Enter this great contest HERE.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
The Undercover Book Lover's Birthday Bash
The Undercover Book Lover is celebrating her birthday tomorrow and she's giving away a great lot of YA books. Take a peek...
Monday, March 8, 2010
SCBWI For the Loss
So I sat down in front of my computer, credit card in hand, and filled out all the online forms for SCBWI, nothing difficult. Name. Address. E-mail. Writer. I filled in all the blanks and continued to the next screen. The credit card information screen.
After inputing my credit card number and verifying all the other information, I clicked "Submit." It took a moment to process and... ERROR. No explanation. Just a screen telling me that it didn't go through.
Fair enough. I wait and try again the next day. ERROR. The following Monday morning I called and got an answering machine at SCBWI. So I try again and ERROR.
One last ditch effort that afternoon lead to an, you guessed it, ERROR! That was when I gave up and went to lunch. Forget SCBWI. They would return my phone call. I would pay them over the phone, and it would be done.
While in the restaurant parking lot, my cell rang and a 1-800 number showed on the Caller ID. Hallelujah! It was SCBWI... Or not. Turns out it was the fraud department of my bank and they were calling to ask me if me credit card had been stolen because someone had attempted to charge over $300 to "something called SCBWI."
Damn crooks, trying to join literary guilds in my name!
Friday, March 5, 2010
SEA giveaway from author Heidi Kling
Haunted by recurring nightmares since her mother's accidental disappearance over the Indian ocean three years before, fifteen year old California girl Sienna "Sea" Jones reluctantly travels with her father's volunteer team to six months post-tsunami Indonesia. During her stay at the orphanage, she meets scarred and soulful Deni who is more like Sea than anyone she has ever met.
She knows they can't be together, so why can't she stay away from him? And what about her old-best-friend-turned-suddenly-hot Spider who may or may not be waiting for her back home? And why is her psychiatrist father so secretive about her mother's plane crash? The farther she gets from home, the closer she comes to the truth. And Sea's real adventure begins.
Praise for Sea
"From the opening pages of SEA, the hair stood on the back of my neck, as it does whenever I encounter a writer who really knows what she's doing with words. Tragedies and miracles coexist in this entrancing debut novel about the aftermath of a tsunami." -- Jennifer R. Hubbard, author of THE SECRET YEAR
"SEA is a richly woven story as turbulent and beautiful as the sea itself, plunging us headlong into the depths of loss, devastation, compassion, and hope. A touching and romantic debut about the redemptive power of altruism and the heart's capacity for love." -- Sarah Ockler, author of TWENTY BOY SUMMER
"Heartbreaking but always hopeful; achingly romantic but never sappy-- SEA is simply luminous. What a remarkable debut!" -- Jennifer Laughran, "Not Your Mother's Book Club" Books Inc., San Francisco
For more about SEA and Heidi please visit: http://heidirkling.com/
Enter to win an ARC here: http://seaheidi.livejournal.com/
SEA debuts June 10, 2010 with Putnam (Penguin)
Homage to Alice in Wonderland
Tim Burton’s "Alice in Wonderland" releases in theaters TODAY!
Okay, so that’s not news to anyone, but I had to say it. I need to share my excitement with the world because “unhealthy obsession” does not even begin to describe my love of all things "Alice in Wonderland."
I don’t really remember when it started, but for as long as I can remember I have adored everything Alice and been fascinated by everything Wonderland. I guess, looking back, you could say that "Alice in Wonderland" was my early introduction into world building.
To quote Alice:
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?”
It sounds odd saying this, but I owe a lot to Lewis Carroll – To this book. I watched the Disney movie first as a child. After that I read the book for the first time and discovered the beauty of escaping into a fictional world. It was one of my first reads, my first experience with fantasy, and my first real literary attachment. And Alice and I have stayed very close over the years.
(Okay, so that assessment came later in life because at the time I was in late elementary school and probably was content to think: “This book is the BEST BOOK EVER!” Or something like that.)
Regardless, the story stuck with me. I’ve followed its evolution, watching all the movies and TV specials and reading anything I could get my hands on that gave me insight into that world. In high school, I wrote my senior paper on the real Alice and the origins of the story. In college, I did an art history project on Lewis Carroll’s photography. Throughout my adult life I have collected "Alice in Wonderland" art and paraphernalia. My office is positively littered with it.
I never stop discovering new and wonderful things about Lewis Carroll, "Alice in Wonderland," and the things that inspired it. For instance…
• Author Lewis Carroll’s given name was Charles Lutwigde Dodgson.
• Carroll stammered when he spoke. • He studied to become a priest but was never ordained. He met the Alice Liddell and her sisters Lorina Charlotte and Edith while working at Christ Church, Oxford. They were the children of Dean Henry Liddell.
• Nearly all of “Alice’s Adventures Underground,” as it was originally called, was told to the Liddell sisters on a boat ride down the Thames River from Folley Bridge near Oxford to Godstow in 1862. Carroll was later persuaded to publish his story by author Henry Kingsley. It was released in 1865. • Tenniel’s illustrations of Alice are not illustrations of Alice Liddell, who had dark hair and bangs. Lewis Carroll sent Tenniel a photograph of Mary Hilton Badock, a childhood friend, and recommended that he use her as a model. It is uncertain if Tenniel accepted the suggestion.
• At the end of Chapter 2: The Pool of Tears, each animal in the pool represents someone in Alice Liddell’s life. The Lory represents her sister Lorina; The Eaglet, her sister Edith; and the Dodo is Lewis Carroll himself. When he spoke his own name and stammered, saying Do-Do-Dodgson.
• “Grin like a Chrshire cat,” “mad as a hatter,” and “mad as a march hare” were common phrases in Carroll’s day.
• Original sketches of the croquet game reveal that the mallets were not originally flamingoes, but ostriches.
• The dormouse tells a story of three girls – Elsie, Lacie & Tillie – who lived at the bottom of a treacle well. The three girls are the Liddell children. Elsie for Lorina Charlotte, Lacie is an anagram for Alice, and Tillie was an affectionate family nickname for Edith.
Source: The Annotated Alice
I also absolutely love seeing how other Alice fanatics express they’re undying devotion. The art in this post is some of my favorite and below are some links to the book, the movies and a photo series that I think is amazing.
The Book
Read Alice in Wonderland online HERE. Listen to Alice in Wonderland HERE.
Popular Movie/TV Versions
Alice in Wonderland, Disney (1951)
Alice in Wonderland, Harry Harris (1985)
Alice in Wonderland (1999)
Alice, SciFi Mini-Series (2009)
Alice in Wonderland, Tim Burton (2010)
"Alice in Wonderland" Art
Sugarocks99 “Alice in Waterland” series
Here are some other pieces, ranging from funny to downright dark.
Happy movie watching!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Forget-Her-Nots Launch Report & Contest
So there is only one word to describe Amy Brecount White's launch party: AMAZING!
It was held Tuesday night at the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. and Amy rocked the house. It was beautiful decorated in pink with flowers placed around the galleries, complete with cards that stated there meaning to keep with the theme of FORGET-HER-NOTS, Amy's debut novel.
It was hard to say how many people came because the space was packed, but I would say that well over 100 people came out for the event. Aladdin's Lamp: Children's Books and Other Treasures, an indie store based in Arlington, brought boxes upon boxes of books and sold over 250 copies!
It was hard to say how many people came because the space was packed, but I would say that well over 100 people came out for the event. Aladdin's Lamp: Children's Books and Other Treasures, an indie store based in Arlington, brought boxes upon boxes of books and sold over 250 copies!
And Amy signed each and every one. She even signed a book and a swag pack for one lucky reader. (More on that later.) Have a look at the festivites...
It was a flurry of activity from the time the launch started. People immediately jumped in line to buy books and Amy was signing before she could even sit down. The signing line was long all night and, at one point it actually ran the length of the gallery and curved around along the back wall. Everyone was desperate to get a moment of face time with the author.
She also read a passage from FORGET-HER-NOTS, which you can listen to below.
CONTEST CLOSED
Alright ladies and gents, let's make this one international. Grand prize is a signed copy of FORGET-HER-NOTS and a swag pack full of buttons, temporary tatoos, and signed bookmarks and post cards. The runner-up will receive a swag pack with all of the aforementioned goodies.
To enter answer this question: Which do you think are more romantic, roses or tulips?
Leave your answer and e-mail address in a comment below. You must be a follower to win. There are also opportunities for extra entries.
Extra Entries
+3 Old Follower
+2 New Follower
+5 Post the FORGET-HER-NOTS cover and description on your blog along with a link to buy the book, which you can find HERE.
+3 Add Wastepaper Prose to your blog roll
+2 Follow @wastepaperprose on Twitter
+1 Tweet about the contest (Include @wastepaperprose)
+1 Link this contest on your blog
Be sure to leave me links! If I can't find a post, then it doesn't exist.
Contest closes at midnight on 3/27.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
The Iron King Signing & Contest
While I was there, I picked up a signed copy of The Iron King, Julie's amazing debut novel and the first book in The Iron Fey series. But more about that later...
I hopped in the car at 4AM Saturday morning and road over the mountains, braving ice and snow and rest stops full of surly truckers, to attend her first signing. Kristi, The Story Siren, and Chelsea, The Page Flipper, also came down for the festivities, fighting through Snowpocolypse: The Sequel to be there. And I'm glad we all made it because the whole night was a blast.
The four of us went to Sake Blue for sushi that afternoon. The food was delicious and for extra flare Julie orders a a whole eel. Julie was the only one who ate any.
This is the King Cobra....
We opted to head back to Borders after lunch, deciding that none of us would be unhappy surrounded by books, and it was straight to e the cafe for caffeine. Julie had stashed a Mountain Dew in her coat pocket for just such an ocassion. The addiction runs deep, but until they form Dewholics Anonymous I fear there's no helping her.
Borders set Julie up at a table in the YA section, stacked high with copies of The Iron King. Nearly 30 people showed up to listen to and get their books signed, including Tenners Kelly Creagh (Nevermore, 8/31) and Jessica Leader (Nice and Mean, 6/8).
The night went a little something like this...
CONTEST CLOSED
(U.S. Only)
UPDATE:
Grimalkin, the sarcastic gray cat from The Iron King, can't keep his nose out of anything! So much like he popped into the book, he has decided to make an appearance here and weasel his way into the contest, probably in an effort to steal the show. As Julie said to me once, "Grim has more fans than the heroine."
So Julie decided to put Grim up as a special prize. Well, a reasonable facsimile of him. The winner will now receive a hand-painted Grimalkin rock in addition to the signed book and bookmarks. It will be painted just for the winner and shipped direct from Julie. Look to the right for a glance at the handsome Grimalkin clone...
You must be a follower and leave a comment below with your e-mail address to enter. But there are multiple chances for extra entries.
Extra Entries
+3 Old Follower
+2 New Follower
+3 Add Wastepaper Prose to your blog roll
+2 Follow @wastepaperprose on Twitter
+1 Tweet about the contest
+1 Link this contest on your blog
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