Fall For Anything appears to have a release date and that day is December 21st, 2010. In unrelated news: I hear a lot of gift-giving occurs around this time of year. It’s also available for pre-order on a few Canadian bookselling sites (how I discovered the date!), but I’ll put a multitude of pre-order links up on the book’s page after it has spread everywhere like the zombie plague I am totally prepared for. I like to update things in one go because I’m a busy person with lots of Mario Kart to play, okay (speaking of which: I unlocked! Rosalina!).

Because Fall For Anything is availble for pre-orders in a few spots, that means it’s on GoodReads! If you want to read it, I’d lurve if you added it to your To-Read list. Word of mouth is an author’s best friend.

And that is all the Fall For Anything news that is fit to print! I am anxiously awaiting permission to show you guys the cover and nervously anticipating copyedits, which is like the math of this whole publishing process to me, which means it is scary and I can’t do it in front of people.

Yeah, I know.

NOW LET’S TALK ABOUT DELICIOUS FOOD.

One thing that I love to do is cook, so I am going to talk about cooking now. CAN YOU HANDLE MY TRUTH. Anyway, I’ve noticed lots of publishing folks place a lot of stock in baked goods and sweets but no one talks about SAVORY EASY MEALS. I have decided to be the person that does.

In case you don’t know, food is awesome. I am always on the quest for ‘The Perfect X.’ Did you know that my 2010 will be defined by the fact that I found the perfect red sauce for pasta which made me reconsider everything I ever thought about food (this is a true story, please get out your Kleenex). I had been searching for the perfect red pasta sauce for YEARS (THAT IS NOT AN EXAGGERATION) and then Smitten Kitchen introduced me to Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce with butter and onions. It has THREE ingredients. THREE. This is the sauce they serve to the angels in heaven, I assume. Or this sauce is made of angels, I don’t know. I heard a choir of them SING when I tasted it, anyway. And like that, after years–YEARS!–I had found my perfect red sauce.

BUT IT WAS A REVELATION TO ME. It was in that beautiful moment I realized I was overthinking food. I felt the best recipes had to be complicated and crazy and involve many ingredients, but now I am trying to do more with less.

Yesterday I made the most awesome vegetarian sub. But it might not qualifiy as a ‘do more with less’ recipe. In any case, it was so good I am going to write it into a novel. What you do is, you chop up some green peppers, onion, portobello mushrooms, mince some garlic. Sprinkle them with dried oregano and salt and pepper. Sautee them in some olive oil until they are nice and soft. Take yer sub bun! Thinly spread herb cream cheese on one or both slices of the bread depending on how much or little regard you have for the fact that cream cheese is not all that good for you in extreme quantities. If you are like me, you prefer enough herb cream cheese to kill several men. Take your nice and soft vegetables and spoon them onto your sub. Put some sub sauce on the veggies. Put some provolone cheese on top of that! Chop some tomatoes and put them on the cheese and then you know, put the top bun on and EAT IT.

And then love yourself and the world.

photo by Liz West

…

Ok.

So basically this year I have been trying to be as uncomplicated as possible in my endeavors in the kitchen. But I want every uncomplicated meal I make to taste like angels. I picked up The Flavor Bible and am totally hoping this will help me do that, but we shall see. Now that I have found the perfect red sauce, I am on a quest for the perfect vinaigrette and salad dressing and vegetable sandwich. Though the sub comes very close, IT IS NOT SIMPLE ENOUGH. And also I want to make an entire raw food meal one of these days BUT WHO KNOWS. I have many great aspirations in the kitchen when I am not writing novels and now you know.

Anyway, I think the whole point of this entry is that if I can impart any knowledge to you today, dear blog readers, it is not future book release dates, it is that LIME AND TOMATOES WERE MEANT TO BE TOGETHER.

That is all.

AND please stay tuned because later this week, I’ll be posting an interview with the amazing Anna Jarzab, which will include a giveaway for her debut, All Unquiet Things, which I absolutely loved.

I have some news:


1) Some Girls Are is a nominee for YALSA’s Best Fiction for Young Adults (!!!)

&

2) The title of book 3 has been made official. It will be called FALL FOR ANYTHING. No release date yet, but I will be spamming everything up just as soon as I have one, no doubt.


Here is more news: I am on a major deadline for FFA and I have lots of work to do, so I must away for a couple months (well, “away” in the sense that I am going to try to strike that balance between working like mad and also staying visible enough that people still remember my name COURTNEY WINTERS remember it also I told that joke like three weeks ago on Twitter, rock). Imagine me under a book and the only way to get out from under that book is to WRITE LIKE I HAVE NEVER WRIT BEFORE! I apologize for the absence that has seem to defined so much of the first half of my 2010–I truly feel bad for my lack of participation in my usual internet haunts–but it must be so.

That said, I need you to know these things:

So stay tuned for my interview with Anna Jarzab later this week! THERE WILL BE A GIVEAWAY! How can you go wrong?

And that’s it.

OH WAIT! One more thing!

Oh, look! It is another Some Girls Are video teaser for your viewing pleasure!

Introducing Kara, one of the most sick and twisted individuals I’ve ever had the pleasure of writing…

Speaking of Some Girls Are ARC giveaways, the wonderful Steph of Steph Su Reads is also hosting one. Her giveaway ends on December 25th and is open to International Entries. Go here to find out more. Steph also gave Some Girls Are an incredible review here and then generously took the time to interview me and ask great questions here. Thank you, Steph!

Some Girls Are also got an incredible vlog review from Kody Keplinger here. Kody is the author of THE DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) coming out next Fall from Little Brown’s Poppy imprint. I am SO looking forward to reading it and I’m thrilled she liked SGA. Thank you, Kody! And finally, Loretta Nyhan gave Some Girls Are a glowing rec here. Thank you, Loretta!

And that is all the Some Girls Are news that is fit to print.

You guys, I don’t want to alarm anyone but I think all of this stuff going on might mean I have a book coming out in less than a month.

!!!

I guess October is a pretty good month for watching horror movies. Why is this, I wonder? Please note: that’s a joke. I thought I should clarify because some people still occassionally ask me if I was really serious when I publicly declared Salinger listened to Lady Gaga a lot when he wrote Catcher in the Rye, which he totally did, but anyway.

I love watching horror movies year round, but I must admit THE NEED gets greater when the weather starts to change. I inevitably find myself buying scary movies recklessly and feeling no buyer’s remorse later even though I really should (my last purchase was Voices about uhm, an hour ago and I hope it is good).

Anyway, I threw some suggestions Emily’s way and then I shook my fist at her because I decided I wanted to write a blog post about the horror movies I think people need to watch in October or really any month and here we are! This said, does anyone have any absolute horror (or horrorish) movies they think MUST be watched in the upcoming grand month that is October? PLEASE put them in the comments! I want to hear them! Unless they are torture pr0n (ie Saw et al), in which case forget it. I really do not like torture pr0n at all.

Here are mine, in no particular order:

ONE MISSED CALLED

This was my first J-horror! So It has a very special place in my heart. It’s about people who get a phone call from themselves in the future at the moment of their death. And involves a vengeful spirit. This movie really creeped me out. It took me over a month to finish it for some reason. Probably because it really creeped me out! The hospital scene is terrifying and I remember feeling like I could not trust one corner of the screen. And I was right! Avoid the remake.

JU-ON: THE GRUDGE

I think this was my second J-horror? It’s about a haunted house full of vengeful spirits (I love vengeful spirits!) and an inescapable curse, told in a compelling, non-linear fashion. This movie scares me every single time I watch it and I watch it a lot. The first five times I watched it, I kept noticing things I hadn’t upon initial viewing. Scary things! Either I am really unobservant (possibly) or this movie is a work of SUBTLE GENIUS (definitely). I love it. Very high on my scary list. Avoid the remake.

SHUTTER

The first time I saw Shutter, I watched it with one hand over my eyes and one hand over my mouth. It’s about a photographer, his girlfriend and a REALLY SCARY VENGEFUL SPIRIT that turns up in his photos but whatever, that’s what you get when you shoot with a Canon (Nikon: Ghost Free Since 1917). I still watch it through my fingers. The scene in the hotel room is the bestest thing ever and there is one moment that gets me every time, provided I have the nerve to watch it. This is also very, very high on my personal scary list. As always, avoid the remake. Even if it DOES star Pacey Witter. Trust me.

THE CHANGELING

It’s my personal belief that The Changeling is one of the best and scariest–if not thebest and scariest–ghost stories out there. The seance scene is a work of art. Also: GEORGE C. MOTHERFN SCOTT is in it. I am not going to say anymore than that. Except 95% of my viewings of this movie take place in the day because watching it at night is sometimes more than I can bear. Also: creepiest ghost voice ever. Seriously, if you watch any movie on this list, MAKE IT THIS ONE. THIS ONE I TELL YOU.

THE CITY OF THE DEAD aka HORROR HOTEL

My copy is called Horror Hotel. Okay, this movie is not scary per se, but it’s WONDERFUL! It’s about a college student who is writing a paper on witches and she goes to this old witch town and there are witches there and BAM! WITCHES! I tend to think of these movies as like, feel good horror. You watch them with a big bowl of popcorn and a comfy blanket wrapped around your shoulders and enjoy.

BLACK CHRISTMAS

I love this movie with my whole heart. I can’t stop buying new editions of it every time they come out. It is about a psychokiller who kills a group of sorority girls on Christmas Eve, but it is also so much more than that. I think Black Christmas is pretty unnerving and the ending is PERFECT and I first saw it when I was like, thirteen and what a great memory of my youth! Also, the tagline is: IF THIS MOVIE DOESN’T MAKE YOUR SKIN CRAWL, IT’S ON TOO TIGHT! Where can you go wrong? Exactly. You can’t. Also: AVOID. The remake.

DEAD MEAT

What a great, great, great perfectly low-budget Irish zombie movie. When I first saw it, it vaguely put me in mind of Night in the Living Dead. It veers more into campy territory, but the production values are similar and I guess that over-riding feeling of isolation and trying to make it work is too. Now, this is not a direct comparison–nothingbeats Night of the Living Dead!–but I found Dead Meat pretty dang satisfying for a (kinda) zombie movie. Objectively, I am not sure it’s good, but personally, I liked it a whole lot.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD

I don’t think there will ever be a zombie movie that is better than this one. I saw Night of the Living Dead in my early teens and I wanted to curl up in a ball and give up on everything, it bothered me so much. I felt like I had survived something but there was no point; it was so grim and senseless and exhausting. Those quickly became the same reasons I would love the movie and turn into a big zombie fanatic. The sheer poetry of survival! It’s all here in this movie, which is always brilliant and always scary. And because it fell into the public domain, you can watch it here.

28 DAYS LATER

The opening of this movie is basically a good argument for why PETA will cause the end of the world. It’s about a rage virus that turns you into like, a rage zombie in less than a minute (again, entirely thanks to a PETA (like) organization tsk tsk). And a guy that wakes up from a coma 28 days after it has spread all over England. 28 Days Later is so fantastic and bleak and hopeful and TENSE. This movie gave me a stomachache the first time I watched it, I found the idea so distressing. And I dreaded every scene that took place at night. Aaah, dread. Delicious dread.

THE MAD

This is a zombie comedy starring BILLY ZANE. It is hysterical and campy and fabulous. BILLY ZANE (his name should always be capitalized just because) plays this former rocker turned uptight doctor, who is on a road trip with his new girlfriend, angry daughter and his angry daughter’s idiotic boyfriend. When they make a stop in a small town… ZOMBIES abound! And absolute hystericalness. Hystericalness that involves a raw beef patty that attacks people. Yes, A RAW BEEF PATTY THAT ATTACKS PEOPE (see above).

THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT

I judge people who don’t like this movie now that it’s all cool not to like. I judge them HARSHLY. Because The Blair Witch Project is amazing, dammit. AMAZING, DAMMIT. I love the way it exploded onto the scene and I love that it holds up as a good movie even now. I mean, how horrible would it be to be lost in the woods with this possible evil witch stalking you? Horrible. Every time I watch this movie I have a complete understanding of how horrible it would be. And I’m impressed. Rock on, Blair Witch. Rock on. Haters to the left.

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HOCUS POCUS

That’s freaking right. It ain’t the time of the season until you’ve watched this movie at least ONCE. And if you haven’t, you miss out. YOU DO YOURSELF AN INJUSTICE. Hocus-freaking-Pocus. Bette Midler. Kathy Najimy. Sarah Jessica Parker (okay, not so much Sarah Jessica Parker). Witches who are accidentally resurrected on Halloween night by OMRI KATZ and THORA BIRCH. An immortal cat. EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS MOVIE. IS PERFECT. If you don’t watch it in October, then, I don’t know. You should be ashamed. ASHAMED! Because being a fierce witch STARTS with these witches and don’t you forget it.

NOTE: Please be aware, I can’t promise/guarantee that those who email me their info will get a copy!!!

But it’s good to be able to pass along names of interested bloggers & streamlining the process helps.

If you’re a book blogger interested in a review copy of Some Girls Are, please hit up the contact form on my website and let me know! Please include your name, book blog URL and snail mail address. I will be passing on a list of interested bloggers along to my rockin’ publicist at SMP soon and we will see what we can do about getting a copy of the book, either a galley or finished copy, into your hands. Thanks!

PS: It should go without saying, but in the interest of protecting your privacy and making it easier for me to make up the list, please don’t give me your info in the comments section here or on the LJ/Facebook feeds. Contact form only! Thanks x 2.

PPS: Real blog entry soon

(Can I just say I feel kind of funny telling people to check out The Swivet, though, because I’m pretty sure the entire internet already has that covered because it is so awesome.)

Also head’s up, peoples: the fab Little Willow wrote the most wonderful entry about Banned Books. I love it when a blog entry makes you nod your head from the first word to the last and then the last word actually makes you do that whole fist-pumping thing where you are like YES THAT’S HOW IT IS and then everyone looks at you funny and then you show them your computer and they read the blog entry and then they do the EXACT SAME THING. Because also it is like, “I told you so,” and I love telling people so.

In other news, I spent all weekend watching J-Horror. And uhm, writing. Do you know you miss A LOT of movie when you cover your eyes?! One Missed Call keeps scaring me in new and different ways each time I watch it. And then I also watched One Missed Call: Final, which… actually–the concept was REALLY COOL, but the execution was only sort of okay (it had it’s moments).

In One Missed Call: Final, these awful teenagers bully this girl to the point she hangs herself (but survives) and then the girl starts sending the death call to her classmates as revenge, BUT–unlike the other movies–if you forward the call, you’re exempt from being killed by the scary ghost-girl responsible for them, Mimiko (who really likes killing people in the most horrific ways possible, just fyi). And the person the call is forwarded to does not get the opportunity to forward it themselves. So basically you have all your teenage friends who want you to die–and would help make that happen–rather than have you forward the call to them and this really scary ghost girl that is going to kill you if you don’t.

How mind-blowing is that concept?! It’s like phone Survivor WITH PHONE DEATH.

OK ARE YOU STILL WITH ME OR HAVE I BORED YOU YET.

Because my question to you, my bbs, is:

EVERYONE WINS!

Except maybe Edward. That Mimiko is terrifyingly fierce. But then Edward does sparkle.

idk. Too close to call, probably.

If you feel uncomfortable answering a question about possibly sentencing someone to death, then answer this one (I am so ~*curious*~ tonight!):

Okay, this is pretty hot:

That is my FriendFeed. Unless you are reading this off of your livejournal friendlist and then it is nothing but a big blank space, so click the entry link and behold its sexiness, livejournallers! Anyway, if you want to keep track of me in one easy place (and why WOULDN’T you? I routinely set the internet on fire with amazingness, I do not understand why anyone would not want to follow me), bookmark this page:

OR get a FriendFeed account and subscribe to it yerself (*peer pressure*). I am trying to convince author people to get in on this action in other forums because a) not only is it smart, b) a streamlined internet is generally a sexier one and c) anything that abets my lazy webviewing habits is pretty okay with me.

So right now my friendfeed will let you know (& provide the links, obv): when I update this blog, when I update my tumblr, when I add photographs to flickr, when I favourite–and eventually add–videos to youtube and also when I add books to goodreads (proof that I read!).

I unplugged this blog from my tumblr since it would’ve shown on my FriendFeed twice (eww). My only complaint is that I wish the widget was sexier so I could put it in my sidebar and not feel like it was uglying the place up, but I guess we can’t have everything. Maybe I should stop being so looks shallow.

Anyway. I like FriendFeed better than myspace too. Speaking of myspace, all these random indie musicians are friending me. What is that about? Do I look like a groupie? Probably I look like a groupie.

So, yeah. FriendFeed. I am giving it a decided ‘Whoo!’

Credit where credit’s due: thanks for the heads-up, Brad!

I like it better than myspace but I like most things better than myspace. If you have a tumblr, you can follow me on it. You can follow my tumblr even if you don’t have one yourself! You know you want to. I’ve plugged my blog into it, so if you want the quick and dirty all in one place PLUS extras, my tumblr will be where it’s at henceforth.

Megan, I kind of broke tumblr in with a conversation we had a long time ago that I always treasured just like I treasure you, dear sister. <3




*KELVIN & TRISTAN & MARCIA, TUMBLR WAS MADE FOR YOU. DO ITTTT. <3

It was very surreal. And very cool.

Cracked Up to Be will be coming out early ’09! My sister and I promptly had an exchange about it that went kinda like this:

me: my book is coming out early ’09!
her: yay!
me: yay!
me: so start saving up to buy it now.
her: …
her: what do you mean ‘save up?’
me: …
her: I don’t get a free signed first edition?
me: …
her: …
me: …

I’ve been thinking of maybe giving her one when the time comes, but only if she lets me count it as her Christmas, birthday and wedding anniversary present. Which I think would only be fair.