Someone cue the Vapors
Just in time for Christmas, the Japanese translation of Bad Monkeys:
bad monkeys
Achtung, baby
Just got my copy of the German paperback edition of Bad Monkeys, According to Amazon.de the official pub. date is November 1st:
This monkey is not yet rated
A nice bit of news to start the week: the film rights to Bad Monkeys have been optioned by producer Matt Battaglia’s company Blink International (www.mattbattaglia.com). This is my first-ever film option, and while it’s only step one towards getting an actual movie made, Lisa and I are both really excited.
Bad Monkeys nominated for Georgia Peach Book Award
My devious plan to corrupt Southern youth proceeds apace:
“The purpose of the Georgia Peach Award is to highlight and promote the best current young adult literature for Georgia high school age students, to encourage young adults to read and to promote the development of cooperative school and public library services for young adults. Teens vote for their favorite books out of the year’s top 20 nominees at their high schools and local public libraries.”
Many thanks to the nominators, and congratulations to my fellow nominees:
13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher
Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff
Blood Brothers by S.A. Harazin
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Deadline by Chris Crutcher
Generation Dead by Daniel Waters
Getting the Girl by Susan Juby
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Impossible by Nancy Werlin
Lessons from a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
My Most Excellent Year: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins and Fenway Park by Steve Kluger
Oh.My.Gods by Tera Lynn Childs
Ophelia: A Novel by Lisa Klein
Spud by John Van de Ruit
Three Little Words: A Memoir by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
Wake by Lisa McMann
Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
Dr. Zaius escapes from Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo
King 5 News is reporting that the Woodland Park Zoo has been locked down following the escape of a DeBrazza’s monkey.
Update: And, before I even finished typing this, word comes that they’ve caught him. Pity, it would have been cool to have him show up on the balcony.
Bangkok highway patrol adopts Scary Clown concept
From yesterday’s Times:
Starting out his new administration, the already embattled prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva — the fourth prime minister this year — made a promise to his people last month, ‘I will prove that once again Thailand can be the land of the free, the land of opportunities, and the land of smiles.’
The highway police seem to be as good a place to start as any.
The new cloth masks, which hook behind the ears and cover the mouth and nose, will help “reduce the stress from drivers when they see the police,” said Mr. Somyos, the highway police commander.
To that end, he said, some 200 police booths would also distribute small bottles of holy water, chewing gum and mints…
Bad Monkeys puzzle solved… again
On October 17th the very determined Josh Larios, his wife Cameron, and his friends Jake Manalan and Mia Lipner became the second group to crack the Bad Monkeys contest puzzle. I congratulate them, and hope Josh can get some sleep now.
I’ve left the puzzle up for anyone else who wants to try it, but be aware that there are no more prizes. I’ve also posted an email from Jutta Degener describing how she and her coworkers at Metaweb became the first group to solve the puzzle (as you might expect, it contains spoilers).
Thanks to everyone who played. For those who are curious how I designed the puzzle, I used a program called Crossword Express, a very versatile piece of ‘ware that can generate traditional crosswords, Cryptics, Acrostics, Word Search, Sodoku, and Kakuro, among others. I bought the “professional” version of the program; it has since been released as freeware, and it’s definitely worth checking out if you’re a puzzle fanatic.
A good Sunday for the home team
Bad Monkeys got a nice mention on Paperback Row in yesterday’s Times Book Review.
And Neal Stephenson’s novel Anathem debuted in the #1 spot on the hardcover fiction bestseller list.
Bad Monkeys wins Washington State Book Award
2008 Washington State Book Awards, by category:
Fiction — Bad Monkeys, Matt Ruff
General Non-fiction — Dirt, the Erosion of Civilizations, by David R. Montgomery
History/Biography — Native Seattle: Histories From the Crossing-Over Place, by Coll Thrush
Poetry — The Grace of Necessity, by Samuel Green
Scandiuzzi Children’s Book Winner (children’s category) — Rabbit’s Gift, by George Shannon
Scandiuzzi Children’s Book Winner (young adult category) — The Absolutely True Diary of Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
Congrats to my fellow winners! The award ceremony will be held Oct. 22 at 7 P.M. at the Seattle Central Library, and admission is free.
Also, a reminder, I’ll be reading two nights later, from a new work, at Richard Hugo House (Oct. 24 at 7:30 P.M.). Tickets for that event are on sale now.
Me, on Shelf Talk
David Wright at the Seattle Public Library invited me to submit a post to the library’s Shelf Talk blog describing what’s in my current reading pile.
Since compiling the list, I’ve finished Generation Loss and Watchmen, both of which I’d recommend. In the Red Zone, on the other hand, is proving to be kind of a dud, at least for my purposes—too much political ranting, not enough on-the-ground observation.