Smek-Day and the Cybils

(Cross-posted at Lessons from the Tortoise)

My new column is up over at Literary Mama. In it I talk about why I liked our fantasy/sf winner in the middle-grade category, The True Meaning of Smek-Day, and what intriguing commonalities I found in the books we read. Here's a taste:

the story [of Smek-Day] is as action-packed and adventurous as [several of ] the others . . . which feature plot twist after plot twist, fascinating superpowers (invisibility and flight are the best), and intriguing ways of engaging with technology -- hovercars, a super-reinforced Mercedes, cellphones, convenience stores. These are not, that is, "sword-and-sorcery" fantasy novels, but books fully engaged with modern life and imagining how magic or the supernatural might interact with our technologically-enhanced world.

Read the rest here...

Six-Word Winner!

I convened my panel of experts yesterday to judge the Six-Word Memoir contest. Each (of course) chose a different one, so we ended up with three finalists:

1. Fresh Hell's "Don't look at me like that!"
2. Elrena's "This is exactly what I wanted."
and
3. Becca's "Potential. Lived up to? Don't know."

We then went to the super-sophisticated random-number-chooser--that is, I asked Nick to pick a number from one to three. He picked two, so Elrena is our winner! Elrena, email me your mailing address and I'll get it to the publisher, who will be sending out a copy.

Thanks for playing, and congratulations to all the contestants!

Six-Word Memoir Contest!

So I have this contest going on over at the other blog, but it's apparently too hard.* Or not interesting enough. Or something. So here's another, more fun one:

Write your own six-word memoir! That's right, write it right here in the comments, or write it on your own blog and send me a link, and the best one (chosen by my panel of experts here at home) will get a shiny new copy of Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. You can also send your memoirs to the fabulous Six-Word Memoir folks and they will consider them for a second volume--that's right, you, too, could have your six-word memoir published. Come on, you know you want to do it!

Take until next Friday, February 15, to get me your entries. The winner will get a copy of the book direct from the publisher.




*If you read the comments to that post, though, you'll find at least one or two clues to help you along...