Showing posts with label events. Show all posts
Showing posts with label events. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Comic Book Appreciation Month

I am a spontaneous person and tend to make some decisions based on pure whims, so this shouldn’t come much as a surprise to anyone. There are several reasons why the idea for this themed month came to be.

For starters The Book Smugglers claimed December and as an unofficial disciple/stalker/brain washed follower I have decided to claim January for myself. Fear the Unholy Trinity as they set out to conquer the calendar.

Tiptoeing to reason two. I’ve gigabytes upon gigabytes of comic book scans on my computer, which is a shame as I want to have every single series in issues, stacked beautifully, but since there are only three series available in my country and funding is sparse I’ve resorted to some shady reading techniques. As my hard disk memory wanes I need the motivation to read all that has been stored.

Gradually the two ideas collided into epic brainstorming and the bastard child in this case is this event. I am starting small, testing the water and the outcome from January 1st-31st will say whether this will stick on the program. As a beginning venture this is small scale, but be sure that the program will be bloated and brimming.

I have decided to show my love and geekery for comic books in all shapes, sizes and lengths with a whole month filled with reviews, which will cover long ongoing series, medium sized completed series, one shots, limited series, beginning series and what not. I have invited a few awesome people from blogs that I follow to contribute with a guest post article and there will be interviews with authors and writers. The cherry on top will be the separate content that I will provide as well from rank lists to art and just plain comic book character geekery.

I know January is a strange month to pick, when the holidays are saying farewells and we are left feeling like a Santa Claus in the waist line and like we have been swimming in a brewery around New Year’s Eve. We have to get back to work and we are not happy about that, but what better way to kick off the new than with some Geek love and appreciation for a medium that has given us so much and is still regarded as something reserved only for children and socially impaired adults.

If you happen to be on the same bandwagon and want to honk the horn for comic books, then feel welcomed to visit as this event unfolds, e-mail me what you liked and you would have liked to see or what you think needs improvement. I’d love to do this again next year, so shoot suggestions with what series should I tackle, which artists to check out and which writers to be aware of.

I would feel honored, if you would help yourself with these images and help spread the word should it be by adding them to your blog’s side bars [my personal wet dream] or just dropping a line that this is taking place.

So this is my before Christmas announcement and hope to see you guys on January 1st.


Sunday, October 25, 2009

Halloween Week: 26.10 - 01.11

My Halloween Week event will be quite smaller in comparison to what is brewing over at The Book Smugglers, but when have they not pulled something at a grand scale. Thea, it seems, has taken over the blog and poor Ana is dragged on for the ride. I highly recommend stopping by there and marvel their handiwork.

Although I have different things planned for different days daily posts in the same vein will pop up throughout the week. The main background will be the seven part review “Hellbound Hearts” will receive as special treatment for being an awesome anthology. I have planned to feature singular posts dedicated for the most famous monsters and their art representations.

Monday: Ana & Thea from “The Booksmugglers” are here to answer some of my funny questions connected with the horror genre in general. I hope you laugh as much as I have while reading their answers.

Tuesday: I will provide chart lists and interesting threads on Halloween costumes as well as my Top 10 of underappreciated and exotic monsters that need to be present in the genre more and not be overlooked.

Wednesday: I reserve this day for my special movie stash dedicated for a Halloween movie marathon. Horror will be a prevailing genre, but expected a few parodies, comedies and the weirdo choices.

Thursday: I have this special little feature called “Gather the 13”, which will pose a question about horror, myths and lore and thirteen bloggers from different cultural background and genre preferences will answer this question from their cultural background.

Friday: I shall review the horror classic “Frankenstein” by Marry Shelley, which will be the only review I will provide on a book as much as I regret it, but Halloween is too fun to focus only on literature.

Saturday: It’s Halloween people, thus the MAIN attraction. I have called [more like e-mailed] several horror authors and posed a question to their attention, which they have answered and if you have wondered what has scared these masters of horror and dark fiction, then stay tuned.

Sunday: The Halloween aftermath with chart lists about superheroes, saviors and horror magazines and videos for your delight.

Sounds like fun, eh? Hope you enjoy.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Challenges: R.I.P IV + Zombie Week

I think that for the sake of relying everything I want to share with you without stretching things for months I will have to work extra and post extra. As you might have noticed I am madly adding clickable banner to my sleeve of widgets and it’s fairly easy to commit to challenges considering that they really resonate with what your reading and passion consists of. This week I managed to get enrolled in two extra events, which pour tainted ambrosia into an onyx goblet for my dark mind to enjoy.


First stop is the R.eaders I.mbiding P.eril IV [R.I.P IV for short] hosted by none other but my dear and oh-so-sophisticated blogger buddy Carl V. over at “Stainless Steel Droppings”. This reading challenge starts September the 1st and ends October the 31st and invites participants to relish into the twisted world of dark tales. Genres acceptable are gothic literature, paranormal, horror, mystery, dark fantasy, suspense and thriller. A blend of these is even more welcome. As usual Carl has set out his challenges disguised as perils and among the four I have taken up the most ambitious perils of them all:









Read Four books of any length, from any subgenre of scary stories that you choose.

I think it’s going to be easy, since my reading consists of dark stories, because those are the ones that make me tick. I seem to have something for doom, gloom and the dark. Here is what my reading list will look like for the upcoming two months:

“Scar Night” by Alan Campbell
“Necropolis” by Tim Waggoner

“Book of Secrets” by Chris Roberson

“Raven Wakes the World” by John Adcox
“There was a Crooked Man” by Edward Morris

“Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley
“24 Bones” by Michael F. Stewart


Reading the fun bits about being in this challenge I came across another one, which made my heart scream with joy. I am speaking about Zombie Week, which starts August 29th and ends on September 5th and promises a lot of fun with reviews, guest posts and giveaways. All, naturally, dedicated to our undead flesh-eating scourge of the apocalypse: the zombies. I have made out a whole program dedicated to the zombies. If all goes well, this is what you will be reading for the next few days alongside regular posts.

Aug. 29th: Highschool of the Dead ~ manga review
Aug. 30th: Zombie Art Showcase
Aug. 31st: Linkage of my previous zombie posts
Sep. 1st: Marvel Zombies vol. 4
Sep. 2nd: Walking Dead ~ comics
Sep. 3rd: Thoughts on Zombies

Sep. 4th: Drag Me To Hell ~ movie review
Sep. 5th: I am keeping this as a surprise.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

SF/F/H Reviewer Linkup Meme v. 2.0 is LIVE!

John Ottinger, the amazing man behind Grasping for the Wind, has created yet another web force meme with the reincarnation of his popular SF/F/H Reviewer Linkup Meme v. 2.0. Enjoy!

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


Romanian French Chinese Danish Portuguese German


A





7 Foot Shelves

The Accidental Bard

A Boy Goes on a Journey

A Dribble Of Ink

Adventures in Reading

A Fantasy Reader

The Agony Column

A Hoyden's Look at Literature

All Booked Up

Alexia's Books and Such...

Andromeda Spaceways

The Antick Musings of G.B.H. Hornswoggler, Gent.

Ask Daphne

ask nicola

Audiobook DJ

aurealisXpress

Australia Specfic In Focus

Author 2 Author

AzureScape



B





Barbara Martin

Babbling about Books

Bees (and Books) on the Knob

Best SF

Bewildering Stories

Bibliophile Stalker

Bibliosnark

Big Dumb Object

BillWardWriter.com

The Billion Light-Year Bookshelf

Bitten by Books

The Black Library Blog

Blog, Jvstin Style

Blood of the Muse

The Book Bind

Bookgeeks

Bookrastination

Booksies Blog

Bookslut

The Book Smugglers

Bookspotcentral

The Book Swede

Book View Cafe [Authors Group Blog]

Breeni Books



C





Cheaper Ironies [pro columnist]

Charlotte's Library

Circlet 2.0

Cheryl's Musings

Club Jade

Cranking Plot

Critical Mass

The Crotchety Old Fan



D





Daily Dose - Fantasy and Romance

Damien G. Walter

Danger Gal

It's Dark in the Dark

Dark Wolf Fantasy Reviews

Darque Reviews

Dave Brendon's Fantasy and Sci-Fi Weblog

Dead Book Darling

Dear Author

The Deckled Edge

The Doctor is In...

Dragons, Heroes and Wizards

Drey's Library

The Discriminating Fangirl

Dusk Before the Dawn



E





Enter the Octopus

Errant Dreams Reviews

Eve's Alexandria



F





Falcata Times

Fan News Denmark [in English]

Fantastic Reviews

Fantastic Reviews Blog

Fantasy Book Banner

Fantasy Book Critic

Fantasy Book Reviews and News

Fantasy Cafe

Fantasy Debut

Fantasy Dreamer's Ramblings

Fantasy Literature.com

Fantasy Magazine

Fantasy and Sci-fi Lovin' Blog

Feminist SF - The Blog!

Feybound

Fiction is so Overrated

The Fix

The Foghorn Review

Follow that Raven

Forbidden Planet

Frances Writes

Free SF Reader

From a Sci-Fi Standpoint

From the Heart of Europe

Fruitless Recursion

Fundamentally Alien

The Future Fire



G





The Galaxy Express

Galleycat

Game Couch

The Gamer Rat

Garbled Signals

Genre Reviews

Genreville

Got Schephs

Graeme's Fantasy Book Review

Grasping for the Wind

The Green Man Review

Gripping Books



H





Hasenpfeffer

Hero Complex

Highlander's Book Reviews

Horrorscope

The Hub Magazine

Hyperpat's Hyper Day



I





I Hope I Didn't Just Give Away The Ending

Ink and Keys

Ink and Paper

The Internet Review of Science Fiction

io9



J





Jenna's Bookshelf

Jumpdrives and Cantrips



K





Keeping the Door

King of the Nerds



L





Lair of the Undead Rat

Largehearted Boy

Layers of Thought

League of Reluctant Adults

The Lensman's Children

Library Dad

Libri Touches

Literary Escapism

Literaturely Speaking

ludis inventio

Lundblog: Beautiful



M





Mad Hatter's Bookshelf and Book Review

Mari's Midnight Garden

Mark Freedman's Journal

Marooned: Science Fiction Books on Mars

MentatJack

Michele Lee's Book Love

Missions Unknown [Author and Artist Blog Devoted to SF/F/H in San Antonio]

The Mistress of Ancient Revelry

MIT Science Fiction Society

Monster Librarian

More Words, Deeper Hole

Mostly Harmless Books

Multi-Genre Fan

Musings from the Weirdside

My Favourite Books



N





Neth Space

The New Book Review

NextRead

Not Free SF Reader

Nuketown



O





OF Blog of the Fallen

The Old Bat's Belfry

Only The Best SciFi/Fantasy

The Ostentatious Ogre

Outside of a Dog



P





Paranormality

Pat's Fantasy Hotlist

Patricia's Vampire Notes

The Persistence of Vision

Piaw's Blog

pornokitsch

Post-Weird Thoughts

Publisher's Weekly



Q





R





Random Acts of Mediocrity

Ray Gun Revival

Realms of Speculative Fiction

Reading the Leaves

Review From Here

Reviewer X

Revolution SF

The Road Not Taken

Rob's Blog o' Stuff

Robots and Vamps



S





Sandstorm Reviews

Satisfying the Need to Read

Science Fiction and Fantasy Ethics

Science Fiction Times

ScifiChick

Sci-Fi Blog

SciFiGuy

Sci-Fi Fan Letter

The Sci-Fi Gene

Sci-Fi Songs [Musical Reviews]

SciFi Squad

Scifi UK Reviews

Sci Fi Wire

Self-Publishing Review

The Sequential Rat

Severian's Fantastic Worlds

SF Diplomat

SFFaudio

SFFMedia

SF Gospel

SFReader.com

SF Reviews.net

SF Revu

SF Safari

SF Signal

SF Site

SFF World's Book Reviews

Silver Reviews

Simply Vamptastic

Slice of SciFi

Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

Solar Flare

Speculative Fiction

Speculative Fiction Junkie

Speculative Horizons

The Specusphere

Spinebreakers

Spiral Galaxy Reviews

Spontaneous Derivation

Sporadic Book Reviews

Stainless Steel Droppings

Starting Fresh

Stella Matutina

Stuff as Dreams are Made on...

The Sudden Curve

The Sword Review



T





Tangent Online

Tehani Wessely

Temple Library Reviews

Tez Says

things mean a lot

Tor.com [also a publisher]

True Science Fiction



U





Ubiquitous Absence

Un:Bound

undeadbydawn

Urban Fantasy Land



V





Vast and Cool and Unsympathetic

Variety SF



W





Walker of Worlds

Wands and Worlds

Wanderings

The Wertzone

With Intent to Commit Horror

The Wizard of Duke Street

WJ Fantasy Reviews

The Word Nest

Wordsville

The World in a Satin Bag

WriteBlack



X





Y





Young Adult Science Fiction



Z





Romanian





Cititor SF [with English Translation]



French





Elbakin.net

Mythologica



Chinese





Foundation of Krantas

The SF Commonwealth Office in Taiwan [with some English essays]

Yenchin's Lair



Danish





Interstellar

Ommadawn.dk

Scifisiden



Portuguese





Aguarras

Fernando Trevisan

Human 2.0

Life and Times of a Talkative Bookworm

Ponto De Convergencia

pƃ³s-estranho

Skavis



German





Fantasy Seiten

Fantasy Buch

Fantasy/SciFi Blog

Literaturschock

Welt der fantasy

Bibliotheka Phantastika

SF Basar

Phantastick News

X-zine

Buchwum

Phantastick Couch

Wetterspitze

Fantasy News

Fantasy Faszination

Fantasy Guide

Zwergen Reich

Fiction Fantasy



A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z


Romanian French Chinese Danish Portuguese German

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Book Blog Appreciation Week: What a surprise?

I wanted to post about this in a timely manner, but it so happened that my mind scratched this from my to-post list and thus I became aware that the Book Blog Appreciation Week is soon to dawn and I am reporting about the event after the polls have been closed for nominations. I am sure that most know about the BBAW as it turns out 400 bloggers attended the event last year. Where was I sleeping at that September week is beyond me, but I am pretty excited about being a more active part this year as I view the BBAW like our community’s Oscars.

If you yourself are not acquainted with the BBAW, then here is the official site, where it’s not too late to register in the official database, given you are a reviewer and blogger.

But the reason why I am suddenly jolted into remembrance is because I received the most awesome e-mail today. It turns out that someone, I have no clue whatsoever who, nominated me for the category Best Series or Feature. Apparently, my Reviewer Time feature really did impress or moved somebody so much that they decided to nominate me. I am shell-shocked and astonished, since I am not used to such high recognition. I am humbled. Truly, so, mysterious stranger, I thank thee.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

"Seduce the Darkness" by Gena Showalter

Title: "Seduce the Darkness"
Author: Gena Showalter
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Alien Huntress, Book 6
Pages: 416
Publisher: Pocket Star

Blurb:
The war between otherworlders and humans changed Earth beyond recognition. It also saved Bride McKells's life. Before, the gorgeous vampire was a target for every fanatic with a stake and a crucifix. Now, she's free to roam the streets -- and desperate to find others of her kind. One man claims to have the answers she seeks. Devyn, King of the Targons, is a warrior and a womanizer, and he makes no secret of how much he wants Bride -- and how dangerous he could be to her in every way.

An avid collector of women, Devyn easily seduces human and otherworlder alike. Until now. Not only does Bride resist him, but she leaves Devyn feeling something entirely new...a bone-deep need bordering on obsession. Her blood is the key to curing a vicious alien disease, but helping Bride uncover her origins will compel her to choose between electrifying passion and a destiny that could tear her from Devyn's side forever.

The Verdict: “Seduce the Darkness” is the sixth installment in Gena Showalter’s Alien Huntress series and follows the actions of our beloved A.I.R [Alien Investigation and Removal] agents. Although Gena herself claims that this book is completely loose and standalone it would be grand to have met all the key players in the earlier books. Small details about the cases and the agents themselves make a bigger impression, when the reader has a background reference and feels initiated in the world.

However this is an alien story with an interesting twist. One of the main protagonists, Bride McKells, happens to be a vampire in a world completely devout from her kind. At first this sounds like the ultimate cross genre, since aliens are the official emblem of sci-fi as a genre and as of late vampires are the social highlight in one of fantasy’s youngest subgenres. I had my doubts whether the book wouldn’t be something unidentifiable for either fan camps even though I have complete faith in Gena’s professionalism. Thankfully I was enjoyably surprised after I read the final page. Presenting vampires as the earliest alien race to ever come aboard Earth and establish their colony, Gena gives the vampire myth an interesting sci-fi twist that sew them perfectly in her world. Perhaps what is most notable of her vampires is the fact that each individual develops their own specific power.

I guess that such helpful mutations run through the vampire’s gene pool, however the small cobble in the shoe for me was the unexplained nature behind the super powers. Not just in the vampires per se, but most species as well. Given the fact that the genre is paranormal romance rather than pure sci-fi, where some alien anatomy 101 classes would have been mandatory I can let this pass as the focus lies in the romantic entanglement. Over this area Gena has complete sovereignty as she spins the weirdest and unlikely love stories I have yet to read about. Her formula so far is to take two completely unfitted for a long term relationship, each with unique background story marked with issues, and then remodel the world so that it forces the couple to bond.

With Gena this alchemy with a different and yet satisfying end product at the end. Attraction is usually physical mixed with an exotic quality that pumps wanton through the characters. Devyn is alien royalty, who has gotten used to sweep woman after woman with relative ease, which helps him cope with mental traumas from his childhood, but Bride’s unyielding nature sparks the hunter’s challenge in him. The need to conquer turns to the need to posses body and soul. For Bride Devyn is a means to an end, finding everything possible about her race, which she doesn’t remember, and also locating her long lost friend. Willing to pay Devyn’s naughty prices for every bit of information gets her stuck in an emotional barrage, from which there is no easy way out. Amazing is how every action packed scene carries a single detail that reveals more about the characters and acts as one more ingredient into the love recipe Gena has been stirring.

And “Seduce the Darkness” has enough action with enough flashy effects to get me raving. As a very loyal follower of the Japanese maxim ‘everything is better when it gets destroyed in a fantastic manner’ I wasn’t disappointed in the use of special alien superpowers such as full body camo, hyper speed, dematerialization, molecular control and telekinesis. Considering that the writing is top notch with prose sending live feed into your brain and dialogue, witty, original and believable enough, it’s pretty hard to find any flaws. For me it’s very difficult to explain why a novel worked so well for me. There is this synergy of all the elements working together that is indescribably. It’s an experience and if you are in the mood for naughty, raunchy and tension filled, adrenaline bubbling story, then “Seduce the Darkness” is the by far the best you can do with.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Premio Dardos


I usually get these things done late, but what the hey, it counts that I get around to doing them. First stop is the very first award “Temple Library reviews” gets [as far as I know of] and hopefully not the last. The kind and generous behind this act of coolness is none other than Mihai, my neighbor by countries, who runs the famous to all “Dark Wolf’s Fantasy Reviews”. So with that covered I send in my eternal gratitude, since I like posting about these events in the blogosphere.

So on to the award itself. The award "Dardos" appreciates the merits - culturally, literary and individually- of every blogger who expresses him/herself on his/her blog. Yes, that is definitely me in there, so it was logical I got this sooner or later. Now let’s move to the conditions to keep this award on your site and then give some.

1. be tickled pink ;) [I actually went with green, but it’s a check in the box]
2. copy and paste the award picture to your blog [Done that]
3. write down the regulations [In the Middle of It]
4. link the blog who bestowed you the Award [Okay, done with that one too!]
5. and finally nominate 15 blogs for the Award [Blah, here comes the hard part]

I think my head exploded, but here my nominees for best Blog Action…, oops wrong awards. Note that these numbers do not mean anything, god knows how hard it is to pick up the first top 15 blogs you love. I am leaving Mihai out of the mix, because it would be rather stupid to make him post the whole thing again.

1. Fantasy Book Critic
2. Fantasy and Sci-fi Lovin’ Blog
3. Urban Fantasy Land
4. The Bookswede
5. Initial Draft
6. Dolce Bellezza
7. Marcia Collette
8. Karen Mahoney
9. In Spring it is The Dawn
10. Darque Reviews
11. Confessions of a Book Whore
12. Meredith Wood
13. Fandoria
14. The Eyeball Afterlife
15. Stainless Steel Droppings

Saturday, January 3, 2009

2009: The New Frontier [Sounds like a movie]

In the spirit of renewal and starting on a clean slate, I am posting another side note on what the New Year will bring for the blog. I am all in the mood for changes and experiencing more from the fantasy and sci-fi world, not restricting my horizons to literature only.

Events: January 1st – February 28th, two whole months to experience sci-fi with the “Sci-Fi Experience” 2009, hosted by Carl over at Stainless Steel Droppings. The great thing about this event is that it isn’t a reading challenge, but as pointed out in the name an experience. Time of the year, when it’s cold to sit by the fireplace [if you are lucky enough to have one] and travel through space and drink tea with aliens. For some reason I have been neglecting my sci-fi, which isn’t healthy and although that means that there will be some rescheduling of my review list, I am determined to get in touch with my inner sci-fi fan. Within two months I doubt I will tackle as many novels as I hope to, but here are the four must reads:

“Old Man’s War” by John Scalzi [because any Hugo Award nominee is worth reading, plus this one came highly recommended]
“Dispossessed” by Ursula LeGuin
“The Word for World is Forest” by Ursula LeGuin [because these are the only novels that remained from the Hainish Cycle that I didn’t read already]
“Crystal Rain” by Tobias Buckell [because I liked the cover art...]

Reviews: I have been meaning to change the format of the reviews themselves. Freestyle is the best solution, when you can remember everything you want to say and when it comes to me writing, the universe likes to interrupt me. More structured reviews aren’t a bad thing, even though everyone will start pointing fingers that I stole Robert’s formula. In my opinion it should be widely use by people with short attention spam. Depending on the genre the structure will be different, but you will have to wait and see until the premiere.

Features: Mihai and I have been talking about interviewing fantasy artists and showcasing fantasy art on our blogs, since we are both very fascinated with this kind of craft. He actually beat me to it and his interviews are entertaining and are rich in information about the style and the artist themselves. It’s pleasant to read. My Artist Corner project is probably going to launch next month, but it’s pretty much the same with me posting some of my favorite art and commenting of course.

Interview-wise I have another pet project that premiered a few posts back: The Six Shooter promo interviews. I like human contact with authors [more like stalking, but that is a variation of interpretation] and hopefully the trend will catch on with the blog. They are short and straight to the point in introducing the reader to the work of the author or the author as an unbiased bystander.

Misc: In and Out, more and more ideas will surface to test the ground for possible interest, but I am certain that the themed weeks and rank lists will be in the constant mix. You can expect everything and anything. 2009 will be the official year to experiment.
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