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Famous first words -- Harriet Vane upon being woken by the St. Lucia maidens on December 13:

"I say, Peter, what am I to do with all these ladies?  It's one thing to be talking piffle about ancient girlfriends, but it's really a bit much to bring them all here just so I can meet them, don't you know.  After all, we have already had our honeymoon and one other holiday ruined by someone's murder ..."

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(Door 10, Task 4: Forget-me-nots and handmade medals of honor are important Russian Mothers’ Day gifts.  Create a medal of honor (with or without the image of a forget-me-not) for a favorite book character or for a family member or friend of yours that you’d like to pay respect to.

Door 15, Task 3: Nominate a (fictional) character from one of the books you read this year for a Nobel Prize – regardless which one – or for a similarly important prize (e.g., the Fields Medal for mathematics) and write a brief laudation explaining your nomination.

Door 16, Task 1: Famous first words: Tradition has it that the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize are woken up by the St. Lucia maidens, as St. Lucia’s Day (Dec. 13) is just three days after the Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony and many laureates stay long enough to be able to take in the St. Lucia festivities.

Imagine one of your favorite (fictional) characters had won that prize: How would you think (s)he would greet the maidens?  (If you’ve used the Nobel Peace Prize for Door 15, Task 3, this can be the same character, of course … or a different one, just as you wish.))

NEW YORK, NY – On June 3rd, New York Times bestselling author CJ Lyons announced The Fatness won in the humor category of the annual IndieReader Discovery Awards (IRDAs). The announcement was made at BookExpo America (BEA), a major publishing trade show.

This is the second literary award the satirical novel has garnered! The Fatness won a silver International Book Publishing Association (IBPA) Benjamin Franklin award for humor in April this year.

“The books that won the IRDAs this year are not just great indie books; they are great books, period. We hope that our efforts via the IRDAs ensure that they receive attention from the people who matter most. Potential readers,” said Amy Edelman, founder of IndieReader.

Judges for the awards included notable publishers, agents, publicists and bloggers. The Fatness received the following verdict from IndieReader’s reviewers: “The Fatness is a story of socialism gone wrong, set amid a plausible backdrop with witty characters who will steal your heart and snag your cheeseburger, if you’re not careful.”

I’d like to thank the professionals who helped me put the book together. The incredible talents of my editor, Cal Chayce of Wording.ca, the fabulous cover design of Taryn Dufault and the exact proofing of Pauline Nolet all contributed to the book’s success. And don’t forget all my beta readers, friends and family who also helped me shape The Fatness into something approaching good shape. You can read about them in the acknowledgements of the novel.

And of course, you should get yourself a copy! You can buy it here.

Actually, it's pretty cool. The Fatness won a Silver in the humor category of the 30th annual IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award™

These awards aren’t well-known generally, but they’re quite prestigious and valuable indicators of quality. The Independent Book Publishing Association (IBPA) has more than 3,000 members, and is the largest publishing trade association in the U.S. This year’s contest had 1,500 entries.

Full story here, including my thanks to everyone who worked on the book. Buy the book at Amazon!

The Nobel Committee just announced that the 2016 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature is Bob Dylan.

To be honest I'm still wrapping my head around the news. I know that he has been mooted as a potential awardee for years, but most people have dismissed it as unlikely and even unwarranted, or that he would receive the Nobel Peace Prize rather than the literature award. Yet now it has happened. Bob Dylan, Nobel Laureate.

I think this is definitely going to be a topic of discussion for a long while. Count me among those who think he is deserving of the award, but it definitely is a path-breaking decision. As far as I know, they have never given it to a person whose best-known writing is song lyrics. That certainly opens up the pool of future potential awardees.

As deserving as it is, though, I also can't help but feel a little bad for the other Americans who have been mentioned as potential laureates. I read recently that every year Philip Roth trudges to his agent's office and waits by the phone in anticipation of the announcement; if that is rue, then I can only wonder at his reaction to the news. Because Dylan's award means that it will be probably be awhile before another American wins it, as it's been twenty-three years since they last gave it to one. At least now Roth can sleep in on the announcement day, though he may have difficulty doing so since it's unlikely now that he will ever become a Nobel Laureate. Or maybe he's secretly working on a cure to the common cold, because at this point if he still wants one his best bet is to chase after one of the science prizes.

. . . the finalists for the National Book Awards were just announced.

I have read exactly none of the books on the list, but from what I've read about them it seems to be a good selection, and I am going to have to add a couple of the Nonfiction titles to my towering TBR stack.

I do have a complaint, though, and it's a biggie: WHAT THE HELL IS JOHN LEWIS'S MARCH DOING IN THE YOUNG PEOPLE'S LITERATURE CATEGORY?!?!?

I'm sorry, but this angers me for a number of reasons. It seems like a total diss of what is a serious memoir by a civil rights pioneer. It should be in Nonfiction, not fobbed off in a "kids" category just because it happens to be in in graphic novel form. Or are all graphic novels to be regarded as "kiddie lit" just because they include artwork drawings?

Seriously, National Book Foundation, you people are real assholes.