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by Kiyohiko Azuma. This is a graphic novel about a little girl named Yotsuba who has green hair ponytailed into a four-leaf clover style. What can I say?  All of this series runs about the same, that is, brilliant.  This is the series that reminds me of Ray when she was younger. In this volume, […]

Welcome to the PPW January Write Brain, in which you will speed-date your most precious ideas to the audience!  You have 30 seconds to pitch your story!  And then an audience of thousands of jeering skeptics will mock your ideas by rating them on a scale of one to five, with one being absolute sucktitude

I’ve been reading Fox in Sox to Rachael since she was a baby.  I’ve been getting pretty good at it, too, as in being able to just make it through the damned thing without stumbling.  I’ve even been working on speed. The trick, I’ve found, is to not think of the words as words at

@ChuaoChocoholic Sweet! I want to be head Oompa Loompa when I grow up, too 🙂 in reply to ChuaoChocoholic # Hey! The Julie/Julia party is 20 Feb. Drop me a line if you're near Colo Spgs and want an invite, or just want to know WTF. # I WANT TRUFFLES! I've never had them. I

Okay, I’m finally to the point where I’m actually thinking about getting a cell phone.  I had intended to pick up a Droid phone right after Christmas, but after doing more research, I’m changing my plan.  I may have to wait a little longer. Here’s what I want, a solo gadget that will do the

by Seth Godin. The book is Seth’s Blog, cleaned up and presented for the book-reading (vs. the blog-reading) masses. I’m going to take a wild guess here and say the rest of his books are probably more of the same. Nevertheless, this is probably the hardest book I’ve read since Gene Wolfe.  Actually, that’s not

(The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic), by Terry Pratchett, Stephen Ross, and Scott Rockwell.* If someone had started me out on The Colour of Magic or The Light Fantastic, I would have pitched the book across the room and never come back.  And the BBC version of the combined stories?  Sorry, but that

You know, I forgot to announce it, but I started a cooking blog over at www.foodie.deannaknippling.com.  I’m calling it “The Piquant Alchemist” because 1) piquant means strongly flavored, so I can cuss, and 2) alchemy is a cross between science and magic, and that’s about how I cook.  Anybody who’s heard me talk about my

Book 4 of the Chronicles of Chrestomanci, by Diana Wynne Jones. As a note, I’m numbering the books according to the spine of the editions I have, two books to a bound mass-market paperback.  Like the Narnia series, there’s some debate about the order in which to read the books.  Hey.  I had a craving

Book 3 of The Chronicles of Chrestomanci, by Diana Wynne Jones Romeo and Juliet, with Magic, as told by their younger siblings. There are two great houses of magic in the world of The Magicians of Caprona.  They don’t like each other and they forbid the kids to have anything to do with each other.