Oh, wow, GC-- I had that book. I think it was given to me as a third birthday present. In fact, that's the book I taught myself to read from because I'd pestered everyone to death and they wouldn't read to me anymore, so I decided fie on them and started reading to myself.

Wow-- talk about a trip down memory lane.

OMG I did! I haven't thought of it in ages.

Oh yay! I remember reading The Match Stick Girl over and over and over (sob). Also there was a story about a fisherman who caught a fish that granted him a wish. He made a modest wish but his wife was greedy and unsatisfied so she made him go back and ask the fish for another wish (grander). This happened a few times until the fish finally took it all away. Remember that one? Remember the name by chance? Was it The Fisherman and His Wife?

I still have a copy of it.

I wonder if my parents still have mine. I'd love to have it.

Dude! I was right: [link]

Kathy, I've read both the Cast and the Mead YA vampire novels and I prefer the Mead. The Cast heroine is a little too Mary-Sue + TSTL at times. They're not awful, but they're not great.

I quite like the Vampire Academy books...but, as people have pointed out, check out how much the cover of the 2nd in that series looks like Buffy and Angel, Season 2

I think the concept of the Cast novels is interesting, but I haven't read them because P.C. was incredibly rude to me when we were both on a panel at a conference back when the first book had only just been published. It was a panel on writing YA and by luck or design, I was the only one who wasn't writing paranormal YA and she treated me like I was such a major second class citizen.

Turned me right off of any of her books, adult or YA. Which is perhaps petty, but it was really off-putting how rude she was to me in a public forum.

Hmm. Really?

(God, I am such a whore for gossip.) That's interesting because everything I hear is all "LALALALA she's awesome-cakes!"

Although I admit I do have a severe prejudice against relatives of successful authors (Anne Rice, I'm looking at your fam) who would otherwise probably not get published.

Yeah, that was not a good panel, overall for a conference I'm not likely to participate in again, pretty much, ever, if I can help it.

It was during that same panel we were talking about the revisions process (it was supposed to be aimed at beginning writers) and I described how it had been for me with Adiós and Accent. (One major revision for each, just for the record.) Afterwards, this woman comes up to me and with a straight face says, "Wow, your work must have been in rough shape to require so much work. My editor only ever has me correct typos."

I looked at her name badge-- saw that she was published by one of these tiny, tiny e-pubs that does primarily erotic romance and said the first thing that popped into my mind.

"Well I guess my editor doesn't expect my readers to be distracted by their vibrators."

Which was a hugely bitchy thing to say but I was already in a foul mood.