My Sequel has a Cover!!!!

EEEEEP!

One of the most exciting parts for me about writing is when my story gets a face. You spend months and months equipped with an imagination and a (limited) vocabulary, but the cover...it brings another dimension of life that words simply can't reach. (Plus, it's easier to mentally categorize in snapshots rather than 400+ pages... O.o)

And I'm SO excited to share the face of my sequel to GAIA'S SECRET, also known as THE KEEPER'S FLAME, which will be released this August!

In honor of book 2, I'm doing a book giveaway of GAIA'S SECRET on Goodreads. The giveaway is from May 24 - June 23, so you can sign up for it now. The link is HERE.

Thank you ALL for your support and enthusiasm and pestering along the way!! *HUGS* *SQUEEZES*

A Tribute to Jim Butcher...Or, More Accurately, His Tribute To Himself...

Every so often, I'll search the world wide web for information on authors I love. You know, it's kinda like that quote by J. D. Salinger in the Catcher in the Rye (one of my favorite books, btw) :

"What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though."

Well, for me, one of those authors is Jim Butcher, who wrote The Dresden Files and one of my favorite fantasy series, Codex Alera. I even have an autographed map of Alera (thanks, John!!).

His books are so much fun - I LOVE his sense of humor - and he writes some of the best battle scenes I've ever read. Not that I'm an authority on the subject...

Which brings me back to the topic of "the author bio." Yeah, yeah...I know what you're thinking. "He went to X school and studied INSERT-ENGLISHY-SUBJECT and currently lives in Z, Washington."

Pshaw! If only....

This is JIM BUTCHER.

His author bio is as entertaining as his novels!

Ahem! *clears throat*

"Jim Butcher read his first fantasy novel when he was seven years old--
the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. By the time he turned eight,
he'd added the rest of the Narnia books, the Prydain Chronicles, every
book about Star Wars he could find, a great many Star Trek novels and
the Lord of the Rings to his count.

So he was pretty much doomed from the start.

Love of fantasy, his personal gateway drug, drew him toward a fairly
eclectic spread of interests: horseback riding (including trick riding,
stunt riding, drill riding, and competitive stunt racing), archery,
martial arts, costuming, music and theater. He played a lot of role-
playing games, a lot of fantasy-based tactical computer games, and
eventually got into live-action roleplay where players beat each other
up with boffer weapons.

So, really, he can fly his nerd flag with pretty much anyone, and
frequently does.

He took up writing to be able to produce fantasy novels with swords and
horses in them, and determinedly wrote terrible fantasy books until,
just to prove a point to his writing teacher, he decided to take every
piece of her advice; fill out outlines and worksheets, and design
stories and characters just the way she'd been telling him to do for
about three years. He was certain that once she saw what hideous art it
produced, she would be proven wrong and repent the error of her ways.
The result was the Dresden Files, which sure showed *her*.

She has not yet admitted her mistake and recanted her philosophy on
writing.  ( <-- I love this!)

Jim has performed in dramas, musicals, and vocal groups in front of
live audiences of thousands and on TV. He has performed exhibition
riding in multiple arenas, and fallen from running horses a truly
ridiculous number of times. He was once cursed by an Amazon witch
doctor in rural Brazil, has apparently begun writing about himself in
the third person, and is hardly ever sick at sea.

He also writes books occasionally.

Jim stands accused of writing the Dresden Files and the Codex Alera.

He's plead insanity, but the jury is still out on that one. He lives in

Missouri with his wife, romantic suspense and paranormal romance writer

Shannon K. Butcher (who is really pretty and way out of his league), <--I love this, too!

his son, and a ferocious guard dog."

Awesome. :)

See why he writes great battle scenes??  :)

FLY THAT NERD FLAG, JIM!! (while you're writing more books, please :D  )

***If you like YA Fantasy, check out my book, GAIA'S SECRET. The sequel is coming soon!

The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa

Julie Kagawa is to blame for my delay in 'journaling'. I try to blog about books I read, as I read them. But this series was so captivating that instead of writing about book one, I kept reading. And reading. And last night, I finished! It's been awhile since I've read a series that's taken over my thoughtlife. So, Julie Kagawa if you ever, ever read this, PLEASE HURRY UP AND FINISH THE IRON KNIGHT! (book 4 in her series). I'm dying over here!

The Iron Fey series is about sixteen-year old Meghan Chase that discovers she's actually a half-blood faerie princess, her real father being the Summer King Oberon. That's only the beginning of the faerie-twisted, Shakespearean-esque satire set in the modern day. Her best friend on Earth is the comical, fun-spirited Robbie, whose actually Robin Goodfellow from a Midsummer Night's Dream, sent to protect her. And, of course, like all Shakespeare stories, Meghan falls in love with the son of the winter Queen Mab and Meghan's elven-family's enemy: the Winter Prince, Ash. He's the Hot-Boy-With-Sword: dark hair, lean, muscular, with silver eyes, skilled fighter, and an icy-demeanor that only Meghan can melt. It's...beautiful.

With technology in the real world growing exponentially, a new power has risen in the Nevernever: the Iron Kingdom. Iron is toxic to faeries and threatens to destroy all of the Nevernever. The series follows Meghan as she finds love while embracing her place in the Nevernever. It's an exciting, unputdownable adventure, with memorable and funny characters whose development I thoroughly enjoyed reading. The ending of book three is both perfectly satisfying and heart wrenching (still suffering). Ms. Kagawa's balance of action and romance is perfect--the scenes are described beautifully while capturing emotion that yanks the reader right into the story. (Which is why I've gotten nothing done all week...ahem...Ben's started to metabolize his own muscle.)

A little caution: there's some language throughout the series. It tapers off drastically after the first book.

They are, as follows:
The Iron King, a novella called A Winter's Passage, The Iron Daughter, The Iron Queen.

The fourth and final installment, The Iron Knight, is slated for release in the fall. AND it's supposed to be told from Ash's perspective. But please, Julie. HURRY! Don't do this to me!


***If you like YA Fantasy, check out my book, GAIA'S SECRET. The sequel is coming soon!

Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind

I have finished it. Just this morning. My expectations were high--I'd even watched most of the TV series: Legend of the Seeker (which I enjoyed up until the point of taking a hiatus, and went back to it, the scales removed from my eyes, and I saw it for what it was). Why can't producers stick to the story as it is? It would be SOOO much better.

Well. I initially enjoyed the journey Terry Goodkind sent me on--always running from evil with never a moment to breathe, magic of all kinds threatening to kill off the persevering Richard Cypher; the exotically beautiful Kahlan that, for a reason we find out much later, he can not be with (or, consequently, live without. I'm a sucker for love stories); the eccentric and witty Zeddicus Z'ul Zorander, Wizard of the First Order. And I was right there, ready to enjoy the rest of the series until we met the terrible, violent, sadistic in ways I would never have imagined, Mord-Sith.

From that particular phase of torture and beyond, I was...lost. While I understand what Goodkind's doing, it reminded me of why I generally prefer YA Fantasy--the moral dilemma's aren't as 'ugly' and 'disturbing' as adult fantasy can be. That being said, I enjoyed this book, the journey, and his creativity, but his representation of 'evil'--which earns every bit of the word--is just not the kind I enjoy reading about. Maybe some day I'll read more of this series, but for now, I'm still worn out from enduring Richard's gruesome torture.

Next up...Crime and Punishment!

The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald

The reason I picked up this story was because of it's author. Don't get me wrong, the titles in the 1800's leave nothing to the imagination. They tell you exactly what the story is about. Besides, how can a book about princesses and goblins be boring?

But I'll return to my first point. George MacDonald was a favorite of JRR Tolkien and C.S. Lewis (all time favorite author's of mine) and Lewis Carroll, so I simply had to check him out for myself.

On the surface, The Princess and the Goblin is a fantastical adventure. All the elements of Fantasy: monsters (the horrid, malevolent goblins and their terrifying pets), dark tunnels beneath the earth, murderous plots of revenge, Princesses, Kings and Queens, a 'fairy godmother'. But what I appreciated most about the story were the strong moral and spiritual themes that George MacDonald wove into the very fabric of the plot and characters. After all, he was a pastor.

Our heroine is Princess Irene and our hero is the simple son of a miner, Curdie. Although, MacDonald makes a point to inform the reader that Curdie has the courage and bravery of a King, which makes him one despite his 'class'. Curdie works in the mines and discovers the goblins evil plot, while the Princess makes a discovery of her own: her great-great-great-great grandmother lives up the old stairs in her house. It's just that Princess Irene is the only one that can see her. The Grandmother is beautiful, despite her old-old-old age and can appear as a light in the sky, and gives the Princess a gift of thread, which eventually leads our heroine to saving the hero. And together, the Princess and Curdie save the entire palace from disaster at the hands of the Goblins.

MacDonald puts great emphasis on believing in the things that are unseen--having faith and trusting in that faith to guide and protect you (through the Grandmother). And it takes a childlike innocence to accept it. Irene has a disposition to accept more readily while the hero, Curdie, has to learn to accept--which he eventually does. MacDonald used the Princess as model of virtue: always telling the truth, admitting when you're wrong, and keeping your word.

The style of writing is so conversational, I felt as if I were sitting at the fire with my legs crossed sipping hot cocoa while my grandfather was reading me a story. This is definitely one I'll be sharing with my kids some day (should we have them). It has a sequel, The Princess and Curdie, which I plan to read soon. The adventures and themes are timeless and I would recommend this to anyone wanting to escape into the heart of childlike innocence.