Great News for Environmental Fiction

Oh my gosh. Do I have news!

Confession time here. I continue to be haunted by one reviewer who panned Island Sting's underlying environmental message. This in spite of the many positive reviews the book has received and the ever-increasing number of young readers who've told me how much they enjoyed Island Sting and can't wait to read Stakeout. Now it's clear quite a few adult readers approve of it as well.

On the evening of March 12th, I received an email from a talented author of captivating romance, Keena Kincaid. While attending the awards banquet at EPICon in Willimsburg, Virginia, she shot me this message: "Bonnie, you just won the children's fiction/nonfiction EPIC award for Island Sting!"

Wow! I'd hoped to attend EPICon, but because I presented two sessions at the North Carolina Reading Association conference in Raleigh that same weekend, I couldn't swing it. Receiving an EPIC was a huge thrill. And learning it as it happened was too cool. YAY for smart phones! Though texting is something I'm still resisting. I just happened to check my email at the right time.

I figured I'd found out before my editor, Kat O'Shea, had. Quick dial. Please be available. Please. This is not please-leave-a-message material. This is scream-into-my-editor's-ear breaking news. I'm happy to say Kat answered. No worries. I didn't break her ear drum. But it sure was a fun phone call. Always good to show Kat how talented she is at her job.

As one of my favorite fans Doug (Zeus Fedora Kapinos) described it, the whole experience was, well...EPIC.