were-unicorns.) So for this year, since his actual birthday was the same week as my book birthday, I sent him a signed copy of Drink, Slay, Love, as well as a plush vampire doll that makes slurping sounds when you press it against someone's neck...


... and also a can of unicorn meat that has a dismembered unicorn doll inside.


I am crossing my fingers that this entry FINALLY beats the cereal. But I'm having second thoughts. Perhaps I should have also tossed in a set of Uni-Corn-on-the-Cob holders:


Or a taxidermy unicorn:


Or perhaps an Edward Cullen manllow (half-man, half-pillow -- it watches you while you sleep):


Or maybe what I REALLY should have given him is this:


What's the best birthday gift you've ever gotten/given?

Drink, Slay, Love Author Video

Look! Me! Talking! *flails arms like muppet*

Earlier this summer, I visited the Simon & Schuster offices in NYC to film an author video about Drink, Slay, Love. And now it's done! Check it out!



So... what do you think??? How did I do? Did you notice that I'm wearing a unicorn necklace?

Every year, my husband buys me jewelry to match the theme of my next novel. For Drink, Slay, Love, he found these necklaces:


I went with the unicorn. It seemed just a wee bit more subtle.

6 days until DRINK, SLAY, LOVE!

Publishers Weekly Review for DRINK, SLAY, LOVE

Yesterday, I got the loveliest present!!!

No, it was not a winged pony.

And no, not my own pet unicorn. Close, though.

Hmm, no, it wasn't a pet unicorn for my cat. She already has one.


Another guess? Did you say "a lovely review from Publishers Weekly for DRINK, SLAY, LOVE"? If so, you're correct!!! Congratulations, you are a skilled mind-reader. Or else you read the title of this blog post. Either way, check this out...

DRINK, SLAY, LOVE
Sarah Beth Durst
S&S/McElderry, $16.99 (400p) ISBN 978-1-4424-2373-2

Having her way with the conventions of the genre, Durst (Enchanted Ivy) crafts a fresh, modern, and humorous twist on the vampire novel. At 16, Pearl adores life as a vampire; everything humans have to offer, from their cars to their blood, is hers for the taking. Out prowling one night, Pearl is staked by a unicorn, discovering soon after that she has a reflection and can bask in the sunlight. Sensing opportunity, Pearl's family sends her to high school so she can line up students as the main course for an important party, but Pearl develops a conscience and -- caught between her friends, family, and that pesky, sparkly unicorn -- tries to find the least bloody way out. Durst's snappy dialogue and vivid prose are entertaining (in the cafeteria, "The noise was nearly deafening, as if several flocks of seagulls were fighting over a whale carcass. It also smelled not unlike a whale carcass"), and the straightforward plot moves at a good clip, scattering enough clues to heighten anticipation without spoiling the fun. Lively characters and a sweet romance are icing on the cake. Ages 14–up. (Sept.)

-- Publishers Weekly

Nebula Awards Weekend 2010

I'm writing this in the airport en route home from Nebula Awards Weekend, held this year in Cocoa Beach, Florida. My novel ICE was nominated for SFWA's Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy.

You want to know the best part of being nominated for an award from SFWA (the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America)?

Free unicorn.

Once you arrive at the event, you are spirited away to a secret room, which you must access by aligning a series of steampunk-esque locks. You are then asked a series of questions, ranging from "What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?" to "Would you like jam tomorrow or jam yesterday?" If you answer correctly, you may proceed. If you fail, you are dropped into the Pit of Eternal Stench (or the Great Pit of Carkoon on Tatooine, depending on your preference, which you stated during the registration process, along with your beef, fish, or veggie choice for the banquet). If you succeed, you are presented with your unicorn.

As I write this, mine is attempting to bust his way out of my carry-on luggage. I'm hoping my unicorn will fit under the seat in front of me. If he doesn't... well, I don't relish the idea of explaining to the flight attendant why the overhead bin is full of unicorn poop.

Okay, okay, there was no secret room or unicorn-as-swag. But there was a space shuttle launch, which is as awesome as a unicorn. (In fact, I think that should be NASA's new motto: "Space, as awesome as unicorns.") The awards weekend (aka the Nebs) was planned to coincide with the third-to-last space shuttle launch, the final flight of the shuttle Atlantis. Launches are visible from Cocoa Beach.

I nearly missed the launch due to the tremendous traffic -- everyone else in the state of Florida was also attempting to drive to the coast to see the launch. But I arrived at the hotel ten minutes before launch, dropped my suitcase at the front desk, and booked it out to the beach.

Lots of people were already there. All of them were standing (as if that would bring you closer to the shuttle than sitting) and looking north. Kind of looked like everyone was waiting for an alien invasion.

At precisely 2:20, I saw a fat firecracker rise above the palm trees and hotels to the north. I was pretty sure it wasn't the shuttle because I thought that the water tanks in the distance were the launch pads. (Not so much.) Also, I'd expected applause or a collective "oooh" from the watchers. (Everyone was busy taking photos.) But I figured out reasonably quickly that fireworks aren't that fat. This was a long fat orange flame followed by billowing white smoke.

The Launch

It looked like the orange fire was giving birth to a huge cloud snake. After a while, the snake ended, but you could still see the shuttle as a white dot. Eventually, it vanished, and the snake slowly coiled in on itself and drifted away.

Really magical.

Cloud Snake

Before the launch, I'd noticed a group of people near me were wearing SFWA Nebula Awards Weekend name tags. I was too shy to say hello at first, but I reminded myself that I'd earned my unicorn (so to speak) and introduced myself. I spent the remainder of the weekend in pretty much constant conversation.

Really, the best part of the Nebs is talking to all the people. The science fiction and fantasy community is filled with some of the nicest, friendliest, smartest, funniest, and most interesting people that I've ever met. *waves at everyone*

Each evening had a great event. On Friday night, there was the mass book signing, followed by the ceremony to honor the nominees. For the book signing, I was seated between Allen Steele and Peter J. Heck. (Does anyone have the photo of me at the signing with Allen in which he is wearing glow-in-the-dark vampire fangs, courtesy of Lucienne Diver?)

For the ceremony, the nominees were called on stage by Russell Davis (current SFWA president) and given a special pin and certificate by Neal Barrett, Jr. (this year's author emeritus).

Later that night, I discovered that if you press the pin and spin around, it will open a portal to another dimension.

Totally kidding. The portal goes to Schenectady.

The Pin

On Saturday night, there was the Awards Banquet. Honestly, I wasn't the slightest bit nervous until I walked into that banquet hall. Once I was inside, I promptly started imagining that either (A) I'd win and forget to thank my husband, who is the heart and soul of everything I do, and then have to spend the next several decades trying to win something again so that I could have a do-over, or (B) my dress would inexplicably fall off.

Which reminds me... the DRESS. As is now a tradition, here is the requisite slightly-tilted self-portrait of me in a purdy dress:

The Dress

I even wore makeup for the occasion (which is shocking considering that I can count on one hand the number of times that I've worn makeup).

Also wore my polar bear necklace.

Best dressed for the night goes to Mary Robinette Kowal who wore an Oscar red-carpet-worthy gown, James Marrow who wore Godzilla slippers, and Bud Sparhawk who wore all his Nebula pins as buttons on his tux.

The event itself was extremely cool. Lots of wonderful speeches. Catherynne Valente, who won the Andre Norton Award, gave a particularly lovely speech about how this book was like a fairy tale, saving her at a time when she needed saving, but how she never expected a glass slipper at the end of it. Connie Willis gave a very funny and sweet introduction to Joe Haldeman, the Grand Master. David Levine showed fantastic photos of his two weeks inside a Mars simulation. And Allen Steele kept everything moving as toastmaster.

The Banquet

But my favorite moment (other than when Tom Doyle announced the nominees for the Andre Norton Award -- totally felt like the Oscars!!!) was when Eugie Foster won for novelette. She and her husband Matthew were sitting next to me for the banquet, and the absolute stunned joy on her face when her name was called... and the look of love and pride on her husband's face... I totally got tears in my eyes. The two of them were radiating joy.

Eugie and Matthew Foster

My favorite line of the night was after the banquet, after Paolo Bacigalupi had won the Nebula for Best Novel, he said, "I'm embarrassed to be this happy." Like Eugie, he was radiating happiness. He was even still smiling the next morning, despite total lack of sleep.

My favorite non-awards-related time of the convention was drinking pina coladas at the outside bar with Laura Anne Gilman with a view of the ocean in front of us and a very stubborn yellow butterfly behind us.

And my favorite totally unrelated to SFWA or the Nebulas moments were my two morning walks down this beach:

The Beach

Lastly, my favorite take-away from the event... I came away from the weekend feeling inspired to write, write, write! So thank you, SFWA. You're all awesome. And the unicorn is great too.

ARCs for ICE, and Librarians too

Got the loveliest present from my editor:


It's an ARC of ICE!!! An ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) is basically a paperback mockup of what the final hardcover will look like. It's not quite a finished copy since it's printed from the pre-proofread text and still contains typos and such. But that said, it looks like a book, it feels like a book, it smells like a book (don't judge me...), and I am just amazingly thrilled to be able to hold this almost-finished version of ICE in my hands.


In my totally unbiased opinion, I think the final hardcover will be more beautiful than a rainbow at sunrise over the ocean with playful unicorns frolicking in the waves. [Scientist-husband points out that you can't see a rainbow and a sunrise together since the sun needs to be behind you to produce a rainbow. He apparently has no problem with the unicorn part though.] Seriously. Lots of unicorns. Frolicking. Look here at the spine:


I have been petting it and cooing at it as if it were a new kitten ever since it arrived. I think I'm in love...

In other news, I'll be spending a large part of this week surrounded by librarians! This Wednesday, I'm speaking at the Massachusetts Library Association Conference in Springfield, MA. And on Thursday I'm speaking at the Long Island Library Conference in Woodbury, NY. The title of my talk: "The Importance of Talking Cats: YA and Children's Fantasy." Hee hee! I'm so excited.

Faerie Mafia

A note of caution for my dear readers: Please learn from my mistakes. Never double-cross the faerie mafia! You might wake up to find this in your bed...

Recent Reads: Coville, Landy, Kenner

Read some great books lately that I wanted to share with you guys...

DARK WHISPERS by Bruce Coville

Third book in the Unicorn Chronicles. Lovely and magical and awesome. Worth the wait. Cara continues her adventures in Luster, the world of the unicorns... These books are for every girl who has (or had) a unicorn poster in her bedroom. Really, they are the quintessential unicorn books. Classics.

PLAYING WITH FIRE by Derek Landy

Sequel to Skullduggery Pleasant, involving a kick-butt girl heroine and a skeletal detective (who's the good guy, despite the whole freaky skull-for-a-face thing). Lots of fights. Lots of magic. Lots of deadpan humor. Don't read this while drinking milk or you will spray milk out of your nose.

DEJA DEMON by Julie Kenner

Latest installment in the adventures of a demon-hunting soccer mom. If you have kids and like Buffy, you must read this series. Must. Read. They're exciting and fun and hilarious and romantic. But more importantly, they're empowering. I find myself thinking, "If Kate can pull off a dinner party while juggling two kids and a demon apocalypse, then surely I can get through today..." Okay, so a zombie hand did crawl through the dining room during her dinner, but still...

Happy reading!

Best Birthday Present Ever

12:00am: Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear me, happy birthday to me! I am now 33 years old (which is, my husband points out, a third of the way to 99). I think that's a lovely number. It's so symmetrical. And it is the year in which my dream will come true... in a little less than one month, INTO THE WILD hits the shelves! Eeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

12:30am: As my first birthday present, we are going to sleep before 2am. It's been a long, long time since I've gone to sleep before 2am. We always have way more to do (emails to send, chapters to revise, errands to run, work to do, laundry to ignore, etc.) that can fit into a normal waking day. I have never been so busy in my entire life. Never.

8:00am: It's my birthday morning! Yay! My husband gave me one of my book jackets, framed. I cannot begin to describe the awesomeness that is my husband. Check it out:

Gift from Husband

8:30am: Still staring at the framed book jacket.

8:44am: It's soooooo pretty. The silver frame matches the shiny silver stripe.

8:53am: I like shiny.

8:54am to 11:45am: Incessant checking of emails (otherwise known as "my day job").

11:45am: Husband calls to invite me to lunch. I agree to leave home in two minutes. Suddenly have brainstorm for how to fix a fussy paragraph in chapter fourteen of Super Secret Book Two (not its real title). Type out the new paragraph, put on my shoes, check my email again, tell my day job that I'm going out to lunch, fix a sentence in chapter eight, and head out the door.

11:47am: Drive to lunch.

12:00pm: Cheesesteaks are greasy.

12:30pm: 33-year-olds shouldn't eat cheesesteaks.

12:35pm: 33-year-olds REALLY shouldn't eat cheesesteaks.

1:00pm: Swing by super-special comfy shoe store to look for super-special comfy shoes to wear at Book Expo America. (My publisher is sending me to BEA next week -- yay! Since it's my first time at BEA, I've been asking everyone I've met what to expect and how to make the most of it. They all say, "Wear comfortable shoes." And then they get this really serious expression on their face, take a deep breath, and say, "And bring a big bag. No, I mean a BIG bag. There are FREE BOOKS there. Bring a BIG BAG." Anyway, I think I'm going to bring my Class of 2k7 tote bag, but I don't know about the shoes.)

1:07pm: Found the perfect shoes! (This is a rather big deal for me. I am a horrible shoe shopper. I own one pair of sneakers, one pair of boots, one pair of black shoes, and one pair of white shoes that I wore at my wedding nine years ago.)

1:10pm: Discover they don't have my size. Leave in sadness.

1:20pm: Return home. As I'm walking in my front door, the FedEx truck pulls up. He (the FedEx guy, not the truck itself) is holding a book-sized package. It's addressed to me. The return address is Razorbill. MY BOOK IS INSIDE. The very first hardcover copy of INTO THE WILD that I will ever see is inside this package. I know it is. I can feel it. I can practically smell it. I won't try to taste it because that would be weird.

1:21pm: Place package with book on chair. Step away slowly.

1:23pm: Resume checking email. Why haven't any of my MySpace friends wished me a happy birthday? Don't they love me? I thought we had such deep, meaningful relationships. I'm crushed.

1:24pm: I think the package is looking at me... It's whispering, "Open me, open me, open me!" But I won't. I'm waiting for my husband to come home at 6pm. I can wait until 6pm.

It whispers, "Open me!"

1:33pm: Discover site selling the perfect shoes online. Order them. Huzzah! Internet victory!

1:34pm: Is it 6pm yet?

5:16pm: I'm being very, very strong. I hope husband appreciates my self-restraint. Package is still whispering seductively.

5:17pm: Almost 6pm. I can't believe my actual, real, live (okay, maybe not live, but real) book is sitting right over there in that envelope. At least I think it's my book. What if it's not? What if they accidentally sent someone else's book? What if it's someone else's book dressed up as my book?

5:20pm: If I had the sun set in chapter thirteen, shouldn't it be darker in chapter fourteen? Must fix. Also, what's the past tense of "weave"? Is it "wove" or "weaved"? What if something went horribly wrong after copyedits and all punctuation has been changed to question marks? What if every instance of the letter "a" has been changed to letter "e"?

5:58pm: Almost 6pm!!!

6:00pm: I hear the key in the door! Wow, he's punctual.

6:03pm: Open package.

Okay, I thought my morning present was my bestest present ever. But this... this is the bestest of all bestests. (Yes, "bestest" is a perfectly cromulent word.) Look! Just look!

My very first finished copy of INTO THE WILD!

6:10pm: Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's real, it's real, it's really really real!

Love at first sight!

6:23pm: Snoopy Dance of Joy!!!!!

Ooh, and the coolest part: the book itself is PURPLE. How awesome is that. And if you remove the cover... Most people will probably never see this because most people don't remove the covers of books, but if you do... I squealed. I totally squealed. Boots is on the spine! So cool!!! And he and the writing on the spine are a shiny silver. Shiny! Silver! Boots with his boots and spurs!

Secret Kitty!

11:00pm: I reminisce. Last year for my birthday (well, the day before), I got The Call from my agent, the first offer to publish INTO THE WILD. This year for my birthday, I am holding the actual book. Wow.

11:13pm: How will next year's birthday ever measure up? Clearly, if this trend continues, next year I'm getting a unicorn. Better start working on that stable...

11:29pm: Or maybe all my good birthday karma is used up now. Yep, next year I'm getting a zombie. Better start working on that moat...

Unicorns vs. Zombies

As an avid blog reader and semi-professional procrastinator, I have been following with great interest the unicorn versus zombie debate between Justine Larbalestier and Holly Black. I admit that I have a pro-unicorn bias, but I thought perhaps before choosing sides, I should consult some experts on the subject. So for the first time ever on this blog, I have invited two guests for an interview. Please join me in welcoming Marvin and Fred.

Me: Welcome to Sarah's Journal! Marvin, please tell our readers about yourself.

Marvin: Hi, everyone. My name is Marvin, and I am a unicorn, as you can tell by my single horn and overwhelmingly radiant beauty.

Me: Thanks for com... Ugh, what is that smell?

Marvin: That would be the undead creature that you invited, Fred the Zombie. I smell like sunshine and primroses.

Me: Does sunshine have a smell?

Marvin: Sniff me. Go on. Take a big whiff.

Me: Marvin, please move your tail elsewhere. Marvin, please! Personal space! Now, Fred, please introduce yourself.

Fred: Mhnguuuuuuh...

Me: Fred, um, I hate to say this, but I think your eyeball might be... Yes, it's fallen out. There. On the floor.

Fred: Unnnnghaaaa...

Me: You're welcome. Marvin, let's start with your preference for virgins...

Marvin: It's a myth.

Me: Really? It's a rather common...

Marvin: Did I come here and criticize your dating preferences? Noooo. So don't judge me. Besides, at least I don't eat my virgins, unlike some people we know.

Me: Fair enough. Fred, it's been said that zombies eat people...

Fred: Yummmmmmmm...

Me: That was NOT an invitation.

Fred: Arrrrrrr... Mrrrrr?

Me: Fred, put down the cat. I'm not kidding. Cat. Down.

Marvin: Unicorns don't eat cats.

Me: But you do battle lions.

Marvin: One unicorn. One lion. And it wasn't me. He was my great-great-uncle once-removed.

Me: Wow, do you have any other famous relatives?

Marvin: My brother recently starred in the movie version of THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE, and my sister-in-law... [mumble, mumble]

Me: What was that, Marvin?

Marvin: My sister-in-law was the, um... Look, we're not proud of this, but she was the model for the My Little Pony unicorn. Hey, you aren't just asking this so you can search Google Images for embarrassing family photos, are you?


Me: Maybe we should change the topic. Marvin, what would you say are your best qualities?

Marvin: Healing power. Poison detection. Supreme beauty, representative of all that is wonderous in the human spirit.

Me: Fred?

Fred: Ghurrrr, murph, uggggghhhhhh...


Me: Well, there you have it, folks. Straight from the experts. Now it's your turn to weigh in. Come on, everybody's doing it. Unicorns or zombies? Which do you prefer?