So apparently, I’ve been living under a rock. (Or a receiving blanket?) I just found out that Zombies vs. Unicorns was named a School Library Journal Best Book of 2010, was placed on the 2011 Tayshas Reading List, and won an Audiophile Earphone Award for the audiobook version. Good for us!

The other point of interest is that we got a foreign sale for Rampant: Grasindo in Indonesia has bought the rights.More info on when the book will be available when I’ve got it.

And finally, Ascendant made the Daily Beast’s Best Young Adult Novels of 2010 list.

Also, the baby has been asleep for seven and a half hours now. W00T!

The sun has not yet made an appearance in 2011, which is why I’m already falling down for the year in terms of walking Rio. But we’re definitely going out today — and it looks like the sun will be, too.

The writing — well, the baby has been really sleepy for the past few days, which means I’ve had the opportunity to write. But the muscles have atrophied somewhat in my months of maternity leave. I have written and discarded about a thousand words this weekend. Now part of this is I’m starting a new short story and I’ve has a few false starts, which are very normal for me, in terms of voice. I’m trying something very different with this short story — because, hey, if you can’t experiment in your short fiction, where can you? For instance, I experimented with present tense in “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn” and with dueling third person narratives in “Errant.” I do not have a title for this short story yet, but I’m kind of madly in love with the heroine’s first name.Today we go for attempt #3 — hopefully, this one will be the keeper.

So that’s what I’m up to on this third day of the year. What about you?

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It’s been a while since I got a chance to look on the internet and see what folks are saying about my books (always a daunting prospect, made even more so by spending a few months unplugged from your career).

But I actually found some lovely things. Like this “author rave” by a librarian at Wyoming Seminary College (which is not in Wyoming, but in the Wyoming Valley area of PA, and where my family is from). In fact, I’m pretty sure my cousin graduated from this school. The librarian discovered my story in ZvU and went on to read the full length series, and is now tackling the SSG books. Thanks! And hey, I go home to the valley all the time, so if your library is ever looking for a speaker, let me know!

There are also a lot of blog reviews, like this one from Emily a.k.a. WillowRaven at Red House Books:

Wow. This book blew me away! I don’t know why I waited so long to read it. I think I was a little worried about corrupting my love of unicorns with Diana’s version of blood thirsty killers. My unicorns have always been gentle and magical. The unicorns of Rampant – magical? Yeah. Gentle? Hells no! And you know what? I think I like them better that way

What I really liked about Rampant was the fact that the story doesn’t rely on the novelty of the killer unicorns to make it work. The plot is awesome, the characters are well developed and really likable, and the setting was amazing.

So even if you discount the awesomeness that evil unicorns present, the story itself was one of the best I’ve read this year. I absolutely loved Astrid and I so saw myself walking the halls of that ancient cloister.

And this one from a blog called Nyx Book Reviews:

I cannot stress the fact enough how utterly brilliant this book is. Astrid has made it to my top 3 most kick-ass heroines. I love that there finally is a girl in a YA novel that doesn’t hide behind her crush at every sight of danger. She is truly self sufficient, and actually has to protect her crush from being hurt. I adore that she isn’t dependant. It annoys me that almost all female characters seem to be nothing without their male counterparts.

…This is one of those books you come across that you think is so great you can’t stop talking about it. As you might tell from the abundance of quotes from this book, I obviously can’t get enough of it. While I’m reviewing, I’m skimming through the pages again, looking for great passages. It makes me want to reread the whole book. While I just finished! *sighs*

There’s also this one from Bookish Blather:

OMG, you guys. You guys, why didn’t anyone tell me that books about killer unicorns are FREAKING AWESOME?!

I don’t know exactly why I decided to skip on Rampant the first time around. I think I was focusing more on the “unicorn” rather than the “killer” part of the description, plus I’m just generally prejudiced against fantasy. Then I read Peterfreund’s contribution to Zombies vs. Unicorns and was intrigued…

What excited me the most about these two books is just how darn feminist they are. Seriously, these are some of the most feminist books I’ve read since The Disreputable History of Frankie-Landau Banks. Throughout both books there are positive depictions of young women’s sexuality, and then especially in Ascendant there’s discussions about women (even those who weren’t unicorn hunters) who defied traditional notions of femininity to follow their passions in science and medicine. And then yes, there’s the idea of a secret group of women who are all that stands between humanity and the unicorn scourge. Women with big swords = awesome.

(In passing, I’m excited to see how many people are discovering my series based upon my short stories. I know writers say that short stories are one way to introduce readers to your work, but darn if it isn’t true!)

Read Sam Read, a teen book blogger with a really pretty blog header, has this to say about Ascendant:

I think there are some books that affect me in such a way that I can’t do my standard bullet point reviews. The last book I finished, Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly was one of those and Ascendant definitely is. I think there’s something in the rawness of these books that I can’t make bullets about what I liked; I can ramble in paragraphs about it, however.

Ascendant took me a little too long to finish, but not for lack of interest. I’m glad I took it slow, because I could savor it. And even though it wasn’t as fast-paced and exciting as Rampant was, with the whole, “Will she do it with Giovanni?” thing, I think it was definitely better for it. It was more mature. And you can definitely see the change in Astrid from the beginning of the book until the end. It wasn’t some kind of dumb character development that I didn’t believe – I really, really believed it. It was done so well.

I have to be honest with you guys. I worried a lot about some of the choices I made in writing Ascendant the way I did. It’s not easy. It’s not tidy. I think that’s why people are so interested in news about a sequel. And not everyone was happy with those choices — there are definitely readers out there who are really angry about what happens in Ascendant, or angry with me as a writer, or what have you. But all I can do as a writer is be honest. Be honest to the needs of the story, the needs of the characters, etc. I like happy endings as much as the next person. I like it when the good guys win and the bad guys lose — but it isn’t what always happens. It especially isn’t what always happens when it’s not easy to tell who the good guys and the bad guys are. Is Isabeau a good guy or a bad guy? Opinions are split on this. Is it a useful classification? I think Isabeau does have Astrid’s best interests at heart.

Here’s another question: Is Astrid a good guy or a bad guy? In the middle of the book? In the end? What do you think Bucephalus would say?

(Maybe I should make a reader questionnaire. I’m really curious about some of these things.)

And I’m okay with these questions, especially since I designed the book to prompt them. I didn’t want it to be all neat and tidy. I didn’t want people to go, “Oh, unicorn magic is a good thing, Astrid’s figured it out, everything is hunky dory.” If so, there’d be no point to writing a second book at all. I wanted all the assumptions from the first book turned on their heads. (Again, if they weren’t there’d be no point to a third book.) Ah, third book. Someday!

I guess some of these questions will be easier to parse when the series concludes, which I promise you guys, it will. I just don’t know when yet.

Which leads me to my next point. I stumbled across a conversation on the internet (no link, sorry) taking me to task for “irresponsibly” writing a second book in an imagined trilogy without being under contract for more. To which I can only shrug. Things happen — and sometimes they don’t happen as you expect — and rarely do they happen in the order and with the timing that the internet concludes without knowing any of the particulars.

I’ve got friends who actually were under contracts for series, and the series were canceled halfway through. I’ve got other friends who’ve written well-beloved series that were never meant to me series at all. I’ve got friends whose first books in their series are being held hostage by unscrupulous or unfortunate publishers. It’s not always in a writer’s control to say this book will come out next and as quickly as a potential reader wants it to. And the potential reader can thumb his nose at the writer and go, “Well, phooey, I don’t want to read your stupid book anyway.” There’s risk on both sides.

The only thing I can do as a writer is keep writing (or start writing, AHEM Miss Longest Maternity Leave Ever), keep writing the best and most appropriate story I can based on the information I have at the time of writing, and finding ways to get my books into you, the reader’s, hands.

Okay, I’m off for the day. Rio needs walking, baby needs… well, EVERYTHING… and I need to finish wrapping Christmas presents.

Take care! Stay warm!

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(First: the winner of the Worldbuilding Q&A giveaway is alaska! Alaska, email me and tell me your address and whether or not you want Rampant or Ascendant.  To everyone else, I’m still answering questions, but I’ve been a bit tied up. so I’ll answer the rest of them in separate blog posts instead of the comments thread. Keep an eye out.)

Now…for the new giveaway!

Today is the day that ZOMBIES VS. UNICORNS, my new anthology, releases! Yay!

ZVU was a total labor of love for everyone involved. I remember when Justine first told me about the idea, and I was holding my breath and crossing my fingers that not only would she be able to sell it, but that I might be able to contribute. Last spring, I was given the go-ahead, and I wrote my first short story since college (not counting the Secret Stories). “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn” is an origin story for one of my unicorn hunters. I got the idea from a line in RAMPANT, though you don’t need to have read RAMPANT to enjoy “Care and Feeding…” and the story doesn’t actually have anything to do with that line.

And I’m glad that so many other people love the story as much as I do. To date, the collection has received two starred reviews, from Publisher’s Weekly and now, from School Library Journal:

“Diana Peterfreund wows readers by delving again into the dark world of Rampant (HarperTeen, 2009) with “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn,” proving Astrid is not the only strong female hunter out there.” — SLJ

And the bloggers have been weighing in as well:

“Now, Team Unicorn, don’t get your panties in a twist. I loved the Unicorn stories too. How could I not when authors like Diana Peterfreund and Meg Cabot are writing them. Anyway, Ms. Peterfreund wrote about a young girl who saves a baby unicorn. I enjoyed Wendy so much that I hope we see more of her. Maybe in book 3 of the Killer Unicorn series?! We NEED more! Also, awesome, but totally hilarious was Meg Cabot’s Princess Prettypants. Which was about a typical unicorn that farts rainbows and smells like a florist shop. So funny! So if you fall into either category, unicorn or zombie lover, you’re sure to find something that tickles you fancy in Zombie vs. Unicorns. I highly recommend it for a good laugh, or a good scare. Keep it on your bookshelves for a rainy day, you’ll love it!” –  Cry Havoc Reviews

“The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn by Diana Peterfreund. Team Unicorn. 4 ♥ / 5 ♥
I need to go read Rampant as soon as possible. Killer Unicorns, and the girls that hunt them…it’s like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but with unicorns. Wen is a unicorn hunter (not that she’s practicing) that suddenly finds herself caring for a newborn unicorn. The indecision that she feels comes through loud and clear. Clean writing and some awesome new unicorn lore and background makes this story of taming a killer unicorn an incredibly interesting one.” — Escape Through the Pages

“Favorite Unicorn Story: The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn by Diana Peterfreund.  I’ve been wanting to start this killer unicorn series after raves from Lori and Candace, and this just makes me want to read it even more.  Scary, action-packed, and wonderful.” — Reading Angel

“I loved the commentary that was between Black and Larbelestier. It was full of snarky and funny remarks. It also gave a brief glance into what the story was about, before you read it. I liked that it switched between Unicorn and Zombie stories. “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn” by Diana Peterfreund was my favorite story, but I love her novels about killer unicorns.” — Sarah’s Random Musings

“The stories I did really enjoy were The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn by Diana Peterfreund, Princess Prettypants by Meg Cabot, and Cold Hands by Cassandra Clare.  I really got into all of the characters and the plot in just the short stories that they were in….In The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn, I loved Wen.  I loved how she followed what she felt was right, even though she had been raised to believe that unicorns were evil.” — So Many Books, So Little Time

“I devoured this story with fangirlish glee. I also have a bit of an obsession with exotic animals and their training, especially animals of the intelligent variety (y’all know I have Chocobo, an African Grey parrot, right?) so this story was a total win” — Cassandra Yorgey for Examiner.com

““The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn” by Diana Peterfreund hopefully is a segue to her new book! It was awesome!” — Bitten by Books

“After reading this short story I really want to read Rampant and find out more about the unicorn lore and the world of unicorn hunters.” — Dreaming of Books

And now for the giveaway. As simple as can be — just leave a comment here, and you, too, can win a copy. Have at it!

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We’ve been getting a bunch of reviews in for the new anthology, ZOMBIES VS. UNICORNS, which is edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier and includes stories by a rather awesome collection of YA authors. Publisher’s Weekly even graced it with a starred review:

Zombies vs. Unicorns
Edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier, S&S/McElderry, $16.99 (432p) ISBN 978-1-4169-8953-0
In this offbeat anthology, editors Black and Larbalestier embark upon a literary throw-down to determine which is superior: zombies or unicorns. To that end, each assembled a six-person team of writers and set them loose. Each story is prefaced by editorial banter as each editor (hilariously) makes her case. Highlights include Diana Peterfreund’s Rampant tie-in, “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn”; Libba Bray’s postapocalyptic tale of teens trying to maintain a semblance of civilization in “Prom Night”; and Maureen Johnson’s pointed take on celebrity fads in “The Children of the Revolution.” Meg Cabot’s “Princess Prettypants” skewers the image of unicorns as sparkling, rainbow-farting “symbols of pure happiness, hope, and awesomesauce,” while Carrie Ryan’s “Bougainvillea” acts as a prologue to The Forest of Hands and Teeth. Scott Westerfeld’s “Inoculata” examines what happens when the zombie hordes finally win, while the zombie in Alaya Dawn Johnson’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart” isn’t nearly as far gone. Without a clunker in the bunch, this anthology more than lives up to the potential its concept suggests. Zombies or unicorns? There’s no clear winner, unless it’s readers. Ages 14–up. (Sept.)

Mode a la Pie writes:

Now, after careful consideration, I’m kind of torn on the issue. I enjoyed an equal number of unicorn and zombie stories, but it was a unicorn tale—Diana Peterfreund’s “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn”—that I loved best. Maybe it’s because I was never allowed to have a dog and always fantasized about having a secret pet that I could hide in my closet or sock drawer.

Jessica at I Read to Relax! writes:

Some of my favorite stories in the book were “Princess Prettypants” by Meg Cabot, “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn” by Diana Peterfreund, “Prom Night” by Libba Bray…oh god, they were all good! This one book encompassed stories by so many of my favorite authors. There was tongue in cheek humor, there was chill-inducing realism, there was hope, and there was romance. This is a book that I would highly recommend to all fantasy readers. Even if you only read one or two of the stories, you would still be guaranteed a great time!

Cornucopia of Reviews writes:

My personal favorites were written by Meg Cabot (two words: Princess Prettypants), Carrie Ryan, Diana Peterfreund, and Garth Nix. I really enjoyed the banter between Black and Larbalestier as they introduced the book, and each story. They left me laughing, and attempting to get other people to read certain passages. I also loved that Ryan and Peterfreund wrote stories that actually tied into their other stories. Of course, I love both The Killer Unicorn series, and The Forest of Hands and Teeth . So, it was nice to read different perspectives from those two universes.

PipeDreaming writes:

Reading this book is like gaining exclusive access to a super-cool club of YA authors and personalities: Holly Black, Meg Cabot, Garth Nix, Naomi Novik, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Maureen Johnson, Carrie Ryan, Scott Westerfeld, Alaya Dawn, Justine Larbalestier, Kathleen Duey, Margo Lanagan and Diana Peterfreund. This is a list anyone who is ANYONE in YA wants to be included on. They are the beyond-cool kids at the party wearing t-shirts with the name of a band you’ve never heard of splashed all over the front laughing at something so urbane and witty you can’t possibly hope to understand, but you just want to be included in the joke anyway.

Okay, this is hilarious. I have NEVER been the cool girl at the club. Fun!

Janicu writes:

This is one of the better anthologies I’ve read in a while, although I would warn that much of it is grim and gory and there are only a couple of light stories. I tried to decide which were my favorites and really had a hard time. I finally settled on Meg Cabot’s for my favorite light story, Margo Lanagan’s for my favorite dark (and disturbing), and Diana Peterfreund’s for something in between. Uh oh, all unicorn tales… let the hate mail from Team Zombie begin.

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First things first: Why are unicorns such an object of fascination on Regretsy? First there was the “Lady Gaga Devouring a Unicorn” situation the other week (full pic NSFW, necessarily), and now there’s the even weirder “You and Justine Bieber riding a Unicorn” post. Creepy, people.

I have never dealt with the question of “riding” unicorns in my novels, though it’s something the art department was curious about at first. I think it’s because a lot of the people who love unicorns are the kind of people who were also really into horses as a child. (I certainly see folks online who say they can’t imagine reading my book because it’s about killing unicorns and unicorns are fluffy and sparkly and besides they loved horses as a child. Um, huh? Actually, my books are about killer unicorns who are nothing whatsoever like horses. Only one of the unicorns in my book has ever been ridden and well, he’s still a little bitter about it, three thousand years later.)

And as for the “eating” unicorns bit, well, I do bring it up a few times in “Errant” and Ascendant. Suffice to say: not the best idea.

In other news, my second anthology comes out in a little over a month, and the bloggers have jumped on the ZvU bandwagon. It’s been interesting to watch these reviews come in, as almost every one is colored by the bloggers’ preconceived place on the zombies vs. unicorns spectrum. They come out of the gate saying “I’m so Team Unicorn” or “I’m all Unicorned out” and go from there. It makes me wonder how many readers of the antho will pick and choose among their monsters of choice.

Despite the fact that I am somehow made a general in this battle, I actually like zombies. so I read all the stories in the anthology. (Well, almost all of them — my neighbor stole my ARC and took it to California before I could read Cassie, Kathleen, or Libba’s stories.)

Here are some recent online reactions to this book:

“‘The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn’ by Diana Peterfreund (5/5 stars)
Loved this story.  Those of your who haven’t read her book Rampant should because it is awesome.  This story takes place in the same world and involves a young woman learning how to take care of a killer baby unicorn.  Very well done, lots of fun, and a great story.” — Karissa’s Reading Review

“I am happy to report that Diana Peterfreund once again delivers. “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn” might sound like a playful, lighthearted title, this is a surprisingly moving story about a girl struggling with her terrifying new-found abilities, her family expectations, her relationships, and, of course, a baby killer unicorn. One of the longer stories in the bunch, “Baby Killer Unicorn” actually feels like more of a novella than a short story. I love that protagonist Wen is markedly different from the other female leads in this collection, and in fact from Ms. Peterfreund to date – she’s not as rough as Astrid (of Rampant) or as assured as Amy (of the Secret Society Girl books). Wen is quieter, religious (which stands out in a sea of usually agnostic/atheistic or religion-free genre stories), and confused – but when she does stand up for herself, it’s an awesome, empowering feeling.” — Thea of The Booksmugglers

(Please note: The Booksmugglers are giving away two copies of this book this week, so click through and enter!)

“This is a marvelous story! My heart raced when I read it! Wen experiences a deep struggle with her choice to save little “Flower”. She struggles with what her faith and her parents would expect her to do vs what her heart is asking of her. Beautifully written. It has made me RUSH to read Diana’s book Rampant.” — Fiction State of Mind

“”Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Alaya Dawn Johnson seems to be a Team Zombie favorite, while Diana Peterfreund’s “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn” – a spin-off of her Rampant series – is raking in the praise from Team Unicorn. When I said that Holly and Justine had used the creme de la creme for this anthology, I wasn’t kidding.” — Maria Meeps

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In the week I was gone, it seems as if a lot of people discovered killer unicorns.

First up, we have Liz at A Chair, A Fireplace, & a Tea Cozy, (now an official School Library Journal blog — gratz, Liz!) who writes:

“Why did I not read this last year? The only good thing about reading it now is that I then immediately read the sequel, Ascendant (September 2010).”

Also:

“To reference  Buffy one more time – Rampant is what Buffy Season Seven should have been. Different girls of widely different backgrounds, interests, living together, training together, trying to figure out their roles when there are very little rules. I loved it! Forget vampires, the CW should sign this up as the next teen series.

“What else? Peterfreund has created an entire mythology and manages to convey it all the reader without any info-dumps. It’s all woven into the story, helped by the fact that Astrid and her friends are also all discovering this anew. There are lots of real world concerns, like funding the whole boarding-school-for-unicorn-hunters, as well as people trying  to figure out, hm, if unicorns are real, what else is real? Turns out there is also a mysterious “Remedy,” somehow made from unicorns, that can cure anything. The story in Rampant is so new, so fresh, so fun, so scary, I just want to keep sharing with you all the awesomeness “and there are five types of unicorns! And the einhorn! And…and…and.”

“And the battles! If part of you is thinking of My Pretty Unicorns and giggling at the thought of those pretty princess rainbow unicorns doing any damage, think again. There is blood and gore and death, and exhaustion and scars and recovery.”

And:

“So in one book: intricate mythology without any distracting dumps of information; scary adventure; family, friendship, love; and killer unicorns. What’s not to love?”

So that floated me through my first day at RWA. Soon after, I discovered this review of RAMPANT at Nymfaux’s blog:

“But if you’re looking for a bad unicorn story, Rampant is definitely your book.  Um, wait, that didn’t come out right.  What I meant to say was if you’re looking for a kick-ass story about unicorns gone bad…You’ve come to the right place.”

And

“This was definitely one my favorite new reads(I read it in one sitting)(sleep is moderately overrated), and I am eagerly awaiting its sequel, Ascendant.  Why are you so far away September?  Why????  Diana Peterfreund is definitely on my watch list!!!  My watch, stalk-obsessively, find out any information possible at all costs, list.”

W00T!

Melissa Silva has had a chance to read Ascendant. Here’s her verdict:

“This book was extremely enjoyable. The continuation of Astrid’s story draws you in and takes you on the journey for discovery with her. I do wish that the book had more of Bucephalus because I enjoyed him in the first book, but the action, adventure and twists in this book made me forget all about wanting the elephant-sized unicorn. I highly recommend this series to anyone who enjoys adventure, Diana Peterfreund did a fantastic job with this second book, and it left me wanting more.”

And so did Jessica Miller, young adult librarian and blogger at I Read to Relax:

“Astrid is achingly real in this book. She’s torn between wanting to be safe and feeling as if she must do her duty as a hunter. She never gives up trying to do the right thing, ever. Astrid is what I consider a true heroine and has officially sealed her position as one of my top favorite characters of all time.  An astounding continuation in the series.”

Ain’t that sweet? And last, but certainly, certainly, certainly not least…. guys, I wrote something that the good folks at Kirkus actually liked. Behold, their August 1st review of Zombies vs. Unicorns (bolding mine):

“Forget vampires vs. werewolves: the hottest feud is between fans of the fiercely magical horses and the shambling, brain-eating undead. Adopting tones from humorous to haunting, tender to terrifying, and settings from the fairy-tale past to modern suburbia to dystopian day-after-tomorrow, twelve YA authors (both up and coming and superstar) explore the mythic potential of each otherworldly creature. Team Zombie offers up both sweetly creepy romances between the living and not-quite-dead and chilling examinations of adolescence after the Zombie Apocalypse. Standouts for Team Unicorn include an inspirational tale of the reluctant heroine born to slay monsters and the baby maneater she loves and a poignant, piercing analysis of the corrosive price demanded by the power to heal. A healthy does of graphic gore and plenty of love and lust (including same-sex and different-species pairings) push this collection into the older teen range. the editors chime in with wonderfully snarky cheerleading and a bit of insightful commentary along the way. Who is the victor in this epic smackdown? Readers, of course! (Fantasy/horror/short stories, 14 & up)“

Still a little giddy about that one. As I’ve mentioned before, this was my first short story written for professional publication. And I wrote it with a specific audience in mind — a cousin of mine that was a tad too young for Rampant when it came out last year, and is, like Wen (the heroine of “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn”) a young woman of strong faith. It was very cool to see it called “inspirational” in the pages of Kirkus!

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Here I am in Orlando, Florida at the annual RWA Conference. I spent yesterday evening with my roommate, Erica Ridley, as well as Team Castle-mate Jennifer Barnes and my new BFF Melissa de la Cruz (I kept the fangirllng to a minimum).

People keep saying to me, “Oh, what are you doing here at RWA?” Man, you skip a con for four years and this is what happens!

In other news, I was giddy with joy last night when I started seeing some reviews for my two upcoming books: Zombies Vs. Unicorns and Ascendant pop up on these here internets. The first is from Eve’s Fan Garden:

“Team Unicorn is Holly Black, Meg Cabot, Kathleen Duey, Margo Lanagan, Garth Nix, Naomi Novik, and Diana Peterfreund. Even if all you know about Unicorns is that they come in the form of shiny, sparkly stickers, you will love everyone of these stories. My favorite one was “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn”, by Diana Peterfreund. I blazed through this story and was left wanting more and more! The Unicorns in these stories will change the way you perceive unicorns from those shiny, sparkly sticker images to something entirely different!”

The second is not so much a review as an interview with the powers-that-be behind the anthology, Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier, for BWi:

BWI: If educators were asked to share one story to get teen readers interested in the debate, which one(s) would you recommend to lead off the discussion?

HB: Well, on the unicorn side, I would love to see people talk about Diana Peterfreund’s story with the baby killer unicorn, who is at once horrific and adorable; I would love to see people discuss Margo Lanagan’s reframing some of the traditional unicorn story elements; but mostly I’d like readers to pick the story they think they would like the best and read that.

The whole interview is fantastic, especially if you’re fans of these authors’ works. Check it out.

There have also been folks reading Ascendant. The first review comes care of Raila of Books out of the Bookshelves, a Brazilian reader who I believe discovered my work through Secret Society Girl (which is published in Brazil) and has now decided to try out killer unicorns (which is only published in North America so far). Can I just tell you how impressed and a little jealous I am that she can speak and read and write in Portuguese and English? I know I love writing these cosmopolitan characters who speak  multiple languages (Gitta, in “Errant” speaks seven) and that is because I secretly wish that I was this amazing polyglot like Raila and the people in my books. About Rampant, she writes:

Two other different and amazing and creative aspects of Rampant that I sincerely liked and feel like I need to point out are: first, the story is nearly entirely settled in Rome, and we get to visit through the characters’ eyes and steps museums and places I would love to go someday; second, in Rampant, it’s not the guy who is the mysterious and dangerous, it’s the girl—and it’s such a sweet part of the story, something I could read again and again.

And about Ascendant:

Well, the whole story is basically written based on the surprises Astrid faces, therefore I can not tell much or I might (sorry about the language) screw it up for you—though I don’t even think it’s possible since I sincerely loved this sequel and now want more! Because the ending left me sad sitting on my bed, and wondering a LOT, period! Overall, Ascendant is brilliant. I had no idea I was going to enjoy it so much as I did, nor find what I found. Astrid keeps being such a strong female protagonist, who grows on me by every chapter. I’m sincerely super looking forward to see what comes next in the series, how everything is going to be solved… or not.

I know I have said this before, but one of the best parts of being a writer for me is the moment when you really feel like a reader has connected to precisely what you were trying to create — the kernel behind the words on the page. They may like it, they may not, they may be confused or hurt or inspired by it, but since the point of my job, beyond entertainment, is communication, it warms the cockles of my heart to get the sense that I really connected with the reader in the way I intended to.

Last, but not least, we have The Ravenous Bookshelf. I met this blogger at ALA, and gave her a copy of ASCENDANT. And here’s what she has to say (It begins with “Diana Peterfreund certainly doesn’t pull her punches” which I think I want on the cover of the book):

It is a tribute to Astrid as heroine that I felt compelled to stick with her throughout all this horrible mess, even as she screws up and gets lost and hurts people she cares about — I just couldn’t leave her. Because she was doing the best she could and being strong and smart and funny despite it all and let me tell you that is a kickass heroine.

It’s awfully risky to have your main character go through the wringer, mostly because as readers we want to identify with our protagonist and no one likes having Life kick the snot out of them. But Life Happens, and props to Diana Peterfreund for developing this story in the way it should happen even if it means a rougher ride.

This review put a major smile on my face. The choices I made in Ascendant won’t please everyone, I know. When I told Sailor Boy of my dire plans for Astrid, he was very scared for her. But it’s a matter of being honest with your story, even if it’s hard. And being a unicorn hunter is very, very, very hard.

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In case you didn’t see me totally geeking out on Twitter yesterday, my pal Carrie Ryan discovered that the “sample” they are displaying of the Kiss Me Deadly audio book is a sample of my story, “Errant.”

Kiss Me Deadly Sample

I’m still giddy about it. I’ve never heard my work read professionally before, and I think I would have killed to be a fly on the wall in that production meeting, where they said, “Hey, I have an idea. Let’s read the narrative in an American accent, and then do French accents for the French characters, you know, because they are French.”

(Even though they are ostensibly speaking in French. I always think it’s weird that whenever they do historical pictures, no matter what country they are supposed to be in, everyone speaks in English accents. Although I suppose Tom Hulce didn’t. Right? Now I can’t remember. Mozart was not a unicorn hunter.)

The sample does not include a sample of Gitta’s dialogue, so I don’t know if they have decided to do a German accent for her, or if they’ve decided to do an accent that is a mix of German and French, since it’s made clear in the book that her French has a tinge of German accent in it. She speaks French throughout most of the story (a few lines of German when she’s speaking to the unicorn and once when she’s praying, which I know is unusual given that she’s a pre-Vatican II nun and should probably be speaking in Latin, but I decided that it illustrated Gitta’s emotional state as well as her own sense of spirituality). Gitta does, in fact, speak seven languages.

But how AWESOME is that? I called everyone I knew and made them listen to it right away. I can’t wait to hear the whole thing (apparently the audio isn’t releasing for another week — sad face). Given that this is an anthology, I am waaaaaaaaay down on the totem pole, so I had nothing to do with the making of this audio book. I am buying it when it comes out next week, just like everyone else. And then I’m putting it on my iPod, possibly on repeat.

There is an actress reading my short story. She was paid to do this. She was paid to give Elise an adorable little French accent that makes her sound like Jim Dale doing Fleur Delacour Weasely and though I have listened to this sample like ten times already, I don’t think it will ever make me stop giggling.

I don’t know if I’m just easily amused or what, but this is one of those cool authorial moments. My words, performed. With accents I never even imagined.

/geekout

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Starting next week, I have a book (or two) out every month until November. Yikes! Four of these releases are about killer unicorns: “Errant” in Kiss Me Deadly next week, the Rampant paperback at the end of August (with new material! tell your friends!), “The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn” in Zombies vs. Unicorns at the end of September, and Ascendant on October 1st). I am currently recording a podcast to promote Ascendant. My promotional world is all killer unicorns all the time, which is funny, because my creative world is all about celestial navigation and genetic engineering and post-apocalyptic societal structures.

If I thought it was hard to write series and to perpetually be one book ahead of my readers, it’s REALLY hard to get my head inside Astrid’s and killer unicorns when I’m writing a character that’s so very different from her and lives in a world so phenomenally altered.

But it’s a good problem to have, so I can’t complain. I’m excited that there’s so many killer unicorns descending this fall. I’m also excited to be writing this new book and this new world and these new characters.

And I’m super-super excited that I’ve got two short stories coming out, and that people are responding to them. Today, I saw Ana the Booksmuggler’s review of Kiss Me Deadly, in which she had this to say about “Errant”:

Part of Peterfreund’s Unicorn Hunters series, Errant is set in the 18th century France when a nun , sister Gitta (a Unicorn Hunter) , accompanied by her unicorn, arrives at a chateau just before the wedding of a girl named Elise. As part of the celebration, a traditional Unicorn Hunt is to be enacted with Gitta’s help. This story is excellent as it develops, quite well these two characters. Starting with animosity from Gitta’s side – her frustration with these people and this girl who know nothing about tradition and sacrifice, except yes, yes she does and Gitta slowly realises that and the relationship that builds between the two girls is incredible. There is a communion of spirits between them (and the unicorn) and I would like to use the author’s own words to describe this story: “18th century French feminist killer unicorn story about a nun and a bride and a forest full of monsters.”

Perfect. 8 out of 10

She loved a lot of the other stories, too. so make sure to check it out next month. I’ve only read Carrie Ryan’s and Sarah Rees Brennan’s so far, and I definitely agree with Ana’s assessment on those, so I can highly recommend this collection.

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So I survived ALA, thanks to the support of my editor and author friends.Friday afternoon, Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl took pity on me and called up, inviting me to come hang with them on the floor. We did. We snagged some swag. I also met their lovely editor Julie, and I may have accidentally sold her a book for $0.35 worth of parking meter change.

Oops. My agent’s totally going to kill me.

The next day, I left the house at 6:30 AM to make my early, early early morning breakfast with Harper Collins, where I met some other authors and a bunch of lovely librarians. Man, I love librarians. So knowledgeable! So passionate! So stylish!

Then, I headed back to the exhibit hall, where I ran into heaps of authors, attended a few signings, picked up even more swag — swag! Swag! How do I love thee? A few of the authors I hung out with: Malinda Lo, author of Ash; Danielle Joseph, author of Shrinking Violet; John Green, author of Looking for Alaska and PaperTowns and Will Grayson, Will Grayson.

Here I am with the beautiful Malinda Lo, whose moody, evocative debut ASH I read last year by firelight during a blackout. It’s also a great book to read over your air-conditioning vent this summer, though. Malinda’s next book is called Huntress. As you can imagine, I’m all over that. We had lunch and talked about researching hunting. She lives in Northern California, which is great for that.

I ran into Alaya Dawn Johnson ever so breifly — just long enough to tell her how much I love her story in Zombies vs. Unicorns (it’s awesome, ya’ll, even if it is about zombies). Speaking of zombies, check out this travesty:

She was so SMUG about it, too! To my face, y’all. To my face. Do you think Astrid would put up with that?

Actually, Astrid is afraid of zombies, too. She has no special powers to deal with those.

And, since I know y’all are wondering about the ice cream, I am so happy to report that at ALA, ice cream is free! Yeah, they were just handing it out on the street corner. Here’s Malinda, me, and Danielle Jospeh eating our free ice cream, in a picture taken by John Green. (You’d think someone who spends so much time filming could have snapped a pic where we were all looking at the camera, but whatever):

This was taken on our way to lunch with Pam Bachorz, author of Candor, Jon Skovron, author of Struts & Frets, Holly Cupala, author of Tell Me a Secret, and L.K. Madigan, award-winning author of Flash Burnout. Yeah, it was kinda a debs party I crashed. They’re very nice.

And yes, that means we had ice cream on the WAY to lunch.

After lunch, I rushed back to the exhibit hall for my signing. Yay, signing!

It went great — we gave away ALL my copies of Ascendant ARCs, and the unicorn horn lollipops were a hit. Killer unicorns FTW!

No matter what John Green says. (Also, I totally did the filming of the part where John steals the book.)

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