A Post Of Things...

I was keeping this one under wraps for a few days because I didn't know if it was really going to happen, but it looks like it will now. You've heard me rave about Brandon Mull's Fablehaven books on my site before. If you haven't read them yet, I can't recommend enough that you go out and pick up copies of his first two books in the series. They're written for children/young adults, but can certainly be enjoyed by readers of all ages. They're a couple of my favorite young adult books to be written in a long time. It's fantasy/fairy folk/mythical creature story telling adventure delight all told with a complete air of pure fun. Well about a month ago, I got an email from Brandon Mull's publisher asking me if I would be interested in reviewing the third book which is due out on April 8th. It's called Fablehaven: Grip of the Shadow Plague. Now it looks like not only am I going to get to review it, but I'm getting an interview with Brandon Mull! Needless to say, I'm thrilled. So I'm letting everyone know in case you have any questions you'd like to ask. The interview is going to focus mostly on the third book in the series, but if you have any questions for him (I already have a couple from Deslily) I'll be more than happy to try to fit them in and see if I can get some answers ;)

I'm also back to trying to do a little bit of editing on my own book, A Sunset in Nowhere, that I wrote for NaNoWriMo and I'm really excited about it now! Why, you might ask? It's become a collaboration with Megan! I want to do a Stardust type of thing with it...the Neil Gaiman/Charles Vess version of Stardust that is. Megan is an amazing artist and she's done a comic in the past with a friend of ours as well as quite a few of her own creation. It's one of the many things that first attracted me to her. So she has my book now (in it's god-awful first draft) and she's going to start drawing some scenes that will be interlaced throughout the book. I can't wait to actually see some of my characters!! I have a few examples here of some of the pieces that she's given me, but none of her characters. I wish I had them to show you! The first two are a series of "hand drawings" that she's done for me...the first for our 1 year anniversary and the second for another anniversary. The third is a little Buddha that she drew me for Christmas this year. My photos don't do any of these justice.

And finally, I had to go download "Oh, you pretty thing" by David Bowie today and put it on my iPod because I couldn't stop singing it after I got my copy of Coraline in the mail from Subterranean Press! It's by far the most beautiful edition I've ever bought from Subterranean. I'm just blown away by it. The new McKean art is gorgeous, the Irish puppet production photos are incredible and it's signed by Gaiman and McKean :D And I got a really early copy...number 174 of 1000. There are still some copies left for sale on the website...go get it!!!

Fablehaven: Rise Of The Evening Star by Brandon Mull

Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star is Book 2 in the wonderfully magical Fablehaven series. I loved it! Even better than the first one in my opinion. For those who haven't read the first one, Fablehaven is the name of a refuge for mythical and magical creatures. It is one of five such preserves in the world. Fablehaven is owned by the grandparents of Seth and Kendra, our two main characters. Common characters in the books are fairies, brownies, naiads, trolls, imps, golems, and satyrs. Great fun!

This second book in the series poses a threat to Fablehaven. Each of the five magical preserves in the world holds a unique artifact with a magical power. The location of the artifact is kept secret even from caretakers of the preserve. If all 5 artifacts were found and united, they could be combined to unlock a prison that holds demons, devils, and monsters that are unimaginable and could quite literally bring about the end of the world. The Society of the Evening Star is after these artifacts.

Trouble is breaking loose when a strange new student arrives at Seth and Kendra's school. To keep them safe, Seth and Kendra's grandparents decided to have them spend the summer at Fablehaven and tell their parents that they could use the help around the house as an excuse. After all, there's a giant frog trying to eat Seth...how would you explain that one to mom?! When Seth and Kendra arrive after facing some strange circumstances, they find that help has been called in to Fablehaven. Three new faces are there: A potions master, a relics collector, and a magical critter collector. It soon becomes obvious that there's a traitor among the crowd. But who could it be? And how much damage could they cause?

This volume has ten times the magic and adventure of the first one. It was so much fun and I caught myself holding my breath at times. Seth gets himself into trouble as usual and Kendra has acquired some pretty cool abilities. There's tons of new creatures introduced in this book and it all climaxes into an amazing scene of magic and puzzelry! And the ending just leaves you dying for more. And it's coming in 2008.

Mull's writing is wonderful. Perfect for kids and yet perfectly enjoyable for adults as well. I didn't want this one to end at all. One of my favorite reads of the year so far. He also announces at the end of the book that he has another new non-Fablehaven book coming out in the Fall called The Candy Shop War. Looking forward to that one as well.

Brandon Mull is a promising author and I'm really looking forward to what this guy does with his career. This series will be the perfect one to get into with Harry Potter ending in July.

Breaking Out The CueCat

So I just got to use the CueCat scanner to enter books into LibraryThing because yes, I went to Barnes and Noble and bought more books. Even though I have way too much on my plate right now, I couldn't wait for the new Fablehaven book that came out this past Tuesday. So I bought that first and will jump into that tonight. By doing so, I'm breaking a rule I set for myself which was to read one book at a time. Oh well, I'll try to go back to that rule after this one.

I also picked up The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I'm really looking forward to this one, but I'm thinking I'm going to wait until the R.I.P. challenge in October to read it as it will fit in nicely with Dracula. It's the story of a woman who discovers that her father spent his life trying to track down Vlad the Impaler and I believe that she does so herself. At least that's what I gather from the bookflap. Sounds great! And it was a bargain book at only $6.98!

Next up is Dragons: The Greatest Stories, which is...you guessed it, an anthology of short stories about dragons edited by Martin H. Greenberg. I bought this one because there's a short story in it by Orson Scott Card called The Bully and The Beast which he is writing a novel based on. This is the only place I've seen the short story in print. There's also stories by Ray Bradbury, Anne McCaffrey, Roger Zelazny, Alan Dean Foster, and Ursula K. LeGuin among others. Great cover too! It's a bargain book too!

Also in the bargain book pile: A really cool version of Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman that I had to tell myself not to buy because I already had a copy. This one has a spider web on the cover and has a blue bookmark sewn in. It's $5.98. I highly recommend picking this one up if you don't have a copy. Also saw plenty of copies of Susanna Clarke's wonderful novel Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell left for $6.98. Everyone should own a copy of this book...and you can't beat that price.

I picked up the newest issue of Realms of Fantasy as well. There's a new short story by Charles de Lint in it called Companions to the Moon and it's illustrated by Charles Vess. Charles Vess is doing a series of illustrations for Realms of Fantasy and will illustrate short stories for the next six issues! How cool!

And finally, I wanted to mention that on Orson Scott Card's website, he is selling signed copies of his book, Magic Street, for $8.95. Magic Street is one of my favorite books by Card. It's an urban fantasy set in suburbia and is about a boy who finds a portal in between two houses that leads him to the world of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Much more involved than that, but that's the basics.

Ok, tired and dirty from work, so I'm going to take a bath and then start on Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star.

A New Kind Of Challenge And A Winner!

Carl V. is hosting yet another wonderful idea for a challenge! This one is the 10:4 Challenge. Here’s the deal. This one’s not a book challenge. It’s a physical health challenge. The challenge is to lose 10 pounds in 4 months. What a great idea! Now I actually have someone to report to which will make me a little more disciplined and responsible in losing weight. I’ll finally put that gym membership to good use. So I’m in. I’ll lose the 10 pounds and hopefully more. The challenge goes from May 1^st (today) through September 1^st. The prize – feeling better about yourself! Can’t beat that. I have a friend, the author of Why Do I Need A Title?, who has lost near 100 pounds since August 2005 and totally turned her life around! So she’ll be my inspiration for this. So, starting weight – 195.8 lbs.

Brandon Mull’s new book comes out today. It’s the second in the Fablehaven series, a truly wonderful series. This one’s called Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star. I’m so excited about it! But due to a lack of money and reading time, I’m going to have to wait a couple of weeks L I highly recommend that any fantasy fan check out this series. You won’t be disappointed!

I got my book in the mail today from Bookfool and I love it! It’s The Tibetan Art of Positive Thinking and looks like something that’s right up my alley! Thanks Nancy :D

And finally, we have a winner for the Mirrormask giveaway! Congratulations to Deslily! I had never read Deslily’s blog before, but I’ve really been enjoying it. She seems to be a big fan of fantasy and a great person all around. Deslily, send me the address you want the book sent to and I’ll get it out to you ASAP. Hope you enjoy it. My email is chrisa511 at gmail dotcom.

I feel so special!!

Wow, this is awesome. So last night I talked about wanting Brandon Mull's new book, the second Fablehaven to come out and apparantley he stumbled across my blog. I got an email from him today! He says that the next Fablehaven book is coming out in May of this year which made me very happy. I highly suggest that you pick up this book, but read the first one first. It's an amazing fantasy book about two young children who go to stay with their grandparents that they don't know very well. What they find is that their grandparents are the keepers of a safe haven for magical creatures called Fablehaven. As you can imagine, wild adventures ensue.

I have had the most fortunate experiences with authors and artists that I love. Orson Scott Card responds frequently to questions and comments on his hatrack river website forums, Brandon Mull just emailed me (!) and I also got a response personally from Lisa Snellings-Clark the other day. Now I just need Neil Gaiman to shoot me an email and I can die happy. Here is my email from Mr. Mull with his email address taken out (don't want to SPAM him). And if you read this Mr. Mull, Thanks again!

-----Original Message-----
From: Brandon Mull
Sent: Wed 1/10/2007 9:20 PM
To: Howard, Christopher
Subject: Hope this is Chris

Hey, Brandon Mull here, I think I bumped into your blog and you were
wondering about the second Fablehaven...it is coming out in May of this
year. All my advance readers are telling me it tops the first, so I hope
you'll enjoy it as well.

Spread the word! YOU can start the internet rumors!

Brandon