Book Embargo

So, reading around on Livejournal I found a link to a new X-Files movie.

Here at News.FileFront.Com there is a video from a Q&A session at WonderCon. And, here is the IMDB page.

Check it out. It is a great little teaser trailer, and the cheers at the end are seconded by me!

July 25 2008, here we come!

Ah, the joys of a great fantasy series.

Isn’t that a pretty shelf?
I have read the first three in the series. Starting with Wayfarer Redemption as an ADVANCE before the hardcover came out, and then waiting every year for the next two. I stalled between three and four and have yet to read the last three in the series. But I have them!

From Catherine Gilbert Murdock, author of Dairy Queen,

The Wayfarer Redemption

Sara Douglass, et al. Grownup fantasy that kept me up until 4 AM on more than one occasion. Best to acquire the trilogy all at once, just to be safe. She continues after book #3, but you don’t need to.

So, that doesn’t say too many positive things on the last set, but either way, read the first one, AT LEAST. They are a great time and all are now available in paperback (at your local independent bookshop of course!).

Have I told you how much I LOVED THE HOST??? hmmm I may have mentioned it!

Well, with the May 6th 2008 release date RAPIDLY approaching, Stephenie has been given permission to post a chapter online. I will only be giving the link, not the transcription, because you can’t transcript. So just read, and be jealous that I have read the whole book.

So, go forth, enjoy, and tell me what you think!

Here is the page at StephenieMeyer.com and click on the chapter link and go!

Do you want a lighthearted novel that just makes you feel GREAT? I know I do! Recently, I have been reading a lot of fiction that is more literary in quality. Sometimes you just want a good happy novel so here is one that fits the bill.

Go check out Sarah Strohmeyer’s Cinderella Pact. From Sarah’s website,.

NOLA DEVLIN HAS A SECRET IDENTITY.
By day she is an overweight, frumpy, and overlooked editor at Sass! (the “celebrity magazine with an edge!”), but by night she slips behind her keyboard and into her alter-ego: Belinda Apple. Belinda is thin, gorgeous, British and the author of a trendy advice column— she is, in effect, the latest Carrie Bradshaw. Not even her two best friends or her self-absorbed sister (who worships Belinda as the “sister she never had”) know her secret.

When “Belinda” jots off a column about how easy it is to lose weight, Nola is shocked when her best friends take her own lies to heart and urge her to follow Belinda’s weight loss program. Since Nola can’t reveal herself as the real Belinda Apple, she bites the bullet and joins her friends in making the “Cinderella Pact” — a last ditch attempt to lose weight (again!) and transform their lives for good.

But as the pounds come off, things don’t turn out the way the three friends expect. Their journey of self-discovery leads to the rediscovery of an old love and the unmasking of new problems. Meanwhile, Nola finds herself torn between two different men as she stomps out fires caused by her deception as Belinda Apple and falls in love with the man who just might be her prince — or the rat in coachman’s clothing.

It is a great fun fabulous book. I like happy people, or at least people who have GOOD things happen to them. This is the perfect book. Nola has to work to figure out what is real, what is fake, and what is worthwhile, and it is a great ride to take. It is available in paperback at your local independent bookshop. At my shop, look for it on the Staff pick shelf!

I forgot to post my review of the Superbowl commercials!
A great website resource is http://sports.aol.com/nfl/superbowlads. You can watch all the ads, plus they list them all. Great site. That said, here are my picks of best, freakiest and notable mention.

My favorite was the Budweiser Rocky ad. Very nicely done!

Next up, the Planters Unibrow. Disturbing, but yeah, who can resist the smell of peanuts?

I also liked the FedEx pigeons commercial. Mostly for when the GeoMetro lands next to the two men and he beeps it, showing it is HIS and the Garmin Napoleon commercial. Especially when they lead out the pony, ha!
This one is pretty silly. There were a few in this line, where they used the website instead of a freaky alternative choice. The actor in this is from the TV show Bones, so this one, I prefer.

I am going to link to the Chunk of Love and Shaq commercial, because the idea of Shaq on a Thoroughbred is just too funny.

the Bridgestone Russell Simmons commercial, FUNNY. This is especially funny because of all the infomercials for his new DVD set of Sweatin’ to the oldies that are being re-released.

aw, i like this one!

I wish this one was higher up, what with all the party crap that is going on in Washington

Finally, the WORST and best is TOTALLY the amp commercial.

I hope you enjoyed my list of the most interesting and notables in this years Super Bowl line up! Congrats to the Giants!

A synopsis from LoveReading.co.uk

1867, Canada - As winter tightens its grip on the isolated settlement of Dove River, a man is brutally murdered and a 17-year old boy disappears. Tracks leaving the dead man’s cabin head north towards the forest and the tundra beyond. In the wake of such violence, people are drawn to the township - journalists, Hudson’s Bay Company men, trappers, traders - but do they want to solve the crime, or exploit it? One-by-one the assembled searchers set out from Dove River, pursuing the tracks across a desolate landscape home only to wild animals, madmen and fugitives, variously seeking a murderer, a son, two sisters missing for 17 years, a forgotten Native American culture, and a fortune in stolen furs before the snows settle and cover the tracks of the past for good. In an astonishingly assured debut, Stef Penney deftly weaves adventure, suspense, revelation and humour into a panoramic historical romance, an exhilarating thriller, a keen murder mystery and ultimately, with the sheer scope and quality of her storytelling, one of the books of the year.

A Starred Review from Publisher’s Weekly,

The frigid isolation of European immigrants living on the 19th-century Canadian frontier is the setting for British author Penney’s haunting debut. Seventeen-year-old Francis Ross disappears the same day his mother discovers the scalped body of his friend, fur trader Laurent Jammet, in a neighboring cabin. The murder brings newcomers to the small settlement, from inexperienced Hudson Bay Company representative Donald Moody to elderly eccentric Thomas Sturrock, who arrives searching for a mysterious archeological fragment once in Jammet’s possession. Other than Francis, no real suspects emerge until half-Indian trapper William Parker is caught searching the dead man’s house. Parker escapes and joins with Francis’s mother to track Francis north, a journey that produces a deep if unlikely bond between them. Only when the pair reaches a distant Scandinavian settlement do both characters and reader begin to understand Francis, who arrived there days before them. Penney’s absorbing, quietly convincing narrative illuminates the characters, each a kind of outcast, through whose complex viewpoints this dense, many-layered story is told. (July)

And lastly, from Powell’s Books, the comment is what got me.

Rarely has a suspense thriller trod the path that Stef Penney has taken. Even as one waits with bated breath to find the killer, one gets sucked into yet another aspect of the novel — the dynamics of human relationships against the bleak picture of cold isolation! The reader’s prerogative to judge and condemn is taken away as the story unfolds to reveal the vulnerabilities of the human heart. Moments of intense sadness are overlaid by the immediate concerns of survival. This is one of those books that leave you feeling the end has no business to arrive so soon.

Now, my opinions:

All that said, it was a good book. All of the points that each of those sites bring up is accurate, and they do not mention that there are a few moments where you have to stop and say, “wow, I did not think we were going THERE.” I was not as enthralled as others who have read it. I LIKE HAPPY CHARACTERS! 1867 Canada does not lend itself to happy characters. But it was still a good book, definitely worthy of the read and it comes out in paperback on May 4th 2008. Look for it in your local independent bookshop then!

I just finished this book tonight. Chancey of the Maury River is a great elementary novel, similar to Black Beauty. It is a book from the horse’s point of view. Chancey is a luckier beast than Beauty, and only has two homes in his life, but there is a period between his homes when he gets no care and ends up in pretty bad shape. His luck changes when he heads off to his second home, where he gets the care he needs, more much more importantly than that, he gets Claire. She is the girl that he was meant to be with, and their story was a joy to read.

The description from the Candlewick website,

On the night that Chancey is born, a “fire star” gallops across the sky, a signal that a great horse has entered the world. But it will take many years of slights and hardships before the orphaned albino will believe that the prophecy is truly meant for him. First he must find a home at the Maury River Stables and a girl named Claire who needs him as much as he needs her. Then, when his aching joints and impending blindness bring an end to their training together, he must start a new chapter as a therapeutic horse, healing people with wounds both visible and unseen. In the manner of a latter-day Black Beauty, Chancey’s observant voice narrates this absorbing story, filled with fascinating details of life at the stable and keen insight into equine instinct, human emotion, and the ineffable bond that connects them both.
Told through a horse’s eyes, here is the entrancing tale of an Appaloosa who finds a chance to renew his trust, and of the humans he helps to restore.

I will be bringing this book over to my stable for my instructor and all our riding students to read. They will all enjoy it, I am sure. Look for it on the shelf of your local independent bookshop in May of 2008.

Valentine’s Day is a holiday celebrated on February 14. It is the traditional day on which lovers express their love for each other; sending Valentine’s cards, or offering candy. It is very common to present flowers on Valentine’s Day. The holiday is named after two among the numerous Early Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

Pick up a great romance for your sweetheart today! (at your local independent of course!)

Oh, and on this day, when you go into a store, please don’t say, “are these ALL you have left for cards?” No one appreciates it!

One of the newer trends in books is that of the E-book. I like the feel of books, the weight, the smell, so it will be a while before I switch to an E-book. For those of you who like and use them, head over to Tor.

From /.
“Tor Books is launching a new site and running a campaign in which they are giving away e-books (free as in beer) until the site goes live. To get in on the deal, fill out the form at their site, and each week you will receive a newsletter containing links to download a new book. The first two books are Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson followed by Old Man’s War by John Scalzi. Scalzi’s site says: ‘My understanding is that they don’t have DRM on them. Or at least, mine isn’t supposed to have, and I don’t think they’re planning mine to be special in that regard.’”

It is an interesting idea. Apparently, Baen books is also doing free e-books online. You can find more information on that publisher at their Webscription page. If you like E-books, then you will love FREE E-books.

And to pimp the one who gave me this info, check out Callblog, my boyfriend’s blog.

Fact #1. Harper Collins has a man named Carl who sends us a fax every Monday morning.
Fact #2. Recently there was a conference called the WI, the Winter Institute that many, including Carl, went to

Fact #3. Recommended most strongly by reps at the conference was Outlander by Gil Adamson.

From that review,

The Outlander should be read like the great adventure it is – hang on to your hat and don’t blink in case you miss something!

Here is the Canadian cover, the official US cover has not been released. Our advance cover has a running horse instead of a running woman, and I must say, though I love our ARC cover, I prefer the Canadian cover for the story line.

I was not overwhelmed for the first half to two-thirds of this novel. I liked small aspects but did not love it. I kept at it, and at about two-thirds, when we hear the story of what happened with Mary’s husband, it clicked. I had been reading it quite quickly before, and from then on I devoured it.

I am not going to steal the photo, but I want you to check out a Flickr page with photos from one of Adamson’s signings. Over here at Flickr.com.

Thanks to Carl and those at the WI for the recommendation, and I shall continue it. Pick it up in Mid-April and hold on for a great ride all the way to the LAST sentence.