The Hugo Award nominations have been announced and include some young adult novels: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman and Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. Also, Shaun Tan was nominated for best professional illustrator. Tor.com did a cool series of posts hi-lighting all of the nominated illustrators, including Tan.
YALSA seems enamored with a new site called Hunch, which predicts your future and tells you what to do. Well, actually, it helps you make decisions based on how you answer questions. The questions are user-generated, so the site gives teens a chance to explore the issue of decision-making. 
Cynthia Leitich Smith‘s Eternal has just debuted. And it sounds awesome. It’s about a girl who becomes a “glamorous royal fiend” (what does that mean?? I don’t know, but it sounds cool) and gets a “reckless and adoring guardian angel” to watch over her.
And for those hungry for some YA hard science fiction after our recent conversation about it, check out this new book: The Comet’s Curse by Dom Testa. It’s about teens who flee earth after a comet spewing toxic chemicals kills off adults. It’s supposed to be “one part Lord of the Flies and one part TV reality show.” That’s exactly how I describe my local swimming pool, by the way.
Agent Nathan Bransford (wow that makes him sound like an FBI guy) is giving you the change to Be An Agent For a Day. He will post 50 (!) queries on his blog on Monday, April 13th. You then get to do what every writer has always dreamed of: write rejection letters. You also can “request” up to five manuscripts that you deem publishable. Those who correctly identify the manuscripts that have actually gone on to be published have a chance at winning a prize.
Finally, this baby snuggie does look like “some sort of alien contraption.” And it frightens me.
Parker Peevyhouse has always been wary of alien contraptions.
Chris Eboch
Greg R. Fishbone
Nick
lindajoysingleton
Parker Peevyhouse
Joni Sensel
Oh my. That snuggie – how did executives pass on that thing?
And thank you for The Comet’s Curse recommendation! I was just going to ask you if you knew if of any YA hard sci-fi. My day has just become happier.
Another one I recently read is called Lost Time. It has a beautiful cover.
That baby snuggie reminds me of Total Recall. What was that thing’s name? Quatto?
And Eternal rocks!
And The Comet’s Curse does sound worth checking out!
Nice wrap up.
Alas, I haven’t seen Total Recall. I’ll slip on my Snuggie and check it out.
OMG! You have to watch this movie. It is FANTASTIC. You will love it!
Oooooo … I remember Total Recall! Loved it! Go Arnie!
Lesley