Nothing literary (except all the cool name dropping in lots of episodes), but the Gilmore Girls is ending on May 15th. I wish I could say I was so sorry but this show so jumped the shark. I haven't watched it in over a year but might drop in at the end, just to see if they salvage some part of what made it great.

Subterranean Press has Charles Stross's alt history title Missile Gap entirely online. The book itself is gorgeous (JK Potter illustrations!). I haven't read the whole thing yet but the premise is so outstanding, I'm not worried about being disappointed. (Plus it's Stross - I know it will be good.) (Oh - and its nominated for a Locus award too!)

While you're over at the Sub Press site be sure to check out David Brin's new YA SF title, Sky Horizon. Right from the start it is excellent - the back cover description gives a hint about the story with this quote: "Some of the Math Club nerds have a real live alien! They're hiding it in a basement rec room."

Yeah - and it just gets better from there.

I'm reviewing the book right now and really really loved it. I also just fired off some questions via email to Brin about teenagers, first contact and the current state of YA SF. That interview will run as part of the Summer Blog Blast Tour next month along with many other great interviews from many other great bloggers. (Another author is Ysabeau Wilce whose new novel Flora Segunda basically made Charles de Lint swoon in his review for the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

I'm hoping these interviews will introduce readers to some authors they aren't familiar with while also letting the larger lit blogosphere know more about just who is writing YA books these days and the kind of books that are being published (I think I cover nearly every genre for every audience - or at least came close - in putting this together). I do have to admit though that the interviews will not be long or indepth - a lot of these authors are interviewing with multiple bloggers and they don't have the time. Plus we weren't looking for that sort of interview anyway. I wanted to make them almost introductory in nature - which doesn't mean we aren't asking serious questions in all this about a lot of different topics, but we are getting to the point sooner rather than later.

Clearly, we aren't even attempting the kind of work that Ed does so well on his podcasts, which is why I was very impressed by his most honest post about the interview that didn't work. As Ed does not know why things didn't click with Marisha Pessl, I couldn't even begin to guess but I do want to make a case for the thoughtful author interview. Just last week Pessl wandered around town for a day reporting on everything she ate for New York Magazine. Clearly, that was not an author interview (quite frankly, I don't even think that is interesting.) But if she's used to that kind of softball interaction then Ed's deeper questions might just have been too much.

I don't know, but I do know that I find Ed's interviews (along with Robert Birnbaum's) fascinating to read and listen to. David Brin was only able to answer a "few very brief questions" from me on his book. I kept it to a half dozen although I have asked about some themes and ideas that I hope will make this interview worthwhile. I can't do what Ed does all the time but the fact that he does is just one more example of how compelling the lit blogosphere can be.

We want to know more than just what you ate for breakfast this morning, and we aren't afraid to ask.