Waiting on Wednesday #5

Waiting on Wednesday spotlights upcoming releases to be excited about! (Created by Jill at Breaking the Spine)

Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce
Published June 21st, 2012 by Gollancz 
(This is Goodreads:)

For twenty years after Tara Martin disappeared from her small English town, her parents and her brother, Peter, have lived in denial of the grim fact that she was gone for good. And then, suddenly, on Christmas Day, the doorbell rings at her parents' home and there, disheveled and slightly peculiar looking, Tara stands. It's a miracle, but alarm bells are ringing for Peter. Tara's story just does not add up. And, incredibly, she barely looks a day older than when she vanished. 

Award-winning author Graham Joyce is a master of exploring new realms of understanding that exist between dreams and reality, between the known and unknown. Some Kind of Fairy Tale is a unique journey every bit as magical as its title implies, and as real and unsentimental as the world around us. 

(This is Alex:)

Anyone who knows me knows that I love Graham Joyce. I've even reviewed a couple of his books on this blog. So understandably I am quite excited by his latest novel. The description here sounds rather whimsical; but knowing Mr Joyce and his themes, I reckon Some Kind of Fairy Tale will be taking on a slightly more sinister tone, a la Tooth Fairy. Yay!

Book review: Things We Didn't See Coming by Steven Amsterdam

"This whole thing is symbolic, symbolic of a system that's hopelessly short-sighted." Pg 21







It's the anxious eve of the millennium. The car is packed to capacity, and as midnight approaches, a family flees the city in a fit of panic and paranoid, conflicting emotions.
The ensuing journey spans decades and offers a sharp-eyed perspective on a hardscrabble future, as a boy jettisons his family and all other ties in order to survive as a journeyman in an uncertain landscape. By turns led by love, larceny, and a new sexual order, he must avoid capture and imprisonment, starvation, pandemic, and some particularly bad weather.

In Things We Didn't See Coming, Steven Amsterdam links together nine luminous narratives through the mind of one peripatetic and resourceful wanderer who always has one eye on the exit door and the other on a future that shifts more drastically and more often than anyone would like to imagine.

It should be noted that I never intended to read this book. I'd not even heard of the name Steven Amsterdam before. So imagine my surprise as I'm attending a panel event for Dystopia Fiction at the Melbourne Writers Festival - Purely to see Max Barry in action - that I learn of this strange and wonderful book.

Based purely on his talk and the chapter he read on stage, I purchased said book (getting it signed as well, of course!) and got stuck right into it. And did I get stuck into it. A seemly short novel of just 174 pages, I quickly caught on that this wasn't a book to breeze through. It is written in such a way that you never hear the whole story that the narrator is telling you. There is confusion and chaos at the beginning of each chapter - which is the authors' intent, naturally.

I love dystopian fiction, I think that is clear throughout this blog, but Things We Didn't See Coming brings the genre to a whole other level. I'm not sure I could compare it to anything else that's out there. Truly an experience I'll never forget.

Published: March 2009 by Sleepers Publishing Inc.

Book Trailer Spotlight #3

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente.

Published by Macmillan, May 2011.

This book is ridiculously gorgeous with it's illustrations. And the song is rather charming too!

(On a side note - I just want to apologise profusely for not updating at all recently! I'm moving interstate this weekend so life has been go go go for the past couple of weeks. But rest assured I will be back to my irregular posts in no time *grins*)

Maria V. Snyder Giveaway WINNER!!!

First off I'd like to say a big THANK YOU!!! to those who entered my very first giveaway, I was really pleased with how it worked out and I plan to have many more giveaways in the future!

So, using random.org I was able to choose a winner of the signed copy of Inside Out......

And that winner is..........



AMANDA FROM BENTON, KY!! WOOHOO!!
Her favourite character is from a series called Paranormalcy:
"One of my favourite YA characters is Evie from Paranormalcy/Supernaturally. She's just such a strong character, but keeps her girlie side. Who can't love a girl who has a pink gazer?"
Amanda, your book is on it's way!

Thank you again to everyone who entered!
Next week I'm off to Melbourne again to attend some of the author events at the Melbourne Writers Festival - Hopefully I'll have a few posts about that soon *grins*

Waiting on Wednesday #4

Waiting on Wednesday spotlights upcoming releases to be excited about! (Created by Jill at Breaking the Spine)

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Published September 13th, 2011 by Doubleday

(This is GoodReads:)

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Reves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway - a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love - a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.

(This is Alex:)
I really don't have much more to say about this book except - WOW! I cannot wait to get my hands on this one *grins* At least there's not much longer to wait!

Maria V. Snyder in Melbourne and a GIVEAWAY!

On Tuesday the 9th of August in overcast (but not raining!) Melbourne - Hawthorn Readings bookshop played host to the wonderful author of 8 books (so far!) - Maria V. Snyder.

 

It was a very relaxed atmosphere inside - everyone was chatting excitedly as we waited for Maria to make her entrance - comparing book covers, favourite characters and scenes as well as (naturally) talking about the other books we'd read and sharing recommendations. That's what I liked about having a relatively small group (about 30-40 people in all) - there was a great vibe in the room.

    

Maria had an attentive audience as she spoke about her writing, inspirations and where her ideas came from. It was great to hear about how much her personal life was involved with her writing - and we were all quite amused when asked about her vision of Valek (featured in the 'Study' series) that her husband 'claims' the he was the model of that particular heartthrob character - with much rolling of the eyes from Maria and made us giggle quite a lot.

  

As questions were opened up a lot of eager hands shot into the air. Questions ranging from Maria's idea for Inside Out/Outside In (a frantically written down dream) to how often she edits her books before publication (between 6-8 times).
Too soon it was time to suspend with the questions and Maria set off to begin signing all of our books. A lot of people had brought her entire collection with them and Maria was really great and took the time with each of us, signing personal messages in each book, posing for photos and answering some last-minute questions.

And now comes the competition time!!

I am giving away a SIGNED copy of the Australian Edition of Inside Out - the first book in the Inside Out/Outside In duo!

This competition will be open internationally and anyone can enter - you don't need to follow my blog (though naturally I would greatly appreciate it!)

All you have to do is send me an email with your postal address and tell me two things:
1) I've talked about four different Maria V. Snyder books in my blog before this post - tell me the very first book of hers I reviewed.
2) Tell me your favourite character from any Maria V. Snyder book and why. If you've not read any of her books before - then tell me about a character from another book and why.

As long as you've covered those two points, I'll put all the entries into a hat and draw out the winner.

Competition ends the 26th of August with the winner being announced shortly after! So get cracking!!

Book Trailer Spotlight #2

Todays book trailer is for a picture book that is very dear to me. Quite possibly one of my favourite picture books after Oliver Jeffers 'Lost and Found'.

This is: 'It's a Book' by Lane Smith.

Published by Macmillan Children's books in August 2010.