Times for the panels will follow, but check out these awesome events!

*Concrete Jungle Where Dreams are Made. 
Laura Toffler-Corrie (The Life and Opinions of Amy Finawitz), Olugbemisola Rhuday Perkovich (8th Grade Superzero) and 2009 Newbery Award winner Rebecca Stead (When You Reach Me), bring us relatable, inspiring characters embracing challenges with friendships and popularity—while trying to solve a mystery or two—set against very different New York landscapes.

*DRAWN! Illustrator Draw-off. 
Illustrators bring magic to words with the simple stroke of a pencil. Watch award-winning illustrators create in response to a few energetic prompts from the audience, and hear them discuss the magic behind their illustrative work. Mike Cavallaro (Foiled), Shane Evans (Olu’s Dream) and Vanessa Brantley. Moderated by Darren Farrell (Doug Dennis and the Flyaway Fib).

The Private Eye Writers of America (PWA) is proud to announce the nominees for the 29^th annual Shamus Awards, given annually to recognize outstanding achievement in private eye fiction. The 2010 awards cover works first published in the U.S. in 2009. The awards will be presented at the PWA banquet, to be held Friday evening Oct. 15, 2010, in San Francisco, during the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention.

Best First PI Novel

Loser’s Town by Daniel Depp (Simon & Schuster) 

The Last Gig by Norman Green (Minotaur/St. Martin's) 

The Good Son by Russel D. McLean (Minotaur/St. Martin's) 

Faces of the Gone by Brad Parks (Minotaur/St. Martin's) 

Chinatown Angel by A.E. Roman (Minotaur/St. Martin's)

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The story of the author's moment of inspiration — the one that was the gestation of the book — is entertainingly told in the forward. Wagman-Geller also describes the criteria for the stories included in the book: Some stories fell to the wayside not because they were less than riveting, but because they lacked a “light bulb” moment. Other stories had the requisite “slap to the forehead” origins, but not enough verifiable information was available about the creators and their handiwork.

The disparate subjects included never fail to entertain: the name Anne Made Grosholz may be unfamiliar, but only a hermit would be unfamiliar with her life's work; Pierre de Coubertin created the most famous quadrennial event in the world, even if you didn't know it; uncover the connection between the allegedly treasonous Alfred Dreyfus and racing great Lance Armstrong; learn the shocking last request of Bill Wilson, self-described as “just another drunk” and yet a savior to millions; discover the daughter of immigrants who created one of America's most enduring icons; and learn the identity of the “boy born on the wrong side of the tracks...” and how his Eureka has “... changed the way (the world) does business.”

These are truly fascinating mini-biographies — 40 in all — that deftly condense reams of information into digestible chunks of a few pages in length. The subjects are disparate, so if one fails to entertain, the next surely will. The author indicates she is at work on a sequel, and such a book would be welcomed wholeheartedly.

Scott Coffman is a writer, cartoonist and bookseller who lives in Louisville.

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First is that it's been nominated for YALSA's Best Fiction for Young Adults list! Check out the entire list here. Such great company there, and we're so proud of David.

And then we're sorry we missed it back in June, but EPITAPH was a June ALAN Pick! With a lovely review as well:

Epitaph Road by David Patenaude
Egmont, 2010, 266 pp., $16.99
Thriller/Post Apocalyptic/Utopia/Relationships
ISBN: ISBN: 978-1-60684-055-9

The year is 2097 and Kellen is a fourteen-year-old boy living in a world with few males. Nearly thirty years previously, a super virus wiped out 97 percent of the males living on Earth. Now, the world is run primarily by women, and Earth is an idyllic place to live—free of the aggression that brought Earth to the edge of complete oblivion. Kellen is resigned to be one of the lone outcasts (a male’s potential is now considered limited and untrustworthy) until he overhears his mother, a powerful leader in this new world order, speaking of a new outbreak of the deadly virus that had wiped out the previous male population. This time, Kellen learns, that the virus is headed toward a community of “loner men” that includes Kellen’s estranged father. With the help of female friends, Kellen escapes his mother’s dominion and races to warn his dad of the incoming danger; in the process, he learns of the real reason for the spreading of this dreaded male disease.

This book is a real-page turner, filled with just the right mixture of action sequences and thought-provoking conversations. It is most suitable for middle and high school readers as the author concentrates on the morality of the tale, leaving most graphic scenes to the reader’s imagination. Teen readers will delight in this highly accessible adventure tale, and teachers and parents alike will relish the notion that the author is an engaging and serious novelist with a strong and definitive moral compass. Readers who like Suzanne Collin’s The Hunger Games and Michael Grant’s Gone will enjoy another entry in this best-selling genre.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kaplan, Orlando, FL

Congrats, Dave!

It can’t get any worse for Amy Finawitz. Her best friend, Callie, has abandoned their life in New York City to stay with relatives in Kansas for the year, leaving Amy to cope with eighth grade alone. Thankfully—or not—God sends Amy a replacement friend in the form of Miss Sophia, the little old lady who lives down the hall. Miss Sophia hooks Amy into solving a decades old mystery left in a very old journal. The dynamic duo soon becomes a Terrific Triumvirate when Miss Sophia also asks her fifteen-year-old nephew, Beryl, a Lubavitch Jew, to join their little investigative team.

And if Amy thought her year couldn't get anymore random, she can add the following items to her list: Houdini’s grave, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, cross-dressing magicians, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, crochet circles, Abraham Lincoln, a raucous rendition of Fiddler on the Roof, and a secret treasure.

To get through it all, Amy's going to need a serious Chanukah miracle.

Reviews:

"Most special here is shy, stolid Beryl and the way Toffler-Corrie portrays both Beryl’s Orthodox Judaism (he’s deeply devoted) and Amy’s hippie-flaky Judaism (“tofu brisket” and some “challah that [mom] bought from the Italian deli (because it’s crusty)”) with value and sweetness." ~Kirkus Reviews

Buy Me Now!

Three classic fairytales—“Sleeping Beauty,” “Puss in Boots,” and “Little Red Riding Hood”—cleverly retold with enough sensual twists to prove wickedly ever after does exist…
 
Once upon a wicked time...

Sleeping Beau: Five years ago, notorious rake Adrien d'Aspe, Marquis de Beaulain, was awakened by a sensuous kiss-and experienced a night of raw ecstasy that was branded into his memory. Years later, he spots his mysterious seductress-and this time, he has no intention of letting her go...

Little Red Writing: Nicolas de Savignac, Comte de Lambelle, has been assigned by the King to uncover the secret identity of the author writing scandalous stories about powerful courtiers. He never expected his investigation would lead to his grandmother's house, or to a ravishing woman who would stir his deepest hunger...

Bewitching in Boots: Elisabeth de Roussel, daughter of the King, is accustomed to getting what she wants-and she wants Tristan de Tiersonnier, Comte de Saint-Marcel, an ex-commander of the King's private Guard. A recent injury has forced Tristan to leave his distinguished position, but Elisabeth is determined to make him see he's every bit the man he once was-and more than man enough for her...

 
Author’s website

Excerpt of AWAKENED BY A KISS 
 
~ REVIEWS ~
 
"Three fantastic stories that will take you away into a world of fairy tale romance, capturing your heart as well as your emotions....and good old fashioned naughty love scenes that will light the pages on fire. Simply delicious."  Book Junkie
 
 "Lushly erotic writing. . .Sophisticated, sensuous, and deeply romantic.” — Elizabeth Hoyt, New York Times bestselling author
 
“The most luscious, sexy take on classic fairy tales I’ve ever read!”— Cheryl Holt, New York Times bestselling Author
 
"Erotically charged. . .These are not your mother's fairy tales!”— Kathryn Smith, USA Today bestselling Author
 
 
By Me Here!

Read about his awesome encounter over on his blog, and watch the video too!

Gr 6-9—This little bit of light reading tells the story of Destiny Lozada and her quinceañera. Her loving Puerto Rican-American family, made up of a hardworking father, a slightly push mother, and a rather overbearing sister, helps keep the plot moving as the teen decides how she feels about a traditional party and whether she even wants one. Her friends Stephanie and Erin remain largely on the fringes but help her get out of a couple of tight situations, such as a babysitting episode that goes awry. Mrs. Lozada is swept up in planning the perfect quinceañera, while America, Destiny’s sister, fights tooth and nail against traditional female stereotypes and cultural expectations. Destiny is caught in the middle, with the added pressure of the ever-mounting expense and a crush on Nicholas, who may turn out to be more of a cad than a prince. In the end, Destiny calls a halt to the expensive party and plans an alternative that suits her unique style and her family’s budget. Entertaining and chatty, and with an assortment of lively characters, this novel will appeal mostly to girls who are making their own way through the labyrinth of friendship, first boyfriends, and parental expectations.
–SLJ, July 2010