The Trip

The trip to NYC and to the Edgars was fun. A car arrived early Thursday morning and took my husband and me to the airport. The flight was long and boring. In NY, another car took us to the Helmsley hotel. The room was on the sixteenth floor. A while later Beverly Horowitz called to say hello and congrats, but I was in the shower so my husband talked to her. At around 6PM we went downstairs and met with Caroline Cooney, Claudia Gabel, Nancy Siscoe, Beverly Horowitz, and Wendelin Van Draanen. (I may be forgetting somebody. I was in awe of meeting Wendelin and Caroline.) We took a couple of cabs to the Grand Hyatt. At a reception, the nominees had their picture taken with their group. I met the rest of the nominees in the young adult category and I was again in awe. I had read their books and thought they were great. My agent Steven showed up. Everybody chatted. Next we went into the banquet room. Thankfully all I had to do was follow Claudia. We sat at the Random House table. It was sort of surreal. I met Ginger Knowlton, Elizabeth Harding, Meg O'Brien, and Nancy Siscoe. There was lots of conversation so I mainly listened. When we started dinner, clips from famous scary movies were shown. I shut my eyes as soon as the one from Psycho came on. Dinner was pretty good. Then the awards began and I was glad the ya category was near the beginning. My husband said I did not look at all disappointed, and I said I wasn't. It was amazing to be at the awards. After the banquet, we went into another area and there were free books! I was very excited. On Friday my husband and I walked around some etc. It was cold and windy IMHO, and I wasn't prepared for that. We flew back into Atlanta on Saturday, and another driver met us and drove us home. It's kind of nice getting driven around all the time.

AJC article

Cross posted from elsewhere:

If you live in the Atlanta area, check out the AJC article "WHOWUNIT?" by Phil Kloer. The article is about the three Edgar nominees from the Atlanta area: Derek Nikitas, nominee for best first novel, Evelyn Coleman, nominee for best juvenile mystery, and me, nominee for best mystery in the ya category."The Edgar Awards are the Oscars of mystery writing, with less cleavage and more IQ," Kloer says in the article. I will be attending the ceremony at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in NYC on Thursday evening.

Horn Book Review

Direct, honest language and raw emotions will grab readers by the heart. Copyright 2008 Horn Book Guide Reviews.

NYPL List!

BLOOD BROTHERS has been selected for inclusion on the New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age 2008 List.

Edgar nomination

I am honored that BLOOD BROTHERS has been nominated for an Edgar in the ya category.
The nominees are:

Rat Life, by Tedd Arnold (Dial/Sleuth)
Diamonds in the Shadow, by Caroline B. Cooney (Delacorte)
Touching Snow, by M. Sindy Felin (Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing - Atheneum Books for Young Readers)
Blood Brothers, by S.A. Harazin (Delacorte)
Fragments, by Jeffry W. Johnston (Simon & Schuster/Simon Pulse)