A couple of quick hits today.  First is that the most, most excellent Meg Rosoff (whose books you should all have read!) says an extremely nice thing about A Monster Calls on her blog.  She's also dead right about Mal Peet's brilliant upcoming Life: An Exploded Diagram, by the way.

Second is that Monsters of Men was just announced as Runner Up in the Speculative Fiction category of the Independent Literary Awards, picked by independent book bloggers.  A very cool thing indeed.  Check out all their winners, some really good stuff.

I'm still resting my leg, but hopeful.  Exercise bikes aren't as good as running.  They just aren't.

Greetings to the new commenters, and as it's so brief today, I can answer two quick questions!  First is that the "theme song" to The Ask and the Answer (since all my books have their own private theme songs) was Intervention by Arcade Fire.  Not the lyrics so much, but the way the music builds and builds.  Second is that, yes, I do occasionally like me a little bit of Lady Gaga.  Good to run to, though I confess I do tend to prefer Little Boots for my synthpop needs.  More soon.