Ma-ruuuuu

Should I be embarrassed that I'm really looking forward to this book?

Nah. ;)


LINKAGE:

• Maru's blog and YouTube channel.
• My favorite cat book and its sequel.
• My favorite cat book for children.
• My own kitty, Mr. Tumnus.
• Mr. T's favorite scratching post.

The New Harry

Isn't that the sweetest? I re-stumbled across this moment from Chamber of Secrets this morning while doing some research.

Oh, how I love it!

Speaking of Harry, have you seen the creepy-beautiful trailer for The Woman in Black yet?

HOLY SMOKES. Can I please watch that NOW?

Tomorrow — as long as it doesn't get overly terrible reviews — Jarrod and I are going to see the new Fright Night. I'm not generally a fan of remakes, buuuuuuut . . .

DAVID TENNANT!

It also stars Andrew Anton Yelchin (I swear I knew that), a seriously underrated actor. I thought he was fan-taaastic in Charlie Bartlett.

Plus, his hair can do this:

Love me some messy boy hair!

Any films you're looking forward to these days? And, to quote one of my favorites, do you like scary movies?*


*A few of those favorites: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Let the Right One In, 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead, An American Werewolf in London, Session 9, The Silence of the Lambs, Halloween, The Thing, and, of course, Scream.

Recommended Read: Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

It's been too long since I've posted about a book that I've enjoyed, and there have been several this year. Here's one that I'd especially like to bring to your attention. Tabitha Suzuma's Forbidden is originally a U.K. release that debuted here in America this summer. (YAY! More imports, American publishers? Pretty please?) It's the first novel that I've blurbed (I'm picky!), and I also did an exclusive review of it for Amazon:

Tabitha Suzuma has crafted a harrowing, sexy, heart wrenching, and heartbreaking masterwork about one of our last remaining taboos. Lochan and Maya are the oldest children of an alcoholic, absentee mother. The burden of raising their three younger siblings has fallen upon them, and they have been forced to mature into parents. As their friendship is strengthened, and as they become dependent upon one another for survival, their parental relationship develops into a new stage: romantic love.

An alternating first-person narration immerses the reader deep inside the hearts of the characters. Suzuma takes great care to help us understand how such a situation could arise and allows us to be sympathetic for it—even root for it—though we know, just as Lochan and Maya know, that the future of a Happily Ever After is unlikely.

This is a powerful novel about love in all of its forms. About teenagers forced to become adults, and about children forced to acknowledge new parents. Particularly stressful is the second oldest boy, Kit, whose every appearance carries an impending sense of disaster.

Forbidden never let me set it down. It never let me stop worrying. And it never let me stop hoping for the best.

Now. An addendum for my own readers:

If you're the type of person who reads that and thinks, "Brother and sister intimacy? GAHHHHHHHHH." Hello, you already know this book is not for you.

BUT . . .

If you're the type of person who reads that and thinks "Hmm," I sincerely hope you'll pick it up. It blew me away.


P.S. Tabitha has written several more novels which have yet to be published in America. After finishing Forbidden, I ordered A Note of Madness from The Book Depository, the best website for ordering overseas books. Can't wait to dig in!

And My Heart Squeezes With Happiness!

From my husband. Tee hee.

Connie and Mimi and the Panthéon

Drawn by Natalie Whipple

Marie and Elodie's Annas at Point Zéro

Elodie and Notre-Dame

Elodie and Marie and Shakespeare & Company

Marie inside Shakespeare & Company

Neruda and Anna inside Shakespeare & Company

Drawn by Liza Riitters

Alwyn Hamilton's Anna and la Tour Eiffel

And . . . one for Lola!

Lisa Aldin (and hubby?*) in San Francisco

Thank you, everyone. These are a dream come true.

xoxo,
your very humbled author


*confirmed! :)

Oceanside with Kiersten & Andrea

I'd planned on returning to my LeakyCon adventures today, but yesterday I received some exciting news:

Kiersten White and Andrea Cremer hit the New York Times bestseller list! Again! Congratulations, ladies!!!

I was fortunate enough to join them both for a reading and signing last Tuesday in Oceanside, CA. They were each promoting their second books in trilogies, Supernaturally and Wolfsbane.

Like on all my July adventures, I only had my phone with me.

*head hits desk*

Here are my ONLY TWO pictures from the event:

Kiersten displaying a pink-wrapped Dr. Pepper gifted from one of her readers, Andrea displaying a STUNNING dress.

This is a HIGH QUALITY photograph.

That's me with Shelley the Storyqueen. Many of you know her from her wonderful easy-reader series Good Night, Good Knight, but I suspect several of you also know her from her hilarious and supportive blog comments. (Shelley recently joined Twitter, did you know? You can find her here.)

I was so, so happy she came to our signing! And I'm bummed that you can't see her necklace, because it was freaking gorgeous.

Here's a picture stolen from Kiersten's blog:

Blurry was the name of the game.

I love how Kiersten is standing on a chair so that the audience can see her. Hee hee! Andrea declined, because she was afraid of falling, and I declined because I was afraid of being TOO tall, and then everyone being able to see up my skirt.

Not that I speak from experience. No. Of course not.

Ahhh, but . . . WHAT IS THIS? A clear picture of us! Thank you, Shannon Messenger!

Our smiles were twitching by this point, but they're genuine.

By the way, if you'd like to win signed hardcovers of Supernaturally, Wolfsbane, AND Anna and the French Kiss (and you do, right?) visit Shannon's blog before this Saturday and enter to win her giveaway. Woo hoo!

Also, because I cannot resist, HOW CUTE WAS SHANNON AT COMIC-CON?

More about this in my future Comic-Con post. Obviously.

I'd like to give a huuuuuuuuge thank you to the Oceanside Barnes and Noble staff for being amazing. We had a blast, and the crowd they assembled was, um, LARGE. Large as in we signed for two-and-a-half hours large!

(We totally had to take a bathroom break.)

And I'd also like to give a humble and gracious and ohmygod thank you to Racquel, who won an oversize chocolate bar for reading Anna and the French Kiss ten times (TEN!!!), and Paranormalcy and Nightshade five or six times each. You wowed us, Racquel.

Finally, thanks to Kiersten and Andrea, two of the smartest and funniest women of my acquaintance. Thank you for inviting me to your double-release party. We mustmustmust do this again!

In other release-party news . . .

Today is the official release of the Anna and the French Kiss paperback. For the cherry-on-top, it contains the first chapter of Lola and the Boy Next Door. It's available at bookstores everywhere and . . . TARGET.

TARGET!!!!!!!!!

I am so serious when I say that this is one of the most exciting things that's happened to me all year. Being in Target is a BIG DEAL. It gives authors an incredible opportunity to reach readers that otherwise might not find them. Readers! I love readers!

Enormous bear hugs and thanks to Cristin and Julie for making this happen.

And merci to my paperback editor Ashley, who did a beaaaaauuutiful job adding fancy new blurbs and deckle-edge pages and French flaps with pretty scalloped edges. Seriously, my paperback is gorgeous. And I'm saying that as a former bookseller and librarian, not as the author. I am hyper-aware that it got the deluxe treatment. WOW. Thank you for putting such faith in my paperback, Penguin.

One last related note:

Malaprop's Bookstore & Cafe (by kleindigital)

Tonight, I'm participating in the From Asheville to Nashville book tour. I'll be at Malaprop's here in Asheville at 7 p.m. doing a panel about YA literature/publishing followed by a signing with three lovely ladies: Myra McEntire (Hourglass), Beth Revis (Across the Universe), and Victoria Schwab (The Near Witch).

I hope some of you local blog readers can come see us!

Yes, I have seen this movie too many times.

MY FIRST THOUGHTS UPON WAKING:

I wish I had a cool name, like Ransom Riggs or Kaleb Nation. Kaleb's name rocks, because it means his readers and YouTube fans can be called Nationeers.

Yeah. Nation is a cool last name.

Welcome to the Stephanie Nation!

Like Novalee Nation in Where the Heart Is. Except then she named her daughter Americus, which is the WORST name. Americus Nation. What the heck was she thinking? Just because her daughter was born inside of a Wal-Mart didn't mean she had to get all patriotic on us. Maybe if she had given birth at the Washington Monument that would be okay.

But she didn't.

That story had all kinds of weird names. Like Forney. I feel sorry for the actor. He's really talented, but because of that role, I can never remember his real name. I'm always like, "Hey, Forney is playing Cromwell in The Tudors! Hey, Forney is playing a vampire in True Blood!"

Poor Forney.

It sounds like a nickname, but the only possible thing it could stand for is "Fornication." Snort. He seems like the kinda guy who'd take Novalee's last name when they got married. So that would mean his name is now . . . FORNICATION NATION.

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

FORNICATION NATION!

*rolls over*

*grins*

*falls back asleep*

August Break + LeakyCon, Pt. 1

I learned from my friend Lilie (she of one very lovely blog) that it's August Break — an opportunity for bloggers to express themselves in photography for a month. It's ultra low pressure, and it produced a lot of wonderful images on Lilie's website last year. If you're interested, you should check it out!

I'm using it as inspiration to increase my blogging this month. I have so many things I want to share with you and . . . so little time. Isla and the Happily Ever After MUST be written, and APPARENTLY I signed some papers awhile back that said *I* am the one who is supposed to do it.

Who knew?

So here's my first batch . . . LeakyCon! I forgot to take my REAL camera (durr), so it's a mixture of grainy cell phone pictures and better pictures stolen from other people.

Somehow, all of this PLUS another suitcase PLUS more musical equipment had to fit in our car.


And, somehow, it did!

The conference was at the Royal Pacific Resort next to Universal Studios in Orlando, FL.

Cars like this . . .

. . . and this, showed that we were among friends. Three thousand and four hundred of them, to be exact!

The first day was Lit Day. This picture from Bibliomantics proves that I actually sat on a panel with Scott Westerfeld, David Levithan, Robin Wasserman, John Green, and Libba Bray. I KNOW, RIGHT? It was called "I Was a Teenage Author," and it was the most fun I had all day. Tears of laughter streamed down my face! Here I am about to read from my senior-year journal, in which I meet my future husband (for real) and became mildly obsessed about him (understatement).

With Megan, who posted this picture on my Facebook page. Huzzah!

[THIS IS WHERE THE PICTURE OF ME WITH MY AGENT KATE AND MY EDITOR JULIE IS SUPPOSED TO GO. I DID NOT GET ONE. WE TOTALLY HAD A PANEL TOGETHER! I LOATHE MYSELF FOR NOT COMMEMORATING IT. IF YOU HAVE A PICTURE OF THIS MOMENTOUS OCCASION AND SEND IT TO ME, I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER.]

The next day, Snape tried to avada kedavra me . . .

. . . but I escaped and made it to the IMAX premiere of the new film. (I'm not actually in this picture, which I stole from Oh My Rowling. I am to the left of this. You'll have to trust me.) I can't imagine a more incredible movie-going experience than seeing the last Harry Potter with the people who care about it the most. The theater sobbed and laughed and cheered as one.


At the theater, Jarrod and I sat beside my writer-friend Jade and her husband. They were visiting all the way from Australia! They'd stopped by our home in Asheville the week before, and I was puppy-dog happy to see them again. We walked around afterward and bought loads of disgusting candy and frozen yogurt. And then we couldn't bear to say goodbye, so we made breakfast plans for the next morning! PLEASE COME BACK JADE I MISS YOU COME BACK COME BACK COME BACK.

Next post = Wizard Rock + a trip to the most magical place on Earth. Which, despite popular belief, is not Disneyland.


UPDATE: Molly has sent me pictures of my panel with Agent Kate and Editor Julie! I'll post them next time. YIPPEE!!!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

♥ So much love for these people. ♥

Phew! These last two weeks . . . phew!

LeakyCon and Comic-Con. What a magical, unforgettable July you have given me! I have no words yet, and that's not just because I've lost my voice. I have seen so many friends, so many readers, so many talented creators that I've admired for years . . . yeah. Just . . . yeah.

I can't think of a more perfect way for Jarrod and I to have celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary. Further happiness and details when I have recovered.


EDITED TO ADD: Oh! But I have a guest post here about being a teenage outsider, if you're interested.

Another Rose

To my friends and readers in Norway,

I am so sorry. My heart is with you.

xoxo

GAHHHHHHHHH!!!

SO MUCH HAPPENING AT ONCE.

Jarrod and I have to take a sudden detour before driving to LeakyCon in Orlando, which requires us to leave a day early. This will be sloppy!


THE MOST IMPORTANT THING:

NATALIE WHIPPLE SOLD TWO YA BOOKS!!!!!!!!!!

Most of you already know this, because we share many of the same blog readers, but JUST IN CASE you missed it, please go congratulate her! Natalie is a dear friend, and this has been a long time coming. Her first novel is called Transparent, and I was lucky enough to be one of her critique partners, and it's completely and totally original. And fun! And funny!

I want to talk more about Natalie, because she's been instrumental to my health and sanity for the last few years, and I am SO FREAKING EXCITED about *her* book deal. But I really gotta pick up the pace. (I have to leave in three hours, and I haven't packed yet!) So I'll tell you more about how special she is soon.

But trust me. She is. I'm so happy for her!


THE AUCTION THING:

Carrie Harris, author of the releases-tomorrow zombie YA Bad Taste in Boys, is having an auction to raise money for the Mott Giving Library, which gives free books to hospitalized children. In Carrie's own words:

"The Giving Library is located at the University of Michigan Mott Children’s Hospital. In a given year, Mott serves about 10,000 inpatients and 60,000 outpatients, from newborns to nineteen-year-olds. My husband was nineteen when he was admitted with an advanced case of Acute Myelogenous Leukemia. Thanks to Mott, he beat the odds. When we started dating, his hair was just starting to grow back.

Now he’s at the tail end of his training to become a pediatric oncologist. He’s working side-by-side with many of the doctors who saved his life all those years ago. Sometimes they forget he was once their patient. But my family? We’ll never forget.

I owe everything I’ve got to those doctors. Without them, I’d have no husband. I’d be without my son and the zombie plays he brings me home from first grade. I’d be without my twin daughters and the holes they put in my walls. (I might not miss the holes.) And I would have no book. Because my family’s what gave me the guts to send it out, even though I knew the odds were stacked against me. What can I say? I’m a statistician by trade. I think of these things.

Yes, I’m excited to celebrate the publication of my first book. But for me, this is bigger than a book. This is about paying some of that awesomeness forward. Or in this case, paying it back."

I have donated a first-edition hardcover of Anna and the French Kiss, signed and hand-annotated. You can bid on it here (instructions are at the bottom of the page, in the comments area). The auction ends July 25th at 4:00 p.m. EST.

Please allow me to stress that this is a one-of-a-kind item. If you win my auction, you'll learn secrets about Anna that NO ONE else knows! I hope you'll bid. It's such a great cause.


THE NEW CALIFORNIA EVENT THING:

I don't think I've announced this here yet, but I have a special signing with Kiersten White and Andrea Cremer on July 26, 2011 in Oceanside, CA at 6:00 p.m. This is for all of the people in the San Diego area (and beyond!) who can't make it into Comic-Con to see us. It's the release party for Kiersten's Supernaturally and Andrea's Wolfsbane, but I'll be there signing copies of Anna, too.

Numbered wristbands will be issued, and reservations start one week before the event. Call: 760-529-0106 for more information.


THE COMIC-CON THING:

My panel information has finally been announced:

Sunday, 10:00-11:00 "What's Hot in Young Adult Fiction: Sit Down with the Writers We Can't Stop Talking About"

Hosted by Nathan Bransford (Jacob Wonderbar Cosmic Space Kapow), and featuring panelists Andrea Cremer (Nightshade series), Amanda Hocking (Hollowland), Tahereh Mafi (Shatter Me), Stephanie Perkins (Anna and the French Kiss), Laini Taylor (Daughter of Smoke and Bone), and Kiersten White (Paranormalcy), who discuss the YA phenomenon and their books.

Room 23ABC

Afterward, our autograph session will be in room AA4, from 11:30 a.m. — 12:30 p.m.


THE LEAKYCON THING:

I'm so excited to be seeing so many of you this week! I'll be at Wednesday's Lit Day festivities, and I'll be hanging around the hotel and theme park for the rest of the week.

Two announcements: Enter to win an advanced copy of Lola and the Boy Next Door at the nighttime wizard rock shows. Look for Jarrod's merch table — his band is Gred and Forge — to enter. It's free. Also, Jarrod and I will be signing GARBAGE PAIL KIDS cards all week. (Just because! Hee hee.) Approach either one of us at any time to ask for one. Also free, of course!


THE FINAL THING:

See you back here SOON. I hope! Hope you're all having a great July!

Two Linkssssss

Hi-ya! I'll be back with a FOR REALS post tomorrow, but here are two quick links for today.

(1) Awesome People Hanging Out Together — My current favorite Tumblr. Thanks to Persnickety Snark for enlightening me!

Thom + David = (ALMOST) TOO MUCH FOR STEPH TO HANDLE

(2) YA Crush Tourney — Our own Étienne St. Clair is up for his first round! Won't you vote for him, s'il vous plaît?

Impromptu New York City

I like to call this series of pictures taken by Mitali from Alley of Books as: That One Time Gayle Forman Grabbed My Butt!

Her devious expression . . .

. . . leads to this!

Don't worry. I returned the favor twenty minutes later . . . on the street! Hee hee.

Gayle and I were at a release party for Courtney Sheinmel's latest, All the Things You Are. (Can't wait to read!) It was a spur-of-the-moment thingie, since my trip to New York was spur-of-the-moment, and I'm grateful Courtney let me crash her party. We'd never met before, and she was such a sweetheart!

Sara (Super Librarian!), Moi, Courtney

Doesn't Courtney have the most beautiful smile? I was dazzled by it all evening.

The day before was my impromptu Bryant Park gathering, which Rachel at Bookshelf Lust wonderfully chronicled here. (I wish Rachel would photograph and write-up ALL of my events. Such talent!) I can't even begin to say how amazing it turned out to be. It was unquestionably the most fun event I've had this year, thanks to the intimate setting and delightful attendees. Thank you to everyone who came!

The rest of my quickie visit was spent arm-in-arm with Gayle (who graciously allowed me to stay with her, even though I only gave her sixteen hours notice), telling scary stories over a Japanese dinner with my friends Manning, Marjorie, and Marjorie's mother (who speaks little English, and I speak even less French, which did not impede our enjoyment one bit!), eating a yummy breakfast with my always-fabulous editor Julie, and . . . researching. (Ooo!)

I also bought a fox penis bone for my writing desk at Evolution, a marvelous store lovingly described by Laini Taylor in this post.

Why? Because I could!

Now I'm looking forward to this weekend.

Working on my novel? Maybe. Painting my bathroom? Maybe. Relaxing with a few good books? Definitely!

Speaking of, what are you reading these days? Anything I should know about? I have a ton of recommendations for YOU, I just need to get into gear and blog about them! (And blog about our Princess Army. And several events-of-past. And and and. Etc.)

Happy weekend!

Hang out with me tomorrow (Saturday) in NYC!

Like this, but perhaps with rain.

This is a last-second announcement, because these are last-second plans. I just booked a flight to Manhattan for this weekend. A few people on Twitter asked if I'd be willing to do an impromptu signing, so . . . here we go!

Tomorrow (Saturday, June 11th) I will be hanging out in front of the Bryant Park Cafe in Bryant Park at 3:30 p.m.

As I will not recognize YOU, you will have to look for ME. Thanks to my hair, I'm pretty easy to spot! My stripes are currently pale turquoise.

Since it might rain, we might have to move locations. We'll figure it out when we get there! Check my Twitter account for updates. But, rain or shine, we'll at least meet in front of the Bryant Park Cafe at 3:30.

I'll be happy to sign my books if you bring them. And if you don't have a copy, that's okay, too. We can just hang! Pictures are cool, too. This will be a REALLY, REALLY, REALLY informal (and hopefully fun) gathering.

I'm not sure how many of us there will be; it might be just you and me! But I'll be hanging out until 5:00 p.m. Again, check my Twitter account, because if you're arriving late, we might switch locations.

Hope to see you New Yorkers there tomorrow! WOO HOO!

EEEEEEEEK! Comic-Con!!!

I just got the okay to share some RIDONKULOUS news. I'm going to be on a YA panel at this year's Comic-Con International! The Comic-Con, held every summer in San Diego. As a maaaaaaajor hardcore nerd, I assure you this is far-and-away the most amazing invite I've yet received!

YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The panel date and time have not been set in stone, so for now all I can share with you is that the fantastic Nathan Bransford is moderating and that these are the panelists:

Andrea Cremer
Amanda Hocking
Tahereh Mafi
Laini Taylor
Kiersten White . . .
and moi!

OH, YEAH. THAT'S RIGHT.

The gods have put me on a panel with two of my bestest friends, Laini and Kiersten! Could I *BE* any more excited???

(Answer: No.)

And I'm thrilled to see super-sweetheart Andrea again (who I met way too briefly a few months ago in Houston) and to meet everyone else! Holy awesome weekend, Batman! I can't stop using exclamation points! July 21-24 are going to (NERD) ROCK!

Comic-Con will be immediately following my appearance at another fantastic con, LeakyCon (July 13-17 in Orlando, FL). I don't think I officially announced it here on my blog, but I'll be on the Wednesday Lit Day panels with all kinds of incredible award-winning people that I have no right to be on a panel with — Seriously. Look at the list. — not to mention, my agent and my editor. I can't wait to see them again!

And, of course, my husband and tons of our friends will be performing their Wizard Rock at night!

♥ The hubs ♥

July is going to rule, dude.

I love being a geek!

For more tour dates, please check out my News page. Especially notable is an appearance later this month at the Irving Public Library in Texas. If you live in the Dallas area, please come see me! And if you don't live anywhere near the places I'm traveling, no worries. There are quite a few more stops up my sleeves that I can't share yet.

HURRAH! I hope to see you soon!