Winner of the title of NF #4 is Brenda Scott Royce, author of Monkey Love and the forthcoming Monkey Star.

One day, when Laura was still on a lot of post-surgical pain medication and thus a little bit fuzzy brain-wise, Laura got an amazingly nice email from Brenda asking if she could send Laura a galley of Monkey Star on the off-chance that she would consider blurbing it (Brenda’s email was actually extremely funny and full of yummy self-deprecation which Laura loves). In the email she told Laura that back when Animal Husbandry had come out, she had worked in publishing for the audio books company that produced the audio book version of Animal Husbandry and while she was clear to say that she had nothing exactly to do with the audio book’s production or recording except that she was there and might possibly have Xeroxed a contract or mailed a package.

Laura had heard about Monkey Love when it was published a few years ago but of course had not gotten around to reading it (Laura has been very bad about reading the last few years because of all her stress and busy-ness and fatigue) and so she was sure that Monkey Star was a book she should actually read. So after many many months of having Monkey Star sitting in a pile of stuff on her nightstand, Laura finally started reading and loved every word. Look for her “blurb of praise” on the jacket when Monkey Star comes out this August.

Laura’s really looking forward to her next trip to L.A. so that she can meet her NF #4 and visit the L.A. Zoo where Brenda works (for free!).