Still in that quiet period when the holidays are impending and book revisions haven't started yet. Nonetheless, a bit of news:

–Thunderbirds are apparently go, which is to say that Frail–the sequel to Dust, at least that's its working title as we speak–is officially under contract and, barring unforeseen delays or acts of [insert deity here], will see the light sometime in 2011 or 2012. When I have a more specific publication date I'll post it, but for now I'm still just excited they bought the book and waiting to see what my editor has to say about the first draft. Let us all cross fingers that some of what is said is good. Yes.

–There's still time this week to win a copy of Dust, courtesy of the nice people at Number One Novels. And if you already have a copy, you can sit back, enjoy the interview and come away knowing more about my misadventures in looking for an agent and trawling the Social Security database than you ever imagined possible.

–Dust made its official debut in Great Britain on Thanksgiving Day, and I am terribly pleased to say that it made the Telegraph newspaper's "Books of the Year" list. (Scroll down to the "Amanda Foreman" section to see my name and other nice things.) You'll notice it's listed amongst the young adult novels and, even though it wasn't marketed as such, being read as YA is perfectly keen with me: I love both YA and full-fledged A books equally well and, as with most literary categories, the barriers are permeable as all getout. Also, I am never going to object to being listed alongside the likes of Suzanne Collins, in any case.

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And that's it for now, besides a reminder that you can follow me on Twitter for shorter, more frequent outbursts if you like, and otherwise just watch this space. Happy holidays to everyone, both impending and belated.

–JFT, 12/8/10