Write On!

I'm very proud of my literary boys this week. Mike finished the second draft of his science fiction novel about accidental time travel. I read the first draft and was pleasantly surprised at how engrossing it was even for me, a non-sci fi nerd. He's sending copies out to friends and family now for input before he starts soliciting agents. He has started writing at least 3 novels since we've been together but this is the first that he has actually completed so I'm especially proud of him, even if it never gets published beyond the Kinko copy he is carrying around doing line by line edits as we speak.

A great inspiration for Mike's perseverance is one of his best buddies Brian Katcher. This shot is from our New Mexico Adventure last summer with he and his super sweet wife Sandy. Brian has had 2 Young Adult novels published with another on the way next year. He's also working on a sci fi series with another publisher but I'm not sure about that release date. Brian recently won the 2011 Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award, which is given to "works of exceptional merit for children or teens relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience."

“A young adult novel about a transgender girl—told from the perspective of the straight boy who falls for her—“Almost Perfect” is exceptional. The writing is sensitive, haunting and revelatory,” said Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Award committee chair Lisa Johnston.

He's been getting a ton of great press since the award including this write up in the St. Louis Post Dispatch and even a mention on the Onion AV club. It really couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Brian and Sandy are probably the most easy going and non-judgemental people I've ever been fortunate to know.

If you have teenagers I would highly recommend his first two books, including Playing with Matches, which is actually my favorite by a slim margin of the two so far. Kai lists Brian as his favorite author on Facebook and has actually read Playing with Matches multiple times which is unheard of for him.

Strange Folk Here I come!

I'm getting so excited for this weekend's Strange Folk Festival. I can't believe that it is almost here. I thankfully took Friday off so that I can get myself fully ready. If you let me know that you are a blog reader I will give you 15% off your entire purchase this weekend!

Here are the details from their press release:

The 5th annual 2-day Strange Folk Festival happens September 25 & 26 in O’Fallon Illinois from 10am to 6pm both days! There will be 150 indie crafters and artists from across the country. Live music, good food, activities for kids, and you have the Heartland’s largest outdoor indie art festival. Just 15 minutes from downtown St Louis, easily accessible from both sides of the Mississippi. Family-friendly Strange Folk offers free admission and was voted "best craft festival in St Louis" by the River Front Times.

Log on to www.strangefolkfestival.com to see a preview of vendor crafts! Other highlights include a wide variety of food and drinks, The Upcycle Exhange, Authors Pavilion and book signings, live blogging stations, performance art, sewing demos, hand-on crafts and demos, alpaca petting zoom, animal rescue booths and more!You can also meet our good friend Brian Katcher, author of two Young Adult novels, on Saturday afternoon in the Writer's Block booth.

It looks the weather is going to be perfect, knock on wood. I'll be under the covered pavilion so if we should get another rain shower like last year I won't have to worry. I hope to see you there!

Santa Fe Fun.

We just got back from the farm for 5 days, but I will talk about that later in the week. Today I'm going to share my great admiration of Santa Fe. I don't have many pictures from that fair city as it was all about enjoying the moment on those days and not so much recording it. The top shot is my favorite of Mike and me from the whole trip. It's taken in the backyard of the restaurant we ate at on our last night in Santa Fe. And these are our traveling companions for the first half of the trip. Brian Katcher and Sandy are about the most laid back travel mates you could ever hope for. Whatever we suggested was a-ok with them.

We were laughing about my airheaded ways and we really enjoyed each other's company thoroughly. When my floppy hat caused shadows in all the indoor pictures on the first day of the trip I was freaking out thinking something was wrong with my camera. It literally took me all day to figure out what the problem was which had us laughing for hours.The amazing thing about Santa Fe is all the random art everywhere. The freeways are filled with it and pretty much everywhere you look is a statue or mural along the sidewalk. This is in addition to all of the stunning views of mountains and random rock formations like the one below along the road. I got pretty good at taking pictures from my car as Mike was generally not inclined to stop whenever I spotted a photo op as they were everywhere.
We didn't bother going to any art museums as there was so much free art to take in everywhere you looked. In addition to all the random art there were art galleries that you could wander through even when you knew there was no way in hell you could afford a thing besides maybe some postcards by the door. We also walked around the state capital building which is covered with artwork by New Mexican artists. You can just wander the halls while lobbyist and government workers hurry past conducting the business of the state. We walked into the governor's office and shuffled past the secretaries station mumbling don't mind us we're just here for the art.

Mike has decided that Sante Fe is now his favorite city. Poor New Orleans is now a distant second.

Almost Perfect Review

"Eighty percent of everything you’ll learn in high school is useless, and you’ll never use it again. Twenty percent is indispensable, and you won’t be able to get along in life without it. Unfortunately, you won’t know which is which until after you get out of school, and it’s different for every person. Study hard." Brian Katcher

Full disclosure: Brian Katcher is one of my husband's oldest friends and he and his wife Sandy are the most sincerely nice couple I've ever been lucky enough to meet. Brian is signing our copy of the book above.

Last weekend we headed to Centralia for Brian Katcher's new book launch party for Almost Perfect, just released by Random House. It was a cold early Fall day in rural Missouri much like the setting for his latest book. Here is my review of his first Young Adult novel, Playing with Matches which just came out in paperback.

I got the chance to read Almost Perfect this week. It's a really hard book to describe without giving too much away. It is for young adults and deals with some serious topics that can be tough for parents to talk about. There is a transgender young person dealing with facing the world and finding themselves in a small town. And there is young love with all of its ups and downs and mistakes and drama. There is lots of humor and some tragedy, kind of like growing up in a small town as I should know.

I would totally recommend this book for a mature 13 or 14 year old, especially if they are dealing with gender or identity issues. But really I hope that boys won't be turned off by the very feminine and provocative cover. In the lead character Logan, they will find a not perfect boy who makes a lot of mistakes but doesn't give up trying which I find heroic in a way. I'm left wondering what becomes of Sage and Logan after the book ends just like all good fiction. Is this book perfect. I would have to say no, but almost.

Playing With Matches

One of my husband's closest friends since High School is Brian Katcher, who wrote the young adult novel Playing With Matches. He had a book signing at our local Barnes and Nobles this weekend. He is one of the nicest, most genuine people I've ever met so you can't be anything but happy to see his success. Here is what I wrote in my amazon review of the book:

"As I read this Young Adult novel I was brought back to my own years in high school with all the angst and emotions that entailed. I was rooting for Leon so strongly that it was painful to see him make the inevitable teenage boy mistakes. I was also constantly reminding myself that it was written by a man. The writer was able to capture the emotions of both the male lead and the female characters which was fascinating to read. This is more than YA fiction. It is a seriously good read for anyone. "

It would make a great gift for a teenager in your like whether they read or not. It is about underdogs and has a great message of acceptance. There is sexual content appropriate for a teenager but I wouldn't recommend for anyone under 13.

Brian is on the far right, my nerd Mike is next to him, his twin Mark, and Ajay another good friend of theirs from high school. Mike says that Brian took all of their personality traits and put them in a blender to create the friends in the book. There is a lot of references to their high school, Ft. Zumwalt South, which made it fun for a lot of the kids around here to read.