Books and TV

I don't really have much to talk about today, but I do have some news that was pretty cool. My town is not a town that is known for its readers. The only bookstores we have are a used bookstore, and our Wal-Mart, and slowly but surely, our Wal-Mart has been reducing the book section down to Junie B. Jones, other kids books of that nature, and self help books. But it looks like our Wal-Mart is starting to exand their stock a little more. The other day, I am happy to report, I saw Twilight Fall in the flesh...er...page...along with the book that Lynn Viehl advertised a few days ago -- Death Angel. My only let down was that I couldn't find The Iron Hunt by Marjorie M. Liu. I frantically checked my money supply. I was going to buy them and have SoaM's first book give away, but sadly, I was broke. So, in a few months, I may have a book give away, if by then everyone doesn't already have those books, ha. We'll see, though -- money is looking tighter this semester.

And in other news, I saw the last episode of Death Note the other day -- God bless you, my lovely DVR -- and I have only this to say: HOLY COW!!! AMAZING!!!

That's really all. I'll try to have something cool to post later this week. I'm stewing ideas.

Book Plugging

I just realized how out of the loop I was today. I went and visited PBW's blog, and her post reminded me of several books I've been looking forward to reading. So today, to make up for that, I'm just gonna give you guys a little bump and some info about some books that have come out that you should check out.

First on the list is the one that reminded me of the others. Lynn Viehl has a new Darkyn book out -- Twilight Fall. It just came out today. This is the 6th novel of the Darkyn series chronicling the tribe of vampires. The last two Darkyn books released -- Evermore and Night Lost -- appeared at the 12 spot on the New York Times Bestseller list. Lynn has announced that there will only be one more book in the series, and then it will be finished. From what I hear, these books keep getting better and better. If you're into dark fantasy/romance, go check these books out.

Next on the list is a new release by Holly Lisle -- The Ruby Key. This was released on May 1st, and it's the first in her new YA series Moon and Sun. I've been looking forward to this release for a long time. Snippets from her blog have made me foam at the mouth in anticipation, and as soon as I can get my hands on some money (which, sadly, may be a few months) I will buy this and revel in its awesomeness. Definitely pick this one up.

Third on the list is yet another release by Holly Lisle -- Hawkspar. This is the anticipated sequal to the amazing Talyn, and it is #2 in what will hopefully become a series following in the world of Korre. If you remember the splash that Talyn made, you know you can't miss out on this one. Another one that I will pick up as soon as I can, since I devoured Talyn.

And finally, Odd Thomas is back in his quircky, beautifully tragic adventures in two released -- Odd Hours and In Odd We Trust. If you haven't started reading the Odd Thomas series yet, I recommend that you go out and get them now. They are spectacular. Odd has such a sad/hilarious view on the world: to see the tragedy and the comedy in most situations. And he's up to his usual wise-cracking. For a while, the story seems unlike the other Odd books, but by the middle, Dean Koontz cracks open and you see the quick, hilarious, odd ball (ha ha) conversations that you expect from Odd. In Odd We Trust is trying something new. This one is a prequal to the amazing Odd Thomas, but that's not all it does differently. This book is done in a graphic novel manga style, which I can say only makes me want to read it more.


Sorry that the post isn't anything special, but I'm kinda out of it today, and I've got a lot to do to get prepared for the play. I hope you enjoy these recommendations and remember that none of the author's tell me to do this. This is on my own and because I like spreading the word of fellow writers. I remember some contraversy about that a while back and I just want to remind everyone.

Evermore Success

As most of you know, and as I mentioned earlier, Lynn Viehl over at Paperback Writer released the next installment of her Darkyn series, Evermore.

Well, she has some big news:

"#7 on Border's and B&N's romance bestseller lists
#16 on Border's Group overall fiction mass market paperback list
#22 on B&N's overall fiction mass market paperback list
#23 on B&N's overall mass market paperback list
#96 on USA Today bestseller list (that's everything, hardcover, trade & mm)
And, deja vu, Evermore will come in at #21 on the next New York Times extended bestseller list."

This is absolutely huge. Go over to Paperback Writer and congratulate her. She absolutely deserves it, and more.

No, I Never Drink...Wine...

But I do read vampire novels.

January 2nd marked the release of Evermore, the new book in the Darkyn series by Lynn Viehl.

The Darkyn series, for those of you who don't know, is what Lynn considers a "dark-fantasy" series about vampires. There are 5 novels to the series, the fifth being Evermore, and another coming soon, Twilight Fall. There's also a novella, Midnight Blues, available for free on her sight, and a few short stories also set in the Darkyn world. All of those are available on her site, for free download as well.

Still not convinced to go check it out? Night Lost, the fourth in the series, was a USA today bestseller.

And, finally, if you act now, you can enter Majorie M. Liu's contest (January 2nd post). Send her an e-mail (marjoriemliu@gowebway.com) to enter and if you win, you win the first four books in the series!

So what are you waiting for? Go! Buy!

Randomosity

I don't have much to say at the moment. I'm home for the weekend, and this weekend will be the mother of all cramming weekends, because finals start next week. Talk about pressure. On the plus side, I did well on my Biology test, and that always makes me happy.

So, what's going on in the Blogosphere?

PBW has a link to a free download of a story she wrote once.

S William Shaw has a contest to get free books for Christmas. Definitely check it out, he's a great writer.

S. M. Duke makes a really interesting point on criticism on religion and on anything in general.

So, that's all I have right now. Tomorrow I'm going to see The Golden Compass, and then celebrate with my friend. It's his birthday. Have a good weekend, all.

Writing Update

I'm still plodding along. I finally got inspired last night, and typed like a mad banshee for several hours. I didn't go to bed until about 2:30 in the morning. I was exhausted, and I wasn't finished with the plotting yet, but I felt like I understood the characters a whole lot more. I gotta give some nice ladies some credit though. The method of plotting I'm trying I've really never heard of before. It's kinda a mash up of what I learned from Rosina Lippi's workshop and Lynn Viehl's workshop. If I finish this thing this time I'll owe them big.

I just finished reading Diplomacy of Wolves, which was fantastic, by the way. I really like the way Holly Lisle designs her worlds. There always so rich and distinct and original. Everytime I read her I get big green goosebumps of envy. I've started on Vengeance of Dragons and I'm enjoying it immensley too. Of course, if I don't finish it before the seventh Harry Potter book comes out, I'll lock myself in my room like I did when book 6 came out and go on a marathon reading spree until it's finished. Ever since I saw a video on the internet where a guy ran down the street shouting the end of Harry Potter 6 while people were still reading it, I've been extremely paranoid. If anyone did that to me, I'd make sure that no one ever found their remains, mwahahahaha!

Anyway, that's all the updates I have for now. Not much going on in my point on the world right now.

Thursday's Doodles!

And because I'm an anime junkie, here's my doodle for the week (more of the post below):

For those of you who don't know, or can't tell from my drawing, this is Goku from Dragon Ball Z. I spent the night at a friends house the other night and drew this in the down time.

You might notice that my blog has been a little quiet. I can blame that on a few things. 1) I'm about to go to college and I'm getting stuff ready to go, 2) I'm spending a lot of time with my friends because I know that I'll be leaving soon, 3) PBW and Rosina Lippi are having awesome workshops this week and I've been participating, and 4) see below post.

Saying Goodbye and Update on School

One of my best friends is moving to Alaska. I know that as people grow up, friends grow up and move away, but she was supposed to go to a college that was only a few hours away. She was still in driving distance. Alaska is all the way across the country. Her flight was this morning. Still, she's really excited to go, where she'll have a great job and be living with her aunt, so I'm happy for her, but I'll still miss her, and I hope she stays in touch, but even if she doesn't, I'm glad that this happened, and I wish her luck.

Now, onto school. It's school. Is there really anything left to say? I'm up to my eyeballs in work, so I'm writing this quick and then I have to get back to work. Not much to report. I pulled my grade up from a D to a C. (For those of you that don't live in the states, an A is excellent, a B is good, a C is average, a D is poor, and a F is failing.) What does that mean? That if I can keep my good grades up than my credit will transfer, I won't lose my scholarship to my college and I won't have a math in my Freshman year. (Can someone say, "Booyah!"?)

So what's going on in the blogosphere?

Holly Lisle's having troubles, so she'll be offline for a week. If you have the time, send your good wishes to her, she sounds like she needs them.

PBW is still having trouble with blogger. Apparently she can't save any drafts, so most of her entries will be improved until it can be fixed. She's also having a give away of what she's read this week. (She reads more in a week than I have in two months. She's like the bionic woman or something!) So that's worth a look as well.

Jean is having a Summer Bookpack Giveaway.

PJ is waiting on news for her Viable Paradise submission.

Meryl just got a really great job, so head on over to her job and congratulate her.

Well,that's all for now. Back to work. Ugh, math...

Later!

Life (Not the Game or the Cereal)

I have good intentions. I really do. I try my best to do good, and to be the best person I can be, but sometimes, life gets in my way. Life tries to get me to do things I know I shouldn't. Like the other day, I was trying to get to work early.
I've been trying to step up my speed. I was already named employee of the month last month, but I wanted to get even faster. So I tried to get to work earlier. My car wouldn't start, and then I got stuck in a mudhole. Then, on the way through town, I hit every stinking red light on my way through. Then, someone flew around me on the highway, and slowed down to 5 miles below the speed limit. Life was tempting me. Life was tempting me to destroy my car, disconnect all the traffic lights in town, and jump from my moving car, take that person that was driving the car in front of me, throttle them, take their car, pull off the side of the road, flatten all of its tires, commadere another vehicle, get back to my moving car, get in it, and get to work in a fair amount of time with a skill that could put Chuck Norris to shame.
As Jennifer Unlimited once said: Every time I close the door on reality it comes in through the windows.
I agree. Everyday for the past week, I've found myself saying "after school I'm gonna sit down and write until my brain is a bubbling goo." Everyday, I get packed down with homework. And do you know what else is piled on? Scholarship applications, college applications, applications for grants...it all makes me crazy. On the plus side, the last two essays I've done for my applications have been easy: "Name a novel you've read recently and tell why you consider it noteworthy" and "write an essay about yourself." Doesn't get much easier than that. (I wrote about Talyn for the novel essay.)
But, life does throw me a bone every now and then. Yesterday, I got my Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of Lynn Viehl's Night Lost. It was one of the coolest things I've ever gotten.
So how has life been treating you? Any aggrivations you wanna talk about?