Wordsmithing and Worldbuilding: July Wrap-Up Post and Happy August!

Over at Feed Your Fiction Addiction, they've started a link-up called Monthly Rewind. Basically, you summarize your monthly blogging in a post and put the link on the page above. Super simple, and it's a nice way to see what everyone has been up to (just in case you missed it!).

The downside? It means another month just flew past. Does anyone else feel like they blinked the year half gone?

July Recap:

Well, my posts are still pretty scattered and thin (it's summer and summer = work), but I did manage to get seven posts out. I've got some really fun tags to get to (hopefully this week), some book reviews to write, and my work schedule will slow down a teeny bit by the end of the month. We shall see. Thank you to all of you lovely folks who have read my posts and/or commented, it means a lot.

July Posts:

I completed my third Beautiful People post and interviewed the fabulous (and silly) dancing thief, Jupiter Jive.

I SURVIVED CAMP HOGWARTS Though it definitely took a toll on my reading/blogging/writing!

I managed to scoop up some books, which I recapped in a Top Ten Tuesday.

I reviewed the novella Mourning Cloak by Rabia Gale - 4.5 stars out of 5

I also (finally) reviewed Sunbolt by Intisar Khanani - 5 out of 5 stars (LOVE)

I counted down my Top 10 Bookish/Book-loving People, which was harder than it should have been.

And on the last day, I managed to squeeze in a review of the large Six of Crows ARC that's been sitting on my shelf - 4.5 stars out of 5

Books/Movies/Television:

I read a TON of books for a sort-of secret reviewing thingamabob for work. Some of them were good. Most of them were meh.

I started reading Mistborn. I am almost finished, and I love it. I also started reading Legacy of Kings, so you should see a review for that in August.

ANT MAN! I laughed, I laughed some more, I laughed until I almost cried. So. Much. Fun.

Finally started watching Naruto from the beginning. Warning: Addictive Substance

Stayed up too late watching Poldark and drooling over the scenery. (Cornwall is gorgeous, people).

Coming to an August Near You:

I have some REALLY EXCITING WRITING NEWS (that totally justifies that caps lock), which I plan on devoting a blog post to very soon.

I went to a library booksale today and came back with loot:

So many beauties. I found vintage Nancy Drew, some of James Clavell's novels about Japan (that I've been meaning to read for ages), and a pristine hardcover copy of one of my favorite books, The Thirteenth Tale. There's also a copy of Robin McKinley's Beauty, and the first Ultimate X-Men comic collection, among other things. Not too bad for five minutes of browsing before work!

I love books, but I also love art, so I think I'll do at least one post a month on the cool art that I find on the internet/other places. To start us off, here are four gorgeous pieces of bookish fanart by the incredibly talented community on Deviantart.

This is Melkor from the Silmarillion, by J. R. R. Tolkien. The piece was done by the talented French artist, Ixionvincent. It's absolutely beautiful, and seems to fit more with Tokien's vision of the Valar. If you'd like to see more, click here.

Image Copyright shel-yang

So this beautiful fanart of Kakashi and Sasuke from Naruto, done in pencil and watercolor, is just one of artist shel-yang's pieces. There are a bunch of lovely ones, but I just loved the composition, mood, and use of color in this. If you'd like to see more, click here.

According to the author, MissRaraa, this piece was inspired by Garth Nix's Sabriel. Again, the composition is wonderful, and I love the almost whimsical feel of the art contrasted with the subject matter. You can check out more of the artist's excellent gallery here.

This is, naturally, a cover piece for Neil Gaiman's wonderful children's book, The Graveyard Book. Artist Aschmer (Angela Schmer) completed this in just two days! You can find more of her excellent work here.