MALINDA LO

Since the beginning of October, I’ve visited so many great bookstores, not only for events but also to sign stock. Which means you can buy signed copies of A Scatter of Light, Last Night at the Telegraph Club, and some of my other books too at many places across the U.S. Some of these bookstores will even ship internationally. And the holidays are coming! I humbly suggest that a signed book (by me) would make a great gift for that girl you want to impress! Here’s where you can get them:

Porter Square Books — This is the only place where you can get personalized copies. All you have to do is add your personalization request (e.g. “To Aria”) in the comments field when you order. Be sure to order from PSB by Dec. 2 if you want a personalization! After that I will go to the store to personalize them.

Signed copies of my books are also available from:

Harvard Book Store (Cambridge, MA)

Belmont Books (Belmont, MA)

The Silver Unicorn Bookstore (Acton, MA)

Wellesley Books (Wellesley, MA)

Strand Book Store (New York, NY)

Yu and Me Books (New York, NY)

Barnes & Noble Union Square (New York, NY)

East City Bookshop (Washington, DC)

Moon Palace Books (Minneapolis, MN)

Wild Rumpus Books (Minneapolis, MN)

Red Balloon Bookshop (St. Paul, MN)

Fabulosa Books (San Francisco, CA)

Eastwind Books (Berkeley, CA)

Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore (Berkeley, CA)

Also, thank you for your beautiful books..

Aww, thanks! Let me tell you about YERBA BUENA by Nina LaCour. you may know Nina's YA novels (WE ARE OKAY) already, but this is her adult debut. It's about two women and their relationship over a period of several years. It's also about connections to family (there's a wonderful grandmother in here), survival from trauma, and also has just plain beautiful sentences. I loved it!

When I went to the Women's March in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2017, I was overwhelmed by the masses of marchers and the pain that so many of us felt at the inauguration of our current president.

But I was also amazed by so many other things: the sharp wit of the protest signs; the thousands upon thousands of hot pink knitted pussy hats; the feeling, prevalent throughout the city, of a nation on the edge of something huge and unknown.

After I returned home, I couldn't stop thinking about it. As is my way, I started wondering: what if something else happened at that inauguration? Since I'm a writer who has written science fiction, and I'm an American who (of course) has watched Independence Day, I naturally thought: what if there were an alien invasion?

That question — half serious, half humorous (because you have to see the absurdity in life, especially in our current climate, to avoid driving yourself batty) — led me to write a short story about a lesbian couple who attends the inauguration protest of a Trump-like president when, yes, a giant UFO appears in the sky over Washington, D.C.

Today that story has just been published by one of my favorite websites, Autostraddle. Now, Autostraddle, which covers pop culture, life, politics, and more by and for queer women, doesn't typically publish short fiction. So I'm especially grateful to them for giving my story a home, and even more than that, they commissioned some fabulous illustrations by artist Eren Russo.

Finally, because it's at Autostraddle, you can read it right now for free.

My latest novel, A Line in the Dark, is now available in paperback with this glorious review from Teen Vogue on the cover:

"A twisty, dark psychological thriller ... impressive storytelling, a chilling plot, and mean girls aplenty."

I might argue with "mean girls" in its most stereotypical sense, but to be honest, there are some mean girls in A Line in the Dark. What I mean, of course, is that this book contains anger, obsession, jealousy, and complicated shifting identities that sometimes are expressed by meanness.

I don't know about you, but when I was a teen girl, meanness was wielded as a weapon against me more than once — and I used it back, too. I think that meanness can come across as shallow and spiteful (and sometimes it is, perhaps in its truest sense), but it's also defensive and used as a shield to hide softer, more vulnerable feelings. Hurt and longing and pain.

Jess, the main character of A Line in the Dark, feels all these things, and as a 16-year-old still discovering who she is, she struggles to contain all these emotions. Sometimes they spill out of her into her artwork; sometimes they spill out of her in arguments with her best friend. The things that Jess does are motivated by a combination of all these feelings.

A Line in the Dark is a psychological thriller. It's about unrequited love and unfulfilled longings. It's my first book to receive three starred reviews! And it's out now in paperback (as well as ebook and hardcover). I hope you like it!