Uh-Oh Part 2...And Lots Of Other Stuff

It's all gone to shite! Anyone placed bets on my New Years resolution not even lasting a whole month? If you did, you won! To be honest, this is the longest a resolution has ever lasted I think, lol...sad, huh? A couple of days ago I thought I'd take "just a peek" over at bookcloseouts.com and it all went downhill from there and I left with 5 books :/ And with shipping they were all under $30, so who can blame me :p Here's what I got:

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbuy - I've been wanting this one for awhile. I fell in love with Ray Bradbury's writing last year and this one came highly recommended by plenty of people! It can be a bonus read for the plant category in Annie's What's in a Name challenge!

Time and Again by Jack Finney - This one came recommended by Carl and I've never been disappointed by anything that he's recommended. So I'm really looking forward to it! Love those time travel books!

The Pinhole Egg by Diana Wynne Jones - I've been wanting to read some Jones for ages. I know that both Nymeth and Darla D. are huge fans of hers and I loved Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle which was based on her book. Can't wait!

In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami - This one came recommended by Scott at Booky Ooky and I'm really excited about it. I've been on this Japanese kick and I wanted something different. This one looks sexy, violent, and sadistic...I love a book like that every now and then ;)

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King - This is my super bargain buy! Hardcover version for $4.99 and I got the last copy on their website! It first came recommended by Eva, Dark Orpheus seconded that recommendation and then Deslily sealed the deal for me on this one. I really can't wait to read this whole series of Mary Russell books!

As if that wasn't enough (heh....) I went and ordered two books from England today through Amazon UK :p I had to pre-order my copy of Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman. It's not being released here in the states. It was written for World Book Day which is a UK thing and the books only cost 1 Pound (about 2 dollars)! Of course with shipping over seas, that comes out to about 12 bucks....but it's a new Neil Gaiman book, so I bought it and while I was there, I also picked up The Lost Boy by Duncan Staff which Quixotic reviewed on her blog today. It sounds great and I haven't read a true crime book in a long time. Don't know if "great" is the right word, but interesting...

Other news...I've been selected for Barnes and Nobles first look program for the month of March! Anyone else make it in? We're reading a book that sounds really good and reminds me a little of The Thirteenth Tale from the synopsis. The book is called The Sister and is written by Poppy Adams. This is her first book and I can't wait to join in the discussion and talk with her about her book! You can read more about the book and read an excerpt here.

More good news of the day...there's going to be an Ender's Game video game!!! It was announced today! The game is going to focus just on the battle room. They decided that there was so much that they could do that they would choose just one aspect of the book and the battle room is what the game will be. I can't wait! It's going to be on all of the gaming consoles including PCs and the handheld consoles. A company called Chair is doing the game. The same company is also making Empire, one of Card's latest political thrillers into a video game. Card is fully on board with the game and is excited about it. Me too :)

Now for a meme...Literacy Chic tagged me for this one and I love these. They're fun.

Book Meme Rules

1. Pick up the nearest book ( of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people.

The book nearest me is Watership Down by Richard Adams. Actually it's the ARC of the new Fablehaven that I'm about to start, but I can't release any of that yet ;) so we'll use Watership Down, the next book on the stack!

"Later, Hazel had said that there was nothing for it but to cross the open pasture and under Silver's direction they had crossed it, with Dandelion running ahead to reconnoiter. When Fiver said the iron tree was harmless they believed him. Strawberry had had a bad time."

I can't wait to really read this one! Ok...so tagging five people...Nymeth, Debi, Bellezza, Stephanie, Rhinoa! Have fun :)

And finally, I wanted to give big hugs to Eva for giving me the You Make My Day Award :) Her blog makes my day too. It's one of the many blogs that I visit every day always hoping that there's a new post...and there usually is. Partially out of laziness and partially because I can't decide who to pick, I can't pick 10 people to give this to right now! But I'm sure you all know how much I love visiting all of your blogs everyday and you really do all "Make My Day"! Seriously...the first thing I do after waking up is go down all of my live bookmarks and check for new posts and then I check (borderline obsessively) for new posts all day from you all. So have a great day guys!

Tomorrow, a review of The Stainless Steel Rat Saves The World. Then a break from the rat...

A War of Gifts by Orson Scott Card

I've been waiting patiently for two years for this book to come out and I must say that it far surpassed my expectations. Many Orson Scott Card fans were disappointed that we weren't getting our "Christmas at Battle School" story last year for Christmas, but it was well worth the wait and Uncle Orson has given all of his readers a wonderful gift indeed with this new addition to the Ender saga.

A War of Gifts is much more than just the story of Christmas at battle school. It is a story of human connections, the spirit of a child, and a story of facing that moment where the spirit of a child begins to awaken into an adult. The story takes place at battle school during the events of Card's novel Ender's Game. A new child by the name of Zeck has been drafted into the army. Zeck is the child of a minister who claims to be somewhat of a vessel through which God speaks to his congregation. Zeck has been raised in a home where he has been brainwashed against any form of popular culture and is often beaten by his father as a way to cleanse his soul. Zeck's father preaches that Santa Claus is the creation of Satan and is nothing but a false idol paraded to children. Zeck also has a very special gift of being able to memorize anything he hears and is highly intelligent. He's recruited by battle school and is taken against his will...for battle school does not allow the expression of religion for the sake of uniformity.

On Sinterklaas Eve, a young boy in battle school leaves his shoes out in the hope that Sinterklaas will leave him a present and another child soldier in battle school notices the gesture and tries to fulfill the boys wish. Zeck sees this and reports it to the commanders as expression of religion in the hopes that others will turn against him and he can be sent home where he can once again practice his religion. But what escalates is beyond what he had planned for.

This book was just perfect and fans of the Ender series will love it. If you've never read a single book in the Ender series, you'll love this book. You don't have to have read any of the other books to enjoy this one. It's a short one at just 126 pages and I'd recommend it to be on anyone's holiday list. Of course, I'm just a bit partial to Orson Scott Card ;) But it's a great book!

You'd All Be So Proud...

I went to Barnes and Noble after work today with the intention of buying the new Orson Scott Card book that came out today, War of Gifts, and guess what...I bought it and it was the only book I bought! For those who have read my blog for awhile, you will know that it's a rare occasion that I walk out of a bookstore with only the book that I intended to leave with. It's usually at least a $50 bill. But today, it was only $10.14 with my member discount :)

Oh sure, there were plenty of distractions along the way. As soon as I walked in I was greeted by the beautiful new edition of War and Peace that Dark Orpheus made me aware of. So I drooled over that one for a little while and then put it back on the display slightly more damp than it was before. But I will be buying that one next year. I want to read some more Tolstoy and that edition is just to nice to pass up!

Then I pass the huge dark fantasy/horror display...now how I managed to get past this one without taking any home is beyond me...I just kept saying "no!" Of course now they have a bajillion copies of The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury now that I've gone and ordered it off of Amazon since I couldn't find it there the other night. So if it doesn't arrive from Amazon by tomorrow, I now know that I can go buy the $5.50 copy at B&N for my Halloween night reading pleasure.

So basically, I found a bunch of books that I'll be buying eventually anyway, but the important thing is that I didn't blow my whole paycheck today! Maybe the kid is finally learning how to control spending habits...er, yeah, that's it....

I was very happy to find War of Gifts though! I was preparing myself for disappointment. My poor favorite author never gets the attention he deserves on the day his books are released. So I went to the Sci-Fi section and sure enough there were none there...I kept looking and as I was about to give up I saw a huge pile of the books by the front door! I'm guessing this one actually got some promotion because it's an Ender story. It's a cool little book and I'm sure I'll read all of it's 126 pages tonight. It's what all of us Ender fans have been referring to as "Christmas in Battle School" for the last 2 or 3 years. And that's what it is. It's the story of Christmas (which is banned) during the events of Ender's Game.

In other news, I'm waiting to the very last minute to post my RIP wrap-up because I want to squeeze in The Halloween Tree tomorrow night. I'm also reading Rebecca right now, which is amazing, but I'm only about 200 pages in, so I doubt I'll finish that by tomorrow with the new Orson Scott Card and The Halloween Tree to read. So that one will count as a November read. But I have completed the RIP Challenge and have read 11 books so far. I have one more short story in the Wizards anthology which I'll probably read tonight which will bring me up to 12. That's all my book news for the day!

Invasive Procedures by Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston

You might say that I lucked out when I stumbled across my "favorite author". Orson Scott Card manages to publish about two to three books a year, has about 50 books under his belt, and has written books, poetry, and short stories in just about every genre imaginable. His first publication of this year was Space Boy (my review), a very limited run by Subterranean Press, that was enjoyable but doesn't even compare to his latest collaboration with screenwriter Aaron Johnston, Invasive Procedures.

Invasive Procedures is the story of the dangers of genetic manipulation. It can certainly be classified as science fiction as Card dots his i's and crosses his t's when it comes to the science aspect, but I'd consider this one more of a bio-medical/political thriller. The setting is Los Angeles in the near future. Geneticist George Galen has created a group of super humans called "Healers". Galen is the villain of the novel, but he's a charming villain, the most dangerous kind. His Healers are giants, around 7 feet in height, have the bodies of gods, and go throughout the community recruiting the sick and homeless in a cult like fashion for Galen's genetic experiment - to help the human race evolve.

Here's where the story gets interesting. Galen has developed a virus that cures deadly genetic diseases such as Parkinson's, Sickle-Cell Anemia, etc. Viruses work by attaching to DNA and changing their structure and Galen has developed a virus that will do just that for these diseases. However, the virus he has developed is deadly to the general population and causes near immediate death. It can save the life of the few who need it, but can cause the death of the many to whom it is toxic. In steps Frank Hartman. Frank Hartman has been recruited by the Biohazard Agency, an FBI-like governmental agency, to develop an anti-virus to or vaccination to Galen's virus. Galen soon realizes the plans that the government has to stop his advancement of the human race and one thrilling novel ensues.

I've always said that I love Card for his characters, and this novel is no exception. Frank Hartman is one of the strongest heroes I've read in a while. Joining him in his race against Galen are Galen's test subjects, a group of homeless people that he picks up, offering them a hot meal and a bed, and while he does give them that, they also get much more than what they thought they were in for.

Dolores is my favorite of this group. She is an elderly homeless woman with no family who slept on a playground before Galen picked her up. She has extremely low self esteem, but a wonderful sense of humor and was a delight to read and my heart went out to her. Nick and Jonathan were two younger punk kids who were homeless heroin addicts. Both put up a tough front, but Card shows us the young kid inside just begging for help and love. Their story was touching as well. Hal, I had no sympathy for! Hal is a drunk who is arrogant and loud when he's picked up and remains that way throughout the book...he just got on my nerves. And Byron is the last of the group. Byron was mistaken for a homeless person, but is really a tax attorney whose car broke down and he just needed a lift. He's a great guy and another strong character.

Put all of these wonderful characters together along with a doctor forced to perfom surgery on all of them against her will while her child is held at ransom along with one of the most thrilling and forward moving story lines I've read in awhile, and you get a book that is heart stopping and very meaningful in these days of lightning speed medical advancement...not that I think we're at risk of something like this ever actually happening.

This one just came out Tuesday, so it should be well stocked in most bookstores. I highly recommend as I usually do with most books :p But this one really was a 5 out of 5. It's based on an Orson Scott Card short story originally published in 1979 by the name of "Malpractice." OK, now back to the RIP Challenge!

Updates, Updates

As another tropical disturbance approaches Louisiana, I'm reminded that life is always uncertain. As much as I complain about what Katrina left us with down here and how it seemed to uproot life, it has done some positive things. Mainly, I've learned that there's no use in harping on things. Life is going to do what it's going to do and plenty of that is out of my control. What's out of my control is exactly that. So...something out of my control has happened, and I'm going with the flow...my start date for my new job has been pushed back to October 8th due to the state licensure board not meeting on the date that we originally thought they were going to. I can't start my new job until I have my licensure number, so now I have to wait until the beginning of the next pay period to start, which is October 8th. Originally, I was upset because I was anxious to get in and get started, but I'm just going to enjoy the extra time off while I have it. I still have my other job, so I'll just continue there until the 8th.

In other news, not a whole lot lot has been going on. There have been a couple of new arrivals at the house. The first was my little black poppet who is so very, very cool and fits in nicely with the purple poppet. I think that black and purple will join forces and be mascots together for the remainder of the RIP challenge as they seemed to do well together for The Historian. I also picked up the new Orson Scott Card book a couple of days ago and I'm almost finished that and it's amazing! But that should be no surprise coming out of my mouth. It's called Invasive Procedures, and I should have a review up either tonight or sometime tomorrow.

Should be going to see Across the Universe tomorrow. Anyone else going to see that one? It looks like it's really going to be a treat! I've been looking forward to this one for awhile now. It's rare that films this imaginative make it to the big screen and I'm hoping that it does well.

How I Found My Favorite Author...

As I mentioned the other day, Becky is hosting a challenge that officially begins in January 2008 called the Cardathon Challenge which focuses on books written by, introduced by, edited by, or reviewed by my favorite author, Orson Scott Card. As a part of this challenge, she made the suggestion that fans of Orson Scott Card share their stories of how they came to know and love this author, and I thought that it was such a neat idea! So here's my story.

My first "meeting" with Orson Scott Card was in 2001. I was taking a Science Fiction literature course while in college and my professor has assigned Ender's Game as one of the novels for the course. I had heard of Orson Scott Card and Ender's Game, but had never read anything of his and had no idea what to expect from this book. I was hooked from the first chapter of this book as I first met Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, a character that I would come to love, a character that will always be, in my opinion, one of the best characters ever written. I continued to read, literally blown away at Card's ability to write one of the best novel's I had ever read. I was fascinated by the depth of his characters. This book was about war, brutality, an alien species, the power of the human mind, the innocence and loss of innocence of children, yet it didn't have a strictly sci-fi feel...it was a human drama, it played with emotions, it was a beautiful story and a heartbreaking story. When I didn't think the book could get any better, it did. The last couple of chapters were my favorite and with this one book, Card was sealed as my favorite author.

I went on to read it's immediate sequel, Speaker for the Dead, which to this day remains my favorite book. I can't even put into words what Orson Scott Card has achieved with Speaker for the Dead. It's a book of many colors. It's certainly a sci-fi book, but it's also a book of philosophy, a book of religion, a book of politics, and it echoes some of the beautiful themes of ancient tragedies. Speaker for the Dead takes us into another world, in a different time, with a couple of different species. And we meet Ender at an older age when he is the Speaker for the Dead. The new world is settled by Portuguese colonists and is called Lusitania, and on this world we meet the Pequininos, or the "Piggies," quite possibly my favorite alien race ever written. Slowly, we the reader are allowed into the piggies' beautiful and strange culture and rituals as Card's masterpiece unfolds. The other two sequels, Xenocide and Children of the Mind are also wonderful books and rank high on my list of favorite books of Orson Scott Card's.

I have many favorite Card books and could go on and on, but I won't. Needless to say, he has written something for everyone. He's written sci-fi, fantasy, urban fantasy, fairy tales, horror, biblical fiction, historical fiction, plays, political fiction, etc. His bibliography is huge and one that I still haven't tackled completely after all these years, but I'm coming close ;) His series are wonderful. The three main series that he has written are his Ender series, the Homecoming Series (another favorite), and the Alvin Maker series which is absolutely amazing.

My favorite thing about Card and what sets him apart for me is his character development. He has the ability to write the most amazing characters I have ever read. I've written about this before and it's something that you can't truly appreciate until you've read one of his works. In nearly every review of his books, I see people mention this. I always feel so attached to his characters and it's so hard to let go when it's time to. I was very saddened when I reached the end of the Homecoming series, because I knew that was really the end. At least I know that with the Alvin Maker series, there's one more book, and in addition to War of Gifts, there are two more books in the works for the Ender series! One is called Shadows in Flight, and the other is Ender in Exile.

Since I've discovered Orson Scott Card, his website has become a daily visit of mine. The Hatrack community is amazing! The forums are great. People are extremely friendly over there, and I've had the pleasure of talking with Orson Scott Card himself 3 or 4 times as he actually posts occasionally on the forums. I was giddy as could be the first time I asked him a question on his forums and got a response! In fact the question was in regards to the future release of any type of new fantasy project and he responded that there was a new contemporary fantasy project in the works based on a magical world created in one of his earlier works that he was revisiting! So now that I'm looking back on that (that was in April of 2006), I'm thinking that may be the Mithermages series coming out in 2008!

As a last mention, this has become the most meaningful Card story for me. As you all know, our home was pretty much lost to Hurricane Katrina and we still haven't been able to rebuild. I've lived in a trailer, a hotel, a condo, a cruise ship, a duplex, and now we're finally renting a whole house :D Around last Christmas, Subterranean Press released their edition of Orson Scott Card's novel, Saints...which I will be reading as part of this challenge. It's a beautiful cover by the way. I asked for the book for Christmas and Orson Scott Card agreed to personalize all of the copies, as in "To Chris...Orson Scott Card." Our first Christmas after Katrina was spent in a trailer, our second was in a duplex...neither was home, so they were a little rough. I unwrapped my book (like a 10 year old boy getting a nintendo) and the book is signed "To Chris: Trying to find home -Orson Scott Card". I asked my mom if she told him to write that, and she said no...she just put my name on the order form. I'm sure it has something to do with the story which I haven't read, but I thought that it was the perfect coincidence and ray of light that I needed from this author that I've always felt so close to. So, Mr. Card...thanks for everything ;)

Space Boy by Orson Scott Card

So we're getting better! While Space Boy isn't up to Orson Scott Card's normal caliber of writing, it was an entertaining and enjoyable novella. I've had this one ordered through Subterranean Press for awhile and received it about a week ago. It's a wonderful edition as SubPress' books always are and is signed by Card with perfect pencil etched illustrations by Lance Card. I kept thinking of Interworld by Neil Gaiman while reading this one. Card and Gaiman are my two favorite authors and this one was very similar to Interworld in that it was a very fun, quick read, but nothing like what we normally get out of the author. But I don't think it was meant to be...this was more of a story for the sake of fun story telling. Don't get me wrong, his other books tell wonderful tales, but they usually have deeper meanings behind them.

Space Boy is the story of 13 year old Todd. Todd has always dreamed of traveling to space. He knows all of his planets all of their moons, all of the satellites, all of the astronauts, etc. Four years ago, Todd's mother disappeared without a trace. Todd has gone through counseling, the police have done searches, nothing has come up. His little brother has claimed that she was sucked up by monsters in his closet, but of course, no one believes him. Well one day, while Todd is in his back yard, he discovers a strange wavering portal in his backyard through which a naked elf like man appears. He soon discovers that this man has entered from another planet through a space "worm" who's rear end is in Todd's back yard and who's mouth is in...you guessed it, his little brother's closet.

Not recommended as a night time read to kids to who are scared of the monsters in the closet. I enjoyed this one and I'm glad to have it in my Orson Scott Card collection. I'd recommend it to die-hard Card fans like myself, but at $35 through SubPress, you might want to just borrow a copy if you're not a huge fan.

Next up for Card is Invasive Procedures in September and A War of Gifts in November!! I'm so excited about both of these. The first is about genetic experimentation and the second is a new Ender novel about Christmas in battle school. Can't wait!

Life And Other Things

I feel like I'm finally making a little bit of progress in life! I was contacted by a friend of a friend of my mom's who is a private practice counselor who was kind enough to offer me a little bit of advice on the job hunt, etc. The friend of my mom's sent him a copy of my resume and he said that he was very impressed by it...but where I may be running into a road block with not finding a job is that I don't mention anything about licensure on my resume. So after back and forth emails, I've now begun the licensure process for my LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor)! So I can now put on my resume that I'm "license eligible" which will hopefully open up some more doors for me since employers will see that I am indeed working my way towards becoming licensed. He said that he would think that people could figure that out since I have clinical experience and a Masters in counseling, but you never know. He was also kind enough to offer me a little bit of work! It's not much and I'm still very much on the lookout for a job....and nothing's definite yet, but he said that he does see some adolescents and if I'm interested, we can get together for lunch when I get back from Texas and talk about me maybe seeing a couple of his clients on a very part time basis. This would probably be just 2 or 3 clients a month, but it would give me some practice and some supervision which would be great! Very nice man!

In other news, I'm trying to cut back on my coffee drinking....ok, trying to cut back on my coffee BUYING. Here's the deal: I worked at a coffee shop for 5 years which caused a very bad coffee addiction. The result is that I now only drink coffee shop coffee, which is expensive. I've got it down to two a day, and now I'm trying to get it down to one a day. I usually have an iced coffee in the morning from one coffee shop and an iced latte in the afternoon from another coffee shop. Cutting out the iced latte as it's a little more expensive. So for the second night in a row, I successfully turned my car around as I was headed towards the coffee shop and instead came home and drank a Coke Blak...which is really good by the way...it's a strangely delicious mix of Coke and Black Coffee....trust me on this one, it works.

Currently reading The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger on Carl's and many others recommendations and it really is a wonderful book. I was hooked immediately....like on page 1 immediately. What a fascinating book. I don't know if this is the best book in the world for me to read right now as it made me desperately miss Megan even more than I already do, but I can't resist it. I think it actually shows how wonderful of an author Niffenegger is that I could find Megan and myself in her pages. She captures the essence of love perfectly...that comfortableness in memories and that pain of being away from the person you love. But I'll be traveling to Megan in two weeks and I can't wait to just have some us time....so instead of wallowing in my own self pity while reading this book, I'm enjoying it for the wonderful story that it is :)

Speaking of wonderful stories (don't you love the random flow of this post) Orson Scott Card has published the latest issue of his online magazine Intergalactic Medicine Show. For those who have been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that I'm slightly obsessed with this man. This is his online magazine of fiction...and it's only $2.50 an issue!! This issue is amazing! There is a brand new short story by Peter Beagle in it, a brand new interview with Peter Beagle, A new Ender short story by Orson Scott Card, and essay on Snape from Harry Potter by Orson Scott Card, and numerous other short stories by other great authors. I've bought every issue so far, and they are all amazing...worth so much more than $2.50...I guess that's the beauty of an online magazine...no printing costs!

I would also like to point you to Orson Scott Card's latest weekly review column. He reviews The Prestige and The Illusionist and I enjoyed his comments on both.

And one final thing and I swear I'll shut up for the night...this was just too cool. So, I'm at Border's last night looking for the new Stardust hardcover (which still isn't out) and I come across the coolest art book. It's The Art of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire! This book is incredible! No, I didn't buy it because the only copy they had was beat up, but they have all these great drawings by incredible artist and quite a few drawings by Charles Vess!!! I had no idea that Vess did any Song of Ice and Fire art. It was great to see some of the characters translated by an artist. There was a wonderful picture of Daenerys and a great one of Jon as well among so many others. 192 pages of art. I'll definitely be picking this one up soon.

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.

Hart's Hope by Orson Scott Card

In typical Orson Scott Card fashion, Hart's Hope does not disappoint. One of the things I love about Card is that each one of his books are entirely different, yet they are instantly identifiable as a book that he authored. What's even better is that he always exceeds my expectations. I could build up a book of his in my head for five years, and it would still be better than I could ever imagine. The man is magical with a pen (or a computer) and with Hart's Hope, he has written a truly magical tale.

Orson Scott Card has described Hart's Hope as the most classic fantasy novel he has written, meaning that the book holds all the elements of a traditional fantasy. It takes place during an unstated time, yet seems medieval in fashion. It involves magic, sorcerers, kingdoms lost, kingdoms fought for, kingdoms saved, vengeance, kings and queens. It's quite the epic novel wrapped up into a little under 300 pages.

Hart's Hope is the story of Orem, the unknown son of the king, Palicroval. Palicroval has killed the current king and taken the king's daughter as his wife. The king's daughter then decides to take vengeance on Palicroval and becomes "Queen Beauty" through a truly horrifying ritual of blood and sorcery. Queen Beauty in turn has put the king, Palicroval under a horrible spell and is able to see his every move. The Hart is a stag of 100 horns, a god of power. The Hart leads Palicroval to a woman who fathers Palicroval's son, though Palicroval is unaware of it. The child is named Orem and has powers that are unknown to anyone, even to himself. All of these storylines interweave into a very complex but surprisingly easy to understand plot of revenge that takes us on a truly magical, wondrous, and at times horrifyingly graphic, yet beautiful story.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've never been disappointed with Card. I've read nearly his whole library and find it very hard to rank books of his in order of which I like best, though I must admit that my favorite book of his is still Speaker For The Dead, the sequel to Ender's Game. The great thing about Card's novels is the love we feel for his characters. He has a gift of bringing a touch of humanity to all of his characters. I care about his characters like no other author's. Hart's Hope was no exception.

I enjoyed this one very much and would recommend it to any fans of fantasy. And for those that aren't crazy about that genre, you may still like this book. The writing and the story itself stand alone without being classified into a genre. Beautiful book!

Getting A Little Better

So today has been a much better day so far. My skills as a counselor were put to the test this morning and I'd say I passed. One of the social workers was out today which left me to fill her position for the day. How nerve wracking! I always have my supervisor there to help me out. Well today I didn't and I think I did fine. Did the process group (which I'm used to doing by myself), got all my discharge plans done, set up family sessions, ran a couple of family sessions and just all in all had a pretty good day. Very busy day, but good nonetheless.

I find that I like it when things are busy. I'd take busy any day over bored. When I'm at work, no matter where that may be, I am just not a fan of idle time. The day progresses faster and I get a certain feeling of accomplishment knowing that everything's been done. I feel like if I'm not busy, that means I'm falling behind...a feeling that just overwhelms me too much. I need to be on top of things. This is sort of a theme of my day to day life. Whether at work, at school, or at home, I'm always doing something. Though I must say, I've learned to enjoy idle time at home a little more than I used to.

Right now, I'm filling my idle time by reading Orson Scott Card's Hart's Hope for the once upon a time challenge. It's wonderful so far. It amazes me how great of an author Card is. I've read about 30 of his books now and have not been disappointed by a single one. Now that's rare, though I feel the same way about Neil Gaiman. Every time I jump into a Card book, I think "it'll be good, but won't be as good as some others." You figure there's got to be a mess up somewhere in there. But there's not. Not only are all of his books great, but they even exceed my expectations. My favorite thing about Card is his character development. He has the greatest ability of any author I've read to create real, human characters...characters that we feel for and relate to. Can't wait to finish this one, though at the same time, I wish it were longer. Review should be coming in the next couple of days.

Web Wanderings (3/15/07)

I'd like to start off the web wanderings of the week with Lisa Snellings-Clark's amazing PoppetPlanet. The site is "officially being launched on Saturday" but is now open for the viewing and it is wonderful! It's everything that a poppet lover could want an more. Included is a poppet registry, photo's of poppets traveling the world, beautiful art by Lisa, a wonderful forum that I shall be joining shortly, and a store. Lisa is opening up the Vernal Equinox Sale on March 17th (this saturday) which I'm sure will feature all kinds of amazing art.

Next up is Orson Scott Card's Intergalactic Medicine Show. In the most recent letter from the editor there is talk about Peter Beagle doing an all new short story and interview for the next issue. I'll definitely keep everyone updated on when the issue arrives online. I've never read anything by Beagle, though The Last Unicorn always seems to be on my list and i saw in this letter that he recently wrote a sequel to The Last Unicorn called Two Hearts which is a novelette that won the Hugo for best novelette and is also nominated for the Nebula.

Neil Gaiman has announced his new corporation website by the name of The Blank Corporation which looks to be very cool. Not alot is up there yet, but the site is still great already.

And finally, Endicott Studio's did a great little short article on one of my favorite artists, Mark Ryden. Ryden's work is extremely commercial yet there's so much meaning and hidden details in his paintings. I just love the look of his stuff so much. It can be so bright, set so somber and sinister at the same time. If by any chance anyone from Los Angeles reads this, I recommend that you go to his exhibition called the Tree Show at the Michael Kohn gallery from now until April 28th.

A Long Overdue Sick Day AKA Tons of Cool News

Due to maybe a fever and mostly horrible sinus pain, I decided to have a day of rest. And it has been most appreciated so far.

I woke up feeling horrible and sneezing my head off, but still got dressed and headed to work. After getting my coffee and still not feeling better, I decided that I would be doing myself a favor by taking the day off, and I've made it quite an enjoyable day off.

First things first, I went and finally got my passport. I've been needing to do that for awhile, so I finally got my butt to the post office and payed an arm and a leg for a passport that should be here in 6-8 weeks.

Came home for a little while, layed in bed and read some of Stardust, which is wonderful so far. Gaiman never fails.

While laying in bed, I saw on CNN that Marvel is killing Captain America in the latest issues that hit the stands today, so I decided to stop on by the local comic shop and check it out. I haven't been to the comic books store in probably two years now, and it was great to go back, but I don't think I have the finances to support that habit again.

While I was there, I picked up the Captain America issue in which he does in fact die. However, I recommend that you also get Civil War: The Initiative #1. Not saying anything, just get that as well. All the marvel books are kind of combined into one right now with this whole "civil war" series. I also picked up old favorites Ultimate Spiderman and Ultimate X-Men which are still as great as when they first appeared on the shelves as well as the first 2 Dark Tower books, a 7 issue run of the Stephen King series that Marvel is putting out. The artwork for the Dark Tower books is done by Jae Lee and is really beautiful. While at the shop I also found Stardust fully illustrated by Charles Vess (the older version) but did not buy it because I didn't have the extra 20 bucks. A new version is being published soon though with all new illustrations by Vess.

I picked up a special movie issue of Wizard which has plenty of cool stuff in it, one of which is a feature story on the Stardust movie with quotes from Gaiman and Vess. Wizard published a list of 100 upcoming cool movies in the back. Many were surprises and many were movies that I have been looking forward to for awhile. Here are my favorites:

28 Weeks Later (sequel to 28 Days Later, May 11, 2007 (my b-day))
Batman: The Dark Knight (2008)
Books of Magic (Based on a comic written by Neil Gaiman)
Castlevania
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (May 16, 2008)
Coraline (Neil Gaiman)
Fraggle Rock: The Movie (Ahmet Zappa writing screenplay for Jim Henson Productions)
Halloween (directed by Rob Zombie, Oct 17, 2007)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (July 13, 2007)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Nov 21, 2008)
Hellboy 2: The Golden Army (June 2008)
Indiana Jones 4
Jurassic Park IV
Magneto (yes, the Magneto)
Pirates of the Carribean: At Worlds's End (May 25, 2007)
Power of the Dark Crystal (Sequel to the Dark Crystal, in production at Jim Henson Productions, May 2008)
Resident Evil: Extinction (Sept 2007)
Shrek the Third (May 18, 2007)
The Simpsons Movie (July 27, 2007)
Spiderman 3 (May 4, 2007)
Star Trek XI (about the early days of Kirk and Spock, 2008)
STAR WARS TV!!!! (will run at least 100 episodes, set between eps III and IV, early years of Luke)
Wolverine (yes, the Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman)
Wonder Woman (written and directed by Joss Whedon)

edit: also just saw from Reel Fanatic's blog that M. Night Shyamalan has a new movie entitled The Green Effect due out in 2008! His description is that "his new flick will be part-"War of the Worlds" sans aliens and part-"Soylent Green" madness."

One more piece of news...according to Locus Magazine's incredible online list of upcoming books, Orson Scott Card will release 2 more books in edition to SubPress' Space Boy. The first comes out in September. It's written by Card and Aaron Johnson, is published by TOR and is called Invasive Procedures....based on one of his short stories. The other one comes out in November and I've been looking forward to this one for 3 years. It's called War of Gifts, is published by TOR, and is basically "christmas in battle school"...an Ender's Game book.

That's all I've got....that's enough.

Some Fun Book News

This post is mostly about Subterranean Press. You'd swear that I work for them, but I don't...they won't even send me ARCs which I would happily review ;)

I was very excited to wake up this morning and see that M is for Magic by Neil Gaiman shall be coming out this summer from SubPress. Even more exciting is that they have a limited edition that will be signed by Neil and Gahan Wilson, the artist who is doing the artwork. They are also numbered. So I pre-ordered it. It is a collection of short stories for "all ages". The price is normally $60, but if you buy it today and mention the newsletter in the special instructions box, you can get it for $48 dollars. But only today. And that is precisely what I did.

The second book that I ordered through them is The Space Boy by Orson Scott Card which is coming out in August. Artwork is done by his cousin (or nephew...can't remember). This one is limited to 2000 copies of the limited edition and is signed and numbered by the author.

SubPress' newsletter also mentions 2 new books forthcoming from John Scalzi. The first is Old Man's War which is a Hugo nominee (or was..not really sure) and the second is The Ghost Brigades. I keep advertising for John Scalzi on here, but I've yet to read one of his books! What can I say, he just sounds like an author I would like. I think this mostly because of Carl's review of The Android's Dream which sounds right up my alley.

SubPress is also carrying a free online magazine with all kinds of cool stuff including short stories by Poppy Z. Brite, John Scalzi, and Joe R. Landsdale. Very cool.

If you order any book from SubPress between now and Friday, they will enter your name into a drawing for 2 very rare editions of Stephen King books that they have published. Free stuff rocks!

Finally, on Endicott's blog, they have published a review of China Mieville's Un Lun Dun. It sounds great. I really want to read this book. I've hears so much about it and it's all good. Plenty of people are comparing him to Neil Gaiman, a connection which is once more maid in this article on Endicott's blog.

Happy Monday everyone! Hope your week got off to a good start.

Web Wanderings and Fun Finds

Plenty of fun stuff on the web today. I'll go down the blog list. In this post, Neil Gaiman talks about an upcoming issue (April 2007) of Fantasy and Science Fiction that is somewhat of a tribute to Gene Wolfe. He wrote an article about Gene Wolfe as did two other authors and there is something (maybe a short story) called Memorare by Gene himself. In the same issue, Charles DeLint does book reviews. I used to subscribe to Fantasy and Science Fiction a couple of years ago and I'm not really sure why I didn't renew. I think I just may have to once again.

Next up is the second entry in Literacy Chic's Lenten Meals series. In this entry she gives a delicious recipe for Shrimp or Crawfish jambalaya. I know her from living here in New Orleans, so I can assure you that this is a great, authentic recipe. I highly recommend that you try this one out for a taste of real New Orleans cooking, and use Louisiana crawfish if you can find them (much better than Chinese crawfish. We had boiled crawfish for dinner tonight and they were deeeelicious.

Lisa Snellings-Clark writes about an interview she did for Fantasy Magazine which I'm looking forward to. She also talks about Poppet Planet and mentions that the gallery will be open again around St. Patrick's Day. Can't wait to see the poppets for that (assuming she makes them). Neil Gaiman has also changed the Magnificent Oracular Journal to hold a Lisa Snellings-Clark poppet.
In Carl's Friday Favorites, he introduces us to an artist by the name of Raymond Swanland. His images are breathtaking and he has the ability to capture so much life in his paintings. I especially like the second one down by the name of The Golden Hills of Westria. Great stuff!

Subterranean Press offers their edition of I Sing the Body Electric by Ray Bradbury which looks wonderful. But unfortunately at $150 for the cheaper version, I will not be buying this one. If you have the money, I'm sure it's worth it though. It's numbered and signed by Bradbury himself.

Finally (in web wanderings at least) in his latest Uncle Orson Reviews Everything column, Orson Scott Card reviews a new documentary called Done the Impossible: The Fans Tale Firefly and Serenity. It is a DVD that captures the huge underground fan base for Firefly, in my opinion, one of the best shows ever on tv that was unfortunately canceled after only 12 episodes to make way for reality shows. This DVD looks great and I can't wait to check it out.

Enter the fun finds. While not as numerous as the web wanderings, still great stuff.

I got in my car today and caught the tail end of an ad on XM Radio for some new show with Orson Scott Card! I knew there was a reason I loved XM so much, they love my favorite author! I'm not entirely sure what it is though, and their website and a Google search did nothing for me. Anyone know about this? What I do know is that he will apparently have a show on Sonic Theater, XM channel 163. I just discovered this channel today after hearing the ad. It's so great! It's like audio books 24/7 and every night they play sci-fi stuff. How cool. Alot of these are the great old time sci-fi radio shows. Can't wait to see what Orson Scott Card is doing with this channel.

Finally, I decided to make a stop by best buy tonight and picked up a couple of goodies. The first is the soundtrack for Children of Men, and what I've listened to so far is great and just as haunting as the movie. I've been wanting this since I saw the movie. The music was great. Glad I finally bought it. I also picked up The Prestige on DVD. I haven't seen this yet, but I'm sure I'll love it. First of all, it has something to do with magic. Anything related to fantasy in some way is ok by me. Second, the actors are great. Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Michael Caine, David Bowie, and the smoking hot and still talented Scarlett Johansen. Can't wait to see this. I'm sure my review will be posted later tonight.

Treasure Box by Orson Scott Card

Orson Scott Card has tackled many genres. He's done Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Speculative fiction, Biblical fiction, thrillers, political novels, and horror novels. Treasure Box fits into the latter category.

Card has written 3 horror novels: Lost Boys, Homebody, and Treasure Box. Each has it's own story to tell and each is unique. Treasure Box is the story of Quentin Fears (pronounced "fierce"). Quentin lost his sister Lizzy at a very young age. Since then, he has always felt a close, almost supernatural bond with her. After making many wise investments and becoming a millionaire Quentin meets a woman, Madeline, who reminds him of his long lost sister and marries her without knowing much about her. In meeting her family for the first time, Card gives us the perfect example of why we should not rush into a marriage when we don't know the person we are betrothed to.

Treasure Box is a haunting and thrilling supernatural ride from beginning to end. Card once again does not disappoint. He shows how he can tackle any genre and in doing so, become the master of that genre. Behind every Card book is a cast of strong, inspiring, human characters that the reader grows attached to. Treasure Box is no exception. Card has a powerful ability to portray his characters as living souls and someone that each person can relate to. He knows the human psyche and soul well.

I've read alot of criticism of Treasure Box, and I don't see why. I thought that it was a wonderful book from beginning to end. I've heard many people say that it "started too slow but gets really good in the middle." I don't think it started to slow at all. Rather than rushing in to the heart of the story, Card takes the time to build up his characters while at the same time setting up the story.

Card's done another wonderful job with Treasure Box, and I give it two thumbs up and a strong recommendation for someone looking for something more than another Stephen King novel.

Three Picture Books

I've had three picture books, or children's books if you may, sitting on my bookshelf for quite some time now. I hadn't gotten around to reading them yet, so I figured I'd devote my reading to those tonight. Every now and then I love to go back to the early days of reading.

The first book was The Wolves in the Walls by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Dave McKean. What a wonderful little book! The Wolves in the Walls is about what may be behind those things that go bump in the night. It's the story of a young girl named Lucy who hears wolves in the walls. Of course, her parents don't believe her until the wolves come out, and then all hell breaks loose. This is a great book for children who are afraid of night time noises. It shows that the source of the noises may be just as scared of you as you are of them. It's beautifull illustrated by Dave McKean. Like The Day I Swapped my Dad for Two Goldfish, The Wolves in the Walls can easily be mistaken for an art book. I don't think there's a better Writer/Artist duo than Gaiman and McKean. If you haven't already read this one, do yourself a favor and give it a read. There was a play put on not too long ago that was based on this book and unfortunately I didn't get to see it as it didn't come anywhere near New Orleans. I would've really enjoyed that.

The second book was Magic Mirror by Orson Scott Card, illustrated by Nathan Andrew Pinnock. This one was very strange, very different. It's subtitled "a fable for adults." Without the illustrations, this book would have been lost. Neat idea though. The story is about a queen, a king, and their son and daughter. The queen feels alone and turns to her magic mirror where she sees images from other worlds, other peoples lives, and the goings on of others. One day she sees a particularly disturbing image that drives her to an almost unfortunate fate, but her children intervene. So you're thinking medieval times, right? Well the illustrations make this not just another magic mirror fairy tale. The illustrations show medieval times, but mixed in there is modern society. The magic mirror is a sort of computer screen showing her news from the world and videos of other's lives. The castle has a remote controlled garage, the daughter is a modern day goth, and sea shells are cell phones. The illustrations are not really my cup of tea, but their substance adds to the story. While it is certainly not the best or most well known story of Card's, it's still worth the read in my opinion. It's very unique.

The final book of the night was Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson. This is one of my all time favorite children's books. I remember vividly reading this book as a child. I must have read it a hundred times, and it still makes me smile when I read it today. It is the story of Harold, a boy with an extraordinary imagination. Harold creates the world around him with a purple crayon. He leaves his room one night and goes on an adventure led by his imagination and a crayon. The illustrations are so simple, yet capture the imagination of a child so well. I got this book for Christmas from my sister and was so happy to have it again. I lost my original copy when my house flooded in 1995. This is definitely one that I will hold on to for my children one day. It's one of those classics that will always remain relevant.

So that concludes my picture book reading. Give any of these a whirl if you're in the mood for something light and enjoyable. Take yourself back to the innocence of childhood. And now, back to Charles de Lint's Greenmantle.

A few goodies from Subterranean Press

Subterranean Press has quite a few goodies to offer right now. I've mentioned them before on this blog. They are a wonderful publisher that publishes special, limited, numbered, and/or signed clothbound editions of great books.

First up is an author I heard about from Carl V. by the name of John Scalzi. This book is entitled You're Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop: John Scalzi on Writing. It sounds like a hilarious educative book on Writing: one that I may check out. Carl V. recommended this writer to me when I was complaining on my blog about not being able to write. Sub Press is offering a Signed, fully cloth bound limited edition for $35. How cool!

Next up is Orson Scott Card's novel Saints. It was originally released way back in the day titled A Woman of Destiny. But Card did not like that title and did not like the cover art for the novel. This new edition has a cover (and a beautiful one I may add) that was chosen by Card. It got a great review from Publisher's Weekly and the Trade edition is still available from Sub Press for $35. This was the first purchase I made through them, and it truly is a beautiful, high quality book. And it came signed by Orson Scott Card with "To Chris: Trying to Find Home" handwritten by Mr. Card. Finding home is a central theme of this book. The book is currently going into it's second printing through Sub Press. Lettered and Limited editions are sold out.

And how excited was I when I saw that Sub Press also has another brand new Card novel on it's way. I know nothing about it except for what the description on the website says. It's titled "The Space Boy" and will be released in August. Limited edition at $35 (2000 Hardcover, signed copies) and the Lettered edition at $150 (26 Leatherbound, signed copies). I think I may have to settle for the Limited. It's also an illustrated book which makes me excited. Love the Sci-fi art.

Next up is A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin from the Song of Fire and Ice series with numerous (over 70) illustrations by Tom Canty. This book is a little more pricey...o.k., alot more pricey. $260 for the limited edition (448 signed, numbered hardcover copies in slipcase) and $410 for the lettered edition (52 signed copies, housed in a custom slipcase, with artist remarque (small illustration)). The art for this book looks amazing. I don't think I'll be affording this one though.

Finally, Subterranean has an awesome magazine that is published I believe quarterly entitled Subterranean. Go figure. They are six bucks an issue, which is a steal to me. Issue 5 has Orson Scott Card's short story entitled "Mazer in Prison" which focuses on Mazer Rackham from the Ender series after the first Bugger war. Mazer in Prison was first showcased in Orson Scott Card's online magazine called Intergalactic Medicine Show. That's a great magazine by the way. Brand new "enderverse" story in each issue written by Card along with other great Sci-Fi and Fantasy short fiction. Usually an audiobook and a few more extras are also included. And the art is amazing for each story. Intergalactic Medicine Show is only $2.50 an issue and I highly recommend it to everyone. The point I was trying to get to was that Orson Scott Card said that the enderverse stories would never be published in a print format, only available through the online magazine. But here's your chance to get one of the stories in print.

And no, Subterranean Press paid me nothing to write this....back to Heroes