I received an ARC of Poppy Z. Brite's Antediluvian Tales and the cover photo is just as stunning as it appears on the website. I'm sure the hardcover is really going to be gorgeous. (Review to follow but the book is not due out for months so it will be awhile until I post anything to the Voices of NOLA site.)

Sub Press also has the new issue of its magazine online with a new Caitlin Kiernan short story - pretty hardcore for me, but then Caitlin gets hardcore sometimes and that's why we all love her. (More of the content will be posted in the coming days.)

The Press has also announced a Lucius Shepherd retrospective - of 250,000 freaking words! No word on the date for that but it sounds pretty damn unbelievable. (And check out the brand new blog he has with Liz Hand, Paul DiFillipo and Paul Witcover.)

Some kids were prevented from putting on a play about the Iraq War, using words from soldiers collected primarily from In Conflict: Iraq War Veterans Speak Out on Duty, Loss and the Fight to Stay Alive and also other sources. From the article it sounds like they bent over backwards to not say anything disparaging about the President, Rumsfield, etc. but the play "Voices of Conflict" has been banned as it might hurt "Wilton families who had lost loved ones or who had individuals serving as we speak.� The principal is trying not to let this be a censorship battle but it so clearly is, I don't see how you can color it any other way. The irony that the students are 17 & 18 and could very well be in Iraq in another year makes it all especially pathetic. Apparently there is one student with a brother in Iraq who started the whole thing. It's a shame she didn't take the time to hear what the students planned to say before running against them. (Sounds like a bit of stupid high school games to me and the administration fell into the patriot/traitor trap.)

God I love America. (This would be the sarcasm part of our program.)

I'm putting together a column for a few months down the line partly inspired by The PLAIN Janes and the wonder that is being an artist. Take a look at Jason Rodriguez's Postcards which I hope to include, and also the 1000 Journals Project from Chronicle. There will also be some novels about YAs who love art of all kinds. Hopefully it will be something different and cool.

This weekend I sent Jessa a review/interview feature for the next Bookslut on David Griffith's A Good War is Hard to Find and Olive Branch Press's collection of AP photographs, Iraq: A War. I think it is the hardest thing I have ever written for the site. I hope it came out okay but for the first time I'm a little worried. This one was both tough and important, and that doesn't happen all that often for me. It reminded me of when I wrote my book - I didn't want to let anyone down but I wanted to be honest at well. We all have something to say about Iraq (at least we all should) and this ended up being the place for my voice to be heard. David's book is very well written and quite thought provoking - it should be read by many many people and then we all should talk about it. Hopefully, after reading my piece next month, some more folks will join that national convesation.