IWBYJR for the UK, Orange Alerts, the LA Times and more!

*Singing to the tune of "Anarchy in the UK"* "IWBYJR for the UK! It's coming sometime and maybe..." Umm, yeah, I know I'm a huge dork, but I had to do it. And there is no maybe about it. I WANNA BE YOUR JOEY RAMONE will officially be released in the UK on September 15th! Check it out on amazon.co.uk! Now it's not gonna have a new cover or new edition or anything, it's just the US edition distributed through Simon & Schuster UK. But that means you UK folks will be able to find it in bookstores and not have to pay import prices or expensive overseas shipping. Also, I'm finding it super weird that the US IWBYJR comes out 5 days before my birthday and the UK IWBYJR comes out 5 days before my brother's birthday. Anyone else find that weird? And as for the rest of the world, we're working on getting you your editions! I promise! Hopefully it will do well in the US and UK and publishers in other countries will want to put it out!

So I'm continuing to wander around the web and answer questions and today I'm at the fabulous Chicago blog What to Wear During An Orange Alert answering some of the best questions I've got so far (he was the first person to ask what the influence of the movie Suburbia was on my novel BALLADS OF SUBURBIA, which I was highly excited to answer as well as questions about the Chicago lit scene), so please go check it out!

Then, the Chicago Literary Scene Examiner is posting an interview question with me (another good one, about where I got the idea for Emily's hang out in IWBYJR River's Edge) and then offering you, the readers the opportunity to ask your own questions! We'll be doing this for a week, picking a question for me to answer from blog comments. So if there is something you have a burning desire to know, please go ask. Here is the link for Day 1!

And I promise to calm down with the review links because it really does seem like shameless self promotion and patting myself on the back, so I won't share every single one, but I got a really really big one today. The LA Times reviewed my book!!!! This is a pretty big deal because they are well known for their reviews and, well, I'm not from LA! It's also a good a review! You can read it here, but I'll warn you now that there is what I would consider a spoiler in there. You see even though I reveal the real reason why Emily's mom left in the middle of the book, I still want it to be a surprise for readers up until that point, but it is discussed in this review. If you don't care about spoilers, please by all means, read away, I'm extremely proud! If you do care about spoilers, skip the section labeled "An Ugly Truth" or I can just tell you the best quotes from the review which are: "It's an empowering new twist on a girl's coming of age..." and "Kuehnert closes out "I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone" like a poignant ballad..." and "As a fictive artifact of an aggressive, didactic genre in which shades of gray are often obliterated by black and white beats of rage, Kuehnert emerges as a true subversive -- retaining her cred while expanding the form."

And there is one other review I wanted to share with you that comes from Carol because it was so sweet. You can check it out here. Okay, seriously I'll stop with that now.

On the personal front, today was easier than the last few days. It was the first morning that I woke up and didn't immediately feel this weight of sadness crushing my heart and lasting all day long. Now the sadness comes in waves. Healing begins. I finally stopped listening to Automatic for the People, too.

There's a new Alkaline Trio album out, Agony and Irony, so I listened to that today. It's pretty good. Not to be one of those "they were better in the good ol' days" people because I didn't listen to Alkaline Trio in the good ol' days (though I was totally into Slapstick in their heyday and saw them at the Fireside, which gives me cred, right?) my boyfriend got me into them when we met because they are one of his favorite bands. However, the first albums he gave me were the self-titled, Goddamnit! and Maybe I'll Catch Fire because he liked those best. I also like those best. I think Alkaline Trio might be aware that Goddamnit! is their best album hence the recent re-issue. But anyway this new album is clearly not as good as those albums, but it was a nice escape for me mostly... except the songs about death. Should have expected those. But the reason I like the older stuff better is I think they are lyrically stronger and I just really do like stuff that sounds more raw. *Shrugs* I guess I usually am one of those they were better in the good ol' days people. These new songs are really catchy though. I've had "Help Me" and "Love, Love, Kiss, Kiss" stuck in my head all day.

Okay, enough of the random music review, I'm babbling...