And thanks so much for all your historical tweets!  Several of you wanted to tweet Abraham Lincoln, Henry VIII and Shakespeare, but I never would have thought to tweet Cleopatra.

The winner of the magnet is Kimberly B, who would tweet Oscar Wilde.

Thanks again, you guys, for making the YAmazing Race a big success!

If you haven’t yet been to the Apocalypsies website, please click here to start from the beginning and read the complete rules.  UPDATE: The race is now over.  The giveaway winner will be announced tomorrow.  Thanks for playing!

~*~

THE WICKED AND THE JUST by J. Anderson Coats

1293.  North Wales.  Ten years into English rule.

Cecily would give anything to leave Caernarvon and go home.  Gwenhwyfar would give anything to see all the English leave.

Neither one is going to get her wish.

Behind the city walls, English burgesses govern with impunity.  Outside the walls, the Welsh are confined by custom and bear the burden of taxation, and the burgesses plan to keep it that way.

Cecily can’t be bothered with boring things like the steep new tax or the military draft that requires Welshmen to serve in the king’s army overseas.  She has her hands full trying to fit in with the town’s privileged elite, and they don’t want company.

Gwenhwyfar can’t avoid these things.  She counts herself lucky to get through one more day, and service in Cecily’s house is just salt in the wound.

But the Welsh are not as conquered as they seem, and the suffering in the countryside is rapidly turning to discontent.  The murmurs of revolt may be Gwenhwyfar’s only hope for survival – and the last thing Cecily ever hears.

~*~

Monkeys know how to party!

Bonus giveaway!  If you could send one tweet to any person from history, what would you tweet and to whom would you tweet it?  Comment on this post with your response for a chance to win a medieval monkey keg party magnet.  Open internationally, but one entry per person, please.  Winner will be drawn at random from among all unique comments by random.org.

The next milepost in the YAmazing Race is over at Kat Zhang’s blog – good luck!

The Alderwood Barnes & Noble set up this wall of awesome

W/J looks so happy alongside STORYBOUND and THE CABINET OF EARTHS at B&N

Here's the window display at Edmonds Bookshop, a delightful little indie in the eponymous soundside town

And here is Village Books in Bellingham, where I spent many an hour as a brokeass undergrad wistfully petting the books I couldn't afford.

I’m so happy to be able to share it with you guys.  Thanks for coming along for the ride!

In STORYBOUND, you’ll travel to the land of Story where fairy tales are not as they seem, and ABOVE WORLD will draw you into an epic adventure where mythology and science fiction are tightly entwined. In the Paris of THE CABINET OF EARTHS, you’ll uncover all sorts of magic below the surface of the everyday, and there’s rebellion looming in the medieval Wales of THE WICKED AND THE JUST. In THE ROCK OF IVANORE, you’ll join an enchanter’s apprentice on a magical quest to save his kingdom. By the end, the magic glasses you’ll find in SEEING CINDERELLA will have you viewing everything a little differently.

April 6, 5:00 – 8:00 pm
The Curious Cup Bookstore, Carpinteria, CA
Authors: Jenny Lundquist, Jenn Reese

April 13, 7:00 pm
Barnes & Noble Alderwood, Lynnwood, WA
Authors: Marissa Burt, J. Anderson Coats, Anne Nesbet

April 14, 12:00 pm
Edmonds Bookshop, Edmonds, WA
Authors: Marissa Burt, J. Anderson Coats, Anne Nesbet

April 15, 4:00 pm
Village Books, Bellingham, WA
Authors: Marissa Burt, J. Anderson Coats, Anne Nesbet

April 20, 7:00 pm
Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore, Berkeley, CA
Authors: Jenny Lundquist, Anne Nesbet, Jenn Reese

April 21, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
U. C. Berkeley, Graduate School of Education,
“Celebration of Children’s Literature and Literacy”
Authors: Anne Nesbet, Jenn Reese

April 27, 7:00 pm
Once Upon A Time, Montrose, CA
Authors: Anne Nesbet, Jenn Reese, Laurisa White Reyes

April 28, 3:00 pm
Children’s Book World, Los Angeles, CA
Authors: Anne Nesbet, Jenn Reese, Laurisa White Reyes

Hope to see you there!

* My post over at EMU’s Debuts yesterday was one of the harder things I’ve written for them. On the plus side, I hear there’s going to be a reenactment of the fall of native government in Wales by a zombie puppet and a stuffed duck to celebrate The Wicked and the Just‘s launch…

* …which is less than a month away now. I’m alternately squeeing and freaking out because I have to do ALL OF THE THINGS and the Day Job and triage the insanity that is my personal life and and and.

* The little pointy thing next to my Kirkus review is pretty exciting.

* The Boy turns 14 on Sunday. He registers for high school on Monday. In two years he’ll be driving, in four he’ll be gone. It seems like forever ago he was this kid.

Thanks to everyone who weighed in on which historical figure they’d like to grill!

Here’s what you’ll get:

* A signed copy of W/J (to be sent as soon as I get copies in my possession)

* A monkey keg-party magnet

* A replica pewter medieval pilgrim badge

* A swag pack

Here’s what you need to do:

Comment on this post with a question you’d like to ask any person from history.  Who would you ask, and what would you ask?

Open internationally, from noon PST on 9 March through noon PST on 16 March.  One entry per person please.  A winner will be selected randomly from among all unique comments by Random.org.

Can’t wait to hear from you!

If you’re around, tune in! There’ll be a call-in portion too, so if you’ve ever wanted to heckle me but you don’t live in the Pacific time zone, this is your chance.