What Makes A Young Adult Novel a Young Adult Novel?

So, Publisher’s Weekly held a breakfast panel on what makes young adult fiction young adult, and they didn’t invite me. Nice. Way to crush my ego, Publishers Weekly… And just so you know, I’m a big fan of breakfast. I would have been totally into that.
Seriously, I’ve been asked this question before. What [...]

Want to bet on the future?

Popular Science (the greatest magazine on the planet) has developed a fun way to amp up your interest in the future of science and technology.  You can now bet on new technologies through their PPX program.  What’s hot.  What’s not.  What will change the world. What won’t.  Here’s how they explain it:
Welcome to the PPX, [...]

Outline. Done. 38 Special. Done.

Well, I did it.  I finished the outline for the entire Oz Chronicle series.  Outlining the first three books was easy because they’re all ready written.  The last four were tough.  I’m not the type of writer who outlines before I write.  I usually write the first 40-50 pages and then outline the rest of [...]

Just Because I Think This is Really Cool – Bloody Brilliant!

No explanation necessary.  Just watch and enjoy!  Gets really good at the 40sec mark. 

Video of Randy Pausch’s Congressional Testimony

Well, the stats show you love stories and news on Professor Randy Pausch, and at least one of the visitors to this blog believes Pausch is lying about having terminal pancreatic cancer. That really blows me away. I know the world was duped by James Frey and there’s a certain sect of our society that [...]

Cormac McCarthy Interview – Video

I’m a big fan of Cormac McCarthy. I missed his Oprah interview and was surprised to find it on Youtube (I really don’t understand the copyright issue with those video clips). Anyway, I figured some of you may have missed it to. Here’s part one. You can find more over at [...]

Peter Jackson look-alike Guillermo del Toro to direct ‘Hobbit’

Seriously, do they have a weight and facial hair requirement for directing movies based on Tolkien novels. If so, I should put in my application. This movie will no doubt make half a billion at the box office, and win all sorts of awards for it’s visual effects. Del Toro is a great director. I [...]

Fun with Global Warming

Surfer’s Garrett McNamara and Kealii Mamala hit the glacial waves. What’s that? Simple. A huge chunk of a glacier falls into the ocean and causes an explosive wave that most people try to avoid. Surprisingly, no ones ever done this before.

Chris Farley was the original Shrek

The Chris Farley Show: A Biography in Three Acts, the brilliant comedian’s biography is set to be released on May 6. There’s a certain gentlemen’s magazine (name withheld in deference to the parents of the kids who read my books. Hint – the girls next door love it.) that has an excellent article on the [...]

Ernest Hemingway & Charlton Heston – Greatest Audio Book Ever

Ernest Hemingway is one of my favorite authors. He writes with such stark economy of words that his greatness as a writer seems almost like an illusion, but nevertheless, I am moved by his prose. If you want to be a writer, read Hemingway. For your listening pleasure, I have provided Part 1 [...]