Richelle Mead's Blog, page 24

Pros and Cons

I had a whirlwind time in Dallas this weekend, where I attended the Dreamin' in Dallas con. I gave the breakfast keynote speech, which was pretty cool, and then did a workshop with Jaye Wells about "before and after the first sale." We delivered 6 hours worth of info in 90 minutes, which may or may not have been a good idea. All in all, it was super fun, even if I was only in Dallas for about 36 hours! One thing I learned is that the baby on board makes me a lot more tired than I used to be. I slept for 10 hours when I got back on Saturday night and then napped Sunday too. Eek. When am I supposed to do that writing thing?

Tomorrow brings more con excitement, as I attend the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention in Los Angeles. Many of you will remember past blogs about this con, featuring highlights like the Faery Ball and Mr. Romance Pageant. So, if I keep up with blogging, you can attend vicariously.

If you're actually attending the con, here's where you can find me this week. If you aren't attending but live in L.A., skip to the part about the book fair because you can come and visit!

Wednesday, 3:30-4:30pm -- YA Panel: Rebel Without a Cause: Is a Bad Boy Really Good For a Girl?
Holly Black, Simone Elkeles, Sarah Rees Brennan, Cassandra Clare, Mari Mancusi, Richelle Mead

Thursday, 9:30-10:30am -- Club RT
Come and hang out with a bunch of authors! Lots of gift baskets being given away.

Friday, 11:15am-12:15pm -- Urban Fantasy Panel: Keeping Romance Hot in a UF Series
Nicole Peeler, Rachel Caine, Jeanne Stein, Keri Arthur, Richelle Mead

Friday, 1:30-2:30pm -- Graphic Novels Panel: The Female Creators Workshop
Alisa Kwitney, Melissa de la Cruz, Anne Elizabeth, Kelley Armstrong, Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Jade Lee, Richelle Mead

Friday, 4-6pm -- Graphic Novel Expo
I don't have a graphic novel out yet, but I'll be there to sign posters featuring Storm Born art!

Saturday, 11am-2pm -- Giant Book Fair
This is open to the public, so if you live in the area, come by to meet me and get books signed! Details are on my website, so be sure and check out my signing policies. There's a $5 admission fee, but you can also see all these authors.

Saturday, 2:30-3:30pm -- Author Speed Dating, session 1
This is a meet and greet of YA authors. Sign up if you're attending Teen Day.

And of course, you can find me anywhere there are costumes and theme events! A note for those attending--because I'm the urban fantasy captain, I'm also listed on the schedule for a Wednesday panel on worldbuilding. I only helped organize that, though. I won't be on the panel, though I may swing by to see them in action!

A closing note. The Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards were this weekend, and as many of you know, Vampire Academy didn't take home the award! In fact, the nominees didn't even get mentioned! Ah, well. I'm more than okay with this. Mostly, I feel bad because I know so many of you were literally voting every day. I can't thank you enough for your support and am in awe of your dedication! So, thank you so much. I don't need an award to feel like a winner with you guys around. :)

Dallas tomorrow!

You can always spot my busy times, based on how frequently I update this blog! This week's been no exception, and today's proving to be just as harried. So, I'll keep this brief with the news that's most pressing.

First, Dallas peeps! For those who missed the announcement, I'm signing tomorrow, April 1, at the Dreamin' in Dallas con's book fair. It's from 7-9pm at the DoubleTree Hotel in Richardson. Details and signing policies are on my website.

And believe it or not...after a month of campaigning, today is the last day to vote in the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and give Vampire Academy some media attention! Remember, you have to vote in all categories to count. I can't thank you all enough, both for your votes and patience in listening to my constant reminders. I honestly have no clue how this will pan out, but I guess we'll see soon!

Lastly, there's a very nice interview with me over at vampires.com, in which I talk about Bloodlines. People will like some of the answers--though of course, it'll just trigger more questions. :)

Okay, back to work and then packing for my flight to Dallas tomorrow!

Sleepy Friday

I've had a few really great ideas recently for blog posts, but I'm so exhausted right now that stringing profound words together sounds kind of hard. So, I'll just give you a few updates and reminders today and hope to have something more substantial for you later!

First, thank you to everyone who listened to my radio interview yesterday. It was a lot of fun! For those who missed it, you can listen to the recording here. Just to clarify my answer on the number of issues in the Eugenie comic series, here's the scoop. There are eight issues total for Storm Born, but they're going to be released and compiled in batches of four. So, four issues will come out month by month, and then a collected volume of those first four will be released. Then, the last four will come out one at a time and eventually be compiled as well. Sorry for the confusion!

Spirit Bound is a nominee in the Children's Choice Book Awards (which includes teen stuff, not just "children's"). It's a huge honor--especially since you guys had to do a write-in for it. So, thank you. That's all your doing! Voting's open, but I'm going to hold off on rallying since the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards are still going on too, and I feel like I ask too much voting of you as it is. We'll stick to one thing at a time. The Nick awards run through the end of this month, and voting's open every day.

Lastly, I've talked a lot about the eBay charity auctions other authors and I have been doing, but there are more opportunities for giving out there! Emma Vieceli, the artist of the Vampire Academy graphic novel, will be auctioning off a custom drawing on Monday. You can read the details here. The winner gets to pick the topic, so VA fans...here's your chance to get a Dimitri or Adrian of your own (or some other cool subject matter)! And speaking of the VA graphic novel, I just got the word that some sneak-peek examples of its art are going to be online in mid-April. I'll definitely let you know as soon as I hear those are posted.

Have a good weekend!

Radio Eugenie

Okay, a couple quick reminders. First, the charity auctions to help Japan are still going on. Images aren't in the media 24/7 anymore, but the situation there is far from fixed. There's still so much help that's needed, and every little bit makes a difference. Auctions for my books have ended (not sure if more will go up), but a lot of other great authors have contributed and still have auctions going on. At the time of this post, there are signed books by Caitlin Kittredge, Kat Richardson, Melissa Marr, and Melissa de la Cruz up for bid. So, if you like good reads and good causes, check it out.

The other reminder is that voting for the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards is still going on! It's VA's chance to get a shout-out on "real" TV, so if you want to cast a vote for VA or another fave, you can do so here. Just remember, you have to vote in every category to get your vote to count. Thanks so much for everyone's support!

Here's some new news. Tomorrow, March 24 at 6pm Eastern Standard Time/3pm Pacific Standard Time, I'll be on a live internet radio show called Behind the Mask. It's geared toward comic books, particularly the Eugenie comic I talked about yesterday. People can call in and ask questions--but again, remember that the topic is the Eugenie/Dark Swan books. This is the link to the show's website. I assume there will be more information on the page on how to listen when the show goes live. More instructions on calls will probably be given during the broadcast as well. That's the extent of my knowledge on how to listen, so if you have any questions, hopefully the answers will come from the website or show. Since time zones always seem to create problems around here, here's a handy conversion website to figure out the time and day the show is on where you live. Hope that helps! And for those who don't need to listen live, the show will be recorded and available for download later. So, then you can listen at your leisure!

Eugenie News

Wow. What an exhausting month this has been! There's a kind of high-intensity mode you get into the week before a manuscript is due that costs a lot of sleep and energy. I seem to have been in that mode for, oh, four weeks because I've been working busily on Succubus Revealed's first draft and Bloodlines's second draft. Those are now both in with their respective editors, and I'm really pleased with the way they turned out. I wish I could say I now get to lounge around for the rest of my pregnancy, but now it's time to start writing the fourth Eugenie book. No rest for the wicked! That includes me and her. :)

And speaking of which...guess what? I'm very pleased to announce that Eugenie's fourth novel has a title: Shadow Heir. It'll be released in January 2012. It's a long ways away but is a much faster turnaround than the 1+ year cycle she's been on.

In the meantime, to help with the wait, I have some cool news about the awesome Storm Born graphic novel. It's first being released as comic book issues, and volume one will be out May 18. Because "regular" bookstores have limited comic book stock, your best bet is to get in touch now with your local comic book store to put in a request that they order it and reserve a copy. Otherwise, not all stores may stock it on release day. (There's a chance University Bookstore might be able to do an autographed mail order system, but that's not certain yet). The end of this post has info on locating a comic book store if you aren't familiar with the ones in your area. Stores will also be receiving limited numbers of issue #1 with a special incentive cover that'll be available on a first-come first-serve basis. Check with your store for info on that.

I should add: all of this is for the U.S. only right now. I know that's disappointing, and one day I'll do a post explaining why stuff is available in some countries and not others. The short answer is that there's no mega-publisher that puts out stuff around the world. It's done on a per-country basis, and so there's always a delay as arrangements are made with each country's individual publishers--and sometimes, publishers in a country just aren't interested in something (crazy, I know!).

Anyway, Sea Lion, the U.S. publisher of the Storm Born comic just put out this press release, which tells a little bit more about the project and all the people who have been working on it. There's a really great team behind this, and the finished project is really beautiful. You can also visit Sea Lion's forums for more updates here.

Here's the press release:

ATLANTA, GA - March 22, 2011– In the novel Storm Born, first in the popular Dark Swan urban fantasy series, Richelle Mead—New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Vampire Academy and the Georgia Kincaid Series—introduced fans of paranormal romance to Eugenie Markham, a freelance shaman who battles the ghosts and fey that sneak into our world from the Otherworld.

Today, Sea Lion Books is proud to announce scripter Grant Alter and artist Dave Hamann as the multitalented creative team behind the graphic novel adaptation of Richelle Mead's Dark Swan: Storm Born. When an alarming prophecy suddenly makes her every Otherwordly creature's object of desire, Eugenie must dodge their advances while also fighting a dark power rising within her.

Grant Alter was the co-writer (with Derek Ruiz) on Dean Koontz' Fear Nothing, a graphic novel adaptation by the New York Times bestselling author. His other scripting projects include an adaptation of the Jim Butcher short story "Restoration of Faith," which appeared in the graphic novel Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files: Storm Front.

"Richelle has written a book with a really nice mix of action, romance, the otherworldly, and even a good amount of humor," Alters said. "It's just a fun book to read. The quality of her work pushes me to write what I think are some of the best scripts I have ever written."

Graphic artist Dave Hamann's projects include Amory Wars for Evil Ink Comics, Gauze for Arcana Comics, and Zenescope's Grimm Fairy Tales. As a fan of the Dark Swan series, he wants to remain faithful to Mead's story, and to her lead character, Eugenie. "I'm hard-pressed to think of too many urban comics starring a strong, butt-kicking, female shamanic mercenary."

"Grant and Dave have done a really amazing job in capturing Eugenie's story. It's been wonderful working with them, and I can't wait to see what fans think of the final product. I hope they love it as much as I do," said Richelle Mead.

Richelle Mead's Dark Swan: Storm Born, Issue 1 will be released May 18th in comic book stores nationwide. Comic book stores can be found by going to the Comic Book Shop Locator: http://www.comicshoplocator.com/ or by calling 1-888-COMIC-BOOK.

Because you asked for it: RETURN OF THE NEIGHBORS!

Allow me to introduce you to my neighborhood. It's a nice neighborhood. It's in Seattle's suburbs, in an area dominated by Microsoft, Google, and Boeing employees. It's a place where people raise families and take care of their lawns. Our neighborhood is like many built in the last 15 years of Seattle's tech boom, where land was cleared and modern, identical houses were installed in soothing neutral colors. When my neighborhood has meetings, we discuss things like ornamental trees and if satellite dishes are being positioned in an aesthetically pleasing way.

Oh, and we also talk about my neighbors.

If you don't know about my neighbors, let me direct you to their blog recaps here. The short story is that the house next door to us was owned by a Russian man who has never lived there since we moved in. He did, however, rent it to some friends who threw loud midnight hot tub parties and did pyrotechnics with their grill. Because (by day) these renters were silent, intimidating men who often stood out front glaring and smoking, we made the logical deduction that they must be ex-KGB agents. Said renters were eventually evicted when police and neighbor complaints reached the owner. The charge against the KGB was led by Bob, a retired gentleman who has taken it upon himself to defend our neighborhood from bad lawn care, solicitors, and--apparently--former Russian military.

That went down almost a year and a half ago, and until recently, the most exciting thing to happen was that our neighbor's deer statue kept inexplicably moving into our yard. Recent rumors suggested the house has a new owner, but we know no details.

Fast forward to last night. After some late writing, I settled into bed at 2:30am, only to be startled out of sleep an hour later by some thumps. Those could've been explained by our cats, but the subsequent sound of breaking glass could not. My husband bravely went to check things out, and I admit, those were some terrifying moments. Let's be honest. Night is scary, and when you're in the dark, with your house as a potential unknown, adrenaline and heart rate go off the charts. I expected him to grumpily return in a minute and report some mess "my" cats had made, but he didn't. A long time went by, and I panicked, wondering if there had been some altercation with an intruder.

Here's what he uncovered. A survey of our house found everything safe and intact. A glance outside, to the front, showed two cars in the KGB's driveway--surprising at 3:30 for a vacant home. A glance to the back revealed a broken window in their house, and that was when my husband called 911. Giving details was a little tricky. ("What's the house look like, sir?" "Um, like all the rest of the houses on the street."). That was also about the time I emerged from the bedroom to see what had taken so long. A police officer showed up promptly and listened to our report. He left, and we watched a bona fide police drama soon unfold. Although, I must note, our house isn't built for optimal spying. We have more Roman blinds than Venetian, which doesn't help either.

More and more police cars silently arrived in our neighborhood, and cops set up positions around the KGB house. Even a police dog came. Then, all at once, all the cars' flashing lights came on, and a police officer shouted that the house was surrounded and that whoever was inside needed to come out with their hands up--and that if they resisted, they would be dead. No joke. It was at that point that we moved to the opposite side of the house, having no idea if bullets would fly or fleeing criminals would leap into our yard. Silence followed for a long time until we heard the police breaking out the rest of the glass in the window and using it for entry.

More silence and not knowing. My husband and I began to use our amateur deduction skills to try to figure out what had happened. It hadn't been the most covert break-in, especially since the culprits had parked their cars out front. We wondered if they were really there to rob the place (which I don't even think has anything in it) or were possibly ne'er-do-wells looking for a vacant house to hole up in. It seemed unlikely they had anything to do with the previous occupants, particularly if the house has a new owner now. And of course, we also used this downtime to update Facebook and Twitter.

Around 4:30, another police officer came to our door to record my husband's official statement. That's when we learned four burglars had been arrested. That was kind of staggering. And frightening. That much criminal activity had been going on next door? Our houses are built very close. You really don't expect that in "a place like this." Wondering which of our theories had been correct, I asked the officer if he could tell us if the suspects had been actively robbing or just hiding.

"Well," he said, "that's kind of the weird thing. They told us a bunch of stories, one of which was that the owner was some Russian guy they knew who wouldn't mind if they broke his window and partied inside."

My husband and I looked at each other. The KGB!

We told the officer there might be more truth there than he realized, though even if they did know the (previous) owner, it seemed unlikely he'd be cool with the broken window. The officer didn't seem worried about that. He told us the intruders were drunk (explaining the loud break-in) and had criminal records. Regardless of their connection to the owner, they were in trouble. He then thanked us for our civic duty and told us to get some sleep. This proved impossible because two tow trucks soon arrived to impound the cars. Then, the fire department arrived and very noisily sealed up the broken window.

By 5:30, things were settling down, and we finally went back to bed. Morning dawned bright and sunny, with only one patched up window to tell the story of what had gone down. Here's what I've taken away. One thing is that I'm impressed with our police department. They were fast, effective, professional, and nice. In a scary time, they made me feel safe. I'm jaded about most of our government's activities, but in this case, I feel my tax dollars were well-spent.

Now, as for the alleged ex-KGB, who knows? I admit, many of the assumptions I've made about them in my blog posts have been exactly that--assumptions, mostly for entertainment value. To learn that there might very well have been a nefarious element to them this whole time was really unexpected. Admittedly, I have no idea of the intruders' exact connection. They could have been friends or enemies of the previous owner or maybe even the former renters themselves. Regardless, with them being hauled off, it brings a nice sense of closure to the KGB adventures. This may truly be the end of their story, and now a new chapter will unfold with whomever owns the house now. I know the previous residents have provided a lot of entertainment (I'm asked about them at every signing), but I won't lie. I'm really hoping for a quiet family with teens who do cheap babysitting.

Recap

I'm going to have cool new stuff to share later this week, but in light of a busy schedule and several other important things going on, I figured I'd recap a few things I've mentioned before. Sometimes I'm afraid to repeat things because people will be like, "We already know!" But, without fail, there's always someone who missed some news (like, I bet some still don't know I'm pregnant!), so we'll do a quick roundup for everyone.

Charity auctions to help Japan
Since I last posted about this, I now have several book-related items running on eBay's charity auction program, as do awesome authors Carrie Ryan, Melissa Marr, and Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl. We've each picked different charities, but all of the auction proceeds go to groups doing work to help with the Japan disaster. You can get a good book and do a good deed.

Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards
Remember when I was going to lobby for this every day? Well, helping set up the auction stuff kind of took priority--as well it should. I'd rather see you guys help Japan than me. If you are inclined to vote, though, it's always appreciated and you can do it every day this March. Just remember you have to vote in every category for it all to count.

I will be signing in Dallas and Los Angeles in early April
I'm attending two conferences, and both cons have book fairs that are open to the public. You don't have to be registered for the con to come by the book fairs, meet me, and get some books signed. Details are in the post I've linked to.

Ok, this stuff is new
Dear Author is holding a romance novel tournament a la March Madness style. Today (March 15) is the last day to submit a bracket with them if you want to officially enter. Spirit Bound is in the YA category, and all the genres have pretty fierce competition! Submit a bracket if you think you know your romance books, and when voting opens up to pick the winners, I'll let you know.


Okay, I feel like I'm missing one other recap, but that'll have to wait. It's 2:30am, and I need to get to bed. More later.

Book auctions to help disaster victims

The internet makes the world a small place, and being an author makes that doubly true. Never did I imagine I would have the chance to interact with others from so many different countries. Readers from all around the world regularly drop by here, on Facebook, and on Twitter, and I'm grateful for the chance to meet so many people. I've only seen a small part of the world, but on a daily basis, I get to understand it a little bit more.

Watching the events in Japan unfold has been difficult for me. My heart goes out to everyone there, as well as to those of you who have loved ones there. It's heartbreaking to see so much news on the internet and TV--and to feel so far away and helpless. There are a number of charitable organizations I donate to that are doing good works, and I wanted to give some incentive for other people to donate. Here's the scoop.


Over the next couple weeks or so, I will be auctioning signed books through eBay's Giving Works programs. It works like this. I provide books that you can buy through eBay, just as you would normal items. The only difference is that 100% of the proceeds go to either Save the Children or the American Red Cross, both of which are doing work in Japan to help disaster victims. (They also help other tsunami-affected regions). Each listing will tell you which charity eBay will send the proceeds to. These are books provided from my own supply, and I will autograph them before they're shipped out. Bottom line is that you get a book (or books), and a worthy cause gets helped.

I know this will be disappointing to some, but at this point, these auctions are only available to people living in the United States. This is to ensure that items and delivery can be tracked through the mail. Since you're sending money for these charities, it's imperative to me that we make sure you get your items. It simply isn't feasible to do that with international shipping. I hope you can understand and are still able to donate in other ways to those in need.

I only have a few listings up right now. At the time of this post, there's a signed Succubus Blues, a set of German VA books, a set of French Georgina books, and some UK Eugenie books. All are starting out below cover price, and I'll take care of shipping charges. I'm trying to gauge interest by seeing how these do, and if there's a lot of demand, I'll eventually put up some more books because I would really love it if we can help these causes. A new seller account was created to list these books, and savvy eBay users know to be wary of sellers without feedback. But, I can assure you here, being the real and legit Richelle Mead, that eBay user "booksthatgive" is trustworthy and indeed legitimately selling my books and donating all the profit to charity. I am not affiliated with anyone else who might be claiming the same.

Ok. After all that build up, here's where you can view the eBay listings of my books. Please direct any other questions through eBay's site, and thank you so much for helping the disaster victims.

And of course, I hope many of you will donate to charitable organizations simply for the sake of donating. Charity Navigator is an excellent site that reviews charities and provides tips on which are the most legitimate to give money to. This site lists what some specific organizations are doing. The tiniest amount can help. So can good thoughts.

What happens one place in the world affects the rest of the world. Please keep those who are suffering in your thoughts. Thank you for all your help.

Guest Post: Nicole Peeler on "How young is too young?"

Today, for my second ever guest post in the history of my blog, I'm turning control over to my friend Nicole Peeler. Nicole writes awesome urban fantasy books about a delightful selkie and, like me, read Jean Auel books in elementary school. (And now look what we do for a living). Which brings us to her topic...

On Age Appropriateness and Saucy Literature:
or, How Young is too Young?

When I was twelve-years-old, my mom went with me to the library to fill out a ream of papers that meant a black dot—a small black sticker—would be placed on my library card. You would have thought my mother was taking me to get a tattoo.

"Now, you're sure you want to do this?" the librarian asked my mother, Rella, for about the fourth time.

"Yes," said my mother politely, despite having said "yes" three times already.

"It means she can check out anything," the librarian repeated, eyeing me speculatively. "Absolutely anything."

"Yes," my mother said, clearly losing patience.

"I mean, she can check out things with, you know . . ." and here the woman whispered, "S-E-X."

To this day I don't know why that librarian spelled out the word sex, considering her issue was with my reading adult material. Presumably, I was past three letter words by that point.

My mom replied with what had become her stock response. With a daughter who was a precocious reader, she was constantly stuck defending her decision to let me have at it, rather than censor my reading.

"If she can understand what's going on, she's old enough to be confronted with the issues," my mother told that librarian, her voice admittedly rather weary. And just as always happened, the librarian looked at my mother like she just might be smoking the rock. My mother ignored her. As a special education teacher, Rella's a champion at picking her battles.

That a librarian, of all people, would begrudge a child reading didn't surprise my mom, at that point. She was past surprise at other people's reactions to a child reading adult books. After all, my mother had been so proud of my ability to read well at such a young age that she'd gone out of her way to challenge me—buying me books like A Wrinkle in Time and A Swiftly Tilting Planet when I was in first grade. The trouble hit when I was in third grade, and reading things like Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear. My teacher nearly had a heart attack when it was the subject of my book report.

"The book you chose. It's very . . . adult," she said, holding my freshly submitted report by the corner like one would a soiled napkin.

I blinked up at her, confused. Wasn't I supposed to be reading stuff that I found difficult?

"You can't really understand it," she told me. "In fact, I think I need to call your mother…"

And she did call my mother. And we had another meeting, at which my mom asked me questions about the book, and then the teacher did. I babbled on about how Ayla was very brave, trying to be herself amongst people who didn't understand her and weren't like her. I talked about how it was very sad that she was a victim of prejudice by the same people who were dying out, because they were victims of prejudice.

Then my teacher brought up "the sex."

I remember turning a bright shade of tomato red, and I did what I usually did in those days when confronted with a subject I didn't want to discuss. I lied like a rug.

"Sex?" I said, large eyes even bigger. "There's sex in the book?"

My mother, undoubtedly smelling the load of hooey I'd just unloaded, gave me a long side-eye, but my teacher was pleased. "Good," she said. "Maybe you're right, Mrs. Peeler. She's obviously not seeing everything that's there, so that's fine."

At the time, I was just happy to be off the hook. Years later I would wonder at the wisdom of encouraging an absolute lack of curiosity about sex in young people. Granted, I was only in third grade. But my first friend to lose her virginity did so in seventh grade, only four years later.

Now I'm on the other side of the fence. I'm the adult, with people asking me "How young is too young?" Usually, they're asking about my own books, which are ostensibly for adults. But so was The Clan of the Cave Bear, and its sequel, The Valley of Horses, was definitely adult. And don't think I didn't immediately go home and read that, upon leaving my third grade teacher's office. I even think I wrote a book report on it, just to be ornery.

So I tell those readers who ask me if they should let their daughters read my books what my mom repeated, so many times in my youth. I say, "If you think you're ready to have any conversations that might come up; and you think that the book presents the issues in question in ways that you think are positive, healthy, or important, then by all means, pass it on."

We can't shield our children or our teenagers from sex, and we shouldn't try. Sex is a natural part of their life that they will be curious about, and that they are already confronted with daily—on television, in advertisements, in their music, and in their reading. Although I'm not a parent, I very much hope that my young niece is presented with positive images of healthy, happy sexuality to counteract all the negative, conflicted, and dangerous images that clutter up our culture.

Being well informed about the realities of sex—its dangers and its pleasures—means that girls will hopefully be more confident about sex and their own sexuality. And in a world where girls are constantly being undermined about their looks, their worth, and the value of their sexuality, confidence can give them the tools they need to build their own self-worth and self-understanding.

I think the value of these positive messages coming from books, specifically, is that there's so much of the girl's own imagination involved. Books allow a level of interactivity, self-study, and self-reflection that other forms of media do not.

Obviously, not all children or teens will be ready for adult material. Parents have to make those judgment calls for themselves, based on their own principles and their own knowledge of their child. But don't forget the educative potential in even the most entertaining of books, especially when it comes to those issues we are least comfortable discussing—either as the child or the parent.

I had a black dot, after all. And I turned out okay. ;-)

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this matter, in the meantime. How young is too young?

Nicole Peeler is a professor of English literature and creative writing at Seton Hill University, in Greensburg, PA. She also writes urban fantasy novels for Orbit Books. Her third novel, Tempest's Legacy, just hit shelves in January.

For those American readers interested in Nicole's fiction, Orbit Books is offering her first book, Tempest Rising, as this month's Orbital Drop, downloadable on multiple platforms for only $2.99. Click here for more details.

Coming attractions

As I mentioned a while ago, my pregnancy puts serious limitations on the appearances I can do this year. I can't do any touring for the August releases and will be homebound all fall and winter. Spring and summer will be limited too, simply because I need time to finish the books coming out so that I can then be free to have that baby! I was, however, already committed to a couple conferences in April, so I'll still be attending those in my then 5-month-pregnant glory. Here's the scoop on how Dallas and L.A. folks can get books signed by me!

Dreamin' in Dallas - April 1-2 - Doubletree Hotel - Richardson, TX

On April 1, Friday, from 7-9pm, this conference is having a book fair that's open to the public and free. You don't have to be attending the con. You can stop by anytime in that range to get books signed by me (and other authors there - click the link for more info). You can bring your own books or purchase on-site. Normal signing rules apply: one personalized book and two autographed books per person. Pictures dependent on time.

If you live in the Dallas area and are an aspiring writer, you might also want to think about actually registering for the con. I'm asked a lot about how to get published, and the whole topic of agents and publishers is pretty complex, one that would take many posts to fully explore. One of the best ways to learn about the publishing industry--and how I learned a lot--is to go to a writer's conference. Some conferences, like Seattle's PNWA, are genre wide. Some, like Dreamin' in Dallas here, have a romance focus. Regardless, they're all still fantastic places to learn about querying agents, getting published, and the craft of writing--especially if you're someone who benefits from listening to it being explained vs. reading about it.

DiD contains a number of workshops about the industry, and Jaye Wells and I are tag-teaming one on "Before and After" getting published. So, keep this con in mind! And if you don't live in the Dallas area and are an aspiring writer, find your closest semi-big city and do a search for "writer's conference" or "RWA," because it's very likely you have some comparable convention that you can learn from.


Romantic Times Booklovers Convention - April 6-10 - Westin Bonaventure Hotel - Los Angeles, CA

Like DiD, this con also has a book fair day that's open to the public. There's an admission charge of $5, but the amount of authors there is staggering. Here's the list. The book fair is on Saturday, April 9, and you can stop by anytime between 11am-2pm. You can bring books from home or purchase books on-site. Normal signing rules apply, one personalized book and two autographed books per person. Pictures depend on time.

This is another great con to attend, full of workshops and chances to interact with authors. It's also the con I've blogged about before, with the Faery Ball and Mr. Romance pageant! Check their site for info on fees and registration. For those who can't swing the full con, RT is also offering one-day admission for "Teen Day" on that Saturday. Adults and teens alike can attend. :) Cost is here, and the agenda is here. The $25 fee includes admission to the book fair and access to workshops and a party where you can meet a whole bunch of YA authors, including me. The first 250 registrants get gift bags full of books and other good stuff.

So, that's the scoop on the cons I'll be at! Even if you aren't registered for the cons, you can still come get books signed at the book fairs. This is the extent of my knowledge on the cons themselves, so if you have registration questions, check out the websites and contact those folks directly.

These sorts of posts always produce a lot of "Please visit [here]!" comments, and I can only say what I've said before: it's impossible for me to get everywhere. This is doubly true with my pregnancy this year. Very sorry I can't get to all of you! These conferences are ones I was specifically invited to that worked with my schedule. I may have a couple other scattered signings this year, and I'll definitely let you know when I know more details. If other signings end up happening, they'll be ones paired with places I was already going to visit for personal reason. Like I said, I'm super limited this year! Keeping me and the baby healthy (and finishing my books on time!) gets priority, but we should see more travel next year.

And of course, I have to plug the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. Thank you for everyone's support and for humoring the shameless advertising!