On a warm night in July, 32-year-old Jenny finds herself sitting on the deck of a Chinese cruise ship next to a charming but secretive stranger. In Jenny's lap is a tin containing the ashes of her best friend, Amanda Ruth, mysteriously murdered fourteen years earlier in a small Alabama town.

In this foreign landscape, filled with ancient cities that will soon be inundated by the rising waters of the Yangtze River, Jenny must confront her haunted past and decide the direction of her future. As the ship moves slowly upriver, from one abandoned village to another, Jenny journeys deeper into her own guilt and eroticism.

Dream of the Blue Room explores the nature of friendship and the intimacy that exists between young girls as they struggle toward adulthood.

Sounds good, right? And Michelle Richmond, on the GCC with me, wrote it! You can read an excerpt here. And read how the book came about, in this little essay on Backstory.

Now without further ado, Michelle's boyfriend list!

Boyfriends I Never Had (and why we would have made a great match)
by Michelle Richmond

In the interest of protecting the privacy of that eclectic and well-adored group of hunksters whom I like to refer to as "all the boys I've loved before," (mcjunkin, davis, luke, etc....and of course, my one-&-only kevin), I give you here my list of Boyfriends I Should Have Had, But Didn't:

Vince Vaughn (at left) : We have a similar sense of humor. He's goofy and doesn't have any of that macho baggage. I get the feeling he'd be good company on a cross-country drive.

Tony Blair: I admire his wit. I like the way he pummels the evil Tory David Cameron on Ask the Prime Minister. If only that damn Cherie weren't in the way.

Nick Cave. Like me, he seems to suffer from a lot of weird religious guilt, which drives his writing and which is at odds with his deliciously oversexed personality. He frequently writes songs that combine sex and church. (Sex and church have been frequent bedfellows in my fiction as well.) Also, his voice is SO deep. A few years ago I saw him on Ocean Beach in San Francisco. He was so tall and stringy and unhealthy looking, like someone just needed to take him home and nurture him. What can I say? I'm a born nurturer to the wayward male.

Lloyd Cole (left): Lloyd Cole should love me. I'm not sure why he doesn't (aside from, like, his wife, and the fact that we've never met). We have a lot in common. In addition to being a fabulous rocker (which I'm not, but would like to have been), he has sidelined as a teacher of literature. His songs are full of literary references… as in, "What pale fire I ever had is gone, but you don't want to hear that in a song…"

Steve Forbert: Okay, he's a little old for me, but we both have that Mississippi connection. I once made a request when I saw him play at a little church venue in Noe Valley in San Francisco, only I got the title of the song wrong, and he made fun of me in front of the entire audience, which conssisted of, like 40 people, but I didn't mind, because he was STEVE FORBERT. He looks like an elf, which is appealing.

KT Tunstall (at left): She's not a boy, she's not even a lesbian, but I still wish she would be my boyfriend.

It now occurs to me that of all the folks I would like to have had for a boyfriend, one is an actor, one is a head of state, and four are musicians. Not one writer in the bunch...I'd say that's fairly healthy!

Mary Pearson's A Room on Lorelei Street, which made me cry hysterically (really!) and which was also just BEEEYOOTIFUL, has won The Golden Kite Award from the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators AND the J.Hunt award from members of Adbooks.
Both are awards for the best teen novel of 2005.

So get ye to a bookstore or a library and grab it now.

FLY ON THE WALL (out March 14) is about (among other things, some of them unmentionable in polite company) a girl obsessed with Spider-man. My favorite superhero.

For you, my dear readers, I have been lollygagging around the internet reading The Superficial -- I know, I know!! but I love it! -- and look what I found:

This is the poster for Spiderman 3 that shows Spidey in his black costume -- which means, as the authors of The Superficial, explain (and as I knew, actually), that the web-slinger will very likely be fighting Venom in the new film.
Venom is my favorite villain.

On her blog, Tanya Stone did a meme and tagged me! Five weird habits.
Only, I'm not that weird, so don't hold it against me.

1) My handwriting is startlingly illegible unless I really, really try to be neat
2) I don't like to make restaurant reservations or speak to travel agents
3) I put lotion on my feet every night. I hate to go to bed with dry feet.
4) I don't have a cell phone and have also trained people not to telephone me but to email instead, so my phone almost never rings.
5) I often write in a ski hat and scarf. Not in summer, but Oct through April.

I don't know if all of these are habits -- but it's what I came up with.

xo
E

If you're on MySpace, there's this great new group that Sarah Mlynowski started for people interested in books for teenagers. The cool thing is there are a bunch of teen authors in the group already (it just started yesterday) including Melissa de la Cruz, John Green, Lauren Myracle, me, Sarah, Andrew Auseon and Sara Zarr.

Sarah writes: "It’s a place for readers and writers of teen fiction to meet up. Writers, please post book info, event info and new covers. Readers—a chance to ask some terrific YA authors all those questions you've been wondering...about books you've read, books you're planning on reading, or about writing in general."

To join, you make a myspace profile (free -- www.myspace.com) and then join the group. Fun fun fun for those of you not already procrastinating WAY TOO MUCH on the internet. (I am supposed to be starting my new book yesterday).

The group is called Teen Lit, and here is the link. (note: the link is corrected now from earlier ill-functioning one -- this link should work if you are logged in to myspace --- otherwise it might not!)

Your Superhero Profile




Your Superhero Name is The Psychic Carrot

Your Superpower is Witchcraft

Your Weakness is Spiders

Your Weapon is Your Atomic Spike

Your Mode of Transportation is Bullet Train

Gacked from Professor Nana, Goddess of YA literature. I am The Psychic Carrot!
I took this quiz, naturally, because Gretchen in my new book, FLY ON THE WALL, gets changed into a fly and is a kind of superhero for much of the book.

A reminder. Tomorrow night, Sunday the 19th:

Siobhan Adcock
Thatcher Heldring
Irina Reyn
Ned Vizzini
and me, E. Lockhart

will be READING on Feb 19th at Barbes from the collection Not Like I'm Jealous or Anything. Vizzini tells me he'll be reading stuff from his upcoming book, as well! Come out and hear us.

WHEN: February 19, 6:00 PM
WHO: only people of legal drinking age
WHERE: Barbes (pronouced Bar-bess) 376 9th St. (@ 6th Ave.) Park Slope, Brooklyn
Take the F train to 7th Ave. in Brooklyn, which lets you at at 7th Ave. and 9th Street. Then walk downslope 1 block .
COST: nothing

In Julie Kenner's The Manolo Matrix, an aspiring actress turned bodyguard follows a series of clues based on Broadway musicals. So in her SECOND amusing boyfriend list (the first one is very very scary and you can find it here), she made a list of hot musical theater heroes.

Now some of you know that I just finished a first draft of a book about musical theater. So Julie is a girl after my own heart. But where is Skye Masterson, Ms. Kenner? Where is Curly? Where is Don Lockwood?

Anyway. I'm supposed to tell you about Julie's book, not go on and on about cute guys who can tap dance. It's the follow-up to her first chic sleuth story, The Givenchy Code. Different characters, same fashionista mystery glamour.

And now, here's Julie's list, which is very good despite her neglect of Mr. Masterson.

The Broadway Boyfriend List
by Julie Kenner

Sid in The Pajama Game. Harry Connick, Jr. ‘Nuff said.

Matthew Broderick in The Producers. Or, really, in anything. I’ve been crushing since Ferris Bueller

The Baker from Into The Woods. He’s not particularly hot, but, hey, he ends up making a great daddy :)

The Beast from Beauty and the Beast — (left) only, I have to admit I like him better before he changes into a prince!

Anatoly in Chess. Smart and sexy. Sigh.

NOT LIKE I'M JEALOUS OR ANYTHING is in stores, now. It's got a new story about Ruby Oliver from The Boyfriend List in it that I'm really quite pleased with. Plus stories by
Susan Juby
Ned Vizzini
Jaclyn Moriarty
Christian Bauman
and lots more exciting people.

Easily available at the usual online bookstores.

In Fly on the Wall, Gretchen is obsessed with Spider-man. So naturally, I had to pick up this meme! Gacked and adapted from Kromelizard.

1. Who is your favourite superhero? Spider-man. Absolutely.
2. Who is your favorite non-super hero? Jane Goodall.
3. If you were a superhero, which one would you be? I would be a reluctant superhero. Maybe the Thing. Which doesn't mean I'd WANT to be him. Just that I think that's how it would be, for me. Also, I like him 'cuz he's Jewish, which I am, too.
4. Batman or Superman? Batman. I like his neurosis.
5. Which supervillain would you be? Poison Ivy.
6. If you could have superpowers, what would they be? I think I'd go for the classic two: flying and massive strength.
7. What's your guilty pleasure? comic-book wise, none.
8. What's the last comic that you read? Betty & Veronica. But I also went recently to the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art where I saw a lot of Dondi and Green Lantern.
9. DC or Marvel? Marvel all the way.
10. Favorite comic book movie? Ooh, hard to say. I liked Sin City, but babies, it REALLY ain't for anyone who can't vote. I loved Spiderman, but don't feel they've got the villains quite right in either movie. I liked Tim Burton's first Batman a lot but never warmed to Michael Keaton. I loved the old Adam West Batman TV show.