Interview with Kaleb Nation by B. Marie

B.Marie: “In your bio on KalebNation.com, it is mentioned that you began writing as a child. What types of stories did your young mind come up with? How did you share these stories with others or did you keep them to yourself?”

Kaleb: My first story (the one I was forced to write by my mother, because back then I hated writing) was about a certain person named King Kaleb who rode in a submarine under the North Pole and met with aliens. After I finished it and realized just how much I enjoyed writing (after all, in my stories I could be King all I wanted) I wrote mostly science fiction before moving to fantasy for a while, then finally years later starting on Bran Hambric. I shared them with my siblings by printing them up in little booklets.

B.Marie: “Do you share any similarities with your character Bran Hambric or do you consider yourself to be a complete opposite?”

Kaleb: I actually think Bran has a lot in common with me, but only in indirectly similar ways. For example he likes to draw, I like to write. We also talk similarly. I’m not sure how it happens, but I think almost every character an author writes will always have a piece of them in it.

B.Marie: “I know writers have little things they do, eat, or listen to while writing to help them focus or draw in inspiration. What are some crazy things you do or have around while going through the writing process?”

Kaleb: When I write, I’m always listening to a movie soundtrack, usually something by Thomas Newman or Harry Gregson-Williams. And when I’m having a particularly hard time concentrating I chew on Eclipse mints, because they’re crunchy. Then I found out you’re not supposed to have more than three or four of those a day or you get stomachaches. But at least it’s better than the energy drinks I was addicted to while I wrote the second Bran Hambric book!

B.Marie:: “How is Chilla doing?”

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Where She Went is the sequel to If I Stay by Gayle Forman.
This new story is set 3 years after the events in If I Stay and it’s focus in the main character, Mia, and her life amongst the living as she meets up with her former boyfriend, Adam, for the first time in years.

Title is set to be released April 5, 2011.

[Source: Ew Shelf]

***Spoiler alert!***

If you don’t want any spoilers before your Mockingjay reading, we advise you not to watch this video.

Suzanne Collins reads Chapter 1 of Mockingjay.

Win a copy of Clockwork Angel!

Alisha from Black Nailed Reviews is holding a “I Love Your Blog” Award Icon Design Contest with a chance to win a copy of Clockwork Angel: Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare!

If you are interested and want more information just hop on over to her awesome blog (located here) to get all the details for the contest! The contest will end on August 31st. Everyone will be able to view and vote for their favorite icon at the Black Nailed Reviews blog!

So head on over and check it out!

xoxo

-B-

The Vampire Diaries: Stephan’s Diaries #1 – Origins is the first book of a new prequel trilogy based in the Vampire Diaries Series by L.J.Smith.

It seems that L.J.Smith won’t be penning this new trilogy. It will be based on her novels and in the TV Series written by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec.

HarperTeen is releasing the title in Nov 02, 2010 with it’s 256 pages.

[Source: EW's Shelf]

Photo credit is Vania Stoyanova

Interview with Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl with B. Marie

B.Marie: “How did the two of you come to be friends and then partners in crime for The Caster Chronicles?”

Kami: I was Margie’s oldest daughter’s third grade teacher. We both love books, and found ourselves talking books all the time, which led to lots of hanging out & drinking Diet Coke.

B.Marie: “Okay Margaret, on your website bio it mentioned you “designed and wrote for lots of video games”. I love video games and love you even more after finding out that you had named one of your beloved beagles after my favorite video game of all time, “Zelda”. Do you yourself currently play any video games? Is there a game right now that you can’t get enough of or is there one that has caught your eye?”

Margie: Right now, it’s more of a family thing. I never get sick of Rock Band, though I stink at the drums. We just got Starcraft 2, which hopefully will take over from Angry Birds. 17 and 15 have been busy with Assassin’s Creed. 9 is all about Little Big Planet.

B.Marie: “Kami, your turn. Again, after stealing a peak at your bio on the website in the last sentence on the page you said “you love disaster movies”, let me just say we are kindred spirits (to quote Anne of Green Gables) for I too love disaster movies, especially when the world is coming to an end (strange, I know). What is a favorite disaster movie of yours? Is there one out there that you never tire of watching?”

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The fans were ecstatic today when Cassandra Clare announced , during her live chat with Simon&Schuster, that her phenomenal Mortal Instruments will be a six book series.

City of Fallen Angels is coming out 03/05/2011, and the two other titles will be: City of Lost Souls (Spring 2012) and City of Heavenly Fire (Fall 2013).

The new books will have Jace, Clary, Simon and most of the same characters known in the series, plus a few other minor ones.

We’re eagerly waiting for the official cover of City of Fallen Angels (you see the teaser one in this post). We’ll be posting it as soon as it comes out.

WHITE CAT (CURSE WORKERS, BOOK 1)
BY: HOLLY BLACK
LEVEL: YOUNG ADULT
PAGES: 320 PAGESPUBLISHER: MARGARET K. MCELDERRY

SUMMARY
Cassel comes from a family of curse workers — people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they’re all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn’t got the magic touch, so he’s an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail — he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago. Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He’s noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he’s part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen. Holly Black has created a gripping tale of mobsters and dark magic where a single touch can bring love — or death — and your dreams might be more real than your memories.

MY REVIEW

I really liked this book. It may have taken me awhile to get through, but I was definitely swept up by this story. It was so creative and fascinating. Holly Black has created a wonderful and fascinating world in this book with all these very cool abilities that the people have. I found this book to be a psychological and creative astounding story. The clever “crook” thought process that was involved in elaborate detail for some of the events and things that occured in this story was absolutely mind blowing. It was quite a thriller. I liked the adventure, and the irony of the book. where, it takes a crook to stop crooks and save the day kinda deal. This was a exceptional and classy story.

Characters: I really liked the main character Cassel, he was a very sincere and caring guy. He was the youngest and he came across as a tad bit of a weakling but his devotion to care and concern for Lila was quite beautiful. Lila was such a great female character, and I love her strength and personality. I really really loved Lila’s and Cassel’s relationship. I’m a gushy romance person, so I totally wanted Holly to develop that but that’s not what the story was about anyways. Holly Black really brought out a very frustrating hatred toward the crooked and evilness of Cassel’s brother’s and Anton, which makes for a amazing author to rise such emotions and reactions that she could in this book.

Writing: This is the first story of Holly Black’s that I’ve had the pleasure of reading, although she’s come highly recommended for a long time now. I can only describe her writing as brilliant in this book, Ms. Black definitely knows how to develop a story and capture the audience. I found it fascinating of her to write in the perspective of a male. The writing style was just right and perfect for this story. She is a highly talented and skilled writing master to have managed to pull off such an ingenious and inventive tale in this book, and I’m totally excited about her Curse Workers book 2, titled Red Glove.

Rating 41/2 Out Of 5 Stars

Review By

Red Glove (Curse Workers Book 2) due out April 5, 2010. (PreOrder)

Visit the author’s Official Webpage at http://www.blackholly.com/
Visit the author’s LiveJournal at http://blackholly.livejournal.com/
Follow Holly Black on Twitter
Order White Cat on Amazon

Scholastic has released the Official Book Trailer for Mockingjay the third and final installment to the Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. Mockingjay is due to release on August 24th, 2010. Its getting so close everyone.

[Source]

Cassandra Clare has been saving a lot of goodies for the release of City of Glass paperback version.

The edition comes out  August 3rd and contains acclaimed bonus chapters in it: a full chapter from City of Fallen Angels and a chapter from Clockwork Angel.

[Source: Author's Facebook]