Monday starts the school year here, so this is the last Saturday of the summer, and here’s a video from The Academy Is… that looks like the last house party on the last Saturday of summer – i.e., trying to jam in as much “fun” as humanly possible to make up for the fact the next nine months will be spent in class:

Also, I suspect strongly that this video looks markedly different at 39 than it does at, say, seventeen. As well it should. That Matthew McConaughey character in Dazed and Confused was fun to watch, but you wouldn’t want to be him.

Zeus and Kodi don’t care what you think of their relationship. Just ask them.

Look! A bunch of little stuff!

* First, everyone who keeps pestering me about the “Hate Mail” winners will be happy to know I’ll be announcing the winners either Monday or Tuesday. We’ve had the winner’s names for several days, but I’ve been strangely busy. But soon the wait will be over. And it will be worth it.

* Second, people are wondering if they can find Zoe’s Tale in the YA section of their bookstore or in the science fiction section. The answer is that it’s in the science fiction section; while it’s written as YA friendly, it’s being marketed as adult science fiction, because (among other things) that’s where my audience has been so far. So look for me where you usually do, and, hey, if you’re not busy, steer a YA reader you know into the SF section. Even if they don’t pick up my book, they’re likely to find something else interesting to them.

* Third, Joe Biden. Seems a reasonable choice, although given that the GOP already has ads out attacking the man, I’m sure they’ll find ways to spin it as the worst thing ever. I’m planning to vote for Obama anyway, and this neither adds nor detracts from the decision; it would take a lot for me not to vote for Obama (and even more for the GOP into the presidency at the moment), frankly.

* Fourth, online I see some folks griping about the variable pricing for the electronic versions of my books and particularly Zoe’s Tale, the eBook price of which ranges from $9.99 to $24.95, depending on where you buy it. My response: Eh. Considering that at the moment the cost of the printed book ranges from $12 to $42, according to Google Product Search, it seems that variable pricing of goods is the general order of the day, and folks should just deal (also: don’t pay $42 for the book. That’s just silly). I understand that it’s annoying for one eReader to have cheaper books than another, but it’s annoying that my iPod doesn’t work with my Rhapsody account, too, and yet I manage to make it through the day. Life is full of random technological annoyances. This is, incidentally, an argument for buying the actual printed copy and then scanning it in at your leisure for your own private use.

* Fifth, I resent being 39 and having a zit. That’s just nonsense.