tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-335614812024-03-13T23:21:44.488-04:00A Bibliophile's ReverieIt's our inclination to allow ourselves to be ensnared within our reveries that makes us bibliophiles.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger348125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-29250539690495856852013-10-14T10:41:00.001-04:002013-10-14T10:41:49.439-04:00Review of Christopher Rice's "The Heaven's Rise"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-heavens-rise-christopher-rice/1113107224?ean=9781476716084" target="_blank"> </a><i><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-heavens-rise-christopher-rice/1113107224?ean=9781476716084" target="_blank">Barnes and Nobles (Nook Edition)</a> /<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Heavens-Rise-ebook/dp/B009K4ZS18/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1381760975&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Heavens+Rise" target="_blank">Amazon (Kindle Edition)</a></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">(Ghost Writer: Zombie Iago)</span><br />
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Wreathed in mystery, Christopher Rice's first supernatural foray into the territory his mother traverses the same phantasmagorical New Orleans world with his own deft, individualized authorial voice. Now, the beginning of the novel was a bit of a challenge to read, since Christopher Rice calculatedly reveals the mystery that is the life-force of this novel slowly throughout the course of this very exciting novel that moves at breakneck speed at certain points of the novel. I'm not your atypical reader of this genre, mostly because I don't normally read thrillers. Being one of the first thrillers I've read in awhile though, I had to stifle any fleeting feelings of impatience, and settle myself down for a type of novel that stylistically is constructed to be a mystery in all facets: characters, setting, and plot. Each of the chapters are approximately five to eight pages, encouraging you to flip pages faster to reveal more tantalizing details that concern the mystery that is at the core of this novel.<br />
Amazingly, the unnamed villain (undisclosed in this review to safeguard the novel's complex plot) seems a bit reminiscent of Iago from Shakespeare's <i>Othello. </i>Then again, aren't a lot of brilliant villains in novels mere facsimiles of brilliant Shakespeare villains. Anyways, this villain is sketched out in ambiguous detail, along with his particular preternatural abilities. Rather than have his abilities and motives be divulged from the first page as with Anne Rice's <i>Interview with the Vampire,</i> Christopher Rice perfidiously behaves as an Iago himself, as he brilliantly sketches the villain with clear, decisive details that are revealed slowly, which paradoxically causes the readers to become even more intrigued by this villain.<br />
Since Christopher Rice writes with his own distinctive style, it is important to not compare his novels too closely with his mother's own novels. Both writers are technically very different in how they envisage a novel. With <i>The Heaven's Rise,</i> the setting works as a subtle homage being paid to his mother's works, but the rest of the novel is uniquely new territory. Most of his characters are clearly human, even though a few (such as the Iago villain) have questionable connections with the supernatural world. Rather than have the supernatural world be the predominant angle of the novel, <i>The Heaven's Rise</i> is very much entrenched in the affairs of the muggle (or mundane) world. Having the supernatural world be shadowy in this novel rather than clearly exhibited on center stage is really the pivotal element behind this novel's excellent sense of suspense.<br />
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At times, Christopher Rice's prose can be a bit winding and muddled at first, until you realize that the fuzziness comes more from the layered mystery that Chris is trying to carefully reveal to the reader. Therefore, saying his prose is either "winding and muddled" is clearly very disingenuous. As I adapted to his style of writing though, I saw that his prose was very competent without being too verbose. It achieves a very careful happy medium between being detailed, but not being too gratuitous with its detail. Some of the long sentences are brilliant in the way that they lull you into a sense of false security before an unexpected event suddenly springs itself upon the reader, meaning Chris carefully juxtaposes his sentences with the mind of a brilliant schemer of suspense.<br />
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While his mother might be more of a Mary Shelley, Christopher Rice is very much the Iago of the family with this novel in particular. Even though I was a bit disheartened by the fact that the novel was firmly settled in the human world as opposed to the supernatural world, I began to accept the novel's stylistic angle and ended up really enjoying it. It was never tedious to read at any points, and the measured way the suspense hurtles the novel along with exacting alacrity keeps the reader's interest piqued throughout the entire novel. Even if you are not a fan of thrillers, I still highly recommend that you read this thrilling novel, and be prepared to be catapulted into a frenetic world of endless mystery and surprises.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-88903893473053634732013-09-20T20:06:00.001-04:002013-09-20T20:06:12.340-04:0025 Days of Werewolves Day 1: Teilhard de Chardin 101: Omega Point <br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="text-align: start;">For all those still reading this post on the old blog, I will keep these posts up for the next six or seven months before closing out the blog. I feel like I am extending the deadline of this old blog's existence ad infinitum, but there seems to be numerous followers of this older blog.</b><b><br />Link to New Blog: <a href="http://www.bibliophilesreverie.com/" target="_blank">http://www.bibliophilesreverie.com/</a></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Information About the Book</i>.</b><em><b>
Preorder Your Copy in Advance of October 15, 2013 Via <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wolves-Midwinter-Wolf-Gift-Chronicles/dp/0385349963/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1368816570&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Wolves+of+Midwinter">Amazon</a>/<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-wolves-of-midwinter-anne-rice/1114194131?ean=9780385349963">Barnes &Nobles</a></b></em>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Summary Taken from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wolves-Midwinter-Wolf-Gift-Chronicles/dp/0385349963/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1368816570&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Wolves+of+Midwinter">Amazon Product Page</a></span>
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The tale of THE WOLF GIFT continues . . .In Anne Rice’s surprising and compelling best-selling novel, the first of her strange and mythic imagining of the world of wolfen powers (“I devoured these pages . . . As solid and engaging as anything she has written since her early vampire chronicle fiction” —Alan Cheuse, <i>The</i> <i>Boston Globe;</i> “A delectable cocktail of old-fashioned lost-race adventure, shape-shifting and suspense” —Elizabeth Hand, <i>The Washington Post</i>), readers were spellbound as Rice imagined a daring new world set against the wild and beckoning California coast.Now in her new novel, as lush and romantic in detail and atmosphere as it is sleek and steely in storytelling, Anne Rice brings us once again to the rugged coastline of Northern California, to the grand mansion at Nideck Point—to further explore the unearthly education of her transformed Man Wolf.The novel opens on a cold, gray landscape. It is the beginning of December. Oak fires are burning in the stately flickering hearths of Nideck Point. It is Yuletide. For Reuben Golding, now infused with the wolf gift and under the loving tutelage of the Morphenkinder, this Christmas promises to be like no other . . . as he soon becomes aware that the Morphenkinder, steeped in their own rituals, are also celebrating the Midwinter Yuletide festival deep within Nideck forest.From out of the shadows of the exquisite mansion comes a ghost—tormented, imploring, unable to speak yet able to embrace and desire with desperate affection . . . As Reuben finds himself caught up with the passions and yearnings of this spectral presence and the preparations for the Nideck town Christmas reach a fever pitch, astonishing secrets are revealed, secrets that tell of a strange netherworld, of spirits—centuries old—who possess their own fantastical ancient histories and taunt with their dark, magical powers . . .</blockquote>
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<b>25 Unrelenting Days of Wolfish Ferocity, Festive Music with Pagan Underpinnings, Supernatural yarns with Febrile Passion, and Everything concerning the Wolfish World of Anne Rice's Opulent Gothic Wonderland.......</b>
<br /><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />Countdown to <i>The </i></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><i>Wolves of Midwinter</i></span><br /><i><br /></i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XHIuxBhgUME/Ujy6R7twfNI/AAAAAAAABBE/qFQrqKyTj5c/s1600/PierreTeilhardDeChardin+%25281%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="http://bibliophilesreverie.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/7ea90-pierreteilharddechardin252812529.jpg" width="307" /></a><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /><br /><br />Teilhard de Chardin 101: The Omega Point & Its Relation to Anne Rice's <i>Wolf Gift Chronicles</i></span>
<br /><br /><br />Reading Teilhard De Chardin's text can be brutally difficult for individuals like myself, unaccustomed to reading abstract philosophy. Whenever I try to read hardcore, abstract philosophy, my brain feels shuttered and nonfunctional, as though the scattered neurons in my brain are struggling with valor and unabated enthusiasm to comprehend the deep implications of Teilhard De Chardin's theories. Strangely enough, I don't really feel particularly religious at this point in my life, but Teilhard De Chardin's ideas still deeply enthrall me with his ingenious theories about our place in the universe. For those who may not have heard of this brilliant, unorthodox thinker, Teilhard De Chardin was a very smart, progressive thinker in the field of biology during the early portion of the twentieth century. He believed that the theory of evolution shed a much deeper, more sophisticated light on the nature of the universe and how it may have been brought into being. Unfortunately, the Vatican at the time in the early twentieth century condemned such forward-thinking as blasphemous. Teilhard de Chardin was pressured by the Vatican to not publish his rather subversive works about his theistic evolutionary ideas. As such, they were not published till the sixties during the time of Vatican II, when the Catholic Church grew more accepting of a theistic idea of evolution.<br />
<br /> Being raised in a Protestant Fundamentalist world that was stubbornly myopic about scientific matters, I never heard of Pierre Teilhard De Chardin until two years ago. Then again, I barely even knew about the existence of Philosophy, mysticism, or the notion that Biblical text could be read in the same way people read fantasy books or poetry. Then again, most people raised in the unenlightened, darkened world of secretariat religion or separatist fundamentalism tend to build their concept of God within a small, dark space that obdurately refuses to accept mystery, doubt, and paradox that are an essential part of the make-up of the universe. This type of restrictive fundamentalism believes the existence of all things is rudimentary, dry, and unsophisticated. Teilhard De Chardin's theories, including his concept of the <b>Omega Point, </b> are the antithesis of the mainstay fundamentalist theories that dominate the current Christian way of thinking. Again, his theories are not exclusively for Christians or evangelists. Teilhard De Chardin really wrote his theories to a more universal audience that goes beyond the cloisters of labels, and concerns himself with much deeper questions that go beyond the scope of convention. In many ways, he is no different than Carl Sagan, who was chiefly interested in the same types of existential questions:<b>Why are we here? What is our purpose? Why are we even consciously inhabiting this universe, if we are led to believe that this universe has a beginning and endpoint with no underlying purpose for "being?" </b>It is the latter question that the theory of the Omega Point strives to understand.
<br /><b><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: yellow;">Definition of Omega:<a href="http://www.thefreedictionary.com/omega" target="_blank">(Definition taken from FreeDictionary.com)</a></span></span></b><span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: yellow;">
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: yellow;">"<span class="hw" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold;">omega</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"> </span><span class="pron0x" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;">[ˈəʊmɪgə]</span></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: yellow;"><i style="font-size: 13px;">n</i><b>1.</b> (Linguistics / Letters of the Alphabet (Foreign)) the 24th and last letter of the Greek alphabet (Ω, ω), a long vowel, transliterated as <i>o</i>or <i>ō</i><b style="font-size: 13px;">2.</b><span style="font-size: x-small;"> the ending or last of a series"</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: yellow;"><span style="font-family: Arial;"> Unsurprisingly, this word "Omega" designates an ending point, either within the realm of the universe's existence or a certain phase within someone's life. Essentially, it is a very agnostic word, when it relates back to the unanswerable God question. Teilhard De Chardin was an ordained, Jesuit priest, so his omega point theory definitely has Christian connotations. For agnostics or even atheists though, the word,</span><b style="font-family: Arial;">omega point, <i> </i> </b><span style="font-family: Arial;">can still cohere with our view of the universe being intrinsically mysterious or beyond our knowledge. Certainly, Teilhard De Chardin thought the same thing, as many other intelligent religious thinkers do. Sadly, some of the more boisterous religious thinkers are the often the more puerile, limited thinkers of this group, who would have made Teilhard De Chardin's theory of the </span><b style="font-family: Arial;">omega point</b><i style="font-family: Arial;"><b> </b> </i><span style="font-family: Arial;">yet another dogmatic theory that adherents merely believe without question, but never really strive to reconcile or accept the paradoxes inherent in this theory. I think religious thinkers like Teilhard de Chardin or Madeleine L'Engle thought exploring and accepting paradox was a crucial part of their more relaxed notion of the word, <em>belief.</em></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial;"> <br /><br /> Anyways, I was taken aback that Teilhard De Chardin's theory, though, was still very agnostic in my understanding. </span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b>According to his theory, Omega Point simply relates to his theory that as the universe evolves and unfolds, material and conscious life progressively becomes more complex. Of course, his theory does relate back to the divine, when Teilhard de Chardin postulates that the omega point is the highest, predesignated stage of consciousness, where humanity or some other form of more evolved conscious life reaches the last phase of consciousness.</b> Of course, my agnostic mind has no problem with this theory because it simply explicates the possible trajectory of conscious life, but it never provides any clear, determinant theories, as to when the <b>omega point</b> will be reached or any tangible sense of the factors that are constitutive of <em> beings that have reached the highest stage of consciousness.</em><em>
</em></span> <br /> Relating to Anne Rice's works, this theory was very influential in the theistic evolution that was presented in Anne Rice's <i>Memnoch the Devil,</i> where Memnoch leads a reluctant, atheistic Lestat into the heavenly realms. This is where Anne Rice provides a much clearer illustration of Teilhard De Chardin's theory of the Omega point through her mastery of creating a complex, Faustian myth that presents a hero struggling with the meaning of existence and possibility that the whole construction of the universe was created through a form of theistic evolution. This form of theistic evolution is presented in Teilhard de Chardin-influenced way, where all material life is progressively evolving to an indeterminate end-point, where the highest stage of consciousness and material complexity within life is reached. In terms of Lestat's own development, the immortal consciousness of a vampire is already proof enough that biological life itself has the capacity to evolve and change over time. In <i>Blood Canticle, </i> Lestat strives to be a saint, as though to reach that higher level of consciousness as a vampire that will allow him to potentially transcend his more primal urges as a vampire. It is this insatiable primal urge, which St. Augustine would have phrased as <b><i>concupiscence, </i> </b>that is still frustratingly intrinsic to all material life.<br /><i style="font-weight: bold;"></i> <br /><br /> In Anne Rice's <i>The Wolf Gift, </i>the duality of the man-wolf is one of Anne Rice's most interesting mythological hybrids, which further emphasizes her continued exploration of the Teilhard de Chardin's notion of the <b>omega point.</b><b style="font-style: italic;"> </b>During one particularly poignant scene when Reuben is seeking contrition from his Brother Jim, a priest, Reuben broodingly reflects upon whether God can really exist, when all material and conscious life seems to onerously struggle with the knowledge of one's own vices and paradoxical motivation within a theistic or even agnostic sense of the universe:
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<span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: Arial;"> "Do you think Teilhard de Chardin could have been right? That we fear God does not exist because we can't <i>spatially </i>grasp the immensity of the universe; we fear that personality is lost in it when maybe it is a superpersonality that holds it all together, a super-conscious God who planted evolving consciousness in each of us-"(<i>The Wolf Gift </i>221)</span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: yellow;">This quote brilliantly encapsulates Anne Rice's own contention about Teilhard De Chardin's omega theory, which is a struggle to comprehend within a universe that seems as ineffably complex as our own selves or more evolved forms of biological life, such as werewolves or vampires. Interestingly, Nideck Point (the mansion that Reuben Golding eventually purchases) and the woods that surround this majestic, divine oasis are coexistent, and they structurally mirror the interior of dual nature of Reuben's own psyche. Even with this greater psychological complexity, the omega point is still an elusive end-point for any of the Morphenkind (Anne Rice's clever monicker for werewolves).
<br /><br /> In <i>The Wolves of Midwinter, </i> the forest plays an even more pivotal role, as Anne Rice reveals more forms of highly evolved species with preternatural senses that continue to present Anne Rice's creative way of experimenting with the implications of the <b>omega point</b><i style="font-weight: bold;"> </i>within a world, where all biological life naturally has certain primal urges or limitations at all stages of evolution that sometimes can prevent a spices for a certain span of time from evolving to the next stage of existence until reaching the indeterminate <b>Omega Point.</b><i style="font-weight: bold;"> </i>Again, the omega point was never meant by Teilhard De Chardin to relate to New Age theories about the end of the world being caused by alien intervention. It was merely his theory of trying to understand the mechanics of evolution and a hypothetical look at where life will continue to evolve, according to his theistic understanding of the world.
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-2017868156868785092013-09-18T17:22:00.001-04:002013-09-18T18:05:52.175-04:00Stormlight Archive Book#1: Way of Kings Read-Along<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="text-align: start;">For all those still reading this post on the old blog, I will keep these posts up for the next six or seven months before closing out the blog. I feel like I am extending the deadline of this old blog's existence ad infinitum, but there seems to be numerous followers of this older blog.</b><b><br />Link to New Blog: <a href="http://www.bibliophilesreverie.com/" target="_blank">http://www.bibliophilesreverie.com/</a></b></span><br />
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<b>Preorder your copy on either <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book/dp/0765326361" target="_blank">Amazon (Kindle)</a>/ <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/words-of-radiance-brandon-sanderson/1114764498?ean=9780765326362" target="_blank">Barnes and Nobles (Nook)</a></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold;"><i>W<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive/dp/0765326353/ref=pd_sim_b_3" target="_blank">ay of Kings </a></i>Readathon Information:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: yellow;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20.909090042114258px;"> Yesterday, I managed to announce the impending "25 Days of Werewolves: </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20.909090042114258px;">Wolves of Midwinter </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20.909090042114258px;">Countdown" without much fanfare. Without much further ado, I am also divulging some details about an upcoming readathon of the first of Brandon Sanderson's </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20.909090042114258px;">Stormlight Archive </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20.909090042114258px;"> books that will take place at the start of this October. For anyone that knows of my history of failure on this blog, you are more than abundantly aware of my previous failed attempt to do both a </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20.909090042114258px;">Game of Thrones</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20.909090042114258px;"> and </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20.909090042114258px;">Wheel of Time </i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20.909090042114258px;"> Readathon that garnered no interest. With that in mind, you might be asking, " why the hell would you be trying again, when a </span><i style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20.909090042114258px;">Stormlight Archive Readathon</i><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20.909090042114258px;"> in the planning stages serves to remind you of how both previous readathon attempts failed in the end?"</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: yellow;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20.909090042114258px;">(Goodness, the self-deprecatory tone of the above post does nothing to capture the overall epic nature of any readathon, involving a fantasy series with such a wide scope and myriad number of characters, like Brandon Sanderson's </span><em style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20.909090042114258px;">Stormlight Archive </em><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 13.63636302947998px; line-height: 20.909090042114258px;">series.)</span></span></span><br />
Even if no one partakes in this readathon this time around, I plan on doing this readathon mainly for myself. See, the current job market has given ample time to be lazy and intellectually inactive, as though I have been lying in hibernation for months. Therefore, the planned <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive/dp/0765326353/ref=pd_sim_b_3" target="_blank">Way of Kings </a></i> readathon is my attempt to reawaken my mind, and revitalize my excitement for the upcoming sequel to one of my favorite epic fantasy novels of 2010.<br />
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Each week, I will be doing a very thorough post about 5 chapters of the book until the beginning of March, when the next book in the series is released. I am already having some acute doubts about this daunting plan, since my past readathon record is a statistical failure. Nonetheless, I want to try to do this readathon properly this time without confronting the problem of spontaneously losing interest or getting easily sidetracked by other things. Lately, my days have recently felt very interminable and long,; I am hoping this regimen of reading five chapters a week to help rebuild my energy reserves.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large; font-weight: bold;">How can I participate in the readathon?</span><b> </b><br />
Later this week, I will be constructing an additional page at the top of my blog that will be ideally next to the one, entitled "Countdown to <i>Wolves of Midwinter." </i>This one will bear the title "<i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive/dp/0765326353/ref=pd_sim_b_3" target="_blank">Way of Kings </a></i> Readathon," which might not sound regal enough for such a majestic book title and appropriately large-scale promotional campaign for the release. Either way, I think "<i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive/dp/0765326353/ref=pd_sim_b_3" target="_blank">Way of Kings </a></i>Readathon" supplies all my interested readers with a succinct, enticing summary that will hopefully interest them in joining with the readathon.<br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Stop being so damnably discursive, how can I participate in this upcoming readathon, featuring such an epic novel??</span></b><br />
Starting on the first week of October and coinciding with the first of my weekly blog posts here, you can tweet your instant responses to areas of the text <b>by using the hashtag #WOKreadathon. I'll be following suite, and using the same hashtage for all my eloquent or non-eloquent responces to certain areas of the novel that excite, frustrate, or enlighten me. You can add questions, quotations, grievances, youtube links with power metal songs that seem to reflect the high-octane energy of a particuliar action sequence. Essentially, you are free to write anything you want, as long as it is under the Twitter character limit of 150 characters or less.</b><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">More updates will be coming soon, Keep checking my Facebook fan page for more updates!!<br /><br /> <b>Also, you are allowed to start tweeting under </b>"<b>WOKreadathon," before the readathon officially starts, only if you are are metaphorically dying of impatience about the upcoming release of Brandon Sanderson's sequel to the<i> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Way-Kings-Stormlight-Archive/dp/0765326353/ref=pd_sim_b_3" target="_blank">Way of Kings</a>.</i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">If you are not gleeful or feeling enough fervor about the release of <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book/dp/0765326361" target="_blank">Words of Radiance,</a> </i> here are some pertinent and intensely exciting links that will surely make you extremely excited for the upcoming sequel:</span><br />
** <span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/07/brandon-sanderson-words-of-radiance-cover-reveal-michael-whelan" target="_blank">TOR.Com Blog post About the Lavish Cover Reveal for </a><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Words-Radiance-Stormlight-Archive-Book/dp/0765326361" target="_blank">Words of Radiance</a></i></b></span><br />
**<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/08/words-of-radiance-wallpaper" target="_blank">Download the cover as a variegated, expansive wallpaper that will pervade your mind with wandering nerd thoughts about the upcoming large-scale battles, new worlds, and comprehensive characters guaranteed to make you "geek out," come March 2014!!</a></b></span><br />
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<b> </b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-89360320247545481892013-09-17T17:08:00.000-04:002013-09-17T17:08:32.112-04:0025 Days of Werewolves: Coming Dangerously Soon!<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="text-align: start;">For all those still reading this post on the old blog, I will keep these posts up for the next six or seven months before closing out the blog. I feel like I am extending the deadline of this old blog's existence ad infinitum, but there seems to be numerous followers of this older blog.</b><b><br />Link to New Blog: <a href="http://www.bibliophilesreverie.com/" target="_blank">http://www.bibliophilesreverie.com/</a></b></span><br />
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<b>25 Unrelenting Days of Wolfish Ferocity, Festive Music with Pagan Underpinnings, Supernatural yarns with Febrile Passion, and Everything concerning the Wolfish World of Anne Rice's Opulent Gothic Wonderland.......<br /><br /><br />In more succinct terms, this day shall be officially named "The 25 Days of Werewolves:" The Witching Hour before either the ghoulish daze of Halloween or the nightmare that exists during the midwinter days that encapsulate the twelve days surrounding "Christmas"<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Details About "The Twenty Five Days of Werewolves"</span></b><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X1XSrDQ4iY4/Uji1oRL2plI/AAAAAAAABAc/P-YzKpi7UrA/s1600/tumblr_lh5jidYrVL1qe3jw1o1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X1XSrDQ4iY4/Uji1oRL2plI/AAAAAAAABAc/P-YzKpi7UrA/s1600/tumblr_lh5jidYrVL1qe3jw1o1_500.jpg" /></a><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />Start Date:9/21/2013<br /><br />Frequency of Blog Posts: Every single day!!<br /><br /> </span>For fans of werewolves and Anne Rice's <i>Wolf Gift Chronicles, </i>I'm very excited to help assuage your impatience, and help sublimate the raging excitement for the <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wolves-Midwinter-Wolf-Gift-Chronicles/dp/0385349963/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1379448449&sr=1-1&keywords=the+wolves+of+midwinter" target="_blank">The Wolves of Midwinte</a>r</i> into something productive. Rather than wile away the hours in fretful anticipation until October 15th comes about, why not spend some parcel of your time here at <i>A Bibliophile's Reverie, </i> pondering the literary history of werewolves, the ways that films and music in the past has represented this supernatural creature. I also have some posts planned that will provide an introduction to Teilhard De Chardin's theories called "Teilhard De Chardin 101." There will be a spate of posts that any seasoned werewolf/ Anne Rice fan will practically howl over!!<br /><br /> Remember that Day 1 begins this Saturday, September 21, 2013? Also, there will be contests galore during the countdown period. I assure you that I will try to remember to post on all twenty-five days. If I do commit such a grave, unforgivable error, a stampede of werewolves will surely have my head!!</b><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5VdglPEuz20/Uji1l4DibVI/AAAAAAAABAU/mn38qXgY09o/s1600/once115-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="221" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5VdglPEuz20/Uji1l4DibVI/AAAAAAAABAU/mn38qXgY09o/s400/once115-4.jpg" width="400" /></a><b><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Be extra vigilant during these next 25 days, beginning this Saturday! If you miss one of the posts, you'll be incurring the wrath of the "Midwinter Wolf Vengeance Demons." (Rest assured that these wolves don't really exist!!)<br /><br /><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/bibliophilereverie" target="_blank">Check out my Facebook Fan Page that will be keeping everyone up-to-date on the latest events for the "Twenty Five Days of Werewolves"</a></span></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-37252806919745293982013-09-03T19:42:00.000-04:002013-09-03T19:42:30.057-04:00Day 2 of Five Smoldering Days of Cthulu<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="text-align: start;">For all those still reading this post on the old blog, I will keep these posts up for the next six or seven months before closing out the blog. I feel like I am extending the deadline of this old blog's existence ad infinitum, but there seems to be numerous followers of this older blog.</b><b><br />Link to New Blog: <a href="http://www.bibliophilesreverie.com/" target="_blank">http://www.bibliophilesreverie.com/</a></b></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Awoken-ebook/dp/B00EV5P866/ref=cm_rdp_product" target="_blank"> </a><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Awoken-ebook/dp/B00EV5P866/ref=cm_rdp_product" target="_blank">Amazon(Kindle Edition)</a>/<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Awoken-Serra-Elinsen/dp/1491268727/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377984713&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Amazon (Print Copy)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Five Smoldering Days of "Cthulhu:" The Epic Review of the Lascivious Masterpiece, Dripping with romantic alien slime</span><br />
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It appears that our regularly scheduled blog post for the last two days have gone inexplicably missing. Then again, it was the inappropriately named holiday, Labor Day, yesterday, thus there was no cause for posting anything new for today. As promised, here is my gushing review of the year's best romantic story, paying homage to one of the great writers of supernatural fiction: Serra Elinsen. Serra Elinsen has set all our hearts aflame and aflutter with one of the<br />
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<i>Warning: This review contains overwrought prose/purple prose. The writing style is apt, matching the precise vividness of Serra Elinsen's eye for detail. </i><br />
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<b>Review:<br /> </b>Serra Elinsen has set all our hearts aflame and aflutter with one of the most romantic, poignant pieces of literature ever since William Faulkner confused, but positively dazzled everyone with <i>The Sound and the Fury. </i> Just as that masterpiece was William Faulkner's magnum opus, Serra Elinsen's brilliant expose of the nuances new-found love and instantaneous romance is her own magnum opus, and deserves literary accolades of all types. How is this story different from <i>Twilight? </i>It takes Stephenie Meyer's own purple prose, stilted dialogue to the next level; it makes purple prose that would have made Ernest Hemmingway shoot himself at the sight of the wholly complicated overuse of such powerfully dynamic adjectives. Shakespeare might have sighed dramatically, and drowned himself Ophelia style at Riley's preciously prosaic Shakespearean speech. The level of detail in the prose renders such a rich image in our heads that I felt my brain oozing in a viscous liquid that might have radiated like toxic ooze and inadvertently created the Teenage Mutant ninja turtles. <br />
I apologize for not conducting any research for this review or carefully moderating my speech. Serra Elinsen's prose is written in free-form; it is a stream of conscious purple-prose that would put Virginia Woolf to shame. The overcooked sentences are reminiscent of Sylvia Plath's poetry that portentously speaks of death by an oven. If Adromeda Slate does not have any gloriously hot man to fall deeply ad irrevocably in love with him, she would meet the same fate as Sylvia Plath, all due to her own self-abasing ways. The only difference is that Andromeda Slate has more insipid reasons, which will confuse any snobbish readers. Yet readers of superficial, yet strangely deep fiction (the purple prose has the power of rich duplicity) will somehow see depth in Andromeda Slate's romantic torment over whether or not Riley (the super smexy Chthulu monstrosity) reciprocates her feelings. When Andromeda Slate blankly describes her empty lifestyle, devoid of Riley's reciprocated feelings, the tumult of her sadness plucks at our feeble heart strings, as though our heart strings could be plucked to play sophisticated piano concertos.<br />
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Dear Reader, I sobbed so much whilst reading this highly eloquent piece of literature. Unlike Shakespeare, Samuel Johnson might have no criticisms for this fine work of art. It supersedes Hamlet with sophisticated superficiality,its voluble love interest, and exceedingly blank female heroine. Eventually, colleges will use this text for psychoanalytic studies that scrutinize the attraction of such shallow literature. Eventually, Serra Elinsen will write three more books that will hopefully extent this plot into infinity, and possible throw in a pedophile werewolf-alien into the mix that imprints on the half-alien, half-human infant that Riley and Andromeda conceive<br />
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I really love Serra Elinsen's work, and I cannot wait to read more of her work! She is a mesmerizing talent and a luminary in a world of young-adult fiction that just isn't as preciously romantic. No one writes such great purple-prose, calculated to dispose us into believing in the existence of romance that requires no hardship. After reading this, I'm definitely Team Riley because he is affable, intelligent, and speaks in an antiquated Shakespeare diction that is no longer in use. For guys like myself, we can really take a lot of inspiration from him; why we'd even look as much as fools as the Brady Bunch did in that 1996 remake of <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Links of Interest</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://serraelinsen.com/" target="_blank">Author's Website</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/SerraElinsen" target="_blank">Author's Twitter</a><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/SerraElinsen" target="_blank">Author's Facebook Page</a><br /><br /><br /> Be on the lookout for the insider's look at Serra's backstory on how her dream transfigured her life, and took her out of the doldrums of her "stay at home" mother lifestyle. Here at "A Bibliophile's Reverie," we are the place that will help bring Serra the needed attention that she deserves!!</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-66806452022204969372013-08-31T17:43:00.002-04:002013-08-31T17:46:02.124-04:00Five Days of Awoken<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b style="text-align: start;">For all those still reading this post on the old blog, I will keep these posts up for the next six or seven months before closing out the blog. I feel like I am extending the deadline of this old blog's existence ad infinitum, but there seems to be numerous followers of this older blog.</b><b><br />Link to New Blog: <a href="http://www.bibliophilesreverie.com/" target="_blank">http://www.bibliophilesreverie.com/</a></b></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Awoken-ebook/dp/B00EV5P866/ref=cm_rdp_product" target="_blank"> </a><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Awoken-ebook/dp/B00EV5P866/ref=cm_rdp_product" target="_blank">Amazon(Kindle Edition)</a>/<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Awoken-Serra-Elinsen/dp/1491268727/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377984713&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Amazon (Print Copy)</a></span><br />
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The greatest YA book has been unleashed into the world. I'm so excited to be featuring a five-day promotion of one of most innovative, deliciously romantic books on my book blog. Get ready for a tale laced with beautiful prose that boasts superfluous prose. It is bursting with more romance than your usual corset-ripper and Pantaloon dropper. It doesn't need to have a perpetual rattle of chains or handcuffs to make the romance scenes more titillating than they already are.<br />
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Since, I have not read the whole heart-rendering romance just yet, I will grace your eyes with a teaser of my upcoming review<br />
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"<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">So far, Awoken is enrapturing, and the main squidllike creature ,named Riley, will definitely become as popular as Edward Cullen. Be prepared to see a HP Lovecraft monster be tamed by a clumsy heroine! The creature himself even speaks with </span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;">an antiquated Shakespearean diction because all monsters speak with a lofty, expired manner of speech. I'm so excited to review this for my blog! It will definitely change the YA world with it's purple prose and classic romantic plot." </span></blockquote>
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Peruse the excerpt below and feel free to click on the Amazon link, if you find that you are already instantaneously smitten with the sublime premise. Feel free to shamelessly read this book because it makes fantastic literary allusions to the legendary supernatural works, written by HP Lovecraft himself. There is no need to make any expiation for your sins of reading supposed drivel, for this specific book is neither frivolous or drivel.<br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"In his house at R’lyeh, great Cthulhu lies dreaming... of her.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">What would you do if you discovered you were the only one in the world with the hidden power to keep it from being utterly annihilated?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">What if you had no idea what that power might even be?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Andromeda Slate, the self-proclaimed most ordinary girl in America, can’t figure out why the gorgeous but mysterious new boy at high school seems to hate her so much. It couldn't have anything to do with the strange dream she had the night before he first showed up in class, could it? The dream where the very same boy rescued her from a giant, green, tentacled sea monster?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">And it couldn’t have anything to do with that time she read aloud from that ancient tome of eldritch magic, the Necronomicon... could it?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Andi Slate never imagined she’d find herself in a situation where somehow she was the key to saving the world.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: black; color: yellow; font-family: verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Her life is about to get a whole lot less ordinary."</span></blockquote>
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Do you feel your heart aflutter already? Is it Calgon time? Remember this book was geared just for your supposed subversive, indulgent appetite for Harlequin "Monster" romance?<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Links of Interest</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://serraelinsen.com/" target="_blank">Author's Website</a><br /><a href="https://twitter.com/SerraElinsen" target="_blank">Author's Twitter</a><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/SerraElinsen" target="_blank">Author's Facebook Page</a><br /><br /><br /> Be on the lookout for the insider's look at Serra's backstory on how her dream transfigured her life, and took her out of the doldrums of her "stay at home" mother lifestyle. Here at "A Bibliophile's Reverie," we are the place that will help bring Serra the needed attention that she deserves!!</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-27643119436365818572013-08-06T18:05:00.001-04:002013-08-06T18:08:35.297-04:00Sony Classics Insinuates "Jane Austen" is Not for Men <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td><span style="font-size: large;"><b style="text-align: start;">For all those still reading this post on the old blog, I will keep these posts up for the next six or seven months before closing out the blog. I feel like I am extending the deadline of this old blog's existence ad infinitum, but there seems to be numerous followers of this older blog.</b><b><br />Link to New Blog: <a href="http://www.bibliophilesreverie.com/" target="_blank">http://www.bibliophilesreverie.com/</a></b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Tread Carefully: Snarkiness Abounds!!</b></span>
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As many of you may not be aware of, Shannon Hale's hilariously smart "chick-lit" novel, <em>Austenland,</em> that rhapsodizes one woman's obsessive love with all things pertaining to Jane Austen is becoming a film. It is slated to be released August 15th, 2013. Everything about the marketing of the book has always screamed "<b>Excuse me sir, you might not want to emasculate yourself with this book that is ostensible chick-lit." </b>Bravely, I read the book without writing abashed Facebook statuses that clarified that my masculinity was still preserved, after reading this book. I howled with laughter and loved every page of this clever, well-written book. The book pays homage to an author, who has supplied endless amounts of witty pleasure, since the beginning of the nineteenth century.<br />
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Acknowledging my bravery, I even attended a Shannon Hale book signing without any fear of gathering cooties (the modern colloquial phrase used to pejoratively describe "emasculation"). I remember telling her about how much I enjoyed the book, being someone that has always loved "Masterpiece Theater" productions of Jane Austen works. Even if the book featured a female protagonist and a romantic plot line, the humor and witticism would be appreciated by any reader of well-written fiction, regardless of gender.
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"> <br /><br />Alas, Sony Classics felt the urge to implicitly inform me that no man would ever dare endeavor to see <i>Austenland.</i></span>
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<td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Girlfriend, why would any gentlemen, including Mr. Darcy himself, want to attend this screening?"</td>
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Thanks to the wonderful writers for the <a href="http://www.themarysue.com/austenland-women-only/" target="_blank">Mary Sue</a> for first enlightening me to this problem with Sony Classic's marketing of this entire thing. As evidenced by the banner advertising the upcoming Philly screening, they are essentially implicating that this movie is restrictively for females, in a sense. I've seen tons of ads for chick flicks before in the newspaper. One of my favorite of those films, <i>Easy A, </i> relied on the film's evident cleverness and snarky attitude, rather than trying to propagate a gender exclusionary message.
Again, the Mary Sue highlighted this problem with the marketing, by summing up in much better words than I can even muster myself:
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"The way that the media surrounding the situation sounds, they mean “women-the-completely-homogenous-group-who-will-all-like-the-same-thing-because-they-are-women.” This marketing assumes that ALL women want to watch period reenactments and romantic stories and pretty dresses, that there is no variation in taste. This also, by extension, assumes that all men who are “real men” won’t be interested in those same things because that’s not “what men like.” <a href="http://www.themarysue.com/austenland-women-only/" target="_blank">Well written Quote taken from Mary Sue article, written by Brooke Jaff</a>e</blockquote>
As exemplified by this quote from a very informative article about the marketing problems for this film, this kind of marketing may have a very prudent focus. At the same time, it makes cultural assumptions that men are inherently uninterested in this type of flick. While I may not like Michael Bay action films, the advertising behind a high-octane action film never has this type of gender-stereotyped advertising that has this strange subtext that remarks that "Women are inherently not interested in dude films like<i> Transformers."</i>
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The Mary Sue also makes a good point that it also stereotypes women by saying that period reenactments are supposedly something ALL women enjoy. Based on what many of my female friends watch, they watch the same shows that I enjoy such as <i>Buffy:the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, </i>and <i>Doctor Who. </i>None of these shows have such superficial marketing campaigns that represent the entire work, as a whole, as being a supposed frilly, shallow film adaptation of a book that was really clever (and reminded me of something written by Jasper Fforde).
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /><br />More importantly, history attests to the male interest in Jane Austen's stories. </span> <br />
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One thing that our gender stereotyping society has never willfully acknowledged that there has been a spate of men throughout history that have made their admiration for Jane Austen an open secret. Let us read this post, by Rudyard Kipling, for example. Many people are not wholly aware that Rudyard Kipling, the sturdy male author that seemingly represented ostentatious machismo, was a diehard Jane Austen fanboy himself. Courtesy of the following webpage,<a href="http://www.kipling.org.uk/rg_janeites1.htm" target="_blank"> the Rudyard Kipling Society in England</a>, the following quote essentially shows his undying fervor for the early nineteenth century writer:
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<td><span style="font-family: Times;"><span style="color: blue;">“the more I read the more I admire and respect and do reverence… When she looks straight at a man or a woman she is greater than those who were alive with her - by a whole head… with a more delicate hand and a keener scalpel.” (Rudyard Kiping, disclosing his diehard love of Jane Austen to a friend in not so strict confidence)</span></span></td>
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During the same time period, the horrors of World War I were barraging the minds of English citizens. Soldiers were particularly stricken with a slew of debilitating psychological disorders, as a result of some of the unpleasant and stomach-turning scenes of violence that they were witness to on a daily basis in the war. Not knowing of Sony Classic's belief that Jane Austen was only privy to woman-folk, Jane Austen books were actually prescribed as an antidote/psychological curative of the highest witty potency to help these war-weary men overcome their deep-seated melancholy. <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/ways-with-words/10164668/Ways-With-Words-2013-Jane-Austen-prescribed-as-antidote-to-the-horrors-of-WW1.html" target="_blank">Thanks to this article from "The Telegraph,"</a><i> </i> we have certifiable proof that Jane Austen not only helped women to escape the horrors that plagued reality sometimes.
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<b> “Jane Austen was prescribed to shell shock victims after the First World War as an antidote to mental trouble. She was read in the trenches. She was a prescribed script for tortured, troubled souls."<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/ways-with-words/10164668/Ways-With-Words-2013-Jane-Austen-prescribed-as-antidote-to-the-horrors-of-WW1.html" target="_blank"> (Quote Taken from "The Telegraph" article, entitled "Jane Austen Prescribed as antidote to the Horrors of WW1)</a></b></blockquote>
Why did Sony Classics feel the need to market the film in such an inept way? I guess that is something left up to the bloggers to speculate and ponder about. In the meantime, I still plan on seeing the film. Hell, I feel like being a revolutionary, and attending the screening dressed as Mr. Darcy himself. Now, that would a hilarious subtle protest against this terrible marketing campaign that only reinforces the sexist idea that chick flicks are not generally more superficial somehow than action films (geared for men, though not explicitly), but that the realm of feminized entertainment somehow too puzzling and emasculating for men to watch. Why is it hard for more creative marketing forces to not focus on the merits of the film, and allow the audience to grow organically without implicitly informing people that this film somehow is socially unacceptable for men to watch?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-75523526436955237352013-08-06T16:26:00.003-04:002013-08-06T16:26:32.315-04:00Requisite Update!! Blog is still alive!<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><b style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">For all those still reading this post on the old blog, I will keep these posts up for the next six or seven months before closing out the blog. I feel like I am extending the deadline of this old blog's existence, but there seems to be numerous followers of the older blog on there!</span></b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><br />Link to New Blog: <a href="http://www.bibliophilesreverie.com/" target="_blank">http://www.bibliophilesreverie.com/</a><br /><br /><br />THIS BLOG STILL LIVES!!!!</b></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Much like Tombstone pizza, this blog was frozen for some time, but now has been revived from it's frozen state..</i></td></tr>
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I've had to dutifully play the reverse role of a real coroner, informing everyone that this blog has not really died. Sometimes, the long hiatuses, like the dry spell of July 2013 on this blog, may have spawned some death hoaxes about this blog. I thank all my readers for not dashing off to Twitter, Facebook, or Tumblr to misinform the masses that this blog were somehow dead. There was a drought, but not a death.<br />
Anyways, I apologize, once again, for not providing any updates, as planned, for most of the month of July. I've been re-reading the entire Harry Potter series, which I believe is a very good excuse for not being able to fulfill my usual blogging duties.<br />
Throughout this week, I will be updating the "Upcoming Books for Review" section and cleaning out the cobwebs that have accumulated there. August 2013 signifies requisite summer cleaning on this blog.<br />
As always, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/bibliophilereverie" target="_blank">Check the Facebook Fan Page </a> for further updates about upcoming contests and other related updates about this blog.<br />
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<b><br /></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-56176298790413449502013-06-27T16:51:00.002-04:002013-06-27T16:51:29.317-04:00Blog Updates: More Reviews Coming in July 2013 <span style="font-size: x-large;">Remember? This blog has been moved to Wordpress: <a href="http://bibliophilesreverie.com/">http://bibliophilesreverie.com/</a></span><br /><br /> This always happens!! I apologize greatly for another hiatus, and this time it comes from reading classics rather than any books to review. With other bloggers, I always wonder how people have any time to read fiction/nonfiction books that are not recent releases from publishers. I've always been very curious about that. Oh well, I've never been one for quantity over quality. I cannot write like that, and yet that is what is in high demand in this frenetically-paced world.<br /><br /> More reviews should be coming in the month of July, and for now, you'll just have to use a certain British tv show (highly addictive one at that) as a scapegoat for depriving me of much-needed reading time! I'll keep all my dedicated readers abreast of news to come about giveaways and other assorted news!!<br /><br /> <br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-63862066263334145652013-06-16T00:03:00.003-04:002013-06-16T00:03:48.611-04:00Review of Hope Against Hope:Third Mortimer Drake book<div>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://bibliophilesreverie.com/2013/06/16/review-of-hope-against-hope-the-third-mortimer-drake-book/" target="_blank">As you're well aware, this blog has recently moved to my newly-repolished Wordpress Blog. This blog is posted there as well!!</a><br />Hyperlink for New Wordpress Blog:<br /><a href="http://bibliophilesreverie.com/">http://bibliophilesreverie.com/</a><br />Thank you,<br />Fantastyfreak<br /><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Against-Undeath-Mortimer-Drake-ebook/dp/B008NWM320/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1371353556&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=hope+against+hope+greg+wilkey" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="282" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uwHhnbGk3Ik/Ub0yF-EQQ7I/AAAAAAAAA8k/7iiEZspNXoE/s400/1010564_392666290850722_761825838_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Against-Undeath-Mortimer-Drake-ebook/dp/B008NWM320/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1371353556&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=hope+against+hope+greg+wilkey" target="_blank">Synopsis (Taken from Amazon.com)</a>:</span></b></span></b><br />
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The world has changed for the living and the undead alike. Mortimer Drake and his family have been forced underground in the wake of the Dark Revelation. Humankind has learned of the existence of vampires and society has crumbled into chaos. The centuries old conflict between True-born vampires and Cross-blood vampires has taken a backseat to a new war that has spread across the globe. HOPE, an organization determined to wipe out the vampire race, has risen to power under the absolute authority of the Director. HOPE promises to restore peace, safety, and security, but that promise has a price. Vampires have been forced from the security of the shadows. They can no longer hide behind the myths and legends. If Mortimer wants to survive, he will have to learn to trust new friends with supernatural secrets of their own. If he fails, the world will never be the same again.</blockquote>
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<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Interview with <a href="http://www.gregwilkey.com/" target="_blank">Greg Wilkey</a></span><br /><br /><br />1.Justin:About your newest book covers, what are your thoughts on Ran Valerhon's work (a fellow "Person of the Page" on Anne Rice's FB page) on the cover-art for the first two Mortimer Drake novels? </b><br />
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**Greg: I could not be happier with the new covers for my series of books. I was introduced to the amazing talent of Ran Valerhon through Anne Rice's FB page. I remember seeing his posts and his artwork and commenting on their beauty. As my books gained popularity, I started to look at making changes and upgrades to increase their appeal. I have no skill in the graphic art realm, so I started to research people who did. Then it hit me -- Why not contact Ran? So, I reached out to him via Facebook and we worked out the details. I think that he has done an excellent job in capturing the feel for Mortimer's world. I am very impressed and I will recommend his artwork to indie writer I know. He is truly helping me take Mortimer to the next level. Also, I have now hired a professional editor. Todd Barselow, also an Anne Rice FB friend, has helped me proof and edit all my books. Like Ran, Todd is professional and very skilled at what he does. I have been very impressed with both Ran and Todd. Mortimer Drake has had a complete facelift!<br />
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<b>2.Justin: By the end of second installment of the Mortimer Drake books, your books have progressively gotten much darker. For a series targeted towards young-adult and middle-grade readers, I was humbly surprised by this unpredictable descent into darkness. Momentarily, I thought we were going to get the Mortimer Drake parallel of the Red-Wedding scene in the Game of Thrones books. Without spoiling anything for new readers to the series, did you foresee this inevitable change in the tone of the plot from the beginning?</b><br />
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**Greg: Oh yes, I knew from the beginning that Mortimer's journey was not going to be a pleasant one. When I set out to create his world, I wanted him to struggle. We all know that growing up isn't a pleasure cruise. I didn't want my characters to get everything they wanted. I mean, I write fiction, but let's be honest, life sucks (even for vampires.) In order for the last two books to work, I had to get Mortimer to a dark place. He had to go through some serious stuff. I think that YA books are the perfect place to explore the unfriendly side of life. YA readers of all ages can identify with hardships. I am not a neat and tidy ending kind of guy. I don't do "happily ever after."<br />
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<b>3.Justin: On your Facebook fan page, you mentioned that you were starting another new series. Will the plot revolve around vampires again or a host of new supernatural characters?</b><br />
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**Greg: My new series will most definitely be a YA supernatural thriller. The hero of my new novels will face everyday and paranormal challenges, but there are no vampires in these books. My new series will take a fresh, dark, and adventurous look at the dearly departed. <br />
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<b>4.Justin: Will Star Blood be the definitive end to the Mortimer Drake series? If Mortimer Drake fans beg enough for a new series, is there room in the plot for a sequel series?</b><br />
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**Greg: I have wrestled with this question for a while now, and to be honest, I still don't have an answer. WillStar Blood be the definitive end? I'm not sure. It's an ending, but maybe not the ending. I will have to wait and see if Mortimer still has more to tell. I guess we'll all find out together :)<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Review:</span><br />
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Once again, the high-octane action sequences and intricate plot that were so intrinsic to the success of the last two installments of <a href="http://www.gregwilkey.com/" target="_blank">Greg Wilkey</a>'s <i>Mortimer Drake </i> series reach a dramatic crescendo in this third volume. <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Against-Undeath-Mortimer-Drake-ebook/dp/B008NWM320/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1371353556&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=hope+against+hope+greg+wilkey" target="_blank">Hope Against Hope</a> </i> successfully outwits the threequel curse that has afflicted other books and movies that are part of a long-running series, and continues to be one of the freshest vampire stories out there. Much of this success stems from the fact that <i>Mortimer Drake</i> clearly avoid the romantic melodrama that mars the quality of many other vampire series within the YA vampire genre.<br />
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As with the last installment, the journey of Mortimer Drake progressively takes a very dark, gruesome turn in this installment. Rather than have these more morose sequences become overwrought or purely frivolous, <a href="http://www.gregwilkey.com/" target="_blank">Greg Wilkey</a> utilizes the grim quality of these scenes, in order to effectively portray the twisted malevolence of the regime that has taken over Mortimer's world, after human society finds definitive proof of the existence of vampires. Without spoiling any more specific details, the series even has an interesting scene that viscerally affected me towards the beginning of the novel. Fascinatingly, this scene and several other gut-wrenching sequences seem to pay homage to the <i>Hunger Games</i>, which most readers of my blog are well-aware happens to be one of the most popular YA series in recent years.</div>
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<i></i> Masterfully, the tropes of the corrupt totalitarian state and the imaginative dealings of human society's growing tension over how to coexist with their vampire neighbors (paralleling <i>True Blood) </i> are fused together in an ingenious way that reflects Greg's profound knowledge of the two most popular genres within the YA market: vampire fiction and dystopian fiction. Some authors are fearful of experimenting with these two genres that they see as being polarized opposites. In reality,both genres have great appeal for the post-modern audience, as both genres reflect a burgeoning sense of our own apathy and hopelessness with regards to the hope that our world will maintain some appreciable measure of stability. Both totalitarian regimes and vampires are identically manifestations of that very disillusioning fear that festers in our subconscious that the semi-secure world that we believe is completely impenetrable can be easily shaken and destroyed by some eruption of chaotic violence in this post-modern world. In the last hundred years, the various world wars and smaller wars with intrastate guerrilla factions has also made our clear sense of the division between good and evil became even more muddled. <br />
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While the above discussion may seem wholly irrelevant to a vampire series targeted to middle-grade readers (though realistically for any type of reader), <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Against-Undeath-Mortimer-Drake-ebook/dp/B008NWM320/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1371353556&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=hope+against+hope+greg+wilkey" target="_blank">Hope Against Hope </a></i> has become much more sophisticated in its construction. As <a href="http://www.gregwilkey.com/" target="_blank">Greg Wilkey</a> continues to grow as a writer, he is beginning to unconsciously (or consciously) develop a story that has much more underlying meaning. As with the other books, this book is extremely entertaining, and that is something that Greg has always deftly accomplished. Starting with the end of the last book though, the series has become something deserving of closer inspection. The development of his first three stories of the <i>Mortimer Drake </i> series unwinds as seamlessly as Anne Rice's own <i>Vampire Chronicles. </i> Again, this might seem presumptuous, but I really feel that the dark overtones of this series and the more challenging ethical questions raised in this third installment are some of the very same ethical questions that were beginning to become more fleshed out in <i>Queen of the Damned</i>, which was also another "threequel" that avoids the "threequel" curse.<br />
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Written with flourish and the keen eye of a very talented writer, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Against-Undeath-Mortimer-Drake-ebook/dp/B008NWM320/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1371353556&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=hope+against+hope+greg+wilkey" target="_blank">Hope Against Hope</a> </i>is the novel that cements my feelings that <i>Mortimer Drake</i> is a comic book drama of the highest caliber. Like <i>X-men, Watchmen, Batman,</i>the plot plumbs interesting ethical depths that other series in the middle-grade genre stray away from discussing. <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Against-Undeath-Mortimer-Drake-ebook/dp/B008NWM320/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1371353556&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=hope+against+hope+greg+wilkey" target="_blank">Hope Against Hope</a></i> is a very dark book, but the darkness of the this novel is the substantive type that is also balanced with moments of levity and genuine hope. The darkness of the series never becomes onerous or excessive to wade through. Different from the more superficial incarnation of action heavy story , all the books in the <i>Mortimer Drake </i> series invariably questions violence and debates ethics in a way that fantastically coheres with the heart-stopping action and well-orchestrated suspense that has made this entire series a true pleasure to read.<br />
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I really look forward to the final installment of the <i>Mortimer Drake </i> series, entitled <i>Star Blood,</i> that should be arriving right on the coattails of this review! Again, this entire series comes with my highest recommendation. While some readers may want more sophisticated prose, this is a series aimed for middle-grade readers, and I think the succinctness of Greg's prose is truly a very hard thing for any writer to achieve. Of course, there were some minor editorial errors in some of his other books, but he has recently re-released newly edited versions of all his books with the help of Todd Barr (serving as his excellent editor). This has never taken away from my enjoyment of the series because I always saw an extremely engaging story, even in what some would term it's "roughest form". With that said, I'm really excited for <i>Star Blood</i>,which will be covered on this blog once it's released later this summer.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">For More Information on <a href="http://www.gregwilkey.com/" target="_blank">Greg Wilkey</a>'s series of books; Check out the below links!<br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/MortimerDrakeMUD?fref=ts" target="_blank">Mortimer Drake Facebook Fan Page</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Greg-Wilkey-Author-of-YA-Fiction/351753751608643?fref=ts" target="_blank">Greg Wilkey's Author FB Page</a><br /><a href="http://www.gregwilkey.com/" target="_blank">Greg Wilkey's Author Website</a></span> </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-2264608617561612512013-06-11T17:02:00.003-04:002013-06-11T17:02:25.360-04:00New Book Covers for Mortimer Drake<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><a href="http://wwww.bibliophilesreverie.com/" target="_blank">As many of you know, this post is also available on my Wordpress blog (eventually to become my main blog, before the impending destruction of this satellite blog)</a></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 23px;"> If you have been checking Greg Wilkey's updates on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/annericefanpage?fref=ts" target="_blank">Anne Rice's Facebook page</a>, you are well-informed then of the exciting release of the newest cover art for his "Mortimer Drake" series. As though the premise of the series was not enticing enough, these new covers, created by talented graphic artist <a href="https://www.facebook.com/valerhon" target="_blank">Ran Valerhon</a>, should hopefully persuade more people to check out this series.<br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Cover for <i>Growing Up Dead: Book 1</i></span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Growing-Up-Dead-Volume-1/dp/1479369071/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370984339&sr=8-1&keywords=mortimer+drake" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Eo2_6v6cmCE/UbeODWQuDpI/AAAAAAAAA78/pDWYeNUPf6E/s320/944254_10201059615550701_1686021716_n.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 23px;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Cover for <i>Out of the Underworld: Book 2</i></span></span><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Out-Underworld-Undeath-Mortimer-Volume/dp/1479369500/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_z" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="225" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D0tF2XO_wXg/UbeODS-ZFgI/AAAAAAAAA8A/T15FwDBX_tw/s320/969053_389966751120676_1419736412_n.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; line-height: 23px;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> In other news about the Mortimer Drake series, the upcoming review and interview for this upcoming Friday will feature the third book:the penultimate installment in the Mortimer Drake series. The series will conclude with the fourth book, <i>Star Blood, </i> which should be released sometime this summer (my bets rest on either end of July or beginning of August)<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Upcoming Book Review/Interview (Posted Simultaneously on both this blog and <a href="http://bibliophilesreverie.com/" target="_blank">my newest Wordpress blog</a>)</span><br /><span style="font-size: 14px;">Friday, June 14th</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;">Hope Against Hope (the third installment of the Mortimer Drake series)</span><br />
<a data-mce-href="http://bibliophilesreverie.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/4129pqkmizl-1.jpg" href="http://bibliophilesreverie.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/4129pqkmizl-1.jpg" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"><img alt="4129PQkMizL (1)" data-mce-src="http://bibliophilesreverie.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/4129pqkmizl-1.jpg?w=199" height="300" src="http://bibliophilesreverie.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/4129pqkmizl-1.jpg?w=199" style="border: 0px; cursor: default;" width="199" /></a><br />
<a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Hope-Against-Undeath-Mortimer-Volume/dp/147936956X/ref=cm_cmu_pg_t" href="http://www.amazon.com/Hope-Against-Undeath-Mortimer-Volume/dp/147936956X/ref=cm_cmu_pg_t" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;">Amazon (Kindle & Print Edition)</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;">/ </span><a data-mce-href="https://www.facebook.com/MortimerDrakeMUD?fref=ts" href="https://www.facebook.com/MortimerDrakeMUD?fref=ts" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;">Facebook Fan Page for "Mortimer Drake"</a><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;">/</span><a data-mce-href="http://www.gregwilkey.com/" href="http://www.gregwilkey.com/" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;">Author Website</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-4362390503704907782013-06-05T01:00:00.000-04:002013-06-05T02:17:59.374-04:00Review of "The Resurrectionist"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"> Note: My blog has recently moved to WordPress but I will keep posting posts on both blogs for the next five months. After five months, this blog will be completely deleted. I advise you to check out the post <a href="http://bibliophilesreverie.com/2013/06/05/the-resurrectionist-review/" target="_blank">here on my new wordpress blog</a> <a href="http://www.blogger.com/(http://www.bibliophilesreverie.com/)">(http://www.bibliophilesreverie.com/)</a></span><br />
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<a href="http://quirkbooks.com/TheResurrectionist" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FCeFowezL3A/Ua5odGwf9fI/AAAAAAAAA7o/jMSzMnXH2ZA/s400/Resurrectionist_final_72_0+(1).jpg" width="288" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Resurrectionist-Lost-Spencer-Black-ebook/dp/B00987MQRQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370384559&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Resurrectionist">Amazon.com</a>/<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-resurrectionist-e-b-hudspeth/1114194154?ean=9781594746161">BN.com</a><br /><br />Synopsis</b></span><br />
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<em><b><a href="http://quirkbooks.com/TheResurrectionist" target="_blank">Excerpt Taken From Quirk Books Product Detail Page:</a></b></em>Philadelphia. The late 1870s. A city of cobblestone sidewalks and horse-drawn carriages. Home to the famous anatomist and surgeon Dr. Spencer Black. The son of a “resurrectionist” (aka grave robber), Dr. Black studied at Philadelphia’s esteemed Academy of Medicine, where he develops an unconventional hypothesis: What if the world’s most celebrated mythological beasts—mermaids, minotaurs, and satyrs— were in fact the evolutionary ancestors of humankind?<br />
<strong><a href="http://quirkbooks.com/TheResurrectionist" target="_blank">The Resurrectionist</a></strong> offers two extraordinary books in one. The first is a fictional biography of Dr. Spencer Black, from his humble beginnings to the mysterious disappearance at the end of his life. The second book is Black’s magnum opus: The Codex Extinct Animalia, a Gray’s Anatomy for mythological beasts—dragons, centaurs, Pegasus, Cerberus—all rendered in meticulously detailed black-and-white anatomical illustrations. You need only look at these images to realize they are the work of a madman. <strong><a href="http://quirkbooks.com/TheResurrectionist" target="_blank">The Resurrectionis</a>t </strong>tells his story.</blockquote>
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<span data-mce-type="bookmark" id="_start"><b style="font-size: xx-large;">Review</b><br /><br /><br />
<a href="http://quirkbooks.com/" target="_blank">Quirk Book</a>s has always excelled in publishing some of the quirkiest books out there, as the name of this awesome indie publisher's name aptly suggests. What is the novelty, or more appropriately, quirky element of their latest release <a href="http://quirkbooks.com/TheResurrectionist">The Resurrectionist</a> then? First of all, it is a Gothic-horror novel of sorts that is written in the vein of Gothic classics like either Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Bram Stoker's Dracula. Unlike these classics, Dr. Spencer Black outdoes Victor Frankenstein in the department of depravity, since he endeavors and succeeds in creating multiple hybridized creatures that are partially human, but also experimental replicas of such noteworthy mythological creatures like either minotaurs, mermaids, and satyrs. Anatomical sketches of all these rather subversive creatures are preserved for posterity in the back section of the book, and it is being published for the first time in an attempt to regale readers with some of the most disturbing monstrosities that have ever been created in the name of science (For more sensitive readers or those inclined to gullibility, I only jest by saying that this account is by any means a non-fictional account; well, it might be a bit nonfictional)<br /><br /><br /> One of the more outstanding qualities of this book is just how believable this disturbing account could be taken as. I'm talking suspension of disbelief that is used very effectively. When I started reading the finely detailed prose of the beginning sections of the book, I had to ask myself: Has this really occurred? Knowing the Philly area really well, I also had to contemplate whether or not these mythological creatures were buried somewhere in Philly. If they were buried, where would they be buried? Hopefully, this kind of grand conspiracy wouldn't inspire Disney to make another National Treasure movie, starring the infamously weird Nicholas Cage of <em>Wicker Man</em> fame? Then, I remembered that this book is reassuringly a fiction book, and I could relax that a more skilled resurrectionist couldn't somehow resurrect Dr. Spencer Black's mythological creatures, emulating the unnatural scientific experiments that he chronicles within this exciting book. This is an entertaining novel, not an instructive piece on how to make people suspect that you've gone completely out of your mind.
<br /><br /><br /><br /> Throughout the narrative portion of the book (the book is part-narrative/part-art book), the question about the ethical limits of science are raised. Currently, we live in an era that fortunately has laws in place that protects human beings from having unwanted experiments conducted on them. Increasingly, there is more controversy about animal rights and whether certain types of experimentation on certain species of animals are unethical. While this book never explicitly delves into such contemporary issues, the novel broaches these questions nonetheless, as it implores the reader to think about the continued debate of the ethical limits of science. In the last hundred years, science has awed us with miraculous drugs and vaccinations that have offered us the means to outwit death. At the same time, we have created such horrific weapons, like the nuclear bomb, that was an abominable weapon that murdered many people's lives during World War II.<br /><br /><br /> Returning to the plot of the novel, the real ethical dilemma that Dr. Spencer Black's actions raised lies with whether or not the dead bodies of human beings are truly sacred property: Is it unethical for him to utilize these dead bodies for the creation of new life in the form of hybridized creatures? Are the ethical sanctions of religious organizations relevant to a scientist's endeavors? Even though the narrative section is fairly short, E.B. Hudspeth does an adept job, raising these interesting questions in the frame of a truly engrossing Gothic tale.
<br /><br /> Fascinatingly, the book is skillfully juxtaposed with an entire art section at the end of the book that is filled to the brim with meticulously drawn images of the various creatures that Dr. Spencer Black managed to create during his fictitious lifetime. While paging through this section, I wish I had the means to order poster versions of some of these drawings. They would be the perfect artwork to hang next to my delightfully macabre Edward Gory poster of <i>The Gashlycrumb Tinies. </i>In many ways, the Gothic art style seems partly inspired by Edward Gory, but it really is uniquely its own brand of Gothic art. Of course, the actual shape of the figures pays homage to the monsters from comic-books as well. E.B. Hudspeth's style is really his own eclectic style, and I really loved these well-drawn illustrations, along with some of the accompanying notes that give some brief descriptions of each of the mythological beasts that the infamous Dr. Spencer Black managed to create during his lifetime.
If you are either an Edward Gory, Mary Shelley, or Bram Stoker fan like myself, this is the book to check out because it will both entertain and fascinate you for many immeasurably long hours!!
For More Information about the novel or its author,<br /><br />Check out the below links:</span><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/QuirkBooks?fref=ts" target="_blank">Quirk Book's Facebook Page</a><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/381435765307179/?fref=ts" target="_blank">Event Page for Upcoming Signing at Indy Hall in Philadelphia,PA</a></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-58083963206447675232013-06-04T17:34:00.001-04:002013-06-04T17:34:18.884-04:00BEA Wrap-Up 2013<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> Please note:</span><span style="font-size: x-large; font-style: italic;">I know I'm belaboring this point, but I am planning to delete all posts on this blog in five months, as many of you know, this blog has henceforth been moved over to a new Wordpress location:</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-large; font-style: italic;">(<a href="http://bibliophilesreverie.com/">http://bibliophilesreverie.com</a>)</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-large; font-style: italic;"> These posts are still only posted here to serve as a reminder to readers of this blog that I have moved. Thank you!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large; font-style: italic;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large; font-style: italic;"> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Every year, BEA is greeted with the same unadulterated fanfare, and a long slog of a sleepless night during the evening prior to the event. For this year, I decided only to attend Thursday because, to be quite frank, Book Expo America normally overwhelms me and expends every last ounce of energy that I paradoxically exerted being excited about prior to the event (can someone please explain this weird adrenal phenomenon?) Anyways, the best way to convey just how exciting this year was is by writing up highlights. Unlike book reviews, this type of writing can become very taxing for me, as I hate </span><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> summarily </span><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">writing a bunch of</span><span style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> of things that happened this year in chronological details. It is far easier to discuss certain highlights piecemeal both for the sake of your sanity and my own. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large; font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Highlight A: Interviewing Gugor (star of Razorbill's upcoming <i>The Creature Department</i>)<br /><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Yes, I interviewed a computerized AI monster with the eccentric name of "Gugor." It was really quite a lot of unexpected fun. My notes were very disorganized and haphazard to the point, where I cannot even come up with an accurate transcription of how the interview went between Gugor and myself this past Thursday at the Penguin's fantastic BEA display for </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <a href="http://www.thecreaturedepartment.com/" target="_blank">Creature Department</a>, </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> written by <a href="http://www.robertpaulweston.com/" target="_blank">Robert Paul Weston</a>. </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Anyways, I can say confidently that Gugor has some apprehension about being in a musical, mostly due to being semi-self conscious about the whole business surrounding musicals and unease with singing. For now, his first feat as a public figure will involve starring in this upcoming book. By scanning the below synopsis, you'll see that his upcoming adventure in novel format will be something to look out for, from Penguin, this upcoming Fall. I'll definitely have more information to provide readers about this exciting project in the future.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> "</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Symbol; font-size: 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 7pt;"> </span></span><u style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;"></u><b style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">About <i><a href="http://www.thecreaturedepartment.com/" target="_blank">The Creature Departmen</a>t</i></span></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">:<i> </i>Elliot and Leslie visit their Uncle Archie inside the glass and steel towers of DENKi-3000, the world’s fifth or sixth largest electronics company. They’ve heard rumors about a creature department hidden somewhere inside and they beg their uncle for a look. And it’s unlike anything they’ve ever seen! They meet creatures with wings, creatures with tentacles, creatures with horns, creatures with three heads, creatures who are <i>nothing but</i> head, and even a couple creatures with extremely unmanageable hair. Elliot and Leslie become friends with these hilarious creatures. And then Uncle Archie disappears and the menacing Chuck Quickweather arrives with an announcement that he is going to streamline DENKi-3000 and discover its secret. Elliot and Leslie must team up with the ringleader of the creatures: Jean-Remy, a remarkably perceptive Parisian fairy-bat with sartorial flair, to motivate t<a href="http://www.thecreaturedepartment.com/" target="_blank">he creature department</a> into inventing something incredible that will save them all from Quickweather, his evil henchmen, and downsizing."</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></blockquote>
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Interestingly enough, our conversation began with a conversation about Gugor's favorite vampire character. He ecstatically began acting out Nicholas Cage's hilarious scene from the film, , where Nicholas Cage stars as one of the campiest vampires out there. Just, how frightening is Nicholas Cage's "I'M A VAMPIRE, when it is spoken without any gravitas whatsoever!"<br />
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If Nicholas Cage can star in campy films like <i>Vampire Kiss</i>, I reassured Gugor that he'd be fine, potentially starring in a future <i>Creature Department </i>film as himself. Perhaps, if <i><a href="http://www.thecreaturedepartment.com/" target="_blank">The Creature Department </a></i> gains enough interest upon its release this fall, Gugor may very well be on our movie-screens in a short after a release that hopefully won't prove cataclysmic in the wrong sense of the word.<br />
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I wish all my readers had the chance to have the fun opportunity to interview an AI monster that is exceedingly smarter and more friendly than the inferior being named "Cleverbot," who has been fairly popular among internet users for far too long. Perhaps, his ingenious marketing and publicity team will have him tour nationwide, giving readers the first true interview with a fictionalized character that otherwise is some abstract nobody.<br />
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Eventually, the website for the book (<a href="http://www.thecreaturedepartment.com/">www.thecreaturedepartment.com</a>) will feature a downloadable App that will enhance the reading experience, and bridge the technological gap between the page and the latest technology that is available on both e-readers and tablets like the IPAD or the Google Nexus. While this book is being targeted for children's fiction market , I am not the first to admit that most of these books have very wide appeal (For example, Harry Potter readers range from the ages of five all the way to, most likely, 100 years old). Interestingly, the visual effects studio, Framestore, that created Dobby in the Harry Potter films and other CGI creations from films like <i>The Golden Compass</i> are the ones responsible for creating some of the awesome visuals for the planned <i>Creature Departments </i>App in the future.<br />
<i> <br /> </i><b>Lasting Impressions:</b> As evidenced by Penguin Publication's <i><a href="http://www.thecreaturedepartment.com/" target="_blank">The Creature Department,</a> </i> publishers are becoming far less apprehensive about the advent of the latest technology, and clever seeking out ways to optimize the latest technology to provide a new dynamic reading experience for the newest generation. Personally, I have seen nothing but more interest in reading overall due to technology. On the HBO front, <i>Game of Thrones </i>is making people accomplish the unthinkable, by reading books that are 1000 pages each.<br />
With <i><a href="http://www.thecreaturedepartment.com/" target="_blank">The Creature Department</a>,</i> the planned App and the sheer cleverness of the book itself might help younger readers feel more enticed to read and gain much more enjoyment out of what they are reading. Believe me, this is not the last time you'll be hearing of either Gugor or <i><a href="http://www.thecreaturedepartment.com/" target="_blank">The Creature Department</a> </i> on this blog.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Highlight B: Brandon Sanderson YA books<br /><br /> </span><br /><br /> When it comes to fantasy fiction, I veer more towards Brandon Sanderson’s books more so than George R.R. Martin’s book. If I were go into my reasons, I might end up inciting a mad hive of debate, and I feel that would be disingenuous to the marked differences between the types of writers that Brandon Sanderson and George R.R. Martin are (both competent writers with very different writing styles and story interest). I’m a huge fan of Brandon Sanderson’s past works like the wildly creative, Warbreaker, and the truly epic Mistborn series. His long-spanning series (well, there is only one book thus far, but there is bound to be more in the future), the Stormlight Archives, begins with truly dynamic characters and some of the best writing in recent fantasy fiction. In my personal opinion, a lot of fantasy books are extremely ponderous. The problem that plagues many fantasy books is this excessive dumping of exposition in many fantasy books that is not cleverly done, and just makes the reading experience become as laborious as paging through a textbook about Elementary Physics.<br /><br />Being extremely judicious with my fantasy fiction, I have admittedly read very few adult fantasy books, and this is a very hard admission to make. There is a lot of very strange pseudo-psychological rhetoric that wants to diagnose readers like myself, as being ADD. Except, I think people, including myself at times, seem to lapse in remembering that readers have varying tastes, and no one should ever feel obligated to either enjoy or like a book just for the sake of conforming to popular expectations. Personally, I am sometimes both thrilled with the popularity of Game of Thrones, and extremely annoyed at times. There has been a truly discouraging trend going on, which revolves around some people insisting that people, interested in the fantasy/scifi genre, should only read Game of Thrones, as it is purportedly the only well-written fantasy book out there. I think this comes from a very fervid, elitist minority of fans. But, I have heard some other disenchanting things from people I know, who show no interest in the series due to the strange, hostile behavior of fans. Most fans aren’t like this, and many of them are huge fans of the other books in the genre that are written with varying writing styles. That is why I like fantasy fiction because there is truly an inherent variety in the genre.<br /><br />The popularity of Game of Thrones is the perfect opportunity, though, to show newcomers to the genre just how diverse the market is, even if some of the aforementioned elitists wish to dissuade people from exploring other titles. Brandon Sanderson was really the first author to make me understand the mechanics of magic systems, see that action sequences can be written without feeling interminable, and having exposition that is actually integral to the plot. Instead of seeing Patrick Rothfuss, George R.R. Martin, and Brandon Sanderson as vying for the iron throne, we should see all three as equally competent fantasy writers that meet the needs of different types of readers, who have varying interests.<br /><br />Personally, I have found Brandon Sanderson’s style to be my favorite though among the three most recognizable faces of fantasy fiction right now, and I think it is the witticism in his dialogue that seems completely missing in the more rough and serious Game of Thrones. That is the reason I waited nearly two hours for Brandon Sanderson’s signing for The Rithmatist, which has a magic system that revolves around chalk. I knew, in advance, that this book, andSteelheart that I received at a later signing would offer me hours of endless entertainment without the agonizing periods of boredom that greet me during reading some other fantasy books. Of course, authors like Maria V. Snyder, Jon Sprunk, DB Jackson, and several others have helped make me reconsider all these limiting preconceived notions that I have about fantasy fiction.<br /><br />Lasting Impressions I keep making some lazy assumptions just because I haven’t gotten around to other author’s books in the genre. Anyways, the main point of the above rant was to drive home my point that it is important that we civilly discuss books with other people in the spirit of knowing that everybody loves different books. There is no one series that is magically the single best fantasy novel.<br /><br />Having seen the excitement people have for The Rithmatist and Steelheart has shown that HBO’s Game of Thrones has above all convinced large numbers of people to delve into a genre that does have its thorny side. Personally, I hope to review both titles in hopes of highlighting just how versatile in style that the genre is, and how Brandon Sanderson contributes to a growing YA market that also is much more diverse than the stereotype of it predominately being mostly Paranormal Romance books.<br />
<b>Lasting Impressions</b> I shouldn't judge other authors so harshly because there really is a diverse number of different writers in the genre, and I keep making some lazy assumptions just because I haven't gotten around to other author's books. Anyways, the main point of the above rant was to drive home my point that it is important that we civilly discuss books with other people in the spirit of knowing that everybody loves different books. There is no one series that magically makes you both smarter and superior to other people.<br />
Having seen the excitement people have for <i>The Rithmatist </i> and <i>Steelheart</i> has shown that HBO's <i>Game of Thrones </i> has above all convinced large numbers of people to delve into a genre that does have its thorny side. Personally, I hope to review both titles in hopes of highlighting just how versatile in style that the genre is, and how Brandon Sanderson contributes to a growing YA market that also is much more diverse than the stereotype of it predominately being mostly Paranormal Romance books.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>Thanks to all the bloggers and other fantastic people I talked to at BEA!! Tomorrow, reviews will return as usual. Sorry for the delays, as of recently, with my reviews!</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-82401299753870969452013-05-29T15:34:00.001-04:002013-05-29T16:19:25.593-04:00Reuben's Spiritual Odyssey: "Wolves Of Midwinter" Countdown Post #1<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://bibliophilesreverie.com/?p=1458&preview=true" target="_blank">This post is available on newly remodeled Wordpress blog, Please read it there! Posts on this blog will only remain here for the next six months.</a></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /><br /><a href="http://bibliophilesreverie.com/" target="_blank">New Blog's Hyperlink: http://bibliophilesreverie.com/</a><br /></span><br />
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Discussion Post #1</div>
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My head has been swimming with various pensive thoughts, surrounding the thematic importance of Teilhard De Chardin's philosophy in correlation with the overall philosophical and spiritual thrust of Anne Rice's<i> <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wolf-Gift-ebook/dp/B0060AY8K2/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2" href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wolf-Gift-ebook/dp/B0060AY8K2/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2" target="_blank">The Wolf Gift</a>. </i>As I wait impatiently and restively for the release of <i><a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Wolves-Midwinter-Wolf-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B00CGI3DZI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369855535&sr=8-1&keywords=wolves+of+midwinter" href="http://www.amazon.com/Wolves-Midwinter-Wolf-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B00CGI3DZI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369855535&sr=8-1&keywords=wolves+of+midwinter" target="_blank">Wolves of Midwinter</a> </i>this fall I tried to do something a bit more productive then wishfully think of an Advanced Reader's Copy of the highly anticipated second installment of <i>The Wolf Gift Chronicles</i> being covertly given away at Book Expo America, which I'll be attending for the fourth time tomorrow. Sadly, I must endure the long slog that awaits before October 15,2013 rolls around. In order to help us all make this unendurable wait much more endurable, I'm planning to pick out certain pivotal sections of the earlier book, and extrapolate on how Anne Rice might develop these mutable plot threads introduced in <em><a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wolf-Gift-ebook/dp/B0060AY8K2/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2" href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wolf-Gift-ebook/dp/B0060AY8K2/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2">The Wolf Gift </a> </em> and theoretically developed further in <a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Wolves-Midwinter-Wolf-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B00CGI3DZI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369855535&sr=8-1&keywords=wolves+of+midwinter" href="http://www.amazon.com/Wolves-Midwinter-Wolf-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B00CGI3DZI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369855535&sr=8-1&keywords=wolves+of+midwinter"><em>Wolves of Midwinter</em></a>. Knowing her love for Teilhard De Chardin, there is no better way to start then with discussing how Teilhard de Chardin's various spiritual theories relate implicitly with the underlying meaning of Anne Rice's stories.<br /></div>
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In many ways, all Anne Rice's Gothic novels have always dealt with preternatural forces that metaphorically reflect Teilhard De Chardin's highly progressive theories about evolving consciousness. Lestat's own spiritual journey that never goes quite as far as Reuben Golding's novel (in my opinion) ends with a sense of futility in <i>Blood Canticle</i>,in that he never gains complete moral control over his being, all due to the fact that his blood thirst is so intrinsic to a vampire. Invariably,this thirst necessitates murder or immoral action, preventing Lestat from ever gaining the salvation he began lucidly yearning for within <i>Memnoch the Devil.<br /></i></div>
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Deftly, Anne Rice's <i><a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wolf-Gift-ebook/dp/B0060AY8K2/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2" href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wolf-Gift-ebook/dp/B0060AY8K2/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2" target="_blank">The Wolf Gift</a></i> encapsulates these moral quandaries introduced in the <em>Vampire Chronicles</em>, but <em>The Wolf Gift</em> goes much further with trying to supply more coherent answers to these quandaries throughout much of the <i>Vampire Chronicle </i> stories. During Reuben and Jim's confiding conversation at Nideck point in <em>The Wolf Gift</em>, they sit in the Eastern Breakfast room, which has a window that overlooks the dense redwood trees. The descriptions of where Reuben and brother Jim, a priest himself, reside during this conversation may seem pedantic to some, but these recurrent images throughout the story of the primal woods being juxtaposed seamlessly with a house that is literally part of the woods is extremely reflective of the complex state of Reuben's own psyche. Within his psyche, there is the primal essence of himself jostling restlessly with his own human intelligence, which is the psychological fulcrum of this story's psychological conflict. Analogously,this wrestling image that metaphorically depicts Reuben's these two psychological twins image is clearly illustrating the concept of Teilhard de Chardin's evolving conscience.<br /></div>
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Interestingly, Reuben even points to his inner psychological turmoil, being representative of a dynamic clash between his more primeval instincts and his more intellectual self; both of which are an extremely important duality within our psyches that separates us from animals. :</div>
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"I seek to come to terms with it. I learn new things from it every time it happens, but I am not devolving, Jim."(<i>The Wolf Gift </i>272)</blockquote>
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When Darwin first proposed the theory of evolution, many people within the Victorian era feared the revelation that we were closely related to animals. The most erroneous element of our theories of developing consciousness has been a conscious rejection of our primal instincts; those that are represented in Freudian terms by the "ID." Therefore, we have consciously created elaborate religious rituals, which help us to imaginatively divest ourselves of the influence of our baser selves. Except, Reuben provides a very divergent approach, rather than see these two very basic components of our consciousness, the Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or William Wilson #1 and #2 in Poe terms, being antithetical to each other; he sees them as being closely related and even necessary for a fruitful existence. Reuben's philosophical theory mirrors Teilhard De Chardin's spiritually progressive discussion found in <i><a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Future-Man-Teilhard-Chardin/dp/0385510721/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369855654&sr=8-1&keywords=Future+of+Man" href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Future-Man-Teilhard-Chardin/dp/0385510721/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369855654&sr=8-1&keywords=Future+of+Man" target="_blank">The Future of Man</a> </i>Many of Teilhard de Chardin's theories are very conversant with Darwinian Evolution, and this is why these theories proved to be very subversive to many Catholics, including Reuben's own brother Jim apparently. Much like Teilhard de Chardin, Reuben believes that both his primeval senses and his more human consciousness are not things to be viewed as mutually exclusive, but parts of our psyche that are indeed mutually inclusive.<br /></div>
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Even though Jim recapitulates the various antiquated notions of moral development and the inherently depraved nature of werewolves, Reuben optimistically finds that the clear fact that his human consciousness remains alive during his transformation into a werewolf signifies the fact that the marriage between his more primeval instincts and intellectual thoughts is very possible. In many ways, Teilhard de Chardin's depiction of our evolving consciousness is extremely Augustinian, in that this theory posits that our overall moral trajectory that is implicit in nearly all our actions is towards the good, even if this moral trajectory can become skewed by our impartial acknowledgement of the full spectrum of our psychological selves. This would explain why Dr. Jekyll is still wholly responsible for the actions of Mr. Hyde because Dr. Jekyll represses these instincts, and never takes full moral responsibility for his actions. Unlike Dr. Jekyll, Reuben struggles throughout the novel trying to make peace with his Mr. Hyde essence and tries to seek ,through valiant free will, a way to wed these two inextricably opposed twins of his psyche.<br /></div>
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At the very end of the chapter, it is also very important to note that the entire confession, involving his brother Jim, takes place within Reuben's inner sanctum (Nideck Point) rather than the church that is so far-removed from the context of the Redwood forest that imbibes Reuben with a deep sense of his paradoxical self.</div>
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Within the next post, I would love to further this discussion of Reuben's spiritual odyssey, by theorizing how the greatest spiritual conundrum of this novel might be resolved within <i>Wolves of Midwinter:</i></div>
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<i> "</i>Do you think Teilhard de Chardin could have been right? That we fear God does not exist because we can't spatially grasp the immensity of the universe; we fear that personality is lost in it when maybe it is a super-personality that holds it all together, a super-conscious God, who planted evolving consciousness in each of us." (<i><a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wolf-Gift-ebook/dp/B0060AY8K2/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2" href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wolf-Gift-ebook/dp/B0060AY8K2/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2" target="_blank">The Wolf Gift</a> </i>274)</blockquote>
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Unfortunately, this post only examined the insights that Reuben makes about his own self, in that we must live peaceably with awareness of the duality that exists within our psyches. If our internal psychological personalities are this complex and difficult to fathom, how are we to fathom the potential that a larger force might exist within the universe, like the notion of a God? This is the question that still frazzles Reuben, even by the end of novel. Using another scene in particular, I will continue my next post, in one week or later, with a discussion of the meaning of "midwinter" in different myths that preceded the publication of this novel, and how this may symbolically provide us with some clues as to how this aforementioned unsolved spiritual question might be explored further in <i><a data-mce-href="http://www.amazon.com/Wolves-Midwinter-Wolf-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B00CGI3DZI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369855535&sr=8-1&keywords=wolves+of+midwinter" href="http://www.amazon.com/Wolves-Midwinter-Wolf-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B00CGI3DZI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369855535&sr=8-1&keywords=wolves+of+midwinter" target="_blank">Wolves of Midwinter</a>.<br /> </i></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">For now, I have Book Expo America to look forward to! </span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-64279176902117833592013-05-19T08:00:00.000-04:002013-05-19T08:00:01.623-04:00Review of Out Of The Underworld: The Life and Death of Mortimer Drake Book 2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i>Be forewarned that this post is only being posted here temporarily. The same post is posted on my newly remodeled Wordpress blog: <a href="http://www.bibliophilesreverie.com/">http://www.bibliophilesreverie.com/</a></i></b></span><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e6CtltKs7ak/UZgrOYbsNJI/AAAAAAAAA6Y/8_XE9sJM9SE/s1600/31b6amnz6rl-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e6CtltKs7ak/UZgrOYbsNJI/AAAAAAAAA6Y/8_XE9sJM9SE/s400/31b6amnz6rl-1.jpg" width="266" /></a><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Underworld-Undeath-Mortimer-Drake-ebook/dp/B005PP617Q/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2" target="_blank">Amazon (Kindle Edition)</a>/ <a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/out-of-the-underworld-greg-wilkey/1105876233?ean=2940013413498" target="_blank">Barnes&Nobles (Nook Edition)</a><br />*Please Note-This copy was recently re-uploaded and re-edited by <a href="http://www.gregwilkey.com/" target="_blank">Greg Wilkey</a>, thus the print copy is out-of-print on Amazon. The ninety-nine cent copy for both the Kindle and Nook are still available.*<br /><br /> Interview with <a href="http://www.gregwilkey.com/" target="_blank">Greg Wilkey</a> (More questions to come next week, when the review for the third Mortimer Drake novel is posted)</i></b></span>1.<i>FF: This is definitely the inevitable sequel question, but how was the writing process different this time with Out of the Underworld? What new challenges sprang up? (I'm sure the writing process never become as seamless as the iconic Hollywood scene, where the writer types a whole draft magically overnight on his classy typewriter.)</i><br />
**<b> Greg: Writing the sequel was very different for me. I think it was because I felt like I was really getting to know my characters. Their actions and reactions were more natural to me. I had a better sense of where I wanted to take the story, but I was also surprised at how much influence the characters had over me. There were times when the direction I had planned suddenly changed because of something I hadn't planned. It was all very exciting. By the time I got to the end of the second book, the outline for the third and fourth books were already forming in my head. Working on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Underworld-Undeath-Mortimer-Drake-ebook/dp/B005PP617Q/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2" target="_blank">Out of the Underworld</a> definitely brought Mortimer's world to life for me. </b><br />
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2.<i>FF:Earning an invitation to Anne Rice's first reappearance at the Lestat ball in New Orleans must have been exciting. How will you be featured at this year's Lestat ball? Will this appearance be your first official book signing?</i><br />
** <b>Greg:The invitation to the Vampire Lestat Ball was a complete shock to me. I have been a fan of Anne Rice's work since I was close to 25 years now. I have always wanted to attend the Ball, but never had the opportunity. When I received the e-mail from Anne asking me if I would like to attend and be featured as an indie author at Undead Con, I couldn't believe it. Of course I accepted immediately! She put me in contact with Sue Quiroz, the amazing woman in charge of the events, and we began to make plans. I have had a few book signings and I have been featured at a few small festivals and book clubs, but this will me first time at an event of this magnitude. I am very excited and quite honored.</b><br />
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3. <i>FF: What movies have you watched recently that have fueled your inspiration for the fourth Mortimer Drake book that I'm sure the readers of my blog will be anxious to hear about?</i><br />
** <b>Greg: Oh wow, I love movies almost as much as books. Mortimer's world is a very active and dark place. I love the movie Priest. I like the twist on the vampires in that story. I recently watched The Avengers again. It sparked some unique ideas for the fourth book. I love that movie. The new Iron Man was great, too. I am forever re-watching old horror movies and anything on the Syfy network. I am a big fan of the cheesy movies. I just can't help myself. My books are heavily influenced by my childhood memories of the great super hero comics of the 80's. I love the action and the adventure. I want fast-paced drama in every chapter.</b><br />
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<i><b>Thanks again Greg Wilkey for taking the time to answer each of these questions, and partake in this interview and hopefully subsequent interviews in the future (for each of the Mortimer Drake books)</b></i><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold;">Synopsis (<i>Taken From Amazon Product Detail Page)</i></span><br />
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<b> "</b> Mortimer Drake and his family continue to work towards a new understanding of how to survive as a supernatural family living in the mortal world. Unexpected events have altered their close-knit family even more as Mortimer’s mother gives birth to a baby girl. Is she human, vampire or something entirely different? A new battle in the war among the Undead begins as the Mother and Queen of the vampire race is discovered."</blockquote>
<i style="font-size: xx-large;">Review:Warning:This interview is heavily saturated with Youtube clips to enliven the review, plus semi-spoilers, but not real spoilers, not enough to ruin your suspense-filled experience of the book.<br /><br /> </i>As someone that has spend multiple semesters wading through books with the single-minded goal of thoroughly analyzing them for meaning, I am dependent on books like <a href="http://www.gregwilkey.com/" target="_blank">Greg Wilkey</a>'s very fun, action-packed vampire series-<i>The Life and UnDeath of Mortimer</i> <i>Drake- </i> to spare my mind the madness that starts to set in, once I forget the fact that there books can be purely entertaining, and not just intellectually stimulating. I don't want to say this series is pure camp, only because of the negative connotations related with that word. Even though the plot does indeed pay homage to the adventure-filled plot lines of older adventure shows, cartoons, and movies of everyone's nerdy childhood, there is still quite a lot of subtle depth in both the characterization and plot within this series. Again, it's not heavy duty drama or Downton-Abbey style soap opera filled with an astonishing number of interlaced plot contrivances (good plot contrivances, of course).<br />
Instead of merely accessing the book for its quality in this review (that's too dull and pedantic for a book series like this), I will reveal three spoilers, all offered up with enigmatic details and suitable allusions to other tv shows and films that reminded me eerily of scenes from the story. Being a complete, die-hard nerd, I cannot help but throw in the pop-culture references in a series of books that really are comic books in novel form.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Semi-Spoiler #1-There is a heart at the center of the plot.</span><br />
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Uncannily, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Underworld-Undeath-Mortimer-Drake-ebook/dp/B005PP617Q/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2" target="_blank"><i>Out of the Underworld</i> </a>bears a lot of resemblance to <i>Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom</i>, except Alexander's sister Lena and Alexander's mother have a formidable charm to them that is incomparable with Indiana Jones' blonde hair sidekick that screams incessantly for help all throughout this rather lackluster sequel. Why do I bring up <i>Temple of Doom? </i>Well,there's an important, treasured item within the story (not divulging the full title because I don't want to disperse the novel's rich air of mystery) that involves a heart-the literal organ in our body. I will offer this comforting spoiler- this heart is strikingly different from the way hearts are barbarically torn from highly memorable, traumatic scene from the weakest of the <i>Indiana Jones</i> film. Thankfully, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Underworld-Undeath-Mortimer-Drake-ebook/dp/B005PP617Q/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2" target="_blank">Out of the Underworld</a> </i> is not the weakest of the Mortimer Drake novels.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Semi-Spoiler #2-The chamber that holds this precious heart is a cave . </b></span><br />
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Relating back to the atmosphere of the story, there is a mysterious cave sequence that conjured certain recognizable images of cave tropes from both recent television series and movies. There are a panoply of these types of cave images, but the role that the cave plays within the series recalled images from <i>Aladdin, </i>which prominently featured the good old-fashion image from classic mythology of a treasured genie lamp or some other esoteric treasure being buried within a cave, and the intrepid hero can discern these various hazards and recognize then how to see through their deceptive qualities. In the end, it will be this hero that will have the capacity to find the mysterious item in the cave, thereby unlocking a treasure that will have serious ramifications on the rest of the plot. Without spoiling anything for new readers of the <i>Mortimer Drake </i> series, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Underworld-Undeath-Mortimer-Drake-ebook/dp/B005PP617Q/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2" target="_blank">Out of the Underworld</a> </i> does feature its own Cave of Wonder sequence, along with an intrepid hero and his respective sidekicks that will indeed find the famed "heart." Since both <i>Indiana Jones Temple of Doom</i> and <i>Aladdin </i> are being compared in this review; I decided to throw in the cave of wonder scene with audio from <i>Indiana Jones</i> that was cleverly woven into the video.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold;">Semi-Spoiler #3- Adding intrigue to the mystery of the cave and the heart, there is mythology that works as the fabric of mystery that fully ties together this entire plot-thread.</span><br />
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<b style="font-size: xx-large;"> </b> In the previous installment of the <i>Mortimer Drake Chronicles</i>, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0058DX8F8/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1&qid=1368930006" target="_blank">Growing up Dead</a>, </i> there was a rich mythological origin story that refashioned the myth of Persephone and Hades as the purported tale of the origin story of vampires. Let's face it! Nearly all adventure stories that contain high stakes and great suspenseful moments need their layer of mythos, which adds to the novel's preternatural atmosphere. This is the well-formulated element that effectively suspends our disbelief, and fully believe temporarily that the world of the novel might very well be a truly tangible realm all of its own.<br />
When reading of the way that Greg Wilkey builds on the same myth and puts it into question by adding parallel explanations of it, I became more and more intrigued by the very notion of there existing multiple forms of the same story. If these myths were passed down generation to generation in the oratorical fashion (spoken aloud in a dramatic tone, normally before an audience of engrossed people), the accounts that proceed from the supposed, unidentifiable original myth cannot be found.<br />
In the nineties, there was an excellent television series, and while the series, appropriately entitled <i>Storyteller, </i> does not explicitly feature the Persephone myth. It does feature a Persephone cameo, during the sequence where Orpheus entreats Hades to revive his deceased lover, Eurydice. Has anyone noticed that Hades has this malevolent ability to just snatch away those we love? Interestingly, the exploration into what or whom represents Hades in the <i>Mortimer Drake </i> series is one that kept interesting me all throughout my reading of the second novel. Anyways, watch this scene play out, and you'll also recognize that I have managed to feature a cave in all three of these clips. Basically, caves are an important symbolic architecture, when you're trying to build up a plot from the cement base of the first novel. Fittingly, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Underworld-Undeath-Mortimer-Drake-ebook/dp/B005PP617Q/ref=pd_sim_kstore_2" target="_blank">Out of the Underworld</a></i> serves as the book that explores some of the ensuing results of the aftermath of the huge plot twists at the end of the last novel. More importantly, it symbolizes Mortimer's deeper exploration into his complex identity as a vampire, a human, and the complex legacy that he puzzles over throughout this novel. With so many well-timed plot twists within this novel, I cannot wait to see where the plot of third book leads.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>With all these awesome hijinks and intriguing mysteries that make this series truly gripping entertainment, a paltry 99 cents for the Kindle edition never looked more enticing.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>If you're interested in starting the series and rediscovering vampires without all the Twilight-esque elements, this is the series for you!!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>Check out the below links for more information about Greg Wilkey's Mortimer Drake series:</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://www.gregwilkey.com/" target="_blank">Greg Wilkey's Author Website</a><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Greg-Wilkey-Author-of-YA-Fiction/351753751608643?fref=ts" target="_blank">Greg Wilkey's Facebook Fan Page</a></b></span><b><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0058DX8F8/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1&qid=1368930006" target="_blank">Amazon Link for the First Book in the Series</a></span></b><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-10714555482990117912013-05-18T12:57:00.001-04:002013-05-18T13:10:48.165-04:00Review of Emilie Autumn's Gargantuan "Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls," Book<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://bibliophilesreverie.com/2013/05/18/1408/" target="_blank">Be aware that this post is now posted on my new blog on Wordpress</a>! This post and other new posts will be here for six months. The link to this blog is <a href="http://bibliophilesreverie.com/" target="_blank">http://bibliophilesreverie.com/</a></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fxFmK8jn8o8/UZeqas81dXI/AAAAAAAAA54/SUtzeQa9aVA/s1600/250px-The_Asylum_for_Wayward_Victorian_Girls.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="400" src="http://bibliophilesreverie.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/7653f-250px-the_asylum_for_wayward_victorian_girls.jpg" width="278" />
</a><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.asylumemporium.com/collections/books/products/ebook-the-asylum-for-wayward-victorian-girls-by-emilie-autumn-2nd-edition">Ebook Edition</a>/ <a href="http://www.asylumemporium.com/collections/books/products/asylum">Print Edition</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large; font-style: italic;">Emilie Autumn's Treatise on the Imperfections of our country's Mental Health System, or our continued ignorance of the ramifications of mental health problems....<a href="http://www.asylumemporium.com/collections/books/products/asylum">Just Read the Book</a></span>
<b><a href="http://www.asylumemporium.com/collections/books/products/asylum">Summary of Book from <i>Asylum Emporium (Store on her Website)</i></a></b>
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"Straddling the bookshelves somewhere between psychological study, historical horror story, and fantasy fiction sits Emilie Autumn's debut autobiographical novel, "The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls."
Written and illustrated by the notoriously manic-depressive rock star, this chilling tale combines humor, tragedy, and suspense to produce a blood-curdling account of the nightmare that is life inside an insane asylum, comparing those from the Victorian era with our modern day version, and proving, through her own personal experiences, that not much has changed from then to now.
Culled directly from EA's real-life diary entries, the story begins with Emilie's suicide attempt and prompt imprisonment inside a psychiatric hospital. Sparing no detail, Emilie shows us exactly what goes on inside this house of horrors, exposing secrets that the general public could never have guessed at. Narrated with the sarcastic and self-deprecating humor present in all of EA's works, much of the subject matter may be considered controversial. Still, as in her song lyrics, Emilie tells the truth at all costs, thrusting the brave reader into a play-by-play narrative of her bi-polar episodes, even providing photos -- blood, cuts, and all.
The tale takes an unexpected turn when, whilst still in the psych ward, Emilie discovers evidence of a parallel dimension -- a world that soon becomes indiscernible from her own. As the days go by, the seemingly disparate worlds of the story's two lead characters (Emilie and Emily, EA's Victorian counterpart) begin to merge, leaving the reader, as well as the book's author, rather confused as to whether the accounts are truly autobiographical or whether EA has managed to seamlessly morph from true-life tale to extremely well-researched historical fiction.
"The Asylum..." is not all gloom and doom however. It is a reality-bending thriller as well as a profoundly empowering tale of suffering, sisterhood, and revenge that culminates in what is perhaps one of the most suspenseful cliff-hangers of all time. The book's colorful cast of characters (diabolical doctors, mental patients, and the talking plague rats and blood-sucking leeches that fans of EA's music are already familiar with) thoroughly entertain, educate, and engross the reader with prime movie material. "The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls," will leave fans shocked and readers everywhere gasping for air.
Each full-color page of this beautifully bound, 266 page hardcover is positively packed with hand written memoirs, fanciful paintings, and sketches of the Asylum's inhabitants. In perhaps the most perverse twist of all, this Rated R publication is cleverly disguised as a high-end children's activity book, complete with interactive elements including notes, craft patterns, and reader quizzes designed both to disturb and delight. This monumental show of literary and artistic talent demands a place on your tea table as well as on your nightstand, although, readers, take care -- you'll never think of your doctor in quite the same way again.
Prepare yourself to enter a world most pray never to visit. But beware: It is much easier to get into the Asylum than it is to get out..."</blockquote>
<i style="font-size: xx-large;"> </i>Reading Emilie Autumn's gargantuan book <i><b><a href="http://www.asylumemporium.com/collections/books/products/ebook-the-asylum-for-wayward-victorian-girls-by-emilie-autumn-2nd-edition">Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls</a></b></i>,priced at sixty dollars at her online store (<a href="http://www.asylumemporium.com/">the aptly named Asylum Emporium</a>), is quite frankly one of the most thrilling, most revealing accounts of the parallel differences of the world of mental illness out there. Working on different levels as pure historical fiction, contemporary about the world of mental health institutions, and also a reflection of our continued perpetuation of dangerous sexist attitudes about women, this book is not merely just drivel, but sophisticated literature, coming from one of my favorite recently-discovered indie techno-goth artists, Emilie Autumn. In the world of music with so many stale pop songs that lack any eclecticism, Emilie Autumn's industrial gothic music shines brilliantly out of the din of uninspired rap and pop music that is so often heard. More importantly, the messages in her music, which revolves around psychological reflections about deep issues such as rape and suicide, have caused Emilie Autumn to be one of the most divisive artists out there. Perhaps, this divisiveness has caused this book, in particular, to be ignored.<br />
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When any story touches such touchy subjects like cutting, suicide, and bipolar disorder, the instant reaction from people is a condescending attitude that this is all just "emo whining" or something so unsophisticated that it can't be worthy of reading with a serious critical lenses. Except, this story is more than a tawdry account of the difficulties of a life lived with a mental illness. Rather, the story is deeply cathartic, plumbing psychological depths that other books rarely venture upon. Structurally, the book is a marvel for any serious psychoanalytic critic.
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From the beginning, the story begins in modern times with a rather doleful, but slightly sarcastic account of Emilie's own admission into a mental institution. For more sensitive or prudish readers, they might never be able to suspend their judgement, when they read that she tried to kill herself, but successfully had an abortion. With such depth and introspection, Emilie reflects on the confusing emotions that she faced, when suffering a terrible mental breakdown and a horrible break-up with her boyfriend. Resigning herself from explicitly offering details of the events that preceded her suicide attempt, we get only scattered details about what drove her to madness. The inexplicable factor of this whole scene that might cause some people to lash out with indignant moral judgement is the grey area that exists in the psyche of those with bipolar disorder, much like Emilie Autumn herself.
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In all her music, there is a ingenious sense of depersonalization, authentically reflecting the deep emotional and intellectual detachment that occurs as a result of having a serious mental disorder like bipolar disorder. In the psyche, there exists two polarized worlds, and the scheme of the novel reflects the deep division that artistically exists within the narrator's psyche As we venture further into the conscious reflection of Emilie's appropriately discursive account of the emotional hardships faced in a mental institution, she begin envisaging a parallel world in nineteenth century England that features the title character named "Emily," who is sent to a musical institution all due to her exceptional talents as a violinist The plot then abruptly segues its way to a disturbing account of emotional and sexual abuse, all too common for women during the nineteenth century England. While Emily manages to escape from the prison of this abusive master, she is then placed in a terrible prison called the asylum. The drama of the "Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls," is populated with many clever, fictitious elements, but the underlying commentary on the mistreatment of women during this time is what is amply reflected throughout this small section and in other sections of this large volume.<br />
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Without spoiling the rest of the book, I will say that things get much more interesting from here on out in terms of the psychological nature of the story. We are never quite sure whether Emilie's perspective from the modern mental institution is real, or the bleak asylum in Victorian England that her parallel self "Emily" inhabits are real. The story masterfully never ascertains for the reader which perspective is completely real. Many literary critics would simply declare the narrator "an unreliable narrator," and completely dismiss this text altogether. There is something so richly fascinating and subversive about this book that it is certain to turn people immediately away in disgust. Some people might even have the gall to read it and ignore the underlying analysis of the comparative look at the treatment at women between the worlds of nineteenth century and twenty-first century. In the one lucid frame of our minds, we should be asking ourselves: How much has really changed for people with mental disorders; thereby, what is the state of our mental health institutions?<br />
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In terms of commentary on women's rights, are things really rapidly progressing as it should in respects to the way we treat women? Within some Christian circles, the treatment of women, who comprise the majority of membership to some of these more fundamentalist branches, still actively seek ways to denigrate women by either not allowing them to be pastors, or still preach from the pulpit that they are intrinsically inferior to men. If some churches have abandoned their sexist overtones, they ostensibly still preach frightfully sexist things by neurotically obsessing over the immorality of male homosexuality (not lesbianism as much..very interesting..). Feminism or Egalitarian concerns in society are not just important to women; it concerns all of us.
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Essentially,it reflects the darker shade of our psyche that has the propensity to not only patronize those we deem as "others," but find ways to propagate the idea that they are intrinsically less intelligent, less beautiful, and less capable of civilized behavior. The way we treat fifty-one percent of the population by declaring that they're servile sandwich makers is blurred with our perception of those with mental disorders, who we still see as being untrustworthy and crazy. Many women, who are viewed as strong, are still cast as being insane. A man that might have a more socially defined "feminine" or "emotionally-sensitive side" might be seen as suffering from not being a full male.These were mental health obsessions for those in the nineteenth century: a marked obsessive fear of men perhaps showcasing some emotional traits that are viewed as more feminine traits in a limited fashion.
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For being so brash, clever, and unapologetic, Emilie Autumn is often called "a misandrist"(a word that curiously does not exist in the dictionary), a drama queen, and some people have even said that her bipolar disorder makes this whole account ( a pastiche of fictional and non-fictitious elements) suspect. Weirdly enough, everything that Emilie writes about in this book is reflected with the mixed emotions, surrounding this book. In the end, this is remarkable art, where the chiefest, most essential thing is not to merely entertain the reader, but to implore the reader to think deeply about issues that pervade our existence everyday. Those who fear books like this really believe it will make their children suicidal or have dark ideas in their mind; wouldn't Hamlet or any Shakespearean tragedy do the same thing with its accounts of psychopaths and lovers bent on suicide stories? I'm not recommending this book for children of course, all due to the mature subject matter, but people often act petulant nonetheless about adult fiction (as though adult readers should be treated as children, like at some fundamentalist schools that ban PG-13 movies for adults that are 18-23 yrs. old).<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Bitstream Charter', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"><br /></span><br />
It's surprising but very commendable that Emilie Autumn sought to publish her controversial magnum opus herself. Are there more people willing to seriously scrutinize and handle this work as a serious book, worthy of a scholarly analysis? Much like the works of Anne Rice, the gothic theme still signals the words "tawdry pulp-fiction, written by a sex-deprived cat ladly," thus it is then forever easy to permanently dismiss this book as something frivolous. This is a book written with expert prose and great narrative structure. It imbues us with the sense of being in a different world, much like Hayao Miyazaki's animated films allows us to escape. But, this darkly humorous account harbors a dark side, and this dark side will make us all reflect on a multitude of issues beyond those described as "feminist concerns;" this is a work that diversely explores the deepest depths of our psyche, and makes us wonder just how truly sane both society and ourselves really are.
If you consider yourself a fan of psychological works, I highly recommend this, even if you are not a fan of her industrial gothic music. This is not yet another self-described emo work. Rather, this is a work that is heavily inspired by the very tragic and dramatic archetypes that Shakespeare once utilized to make the audience members, who watched his plays, seriously reflect on the state of their inner and outer world; their very delicate grasp of what we postmodernists weakly declare "reality."
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Simply put, Emilie Autumn is a widely talented artist that deserves serious attention!
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<b><br /><br />Check out her recent music video for the main single for her newest album:<i>Fight Like a Girl. </i>The music video is directed by the same talented team behind <i>Repo the Genetic Opera </i> and </b><i><b>Devil's Carnival.</b></i>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /><br />Links of Interest:</span><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://emilieautumn.com/">Emilie Autumn's Website</a>
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/emilieautumnofficial?fref=ts">Emilie Autumn's Facebook</a>/ <a href="https://twitter.com/emilieautumn">Twitter</a></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-56970665875735659502013-05-17T13:07:00.003-04:002013-05-17T13:10:41.707-04:00Making the Complete Shift to Wordpress<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://bibliophilesreverie.com/">Click the above picture of migratory birds to be directed to new WordPress blog</a></td></tr>
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<a href="http://bibliophilesreverie.com/" target="_blank">Wordpress page (http://bibliophilesreverie.com)</a> will indeed be interminably slow, and that is because not all my readers are checking every update on this page as frequently as I would. For every subsequent post on here, I will be sure to include a very noticeable link to the same post on my new page. This process will continue for about six months, and after that six months transitory period, I will finally be deleting this blog on Blogger permanently. <a href="http://bibliophilesreverie.com/">The WordPress page</a> will hopefully proper without the awful intrusion of any spam-related activity.<br />
Yesterday, I frantically posted a rather angry tirade, venting my rather negative feelings about Blogger as a whole. I'll still be updating both pages. It will be plenty tiresome to have to keep up with both for now. But, the migration of my readers over to my new blog is naturally going to be a very slow process, and I don't want to needlessly confuse people by ceasing all posts on this page without explicit warnings. <br />
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In the post from yesterday, I made my grievances about Blogger quite clear. I hope that the domain name change does not confuse any publishers, readers, and self-published writers that have been visiting here and sending inquiries over the years. This change will hopefully keep me more alert to some of your very well-written inquiries that I have sometimes neglected, due to college obligations that will no longer exist due to having only one more class left to take for the summer (before I finally graduate).<br />
Thanks again for your patience and understanding during this move,<br />
Fantastyfreak aka. Justin/ (Writer and Owner of <a href="http://bibliophilesreverie.com/">A Bibliophile's Reverie</a>)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-55610294614885291032013-05-16T17:54:00.003-04:002013-05-16T20:14:52.616-04:00Escape from Blogger Hell:Blog Moving to Wordpress or Elsewhere<b><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"> Update: The blog has officially moved to Wordpress! While doing so, I decided to grant my blog its own privileged hyperlink that is completely void of the names Wordpress or Blogger. Wordpress has been fairly easy to acclimate myself to; the interface of the site itself is far more user-friendly/blogger-friendly from this dusty site called Blogger. I really believe that Blogger needs some much-needed changes.<br /><a href="http://bibliophilesreverie.com/" target="_blank">New Link to Wordpress Blog</a>: <a href="http://bibliophilesreverie.com/" target="_blank">http://bibliphilesreverie.com/</a><a href="http://bibliophilesreverie.com/" target="_blank"><br /></a><br /> </span><span style="color: red;">Thanks for reading this blog for as long as you have! Please be patient during the transitional period that will take place, as I finalize all layout changes on Wordpress. Once all is set and done(even though it never is), everyone will be happy that the Blogger page is forever gone. For now, it will remain up for another year, so that all future visitors to this blog will be reminded of the location of the new page.</span><span style="color: red;"> </span></span></b><br />
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For all my blog readers and publisher contacts, my blog will be immediately moved to Wordpress with a few minimal changes to the blog. If you are confused by this seemingly impulsive action, I have taken it upon myself to move my blog due to the influx of spammers that have seized my blog's link and have maliciously utilized the link for their own advertising gains. Essentially, porn sites that probably fund the barbaric practice of sex-trafficking are engaging in the most perfidious of activities; they are using my link and blog's reputation to use my link as a way for their porn-site to appear through Google searches for any blog posts from this blog. Every-time a user tries searching for "A Bibliophile's Reverie," they will inadvertently be getting results for this nasty porn empire of a site that has taken other blogger's links without any consent, and used our links to have more visibility for their garbage heap of a site.<br />
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I'm deeply disgusted and very frustrated right now with blogger's lack of support for smaller blogs, who have had this horrible, invasive insurrection being launched against their blog. I use the word "insurrection" to garner your serious attention to just how awful this practice is. Sometimes, I think the squalor of the internet, aka. the spammers, are clearly launching a full-scale war against bloggers for the purveyance of porn-related spam. I don't want my blog's name associated with these trashy sites, and I am deeply disappointed with the lack of security tools that Blogger offers to their users that nearly all computer users have in the form of Norton Security on their computers. You'd think by now that Blogger might grow up for once, and adapt themselves to the new state of the internet that includes spammers, viruses, and spywares. This kind of malicious activity on the internet is not necessarily new, but Blogger's unwillingness to deal with it accordingly has sunk many good bloggers into a state of obsolescence. Nearly all the clicks on my blog for the past year have been that of Spammers.<br />
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It is with great anger that I leave this horrid blogging site. I will leave my blog up on Blogger for three more weeks, giving enough time for people to find my new link possibly on either Wordpress or elsewhere. The bottom line is that there is absolutely no way it will stay on this cesspool of a blog site. Blogger needs to wake up, and offer more security options to subvert the seedier elements of the internet. As a user of Blogger for six or seven years, I declare Blogger as one of the worst sites to use for running a blog!<br />
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That is why I haven't posted for a week; I've been toying with the idea of abandoning Blogger for weeks. But, I don't feel that leaving Blogger behind without audaciously voicing my negative sentiments about this awful site will do much good. I plan on writing an email directly to blogger, and voicing the opinions held by other small blogs that I have seen become overrun with spammers. I feel like my small, quaint bookstore of a blog has become invaded by feral zombies, and my overseers gave me no tools to fend off these grisly beasts. <br />
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Well, Blogger thinks that they don't need to provide any security tools for your blogs: "Here is a small comment area option that will allow you to control comments. Of course, you'll have tons of spammers linking through your blog and be done underground work to slowly tear your blog to pieces. There's nothing we can do; we're controlled by Google. This is your problem." I'll see if Wordpress is really any better. At this point, I think these blog sites are all deluded into thinking that spammers are mostly harmless nonentities.<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-28657548033169607992013-05-10T05:00:00.000-04:002013-05-10T13:25:48.926-04:00What Makes You Die review<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.apexbookcompany.com/collections/all-books/products/what-makes-you-die/" target="_blank">Click picture above for more information about the book</a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large; font-weight: bold;">Book Synopsis:(</span><a href="http://www.apexbookcompany.com/collections/all-books/products/what-makes-you-die/" style="font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Synopsis, Courtesy of Apex Publications</a><span style="font-size: large; font-weight: bold;">)</span><br />
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<i>"To see more is to find oblivion... Screenwriter Tommy Pic fell hard from Hollywood success and landed in a psychiatric ward, blacked out from booze and unmedicated manic depression. This is not the first time he's come to in restraints, surrounded by friends and family who aren't there.</i><i><br /></i><i>This time, though, he also awakes to a message from his agent. The first act of his latest screenplay is their ticket back to the red carpets. If only Tommy could remember writing it. Trying to recapture the hallucinations that crafted his masterpiece, he chases his kidnapped childhood love, a witch from the magic shop downstairs, and the Komodo dragon he tried to cut out of his gut one Christmas Eve. The path to professional redemption may be more dangerous than the fall.</i><i><br /></i><i>...This is what makes you die."</i></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Review:</span><br />
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Echoing the sentiments of <a href="http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/03/review-what-makes-you-die-tom-piccirilli" target="_blank">another reviewer, from the TOR fantasy blog,</a> <a href="http://thecoldspot.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Tom Picirilli'</a>s fragmented, unorthodox novel <i>What Makes You Die</i> really threw me for a loop. I was not expecting such depth, and such a myriad number of great passages that exemplified Tom's talent as a writer throughout this rather terse, but highly enjoyable work (the book is approximately 150 pages). If you read the blurb above for the book, you are probably a bit perplexed and even mildly disturbed. On a cautious note, some of the readers of my blog will probably not like this book; they may find some of the more graphic or explicit passages that are very adult in nature to be vulgar and puerile. Personally, I think they did nothing but excellently augment the realistic, yet darkly humorous drama that is maintained throughout the book.<br />
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For those like myself who are willing to bravely read something that is part-psychological thriller and part-eccentric memoir , you will find plenty of things to love about this book. First of all, the plot revolves around a failed Hollywood script writer, whose talent ranges mostly around writing scripts for low-budget films. Basically, the book methodically acts as Tommy's weird psychoanalytic session, pertaining to some of the stranger occurrences of his life. The first-person perspective of this manic depressive scriptwriter, Tommy, is appropriately fragmented, yet there is a rich coherence to each of the memories that Tommy recollects upon during much of the novel. In a weird existential twist of events, we are thrust into the questioning stance ourselves about whether or not we have any ounce of sympathy for Tommy's turbulent life; can we entirely fault him for the ruination of his life?<br />
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Throughout much of the novel, <a href="http://thecoldspot.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Tom Picirilli</a> leads the reader through his many sordid affairs towards some of the more lachrymose moments of his life. As though written as a stream of conscience, the reader is forced to question the morality of the character's actions and decide whether or not Tommy ever feels complete remorse for his actions. Does his metal illness make asking any question about ethical behavior and responsibility for his immoral actions? Can we lay the blame on the lascivious lifestyle that is inherent to the seedy underworld of Hollywood that takes place far away from the limelight of Hollywood glamour or the fleeting flashes of cameras from the voyeuristic members of the paparazzi?<br />
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From the chaotic ruminations of one character's mind, the reader is thrown into a cerebral whirlwind of deep psychological questions that Tom, as with any truly skilled artist, is unafraid to penetrate without fear of upsetting more prudish readers.Does this character's perspective cleverly seek to hoodwink us Iago-style into believing that is inculpable for the supposed crimes that he committed? Could this whole account be merely mendacious? Does our preconceived notions or stigmatized preconceptions of those with bipolar prevent from truly grasping the nuances of Tommy's character? The fact that this book stirs up so many questions about the reliability of Tommy's narration shows Tom P.'s skills as a writer.<br />
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Using just the precise measure of levity, and tense, dramatic moments, Tom succeeds with writing a fascinating study of the human psyche. Being an established author and having won the Bram Stoker prize for horror fiction, it is no surprise then that this book is written very well,even if some of the more graphic sequences left my mind feeling besmirched at times with tolerable unease.. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but some of the scenes were just a bit of an uncomfortable read, not enough to detract from the quality and enjoyment of the book. On that note, this level of realism kept the sex scenes in this book from being lurid or artificial. This is a earnest work of fiction;therefore, the author has no time to prettify the true complexity of sexual or romantic relationships, as they are in real life. (Good art emulates one's life)<br />
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Again, this book comes highly recommended from me, and I implore anyone with an open mind to read something that is a bit unconventional and disturbingly revealing. Also, it has intervals of true, knee-splitting humor in the midst of gripping psychological intrigue and hardship. By the end of it, I really quite loved it, and will be looking for more <a href="http://thecoldspot.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Tom Picirilli</a> books to read. If you're a Chuck Palaniuk fan in particular (like myself), this book is definitely one that you should check out! It has just the right amount of "American Psycho" esque intrigue with a dash of Chuck Palaniuk's signature dark, twisted humor to boot. Tom does it in his own way excellently, and leaves fans of stories with a darkly humorous tone and slightly melodramatic flair with a need to read more.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-60213365500633994152013-05-09T05:00:00.000-04:002013-05-09T05:00:10.983-04:00Gothic Emporium Thursday:The Resurrectionist<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<i><b><span style="color: #660000; font-size: large;">Every Thursday on A Bibliophile's Reverie, Indulge in all things preternatural and Gothic.<br />Features Include Anything about the Latest in Gothic Literature</span></b></i></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-size: x-large;"><strike>THE GOTHIC EMPORIUM THURSDAYS</strike></span><br />
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>"I am a Scavenger<br />A Resurrectionist<br />Yes, I enjoy my work<br />I'm a perfectionist<br />Supply and demand...<br />Supply and demand..."<br />-Emilie Autumn-Scavenger-</i></span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="color: red;"> </span> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />Song of the Week, From Gothic Industrial Artist: </span><a href="http://emilieautumn.com/" style="font-size: xx-large;" target="_blank">Emilie Autumn </a><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large; font-style: italic;"> </span><i>Given the fact that this week's highlighted book features such a morbid theme centering around the perverse desire of one doctor's plan for resurrecting bodies for the sake of scientific discovery, Emilie Autumn's Scavenger from her musical-themed album "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fight-Like-a-Girl-Explicit/dp/B00994HYFW/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1368049537&sr=1-1&keywords=Fight+Like+a+Girl" target="_blank">Fight Like a Girl</a>" thematically fits with Quirk Book's exciting new title "<a href="http://quirkbooks.com/TheResurrectionist" target="_blank">The Resurrectionist</a>." Interestingly, this song was inspired in part by another Goth favorite from the eighties: Jim Henson's "Dark Crystal." While you are reading the below information about <a href="http://quirkbooks.com/TheResurrectionist" target="_blank">The Resurrectionist</a>, be sure to listen to the song, as it will certainly set the right mood in your mind before you ever read the book later this month. (That is if you decide that you are intrepid enough to read about the abnormalities of this particular scientist's experiments This goes beyond the pale of Dr. Frankenstein's sole unnatural creation.)</i><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i> </i> Gothic Book for May (Review Forthcoming):<br /><i><a href="http://quirkbooks.com/TheResurrectionist" target="_blank">The Resurrectionis</a>t</i> by <a href="http://www.ebhudspeth.com/" target="_blank">E.B. Hudspeth</a>; From <a href="http://www.quirkbooks.com/" target="_blank">Quirk Books</a></span><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3KqF9cQjQY0/UYrDKzXw_yI/AAAAAAAAA34/3V168kzF700/s1600/Resurrectionist_final_72_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3KqF9cQjQY0/UYrDKzXw_yI/AAAAAAAAA34/3V168kzF700/s400/Resurrectionist_final_72_0.jpg" width="287" /></a><br />
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<b>Synopsis</b> (<a href="http://quirkbooks.com/TheResurrectionist" target="_blank">Courtesy of Product Details Page on Quirk Book's Website</a>)<br />
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"Philadelphia. The late 1870s. A city of cobblestone sidewalks and horse-drawn carriages. Home to the famous anatomist and surgeon Dr. Spencer Black. The son of a “resurrectionist” (aka grave robber), Dr. Black studied at Philadelphia’s esteemed Academy of Medicine, where he develops an unconventional hypothesis: What if the world’s most celebrated mythological beasts—mermaids, minotaurs, and satyrs— were in fact the evolutionary ancestors of humankind?<br />
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<a href="http://quirkbooks.com/TheResurrectionist" target="_blank">The Resurrectionis</a>t offers two extraordinary books in one. The first is a fictional biography of Dr. Spencer Black, from his humble beginnings to the mysterious disappearance at the end of his life. The second book is Black’s magnum opus: The Codex Extinct Animalia, a Gray’s Anatomy for mythological beasts—dragons, centaurs, Pegasus, Cerberus—all rendered in meticulously detailed black-and-white anatomical illustrations. You need only look at these images to realize they are the work of a madman. The Resurrectionist tells his story."</blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Conversation With the Author: E.B. Husdpeth</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><b>Book Trailer </b></i></span><br />
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<b><i><span style="font-size: large;">Where the links and synopsis too horrifying and unsettling for your modest mind? Is the premise far too cadaverous to behold?<br /><br />Gothic Emporium will most assuredly keep you abreast of anything that pertains to <a href="http://www.quirkbooks.com/" target="_blank">Quirk Book</a>'s <a href="http://quirkbooks.com/TheResurrectionist" target="_blank">The Resurrectionist </a>before it's released into the world, come May 21, 2013.<br /><br />Check out the links below for more information about this exciting new release!<br /><a href="http://www.ebhudspeth.com/" target="_blank">Author's Website</a><br /><a href="http://quirkbooks.com/TheResurrectionist" target="_blank">Product Details Page (Includes links for Kindle,Nook, and Print Editions)</a><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Resurrectionist/535335316483462?fref=ts" target="_blank">Facebook Page for The Resurrectionist</a><br /><br /><br /></span></i></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-65747721836892727512013-05-08T15:31:00.002-04:002013-05-08T15:43:59.839-04:00Anne Rice's Wolves of Midwinter Cover Reveal/Official Book Release News<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151663250375452&set=a.183162360451.153605.66435815451&type=1"><img border="0" height="268" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1OEwrkIXXgI/UYqiyGxkdHI/AAAAAAAAA20/WfdyHUZn5II/s400/901087_10151663250375452_219862856_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151663250375452&set=a.183162360451.153605.66435815451&type=1">Click the above picture for the official news, courtesy of Anne Rice's Facebook page</a></td></tr>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Vyde8lbjgoo/UYqpNVo9rrI/AAAAAAAAA3Q/N7vFc1esDjo/s1600/947339_10151663250995452_77115570_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="147" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Vyde8lbjgoo/UYqpNVo9rrI/AAAAAAAAA3Q/N7vFc1esDjo/s400/947339_10151663250995452_77115570_n.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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News of the sequel to one of my favorite Anne Rice books,other than <i>Interview with the Vampire,</i> has been made officiated. For fans that are always keeping abreast of the latest news on her Facebook page, many of you are already aware of the news. For those of whom on here, who are solely followers of this blog, this will come as surprising news for all of you. If you haven't read the first novel, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wolf-Gift-Anne-Rice/dp/0307742105/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1368041583&sr=8-2&keywords=The+Wolves+of+Midwinter">The Wolf Gift</a>,</i> it comes highly recommended from me. I recently included it as part of a psychoanalytic paper on the psychological progression of Anne Rice's hero/monster characters. Her books are imbued with so much psychological depth and intrigue. <br />
They are truly at the pinnacle of what supernatural fiction can succeed with in terms of relevant discussion about existentialism, philosophy, metaphysics, and the evolution of art. <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wolf-Gift-Anne-Rice/dp/0307742105/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1368041583&sr=8-2&keywords=The+Wolves+of+Midwinter">The Wolf Gift</a> </i> is certainly no exception in the way it psychoanalyze the psyche of the vigilante hero, and how Reuben Golding really represents the first prime example of the stabilizing "ego" figure of so many of Anne Rice's multitude of different characters that represent distinctive parts of Freud's model of the unconscious mind. These books are thankfully ambiguous enough in these details to allow for any analysis; they are truly that well-written, in my modest opinion. Recently, I wrote one of the most enjoyable academic papers of my life, and it was all due to the intellectual discourse that underpins the seemingly frivolous action of these books. I cannot wait to see what depths of either the human psyche and spirituality that Anne Rice plans to explore within <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wolves-Midwinter-Wolf-Chronicles/dp/0385349963/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368041583&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Wolves+of+Midwinter">The Wolves of Midwinter</a>. </i> As with any of you, I just can't bear the long slog that this wait presents for many of us. Therefore, the below plans for my upcoming blog theme should assuage our impatience<br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">News about Pertinent Blog Theme for the Summer<br />"Werewolf Renaissance"</span><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GWAdeTVbZrY/UYqoBl5qYqI/AAAAAAAAA3E/54AqNb-lwjw/s1600/renaissance-the-school-of-athens-classic-art-paitings-raphael-painter-rafael-philosophers-hd-wallpapers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GWAdeTVbZrY/UYqoBl5qYqI/AAAAAAAAA3E/54AqNb-lwjw/s400/renaissance-the-school-of-athens-classic-art-paitings-raphael-painter-rafael-philosophers-hd-wallpapers.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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I'm so excited about <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wolves-Midwinter-Wolf-Chronicles/dp/0385349963/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368041583&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Wolves+of+Midwinter">The Wolves of Midwinter</a> </i> to the point, where I feel the need to establish a blog theme that will act as an ongoing countdown for the release of <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wolves-Midwinter-Wolf-Chronicles/dp/0385349963/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368041583&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Wolves+of+Midwinter">The Wolves of Midwinter</a></i>. Starting today and ending sometime in October around the release of <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wolves-Midwinter-Wolf-Chronicles/dp/0385349963/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368041583&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Wolves+of+Midwinter">The Wolves of Midwinter</a>,</i> I will be offering relevant posts that will involve a re-read of <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wolf-Gift-Anne-Rice/dp/0307742105/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1368041583&sr=8-2&keywords=The+Wolves+of+Midwinter">The Wolf Gif</a>t</i>, along with deeper explorations into what makes that novel such an intellectual feast for our minds. Discussions will include the role of nature within the novel, more discussion about the various references made to other books within the Gothic fiction cannon that are alluded to throughout the book, and how <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wolf-Gift-Anne-Rice/dp/0307742105/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1368041583&sr=8-2&keywords=The+Wolves+of+Midwinter">The Wolf Gift</a> </i> reads analogously as a metaphorical portrayal of some of Teilhard De Chardin's many unconventional ideas about spirituality. Anne Rice does not just simply make artful references to it in her book. Many of the events within the novel, particularly Reuben Golding's development from a idealistic journalist to a complex, hybridized man-wolf, reflects Teilhard De Chardin's interesting reflections on the ongoing intellectual progression of humanity. In some ways, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wolf-Gift-Anne-Rice/dp/0307742105/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1368041583&sr=8-2&keywords=The+Wolves+of+Midwinter">The Wolf Gift</a> </i> goes more into the depths of Lestat's image of "The Savage Garden." More will be discussed in the coming months, of course, about this and various other issues for the novel.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-80718026962372034612013-05-08T05:00:00.000-04:002013-05-08T12:51:24.116-04:00Queen and Commander Blog Tour<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2Wf0Cmu382o/UYnnv6ssLZI/AAAAAAAAA2k/B9c1Vy97v2o/s1600/YANR_BlogTour_QC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2Wf0Cmu382o/UYnnv6ssLZI/AAAAAAAAA2k/B9c1Vy97v2o/s400/YANR_BlogTour_QC.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<strong><br /><br />Title:</strong> Queen and Commander
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<strong>Author:</strong> Janine Southard
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<strong><br />Summary:</strong>
On a world where high school test scores determine your future career, six students rebel.
A pair of star-crossed lovers plot to stay together, rather than be separated by the system's college plans. A former off-worlder instigates: there's a ship in orbit, he says. We could take it and run away.
But to take the ship, the three conspirators need more friends. Enter Rhiannon, the girl who set herself up for the ultimate success on this planet. She made sure her test would give the desired result: <i>Queen. </i>But her best friend begs her to take control of this plan to run away. So she drafts a would-be doctor who believes in following his Queen with all his heart. She finds a genius who can't seem to make the system work for him.
And then she gets them qualified for the ship in orbit. The ship to freedom. Now what will they do with it? And was freedom what they really wanted?
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<b>Winning a ship means surpassing the competition.</b>
The three competing Queens swiveled their heads, hare-quick, to home in on new prey. They’d ignored her until she’d made that noise. Now they had the scent of fresh insecurity and would peck away until they laid her meager confidence bare for the massacre.
“What a sweet little girl,” gushed the one in red. “Where’s your mother?”
<i>Dead, actually. </i>Well, if this Queen planned to come after her for her age, she’d show her appreciation in the way only a younger person could. She raised her eyebrows and furrowed them down the middle, then pulled her head back onto her neck as though repulsed or doing a proper sit-up.
From the way the older woman cringed back, Rhiannon knew she’d succeeded in making the derisive <i>Did you seriously just say that to me? </i>face that she’d seen on her more critical peers.
<i>A teenager can out bitch-face you any time, Queenie. Don’t try that tactic with me.</i>
The eldest cocked her head, more curious than cruel. Perhaps she found it as difficult to gauge Rhiannon’s age as the other way around. As far as Rhiannon knew, this woman had been one of Dyfed’s first Queens, self-made and just as untrained as herself. “Why do you think you deserve <i>Ceridwen’s Cauldron</i>?”</blockquote>
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About the Author</h2>
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Janine A. Southard writes speculative fiction and videogame dialogue from her home in Seattle, WA. She sings with a Celtic band and is working on the next book in the Hive Queen universe. She’s also been known to read aloud to her cat.
The cat appreciates all of these things. Maybe<br />
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<a href="http://www.janinesouthard.com/">Website<br /> </a><a href="http://www.twitter.com/jani_s">Twitter </a><br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/jani_s">Goodreads </a><br />
Amazon -
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Commander-Hive-Saga-ebook/dp/B00BRM2XVE/">US</a>
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Queen-Commander-Hive-Novel-ebook/dp/B00BRM30SE/">UK</a>
B&<br />
N Nook-<a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/queen-commander-janine-a-southard/1114792229?ean=2940016266329">US</a><a href="http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/queen-commander-janine-a-southard/1114792229?ean=2940016266312">UK</a>
iTunes-
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/queen-commander/id607800290?ls=1">US</a>
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/queen-commander/id607797327?mt=11">UK</a>
Kobo-
<a href="http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Queen-Commander-US-edition/book-1hsjh2qYL0SKk_A37QfeVA/page1.html?s=XnharmYZMUiFQ4pLnXdZ6A&r=1">US</a>
<a href="http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Queen-Commander/book-EiW2dLpK7UuR4BvrX13ybA/page1.html?s=HMRxp6_AT0muFmkYBTLOZA&r=1">UK</a><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Review:<br /> </span>I'm still pretty exhausted, after just finishing my last semester a few days ago. Nonetheless, I will offer what paltry words that I can manage to type about this book. I really wish I had more energy to write about this novel. Perhaps, I'll write something expanded, when I get the time.<br />
With the hype not set to die anytime soon for <i>Hunger Games,</i> there is a mad scramble for desperate readers to find something equal to the engrossing quality of that stellar series. No, <i>Queen and Commander</i> does not come exactly close to that high standard, but there is still plenty to be entertained by. The novel really is something fun, and points of the story has some very amusing, eccentric developments. Having finally gotten off the tiring slog of running on the analytic-treadmill for English majors, this fun novel with great banter, well-constructed characters, and an inventive story-line was the perfect antidote for English major burn-out. It's really just one of those handy YA novels that is neither too frivolous or too complex, but it has the right dosage of action and adventure to give anyone with a crazy, frenetic schedule a book that reminds them books have therapeutic benefits.<br />
With that said, it was probably unfair to make that latter comparison to the <i>Hunger Games. </i> <i>Queen and Commander</i> has a plot that is differentiated enough to make it completely different in tone and style from that story. I was only using that very well-known book as a way to recommend this book to anyone, who feels that they haven't found anything worthwhile or entertaining to read in the YA section after reading <i>Hunger Games. </i>So, grab a cup of coffee (wine/beer for those like myself, who are over 21), and start giving your brain the break it deserves. (Okay, I'm speaking mostly for myself here).<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-19076215864567971482013-04-23T19:56:00.002-04:002013-04-23T23:38:19.377-04:00"Die Like A Girl":A Sardonic ,Inverse Version of "Fight Like a Girl"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<i>Inspired by both Emilie Autumn's "Fight Like a Girl," and her commentary on the brutish sexism of Pre-Raphealite paintings. As a form of pure hypocrisy I happen to have the painting of the "Lady of Shalott," serving as my undignified computer wallpaper. Given the below criticism, should I hide my head in shame? </i><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Die Like a Girl </span><br />
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<br />
Come one, Come all<br />
To the greatest theatrical show-<br />
Invented by the demented minds of a true Opheliac<br />
Tinkered by misery<br />
Powered by Sadism and self-destruction<br />
Appropriating the themes of Woebegone Mistresses<br />
<br />
Plummeting to the depths<br />
Or should I say-their deaths? <br />
In appropriately vibrant-colored Pre-Raphealite paintings<br />
Filled with Verdant Leaves and variegated flowers<br />
Suffused with the brimming life<br />
Of traditional pastoral poems<br />
<br />
As each of these victorian girls pant<br />
Their dying breaths<br />
-<b>ACCEPT NO IMITATIONS</b>-<br />
Die the royal, honorable way<br />
Of a Wayward Victiorian Girl<br />
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<br />
We have inimitable imitations of the Lady of Shalott<br />
Sinking herself in a boat with her artistic work<br />
Wrapped about her wan body-her majestic cloak<br />
Meticulously worked by her pallid, lifeless hands<br />
She envisioned knights, courtiers,<br /> Kings, queens, cherubic-faced children<br />
Graciously attending her funeral proceedings<br />
This was her moribund stunt-<br />
<b>DEATH OF ANONYMITY</b>-<br /> The Demise of an unnamed female artist<br />
<br />
<br />
Unparalleled by other artistic equals<br />
It is the shrewd mind of the gentry folk that conceived her pathetic<br />
Death as beautiful and aesthetically-pleasing<br />
Her befallen fate graces the walls of pretentious English professors offices<br />
Within and Without the world of academia<br />
<br />
To die like her is to truly hate your female persona<br />
And prize the male appreciation of your anonymous work<br />
Above all else<br />
Mask your art with the persona of a dainty "George Elliot"<br />
Or an unassuming Curtier Bell<br />
Never boast your real artistic, audacious alias of<br />
Such strong, sturdy women like Mary Shelley<br />
Who would read the "Lady of Shalott" in a playful, nondefeating tone-<br />
One used by a fine woman by the name of Anne Shirley<br />
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Do you feel spurned by men?<br />
Come watch and gaze upon Ophelia<br />
In this scene, she recites poetry<br />
Using a semidetached tone to woo Hamlet one last time<br />
<b>WEAKNESS</b>-A faint woman on the brink of slipping<br />
An empty vessel that falls into strong currents of water<br />
If unable to appease the interests of other men<br />
<br />
Victorian men sigh and swoon<br />
Conjuring up erotic portraits of such a fine damsel<br />
Tragically falling to her death<br />
The First Suicidal Girl<br />
Spurned, Misunderstood repeatedly by<br />
The historical romanticism surrounding<br />
A grisly, visceral scene of<br />
Self-destruction<br />
Yet it's so artful, so genuinely Shakespearean<br />
Let us appraise a woman's misery with<br />
Unconcerned eyes of artistic awe<br />
<br />
I say- Never shall any of these damsels<br />
View any tangible life beyond their<br />
Tragic Objective of death<br />
Look upon the Lady Macbeth, Ophelia, Juliet, and the Lady of Shalott<br />
With pure,unadulterated shame<br />
If all we see is poetry, we have never learned<br />
About what it really means to <b>"fight like a girl"</b><br />
Which we have misconstrued to be<br />
<b>"Die Like a Girl"</b><br />
The asylum's legendary spectacle<br />
Of doom and gloom ad infinitum<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-53891607595284517142013-04-23T19:18:00.001-04:002013-04-23T19:22:54.943-04:00What will I forget?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/xbobWzzXDys?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-49d4d43f-392f-6956-fb13-085bbb54440b" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What will I forget? (The Inverse, Poetic Version of Emilie Autumn’s “What Will Remember?)<br class="kix-line-break" />
<br class="kix-line-break" /> Having never woken up at 4pm again,,,
I sleep into perpetuity<br class="kix-line-break" /> My dreams write this poem<br class="kix-line-break" /> Forgotten, detached Lullabies<br class="kix-line-break" />Smeared like blood against the walls of my dying dreams<br class="kix-line-break" /> I’m still thinking, I’m still dreaming<br class="kix-line-break" /> Am I still alive?<br class="kix-line-break" /> <br class="kix-line-break" /> There’s the vanishing </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">bleep</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of life-support<br class="kix-line-break" /> Trying to support something dying is truly <br class="kix-line-break" /> A complete waste of an endeavor<br class="kix-line-break" /> It reverberates through my mind-<br class="kix-line-break" /> The beautiful tinkling of a phantom noise<br class="kix-line-break" /> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Beep, Beep, Beep-<br class="kix-line-break" /> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My disappearing act is summed up in one<br class="kix-line-break" /> Clangorous , monosyllabic<br class="kix-line-break" /> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP<br class="kix-line-break" /><br class="kix-line-break" /> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m still here though<br class="kix-line-break" /> Hearing the beep nevermore<br class="kix-line-break" /> No everlasting beep<br class="kix-line-break" /> To Furnish the silence of the dead<br class="kix-line-break" /> What will I remember? <br class="kix-line-break" /> What have I forgotten?<br class="kix-line-break" /> <br class="kix-line-break" /> As the dream of my dying thoughts vanish<br class="kix-line-break" /> There’s no more................<br class="kix-line-break" /> Not even a prayer...........
No AMEN to finalize this ineloquent pause<br class="kix-line-break" />Before the great God of the medical machine
Issues one last prayerful
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP</span></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33561481.post-28791889819593146182013-04-14T05:00:00.000-04:002013-04-14T05:00:08.476-04:00A Ripple in Time Promo Blitz<br />
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<a href="http://yanovelreaderblogtours.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/arit-cover-final.jpg"><img alt="ARIT COVER FINAL" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-299" height="400" src="http://yanovelreaderblogtours.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/arit-cover-final.jpg" width="300" /></a><br /> <br /><b>Title</b>: A Ripple In Time
<br /> <b>Author:</b> Julia Huges
<br /> <b>Book Description</b>:
One hundred years after she sunk, the <i>Titanic</i> has a new love story.
Wren awakes in a present day in which World War 1 never ended, and the alternative him died as a child. Somehow, his nightmares entered the consciousness of Carina, a girl on board the Titanic. Using Wren's knowledge, she has been able to avert the tragedy, so creating a ripple in time. With the help of Carina's descendant, Carrie, Wren must find a way to go back and restore the time line. If he does, the lives of those aboard the vessel will be lost, and the love of his life will never be born.
Will he be able to save the present, or is history as we know it, doomed?
<br /><b> A Ripple in Time by <a href="http://www.juliahughes.co.uk/">Julia Hughes</a> FREE to download from April 14 – April 18:
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ripple-Time-Titanic-adventures-ebook/dp/B005CF7PJW/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1365160505&sr=1-1&keywords=A+ripple+in+time">Amazon.com</a> or <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ripple-Time-Titanic-adventures-ebook/dp/B005CF7PJW/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1365160505&sr=1-1&keywords=A+ripple+in+time">Amazon.co.uk</a>.
</b><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><br /><br />About The Author<br /><br /><br /></strong></div>
<a href="http://www.yanovelreader.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/76b87d62be030ad8976f30.L._V394752341_SX200_.jpg"><img alt="76b87d62be030ad8976f30.L._V394752341_SX200_" class="aligncenter" height="217" src="http://www.yanovelreader.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/76b87d62be030ad8976f30.L._V394752341_SX200_.jpg" width="200" /></a>
<br /><br /><br /> The London born author of the Celtic Cousins’ Adventures: A Raucous Time; A Ripple in Time; and An Explosive Time. The Bridle Path, and her latest title is a young adult/crossover action adventure: The Griffin Cryer.
“I’m an eldest child and walking my younger brother and sister to school and back, I’d tell them stories – a captive audience! On leaving college, I worked at the BBC, helping write stories for their “Schools’ Programmes”. That was back in the day, before satellite telly made it over to the UK and ‘Auntie Beeb’ ruled the air waves! I gave it all up for the good life, and moved down to Cornwall, one of the most beautiful counties in England, and often known as ‘God’s own country.’ I think the greatest compliment I received was ‘Julia’s more Cornish than the Cornish.’ I picked daffodils in winter and made pasties for the holidaymakers in the summer. But all good things come to an end: I upped sticks to be closer to my family, and landed in a little village just outside London, and have been here ever since, scribbling away at my stories. ”
I don’t specifically write in any one genre, an idea will flitter into my mind, and the story develops. My first three titles, “A Raucous Time”, “A Ripple in Time” and “An Explosive Time” are action adventures, while “The Bridle Path” is romance. I think I’d overdosed on the testosterone flying around in the previous three books and wanted something a little more feminine and romantic.
My latest title “The Griffin Cryer” is an adventure/fantasy. What makes this genre special is the opportunity to really allow imagination to take flight, and even create whole new worlds for readers to explore.
<br /><strong><br /><br />Author Links</strong>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ripple-Time-Titanic-adventures-ebook/dp/B005CF7PJW/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1365887483&sr=8-1&keywords=a+ripple+in+time">Purchase on Amazon</a>
<a href="http://www.juliahughes.co.uk/">Blog</a>
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ARippleinTime">Facebook</a>
<a href="https://twitter.com/tinksaid">Twitter</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1