New Year: Time for a Recap.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
New Year brings new luck and with it new beginnings. “Temple Library Reviews” has been around for almost around a whole year. It was a shaky year for several reasons. Life doesn’t always allow you to work up on a steady schedule and follow it throughout and 2008 has been a rough year on a personal level. But overall most of the troubles are now dealt with.

Apart from these issues it was hard to establish connections with publishing houses, when you are a non-native speaker and are located as far away as possible from America. Despite all I couldn’t be more satisfied with what I have achieved, the titles I have had the pleasure of reading and the authors that I managed to interview and communicate with.

Also I never had any initial design, regarding the blog. I just wanted to review books and “Temple Library Reviews” came into being. Later on I caught on the idea that I needed a trademark to set me apart from all the rest, a PR image so to say. Yet all year long I couldn’t set my mind on what I wanted to do. I am all over the place, the kid in a candy store that wants it all and doesn’t appreciate any restrictions. Too many genres and mediums peak my interest to restrain myself into only one. In the end I decided that I like being everywhere, wherever that takes me.

As cheesy as it may sound I would like to thank the people behind my back for this year and I fear this paragraph is going to resemble like a very long Oscar acceptance speech. Feel free to skip to the parts you would like to read. First in the list is the ever tedious and industrious Robert [Fantasy Book Critic], who I guess can be referred to as the root of all blogging. He is a friend, example of a reviewer and the initial inspiration behind “Temple Library Reviews”. Without him I would have gone unsuspecting of my reviewer side.

Theresa otherwise known as SQT [Fantasy and Sci-fi Lovin' Blog] deserves a throne in this list for being the kindest person on the planet. Apart of being a great deal of fun to e-mail with, she provided my very first titles to review, came with the tips and the position on her blog for me to expand my web presence. If this was a Disney Production, she would be the Fairy Godmother and won an Oscar.

Mihai [Dark Wolf’s Fantasy Reviews] is practically my neighbor, geographically speaking he is from Romania and I from Bulgaria. Being from almost the same cultural background I definitely bonded to him and together we have had some interesting conversations about blogging, books, life, etc. and mainly we have been moral support through times to times.

Most of my reviews center on urban fantasy these days, a healthy appetite inspired by Kimberley [Darque Reviews] and Lindsay and Lisa [Urban Fantasy Land]. With the former time spent online is never dull, while with the latter we explore the genre together. As seen I am all over the place with blogs as well.

I can name more people like Chris from The Book Swede, who has been surprising me all year long with facts about Britain; Graeme, who shocked me out of my skull, when he sent me Truancy; Carl from Stainless Steel Droppings, who expanded my horizons by light years; Dolce Bellezza and her crowd of book lovers that only intensified my interest towards mainstream and many more. If you had a brief contact with me, then I thank you all, especially the authors that requested me.

PS: The first piece is called "Happy Ox Year" and comes from Andrey, a Russian photographer and digital artist. The poster comes from the Singapore artist, who calls himself Paper Box over at DeviantArt.