While we all wait breathlessly for next month's release of GUY LANGMAN, CRIME SCENE PROCRASTINATOR (you are all waiting breathlessly, right? No breathing! Stop it!) we can also talk about some fun anthologies I'm going to be part of. By "some" I mean "two." The one to come out first is a collection of short fiction called 'Cornered: 15 Stories of Bullying and Defiance' and is edited by Rhoda Belleza who was ridiculously fun to work with. She brought out a lot of humor in the dark subject and the story ended up being both pretty freaking funny and, if I do say so myself (and I do) pretty emotionally intense. I decided to make it from the point of view of a kid who was neither exactly the bully nor the bullied, but part of a crowd that made a girl's life miserable in elementary school. They meet up about ten years later and sparks fly. So do spoons. Spoons fly? Yes. You will have to read the book to find out why. That sounded like a fifth grader's elementary school report. One more thing about this is that the girl in the story is inspired by Kimya Dawson, and yes, there is a scene where she sings and plays guitar. I even wrote a song that appears with chords & everything at the end of the story so you can play along at home. Oh, and if you're not sure who Kimya Dawson is, she is this lady.

Oh and if you want to pre-order the book, here is a place you can do that: http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780762444281



The second anthology comes out in Fall 2013 and is edited by Luke Reynolds who is a teacher and an inspiration and an amazing dude. It's a collection of essays called 'Break These Rules.' The contributors are an amazing group of authors, some of whom are friends and some of whom are heroes and some of whom are both. (Am I using "whom" right in that sentence? I sure am using it a lot.) Here is some more info on this wonderful project that I'm thrilled to be a part of on Luke's blog. My piece in there is part essay and part Whitmaneque poem. It was such a fun topic, to encourage kids to think critically about social norms and, when need be, break some freaking rules.