Did you get an ereader for Christmas?

Did you get an e-reader for Christmas? Do you like it?  [Full disclosure: I would love to have an i-Pad, but right now that falls under the category of "wants," not "needs."]

Anyway, if you are looking for some inexpensive books to load on your e-reader, I have an immodest suggestion:  mine! All five that I've put up were originally traditionally published and got good reviews. Learning to Fly and Buried Diamonds originally came out from St. Martins.  The other three came out from Harper Collins.  I'm pricing them all at just $2.99.


Learning to Fly: A Novel has been optioned for film twice, translated into three languages (I actually made a ton of money in France), and went into four printings.  It was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award and the PNBA award, and got got two starred reviews. It's about a pregnant 19-year-old girl named Free who hates her life - and then she walks away from a multi-car accident with a dead woman's ID and a bag of cash that originally belonged to a drug dealer.


Circles of Confusionwas my first published book (the fourth I wrote, though).  Claire Montrose inherits what might be a long-lost Vermeer painting.  A Booksense pick, and a finalist for both the Agatha and the Anthony awards.  I went to a lot of banquets the year after it came out, and let me tell you, it's impossible to eat while you wait for them to announce the awards.


Square in the Face was the second in Claire's adventures.  Claire helps her friend track down the child she gave up to a secret adoption agency.  Finding the girl is the only chance for a bone marrow match for a younger sibling.  This was inspired by an experience that happened to my brother's friend.


In Heart-Shaped Box, Claire goes to her 20th high school reunion.  At the beginning, a cheerleader is found strangled to death.  In her hands is a hand carved wooden box with her photo in it.  Claire and a number of other women at the reunion have also received boxes.  Next to Circles of Confusion, this is probably the most popular book in the series.


Buried Diamonds explores a 50-year-old mystery - and reveals the hidden past of Claire's roommate.  This was a darker book.  It was a worthy end to the series.

Here's a link to all my books on the Kindle.

All these books should be available on any e-reader platform (I went through Amazon for the Kindle and Smashwords for everything else).  Don't have any e-reader?  There's a free Kindle app available for both Macs and PCs.

Cynthia Leitich-Smith gets me to spill the beans

New York Times bestselling author Cynthia Leitich-Smith has what has to be the best-read blog in all of kids' lit.  It was a dream come true when she asked me to write about how to turn up the tension in any kind of book.

Bad books!

Have you read any of these bad books?

- The Joy Luck Club
- The Name of the Rose
- The Pillars of the Earth
- The Hot Zone
- The Giver
- The Things They Carried

Those are just few of the "bad books" listed by PABBIS.org - Parents Against Bad Books in Schools.  [Full disclosure:  I think of it as Pablum.org].  People have gone through books and looked for any instance of sex, sexual innuendo, violence, swear words, and mentions of God that aren't prayer.  And then these books, with a handful of cherry-picked words or sentences, are labeled "bad."

In case you were wondering how The Hot Zone, a non-fiction book warning about exotic viruses, ended up on the naughty list, here's what's wrong with it, according to PABBIS:  "Has graphic detailed descriptions of the effects of the Ebola virus on the body [really?  in a book about viruses?  How dare they!];  4 uses of the f-word, 16 uses of the s-word, 4 SOB’s, 1 bastard, 2 Christ’s/Holy Christ’s, 1 GD; Brief mentions of pimps/prostitutes, how someone’s [testicles] swelled up “like a blue monkey’ and a statement of how a man infected his wife through sexual intercourse."

The whole idea makes my blood boil.  Check it out here:  http://pabbis.org

To learn more about book banning, click here.

What world are these folks living in?  In my world, a girl who goes to my daughter's school was given a box of 300 condoms by her mother for her 14th birthday.  An f word or an s word or GD is not going to ruin kid's ears (or eyes).

In the Bible, Lot had sex with his daughters.  Or how about "Your breasts are like twin fawns of a gazelle"?  And don't get me started on all the violence in the Bible.