Countdown to NaNoWriMo

I love NaNoWriMo. For those who don't know anything about it, NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month, a program put on by the OLL (Office of Letters and Light). It occurs every November and participants attempt to write 50,000 words on a new novel in just 30 days. 2012 marks the 13th year of NaNoWriMo, and I am proud to say that this year is my seventh go round.

NaNoWriMo site: http://www.nanowrimo.org/en/dashboard

NaNoWriMo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo also does word sprints, where you might write for 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 45 minutes and is a quick little way to boost your word count each day. The word sprints are run on Twitter: https://twitter.com/NaNoWordSprints

They also have a blog: http://blog.lettersandlight.org/

Okay, so there's a lot of different places to get information about NaNoWriMo and I can tell you that it is a completely wonderful program. The OLL is a non-profit organization and they have done a lot of good around the world, between helping to raise money to build libraries around the world, to helping inspire hundreds of thousands of people to follow a dream to write a novel or at least attempt to write one.

Now, for those of you who do participate in NaNoWriMo and you'd like to be my writing buddy, unfortunately I have been participating under my own name, not my pen name. About the only way I could change my name on the site would be to send an e-mail and hope that it could be done, but I don't really plan on doing that. There is less pressure to write during a NaNo event if I only have friends and fellow Wrimos from my region follow my progress.

There are 22 days until the start of NaNoWriMo and so it is likely that my next few posts will be focused on my novel preparation for the event. More to come on that later, and there will be more From the Stacks posts over the next few days. I feel badly about disappearing for the past few weeks so I want to make it up to you all by writing more posts. So I'll be back with another From the Stacks tomorrow.

From the Stacks: Libriomancer

Okay, so things got a little hectic with home and work and as usually happens I stop writing blogs and such. For that I really have to apologize. I can say that in the past few weeks I have been able to read a number of books and they have been quite enjoyable, so today I'm going to post up about one that so far has been my favorite read of 2012. 

I love Librarians and libraries and books and magical abilities...and so Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines is perfect. It is the first book in the Magic Ex Libris series. Also, you can tell by looking at "my" copy, I borrowed this from the library. After devouring the book in only a couple hours, I sincerely wish that I had enough money to purchase this book, preferably in hardcover so I could pass it along to all my friends because it is an amazing read.

Libriomancer (Magic Ex Libris Book One) by Jim C. Hines
ISBN: 9780756407391

Summary:

"Isaac Vainio is a Libriomancer, a member of the secret organization founded five centuries ago by Johannes Gutenberg.  Libriomancers are gifted with the ability to magically reach into books and draw forth objects. When Isaac is attacked by vampires that leaked from the pages of books into our world, he barely manages to escape. To his horror he discovers that vampires have been attacking other magic-users as well, and Gutenberg has been kidnapped.

With the help of a motorcycle-riding dryad who packs a pair of oak cudgels, Isaac finds himself hunting the unknown dark power that has been manipulating humans and vampires alike. And his search will uncover dangerous secrets about Libriomancy, Gutenberg, and the history of magic. . . ."

My Thoughts:

This book most definitely receives a 5/5 for me. I felt so drawn into the story and the world. Though I don't know a lot about the Michigan area and such, I have friends who have lived there so I know how accurate it all is. Plus, considering that I do have a degree in Library and Information Science, I do love when I find a librarian as a main character. Then, let's not forget what I find to be the coolest power out there. What bibliophile has not wished they could reach into a book and pull out a sword or a communicator or just anything. I really like that there are limits to what can be pulled from the book, only objects that are small enough to come out the pages. So, you could reach into a Doctor Who novel and pull out a vortex manipulator, but you could not pull out the TARDIS.

The relationships between the characters are really interesting and I loved all the novels, real and created, mentioned in the book. One of the really awesome characters was Smudge, a spider. And of course I loved Lena, the motorcycle-riding dryad mentioned in the summary.

Seriously, I thought this book was so amazing that it is actually difficult to talk about it because I can't find the precise words to describe the sheer awesomeness of all of this.

Oh, and Jim C. Hines has written up a blog post where he reveals the cover for Codex Born (Magic Ex Libris Book Two), so here's a link to that: http://www.jimchines.com/2012/09/codex-born-cover/

Libriomancer at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/libriomancer-jim-c-hines/1104880003?ean=9780756407391

Libriomancer at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Libriomancer-Magic-Ex-Libris-Book/dp/0756407397/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349801891&sr=8-1&keywords=Libriomancer

Other Readings:

In other readings I have finished a couple of other books and hope to have reviews up here soon, and am reading a few others. Currently I am reading The Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines (he's a really good author), Grave Mercy by Robin LeFevers, and Master of Crows by Grace Draven.

From the Stacks: Tigana

All right, well here were are for another From the Stacks post. This time I'm talking about a really great standalone epic fantasy with an interesting premise revolving around a county of people that no one remembers and the country itself is one that no one--aside from those born to that country--can speak its name.

Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
ISBN: 978-0-451-45776-9

Summary:

Taken from the back of the book

"This is that rare, spellbinding novel in which myth comes alive and magic reaches out to touch us. Tigana is the magical story of a beleaguered land struggling to be free. It is the tale of a people so cursed by the black sorcery of a cruel, despotic king that even the names of their once-beautiful homeland cannot be spoken or remembered....

But years after the devastation, a handful of courageous men and women embarks upon a dangerous crusade to overthrow their conquerors and bring back to the dark world the brilliance of a long-lost name: Tigana.

Against the magnificently rendered background of a world both sensuous and barbaric, this sweeping epic of passionate people pursuing their dream is breathtaking in its vision, changing forever the boundaries of fantasy fiction."

My thoughts:

I would love to give this book a 4.5 or even a 5 but I think considering how long it took me to read it, I'm going to have to go with a 4/5. The concept was unique and the world was an intriguing one and it was interesting to constantly wonder what was going to happen next, but I can't say that this book grabbed me with the same fervor that a number of books I read do. Typically a book of Tigana's length (673 pages paperback) would take me a couple days max, even with work and other stuff, but I started reading this book back in June.

I kept reading about ten pages and then I would be pulled away to do something and then I would think that I have time to read a little more and then I would go back to my bedroom and pick up another book. The book was split into several parts and I liked the characters in the prologue but then (SPOILER) they all died just after the prologue and the first main part deals with a group of characters a number of years later. Then, when it was time to jump into part two, we left those characters behind for a time and moved onto another main woman from Tigana and the people around her. In some ways it felt like there was too much jumping around. I hadn't quite expected that.

So, overall I would recommend this book to fans of fantasy, but I don't think I would give it to someone who was looking for a book to introduce them to fantasy, both because of how slow it could be at times and because of the length.

Tigana at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tigana-guy-gavriel-kay/1103274431?ean=9780451457769

Tigana at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Tigana-Guy-Gavriel-Kay/dp/0451457765/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347646087&sr=1-1&keywords=Tigana

Other readings:

I am making more progress with Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey, but at the same time yesterday I was at the library and picked up Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines, and let me tell you I think I'm addicted to this book already. I've only read three chapters and right now I feel like I have to finish this post up quickly so I can get back to reading. It may be that I'll be reviewing it with next week's post, but we'll see what happens.

Music of my Madness

Okay everyone, so this is going to be a fairly short post. I did not get as much editing/writing done in the last week as I wanted to, but I did finish the chapter I had been working on so I made just a little bit of progress.

For those paying attention to the overall totals now as compared to last week, there's only an increase in a little more than 800 words. While this was not exactly what I was aiming for, it is still progress so I will take it. I am hoping that more progress will be made in the coming week.

As for the title of this blog post, I wanted to write a little bit about my Project Death music playlist. There are probably songs that have come out recently (as in the past year or so) that would fit in with the mood and inspiration for these novels, but I just cannot bring myself to edit the playlist. So, here it is:

"If I Die Young" by The Band Perry.
"Gorecki" by Lamb
"Playing God" by Paramore
"Amaranth" by Nightwish
"Misguided Ghosts" by Paramore
"Never Enough" by Epica
"Heavy in Your Arms" by Florence & the Machine
"Bring Me to Life" by Evanescence
"What Have You Done" by Within Temptation
"Drumming Song" by Florence & the Machine
"Even in Death" by Evanescence
"Blinding" by Florence & the Machine
"Monster" by Paramore
"Haunted" by Kelly Clarkson
"Die Alive" by Tarja
"The Voice" by Celtic Woman (specifically Lisa Kelly)
"Terrified" by Katharine McPhee (it is the version featuring Zachary Levi)
"It's the Fear" by Within Temptation
"This is How You Remind Me" by Nickelback
"Second Chance" by Shinedown
"Gunslinger (Runnin' Out of Time)" by Over It
"The Other Side" by Evanescence
"O Death" by Jen Titus

Yes, the playlist does work for me for the entire series, or at least it has so far. I know that "Bring Me to Life" is my main inspiration song for Project Death: Revelation (book two) but I'm still trying to figure out which individual songs are the basis for the other books. Like I said earlier, there are some newer songs which would probably work just as well in my list, but at the same time, I find that some of these songs work for multiple different book playlists so when possible I save them for another time because occasionally it is frustrating to always have the same songs over and over again. As much as I love these songs, sometimes I do need some variety.

So there we go, my progress with editing as well as another behind the scenes look into some of the things I do or listen to while I'm writing. On Friday I'll be back with another book review and next week I'll have another writing update, hopefully one that will show a lot more progress.

From the Stacks: Iron Druid Chronicles

It seems almost unfair to title this review as being for the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne, seeing as how I've only read the first two books, but I can honestly say that I absolutely adore these books and I can't wait to dive into the third and fourth installments.

Sorry for the bad picture. I took it from my cell phone and then had to increase the size so it looks pixelated.

The first book is Hounded and the second is Hexed. The next book, which I will probably be reading sometime soon is Hammered and the fourth is Tricked. Book five, Trapped, will be released November 27, 2012, and then the final book, Hunted, is expected sometime in 2013.

Summaries

Hounded

"Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, lives peacefully in Arizona, running an occult bookshop and shape-shifting in his spare time to hunt with his Irish wolfhound. His neighbors and customers think that this handsome, tattooed Irish dude is about twenty-one years old—when in actuality, he’s twenty-one centuries old. Not to mention: He draws his power from the earth, possesses a sharp wit, and wields an even sharper magical sword known as Fragarach, the Answerer.

Unfortunately, a very angry Celtic god wants that sword, and he’s hounded Atticus for centuries. Now the determined deity has tracked him down, and Atticus will need all his power—plus the help of a seductive goddess of death, his vampire and werewolf team of attorneys, a sexy bartender possessed by a Hindu witch, and some good old-fashioned luck of the Irish—to kick some Celtic arse and deliver himself from evil."

Hexed

 "Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, doesn’t care much for witches. Still, he’s about to make nice with the local coven by signing a mutually beneficial nonaggression treaty—when suddenly the witch population in modern-day Tempe, Arizona, quadruples overnight. And the new girls are not just bad, they’re badasses with a dark history on the German side of World War II.

With a fallen angel feasting on local high school students, a horde of Bacchants blowing in from Vegas with their special brand of deadly decadence, and a dangerously sexy Celtic goddess of fire vying for his attention, Atticus is having trouble scheduling the witch hunt. But aided by his magical sword, his neighbor’s rocket-propelled grenade launcher, and his vampire attorney, Atticus is ready to sweep the town and show the witchy women they picked the wrong Druid to hex."

My thoughts:

I definitely give both of these books 5/5. I've never been to Arizona but the details infused in the story definitely make the setting feel very very realistic. I love the narrator, Atticus, and I especially adore his dog Oberon, who is a very amusing companion and often has some lines that made me laugh quite loudly. There is a nice blend of action, emotional scenes, and humor throughout these books. I especially enjoyed how believable Atticus is as both a 2,000 year old Druid and acting as a modern-day 20-something. 

As I said before I cannot wait to dive into the next couple of books, though I think part of the reason why I haven't already is because I don't want to be as disappointed when I have completely finished them. It is a habit I have had with several series I have enjoyed; to keep from being devastated by the end I just stop and hold off on reading the last book or two for as long as possible so I can savor the experience. However, unlike some of the other series I have done this with, I know I will be pulled in by the adventures of Atticus and will have to set aside a couple hours to read Hammered. Perhaps I will simply have to save Tricked until it is closer to the release of book five.

Iron Druid Chronicles at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/?series_id=671364

Iron Druid Chronicles at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Kevin-Hearne/e/B004FR1V8O/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Other Readings:

I have made more progress with Tigana and with any luck I will have it finished in time for next week's From the Stacks. Right now I am trying to figure out a decent schedule so I can get in both writing and reading time, situated around my hectic work schedule and of course time to sleep. I have also found a couple more books that sound absolutely fascinating so hopefully I will have some more fun reads to recommend here in the future.

Edits, Plans, and Book Excitement

All right everyone, here is my first writing update post-Camp NaNoWriMo. Before I get to talking about Resurrection, I'll first mention everything else going on. I have my confirmation as ML for my region for NaNoWriMo 2012 in November and I have already ordered my kit, complete with stickers and such for the participants. I think a little bit of money from the next couple of paychecks will have to go towards getting the 2012 NaNo shirt and quite possibly the new thermos they came out with because it is really kind of awesome.

I know that I still need to do some planning for Battle of Dreams, my NaNovel this year, but my main focus for the next two months is on finishing up with the editing of Resurrection. Based on my averages for the chapters I have already gone through, I predict that my final word count will be somewhere around 100,000 so I have set my target as such on Scrivener. That means that you guys will get awesome little pictures to back up my progress instead of just words:

69,039 words so far and I still have 15 more chapters to edit. It is slow work but I am confident that I will be able to get through it all. The great part of working on the Project Death series is that I already had a playlist built and so from now until I finish my edits I will have the entire playlist on repeat for inspiration. I listen to it while writing as well as when I am driving to and from work, just so I can mentally prepare myself to write when I get home.

Today was also a fun day because I received two packages in the mail and both contained books. One package came because of a giveaway I entered on Goodreads. The book is The Other Half of Me by Morgan McCarthy. It is contemporary domestic fiction, so not really my normal cup of tea but seeing as how I'm not making a lot of money right now, I will accept any free books I can. This is one I am going to try to get to reading fairly soon so I can write a review up on Goodreads. They say if you review then you are more likely to win future giveaways. The other package came from Amazon as a gift from a very good author friend of mine. We had been talking about an e-mail I received from author A.E. Marling in regards to his book Brood of Bones. I had asked Marling about getting his book on NOOK and apparently his contract with Amazon doesn't allow him to do that, but I still thought the book was interesting and I planned on buying a copy as soon as I could afford it, but my friend beat me to it. Completely unexpected but I am thrilled and can't wait to get reading.

Well, I still have a couple hours before I'm meeting up with my writing group (aka the group of fellow Wrimos from my region) so I think I will spend that time working on more edits. Don't forget, on Friday I'll be back with my first post for "From the Stacks."

From the Stacks: An Introduction

In college I had a column in the paper where I wrote reviews of books. I called the column "From the Stacks," and though the running of the column really depended on whether or not we had space to fill, I really did enjoy it. All day yesterday I kept thinking about how just posting once a week didn't seem like I was doing enough here on my blog and so I started thinking that maybe it would be cool to bring back "From the Stacks" here. Every Friday I will post a review to a book I have read, and I will try to make them books I have read recently, though with my writing schedule I may not be able to keep to that every single week.

If I was able to do a brand-new review every week then that would mean reading 52 books a year. While I admit that I have already finished that many books this year, some of them were more like novellas and others were short story collections. I also had a few books that I was re-reading and then a couple of the books were actually graphic novels.

Something that I think I will try to set up for probably the last "From the Stacks" in October and the first one in November is a guest post. I have a couple of author friends who have books coming out on November 1st. Once I have the "From the Stacks" segments a little more cemented on this blog, I am going to shoot both of them messages to see if they would be willing to write up something for the blog about their own novels.

Another occurrence that might pop up from bringing "From the Stacks" here is that I may start to post my reviews to the books being read in the two Goodreads book clubs I am in: Sword & Laser, and Vaginal Fantasy Hangout. I really try to keep up with both clubs and so it may be that either the last Friday in the month or the first in the month will have the reviews of the book read that month or the previous month.

Now, right now my only Goodreads account is my personal one so I'm not exactly going to share that with everyone so you can follow me (as much as I would appreciate that, I do need to have my private life as well). I plan on creating an author account once I start getting published, and I will definitely let you all know when that happens.

Okay, now since I have just decided to start doing the book reviews again, I don't exactly have one prepared to post today. Instead I will let you know what I am reading and should be posting about in the next couple weeks. The August Vaginal Fantasy Hangout book was Ill Wind by Rachel Caine, and while it was a re-read for me, I may still write up a post about it. The August Sword & Laser book was Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb, and I can admit that I haven't actually started it yet because I'm still working on a couple earlier S&L books: Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey, and Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. With any luck I'll have some time to read these books and I'll have a shiny new review ready for you guys next week.

In the meantime, feel free to comment on this post and let me know what sort of information you would like to see with my reviews. Would you like me to rate them on a scale of say 1-5? Would you like to have links included on where you can find the book as well as other titles by the author? I'd like my blog to become more interactive, so tell me what you'd like to see. Thanks everyone.