A Nudge in the Right Direction

Randomosity on Fridays: Manatee Takeover Edition

2012-01-27T06:05:00.000-08:00

So! January's practically over and Krispy and I had nothing planned for today's post and I had Thai tea with boba tonight and am blogging this late past midnight but never you mind. I thought I'd just show you in pictures what I was up to over the past couple of weeks.

1. Watched Ides of March with Krispy and her sister. It was generally depressing but I did make this manatee while we were watching, so at least something fuzzy came out of it.

This is Fuzzy Leopardatee. He is Krispy's new love.
But her love is doomed.
Because she is tofu and I am spicy hot and the manatee is MINE.

(I neglected to mention in yesterday's post that I made all those manatees. Each individually handsewn and stuffed with love, polyfil, and the desire to overthrow the human race.)

2. The other week, Krispy and her sister found something at Target that they knew was meant for me. When they gave this thing to me, I knew that my life had been but a meaningless span of clockwork measured only by the mundanity of timepieces chopping time into seconds, minutes, hours upon hours of empty bare existence and now, only now did I truly comprehend that my life was just beginning.

Stuffed with valentines and unicorn stickers!

It also makes a very good home for a very special someone who is dear to us.

3. I went to a beadshow earlier in the month and picked up some beads for $1 or $2 a strand. Krispy can testify that I have a magpie/crowlike nature magnified a thousandfold when it comes to shinies.

4. Yesterday I read A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce. It was all right. There are a few good re-imaginings and interpretations of things, but the slow and steady pace combined with the fact that it is a fairly straightforward retelling made it kind of boring after a while since I knew exactly what was going to happen. The mystery was also not very mysterious. The writing was nice though and the author clearly did her research. If you like fairytale retellings, you might want to check it out.

5. I did some writing, working on a couple of short stories and kicking around some ideas to see if they hold up to abuse. So far they have, so it may be time to give them a break and let them recover and grow before having at them again.

The story contains no manatees. For now.

So that's what I've been up to: Sewing, beading, reading, writing, and unicorns. Not entirely in that order, but close enough.

And because I uploaded this picture with the intention of using it and got sidetracked, I'm-a just stick it here.

This is Sherlockatee.

And so January draws to a close! What have you accomplished this month?

Wordless Wednesday: Be Prepared

2012-01-25T06:05:00.000-08:00

Bet you thought I was joking about conquering the world with manatees...

Go ahead and laugh.

P.S. A while ago, Krispy asked Lydia for suggestions on slow-attacking diseases. Lydia had some great ideas, the gist of which she shared this week in her Medical Mondays post. Check out Prions from Outer Space. It'll make you grateful your proteins are normal!

And if you have a medical-related question yourself, be sure to check her Medical Mondays archive or drop her an email!

Randomosity on Fridays: Schneizeleffort

2012-01-20T05:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday! Something a little different with our randomosity today, friends. There seemed to be a little more than passing interest last week about the definition of schneizeleffort, the funny term I used in one of my 2012 resolutions.

So I thought I'd fulfill at least part of that resolution and silence your curiosity about what this term is. It's so useful! It's like the motto of my life.

BUT before I get to that, I'd like to turn your attention to two things:

1. Our blogging/vlogging buddy Sophia Chang's One Year Blogoversary giveaway is still happening. You could win a signed copy of J.A. Yang's Exclusively Chloe OR a critique from Alz and myself (up to 25 pages). So if you're interested in either or both, I'd hop over there soon and enter on the rafflecopter form.

2. It's Lunar New Year weekend! The New Year falls on Jan. 23 this year, and thus begins the Year of the Dragon! This also means I will likely be rolling aboard the fatty train again, the next stop being Fattyville. Choo choo!

NOW, ONTO THE POST!

One of my resolutions for this year is to be more schneizeleffort.

The Urban Dictionary entry defines it as:

Putting forth the minimum amount of effort required to complete something.

This concept is named after a character in Code Geass, Schneizel el Britannia.

Here's the long-story-short version of the history of this word/concept. (I'm going to talk a bit about anime now. I used to be more into it...before I became so schneizeleffort.) It starts with an anime called CODE GEASS.

Swooshy! Dramatic! You look like a CLAMP creation!

In college, I got into this anime because I saw the above promo and thought, "PRETTY! Looks kinda like CLAMP...OMG CLAMP character designs?!" CLAMP, fyi, is the name of a mangaka group known for their beauteous artwork and angst-tastic stories. Some of my first series were by those ladies.

See, CLAMP draws pretty and epic-looking things.

So I was eager to check out Code Geass because it was pretty, based on art by CLAMP, and I liked the premise. It's a show about a genius Britannian boy, who leads a revolution against Britannia. Oh and he's a Prince of Britannia. What's not to like?

Then I glimpsed this guy in the Season 1 opening, and I was like, WHO IS THAT SHADY BLOND?

Blond, poncy, shady-lookin': you must be evil!

That is SCHNEIZEL, the second prince and Prime Minister of Britannia, and half-brother to the main character.

He is quickly set up as an antagonist but doesn't actually show up in Season 1 until the last few episodes. Then, he's more or less the main antagonist in Season 2, which was a good thing because by then I was in love.

Being VERY PRETTY is, of course, an easy way to win fangirl favor, but he was also an interesting antagonist. He's set up like he might be evil, and he's a strategical genius like our MC. The MC spends much of the series dreading going up against him because of this. He's also ruthless with his tactics - a sort of ends-justify-the-means sort of guy and he's insidiously manipulative. But this is contrasted with his charisma and the fact that he seems like a decent guy in general. He cares about his siblings, about the welfare of the Empire, about peace and order. He has a sense of duty to his people, wants peace, and he's not snobbish. He hires people based on talent/merit.

He's incredibly good at his job/running the government/waging war, so why "schneizeleffort"?

As the series went, I had the dawning realization that Schneizel was just COASTING on his natural talents. It doesn't seem like he's ever TRYING. He puts the minimal amount of effort needed into achieving his goals, and since he's a genius and has tons of $, goals are generally achievable. For example, about to totally crush the enemy? Offer them a peace treaty because it requires less effort (and incidentally, makes him seem merciful)! And when the going gets tough, he just u-turns himself out of there.

Emotion? Too much effort!

In fact, I'm mostly convinced he just doesn't really care all that much about a lot of things. Or he does but in a clinical, detached kind of way. He rarely looks as evil/shady in the actual show as he does in the openings/promo pics. He doesn't show too much emotion either way. One of his siblings actually describes him as "having no desires."

Cheese-kun

His schneizeleffort is great on the show though because the MC is a drama ~~queen~~ king, who does put a lot of effort into staging this revolution, but Schneizel comes in and ruins everything without giving a flying Cheese-kun. It's awesome. And hilarious (for me).

The person who actually coined the term "schneizeleffort" is koda (or miasmacloud) from gg fansubs. They were one of the main fansubbers for Code Geass.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE of a "schneizeleffort" character from another fandom is Mycroft Holmes from the Sherlock Holmes stories. I haven't actually read the stories, but after watching BBC's TV series Sherlock, in which Mycroft plays a small role, the Sister and I looked him up. Here's what Wikipedia has to say about him:

"Possessing inductive powers exceeding even those of his younger brother, Mycroft is nevertheless incapable of performing detective work similar to that of Sherlock as he is unwilling to put in the physical effort necessary to bring cases to their conclusions.

...he has no ambition and no energy. He will not even go out of his way to verify his own solutions, and would rather be considered wrong than take the trouble to prove himself right. Again and again I have taken a problem to him, and have received an explanation which has afterwards proved to be the correct one. And yet he was absolutely incapable of working out the practical points...
—Sherlock Holmes, speaking of his brother in The Adventure of the Greek Interpreter"

After which, I said, "OMG, so he's just the schneizeleffort version of Sherlock!" I'm starting to wonder if this is a common characteristic of older brother types to geniuses, who are themselves also geniuses...

So you see the many applications there are for this word. I suppose a synonym for schneizeleffort could be "half-*ssing" something. Also, the application of schneizeleffort can only work to your advantage if you are already naturally talented enough to get away with coasting through life. Schneizel had that whole born-into-privilege-and-wealth thing going for him, on top of being a genius.

I don't have either of those things, so the schneizeleffort thing is an upward slope for me. The irony is that I need to expend effort to get to the point of being able to schneizeleffort my way through life...

ANYWAY, there you have it. The definition of schneizeleffort. I hope I have enriched your vocabulary. That aside, I wish you all an early Happy Lunar New Year!

Hah! 1/2 a resolution completed!

Have any fun/weird/in-joke terms to share?

*I didn't schneizeleffort my way through this post. I should've. Sorry sleep-deprived self!

Book Review: The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

2012-01-18T06:05:00.000-08:00

Yet another of Krispy's library books that I absconded with in the hopes of a fun lark. It was a lark, but it was rather less than fun. I know I promised good reviews, and they are in the works! Just, well, I read this over the past couple of days and needed to expel it from my system.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson

Pros: Refreshing Spanish-influenced jungle/desert fantasy setting; interesting premise and ideas about being the Chosen One; protagonist is a fat girl with an eating problem and self-esteem issues.

Cons: Protagonist's fat problems are resolved through outside interference; nobody has any idea what's involved in a war campaign and their strategic and military incompetence and the utter implausibility of many military events still makes me want to repeatedly punch their lights out with brass knuckles; WOOHOO PLOT DEVICE ENDING.

Intellectual Rating: 3 out of 10 stars
Emotional Grade: D

Book Blurb: (from Goodreads) Once a century, one person is chosen for greatness.

Elisa is the chosen one.

But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can't see how she ever will.

Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.

And he's not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people's savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.

Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.

Most of the chosen do

Alz's Take: This book has some good points, including an interesting non-traditional fantasy setting, by which I mean the main culture appears to be Spanish-based, and it's not all forests and castles because it's set in jungles and deserts. The writing style is nice enough, and once in a while quite pretty. The protagonist is a fat useless princess.

Before you get any ideas about this being a cutesy story, it is not.

There's political intrigue everywhere and war on the horizon.

The princess also has self-esteem issues that go hand-in-hand with her weight problems, but the book manages to deal with it without becoming preachy. (Though there was an awful lot of her binge-eating and calling herself a fat pig in the beginning, and also every time I thought she was really fat, she'd describe herself in a way that made her seem even fatter. When it finally said at one point that her breasts and her belly bounce when she runs, and she gets rashes on her thighs just from walking, I was like, OMG how obese is this girl???)

The whole Godstone and Chosen of God thing works out well too—I feared at the outset that the story would devolve into maunderings on faith and morality, but it didn't. The religious aspect of the book was treated more as background and a mainstay of the world than as a focus; the real focus is on characters and plot. I've read some comparisons and criticisms to Christian lit but I've read some Christian lit and The Girl of Fire and Thorns does not fall under that category anymore than Daughter of Smoke and Bone or Chime does.

Where this book is a failboat is the aforementioned war on the horizon and political intrigue. Because the political intrigue is not very intriguing and Princess Elisa for some unexplained reason lives her life by the Art of War, thinly veiled as a book by name of the Belleza Guerra. Why exactly a princess has memorized this book (or even exactly what the book is about, as all we ever know of it is the title and Elisa's occasional references to it) is never explained.

The narrative styles Elisa as a brilliant strategist but all of her strategies are stupid. Pardon me, I meant to say that all of her strategies sound good in theory, but how to actually implement them is either never explained or she comes up with incredibly lame ideas that would never work, and long faces are pulled at how long a shot this is, and then all her ideas miraculously go off without a hitch.

Without spoilers, I'll give you an example of this kind of problem, drawing from an example given in Terry Pratchett's Hogfather. You want to solve world hunger. What do you do?

Elisa's brilliant strategy would be: Feed the hungry!

Very good, Elisa! But where did you get that food?

That's where her brilliance ends. She wouldn't bother to think in terms of crops, perishable vs non-perishable food supplies, storage, transportation, distribution, workforce, etc. Yet somehow, because the story demands it, she'd manage to feed everyone in the world. Hooray.

Now imagine a girl like this wrapped up in court intrigue, political maneuverings, rebellions that aren't even real rebellions, and who is also the center of a never-explained war. Imagine this girl being put into a position of military authority. Imagine her sheer incompetence that everyone else hails as brilliant strategy. Imagine her succeeding despite overwhelming odds, never-explained apparently-inexhaustible resources, and battle plans that I wouldn't respect by using for toilet paper.

Everyone else in this book suffers from a similar inability to rationally and realistically make wartime plans. The utter incompetence of everyone in this book is astonishing, from enemies to allies to the entire world. I'm sure using the word incompetent a lot but that's just what everyone is. Quite frankly I'm surprised that they even have a coherent government and have apparently won wars in the past. I wonder what happened in the span of a generation that caused the IQ of the populace to drop down into the range of your average potato.

I also didn't much appreciate how the enemy consisted of barefooted fur-wearing savages with painted skins on an apparently religious* crusade led by evil magicians. Oh, but since they're pale-skinned and some of them are blond it's okay and not a stereotype.

*This is sort of left open to interpretation since, again, we never find out what these filthy clump-haired barbarians are after.

Now let's talk about obesity. The main thing that kept me reading in through the early stages of this book was Elisa's presumable future transformation: I hoped that she'd slowly gain confidence throughout the book, wrestling with her eating problem and working hard to lose weight, and that these emotional and mental struggles would tie into and reflect her external ones. I looked forward to seeing how she'd find the inner strength to overcome these problems of her own volition.

I was disappointed.

She does lose the weight, but it's through external extenuating circumstances forced upon her. It's not her own choice, she didn't work for it because she was aiming toward this goal, it wasn't even something of which she was aware. It was entirely out of her control so there was no self-actualization or determination to assert control over her body. Nope. She has almost nothing to do with her own transformation, and afterward she just reaps the benefits without the mental struggle.

Nor does start to have confidence or be "strong" until after she loses her excess pounds. And I say "strong" in quotation marks because I don't ever really see it. I'm just told it by other people. Really? You can't develop strength and confidence before you dump that junk in your trunk?

This has nothing to do with the story.

Not to mention that the love stories were weaksauce. The one with the king she marries had the potential to be interesting and it was at first, but it never developed and we barely get to know the king. I liked the dichotomy they had going between them and what ultimately happened, but I wish there had been more. Plus we're pretty much told everything about King Alejandro by other characters. You're told he's etc. and etc. he is. Tell, do not show.

As for the second love interest, he is unmemorable, flavorless, and characterless. He doesn't even rank tofu; this guy is watery plain oatmeal. While I appreciate that Elisa didn't have a case of serious raging heartfelt lust/love for either of the two love interests, I didn't for a moment believe she was ever truly in love with either of them.

Whenever anything dramatic happened, or someone tragically, tragically died, I felt nothing. I hardly knew anyone. In one scene, something horrific and traumatizing happened, and yet I would have felt more emotional watching a piece of paper go through a paper shredder.

And you know what? Half the time it felt like Elisa didn't really care either, except out of obligation. Certain events seemed to have only a glancing effect upon her when I thought she ought to be distraught or enraged; most often she'd have a page of description or one act to demonstrate how she was upset, and then it was back to business as usual except for a halfhearted token line here and there.

The only supporting character of real interest was Cosmé, a girl who is antagonistic from the start to Elisa for no reason that I can pinpoint, and even then I felt like the story was trying very hard to make her ambiguous—which worked at first but there was no reward for all the waiting I went through. What were her motivations? Cheap stock reasons bought in bulk from Drama Llama Inc.

This same supplier also provided a reason why Elisa had to leave her home kingdom (besides the whole marriage thing) that I thought was going to play an important role later on, but nope. It's a Big Dramatic Reveal and that's it. No further import or impact.

Also, I'm not entirely sure if I might have missed or misinterpreted something, but there appears to be at least one large plot hole. Basically, I was pretty sure at one point that there were two armies (not sayin' whose), but by the end of the book the second army appeared to have vanished. What???

Random dancing fat princess!

The ending is one big huge plot device hurriedly introduced in the last quarter of the book and all the buildup is done almost after the fact. I went back to check on a certain detail and there was one mention of something, but it was so vague that you couldn't have possibly figured anything out. In a non-spoiler example, it's like if a random detail were described as a ball and then 300 pages later it's described as an orange. Could you have guessed it was an orange from the original description? No.

The actual climactic scene had me ROFLMAO because of exactly how it was written. Page 414, to be precise. It's hilarious. And it's not supposed to be. Not only is the entire scene badly-plotted and -explicated thanks to the kingdom of Joya d'Arena's utter military incompetence, but the description of—of—of course I can't say it because it would be spoilerific. Although it's not worth it to read the entire book just to get to one incredibly laughable description in an overall lackluster scene, it's something to look forward to. Or dread, depending on if you want the finale to actually be dramatic. I still can't get the image out of my head.

The book is fairly standalone although it’s the first of a trilogy. I'm almost curious as to what the sequels will entail, but I think that reading the book blurbs will be enough for me since I don't want to devote another 400+ pages to reading about implausible unrealistic battle strategies, political intrigue that's rarely explained and generally makes little sense, and characters who I couldn't care less about if I had my emotions surgically removed.

Alz's Conclusion: The setting and premise are interesting enough that this book will appeal to fantasy-readers looking for something new. The plot and many character actions fail to hold up to scrutiny and half of the romance is more boring than reading a dictionary aloud in monotone, but if you can manage to engross yourself in the story, you might enjoy it.

Randomosity on Fridays: 2012 Resolutions

2012-01-13T06:05:00.000-08:00

We were planning to do this earlier, but well, we had reviews (different kinds!) to do. Also, we cleaned up our sidebar and have PAGES now! Anyway resolutions now! And after, that a bit of randomosity!

JOINT RESOLUTIONS

1. Finish this gosh darn WIP.

2. Sleep more. (No, seriously. We're taking a page from Odin's book and investing in the rejuvenating benefits of Odinsleeping.)

3. BE BRAVE. (courtesy of the Sister)

KRISPY RESOLUTIONS

1. Make Alz blog more.

2. Resolve to be more schneizeleffort*. / Someday explain the concept of schneizeleffort.

3. Stop Alz from bullying me.

4. Get off the fatty-train (I seriously need to stop the holiday-eating spree that has continued past the holidays...) / maybe exercise or something?

5. Write/read/sleep/be present more. :)

ALZ RESOLUTIONS

1. Bully Krispy more.

2. Get published and get query letters written and sent out. In whatever order. Presumably I'll have to have those letters written before I send them out, but if I can bend time and space to make it happen in reverse order, that's fiiiine by me.

3. Actually watch all those TV shows and movies I have piled up, i.e. Battlestar Galactica, Misfits season 2, Game of Thrones, Merlin, past two seasons of Doctor Who, etc.

4. Write more consistently and actually finish projects. Short stories for starters, and then longer things. As usual.

5. CONQUER THE WORLD WITH MANATEES.

And now for some randomosity. The making of our long-o Scorpio Races review from yesterday. In no particular order...

K: So for Intellectual Rating, I guess I give it like a 10 out of 10, and Emotional Grade would be...
A: An A?
K: UNQUANTIFIABLE!!!
A: You should just put that!
--

A: Oh Krispy, you love this book.
K: I don't know that yet. It's too soon! It hasn't stood the test of time! Right now it's like- it's like an infatuation! A YA all-consuming insta-love!
A: No, I think you love it.
--

(In response from my out-of-nowhere literary analysis of Mutt Malvern)
A: Clearly your great and t00by love for Scorpio Races has brought out the AP Lit-essayist in you.
K: It's because I have to write this review, which is forcing me to make sense of my many feelings. It's too much effort, Alz. All this THINKING and pinpointing. I'm tired just thinking about it. Schneizeleffort ftw. :P
--

A: Now I have to find a way to condense this entire email conversation into a paragraph or two.
--

A: I was thinking of doing more doodles, but since this is a fairly serious review, I didn't want to detract from all your eloquence with random doodles.
--

This last spawned this bit of genius from Lydia** on Twitter: "A serious essay can never be ruined by too many doodles."---Confuse-us

So yeah, we really did write an essay. Two separate ones in fact that we managed to smoosh down into one review. Sort of. Thanks to everyone who read it!

Enjoy the weekend! And for our fellow US-ers, woohoo! LONG WEEKEND!

What are you resolving to do this year?

*If you were in the Code Geass anime fandom, you might have an idea of what I'm talking about.
**Lydia, look at you making another appearance at A Nudge!

P.S. In case you missed it, our friend and fellow vlogger Sophia Chang is celebrating her One Year Blogaversary with a giveaway! We're one of the prizes! Or rather an "angel/demon" critique, up to 25 pages, from us! That's 2 pairs of eyes for the price of one! Also, I think it's HILARIOUS that I'm the angel.

Book Review: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

2012-01-11T13:08:00.000-08:00

I won a copy of this book from Erin Bowman, who gave a copy away because she loved the book so much. THE SCORPIO RACES was the last book I read in 2011, and it was also my favorite! I loved it so much, I bullied Alz into reading it immediately. (Beware: lots of text ahead)

So, this is going to be slightly different - a joint review!

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

(Rating/Grade averaged between us)
Intellectual Rating: 9 out of 10
Emotional Grade: A range

Book Blurb: (from goodreads) It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die.

At age nineteen, Sean Kendrick is the returning champion. He is a young man of few words, and if he has any fears, he keeps them buried deep, where no one else can see them.

Puck Connolly is different. She never meant to ride in the Scorpio Races. But fate hasn’t given her much of a chance. So she enters the competition — the first girl ever to do so. She is in no way prepared for what is going to happen.

Krispy's Take: So let's start off by being completely honest; I LOVE THIS BOOK. I love it to bitty bitty pieces, which makes it incredibly hard for me to write a coherent review because all I want to do is SQUEE about it and tell you to read it. But I will endeavor to tell you exactly why I feel this way and why you might want to give this book a chance too.

This doodle of Krispy's Starry-Eyed Tears of Lurve™ does not
fully convey the depths of her <3 according to Alz.

A PROLOGUE / MY DOUBTS - I had read Maggie Stiefvater's SHIVER back when it came out, and while I liked it, I didn't love it. I liked it enough to be interested in the sequels, but on the other hand, I have yet to pick up any of them. So when THE SCORPIO RACES hit shelves, I was ambivalent despite the nice cover and horses (even though I love horse stories). I thought it was going to be more typical YA fare - dangerous races with gimmicky supernatural horses all used as a dramatic backdrop to what would ultimately be a teenage love story.

From Erin Bowman's review, I learned that it might actually be more like the beloved horse stories of my childhood like The Black Stallion, which is essentially the story of a boy and his horse - a bond that is formed, tested, and then proven in a climactic match race.

That said, here's why I loved THE SCORPIO RACES.

THE WORLD / WRITING - Maggie Stiefvater's worldbuilding is pitch perfect here. Thisby is a fictional island that feels like a place you can really visit. It is bleak but beautiful, painted with a deft and light hand in spare prose. In SHIVER, there were moments where I felt like the writing was written to be beautiful, but that wasn't an issue at all in this book. The beauty was effortless and subtle. There is weight to the island, substance built from rich imagined rituals and traditions, all of which include the capaill uisce (or the water horses) as an integral part. You're persuaded to believe that there is an island in the Atlantic where vicious magic horses are a normal part of daily life, and because the magic and superstition is blurred and so much a part of the day-to-day, the water horses don't feel like a gimmick. The water horses themselves - both deadly and beautiful, loved and feared - is symbolic of what life on Thisby is like and what Sean and Puck love about their home.

Also, Maggie Stiefvater knows how to set a scene and build atmosphere. In fact, the atmosphere is one of the best and strongest parts of the book. She gives you all the right details to create a mood and a distinct impression of a place. You get caught up in the beat of the Scorpio drums, the jingling of bells, and the smell of warm honey dripping from November cakes at the Scorpio Festival. You feel the cold sea wind on your face and the rumble of hooves in your chest when Sean races along the shore astride his beloved water horse Corr. Each setting, each event is brought to wondrous life.

Oh and Stiefvater uses repetition of images and phrases to great effect. It's how she threads emotions and ideas through the book seamlessly. Sean's mantra of "I am so, so alive" echoed on two different race days - in the beginning and near the end - not only made the literary geek in me squee, it evoked a specific emotion and revealed something about Sean!

THE CHARACTERS - Sean and Puck are fully realized people with needs and flaws and strengths, and it was easy to tell them apart. They co-narrate the novel, and sometimes in dual narrative books, the characters end up sounding too similar. Not a problem here. Sean and Puck have distinct voices and such different (yet similar) life concerns.

Particularly with Puck, I liked that she wasn't your typical "spunky/snarky" YA heroine. She was strong in a very authentic, natural way. She wasn't in-your-face about it. As mentioned in the blurb, Puck is the first girl to ever enter the Scorpio Races, and as such, she is eventually faced with sexist and traditionalist obstacles. In this instance, she doesn't have a quippy comeback or an eloquent speech about gender equality or getting with the modern times (though I do love a good verbal smackdown). Instead, she answers in a way that is wholly personal and true to her character.

"I have my own reasons for riding," I snap. "Just like every man who climbed onto this rock. Just because I'm a girl doesn't make those reasons any less."

As a result, she comes across like a real person and that truth to her character is what reveals her strength. It's not a blustery show.

The supporting cast had substance. They had recognizable personalities and seemed to lead lives outside of the MCs'. They helped and hindered our MCs without turning into pure plot devices (something I feared in the case of George Holly). They gave character to the island, added layers to themes, and played foils to our MCs. I also loved the really random side characters, the ones that were just mentioned on the side (by their full names too), because they made Thisby seem like it was populated by actual people.

THE STORY/STORIES - Dual perpectives can be hit or miss because the characters might sound too similar or one character's story is more interesting and maybe even more important than the other character's. Not so here! While it's true that I was more interested in Sean's story at first (and it remains the story closest to my heart), I grew into Puck's story. I became just as invested in her well-being as I was in Sean's.

The dual narrative also serves to portray two different kinds of drama and to give you a comprehensive look at life on Thisby. Puck's story is essentially about family and what makes a place "home" to a person and what makes people leave. From her, we see the simplicity and hardship of life on the island, the danger of the water horses, and the closeness of the community. Sean's story is the archetypal story of a boy and his horse. From him, we see the horse-based side of life on the island, the politics and pageantry involved in the horse business, and the raw beauty and old magic of Thisby.

The dual narrative here truly interweaves - that is, each story line has its own stakes, its own tension. Sean and Puck's journeys intersect at times before really intertwining, but they are never wholly dependent on each other. The main characters don't meet and suddenly become completely invested in the other person's concerns. It was refreshing to see that. I liked that even as they became more involved in each other's lives, Sean and Puck never lost sight of their individual priorities.

Stakes are consistently raised on both sides. They're both in the race to get what they want. Puck is trying to keep her family together, is trying to keep the things that make Thisby home. Sean races to be with the only thing he cares about, his horse Corr, and he races to be free. They're both discovering what the difference is between want and need, and they're both discovering what's truly important to them.

Both of them NEED to win the Scorpio Races, but only one of them can. This never becomes a compromise between them, despite their growing friendship.

THE THEMES - This is a story about the ties that bind, about love, loyalty, and about letting go. It explores what makes a place "home" to a person. It highlights the bond between humans and their animal companions. The characters find their courage, find things they're willing to risk their lives on, find room to change. Their individual stories are woven in such a way as to highlight and strengthen the overarching themes of the novel. By the time you get to the end of the book, it's like reaching the finish line of the races. You're breathless with how everything came together in this pretty little package, perfectly book-ended by the love a boy has for his horse.

SOME NOTES - This is not your typical "horse story," but it is still, in part, a horse story. So if that isn't your thing, you might not like it. Since it isn't a typical horse story though, I still suggest you give it a try. It is also a SLOW book. It unfolds at its own pace, slowly building tension. That's because this a book where setting the MOOD is a very important part of the storytelling. It is also a story that is more literary than you'd probably expect from something with flesh-eating horses. That said, I've seen people call the book "boring."

Expanding on that last point, this is NOT an action-y novel. There's action and danger but not a whole lot of it. It's also not a heavy "plot" novel, and the magic is subtle. It's called THE SCORPIO RACES, but the races are the goal, the set-up and the end point for the story. Unlike The Hunger Games where a big part of the story are the Games themselves, the Scorpio Races is not actually about the races themselves (and technically, the only race we care about is the one that Sean and Puck are in).

Alz's Take: I pretty much agree with everything Krispy's said about themes, characters, settings, water horses not being a gimmick, etc. I'm also one of those for whom this book was not my cup of tea—and yet I still enjoyed it.

Let's go back to the beginning though. I don't know how or why, but for some reason, I thought The Scorpio Races was going to be like this:

"FOR BLOOD AND GLORY!"

I thought it was a high fantasy where carnivorous water horses pulled chariots in a weeks-long bloody battle-race through the desert. And so I was totally weirded out when I perused the book, amusing Krispy with my exclamations of, "It's on like a British island or something!" and "WTF they have cars?" and "There are no chariots."

But after I got over my disappointment and defied expectations, I enjoyed the book even though I never had a horse phase. I echo most everything Krispy said—though I do have some quibbles. And that's all I have with this book. Quibbles. No serious issues. For all the length I expend here, these quibbles did not detract from my reading experience for the most part; they're more in the vein of "I wish this had been done better."

1ST QUIBBLE - Mutt Malvern is the sole child and bastard son of Benjamin Malvern, the man who owns most of the wealth on Thisby because he has the biggest stables, and the same man who owns Corr and employs Sean to work the stables and ride once a year in the Scorpio Races. Mutt is jealous of Sean and hates him.

Sean doesn't care for Mutt and never devotes much time or thought to him beyond the immediacy of the moment (i.e. insults, confrontations, etc.)—so we never learn anything about the long years of their relationship prior to the beginning of the book. Much can be extrapolated from their social and economic positions and their antagonism during the story, but there's no narrative exploration or even hinting at what incidents might bridge the chasm between jealousy and hatred. I just wanted a little more depth because otherwise it's the same old story. Well written, perhaps, but the same.

2ND QUIBBLE - Mutt and his dad - we don’t ever get to read about them either, not even so much as a single thought from Sean on their father-son relationship. This is understandable because this is Sean's story (and Puck's) and not Mutt's. But in a book otherwise so well-written, it’s a pity that not even a half-paragraph here or a single line there could be spared to round out an otherwise basic antagonist. It didn't need much to make it even better.

Don't get me wrong. Mutt is written very well for the antagonist that he is, but that's all that he is. Any depth is left up to the reader to interpret.*

3RD QUIBBLE - Sean doesn't grow at all except for the subtle growth of his relationship with Puck. He does have an epiphany or two, but by the end of the book I didn't feel that he'd changed that much from the beginning. While Puck faces adversity and develops the strength and confidence to overcome them, Sean remains pretty much a static figure in comparison.

Sean and Corr is very much the quintessential story of the Boy and His Horse. Unlike that archetypical tale, we don't get to see them develop their bond or learn to work together. That's already happened and we are not privy to those scenes. Maybe if this had just been the story of Sean and Corr alone we would have seen all that, but as it is the book isn't big enough to encompass all that and be balanced with Puck's story too.**

4TH QUIBBLE - The ending. Sean's ending was beautiful and fitting, but Puck's was just a bit pat. Plausible, and in-character, but pat. Krispy agrees that everything's a bit too neatly wrapped up on her side. I would have liked just a little more looming reality but faced with renewed spirit and determination, as opposed to just the spirit and determination alone. It's like what Finn tells Puck when he makes her hot chocolate: A little salt makes the hot chocolate taste all the sweeter.

Conclusion: We both enjoyed THE SCORPIO RACES. After all, we wrote this freaking essay about it. So you should check it out, expecting a slow atmospheric story about ties that bind. And not chariots.

*Forthcoming in the future: an in-depth analytical discussion between Krispy and Alz on Mutt Malvern. Krispy busted out some text-supported literary analysis well worth a 9 on an AP essay in our emails about Mutt, which says something about The Scorpio Races that it can lend itself to such a critical eye.

**Essay on Sean Kendrick too. There is something very fitting about the subtle change in Sean that I find appealing and satisfying that I don't have quibbles with, whereas Alz does.

EDIT TO ADD: Sophia is holding a fabulous giveaway with two prizes: a signed book and a 25-page WIP critique from both of us here at A Nudge! Hurry! Enter now!

2011 in Review

2012-01-06T05:55:00.000-08:00

We're putting off our 2012 Resolutions until next week. Yeah, not-procrastinating is always a work-in-progress goal. Anyway, since most of our December posts were "Best of" and "YA Superlative posts," we're going to take today to give a quick recap of our 2011.

We realized while putting this post together that A LOT happened to us this year! Here's the rundown.

JANUARY

We helped launch the Godspeed (for Beth Revis' Across the Universe), and Penguin very nicely sent us a signed copy of AtU for our troubles!

FEBRUARY

I went on 2 trips: Chicago (for work, my first time there!) & San Francisco (for fun, Girls' trip!).

Right after Snowpocalypse. I've never been so cold in my life (Californian here). Actually, Germany in winter was pretty freaking cold.

Alz introduced her amazing doodle skills when it comes to YA Key Scenes. Ms. Lydia Kang fell in love with them.

MARCH

We met the hilarious and multi-talented SOPHIA CHANG in REAL LIFE after we realized we live in the same area thanks to talking about the closing of local Borders stores (sadness).

She did a Guest Post on Music here and Alz did a Guest Post on MFAs in Creative Writing there.

The Sister and I started Doctor Who, and then promptly marathoned from Eccleston to Tennant to Smith. Not all in this month but over the next few. Ten is our Doctor. Always. (So much David Tennant love!)

Also of note, Alz and I started our current joint-project.

APRIL

I discovered that my friends and the sister and I are all very competitive Easter Egg Hunters. We also started watching Game of Thrones, which Alz still needs to finish watching.

The sister and I bought SHEEPY, who is now an inextricable part of our lives. He takes after the sister, which means I think he's slightly evil.

The sister and I probably watched the 1st season of BBC's Sherlock around this time.

MAY

We celebrated Asian/Pacific- American Heritage Month all month long with books, food, and picture posts. We had our first vlog - me and Sophia!

The sister and I saw THOR, which we thought would suck like a vacuum sucks dust, but we were wrong. So wrong. We were also wrong about no one going to the movies on Mother's Day weekend. We got our butts handed to us by a theater full of Dads and small children. Well played, geeky Dads, well played. Uh, also I apparently like villains?

This one, specifically.
(And Tom Hiddleston is so very charming.)

JUNE

We participated in a bunch of blogfests. Sophia and I vlogged again. I finally met some long-time online writer-buddies, Merc and Spartezda.

Aaaand...I bought my first car.

JULY

The month of HARRY POTTER. The end of an era. We dressed up, went to the midnight showing, and indulged in a lot of nostalgia. I also met blogger-writer Anne at the HP midnight showing!

The sister and I went to Disneyland a lot (the new Star Tours, omg). I found blogger Linda, who I thought was like my online doppleganger...and then we realized we actually had mutual friends in REAL LIFE and went to the same university. SMALL WORLD.

Alz started adding doodles to her reviews.

AUGUST

We did Camp NaNoWriMo, Alz created the YA Love Triangle terms for boys, and Alz drew a very amusing comic of me.

How do you prefer your YA male love interests?

Oh, and I turned 25. Whut.

Sophia & I celebrated together - August b-days!

SEPTEMBER

I got hipster hair and then flew off to New York City for the Sister's birthday! I even vlogged about it.

OCTOBER

Alz reviewed Wings with possibly the BEST DOODLES EVER.

Hi, I'm Laurel.

We were in the Narley Ninja feature on ali cross' blog.

I also dressed up as Laurel for Halloween.

NOVEMBER

We did NaNoWriMo, and Sophia and I vlogged our answers to Lori's MeMe. There was that amazing episode of The Simpsons with Neil Gaiman; the Sister discovered he's British.

Alz hit her Quarter Century Mark!

DECEMBER

There was a crazy "wind event" in SoCal. Particularly our bit of SoCal.

The sister shared her favorite music from 2011 - Part 1 and Part 2. Then we participated in the YA Superlatives Blogfest where we picked our favorite books and characters of 2011!

On New Year's Eve, we danced like loons and then my cousin made us pies with the personal pie-maker we bought her.

SO that's our 2011 in a nutshell! A lot more happened than we thought. This was also the year the Sister and I became geekier (we didn't think it was possible), what with the sci-fi and the comic book franchises. She and I also picked up a couple more Brit celeb crushes [Tom Hiddleston (love him so much right now), David Tennant (our Doctor), Benedict Cumberbatch (for his fantastic, fascinating, and funny turn as Sherlock), Richard Madden (Game of Thrones - Robb Stark), and I have to include Ewan McGregor - despite his being a long-time crush of ours - just because he is forever flawless]!

Here at A Nudge, we met many more amazing bloggers (in real life and online) in 2011! Some of you we've chatted, emailed, and tweeted with for so long, it feels like much more than a year. We hope to have more fun with you in 2012. :)

We'll have a book review on Wednesday. A positive one! I would even say one full of GUSHING and SQUEEING. Mostly from me, but Alz will back me up. Really.

What did you accomplish last year? More than you thought? (Definitely the case for us!)

2012 OHHHH YEAH BABY

2012-01-04T06:05:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, peeps! It's 2012! This is Alz sneak-blogging under Krispy's username because Krispy wants to play Bejeweled Blitz and read The Pledge by Kimberly Derting. We'll have a more substantial post to come on Friday, but in the meantime Krispy says, "I am forever food-coma-ing from the holidays and can't handle too much thinking." I don't think she realizes how much I like to transcribe her words verbatim into our blog posts when she's not paying attention. Mwahaha.

So instead we're just going to post doodles of how we ended 2011.

I read a boatload of books. Literally a book a day for the past two-ish weeks. And still going strong! Reviews forthcoming--and some of them will actually be positive! Others will be negative. Very negative.

The Lost Hero, Cinders, Shatter Me, Divergent, The Son of Neptune, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, Daughter of Smoke & Bone, Dragon's Keep, The Scorpio Races, Bones of Faerie, The Replacement, Blood Red Road, So Shelly, Prophecy of the Sisters

Krispy ended the year with her best read of the year, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. Ending the year with the best book of the year is awesome. Way awesome.

Almost as awesome as a Tardis mug full of cream-vodka-spiked Sunkist.

Krispy and I rang in the new year with her sister and their cousin, the latter of whom graced us with homemade peach pies from her brand new mini pie-maker.

The crusts were burned and two of the four pies turned into volcanoes fountaining peach lava,
but they were all delectably delicious.

Lastly, here is a gift from both Krispy and her sister Krunchy--a gift, as Krispy says, from the universe in the form of one Jason Mraz. This is his amazing new song, "I Won't Give Up."

So we ended 2011 on a positive note and so far the new year is off to a positive note too. At this rate we shall have a melody as beautiful as Mraz's and 2012 will be a beautiful song indeed! How did you herald in the new year?

YA Superlative Blogfest: Best In Show

2011-12-30T06:05:00.000-08:00

Today is the last day of the YA Superlative Blogfest! We hope you enjoy this last installment!

Click for more info!

Be sure to check out the other participants' picks by checking the linky on Katy, Jessica, Tracey, or Alison's pages.

The topic is BEST IN SHOW, and we've got a show for you.

Favorite Cover: Wither by Lauren DeStefano - This book has a gorgeous cover not only for the picture, but for the exterior ornamental designs that carry on inside the book. That's some fiiiine design work.

Cutest Couple:
Platonic: SEAN KENDRICK & CORR from The Scorpio Races - They are the BOY and HIS HORSE, an archetypal pair about friendship and trust. Their bond was moving. Even Alz, who never had a horse phase, was moved by their bond.

Romantic: NICK RYVES & MAE CRAWFORD from The Demon's Surrender - Because let's face it, Mae's stubbornness and spunk is the only thing that can withstand Nick's lack of empathetic ability and black, demon eyes. And she's bossy and we think Nick secretly likes being bossed around. And this exchange proves that they totally get each other.

“Sometimes I feel better around you. I kind of like your face." -Nick, The Demon's Covenant

[After Nick has just suffered a defeat] "I came to show you my face." - Mae, The Demon's Surrender (because she thought it'd make him feel better)

Most Likely to Succeed: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater - This book will not be everyone's cup of tea; indeed, it was very much Krispy's cup of tea and not so much Alz's, but even Alz acknowledges that this is a good book. It's slow and steady-paced right up until the race at the end, as is only fitting; the language is at once spare and beautiful in its sparseness; and the themes of family, bonds, and courage are at the heart of this horse-and-rider story. This isn't a buzzword book nor an appeal to the mass market, but there's something about its qualities that make it a winner.

Most Likely to Make You Miss Your Bedtime (The book you just couldn’t put down!): The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan - Again, not quite YA, but this was the book we both blazed through. Our anticipation for the return of our favorite teen demigod made reading this book a race to find out where he had been and what he was going to do now. This second book of the series also had more interesting and dynamic characters and better pacing than the first book.

Best Repeat Performance (Your favorite sequel or follow-up.): The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan - like we said, we were REALLY excited to see Percy again, and boy did not disappoint!

Goliath by Scott Westerfeld - This was a wonderful wrap up for a thrilling, nation-hopping trilogy, and finally, after 2 books, Alek & Deryn see each other as they really, truly are.

Honorable Mention: The Demon's Surrender by Sarah Rees Brennan - What a satisfying yet not-too-pat resolution to a trilogy full of magic and amazing, layered characters. The characters! How we will miss them! This one gets an honorable mention since we actually liked the second book of the trilogy most--which is not to say that Demon's Surrender wasn't also amazing.

Romance Most Worthy of an Ice Bath: ADAM & JULIETTE from Shatter Me - We're actually not totally sold on their romance, but goodness, did these two have some sizzling chemistry when they touched. In particular, we're talking about that scene in the shower. Yeah, you know the one. Tahereh Mafi's unique writing style was pitch-perfect here.

Pair Most Likely to Stay Best Friends Till They’re 80: PUCK & SEAN from The Scorpio Races - Whether together romantically or not, these two have the compatibility to weather all the storms and flesh-eating horses of Thisby. They both love the island and their horses, and they care about the same sorts of things. They will grow old together on Thisby with horses and water horses, Sean largely wordless because words aren't always necessary and with Puck as full of spit and vinegar as ever.

Breakout Novel (Favorite Book by a Debut Author):

Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake - We're actually not entirely sure if this is Kendare's debut, but it certainly was her first book in YA horror and she did a fabulous job with this book. It was funny, quick-paced, and scary with a charismatic main character and engaging supporting characters. All in all, an enjoyable read! We're excited for Book 2: Girl of Nightmares.

Best Old-Timer (Your favorite read of the year, published BEFORE 2011):
Graceling by Kristin Cashore - [Krispy's read] HOW did I not read this book until this year? It's high fantasy with a badass heroine, well-developed character arcs, and an intriguing plot. I need to read Fire asap, and then control my excitement for Bitterblue in 2012!

Armageddon Summer - [Alz's read] This YA novel by Jane Yolen and Bruce Coville was published some years ago but is still a fantastic read concerning belief and disbelief in everything from family to religion to love to armageddon. All handled from two first-person POVs, the girl who is forced to take care of her siblings and the boy who feels it is his duty to look after his father.

Most Pleasant Surprise (The best book you didn’t think you’d like, but totally did):

Matched by Ally Condie - [Krispy's read, but not published in 2011] The blurb didn't grab me at all because it sounded like it was only a love triangle stretched over 300-some pages. But I read it because I won a copy, and I ended up really liking it. Yes, it's still mostly focused on the love triangle, but there was more. The utopian/dystopian setting was interesting and the theme was as much about love as it was about choice. The scariest part was I could easily see myself being content in a world like The Society, much like Cassia is at the start of the tale.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater - [Alz's read] I like horses all right but I never had a horse phase, and I had some strange misconceptions about what the book was actually about--plus my reading tastes lean more toward straight-up fantasy and/or dystopian than contemporary-slice-of-life-with-a-magical-element. So while I didn't think I'd hate The Scorpio Races or anything, I wasn't expecting much. And my expectations were beyond exceeded, for the book turned out to be a good, solid, enjoyable read.

Sleeper Hit (Book you found so awesome you wish it had been hyped more): Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake - We hadn't heard much about this book but it was October and we thought a scary read might be fun! So Krispy picked up Anna from the library, read it, loved it, and passed it on to Alz, who read it and loved it just as much. Horror is not really our preferred reading genre, but we do love the TV show Supernatural and Anna Dressed in Blood is right along those lines.

And our TWO self-chosen categories are...

Book That Deserves to Be Mentioned Here Just Because: I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen - It's not YA and it's a picture book, but trust us, this picture book is not just for kids!

Favorite Read of 2011:

Krispy's Pick

It was a tough call, but I loved this book to pieces. Bitty, bitty pieces.

Alz's Pick

This is a beautifully-written beautifully-set book with some beautiful characters. Lots and lots of beauty. I had a few issues, but nothing so major as to dull my sparkly beautiful enjoyment.

Thanks for coming by during the blogfest! We hope you enjoyed this fun way of winding down 2011. Have a safe and Happy New Year, everyone!

What are your picks for these categories?

Superlative Blogfest RECAP:
Head of Class
Popularity
Elements of Fiction

YA Superlative Blogfest: Elements of Fiction

2011-12-29T06:05:00.000-08:00

Behold! Glorious DAY 3 of the YA Superlative Blogfest!

Click for more info!

Be sure to check out the other participants' picks by checking the linky on Katy, Jessica, Tracey, or Alison's pages.

Today we get down into the nitty-gritty of storytelling, narrative, and settings with ELEMENTS OF FICTION, including all the books we've read that were published in 2011.

Most Wonderful World-Building: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor - Laini Taylor crafts Prague into a place of gothic beauty and mystery right alongside a supernatural world every bit as real and grounded.

Goliath by Scott Westerfeld - It takes masterful world-building to create an alternate historical timeline, where World War I was fought with steam-powered, Clanker machines and fabricated Darwinist war beasts, and make it plausible. This is a fantastic, alternate vision of our world.

Alek & His Stormwalker (c) Keith Thompson

Secrets in the Rookery (c) Keith Thompson

Honorable Mention: The Island of Thisby from The Scorpio Races. This place is entirely fictional but felt like it was REAL. I could smell the salt in the air, taste the sticky-sweetness of the November cakes, and hear the screams of the capaill uisce, the pounding of their hooves. I could see the windswept cliffs and the cozy town of Skarmouth, populated by the islanders and mainland tourists. Maggie Stiefvater made me believe that somewhere in the Atlantic there really is an island where water horses wash ashore every November.

Most Formidable World (Or, the setting you most definitely would NOT want to travel to.): Wither by Lauren DeStefano - Girls die by age 20 in this world. So there is the constant threat of being kidnapped and sold into marriages or worse. Also, since we're both over 20, we'd both be dead. We want to live, dammit.

Wanderlust-Inducing (Or, the setting you'd happily travel to.): Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor - Prague! Not only is it a beautiful city, but the way Laini Taylor writes it the place is old art and fine history and silver winter haze. Besides, a lot of the books we read this year were dystopians and, let's face it, we'd rather not subject ourselves to the rigors of a futuristic totalitarian society.

Thx for the Prague montage, Wikipedia.

Loveliest Prose: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor - Can you tell we love this book? Basically, we wish we could write like this.

Fairy-tale city. From the air, red rooftops hug a kink in a dark river, and by night the forested hills appear as spans of black nothing against the dazzle of the lit castle, the spiking Gothic towers, the domes great and small. The river captures all the lights and teases them out, long and wavering, and the side-slashing rain blurs it all to a dream.

This was Akiva's first sight of Prague...

Best First Line: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater -

It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.

Most Dynamic Main Character: TRIS from Divergent by Veronica Roth - Tris's character development is clear-cut, realistic, and none too easy--every choice she makes is a hard one and they only get harder and harder throughout the book, forcing her to grow and change.

Most Jaw-Dropping Finale: Delirium by Lauren Oliver - We had some mixed feelings and mixed reactions to this book in general but all that aside, the climax remains astounding, astonishing, and powerful, a literary punch in the gut. It left us breathless.

Best Performance in a Supporting Role: ALAN from Demon's Surrender by Sarah Rees Brennan / FOUR from Divergent by Veronica Roth - Alan, as you may already be able to tell, is one of our favorite people ever. He is sweet, kind, caring, decent-ish, although he does lie a lot and engage in morally and ethically questionable activities--usually for the sake of family and friends though. Four is tough, hardened by his past as much as his present, and yet within he is also a decent guy. We just really appreciate decency and character development, apparently.

Best Use of Theme: The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater - This book is everything I (Krispy) wanted and hoped it would be. It's a story of a place and a community, of a way of life, of a girl and her horse and her struggle to keep her family together, of a boy and his horse and the true bond between them. It's about wanting and needing, about tradition and breaking tradition, about sacrifice and bravery and loyalty and love. With the island of Thisby as their backdrop and the races as their shared goal, Puck and Sean's story lines compliment each other, teasing out everything they care about and everything Thisby is to them.

I can't put it better than the lovely Erin Bowman, who not only put this book on my radar but gave me my own copy of it (I won her giveaway):

"What an absolutely beautiful story about love and sacrifice and the things that bind us together..."

Honorable mentions: Daughter of Smoke and Bone for its interweaving of hope, magic, and the need to belong somewhere even if its among monsters. Divergent for its exploration of selflessness and bravery, flaws and virtues, and the complicated paths of family and self-discovery.

And lo, those are our choices for best elements of fiction. What are your picks?

See you tomorrow for the conclusion of the Superlatives blogfest! The topic? Best in Show! (Side note from Alz: Krispy is still freaking out over Scorpio Races even as we blog this. I need to read it.)

Superlative Blogfest RECAP:
Head of Class
Popularity

YA Superlative Blogfest: Popularity Contest

2011-12-28T06:05:00.000-08:00

Welcome to DAY 2 of the YA Superlative Blogfest!

Click for more info!

Once again, here are the deets: The Class of 2011: YA Superlatives Blogfest is a fun and interactive way to highlight and share your favorite YA novels, covers, characters, and story elements. The Class of 2011: YA Superlatives Blogfest will span four days, beginning Tuesday, December 27th and culminating Friday, December 30th.

Be sure to check out the other participants' picks by checking the linky on Katy, Jessica, Tracey, or Alison's pages.

If you missed our picks yesterday, take a looksie here: Head of Class

Today's theme is POPULARITY CONTEST, in which we name characters from our 2011 YA reads (all our 2011 YA reads, so not just ones published this year) in the categories we think they most exemplify.

Class Clown: JAMIE from The Demon's Surrender (and the other two books in the Demon's Lexicon Trilogy). The words that come out of this kid's mouth are amazing and hilarious and GOLDEN. See quote below from The Demon's Surrender...

"Think about crack!" Jamie added, clearly struck by inspiration. "Yes! It's like I'm a crack addict, and you're my friend the drug dealer who gives me crack for free, and I know you're just trying to be a good friend, but every time I think 'Wow, this crack might be a little bit of a problem for me,' you're there to say, 'Have some more delicious crack.' Am I making sense?"

Nick stared."Hardly ever in your life."

Most Likely to Start a Riot: AMY from Across the Universe by existing - She almost started one because she's totally out of time and place among the residents of the Godspeed.

SOPHIE from Demonglass by accident - Sophie's a powerhouse of magic. The problem is, she can't always control it, so her spells tend to go BIG.

NICK from The Demon's Surrender on purpose - Nick doesn't really get emotions and gets his thrills from dangerous situations. Even if he wasn't looking for a fight, he'd gladly join in one. And under the right (or wrong) circumstances, he might well incite one.

Case in point: “I don't really get scared. Want to know what else I don't feel? PITY.” - Nick, The Demon's Lexicon

Biggest Flirt: NOAH from The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer - This boy is one of those teenage surface jerkfaces who is actually charismatic, verbally gifted, and perhaps not a total jerkface after all once you get to know him.

KENJI from Shatter Me - Almost every word out of this guy's mouth is flirtatious. He even tells Juliette he's got a spectacular face.

Fashion King/Queen: WARNER from Shatter Me - Clothes are very important to him in order to cement his appearance as a stylish but terrifying dictator of a man. And he's only nineteen. A precocious young fellow is he.

Girl You'd Most Want for Your BFF: ZUZANA from The Daughter of Smoke & Bone - Zuzana is vertically challenged and makes up for this lack with her big mouth and big heart.

*Close second was MAE from The Demon's Lexicon Trilogy - She's brave, loyal, smart, funny, and spunky. Who doesn't love a fearless girl with pink hair and an endless supply of sass!

*PERCY from The Son of Neptune - Technically, this is an MG book and Percy is not a girl, but Percy is of YA age and he is too lovable and badass for us to leave out.

Boy You Wish You'd Dated in High School: ALAN from The Demon's Surrender - Full disclosure, Alan has a lot of flaws. He's a consummate liar, a masterful manipulator, and he's killed people. He also has a very dangerous brother. All that aside, he is at his core a decent guy and he acts on those decent impulses. He strives to protect people he cares about. He has good manners. He adores books. He fiercely loves his brother, enough to sacrifice everything for him. So you can see why we would love him in return.

*We also had these guys in this category as Too Hot To Handle. As in, these guys are too hot & spicy for us / we know better / we're intimidated.

NOAH from The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer (hot but too much personal baggage); NICK (hot but scary) from The Demon's Surrender; FOUR (good guy but intimidating) from Divergent; CAS (charismatic but really dangerous lifestyle) from Anna Dressed in Blood

Most Likely to Become President: CLAUDIA from Sapphique & VERONICA from A Brief History of Montmaray

Both of these ladies are smart, well-bred, and well-spoken. Claudia is cunning. Veronica is clever. Claudia is the Warden's Daughter and betrothed to the future King. Veronica is a Princess. These ladies would easily climb their way into office and be competent and awesome President Queens.

Villain You Love to Hate: KRELL from THE CLONE WARS TV series - All right, so this evil Jedi is not technically from a book.

Our desire to see him suffer and die increased tenfold with every second.

But his evilness increases exponentially with every episode of his four-part arc: a lone military commander with no lieutenant or superior to check his bloodlust or ambition, veto his questionable battle strategies, or even make him see that his men are in fact real people and not faceless lifeless unimportant expendable troops.

THE NAZIS from A Brief History of Montmaray - I can't get too into this one without spoiling things, but suffice to say, they're NAZIS. Everyone loves to hate on Nazis.

Favorite Parental Figure: Tris' mom NATALIE PRIOR from Divergent - This woman is a badass. Read the book to find out how and why.

BRIMSTONE from Daughter of Smoke & Bone - Brimstone is a monster with a goat head, crocodile eyes, and other animalistic features. He sells wishes in exchange for teeth. He lives in a shop whose door opens into many different cities across the world. He also reared Karou from a baby, "not without tenderness," and though of forbidding aspect and personality, it is clear how much he cares for his adopted child.

Coolest Nerd: ALAN from The Demon's Surrender - He wins this category hands down. He's smart. He believes in education and literacy. He loves books and has a way with words. He works in a book store! He knows really random trivia - historical and supernatural. He can quote Shakespeare on the drop of a dime. And to top that all off, he's an excellent kisser (just ask the ladies of the trilogy) AND he's good with a gun. He never misses, even in the dark. No, seriously. His brother Nick will vouch for him. COOLNESS.

“I don't have deal breakers," Alan said. "I look on tempests, and am never shaken.” - Alan, The Demon's Surrender.

Where would you put YOUR favorite YA characters?

See you tomorrow for more Superlative Blogfesting! The topic is Elements of Fiction.

YA Superlative Blogfest: Head of Class

2011-12-27T06:05:00.000-08:00

Welcome back from the holiday celebrations! We hope you got awesomesauce things for Christmas and ate lots of delicious things (we did, perhaps too much)!

Today, we're participating in the Class of 2011: YA Superlative Blogfest hosted by Jessica Love, Tracey Neithercott, Alison Miller, and Katy Upperman.

Click for more info!

About the blogfest: The Class of 2011: YA Superlatives Blogfest is a fun and interactive way to highlight and share your favorite YA novels, covers, characters, and story elements. The Class of 2011: YA Superlatives Blogfest will span four days, beginning Tuesday, December 27th and culminating Friday, December 30th.

Today's topic is HEAD OF CLASS, in which we name our favorite 2011 YA books.

Favorite Dystopian: Divergent by Veronica Roth

We have some very mixed feelings about the worldbuilding in this book, but out of all the dystopians we've read this year, Divergent definitely has the best character arc. Tris's development and evolution are both realistic and interesting, making this a worthwhile read. Plus, the book is action-packed, making for a fast read.

Favorite Fantasy: Chime by Franny Billingsley / Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Despite some plot issues, Alz really liked Chime for the fact that it transformed a grody mosquito-laden swamp into a place of beauty and mystery. She's currently reading Daughter of Smoke and Bone which Krispy has already read.

Both of us agree that Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a beautifully-written and atmospheric book. Being set in Prague is a bonus too, and the world-building is excellent. It puts a unique and multi-layered twist on the angel/demon mythology.

Favorite Action/Adventure: Goliath by Scott Westerfeld

Alz didn't read this one, but Krispy did and thought it was a wonderful, satisfying end to a fun trilogy. Set in an alternate historical timeline of World War I, in which the warring sides have steam-powered war machines and fabricated beasties, the books take us on a thrilling ride from Europe to the Middle East, across Russia and to America, aboard the living airship, The Leviathan. There are thrilling air battles, revolutions, war conspiracies and politics, clever beasties, a lost prince, a girl pretending to be a boy, and a friendship that possibly becomes something more. If that doesn't scream Action Adventure to you, we don't know what will.

Favorite Mystery: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Alz read this one. The mystery in this book is indeed mysterious as Mara doesn't remember how or why her friends died or why she is the sole survivor. The tension is tripwire-taut and the story exerts in inexorable pull on the reader because you really do want to find out A) what happened and B) what the hell is going on.

Favorite Romance: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin / Divergent by Veronica Roth

*Note: We didn't read any books that would necessarily be categorized as "romance" books, so we picked couples we liked, who we thought had chemistry and development.

Mara/Noah is a great romance because while Noah is initially presented as a douchey jerk and has quite a mouth, Mara can verbally hold her own against him and has conflicting feelings about whether or not she likes him or wants to strangle him or both. Their chemistry. It sizzles. *sssssss*

Tris/Four is a different sort of romance because rather than peers, they have a trainee/trainer relationship at first. The romance develops naturally over the course of their interactions and deepens as they begin to understand each other's weaknesses and fears, as well as strengths.

What do both of these romances have in common as they both earn our Favorite Romance label? It's not love at first sight. The romance has depth beyond "oh he's hawt" and "she's sex-ayyyy". They do not instantly fall in love because of Fate and Destiny. And yet neither one of these books would probably first be labeled as a romance. Hmm.

Favorite Family Drama: Demon's Surrender by Sarah Rees Brennan

Ah! Demon's Surrender! The beauteous bromance! Nick and Alan! The Ryves brothers! Despite their danger-ridden lives, they hold together through thick and thin, glued together by brotherly love. The entire Demon's Lexicon trilogy is like a family drama because all the most important relationships are familial ones. The Ryves brothers. Spunky heroine Mae and her brother Jamie. Brave Sin and her little sister and her extended "family" of the Goblin Market. There's danger and romance, but in the end, their strongest motivational ties involve family.

Favorite Genre Bender: Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Krispy read this one. It's a genre bender because it's a contemporary sort of story with paranormal elements, but it also has some family drama and action and a side of romance. The story is set in what looks like the present on the fictional island of Thisby that feels oh-so-real. The paranormal comes in the form of the dangerous and beautiful water horses that wash up on the island's shore every Fall, which the people who would ride in the Scorpio Races attempt to train. The plot is character driven - Puck Connolly is a girl who enters the race - the first to ever do so - in a desperate bid to keep her family together and Sean Kendrick is the returning champion of the races, who has one foot on land and the other in the sea, who loves a water horse that is his in every way except in name. It's a classic boy and horse / girl and horse and saving the farm story, put atop the back of a flesh-eating fairy horse from the sea. In short, moving and wonderful.

Favorite Horror: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

This is a genre not actually included in the blogfest, but we added it because even though we only read two YA horror novels this year, Anna Dressed in Blood was too good not to include somewhere on this Head of Class list. It had a lone wolf hero whose mom cares about and supports him, blood and gore and ghosts, and supporting characters who were interesting, competent, and defied stereotypes. The voice was great.

Alz read not so many 2011-published books; Krispy read many. However, this will matter less on Wednesday when we return to the blogfest with a post on YA characters not limited to 2011. So be sure to stop in tomorrow!

What are your favorite genre picks? We'd love to hear them!

Deja Vu Blogfest

2011-12-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

It's Friday, and today we are participating in the Deja Vu Blogfest hosted by Lydia Kang, DL Hammons, Creepy Query Girl, and Nicole Ducleroir.

Before we get to that though, I wanted to let you all know, we will be taking this coming week OFF from blogging for the holidays. This is so we can log some extra progress on projects and read some more 2011 books in preparation for the YA Superlative Blogfest, taking place the last week of December. We'll be blogging all week starting TUES. Dec 27.

So, we'll miss you and we hope you miss us too! Until then, we want to wish you all HAPPY HOLIDAYS and MERRY CHRISTMAS! (We'll likely pop in on Christmas with a merry doodle.)

ON TO THE DEJA VU BLOGFEST! Here's what it's is about:

Ever feel like you know you missed that one kick-ass post of a favorite blogger somewhere, somehow?

This is your chance to do some major catching up, and re-post a favorite blog post of your own that NEEDS to see the light of day one more time.

And on December 16, re-post your favorite/most informative/most life-changing announcement/most ANYTHING blog post you want to re-share with the world.

Click the Deja Vu Blogfest link to see all the other participants!

So here from the depths of our archives, all the way back from 2008, Alz's post On Plausible Villainy!

(NOTE: We realized as we searched through our archives that NOT ONLY did we use to make Posts of Substance, but that these posts were REALLY LONG. So you've been warned. Essay ahead. OR you can TL;DR scroll to the end of the post after the cut for our 2011 summary.)

For kicks & because Lydia requested a doodle:
Krispy's 2011 villainous crush, Loki.

Iago of Shakespeare's Othello is widely touted to be the epitome of villainy. Why? Because he's just so damn evil. The dude's got it down on Othello and wants him to suffer, suffer, suffer, and suffer some more for good measure, and manages to contrive Othello's downfall with a smiling face and everyone's full trust. Why does he do this? Because somebody else got promoted, not him, and Othello gets to take the brunt of the blame. There's not really much reason beyond that given for his absolute hatred of the Moor. Dim-witted Othello trusts Iago completely which fact of course Iago takes shameless advantage of in order to manipulate and betray his "friend", and this is supposed to be why Iago is the quintessential evil villain. And because Shakespeare is revered as such a noble figure within the realm of English literature, and he's been dead for centuries, and scholars say so, it seems to be one of those general "facts" of the academic world.

Iago's kind of one-dimensional if you just take him straight out of the play.

No, seriously. Think about it. Iago haaaaaates Othello and wants to nail his tender bits to the wall and to make him suspicious of and despise his wife so that he'll smother her with a pillow and then feel terribly, terribly guilty about it when she finally dies of it a half-dozen agonized soliloquies and dialogue exchanges or so later. Cassio got promoted instead of Iago, and this fills Iago with vitriolic rage and loathing for Othello's littlest skin particle, never mind the rest of him. Speculation as to why he hates Othello so damn much is all well and good, of course, and ripe pickings for fanfiction (leave the temptation to slash alone, please, oh gods please leave it alone), but within the bounds of the actual play itself—let's face it, there's no real concrete reason given why Iago loathes Othello so much. We're just supposed to concentrate on the fact that Iago feels betrayed, the loathing is there, and now he's acting on what he feels and doing what he does best: being a manipulative bastard. He can gain dimension for possible reasons, and this is where the analysis and interpretation takes place, but there are characters who come off to me as deep and full of inner conflict and motivations and twists and turns of psychology that form an elaborate pretzel-knot, and then there are those who just leave me going double-you-tee-eff. Needless to say, Iago's one of the latter.

An Iago-type villain holds thin water nowadays, having become a stereotype: "You passed me up, so I'm-a kill you, you son of a bitch." I mean, most villains seem to be ambitious and aspiring towards power (for either destructive I'll-show-them-all-and-destroy-the-world or constructive I-can-make-the-world-a-better-place purposes), or because they've got vengeance cooking hot on their brains (this is Iago, who takes it to an extreme), or they lust after fame/infamy, or they're lusting for somebody that they can't have or want to impress, or they're just insane (which though it can be done well is more often used as a cop-out, like the typical oh-it-was-all-just-a-dream trope), or sundry other reasons. But it's a rare villain indeed who exists simply as a plot device of Sheer and Absolute Evil for the Sake of Hating So-and-So For a Reason of Some Kind. I mean, check out the Wikipedia section talking about Iago's possible motives—about the only clear and text-citable reason for hatred is that he was passed up for promotion. (Granted, it's been a while since I've read Othello, but I'm pretty sure I remember Iago having not very many clear reasons for his absolute hatred of Othello.)

Thus there are "evil" villains. But there are also villains who are not so much villains as antagonists, opposing the protagonist without necessarily being what you'd nominally call "evil". Look at the works of Hayao Miyazaki. His films are notorious for having villains who turn out to be not quite so villainous after all—they may not exactly be paragons of pure goodwill and altruism, but they tend to have a decidedly human air of reasonability about them. Check out the invading force in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Lady Eboshi of Princess Mononoke, or Yubaba of Spirited Away. I'll not post spoilers here, but they are human (or have humanizing qualities) as much as they are villains, and they're not pointlessly evil—or even exactly evil at all, since "evil" becomes a matter of perspective. As characters, they come off more multi-dimensional than Iago right off the bat without a great deal of analytical or interpretive work—and to my mind, if you need to work really hard to even identify (much less deconstruct) a villain's motivations and mental workings, then that means you're probably stretching things.

Want an example of a more one-dimensional "evil" villain? Check out Baron Von Rothbart of Mercedes Lackey's The Black Swan. He's a magician with a vendetta against unfaithful women—but why? The blurb on the back of the book says it's because he considers his wife's death some years previously to be the ultimate betrayal, but this isn't mentioned anywhere within the pages of the actual book, and it's a sad, sad day in literary heaven with the analytic angels of fiction weeping tears of blood when we have to turn to the summary on the back of a book in order to figure out character motivations within the story. (I mean, come on—I'm pretty sure the authors frequently have very little or nothing to do with the blurbs on back covers and on the insides of dust jackets, and there's been more than one occasion where the back blurb actually got facts about the story inside wrong.)

But back to Von Rothbart. The only hint we have of this wife's death = ultimate betrayal thing is a brief passage from Von Rothbart's daughter's perspective concerning violets. Yes, violets. Apparently Lady Von Rothbart loved violets (which the daughter Odile vaguely remembers) but there are no longer any violets growing on Von Rothbart's land because he has every patch of flowers found rooted ruthlessly out. (The poor woman doesn't even get a name—by calling her "Lady Von Rothbart" I've already given her more name than she gets in the story.) As far as I recall, that's the sole mention of any kind of wife-related angst, and the only possible hint of motivation for his going out and stalking young women to see if they're unfaithful, transforming them into swans when he finds them cheating on their men, and then kidnapping them away to his estate where they spend their days as swans and their nights as women clad in thin silk dresses. (Personally, I think Von Rothbart is a power-mad pervert with a major fetish for swans and cheating wives and way too much time on his hands, but I sadly have the feeling that my interpretation right there is giving him more character than is really there.)

So what of Krispy and I? We've been working on the "villains" lately. Motivation, background, and personal history, ambitions and deceptions and relationships with other characters. Several times we've had to back up and rethink character structure and motivation, and we're probably going to be zigzagging back and forth for a good while longer yet. Developing a plausible villain is tough work, particularly when there is a surfeit of villainous clichés lurking like potholes to trip up unwary feet. We want more dimension than simply single-minded ambition or a single life-changing tragic incident in the past, and I don't think either of us has brought up madness as a suggested motivational force or excuse for a character's actions. These elements can be present, but they have to be well-done and they can't be reason enough alone—not without turning said characters one-dimensional, or two-dimensional if they're lucky.

2011 TL;DR summary: There are different kinds of villains out there, but plausible villains are dang hard to make.

Also, we were really ambitious with our posts back then. Uh, I guess we devolved... Sorry?

Who are your favorite villains/antagonists? What makes a plausible one?

Best of 2011: Music Edition - Songs

2011-12-14T06:10:00.000-08:00

Here's to getting over the middle of the week. Once again, we have The Sister with her music picks of 2011.

In case you missed it on Friday: Best of 2011 - Top 10 Albums of 2011

("Best Of"/Music post idea thanks to Sarah Enni.)

Top 10 Songs of 2011 (released in 2011 and in no particular order again):

1. Rumor Has It - Adele
Adele is amazing, flawfree, etc. Yes, her albums are amazing. 21 didn't make my list because I didn't listen to it enough to actually love love the album. I blame the radio for tainting her for me but this song is so effing good regardless.

2. Paradise - Coldplay
I haven't listened to this album enough, which is why it isn't part of my top 10 albums, but Paradise managed to draw me in like no other. I also haven't listened to it enough because I'm still a little ticked off that they have a song titled Princess of China even though it has nothing to do with China and has that stereotypical "Asian" sounding melody in it. I have this love/hate relationship with them for that and also because they make me sleepy when I listen to them. However, Paradise does not make me sleepy and it is sooooo goooodd.

(Krispy's note: Words cannot express how much I love this song.)

Paradise by Cold Play on Grooveshark

3. You and I - Lady Gaga
Holy shizz do I love this song! It's such a good song to blast and sing along to in the car. I don't know why I love it so much but I do.

(Krispy's note: This one too! It's twangy and soulful and catchy.)

You & I by Lady Gaga on Grooveshark

4. Edge of Glory - Lady Gaga
This song is already amazing in itself, but thanks to that Google Chrome commercial (embedded below), it made me love it so much more. It's just so inspiring and ugghhh. Favorite lyric "put on your shades cause I'll be dancin' in the flames." Uhhh, yes please.

(Krispy's note: You all already know how much I love this song.)

5. Oo La La - Priscilla Ahn
I just saw her this past Friday and she is the most adorable person ever. Seriously. So. Cute. This song pretty much shows how cute she is.

Oo la la by Priscilla Ahn on Grooveshark

6. Don't Turn Out The Lights - NKOTBSB
I remember hearing that New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys did a song together when they formed NKOTBSB but had never heard it. I had no expectations really, but when I heard the song I was like "damn this is a good song. I'd totally listen to this on the radio." Do you see a reoccurring boy band theme going on? Yeah, I know.

(Krispy's note: We were BSB fangirls. You were too if you know what this means: KTBSPA!)

Don't Turn Out The Lights (Single) by Nkotbsb on Grooveshark

7. Gotta Be You - One Direction
So I heard all this hype about this British boy band and finally decided to check them out. Catchy pop. That's pretty much all I got from them, and I mean, it wasn't bad but it didn't draw me in. But this song is way better than the song that I first listened to. It's really just the chorus that reeled me in.

Gotta Be You (HQ) by One Direction on Grooveshark

8. What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger) - Kelly Clarkson
This song is so catchy I can't even handle it. I mean when she started her comeback with Mr. Know It All, I was already like "Yeah, I like this." But when I heard this song I was like "Dang, this should have been the first single!" Well, it's her latest single so I ain't complain' though I might when it gets overplayed. Plus, her high harmonies are sickkk on this song.

What Doesn't Kill You by Kelly Clarkson on Grooveshark

9. Poison & Wine - The Civil Wars
They are perfection. Their voices blend together so well that when they harmonize I just melt. This album is also amazing but this song will give you a taste of how beautiful their voices are. They basically remind me of the two musicians in the movie Once who make up real-life band The Swell Season.

Poison & Wine by The Civil Wars on Grooveshark

10. Love On Top - Beyonce
Just cause it's Beyonce and she is fierrce. Also, this song is so cute and I am a sucker for old school sounding songs.

Love On Top by Beyoncé on Grooveshark

Q4U: Have any songs to add to this list? There were others Sis wanted to add too, but I limited her at 10.

Best of 2011: Music Edition - Albums

2011-12-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday, friends! It's the holiday season and the end of the year is also coming upon us quickly.

As such, "Best of" and Top 10 lists are beginning to crop up everywhere. It's also been a while since we've had LISTS OF THINGS. So, to help you with possible holiday gift ideas or just for your own pleasure, we'll be presenting a few posts throughout December with our BEST OF/TOP 10 of 2011 picks. (Shout out to Sarah Enni for putting this idea in my head.)

Today's list topic is MUSIC. Who better to ask for music recs than my own personal music guru. I've referred to her here at A Nudge as THE SISTER.

ABOUT the Sister: If there's a band climbing the charts, she probably knows about it. She listens to bands I've generally never heard of until suddenly everyone's talking about them.

She was a 'stache Lifestyle Representative for RED Distribution (an indie label under Sony Music) and is currently an intern at both the El Rey Theatre (under AEG Live) and RCA Records - Publicity (under Sony Music).

(Her boss at the El Rey is a big Twilight fan, hence the abundance of Edwards around this Catherine.)

Take it away, little sis!

***

Disclaimer: I don't really ever do reviews of things I like so I know my commentary probably makes no sense. I just like things because I like them ok.

Top 10 Albums of 2011 (released in 2011 and in no particular order)

1. Ceremonials - Florence and the Machine
Florence Welch is a goddess. That's pretty much it. But in all seriousness, she has such an amazingly haunting voice. Lungs was a great album and Ceremonials just continues to show how great of an artist she is. If you ever get the chance to see her live, do it. It's worth all the money.

Stand Out Tracks: Only If For A Night; Shake It Out

Shake It Out by Florence + The Machine on Grooveshark

2. Metals - Feist
This album is completely different from the sound Feist gave us in The Reminder. I'd like to say it's less produced and more stripped down. The sound of it is so different from the last album that I almost didn't realize it was Feist. But I like it when you can tell an artist has grown or goes in a new direction that works.

Stand Out Tracks: How Come You Never Go There; Cicadas And Gulls

Cicadas And Gulls by Feist on Grooveshark

3. The Way It Was - Parachute
Parachute is a band I've been obsessed with since the end of my Freshman year in college. All I listened to was Losing Sleep because it was just such a great pop album. I've waited forever for The Way It Was to come out, and I have to say I'm not disappointed at all. You can really tell on this album that the boys have matured since the last. These songs didn't seem as pop and you can tell that their musical influences on this album had more of a rock edge.

Stand Out Tracks: What I Know; American Secrets

What I Know by Parachute on Grooveshark

4. Bon Iver - Bon Iver
Bon Iver is just plain amazing. I remember first being intrigued by Bon Iver when I heard "The Wolves (Act I and II)" on an episode of Skins. This totally made me check out For Emma, Forever Ago and I was immediately in love. What's great about Bon Iver is that the songs are so simple and that's why they're so beautiful.

Stand Out Tracks: Minnesota, WI; Calgary

Calgary by Bon Iver on Grooveshark

5. We Are The Tide - Blind Pilot
I've loved Blind Pilot since my friend introduced me to them a few years back. 3 Rounds And A Sound was all I listened to when I wrote my papers. Blind Pilot has such great musical composition, and the lead singer's voice is amazing. I recently saw them in concert and they sound just as good as they do on the album. They did something amazing at the show. For the last song, they came off the stage and performed the song unplugged. I was up in the balcony and could hear it perfectly. Plus, people in the crowd actually sat down so everyone could hear and see (something that I have never seen happen ever in my life.)

Stand Out Tracks: Half Moon; The Colored Night

6. Torches - Foster the People
I'm sure many of you are sick of "Pumped Up Kicks" and I am too so I don't blame you, but you definitely need to listen to the rest of the album. This is such a fun, I-want-to-get-up and dance album that you can't help but have fun. I saw them at a sold-out show over the summer and they are just so fun (I also spotted Hoyt from True Blood there).

Stand Out Tracks: Call It What You Want; I Would Do Anything For You

Call It What You Want by Foster The People on Grooveshark

7. Young The Giant - Young the Giant
So this is the one thing I will admit MTV actually did some good in and that's introducing this band to me. I saw their VMA performance, and it seriously stole the show. It was one big mosh-pit of fun and I just thought, "Damn this song is good." So I checked out the album. I seriously love his voice. I have a thing with voices and this is a voice that is so intriguing to me because it's both gentle and rough.

Stand Out Tracks: I Got; Guns Out

Guns Out by Young the Giant on Grooveshark

8. Camp - Childish Gambino
If you guys don't know, Childish Gambino is basically Donald Glover (Troy in the show Community). I remember hearing he rapped and thought that was weird until my friend showed me the video for "Freaks And Geeks." That's when I realized he is legit. His lyrics are so smart and it's nice to hear something other than that "let's make love in this club, it's 5 am in the morning and I'm horny" shizz on the radio. Yes, he raps about vulgar things, but it isn't as simple as the songs that are out there. I feel like his vulgarity has a purpose, if that makes any sense. I guess what makes me enjoy his raps so much is that a reoccurring theme in the music is about his race and how he feels he isn't "black" enough etc. Plus, I love me some pop culture references and he is so great at it. I don't even listen to rap much but this is definitely something you need to check out.

Stand Out Tracks: Bonfire; Heartbeat

Heartbeat by Childish Gambino on Grooveshark

9. Never Trust A Happy Song - Grouplove
Grouplove is such an interesting upcoming band. I first saw them when they opened for Florence and the Machine. They had so much energy and the music was different from what I would normally listen to. It sort of has a country vibe to it at some points. I saw them again in October when they headlined their own show, and they were still able to draw me in as much as they did the first time. (Side note: went to the show because it was at the theatre where I intern at). Grouplove might not be everyone's cup of tea, but they are a band you should at least sample.

Stand Out Tracks: Tongue Tied; Colours

Tongue Tied by GROUPLOVE on Grooveshark

10. Elevate - Big Time Rush
So this might be the WTF of the list, but really it's here because I love pop songs and this is a good pop album! I grew up in the glory days of boybands, and sometimes, I still bust out BSB and other 90s music just because it makes me feel good. Pop is catchy and fun. Why Big Time Rush though? Well, I watch a lot of Nickelodeon shows (e.g. Victorious), and when watching an episode of Big Time Rush, I thought 'This isn't that bad.' Their debut album came out, I listened to it, and well, the rest is history.

Elevate just came out and it's definitely different from their debut since they actually wrote most of the songs and are trying to stray from the image they have on the show. They're trying to be legit musicians outside of the show, and this album shows that they aren't just that fake boyband from T.V. Yes, the songs aren't "OMGWOWAMAZING" smart, but they're good pop songs.

Stand Out Tracks: Show Me; Invisible

Show Me by Big Time Rush on Grooveshark
***

And that's it! Hope you enjoyed and found some tracks you enjoyed. We'll be back Wednesday with another BEST OF/TOP 10 LIST for you. The sister isn't done either. She's also got her TOP 10 SONGS of 2011. So look out for that!

Q4U: What were your favorite albums/songs/music this year?

Boba4Life: Lori's Meme Part 2

2011-12-07T06:01:00.000-08:00

Today we have another Boba 4 Life episode! It's PART 2 of Lori's Meme, in which Sophia (from Sophia the Writer) and I answer the rest of her questions.

Before, I get to that, I just wanted to THANK EVERYONE for your kind words and your concern. Most of our city's power is back, though not all of it. We have a few friends who are still sitting in the dark, a couple of traffic lights still out, and there are still chunks of trees and vegetation sitting by the roadside, waiting to be cleared away. BUT it is improving and it's not at all like some of the hurricane/tornado stories some of you shared! It's just really strange for SoCal, and our trees and power lines clearly weren't prepared. :P Like earthquakes don't freak me out, but this "wind event" (as they're calling it) totally did.

ANYWAY, Alz got her power back on Sunday! So yay!

On to the vlog!

Set-up reminder: This vlog's topic was a "Getting to Know You" Meme that Lori from You are the unicorn of my dreams put together. She asked us 5 random questions each. We answered the first 3 last time.

Part 1 of the Meme can be found here: Boba4Life - Lori's Meme Part 1

Krispy's Qs:
4. Do you have any phobias?
5. Name one thing you miss about being a kid.
BONUS
6. Mortal combat between Prince Eric (the little mermaid) and Prince Phillip (sleeping beauty). Who would win?

Sophia's Qs:
4. In a mortal combat, who would win: Merlin or Dumbledore?
5. If your mother was turned into a zombie, would you kill her and put her out of her misery or would you let her eat you?

Thanks again for watching and for well-wishing! See you Friday!

What are your answers to these questions? OR Team Eric or Team Phillip?

Randomosity on Fridays: Windy Filler Friday

2011-12-02T06:00:00.000-08:00

Friends, I am sorry, but I do not have a vlog for you. Things got a bit crazy and I didn't have time to cut the rest of the video together.

What I mean by "things got a bit crazy" is that the notorious Santa Ana winds came whirlwinding through town Wednesday night. For SoCal, usually when these winds visit, they bring autumn heat waves or cause the infamous SoCal fires, but this time, they decided to do what wind does best, and that's blow shizz down. And huff and puff and blow shizz down they did!

They blew down dry autumnal leaves and potted plants, trashcans and Christmas lawn decorations.

They blew down branches and small trees and LARGE trees and snapped electrical poles clean in two!

They huffed and puffed and blew down a gas station!

No, seriously. Photographic proof at the LA Times blog - High winds: Pasadena, Sierra Madre declare states of emergency.

Needless to say, the San Gabriel Valley got hit pretty hard. School was canceled Thursday and today. My local cities declared States of Emergencies and Disaster Areas. 75% of my city doesn't have electricity or running water as I type this Thursday night.

In fact, Alz is one of those 75%. She says, by the way, that writing by the flickering light of ONE candle is pretty damn hard. My street by some sweet, dumb luck is part of the 25% that DOES have power (how this blog is possible).

Miraculously, in my city, no one has been reported as hurt by all these number of things falling. So, SILVER LINING!

Driving home from work Thursday was surreal. As I got into my city where most of the lights were out, it was like driving through a post-apocalyptic and/or dystopian landscape. Broken signage, toppled trees, dark, dark houses and streets. Debris everywhere. Only the headlights of my car and the few others on the road lit the way.

There's a set of train tracks on a small hill I have to cross to get home, and that looked really creepy. As cars headed in my opposite direction approached, I could see their headlights crest the hill, backlighting the tracks and the railroad signals. I half expected zombies to shamble over the top.

I've got some more sympathy for our characters now, I'll tell you that.

SO: vlogs next week! NaNo update too!

What are your freak natural disaster experiences OR have you ever been in a situation that eerily mirrored that of your characters? (The universe is definitely telling me to get back to work on my Camp NaNo novel from this summer.)

Boba4Life: Lori's Meme

2011-11-30T09:19:00.000-08:00

Today, I have for you a new episode of Boba4Life with me, Krispy, and Sophia from Sophia the Writer!

We actually filmed this mid-November but I didn't get around to cutting it together until now. Oops. As usual, we had too much fun doing this vlog, so it's another 2-parter. I might even have a blooper reel for you in the future. Hah.

Without further ado, this vlog's topic was a "Getting to Know You" Meme that Lori from You are the unicorn of my dreams put together. She asked us 5 random questions each. We manage to answer 3 this first time around.

Krispy's Qs:
1. What kind of music do you listen to?
2. In an epic battle, who would win: the Dalai Lama or Batman?
3. Which of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse would you fear least meeting?

Sophia's Qs:
1. If you had the option of spending the night with a vampire or a werewolf (with no guarantee that it wouldn't be the night of the full moon), which would you choose?
2. What do you consider the most important event in your life so far?
3. Explain why you should run for president.

Thanks for watching! Come back Friday for another episode of Boba4Life, Lori's Meme vlog Part 2! Meanwhile, I'll be trying to up my NaNo wordcount to something less embarrassing. Wish me luck!

What are your answers to these Meme questions?

Randomosity on Black Friday & GIVEAWAY WINNER

2011-11-25T15:53:00.000-08:00

Sorry this is late everyone! I was going to set this up last night, but like most people in the U.S., I was in a tryptophan-induced food coma after dinner.

Then I woke up at 5am this morning to go Black Friday shopping and have just returned home. About 2 hours ago, the sister, my cousin, and I were saying "Dude" a lot (like more than usual) like a crazy feedback loop. About 1.5 hours ago, I started turning into a really grumpy bear. And about 1 hour ago, we were applauded in the parking lot when we reached our car by the car full of boys waiting for a spot. We snagged clothes, gifts, and I bought Tahereh Mafi's SHATTER ME at Barnes & Noble!

And yeah, I'm like half-zombie right now. So please excuse the lateness of this post and any weird typos. I'm concentrating as hard as I can.

ANYWAY, without further ado, the WINNER of BECOME by ali cross and the EXCLUSIVE Alz-doodle book cover is...

STEPHANIE PARENT!

Congrats Stephanie! We'll be contacting you soon by the email you left us to get your deets.

Thanks everyone else for playing, and thanks again to ali for donating the prize! Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone! I'm off to take a nap.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-23T06:10:00.000-08:00

Today, we'd like to wish you all an early Happy Thanksgiving!

Colonial / Founding Father Turkey! (You know I had to!)

We're thankful for YOU, the people who read our blog and tolerate our randomosity and general silliness.

We're thankful for the people we have met and the friends we have made through this little blog.

Fall Turkey

We're thankful for the support, camaraderie, and books we've found in this community.

So even if you aren't celebrating Thanksgiving at this time of year or don't celebrate it at all, we just wanted to express our gratitude.

Roller Wizard Turkey!

Let's keep reading, writing, and dreaming together!

*Turkey doodles all from Google's cute and fun customizable Thanksgiving splash page!

P.S. Don't forget that TODAY is the LAST DAY to enter the Become giveaway for a paperback copy of ali cross' debut novel with exclusive Alz-doodle book cover.

Just comment on the post with your email (if it's not linked to your blogger name).

Contest closes 11:59pm PST today. (Lucky for stragglers that we're West Coast dwellers, haha.)

P.P.S. We'll be announcing the winner Friday, Nov 25 and we'll contact them by email too.

Randomosity on Fridays

2011-11-18T05:48:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday, everyone! Thanks for the book recs and for the birthday wishes to Alz! I'm actually reading The Fox Inheritance because it's due back to the library soon, but I think I'll either hit up THE NIGHT CIRCUS or DEATHLESS next!

Another thing, we're having a SPECIAL GIVEAWAY of ali cross' debut novel BECOME. It's running for a week, meaning we're closing the giveaway on NOV 23, right before Thanksgiving!

There are plenty of chances to win the novel from ali's blog tour and the Become epic giveaway organized by Christine Fonseca and Elana Johnson, but our stop is the only one where you can get an ALZ DOODLE BOOK COVER to go with it! Just sayin'. :)

So do check that out. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment (and contact info if your email is not linked to your blogger profile) on Alz's review!

Now, FRIDAY 5 of things I am happy about this week.

1. Birthdays! This week marked Alz's birthday, my facebook wifey's birthday, and my college roommate's birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, all you amazing, lovely women!

2. I finally finished my stupid section of Alz and my joint noveling venture. I know, it's taken me long enough, but in my defense, I totally forgot I was supposed to write the carnage section! Instead, I was too busy having my Heroine-in-Distress argue with a Demon Dog and banter cutely with a Punch Clock Villain, who really isn't a villain at all. He's just really dedicated to the job. So maybe he's more of an Obstructive Bureaucrat?

(Yeah, I've been reading too many TVtropes.)

3. New posters for The Avengers came out Thursday. That means a new picture of Loki, whom I love and therefore I probably wouldn't mind his whole plan to take over the world and make himself our Norse godly overlord. I mean look at him in all his golden green mischievousness.

4. SPEAKING OF MISCHIEF, I was part of a Scavenger Hunt team this weekend aptly named the Mischief Managers. We did the Watson Adventures Wizard School scavenger hunt at the Getty museum (which incidentally was used as an Asgardian location in THOR). The hunt used Harry Potter references in the clues to lead us to pieces of art that were reminiscent of things in the books, and then we had to answer questions about the art. Our team was competing against 2 teams of small children (and their guardians) and a couple.

Uh, so WE WON the hunt, which means we destroyed small children this weekend. I am both slightly ashamed and proud - the first because some of those small children were pretty disappointed and the second because um, WE WON WITH A PERFECT SCORE. Yeah, that's right. Mischief SO managed.

5. RELATED SEGUE, there's a new episode of Potter Puppet Pals out. It's called Neville's birthday. I like drunk!Snape and the birthday song. Oh, and the special appearance of one Cedric Diggory (aka Rpattz aka Edward Cullen - oh yeah, look at me working in a Breaking Dawn reference too because that's out today, I know.)

WHEW, and that's all the brilliant segueing I have left for today. Alz thinks my boba milk tea must be super special today given all the connections I'm making. Hah!

OH AND ONE MORE CONNECTION, speaking of boba, tune in next week for another episode of my co-vlog with Sophia: Boba 4 Life. We'll finally be answering Lori's 5 Question Meme!

That's it for realz this time. Have a great weekend, everyone! Remember to ENTER THE GIVEAWAY and watch out for Twihards. ;)

What Happy Things have happened to you this week?

Blog Tour & Book Review: BECOME by ALI CROSS

2011-11-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the next stop on the Dark C.A.R.M.A. Tour! Here we'll be having at Ali Cross's new YA novel Become.

A little story first: Ali Cross asked Krispy to review Become and sent her a copy. Krispy started to read it but was too busy to get very far, whereas I had a little more time and read the whole thing. Ali asked for honest feedback and so we told her the truth: Krispy hadn't gotten far enough to form a real opinion and I had a number of issues with the book and therefore didn't feel comfortable reviewing it.

Herein shines Ali's awesomeness and literary integrity: She asked me to review the book anyway, and proposed a very special giveaway for this stop on her blogalicious tour. Her candor, humor, and stance on honesty should be lauded and applauded. Ali is fearless. No wonder she runs a ninja dojo. From my understanding, she looks a little something like this:

Only, you know, she's like 10,000x more awesome.

Anyway, dear folks, here's info on the amazing giveaway we have courtesy of the equally amazing Ali! Comment on this post (and include your email if it's not linked to your blogger profile) and you will be entered to win an exclusive paperback edition of Become with a special Alz "this book sucks" cover. The giveaway will be open for a week, with a winner picked at random and announced on Nov. 23rd.

Buy the book:
Amazon! Paperback style!
Amazon! Kindle lovin'!
Barnes & Noble! Nookie nook!
Smashwords! Ebooktabulous!

Meet Ali Cross:
Blog!
Twitter!
Facebook!

Now, onward to the review!

~*~*~*~

Become by Ali Cross

Pros: Interesting take on combining Christianity and Norse mythology; touches upon issues such as teenage alcoholism and suicide; protagonist does struggle with making choices.

Cons: Some very important plot points and worldbuilding details are glossed over, never sufficiently explained, or inexplicably vanish; many characters are archetypes with no real personality, including the heroine; the clop-clop-clopping of drama llama hooves echoes within the vaults of the protagonist's cathedral of angst.

Okay, so this is St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, but I imagine
Desolation looks like this deep inside, llama included.

Intellectual Rating: 2.75 out of 10 stars
Emotional Grade: F+

Book Blurb: (from Goodreads) Sixteen-year old Desolation Black wants nothing more than to stay in Hell where it’s cold and lonely and totally predictable. Instead, she’s sent back to Earth where she must face the evil she despises and the good she always feared.

When Desi is forced to embrace her inner demon, she assumes her choice has been made—that she has no hope of being anything other than what her father, Lucifer, has created her to be. What she doesn’t count on, is finding a reason to change—something she’s never had before—a friend.

Alz's Take: This book definitely feels like it has a bigger picture in mind than the simple angel-demon-forbidden-romance-mysterious-past that plagues the world of YA. Themes of morality, faith, friendship, fidelity, redemption, teenage suicide and alcoholism, and the good ol' struggle to find yourself in a confusing and dangerous world—these are high goals, and I respect that.

And therefore I weep, weep tears of blood that the story never actually scores a goal with regards to any of those themes. They're there, and they're touched upon, but the actual exploration thereof is shallow at best—the book dips a toe into these deep waters and then draws it back with an angsty sigh, instead choosing to wade through the shallows.

Desolation hates her father and doesn't want to embrace her dark side and Become a ~~Sith Lord~~ true demon because…I'm not really sure why, actually. Her teenage rebellion seems to be teenage rebellion for the sake of teenage rebellion, and she hates her father because he's Lucifer. Which sounds fairly reasonable until you start to think about it because he actually seems like one of the more decent YA fathers I've read: he cares about his daughter's welfare and has concern for her future, is encouraging her to pursue an active vocation (albeit one that involves evil), he provides for her emotionally and even materialistically to the point that this girl living in Hell has an iPod, Doc Martens, and tons of teenage human stuff in her room.

I always picture her with emo hair.

Lucifer doesn't appear all that threatening or evil. In fact, after a while my sympathies actually began to lie with the Father of Lies because sheesh, this guy has to deal with such an emo rebel-without-a-cause daughter—and yet he does so with fondly amused tolerance and relative good nature. Yes, Alz has sympathy for the devil, folks. I'm sure that will surprise none of you, especially Krispy.

At any rate, the story seems to be banking on preconceived notions of of-course-Lucifer-is-evil-and-Desolation-should-hate-and-rebel-against-him instead of actually developing a conflicting relationship between them based on personality, morality, and character. Desi doesn't want to become evil, but why? Is it because she doesn't believe in evil? Is it because the thought of torturing souls horrifies her? Does she secretly just want to be free of her father and live her life as she chooses?

I finished the whole book and I don't know. And since this is the central conflict of the story—Desolation's struggle between good and evil—that's not good.

On the flipside, does Desolation even want to be good? What is the difference between light and dark? Is there a gray side to any of this? Can the "right" choice sometimes be a dark one? What is morality? Does how we define ourselves have an effect upon what we choose to perceive as good and evil?

Again, I don't know. It feels like the story was based on these themes and kind of nibbles around the edges of them with no actual thematic exploration. This was particularly frustrating since the setup is so great: a girl struggling with her inner nature and trying to find herself in a world that sees her as a force of evil.

Desolation's character and conflict are interesting conceptually but the execution leaves something to be desired the way an unsalted soup leaves something to be desired: it's missing a surprisingly crucial ingredient that adds savor generally taken for granted.

A steaming bowl of Desolation soup.

I was frequently puzzled by Desolation. She'd swing from feeling Love and Light and Wanting to Do the Right Thing to Anger and Emo and Wanting to Be Alone within the space of a single page, and I never understood why. She's a snarky teen one moment and a despairing demon of woe the next. I actually thought for a while that maybe she was bipolar, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

There's a very important scene that I'm going to see if I can carefully skirt around right now because I'm avoiding spoilers. Let's see how specifically vague I can be. Basically, something really horrible happened and Desolation took matters into her own hands, meting out what I personally thought was a big glass of richly-deserved fresh-squeezed justice.

Once Desolation realized what she had done though, she was just horrified and mentally beat herself up for what she had done. Which I kind of understand—it's a reasonable reaction—but never once does it ever cross her mind that maybe she did a good thing, or that this situation warranted her actions, or feel some sense of satisfaction that comeuppance got served, hell yeah, hot off the lunchline.

So that's Desolation Black (no relation to Sirius Black). There are other characters whom come forth like perfectly formed chocolates from the silicone molds of stereotypes: Desolation's BFF/maternal figure is the Hooker with a Heart of Gold, Michael is the Noble Warrior, Akaros is the Cruel Forbidding Mentor, Daniel is the Criminal Millionare Douchebag.

Speaking of Daniel, I have no idea what he looks like. The guy is a tool in more than one sense of the word, though mainly he's a tool that provides ritzy lodgings and everything a teenage girl could materialistically desire for Desi, is occasionally a jerkface, and is generally so unimportant that he vanishes near the end of the book for no explicable reason.

Daniel is never, ever described physically. I have no idea if he's dwarfishly short or gigantically tall, Herculeanly athletic or a big fat ball of lard. He might have seventy-five feet of gloriously golden magical hair and like to cross-dress for all I know.

Daniel?

This is an example of the technical issues the book has—sometimes characters and places aren't described enough or even at all. The magical/theological system is interesting as it mixes Nordic and Christian elements, but important plot points are so vaguely described I didn't understand what Etc. meant or why it was so important, even though it's so very important and powerful that Lucifer even now is fighting for it. What is it, exactly, and how does it work?

Looking at the book in terms of story construction, I was pleasantly surprised when I went back and reread some sections—there were a few clues to Desi's past and true nature tucked in here and there that I had totally missed because they were so innocuous at the time. That was cool, though I do feel like maybe they were a little too obscure to set up for the Big Reveal.

On the other hand, the pacing is more all over the place than an ADHD-afflicted duck on a disco dance floor. It's slow and then it's fast and then it's slow and then it's confusing and then it's more confusing and then it's all rush-rush-rush to the end. Characters suddenly appear but they've got terminal cases of Told-Not-Shown because we're told they're important and told why and told that they care about what's going on because…uh, because. Things happen suddenly! And then other things happen! And now it's time for a dramatic end, see you in book two!

But enough of all that. Let's talk romance! If you're a fan of the Destined Troo Luv type o' romantic entanglement, you'll probably like what's offered up here. Unfortunately, some narrative flaws muck up the story to the point where I was never entirely sure how much Desolation knew about Michael and her own mysterious past. It jarred me quite a bit because one moment she was pondering who Michael was and why she seemed to know him, and then suddenly a few pages later she was talking about him like she'd remembered everything and I'd somehow missed her mnemonic epiphany—and yet later, she seemed to have forgotten, only to remember.

And since the book is first-person narration, all that's a problem. I was confused.

The story involves numerous plotlines and ideas that never quite build up to a perfect whole. As I read I kept on expecting details and plot points to be explained and come together, since it seemed like the book was taking the immersive worldbuilding approach, which is my favorite. But by the end, I was still confused—about Desi's past, her motivations, why she hates her father, the mechanics of the world mythology and magic, where these other characters came from, and what, in general, the hell is going on.

Alz's Conclusion: Keep in mind that I am Alz, AKA Picky McPickerson, Lord of Judgment and Demon of Criticality. Unlike other books that actively pissed me off or disgusted me because they treated delicate issues offensively and went for shock value above good storytelling, Become is based on philosophical questions and thought-provoking themes that are never quite done justice. Technical and narrative flaws bog down the rest of story to the point that it becomes a whirlpool of confusion into which I was trapped, helplessly trapped and spun around, grasping for something to ground me and being frustrated because so many things tantalizingly brushed my fingertips before I was again swept away.

All that aside, I can honestly say that while the book didn't suit my taste, the trappings of angels, teenage angst, and a semi-anti-heroine will probably appeal to any number of people. This Alz just ain't one of them.

All pictures not doodled by Alz are courtesy of Wikipedia.

Randomosity on Fridays: What to Read?

2011-11-11T06:15:00.000-08:00

As usual, I am super behind in NaNo, which makes for short blog posts.

So today's Randomosity is a POLL of books. As in, what book should I read next?!

You see, I have just finished reading Scott Westerfeld's GOLIATH and before that Rick Riordan's SON OF NEPTUNE. Both of these were sequels that I have been long anticipating. They've more or less succeeded in knocking me out of my reading funk & I have to catch up on my reading goal for this year. Goodreads says I'm 10 books behind at my current rate!

Here is a list of books that I currently have in my possession that I've been wanting to read. Please tell me in the comments what I should read next.

Deathless
The Broken Kingdoms
Johannes Cabal the Necromancer
The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer
The Fox Inheritance
Why We Broke Up
The Night Circus
Dust City
Imaginary Girls
Chime
Fire
Possession
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Thank you in advance for your input! If there are other books you really really liked that aren't on my list, please do suggest those!

For my fellow U.S. folks, Happy Veterans Day! (I hope you got the day off because I didn't.) Happy Armistice Day! And Happy Binary Day! 11/11/11!

P.S. I want to wish the lovely ali cross a HAPPY BOOK RELEASE DAY! To learn more about her book, BECOME, check out her website! Her blog tour will be stopping by here on Wednesday, 11/16!

P.P.S. Also ALZ has a birthday this month! So I'd like to say an early HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! :D

Wordless Wednesday: Our Past Week

2011-11-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

Here's what Krispy and I have been up to lately:

Krispy: This is a ridiculously addictive game.
I JUST WANT TO KILL THE FRUIT. WHY DO YOU TAUNT MEEEEE.
Hey, wait, are you blogging this? NOOOO!

Yum.

Percy is a total bamf.

We're both hard at work. Krispy needs to write more though or I will crush her like a cranberry.

We've given it two eps so far. Krispy is ambivalent whereas I don't like it.

We both like Grimm though!

In other words, Krispy and I imbibe great quantities of hot sweet beverages, watch a lot of TV, play stupid games, and then write furiously for the latter half of the evening. What do you think of Grimm and/or Once Upon a Time? How goes your nanoing?

7x7 Link Madness

2011-11-04T06:08:00.000-07:00

No, you are NOT seeing things. This is yet another 7x7 Award Meme post!

Apparently, the rules got a bit mixed up for this one. So last time, we gave you 7 facts about ourselves. This time, we're giving you links to posts we find befitting of the categories given as part of the award! We received this version of the award from our fellow boba-consuming friend, Sophia.

GOAL: highlight previous posts in the superlative categories below.

Most Beautiful: Wordless Wednesday...not really.

Most Helpful: What's In a Name? and What's In a Name Redux (2 posts because they kind of go together)

Most Popular: Poetry Schmoetry Blogfest

Most Controversial: 100th Post & Final Push/Boycotting The Last Airbender movie
[For the record, we ended up seeing the movie much later for free & because of one really hilarious .gif of a slow rock (and sometimes we're masochistically curious), and we can honestly tell you, it sucked like nothing has ever sucked before - and this is on its own merit (or lack thereof) without taking into account the racebending. You think that's hyperbole but it's really not. I want my free rental voucher back.]

Most Surprisingly Successful: Blogfest - Writing Compelling Characters: Who was that again?

Most Underrated: WIP Wednesday: Math Analogies, no seriously. OR The Importance of Interstitial Histories
[Alz likes the first because it surprisingly involves math. I like the second because I actually sound intelligent and not like the sugar-fueled !!! monster you've all come to know.]

Most Pride Worthy: Magnum Opus

There you have it! Now, we're going back to NaNoing. How are your word counts, fellow NaNo-ers? Non-NaNoers, how are you? What are you up to?

End (Halloween) & Begin (NaNo 2011)

2011-11-02T06:07:00.000-07:00

Double trouble post! We're covering HALLOWEEN and NANOWRIMO! Halloween is all pictures, so I'm going to skip to NaNo first.

I actually did my NaNo attempt in August under Camp NaNo, but thanks to that Third Campaigner Challenge prompt, my brain started ticking. But I have no plot! No outline! No apparent direction!

But I'm doing it anyway. Alz and other people (you know who you are *cough* Lori *cough* ChristineF *cough*) talked me into it. I decided yesterday night while I was hiding from Trick-or-Treaters in the dark. Har.

TL;DR: We're doing NaNo this year! I'm kangaru and Alz is shizalent. Friend us if you will & shame us into writing!

Now, Halloween! Mostly pictures. Hope you enjoy!

Surprise Party for friend's bday

Sister's 1st pumpkin carving: R2-D2!

Halloween Weekend

Sis was Doctor Who & Alz was the TARDIS

Sis actually owns these clothes.

Alz made that TARDIS hoodie.

I was a snake or rather The Serpent. Fancy an apple?

Scales could've been better with more time & prep.

Halloween Day

We had a Halloween potluck at work. Guess who I dressed up as? :D

Here are a few clues. Hint: Alz wrote at length about this.

Yep, I was a FAIRY or more specifically, LAUREL! (You can't tell in the photo so much, but the entire bottom half of my dress is covered in blue flowers.)

I only eat fruit & drink Sprite!

Q4U: What were you this Halloween? OR What are you writing about for NaNo / doing instead of NaNo? (Nanowrimos, let us know your usernames & we'll buddy up!)

7x7 Blog Award Meme

2011-10-28T06:30:00.000-07:00

Ani at Anime's Musings tagged us for a blog award! Thanks, Ani! This means we have to share 7 interesting facts about ourselves.

1. (KRISPY) I play 2 instruments: the flute and the Chinese zither.

2. (KRISPY) After graduating from university, I went on an archaeology internship in Taiwan. We cleaned 5000 year old human bones, glued pottery back together, and got attacked by nefarious Asian mosquitoes. We also spent a week napping in a warehouse full of ancient babies in pots.

3. (KRISPY) The only time I've ever felt claustrophobic was in my Senior year of high school. I was in Germany with my German class, and a bunch of us took up the challenge of climbing the world's tallest church steeple in Ulm. That's like 700-some steps, which is daunting enough by itself but SO MUCH WORSE when most of those steps go upwards in a narrow, enclosed spiral. Imagine climbing 300 steps in the cold of winter without being able to see below or above you. No windows, just solid, centuries-old STONE. Around step 379, I thought (in the tradition of Arrested Development), "I've made a HUGE mistake." (For the record, I made it to the top and back down without having a panic attack.)

4. (KRISPY) 98% of the time, I can make myself fall asleep in 5-10 minutes. Even if I've had tea or coffee only an hour before.

5. (ALZ) I hate Krispy for the fact above. But that's not an interesting fact because everyone already knows it. Krispy says I should tell you all about how I have an "intense passionate hatred" for Prince Charming from Disney's Cinderella. I just don't like him because of his pink face and his unbending Lego limbs and his utter and complete uselessness. This is not hatred. This is merely the Judgment of Alz, as she says to Prince Charming's charm and princeliness:

6. (ALZ) I am a super badass extreme unconquerable asskicker in Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo. Or I used to be. It's been a while since I last played. But I bet a bucket of diamond-encrusted platinum nuggets that I could still destroy anyone who cared to raise a hand against my almighty combo-gem-smashing skillz.

7. (ALZ) Krispy insists that I admit I find nothing particularly special or deliciously delightful about In-N-Out. I would not go out of my way to eat of their food, no matter how fine or crave-satisfying Krispy and so many others purport it to be.

We'll tag people next time. Until then, HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Gorge on candy.

And by the way, peeps--who's doing NaNoWriMo?

Joust, Criminal Minds, Pumpkin Carving

2011-10-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

Today's post is brought to you by Alz's ancient Wacom tablet, Krispy's suggestions, and Lydia's request for stick figure drawings with crazy eyes.

First off, a visual summary/mini-review of a non-YA fantasy book by a prolific and popular author whom I used to love from third grade through high school and then—well, her books started going downhill much the same way boulders, avalanches, and wingless ducks go downhill.

Yes, I'm talking about Joust by Mercedes Lackey, a book about a young boy enslaved and enserfed into serving his enemies, the dragon-riding Jousters who are at war with his own country. Young Vetch seeks to raise his own dragon and return to his homeland to teach his country's Jousters the secret of raising tame dragons as opposed to capturing wild ones.

The book is nowhere near as exciting as that. It's pretty much the daily grind of being a dragonboy, Vetch angsting, and Vetch's circumstances becoming a saga of boring and incredibly convenient coincidences. I shall show you what Vetch is like throughout the book:

Everything falls into Vetch's hands like ripe fruit, for conflict? There is none. He just worries about stuff but gets away with absolutely everything without ever being caught. Nobody ever hurts him or bothers him throughout the entire book. His master is a sickeningly "good" man who understands that serfdom and slavery are wrong, drinks only moderately, and is modest and unbecoming and noble and heroic and the repeated iterations of Vetch's relief that Master Ari is just brotherly and not a pedophile really did not help.

Moving on! Krispy suggested I doodle something related to the TV we've been watching lately. This is what happens when Krispy and I watch Criminal Minds:

Lastly, over the weekend we threw together a Halloween-themed surprise birthday party for our friend. There was Chantilly cake and red velvet cupcakes and candy and truffle cheese and baguettes and cute monster sodas, and the evening culminated in Krispy's sister carving her first ever pumpkin. It was a beautiful heartwarming scene forever immortalized in the portrait I sketched alongside the master carver:

And that, my friends, is all for today. Have you carved your pumpkins yet?

Shot of Randomosity & Third Campaigner Challenge

2011-10-21T06:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday, peeps! I've actually got a double dose of fun for you today.

#1: A Shot of Randomosity
This week, I rediscovered some books while filling my new bookcases, including an Alexander Hamilton biography a friend had bought me (not the glorious Ron Chernow one). I pulled this Hamilton biography from the box for History shelf placement when I noticed something tucked inside.

I texted Alz:

ME: I just unearthed a Hamilton book & it's got like loads of $ in it!!! Thank you, darling!
Monday, 6:35PM

ALZ: wtf? you hide money in books??? :P
Monday, 6:36PM

ME: Uh, I didn't think so and yet here we are.
Monday, 6:35 PM

So, yes. I found MONEY inside my Hamilton biography. $60 to be exact. Yep, that's my man - First Secretary of the US Treasury and Founder of the Bank of the United States.

#2: Third Campaigner Challenge: Show Not Tell
To recap, Alz and I missed Rachel Harrie's Campaign this year, but I found this challenge through Lori's Challenge Entry and was inspired to do it myself. Alz posted her attempt on Wednesday. Mine is after the prompt.

Write a blog post in 300 words or less, excluding the title. The post can be in any format, whether flash fiction, non-fiction, humorous blog musings, poem, etc. The blog post should show:

that it's morning

that a man or a woman (or both) is at the beach
that the MC (main character) is bored
that something stinks behind where he/she is sitting
that something surprising happens

Just for fun, see if you can involve all five senses AND include these random words: "synbatec," "wastopaneer," and "tacise." (NB. these words are completely made up and are not intended to have any meaning other than the one you give them).

Not sure if I got the boredom bit and didn't use the words. Mine's exactly 300 words.

Rude Awakening

The wind woke Casey first, then the rough tickle of sand against her cheek. Slowly, she became aware of the salt on her chapped lips. The muffled static in her ears resolved into the sound of rushing water. She pushed herself upright, blinking. To the east, the sky blushed pink-gold.

Casey had no idea where she was, and she might have been alarmed if she weren’t so baffled. Her body was sore, her memories hazy, but she’d bet her college savings a meddling angel was involved. A headache threatened when she tried to remember. So she stared at the sea, too drained for anger.

She hoped someone would fetch her soon. This was getting old fast, and something sat uneasy in the pit of her stomach. Her insides shuddered at the thought and then lurched when she caught a whiff of smoke. It was harsh and metallic. Electric.

Stifling a gag, she turned and found an angel looming over her. The dawn light enveloped him as if drawn by celestial magnetism, leaving the day sapped and dull. It cut the planes of his face to diamond sharpness and gilded his pale hair. His wings smoldered, shedding scorched feathers and oozing ozone. Blood trickled down his arm and sizzled as it hit the sand.

It was Uriel, and Casey had never seen his eyes so luminous blue like stars. She had never seen him injured or his bright beauty shadowed by -- what was it?

“Where is the Commander?” he demanded.

“Michael? Isn’t he with you?”

“No. I thought he accompanied you when he sent you here. To safety.”

When she didn’t answer, Uriel muttered something and glanced down the shoreline. It sounded like a curse. Casey realized then what was different about the angel. In his expression, there was fear.

Hope you enjoyed that! For the record, I have no idea what's going on (much to Alz's annoyance). So here's my Q4U: what's the weirdest place you've found money?

SUPER SPECIAL P.S. I found out last night that LYDIA KANG of Medical Mondays fame, who recently landed an agent, now also has A BOOK DEAL!!! SQUEE! GO CONGRATULATE HER POST HASTE!!!

Narley Ninja Feature at ali's!

2011-10-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

Just popping in to nudge you in the direction of ali cross's fabulous Writing Dojo. Today, Alz and I are the featured ninjas, and we're spilling our Deep Dark Secret when it comes to writing. (It's pretty shameful.)

So we do hope you'll check it out! Narley Ninjas: Krispy & Alz

Other than that, I'll see you all tomorrow with a shot of Randomosity and my 300-word Third Campaigner Challenge attempt! xoxo

Third Campaigner Challenge - Show Not Tell

2011-10-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Krispy saw this writing prompt on Lori's blog (her entry is fabulous, by the way). She told me about how fun it sounded despite the fact that we failed to sign up for the campaign this year, and told me about the wonderful idea this prompt inspired, and then she proceeded to not actually write it. Instead, I wrote my own snippet while she finished watching Nikita.

Write a blog post in 300 words or less, excluding the title. The post can be in any format, whether flash fiction, non-fiction, humorous blog musings, poem, etc. The blog post should show:that it’s morning,

that it's morning
that a man or a woman (or both) is at the beach
that the MC (main character) is bored
that something stinks behind where he/she is sitting
that something surprising happens.
Just for fun, see if you can involve all five senses AND include these random words: "synbatec," "wastopaneer," and "tacise." (NB. these words are completely made up and are not intended to have any meaning other than the one you give them).

I didn't include the extra words, but I think I more or less covered everything else.

Stroll

The sun peeked over the edge of the horizon, shedding a dark glow across the sea and highlighting the roiling bubbles in amber. The steam rose from the boiling water in dense clouds of gold that coalesced on the angel's straggly hair in tiny shiny beads. His hair was dirty blond both in color as well as the fact that he hadn't washed it in an unhygienic amount of time.

He'd been strolling barefoot over the black obsidian sand since midnight, long enough to see the sea begin to shimmer and bubble as it built with the onslaught of daylight into a full-blown boil. Every inch of the angel's skin glistened with sweat and condensation. The scent of honey thickened the steamy air so that the angel could hardly breathe—and then a whiff of sulfur made him glance over his shoulder.

"What-ho," said the angel. "If it ain't my old mate Illi! How've you been?"

"Shut up, May," said Illi, peeling out of the shadow of a sickly bush: twigs turning into pearly claws, branches becoming arms, stunted leaves lengthening into a cloak of smoke and ash. "I'm here to claim your soul, you son of a bitch."

"You come all this way out to the Sea of Nightmares just for li'l ol' me?" clucked May, putting his hands to his face. "I'm flattered, love. Really."

Illi's fingers twisted together to form a twirling point like a unicorn horn, and he lunged in a smoky whirl. His long thin arm whipped back and then forward.

May looked down at the ivory spiral stabbed through the center of his chest.

"That ain't no way to kill an angel, mate," said May, grinning into Illi's face. "'Specially as there's those who say angels ain't got no souls."

There's mine, and Krispy is working on hers even now as I write up this post. She will post it on Friday. Have you done any writing prompts/exercises lately?

P.S. Tomorrow, we're the featured ninjas at ali cross's writing dojo! We'd be much obliged if you gave it a looksie. We'll post a link to the actual post on Thursday.

Randomosity on Fridays: Random Whatever Edition

2011-10-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

Krispy is writing because I am a TASKMASTER!! and she needs to write more. And because we were distracted by various things, including boba and ice cream and cheese—not all at once, mind you, and over the course of the week—we didn't give much time or thought to today's post until, uh, kind of late the night before. So here's a random Friday Five for you!

1. Krispy has been a bookmonster of late and acquired many new books, though as of yet she hasn't had a chance to crack open most of them. These books include:

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Possess, Breverton's Phantasmagoria, Night Circus

I've perused the first chapters of all except Possess, and I like what I've seen so far.

2. I finally saw X-Men: First Class. The bromance was epic. I enjoyed it though I don't like it enough to buy it, unless it was like $5 and I was feeling extravagant. Then again, with $5 I could buy—

3. Italian truffle cheese from Trader Joe's. Pricey deliciousness at $11.99/lb, I nevertheless found a petite wedge to taste-test. Since Krispy and I were attending a small going-away par-taaaaay for our mutual medical student friend, I acquired this cheese, found it to be delicious, and intended to bring it to the get-together. Krispy picked me up and on the way there, I told her about this amazing truffle cheese and how ineffably delectable it was, all creamy smoothness and firm texture with the luxurious truffle flavor making for an experience of sheer decadence.

I forgot to bring the cheese.

The recriminations were, I assure you, both grievous and fierce. I'm still sorely wounded from them; poke me and I shall yet bleed. Krispy will never let me live it down even though I brought her a piece of it the next day and she ate the whole thing practically in one sitting, literally just kicking back and gnawing on a chunk of cheese while we watched TV. Which leads me to our next random thing—

4. Television shows. I haven't watched anything much lately, except for random stuff when I'm bored. But lately Krispy has somehow managed to hook me on watching Criminal Minds, Law & Order: SVU, Supernatural, Clone Wars, and Young Justice, the latter two of which are cartoons. I'm absolutely certain this mix of criminal psychology, law, paranormal, scifi/fantasy, and superhero shows will have an effect upon my writing. Whether or not it is a disastrous effect remains to be seen.

5. Lastly, Krispy needs your input: For Halloween at work, should she be a hippie or a pirate? Or a hippie pirate, though she says this might be hard? I think she should be a pirate because pirates are pirates and hippies are hippies, but she does have a point when she says a hippie costume is easier to put together and more comfortable. But when was Halloween ever about ease and comfort?

That's all from us for this week, folks. Got any cheese or TV recommendations?

Book Review: Wings by Aprilynne Pike

2011-10-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

Krispy downloaded this for free on her Kindle and like the masochistic fool that I am, I read it. Pressing my eyes to a belt-sander would not be enough to cleanse them of this travesty of a book.

Wings by Aprilynne Pike

Pros: Reading it is a cheap alternative to undergoing lobotomy.
Cons: You probably don't want to be lobotomized.

Intellectual Rating: 0 out of 10 stars
Emotional Grade: F

Book Blurb: (from Goodreads) Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things with wide eyes. They were terrifyingly beautiful—too beautiful for words.

Laurel turned to the mirror again, her eyes on the hovering petals that floated beside her head. They looked almost like wings.

In this extraordinary tale of magic and intrigue, romance and danger, everything you thought you knew about faeries will be changed forever.

Alz's Take: I cannot describe how bad this book is. The writing is puerile, the story is 100% teenage wish-fulfillment, Laurel is Mary Sue to the max, and I honestly cannot believe this book got published. This is the level of writing and story I expected from Twilight, which ended up exceeding my expectations; Wings undercut my expectations exponentially.

Even other books that I've rated F (Nightshade and Crescendo) were better-written than Wings. At least they more or less adhered to the old show-don't-tell adage, whereas Wings is bent on doing the opposite: Tell, don't show! Showing is boring and requires more thought and actual work! Just tell! Also symmetry is key to goodness and if you are asymmetrical you are ugly and therefore evil because evolution screwed up on you! Haha!

I paraphrase but do not exaggerate. That is something that comes up in the book.

Being that it is now quite late because Krispy and I didn't have a blog planned for today, and I just don't have it in me to write up an in-depth review, I'll just give you a partial summary of what happens in the book. Be warned that there are SPOILERS of a sort forthcoming—in the vein of it's a spoiler for Twilight that Edward is a vampire and vampires sparkle in the sun.

Meet Laurel: She's your average fifteen-and-a-half-year-old girl who's been homeschooled by her doctor-phobic hippie parents all her life and is now attending public high school. She literally lives on Sprite and fruit and vegetables.

One day Laurel discovers a tiny bump between her shoulder blades. She is horrified that it is a zit since she is beautiful and perfect and looks like a teenage model on TV and has never had a zit before in her life on her translucent skin and also her hair is magically delicious and doesn't require washing with shampoo because it just takes care of itrself and Laurel moves with the grace of a dancer despite never having taken lessons.

Where was I? Oh yes. The zit.

Laurel decides to wear her hair down and cover the hideous bump up with a shirt. But over the course of the next two or three days, the zit grows to the size of a golf ball.

Laurel does not show her parents because she knows that most things in the human body take care of themselves and go away on their own if you ignore them. When the weekend arrives (so by this point it's been three or four days) and the thing is now the size of a softball, she decides that if the bump's not gone by Monday, she'll tell her parents!

Sunday dawns and the bump is gone. But what is this that has taken its place?

Laurel naturally is horrified and decides that the first and most important thing to do is…hide the fact that she has a flower growing out of her back from her parents.

After stupid incredibly clichéd stuff occurs (i.e. chopping off the tip of a petal—eek! ow! hurty!—and taking it to her new boyfriend David because he has a microscope and is therefore a science nerd and can tell her what's going on, and he tells her it's a bit of flower because it has plant cells, and my brain is beginning to disintegrate right now from the horror of trying to coherently remember this), Laurel returns to the cabin in the woods where her family originally lived, frolics in the forest while her sweet-smelling blossom blows in the breeze, and runs into Tamani, who is a guy who we later find out has been stalking her ever since she was born.

Green-haired and generically hot Tamani tells Laurel the shocking, shocking truth:

Which incidentally is supposed to explain why she lives on Sprite and fruit and vegetables, because flowers in a vase of water with a spoonful of sugar added live longer, although I like to think that eating exclusively fruits and veggies makes Laurel a cannibal.

To explain the pollen thing, we have to jump ahead to Laurel's second meeting with Tamani. See, she was so shocked to find out she was a plant that first time that she ran off, and afterward noticed some gold dust on her wrist from where Tamani grabbed her. Next time she asks him about it—oooh, faerie dust!—only for him to explain no, that's not faerie dust, it's pollen.

Pollen.

Because males only produce pollen when they are around a female in bloom, and yes, he could have pollinated her—not that he would have, of course, oh no, which is why he told her that first time that he knew whose blossom his hands could get into and whose not. That wasn't just a disturbing metaphor. It was a literal description because faeries are plants and therefore reproduce by pollination. He could have pollinated her bloom, which would have produced a seed, which could be planted in the ground to grow into a baby faerie.

But don't worry, Tam tells Laurel, pollination is for reproduction but sex is for fun!

…okay, that's it. I didn't even get into the trainwreck of how David is super hot and super in love with Laurel for no particular reason and the "plot" concerning the faerie world of Avalon and how my medical student friend went LOLWHUT over the description of Laurel's father's treatment when he ends up in the hospital due to the nefarious never-explained scheming of the asymmetrically evil trolls and—

I can't stand it anymore.

Alz's Conclusion: Don't read Wings. Just—just don't. Please. Spare yourself. It's badly written stylistically and narratively, with a heroine who has all the pluck and strength and character of single sheet of bargain-brand tissue, and, and, and if you, like Krispy, downloaded this for free onto your Kindle, you might as well delete it and download something more worthwhile. Or even if you don't download anything else, that's fine. A lobotomy is preferable to Wings. At least then you'd be unable to read it.

Photo Friday: NYC

2011-10-07T06:15:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's October already! I realized that my NYC vacation was exactly a month ago. ALREADY. Where is the time going?

In any case, here are the pics I promised.

DAY 1
Central Park

Belvedere Castle

Night 1:
1. Fashion's Night Out at Kiehl's Flagship Store where we spotted Kim from America's Next Top Model and actor Alan Cumming.

2. Karaoke in K-Town to ring in the sister's 21st birthday at midnight!

DAY 2
Night-time celebrations for the Sister's birthday at 230 Fifth, a rooftop bar/lounge. The Empire State Building was our backdrop.

With our gracious hostess

With the Birthday Girl!

DAY 3
Chill day sleeping in. Caught the Cal football game at The Australian (the official Cal bar); we won! Then hookah at night.

DAY 4
Museum-hopping Day! Up first, messing around at the Natural History Museum.

Actually, this is in Central Park. Romeo + Juliet.

Followed by The Met, where I saw a portrait of my darling.

Hey there, Hamilton!

DAY 5
Google + Hamilton = Day of EPIC WIN.

We went to Google's NYC offices. It was a cornucopia of continuous awesome - what with the utter cuteness of everything (themed meeting rooms! scooters!) and the delicious food! Once you work there, how do you ever leave?

Also, they have their own library, which includes digital touchscreen walls that allows you to select a book and read its summary.

Yes, that's a secret room behind bookcase.

Alexander Hamilton Memorial at beautiful Trinity Church on Broadway and Wall Street.

We meet again, Alexander!

DAY 6
Brunch at Alice's Tea Cup, then off to the Guggenheim.

The Guggs.

Down near Wall Street: my sister + the cube

DAY 7
First stop, Hamilton's house, The Grange. Second stop, Columbia University. Then it was shopping and lunch and then off to the airport!

The Grange, still being renovated!

Columbia University

Hamilton building

Shapely legs! This tidbit from Ron Chernow's Hamilton biography!

Hope you enjoyed! I wish you all a happy dappy weekend, and I hope I haven't totally scared you off with my weirdness. Hah.

October Q4U: Are you dressing up for Halloween? If yes, what's your costume?

Behind the Scenes of Boba4Evah & A Nudge

2011-10-05T06:12:00.000-07:00

Some snippets of conversation from this weekend and these past few days. Take a peek if you dare!

Behind the Scenes of...

BOBA 4 EVAH (weekend)
Over boba (of course), while discussing unnamed book...

CONVO #1
Alz: But then she sees Guy 2 and like immediately is DRAWN to him even though they've spent all of 10 minutes together. And this in front of Guy 1!

Krispy: Well, that's because Guy 1 is Tofu. The other guy is all beautiful and mysterious. Tofu always gets the short end of the stick.**

Sophia: No, wait, in the Hunger Games, Tofu gets the advantage! Gale is Hot & Spicy and gets left behind.

Krispy: Oh yeah, Tofu does get the leg up in that one.

Alz: But Peeta's not that Tofu. He has more spice.

Krispy: He's SPICY TOFU!

CONVO #2
Sophia: So does she eat or does she just go sit in the sunlight?

The sister: Excuse me, I'm going to go photosynthesize.

Behind the scenes of...

A NUDGE (Tuesday)
At Krispy's house. Krispy is reading a scary book. Alz is reading something else on iPad.

CONVO #1
Krispy: Oh my god. THAT'S MESSED UP.

Alz: What?!

Krispy: So the MC is at this supposedly haunted house with these stupid jock types, and they're forcing him to the house. And he's like looking into the house, and this one jock hits him IN THE HEAD with a PLANK OF WOOD!

Alz: ...that's it?

Krispy: But isn't that messed up?! I mean, a PLANK OF WOOD aimed at his HEAD! Really?! That's so stupid and messed up and HE COULD HAVE KILLED HIM!

Alz: Krispy, you're reading this horror book. I thought someone got like cut in half or something! I mean, that's messed up - really, a board to the head?! - but I thought it was something a lot worse.

Krispy: Oooh, haha. Well, if a ghost had come and torn them to pieces, I'd be okay with that. Like it's expected. But plank of wood to the head of the New Kid in town just because you're kinda drunk and you don't like him is a little much. If the jocks had beaten him up, fine. That's just bullies being drunk and stupid. But this plank to the head? Were they TRYING TO KILL him?

Alz: Yeah, who aims at the head as a joke?! Maybe the knees or back or something.

Krispy: It's just so PREMEDITATED. They assaulted him!

Alz: It's the premeditation. We should blog about this.

(Yes, we're more outraged by the premeditated assault than supernatural murderous rages.)

CONVO #2
Krispy: So I think I'm going to blog about our Tofu/Hot&Spicy love triangle convo from this weekend. And about how Peeta is Spicy Tofu.

Alz: Well, you know, Gale is actually the Tofu because he's the childhood friend that doesn't get a lot of page-time.

Krispy: ... Augh, you're right! It's because Gale's personality isn't Tofu and Peeta's is! I thought there was something off about our comparison.

Alz: Either way, Peeta is still Spicy Tofu. Hey, should there be a spoiler warning for this?

Krispy: That he's Spicy Tofu???

---

And there's your peek behind the curtain. Hope you haven't been scared off.

In other news, Lori asked me and Sophia some questions as part of a reverse meme she ran on her blog last week. The questions are pretty awesome. Sophia & I will be vlogging the answers some time in the near future.

How do you like your tofu?

**This whole TOFU vs. HOT & SPICY analogy came from Alz's post "Let's Talk Love Triangle Dudes." See, we're not just talking crazy! Not completely anyway...

Randomosity on Fridays: Be Bold Edition

2011-09-30T06:22:00.000-07:00

A hand lettering doodle for you this lovely Friday.

I'll post NYC pics next week.

I hope you enjoy this last day of September and have a great weekend! READ!

It's the start of a new month already, and I just realized the next book in Rick Riordan's Heroes of Olympus series is out Tuesday! So excited for The Son of Neptune!

What are you reading / looking forward to reading?

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read

2011-09-28T09:54:00.000-07:00

It's Banned Books Week here in the U.S. when we celebrate the freedom to read!

I'm preaching to the choir here when it comes to the topic of reading and books and their importance to not just literacy but also understanding. Books are many things, but at their core, they are ideas - ideas to ponder, to explore, and to inspire.

Last year, I posted the list from the ALA of the 100 most frequently challenged books from 2000-2009.

Here's a few more lists from the ALA. Check out the ALA site for more lists and info on Banned Books Week (which also has its own separate site).

The ones I've read have been bolded.
The ones I own are italicized.

Top 10 most frequently challenged books of 2010.

1. And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson

Reasons: homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group

2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie

Reasons: offensive language, racism, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence

3. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

Reasons: insensitivity, offensive language, racism, and sexually explicit

4. Crank, by Ellen Hopkins

Reasons: drugs, offensive language, and sexually explicit

5. The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

Reasons: sexually explicit, unsuited to age group, and violence

6. Lush, by Natasha Friend

Reasons: drugs, offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

7. What My Mother Doesn't Know, by Sonya Sones

Reasons: sexism, sexually explicit, and unsuited to age group

8. Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich

Reasons: drugs, inaccurate, offensive language, political viewpoint, and religious viewpoint

9. Revolutionary Voices, edited by Amy Sonnie

Reasons: homosexuality and sexually explicit

10. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer

Reasons: religious viewpoint and violence

Also, take a gander at banned and challenged classics.

The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
Ulysses, by James Joyce
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
1984, by George Orwell
Lolita, by Vladmir Nabokov
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Animal Farm, by George Orwell
The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway
Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
Native Son, by Richard Wright
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey
Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
Go Tell it on the Mountain, by James Baldwin
All the King's Men, by Robert Penn Warren
The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
Lady Chatterley's Lover, by D.H. Lawrence
A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
The Awakening, by Kate Chopin
In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie
Sophie's Choice, by William Styron
Sons and Lovers, by D.H. Lawrence
Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
A Separate Peace, by John Knowles
Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs
Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh
Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence
The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer
Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller
An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser
Rabbit, Run, by John Updike

This list of classics also includes the only book I have ever professed to hate: John Knowles' A Separate Peace. (Well, I might have to add Breaking Dawn to that very short list. I really...just...couldn't...)

But though I did not particularly enjoy A Separate Peace the first or second times I read it, I'm glad I had the choice to read it. And read it again - a third and fourth time (at which point, I think it started to grow on me and I've since promoted it to my "generally dislike" category).

So, support choice! Live dangerously. Read Banned Books! :)

How many of these books have you read? Any you loved? Any you hated?

Vlogging in the Big Apple

2011-09-23T06:07:00.000-07:00

Not gonna lie, I'm still on vacation hangover. Is it the weekend yet? Need. More. Rest. (Hanging out with Luce & going to the Two Door Cinema Club show with the sister last night probably didn't help. But yay, good music & company!)

That aside, I did miss you all! I know I owe a bunch of you replies and comments and emails, and I will do my best to get to them.

Anyway, here's my FIRST SOLO vlog that I did during some down time in NYC. It's a little weird because I'm typing the rest of this blog from my couch at home. This is like the closest I'll be to time travel!

Hope you enjoy!

In other news, before I left for vacation, I got my letter into Pottermore, got chosen by a wand (12.5 inches, dragon core, sycamore, surprisingly swishy!), and I was Sorted into RAVENCLAW. Just as I always suspected! At last count, we're beating the Slytherins in House points.

So, anyone else in Pottermore? Have you been sorted? Let's be friends! :)

WIP Wednesday: Writing Journals!

2011-09-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

On average, I'd say that I do 80% of my writing on the computer, in a cacophany of clickety-clacking on the keyboard. The other 20% is written the old-fashioned way, good ol' pen on paper. My weapons of choice are usually a Sakura Micron 0.5 pen (color depends on my mood or what I happen to randomly grab) and one of my many writing journals.

I used to try to consolidate my writing into one journal at a time, before deciding that different journals for different projects was a good idea, and then ending up just writing in whatever was closest to hand.

I also used to try to keep my writing journals free of doodles before wondering WTF I was thinking and doodling away. I now find that doodling is an organic and often necessary part of longhand writing: it keeps me busy while I think about what to write, without the time-sucking distraction of things like YouTube or Bejeweled Blitz.

My doodling habit began when I hit college and found that some lectures were very dull and my classmates' insightful discussion frequently left something to be desired; I sought refuge in the blank spaces of my notebook, alternately scribbling down stories and doodling like a maniac. People thought I was a studious notetaker. And actually, I was and still am. I just drew a lot at the same time and buried story-snippets amidst notes about Murasaki Shikibu.

Not pictured: Alz's notes from Japanese Literature.
Pictured: Alz's writing journal from Barnes & Noble.

Writing by hand works best for me when working out short story ideas or just kickstarting a stalled project. It gives me more time to think about what I'm writing as I'm writing it, and I find it's often easier to force myself to keep on writing when I have a pen versus staring at a computer screen with all the alluring attraction of the internet tingling at my fingertips.

I like journals with large margins at the top because that's where I jot notes and follow-up ideas and corrections, word banks and name possibilities and whether or not I'm hungry at the time of writing.

Margins are also good for random unicorns that have nothing to do with the story at hand.

My handwriting, as you may be able to tell, is a symphony of calligraphic perfection. I never have any trouble reading my handwriting, particularly when I'm lazy or in a hurry to get stuff down. Though it humbles me to say it, I am a paragon of penmanship.

I like flipping back through old writing journals because it gives me a sense of accomplishment, i.e. wow, I filled up an entire journal! It's quite superficially satisfying as well as more seriously gratifying to know that even if it's a journal of rough starts and srsly unfinished bznss, there's a body of work to work with. You can't work with nothing, after all.

It's even more gratifying when I flip through old journals and find forgotten encouragements that I wrote to myself. Like this one:

So there's a glimpse into a couple of my writing journals. Do you keep a physical writing journal? Do you like to write longhand? Speaking of hands, do you think better when your hands are busy?

And last but not least, stay tuned for a special NYC vlog from Krispy coming on Friday!

P.S. (from Krispy) Also, if you haven't heard/seen it yet, LYDIA KANG has an agent!!! She's one of the coolest bloggers we "know," so go congratulate her! :)

Randomosity on Fridays: Vacation Hangover Edition

2011-09-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

I am BACK, lovelies! Well, I'm about 60% back as my body has finally decided to tell me that being sleep deprived and tramping around a giant City that Never Sleeps all day (and into the night) is cause for crashing.

That and I seriously can't recover like I used to. I went to work yesterday, and despite getting 8 full, wonderful hours of sleep, I was spaced out and zombified all day. It was like I'd slept at 4am. So I only have half a Friday 5 for you today - a quick few points - and Alz will fill you in on the rest!

Vacay stories and pics to come! Including, perhaps, my first solo vlog!

1. I have the best college roommates evaaarrr. I stayed with one of them & the other housed my sister and friends, and they were amazing hostesses. They helped make my sister's 21st birthday pretty freaking awesome. My 3rd roommate, unfortunately, couldn't make it up from Boston for the weekend because school had already started, but I love her too!

2. Thanks to the roommate I stayed with, my hair and skin feel the best they've felt since a year ago when I also stayed at her place. Her place is like a spa! So many nice skincare products! Yay for working in the cosmetics industry!

Product placement: KIEHL'S

This campaign - yeah, my roomie launched it. Also, I love the moisturizer.

3. Before I left, I got crazy-colored highlights in my hair. They're pink, violet, and bright red, even though I only asked for violet. I kind of love them though. Also there's a feather extension because my hair lady really wanted to try it out. I think it's growing on me...

Alz's randoms:

4. The creatures featured on my jacket from last post are rabites, specifically the 16-bit version from Secret of Mana.

5. My rat says hi:

[/Alz's randoms, though I typed "ransoms" at first. Clearly ratty is influencing my subconscious. I've long suspected her of nefarious plottings multitudinous.]

In the mean time, I missed you all and will try to kind of catch-up. Mostly, I need sleep though. Haha. But seriously, what did I miss?

Have an awesome weekend!

Work in Progress Wednesday

2011-09-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

I have accomplished multitudinous things this week in the absence of Krispy—which is not to say that I accomplished them because of her absence as much as I have merely coincidentally accomplished them during her absence. Here are a few things I've done recently:

1. I made a bit of progress on our co-novel project, rounding out a scene and generally giving our unsuspecting hero a wonderful time. A line for you:

In retrospect, it turned out to be a good thing that the bakery hadn't had his cake because it meant he returned in time to see his home on fire.

2. I finished reading Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan. I enjoyed it and today I went to the library to get the sequel, Demon's Covenant. I suppose this isn't really a work in progress, but oh well. (You can find Krispy's review of the first book here and the second book here.)

3. For the first time in over a decade, I attempted some cross-stitching. I remember it being time-consuming and ill-rewarding, but then again I was like six the first time I tried it; it was still time-consuming but the end result is better now that I'm old enough to have the coordination and patience to do things properly and cheat more sneakily. It came out all right. And if I hadn't been too lazy to take a real picture, you'd see how all right it looks, as opposed to this quick crappy picture I took on the fly:

Delicious brownie points if you can identify these creatures.

That's what I've been up to! And quite soon in the future there will be a special post: The Return of the Krispy. What've you been up to writingwise/readingwise/craftwise?

Friday Five: Book Raid on Borders

2011-09-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

Krispy and I have been hitting up Borders quite a bit recently in light of their increasing sales. I have a crapload of new books to read, which is not much consolation for the fact that my local bookstore that I adore will soon be no more, which thought I quite abhor as it wounds me to the core.

At first I picked up books that I'd read or been wanting to read. As the books became cheaper, I started picking up books I'd never heard of but were by authors that I liked. And as the books became even cheaper, I bought books that sounded interesting and were worth chancing a few bucks on.

Here are five books I've picked up over the past few weeks:

1. Pegasus by Robin McKinley: I like the author and though I'd heard the book was slow and light on plot, the worldbuilding is supposed to be amazing. Plus it was the only copy, hardback, and 60% off. It's about a princess living in a country where every member of the royal family is ceremonially bound to a pegasus because they are allies. I started it a while ago and got a ways into it. The evil guy is really obviously evil and named Fthoom. That's not a typo.

But let me tell you—Princess Sylvi is all right but oh, Ebon, her pegasus. So far, he is endearing and hot. If only I were a pegasus. Or, you know, he was human. I do draw a line, you know. ~~Regretfully.~~

2. Melting Stones by Tamora Pierce: Another author I like, with books that are awesome and books that are so-so. I hadn't heard of this particular one and after reading the back—some girl named Evvy training to be a stone mage who befriends a living mountain and they have to find out why plants and animals are dying and stuff—I thought it sounded interesting but not riveting. I started to shelve it and then took a second look at the cover. Was that an Asian girl on the cover? All right, so you're not supposed to judge books by their cover, but HELL YEAH DIVERSITY SUPPORT so I bought the book. Ahem. (Plus, Tamora Pierce writes a variety of cultures very well, without exoticizing them.)

3. Wizard of the Grove by Tanya Huff: Non-YA fantasy author who is supposed to be a good writer, and whose stuff I have never read. The blurb is pretty standard fantasy-fare about how some evil guy is out to rule the world, and so the remnants of the Elder Races give one final gift to the world: the last wizard, a girl named Crystal. While her name sort of turns me off, I perused the first couple of chapters and the political intrigue and writing are pretty good. Plus the evil guy is having his enslaved enemies build him a giant tower out of huge marble blocks, mortared together with "the strongest mortar"—which is life. Which means that his enemies are chained down and each marble block is dropped on top of them. That's pretty evil.

4. Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld: Krispy read this one and said it was good, and Borders had a hardcover copy of the original pretty cover (not the re-design which unexcites me and yes, unexcite is a verb that exactly describes how I feel when comparing the original and the re-design)—in their bargain section. I picked it up but haven't read it yet. Steampunk army VS bio-engineered army in alternate history? I'm so there. Or will be, after I've read a metric boatload of other books.

Krispy did warn me that the first book reads more MG than YA and that the second book is better than the first. Our friend Luce couldn't get through Leviathan because it read too "young" for her, so I am armed with forewarning and can adjust my expectations accordingly.

5. A Mermaid's Ransom by Joey W. Hill: Trashy romance! Gotten for like 70% off! Never heard of the author or the book but I thought the cover was interesting and made me snicker. I, er, didn't realize quite how scandalous it was since the Borders sticker was covering the little discreet bit on the back that said "erotic romance," which is a tad racier than the usual Regency/fantasy romance lulz I go for. But I had to buy it because—well, here, for this one I'll actually give you the blurb on the back of the book, with bold to emphasize points of interest:

Daughter to an angel and a mermaid, Alexis has grown up with blue waters caressing her skin. So when nightmares begin to plague her—dreams of fire and fear—the merangel has little idea what to make of it. In her dream is the loneliest man Alexis has ever seen—and she's strangely drawn to him. Until the night her dreams come true…

Born of a vampire and a Dark One, Dante has only known brutality. And although he's the leader of the Dark Ones' underworld, he longs to escape. How better to do so than to hold for ransom the Prime Legion Commander's daughter? But there's one thing Dante never planned for—the way Alexis has stolen his heart, giving him the chance to embrace life instead of darkness…if he can prove himself worth of her love.

She's a merangel. And yes, her natural form is a mermaid with feathery wings, she can fly as well as breathe underwater, she's also an empathy and can feel others' emotions, and she literally radiates angelic light—which is not visible but felt, and makes it so that people are naturally comfortable around her and want to protect her, which means that she never has a chance to develop a romantic relationship with a guy because they're all too comfy around her. Except Dante, of course.

Ahem. This one I already finished reading and it is as ridiculous as it sounds, if not more so. However, it is actually not nearly as badly-written-laughable as I expected. It was actually pretty decent—better than some of the YA I've been reading lately.

So! There's a peek at my books spoils. Have any of you been hitting up the bookstore lately?

And a special shout-out from our Krispy, who's kickin' it NYC-style! She says, "Thank you for all the well-wishes! And do any of you have any NYC things I must see and/or eat?"

Wonderful Wednesday: Conversations with Krispy

2011-09-07T07:00:00.000-07:00

Krispy is going away ~~forever~~ to NY. Though I will be despondent and doleful and despairing, I shall do my utmost to not be so down despite how destitute I feel.

I drew the plane with a propeller on the front because
it looks more like a WWII fighter plane and therefore cooler.

I asked Krispy if she had any blog ideas for today. She said she'd had a great idea last week but couldn't remember what it was anymore. After a period of discussion concerning dresses and shoe choices, free Kindle books, Anakin Skywalker, and Supernatural bloopers, I asked Krispy if she'd had any idea-for-blog epiphanies during the course of our conversation.

To which I said, "WTF KRISPY YOU ARE A TEASE," to which she replied:

I was going to have a real post dealing with writing, but I ended up ~~wasting time~~ ~~procrastinating~~ doodling ~~too much~~. So instead of an insightful post about literary style and narrative technique and etc., I'm going to post this doodle of what I predict Krispy will look like when she dresses up and takes on NY:

She's ready. But is NY ready for her?

Please join me in wishing our Krispykins a safe flight and happy frolicking! In the meantime, do any of you have vacation plans anytime soon?

Friday Five x Two = 10 Random Facts

2011-09-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

Technically Krispy was tagged by Tere and not me, but even though Camp Nano is officially over, Krispy is still furiously nanoing (or should be) and so I'm taking over the 10 Random Facts meme. Have at ye!

1. I read trashy romance in the hopes that it will be hilariously over-the-top. It frequently is and it just as frequently is pretty boring. My standards and expectations for trashy romance are completely different from my standards and expectations for YA, even if it is a YA romance.

2. I was never much of a coffee- or tea-drinker until I hit college, when I finally understood the benefits of a steaming-hot caffeinated beverage on a freezing night before a paper is due.

3. Following up on that, I've never actually pulled an all-nighter when writing a paper. I always finished it the night before, at the latest. Which means I'd be wired all night from the copious amounts of caffeine guzzled in the pre-emptive terror of spending all night furiously writing.

4. I am a cynic with a little romantic inside me, but like Drumsticks and Dingdongs, that sweet delicious center gets smaller and smaller every year.

5. I've always drawn Krispy like this, for years, because I wanted to, for no particular reason, without her having any say in the matter:

Krispy can also be seen here in her true form.

6. I've participated in Nanowrimo every year since 2004, which means I have four halfway-decent (and halfway-crappy) incomplete novels sitting around since Nano 2007 & 2008 comprised one long continuous novel-effort (which I'm thinking of revisiting soon), and Nano 2006 eventually became my Master's thesis.

7. In second grade, the teacher told us to write an essay about our nicknames. In one paragraph, I wanted to write "my brother calls me stupid" but I thought "stupid" was too bad and mean a word to write for a school assignment, so I wrote "my brother calls me dummy" instead.

I have since graduated to writing "fuck" and sundry assorted vulgar terminologies in my school assignments. Ah, such innocence I once had.

8. I'm a picky eater. I do not like: fish, most other seafood, onions, cilantro, tomatoes, thousand-year duck eggs, green onions, spinach except when cooked certain ways, chives, bell peppers, oyster sauce, baby rabbit, lettuce, mustard, ketchup, celery, cauliflower, Earl Gray tea, white tea…the list goes on and on.

9. I like to crochet but cannot knit to save my life. Which is a pity since knitting needles make better weapons than crochet hooks not only because they are longer and sharper, but also because you have two of them.

10. I was a precocious little bugger with regards to reading and was into Mercedes Lackey, Anne McCaffrey, Andre Norton, and Marion Zimmer Bradley when I was in the fourth grade. Perhaps this is why I've never been particularly fond of "classics"—Where the Red Fern Grows is pretty boring compared to dragonriders flying on giant dragons to flame alien-spores out of the sky before they can ravage the planet below, and the politics of a tithe-system and Weir-vs-Hold governance.

I'm supposed to tag four more people. I shall henceforth tag—

The Spectacular Sophia
The Lovely Linda
The Dashing Danyelle
The Excellent Emy

—as well as anyone else who wishes to participate! Share the random love.

Wordless Wednesday...not really.

2011-08-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

This Wednesday post brought to you by Krispy nanoing furiously with Alz as her Taskmaster. Also, I doodled this entirely on my touchpad because I ~~didn't have my pen tablet with me~~ am a BAMF. Also again, that is indeed Krispy, as I have always drawn her, because that's what she REALLY looks like, despite what you may otherwise think based on mere photographic evidence.

I asked Krispy just now if she has anything to add. She says, "I'm dying." This because of actually writing nano and not because I have full-body-tackled her for failing to write.

Randomosity on Fridays: Liebster Award

2011-08-26T06:20:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind on spreading the love with this award. So it serves me right that a bunch of the people I was going to give it to already reached 200+ followers, which makes them ineligible! That and some of them passed the award on to us...

So a big THANK YOU to Sophia, Ani, and Lori for giving us the Liebster Award.

This award is intended to connect bloggers, specifically those with less than 200 followers. In accepting the award, I must:

Show my thanks to the blogger who gave me the award by linking back to them.
Reveal my top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
Post the award on my blog.
Bask in the love from the most supportive people on the internet—other writers.
And best of all – have fun and spread the karma.

In any case, there are many of you who I would love to give the award to, but you have well over 200 followers. So it has made this award incredibly difficult for me to pass on without including the people who passed it on to me. That and I can't remember who already got this award.

Here are our choices. There might be repeats, and regardless, we appreciate ALL OF YOU anyway. :)

1. XiXi at From Elysium: One of the first bloggers I stalked - is smart, funny, & loves Percy Jackson!

2. Linda at Wistfully Linda: A newer blog friend, who is like my online doppleganger. Seriously, it's almost a little freaky. That and we almost knew each other in Real Life. Almost.

3. Akoss at Fantasy Pen: Blogger I met at ninjachat who runs a book review blog featuring a diverse selection of books. She also has a writing blog here: Nye Louwon - My Spirit.

4. Connie at A Merry Heart: Cool and smart lady who writes entertaining posts about writing, bugs, and appliances-gone-crazy. She also has a blog for her book, Screwing Up Time.

5. Barbara Kloss at Barbara Kloss (the adventures of a writer): I love her anecdotes and writing posts and her gorgeous, gorgeous pictures of the great outdoors. This is possibly because I am not an outdoorsy person, so I enjoy the vicarious experience. Also, w00t for taking German in high school!

So that's that! Have a great weekend! I'm off to CampNaNoWriMo like a mad woman!

Let's Talk Love Triangle Dudes

2011-08-24T06:10:00.000-07:00

Inspired by the lovely Linda's post on YA Romance Pet Peeves and poked into actually writing something by Krispy, I shall use this Wednesday to talk about YA love triangles.

Linda says that "two guys = double the angst"; I refined that formula a tad and came up with the following:

love triangle = 1 mysterious guy + 1 childhood friend guy + 1 girl = angst^n

Math was my least favorite subject in school and if not for the fact that my cell phone has a calculator function I would be more mathematically incompetent than a retarded jellyfish. Even so, I dislike the aforementioned formula because that's what love triangles have become—a formula applied to a story like a band-aid to cover up the gaping wound left by lack of chemistry and/or character development and/or plot.

A typical basic YA love triangle includes a hot new boy (often styled as a bad boy) with the heroine's childhood friend as a rival. She loves her childhood friend but at the same time is swoonily attracted like an iron filing to the dark magnetic mystery of the new guy.

The guy who is almost always the loser and is also the one usually strung along is the childhood friend. The new/mysterious guy wins nine times out of ten—or maybe ten times out of ten, actually, in YA. Why? Naturally what is new and mysterious is intriguing and more interesting than the familiar, which is safer and therefore boring.

A generally fatal flaw of childhood friend role is that the heroine has known him for a long time, so the reader usually doesn't get to know him as well. Which makes sense, of course, that the most time would be spent on the mysterious new guy, because that's where the interest and excitement of new discovery lies. Unfortunately that means that the childhood friend almost always gets the short end of the character stick.

A slightly better but still all-too-frequent scenario is when the childhood friend does get more character development and an actual personality, but still pales in comparison to the mysterious new guy who elbows his way front and center and gets the lion's share of everyone's attention. The childhood friend is safe, familiar, and ; the new guy is unknown, possibly dangerous, mysterious and therefore intriguing.

I like tofu, but it is pretty bland by itself. Just sayin'.

Of course, not all love triangles involve a childhood friend. It could involve two (childhood) friends or two new mysterious guys.

Side note: Let us not forget that hair color is absolutely critical in a love triangle. The two males must have different hair colors. If they do not, your love triangle will be a failure. Eye color should be different too, although this is less important since I barely remember anyone's eye color except for Edward's because of how many times Bella driveled on about how topaz they are.

Ideally, a typical YA love triangle would feature two guys whom the heroine is torn between because they are equally attractive (though this can be in different ways—intellectual, physical, charismatic, etc.), and it would not be generally pretty freaking obvious whom she's going to end up with. Ideally, I the reader would also be torn between these two awesome guys instead of thinking the heroine is an idiot for various reasons.

A good love triangle is dependent upon character development, relationship tension, and believability. The crux of a good love triangle is the girl. What does she see in these two guys? Is it just that they're equally hot and equally interested in her? If so, that's lame, and the Alz fails to approve.

I expect exploration of emotions, character depth, confusion, questioning, maybe some guilt—in short, I expect to empathize with the heroine. There are these two different guys and it's because of their differences that I am torn between them! Not their similarities—so they're both hot, or they're both supernatural, or they're both smart—so what? I want to see two guys who are awesome in their own unique ways but also have flaws that the heroine is capable of seeing. I want to learn more about the heroine through her consideration of the two guys and her ultimate choice. I want to see growth on the part of all three characters, dammit.

Krispy's Addendum: In the comments of Linda's YA Romance Pet Peeves post, Linda and I had a brief conversation about what makes a good love triangle or at least how a love triangle would better serve a story, and I liked the point we circled in on.

A love triangle best serves the story when it isn't just there as a romantic plot point. It works when the two guys represent more than romance for the heroine. As Linda said, "Like, if the choice between two guys was actually more about what kind of person the heroine wants to be and what kind of life she wants to live."

The two guys should serve as foils to the heroine, helping and hindering her, and thus revealing different aspects of her character. [End Addendum]

As a final note, I do not necessarily recommend all of the following books. They're simply the ones I was thinking of when writing this post, with suggestions and brainstorming help from Krispy:

Fallen by Lauren Kate

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Matched by Ally Condie

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers

Possession by Elana Johnson

Twilight (series) by Stephenie Meyer

Now some questions for you folks: Do you like love triangles or do you hate 'em? Do you like knowing who the girl's going to end up with or would you prefer it not to be obvious? Got any good recommendations, bad recommendations, so-so recommendations?

Randomosity on Fridays: Quarter Century Birthday Edition

2011-08-19T06:10:00.000-07:00

And we're back from blogcation, although I have to warn you now that the blog will likely go dark again in early September as I will be on ACTUAL vacation, but that's the future. On to the blogging!

We're back to our regularly scheduled programming, even as Camp NaNo continues to pwn me. Oh, but Alz already hit the golden 50,000 words. She is now in charge of curbing my procrastination.

Some other stuff happened while we were away.

1. Both Sophia and Ani awarded us with the Liebster Blog Award.
2. I had a birthday on Aug. 16, wherein I became a Quarter Century old.

We're just going to talk about #2 because we haven't come up with a list of bloggers for #1 yet. Next week!

This past Sunday, I did a joint birthday dinner with fellow vlogger & Boba4Lifer Sophia at the ritzy Club Cicada in downtown LA. Ritzy how, you may be asking. Well, it's located in a historic building - the 1928 art deco Oviatt Building.

The sister is very color-coordinated.

It's 1920s-40s themed, meaning you have to be in either vintage dress or evening dress to get in. So it was an excuse to get all dressed up, and people that go there really get into the dressing up and the theme.

With my favorite gals!

There's also a live band on Sundays, and they play songs from the time period. There's lots of dancing, which I did not partake of because that kind of coordination is not in me. BUT it was fun watching other people because they were really good.

Sophia and I got candles in our desserts and serenaded by our friends.

Then on Tuesday, G took me out for dinner and we stuffed ourselves at Kabuki. We topped it off with this ridiculously delicious tempura ice cream. It was green tea and coffee ice cream inside. There was also chocolate sauce.

After that, I came home to find my dad had bought me an ice cream cake from Coldstone's. For those of you who have been here a while, you will know that ice cream is like one of my FAVORITE THINGS EVER. I also really love chocolate and coffee.

Yeah, I think my name's spelled wrong...

This cake was chocolate cake with coffee ice cream, topped with toffee. Needless to say, even though I was stuffed from dinner, I couldn't resist and had a piece of this too (though I forced Alz to share it with me).

So that's it for this week's bit of random. I hope you all had a wonderful week, and that you are enjoying the wonderful resources of WriteOnCon (because I know many of you are distracted by that)! Hope to see you back here again Wednesday. We missed you all!

What have you been up to? Learn or do anything interesting lately?

Blogging Break

2011-08-10T06:16:00.000-07:00

Hello, darlings!

Following in the footsteps of a number of blogs, A Nudge will be going on a brief blogging break.

I've been a little slack in responding to comments and visiting your blogs too, and with Camp NaNoWriMo happening, I'm finding myself a little burnt out.

PLUS, I am turning a Quarter Century Old in less than a week, and I'm celebrating it with fellow August birthday-er & Boba4Lifer Sophia this weekend! So there's that to contend with as well.

So we will return to our regularly scheduled posts on Friday, August 19th.

Until then, drink up me hearties & don't be strangers! (I'll still be trolling twitter & tumblr and your blogs.)

NON-Randomosity on Fridays: Nano Update

2011-08-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

Hello, hello, from Krispy and Alz! Today we bring you a break from our normal Friday randomosity because we're both nanoing and should be nanoing right now except we're drafting this post reeeeal fast so that we'll keep to our regularly scheduled programming.

KRISPY: Beginnings are a sticking point for me. It's not the blank page that freaks me out; it's all the work that the beginning is supposed to do. Even then, I'm not so much worried about the hook as I am about setting the right tone. Trust me, I've gone off on things totally wrong because my beginning didn't set the right tone for the rest of it.

Basically, what I'm saying is it's been slow going. This NaNo, despite being more planned out than any other NaNo I've done, has been the hardest to start. However, word sprints are surprisingly helpful! They kind of stress me out more than I'd like, but it does force me to focus more and not get distracted by Tumblr every 2 sentences. I have Ani at Anime's Musings to thank for being my sprint partner these last two nights!

ALZ: I'm slightly less of a Wort Ungeheuer (word monster) this year because I wasn't planning on participating in Camp Nano, so my results are even less pretty than usual. And usual means abysmal. I've been having writing parties with Krispy that are the literary equivalent of frat parties with extra crack, only there's no actual drug or alcohol abuse and it's actually very quiet and all right, that was a crappy simile. This should give you an inkling of what my nanoing has been like.

All in all, our writing parties start with us inhaling a large amount of boba and/or frozen yogurt, complaining about not knowing things in our story, and then writing.

Q4U: How's your writing / NaNo-ing going?

P.S. By the way, for those of you who are good at identifying dialogue from movies, you should check out Ani's Dialogue/ Road-to-100 Followers Contest! It's fun, and you could win a $10 gift card for iTunes or Amazon!

Writing Wednesday: Camp NaNoWriMo

2011-08-03T06:01:00.001-07:00

Short post for you today since I totally did NOT time manage myself well.

So after lots of peer pressure from Alz and Sophia, and then after I accidentally peer pressured Linda into doing it, I signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo!

You see, I've always thought November was a bad month for me in terms of number of outside commitments and time versus novel writing. So summer is actually a much better time for me. I just wish there had been a bit more planning involved on my part. On the other hand, I've always found myself jumping into NaNo all willy-nilly. So here we are.

The bright side is I'm starting work on a story that I've been mulling over since like January. So it's pretty exciting.

My fellow blogger participants are Alz, Sophia, and Linda. Hopefully, we can get in a cabin together. My username is kangaru, and I've linked all our NaNo profiles for anyone who wants to give us a hard time for not writing enough (or you know, encouragement is nice). ;)

So anyway, if the blog posts are strangely lacking and/or short this month, you now know why. That and I'm celebrating my Quarter-Century birthday soon & going to Disneyland like every other weekend. Needless to say, maybe summer isn't a better time for me for novel-writing.

Second order of business, I finally have the winner of the e-subscription to Danyelle's Fairy Godmother Dilemma! Using random.org, the winner is...

M PAX!

Congrats! I'll email you with deets on how you can start reading.

That's it for now, friends. Anyone else signing up for Camp NaNoWriMo? (We can sing songs and have s'mores!)

Randomosity on Fridays: Trailer Version

2011-07-29T07:30:00.000-07:00

Look at me, blogging twice in one week! I'm on a roll. Let's have our Fabulous Friday Five!

1. Krispy is a lucky, lucky dog. She says, and I quote directly from text message, "I went to a free Lady GaGa mini-concert for Jimmy Kimmel & she was flippin awesome!!!" I am not jealous or envious at all. (Damn you, Krispy! Some day I will have my non-specific vengeance!)

2. I finally saw Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. It was pretty epic and I liked it so much better than the book, which I found to be bizarrely-paced and kind of a hack job in places. Things that failed to make sense or just seemed weird in the book had more tension and emotion in the movie. Also, McGonagall was a total badass.

3. I also saw the Breaking Dawn: Part 1 trailer before HP&tDH:P2 (how's that for an impressive acronym?). I'm not going to go into the traumatic badly-written fanfic WTFery of Breaking Dawn the book. Instead I will show you my impression of the trailer:

Click for larger version.

4. There was also a trailer for the next Sherlock Holmes movie. I still haven't seen the first one and I've only read a few of the short stories, but my grad professor explained to us how the modus operandi is that Watson shoots up Holmes with cocaine, Holmes plays the violin for six hours, and then screams "EUREKA!" and runs out the door because he's solved the case. Somehow I doubt this is what happens in either movie. Though I do believe that the homosocial as well as homoerotic overtones run strong. I didn't even know the word "homosocial" until I went to college. Thank you, college education.

5. Last but not least, there was another trailer that was so epically epic in its epic epicness that I kind of really want to see it and therefore pray that it gets at least passable reviews from critics. It was the testosterone-laden trailer for The Immortals, which looks like the foursome lovechild of 300, Gladiator, Troy, and Clash of the Titans.

Also click for larger version.

That's it for this Friday! I swear I don't usually doodle shirtless guys so often. I guess it's just one of those weeks.

Have you seen any movies lately? Or watched any interesting/epic/homosocial trailers?

P.S. I (Krispy) will draw the Fairy Godmother Dilemma winner this weekend. Sorry for the delay! It's been a spontaneously eventful week! (And yes, I'm still on a Lady GaGa high. She performed five songs! 5! One of them twice because the 1st time wasn't perfect & they wanted to re-record the performance! Exclamation points ad nauseum!

Book Review: Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

2011-07-27T07:30:00.000-07:00

Hello there, long time no see! This is Alz with another review for you. Krispy won this book as an ARC and a long time ago I stole it from her to read. I kind of wish I hadn't.

Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

Pros: I think there were one or two minor characters who were okay.
Cons: Everything else.

Intellectual Rating: 0.5 out of 10 stars (only because Crescendo is my golden standard for utter literary failure)
Emotional Grade: F

Book Blurb: (from Goodreads) Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. But when she violates her masters' laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything- including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?

Alz's Take: Imagine a dark supernatural YA romance where werewolf Guardians have their own unique society living in our world, guarding a sacred mountain under the orders of their Keepers. Imagine edgy romance twanging with tension, sizzling with sexual innuendo, and molten with lust as fierce warrior Calla, the heroine alpha female of a new soon-to-be-pack, is torn between her predestined alpha werewolf mate, dominant forceful Ren Laroche, and the song of destiny that sings between her and the new boy, nerdy-but-hot noble-but-naïve protective-and-perfect Shay Doran. Imagine a book that immerses you in a supernatural world built from the ground up beside our own world. Imagine an edgy, thrilling book that deals realistically and sophisticatedly with themes such as homosexuality, pedophilia, rape, love and sacrifice.

Now imagine a book that fails to achieve any of those things.

That book is Nightshade.

Nightshade tries very hard to be immersive, erotic (yes, this book is the closest thing I've read so far to YA erotica, though there is no actual getting beyond second base), edgy and hip and cool.

The way it tries to do this is by throwing you into this magical werewolf/warlock society where apparently stuff happens because of other stuff and it's very omgwtfbbq important because people say so. My main motivation for finishing this godawful waste of paper and ink was trying to figure out what the hell was happening. It took me months to finish the book because every 3 pages something annoying or beyond implausible would happen and I'd stop. I finished it and I still don't know what's going on, except that there's some kind of conspiracy, Calla is lamer than a flock of wingless one-footed ducks, and Shay is every 13-year-old girl's wish-fulfillment fantasy boyfriend, right down to liking Buffy the Vampire Slayer (specifically: Season 8).

I've got to hand it to the author, though, you know how they say to start off a book with action? There is ACTION in that first chapter. Calla's in wolf-form fighting a freaking bear that already mauled beautiful illegally-trespassing-hiker Shay. Yes, folks, that was and is still the most memorable and interesting (and laughable) scene Nightshade: the hot love interest is mauled by a bear before the book even begins. He's literally lying on the forest floor bleeding on page 2 or 3.

Re-using this doodle from an old post.

The book fails to get better from there. Instead we are treated to in-depth descriptions of Calla's overwhelming LUST for Shay, because he's so beautiful and hot and she feels so LUSTFUL toward him, her LUSTFULNESS knows no bounds every time she sees or thinks of him, she is afire with LUST. Seriously, the girl needs to take an iced bottle of chill pills every hour on the hour throughout the entire book. And when she's not LUSTING over Shay, she's LUSTING over Ren. Her werewolf betrothed is always putting his hands all over Calla (and once or twice getting into slightly graphic territory considering this is YA), and later Shay's none too shy with the hanky-panky either.

I don't buy the romance because there is none. Just LUST. And not very convincing LUST. (Just a note: It doesn't actually say "LUST" everywhere in Nightshade, in capslock or otherwise, but that is the sentiment that smolders so much throughout the book I'm surprised it didn't burst into flames in my hands.)

I don't buy the world-building either. I wouldn't even buy it if it came with a free puppy, king-sized box of gourmet dark chocolates, and a foot locker crammed with gold and diamonds. On sale. On clearance sale.

The story tries to be immersive by throwing things at you without explanation. While I prefer the immersive form of world-building as opposed to paragraphs of explanation, it has to be done well enough that you understand through context or are tantalized and intrigued enough to want to know more. In Nightshade, something would happen or people would appear and the characters would dramatically yell, "HOLY CRAP IT'S THE PERSON" or "ZOMG IT'S A BOOK" and I'd be left feeling left out. Who are these people and why does this matter?

Aside from that, there is no world-building. The world just is and has been, but you can't just slap down a ~~Six Flags~~ magic mountain in the middle of the United States guarded by werewolves and their master/Keeper witches/warlocks attending an elite school that also happens to enroll (normal human) students of the rich and powerful—with no explanation other than, "Yeah, the witches and warlocks have ancient powerful lineage and magic and contemporary political influence, that's why."

Not this kind of convention.

Thanks to this failed attempt at immersive writing, the plot is neither gripping nor coherent—but despite not understanding or caring about what was going on, I was still able to accurately predict 70% of what was going to happen thanks to Typical Romantic Narrative Conventions, Typical Angsty Heroine Conventions, and Typical Werewolf Conventions. That's pretty sad. It means there's nothing new, noteworthy, or creative about Nightshade.

Calla's our narrator. She's filled with LUST for Shay, and every weird or inconsistent aspect of her character is explained away by the fact that she's not human. That's not even me interpreting things—I'm paraphrasing what Calla tells Shay. She's supposed to remain "pure" before her union with the alpha male (Ren of the Bane pack) that will unite her pack with his to create a new pack, which means no sex and almost no touching if possible and no kissing even (not that Ren obeys this, to Calla's combined annoyance and lust), and yet she flings herself at Shay. She knows she's not supposed to but she just can't help herself, which I find irritating since considers herself such a responsible badass (paraphrasing again—she considers herself a warrior).

Hmm, a warrior. And given her status as daughter of alpha wolves and a soon-to-be-alpha herself, that essentially makes her a princess. Where have I heard—

Ohhhh yeah!

Now if only Calla had been one-tenth as awesome as Xena, this book wouldn't have been such a failure.

Calla also doesn't question things because…I'm not really sure why she doesn't question them. Possibly she is brain-damaged or it's because she's a werewolf (same thing in this book). She doesn't question hierarchy or the shaky stories that the Keepers tell her, and at one point around page 200 Shay even asks her why she's never questioned them, and all she says is that it's forbidden.

You'd think that she'd start to question her own world, and society, and the role of Keepers and Guardians as she slowly explores her forbidden feelings for Shay and aids him when he asks for her help in learning this forbidden knowledge—

Nope. One minute she's snarling and crying because it's forbidden on pain of death and then literally on the next page she's like, Okay, we'll chillax at the public library where you can translate and I'll do research on background information and also explain anything that you don't understand about my secret world with its secret societies. By the end of the book, she's violated at least four laws that put her under a death sentence but eh, she does it without a second thought because the plot demands it.

Add to that the repeated mantra that she's a warrior and an alpha and must guard and protect and lead her pack and she's so fierce and awesome, and yet she hardly ever does anything. She spends most of the book lusting or angsting. She's been born and bred for leadership and all she does is willfully endanger herself and her pack but it's okay because they're loyal to her and will protect her secrets, which is good because she's such a great responsible leader. Huh?

Ugh, I don't even want to talk anymore about Shay, so I'll just list his most important attributes:

1. His name is Shay, short for Seamus Doran

2. Mauled by a bear before the book even began

3. Has an incredibly beautiful face and a sculpted muscular body

Like many trashy romance heroes, Shay morphs into
a bodybuilder the moment his shirt is removed. The
sharply creased vee of his hipbones rising out of his jeans
isn't artistic license--they're described in the book.

4. So literate and well-read he can spout Latin phrases and cite the philosophical theories of Thomas Hobbes at the drop of a hat

5. Fascinated by Calla, always touching her face or her arm and murmuring how he doesn't want her to be hurt, how love can't be controlled, etc.

6. He has no flaws

7. He has no personality

Ren doesn't even get a list of attributes. He's just there to be the arrogant dominant controlling alpha and the other tip of the love triangle.

All right, all right. I know you want to hear about the homosexuality, pedophilia, rape, love and sacrifice stuff. Well, the first three anyway, since the latter two are part and parcel of a YA romance. I confess that the Big Three aren't in fact a big part of the book—which is problematic since they're very clearly only there for shock value and as lazy writing (e.g. to make a villain evil and creepy, it's easier to just make him a pedophile or rapist than to actually develop his character or motivations).

Basically there are two minor supporting characters that are gay. This is brought up as an issue, only it's not an issue at all because everyone is kind and accepting and loves and supports them totally! Nice nod to tolerance and acceptance—and I'm not being totally sarcastic here, I think it's great that issues of alternate sexuality are brought up in YA. But it also needs to be done with purpose and realism.

Instead of leaving it as a poorly-done token acknowledgement of homosexuality, the author went for shock value. Not only are these werewolf boys gay, but their future master is gay too, and has his eye on one of them! Oh noes! And for some bizarre reason that is never explained to my satisfaction (except that the wolves are afraid of their masters because they can summon wraiths, which are scary), all the wolves owe absolute obedience to the Keepers—which means if the Keepers want to have sex with them, they have no choice but to obey and nobody can object, not even the alphas. And the Keepers are, one and all, abusers on a perpetual power-high, in one way or another.

So there's the basic rape issue. Now for the pedophilia.

One of the older male Keepers (not the gay one mentioned above—nope, this is his father) is a total creeper and has been eyeing this little girl werewolf (she's like 12 or 13, I forget, but I think it said he's been eyeing her for at least a couple of years prior to this). In order to save her, one of the teenage werewolf girls from the same pack has been sleeping with him instead even though she loathes and fears him. When he wants it, she has to put out. But as long as she can keep him focused on her, he won't go after the little girl. Probably.

These issues are artificially jammed into the story because oh hey, this guy should more obviously be a villain, so let's make him a pedophile rapist too! That way there can be more angst and some characters can have dramatic excuses for being bitchy! Whee! And let's have these werewolf boys be gay too, as a message of love and tolerance—but love and tolerance is boring, so let's throw more rape on the horizon! Yay!

The Alz does not approve.

I at least expect the issues of pedophilia and rape (and especially implied child rape) to be handled with a modicum of respect and seriousness. Using them as bells and whistles to add peripheral excitement to a story is tasteless and offensive. I had held to the faint hope that these topics would get a little more light shed on them.

Fat chance. The story (not that there's much of it) would remain unchanged if these elements were excised, because they're unimportant background issues. Which should make you scratch your head: Rape and pedophilia are unimportant. What?

I mean, the Guardian/Keeper relationships and society are just plain stupid and screwed up for the sake of being screwed up. I didn't buy that the werewolves' unwavering loyalty and no-questions-asked attitude was due to tradition, fear of the scary never-really-explained wraiths that the Keepers could summon, and the fact that the Keepers provide them with food and shelter. As Shay eventually points out, they're pretty much slaves and they don't seem to like it but are still okay with it because they have no other choice because…wait, why can't all the wolves just band together and launch a blitzkrieg against their masters? The wolves outnumber them and seem way more powerful and physically faster and stronger, even if the Guardians can summon these scary-because-we're-told-they're-scary wraiths!

Ah, but if they did that then Nightshade would have made some sense for once. And that's not this book's style.

Alz's Conclusion: Nightshade is a failboat that should sink under the waves never to be seen again, but sadly the fact that it contains werewolves and copious groping and sexual themes was enough to make it a trilogy. Nor does this first book function as a standalone—the ending is a cliffhanger. And since I still have no idea what the plot was about except that it was a steaming pile of failure to be cool and sexy, the characters couldn't win a spelling bee against a cardboard box, and the world-building wasn't world-building as much as world-shambles, I will not be reading the sequel.