The Path of the Righteous

A lot of you guys have been asking me to write a novel from a male point of view. Well, be careful what you wish for...

From Publisher's Marketplace:

MY LIFE AS A RHOMBUS author Varian Johnson's THE PATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS, about a preacher's son who has to make some big decisions about who he is and who he wants to be when his childhood crush returns to town, all grown up into a gorgeous and troubled teen, to Stephanie Lane at Delacorte, by Sara Crowe at Harvey Klinger (NA).

Details are still sketchy, but here's the important info:

1) It'll be a hardback.
2) We're shooting for a Fall 09 release.
3) The title may or may not change.

More news soon...I hope.

Checking In

Just checking in to post a few updates:

1) New reviews: We got good reviews from both KLIATT and The Edge of the Forest. I especially love this part of The Edge of the Forest review:

"Johnson's book strikes a good balance; it's gripping and sensitive at the same time. It doesn't oversimplify; it doesn't pull punches. And, perhaps most importantly, it does not pass judgment."

I love that readers and reviewers "get this" about Rhombus. It gives me faith that I did something right.

2) Updated website: I've added a couple of pages to the website -- a dedicated calendar page and a page on school visits. If you see any misspellings, please let me know.

3) On the Vermont College front, I wrote my first picture book last month. It started off at about 1500 words, and by the time I submitted it, I had cut it down to 1070. Now Rita wants me to trim off at least 200 more words.

4) Among the many books that I read last month, the one that stood out the most was E. L. Konigsburg's A View from Saturday. I'm not quite convinced that it has a plot, but I don't care. It's a great story. I see why it won the Newbery.

5) I hit the big 3-1 today. I celebrated by filling out paperwork that I had neglected for the past month.

6) Congratulations to both Paula Yoo and Sara Zarr for getting nominated for the 2009 ALA BBYA list. Of course, they're both great writers, so I'm not surprised in the least.

7) Thanks to everyone that saw me at all of my book signings and at the South Carolina Book Festival. And thanks for buying books!

8) Likewise, I had a great time talking to the students at Darlington High School and at Gardner Betts last month. Talking to those kids reminded me why I started writing in the first place.

Okay, back to work!

Book Signings and Interviews

Thanks to everyone that came out to my book signing at Barnes and Noble this past weekend. Not only was it a great success, but it was also nice to catch up with old friends. Austin authors and friends that dropped by include Cynthia Leitich Smith, Greg Leitich Smith, Jeanette Larson, April Lurie, Brian Yansky, Frances Hill, and Brian Anderson. (Note: Mrs. V did a beautiful job with all the table decorations.)


This morning, I was happily greeted with my interview in The State, South Carolina's capital city newspaper. I'll be back in SC this upcoming weekend, and will be participating in a number of events. I'll be discussing and signing copies of My Life as a Rhombus on Thursday, February 21st, at Barnes and Noble Bookstore in Florence, SC. On Saturday, February 23rd, I'm scheduled to participate in a young adult panel at the South Carolina Book Festival. Alan Gratz, author of Something Rotten (Dial, 2007) and Samurai Shortstop (Dial, 2006) will also serve on the panel; the panel moderator will be Dr. Sam Hastings, Director of the University of South Carolina School of Library & Information Science.

For those of you that haven't checked out Cynsations lately, please do. Cynthia Leitich Smith is hosting the SCBWI Bologna 2008 interview series, which so far has included interviews with Tracey Adams of Adams Literary and Steven Chudney of The Chudney Agency. The SCBWI Bologna 2008 interview series will include 32 sequential question-and-answer interviews with agents, editors, art directors, publishers, authors, illustrators, and other publishing types about the international youth publishing scene, and will be hosted at both Cynsations and at Cynthia Leitich Smith's MySpace blog.

Coming to a Book Store or Book Festival Near You

For those of you that don't know, I've got a new book out, and it seems to be doing pretty well. I also have quite a few author appearances scheduled, with more coming in every day. So while all of this makes for a very tired Mr. V, it also makes for a very happy Mr. V, as I love talking to both teens and adults about books and writing.

I was all set to write a little about my SCBWI talk yesterday, but Cynthia Leitich Smith at SpookyCyn seems to have already beaten me to the punch (Thanks, Cyn). For those of you that didn't get a copy of the handout, email me and I’ll send you a copy. Books referenced in the talk include Millicent Min, Girl Genius (Arthur A. Levine Books, 2003) by Lisa Yee, An Abundance of Katherines (Dutton, 2006) by John Green, Hard Love (Simon and Schuster, 1999) by Ellen Wittlinger, and Tantalize (Candlewick, 2006) by Cynthia Leitich Smith.

In other news, things are still rolling at The Brown Bookshelf. We've had some great interviews so far—and we're only 10 days into February. Be sure to stop by and check us out there!

Speaking of the Brown Bookshelf, team member Don Tate has some really good news: he just signed with a literary agent (um...my literary agent), and he just got his contract in for first book as a writer. Yay Don!

Also, I was pleasantly surprised to see Brown Bookshelf co-founder Paula Chase-Hyman's books So Not The Drama (Dafina, 2007) and Don't Get it Twisted (Dafina, 2007) FACE OUT in not one, but two local B&N's.

I've got a bunch of books building up in the queue to be read, including Sweethearts (Little, Brown, 2008) by Sara Zarr and Good Enough (HarperTeen, 2008) by Paula Yoo. Paula actually sent me a great picture of her doing the "Rhombus" pose. (Note to self, maybe this is a contest in the making...)

I would post of picture of me doing the same for her book, but as you can see, that might be a little difficult. : ) Both Sweethearts and Good Enough have been getting great buzz and reviews, and I genuinely like both authors, so I’m really looking forward to reading both books.

Like I said before, I'll be all over the place this month (see the website or see below), with more events coming in April and May. I plan to post a page on my website in a few months with more information concerning school, conference, and festival visits, but for now, just email me if you're interested in booking me and have questions concerning fees or schedule.

And please note, the book signing on Feb 16th is at 2:00 PM, not 11:00 AM as originally indicated on my website.

Feb 16, 2008 at 2:00 (please note time correction):
Book Signing
Barnes & Noble - Round Rock, TX
La Frontera Village
2701 Parker Road Bldg A Suite 700
Round Rock, TX 78681

Feb 21, 2008 at 7:00:
Book Signing and Discussion
Barnes & Noble - Florence, SC Magnolia Mall
2701 David Mcleod Blvd #1200
Florence, SC 29501

Feb 22-24, 2008:
South Carolina Book Festival
Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center
1101 Lincoln Street
Columbia, SC 29201

Feb 29, 2008:
Book Discussion
Gardner Betts Juvenile Detention Center

Apr 26, 2008:
Austin SCBWI Conference
The University of Texas Club
2108 Robert Dedman Drive
Austin, Texas 78712

More Reviews

I'm knee-deep in finishing up my work for The Brown Bookshelf's 28 Days Later campaign (be sure to check us out starting Feb 1st), so I'll have to make this quick.

First of all, I just got back from my 10 day winter residency for the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA Program for Writing for Children and Young Adults, and I'm happy to say, all of the workshops and discussions and reading were great. The best thing about this residency was that, except for the cold, I knew exactly what I was getting into this time. And, I'm really excited to be working with award-winning author Rita Williams-Garcia this semester.

While I was up in Vermont, we got a few new reviews for My Life as a Rhombus. The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books gave Rhombus a Recommended review--I'll post a blurb from the review next month, after the print edition of the journal is out. In addition, the good folks at TeensReadToo.com gave the book a Five Star, Gold Award for Excellence! Be sure to check out their review at their website, or on Amazon.com.

While those reviews are nice, my favorite review comes from a teen reader that emailed me to say, "...I really want to thank you for writing such a great book...You Rock!"

Good stuff, right?

And now's probably a good time to say how much I love librarians…

My Life as a Rhombus isn't officially supposed to be out until Jan, but we've already gotten love from a bunch of libraries and librarians, including The Cincinnati Public Library, Readerlady, and Teen Bookity. And, as Andrew noted on the Flux Blog, Booklist (the American Library Association’s journal) also included Rhombus on its Core Collection: Math in Fiction list (also including Andrew’s man crush, John Green, and my new MySpace friend, Paula Yoo).

Being that my hometown didn't get its first real bookstore until I was in high school, I spent an insane amount of time at the Florence Public Library. Librarians are not only directly responsible for me becoming an author, they’re also responsible for coming up with my name.

Yes, that's right. A librarian helped to come up with my name.

As some of you know, I'm a twin, but Momma Johnson didn't realize that she was having twins until THE DAY BEFORE WE WERE BORN. I mean, we were small little suckers, but come on, how could a doctor constantly see a pregnant woman for seven months and not figure out that there were two little people in there.

Anyway, so she found out that she was carrying two of us one day, and then before you know it, she was in labor. My brother did his whole "birth thing" first, and in the process of making his way to the outer world, he twisted me around, so I was facing feet first. And that’s how I was born.

Yes, that's right. Feet First. According to those in the delivery room, it sucked for me and for Momma Johnson.

Eventually I was born safe and sound, but now my parents had a new problem—they didn't have names. We were originally going to be named after my father, but unless they were going to name us Larry 1 and Larry 2, that wasn't going to work anymore. So we went unnamed for three days. And then a Librarian intervened.

My Aunt Annette worked as a librarian at one of the middle schools in the neighboring county, and decided to hold a baby naming contest to come up with Larry 1 and Larry 2's middle name.

Yes, that’s right. I was named by bunch of middle school kids.

But, it didn't work out so bad. They came up with Bradwick and Chadwick, which, I must admit, I really like (FYI--most of my family and friends call me Chad). For a long time, I considered using Chad Johnson as my “author” name, until I realized that Varian looks a hell of a lot better on a book cover.

Now, as for our first names, Momma Johnson came up with those after watching some TV show supposedly involving aliens.

Yes, that's right. I was named after an alien. But what can I say...it was the Seventies. Perhaps there where other "extra-sensory agents" at play while Momma Johnson was picking out names.

All this is just to say that I love librarians, and I love libraries, and I love Momma Johnson, and I thank everyone for their support.

Because I Almost Always Keep My Promises

A few weeks ago, famed author and Tootsie Fruit Roll enthusiast Sara Zarr tagged me with the Seven Songs Meme. The rules are pretty simple: List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your livejournal/blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to. If you want.

So, in no particular order:

1) Tanto Tempo by Bebel Giberto

2) Mais Feliz by Bebel Giberto

I've always been a fan of the fathers of Bossa Nova--João Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim--but it wasn't until this summer that I got hip to João's daughter, Brazilian singer Bebel Giberto. Her music is more Bossa Nova as seen through Pop-stained sunglasses, but it's still good music. These two songs are from her Tanto Tempo album; I'd also suggest checking out Momento, her latest album.

3) Cold December Nights by Boyz II Men



I'm sorry, but at least for me, Christmas just isn't Christmas without some mellow R&B floating through the house. And yes, I'll admit, this isn't really a true Christmas song, but it's Boyz II Men (before they got wack). I'll take it.

4) Step in the Name of Love by R. Kelly

And speaking of soul music, what is R&B without the R? R. Kelly, that is. Whether you call him the Pied Piper of R&B or the Urinator, you have to admit, he knows how to crank out a good R&B song. The song above is the original song, you can find the remix here.

5) Death Around the Corner by Tupac

I spent part of my semester as Vermont College studying poetry, and the more I read it, the more I realized how truly talented Tupac Shakur was at poetry. Me Against the World has always been my favorite Tupac album, with Death Around the Corner being my favorite song. It's on the dirty side, though, so I figured that I'd better not link to it. However, if you look hard enough, you can find the song on YouTube.

6) ...And He Gets the Girl by Lupe Fiasco



Coltrane's blogged about this artist quite a bit, so I won't add much except to say that I love his work, and I love this tribute video someone created on YouTube.

7) Good Enough by Evanescence


I'm not a big fan of Amy Lee's Goth look (she looks like she bathes in flour, she's so pale), but she can write a damn good song. Good Enough is one of those "all emotion, all the time" songs that I really like. Plus, the song reminds me of the main female character in my current WIP (which I'm kinda sorta but not really close to finishing). I don't like the video, but I am glad she cut that bs piano intro at the beginning of the song.

Hope you enjoyed the picks. If you want to play, consider yourself tagged.

Here's to a Happy 2008!!!