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!

Dreaming of My Pub Date

I think I may be a little anxious about my upcoming release date.

Last night, I dreamed that it was June 21 (the pub date for INTO THE WILD, exactly one month from today!). My family and I were celebrating at home with a box of my books. We took a book out, admired it, and smiled happily at each other.

And then the zombies came.


Their skin was blue-green, and they had bits of kelp-like goo dripping off their bodies. Moaning, they shambled up the street.

We didn't panic. We knew just what to do. We took out machetes and ran to the backyard, where we chopped down brambles. We set the brambles up in an impenetrable barrier in front of our house (taking care not to block the fire hydrant). Once the barrier was in place, we fetched shovels, dug a moat around the house, and filled it with alligators. We then went back inside, boarded up all the windows, made ourselves some baked beans*, and again took out a copy of my book to admire.

* In every apocalyptic novel I've ever read, the characters always eat baked beans. I don't know why. We've never actually made baked beans. We don't even own any cans of baked beans. For the record, we also don't own any alligators.

Anyone want to analyze my dream?

On an unrelated note... (okay, maybe really loosely related since Holly was involved in the great zombies versus unicorns debate), this Sunday I attended a reading by Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Lisa Ann Sandell, and Ysabeau Wilce at fabulous Books of Wonder in NYC. Enjoyed all four excerpts immensely. (Also enjoyed daydreaming about my reading there on June 23!) Had fun talking with Peter Glassman, Barry Goldblatt, and others while the four authors signed about a bajillion books. Afterwards, I joined Holly, Cassie, Theo, and others for a late lunch in a nearby park. Note to self: if weather report says "scattered thunderstorms," bring an umbrella. Or don't eat outside...

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?