Last night, the 24th Annual Minnesota Book Awards were held in St. Paul. I’d learned back in January that WITH OR WITHOUT YOU was named with three other finalists for the Young People’s Literature category. That alone was stunning, especially seeing the company I was keeping: Pete Hautman, Jacqueline West, and Kurtis Scaletta.  All truly outstanding writers. Never did I dream I’d be included on a list with three such distinctive authors.  Subsequently,  I didn’t think I had a snowball’s chance of actually winning. And if I’d only made that finalist list, dayenu.

But then this happened:

That beautiful piece of custom-made glass you see is a Minnesota Book Award. Mine, apparently.  That’s what I’ve been told. There’s still a chance, I suppose, of some nervous looking person showing up on our doorstep, claiming a terrible mistake was made. But until then, it will be guarded by my little friends up there.

In all seriousness, this is very overwhelming and I’m sincerely grateful to the judges and the Friends of the St. Paul Library for this honor.  And congratulations are due to Kurtis Scaletta, whose book THE TANGLEWOOD TERROR was given the distinguished Readers’ Choice Award. You should read that book. And also the other books nominated in this category. I’m not kidding: they all rock.

And finally, the post I’ve been dying to write for months now.

MONTHS, I tell you.

That’s how long I’ve been sitting on the fabulous cover for my middle grade fantasy, THE VENGEKEEP PROPHECIES. Yes, I’ve had the picture in my possession for quite some time but only just now got permission to share with the world. And sharing it now feels slightly evil as the book itself won’t be on sale until Oct. 23. But I’m okay with being slightly evil. Et voila!

If the artwork looks familiar, it’s because the cover is by the inimitable Brett Helquist, whose work you’ve no doubt seen on Blue Balliett’s books, and L.M. Boston’s books, and, of course, Lemony Snicket’s Series of Unfortunate Events books. (Or maybe you recognize Brett from his own brilliant picture books.) It’s a mite overwhelming to have an artist of this caliber and recognition on the cover of my book. And I super love how it turned out. If you’re out there, Brett, thanks so much! (And thanks to my awesome editor for hooking my book up with Brett.)

I’ve also been dying to share the fabulous blurbs I’ve received from very generous  authors. Such as:

“Humorous and inventive. I’m eager to read the second book in the trilogy!”

–Joseph Delaney, bestselling author of the Last Apprentice series

“Enticing, lively, and wholly engrossing, this book takes us on a journey as twisty and treacherous as an old castle staircase.”

–Anne Ursu, award-winning author of BREADCRUMBS

Thanks so much to Joseph and Anne for their kind words.

The ability to show off the cover perfectly coincides with the arrival of an ARC, many of which are soon to be disseminated into the world. Panic mode in three… two… one…

Alas, ARCs were not made to be hoarded but shared and read. As such, I’ll be having a contest soon to give a couple away. Stay tuned to the Twitter account for more information. Until then, go forth and share the news about the very pretty cover happening on this blog. There’s a cookie in it for you.

Basically, I needed to blog because it’s driving my poor husband crazy that I haven’t. So here we go.

Tooting my own horn is something I’ve never been particularly good at. But I’ll do my best. There’s lots of exciting news on the WITH OR WITHOUT YOU front.  First, I was notified that WOWY has been nominated for TeenReads’ Teen Choice Book of the Year.  Great to be on a list filled with such auspicious names.  For a list of all the nominees, go here. If you feel so inclined to vote for me, you can do so here.

WITH OR WITHOUT YOU was named a 2012 Stonewall Honor book by the American Library Association.

Next came the announcement that WOWY was named a Stonewall Honor Book by the American Library Association. Totally stunned by this one. I was sitting in the audience at the Youth Media Awards in Dallas when this was announced and didn’t see it coming from a mile away. I don’t think it  properly registered for quite some time.

And finally, I learned that WOWY is a finalist for the Minnesota Book Awards in the Young Adult category.  A panel of astute judges (doesn’t hurt to kiss up) will be deciding the winner of this award. However, they’re allowing the public to pick a Readers’ Choice book from all nominated titles.  Starting in March, you, the astute public (again, kissing up) can vote for your favorite book from the 32 finalists.  When the time comes, I’ll post a link. In case, you know, you want to vote. For a book.

Not that you have to. But, you know, if you wanna.

So that’s about all the excitement I can bear for a while. And certainly all the horn tooting I can muster. There were so many amazing books published last year that were eligible for all these honors. It’s been a bit overwhelming to find myself in the spotlight.

Thanks to all who have sent their congratulations and good wishes.  I’ve been humbled by your incredible kindness.  I really appreciate the support!

When a story appeared online in VARIETY recently, announcing that David Yates (director of the last four HARRY POTTER movies), was working with the BBC to turn DOCTOR WHO into a movie franchise, there was chaos in the WHO community. With such anxiety-inducing quotes as “Russell T. Davies and then Steven Moffat have done their own transformations, which were fantastic, but we have to put that aside and start from scratch…,” fans were immediately predicting doom and gloom.

Well, most fans were. Some clearer heads prevailed.  Some people pointed out that talk of a WHO movie had been circulating for years and there was nothing to indicate this would finally be what brings the project to life. Sure, the presence of a director with four megahit films on his hands was a good sign, but there’s tons of stuff that the likes of Steven Spielberg and Ridley Scott have started developing that didn’t get off the ground.  There’s no script, no star, no schedule and until those things materialize, no need to worry.

But, you know, even then, I won’t worry. It’s troubling that the decision has apparently been made to more or less “forsake” the TV show and re-imagine the franchise when the movie version comes out.  I would have much preferred something like what they did with the X-FILES, when they released a feature film while the TV show was still at its peak. The movie became an extension of what already existed, taking into account the established mythology, using the established actors, and supplementing what is already known, but not making attendance of the movie crucial to continued viewing of the TV show.

When Russell Davies went to reboot the show in 2005, it was shrouded in secrecy.  The number one fear among fans was that it would be a re-imagining, jettisoning the show’s forty-year history and continuity in favor of “starting from scratch.”  As the reboot with Christopher Eccelston unraveled, we slowly learned that, yes, the continuity was (more or less) being maintained.  We didn’t learn this all at once. Davies teased us, revealing small but vital links to the show’s rich history. (He waited two years just to use the word ‘Gallifrey.’)  Eventually, fans were put at ease.

But now Yates, who already has a reputation for rewriting the Harry Potter mythos to suit his very particular filmmaking needs, is eyeing the franchise and making no bones about wanting to start fresh.  And, again, there’s uproar.  But I’m not sure it’s needed.

What many of the more recent WHO fans (those who came onboard with the 2005 reboot) may not realize is that this wouldn’t be the first time DOCTOR WHO was made for the big screen. During the ‘60s, while the Daleks were at the very nadir of their fear-inducing popularity, two films were made that featured the misfits of Skaro and Peter Cushing as ‘The Doctor.’  Those fans interested in canon generally disregard them.  There’s nothing that links them to the show’s “official” history as established on TV.

This, if nothing else, shows that a movie franchise can exist separately from the TV show and still allow the TV version to flourish.  Personally? While I’m a diehard fan, I’m not convinced the franchise as a whole has the chutzpah to hit in a mainstream way that will be lucrative for Hollywood.  ESPECIALLY if you’re forsaking the established history.  WHO has always been somewhat of an underground hit.  It’s only in recent years that it’s gotten some mainstream cred. I just don’t know it’s enough—with or without a noted director behind it—to take off in Hollywood.

And if it does… so what?  Right now, fans of the Sci-Fi channel’s recent reboot of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA are up in arms that a proposed movie from Bryan Singer will completely ignore the popular TV show (which, in many respects, ignored the ‘70s TV show).  I lost count of how many Incredible Hulk films they did back to back, re-imagining the character each time (in a short amount of time).  The problem with hot properties is that they’re often available to the highest bidder and therefore susceptible to re-imagining with every iteration.  It’s just not worth it to get worked up anymore.  And I don’t see how a movie could hurt the TV show. If it’s bad, true fans will disavow it and cling to the TV version. What most people are protesting is the threat to continuity. How does it fit in with the show’s canon?  The problem is–and only a true fan will admit this–the show has played fast and loose with its own canonicity for a long time anyway.  Wondering where a movie fits into the canon isn’t exactly a crisis of epic proportion.  “The continuity of DOCTOR WHO is wonky? It must be Saturday.” 

This is, of course, an older and wiser Brian speaking. Ten years ago, I might have suited up and gone to war over this. Nowadays…? Meh. What are ya gonna do?

Sometimes I feel special. Like I belong in a very exclusive club. Like just because I read, I’m that much more ahead of the game compared to so many people. It’s like getting to be one of the cool kids before that which is dubbed cool becomes universally recognized.

The movie trailer for THE HUNGER GAMES set the interwebs on fire today.  Lots of excitement about it. LOTS.  Which is good.  The little we saw looked to have the right tone and feel.  While some online denizens balked at the casting choices (Actual quote from months ago when the casting was announced: “He can’t play Peeta. HE’S NOT BLONDE!”), I have a feeling that if they nail the movie as the trailer suggests they did, all (or most) will be forgiven.

And while the majority of the buzz I saw online came from people who are excited to see this series of books come to life, I also saw quite a few people saying things like, “Guess I should get around to reading these now…” 

At first, I was really sad that it took a movie trailer to get people interested in the books.  David Levithan was recently quoted as saying that you have to think of the movie as a two hour commercial for the book. Makes a lot of sense. And if the trailer inspires people to pick up the books, more power to Suzanne Collins.

But I can’t keep from smirking just a bit smugly.  Because I got there first. I bought HUNGER GAMES the day it was released. I’ve known for a few years now that these books were special. I was one of the cool kids. And now many are aspiring to be as cool as me (OK, maybe not, but you know what I mean).

Children’s books are becoming more and more of a bellwether to pop culture shifts that are felt beyond the targeted audience. Forget the phenomena of Harry Potter.  That’s a perfect storm that we likely won’t see again in our lifetimes. But I feel several waves of pop culture patterns can be traced back to children’s books. A little while ago, my husband mused that with shows like ONCE UPON A TIME and GRIMM tapping into fairy tale mythology, it wouldn’t be long before we started seeing it in YA books. I got to gleefully tell him that YA was years ahead of the recent spate of fairy tale nostalgia. Modern twists were cool in YA before Hollywood came along to do their take.

So, please non-readers, ooh and aah at the movie trailer (it really does look pretty nifty) and threaten to toddle down to the bookstore to get one of them book thingies people are talking about. I’ll just continue to toil as someone you don’t yet know is cool.  Then, once you figure it out, I won’t be cool anymore because you’ll appropriate it as your own. But that’s fine. You know why? Because I keep reading. And I know what you’ll love before you do.

By now, I hope you’ve heard about the suicide of Jamey Rodemeyer. I say “hope” because it’s a story that isn’t going to get a lot of mainstream attention and I think it’s a story that everyone needs to hear.  It’s made the rounds on my RSS feed but then, I’m prone to subscribe to feeds that would naturally cover this. So often, I get bombarded with news stories that I feel everyone MUST know about just because I see them constantly, only to learn that many people don’t know what’s happening.

And maybe you’ve also heard the story that after Jamey’s funeral, his sister went to a dance at school where the bullies in Jamey’s life chanted that they were glad he’s dead. Remember when you were told to just ignore a bully and they’d go away? That’s a lie. It’s always been a lie. Today, they bully you even when you’re dead.

I’ve got my own stories of being bullied. In grade school, a wealthy classmate offered to buy a brand new BMX bike for anyone who would beat me up. In junior high, I got tossed around a bit. High school was more about psychological abuse. Let’s face it: when your last name is Farrey, you’ve pretty much got a bullseye on your forehead 24/7.

When I think of how prevalent bullying was in my life, it seems insurmountable. Like NOTHING could ever be done to stop it.  And there are elements in this country who don’t think it’s possible to stop, or insist it’s a “natural part of growing up,” or have no interest in trying. (Yes, Representative Bachmann, I’m looking at you.)  But it’s only in recent years that I’ve begun to believe we CAN do something. We SHOULD do something.

I’d like to suggest some fairly small/easy things you can do that could make all the difference to someone who’s being bullied:

–Donate to the Trevor Project.  This is a great hotline dedicated to preventing suicide among LGBT youth.  At our wedding last year, my husband and I did a dollar dance where we contributed the money to the Trevor Project. I say that not to boast but to show that I’m getting behind when I say “please donate to the Trevor Project.”

–If you’re in the Twin Cities, check out a performance of MEAN, an original drama about bullying and it’s increasingly tragic consequences. Produced by the Youth Performance Company, it traces the story of three students being tormented based on physical appearance, perceived sexual orientation, and religion.

–Donate a copy of the recently released DEAR BULLY to your local library. 70 authors recount stories of their own abuses growing up in an attempt to reach out to anyone in a similar predicament today.

–Follow Caleb Laieski on Twitter. He’s a 16-year-old guy from Arizona who is lobbying President Obama to to appoint a youth advisor to work with the administration on the everyday emotional and complex issues that LGBT youth face. You can sign Caleb’s petition here. I’ve got tons of respect for Caleb and what he’s trying to do.

I’ll be honest: I don’t know how I got through it.  I know I had a close knit group of friends in high school who were a large part of helping me achieve some mental stability. But before that? I have no clue. I just know that as long as I can do SOMETHING to reach out, I’m going to.

I am, of course, not just talking about LGBT youth. But I can speak from experience that maybe the greatest moment in any gay man’s life is that moment of recognition, knowing conclusively that you’re not alone.  It’s liberating.  That’s what I want any teen considering suicide to realize.

Never pass up a chance to tell someone who’s being bullied that they’re not alone.  Never stop reaching out.  We can do something.  And we will.

For years, I’ve believed that I suffer from bad line karma. In some past life, I was extremely offensive when it came to queuing up and I’m paying for it now. No matter which line I choose at the checkout, I’m going to pick the line that has the most problems. New checker, 9,000-year-old woman paying by check, six-year-old paying with pennies. I’m sure you’ve been behind them all too. But not nearly as much as I have. Trust me.

Since I started doing author events, I’ve discovered that I was a writer in a past life as well. Because now I have bad author event karma.  I’ve only done three events so far but something has gone haywire at each. Not enough to truly ruin the event, but enough to let me know that I’m on the karma gods’ list.

Cases in point:

–at my Loft event with David Levithan (which actually went very well overall), my books never showed up for the bookseller to sell. (My magnificent husband saved the day by dashing home and getting the few we had on hand to sell.)

–at the Midwest Independent Booksellers Association Trade Show, I was told the wrong time to show up and was NOT told that I would be pre-signing 50 books. (I am, thankfully, very early to most things, so was able to sign the books AND have lunch, which I would have missed if I’d shown up at the time I was told. And not that pre-signing 50 books is a bad thing. It’s just the “pre” part, which wouldn’t have happened if I’d shown up at the time I was told.)

–at the Edgerton Book Festival this weekend, I was told to arrive at the opening address (delivered by the wonderful Alison Arngrim, who played Nellie Oleson on LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE) at 9:00am so I could be introduced with all the other authors present. The festival coordinator started the day by introducing all the authors…. except me. (To his credit, he realized his mistake after Arngrim’s talk and gave me a quick shout out.  I should also probably mention that this man, the coordinator, has been my best friend for 25 years.  That probably makes this story even sadder, right?)

That said, these brushes with karma aside, all three events had positive sides.  I got to read with the amazing David Levithan. I got to be table-hopping buddies with Andrea Cremer, who is funny and charming and a DOCTOR WHO fan (even though we discovered we don’t see eye to eye on everything WHO related…). And I got to meet some really wonderful people in Edgerton.  I also got to take this picture, which just might be my most favorite sign ever.

You KNOW you want to see the toxic one. Right?

It may sound like I’m complaining. I’m not. Like I said, all three events went well.  But I’m on my guard. And a bit skittish about future events. And in desperate need of some regressive past life hypnotherapy to figure out what I could possibly have done to earn both bad line AND bad book event karma.  Any thoughts?

I’ll start by stating something that I hope is obvious: No, you don’t need an MFA to be a writer. You don’t need an MFA to get published.

It’s been fashionable in recent years to bash MFA programs.  The criticisms are many:

MFA Programs churn out cookie-cutter writers who all write exactly the same.

There may be a modicum of truth to this. I don’t think any program encourages this.  It makes me think of the armed forces, where the first goal when you enlist is to break you down and strip you of your individuality in the belief that you will be more efficient if you’re just like everyone else.  In an MFA program, you just can’t let ‘em do that.

MFA Programs are only about literary writing and are useless if you want to write genre or commercial fiction.

It’s true that most MFA programs I know focus on literary fiction, mainly in what is assigned as reading.  And the snobbier programs make no effort to hide their disdain for genre/commercial fiction. If that’s your interest, I recommend doing your homework before signing up for one of those programs. But understand: the building blocks of writing are the same no matter what. If you get fed a diet of literary fiction, you can’t help but use that knowledge to write your vampire novel.

MFA Programs are full of pretentious, turtleneck-wearing snobs.

Actually, I think they stopped wearing turtlenecks about 30 years ago. But, yes, you’ll see these people too. While they were in the minority, my program certainly had them.  They all subscribed to the “mercy is for the weak” school of critiquing, where close friends were vaunted with praise while anyone not in the clique was vivisected. In many respects, it resembled high school.

MFA Programs bilk people out of money by imparting knowledge you can get by reading a few books.

See, here’s where I take exception. And I take a lot of exception.  For a while, the number of “I hate MFA” or “You don’t need an MFA” blog posts had dwindled but recently I’ve seen a few more crop up. (I won’t link to them because, well, if you’re that curious, do a Google search. I’ve no desire to send them traffic.) The crux of the argument is, “If you really want an MFA, go read these five books on craft, join a critique group, and **poof**, you’ll have your MFA.”

The problem I have with this approach is that it fails to take a very key part of the process into account: the fact that not all people learn the same way. Or at the same speed. Or respond to the same sort of stimuli.  This approach offers a cure all for a population of writers with very diverse backgrounds and capabilities for learning.

I’ll tell you what an MFA program did for me. It gave me context.  It was part reading books on craft and part reading examples of writers doing interesting things and part experimentation. And it was interaction. See, that’s how schools work. We don’t just throw books at kids and say, “There’s your education.” Teachers guide and help provide context to what can be an overwhelming sea of information.

That’s what I wanted. From years of reading, I knew a lot about writing. It was almost instinctual. But when something didn’t work for me, I had a hard time articulating why. The MFA program gave me the vocabulary I needed. It helped me identify flaws in my own writing, (“It’s not working, Brian, because your main character isn’t doing anything!”) and be precise when providing constructive criticism for others.

You could give five books on craft to five different writers and they’ll each walk away with five different ideas of what was said.  One of them might absorb the information completely and come away a better writer. Someone else, who doesn’t learn well visually, might come away as stupefied as ever.  Not their fault… they just need some context.

And, no, having an MFA doesn’t guarantee you’ll be a good writer. Just like going to med school doesn’t guarantee you’ll be a good doctor. (As the old joke goes, what do you call the guy who finished last in his class at med school? Doctor.) But I’m willing to bet that if you go and put in the work, you’ll learn something that makes you a better writer.

To sum up:

–You don’t need an MFA to write or be published.

–MFA programs can help guide writers who learn at different speeds and with different styles gain a better grasp of craft.

–Stop slamming MFA programs, you dork.

–I’ve shared this link before but it’s definitely worth sharing again.

For those who don’t necessarily hang on my every tweeted word, I will be doing a reading from WITH OR WITHOUT YOU this Saturday (Sept. 17) at the Loft Literary Center in downtown Minneapolis at 8:00pm. I’ll be reading alongside noted author David Levithan (BOY MEETS BOY, THE LOVER’S DICTIONARY, EVERY YOU, EVERY ME). Preceding the reading will be a panel to discuss LGBT issues in YA literature at 7:00pm. (Note: I am not part of the panel, for which I am eternally grateful.)

You can find out more here.

Image stolen from the Loft's website. Although, technically, they stole my headshot, as I only gave out my book cover. So there's blame to share.

Because I’m sure you’re dying to know what happened when I crossed the threshold into Pottermore….

A wand chose me at Ollivanders…

And I got sorted…

Surprising. Not disappointing. But surprising.  Guess it pays to close one’s eyes and chant softly, “Not Slytherin…. Not Slytherin…”

I’m in good company with the likes of Professor Flitwick, Mr. Ollivander, and, of course, Luna Lovegood. (I’m just gonna pretend that the Sorting Hat was drunk the day it gave us Gilderoy Lockhart.)

Anybody wanna buy a nice set of Hufflepuff Quidditch robes?