Being psychic would be so useful. I would know what detours to take when roads are out. I would know without looking if the milk in the fridge expired. I could win the lottery and maybe even talk to animals.

Clearly I’m interpreting “psychic” quite loosely. If I stick to conventional parameters and say that I’d have the ability to know what’s next, then yeah, still useful. Grab the umbrella on a sunny day, make sure the spare tire is along for the ride, and be acutely aware, every moment, of what’s going to pop next in YA literature.

 Oh, man. If only.

 I’ve been doing this librarian thing a little over a decade. We went all vampires, werewolves, zombies dystopian, fairy-tales, classics re-invented, and dystopian. Some think the dystopian ship has sailed. I personally disagree because I think there’s always a market of people who want to read tales of humanity boiled down to it’s essence, but the question is will it always be booming?

 Probably not.

 Hopefully NOT A DROP TO DRINK can slide in with one last big boom.

So what’s next? Wish I knew, ‘cause I’d write it. As it is, I can look at what’s warming up and just on the verge of boiling, and give you my opinion. TWILIGHT was actually out a while before it blew up, as was THE HUNGER GAMES. I read both before either one of them had a movie cover and had spawned legions of vampire and dystop books.

 My opinion? Science Fiction is about to blow up. I spotted it first with THE KNIFE OF NEVER LETTING GO by Patrick Ness and ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Beth Revis, but since then it’s been getting aggressive with titles like CINDER and my own crit partner RC Lewis’ recent success with STITCHING SNOW being sold.

 So yeah, that’s what I think. Look out for aliens and robots, space stations and droids. But don’t go writing that just because of my opinion. If you’re heart isn’t in it it’ll short circuit faster than Wookie vomit on a control panel.

 Write what your heart wants. And if that’s a contemporary romance, so be it.