Today is a very special day. LIAR is out in the U.S.A.!

This new novel by Justine Larbalestier is fantastic, mind-blowing, one-of-a-kind. You need to go and read it NOW. TODAY. Starred reviews all over the place, a ton of buzz, and reviews I will not post or link to because of fear of spoilers.

LIAR is a crime novel. It’s about a compulsive liar. It’s amazing. I’ve loved it ever since reading the original manuscript over a year ago.

And that’s why I’m giving away a copy right here on the blog, today! Leave a comment to enter. Contest runs through Sunday, October 4th.

Also (and completely unrelated), read a Dr. Seuss-style reaction to slush piles by Jim C. Hines.

And on the other end of the spectrum, an interesting article about “the one that got away” — the books that were NOT bought by editors and went on to become quite famous.

First off, the events.

I’ve got some exciting new events in store to celebrate the release of RAMPANT, including one in New York City! (I will keep you updated on my Manhattan appearance and release the details when details are, y’know, finalized.)

This weekend of course is the big Florida launch party. We’re finalizing the details now and it’s going to be so much fun! The entire catering menu is an homage to the Roman setting of RAMPANT. There’s going to be pizza and Italian bread and cheese and gelato and prosecco for the over-21-ers and Italian sodas for the underage…I’m super-excited.

And actually, my trip to Florida has me bouncing from top to bottom. Friday night’s the party, Saturday night my family is having a super special dinner in Tampa, and Sunday we’ll be attending a Bucs game. It’s going to be a whirlwind adventure!

I just need to figure out who is taking care of Rio and TempDog#4 while I’m away. I’m pretty sure I’ll have to split them up, which is too bad. I totally caught them making out earlier this evening. Rio, apparently, likes younger guys.

And then, as soon as I’m back, it’s off to St. Louis for the NINC Conference. the last time I was in St. Louis, there was a horrific blizzard, and the entire city shut down. I’m hoping for warmer weather and open restaurants. Fingers crossed. But I can’t wait! I’m roomming with my mentor, the fabulous Julie Leto, and I’m going to dinner with my agent, and I’m sitting on a panel with Sharon Shinn and Julie Kenner, and I’m moderating another with Ridley Pearson (!!!) And in between, I’m probably going to do some stock signings out and about in St. Louis.

In other news, my toe still hurts. No sandals for me this weekend. Sad face. I was all set for a pedicure with little unicorn heads on my toes, too. Possibly decapitated. Definitely fanged.

In other OTHER and FAR MORE INTERESTING news than Stuff About My Mangled Toe, we have more RAMPANT reviews, coming atcha (spoiler-free, too!):

Christy Finn at Finntastic raves:

That tension there kept me hooked (well, along with all the unicorn attacks that would come and the bloody mess that it would leave behind) all throughout the novel. I kept reading, hardly glancing up, hardly eating until I was twenty pages from the end. I needed to know: how would it end. I knew, even as I bought this book, that there would be another to come… now, I just hate that I have to wait until Fall 2010 to get my hands on it.

The characters in the book are incredibly diverse. Phil has an air of rebellion around her, a devil-may-care attitude, and yet she shows such love for her cousin Astrid, I just love her all around. At one point, your heart breaks for her. Cory, the ultra-focused unicorn hunter that was the first to arrive, comes off somewhat misunderstood. And Lilith, Astrid’ mother, who had told her of the existence of unicorns for years. At first, I was ambivalent towards her. But later… later, I strongly disliked her.

And Giovanni. (Slight swoon here). It’ll be fun to see how his role grows as the series progresses.

Perhaps where Diana shows her strength is not only in the prose that she writes. It’s fluid. There’s a strong Voice in the work. The descriptions are vivid, elaborate at times. If you’ve read her other work, none of this will be a surprise.

But the details! The history! The richness! The retelling, recreating of worlds and histories. The revelations that come, little by little, and never at a rush… great timing, excellent pacing, but extraordinary details.

LyraRoses says:

5 out of 5 stars...
The imagery that is used wraps you up in how Astrid feels, as you follow her through her decisions. She is a great role model for girls. As she is strong willed and has as true sense of honor. You understand the why behind all her decisions. I love her relationship with her cousin, Phil. They make a great team. I really enjoyed it and hope that there will be another story where we see what happens to the characters later on.

And Kate at Read this Book! wrote:

Wow! I could not put down this book and despite the fact that I was rather unwell when I read it. From the first chapter, you’d be enchanted by the world of killer unicorns. Rampant possesses a nice mixture of romance, action and adventure. Detailed gruesome battles, heart-pounding action, vivid descriptions of unicorns and fantastic dialogue. It’s no question that Diana Peterfreund is an amazingly talented writer.

So there you have it. ‘Cause I know the only reasons you guys come here is to read Rampant reviews, right?

Kidding.You’re probably bored to tears and wonder when I’m gonna post another photo of Rio. But the thing is, Rio is deathly afraid of books for some reason (ahem, shoemaker’s kids go barefoot, I’m guessing), and she refuses to pose with Rampant. And until she does, I’ve instituted a moratorium on her modeling days. Adolescent rebellion my mangled toe!

Luckily, we’ve got a few stand-ins. This is Tiff’s cat. Hi, Tiff’s cat!

Tiff’s Cat is currently enjoying pride of place as the first cat ever featured here on my blog. I’m not so much a cat person, though I love my niece and nephew-cats, Hobbes and Hera.

And, naturally, I love any cat who loves Rampant. Tiff’s cat is hereby named an honorary member of the Order of the Lioness.

Wait, what was that, Rio? You’re jealous? Jealous enough to submit yourself to Mommy’s whims, perhaps?

Okay, you can be in the Order of the Lioness as well. There’s my little girl.

So on my dog-walking excursion today, I caught the edge of TempDog’s leash under my left big toenail and… um, ouch. Who knew so much pain could be in such a little place? So unpleasant.

Also, I may have broken my toe.

To distract from the agony, let’s check out my guest blog today at John Scalzi’s WHATEVER BLOG. I’m talking about the Big Idea behind the killer unicorns of RAMPANT.

Lori at Pure Imagination says:

This is the first book I have read by Diana Peterfreund. I don’t know what I was expecting from killer unicorns but this wasn’t it!
The Story is so original. Who would have thought you could take a beloved mythical creature and turn it into a savage beast. While at the same time time making us fall in love with Bonegrinder. Peterfreund did it wonderfully.

and also:

Giovanni is another of those YA males to add to your list of Boys We Love. That list is getting long!
I’m enthralled with the world Diana Peterfreund has created. A world with vicious mythical creatures, poisons, remedies, magic and lots of action. I look forward to reading more by this author and I can’t wait for a sequel! 4 Stars!

Tales From the Hollow Tree lists RAMPANT as “what’s hot in YA”.

Pikealicious Books took advantage of the Harper Collins Browse Inside feature to read the first five chapters of RAMPANT for free, and says:

I was hooked. I never thought I would be interested in a book that boasts about killer unicorns, but I am- and I cannot wait to finish it. I was really disappointed that I would have to wait a bit before I either get the one copy that I am on the waiting list for the book through the library, or I visit the bookstore this weekend and buy it for myself.

She brings up a really good point: RAMPANT is available at libraries all over this fine nation of ours. Why, the NYPL alone has 44 copies. Does your library have a copy? If not, have you requested that they get one? If you’re a librarian, have you emailed me for your library’s free RAMPANT bookmarks? Now’s your chance!

And last but certainly not least, the book blog at The Baltimore Sun puts RAMPANT on it’s list of “Books to read that aren’t THE LOST SYMBOL.” Which I find to be one of the most awesome booklists to be on ever.

Hi, my name is Diana and I write books about cool girls who do cool things.

Of course, what passes for cool varies enormously depending on your own personal taste. Some people think that long conversations about the perils faced by polar bears given global climate change (complete with scientific equations) is hopelessly uncool. Others are totally turned off when a group of young women yank out bows and arrows for a little friendly competition. I’m pretty much into all of that, though.

It takes all types.

On that subject, I really liked this post by kiwi YA writer Karen Healey about how she’s sick of the bum rap cheerleaders get in a lot of fiction. Almost invariably, they are presented as mean, empty-headed, shallow, boy-crazy… what’s nice is the post engendered a great discussion about those cheerleader stories that don’t perpetuate the stereotype. To wit: some cheerleaders are awesome, like those in Jennifer Barnes’ THE SQUAD series, or the fabulous women of Bring It On.

Though not a cheerleader, Philippa of RAMPANT is a volleyball player, and embodies a lot of the characteristics common to the evil-cheerleader trope. She’s a beautiful blonde jock, a popular girl with lots of guys after her and a ton of influence due to a large circle of friends who think she’s super-cool. Ready to hate her?

Luckily, most folks love Phil. In fact, when I met with a school group who’d read RAMPANT, one girl thanked me for writing a “nice jock.” As an athlete and a reader, she was weary of only reading about mean girls and guys in the sporting world. I recommended she check out HOW TO DITCH YOUR FAIRY, by Justine Larbalestier, which is chockers with athletes.

Speaking of Justine, it was about a year ago that she introduced me to the concept of the Bechdel-Wallace test.

A story (book, movie, etc.) passes if:

1. It has at least two women in it,
2. Who talk to each other,
3. About something besides a man.

Like any neurotic writer, I immediately feared that I’d unwittingly failed this test. But I’ve come to the conclusion that the kind of writers who would care whether or not they pass the test probably don’t have anything to worry about. Yes, the girls in my books talk about boys, but they also talk about: religion, their futures, polar bears, mythology, computer programming, ancient warlords, pretty clothes, their classes, their theses, nuns, political scandals, the best way to hold a sword, the best reasons to join (or not join) a secret society, how they felt when their mothers died, how they felt the first time they killed something, how best to get another girl they know off drugs, the movies they like, the jobs they want, the things they fear more than anything in the world.

Which is not to say that stories that don’t pass the B-W test are inherently bad. Some are fantastic. But the kind of books I write (cool girls doing cool things), are very Bechdel-Wallacey.

And of course, cool girls come in all shapes and sizes. Some are sweet; some are bitchy. Some are into clothes, or sports, or music, or parties, or medicine, or God, or some combination of things you’d never expect. I’ve gotten letters from readers thanking me for writing a nice Christian girl. I’ve gotten letters from readers disappointed that they finally read a book with a Singaporean girl in it, only to discover that she was mean. The pitfall of writing a lot of different types of cool girls is that sometimes, the one with the characteristics a reader most identifies with has other, far more unlikeable characteristics. It’s unavoidable. I try to write balanced characters, who have reasons for the things they do. After all, that nice Christian girl has been known to be pretty mean from time to time, and the bitchy Singaporean girl has a very good reason to feel slighted, and, on the plus side, she’s really good at hunting killer unicorns.

It’s a good thing to read about different kind of people. Expands the brain. I loved this post by Malinda Lo, the author of ASH, about reading for diversity (and not just because she name-checked RAMPANT). I don’t want the cool girls I write about to live in a world where everyone is white, or straight, or American, or has the same religion, or likes the same things, or believes in the same things (or even believes in the same things for the same reasons — one of my favorite things to write about is people who team up to achieve the same goal for markedly different — even diametrically opposed — reasons). It makes things more interesting. It makes things more realistic, too. Because that’s the kind of world we actually live in.

So, cool girls. Cool girls doing cool things. It’s important to me as a writer that I continue to write those kinds of characters. Not simply out of a sense of responsibility to my readers (who are also, by and large, cool girls — though there are a lot of cool guys, too) as Jo Leigh points out in this awesome post about how she writes books about strong young women who believe they are worthy not only of love but of the best in their lives. But I also write those kind of books because I honestly can’t imagine it any other way. Those are the books I like to read, too. I like to read books where the women are strong (not necessarily physically strong, but strong in character and conviction) and interesting. I like to read books about cool girls doing cool things, and when I write a book, I have to read it a lot.

I love the girls in my books. I love the decisions they make, I love the mistakes they make as they work their way toward their own self-identity. I love the fights they have, and the love they show to each other. I also love the boys who love them — I love that their taste in women is all about cool girls who do cool things. Those are the best kind of men, if you ask me.

I’ve spent the week working on revisions for the second killer unicorn book. I’ve spent the week with Astrid and Phil and Cory, and other cool women you may or may not have met yet, and I’m really proud of them. I’m proud when they are put in impossible situations and they don’t give up. I’m happy when they look at mistakes they make and think, okay, I screwed up, but I’m not going to let this stand. I’m thrilled when they are brave enough to fight for what they want and who they love. I’m in awe of the sharpness of their minds and the size of their hearts and the strength of their spirits.

I love how totally cool they are, and I’m glad I created them this way.

Alexa at Not Enough Bookshelves reviews RAMPANT (spoiler -free) and even gives away a free signed copy she snagged last weekend! She says, in part:

Although the plot of Rampant is intriguing and fast paced what really lifts the book to my favourites shelf is narrator, heroine, and reluctant unicorn hunter, Astrid. She’s such a great character, strong, smart and funny but also vulnerable and confused. I loved her emotional growth and her struggle to reconcile her hunter abilities with the life she wants. And, of course, I loved her romance with Giovanni, Diana writes such good boys and such good kissing scenes.

So drop by Alexa’s blog and enter for your chance to win a free copy! (Since I know the only reason you may not have run out to buy your own already is budgetary concerns.)

Amuse Books also reviews Rampant:

Thus begins the adventure in Peterfreund’s Rampant.  A bit Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a bit Roman Holiday and yet very much it’s own unique creation, Rampant leads it’s readers on a journey into another land.  The city of Rome is it’s own character in the novel, along with girls from around the world who gather there to train to do battle against the reemergent Unicorns.  As for Alexander the Great, you’ll just have to read the book to see how he fits in.  You won’t regret it.  Rampant is the best new YA book I’ve read this year.

Just thought you guys might want to know.

In other news, TempDog#3 came and went so fast I didn’t even get a chance to take pictures of her! I’m picking up TempDog#4 today, who will be a little bit more of a challenge than the others, I think, owing to the fact that he’s a…puppy. Gulp. Wish me luck, people.

While I was out at my RAMPANT signing in Tyson’s Corner, VA this weekend, a few more reviews of RAMPANT popped up ’round these here internets.

The Book Lover (quite adorably) gives it “four alicorns out of five” though spoiler warnings are in FULL EFFECT if you click through to the full review. Here’s a spoiler-free snippet: “It was an engaging novel with an easy-flowing story and I had it finished the day after I bought it. I was unable to find it at local libraries so I took a chance on it by buying my own copy. Sometimes a book that seems so good can not live up to expectations, but I’m happy to report that this one did not disappoint.”

The Book Scout rated it 48 out of 50 in an utterly spoiler-free review (yay!) and says:

“This was such an amazing book, it’s really hard to describe how I felt about it. To begin with, I thought the topic sounded so far fetched- I mean killer unicorns, come on! From the first page I was hooked. There was already a lot of action and I was learning things about unicorns I never in my wildest dreams would have believed. Peterfreund presents the idea of killer unicorns in a way that makes you believe in them. Her writing style has a nice flow, and the historical facts were great. I learned more about Alexander the Great and the Goddess Diana then I ever have in history class! Unicorns have always been something I would love to read about and this book just made me want to find out all I could about unicorns. Fast paced, exciting… this book had it all.

“Rampant took me longer to read then normal, because I was so caught up in school work and everything, but every free chance I had I was reading it. The ending left me wondering if there’s going to be a sequel! I really hope so. As I was reading I would shout out in surprise, stand up in shock (yes spilling my somewhat surprised cat onto the floor), and cheer with joy. I love books that draw emotions from me, and this book definitely did. I’ve been reading a jumble of book genres lately, but fantasy is one of my favorites, and this book was a refreshing look at how great fantasy can be. I would highly recommend this to anyone- even people who haven’t liked fantasy before.”

Gosh, I really loved this review. I mean, the fact that the reader (a high school freshman) liked the book and all is fantastic, but it really makes my day to learn that she liked it for the reasons I wrote it. I wrote this book for the teenage girl that I was — the one who was totally obsessed with Marion Zimmer Bradley’s The Mists of Avalon, not just because of how it made me thrill and shout and cry and shudder, but also because it had all that interesting stuff in there about what it was like to live in medieval Britain and the religions of the time and all that stuff. I was taking Latin classes, I was a big mythology nut, and I liked books that addressed all kinds of interesting stuff — Druids, unicorns, whatever! — while telling a fun story. (Actually, that’s still what I like, so go figure.)

This one definitely goes in the rainy day pile.

And, since I am now the recipient of every unicorn-based link on the web, I share with you these rather cool and scary Arts & Crafts-style unicorn stickers. (via a librarian friend on Twitter — btw, I think librarians must know all the cool blogs to follow, it’s how I discovered Awful Library Books, too).

But I digress. In other YA news, great article here on reading YA novels by YA author Mary Pearson, who is somewhat unsurprisingly astonished to hear how many people bash them a priori. (Srsly, I just read a blog comment by none other than Laura Kinsale saying she assumed something was a YA novel because of its — faulty, in her eyes — simplicity. Grrrrrr...)

[UPDATED TO ADD: Laura has clarified her statement in the comments and apparently they were two different thoughts: she thought the book in question was simplisitic and, separately and due to other factors, thought it read more like a YA novel. Sorry, Laura! Also, everyone go buy Laura's new book when it comes out from Sourcebooks next February! (or, y'know, FLOWERS FROM THE STORM or any of her other awesome backlist titles right now!)]

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again — teenagers read far more complex books in school than the average adult reads on their commute. They are spending hours every day analyzing Shakespeare and Hemingway and Faulkner. They are in TRAINING to look deeply into books. That’s the whole reason that adults invented bookclubs, to try to get some of that back. YA books are not dumbed down. Go read FEED or SKIN HUNGER and then come back and talk to me about that one.

Of course, maybe these teen readers aren’t necessarily reading the classics. And why? because they get more “points” for reading Gossip Girl. I’m totally serious. here’s a sobering article from the New York Times about a system implemented in over 75,000 schools in which students are encouraged to choose reading materials not based on literary merit, or even what interests them, but instead upon some mystical “points” system (for an article so focused on the vagaries of the system, it is never explained WHO assigns said “points”):

“You have to read the Harry Potter books” [the writer's daughter] said, exasperated. “They have all the points.”

She was right. “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” topped out at 44 points, while “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” and “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” were worth 34 and 32.

Comparatively, Hamlet is 7 and Frankenstein 14. I guess it’s a word count thing? Must be, since Gossip Girl is 8.

I love Harry Potter as much as the next girl, and I’m not a fan of genre snobbery, either, but I can see why if you can get twice as many points for reading OOP, you might skip over the 22-point Sense & Sensibility. Is no quarter given to the fact that reading Hamlet might be, I don’t know — HARDER than reading Gossip Girl? And I know this system is usually in place for the students to choose extracurricular reading, and why shouldn’t that be fun, but it’s not just classics that are getting the low scores. A Great and Terrible Beauty, by Libba Bray, and The Forest of Hands and Teeth, by Carrie Ryan, both recent YA fantasy novels– just like Harry Potter –are listed as 14 pts. each. (My novels aren’t listed. Zero points, I guess, or maybe Rampant is just too recent to make it in there.)

As much as I loved reading, I would have analyzed that list and read the books that were the most bang for my buck, even if I wasn’t necessarily interested in them. What a flawed system.

Anyone know more about this and want to shed some light on the subject?

The writing segments of the internets have been abuzz this week with discussion about screenwriter Josh Olson’s incendiary “No, I Will Not Read Rour F***ing Script” article in the Village Voice. The article, the disgusting, anti-Semitic commentary that followed, the the outrage, the immaturity. A few of my favorites:

David Gerrold, who has decades of writing award-winning and beloved science-fiction for both print and screen (”The Trouble with Tribbles”, Martian Child), shares why it’s dangerous for published writers to accept unsolicited work.

John Scalzi snarks at his best when explaining why he’s sick and tired of “but I don’t live in XYZ media hub” being used as an excuse for why you aren’t a successful writer. I’m with him there. I live in DC. MY agent lives in a small town in Georgia. Two of my publishers are in New York, but a third is in Texas. Geography is nothing. Some of the most successful writers I know live in: Oklahoma, Arizona, Amherst MA, Sarasota FL. Come on, guys. USPS and email are your FRIENDS. The coolest thing about writing is I can do it whereever I want. I don’t need to pay NYC rents to write for a NYC publisher.

And, then, my favorite, from TV and novel writer Lee Goldberg, about the kind of hating you get when you do respond thusly (as Olson has). And it’s REALLY REALLY worth reading the entirety of that second post, which is about when some stranger “Facebook messaged” Lee out of the blue and asked him to read a TV treatment. When Lee declined, the clearly classy, mannered, and well-brought-up aspiring writer proceeded to call Lee names all over the internet, deriding him AND his work. (One wonders why, if Lee was such a hack, this writer wished for his help?) Lee’s response is characteristically brilliant:

I am stunned by the arrogance of these people, telling me that my professional success isn’t the result of talent or hard work, but rather it is some kind of entitlement. And that by not reading their work, or listening to their ideas, or coaching them on pitching, I am an asshole. My time is their time to do with as they please. They also assume that I am not interested in helping anyone else achieve what I have.

These jerks know nothing about me, or the time and effort I devote to sharing my experience with others. They don’t know about the many days I spend each year teaching TV writing, giving seminars, or speaking about writing at high schools, universities, conferences, and libraries locally, nationwide and around the world, mostly for free.

In the last six weeks, for example, I spent seven days at the International Mystery Writers Festivalin Owensboro, Kentucky teaching, speaking, and moderating seminars on tv and mystery writing to the public. At no charge. I taught a three-hour course on TV writing to students at Cal State Northridge. At no charge. And I spent a day giving a seminar on TV writing to a delegation from China Central Television.

But what I didn’t do is drop everything in my life to read some stranger’s treatment, listen to his idea for a TV series, and coach him on how to pitch.

So obviously I am an arrogant, talentless, asshole.

I have committed the unforgiveable sin of deciding how to use my time and how best to give back to others. And not letting some stranger decide for me.

This is a very good point. There ARE channels for these things. You want to get your work read by a pro? Join a class, take a seminar, (they even have them online if you live in Timbuktu), enter a contest, attend a conference (if you don’t live in Timbuktu or don’t mind flying out on Timbuktu Airlines).There are LOTS of opportunities. Some are free, some cost money, some require a certain level of skill to get past the first hurdles (like initial rounds of contests).

When I was an unpublished author, I had my work read by many published authors who had volunteered their time to do so as judges in writing contests or charity critiques or workshops they were running, etc. There’s a distinction here: they’d already said they would! I sought out the opportunities where I could get this happen, and it wasn’t going up to someone at a cocktail party or Facebook messaging total strangers.

My work was also read by published writers who OFFERED to read it, usually after I’d established a nice long relationship with the writer in which I asked for nothing from them. Some authors choose to do this from time to time, but guess what? that’s their choice, not their duty.

Because it’s not an author’s job to read the work of aspiring writers. And, here’s another point: it’s not necessarily much of a help. I’ve read books that went on to be huge bestsellers that I’ve thought were total crap and had I read that author’s work in manuscript form I’d have said go back to the drawing board. No author I’ve ever recommended to my agent has ended up signed with my agent. (It’s almost a joke at this point, since the only writer friend I know who managed to snag my agent did so without telling me she was submitting, that if you want to get my agent, best not try to go through me.) Clearly, my opinion on the matter counts for very little, which is probably why I’m not an agent.

And though it’s not an author’s job to help aspiring writers, it’s amazing how many do it anyway out of the goodness of heir hearts. Look at Lee. My teaching schedule hasn’t been anywhere near as packed as his is lately, but I gave panels at Dragon*Con last week, answered lots of questions for aspiring writers at my booth in between panels, and regularly talk craft and industry here on the blog, on twitter, and at writer’s conferences and RWA meetings. And speaking of that “YA Market” panel at D*C — I think I soaked up more info there than anyplace. After all, sharing panel space with me was Kathleen Duey, who has written over 90 novels (!!!!!!!!) and Richelle Mead, who is selling tens of thousands of copies of her books a week. In fact, the cost of Dragon*Con in its entirety was made worthwhile to me by one comment Kathleen made about critiquing.

Yes, that’s right. You never stop learning. There are no keys to the kingdom, no secret handshake. Man, I wish there was. That would make all of this so much easier, don’t you think?

Since it’s clearly been too long.

So, RAMPANT, now in it’s second printing (yay!), continues to garner rave reviews across these here interwebs:

TOR.com (MAJOR SPOILER WARNING IF YOU CLICK THROUGH TO READ THE WHOLE THING) calls Rampant’s unicorns “delightfully nasty” and Read Now Sleep Later opines “Peterfreund pulls it off with Buffy-like strength and agility (and fashion sense, and weapons/tactical skills)” and calls it a “stay up all night!” read.

(To be perfectly honest, I don’t get the bit about the fashion sense. I feel like sometimes my books get tarred with the “books about fashion” brush because I write in a chick litty first person voice. I know Buffy had that bottomless closet of leather pants — honestly, it made no sense given her financial struggles — but my characters tend to dress more simply for hunting. They wear nothing of interest in the entirety of Rampant. Jeans, cargo pants, sweaters, tank tops, a few skirts when they are out on the town. The nicest item of clothing in the entire book (an angora blend sweater) is drenched in blood by page 10. If you read books for clothes, Rampant is not going to satisfy a craving. You’ve been warned.)

(In passing, someday I should write a book about clothes. I do love clothes.)

Yan at Books By Their Cover gives a somewhat spoilery review (I’m just passing along the warnings!), and also says:

“Move over My Little Pony someone has come to take your place—Bonegrinder (lovely name isn’t it?). Killer unicorns has yet to ever cross my mind until this book popped up so kudos to Diana for creating an addictive, originally, enthralling, super awesome book. From page one to page I WANT MORE! I was captivated by the gruesome bloody battles, cute exchange students, and shiny claymores. (4.5/5 stars)”

And Speed-Reading Book Nerd, a longtime reader of the SSG books, puts in her two cents (SECTIONS WHITED OUT FOR SPOILERAGE):

“This is a book about killer unicorns. And it’s awesome. Even beyond the “snicker, dude, I’m reading a book about killer unicorns” factor, this book has depth, power, plenty of interesting questions to think about, conspiracies, and more. AWESOME.”

and

“But Things Happen. Major, shocking, mindblowing things. Deeper questions about the unicorn world are pondered, a conspiracy appears to be going on, one character [SPOILER WHITE OUT STARTS HERE] has a drastic change of life circumstance (note: this may trigger issues in some people, but I think it’s relevant to cover in this book and I think it’s handled about as well as it could be),[SPOILER WHITE OUT ENDS HERE] and Astrid meets a shocking ally and needs to decide how she’s going to handle things.  I particularly loved how Astrid’s wannabe-scientist-ness starts to come in handy as she finally finds a way to put it to good use on behalf of the hunters. Neat-o.

“Dear god, this is good. So much more depth than you would expect from the subject. I am really intrigued to find out what happens next.

“Five stars.”

So there’s that round up.

In other news, I’m doing a signing this Saturday, September 12, at the Barnes & Noble in Tyson’s Corner, VA. Please come! More info available on my Events page.

And, finally, I just received my very first Rampant Fan Art! What I like about these pieces is that they so accurately portray the scenes I wrote

Astrid and the Zhi, by Elina Johnston

From Rampant:

There it was, just a few trees over. Standing, frozen, as if waiting. I stepped into the tiny clearing, and the creature emerged from the shadows.

And no, it was not a deer.

Not a goat, either, though that would be the closest term I could use to describe the way it looked. A goat, or maybe some sort of small antelope. Its fur was white and shaggy, and reminded me a bit of the hair on a llama. Its back was about thigh-high, and its head and neck hovered somewhere near my waist. Of course, the horn made the creature look much bigger. Protruding in a straight line from the center of its forehead, it was easily the length of my forearm, and twisted like a screw.

Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe. My mother’s psychosis was not only genetic, it had uniformity of type as well. I was seeing unicorns.

The unicorn looked up at me with eyes as blue as a Siamese cat’s, and let out a little bleat that sounded nothing whatsoever like fairy bells. It stepped forward cautiously. This was no hallucination. I prepared to be rammed through the heart, and wondered idly if the poison was very fast-acting.

Now I wish I’d paid attention to Lilith all those years. Of course, if I had, I’d simply think that unicorns didn’t exist anymore, rather than that mom was nuts and they’d never existed in the first place.

The unicorn was only a few inches away from me now. I couldn’t look away. But then it bent one leg and swept into what looked for all the world like a very low, very formal bow. The tip of its horn missed my body by millimeters in its semicircular trip to the ground.

Clothilde and Bucephalus, by Elina Johnston

From Rampant:

As my eyes adjusted to the dimness, I saw before me the outline of a woman and a beast on a raised dais in the center of the room. I approached, only to be met with another set of statues—though these looked more like the mannequins and stuffed figures you’d see in a natural history museum diorama than the hunks of marble in a sculpture gallery. A bronze plaque at the base of the dais identified the figures, and I dropped my backpack in surprise. Clothilde and Bucephalus.

The woman wore a dress of real purple silk, faded somewhat where the sun filtered in from the windows above. Long blonde hair not unlike my own hung from beneath an elaborately folded headdress of indigo purple and brilliant white. Her mannequin face was as white as porcelain, her eyes bright marbles with blank black centers. In her hands she brandished a gleaming sword against the monster before her.

It was as big as an elephant. The hide was a deep chestnut red and in consistency something between a horse and what I imagined from a wooly mammoth. The nostrils flared on a long, wide snout, and its mouth was open in a snarl, revealing jaws that would make a sabertooth tiger feel envious. Each cloven hoof was the size of a truck tire and the beast stood in an aggressive pose, tilting a curved, creamy yellow horn as thick and long as my leg directly back at the hunter.

Pretty cool, huh? Thanks, Elina!

Sorry for the radio silence, folks. I appear to have picked up what folks keep telling me is officially called, “con crud”. (And then SB tells me they had a verified case of H1N1 at some other big con this weekend and I’m like, oh, crud!)

This had better not be that. I have a book to revise.

So, as I’m mainlining matzoh ball soup and orange juice, let me tell you a bit about my experiences at my very very first Dragon*Con.

Discovery the First: Geekdom is a small small world. Take for example my first night there, where a dinner with fans of my friend C.L. Wilson ended up including a video game designer who not only used to work with my brother, but actually gave him his pet cat. This discovery, by hte way was made while sitting at a table with a centerpiece of a giant statue of Pope John Paul II while wearing the outfit of a clockwork can-can dancer. Which leads me to…

Discovery the Second: Costumes are fun! Behold:

Me as a clockwork can-can dancer, being wound up by a clockwork patron (Actually, his clockwork beat the pants off mine. It actually wound up, for REAL.)

Rainbow Brite! Oh, 80s! How I’ve missed thee!

Lots of Watchmen. These were three of the better ones. Rorshach was especially popular this year.

Dude’s Dark Mark tattoo looked real. Possibly was real. So awesome.

This is how the conversation went in the lobby of the Hyatt when I saw this guy:

Diana: Look, it’s 9!
C.L. Wilson: Like from District Nine?
Diana: No, 9!
C.L. Wilson: You mean like from The Nines?
Diana: No! Nine! 9!
C.L. Wilson’s sister: Like German for “no?”

I hung out with Marianne Mancusi on Saturday night, while she was dressed as Zombie Bo Peep. It was one of the coolest costumes I saw the entire con, but it bugged me that people kept calling to her as “Bloody Bo Peep.” Dude, there’s very clearly a brain on the end of her crook there. What is it with people not getting the zombie aspects of zombie costumes? Last Halloween, when I dressed up as Wedding Night of the Living Dead with SB, people kept asking us if we were supposed to be “Corpse Bride.” Um, well, there’s a dude here, so, what? Is he “corpse groom?” Also, we were very clearly bloody and slavering for brains.

To make a long story short, I was thrilled whenever I heard anyone go “Zombie Bo Peep! Can I get a picture?”

Okay, time for more cold medicine. I’ll post more later!