• Teens Read Too posted a great review of Albatross by Josie Bloss. In part:

ALBATROSS is a powerful, insightful novel that centers on a problem in relationships that has unfortunately become all too common. Readers will feel like the people who witness those being emotionally abused in a relationship, and want to try so hard to tell that person to get away from the abuser, but are unable to fully control the situation. Josie Bloss constructs a realistic portrayal of such frightening yet truthful experiences of abuse that will exert a passion in readers to take action when they witness or are themselves in an abusive relationship.

• Cynthia Leitich Smith of Cynsations posted an interview with Sara Beitia (who has a blog and didn’t tell her agent — bad author!)
• Matthew Cody was at NY Comic Con last weekend to moderate a panel and sign copies of Powerless. Suvudu got a video interview. And hey, speaking of Powerless, wouldn’t it make an AWESOME Cybils nominee? This blogger thinks so, and I agree!
• Finally, Ransom Riggs has a cool post up at Mental Floss about his “found snapshots” collection, and the things people write on the back of pictures. Some things never change.

Have you found anything cool on the internet lately I might have missed? Link ‘em in the comments!

So, in the spirit of letting other people do my work for me, a couple of links.

First, from Stephanie Perkins, on the subject of Dan Savage’s “It Gets Better” project:

Now, I was not a happy teenager. In fact, I was a deeply unhappy teenager. And though my problems were minuscule compared to what gay teenagers face, they were still problems. Real, legitimate problems. And the ONE PIECE OF ADVICE that made a difference was when an adult who was not one of my parents** took the time to pull me aside and told me those exact same words:

It gets better.

She told me a story about a girl she knew who was a lot like me, who felt no connection with her peers, who was miserable in high school, and how the MOMENT she left . . . her life got better.

I never forgot it. Those words pulled me through some incredibly difficult years. And you know what? That adult was right. The moment I was out of high school—the day after graduation!—I was a happier person.

“It gets better” is a message I want to shout from the rooftops.

Read the whole post, and pass on the video, if you agree.

Link #2 is by Nathan Bransford, originally published at the Huffington Post, on the subject of dead (or missing) parents in kids literature:

I’m not a psychologist or an anthropologist or even a cultural historian (though I play one on a blog), but I am a former twelve-year-old, and I can remember how thrilling it was to read books where the kids were off on their own, fighting and outsmarting adults, dealing with harsh landscapes, facing their deepest fears, making unforgettable friendships, and, while I didn’t know it at the time, learning how to be adults.

Around the age the books in this list are so appealing, we’re starting to imagine life without our parents, we’re starting to develop our own opinions and thoughts, and we’re starting to realize that our parents are not always right about everything (eventually we’ll learn that they were right about more than we realized at the time).

Dead parents, I would argue, are an externalization of this nascent independence. We’re starting to imagine life on our own and love to read about kids who have been suddenly thrust into that position. A tradition this common cannot be accidental.

Well worth the full read.

Moving on, Jennifer Weiner adds another fabulous post to the girls vs boys books debate, a debate she helped raise to mass consciousness with her franzenfreude tag on Twitter. Do read the whole thing, and pay special attention to the Stephen King quote:

Tokenism is not allowed. You can’t sit back, give a self satisfied sigh and say, “Ah, that takes care of the troublesome pop lit question. In another twenty years or perhaps thirty, we’ll give this award to another writer who sells enough books to make the best seller lists.” It’s not good enough. Nor do I have any patience with or use for those who make a point of pride in saying they’ve never read anything by John Grisham, Tom Clancy, Mary Higgins Clark or any other popular writer.

And in Weiner’s own words:

“when the paper of record tells its readers, through silence and omission, that some stories, some writers, some readers matter more than others and some stories, some writers, some readers, don’t matter at all, then yes, I’ve got a problem with that.”

Finally, something a little lighter for your Thursday evening. If you weren’t in NYC at Symphony Space this evening, you missed an impassioned debate between supporters of Zombies and Unicorns. For a taste (though I expect pictures if not videos from the event itself), do check out Simon & Schuster’s video trailer for the anthology.

What exciting things have YOU seen on the internets lately?

Bookshelves of Doom has a few words for Maureen Johnson. Namely:

ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME INTO A CRAZY PERSON? How could you leave me hanging like that? Seriously? The only thing that stopped my agonized “GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” from actually being verbalized was the fact that I was reading under the blankets with a flashlight, trying desperately not to wake my snoring husband. You, madame, are a monster. Also, I am way tired this morning. So thanks for that, too.

Also, is it gross that I’m kind of in love with Spencer?

For the record, no, not gross at all. Click through for the rest of the review.

Over on the Flux blog, they’ve got a great interview up with Josie Bloss about Albatross, and it’s similarities and differences with her previous Band Geek books. An excerpt:

FLUX: The tone in Albatross is more serious than your previous two books. Here, you’ve chosen a far darker story and style. What inspired this change?

JB: Though the story is darker, I think the themes of a girl finding her voice and her inner strength are quite similar to the Band Geek books. Honestly, this is a story that called to me and demanded to be written. I was going through a tough time in my personal life and when my world is upside down, it can be difficult to think or write about anything else. I borrowed significant parts of my own experiences for this book. In some ways, Albatross was my therapy and my method of productively processing these difficult experiences . . . and it’s a fist-bump to other people dealing with similar situations. Sometimes you just need to hear that you’re not alone.

Also included on the Flux blog is a excerpt — check it out!

But wait, there’s more! Author Elana Johnson on Ellen Booraem‘s The Unnameables: “Holy blazes, the woman knows how to use the right words to tell the story.”

And the pun-derfully titled Prose and Kahn says Powerless by Matthew Cody, “is an awesome debut novel and will not be a shelf sitter.” Woot!

And finally, the winner of a book of their choice on Tuesday’s entry is… *drumroll*… Comment #8 (thanks to Random.org). Jean, I’ll email you for your address and book preference!

Full disclosure: By my nature as a literary agent, I get a commission on sales of books by my clients, through any eventual royalties. My links to the Amazon pages of their titles also earns me a small fee, if you click through and buy a copy.

First, the School Library Journal ran one librarian’s “Open Letter to Kids’ Book Publishers.” Then, editor Andrew Karre wrote a rebuttal to her point about the length of books being published.

I don’t disagree that there are books out there that are too long, and I really love short novels, but I respectfully (but firmly) reject the notion that there is a meaningful general limit to length.

Today, he tweeted librarian (and author) Lisa Chellman’s response to the Open Letter, with a brilliant riposte to the original writer’s request for more books with books instead of girls.

Hey, listen up writers and editors! Any book that doesn’t specifically deal with breasts and periods and pretty, pretty princesses should be about boys. Because boys don’t see themselves reflected in literature, film, politics, science, or sports nearly enough. Because boys are the default. Because we’re lazy slaves to the patriarchy.

Excuse me while I barf.

Thinking of Andrew Karre, who was kt literary client Josie Bloss‘ first, brilliant editor makes me think of Josie herself, the cover of whose latest book Band Geeked Out is featured on Jacket Whys, picking up on another trend in cover design. A note for Jacket Whys: Band Geek Love had the same style design!

Then on to another kt literary client, S. Terrell French! Into the Wardrobe has a great interview posted, where Susannah talks about her inspirations and the rewards of writing Operation Redwood. There’s another short review from the King’s English Bookstore in Salt Lake City here, which calls Operation Redwood “intriguing and sensational”!

Next, a quick mention of Vacations From Hell in the Sacramento Bee — notable for being a list of fantastic summer titles not just for kids, but for all readers.

And I’m sure you already heard about the brouhaha around Alice Hoffman’s response to a bad review, but you should check out Jennifer Weiner’s blog about it in the Huffington Post.

And finally, I still want this.

What’s on your mind? Any links you want to share? Add ‘em in the comments!

I’m also thinking of Maureen Johnson, partly because I just read the latest version of Scarlett Fever this weekend, and partly because of this fun IMterview with her on Scott Westerfeld’s blog.

So, yeah, I take back that whole “thoughtless” thing. I’m full of thought about my authors! And if you’ll excuse me now, I’m diving back into one of their books. What are YOU reading?

You started explaining the plot of your book and you’d only been talking for a couple of minutes — not even up to the bit with the anaemic vampire – when she took it out of your hand and said she’d have a look at it when she had time. When you turned round there were quite a few people in the queue and they must have heard you talking about it — in fact, you’re convinced that they’re probably asking the “owner” (hah!) to order them copies right now.

Then, the flip side — actual useful information not just for self-published authors, but for ANY author, on how to approach your local bookstore about your book.
Beyond that, check out Publetariat, a blog for people who publish. Yes, there’s a lot of focus on self-published authors and “micropublishers”, but again, there’s some incredibly useful information on marketing that’s worthwhile for ALL published writers, like this post on making your own book trailers.
Finally, Rexroth is grabbing some really interesting news off his Twitter feed from the Tools of Change conference, and he shares his thoughts. One of the most popular things he’s hearing? “Going forward, the most successful books will be as much about community as about content.”
As a writer, what are you doing to promote community?
Note: Image of Rexroth is purely an artist’s rendering, and should not be assumed to represent a likeness.