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!

Drink, Slay, Love

I have BIG news!

You know that Top Sekrit Project that I've been talking about? Well, it's not top secret anymore! Here's the announcement in Publishers Marketplace:

Children's: Young Adult
Sarah Beth Durst's DRINK, SLAY, LOVE, about a vampire girl who develops a conscience after she is stabbed through the heart by a unicorn's horn, to Karen Wojtyla at Margaret K. McElderry Books, in a two-book deal, by Andrea Somberg at Harvey Klinger (world).

Words cannot express how excited I am about this. So I shall resort to sounds:

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!

I have had the best time writing this book. Seriously, it has been so much fun that I have felt secretly guilty for enjoying the process so much.

Most of that is due to Pearl, my vampire girl. She's kick-ass. And, you know, mostly evil. I love her. I wouldn't ever want to meet her in a dark alley, but I love her.

I also love my unicorns. These are not your run-of-the-mill fluffy My Little Pony unicorns. These are were-unicorns who slay vampires (because who better to hunt vampires than someone with a built-in stake).

So. Much. Fun. To. Write.

And I am so thrilled to finally be able to tell you about it. I have been sitting on this news for a while, but now it's official!

DRINK, SLAY, LOVE will be out from Simon & Schuster in fall 2011, followed by an untitled second book in fall 2012. I am sooooo happy that I get to continue working with my wonderful editor, Karen Wojtyla, on these books. And I am sooooo grateful to my amazing agent, Andrea Somberg, for putting this deal together.

I shall now commence the Snoopy Dance of Joy!