Results tagged “books”

On second thought - I’m really not that surprised that I’ve been suckered into these books. I was an avid reader of the Twilight Saga and may have been an occasional peruser in the romance section back in the day… but man oh man - you add supernatural elements to a romance and it just heightens it all the more.

Now I know there was some debate over paranormal romance versus urban fantasy here at Suvudu a while back. Well, whatever you call it, I like it.

I downloaded Keri Arthur’s Full Moon Rising to my iPod Touch while abroad, just in case I got bored on my flight back. Started reading it while waiting for the subway back home and next thing I knew, I was lying on my couch, sad and done with the first book. I’ve got to get the next few in the series… but that’s another matter entirely.

In any case, what I’m wondering is - what paranormal romances would you recommend? I’ve got a hankering for more now and not sure where to turn, since there are so many out there. If it helps, I’m a fan of Jacqueline Carey as well.

If you live in the Midwest, The New Vampire’s Handbook could be coming to your town next week! Come see the multi media show that accompanies the book that Publisher’s Weekly called ” a giggle-inducing, undeniably comprehensive look at the absurdity of life among with undead.”

Even if you don’t live in a big city, chances are good we’ll be coming to a town near you. See the list of dates below and here, or go here to get all the latest info on the book and tour.

Hope to see you!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Milwaukee, WI
Boswell Book Company
7:00pm - 9:00pm
2559 N. Downer Ave.
(414)3321181
Email: info@boswellbooks.com

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Chicago, IL
7:30pm - 9:00pm
Borders Book Store
2817 N Clark St.
(773)9353909

Thursday, October 22

Madison, WI
7:00 pm to 8:30 pm
Borders
3750 University Ave
(608)2322600

Friday, October 23

Richland Center, WI
7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Ocooch Books and Libations
145 West Court Street

Saturday, October 24

Viroqua, WI
1:30 pm to 3:00 pm
Bramble Books
117 S. Main Street

October 24

Eau Claire, Wi
7:00 pm to 8:30 pm
Borders Books
4030 Commonwealth Ave

October 25, 2009

Minneapolis, MN
7:00pm - 8:30pm
Magers & Quinn Booksellers
3038 Hennepin Avenue South

* note: the following blog was submitted in the evening; however, the author requested it be published this morning.

Good Evening. I am the Vampire, Miles Proctor.

As someone who’s lived through more than his share of fads (pantaloons, the telegraph, the hula hoop and the Hustle were just a few of my favorites), I can tell you that we are in the midst of a full-blown craze for all things fanged. From soft drinks to understated and tasteful pictorials in gentleman’s publications, that certain vampire je ne sais quoi has been co-opted for most every purpose you can think of.

But many of these new fictional vampires aren’t actually vampires at all. They never sleep in coffins, they don’t drink human blood - some of them even walk about in the day, their greatest fear not death from exposure to the sun, but being caught in the act of sparkling.

One of the most liberal, modern interpretations of the vampire ethos is of course Edward Cullen, the troubled teen vampire hero of the exceedingly popular and wildly inaccurate Twilight series. Cullen is so handsome, delicate and sensitive that one might mistake him for a particularly toothy, excruciatingly pale mumblecore filmmaker, rather than a fearsome, powerful creature of the night.

Not that the glittering creatures of Twilight are the first ones to get it wrong. Bela Lugosi’s theatrical Dracula was just another end of the stereotypical spectrum, albeit from an era of cartoonishly ghoulish vampires. In reality, neither portrait is definitive or entirely accurate.

I have laid out the truth, once and for all, in The New Vampire’s Handbook, about the habits and characteristics native to the true vampire. As it was written and edited by an actual handsome and successful vampire, there can be no doubt as to its accuracy —though I invite your comments as to how the reality squares with your notion of all things vampire.

Personally, I find the whole phenomenon mildly amusing, and await its passing. But I am curious as to what others think of the genteel, approachable, considerate, “new vampire” that’s so en vogue. Is the rise of vampire-lite in popular culture good for actual vampires like myself? Is it an affront to all of vampirekind? Will it outlast the popularity of Nu Metal, the Tamagochi, the Rubik’s Cube, or the Internet? I encourage you to speak freely.

I remain eternally yours,

The Vampire, Miles Proctor.

Good Evening.

Allow me to introduce myself.

I am the Vampire Miles Proctor - tailor, entrepreneur, vampire par excellence- and the author and editor of The New Vampire’s Handbook: A Guide for the Recently Turned Creature of the Night (Villard).

I’ve been a vampire for most of my 467 years. In that time, I’ve made lots of fantastic memories, and great friends with whom I’ve drained my fair share of prey.

But I’ve also met countless poorly mentored new vampires who hadn’t the faintest idea how to feed, where to meet another vampire, whether or not garlic could harm them. They lacked even the most basic knowledge, so that just surviving each night was a struggle for them. Watching them try to navigate a new world without the tools to do so was upsetting, to say the least.

After a while, I realized I had to do something to help these poor wretches, new to the fold with no one to guide them.

So I did what any self respecting vampire would do - I rolled up my sleeves, contacted my book agent, and hand picked human slaves from the likes of The Onion, The Daily Show, and Important Things with Demetri Martin to help me assemble a collection of indispensible information for the neophyte vampire. At last, The New Vampire’s Handbook has been released, putting a veritable treasure trove of information at the neophyte vampire’s fingertips, including:

• the ins and outs of your new vampiric body
• lessons on how to embrace your vampirosexuality
• fool proof methods for luring prey, faking your way through meals, and creating a four-hundred-year financial plan
• the surprising joy of scrapbooking

And that’s just the beginning. All told, there’s more than 200 pages must-have information for that no new vampire should be without.

I’ll be posting here frequently with updates and information that may be of use to the vampire community, as well as posting relevant topics for debate and discussion. When I am otherwise occupied, irritable, or tired from a long night out, I’ll have one of the human slaves do it for me. I invite you to stick around, and look forward to hearing from each and every one of you.

Thank you for your attention - and Welcome to the Night.

Eternally yours,

The Vampire Miles Proctor

So, last week Joe Schreiber did this great post about the book he’d like to write, but is never going to. His is called The Survivors Club.

Mine is called Player.

It’s the story of a young black man in the Jim Crow south. He’s a talented musician and is starting to pick up good money playing piano in honky tonks. But then one night he breaks up a lynching, a man dies in the process and he has to flee. He runs to Washington DC where he seeks help from his former girlfriend, only he has to be REALLY careful, because she’s passing and is now married to a US Senator.

She helps him get enough money to make a run for it, and in the end, decides to go with him. They marry and Our Hero finds himself alone in Paris in the Ex-Patriot community of African Americans, living the high life and playing piano for the likes of Dancer and Jazz Queen Josephine Baker.

All is fantastic, until Fascism begins to rise and Hitler begins his March. Our Hero is contacted by the US Government. They want him to spy for them. As a musician he can travel with a fair amount of impunity and pass coded messages in the form of musical scores (Josephine Baker actually did this). Our Hero, although bitter about how he was treated in America, agrees HItler and the Nazis are much worse. He sends his wife and kids back to the US, and finds himself a down-and-out white ex-pat to act as a front to set up a Jazz club where he can play and use as a base. Problem is the guy’s a boozer and has a tendancy to get mixed up with women who turn out to be trouble.

Then comes the invasion of Paris. Our Hero wants out, but his handlers have a job for him. A major member of the German resistance has escaped the Nazis and is on his way to Paris to rejoin his wife. Our Hero is asked to get to the Resistor, help him hide, find his wife and get the pair of them the BLEEP out of town.

Our Hero’s quite stunned to find out the Resistor’s wife is currently hanging around with his boozing front man. Our Hero has to get her away from the front man, get her back with her husband and get the pair of them out of Paris. He’s almost not quick enough, and has himself to flee with his front man whom he can’t quite bring himself to leave behind. When he’s sober, he’s a decent guy and good in a fight, and he makes great cover.

Together, they end up setting up a new nightclub in Morocco, ostensibly to wait out the war.

Yes, Our Hero’s name is Sam.

And in the “Where do you get your ideas from?” department: This all came from the initial realization, after watching the movie for the umpteenth time that Sam MUST have known the letters were in the piano. They would have affected the tone.

C.L. Anderson has been known to tell people she lives in a stately Victorian home on a windswept island in Lake Superior with her three sisters and their pet wolf Manfred. She has also been known to tell people she is a science fiction writer living near Ann Arbor, Michigan with her husband, son and cat. What is known is that she is the author of the novel Bitter Angels and that she’s very much looking forward to many more.

Every writer has his dream book, the one he’d love to write but they know they probably never will.

Or, as Clive Barker once told me, “There are poems that poets write, and there are the ones they talk about in pubs.”

For me, it’s The Survivors Club — the one that I’m destined to talk about in pubs.

I only tell you this because I trust you. It’s late, getting close to last call. What’s a little confidential shop talk between friends?

Okay, that’s not entirely true. I’m never going to write The Survivors Club because I know in my heart that, barring some miracle of talent enhancement, I’ll probably never be able to pull it off. Not to mention the legal practicalities of…well, you’ll see.

Boiled down to its essence, the story is this. Regular guy meets a nice girl in New York City. Asks her out. They start dating, Things are going great. And after a year or so, he decides to take the plunge and asks her to marry him. She’s head-over-heels for the guy and says yes.

There’s just one silly little thing, it’s really not a big deal at all, but she asks if she can introduce him to her friends.

Our guy says that he’s already met her friends. They’ve been dating for a year now, after all. No, the girl says, these are her other friends — her very closest friends, five other women that she meets every month for drinks. She hasn’t mentioned them to him before because, well, it’s a sensitive issue. And up till now she’s wanted to respect their privacy.

So he goes to meet her friends. And they are:

Laurie Strode. Nancy Thompson. Sally Hardesty. Kristy Cotton. And Alice Anderson.

The sole survivors from the original Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hellraiser and Friday the 13th.

The survivors club.

Going around the table, our guy recognizes the names. Of course he does. These women are pop culture heroines. Survivors of urban legends. Goddess of the summer camp slaughter, the road trip from hell, the babysitting nightmare gone horrifically wrong. Up till now he always thought that they were just characters in movies.

Cats of course eat mice, and so are sacred to lovers of books, for mice nibble on books. And books—along with nature, of course—are the fuel of imagination, which is the very light of life itself.

City at the End of Time is my celebration of books, in what is likely their last century of dominance as a means of delivering text—perhaps their last decade. But it’s also a celebration of text in itself—and of the story, the narrative, as a means of capturing the essence of the real. In City at the End of Time, I seek to show that narrative and the talents and faculties that produce it may be as instructive in understanding the meaning of space, time, and human fate as any mathematics.

This novel is also my celebration of some of my favorite British visionaries—authors, dreamers, and philosophers who significantly shaped me as an adolescent into the writer I am today.

(These are in no particular order)

1. Tithe by Holly Black

Instead of vampires, we’ve got faeries in Holly Black’s Tithe, a gripping tale of sixteen-year-old Kaye, whose journey into the fey world begins when she rescues knight Roiben. As she explores the Seelie and Unseelie faerie courts, she finds out more than she ever bargained for. I know, I know, there will be cliffhangers galore in this post. Don’t want to ruin any of the fun for you guys.

Tithe also has a sequel, Ironside. For more info, check out Holly Black’s website.

Writers are only supposed to let readers see the good stuff. You don’t show people the stories you’ve already rejected: the bad zombie tale that never found an ending, or a middle; the moment-of-genius-idea that looked so dreadful in the morning; the unedited, awful prose that makes you squirm; those pieces of work that cause you to sputter and say, “What was I thinking when I wrote that?”

No. That would be a bad idea. I don’t think my publishers would like it. They’d worry that people who saw the worst of my writing would be put off. And that I wouldn’t sell any more books.

Then again, I’d love to look inside the reject folders of other writers. So, in the hope of persuading any of the other writers who blog here to bare all (don’t leave me out on a limb, guys), I’m going to swallow my pride and post my most embarrassing attempts at fiction.

These are all scraps of stories and ideas I junked years ago. I’d forgotten about most of them until I dug them out for this blog. The majority never got beyond the first paragraph. I binned them all because they were missing something (a plot, characters, common sense), because they’re clumsily written, pointless, or because they’re just generally awful. They will not be available in any good bookshop.

1) UNTITLED SHEEP STORY. Ashamed as I am to admit it, I wrote the following two lines with the full intention of turning them into a story. I have absolutely no recollection of what it was going to be about, but it worries me.

Something weird was happening to McTavish’s sheep. Something unnatural.

2) UNTITLED CANNIBALS IN SPACE STORY. Next is an SF tale I started three times, then abandoned. Set on a spaceship, it was going to be about a couple who wake from hibernation early, and must survive the long trip by defrosting the rest of the crew, one by one, and eating them. It never got beyond the second paragraph, because it is silly.

Colony ship Edicol Stephens shot through the freezing dark like something spat from Earth, rolling and shedding pinches of starlight from her hull. Inside, in a cramped dark conduit on deck 64, a torch-beam shone between the close-pressed faces of John and Elizabeth Nightingale. They were looking at a waxy green circuit sheet the way two murderers would look at evidence about to be presented against them.

Here is a list of other book, DVD and theater new releases for this week!

BOOKS

• The Mystery of Grace by Charles de Lint
• One Second After by William R. Forstchen
• Imager by L. E. Modesitt

• Twilight
• Bolt
• The Princess Bride [Blu-ray]
• Punisher: War Zone

• Knowing

[In the interest of full disclosure, let me start by admitting that I work with books of all shapes and sizes and content. To that end, we display all manner of books at Comic-Con.]

Should we still call it Comic-Con? Sometimes, I just don’t know. Granted, I haven’t yet been to one, so clearly I can’t be the one to make the call. But, I have been putting together our coverage schedule for the upcoming Con (and put together the one for the San Diego Comic-Con) and I’ve learned this much: there’s a lot more than just comics on display at comic con. In fact, you could argue that comics are slowly being squeezed to the back.

Comic-Con started as a small group (around 300, if you believe Wikipedia) of comics fans, artists, writers, and retailers gathering in the Grant Hotel for something that was a cross between flea market and secret club. Flash forward to today and there are live comics, light saber demos, film sneak previews, television show panels, video game demos, and a plethora of science fiction and fantasy novels and authors.

Oh, and there are some comics too.

Now, it’s easy to say that there is plenty of cross over appeal and, that by grouping these things together you provide a solid convention for all of them. And here I’m thinking of the Comics, Manga, Sci Fi, and Fantasy genres specifically. I believe that the gaming industry could hold it’s own convention. Oh wait, they do. And movies have film festivals. So, these fans would still have access to major convention events. Could these genres, on their own, do the same?

Are you obsessed with all things Chip Kidd?

Well, lucky for you, the team at his official site has embarked on the herculean task of cataloging all of the book jackets that Chip has ever designed. (Seriously. Do you know how many there are? Here’s a hint: more than enough to fill a book.)

Curious to see some of the iconic images, which include covers for Jurassic Park, The Secret History and many of John Updike’s books?

Subscribe here to get updates. Or, just visit the site.

Here is a list of other book, DVD and theater new releases for this week!

BOOKS

• Princeps’ Fury by Jim Butcher
• The Stars, Like Dust by Isaac Asimov
• Primeval: The Lost Island by Paul Kearney

• Hancock
• 24: Redemption
• Fred Claus
• Space Chimps

• Australia
• Transporter 3

One of our number here at Del Rey was incensed this week at being inflicted with the aptly named Annoy-a-tron, a nifty little electronic device that beeps intermittently, sounding like some kind of message alert or dead-battery warning. It’s practically impossible to pin down its location, as the sound seems omnidirectional and the time lag between beeps varies unpredictably; it’s also magnetized so that it can be hidden practically anywhere in a loved one’s vicinity.

My colleague was so annoyed by the noise that he unplugged every electronic device in his office, and when the beeps continued started complaining to everybody in sight, finally arousing the pity of another colleague who let him in on the joke.

The rest of us considered this episode the height of hilarity. I am not quite certain what this says about us, except that we all needed a good laugh and could actually fit in a few moments to enjoy one. Next week will be all business, as the Del Rey editors present their Fall ‘09 titles in what we call the launch meeting. [more after the jump]

Here is a list of book, DVD and theater new releases for this week!

BOOKS

• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
• Nation by Terry Pratchett
• One Bite with a Stranger by Christine Warren
• Succubus Dreams by Richelle Mead
• The Ghost in Love by Jonathan Carroll

• Iron Man
• Numbers - Season 4
• When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions
• Beauty and the Beast - Complete Series

• Blindness

When Lucas Arts revealed they would be creating a new game that would allow you to be Vader, I already could not wait. Then we learned more about the story and many of the cool force-related techniques we’d be able to employ while playing and that just made it all the more cool!

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is now unleashed upon us all!

Now, I haven’t played the game—waiting for a long weekend to fully immerse myself into it. But someone I trust has played it and reviewed it: Quint at Ain’t It Cool News. Quint and I see eye-to-eye when it comes to the Star Wars universe and gaming, so I have a feeling I am going to enjoy The Force Unleashed as much as he did!

And don’t forget about the book! Star Wars: The Force Unleashed was novelized by the very talented Sean Williams, out in bookstores now!

Del Rey and LucasBooks Announce Extension of Star Wars Publishing Contract and New Multi-Book Series

Maintaining a relationship that began more than 30 years ago, LucasBooks and Del Rey are slated to publish another 45 Star Wars titles from 2009 through the end of 2013. The titles will include 35 novels and 10 nonfiction books.

Read more…

There are already thousands of words in print that would serve as a finer and more worthy eulogy for David Foster Wallace than any of us could deliver. Let his own words bear his memory for us: The Broom of the System, The Girl with Curious Hair, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, Oblivion, Consider the Lobster, Infinite Jest.

Whatever else I have to say is just personal, of limited public interest, and entirely insufficient to convey what exactly has been lost.

I used to work as a bookseller. I also worked in a library. So I am qualified to tell you that the romantic notion of a bookstore or library as a quiet, tranquil spot free from the burdens of the outside world may be true, on occasion, for the consumer, but not very often for the person behind the counter. No, my experience with bookselling is that it is a constant exercise in guessing at what people will really want to read, ordering, hoping the order arrives in time, stocking the books, and then hoping against hope that you have ordered the book everyone wants only to watch as a completely different book soars to new heights and you’re left fielding questions and complaints.

You experience the occasional joy of winning a customer’s trust with a great recommendation and the frequent experience of being asked for a recommendation only to watch your chosen book be glanced at and then placed back on the shelf. You field questions about release dates, cover prices, and a host of other things that you have no control over. And, oddly enough, you still look forward to coming in to work everyday. Because, after all the difficulties and drama, it is a chance not only to work, but to evangelize the medium that means so much to you, that provided you with countless hours of entertainment, thoughtful questions, introspection, and a host of other things.

That is to say, it’s a labor of love. I won’t say it’s unrequited love, though. I can remember plenty of customers and patrons who genuinely understood that we poor bookselling souls were making an effort. But there are lots of times where you feel like you’re out on an island.

My experiences in retail were only as a bookseller; I can’t imagine what it must take and feel like to open and own a bookstore.

More after the jump…