Just about the nicest thing anyone's ever said about us

Sometimes someone gives you a compliment that chirks you up for the whole day.

It makes the autumn sun warmer and the blue sky bluer.

It makes collating corrections go faster and gives the coffee more of a kick.

It gives a rosy tint to the mirror and lends sparkle to your wit.

Well... Jesse Andrews, author of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, called us...

"the deeply ass-kicking people at Allen & Unwin." 

Deeply. Ass-kicking. So proud. We should definitely put that in our side bar, just like a book blurb.

"Deeply ass-kicking" Jesse Andrews

It will sit nicely alongside:

"Annoyingly obsessive" Friends and Family

and

"Almighty $%&wits"  Rejected Author 

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is one of those rare books that makes you cry and snort food out your nose with laughter* at basically the same time. With all the snot and tears and partially masticated food, reading Me and Earl is truly a disgusting experience. A disgusting, uplifting, remarkable experience.

Greg and Earl and Rachel - you will take them to your heart. Even though at times it will be awkward, and maybe gross, and certainly piss-funny, it will be worth it to be part of The Worst Film Ever Made. 

Even if he hadn't sweet-talked us** and let us publish his terrific book, we'd probably still like Jesse Andrews because he thinks about YA fiction in a way that rings true around here. Here he is over at his US publishers, Abrams books, talking about how Young-adult fiction changed his life. 

'... this is what I learned, in the process of writing Me and Earl: writing for teens is the perfect antidote to what may seem like a terminal case of pretentiousness. Teens do not suffer pretense. They do not read books that aren't readable. If you are a writer, it is colossally helpful to write with them in mind as an audience, because if the book isn't fun, or engaging, or interesting, they're not going to read it.'

 Amen.

As if all this kindred spirit, synergy business wasn't enough, reading Jesse's post led us to discover another connection with Abrams. Are you ready for this? Because we were quite blown away. Well... you know how we made a cake in a cup?

THEY MADE A CAKE IN A CUP TOO!

Okay, so theirs turned out better than ours did, but that just means we have stuff to learn and share.***

And then there is the little matter of the cover.

Usually when we publish a book that was first published in another market we put a new cover on it. A cover that, you know, reflects the needs of our Australian market... and stuff.  But the artwork and design for this cover is just so perfect we let it stand.**** 

How could we not...

So thank you, Jesse. You made our day. We like your book heaps, and we are extremely proud to be publishing it in the antipodes. Come and visit soon.

* Don't eat and read, people. You have been warned.

** "Deeply ass-kicking" Jesse Andrews

*** Sharing cake is very important.You cannot be a friend of Alien Onion if you don't share cake. And learning is very important. For instance, we have learned that should we ever attempt cake-in-a-mug again, we (1) WILL NOT USE olive oil decanted from a separated vinaigrette and (2) WILL USE our Pantone coffee mugs - clearly the mug of choice for publishing houses across all the lands.

**** You can read all about the cover design process in this interview with Jesse and That Cover Girl.