I was up too late last night reading my copy of Lament by Maggie Stiefvater. I wouldn't have guessed that an adult male such as myself would enjoy a story that starts out with a harp prodigy falling for a sexy flute player, but there's magic and foreboding and clovers and ice cream and it really works. I can't wait to see what happens in the next book!

Maggie is sponsoring this week of Unshelved all by herself, the first time we've ever had an author do so, so please make it worth her while by checking out her book.

I've been in love with Twitter for some time now, but Gene is slowly falling under the spell as well. This week's sequence is our love letter. Well it's mine. Gene and Twitter are currently just dating. I don't know where their relationship will go.

Why should you follow me on Twitter?

• I practice some of my punchlines there.
• I often solicit feedback on ideas.
• It's where I post most of my fun and interesting links.
• Early heads-up on sales and other Unshelved announcements.
• Enjoy the witty repartee among my fellow cartoonists such as Dave Kellett, Paul Southworth, and David Malki.

Why should you follow Gene? I don't know yet. Everyone uses it a little differently, so this is your chance to see how it evolves for him.

P.S. Here's a helpful hint. One of the parts about Twitter that's hardest to understand is untangling the replys:

1. You see a seemingly nonsensical tweet of mine that's framed as a reply, e.g. "@ambaum I say, let them eat it"
2. Under my tweet is some small text saying "in reply to ambaum". It's a hyperlink. Click on it and you'll go to the original tweet to which I was responding, e.g. "I like cake!"
3. In this way you can work backwards through Twitter conversations. It's a great way to discover new people to follow.