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A must read blog by the editor of the Children's Writers and Illustrators Market.
http://cwim.blogspot.com/

The most active message board for children's book writers.
http://www.verlakay.com/boards/index.php

Here's an unusual new magazine for you. Erik Smetana is putting together a magazine with the excellent title, Stymie.

Now don't let the golf theme put you off, in fact let it inspire you. Here are the fiction guidelines:

We want fiction, we crave it. We want mystery, lit fic, noir, humor, spec fic, whatever -- just so long as it (your submission) somehow involves golf. We have a penchant for flash fiction and would prefer nothing over 3000 words.

You can read an interview with Erik over at A J Brown's blog.

Oh, and talking of things golf related, and to get you in the golfing mood (I think someone mixed lawn feed with my morning cereal,) check out Back Spin by the fantabulous Harlan Coben. Despite being a horror writer, my favourite author writes thrillers. I'm sure there's a rule against that somewhere, but rules were made to broken.

Oh, and as a side note: Erik designed the above 'The Poisoned Apple' banner... The one I had before was, well... Crap!

Mirror Dance have put out a call for Flash Fantasy stories as they are hoping to make their winter issue mainly flash.

Here is a blurb from their website:

Mirror Dance is a free online magazine of Fantasy in all its forms. We are especially interested in publishing stories of political intrigue and settings that aren't commonly seen in the genre, but all sub-genres will be considered. We are not accepting submissions of science fiction or horror, but dark fantasy will be considered.

There's no payment for online submissions, but your story may be chosen for the 'Best of...' Anthology and for that you get $10.

The Ajan Warrior of the Night

“Well now we know why Miss Shannon had that big silly grin on her face a couple days ago. She’s got herself a brand new warrior page!”

“Ooh, it’s got everything! Let’s see, there’s Kishi and her ring, and her cape and arrows and it’s even got three different kinds of earrings!”

“It is a pretty nice page, huh?”

“Okay ladies, me and hunter girl over here have got our warrior stuff together. Let’s get with it! Where’s your new pages?! We’ve got four to go!”

“Oh my goodness”

“Heheee.. Ooh, if you wanna read one of the stories from Shannon-sama’s book when she’s the Huntress and fights monsters with her magical cat named Kishi, you should go see the Call of the Huntress page, ’cause we gots lots of neat stories! Have fun minna!”

The Sight
David Clement-Davies

In a cave in Transylvania, two wolf cubs are born, one white, one black. Could the white cub, Larka, be the white wolf that heralds the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy? Larka's mother's sister, a powerful and evil wolf named Morgra, thinks so, and in her anger and her hunger for power, she curses Larka and her family. Morgra has the power of the Sight, an ability to see far things and to see through the eyes of animals, but she seeks the ultimate power foretold in the prophecy.

As Larka's family flees, trying to escape both Morgra and the prophecy, they encounter danger after danger as the prophecy, and Morgra's curse, seem to be coming true. They are also pursued by a pack of rebel wolves forming a greater wolf pack under a harsh leader named Slavka. Slavka seeks to wipe out belief in the Sight, the prophecy, and all superstition, and Larka's family is caught in the middle between Slavka and Morgra. As Morgra calls forth the power of Wolfbane, the evil one, can the love of the family overcome Morgra's ambitions and the prophecy itself?

This is an incredibly rich, detailed and complex book. The story is deep and moving, drawing on many sources including Christianity, history, folklore, and fairy tales. Clement-Davies brings to life the wilderness of the Carpathian mountains and the lives of the animals with beautifully expressive language and metaphor. There are some interesting plot twists that caught me by surprise, and that's not easy to do.

This is not an easy book to read; with its complicated plot and detailed language, it may be challenging for some young people. I was a little put off by the message, which seems a little heavy in the last part of the book. But in general, teens who are good readers and who enjoy a richly imagined animal fantasy will find a lot to like about this book.

A sequel to The Sight, Fell, will be published this month by Amulet Books.

Wolves

Written and illustrated by Emily Gravett

Simon & Schuster, 2005

ISBN: 978-1-4169-1491-4

Age Group: 5 and under

I first heard about this book when it came up on the 2007 Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards for Excellence in Children's Literature. Wolves is a honor book for the picture book category.

What I loved:

1) The story within a story--I really love books that are a story within a story. The rabbit in this story goes to the library to check out a book at the library. He checks out a book about wolves. The text of the wolf book is in this story as the main text--until he finds out what wolves eat (rabbits, of course). Like David Wiesner's The Three Pigs, the reader sees the book within a book, but you also see the characters outside of the book. In this case, you see the rabbit and the wolf. The book leads up to the a scary confrontation--the wolf and the rabbit. The rabbit is terrified he will be eaten.

2) The illustrations and quirky humor throughout. The book's illustrations are in mixed media. The text of the Wolf book being read by the rabbit is in pencil drawings. The rabbit is also done in pencil drawings, but he has a little color in him which helps him stand out against the black and white drawings from the book. The book about Wolves is red canvas looking material. There is a textural effect with the book when it becomes the most prominent thing on the page. The cover is torn to shreds when the rabbit finds out the wolf eats rabbits. At the front and the back of the book on the end papers, there are postcards, envelopes, and and silly labels. On the front where the title page normally is, there is a reproduction of the front cover as if we are looking down on a smaller copy of the book. It says the book is by Emily Grrrabbit. Ha! Genius!

This is a fun but simple books that will thrill preschoolers!

Read an interview with Emily Gravett here.

Emily Gravett's website is also top-notch and very interactive.

Dear Readers,

Let me share the latest news... I adopted a wolf pup! Her name is Chito and she's just a few weeks old. Isn't she adorable?

Does that mean the wolf is at home with me? Of course not! LOL. It just means I send an annual donation so that people who are qualified may care for her and she has all she needs to grow happy and healthy in the company of her pack members.

I stumbled upon the Wolf Howl Animal Preserve while doing research for one of my forthcoming novels, EYE OF THE WOLF. If you're a wolf lover, this is the perfect site to hang around. It's filled with informative articles, an active forum, and wolf merchandise, among many other things. The link is www.everythingwolf.com.