[Janice D. Soderling]

Oh, what a terrific Christmas present. Congratulations.

[marly youmans]

This year's novel has been on a few lists, but to get a poetry book on one is more of a feat, as we all know, alas.

[Bill Carpenter]

Testimonial: I gave this to my wife for Christmas. She is a lifelong sci-fi aficionado and a follower of epic poetry. On Christmas morning, she opened it and promptly disappeared with it for the next two hours. Tears were streaming down her cheeks by page 5. She loved it. "Fabulous," "original," she called it. She loves the "wiggly illustrations." We will read it together soon -- I can't wait. Congratulations!

[Charlotte Innes]

Originally Posted by marly youmans

John Wilson, editor of "Books and Culture," picks Thaliad (and A Death at the White Camellia Orphanage): Favorite Books of 2012.

Oh, I missed this. Congrats, Marly! You and Michael Connelly, eh? Soon you'll be making millions! Well... thousands... maybe...

Bill, that's a great testimonial for Thaliad (very tempting!). I would say the same for A Death at the White Camellia Orphanage, which I will continue to promote tirelessly. I loved that book.

Happy New Year, Marly! (And more books.)

Charlotte

[Carol Trese]

Marly! Congrats! A Death at the White Camellia Orphanage was one of my favorite books this year. Keep on keeping on!

[marly youmans]

Originally Posted by Bill Carpenter

Testimonial: I gave this to my wife for Christmas. She is a lifelong sci-fi aficionado and a follower of epic poetry. On Christmas morning, she opened it and promptly disappeared with it for the next two hours. Tears were streaming down her cheeks by page 5. She loved it. "Fabulous," "original," she called it. She loves the "wiggly illustrations." We will read it together soon -- I can't wait. Congratulations!

Dear Bill,

Thank you so much for that beautiful comment! Please tell your wife thank you for going so deeply into "Thaliad." That she did means much to me. I hope she enjoys the rereading--rereading being the best reading--and that you find the poem satisfying as well.

Good cheer,
Marly

[marly youmans]

Charlotte,

Thank you! Yes, I'm very glad that he picked both "Thaliad" and "A Death at the White Camellia Orphanage" (thank you for loving it) for the list. I just found out that he never saw my third book from my insane last year, "The Foliate Head." Oh, well.

Good wishes and book luck to you as well--I don't think I'll have another year quite as crazy as the last, but there are a couple books forthcoming.

Let me know if you come back to the land of Medusa again...

[marly youmans]

Carol,

Thank you, oodles--I love having a book that is among your favorites. Happy New Year!

***

If any passers-by want a peek, here's a link to the Phoenicia Publishing page for Thaliad: http://www.phoeniciapublishing.com/thaliad.html. It has lots of comments (from poets and from literary and genre novelists) and so forth, and also explains how to acquire the book in a number of different ways, and in hardcover as well as paperback.

A Pinterest page collects more than a dozen images from the book (more not shown, as surprises are good!) from the Clive Hicks-Jenkins art for the book: http://pinterest.com/marlyyoumans/th...blishing-2012/. A long friendship with Clive has resulted in book jackets and the rich, profuse art for The Foliate Head and Thaliad. I'm grateful to him!

[Tim Murphy]

Yay, Marly. Warmest congratulations.

[marly youmans]

Thank you so much--warmth always welcome! I'm hoping it manages to paddle along, despite a long poem being such a rare thing these days.