SHTUFF!

A ton of links!

J.K. ROWLING HAS ANNOUNCED A DEAL WITH HER PUBLISHER FOR A NEW ADULT NOVEL!!!!

• So, first off- SlashFilm.com posted the IMAX banner and more characters photos for THE HUNGER GAMES. Me likey.
• Next up. Another one from SlashFilm. THE SEA OF MONSTERS by Rick Riordan is going to be adapted, of course. It's projected release date is March 26th, 2013. Wowza. I'm actually kind of excited about this one. It has a different director, so maybe this time, it'll STAY CLOSE TO THE FREAKING BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  
• Emma Thompson joins the cast of BEAUTIFUL CREATURES film adaption, being cast as Sarafine. So I didn't like the book (you can read my review here) but I'm excited for the adaption. I thought the book could have had three hundred pages cut from it, though luckily, in Hollywood, they typically do that with books, so yay! I might love it. :) Also, I love Emma Thompson. And it's also been written and directed by Richard LaGravanese, who wrote and directed P.S. I Love You, which I loved. <3
• More news for BEAUTIFUL CREATURES-The fourth book's title has been revealed as "BEAUTIFUL REDEMPTION".
• Even more B.C. news! Ethan and Lena's characters have been cast!
• In case you haven't heard, Entertainment Weekly has posted a ten-page sneak preview of INSURGENT by Veronica Roth, which is coming out this May. I read it, and although this sneak peak was a bit dull, I'm no less ECSTATIC for this book!
• You thought NaNoWriMo was hard? 50,000 words in a month is difficult. But try writing 60,000 words in a week-which is exactly what writer Kiersten White, author of the PARANORMALCY series (which I love! My review here) did.
• Nathan Bransford, ex-literary agent, and current author (who gives such wonderful advice on his wonderfully orange blog) posted the link of an article who's writer has some theories as to why people work best at coffee shops.
• ATTENTION GLEEKS! Chris Colfer, who plays Kurt Hummel is making some writing debuts. He has a new children's book coming out, which puts a twist on some popular fairy tales. Brandon Dorman, the book's illustrator, revealed the cover on his blog.
• The other thing Chris has going for him, is a movie called Struck by Lightning, which he stars in, and wrote the screenplay for. Here's the trailer, which I think looks pretty good:
  
  

Hope you get some eggrolls, hippy love, and good books this weekend,

See ya next Wednesday!

-Aaron!

New Capitol Pictures + Beautiful Creatures + Old Publishing News

Hey y'all! So, I saw this picture of the Capitol from THE HUNGER GAMES movie:

In other news, the book BEAUTIFUL CREATURES is being adapted into a film (you can read my review of it here). Well, the character Amma has been casted. Viola Davis, who played Aibileen in the movie adaption of THE HELP (my book review, here), was chosen. This kind of works because she's a maid in BEAUTIFUL CREATURES, and she's a maid in THE HELP. Weird.

Alright, so some news I saw on GalleyCat.com, old and new...

October, 2011 - Holly Black signs deal for a "single, fat stand-alone book" about vampires. Synop: The Coldest Girl in Coldtown is set in the not-so-distant future, where the vampire population has surged, resulting in the establishment of Coldtowns, quarantined cities of vampires and humans where predator and prey coexist in a never-ending blood party of revelry. These isolated meccas of debauchery are the pillars of pop culture, with vlogs, live feeds, and YouTube videos constantly streaming from the endless parties at vampire mansions. Drawn into this bizarre and dangerous world is Tana, who willingly enters Coldtown with an infected ex-boyfriend on the brink of turning and a mysterious vampire with a tortured past intent on seeking revenge.

February, 2012 - (In case you hadn't already heard) Maggie Stiefvater has revealed the cover

and synop of her the first book in her new four books series called "THE RAVEN CYCLE". Synop: Filled with mystery, romance, and the supernatural, The Raven Boys introduces readers to Richard “Dick” Campbell Gansey, III and Blue Sargent. Gansey has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on the hunt to find Glendower, a vanished Welsh king. Legend has it that the first person to find him will be granted a wish—either by seeing him open his eyes, or by cutting out his heart.

Blue Sargent, the daughter of the town psychic in Henrietta, Virginia, has been told for as long as she can remember that if she ever kisses her true love, he will die. But she is too practical to believe in things like true love. Her policy is to stay away from the rich boys at the prestigious Aglionby Academy. The boys there—known as Raven Boys—can only mean trouble. When Gansey and his Raven Boy friends come into her life, Blue realizes how true this is. She never thought her fortune would be a problem. But she was wrong.

Maggie finished up her NYT bestselling series THE WOLVES OF MERCY FALLS series last year, and her standalone book, THE SCORPIO RACES, came out not long after. Also LOVE the cover.

February, 2012 - BEA may open to the public in 2013.

February, 2012 - Lemony Snicket is returning to the book world with a new 4-book series chronicling his odd childhood. Synop: Drawing on events that took place during a period of his youth spent in a fading town, far from anyone he knew or trusted, Snicket chronicles his experiences as an apprentice in an organization nobody knows about. While there, he began to ask a series of questions—wrong questions that should not have been on his mind. Who Could That Be at This Hour? is Snicket’s account of the first wrong question.

Alright, see ya on Friday!

-Aaron

MOCKINGJAY by Suzanne Collins

August 24th, 2010 - Scholastic

I would include the synop, but it has such big spoilers!

Wow.... The series is over for me. There are no more books to read in the world of Panem.... This is an extremely odd feeling.

Because I can't say much about the book without dropping spoilers, I'm going to state some very vague opinions, and then I'm going to write my real, spoiler-filled opinions at the bottom, so if you want to read them, scroll, scroll, scroll!

Well. This book. Was. Different from the rest of the series. Of course, the book was amazing, and, of course, I loved the characters, but I kind of felt that Katniss was a little whiny throughout it all. Towards the end, her whininess felt justified and I actually liked it, because instead of just whining, she was actually in a situation where her cynicism counted, and she had to doubt all possibilities in order to fight.

It was sad. Duh.

Now, anyway, here are my spoiler-filled comments:

WARNING!!****** SPOILERS AHEAD. CAUTION! AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.

OMG. First of all, the book wouldn't have been as good if Prim hadn't died. Or if Finnick lived, or if anybody that died lived. I never actually cried, but got very close when the kids right before her died. I already knew that she was going to die, because friend's had been little bratty spoilers. I also love how fast the ending is. I loved the way that when the second bomb, which kills Prim, goes off in the Capital Circle around President Snow's mansion, it knocks out Katniss, and she basically misses the crescendo of the war. I don't know why, I just really thought that was a great and interesting take on it.

But here are my problems with this book- IT'S SLOW!!!! Sure, stuff happened before they got to the Capitol, but it all happened under the same circumstances and either in District 13, or in some gray ashy battlefield. Nothing interesting really happened until they got to the Capitol, and only then, when they finally set off the first few pods. That's when it got exciting! Travelling between colorful apartment buildings as crazy pods are set off. Running through sewers with a man who can't speak as your only guide. Genetically mutated lizard-things that smell of roses trying to decapitate you! And then the second bomb went off. It was going, going, going. The story was going a 1,000 MPH, and I loved it! And although President Coin needed to die, I thought that the way they just threw Katniss into her old room at the Training Center was boring. And then it gets even more boring as she goes off again as she's sent to live in District 12. Sadness, grief, annoying gray stuff. It's not until the epilogue that it's even interesting again.

I will give this to Suzanne Collins though: That epilogue was so amazing. The last line was the absolutely perfect finale for THE HUNGER GAMES Trilogy. I love the last line:

"But there are much worse games to play."

Well,

See ya tomorrow,

-Aaron

CATCHING FIRE by Suzanne Collins

September 1st, 2009 - Scholastic Press

I'm not including the synop because JUST IN CASE there's someone reading this who hasn't read the first book, there are ginormous, outrageously huge spoilers in the synop. So, grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Onto the review.

So this book was crazy. This is going to be an insanely short review, like only a few sentences, kind of short. There are so many things I can't say because they'll spoil it.

BUT I'll just say that this. Book. Was. So. Amazing. I liked it because it felt like it was going much faster than THE HUNGER GAMES, but still slower, and I however much I think about it, I can't figure out what it is that made me feel that way.

Like in its predecessor, CATCHING FIRE's characters were so much fun to read about, and I always wondered who to trust and who not to. The writing is quick and radical, just like the story, and it builds up so much, that it kind of feels more like a bridge connecting THE HUNGER GAMES and MOCKINGJAY. I am so freaking glad that I bought the entire series before I started reading it, because with a cliffhanger like the one this book ends with, I'm so glad I could continue the story right away.

Well, that's all,

See ya on Friday,

-Aaron

THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins

September 14th, 2008 - Scholastic

"May the odds be ever in your favor."

Well, I finally caved in.

I got THE HUNGER GAMES... and I'm so glad I did!!!

OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG! OMG!

This book was like being in the face by an angel! Awesome! I've obviously been hearing the hype over it for awhile. And I'd flipped through the first few pages, wondering what all the buzz was about and didn't feel interested. Well, after finally buying it, I still think the first thirty or so pages were a bit slow, though essential because it's the grand entrance into Ms. Collins's dystopian world.

Well, I won't even put the synopsis up, because I'm sure a word or two of it has already been breathed to you if you haven't read it already. The characters are amazing! The scenes are amazing! The descriptions are amazing!

Also, one thing I loved about it was that it wasn't like a lie detector, going back and forth, in and out of insane roller-coaster of emotions and then back into teen-angst turmoil, without warning of when it was going to happen. It stayed at a steady pace, and it felt like I could tell what was going to happen next, and yet still love it and be surprised because that's just how good Suzanne Collins writes.

Another thing I loved about it was how interesting the actual Hunger Games was. When picking it up for the first time, I was afraid that the entire thing would take place in the Hunger Games and just be some boring archaic thing about hunting rabbits and shooting lots of people.... Oh, how wrong you were, Past Self. Go run a lap.

Not only does a lot of the book take place out of the Hunger Games, but the parts that do take place in it, were really, really, really interesting. The way Katniss and Peeta have to survive was creative in itself, but its outcome, even more so.

Alright, so favorite characters: Katniss (what a BA. She's just awesome), Peeta (I don't even know why he was so... magnetic. He just was, but I still can't put my finger on why. Maybe because he was just sweet?), Rue (Oh, Rue. Rue, Rue, Rue, Rue. The way she describes being whipped for not working in her district, I really almost cried. "A twelve year old little girl!!!!" I screamed at the pages in blasphemy towards the Capitol), and Cinna (I won't give a reason. Cinna's just awesome. :D)

And, just because I can, look at some of the crazy mondo-insane things of popularity that have occurred since THE HUNGER GAMES was published:

*Since publication in 2008, THE HUNGER GAMES has spent more than 130 weeks on the NYT Bestsellers List.

*Suzanne Collins named as one of TIME's 100 of 2010.

*More than 5.4 million copies in print of THE HUNGER GAMES in America.

Suzanne Collins is living the writer's dream-which I think she totally deserves.

Now I'm off to get back to reading HUSH, HUSH by Becca Fitzpatrick. See ya Friday!