News
Extremities: Stories of Death, Murder, and Revenge was named a Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers by YALSA.
11/27/13
My Rotten Life has been optioned by Canadian Movie and Televison production company Minds Eye Entertainment.
7/11/11
Beware the Ninja Weenies has gone into copy editing. It will come out in 2012.
6/25/10
In the Land of the Lawn Weenies has been recommended on Oprah.com.
3/30/10
The fifth, and final, Nathan Abercrombie book, Enter the Zombie is finished. It feels good to have the whole series done, and to have the story end so well.
9/10/09
The third Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie book, Goop Soup, is finished. And, much to my delight, The Battle of the Red Hot Pepper Weenies is now in a 4th printing. Go, Weenies, go!
5/3/09
The Battle of the Red Hot Pepper Weenies has gone into a second printing. The Weenies are definitely on a roll.
3/14/09
I'm almost finished with the second Nathan Abercrombie book. Who knew a dead kid could have so much fun?
10/11/08
My new series has a title— Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie. The first book, My Rotten Life staggers to the shelves in August. I'm really delighted with the way it came out.
6/10/08
I'll have two books out next year. My next story collection, The Battle of the Red Hot Pepper Weenies and other Warped and Creepy Tales hits the shelves in the summer of 2009, and my new chapter book series will debut several months later. Stay tuned for more details.
4/15/08
I'm halfway through the spring school-visit season. The big news is that I'm still alive.
2/29/08
I just finished the 4th Weenies story collection. My middle-grade fantasy has been put on hold, but I'm replacing it with a wonderfully icky series. The firts book is already drafted. Details to come.
1/23/08
True Talents has been named a Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers by the American Library Association.
10/19/07
I've been traveling too much to keep things current. I'll do better once winter arrives and I get snowed in.
8/11/07
I'm still working on my middle-grade fantasy series. It's too early to share any details, but I can promise a lot of action and adventure.
5/27/07
I have been very bad about keeping up with the nomination news. Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie has received four more state nominations and was an IRA YA Choice, and Punished! has received two more nominations. I really should do a better job of listing these nominations, because they are quite an honor. But I am quite a slug.
4/4/07
An 11th state has honored Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie with an award nomination. The book is one of ten nominees for the high school division of the 2007 - 2008 Virginia Readers' Choice Award. What a thrill. It looks like I'm working my way along the Atlantic coast. Does that make me the wicked Wit of the East?
3/15/07
Some wonderful folks down south have nominated Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie for the 2007 - 2008 Georgia Peach Teen Book Award. And I just heard that Punished is in a third hardcover printing.
1/24/07
Bruce Coville just told me that the Full Cast Audio recording of Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie is a finalist for an Audie award.
9/29/06
There are more Weenies in the works. It looks like Tor will be releasing my third story collection, The Curse of the Campfire Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales in September, 2007.
7/28/06
Great news from a wonderful state—Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie has been nominated for the Kentucky Bluegrass Award.
7/10/06
I'm not sure whether I pulled a rabbit from a hat or lifted an albatross from my neck, but True Talents, the long overdue sequel to Hidden Talents is finally off to copy editing, and scheduled for release next March from Tor. I'm excited. It's very different, in a good way, from the first book.
6/9/06
The good news keeps rolling in. Sleeping Frehsmen Never Lie has won the Thumbs Up! Award from the Michigan Library Association. I'm tickled. There were a lot of fine books nominated. Many thanks to all the folks in Michigan who made it happen.
6/3/06
Wow. I'm nearly speechless. One of my favorite writers, Orson Scott Card, posted a wonderful review of two of my books on his web site. I'm tingling, and can't resist lifting a quote: "Hidden Talents is becoming—and deserves to be—a classic of YA literature. Don't wait for some kid to show it to you. Read it yourself—it's one of the best, no matter what age you are." Thank you, Mr. Card.
5/4/06
More nomination news. Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie has been nominated by the fine folks in the Vermont State PTA and the Vermont Department of Libraries for the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award, and, rumor has it, by my neighbors in the Pennsylvania Library Association for the Carolyn W. Field Award. There's also more delicious Weenie news coming soon.
3/12/06
More good news from around the country -- Invasion of the Road Weenies is a Kansas State Reading Circle selection and Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie is a nominee for the Beehive Award, given by the Children's Literature Association of Utah.
2/17/06
My awesome editor just called to tell me that Invasion of the Road Weenies has gone into a third printing. What can I say? Weenies rock. And the fine folks in Michigan have nominated Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie for their Thumbs Up Award.
1/14/06
As of the latest count, I now have more than one million books in print. (It took forever to count them. I'm not trying that again.)