It is beyond bizarre to me that websites designed to help debut writers market their books have turned into groups with elected officers and trademarks who apparently spend an inordinate amount of time and energy protecting their marketing plans. I know it is hard to have your book be discovered in the midst of a zillion other titles in the marketplace but I had no clue that collective authors' blogs were such a big deal and worthy of zealous protection. I am way out of the loop on this one. (Link via Leila who points out where it all started and hopeful resolution.)

In honor of Charles Darwin's birthday, may I suggest you spend a few moments over at Becky's blog and see the most gonzo list of links to books, music, programs, plays and on and on and on about Darwin and evolution that I have ever seen. It is awesome! From her list, I most heartily recommend Voyage of the Beetle, a book I just finished reading to my son and he adored. It's very funny and also explains Darwin's theories in a way that even a six-year old could understand. (It's written for 9-12 yr olds.)

For those of you who have followed the stories of the dogs forced to fight by Michael Vick and his friends, Dogtown will return this summer on the National Geographic Channel and there will be updates on the Vick dogs.

This is why Cherie Priest is one of my favorite writers and Subterranean Press one of my favorite publishers. How often do you see a cover and book description as wicked cool as that?! (I would also like to go on record as saying that Cherie's writing progress is awesome to behold.)

As it happens I am reading New Amsterdam by Elizabeth Bear right now - another Sub Press title due out this spring. I don't know why this one ended up languishing on my shelves for the past couple of months but it's a great alt history/vampire detective/parlor mystery. At least it's a parlor-type mystery right now that happens to be set on an dirigible enroute from Holland to "New Amsterdam" (that would be NYC of course). I have no idea what is going to happen in the coming chapters but so far I have no clue who did what and it's quite fun seeing how many secrets the passengers are hiding. (Agatha Christie with fangs, sorta!)

Here's the description although I have yet to come across Abigail:

Abigail Irene Garrett drinks too much. She makes scandalous liaisons with inappropriate men, and if in her youth she was a famous beauty, now she is both formidable--and notorious. She is a forensic sorceress, and a dedicated officer of a Crown that does not deserve her loyalty.
She has nothing, but obligations.
Sebastien de Ulloa is the oldest creature she has ever known. He was no longer young at the Christian millennium, and that was nine hundred years ago. He has forgotten his birth-name, his birth-place, and even the year in which he was born, if he ever knew it. But he still remembers the woman who made him immortal.
He has everything, but a reason to live.
In a world where the sun never set on the British Empire, where Holland finally ceded New Amsterdam to the English only during the Napoleonic wars, and where the expansion of the American colonies was halted by the war magic of the Iroquois, they are exiles in the new world--and its only hope for justice.

And for those of you keeping track of the You Should Read This Awards, Jules and Eisha agree that Haven Kimmel's memoirs should be added to the list. I'm wondering about Special Topics in Calamity Physics - it does have a teenage protagonist, anyone know if it would work for teens? I can tell this subject is hard for everyone but I know that teens are always reaching for adult books; I'd like to make it easier for everyone by putting together a good list.