I’m psyched to announce that the lovely and talented Celeste DeWolfe has created a new piece of fan art for Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It. Huzzah! This piece is called “Complicated Relationship”, and it nicely captures the … well, the complicated relationship between the novel’s two main characters.
Note: The blue glowy things around Eris’s hands in the second panel are alien handcuffs. This will make more sense if you’ve read the book!
Warning: This post isn’t quite as chipper as some of my previous posts. You’ve been warned!
If you’ve never heard of Koushun Takami’s Battle Royale, think Hunger Games set in a futuristic, dystopian Japan, on steroids (this is obviously a huge oversimplification, but just go with it). There’s been a lot of controversy recently about whether or not Suzanne Collins ripped off Battle Royale, but that’s not the point of this post. In this post, I’m going to explain why I think everyone should read Battle Royale at least once, because despite it not being the best-written book in the world, it has some really important ideas that I think more people should be exposed to.
Reason #1: It makes you take a hard look at yourself
When we read books, we usually end up putting ourselves in the shoes of one of the characters. It’s hard to connect to a story if you don’t do that. But in Battle Royale, the characters are average junior high students trapped on an island, given random weapons, and informed that they have to kill each other or else the collars locked around their necks will explode. Not quite as fun slipping into those shoes, is it?
Battle Royale forces you to put yourself in the position of these teenagers and ask yourself: What would I do in this situation? And it’s such a hard question to answer, because there is no easy answer. My initial response when I started reading the book was that I would hide, try to avoid confrontation, and only shoot to kill in self-defense. Okay, great. Now skip ahead 24 hours, and it’s only you and your best friend alive. One of you has to kill the other, or you both die. What do you do now? Do you trust your best friend not to turn on you? Are you willing to die to let them live? Are you willing to live with the knowledge that you killed them?
It’s a really morbid story, and very depressing to think about. But self-reflection is never a bad thing — how else do we learn about ourselves and try to improve?
Reason #2: It drives home how senseless and tragic violence is
Battle Royale is a heart-wrenching book, and not just because 40 teenagers die for no good reason. The worst part isn’t that they die, but how they die. Two young lovers throw themselves off a cliff because they’re unwilling to even consider harming their classmates. One boy spends the entire game trying to find his best friend and the girl he likes, only to have one die in his arms, and the other panic and shoot him. Another boy comes up with a brilliant plan to tear apart the game and get them all free, but is killed right before he can set his plan in motion.
When you read Battle Royale, there’s a certain part of you that cheers for the two crazy killers who go around riddling their fellow students with machine gun rounds — survival of the fittest and all that. But the rest of you comes away feeling profoundly sad and disillusioned with the glory that the media places on violence and killing, and I think that’s something that everyone needs to feel.
I have many more reasons, but those are the main two. The one I didn’t mention is that Battle Royale is just a really, really good story in general. Again, not terribly well written, but it’s pretty much impossible to put down. So, go forth, read, weep, and enjoy!
Unrelated media of the day:
Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/gbbmLV3
Hey everyone! I don’t have much time right now, so I’ll just cut to the chase — I ran across this free online course (https://iversity.org/c/6?r=103aa) called “The Future of Storytelling”, and it looks really great for any and all writers, including yours truly.
It’s 8 weeks long, and the basic format is weekly videos plus lots of opportunity for interaction with other students. They’re going to cover topics like:
Anyway, it looks pretty darn useful — and fun! — so here’s the link again if you want to check it out:
https://iversity.org/c/6?r=103aa
Oh yes, and in other free news, the talented Misha Burnett will be offering his ebooks for free on Amazon this weekend, so click here to get a sneak preview:
http://mishaburnett.wordpress.com/buy-my-book/
That is all.
Unrelated media of the day:
Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/hdTRQ
I’m really annoyed by this. I brought my FlipCam to the Argyle Arts Festival, where I had a booth back in August to sell Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It, and I got a decent bit of footage from said event. I don’t remember if I mentioned the Argyle festival on my blog, but basically it was a medium success. I only sold 3 books, but I did trade one book for another local author’s book, and then I traded another book for some handmade soap and body butter. So not much in terms of sales, but lots in terms of swag!
Anyhoo, I’ve since misplaced my video camera, hence the appalling lack of vlogs. There are few things in life I enjoy more than babbling into a camera (Note: that was a blatant lie), and now I can’t even do that! Horror, thy name is my inability to replace objects from whence they came!
So that’s essentially why there haven’t been any vlogs for a while. Ah well.
On the writing front, still working away at Chasing Nonconformity. I’ve got the timeline worked out properly now, so at least my characters will be in the right places at the right times. Now to just get everything slotted into place.
I’ve also been toying around with a new short story concept, which would be called “The Dusk Bugs”. It would be based off my recent walking trip through the “Banana Kingdom”, a long stretch of pavement in a swampy area that someone has spray painted a bunch of bananas on. I made the mistake of walking through the Banana Kingdom at dusk, and there were … well, not to ruin the ending, but there were a fair amount of bugs. Terror ensued. I think it will make for an underwhelmingly thrilling tale. Stay tuned!
Unrelated link of the day:
The Harry Potter-themed series of gifs is titled: “No … no no no, I wasn’t ready for feels today!”
As you may recall from my previous post, I recently got my manuscript for Chasing Nonconformity (sequel to Imminent Danger) back from my beta readers. Huzzah!
Now come the re-writes.
I’m not going to lie — I’m having a lot of trouble with Chasing Nonconformity. Sequels are really hard, and I’ve been struggling with making sure this book has as much “oomph” as the first book. It’s a delicate balancing act — bringing enough elements from the first book to keep the feel of the world and characters the same, while at the same time introducing enough new elements to keep the story and characters changing and evolving.
My first draft, waaaaaay back in 2010, was a lot of fun to write, but there was a distinct lack of plot. The characters mostly just wandered around and did amusing things — as I said, enjoyable to write (and probably to read), but not exactly a “story”. My second draft, which I finished back in the spring of 2013, was much better — the characters actually had motivation for doing stuff! But the stakes still weren’t high enough, which once again made it feel like the characters were just milling about.
Then, a couple of weeks ago — and all credit goes to my brilliant brother Jesse — the solution to my “lack of stakes” problem arrived. I can’t tell you what it is, obviously, but it is both awesome and incredibly amusing (well, amusing to me, at least!), and it has the added bonus of wrapping up a few loose ends from the first book. Woo!
That’s pretty much how my brain works. First I write the story … then I go back and figure out how to make it make sense. Not the most streamlined of processes, but … well, for whatever reason it seems to work for me!
So, for everyone keeping track of my writing progress, Chasing Nonconformity is slowly but surely getting done. Assuming all goes well, this should be the last major re-write. I figure that’ll take me a month or two. So going into December the story should be ready to go out to another round of beta readers … give them two months to read it, since my beta readers are notoriously slow … putting us at the start of February …
Therefore I’m going to tentatively put the release for Chasing Nonconformity somewhere around the Spring 2014 area. I was initially aiming for January, but that’s just not going to happen now. Onwards and upwards, my friends! To victory!
Unrelated link of the day:
Are you a 90s kid? Prepare to be blown away by nostalgia:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/things-that-look-just-like-childhood
Semi-related image of the day:
The Book
Saving Saffron Sweeting
The Genre
Contemporary Romance
The Author
Pauline Wiles. British by birth, Pauline moved to California eight years ago and, apart from a yearning for afternoon tea and historic homes, has never looked back. Her work has been published by House of Fifty, Open Exchange, and Alfie Dog Fiction. Saving Saffron Sweeting is her first novel.
The Plot
Grace Palmer’s British friends all think she’s living the American Dream. But her design business is floundering and when she discovers her husband is cheating with her best client, she panics and flees home to England.
The tranquil village of Saffron Sweeting appears to be a good place for Grace to lick her wounds, but the community is battling its own changes. Reluctantly, Grace finds herself helping her new neighbours as they struggle to adjust and save their businesses. However, not everyone has the same opinion on what’s good for the village. The charismatic new man in her life may have one speculative eye on Grace, but the other is firmly on profit. How will she navigate the tricky path between her home and her happiness?
The Review
This was a cute little romance with fun characters, a great and engaging setting, and an extraordinarily satisfying conclusion. I had a wonderful time following Grace through the trials and tribulations of pulling her life back together, navigating her various romantic entanglements, and saving her new home from the ravages of modern industry. Grace is witty, and feisty, and just a delightful protagonist in general. The cast of supporting characters were entertaining and well rounded, making for an engrossing read.
The titular Saffron Sweeting is where most of the book takes place, and the author describes it exquisitely. I could picture myself sitting outside the bakery sipping Earl Gray tea and munching on a sausage roll with Grace, or walking up the twisting, tree-lined path to her little cottage in the middle of nowhere. This is one of those books where the setting becomes a character all its own.
All in all, a quick, fun, romantic read. Fire up your kettle, select your tea bag, and cuddle up with this book today!
The Rating
5 out of 5 stars.
Click here to visit the author’s website and learn more about Saving Saffron Sweeting!
Unrelated link of the day:
Marvel as the killer whale follows your cursor!
http://img0.liveinternet.ru/images/attach/c/5//3970/3970473_sprite198.swf
A few wonderful, sunny months ago, Celeste DeWolfe fulfilled one of my big life dreams by creating the first ever Imminent Danger fan art. Now, an anonymous source whose identity must be protected for … well, for his/her own protection … has written the first ever Imminent Danger fanfiction! And it’s awesome!
The link is coming up right below. Fair warning, though — if you haven’t read the book, the fanfic probably won’t make much sense to you. To remedy this problem, I shamelessly suggest clicking the giant book cover to the right of this post and buying/reading the book ASAP!
Everyone ready? Steady? Freddy? And … link!
The first ever super awesome IMMINENT DANGER FANFICTION!!!
Awesome, right?!
For everyone who didn’t just click that link, I will now share with you some of my favourite quotes to entice you into clicking. Ready? Favourite quote #1:
Eris’s Brain: Finally, I’m free! I couldn’t stand it in there! Eris’s Heart kept going on about how cute that stupid raider was.
Eris’s Heart: HIS HAIR WAS SHAGGY AND I LOVE HIM!
Eris’s Hair has deactivated its Facebook account!
Favourite quote #2:
Varrin Gara’dar has taken the quiz “What To Say When Your Girlfriend Is Taken Hostage”!
Varrin Gara’dar has scored 0% on the quiz “What To Say When Your Girlfriend Is Taken Hostage!”
Hehehe. Okay, so now that I’ve somewhat ineffectively convinced you how awesome it is, go read it now! Or not. I’ll still like you either way.
Unrelated media of the day:
Cool opening video/song for the Civ IV game. As a history major, this gives me chills of the “Mankind freakin’ ROCKS!!!” variety.
That’s right! As of yesterday afternoon, I’ve officially reacquired Chasing Nonconformity, the sequel to my debut novel Imminent Danger And How to Fly Straight into It, from my beta readers. Huzzah!
Granted, I only actually got it back from two beta readers — specifically, my mother and brother. Three big cheers for them! The rest of my so-called “beta readers” haven’t done a whole lot of reading. But that’s okay! Because I’m going to be doing a lot of re-writing (again), so by the time they remember they’re supposed to be reading the book, I’ll have a new draft for them anyway. Then they can busily not read the new draft while I start on the next one. This plan, my friends, is fool proof. FOOL PROOF!
Ahem. So, onwards and upwards with the re-writing! I’ve got a lovely 200 page manuscript full of red ink sitting beside me just waiting for me to begin my perusal, so that’s exciting. More awesome, however, are the small cartoons I noticed that my mother and brother and slipped into the manuscript every now and again. They’re quite artistic, my family members. Thus without further delay, I present to you:
Artists: Jesse Proulx and Linda Schneidereit
Note: Please don’t ask me to explain these, because … well, because I can’t. Enjoy!
And that about wraps that up. Now that you’ve seen the drawings, can you imagine the kind of ridiculous comments and suggestions I have to put up with from these people???
Today’s book review features fellow blogger and self-publisher Misha Burnett!
The Book
Catskinner’s Book
The Genre
Science fiction / urban fantasy
The Author
Misha Burnett
The Plot
James Ozryck has a monster in his head.
All of his life the entity that he calls Catskinner has made him a fugitive, afraid to get too close to anyone, afraid to stay in one place for too long. Catskinner kills, without compassion and without warning, and is very good at it.
Now James has learned that Catskinner is not the only monster in the world, a world that has suddenly become a far stranger and more dangerous place than he imagined. In order to survive, he will have to become something more than a monster — he will have to learn what it means to be human.
The Review
I LOVED this book! It’s short, it’s sweet, it’s violent, it’s sexy, it’s intriguing … A+ all around! The world Burnett’s created is absolutely fascinating, and totally unlike anything I’ve read before — I honestly don’t know where he comes up with this stuff!
The protagonist, James, is enthralling — he’s a curious mix of beleaguered every-man, jailkeeper to a vicious alien entity, lonely man just trying to find his place in the world, and hired hitman. It’s bizarre. It’s wonderful.
I’m trying to think if there’s anything I didn’t like … I think the only thing that threw me was Godiva’s evolution as a character (Godiva being the love interest). When she first shows up, she comes across as extraordinarily vacuous. But by the time you get to the end of the book, she’s brilliant, resourceful, and deviously clever. It made a certain amount of sense, but I would have liked more of a gradual transition or explanation.
I highly recommend Catskinner’s Book. If you’re at all a fan of science fiction — or even urban fantasy! — I suggest you give it a try. It doesn’t fit neatly into one genre box, but … well, read it and you’ll see how great it is!
The Rating
5 out of 5 stars
Sound intriguing? Check out Catskinner’s Book here. The sequel — Cannibal Hearts — is also out, so click here to learn more about that!
Unrelated media of the day:
Source: http://imgur.com/gallery/wPqa2UB
I’m pleased as pudding to announce that I’m taking part in a cover reveal today! The book in question is the lovely Danielle E. Shipley’s latest fairy tale novella, The Stone Kingdom (Book Two of the Wilderhark Tales). Plot summary and details are below, and the release date for the book is September 20th. I read this novella recently and I quite enjoyed it (review to come in the near future), so two thumbs up from me! Oh, and I know it’s book two in a series, but I had no trouble following the story, so don’t panic if you haven’t read book one.
And now … the cover reveal!
“Love and prince,
Both true, wed rose of white in realm of stone;
For blood begins,
But naught can be put right by blood alone.”
One thoughtless act is all it takes to bring the curse threatened on Rosalba’s christening day to pass. Now the princess must combine her desperate determination with the service of benevolent tailor Edgwyn Wyle to find the second half of the key to her kingdom’s restoration.
The Stone Kingdom Book Two of The Wilderhark Tales
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An enchantress’s curse turns a spoiled royal into a beast; A princess’s pricked finger places her under a hundred-year spell; Bales of straw are spun into gold as a singing harp whisks down a giant beanstalk – All within sight of Wilderhark, the forest that’s seen it all.
You’ve heard the stories – of young men scaling rope-like braids to assist tower-bound damsels; of gorgeous gowns appearing just in time for a midnight ball; of frog princes, and swan princes, and princes saved from drowning by maidens of the sea.
Tales of magic. Tales of adventure. Most of all, tales of true love.
Once upon a time, you knew them as fairy tales. Know them now as Wilderhark’s.
Book details:
Full Title: “The Stone Kingdom (Book Two of The Wilderhark Tales)”
ISBN: 978-0-9891846-1-8
Genre: Young Adult Fairytale
Length: Novella (179 pages)
Release Date: September 20th, 2013
Future availability: Paperback (Amazon.com) and eBook (Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com)
Add “The Stone Kingdom” to your Goodreads shelf today!
About the author:
Danielle E. Shipley’s first novelettes told the everyday misadventures of wacky kids like herself …or so she thought. Unbeknownst to them all, half of her characters were actually closeted elves, dwarves, fairies, or some combination thereof. When it all came to light, Danielle did the sensible thing: packed up and moved to Fantasy Land, where daily rent is the low, low price of her heart, soul, blood, sweat, tears, firstborn child, sanity, and words — lots of them. She’s also been known to spend short bursts of time in the real-life Chicago area with the parents who home schooled her and the two little sisters who keep her humble. When she’s not living the highs and lows of writing young adult novels, she’s probably blogging about it at www.EverOnWord.wordpress.com.
Michelle Proulx - Author 