The Advocate Prince -- Chapter 1

Roiling red, orange, and yellow flames crackled all around, engulfing the wooden walls of the cabin in a hazy inferno. Gloria choked on the thick, black smoke as she crawled on the floor, feeling her way to the door. The erratic flickering of light off her copper hair made it look as if she was already on fire. She had been lucky enough to avoid that, though quite narrowly. She burned her hands in a foolish attempt to save the books, and the pages turned to blackened ash even as she recoiled. 

 

The Advocate Prince

I have e-published my Fantasy book!  Most of my friends already know this, but here's a summary just in case random people who don't know me are reading my blog.

Prince Cinos is feared and reviled as the most treacherous mind in the land of Orillia. He bends the law to his will and twists people into webs of his control, but when the tide of magic swells, one girl will gain the power to end his reign forever.

Gloria, raised in isolation, barely escapes a fire that destroys her home and is thrust into a world where villains and heroes share the same face, and monsters wear the skins of the pure-hearted.

Suspected to be a witch on the wrong side of a civil war, Gloria is captured and brought before the prince. While attempting to extort information from the girl, he uncovers a dangerous enemy from his past and ignites an ancient conflict.  As a battle for the source of magic engulfs the kingdom, Cinos must choose where his true loyalties lie.

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If you want to read a sample, you can do so on the Amazon page. You can also buy the e-book there and at Barnes and Noble. The e-book can work on Kindle, Kindle Fire, any tablet or smart phone. You don't have to, of course. I am also posting it for free, one chapter at a time, at FictionPress. But for every book you buy, a baby dragon gets its wings. 

Query to Victoria Sanders and Associates

For February I've queried Ms. Baker-Baughman at Victoria Sanders and Associates. Their website looks very professional which is always a good draw for me. I also think their listing on Publisher's Marketplace was new because I don't remember it from my monthly searches, but they've been in business for several years now so they seemed legit.

The Fault in Our Stars: Book Review

Summary:

Hazel Grace has more or less accepted her short life -- dying of terminal cancer at the age of sixteen, she spends her days peacefully watching America's Next Top Model and rereading her favorite book, An Imperial Affliction. She might have continued this way if not for Augustus Waters, a boy she meets at cancer support group whose life becomes irrevocably entwined with Hazel's in ways that are both wonderful and painful.

Overview:

Without spoilers I can tell you that this a masterfully written book that made me both laugh and cry. In John Green's typical style, he captures the perfect tragic comedy. Although, I'd have to warn anyone who's lost someone to cancer that this book will be both cathartic and terrible--like rubbing alcohol onto an open wound. This is not, however, the fault of the book. As the title clearly states, it's the fault of our stars that might make this book more difficult for some than others. Yet, in spite of the dark places it took me, I couldn't put it down--probably because it took me to good places too, places where even mostly unremembered, short lives matter.

I'd give this book 9 / 10 stars * * * * * * * * *

Personal Experience:

I got to see John Green on tour for this book. Unfortunately, I hadn't had time to read the book, yet. But since he tries to avoid spoilers on tours, this might have been for the best. If you don't already know, John Green has an excellent YouTube channel with his brother called, the vlogbrothers. So this was really just a vlogbrothers tour in disguised as a book tour. This means there was lots of fun dancing and singing in addition to talking about literature. It's largely due to his online fan following that he's a best-selling author, so I doubt his publishers mind the strangely unrelated additions to his tour. He was always a good author, but the vlogs helped his notoriety exponentially.

Here's their awesome tour bus.

Here's me in front of the bus. I know, you can all barely contain your excitement. You know that in all your lives you'll never see another vehicle full of this much awesome. Not even the Oscar Mayer Weiner Mobile or the Red Bull Car. I've ruined vehicular excitement forever.

Behind me you see Hank Green (in the black shirt) and John Green (in the green shirt). My book was signed by John and a lovely Hanklerfish was drawn by Hank, based on one of his songs. My shirt is also a vlogbrothers shirt based on a song about people who love giraffes who love giraffes.

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Spoilers:

I think John Green hits a very interesting theme of how it might ruin some of our heroes if we met them. There's also the point that you do not have to be a good person to create something good, and sometimes our interpretations of things are more important than the artist's.

I've met a couple of my favorite authors (John Green and Neil Gaiman), and it was excellent. However, I admit others of my favorite authors I'm actually not sure I would like to meet. Like Peter Van Houten, I think they created something beautiful, but I am not sure I would like them as people or that they would like me.

I sensed throughout the books that Hazel wasn't going to find the answers she sought from Van Houten. Still, this sense did not dull my compulsion to find out what she did find. I was less interested in Van Houten than I was in Hazel's development, and I think that's as it should have been.

John Green did an excellent job writing from the perspective of a sixteen year old girl. Augustus and Issac's characters were also very real--the type of well-crafted character you can almost see and touch. I felt there was more distance with the parents and the part where Hazel's father tells her he thinks the universe wants to be noticed sounded very literary for a man who had just proclaimed his lack of literary skills. But it didn't bother me that much because, for the most part, there's so much truth in this story. Like Hazel, I don't feel the need to be remembered. I think our lives can be important without us being important outside those who love us, and I'm glad John wrote this beautiful ode to life.

Query to Ayanna Behin Literary

Today I sent a query letter to Ms. Ayanna Behin. I did a bit of research and found out that Ms. Behin went to the University of Michigan, so I added the fact that my master's in library and information services is from Michigan in hopes I might get some fellow alumni points. Unlikely, but worth a shot.

Books I Still Need to Read

I'm reading much slower than I used to read so I've decided to record my wish list of books to here so I can remember and anyone interested can know what I'll be reading:

Snuff by Terry Pratchett
I am currently working on this book and about halfway through if not a little more.







The Fault in Our Stars by John Green






Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan








Lady of the Rivers by Philippa Gregory







Mastiff by Tamora Pierce







The Goblin War by Hilari Bell







Triumph by Carolyn Jessop







Changes by Mercedes Lackey

THE BEST OF 2011

PERSONAL NEWS

So, in the picture above, you see my calm, serene smile while my friend Emi looks terrified at something facing us. After this photo, Emi mysteriously disappeared and her rich uncle searched for her for 40 years, convinced that her killer was sending him a dried flower each year...

Oops, wrong story, but the expression on Emi's face really does make me think of something out of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Thankfully, Emi is just fine, and she's now one of my roommates! It's been an eventful year. Some events better than others. But all in all, I feel I've come out on top, and I'm looking forward to 2012. I'm dating a wonderful man, met some great friends, and while my job situation still isn't perfect, it's certainly improved from the beginning of the year when I was an unpaid volunteer. Now I am both a paid shelver and an on-call Library Technician--which means I will actually get to work on the reference desk. Oh, and the Mayan Apocalypse this year should be epic. I hope there'll be fireworks.

I apologize that my New Years post is much later this year than it has been all the other years. But as you can see from the picture below, I was at a very serious fancy dress party on New Years. You can tell just how serious by the Settlers of Catan game. I won by default of having the most points (8 points!) when everyone lost interest in the game and went to eat alcoholic gummi bears. Since I don't drink or partake of alcohol even in gummi form, this was not the highlight of my evening.



But the best part for me came soon after when my boyfriend and I shared my first New Years kiss ever. Yes, the world has always conspired against me to leave me with no one to kiss on New Years. Until NOW! Yay for 2012!

Okay, onto the films and books I liked this year.

FILMS OF 2011

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

I reviewed part 2 here. But looking back on my review, it's a bit short. This is probably mostly laziness but possibly because I had many of the same impressions of it as I did of part 1, which I reviewed here.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

I actually didn't see this until a few days ago, so I didn't see it in 2011, but it was made then, so I'm going to count it. I was very concerned that it would be terrible. I already liked the Swedish film so much, that I couldn't see too many places where they could improve it and far too many places where they could make it worse. Luckily, the casting, which was one of my major concerns, was excellent. I even think that Daniel Craig vaguely resembles the Swedish man they got to play Blomkvist and Rooney Mara gave a great performance as Salander. I won't give serious spoilers here unless you think this is a super happy book where no one gets hurt. Basically, I thought one of the bad guys was a little too obviously creepy. The second I looked into his eyes, I was creeped out by him. I certainly hope it was just good acting.

However, the bad guy who attacks Salander didn't seem bad enough. Even when he was doing all those truly revolting things, I hated the character, but the actor I would believe is a nice man with a wife, three kids, and a puppy at home! Still, that didn't ruin the intensity of the scene, so that's fine.

I also thought it was more obvious what happens to Salander and the money at the end of the American film than at the end of the Swedish film. And I liked that the US version was true to the ending of the book. I heard a rumor that they're doing the second book and I very much look forward to seeing that as well.

Last but not least, I loved The Green Hornet. I can't say it's on par with Harry Potter or Dragon Tattoo, but it is a film I remember fondly. Mostly because of Kato.

BOOKS OF 2011

The Red Queen

You can read the review I wrote of this book by clicking here. As one of two books I read that was published in 2011, it wasn't too hard a decision. Scarlett Fever, the other book published this year that I finished, was lots of fun, as well. I also reviewed it here. It just lacked the gravitas of the Red Queen.

The Red Queen would still be a great book no matter how many other books I read published this year. Although, I suspect Terry Pratchett's Snuff, Rick Riordan's Son of Neptune, Tamora Pierce's Mastiff, and Hilari Bell's Goblin War will probably be better, I have to confess I haven't finished reading them yet. I got a bit too overloaded with awesome books. Not a bad thing, but since I'm already in three book clubs, and I take less public transit than I used to, that cuts out more of my reading time. I haven't been getting to as many of the books as I usually would.

I have, however, still been reading this year. Three of my favorite books that weren't published this year are all non-fiction books. They are: Factory Girls by Lisa T. Chang, Escape by Carolyn Jessop, and the Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose. This is very unusual for me because I usually have trouble finishing a non-fiction book, much less enjoying it. I think I was able to get into these books because they were all narratives so it was like reading fiction, except it was true.