We knew this might happen.
The tech gurus at the Office of Letters and Light (OLL) closed down the Nanowrimo site about September 21, with a promise to re-open on October 1.
Then they did a little shifty sleight of hand and re-opened early. Cheers!
But they warned us that, come October 1, when the hordes of writers from around the world came thundering back, the site might crash.
And lo--the site is down. The message says the site is currently overloaded.
But it's worse than that. While Nanowrimo was officially locked down, some of us were hanging around the forums at Script Frenzy (that other OLL project). And now it, too, has crashed. Leaving all of us nanowrimo fans homeless, without even a place to go to discuss what's happening, and in limbo as to our calls of distress.
Not to mention all the unanswered forum questions. It's like sitting in the dark (figuratively speaking).
These guys are awesome. Secret codes! Daring missions! Dazzling escapes! And awesome spy gear!
These are awesome adventure stories. And they're 100% true.
Thomas B. Allen makes James Bond look lame next to these guys.
Who are these awesome super spies? George Washington and Harriet Tubman. Seriously. Allen manages to take some aspects of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars that kids normally don't get to hear about. These guys are not boring. These guys are cool.
And the books (
George Washington, Spymaster: How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War and
Harriet Tubman, Secret Agent: How Daring Slaves and Free Blacks Spied for the Union During the Civil War) are even cooler--not only are there secret messages in the gutters for you to decode, there are appendixes, end notes, bibliographies and further reading.
End notes! With in-text numbers to reference them. End notes! In a juvie nonfiction book. Be still my fluttering, dorky heart.
Also, the font? It looks all old-time-y letter pressed but is still easy to read. Great illustrations and fun covers. Washington has this cocky smirk-- very hot a la Stephen Colbert. And Harriet Tubman's there, looking like she's leaning on a broom. Oh wait, no, that's a rifle. Don't mess with her.
I mean, I always knew these guys did cool things. There's a reason we still talk about them. I didn't quite appreciate how much they kicked ass.
I highly recommend for everyone.
"Well, grandson, we used to have these things called telephones, and then cell phones, but you wouldn't know what one of those is, would you? You just activate the chip in your head and all your friends are right there!"
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