Decatur Book Festival – Mini Wrap up

 

Just got home from the Decatur Book Festival! Here’s a quick little wrap up of how things went!

Saturday:

I got to meet Carole Marsh! I bought a one of her new books and she signed it for me! I met Jessica Verday(She regocnized my name from facebook!), Cinda Williams Chima, Kethleen Duey, Saundra mitchell (At the ‘Method in the Magic’ panel) and Carrie ryan and Alyxandra Harvey (At ‘Vampires vs. Zombies’ panel)! While I really only went to see Jessica and Carrie, I thought the others were so cool, and I got better insight into their books, so daddy bought me copies of one book for each author, and I got them all signed! I also got a little swag from most of them! They’re all very nice, and I’m so glad I got to meet them.

Sunday:

I saw Cassandra Clare’s presentation, got to ask a question, picked up my copy of Clockwork Angel, and got ALL OF MY BOOKS by her signed, along with a poster, and I picked up some bookmarks and a teaser from her story in ‘Zombies vs. Unicorns’. And i got a picture with her!

Then I went to panel called ‘Sibling rivalry of the Best and Worst Kind’ to see Jackson Pearce, Michelle Zink, and robin Benway. It was a fun panel! Jessic Verday was there, she sat right in front of me, and she recognized me from yesterday! (Squee!)

then I met Michelle Zink and got my books signed! She knew me from the internet and it was AWESOME! She gave me big hugs and I got some bookmarks, and an exclusive soundtrack for her books! (I got the last one on the table!)

So I had a very exciting weekend! It was just too awesome! Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get around to uploading all my photos and video, and post a more thorough wrap up! Right now, I’m off to read, but I bet you could have guessed that!

Decatur Book Festival

Here, in Georgia, the greatest literary event is the Decatur Book Festival, which happens to be taking place this weekend!

This is first year I’m going (I only just heard of it late last year) and I can’t wait!

If all goes well, I’ll get to meet Cassandra Clare, Michelle Zink, and if I get to go on Saturday as well as Sunday, Jessica Verday and Carrie Ryan!

I’ll post a wrap up after this weekend, and hopefully I’ll finally get those reviews up before then!

Plans

Here are my plans for this blog over the weekend. I just hope to get this stuff typed up and organized; posts will be published whenever my laptop gets back into internet range.

Review Archenemy by Frank Beddor

Review The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Review Prophecy of the Sisters by Michelle Zink

I have a contest in the works – stay tuned!

Also, I’ve been having a hard time picking which book to finish next, so I’m letting you guys decide! At the left of the blog is poll asking which book you guys want me to review next. This poll ends on the 14th, so vote fast! Whichever book wins the poll will be new top priority read, and I’ll get the review of it up as soon as possible. I’ll the poll going, so you can guys will always be able to help me pick which book to read!

 

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Another update

Okay, okay, I know, I did it again! Things just keep getting crazier here, and I barely have any time to finish up the books on I’m working on. I still have 2 reviews, I owe you, I promise those are coming as soon as possible.

I also have another post coming up soon about the awesome special event coming up. If I get around to it, there’s a contest somewhere around here that needs to get up and running, soon!

So, I’ll get started writing up posts, and getting all my pictures and info together, and you just know that there’s awesomeness coming your way!

Android Karenina Book Trailer

Below is the trailer for Android Karenina! Enjoy!

Android Karenina by Leo Tolstoy and Ben H. Winters

Summary from Quirk Classics.com -

As in the original novel, our story follows two relationships: the tragic adulterous romance of Anna Karenina and Count Alexei Vronsky, and the much more hopeful marriage of Nikolai Levin and Kitty Shcherbatskaya. These four, yearning for true love, live in a steampunk-inspired 19th century of mechanical butlers, extraterrestrial-worshiping cults, and airborne debutante balls. Their passions alone would be enough to consume them—but when a secret cabal of radical scientific revolutionaries launches an attack on Russian high society’s high-tech lifestyle, our heroes must fight back with all their courage, all their gadgets, and all the power of a sleek new cyborg model like nothing the world has ever seen.

Rhia’s Review – I went into this novel with little knowledge of Tolstoy, or the original novel Anna Karenina, so I really didn’t know what to expect from its being mashed with robots.  But it’s a good thing.

I really enjoyed Android Karenina, and I like how Winters was able to use the incorporation of robots to really highlight the society of the times. (Only the well-to-do are presented with their own class III companion robot.)

Without straying too far from the original storyline, Winters includes humorous robots, each with their own idiosyncrasies, despite their programming, and a much darker, conspiratorial plot, which adds some excitement to our story of Russion society. Because, let’s face it, almost all classics are better with some sort of giant monster! (Made of tentacle, rotting flesh, or metal; it doesn’t really matter!)

The Recommendation – If you’re a fan of sci-fi, humor, or steampunk-ish things, you’ll find Android Karenina worth reading! And if you’ve been keeping up with Quirk’s mash-up classics, you won’t want to miss this one!

The Contest! – Once again, the fabulous folks at Quirk are having a contest for our lovely blog readers! Just go to this link, mention RATHER BE READING, and you’ll automatically be entered to win one of 25 Quirk Prize Packs, each with a value of about $100. Each prize pack includes:

• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies:Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith
• How to Survive a Horror Move by Seth Graham-Smith
• Dracula’s Heir:An Interactive Mystery by Sam Stall
• Extreme Encounters by Greg Emmanuel
• How to Tell if Your Boyfriend is The Antichrist by Patricia Carlin
• An Android Karenina poster
• And more!

The Other Books – While I haven’t seen any mention of the next Quirk Classic (which is probably good, because it means they’re not going publish just any crazy mix of classic and monster – keep it fresh, guys!) I’m eagerly awaiting number 5. I, personally, am hoping from something based on Dumas soon. Anyone else?

The Vitals – Android Karenina goes on sale today in paperback for about $12.95.

The Links – Quirk Classics Official Website Android Karenina book page Enter the Contest!

Overdue update, upcoming reviews

Okay, wow. It has been a long time since I’ve updated here! Here’s why, and the scoop on my upcoming reviews, if anyone is interested.

 

So, after some personal business involving health issues with my mom, my schedule has totally turned upside down. So I’m reading less, but I’ve been doing a lot of sewing and stuff while hanging with my mom. I’m really trying to get my schedule straightened out so I can get in all my work, writing, reading, and sewing in during my week. Wish me luck!

Anyway, there are some reviews I hope to get posted soon! Hopefully by the time these are posted, I’ll have finished some more of currently reading pile, so there’ll be even more reviews for you.

I’ll be trying to get these reviews up by the middle of next week:

• ArchEnemy by Frank Beddor
• the Iron King by Julie Kagawa

and maybe there’ll be a few surprises in there as well, if I can some reading done really fast.

 

Happy reading everyone!