saturday hangovers

Matt Cheney asks for recs for what kids should read after Harry Potter (and he plugs Thirsty by M.T. Anderson, now tied for best YA vampire novel with Scott Westerfeld's forthcoming Peeps). Stop by and weigh in. (I would say best vampire novel without the qualification, but I don't want Stoker argumentation in the comments.)

Speaking of Scott, he chronicles the Potter release scene at Books of Wonder last night. (I might add here that I personally love J.K. Rowling for one giant result of her success: the impact of the Potter books on the YA field in general has been phenomenal.)

Carrie asks for Peter Beagle recommendations, having really liked Lila the Werewolf.

Audio of Teller reviewing The Glorious Deception for NPR. (Via No True Bill.)

Gregory Feeley talks about the number of collections by first-rate SF writers being published by small presses, rather than trade publishers.

Carny lingo. (Via Boing Boing.)

Catfish the size of a grizzly bear caught in Thailand. (Via Rebecca Skloot.) One of the cutlines in the photo gallery is fabulous: "Thai fishers struggled for more than an hour to haul in the record-breaking Mekong giant catfish. Officials from Thailand's Inland Fishery Deparment then used a performance-enhancing drug to stimulate the pituitary gland of the female fish in order to prepare it for a breeding program (above). Despite efforts to keep the bear-size catfish alive, it died and was later eaten by villagers."

Thanks to all who sent lovely gifties this week -- I'm vowing to catch up on email this weekend, at least to the extent of sending you individual thank you notes. Now off for cake with the family. xox

ETA: Neely Tucker in the WaPo on how dark children's stories have always been and are, and she quotes Maria Tatar. As Tatar says, "If you start with 'once upon a time,' you're going to finish with 'happily ever after.'"