Monday Madness = Links For YOU

Due to extreme amounts of stuff that need to get done in my life (mostly a big revision of my next novel that is due Oct. 1, plus sundry and miscellaneous other items) today's post is brought to you by Stuff On The Web I've Collected and Kept Around for Just Such an Occasion.

• Blogger Lucy Coats over at Scribble City Central is running a fun series called Fantabulous Fridays A-Z, which is, she reports, "a weekly series in which writers talk about one particular
  beast or being, and give some insights into how it's had an impact on their own writing. So far I'm at J (Kevin Crossley-Holland, the eminent British mythologist is talking today about J for Jormungand, the Midgard Serpent of Norse myth). I've also had Julie Kagawa, Marcus Sedgwick and Jonathan Stroud on - and the series runs till end-December." It's pretty darn cool--I particularly enjoyed the interview with Herbie Brennan, who writes the hilarious and madcap series Faerie Wars.
• Via the Expression Online SCBWI newsletter comes an article from Julia Eccleshare, the Guardian's Children's Book Doctor, addressing the question of why trains in books still go chuff-chuffing along, even though we're well past the age of steam. The answer: it isn't just appealing to parental nostalgia...
• Lastly, if you haven't heard, registration for this fall's Kidlitcon is now open! It will take place Sept. 28 and 29 at the legendary NYPL in New York City, organized by Kidlitosphere icons Betsy Bird, Liz B, and Monica Edinger.