Speak Up!

Most of you in the writer community have heard and read a lot about the recent challenge from a Missouri parent to have Speak, The Twenty Boyfriend Summer and Slaughterhouse Five banned in his local schools.

Hear what Laurie Halse Anderson wrote in response to Speak being challenged and banned. Her poem speaks for itself. Thanks to Stephanie Perkins who posted this today.

Speak Up!

Book me a room. Now!

What are you waiting for? Book it. NOW.

Make this book a bestseller! Will it work for Shawn Klomparens?

Stop by my group blog and find out how Catherine McKenzie is trying to make Shawn Klomparens a best selling author...all through social media!

More Barbie Madness

I thought that two Barbie blog posts were perhaps two too many, but oh no, they were not.

Mattel was a tad off-track when they created this Barbie Athena doll and clearly went off the rails when they introduced a French designer created Foosball table. One would think someone would have reeled them in. I imagined some bigwig at Mattel board meeting might say "Hey, Barbie division, times are tough. People won't pay thousands of dollars for dismembered dolls playing air hockey, so get back to basics and make some toys that won't give kids nightmares." But they did not. Apparently, the meeting went more like this: "Hey Barbie division, good job! Let's see more disturbing things that won't sell."

And so the Barbie division went out and found another mad scientist...er...French designer...to do their evil bidding.

Here's what Margaux Lang and Mattel thought we'd shell out $800 for. (That's just the bracelet price--hey, Barbie isn't as cheap as she looks.)

A Barbie bracelet. Perfect for the serial killer in your life.

With matching earrings.












At least this time they didn't forget about Ken.















Show someone you care, with a Barbie breast-ring. If they put a pink Susan Koman ribbon on it, I'll scream.











Photos courtesy of Margaux Lang. Barbie is a registered trademark of Mattel, Inc. and is protected by the copyright laws of the United States and elsewhere.

I need a personal assistant...

It's Fantasy Friday! (I just made that up.)
And since I've declared it Fantasy Friday, I've decided that I need a personal assistant and that it needs to be...drumroll, please...Bear Grylls!

None other than the brilliantly-self-promoting-British-Special-Forces-Everest-summiting-skydiving-rappelling-bug-eating-survivalist himself. He'd do all my dirty work for me, just like Cinderella, only with testosterone and pecs.

Oh, look here he is, hard at work already. He's such a good little personal assistant.

Here's Bear testing my mudbath at the Calistoga Spa.

"It better be exactly 99.5 degrees this time, Grylls."



(Photograph by Justin Stephens, from Outsider magazine)

Here he is fetching me another Caramel Macchiato.

"More caramel, Grylls, and step on it!"







One of his dicier missions is finding the best deal on paper towels at Costco.

"And don't come back until you've used ALL the coupons!"









He's really good at finding me the best parking spots.

"Hey Bear, if you have time for all that self-contratulatory hand slapping, then you have time to get my dry cleaning AND scoop out the litter box."




On special assignment to find all of my missing socks.

"When you've got all the pairs matched up, then you can organize my junk drawers."







Clearing the neighborhood of scary skinhead guys. (Ok, I dont' have any scary skinhead guys in my neighborhood, but isn't he cute defending my life?)






"Just wait there until I think of something else I need you do to. At ease, soldier...I said at EASE soldier. Well, he does take his job very seriously, I've got to give him that."






Photos from beargrylls.com

Creepy Kids

Nothing scares me more in stories than a creepy kid, and while I have not yet written a story about one (or more), I hope to someday.

Maybe this picture from McMenamin's Hotel Oregon will give me the "in" to that story, because these tots are definitely Children-of-the-Corn-scary. (For more about this writing prompt, see my blog post in Pen Tales.)

What is more chilling than dapper little Damian from The Omen (who sometimes compels me to eat Thin Mints?)

No one can deny that innocence-turned-evil is one of the most powerful devices for sending chills up the spine, like with these lovelies from The Shining. (Cue ominous Latin chanting.)

Scary kids aren't just in movies. Check out these two, in the painting by Judith Leyster, A boy and girl with a cat and an eel. Even the cat is freaked out.

A final Disturbing Note:

I've never seen the 1960's horror flick Village of the Damned, but this kid looks very familiar. (See first picture. I will go in search now of a connection between the two. If you don't hear back from me by Friday, please alert the authorities.)

Thanks to The Horror Club for the disturbing movie images.