Censorship Is Alive and Well in Texas

Young adult books have long been the target of aspiring censors, but "shattering the space-time continuum" to ban books before they've been published really takes mind-control to new lows. Chris Sims, of Comics Alliance, is the source of that great quote. He discusses an array of doubtlessly [cue heavy sarcasm] well-intentioned book bans from across the country, including a California school district attempt to . . . wait for it . . . ban the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

I am not kidding. You'd think that if they were going to ban dictionaries, they'd start with the mother of them all, the Oxford English Dictionary. Let me assure you that, as an author of erotic romance, I can say from personal, uh, research, that the OED has some very naughty words in it. Regrettably, the accompanying etymology and  tenth-century literary examples tend to drain all prurience from said naughty words. But I digress . . .

Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy books were reportedly banned (again, even before the last one was published) for reasons of sexual content and "nudity." Now, just for the record, I consider nudity to be a visual kinda thing. So, all I can say is that Mead must be one helluva writer. And I hope she enjoys increased sales as a result of all this censorship nonsense.