The Class of 2k12′s February contest is up!  Come tell us your favorite childhood book and you could win special “director’s cut” editions of SCARLET by A.C. Gaughen and LETHALLY BLONDE by Patrice Lyle.

Also, Thumbkitty threw up in the blinds again.  Lemme tell you, cleaning the slats is hard enough.  Try cleaning the nylon cord that makes the blades  go up and down.

You guys named a lot of great historical movies – Titanic was popular, as was Pride and Prejudice.  A couple of you brought up some of my favorites – The Lion in Winter and the Cadfael series – and some of you brought new ones to my attention.  I’m going to have to look up Centurion, Amazing Grace and Master and Commander.

Some of you liked certain movies but weren’t sure if they were historically accurate.  I prefer to think of these as “historically-flavored.”  Besides, the truth is that the past is only so knowable.  There are plenty of things for which there is no evidence for one way or another, so the task of historical fiction (and historical film!) is to fill in those gaps and make a story out of what evidence there is.

And finally, the winner of the monkey keg party magnet is Grace, whose favorite historical movie is Braveheart!  Congrats, Grace!

If you haven’t yet been to the Apocalypsies website, please click here to start from the beginning and read the complete rules. Now on to the race!

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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.

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Monkeys know how to party!

Bonus giveaway!  Comment on this post with your favorite historical movie for a chance to win a medieval monkey keg party magnet.  Please leave your email address or a Twitter handle so I can track you down if you win.  (Winner will be drawn at random from among all comments by random.org.)

This is the last stop on this leg of the race – if you’re ready to take the quiz, click here!

Friendly reminder: you must complete ALL FIVE quizzes to be eligible for a prize pack.

NEVER EIGHTEEN by my friend and colleague Megan Bostic is, at its heart, about action.  It’s about doing stuff that needs doing.  Hopefully I’ll never be in Austin’s position, with one eye on a ticking clock, but the takeaway is the same:

Act now.  Someday it will be too late.

Everyone has things in their lives that need doing.  Undone things.  Things you’ve always meant to do but haven’t.  That you want to do, but you’re afraid.  That will be weird to do, so you put them off.

Act now.

There’s something you want to tell your dad?  Call him.  You’ve always wanted to apologize to that girl you terrorized in middle school?  Google her.  Your neighbor keeps his dog chained up in all weather?  Call someone about it.

I wish I could keep this copy of NEVER EIGHTEEN forever.  See how nice it looks on my shelf?

Thumbkitty agrees.  “Monkey, let’s keep this butt-warmer–er, I mean book–forever.”

But a book like this is meant to be shared.  This one will go to my mother, who will help it find a home in Eastern Washington University’s curriculum library where soon-to-be teachers can use it in classrooms to discuss ethics or philosophy or just to inspire.

My very own copy will arrive any day now.

Do something today.  Maybe it will motivate someone else to do the same.

Quinn’s done the unthinkable: she kissed a guy who is not Carey, her boyfriend. And she got caught. Being branded a cheater would be bad enough, but Quinn is deemed a traitor, and shunned by all of her friends. Because Carey’s not just any guy—he’s serving in Afghanistan and revered by everyone in their small, military town.

Quinn could clear her name, but that would mean revealing secrets that she’s vowed to keep—secrets that aren’t hers to share. And when Carey goes MIA, Quinn must decide how far she’ll go to protect her boyfriend…and her promise.

Find Corrine: Goodreads ~*~ Twitter ~*~ Facebook

Dear Monkey:

The only reason I have not yet bitten your face completely off is that I do not wish to have the taste of your face in my mouth.

No love,
Thumbkitty