The shock waves just keep coming out of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Executive editor Ann Patty (left) informed us this morning that she has been "fired," along with an unspecified number ("a lot") of other employees. She is facing the situation with good cheer: "I think my future will be much brighter than my recent past," she told us; until a full-time publishing job opens up, she will be available for freelance editing work. (Either way, interested parties can contact her at annpatty at frontiernet dot net.)

More on this as we can sort it out; a call to HMH's corporate communications department Wednesday morning remains unanswered as of this writing.