Queen Mindi's Castle

Magic Under Glass

2009-12-02T02:51:04Z

This book is definitely on my to-read list - it sounds awesome. :) Posting for a contest.

Want to win a hardcover of MAGIC UNDER GLASS by Jaclyn Dolamore plus more prizes? See http://fabulousfrock.livejournal.com for details!

nano babble

2009-11-18T06:19:57Z

Just hit 15,000 words, which is my estimated halfway point. Prince Martin has just been kidnapped, and Leo is about to find out the truth about Saray's family.

Wordcount wise, this NaNo is failtacular. But in quality, I think it's turning out less horrific than my last attempt, simply because I'm not throwing in random pointless scenes to add words. It may possibly be something I can salvage at the end of the month!

Now back to work. I'm going to try to get another 1000 words in before I go to bed... may or may not happen, we'll see.

Since this is a super boring post, here's a teaser to make it less boring. (or more so, haha) Backstory: Leo's at a ball in the Syrenian court. Sir Alley Lake is Saray's father; Jared is her brother.

I stand and make my way toward the nearest exit. However, it appears to be the wrong exit; instead of leading to the castle interior, this doorway leads out onto the lantern-lit terrace.

It’s freezing out. I shiver; the fabric of my new clothes is thinner than I’m used to. Trying to get my bearings, I prepare to dive back into the light and warmth of the ballroom.

“I’m so worried, Alley. Help me.”

It’s the King’s voice. Usually aloof and composed, he now sounds wretched. My curiosity is piqued; I casually wedge myself into the shadow cast by a pot plant, and begin to fiddle with my bootlace so I’ll have an excuse if I’m caught.

“The boy can’t have been missing long,” Saray’s father answers. “You took him hunting only this afternoon, and he arrived home safely.”

“See?” the King says. “You know everything.”

“Oh, please, Nathaniel,” Mr. Lake says. “I’m not omniscient. My son was with you and he mentioned Martin.”

“All the same,” the King says. “You will investigate, won’t you? I’ll sleep easier knowing…”

“Of course I will.” There’s a pause, then Sir Lake says, “Jared! Come here!”

A girl squeaks in dismay, and from my hiding place I see Jared separate from the shadows past the reach of the lantern light. The girl he was lately dancing with follows him, blushing and looking ashamed of herself.

“Yes, Father?” Jared says, crossing his arms.

“Go fetch Saray and Simon. I need them.” Sir Lake glances at the girl. “And be so good as to return Lady Deidra to her chaperone. We wouldn’t want her reputation to be compromised, after all.”

Jared frowns and repeats, “Yes, Father.” I can feel his resentment from halfway across the terrace.

nanowrimo: it has begun

2009-11-04T01:32:43Z

After a rather bad start involving multiple Halloween parties and Moby-Dick homework, I am NaNo-ing away, wearing a plastic purple bat ring that I got as a Halloween favor this weekend. As of now, it is my NaNo lucky charm.

Since procrastination is, of course, a time-honored NaNo tradition, I am taking precious writing time to tell you all this, and also to post an excerpt of my first chapter. Warning: will probably not make a whole lot of sense unless you've read "The Queen's Knight," but feel free to read it anyway.

Just as I was about to turn around and head back the way I’d come, I laid eyes on Miss Saray Lake. I didn’t know her name at the time, of course—I just knew that she was glowing so brightly that it felt like the sun had gone dark.

Then, just as suddenly as it’d come, the glow faded. I guess the Goddess realized I’d gotten the hint. It didn’t leave Miss Lake completely, though—it clung to her, a faint halo of light.

“Great Goddess,” I said under my breath.

Miss Lake was riding sidesaddle on a chestnut gelding, dressed in a deep green habit, riding boots, and gloves. There was a wide-brimmed straw hat pinned to her hair, which was the color Ma would call “strawberry-blonde.” Her face was pale and freckly. I noticed all this as I dragged my obnoxious gray mare Morning Mist (Idiot for short) away from the repair shop and after Miss Lake, who had stopped to stare at me like the rest of the people in the street.

“Miss!” I called out. “Might I speak to you for a moment?”

She gave me a look that implied I was something gross on the sole of her pristine riding boots. “What do you want?” She noticed the Trilian crest on my tunic and added, “Sir Knight.”

“You—I—oh, Goddess.” I couldn’t for the life of me find the words. Of course Our Lady had told me the exact words to say: “The Goddess has a special task for you. I, her messenger, am sent to call you to Her temple for further instruction.” But looking up at Miss Lake and her expression of wary disdain, I forgot the entire line.

Part of it might’ve been that she was pretty. Yes, I’ll admit it. The fact that I’m in love with Miranda hasn’t rendered me blind. Miss Lake is perhaps too tall and too fair for my taste, but she is far from unattractive.

I think most of it was that glow, though. What do you say to a woman who has the light of the Goddess’s favor pouring off of her? It’s hard enough to stay coherent in the presence of the Lady herself, and I know for a fact she tones down that shining holy light for my benefit. But Saray’s light wasn’t toned down nearly enough.

“Sir Knight,” said Miss Lake, mistaking my stammering, “I regret to disappoint you, but I am engaged to be married.” She pulled down her glove enough so I could see the blue ribbon of betrothal knotted securely around her wrist. It was a bit frayed—she must have been engaged for some time.

“I see,” I said, nodding like a fool. “Congratulations.” Then—finally—I remembered what the Goddess had told me to say, and yanked on Idiot’s reins again. “Er, miss, the Goddess has—”

Idiot came forward faster than I expected her to. I lost my balance and fell over into the dirt. Miss Lake smothered a laugh at my expense and continued on her way.
I struggled to my feet. “You idiot of a horse.”

yesssssssssssss!

2009-10-23T01:20:19Z

I just finished The Queen's Knight!

*cheers* *dances*

Wordcount: 42,539. Page count: 112. Chapter count: 15. Final sanity percentage: 65% and decreasing.

On to NaNoWriMo! Ohhhh yes. I feel like I can finish anything right now. Even, possibly, my homework. (well, maybe not.)

A John Denver Moment

2009-10-18T00:02:55Z

True story.

Happened in 10 minutes. Wrote it down in half an hour. Warning: am still not quite sane.

(and still haven't done my Eng456 story or read White-Jacket. Yay for procrastination)

You cannot read one more word of that stupid book.

It’s a Saturday and doing homework on a weekend is unnatural, or so you’d love to convince your professors. You keep staring out the window at the gray sky, the drips from the roof making it look like it’s raining.

Forget this, you think, and toss the book on your bed.

You put on your sweatshirt and rain boots, then climb the stairs to tap on your friend’s door. She isn’t there, or isn’t answering.

Oh well. You like walking alone better, anyway…

You head back down the stairs, go out the back exit, and head into the forest. The steep trail winds up and out of sight before you, carpeted with fallen leaves still wet from an earlier rain. You can hear rain dripping from leaves, even through your ear-buds.

It’s not raining, though. You smile to yourself and start up the hill, enjoying the way the slippery leaves feel under your rubber soles. Already, you’re so lost in thought that you almost miss the turning for your favorite trail—the one marked by a tall pine, all alone in the middle of a worn foot-path.

Cross the stream; laugh at the cheerful sound the water makes. The stream must love mid-October rain. Some of the leaf-drops fall on you—hair, forehead, lips. It’s as close as you can get to being kissed by a tree.

On up the hill, and then you pause to switch to a different song on your iPod, and you happen to look up. Oh. Oh, wow… The tops of the trees are misted, fairytale-horror movie, and it makes you think of Halloween and Rivendell all at once. Passing the fenced-off field, you salute casually to the wicked faery king you’ve made up, who’s trapped behind that chain-link fence for some terrible misdeed a hundred years ago…

(It’s probably just a layer of grass covering a septic tank. But then again, that might be what the faeries want you to think.)

Past the faery king’s prison, you start to think about mountain lions and what would happen if one attacked you. You look around nervously; now you’re almost to the top of the hill and there’s mist all around you. For bears, you make yourself look big, right? And cougars, you make yourself into a tiny ball and don’t move? Or is it the other way around?

Movement in your peripheral vision. You look up sharply. A jogger. You grin at her in relief—yeah, paranoia is silly, what were you thinking?

At the top of that first hill there’s a large open space, pavement and leaves. You stop for a moment, make sure no one’s looking, and do some silly twirls. Hey, no one’ll care if they don’t see.

Collecting your sanity, you head up to your usual destination, the watchtower. It begins to rain lightly, and you hope that the tower will provide some shelter—but then you hear the voices. There’re a couple of guys up there. You groan. Last time you went up there, there were three idiots smoking weed. Ick.

You hear a deep crashing growl. Thunder? Maybe a car accident? Nah, sound wouldn’t carry that far. You decide to ignore it.

You come to the end of the trail, to the base of the tower. The guys see you; one waves. You look at your watch, pretending you didn’t see.

It’s too misty to see much from the top of the tower. Anyway, you ought to get back to that homework… okay, no, but those guys might be creepers! You turn around and start heading back.

At that exact moment, it starts to rain harder. Thunder rumbles again—definitely thunder this time. Your sweatshirt begins to soak through, so you start walking faster.

(Well, you speed up partly because you’re afraid the creepers will follow you, and also partly because it’s suddenly steeper and downhill. But the wetness is a factor.)

Again, again, again, the thunder crashes. Each time, the rain begins to fall harder, harder. You start to jog. Mouth open—panting, gasping for a drink of the sheeting rain—eyes closed against the wind and the water-drops. Lightning flashes. You laugh crazily—isn’t it just like you to choose to take a walk to the high ground during a thunderstorm?

Your heart pounds. You’re drenched now, rain dripping down your nose and cheeks and forehead. You take the last stretch at a sort of limping run, trying not to be to heedless because if you slip on the leaves and break your ankle then no one’s coming to get you.

As you pass the pine tree, a couple walks by. They stare at you. You think, I must look totally freaky—mouth open, hair plastered to head, shirt dyed a deeper hue of gray from the rainwater—don’t worry, people, I only want to get to shelter, I won’t hurt you!

Down the steps—lightning flashes—and a short dash across the bridge, then you’re back at your residence hall door. You fumble with your keys, the wetness less bearable when shelter is so close. Then the door opens and you dash inside.

You squish up the stairs into your room. Toe off your boots. Yank off the soaked sweatshirt. Then you look out the window and say out loud, “That was awesome.”

Book Reviews

2009-10-06T21:32:32Z

Under cut are reviews (and possible spoilers) for:

Silver Phoenix
The Fetch
Curse of the Pharaohs
Swoon

Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon. Although in some places this book seemed rushed or impatient - often skipping to get to "the good stuff," i.e. supernatural fight scenes or ad nauseam food descriptions - all in all, I enjoyed it. It was an interesting plot and I really liked the setting as well. I don't see many YA fantasy books set in a fantasy version of China (?) rather than, say, Europe. Way to think outside out of the Tolkien box! In some ways I liked it better than medieval fantasy set in European-esque places, because I wasn't familiar with the mythology, so I felt like the book taught me something about it.
I did have a problem with the way the author constantly described food - reminiscent of Brian Jacques and his Redwall feasts, except without the cute little mice and badgers and moles - which annoyed me, but not enough to actually detract from my enjoyment of the book as a whole. The ending, too, which I won't spoil, bothered me a little - it seemed like a loose end left hanging. But I'd still recommend this to YA fantasy lovers looking for new settings and mythologies to - pun intended - devour.

The Fetch by Laura Whitcomb. Without a doubt, this is the most original retelling of the story of Anastasia Romanov that I have ever seen... and ever expect to see. The premise mixes a supernatural element - the not-quite-angelic spirit "Fetches" that ferry human souls from Earth to Heaven - with the story that everyone who's ever seen the animated film Anastasia is familiar with. Calder, a Fetch looking for an apprentice, falls in love with a beautiful woman he sees at a Death Scene, and decides to make a deal with the recently deceased Grigori Rasputin: to borrow Rasputin's body in exchange for giving Rasputin's soul free rein in the spirit realm. Once back in the land of the living, though, he discovers that the woman he loves is, in fact, the empress of Russia. She makes him promise to make her sickly son Alexis immortal rather than herself. When the rest of the family is slaughtered, Alexis and his sister Anastasia survive thanks to Calder's interference. Meanwhile Rasputin, delighted with his new freedom, wreaks havoc on the spirit world - terrible havoc that only a great and difficult deed can repair. Calder, Alexis, and Ana must travel half the world in a race to get back the Key to Heaven before the restless spirits... and all three of them (but especially Calder) must face the ghosts of their human past.
And did I mention there's a romance? Seriously, this book is crazy - I don't know who would just randomly come up with this stuff - but it's awesome.

Curse of the Pharaohs by Elizabeth Peters. Ahahaha, I love this author! This is the second in a series (the first being "Crocodile on the Sandbank"), and I read the first one a long time ago on recommendation from a friend. I never read the rest of the series, though, until just recently I remembered them and picked them up again. These books are subtly hilarious, clever, and intelligently historical all at once. I love the two main characters, Amelia Peabody-Emerson and her husband Radcliffe Emerson - their relationship fills me with giddy glee, because it proves to the doubters that Beatrice and Benedick of Much Ado About Nothing could actually stay together and be happy... in their own unique way. The setting, which mixes Egyptian archaeology with Victorian manners and a good old-fashioned murder mystery, is just so much fun, and the plot itself... well, honestly, I had no idea who did it until they actually stated it straight out, because there were like six suspects and all of them had a motive. It was frustrating not to have any idea whodunit, but it kept me turning the page and in the end I wanted to say (like Amelia herself), "Why, yes, I knew it all along!" Another one I highly recommend - it's a mystery aimed at adults, but I think anyone could enjoy it.

Swoon by Nina Malkin. I think this book should come with a pre-packaged cold shower. It's that sexy. Now, don't get me wrong, it's not all R-rated sex scenes (though I would say it's a solid PG-13, dealing heavily with drug use and sexuality.) but the entire mood of the novel is as hot and steamy as a freaking sauna. And dark. Seriously, I couldn't figure out how it would end well, because Sin was just so evil there was no way he could be redeemed... but, well, I won't spoil it. Suffice it to say that it was really, really well written, and the ending - against all expectations - was actually satisfying. A gripping page-turner that I would also recommend... just not for the kiddies.

crzywritermindi @ 2009-09-24T17:20:00

2009-09-25T00:50:55Z

Back at Western. Has been interesting so far... I keep finding new things to be sarcastic about, or to angst about, or just downright complain about. But I have already mentioned those elsewhere, and besides, they are probably not interesting unless you're as bored as me.

My classes are pretty decent. I'm taking Latin 101, Major Authors: Early Melville, and Special Topics in Fiction Writing: Story, Interrupted. Diagnosis: Latin is crazy but potentially fun, Melville is... eh, well, the teacher seems enthusiastic?, and Ficwriting will be scary.

I hate that all college fiction classes focus on being all literary. I am NOT a literary fiction writer. I just cannot. I write YA fantasy. I make people laugh with stupid fart jokes. Deep, Hidden Meanings are not my style; neither are Dark, Angsty Characters that show the Plight of the Human Race. In fact, it's hard enough for me to write about the real world at all...

But that is one of my angsting topics, and I said I wouldn't mention those.

In other news, this morning a scary-looking plot bunny ambushed me before class and forced me to scribble down some ideas. For some reason, 31,000 words into "The Queen's Knight," this plot bunny thinks I need to add a brand new character... who will change the outcome of the ending, add a bunch of new scenes, and basically screw everything up. Worst of all, it's actually kind of a good idea. But why NOW? Why not 8 chapters ago? Argh! Well, guess that'll be my project for this weekend... after I finish my homework. (Ew. Homework.)

If I can finish "Queen's Knight" in October--and I'm getting close, I think--I might try doing the sequel for NaNoWriMo. It'll be a cheat-tastic NaNo, since I don't have a word count I'm aiming for, I've written this book once before, AND I've already got the first thousand words written; but who cares. I'll just use it as an excuse to make myself write more (and to drink lots of mochas and mope around in the library with my computer when I'm supposed to be doing homework).

Mmkay, I'm going to dinner now, so time to stop rambling. TTFN!

♥ Mindi

No. Way.

2009-09-18T23:02:34Z

While dorm-supplies shopping in Target this afternoon, guess what I found?

This:

Being an enormous fan of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I was like, "MUST BUY THIS NOW." So I did. I have yet to read it, but it looks ah-may-zing.

This is especially funny after Maggie Stiefvater's recent post about how Krakens are the new Vampires. It looks as if she may be right. o_O

And speaking of books and sea monsters and funny, last night I read "Sea Change" by Aimee Friedman. Guess what the names of the main character and her love interest are?

Miranda and Leo.

What are the odds?

Plus, there was a certain line that made me LOL, when Miranda's mother was telling her to go get tanned or something, and called her "Ms. Alabaster." HAHAHA.

(for those of you not in on the joke, my current story project "The Queen's Knight" is from the POV of a knight called Leo Galaway, who's in love with Queen Miranda Alabaster.)

Anyway, "Sea Change" was really good and the romance was yummy, but I spent most of my reading time having a laugh over the crazy coincidence of character names.

Pinocchio voice I'm a REAL author!

2009-09-10T00:09:11Z

Okay, since all I've posted for the last several weeks is book reviews, how about some Real Life news?

I sent out some queries the other night, and... drumroll please...

I just received my VERY FIRST rejection letter!

Woohoo! I'm insanely proud of myself for getting this far. I finally feel like a real author. :D Now, you may ask, "Mindi, what is wrong with you? Why are you not disappointed?" Well, my friend, this is why: because I am keeping my expectations low. I never expected to get an agent to represent me on the very first try. That happens to, like, nobody. So I'm probably not going to get depressed about rejections until the tenth one or so. Bonus: if I get accepted before then, it'll be twenty times better because I won't be expecting it!

In the meantime, I'm totally swiping Shannon Hale's idea, and laminating all my rejection letters. (she brought out a whole roll of them at a booksigning I went to.) That way, I can have something to gloat about (and/or wallpaper my living room with) when I'm a published author. :D

And now for some storybabble, since that hasn't come up recently:

My main projects right now are The Queen's Knight and The Love Interest. I'm way more inspired on The Queen's Knight, but I'm carefully not giving myself one official project because I know I will promptly procrastinate on it forever and ever and ever. It's all about knowing how to mess with your own mind. ;)

The Queen's Knight is going shockingly well - I never expected to like it this much, since most of my previous rewrites of The Queen of Trilia have turned out so badly I couldn't even finish them. I love writing as Leo, though. I'm now suspecting he wanted to be the main character all along, and I stupidly wouldn't let him...

It also helps that I've been getting lots of good feedback on it. My little sister and her BFF are reading it chapter by chapter - I got yelled at for last chapter's cliffhanger, but apparently the fart jokes in the beginning were a hit. (ah well, that's freshmen for you. lol)

As for The Love Interest, I've got the prologue finished and am now working on the first chapter. I'm still trying to get used to Aaron's voice - I've written as Leo and the Inheritance Cycle's Roran (fantasy-medieval guys) and as half of Twilight's Quileute pack (hot werewolf guys), but just a normal high school sophomore is harder to master. The fun part about this book is throwing that HS sophomore into a romance novel - he's totally disgusted with me, and thinks I've mistaken him for his mother, but once the zombies (and his ex-girlfriend) show up, he should be fine.

In non-writing news: I'm getting my braces off next Monday! FINALLY! I'm stoked. I can eat corn on the cob, Swedish fish, and apples like a normal person for the first time in four years!

even more books

2009-09-08T00:34:50Z

Spoilers under cut for:

Vampirates: Black Heart
A Posse of Princesses

Vampirates: Black Heart by Justin Somper. I think I'm going to stop reading these books. They're not so-bad-it's-amusing anymore... they're just so bad.
Highlights: I wasn't the only one who assumed Lorcan was Grace's dad! She even thought so for a few chapters. If he really was, that would have been awesome, and would have given me something to rant about (i.e. the recurring theme of incest in recent YA fiction), but no, it turned out Sidorio was the twins' father. And guess how? He cast a spell on their mom. Yup, he got her pregnant without the nasty bits. I have to admit, I was sitting up in my chair when Mosh Zu was like, "Yeah, Sidorio's your dad. Wanna see how it happened?" *cue creepy magical flashback* I was thinking Somper was going to put in a rape scene when he STILL hasn't even done a decent bite scene...but all Sidorio did was some voodoo, and that was it. Anticlimactic much?
Anyway, this book was pretty much a snore, with the usual inconsistencies and lack of proper background information. Whatever. I'm done with these books. They're not even worth making fun of anymore.

A Posse of Princesses by Sherwood Smith. This book is exactly the type of book I like to read. A fun princess fantasy, complete with snobby my-dad-is-richer-than-your-dad princesses and nice, bookish princesses; hot princes that really aren't royal, and cute, friendly princes in disguise; and a dastardly plot that can only be thwarted by a courageous band of misfit royals. It reminded me of The Queen's Knight in a lot of ways... I especially admired the way the romance was handled, where the prince's mom made them wait five years to get married so they could grow up a little, not rush headlong into something that might turn out badly. If all romances went that way, we might have more happy endings.

moar book reviews

2009-08-31T22:41:47Z

Possible spoilers for:

The Dark Griffin
A Kiss in Time
The Mislaid Magician

The Dark Griffin by kjtaylor . Okay, let me start by saying that I LOVED this book. I think it was a breath of fresh air for any YA fantasy reader - a hero with all the usual qualifications (humble beginnings, difficult past, powerful, blah blah blah) who goes bad instead of fighting for some Great and Noble Cause. Part of why I loved it was that I could relate to and understand Arren throughout the whole thing. Even when he was doing stuff like murdering people in cold blood, I was on his side and wanted him to win.
With that in mind, I didn't like the beginning so very much. Maybe it was because I'd read it before, but it felt like too slow a start for what otherwise turned out to be a gripping, page-turning novel. Noticed the typo on the first page, too. ;) But certainly worth the read, and thanks again to Katie for sending me a signed copy! I feel honored to be in the acknowledgements.
Recommended for: YA fantasy readers looking for something darker and more original than your run-of-the-mill Lord of the Rings-ripoff fantasy novel.

The Mislaid Magician by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. Though this book got boring in some parts--mostly James and Thomas's discussion of magical theory and stuff--I liked it just as much as the first two in the series (Sorcery and Cecilia and The Grand Tour). The plot was, as usual, multilayered and impossible to guess at until it was concluded; the characters were witty, amusing, and relatable even though they have aged 10 years since the first two books; and the surroundings were flawlessly thought out, blending historical England with everyday, commonplace magic, so that it is quite normal to mention in passing that Cromwell had wizards working for him. I am in awe of these two authors for having written this book in letters to each other and not discussing the plot beforehand--they wove Cecy's and Kate's plotlines together so well that it seemed they'd planned it out in thorough detail.
Recommended for: Fans of Pride and Prejudice who also like Harry Potter... or Howl's Moving Castle.

A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn. This is one of those books that I wish I had written myself. I actually had a similar idea and tried to write it as a short story, but couldn't make it past a page or so because I hadn't thought it through well enough. I don't begrudge Flinn the idea, though, because she wrote it a zillion times better than I would have. This is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty where Princess Talia goes to sleep in the 18th century and wakes up 300 years later in modern times. And the reason she wakes is Jack, a teenage American tourist who wants nothing more than to make his parents mad... and to make out with the hot chick he and his friend found asleep in the castle they discovered on their way to the topless beach.
Sure, parts of it (okay, MANY parts) were cheesy. But I thoroughly enjoyed this book--although Talia and Jack are both idiotic, bratty teenagers in the beginning, they manage to improve each other by the end of the book, and of course the romance doesn't hurt.
Recommended for: Anyone who likes fun retellings of old fairy tales.

EDIT: Meme! I'm blaming this one on m_stiefvater . Procrastination is contagious, it seems.

CREATE YOUR DEBUT YA COVER

1 – Go to “Fake Name Generator” or click

http://www.fakenamegenerator.com/
The name that appears is your author name.

2 – Go to “Random Word Generator” or click
http://www.websitestyle.com/parser/randomword.shtml
The word listed under “Random Verb” is your title.

3 – Go to “FlickrCC” or click
http://flickrcc.bluemountains.net/index.php
Type your title into the search box. The first photo that contains a person is your cover.

4 – Use Photoshop,
Picnik, or similar to put it all together. Be sure to crop and/or zoom in.
5 – Post it to your site along with this text.

My result:

Hmm, it actually looks kind of good. I'd read it.

Ballad

2009-08-18T18:15:17Z

m_stiefvater is doing another contest, which means... oh yes... I'm advertising her books again.

They're good, though. Really.

Anyway, here's the book trailer for her newest book, BALLAD. I have to say, it looks... rather delicious.

book reviews/job complaints

2009-08-18T02:37:07Z

Book reviews!

I had this whole long entry written out that took me an hour to compose, with in-depth summaries and comments on these books. And then when I went to post, my Internet crapped out on me and deleted all of it except the first one.

Since I don't have the energy to rewrite my clever and witty summaries (ha) in addition to the comments, I'm just going to link you to the Amazon listing for them and save myself the summarizing.

Under cut are reviews (and possibly spoilers!) for:

Shadow Kiss
The Demon's Lexicon
Dust of 100 Dogs
Thirteenth Child
The Amaranth Enchantment
Warrior Princess
The Reluctant Heiress

Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead. here. This book broke my heart, no kidding. I read it in the car on the way to Ashland, in between debating whether "The Bachelorette" is romantic or idiotic (I took the latter point of view, btw) and by the time I was finished it was like, ow my heart. I can't believe Dimitri turned Strigoi! (I read ahead on accident and figured out it was going to happen back when I was reading book 2, so I knew it was coming, but it still hit me hard.) Anyway, I maintain that this series needs a better name than "Vampire Academy," and also that the main character is walking a tightrope between Sue and not-Sue, but with that in mind, these books are SO GOOD. The character can be annoying all she wants, but I feel her various emotions, even when she's being teenage-angsty and immature. I can't wait to read the next one.

The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan. here. I read this because playwithfyr keeps talking about it. I wasn't disappointed. There were a lot of cool and original elements in this book (dancing to summon demons? awesome...) and the characters were intriguing, even the ones that I wanted to smack upside the head. I totally called that Nick was possessed when he got violently sick trying to cross running water, but the ending wasn't a letdown because I already knew that bit. It reminded me a little of "The Mortal Instruments," in an omg-I-just-found-out-that-my-dad-is-an-evil-guy way, but since Mortal Instruments is awesome, that's not a bad thing at all.

Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King. here. This book was not what I was expecting, but maybe that was a good thing. It put a whole new spin on the swashbuckling pirate adventure, making it grittier and more realistic. I loved Saffron's vivid fantasies of maiming and disemboweling people that annoyed her, especially because she never acted on them. It wasn't the fun teenage-girl-has-a-pirate-adventure! book I thought it would be, but that was perhaps to its advantage. I think someone* needs to take a few lessons about the pirate genre from this author.

Thirteenth Child by Patricia Wrede. here. Having long been a fan of Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles, and more lately a fan of "Sorcery and Cecilia," I opened this book with high expectations. Those expectations were not disappointed. Mammoths and saber cats + magicians + the wild, wild west = a totally original and awesome idea that had better have a sequel. What I loved most about this is that the "thirteenth-child and seventh-son-of-a-seventh-son are twins" premise could have easily been carried out in any setting, from a generic fantasy world to the Renaissance to Regency England to space colonies. But Wrede chose to put it instead in a brilliantly imagined, totally new setting, and that was what really made this story shine.

The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry. here. I think, though I'm not sure, that this story is loosely based on Cinderella. If it is, it's a pretty unconventional retelling--there's an evil step-aunt but no stepsisters, a fairy godmother who's an alien from another world, and a handsome prince that already has a fiancé. Oh, and an evil alien dude from the fairy godmother's world who killed Lucinda's parents... and now has it in for her. Anyway, it wasn't my favorite out of all of these--kind of short and sweet--but it was entertaining and I did enjoy it.

Warrior Princess by Frewin Jones. here. Frankly, this book was boring. I felt like I've already read it before, even though I know I haven't... the setting reminded me of the movie version of "Tristan and Isolde" (Isolde's home, mostly) and the premise (warrior princess, divine prophecy, has to save the world, blah de blah) wasn't any more original. So not one I'd recommend.

The Reluctant Heiress by Eva Ibbotson. here. Eva Ibbotson writes my favorite romance novels ever. Okay, so her characters are often Mary Sues, but they're so likeable and well-written (if not exactly realistic) that I can forgive them. My favorite is still "A Company of Swans," but this book was, like the four others this author's written, very enjoyable.

Anyway, just got back from an awesome church convention. Loved it! Can't wait to go back later this week. The only thing that spoiled it for me was having to work. I may have to work during this week too, but I'm trying to get them to let me off. The novelty of having a job has worn off, and now I realize that it was a very, VERY bad idea for me to work at a brand-name clothing store that sells clothes I never even wear. Also, one of my managers kind of hates me and has been really sharp with me, even threatening to fire me on Friday. *sigh* I took it kind of badly, even though I tried to be polite and apologetic at the time.

Oh well. At least now I know that my calling is not working in retail and selling overpriced clothes. And now I have a reason to look forward to going back to university--because when I do, I have a good excuse to quit.

Coming soon... reviews for:
The Dark Griffin by kjtaylor (who sent me a free copy--and signed, too! Thanks so much!)
Vampirates: Black Heart by *Justin Somper (oh yes, this is going to be epic. It might even get its own entry.)

YES!

2009-07-26T21:00:25Z

I FINISHED THE FIRST DRAFT OF THE ANTAGONIST LAST NIGHT.

WOOHOO!!

Now am getting to work on the whole publication thing. Just sent off my query to the Query Shark--am kind of scared of the Shark's teeth, but I need to know if my query is good or not before I start sending it to agents. Even if that means getting my ~~ego~~, I mean query, torn to shreds.

And, no, I did not make my goal of querying before my birthday. But I might get some letters out before the end of the summer... which is close enough.

Do I dare to start working on The Love Interest now? :/

no such thing as the real world :)

2009-07-24T21:08:46Z

As I am now officially not-a-teenager, I feel the need to say something wise. So here it is:

...anyway, I managed to avoid having a party this year (which is a good thing--I'm not a party person) and instead went shopping with my mom and sisters. I did spend some of my birthday $$ on clothes, but most of it went to Half-Price Books. I just had to rearrange my bookshelf because it's overcrowded again.

True story: I picked up a hardback copy of Princess In Love by Meg Cabot, which is one of my favorite Princess Diaries books (it's the one where Mia and Michael get together), assumed it would be about seven bucks (which was half off the original price), and decided to buy it because I didn't have a copy of the book yet. But when I got to the register, the lady informed me that it was in fact $20--because it was SIGNED! I went ahead and bought it, even though it was way too expensive, because LIKE OMG A BOOK SIGNED BY MY FAVORITE AUTHOR.

And, okay, it's signed to someone named Kendyl, but I crossed out their name and wrote in mine, so it's almost the same. :)

Also, although I'm not finishing my JulNo novel, I might be finishing SOMETHING this month. I just wrote what I hope is the second-to-last chapter of The Antagonist. Now I just have to figure out how to end it. New goal: write some kind of ending before July 31.

Ugh, gotta go to work now. I have the suckiest hours EVER this weekend. 3-8 pm today and 5-10 pm on SATURDAY. Blahhh. Oh well, at least I'm getting paid!

quitters never win :(

2009-07-21T04:02:23Z

After much deliberation, I have decided: I'm quitting on JulNoWriMo.

Reasons:
1. Writing so fast is making this story turn out bad. And I really, really don't want it to be bad. I think writing it slowly will be a much better option (as it is, I'm probably going to have to delete and replace the last 10,000 words because a lot of them are watery, uninteresting babble written for word count and not for plot).
2. It's taken my focus off of my goal (to start querying before my birthday) and now my birthday's in two days and "The 2008 Guide to Literary Agents" is gathering dust on my desk, unused.
3. I have writer's block so bad it's not even funny.

Final word count: 22,873. Not bad for the fifteen days in which I wrote it... but still a fail.

And speaking of fail, my Microsoft Word grammar check has stopped even pretending it works. I am now told that words like "you're" and "I'm" are incorrect, and instead I should put "you is" and "I is."

Proof (I submitted this to Failblog, haha):

moar funny pictures

Moral of the story? Don't trust Microsoft Word.

10 things i hate about you

2009-07-18T01:07:03Z

...and 4 other things I like.

1. The ABC Family series version of 10 Things I Hate About You (that awesome movie with Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles) is my new favorite thing. Kat is now my hero. (first two episodes available here)

2. Look at this! I thought Disney was too cool for princess movies now. Finally they realized that princesses are like 50 times better than those lame Disney Channel Original Movies.

3. Okay, this trailer is lame and shows nothing, but I'm still ridiculously excited about the movie. Percy Jackson for the win.

4. A friend lent me this book. I read the intro and first story and was like, "um, authors, can I marry you?" and just now I read the second story and realized I am going to have to marry every single author in the book. It's THAT AWESOME.

5. Saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince yesterday. I have to admit, I got a bit teary-eyed when Dumbledore died. But the rest of the movie was so funny, with its various romantic subplots and Harry and Ron being awkward teenage boys and Slughorn being himself. But I think the director has something against birds--there were THREE different scenes that I noticed where birds died/exploded/were incinerated, in different contexts. And remembering the bird-eating Whomping Willow from the third movie, I'm thinking this is not a new thing. (Just wait for the next movie, when Hedwig bites it...the director's gonna love that one.) Possible symbolic and/or thematic meanings of random bird deaths in Harry Potter? Discuss!

things

2009-07-16T01:52:44Z

thing 1: woot! am caught up on JulNoWriMo. am starting to worry that it might be bad because am writing it so quickly... there are a lot of boring unnecessary conversations (one of them was about Twilight haha). oh well. i can edit them out later.

thing 2: harry potter tomorrow. it looks awesome and scary. i love how they started innocent and cute and suddenly get really dark. i get shivers just looking at the trailer. me and friend are going to go see it... can't wait!

thing 3: finished SHIVER. was really really really awesome and amazing. think i will buy a copy for myself when it comes out.

thing 4: first real day at work today. 5 hours on my feet. i am very brain-dead. thus the no caps. being a salesperson is not fun, but i'm getting paid, so it's worth all the pain of fake smiles and false cheeriness. (and at least i had at-work entertainment... my manager was hilariously gay and kept talking about getting burned while fake tanning earlier in the day. lulz. oh and the trash can outside randomly caught fire.)

guess what i just got in the mail

2009-07-12T04:13:31Z

answer: a package containing an ARC of this:

YAY.

Will be reading it tonight or tomorrow so I can send it on soon. Exciting! It looks awesome just from reading the back cover and flipping through the pages.

And as for the obligatory JulNoWriMo update: I am behind. Very behind. Not irredeemably so, but at least two days behind. The reason? I have writer's block. And also, it has been sunny, and I have been sitting outside to try to turn my ghostly pale skin a slightly less brilliant shade of white. I tried to convince Spark to come with, but Spark does not like the outdoors. Thus, no typing.

Then last night I got inspired on the wrong story... and finished a chapter of "The Queen's Knight," but wrote only 900ish words on "Hiding Places." (NEED. BETTER. TITLE.)

But on the bright side, it's turning out well so far. I'm surprised at how, well, cool Alex Jefferson is. I mean, considering he's partially based on my dad. (oooooh, burn.) But seriously, he's just as much a main character as Linzie, which is good because it's what I hoped would happen.

Aaand that is all for now. Off to attempt to write some more...

2 reviews

2009-07-08T19:46:15Z

The Kingdom Keepers by Ridley Pearson. Summary here because I'm too lazy to write one myself.
Both my sisters read this before me. We were on a long road trip and short of books, so I said sure, I'll read it. Julie really liked it, but Headdy started snerking while reading it and pointing out some particularly cheesy lines.
Then I picked it up.
Okay, this book is nearly as bad as Vampirates. And if you've read my flame-tastic reviews of that series, you'll know that's pretty bad.
From the very first page, I could tell it was going to be crap. The dialogue was ridiculous, the characters unrealistic (they're like 11 or 12, but act mature and think clearly. I have NEVER, EVER met an 11-year-old who was capable of acting mature. Sorry, but it's true), and the details full of holes. (Does the Splash Mountain ride really have a current? I thought the boat moved because it was on a track.)
Plus, they annoyingly persisted in calling Disney World "the Magic Kingdom." So instead of having the mildly amusing line "a bunch of witches are taking over Disney World," the author chose to write "a bunch of witches are taking over the Magic Kingdom," which sounds like the premise of Happily Never After.
The inconsistencies were many. The characters manage to drink soda online (??!!!). The MC still thinks girls are icky, but is attracted to two of them. And while I'm on the subject of girls, what is with the objectifying of the ladies in this book, Pearson? Srsly? All the girls are physically described in great detail, with their "flowing white nightgowns" or evil green witchiness depending on which side they're on, but the guys get minimal description. There was actually a line describing one of the girls as having laughter "like bells."
And the ending was totally dumb, it explained nothing. His two girlfriends turned out to be twins, but one of them had been enchanted (??!!) and although Finn, the MC, seemed to know who they were, he did not share that information with the reader. Extremely frustrating.
So, in conclusion, this book is only okay if you are about twelve.

Dear Children's Book Authors:
The young age of your audience is no excuse for bad writing. Step it up.

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis.
I haven't quite finished this, but I'm really enjoying it. It's an interesting, intelligent, and insightful twist on spirituality and the meaning of religion. For those of you who don't know, this book is composed of letters from a senior devil to his less experienced nephew, who is trying to ensnare a young Christian man (the "patient") in sin and damn him for eternity. Not exactly light reading, but worth it. I'd recommend this book if you're looking for a more serious read and have an understanding of the history of Christianity and teachings of the Bible. It's no Chronicles of Narnia (which is to say, kids would probably find it dead boring) but if read in the right frame of mind, it's very good.

9007 words of JulNoWriMo. Still behind. I WILL catch up! >:(

back!

2009-07-06T19:34:38Z

I have returned from the mosquito-ridden wilderness of Alaska. No, I was not eaten by a moose, though I did eat part of one. (No, really. I had moose hash and caribou spaghetti. Exotic.) Also, Alaskans make the best salmon dishes EVER.

I got to see two wolves pretty close up; a lot of faraway bears and two really close (but behind a fence in a wildlife preserve); a moose in someone's driveway and some baby moose in the wildlife preserve; three foxes; and I got very intimately acquainted with a lot of mosquitoes, though I will not be missing their company.

So, vacation was cool (Alaska in the summer is actually quite nice... the sun never goes down, it's awesome) but I'm glad to be home.

Also, I've been working on JulNoWriMo... I'm at 5,700 words, a couple days behind, but I wrote about 2000 words on the plane yesterday and plan to write more today. Thankfully, I'm not on the work schedule for this week (apparently the manager forgot I was coming back), so I have some time to recover from vacation.

I have a few other things to share... two of them are reviews, but I'll save those for the next post. The other one is an excerpt from my JulNo novel. My mom read part of this over my shoulder (it happened to be the part about the "surviving eye blinking") and was like, "What are you writing?" which of course made me extremely proud of it. ;)

Sunday, June 2, 1991.

1:05 am.

Nearly two hours after the accident, Aiden Sanders regains consciousness.

His face is destroyed—shards of glass embedded so deep the surgeons haven’t even gotten them all out yet, and burns all over his body from the flames that caught on the gas and all but blew the wreck sky high.

“It’s a miracle,” says Robert Greene, looking down at his client’s left eye blinking in confusion. The right eye is covered by a patch of gauze; it was lost to a particularly nasty glass shard.

“He’ll be high as a kite on painkillers,” the nurse—a nice young lady named Anna Jefferson—warns. “Don’t make him talk too much. Most of what he says will be nonsense, anyway.”

She leaves the two of them alone.

Aiden’s tongue pokes out to lick his blistered lips. “Gen?” he croaks.

“I’m sorry, Aiden.” Rob shakes his head. “She wasn’t wearing her seat belt, like you were. Poor girl was hardly recognizable when they dug her out of that car… dead, of course, probably instantly.”

There is no expression on the ruined face, but a pained moan escapes.

“They wanted you sedated for at least the next week, Aiden, but I asked them to bring you around,” Rob goes on. “I’m here to review your options.”

No response. The surviving eye blinks.

“As I said before, it’s a miracle you survived,” Rob says. “But, due to some very obvious changes in circumstance, I don’t think it’s realistic for us to expect your career to return to normal—at least, not without enough plastic surgery to make you look like Michael Jackson, and even then you sing like a dying rooster. No offense.”

“Nnnone tttt,” Aiden tries to say.

“So, with that understood… as I see it, you have two options.” Rob holds up his first finger. “Number one: you go back into the public eye, horribly scarred but surviving. You do some good deeds, give drunk driving talks at high schools, become a spokesperson for facial reconstruction surgery, whatever. Pros: you will still be able to make money off just looking pretty. That was a joke… ha.”

No laughter from the hospital bed.

“Cons: you will become one of those washed-up celebrities who are more famous for being famous than actually doing anything. Tabloids will follow your personal life just because they can. People will criticize everything you do. You will no longer be the pretty-boy darling of the world. Instead of a rising star, you will be the fallen star.”

Aiden moans.

Rob pauses to gauge whether this speech has been understood, and then forges on, holding up the second finger. “Option two: I can tell everyone that you died along with Genevieve in that crash. I’ll feed the reporters some story about the semi driver being asleep and hush up the drunk driving part, so you’ll go out as a martyred hero. And once you’re recovered—and they assure me you will make a full recovery—we can find you a new occupation, a new location, a new identity… we can make you into a new man, Aiden. One with scars, yes, but with a new chance at life.”

Silence.

“Do you need time to think about it, or have you decided?”

“Nnnn.”

“You’ve decided?”

“Mmmhmm.”

“Well, then. You don’t have to say anything—just blink once for the first option, twice for the second.”

Without hesitating, Aiden blinks once, slowly and carefully. Then again.

“Good choice.” Rob smiles. “It has been a pleasure representing you, Mr. Sanders. Now, if you’ll excuse me, my firm and I have to get our details straight… and then I will go out and announce to the world that you are dead.”

He pats the broken man gingerly on his hand, and then goes out into the corridor. Anna Jefferson is waiting there; she smiles at him and goes back in to sedate the patient.

“Have a nice night,” Rob says, and walks out to his car, whistling.

vacation!

2009-06-23T21:34:01Z

Wrote draft of query letter last night... my very first. *wipes tear* Now have to find out who to send it to, and how. Not to mention, stop fiddling with The Protagonists long enough to call it a final draft.

Btw, without the Query Shark I would have been at a complete loss for where to begin and what to say. It's a really great resource, if anyone is thinking about querying soon.

Also, I came up with a title for my JulNoWriMo: "Hiding Places." I don't really like it that much, but it was the best I could come up with, besides "My Dad Is Not Dead." Guess it'll be my new working title.

Leaving for Alaska tomorrow! Hope it will be fun. (that is a bit doubtful since it is a road trip. My family is always much easier to love when I can avoid them 75% of the time.) Will be writing JulNoWriMo by hand for last 5 days of trip... if the mosquitoes haven't carried me off by then. Am going to REALLY miss Spark (my laptop).

See you all in... *counts on fingers* thirteen days! (hopefully will survive that long without succumbing to Internet withdrawal or various wildlife attacks.)

<3 Mindi

one more review + title SOS

2009-06-20T01:26:33Z

Okay, so now that I'm definitely doing JulNoWriMo, I need a title for my story! Right now all I have is a working title and a detailed plot outline of the first half of the book. Here's a summary:

16-year-old Linzie Jefferson's dad is the bane of her existence (or so she likes to think). They're constantly butting heads: he's a hardcore Christian with a deep hatred of the media (it's "evil" and "rots your brain," not to mention "it's turning all of America into stupid clones"), and she's her school's ASB secretary, with an interest in politics and big dreams of becoming a TV anchor.

But what Linzie doesn't know is that her dad has another reason for sheltering her from the media--a long-hidden secret that could take away not only her respect for him, but also their privacy and the very existence of small-town life as they know it.

When Linzie accidentally finds out--and promptly reveals--her dad's secret, she and her dad are both thrown into constant media attention. At first, it's everything Linzie ever dreamed of, but as events unfold, it soon becomes apparent that this new life is full of vicious people and painful truths just waiting for their chance to hurt her and everyone she loves. Maybe her dad was justified in hiding all these years, after all...

I'm thinking of titling it with her Internet screenname or something, but the problem is, I don't have a clever enough idea for that. Help?

Also, finished The Last Olympian! It was awesome. Okay, Percy did become virtually invincible and save the world (or at least Manhattan), but he wasn't obnoxiously arrogant. And the whole Percy/Annabeth thing was cute. :) But whenever I read the Hades parts, I couldn't stop picturing the Disney Hades, with blue fire for hair and pointy teeth... hahaha. And I loved his mother-in-law problems with Demeter! So funny! Demeter and her cereal-and-farming obsession... lulz.

Anyway, the whole thing was amusing to the last, with pigs flying and Titans dying and all sorts of fun stuff. Apparently there will be more Camp Half-Blood books coming (just not about Percy) so I am glad there's still something to look forward to. An excellent kids' series--I highly recommend it.

I don't know how I didn't know about this before, but there is a Percy Jackson and the Olympians movie coming out next year! Will definitely go to see it... I love their cast, lol.

more book reviews (yay!)

2009-06-19T02:29:16Z

Started work today. Was kinda confusing and whoa-too-much-info-at-once!, but I think it'll be a good job. It's infinitely better than, like, McDonalds.

Oh, and I signed up for JulNoWriMo today. I'm gonna try it, even though I'll be starting 5 days late because of my upcoming Alaska vacation. I guess I'll just bring a notebook with me and write like mad by hand. I've got my plot all ready and am excited to write it! 50,000 words, 26 days--I can do this! woot!

Anyway! Book reviews! I haven't finished The Last Olympian yet, but so far it's good. (I just love Percy. He's not one of those heroes who are like "I'm so awesome, everyone worship me." He actually acts like he's 15. Plus, his dialogue and narration are just funny... and the chapter titles... like "I drive my dog into a tree." I love that his pet hellhound is named Mrs. O'Leary, lol. And I'm a sucker for Greek mythology reference jokes.)

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. This book was so sad, although I don't know what I expected... the whole premise was based on the post-zombie apocalypse plight of the remnants of the human race. The ending did have a sense of hope for the future, but it was bittersweet because of [insert spoiler here]. All in all, I liked it. It was a cool, original idea, and it had bloodthirsty zombies in it... not to mention a domineering cult of nuns. Yep. Pretty awesome.

MAX by James Patterson. The best I can say for these books is that they are entertaining, although some parts require a little bit more suspension of disbelief than I'd like (98% human, 2% avian, and they can grow GILLS? Really?). I also don't particularly like the save-the-environment message that the author's been trying to hammer into us during the last few books. If you're going to make a political statement, children's books are not the place.
But the plot is exciting, I'll give it that, and although some of their narrow escapes are kind of unbelievable (*cough* growing gills on cue) they kept me reading. Also, Fang is hot. And Max stopped being crazy and bipolar in this book long enough to make out with him several times... :D

Hunted by P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast. I think it may be impossible for Zoey to function without at least three potential boyfriends on a leash at all times. Seriously. This is getting kind of weird. (and for the record, I dislike Erik and am voting for Stark.) Anyway, in this book Zoey and her gang are hiding out in these tunnels with the undead red vampyre kids. The evil Kalona thinks she's his long-lost girlfriend, but that doesn't stop the Raven Mockers from almost killing her on several occasions; Stark is acting like a total jerk, but may still be a good guy underneath his scary undeadness; and one of the red fledgelings has been writing prophetic poems that may or may not spell out how to make the evil guy run away. Oh, and her human ex-boyfriend Heath will not stop following her around.
Yup, mostly this book was just an excuse to remind us how many people are in love with Zoey, with a big not-quite-final battle at the end. But I like this series despite the MC's Sue-ness. It's like sugar for your brain, only...not very sugary. Okay, bad metaphor--I mean it's bad for you but kinda delicious.

crzywritermindi @ 2009-06-15T15:58:00

2009-06-15T23:19:31Z

tagged by ladywater

1. Grab the nearest book.

2. Open the book to page 54.

3. Find the seventh sentence.

4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal...along with these instructions.

Aaand the nearest book happens to be MAX by James Patterson:

"School is out," I said firmly. "Next question."

(another round of book reviews coming soon, btw, including not only the above, but also "The Forest of Hands and Teeth," "Hunted," and possibly "The Last Olympian.")

I think everyone who regularly reads this journal has already been tagged, so... if this looks fun to you, feel free to snag.

in other news: I GOT A JOB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (this deserves extra exclamation points since I am almost twenty and have never had a paying job before.) I'll be working at Aeropostale in an outlet mall for the summer. Woohoo! Minimum wage has never been such an exciting prospect...