Book Embargo

As the QUEEN of Science-Fiction and Fantasy, Anne McCaffrey has written quite a few things. Do you have a favorite? I know it is hard because everything is just so darn enjoyable. Shall we review the series for kicks?

Freedom: The Freedom series is about Kris Bjornson and Zainal, a Catteni, who fight to free the humans, deski, rugerians, catteni and even the Turs from the Eosi. They also wonder… who ARE the farmers? This is a four book series.

Titles are :
Freedom’s Landing, Freedom’s Choice, Freedom’s Challenge, and Freedom’s Ransom.
This series has some REALLY interesting human/alien interactions, but sadly, as we get into books three and four, where did the aliens GO?? I know they were fighting to free Earth, but hopefully she is hard at work on a book 5 to free the Deskis and others.

Next, the Crystal Singer Series
Not very surprisingly, about people who use crystals in their singing. Get it?
Titles are: Crystal Singer, Killashandra and Crystal Line

And now, her most popular series, PERN. I will not link to each book, because that would be insane. The list of titles is over here at her website and you should definitely check it out. You are supposed to read it in the order that she wrote it, NOT timeline wise according to the books themselves. This is very important. ALWAYS start with the “Dragonriders of Pern” trilogy. My personal favorites in Pern are the “The Harper Hall Trilogy” and “The Dolphins of Pern.” Though…. I love “Masterharper of Pern” as well. This is also a series she is still working on. She had begun writing with her son, which I think is an excellent way to segway into a new PERN author.

The Petaybee Series was also written with Elizabeth Ann Scarborough and is another favorite. I have not re-read these titles in some time but they did recently release two new “Twins of Petaybee” books. This is actually a new series within Petaybee. They are Clhangelings and Maelstrom which was just released yesterday actually. The original three titles of the series are Powers That Be, Power Lines, and Power Play.
A description from the third title, from the previous link:

Petaybee was growing up. Day by day, the sentient planet - like any child - was learning to recognize and understand the meaning of outside stimuli, to respond to those stimuli, to communicate its own needs and desires . . . even to use human speech.

The Brain & Brawn Ship Series is another group author project. Margaret Ball, Mercedes Lackey, S.M. Stirling, and Jody Lynn Nye each wrote books with Anne in this series. Stirling even went on to write his own. All of these books are based around the impressive future technology to preserve a human body inside a ship console, while still letting the brain/personality of the person be used. It is a voluntary procedure that allows the people to use their brains to control ships (or cities). Really interesting science fiction writing here. Here is a description from the first in this series,

Helva was born with massive debilitating physical deformities. Her brain, however, was unaffected and highly intelligent. Placed inside a capsule which overcame all her physical disabilities through advanced cybernetic enhancements, Helva was a formidable individual. Beyond her other distinctions was a love of music. Placed inside a spaceship with her Brawn at her side, she became The Ship Who Sang.

The Ship Who Sang (by herself), Partnership, with M. Ball, The Ship Who Searched, with M. Lackey, Baen Aug 1992 (this is one of my favorites in the series), City Who Fought, with S.M. Stirling, Ship Who Won, with Jody Lynn Nye, Ship Avenged, with S.M. Stirling

Brain & Brawn Compilations: just pairings of 2 different novels.
Brain Ships, The City and the Ship, and The Ship Who Saved the Worlds

Short Stories (no links available)
The Ship Who Returned, FAR HORIZONS, Silverberg 1999

And now… telepathic powers. Always a good time. The Tower & Hive Series consist of five books. The Rowan (aka A Meeting of Minds), Damia, Damia’s ChildrenLyon’s Pride, To Ride Pegasus, Pegasus in Flight, and Pegasus In Space. And here is a quote that describes some of the characters, from the third book of the series,

here is Peter Reidinger, a teenage paraplegic who happens to be the strongest telekinetic ever, his mind capable of teleporting objects and people thousands of miles in the blink of an eye. Yet all his power cannot repair his damaged spine or allow him to feel the gentle touch of a loved one . . . Rhyssa Owen, the powerful telepath and mother hen to Peter and the rest of her “children” - and a fierce, unrelenting fighter against the prejudice that would deny the Talented their right to lead happy and productive lives . . . and Amariyah, an orphan girl who loves two things in the world above all others: gardening and Peter Reidinger. And woe to anyone who harms either one of them - for the young girl’s talent may prove to be the most amazing of all.

Dinosaur Planet Series was also with Jody Lynn Nye and Elizabeth Moon. Can you see who some of Anne’s favorite people to work with are? Honestly, I do not think I have read the two Dinosaur Planet books. I do make up for that for having read the Planet Pirates compilation about 30 times. The Mystery of Ireta is the compilation of Dinosaur Planet and Dinosaur Planet Survivors, which are both out of print on their own.
The Planet Pirates is the compilation of Death of Sleep, Sassinak, and Generation Warriors, written by J.L. Nye and E. Moon from outlines by and discussions with Anne McCaffrey.
Here is a quote from Planet Pirates,

How together Sassinak and Lunzie save first a world, and then a confederation of worlds — and almost in passing establish amity between the genetically engineered Heavy Worlders and normal humanity — is the story of The Planet Pirates.

Last for the series I will be talking about is that of Acorna, the Unicorn Girl. The Acorna Series
was written with Margaret Ball, Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, and then there is a compilation with various other authors. It begins with Acorna, with Margaret Ball in 1997, and continues through, Acorna’s Quest, with M. Ball. The rest of the series is written with E. A. Scarborough. This includes Acorna’s People, Acorna’s World, Acorna’s Search, Acorna’s Rebels, and Acorna’s Triumph. This is another series that is ongoing as well. And surprisingly, a quote!

She was just a little girl. With a tiny horn in the center of her forehead, funny-looking feet, beautiful silver hair, and several curious powers: The ability to purify air and water, make plants grow, and heal scars and broken bones. A trio of grizzled prospectors found her drifting in an escape pod amid the asteroids, adopted her, and took her home to sizzling controversy. Officious bureaucrats wanted to put Acorna in a home and cut off her “deformity.” Ambitious scientists wanted to isolate and study the “unicorn girl.” Which was worse?

So I have given you a wide variety of her titles. I have not included everything of course. Her website (though not as updated as I would like) gives lists of all of her works, including other genre titles and full information about her other science fiction and fantasy titles. Do give her a go. All of her stuff has a wonderful feel and if you like science fiction, she has a lot of hard core stuff. Even her general fantasy, like Pern, has science fiction involved, and she makes it fun and interesting. I hope you enjoyed this review, and if you have not tried Anne McCaffrey yet, I hope this helps you to figure out with one to start with.

Also…. as to my own favorite… With each section, I kept saying, “This is my favorite,” “No… this is my favorite.” If I had to choose, it would be the Freedom series, but some of my favorite ALL TIME characters live on Pern, plus Acorna is awesome, and I love The Planet Pirates. I hope you will tell me who your favorite it, and have a lovely day.

acorna, and Jody Lynn Nye, anne mccaffrey, authors, bjornson, books, Brain & Brawn Ship, catteni, coldsleep, crystal, crystal singer, crystals, decision at doona, dinosaurs, doona, elizabeth ann scarborough, embargo, empathic, fantasy, fiction, freedom, hardcover, laydown, margaret bell, Mercedes Lackey, out of print, paperback, pern, Petaybee, Peter Reidinger, planet pirates, Rowan, S.M. Stirling, science fiction, Talent, telekenetic, telepathic, todd mccaffrey, unicorn, coldsleep

Well folks, we have reached the BIG 500 load mark. I would like to thank you for coming by and checking out my opinions and my tidbits of information. I hope you enjoy the time you spend here and that you leave either knowing more or with a smile on your face (maybe… both?).

I have posted about some free items that we recieved at the bookshop. One was the metal 13th Tale bookmark. (The letter opener is not included in reference to this post though).

There was another post on the fabulous Maria V. Snyder and her lovely Study books. I wrote to her and she sent signed bookplates. And they are not just her signature, she wrote really funny little lines like, “welcome to my study hall!” Very cute!
There is other stuff that we get at the bookstore that I do not post about here. Random bookmarks, pencils, stickers, etc.

In thanks for all your clicking, I thought I would offer some of these things. There is only one of the 13th Tale bookmark, but there are a couple of the Snyder bookplates (for Poison AND Magic) and bunches of other random stuff available.

The first person to specifically request the 13th tale bookmark can get it. There are a limited number of bookplates, but until they are gone, I will send them out. This free mailing will go out to the first 25 people who email me. There is a finite level of items, so I am going to put an end limit on it.

So leave a comment. Part of commenting is leaving your email address. I will contact you, in the order of commenting and ask you for your shipping address and preferred item.

NONE of the names and address will be used for anything other than this free mailing. No “selling” of anything will be done. No worries! It will be just for a good time. And really, does anything cheer you up as much as mail?

So drop me a line if you’d like, and thanks again!

address, bookmarks, email, freebies, magic study, maria v. snyder, pencils, poison study, stickers, thirteenth tale, freebies

Ah the wonder of Jane Austen. I for one am a BIG Austen fan. As with many people, I prefer her more popular books. Sense and Sensibility, Emma, and Pride and Prejudice are some of my favorite books of all time, let alone just of Jane’s. I enjoy her writing, and I love the time that she writes in. This post obviously is not to increase her readership, which is pretty constant, but just to show off all the cool Jane stuff out there and my own personal stuff.

This is the new Jane Austen Collection. Put out by Penguin Books, it is a lovely collection of all of her novels. It is also only $25.00 (U.S.). So if you like her, it is a great deal.

To show my obsession, particularly with P&P, I thought I would show off all my own cool stuff.

This is my new T-shirt that I got from Sara and Zach. It is a t-shirt which is plain white except for the writing on the front. I think it is just the BEST t-shirt. Honestly, what woman out there does not want a rich, handsome, slightly conflicted man to confess his love to her? This leads us DIRECTLY into…

The wonder of Colin Firth. Ah… the perfect Mr. Darcy… I love this movie. It is awesome because it is an A&E event, and is like, seven hours long. Ah, the wonder of it all. From the IMDB bio-page, Colin Firth,

Has played a Mr Darcy on three occasions. Once in “Pride and Prejudice” (1995) (mini), in Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001) and again in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004).

And then a movie of Pride and Prejudice from 1995 leads directly into…

The 2005 movie edition done with Keira Knightly. Also wonderful, with some seriously AMAZING filming done in this. This movie is worth being viewed only for its cinematic techniques,regardless of the movie content. Yes, it is that good.

Sadly, my only copy of Pride and Prejudice in bookform is the Barnes and Noble Hardcover. But it was from my gram, and a book is still a book!

I do not really feel a need to give you a summary of P&P, because honestly, if you have not seen any of the movies, or Bridget Jones’ Diary, you simply don’t care enough anyways. Sidenote, there is a hilarious version, called Bride and Prejudice, which is the indian (musical) version, and is definitely worth it.
For technical reference, both of the movie covers for this post were the promotional images posted on Amazon.com. The shirt is obviously mine, as is the B&N book, and the Collected works image is from the Penguin site.

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I use Eljay. I consider it better than all the alternatives, though to be fair, I have never used those. I started with Livejournal in 2001, and have been in love ever since. Very few of my friends in Livejournal-land are people I know in real life. Most are online people who live all over the world.

Another interesting fact about me is that I love T.S. Eliot. I had focused on him in a Creative Writing class in High School and that was that. My favorite poem is the “Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock.” It is all that is good in the world.

If you combine those two interests, you get Shana Norris. One of my first internet/Livejournal only friends, I added her because of her interest in Eliot (as well as Labyrinth, fabulous movie that it is), and we just clicked as friends. Shana is one of those people who has a lot of interests, and actually can give lots of time TO those interests. She knits, is a devoted wife, mother to multiple animals, works with computers, and she writes. Now is where it gets interesting. As a good friend of hers, she let me read her stories.

I would like to say one thing RIGHT NOW. Had I been able to buy EVERY SINGLE THING she has written in hardcover, I already would have. She writes in multiple genres, and yeah, it’s all good. Her first story that I read was a fantasy trilogy. I was left astounded at her writing skill. She has focused more on her young-adult novels, and those have been just as amazing and delightful.

She was finally able to get an agent, after much searching, and after much MUCH MUCH MUCH waiting, she FINALLY got a book deal. I say finally as such because seriously. These people had no idea what they were refusing. ugh to that.
Anyways, the excitement is that she signed a book deal for not just one, but TWO books!!!

In the Spring of 2008, look for “The Secret Blog of Libby Fawcett” by Shana Norris. It might have the title changed. But the girl in the book is Libby Fawcett. So you can BET that will be in the title. Also, Shana gave me permission to post a picture of the manuscript, (sans personal information). Enjoy the first page! Hehe

So when the spring of 2008 rolls around and we have a release date for “Libby” you can BET I will be pushing it!

eljay, fantasy, friends, hardcover, libby fawcett, livejournal, livejournal.com, novels, paperback, poetry, poets, shana, shana norris, shananorris.com, t.s. eliot, writing, young adult, libby fawcett

Robert Sabuda creates amazing pop-up books. Some he does alone, some are commemorative, and other are collaborations. He has multiple winter/Christmas pop-ups, plus a new Jungle Book pop-up, and even Alice in Wonderland. He has also done two in a “Encyclopedia Prehistorica” series; “Sharks and Sea Monsters” and “Dinosaurs,” with a third, “Mega-Beasts” coming out in 2007. He was involved with the new “Mommy?” which was incredibly cute, and used Maurice Sendack’s illustrations.

At the bookshop, we got a blank white card. There is nothing on the outside.
As seen here:

Nothing much to look at right? Open it up, and you see something completely different.

In the top left corner it says,

May all your days of Christmas
Be full of holiday joy.

You simply cannot get the full effect of this holiday greeting with a photo. This is a short video of me opening up the card.

It is less than 10 seconds, so clicky, clicky!

It is an incredibly cute little card, though I wish they had written something on the outside. His signature, anything! It seems a waste of possible advertising space.
I have found, people do not always listen to us at the bookshop, though often, they should!

Sabuda makes delightful pop-ups, and they are worth a look-through and will delight children AND adults! If you are interested in him, check out the tags, I listed many of the titles, plus other authors he has worked with, for your reference!

A Kwanzaa Celebration, adult, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, America the Beautiful, authors, books, Castle: Medieval Days and Knights, children, christmas, Clement Clarke Moore, holiday, jungle book, Kyle Olmon and Tracy Sabin, L. Frank Baum, Leonardo! : The Adventures of Providence Traveler, Lewis Carroll, matthew Reinhart, Nancy Williams, pop-up, pop-ups, robert sabuda, sabuda, Sabuda & Reinhart, Saint Valentine, The 12 Days of Christmas, The Blizzard’s Robe, The Night Before Christmas Pop-up, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Tutankhamen’s Gift, Uh-oh, winter’s tale, robert sabuda, pop-up

Back to the Book reports! Though… again, not an actual NEW book, but a crazy fun series that I think everyone should read (and love).

Sorry for the glare, but I thought it would be more fun if I used my own books instead of publicity covers from websites!
Katie MacAlister has written a lovely series about Aisling Grey. She finds out she is a guardian. Remember how confused Harry Potter was after he found out he was a wizard? Everyone else knew so many things, but because Harry hadn’t grown up in the wizarding world, he did not know these simple things. This is the way it is for Aisling. She does not know what it means to be a guardian, nor a demon lord (this happens by accident), and she DEFINITELY doesn’t know what it means to be the mate to a dragon.

There are three books out to the series so far. Side note, at each website link, there are excerpts and fuller blurbs about each book.
First in Aisling’s adventures is You Slay Me. From the back cover,

Other than being a murder suspect, conjuring up a demon in the form of a shaggy Newfoundland, and fending off the advances of a horny dragon, I’m having a wonderful time in Paris.
Wish you were here…

Next comes Fire Me Up. Here Aisling heads over to Budapest to attend a convention of supernatural beings.
Again from the back cover,

Meanwhile, mortal men are falling at my feet. I don’t know if its the Hungarian air or what, but it’s downright embarrassing. All I want to do is find a Guardian mentor to help me control my powers. Should be easy- except that every Guardian I meet with winds up dead. I’m starting to get a complex…

Onto the third, and most recent in the Aisling adventures, Light My Fire. Aisling was Finally able to get a mentor (no spoilers on who) and has moved to London. Just for kicks, another quote from this back cover,

It’s not easy being a demon lord, a Guardian, and a wyvern’s mate all at once. Luckily, I just moved to London to study all things Guardian with my new mentor. A new start is exactly what I need after being betrayed (again!) by Drake, wyvern of the green dragons. Though I’m supposedly immortal, I’m not so sure my heart can take another beating….
It doesn’t help that several annoying attempts have been made on my life. Or that I’m wanted by the entire otherworldly population of imps since Jim, my doggie demon sidekick, acccidentally ate their ruler.

These books are just an incredibly fun time. It is light reading, but you laugh out loud, MULTIPLE times. Katie writes quite a few different series, so you should go to her website and see if you click! Again, these books are ones I can sit down and re-read, and they STILL keep me up until 2:00 am… which can be a problem when I have to work the next day.

As I have said, all three books are available at your local independent bookstore. The schedule is for a new Aisling Grey novel each November, so when you get addicted, know that there is hope.

aisling, aisling grey, budapest, demon lords, demons, dragons, drake, fiction, fire me up, guardians, imps, jim, katie macalister, light my fire, london, newfoundlands, otherworld, paperback, paris, romance, you slay me

Over the summer, I helped a customer get a copy of their child’s summer reading book. It was actually funny. I called the Book Exchange looking for this book. They said they didn’t have it. Later, they called us asking if we had… I think it was the God Delusion, which I could not find. A few minutes later, ~presto!!~ I found their book. When I called them back, (getting a different person than the very first time) I jokingly said, “So since I found your book, do you have mine?” This second girl was very helpful, and actually looked for it, and YES they did have it. It was pretty cool I thought. I call them, no book. They call us, no book. I find book, call them, and they find book.
So anyways, the customer was so thankful that she bought me flowers!!!

Just mums, but still. So sweet. (No these aren’t the original mums, but I did not take a picture over the summer, so someone else’s mums will have to do for representation.)

On saturday night, a family purchased a substantial amount of product. Then they said, in a hesitant tone, “do you… wrap?” Which we do, and we did. The husband tried to give me a tip for doing it, which we don’t accept, but I told him to put it in the NH Humane Society jar, so the animals got some money!
They had purchased their own paper, so we used it, plus our own, and wrapped it all up. I personally LOVE to wrap, so I got to do almost all of it. It was heaven. I left work at 6:00pm (end of my shift that day) and the family came in just before 9:00pm (closing time) to pick up their wrapped gifts. They brought a gift in thanks!

How sweet is that? (Here you are seeing it almost empty of chocolates, because we ate them all day at work, but have no fear it was full this morning.) PLUS my co-workers would not open it until I got in the next day, so that I could see it! I love my job sometimes!

So now I have gotten flowers and chocolate working at the bookstore!
I know this is not technically about books, but it was just such a nice thing, that I had to share.

If your local bookstore gals (or boys if you actually have boys that work at your local bookstore) ever do anything nice, a small treat goes a LONG WAY. If this family ever comes in again, they will be treated with hugs and smiles

bookshop, bookshop girls, chocolates, ferrero rocher, flowers, gifts, mums, wrapping, ferrero rocher, thanks, goodwill, generosity

In all fields, with the promotion of any new item, there is schwag. Not a technical term, it just refers to all the “stuff” you get with the new thing. With books, it is mostly book themed items, bookmarks, bookplates, t-shirts with books on them, etc etc.
Everynow and again when books come out we get free stuff.

Today I share two items with you. My guinea pig, Cloak, is added to this picture for size reference.

The bookmark is for the new The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, still new in hardcover. At our bookstore, it has been insanely popular, especially with the book groups. This bookmark is a really nice metal, with a silver coating, and it is just classy. The type at the top says “The Thirteenth Tale” and in smaller font “Diane Setterfield” and the image in the center is a book spine.

Now onto the reallllllly cool item.

This is a letter opener. “Why is that cool” you ask? This letter opener says on it “Inspector Wexford slices open a new case” on one side, and on the other it says “Kissing the Gunner’s Daughter by Ruth Rendell MAY Paperback.”
Again, you may be asking yourself, WHY is this cool?

Kissing the Gunner’s Daughter came out in MAY of 1992. We have had this letter opener for over FOURTEEN years. Imagine that. FOURTEEN years of use from a free letter opener.

All I have to say for that is Wowsers Bowsers.

Another interesting item of note is the new Childs plush called Blobbies. It looks like a blob, and then you unzip it into a deer, fish, eagle, or other animal. We got a free t-shirt, which was saved for me, and I have been wearing about the store. Seriously though, check out these plush, they are incredibly cute, and it is like TWO plush in ONE!

blobbies, bookmarks, diane setterfield, freebies, kissing the gunner’s daughter, letter opener, may 1992, rendell, ruth rendell, schwag, setterfield, t-shirts, the thirteenth tale