Presenting Lenore Reads Dangerous Neighbors (in the midst of huge news for her)

I spent part of yesterday, as readers of this blog know, with Kate Milford, whose first book, The Boneshaker, I'll be writing of here in weeks to come.  Kate's work has been compared to Ray Bradbury's work and is described as a fusion of steampunk, historical fantasy, and magical realism—all of which got us talking about dystopian fiction. I boasted a bit about my friend, Lenore, who has supported so many writers out here in the blogosphere, designed contests and participated in them, read religiously, introduced us to her cats, and kept us informed about the travels of her talented illustrator husband, Daniel (not to mention their travels together).  In the midst of all that, Lenore put her words where her heart is, penned a dystopian novel, and sold it as both a book and film project.  And no small book/film project either.  Here's what Publishers Weekly had to say:

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers has acquired a YA novel called Level Two by Lenore Appelhans, in a joint acquisition with CBS Films. According to S&S, this is the first time the company has coordinated a deal so that an author received a simultaneous book and film offer. In Level Two, the liminal place between our world (Level One) and heaven, Felicia spends her days reliving her memories from the security of her pod—until she gets broken out by Julian, a boy she met on Earth. Appelhans writes the popular YA blog Presenting Lenore. Level Two will be published in either fall 2012 or spring 2013, with a 200,000-copy first printing.

Since I'd been telling Kate this story, I had it in mind to stop by Lenore's fine blog and let her know that she'd been with us in spirit in a Mt. Airy bookstore.  Stop by I did, only to discover this post, from Lenore, about Dangerous Neighbors.  Which made me happy and quite in awe that she had the time to do this with all the other things that are going on in her life.

Thank you, Lenore!  (And, again, congratulations.)