Today I Go Bancrupt

Today, I Go Bancrupt!

Today, three of my favouritest authors release books which of course I just have to buy. So where does that leave me? Hungry until the next payday.... but, Oh my!! What marvellous reading time!!

Cold Days by Jim Butcher
Book 14 of The Dresden Files series
Publication Date: 27 November 2012

About Cold Days:

HARRY DRESDEN LIVES!!! After being murdered by a mystery assailant, navigating his way through the realm between life and death, and being brought back to the mortal world, Harry realizes that maybe death wasn’t all that bad. Because he is no longer Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard. He is now Harry Dresden, Winter Knight to Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness. After Harry had no choice but to swear his fealty, Mab wasn’t about to let something as petty as death steal away the prize she had sought for so long. And now, her word is his command, no matter what she wants him to do, no matter where she wants him to go, and no matter who she wants him to kill. Guess which Mab wants first? Of course, it won’t be an ordinary, everyday assassination. Mab wants her newest minion to pull off the impossible: kill an immortal. No problem there, right? And to make matters worse, there exists a growing threat to an unfathomable source of magic that could land Harry in the sort of trouble that will make death look like a holiday. Beset by enemies new and old, Harry must gather his friends and allies, prevent the annihilation of countless innocents, and find a way out of his eternal subservience before his newfound powers claim the only thing he has left to call his own… His soul.

Source: Info in the About Cold Days was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12216302-cold-days on 17/11/2012.

Trapped by Kevin Hearne
Book 5 of the Iron Druid Chronicles series
Publication Date: 27 November 2012 (first publication) | 30 December 2012 (by Del Rey/US)

About Trapped:

After twelve years of secret training, Atticus O’Sullivan is finally ready to bind his apprentice, Granuaile, to the earth and double the number of Druids in the world. But on the eve of the ritual, the world that thought he was dead abruptly discovers that he’s still alive, and they would much rather he return to the grave. Having no other choice, Atticus, his trusted Irish wolfhound, Oberon, and Granuaile travel to the base of Mount Olympus, where the Roman god Bacchus is anxious to take his sworn revenge—but he’ll have to get in line behind an ancient vampire, a band of dark elves, and an old god of mischief, who all seem to have KILL THE DRUID at the top of their to-do lists.

Source: Info in the About Trapped was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13536649-trapped on 17/11/2012.

Steel's Edge by Ilona Andrews
Book 4 of The Edge series
Publication Date: 27 November 2012

About Steel's Edge:

The Edge lies between worlds, on the border between the Broken, where people shop at Wal-Mart and magic is a fairy tale—and the Weird, where blueblood aristocrats rule, changelings roam, and the strength of your magic can change your destiny… Charlotte de Ney is as noble as they come, a blueblood straight out of the Weird. But even though she possesses rare magical healing abilities, her life has brought her nothing but pain. After her marriage crumbles, she flees to the Edge to build a new home for herself. Until Richard Mar is brought to her for treatment, and Charlotte’s life is turned upside down once again. Richard is a swordsman without peer, future head of his large and rambunctious Edger clan—and he’s on a clandestine quest to wipe out slavers trafficking humans in the Weird. So when his presence leads his very dangerous enemies to Charlotte, she vows to help Richard destroy them. The slavers’ operation, however, goes deeper than Richard knows, and even working together, Charlotte and Richard may not survive...

Source: Info in the About Steel's Edge was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12119496-steel-s-edge on 17/11/2012.

BOOK READING MOOD PHENOMENON (BRMP)

I noticed that it seems that my enjoyment of a book sometimes depends on my mood. There was a time when I was a teenager when I read a book and enjoyed it so much. Retrospectively, I could remember laughing every other page! I gave it high recommendations to all my book friends. I could still remember them looking at me strangely. I could not understand why they did not like it. What was there not to like? And I could also remember that was the time when I had like, awards for graduation, I passed the entrance exam and got accepted to the most prominent college in the country, had more than adequate money saved up for the first year in college, etc. In other words, I wasn't only happy... my world was not only rosy... I was on a high! Donkeys years later, I re-read the same book and I found the story telling quality so flat, the story boring and I was soooo surprised!! I could understand now what my friends were saying years ago about the book! Could my mood had affected my reading enjoyment of the book? A "book reading mood phenomenon" (BRMP)? I also noticed that sometimes my mood affects my choice of read... like I am feeling down and I wanted to read a kick-ass urban fantasy to pick me up. Or I'm feeling loved up and I want to read paranormal romance.... Have your mood ever affected your reading?

TSTL Characters

TSTL or Too Stupid To Live

I've read books in which the main protagonist(s) are too stupid to live (TSTL), i.e., Rachel Morgan series, Sookie Stackhouse series. I find that a hero or heroine who acts stupid in a book to be a really annoying read. It's a particular pet peeve of mine. It drives me up the wall! As a reader, I could put TSTL down to two major factors:

1. a character development flaw, or,
2. a weakness in the plot.

It could be due to a character development flaw. The hero could be either just developed as a stupid one. Or, was previously described to be badass, and then act out of character and does something stupid. I find that not only annoying, but also, I find it difficult to connect with that hero/heroine as well. I cannot root for him or her. I find myself sincerely wishing for the author to upgrade his/her character development skills... Or it could be due to a weakness in the plot. The character might be developed fine but all of a sudden the author made the hero act stupid in an effort to give the story a bit more drama. To fit the plot. Either way, it is majorly annoying to me... But what about you? As a reader, what is your view regarding TSTL characters? Are you tolerant or not so?

AUTHENTICITY FACTOR

AUTHENTICITY FACTOR. How authentic is the story line? The world building? As a reader, I find that I am more able to connect with a scene, character and/or a made-up world if it feels real to me. If it has a convincing semblance of reality in it. I call this the AUTHENTICITY FACTOR (AF). For a world, scene, plot, character or story to be authentic to me, it also has to make sense. The more it makes sense the more it's AF rating goes up. Take for example, let's take a scene off the book Sparks by Laura Bickle. This extremely long-lived character explained to this human about the idiosyncracy of his three-headed friend. He says:

"After a few centuries, they tend to develop a personality of their own."

Developing a personality after a long time is a logical possible next step to me in a magical entity. I can connect with that a whole lot more than just saying, "they are like that just because it's magic". Okey, that might be acceptable, but the AF rating would be a whole lot higher if it makes more sense than "just magic" and leave it at that. Those kind of books which leaves it to "just because it's magic" may catch my reader's attention but tends not to keep it. While the ones where it made more sense, not only catches my attention, but also has a higher likelyhood of keeping it.

The more authentic the world, the scene, the plot, the character is, the more I can easily suspend disbelief. Now a few concepts in the literary world here overlaps, like the concept of suspension of disbelief overlaps the authenticity factor. I guess it is sometimes inevitable that some concepts in the literary world would overlap as they play in the same field, so to speak. However, there is also a distinctness between the concepts of suspension of disbelief and authenticity factor. One is about suspending reality and the latter is about having as much reality in it as possible. And that is as far as I'm going with it's differences as this post is actually about the authenticity factor. There is a whole lot more to that "overlapping concepts" but that's also a discussion for another time.

So, to the book readers out there, what is your opinion about the authenticity factor of a story?

HEA: It is not so much the destination as it is the journey.

Okey, I'm one of those readers who likes my HEA or happily-ever-after. I'm an escapist reader, so I don't really want a lot of reality intruding into my fantasy. My ideal story therefore would have a very good semblance of reality but have an HEA in the end. And that is not real, that is fantasy. Because real life almost always dishes out a non-HEA. So a good author weaves me a realistic HEA. Sound simple? Probably. But not a lot of authors can pull that off. In fact, only a few can... "HEA", we know the ending anyway, so where is the thrill there? Aha! This is where the "good author" comes in. A very good tale spinner can make the story a very good journey, indeed! As Captain Jack says:

"It is not so much the destination, as it is the journey."

That is why I am always on the constant prowl for good authors. What is your take on HEA?

Happy Easter!

Seeing Doubles

I thought I was seeing doubles, but that would make you cross-eyed too... however I do not think you are cross-eyed, that means I wasn't seeing doubles...

Same model, same dress, different cover arts for two totally different books... whatcha think?

Currently Reading

SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF

Suspension Of Disbelief - is described by Wikipedia as:

"...Samuel Taylor Coleridge, suggested that if a writer could infuse a "human interest and a semblance of truth" into a fantastic tale, the reader would suspend judgement concerning the implausibility of the narrative... It might be used to refer to the willingness of the audience to overlook the limitations of a medium, so that these do not interfere with the acceptance of those premises. These fictional premises may also lend to the engagement of the mind and perhaps proposition of thoughts, ideas, art and theories."

(Wikipedia, 2011: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspension_of_disbelief)

Another aspect that I look for in a book is "suspension of disbelief". Sometimes when an author is so talented, he can convince the reader so utterly of the world he has created that the reader is transported to another world entirely. That world is so convincingly real that it is so very easy to think that it could happen or "suspend disbelief". As far as I can see, there are two major factors that people in the literary industry attributes to "suspension of disbelief": One, the author factor. And two, the reader factor.

1. Author Factor
• Author's Convincing Talent: bryngreenwood's comment highlights the idea of "believability" of a story/scene/narrative and the author's convincing ability, in which he said that:
  

  "....last night I had to quit watching a movie because I just didn't believe in the characters. I said, "Look, I'm willing to believe that a neo-Nazi skinhead could fall in love with a black woman, but I don't believe that this skinhead is falling in love with this woman. Simple as that."

  (Isabel Roman, 2009: http://bit.ly/fefTZa)
• Author's Convincing Talent: Isabel Roman supports the "author's convincing ability" argument and states that "suspension of disbelief" requires a delicate balance of how the writer weaves his fiction. And I quote her:
  

  Ordinarily, you might not accept there are true, real Witch Hunters in the world, but presented as fact within a universe, it could be made believable. You can’t be tentative when creating a universe such as this. While dealing with magicks and so on, there’s still that careful line between what people will generally accept as “Well, that’s magick”, and what they’ll say as “That’s ridiculous.”

  (Isabel Roman, 2009: http://bit.ly/glOOxT).
• Consistency: Allison Pang further argues that the author's consistency with the world he has created plays a major role in the reader's "suspension of disbelief" (Allison Pang, 2011: http://bit.ly/h73e3M). An author is not allowed to break his own rules.
2. Reader Factor
• Another factor attributed to "suspension of disbelief" is the readers or audiences' frame of mind (Welkos, 1993: http://lat.ms/eAxY6M). How receptive is the audience to the world the author has created?

So, "suspension of disbelief" is influenced by the human interest and semblance of truth in the story, plus the author's covincing talents with consistency and the reader's receptiveness.

Whether it's 90% author's talent and 10% reader's receptiveness, is up for debate, because there is no solid evidence that I found to substantiate either way. However in my experience, when it comes to "suspension of disbelief", I find it important that it has to make sense, for me to be able to suspend disbelief. To me, "It happened like that just because it's magic" wouldn't cut it. It wouldn't convince me as a reader to suspend disbelief. Consequently, I would have the tendency to put that book down and pick up another. In which case, I probably would not buy another book by that author ever again. So I say, on top of Allison Pang's "consistency" argument and Isabel Roman's "delicate balance" theory, that the story also has to make sense for a reader to suspend disbelief. So in your experience as a reader, what do you find makes it difficult or easy for you to suspend disbelief?

GoogleReader Fail

All the "A"s in my subscription list has been erased! Could it be me clicking the wrong button? A computer glitch? GoogleReader ran some updates? A hic up with Google's system? Anyway, if the blog name started with an "A" or other character like a dot or something, it's gone! That's like more than 100 blogs from my subscription list, gone! How am I gonna hunt them down now?? So if I used to follow you and now you noticed that I don't anymore, this might be it.

The thing is, this is not the first time Google has auto-erased my subscription list. And there is no one to talk to about it at Google. They will just redirect you to a forum where you can ask other Google users to answer your question, but not actually somebody from Google. This is it, this is what happens when you use the Google system, they rule the roost and users haven't got no say. *sigh*

World Book Night

What is World Book Night?
On 5th of March 2011, a million books will be given away across Britain and Ireland. The promotion will become the focus of a massive media onslaught from the launch in December, culminating in an evening of television programming, all night events, readings, book parties and nationwide celebration of the written word.

I was one of the lucky ones who was selected to be a UK giver of the World Book Night celebrations!! I would be at Pontypridd Library from 4-4:30PM on the 5th of March 2011, giving away World Book Night copies of Northern Lights by Philip Pullman. So if you are in the area, come drop by and pick up your free copy of Northern Lights!!

TV Book Club

I was one of the lucky bloggers who got invited to Channel 4's TV Book Club recording last Tuesday. So I went all the way to London and got to meet other bloggers and see how a TV show is filmed. First off, I would like to thank Richard and Candice of MEC for bringing us to the recording!! They are very organized! Name tags for everyone when we got there, lounge area ready with bottled water, nibbles, goody bags and the perks. I've never been to a show recording before so I was very curious to see what actually happens... well there were tons of cameras, TV screens and technical equipments than people in there, I'm telling you! It's like taking the box out of your telly and seeing all the wires inside. The wires that allows you to watch all the techniclor movies on the screen. Although I didn't understand a smidgen of it, it was very interesting to see. Then we got to meet everybody who worked there, including the presenters, the camera men, the girls who makes the show run smoothly and the Charlottes Angels. Coincidentally, it was also one of the Charlotte's birthday! So we had a sinfully beautiful chocolate cake on top of the usual nibbles. Honestly, Charlotte looked 18, but she assured me that she wasn't!

I also came out of that experience with my belief strongly reinforced that we in the book blogging community are genereally a wonderful lot! I mean, really!! Every single blogger in that event was nice, polite and supportive. Well, I guess there would always be a bad apple in every basket, but as a whole I think we are composed mostly of nice people.

Lunchtime Read :)

Trying to read Magic Lost, Trouble Found by Lisa Shearin but I seem to be struggling...

Available Books For Review

Available Books For Review

For those who are part of the Reviewer Scheme, please check your inbox as I have emailed you the list of books available for review.

For those who are not yet and would like to know more about it, email me at cherrymischif-reviewer [at] yahoo [dot] com.

"VOICE" - What Is It?

Voice - Most of us probably know what an "author's voice" is. However, there might just be a few out there who still doesn't know. I can still clearly remember the time when I first encountered the concept... Voice? Are they going to sing?! The utter cluelessness! Anyway, as far as I understand it, a "voice" is that distinct pattern that emerges when one writes. This pattern is particular to a person. It is as distinctive as a person's voice. That distinctness which allows us to identify that person even without seeing him/her, but by merely hearing that person's voice. A sort of similar distinctness emerges when one writes. This distinct writing style or pattern or whatever you want to call it, is what the term "author's voice" refers to. One does not have to write a book to have a "voice". If you've written or typed anything, i.e., blogged, then a distinct pattern or style of how you write things, emerges. I therefore must have a "voice", though I cannot see it. But I bet a lot of you can.

Here is a definition which might help us better understand what a "voice" is:

Writer's voice is an obsolete literary term used to describe the individual writing style of an author. Voice was generally considered to be a combination of a writer's use of syntax, diction, punctuation, character development, dialogue, etc., within a given body of text (or across several works).

Source: Above definition of "voice" was taken from GetGlue at http://getglue.com/topics/p/writers_voice?=g&source=http%3A%2F%2Fgetglue.com%2Ftopics%2Fp%2Fwriters_voice on 09/02/2011.

So, we now know what "voice" means... So what are the implications of this concept to the publishing industry? Are you a reader? A blogger? I bet you have an opinion... Please do share!

To start off with, I'll tell you mine from a reader's point of view and you can agree or disagree with me. In my years of reading I find that what "makes" or "breaks" a book is the story telling quality. And I believe that the "author's voice" is what comprises the story telling quality, or at least the major chunk of it. Of how well does an author tell the story? Some authors have a way of stringing words together and makes the story come alive. Some not only catch my interest, but draws me in so completely to what they are saying that the real world fades away. The authors I found who does this are Jim Butcher and Ilona Andrews. Some authors are able to paint a very vivid world with their words that it comes to life for me, I could almost taste it!  Anne Bishop is one such author. The genre therefore becomes a secondary choosing criteria. Genre only helps me narrow things down in a vast sea of books because if I don't narrow it down, it'll probably drown me. What I'm really looking for when I read a book therefore is how good the author's voice is. This, I believe takes talent. So I say:

Everybody has a voice, but not everybody can sing. Some people sing better than others, and then there are those who sing with undescribably good talent.

Small pleasures

One of the small pleasures in my life which I like to indulge in once in a while is reading in a corner at a coffee shop with a nice mug of brew... Today, is payday with the agency work am with and I thought I'd indulge myself. I shouldn't really, what with money so tight at the moment. But I've worked long and late hours this week... I thought I deserved a little indulgence :)
This is is my cuppa and the view outside the window directly in front of me...

Win A Blood Coven Autographed Book at Mari Mancusi's Facebook Page

Night School by Mari Mancusi

Vampires, Slayers and...FAIRIES? Sunny and Rayne McDonald are about to get SCHOOLED.

After their parents' shocking revelation about their fae heritage and an attack on their lives, the McDonald twins find themselves on the run—forced to hide out at Riverdale Academy , a boarding school for vampire slayers, deep in the Swiss Alps. With no cells, no internet, and no way to contact their vampire boyfriends—the twins are on their own.

Being a vampire stuck in a school full of slayers isn't easy. Especially with no blood substitute stocked on campus. Soon Rayne finds herself succumbing to her bloodlust and losing control—especially around the arrogant, but devastatingly handsome Corbin Billingsworth the Third—who isn't sure whether he wants to kiss her...or kill her.

But when Sunny starts acting strange, Rayne realizes Riverdale Academy may be hiding some deadly secrets of its own—leading to a showdown in Fairyland that may cost the twins their lives.

Source: Synopsis of Night School was taken from the author's website at http://www.bloodcovenvampires.com/books_nightschool.html on 06/01/2011.

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