One: There’s still time to enter my inaugural Operation Clean Out Closet (hereby christened OCOC) giveway of Jessica Day George’s Princess of the Midnight Ball. The drawing’s Friday, March 6th (that’s tomorrow!)… go here for details.

Two: This month’s Estella’s Revenge is up. One of the fun things working a bit behind the scenes is seeing how, when you’re afraid that there’s going to be hardly anything in this issue, people can come through last minute, and suddenly there’s a great issue bursting at the seams with features, columns, and (of course) reviews (in the category of “books I really would LOVE to read, but can’t because they’re not out in the US”, check out Elaine’s review of The Madonna of the Almonds. Sounds heavenly.)

My stuff… I interviewed Joshua Henkin, one of the nicest and most interesting authors I’ve talked to in a while. I also have three reviews: two YA winners — The Parliament of Blood and Stop Me if You’ve Heard This One Before — and one so-so nonfiction — Somewhere in Heaven.

Go check it out! (And don’t forget to enter my giveaway!)

It’s February… and you’ve been waiting (with baited breath!) for the latest issue of Estella’s Revenge to come on line. (You haven’t? Shhh…. don’t tell me that!) Well, never fear: it’s up (yay, Andi!)! And (like always), it’s a good one, too.

First, my stuff: I have a two-fer: an interview with John Shors, and a review of his recent book, Beside a Burning Sea. I also reviewed Jessica Day George’s newest, Princess of the Midnight Ball as well as the Aussie book Everything Beautiful. (Becky, I didn’t write this, but I agree: that girl on the cover is NOT fat. What gives?)

But the real scoop is Heather’s interview with Lane Smith. (Can I say wow? I can? WOW. Cool.)

And while you’re there, putter around a bit, and read the rest of the issue, too. 🙂

It’s up. Go check it out… I haven’t had much time to browse today (been sucked into — surprise — a book), but it looks a lot better than I thought it would, given the holidays. Yay for us!

My contributions: two reviews about books from authors whose work I previously loved, and an article on firsts that I threw together last-minute (ssshhh) and am quite proud of the way it turned out. Oh, and we’ve got a new feature from Stacey at Book Thirty entitled Families in Fiction, which sounds like an interesting idea.

And for one last thing, non Estella related, this totally cracked me up. Yeah, he’s poking fun at me, but who says I can’t laugh at myself?

December’s Estella’s Revenge is online!

‘Tis a small issue (don’t you love the holiday banner? So festive!!), but a good one nonetheless. Oh, and there’s a call for writers: we could ALWAYS use your ideas, author interviews, and reviews. Email us at estellabooks AT gmail DOT com. We’d love to hear from you!!

As for my contribution (what? I managed to finish books that weren’t Cybils related? AMAZING!): I interviewed the ever-delightful Howard Whitehouse (author of the Cybils-nominated book, Island of the Mad Scientists… I managed to sneak the Cybils in there after all!), as well as reviewing The Triumph of Deborah (warning: it will trip off your Net Nanny) and Chasing Windmills.

There’s other stuff, too. Go check it out!!

I just had an incredibly busy day yesterday. I didn’t get on the computer at all, or even crack open a book, if you can believe it!!

Anyway. The November Estella’s up… Check out my interview with the lovely Christine Son (the first stop on the TLC book tour; check back here on Wednesday for my review of her book!), as well as two interesting books: The Year We Disappeared and Twenty Fragments of a Ravenous Youth. There’s also lots of other lovely things… I just haven’t had the time to check them out, but I’m on my way.

Oh, and Happy November!

The October Estella’s Revenge is up!

It’s another good issue (if I do say so myself; I got asked to pinch-hit since Andi’s swamped, and I played Book Review Editor for this issue…). I’ve got several book reviews: What if…?; Two Parties, One Tux (and a very long subtitle); and a couple of Twilight Zone graphic novels. In addition though, there’s a lot of really good reviews, an interesting piece on choosing to read a chunkster, and a piece on banned books (happy banned books week!). And it wouldn’t be October without an interview with the popular paranormal romance writer (and Ann Arborite!!) Colleen Gleason.

Enjoy!

I am reading… but it’s David McCullough’s huge biography of John Adams. And while I’m thoroughly enjoying it (review by the end of the week. Promise.), it makes for some slow blogging.

In the meantime, check out the September Issue of Estella’s Revenge! I did a book tour of stores we stopped at while we were on vacation, as well as a couple reviews — Undone (an intriguing YA book) and Rules for Saying Goodbye (I don’t get satire). There’s also a clever piece by Stuart (I love his stuff…) on how to start a literary argument, as well as an interesting history of the Ghostbusters (of all things!). In addition to other reviews and features.

What are you waiting for? Go and enjoy Andi and Heather’s hard work. 🙂

When’s the last time I put up five posts in one day?! (Never?) Anyway. The August Estella’s Revenge is up. Go visit it. For my own records… I interviewed J. Scott Savage, who is an absolutely delightful — and funny — person; and submitted four — probably more than I needed to! — reviews: Rapunzel’s Revenge (wonderful! It’s Shannon Hale, how can it be bad?!), Apples and Oranges (could have been good, but wasn’t), The Traitor Game (ditto), and Farworld: Water Keep (it surprised me how much I liked it). I’m sure there’s other good stuff, but I’m still on vacation, and I need to actually shower sometime today. Oh. That’s probably overshare. Sorry. 🙂 Enjoy.