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.

Copyright Ixionvincent

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.

Copyright MissRaraa

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.

Copyright Aschmer

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.

So that's all folks. Hopefully you are having a lovely summer and getting to read some fabulous books and blog posts!

Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 Books I'd Like to See as Movies/TV Shows

Image Credit: Broke and the Bookish

After a week-long hiatus due to an (awesome) trip to Manhattan for Book Expo,* I am ready to get back in the ring with a Top 10 Tuesday via The Broke and the Bookish. If you haven't already, make sure to check out their Top 10s and other features here.

I tend to be leery of book to screen adaptations, though there are really good ones out there.** Still, it's hard for me to see beloved characters (or awesome plots) destroyed. Movies like Ella Enchanted (which would have made a great movie as is) or the 2008 Prince Caspian had me running for the hills. That being said, I love BBC miniseries adaptations (most of the time), such as the 1995 Pride and Prejudice or the 2006 Jane Eyre.*** (all gifs are from Tumblr.com, and belong to respective copyright holders)

So here are the Top 10 books I'd like to see hit the screen (in varying degrees of detail):

1. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexander Dumas) as a BBC miniseries

There is a movie of this that lots of people love. I read the book first, so I was pretty disappointed. It's an epic (read: long) adventure/revenge novel that was practically written for TV. Duels, honor, Betrayal, daring escapes, vengeance, and lots of characters. The BBC's stellar casting, sets, costumes, and attention to detail are a perfect fit. With the right actor as Edmond Dantes, it could be a cult classic.

2. The Lunar Chronicles (Marissa Meyer) as an anime (or movies)

As Sailor Moon was one of Meyer's biggest inspirations, it would be fitting for her Lunar Chronicles to go the anime route. Can't you just see New Beijing as an anime city? With the right group of artists and writers, this could be an awesome cross-cultural phenomenon. Everything from the characters to the futuristic world would translate so well. And seriously, Prince Kai's fan club was meant for anime---->

3. The Dante Club (Matthew Pearl) as a movie or miniseries

Tell me I'm not the only one who wants to see Longfellow and his literary cronies solve murders connected to Dante's Inferno? Cast a group of brilliant actors, and sell it as the murder mystery/costume drama that you didn't know you needed. I think it would be awesome. I haven't seen an old school straight-up murder mystery on the big screen in awhile (there might be one, I just didn't see it).

4. The Others Series (Anne Bishop) as a miniseries

I have gushed about these books other places, so I'll just say that now is the perfect time for a serious urban fantasy/political thriller fusion. Meg Corbyn is such a kind, unique heroine, and the world of Namid is fascinating and brimming with great material. And who doesn't want to see Howling Good Reads as a tv set? With a vampire and a Wolf manning the counter? And Tess, Tess would be a great TV character. Actually, they all would. (You can read an excerpt of this book here) 

5. The Queen's Thief Series as a Miniseries

Roman/Greek inspired mythology, politics, adventure, costly mistakes, awesome characters, and at the center, cheeky thief Eugenides. I think you could split each of the books into segments and air them in groups of three. Irene and Gen, when played by the right actors, could be one of those pairs that keeps everyone watching on the edge of their seats. (One of those will they end up getting married or getting executed things)

6. Sabriel (Garth Nix) as a movie

Another book I have yakked on ad nauseam. Sabriel has everything: fantasy, anti-necromancers, a world of decaying grandeur, slow-burning romance, and most importantly, a strong and logical heroine who wears practical clothes and is more worried about saving her dad than getting the guy. The Old Kingdom would be epic on the big screen.

7. Crown Duel/Court Duel (Sherwood Smith) as movies

Described as "a fantasy of manners," this book (my edition was one volume) is one of my favorite pick me up reads. It's a little Scarlet Pimpernel, a little Pride and Prejudice, and some general silliness (and the fan language!). There are pokes at fantasy tropes, and manners madness, and adventures. It would make a great movie (or two) for those days when you are tired of "dark, gritty, realism."

Image Credit

8. Neverwhere (Neil Gaiman) as a movie

There is an excellent radio adaptation of this book, with a cast that should have been grabbed for an actual movie. James McAvoy as Richard. Natalie Dormer as Door. Sophie Okonedo as Hunter. And Benedict Cumberbatch as The Angel Islington. At the very least, seek out the audiobook and imagine it as you listen. So good.

9. The Two Princesses of Bamarre (Gail Carson Levine) as a movie

TPoB is actually my favorite book of Gail Carson Levine's. I discovered it on one of those family vacations (the ones where you're supposed to participate instead of reading) and fell in love with the story of two sisters. The fantasy world is lovely, but it is really Addie and Meryl's relationship that makes this book so special. Addie, with her hard won courage and terror of spiders, always struck me as such a real girl. I think that (in the right hands), this could be made into a classic fantasy movie. There are some great fan-casting pics here at iflist.com

Image Credit

10. The Monster Blood Tattoo series as a miniseries/movies.

Sort of steampunk series that has Dickens vibes and awesome characters. It would be a cool miniseries, as long as the (many) monsters were well done. However, the whole thing would really hinge on the actors playing Rosamund and his mentor Europe. Europe is a little ex-society girl, a little Natasha Romanoff, and all boss-so you'd have to have a great actress with just the right balance of edge and superiority. Rosamund would be best suited by a pale English waif with phenomenal acting powers. I could just see all the quirky other characters as famous cameos. Maybe Guillermo Del Toro could achieve the mixture of dark, sober, and whimsical necessary?

Close contenders: Rot & Ruin, The Silmarillion (not the whole thing though! I think Beren and Luthien's story would make an epic miniseries), Artemis Fowl (which they've been talking about forever), The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Sorcery and Cecelia, Captain Blood (yeah, I know there's an Errol Flynn one, but I want a reboot with Orlando Bloom as Peter Blood!), and every single Marvel comic with the Winter Soldier (Black Widow too).****

So is there any book you'd really like to see come to life? Do movie adaptations of your favorites scare you too? Are you better at casting book/movies than me? (Probably, I'm terrible). Sound off in the comments

Footnotes:

*BEA post to come, promise!

**The Princess Bride is a perfect example of the book-to-movie adaptation.

***Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell would have been on this list if it wasn't already a miniseries. Which I can't watch until the BBC lets us have it!

****Speaking of comics-they tend to adapt better. Netflix's Daredevil is my new favorite thing. So. Well. Done.

Happy 20th Anniversary Sabriel! #SabrielDay

“Death and what came after death was no great mystery to Sabriel. She just wished it was.” Sabriel, Garth Nix

20 years ago, Garth Nix published Sabriel, an incredible fantasy novel about a girl who is destined to put the dead in their place and save her world. Pretty awesome, right? 

I didn't stumble across Sabriel until I was almost eighteen.* I was going through a fantasy "dry spell,"as I call them, and I purchased Sabriel on a whim at an indie bookstore. 

I didn't know what to expect, but I had re-read The Hero and the Crown for (possibly) the twentieth time, and The Lord of the Rings trilogy for the eighth or so time, and I had started and stopped so many new fantasy novels in between. I was starting to think I'd read every awesome fantasy novel ever, and that no books were going to get me like my favorites again.**

So I picked up Sabriel with zero expectations It had the cover at right--> which is pretty cool, and (bonus) has  a fully and functionally clad female character on the front!

From the opening paragraph, where Sabriel brings a friend's rabbit back from death, I was hooked. I read the book in one sitting, ignoring food, vacation activities, and everything else, absorbed in the Old Kingdom and invested in the characters.

When I was done, I shoved it into my younger sister's hands and told her she had to read it too, so we could discuss it. When I got back from vacation, I did the same to my friends.

And then it wasn't until years later, when I took a job at an indie bookstore, that I met anyone else who had heard of/read Sabriel. I have been doing my tiny part to fix that ever since.

So what is it about Sabriel that makes it so good? This is something I ask myself every time I read a book and love it that much. I'm a writer as well as a reader, and I study my favorites in hopes of someday writing a book that affects someone else in the same way.

“Does the walker choose the path, or the path the walker?” Sabriel, Garth Nix.

Sabriel has a young heroine with untapped powers and an intimidating destiny-typical epic fantasy material-but there is a lot more here.So this doesn't get even soppier and meander everywhere, I'll summarize in a list:

My 5 Favorite Things About Sabriel (a.k.a. 5 reasons you should read it)

1. Sabriel herself. I related to this serious, responsible girl with a deep love for her father, commitment to duty, and drive to do her best as the world gets crazier around her. And she is an Abhorsen (basically an anti-necromancer) which is, in my opinion, one of the coolest "powers" of any character ever.
2. The magic system. Fantasy is and always will be my first love as a reader/writer, so I have read a lot of books with magic. The ancient Charter magic/innate power, binding words, and most of all, the bells, are an intricate, beautiful web of magic that feels natural.
3. The world. The Old Kingdom seems to be dripping with history. You feel like you are barely scraping the surface of something ancient and fascinating. The other books in the series explore the world a bit more, but still leave you wanting to know more of the lore and geography. It is a fantasy world in the best since, familiar enough to be believable, and fantastic enough to lose you in it.
4. Mogget and Touchstone.*** As "sidekicks" go, these two make great foils for Sabriel. Touchstone, far from just being a plot device or just the love-interest, is a dry, bitterly funny character in his own right. And Mogget manages to walk the fine line between hilarious and creepy, with his sarcasm and sinister undertones. And he's in the form of a white cat. (When Sabriel first rescues Touchstone is one of the funniest parts of the book.)
5. The Abhorsens. They are basically silencers for the dead (or as above, anti-necromancers). Using their bells and Charter magic, they basically keep the balance, so that the dead stay dead. Death, in the world of Sabriel is made up of 9 precincts before a final gate. Abhorsens (at varying degrees of personal risk) can cross the borders of life and death to enter the river of Death. Sabriel inherits this position (eventually) from her father, who is mainly referred to as "the Abhorsen"in the book. This doesn't really tell you how cool the Abhorsens are, so you'll have to read and find out

I could go on, but I want you to actually read Sabriel if you haven't already. If you like high fantasy, strong heroines, or interesting magic systems, Sabriel is a must-read.

So, have you read Sabriel or anything else by Garth Nix? What is your favorite female fronted fantasy novel?

-R

Footnotes:

*Coincidentally, Sabriel's age ;)

**It was a bit naive of me, but still, it gets harder and harder to find books that are so absorbing.

***One of several subtle nods to Shakespeare. A bard geek like me gets excited about things like that.

I'm Still Kicking . . .

Okay, so I knew starting a blog was a bad idea :)

   What happened RIGHT after I started: I got a job, and worked about 50 hours right off. Then, I had a custom glove order (Awesome!) that needed attention. And then I got a great book idea and went deep into the abyss of inspiration. This was also good, but intense. So today I am revisiting everything I have neglected in September. It's a long list.
    So hello, I'm back.

    Shealynn, from Shealynn's Fairy Shop and Blog, kindly featured our work in a wonderful blog post here, where you can enter to win a set of Elven Handflowers, and a $10 gift certificate to VirvatuliDesigns.

   Anyhow, another thing I've been behind on is the 30 Day Drawing Challenge I started back in July. I got stuck on Day 6: Favorite Book Character, which is an almost impossible task. After much deliberation, I narrowed my list down to 23 pivotal characters that I loved. Then I decided to draw ALL of them, but as chibi, instead of as full blown out pieces. I selected two of them, one male, one female, to illustrate in Manga/Fusion style, which is, of course, a mixture of Japanese Manga and American/Western art styles. For these two, I selected Sabriel, from Garth Nix's Sabriel, which is one of my favorite books as well.

 It's the story of a young school girl who lives next door to an old kingdom filled with magic, among other things. Her father is the Abhorsen, an anti-necromancer, who puts the dead back instead of calling them up. Sabriel receives a message from her father, who is caught in Death (conceived as a giant river, with different gates and levels, sort of like Dante's hell meets the Greek underworld). He sends her his sword and his bells, the tools of the Abhorsen's trade.
   Though she's terrified, and worried, Sabriel goes into the Old Kingdom, and encounters one horror after the next on her way to her father. It's a great story, and the characters are awesome. I drew Sabriel just as she is confronting one of the dead.

  You can see the picture full size here

    The second picture is of Tom Imura, from Jonathan Maberry's coming-of-age/zombie apocalypse novel, Rot & Ruin.

Now, I never would have picked this book up if not for a review I read in a literary mag. Just look at the cover, and it's about zombies (boring) and coming-of-age (worse than zombies), two things I--as a reader--have never liked in my fiction. But this review said it was more heart, less gross, and that the central story was really about two brothers' relationship in a hostile world, and that the older brother was a modern Samurai. I was intrigued, so I gave it a shot. Now it is another one of my favorite books.

    So Tom Imura. He's not the main character, rather, he's the main character's older half-brother. He's a complex guy with a story that unravels throughout the novel, showing us (and his brother Benny), that Tom is not just a calm, peaceful man who kills zombies. He's a hero, self-sacrificial, and he's got quite a past. His parents were Japanese American, which makes his Samurai thing more believable, and is a standout for YA post-apocalyptic fiction.

   I depicted Tom as he is in a memorable part of the novel-dressed in pajamas, a rain slicker, and barefoot, with his katana-on a rainy night as he heads to rescue his brother Benny, and other townspeople, from invading zombies. The aftermath isn't humorous, but the idea was, and I am in serious doubt as to Tom wearing plaid pajamas, but who can choose their look after the apocalypse, really?

       Soooo, who were the rest of the 23 characters? Here's a list with links to the books they came from-and silly categories to excuse the fact that I couldn't narrow them down. Stay posted for their chibi portraits as I color and upload them.

1. Favorite Wizard: Gandalf, from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien
2. Favorite Couple: Eowyn and Faramir from the above
3. Favorite Elves: Luthien and Nir, the former from the Silmarillion and the latter from In the Coils of the Snake, by Clare Dunkle
4. Favorite Drama Queen: Howl from Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones
5. Childhood Favorite: Aerin from The Hero and the Crown, by Robin McKinley
6. Current Favorite: Sydney Carton from A Tale of Two Cities
7. Favorite Revolutionaries: Enjolras from Les Miserables and Cinna from The Hunger Games
8. Favorite Jane Austen Character: Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice
9. Favorite Dark and Tortured Character: Edmund Dantes from The Count of Monte Cristo
10. Favorite Antihero: Mordred from The Book of Mordred, by Vivian Vande Velde
11. Favorite Character I Identify With: Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle
12. Favorite Assumed Vampire: Silas from The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
13. Favorite Thief: Gen (Eugenides) from The Queen's Thief series, by Megan Whalen Turner
14. Favorite Monster Hunter: Europe, Duchess of Naimes, from The Monster Blood Tattoo Series, by D. M. Cornish.
15. Favorite "Dreamboat": Corlath, from The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley
16. Favorite "Odd Couple": Artemis and Butler, from the Artemis Fowl Series by Eoin Colfer.
17. Favorite Governess: Jane Eyre, from Jane Eyre

So there we have it, a list of a few of my favorite characters. All of the books they belong to are HIGHLY recommended reading, ;), so check them out.

      Anyhow, that's all for tonight,

                     Ciao,

                         Rebekah