0 Warm Day Randutiae

• In the category of It's All Relative, it's 41°F (5°C) and raining today, I was just outside, I was wearing a light long-sleeve shirt and jeans but no coat, no hat, no scarf, no longjohns, and it was GLORIOUS. It's not supposed to snow again until tomorrow. :D?

• It turns out I was wrong about two things about the event last night. First of all, it was totally snowing. Secondly, it was also snowing in New York, which meant that poor Marie spent an hour or so sitting on her plane on the runway before they finally canceled her flight. Marie was not able to make it to last night's event. Waaah! I did my best to read from The Winner's Crime and talk up her beautiful series. Happy book birthday, Marie. Here in Cambridge, we miss you. Thank you, everyone, for coming out on a snowy night!

• Via Rebecca Rabinowitz, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/CFIDS/ME has a new name: SEID, systemic exertion intolerance disease. It's also the focus of some new attention. This is wonderful news for an illness that's been badly and harmfully misnamed for some time, and has not received the research it should. Rebecca has SEID. Her brief post explains why the renaming is a good thing and provides some interesting links. Check it out, and start using the new name!

• Over at The Guardian, Jessica Valenti has written a short piece urging that we start teaching students about sexual assault, and about CONSENT, in high school. We should all be talking about this more.

• Behind this link is a twenty-five-second song that is not safe for work but contains a delightful and useful sentiment. You may find yourself needing to sing it the next time someone or something simply is not worth your precious time.... Thanks @amaditalks and B.

• One of the news apps I use, Flipboard, offers a Parting GIF every day. I consider it my reward for sitting through being depressed by the news. I like today's Parting GIF. I also like that the phrase "parting GIF" supports my preferred pronunciation of GIF, with a hard G. Sorry, Steve Wilhite, but sometimes you don't get to name your own babies.

• Is G your favorite letter?

Detail: Warm Day Randutiae

0 Event Reminder

This is your friendly reminder that tomorrow evening, Tuesday, March 3 at 7 PM, Marie Rutkoski and I will be at the Harvard Book Store for a Q&A and signing. Marie will read briefly from her new book, The Winner's Crime. I think I'm going to read (VERY briefly) from Fire. Then we will brilliantly pepper each other with brilliant questions before turning it over to the brilliant audience. We will all be very smart and incisive. You don't want to miss it. And at the moment, it's not even snowing, nor is it supposed to be snowing Tuesday evening. Hope to see you there!

Looking ahead, my MIT Communications Forum is March 19. I'm happily doing some reading and rereading in preparation for that, as well. At the moment, it's Andrew Smith's Grasshopper Jungle. Next up, Meg Rosoff's How I Live Now.

Detail: Event Reminder

0 Two Upcoming Local Events

It snowed again yesterday, heavy, wet flakes this time. I walked home from a friend's house late last night and the falling snow was sparkling; the mountains of snow lining the streets and consuming people's yards were sparkling. This winter is like being trapped inside a snow globe. It is a little bit claustrophobic, but it's also kind of magical. Many, many cars are still completely encased in mounds of snow. We're expecting a blizzard this weekend. Tonight it will be 0°F (-18°C) and I have bedazzled my fingernails for a party.

On Tuesday, March 3, Marie Rutkoski is coming to town and she and I will be doing an event together at 7 PM at the Harvard Book Store. Yay! Do come! The event is to celebrate the release of Marie's book The Winner's Crime, sequel to The Winner's Curse, both of which are SO WONDERFUL, and I'm so excited to talk about it with her. The event is also to celebrate the release of ABSOLUTELY NOTHING I HAVE WRITTEN, because I am SO SLOW and still have nothing new out. But! Things are in the works, I swear. Please come to our event and ask us lots of questions!

Also, on Thursday, March 19, I will be participating in an MIT Communications Forum entitled Coming of Age in Dystopia: The Darkness of Young Adult Fiction. It's from 5-7 PM and here's the blurb: "Why are brutal dystopias, devastating apocalyptic visions, and tales of personal trauma such a staple of young adult literature? Kristin Cashore, author of the award-winning Graceling Realm trilogy, and the University of Florida’s Kenneth Kidd will explore the history and current preoccupations of one of the most popular forms of fiction today. Marah Gubar, an associate professor in MIT’s Literature department, will moderate." It's an honor to be invited to participate in one of MIT's Communications Forums, and this is going to be an interesting topic to get into deeply. You should all come to that, too! I'll get organized and put both of these events onto my Appearance Schedule soon, but in the meantime, I wanted to get them onto people's radars.

Detail: Two Upcoming Local Events

0 March 4 Event, Marie Rutkoski and Me, Harvard Book Store, 7pm

There's a new book coming out on March 4 that I'm wildly excited about, because it is just so wonderfully excellently super-good… It's called The Winner's Curse and Marie Rutkoski wrote it. Those of you who read my blog carefully know that Marie is a dear friend of mine, so I wouldn't blame you if now you're thinking, Oh, sure, she's going to say it's wonderful, because her friend wrote it – or even, Oh, sure, she's going to think it's wonderful, because her friend wrote it. This sort of dilemma arises when one's friend writes an amazing book: How to convince others that the book itself is amazing and I'm not just speaking out of love for my friend? Well, how about I bring in Kirkus Reviews to help me. From their starred review of The Winner's Curse:

"Rich characterization, exquisite worldbuilding and rock-solid storytelling make this a fantasy of unusual intelligence and depth.... Precise details and elegant prose make this world fresh and vivid. The intricate and suspenseful plot, filled with politics, intrigue and even graphic violence, features neither heroes nor villains; every character displays a complex mixture of talents, flaws and motives. Kestrel is an especially compelling protagonist, both determined and hesitant, honest and manipulative, ferociously observant and painfully naïve.... Breathtaking, tragic and true."

In case you're wondering, all those parts in the middle that I didn't quote are also glowingly positive. There isn't a word of criticism in the entire review, which you can read in its entirety here. I LOVE THIS BOOK. If you're eager for more details about what the book is about, I also recommend reading that review – it's nicely detailed but also somewhat spoiler-sensitive. If you want some details but not too many, only read the first four or five lines. By the way, this book is classified as fantasy because it takes place in a made-up world, but it's one of those fantasies which contain no actual magic. I mention this for the fantasy-phobes among you, although I suppose there's a chance not many fantasy-phobes are reading my blog, unless of course they are masochists *cough*. Also, if you'd like to look at some beautiful, spoiler-free, moody images that create a sense of the book, check out The Winner's Curse Pinterest board that Marie has created.

Marie is coming to Cambridge on her release day and she and I are going to have a conversation together at the Harvard Book Store at 1256 Massachusetts Ave in Cambridge (02138). On March 4 at 7pm. We're tentatively calling it "Marie Rutkoski and Kristin Cashore: Secrets, Power, and Love in Imagined Worlds." Yay! Please come!

Detail: March 4 Event, Marie Rutkoski and Me, Harvard Book Store, 7pm