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The folks at Penguin were kind enough to invite me to blog with y'all over the next five days about my new teen novel SURF MULES. So here's Part One, where you may be asking yourself: what exactly is a Surf Mule? Is this a book about Billabong wearing donkeys surfing the Pipeline??

Nope. Surf Mules is my gonzo buddy road trip tale about two California surfers on the verge of graduation who become embroiled in a world of disorganized crime. Yeah, on the surface, it's my sex, drugs and rock n roll story. But underneath, it's really about the journey from adolescence to adulthood. A coming of age story set in the world of drug trafficking surfers.

This is Logan Tom, a 17-year-old surf rat growing up in Hermosa Beach, California. He's supposed to go off to college but is having doubts about leaving the only life he's ever known behind.

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Jennifer Kolari, MSW, RSW is our guest blogger during the week of May 25th. If you have any questions for Jennifer Kolari, add a comment to any of her posts.

Here is more information on Connected Parenting:

Read an excerpt

A groundbreaking, counterintuitive parenting approach to create deep, empathic bonds with problem children.

A child and family therapist for more than twenty years, Jennifer Kolari began her career working with children suffering from severe behavioral problems. That experience taught her an invaluable lesson-it wasn't "tough" discipline that helped these kids change their behavior and build self-esteem. It was unending compassion and empathy. Now, Kolari applies these lessons in her work with all families-even those who are exhausted, overwhelmed, and struggling with the challenges of difficult or extremely defiant children. Empathy lies at the heart of Kolari's Connected Parenting philosophy.

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T.C. Boyle Is Inducted into Prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters

Viking/ Penguin author T.C. Boyle was officially inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters at the annual Ceremonial in New York this past Monday. Members and award winners gathered onstage in the Academy's landmark auditorium to formally acknowledge new members to this prestigious group of 125 noted people in literature.

The American Academy of Arts and Letters is an honor society of 250 architects, composers, artists, and writers. Members of the Academy are elected for life. As vacancies occur, the Academicians nominate and elect new members. The honor of election is considered the highest formal recognition of artistic merit in the United States. Only Academicians may nominate and elect new members.

Other Penguin authors that have earned the distinction as being part of this exclusive group include Garrison Keillor, John Ashbery, Paul Auster, and Don DeLillo.

Browse through all of T.C. Boyle’s Penguin titles here.

» Aleksandar Hemon discusses his new book of short stories, as well as his previous book, now in paperback, The Lazarus Project.

» Read more about Love and Obstacles

Aleksandar Hemon, Love and Obstacles, Podcast

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John Sandford’s Wicked Prey Debuts at #1 on The New York Times Hardcover Fiction Bestseller List

Wicked Prey by John Sandford, which G.P. Putnam’s Sons published on May 12th, hits #1 on The New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list for May 31st. This novel, the nineteenth in Sandford's bestselling Prey series, is set in Minneapolis-St. Paul against the backdrop of the Republican National Convention, and Sandford's protagonist, the lovably flawed and complex Lucas Davenport, must outsmart a whole new set of vicious criminals. A front page feature about John Sandford in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune's Arts section, on Sunday, May 10th, captured the author's extraordinarily eclectic interests. Reporter Kristin Tillotson described the writing room in John's home: "a beautifully restored library, taken from an old mansion and re-created in a cabin attached to Camp's home on the St. Croix River, a 25-minute drive from St. Paul. The walls are lined with an impressive collection of art, history and archaeology books. A photo of the artist Piet Mondrian hangs to the right of his work space, a Cartier-Bresson in the adjacent hall. Then, there's the snapshot of three hunters standing over a huge slain moose in the snow, tacked up carelessly above his Mac."

Sandford kicked off his tour for Wicked Prey with standing-room-only events in Minneapolis-St. Paul, as well as talks and signings in Phoenix, San Diego, Chicago, Milwaukee and Los Angeles.