The Midnight Circus, стр. 52

been invented that is too highfor me to cross.

Exceptfor maybe hers.

And I’m okay with that.

IfJane is the Queen and I’m the Princess, it should come as no surprisethat she is Ringleader of this Midnight Circus, and I host my veryown Traveling Sideshow.

Queen Jane traveled south to my kingdom once,the Chaos Realm of Dragon Con. The first thing we did (afterbreakfast, of course) was go for a walk. I gave her a tour. I marchedbehind her in a parade where they cheered for her from the streets. Iescorted her to a formal dinner where the bard heckled me from thestage. I attendedher reading. I brought her a crown.

Iwas asked to moderate the Young Adult Guest of Honor Panel that year:It was just Jane and me at the big table up on the dais, the Princessand the Queen.

“Canone of you test the microphones for me?” the sound tech yelled from theback.

Ileaned forward. “’Twas brillig and the slithy toves did gyre andgimble in the wabe . . .”

“Allmimsy was the borogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe,” Janefinished into her own mic.

Andso the universe maintains its balance.

Long Live Queen Jane!

Belovedfantasist Jane Yolen has been rightfully called the Hans ChristianAndersen of America and the Aesop of the twentieth century. In 2018,she surpassed 365 publications, including adult, young adult, andchildren’s fiction; graphic novels; nonfiction; fantasy; sciencefiction; poetry; short-story collections; anthologies; novels;novellas;and books about writing. Yolen is also a teacher of writing and a bookreviewer. Her best-known books are Owl Moon, the How DoDinosaurs series, The Devil’s Arithmetic, Briar Rose, SisterEmily’s Lightship and Other Stories, and Sister Light, SisterDark.

AmongYolen’s many awards and honors are the Caldecott and Christophermedals; the Nebula, Mythopoeic, World Fantasy, Golden Kite, and JewishBook awards; the World Fantasy Association’s Lifetime AchievementAward; the Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers of America GrandMaster Award; and the Science Fiction Poetry Grand Master Award. Sixcolleges and universities have given her honorary doctorates.

Yolenlives in Western Massachusetts and Mystic, Connecticut, with herfiancé, but spends long summers in St. Andrews, Scotland, a great placeto write, she says, for there are nearly twenty hours of daylight andbirdsong.

TheodoraGoss is the World Fantasy and Locus Award– winning author of the shortstory and poetry collections In the Forest of Forgetting (2006),Songs for Ophelia (2014), and Snow White Learns Witchcraft (2019),as well as novella The Thorn and the Blossom (2012), debutnovel The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter (2017), andsequel European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman (2018).The final novel in the series, The Sinister Mystery of theMesmerizing Girl, was published in October 2019. She has been afinalist for the Nebula, Crawford, Seiun, and Mythopoeic Awards, aswell as on the Tiptree Award Honor List. Her work has been translatedinto twelve languages. She teaches literature and writing at BostonUniversity and in the Stonecoast MFA Program. Visit her attheodoragoss.com.

NewYork Times bestselling author Alethea Kontis is aprincess, storm chaser, and geek. Author of more than 20 books and 40short stories, Alethea is the recipient of the Jane Yolen Mid-ListAuthor Grant, the Scribe Award, the Garden State Teen Book Award, andtwo-time winner of the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award. She hasbeen twice nominated for both the Andre Norton Nebula and the DragonAward. When not writing or storm chasing, Alethea narrates stories formultiple award-winning online magazines, contributes regular YA bookreviews to NPR, and hosts Princess Alethea’sTraveling Sideshow every year at Dragon Con. Born in Vermont, shecurrently resides on the Space Coast of Florida with her teddy bear,Charlie. Find out more about Princess Alethea and her wonderful worldat aletheakontis.com

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Poetry