I Suddenly Remembered My Charlemagne

A Thousand Nights has been nominated for the 2016 Mythopoeic Awards!

(They (very cleverly, IMHO) split their nominations between "children" (MG and down), and "adult" (YA and up). I think that makes more sense than lumping YA in with MG.)

ANYWAY, this award is EXTRA GREAT FOR ME PERSONALLY, because the nominations are meant to best exemplif[y] “the spirit of the Inklings”, which, you know, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

*happy dance*

I love this book of my heart so much, and this is VERY EXCITING NEWS.

(Also the other nominees are great. I'm really pleased to me with them. Full list here, including the Children's category where CASTLE HANGNAIL is nominated. HAVE YOU READ CASTLE HANGNAIL? YOU SHOULD.)

Both of my 2015 books were selected by the Ontario Library Association as Best Bets! Prairie Fire made their Top Ten list, and A Thousand Nights received an Honourable Mention.

They get official stickers this year and everything! (OWEN was also a Top Ten last year, but the stickers are new!)



As a side bonus, I kept getting yelled at by random librarians at the OLA conference, which took place last week, as they were all upset about the ending of Prairie Fire. #Iregretnothing :)

45 days until EXIT, PURSUED BY A BEAR!

I don't have all the pictures from launch #1 yet, because I assume The Sister will put them all up together after tomorrow, but here are some teasers! Family & Co. did an amazing job, and we had a great night.

The window display was gorgeous!



And Secret Agent Man came up to attend! Which was delightful.



And then today I went to my Chapters for a signing, and...



Right now, Emma and I are tucked in with pizza while the wind howls outside. One more event tomorrow!

Home at last, in my own bed, from the Great...I forget what I called this trip. I went to LA and then The Woods, basically.

Since Tuesday night, I have mostly been reading books and cross stitching. I got some ARCs in LA, and so I read those:

1. Walk on Earth A Stranger, Rae Carson (DO RECOMMEND!)
2. The Scorpion Rules, by Erin Bow (OH GOD, PRE-ORDER THIS BOOK. It is possibly my favourite book ever.)
3. ILLUMINAE, by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (conditionally recommend. It's...well, it's weird. And the layout was beautiful, but sometimes hard to read. I can see the style really putting some people off, but it was funny and interesting, and I liked it at the end, anyway.)

I also read some books I've been waiting to read for a while:

1. Rivals in the City, by Y.S. Lee (this finishes off THE AGENCY series, and was A DELIGHT)
2. The Winner's Curse, by Marie Rutowski (I wanted this book to do a lot of things and it did none of them, but it's a good "starter fantasy", and quite compellingly written)
3. Star Wars Rebels: A NEW DAWN
4. Castle Hangnail, by Ursula Vernon (buy this book. BUY THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW. Read it aloud, and children will materialize beside you, but even if they don't, you will still be highly entertained)
5. The Apple Throne, by Tessa Gratton (DO READ. Actually, read all of her books, but DO READ the United States of Asgard. They are...they are the best books I have ever read, I think. Just. UGH.)

And I started rereading THE LUNAR CHRONICLES for when WINTER comes out in the fall. I only got through Cinder and half of Scarlet, but I'd forgotten how VERY CLEVER these books are.

Anyway, now I am doing laundry (with no dryer, so that sucks), and cleaning up, and generally getting ready for The Real World tomorrow.

We'll see how long it sticks.

A twitter follower actually told me I had won, and then I poked around on Google until I found the website with the announcement. The Moonbeam Awards are handed out at the Traverse City Book Festival, and promote "readable" books. So that's nice! Plus it's an actual medal, which is kind of exciting.

THE STORY OF OWEN has been reviewed by the New York Times! It's about as kind as these things get, too. So that's excellent.

And now back to my original plan for Friday: aggressive napping.

Hello, f-list!

It is almost time. I am ludicrously excited. I know that many of you have already pre-ordered (which, have I said thank you lately? Because: OMG, THANK YOU), but I thought I would do a quick "how to" just in case there are questions.

If you live in the US or Canada, you have a bunch of options! I am listed on both Amazon.com and .ca, as well as Barnes and Noble, and Chapters. In addition to that, there's Indiebound, which is a great way to support independent bookstores.

I have no idea if B&N or Chapters are going to carry the book on the shelf. If you go to either store and they don't have it, you can ask a manager to order it in. You may have to be a little pushy (by which I mean tell them that it has starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus, and that according to the internet, ten-year-olds prefer it to Minecraft, etc), and if you are in Canada, you can mention that I am "local", as it were. I don't know how B&N works, but the Chapters people will tell you that you can order it through the Kiosk. That's basically the same as ordering it online, and is fine, but it won't result in copies on the shelf for people other than you. If you have a local independent store that you love, they may order it in for you too.

If you manage to get my book on to the shelf somewhere in South Western Ontario, let me know, and I will go to that store and sign stock/do a reading/juggle geese*/et cetera.

I would also be grateful if you mentioned it to your public library. I know a few have got it already (Cincinnati, Nashville, WELLINGTON NEW ZEALAND), but libraries are a great way to reach kids who can't afford their own copies.

If you live overseas, there aren't as many options yet, because I haven't sold any foreign rights. HOWEVER, Amazon still has it listed (so far everywhere except Australia, for some reason), and there's also Book Depository, which is a great way to order books AND doesn't usually charge for shipping.

It's available in e-book format, at least as a Kobo and a Kindle. Not sure about Nook as yet.

If you do find it on the shelf, or if you pre-order and it comes in the mail, you could take a picture of yourself holding it, send it to me, and MAKE MY DAY. :)

Finally, if you read THE STORY OF OWEN and you like it, I would be grateful for reviews on Amazon.com, .ca or the Chapter-Indigo website**.



*I will not juggle geese. Or at least I won't be very good at it. But some people do, and I was desperate for a nerd joke, so here we are.
**If you read it and you don't like it, that is absolutely fine. Just, you know, never tell me about it.

It's a Waiting on Wednesday: Special Drafting-Brain Monday Edition

The Lost Sun, by tessa_gratton.

Two Things:

1. I love this book like I love Jo Graham's "Stealing Fire", which is to say that I love it WITH MY SOUL.
2. If you are waiting for my book, this is a good book to read to pass some of the time. ;)

And also, I am (mostly) finished my revisions.

Failed at Monday Blogging today due to EXTREME TIRED brought on by EXTREME FANGIRL, but today I have a book I am waiting for, so Waiting on Wednesday it is!

The General's Mistress, by Jo Graham: Magic and Love and General Awesomeness.