So, how was YOUR hair in high school?

It was a very casual retreat — no planned team-building or trust exercises, no organized activities, just conversation around a roaring fire (Thanks, Erin!), some good food, and lots of Diet Coke.

I recall when the idea for a retreat first came up, it was part of a conversation on Twitter wondering if they made the clients of an agency feel like a clique, and I have to say that, having been part of a successful retreat now, I think it’s about bonding, sure, but not to exclusion of others, as a clique would be. In addition, my authors couldn’t be more excited now to support each other, and that’s the best benefit to come out of the weekend.

I’m already looking forward to planning the next one, for 2012! Where will it be? And will YOU be there? Maybe!

The Whole Gang, from left: Julia Karr, Kate Testerman, Erin Danehy, Ellen Booraem, Rebecca Petruck, Sara Beitia, Kiki Hamilton, Carrie Harris, Kater Cheek, Amy Spalding, and Josie Bloss

When 17-year-old Dylan Mahoney naively engages in “sexting,” she becomes an Internet phenomenon and a social pariah. Isolated from her friends and family, she retreats into the blogosphere, where she happens upon an online community of home-schooled teenage girls who write about their conservative Christian faith and document the blissful domesticity of their lives. Against her better judgment, she joins this community under false pretenses and develops a special friendship with a blogger named Abigail. The extraordinary set of events that ensue are at once outlandish and absolutely believable, thanks to Bloss’s compelling, down-to-earth prose. Conservative Christian characters who could easily be caricatured are multi-dimensional and complicated, and the lessons Dylan learns through her experiences with them are equally nuanced. Bloss somehow manages utter frankness and great generosity in her portrayal not only of Christian separatists, but also of typical modern families such as Dylan’s. Rather than promoting or demonizing any lifestyle, the novel illustrates how profoundly teenagers who seem to have nothing in common can connect and support each other, even as they choose very different paths.

Hooray! This is a truly exceptional novel, and I’m thrilled that PW picked up on the careful nuances of it.

There’s also more news for The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson! Another fun fan trailer, plus a great review from the Horn Book (UPDATE: It’s their Online Review of the Week!):

Upon arriving in London from Louisiana for the school year, high-school senior Rory is told that someone “pulled a Jack the Ripper” the night before. She assumes the phrase is some quaint British colloquialism she has yet to learn, not an actual reference to a gruesome murder committed on the same date—August 31—and in the same location. The smart, breezy, self-deprecating narration and textured boarding school atmosphere provide easy entrance to this increasingly eerie murder mystery in which the only sure thing is the schedule—Jack’s. On September 8, the anniversary of the Ripper’s second strike, police find another body near Wexford, Rory’s school. Johnson raises the stakes even further after Rory has a near-death experience, starts seeing people her classmates don’t, and falls in with a ragtag undercover group investigating the possibility that the murders have a paranormal explanation. Suspenseful and utterly absorbing, this first book in the Shades of London series will leave readers glad that Johnson, like her copycat killer, plans to return to the scene of the crime.

And that’s not all! We just learned this morning that Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris has been nominated and is in consideration for the Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers 2012 list! Woot!

What’s going on in your lives? Any good news to share? Let’s celebrate in the comments!

Kate Grable is a scientific genius who helps train the school’s football team. When she discovers suspicious vials in the coach’s office, she assumes that he is trying to improve the team’s performance with steroids. Then members of the team develop mysterious, violent symptoms–one of them even bites Kate–and she learns that the coach has been giving them injections of a zombie virus that spreads mainly through being bitten. She soon falls prey to the infected, which become extraordinarily violent, yet humorous, as fingers and feet start to fall off the victims as the disease runs its course. Being an epileptic, she soon discovers that the only cure for the virus is her own medicine. With the help of her longtime crush and goofy brother and his pseudo-sword, Kate manages to restore order. Teens will admire how Kate uses her brains to win the hearts of her male classmates. The plot moves along quickly, making readers feel as if they were watching an actual zombie movie. The short chapters are filled with light humor along with a silly, gory edge that will make readers laugh, rather than cringe.

Speaking of contests, I announced another one on Twitter last night, though it’s a slightly more personal one: using this image as your base (also available without the background), have some fun photoshopping Beau. The hashtag is #photoshoppingBeau. The best one, by my and Rexroth’s sole judgment, wins a fabulous prize. Do YOU have mad photoshop skillz? Show ‘em off!

The wonderful thing about cons, though, is how many of them there are! If you love comics, there’s Comic Con, in both New York and San Diego. Leaky Con has you covered if you’re a Harry Potter fan. Love RPGs? Try Gen Con. Video games? E3. All things nerd? You gotta go to PAX. And while those are the ones I can think of off the top of my nerd-head, I have no doubt there’s tons more. Knitting conventions. Spinning conventions. Cooking conventions. Car conventions. Doll collecting conventions. If you’re a nerd for something (and everyone’s a nerd for something), there’s probably a convention for you.

So, in honor of Comic-Con, and my new Twitter followers who brought me up to 5,000 last night, a little contest: you tell me about the nerdiest convention you’ve ever been to (and if you haven’t been to one, make up a story!), and I’ll pick a random commenter to win a copy of Bad Taste in Boys by Carrie Harris AND a kt literary tote bag. Because, if you’ve ever been to a convention, you know some of the best swag are the bags themselves.

Ahoy!

So there’s that.

But wait! There’s more!

To celebrate the release of Bad Taste in Boys, Carrie is hosting a HUGE auction to benefit the Giving Library at the University of Michigan C. S. Mott Children’s Hospital! Seriously, check out some of these cool items up for bid. There’s something for everyone who likes books and/or zombies. And if you’re a writer, there’s an opportunity to win some fabulous critiques, like, say, this one.

You should go bid. Raise some money for a good cause. Support people who write books about zombies.

A geeky girl gets the guy in this comic romp through a high school infested with zombies.

Kate, who owns underpants printed with “I heart Science,” desperately wants to become a doctor, and she’s the student medical assistant for her school’s perpetually losing football team. She develops dark suspicions when she sees unmarked drug vials in the coach’s office, especially when Coach injects the players with his mystery medication. In short order, Mike, one of the players, apparently dies but lurches to life again and bites a chunk out of Kate’s lip. Harris draws on a wealth of zombie clichés as Kate watches the infection spread rapidly. Worse, the now-zombie coach attacks her even after his foot falls off, and her annoying but loyal little brother shows unmistakable zombie symptoms. But why hasn’t Kate succumbed? Can she find a cure? Meanwhile, Aaron, her secret heartthrob, confesses his love because of her brains (although Mike would like to eat Kate’s brains). But can the mad science teacher derail Kate’s medical-school dreams? And can Kate get the local health department to listen? Throughout, the author keeps the focus on laughs as Kate speeds through car crashes, tries to keep her dog from eating the coach’s foot and chases zombies as she wields syringes like six-shooters.

A hilarious frolic, especially for fans of Shaun of the Dead.

And if you were a kid who loved zombies and zombie movies, you might enjoy the new movie Super 8 – just be sure to stay through the credits!

Carrie’s running a contest in connection with the release of the trailer, so stop by her blog to get all the gory details!