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The We The People petition website is run by the White House and bills itself as a site that gives “all Americans a way to engage their government on the issues that matter to them.” Any citizen of our great nation can create a petition and round up signatures from other constituents. The petitions that achieve over 100,000 signatures will generate a response from the Obama administration. Democracy in action…or so it would seem.

Last week, a courageous American started a petition that asked President Barack Obama to “re-enact the scene from The Incredibles where Frozone is looking for his supersuit.” The petition was supported by Incredibles director Brad Bird, who retweeted the request on his Twitter account. It made a reasonable request of the leader of the free world:

However, it turns out that Obama (or his minions who run the We the People site) do not appreciate The Incredibles as much as the rest of America’s freedom-loving, tax-paying, God-fearing citizens do. In an act worthy of the Turkish government, the petition asking Obama to re-enact a simple one-minute scene from a beloved animated film and which had received over 5,000 signatures in two days, was abruptly halted by the the U.S. government. Perhaps, then, Frozone was an appropriate character for Obama to re-enact because he clearly has no qualms about freezing the needs and desires of American citizens.

The harm that has been caused to the fundamental integrity of our democratic process is unquestionable, but we should never forget that, as Americans, we have the right to demand of our leaders to perform scenes from classic animated movies. In fact, a new petition requesting that Obama dress up as Frozone has already been launched on Change.org. We will make it happen one way or another:

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I’ve been so lucky to have been kept incredibly busy over the last 7 months. Between illustrating a number of books for publishers that I’ve always wanted to work with, and   doing book store appearances and accompanying food drives for local food pantries, and attending book shows and DIY book and comic shows like MOCCA and TCAF— I haven’t really had time for much else. Happily, because we homeschool, our kids were able to go with us to all of our events, either selling their own books at shows, or just getting to know a new city. And I won’t complain- I swear, we had a blast. The last book store we visited was the way way cool Librarie Drawn and Quarterly in Montreal, and we had an awesome turn out. Here are some pics from the event.

But now we put our suitcases away and  things will get quiet. We’ll get reacquainted with friends, chickens and weed the already unruly garden.  And soon start working on some new books, inspired by all the beautiful work we’ve seen, people we’ve met and places we’ve seen!

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Pop culture references abound in the new teaser trailer for The LEGO Movie directed by the creative team of Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Clone High TV series, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street). Warner Bros. will release the film in the U.S. on February 7, 2014. The highlight in this teaser is the animation, which has the chunky staccato rhythms one might expect of LEGOs animated in stop motion though it is actually achieved through computer animation.

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It’s been a week of animated film trailers and teasers. This afternoon, we see the release of the Free Birds trailer, which is the first feature film produced by Reel FX, a studio known for animating the well received CGI Looney Tunes shorts. Free Birds is directed by Jimmy Hayward (Horton Hears a Who!) and will be released by Relativity Media in the U.S. on November 1st.

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As I always get a giggle out of Travis Jonker's One Star Review Guess Who posts, I figured I'd swipe the idea and post the occasional one-star Amazon review of a much-lauded YA title.

So, can you guess what book this disappointed reader is reviewing?:

According to my Kindle, I'm about 5% of the way through the book. I need someone to tell me if the style, the content, the dialogue, hell, if pretty much anything improves and starts to approach that which would normally pass as engaging composition. Because I'm just about to give up. I dove into this book without knowing anything about it, other than it is WWII historical fiction. After reading the first few pages I came to learn that a twelve year old girl has been captured by the Nazi's and is being subjected to the worst brutality. Those beasts are sharpening pencils in her general direction, causing painful pencil shavings to irritate her eyes! Forget waterboarding, these Nazi's are serious. They will take your knickers away!

Is it just the first couple of chapters that are like this? Does she start acting like an adult at some point? Does she ever stop feeling sorry for herself? At what point do you get over that hump of wishing she would just stop whinging and start to write an entry in her diary that reads like the words of a strong woman in a difficult situation instead of an agony letter to Teen Beat?

Click through for the answer!

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No, Treasured Sister, THIS is a Dawson Leery cross-stitch pattern:

And before you ask, the answer is YES. Yes, I have the pattern complete with DMC colors and symbols.

I am suddenly envisioning a set of the MOST AWESOME THROW PILLOWS EVER.

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I am often asked if I offer discounts on my classes or services. Yes, I do! To make things easier and affordable each session I offer EARLY BIRD SPECIALS on classes. It’s an opportunity to save money by signing up early. You can see the list of JULY classes here. Sign up by July 1st to get the class price advantage. For Private Lessons, I offer special bundle rates so if you schedule more sessions you save big and the prices go way down.

I would love to discount even more but this is how I earn my living. Every dollar earned at this site helps me eat and pay for things like the Internet, electricity, and my computer so I can continue to offer my services and products. I do offer two-payment plans and Paypal has Bill Me Later which breaks the payments down into small pieces which makes it reasonable. I’ve used that service before and it’s very helpful.

I had one person ask not too long ago if they could have a free class because they were on a limited budget. I had to laugh — I’m on a limited budget myself and am not in the situation yet where I can give away any of my time free. Hopefully, in the future, I can offer scholarships when I am in that position.

Look forward to seeing you in class!

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Submissions needed: There are only a couple of submissions left in the pillory. If you’d like a fresh look at your opening chapter or prologue, please email your submission to me re the directions at the bottom of this post.

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The Flogometer challenge: can you craft a first page that compels me to turn to the next page? Caveat: Please keep in mind that this is entirely subjective.

Note: all the Flogometer posts are here.

What's a first page in publishingland? In a properly formatted novel manuscript (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-point type, etc.) there should be about 16 or 17 lines on the first page (first pages of chapters/prologues start about 1/3 of the way down the page). Directions for submissions are below.

A word about the line-editing in these posts: it’s “one-pass” editing, and I don’t try to address everything, which is why I appreciate the comments from the FtQ tribe. In a paid edit, I go through each manuscript three times.

Storytelling Checklist

Before you rip into today’s submission, consider this list of 6 vital storytelling ingredients from my book, Flogging the Quill, Crafting a Novel that Sells. While it's not a requirement that all of these elements must be on the first page, they can be, and I think you have the best chance of hooking a reader if they are.

Evaluate the submission—and your own first page—in terms of whether or not it includes each of these ingredients, and how well it executes them. The one vital ingredient not listed is professional-caliber writing because that is a must for every page, a given.

• Story questions
• Tension (in the reader, not just the characters)
• Voice
• Clarity
• Scene-setting
• Character

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Steve sends the first chapter of Cold Water Creek. Please vote—the feedback helps the writer. 

Doctor Artemis Rite hovered over skeletal remains spread across a stainless steel examination table as if perusing through a jewelry store countertop looking at engagement rings.

“So that’s it?” Carter Blaine said. He stood at the doctor’s right shoulder gazing down at the brown mass of sticks. Rite had placed the fragments carefully in their respective places simulating a human skeleton. It was the best he could do considering the incomplete remains that were found in the sunken van.

“Not much to go on,” Rite mumbled.

The forensic dive team had collected twelve human bones, a skull and a slime covered high school class ring.

“That’s about it,” Rite said through a sigh as he clinched his Meerschaum pipe between his teeth.

“Can we do anything with what we got?”

“DNA could match something but it is a slim chance.”

“What do we know?”

“Young, female, dead.” Doctor Rite expressed through his bizarre sense of humor.

“I think the State’s Attorney will want a little more detail than that.”

“Not much more to talk about until the Feds come back with information on the vehicle.”

Would you turn Steve's first page?

Nope

For me, there just weren’t any compelling story questions related to either of the two characters introduced here. It sounds like a routine medical examination. Since I know nothing of the dead girl, there’s no particular interest there, either.

I looked ahead in the chapter, and sure enough something did happen to the protagonist, Carter, that would have gotten me to turn the page. Here, with a little editing, is an alternative opening. What’s your vote?

Carter joined the line for the bank teller. It was nearly noon and his stomach grumbled; Jenna hadn’t felt like making breakfast. Her parting words were, “Grab something from McDonald’s and don’t get yourself killed before you come home.” All he wanted was some cash and to get through the day, get back home, have a couple of beers, and watch the game.

He scanned across the front of the bank as a cop would and noticed a squirmy little guy wearing a Red Sox ball cap charge through the front doors.

“Sonovabitch,” Carter mumbled as he felt a spasm in his stomach. Not from a lack of food or the fact the runt wore a Red Sox cap in south Florida; it was that feeling as if the air was being sucked out of the room just before something bad was about to happen. Squirmy headed directly toward the teller counter. Carter reached inside his jacket and placed his hand on his service revolver.

Squirmy flung his cap to the floor and pulled a stocking over his head. Carter released the grip on his weapon as Squirmy presented a cheap 38-caliber handgun from beneath his baggy Black Sabbath T-shirt. A confrontation now would only ensure someone getting hurt, or a hostage, or possibly something worse.  

"Everybody freeze. On the ground. NOW!" Squirmy waved his gun in the air. Everyone dropped (snip)

Comments, please?

For what it’s worth.

Ray

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Free sample chapters—click here for a PDF

"I'm mad at this book. Know why? Because it's one of the best I've read about crafting compelling novels, and it's telling me that I have to revise my own novel yet again. The examples are clear and unusually frequent. For example, you won't read pages of theory before being shown exactly what is meant by creating tension. If you're writing a novel you hope will sell to an agent, then to a publisher, and finally to a great many readers, Rhamey's realistic advice will help you.”   Susan

Submitting to the Flogometer:

Email the following in an attachment (.doc, .docx, or .rtf preferred, no PDFs):

1. your title
2. your complete 1st chapter or prologue plus 1st chapter
3. Please format with double spacing, 12-point font Times New Roman font, 1-inch margins.
4. Please include in your email permission to post it on FtQ.
5. And, optionally, permission to use it as an example in a book if that's okay.
6. If you’re in a hurry, I’ve done “private floggings,” $50 for a first chapter.
7. If you rewrite while you wait for your turn, it’s okay with me to update the submission.

© 2013 Ray Rhamey

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Since LEE & LOW BOOKS was founded in 1991 we have monitored the number of multicultural children’s books published each year through the Cooperative Children’s Book Center’s statistics. Our hope has always been that with all of our efforts and dedication to publishing multicultural books for more than twenty years, we must have made a difference. Surprisingly, the needle has not moved. Despite census data that shows 37% of the US population consists of people of color, children’s book publishing has not kept pace. We asked academics, authors, librarians, educators, and reviewers if they could put their fingers on the reason why the number of diverse books has not increased.

That is the intro to the timely and highly informative piece, “Why Hasn’t the Number of Multicultural Books Increased in Eighteen Years?”  Highly recommended.

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Coloring pages inspired by The Secret Garden!

I heart them.

Also at the Guardian: a cross-stitch pattern of Matt Smith.

(I had no idea they had a Craft section. Yet another RSS feed to follow. MY WORK IS NEVER DONE.)

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As of November 20, 2012 (that is, Midnight Eastern Time tonight) I am closed to queries. I will reopen to queries January 7, 2013.

If I already have your work, you should hear from me by January 7. (That's the point of taking the break, I have to catch up!)

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Over at GeekMom today, I’m thinking about a small child’s most beloved word:

Why is a chameleon-word that shapeshifts into all the questions put together. Who, how, when, what, where, will. Why is the wonder-word. It collects the flurry of bewildering input that swirls around a small child like leaves in a tornado—and in a single syllable, it tames the wind. It puts form to the formless: When other words are leaping all over the place with their jittery meanings (leaves fall in the fall but snow doesn’t winter in the winter), why stays put. Why is reliable. When grownups all around you are failing to comprehend the very clear statement you’re making about eating opiemeal in the hoffabul, why is a word they understand. Sometimes it’s the only word they seem to understand, so you use it in place of all the other words they can’t quite grasp…

GeekMom Counterpoint: Why I Love Why.

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Happy Solstice! And thank you for all the Solstice support!

So I have lots of great signings and events coming up in the next few months. I can't wait! And if I'm coming to a city near you, I would love to see you! Seriously. It would make my day!

Q: Should you go to an author's book signing?

A: Yes! I am grateful for every single person who comes. There is nothing quite so awesome as seeing a happy face and talking books with people who love them.

Anyway, here's what's going on with me and Solstice as far as in person visits for the next few months. And please check my schedule page on my website for any new events that may arise.



*****

June 23, 2013, 2:00 pm - SOLSTICE Signing with authors Joy Preble and Mary Lindsey, The Woodlands Barnes & Noble, Houston, TX

June 28 - July 2, 2013 - ALA Annual Conference, Chicago, IL
    Saturday, June 29, 2:30-3:30 pm - SOLSTICE Signing

July 13, 2013, 3:30-5:00 pm - "Love & Legend" YA Author Panel, SOLSTICE Signing, with Diana Peterfreund, April Lindner, and Bennett Madison, Hooray for Books, Alexandria, VA

July 14, 2013, 4:00 pm - SOLSTICE Signing, Tysons Corner Barnes & Noble, McLean, VA

July 25, 2013, 5:30-6:45 pm - Teen Summer Reading Program Author Visit, Jackson Country Memorial Library, Edna, TX

July 26, 2013, 6:30 pm - SOLSTICE Signing with Joy Preble, Mary Lindsey, and Martha Wells, Murder by the Book, Houston, TX

July 27, 2013, 2:00 pm - SOLSTICE Signing, Alamosa Books, Albuquerque, NM

August 31, 2013, 11:00 - Cedar Park Library Teen Book Club, Austin, TX

September 7, 2013, 2:00 pm - SOLSTICE Release Party with author Mari Mancusi (SCORCHED, Sourcebooks), BookPeople, Austin, TX

September 14, 2013, 2:00 pm - SOLSTICE Signing with author Mari Mancusi, Blue Willow Bookshop, Houston, TX

September 21, 2013, 2:00 pm - SOLSTICE Signing with author Mari Mancusi, The Twig Book shop, San Antonio, TX

September 28, 2013 - Austin Teen Book Festival, Austin Convention Center, Austin, TX

October 29, 2013 - NASA Young Adult Book Club, Houston, TX

November 2, 2013 - Houston BOOKRAVE, Zotz Education Center, Houston, TX

November 9, 2013, 2:00-4:00 pm - SOLSTICE Signing with author Cynthia Leitich Smith, Barnes & Noble, Round Rock, TX

November 19, 2013 - Region 12 Library Jubilee, Waco, TX

November 22-24, 2013 - Austin Comic Con, Writing Ninjas of Texas Booth

*****

See you around I hope!

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Anger is a good, healthy thing. It let’s you know when things are not right in your world.

Yesterday I had a pissy attack. I don’t usually care much for Twitter but it proved to be an excellent way to discharge my anger and frustration. I figured although I have over 400 followers, most of which are folks who don’t give a hoot what I do and who I am, that I was safe and could dump on my feed comfortably. It did seem to help.

Today I have some clarity. Do you ever notice that if you have one of those days, usually there’s a theme lesson that is happening. I was super angry at Verizon. This isn’t the first time my needs were ignored and I found myself with a huge overage bill that I did try to rectify but since I had upgraded online the new plan was in effect “incorrectly” so I had an extra $70.00 tacked on my bill. Not cool. I have a real problem with corporations that have different rules that don’t make much sense and don’t hear the individual. They did not earn my money nor they deserve that amount.

I was also very upset when I heard news of a situation with a former friend that was another “everyone is all happy and smiling but underneath is massive dysfunction that I can see but they won’t even talk about.” It’s the old Oleander experience I have lived with in the past. Everything is just fine, just drink the Coolaid. My usual response with both these situations is to want to scream and educate and show everyone, Hey! There’s a problem here. I want to warn people so they aren’t hurt! And I’ve lived in too many situations where I felt like I was in the middle of one of those horror movies where you are the only one seeing the evil alien behind the mask who is trying to take over Earth for destruction and no one believes you, because the alien looks just fine.

With the second situation, unfortunately, it’s not my problem. If someone’s lesson is to deal with an unhealthy individual, I can’t interfere. Unfortunately, in time, they will find that out–the mask will fall off. With Verizon, I could continue to try to convince them that there is an issue and jump up and down or I can…find a new phone company.

I often wrote about my problem with finding a good veterinarian and that situation finally shifted. I found a very kind one that will listen and is reasonable after kissing many toads that didn’t hear me or were very shaming. I guess when I look back at that situation when I was in it, I felt stuck in that endless cycle of discomfort until I got super pissy and realized I deserved to have what I needed and wanted. I didn’t have to play that dance anymore.

If my phone company doesn’t hear me I can look for one that will and that fits my needs. I don’t want to pay for a Share Everything Plan to save money when it’s just one phone!

And that toxic friend–obviously, I was in the middle of the lesson thinking I didn’t deserve more, and at the first signs of creepy behavior and red flags I should have ran the other way. Far away. Maybe that’s what I’m really upset about now. And that means no arguing, no trying to show or point out the alien in the mask, no trying to fix, or worse, heal them.

I still am fighting the urge to put up billboards for folks to stay away from certain organizations. So I finally learned that important lesson in that playing field. And some folks are still there–in school, so I need to have compassion, and not take away their schoolyard.

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The train ride from Boston had wi-fi, views of the water, & animals!  Van Arts: Pixar Masterclass in New York!  The class features working Pixar employees. Each giving a talk on their specialty, with it being Ricky Nierva first time to the event. Since he's crazy busy as the character design/production designer.  Animation: Day 1 with Andrew Gordon The first day had the most notes

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Part 2.

There’s this convention in 1965 where Bill first publicly spoke about his involvement. Were you there?

I don’t remember if I was there or not.

There was a panel that you were not on, but maybe you were there.

I might’ve been there, but I don’t have any specific memory now.

Did you ever go to a convention with Bill after that?

I can’t remember ever doing that.

So you never got to see Bill interact with fans?

If I was at that one, I might have, but I don’t remember generally, no.

Were you in touch with Bill up until his death?

Sporadically. He would visit here. For a while, I was sharing an apartment with another writer, just before I got married. And he collaborated with him on various things. Mostly for television, I believe. And so they would write up here in my apartment and I would see him then. And then on a few other occasions. I’ll tell you something but it’s not for print.

Okay.

[redacted]

Do you remember how you heard that Bill had died?

I don’t know if I read it or somebody called me, I’m not sure.

Were you at his funeral?

No, I never knew that there was one. Usually, DC has a service, but they never had one for him. They had one for Siegel and Shuster and I attended each one.

Where were their funerals, by the way?

I don’t know if they had a public funeral as such, but we had a special service at DC.

For both of them?

Not together, each one.

Do you know where Bill is buried?

No, I don’t know that, either. It may be that nobody survives who does know. That’s possible.

[I say that Freddie’s friends might know but I don’t how to find them…though eventually, I did find some]

I never knew the service for Portia. I was never called. And I knew I was one of the closest friends.

You weren’t called when she passed away?

[inaudible no]

If you were doing this book [on Bill] yourself, who would be the main players?

The editors at DC and some other editors. But on a personal level he might have had some other friends I don’t know of, some school friends. Portia. His son. [something including “myself” and “Bob”] …the editors at DC we dealt with, mostly [Mort] Weisinger and [Jack] Schiff.

…

[Bill] created most everything for [Bob]. He definitely was a full co-creator. I think he had more to do with the molding of Batman than Bob. He just did so many things at the beginning. As an artist, I can appreciate what goes into that. Aside from creating almost all the other characters, creating the whole persona, the whole temper, the history, origin of Batman. Everything. It made it a success from the beginning.

Do you know what Bill thought of Jerry and Joe going after the rights to Superman?

I don’t remember discussing it with him specifically, but I can’t imagine he would be other than supportive or happy about it.

Do you think it ever gave him a kick to try to do that himself, get some rights to Batman?

He might’ve entertained it, but I think he was so beaten down, and without resources, and without any seeming legal avenue to do it, he probably never thought seriously.

Did you ever play golf with him?

No.

Or tennis?

I don’t know that he played tennis. If he played tennis, I’m surprised I wouldn’t have [played with him], because my thing was tennis.

Anything in particular about Bill that you think kids would find interesting?

[unintelligible] …how widely read he was and how he would absorb everything and you never know how something he read would turn up in the feature. He was very hard-working. [unintelligible] …one of the best writers in the business, certainly at that time. … As you probably know, it came hard for him. He was always late in deadlines. Maybe some of his personal life interfered with that as well, but I know a lot of times it was due to his painstaking work, that he wouldn’t hand it in until he was satisfied with it. And they would never appreciate the time and effort he put in, even though they were benefiting from it and it made the feature so great. But he couldn’t help himself. He would slave over it. He was not a natural writer in the sense that it would pour out.

Where did he do his research?

We’d go to the library. We’d go to the newsstands. Movies. Park. Everywhere.

Did he carry with him a notebook and a pen and jot things down in movies and places like that?

I don’t remember him doing that. I think he would clip things in that extensive clip file when he read things. Anything that he thought might be useful.

He clipped out things from magazines?

Yeah.

But he wasn’t jotting things down all the time?

I don’t remember him doing that. But he had a great memory so he probably didn’t have to.

[asked about the two blizzard stories that were similar enough to seem like the same event, yet still different: one in Batman and Me, one in Men of Tomorrow; Jerry’s response (part verbatim, part paraphrased): “Bob was full of crap” (laughs); he probably read that, that’s what he did all the time—read a story, adapt it as his own, “I never heard that story before”; Jerry mentioned the “preposterous” interview Bob gave to Jerry Bails where he said Bill Finger didn’t create anything—anyone who would say that is capable of anything; “I’m probably the one who gives Bob more credit than anybody”; I asked Jerry about the sketches dated 1/17/34 and how Gerard Jones said they were fabricated; Jerry agreed and said another Bob lie was that he said he went to anatomy classes]

Anything else about Bill that I didn’t cover?

He suffered a lot. And that’s sad. He didn’t deserve it. He was a very fine guy and a very fine writer and a good friend.

How did he influence you?

In many ways. I was an inspiring writer myself at that time. That’s what I intended to be. Fortunately, as my career went I was able to do a lot of writing. So his approaches and inventiveness, his creativity, humor, I appreciated his injection of that to humanize the strip and Batman. His idea of introducing Robin to humanize Batman enlarged the plot potential, the parameters of the strip. I think a lot of his reading went into the creation some of the great villains that he molded, like the Penguin, the Riddler.

Was he funny in person?

He could be. We joked a lot.

But it was a defining characteristic of him in person?

I wouldn’t say defining.

Was he already married when you met him?

No.

Did you guys ever go try to pick up girls together?

No, I think early on he fell in love with Portia. I don’t know where they met, actually, being she was way up there till she came to New York. I think pretty early on, because I was still on Batman in this instance where I told you when he stopped and called Portia. [After he?] married, I don’t know that he ever fooled around. Not to my knowledge.

Sorry, I wasn’t implying that. I just thought if he wasn’t already married…

No, I understood what you said. I think he very deeply loved Portia. She was a fighter, she would call me and rail against the injustice done by Bob. She hated it.

When did they divorce?

I don’t know when they divorced. I wasn’t in touch with them at that time. And when I did find out and talk to Portia, I was very surprised.

Because you never saw signs of that?

No.

[asked him about comment he made in Comics Journal that Joe Shuster did marry at one point]

In his later life, yeah. At the end of his life, the last few years. Married in California.

But then divorced because I think he was a bachelor when he died?

Were you in touch with him at that time?

I was in touch with him but I didn’t meet her. Jerry and his wife knew her very well.

Do you know how long Joe was married?

Not exactly, but it wasn’t too long. [unintelligible] …few years.

…

What I’d like to do is, I mean, you’re the legacy, and if this gets together, I’d like to show you what I wrote. It’ll be as short as what you read, the Boys of Steel book. (laughs) It won’t take much of your time. I’d welcome all your feedback.

Yeah, I’d appreciate it before it’s published.

[NOTE: Sadly, Jerry died in December 2011, six months before the book came out.]

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What have you been reading lately? I’ve stocked up for the summer and am making my way through these.

First up is David Sedaris’s Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls. Purchased through Park Road Books at his reading in Charlotte. As usual, so funny! I especially liked the chapter about language learning—-awesome bits about German.

The Expats is pretty pulpy, but intriguing. I’m reading it right now. A former CIA operative, now an expat housewife (whose husband doesn’t know the truth about her career) is unraveling a mystery in Luxembourg. The spy stuff is mixed with domestic/ marriage stuff, which is an interesting combo. This one was recommended by Sally Brewster at Park Road Books.

Inside Out and Back Again is a recent Newbery winner, about a young girl in the 1970s who flees war-town Vietnam and ends up in Alabama. Sadly, I only got a little ways into it before I had to return it to the library because someone had it on hold. Rats! I’ll have to try again. It’s very lyrical, written in poems. (P, if you’re reading, I picked this up because of you).

Next up is Where’d You Go, Bernadette? which is probably my favorite read in the last six months. My daughter asked me please to not read it while driving (no, I don’t really do that, but she thought I might). Laugh-out-loud funny, razor sharp, and so smart. The reclusive genius (former) architect Bernadette has gone missing, and her teenage daughter is determined to find her by gathering all the clues she can. It takes place in Seattle, which Bernadette hates with a hysterically fiery passion. (Sorry, Seattle, I’ve always imagined you to be really cool). Two weekends ago I drove my road trip friends crazy because I would NOT. SHUT. UP. about Bernadette. I’m going all fangirl on the author, Maria Semple. Must read her other title.

And lastly, I’ve got A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki. This one, along with Bernadette, was also recommended by Sally Brewster of Park Road Books (and I purchased them there). I haven’t started it yet, but Sally said it was beautiful, a book to savor, and also about someone who’s moved to a new place (Japan) and is struggling to adjust.

And that seems to be the theme here: fish-out-of-water stories. In fact the novel I’m working on is also a fish-out-of-water story. It’s a theme on the brain this year, my first one back in the U.S. after two and a half years in Germany. Sometimes I’m still just flipping around, missing my water, wondering how to breathe this air.

What about you? What are you reading this summer? Your kids? I’d love some family audiobook recommendations.

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K.M. Grant's Blood Red Horse is $1.99 today, and I'm tempted to buy it, because—Crusades! King Richard! Saladin!—but I am, of course, concerned about THE HORSE THING.

So, those of you who've read it: should I take the plunge?

(And let's keep in mind that although I read I Rode a Horse of Milk-White Jade back in 2005, THE PAIN IS STILL ACUTELY... ER, PAINFUL.)

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Yes, it's nerds in love --
but it's romantic and
life-saving (really!) too.

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. St. Martin's, 2013, 320 pages.

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Well, of course, if the national Collaborative Summer Library Program (CLSP) theme is "Dig into Reading" and I am an avid gardener, how can we NOT do a children's garden this summer?

Two dedicated, innovative and energetic adult services librarians just started a Seed Saving Library here in spring and I had the fun of meeting alot of gardeners through their efforts. Two of them met with me to talk about how we might make growing things happen in our our very urbanized location.

Challenge 1 - Location
We have had a significant amount of small vandalism and we wanted to protect the children's garden. We talked with our adjoining historical museum staff and they agreed to let us put a garden in their locked courtyard.

Challenge 2 - Location Again
No place to plant the plants. My gardening buds suggested building a square foot garden. Perfect, I thought. I just happen to live with the handiest handy-guy in the world and building a frame would be presto-chango easy for him.

Challenge 3 - Location Yet Again
Our museum is moving out and has some gigantic and very heavy architectural doo-dads scattered everywhere in the courtyard - and they need to move them out this summer. Our square foot garden would bein the way. Said handy-guy sez "Well, we'll just put the whole thing on wheels." And so he did.

So last week we dug and planted seeds and herbs and veggies with the kids.

We talked and chatted about growing plants.

We watered.

We tested chive blossoms. Yes, you heard me right, the kids actually picked off the blossoms and tried them.

Each week we'll meet briefly with the kids to water, weed and test the plants and veggies. I'll keep you posted on how this weekly program goes throughout the summer.  It may end up just being me out there...but  I hardly think I'll mind!

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