Making lists, checking them twice.

This post has existed in draft form for…well, yikes, almost two full years. Something came to light yesterday, that made me come back to it. And you, lucky readers, get to read my thoughts.

As I’ve mentioned before here and elsewhere, I do have a list of authors who, in my opinion, behave badly.¹  And, since my time, emotional labor, energy, and money, are limited, I quite simply refuse to even try their work. It’s still, at least in this small area, a free country.

By the same token, I have a much, much, much longer list of incredible people who are authors who will always get my support.

This is what an exclusionary society looks like.

(This post has been edited to add more links

for further reading as I become aware of them;

there is a second edit to address my inaccurate reporting

of the ending of a book I have not read)

This rant, which has been percolating in my brain and heart since the morning after the Ritas were handed down,¹ is brought to you by the inclusion of the book For Such a Time, by Kate Breslin, into the list of finalists for RWA’s Rita Awards.

Why would that be a problem? you may ask. Well, a couple of reasons, which have been thoroughly discussed in several places, but let us start with a quick summary, shall we?

The novel, set during WWII, is about a blue-eyed, blonde Jewish young woman–described as Jewess in the actual blurb, I kid you not–who is ‘rescued’ from Dachau’s concentration camp by the SS officer in charge of Theresienstadt concentration camp, and how they fall in love. The book ends with the Jewish protagonist’s faith being healed by the Bible (New Testament included), and with the SS officer having been redeemed by the power of (Christian) love.

Chew on that for a second, if you would.

Congratulations, Ann Aguirre!

Once upon a time, I beta read for author Ann Aguirre–which I enjoyed immensely.

The last novel I beta read for her was the post apocalyptic young adult Enclave, first in her Razorland trilogy.

I inhaled that story in one sitting and immediately emailed her to tell her how much I loved the characters, their journey and the world she created for both. If memory serves, the email was something along the lines of “holy fuck, this is absolutely amazing, you are going to sell it immediately” (which was a consideration, as it wasn’t written under contract).

Indeed the book and its (at the time) yet-to-be-written sequel¹ sold in a snap, to great success–and last night it was awarded the 2012 RITA® for Young Adult² at the RWA National Conference.

Huge congrats, Ann!

~~~ * ~~~

¹ Said sequel, titled Outpost, will be out on September 4.

² In case you don’t know, the RITA® is quite the big deal for romance writers.

Congratulations, SuperWendy

Much, much deserved: our very own SuperLibrarian has been named RWA’s 2011 Librarian of the Year.

Go on over to the BatCave and congratulate our fantastic friend on this honor.