Monday Morning Minute

This is my youngest brother Conner Huntley Bross. He just recently turned 5. Happy Birthday Bud. I love you.
Over Fall Break when I last saw him, my dad had told me to ask Conner what his favorite animal was. It seems like a very broadening question for children: if you weren't a person, what would you like to be? Kids spend ages thinking of the possibilities. I always wanted to be a hawk so I could fly over everything. But that still took me a while to come to that conclusion. Conner's answer was given in an instant: A Skunk.
Why?
"So I could Skunk anyone when I wanted to"
Then laughed and ran off.


This is my other brother, Caeden Robert Bross. He is a little genius.
This is the kind of kid I see doing Algebra in Middle School. He (along with Conner) attends a slightly secluded school that really emphasizes individual strive alongside others. The way my dad put it, they walked into the school and saw a kid doing a handstand against a wall, reading a book upside down. It was immediately after seeing this that he turned to my step mom and said, "This is the place"

My step mom has recently begun a writing career, which I couldn't be more proud of. Just another person in the family to put a creative outlet into something to share.
She has written a few books from what I understand, and recently has been taken under wing by a potential publisher.
Jealous?
Very.
The story is going to be a ya (Young Adult...my dad simply insists on using little phrases). Plot line is very interesting. Teen girl moves to middle of no where....Vermont? I think it is Vermont. Anyway, her mom meets a man who she becomes interested in. Slight problem. He is what is known as a Soul Broker.
Think Wall Street for eternal state after your death.
I haven't read it, but the plot itself is enough to get me to read it. She has a few others in the works, including a vampire novel.

Is it just me, or are women authors really pumping out vampire stories? Andrew and I were at Barnes and Noble the other day after seeing Coraline, and I couldn't help but to feel awkward standing in the Teen book section.
Why?
The overwhelming amount of books dealing with a.) Vampire love stories b.) Chick flick inspired novels dealing with teen girls complaining about getting the man of their dreams in high school.
What happened male authors?
Your balls drop off?
Seriously. It looks like the only author that is manning up to literature is Stephen King. At least he can call out a bad writer when it is needed.
I would like to point out how sad I have become with literature.
R.L. Stine. Author of more than two hundred corny yet appealing horror novels to kids.
The book Dangerous Girls.
What the hell, man?
Did Stine decide Twilight needed some summer camp twist?
King has been dominating the horror genre without using things as commonly stereotyped as horror. He sets his stories in Middle of No Where, Maine, which I can first handedly say is a great place to.
Meyer had it coming...