The Big 50

I'm back, and I'm back with style: $50 to Amazon for a lucky commenter. You have until next Sunday to enter.

Linking here will earn you an extra entry. Please comment as many times as you have entries (and link me to each place you have placed a link for an extra entry).

Go go go!

The LIAR Cover Thing

Buzzing 'bout the blogosphere: the cover girl for Liar by Justine Larbalestier. The protagonist is an unreliable narrator if there ever was any, but I think anyone who reads the book can conclude she was being serious about not being white, having short cropped hair, and being boyish in many aspects.

So why is the cover this?

Here's a handy PW article and Justine's (very articulate) blog post on it.

I don't have anything to say that hasn't already been said. But I thought I'd add this in, to address the people I've seen saying Justine should've fought harder against this cover art.

So, at BEA, I had the pleasure of getting my ARC signed by her. We chatted a bit, Lenore, Alea, Justine, and I (as well as Anna, another Aussie and a Bloomsbury publicist). Justine was lovely. Anna was lovely. I got a huge kick out of hearing them speak in their lovelylovelylovely accent.

We left.

A while later, Lenore and I ran into Scott Westerfeld and Justine Larbalestier at the Bloomsbury booth. It was after BEA had closed for the day and we were just roaming. No other fans were nearby, so we got to speak to them a bit more. I asked Justine for some more of her business cards with both the Aussie and the American cover of Liar and casually asked what she thought of the cover.

Very frankly, she said, "I think it's a beautiful cover and that Bloomsbury did a wonderful job of making it eye-catching. But my protagonist isn't white, so this isn't reflective of the book I wrote. This is why I like the Australian cover more. Nevertheless, they decided to go with this cover in the US."

She said something about another version that I can't recall right now, but yeah, that portion is what really matters. It's what she's always been saying. Authors don't usually have a say in what their cover will end up being. Even when they're the writer of a lead title, like Justine is. So please stop treating her like she's in the wrong in this, all the naysayers.

It's a good book, at any rate. I don't believe a boycott is necessary because it'll ultimately hurt Justine, someone who's active in writing multi-cultural. But if you're upset with this cover, I do urge you write to Bloomsbury about it.

(Oh! And yes! I'm back.)

Another Catching Fire giveaway

Yup yup! Just comment. Extra entries each time you link to it. Please leave a comment for each entry you submit (justifying each one as you post it).

Just a reminder that after the 200th comment my layout won't display the subsequent ones. Don't worry about it. It DOES show up.

US only. Unspecified end time, but it won't take long.

Prize: 1 ARC of Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins.

I beseech your help.

With what I should read next. I haven't read anything in two weeks. Help help help! Just give me suggestions, don't worry about whether I have 'em or not. This can also help me in my Birthday Shopping List. :)

Heya, my loves

So, it's been, what, four days since my birthday and at least three pounds added to the overall baggage?

Great.

Anyhow, for the next week I'll be cramming endless amounts of information for my eight-subject course load because Tuesday next week = huge-ass exam. AND THEN I GET JULY OFF, HUZZAH.

Anyway, I may or may not update. You'll know either way. Don't forget about me, though!

Human Hymen Rights

Via I Heart Daily: A new incentive to put a cap on the elevated teen pregnancy rates in Sierra Leone dictates that a girl who can prove she's a virgin can be offered a chance to gain a university scholarship.

I had a whole post planned out for this but I think it can best be summarized by: *shudder*

Steph

BEST Birthday Ever

No one cares but I just want to remember this day, so...

The day's not over yet but I'm about to go under to study chemistry for my finals tomorrow (true story), so I thought I'd post this today:

This day's been absolutely magical!

In the morning we overslept so I basically had no breakfast and rushed to the car for my mom to drive me to school (got there with fifteen seconds to spare). In the car she pulls out this small package and says, "Open it!"

Mind you, I went to NYC for BEA two weeks ago and it was understood that aside from paying half of the trip, my parents' half was my birthday gift. So far all the birthday money I've gotten from relatives has gone straight to my dad's wallet. I'm happy this way because what parents allow their kids to miss a week of school, three exams, and get on international flights to the most expensive cities in the world?

I thought so.

But anyway, I opened it up and a crystal frog was inside. Crystal! Frog! (I'm a frog maniac, by the way. Stuffed/figurine ones in any case. It's gotten better as I've grown older, but it's still there.)

I squealed.

Got to school and walked in my maths class and one friend handed me a hilarious note saying happy birthday and no one said anything else. But they weren't conspicuous about it: they seemed a bit ticked off with me, and even though my bullshit detector's fine tuned 99% of the time, they had me believing they'd forgotten.

I was heartbroken because, well. I don't need gifts or any show-offy displays of birthday remembrance, but a HUG from my FRIENDS?

And then in the second class with this brilliant yet utterly unfit to teach physics teacher, they began singing happy birthday until the dude begged them to stop. I was so surprised by that I thought it was someone else's birthday. -.-

THEN. Over the second break, a bunch of people came up to me and hugged me and said, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" and it was great.

THEN. On the third break, which is the 20-minute one we get, they handed me two bouquets of origami flowers. (Lots of Japanese people 'round these parts. 80% of my friends are Japanese descendants, I'd wager.) It was so beautiful. I was just there admiring them and hugging my friends when they said, "There are messages inside the flowers."

I lost it. We sat around in a huge circle and I read them all and they were all so wonderful. You have no idea. Inside jokes galore, lots of laugh, lots of, "Never stop being strange or crazy!" sentiments (ha! I am quite strange in real life. More so than on the blog).

They helped me fold them all back up and we went to class.

My mom picked me up from school and took me to Subway (I LOVE SUBWAY). Some recent family stuff has made it so that I almost never have alone time with my mom anymore so it was this huge deal. She bought us these great juices and took me to two cappuccinno places (one of them so overpriced they'd put Starbucks to shame, but damn, good coffee).

And she got me a chocolate rose.

Here I am, about to do chemistry. PARTY TOMORROW, woo!

My weekend's all hectic so you may not see a lot of me. But thanks for all the birthday wishes from everyone who's sent them. And even though my friends and family don't know about this blog, and even though I've all but cried on them that's how excited I am, a huge shout out to them.

I AM SO HAPPY!

Steph
P.S. My grandmother just shoved some money to me. I can't get into this a lot, but right before the NYC trip there was an emergency and my mom was almost calling it off when my grandmother told her to JUST GO ALREADY. So not only has she given me the best gift ever with that, she's now insisting I take her money. Naturally, I refused.

She just stuck it in my underwear drawer instead.