"Wonder Woman" and other bits

Here's the clip of me reading the "Wonder Woman" poem at the Polari series at Southbank Centre in London last month. Again, many thanks to Paul Burston for having me, the audience for being so supportive and Donna for filming it.

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There was an article in The Guardian last week about about crime novelist Val McDermid rewriting Jane Austen's classic Northanger Abbey into a "suspense-filled teen thriller." Joanna Trollope is re-imaginging Sense and Sensibility and Curtis Sittenfeld is making over Pride and Prejudice. The screaming question is, WHY?! The dumbing down of the classics to make them more palatable or "easy" for teens to read is insane to me. In my opinion, it diminishes the work of Jane Austen as somehow not being good enough for the modern reader. Your thoughts?

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If you happen to be in Atlanta on July 25, I'm hosting the Poetry Atlanta Presents... reading with Georgia Center for the Book featuring the fab Amy Pence and Jenny Sadre-Orafai reading from their latest collections. More details at this link. Amy is also my next interviewee in the Five Questions series talking about the writing of Armor, Amour.

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I'm giving away three eBook editions of my mystery novel, Remain In Light, this weekend at my new Facebook author page. "Like" the page and then leave a comment under the giveaway post at the top. I'll pick the winners on Monday and send a code to get the free eBook at Smashwords. I'm posting lots of literary links, news and writing prompts at the new Facebook page, so join the conversation!