A relative of mine, Sarah J Maas, is a young author (mid-twenties) writing Young Adult Fantasy fiction.

Her first novel Throne of Glass, will be published on August 7th by Bloomsbury Children’s. She has three novellas currently available on Kindle at $.99 and a fourth to come that introduce her main character.

Her main character is a young female assassin. As far as I know there are no TG elements to the story.

Her Amazon page is:
http://www.amazon.com/Sarah-J-Maas/e/B0070291GK/ref=ntt_athr...

Her "offical" web site is: http://sarahjmaas.com/

CNN has an article posted on their web site about the problems of children who do not conform to gender norms.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/20/health/child-gender-nonconform...

Today's Wall Street Journal had an article with the headline "Ye Olde Menu: Dormouse, Anyone?" in the Personal Journal section. The article was about a "trend-in-the-making" of finding recipes from old to ancient sources to spice up menus. The article does state "One recipe he won't bother to explore: Stuffed Dormouse."

A subscription is required to read the article online.

The Boston Business Journal has a short article about a study of the economic impact of transgendered discrimination in Massachusetts.

Story: http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2011/05/11/transgende...

The study can be found at the Williams Institute website: http://www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute

Press Release: http://www3.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/pdf/MATransEmpDis...

According to the CNN web site, the newest edition of the DSM (the "bible" of psychiatry) has been posted for comment. The comment period runs through June 15.

The story can be found at http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/04/psychiatry-bible-st...

The revised edition can be found at: www.dsm5.org

I have recently been hearing radio ads for a charity event to benefit a residential group home specifically for GLBT youths that is run by a local charity. In the ad they mention that this is one of three such facilities in the US.

Here's a link to a CNN story about a couple of studies of LGBT youths. As is to be expected the major focus is on gay students.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/12/06/lgbt.teens.punishment.p...

A Transgender Rights Bill is currently being debated in Massachusetts. The Republican Govenatorial candidate has said that as govenor he would veto the bill despite the fact that his running mate is a co-sponsor of the bill.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010...

Here's a story on the CNN web site.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/science/03/01/pesticide.study.f...

"The effects of atrazine in the long term have been shown to demasculinize or chemically castrate [frogs], combined with complete feminization of some animals," said lead researcher Tyrone B. Hayes, a biologist and herpetologist at the University of Berkeley.

News story on the BBC web site:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8525777.stm

Previous studies have shown that progesterone supports the normal development of neurons in the brain, and that the hormone has a protective effect on damaged brain tissue.

If it supports the development of neurons in the brain it might explain quite a few things.

I wonder if they will be looking for any "unusual" side effects? Perhaps a change in clothing tastes?

Today marks my one year anniversary as a registered user of BCTS. It has been a wonderful year of getting acquainted with the whole BCTS community.