Today has been a day of good discoveries. First, I read (via Gwenda) Jincy Willett's list of hybrid novel titles, some of which are absolutely brilliant. Here are my two favorites:

The Runaway Bunny Jury
Desperate jurors avoid being profiled by ingeniously disguising themselves as birds, flowers, boats, rocks, and fish.

and

Middlemarch of the Penguins
Dorothea’s already unpleasant marriage to the elderly Rev. Casaubon grows even more dreary when she must trudge seventy miles through Antarctic blizzards to the sea, fleeing hungry predators, while Casaubon sits on an egg.

Then my copy of the latest issue of Historical Novels Review arrived, looking yummier than ever, and it included Susan Higginbotham's hilarious "12 Simple Rules for Writing Ricardian Fiction". (I did mention I used to be obsessed with Richard III, right? And that I still can't resist any Ricardian novel?) Here's a brief sample:

(1) Anne Beauchamp, Richard's mother-in-law, must be tearfully grateful when Richard takes her to live with him and Anne, and must not under any circumstances allude to the fact that Richard and Clarence together have stripped her of all her lands. The means by which Richard acquired the lands of young George Neville and the elderly Countess of Oxford should also be disregarded; if the matter of land must be mentioned at all, the reader should be allowed to assume that it came to Richard via the Land Fairy. (The wise Ricardian novelist, in fact, will give the vague impression that Richard barely has enough revenues on which to support himself, because everyone loves a Poor Younger Son, but no one likes a Quite Wealthy Younger Son.)

I almost snorted my latte out my nose when I read the full list. I really, really love the Historical Novel Society (the group that publishes the Review). I joined originally because it sounded like a smart professional decision for any historical novelist - they run a markets report, hold conventions, etc. But once I joined, I figured out the real reason to do it: it's a group of people who love the same novels I do! And have a sense of humor about them too, better yet. There's another article in this issue of the Review which gives an in-depth look at historical manga, and I can't wait to read it - apparently there's a series about the cross-dressing Chevalier d'Eon! in pursuit of evil poets! - but I'm saving it as a bribe for myself. (First I have to do some writing, then I can reward myself with the article!)

And last but not least, a slightly different version of my short story "The Little Tailor" (first published in Say... magazine) has just been published online in the new issue of Serendipity! Hurray! You can read the story here.