We need to shout out a very giant CONGRATULATIONS to A.S. King, who won the 2012 LA Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature this weekend for her most recent book, Ask the Passengers!

I'm sure many of you have heard of A.S. King, award-winning author of Please Ignore Vera Dietz, Everybody Sees the Ants, Monica Never Shuts Up, Ask the Passengers, and her forthcoming book (due this October), Reality Boy. What you may not know is that way back in 2009, Flux helped launch her career with the book The Dust of 100 Dogs.

Once more, a giant congrats to A.S. King!

P.S. If you're looking for A.S. King online, you can find her in her "hideout:" http://as-king.com/. We hear she wears some very magical writing pants! :)

We have some truly fabulous authors and books, don't we? Kirstin Cronn-Mills's Beautiful Music for Ugly Children and Steven dos Santos's The Culling are both featured in a new article from The Advocate, "Books for Young LGBT Folks and Anyone Who Wants to Understand Them." A definite must-read article!

"[The Culling is] like the Hunger Games, except with gay characters."

I’m sure many of you have heard of Maggie Stiefvater, award-winning author of the Shiver Trilogy, the Books of Faerie, The Scorpio Races, and—as of today—The Raven Boys. What you may not know is that way back in 2008, Flux helped launch Maggie’s career with the book Lament.

To celebrate her latest novel, we’re hosting a weeklong celebration of Maggie!  We’ve ordered balloons shaped like water horses and every day at 2:00 PM we will slice into a delicious cake decorated with her likeness.

Okay, those were tiny lies, but we do have some grand plans!

Starting today, Tuesday, September 18^th, and ending next Tuesday, September 25^th, Lament, the first book in the Book of Faerie series, will be 50% off on the Flux website.

Additionally, four lucky winners will be selected at random to receive a signed set of the Books of Faerie.

  

Here’s how to enter the giveaway:  

The Raven Boys takes place at Aglionby Academy in Henrietta, Virginia, and the name “Raven Boys” refers to the private school’s male students. Blue, daughter of the town psychic and the book’s protagonist, has a policy of staying away from the snooty Aglionby kids—she thinks they’re trouble—but, for reasons she can’t entirely explain, finds herself drawn to one Raven Boy in particular.

CONTEST PROMPT: Which fictional boarding or prep school are you most attracted to? (JUDGE’S NOTE: We’ve all had a love affair with Hogwarts, so please try to be a bit more creative!)

Tweet us your answer, respond to our post on Facebook, or comment below for a chance to win signed copies of Lament and Ballad. If possible, try to include the title of the book or the name of the author in your response. Hopefully we’ll point each other toward some fabulous new writers! Contest winners will be announced on Wednesday, September 26th.

And also, make sure to check out these recent & related links:

• Book Review: The Raven Boys in the Washington Post.
• The Most Beautiful College Dorms in the World via Flavorpill.
• The New Boarding School Style Exhibit at the Fashion Institute of Technology from the Wall Street Journal.
• Interview with Maggie Stiefvater on NPR.