On Pointe by Lorie Ann Grover: a book review by Mechele R. Dillard from Suite101.com. See excerpt. See also an interview with Lorie from Little Willow at Slayground.

Andrea Brown Literary Agency, Inc.: official site. Learn about the agency, clients and sales, submissions, and check out the offered advice.

Nominees for the 2008 Best Books for Young Adult List, sponsored by the American Library Association/Young Adult Library Services Association include: Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson (Viking, 2007); Dragon’s Keep by Janet Lee Carey (Harcourt, 2007)(excerpt); Beige by Cecil Castellucci (Candlewick, 2007)(excerpt); Split Screen Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies/Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies by Brent Hartinger (HarperCollins, 2007)(author interview); The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl by Barry Lyga (Houghton Mifflin, 2006)(author interview); The Restless Dead: Ten Original Stories of the Supernatural edited by Deborah Noyes (Candlewick, 2007)(author interview); and Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr (Little Brown, 2007)(author interview).

Blogging for Mom: the children of author Brenda A. Ferber offers insights into her writing life. Brenda writes: “Since I’m too busy writing books to get sucked into blogging, and my kids are madly infatuated with anything cyber related, I agreed to let them create a blog for me. Faith will be the main blogger. (This was her idea.) Sammy will be chiming in, too. Jacob would rather play baseball.” Read a Cynsations interview with Brenda.

CBC Showcase: March-April “Friends in the Animal Kingdom.” “This Showcase highlights stories of classic, as well as soon-to-be classic, animal characters in picture books, nonfiction, and novels for all ages.”

“Interview with Andrea Casardi of Transatlantic Literary Agency” by Nancy Sondel of the Pacific Coast Children’s Writers Workshop. Don’t miss part two. See also “an interview with editor Julie Romeis of Bloomsbury-USA,” also from the PCCWW. The Pacific Coast Children’s Writers Workshop will be held Aug. 17 to Aug. 19 at the Hilton Hotel in Coastal Santa Cruz, California. It’s a team-taught seminar for thirty-five middle grade and young adult novelists specializing in character-driven, realistic fiction. The 2007 focus will be crafting subplots and secondary characters.

Congratulations to Dori Chaconas on the publication of Virginnie’s Hat, illustrated by Holly Meade (Candlewick, 2007). View an inside spread.

Faye Likes Words: A blog about writing, editing, publishing and associated blogs. Faye says: “I want to help other writers find good information using this ‘bloogle for writers’ blog.”

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Loss Leader” from Shelf Awareness at Fresh Eyes Now: Envisioning New Bridges Between Authors and Readers. Source: Nathan Bransford of Curtis Brown.

“An Interview With Rose Kent–Author Of Kimchi and Calamari” at A Year of Reading. See also a Cynsations interview with Rose.

“Interview with Illustrator Sylvia Long on An Egg is Quiet” (Chronicle, 2006) from Paradise Found. Source: Bartography. Read a Cynsations interview with Sylvia and “Egg” author Dianna Hutts Aston.

J. Alison James debuts a new author site. Her books include The Drums of Noto Hanto (DK Ink, 1999). Learn more!

“Magic or Madness–the Interview” (an interview with Justine Larbalestier) from Not Your Mother’s Book Club.

Kristen D. Randle has relaunched her official author site. Her books include Slumming and Breaking Rank, both published by HarperCollins.

What are your three reasons? Check out this YouTube video and leave a comment on why you love your library. Nancy Dowd writes: “The goal is to make a ‘library video’ not only the most viewed, but to set the record for the most comments ever posted to one video on YouTube. Why? Because we have all heard the argument that with Internet there is no need for libraries, so where better to dispel that myth than online on the ever-popular YouTube?”

Tips for a Successul Writers Group from Coffee and Ink.

More Personally

Thanks to Brittany for designing the new Tantalize Fan Group banner. This is a new MySpace group that she has founded. I’ve offered to pop in now and then with breaking news, to highlight gothic fantasy YA releases by other authors, and to supply giveaway items. Horror, gothic fantasy, and YA enthusiasts on MySpace are welcome to join. See also Cyn’s MySpace page.

Winning entries of the Tantalize (Candlewick, 2007) giveaway at Young Adult Books Central have been posted. Entrants were asked to “make up a favorite recipe/dish for either a vampire or a werewolf.” Check out the winners!

In other news, I’m pleased to report that my first book, Jingle Dancer, illustrated by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu (Morrow/HarperCollins, 2000) is going into another printing. Thanks to all for your support!