UPDATED 8/25 (see below)
Just a reminder that the pear thong contest closes tomorrow morning (for details, see the post below this one). Someone's already taken the approach of writing an essay that kicks off with how he has little to no interest in my book but is entering anyway, so if that was your tactic, time to go back to the drawing board.
Also, the first official review for The Kid Table is in from Kirkus Reviews, and I like it. I like it a lot.
THE KID TABLE
"Ingrid Bell, one of six mostly teenage cousins in a charmingly dysfunctional family, is a psychopath, according to oldest cousin Brianne. Or perhaps it's just part of the jockeying for position that happens around the Kid Table. Ingrid's psychopathy (or calculated charm and a few dead pets?) provides the thread through a particularly tumultuous year as the family unravels. Ingrid’s first-person narration, especially in those moments when her calm makes the reader wonder if she is a psychopath, is fantastic, and the trials and tribulations manage to be both funny and sad (adult cousin Tish drinks too much, teen cousin Cricket has anorexia, Ingrid’s mother busily collects memories for her scrapbook but forgets to live and Ingrid’s in love with Brianne’s boyfriend). The episodic structure (a handful of chapters at major events throughout the year from not-Jewish Uncle Kurt's post-adultery Bar Mitzvah to a wedding) serves as a metaphor for the family: a whole made of several disparate parts with some unanswered questions. Weirdly whimsical, adult author Seigel’s (Like the Red Panda, 2004) YA debut delights."--Kirkus Reviews
In other book news, word of the Ivan Reitman film deal hit the Internet, with commenters everywhere bemoaning that this project isn't Ghostbusters 3. So, hey, we'll just throw a ghost in it. One of the kids at the table is DEAD. And green. Solved!
UPDATE 8/25: The winner of the contest is Rachel Jenkins, from the romantic-sounding (I like trains) town of Thompsons Station, TN. Thank you to everyone who entered.
You said you weren't going to read these things until the close of the contest:
"... I'm not going to read these things until the close of the contest." 8/13
Congrats on the review and movie deal.
It couldn't be happening to a sweeter person. (I can lie too.)
Posted by: Terry | August 24, 2010 at 07:06 AM
jeeeesus christ, "quiz show" terry, you kill me. it didn't come in marked as an entry; it came in as an email telling me about not knowing who i was until reading about the contest on another website and then giving details of a masturbation session. please stop reading the blog if you can't handle processing information as "not always literal."
Posted by: andreaa | August 24, 2010 at 08:48 AM
It's good that you clarified this. Why lose George Clooney as a potential optioner of your next one at this early stage?
Posted by: Terry | August 24, 2010 at 10:54 AM
I'm with Terry on this one, and not just because it was my submission that apparently suffered from the early opening of the entries. Anyway, your rules said anything goes in terms of submissions, so long as it came from the heart. I'm terribly disappointed.
Posted by: Jon | August 25, 2010 at 09:43 AM
1. it wasn't marked as a submission like the others which said PEAR CONTEST or THONG CONTEST or BOOK CONTEST. it said, "not not a fan," so I assumed it was either fan or hatemail. 2. you didn't want the book anyway. so i think you'll get over it. if it helps you make peace with the situation, you wouldn't have won anyway later even if i hadn't originally gotten a sneak peek at your email because of STATING THAT YOU DID NOT REALLY HAVE ANY INTEREST IN THE BOOK.
Posted by: andreaa | August 25, 2010 at 09:50 AM
YES, LADY. YOU NEED TO BE MORE STRINGENT WITH YOUR PEAR THONG CONTEST RULES. IT IS A SERIOUS THING FOR ADULTS TO SERIOUSLY CONTEMPLATE AND HAVE SENSITIVE FEELINGS ABOUT.
I did not enter and it is past the deadline but I still expect to win.
Posted by: Ashley | August 25, 2010 at 08:39 PM
"Jon" said, "I'm with Terry on this one" - Just for the record, my complaint was much more tongue-in-cheek than righteous indignation. Annoying Andrea is fun, and I saw an opening.
I really wouldn't take a contest seriously that asked the question, "Enough of my navel gazing, what does my tattoo mean to *you*?" Narcissism by proxy is still narcissism.
But don't get me wrong, I'll still be turning Andrea's books to show the covers instead of the bindings on the shelves at B&N just as I have since "Panda."
Posted by: Terry | August 25, 2010 at 09:12 PM
For the record I was kidding too. I didn't really slit my wrists yesterday. But I did cry a little.
Posted by: Jon | August 26, 2010 at 07:56 AM