Pirates!

Since I'm promoting my book series, I have Google Alerts send me a daily email listing new sites with my name, my book names, etc.

Yesterday, I got a hit for someone requesting that other people upload my books to a pirate site.
*Dunh-Dunh-DUNH!*

Is it weird that I thought this was AWESOME?

First off--hey, she wants to read my books!

Second--they haven't been pirated yet (at least on that site).

I considered replying to her request, but I couldn't think of anything to write that didn't sound whiny or snarky, yet still conveyed my desire that she actually compensate me for my work.

So, I wrote this instead. If you come up with a cool or funny reply I should send to this person, please post it below.

Next piece of news:
Maggie Stiefvater's Forever now has a cover, and it looks gaw-jus!

Finally, thanks to Cindy for a great lunch yesterday. She's got a YA novel in the works that looks like it's going to be a-maz-ing. Speaking of amazing novels, if you have a YA paranormal/fantasy/sci-fi novel ready to submit, polish up your queries. We're going to have a contest here starting late next week.

Step 1: I'll ask you to submit your query letters as comments to the blog.
Step 2: We'll critique them over several days and give you a chance to polish and resubmit for the second round.
Step 3: readers will vote for the winner, who will receive a (viciously blunt) partial critique.  

Now, here's the kicker.  My publisher, Spencer Hill Press, is looking for a couple of new projects in the coming year. So this little contest is the backdoor to possibly getting a full MS request from a publisher.

Oh, and the winner of last week's giveaway is Cass (Words on Paper). Congratulations, Cass!

UPDATE: This new review for Minder made me giddy:
http://blkosiner.blogspot.com/2010/09/review-minder-by-kate-kaynak.html