Hey, all. Justine and I are fresh off the boat back from Europe. Our Atlantic crossing was wild and wonderful (force 11 winds! tuxedo wearing!), but I’m so far behind blogging-wise that tales of the sea will have to wait.

There are Zeppelin rides to blog, after all. And before I can get to that, a bunch of awesome new books are coming out that simply must be mentioned. The first of these hit the shelves yesterday, Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother . . .

As you can see from the blurb above, I called this book a “rousing tale of techno-geek rebellion.” It’s set about five minutes in the future, and follows a group of computer-savvy teens taking on Homeland Security after it seriously steps on their toes. (It’s Little Brother versus Big Brother, you see.)

But the maybe best way to describe it to you guys is this: It’s the closest thing imaginable to a rebellion like Uglies, if such a thing happened right now. That is, young people with the right combination of technology and courage and sheer cussedness pushing back against the Authorities-That-Be. And you know what? That’s a pretty cool thing to be written at this point in our nation’s history.

Plus, you’ll learn zillions of anti-surveillance tricks for use at home and school.

For more, Cory and John Scalzi (who has another cool YA novel coming in August), discuss their books here:

And you can buy Little Brother here.

Coming up next: More Zeppelin pix, a screed on seasickness and brain rewiring, and a new new novel by Maureen Johnson. Much excitement awaits.