Lorijo Metz lives with her husband and little brown dog in a small town in Indiana. Though she has a degree in acting and directing, she much prefers the anonymity of the keyboard, allowing her characters to revel in the spotlight while she sits quietly sipping tea or coffee, nibbling on cookies, and dreaming up ways to complicate their lives. She is the author of Floridius Bloom and the Planet of Gloom, illustrated by Matt Phelan and published by Dial Books for Young Readers; as well as over 30 nonfiction, educational books for kids, published by Powerkids Press. WHEELS is her first middle grade novel and first venture into self-publishing. The book review site, Pocketful of Books, called WHEELS “Brilliant” and said, “It is one I know I’ll re-read, which isn’t something I say about a lot of books.” SFNetcast picked WHEELS as its June, Indie book of the month. In 2013, Lorijo made her début as a lyricist on Owen Duggan’s newest children’s cd, Puppy Dog Jig, for which she wrote the lyrics for the title track.

Julie Kagawa Iron King

The Iron King, by Julie Kagawa

Fantasy author and writer friend, Shawn Wickersheim, recommended I read The Iron King. Let me be more specific: tough, scary-if-you-happened-to-be-alone-when-you-run-into-him-in-a-dark-alley Shawn Wickersheim, author of the gritty, dark, fantasy adventure, The Penitent Assassin, recommended I read The Iron King. I point this out only because The Iron King is a Harlequin Teen novel. Ha, ha—that’s right,…

be here now

Be Here Now

Every night, while the bath is filling, I play fetch with my dog, Henry. All I need do is start the water, and no matter where Henry is, he comes running. One night, I decided to multitask. I had Words With Friends, a scrabble-like game on my iPhone, going with two or three different players.…