Malinda Lo

Today I have a few unrelated news items to share. First, if you’re a librarian, the 2009 Debutantes (of which I am one) have a fantastic giveaway for you!

To celebrate Teens Read Week, the YA and MG authors of Debut 2009 are giving away a 46 book set of their debut novels to ONE lucky library, anywhere in the world! From October 18th until December 31st, 2009 we’ll be taking entries from librarians only- public and school libraries are eligible.

For info on how to win these 46 books (Ash is included), go here.

Next, I’m happy to tell you that I’ll be on a panel at the World Fantasy Convention in San Jose … on Halloween! (I don’t think I’ll be in costume, though.) The official World Fantasy Convention website hasn’t listed the panels yet so I don’t have a link to share with you, but I will when I have it. I’ll also be at the Mass Autograph Session from 8-11 p.m. on Oct. 30. So, if you’ll be at the WFC, keep an eye out for me! I’m new to the world of fantasy literature (yes, even though I technically wrote a fantasy with Ash), so I’m looking forward to learning a lot.

Next: Last week I was interviewed at AfterEllen.com about, yes, Ash. I talk about Cinderella movies, how working at AfterEllen helped with writing Ash, and Kaisa.

Lastly, I have to tell you that I’ve been working night and day (well, some nights and every day) on revisions for my next novel, Huntress. To illustrate this portion of my blog post, I google-imaged the word “huntress,” and to my astonishment, 97% of the images were of giant-breasted women who lacked pants. E.g.:

This is not what my huntresses look like.

Now, I’m no expert on hunting, but I’m going to guess that actual hunting, like with weapons and stuff, requires pants.

OK, so back to my book, Huntress. I don’t mean to complain, but Huntress is kicking my ass. I don’t know why it is so ornery, but it insists on not doing what I want.

This is probably because huntresses, at least the kind in my book, are pretty badass, and they like to do what they want (including: wear pants). Therefore, they don’t really want to pay attention to little old me. However, I’m warning you, huntresses (and assorted sidekicks): I will prevail! I swear I will!

So if you see me in the next couple of weeks and I’m looking a little frazzled, it’s because I’m fighting a long, drawn-out battle with fictional kickass huntresses, and they’re really a lot better at fighting than I am. However, I am better at other things. Such as hitting the Delete key, so they’d better watch out.