Just a (way in advance) heads-up

The next Book Group will be meeting on
September 22nd at 3:00 p.m.

We’ll be reading D.M. Cornish’s Foundling:

Set in the world of the Half-Continent-a land of tri-corner hats and flintlock pistols-the Monster Blood Tattoo trilogy is a world of predatory monsters, chemical potions and surgically altered people. Foundling begins the journey of Rossamund, a boy with a girl’s name, who is just about to begin a dangerous life in the service of the Emperor. What starts as a simple journey is threatened by encounters with monsters-and people, who may be worse. Learning who to trust and who to fear is neither easy nor without its perils, and Rossamund must choose his path carefully.

Please put your name on the reserve list if you are interested in joining us for the discussion.

Also on my list…

I’m eagerly awaiting the release of Robin McKinley’s Chalice, and now the wait is going to seem even longer because she posted an excerpt on her blog and I, of course, just had to go and read it. Click here to read the beginning of the novel.

And here’s a little bit more about the story (set to be released mid-September):

As the newly appointed Chalice, Mirasol is the most important member of the Master’s Circle. It is her duty to bind the Circle, the land and its people together with their new Master. But the new Master of Willowlands is a Priest of Fire, only drawn back into the human world by the sudden death of his brother. No one knows if it is even possible for him to live amongst his people. Mirasol wants the Master to have his chance, but her only training is as a beekeeper. How can she help settle their demesne during these troubled times and bind it to a Priest of Fire, the touch of whose hand can burn human flesh to the bone?

Lots of New Stuff on the Way!

Coming soon in music…

• Foiled - Blue October
• Black Holes and Revelations - Muse
• Delta - Delta Goodrem
• We Started Nothing - The Ting Tings
• The Black Parade is Dead - My Chemical Romance
• Waves and the Both of Us - Charlotte Sometimes
• Alice in No Man’s Land - Mandi Perkins
• The Slip - Nine Inch Nails
• The Airborne Toxic Event - The Airborne Toxic Event
• Permission to Fly - Jordan Pruitt

Coming soon in movies…

• Cowboy Bebop Remix
• College Road Trip
• The Spiderwick Chronicles
• Step Up 2: The Streets
• Bleach Uncut Season 2 Box Set
• 10,000 B C
• Batman Gotham Knight
• Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
• The Nightmare Before Christmas
• The Corpse Bride
• Camp Rock
• Peacemaker - The Complete Collection
• Last Exile - First Movie, Volume 1
• Final Fantasy Unlimited - The Complete Collection
• Steamboy
• The Twelve Kingdoms Collection One
• Devil May Cry: The Animated Series, Volume 1

Next Book Group: Firestorm by David Klass

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Is it out yet??

There are a ton of books I’m looking forward to reading over the next couple of months! Here’s a very small sampling of the titles on my hold list:

Untamed by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast
Life sucks when your friends are pissed at you. Just ask Zoey Redbird - she’s become an expert on suckiness. In one week she has gone from having three boyfriends to having none, and from having a close group of friends who trusted and supported her, to being an outcast. Speaking of friends, the only two Zoey has left are undead and unMarked. And Neferet has declared war on humans, which Zoey knows in her heart is wrong. But will anyone listen to her? Zoey’s adventures at vampyre finishing school take a wild and dangerous turn as loyalties are tested and shocking true intentions come to light.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Bod is an unusual boy who inhabits an unusual place-he’s the only living resident of a graveyard. Raised from infancy by the ghosts, werewolves, and other cemetery denizens, Bod has learned the antiquated customs of his guardians’ time as well as their timely ghostly teachings-like the ability to Fade. Can a boy raised by ghosts face the wonders and terrors of the worlds of both the living and the dead? And then there are things like ghouls that aren’t really one thing or the other.

More Breaking Dawn Coverage…

If you’re interested, Entertainment Weekly has posted a “major” spoiler from Breaking Dawn. If you don’t mind being a little spoiled on the story, click here.

And don’t forget - as if you would! - Breaking Dawn is being released this Saturday!!

Waiting for Breaking Dawn

Thinking of requesting Breaking Dawn, the last book in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga, from the library? Now’s the time to do it!

If you stop by the library and put your name on the waiting list you’ll get an “I was bitten by breaking dawn” button and a bunch of stickers.

Midsummer Madness is almost upon us…

What revels are in hand? Is there no play,
To ease the anguish of a torturing hour?
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 5.1

Monday,
July 28th, 2008

9:00 - 11:00 a.m.
Star Light, Star Bright…
Join us as we screen Stardust (starring Claire Danes)

11:00 - 12:00
Alter Your Past
Bring in photos (ones you can wreck) and create an altered masterpiece

2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Anime Enchantment
Come watch 5 Centimeters Per Second ~
How much ice cream can you eat per hour?

4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Book Talk
We’ll be discussing Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry

Pretty much all of the individual events will be accompanied by food, so there’s that. If you’re interested in all of them, that’s great, and if you’d like to stop by for just one or two, that’s good, too.

Bunches o’ Links

“I thought the book would write itself while I sewed sequins on my outfit for the ABBA museum opening.” This from Maureen Johnson who, over on her blog, answers questions on writing - specifically what to do when your muse has taken a giant leap from the building (into a pool of cool water, of course.) ABBA aside, she doles out solid advice for all of you aspiring writers.

Rachel Caine has a bunch of Morganville Vampire news on her LiveJournal (scroll down to the second post.) She reveals the whereabouts of some of the hidden easter eggs on her website, posts the cover of the next book (Lord of Misrule,) and offers up a new Claire/Shane short story. All things I devoured in about two seconds after discovering them. Go forth and enjoy!

Cassandra Clare, author of the Mortal Instruments series (City of Ashes being the latest release,) has announced her plans for a new series. “The Infernal Devices takes us back one hundred and forty years to the heart of Victorian England, exploring an earlier era in the history of the Shadowhunters — a time before the Accords, when Downworlder and Shadowhunters were at each other’s throats.” But there’ll be a wee bit of a wait; the first book is set to be released in 2010.

Barry Lyga News

I loved Barry Lyga’s Boy Toy and, while I haven’t gotten to it yet, I have a sneaking suspicion that I’ll also really enjoy The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl (Lyga is just that good.) So I was excited to find out that his new book, Hero-Type, is coming out in September.

As soon as I saw it mentioned on another blog, I tabbed over to Lyga’s site and found that you can download the first chapter of Hero-Type. (Interested? Click here.) Trust me on this one, if you read the excerpt, you’re definitely going to want to read the book. The very last sentence leaves you with a ton of questions.

And on top of that, you can read a story set in the same town, Brookdale, as his first two books; it’s called “Her Decade” and can be found here. It’s thirty-one pages long; you might want to set aside more than a few minutes. Plus, if you roam around his website, you’ll also find writing tips and and a link to Lyga’s blog.

Synopsis of Hero-Type:

“Everyone is treating Kevin as a hero. He was in the right place and the right time and he saved a girl from being murdered. Only Kevin knows though, why he was able to save her. Things get even more complicated when Kevin is seen removing two patriotic “Support the Troops” ribbons from his car bumper. Now the town that lauded him as a hero turns on him, calling him unpatriotic. Kevin, who hadn’t thought much about it up to then, becomes politcially engaged, suddenly questioning what exactly supporting the troops or even saying the pledge of allegiance every day means.”

I’ll definitely be ordering a copy of this one, so come August keep an eye on the library’s catalog and, if you’d like to read it, put your name on reserve for our copy.