Return to Afterglow

I'm finally back over at Afterglow Reviews again today, with my reaction to Rouge, by Leigh Talbert Moore. Please stop by, and let me know what you think.

High Ate Us

Before you read this, head over to Afterglow Book Reviews, and read my recommendation of Karen Amanda Hooper's Grasping at Eternity.

Back? Okay. I have some announcements.

First, if you're not watching The Newsroom, on HBO, you're missing a great show. I never got into The West Wing when it was on, but I can definitely see why so many people think Aaron Sorkin is a genius.

Second, if you didn't see Roni Loren's post about using photos in your blog posts, go read it, STAT. It's a sad lesson, but an important one all bloggers must learn.

Finally, in more sad news, I'm going to be taking a break from blogging. Lately it's gotten in the way of writing and critiquing I've needed to be doing, and traffic and comments have been down anyway, so it feels right to step back and re-evaluate for a bit.

Don't worry, I'm not quitting, I enjoy it too much for that, but things have gotten so busy at work lately, I really only have time for writing or blogging, and writing has to come first. There is no news on the agent front, so I'm trying to just focus on some projects I have in the pipe, and hopefully things will work themselves out while I'm not worrying about them.

This may only last a week, or it may last a little longer, but you can still look for me at both Project Middle Grade Mayhem and at YA Confidential in the meantime. Otherwise, thanks, as always for your support.

Passenger Cover Reveal

I'm going to be extremely busy today, directing you to three different posts (including this one), but with the A to Z challenge coming up, I've got to fit everything in I can, before April.

So, very quickly, this is the cover for the upcoming and highly anticipated Passenger, the sequel to The Marbury Lens, by Andrew Smith which will be released Fall 2012. In case you live under a rock, or don't know me very well, here is a bit about the book:

Jack and Conner have a plan.

They think it's the only reasonable way to deal with the Marbury lens.

But the four boys - Jack, Conner, Ben, and Griffin - end up scattered in different places at different times. Jack is lost in a Marbury that isn't Marbury, a Glenbrook that isn't Glenbrook, pursued through every crumbling not-world by an uncaring cop trying to solve the mystery of Freddie Horvath's murder, and a deceitful kid named Quinn Cahill who believes he is the King of Marbury. Jack's universe is collapsing in on itself. He finds his friends. He finds his home.

There's always just one thing, and Jack knows it.

This can't be it.

Be excited, because if you do know me, you know that I think The Marbury Lens is one of the best books I've ever read. Passenger looks to be everything it was and more.

Now, I really am sorry to bother you with all these other posts, but like I said, I have to cram a lot of things in before the A to Z challenge begins next month. So, first, please visit Project Mayhem, and read the post I wrote arguing that The Hobbit is Middle Grade.

Then, please visit Afterglow Book reviews, and read my un-review of Please Ignore Vera Dietz, by A.S. King. Then you may go on about your day.

Thank you!

Brooklyn, Burning, by Steve Brezenoff

This is actually only one of two books I really want to talk about. I also want to talk about Please Ignore Vera Dietz, by A.S. King, but I just un-reviewed The Dust of 100 Dogs, by the same author, so I'll try to get to Vera on Monday.

As you know, when I write a post specifically recommending a book, I usually do it at Afterglow Book Reviews. Like I did for 100 Dogs. But Brooklyn, Burning, is different. It's a book unlike any other I've ever read, and it has something important to say. Something that's close to my heart.

Brooklyn, Burning (Carolrhoda Lab), at its heart, is a love letter. It's a love letter from the protagonist, Kid, to Scout. But it's also a love letter to Brooklyn, and a love letter from humanity to music. Centrally, though, it's a love letter from Kid to Scout. Kid is a street kid, a teenager that has runaway from home, we think at first, but later discover Kid's father kicked his child out of the house. Kid spends two summers in the book, working (and sometimes drinking) at a local bar, but mostly playing drums in the basement, with two different guitar players so attractive in their stark humanity, one can't help but fall in love with them.

I'm not here to talk about the plot. This isn't really a book about what happens. This is a book about people. About characters. About who something happens to. In some ways, I'm kind of a moron, because I didn't realize it was laid out plainly in the blurb (I read on Kindle, purchased with my own money), but I soon discovered that Brezenoff was doing something incredibly unique with his characters. Felix, the boy Kid falls in love with the first summer, is clearly described as a boy, but due to the unique style of first person narration, neither Kid, nor Scout, the guitarist Kid falls in love with during the second summer, are ever explicitly described as one gender or the other. It's really a brilliant thing, even if easily missed at first.

That being said, this isn't a LGBTQ issues book. The fact that gender identity is something Kid's friends and chosen family of the streets agree is something each individual has the right to decide for themselves is not the forefront of this tale. But it is what struck me the most about this novel. I thought it was a beautiful homage to the power of character, because it illustrates the point that people are people, and characters are characters, and they don't have to be defined by whether or not they have a penis, and whether or not they are attracted to people with penises. There is so much more to a person than that.

There is music, and there is defiance, and there is loneliness, and there is hope. None of these things is exclusively masculine or feminine, and it really makes for an immersive story experience to read a tale through a lens that is not adulterated by any of the expectations society places upon one gender or another.

I highly recommend you read this book, not only because it's a lovely story, but because it will open your eyes to the idea that there is not only one way to tell a tale.

Here are some places you can find out more about Brooklyn, Burning, Steve Brezenoff, and Carolrhoda Labs:

Steve Brezenoff on Twitter.
Steve's Blog.
Steve's Website.
The Carolrhoda Lab Website.
The Carolrhoda Books Blog.

Ghost Medicine by Andrew Smith

I'm being tricky today.

I'm actually not writing about this here.

I don't really "review" books over here anymore.

Actually I don't really "review" books at all.

I'm a writer, not a critic.

But I do recommend books that I really loved.

I just don't do it here.

I do it: here.

Something Real

I promised you guys something real today. Well, I've delivered. Okay, so I actually lied when I said "I'll have something real for you here, tomorrow," but that's only because it isn't here.

I'm reviewing Open Wounds, by Joe Lunievicz, today, over at Afterglow Book Reviews. So please, go read it.

Thanks!

The Deathday Letter Afterglow Review

I know I just announced a new group blog, but I can't neglect the one I already belong to either. I'm reviewing The Deathday Letter, by Shaun David Hutchinson, over at Afterglow Reviews today. You can find my post here.

Please stop by and let me know what you think!

Oh, and if you missed Andrew Smith's incredible appearance on Minnesota Public Radio yesterday, you can listen to the archive, here. I highly recommend it.

Afterglow Stick Review

I'm not posting today, and comments are off, because you should just go read my review, at Afterglow Book Reviews, here.

Announcements

Okay. So as the title suggests, I have a couple of things to announce:

First, my friend Courtney Barr, from the Southern Princess, has a new blog called All 4 Alabama. She is holding some auctions with some incredible prizes, trying to raise money for the victims of the recent tornado devastation in Tuscaloosa and other parts of Alabama. Now, I know money is tight. I personally have not been able to bid on any of the auctions, because I can't afford it right now, but there are other ways to offer your support.

For now, please just visit the blog, and become a follower. If you happen to notice an auction there with a prize that you can't afford not to bid on, well, then that would be your business.

Second, I've been invited to join the group blog Afteglow Book Reviews. I've always wanted to be part of a group blog, so it's kind of exciting for me. You won't see my bio or photo up in the reviewer sections yet, because my buddy Katrina Lantz just talked me into it last night, but I'll be reviewing something soon, and you people better go follow the blog now, so that you don't miss it.

Please?

Third, I really need to get more done when it comes to writing. My damn soul-sucking day job keeps trying to get in the way of things that really matter, like writing and blogging, so for the rest of this week and part of next I won't really be blogging. I may post some short, stupid stuff, but mainly I won't be able to read all the blogs I love, like yours.

Big Bird: OUT. Peace.