Sparks cover

Flux sent me a mock-up of the cover a few months back - this is showing up on Amazon, Goodreads, etc, so I guess it's the real one. These sites are also listing November 8 as the release date - the same day as Adam Selzer's new book, EXTRAORDINARY*. It's a full out cage match. It's ON, boss!

Adam Selzer is the Kingpin of the YA Mafia

I may get fired for this. I may even find myself wearing cement shoes at the bottom of the Chicago River (which is mere blocks from HQ, conveniently enough). But by now perhaps you've seen some blog posts about the supposed group of young adult novelist known as the "YA Mafia" - the all-powerful group that blurbs each others' books and can ruin your career.

Well, it's all true. And Adam Selzer is the kingpin.  He takes shadowy meetings and owns a pipe. He lives RIGHT by a bakery that makes GREAT canoli and a toffee place that used to be a sandwich place where the mob whacked a guy in the 70s - a guy that Sam Giancana, mob kingpin, supposedly said was the triggerman who hit JFK. And He JUST GOT OFFERED A GIG WRITING A BOOK ABOUT THE CHICAGO MOB.

Seriously. Selzer is VERY well connected. He knows LOTS of stuff about ghosts and mysteries that he hasn't posted on the Weird Chicago Blog.  And I swear to God I've seen Claudia Gray eating spaghetti at Smart Aleck Headquarters.

Here's a picture of Adam eating canoli on Grand today:

Here are some recent tweets I've made about this:

I am outing @adamselzer as the kingpin of the #YaMafia . I'll probably wake up underwater for this....about 2 hours ago via Twitter for Mac
SEE? RT@adamselzer: Just got hired to write a book on the Chicago mob! One of about 5 nonfiction books I may be announcing soon....” #yamafia
@adamselzer swears there's a blog mafia... there are bloggers that other bloggers are scared to disagree with... #yamafia ....
Look. I'm pretty sure that I heard @adamselzer having a shadowy meeting at HQ with @maureenjohnson and @realjohngreen last night #yamafia
And HQ is, like, half a block from Grand Ave. GRAND AVE. In Chicago. Do you KNOW how good the cannoli is around here?#yamafiaabout 1 hour ago via Twitter for Mac
Also, everyone on the staff, even the interns, have to take blood oaths...NO ONE gets a best-seller w/o paying @adamselzer off. #yamafia
Sure, his OWN books are far from best-sellers, but that's just a cover... he wrote a BUNCH of bestsellers under fake names. Tons. #yamafia
Not to mention all the secrets he knows that he won't post on the Weird Chicago blog...ghost secrets.... #yamafia@adamselzer IS kingpin.
As kingpin @adamselzer has ruined the careers of several promising authors...they're at the bottom of the Chicago River now. #yamafia
Yeah, right, Selzer. Like you wouldn't have fired me by now if I didn't have dirt on you? #yamafia Some ppl believe anything!
Here's @adamselzer plotting rumbles with other #yamafia guys:http://t.co/NP0eJZxhttp://t.co/QhVMlUS
Some of Adam's nonsensical replies:Damn it, @SJAdamsBooks, I don't impersonate Jim Morrison and I'm not the kingpin of the #yamafia .  Or any other mafia that I know of.
I mean, come on, I have to pay to get into my own signing next week. I am NOT the kingpin of the #yamafia, no matter what @SJAdamsBooks says
RIGHT, SELZER!  If he doesn't fire or kill me, it's only because I'm too important around here.