Recommended Reading:

Spring flowers in our front yard.

*  Carlos Hernandez discusses machismo, interstitiality, and Junot Diaz's fiction over on the IAF site.  This is a terrific essay.

* Catherynne Valente discusses Russian folklore , and her book Deathless, at The Tor/Forge Blog.

* Karen Mahoney discusses Armless Maiden folklore , and her book The Iron Witch, at John Scalzi's Whatever.

* Katherine Langrish discusses Robin Hood, the wildwood, and fairies at Seven Miles of Steel Thistles.

* Valerianna discusses "forest medicine" at RavenWood Forest. A particularly beautiful post.

* The "Moveable Feast" discussion on magic--which began on John Barleycorn (April 1 and March 25) and on Astrotabletalk--has now moved on to Erzebet YellowBoy Carr's blog, I Saw the Angel. If this tasty Feast moves further, please let me know in the Comments.

* Harper Teen has posted a "sneak peek" of Teeth, the new anthology of vampire fiction for teens I co-edited with Ellen Datlow. (It was officially published on April 1 and is in the bookstores now. Hurrah!) If you follow the link, you can read my Introductory essay (a survey of vampires in myth, folklore, and literature), as well as two terrific stories: Genevieve Valentine's "Ten Things to Know About Being Dead" and Steve Berman's "All Smiles."

Ellen and I worked hard to create a book that would bring something fresh, mythic, and worthwhile to Young Adult vampire literature, a path that's been rather, er, well trodden of late -- and with sterling efforts from all the authors who worked on the volume with us, we think we just might have succeeded. Charles Tan has posted a very nice review of the book at Bibliophile Stalker -- in which he tackles the much-debated question: What makes a story suitable for teens?

If, by the way, you can't live without knowing whether the authors in Teeth would want to be vampires themselves, there are a couple of goofy little promotional videos on the subject (from the book's publisher) posted here and here. I admit I hesitated in posting these links out of sheer vanity, because I had flu when I was filmed for my little part (in the graveyard of the Chagford church) and look like hell. So I hasten to assure you that although I look half dead, vampires had nothing to do with it. Honest!

* Colleen Mondor reviews Welcome to Bordertown and several other good new books (such as The Iron Thorn) in her Bookslut column this week. Bordertown, she says, "is still the best mash-up of music, faery and coming-of-age drama". . . and we're glad she thinks so.

* Fantasy Magazine has published a fine story by Kat Howard based on the old "Choose Your Own Adventure" series. There's also an interesting side article on the series by Molly Tanzer, and Ellen Kushner fesses up about her C.Y.O.A. past.

* Have you seen the delightful art that Midori Snyder's son-in-law, Emiliano Lake Herrera, has been making lately, inspired by Mexican folk art? Midori has posted a nice introduction to it at In the Labyrinth.

* And have you seen the Brooklyn Love Exchange blog, where artist Iviva Olenick collects romantic stories and turns them into embroideries?  (via Andrew Thornton)

* And did you know that the University of Manchester sponsors a very nifty website dedicated to the Victorian illustrator Walter Crane?

* Last but not least, another good Ted Talk: Eric Whitacre and a virtual choir 2000 voices strong. What a strange and amazing new world we live in.

Have a good weekend, everyone.