Cheryl B. Klein's Blog, page 15

I always enjoyed singing this song at Carleton's Folk Sing (consider your snarky remark about folk singing acknowledged here), and I post it now in honor of both "Breaking Dawn" and smart young feminists like Erica Levine, and with sincere wishes for you all to have a life like the last two lines.



When Erica Levine was seven and a half
Up to her door came Jason Metcalfe
And he said, "Will you marry me, Erica Levine?"
And Erica Levine said, "What do you mean?"
  "Well my father and my mother say a fellow ought to marry
  And my father said his brother, who is my Uncle Larry
  Never married and he said Uncle Larry is a dope---
  So will you marry me?" Said Erica, "Nope."
"My piano teacher's smart, and she never had to marry
And your father may be right about your Uncle Larry,
But not being married isn't what made him a dope.
Don't ask me again, 'cause my answer's 'Nope'."

When Erica Levine was seventeen
She went to a dance with Joel Bernstein,
And they danced by the light of a sparkling bobby sock,
'Cause the theme of the prom was the history of Rock.
  And after the prom, Joel kissed her at the door,
  And he said "Do you know what that kiss was for?"
  And she said "I don't know, but you kiss just fine."
  And he said "What it means is that you are mine."
And she said "No, I'm not!", and she rushed inside
And on the way home, Joel Bernstein cried
And she cried, too, and wrote a letter to Ms.,
Saying "This much I know: I am mine, not his."

When Erica Levine was twenty-three
Her lover said "Erica, marry me.
This relationship is answering a basic need
And I'd like to have it legally guaranteed.
  For without your precious love I would surely die
  So why can't we make it legal?" Said Erica, "Why?
  Basic needs, at your age, should be met by you;
  I'm your lover, not your mother---let's be careful what we do.
If I should ever marry, I will marry to grow,
Not for tradition, or possession or protection. No!
I love you, but your needs are a very different issue."
Then he cried, and Erica handed him a tissue.

When Erica was thirty, she was talking with Lou,
Discussing and deciding what they wanted to do.
"When we marry, should we move into your place or mine?
Yours is rent-controlled, but mine is on the green line."
  And they argued and they talked, and they finally didn't care
  And they joined a small cooperative near Central Square.
  And their wedding was a simple one, they wanted it that way.
  And they thought a lot about the things that they would choose
     to say.
"I will live with you and love you, but I'll never call you mine."
Then the judge pronounced them married, and everyone had wine.
And a happy-ever-after life is not the kind they got,
But they tended to be happy more often than not.

Lyrics via http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiELEV...

I always enjoyed singing this song at Carleton's Folk Sing (consider your snarky remark about folk singing acknowledged here), and I post it now in honor of both "Breaking Dawn" and smart young feminists like Erica Levine, and with sincere wishes for you all to have a life like the last two lines.



When Erica Levine was seven and a half
Up to her door came Jason Metcalfe
And he said, "Will you marry me, Erica Levine?"
And Erica Levine said, "What do you mean?"
  "Well my father and my mother say a fellow ought to marry
  And my father said his brother, who is my Uncle Larry
  Never married and he said Uncle Larry is a dope---
  So will you marry me?" Said Erica, "Nope."
"My piano teacher's smart, and she never had to marry
And your father may be right about your Uncle Larry,
But not being married isn't what made him a dope.
Don't ask me again, 'cause my answer's 'Nope'."

When Erica Levine was seventeen
She went to a dance with Joel Bernstein,
And they danced by the light of a sparkling bobby sock,
'Cause the theme of the prom was the history of Rock.
  And after the prom, Joel kissed her at the door,
  And he said "Do you know what that kiss was for?"
  And she said "I don't know, but you kiss just fine."
  And he said "What it means is that you are mine."
And she said "No, I'm not!", and she rushed inside
And on the way home, Joel Bernstein cried
And she cried, too, and wrote a letter to Ms.,
Saying "This much I know: I am mine, not his."

When Erica Levine was twenty-three
Her lover said "Erica, marry me.
This relationship is answering a basic need
And I'd like to have it legally guaranteed.
  For without your precious love I would surely die
  So why can't we make it legal?" Said Erica, "Why?
  Basic needs, at your age, should be met by you;
  I'm your lover, not your mother---let's be careful what we do.
If I should ever marry, I will marry to grow,
Not for tradition, or possession or protection. No!
I love you, but your needs are a very different issue."
Then he cried, and Erica handed him a tissue.

When Erica was thirty, she was talking with Lou,
Discussing and deciding what they wanted to do.
"When we marry, should we move into your place or mine?
Yours is rent-controlled, but mine is on the green line."
  And they argued and they talked, and they finally didn't care
  And they joined a small cooperative near Central Square.
  And their wedding was a simple one, they wanted it that way.
  And they thought a lot about the the things that they would choose
     to say.
"I will live with you and love you, but I'll never call you mine."
Then the judge pronounced them married, and everyone had wine.
And a happy-ever-after life is not the kind they got,
But they tended to be happy more often than not.

Lyrics via http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiELEV...

Earlier today, my author Vicky Alvear Shecter and I chatted about her novel Cleopatra's Moon on Twitter -- a fun conversation that covered how the book came to me (indirectly via SQUIDs!), the vetting process, my acquisitions interests right now, our ancient Roman names, and sundry other topics. You can read a transcript of the conversation after the jump.
We ran into one peril that I mention as a cautionary tale for future Twitter-chatterers:  I had failed to verify that #CMchat would be a unique hashtag for us, and as a result, we were repeatedly interrupted by country music fans, several of whom expressed their annoyance that we were horning in on their chat. (And to be fair, they did have the hashtag first.) I've deleted their tweets (and RTs of relevant tweets) from the conversation below. 
(I wonder, has anyone yet written a country music song about Twitter? The song titles for this chat could be "Cleopatra, Come Back to Me"; "Let's Retweet, Not Retreat"; and "You Stole My Hashtag -- and My Heart.")

Click to read the whole conversation.@chavelaque: .@valvearshecter & I will be chatting aboutCLEOPATRA'S MOON, the acquisitions process, etc. in 5 min! Follow us at #CMchatfor the moment.November 14, 2011, 5:27 pm 
@valvearshecter: I'm on...is there another #CMchat? What'stheirs?n #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:29 pm              @chavelaque: Well, theirs is a Country Music chat. Want tochange to #CLEOchat for clarity? #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:29 pm 
@chavelaque: Anyone who doesn't want to be part of theconversation may want to unfollow me for the next hour. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:30 pm 
@chavelaque: @valvearshecter Well, we're here, so let's dothis now. Country music fans, you can all blame me. Or you can read CLEOPATRA'SMOON! #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:31 pm 
@valvearshecter: I suggest the latter! #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:32 pm              @dulemba: Read it - love it! :) e #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:32 pm              @valvearshecter: Thanks, e! #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:33 pm 
@dulemba: I'm also listening to the audio in my car. Don'tneed air conditioning - it gives me chills!! :) #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:33 pm 
@chavelaque: So just to get started here: I'm Cheryl Klein,& I edited the lovely CLEOPATRA'S MOON by Vicky Alvear Shecter(@valvearshecter) #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:33 pm 
@valvearshecter: And I'm Vicky Shecter, author ofCleopatra's Moon. This is my first twitter chat--are there any rules orsomesuch we should discuss? #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:34 pm 
@chavelaque: If you all have any questions for Vicky or me,feel free to ask them during the chat, & we'll answer them starting ~ 1:15.#CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:34 pm              @dulemba: That must have been a fun job! (editingCLEOPATRA'S MOON). #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:35 pm              @valvearshecter: It was fun but also slightly terrifying forme, esp. since this was my first novel.n #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:37 pm              @chavelaque: It was VERY fun for me to edit & to work w/Vicky, who was SO enthusiastic... We first got in touch via query letter,right, Vicky? #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:38 pm              @dulemba: Cheryl, Did CLEO coincide with your book SecondSite? I'm trying to recall which came first. Did one influence the other?#cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:39 pm 
@valvearshecter: Yes, I had queried you for my midgrade biographyof Cleo...after it got acquired you sent a ltr saying you were interested.n#CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:40 pm 
@LauriCorkum: Was the book nearly perfect when you firstsubmitted it? How much rewriting/revising was required? #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:40 pm 
@valvearshecter: Which gave me the chance to tell you aboutthe novel in progress. So I kind o came in thru a side door. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:40 pm 
@chavelaque: I remember really liking the ENERGY of your bioof Cleopatra, & I thought Cleo was awesome, obvs. But we don't do a lot ofnonfic. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:41 pm 
@valvearshecter: @LauriCorkum It was finished, but nowherenear perfect! I did a fair amount of rewriting. Okay, a lot more than a fairamt. ;-) #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:41 pm              @chavelaque: ("We" being "Arthur A. LevineBooks.") So I was excited to hear about a novel with this untold story ofCleopatra Selene. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:42 pm 
@sally_apokedak: Vicky Alvear Shecter and Cheryl Klein arediscussing CLEOPATRA'S MOON right now at #cmchat.November 14, 2011, 5:42 pm              @chavelaque: So I responded that I'd love to see the novel,and then your agent @cmiller-callihan sent it to me -- six months later? Ayear? #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:42 pm              @valvearshecter: I queried you w/ your Squib (or Squid?)account. Do you still use that? Also it took about 6 months to get it to you.#CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:43 pm              @LauriCorkum: Vicky, did Cheryl guide the direction of therevisions? #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:45 pm 
@chavelaque: Most of my unsolicited subs come through confsthese days, so I don't use SQUIDs anymore, no. Kind of sad, really! They werefun. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:45 pm 
@dulemba: I love how REAL the religion feels when readingCLEO. You get a true sense of their belief system at the time. #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:45 pm              @valvearshecter: @LauriCorkum Yes, Cheryl def guided thedirection of the revisions. But always with a discussion and collaborativeintent. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:46 pm 
@valvearshecter: @dulemba The ancient Egyptians wouldn'thave seen "religion" as something separate. It was REALITY, esp withpharaoh as divine. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:47 pm              @chavelaque: I bought the ms. at auction, which was v.exciting. Scholastic really got behind the book. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:47 pm              @dulemba: RT @chavelaque: I bought the ms. at auction, whichwas v. exciting. Scholastic really got behind the book. #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:48 pm              @valvearshecter: What set the book apart for you, Cheryl? Orany book, really. What grabs you and motivates you to go for a manuscript?#CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:48 pm 
@dulemba: Cheryl, was there an element of the story thatespecially spoke to you? #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:48 pm              @cathychall: @valvearshecter and @chavelaque discussingCLEOPATRA'S MOON at #CMCHAT now. Read and learn!November 14, 2011, 5:49 pm              @chavelaque: CLEOPATRA'S MOON had a lot of the qualities Ilook for: 1) Awesome story that I hadn't heard before (all the cooler b/c itwas TRUE) #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:50 pm 
@chavelaque: 2) Great characters (again, awesome b/c true)3) Cinematic, you-are-there writing w/ wonderful scenes so I felt emotionallyinvolved #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:51 pm              @chavelaque: & 4) a BIG IDEA at its heart, so it wasmore than just a retelling of history or a romance -- it was a real explorationof an idea #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:52 pm              @valvearshecter: Cheryl, do you think there is more interestin YA historical fiction these days? #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:52 pm              @dulemba: Truly, the setting of CLEOPATRA'S MOON was EPIC! Ifelt like I was THERE. #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:52 pm            @cathychall: I loved the mother-daughter dynamic ofCLEOPATRA'S MOON. Did it start out that way @valvearshecter ? #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:52 pm              @chavelaque: In this case, what is free will, and how muchdo we control our own destinies? Big Ideas explored well always get me excited.#CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:53 pm 
@valvearshecter: @cathychall Cathy, absolutely! Themother-daughter thing is what attracted me to the story. I mean, Cleo as"Mom?" It blew me away. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:53 pm              @dulemba: And of course the issue of Free Will was soprominent. Was Selene fated to follow her Mom's path, or choose her own?#cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:53 pm              @dulemba: So often during the story I said "You GOgirl!" I LOVE Selene's strength. #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:54 pm              @chavelaque: Vicky, I think there's def. interest in it, thothere may be fatigue w/ individual periods -- harder to sell topics covered alot #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:55 pm 
@sally_apokedak: Vicky, you had Scholastic, Arthur Levinebooks, even, bidding on your book at auction? Did you talk to all biddersbefore deciding? #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:55 pm              @chavelaque: Vicky, as you wrote the book, what was yourbenchmark for deciding what to include & what to leave out? What guided youthere? #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:56 pm              @valvearshecter: @sally_apokedak Yes. I talked to the othereditor. I wanted a collaborative rela' w/ an ed.; The other one didn't think itneeded... #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:57 pm              @chavelaque: @dulemba You asked about timing of CM vs. 2NDSIGHT -- I think I bought Vicky's book about a month before I announced my own.#CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:57 pm 
@valvearshecter: @sally_apokedak ...much editing and I KNEWbetter! LOL Plus, I mean, c'mon--who can resist working with Cheryl Klein?#CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:58 pm              @cathychall: CLEOPATRA'S MOON required a lot of vetting.Were you involved in any of that as an editor, @chavelaque? #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:58 pm 
@dulemba: I learned so much from 2ND SIGHT, I would haveloved that by my side while working on revisions if I were Vicky! #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:58 pm              @valvearshecter: Re: what I left out--there were severalreal charac's in history that just confused things. For ex, ANOTHER son of Antony's by prior #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:59 pm              @valvearshecter: ...wife. Actually two sons. It just got tooconfusing with so many of his kids (Antonywas a busy guy). #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:59 pm              @sally_apokedak: I also think that dealing with suicide istimely today. I liked what Selene chose with her free will. #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 5:59 pm              @sally_apokedak: @valvearshecter ha ha good choice #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:00 pm              @valvearshecter: @sally_apokedak Well, you can't escape thefact that both her parents--Cleopatra & Mark Antony committed suicide. Poorkids! #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:01 pm              @dulemba: Truly, she must have been old beyond her yearswith all the loss she experienced. #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:01 pm 
@chavelaque: Vicky, how did you decide what to invent? Forinstance, Cleopatra Selene's visit to the Jewish quarter obvs. aren't in his.record. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:02 pm              @dulemba: I wish you could all get a guided tour through theCarlos Museum with Vicky as Docent. The storiesshe tells are amazing! #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:03 pm 
@valvearshecter: On inventing: It struck me that this tookplace a generation and a half before the beginning of Christianity. Free willwould soon.. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:03 pm 
@sally_apokedak: @valvearshecter Yes, I liked the way youdealt with it. That she could make her own choices. #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:03 pm              @valvearshecter: ..take hold thruout the West. It made senseto have her grapple with it around the time of the birth of Christianity.#CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:04 pm              @valvearshecter: @dulemba Thank you, e! The ancient world isso funny and strange. Also holds up a mirror to our time. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:05 pm              @chavelaque: Vicky, what advice would you have for otherauthors of historical fiction? #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:05 pm              @valvearshecter: I would focus on finding the emotionalpoint that readers TODAY could relate to rather just on facts (You, Cheryl,helped me w/that! #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:07 pm              @dulemba: They didn't Have hashtags back then, butsentiments weren't so different! What would have happened to Cleopatra's rep ontwitter? #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:07 pm              @valvearshecter: Re: the question of vetting--4Egyptologists/professors vetted the Cleo biography, which is the platform forthe novel. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:07 pm 
@sally_apokedak: @dulemba ha #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:08 pm  
@valvearshecter: @dulemba Oh, Cleo's rep on Twitter would havebeen awful--esp if the Romans controlled it! Can you say, "FlameWar?" ;-) #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:08 pm              @valvearshecter: Cheryl, are you looking for anything inparticular these days in submissions? #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:09 pm 
@chavelaque: @valvearshecter @dulemba That was one of thecoolest things re: the book for me -- learning how the Romans ruled history'stelling #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:09 pm 
@cathychall: @dulemba HA! Yeah, Vicky, tell us about thatCleopatra smear campaign. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:10 pm              @chavelaque: Vicky is very, very passionate about thesubject of the biased Romans and how much they hated strong women, esp.Cleopatra! :-) #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:10 pm 
@chavelaque: Which is great. LOVE an author with bothpassion & knowledge, & the ability to tame both for his/her fiction.#CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:10 pm              @RhodeSoft: @valvearshecter Did you have to pay for vettingor does the publisher pay? #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:10 pm 
@dulemba: "History is defined by the winners" -which is why Cleopatra Selene's story needed telling! #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:11 pm              @valvearshecter: @cathychall Smear campaign was amazing.Octavian claimed Cleo drugged Antonyand sexually enslaved him. He'd lost his "manhood" etc. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:11 pm 
@Scholastic: Editor @chavelaque is hosting a chat withauthor @valvearshecter -- follow #CMchat to participate! #yalitchat#cleopatrasmoonNovember 14, 2011, 6:11 pm 
@valvearshecter: @RhodeSoft No I did not pay for the vetting.One classicist from Yale wanted payment but the British Egyptologists jumped inhappily #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:12 pm 
@chavelaque: I'm looking for the same things I always lookfor -- the 1-2-3-4 qualities listed earlier about characters, writing, &big ideas. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:13 pm 
@dulemba: The irony being, strong women still face uphillbattles in today's society. #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:13 pm              @chavelaque: Also, I tend to say, "A plot we cansell" -- a story whose conflict/mystery/lack has clear stakes &meaning for readers. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:14 pm              @valvearshecter: @chavelaque So as long as the manuscriptcovers those qualities, it doesn't matter what genre? Fantasy? Paranormal,etc.? #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:14 pm              @chavelaque: Agewise, I have a lot of YA on upcoming lists,so I'd love some more great middle-grade. I <3 all genres, pretty much.#CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:15 pm              @cathychall: @valvearshecter Do you think that's typical?Not having to pay for vetting, I mean? Or are Egyptologists just really nice?;-) #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:15 pm              @valvearshecter: @cathychall Depends on indi's involved. Biopub told me they often go to British experts cuz they don't expect $ likeAmericans #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:17 pm              @valvearshecter: Cheryl, what are you reading for pleasureright now? #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:18 pm  ReplyRetweet
@chavelaque: I just finished THE LAST LITTLE BLUE ENVELOPEby @maureenjohnson, which I loved -- she writes such good & complexteen-girl books. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:19 pm 
@dulemba: Vicky - What are You reading? Don't you read agazillion books a year? #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:19 pm 
@sally_apokedak: @valvearshecter I was also interestedbecause the story took place just before the time of Christ. You painted theworld so well. #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:20 pm 
@chavelaque: I once heard "literary depth" definedas "a sense of the complexity of reality," & I'd say that'sanother thing I look for in mss. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:20 pm  
@LaFabuliste: @chavelaque You told me once "People reada book for plot, people LOVE a book for its characters." That, I think, ismost wise. #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:20 pm              @valvearshecter: Right now I'm reading THE PERICLESCOMMISSION by Gary Corby. Fun, fun historical fic set at dawn of democracy inancient Greece#CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:20 pm 
@cathychall: @valvearshecter Would CM have been a differentbook with a different editor? Wondering about editors' style of well,editing...#cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:20 pm 
@chavelaque: & @maureenjohnson always has that, for allher books are packaged to look like chicklit (understandably, from a pubperspective). #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:21 pm              @RhodeSoft: @valvearshecter @chavelaque Cheryl-How should wepitch to u? Email/snail mail? Whole manuscript? #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:21 pm              @valvearshecter: @cathychall Absolutely. Cheryl reallyhelped shape the book with me. It was an awesome process. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:21 pm 
@chavelaque: @RhodeSoft My submissions guidelines are athttp://t.co/d43xmzIN, though I'm officially closed right now. So much to read!#CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:22 pm 
@valvearshecter: @chavelaque @maureenjohnson I love herbooks too. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:22 pm  ReplyRetweet             @chavelaque: @cathychall I'm very big on characters DOINGthings & action plot matching emotional plot, so I tend to push my authorstoward that #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:23 pm 
@dulemba: Cheryl, Can you turn off the 'editor' and justread for fun? #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:23 pm 
@chavelaque: @cathychall (Not to say other editors don't!)#CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:23 pm 
@chavelaque: We're signing off in five minutes, CLEOPATRA'SMOON fans -- any last-minute questions? #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:24 pm  
@valvearshecter: There are lots of wild Egyptianfacts:Pharoah Pepi 1 had slaves dipped in honey so the flies would leave himalone & go after them! #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:24 pm 
@valvearshecter: Just had to slip a weird fact in! #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:25 pm              @dulemba: Buy the book and share it with your mom/daughterbook clubs - it is perfect! #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:25 pm            @chavelaque: @dulemba Oh yes! Love reading for fun. But Iwill put books down if they're not satisfying my editorial standards. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:25 pm              @valvearshecter: @chavelaque How often does that happen withpubbed books? #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:26 pm              @chavelaque: Vicky, given that Romans named their daughtersafter their dads, no matter what -- what would your Roman name be? :-) #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:26 pm 
@cathychall: @chavelaque That match-up is what makesCLEOPATRA'S MOON so strong. Vicky nailed that! #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:27 pm              @valvearshecter: My Roman name would end up as Ernesta orErnestina! Ack. What would your Roman name be?n #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:27 pm              @chavelaque: @valvearshecter Hrmm. . . . About once every3-4 books? #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:28 pm              @chavelaque: @valvearshecter That's hilarious. I'd be Alanathe Elder -- my little sister Alana the Younger. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:28 pm 
@chavelaque: @cathychall Couldn't agree more! #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:29 pm 
@cathychall: @valvearshecter That is why I love you onFacebook--among other wonderful qualities. But yeah, the weird facts areawesome. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:29 pm              @dulemba: You don't even want to know what mine would be.Some weird Roman/Bavarian thing with too many syllables. #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:29 pm 
@valvearshecter: @cathychall Thanks, there's a never endingsupply of weird ancient facts! #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:30 pm 
@dulemba: I adore History with a Twist athttp://t.co/Jyj1q7EC - Vicky talks about more weird facts. #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:30 pm              @valvearshecter: Oh yeah..I would be Ernestina the Younger.Forgot that all sisters carried the father's name (sigh). #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:31 pm              @LauriCorkum: Great chat Vicky and Cheryl! Quiteinformative; thanks for taking the time out of your day to answer ourquestions. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:31 pm 
@dulemba: And her Friday Funnies are always hilarious!http://t.co/Jyj1q7EC #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:31 pm  ReplyRetweet
@chavelaque: It's 1:30 here, so it's time for@valvearshecter & I to sign off. Ditto @dulemba's praise for Vicky's blog:http://t.co/GpuRcxK3 #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:31 pm 
@valvearshecter: @dulemba Thanks! #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:31 pm 
@chavelaque: Thanks very much for stopping by, all! &thanks again for your forbearance, country music fans. #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:32 pm              @dulemba: Thanks to the CMchat community for your patience!Back to your regularly scheduled programming... #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:32 pm              @cathychall: Thanks, @valvearshecter and @chavelaque I canalways use a little Egyptfun during lunch! #cmchat bye!November 14, 2011, 6:32 pm 
@sally_apokedak: Yes, thanks both of you. I don't gettwitter, but this was pretty cool. #cmchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:33 pm 
@valvearshecter: Thank you Cheryl Klein. And thanks all whodropped in. And to the CMchat folks, thanks for your patience/won't happenagain! #CMchatNovember 14, 2011, 6:33 pm 
Copyright 2011 TweetReports  

I have a longer post planned here, but it is taking some time to come together; and every day I do not post about this is another day that you may be missing out on this excellent bargain and novel.

SO. For a limited time only, you can buy a digital version of Elizabeth C. Bunce's wonderful StarCrossed -- an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, praised by Megan Whalen Turner and Tamora Pierce and Bookshelves of Doom, as satisfying and twisty and densely woven as your favorite sweater -- for $2.99. $2.99, people! That is a coffee at Starbucks! A smoothie at Jamba Juice! Three packs of pretzel M&Ms! And the pleasure of this book lasts much longer than any of those (especially anything involving wheatgrass). Plus this digital edition includes an extensive excerpt of the sequel, Liar's Moon, which came out just this month in both hardcover and digital versions. You can buy StarCrossed for:
the Kindlethe NookGoogle Reader -- To buy the Google edition from an independent bookstore, go to your favorite independent-bookstore-participating-in-the-Google-eBooks-program's website; click on the Google Books link; and complete the purchase through them. I suggest The Flying Pig in Vermont or Rainy Day Books in Kansas City.
As the book trailer shows, this features a girl thief who's pretending to be a noblewoman, trapped in a snowbound castle, with secrets and conspiracies and entanglements galore. As such, it is the perfect book to snuggle up with under blankets this winter, or to get lost in during long travels to visit friends-and-relations. And I daresay it would be even more delicious with a pack of pretzel M&Ms, because everything is; but I can't help you with that. Enjoy!

Character – the willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life – is the source from which self-respect springs. – Joan Didion

It is fortunate to be of high birth, but it is no less so to be of such character that people do not care to know whether you are or are not. – Jean de la Bruyere

Every man possesses three characters: that which he exhibits, that which he really has, and that which he believes he has. – Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr

The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out. – Thomas Babington Macaulay

One can acquire everything in solitude except character. – Stendhal

Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars. – Kahlil Gibran

We are all of us more or less echoes, repeating involuntarily the virtues, the defects, the movements, and the characters of those among whom we live. – Joseph Joubert

Seven blunders of the world that lead to violence: wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice, politics without principle. – Mahatma Gandhi

Another flaw in the human character is that everyone wants to build, but no one wants to do maintenance. – Kurt Vonnegut

A language is an exact reflection of the character and growth of its speakers. – Mahatma Gandhi

In words are seen the state of mind and character and disposition of the speaker. – Plutarch

Every human being has hundreds of separate people living under his skin. The talent of a writer is his ability to give them their separate names, identities, personalities and have them relate to other characters living with him. – Mel Brooks

The best morals kids get from any book is just the capacity to empathize with other people, to care about the characters and their feelings. So you don't have to write a preachy book to do that. You just have to make it a fun book with characters they care about, and they will become better people as a result. – Louis Sachar

Our schools are filled with kids who have been treated badly all their lives. They don't tell anyone, because there is shame in being treated badly. Many – girls and boys – have been sexually mistreated. Still others struggle in fear with sexual identity. They respond with eating disorders, cutting, suicidal thought or action. I can't tell you how many letters I've received from kids who found a friend in one of my books, a character who speaks to them. And if I get those letters, think of the letters Walter Dean Myers, or Lois Lowry, or Judy Blume get, thanking us for letting them know, through literature, that they are not alone. In light of all that, there's really only one thing to say to the censors. Shut up. – Chris Crutcher

Stories give us access to otherwise hidden, censored, unsayable thoughts and feelings now shiftily disclosed in the guise of plot and character... The hungers of our spirits are fed by sharing in the glimpsed interiority of others. – Ron Hansen

The writer by nature of his profession is a dreamer and a conscious dreamer. He must imagine, and imagination takes humility, love and great courage. How can you create a character without love and the struggle that goes with love? – Carson McCullers

Literature doesn't have a country. Shakespeare is an African writer.... The characters of Turgenev are ghetto dwellers. Dickens's characters are Nigerians.... Literature may come from a specific place, but it always lives in its own unique kingdom. – Ben Okri

To compose our character is our duty, not to compose books, and to win, not battle and provinces, but order and tranquility in our conduct. Our great and glorious masterpiece is to live appropriately. – Michel de Montaigne

Reader, I want you to pretend it is the end of last July. The weather is hot; the drinks are cool; the movies are highly enjoyable (if you're not sobbing your eyes out); President Obama and the House Republicans are trading jabs about the debt ceiling; and I'm about to do a Q&A with Vicky Alvear Shecter regarding her wonderful novel Cleopatra's Moon, which will be published August 1. Welcome, Vicky! (Everyone else, be sure to see the information on the Twitter chat at the end.)

How has the experience of writing a novel differed from that of writing nonfiction? 

First, let me say thank you for having me here. To answer your question, what surprised me the most about writing fiction was how vulnerable and exposed I felt. With nonfiction, the facts don't change, so the only part of "you" that shows up is how you communicate those facts. But with fiction, I poured a lot of my emotional self into it. The emotional distance that I could (sort of) maintain with nonfiction was blown to smithereens.

When I started writing Cleopatra's Moon, I attended a talk by author Deborah Wiles, who recommended digging deep into the emotional truths of your story. I was really moved and inspired by her vision and how she works, so I began to look at every scene with an eye toward not just what happens, but what emotions were engaged. I think (hope!) this helped move the story from one where events are recorded (like nonfiction) to where they are experienced.

Where did this book start for you?

After working on a biography on Cleopatra for middle-graders, I just couldn't get over the fact that out of Cleopatra's four children, only her daughter survived. Yet most people had never heard of her. How could that be?

And then when I tried to imagine what it must have been like to have Cleopatra as a mother, the story just wouldn't let go. I imagined that Cleopatra Selene identified very closely with her mother when she was younger (as most girls do). But then when her world imploded and she no longer had her, she still had to work out who she was as her own person and emerge from underneath her mother's considerable shadow. It just seemed too rich!

If you could travel back in time to any culture and time in history, when and where would you go? If you had the same gender and family income at that time that you do now, what would your social position be? 

Tackling the second question first, I imagine that in ancient Egypt, my family may have been part of an educated class—perhaps of scribes.

But that's the thing—even though I'd love to go back to Rome or Egypt, I would never go back as a girl or woman. The truth is, it was a hard life for women, especially in Greece and Rome, where women were virtually sequestered away. At least in Egypt, women had a few more rights, but still. I would only go back in time if I could go as a wealthy, male citizen!

You said once that seeing classical Greek statues inspired your love of the ancient world. What about them spoke to you? Did you study those cultures in school?

I don't know how to describe my reaction to those statues except to say that it was like some sort of awakening—I hadn't been aware or conscious before that people could create such beauty. The elegance, grace, and sensual lines of the work just blew me away. 

I didn't have a lot of exposure to ancient history in school. I think I had AP World History in the tenth grade, but that was about it. Fortunately, I'd found author Mary Renault, so I just immersed myself in her novels as a way to feel as if I was really there.

What is your writing routine like? Your process?

I don't really have a routine; I just fit writing around my work as a docent at the Carlos Museum and my kids' school hours. Though it still feels partly pretentious to say that I have a "process"(!), I've learned that I need to know the opening and the ending before I can begin writing a word.

Also, I'm not one of those writers who starts typing in order to find out "what happens next" (much to my chagrin because that seems totally awesome).  I have to see a scene unfold in my head like a movie. And then I write it down. But I could never just stare at a blank screen and start writing. I have to get up and pace or walk to see the scene and then I can go from there.

What is the biggest change you feel in the book as a result of the revision/editorial process? Or what about the editorial process most surprised you?

In the beginning, the biggest challenge for me was understanding what you meant when you insisted that my main character have some "agency." At first I just didn't get it. You explained that it was too easy to fall into the trap of allowing a main character to observe the action around her rather than leading it.

But, I countered, the people Selene was observing—particularly Cleopatra and Mark Antony—were so dang fascinating! Why wasn't it enough to have her observe their antics?

But you kept insisting (nicely, of course) that I find something over which Cleopatra Selene had some mastery or control. At one point you threw out a suggestion—perhaps it was dancing in the Temple of Isis—which helped me understand that it didn't have to be a huge thing. Still, I remember even then having the sense of "knowing" Cleopatra Selene well enough to understand that there was no way dancing was going to be it.

I experimented with her learning some nifty science tricks from her mother's lead astronomer at the Great Library of Alexandria, but even there, she was still following, not leading. After some trial and error, I finally ended up having her express agency through a Roman ball game her father taught her, as well as through her deep faith in Isis and her ability to call upon Anubis during a crisis.

Arthur, Vicky, and I walk like Egyptians.
What is your favorite passage in the final book?

It's always hard to look back on my own writing because inevitably I want to continue editing! However, some of my favorite passages have to do with Cleopatra Selene's deep attachment to and love for her home in Egypt's Alexandria-by-the-Sea:

My mother's lady and I moved into one of the side gardens ideal for private conversations. Date palms ruffled in the breeze, gray and mysterious in the dark. Occasional gusts of wind, rich with the smells of the sea, teased the scents out of sleeping lotus, jasmine, rose and honeysuckle blooms. I never again smelled a combination so achingly beautiful—the cool salt of the sea intermingling with the heady perfume of Egyptian blossoms.

And in this scene, after the Roman occupation, Selene and her brothers have been allowed to climb their beloved Lighthouse of Alexandria:

     My brothers and I sprinted up the first tier of the Great Lighthouse. I had forgotten how hot the airless stairwells grew in the summer. We crashed out into the open terraces, sighing as the sea breezes cooled the sweat on our faces. I put my arms out. The crackling flames above us pulsed like a heartbeat. How I had missed Pharos!
    …It had been so long! I ran to the edge and looked out over the glittering bay, drinking in the invigorating smell of saltwater and sea life. Birds squawked and flew around our heads. Ptolly laughed and chased them.
    "The birds are hungry," said a food stall owner from behind us.  "Few visit Pharos now that the Romans have come…"

Those were two of the scenes I loved too -- they really got across your What are you reading now? Working on next?

I am reading a lot of research books right now on Roman women and religion. I'm working on another historical fiction novel set in ancient Rome during the period right before Cleopatra Selene is sent away. She's not the main character in this story, though I'll likely have the two meet at some point.



Now, reader, it is unfortunately November again. But the happy news now is that Vicky and I will be having a Twitter chat on Monday, November 14 to discuss Cleopatra's Moon, how we connected and I acquired the book, Vicky's three favorite crazy facts about the Egyptians (and trust me, she knows WAY more than three!), and sundry other topics. The details:

Who:   Vicky, moi, anyone who's read the book or is interested in doing so, and anyone who just wants to hang out
What:   Twitter chat
When:   Monday, November 14 at 12:30 EST
Where:  Twitter.com
Why:     To discuss Cleopatra's Moon

Our Twitter feeds are at @valvearshecter and @chavelaque. If you'd like to follow the conversation easily, look for the hashtag #CMchat in Tweetchat.com or the Twitter client of your choice; if you'd like to skip it entirely, block us for the day on Twittersnooze.com. A transcript will be posted on one of our blogs afterward. Thank you for tuning in!

A confession:  I occasionally use this blog as my private recipe file for dishes I fix and love, but whose recipes I found on the Internet and fear losing. To that end, I'm pasting this in now -- courtesy of The Splendid Table the first time I made it and this site today. It's a perfect mild fall chili, with many of my favorite ingredients, and it reheats deliciously.

Butternut Squash and Black Bean Chili (serves 6) 

Ingredients:

2 pounds pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled and seeded
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 jalapeño chile, minced
One 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
One 14.5-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 cup water
1 cup apple juice
4 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 cups cooked or canned black beans, rinsed and drained if canned
Cut the pumpkin or squash into 1/2-inch chunks and set aside.Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and jalapeño. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the reserved pumpkin (squash), diced tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, water, apple juice, chili powder, salt, and cayenne, and stir well. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, cover, and simmer until the pumpkin is tender, about 30 minutes.Add the beans, and more water if the chili is too thick for your taste. Cover, and continue to simmer about 15 minutes to blend flavors. Serve hot.

Second in a series on the fascinations of wandering New York.

We had another lovely day here in New York on Sunday, so I decided to go back to Occupy Wall Street and donate some apples -- redistribution of income at work! I arrived right at lunchtime, and was impressed by the pasta and salad the protesters were serving to anyone who wanted a bite. It was just as nice a meal as those offered by the soup kitchen that my church runs (Sundays at 2 p.m. in the church basement, should you need a bite), and all prepared without a real kitchen, as far as I could tell. I also saw the library, full of books on all subjects for all ages:


I missed seeing Screwy Decimal, but she has a picture of the children's library sign specifically. 
A block north stands the Freedom Tower, also known as One World Trade Center. It will be the tallest building in the United States when it's completed, at 1,776 feet. I don't feel particularly enthusiastic about this, nor do most New Yorkers that I know (who are not Larry Silverstein). But Mr. Silverstein must needs be satisfied, and so up it goes:
 
From there I walked north to SoHo. "SoHo" is an abbreviation for "South of Houston Street" (the street is pronounced "How-ston," not "Hew-ston," for anyone who wishes to sound like a local), and roughly covers the area between Houston Street to the north, the Bowery to the east, Canal Street to the south, and the Avenue of the Americas to the west. It has been through many, many iterations as a neighborhood, beginning in the Victorian era, when most of its famous cast-iron buildings were constructed:
 
As manufacturing moved out throughout the twentieth century, artists moved in, spreading south from Greenwich Village and taking over the light-filled lofts for studio space and cooperatives (that link is worth reading if you're interested in nutty artists or New York history):
  
Where artists go, galleries open; where galleries open, rich people come; and where rich people come, luxury shops follow. And as a result, forty years after Fluxhouse closed, Soho is one of the best neighborhoods in New York to shop for European clothes and modern furniture design -- if you're in the 1%, as the good stuff doesn't come cheap. I loved these coffee-cup sculptures, each one bigger than my head, at Adriani & Rossi (a mere $250 each):

 [image error] 
Across the street was a doubled reminder of the neighborhood's origins:  a sign over the receiving door of the long-gone Baker Brush Company, presumably from when brushes were manufactured in SoHo; and a piece of fascinating street art over it -- a totem-like collage face: 
 
At the corner at 89 Grand Street stood Ingo Maurer, a lovely lighting design store. Wouldn't it be fun to have this exploding-dishes chandelier over your table at a dinner party? It would make your guests feel like anything could happen.
 
More street art on the next block:
 
And in an alcove in front of an empty storefront:  a carefully arranged pile of plastic and some sheets, meaning that this is probably someone's bed.
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That someone sleeps on the sidewalk on the same street as a $250 coffee cup sculpture, or this Gaga-worthy fur coat at Isabel Marant, is the same kind of injustice that has led the Occupy Wall Street protests to exist.
  [image error]
At the same time, I confess I love the goofiness of this coat (and the chandelier, and the coffee cups) -- not as something I'd wear or need to own myself, but as a beautiful thing that gives delight. So I don't really want all these things to go away. . . . Only for that sleeper on the sidewalk, and everyone, to have proper housing, and a job, and regular meals, and medical care, before a woman actually spends over a thousand dollars on a coat that makes her resemble a yak.
How to solve this problem equitably, I do not know.
So. More haunting graffiti, on the base of a lamppost:
 
And just like Crosby Street, Greene Street is paved mostly in brick:

Right across the street from Isabel Marant is one of my favorite places to window shop:  SICIS Next Art, an Italian furniture maker that is frankly, joyously crazy -- the interior-design equivalent of Agatha Ruiz de la Prada.
 
My favorite thing I've ever seen there was a mosaic bathtub shaped like a high heel, where the bather sat in the toe and water poured down the arch.
At 107 Greene is another favorite place to browse -- the Taschen bookstore. Taschen makes gloriously nutso, beautiful, and huge art books. (Also art-porn collections, should that be your thing.) I go there to marvel at the specs of their books -- the size of the bindings, the quality of the paper, how no expense is spared in foil or glossiness or embossing. The shop functions almost like a book museum, as you can see:

Magda Sayeg likes to wrap things in knitting. You can see her work right now outside the Apple Store (currently undergoing renovation) at the corner of Prince & Greene. 
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There's also a knitted bicycle at the base of Greene Street, outside the ACNE clothing store. (Yes, that's the brand's real name; it stands for Ambition to Create Novel Expression, and it's a Swedish line. Presumably they didn't know what it meant in English.)
If you look up from the tricycle, you can see another wonderful piece of art, the marvelous trompe-l'oeil ironwork at 112 Prince Street:
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And here's the view back down Greene St. from Houston -- which you all know how to pronounce now, yes? Yes.

I really enjoyed doing this -- the walk, the pictures, the sheer pleasure of looking for and at beautiful and interesting things, all on a sunny, crisp autumn afternoon. Thank you for sharing my stroll!

In early September, I left my wallet and my iPod nano on a flight home from California. In my defense, I had been seated in a row with twin eighteen-month-olds, and after six hours of enduring their squirming and squealing (and being grateful that I was not their endlessly patient mother) -- not to mention having been away from New York for three weeks, one of them inadvertently thanks to Hurricane Irene -- I was desperate to get off the plane, back to my apartment, back to my real life; and I practically ran out of my seat without checking around underneath it. I discovered the wallet was missing when I took a taxi home to Brooklyn, reached into my bag to pay the driver, and could not; the iPod news sunk in a day or two later, when I wanted to go for a run and realized I'd have to do it sans tunes. The airline was no help at all; both items seemed to have disappeared into the Bermuda Triangle beneath the seat in front of me. And while the missing wallet was an annoyance -- a few dollars cash, several cards to replace or cancel -- my lost nano was a real absence, a friend and companion with whom I had faithfully passed the hours, now missing from my life for good.

[image error] But after a week or so, I remembered: I still had an iPod -- my old mini. I had been given the little pink brick for Christmas 2004 (you can see what I wrote about it soon after here -- one of the very first entries on this blog), and it had been my primary music source for almost four years, till my thirtieth birthday in 2008, when it was replaced with the nano. So I dug it out that night and plugged it into an iPod dock to play while I was cooking dinner, just letting it sing out whatever I had last listened to four years ago. . . .

And a Dixie Chicks shuffle came on: "Wide Open Spaces," which I took as a personal anthem after moving to New York (a slightly ironic anthem for this city, obviously); "Cowboy Take Me Away," a love song that always almost overwhelms me with its longing -- not so much for the cowboy, but for the real wide open spaces of the plains, and the simultaneous freedom and anchorage they promise; "Long Way Round," which became another anthem for me as I moved into my late twenties, experienced the standard difficulties, and tried to keep going. I hadn't listened to the Chicks very much in the years since I moved in with James, so it was a pleasure to find I could still yowl along with most of the lyrics, and that the ladies held up just as well as they always had. When I went running the next weekend with the mini, I clicked on my 2007 Running playlist, featuring Kelly Clarkson! And Liz Phair! And other people I'd listened to obsessively, but not for four years! Every song took me back to a specific place or person -- a mixtape exchanged here, a secret hotel-room boogie there.

I realized then that what I had discovered with the mini was a whole time capsule of my life in a certain four-year period, more powerful than any photo album because it had been more present with me every day. The "Moulin Rouge" soundtrack played as I washed dishes. Patty Griffin sang "Peter Pan" in the darkness as I learned to let go. Stevie Wonder reminded me of all the joy in the world, and the "Theme from Shaft" got me down the unshaded West Side Highway on the thankless final miles of the New York City half-marathon. I could even regard John Mayer with amusement as a feckless youthful peccadillo. (I still like the Goo Goo Dolls, dammit, but the only thing about Mr. Mayer that has improved with our ages is his guitar playing.) Those years took me through the development of my own identity as an editor, the start of this blog and my website, work on Harry Potter 6 & 7, several breakups and more confusion, the beginning of the relationship I'm still in today, all the thinking about plot and character and publishing that led to my book this past March. . . . My self solidifying into myself, altogether, in the course of a few good and tumultuous years.

So while I've thought about cleaning out the mini to add all my new music since 2008, I think I'm going to leave it alone and buy a new nano or Shuffle, preserving the late-twentysomething Cheryl in its AAC files. Its name has always been Nutmeg of Consolation, after the wonderful Patrick O'Brian novel, but if I could rename it at this juncture, I'd call it Rosemary for remembrance. . . . Pray, love, remember.

My Spring 2012 list is pretty amazing, if I do say so myself. Five Creatures -style, the three books can be classified as:Three YA novels Two incredible debuts and one strong returnOne fantasy and two realistic contemporaries Two first-person and one third-personOne author born in Mexico, one in the U.S., and one in CanadaTwo books that use split timelines and the telling of a story as motifs and one that does notOne male narrator and two female perspectives (three, really -- Irises's POV alternates between its sister protagonists) Two books set in cities and one in the deep wilderness One male author and two female authorsTwo (three) narrators of color and one Caucasian Three romances Three books that will inspire both arguments and deep thoughtsThree really powerful, resonant endings And -- here's the part I just noticed today, to my amusement -- three gorgeous covers that focus on girls' backs:


Above by Leah Bobet falls under debut, fantasy, first person, Canada, split timeline, male narrator, set in a city, female author, and narrator of color. Out in April.

Irises by Francisco X. Stork can be classified as return, realistic contemporary, third person, Mexico, does not, female perspectives, set in a city, male author, and narrators of color. Out in January.

The Girls of No Return by Erin Saldin is a debut, realistic contemporary, first person, United States, split timeline, female perspective, set in the deep wilderness (Idaho), female author, and a white narrator. Out in February.

And they are all quite, quite genius, and I love them madly, and I love their covers too. I hope you do as well.

Giveaway! If you'd like to win a galley of one of them, leave a comment below using one or more of the titles in a sentence, and three winners will be chosen at random (one for each book).