Kathleen Duey will be joining us this year!! Which means that both of our Book Club Authors are going to be attending con. both have also expressed and interest in attending those book clubs... so you get the opportunity to discuss the book with the author who wrote it!

Go to our website for more information on the book club, our vidding contest, and panels and such. We'll have our schedule up soon so that you can start planning out your con. :)

Cheers.

I think it would be soo awesome if Meg cabot came to Dragon*con. She is one of my favorite YA authors. While technically most of her books aren't sci-fi fantasy related i love her book Avalon High, which is a modern high school retelling of the arthur story.

But alas, i fear that this, like my dreams of Neil Patrick arris and Joss Whedon at dragoncon will go unrealized.

Those wonderful grey DC postcards.....ohhh joy

Anyone have any twilight art they wish to share? I am looking for some color pages!

My friend truexena is working on a vid for our Twilight Vidding Contest and she would like some help from you. She's looking for the absolutely... ESSENTIAL scenes from Twilight.

Read More Here

She'd really appreciate your help.

Cheers.

Calling all Young Adult Lit Friends, Fans, and Enthusiasts!

This is just a quick message to let you know that our forums are going active again as we prepare for the 2009 Young Adult Literature Track! This is where we all can talk amongst ourselves--staff, attendees, fans, and panelists alike--and share our enthusiasm for YA Literature and our excitement for the upcoming convention. Please check here for updates on guests (such as Mike Welch and Peter Facinelli of "Twilight"), come make suggestions for this year, and get the latest track news, developments, and contests.

This way to the forums! http://yalit.informe.com/forum/

Hope to see you there soon!

Your Dragon*Con YA Lit Forum point-person,
Karen Smith
YA Lit Staffer
(Theodora on forums)

... is coming to Dragon*Con this year!!

V I D D I N G

C O N T E S T

In honor of the sparkle-rific movie coming out on Saturday, I thought it was high time that we announce this wonderful contest!

Categories
1. Best Drama
2. Best Comedy
3. Best Romance
4. Best Action
5. Best in Show (All vids are considered for this category automatically)

The Rules
1. YOU MUST HAVE ACTUALLY MADE THIS VID. No, we're not kidding. If you didn't make it, don't submit it. You can ask the author of the vid to submit their work but do not submit for them.
2. All vids must be submitted before August 1st for judging.
3. All vids must be downloadable. (No YouTube links)
4. All vids must be in avi format or m2v/wav format to be considered.
5. You do not have to be present at Dragon*Con to win.
6. Please fill out the following and leave it in the comments for this entry. You may comment anonymously if you don't have a livejournal.

Name:
Email:
Video Title:
Category (see above for category choices):
Video URL:
Comment (if any):

Frequently Asked Questions
1. What source can I use? - Any source that you can find from the movie (including dvd extras and interviews) is fine. We discourage using source from other movies but so long as it includes the actors/actresses from Twilight we will accept it.
2. Where can I host my vid if I can't use youtube or the like? - Online hosting sites allow you to upload it for free.
http://www.sendspace.com
http://www.mediafire.com
http://www.megaupload.com
3. Are you taking vids which have fans staring in them? - No. Not this year at least. We are only taking videos made from the film itself and the other options listed in question 1.

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them here. (with your email address if you don't have an LJ)

Cheers,
Countessmary, Assistant Track Director

Brent Hartinger, splendiferous YA Lit author, has a new website called TheTorchOnline.com, which features little bits of stuff that fantasy fans would like.  Today, they featured a snippet from the new HP movie. 

I'm sure this is all over the place by now, but I saw it here .

Enjoy, Potterheads!  It looks to be the best one yet!

Cross-posted to my personal LJ.  Sorry flist.

Kafka advised a friend that “we ought to read only books that bite and sting us. If the book we are reading doesn’t shake us awake like a blow on the skull, why bother reading it in the first place?”

This is probably the best opening line of any case law that I've ever read.  It's from American Civil Liberties Union v. Miami-Dade Cty., No. 0614633, an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decision about a citizen's request to remove a book from a public school library.  I suspect that this will be of interest to those of you who are interested in banned books.  

It's a lengthy decision with long discussions on how books are removed in one district, standing, standards for preliminary injunctions, and standards of review for First Amendment issues.

The basic case is that there's a series of books that includes Vamos a Cuba.  They're simplistic books about one country each.  One parent, who'd been a political prisoner in Cuba objected to the book because it was inaccurate.  From the description in the decsion, the books sound like crap.  The school board eventually removed the book from all the elementry school shelves.  

The decision is on pages 116 and 117, and there's a 61 page dissent.  I don't want to spoil anyone.

I'm pleased as punch for Sir Terry. :) The author of the Discworld books, and the wonderful novel Good Omens with Neil Gaiman, receives a knighthood!

See these links for more info:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/1/hi/entertainment/7805143.stm

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/12/31/pratchett_knighted/

http://blog.wired.com/geekdad/2008/12/arise-sir-terry.html

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/article5420707.ece

Other folks on the New Year's honours list include:

Robert Plant (former lead singer of Led Zeppelin) got a CBE and Liz Smith (Vicar of Dibley, The
Royle Family) an MBE. Earl Cameron (who did some Who and Prisoner episodes
among other things) is appointed CBE.

The full list:

http://www.honours.gov.uk/lists/2009honours.aspx

Dear YA Lit Track friends and fans,

As you may have seen on the DragonCon website, we are pleased to announce our first Young Adult Literature Track guest, Michael Welch, currently starring in "Twilight" as Mike Newton. Some StarGate fans might also recognize him from his work on SG-1.

His bio on dragoncon.org

It's a little earlier than we may have expected--as it's still 2008!--but it's very welcome news, especially for Twilight fans. Feel free to come on by the YA Lit Forums to talk about our new guest or the movie: http://yalit.informe.com/forum

Please do be aware that guest attendance at con can change at any time between now and September.

Thank you, and enjoy your holidays!


Karen Smith
YA Lit Staffer

Apparently, when you LOSE a bet, you have to read Twilight:

http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/27814449.html

;)






(Note: I neither confirm nor deny the inherent benefits and/or drawbacks of reading Twilight.)

Just finished Blue Bloods and am now starting Masquerade... which I'll read since I already bought it. Wicked Lovely was just that... lovely. I want to read Ink Exchange and will when it goes paperback or I ILL it. I really do like Wicked Lovely a lot and enjoyed it. It wasn't quite Blood and Chocolate, but honestly what is?

So what the heck is with all these Gossip Girl-esque books with Fangs? Even Nancy Collins, whom I would /never/ dream of writing such a book, is jumping on that wagon.

I'm not quite sure of the publishing history here - will probably research it later - but is this a reaction to Twilight?

-Heather/Lieran, who went back to City of Heroes a few weeks back, loves it, and is wondering why Chococat is so far missing from the Hello Kitty Online Beta. Perhaps he isn't so big in Japan?

Oi...Hazelwitch Cat proposed and I am taking charge of begging for this plan.

YAL'er show us your Jayne Cobb hats. We should have a Jayne Hat meet up at DC09.

Do you have a Jayne Cobb Hat?

( Read more... )

What is up w/ the Marriott being sold out?

NYT Article discusses marketing strategies to draw young adults to books such as more web presence, video games, etc. Rick Riordan quoted to discuss the move and his The 39 Steps book.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/06/books/06games.html?hp

Ran across this book on Amazon and think it looks fascinating.

One of the questions it poses and presumably discusses is whether or not Oz or Kansas is the real world.

http://www.amazon.com/Wizard-Oz-Philosophy-Popular-Culture/dp/0812696573/ref=sr_1_49?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222272104&sr=1-49

Oz is one of the many series that had a second author pick it up - others are Trixie Belden (sooo old school), the recent Brad Strickland books based on John Bellairs (so love Bellairs & for that matter, Strickland). Is this continuation or revitalization really what the original author would want? Also, is it that removed from say... fanfic because it is in conditions and characters that another creative individual created?

One last thought, on Narnia- for those of you who love audio books, I just noticed that Kenneth Branagh reads The Magician's Nephew, Michael York is reading The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe, Lynn Redgrave is reading Prince Caspian, Jeremy Northam (swoon) is reading The Silver Chair, and Patrick Stewart has The Last Battle. Oh, and two other guys whom I've never heard of are reading the other two books.

Sorry if anyone has mentioned this before, but we have all of these book suggestions and book lists, and reviews, updates and discussions.

Does anyone else on here use GoodReads? It might be another good forum for these kinds of discussions, and in particular, book list sharing. I spend WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much time over there.... :-)

I was sadly feeling sickly at the Con this year and didn't attend many panels, so I'm sad that I didn't leave with a long list of to-reads. I was so looking forward to the 10 Books to Save from a Fire list!

Oh my gosh, did we totally overlook The Diamond of Darkhold? Has anybody read this yet? It came out right before Dragon*Con and in the excitement, I overlooked the newest City of Ember book. Btw, did anybody else get tingles when they saw the preview for the movie? Bill Murray is going to rock that role. All I have to say is that this is a good year for YA with a new DuPrau book, another Rowling, the new Paolini, new Riordan (and what the heck is that 39 Clue series that I keep seeing at Wal-Mart?), new Spiderwick book set in FLORIDA (hmmm... which part tho?), new PC & Kristin Cast (I love those books even if they are a bit Gossip Girl), new Blue Bloods novel in October (speaking of Gossip Girl)... and for those who have read all this, there's the Rachel Caine series which starts with Glass Houses. Loved em.

Seriously though, the new trend is going to be Superheroes. I'm seeing it show up in Romance and sooner or later it is going to be big, like vampires and paranormal is now. Just watch... it is going to go through the book market like nobody's business. Personally, I /love/ the paranormal, but it is kinda nice to see some science fiction showing up in there.

Just finished listening to Ender's Game a while back, and Marvel is going to be publishing a limited series of comics for it, so keep an eye out at your local comic book store or bookstore that stocks comics. Currently wading through Pendragon, which I skimmed initially. It isn't /bad/ but it isn't great either. I can't stand a "gee whiz" tone of voice in the first-person narrative but then they tack in occasional profanity. The book doesn't know if it wants to be "good" or "bad" and I think the narrative is trying too hard... and it just isn't specific enough.

What YA are you all reading? Have you all picked up Vintage yet? That was the one big thing that I took away from the alt-sexuality panel that I /really/ want to read.