While most of the excitement in children's literature last Tuesday night was centered around the satellite launch of the new Lemony Snicket, the scene at New York's Books of Wonder offered a bit more variety, as three YA authors came in to sign huge stacks of books. I spoke with Scott Westerfield about the success of his latest novel, Peeps, which applies some scientific rigor to the vampire legend. "I've been getting two types of reviews," he joked. "'I hate vampire books, but this one is okay,' and 'I love vampire books, and this one is really cool.'"

Sitting next to him at the table was Jeff Stone, author of the Five Ancestors series of martial arts adventures. Stone has been studying kung fun for several years himself (including a black belt test at an actual Shaolin temple), and he's been teaching some of the basic moves to schoolkids throughout his book tour, as in this photo he sent from an event earlier that day at a Long Island Barnes & Noble:

Over at the other table, Joseph (The Last Apprentice) Delaney chatted amiably with his handlers and the store's owner, Peter Glassman. No kids were coming up to the tables, but that was okay, one observer assured me: All the signed books would be listed in the store's catalog, where they would sell briskly to collectors.