Picked up first by Jenny D. and then by Gwenda, Nicola Tesla's original laboratory is under threat of destruction. I'm stunned to hear it is still standing (he sold it in 1917) and that it still has some of his original equipment. There is a movement underway to buy the property and I hope they succeed (sounds like they will), The best part of all this? The potential for underground tunnels! How cool is that?! (I totally hope Kirsten Miller is all over this revelation.) Read more at the Tesla Memorial Society of NY.

A do-it-yourself John McPhee course syllabus (alas - without the advice of the master however). I read Coming Into the Country for one of my grad school classes and liked it a lot. I'd love to know how McPhee chooses his subjects to study; he must be an amazing teacher.

The Edgar awards were announced recently and I was quite pleased to see Tony Abbott's The Postcard win the juvenile category. I reviewed this one last year and it remains one of the better MG/YA mysteries I've read in a long time. It is also set in FL which is a bonus for my childhood self and I can attest to the authenticity of Abbott's research. He nails it - and I've been to many of the places he writes about. It's a great summer reading book; grab it for a kid you know and I'm sure they will be grateful. (I must say though the tpb cover is appalling - the hc was much much better.)

Colson Whitehead found himself in the "do you respect YA or not" nightmare recently. Poor man. He emailed with Ed and seems to have explained himself quite well. Honestly, I think he just got blindsided. It probably never occurred to him that his book could be YA because none of his other books are and he wasn't even thinking that way when it wrote it. YA reviewers might think it is (it centers on a teen protagonist) but I imagine he just went with what his pub decided. Plus who knows - the guy might not have read a book written for teens in 20 years so if all his YA contact is from the media he probably thinks it's a bunch of Harry Potter, Twilight and Gossip Girls. (This is not so impossible when you think about it.) Anyway I for one am TIRED of fighting this battle. Colson Whitehead wrote a book and it sounds good and maybe it will crossover and teens will read it and they will like it. Let's all move on now, shall we? (Over at the Booklist blog, Donna also thought this was a bunch of foolishness.)

Sherman Alexie's interview with Margo Rabb is still up at failbetter and really, if you haven't gotten over there to read it, you should. What broke my heart:

Oh, man. When I got the news my father died I actually collapsed. That’s the first time I fell or fainted when I heard news of somebody’s death. I cried hard. I’m not over it. Not even remotely. So I guess…I healed as a kid. But now…I mean last night at a reading I gave, a kid asked me that question: “How are you dealing with your dad’s death?” I said, “Obviously not very well!” My sister died so long ago…29 years ago. It almost feels like an entirely different person who lost her. And I didn’t know her that well—she was quite a bit older than me, she was out of the house, she was married…so she’s a series of impressions at this point. I don’t even know how accurate they are. She’s almost become mythology.

Margo has more with Sherman ("outtakes") at her blog. My favorite bit from there:

Zombies or unicorns?

"I’m a zombie guy. I have a t-shirt of Big Foot wrestling a unicorn."

I was writing a post the other day for Voices on an upcoming book about post Katrina New Orleans (A Paradise Built in Hell, due from Penguin in August) and I kept thinking the author, Rebecca Solnit, sounded familiar. I googled her and discovered she has written several articles for Orion where I immediately recognized her work. So then I looked a bit further in google and found this review of a past book in the Village Voice where Solnit is referred to as "wander woman" and an "apprentice to the world at large, she has made a life's work out of scavenging for connections." I have decided that she is now officially a literary hero. The local library has a couple of her books so I'm looking forward to reading more.

The new issue of Bookslut is up - in case you missed it. My column this month is on science fiction and fantasy and was not easy to write. I actually requested a few books that never got to me which was a disappointment - because there were a ton of fantasy titles in particular that I did not want which were sent. (Sigh.) On the up side, I ended up with a great mix of books that I don't think have been covered much elsewhere and I did enjoy reading all of them. Also LOVED my "cool reads" both by the divine Sy Montgomery (certainly another literary hero).

I also reviewed The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire by CM Mayo, a beautiful book any fan of historical fiction should check out.

[Post pic of Tesla's lab as it currently looks in Long Island.]