My essay in the April issue of Parent:Wise Magazine:
All right, I admit it. I was that kid who kept a rubber-worm fishing lure as a pet, set traps for aliens forged from empty TicTac boxes, wrote sci-fi stories I tried to sell door to door for a quarter, and invited to my birthday parties one special friend … of my mother’s choosing. About a week before, I’d find Mom quietly chirping into the phone with her Sunday-school rolodex flipped back on her lap. I’m sure she was saying something like, “I just thought it’d be nice to get our two shy girls together sometime,” because my birthday attendee would always turn out to be “that kid” too – with a variation. Maybe she had a collection of rainbow suspenders or a habit of laughing with her mouth closed. Sheet cakes and streamers and That Kid who refused to take off the H.R. Puffinstuff costume – ah the memories. Read More Here
Though she’d told me she’d had several “apprentice novels” prior to writing Wench, this is Perkins-Valdez’s first published novel — and as I received the galley to review and prepared for our discussion, I couldn’t help but be really, really excited for her. It had taken her twelve years of “chopping away,” as she’d explained to me, since earning her MFA in CW to reach this point. She said she’s grateful it’s this novel that gets to be her “first novel,” and I can see why. It’s a stellar achievement. Finely crafted. Compelling from page one. Gut-wrenching all the way through. Here’s the rest of our discussion about Wench as it appeared in the San Antonio Current: 
My interview with Adam Turla of Murder by Death now up at InDigest Magazine:
In the San Antonio Current: 
A little late in posting this one, but here you are … my review of the Toy Story flicks updated in Disney 3D. I fought the temptation to burn my word count on bemoaning the death of hand-drawn animation. Maybe this is a sign that I’ve finally gotten over it and forgiven Pixar. Enjoy!